Supreme Monarch

Most of the monsters the Quantium ranked Hunter party named 'Evident,' was facing were intermediate class monsters and above, some were even advanced class magic beasts and yet, these fearsome monstrosities were all being led by what seemed to be another Advance class magic beast.

Or rather, what should've been just another advanced-class magic beast. However, this creature felt different. While towering over the other creatures with its size, it oozed a monstrous aura that suppressed every other advanced class beast around.

Clearly, this was not the aura of a mere advanced class magic beast, rather, an aura this powerful could only belong to a Lord Class Magic beast. Despite the fact that all of the monsters present on the Raiz plain right now were of the same species, one clearly stood above the rest of the White Apes.

With its domineering presence and crazed bloodthirsty aura, this was what happens when a regular White ape becomes, a crazed White Ape.

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Having gained dominion over the southern parts of the Ozark forest at a young age. Cobb, the king of the white apes and one of the strongest five monsters in southern parts of Raiz forest soon earned the moniker -- The Crazed White Ape.

This hulking primate loomed over others of its kind by more than 3 feet. Its filthy white fur is matted and yellowed, and a deranged look haunts its blood-red eyes as its presence dominates its opponent's mental state the more it fights, granting him greater strength.

This caused most of its foes to either run mad with fear or get pummeled under its mighty fist. Yet, this same magic beast, feared across the southern parts of the Raiz forest was now having a hard time against only a few opponents after successfully escaping being caught in the Demon's battles as they use its territories as strategic battlegrounds yet continue to blow it to bits with magic ballistics.

Naturally, as the king of that territory, he couldn't just let the demons get away with intruding on its territory so naturally, it had ordered its minions to attack but had lost more than half of its kind to the sheer numbers of the Demons armies and the might of their fearsome magic artilleries.

Hence, they were forced out of their territory and were attempting to migrate northwest to the mountain caves.

However, upon exiting the Ozark forest, they encountered a small party of four demons with impressive gears that had attacked them unprompted he had mistakenly assumed they would be easy to finish off so they had unfortunately missed their opportunity to escape.

Again, History had repeated itself badly, as he had lost more than 20 of his remaining 40 plus white apes in the mere minutes that the battle had started.

Angered to the brink of madness, Cobb entered into a truly enraged state that emphasized the origin of its name as the Crazed Ape King.

However, after only launching a single attack that sent one of the Hunters flying back while dealing a decent amount of damage. Everything suddenly went black for him as he was forced to eat dirt as his head came crashing down and shattering the earth below with a resounding boom.

His thought slowed down and all it could taste and feel was pain, as well as the taste of metal from the spear that had pierced its head and slammed its body to the ground.

In less than a second, Cobb, the self-proclaimed kind of the White Apes, an Advanced Class Magic beast with strength rivaling that of Lord Class monsters in its crazed state, had met his end without even knowing how it died.

This was an advanced class magic beast they were talking about. A creature with the strength to match that of most Demon lords and yet, it had met its end without the chance to resist.

••••••••••

Things had gone exactly as Aurora had said and everything ended in a single minute as her follow-up attack only took 30 seconds before the cores of most of the remaining monsters were forced out their backs by the force of her spear thrust alone, creating massive holes in their chest in an instant.

None of them were even capable of putting up any form of resistance, unable to even follow her sheer strength and blinding speed.

Her teammates immediately followed up on her example and quickly dispatched the remaining monsters that had been scared shitless by the sudden death of their so-called king. Everything ended within the last 30 seconds and the battle in the Raiz plain came to an abrupt end.

While these were all intermediate-class monsters and above, they were still just mindless monsters incapable of any complicated strategies and techniques.

Even the so-called crazed king was nothing more than a savage beast with only a little over average intelligence and battle instinct.

Compared to a party of well-equipped and experienced Hunters with skills tailored to the task of eliminating monsters, this could barely be called a challenge for them.

With the complete annihilation of all the monsters they had lured here completed, the rest of Aurora's team then turned to her.

"Oi, Well if it's not our evil and selfish leader, it's about time."

"Come on Moon, that's no way to talk to the boss. She'll kill you later when the princess is not looking, she's quite sneaky you know."

"You're right, such a cowardly leader is sure to result in such underhanded tactics, I should've known."

"Hmm hmm hmm... Aurora is quite vicious, indeed."

With every sly comment emanating from behind her, a vein bulged on her forehead as she tried her hardest to ignore the foolishness being displayed by her own companions.

However, her aura could barely remain docile as the air surrounding them changed rapidly as she turned around to face her party members.

Amongst her companions, there was only a single male. Dress in all black, he had been the first to speak as he waved his wooden staff around.

He had a pale grey skin tone with long pointed ears and yellowish green eyes with long black hair that covered most of his face and made him appear like a Goth girl to some extent.

Standing beside him were two beastgirls that were dressed similarly and appeared to be sisters. They both had dark brown skin tones with short white hair and a pair of grey tiger ears resting atop their heads.

Their skin contained grey tiger stripes on their arms and legs and they wielded a pair of curved short swords on each arm.

The last was a literal child. Or at least she appeared to be a child as she hovered above their heads sitting on a fluffy-looking cloud monster under her control and appearing to be constantly half asleep.

"Tsk. Just hurry up and retrieve the cores and carcasses of the monsters and that magic beast. It's already time for the princess to leave so we'll be heading back to the city now."

With a casual swing of her spear, Aurora casually tossed the magic beast next to her at the gothic male called, Black Moon. Raising a brow slightly impressed by Aurora's surprising self-control and what she was willing to go through to protect her image in front of the princess, he chuckled inwardly and responded.

"Hm~ Well, we're her bodyguard too, even if she doesn't say it ― although, since this isn't a quest, it's more like we happen to be traveling together so there's no real point in us riding the same carriage. So go on ahead with the princess and don't worry, we'll be right behind you."

Hearing his reply, a thought went through Aurora's mind and she immediately kicked off her feet and jumped. In a single bound, she had reached the hill at which Athena was awaiting her return and spoke.

"Athena, sorry I'll have to handle something for a while longer but I'll have some of my comrades escort you back to the city."

"Oh feel free. There is no need for you to go out of your way for me anyway. Allowing me to come here was already generous enough."

"Alright then."

Seizing her chance to gain some payback on her disrespectful teammates, Aurora immediately went back down to deliver her judgment and withdrew into the Raiz forest with only Cloudy in tow after reveling in the dismay which was their reactions.

The 5th daughter of the Jaxith family was widely loved by many and especially those closest to her, not simply because of her beauty or figure. Her personality that defied the personification of desires, that was the Demon race was considered one of her many charms as well.

However, for some strange and unexplainable reason, Black Moon and the others never felt comfortable whenever they were left in the same room with her without their leader, Aurora there with them.

So naturally, Aurora deemed this as the perfect punishment for their earlier disrespect and immediately passed her judgment.

Before any of them could even voice their displeasure, Aurora had already dragged Cloudy by the neck and disappeared into the forest within the blink of an eye.

"Well she's gone "

"Yeah, she's gone."

Speaking with a consecutive rhythm that resembled the gentle ringing of a bell, the sisters, Sigrid and Sigrun placed their right hand in Infront of their foreheads to cover the tip of their eyes as they leaned forward in a slightly exaggerated pose as they stared in the direction Aurora had disappeared in with interest.

"I'm aware she's gone. Jeez... You guys just get to clear this place up and I'll retrieve the cores before we head back with the princess."

" Hey, no fair, no fair, we don't like--."

"--clearing up. We don't. No fair at all."

They both acted with extra motions that were almost exaggerated which completely contrasted the emotionless looks that were ever present on their faces. Perhaps choosing to overreact as a substitute.

"Shut it up. You guys were here when Aurora left with Cloudy, who would've made this job a lot easier so I don't wanna hear it!"

"Well, Moon is the one who decided to get on the wicked leader's bad side."

"Yeah... Moon was the one to get on the evil leader's bad side. Even if she has no good side."

As though in perfect sync, they both pointed at Black Moon as they made an exaggerated pose that seemed to have angered him for an unknown reason.

"DON'T ACT LIKE YOU GUYS DIDN'T PARTICIPATE IN THAT TOO!"

" Eeeeh... Moon is scary."

" Eeeeh... Moon is too scary."

While pretending to be frightened children and seeking comfort in each other's arms, Moon couldn't help but facepalm himself for getting baited by these two nut jobs and just decided to ignore them and went to work before heading up the cliff to meet up with the 5th princess.

"Welcome back, great work out there today. That was an excellent display of skills and coordination at the highest level. This has truly shown me the difference between other Hunters and Quantium-ranked ones."

With an almost bewitching smile contrasting her honest appearance, Athena clapped her hands gently as she stood up to greet the Hunters that had arrived before her.

"I'm glad someone appreciates our hard work. Well, we are getting paid for this after all. There's no need to thank us for that."

"Oh no, please. I'm aware Hunters of your caliber wouldn't normally accept this kind of quest so the least I can do is offer my gratitude."

Black Moon was stumped for a moment, others would've felt something different hearing those heartfelt words from the mouth of a Princess, However, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was always a double meaning behind everything Athena says which always threw him around for a loop.

Before the three Hunters had arrived, Blane had gone ahead to retrieve the carriage and it soon pulled up beside them, coming to a gentle halt.

"Well then, shall we take our leave."