Chapter 574 Gaining information about the status quo
'This is some low-level void manipulation, right? Using non-attributed magic power…'
Such a thought passed his mind momentarily, but he quickly dismissed it and refocused on the other three Senior Members who were looking at him with gazes filled with shock and fear.
He blinked and reappeared between the bleeding Earth user and the wind user who seemed like he was preparing to flee, the clinking sound of chains following his movements as they were instantly ensnared with his Everlasting Chains.
"Ice Nova."
Evan called out, using his skill to enable the spell's instantaneous casting.
A blinding flash of light was released, disorienting the senses of the earth and wind users, and when coupled with the everlasting chains binding them and draining their magic power, they were powerless to resist the might of the ice waves that surged forward omnidirectionally in the same instant.
By the time the light died down, both of them, as well as the flame user were now encased in fifty feet high chunks of spiked and jagged ice.
The surrounding temperature plummeted rapidly, down to somewhere within the range of -5 and +5 degrees Celsius, in contrast to the heat that filled the area due to the woman's flaming claymore.
"Shatter."
As he gave the command, all the large ice chunks simultaneously shattered into tiny shards of ice, along with the bodies of the earth and wind users frozen within them.
He turned around and moved towards the flame-using woman, grabbing her frozen arm and breaking her wrist off.
[Master, you're not done here?]
Kayla spoke as she reappeared beside him, her body still crackling with residual flame energy from the massive Electroflame she had used to obliterate the Mid-Ranking members of the Demonic Hand she fought.
"I just finished. All that's left is to get information from her."
As he spoke, he thawed the ice freezing the woman and let her body fall onto the ground. Her immediate reaction was a piercing shriek, her voice echoing with the agony of a severed wrist.
'I see…she was not frozen completely like the other two because of her flames, so she felt the pain, huh?'
A part of Evan pitied her but the rest of him was busy browsing through the memories of the previous Second Hero that he possessed, more specifically, his repository of methods or extracting information.
'I see…this would be good.'
With that thought, he reached out and grabbed her hair, forcibly raising her head and making her meet with his gaze.
Cold, frigid air oozed from his hands, slowly seeping into her skin and covering her skull bit by bit, while he used his golden chains to wrap around her legs to pin her to the ground.
'Master's chains resemble the chains of causality to a frightening degree.'
Kayla had that thought as she looked at the golden 'Everlasting Chains' before turning her head away completely as she didn't care to see how Evan planned to 'interrogate' the unfortunate Senior Member.
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"I see, so everything is basically the way I had assumed.
Kethryllia activated the spell in response to the dungeon breaking. Because Princess Malaya is coming over, they'd do a sweep of the city for monsters and end up finding the nodes she used to spread the spell's range and make it impossible for Legendary Levels and below to be able to enter."
Evan muttered to himself as he sat on a chair with a glass of chilled strawberry juice in his hands. Sitting on his lap was his contracted spirit, Kayla, who also had a similar glass in her hands and was sipping it silently.
On the floor not too far away from them was the half-dead, chained-up Demonic Hand Seventh Division Senior Member who was halfway to entering a vegetative state.
"Maude is in the dungeon, trying to figure out why the Lizard Lord is losing power.
And now Kethryllia is probably with her, given that she apparently disappeared with Thagol after activating the World Isolation Barrier."
He placed his hand on his chin and spoke with a pensive look on his face, trying to think about where Kethryllia could possibly be if she was not in the dungeon.
"If she's in the dungeon, then us going inside there would be offering ourselves to our deaths.
Mind telling me if she's there, Artemisia?"
[The goddess 'Artemisia' says there is only one Demonic Hand executive in the 'Lair of the Lizard Lord'.]
"So, no Kethryllia then. That's good as we'd only have to face Maude, someone I can easily beat on my own if I use Blessing of Destruction and Limit Break.
But that's bad, as it means the location of the strongest person within this barrier is unknown…"
[What if she's not inside the barrier?]
Kayla asked that question after finishing her drink and dropping the glass onto her lap, with Evan's eyes widening as he began considering that possibility and what it entailed.
"If Kethryllia is not inside the barrier, then there are very few places she could possibly be. And none of them are good."
The young hero picked up her glass and refilled her juice as he replied. He momentarily considered asking Artemisia but the moment he thought that, the goddess already told him that Kethryllia's circumstances were currently a bit special and that she could not tell him her whereabouts.
"The heck?"
[The goddess 'Artemisia' says you should think about all you know of the Demonic Hand Executive in question and consider the 'Worst Case Scenario.']
Evan did as she said and it didn't take him long to figure it out, with his expression darkening.
"…no fucking way!!
'That person' should not have any reason to be on the Alpha Continent! It's not even remotely close to the time for the Plan for Tarse, and the Master of Dragondune is still missing!
Most importantly, they are still trying to create 'that technique'…the fact that Griselda's teleportation had interference is proof of that!"
[Calm down, Master.]
Kayla held up her hands and grabbed the sides of Evan's face as she spoke. She didn't know exactly what it was Evan just figured out, but she was sure losing his cool wasn't going to make things any better.
"Yeah…it won't make the situation better."
The boy downed the contents of his glass and tossed it into his inventory, lifting Kayla from his lap before getting to his feet and infusing his hands with ice energy.
He then pressed his palms to his cheeks and took a few deep breaths.
"How long do we have till the Level 400 monsters start coming out?"
[The goddess 'Artemisia' says due to the number of floors with Level 200s and 300s, you should still have close to an hour left before Level 400s start surfacing.]
"That's good to hear."
Evan walked up to the Senior Member on the floor and used his skill to encase her body in a coffin of ice which he then shattered into frozen particles right after.
"Oh…Artemisia. Better make sure Adaptive Evolution does not steal all my accumulating experience points.
When we're done here…I expect to be at least Level 400, okay?"
[The goddess 'Artemisia' silently looks to the side while whistling suspiciously.]
[The 'Eternal of Time and Destruction' holds his sides while 'laughing in Level 300'.]
"Oy! What's that supposed to mean?!"
He used this little interaction to shift his mind from the possibility that one of the strongest beings existing on the planet Aidos was making their way over to Lacertilia as they spoke, instead choosing to focus on dealing with the 'Lizard Lord' first.
? ? ?
[…and that's about it.]
Kuro finished narrating the contents of Evan's conversation with Kayla and Artemisia just now to Eliza who was wiping off the small drop of green blood that had gotten onto her face while she moved through the city killing monsters.
"He did not say anything about exactly who 'that person' Is supposed to be?"
[None at all.]
The Shadow Spirit shook his head as he spoke, directly repeating the same answer that Kayla had given him.
"I see…"
Eliza muttered lightly before turning her gaze in the direction of one of the monsters playing dead and creating an ice projectile to truly end its life.
'You're watching, right? goddess Artemisia. Mind telling me the current status of that thing?'
For a moment after Eliza thought that, there was silence. And then right after, a reply came.
[The goddess 'Artemisia' says 1%. She further states that what you were just informed about was simply Evan's genuine worry given how bad he believes the situation to be.]
Just as she was about to ask how bad Evan thought things were, another diaphanous message board appeared in her field of vision. However, the moment she set her eyes on it, the contents of the message appeared directly in her head without her having to read them.
[The goddess 'Artemisia' says that a Disaster Shelter exactly 2.4 km from your position has just been sabotaged by Demonic Hand members. She requests you go to the aid of the civilians and combatants there.]
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om