Chapter 268
Chapter 268
PAZIZIZIK!
Bucephalus's lightning containing purification power struck the Qiongqi's body.
KEEEEEEK!
Black smoke rose from the Qiongqi's body where the lightning hit.
Seeing this, Zeke realized that the lightning of Bucephalus, a spirit beast, was different from lightning created by magic.
'A spirit beast's power can be synchronized with purification power.
Though it was a technique discovered by chance, its effect was tremendous.
The Qiongqi, barely regaining consciousness, spread its wings and circled through the air avoiding Zeke.
"Bucephalus! Let's chase that thing!"
Though he had the soul sealing technique deployed, fighting here could cause great damage to those in the camp.
After hesitating, Zeke let it go for now and chased after the Qiongqi riding Bucephalus.
Having devoured all the dead magical beasts, he had sufficient mana.
Though the Qiongqi fled at high speed, Bucephalus, the Dragon Horse King's speed was no less impressive.
Thinking this wouldn't work, the Qiongqi suddenly turned its body and flapped its wings toward Zeke, creating a gust.
KWAKWAKWA!
Sharp feathers whirled as a massive gust struck Zeke and Bucephalus.
HIIIIIING!
Bucephalus flew up as if running to avoid the gust.
Simultaneously, Zeke held up Bahamut and deployed Elemental Sword, Wind Force Field.
KURRRRRRRNG!
Though he opened the Wind Force Field, thunder sounded from the sword.
'What's this? Was Wind Force Field always like this?'
As he wondered, a storm accompanied by thunder began to rise from Zeke's sword.
‘UGH, I can't control the power...!'
Storm Sword was one of the techniques Kaisir often used.
During training, Zeke had fainted hundreds of times from being hit by this Storm Sword.
He had thought it was just a sword strong like a storm, but didn't know it was a sword that actually summoned storms.
KWARRRRRRNG!
The storm Zeke raised completely swallowed the Qiongqi's gust.
KAAAAK!
Not just that, the storm swept up the flying the Qiongqi.
KWAKWAKWANG!
Thunder poured down mercilessly on the Qiongqi as it tried desperately to escape within the raging storm.
KEEEEEEK!
Under the relentless storm and thunder, the Qiongqi tried even more desperately to break free.
Zeke felt his mana being rapidly depleted like an ebbing tide as the storm raged.
"HAAAT!"
Though it was an incredible attack power, he couldn't exhaust all his power like this, so he hurriedly grabbed his sword and controlled the power.
Finally the storm subsided and the sky returned to normal.
'Whew, to think there's a power that even I, a Black Knight, can't control. Just how strong was Master Kaisir?'
He newly realized just how much Kaisir had held back when training with him.
KUGUGUGUNG!
Though the storm had ended, the Qiongqi, swept up by the Storm Sword, lost power and crashed down into the forest below.
Zeke guided Bucephalus toward where the Qiongqi had fallen.
WHIIK!
Jumping down from Bucephalus's back, Zeke searched for traces of the fallen Qiongqi.
But he only saw broken and uprooted trees, not the Qiongqi itself.
'Quick bastard. Did it escape again?'
Zeke opened his blood eyes to search for traces of the escaped the Qiongqi.
'Got it. It went that way.'
He quickly chased the Qiongqi's traces into the forest.
Going into the forest where traces remained, a cleverly hidden cave appeared.
'Is this the Qiongqi's lair?'
Being such a cunning creature, there was no telling what kind of traps it had set.
Zeke summoned ghost soldiers to scout the inside of the cave first.
The cave seen through the ghost soldiers wasn't split into multiple paths, but it was quite deep.
Still, there didn't seem to be any other traps in the cave itself.
Zeke deactivated Hersion , which consumed a lot of mana, and entered the cave.
'The stench is terrible.'
Places containing demonic energy always had this stench.
Zeke took out his holy flame to defend against the demonic energy as he searched for traces of the Qiongqi.
Traces of petrified monsters were scattered throughout the cave.
It seemed to have grown its power here by devouring monsters' souls.
'Since it gets stronger the more souls it eats. In my past life when it met Master, it must have come to the Central Continent and grown stronger by eating more souls.'
The Qiongqi that fought his master was certainly much stronger than now.
If the Qiongqi escaped here and made it to the Central Continent, there was a high chance it would be much more difficult to catch later.
'I have to catch it here somehow.'
That's when it happened.
A suspicious presence was felt from ahead.
Zeke held up Bahamut and suppressed his presence as he examined ahead.
EEEEE!
A strange cry resembling a groan flowed from ahead.
As he approached it a bit more, black shadows soon rushed toward Zeke.
KAAAAK!
Zeke charged forward toward the shadows.
Surprisingly, those shadows were not magical beasts or monsters, but humans.
The identity of the shadows was humans holding old armor and weapons.
Zeke swung Bahamut to deflect the humans' swords and launched a light mace with the holy flame.
KWAKWAKWABANG!
The humans who were hit by the light mace screamed and collapsed.
KEURUK! KEUREUREUK!
Black fluid gushed and spilled from the humans' mouths.
When Zeke approached to check if everyone had fallen, they were already in a state where it was difficult to even call them human, with only shells remaining.
'Did they capture humans and insert magic to control them as they pleased?'
Whether it was the Qiongqi's unique ability or the ability of an abnormal species, he couldn't tell, but the idea of using magic to enhance abilities was similar to the Meins created by the Empire.
Then something occurred to Zeke.
'Could the Empire's experiments using magic be related to the Four Fiends like the Qiongqi?'
The Four Fiends that Zeke had seen with his master in his previous life included two species, including the Qiongqi.
One species couldn't be easily approached even by the master due to its special abilities, so they were waiting for an opportunity, and the other species couldn't be found because they had hidden somewhere, so they continued searching.
He thought that perhaps that undiscovered species of the Four Fiends might be connected to the Empire's magic experiments.
'I should investigate this.'
If Zeke's hypothesis was true, eliminating the Four Fiends being used in the Empire's experiments could stop the experiments of strengthening knights with magic.
Zeke collected the black fluid spilled by the humans controlled by magic in an empty potion bottle and stored it in his inventory.
He planned to send it to Feinan for investigation.
After removing all the human corpses with the power of decay, Zeke went deeper into the cave.
After going in for a while, he heard what seemed to be the Qiongqi's monstrous cry from inside.
KAAAAAAA!
Following the cry, he saw the Qiongqi writhing in pain.
Black smoke continued to rise from the Qiongqi's body, which was scorched all over by the storm sword.
The creature twisted its entire body and screamed in agony.
That's when it happened.
[KRAAAK! UNFORGIVABLE, HUMAN!]
Zeke doubted his ears for a moment.
'Did that thing just speak?'
More precisely, rather than speaking human language, it was closer to conveying its intentions like telepathy.
This had never happened before in all of Zeke's monster hunting.
'I need to capture that thing first.'
If the Qiongqi escaped from here, besides getting stronger later, it would become more wary and harder to catch.
Zeke took out Anexi’s dagger, connected it to a chain, and carefully approached the Qiongqi.
Then he quickly threw the dagger and wrapped the Qiongqi in chains.
CHWARALARAK!
As Anexi's dagger stabbed into its body, the chains simultaneously wrapped around its legs.
KRAAAK!
The Qiongqi reacted quickly and tried to cut off its own legs instantly.
Zeke threw another pair of prepared daggers and this time wrapped the entire body in chains.
KAAAAAAK!
Zeke grabbed the chains with both hands and held the Qiongqi's body. Then he infused the chains with purification power.
WOOOONG!
Golden aura traveled along the chains, trying to burn and annihilate the Qiongqi's body.
KAAAAAAK!
The Qiongqi screamed and twisted its body in agony.
While holding the Qiongqi with the chains, Zeke sent telepathy.
―Can you speak?
Looking at Zeke who expressed his thoughts through telepathy, the Qiongqi glared and said.
[Human! I'll kill you! I'll eat your soul! You are our food! Damn you all!]
Will full of hatred and contempt was transmitted to Zeke.
Holding the chains, he said.
―For a harmful monster, you talk a lot. What exactly are you? Why do you keep appearing?
At Zeke's words, the Qiongqi glared at him with sharp eyes.
[Worthless humans... Living in the delusion that you are the masters of this land. Such foolish beings... We were the original masters of this place. Not you small and filthy ones.]
Frowning at the Qiongqi's words, Zeke said.
―What do you mean this land belongs to monsters?
Then the Qiongqi growled lowly while looking at Zeke.
[We do not die. Humans will eventually become our food, becoming slaves just like in the past.]
Suddenly the Qiongqi's body started to swell.
Looking at the Qiongqi's swollen body, Zeke realized it was trying to self-destruct.
Zeke urgently unleashed Gluttony.
TSEUTSEUTSEUTSEU!
Shadows rose and wrapped around the Qiongqi's swollen body.
Unlike before, the Qiongqi's eyes shook violently.
Disappearing into the shadows, the Qiongqi reached out and shouted.
[Wh-why this power! N-no!]
Gradually, the Qiongqi disappeared into Zeke's shadows.
KUGUGUGUGUNG!
Zeke felt the Qiongqi's body shatter into pieces inside the shadows.
At the same time, messages appeared before Zeke's eyes.
[You have devoured a completely corrupted abnormal species infected by magic.]
[Consumed health, mental power, and mana are being restored.]
[Absorbed the bloodline ability of the devoured abnormal species to gain the authority 'Charisma'.]
[Absorbed the bloodline ability of the devoured abnormal species to increase proficiency in skill 'Curse Reflection'.]
[Reward of 1,500 Karma points has been granted.]
[Reward of one special random box has been granted.]
Zeke was surprised to see that the ability gained from devouring the Qiongqi was an authority.
"It must be something different from the ancient species like Gaguk. Even Hydra gave me a constitution, but this is an authority."
He checked the information of the newly acquired authority 'Charisma'.
―Authority Information―
Charisma: Able to invoke loyalty and issue forceful commands to targets with lower mental power than the user.
‘An authority that invokes loyalty?’
Zeke recalled how the Qiongqi controlled other monsters and moved them like an army.
It was virtually impossible for monsters that move only by instinct to move so systematically.
It must have been possible thanks to this Charisma ability that the Qiongqi possessed.
'It's an interesting ability. I'll have to think about how to use it.'
Mental abilities were effective but had side effects, so caution was needed when using them.
After checking the authority information, Zeke checked the newly received special random box.
Like he saw in the Inverted Tower, the box opened with a light.
However, what came out of the box was unexpected.
"An egg?"
Zeke immediately checked its information.
―Egg Information―
Description: An egg containing dormant power of a spirit beast
Unique Ability: Undetermined
Special Note: The egg hatches according to specific conditions. The spirit beast that emerges from the egg remains in the material world rather than the spirit realm.
"A spirit beast that remains in the material world."
Zeke currently had two spirit beasts as summons.
One was the horse king Bucephalus, and the other was the dragon-type spirit beast Nahuel.
Bucephalus was summoned from the spirit realm, while Nahuel was summoned from the lake at Agamemnon Castle where it resided.
'So a spirit beast that stays in the material world will be born, like Nahuel.'
Spirit beasts that remained in the material world did consume less mana when summoned.
However, in Nahuel's case, being the guardian deity of the lake meant it could only be summoned for a certain period and had to be sent back to the lake after time passed.
Unless it fulfilled the conditions to become a divine beast, it was currently bound to the lake.
Organizing his thoughts, Zeke picked up the spirit beast egg.
"Maybe I can get a new summon if I match the conditions for it to hatch."
Before leaving, he purified the cave where the Qiongqi had been with a great purification and returned to camp.
And by the time Zeke arrived at camp, a welcome guest had arrived on the island.
It was the Queen of the Cusco Kingdom who had come to the island with Simon.