Episode 218
“What on earth is that?”
The beach was littered with the bodies of countless spider monsters, their remains scattered across the sand.
Amidst the carnage, Zeke and his companions were covered in spider fluids, using the last embers of a campfire to grill jerky on the creatures’ shells.
“Wow, it’s perfectly cooked!”
“Man, all this action’s got me craving a beer. Hey, Felix, go grab some from the ship.”
“Why me, sir? There are plenty of others with less seniority…”
“Do you want to swim there after a beating, or just swim there?”
Felix shot up and dashed into the sea.
Watching Felix swim through the rough waves toward the ship, the knights of the Silver Order gaped in astonishment.
“Who… who are those people?”
Zeke turned his head slightly, embarrassed by his companions’ antics.
At that moment, Pharrell, who had been grilling jerky with the others, noticed Zeke and stood up.
“My lord!”
The rest of the group, realizing Zeke’s presence, hurriedly stuffed jerky into their mouths and kicked the spider shells aside.
Zeke shook his head at Pharrell.
“I never imagined even Sir Pharrell would join in.”
Pharrell looked sheepish, turning his head in embarrassment.
A knight standing nearby gasped in surprise.
“Pharrell? Could it be Sir Pharrell Achilles?”
Pharrell, a champion in the league, was quite the celebrity among knights.
Realizing Pharrell was among Zeke’s group, the Silver Order began to see Zeke’s companions in a new light.
Just then, Felix returned from the ship, carrying a barrel of alcohol.
“Sir! I brought… Oh, my lord!”
Caught red-handed with the barrel, Felix quickly dropped it and pointed at his instructor.
“My lord! This isn’t mine, it’s the instructor’s… Ugh!”
Despite his attempt to explain, Felix was promptly silenced by a punch from Cloné.
Zeke took charge, organizing the chaos and instructing the injured to be moved to the ship.
The knight who seemed in the best condition approached Zeke to explain the situation.
Zeke set a pot on the fire where they had been grilling meat, preparing soup to serve with soft bread.
The warm soup seemed to revive the knight.
“Thank you, Sir Zeke. You’ve been a great help. I apologize for the late introduction. I’m Luno Tilven, captain of the Silver Order’s 3rd Company.”
After filling up on soup and bread, Luno recounted his experience.
“Initially, we were told it was a mission to clear out pirates in the southern seas.”
“That’s what I heard too. But when we reached the Death Waters, there was no sign of the Silver Order’s fleet.”
“For this mission, only a select few elite knights were deployed, without the fleet.”
Zeke raised an eyebrow at Luno’s explanation.
“Elite knights for a pirate hunt? That’s unlike Lady Kali.”
“There was… intelligence.”
“What kind of intelligence?”
Luno lowered his voice.
“It was about the Pirate King.”
Zeke frowned at Luno’s words.
“So Abel’s side has accelerated their plans.”
Kali Draker’s reputation was built on large-scale pirate extermination operations. If a Pirate King emerged to unite the pirates and disrupt the southern seas, her reputation would suffer greatly.
Abel, known for exploiting weaknesses and crises, wouldn’t miss such an opportunity.
Kali likely aimed to capture the Pirate King and eliminate the pirates swiftly, turning the tide before Abel could act.
“Abel’s targeting Lady Kali’s weak spot.”
The cards were being played earlier than in his previous life, leaving the outcome uncertain.
Zeke asked Luno again.
“Where did this intelligence come from?”
Luno hesitated, then spoke slowly.
“It’s a sensitive matter. Could you ask the others to step away?”
Zeke nodded, and his companions quickly retreated.
Once they were out of earshot, Luno continued.
“Though it’s confidential, considering your alliance with the commander, I’ll tell you.”
After a pause, he revealed, “The intelligence came from the Black Stage.”
“The Black Stage?”
Zeke was taken aback by the unexpected answer.
Luno elaborated.
“Do you know about the left wing of the Black Stage?”
Zeke shook his head. Even he wasn’t privy to the internal structure of the Draker’s Black Stage, a highly secretive organization with tightly controlled information.
Luno cautiously explained.
“The left wing of the Black Stage handles intelligence. One of its leaders contacted the commander directly with the information.”
“Intelligence from the Black Stage.”
If it was from the Black Stage, it was understandable that Kali would take it seriously.
Luno then shared an even more surprising detail.
“I heard the informant is the third direct descendant.”
“The third direct descendant? Could it be…?”
Luno nodded.
A third sibling, alongside Kali, Abel, and Helen, had emerged.
Zeke tried to recall details about this third sibling.
“What was his name again? Right, Bacchus. I only saw him once as a child before he entered the cradle.”
Zeke couldn’t remember much about Bacchus Draker because he hadn’t made a name for himself as a knight.
Unlike Helen, who became famous as the Iron Knight after Kali’s death, or Abel, notorious as the Butcher Knight, Bacchus had remained obscure.
“If he joined the Black Stage, discarded the Draker name, and erased his identity, that would make sense.”
The identities of Black Stage members were among the Draker’s most closely guarded secrets.
Even direct blood relatives were treated the same once they joined the Black Stage.
Zeke asked Luno.
“It’s surprising that Lady Kali would take such a risk based on information from a Black Stage member, even if he’s a direct descendant.”
“I agree, but the commander seemed to trust his information.”
There seemed to be a bond between Kali and Bacchus that Zeke wasn’t aware of.
“I can’t quite recall Bacchus’s maternal lineage. If it’s connected to Siemens, and Bacchus’s intelligence was a trap for Kali…”
Abel’s side might have fed false information to Bacchus to lure Kali into a trap, or Bacchus himself could be aligned with Abel.
In his previous life, Abel used this trap to eliminate Kali and ascend to the head of the Draker family.
This trap was Abel’s meticulously crafted final move.
If Abel had even turned Bacchus, whom Kali trusted, into a pawn, it meant Abel’s forces were already outpacing Kali’s in unseen ways.
“Betrayal is most effective when it strikes deep. We can’t afford to be complacent.”
Determined to learn more about Bacchus, Zeke stood up.
He addressed Luno.
“I trust you won’t, but do not disclose what we’ve discussed today to anyone else. Understood, Sir Luno?”
Luno nodded at Zeke’s stern tone.
Zeke sent Luno to the ship for recovery and led his companions toward the cave where the Shark Dragons were.
Richmond’s summoned skeletons had already set up a basic camp.
Zeke gathered his team to outline the plan.
“Somewhere on this island, the Silver Order and Lady Kali are here. We must find and protect Lady Kali.”
Cloné raised a hand to ask Zeke.
“Who exactly are we up against here? It’s not the island’s monsters, is it?”
Zeke shook his head.
“No, not monsters. Our enemies are… everyone on this island except Kali Draker.”
Pharrell also raised a hand to question.
“Does that mean there are multiple factions stationed on this island?”
“Good question, Sir Pharrell. Expect pirates seeking treasure, imperial hounds, Abel’s dark knights, and black mages to be lurking around.”
Felix’s face turned pale at Zeke’s words.
“M-my lord. Maybe I should stay here and guard the camp? Someone needs to…”
“Yes, the camp needs guarding, but not by you, Felix. The Shark Dragons will handle it, so don’t worry and get moving.”
“Ugh. Yes, sir.”
The island was larger than expected, so they decided to split into three groups for exploration.
Cloné, Felix, and Liam formed one group, while Pharrell, Diego, and Aster made up another.
“Divide the island into sectors and search each one. If you encounter enemies, retreat and mark their location. If a fight breaks out, fire a signal flare.”
Zeke sent Cloné’s group left along the coast, Pharrell’s group right, and planned to cut through the forest himself.
With Abel’s traps unknown, finding Kali quickly was crucial.
The groups dispersed to their assigned areas.
Once they were gone, Zeke summoned Richmond from the shadows.
“Richmond, you’re coming with me.”
“But… I thought I was supposed to guard this place?”
“Why guard an empty camp? The Shark Dragon and Gurav can handle it. Now stop arguing and follow me.”
After summoning Gurav, Zeke led Richmond deeper into the forest.
The island of the Sea God, having been hidden from human eyes for so long, was teeming with creatures they had never seen before.
“Wow, Master, did you see that lizard? Its colors keep changing!”
Richmond had a keen interest in all sorts of creatures, not just monsters.
As Zeke scolded Richmond and searched for clues, he suddenly sensed something suspicious ahead.
He paused, summoning a ghost soldier to scout the area.
Through the eyes of the ghost soldier, Zeke observed a group of figures up ahead.
To his surprise, among them was someone he never expected to see.
A man with wild, curly hair and a beard that covered most of his face.
‘Bastian? What the hell is he doing here?’
Bastian was none other than the top boss of the Pavela Cartel.
After Matteo, the cartel’s second-in-command, was killed by Zeke, Bastian had vanished without a trace.
Zeke had tried to track him down to completely dismantle the Pavela Cartel, but Bastian moved too swiftly, eluding even the syndicate’s reach.
Though he hadn’t managed to kill Bastian, Zeke had destroyed the cartel’s infrastructure, effectively crippling the organization.
Yet here was Bastian, the cartel’s leader, right in front of him.
‘If Bastian’s here, those pirate scum who followed the Pavela Cartel must be here too.’
It seemed like one of Abel’s traps.
The Pavela Cartel was a drug syndicate formed by the pirates of the South Sea, who had been crushed by Kali, and they harbored a deep grudge against her.
Abel would have had no qualms about inciting Bastian to kill Kali.
‘I’ll get the truth out of him once I capture him.’
Zeke summoned more ghost soldiers to survey the area.
He needed to know how many forces were on the island besides Bastian’s.
Just then, another group appeared near Bastian’s men.
Zeke recognized them immediately.
‘Damn imperial hounds.’
The Empire’s hunting dogs, who never missed a chance to show up in places like this, had also made their appearance.