Chapter 481 - Opportunity

Upon entering the dungeon, she immediately pressed her palms against the wall in order to locate all of the monsters. As usual, they seemed to react to her presence and retreat to the final room.

"Tch, this again." Shiro frowned.

"What's wrong?" Nan Tian asked curiously.

"Mn? Oh nothing much. It's just that after getting my Empress class, it seems like all the monsters are able to sense my presence and hide in the final room." Shiro replied with a shrug.

It wasn't exactly a problem since she could kill them all without any difficulties. However, it was just annoying to see the monsters constantly running away from her.

"Hmm… Maybe it's something innate? I'm not exactly sure about what being the empress means but it sounds quite important." Nan Tian theorised.

"Ah that reminds me, I haven't told you about what I know yet have I?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well do you know about race queens and the age of demons and gods?" Shiro asked.

"Hmm… I know a little about race queens but not this age of demons and gods." Nan Tian shook his head.

"I see… in that case then I'll explain to you what I know about queens first. Think of it as a makeshift hive mind. The power of the race is partially determined by their queen. With a strong queen, the members of that race receive a boost in power. Imagine if spirits were marked as a power level of 5 when they were queenless. After I became a queen, they would have been upgraded to a power level of 7 or higher. Of course, that's all just theories since for all I know, they might not have received noticeable upgrades after I became queen." Shiro explained.

"Hmm… I see, so in a way, you're all linked by an innate network of sorts." Nan Tian nodded.

"Yup. And as for the age of demons and gods, all I know is that it is not good for us. As the name suggests, demons and gods will roam the land with man. Queens of different races will arrive with their people and claim land for themselves. Humans will have the toughest time as they would be suppressed around every corner. One of the queens has already arrived and told me to be careful as a fellow queen. Do you know about the incident at Mount Fuji?"

"Yes I do."

"That's the queens doing. She was apparently placing an anchor of sorts. I don't know what it does but I can only guess that it had something to do with their path to our world. Not only that, our world is apparently a 'garden' of sorts. The empress told me that we're a part of the later batches and if we fail to survive the age of demons and gods in order to become the main home, the consequences would be quite dire. And by dire, I mean our world will be eliminated."

". . ." Listening to her explanation, Nan Tian frowned before staying silent.

Understanding the seriousness of the situation, he started to think about what he could do with the resources he could access in the sect.

Seeing Nan Tian think about the situation with a serious expression, Shiro shook her head with a soft smile before walking through the dungeon. She was going to allow the monsters enough time to gather together into one spot before she eliminated all of them in one go.

"Shiro." Nan Tian called out as she glanced back.

"Mn? What is it."

"I think one of our biggest steps right now is to eliminate the black monarchy since they might be trying to speed up this process. In my time within the group, there were always preparations to summon something or rather, someone. It's also in the black monarchy that I learned about race queens so I think they're trying to summon one of the queens. As for which queen, I'm not too sure since I was not an important member when I was working with them. However, if we allow them to continue, they may just summon more queens ahead of time." Nan Tian said with a frown.

"Hmm… that is quite bad. But eliminating the black monarchy is quite difficult from what I know. With hidden branches all over the world, it's hard to pinpoint all of them." Shiro sighed.

"Indeed. I think the best course of action right now is to probably send out a warning of sorts and tell everyone to get stronger. Maybe get a famous oracle to do a divinity to see the future." Nan Tian suggested.

"Mn, that would work. I'll have to rely on you for that though since my and my party aren't exactly well known. If anything, I can get Keiko to make a public announcement too." Shiro nodded her head.

"Can't you use the Asakura family name? After all, you are still their eldest miss." Nan Tian reminded.

"Oh right, that's also true." Shiro nodded.

While she may have 'fused' with Kuromi in a way, she still needed some time to fully get used to the situation.

After all, she was given her memories rather than merging together. To put it in a grim way, it's like they've just killed Kuromi in order to pass Shiro her memories and that was not something she wanted to think about.

"Speaking of which, I do have to ask that you're pretty chill despite knowing that I basically took over Kuromi's body." Shio raised her eyebrows.

"Well you did say that you're the same person in one sense did you not? Plus, I took an interest in your before even knowing you were Kuromi so the fact that you were also my saviour added more points I suppose." Nan Tian smiled.

"I see, makes sense. Just know that you don't have to act all meek in front of me ok? Other people will think of you as a push over if you're meek." Shiro chuckled while making her way down the corridor.

"Would you rather me be assertive then?" Nan Tian asked while flickering in front of her so that she bumped her nose against his chest.

"Not like this dipsh*t. My nose is sensitive ok?" Shiro frowned while rubbing her nose.

"Just be yourself or something. As a high level person, I'm sure you don't like taking orders so just go on your own whims. As long as you don't go past my bottom line, I'm pretty fine with it."

"What if I like listening to you? It reminds me of my childhood days in a way." Nan Tian chuckled while stepping aside.

"Just don't be a masochist and I'll be ok. I'm not exactly one for liking a masochist's company." Shiro shrugged.

"Hm… I see. Then how about romance with a side of childhood friend?" Nan Tian asked while rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Whatever. But you know what, since we're walking to the final room and we've got f*ck all to do, I'll give you a chance. Try to tug my heartstrings or something. Entertain me for now." Shiro grinned.

"Rather sudden no?"

"Opportunities don't tell you of their arrival now do they? I'll give you 10 seconds~" Shiro laughed.

Hearing that there are only 10 seconds for him to impress Shiro, Nan Tian reached into his inventory and pulled out an old coat of sorts.

Seeing the coat, Shiro immediately paused in her footsteps as she recognised it.

"Damn, well aren't you smooth. You've actually kept the coat I gave you back when you were injured as a kid." Shiro raised her eyebrows in surprise. 

"Yup. I had kept this since it was the first gift I had ever received from you that wasn't a consumable. This coat helped me keep warm and carry on during my childhood so it's only natural that I'll keep it." Nan Tian chuckled while storing the coat back in his inventory.

"So did that tug your heartstrings?" He asked with a smile.

"Nope~" Shiro replied while sticking her tongue out in a joking manner.

"If anything, you gave me a slightly better impression of you. Plus, even if you tugged my heartstrings, I don't plan on going into a relationship anytime soon ya know. Not exactly the best thing to focus on when the end of the world is coming. Why do you think I don't talk to Lyrica about it?" Shiro said while walking past him.

"Hell, I haven't even told her that I'm technically her aunt since her mother was my friend. Now THAT would be awkward." She shrugged.

"Damn, giving me false hope of tugging your heartstrings when you don't plan on a relationship. How cruel." Nan Tian pretended to be sad but the humour in his eyes gave his act away.

"Pft well get used to it. I'm a cruel maiden after all. Displease me and you might find an ice spike trying to take away something precious from you." Shiro grinned while making an ice spike in her hand.

Remembering her infamous nickname in New York, Nan Tian shivered for a moment before calming himself.

Thankfully, it seemed like he's gotten rid of his bad image in her mind so that he won't be on the end of the ice spike anytime soon.

'Hopefully, it stays that way.' He thought to himself while they made their way to the final room.