Episode 323
Boom!
Struck by the dragon’s breath, Abel plummeted from the sky.
Crash!
Having been airborne for some distance, his body fell beyond the imperial garrison’s territory, landing in the heart of the ghetto.
Zeke immediately pursued the spot where Abel had fallen.
The place was once a village, long abandoned, with crumbling mud-brick houses that bore only the faintest traces of past inhabitants.
Landing amidst the ruins, Zeke scanned the area, searching for the fallen Abel.
“No matter what, I must deal with Abel here.”
Zeke summoned ghost soldiers, ordering them to spread out and locate Abel.
Sharing their vision, Zeke soon found traces of Abel.
“I won’t let him escape.”
Unfurling his flight gear, Zeke launched himself toward Abel’s landing site.
Crash!
Inside a house with a collapsed roof, Abel lay unconscious, still equipped with his Hershion.
Zeke approached cautiously, gripping Bahamut, closing the distance with deliberate steps.
Once close enough, he unleashed a dragon claw skill at Abel.
Slash!
The dragon’s claw tore through Abel and the earthen wall behind him.
Crash!
The wall crumbled, sending a cloud of dust billowing into the air, obscuring the view.
As Zeke moved to advance further, a crimson fireball pierced through the dust cloud.
Boom!
Zeke raised Bahamut, invoking a defensive will to block the incoming fireball.
Whoosh!
The fireball, scattered by the force of his defense, ignited the surrounding earthen walls with dark red flames.
The fireball, conjured by Abel’s power, couldn’t be stopped by mere magic or aura.
“But with my soul gear, I can withstand even that power.”
Zeke didn’t fully understand how his soul gear could counter such power. Only his former master, Nigel, might have known.
“The Forest of the Forgotten… I never thought I’d have to return there in this life.”
Blocking the incoming fireballs, Zeke steadily closed in on Abel.
Then, a massive black flame erupted toward Zeke, threatening to engulf him.
Boom!
The fierce storm of flames swirled around Zeke, but it was futile.
Abel’s power, manifesting through his abilities, couldn’t penetrate the defense of Zeke’s soul gear.
As Zeke dispelled the fiery storm, Abel staggered to his feet amidst the debris.
With his helmet removed, Abel’s long red hair whipped around, his eyes glowing a fierce red.
“Zeke, you…!”
Unlike before, when Hershion moved on its own, Abel’s voice was now audible.
“He’s regained consciousness.”
Zeke’s suspicion that Hershion was healing Abel seemed correct.
But as Zeke observed the approaching Abel, he noticed something strange about his face.
“What is that…?”
The right side was his original face, but the left was covered in dark red scales.
Unlike when Zeke used his dragon scale armor, Abel’s skin itself seemed transformed.
Zeke realized Abel was different from ordinary dragonkin.
“Is it a side effect of the baptism? Or has he received something other than dragon power?”
Abel grimaced, removing the gauntlet from his left hand.
He realized his left hand had also transformed grotesquely, with dark red scales and claws like a beast’s.
Abel lifted his head, his red eyes glaring at Zeke.
“I can never forgive you… I’ll kill you here.”
Suddenly, a dark red aura surged from Abel’s body.
A red symbol slowly emerged on his chest, different from Zeke’s.
“What is that?”
The symbol on Abel’s chest exuded an ominous energy, yet it felt strangely familiar to Zeke.
“That’s… the same energy that flowed from Bahamut’s heart.”
When Zeke first discovered Bahamut’s heart in the library’s depths, it was labeled as the “Cursed Light Dragon Bahamut’s Heart.”
Bahamut, who had sealed the demon king within himself to save the world, had been slain by his lover, Terracan Draker’s sword.
The heart, imbued with the demon king’s curse, bore a powerful malediction.
Zeke had resisted the curse with his strong mental defense skills, but without the passive skills of a healer class, his mind would have been corrupted by the dragon’s heart’s curse.
Zeke realized the energy emanating from Abel was the same as the cursed energy from Bahamut’s heart.
“Did Abel also have the cursed light dragon’s heart implanted in him? If that’s what the baptism means…”
It suggested that Zemens and Narak could not only summon high-ranking demons to the surface but also implant dragon hearts into humans to create dragonkin.
Even if they couldn’t use the system like Hoshgar or Zeke, it was enough to elevate a red knight to a black knight instantly.
“It doesn’t seem like something that can be mass-produced like bloodstones…”
Though it wasn’t a method available to many, with the help of a constellation like the Harbinger of Blood and Madness, who knew what could happen.
Zeke had one more reason to eliminate Abel here.
The thought of Abel Draker, the Knight of Madness, possessing the light dragon’s heart sent a chill down his spine.
It could lead to a massacre even more horrific than what he had witnessed in his past life.
Zeke deflected the curse emanating from Abel with curse reflection, slowly advancing toward him.
Abel gritted his teeth, shouting at Zeke.
“How… how are you unaffected by my power?”
Abel was beginning to fear the mysterious power Zeke possessed.
The power he believed had transcended humanity had no effect on Zeke.
He had believed that if he fully unleashed his hidden power, he could bring even Ramon Zemens and Arthur Draker, the head of the Draker family, to their knees, so the shock was immense.
Moreover, Abel had never been particularly strong-willed.
Realizing his trusted power was useless against Zeke, his already fragile mental state began to crumble rapidly.
The curse etched into the light dragon’s heart didn’t miss the opportunity.
Dark memories, long buried deep within Abel, surged forth, consuming him.
“Gasp! Gasp!”
Abel’s breathing grew labored, cold sweat dripping down his face, which turned pale.
His face twisted grotesquely, his skin transforming even faster.
He no longer resembled a typical dragonkin but a demonic dragonkin, infused with malevolent power.
Abel swung his clawed hand at Zeke.
Boom!
Like a dragon’s skill, claw marks etched into the surroundings, shattering the earthen walls.
But his power was uncontrolled, and the attack veered away from Zeke.
Abel clutched his head, screaming at Zeke.
“Raaagh!”
Boom!
His roar unleashed an invisible force, sweeping away part of the village.
“Huff, huff, huff.”
Using the demonic dragon’s power in an uncontrolled state, Abel felt his body growing heavier.
Watching Abel, Zeke could clearly see how one crumbled when wielding power they couldn’t control.
“If Cain had obtained this power instead of Abel, it might have been more threatening.”
In his past life, Cain might have acquired the light dragon’s power without Zeke knowing.
In his haste to gain the black knight’s power due to Zeke’s actions, Abel’s decision to undergo the baptism and accept the light dragon’s power had been his downfall.
To Abel, Zeke, steadily approaching, appeared monstrous.
Abel bared his teeth, shouting.
“Monster! I’ll kill you!”
But despite his frenzied voice, he was trembling slightly, his breath ragged.
Zeke spoke to Abel.
“Abel, if you keep using that power, you’ll lose your mind completely and become a madman. Stop now and die honorably as a knight.”
Zeke’s words didn’t reach Abel’s ears.
He summoned Zahhak again, swinging it at Zeke.
“Die! Die!”
Watching the mentally shattered Abel, Zeke raised Bahamut.
A knight of slaughter who would lead countless to a miserable death in the future.
There was no reason to let him live.
Zeke infused his sword with the power of his soul gear.
Vroom!
Bahamut, imbued with the will to cut, flew straight toward Abel.
“I’ll kill you—”
Slice—
Before Abel could finish his words, his head was severed, falling to the ground.
Thud!
Abel’s headless body collapsed to the floor.
As Zeke looked at the fallen Abel, memories flooded back.
The faces of many he had lost to Abel and the empire in his past life came to mind.
Zeke picked up Abel’s head from the dirt and placed it back on the body.
He intended to dissolve it all at once with the power of decay, leaving no trace.
Just as Zeke was about to use his power on Abel—
Whir—
The space split open, and Rahim, a spatial manipulator, appeared, swiftly grabbing Abel’s corpse.
“That bastard!”
Zeke hurriedly activated the power of decay.
Sizzle—
As soon as the power of decay was unleashed, the space around them fractured, and Abel’s body vanished along with the teleporter.
“Damn it!”
Zeke quickly scanned the area with his dragon’s gaze.
But there was no sign of the teleporter anywhere nearby.
They must have moved beyond his line of sight.
“Even though the power of decay was activated, I can’t be sure it completely dissolved Abel’s body.”
Still, he was certain of Abel’s death.
Even in the depths of hell, there was no way to bring back the dead, so his mission was accomplished.
Perhaps they could try to resurrect him as a death knight, but if all they had was brute strength, they posed no significant threat to Zeke. Abel, as a Draker, was dead, and that was enough.
“With Abel gone, Sister Kali will take her place as the heir of the Draker family. The Empire won’t dare start a war so easily.”
Yet, a nagging feeling lingered in the back of his mind.
The fact that Abel’s body hadn’t been completely dealt with continued to bother him.
Just then, a message came from Richmond, and Zeke had to shake off his uneasy thoughts.
“Master!”
Richmond’s urgent voice reached him, and Zeke responded.
“What is it, Richmond?”
“The Tyrant is too strong! It destroyed the fortress, and now the monsters have breached the garrison.”
The power of the Tyrant, a dragonized Balrog, was beyond imagination.
The Empire’s fortification skills were impressive, but they couldn’t withstand the aerial bombardment from the Tyrant.
Zeke recalled that the second prince, the first in line for the imperial succession, was staying at the fortress.
“If the second prince is here… I’ve got another card to pressure the Empire.”
Zeke ordered Richmond to hold the imperial forces in place and summoned Bucephalus.
“Let’s go, Bucephalus.”
He flew straight toward the fortress.
Thud!
Ramon Siemens entered the baptismal chamber within the underground labyrinth of Siemens.
“Where is it?”
The head of the Siemens strategy headquarters, his face pale, spoke to Ramon.
“On the altar.”
With a grim expression, Ramon ascended the steps to the altar.
Below, Rahim, half of his body melted by the power of decay from Zeke, was slumped against the wall, gasping for breath.
Ramon looked at Rahim and snapped his fingers.
Amazingly, the power of decay that was consuming Rahim’s body dissipated.
“Gasp, gasp.”
Freed from the decay, Rahim pulled a potion from his pocket, drank it, and poured it over his melted wounds.
Sizzle—
The potion bubbled as it touched his decayed skin.
Ramon gestured to the head, and understanding his intent, agents approached to support Rahim out of the chamber.
Left alone, Ramon approached the altar and gazed at Abel’s body lying on the stone slab.
Abel’s face and body, half-melted, still bore the marks of his transformation into a dragonkin.
Sss—
The power of decay continued to slowly consume Abel’s corpse.
Ramon reached out toward Abel’s body.
As if time were reversing, Abel’s decaying body began to restore to its original state.
Though the dragonkin transformation remained, his severed head reattached to his body.
But even so, the dead Abel did not awaken.
Ramon stared at Abel for a moment before turning his gaze to a shadowy corner.
As if in response to his look, an apostle slowly emerged from the darkness.
Ramon raised his hand toward the apostle, and an invisible force enveloped the figure.
“Ugh.”
The apostle was drawn forward, his neck caught in Ramon’s grip.
Holding the apostle by the scruff, Ramon glared at him and spoke.
“Summon the priest. Now.”