Chapter 149: Victor’s Global Intelligence Briefing

The subterranean war room three floors beneath Command Bunker Alpha smelled of cold concrete, stale tobacco smoke, and the faint, ozone tang of high-frequency encryption gear.

At the center of the room, a wide tactical table constructed from cold-rolled steel plate supported a glowing holographic projection.

The digital map did not focus on the fifty-mile demarcation line or the grey waters of the Nero Trench. It was zoomed out across two continents, highlighting two glowing crimson nodes: one situated deep within the granite roots of the Swiss Alps near Zurich, and the other buried three hundred feet beneath the industrial silt of Tokyo Bay.

Boss Victor stood at the head of the table, his hard hat resting beside a steaming mug of black coffee, a thick brass pointer held in his scarred right hand.

Beside him, Chief Quartermaster Miller adjusted his wire-rimmed spectacles, sorting a stack of intercepted bank ledgers and custom clearance manifests stamped with the gold seals of the World Hunter Federation.

Renan sat in a heavy leather chair at the foot of the table, his woolen coat open at his collar, his pale fingers resting loosely over his knee.

Behind his shoulder, Shadow Knight Arthur stood motionless in the dim light, his gauntleted hand resting against the pommel of his claymore, his visor reflecting the crimson glow of the holographic nodes.

"The harbors in Sector Zero are running at maximum capacity, Sovereign," Victor began, his rough voice rasping through the quiet room as he tapped the pointer against the map. "With three thousand shadow dockhands running the portal cranes, we cleared eighty-four merchant freighters in eleven hours. The grain silos in District Four are full, the fuel tanks in District Three are topped off, and the local market has enough flour to feed three million civilians through the spring."

Victor paused, taking a long, slow drag from his half-smoked cigar before exhaling a thick cloud of blue smoke toward the ceiling.

"But the paper war outside our waters is getting uglier by the hour," Victor continued, his expression hardening into dark, bitter lines. "Two hours ago, the Swiss Banking Consortium formally ratified the Alpine Containment Act. They aren’t just revoking maritime insurance anymore. They have placed a forty-billion-dollar bounty on your head, cleared through three offshore clearinghouses in Liechtenstein."

A blue holographic projection lit up at the side of the table, displaying the hooded silhouette of Sylas, streaming live through an encrypted satellite relay from a safehouse in Marseilles.

"The bounty is already active, Sovereign," Sylas’s quiet, whispered voice emerged from the speaker, laced with atmospheric static. "Three regional European hunter guilds, the Alpine Sentinels, the Rhine Ironclad, and the Italian Vanguard, have mobilized eighteen hundred high-tier mercenaries along the border passes. They are seizing every unmarked truck and container barge attempting to move raw mana-ores out of Marseilles."

Renan did not shift in his chair. His violet eyes remained fixed on the glowing crimson node over Zurich.

"They are trying to cut the supply line before the cores reach our sea," Renan noted, his tone flat, unhurried, and devoid of surprise.

"Exactly," Victor grunted, slamming his brass pointer onto the steel table with a sharp, echoing clatter. "Van Houten and his bankers know they can’t sink Vanguard-Zero without losing another fleet. So they are trying to starve the black market that feeds us. If the European syndicates can’t move their contraband to our ships, the profit margin vanishes, and the Greek freighters stop coming."

Victor turned his pointer toward the first glowing node buried under the Swiss Alps.

"Which brings us to the actual meat on the bone," Victor said, his eyes narrowing with a dark, predatory glint. "This is Zurich Vault Number Zero."

The holographic map zoomed inward, rendering a detailed three-dimensional architectural schematic of a massive underground complex excavated six hundred feet beneath a mountain of solid alpine granite.

"It isn’t a bank vault in the traditional sense," Miller chimed in, holding up a set of stolen blueprints. "Vault Number Zero was constructed thirty years ago by the Swiss Banking Consortium to store unregistered, high-purity mana minerals harvested from illegal rifts across Africa and Eastern Europe. It operates completely outside the jurisdiction of the World Hunter Council."

Miller pointed a trembling finger at the central chamber of the schematic.

"According to intercepted customs manifests, Vault Zero currently holds over ten thousand metric tons of unrefined Tier-S mana-ores, four thousand preserved monster cores, and seventy billion dollars in physical bullion used to settle off-the-ledger contracts for international guilds," Miller explained, his voice shaking slightly at the sheer scale of the numbers. "The entire facility is guarded by a triple-layered anti-spatial barrier and two hundred automated defense turrets powered by an independent geothermal core."

Renan looked at the glowing blue lines of the mountain vault, a faint, cold smile touching the corner of his lips.

"Ten thousand tons of high-purity ore," Renan murmured. "That is enough raw mana to power the peninsula’s defense grid for five years."

"And that is only half the ledger, Sovereign," Victor added, shifting his pointer to the second crimson node flickering over the Japanese coast. "Look at Tokyo Bay."

The projection shifted across the Pacific, revealing a massive submerged concrete silo constructed within the deep trench bedrock beneath the industrial piers of Chiba.

"The Japanese Consortium’s Hidden Vault," Victor reported, tapping the submerged silo. "While Zurich stores the minerals, Tokyo stores the biomass. Following the Pacific Gate outbreaks five years ago, the Japanese government secretly harvested and preserved the complete skeletal remains and core marrow of seven Tier-SS Sea-Drakes and over ten thousand abyssal carcasses. They kept it hidden from the World Council to avoid international tax quotas."

Sylas’s voice crackled through the speaker once more. "The Tokyo vault is scheduled for a security audit next month, Sovereign. If we strike Zurich first, the Japanese Consortium will place their deep-water silo under total military lockdown."

The room fell quiet once again, save for the hum of the cooling fans inside the tactical projector.

Boss Victor leaned his thick forearms against the table, his bloodshot eyes staring directly into Renan’s violet pupils.

"So here is the situation, Sovereign," Victor said, his voice dropping into a low, gravelly rasp. "The bankers in Switzerland think they are sitting behind six hundred feet of granite with forty billion dollars in bounty papers protecting their doors. The Japanese consortia think their sea-drake skeletons are safe three hundred feet under salt water. They are using those two vaults as the financial engine to choke Sector Zero to death."

Renan slowly stood up from his chair, his dark woolen coat falling smoothly to his boots.

He walked to the edge of the tactical table, resting his pale hand against the cold steel surface right over the glowing schematic of Zurich Vault Number Zero.

Through his palm, a thin, silver-violet thread of Sovereign mana seeped into the projector, causing the red holographic mountain to pulse with dark, unstable light.

"They built their vaults out of granite and sea mud, Victor," Renan spoke, his voice quiet, cold, and carrying the absolute, unyielding authority of a monarch surveying his next campaign. "They believe that because our sea is wide, our shadow cannot cross their mountains."

Arthur stepped forward, his gauntleted hand tightening around his sword hilt. "Your orders, Sovereign?"

Renan looked up at the holographic map, his violet eyes locking onto the two glowing nodes that represented the financial heartbeat of the global elite.

"Tell Sylas to secure the safehouse in Marseilles," Renan commanded, his voice echoing through the subterranean bunker with surgical precision. "Have Vance keep five Iron Colossus Giants concealed inside the ballast holds of the Panagiotis. We are not going to wait for their guilds to reach our coast."

Victor’s rough face broke into a broad, yellow-toothed grin, his brass lighter snapping open in his fist with a sharp, metallic click.

"We are going to Switzerland, Sovereign?" Victor asked, his thumb flicking the spark wheel to ignite a bright yellow flame.

Renan turned toward the door leading to the upper staging vaults, his dark coat sweeping behind his heels as Shadow Knight Arthur fell into step two paces behind him.

"We are going to withdraw our interest from their vault, Victor," Renan answered without looking back. "And then we are going to burn the bank."