"Won't she notice your absence since you're always by her side?"

Arthur asked Lucy as they relaxed in the living room of their new villa. The rest of the people were busy doing their job which left alone in this big place.

"No, with the disappearance of her son, she would have more important matters than me.. but I think she'll call me soon when she feels desperate."

The two were talking about Claudia, who was currently panicking as she received a message from her son's guards that they got attacked and the young man disappeared.

"Incompetent dogs! They can't even do one job!"

Claudia banged the table as he gnashed her teeth and anger. After hanging up on the guard, she made several calls and tried to hire experts to find her son.

Unfortunately, the kidnapper didn't send her a message asking for a ransom or try to blackmail her. Although she had many enemies, almost all of them aren't brave enough to do such a bold thing. Moreover, she kept the matter of her son private and hidden, only a few people know about such a matter

As she was tapping the table with her fingers nervously and trying to come up with a solution, her office's door was opened wide and a tall figure entered without knocking or showing any kind of respect.

This man was Zalon, the famous swordmaster and the leader of the IHO. He was one of the strongest humans on Earth and his authority is undeniable.

Although Claudia is one of the core members of the IHO, she was still his subordinate, which is why he behaved like that

"We have got an emergency, gather your team immediately! We are departing in half an hour!"

Without leaving her the time respond, he left in a hurry. The woman's face distorted as she banged the table even harder, she wanted to retort and tell him she had important matters to attend do and after a bit of insistence, she'll convince him but that didn't seem it would work as he left after uttering two short sentences.

Claudia's team was actually composed of Lucy, Usui, and Rebecca, the short girl that was present at the conference a few days ago. She was a famous mage that wields Darkness Magic and is proficient at casting powerful curses. There existed another member a few years ago but he was killed by Lucy due to his foolishness. Although it caused a lot of controversies, she didn't care about it as he got what he deserved.

Claudia called Usui, who agreed to come soon, however, she wasn't able to get hold of Lucy. This only added to her irritation, which led to her inwardly cursing Lucy.

After twenty minutes, Claudia went to the meeting location and surprisingly found the masked Lucy present along with Rebecca and Usui.

There were a lot of high-leveled Heroes present but in terms of fighting prowess, her team was at the top, which made her feel incredibly proud. The sad thing is, Claudia never fights and merely sits at the back and orders them to do this and that every now and then.

She was only Lv89 and that was only by leeching others for experience. In terms of combat ability, any average Hero can defeat her if he has a strong enough mental resistance.

Furthermore, her special skill only works on Humans, so using it on other Races is useless and would only lead to her death.

"I called you multiple times, why didn't you answer?"

With an irritated tone, Claudia glared at Arthur and said. And, like every other time, Lucy raised her head and stared back at her from behind her mask while replying with an absolutely calm and indifferent voice

"I was busy."

Although she was the leader of the team, Claudia couldn't control them. Lucy was a bit easier to order around as the others were too prideful to accept being told what to do, which is why she always kept Lucy close to her and monitored her movements.

Even after years passed, she still doesn't know how strong Lucy really is, but she speculated that she's a bit stronger than Usui and Zalon combined, which makes her around Lv300 or so.

She never saw her struggle in a fight or get injured, her magic is extremely fearful too. More than one time, Claudia was on the verge of planning to kill her but ended up giving up on such an idea as it would bring more harm than benefits.

The team of four boarded a private jet and traveled to their destination. Zalon accompanied them and spend the time of the trip to explain what's going on.

Apparently, a dungeon filled with undead appeared in the middle of Africa. The problem was that the dungeon was overflown with monsters until they escaped it and attacked nearby cities and villages.

The headcount is over ten thousand and still increasing. This legion of undead has astronomical numbers and there are even sightings of strong undead creatures such as wraiths, death knights and even bone demons.

"Twenty Heroes had already perished and only seven escaped the undead legion. Their exact number is unknown but it's definitely above twenty thousand undead and they are marching together to the North."

Zalon explained the situation with a bitter tone and a serious expression. Claudia didn't seem fazed, she harrumphed and retorted

"Hmpf! What's the matter if they are marching North, Africa is already a desolate continent since the second the System appeared. It's the place with the most dungeons and most of them are high-leveled. Even if they march North, they can't cross the sea so why don't we just leave them be?"

This time, it was Zalon who snapped and banged the table, breaking it in two and startling Claudia.

"What nonsense are you spouting?! More than a million people are still living there, you want us just to abandon them and leave them at the mercy of the undead? You think the public to such a decision?!"

Hearing this, the silent Usui chuckled and retorted

"In the end, you care about the public's opinion and the million lives trapped in there."

Zalon glared at Usui but didn't disagree, after all, what he said was the truth. Although he was called a humanitarian, he only cared about his reputation and his organization. No matter how kind he is, he won't sacrifice his life and the life of all heroes just to save all the people in Africa.

They will try to fight the undead for a while then retreat while telling the public that the undead was more than they could handle. Of course, they'll save a good number of people to show how 'kind' and 'courageous' they are.

......

A few hours later, the jet landed on a deserted yet flat land that was appropriately fixed so planes could land on it. This place was literally a desert, the weather was incredibly hot and there's nothing but mountains of sands as far as the eye could see. Zalon gave a long speech before he dispersed the teams and sent them on individual missions.

Claudia's team was tasked to go to a nearby village and remain there for a while. If the undead strikes that place, they will defend and if they are massively outnumbered, they are to quickly retreat and value their lives before anything else, or so said Zalon.