What this hill truly missed was the thick tongues of smoke that used to come out from lava. Aside from this, everything pointed towards this hill to be covered entirely by lava.
Yet that wasn't what made this hill special, what it laid beneath it was. No one knew that this place, the scary and terrifying lair of Scarlet Bears and other terrifyingly strong monsters, was in fact one of the main dark spirit master bases in this part of the world.
"Stop this useless attitude and tell me where those five are!" the one who led this group, the one who got welcomed by the dark spirit master who just came out of this hill, said in a very cold and arrogant tone.
Just from his tone alone, anyone could tell he was someone who got used to ordering people around, never to follow others' words or something.
"S… Sure, sure sir… Please follow me, we got the surviving ones inside."
"Surviving?!" That man just had his eyes appearing from all the dark clothes he was wearing. And despite his old age, his eyes were shining in a terrifying and sharp bright blue light.
"Well… Not all survived," the man who was leading the way trembled, cursing inside the day he became the temporary leader of this base.
He was supposed to be a temporary leader of this base when the real leader was out. And out of his bad luck, this scary dude didn't come except for now, when the base's leader was gone hunting outside.
That made him the one who got to deal with this scary dude. And out of everything this dude would ask for, he sent an envoy asking for a specific group of dark spirit masters.
This group was quite unlucky. They just got ambushed a few days ago. In the eyes of the leader of this base, he saw only failure and disgrace in their defeat. And so before leaving, the leader gave instructions to never care for them, or even give them any healing potions.
So out of the initial five, only two remained alive and the other died.
"I don't know what that jerk is doing here in this base," the scary spirit master said in disdain, while only moving his eyes around this place, seemingly unsatisfied with the level of security and defensive measures of this base.
And the one leading this scary dude here just swallowed what he wanted to say in defence for his missing leader.
He knew how tense the relationship between these two scary folks was. It wasn't a secret in the dark spirit master society about these two's old rivalry and enmity.
It wasn't for girls, it wasn't for wealth, it was just a simple and childish rival about who was stronger and more capable than the other. It was meaningless in many dark spirit masters' eyes, and this temporary leader here adopted the same vision, but kept it to himself.
The lava looking hill got a small door that opened into a long descending path underneath it. The group walked for almost ten minutes, crossing a distance of a few kilometres under the ground. Then the path opened up to the vast space underground, one that looked like a natural cave or something.
There was a grand lake there, lots of buildings, and rocky walls that hid behind other segments here. This place was massive, well hidden, and greatly protected by nature, monsters, and legions of dark spirit masters.
The temporary leader led the alien group in the middle of this base, managing to attract lots of eyes over, but none ever said anything.
It wasn't thanks to the presence of the temporary leader. After all, this youth was just a weak gold grade spirit master, favoured by luck and fate to be the only son of one of the big families in this base.
Other than this, he was nothing in the eyes of everyone here. If not for the backing he got, this dude would have been killed a long time ago in the hands of others.
The dark spirit masters' world was cruel, cold, and merciless. If one was weak, then he'd better know his place and serve others, not raise his voice or head, or else he'd be killed.
So, seeing someone this weak and pathetic stand on such a mighty throne made many angered. But feeling and thinking about this was something, and trying to do anything to this lucky dude was another.
No one of the big families in this base or at any other place of the dark spirit master world would get a single hair touched without the ones who did this would pay a hefty price.
And that was why this scary dark gold spirit master was here. He was here to look for the one who murdered his son.
Just from the scary aura this dude emitted, everyone here couldn't help but feel true fear deep down their spirits, shifting away their gazes the moment they landed over this group.
"Here," the temporary leader didn't get anything about the real purpose of this sudden and weird visit. After all, this scary guest was the sworn enemy of this base's leader. He came without any warning, came looking for a trivial and insignificant bunch of losers.
"Are they the only ones?" The group passed through many rocky halls and rooms, ending up at a narrow, dirty looking room, looking more like a prison than a normal living place.
There everyone spotted two young males, lying on the ground, with bodies filled with deep wounds and scars.
They looked on the verge of dying at any moment. From the look of their wounds, it seemed they got it from monsters not humans.
"Yes sir, these are the two surviving ones out of the initial team."
"Bring them," the old scary dude just gave the order, turned around and never spared a second glance at the severely wounded youths or the temporary leader and his small entourage.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l