Chapter 444
Chapter 444
Chapter 444
One who seeks to become the Demon King himself.
Zeke had long pondered what Ramon Jiemens’s true objective was.
At first, he suspected Ramon’s goal was to invoke the Demon King into Abel’s body and use him to dominate the continent.
However, in that case, there was a possibility that Abel, after becoming the Demon King, would eliminate Ramon Jiemens.
And controlling a being with greater power than oneself was never an easy task.
Because of this, although Zeke had made various guesses about Ramon Jiemens’s purpose, he couldn’t know for certain, making it difficult to predict his moves.
In this situation, he finally came to understand what Ramon Jiemens wanted.
“Is Ramon Jiemens trying to become the Demon King himself?”
Chronos slowly responded to Zeke’s question.
[Whether one can invoke the Demon King into their body using the power of a Disaster God… that’s something we can’t know unless it’s attempted. However… for a human consumed by the desire for dominance, it’s entirely possible to devise such a plan.]
Flesh-Eating Emperor Ajitahaka, who sought to become a constellation himself.
Ramon Jiemens, who seeks to become the Demon King and dominate everything.
The two beings were like incarnations of the desire for dominance, perhaps drawn to each other.
CHIJIJIJIK!
Again, Chronos’s spirit body wavered as the signal kept trying to break.
Chronos looked at Zeke and spoke.
[To prevent the omen of destruction, you must find the legacy of the Chronos Kingdom.]
She extended her hand toward Zeke.
WOOOONG!
A light gathered in her hand, soon taking the shape of a seal.
‘Could that be the final seal?’
Chronos looked at Zeke and said.
[The treasury of Chronos, and the location of the Primordial Temple. Zeke, you need to go there and learn the root of all these events.]
Zeke looked at Chronos with a puzzled expression and asked.
“The root of everything? What do you mean by that?”
CHIJIJIJIK!
Once again, Chronos’s spirit body wavered as if about to disappear.
She moved her extended hand once.
WOOOONG―
The seal formed in her palm flew toward Zeke.
At the same time, her spirit body began to gradually scatter.
[Zeke Draker, please find the legacy of Chronos and stop the omen of destruction.]
Soon her form completely scattered and disappeared.
“Lady Chronos!”
Zeke, who had been staring at the spot where Chronos vanished, approached the final seal floating in front of him.
‘Who would have thought the final seal would be in Theia goddess’s temple.’
Zeke reached out toward the final seal that Chronos had passed to him.
The seal that touched his hand transformed into light and seeped into his body.
WOOOONG!
Messages appeared before Zeke’s eyes after absorbing the seal.
[Restored the scattered seals of the Chronos Kingdom.]
[Restored seal activates coordinates of Chronos Kingdom treasury.]
[Acquired title ‘Heir of Chronos Kingdom’ as linked quest mission reward.]
[Primordial Temple coordinates activated through acquisition of title ‘Heir of Chronos Kingdom’.]
[Primordial Temple coordinates combine with Chronos Kingdom treasury coordinates.]
[Travel coordinates for the long-forgotten legendary city ‘Carcosa’ activated.]
[Cabala System administrator authority upgraded to Master Administrator as main quest mission reward.]
[Master Administrator system authority activated.]
[System functions opened through upgrade to Master Administrator.]
[New function ‘Akashic Code’ opened.]
[Dragon race skill Dragon’s Wisdom links with Akashic Code.]
[Access to Sephirot Dimension Server becomes possible through Akashic Code.]
[Acquired viewing authority for Karma Data list.]
[Advanced Quest Book changed to Master Quest Book.]
[Inventory capacity restrictions removed.]
[Portal movement system range expanded.]
[Karma Points consumed during portal movement reduced by 50%.]
[Portal companion number restrictions removed.]
[Defense Mode area range expanded from fortress to castle.]
[10,000 Karma Points awarded as reward.]
Zeke’s jaw dropped as he watched the cascade of message windows.
‘Upgraded to Master Administrator?’
Zeke checked the newly opened function ‘Akashic Code’.
―System Description―
Akashic Code: Ability to access the Sephirot Dimension Server to view stored karma data and save information.
‘So I can access the dimension server…’
Just hearing about it, he couldn't easily grasp what kind of function it was.
Just as he was about to check the Akashic Code's function, messages appeared before Zeke's eyes again.
[Coordinates of legendary city Carcosa automatically activated.]
[Moving to corresponding coordinates.]
WOOOOOONG!
Zeke's body was enveloped in light.
When he tried to leave through the system portal, the entire Theia temple suddenly began to vibrate.
KUGUUUUGU!
Zeke's body floated into the air along with the light.
The outer species statues outside the temple let out inaudible soul-wrenching screams as if trying to prevent Zeke from leaving.
【KIEEEEEEEK!】
【KAAAAAAA!】
【UUUUUUU!】
Zeke felt intense dizziness from their soul-rending cries.
Leaving behind those terrible screams that seemed to crawl up from the depths of the abyss, Zeke's body was enveloped in an enormous light.
And moments later, the massive light scattered. Zeke had completely vanished from Theia goddess's temple.
* * *
WOOOOOONG!
Zeke appeared along with the light.
"KUGH!"
His head was spinning from the sudden coordinate activation and movement.
"UGH..."
His head kept ringing from the soul-wrenching screams of the outer species statues.
Zeke didn't want to imagine what would happen if those statues awakened and invaded the material world.
'Since I restored Theia goddess's statue, it should be fine for now.'
Zeke caught his breath and looked around his new location.
Numerous buildings made of ocher-colored bricks.
Though not as tall as Atlas's buildings, their orderly arrangement made it look more like a modern planned city than an ancient one.
Looking further out, he noticed high, solid blue walls surrounding the city like an embrace.
'Is this the legendary city Carcosa?'
When he realized that this legendary city, long since vanished, was spread out before his eyes, an inexplicable thrill ran through Zeke's body.
It felt similar to when he had viewed the Chronos Kingdom landscape from atop the tower after crossing the timeline.
Zeke looked at the fruit on a stand beside him and reached out to pick one up.
Though he didn't know what kind it was since he'd never seen its shape before, he could feel its freshness in his hand.
Zeke applied force and split the fruit in half.
SPLASH!
Juice overflowed from the halved fruit.
Zeke put the halved fruit in his mouth and chewed.
"Oh?"
It was a fruit taste he had never experienced before.
While eating the juicy fruit, Zeke looked around.
'But why can't I see any people?'
The city existed completely, but there were no people in it.
Looking toward the market area, steam was still rising from pots as if food had been sold until just moments ago.
It felt as if only the living beings that had existed in the city had vanished, leaving behind just the buildings and objects.
Zeke couldn't tell if this was a real place or a past city recreated with karma data.
'The coordinates created by combining Chronos's treasury and the Primordial Temple led to this Carcosa.'
He curiously opened the system map, but nothing appeared.
'So what I'm seeing isn't actually real but rather past memories replayed through karma data.'
But then messages appeared before Zeke's eyes.
[Updating related karma data through Akashic Code.]
[Marking corresponding data on map.]
After the karma data updated, Carcosa's city information was marked on the map.
Only then could Zeke check his location on the map.
'The city is much bigger than I thought.'
It was almost on par with Atlas in size.
While examining the map, Zeke noticed a building in the center.
He turned his head to look toward the city center.
‘That's…’
A massive structure built of bluish stones stood in the middle of the city.
The square pyramid-shaped structure might have appeared at first glance to be a simple landmark.
'They wouldn't have built something like that in the middle of the city just for decoration.'
Usually, the most important building would be placed in the center of a city.
Zeke lifted himself into the air using the Dragon Wings skill.
Zeke slowly rose up into the air and looked down at the cityscape of Carcosa.
'Is this the city that received the greatest love from the constellations?'
A city that received great love from the constellations but ultimately perished because of them.
Looking at the panorama of Carcosa, Zeke flew toward the massive structure that existed in the center.
Flying across the city, Zeke was able to quickly reach the front of the structure.
However, at that moment, Zeke had to pause briefly at his destination.
'This energy is...?'
This was because an ominous energy could be felt from within the massive structure built with blue stones.
Zeke instinctively sensed what this energy was.
'This is dragon energy.'
Though he didn't know why dragon energy was emanating from Carcosa's central structure, its pressure was tremendous.
It was a much stronger force than what he had felt from Bahamut or other Lords in his memories.
Zeke, who had momentarily flinched as if pressed down by that force, realized that this energy wasn't unfamiliar.
'This energy, could it be…?'
While thinking about the identity of the being emitting this energy, Zeke slowly approached the structure.
He flew toward the entrance at the top and entered the building.
THUD!
Upon entering, it felt like stepping into an ancient temple.
The floor, walls, and ceiling were all made of stone walls with a bluish tint.
Zeke approached the faintly blue-glowing stone walls and placed his hand on them.
At that moment, Zeke couldn't help but be startled.
WOONG!
The stone wall reacted to Zeke and generated magical power.
‘What is this?’
Surprisingly, these blue stone walls themselves contained magical power.
It was no different than if someone had ground magical stones into powder and sprinkled them on the walls.
'Good heavens, does this mean the entire structure's stones are like this?'
Though he couldn't understand why it was built this way, it was clear enough that Carcosa was no ordinary city.
Zeke proceeded inside along the corridor.
He moved toward where he felt the stronger dragon energy.
Soon the corridor ended, and a door appeared at the end.
The door decorated with blue tiles felt quite exotic.
As Zeke approached the door more closely, surprisingly, it began to open by itself.
KUGUGUGU!
As the door opened with a heavy sound, a vast great hall revealed itself inside.
Zeke slowly entered the great hall.
Looking around, unlike the outside, the inside was decorated with quite colorful and patterned tiles.
'How fascinating. I think I heard there was such decorative culture in the Eastern regions.'
Zeke looked around at Carcosa's elaborate tiles while walking toward the center of the great hall.
Like elsewhere, no presence of moving beings could be felt here either.
However, he could still feel an enormous presence filling this entire space.
Zeke raised his head and looked ahead in the great hall.
An empty throne with no one sitting on it.
But the strong pressure he felt from outside was even more clearly felt here where nothing was visible.
Zeke could be certain of who this energy belonged to.
At that moment, Zeke's expression changed for some reason as he faced the energy emanating from the empty throne and opened his mouth.
"Show yourself, Great One!"
When Zeke spoke, his words echoed throughout the great hall.
But there was no response from the empty throne.
Zeke opened his mouth again.
"You called for me whenever you wanted, and now you hide yourself!"
He shouted in an indignant voice.
"Elder Dragon! Reveal yourself!"