623
Chapter 623
SCREEEECH!
A sharp sound echoed from the Book of the Dead that Baron was holding.
"Damn it!"
Baron, holding the Book of the Dead, sensed something was wrong and tried to quickly throw it away.
But the book, causing slight vibrations, stuck firmly to his hand, making Baron's muscles freeze.
WOOOOONG!
The vibration from the book grew stronger.
Baron shouted.
"Zeke Drakerrr!"
At the same time, a massive explosion erupted from the Book of the Dead.
BOOM!
A storm of tremendous magical power engulfed Baron.
RUMBLE!
It didn't just end with the explosionthe red mist-like wave of magical power that burst forth even swallowed the surrounding mages.
CRACKLE!
And surprisingly, the bodies of the magicians enveloped in the red mist froze completely.
This was because what Zeke had set up in the fake Book of the Dead was the power of absolute zero using the Elemental Stone.
The mages with ominous powers were all trapped in solid ice.
RUMBLE!
The red mist containing the power of absolute zero froze the entire cavern.
But then.
CRACK!
The sound of ice breaking came from the center.
THUD!
From within the ice pillar that reached the ceiling, Baron appeared, emitting black energy infused with distorted causality.
But he wasn't in a normal state either.
HISSSSSS!
White steam was rising from various parts of Baron's body where the skin had been peeled off.
He had somehow managed to neutralize the power of absolute zero using distorted causality, but he hadn't completely escaped the explosion itself.
With half the skin on his face necrotized, exposing raw muscles, Baron showed intense emotion unlike his usual self.
"Zeke Draker! I will kill you! I will kill you and offer you to our god!"
RUMBLE!
Storm-like energy surged from Baron's body.
As the black energy spread in all directions, the power of absolute zero gradually subsided.
ROAAAAAAR!
From behind the energies surging from Baron's body came the howling sounds of terrible monstrosities.
The twisted energy he possessed was directly connected to the abyss beyond dimensions, causing nightmare-like monsters whose true nature was hard to gauge to try to burst into the phenomenal world.
At that moment, the space in front of Baron rippled.
TSSSSSSS!
Surprisingly, the being that appeared was the one with pale hands wearing a black robe who had led Baron here.
Baron glared at him with sharp eyes.
"You...?"
Simultaneously, the voice echoed in Baron's ears again.
【Why do you reject my guidance?】
Baron furrowed his brow at the voice that had guided him here.
Then, as if sensing something, he raised both hands.
RUMBLE!
The black energy flickering from his hands flew toward the pale-handed figure.
CRACK!
As the black energy enveloped the pale-handed figure, the space in that area cracked like breaking glass.
SHATTER!
As the space shattered with the crack, the form of the pale-handed figure in the black robe disappeared.
And surprisingly, Zeke, wrapped in shadows, was floating in the air at that spot.
He looked down at Baron with cold eyes and said,
"Baron, how unfortunate. I had hoped you would find peace in eternal darkness."
Only then did Baron realize that Zeke had deceived him and toyed with him in endless darkness.
"ZEKE DRAKER! You filthy bastard!"
Baron roared upon seeing Zeke's revealed form.
If he had wandered in endless darkness according to Zeke Draker's plan, he would have been eternally trapped in this labyrinth, unable to fulfill the god's order.
Baron, forgetting the coolness he usually considered a virtue, did not suppress the anger that rose to the top of his head.
Then, an ominous change occurred in Baron's body.
CRUNCH!
Baron's body, as he roared, began to swell.
Small tentacles squirmed as they rose between the raw muscles where the skin had peeled off.
These tentacles began to replace the peeled skin.
GROWL!
Soon half of Baron's body was covered with tentacles, taking on a form as if foreign magical beasts were growing from various parts of his body.
At the same time, monsters with bizarre forms whose true nature couldn't be properly defined began to crawl up from within Baron's shadow.
GRRRRRR!
The lowly howling monsters had an even more terrifying appearance than the foreign magical beasts.
Baron issued a command to the monsters that emerged from the shadow.
"Catch him and bring me the Book of the Dead!"
The monsters received Baron's command and rushed at Zeke.
RAAAAAR!
Seeing the terrifying monsters flying toward him, Zeke calmly raised his hand.
Without realizing it, Ascalon was already in his grip.
Zeke unleashed radiant lightning imbued with the power of holy relics towards the monsters.
CRACKLE!
Dozens of lightning bolts shot out from Ascalon, piercing through the monsters' bodies.
SCREEEECH!
The monsters struck by lightning either burned to ash or melted into mush.
Yet these monsters kept emerging endlessly from Baron's shadows, seemingly unaffected by the damage.
While Zeke dealt with the monsters, Baron, who had slightly calmed his rage, approached the mages trapped in ice.
TSSSSSS!
The distorted causality energy he emitted nullified the absolute zero authority.
Soon, the ice that imprisoned the mages began to melt gradually.
The absolute zero permafrost that nothing could melt was dismantled by Baron's power.
CRACKLE!
At that moment, Zeke's radiant lightning filled the entire cavern, sweeping away the monsters.
Baron had already emerged from his maddening rage and regained his composure.
Given the circumstances, it was clear that Zeke Draker had arrived here first and set up a trap.
However, seeing Zeke deliberately staying to face him, Baron suspected he hadn't yet stolen the Book of the Dead.
'If he had found the Book of the Dead first, he wouldn't have confronted me head-on.'
He judged that just as he was buying time by summoning monsters, Zeke was also buying time to find the Book of the Dead.
'I must use the mages to find the Book of the Dead before him.'
As the ice melted considerably under his power, the trapped mages inside began to stir.
CRACK!
The ice developed larger cracks as the mages moved.
Soon pieces of ice began falling away.
CRAAAACK!
The mages moved more vigorously and broke free from the cracking ice.
Baron spoke to the mages who emerged from the ice.
"Find the Book of the Dead! It's hidden somewhere here!"
The ominous mages wearing horrific leather robes nodded at Baron's words.
They began chanting spells while gripping daggers engraved with monstrous forms.
The mages chanting bizarre spells in an unknown language exuded sacrilege by their very existence.
TSSSSSS!
As the mages continued their chanting, crimson mist began flowing from their daggers.
The mist spread throughout the cavern.
It seemed to be tracking the location of the Book of the Dead which held the Demon King's power.
Just as the mist was about to show movement spreading across the cavern.
WOOOONG!
Suddenly, a massive magic circle appeared on the cavern floor.
Simultaneously, dozens of chains shot up from the magic circle.
CLANK!!
Soul chains similar to Zeke's Chains of Solomon burst from the ground and wrapped around the sinister mages.
CRACK!
The chanting mages were suddenly bound by soul chains and froze stiffly in place, unable to move.
Chains also erupted from beneath Baron's feet.
CLANK!
Baron, who had already gripped a black dagger, swung it forcefully at the chains trying to wrap around his body.
CLASH!
Though they were soul chains that nothing could cut, they were severed upon contact with Baron's swinging dagger.
CLANK!
However, the cut chains didn't lose their power and rejoined with other chains, as even more chains flew toward Baron.
Baron realized this too was a trap set by Zeke.
'The High Table member with him must have set this trap.'
He furrowed his brow thinking of Nabu, the Hermit of Stories.
Clicking his tongue, Baron stepped back avoiding the chains and reached into his garment.
When he withdrew his hand, he held a small chrysalis.
Baron took a deep breath and swallowed the chrysalis.
RUMBLE!
Changes began occurring in Baron's body after swallowing the chrysalis.
CRACK!
Baron's body was already half-transformed like an outer being monster.
His shoulders to chest were already composed of an amorphous monstrosity rather than human form, and these changes accelerated further.
Simultaneously, amorphous monstrosities began growing from his back like tree branches.
GROWL!
While deflecting the chains trying to capture him, Baron swiftly cut off the growing monstrosity that was expanding his body, as if harvesting it.
THUD!
The monstrous form Baron cut off fell to the ground and took root, forming a circular shape.
RUMBLE!
The amorphous monstrosity growing like a tree trunk took a circular shape and transformed into something like a gate.
CLANK!
The chains tried to wrap around both Baron and the gate made of monstrous form.
At that moment, Baron extended his hand again.
TSSSSSS!
When the black energy flowing from his hand touched the chains, they quickly turned black and scattered into ashes.
That energy flowed into the monstrous gate.
CRACK!
The monstrous gate reacted to Baron's energy as tentacles sprouted from the circular frame and filled the inside.
When the writhing tentacles moved and filled the entire circular frame, amazingly, a huge mouth formed inside.
GROWL!
The mouth with sharp teeth opened wide revealing a black hole inside, and something began to emerge from that hole.
RUMBLE!
Soon with a loud noise, the monstrous gate vomited it out like regurgitation.
SPLASH!
Along with bodily fluid that gave off a horrible stench, a human figure appeared in front of the monstrous gate.
Zeke frowned while floating in the air as he looked at the being that emerged from the gate.
'That's...'
Surprisingly, the being Baron summoned was none other than Harvey Draker.
Zeke had certainly left Harvey Draker, whom he had captured, in the custody of Manna and Ivan to watch over.
Yet suddenly Harvey Draker appeared here.
At that moment, the monstrous gate twitched again.
GROWL!
Making another strange sound, it spat something out again.
CLANK!
Manna and Ivan, who had been holding the chains binding Harvey Draker, also appeared here through the gate.
"Wh-where are we ?"
Both Ivan and Manna looked bewildered by their sudden transportation here.
At that moment, the black energy sent by Baron corroded Solomon's chains that were restraining Harvey Draker.
TSSSSSS!
The energy containing distorted causality could neutralize even King Solomon's chains.
Discovering this, Manna immediately tried to create a barrier.
"HAP!"
The moment he joined his hands to create a barrier, Harvey Draker became conscious.
RUMBLE!
In that instant, Harvey Draker broke free from Solomon's chains that were restraining him and stood up.
CRACK!
Having broken the chains, Harvey Draker returned to his half-dragon form and glared at Zeke floating in the air while stepping backward.
"Zeke Draker..."
His pupils turned red again.
However, as Harvey Draker was about to charge at Zeke, Baron shouted at him.
"Harvey Draker!"
Baron's pupils emitted a strange light as he shouted while looking at Harvey Draker.
"For our god! Fulfill your glorious duty!"
After finishing his words, Baron Draker snapped his fingers at Harvey Draker.
BOOM!
With that signal, Harvey Draker felt as if his heart was sinking.
Harvey Draker clutched his heart and trembled all over at the sudden sensation.
That's when it happened.
CRACK!
Something burst through Harvey Draker's chest.