Chapter 355
Chapter 355
Chapter 355
The atmosphere in the main room suddenly became heavy at Zeke's sudden statement.
Howard glanced nervously at Arthur Draker, while Baron remained silently still.
Arthur put down his cake plate after hearing Zeke's words.
He looked at Zeke with an interested expression.
"Refusing the title of Guardian Knight. I'd like to hear why."
Though his voice was gentle, the atmosphere felt tenser than before.
Zeke took a breath before speaking.
"I believe if I receive the Guardian Knight title now, it will throw the entire family into chaos."
Arthur stroked his beard after hearing Zeke's words.
"The family falling into chaos. What do you mean by that?"
There was no way Arthur hadn't grasped Zeke's intentions.
He wanted to hear directly from Zeke's mouth how he predicted the situation would unfold.
"If I receive the Guardian Knight title, it will accelerate the succession competition with Lord Kali Draker."
With Abel missing, currently Kali was emerging as the only successor candidate.
However, if they ignored procedure and gave Zeke the Guardian Knight title at this point, it would inevitably be seen as an overt check against Kali's power.
This was because with Zeke's reputation that was shaking the entire continent, the backing of the Agamemnon family supported by the central region lords, plus the position of Guardian Knight, he could gain power exceeding even Abel's.
Arthur grinned after hearing Zeke's words.
"You're saying the family's stability is more important than you receiving the Guardian Knight title?"
"I am a Draker. Without the family, I am nothing."
Zeke was still giving model answers in front of Arthur.
Arthur slowly rose from his seat.
"Zeke. There's something I want to show you."
He left Howard and Baron in the office and took Zeke to another room connected to the inner office.
It was the room connected to the personal storage room where Laura Agamemnon's clock had been kept before.
This time too, Arthur took Zeke into the personal storage room.
However, this time he headed deeper into the storage room, then stopped in front of a crystal orb attached to the inner wall, removed his glove and placed his hand on it.
The crystal orb flashed with light and a portal activated.
WOONG!
The room's scenery changed in an instant.
'This is?'
A secure portal that you'd normally only see in ancient ruins was installed in the personal storage room.
When Zeke looked around, he saw an old-looking cavity that was far from the scenery of the personal storage room.
Arthur said to Zeke:
"You're the first of my children I'm showing this place to."
Zeke was surprised by Arthur's words.
That meant this was a space he hadn't shown even to Kali or Abel who had long been successor candidates. He hadn't expected to be shown such a secret space first.
Arthur gestured to Zeke.
"Follow me."
Zeke followed Arthur down the corridor connected to the cavity.
After passing through the long corridor, a large door appeared ahead.
But there was a familiar crest engraved in front of that door.
'That's...?'
A plain pattern with just one sword drawn without other decorations.
It was the crest engraved on the Absolute Sword House Draker's ring he had discovered before.
As Arthur reached out his hand, the door slowly began to open.
"Let's go in."
Zeke followed Arthur through the door.
* * *
DRRRR!
The door of the 'Labyrinth', the secret main house of the Jiemens family protected by impenetrable security that no one could approach, opened.
When the door decorated with two intertwined snakes rose up, Ramon Jiemens, the head of the Jiemens family, stepped inside.
GRRRR!
KAAAK!
KRUUK!
Horrible monster cries echoed from various places inside.
This was the most heavily secured space in the Labyrinth where important test subjects from Jiemens's experiments were kept.
Ramon Jiemens passed through the space where the test subjects were imprisoned along with the family's mages and headed to the innermost room.
Black knights with their bodies completely covered in armor were guarding the room.
Only when Ramon Jiemens approached did they lower their guard and step aside.
When Ramon entered the room, he saw Dark mages busily moving about inside.
Buckets scattered here and there contained test subject corpses, and the floor was covered in sticky bodily fluids and blood.
Ramon briefly frowned at this sight.
Soon one of the Dark mages approached Ramon.
"Welcome, Lord."
Ramon looked at him and said:
"Where is the High Priest?"
"Please wait a moment. The ritual is nearly at its final stage."
Ramon frowned again at the mages's words.
When he tried to push past the mage to go inside, other Dark mages rushed to block Ramon's path.
The Dark mage who had first approached Ramon shouted at him:
"Lord! You cannot! We're in the middle of a crucial ritual. If you enter now, the ritual could fail!"
Ramon paid no attention to such warnings.
He raised his hand and spread his palm toward the mages.
Then as he swept his hand to the side, the mages tumbled sideways, pushed by an invisible force.
After knocking down the mages who tried to stop him, Ramon walked inside leading the family mages.
The Dark mages tried to stop them, but they couldn't even move under the invisible force pressing down on their bodies.
"Ugh!"
Ramon reached out his hand toward the door blocking his way.
CRACKLE!
The door made of solid iron crumpled like paper under Ramon's power.
BOOM!
The crumpled iron door was flung to the side by Ramon's gesture.
Ramon slowly entered through the doorway.
The ritual chamber was filled with the thick smell of blood.
Two Apostles approached Ramon.
The Apostles, who were higher in rank and stronger than regular Dark mages, blocked Ramon and said:
"The ritual is still in progress, you cannot enter any further."
Ramon frowned at those words and said:
"You're taking me too lightly."
When Ramon lightly stamped his foot, a massive magic circle suddenly appeared on the floor.
The Apostles flinched and stepped back as they felt the powerful energy from within the magic circle.
But since they couldn't back down like this, the Apostles tried to release their power but surprisingly found they couldn't use any power at all.
"H-how is this…?"
Once the magic circle was deployed, this place had become Ramon Jiemens's domain.
Looking at the flustered Apostles, Ramon spoke.
"Move aside."
At Ramon's words, the Apostles found themselves in an awkward situation where they could neither step aside nor hold their ground.
But then a voice echoed from inside.
『Guide the Lord inside.』
Only when the High Priest's order came down did the Apostles bow their heads and step away from the door.
Ramon entered through the door with a stern expression.
The High Priest wearing a hood was waiting for Ramon.
『Ramon Jiemens, I didn't expect you to cause such a commotion.』
At the High Priest's words, Ramon glared at him and spoke.
"I kept trying to contact you but you gave no response, and you say you didn't expect this?"
The Abyss and Jiemens were in a symbiotic relationship.
Jiemens provided capital and manpower, while the Abyss provided technology to focus on building a stronger army.
Normally, Ramon wouldn't have been this angry even if there was no contact from the Abyss's side.
But it was different when it came to Abel's resurrection.
Ramon Jiemens had recently received news that the Emperor, who had personally left for the Holy King's ruins, had died there, and all the knights and soldiers had surrendered to Zeke Draker.
It was normal for the Emperor to be led around by the Serpent of the Black Maw causing strange incidents, so sending the Orc troops to the Holy Kingdom without much thought had been the root of the problem.
For his part, the longer the Emperor held out, the more advantageous it was to check Julius while manipulating the Empire, which is why he had granted the Emperor's request.
But the situation changed rapidly when the Emperor unexpectedly met his death at the ruins.
Moreover, the situation became more complicated because the Second Prince that Julius was trying to put on the throne was captured by Zeke's side.
For Ramon, who was trying to use Abel, who had imperial blood, during the Empire's chaos, he needed to know the ritual's progress to handle the situation. Yet despite such urgent circumstances, there had been no word from the High Priest's side, making him even more anxious.
The High Priest sneered while looking at Ramon.
『How laughable to see that confident face distorted. Ramon Jiemens, you too are just a mortal who cannot escape human limitations.』
Ignoring the High Priest's mockery, Ramon stepped forward and said:
"I didn't come all this way to hear such talk. What's the status of the ritual?"
The High Priest silently pointed toward the altar.
Ramon turned his head to look at the altar and slowly walked in that direction.
As he climbed the steps and ascended to the altar, he saw Abel bound to the stone platform placed on top.
His hands, feet, and even neck were bound with chains that seemed different from ordinary ones.
Ramon's expression changed when he saw Abel lying there with his eyes closed.
'He's returned to human form.'
When he had seen him before, he was in dragon-human form, but now he had returned to his original human appearance.
Ramon reached out and grabbed Abel's wrist.
His body was still stiff and bloodless like a corpse.
Ramon's expression hardened.
He asked the High Priest who had suddenly appeared on the altar:
"What happened? Did the ritual fail?"
The High Priest looked at Ramon and said:
『I told you reviving Abel would be impossible.』
Ramon glared at him and said:
"More wordplay, is it? I can no longer tolerate this!"
GRAB!
Suddenly Abel, who had been lying motionless, snapped his eyes open and seized Ramon's wrist.
CRACK!
An unpleasant breaking sound came from Ramon's wrist in Abel's grip.
Despite his broken wrist, Ramon's expression didn't change as he turned to look down at Abel's open eyes.
GRRRR!
At that moment, Abel's eyes had changed to dragon eyes, and half his face had returned to dragon-human form.
With his wrist still in Abel's grip, Ramon asked the High Priest:
"Has he become a mindless demon beast?"
『As I said before, since his soul has vanished, completely reviving Abel is impossible. This is closer to a homunculus wearing Abel's appearance.』
Just then Abel raised his body and tried to bite Ramon's neck.
In that instant, the High Priest reached out his hand and the chains wrapped around Abel's limbs and neck glowed red hot.
SIZZLE!
KAAAK!
The chains burned Abel's body, making him scream and thrash about.
CLANK!
At that moment the chains pulled tight, subduing Abel's limbs and forcing him back against the stone platform.
GRRRR!
Abel growled and glared at the High Priest.
Ramon looked down at his broken wrist.
He placed his hand over the broken wrist and gently stroked it.
The broken wrist returned to normal.
Ramon looked down at the mindless Abel and said to the High Priest!
"You must know we can't put Abel on stage in this state. Surely you're not saying the ritual was successful with just this?"
At those words, the High Priest nodded and took something out of his pocket.
The High Priest opened the cap that was blocking the hole of a long-necked vial.
At that moment, a foul stench rose from inside the bottle.
The High Priest brought the vial's spout to the ear of Abel, who was still showing aggressive behavior while bound to the platform.
HISSSSS!
Something crawled out of the vial and wriggled its way into Abel's ear.
Ramon watched the High Priest's actions with a calm expression despite the horrific sight.
When whatever was in the bottle had completely crawled into Abel's ear, the High Priest sealed the vial again with its cap and put it away.
Soon Abel's body twisted violently.
"KUUUK!"
He looked like he might die at any moment as he twisted his limbs and screamed in agony.
But shortly after, words began pouring from Abel's mouth instead of screams.
"What I am, going forward that's, situation Draker show, death inevitable what's wanted, yes, order...!"
Incomprehensible words poured randomly from Abel's mouth.
The High Priest looked at Ramon and said:
『The demon realm has many strange creatures unlike the mortal world. Among them are those that absorb and store their host's memories, then mimic their appearance.』
The demon realm creature that had settled in Abel's mind was reading his memories and trying to mimic his usual behavior.
Suddenly, amid the strange words Abel had been spouting, a precise sentence came out:
"My name is Abel Draker. I am the Black Knight of House Draker."