Chapter 70: THE LAST LINE AT THE APEX BUNKER

The heavy, metallic silence inside the deepest corridor of Vault Level 4—two hundred meters beneath the surface of Capital Sector 1—was absolute.

The air here was freezing, chilled by emergency liquid-nitrogen pipes that hummed behind forty-inch walls of spell-reinforced adamantite. In front of the massive, glowing golden doors of the Presidency Apex Bunker stood the final member of the Three Pillars of the Nation: Archmage Vane, the country’s undisputed apex SS-Rank Elementalist.

Vane was an ancient man with a long silver beard, wearing ornate, rune-embroidered silk robes that hovered slightly off the ground. In his right hand, he held the Staff of the Primordial Element—a Tier-EX Ancient Relic carved from the bone of an abyssal leviathan, topped with a swirling orb of condensed elemental plasma.

Standing behind Vane were thirty surviving high-tier mages of the Association’s Enforcer Battalion, their hands trembling as they maintained three overlapping spell-circles around the golden bunker entrance.

"Maintain the chant!" Archmage Vane’s gravelly, echoing voice boomed through the freezing hall. His pale white eyes flared with brilliant, multicolored mana. "The President is inside the chamber, finalizing the synchronization protocol with the World Core Relic! We only need to buy ten more minutes! If the Sovereign steps into this corridor, unleash the Elemental Singularity!"

"Archmage Vane..." a young enforcer mage whimpered, cold sweat freezing on his cheeks. "Sensors show General Marcus’s mana signature was completely extinguished three minutes ago... and his physical core was extracted into a shadow entity!"

"Silence!" Vane roared, slamming his leviathan staff onto the floor. A shockwave of frost, searing fire, and crackling blue lightning exploded outward, scorching the metal walls. "Marcus was a physical brawler who relied on iron and bone! I command the four primordial elements! The Sovereign cannot bypass an SS-Rank elemental domain in a closed space!"

BOOOOOOOOOM!

Before Vane could finish his declaration, the massive adamantite blast doors at the eastern end of the hall didn’t just open—they were violently torn off their tracks and sent flying through the freezing corridor like flying steel guillotine blades!

The thirty enforcer mages shrieked in terror as the heavy doors smashed into the side walls, instantly crushing the automated defense turrets into flat metallic scrap.

Out from the dark smoke stepped Renan.

His long black coat trailed gracefully over the frost-covered floor, and his black Monarch armor pulsed with a thick, golden-and-black aura that radiated forty-seven thousand two hundred physical stat points.

Flanking him on his left and right were the dark spectral forms of the two fallen Pillars: Shadow Commander Drake (Rank-EX Arcane Enforcer) and Shadow Commander Marcus (Rank-EX Sovereign Vanguard), their glowing golden visors burning with absolute, lethal loyalty to their new master. Behind them, Shadow General Ignis and three thousand heavy Shadow Knights filed into the narrow corridor in terrifying, disciplined silence.

[Target Profile: Vault Level 4 Defense Commander]

Identity: Archmage Vane (SS-Rank Elementalist / Three Pillars)

Active Relic: ’Staff of the Primordial Element’ (Tier-EX Ancient Relic)

Active Domain: ’Elemental Singularity’ (Combines Fire, Frost, Lightning, & Wind)

Current Sovereign Physical Stat Total: 47,200 Points!

Archmage Vane stared at the dark phantom forms of his former comrades standing beside Renan, his knuckles turning white around his staff as horror and pure rage filled his aged face.

"Drake... Marcus..." Vane choked out, his voice shaking with furious disbelief. "You turned the country’s proudest guardians into his personal shadow hounds!"

"They were bound by a corrupt system that traded human lives for political power," Renan said softly, his layered, double-toned voice echoing down the narrow corridor with a density that caused the liquid-nitrogen pipes along the ceiling to burst and leak white freezing mist. "I simply freed them from their chains."

Renan took a single, deliberate step forward. The frost on the floor instantly vaporized into steam under the sheer heat of his physical aura.

"Step aside, Vane," Renan commanded, his glowing golden eyes locking onto the elderly Archmage. "Your President is hiding behind a golden door, waiting for an ancient relic to save him from his judgment. You do not need to die in his tomb."

"Die in his tomb?!" Vane screamed, raising his leviathan staff high into the air as all four primordial elements erupted around his body in a violent, multi-colored hurricane! "I spent fifty years building the foundation of the Hunter Association! I will not let a rogue outcast destroy our legacy! Elemental Singularity — Absolute Destruction!"

WHOOOOOOOOSH!

The entire two-hundred-meter corridor transformed into an apocalyptic nightmare of chaotic magic. A fifty-foot vortex of superheated dragon-fire, freezing absolute-zero ice spears, piercing air blades, and million-volt plasma lightning swept down the narrow hall straight toward Renan, threatening to disintegrate every atom in its path!

Renan didn’t draw a blade. He didn’t order Shadow Commander Marcus to deploy his dark tower shield.

Instead, Renan simply raised his gloved left hand, extending his palm forward while taking another step into the swirling inferno.

[Skill Activated: ’Sovereign’s Absolute Mana Nullification’]

Target Area: Vault Level 4 Corridor (100m Radius)

Action: Forced Mana Dissolution & Elemental Neutralization

SWIRL-CRACK!

A wave of pure, pitch-black Monarch miasma erupted from Renan’s palm like a hungry black hole. The moment the roaring hurricane of fire, ice, wind, and lightning touched the dark miasma, the spells didn’t explode—they simply flickered, dissolved, and vanished into thin air!

The temperature in the corridor instantly normalized. The blinding multi-colored lights died down, leaving only Archmage Vane standing forty paces away, gasping for breath, his leviathan staff flickering with weak, dying embers.

"N-No... impossible..." Vane stammered, dropping to one knee as cold sweat poured down his face. "An SS-Rank elemental singularity... erased with a single palm?!"

Renan materialized directly in front of Vane in a fraction of a millisecond, stepping out from the shadows.

He reached down, his gloved fingers wrapping firmly around Archmage Vane’s throat, lifting the aged SS-Rank Elementalist three feet off the ground as if he weighed nothing more than a feather.

"Your legacy was built on lies, Vane," Renan whispered coldly, his golden eyes glowing through the dark gap between them. "And lies burn easily."

CRACK!

With a swift, effortless twist of his wrist, Renan snapped Vane’s neck, extinguishing the mana core of the final member of the Three Pillars of the Nation.

Renan dropped the limp body onto the frost-covered floor, placing his gloved palm over Vane’s forehead as dark purple miasma erupted from his hand.

[Skill Activated: ’Absolute Corpse Extraction’]

Target: Archmage Vane (SS-Rank Elementalist / Three Pillars)

Processing Soul, Spell Knowledge, & Primordial Element Core...

WHOOSH!

A brilliant surge of dark violet lightning shot from Renan’s palm. The body of Archmage Vane dissolved into black ash as a tall, shadowy phantom clad in dark rune-embroidered robes and holding a spectral leviathan staff rose from the floor, dropping onto both knees and bowing its head in absolute submission before Renan.

[Extraction Successful!]

[New Entity Acquired: Shadow Commander ’Vane’ (Rank-EX / Primordial Archmage)]

+400 Strength | +600 Agility | +800 Vitality | +2,800 Mana

[New Permanent Physical Stat Total: 50,000 Points!]

Renan felt the massive, overwhelming surge of stat points cross the monumental 50,000-point threshold! Golden Monarch runes flared visibly across his neck, arms, and chest, and his core expanded with a density of power that caused the solid granite bedrock of Vault Level 4 to tremble violently.

Renan turned his golden eyes toward the final, heavy golden doors of the Presidency Apex Bunker.

With all Three Pillars of the Nation executed and extracted into his Shadow Commanders, only one person remained.

Renan raised his gloved fist, pulling it back as dark golden Monarch mana spiraled violently around his arm.

"President James," Renan whispered, his double-toned voice echoing through the heavy golden door. "Your guardians are mine. Open the door."