Ruined City Saunau


    Unnamed County


    Cheverton Duchy


    April 20th


    Year 1052;


    "I see. Make preparations to have Faerora and Lensa handle this when they return."


    "Yes, Lord Vk."


    A man in a white mask replied to his lord with a light bow, before turning around to leave the room they were in.


    However, he hadn''t even taken a single step when the man suddenly clutched his chest and screamed out in pain.


    Both his ''Lord'' and the other people present in the room all revealed shocked expressions as they saw the man drop to his knees and cough out huge amounts of blood.


    "Wha-?!"


    "Sir Ifoumien!"


    "Methik?!"


    Both his colleagues and their subordinates eximed as some rushed towards him with one of them kneading his magic power and activating a spell.


    "ck Magic: Corrupted Recovery."


    A ck two-ringed magic circle manifested in front of their hand and under the copsed Methik''s feet, with the ck light washing over his whole body. Unfortunately, it did little to alleviate his pain or heal his wounds.


    "Just what on Aidos-?!"


    "All Senior Members stay back; the rest are dismissed."


    The voice of their ''Lord'' rang out, with most of the subordinates showing shocked expressions upon hearing it. However, they all instantly obeyed orders and vacated the room while casting worried nces at the masked man on the floor.


    "Lord Vk! This-"


    "I know."


    ''Lord Vk'' replied as he gazed at the wounded man on the floor with aplicated look in his eyes while calling out to someone internally.


    As he watched Methik''s skin from his arms turning paler and paler by the second, another humanoid figure emerged from the shadows beside him and spoke.


    "Don''t waste your energy on something so pointless.


    Your magic wouldn''t work.


    His soul is wounded, after all."


    The voice of the newly appearing figure had the ''Senior Members'' present turn towards him and greet him lightly with a bow.


    "Lord Zacr!"


    He dismissed their greetings and walked up to the copsed Methik, cing a hand on his back and muttering something as demonic runes shed across his palm.


    Almost instantly, Methik''s incessant coughing stopped and his skin stopped going pale. He spat out a bit of blood before forcing himself back to his feet with the help of his colleagues.


    "It''s only a temporary fix.


    You should take advantage of it and deal wi-Oh.


    Someone of your nature should be familiar with how to handle soul wounds, should you not?"


    "…Y-yes, I a-am.


    Thank you, Lord Zacr."


    The man only snorted in response to Methik''s thanks, with his body being wrapped in shadows and sinking into the ground in the next moment, vanishing just the same way he appeared.


    Methik didn''t care too much as he had expected this reaction, turning his gaze to the reason that Zacr had even bothered to help him before bowing lightly.


    "Thank you for your help, Lord Vk."


    "…


    Methik."


    "Yes, Lord Vk."


    "What happened?"


    "…"


    Lord Vk''s question left Methik silent for a moment. The gazes of all the other ''Senior Members'' present also turned towards the masked man as the light of curiosity shone within their eyes.


    As for the recipient of all these gazes, he only gritted his teeth silently before opening his mouth to give them a reply.


    "…. I…don''t know."


    "…What?


    …


    You don''t know?"


    The face of Lord Vk contorted as he unconsciously echoed Methik''s words, with his opal-coloured eyes glowing slightly.


    Methik didn''t let him ask another question as the masked man already began the exnation of why he ''didn''t know'' what happened.


    "I had sent out one of my autonomous corpse puppets to assist Faerora in her mission, and It confirmed she had indeed seeded in the first phase, verifying the appearance of the flesh golem moving towards the designated town.


    I then ordered the puppet to go back to the base where Faerora was supposed to be, however, the puppet reported to me that the town had been destroyed by ''something'' when it got there.


    There were traces of battle and corpses of Faerora''s subordinates discovered, but no trace of Faerora and/or Lensa.


    I had just ordered the puppet to go after the flesh golem to see if there were anyplications to the n, and that was thest order I could give before you summoned us here.


    However, just now, the puppet was destroyedpletely annihted."


    Lord Vk gazed at Methik in silence after hearing his exnation, rubbing his temples with his fingers as he asked.


    "Your ''Autonomous Corpse puppets''; they have your soul fragments within them which is why they are able to make decisions on their own, in the same manner that you yourself would.


    I also know that in the event that the puppet is destroyed, you only feel a small bacsh and the soul fragment is returned to you, along with the memories of everything the puppet experienced until its destruction.


    However, what you''re trying to tell me, is that this time, even the soul fragment was annihted?"


    "…Yes."


    "So, you have zero ideas of who or what could have taken out the puppet?"


    "…Unfortunately. Even the puppet with my contractor''s soul fragment was also annihted."


    Methik''s words left Lord Vk silent for a few moments as he contemted multiple possible scenarios in his head.


    ''The trap for the Duke hasn''t beenpleted yet…and now we have a potential enemy who is capable ofpletely annihting Methik''s puppets.


    I should assume that this person is capable of doing so because they can harm souls using some sort of skill or special magic.


    This makes things very tricky now.


    If they realised what that ''Methik'' was, then it''s possible that they may be able to discover the other ''Methik'' that we barely seeded in nting, as well as the others we nned to ce in the future for the trap for the Duke of Cheverton.''


    He held a hand to his chin with a pensive look on his face, sinking deeper into his thoughts as the room remained silent for a few minutes.


    ''I can''t bring our ns forward too much. However, with this new variable, things have to change.


    And with Methik Injured, the n to trap the Duke cannot work anymore.


    Tsk…''


    Lord Vk clicked his tongue in displeasure before turning to the senior members in front of him and saying.


    "We''re cancelling the ns for the Duke."


    "w-wha?


    L-lord Vk?!"


    "Silence, Methik.


    In your conditions, you and your contractor are in no state to proceed with the n.


    There''s also the possibility that your other puppets may be discovered."


    Methik fell silent when he heard his lord''s words, as they rang true to him. Lord Vk on the other hand, didn''t pause and continued with his words.


    "We''re bringing our ns forward by two-no, by one week.


    Also, Contact Vazgan and tell him to get himself ready to move in on Bultom sooner than nned.


    As for you, Methik. Go rest and see how much you can recover before the big day."


    Lord Vk stood up and looked out the window behind him as he concluded.


    "Go and carry out my orders, now."


    The senior members all bowed and left the room immediately without objection, moving to carry out the orders of their lord.