513
Chapter 513
SPLISH! SPLASH!
The monster crawled out of the waterway on all fours.
It moved its face, which looked like a lump of flesh, from side to side before turning toward Zeke.
Then the flesh squirmed and split into eight parts.
GRAAAAAAAH
Sharp teeth were embedded all over the cross-section of flesh, with an eerie red light flickering in the center.
Seeing the hideous and bizarre-looking monster, Zeke guessed its identity.
'Is it an Outer Being?'
Outer Being did roam around the outer waterways, but the being in front of Zeke now felt somehow different.
'Anyway, it's equally horrible.'
The monster opened its eight-part mouth wide and charged at Zeke.
GRAAAAAAAH!
Zeke immediately got up and swung Ascalon at the creature.
WHOOOSH!
It felt like hitting a lump of flesh with a metal club.
CRUNCH!
Looking at the area hit by Zeke's sword, it appeared as if part of the body had been torn off.
But organic materials wrapped in bodily fluids surged from the monster's body, filling in the cut area and restoring its form.
CRUNCH!
Looking at the recovered monster's body, Zeke gripped his sword again and took the basic stance of the Dragon Slaying technique.
He concentrated mana into his sword.
But like the power of light, the Aura Blade flickered briefly before fading away.
TSSSS!
Zeke frowned at this strange phenomenon.
'Could this world be absorbing all light?'
A space with unusually high mana concentration and density.
This bizarre space itself might be absorbing magic power or aura.
'If that's the case...'
Zeke put Ascalon away.
Then he approached the monster with bare hands.
The monster stared at the seemingly defenseless Zeke with the red light in its mouth, then swung its long arm at him.
SWOOSH
In that moment, Zeke's shadow flickered and a huge black scythe emerged to cut off the monster's arm.
KYAAAAAAAH
The monster screamed horribly.
Then Zeke absorbed the monster's severed arm into his shadow.
TSSSSSS
Perhaps because it was an Outer Being, it was possible to absorb it with shadow.
"Now I've got a feel for how to deal with you."
He stretched out his hand.
The shadow condensed and formed the shape of a sword in Zeke's hand.
The shadow sword Caladbolg revealed itself.
Zeke raised Caladbolg and charged at the monster while maintaining the basic stance of the Dragon Slaying technique.
SWOOOOSH
The sword strike from the Dragon Slaying technique cut off another of the monster's arms.
KYEEEEEK!
The monster, screaming wildly, backed away.
Then it thrust its stomach toward Zeke.
Its stomach split open and hundreds of tentacles shot out, rushing toward Zeke.
SWOOOOSH!
Zeke raised his shadow to create a shield.
The tentacles with sharp teeth growing on them were blocked by Zeke's shield.
Using that opening, Zeke summoned Solomon's Chains.
CLATTER!
The chains rose up and bound the mass of tentacles.
When its tentacles were bound by the chains, the monster seemed flustered and tried to back away.
But Zeke immediately struck the chained tentacles with Caladbolg.
SLASH!
With a sharp sound, the monster's tentacles were cut off.
Before the severed tentacles could reattach, Zeke's rising shadow devoured them, making them disappear.
The monster, seeming to realize that its power was ineffective against Zeke, pulled its severed tentacles back into its stomach and slowly backed away.
Zeke slowly approached the monster with shadow wrapped around his body.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Looking at Zeke, the monster felt the emotion of "fear" for the first time.
Until now, it had always been the object of such fear; it had never once experienced being afraid of another being.
That's why this strange emotion felt very unfamiliar.
GRAAAAAAAH!
The monster screamed even louder, as if trying to shake off this unpleasant feeling.
But no matter how it tried, the strongly imprinted fear could not be shaken off.
Zeke raised Caladbolg and charged toward the monster.
"HYAAAAH!"
The basic form of the Dragon Slaying technique unfolded in Zeke's hands.
Dragon Slaying Technique True Dragon Sword Form
Chapter 2 Section 2
Earth Pierce
The shadow sword Zeke thrust pierced through the monster's body.
GUGUGUGUGU!
A large hole opened in the monster's stomach from the swirling sword strike.
KEEEEEEK!
Sticky bodily fluids streamed out.
The monster staggered in pain, leaking dissolved organic matter from the hole.
Zeke approached it and deployed his gravity field.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The powerful gravitational force held the monster in place, preventing it from moving.
KEEEEEEK!
The monster struggled to escape from the gravity field.
Zeke looked at the struggling monster with cold eyes and stretched out his hand.
CRACKLE!
As the Dragon's Wisdom activated, the monster's memories flowed into Zeke's mind.
Like with the avatar, most of the information was broken and in a form difficult to interpret.
Nevertheless, Zeke used the Sage's Eye to analyze the broken information using the data he had absorbed from the avatar.
This was possible because he had encountered such beings several times before.
Light returned to Zeke's pupils.
'So they brought underground creatures to the reverse world and created these deformed beings with the power of chaos.'
He recalled that there hadn't been a single rat or even insect in the underground waterways.
And he realized that the king of Thebea and the allied forces who tried to open the Gate of Chaos a thousand years ago had made a big mistake.
They had conducted the ritual in Thebea's secret underground labyrinth.
In this underground ruin, ancient curses and magic whose true nature remained unknown had been sleeping.
But when the Gate of Chaos opened, these ancient mysteries awakened.
Because of this, although the summoning of the Gate of Chaos failed, the princes of the fallen kingdom seemed to have been sucked into the reverse world of this underground space, becoming the subjects of the awakened curse.
'So the power of chaos and the curse combined to create these terrible deformed beings.'
Zeke repeated the name of that cursed being that had continued for a thousand years.
'Master Germain.'
It was the name of one who exists yet does not exist, who has ruled the darkness of the central continent from beneath Thebea's underground labyrinth.
That's when it happened.
KEEEEEEK
The monster bound by the gravitational force let out a long howl and began to inflate its body.
GURURURUK
The monster making bizarre sounds suddenly expanded like a balloon and exploded in all directions.
SPLAT
Zeke raised his Shadow Armor to block the acidic fluid and sharp tooth fragments that flew in all directions.
The surroundings were filled with sticky bodily fluids.
Releasing his Shadow Armor, Zeke shook his head at the terrible sight of melted flesh chunks scattered everywhere.
He planned to quickly find the main body, dispose of Abel, and return to reality.
But then, bubbles rippled in the waterway.
GRRRRRR!
Dozens of other monsters revealed themselves from within.
They all had equally bizarre and terrible appearances.
Deformed monsters carrying the power of chaos crawled toward Zeke from the floor, walls, and ceiling.
Ordinary knights would have lost their fighting spirit just from these creatures' disgusting appearance and the intimidation they exuded.
But Zeke took out Caladbolg again, assumed the Dragon Slaying stance, and his eyes glowed.
"Come on, you monsters."
KEEEEEEK!
The monsters spat out acidic fluid and charged toward Zeke.
Terrible screams filled the waterway.
* * *
In a massive cavity, an organism resembling a human brain writhed.
Thousands of tentacles extending from the organism were attached to the walls.
The tentacles continued to undulate, seeming to either absorb something or inject something.
The organism was just like an actual living brain.
From the outside, it appeared to only pulsate regularly, but inside, intense exchanges of thought were taking place.
—We must kill him immediately.
—No, we must not kill him.
—We should make him our vessel.
—With his body, we could use the chaos power we possess.
—That's too dangerous.
—He has already entered this domain.
—He is the messenger of the god of chaos.
—If we're not careful, we could be devoured by him.
A fierce debate with no conclusion was occurring among the mental entities.
In the past, they had been separate mental entities, but after existing together for over a thousand years, it became impossible to distinguish who was who or separate their identities.
Therefore, under the name of Master Germain, they made all decisions separately yet together.
The subject of this debate was the disposal of Zeke Draker.
At first, they had agreed to use the avatar to make Zeke Draker's body their new vessel.
But opinions diverged as he traced the avatar's trail all the way to the Thebea palace.
They felt fear about Zeke Draker's power.
Germain's mental entities agreed that Zeke should be eliminated before he became a greater threat.
But some of the mental entities still coveted his body.
If they could use an actual body as a host instead of a doll, they would have more opportunity to intervene in the physical world.
Some of Germain's entities raised their voices again.
—Using Zeke Draker as a host is dangerous.
—Even the avatar's mental entity was instantly sucked into his deep world.
—He is no ordinary human.
—It would be safer to use Abel Draker's body as a host instead.
When Abel Draker was mentioned, their thoughts accelerated.
—We made a contract with the Abyss.
—Don't we know that Abel Draker's body cannot be touched?
—The soul of the Demon King will dwell in his body.
—We cannot open the Gate of Chaos with a body that will become the Demon King's host.
The Gate of Chaos.
Thebea and the allied forces tried to open the Gate of Chaos to summon beings from another dimension to stop Bahamut, where the Demon King had dwelled.
But the summoning ultimately failed, and only the princes of the fallen kingdom who were sacrificed became entangled in the power of chaos, turning into these monsters.
Germain, who came to possess the power of chaos, had been building strength for a thousand years to open the ‘Gate of Chaos’ again.
The plan was to bring the being that should have been originally summoned into the physical world, control it themselves, and lead Thebea and the entire central continent to destruction.
—When the Gate of Chaos opens and the ‘being from the other side’ appears, the boundary between dimensions will become meaningless.
—Even without a physical body, we will be able to advance into the real world.
—There's no need to take on the risk of variables like Zeke Draker or Abel Draker.
After long deliberation, Germain's mental entities concluded that they would kill Zeke Draker and hand over Abel Draker to the Abyss as agreed.
This was because only the Abyss's priest could fulfill the final condition for opening the Gate of Chaos.
If they didn't hand over Abel Draker, the Abyss's priest would not open the Gate of Chaos, and Germain would have to endure another indefinite wait.
—Send more bastards of chaos.
—We must completely annihilate Zeke Draker here.
Having reached a consensus, the mental entities were about to send more monsters through the tentacles to where Zeke was.
And at that moment, Germain realized that they could no longer sense the movements of Zeke Draker, who had been fighting the monsters sent ahead.
While they were engaged in intense discussion, he had disappeared somewhere.
—He is not visible.
—Has he returned to reality?
—If he goes back and hides, it will be difficult for us to find him.
—The avatar alone has limitations in dealing with him.
—We must kill him here.
The mental entities developed their thoughts noisily and gave orders to all the deformed beings existing in this reverse world.
—Find Zeke Draker.
—And kill him.
The terrible deformed beings existing in the reverse of reality heard the mental entities' orders and began screaming and searching for traces of Zeke.
—He must be a living being.
—Then he should certainly leave traces.
—Yet the energy of a living being is not felt anywhere.
—That's impossible.
—As long as he is a being of the physical world, he cannot leave no trace.
—It's impossible for a human from the physical world to escape our sight...
That's when it happened.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Something fell rapidly from above.
A huge spear made of shadow.
A spear formed by combining Shadow Armor and Caladbolg descended spinning toward the main body of the final boss.
Sensing the powerful physical energy, Germain deployed his blood realm ability.
ZIIIIIING!
The translucent barrier created by the creature enveloped the entire cavity.
GUGUGUGUGUGU!
The black spear plunged toward the barrier.