Chapter 434
Chapter 434
Chapter 434
"Boss?"
Boris looked at Zeke blocking his path with disbelief.
Seeing Boris whose body had nearly burned away but regenerated through healing factor, Zeke spoke.
"Boris, I won't allow retirement until I give permission."
Boris unconsciously smiled at Zeke's words.
Just by having him in front, Abel's overwhelming pressure wasn't felt at all.
Zeke took his eyes off Boris and glared at Abel who was holding Zahak.
"It's been a while, Abel."
Abel glared at Zeke with crazed eyes.
"Zeke... Zeke Draker..."
"Yes, it's me. Abel, you... seem to be in quite bad shape."
With the power of the Third Eye, Zeke could see Abel's condition at a glance.
Abel, who had died by his hands, was now just an empty shell with his soul gone.
Zeke shook his head at Ramon Jiemens' cruelty who went this far just to preserve Abel's husk.
He glared at Abel while holding Bahamut.
"You wouldn't have wanted to live like this either. I'll send you off cleanly, as a brother."
WHOOSH!
As soon as he finished speaking, holy light arose from Zeke's body.
Black flames erupted violently from Zahak that Abel was holding.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Abel, engulfed in flames, charged at Zeke.
SWOOSH!
Zeke lightly swung Bahamut to block Abel's sword.
CRASH!
As the powerful collision occurred, shockwaves spread around.
Abel retreated with a pained expression from the recoil felt throughout his body.
But Zeke's expression remained completely unchanged.
He looked at Abel with an emotionless face and said:
"Abel, you've really become weak."
Though borrowing the power of baptism, Abel was a knight who had reached the realm of Black Knight.
But the current Abel could only produce unquenchable black flames, with no trace of having reached the Black Knight realm.
Abel raised Zahak again and ignited flames.
CRACKLE!
As Zeke watched the violently burning flames, he raised Bahamut and activated the power of freezing.
TSSSSSS!
The black flames flying around Zeke's body froze in their exact shape.
The freezing power had frozen the flames Abel created.
As Zeke stepped forward, the range of freezing expanded by his movement.
When the surroundings were all frozen, Abel who had raised flames retreated in panic.
"Kill! Kill! Kill you, Zeke Draker!"
Watching Abel who kept repeating ‘kill’ even while retreating, Zeke spoke quietly.
"Do you remember why you need to kill me, Abel?"
To Zeke's question, Abel didn't answer and just kept repeating that he would kill him.
'He's already in a state where normal thinking is impossible.'
Though he wondered, there was no need to waste more time with a husk whose soul was gone.
After blocking Abel's flames with freezing power, Zeke slowly approached Abel again.
The black flames were the ability of Zahak, which used to be Terakan Draker's sword.
If he just took the sword away, Abel would have nothing left he could do.
WHOOM!
The power of soul technique imbued in Zeke's sword.
Zeke lightly swung his sword imbued with the will of severance.
SLICE!
Abel's arm covered in dragon scale fell helplessly with a thud.
Abel's arm holding Zahak rolled on the ground.
Seeing this, Abel finally screamed instead of saying ‘kill’.
"AAAAARGH!"
It seemed more like he was roaring in anger at the fact his arm fell off rather than feeling pain.
Abel's monstrous scream echoed throughout the crumbling Imperial Tomb.
As the arm fell with the sword, the black flames Abel had produced slowly began to die down.
Zeke pointed his sword again and said:
"The cursed dragon's heart transplanted in your body. I don't know what Ramon Jiemens plans to do with it, but I'll properly destroy it this time."
He concentrated soul energy into his sword pointed at Abel.
Abel felt threatened by the current situation and tried to retreat in panic.
But Zeke's sword was faster.
WHOOSH!
Zeke's sword carrying the will of penetration pierced Abel's heart.
CRACK!
With the sound of bones breaking, a hole was punctured through Abel's heart.
"GURGLE!"
Abel clutched his pierced heart and fell to his knees.
But even though the attack landed properly, Zeke felt something strange.
'The dragon's heart is gone?'
Surprisingly, Abel's body did not contain the cursed dragon's heart.
As Zeke tried to approach Abel who was on his knees, unable to understand the situation.
WHOOSH!
Space split behind Abel and something burst out.
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
Four knights stood beside Abel.
They wore red, blue, black, and white Hersions.
Zeke was shocked seeing them.
'Could they be... the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?'
In his past life, when the Rom Empire attacked the entire continent to expand territory, these four knights known as the Horsemen of the Apocalypse were synonymous with terror for the Northern Alliance.
Even the fierce and brave northern knights trembled in fear, saying only death follows when the Horsemen appear.
The White Horseman was first to step forward.
CRACKLE!
When Zeke crossed swords, electricity from the White Horseman enveloped his body.
TSSSSS!
His immortal body and healing factor recovered faster than the electricity could damage him.
Though Zeke still felt the stinging pain, he had fully adapted to the electricity from repeated attacks.
Deciding the pain was manageable, Zeke held his sword in one hand and grabbed a hammer with the other.
He swung the hammer imbued with metal power at the White Horseman.
CRASH!
With a thunderous sound, the White Horseman flew to the opposite side from the hammer strike.
After shaking him off, Zeke tried to jump toward Abel's location.
But there were four Horsemen in total. The Blue Horseman quickly blocked Zeke's path.
CRACK!
Powerful frost erupted from the Blue Horseman's swinging sword.
SHRING!
Zeke resisted the Blue Horseman's frost using his freezing power.
Instead, the Blue Horseman's legs froze from Zeke's power.
Zeke swung his hammer at the frozen Blue Horseman.
CRASH!
With the sound of armor crumpling, the Blue Horseman was also sent flying.
"HAAA!"
Zeke reached toward Abel and unleashed a lightning storm.
The remaining Red and Black Horsemen appeared together and blocked Zeke's attack with their shields.
CRACKLE-
Without stopping, Zeke immediately swung his hammer at the two knights.
CRASH!
The Black Horseman's shield was deeply dented from Zeke's attack.
But as the attack focused on the Black Horseman, the Red Horseman who avoided it swung his flame-covered sword.
ROAR!
Fierce flames poured toward Zeke.
In that moment, an intense wind arose from Zeke's body.
The Elemental Sword's wind power field was deployed.
CRASH-
A strong storm arose and enveloped the Red Horseman's body, sending him flying far away.
After blowing away all the Horsemen, Zeke immediately ran toward Abel while swinging his sword.
At that moment.
WHOOSH!
Something appeared as space distorted in front of Abel.
A hand suddenly emerged from the distorted space and deflected Zeke's sword.
CLANG!
Zeke stepped back from the strong recoil.
Though slightly surprised, he calmly glared at the being that emerged through space.
A black magician wearing a dark hood.
Zeke observed him with slightly tense eyes at the ominous energy emanating from him.
Then he realized his identity.
"Harvey West."
Harvey West, the genius madman of Nirvana and Priest of the Abyss, had revealed himself.
Yellow eyes flashed with light from inside the hood.
The Priest opened his mouth toward Zeke.
『Zeke Draker. How pleasant to meet like this.』
Instead of answering, Zeke drew Roland and raised holy light.
The Horsemen had already regathered beside the Priest.
'So the Horsemen of the Apocalypse were knights of the Abyss, not Jiemens.'
In his past life, not knowing about the Abyss's existence, he had simply thought they were knights secretly raised by the Empire.
But looking closely at the circumstances he learned in this life, the Rom Empire, Jiemens, the Nostra Family, and the forces of the Abyss were intricately intertwined.
The Priest stepped forward and said to Zeke:
『I have been watching you for a long time, Knight of Salvation.』
Zeke approached the Priest while holding Roland and said:
"After creepily watching from behind, what wind brought you to show yourself directly?"
Zeke glanced at Abel's fallen body behind the Priest.
Then he slowly opened his mouth.
"That soulless husk must be quite important. To both the Abyss and Jiemens."
Though he thought it was quite meaningful, the Priest showed no emotional response to Zeke's words.
Rather, he calmly turned around and placed his hand on Abel's shoulder.
Surprisingly, the severed arm's cross-section bubbled and a new arm sprouted out.
"URRRGH!"
At the same time, Abel's body that had taken the form of a magic dragon returned to its original human form.
After removing his hand from Abel's body, the Priest said to Zeke:
『As you say, though just a shell, Abel's body is important to us.』
"Because it's a medium to resurrect the Demon King. Since only Abel's body that accepted the dragon's heart could withstand the Demon King's soul."
At Zeke's words, there was slight movement in the Priest's eyes hidden under the hood.
『Zeke Draker, the more I see you, the more unfathomable you are.』
But surprisingly, there was a feeling of goodwill in the Priest's voice.
He seemed to genuinely feel curiosity and interest about Zeke's existence.
This time the Priest continued with regret in his voice:
『Your existence is amazing, but if you continue to interfere with our work, we can no longer just watch.』
"That's ridiculous. You speak as if you've been letting me be until now."
『You don't think so?』
With those words, the Priest revealed his hidden caliber.
RUMBLE!
From the overwhelming pressure surging from the Priest's body, Zeke almost unconsciously fell to his knees for a moment.
'This is...'
A realm surpassing the power of a Black Knight.
Harvey West, Priest of the Abyss, possessed at least Grand Master level power.
He slowly opened his mouth toward Zeke.
『Zeke Draker, I would like to make you a proposal.』
The Priest finished speaking and reached his hand toward Zeke. Then he continued slowly:
『How about joining hands with me to eliminate Arthur Draker?』