"The adventurer's guild master?"
"Yes."
"Cool."
After receiving his confirmation, he turned his attention back to Ralphie's status to see if the latter had any new skills.
|Name- Ralphie Thompson
Race-Human
Gender - Male
Age - 36
Level- 403
Existence Level - Grandmaster (Intermediate)
Titles- Fourth Sword of the Empire, Eris Dukedom's Knight Captain, One of the Ten Great Swordsmen.
Class- Ice Knight
Health – A+
Energy – A+
Strength – S-
Agility – A+
Durability –A+
Intelligence – A
Condition- Normal.
Magic Tiers- Ice Tier 4, Fire Tier 2.
Skills- Iron Wall, Ice Magic (High), Strong Arm, Ice-Fire, Cryo Explosion.
Unique Skills- Aura Storm. |
"Oh, you've gotten the Cryo Explosion skill already. Nice.
That'd be useful for dealing area of effect damage."
He spoke to himself before turning his gaze towards the Duke with his appraisal skill still active. Immediately, Charles's status was displayed in front of him.
|Name- Charles Cheverton
Race- Human
Gender - Male
Age - 44
Level- 427
Existence Level - Grandmaster (Intermediate)
Titles- Duke of the North, Third Sword of the Empire, One of the Ten Great Swordsmen, Duke of Cheverton Duchy.
Class - HydroElectro Spellsword
Health – S-
Energy - S-
Strength – S
Agility – S-
Durability – S-
Intelligence - S-
Condition- Normal
Magic Tiers- Water Tier 3, Lightning Tier 3.
Skills- Pressure, Raincutter, Survival Technique, Brilliant Lightning Rush, Whirling Steps.
Unique Skills- Zero Sword. |
'Seeing him, you wouldn't think this guy can pass for a skilled water magician at all.
Even so, it seems not even my concealment can mask my skill's activation from a Grandmaster, huh?'
While Evan was thinking that, Ralphie had gone over to Eliza and greeted her before making an apology she had never expected.
"You have had to deal with the Young Duke's antics for the past few months.
I offer both Apologies and Gratitude on behalf of the Duke."
"Ohh….no need to apologise.
I'm used to it so it doesn't really bother me all that much anymore."
Unlike the last time they had met, the battle priestess was much calmer while talking to Ralphie.
After a short discussion with the girl, Ralphie turned his gaze towards Pride in silence, earning a questioning glance from the high demon.
'If what the Princess said was true, then the reason why the Young Duke got us to go to that Dungeon was because of this woman, and he was in Osto because of her brother.'
Ralphie shook his head and turned back to Evan who just finished talking with the adventurer's guild master and Duke Charles.
Afterwards, with the exception of the Brigade Captain, the group made their way into the drawing room where they were served refreshments by the servants who quickly retreated and closed the doors behind them.
◇ ◇ ◇
The moment he saw the doors close, Evan took a sip of the cold juice placed in front of him and nodded to himself before speaking.
"Oh my, this is quite nice."
He then placed the glass down and turned his gaze towards Duke Charles and spoke.
"Now then, let's have a proper conversation."
"I had Laurene deliver a message to you that concerned this city's undead dungeons a few weeks ago, or rather, you probably heard when I said it to her.
Anyway, what happened on that front?"
Hearing this, both the Guild master and the Count's eyes widened slightly as they never expected that Evan was the reason why the Duke suddenly ordered the dungeon raid last month.
As for the Duke in question, he heaved a light sigh and shook his head before replying.
"Well…the dungeons were raided and undead were discovered. That's for sure."
Evan narrowed his eyes upon hearing the Duke's reply. Something about it didn't sound right to him.
"What's the catch?"
This time, however, it was the Adventurers guild master, a dark-haired and eyed half-beastkin woman named Dasyra who answered him.
"The strongest undead we discovered in the dungeon was barely level 100."
"Huh?
That doesn't make any sense, Bultom's dungeons accommodate monsters over level 250 within them."
"Exactly, that's why it was weird that the strongest undead we discovered were only level 100."
Evan clicked his tongue upon hearing the guild master's reply. To someone like him who was aware of all the major entities involved in the 'Dullahan Attack' that happened in the game, he could already guess who was responsible.
"So, all the undead were somehow moved out of the dungeons?"
Greed spoke up as he dropped the cup in his hands, earning nods of confirmation from both the Count and Dasyra, who wanted to say something else but Evan spoke up first.
"Zacular was here."
"Zac-who?"
"Zacular, the Eighth Finger's contractor."
Evan leaned back on the chair as he continued his words.
"The Eighth Finger himself is good at controlling undead, however, storing said undead isn't exactly his forte.
This is where his contractor comes in, that guy has an expansive space that's just like my inventory skill, one large enough to store undead numbering from hundreds of thousands to millions."
"Millions?!"
Dasyra let out an exclamation of surprise upon hearing this while the Duke frowned slightly. Pride and Eliza weren't too surprised as Evan had already informed them about this before but the ability to easily move such a large number of troops was still astonishing nonetheless.
"You didn't find anything above level 100 in all the dungeons with undead monsters?"
"Not a single one.
We haven't been able to find anything about how they disappeared, and the recent undead attacks on multiple towns and cities haven't given us time to properly investigate the issue as most of our manpower is occupied trying to prevent another simultaneous attack."
"Hmm?"
Hearing the talk about a simultaneous attack caught Evan's attention as he leaned forward and asked for more information. This time, the reply he received came from the Duke.
"Three weeks ago, more than ten towns and cities were simultaneously hit by waves of undead monsters, ranging from regular low-level zombies, Draugrs and ghouls, to grandmaster-level death knights, Dullahans and Liches.
The results of the attacks were…not exactly the best."
The Duke's words caused Evan's eyes to widen in shock, with the boy nearly dropping the glass that was in his hands.
Something similar had happened in the game; players called it the event that marked the beginning of the 'True Dullahan Attack'.
He had included information about it in his letter to Laurene and had told her to warn the Duke about it, however, from the Duke's tone, Evan realised defending didn't go so well.
'More importantly, Death Knights and Liches?! Enough to attack ten cities?
The fact that they showed up personally meant that the Eighth Finger moved in person!'
There was a reason why this Disaster was called the 'Dullahan attack' and not the 'Undead Attack'.
It was because most of the types of undead used by the Eighth Finger throughout the attack were Dullahans.
And also, because the main Boss of the Disaster, was the 'Dullahan King' Vazgan.
There were a few Death Knights here and there, along with some liches to aid in magic support but most of these other kinds of undead were part of the Eighth Finger's personal stash, so the fact that they had appeared and numbered enough to enable simultaneously assault ten towns and cities, meant that the Eighth Finger was moving in person.
'The damn bastard is most likely in Cheverton already!'
??
Note;
Concerning the levels of certain existences that would be mentioned throughout this arc.
Whenever an A rank adventurer is mentioned; the level of the A rank adventurer is within the range of 300-320 unless stated otherwise.
Whenever Grandmaster level undead are mentioned; the level of the undead in question is within the range of 300-310 unless stated otherwise.
Whenever Grandmaster level Military officers (Colonels or higher), Mages, Knights and Paladins are mentioned; their levels are within the ranges of 300-310 unless stated otherwise
Thanks for your understanding
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶