Fate Online: Shadow

While hiding beneath an underbrush, a call suddenly interrupted Shadow's train of thoughts.

"What is it?"

Shadow said in a whisper the moment the call connected.

[Have you heard what happened?] Solitary Tempest's voice sounded beside his ears.

[Something big had happened at the western side of the continent] the voice of Solitary Tempest sounded from the other side of the call.

Shadow raised an eyebrow as he realized that there seems to be a lot of events happening lately around the continent.

Shadow then asked, "What happened?"

From which Solitary Tempest replied, [Have you not been reading the forum? An undead army appeared at the Human Kingdom of Kalun two days ago]

"Kalun? An undead army? What the hell happened?" Shadow is confused for a moment as he doesn't have an impression of a kingdom that goes by the name of Kalun in the western continent.

In fact, he had been so busy by himself that he hadn't had the time to check about news of happenings around the continent.

From the other side of the call, Solitary Tempest couldn't help but roll her eyes and said, [It's a really small kingdom at the northwestern side of the continent and sandwich between the two large nations of Sunrise and Tigon]

[Because it was a small kingdom that relies on marine trade, they weren't able to stop the advance of the undead army, and now the entire kingdom fell and had been taken over by the undead, and a lot of people died with only a few thousand that barely managed to escape towards the Beastman Kingdom of Tigon]

"So, what's your point in telling me this babe?" Shadow said as he knows that the appearance of the undead army is not the worst thing that could happen, knowing that that the number one enemy of the entire continent hadn't even made their appearance yet, and at the same time, he doesn't know why Solitary Tempest is even telling him this when he's at the far end opposite side of the continent.

[Uhh, maybe because the undead army are members of the Zimura Church and followers of the Evil God Zimura, and they are also somewhat related with the Sea Tribes?] Solitary Tempest really wants to hit him on his shin right now.

Shadow's expression quickly changed when he heard that, because if the Sea Tribe is the most fearful enemy of the continent, then the Zimura Church is the most annoying of all as they are like cockroaches that wouldn't just die no matter how much you stomp on them, and that's not even considering the fact that they are able to replenish their numbers by raising the dead from the graveyards or from the dead during engagement between the living and the dead.

And at the same time, the Zimura Church is also somewhat connected with the Sea Tribe as their gods are considered siblings.

"Those forces would surely deal with them, and wouldn't there be an expedition quest for us players to deal with them by now?" replied Shadow, implying about those powerful forces like the Church of Freya and the Church of the Wild or those forces behind those six powerful people.

[Yeah, that is the weird part. Players based in the Tigon Kingdom and Sunrise Empire didn't receive a quest related to the undead army, even those players with high reputation didn't receive a single quest about it even though they personally asked about the event to the nobles and army officers they are close to, and instead, news was brought back from players who went to the border facing the fallen kingdom said that the place had instead become a forbidden zone, and the army that was stationed in there doubled in numbers] replied Solitary Tempest, as she was also surprised by what the heck are NPCs thinking.

"Really? Now, that's some interesting news" Shadow was quickly intrigued, as he and any other players who had studied the history of the continent would certainly know that every time those bastards from Zimura Church surfaces, they would quickly be suppressed and killed off the moment they appeared.

In fact, most of them were personally dealt with by the Sages or anyone equal to them because of the church relation to the Sea Tribe.

"What about the Church of Freya? Have there been any movements from them? They are the ones who extremely loathe those creatures from Zimura Church, so they certainly wouldn't waste the chance to cleanse those undead and increase their faith" Shadow asked when he remembered the Church of Freya.

[News from the players that joined the Church of Freya as Paladins is that the Pope hasn't made any orders to take care of the undead yet] Solitary Tempest said as she was also baffled by this news earlier.

"Hmmm, that certainly is weird. Okay, keep me updated babe. I don't have time to worry about other matters in the game right now" Shadow said.

[Alright, but I still think it's better for you to go back and develop your territory instead of wasting your time doing that by yourself, you should have already realized that the monsters are certainly getting stronger the deeper we go into the forest, what more when you reach the Wildlands? Anyway, take care, yeah?] Solitary Tempest said, trying to dissuade him from going further in this impossible to quest.

Of course, Shadow knows that this quest is truly impossible for him right now, but he wasn't dismayed in the least. If he was, then he wouldn't have been able to reach his current status back then.

'But I wonder what's happening though? I should ask Teacher when I decide to go back'

Shadow remained down on the underbush as he let the large group of Grey Orcs past him by. He was extremely fortunate that he covered himself in the smell of the forest because those Orc would have certainly smelled his scent from miles away, and he surely wouldn't be able to escape from them when they find him.

'Damn, these pigs are so persistent! They are still trying to find us! I mean, me!'

Shadow felt really frustrated about these monsters. After all, he didn't expect that they would still be looking for them after all that already happened. He was just glad that they were also in the same situation as him as they are only relying on their numbers to survive inside the forest where a lot of apex monsters live.