564
Chapter 564
"GROOWL..."
As Helen shouted, the nobles finally began stumbling backward.
Then came the howls of magical beasts from the front. The Abyss dark mages had released them during the shell-induced chaos.
Tiger-like beasts with crocodile skin approached, baring sharp fangs and claws.
Steel Knights and White Silver Knights provided by Kali rushed to Helen's side.
"Commander-in-Chief!"
"We'll hold here! Go to the rear!"
SWOOSH!
Their aura-infused swords struck but couldn't pierce the beasts' tough hide.
GROWL!
The beasts deflected the strikes and swung their claws ferociously.
The Steel Knights blocked the frontal attacks. Blue-rank Draker knights then created aura blades and attacked.
SLASH!
The aura blades finally pierced the beasts' hide.
ROAR!
The wounded beasts released strong magical energy and shot spikes from their backs.
THUD! THUD!
The spikes, sharper than arrows, embedded in the knights' bodies. The wounds turned black from poison.
Helen turned back upon seeing the immobilized knights. She raised her Dragon Buster again.
WHOOSH!
Her steel armor-clad form swung the Dragon Buster at the beasts.
CRASH!
Her Steel Technique crushed the beasts flat.
She shouted to the knights.
"Get up and fall back!"
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
A massive beast, several times larger than the others, appeared. Like a tiger-crocodile hybrid, it was overwhelmingly threatening.
Yet Helen didn't back down.
GROWL!
The beast charged straight at her.
BOOM!
Its massive tail struck down at her head.
Helen swung her Dragon Buster to deflect it.
CRASH!
Her Steel Technique-enhanced strike knocked back the tail.
She advanced, unleashing a series of strikes.
RUMBLE!
Her blows like giant hammers struck the beast's flank.
BOOM!
The beast rolled sideways and fell, raising a dust cloud.
The beast moved stealthily in the dust despite its size.
Helen realized too late it was targeting the poisoned knights.
ROAR!
The retreating knights were startled by the suddenly appearing giant beast.
'No!'
However, at that moment, a beam of light fell.
KWAKWAKWAKWABOOM!
A lightning bolt of light struck down on the head of the demon beast that was charging towards the knights.
KRAAAAAAAH!
The demon beast's roar echoed across the battlefield.
At the same time, a warm golden light enveloped the bodies of the injured knights.
"This, this is?"
Not only was the poison being purified, but their wounds were also healing rapidly.
The knights of the Silver Order and Steel Order knew well who was responsible for this miracle.
"The Knight of Salvation!"
"Sir Zeke!"
KUGUGUGUGUGU!
Through the dust, Zeke emerged, wrapped in shadows.
KIIIIIIIING!
A sound like space itself was cracking and splitting came from the sword Zeke was holding.
He glared at not only the massive demon beast but also the ones behind it as he swung his sword at them.
SWOOOOOOSH!
Though it was a single strike, the demon beasts' bodies were sliced horizontally as if they were paper, their severed parts falling to the ground.
TSUTSUTSUTSUTSU!
While everyone stood with their mouths agape at the incredible sight, Zeke's shadow rose up and engulfed all the dead demon beasts.
When the leading ranks suddenly vanished, the other demon beasts charging from behind hesitated and slightly retreated.
It was unheard of for demon beasts, who only retained their instinct for destruction, to retreat on their own.
This showed that even the demon beasts sensed something unsettling about Zeke's energy.
Before anyone noticed, Zeke had approached Helen, who was panting while gripping her sword, and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Sister Helen."
At that moment, golden waves seeped into her body, not only healing her wounds but also completely restoring her depleted stamina and aura.
Helen could finally catch her breath.
Zeke spoke to Helen.
"I'll take care of this place. Please go to the rear with the knights and command the allied forces."
The Supreme Commander of the Central Continent Allied Forces was Helen, not Zeke.
Therefore, the person who needed to calm this chaotic situation was also Helen.
Helen knew this fact, so after briefly considering Zeke's words, she nodded.
"...I'll return as soon as I reorganize the formations."
"Don't worry about this place, Sister."
As he spoke, golem knights and shadow spirits suddenly emerged from Zeke's shadow.
TSUTSUTSUTSUTSU!
In an instant, a great army that followed Zeke was formed.
Helen's eyes widened at this sight.
Though he was her younger brother, Zeke had already gone far beyond her reach. After looking at him strangely for a moment, Helen nodded.
"Then, I'm counting on you."
She led the recovered knights and ran toward the rear.
After confirming Helen had safely departed, Zeke's golden dragon eyes gleamed as he spoke to his summons.
"Clean everything up."
* * *
While the demon beasts were attacking the allied forces' position, the Dracula Order was standing by in hiding at a location not far from the side.
Among the Dracula Order members, the Red King wearing red Hersion sat cross-legged on a rock.
Soon, a message from the dark mages reached his ears.
[Zeke Draker has revealed himself.]
After the Abyss headquarters collapsed and the High Priest went missing, the dark mages had to think about survival.
And since they didn't have the luxury of finding other factions at present, joining Jupiter was the rational choice for now.
However, Jupiter's commander was Castro Pollock, and the dark mages, sensitive about survival, were greatly concerned about whether this racist would fully accept them.
Thus, they chose not Count Castro Pollock, but the Red King, Count Vlad.
Though he was synonymous with terror, Count Vlad was also a thorough meritocrat and rationalist.
When the Abyss dark mages came to the Red King, he first asked what they could do.
The dark mages could perform dirty but effective magic that ordinary mages couldn't.
The Red King decided to take in the Abyss dark mages after confirming this.
He thought they would be necessary for his plans.
Since then, the dark mages stayed close to Castro Pollock and reported his every move to Count Vlad.
Based on this information, Count Vlad could understand what kind of person Castro was and devise the most effective strategy.
In his opinion, the most dangerous element in siege warfare was none other than an incompetent commander.
In fact, Castro Pollock had been in charge of one of the Thirteen Zodiac Houses, so normally he wouldn't be criticized so harshly.
However, the problem was that due to his limitations from living only as nobility, he performed even worse than usual on such an intense battlefield.
If the Count himself had been a proper commander, there would have been no need for such trouble, but since Castro had taken Jupiter anyway, he had to go through this cumbersome process.
There was an option to directly strike Castro Pollock and take his position, but Jupiter Castle was already lacking justification. Since striking Castro Pollock in this state would be an inelegant move with uncomfortable consequences, Count Vlad chose a method that could establish better justification.
A siege war was ultimately a battle of willpower.
Since even the smallest elements could combine to change the big outcome, he carefully laid out his moves to manipulate the battlefield.
Count Vlad had one goal in this war.
'The Knight of Salvation. Zeke Draker.'
Even if they defended the castle, it would be meaningless if they couldn't capture him.
Count Vlad also knew that Zeke Draker's abilities far surpassed those of ordinary knights.
The Count, who had been organizing his thoughts while sitting cross-legged, slowly rose.
He gestured to the Dracula Order.
Having set the trap to catch Zeke Draker while crouching low, it was now time to begin the hunt in earnest.
* * *
KWADDDDDUK!
Zeke broke the necks of approaching demon beasts using shadows and absorbed them.
'Seems like things are somewhat cleaned up.'
Zeke kept extending his spiritual sense to find where the Red King would appear.
Castro Pollock, who pretended to be a gentleman but was actually petty, was not fit to lead a siege of this scale.
Castro would inevitably be consumed by the Red King.
It was a huge mistake to accept such an overwhelming figure into Jupiter Castle when he couldn't handle it with his own capacity.
Meanwhile, Zeke's summons had hunted down all the demon beasts and secured the allied forces' main camp again.
Looking at the collapsed palisades, he used dragon speech.
"Raise the walls."
KUGUGUGUGUGU!
When the dragon speech activated, the ground rose where the palisades had been.
Massive earthen walls created defensive barriers thicker and stronger than the previous palisades.
With moats dug below, it seemed difficult for even agile soldiers to approach easily.
Zeke turned his head to look at Jupiter Castle in the distance.
'We need to capture that castle to end this war.'
With his current divine status, Zeke could collapse Jupiter Castle's walls with a single sword strike.
But what prevented Zeke from moving rashly was karma's restriction.
As one who defied fate, Zeke was free from karma's restrictions, but there was still a reactive force.
Unlike other high tables, exceeding the restrictions wouldn't result in transcendence and being drawn to the peach blossom spring, but it could distort causality and create opportunities for beings from the demon realm or celestial realm to descend to the physical realm.
'If they directly descend to the physical realm, things will get more complicated.'
Since he hadn't perfectly completed his divine status enough to face them yet, Zeke had to be careful when using his power.
When he had almost reconstructed the destroyed allied forces' position, something caught Zeke's spiritual sense.
'This is?'
The reason for his surprise was that the energy felt from afar was none other than the energy of a 'dragon'.
Since Zeke had never seen a living dragon except Hades, he was taken aback when he suddenly felt dragon energy.
After ordering his summons to guard the position, he flew toward where the dragon energy was emanating.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
The place where dragon energy was felt was a valley not far from the allied forces' position.
The fact that dragon energy was flowing from inside a narrow, deep valley itself gave the obvious impression of a trap.
'Even if it's a trap, if there's a living dragon, I must find it.'
Dragons were beings of great significance as regulators of the physical realm.
With glowing eyes, Zeke entered the valley following the flowing dragon energy.