642
Chapter 642
Zeke couldn't help but be surprised at Rex Tourn's words.
'Arthur Draker died?'
Finding it hard to believe, Zeke wondered if Rex Tourn's words were some kind of metaphor.
But it wasn't anything like a metaphor.
"Arthur definitely died before my eyes. His heart was pierced."
Looking at Rex Tourn's expression, Zeke realized that this was no lie.
"If Arthur Draker died then... how is he alive now?"
Rex Tourn tried to answer Zeke's question but broke into severe coughing.
"COUGH!"
Dark red blood flowed from his mouth.
Although Zeke had breathed life force into him, the spark of life quickly faded within the already shattered vessel of his soul.
Rex Tourn opened his mouth with difficulty.
"Huu, huu. Ramon and I fled from the dungeon, leaving the dead Arthur behind. We were just youngsters, so we were terrified. We barely made it out of the dungeon... but surprisingly, shortly after... Arthur, who had died... walked out completely fine."
Zeke showed an even more puzzled expression at Rex Tourn's words.
'It's impossible for the dead to resurrect. Even I didn't come back to life on the spot. Then how did Arthur Draker...?'
Then something crossed Zeke's mind.
'Dark matter.'
He thought that the mysterious substance creating distorted causality might be connected to Arthur Draker's resurrection.
But this alone wasn't enough to understand what secret Arthur Draker held.
He contemplated for a moment while looking at the dying Rex Tourn before speaking.
"Master, I have one request."
Rex Tourn nodded without hesitation.
"Go ahead."
Zeke was rather surprised by Rex Tourn's response.
"But you don't know what I'm going to ask."
"I'm about to die anyway. What difference does any request make?"
He looked at Zeke and said.
"Arthur... stop that friend of mine. I don't know why he changed like that... no, perhaps he had already changed back then..."
As Rex Tourn's voice gradually faded, his life force could be felt slipping away.
Seeing this, Zeke hurriedly took out Chronos's watch.
WOONG!
After using Overclock to infuse divinity into the watch, Zeke opened his unique domain 'Room of Time'.
TSSSS!
As the dying Rex Tourn's time stopped, everything froze with a faint trace of life remaining.
Zeke steadied his breathing while looking at Rex Tourn.
Then he reached out his hand toward him.
CRACKLE!
Zeke planned to use the Akashic Code to review Rex Tourn's memories.
Through this, he wanted to find out how Arthur Draker had resurrected, what kind of dungeon he had resurrected in, and what was the real reason for approaching Laura Agamemnon.
WOONG!
Zeke's finger touched Rex Tourn's brow.
At that moment, a light flashed before his eyes.
* * *
"Rex, Rex!"
Zeke opened his eyes suddenly at the voice ringing in his ears.
Before his eyes was a young man with large eyes wearing a worried expression.
Zeke somehow felt that the young man's face was familiar.
'Edward Jiemens?'
The prodigal second son of the Jiemens family.
His soul corrupted by the baptism of the abyss, he was eventually captured by Zeke and imprisoned in Terra's underground prison.
A young man who looked like Edward, but with a somewhat gentler appearance, was looking at Zeke with a worried expression.
Then a low voice echoed from behind.
"Rex, your training is still lacking."
A voice completely devoid of emotion.
Zeke got up and turned his head.
The person there was none other than Zeke, himself.
'Huh?'
Surprised for a moment, Zeke looked at him carefully and found the differences.
Gray hair swept back and sharper eyes created a different atmosphere from Zeke.
And Zeke realized who he was.
'Arthur Draker.'
It was Arthur Draker in his younger days.
Then the young man with large eyes behind him shouted.
"Arthur! Rex jumped in to protect you!"
At the young man's words, Arthur made a dismissive expression and said.
"Ramon, to protect others, one must be stronger than them. Your words are flawed."
Zeke realized that the young man who resembled Edward was Ramon Jiemens in his younger days.
'Was this Ramon Jiemens's original nature?'
Ramon Jiemens, who had tried to accept the Demon King using the power of the Evil God, had felt much more stubborn.
Ramon made a dejected expression at Arthur's words and retorted.
"Arthur! This is why we're your only friends, because you keep acting like this!"
Arthur flinched momentarily at Ramon's words.
He stayed quiet for a while before turning his head slightly.
His sharp expression hadn't changed, but somehow he seemed to give off a slightly melancholic atmosphere.
Then Zeke's body rose on its own and shouted while putting thick arms around Ramon and Arthur's shoulders.
"Hey kids! I, Lord Rex Tourn, am unfazed by something like this! Arthur, don't get discouraged just because Ramon made another comment! It's true that you don't have any friends."
Arthur responded stiffly to Rex's words, his expression unchanged.
"...I have. Other friends."
Ramon spoke with disbelief at those words.
"Who, Duke? Or Laura? They both cut ties with you!"
Rex nodded at Ramon's words.
"Duke was really patient. And Laura goes without saying."
Arthur used to form parties with Duke and Laura to explore dungeons when Rex and Ramon weren't available.
However, both eventually refused to party with him, shaking their heads at his insensitivity and obsession with swords.
Arthur shook his head and said.
"Duke couldn't participate because he's training to become a Draker knight."
Ramon looked at Arthur making excuses and said.
"Then what about Laura?"
When Laura's name came up, Arthur's eyebrows twitched before he quickly turned his head away.
Ramon nodded as if he expected that reaction.
"Arthur, you should be thankful Laura didn't stab you in the back. Who would have such a crazy idea to use their party member as bait?"
"That was the best solution at the time."
"Laura didn't seem to think so."
As Arthur and Ramon glared fiercely at each other, Rex smiled heartily and said.
"Come on! Let's not fight. If we work together, we can find our way out of here. We have enough food to last until we find the exit!"
Ramon nodded at Rex's words while grumbling.
But Arthur remained silent, his head still turned away.
When Rex patted Arthur's shoulder, Arthur spoke in a small voice.
"...Anyway, I'm glad you're safe."
Rex grinned at Arthur's words, and Ramon also cracked a smile.
Zeke understood the situation he was in.
'So this is Rex Tourn's memories.'
He was vividly observing the situation from inside Rex Tourn's body.
The three soon sat in a corner of the cave, maintaining their weapons and eating jerky.
After resting for a while, Ramon spoke again.
"But what was that thing earlier...? It was completely different from any monster or magical beast we've seen before."
Rex nodded at his words.
"Yeah, like Ramon said, they were creatures we'd never seen before."
He turned to Arthur and asked.
"Arthur, tell us more about what you know about this dungeon. You're the one who found this place. We don't know anything except that it's an undiscovered ancient ruin."
Arthur silently continued polishing his sword without opening his mouth at Rex's words.
Ramon shook his head watching Arthur.
"This sword-obsessed guy probably didn't properly research before coming. I bet he just rushed in thinking there would be some ancient sword or whatever."
Rex couldn't deny Ramon's words.
Among Draker's direct line, Arthur was particularly interested in swords.
He showed intense interest not only in swordsmanship but in swords themselves, and would risk any danger to obtain swords from ancient ruins.
After graduating from the academy and entering Valhalla, he would often take Ramon and Rex to Argos during breaks, climbing the Giant Mountains to search for ancient ruins related to swords.
It was the same after graduating from Valhalla. This time too, he suddenly called Ramon and Rex, formed a party saying he found a new dungeon.
Though Rex and Ramon were busy with successor training at their respective families after graduating from Valhalla, they followed Arthur thinking it would be a light excursion since it was close to the Troy Principality.
But contrary to expectations, they got lost as soon as they entered the dungeon and encountered magical beasts they'd never seen before.
Though startled, they managed to escape by desperately swinging their swords.
Yet Arthur maintained his shameless attitude and kept his mouth shut about the dungeon's identity.
Arthur, having finished his jerky, stood up first.
"We're leaving now."
His attitude showed he wouldn't listen to any other opinions.
Rex and Ramon, who had seen Arthur like this since childhood, clicked their tongues but were used to it by now.
"Arthur, that guy will someday get stabbed in the back by my sword. Or by Laura's sword."
Though grumbling, Ramon erased traces of where they sat and followed.
Arthur took the lead and walked deeper into the cave.
The cave kept branching into multiple paths, making it impossible to tell which way was the exit and which led deeper inside.
Yet Arthur strode deeper into the cave without hesitation, as if he knew the way.
Rex asked Arthur.
"Hey Arthur, we're looking for the exit, right?"
At that moment, Arthur raised his hand, signaling them to stop.
Rex and Ramon lowered their stance and held their swords while suppressing their presence.
Something could be heard approaching from far away.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
Arthur, Rex, and Ramon held their breath and focused on the approaching vibrations.
Shortly after, whatever was approaching revealed itself.
Rex gritted his teeth internally at the sight.
'It's that thing from earlier.'
Zeke could hear Rex's thoughts directly from inside his body.
He confirmed the appearance of the magical beast that entered Rex's view.
The revealed magical beast was none other than an Outer being.
SLIIIIDE!
A lizard with insect legs stood upright, raising its front legs that looked like sharp sickles.
Disgusting tentacles writhed all over its body, moving as if searching for hidden intruders.
The Outer being beast gradually approached Arthur's group.
SCREEEECH!
The writhing tentacles stretched along the wall toward where they were.
Arthur signaled Ramon and Rex not to move.
He planned to raise his aura and cut down the Outer being beast in one strike when it approached.
But then Ramon suddenly stood up and tore the scroll he was holding.
CRACKLE!
As the scroll tore, the lightning magic recorded within poured toward the beast.
GRAAAAH!
The beast that took the lightning head-on screamed and stopped in its tracks.
Though the attack seemed effective, Arthur frowned at this and shouted.
"Fall back now!"
In that instant, the lightning was absorbed into the Outer being beast's body before black lightning suddenly burst out in all directions.
CRACKLE!
Lightning more powerful than the magically created one surged from the beast's body toward Rex and Ramon.
Thanks to Arthur's warning, they were able to avoid the lightning by stepping back.
That's when Arthur raised his sword and instead charged toward the beast.
Rex shouted at Arthur.
"Arthur!"
In that moment, a brilliant aura blade surged from Arthur's sword.
His sword cleaved through the beast's body in one strike.
SWOOSH!
A clean dragon-slaying technique unfolded from Arthur's hands as if from a textbook.
The beast's body was diagonally split and its upper body fell down with a thud.
Arthur confirmed the beast he had cleaved in one strike and turned toward Rex and Ramon.
"Is everyone alri…?"
SQUELCH!
At that moment, a chilling sound was heard.
The beast's tentacles had pierced and penetrated through Arthur Draker's heart.
Seeing this, Rex cried out in shock.
"ARTHUUUUR!"