Chapter 331 Trap?

Watching the knights round up the captured demonic hand members, Evan nodded to himself before turning his gaze towards the man standing beside him.

"It's been more than a year, Duke.

The last time we spoke was at last year's founding ball."

"True. You said a lot of weird things then, but now, some of them are starting to make a lot of sense."

The two high nobles spoke with each other while they ignored the gazes of the onlookers, mostly the adventurers who couldn't believe that the boy who was just fighting the flesh golem now was the son of their country's prime minister, and the Knights of Cheverton who thought most the rumours they recently heard about Evan were just propaganda.

However, seeing him in person, they could tell that the boy was definitely not weak at all!

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's son in question was busy thinking about the skill that the Duke had used earlier.

'That's his unique skill, Zero Sword.

He didn't have to go overboard for a monster more than 100 levels below him. Or is it because his skill has a low energy cost compared to other normal skills?'

Looking at the dismembered undead corpses that had been sliced cleanly, Evan shook his head with a sigh while remembering some events about the game.

'To think the 'Eighth Finger' actually succeeded in trapping this guy and holding him back long enough for Vazgan to finish his revenge on Bultom and move on to other parts of the Duchy.'

The boy thought this as he introduced Pride, Eliza and Greed to the Duke, also informing them about the details of the unconscious Faerora.

"She's the one who summoned that pile of flesh outside?"

"Yep."

Apparently, the Duke was currently residing in Bultom and had encountered the messenger sent by the town lord when he was returning from another undead hunting expedition, so he just decided to come over along with the knights and adventurers who were with him and entered through the town's other gate, arriving just in time to see Evan begin his clash against the level 260 Dullahan.

The knights Evan had seen earlier were also part of the force that the Duke had come over with. On a side note, the Dullahan besieged by three knights died shortly after as the three elite knights made sure that it barely left a corpse behind.

Just when Evan and his companions were being introduced to the Brigade Captain of the Duke's knights who was present, they all suddenly sensed two huge auras rise up outside the town.

"Someone's trying to revive that thing!"

Eliza screamed out right before a large figure suddenly rose up into the air, shocking most of the town's resident adventurers who clearly saw that 'thing' die.

"What?!"

"Huh?"

"How is it standing?!"

To understand the reasons for their surprise, it has to be made known that the flesh golem that Evan and Pride had defeated, was currently standing upright while obviously missing certain body parts like its head, arm, upper torso and legs, making Evan wonder just how it was managing to stand straight.

A few smaller explosions rang out simultaneously, with the eyes of Evan as well as the others present widening in shock.

Evan's brain instantly went into overdrive, with his gaze alternating between Eliza, the creature standing outside the walls, the knights preparing to battle it and the restrained demonic hand members.

The grin he spotted appearing on the face of the person who summoned the level 260 Dullahan instantly made him arrive at a conjecture.

"Trap!"

"What?"

"Hmm?"

Evan turned to the Duke and got him to make the knights and adventurers stand down, before explaining his reason for doing so.

"You all can feel those two auras which obviously belong to powerful master-level existences.

If they are the ones trying to revive that golem then it doesn't make sense why'd they'd choose to do so, when the Duke is here.

People on their level should be able to sense the Duke's powerful presence and know not to take action now as it's impossible for them to beat him, yet they still flared their auras wildly as if trying to attract our attention."

Thinking about it that way, they all felt that it was weird, however, one of the adventurers posed a valid question.

"Why are you working with the assumption that the owners of those auras are trying to revive the 'golem'?"

"Because they stink of demonic energy." "I can sense the death aura from here."

Pride and Eliza simultaneously replied to the man's question, with Duke Cheverton echoing two words from Pride's reply.

"Demonic Energy?"

After learning about the existence of the 'Demon' race, hearing Pride speak about an energy type that seemed related to this race piqued his interest.

"Duke, can I borrow one of your knights? This Brigade Captain would be preferable."

Evan asked Duke Cheverton while internally sending messages to Pride, and then Kayla.

"If those guys are from the same organization as that woman, then I'm going need him for my plan to work."

The young hero planned to capture the owners of the auras outside who were most likely a senior member of the demonic hand and their contracted demon.

Before the Duke could even give out a reply, Pride suddenly rose her hand in the air and launched two balls of flames that exploded in the sky.

"Don't worry, her actions are part of my plan.

Also, can you use your pressure skill once more, I want it to seem like you're 'trying' to capture someone alive'."

"…"

Naturally, all those present could not be more confused by Evan's words and actions, with some adventurers attempting to go and scout the situation by themselves, only to be stopped by the Knights of Cheverton.

As for the lord of these knights, he only gazed at Evan briefly before turning towards the Brigade Captain and nodding.

'Let's see what he plans to do.

It's also weird that that creature is just standing there and doing nothing.'

After receiving the Duke's confirmation, Evan nodded and spoke to Kayla.

"I need you to transform for me; an injured-looking wolf would be fine.

Pride, you're up."

The high demon nodded and launched two more balls of flames that exploded in the air once again, however, this time, they were closer to the town's walls than before.

Duke Cheverton also momentarily used his skill, not questioning why Evan knew about it as he was already aware that the boy possessed an appraisal skill.

'When did he use it though? I didn't notice any skill activation from him.'

Those were the Duke's thoughts as Kayla manifested her physical body beside Evan, donning the form of a huge golden wolf with tendrils of lightning snaking down her tail.

"Let's go."

The boy spoke and kicked off the ground, dashing towards the town walls while activating the second skill he mimicked since he came to Aidos.

'Body Transformation.'

He then held a hand out to the knight and activated concealment on him, not before informing him of this fact.

"Stay a few metres behind me and watch the situation until I take action.

Your job here is to either restrain or kill the second person who I don't attack.

If you see a red aura on my sword, kill them as fast as possible, otherwise, capture them alive.

Ignore everything else that happens until then."