Chapter 465
Chapter 465
Chapter 465
Zeke observed the Three-Eyed clan member who revealed their identity.
'A Three-Eyed clan survivor from the fallen Shambhala?'
The Three-Eyed clan member had red hair and pale skin with an androgynous appearance, with strange tattoos etched on their cheeks and body.
Their blood eye embedded in their forehead began to glow.
"The master of Shambhala commands. Kneel."
At the red light pouring from the blood eye, the Orcs and Arachne trembled, bowed their heads, and knelt.
Since it was will itself manifesting through the blood eye's power rather than language, both Orcs and Arachne who spoke different languages obeyed the Three-Eyed clan member's words.
The Orcs with their unbreakable will and the proud Arachne clan stopped fighting and knelt at a single word from the Three-Eyed clan member.
While surprised by the Three-Eyed clan's power, Zeke focused on the fact that they were still alive.
'Blood King Caligula fled from the God Slayer, and Shambhala fell with the clan thought to be wiped out. It seems there were survivors who escaped Shambhala back then.'
After calming the Orc and Arachne clans, the Three-Eyed clan member looked down at them with cold eyes before turning and entering the stone building built in the center of the base.
The Abyss dark mages shouted at them.
"There will be another firefight soon! Prepare thoroughly as we will definitely enter the forest this time!"
After the Three-Eyed clan member disappeared, the Orcs and Arachne returned to their own camps with slightly relieved but frowning faces.
Zeke watched the situation while hiding and looked at the stone building where the Three-Eyed clan member entered.
'Seems like there's something in there.'
While dealing with the energy supply station was urgent, the Three-Eyed clan working with Abyss also concerned him.
The Blood King's power absorbed into Zeke's body had been trying to open its eyes since earlier, sensing the blood eye possessed by the Three-Eyed clan member.
He calmed the Blood King's power and headed toward the stone building where the Three-Eyed clan member and dark mages had entered.
* * *
'Such worthless inferior races.'
After calming the fight between the Orcs and Arachne with the blood eye's power, he couldn't believe he was among such inferior races.
He shook his head at the unsatisfactory situation and opened the door to enter.
Someone immediately knelt before him.
"Lord Titus."
The one called Titus looked down at the person kneeling at his feet.
They had a similar appearance but lacked a blood eye on their forehead.
"Ulina, rise."
Despite Titus's words, Ulina remained kneeling.
Titus spoke in an irritated voice.
"Must I command you with the blood eye for you to listen?"
At those words, Ulina stood up hesitantly.
"I apologize, Lord Titus, I am merely humbled to be in the same space as your noble bloodline..."
Titus was a true descendant of the Three-Eyed clan who had awakened the blood eye and was qualified to become the master of Shambhala.
In contrast, while Ulina inherited the Three-Eyed clan's bloodline, they were of a lower rank among the blood class system for failing to awaken the blood eye, making it difficult to face Titus.
Titus clicked his tongue watching Ulina.
"While it can't be helped in Tantra, you and I are siblings from the same mother. There's no need to be like this outside - you can act naturally."
Despite Titus's words, Ulina maintained a humble expression and simply stood silently beside him.
Having lived long in Tantra's strict class-based society of the blood system, it seemed difficult to live as natural siblings even after leaving that place.
Seeing Ulina being uncomfortable around him, Titus shook his head as if it couldn't be helped and spoke.
"It seems the one with traces of the Blood King that the Abyss people mentioned has appeared in this land."
At Titus's words, Ulina raised her head and spoke.
"Is... is that true?"
Tantra - the secret kingdom existing in a deep place beyond the Eternal Mountain Range of the Eastern Continent.
It was a place created by surviving Three-Eyed clan members to continue Shambhala's legacy.
They extremely avoided contact with the outside and rarely left the kingdom.
Abyss contacted this reclusive Tantra and passed along one piece of information.
It was about the king of the Three-Eyed clan who disappeared long ago.
They said someone possessing Blood King Caligula's power had appeared.
The ultimate goal of the Three-Eyed clan hiding in Tantra was to reclaim Blood King Caligula's power and rebuild the brilliant Shambhala in this land once again.
For this reason, when the elders of Tantra received information from the Abyss, they selected heirs from each family to send to the Central Continent, deciding to bestow the title of king upon whoever recovered the Blood King's power.
Titus was one of these selected heirs.
The other heirs first sought to build power by finding Shambhala clan's old vassal races scattered across the continent.
The White-Faced clan, Beast clan, and Demon clan.
Since these three races cannot refuse orders from the Three-Eyed clan, they planned to use them to find and recover the power from whoever possessed the Blood King's power.
Titus, having less influence compared to other family heirs, judged competing with them would be difficult. So he chose to partner with Abyss and directly search the frontlines for the one with the Blood King's power.
Titus clenched his fist thinking of the other heirs.
'I must find and recover the Blood King's power quickly. If they start controlling the vassal races through the oath of subjugation, I'll be at a greater disadvantage with no forces of my own.'
Titus partnered with the Abyss to use inferior races like the Orcs and Arachne they commanded to recover the Blood King's power.
While inferior to vassal races like the Beast clan, Demon clan, and White-Faced clan, Titus was in no position to be picky.
Finishing his thoughts, Titus looked at Ulina and spoke.
"Abyss said there will be an all-out attack soon. I will lead the legion into the forest to capture the one called Zeke Draker, so you stay here."
Ulina was shocked at his words.
"That's impossible! I'll go with you!"
Titus frowned at Ulina.
"Don't misunderstand! Ulina, I brought you as a spare life in case something happens! Stop talking nonsense and stay here quietly!"
Ulina could only bow their head at Titus's words.
In truth, Titus brought Ulina along to pass his blood eye to his younger sister in case he died here.
Due to ancestral regression, those who awakened the blood eye were not common among today's Three-Eyed clan.
Especially rare were those with pure blood eyes qualified to inherit Shambhala.
Moreover, if Titus died here and their family lost its noble blood owner, they would lose all their privileges.
However, if his blood eye was transferred to his sister Ulina, while it would become true blood of lower rank than noble blood and lose successor qualification, they wouldn't lose all privileges.
Knowing Ulina would refuse if told this, Titus brought her here while hiding the truth.
Then there was a knock from outside.
"Lord Titus. The Apostle wishes to discuss matters regarding the firefight."
Titus rose and spoke.
"Understood. I'll head to the office soon."
He glanced at Ulina and said.
"I'm going to meet the Apostle, so stay here and don't go anywhere else. I'll return soon."
Ulina knelt again and bowed to Titus.
Seeing this, Titus opened the door with an irritated expression and left.
'...Damn blood class system.'
Despite being siblings from the same mother, Titus and Ulina of different ranks could not be equals.
Titus, who had affection for Ulina as a sibling, decided that if he became king of Shambhala, he would abolish all such outdated class distinctions.
He clenched his jaw and tried to compose himself as he entered the office where the Apostle waited.
"I heard there were matters to discuss about the firefight..."
As Titus spoke while opening the door, his whole body froze seeing the man sitting in the office.
At the man's feet lay the decapitated bodies of the Apostle and other dark mages.
The man sat in the Apostle's seat, casually reviewing documents as if it were his own office.
He appeared to be a young man just in his early twenties.
Still reading documents, he spoke to Titus.
"Close the door and sit here."
The Three-Eyed clan was known to possess the most wondrous power among all races on earth.
Titus, born with this great power, had always lorded over other races.
But now it was completely opposite.
He found it impossible to refuse the young man's words.
With trembling hands, he closed the door and slowly walked to sit in the chair before the young man.
The floor was soaked with the sticky blood spilled from the decapitated Apostle.
The young man finally turned his gaze from the documents to look at him and spoke.
"I heard you were looking for me."
At those words, Titus flinched.
He realized the identity of the young man who had secretly infiltrated, killed the Apostle in charge, and waited for him.
'This person... must be that Dragon Slayer's descendant who carries the Blood King's power.'
Titus looked at Zeke, trying to measure the Blood King's traces within him.
Zeke put down the documents and turned fully toward Titus.
"Interesting. Trying to handle Caligula's power with merely an awakened blood eye."
Titus felt his breath stop at Zeke's words.
'He knows about the blood eye. Could this human not only possess the Blood King's power but have absorbed it?'
It was impossible by common sense.
Inferior races like humans couldn't handle the great and wondrous power of the Three-Eyed clan.
As Titus was confused, Zeke met his eyes and spoke.
"It's surprising that the Three-Eyed clan survived. But compared to Caligula, your power is pathetic. You don't even know how to properly use the Third Eye."
Titus gritted his teeth and glared at Zeke, snapping out of his daze.
"Silence! How dare an inferior human insult the great Three-Eyed clan…?!"
Suddenly, Titus's tongue froze and he could no longer speak.
"NNNNGH?"
He couldn't even close his mouth, let alone speak.
Seeing this, Zeke shook his head.
"You have such ridiculous pride without even properly understanding the Three-Eyed clan's power."
Zeke reached out and grabbed Titus's hand.
"Let's see how you survived."
He activated the Dragon's Wisdom skill while holding Titus's hand.
WOONG!
The Akashic Code opened and the Sage's Eye selected relevant information to transmit to Zeke.
Information about the secret kingdom of Tantra, long hidden beyond the Eternal Mountains, flowed into Zeke's mind.
After absorbing all related information, Zeke nodded.
"The secret kingdom of Tantra, built by Shambhala's survivors. Side branches too embarrassing to even call Three-Eyed clan arbitrarily named themselves Shambhala's heirs and created this meaningless blood class system."
Titus's eyes shook greatly at Zeke's words.
"NNNNGH!"
His mouth still wouldn't move, making his words unintelligible to Zeke.
Zeke snapped his fingers to let him speak again.
"...What do you mean side branches of the clan?"
"Exactly what I said. The survivors who created Tantra are side branches of the Three-Eyed clan who cannot properly manifest the Third Eye, the clan's unique ability. By your class system... around 5th blood rank? The higher ranks all died with Shambhala's fall."
Titus's hands trembled at Zeke's words.
'We-we're not the true Three-Eyed clan?'
They had lived in Tantra's harsh environment sustained only by pride in being the most great and wondrous race.
Yet now Zeke was saying everything they believed was an illusion.
Looking at the trembling Titus, Zeke spoke.
"Your name is Titus... right? Unfortunately, your blood eye cannot receive Caligula's power. Your head would explode first."
He extended his hand toward Titus.
"If you still don't believe me, take my hand and see for yourself what a true master of Shambhala looks like."