Chapter 339 Title Undecided

'Should I say as expected of the 'Third Sword' of the Empire?'

Evan shook his head with a wry smile as he remembered the status update the Duke gave him.

'Apparently, no attacks on anything large enough to become a 'City' had succeeded after that first one, with only smaller towns on the outskirts of counties falling prey to the undead hordes.

But even that is being reduced as the Church of Artemisia's Paladins have been wiping them out in the process of making their way over here.

Way to go Artemisia!'

[The goddess 'Artemisia' puffs her chest in pride with a smug look on her face.]

"Pfft!"

The indirect message that appeared in front of him made Evan burst into laughter, barely managing to stop himself from spilling his wine as he imagined the figure of the goddess taking the actions the indirect message said she was.

[The goddess 'Artemisia' glares at a certain hero with displeasure.]

"...fine, I'd stop laughing, okay?"

Evan refilled his glass with one hand as he spoke while the other went into his inventory and pulled out a map of the Cheverton Duchy which he placed on the table in front of him.

"Okay…so using Bultom as a centre point; we arrived in Cheverton from the east side, went all the way north, then went back down south to Yelcyne, before finally moving northbound towards Bultom.

From what the Duke told me, the simultaneous assault hit the counties west of Bultom, with the two cities that fell being in the Northwest.

Paglad and Saunau are the two cities that fell and so far, they haven't been retaken.

Apparently, the scouts he sent reported that Paglad had way too many grandmaster-level undead with tens of thousands of lesser undead.

As the only player of Aidos Online in this world, I know that the reason why that is the case is because that's where Dullahan King Vazgan settled after he had been taken out of the Dungeon by Zacular.

As for Saunau, I bet that's where the Eighth Finger probably is, or at least, that's where there's the highest number of Senior Demonic Hand Members.

The level 300 kind."

The boy rubbed his hairless chin with a pensive look on his face as he looked at the maps once more while repeatedly tapping the north-western part of Bultom.

"These here, are the 'Front Lines' of this attack.

And Vazgan is definitely going to use this route through the Savannas in between the Bultom County and this last traitor's county up north."

Evan remembered the first set of evacuations that the group carried out after they successfully defended a small town from an undead horde, joining in with another evacuating town and spending the next three days travelling to a city that was quite the distance from the capital city where the traitorous Viscount was.

"So, the Eighth Finger hit the west with a sizable success, then tried his luck on the east while we were up north and failed, then resorted to dealing with smaller outskirt towns and villages to chip at the Duke's forces.

I know some of the spots where he hid the undead from the game but it's impossible for me to recall all of them, plus it's possible that he may have hidden them somewhere else so I'm gonna have to get the correct locations from Faerora tomorrow.

The problem is the magic binding contract on her that prevents her from talking."

[The goddess 'Artemisia' says she can help with that.]

"You sure? The last time you did something related to a contract, you went offline for a while.

Come to think of it, did you break a restriction or something?"

[The goddess 'Artemisia' says that she went 'offline' for another reason and not because she 'accidently flicked a bolt of magic power into Aidos that coincidentally modified the contract of a sealed High demon from another high-level world'.]

"Don't you think that's a bit too much of a coincidence?"

[The goddess 'Artemisia' says it was just a normal 'coincidence'.

She also states that she might just happen to descend into her vessel that's making her way over to a certain Dungeon City called Bultom and ascend back to her 'space' after leaving a one-time use artifact that's good at breaking magic binding contracts.]

"So basically, Amelie is the one bringing the tool I need?"

[Basically.]

Evan nodded to himself before turning his gaze towards his feet as a familiar black Van cat climbed out of his shadow, and dashed into the room to pick up a carton of milk. The cat then ran back to the balcony, before jumping onto the other collapsible chair beside Evan and opening the milk to drink.

[…?]

"…You just went on and made yourself comfortable so casually."

The boy ruffled the cat's hair while speaking with a chuckle, with the door opening right after as another cat made her way into the room.

[Master…sleepy…]

Kayla casually climbed up to the couch and returned to her human form, dozing off less than a minute later as Evan sighed and shook his head while covering her with a blanket.

"Come to think of it. Kuro, you're supposed to be Kayla's guardian, right?"

[Yes.]

"Then why are you a shadow spirit if you're the guardian of the great lightning spirit?"

[Spirit Guardians do not necessarily need to be of the same element as the spirit they are guarding.]

"For real? So, Undine can have like a fire spirit as her guardian?"

[Basically.

However, I believe that there are other factors in play that I do not know of.

In Lady Kayla's case, I guess our personalities were taken into account. After all, with Lady Kayla's bright, energetic and slightly hedonistic personality, someone calmer and more on the reserved side would be needed to rein her in.]

"Reining her in, huh?"

Evan repeated the spirit's words as he walked back to his seat and sat down, before asking another question.

"Do you receive any buffs for it?"

[My strength is increased when fighting alongside the Lady, and my restraining and movement-type abilities work more efficiently on her.]

"Wait…what?"

[Which part surprises you, the strength increase or the efficiency increase?]

"Obviously the latter!"

Kuro scratched his chin with his paws while twirling his tail in the air as he further explained.

[In the event that Lady Kayla is in danger and I need to take her out of the danger zone, but she refuses to leave, an increased efficiency of my restraining and movement-type skills would allow me to easily hold her down and forcefully teleport her out of the area, even if she actively resists the teleportation.

She may not know it but it is almost impossible for her to resist me teleporting her away.]

"Isn't that kind of bad for her?"

[If you are considering the possibility that I may betray her and teleport her to a place where she would be in danger then that is not possible.

As far as I possess that 'Spirit Guardian' title I cannot do so.

And if I lose said title, my ability efficiency on her goes along with it.]

"Spirit Guardian, huh?"

Evan echoed the spirit's title to himself before turning to the side and appraising the milk-drinking cat.

|Name- Kuro

Race- Spirit

Gender-Male

Level- 230

Existence Level - Master (Intermediate)

Titles- Middle-Rank Spirit, Great Spirit's Guardian

Class - Shadow Controller

Health – B-

Energy - B-

Strength – B-

Agility – B

Durability – B-

Intelligence - C+

Condition- Normal

Magic Tiers- Shadow Tier 2, Light-Shadow Tier 2

Skills- Shadow Movement, Shadow Claw, Shadow Manipulation, Shadow Magic. (Extreme)

Unique Skills- Brightest Shadow. |