Chapter 305
Chapter 305
Chapter 305
Not long after the intelligence agency agents escaped, the reaction Zeke had been waiting for arrived.
The imperial forces had begun to move directly.
Instead of returning to the autonomous district, Zeke was monitoring the imperial forces’ movements using ghost soldiers and summons.
At one moment, a ghost warrior positioned deep within discovered an abnormal sign.
Through the ghost warriors’ vision, he observed those approaching.
Though covered in black cloaks and hoods, it was clearly an imperial knight order advancing.
‘They’ve taken the bait.’
It seemed they had sent a knight order to handle the situation directly, hearing that Zeke was injured and that the Black Sword Knight Order and Bird Tribe had all fallen to the Hong-hwa disease.
As Zeke observed the knight order more closely through the ghost warrior’s perspective, he suddenly became startled.
‘Morgan Buffon?’
Morgan Buffon, the corps commander, was personally leading the knights from the Snake Palace.
‘He actually came out himself.’
Zeke had expected only a few knights or intelligence agents to be sent, but Buffon had brought an entire knight order.
‘If I kill them all and release monsters, the bodies will be cleaned up automatically, so he’s just charging in.’
Conversely, this also meant Zeke could secretly kill them and leave the cleanup to the monsters.
Zeke rose with a cold smile.
‘Let’s see you fall into your own trap.’
His figure melted into the darkness and gradually disappeared.
DUDUDUDU!
Morgan Buffon led the Snake Palace knights racing through the darkness.
He bit down hard on his molars, trembling with rising anger.
‘Damn it, of all times, the Second Prince had to visit here.’
The Second Prince, Leonardo Crowley Constantine, kept coming to dangerous battlefields for inspection, seemingly unaware that he was not the top heir.
While his attitude of directly participating in battlefields to gain experience was admirable, he did not get along well with Morgan Buffon.
Morgan primarily handled matters related to the empire’s dark side.
This mission in the Ghetto region was meant to be conducted secretly, aimed at creating a pretext for invading territories by intentionally releasing monsters.
However, the Second Prince, who believed everything should be done according to principles without understanding the world’s complexities, had always been dissatisfied with Morgan’s work.
Moreover, with the change in the intelligence agency’s director and the reorganization of Unit 13, many matters were being transferred to the Snake Palace, forcing Morgan to handle too many things directly.
Previously, he would have just sent a few intelligence agents to cut down the Bird Tribe and Beast Tribe leaders and wait for them to collapse.
But with the intelligence director avoiding responsibility and not approving the assassination, Morgan had to step in personally.
‘In any case, I must finish urgent matters before the Second Prince arrives.’
According to intelligence, Zeke Draker was injured by the Six, and all Joint Tribe members and the Black Sword Knight Order in the autonomous district had fallen to the red flower disease.
For Morgan, who had many of his plans thwarted by Zeke Draker, this was a golden opportunity.
He planned to quickly enter the autonomous district, eliminate them, release monsters for cleanup, and immediately return to the garrison.
‘Eliminating Zeke Draker will inevitably damage Kali Draker’s side. Helen Draker is also isolated, so I can take care of these troublesome individuals in one go.’
As Morgan organized his plan, Abel Draker suddenly came to mind.
He had always felt something unsettling about Abel Draker.
When they met recently after Abel became a Black Knight, he seemed to harbor an even more ominous energy.
‘Like madness. Anyway, he’s someone I don’t want to get close to.’
From the empire’s perspective, they planned to absorb the Drakers through Abel, so Morgan had no choice but to maintain a good relationship with him.
Feeling inexplicably uneasy, Morgan quickly shook off thoughts of Abel and rushed toward the autonomous district with the Snake Palace knights.
Suddenly, something appeared from the darkness.
CHWAAAK!
A mysterious knight wielding a massive demon-slaying sword cut down the leading knight along with his horse.
The Snake Palace knights drew their swords in confusion.
“It’s an enemy!”
Despite their confusion, they spread out on both sides and surrounded the knight with the demon-slaying sword.
They raised their Aura Blades and immediately struck toward the enemy.
Surprisingly, the knight with the demon-slaying sword seemed to have no intention of avoiding the incoming blades.
He gripped the sword with both hands, crouched briefly, then swung the sword with his entire body’s force toward the charging knights.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
A storm erupted from the demon-slaying sword.
KWADEUDEUDEUDEUK!
Knights swept up in the sword storm were completely torn apart, their limbs scattering in all directions.
With just one sword strike, the entire formation was instantly destroyed.
The knights who barely regained their balance in the back quickly led their horses and charged at the suspicious knight.
WHOOOOSH!
At the moment dozens of aurora blades flew in, the knight holding the demonic sword vanished in an instant.
Then, a moment later, he appeared in midair and swung his sword at the knights.
WHOOOOSH!
KWADEUDEUK!
He skillfully wielded the massive demonic sword as if it were a part of his body, massacring the knights of Dog Palace.
Seeing this scene, Morgan Buffon's face turned deathly pale.
'Heu, black knight... a black knight has appeared.'
He couldn't tell where the national-level black knight had suddenly emerged from.
To survive, he first needed to escape from here.
Morgan didn't look back and immediately ran away.
"Gu, General!"
The other knights of Dog Palace were bewildered and confused as Morgan fled in a hurry.
The knight massacring the others, Zeke, also discovered Morgan's escape.
'I absolutely cannot let him get away.'
He picked up a spear lying nearby and immediately threw it towards the fleeing Morgan.
SHYAAAAK!
The spear pierced through the air with tremendous momentum and stabbed into Morgan's back.
PEEOUK!
Because Morgan was wearing Hersion of the Snake Constellation, the spear itself couldn't penetrate completely.
However, he had imbued the spear with a Strong wave resonance attack, and its shock wave deeply penetrated through the armor into his body.
"KEHAK!"
Morgan's body, struck by the wave attack, fell to the ground like a rigid piece of meat.
The knights around him rushed towards Zeke.
"K-kill that bastard!"
Zeke once again grabbed his demonic sword and swung it at the charging Snake Palace knights.
WHOOOOSH!
Another storm rose, breaking all the knights' swords and shattering the armor protecting their bodies.
Not long after, Zeke's demonic sword had severed all of their necks.
KUNG!
With a heavy sound, dozens of knights fell to the ground.
Zeke slowly walked among the brutally fallen knights.
Morgan, collapsed on the ground, trembled and tried to somehow lift his body.
But it seemed his spine had been shattered by the shock wave, and he couldn't move at all.
'Bi, damn...'
He tried to take out the potion hidden in his bosom and drink it somehow, but his hands were shaking so much he couldn't even pull out the potion bottle properly.
The footsteps approaching him grew louder.
Morgan's hand moved slightly faster.
At the very moment he was about to open the potion bottle and stick out his tongue to drink it.
PEUK!
Zeke kicked the potion, breaking it with his foot.
Then he stepped on Morgan's hand.
UDEUDEUK!
"KKYAAAK!"
Morgan screamed from the pain of his hand being crushed.
Zeke reached out and grabbed the hair at the back of Morgan's head.
"Long time no see, Morgan Buffon."
Morgan was startled by the familiar voice of the knight.
He raised his head to look at the knight. Seeing the knight who had now revealed his face, Morgan's face turned deathly pale.
"You... you are Zeke Draker!"
He had never imagined that the black knight could actually be Zeke Draker.
Zeke looked at the shocked Morgan and spoke.
"I didn't expect you to personally show up, but this works out well."
Morgan Buffon was the one who ruthlessly participated in massacres during the continental war alongside Abel without hesitation.
It was better to eliminate him as quickly as possible.
In response to Zeke's words, Morgan spoke to him.
"Z-Zeke, sir! P-Please, give me a moment. Let's resolve this situation through conversation."
He tried to somehow change Zeke's mind.
But Zeke had no intention of doing so.
TSUTS! TSUTS! TSUTS!
Without answering, Zeke began to thoroughly search through Morgan's memories using shadow dominion, blood eyes, and dragon's sense.
"KEUREURYEUK!"
Morgan's eyes rolled back and foam formed at his mouth from the pain of his brain being completely turned inside out.
Zeke did not stop and thoroughly searched for important imperial information remaining in his memories.
'The emperor's condition has truly deteriorated. Seems he'll fall any day now. Ah, the Intelligence Bureau director has changed from the emperor's faction to Julius's faction. Ha, they've assigned the 13th Division to retired generals instead of intelligence personnel? No wonder something seemed off.'
Julius planned to recommend the Second Prince Leo as emperor and then serve as regent from behind the scenes.
Zeke confirmed the face of the Second Prince Leonardo Crawley Constantine in Morgan's memories.
'The young imperial knight wearing Hersion whom I first saw on the Island of the Sea God.'
He remembered the knight because he possessed quite remarkable skills.
Through Morgan's memories, Zeke understood Leo's personality.
'Hmm, in this situation, there's definitely an opportunity to infiltrate the imperial side.'
At that moment.
Zeke discovered a familiar someone in Morgan's memories.
'Abel...'
Abel Draker was actually here.
Surprisingly, Abel had not brought his own knight order and was staying in the garrison camp only with William Jiemens .
'Abel is here alone? Perhaps this is the perfect opportunity to deal with him.'
In the current Ghetto area, he could easily explain the situation even if he killed Abel here.
"KEUREURYEUK!"
Morgan Buffon spat out blood-mixed foam, and soon his heart stopped and his breath was cut off.
Zeke threw Morgan Buffon to the ground and removed the Hersion of the Snake Palace from him.
"This was too good an item for someone like Morgan to carry."
Zeke put the Hersion in his inventory and summoned Richmond.
"You called, master?"
"Yes, how's the situation in that camp?"
"There are only occasional monsters, so there are no particular problems. Oh, as you mentioned, the imperial guys are coming to scout around the base."
"I see. Make sure they absolutely do not detect my absence."
"Understood."
After confirming the base's situation, Zeke ordered Richmond to call the monsters over.
As a necromancer who had studied monsters his entire life, getting them to come was no difficulty, even if they had been brainwashed by the imperial forces.
"You monsters! Come here! It's a complete buffet!"
As Richmond waved his staff back and forth, sinister-eyed nocturnal monsters soon appeared.
KEUREURYEUK!
The nocturnal monsters rushed in and began tearing at the scattered corpses of the dead knights.
Morgan Buffon's corpse also completely disappeared.
It was a considerably miserable end for a legion commander of the Imperial 13th Legion.
Zeke, having perfectly handled the Snake Palace knight order, returned to the camp.
* * *
"Excuse me? You're saying you'll go to an isolated fortress alone?"
Decker shook his head at Zeke's words.
"No. It's dangerous for the lord to go there alone."
"I've spread rumors that I'm injured and immobilized, so they'll likely be off guard. The longer we wait, the more disadvantageous it becomes for us."
Helen, the Song of Crouching Flames, and Bigjo were in the isolated fortress.
Zeke planned to rescue them and then set a trap to capture Abel.
Decker, already knowing Zeke had made his decision, eventually nodded.
"I will follow the lord's command."
Clonne, standing nearby, tapped her mace against her palm.
"We'll be smashing the monsters' heads."
But Zeke shook his head.
"No, we can't sweep them all away. We need to look like we're struggling against the monsters to make Abel, who's hiding behind the imperial army, reveal himself."
Clonne clicked her tongue regretfully.
Zeke shook his head at Clonne, called together the Black Sword Knights, and explained the situation. Before leaving the autonomous district, he summoned Richmond and Bane to prepare for any potential situation.
After organizing the autonomous district, he secretly entered the Ghetto area filled with ramped-up monsters.