"What's your plan now?" Nan Tian asked as he walked next to s.h.i.+ro.
"I need to go talk to Khionah since we need to deal with the Shadow Empress. Now that we've taken some time to level up, it should be a good time to sort things out before the invasion." s.h.i.+ro replied as Nan Tian nodded.
"How's the monitoring with Thiria?"
"Same as usual. She's too hard to keep track of even with the satellite system. We don't know where to look and she's managed to hide her traces well." Nan Tian shook his head with a sigh.
"It would be great if there was a way for us to find a link but unfortunately that link hasn't been discovered yet."
"I see… no matter. Hopefully, we'll see her at the next event. If we don't then not much else we can do. Let's just sit back and wait for now." s.h.i.+ro said as she created a portal for the two of them.
Teleporting to Revel's hanger, s.h.i.+ro could see the mighty leviathan resting right now.
"How are you feeling?" s.h.i.+ro asked as Revel opened one of his eyes.
"Not too bad. My soul is recovering slowly but it's almost done. I should be able to fight properly in a week or two." Revel smiled as s.h.i.+ro nodded her head.
"Speaking of which, you should have seen the reaction of one of my opponents. She thought she could outsmart me with the placement of her units but it was a trap all along. Hahaha, the moment she thought she won she lost all of her units in one turn." Revel grinned as s.h.i.+ro chuckled.
Since she was the one who created the internet café, she could naturally access the servers. Unfortunately for Khionah, the barrier blocking her from reaching top three was actually this leviathan. He had found himself a hobby of stopping her.
Talking with Revel for a little, s.h.i.+ro left him alone to heal for now.
"The attraction of games is quite strong isn't it? Both Revel and Khionah are addicted" Nan Tian smiled as s.h.i.+ro nodded her head.
"That's true. Anyways, are you ready? I'll be taking us to Khionah." s.h.i.+ro asked.
During this month, she had a few more 'peace' talks with Khionah and the two agreed on letting s.h.i.+ro install a teleport gate to her city so that she could travel back and forth with ease. After her first display of power, Khionah understood that if s.h.i.+ro wanted to destroy her city, it was a simple task. There was no need to work in the shadows hence she was fine with her placing a teleport gate.
Plus, it made it easier for Khionah to come to Asharia and shop for the latest hardware.
Teleporting outside of Khionah's castle, s.h.i.+ro entered without any problems since the guards were long used to it by now. Seeing the fatigued receptionist and workers in the castle, s.h.i.+ro couldn't help but feel pity for them since she had turned their Queen into a neet.
Seeing Saphi carrying some doc.u.ments, s.h.i.+ro gave her a small wave.
"Ah miss s.h.i.+ro, sorry about the lack of a welcome." Saphi apologised while forcing a smile.
"It's fine. How's Khionah? I was hoping to talk to her about the problem regarding the Shadow Empress today." s.h.i.+ro asked as Saphi's smile twitched.
"She has just started a new game so I'm not sure. But she's in her room as usual."
Nodding her head, s.h.i.+ro helped Saphi out a little by making a drone to help her for the day before walking to Khionah's room.
Knocking on the door, s.h.i.+ro didn't hear a response and opened the door.
The moment she saw what was inside, s.h.i.+ro covered Nan Tian's eyes.
"I suppose I should turn away." Nan Tian smiled as s.h.i.+ro nodded her head.
Watching Nan Tian take a step back, s.h.i.+ro entered.
Sitting in front of the computer, Khionah was dressed in a simple oversized s.h.i.+rt and her underwear. She had her legs crossed while tapping away at the keyboard. Her blanket was barely hanging on as she simply wrapped it on her shoulders like a cape.
Seeing what Khionah was like, s.h.i.+ro facepalmed. This was the Ice Queen?
"If you're bringing food, leave it on the side." Khionah said as she didn't even bother to look up.
*COUGH!*
Clearing her throat, s.h.i.+ro forced Khionah to look up.
Glancing up, Khionah paused the moment she saw it was s.h.i.+ro. After all, s.h.i.+ro was the one that could take everything from her.
"Er… mind letting me get dressed?" Khionah asked with a small blush since she was in her underwear and a s.h.i.+rt right now.
".. .Sure. How long do you need?"
"5 minutes."
Nodding her head, s.h.i.+ro took a step out.
Waiting in the corridor with Nan Tian, s.h.i.+ro opened her mouth.
"Maybe I should take away her computer for a bit." She sighed.
"Pft, I feel like you've picked up Khionah as a kid now." Nan Tian laughed since s.h.i.+ro was acting like a mother who wanted to take away their kids' games.
"Bah, I already have Yin, Attie, and Lisandra to take care of. I don't need anymore kids right now. Plus, Yin is already a handful." s.h.i.+ro rolled her eyes.
"Erm… I heard you said that you wanted to take away the computer for a bit. Please don't." Khionah said as she popped her head out from behind the door.
Glancing over, s.h.i.+ro could see that Khionah was still half-dressed.
"Go… get dressed then we can talk."
Waiting for a little longer, Khionah invited them in.
This time she was dressed properly and sitting on the bed while offering two seats for s.h.i.+ro and Nan Tian.
"So what did you want to talk about?" Khionah asked as she adjusted herself so that she seemed more like a Queen.
"I wanted to talk about the Shadow Empress. Since we're going to be challenging a raid in two weeks, I wanted to take care of the Shadow Empress before I leave." s.h.i.+ro said as Khionah nodded her head.
"Right, the Shadow Empress. I have mentioned before that I'm still trying to track down her location. While we haven't discovered her exact location, we've found some tracks. Since she has fallen, there are some distinct marks that are left behind by her skills." Khionah said as her expression was serious.
Pulling out a few pictures, s.h.i.+ro could see that there was corrosion on the damage left behind which emitted a black aura.
"Her attacks are becoming more frequent now. After tracking her for a month, it seems like she's been travelling towards the southern section of the world."
Turning her screen towards s.h.i.+ro and Nan Tian, Khionah brought up a map of the world and revealed marks of where the tracks have been found.
Looking at the map, s.h.i.+ro could see that it was practically a straight line down towards the south.
The last time she had checked the South Pole from her satellites, she couldn't find anything strange like the egg in the North Pole so she didn't pay it much attention. But if the Shadow Empress was making her way there then she might need to reevaluate her thoughts on the South Pole.
"There is very little divergence to her path so we did think about maybe sending a few scouts to intercept. The scouts have doppelganger skills so their lives won't be in danger but even if we try to be there ahead of her, we couldn't spot her at all." Khionah shook her head.
"Well, that does make sense. After all, shadows are everywhere. If she's the Shadow Empress then travelling through shadows would be rather standard. Hmm… I'll set down a few drones on the way there to see if I can spot her. Otherwise, I think it's best for me to look at the tracks that she leaves behind. That way I can find her with my skill."
If s.h.i.+ro can get her hands on the Shadow Empress's tracks, the Blessing that Argus gave her would help her track the Empress down.
"Sure, I can show you the way. Speaking of which, do you know the owner of this account? He really is insufferable. He can get first place but he always makes sure that he is in third to block me!" Khionah pouted as she pointed towards Revel's account.
Scratching her hair, s.h.i.+ro nodded her head before opening her mouth.
"You can figure that out eventually. Our focus is the Shadow Empress ok?" s.h.i.+ro reminded her.
Hearing this, Khionah nodded her head.
Talking for a little longer, s.h.i.+ro controlled her satellite to send down a drone so that it can act as a teleport anchor for her.
Once she sensed that the anchor was ready, she opened a portal and arrived at the most recent mark.
"d.a.m.n, that really is convenient." Khionah muttered. With s.h.i.+ro's satellite system, she was able to send a node to anywhere in the world and teleport there in an instant. She essentially had fast travel with every new node she unlocked.
Right now, the three of them were in the middle of a forest. Seeing the tree's corroded to their roots, s.h.i.+ro glanced at the black aura being radiated and furrowed her brows.
Even though she was just sensing the residual energy, she felt chills down her body and knew that the Shadow Empress was long gone.
Conjuring up some nan.o.bots, she collected a sample so that she could use it as a tracker.