Chapter 413
Chapter 413
KEEEEEK!
Zeke raised his sword, drawing up the power of his soul technique.
He channeled the will of defense to materialize the form of a massive shield.
The formless doppelgangers charged at Zeke but were blocked by the shield he created.
CRACK!
Zeke summoned the will of slashing against the doppelgangers blocked by the shield.
KUGUUUU!
A massive greatsword form appeared above his blade.
Zeke immediately swung the greatsword form with the will of slashing.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
The greatsword form created by Bahamut's sword cut through the formless doppelgangers.
SWOOSH!
The soul technique imbued with willpower was capable of cutting even formless magical beasts.
The doppelgangers made choking sounds before melting into a jelly-like substance.
SIZZLE!
The doppelgangers that had turned into acidic liquid evaporated with a horrible stench.
Zeke realized he could use his soul technique much more efficiently than when he previously used incantation .
'The spirit power consumption was too high to use actively in combat... but now the efficiency is much better.'
Before meeting Nigel, he used incantation to utilize soul technique, which actually caused more spirit power
consumption.
Zeke gripped his sword and aimed at the main body rather than the doppelgangers.
Seeing its doppelgangers easily destroyed by Zeke's attack, the main magical beast body began to writhe again.
GURURURURU!
Different types of legs started sprouting from its body, soon crawling on the ground with hundreds of disgusting legs.
Then its flesh split open, revealing a mouth with sharp teeth.
The magical beast immediately charged at Zeke.
KEEEEEK!
Its tongue shot out from its mouth, trying to wrap around Zeke.
CLANG!
Zeke swung his sword to deflect the tongue, surprisingly producing a metallic sound.
'What is its body made of?'
Though it moved flexibly like a living creature, it was harder than steel.
Then the magical beast's mouth opened wider, and more tongues shot out from within.
WHOOSH!
Dozens of steel tongues flew toward Zeke like whips.
Seeing this, Zeke immediately took flight with his dragon wings.
From the air, he used Freezing Authority on the tentacles.
CRACKLE!
The frozen tongues became rigidly fixed in place.
Zeke took out a hammer from his inventory, summoned the will of force, and swung it at the frozen tongues.
WHOOSH!
The will of force materialized as a powerful crushing image.
CRACKCRACKCRACK!
The frozen tongues shattered when struck by the hammer imbued with the will of force.
Seeing its attacks repeatedly fail against Zeke, the magical beast seemed flustered and retreated.
GURURURURU!
Its flesh masses writhed about as its eyeballs blinked.
Watching the magical beast, Zeke attached a chain to his hammer and began spinning it.
"Now, it's my turn."
He threw the hammer with golden aura and the will of force channeled into the chain.
WHOOSH!
The hammer flew toward the magical beast at terrifying speed.
The magical beast tried to quickly retreat using its hundreds of legs, but Zeke's hammer was faster.
CRACK!
When the hammer struck the flesh mass, the sound of crushing bones rang out.
KEEEEEK!
The magical beast screamed and tried to burrow into the ground.
But Zeke wouldn't allow that.
RATTLE!
As the chain wrapped around the magical beast's body, Zeke spread his golden aura field and pulled hard.
The magical beast trying to burrow underground had no choice but to be dragged out.
Zeke maintained his grip on the chain and unleashed his holy light technique.
CRACKLE!
Lightning of light struck the magical beast's body through the chain.
KEEEEEK!
As the holy light technique's power that burned away magical energy penetrated its body, the magical beast twisted in
agony.
Watching this, Zeke drew Roland with his other hand.
WOONG!
Simultaneously donning the masks of Hersion and Agamemnon, Zeke raised Roland and activated the Radiant Light Blade
skill.
When it felt the powerful purifying force, the magical beast frantically tried to escape from the chain.
Zeke sensed that this magical beast had similar power to the Nine-Headed Dragon he had faced before.
'Compared to then, this is much easier to handle.'
As time had passed, Zeke had also grown, making it possible to handle the situation much more comfortably than before.
But then, something strange happened with the magical beast.
GURURURURU!
The magical beast trembled violently, and holes began appearing in its flesh mass.
Then black vapor began spewing from those holes.
SIZZLE!
The black vapor the magical beast released began gathering into one mass in the air.
'What is that.'
The black vapor condensed into a sphere, and a single red eyeball appeared in its center.
When it was complete, the flesh mass Zeke had been restraining suddenly collapsed.
RUMBLE!
As the flesh mass melted and poured down, countless remains of magical beasts flowed out and scattered from within.
'What is that?'
All sorts of corpses - half-digested magical beasts, body parts, or intact monster bodies - lay scattered on the ground,
wrapped in sticky liquid.
SIZZLE!
The liquid that flowed out with them seeped into every corner, dissolving the bodies of the magical beasts and monsters.
The ground in the basin soon became soggy with the melted fluids of magical beasts and monsters.
Seeing this, Zeke realized that the flesh mass he had been fighting until now wasn't the magical beast's true body.
He looked at the black sphere with the red eyeball floating in the air.
'Is that the magical beast's true form?'
That's when it happened.
ZING!
Light flashed from the magical beast's red eyeball, and red compressed shots poured toward Zeke.
Zeke hastily summoned the will of defense to try to block the compressed shots.
But surprisingly, the compressed shots pierced through the will of defense and poured toward Zeke.
KWAKWAKWAKWA!
Though startled for a moment, Zeke trusted in Hersion and took the compressed shots head-on.
BOOM!
A powerful explosion occurred, pushing Zeke backward.
SIZZLE!
While the armor where it took the compressed shots turned red-hot, fortunately there were no other special problems.
However, Zeke became somewhat confused as he found it difficult to gauge the nature of the compressed shots fired by the
magical beast.
'It doesn't seem to be magic shots... what is this?'
Given that it penetrated the soul technique, it didn't seem like a normal attack.
Then the black sphere began to ripple.
GURURURURU!
Black tentacles stretched out in all directions from the sphere and flew toward Zeke.
WHOOSH!
Zeke flew into the air using the Dragon Wings skill.
The black tentacles that extended from the magical beast chased after Zeke.
He slashed the tentacles hard with the light blade.
TSTSTSTS!
But like fog, the cut parts of the tentacles merely disappeared, and steam rose up to recreate the severed portions.
'No matter how much I cut, it's useless.'
It was a bizarre magical beast that seemed to have no physical form yet could exert physical force when attacking.
Zeke decided to attack the magical beast's main body directly instead of dealing with the tentacles.
Changing direction in mid-air, Zeke aimed the Radiant light blade at the magical beast.
WOONG!
His sword vibrated as it tried to cut down the magical beast in one strike.
But at that moment, the magical beast's body scattered like fog.
SWOOSH!
Though Zeke struck with the light blade, he couldn't cut the entire fog that had spread in all directions.
TSTSTSTS!
Right after, the vapors regathered behind Zeke and returned to the original form of the magical beast.
'Oh no...'
The magical beast's ability to scatter like fog had neutralized the light blade.
'Unless I destroy it in one shot, it will keep regenerating.'
Then the shimmering heat rose again from the magical beast's body.
The heat gathered and created doppelgangers identical to the magical beast.
The magical beast instantly created several copies of itself.
Though smaller in size, they had the same red eyeballs.
The doppelgangers moved slowly, surrounding Zeke.
As Zeke observed them, the doppelgangers' eyes flashed and they fired compressed shots at him.
KWAKWAKWAKWA!
Though compressed shots flew in from all directions, Zeke calmly swung his sword to block them.
CLANG!
While blocking the relentless compressed shots, Zeke pondered how to deal with the magical beast.
It was quite tricky to fight a magical beast without physical form.
Then something crossed Zeke's mind.
'This might let me catch it.'
Zeke raised his sword and created a wind force field.
WHOOSH!
Strong winds swirled, roughly sweeping the ground and raising dust.
KUGUGUGUGU!
Zeke hid his body in the dust cloud.
Then the magical beast created more doppelgangers to try to corner Zeke.
But then, the magical beast's doppelgangers hidden in the dust suddenly started disappearing.
The magical beast noticed this and let out a strange cry.
GOOOOO!
As if it was some kind of command, the doppelgangers tried to escape the dust and move toward the main body.
But at some point, the movement of the escaping doppelgangers completely stopped.
No matter how much the main body commanded, the doppelgangers wouldn't move.
And soon, a huge shadow rippled from the ground, rose up, and swallowed the doppelgangers.
Zeke had swallowed the doppelgangers using his absorption skill.
TSSSSSS!
The beast blinked its red eyes in confusion as its clone was devoured by the shadows.
As the dust settled, Zeke emerged from the darkness and pointed his sword at the beast.
Seeing Zeke reveal himself, the beast extended its tentacles again to attack.
At the very moment when the beast’s tentacles shot toward Zeke at high speed, aiming to coil around him.
KUGUGUGUGU!
The tentacles halted in midair, unable to advance any further.
The beast was alarmed to find not only its tentacles but its entire body unable to move.
Zeke stretched out his hand toward the beast.
"Authority: Shadow Dominion ."
TSSSSSS!
Formed from black haze, the beast could not escape the authority of Zeke’s Shadow Dominion.
Just as beings suppressed by shadows were rendered immobile, the beast—being composed of dark energy—found its entire
body bound.
With the title ‘Ruler of the Twilight’, Zeke’s Shadow Dominion had grown even stronger.
Having restrained the beast, Zeke slowly approached it, holding Roland, a sword imbued with the radiant light.
KIIIIIIII!
A bizarre screech escaped from the beast.
Clutching the blade of light, Zeke spoke to the beast.
"You put up a good fight, but this is the end."
Without hesitation, he drove the luminous blade into the beast’s eye.
KIAAAAAAA!
Unable to dissipate into mist due to being bound by shadows, the beast shrieked in agony as the blade of light pierced
it.
TSSSSSS!
The purifying power caused the beast to emit black smoke as it slowly disintegrated.
After extracting Roland, Zeke stepped back and activated Absorption toward the writhing beast.
TSSSSSSS!
Shadows suddenly surged and coiled around the beast.
KEEEEEEE!
The beast howled in agony as it was gradually sucked into the abyss of darkness.
Zeke’s shadows formed an endless black swamp, completely swallowing the beast.
At that moment, a message appeared before Zeke’s eyes.
[You have consumed a completely corrupted Outer Being eroded by demonic energy.]
[Your depleted health, mental energy, and mana are restored.]
[By absorbing the Outer Being’s abilities, the skill ‘Clone (A-Rank)’ evolves into ‘Shadow Clone (A+ Rank).’]
[By absorbing the Outer Being’s abilities, your proficiency in the Stealth skill has increased.]
[By absorbing the Outer Being’s abilities, your proficiency in the Curse Resistance skill has increased.]
[As a reward, you have received 2,000 Karma Points.]
[As a reward, you have received one Special Random Box.]
"Outer Being?"
Zeke had heard of Ancient Beings and Aberrations, but this was the first time encountering a beast classified as an
Outer Being.
It had felt different from typical monsters, but he had never expected it to be an entirely separate species.
"Maybe my master would know."
Deciding to ask upon returning to the house in the forest, Zeke approached a withered, desiccated tree standing alone in
the basin.
"It’s massive."
Had it not dried up, it might have grown as large as the great tree in the city of the Naga.
Zeke walked up to the withered tree and placed his hand on its rough surface.
"System, search for a security zone containing a sealed entity."
[Executing the administrator’s command. Searching for security zones.]
[No designated security zone exists in this area.]
‘What?’
Zeke had assumed this was where the Earth God was sealed, so the absence of a security zone left him perplexed.
‘Could it be somewhere else?’
Pondering the situation, Zeke decided to explore the surroundings further.
He examined the withered tree, searching for an entrance.
"There has to be something here."
As he tapped along the tree’s surface, his senses picked up on something unusual.
‘There’s an empty space here.’
When Zeke knocked a little harder, cracks formed, and brittle bark crumbled away.
‘This place…?’
To his surprise, as the bark fell away, a hidden opening revealed a staircase leading downward.