Chapter 418
Chapter 418
Chapter 418
Zeke remained motionless with blades protruding from his entire body.
Still, Rahim couldn't approach him easily.
'Who knows what other tricks he might pull.'
He planned to wait until he was certain Zeke had taken his last breath.
But then, something strange was felt from the ground.
CRACKLE!
A cold energy flowed across the floor, instantly freezing the lower bodies of Nazim and Rahim as it climbed up their legs.
"T-This!"
Then Zeke, whom they thought dead, stood up and casually pulled out the blades embedded in his body.
TING!
As the blades fell to the ground, Zeke's body healed instantly.
Rahim's face filled with shock at this sight.
"I-Impossible... How can a human possess immortal power…?!"
Zeke turned his neck side to side and glared at Rahim, saying:
"Is this all the power of corrupted holy blood? Now that I've seen everything, let's end this."
Zeke pulled out a holy spear from his inventory.
WHOOSH!
Rahim and Nazim instinctively felt terror from the power emanating from the holy spear.
"W-What is that?! J-Just who are you…?"
"Since you don't seem to know the true identity of the Nostra Family's boss anyway, I won't bother asking separately."
After cutting off their words, Zeke raised the spear and threw it with all his might straight ahead.
SWOOSH!
Though Rahim and Nazim tried to escape, their lower bodies frozen by the power of frost wouldn't move.
"AAAARGH!"
The holy spear imbued with divine power pierced through Nazim's chest and lodged into Rahim's body.
"KUHEOK!"
The spear's power annihilated the corrupted holy blood drawn from the Four Fiends.
Then the constantly regenerating Chimera's flesh began to collapse.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
Nazim's body scattered first, followed by cracks appearing throughout Rahim's body.
He reached out toward Zeke.
"N-No! P-Please spare..."
Before his plea for mercy could finish, his body too turned to dust and scattered.
Zeke watched the scattered dust as he picked up the fallen holy spear.
He looked down at his torn Draker uniform riddled with holes.
"An ability to create blades that can tear through dragon leather uniforms."
The Chimera created with the Four Fiends' power had enhanced blood abilities that could be considered at least equal to a Red Knight's power.
If the Nostra Family developed a more stabilized drug and found someone with blood abilities stronger than Six to administer it to, they might even achieve Black Knight-level power.
Still, knowing the holy spear could eliminate Chimeras gave them a strategic advantage.
'Four Fiends' Chimera... I need to learn more about these Nostra Family bastards who create such things.'
Zeke approached Masa, one of Six's members who had collapsed on the opposite floor.
She seemed to have fainted from the battle's aftermath, likely due to weak physical abilities.
'This child doesn't seem to have become a Chimera.'
Just then, Shadia entered the hall.
She knelt before Zeke and reported.
"My lord. We've subdued everyone in the castle."
Zeke nodded at Shadia's words.
"The Mountain Elder and the remaining disciples have all fallen to the other side of the Bottomless Pit. Separate those among the captured who will defect, and imprison anyone suspicious for interrogation and disposal."
"Yes, Boss."
Zeke then handed over the unconscious Masa, instructing her to be sent to Arina upon return.
Arina would be able to break Masa's brainwashing and arrange a place for her at the Academy.
After leaving the cleanup to Shadia, Zeke used the Sage's Eye to locate where the Earth God was sealed.
Going down to the castle's underground, Zeke discovered the location of a hidden passage behind a wall and struck it hard with his hammer.
CRASH!
The secret passage that had been hidden behind the wall for hundreds of years revealed itself to Zeke's hand.
Zeke slowly descended the underground stairs exposed through the secret passage.
As he went down the spiral staircase, Zeke carefully examined the murals carved into the walls.
'What is this…?'
It seemed to depict someone's chronological history in murals.
And there was something Zeke could recognize among what was drawn in the murals.
'A knight pulling out a dragon's heart and putting it in his own chest. A commander leading armies of Orcs and Dark Elves.'
Surprisingly, the murals contained content about Jiemens Apollion.
It was a mural deifying Jiemens Apollion, depicting him as the true successor chosen by the Hero King, becoming superhuman after receiving a heart transplant from a dragon.
'Though they say history differs depending on who writes it, this is quite extreme.'
The murals depicted that after the Hero King departed for the fairy realm, the world became corrupted by the remaining humans. To save this world, Jiemens Apollion personally rose up and led other races to wage war against the corrupted Chronos Kingdom.
Interestingly, while the Chronos Kingdom and its allies were portrayed viciously, Jiemens Apollion leading the Demon King's army was depicted like a holy knight.
'It really is different depending on who portrays it and how.'
From the allies' perspective, they would have certainly carved Jiemens Apollion in the most evil form.
Looking at the murals on the wall, Zeke realized something.
'Then this castle must have been where Jiemens Apollion's Demon King army was.'
Unlike other dragon gods sealed in their own domains, the Earth God seemed to be sealed separately with its body and soul split, without even an avatar.
If Jiemens Apollion deliberately hid that soul in his base, it showed how much attention he paid to the Earth God's seal.
'This could mean Jiemens Apollion was that concerned about and feared the Earth God.'
Zeke reached the bottom of the stairs while examining the murals.
Unlike Dwarven architecture, the walls were distinctively built with solid gray bricks.
The Sage's Eye automatically selected and informed Zeke about the related architectural style.
'A castle built by Orcs, not Dwarves. Impressive.'
Though not well known, Orcs were also skilled at handling metals and tools.
However, while Dwarves considered aesthetic elements in their crafts, Orcs did not.
Their technology developed purely for practicality.
As a result, their architecture evolved to be sturdy and quick to build, though crude.
Zeke walked through the corridor built large, rough, and solid in the Orcish way.
At the corridor's end appeared a heavy, massive door.
He approached the door, reached out his hand, and commanded the system.
"System. Open the entrance."
Following Zeke's command, the system tried to access the administrator system to open the door.
However, instead of opening, a warning message appeared.
[Unable to find administrator system for this area.]
Zeke remembered this was Jiemens Apollion's space, not a dragon's sanctuary.
'The system connection doesn't work here?'
Even using the curse removal skill had no effect.
Having never encountered this before, Zeke shook his head after pondering what to do.
"When in doubt, asking is fastest."
He took out the green sword and summoned Arataso.
WHOOSH!
Arataso's form appeared with a green light.
He stretched and said:
[YAAAWN! Why'd you call when I was sleeping well?]
"You really have a constitution for being sealed. Should I seal you in Solomon's ring instead?"
Arataso frantically waved his hands at Zeke's words.
[D-Don't say such horrible things! Anyway, why'd you call?]
Zeke pointed at the firmly locked door and said:
"Do you know how to open this? Seems like a Demon King army castle, but my usual methods aren't working."
Arataso slowly approached the door Zeke pointed at.
He touched the door briefly, examined it carefully, then tilted his head.
[This... it's just a door?]
Zeke clenched his teeth at Arataso's words.
"You think I summoned you because I didn't know it was a door? I'm asking if there's a special way to open this in the demon realm."
At Zeke's threatening words, Arataso stepped back and said:
[W-What special way is there to open a door?! You just open it, or if it's locked, use a key to open it!]
"A key? You mean flowing magic power, entering a specific code, something like that?"
[What are you talking about? Just a key. The thing you insert and turn. Do humans not use keys?]
Having mostly opened doors through system codes in other ruins, Zeke hadn't thought about using a regular key.
'So the demon realm uses keys too.'
Zeke scratched his head slightly embarrassedly, then examined the door again.
Looking down, there really was a keyhole.
Zeke turned to Arataso and asked:
"How do you open doors without keys in the demon realm?"
Arataso thought for a moment before answering:
[Well, usually you call a locksmith. Demon realm locks have very complex structures that lock even more tightly with wrong keys - a multi-layered structure. Looking at this, it's a typical demon realm lock.]
In other words, the door was difficult to open without a key.
'What should I do?'
After thinking hard about what to do, Zeke made his decision.
He pulled out a hammer from his inventory.
"When nothing else works, smashing through is always the best option."
Zeke was someone who disliked thinking about things in a complicated way.
Seeing Zeke suddenly pull out his hammer, Arataso was shocked.
[Y-you're not thinking of breaking this, are you? Stop that. From what I can see, this door was directly brought from the demon realm. This isn't something you can break just by hitting it...]
Before Arataso could finish speaking, Zeke swung his hammer infused with golden power.
CLAAANG!
Though he struck with all his might using the golden power-infused hammer, the recoil was so strong that Zeke was thrown backward.
Seeing this, Arataso shook his head and said:
[See, what did I tell you? This isn't something you can break just by hitting it.]
But Zeke ignored those words and poured his soul technique's power into the hammer he held.
WOOOOOONG!
The hammer howled and began to vibrate.
"Something's bound to work."
Having many techniques at his disposal, he planned to test them one by one until he found one that worked.
Zeke gripped his hammer and called upon his soul technique 'Will of Destruction'.
Above the hammer he held, the image of a massive crusher appeared.
"HYAAAAAAAH!"
With a battle cry, the hammer struck the door.
KWAKWABANG!
A powerful impact sound rang out as the hammer and door collided.
Surprisingly, unlike before, the door became dented.
Seeing this, Arataso's jaw dropped.
[N-no way... this shouldn't be possible?]
The door wasn't just made of hard metal, but had various magical enchantments on it.
Still, the soul technique using soul power seemed to be effective.
Zeke grinned as he raised his hammer.
"Good, I've got the hang of it."
He gripped the hammer tight again, infused it with soul technique power, and struck the door with all his might.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
After dozens of strikes from the soul technique-powered hammer, even the sturdy door couldn't hold up anymore.
KWAKWAKWABANG!
With a thunderous sound, the door shattered.
"PHEW! Haven't relieved stress like this in a while."
[C-crazy...]
Arataso never thought someone would actually break down a demon realm door with a hammer.
Zeke stepped over the broken door and went inside.
There was a massive circular space shaped like a dome, with an altar in the center.
The walls were carved with relief murals depicting the achievements of Jiemens Apollion, and statues seemingly portraying Jiemens Apollion were lined up throughout.
Arataso, who followed Zeke in, also marveled at the statues and relief murals.
[Wow, what is this? It's like we're in a demon realm museum.]
Hearing Arataso's words, Zeke replied incredulously:
"Are there even museums in the demon realm?"
At those words, Arataso responded angrily:
[I'd appreciate it if you didn't forget that we are the ones meant to convey the beauty of art to humans.]
The Clear Green Wish, Arataso's master, was a constellation that particularly loved art.
Matching the master's inclinations, Arataso also had great interest in artistic works.
After snapping at Zeke, Arataso carefully examined the sculptures and tilted his head.
[Hmm?]
He turned toward Zeke and said:
[These statues somehow... look a bit like you.]