686
Chapter 686
KUGUGUGUGUGU!
A strong tension flowed as powerful auras clashed between Zeke and the Guardian.
The Guardian opened his mouth toward Zeke.
[Only curses await those who come here...]
"Is that all you know how to say?"
Zeke cut off the Guardian's words and took a step forward.
KUUNG!
As his aura suppressed the Guardian's energy, the collision of forces between the two intensified, sending shockwaves in all directions.
Duke and the advance team members barely managed to hold their ground while resisting the spreading energy.
The Guardian combined the two bandage swords he was holding in both hands.
This created a greatsword as long as Zeke's Leviathan.
Zeke furrowed his brow as he watched the Guardian take a step toward him.
A quiet stillness flowed between the two again.
In an instant, the Guardian lunged forward toward Zeke.
PAAAAAHT!
The sword made of bandages stabbed down toward Zeke's head.
Zeke raised Leviathan to block the Guardian's sword.
UUUUUNG!
A blade of light surged from Leviathan, and the Guardian was thrown back by the rebound force.
The Guardian, who had risen into the air, rotated his body while changing direction and launched a kick toward Zeke.
KWAAANG!
Zeke created a shield with Shadow Armor to block the Guardian's kick.
Despite counterattacking at the moment he was thrown up by the rebound force of the collision, the powerful impact penetrated the shield and reached Zeke.
'Tremendous power.'
An impact similar to when unleashing the Elemental Sword's Metal Force field penetrated his body.
The Guardian's assaults didn't stop there.
The Guardian landed immediately and swung his greatsword to target Zeke's lower body.
KWAAAA!
Zeke jumped into the air to avoid the Guardian's sword that was cutting through the atmosphere.
Then the Guardian extended his free hand and shot bandages toward Zeke.
CHWARALARAK!
The bandages wrapped around Zeke's ankle, preventing him from rising further.
The Guardian immediately pulled the bandages to draw Zeke toward himself.
KWAKWAKWAKWA!
Instead, Zeke used that force to fly toward the Guardian while wielding Leviathan.
The Guardian's sword and Zeke's sword collided, creating an impact.
KURURURURUNG!
A thunderous sound like the sky was collapsing rang out from the collision of the swords.
KWADUDUD!
Due to the impact, the Guardian's body was buried in the ground, and Zeke was thrown in the opposite direction.
However, because of the bandages wrapped around his ankle, he couldn't go far and stopped in mid-air.
At that moment when Zeke's movement momentarily stopped, the bandages wrapped around his body began climbing up from his ankle, trying to restrain his entire body.
Seeing this, Zeke immediately summoned Flames of the Abyss.
HWARURURUK!
Black flames rose behind Zeke in the form of a black ring.
Then Flames of the Abyss caught onto the bandages wrapped around Zeke's body.
Flames of the Abyss that quickly spread along the bandages tried to burn the Guardian's body.
CHWAAAK!
Sensing the danger, the Guardian quickly cut off the burning bandages and stepped back.
And at that moment, Zeke appeared behind the Guardian.
KWAKWAKWAKWA!
A sword strike imbued with the power of the Mind Sword flew in with enough force to split the Guardian.
Then a strong light surged from inside the Guardian's bandage sword.
UUUUUNG!
A dazzling light rose in the form of a sword and blocked Zeke's Mind Sword.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
When Zeke and the Guardian's swords collided, plasma sparks flew everywhere and space began to distort.
KUGUGUGUGUGU!
Then the dimensional rifts that formed in the distorted space began to suck in everything around them.
"KUUUUK!"
Duke and the advance team members struggled with all their might to avoid being sucked into the dimensional rifts.
The fight between Zeke and the Guardian was beyond human level and in the realm of superhumans, so even the aftershocks had tremendous effects.
'Zeke aside, just what the hell is that thing…?'
Duke forcefully erased the thoughts that arose while watching the opponent who was even stronger than expected, and unleashed wind Storm toward the dimensional rift.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
The wind storm became a barrier and blocked the force emanating from the dimensional rift.
Only then could the advance team finally catch their breath.
Meanwhile, inside the space where dimensions were distorted, Zeke and the Guardian were pointing their swords at each other while glaring at one another.
UUUUUNG!
Zeke looked at the Guardian's sword shimmering with light, gripped Leviathan again, and opened his mouth.
"A Grand Master-level knight existing in the Abandoned Continent. I think I know who you are."
At those words, light flickered in the Guardian's eyes.
Zeke continued speaking while looking at the Guardian.
"Dragon Slayer Terakan Draker. Did you volunteer to become the Tower's Guardian to resurrect Bahamut?"
PAAAHT!
In an instant, the Guardian lunged at Zeke with speed too fast to be seen and swung his sword.
KWAKWAKWAKWA!
A dazzling blade of light flashed as the sword strike plunged toward Zeke.
Though it seemed to be swung wildly without form, the longer the sword was wielded, the more its pattern became visible.
A sword technique familiar to Zeke.
None other than the basic Dragon Slaying technique.
Before they knew it, both Zeke and the Guardian were unleashing basic Dragon Slaying techniques while swinging their swords at each other.
KWAKWAKWABANG!
The forms of Dragon Head Slash and Dragon Heart Pierce collided, creating a massive shock wave.
The two took a step back, creating distance between them.
Zeke opened his mouth toward the Guardian again.
"Nothing can bring back the dead. Yet Terakan, you tried to resurrect Bahamut. Even if it meant using something that should never be touched."
KUGUGUGUGUGU!
As Zeke continued speaking, stronger energy poured from the Guardian's body.
Still, Zeke didn't stop talking.
"The Demon King's soul. You tried to use that to bring Bahamut back to life, didn't you?"
As if trying to ignore what Zeke said, the Guardian swung his sword like a madman.
KWAAAANG!
A powerful sword strike flew to penetrate Zeke's body but was blocked by Leviathan's blade of light.
Though the Guardian said nothing, Zeke could clearly feel that he was more agitated than before.
Zeke tried to provoke the Guardian further.
"I found traces of Bahamut in the Dragon's Ravine hidden in the canyon. It was an empty shell without heart or fangs."
[SHUT YOUR MOUTH.]
For the first time, The Guardian spoke.
Through this reaction, Zeke became certain that he was Terakan Draker, the Dragon Slayer who had vanished from the Central Continent.
'I predicted Terakan's grave would be here. I never imagined he would still be alive.'
Though a thousand years had passed, Terakan was a superhuman who had transcended human limits, so he couldn't be judged by normal human standards.
Though it was an unexpected situation, Zeke decided to use this as an opportunity. He thought he should provoke Terakan to learn information about the Final Tower.
But an unexpected change occurred in the Guardian.
UUUUUNG!
The Guardian's eyes turned red and a familiar energy flowed out.
'This is...'
The power of distorted causality could be felt from Terakan Draker.
KUGUGUGUGUGU!
Light blazed from the Guardian's sword again.
Unlike before, this blade of light began gradually turning black.
KUDUDUDUDUD!
An intense distorted causality could be felt from the ink-colored blade of light rising in all directions.
To counter this, Zeke gripped Leviathan and drew upon the power of Dark Chaos Force.
UUUUUNG!
The Guardian's ink-colored blade of light and Zeke's gray blade of light collided with each other.
As if that was a signal, the Guardian charged toward Zeke first.
KWAKWAKWAKWA!
The distorted causality twisted the domain.
Then surprisingly, sword strikes burst out from completely different directions than where the sword was swung.
KWADUDUK!
Clearly, the sword swung from above had distorted space to attack Zeke's lower body.
Zeke, who had tried to block the Guardian's sword strike with Dark Chaos Force, was caught by the unexpected attack.
CHWAAAK!
A long wound appeared on Zeke's leg.
He retreated in surprise.
He thought the wound would heal quickly with the power of Infinite Regeneration, but perhaps due to the Guardian's unique authority, the healing was slower.
'What…?'
Zeke couldn't help but be shocked since he could count on one hand the number of times he had been wounded since becoming a Transcender class.
Seeing Zeke's shock at the wound, the Guardian charged at him again, wielding his sword with surging ink-colored blade light.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
Dozens of ink-colored blade lights flew with enough force to pierce Zeke's entire body in an instant.
Zeke tried to block the attack again by unleashing Dark Chaos Force with Leviathan, but once again, space was distorted.
PUBUBUBUBUK!
The ink-colored blade light shot by the Guardian appeared behind Zeke and struck his back precisely.
"KUUUK!"
Though he blocked it with Shadow Armor, the Guardian's attack penetrated through.
Zeke clenched his teeth at the pain felt throughout his body.
He tried to heal his body with the authority of Complete Recovery, but again the wounds wouldn't heal easily.
Looking at Zeke like this, the Guardian opened his mouth.
[New Immortal. Nothing is more foolish than relying on the illusion of immortality.]
Enduring the pain, Zeke glared at the Guardian and opened his mouth.
"Terakan Draker, you were clearly an Immortal class too. After becoming a Dragon being by making a contract with Bahamut to accept the Holy Grail's power, you awakened the power of immortality. It doesn't seem like something you should be saying."
He had directly witnessed in his past memories how Terakan, the former Siegfried, had become an Immortal.
The Guardian remained silent at Zeke's words.
Then he spoke again towards Zeke.
[It is dangerous for an Immortal to be here. The Demon King's soul will covet the Immortal's body.]
"Yet you came here well knowing that. Did you not think the Demon King would covet your body?"
The Guardian replied to Zeke's words.
[The Demon King does not covet my body. There is no need for that.]
Unexpected words continued from his mouth.
[After Bahamut left my side, I lost the power of Immortality. The half heart that I shared with her. I left it intact in the tomb and departed from the continent.]
Zeke could not help but be shocked at his words.
'Terakan Draker lost the power of Immortality?'
Bahamut's heart was currently inside Zeke's body.
Come to think of it, while the Bahamut's heart he possessed was cursed, it was in a complete state.
If Terakan still had half of the heart as a dragon person, Zeke could not have found the complete heart in the Dragon Slayer's tomb.
Then the Guardian spoke unexpected words again.
[The reason I came here is not to resurrect Bahamut with the Demon King's power.]
Zeke glared at him and said.
"Then why are you here existing as a Spirit form?"
At those words, the Guardian was silent for a moment before speaking again.
[To completely eliminate the Demon King's soul.]
Zeke's eyes widened at the Guardian's words.
'Terakan Draker came to the Abandoned Continent to destroy the Demon King's soul?'
The Terakan Draker that he had heard about from Hoshgar was a ruined man who threw everything away to somehow revive the dead Bahamut.
The image of Terakan he saw in the Ark's records was also like that.
But now the Guardian of the Abandoned Continent, presumed to be the real Terakan Draker, was telling a completely different story.
He raised his sword toward the bewildered Zeke and said.
[But coming here, I realized. Human power cannot destroy the Demon King's soul. Therefore, preventing anyone from reaching the tower. That is why I am here.]
RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
Dark light rose from his sword again.
Zeke saw this and raised Leviathan.
Enduring the pain, he said to the Guardian.
"...So you're saying you are indeed the Guardian protecting the Final Tower."
With those words, something amazing happened.
TSSS! TSSS! TSSS!
The wounds on Zeke's body disappeared, returning him to his state before being attacked by the Guardian.
His powers 'Infinite Regression' and 'Immutable' activated, maintaining his consciousness while only his injured body returned to its previous state.
WOONG! WOONG! WOONG!
Seeing Zeke restored to his original body, the Guardian raised his sword with dark light flickering.
He said in a low voice.
[So Chronos's prophecy was right after all.]
The Guardian's eyes glowed red again and intense killing intent poured toward Zeke.
He shouted toward Zeke as if screaming.
[Avatar of the Sun God! I will never let you reach the tower!]