396
Chapter 396
WOOOOOONG!
The dagger lodged in Taotie's heart caused intense vibrations.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
The magical storm blocking Zeke became even stronger than before.
'What on earth did he just do?'
Seeing the Taotie stab his own heart with the dagger, Zeke sensed something ominous was about to happen.
He had seen quite a few mages of the abyss and demons perform rituals by stabbing their own hearts with daggers.
GRRRRRR!
Something began to change in Taotie's body after it stabbed its own heart with the dagger.
Its crouched body started twitching, and something seemed to be trying to burst out from it back as it writhed and bulged.
KEEEEEEK!
Taotie let out an agonized scream, then twisted his body and collapsed to the ground.
Zeke glared at this sight from within the magical storm.
That's when it happened.
Suddenly Taotie's back burst open and a black hand shot out.
'What is that?'
This hadn't happened when Nigel caught Taotie in his past life.
'Did the Four Fiends meet with the Abyss and change things because I regressed?'
The black hand struggled to tear through Taotie's skin and emerge.
GUOOOOOOOOO!
It was a scream like something crawling up from the depths of hell.
Soon a blood-covered body began to emerge from the Taotie's body.
'This isn't good!'
Zeke tried to use his Spirit Sword Sheath skill to escape the magical storm.
But just as he was about to use the skill, the magical storm that had been enveloping him completely vanished.
Looking up ahead, he saw something rising from within Taotie's skin.
An unidentified being covered in sticky blood like a newborn fetus.
The being raised its head to look at the sky and muttered something.
[Huu... They were right. I've finally shed this cursed shell, damn it.]
Zeke observed the being emanating an ominous energy.
Though it had huge ram horns on its head like the Taotie, it possessed an aura and intimidating presence incomparable to any magical beast.
With its beast-like face, fur-covered body, and sharp claws, it somewhat resembled a demon.
However, the energy it emanated was completely different from demons.
Zeke had felt a similar energy before.
'The Snow Queen. Nephilim...'
The being that emerged from Taotie's body stretched.
Then it glared at Zeke with red eyes and said:
[Worthless human. I'll make you pay the price for opposing the blood of gods.]
Zeke was taken aback by Taotie's sudden transformation and his words.
'Blood of gods?'
Something flashed through Zeke's mind then.
'That's a being born from the Constellation's holy blood!'
He recalled what Arataso had said when fighting the Nephilim.
Thinking that his sense of the energy emanating from the transformed Taotie being similar to the Nephilim wasn't just his imagination, Zeke slowly raised his hammer.
"What are you?"
Taotie took a deep breath and gave a grotesque smile.
[That's not something a worthless human needs to know. You lot just need to quietly serve as our food.]
Reminded of the Nephilim's words about humans being their eternal slaves, Zeke gave a hollow laugh.
His expression hardening again, lightning crackled from the hammer Zeke held.
"A mad dog needs the stick. Let's see if it works the same on magical beasts."
Watching Zeke, Taotie pulled back his lips in a sneer.
[Insolent fool. Do you think a mere human can handle my divine power now that I've shed this cursed shell and regained my godhood?!]
Taotie stretched his hand toward Zeke.
WOOOONG!
A vibration rang in Zeke's ears.
For a moment Zeke staggered slightly as his head spun.
'What's this?'
Taotie spoke as he watched the confused Zeke.
[Go kill your own kind. Human flesh and blood are our food, and we will grow stronger by eating the strong humans here.]
Zeke stood blankly even after hearing Taotie's words.
Taotie tilted his head in confusion.
[What are you doing? Why aren't you going to kill your kind right now?.]
Taotie was giving orders as if Zeke were his subordinate.
Zeke shook his head once, then strode toward Taotie with his hammer raised.
Then he struck Taotie's body with his soul skill 'Will of the Strong'.
KWADDDDDUK!
[KUHEK!]
The sound of bones breaking came from Taotie's body as the hammer struck his stomach.
Taotie, who had been dazed before being suddenly struck down, glared at Zeke in disbelief.
[Impossible! How can a human resist the 'Authority of God'?!]
"I don't know what nonsense you've been spouting."
At Zeke's curt response, the enraged Taotie stretched out his hand and iron claws suddenly burst from the ground.
The iron claws lunging at Zeke looked ready to tear his body to shreds at any moment.
KWADDEUK!
But surprisingly, Zeke caught the iron claws with his bare hands.
KUGUGUGUGUGU!
Drawing upon his field of metal force, Zeke proceeded to break the iron claws.
WHIK!
Zeke gripped the broken iron claw fragments and invoked the power of flame transformation.
HWARARREUK!
The powerful ability melted the iron claws into molten metal.
As the molten metal dripped to the ground, Taotie was terrified.
[H-how can a human use divine power…?!]
Taotie was flustered but quickly regained his senses and tried to quickly flee from the approaching Zeke.
But he was already caught in Zeke's grasp.
As Zeke stretched out his hand, chains shot out flying quickly toward the fleeing Taotie.
CHWARREUREUK!
The chains wrapped around Taotie's body as if they were alive.
He was shocked to see the chains binding him.
[KUUUK! How can this be in human hands?!]
Taotie seemed to know the identity of the chains Zeke was wielding.
"You know about these chains?"
After waiting a moment with no response from Taotie, Zeke held onto the chains, put on Agamemnon's mask, and infused them with purifying power.
TSUTSUTSUTSU!
Golden aura seeped into Taotie's body.
[KUAAAK!]
Zeke grabbed the suffering Taotie and asked again.
"Tell me everything you know about these chains."
Though Taotie showed the most cruel appearance, he was actually the weakest and most cowardly of the Four Fiends.
He was used to being infinitely strong against the weak but servile and debasing himself before the strong.
'It's clear my divine status hasn't fully returned after just shedding my shell. Once I regain my power, I can subjugate him with my divine word.'
He thought he needed to buy time to recover his strength.
Taotie spoke to Zeke with tears streaming down.
[P-please spare me.]
"You were just going on about worthless humans, and now this? What are you plotting?"
Zeke was well-versed in dealing with such cunning types.
Ignoring the plea, he held the chains and continued to pour purifying power into Taotie's body.
[KEUREUREUK!]
Taotie exaggerated his cries of pain even more.
He was trying to buy time to recover his strength this way.
But Zeke saw right through Taotie's deception.
"Playing tricks I see. Fine, keep it up then."
Remembering how Taotie called himself 'blood of gods', Zeke took out a holy spear from his inventory.
Taotie, who had been trying to buy time with trickery, was terrified seeing the holy spear Zeke pulled out.
[W-why is that here...? C-could it be the power of immortality?]
"Seems the one who ordered my capture didn't tell you about this? Too late to know now."
Zeke gripped the holy spear and stabbed Taotie's leg.
CHIIIIIIK!
Black smoke rose from Taotie's leg where the holy spear pierced.
[KUAAAAAAK!]
This time a truly pain-filled scream burst out.
Zeke pulled out the holy spear and spoke.
"It works alright. Would've been easier against Qiongqi if I had this then."
At the mention of Qiongqi's name, Taotie raised his voice in panic.
[What did you do to my brother?!]
"Brother? Are the Four Fiends brothers?"
It seemed they weren't grouped as the Four Fiends for nothing - there appeared to be some connection between them.
Zeke pressed the holy spear against Taotie's neck and spoke in a low voice.
"You felt it yourself, this is a real god-slaying spear. Better answer properly without any tricks."
The holy spear was a divine artifact that could uniquely kill those of divine blood, so it was clearly effective on Taotie.
'D-damn it. They didn't tell me about this.'
He had only made the contract because the Abyss side said they could help him shed his shell and regain his original divine status.
And the contract was to bring Zeke back alive.
But he had no idea the target would be an immortal who possessed a holy spear.
Zeke pushed the tip of the holy spear into Taotie's neck as he asked.
"Tell me what you know about these chains."
Taotie hesitated but as the holy spear slowly dug into his neck, he finally spoke.
[S-Solomon! They are King Solomon's chains.]
Zeke's expression showed surprise at the unexpected name from Taotie's mouth.
"You mean Solomon, the King of Carcosa?"
Taotie nodded.
[Y-yes. King Solomon used those chains to capture gods.]
Zeke had inherited these chains as a legacy from Terakan Draker.
He had pressed for information hoping to learn more about Terakan, but ended up hearing something completely unexpected.
He knew these chains weren't ordinary artifacts since they could capture both demons and fallen constellations, but he never imagined they were King Solomon's chains.
'Solomon's ring was given by the Elder Dragon. Then these chains could also have been made by the Elder Dragon.'
Zeke gripped the holy spear again and spoke to Taotie.
"Who sent you here? Explain what your current form is."
Taotie felt great terror knowing a weapon that could completely erase his existence beyond the wheel of reincarnation was at his neck.
Taotie, who enjoyed capturing the weak and making them tremble in fear, had found himself in a completely reversed position.
Trembling, Taotie finally spoke.
[T-the High Priest of the Abyss came to me. He said if I joined hands with him, he would help me shed my cursed shell and regain my original divine status.]
Hearing Taotie's words, Zeke pulled on the chains.
His head turned to meet Zeke's eyes.
Looking into Taotie's eyes, Zeke spoke.
"What's this cursed shell and divine status? Are you saying you're not just simple magical beasts?"
Then Taotie slowly opened his mouth.
[W-we are, as I said before, blood of the great gods.]
"Explain so I can understand clearly. Otherwise, this holy spear goes through your heart."
Taotie gulped at Zeke's words.
'This one is more than capable of doing just that.'
Realizing it was impossible to deceive Zeke, Taotie had to tell the truth.
[My brothers and I are beings created from holy blood.]
"Are you saying you're Nephilim?"
Taotie's eyes widened in surprise that Zeke knew about the Nephilim.
[H-how do you know about that?! 'That history' should have been erased from humans!]
"Because I captured a Nephilim with my own hands."
Zeke replied casually while channeling the power of freezing through the chains.
KWADEUDEUK!
The freezing power gradually froze Taotie's body.
[KUUUUK!]
The power worked on Nephilim as well.
Watching the suffering Taotie, Zeke began questioning again.
"The Four Fiends are Nephilim... Then why are you in the form of magical beasts now?"
Taotie spoke while breaking into a cold sweat.
[W-we are under a curse.]
"What kind of curse?"
[A curse of eternal reincarnation with our divine status sealed within this shell.]
Hearing Taotie's words, Zeke could somewhat understand why the special breeds were different from other magical beasts.
It seemed in his past life, without the chance to meet the Abyss, they had remained as just slightly stronger magical beasts.
"Did all Nephilim receive this curse?"
Taotie shook his head.
[Only those who joined hands with the fallen constellations received this curse. The others either died or lost their divine status and moved to higher dimensions in spirit form.]
Now he understood why Nephilim were no longer seen in the current world.
'The Snow Queen remaining in a sealed state was unusual. I still don't understand why Master Kaisir only sealed rather than destroyed the Snow Queen.'
After organizing his thoughts, Zeke stepped on Taotie's chest and spoke.
"I roughly understand what happened. But why did the High Priest order you to capture me?"
Taotie shook his head at those words.
[I-I don't really know about that! Really!]
"Is that so? Then you're no longer of any value."
As Zeke raised the holy spear to pierce his heart, Taotie frantically shouted.
[W-wait! I-I remember!]
He stopped the spear just before it reached near the heart.
Zeke glared at Taotie as if telling him to speak.
Trembling, Taotie opened his mouth.
[H-he said it was needed to cast a curse!]
"What curse are they trying to cast?"
At Zeke's cold voice, Taotie rolled his eyes around before finally speaking.
[Draker! He said it was a curse to destroy House Draker!]