Chapter 223
Chapter 223
'Peter Pan did what to sister?'
Bill, who had recovered his lost memories, spoke urgently.
“I-I remember! The captain raised waves to sink their ships and fought that beautiful but terrifying knight!”
"Where are they now?"
“Over... over there, inside.”
"Inside the ruins?"
“Y-Yes. The Silver Knight couldn’t beat the captain in the water, so they ran inside. The captain went after them and told us to stay here and block anyone coming in.”
From Bill's words, Zeke realized that Kali was being chased by Peter Pan.
'If we're late, sister Kali might die by Peter Pan's hands like in the previous life.'
Zeke said to Bill.
"Bill,I need your help. That's the only way to save not only you all but your Captain as well."
If Peter Pan kills Kali, it would be irreversible.
Abel would surely kill all the merfolk and try to bury what happened here, claiming revenge for Kali.
At Zeke's words, Bill's face turned pale.
“We... we have to save the captain. Can you really do it?”
"Yes, your Captain is probably cooperating unwillingly because the Empire is holding your merfolk hostage."
Bill nodded vigorously.
“That’s right, that’s exactly right!”
"Take me to your Captain. Then I'll help free the captured Fishermen."
At Zeke's words, Bill pondered before standing up.
“Alright. I’ll take you to where the captain is. But... can you swim?”
When Zeke nodded, Bill led him to jump into the seawater in the circular space they had entered earlier, surfacing with just his upper body and pointing to one side.
"THERE'S A PATH THIS WAY!"
Then he went underwater completely.
Zeke followed Bill and dove underwater as well.
When he submerged, his newly acquired skill Underwater Breathing activated.
'How fascinating that I can breathe underwater.'
Zeke followed behind Bill, swimming through the water much more easily.
The underwater space was much larger than the temple viewed from above.
But this place too had been destroyed and turned to ruins by someone.
Zeke followed Bill through the destroyed underwater temple towards the interior.
Then a huge entrance appeared below. As soon as he confirmed the entrance, a message appeared before Zeke's eyes.
[Entering the Deep Sea People's Resting Place.]
'Deep Sea People?'
From context, it seemed to refer to the ancient merfolk.
'So the ancient bird tribe were the Sky People, and the ancient fishermen were the Deep Sea People.'
Zeke followed Bill into the Deep Sea People's resting place.
Bill gestured to Zeke and pointed towards the water's surface.
They both quickly rose to the surface.
"WHEW!"
Like when they entered, they emerged into a massive circular space filled with seawater.
After climbing onto the temple ground, Zeke raised his mana to blow away the seawater.
PITTER-PATTER!
Dried salt crystals fell down with a clatter.
Bill looked at Zeke with amazement.
“You sure are something, Sir Knight. I’ve never seen anyone who could hold their breath underwater as long as you.”
"It's nothing. But do you know where this place is?"
At Zeke's question, Bill shook his head.
“No clue. We were drugged and brought here ourselves. I think they brought us because humans can’t easily come this deep. They wanted us to check what was inside.”
"Do you remember what they told you to look for?"
“It’s faint... but I think they told us to report anything dangerous or rare.”
As Zeke suspected, they seemed to have used the fishermen to explore these ruins.
'They don't seem to know this is the Sea God's ruins.'
Zeke had wondered how the Empire discovered locations of ancient ruins.
They seemed to know something was there in the vicinity, even if they didn't know exactly what the ruins were or where.
'Does the Abyss have some magic artifact specialized in detection, like an absolute compass?'
It was hard to make any assumptions about those who used such bizarre magic and sorcery.
Zeke followed Bill deeper into the ruins.
Then Bill, who was heading inside, looked at the ground with a surprised expression.
“Huh? What’s this?”
"What is it?"
Bill pointed at the ground and said.
“These are tracks I’ve never seen before.”
When Zeke went to check, they were traces of Imperial soldiers.
'Given how deeply they're pressed and the regular but unnatural stride length, they were wearing armor.'
Zeke realized these footprints were traces of Mein.
Suddenly Zeke pushed Bill aside and pressed against the wall.
He gestured to Bill to stay quiet while pointing to one side.
Mein were wandering around the corridor across from them.
Zeke whispered quietly to Bill.
"Is there another way in?"
"Th-there might be. Since it's such a large ruins. Captain and the Silver Knight probably came through another entrance."
It seemed the Imperial army had advanced to areas deemed safe.
Zeke approached where the Mein were, leaving Bill behind.
He first took out a ghost soldier to scout the surroundings.
'Maybe because it's so vast. There's only those three on this side.'
If things got noisy, Kali and Peter Pan might flee elsewhere.
Since that would mean losing them again, Zeke decided to handle this as quietly as possible.
He stealthily deployed his Shadow Dominion ability.
TSTSTSTS!
As Zeke's shadow expanded, it made contact with the Mein's shadows.
KUGUUGU!
When Zeke's shadow grabbed the Mein's shadows, they froze in place.
Simultaneously, Zeke moved his ghost soldier to restrain the Mein's bodies.
Then he quickly rushed out and severed their necks with Dragon's Claw.
The ghost soldier firmly gripped the fallen heads.
Just like that, Zeke eliminated three Mein in an instant.
To leave no trace, he devoured the Mein using Devour.
TSTSTSTS!
The shadow-wrapped Mein soon vanished without a trace.
[You have devoured a Mein corrupted by dark magic.]
[Your depleted health, mental power, and mana are being restored.]
[300 karma points awarded as compensation.]
That meant 100 points per head.
'Quite profitable.'
Corrupted demonic knights offered a high Karma Point reward and could also be consumed, making them highly efficient targets.
After cleanly disposing of the Mein, Zeke turned to Bill and gestured, but Bill was trembling while looking at him.
"Si-Sir Knight, are you a mo-monster? I wouldn't taste good..."
He seemed shocked after seeing the Mein instantly killed and devoured by shadows.
"If I were really a monster, why would I have kept you alive until now? Stop worrying needlessly and just guide the way. That was just magic."
The excuse worked, as Bill calmed his startled heart and went back inside the temple.
He entered through a hole in one corner of the temple wall.
“We used to wait here for the captain to return. We followed the orders of those bastards from here.”
Following him into the hole revealed an improvised base.
Bill went deeper inside while shouting.
"Captain! It's me! Bill!"
That's when it happened.
Zeke sensed something strange and quickly grabbed Bill's nape.
WHOOSH!
A sharp sword shot out from the wall.
"HEEK! Wh-what!"
Zeke threw Bill behind him, drew Bahamut, and activated Hersion.
CRACKLE!
The reason he equipped Hersion was because the hostile energy felt from behind the wall was no small matter.
'What is this energy?'
It was fierce like a Mein's but seemed more refined.
Zeke recalled feeling similar energy before.
'Demon race?'
THUD!
Suddenly, an armored knight emerged from behind the wall.
Their identity was unknown as they wore full plate armor with a helmet covering their face.
Zeke recognized the armor the mysterious knight wore as Hersion.
'An Imperial knight?'
Then the knight moved.
BANG!
Though quite far, they flew to where Zeke was with just one step.
The knight swung their sword at Zeke as they flew in.
CRASH!
Zeke blocked the knight's sword with Bahamut.
However, the knight's sword strike felt like it was seeping into Zeke's body.
'This is?'
Zeke quickly stepped back.
He recognized the nature of the energy that had swept through his body.
'Wave resonance? No, it's slightly different. A different type of aura technique?'
If it had been a normal knight, their aura would have scattered from that attack, leaving them barely able to stand.
Zeke gripped Bahamut and generated Strong wave resonance.
WOOOONG!
Waves spread out from around him.
The knight flinched upon feeling the waves emanating from Zeke.
They raised their sword to point at Zeke again.
'Imperial style swordsmanship, but using demon race ki techniques.'
It was an opponent whose identity was hard to gauge.
Zeke also pointed his sword while calling to Arataso internally.
[What is it?]
'‘Arataso, take a look at the martial technique the knight is using right now..'’
[You think martial arts are some kind of child's play? Humans can't use...]
PACHINK!
[...they can?]
Arataso was taken aback upon seeing the martial art imbued with wave energy.
This time the knight swung their sword in succession.
PACHINK! PACHINK! PACHINK!
Even simple sword strikes were quite tricky to deal with as they contained waves.
But that was only true for regular knights.
Zeke was gradually reading the wave patterns the knight imbued in their sword and neutralizing the knight's strikes by countering with wave resonance.
PACHINK!
Before long, Zeke's sword pushed back the knight's and drove him back instead.
THUD!
The knight stepped back heavily as his sword strike was pushed back.
Having gotten a read on them, Zeke nodded and grinned.
"Good, I'll make you spill who you are soon enough."
At Zeke's words, the knight took their stance again.
But surprisingly, the stance he took was none other than the starting position of Dragon Slaying technique.
'This bastard? No way?'
CRASH!
The knight stepped down hard and unleashed Dragon Slaying technique at Zeke.
Not just basic Dragon Slaying , he used advanced techniques only taught to official Dreker knights.
Dragon Slaying Advanced Technique
Third Form
Thunder Force Sword
The sword fell towards Zeke as fast as lightning.
Zeke stepped forward towards the knight and also used Dragon Slaying technique.
Dragon Slaying True Dragon Sword Form
Chapter 1 Section 2
Sky Pierce
Zeke's sword pierced through the lightning and extended straight forward.
CRASHHH!
The deflected sword completely devastated where Zeke had been standing.
Zeke didn't miss the opening and thrust his sword.
CRUNCHH!
Bahamut struck the knight's armor.
Zeke imbued the Sky Pierce strike with Strong wave resonance.
CRASH!
The waves penetrated the knight's body and shook their aura circuits.
CRUNCHHHH!
The powerful impact sent the knight flying into the wall.
CRASHHH!
The knight crashed through the wall and was buried.
THUD THUD THUD!
Stones tumbled down from the broken wall.
Zeke slowly approached where the fallen knight lay.
Getting close to check, the knight seemed to be on their last breath.
Zeke quickly used Shadow Dominion to read the knight's memories.
Being near death, only fragmented pieces of information flowed into his mind.
Reading the information, Zeke furrowed his brow.
The fallen knight was none other than one who belonged to the Silver Knight Order.
Zeke quickly read more information.
'The information is too fragmented. Baptism? This word keeps repeating. And another repeating word is...'
Zeke clenched his jaw looking at the fallen knight.
"Hail, Jiemens."
It was words he'd heard clearly when looking into Aaron's memories.
Zeke's expression turned cold.
"This bastard, they were raised by Jiemens."
Like the knight Killer, they were brainwashed from childhood, trained as a knight, made into a Dreker knight, then entered into the Silver Knight Order.
Zeke was chilled by Jiemens' schemes.
'They're completely insane.’
They had been methodically preparing for over a decade to strike Kali at the critical moment.
Soon the knight went limp as his breath ceased.
Just then, Bill's urgent voice erupted from inside the base.
"Sir Knight! Big trouble! Our Captain is dying!"