Chapter 304
Chapter 304
Chapter 304
Zeke and his party set up their camp around the canyon.
Although there were monsters wandering around, they were quickly crushed and their heads smashed by Clonne.
After the camp was completed, Zeke sent ghost soldiers to scout the inside of the canyon.
'The path is narrow, and there are suitable ambush spots everywhere.'
Although it didn't seem like the enraged monsters would ambush, the Imperial side might send hunting dogs to watch their back.
From a geographical perspective, it was a location with many disadvantages.
A bigger problem arose at night.
Since more monsters had nocturnal habits rather than diurnal ones, night monsters began crawling up towards the camp from the canyon.
GRRRRR!
Zeke, who was on guard, discovered these nocturnal monsters and immediately summoned his minions.
In the darkness, warriors with alligator faces holding swords and dragon warriors silently appeared.
Zeke gave an order to Cayman.
"Cayman, eliminate all enemies approaching you."
[I shall follow my master's command.]
Caiman disappeared into the darkness with the dragon warriors.
Like a shadow spirit, he discreetly and certainly dealt with the monsters.
While Cayman was on guard, Zeke explored the surroundings with ghost warriors, searching for mages controlling the monsters.
However, no matter how much he searched, he couldn't find any mages controlling the monsters.
'Does this mean they can move without commanding mages?'
This meant they had invented a stimulant that could be used not just on humans or other races, but on monsters as well.
Zeke could confirm that the Empire's movements were definitely faster than in his previous life.
'But rushing always brings problems. Seeing the gaps in the information department, which should be the most disciplined, there must be internal problems in the Imperial army as well.'
Zeke intended to find and exploit those gaps.
It was best to assume that the Empire would inevitably start a continental war. In that case, it was important to reduce its power as much as possible and guide the situation to his advantage.
Zeke returned to the camp, cast a health recovery buff on Liam who was on guard, and entered the tent.
'Should I ride Bucephalus and go to the old castle to check the situation?'
At that moment, the phoenix, who had been dozing on Zeke's shoulder, suddenly perked up and raised its head.
Then it started pecking Zeke's head while fluttering its wings.
"What's wrong with this guy? Didn't you just eat? Are you hungry again?"
As the phoenix continued fluttering, Zeke sensed something strange and immediately activated Hersion.
Almost simultaneously, a crack appeared in the space next to him, and something burst out.
SWISH!
A sharp blade swept past right in front of Zeke's nose.
Zeke immediately drew Bahamut and swung it toward the mysterious assassin.
BANG!
The assassin was slammed into the ground by Bahamut, and Zeke repositioned himself, staring at the enemy.
Surprisingly, the assassin was rising again.
'What is... that?'
Through the torn night clothes, the assassin's form was revealed - his entire body was made of hard mineral.
Moreover, both hands were sharp swords, making his body a weapon in itself.
At that moment, the tent floor turned to sand, and Zeke's feet sank deep.
It felt like someone was pulling his feet from inside the sand.
'These are not ordinary assassins.'
The assassin made of mineral swung his sharp arm toward Zeke.
Zeke immediately activated the Strong Wave Resonance.
WOOOOOM!
The wave spread in all directions.
BANG BANG!
Not only the underground but also the approaching assassin was pushed back by the wave. During this time, Zeke used Shadowless Step to get behind the assassin.
Channeling Strong Wave Resonance into his fist, he delivered a devastating strike straight into the assassin’s hardened body.
THUD!
As Zeke's kick struck, the assassin rolled on the ground from the internal shock.
"Ugh!"
Whether a mineral body could feel pain was unclear, but the assassin groaned and tried to escape outside the tent.
However, the escaping assassin was hit by something and bounced back into the tent.
Clonne entered the tent, holding a mace and growling.
"What kind of damn bastards dare to crawl in here!?"
Then Zeke extended his hand to Clonne.
"Good job, Clonne. Stay back."
Zeke spread the Gold Power Field toward the fallen assassin.
RUMBLE!
Zeke's unleashed power created tremendous pressure in the space, crushing all the objects in the barracks.
The assassin, whose entire body was made of minerals, also couldn't withstand the crushing pressure and knelt on the ground.
Zeke slowly approached the assassin, rolled up his torn clothes, and touched the hard skin with his toes.
"It doesn't seem like magic, but rather a unique blood ability. Is it crystallizing the body?"
Muttering softly, he pulled out Anexi's dagger from his chest and struck the assassin's back.
PAPAP!
Anexi's dagger, which had an indestructible property, bounced off without piercing the assassin's body.
Zeke spun Anexi's dagger and spoke.
"This level of blood ability suggests you're one of the Six from the Nostra Family."
At Zeke's words, the assassin struggled to escape the pressure.
The Six that Zion belonged to was an assassination unit consisting of high-tier blood ability users.
These Six had been deployed three times to assassinate Zeke Draker, and this time they had also failed.
He realized that Zeke Draker was beyond the typical capabilities of a red knight.
'I must report to my superiors!'
Watching the assassin writhe, Zeke said,
"Stop wasting energy trying to escape."
With those words, Zeke slowly retrieved the chains that had burrowed underground.
TSUTS! TSUTS!
The ground transformed like a sand bog, and another member of the Six emerged, bound by a soul sealing technique.
A Six member wearing a skull mask with the ability to turn ground into sand.
Zeke had seen this Six member with this ability before when transporting Dario.
The moment the ground began to change, Zeke recalled the guy and used a soul sealing technique to prevent him from escaping in sand form, successfully capturing him.
At Zeke's signal, Clonne and others entered the barracks.
Clonne and Liam looked down at the assassins with a murderous expression.
Boris said to Zeke,
"I'll find out where they were sent from."
Zeke shook his head.
"These blood ability users won't be broken by ordinary interrogation."
Zeke decided to interrogate the assassins himself and gave orders, sending the others away.
He approached the captured Six member with crystallization ability.
"Why is the Nostra Family in the Ghetto region?"
Zeke gripped Bahamut and struck the assassin's shoulder covered in hard minerals.
The crystallized skin was so tough that the blade couldn't penetrate properly.
So Zeke tried another method.
HWALALRURUK!
White flames erupted from the sword.
Pure elemental fire rose and clung to the assassin's body.
The white flames slowly began to melt the assassin's crystallized skin.
The assassin twisted in pain.
"Do you feel like talking now?"
Despite Zeke's words, the assassin continued to struggle without opening his mouth.
As Zeke withdrew the white flames, the melted crystals fell to the ground like beads.
"Quite stubborn."
Protected by hard crystals, he seemed reluctant to speak easily.
Zeke decided to first neutralize the blood ability user's power.
He opened his blood eyes towards the assassin.
"Look here."
The power of the blood eyes settled inside the assassin's body.
TSUTS! TSUTS!
Sensing something was wrong, the assassin grabbed his head, trying to resist the blood eyes' power.
But resisting was impossible.
Soon, following the blood eyes' command, the assassin released his crystallization ability.
SEUREUSEUK!
The hard crystals disappeared, returning to normal human skin.
The assassin was a silver-haired woman.
Zeke asked her,
"Why did you come to the Ghetto region?"
"...To assassinate Zeke Draker."
"Who ordered you to assassinate me?"
The assassin trembled at Zeke's question.
'Is a prohibition in effect?'
Remembering that Zion also had numerous prohibitions within his body, Zeke changed his question.
"How did you break through the boundary and enter here?"
"...A Spatial ability user opened the space for us."
Hearing the assassin's words, Zeke recalled the space movement ability user who had previously escaped his grasp.
'He was also a member of the Six.'
Zeke said to her,
"Where is the Spatial ability user?"
The assassin shook her head.
"We don't know."
"What do you mean by 'don't know'?"
"If the assassination had succeeded, we were supposed to send up a signal flare, and he would come here and escape through space movement. But since we failed, he likely escaped on his own."
Zeke turned to look at the assassin wearing the skull mask beside him.
"That means you've been abandoned."
Zeke kicked off the skull mask covering the assassin's face.
A plain-looking man's face was revealed beneath the mask.
He glared at Zeke with a resentful expression.
He never thought they would fail the assassination, so the current situation seemed like a lie.
During the Dario incident, he believed they failed the mission because they had been careless.
Zion, who was part of the mission, had unstable power, making it difficult to coordinate.
That's why this time, two strong and calm members from the Six were deployed.
Their missions always had a hundred percent success rate.
The Six's leader, who had space movement ability, was skilled at assigning appropriate missions based on individual abilities and utilizing them effectively.
So they never imagined they would fail the mission so completely.
In fact, the man was inwardly panicking. He knew well the fate of assassins captured by the enemy.
From the moment he was captured, he had tried to commit suicide by swallowing hidden poison and biting his tongue, but for some reason, he didn't die and continued to recover.
"Biting your tongue is useless, so give up and stay still."
Startled by Zeke's words, the assassin soon wore a desperate expression and resigned himself.
Zeke thought that, like Zion, these individuals were likely under some form of prohibition and brainwashing.
'First, I'll send them to Lady Arina for mental rehabilitation.'
Though he didn't know exactly how, sending them to Arina would turn them into devout believers, so it seemed best to leave it to her.
Zeke thoroughly restrained the two Six members to prevent escape and began thinking about how to exploit the suddenly appearing assassins.
After completing the restraints, Zeke called his companions into the barracks.
"I'll pretend to have been wounded in the assassination attempt."
Felix was surprised.
"You mean act as if the assassination was successful?"
Zeke nodded.
"Yes. The imperial forces definitely know I've entered this place. They must have commissioned the Nostra Family to send these guys to assassinate me."
There was only one person in the empire who would do such a thing.
'Morgan Buffon. Only he would devise such a scheme.'
Zeke continued speaking.
"Boris, return to the autonomous district and release the imperial intelligence agency prisoners we've been holding."
Boris immediately understood.
"You mean to release false information?"
"Yes, we need to make them return to their camp with information that I was attacked and in a bad situation, and that the variant Hong-hwa disease has spread to the knight orders, creating chaos."
"So you're planning to turn the assassination attempt to your advantage."
"If they know I'm injured, the imperial forces will likely react somehow."
"Understood, my lord."
Zeke decided to dig a trap to lure out Morgan Buffon.
'To draw out that snake, I must prepare thoroughly.'
The next day, Zeke concealed himself while his companions led the assassin prisoners back to the autonomous district.
Following Zeke's instructions, they spread false information and deliberately weakened their defenses to create an opening.
The intelligence agency agents successfully escaped from the camp, exactly as intended.
And a few days later, the target fell into the trap Zeke had set.