"That's Lerna Island... Isn't it a little larger than what I expected?" Eztein exclaimed.
"Yep, it's huge. There's a reason why three kingdoms existed in that place. If it's small, it wouldn't fit those three kingdoms." Souta nodded lightly.
In front of them was a huge piece of land surrounded by river.
"Three kingdoms, huh? Veinu, Franca, and Xermu." Eztein muttered as he recalled the names of the three kingdoms on Lerna Island.
"Let's go," Souta said.
They crossed the river effortlessly and arrived at the island. The moment they stepped their feet on the ground they felt the dead mana in the atmosphere. It made people feel uncomfortable and restless. The dead mana was an attribute that most of the undead possess.
"This...?" Eztein raised his hand and slowly felt the mana in the atmosphere. He couldn't help but feel shocked.
Even Yenxa and Yuko were sensing the strange mana in the air.
'Special environment like this already appeared?!' Saya's voice sounded in Souta's mind. She appeared to be in shock.
"Yeah, from the looks of it, the area is in the northern part of the island," Souta said.
Special environment. An area where the natural mana gained an attribute that corresponds to its surrounding. Sometimes it formed randomly and gods couldn't even comprehend how or why. This was useful for any creatures that have the same attribute.
This place had a special environment with a dead mana attribute. People with dead mana attributes would be able to double their elemental training speed in this environment. All spells and combat arts related to dead mana would receive a ten percent boost judging from the elemental properties in the atmosphere.
"Should we go? This place is quite bad..." Eztein said.
"Yeah," Souta nodded.
The group walked for a few minutes until they found a village infested with undead. Hundreds of undead were wandering aimlessly at the village. The thick rotten stench of undead lingered in the air.
"Oh, shit... It smells so bad." Eztein pinched his nose as he furrowed his brows tightly. He looked at Souta and asked, "Can I eliminate all these undead?"
"No," Souta rejected Eztein. Then, he glanced at Yuko and Yenxa. "Let Yuko and Yenxa handle all these undead. If someone beyond their level appeared, we'll take care of it."
"Okay." Eztein nodded. What could he do? Souta was his boss so he had to follow him. He could only hold his breath.
"Yuko, Yenxa, take down all the undead in this village," Souta said. He could sense that there were no living creatures in the village so it was fine for the two to go all out.
Roar!!
Yuko stepped out with a roar that attracted the attention of the undead. Flames danced on her fur as the temperature rose sharply.
The undead screeched as they charged at Yuko. Their numbers were high as they filled the whole area. The ground trembled as they run as fast as they could.
"Ar!"
"Ouh!"
Yuko wasn't fazed by their huge numbers. Instead, the flames around her grew hotter and wilder. The soil beneath her feet shot up as she vanished from her position.
The next moment, she was already in the center of hundreds of undead. With a swing of her flaming paw, shockwave swept out producing violent heat energy.
BAM!!
Tens of undead turned into ashes instantly.
Yuko opened her mouth and a huge amount of flame gushed out like a raging tide. The sea of flames swallowed everything in front of her. Her destructive power was too high that it even wiped out half of the village instantly.
Roar!!
Yenxa glanced at Yuko before she focused her attention on the undead. She jumped in mid-air while the spikes on her back produced poisonous gas.
Green liquid flow out of her hands. The undead started to melt under Yenxa's extreme acid attack. The skin and flesh of the undead slowly turn into a pile of sticky goo. Their bones weren't even left behind as she strengthened the acid that she produce.
Souta and Eztein watched them exterminate the undead. Souta focused his attention on Yuko. She was strong but compared to him when he was at peak third stage, she was pretty weak. Even if he gave her equipment that matches his own, she wouldn't reach his level.
Aside from battle experience, Yuko had pretty decent stats. She was stronger than any peak level Scorching Red Bear. Her skill set was limited compared to his. He didn't have enough skill points to bestow her his skills. It was far from sufficient as he still needed to advance his class and get the remaining legacy of the Thirteenth Zodiac.
Souta was level 64 right now and was close to level 65. Even with his current power, he was sure that he wouldn't be able to defeat a level 64 Blood. In terms of stats, he was higher than level 64 Blood. The only difference was the skill set.
Blood grind skill points for several years and earned hundreds of skill points. The current Souta was far enough from achieving the skill points he had when he was Blood. After all, he was only in this world for almost three years.
Blood had hundreds of skills and simply activating several dozens of buff spells and combat arts would be monstrous. The effects would stock up until his stats reached an unbelievable level. For detection, offensive, defensive, long range, tracking, buff, debuff, and movements... Blood had dozens of combat arts and spells in every category.
That's the effect of having a huge amount of skill points. Aside from that, he had all the blessings of the commanders of the Mechanic Army. That was only a side of Blood's strength.
That character was broken.
Souta turned his attention to Yenxa. Her strength was weaker than Yuko's since she just reached third stage not long ago. Unlike Yuko, Yenxa was learning spellcasting and her knowledge was comparable to his who had attended school and taken the mage course.
Yenxa was talented. Souta couldn't be compared to her if he didn't have the system. If she keeps this up, she would probably bested him in terms of spellcasting in the future.
After a few minutes, Yenxa and Yuko finished exterminating all the undead. Even the entire village was demolished.
Souta waved his hand and gathered the soul in the area.
"Okay, let's find the nearest kingdom and check the current situation."
The group continued to advance. Yuko and Yenxa dealt with all the undead that they met on their way. They easily demolished any undead that attacked them.
After a few hours, the two already demolished thousands of undead. They were either burned or melted from extreme acid.
The group arrived at a border of a kingdom.
'This is the Veinu Kingdom. This is a better starting point. I could initiate it immediately.' Souta recalled his memories from the game.
In front of them was a huge fortress. There were hundreds of soldiers stationed here, preventing the undead from infiltrating the kingdom.
Currently, the fortress was under attack by tens of thousands of undead. There were mages on top of the wall firing their spells non-stop while refilling their mana with potions.
"Should we help them? There's only a hundred A-rank undead. We can deal with this group easily." Eztein asked. The difference between SS-rank and A-rank was like heaven and earth. Even if there were thousands of A-rank, he would be able to deal with it.
It's a different matter if it was S-rank. Even a One Shackle Realm expert would have gotten in trouble in front of hundreds of S-rank.
"Not yet. The two of us will enter the fortress first. Yuko, Yenxa, stay here and watch the movement of the undead. If I launch a fireball at the sky, you can go and eliminate them." Souta said.
"Okay." Eztein shrugged his shoulder. He didn't know what Souta was planning.
"Yes, My Lord." "Yes, master." Yuko and Yenxa nodded at his words. The words of their master were absolute in this situation.
Souta and Eztein left while Yuko and Yenxa stayed but they decided to hide somewhere in case they attracted the attention of the undead. They didn't want to spoil the plan of their master.
Swoosh!!
The soldiers didn't even know that Souta and Eztein sneak inside the fortress.
"Their security is quite tight but it's only for people below S-rank," Eztein commented while looking at the soldiers.
"Yeah, they wouldn't last a single week if those undead at the central started attacking," Souta replied.
"But why are we here, boss? We can reveal our identity to them and they'll let us inside the fortress. I think they would be happy if they know that warriors from Athen's Champion are here to solve their problem regarding undead." Eztein looked around.
"We can't trust anyone here. Remember that the previous warriors that took this mission have gone missing. Information is a must. We need to differentiate our target and not." Souta said trying to bluff Eztein.
"Okay." Eztein nodded.
