318
Chapter 318
A faint symbol was engraved on Solomon's Ring.
'A part of the Herald of Blood and Madness was sealed?'
It seemed that when trying to use direct power against Zeke, the constellation's source itself had flowed in.
When the constellation's power disappeared from the staff, the mage appeared confused and stepped back.
Zeke didn't miss this opening and gripped Roland tightly while infusing more purification power.
WOONG! WOONG!
The golden aura surrounding Roland blazed more intensely and spread in all directions.
Without the Herald of Blood and Madness's power, the staff was now just an ordinary wooden stick.
CRACK!
The staff held by the black mage couldn't withstand Zeke's power and shattered.
"Anomaly detected. Anomaly detected."
A repetitive voice flowed from the mage.
Ignoring this, Zeke thrust the blade of purification into its body.
SIZZLE! SIZZLE!
As the golden aura seeped into the mage's body, black smoke began flowing out.
Zeke reached out and removed the mage's mask.
CRACK!
However, the face hidden behind the mask was completely different from what Zeke had expected.
'It's not human?'
Behind the black mask was not a human face but mechanical devices like magic drive plates and springs.
And at its center was a crystal ball emanating dark red energy.
A voice flowed from within the mechanical device.
"Target, target, eliminate, eliminate..."
Soon after, when the light faded from the dark red crystal ball, the thing that had taken the form of a mage went limp.
Simultaneously, as the dimensional gap closed, the black smoke containing magical energy that had been flowing from it was cut off and scattered.
The Black Knights who had been endlessly reviving could no longer receive the magical energy's power.
The Barbarians who had been grinding their teeth behind the barrier assessed the situation and stepped forward with grins.
"RAAAAAWR!"
The Barbarians charged forward with battle cries and threw punches at the Black Knights.
CRUNCH!
The Black Knights were sent flying into the barrier, armor and all, from the Barbarians' punches.
Without magical energy to restore their power, they could no longer use their black aura.
As if they had been waiting for this, the eight Barbarians overwhelmed and pushed back dozens of Black Knights.
Richmond and Bane also watched the situation before entering the barrier to attack the Black Knights.
Soon most of the Black Knights were subdued, and when Zeke deactivated Defense Mode, the Guardians disappeared.
[Defense Mode level has increased.]
[Some Defense Mode functions have been unlocked.]
[Fortress-scale defense settings are now possible.]
After fighting two battles with Defense Mode, the configurable range had expanded to fortress units.
'Fortress scale. I should look into this when I have time.'
At that moment, Richmond and Bane approached where Zeke was.
"Master!"
Zeke showed Richmond the dark red jewel attached to the golem's head and asked.
"Richmond, do you know what this is?"
Examining it in response to Zeke's question, Richmond answered in surprise.
"This is a blood ruby. And this... appears to be natural, not artificial. Wow, this is really hard to obtain."
"A natural blood ruby..."
After thinking for a moment, Zeke first ordered them to capture the black-masked golem and Black Knights and move them into the autonomous district.
"Aren't you coming with us, Master?"
"I have something to resolve."
Zeke's eyes flashed.
* * *
William's hands trembled as he watched the situation through a crystal ball in a tent away from the battlefield.
'Im-impossible. Nightgone was defeated?.'
The Abyss mage beside William also wore an expression of disbelief.
"It was practically an avatar containing His power bestowed directly by the great Herald of Blood and Madness... how could a mere human…?"
Nightgone was the greatest joint creation of Jiemens and the Abyss.
Since no living being on earth could currently receive the Herald of Blood and Madness's power directly, he had taught them how to imbue his authority into inanimate objects.
After many trials and errors, they created tokens containing his power, and through a golem modeled after his form, they enabled the activation of part of his authority.
They had secretly brought it out to test its performance in the ghetto, but they never imagined it would be destroyed by Zeke's hands.
Even the usually cold-headed William felt dizzy in this situation.
'No, this isn't the time. I need to get out of here quickly.'
He came to his senses and called for Rahim.
"Rahim! We need to get out of here quickly!"
However, looking around, Rahim was nowhere to be seen, leaving William flustered.
"Wh-where did that bastard go...?"
He needed Rahim, the spatial movement ability user, to escape this place quickly.
But even after calling for him again and looking around, Rahim was still nowhere to be found.
That's when it happened.
BOOM m! BOOM!
An explosion was heard outside the tent.
William's face turned pale.
'Zeke Draker... he must have come.'
He shouted at the mage.
"Go out and stop him! Quickly!"
After sending out the mage, William hurriedly tried to escape by mounting a flying magical beast.
BOOM! BOOM!
Another massive explosion rang out.
William ran as fast as possible toward where the flying magical beasts were.
Mounting one of the wyvern-like magical beasts crouching near the cliff, William placed his hand on the control device and gave the order.
"Take off quickly! Hurry!"
Just as the magical beast spread its wings to take flight.
SLASH!
A sword strike from behind cut off the magical beast's wings.
SCREECH!
The magical beast screamed and tumbled to the ground.
William also rolled across the dirt.
"Ugh!"
William quickly tried to get up and head toward another magical beast, but he couldn't even properly move his body, pinned under the massive beast.
Just as he managed to lift the magical beast and barely crawl out to stand up.
Someone was standing in front of William.
"Z-Zeke Draker..."
Zeke Draker with cold eyes was looking down at him.
"It's been a while, William. Didn't expect to see you here."
William clenched his teeth and frantically looked around for any way to escape.
But Zeke didn't give him even the smallest opening.
RATTLE!
Chains shot out from his left hand and bound William's body.
"Urgh!"
William struggled against the soul binding technique, but escape was impossible.
Zeke grabbed William by the scruff of his neck and said.
"You'll need to properly explain why the heir of Jiemens was here."
He called Bucephalus, loaded William on the back, mounted himself, and took to the air.
As Bucephalus took flight, Zeke brought out Bahamut and spread a field of firepower to burn all the tents where William had been.
WHOOSH!
Seeing the blue flames Zeke unleashed burn all the tents, William wore an expression of disbelief.
'Zeke Draker using magic? No, an artifact? But can a simple artifact have this much power?'
Zeke Draker was a far more dangerous figure than he had assumed.
Being dragged like luggage, he clenched his teeth.
'I was completely wrong. Zeke Draker has far exceeded my expectations. He's... even more of a monster than I thought.'
By the time he realized this fact, it was already too late.
Zeke flew toward the autonomous district with William.
* * *
Zeke had William imprisoned in an underground warehouse he had arranged separately with the White Moonlight Knights.
Then he called Decker and Boris to where William was being held.
Decker and Boris gaped at seeing William Jiemens, the heir of Jiemens, chained and crumpled like luggage in the warehouse.
Boris gathered his wits first and spoke to Zeke.
"Boss, what are you planning to do with William Jiemens?"
Zeke looked at Boris and said.
"What do you think I'm going to do?"
While Boris tensed up, thinking he meant to interrogate William Jiemens as usual, Decker behind him shook his head.
"My lord, it will be difficult to deal with the aftermath if we interrogate the Jiemens heir without justification. Perhaps it would be better to hand him over to the Draker tribunal?"
Zeke looked at Decker and said.
"Do you think the tribunal will rule that William Jiemens controlled monsters and magical beasts to attack the ghetto?"
After pondering Zeke's words, Decker shook his head.
"...Probably not."
"That's why I'm contemplating."
Zeke turned his head to glance at William.
Currently, William couldn't see or hear anything as his senses were blocked by the soul binding technique.
Moreover, before Boris and Decker arrived, Zeke had already scanned William's memories using dragon sense and shadow control.
He looked at Boris and Decker and said.
"I plan to use William as bait to draw out Abel."
In response to Zeke's words, Decker asked in surprise.
"You mean the Red Lion Sword? No... is he here?"
Zeke nodded.
"Yes, Abel and the Empire are behind this incident. I've already dealt with Morgan Buffon, one of the Empire's legion commanders."
Gasping at Zeke's words, not only Decker but also Boris was shocked.
Boris tried to calm himself and understand the intention behind Zeke's words.
"If it's within the ghetto area, we can treat Morgan Buffon's death as if he was attacked by monsters."
"Yes, that means we can treat both William here and Abel Draker the same way."
GULP
Decker swallowed hard at Zeke's words.
"My lord, do you intend to eliminate Abel Draker here?"
"Abel is plotting to invade the continent with the Empire's backing. As you can see, they're committing the taboo of brainwashing and using monsters without hesitation. Imagine if something like this happened in Atlas."
A horrific scenario played out in Decker's mind.
His face grew darker.
Zeke looked at the grave faces of Decker and Boris and said.
"If we don't stop Abel here, he will strike down Sister Kali and become Draker's successor, wielding absolute power. I don't think you want the Empire and Draker joining forces to plunge the entire central continent into the flames of war."
Decker shook his head at those words.
"That's impossible. However..."
After all, Zeke and Abel were blood brothers.
Decker hoped Zeke wouldn't be caught up in the tragedy of killing his own flesh and blood.
Zeke seemed to understand Decker's concerns, approached him, placed a hand on his shoulder, and said.
"Decker, I know what you're worried about. But if we don't stop Abel here, it's almost impossible to get another chance."
The ghetto area had become a kind of inviolable territory that no one could approach.
Although Abel had intentionally made it that way with the Empire to take control of the ghetto, conversely, it created a perfect opportunity to attack them.
Zeke said to Decker and Boris.
"I will attack the Imperial garrison to draw out Abel. Meanwhile, take the Black Sword Knights to the Allensia border region. You'll be able to secure safety by joining Sister Kali's army there."
Decker heard Zeke's resolute voice and realized he had already made up his mind.
"Understood, my lord."
Boris, who was standing nearby, asked Zeke.
"What should we do with William Jiemens? Should we just dispose of him here?"
If everything was going to be buried here anyway, it would be better to kill William Jiemens as well.
Zeke thought for a moment and then shook his head.
"I have other uses for William. Boris, you prepare to attack the Imperial garrison with Visco."
"Understood."
After Decker and Boris left, Zeke summoned Richmond.
"You called, master!"
"Richmond, how many monsters can you gather around here with your ability?"
"Hmm, I can gather about three hundred monsters right now. Of course, the gathering time will vary depending on the distance."
"Is it possible to move large monsters capable of siege warfare?"
Richmond pondered and then said.
"For that, I need to prepare the magic formula in advance. I also need to consider which monsters to move."
Then Zeke took something out of his inventory.
It was the horns and teeth of Balrog that had evolved into dragon-kind, which he had brought from the Inverted Tower previously.
"Would it be possible to create an undead with these?"
Gasping, Richmond was surprised to see the horns and teeth Zeke gave him and received them.
"How did you get such items..?"
The genius necromancer's curiosity seemed to activate as Richmond carefully examined them while drooling, then said to Zeke.
"It should be possible... but I'll need one more ingredient."
"What do you need?"
Richmond hesitated before speaking.
"The natural bloodstone we just found. With that, I can create a Draco Lich."