Episode 346
Aside from the bright gray hair and the brown, gleaming eyes, the face was almost identical to Zeke’s.
Zeke stared intently at the Holy King.
“Except for the hair color, he looks just like me.”
Initially taken aback, Zeke quickly came to terms with the reality.
“Since I, too, carry the blood of the Agamemnon and the Draker families, it’s not surprising that we look alike.”
Though their resemblance was more than just similar, Zeke dismissed it as mere coincidence.
The Holy King, noticing Zeke’s surprised gaze, spoke up.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Zeke shook his head and replied, “It’s nothing, Your Majesty.”
The Holy King studied Zeke for a moment before commenting, “Your aura… it reminds me a lot of Terracan Draker.”
Zeke was caught off guard by the Holy King’s unexpected remark.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
The Holy King’s voice was sharp when he mentioned Terracan.
Zeke realized something from the Holy King’s reaction.
“It seems he suspected Terracan might be his father. But since Terracan never revealed it, he never acknowledged it either.”
Zeke pondered why Terracan had never told his son, Gio Lubern, the truth.
“Perhaps he didn’t want to reveal that Claudia was the Bahamut he had slain.”
The relationship between Terracan Draker and the Holy King seemed more complicated than he had thought.
The Holy King then asked Zeke, “Successor, what is your name?”
After a moment’s hesitation, Zeke used an alias he had created before.
“It’s Kai Lubern.”
It was the name he had once given to Laura when he traveled to the past.
The Holy King’s eyes flickered at Zeke’s response.
“Lubern. So, you are my descendant?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Zeke retrieved one of the sacred relics, Agamemnon’s Mask, from his inventory and showed it to the Holy King.
“This is a divine artifact passed down through our family. It was nearly destroyed once, but it was restored by the blessing of the Fairy King.”
The Holy King was even more astonished upon seeing Agamemnon’s Mask.
“The Mask of the Great Sage! So it has been preserved all this time! I was worried that no one after me would be able to use it properly. What a relief.”
The Holy King smiled with relief, then, after a moment of contemplation, asked Zeke, “I have a question.”
“Please, ask, Your Majesty.”
“If you are my descendant, you should be able to wield the power of light as a healer, like me. However…”
The Holy King glanced at the spear encased in glass.
“The Holy Spear Longomianth cannot unleash its god-slaying power with just the light. For that, you need…”
“I suspect it requires the power of immortality.”
The Holy King’s eyes widened at Zeke’s words.
“How do you know this?”
“Before coming here, I met the divine dragon Poseidon and extracted the spear that was sealing his body.”
Zeke pulled out the crude spear he had taken from Poseidon’s body and showed it to the Holy King.
The Holy King was taken aback by the sight of the spear.
“I’ve heard of this spear. Did you truly extract it?”
“Yes, I did.”
The Holy King closed his eyes for a moment, clasped his hands, and offered a prayer.
“O God of Light, today I have finally met the true successor who will save the world and to whom I can entrust this spear.”
Watching the Holy King pray with such reverence, Zeke felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity with him.
“Is it because we look alike?”
Zeke thought of his other siblings. Each had a different mother, so their appearances and personalities varied greatly. While he maintained a good relationship with Kali and Helen, it was more as allies or comrades than as siblings.
One of his brothers, Abel, had died by Zeke’s hand, and another, Bacchus, had nearly been killed by him. Fratricide was not uncommon in the history of the Draker family.
Zeke felt a strange emotion, realizing he felt a stronger kinship with the Holy King, whom he had just met, than with his own blood siblings.
“How peculiar. I’ve never felt this way before.”
The Holy King finished his prayer, stood up, and approached Zeke.
“Kai Lubern, today I can finally break free from these heavy chains of duty. In my stead, use this Holy Spear to vanquish the resurrected Demon King forever.”
“Your Majesty, I have a question.”
“Speak.”
“I’ve heard prophecies about the Demon King’s resurrection, but I don’t know exactly how it will happen.”
“Prophecies are dangerous in themselves, so seers often hide the truth in riddles and rhymes. What do you know about the resurrection?”
“I know that the sorcerers of the Abyss are trying to resurrect a being known as the King in Yellow using the Book of the Dead.”
The mention of the Abyss darkened the Holy King’s expression.
“Those cursed beings are still at large. I hunted them down relentlessly, yet they persist.”
Surprisingly, the Abyss had existed even during the Holy King’s time.
Zeke spoke to the Holy King.
“We are now about 800 years past the era of the Holy Empire you established. The Demon King is considered a mere character in children’s stories. People scoff at the idea of his resurrection, dismissing it as a bad joke.”
The Holy King frowned at this.
“That’s the work of the Abyss. Those vile creatures infiltrate society, subtly altering perceptions, history, and information. Sometimes, such schemes are more effective than leading an army to attack a fortress.”
Zeke nodded in agreement with the Holy King’s words.
Even the Liberation War was mistakenly believed to have been started by Bahamut.
Misinformation and distorted history changed people’s perceptions, leaving them unaware of the danger they faced.
The Holy King explained to Zeke.
“The Abyss needs two things to resurrect the Demon King: the Book of the Dead, which seals the Demon King’s soul, and a vessel to contain that soul.”
“I understand the Book of the Dead, but what do you mean by a vessel?”
“A body for the Demon King’s soul to descend into. It must be prepared.”
Zeke had a question about the Holy King’s explanation.
“I heard that only a dragon’s body can withstand the Demon King’s immense power. Isn’t that why Bahamut was possessed by the Demon King’s soul before?”
The Holy King nodded at Zeke’s words.
“You’re correct. But after the Liberation War, dragons became nearly extinct. So the Abyss sought another method.”
“What other method?”
“Dragonkin.”
Zeke was shocked by the Holy King’s revelation.
“Dragonkin? Are you saying they plan to create a dragonkin to host the Demon King’s soul?”
“Yes. A being with a dragon’s power but a human’s heart. It’s the most suitable vessel for the Demon King. But there are conditions.”
“What conditions?”
“Originally, dragonkin were created when a contract dragon willingly gave a part of its heart to its contractor, forcibly enhancing the human body. It was a trick dragons devised to stay with their contractors longer.”
Zeke recalled what Hoshgar had once said.
“Hoshgar also mentioned that dragonkin were a loophole to deceive karma.”
But even this method required a dragon’s cooperation.
As Zeke pondered further, the Holy King continued.
“The sorcerers of the Abyss discovered a way to create dragonkin without a dragon’s help.”
“Is that possible?”
“Yes, while dragons are gone, their dragon hearts remain. The sorcerers conducted experiments to forcibly implant dragon hearts into humans to create dragonkin.”
Zeke remembered something from the Holy King’s words.
“Abel. He definitely used a dragon’s power.”
According to the Holy King, the sorcerers of the Abyss must have implanted a dragon’s heart into Abel to make him a vessel.
“Those madmen. To think of implanting a dragon’s heart into a human.”
Thanks to this, Abel quickly reached the level of a black knight but gradually became unstable, eventually transforming into a monstrous being.
Without the system’s power, Zeke would have likely ended up like Abel if he had tried to absorb the cursed dragon’s heart directly.
The Holy King spoke again.
“But implanting a dragon’s heart into a human was not easy. Most of the Abyss’s attempts failed.”
Zeke nodded at the Holy King’s words.
The dragon heart, the source of a dragon’s immense power, was far beyond what a human could handle.
Zeke spoke to the Holy King.
“So that’s why the Abyss couldn’t create a vessel for a long time and couldn’t break the Demon King’s seal.”
“Creating a vessel was one thing, but retrieving the Book of the Dead was nearly impossible.”
Zeke was puzzled by the Holy King’s words.
“Didn’t the Abyss already have the Book of the Dead? I thought they gathered to interpret it and gain power.”
The Holy King shook his head.
“Strictly speaking, the Abyss is more like followers of the Demon King who formed to retrieve the Book of the Dead, which seals the Demon King’s soul, after the Liberation War. After losing the war, they scattered and hid, so I had to travel across the continent to hunt them down.”
Zeke finally understood why the Chronicles of the Holy King were filled with tales of battles against dark sorcerers and liches. They were records of the relentless struggle against the sorcerers of the Abyss.
The Holy King frowned as he recalled those dark sorcerers.
“Those vile creatures are still alive, even after 800 years. We should have wiped them out more thoroughly back then…”
Zeke shook his head in response.
“Such creatures are like poisonous mushrooms, lying low when danger looms, only to rise again when the time is right. Your Majesty did everything you could.”
The Holy King smiled warmly at Zeke’s words.
“Thank you.”
As Zeke returned the king’s smile, he posed another question.
“If what Your Majesty says is true, they didn’t have the Book of the Lion back then, but they might have it now.”
The Holy King shook his head.
“I doubt it.”
“Why are you so certain?”
The king met Zeke’s gaze steadily.
“The Book of the Lion is hidden where neither they nor anyone else can reach it. The sorcerers of the Abyss won’t find it easily.”
Zeke looked puzzled and asked, “Where could such a place be, where even they can’t find it?”
The king hesitated for a moment before speaking slowly.
“Yes, as my successor, you deserve to know.”
Even as he said this, the king paused, as if weighing his words, before continuing.
“The last dragons sacrificed themselves to seal the Book of the Lion, creating a tower. The book is sealed in the deepest part of that tower.”
“Are you saying the Book of the Lion is sealed in a tower made by dragons?”
“Indeed. Thanks to the noble sacrifice of the great sage and the dragons, the demon king’s soul is as good as sealed forever.”
Zeke asked the king, “Where is this tower located?”
The king hesitated again before answering slowly.
“Beyond the Dark Sea, on a forsaken continent where no one can venture. The Last Tower stands there.”