610
Chapter 610
Zeke glared at Harvey Draker standing at the door and rushed forward.
WHIIISH!
A black wind swirled in front of Harvey Draker.
WHOOOONG!
The black wind blocked the path between Zeke and Harvey Draker.
When Zeke sent a sword strike toward the black wind, suddenly Baron's form wielding daggers emerged.
KWACHING!
Baron swung his daggers and blocked Zeke's sword strike.
Zeke wasn't surprised that Baron, whose body had been split in half by his sword, had reappeared.
'He was buying time while fighting me so Harvey Draker could open the door.'
While Baron confronted Zeke, Harvey Draker had been hidden, continuously operating the barrier circuit to open the door.
Behind Baron, Harvey Draker could be seen calmly entering through the door.
Zeke launched a sword strike toward Harvey Draker.
"HAAAH!"
A sword strike imbued with mind sword power flew toward Harvey Draker.
At that moment, Baron, who had scattered into black mist, momentarily disappeared then reappeared in front of Zeke's sword strike.
The black energy emanating from his body blocked and neutralized Zeke's mind sword.
SSSSSSS!
Zeke realized Baron had used distorted causality again to erase his sword strike.
'Distorted causality is power that reverses reality. Using such power continuously should be impossible. And he's used enough power to nullify my decay authority...'
He raised his sword again and concentrated.
WOOOONG!
As the astral sword rose from Zeke's blade, his consciousness field expanded.
Even Baron in his mist form couldn't escape Zeke's consciousness field.
Zeke swung his mind sword toward Baron again.
WHIIISH!
The mind sword that cuts through not only space but the essence of existence flew toward Baron.
Unlike before, Baron couldn't eliminate the mind sword with distorted causality.
KUGUGUGU!
Instead, black energy flowing from Baron tried to block Zeke's mind sword.
But the mind sword cut through even that black energy and flew toward Baron's essence.
CHAAAAK!
However, the moment the mind sword touched the essence of the mist-form Baron, distorted causality activated again.
SSSSS!
The mind sword flying toward Baron disappeared as if it had never existed.
But as Zeke predicted, it seemed to be an ability that couldn't be easily used after reaching its limit, as the mist-form Baron reappeared and breathed heavily.
"Huff. Huff."
Seeing Baron sweating coldly, Zeke immediately raised his sword and rushed forward.
WHIIISH!
Zeke's sword drove into Baron's opening.
But Baron, who had received power from Arthur and was originally skilled enough to serve as Black Corps commander, didn't easily give Zeke an opening.
He blocked the sword with his reverse-grip daggers and attempted to kick high toward Zeke's head.
WHOONG!
As Zeke leaned back to avoid the kick, Baron immediately retreated to create distance.
Then he jumped into the air and threw daggers toward Zeke.
PABABABABAK!
Zeke deployed the dragon-slaying technique to block Baron's daggers.
But the daggers thrown by Baron pierced through Zeke's attack at an unexpectedly fast speed, grazing his arm as they passed.
SWOOK!
Zeke realized the wound created was healing slower than injuries from ordinary attacks.
Seeing his immortal body's recovery delayed despite the attack not being from distorted causality, Zeke examined Baron's thrown dagger.
'This is?'
The crystallized black dagger was made of godslayer stone—adamantium.
Indeed, adamantium could be a lethal weapon against the deified Zeke.
SRRRRK’
The adamantium dagger Zeke was holding turned to black ash and quickly disappeared.
Seeing this, Zeke frowned.
'Could that black energy be what forms adamantium...?'
While Zeke was speculating about adamantium, Baron, floating in the air, threw more daggers at him.
CHWAAAK!
Dozens of adamantium daggers poured toward Zeke.
Zeke raised his shadow armor to block the adamantium daggers.
DUDUDU!
But his shadow armor formed from his authority couldn't block the godslayer stone.
The daggers pierced through the shadow and flew toward Zeke.
Realizing this, Zeke immediately activated Hersion.
TEEEENG!
Goddess Theia's Hersion made of orichalcon deflected Baron's adamantium daggers.
PASSSSS!
The deflected daggers immediately turned to black ash and scattered.
Seeing this, Zeke realized something.
'It's not pure adamantium.'
If it had been real adamantium, it wouldn't have disappeared like this and would have left more fatal wounds on Zeke.
Seeing Zeke wearing Hersion, Baron caught his breath and transformed into mist again, seeping through the door and disappearing.
Zeke immediately tried to follow Baron and Harvey Draker through the door.
But as Zeke tried to enter, the door began to close rapidly.
Seeing this, Nabu shouted in despair.
"NOOOOO!"
BANG! The door closed completely.
Zeke ran quickly when he saw the door closing, but was too late.
Nabu shouted at Ivan who was standing nearby, looking at the closed door.
"Damn it! Ivan, what are you doing?! Open the door quickly!"
Ivan shook his head with a troubled expression.
"I can't open it."
Nabu shouted at Ivan's response.
"What? You're saying that in this situation? If those guys who went inside get the Book of the Dead first...!"
Ivan spoke quietly despite Nabu's shouting.
"That's not it. I don't know how to open this door either."
He swallowed dryly and continued while looking at the tightly closed door.
"The authority I received from the Leader was only to control the security devices of this place. Even that was damaged because of Manna's barrier... Only the Leader can open this door."
Nabu pulled at his hair at Ivan's words.
"What do you mean only the Leader?! Didn't you see them open it and go inside?!"
Zeke spoke to Nabu who was making a scene.
"They probably opened it with Harvey Draker's power."
The High Tables turned toward Zeke.
Zeke continued as he placed his hand on the door.
"The Leader was the homunculus of the Great Sage, and he created Harvey Draker by cultivating the first Draker to create a new savior."
Nabu shouted in confusion at Zeke's words.
"What, what? The Leader was the homunculus of the Great Sage? The Leader created Harvey Draker?"
Nabu looked at Zeke with bewilderment at the sudden new information.
However, Ivan beside him showed no surprise after hearing Zeke's words.
Seeing Ivan, Nabu frowned.
"Don't tell me, Ivan, you knew this fact."
Ivan slowly nodded.
"...I thought it was about continuing the noble will. It was planned by none other than the Great Sage. I didn't know his true identity was a homunculus."
Nabu sat down with a dejected face as if his soul had left his body.
"Good heavens... The one who has overseen the sacred duty of harmony for hundreds of years was a soulless doll."
Zeke said while watching the dejected Nabu.
"In any case, since the Leader had the soul of the Great Sage, it's difficult to view him as a simple doll. But it's true that he moved in a distorted way because he tried to carry out his mission blindly."
He continued.
"Harvey Draker would have known how the Leader moved Rue because he was created here."
Suddenly Zeke's eyes sharpened.
"That means if we know the method, we can also open this door."
Zeke stepped back from the door and raised a shadow.
"Guardian Innocent, come forth."
Following his command, Innocent emerged from the shadow.
KUGUGUGUGUGU!
Both Nabu and Ivan were startled by the appearance of Innocent wearing a black mask.
Ivan, being a magician specialized in black magic and summoning magic, quickly noticed Innocent's identity.
"Could this Guardian... be the Leader?"
Nabu, who had been dazed, suddenly came to his senses at Ivan's words and stared at Innocent, then alternately looked at Zeke and said.
"Z-Zeke! No matter how angry you were... did you actually destroy the Leader and turn him into your familiar?"
Zeke shook his head at those words.
"It's complicated to explain, but it was requested directly by the spirit of the Great Sage."
As the story of the Great Sage's spirit suddenly came up, Nabu pulled at his hair again as if he could no longer follow the conversation.
But Ivan nodded as if he understood Zeke's words.
"It seems you summoned the spirit of the Great Sage, transferred its power to the homunculus, and absorbed it to create a Guardian."
Ivan immediately grasped the essence of Innocent like a professional.
Then suddenly, as if realizing something, he raised his head.
"If this Guardian is the Leader, does that mean it can also open the door?"
Zeke nodded at Ivan's words and said to Innocent.
"Innocent, transfer your control authority over Rue to me."
Innocent, receiving the order, transferred the system control rights of Rue that he possessed as the Leader to Zeke.
A message appeared before Zeke's eyes.
[Guardian Innocent is transferring authority of the underwater city 'Rue'.]
[You have acquired control authority of the underwater city 'Rue'.]
Having acquired control authority, Zeke was able to access Rue through the system to open the door.
Just as he was about to open the door, a new message appeared before Zeke's eyes.
[There is a message left by the Constellation 'Master of the Great Dream' for the new user.]
[Would you like to check the message?]
'A message?'
Zeke couldn't help but be surprised that there was a message left by the Constellation presumed to be the former owner of Rue.
Thinking this might also be part of the Great Sage's arrangement, Zeke decided to check it immediately.
'System, display the message.'
With Zeke's decision, a screen window appeared before him and showed someone's face.
Zeke was shocked to see that face.
It was because it was already a person he knew.
'Chronos.'
The dragon of the clock tower with the power to move time.
Chronos was the constellation 'Master of the Great Dream' and had left a message for him.
—Zeke.
Chronos, who must have left the message hundreds of years ago, was mentioning Zeke's name.
As Zeke flinched, Chronos on the screen continued speaking.
—I no longer have the power to cross the timeline. I'm not sure if this message will reach you well... but there's a one in millions chance that you might see this, so I'll leave these words believing in that possibility.
Zeke looked at Chronos on the screen.
Having a constellation name meant that she too had become a divine dragon and gained divinity.
Yet, it was difficult to find any trace of her being a constellation.
'Not only is there no sign of her being a constellation, but I can't even feel the power of a dragon. She looks like an ordinary human... What happened?'
While Zeke was guessing what had happened to Chronos, she spoke with an urgent voice.
—Zeke, if you've come here and are seeing my message, it must be because of the 'Book of the Dead'. More precisely, for the soul of the Demon King that exists within it.
Chronos seemed to know that the Book of the Dead existed here.
She continued with a dark expression.
—All this time, we've been wrong. About the Demon King's soul.
Zeke questioned why Chronos was suddenly talking about the Demon King's soul.
'What have we been wrong about?'
Chronos continued speaking urgently with a serious face.
—I tried to find out where the Demon King's soul originated from. If I could find that out, I'd know how to extinguish the soul. And I finally discovered it. The Demon King's soul is...
Just as Chronos was about to say something.
Suddenly the screen flickered, Chronos's words were cut off, and the following words couldn't be heard properly.
Zeke was flustered when the screen and sound suddenly stopped working properly.
'System, what's happening suddenly? Play the message again.'
Then a system message appeared.
[The message left by the constellation 'Owner of the Great Dream' has been damaged by unknown interference.]
'The message is damaged? Then restore it so I can check the message again.'
[Restoring the message.]
Following Zeke's command, the system restored the message and played it again.
However, the content from just now still did not play properly in the restored message.
ZZZZZZT!
Then the screen changed, and something other than Chronos appeared.
A being wrapped in black shadows.
That being spoke toward Zeke.
【Come. To me.】
An irresistible voice of temptation echoed in Zeke's ears.
【New king. Come to me quickly.】