Supreme BeastTamer: I Can Copy and Upgrade Skills 10x!-Chapter 598: Returning to the Hideout [2]

[The previous Chapter Is now Fixed]

....

Drake stood at the center of the cathedral hall. He had already seen the others returning through the windows. After confirming that all six of them were alive, he let out a sigh of relief.

One by one, the scouting groups returned.

First came Valkor and Celestis, followed by Nyxirith and Raziel. Finally, Elise and Zara arrived, panting hard, their clothes torn.

Everyone immediately rose to their feet, their eyes shining with eagerness. The tension in the air was so heavy it could snap.

"Welcome back," Drake said, but no one responded—clearly not in the mood to talk.

Elise tossed a melted dagger onto the ground. It landed with a sharp clink.

"We met the leader of the Broken Claw," she said. "And barely escaped with our lives."

That got everyone's attention.

"You what?" Valkor stepped forward, his expression shifting to one of disbelief. Wasn't that the person Ashren had warned them about?

Even Nyxirith and Raziel were stunned.

"He called himself Garren Hale," Zara spoke this time, her voice calm but strained. "He caught us off guard. That bastard's powerful... but he's not corrupted like the others."

Drake's gaze darkened. He said, "Start from the beginning."

For the next couple of minutes, they recounted everything—from the moment they felt his presence to the moment they ran for their lives.

A cold silence fell over the room when they finished recounting the tale. Drake took a deep breath and turned to Nyxirith and Raziel.

"Your turn."

Nyxirith stepped forward and explained what they saw—the mural of the Nine Dragons, the Frost Monarch's hesitation, and most importantly, the truth they learned from Voron.

"There are three factions left in this realm," she said slowly. "Ashren's Scavengers, who fight to preserve what's left. The Remnant Eye, who only observe and record. And the Broken Claw... who have embraced the idea of vengeance."

"They want to destroy the Eight Kingdoms," Raziel added. "Erase them."

Drake looked toward Valkor and Celestis. "And Ashren? What did he say?"

Celestis exhaled, her voice quieter than usual. "He told us the truth about the Ninth Monarch. About how he became the Scourge Alpha. How the Eight feared him and destroyed his kingdom."

Nyxirith clenched her fists. "He didn't even want a war. He tried to protect the others by locking his realm away. And the Eight still attacked."

The revelation was quite the shocker for the others, and for some minutes, there was total silence as they tried to process everything.

"So now what?" Zara asked. "We just sit here and pretend we didn't learn the entire realm's history is a lie? That our monarchs caused this?"

"What choice do we have?" Valkor snapped. "Join the Scourge? Join Ashren? Let them infect us next?"

"Ashren isn't like that," Celestis defended quickly. "His group still resists. I believe they want peace."

"And what about Garren Hale?" Elise said, her voice filled with disgust as she recalled the look in his eyes. "He didn't look like he wanted peace."

Drake didn't speak.

He simply walked to the window and stared out into the sky. The air outside shimmered with an unnatural red hue. Above, the massive vortex portal still loomed, pulsing slowly.

Then he finally spoke. "We didn't come here to pick sides. We came here to investigate the Scourge Alpha and report back to the Eight Monarchs."

"Then what do we do now?" Celestis asked.

"You said this Ashren wants to meet with us, right?"

"Yes." Celestis nodded.

"Then we will meet up with him," said Drake. "Also, we'll keep an eye on this Garren guy. From your encounter, I'm very sure he'll cause a lot of trouble for us."

At that moment, Raziel spoke up. "The old man named Voron did give us a map, though."

Drake's eyes lit up when he heard this. "Really?"

"Yes." Raziel nodded, retrieving a map and handing it over to Drake.

Drake took the map and quickly spread it across the broken altar they'd turned into a table. The parchment looked old and faded, but the details were still clear enough.

There were lines, markings, and symbols.

One spot was circled in red ink. Just below it, a single word had been scribbled in messy handwriting:

"Vault."

"According to Voron, this vault used to be where the Ninth Monarch stored something important," Raziel explained. "He couldn't tell us what's inside—just that it's not corrupted. Yet."

"Not corrupted?" Zara leaned over the map, her brows furrowed. "So it's still safe?"

"Safe is a strong word," Nyxirith muttered. "But it's something."

"We'll head there next." Drake's tone left no room for argument. "It might give us leverage… or answers."

As he rolled the map back up, Raziel suddenly spoke again.

"By the way… this might sound random, but I found something weird while we were scouting."

Everyone turned.

"What did you find?" Drake asked.

"It was in an old tavern," Raziel began. "It looked like it hadn't been touched in years. When Nyxirith and I split up while wandering around, I found this old wine bottle."

"You're talking about wine?" Valkor scoffed. "This isn't the time to drink."

"I didn't drink it, idiot," Raziel said. "I opened it because I thought it might be poisoned—or at least worth something. But when I cracked it open, something dropped into the glass."

There was a short pause.

"It was fragments of an elemental core."

That got their attention.

Drake's gaze snapped toward him, his heart beating fast as he asked in a barely contained calm voice, "A what?"

"Fragments of an elemental core inside. And from the look of things, it was purposely placed there."

Zara's body tensed slightly, and she asked just to make sure, "Are you sure you found it inside the drink?"

"I'm very sure of what I'm saying," Raziel nodded confidently.

"It can't be..." Drake muttered as he walked toward the windows overlooking the city.

Everyone present glanced at Drake and Zara's strange reaction, wondering why they were making a big deal out of this.

'Dad...' Drake paused in his train of thought, his gaze fixed on the distant horizon.

His father, Draco Frostpire, was the only one he had ever seen crushing monster cores into his wine glass.

'So many things don't make sense... I always suspected he was hiding a lot of things, but this... could it be—was he involved with the Ninth Monarch all along?'