386
Chapter 386
Zeke couldn't help but be flustered by Carmilla's words.
'I only used the alias Kai Lubern twice.'
Once in front of Holy King Geo Lubern's spirit body, and once when he saw his mother Laura Agamemnon after going to the past using Chronos's power.
While confused about which instance she meant, Carmilla pointed at Zeke and shouted.
"You're the one who fought me at the museum fifty years ago!"
Zeke finally realized that the person in black who protected Laura back then was Carmilla.
He thought it was a bit strange how she suddenly calmed down after Bacchus's patting, but it seemed she was trying to calm herself while recalling and tracing some memories.
'So Carmilla and mother had a connection even before she joined the Draker family.'
From the situation back then, it felt like the True Blood Carmilla was serving Laura Agamemnon as her master.
Caught off guard by someone recognizing and remembering his past self, Zeke was momentarily stunned into silence.
That's when Bacchus spoke to Carmilla in a reasoning tone.
"Mother, fifty years ago Zeke wasn't even born. How could he have fought with you fifty years ago?"
Hearing Bacchus's words, Carmilla shook her small head in confusion and pondered.
"Is that so? But no, it's definitely him."
Zeke remained quiet since there was no need to confirm that he did indeed fight her in the past.
Bacchus brought up the main topic to change the atmosphere.
"That's not what's important right now. Mother, please tell Zeke about Caligula."
Carmilla, who had been pondering about Kai Lubern, suddenly came to her senses and put on a serious expression.
"Do you know who Caligula is?"
Zeke nodded.
"Bacchus told me he was the king of ancient vampires."
Carmilla nodded.
"Yes, that's right. Caligula was the vampire king known as the White-faced King."
Zeke realized that the 'White-faced Clan' he saw in the message when he entered this place referred to vampires.
As he was organizing this newly learned information in his head, Carmilla slowly continued.
"I'm looking for Caligula's tomb to awaken the complete power of True Blood. I think there might be a way with you, who received the Fairy King's blessing. Help me find the tomb."
Zeke looked at Carmilla and said.
"I heard from Bacchus that its traces were connected to the Holy Kingdom, so I discreetly asked Her Holiness the Pope, but she didn't even know the name Caligula."
Carmilla's expression darkened as she pressed her lips together in thought, then looked at Bacchus and asked.
"Why, why don't they know?"
Bacchus calmed the frustrated Carmilla and looked at Zeke with a composed expression as he continued explaining.
"To be precise, mother saw through a dream revelation that she could find clues about Caligula's tomb in the Holy Kingdom."
"Revelation? Isn't that something clergy receive from God?"
Bacchus shook his head.
"It's a bit different from that. To borrow the expression of an ancient Eastern sage, it's closer to 'reading heavenly signs.'"
Since it was his first time hearing such an expression, Zeke had trouble understanding what it meant to receive revelations.
'Would the Hermit of Stories know?'
As if the revelation wasn't important, Bacchus continued speaking.
"Actually... the reason Arthur Draker wanted to keep mother by his side was because of this ability."
Then Carmilla, who was beside them, shouted.
"That bastard wanted to find the Elder Dragon's relic using my ability!"
Zeke was startled by Carmilla's words.
"The Elder Dragon's relic?"
"Yes, he always made me record my dreams. Then one day, I had a dream where I was dying with all my limbs cut off in a place covered in ice. But there was a black dragon statue in front of me."
Hearing Carmilla's words, Zeke felt his heart stop for a moment.
'Could that be...?'
She continued speaking.
"I thought I had no limbs, but suddenly an arm appeared. Just as I reached toward the black dragon, a light flashed and I woke up from the dream."
This was exactly what happened to Zeke when he found the Elder Dragon's relic right before regression.
'How could Carmilla see that scene?'
He couldn't quite grasp what kind of ability it was to receive revelations through dreams.
Moreover, what she saw was something that happened in a future that disappeared with Zeke's regression.
"That bastard Arthur saw the dream diary I wrote that day and asked me to describe the scenery I saw in the dream in more detail. Then he said the Elder Dragon's ruins were somewhere in the Ice Mountains."
Bacchus nodded and added.
"After that, Baron Draker, the Black Corps Commander, mobilized his Black Corps forces to search the Ice Mountains. He said they needed to find the Elder Dragon's ruins before Emperor Rom."
Zeke recalled seeing Arthur Draker and Baron Draker at the Elder Dragon's ruins.
'So they pinpointed the location through Carmilla's dream.'
It was certainly a place difficult to find otherwise.
Zeke gathered his thoughts amidst the flood of information and returned to the main point.
"Let's set aside the Elder Dragon's ruins for now. So you're saying you tried to find Caligula's tomb through this ability?"
Carmilla nodded at Zeke.
"That's right. But dreams aren't something I can control, so I'm not sure what's what. Since being resurrected with this young body, I feel sleepy often and sleep a lot, but I rarely dream."
Carmilla sighed. Apparently, Bacchus had been interpreting Carmilla's previous dreams to find traces of Caligula.
Those traces led them to the Holy Kingdom, where they met Zeke.
Bacchus looked at Zeke and said.
"Perhaps mother's dreams guided us to meet you."
Prophecies and revelations were all about piecing things together based on results.
Whether Carmilla's dreams truly led to meeting Zeke was unknown, but the outcome aligned.
'With my Absolute Compass, finding locations won't be a problem.'
Zeke's Absolute Compass was an amazing artifact that guided to destinations while considering causality.
The one drawback was that it couldn't search for other locations until finding the designated place.
Zeke was actually contemplating whether to search for Caligula's tomb or Laura Agamemnon's hideout in Himonas first.
Since the target couldn't be changed once set, he needed to choose carefully.
'Though I'm curious about mother's hideout... if Carmilla gets captured by Arthur Draker again without regaining her True Blood powers, that would be troublesome.'
Since they still didn't fully understand what secrets Arthur Draker was hiding, they needed to be extremely cautious of him.
Zeke decided to use the Absolute Compass to find Caligula's tomb first.
He took out the Absolute Compass from his inventory and set the destination as Caligula's tomb.
WHOOSH
The compass spun before pointing in one direction.
'This is... north.'
Zeke opened his map and synchronized it with the compass.
This allowed him to determine more precisely where the compass was pointing.
It was none other than Himonas.
'Caligula's tomb is in Himonas?'
Since the Absolute Compass pointed there, there had to be clues there.
Zeke realized he couldn't delay going to Himonas any longer.
He asked Bacchus.
"Does one need to go to the ruins personally to awaken True Blood powers?"
Bacchus nodded at Zeke's words.
"Without being a True Blood, one couldn't enter the ruins in the first place."
The ruins seemed designed to respond only to pure White-faced Clan bloodlines.
Zeke nodded and said to both of them.
"Then let's prepare to leave this place."
Bacchus and Carmilla looked at him curiously at his resolute words.
He looked north and said.
"I think I’ll be able to find where Caligula's tomb is soon."
* * *
"HAAAAAH!"
SWOOSH
The claymore cleanly cut through the charging monster's neck.
Nikolai, commander of the Himonas Thistle Knights, exhaled white breath and shouted to the Ice Wall Rangers.
"Damn! More coming from the west!"
A pack of medium-sized monsters could be seen charging across the snowfield.
Hearing Nikolai's words, the Rangers immediately prepared their large crossbows.
Working in pairs, the Rangers began firing bolts at the monsters charging toward the ice wall.
DUDUDUDU!
Short, sturdy bolts rained down from the rapid-fire large crossbows.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
As the charging monsters fell from the bolt hits, Vice Commander Sven came up and shouted to Nikolai.
"Nikolai! A group of Cyclops appeared at the east gate!"
Nikolai heard Sven’s words and immediately sprinted toward the east gate.
Because the Cyclops were massive in size, their sheer weight made it inevitable that even the sturdiest ice walls would crack under their force.
When he arrived at the east gate, knights were throwing spears, while rangers from the rear were rapidly firing crossbows.
However, there were simply too many Cyclops.
“Damn! How many of them are there?!”
At Nikolai’s exclamation, Sven shouted back.
“Hey, Nikolai! Looks like today’s finally the day we settle our score!”
The ‘score’ he was referring to was their long-standing contest—who could kill more enemies before dying in their final battle.
Nikolai grinned, taking off his helmet.
“Alright, Sven. Looks like today’s the day you finally kneel before me.”
“Bullshit. You better be ready to serve me in hell.”
Without hesitation, Nikolai and Sven leaped off the fortress wall, plunging their claymores directly into the Cyclops’ eyes.
KWAAJIK!
The Cyclops, struck precisely in the eye, let out an agonizing howl.
"GUUOOOOOOHHH!!"
It thrashed violently, desperately trying to pry the two men off its face.
But the two knights of the north were nothing if not relentless.
They exchanged glances and moved in unison, climbing onto the back of the Cyclops’ head before stabbing their swords deep into its neck.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
As the claymores tore through the back of its throat, the Cyclops could endure no longer and collapsed on the spot.
Before its massive body could crush them, Sven and Nikolai jumped onto the shoulders of another Cyclops.
"GRRRAAAAHHH!"
The surrounding Cyclops swung their massive clubs at them.
However, in their reckless frenzy, their clubs went astray, slamming into each other’s jaws instead.
"GUUOOOHHH!"
The Cyclops began striking each other in confusion, turning the battle into complete chaos.
Seizing the opportunity, Sven and Nikolai swiftly maneuvered through the battlefield, driving their claymores into the Cyclops’ necks.
And then…..
WHOOOOOSH!
A chilling sound rang through the air, and the head of the Cyclops they had been about to kill was suddenly sent flying.
THUD!
A headless Cyclops collapsed to the ground, crushing Sven beneath its corpse.
Reacting instantly, Sven clawed at the snow-covered ground and scrambled free.
Then, as he looked up, his eyes widened in shock.
"Shit, what the hell is that?"
A monster had appeared—twice the size of an ordinary Cyclops, with two heads atop its massive body.
A Twin-Headed Cyclops.
"GUOOOHHHHH!"
The Twin-Headed Cyclops let out an ear-splitting roar and swung its massive mace at the ice wall.
BOOOM!
With a single strike, the entire wall trembled, cracks spreading across its surface.
From above, rangers rained down bolts on the monster.
PAPAPAPAT!
But the creature’s hide was so thick that the bolts merely bounced off, unable to penetrate.
While the Twin-Headed Cyclops continued its assault on the wall, Sven quickly scanned the battlefield and spotted Nikolai half-buried in the snow.
"Hey! Nikolai!"
The fall was brutal, Nikolai’s shoulder and leg were crushed.
"Damn it."
Sven pulled out the potion he had been saving and poured it into Nikolai’s mouth, then helped him up.
"Stay conscious!"
Supporting Nikolai, Sven started toward the fortress wall.
But then…
One of the Twin-Headed Cyclops’ heads suddenly turned their way, its massive body twisting as it raised its mace high.
"KAAAAAHHHH!"
With a deafening roar, it brought the mace crashing down toward them.
Sven, carrying Nikolai, had no way to dodge.
"Shit."
CLAAANG!
At that moment, an ear-splitting metallic sound echoed through the battlefield.
The mace had been sliced clean in half, its shattered pieces crashing to the ground beside them.
"KEEEEAAAAAK!!"
The Twin-Headed Cyclops shrieked in pain, clutching at its now-severed arm.
And standing before them.
Clad in northern armor, draped in a white cape, wielding a greatsword as sharp as a wolf’s fang.
A lone knight.
Sven's eyes widened as he recognized their savior.
“My Lord!”
Alicia Himonas, Grand Duke of the North, had arrived.