Chapter 278: Meeting the shadow monarch

"You want to see my father?" Rigmus asked in a deep voice."Yes," Alex replied calmly.

Rigmus didn’t say any words right away as he fell into silence, contemplating on something. Alex didn’t disturb him and allowed the man to think.

After some time, Rigmus finally opened his mouth.

"My father has been away from the view of the public for a very long time and I doubt that you were acquitted with him before his retreat, he would have mentioned you even once.

So please understand me, Mr Chen. I can not take you to my father without knowing what business you have with him." Rigmus said strongly.

He showed that even though he respected Mr Chen and knew that the other party was stronger, he wasn’t going to reveal his father’s location so easily.

"I understand but the reason why I’m looking for the shadow monarch is related to the life and death of someone dear to me. Rest assured, I have no intentions of harming the shadow monarch.

I want to ask for his help instead." Alex explained in a soft tone.

A weak current swept across Rigmus’s eyes after hearing Mr Chen’s words. A matter of life and death of someone dear to Mr Chen, who could be privileged enough to earn such a title?

"If that’s the case, then come with me." Rigmus took a deep breath and said before standing up and walking toward a nearby door.

Alex silently stood up and followed him.

Rigmus led Alex through the enormous villa, they passed through multiple doors, large hallways, and encountered quite a number of people before finally arriving at their destination.

A room that resembled a small study room, short shelves, a chair and table.

A red carpet with peculiar engravings decorated the center of the room, Rigmus went and stood on the carpet.

"Please," Rigmus looked at Alex and gestured for him to come over.

After Alex came to stand with him on the carpet, mana began to leak out of Rigmus’s body as his eyes slowly started to glow.

"Pathway!"

Rigmus voiced out with a strong tone as he controlled his mana to flow into the red carpet under them. Right after, the carpet started to glow with bright red light that illuminated the whole room.

’A formation,’ Alex thought to himself, no wonder he felt that the engravings on the carpet looked peculiar.

Like runes and symbols but different at the same time.

The two of them disappeared shortly after. They appeared in a different room that looked very identical to the previous study, Alex was only able to tell the difference because he could sense that...

They were currently underground!

"This way, Mr Chen." Rigmus said and made his way out of the room.

Alex followed closely behind.

After coming out of the small study, they entered a villa that looked the same as the villa where Alex had met Rigmus. The only difference being that they were underground and there wasn’t any sunlight coming through the windows.

The light inside the villa illuminated the tall pillars which cast flickering shadows across the place.

For some reason, Alex felt that these shadows were thicker than usual.

’Must be the doing of the shadow monarch,’ Alex thought to himself as he continued to follow Rigmus.

After walking for some time, they finally arrived in front of a large door.

Alex’s eyes flashed behind his mask, he could finally sense it, the shadow monarch was definitely behind this door!

Rigmus stopped in front of the door and stood straight before opening his mouth.

"Father, you have a guest!" He announced.

There was silence for some time before a tired voice sounded from inside the room behind the door.

"Let him come in," the voice said.

After getting his father’s response, Rigmus turned to face Alex.

"You can go in now, he’s waiting for you." He said.

"Thank you," Alex nodded and said to Rigmus before walking toward the door.

"Mr Chen," Rigmus suddenly called out before Alex could open the door.

Alex paused and turned to look at him.

"The person who’s dear to you, I hope you’re able to save them. I’ll be waiting for you in the study room." Rigmus said with a sincere smile. He didn’t wait for Alex to respond and left.

Watching the man’s retreating back, a smile formed on Alex’s lips.

"I’ll save her, definitely." He mumbled under his breath before opening the door and going in.

Entering the room, Alex was slightly surprised by how large the room was. It was even larger than the living room where he found Rigmus earlier but despite the size, there wasn’t a single thing inside.

No single piece of furniture was inside the room, it was just empty space surrounded by constantly twisting shadows that would have made it impossible for weaker mages to see through.

The shadows created a form of dark veil within the room that would immediately make those without enough strength lose their sense of direction once they entered.

But Alex was a Saint, he could easily see through them.

His eyes directly landed on the figure sitting in the middle of the room, the shadows were spreading from underneath him.

Alex didn’t need to be told who this person was, the shadows were more than enough.

Alex proceeded to walk over and stood in front of the other party.

Seated in a cross-legged position, long black hair that dropped below his neck, and pitch black eyes that stared back at Alex.

The shadow monarch gave a different feeling compared to the other Saint rank mages whom Alex had met, he felt more mysterious.

But there was something wrong with the other party.

"Looks like you had it rough," Alex voiced out after they stared at each other for a while. As for why he had made such a statement?

It was because the shadow monarch was injured! Although the other party tried to hide it, Alex could tell because the aura of the other party was constantly fluctuating despite his attempt to make it stable.

"It’s nothing, just an old wound from some time ago. I should be able to heal fully in a few more decades." The shadow monarch said in a tired voice.

"Please take a seat," he added, gesturing at the space in front of him.

Alex didn’t mind and sat on the ground in front of the other party, both of them resumed staring at each other.

"So, I heard you’re looking for me? I haven’t made an appearance for decades, I didn’t expect people to still remember me." The shadow monarch said after a while, his lips adapting into a faint smile.

The surrounding shadows shifted, as if reacting to the other party’s change of expression.

"Time moves much slower out there than you think, especially for people like us." Alex stated.

"True, so why are you looking for me?" The shadow monarch nodded before asking.

"The soul jewel, I heard that you had one with you." Alex said right away, not beating around the bush.

The expression of the shadow monarch shifted slightly at the mention of the soul jewel, this caused the shadows in the room to grow several times thicker almost instantly.

Alex’s eyes narrowed but he didn’t say anything or react.

"The soul jewel huh, then I guess I won’t be able to help you. Sorry that you had to waste your time," the shadow monarch said after calming down.

Alex remained calm even after hearing this.

"Are you unwilling to give it away, or is there a different reason?" He asked.

The shadow monarch looked at him, his pitch black eyes that resembled black holes showed no emotions as he said.

"Indeed, I once had it but it is no longer the case. I heard that you needed it to save someone, I would have given it to you had you come for it 70 years sooner."

Alex’s eyes flashed under his mask upon hearing this, he was getting a bad feeling after hearing the other party’s words.

"It’s exactly as you are thinking," the shadow monarch sighed before continuing. "I had a soul jewel in the past, it’s value was enough to make Saint mages fight for it.

Eventually, I was attacked by three Saints of the Dark Union while I was out one day, they had tailed me for years just to catch me at that moment.

While I managed to kill one and injure the other two, I wasn’t able to avoid injuries either. I managed to escape with my life but lost the soul jewel in the process, the soul jewel is currently in the hands of the Dark Union."

’So that’s how he got the injury that had made him disappear from the surface for years,’ Alex thought but his mind quickly registered the most important part of everything that the shadow monarch had said.

The soul jewel was with the Dark Union!