Chapter 406
Chapter 406
Chapter 406
KUGUGUGUGU!
Exuding a threatening momentum, Nigel slowly approached.
Zeke, catching his breath, maintained his composure and spoke to her.
"Hermit of the Forest, Nigel. I have come here on the request of the Highlander Leader."
At Zeke's words, Nigel paused momentarily.
She narrowed her eyes, glaring at Zeke and said,
"Has that old man gone senile? Why send a human here?"
Zeke swallowed hard and spoke to Nigel.
"My name is Zeke Draker. I am the Black Knight and Guardian Knight of the Draker Family. The Leader proposed that we form a joint front to block the forces of the Abyss attempting to invade the continent, and I accepted."
Upon hearing Zeke's name, Nigel's expression instantly soured.
"It's you. The one who killed the hydra."
Nigel, who had been harboring resentment about Zeke killing the Hydra in the Barbarian's territory, now looked at him with suspicious eyes.
“Hah! And you expect me to believe you, when you’re openly dragging around not one, but two Archliches?”
Unfortunately, being spotted with Lich summons at that moment had complicated matters.
'How can I convince this stubborn and eccentric master of mine?'
There would be nothing more difficult than fully persuading Nigel, who was filled with doubt.
She raised her sword and slowly approached Zeke.
"Why aren't you speaking? You're getting more and more suspicious? First, I'll cut off an arm and a leg and slowly investigate..."
"W-Wait a moment, Master!"
Zeke unexpectedly blurted out ‘master’ in his surprise.
Nigel looked at him with a bewildered expression.
"Has this guy gone crazy? Who's your master?!"
As the situation became more complicated, Zeke decided to tell Nigel the entire truth.
"Master, this might be hard to understand, but I actually returned by reversing time..."
CHWAAAAAK!
Nigel swung her sword without listening to Zeke's words further.
"KEUUK!"
Zeke barely dodged the sword strike and drew Bahamut.
He shouted towards Nigel,
"It's true, Master! Please listen to me!"
"Living long enough, even a madman like you crawls into the forest. I was already in a bad mood, so this is perfect. I'll beat you up until you reveal everything."
Knowing that if she were truly his master, she would indeed do exactly that, Zeke urgently drew out the full power of his Soul technique.
KUGUGUGUGU!
The power of the Soul technique settled into Zeke's body.
Nigel's expression subtly changed upon seeing this.
"Huh? The more I see, the less I understand. Where did you learn that?"
"I learned it from you, Master, in a time before my regression."
Zeke raised the energy of the Soul technique and activated a double spell.
UUUUUNG!
He immediately swung his sword towards Nigel, filled with the will to destroy.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
Despite the sword strike imbued with Soul technique's power, Nigel remained motionless.
She merely lightly swung her sword.
PACHING!
Suddenly, the will to destroy embedded in Zeke's sword was erased, becoming an ordinary strike.
'Huh?'
Bewildered, his sword approached right in front of Nigel's nose, and she grabbed it barehanded.
Then, holding the sword, she spoke to Zeke,
"Swinging something like this around and calling it Soul technique, you stupid fool."
As soon as her words ended, Nigel's sword flashed.
Wrapped in the sword's light, Zeke's consciousness was cut off.
* * *
"HEUK!"
Zeke regained consciousness and raised his body.
Looking around, he saw a familiar landscape.
The wooden house where he and his master had stayed together in the Forest of the Forgotten.
For a moment, Zeke felt goosebumps seeing the house he hadn't seen in a long time.
'Wait, this isn't all a dream, right? Did I get hit by Master and pass out, then escape into a long dream...'
Zeke was startled and got up, seeing himself wearing the Draker uniform and the status window appearing before his eyes, confirming once again that his life was not a dream.
As he let out a sigh of relief, the door opened and Nigel entered.
Zeke involuntarily flinched, looking at her with fearful eyes.
Nigel brought a chair, crossed her legs, and looked down at Zeke.
Wearing shorts and boots, she looked like an adorable girl on the surface, but in reality, she was the most terrifying existence.
Nigel opened her mouth, looking at Zeke.
"Repeat what you said earlier."
"Pardon? What?"
At his counter-question, Nigel frowned.
"The thing you said earlier about time and regression!"
Zeke's body involuntarily trembled at his master's piercing voice.
'From being beaten so much in my previous life, my body reacts first.'
This was why he didn't want to come to the Forest of the Forgotten, but he was already here, so he had no choice.
Zeke slowly opened his mouth.
"Literally, I returned by reversing time. With the power of the Elder Dragon."
Upon hearing 'Elder Dragon', Nigel's eyes widened.
"Crazy... Is such a thing really possible?"
"Are you saying you believe me?"
Nigel frowned and glared at him while speaking.
"Ha, it sounds nonsensical, but otherwise, I can't explain how a human could have opened the Middle Diantan and even know the Soul technique."
"In my previous life, Master, you saved me and opened my Middle Diantan ."
Nigel shook her head.
"I would never have passed down the soul technique to a human if I wasn't crazy. What in the world..."
Nigel came down from the chair and slowly approached Zeke.
Zeke looked up at her with a pale face.
"What's wrong?"
"Take it off quickly."
"Pardon?"
Nigel frowned and pointed at Zeke's uniform top.
To avoid triggering Nigel's temper, Zeke hastily removed his uniform top.
His well-developed muscular body was revealed.
Nigel carefully examined Zeke's Middle Diantan area.
"Hmm..."
Seemingly unsure, she placed her hand near Zeke's solar plexus and channeled mana.
UUUUUNG!
Sentences immediately appeared above Zeke's solar plexus.
One of them was a sentence that formed after absorbing Bahamut's heart.
Seeing the sentence, Nigel made an unbelieving expression.
"What is this? A dragon's heart is settled in the Middle Diantan?"
It wasn't simply having a dragon's heart, but it was fused with the Middle Diantan .
She rolled her eyes and quickly interpreted the sentences.
Then, with even more surprise, she widely opened her eyes and looked at Zeke's face.
"Bahamut, the Ruler of Twilight ... Did you absorb Bahamut's heart?"
Zeke nodded.
"Yes, initially I absorbed a heart cursed by the Light Dragon, but with the help of Hyperion, the Lord of the Silver Clan, I broke the curse."
Nigel again made a confused expression.
"Not human, not dragon. What exactly is this guy?"
As Nigel muttered and moved her mana, the sentences merged into a round sphere.
She rotated the sphere and meticulously examined the inscribed traces.
Then she stopped at one part, and her pupils strongly trembled.
"What the... The trace of the oath I originally inscribed is actually here?"
The Highlander Oath that Zeke and Nigel made in their previous life.
Zeke was anxious because he had broken that oath and gone to Himonas to protect Alicia's side.
While Zeke swallowed hard and waited, Nigel stared at the oath's trace and suddenly made an unbelievable expression.
"What? This... How is this possible?"
She looked down at Zeke with a fierce expression and said,
"What exactly did you do?... Did I release the oath?"
Hearing that, Zeke was surprised and widely opened his eyes, then shook his head.
"What? Master released my oath? That never happened."
At those words, Nigel went crazy.
"Getting angry about making an oath with a human is one thing, but why would I release the oath? This is really infuriating! Is this really something I did?"
Seeing Nigel's reaction, Zeke realized something he didn't know before.
'Did Master secretly release the oath placed on me in my previous life?'
She was an arrogant, eccentric master with an utterly terrible personality.
According to the oath, Zeke was originally supposed to become the manager of the Forest of the Forgotten, succeeding Nigel and fulfilling the Highlander duty.
However, Zeke abandoned the oath to help Alicia and left the forest.
And he never returned to the Forest of the Forgotten.
He was afraid of his master's reaction upon meeting again, but also because he had always been burdened by the fact that he had betrayed her, who had saved his life and shown him kindness.
So the trace of the Highlander Oath always remained a burden in his soul.
But hearing that the oath was already released, Zeke couldn't help but be surprised.
"Could it have been automatically released while reversing time?"
Nigel looked at Zeke as if he were stupid and said,
"Idiot. Do you think I can't read that much? This was released beforehand. And considering the massive side effects. Ah, I can't understand why I did such a thing."
Zeke hadn't even considered that his master from his previous life might have deliberately set him free.
'Why would Master do this?'
Since he couldn't go back to his previous life to ask about what happened, Zeke had no way of knowing the full story.
He quickly put his clothes back on and looked at Nigel.
"Anyway, can you believe me now?"
Nigel made a complicated expression at Zeke's words.
She sat back in the chair, pondered for a while, then turned her head towards Zeke.
"Come here."
Zeke quickly sat in the spot Nigel pointed to.
She furrowed her brow and bit her nail.
Zeke inwardly chuckled seeing this.
'She still has that habit.'
Then Nigel asked Zeke,
"How much of the Soul technique did I teach you?"
Suddenly asked about the Hyeonsin technique, Zeke paused, organized his thoughts, and then answered.
"Just the initial parts. I had just opened my Middle Diantan, and they said my human body couldn't withstand learning more."
"Hmm, so how did you manage to draw out power for a double spell?"
"I tried to mimic what you were doing. Though a triple spell was beyond me."
Nigel made an absurd expression at Zeke's words.
"Huh? You just mimicked a double spell by watching? Ridiculous."
Muttering, Nigel stood up.
"Follow me."
Zeke was still dissatisfied with her arbitrary attitude but followed her outside without arguing.
The clearing around the wooden house.
This was where Zeke had been beaten nearly to death by Nigel every day during his training.
Following her belief that understanding comes from being beaten, he was indeed beaten daily but was fortunate enough to open his Middle Diantan without dying.
Standing in that clearing again after a long time felt nostalgic.
'I really was beaten incredibly hard.'
At that moment, Nigel drew her sword and spoke to Zeke.
"Draw your sword and use a solo spell."
"What kind of will should I invoke?"
"Just try anything."
Annoyed by Nigel's rough response, Zeke grumbled internally and drew Bahamut.
He drew out spiritual power and raised the will of strength.
Seeing this, Nigel sighed.
"Where do I even start with this?"
"I did exactly as I learned, so why are you like this?"
Nigel shook her head.
"What did you learn? You're doing it completely wrong."
"But in my previous life, Master taught me like this..."
"If I didn't teach you, then I didn't. Why are you so talkative? Want to get hit and admit it?"
"No, I won't."
Even after returning as a Black Knight, he was being ignored and scolded, just like in his previous life.
Nigel drew her sword and looked at Zeke.
"Watch carefully. You're completely misunderstanding the Soul technique."
The moment she finished speaking, the will of strength erupted from Nigel's body.
TSUTSUTSUTSEU!
Zeke suddenly felt as if Nigel had turned to steel.
'What's this?'
Although he had raised the same will of strength, the feeling was completely different from what he had done.
Nigel looked at Zeke and said,
"It's not about forcibly raising a will. You must become the subject of that will, becoming one with it. This is the core of the soul technique. Tough guy."
With the word ‘tough’, fragments of the past flashed through Zeke's mind.