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"...?" At the sudden notification that Shinto had received in front of him—Shinto raised his brow in curiosity. "...huh? A message from the Purgatory Blood Queen of the Night?"

"E-Eh...? The Blood Queen wants to speak with you?" Kon muttered out in shock. "Wait... Wait... She wants to speak with you?!"

"...why? Is there something I should know?" Shinto tilted his head.

"N-No... I just didn't expect for her to consume that much energy to try to speak with you when we're out here in the middle of nowhere..." Kon uttered. "It must be that important, huh?"

"Hmm... Well, seeing as how you emphasize large energy consumption, I guess I better waste no time," nodding his head, Shinto momentarily muttered out the word "Yes" in a hushed voice.

...

The moment he accepted the notification, Shinto's vision slightly dimmed as he could only see the shadows around him. "...?" peeking at it, he noted that the darkness seemed to be ever so lonely. "...where is this place?" with confusion within his mind, his head frantically looked around. However, he soon stopped as he heard a female's voice.

"Hello?" A powerful which slightly pushed Shinto back resounded through the shadows. "Is this thing working?"

"...Purgatory Blood Queen of the Night?" Shinto tilted his head as he uttered out the title of the person who wanted to speak with him.

"Oh. So this stupid thing did work!" The voice seemed cheery. "Ahem... Shadow Diviner, I apologize for the abrupt manner of our meeting, however, there is no time since this realm consumes an unreasonable amount of energy."

"I can see that..." Shinto nodded his head as he stared into the abyss. "What do you want to tell me?"

"I'm sure you saw the countless messages the beings of Elysium sent, right?" The voice stated. "Well, all I'm here to tell you is that—do not take the task lightly as it's no easy feat to defeat 100 mobs at your current state in the area you're at."

"...oh?" Shinto raised his brow in a surprised manner as he soon asked. "You know where we're at? If so... Could you tell me where exactly is this 'Bareth's Tundra Zone' in the geography?"

"Of course I know where you're at. However, that does not matter right now," The Blood Queen affirmed. "All you have to know is that the monsters in your vicinity are by no means easy. Although the task is an F ranked difficulty judged by the messengers, this is supposed to be an S rank task at your level."

"...an S level difficulty quest? What exactly is the level of this area?"

"..." The voice kept quiet as she soon took a deep breath. "You're forty levels below the average and that is to say, you're at the most dangerous area."

"...cough. I'm sorry?" Shinto's eyes shook greatly as he heard the statement. Unlike with the Catacombs of the Deserted Sanke where they were below the average by twenty or so, the numbers jumped up by twice the original number. "...this is..."

"It is how it is," The Blood Queen sighed. "But, fear not. For with the crimson moon by the side of the diviner, you will receive aid from someone very soon. So, please continue to work on ahead with the trying times of the task given to you by Elysium."

"Jee... That's helpful..." Shinto shook his head helplessly. "When will I receive the aid from them?"

"...It will be soon," as the voice answered Shinto's question, the shadows around him began to disperse away. "Ah- It looks like my energy can no longer keep up with this realm..." she uttered in regret. "But, this won't be our last meeting, Shadow Diviner. For when the night of red comes, under the guise of the crimson skies, we will meet soon. For now, please grow to regain back his abilities."

With the words of the Blood Queen echoing out from the distance, the shadows faded away as Shinto returned back to reality with his vision back to normal.

...

[ The 'Purgatory Blood Queen of the Night' sends her regards to you and wish you well on a safe journey. ]

[ You have received 2 Shadow Stat and a number of experience for your Shadow Abilities. ]

[ Shadow Fields has reached level 2! ]

[ Mark of Umbra has reached level 2! ]

[ The 'Gate of Shadows' that reaches the Realm of Darkness will soon be opened. A quest will generate soon. ]

With multiple rings of notification in front of him, Shinto abruptly tiredly shook his head as he got himself together. "But under what means...?" Muttering out to himself, he soon heard a small yipping voice on his shoulder.

"Master! Master!" Kon cried out. "Are you alright?!"

"...cough. Yeah, everything's alright," ridding away his sudden drowsiness post-meeting, he nodded his head.

"Phew... Everything's alright…" Kon let out a breath of relief as he heard the affirmation from Shinto. "I thought that the message might have been too powerful for you to handle with the way you looked when you were receiving messages from the Blood Queen…"

"I could handle it just fine, don't worry," Shinto patted Kon on the head as he soon stood up from where he was sitting. "In any case... Do you know who this 'Blood Queen' actually is?"

"The Blood Queen? Well... From what I heard, she's of the Vampir race, the queen of it from what I can tell," Kon stated. "I don't actually know much about her since I've never seen her in person... But I heard she helped the previous Shadow Diviner greatly in their journey."

"I see..." Shinto nodded his head. "She's of the Vampire race... So, a demonkin?" he tilted his head at the thought.

Vampires, Succubi and other typical sorts of monsters that were revered to as 'Demons' would typically be associated within the category of 'Demon'. It didn't matter what race they were specifically, to humans—They regarded them as only 'Demonkin'.

"Though... With that question... What are the origins of the Shades Race?" Shinto asked himself as he turned to look at Kon who was on his shoulder. "From what I heard from him... He said the previous Shadow Diviner created a home for them to stay in which was the Realm of Shadows... But that doesn't satisfy whether or not they are from the demon world..."

The 'Demon World' was said to be the origins of all Demonkin within the world. Governed by the monarchs of each realm within it, the demons who live within the underworld wish harm upon humans, though that was in lore. 

For Shinto himself, he had only fought certain demons that were sealed away in order to obtain materials and loot. He never was involved in anything related to the story view of the demonkin.

Thinking to himself, Shinto uttered out a question to Kon. "Hey, Kon, just a question, but... What exactly are the origins of the Shades Race?" Although he had asked before, he wasn't specific enough that he got a vague answer from Kon. Now asking again, he wished to try his luck.

"...huh? Asking that all of a sudden..." Kon muttered out with a bewildered expression. "Well... The origins of our race..." Kon tilted his head. "I never heard anything from my siblings... I don't think we actually know."

"...oh, really?" Despite the answer from Kon, Shinto wasn't disappointed. He didn't care whether or not his allies were of the demonkin race or of any race in general, he was just curious. "If that's so then-"

Just as he was about to continue on with his sentence, Kon continued his own statement. "Though all I do know was that the Shadow Diviner gave us salvation and that's why we swore loyalty to him and his predecessors, or at least... My siblings did."

"What about you? Didn't you do it as well?" Shinto inquired. "Seeing from the words you said..."

"They said I had sworn loyalty as well... However since I was too young that time... I couldn't remember," Kon whimpered. "I never even got to see the previous Shadow Diviner's face either."

"I-I see..." Shinto seemed to have understood his excitement and misunderstanding when he had first met Kon back in front of Shivuliz's Den. For Kon, this was the first time he had met the Shadow Diviner, though his predecessor—Shinto.

"...and since this is my first time... I want to be able to help you as much as I can..." Kon's voice mumbled out.

"...huh? What was that?" Despite being next to his ear, Kon's mumble couldn't be heard for Shinto.

"Ahem nothing...! A-Anyways, where are we going to now?" Kon asked. "If the hail is still here we're still going to be stuck here..."

"Hmm, we've been at this corner for quite some time now. If anything, I think the hail should have passed by now," Shinto stated. "So I'm going to check up on them."

"Right!" Kon nodded excitedly.

As the two made their way out into the chilly air, he saw that Ethaniel and the slimes seemed to have been waiting for them.

"Tch... Shinto? You're finally done with your business?" Ethaniel questioned. "If so, then get ready. We're going to explore the place for a bit."