309
Chapter 309
ROARRRRR!
Barbarians with unfocused eyes shouted their battle cry towards Zeke.
Zeke realized that the Barbarians had also been brainwashed.
'Those crazy imperial bastards. They even messed with the Barbarians.'
Just like when he had lifted the brainwashing from the Fishermen , Zeke took out Roland and used the Recovery skill.
WOOOOOO!
The light of Recovery spread widely as an area buff.
However, unlike the Fishermen, the Barbarians did not regain their senses even with the Recovery skill.
GRUAAAAARGH!
The Barbarian's body, strong in magic resistance, seemed to deflect even Zeke's Recovery.
'Can't be helped. I'll have to capture them first.'
Zeke put his sword in his inventory and took out the Giant Hunter.
When subduing an opponent as large as a Barbarian, a blunt weapon like the Giant Hunter was perfect.
Towards the Barbarians charging while screaming, Zeke swung the Giant Hunter imbued with Golden Aura.
WHOOOOSH!
The Giant Hunter pierced through the air and stuck into the Barbarian's body.
KWAAANG!
The Barbarian who blocked the Giant Hunter with his bare body was sent flying.
Then another Barbarian nearby jumped high into the air, trying to strike Zeke with both fists.
KWAK KWAK KWANG!
But Zeke avoided the Barbarian's attack with Shadowless steps. The fist contained such powerful force that the ground sank where it struck.
Zeke clicked his tongue at that tremendous strength and lifted the Giant Hunter to strike down.
KWAKWANG!
The Barbarian who was hit properly on the back of the head with the Giant Hunter collapsed on the spot.
He twitched as if his neck was broken, but Zeke didn't care as long as he was still breathing.
The remaining Barbarian, despite being brainwashed and in a berserk state, seemed to feel an instinctive fear towards Zeke holding the Giant Hunter.
Unable to rush forward, the hesitating Barbarian was approached by Zeke.
"Where are you trying to run? You'll take a fair hit too."
Zeke ran towards the Barbarian trying to escape, holding the Giant Hunter.
The heavy Giant Hunter aimed at the Barbarian's lower body.
WHOOOOOOSH!
The Barbarian jumped into the air with his characteristic elastic movement to dodge the attack.
But Zeke's attack was not over.
The Giant Hunter, which was swinging horizontally, suddenly changed direction and was lifted from bottom to top.
It struck precisely on the Barbarian's chin charging towards Zeke.
KWANG!
It was a powerful blow that seemed to rip out his entire neck.
The Barbarians who were hit by the Giant Hunter all collapsed to the ground.
Zeke dragged the fallen Barbarians and applied Purification, Recovery, and Healing together.
Golden and white auras seeped into the Barbarians' bodies.
Soon, the Barbarians who had been unconscious woke up.
Unlike before, focus had returned to their eyes.
"Ugh... jaw hurts."
"Neck hurts."
"Body hurts."
The Barbarians sharing their pain soon discovered Zeke looking down at them and were surprised.
"Human?"
"Why human here?"
Zeke looked at the Barbarians and said.
"That's what I want to ask."
The Barbarians were shocked to see a human who could speak their language.
"You speak language?"
Zeke nodded.
"I can. Learned from the Rock Tribe."
At the mention of the Rock Tribe, the Barbarians brightened up.
"How you know Rock Tribe?"
After thinking, Zeke said.
"King's Fist is my brother. Went to village last time, killed Nine Headed Dragon."
Hearing he had slain a Hydra, the Barbarians stared at Zeke with wide eyes.
"Nine head hydra?You Slice-Slice brother Zeke?"
Zeke was already famous among the Barbarians.
Though it was a strange nick name , he decided to accept it.
"Yes. I'm Slice-Slice brother Zeke."
The Barbarians stood up, impressed, and shook hands with Zeke.
"Oh, Slice-Slice brother Zeke. Nice to meet you."
"Heard a lot about you from Rock Tribe."
"So amazing. We're Mohakhin Tribe. We'll brag about Brother Zeke when we go village."
Zeke learned that these Barbarians were the Mohakhin Tribe, who had a connection with him in a previous life.
He asked the Barbarians
"Nice to meet you. But why are you here?"
The Barbarians grabbed their heads and said.
"Can't remember."
“I know . We hunting in the forest some black-cloaked guy did something to us.”
Zeke approached the Barbarian who remembered something and asked,
"Are you talking about a dark mage?"
"Yes, mage. Holding a staff."
It was undoubtedly the abyss mage who had captured the Barbarians for experiments.
'Barbarians are a race that can deflect not only magic but also other attacks. How did they capture them?'
It was impossible to attack Barbarians with ordinary magic.
Zeke thought for a moment and decided to investigate the details after escaping from this place.
He cast a healing buff on the Barbarians.
"OH, I feel strength."
"As expected, Brother Zeke is the best!"
"So amazing!"
The Barbarians reacted intensely after feeling the strength from Zeke.
Zeke said to those Barbarians,
"If you come with me, I'll send you back home."
The Barbarians nodded at Zeke's words.
Zeke explained the situation in detail, and they agreed to help him defeat the monsters.
"GRAAAAAR!"
The Barbarians shouted their battle cry and threw punches towards the monsters.
Even high-risk monsters were just a meal when caught by the Barbarians.
With the Barbarians joining, Zeke could block the monsters more easily.
He shouted to the Barbarians,
"Do not go too deep! Follow me!"
Following Zeke's words, the Barbarians threw away the monsters they were twisting and followed behind him.
* * *
From the front, Helen and the Song of Crouching Flames were clearing a path by sweeping away the monsters.
"HWAAAAAH!"
When Helen swung her Dragon Buster, the monster was struck by the sword strike and rolled on the ground, its body split.
The tiger beastman platoon leader, who was about to attack Helen, scratched his chest after seeing her sword strike.
'Don't lose composure.'
At that moment of flinching, Helen raised her Dragon Buster and shouted,
"Over there! Ogres are coming!"
At her words, the platoon leader stopped the Ogres with his beastmen.
"CHAK! Die!"
The platoon leader was slashing the Ogres with his sharp claws.
As a beastman who thoroughly obeys the strong, he was now obediently following Helen's instructions.
And the Song of Crouching Flames was also not falling behind Helen, smashing the heads of monsters rushing in with iron mace.
Thanks to Helen and the Song of Crouching Flames's performance, the unit could penetrate the monsters and enter the wasteland.
Zeke, who was blocking the side monsters with the Barbarians, saw the unit going ahead and took out the holy sword Roland, spreading the Recovery skill as a wide-area buff.
The Recovery skill spread towards the monsters.
Unlike the Barbarians, the monsters charging in a berserk state were immediately freed from brainwashing.
The monsters whose awakened state was released by Zeke's Recovery began to scatter, looking for places to hide according to their original instincts.
Monsters that did not form groups could be easily handled by the joint tribe's power.
The Barbarians looked at the dispersing monsters and said to Zeke,
"Brother Zeke, aren't we catching them?"
Zeke shook his head and said,
"No need to catch them. I have something to ask."
"What are you curious about?"
"Are there other colleagues captured besides you?"
At Zeke's question, the Barbarians looked at each other and tilted their heads.
"Hmm, don't know."
After a brief response, he hesitated and said to the Barbarians,
"Can I take a look at your memories?"
Then the Barbarians readily nodded.
Zeke immediately used the Dragon's Sense skill to examine the Barbarians' memories.
'The memories are not intact. Is it because they were drugged?'
Using the Dragon's Sense, he saw fragmented memories, and it seemed there were a few more captured Barbarians besides these.
If knights were properly deployed, defeating the monsters would not be particularly difficult.
However, Barbarians were different.
Only an Orar Blade could inflict a fatal wound on them.
It was difficult to even scratch their tough bodies with ordinary swords.
'Are they preparing with imperial-grade weapons? Those imperial bastards have gone completely crazy to capture even Barbarians.'
Zeke planned to inform the Rock Tribe about this fact and persuade them to borrow the Barbarians' strength.
If the Barbarians joined their camp, they would become an incredible force.
Zeke roughly organized his plan and followed behind the unit with the Barbarians.
* * *
Even at the fastest pace, it would take three days to reach the canyon on the way to the self-governing district.
Moreover, nocturnal monsters would roam once the sun set, so blindly traveling would be dangerous.
The Song of Crouching Flames found a place to camp.
The group set up camp in a place hidden by rocks and cliffs, and rested while eating monster jerky.
Initially, when Zeke first brought the Barbarians, the joint tribe and beastkin were surprised and caused a small commotion, but soon realized they were on the same side and were finally relieved.
Moreover, seeing Zeke bring even the Barbarians to their side increased their trust in him.
They realized he was no ordinary human, having brought even the Barbarians, who never acknowledge other races, and the divine beast Phoenix, to their side.
The Barbarians proudly ate several monsters they had caught earlier, consuming them whole.
Their strong bodies could eat the monsters' tough and toxic meat without any issues.
Zeke also gave them a piece of purified meat, but they didn't like it, finding it too bland.
After finishing their meal, they decided to take turns keeping watch to prevent monsters from approaching.
Zeke set up a separate camp for Helen and the knights in a rocky crevice, taking out camping equipment.
Helen felt grateful for Zeke's consideration.
Zeke and Helen decided to use the same tent, and once inside, Helen immediately began disassembling her armor, looking exhausted. Immediately, iron pieces attached to her Dragon Buster.
Zeke, watching this, asked curiously,
"Is this also considered a Hersion?"
Helen shook her head.
"While Hersion requires a separate operating system, this was created to be used only by those who have 'magnetic power' as a blood ability."
Helen's maternal family, the Millaris family, was a historic knight family in Theabea.
A family that had protected the Theabea Kingdom along with the Solma family, famous for their magic sword techniques using magnetic power.
She had heard they could move metal with magnetic power, making swords fly and shields hover in the air to block swords automatically, though Zeke had never seen it himself.
Though Helen was a direct pure-blooded Draker and couldn't inherit the Millaris family's secret techniques, she had blood abilities and had applied them to dragon-slaying techniques, creating an applied technique called 'Steel Technique'.
If Helen became a red knight, her Steel Technique would become a Draker special skill.
However, since the Steel Technique could only be learned by those with magnetic blood abilities, it was likely to be passed down to a child who inherited her characteristics.
Helen sat on a field bed and looked at Zeke.
"How ironic that the first time we're talking leisurely is on a battlefield."
"Isn't it unavoidable as knights?"
As Helen gave a bitter smile, the Phoenix reappeared on Zeke's shoulder.
Then, flapping its wings, it flew into Helen's embrace.
Zeke clicked his tongue, looking at the Phoenix particularly following Helen.
"Hey, go this way since the sister needs to rest."
The Phoenix shook its head as if refusing and burrowed deeper into Helen's embrace.
Helen stroked the Phoenix and said,
"How marvelous that this pretty child is a divine beast. Have you given it a name?"
Zeke shook his head.
"I tried several names, but it seems unsatisfied, pecking my head severely each time. For a bird, it's incredibly picky."
The Phoenix spread its wings as if to say not to think of it as an ordinary bird, beautifully shaking its tail and feathers.
Zeke shook his head again seeing this.
Helen, stroking the Phoenix's feathers, said,
"Since it's a precious divine beast, it would be good to give it a wonderful name."
"I'll have to think about it seeing how this fellow acts."
And then.
GRRRRRR!
A monstrous roar echoed from outside.
A sound familiar to Zeke.
'This is the cry of a demon beast.'