Rui and Kane returned to the dungeon, however, this time they returned to the twelfth floor, rather than setting out to search for more floors. Furthermore, this time, they didn't use Void Step to mask their entry and exit into the Shionel Dungeon.
This was one of their public endeavors as Rui and Kane from the Kandrian Empire, not as the Voider. Furthermore, Rui did not use his sword or his pipe to paralyze or annihilate the inland Shionel taipans on the twelfth floor this time. Instead, he used his regular techniques instead.
"Huff…" He heaved a sigh as he wiped a bead of sweat. "Man, this job is so much harder when we're doing this normal Martial Squires. How do they even manage?"
"True," Kane sighed as he finally defeated a taipan himself after an extensive battle.
Doing this gave Rui perspective on what it was like for the average Martial Squire adventurer. It was moments like these that made him realize how detached from the norm he was.
He was working almost one hundred times slower than normal!
Normally he would just need to ignore all the inland taipans as he extracted all the ores in the area with Void Step, while occasionally rising up when Kane needed a break, during that time he would easily annihilate any serpents that attacked them having detected their presence. The sheer rate at which he normally extracted esoteric ore deposits was far lower than at his peak, although he was doing far better than any Martial Squire of his grade thanks to the fact that he had built extensive predictive models for the Shionel Taipans.
"What are you thinking about?" Kane asked, noticing Rui absorbed deep in thought.
"… You remember how I told you a long time ago before we set out to the Shionel Dungeon that it was quite likely that the Kandrian Empire would eventually put two and two together in regard to our operations?" Rui asked him.
"Yeah, what about it?"
"I think that time is not so far into the future," Rui replied.
"What makes you say that?"
"Well… A combination of predictions drawn from analyses, as well as a little sprinkle of intuition, I suppose,"
The recent event that had occurred on the fourteenth floor led him to believe that it had accelerated the inevitable event of the Martial Union coming to learn of the truth.
He had reason to believe this.
Simultaneously in the main branch of Deacon Industries, a rather historic gathering had taken place.
In a large magnificent hall in the foreign affairs wing, several dozen individuals had gathered. They wore lush and posh formal clothes, each bearing the insignia of a nation or a large conglomerate, or an independent organization.
"Ladies and gentlemen, representatives and delegates," Chairman Deacon stood before them, wearing the most ostentatious and extravagant attire his personal groomers could put together for the occasion. "Now that we have all gathered here, I would like to begin by thanking all of you for taking the time to accept my invitation. The matter that I wish to discuss with all of you today is one that affects all of us at the moment and one that I hope we can come to a resolution to come together and handle once and for all.
Although the various ambassadors, representatives, and leaders all had perfectly trained stoic expressions, the atmosphere had grown heavier. Such was the magnitude of the importance of the matter that they were going to be focusing on finding a way to collectively tackle it.
"Since the opening of the Shionel Dungeon, the supply of certain esoteric resources has spiked unimaginably. The reason for this, of course, is the many bounties that flow out of the dungeon every day. Each and every person has or represents a nation or a party that has a strong vested interest in procuring supplies from the Shionel Dungeon, for commercial or private use. And without exception, every single person here has been significantly hampered by the Voider since his operation."
None of them denied his words, mostly because they were undeniable. Nations that had deployed a huge number of Martial Squires to bring back large supplies of powerful and strategic esoteric resources. It was far less taxing to procure the esoteric supplies through the dungeon directly.
The reason for this was because the second they reached the hands of a third-party supplier, their cost was extremely high, despite the abundant supply. The reason for this was that as huge as the supply was, the demand was even greater. The list of nations, companies, and other organizations that needed these strategic and powerful esoteric resources was long, and not even the Shionel Dungeon could satisfy even a portion of the east-most section of the Panama Continent.
That was why it was exceedingly costly to procure esoteric supplies through the market compared to mining and harvesting ore deposits from the dungeon itself. That was the strategy that most nations, companies, and other organizations employed. They would either deploy private Martial Squires or act as patrons in the Shionel Confederation and gather a large number of Martial Squires through their patronage to supply them with the esoteric resources that they sought.
And that is what they did do until things went for the worse and the Martial Squires began supplying them with increasingly diminishing returns. What had been an incredibly fruitful venture in obtaining precious resources had now become an extremely expensive and losing venture.
The reason for this was because of the Voider, and Esosale Suppliers that suddenly began dominating the extraction of esoteric ore deposits to a level that was hardly imagination. None of them understood how and where the Esosale was extracting such gigantic amounts of esoteric resources. And it bode extremely badly for their businesses.
"However, that will change," He informed all of them with a confident smile. "We have obtained precious intelligence on the Voider, and I have strong reason to believe that, with our power pooled together, we can root him out and eliminate him."