Chapter 494
Chapter 494
Chapter 494
Edward Jiemens emerged from the portal with an overwhelming presence.
A high-ranking mage spotted him and rushed over.
"Lord Edward! What brings you here?"
Edward glared at the mage.
His eyes were scolding, as if saying 'How dare someone like you question my business?'
The mage closed his mouth and lowered his head.
He spoke to the mage with a still displeased expression.
"I came personally to collect the blood stones since their scheduled production is delayed."
The mage opened his mouth, flustered at Edward's words.
"Th-that... obtaining materials these days has been difficult..."
In that moment, Edward's eyes flashed.
The mage suddenly floated into the air.
"I don't want to hear such excuses. Your only value lies in creating these blood stones. Don't you understand you have no worth if you can't fulfill that duty?"
"I-I'm sorry, Lord Edward. We'll try our b-best to increase production!"
Edward threw the mage to the ground with a dissatisfied expression.
Still glaring at the mage, Edward suddenly tilted his head.
"Hmm?"
And in that moment, he vanished.
Boris, who had been watching this secretly, was startled when Edward suddenly disappeared.
'Where did he go?'
That's when it happened.
"So we have rats that crawled in."
Edward's cold voice pierced their ears.
Boris and the entire spy team froze.
An unprecedented, unknown power emanated from Edward.
Boris couldn't move easily under Edward's cold gaze and ominous presence.
Edward opened his mouth as he looked down at them.
"Tell me where you're from."
When he spread his hand, the spy team's bodies flew back and stuck firmly to the wall.
"KUGH!"
It was a power similar to Zion’s psychic ability.
They couldn't move as if their entire bodies were restrained.
Zion tried to counter with his psychic power but it was useless.
Sensing Zion's ability, Edward sneered as if in disbelief.
"How foolish to try opposing me with such pathetic bloodline abilities."
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
The pressure on their bodies intensified.
Boris glared at Edward and spoke.
"Looks like the Jiemens fool sold his body to demons for some half-baked power."
Edward turned his head toward Boris at those mocking words.
CRACK!
The pressure on Boris intensified further.
He approached Boris and thrust his face close as he spoke.
"Say that again."
"Jiemens fool."
WHAM!
Edward's gauntleted fist buried into Boris's stomach.
"KUHAK..."
His ribs shattered and internal organs ruptured in one blow.
Blood gushed up from his mouth.
"Say it again."
"How much did you suck up to the dem….?"
WHAM!
This time the fist flew at his face.
Boris's face was destroyed in one hit.
CLATTER!
Teeth scattered across the floor as his jaw dangled loosely.
It was amazing he was still alive.
Edward grabbed Boris's hair and shook him.
"I'll put you in my torture chamber and make you unable to live or die."
That's when Boris spoke with difficulty while looking at Edward.
"Go f-fuck... yourself..."
Edward raised his hand.
CRUNCH!
Boris's limbs were crushed by an invisible force.
Despite this, Boris sneered at Edward.
"Kekek... the Jiemens runt... throwing a tantrum..."
Edward was about to raise his hand again at Boris's provocation when he suddenly came to his senses.
He sensed something was wrong.
'Could this bastard be...?'
Just as he turned his head back.
BOOM! BOOM!
The blood stone production wheel exploded with a thunderous noise and shattered.
CLATTER!
Fragments flew everywhere, and the nearby mages were caught in the explosion.
The blood stone production site instantly turned into chaos.
Edward ground his teeth and shouted.
"Who dares?!"
Something flew quickly through the dust cloud.
THUD!
A sword pierced Edward's shoulder.
White lightning flowed from the white cruciform sword, Ascalon.
CRACKLE!
Powerful electricity enveloped Edward's body.
"KUUUUGH!"
Edward tried to block the holy sword's energy by raising his fighting spirit while enduring the pain.
But he couldn't block the light lightning penetrating his body.
"KAAAGH!"
With a painful groan, Edward staggered backward.
SCREECH!
Ascalon made a strange sound, then floated into the air and flew somewhere.
Shortly after, something emerged from the dust-shrouded darkness with glowing golden eyes.
A man wearing a Draker uniform wrapped in dark shadows.
Edward felt instinctive fear the moment he recognized him.
'Z-Zeke Draker.'
Zeke glared at Edward while holding Ascalon that had returned to his hand.
"Edward Jiemens. It's been a while."
Their bad blood traced back to the Draker martial tournament.
Zeke stretched his hand toward Boris and the spy team.
Golden light enveloped them and their bodies quickly healed.
Even Boris, who had the worst injuries, was restored to his original state.
"Whew... I really thought I was going to die this time, Boss."
Boris had already reported to Zeke through communication equipment that this was a blood stone manufacturing factory and Edward Jiemens had appeared, immediately transmitting the coordinates.
Zeke had used the system portal to travel to those coordinates and destroyed the blood stone wheel first.
Edward clutched his wounded shoulder while glaring at Zeke.
"Zeke Draker, you dare...!"
"Seems you've received a filthy baptism from Abyss, Edward."
Edward's talent was, at best, slightly above average.
The fact that he suddenly appeared this powerful meant he had grown stronger through Abyss's baptism.
Edward ground his teeth at Zeke's words.
"No one can stop me, Edward Jiemens, anymore. I have been reborn anew!"
As he finished speaking, he stretched out his hand and an ornately decorated spear appeared in the air.
WHOOSH!
Dark flames from the demon realm burned on the spear's blade.
It was clearly made in the demon realm, not an artifact from the physical world.
Edward charged at Zeke wielding the spear.
"HAAAH!"
Black flames shot out from the spear toward Zeke.
BOOM! BOOM!
The flames instantly split into over ten branches and enveloped Zeke's body from all directions.
WHOOSH!
The demon realm's black flames were incomparably hotter than fires of the physical world.
Edward had no doubt Zeke would burn away without even bones remaining.
'Damn you Zeke Draker. Finally I can kill you with my own hands...'
Just then, the intensely burning flames flickered differently than before.
THUD!
Zeke walked out wearing Theia's Hersion.
Wearing the moonlight-glowing Hersion and wielding the holy sword Ascalon, Zeke looked like a knight from mythology.
Zeke approached while brushing off Edward's dark flames.
"You don't seem much improved from before the baptism, Edward."
At his provocative words, Edward who had been flustered until just now ground his teeth and raised his spear again.
"Arrogant bastard! Today you'll die with your heart pierced by my spear!"
BOOM! BOOM!
Dark flames flowing from the spear combined with the fighting spirit erupting from Edward's body as flames spread in all directions.
Ordinary knights would have melted in their armor just from the flames Edward emitted.
But these flames were completely useless against Zeke.
WHOOSH!
White flames flickered from Zeke's sword.
Flames created from a pure fire realm combined with holy spirit energy.
The pure white flames grew larger toward the demon realm's dark flames.
BOOM! BOOM!
The dark flames that wouldn't extinguish until turning everything they touched to ash were helpless against Zeke's white flames.
Before long, Zeke's white flames had devoured all the dark flames and enveloped Edward's surroundings.
Edward stared in disbelief at the white flames baring their teeth at him.
"H-How is this…?"
When he received this dark flame spear from his father Ramon Jiemens after receiving the baptism, he felt like he had everything in the world.
Originally this spear was meant to be an artifact for William, the Jiemens heir and Edward's older brother.
But after the family learned that William had been captured by Draker and became a vegetative prisoner, that artifact became his.
The all-burning dark flames particularly suited Edward's cruel nature.
Therefore, he was confident that even Zeke Draker as a black knight couldn't withstand his dark flames.
And now, that confidence was proven to be Edward's delusion.
WHOOSH!
The white flames clung to Edward's Hersion.
This too was a top-grade item meant for William.
This latest Hersion, containing mithril, fairy stone, and a small amount of orichalcon, was the pinnacle of Jiemens magical engineering.
Though it was the latest model with defenses against physical attacks and all sorts of magic, it melted against Zeke's white flames.
"AAAGH!"
The melted Hersion could no longer be considered armor.
He immediately released the burning Hersion.
THUD!
The half-melted Hersion lay unsightly on the ground.
He tried to escape the white flame's domain with his dark flame spear.
WHOOSH!
He planned to flee to the altar by opening a portal after evading.
But Zeke wouldn't just let Edward go.
CRACK!
Solomon's chains shot out from Zeke's arm.
The chains wrapped around Edward's ankle as he tried to escape.
CRASH!
Edward, bound by chains, slammed into the wall, unable to overcome Zeke's strength.
RUMBLE!
Part of the solid stone wall crumbled.
Edward tried desperately to break free of Solomon's chains, but the tightly bound soul chains would not release.
While Edward struggled, Zeke floated toward him.
"Edward, you're still as dim-witted as ever."
It was true that Edward had received very strong power through baptism.
However, even with strong power, its effectiveness could vary greatly depending on how the user utilized it.
In Zeke's view, Edward wasn't even drawing out a tenth of the dark flame spear's true power.
Edward ground his teeth as he looked up at Zeke.
"Zeke Draker... you were the one I wanted to kill most."
"An impossible dream."
When he pulled the chains, Edward dangled in mid-air.
Zeke approached Edward and met eyes with him as he hung upside down.
Then he reached out and placed his finger on Edward's forehead.
WOONG!
Through Dragon's Wisdom, he searched the information in Edward's mind as Akashic Code, then selected and received it through Sage's Eyes.
Though some information had security measures, he could remove them all with Unlocking skill.
Through Edward, Zeke obtained the exact 'coordinates' to the altar.
'Perfect. I only knew the location through Ramon Jiemens' energy, not the coordinates. I can use this to catch them off guard with a surprise attack.'
Though he could sense Ramon Jiemens' location through Emperor of Flesh Ajitahaka's authority, it was dangerous to raid the baptism site with just that.
So Zeke had planned to send spy teams and Red Eye to other places where Ramon Jiemens' energy remained, raid those first to gather information, then devise an infiltration strategy.
But fortunately, Edward Jiemens appeared from the start, allowing him to quickly obtain coordinates to the second baptism site.
Additionally, he destroyed one of the blood stone production factories, achieving two goals at once.
"UUUGH!"
Edward's mind was scrambled by Dragon's Wisdom as he foamed at the mouth and rolled his eyes.
Zeke threw him down where the spy team was.
Still floating, he spoke to Boris.
"Boris, restrain him and lock him in Terra's underground prison."
He planned to use Edward Jiemens to draw out the remaining Jiemens forces for a clean sweep after dealing with Ramon Jiemens.
Boris nodded.
"Understood. Will you be returning with us, Boss?"
Zeke shook his head at those words.
"No, I won't return."
Zeke's eyes flashed.
"I'll catch Ramon Jiemens off guard."