Supreme Monarch

— Located deep in the Darknar Castle.

Several sets of footsteps steadily echoed in the empty corridor as they slowly got closer and closer to the bottom of the staircase that led to the underground cells, located in the south wing of the Demon King's castle.

Unlike the other areas of the castle that w re being patrolled by the newly appointed knights under Albert's supervision, the only guards stationed down here were undead Black knights.

This area was only a level below ground but it was deep enough to give the area a completely different vibe to it than the rest of the castle.

As the footsteps descended completely, two figures appeared in the almost empty hall devoid of life itself. They were obviously the figures of Tyler and Albert, who had insisted on accompanying him in place of his personal maid, Cora.

However, thanks to his presence, Cora had been spared the duty of coming down to an eerily creepy place like this. Tyler silently observed the hall as well as the cells on either side of the long hallway.

Black knights were standing by either side of the staircase as well as at the extreme end of the hallway. Their undead eyes shifted at the entrance of the pair but they didn't make any reaction to their arrival.

This was because they could sense the identity of the intruders and knew it was Tyler and Albert from the very beginning. So they wouldn't react unless they failed to identify the identities of anyone who casually approached this place.

As for how they're able to sense Tyler at all with his ring of Nullity still active, it was simply due to the faint soul connection they had with their master's master.

Still, even with these terrifying creatures present here, this place wasn't as protected as one would think for an underground dungeon of sorts. The place lacked any magical defenses and even the walls here didn't seem to have been reinforced with Magic runes.

The entire situation felt as though it was inviting its prisoners to attempt an escape which didn't seem to be that difficult. However, that seems to have been the point in the past.

Rather than protecting the cells with Magic, the former demon king had chosen to stationed assassins around the cells instead.

Either as a way to ambush those foolish enough to stage a rescue, or track any escapees back to their comrades or hideouts.

As Tyler silently observed his surroundings, a deep and ghastly voice suddenly entered his ears from the side of the hallway.

[Welcome back, Master. What can I have the honor of assisting you with.]

Tyler's eyes naturally shifted to the origin of the voice as the figure of an undead skeleton, clad in a tattered but luxurious black mage's robe as he stood up from behind a black wooded desk and knelt before him.

"Ah, Bones, you're already here."

[I am, Master.]

Originally, Tyler had assigned Bones— who was a Tier 6 Eldar Lich— to the underground labyrinth alongside Emrys because he didn't think Emrys would be able to protect such a massive territory on his own.

However, due to Emrys retaining Mammon's innate ability to record any skills and spells he sees only once, as well as use them with 100% proficiency. He now had the ability to summon over a hundred Undead type beings that would not disappear until a period of seven days.

He was able to use this skill once every 24 hours. Meaning, that he no longer required a large number of corpses to expand his forces as his summonses would only continue to grow in numbers even as one set disappears in seven days.

With that, his minions could then protect all the exits of the labyrinth without the aid of Bones who could only create a limited number of undead creatures each day.

Hence, Tyler had moved him to this place as his guardian and made him the interrogator in place of the busy Z. However, it had been a surprise to Tyler when he learn this dude could speak so fluently even though his voice was like a nightmare.

He was already too used to his shadow rogues who were capable of maintaining their lovely voices with only a slight undertone of ghastliness.

"I need to speak with one of your prisoners."

[Your will is my command, Master.]

Adhering to his order, Bones stood up and walked deeper into the dungeon as Tyler followed after him with Albert trailing behind them.

Tyler had to admit, he really hadn't wanted to come down here himself as this was the place he had been imprisoned in over a thousand years ago. He had spent many long nights in here and had heard the most gruesome of things being done to his colleagues.

As he walked by an empty cell, Tyler stopped in his tracks as he stared at the interior. While this place had a gloomy had depressing feel to it, the conditions inside the cells weren't as bad as they used to be.

He could clearly remember sleeping on the cold hard floor but currently, there were beds and a single chair, and a small desk in each of the cells. He had instructed them to be installed but he didn't think they would've been completed this early.

'How strange.'

Tyler was sure the cell he was currently looking at was the one he had been locked in but he couldn't find any traces of the collapse that had sent him down into the underground lake at the time.

"Is there something wrong, my lord?"

The one who asked this time was Albert, who had been watching Tyler stare at an empty cell for a while now with u usual expression.

"No, it's fine, let's move on."

"As you wish."

Tyler decided to put away his thoughts and worries about the past as he continued to walk down the hall with Bones leading the way.

They only took a few more steps as they soon came to a stop in front of a cell that was being guarded by an undead Lich. Taking a look around, a few more undead Liches were staring in front of some of the cells in the hall.

Those were obviously the cells with prisoners in them and to Tyler's surprise, there were a lot more than he had thought.

Most of the prisoners they captured were usually just tortured for information and killed so their corpses could be used to strengthen the castle's forces as undead creatures.

Judging by the number of Liches standing in front of cells, there were currently around 7 prisoners in here but Tyler was only interested in 2 of them.

As they came to a stop in front of the cell, the Lich reverently bowed its head before Tyler.

"Open it."

Tyler gave his order and the Lich nodded as it moved away from the cell bars and the gate was magically opened.

"Wait here."

Tyler spoke as he walked inside the gate and stood there observing the only person in the cell.

Laying almost lifelessly on the bed was a completely naked dark elf with bruises on her body. That bruise wasn't from physical torture but from negative corruption, similar to what Tyler had previously experienced.

Unlike Tyler though, this elf did not have a high level of pain resistance or immunity. Her body also wouldn't constantly surpass its limits to adapt to the situation like him so although her corruption did not originate from within and was only at the surface, due to her constant exposure to the undead, it was still ridiculously painful.

From the half-dead look on her face, Tyler could tell that she was constantly being overwhelmed by pain and was on the brink of a mental collapse.

'Geez, I feel like throwing up. Was I really this brutal.'

While he has permitted her torture, he hadn't expected the level of pain she would require to make her mind submissive enough for an easier read.

"Greater Magic - Purification."

Although he no longer needed to speak the word before casting a spell, Tyler was already used to this as he used purification on the elf before moving to touch her.

The reason he was here was mainly to scan through her memories for information but that job could be easily achieved by Albert and he didn't need to do it personally. However, there was something he wanted to know about both Liz and Rain that he just couldn't ask them himself.

The moment his spell activated, the negative corruption plaguing her was completely removed without a trace. If only his own had been that easy.

As the constant stream of pain suddenly disappeared, life finally returned to the eyes of the dark elf. As she was in the midst of being tortured, a spell had been cast on her to prevent her from passing out so she could feel every second that passed.

However, with the sudden relief, strength slowly returned to her limbs as she slowly sat up on her bed and held her aching head.

"Hmm, if I remember correctly, you're called Misty, correct?"

Misty's eyes suddenly widened as those words entered her ears and she instinctively jumped back, her breast catching Tyler's attention. Not because he was a pervert, rather, his eyes had caught a glimpse of a number written underneath her right breasts in the demonic language.

While he could easily understand every language spoken in this world, reading was another question but from the studying he had to undergo before his first trip to Winged city, he could now tell the differences between the letters and numbers of the demon language.

"Albert, was that done by us?"

Tyler spoke as he used gyro-telekinesis to move her right breast out of the way, causing the girl to squirm as her body had become overly sensitive thanks to the earlier corruption lowering her resistance.

"No my lord. We believe that is the branding of the Alcar family's Dark elf legion given to only the official members of the legion."

"Is that so."

'So they're branding them like properties Huh. For some reason, that idea infuriates me.'

Tyler's first thought has been if Rain had been branded like that as well but as Albert had said they were only for official members of the legion, the chances she was had become low as he recalled them saying she hadn't been an official member of the legion and would only go out on occasional missions with them.

"S-stop it.."

As his thoughts trailed, Tyler had completely forgotten that he was using his ability on the elf until her soft voice caught his ears. Tyler then silently stopped what he was doing as though he had done nothing wrong and walked closer to the girl.

As he got closer to her, she suddenly snapped out of her daze as she instinctively tried to cover her body with her hands while folding her legs, trying to make herself appear smaller than she actually was.

"Who are you? What do you people want from me? Where's my sister? Don't touch me."

Tyler completely ignored the words of the panicking dark elf as he moved closer to her and before she could continue rambling on, he placed his palm on her head and her entire body went numb as her consciousness sank deeper into her soul.

"Now then, let's see what you've been hiding."