314
Chapter 314
The Colossus warrior shot out light directly toward Zeke as he flew holding the Giant Hunter.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Giant Hunter that Zeke held charged straight toward the giant's chest, cutting through its light.
CRACK! CRACK!
Zeke's body became like a hard bullet, piercing through the giant's chest and passing through.
ROARRRRR
The Colossus warrior staggered backward with its chest pierced, but still swung its hand trying to grab Zeke.
"Where do you think?!"
Zeke changed direction and immediately launched Dragon's Claw toward the Colossus warrior.
SWOOSH
Clear claw marks scratched the mask covering the Colossus warrior's face.
CRACK!
The Colossus warrior stepped back while covering its face with its hands, as if trying to protect the mask.
'Is that its weak point?'
Zeke swung the Giant Hunter hard, targeting the Colossus warrior's mask.
CRASH!
The powerful strike hit the Colossus warrior's face.
GRRRRRR
The Colossus warrior wildly swung its hands trying to catch Zeke.
Zeke avoided the Colossus warrior's attacks while continuously swinging his hammer infused with spirit power.
CLANG!
Cracks gradually started appearing in the solid mask.
'Now's the time.'
Zeke jumped into the air without missing the opening and attacked the cracked mask of the Colossus warrior with Dragon's Roar.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Patterns emerged from the chest where the core was located, and powerful light poured out from within.
Dragon's Roar pierced through the giant's hand and hit the mask.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
The compressed mana shell shattered the mask covering the giant's face.
THUD!
At the same time, the giant collapsed to the ground.
As the broken mask fell off, the giant's face was revealed.
Zeke understood the meaning of what Arataso had said when he saw the giant's face.
'He said it was a being close to the Nephilim. It gives off a similar feeling to the Queen of Ice.'
The giant's face that had been hidden behind the mask had no nose or mouth, only eyes with mysterious light dwelling in them.
Seeing the giant's eyes, Zeke realized, as Arataso had said, that it was a being closer to a spirit than an ordinary physical being.
Unlike its previous aura, the giant looked at Zeke with peaceful eyes.
-Thank you for freeing me from my long bondage...
The voice transmitted directly into his mind.
Zeke recalled the Master of the Swamp who had said similar words before.
'So the original soul was sealed and bound within a body modified into a weapon of war.'
WOONG! WOONG! WOONG!
White light rose from the giant's body.
That light scattered and seeped into various places in the earth.
At the same time, the light disappeared from the giant's eyes.
'A guardian created by the Earth God. Has it returned to the god's embrace?'
Zeke looked at the giant whose soul had departed.
'Rather than leaving it and letting those Empire bastards do something again, I better absorb it.'
After confirming no one was around, Zeke used his absorption skill on the giant's body.
SWOOSH!
As the giant's body disappeared into Zeke's shadow, a message window appeared.
[You have absorbed the Corrupted Guardian of Earth, a designated elimination target.]
[For devouring a designated elimination target, your absorption skill level increases as a reward.]
[Depleted health, mental power, and mana are being restored.]
[Dragon Warrior skill level has increased from Beginner to Skilled.]
[Giant Hunting technique skill level has increased from Skilled to Expert.]
[Gained 2,000 Karma points.]
[Acquired 1 Special Random Box.]
Zeke received substantial rewards for absorbing the giant's body.
After checking the messages, Zeke spread his dragon wings and returned toward the ravine.
Then the Barbarians who had been hiding from the Colossus warrior's attacks ran to Zeke.
"Brother Zeke!"
The Barbarians gave thumbs up to Zeke who had defeated both the Nine-Headed Dragon and the giant.
Seeing them, Zeke suddenly recalled the giant guardian tower in the Rock Tribe village.
'What kind of relationship exists between the Barbarians and the giants?'
Just then, Adnan and Bodmir appeared near Zeke.
Looking at the collapsed ravine here and there, Bodmir said.
"Whew. I really thought I was going to die when the cliff collapsed. What exactly happened here?"
It seemed they hadn't seen the Colossus warrior rampaging since they were inside the cave.
Zeke looked at Adnan and asked:
"Did you find the cause of the dimensional rift?"
Then Adnan nodded and took something out from his chest.
It was a strangely shaped statue covered in rust.
It was engraved with images of monsters and suffering humans, all kinds of impure things screaming and mixed together.
"What's this?"
Adnan lit up some tobacco, exhaled smoke and said.
"It's a demon's seal. They used its power to open dimensional rifts and draw power to control monsters from there."
Zeke recalled what the Fallen Mage who died earlier had said.
'He mentioned something about divine item correction effects. Then this must be the divine item of the Herald of Blood and Madness.'
Adnan put away his finished tobacco in his pocket and said:
"This has become troublesome. If they have seals like this, it means they can create dimensional rifts anywhere."
"Are you going to take this to the High Table now?"
Adnan nodded.
"That's right. After they confirm this above, they'll take appropriate measures and give us missions. We just follow those."
He pocketed the Herald of Blood and Madness's seal and said to Zeke.
"Draker’s Knight. We're indebted to you this time. We'll repay this debt next time."
Bodmir waved at Zeke.
"See you next time!"
Adnan and Bodmir left without lingering. After watching them briefly, Zeke crossed the ravine with the Barbarians to regroup with Helen's party.
The ravine had collapsed in various places from the Colossus warrior's beams of destruction, and most monsters were buried under the debris.
'The fallen constellation's divine item is gone, and those controlling them are all dead, so the monsters must have scattered everywhere.'
Monsters rarely formed groups except for certain specific individuals.
Though they could be a threat when spread across the Ghetto area, the region wouldn't be completely isolated like it was now.
Somewhat relieved, Zeke hurried across the ravine and found Helen's party beyond the wasteland.
However, he saw Helen's party fighting against magical beasts.
Zeke shouted to the Barbarians.
"Let's go!"
The Barbarians charged at the magical beasts with battle cries.
CRASH CRASH!
Zeke and the Barbarians cut through the magical beasts as they approached Helen.
"Sister!"
Helen swung her sword and struck down a charging magical beast.
She brightened at hearing Zeke's voice.
"Zeke! You're safe!"
Zeke was relieved to see Helen's party unharmed.
Fortunately, they seemed to have escaped the ravine before the giant awakened and avoided being buried in debris.
With Zeke and the Barbarians joining forces, the group broke through the wasteland and arrived near the Autonomous District.
However, a problem arose.
"The Autonomous District is under attack by monsters."
Since the Autonomous District only had iron fencing set up to defend areas outside the earthen walls, it would be difficult to withstand if many monsters pushed through with brute force.
Song of the Crouching Flame raised his iron staff with an angry expression while looking at the monsters surrounding the Autonomous District.
"I'll destroy them and save our comrades."
Zeke stopped Song of the Crouching Flame.
"Rushing in recklessly could make the damage even worse."
Even from a distance, the number of monsters attacking the Autonomous District seemed to exceed several hundred.
More than anything, Zeke was worried about Big Joe's health condition.
Being elderly and unable to eat properly in the fortress for several weeks had severely weakened him.
Although Zeke had been treating him occasionally with potions and healing, this had its limits.
Zeke called Richmond who was in the Autonomous District.
'Richmond.'
Richmond responded to Zeke's call.
'Master!'
'How's the situation inside?'
'Ugh, those damn monsters keep coming without end. Currently we're blocking the magical beasts coming from the outskirts with bone walls, but I don't think we can hold out much longer. All the monsters have gathered at the west gate.'
'The west gate, huh.'
'Bane and I are blocking the bigger ones, but there are some strange ones holding out in the back...'
'What do you mean by strange ones?'
'You know, those ones that used those weird weapons that you caught before. Knights but not quite knights...'
Zeke frowned at Richmond's words.
'You mean the Knight Killers?'
'Ah, yes! That's right. They're shooting those bullets at Bane and me too, and while we're fine, it's fatal if the knights get hit. That's why we can't leave our zone.'
The deployment of Knight Killers meant that Abel's side was making their move.
'If Abel moved directly, he would have shown himself. Which means... did William Jiemens make his move?'
While organizing the information received from Richmond in his head, Zeke made a plan to use this situation to his advantage.
He gathered his companions.
"Currently, the Autonomous District is surrounded by three layers of enemies."
Zeke explained while drawing on the ground.
The innermost layer of the Autonomous District was surrounded by monsters, with magical beasts positioned outside of that.
And finally, Jiemens' Knight Killers were targeting anyone trying to come out from far away.
Zeke spoke to Helen, Song of the Crouching Flame, and BigJo.
"I'll hold off the magical beasts and snipers, so you need to quickly break through to the inside during that time."
Zeke added specifically to Song of the Crouching Flame:
"The Bird tribe should lead the unit to the main gate, then use the Cockcrow to signal those inside to open the west gate."
Song of the Crouching Flame nodded at Zeke's words.
"Understood."
After the unit finished preparing through simple instructions, Zeke spread his Sacred Light Flag and imbued the Beastkin tribe and Bird tribe's weapons with the power of light.
The Bird and Beastkin tribe members with light power remembered hearing that Zeke had received the Fairy King's blessing and their eyes shone.
"This light will block the demonic poison to some extent, so charge straight for the main gate."
Everyone nodded at Zeke's words.
Song of the Crouching Flame and Helen took the lead and rushed forward.
"Let's go!"
Helen swung her Dragon Buster, cutting down charging magical beasts and clearing a path.
At the same time, Zeke struck the magical beasts with his Light Mace, disrupting their formation.
She truly felt Zeke's limitless abilities as she watched bolts of light falling from the sky.
That's when it happened.
SWOOSH!
A bullet shot by a Knight Killer flew toward Helen.
In that instant, Helen's blood ability 'Magnetic Force' activated and deflected the bullet.
'So this is the sniping Zeke mentioned.'
Zeke had warned Helen about the Knight Killers' sniping in advance and taught her how to defend against it with her blood ability.
Helen ran close to Song of the Crouching Flame and Big Joe while blocking incoming bullets.
Before they knew it, Helen's group had broken through the magical beasts and reached where the monsters were.
When the Autonomous District's iron fence came into view, Song of the Crouching Flame let out a Cockcrow toward it.
KYEOOOOOOOK!
The Bird tribe sentries inside recognized the Cockcrow signal.
However, monsters still remained, making it difficult to open the gates carelessly.
That's when something charged toward the monsters.
GROWL!
Gurab and the Shark Dragons had appeared.
KAAAAAAK!
When Gurab's unit blocked them, the monsters could no longer approach the main gate.
The Bird tribe sentries watching the situation from inside were shocked.
"Th-that is?"
Boris, who was observing the situation with them, recognized Gurab and the Shark Dragons.
'Boss has returned!'
He said to the Bird tribe members:
"Those are our summons, so don't worry and open the gate!"
At Boris's words, the Bird tribe members nodded and immediately opened the gate.
The triple-layered iron gate slid upward smoothly.
Seeing the gate open, Helen shouted to her companions:
"I'll hold them off, quickly get inside!"
She held up her Dragon Buster and deployed her blood ability.
SWISH!
The armor attached to Helen's body began to change shape.