658
Chapter 658
Zeke looked at the fortress wall with disbelief.
The Rom Empire's magic cannon fired shells toward the wall.
RUMBLE!
The wall was crumbling again, just like before.
'How could this happen.'
Although he had regressed 20 years into the past due to the Elder Dragon's relic, this type of regression was unprecedented.
Zeke looked around in frustration but soon shook his head. After all, this was another opportunity.
'Since this was arranged by the Distorted Constellation, it's quite distorted.'
First, Zeke gripped his sword again and moved upward.
Then the three Imperial knights who had attacked Zeke earlier appeared.
One of them charged at Zeke in the same way as before.
SWOOSH!
Having already fought them once, Zeke understood the knight's abilities and moved in faster, diving inside their guard.
He dodged the knight's Aura Blade and immediately thrust his sword infused with Soul Force into their heart.
"GACK!"
With a final cry, the knight fell.
The two knights watching from behind charged at Zeke just like before.
Zeke skillfully deployed Shadowless Step to avoid their swords and stabbed their vital points with his dagger and sword.
THUD!
The knights instantly collapsed to the ground.
"Whew..."
Due to his previous experience, Zeke was able to conserve more energy than before.
The problem was Cain above.
'I can't defeat him with my current abilities.'
Zeke was certain that to escape this memory of the past, he needed to prevent Alicia's death.
The issue was that to save Alicia, he had to stop Cain who had received the Abyss Baptism.
Beyond Cain's skills, what made it more difficult was the Hersion of Goddess Theia he was wearing.
'I didn't realize when I was wearing it, but it's really annoying when the enemy has it.'
Made of Orichalcon, it was an artifact bordering on cheating capable of both physical and anti-magic defense, plus large-scale magic casting.
'The previous Zeke Murray can't catch him. I need to actively use my newly learned techniques.'
While considering what techniques he could use with his current body, Zeke noticed another Imperial knight approaching.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
He seemed to be from the Imperial Knights rather than the Draker Knights.
The Imperial Knights, armored in thick plate, wielded heavy maces instead of swords.
Even a Blue Knight could instantly perish if grazed by their Aura-infused maces in close combat.
Zeke raised his sword as he watched the Heavy Knight approach.
He regulated his breathing and strengthened his body with mana.
'Though my body is in its past state, my soul has grown strong enough to acquire divinity.'
Zeke focused on the fact that while his power was limited in this memory of the past, the essence of his soul remained unchanged.
Then, the Imperial Knight charged at Zeke, swinging his mace.
WHOOSH!
Zeke strengthened with mana deployed Shadowless Step to dodge the mace.
'Success.'
He was able to perform a complete Shadowless Step by substituting Aura power with mana injected into his body.
Zeke circled confusingly around the Heavy Knight using Shadowless Step while striking the gaps in his armor with his Soul technique infused sword.
STAB! STAB! STAB!
While Double Spell was difficult, he could use Solo Spell without issue.
The imperial Knight, helpless against Zeke's quick attacks, began wildly swinging his mace with both hands in all directions.
WHOOSH!
There was an intimidating pressure that seemed ready to crush Zeke's head at any moment.
But Zeke remained calm.
'HUFF!'
He steadied his breathing and channeled mana into Gram.
However, he didn't convert the mana into Aura as usual.
The technique he used was none other than the martial technique Strong Wave Resonance.
RUMBLE!
When he used the technique , Gram began vibrating and spreading waves.
The Imperial Knight touched by the waves spreading from Zeke stopped moving, his body stiffening as if paralyzed.
The Wave Force Resonance's waves had scattered the Aura inside the Imperial Knight's body.
Zeke didn't miss the moment his opponent couldn't move properly and dove in, thrusting Gram infused with Soul Force into the gap in his armor.
THWACK!
The heavily armored knight died instantly with a sword in his neck and collapsed to the ground.
THUD!
After taking down the knight, Zeke felt even more fatigue than before.
'Wounds can be healed, but stamina cannot.'
If only he could open his inventory, he could recover somewhat with potions, but that too was blocked and unusable.
While Zeke was catching his breath while keeping the other knights in check.
WHOOSH!
Something flew at him from behind.
Zeke instinctively deployed his illusion step and retreated backwards.
A whip made of red aura fell where he had been standing, splitting the fallen knight's corpse in half.
CRACK CRACK CRACK!
The Empire's secret weapon wearing the Hersion that could freely change the form of aura.
Cain had revealed himself again.
Wearing his helmet, he spoke to Zeke.
"I came to catch the Wolf of the North, but there's an interesting one here. I'll catch you first before starting the wolf hunt."
Zeke steadied his breathing as he watched Cain targeting him.
'If things go as planned ... I can defeat him.'
Zeke gripped his sword while maintaining proper distance from Cain.
Watching Zeke, Cain moved his whip-shaped aura.
The aura raised its head like a snake and rushed at Zeke.
SWOOSH!
It was an aura blade that could slice through even solid heavy armor like cutting radish.
Zeke dodged Cain's aura blade with his illusion step and dove in as close as possible.
As he closed the distance instantly, Cain stretched out his hand as if amused.
WHOOOM!
At that moment, ancient patterns emerged from his armor and white lightning struck down at Zeke.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Lightning Chain activated instead of Plasma Field to attack Zeke.
Zeke quickly pulled out a dagger from his chest and threw it at the center of the Lightning Chain.
CRACKLE!
ZZZZZZT!
The Lightning Chain reacted to the metal dagger and released electrical current in all directions.
In that gap, Zeke thrust Gram into the ground and triggered Strong Wave Resonance.
WHOOOM!
The Strong Wave Resonance waves spread in all directions.
Amazingly, the Hersion affected by the waves stopped functioning.
Zeke had used the Strong Wave Resonance remembering when his own Goddess Theia's Hersion had been caught in Arataso's barrier and couldn't move.
SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
As Goddess Theia's Hersion stopped working and the magic it had activated was forcibly canceled, Cain seemed momentarily flustered and tried to retreat.
At that moment, while leaving Gram stuck in the ground, Zeke rushed at Cain holding his shortsword in reverse grip.
WHOOOM!
Then he tried to destroy the Hersion and behead Cain with Strong wave resonance.
At the moment Zeke's sword was about to touch the Hersion.
WHOOOM!
Cain's eyes flashed red inside his helmet and something pierced through Zeke's back.
"KUHAK!"
Zeke couldn't help but be shocked seeing what had pierced through his chest.
'Shadow... Armor.'
Soon the shadow that burst from Cain crushed Zeke's body.
* * *
"KILL HIM!"
The sound of rough battle cries and clashing weapons could be heard.
Opening his eyes again, the same scene from before unfolded.
Zeke slumped down and struck the ground.
"Damn it."
This confirmed again that dying would send him back to the beginning.
Learning that Cain had not only Goddess Theia's Hersion but also Shadow Armor in this situation made Zeke's head throb.
'If he can use Shadow Armor too, it's practically impossible to catch him with my current power.'
Shadow Armor that simultaneously attacked and defended was essentially the strongest shield, armor, and weapon.
Zeke knew its power well since he had also survived many close calls using Shadow Armor when fighting strong enemies.
A hunting dog approached behind Zeke.
THWACK!
Without even looking, Zeke threw a dagger at the hunting dog and dealt with it.
Then he got up and looked at the castle wall with furrowed brows.
'There's no way at this rate.'
It seemed the rational approach would be to leave this place, find a way to deal with Cain, then return.
Unlike before, Zeke moved in the opposite direction instead of up the castle wall.
He quickly dealt with the hunting dogs rushing at him while going down below the castle wall.
Then he found an abandoned horse, mounted it, and immediately left the battlefield.
CLOP! CLOP! CLOP! CLOP!
After riding his horse to a quiet spot far from Himonas Castle, he finally stopped.
Zeke dismounted, drank from a nearby stream, and looked for a place to rest temporarily.
Fortunately, there was a cave nearby.
Just as he entered to rest and think slowly about what to do next, his heart started pounding.
'What is this?'
Suddenly his head felt dizzy and he was lightheaded. It felt like the whole world was spinning.
His vision blurred before going completely dark.
* * *
"KILL HIM!"
The familiar battle cries and clashing weapons rang in Zeke's ears.
Zeke found himself back at the original location.
'...This is maddening.'
He couldn't understand why he returned to this point when he hadn't even died.
'Two hypotheses. One, time reversed because I moved a certain distance from Himonas Castle. The other...'
Zeke turned his head to look toward the tower.
'Time reversed because something happened to Alicia.'
To test his hypothesis, Zeke sheathed Gram, put on his hood, and moved as stealthily as possible, recalling his hitman days.
He pressed against the inner castle wall, crawling toward where Alicia was.
But arrows flew at Zeke from behind as he moved along the wall.
WHOOSH!
Himonas soldiers shot arrows thinking he was an Imperial assassin.
'Damn.'
Zeke deflected the incoming arrows with his dagger while quickly moving along the wall.
Himonas Castle had walls, towers, and turrets arranged in a crossroads structure.
With abilities far exceeding normal humans, Zeke could leap between walls and climb up like a flying squirrel.
As he grabbed wall crevices and climbed up nearly reaching the tower.
RUMBLE!
A thunderous sound came from atop the wall.
Zeke knew well what this sound was.
'Alicia.'
This sound would occur when Alicia, born with the Great Warrior's power, swung her sword.
While Zeke stealthily climbed the wall, Alicia was swinging wolf fang sword at the Imperial knights surrounding her.
BOOM!
A knight hit by her wolf fang sword crumpled in his armor and was embedded in the wall.
Her power, called the incarnation of Wolf King Fenrir, was threatening enough to match even Black Knights.
The Imperial knights were too intimidated by Alicia's pressure to step forward.
Soon, Cain wearing the Hersion appeared among the knights.
"Wolf of the North. Just as rumored."
He drew his sword and pointed it at Alicia.
Alicia silently glared at Cain while raising Lang-ah.
"HAAAAAH!"
With a battle cry loud enough to echo through the tower, Alicia charged at Cain.
The wolf fang sword, imbued with the Great Warrior's power, plunged down as if to crush Cain in one strike.
At that moment, intense light flashed from Cain's Hersion.
The blinding light blocked Alicia's vision creating a small gap.
In that moment, shadows rose from beneath Cain's feet.
Sharp shadow blades surged up and pierced through Alicia's body.
"No!"
Zeke, who had just entered the tower watching the situation, immediately sprang out upon seeing Alicia pierced by the shadow blades.
But then a similar phenomenon occurred as before.
Zeke's vision went black again.