This made her feel somewhat uncomfortable. But she endured it and tried her best to adapt.
The Fire Keeper stopped beside the motionless Iudex Gundyr. She continued explaining.
"The spells of flame cannot track me or the people around me. That is because I am the Fire Keeper, and I possess the ability to influence flame. Unless the spies witness us with their own eyes and follow us personally, there is absolutely no way they can track our movements across this land. They can only realize that someone has left, after which they will send people to investigate."
Surtr looked toward Gundyr, watching the Fire Keeper nimbly pick up Gundyr's halberd and place it in the hands of the iron giant.
"It seems you were prepared for this." She had never asked about Gundyr or the Fire Keeper's combat strength.
But the Fire Keeper could see through her heart—that part of it she did not conceal.
"Yes, Miss. More than a decade ago, the hero Gundyr failed to link the fire and died under the weight of his guilt. Yet, due to the First Flame's weakening, he awoke once more as an undead. However, he was not a pure undead. Certain... illnesses contaminated him, turning him into a mindless beast. Aside from his obsession with linking the fire, all that remained to him was battle and slaughter."
Surtr knew what she was talking about. It was the abyss, the Pilgrim of Dark. It was humanity mutating as the First Flame weakened, the manifestation of an out-of-control Dark Soul. The dimmer the flame became, the stronger these things grew. And once the undead curse erupted on a large scale, these things would completely sweep across the world inhabited by mortals.
"This was a mistake committed by the royal family, so the