Episode 220
Bastian gritted his teeth, aiming his magical gun at Zeke once more.
But the gun refused to fire; it seemed he had exhausted all his ammunition.
It was then that Zeke realized the flaw in Bastian’s weapon.
“That thing’s accuracy is terrible, isn’t it?”
Siemens would never have given the pirates a proper weapon.
Bastian, hearing the mockery in Zeke’s voice, threw the gun aside and shouted to his men.
“Kill that bastard!”
The pirates charged at Zeke with their weapons drawn.
Zeke snapped his fingers.
Swoosh!
Ghostly soldiers emerged from the shadows of the pirates, swiftly cutting them down.
“Argh!”
Even the Night Killers couldn’t stop them, let alone these pirates.
The ghostly soldiers revealed themselves, mercilessly slaughtering the pirates.
“This… this can’t be happening! What are those things?!”
Zeke slowly approached Bastian.
“You should’ve taken my offer for a quick death when you had the chance.”
As Bastian tried to flee, Zeke extended his left hand.
Clang!
Chains shot out, wrapping around Bastian’s body.
“Ugh!”
Bastian struggled desperately, but there was no escaping the soul-binding magic.
Zeke approached him slowly, injecting a paralyzing poison into Bastian’s body.
“Ughhh!”
Bastian’s eyes filled with terror as his body went numb, unable to even scream.
Zeke drew Anexi’s dagger and spoke.
“Don’t make it too easy to imagine what’s about to happen.”
Bastian, covered in blood, was restored to his original state by Zeke’s healing.
Yet, due to the paralyzing poison and the power of decay, his body healed, but the pain remained.
Just as he was about to faint, Zeke reinforced his mental defenses and infinite stamina, forcing Bastian to face the agony with a clear mind.
“Ready to talk now?”
Bastian’s eyes darted wildly.
Noticing this as a sign of agreement, Zeke removed the poison from Bastian’s body, allowing him to finally speak.
Zeke asked Bastian, “Who gave you your orders?”
Bastian trembled at the question. Zeke, showing no intention of waiting, raised Anexi’s dagger.
Bastian, shaking, finally spoke.
“The Empire! The Imperial Intelligence first contacted me!”
“The Imperial Intelligence, huh. So they were the ones hiding you.”
“Yes, with their help, I stayed in a safe house in the Empire, planning to return once the southern continent was stabilized.”
“But the Pavela Cartel fell faster than you expected, didn’t it? The Syndicate took over just like that.”
Bastian nodded, swallowing hard.
“Yes, and while I was figuring out what to do, the Empire made another offer.”
“What kind of offer?”
Bastian swallowed nervously before speaking.
“They promised to pardon my crimes and grant me asylum in the Empire if I killed Kali Draker on Captain Kidd’s Treasure Island.”
Zeke’s suspicions were confirmed.
“Is the Peter Pan’s Merman Pirate Crew here too?”
“I haven’t seen them myself, but I heard they were deployed. They attacked and sank Kali’s ship.”
“The Merman Pirates attacked the ship directly?”
“Yes.”
Even in his past life, Zeke had never seen the Pirate King Peter Pan in person. He only knew that Peter Pan had driven Kali to her death and taken control of her territory, ruling the central sea.
Zeke asked Bastian, “Have you ever met Peter Pan?”
Bastian shook his head.
“I’ve seen him. In fact, when the Pavela Cartel was transporting Soma, we tried to contact Peter Pan before the Syndicate.”
“You tried to bring the Merman Pirates into the cartel for transport?”
“Yes, but… the mermen refused the cartel’s offer.”
“Interesting. I doubt you just let that slide.”
Bastian, sweating, replied.
“We did try to attack their base with our members, but… we couldn’t get close.”
“Why not?”
“A massive whirlpool blocked the way to the island, making it impossible to approach.”
“A massive whirlpool? Like the one we encountered entering this island?”
“Smaller, but similar. I heard Peter Pan can wield an ancient curse.”
Zeke pondered Peter Pan’s abilities after hearing Bastian’s words.
“An ancient curse, huh. So Peter Pan isn’t just any pirate.”
He wasn’t a magician, so perhaps he had a special bloodline ability like Six.
Zeke asked Bastian again, “What were your orders?”
Bastian trembled as he replied.
“The Empire sent encrypted messages with orders, and I was to follow them.”
“Are you sure those messages were from the Empire?”
“Well… that’s…”
Bastian’s eyes darted nervously. Without hesitation, Zeke drove Anexi’s dagger into Bastian’s thigh and used an electric skill.
Zap!
The pain was excruciating, as if his nerves were being burned, but Bastian couldn’t die, as his body kept healing.
Zeke asked Bastian again, “Tell me the truth. Was it really the Empire?”
“Ugh… Siemens. It was connected to Siemens.”
Zeke got the answer he wanted.
“Do you have proof of this connection to Siemens?”
“I… I stole information from the Imperial Intelligence. If we dealt with Kali Draker, the Empire would support Abel Draker…”
The Empire likely found it more advantageous for the pro-Empire Abel to become the head rather than Kali.
“Chancellor Julius might be involved. He couldn’t eliminate Karus, but with him in exile in Kali’s territory, he must have been a thorn in their side.”
Once Kali was gone, getting rid of Karus would be easy.
At that moment.
“Ugh!”
Suddenly, Bastian coughed up blood and began to convulse.
Zeke quickly tried to heal Bastian.
But it was no use.
Black liquid oozed from Bastian’s orifices.
Zeke realized what was happening.
“A curse of the abyss?”
He hadn’t expected Bastian, who wasn’t a magician, to be under such a curse.
Before long, Bastian was dead, black liquid seeping from his body.
Zeke shuddered at Siemens’ thoroughness.
“They’ve erased all evidence with curses.”
Zeke used the power of decay to dispose of Bastian and the dead pirates’ bodies, absorbing the monsters with his devouring ability to replenish his mana and mental strength.
Then he set his sights on the Empire’s camp, as Bastian had revealed.
“The Empire’s presence here isn’t just to trap Kali.”
Chancellor Julius had power, but he didn’t have the authority to mobilize the hounds.
Only the Emperor could command the hounds.
And the Emperor was interested in only one thing.
“An ancient relic for immortality. The Emperor must believe there’s an ancient relic here and sent the hounds. They probably disguised Captain Kidd’s treasure as an ancient relic.”
In truth, the island did hide the Sea God’s treasure.
Zeke didn’t know how much the Empire knew about the Sea God’s treasure, but he could guess they sent the hounds to explore the relic.
Following the direction Bastian had given, Zeke found a massive lava cave at the island’s center.
He discovered that the Empire’s hounds had set up a camp in front of the cave.
“Those damn hounds. How did they find their way here?”
Zeke shook his head involuntarily and sent ghostly soldiers to find a way into the camp.
Just like the hound unit that had Bastian, the camp was guarded by demons.
“Have they completed their research on demons enough to use them in battle?”
As Zeke searched for an opening in the camp, a commotion erupted.
Screech!
An alarm blared, and the hounds moved frantically.
“Intruder in Sector 14! Move quickly!”
Bastian had mentioned that the Empire divided the island into 30 sectors. Zeke, having a rough idea of the divisions, calculated in his head.
“Sector 14… that’s where Clone is.”
He had advised against confrontation, but knowing Clone’s nature, he suspected she wouldn’t just pass by. Sure enough, a battle had broken out.
With the hounds and demons rushing out, a gap appeared in the camp’s defenses.
“Perfect.”
Taking advantage of the chaos, Zeke used his stealth skill to conceal his presence and slipped into the camp.
He approached the lava cave, clinging to the ceiling as he moved inside.
Then he used his magic reflection skill to disable the surrounding alarm systems.
Buzz!
As the magic reflection spread, the magical lights illuminating the cave flickered.
The guards stationed at the cave sighed as they watched the flickering magical lights.
“Here we go again,” one of them muttered.
“Just leave it be,” the other guard replied, shaking his head. “It’ll settle down eventually.”
In that moment, Zeke used his power, Shadow Dominion, to seize control of their shadows. The guards froze in place, unable to move.
Zeke quickly scanned their memories. “There’s a path leading underground,” he noted to himself.
Releasing his hold on their shadows, Zeke slipped past the guards and ventured deeper into the cave. Just as he had gleaned from their memories, there was an elevator leading down.
Grabbing hold of the rope connected to the elevator, Zeke descended into the depths. It was deeper than he had anticipated.
As the ground seemed to stretch far below, Zeke unfurled his dragon wings, gliding gracefully through the air.
Whoosh!
Just before he hit the ground, he hovered momentarily. “Good thing I unlocked this skill. It’s incredibly useful,” he thought. While he could achieve a similar effect with a wind barrier, controlling the output of his Elemental Sword was still tricky, making stealth difficult. The dragon wings, however, allowed him to maneuver freely in the air.
Landing lightly, Zeke concealed himself and surveyed his surroundings. The lava cave branched out like a maze of inverted towers.
“The map’s not loading properly. Finding my way won’t be easy,” he mused. Sending out ghost scouts had its distance limitations.
After some thought, Zeke decided to use his Luck power. He tossed a dagger, intending to follow the direction it pointed.
“Luck, show me the way to find Sister Kali,” he whispered.
He threw the dagger, but no system notification indicated that Luck had activated. Undeterred, Zeke tossed the dagger several more times.
Whoosh!
Finally, after several attempts, a message appeared: [Luck has been activated.]
However, instead of pointing a direction, the dagger embedded itself in the ceiling, causing cracks to form.
Crack!
A section of the ceiling shattered, and chunks of lava rock tumbled down, leaving a gaping hole. From within the hole, an unsettling noise emerged.
“What is that sound?” Zeke wondered.
Rustle, rustle!
A swarm of spiders began pouring out, black as night. Though not as large as giant spiders, they were still the size of a child’s head, scuttling out relentlessly.
“Damn it!”
The spiders avoided the left path, swarming down the middle and right paths instead.
“Why aren’t they going left?” Zeke pondered. If the spider monsters instinctively avoided that path, it meant something was there.
Choosing the path the spiders avoided, Zeke moved forward. The lava cave stretched on longer than he had expected.
As he walked, he noticed water gradually rising around him. Curious, he dipped a finger in and tasted it.
“Salty. Seawater’s made its way in here.”
Now he understood why the spiders hadn’t ventured this way. The further he went, the more the seawater rose.
Recalling that this was the Island of the Sea God, Zeke considered, “There might be a path further inside.”
He drank a “Whale’s Breath” potion and submerged himself in the seawater. Thanks to his dragon eyes, he could see clearly in the dark water.
The submerged cave extended even deeper. Zeke swam further in.
“It’s quite deep. An ordinary person wouldn’t make it this far,” he thought.
Suddenly, he sensed something.
Whoosh!
Feeling as if something was trying to block his path, Zeke looked around.
“What is it?”
A powerful hostility emanated from an unknown presence, as if warning him not to proceed further.
Hesitating for a moment, Zeke pressed on, and something rose up before him.
Rumble!
Zeke was startled by the sight that blocked his way.
“A golem? Underwater?”