Chapter 274
Chapter 274
'What is that?'
A sinister energy emanated from the black light surrounding the Apostle.
It felt completely different from normal magi.
He quickly gripped his sword and released purification power.
WOOOONG!
Golden aura spread and enveloped the sinister black light.
Zeke walked slowly toward the altar while maintaining the purification power.
But the Apostle resisted the purification power and kept pushing Zeke back.
Despite the continued resistance, Zeke clenched his teeth and kept moving forward.
That's when Arataso's voice was heard.
[W-what? This doesn't make sense.]
'Arataso. What is this energy?'
Then Arataso spoke in an unbelieving voice.
[This is the energy of a high-ranking demon. But... unlike me, it's not summoned as an avatar. The real body is materializing.]
At those words, Zeke gripped Bahamut and called upon his soul skill 'Will of Steel' to strengthen his body.
KUGUGUGU!
He planned to eliminate the Apostle with his strongest attack before the high-ranking demon could materialize.
"HAAAAAAH!"
Zeke gripped his sword and drew up energy.
WOOOONG!
Everything seemed to stop by Zeke's will.
Unlike his Red Knight days, an intangible power dwelled in Zeke's sword.
That power stopped everything.
The atmosphere, floating dust, even time itself.
The power proving the realm of the Black Knight.
The Astral Sword had manifested in Zeke's blade.
WOOOONG!
While the Aura Blade made from condensed aura was a power that destroyed everything it touched, the Astral Sword was a power that annihilated.
Zeke raised the Astral Sword and pointed it toward the altar.
Then he kicked off into the air and unleashed Infinite Sword Technique toward the altar enveloped in black energy.
Infinite Sword Technique Secret Art
Third Form
Great Roc Emerges from Water
An enormous wave exploded from Zeke's sword.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
Like a giant bird spreading its wings and diving, Zeke's sword strike collided with the black energy.
TSUTSUTSUTSUTSU!
The intangible energy swirled and annihilated the black energy surrounding the Apostle's body.
Black ashes scattered everywhere from the impact.
It was power on a completely different level from Great Roc Emerges from Water used in the Red Knight realm.
[KAAAAK!]
The Apostle's form was revealed within the swirling black energy.
The Apostle no longer looked human.
All skin had been peeled off and muscles were exposed.
Blue blood flowed from its eyes, ears, and mouth.
Zeke immediately rushed toward the Apostle.
"HAAAH!"
Bahamut rose with purification blade and cleanly severed the Apostle's neck.
DEGURURURU!
The severed head rolled on the altar floor.
The black energy that had enveloped the Apostle's body was cancelled out by the golden aura and disappeared, leaving only the hideous headless corpse.
KUNG!
The Apostle who tried to directly materialize a high-ranking demon in their body had their summoning interrupted by purification power before their body could reconstruct.
Zeke caught his breath looking at the fallen Apostle.
"Phew, if a real high-ranking demon had appeared, that would've been bad."
He approached the fallen Apostle and grabbed Roland's handle that was stuck in its back.
As he slowly pulled Roland out, at that moment.
CRACK!
Zeke felt the Agamemnon mask in his chest crack.
"W-what?"
[???'s Mask durability has fallen below 20%.]
[Durability decreases when using purification skills.]
[Item cannot be repaired if durability reaches 0%.]
A message appeared about Agamemnon's mask durability dropping.
Zeke hurriedly put the mask in the repair window, but only got a warning that it was an unrepairable item.
'I guess I have to restore it at the Fairy Lake.'
He hadn't expected there to be a limit to using purification power.
He looked at the fallen Apostle's body with a bitter expression.
"I killed it right away at mention of high-ranking demon... but I could have learned various things about those Abyss guys, what a shame."
He had gotten quite a bit of information from interrogating the baptism site manager, but an Apostle who was an executive of Abyss would have had much more information.
It was especially regrettable since Dragon's Sense and Shadow Domination couldn't be used on dead beings.
However, Zeke put aside his regret and tried to absorb the dead Apostle with Gluttony.
TSUTSUTSUTSUTSU!
The risen shadow began absorbing as usual, but soon stopped.
'What?'
In that moment Zeke startled and hurriedly took out holy fire to set the fallen Apostle's body ablaze.
He acted quickly thinking it might still be alive if Gluttony wasn't working.
HWARURURURUK!
Zeke gripped Bahamut while watching the Apostle's burning corpse.
'These Abyss bastards, can't let my guard down for a moment.'
He looked around to burn the Apostle's severed head as well.
Finding the head on the ground, Zeke approached it and met the Apostle's unfocused eyes. At that moment, a light flashed in the Apostle's pupils.
'What?'
ZIIIIING!
Suddenly Zeke felt his brain shake with impact.
Along with static noise, Arataso's voice was heard.
[...way! He's blocking my voice...]
Arataso's voice cut off and became inaudible.
ZIIIIING―
His ears rang again and dizziness hit as the surroundings wavered.
He stepped back, but the ringing in his ears persisted.
The scene before him completely distorted.
Then he sensed someone behind him. Zeke suddenly came to and turned around. But an unexpected person stood there.
"Simon?"
Simon was looking down at Zeke with a cold expression.
Zeke spoke while looking at Simon.
"Simon, why are you here...?"
SLAP!
Before Zeke could finish speaking, Simon struck his cheek.
As Zeke stared blankly at him through the stinging sensation, he suddenly felt something was wrong.
'Huh?'
He saw the burning camp, scattered corpses, and captured enemy cartel members kneeling with hands on their heads.
Simon looked down at Zeke and said:
"Zeke Murray, this is a battlefield. If you don't want your neck severed by enemy blades, get your act together."
The Simon before Zeke's eyes was indeed the Simon he knew.
But it was the Simon who taught him hitman techniques in his past life.
'What's going on here?'
In his past life, nineteen-year-old Zeke went from southern slave to assassin, then was recruited by Don Juan to join Simon's unit as a hitman.
Simon never looked after him or kindly passed on techniques.
So Zeke had to learn techniques by watching from the sidelines, and to do that, he had to survive daily in hellish battlefields.
One reason Zeke tried not to sleep was because that time period kept replaying in his nightmares.
In his dreams, he would return to being past life's Zeke Murray instead of the regressed Zeke Drake living a new life.
But this wasn't a dream right now.
'What is this, what's going on?'
Bahamut that he was just holding and Anexi's dagger in his chest were gone.
He only had a few cheap daggers supplied during his southern hitman days.
Simon spoke while looking at Zeke:
"We're moving out now. If you don't stay alert, you might be among those corpses in a few hours."
Simon turned away after leaving those cynical words.
Zeke blankly watched Simon's back then looked around.
Everything he saw, smelled, and touched felt too real.
Zeke tried to find composure by steadying his breath.
'Given the circumstances, this is an illusion. An extremely realistic illusion.'
Zeke tried to break free from the illusion by concentrating.
He thought his mental defense power and skills would be enough to break the illusion.
But no matter how much he focused, the illusion wouldn't break.
Rather, his senses only became clearer.
That's when he saw Simon and other unit members moving out.
After contemplating, Zeke decided to follow Simon's unit.
'I've heard some illusions maximize the target's trauma to break their mind. Perhaps this situation is my worst trauma.'
The way to break a trauma-amplifying illusion was to face the situation directly and overcome it.
Zeke quietly leaped onto the wagon.
Seeing the faces of others sitting in the wagon brought back old memories.
'Most of them died. Some by my own hands.'
Sitting in the carriage, Zeke organized his thoughts again.
'Arataso clearly said something was interfering with his speech. If the Apostle didn't fail the summoning but already succeeded, and if their ability is mental-based, this could definitely happen.'
He tried his best not to get absorbed in this situation.
He thought the deeper he immersed in his past life situation, the more vivid the illusion would become and the stronger the trauma would manifest.
'I need a trigger to break this situation.'
Zeke gripped his dagger and steadied his breathing while checking his physical condition.
Just as in his past life, his awakening as a healer class and opening of meridians hadn't happened yet.
He tried healing using his past life's senses.
But it didn't activate properly.
'I can do this. Stay calm and try carefully.'
During the wagon ride, Zeke persistently attempted healing and finally succeeded.
Though not as powerful as Healing Factor, solving things one by one was important.
Remembering that his sense of self could collapse uncontrollably if shaken in the illusion, Zeke calmly waited for his chance.
After traveling by wagon for hours, Simon stopped somewhere and had the unit members disembark.
The unit members never knew when, where, how, or who they would attack.
Their duty was to attack without question when the unit commander ordered.
In his past life, Zeke followed his orders like a loyal dog.
Simon placed some stones on the ground and spoke to the unit members:
"Split into three groups - one goes this way, one that way, and one this way."
A veteran hitman raised his hand and asked:
"What's the mission, Captain?"
Simon replied in a cold voice.
"Kill everyone. Erase everything, don't leave even a dog alive."
All unit members nodded at Simon's words.
Then they split into three groups and moved in different directions as ordered.
Zeke, assigned to Simon's group, realized what trauma the illusion was showing him.
'...Of all things.'
He still remembered clearly.
This was where an enemy organization's soma production factory was located.
But the factory was disguised in a village unrelated to soma.
Don Juan ordered the destruction of all production factories to damage the enemy organization.
Not just the factory, but the entire village had to be erased.
Zeke still vividly remembered that time.
Children playing ball in front of the village being shot down by arrows, or burning to death trapped in houses with their parents.
Then a massive explosion was heard.
KWAKWABANG!
When the magic bombs planted by Simon's unit exploded, organization members ran out with crossbows.
Unit members waiting in advance swiftly moved to slit their throats.
Simon led his unit to calmly and quickly eliminate all organization members inside the factory.
He had all the enormous amount of soma stored in the factory moved to wagons. The moment all soma became Don Juan's property.
Then Simon approached Zeke.
"Zeke Murray, I'll give you a mission."
"What mission?"
He handed Zeke a crossbow.
"Boss's orders are to erase this place itself."
Zeke asked while receiving the crossbow:
"...You mean kill all the villagers?"
Simon looked down at Zeke and said:
"Organization members could be mixed in there."
"There are still children."
Simon stepped forward and struck Zeke's cheek.
It was a slap strong enough to turn his neck.
Simon glared at Zeke and said.
"If you save them with your cheap sympathy, the boss will throw you into the shark dragon's den. Will you still have that precious sympathy then?"
Zeke turned to look at Simon.
Simon's frowning face.
It was exactly like that situation back then.
Simon grabbed Zeke's collar and dragged him.
Then he stood him in front of trembling villagers.
A father holding a young child was begging for their lives.
"Shoot."
Simon's voice rang in Zeke's ears.