510
Chapter 510
WHOOSH!
The flames of Ignis completely burned the deformed beings that filled the corridor.
Zeke wore a satisfied expression as he watched them scatter into ashes.
But then it happened.
"It seems my time is up."
Zeke could only summon high-level spirits when using polymorph into an elf.
Therefore, when the polymorph's time limit ended, the summoned spirit would also have to be dismissed.
'So summoning spirits is also affected by polymorph's duration.'
Ignis looked at Zeke and said.
"Contractor, the power of chaos is dangerous, so it's best not to get too close to it."
"Understood. Thank you for your help, Ignis."
TSSS!
As Ignis disappeared, Zeke also returned from elf back to human.
"Now I know spirits can be used against external species - that's quite an achievement."
Since the elves of Ishtar, including Yelin, could summon spirits, it seemed possible to fight against the external species by borrowing their power.
Just then, Raven, who was on Zeke's shoulder, rose into the air and let out a phoenix cry.
RUMBLE!
Zeke turned his head to look ahead.
Something different from the deformed beings that had been charging at him was approaching.
'This is...'
A knight wearing armor imbued with demonic energy familiar to Zeke appeared.
GUGUGU!
Countless sharp metal fragments floated around the knight's body.
Zeke realized that a demon had possessed a bloodline ability user.
'Telekinesis? Or someone with magnetic abilities?'
As he tried to identify the power, the sharp metal fragments floating around the knight flew toward Zeke.
SWOOSH!
Zeke equipped Hersion and raised his Shadow Armor.
CLANG!
The metal fragments bounced back after hitting the solid shadow shield.
Zeke charged straight at the demon-possessed knight while holding the black shield in front.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The metal fragments attacked Zeke at high speed, but couldn't penetrate the firmly wrapped Shadow Armor.
After defending against the metal fragments with Shadow Armor, Zeke charged forward with his shield and sent the knight's body flying.
CRASH!
The knight flew and crashed into the wall from the shield attack imbued with golden force.
CRACK!
But the knight crashed into the wall quickly tried to get up again.
That's when Zeke wrapped Shadow Armor around Leviathan to create a giant hammer.
WHOOSH!
The hammer struck down on the knight's body embedded in the wall.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Zeke mercilessly struck the knight with the hammer.
After several swings, the metal fragments that had been floating in the air dropped to the floor.
Only then did Zeke dismiss the hammer and examine the knight buried in the wall.
CREAK!
Not quite dead, the knight tried to get up, and Zeke immediately raised shadows to wrap around the knight.
"Stay still."
After subduing the knight, Zeke reached out and used Dragon's Wisdom.
CRACKLE!
As electricity sparked, information flooded into Zeke's mind.
Reading the memories of the bloodline ability user possessed by a demon, Zeke was able to discover something among the scattered fragments.
It was the memory of being captured by the Nostra Family for being a bloodline ability user, then being sent somewhere in a laboratory.
And then a masked man had brought him here while he was locked in the laboratory, undergoing experiments of being possessed by demons.
The masked man was the boss of the Nostra Family.
'So he is here.'
The Nostra Family was known as a mafia that had long been rooted in the Empire.
Various kingdom intelligence agencies, including Draker's Black Corps, had made every effort to identify the boss of the Nostra Family.
The Empire's intelligence bureau was most on edge, as the Nostra Family influenced various kingdoms, centering on the Empire.
But even during the time of the Mad Emperor, they never managed to discover the true identity.
Perhaps it was natural since they focused their investigation on the Empire, which was the center of the Nostra Family.
In fact, the boss existed underneath the royal palace of the Kingdom of Thebea.
Zeke speculated that the reason he created the mafia organization was because he needed proxies to act on his behalf while hiding himself as much as possible.
Just then, the bloodline ability user whose memories had been read shuddered.
GROWL!
It seemed the possessing demon couldn't endure anymore and was trying to escape from the body.
Black smoke poured out from the knight's helmet.
At that moment, Zeke's shadow wrapped around the black smoke, swallowing the demon's soul whole.
TSSS!
After swallowing the demon's soul, his mana and health recovered.
However, it must have been a lower demon, as no powers or skills were generated.
THUD!
And then, as the possessed demon's soul disappeared, the knight went limp and the helmet fell to the floor.
When the helmet came off, what was revealed was a corpse that had turned into a mummy with all vitality drained.
Zeke clicked his tongue and burned the dead bloodline ability user's body with pure fire.
'He didn't want to become like this... a pitiful sacrifice created by the Nostra Family.'
Zeke ground his teeth at the Nostra Family's vicious experiments as he watched the scattering ashes.
But then it happened.
"Hah... you're being really annoying."
When Zeke turned his head, a man in a suit wearing a mask was standing opposite him.
The boss of the Nostra Family had finally revealed himself.
As soon as Zeke saw him, he swung his sword without hesitation.
SLASH!
The Astral Sword that dominated the area instantly cut through the boss's body according to Zeke's will.
It was the Will-Shaped Force that Arthur Draker had shown Zeke long ago.
It allowed him to deliver powerful sword strikes anywhere, anytime, according to his will.
TSSS!
The boss's body became semi-transparent and passed right through Zeke's Will-Shaped Force.
Then his body disappeared momentarily, suddenly appearing behind Zeke and unleashing powerful telekinesis toward him.
CRACK!
Zeke deployed a field of golden force to counter the boss's telekinesis.
As the pressing telekinesis collided with the resisting golden force field, a strong repulsive force occurred.
RUMBLE!
The underground labyrinth of the royal palace shook so violently it seemed it might collapse from the tremendous repulsive force.
"TCH!"
The boss was the first to step back.
Reappearing behind again, the boss looked at Zeke and said.
"Why do you keep following me? It's annoying."
Zeke pointed Leviathan at the boss and said:
"Give back Abel Draker."
At his words, the boss floated into the air again and said:
"Ha, do you know how much trouble I went through because of that damn dagger you threw?"
RUMBLE!
As he spoke, another bloodline ability arose from the boss's body.
He looked at Zeke and said:
"This won't do. I'll have to kill you today no matter what."
SNAP!
When the boss snapped his fingers after finishing his words, amazingly, the surrounding background began to change.
TSSS!
Just a moment ago they were in the underground labyrinth, but suddenly the scenery changed and the surroundings transformed into a desolate desert full of gray sand.
'Where is this?'
Zeke looked around with sharp eyes. He thought it might be an illusion-type ability, but everything felt too real.
The boss rose into the air and said:
"Here I can use my abilities to the fullest."
RUMBLE!
An enormous energy wave rippled around his body.
Seeing the wave raised by the boss, Zeke realized this was no longer the underground labyrinth.
When the underground palace shook, he had stopped his ability and seemed to have changed locations entirely.
And in that moment, a massive wave erupted from the boss's body.
SCREECH!
A powerful wave enveloped Zeke's body along with a deafening sound that felt like it would rupture his eardrums.
CRACK!
The wave raised by the boss separated bone from flesh and made blood boil.
Red vapor erupted from Zeke's body as his blood evaporated.
'URGH!'
It was pain that even Zeke, who possessed the Healing Factor as a passive skill, could barely endure.
But Zeke's body, at the Grand Master level and having absorbed an Elder Dragon's heart, couldn't be destroyed so easily.
After enduring the wave with pain for a moment, once he became somewhat accustomed to it, Zeke advanced forward instead.
Seeing this, the boss shouted in shock:
"You madman! Zeke Draker! What the hell are you?!"
As Zeke endured the storm of waves and advanced toward the boss, he shouted:
"You said you could use your abilities to the fullest! The same goes for me!"
Zeke raised his sword with effort and unleashed Elemental Sword.
RUMBLE!
A wind field using all his power spread from his sword.
CRACK
This was the Elemental Sword that he usually restricted for fear of harming allies due to lack of control.
But in this space created by the boss, he could use his power to the fullest.
BOOM!
The massive storm created by the wind field swallowed the boss's wave.
CRASH!
The boss backed away in confusion as he saw the storm raised by Zeke threatening to swallow the entire space.
"No! My unique barrier!"
The storm tore apart the space created by the boss and grew even larger.
Zeke didn't stop there and poured in more energy.
"Let's see more of that precious bloodline ability of yours!"
The boss tried to use other abilities to block the storm, but judged it impossible to offset a natural disaster of this scale.
In the end, the boss had no choice but to dismantle his unique barrier.
CRACK!
The space itself cracked and shattered like a breaking glass window.
SHATTER!
The boss's unique barrier broke apart along with the storm Zeke had created.
The two returned to the original underground labyrinth.
The boss pointed at Zeke with disgust.
"Y-you. What the hell did you..?"
But at that moment, a shadow suddenly sprang out from behind the boss and wrapped around his body.
WHOOSH!
The boss caught by the shadow twisted his body around.
"Damn it!"
Just as he tried to escape using spatial movement:
SCREECH!
Zeke had already deployed mana backflow technique to prevent spatial movement, so his attempt failed.
"Finally caught you."
The shadow brought the captured boss over to Zeke.
He looked at the boss and said:
"I thought it was strange. When I caught you and read your memories, there wasn't a single piece of proper information. It was like a book torn to shreds with letters scattered in pieces."
Zeke had used Dragon's Wisdom on the boss when they fought before.
At that time, an enormous amount of information flooded into his mind, and Zeke thought he could find some clues if he could interpret it.
But when he tried to analyze that information after the battle, surprisingly, Zeke couldn't interpret it properly.
At first, he thought the information was encrypted, but that wasn't it.
From the beginning, it wasn't proper information but merely broken fragments.
Zeke looked at the captured boss and said:
"I wondered why there was only incomplete, broken information back then, but now I understand."
He brought his face close to the boss's mask and said:
"Six yet one. One yet six."
At Zeke's words, the boss's body trembled.
"The princes of the fallen kingdom became a cursed being by becoming one through the power of chaos. But they didn't actually become one. They only appeared to have become one."
RUMBLE!
A massive energy arose from the boss's body.
The shadow holding him wavered at that power, and Zeke reached out to press down on the boss with a field of golden force.
CRACK!
As the golden force took effect, the boss had no choice but to be restrained again.
"With six souls merged into one, there's no way to get proper information from just one projection."
Zeke placed his hand on the boss's head.
Then he gradually applied force.
CRACK!
The mask covering the boss's face cracked.
"I thought the mask was changing back then. But now I see that wasn't it."
CRUNCH!
Zeke's hand dug into the boss's head.
"It wasn't the mask that changed... it was your projection itself that changed."
SPLAT!
Unable to withstand the applied pressure, the boss's head burst.
But what came out of the burst head wasn't brain matter but bloodstone fragments.
'Bloodstone... was a soul possessed into this and controlling it?'
Zeke recalled that Jiemens' secret weapon, which he had battled before, had a similar structure.
But then….
CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!
Loud applause sounded from behind.
When Zeke turned around, another boss was walking towards him, clapping his hands.