Episode 108
“Damn it…”
Zeke had been momentarily distracted by the sculptures, and now the monstrous figures had sensed his presence.
He drew his sword, aiming it at the approaching creatures.
With a guttural roar, the monsters charged at him.
Boom!
Zeke swung his sword with all his might, clashing against the iron clubs of the creatures. Sparks flew as metal met metal.
Though not entirely unprepared, Zeke found himself pushed back by the sheer force of the monsters.
He steadied himself, gripping his sword tightly, ready to unleash his full power.
“Absolute.”
With a whisper of incantation, Zeke’s sword began to glow with a sacred aura.
A low hum resonated as the will of “Absolute” infused his blade.
Sensing the danger, the monsters rushed at him all at once, clubs raised high.
Zeke swung his sword in a wide arc, aiming at the three creatures.
Slice!
The power of his technique, enhanced by the incantation, was astonishing. In a single strike, he cleaved through their clubs and bodies, cutting them in half.
Thud!
The upper halves of the monsters fell to the ground, lifeless.
Zeke stood there, momentarily stunned by the scene he had created.
“Wow, to think a single spell could be this powerful. This is definitely a different kind of strength than aura.”
If Kaishir had witnessed this, he wouldn’t have dismissed it as mere trickery.
The monsters, struck by Zeke’s sword, bled black and quickly succumbed to their wounds. As they died, their bodies began to decompose at an alarming rate.
Sizzle!
Their flesh rotted away, and their bones crumbled to dust.
Zeke grimaced at the sight of the rapidly decaying creatures. He needed to find evidence of the empire’s atrocities, so he ventured deeper into the dungeon.
Using his stealth skills, he concealed himself and listened carefully. From deeper within, he heard sounds.
“What is that?”
The clinking of chains and the grunts of people moving heavy loads reached his ears.
Zeke crept closer, masking his presence, and peered inside.
“What the hell is going on?”
To his shock, dozens of people were chained, digging and moving earth within the dungeon.
“Hurry up!”
Zeke turned his gaze to the one barking orders.
“The empire’s hounds,” he muttered.
As he suspected, the empire’s lackeys were excavating the dungeon, desperate to seize control of the Joins’ ghetto.
The overseers whipped the slaves, urging them to work faster.
Suddenly, one of the slaves stumbled and fell.
Thud!
One of the overseers checked the fallen slave, then signaled to someone.
Robed figures emerged, taking the slave away.
“Where are they taking him?”
Robed figures often meant mages. Given the southern dungeon’s history, there was likely a secret lab here too.
Zeke decided to follow them discreetly.
As he moved, he noticed that the excavation wasn’t limited to one area. The dungeon was vast, and slaves were being used in different sections.
Zeke trailed the robed figures to a chamber deeper inside the dungeon.
“Another one has arrived!”
The robed figures called out, and someone approached to inspect the slave.
They checked the eyes and body structure.
“Not bad. We’ll use him as a test subject. Put him in.”
The robed figures carried the slave into a cage, where other slaves lay sprawled on the floor.
Hidden by his stealth, Zeke realized this was another human experimentation lab, just like the one in the southern dungeon.
“What the hell is the empire doing here?”
Just then, a blood-curdling scream echoed from deeper within the chamber.
The screams continued for a while before abruptly stopping.
Soon, blood-soaked bodies were carried out, followed by mages equally drenched in blood.
The oldest-looking mage threw off his bloodied robe in frustration.
“Damn it, the test subjects these days are useless. The numbers aren’t adding up.”
Another mage chimed in.
“Yes, Master. Ever since that damned Red Flower Disease cure, we’ve had fewer subjects, and the experiments are stalling.”
The older mage gritted his teeth.
“How did those Alensians even make that cure? Damn it. At this rate, the whole project will be scrapped.”
“We’re sending lower-tier constructs to disrupt the cure’s distribution. We’ll have more subjects soon.”
“Damn it, and that cursed Lion Sword keeps meddling. Nothing’s going right.”
Listening to their conversation, Zeke clenched his fists.
“So the empire did spread the Red Flower Disease. And they kidnapped the infected for experiments. Constructs… they must mean those monsters. And the Lion Sword… could Abel be involved?”
If he could prove Abel’s involvement in these inhumane experiments, it might be possible to oust him from Draker.
“System, can you record this?”
[With the Eye of the Dragon activated, all scenes can be recorded and stored in the secure archive.]
Zeke wasn’t sure if he could transfer the recorded footage to a device, but he decided to store it anyway.
With the Eye of the Dragon active, everything Zeke saw was captured.
Having recorded the experiment site, Zeke decided to sneak further in to find more evidence.
As he gathered documents, he discovered the truth about the constructs.
“They’re experiments, enhanced by infusing human bodies with the blood of beasts?”
It was madness.
Beast blood, especially from monsters, was toxic to humans. Only troll blood, after extensive processing, was used in healing potions. The blood of beasts tainted by magic was inherently incompatible with humans.
Now Zeke understood why the monsters’ bodies decayed so rapidly.
“To think they’d conduct such insane experiments. I knew the emperor was mad, but this is beyond belief.”
Zeke stored the documents in his inventory and continued his search.
In a corner of the lab, he found ancient relics, likely excavated from the site.
Many of the relics bore decorations resembling bird heads, possibly from the ancient Joins.
He examined them with the Eye of the Dragon but found no special properties.
“These relics don’t seem significant. What are they really after here?”
Zeke turned his attention elsewhere, exploring the lab further. He soon discovered a mural on one of the walls.
It depicted a massive warrior clad in thick armor, unlike any traditional Joins attire Zeke had seen.
“Is this the garb of an ancient Joins warrior?”
But something felt off.
The mural portrayed the warrior as if they were a bronze statue. Even with the Eye of the Dragon, Zeke found nothing unusual about it, so he moved on.
Having gathered all the evidence he could find, Zeke decided it was time to leave.
Just as he was about to exit using his stealth skills, he heard a strange sound.
A high-pitched whine, like the tearing of space itself.
Suddenly, a rift opened in the air, and a figure in a black robe emerged, accompanied by someone in black armor.
The robed figure pointed directly at Zeke, despite his invisibility.
“Intruder! Capture him!”
At the mage’s command, the armored figure charged at Zeke.
Whoosh!
The black-armored knight swung his sword with precision, aiming directly at Zeke despite his stealth.
Clang!
Zeke parried the blow with his own sword.
The black-robed mage spoke in a chilling voice.
“Find out where he’s from. Maim him, but keep him alive.”
The knight’s eyes glowed red.
Zeke recognized the aura; it was similar to the knight guarding the dungeon entrance.
Whoosh!
The black knight attacked with swift, trained movements, unlike the wild swings of the earlier monsters.
Crack!
Even with his strength, Zeke felt the impact reverberate through his wrist.
The knight’s power matched that of the monsters, but his skill and technique were on par with a seasoned warrior.
Though not quite a Blue Knight, he was certainly above a Purple Knight.
Zeke infused his sword with the power of his technique.
Hum!
The blade, imbued with the will of “Absolute,” clashed with the knight’s sword.
Crack!
The knight’s strength was meaningless against the razor-sharp edge of Zeke’s blade.
Zeke’s sword sliced through the knight’s weapon.
Clang!
The severed blade clattered to the ground.
The black-robed mage, watching from behind, spoke again in his eerie voice.
“He’s no ordinary foe.”
He waved his staff, and the air tore open once more.
Three more black knights emerged from the rift.
Now surrounded by four black knights, Zeke prepared for the fight of his life.
Zeke stood his ground, undaunted, and pointed his sword at the dark knights.
“I might be pushing it, but I need to take these guys down and capture that wizard.”
The core of this experiment seemed to be the wizard in the black robe.
With determination, Zeke swung his sword.
Crack!
Anything that met Zeke’s blade, be it sword or armor, was sliced clean through.
The dark knights, cut by Zeke’s sword, collapsed, oozing a black, deathly ichor. Their bodies, seemingly altered with demonic blood, began to decay rapidly from the wounds.
The wizard, watching from behind, examined Zeke’s sword with a look of astonishment.
“A magic sword, is it? To cut through these modified creatures with skin tougher than an ogre’s so effortlessly… Impressive.”
Having swiftly dispatched the dark knights, Zeke charged directly at the wizard.
Whoosh!
The wizard tore through space again, this time vanishing into the rift.
Zeke swung his sword, but the wizard had already disappeared.
“Damn it. I should have caught him before he escaped.”
The magic used by the wizard in the black robe felt different from that of ordinary wizards. Most notably, there was no detectable surge of magical energy before he cast his spells.
“Who on earth is that guy?”
Zeke couldn’t shake the feeling that this wizard was somehow similar to the mysterious necromancer he had encountered at Don Juan’s mansion.
Realizing he had lost the wizard, Zeke decided it was time to get out of there.
A sharp whistle pierced the air.
It was a familiar sound—the hunting dogs’ signal. Once it sounded, escaping would be nearly impossible.
“I’ve lingered too long.”
Zeke cloaked himself in invisibility, searching for a chance to slip away.
But as the hunting dogs burst into the lab, the wizard reappeared, pointing directly at Zeke’s hidden location.
“There he is! Capture him!”
Zeke couldn’t fathom how the wizard had detected him, even with the stealth skill he had acquired after devouring the national treasure.
The dogs charged in the direction the wizard indicated.
Zeke focused his energy into his sword.
Fwoosh!
He unleashed flames at the oncoming dogs.
“Aaargh!”
Caught off guard by the sudden attack, the dogs howled in agony, rolling on the ground as the fire consumed them.
Seizing the opportunity, Zeke activated his magic reflection skill and lunged at the wizard.
Screech!
The wizard, perhaps hindered by Zeke’s magic reflection, couldn’t tear through space as quickly as before.
Zeke swung his sword at the wizard.
Slash!
The wizard’s arm was severed by Zeke’s blade.
“Ugh!”
Clutching his wounded shoulder, the wizard retreated, glaring at Zeke with a sinister voice.
“How dare you meddle with the Abyss…”
The word “Abyss” struck a chord with Zeke.
“The Abyss? Is that the place Dario Totlino mentioned?”
The wizard brought his staff to his severed shoulder.
Suddenly, a red organic mass writhed and emerged from the wound, forming into the shape of an arm.
In an instant, the wizard had regenerated his limb.
He glared at Zeke and spoke.
“I’ll preserve you in my lab, neither dead nor alive.”
Dark energy gathered around the wizard’s staff.
[Detected condensed dark energy.]
Boom!
A torrent of dark energy surged toward Zeke.
Simultaneously, Zeke used his flashbang skill against the wizard.
Flash!
The lab was engulfed in blinding white light.