648
Chapter 648
Arthur Draker spoke to the young knight who called him father.
"So, how is Zeke Draker doing these days?"
A slight smile spread across Arthur Draker's lips as he mentioned Zeke's name.
The knight in white uniform remained silent for a moment before speaking.
"He has escaped from Atlas and is traveling west across the continent."
Arthur Draker's eyebrows twitched at the knight's words.
"You mean he's moving directly instead of using portals?"
The knight nodded at Arthur's question.
"Yes, he's moving by land rather than using portals."
Arthur Draker fell into deep thought upon hearing this.
"HMM, I thought he would have noticed my message by now and come straight here, but he's taking a detour by land..."
Most humans rarely deviated from his expectations.
But Zeke Draker was different.
'Zeke, that one always defied my expectations.'
Arthur Draker had kept a close eye on Zeke since he was an 'irregular' existence who defied his expectations from the moment of birth.
At first, he thought Zeke was worthless trash, but from a certain point, he showed a completely different side and achieved rapid growth, so Arthur always needed to keep watch.
'The Elder Dragon's legacy. I know he inherited it. But there's something else about him too.'
A child born with the destiny of the savior that Laura Agamemnon tried to protect until the end.
When Arthur Draker faced him as a newborn, he could have killed Zeke at any time.
But Arthur Draker didn't do that.
Perhaps it was because he had hope that this child could fill the final missing fragment within himself.
So he named the prophesied child that Laura tried to hide and protect, and brought him into the family.
Thus, that child, bearing the name of Zeke, a cursed illegitimate child, grew up to become his greatest enemy.
Arthur Draker smiled as he imagined Zeke charging at him with sword drawn, filled with hatred and rage.
"I don't know what you're planning... but welcome, Zeke. I'll be waiting."
He muttered before turning to the knight and saying.
"Continue monitoring Zeke Draker's movements and report to me as before."
The knight bowed formally at Arthur's words.
Soon Arthur Draker's body rippled, his form collapsed, and he vanished without a trace.
The knight left alone in the Sword Grave raised his head and looked at the Draker family sword stuck in the ground.
As he quietly gazed at the sword, the air rippled, space distorted, and the scenery of the Sword Grave disappeared.
TSTSTSTS!
The surroundings around the young knight completely changed.
Now he was in a massive hall made of pure white marble, where hundreds of knights in white uniforms stood in formation.
Before them was a platform with a giant sword deity statue.
The young knight who had stood before Arthur Draker rose and turned around, shouting to the others in uniform.
"Father has spoken!"
The white-uniformed knights uniformly raised their heads and focused on his voice.
He shouted again.
"Kill Zeke Draker! And prove that we are Father's children!"
Flames rose in the eyes of the uniformed knights at the young knight's words.
He turned back again and stretched his hand toward the sword deity statue.
"Kill the old generation's seed! And as true sons of god! Prove our existence!"
As his words ended, those lined up behind him shouted in response.
"Prove it! Prove it!"
The frenzied echoes shook the entire hall.
* * *
DUDUDUDU!
Zeke was riding Bucephalus westward across the continent toward Troy Principality.
Though he could have arrived directly in Troy using the system portal, he deliberately chose to travel by land.
This was to scout locations to build defense lines and install the Three Demon Princesses' mobile fortresses in strategic positions.
Since he had formed alliances with the demon realm's great lords, he could summon their troops to the material world by spending karma if he allowed it.
However, since Mephistopheles' true purpose was still unknown, he wanted to build defense lines using the troops he had as much as possible.
'The North has the Knights of Himonas and the Barbarians, and with Alicia awakening Fenrir's power, it should be enough.'
Alicia, who had awakened the power to grow stronger through consuming with the Lang-ah Sword, was rapidly gaining strength.
Moreover, with the power of the Barbarians and the Giant's Tower in defense mode, protecting the North didn't seem difficult.
The Central region was quickly regrouping around Atlas.
The allied forces, who had been isolated by the beast hordes, safely entered Atlas and were able to quickly stabilize as they normalized the portal to supply resources.
The three great transcendent families, including Nirvana of Athens and Ishtar of the Southern Desert region, as well as the Holy Kingdom, were supporting the Central region and the Central Kingdom.
It was at a level where they could feel somewhat relieved. And at the center of this stabilization of the Central Continent was none other than Mycenae.
Mycenae was not only the only city that blocked the initial invasion of the beast hordes but also had the capacity to help other surrounding cities and kingdoms.
It seemed that having commanders and knights familiar with fighting beast hordes stationed there had a significant impact.
Zeke sent military supplies produced in the Southern Islands to Mycenae and Atlas to prepare for the next war.
Although the situation was quite organized, the problem was the movement of the constellations.
'No matter how thoroughly we prepare, we'll be powerless before the strength of angels descended by the constellations.'
The celestial constellations, who had found a way to descend to the phenomenal world using distorted causality, were trying to destroy this world, collect the accumulated karma, and create a new civilization.
And behind Arthur Draker stood Apollion, the apex of those constellations.
If they couldn't stop Arthur Draker, who was practically Apollion's avatar, they would face the apocalypse no matter how thoroughly they prepared.
'We must eliminate Arthur Draker and prevent the constellations from interfering with the phenomenal world.'
He strengthened his resolve and rushed toward his destination.
Having arrived at Troy Principality, Zeke dismounted and looked at the mountain thick with vegetation.
It was the entrance to the mountain that led to the Giant Mountain Range when going north.
There, Zeke took out Arthur Draker's key that he had kept in his inventory.
He read the karma data contained in the key.
―Final Chapter Scenario (Temple of ??? Chapter)―
[Find the Temple of the ??? Constellation.]
[Scenario Reward: Bestowal of Constellation's Authority]
A map appeared along with the message.
'Is it this way?.'
The map showed the location left behind by Arthur Draker.
Zeke began climbing the mountain toward the location marked on the map.
WHOOOSH!
Zeke's movements, which had surpassed Grand Master level, were incomparable to ordinary knights.
He instantly crossed the dense forest and arrived at the location marked on the map.
'This is?'
As Zeke approached the marked location, he could sense an unusual energy.
When he tried to move forward, he instinctively felt an invisible wall blocking him.
It seemed like a unique domain similar to what he had felt when meeting the Divine Beast was spread out before him.
If ordinary people had approached this place, they would have been instinctively blocked by the domain's wall and unconsciously diverted to another path.
Zeke reached out his hand toward the domain wall blocking him.
CRACKLE!
A powerful repulsive force tried to push back Zeke's hand.
Zeke quietly muttered.
"Raven."
Immediately, Raven appeared near his shoulder.
RUMBLE!
Raven, now grown as large as an eagle, spread its wings and approached the domain wall.
WOONG!
Then Raven's wings turned white and began absorbing the power forming the domain wall.
CRACKLE!
As Raven absorbed the domain's power, the repulsive force blocking Zeke gradually weakened.
Zeke waited for a moment before squeezing through the gap that had formed in the wall.
TSSSS!
Entering the domain with Raven, Zeke's eyes widened at what had been hidden inside.
'This is...'
It was the very cave he had seen in Rex's memories.
'Arthur's group made their base camp here and prepared before exploring the dungeon.'
Zeke examined the path leading up from the cave.
The location marked on the key's map pointed exactly to that direction above.
Zeke launched himself upward with Raven.
WHOOSH!
Having risen up in one breath, Zeke couldn't help but be surprised at the scene that unfolded before his eyes.
It was because an enormous cave had appeared.
Then a message appeared before Zeke's eyes.
[You have arrived at the designated location.]
[Karma data is being updated.]
[Uninterpretable message is being interpreted.]
The question marks from the earlier message were interpreted and reappeared before his eyes.
―Final Chapter Scenario (Chapter of the Distorted Temple)―
[Find the Temple of the Distorted Constellation.]
[Scenario Reward: Bestowal of Constellation's Authority]
'Temple of the Distorted Constellation?'
Questions arose in Zeke's eyes as he saw the message.
The expression ‘Distorted Constellation’ was something even he had never seen before.
Such an expression didn't exist even in the external scriptures.
'Distorted Constellation... could it be related to the distorted causality?'
Circumstantially, the dark matter that created the distorted causality seemed to be connected to Apollion, the Sun God.
This was because in past memories, he had watched Arthur Draker obtain a new heart made of dark matter and resurrect in the Temple of the Distorted Constellation.
'Does this mean the Sun God Apollion is the Distorted Constellation?'
He would have to go inside to know for sure.
Zeke sent Raven back to the dimensional boundary at his shoulder before slowly walking into the massive cave that looked like a monster's gaping maw.
Having explored all sorts of dungeons in his past life, finding his way through the cave wasn't particularly difficult for Zeke.
'Nothing particularly unusual is visible.'
Just as he was wondering about the lack of changes after walking for some time.
GROWL!
An ominous sound was heard from inside the cave.
Zeke immediately drew out Leviathan and stayed alert.
Soon, something could be seen approaching from the opposite side.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
A beast horde with an appearance similar to the Outer Beings he had seen in Rex's memories revealed itself.
GROWL!
The Outer Being beasts that detected the presence of an outsider stretched its long neck and surveyed the cave.
The tentacles protruding from the beast's body also moved noisily in all directions as if they were each living creatures.
'No need to make a commotion.'
Zeke quietly drew up his power, planning to eliminate the beast stealthily.
Shadows gradually extended from beneath his feet.
TSSSS!
When the shadows reached beneath the beast's feet, Zeke clenched his fist.
Instantly, black blades shot out from the shadows and pierced through the Outer Beings beast's body.
SLASH!
The black blades penetrated the beast's tough outer skin and beheaded it in one strike.
The beast perished to the black blades that emerged from the shadows before it could resist.
TSSSS!
The beast's body, pierced by the blades, was absorbed into the shadows as if melting into them.
Zeke showed a surprised expression at the karma points obtained from absorbing the Outer Beings beast.
'The point value is much higher than normal beasts. Is there something different about these ones that have stayed in this temple for so long?'
After quietly disposing of the Outer Beings beast, Zeke delved deeper into the cave.
More beasts appeared here and there afterward, but he handled them quietly in similar ways as he quickly moved inward.
Soon, the corridor with Orc architecture that he had seen in Rex's memories appeared.
'Rather, there are no beasts here.'
Walking slowly along the corridor that he recognized from his memories, a massive door appeared before Zeke.
The insignia of the sun and sword.
This was the exact place where Arthur Draker had resurrected in his past memories.