Episode 29
The coachman and the traveling merchants were startled by the sudden roar of orcs.
“This can’t be happening! How did orcs get into the safe zone?”
The coachman frantically whipped the horses.
“Run! Faster!”
A thunderous orc war cry echoed again.
Neigh!
The horses, spooked by the sound, reared up in panic.
Crash!
The carriage overturned as the horses bucked wildly.
Zeke quickly leaped out of the carriage.
Thud!
The carriage fully tipped over, pinning the horses under the cargo.
Reaching the base camp seemed impossible now.
All around, the orc cries filled the air.
The adventurer who had been boasting in front of Zeke earlier was now pale, trembling with his sword in hand.
“Academy graduate, my foot,” Zeke thought, hiding behind a tree to assess the situation.
Moments later, something burst out from the forest.
“Raaaargh!”
A horde of orcs wielding massive stone axes charged at the people.
“Help! Spare me!”
The orcs split heads with their axes.
The adventurers tried to fight back, but it was futile.
“Help me!”
The boastful man was struck down by an orc’s axe, his head shattered.
The ground quickly turned into a sea of blood.
Zeke watched silently as the orcs looted the bodies and supplies.
He knew that if he intervened, he would leave traces, so he waited patiently for the orcs to leave.
“How did orcs get into the safe zone?”
Argos, with its developed dungeon industry, strictly maintained safe zones to protect traveling merchants.
“Something must have happened at the base camp.”
Once the orcs moved on, Zeke concealed his presence and headed through the forest towards the base camp.
When he arrived, the base camp was a scene of devastation.
The barricades were destroyed, and bloodied supplies were scattered everywhere, evidence of a monster attack.
Zeke examined the bodies.
Among them were soldiers dispatched by the Kingdom of Argos.
“With this many soldiers, they should have been able to fend off most monsters.”
Puzzled, Zeke inspected the remnants of the base camp.
His expression darkened as he discovered traces of ‘humans’ rather than monsters at the attack site.
Though disguised as a monster attack, it was clearly a human atrocity.
The base camp had been attacked, and then monsters, drawn by the scent of blood, had come to loot the bodies and supplies.
It seemed the orcs had then descended the mountain path to ambush the regular transport carriage.
Zeke dusted off his hands and stood up.
“Right now, the priority is finding the ruins of Kaishir.”
He selected only the necessary supplies from the scattered remnants of the base camp and left immediately.
Staying there would only invite suspicion.
He activated his minimap and headed towards the area where the barbarians resided.
As he ascended, the terrain grew more rugged, slowing his progress.
After two days of trekking deep into the mountains, Zeke discovered something.
“It’s been a while.”
Hundreds of skulls hung from the branches—human and various monster skulls alike.
This marked the territory of the barbarians.
Monsters rarely ventured into areas marked like this.
But Zeke entered the barbarian territory without hesitation.
Then, something caught his senses.
He felt someone following him.
At first, he thought it might be the barbarians, but he quickly dismissed the idea.
Barbarians never stealthily track intruders in their territory. They capture and tear them apart on sight.
Whoosh!
Zeke leaped into the trees, vanishing from sight, and drew a dagger from his cloak.
Once he erased his presence, the figures pursuing him revealed themselves.
There were three of them, and they weren’t ordinary adventurers.
“These guys have been trained as knights.”
Yet, for knights, their movements were stealthy.
It was clear that some knight trainees had been selected and taught tracking and assassination skills.
In Zeke’s memory, there was only one place crazy enough to do such a thing.
“The Hounds… Why are the Empire’s dogs in Argos?”
The Hounds were a secret unit organized by the Emperor of the Rom Empire to collect ancient relics.
In his past life, these Hounds rose to become the main force of the Rom Empire.
But at this point, the Hounds were still shrouded in mystery, known to only a few.
In that moment, Zeke realized that the massacre at the base camp was also the work of the Hounds.
It was no coincidence that the Hounds, who specialized in hunting ancient relics, were near the ruins of Kaishir.
For Zeke, who had advanced to a Blue Knight, dealing with the Hounds was manageable.
“I need to interrogate them for information.”
Whoosh!
The tables turned, and now Zeke was the one pursuing the Hounds.
He erased his presence and followed them, observing their movements.
The Hounds operated in groups of at least twelve.
Zeke, having a deep history with the Hounds in his past life, knew them inside out.
He realized they were on an external patrol mission.
“With their communication intervals, it will take time for them to notice if I take them out.”
Zeke patiently tailed the Hounds.
Eventually, he found the cave they had made their base.
He gripped his dagger and approached the cave slowly.
Using his Dragon Eye skill, he could see clearly in the dark.
Just then, one of them stepped out of the cave.
Whoosh!
Zeke covered the man’s mouth from behind, stabbed him in the lung, and slit his carotid artery.
The Hound fell without a sound.
Zeke dragged the body aside and searched it.
Given their status, there wasn’t much to find.
Zeke stealthily entered the cave, using his minimap to navigate the terrain.
The Hounds had modified the cave into a makeshift base.
“Brings back memories. I practically lived in jungle camps during my cartel days.”
Zeke had once been a killer for the infamous Mechain Cartel, which dominated the southern continent.
After being deceived by a dungeon guide and sold into slavery in the south, he underwent killer training and was deployed on assassination missions.
Despite the harsh conditions, the skills he learned at the Academy and the Cradle helped him survive.
Impressed by his resilience, the cartel formally trained him as a hitman.
For five years, Zeke was embroiled in the power struggles of the southern cartels.
Compared to the ruthless cartel bosses, the Hounds were still green.
Zeke donned a mask to conceal his face and stored Bahamut in his inventory.
Fully prepared, he advanced deeper into the cave.
Whoosh!
A dagger thrown by Zeke embedded itself in the neck of an unsuspecting Hound.
With the minimap, he had already mapped out the terrain and the positions of the Hounds.
Zeke charged into the cave.
Two Hounds stood guard on a second-floor balcony built into the cave wall.
He threw daggers from both hands.
Thud!
The daggers struck the Hounds, sending them tumbling down.
The noise alerted the Hounds inside, who rushed out.
Zeke, holding daggers in both hands, hurled them at the approaching Hounds.
Clang!
One of them deflected Zeke’s dagger with a sword imbued with aura.
At that moment, another Hound charged at Zeke from the side.
Zeke ducked and rolled across the ground.
He stabbed a dagger into the Hound’s foot and quickly severed the Achilles tendon with another.
“Aaargh!”
Zeke moved behind the Hound and snapped his neck.
It was the exact method southern hitmen used against knights.
“He’s from the south! Block his escape and keep your distance! Shoot him with crossbows!”
There were soldiers among them, as crossbow-wielding troops emerged from the building.
Zeke sprinted forward at incredible speed.
Thwip!
Arrows rained down on him, but his zigzagging made it impossible to hit him.
Before long, Zeke was right in front of a crossbowman.
Slash!
He sliced the soldier’s throat and seized the crossbow.
Skillfully, he fired bolts at the other soldiers.
Thud!
The soldiers fell as the bolts struck them dead center.
While Zeke dealt with the soldiers using the crossbow and daggers, the Hounds closed in.
Zeke assumed a stance with daggers in both hands.
Then, a figure who seemed to be the leader addressed Zeke.
“What brings a southern man here?”
They had mistaken Zeke for a southern hitman.
“Let’s add to the confusion,” Zeke thought.
He lowered his voice, adding a southern accent.
“You thought you could steal from Mechain and get away with it? Damn Empire scum.”
The Hound leader, flustered, responded.
“We’ve never touched anything belonging to the McCain.”
“Take it up with your damn emperor after you’re dead.”
In a flash, Zeke kicked a stone at his feet.
Whizz!
The hard stone struck the leader squarely in the left eye.
“Aaargh!”
Seizing the moment, Zeke lunged forward, slashing the throats of the hunting dogs with his dagger.
“Aaargh!”
Nothing was easier to handle than a knight charging in a frenzy.
Zeke picked up the fallen knight’s sword and hurled it at another charging knight.
The sword, imbued with Zeke’s intent, pierced through one knight and lodged into another.
In an instant, Zeke had wiped out the hunting dogs, leaving only the leader who had spoken to him earlier.
“You filthy southern bastard!”
Whizz!
Zeke dodged the leader’s sword and swung his dagger, severing the man’s arm.
“Ugh!”
Thud!
Zeke’s dagger plunged into the leader’s chest.
As the leader lay dying, Zeke spoke to him.
“You damn imperial scum. The ruins of Kaishir belong to the McCain cartel.”
The leader’s eyes wavered at those words.
“What nonsense…”
The hunting dog leader died with a look of confusion on his face.
From the leader’s reaction, Zeke realized they weren’t after the Kaishir relics.
“Then what the hell are these bastards doing here?”
Zeke climbed to the second floor of the camp to investigate their traces.
He found a coded message from their superiors.
The imperial knights’ code was notoriously complex and intricate, almost impossible to decipher.
But thanks to his past life on the battlefield, Zeke knew how to crack the imperial code.
He quickly scanned the message.
“So these fools don’t even know what’s here. They’re just blindly searching for ancient ruins on the emperor’s orders.”
It seemed the emperor of the Rom Empire, obsessed with immortality, was scouring the continent for ancient artifacts.
Every potential site for ancient ruins had been flooded with hunting dogs.
Zeke clicked his tongue as he read the message.
“The emperor’s gone completely mad.”
Knowing the hunting dogs were unaware of the Kaishir ruins, there was no need to linger.
Zeke left a trace behind and exited the cave.
He was about to activate his minimap and head toward the ruins.
That’s when it happened.
Whoooosh!
A chilling sound echoed from the sky.
Zeke knew this sound all too well.
It was the signal for the hunting dogs’ inescapable net to commence.