325
Chapter 325
'A Combo skill category?'
Zeke examined the newly created skill category.
A related message appeared.
[Please specify a name for the newly combined Combo skill.]
[The skill can be executed simply by naming it.]
'A skill name?.'
Zeke named the Lightning skill combination 'Hell Lightning'.
[Linked skill 'Hell Lightning' is being created.]
[Skills applied to Combo skills are not displayed in the active skill window.]
[You can see the detailed information of the combined skills by clicking on the Combo skill details.]
Zeke clicked on the newly created Hell Lightning skill.
Hell Lightning: Water Bomb [C-rank(Beginner)] + Dissonance [C-rank(Beginner)] + Friction Reduction [C-rank(Beginner)] + Lightning Strike [A-rank(Beginner)]
Through the status window, he could see which skills were combined to create the Hell Lightning skill.
'The higher the proficiency of the combined skills, the stronger the linked skill becomes.'
After confirming the content, he became curious about the power of the linked skill.
He went to the training ground to activate the Hell Lightning skill himself.
"Hell Lightning."
CRACKLE!
Similar to the verbal magic Zero showed in Nirvana, four spells unfolded instantly, creating a skill that was wider in range and more powerful than the regular lightning skill.
Zeke wanted to compare the power of the previous electric magic with the skill he designed.
He called Felix, Liam, Aster, and Diego.
"My lord, why did you suddenly call us?"
Zeke lined up Felix and his group in front.
"You heard I received the Fairy King's blessing, right?"
"Yes, we know."
The Knight of the sea who received the Fairy King's blessing.
Zeke's fame was gradually growing as the savior who saved the western region from monster attacks.
Rumors began to spread through the Bird-people about a savior who rode a flying horse and wielded a divine sword to defeat evil monsters.
After this news spread through the newsletter, Zeke, after much consideration, publicly announced that he had awakened new powers through the Fairy King's blessing and received weapons, armor, and spirit beasts as gifts, just as he had told the Bird-people.
Following his words, the Central Continent heavily publicized Zeke as the reincarnation of Holy King Geo Lubern, who had received the Fairy King's blessing.
Before he knew it, Zeke's title had changed from the Knight of the sea to the Knight of Salvation.
Thanks to this, Zeke was using the Fairy King's blessing as an excuse for all the powers he obtained through the system.
And those who heard this story simply assumed that all the various abilities Zeke had shown were due to the Fairy King's blessing.
Naturally, this created an opportunity for Zeke to reveal his powers externally.
"I've awakened another new power. Let's test it."
Felix and Diego's eyes sparkled at the mention of awakening new abilities.
"My lord, what kind of ability did you awaken?"
"I'll show you. Stand right there."
Zeke positioned the summoned knights in the training ground.
"You can use aura. Try to block it as best you can."
At Zeke's words, the knights drew their swords and raised their aura.
First, Zeke fired a regular Lightning strike at them.
CRACKLE!
A surge of electricity shot toward the knights.
Though powerful, it wasn't something that aura-using knights couldn't dodge or block.
After confirming that the knights easily blocked the electric skill, Zeke prepared the Hell Lightning skill.
"Try to block this one too."
The knights showed confident expressions at Zeke's words.
Seeing this, he smiled inwardly and raised his hand to unleash Hell Lightning.
In an instant, water bombs spread, the knights' minds became dizzy, and just as they lost balance on the slippery ground, Lightning immediately engulfed their bodies.
"ARGHHHH!"
The knights all fell and foamed at the mouth before they could defend with aura.
Only Liam, who had good reflexes, managed to avoid completely collapsing.
Zeke nodded after seeing the difference between the Lightning strike and Hell Lightning.
'Now I understand why Dragon speech was so strong.'
Most magic doesn't work well on knights using aura.
However, linked magic was effective enough even against Blue Knight rank users.
The barbarians who were lounging nearby approached with interested expressions after watching this.
"Brother Zeke, it looks fun."
"We try it too."
The Barbarians with strong magic resistance were good test subjects.
Zeke nodded and this time lined up the Barbarians, using lightning skills against them.
As expected, the Barbarians' hardy bodies didn't take much damage from the lightning skills.
This time, Zeke activated Hell Lightning with a wide-range buff added.
Instantly, Hell Lightning activated not just where the Barbarians were standing but also reached Felix's group resting nearby.
"AAAAHHH!"
The Barbarians and Felix's group collapsed to the ground writhing, steam rising from their bodies.
Though the magic-resistant Barbarians took less damage, it was clearly much more effective than just using lightning alone.
'This is amazing.'
Just by combining A-grade lightning with C-grade skills, he could achieve effects comparable to dragon Speech magic.
He now had a technique to effectively attack knights while reducing mana consumption.
Following Hell Lightning, Zeke purchased several more skills and created various combination skills.
There were four combination skills in total: Hell Lightning, Hell Fire, Hell Frost, and Hell Sand.
Hell Fire was a wide-area attack skill similar to Hell Lightning.
Hell Frost was a skill that lowered the temperature in a certain range to make knights' movements sluggish, and Hell Sand was a skill that blocked vision.
These were all combination skills created with fighting knights in mind.
For dealing with mages, the magic sealing technique he learned and developed from Luther was sufficient.
'Let's see. I have 2,211 points left after buying skills.'
Zeke decided to keep the points for now.
He needed to save points since he might need to create new potions or equipment, and he planned to unlock level 5 dragon race skills as soon as Bahamut's heart fully regained its power.
While Zeke was staying at the fortress training skills, Helen came to visit him.
Helen, along with the Song of the Crouching Flame and BigJo, arranged a meeting with Kali in Allensia, which declared itself neutral, to discuss the Western Alliance.
The meeting ended successfully, and the Ghetto region was declared Western Alliance territory for the beastkin's freedom fight under Kali Draker’s guarantee.
Despite successfully completing the difficult process, her expression was quite dark when she entered the fortress.
"Sister? What's wrong?"
Helen looked at Zeke and said.
"Let's talk inside."
The two went inside the fortress.
Before even sitting down, Helen looked at Zeke and said.
"The Empire has marched toward the Holy Kingdom."
Shocked by those words, Zeke asked.
"What do you mean? Are you saying the Empire started a war?"
Helen shook her head and took out a recording orb from her chest.
"This was delivered yesterday."
When she activated the recording orb, surprisingly, it showed a castle guarded by the Holy Kingdom's paladins being conquered by a mysterious army.
Zeke was shocked by the footage.
'Those are... Orcs.'
The Orcs' Steel Legion was attacking the Holy Kingdom and marching toward the capital.
Zeke looked at Helen and said.
"Are you saying the Empire sent troops to stop them?"
"Sending troops isn't the issue."
Helen said with a serious expression.
"The Emperor himself is leading the army into the holy war."
*******
"AHHH..."
The wounded monks and priests shed tears as they watched the castle burning in the forest.
The Pamesis Temple, renowned throughout the continent for its beauty since the Holy Empire era, was burning.
The Pamesis Temple, dedicated to the Sun God, was the most beautiful and largest among sun temples and one of the precious cultural heritages of the Holy Palace.
Now that beautiful cultural heritage was being trampled by a barbaric army wearing thick armor and wielding giant axes.
All citizens in the city were either killed or captured as slaves by them, and buildings were destroyed by fire.
The paladins and priests who fought against the army of steel were ultimately forced to abandon the order and flee.
It was obvious they would become sacrifices if they stayed any longer.
At that moment, a boy hidden inside a basket carried by a monk lifted the lid and peeked out, his eyes widening as he gazed at the burning temple.
"The, temple..."
The boy shed tears watching the burning temple.
The priests behind him quickly approached and grabbed the boy's shoulders, trying to put him back into the basket.
"Lord Roban, it's dangerous to show your face. You must hide quickly. Don't come out until we reach Vadoka."
Since they couldn't use portals, it would take about a week to reach the Holy State of Vadoka where the papal office was located. The problem was that those fierce barbarian legions were spread everywhere.
The priests and monks who had to safely escort the boy to the Holy State of Vadoka couldn't help but look grim.
The reason they were trying to take this boy to the Holy State of Vadoka was because he was the successor to the Pope.
To become the Pope of the Holy Kingdom that follows the Sun God, the mark of the sun had to appear on one's body.
This young priest boy named Roban was the one who bore that mark which hadn't been found for decades.
The monk carrying the basket containing Roban and the priests guarding him turned their backs on the burning temple and entered a remote mountain path.
Their plan was to cross this area, avoid the legion, enter the main road, obtain horses, and head to Vadoka.
THUMP! THUMP!
But at some point, they heard the sound of the Iron legion approaching.
The priests trembled in fear at the sound and said to the monk.
"We will draw their attention. Brother, please succeed in escaping and guide Lord Roban to the Holy State."
The monk clenched his molars and nodded at the elderly priest's words.
The priests held up their holy books and shouted.
"O flames that burn my body! This is not a fearful fire that burns me but glory that will lead me to eternal life!"
As soon as the shout ended, flames erupted from the priests' bodies simultaneously.
The priests launched fireballs toward the approaching steel troops.
Boom!
The Iron troops raised their shields to block the fireballs launched by the priests.
THUD!
They slowly advanced while blocking the priests' fireballs with their solid shields.
Then one of the warriors in the back threw a giant axe.
WHOOSH!
The sharp axe blade struck the body of a priest summoning flames.
"KUHUK!"
Following that, dozens of axes flew at the priests.
THUD!
The priests were completely annihilated by the axes thrown by the steel troops.
GRRRR!
After eliminating all the priests, the commander leading the steel troops removed his helmet.
The face of an orc hidden inside the helmet was revealed.
As he pulled out the axe deeply embedded in a priest's body, he said to his subordinates.
"All humans look similar so I can't tell well. Hey, check if the young human they mentioned is here."
Then another orc next to him tilted his head and said.
"Eh, doesn't seem to be here. That's an old human. Not a young human."
The commander put his helmet back on.
"Damn bastards. What's all this fuss about finding some young human?. Hey, search again. There must be some who went this way."
The orcs began tracking again with their axes raised.
The monk hiding in a tree with the basket watched this and tried to calm his trembling body.
'Monsters? No. Monsters don't act like that. Just what are their identities? Has God truly abandoned us?'
The monk clenched his molars and steeled himself again.
Though the situation was desperate, the monk's faith cultivated over decades was thick.
After strengthening his resolve, the monk's movements were extraordinary as he swiftly moved between trees while firmly holding the basket.
Fortunately, the monk was able to escape into the forest until the orcs were out of sight.
'If I cross the mountain through the night, I might reach the main road in about two days.'
The problem was Roban in the basket.
Though he had trained his body and could endure without sleep or food for about two days, young Roban could not.
'I need to get drinking water somehow first.'
The monk ran nimbly toward where he smelled water.
Soon after, he found a stream and briefly set down the basket on a nearby rock before going down to taste the water.
'Clean water. This will do.'
It was then, as he was filling his leather water flask.
Swoosh!
An arrow flew from the opposite side and knocked away the water flask the monk was holding.
'Pursuers.'
The monk quickly leaped up, grabbed the basket, and dashed into the forest.
People in black clothes silently chased after him.