Chapter 330
Chapter 330
Chapter 330
SWISH!
A translucent horse with grayish-blue mane and glowing red eyes ran silently.
It was a ghost horse summoned from the spirit of a dead war horse.
The vampires belonging to Red Eye could move silently between cities riding these ghost horses summoned through necromancy.
And even now, ghost horses carrying vampires glided through the forest, cutting through the darkness.
About a dozen vampires arrived at an old monastery located not far from Vadoka.
SWOOSH!
As the vampires dismounted, the ghost horses disappeared on their own.
The Red Eye vampires were wearing only leather pants and vests on their exposed pale skin, with the Red Eye symbol prominently displayed on their vests.
Then the monastery door opened and another vampire appeared from inside.
"Welcome, brothers."
The vampire who came out from the monastery had a face full of beard and several tattoos on both arms.
He warmly welcomed those who came to the monastery.
"Thank you for coming all this way."
"A brother's troubles are our troubles."
The Red Eye vampires were famous for their strong bonds.
Currently, vampires were becoming increasingly difficult to maintain their bloodline, enough to be treated as a minority race.
That's why they created an organization with strong solidarity to preserve their race and protect their territory by sticking together more.
Because of this, even when they were far apart, they could ride ghost horses to visit and help each other anytime.
This time too, the vampires who stepped forward to help their kind entered the old monastery together.
Those who came to the monastery were the branch manager and members in charge of the Holy Kingdom branch.
The branch manager asked the vampire who was in the monastery.
"Captain, I heard brief news through the crows. But that alone wasn't enough to understand all the stories you conveyed. Could you tell me in detail what happened?"
At the branch manager's words, the vampire called Captain nodded and opened his mouth.
"Indeed, there were parts difficult to convey everything through crows. I apologize for that."
He continued slowly.
"I found traces of the King."
At those words, not only the branch manager but also other vampires behind were surprised.
"Wow, traces of the King. Is that true?"
"Yes, I made contact with the Founder's bloodline. I was tracking the King's traces through him."
The branch manager's face turned to shock at the Captain's words.
"F-Founder? You don't mean Queen Carmilla? Is she still alive?
"How about we talk about the details upstairs? Everyone must be tired from rushing here."
"Oh, I acted hastily in my urgency. Please forgive my rudeness."
"Don't say such things, brother. Let's go up. The Founder's bloodline is also waiting for you upstairs."
The vampire called Captain led others upstairs.
Upstairs there was a chapel, and someone was waiting for them in the hideout prepared there.
A figure wearing a long-beaked mask that doctors used to wear during the Holy Empire era.
Other vampires were startled upon seeing him.
"Is that one from the Founder's bloodline?"
The Captain nodded and said.
"Come this way. I'll introduce you."
As the Captain was about to take the vampires, the masked one raised his hand and said.
"We’ve been followed."
At those words, the vampires were surprised and looked around.
The branch manager said to him.
"That's impossible! We erased all our traces with magic..."
SWOOSH!
Suddenly, a shadow hiding in the darkness sprang up from the dark floor and swung a dagger toward the vampires' ankles.
SLASH!
The branch manager and Captain sensed the attacker and stepped back to avoid the attack, but other vampires had their ankles cut.
"UGH!"
The attacker wielding the dagger was none other than Shadia.
After the first attack, Shadia immediately rushed toward the masked one.
"You bastard!"
The wraith pattern among the tattoos on the Captain's arms glowed.
RUMBLE!
Eerie energy flowed from the pattern and three wraiths emerged, flying toward Shadia.
SCREECH!
The wraiths charged at Shadia with ghostly wails.
Shadia spun her body in the air to avoid the attacking wraiths.
She swung her dagger, but the wraiths, being ghost-type summons, were immune to physical attacks.
SCREECH!
The wraiths' wails contained a curse that confused the mind.
Already unable to damage the wraiths, when they let out their wails, Shadia stepped back in confusion.
Other vampires around started moving to catch Shadia.
But that's when it happened.
CRACKLE!
A bolt of light poured down towards the Wraith that was making an eerie wailing sound.
BOOM!
The Wraith, struck by the bolt of light, transformed into an ominous energy and was sucked back into the Captain's tattoo.
Seeing this, the Captain shouted.
"There's one more!"
From the darkness, Zeke appeared armed with Hersion, holding Bahamut.
As he swung his sword, the vampires rushing towards him were blown away by the sword wind and slammed into the wall.
BOOM!
Zeke immediately rushed towards the masked figure with his sword raised.
PACHING!
The masked figure instantly drew a chain sword and blocked Zeke's sword.
CHWARALARAK!
The chain sword split into dozens of strands and dug into the gaps in Zeke's armor.
However, it was impossible to penetrate Theia's Hersion with such a simple attack.
Realizing the chain sword wouldn't work, the masked figure rushed at Zeke and tried to trip him using strange martial arts while grabbing his arm.
But instead, Zeke deflected his martial arts and delivered a punch directly to his exposed side.
BOOM!
The masked figure, taking a direct hit from the wave-imbued strike, was pushed back to the wall.
Captain and other vampires tried to attack Zeke from behind, and in that moment, Shadia, who had regained consciousness, blocked them with her dagger.
The masked figure spoke while looking at Zeke.
"Zeke Draker."
He already knew who Zeke was..
And Zeke also knew who he was.
"Bacchus."
Zeke deactivated his helmet, revealed his face, and continued glaring at him.
"You broke your promise with Lady Kali."
"Did Kali send you to capture me?"
While Zeke and Bacchus were facing off, the vampires whose ankles had been cut by Shadia had already recovered and rushed towards Zeke.
"How dare you mess with the Red Eye?!"
The Red Eye vampires mainly used chains with heavy weights as weapons.
They swung their chains around and threw them at Zeke.
The chains, combining vampires' strong muscles and centrifugal force, contained enough power to dent steel plates.
Zeke kept his gaze fixed on Bacchus while merely raising his hand towards them.
KWADEUDEUDEUGEUK!
Feeling a powerful downward pressure, the vampires had no choice but to kneel on the ground.
The chains flying through the air all slammed into the floor.
KUGUGUGUGU!
The vampires couldn't move an inch under the powerful pressure binding their bodies.
Watching this, the Captain and Branch Manager bared their fangs and rushed in to save their comrades.
KUGUGUGUNG!
When the Branch Manager used necromancy, skeletons jumped out from his shadow.
Three skeletons with black bones and glowing red eyes rushed towards Shadia.
PACHING!
While Shadia was dealing with the skeletons, red light burst from the tattoo on the Captain's arm nearby, summoning red spears in the air.
As he threw the spears at Zeke, he shouted to Bacchus.
"Bacchus! We'll hold him off! Get away first!"
However, contrary to Captain's words, Bacchus couldn't move.
This was because the strong killing intent emanating from Zeke was blocking his movement itself.
'He's not just a Red Knight. Is it true that he received a blessing from the Fairy King?'
Zeke spoke quietly while looking at him.
"It would be better not to think about running away."
He turned his body, raised his sword, and shouted.
"Shadia! Fall back!"
Then he swung his sword towards the skeletons and red spears.
Dragon Slaying Technique
Black Sword technique
Black Wind
Black wind blew from the sword.
The fierce black wind tore apart both the skeleton and spear, sweeping past even the Captain and the branch manager.
BOOM!
The Captain and branch manager were simultaneously slammed into the wall.
In an instant, dozens of Red Eye vampires were neutralized.
That's when Bacchus shouted.
"Zeke Draker!"
When Zeke turned around, Bacchus swallowed hard and said.
"...What do you want?"
Pointing his sword, Zeke asked back with sharp eyes.
"The information about the island you delivered. Was it meant to trap Lady Kali?"
Bacchus couldn't immediately answer Zeke's question.
Then, an enormous energy burst forth from Zeke's body.
KUGUGUGUGU!
A powerful aura filled the chapel.
Standing in the middle of that aura, Bacchus felt such pressure that his hands and feet trembled.
Zeke slowly approached Bacchus and said.
"Bacchus, speak clearly. Did you personally set the trap for Lady Kali?"
Bacchus barely shook off the pressure and with trembling hands removed the mask covering his face.
Bacchus's face that had been hidden behind the mask was revealed.
With sculpture-like beautiful features, stylish gray hair, and brilliantly shining jewel eyes.
Rather than a spy, he looked more like a young master from a noble family.
Even in his previous life, he had only seen Bacchus once when he was young, so this was his first time seeing his face after growing up.
Bacchus opened his mouth while looking at Zeke with a pale face.
"...If I say no, will you believe me?"
As Zeke silently approached him, Bacchus felt the crushing pressure wrap around him even more strongly.
Bacchus struggled to suppress his fear and glared at Zeke as he spoke.
"Kill me if you want to. But I... have never betrayed Lady Kali."
"Then why did you kill Carmilla, your birth mother, and flee from her territory?"
"That's..."
At Zeke's words, Bacchus could only bite his lips without giving a proper answer.
But then.
HWARURURURUK!
A huge fireball flew toward Zeke.
KWABANG!
After Zeke lightly deflected the fireball and turned his head, surprisingly, an unexpected figure was standing there.
'The Pope's successor?'
It was Roban, the Pope's successor who was supposedly Bacchus's hostage, who had thrown the fireball at him. He could recognize him immediately as he looked exactly like the picture sent from the Black Corps.
While attention was diverted by Roban's unexpected attack, Bacchus immediately turned his body into mist and scattered.
Then he appeared behind Roban.
"Lord Bacchus!"
Bacchus tried to quickly escape while carrying Roban.
However, someone was already blocking his escape route.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Boris, holding his sword and raising his Aura Blade, blocked Bacchus's escape.
Shadia, who had also revealed herself, was keeping him in check while restraining and gathering the fallen vampires in one place.
Realizing there was nowhere to run, Bacchus said to Zeke.
"Zeke Draker, what exactly do you want from me?"
"I hear you've caused quite a few incidents within the Black Corps. The Intelligence Director personally asked me to capture you."
Bacchus bit his lips as he thought of Souma.
Despite his kind mage-like impression, Souma was actually the most fearsome figure within the Black Corps.
Bacchus looked at Zeke and said.
"Zeke Draker, I want to make a deal."
At those words, Zeke sneered.
"Do you think you're in any position to make deals with me?"
"I'm certainly at a disadvantage. But I have information that would interest you."
Zeke silently looked at him.
Bacchus threw out information that might interest Zeke.
"The Emperor marched into the Holy Kingdom to find the First Holy King's ruins."
At those words, Zeke clicked his tongue and said.
"I already know that much. Trying to make a deal with such trivial information. How disappointing, Bacchus."
Bacchus knew from observing Zeke's recent activities that his intelligence network was not to be underestimated.
'Plus, since he said he met Souma directly, he might have already heard the information. If I can't catch his attention here, there's no way out.'
He decided to reveal one of his important pieces of information.
Bacchus looked at Zeke and slowly opened his mouth.
"What the Emperor is trying to find in the ruins is the remains of Geo Lubern, the First Holy King."