Episode 368
“So, he’s the one who summoned these monsters.”
From the memories he had gleaned from the Abyssal Sorcerer, Zeke knew that the sorcerer had used a black portal to bring forth the monsters and then created a red portal to escape before Nigel, the hermit of the forest, could arrive.
If the sorcerer managed to slip away again, he could cause more trouble, so Zeke needed to approach with caution and capture him.
Zeke landed near the gate, cloaked in invisibility. Slowly, he made his way toward the altar.
The Abyssal Sorcerer stood atop the altar, chanting a sinister incantation, while other sorcerers around him seemed to be channeling energy to assist.
Zeke asked Arataso, “Arataso, can you tell which fallen constellation is empowering that guy?”
The green sword, where Arataso was sealed, vibrated lightly, responding to Zeke through their shared psychic link.
“Hmm, it’s hard to say just from this. The aura is sticky and oppressive, like ‘The Unyielding Gaze’ or maybe ‘The Clinging Pit of Darkness.’”
Neither name sounded particularly pleasant.
With no other choice, Zeke decided to confront them head-on.
He steadied his breath, preparing to attack the sorcerer. But just then, something emerged behind him.
“Hmm, how curious.”
Startled, Zeke turned to see a figure wearing a bizarre clown mask, floating in the air with a large scythe in hand.
“This guy…”
Zeke instinctively realized this clown wasn’t human.
The green sword vibrated violently as Arataso’s urgent voice rang out.
“This is bad…! Run! Now!”
Hearing Arataso’s warning, Zeke leaped backward immediately.
CRACK—
The space where Zeke had been standing twisted, warping the nearby trees into strange shapes.
Zeke glared at the clown-masked figure, wary of its bizarre power.
“Is this one of the higher demons?”
“Damn it, I said run, not retreat! Of all things, it had to be that one!”
Instead of responding, Zeke stowed the green sword in his inventory and drew Bahamut.
Once again, the space where Zeke had been began to distort.
SWISH!
Zeke rolled to the side, dodging the attack, and launched an aura blade at the figure.
BOOM!
The aura blade exploded right in front of the clown.
The clown tilted its head, looking at Zeke.
“How curious. The sword you held earlier had a demonic aura, but now I sense a dragon’s presence.”
The figure’s drawling speech was both languid and eerie.
It adjusted its grip on the scythe and landed on the ground, looking at Zeke.
“You seem quite interesting. Care to play with me?”
From within the inventory, Arataso shouted to Zeke.
“Don’t answer him! That one’s a higher demon, Viper, a servant of ‘The Insatiable One’!”
“Viper?”
“He’s notorious for his cruel tricks and lies! There’s nothing to gain from engaging with him!”
Zeke hesitated, weighing his options. If he retreated now, he’d lose the chance to capture the sorcerer opening the gate.
After a moment’s thought, he raised his sword toward Viper.
Viper looked at Zeke and spoke again.
“Where are you from, human? You came here all alone, without fear?”
Ignoring Viper’s taunts, Zeke asked, “Are you the ones who summoned these monsters?”
Viper giggled, seemingly delighted by Zeke’s words.
“Oh, you can talk, can you?”
Just then, the Abyssal Sorcerers, realizing Zeke’s presence, rushed forward with monsters in tow.
“There’s an intruder over there!”
If he got surrounded, reaching the gate would be difficult, so Zeke prepared to retreat.
But then, Viper swung his scythe toward the sorcerers.
WHOOSH!
With a sweep of the scythe, the charging monsters were sliced in half, collapsing to the ground.
Amazingly, even severed, the monsters continued to move, their upper and lower halves writhing separately.
Viper bounced with glee at the sight.
“Ha ha ha! What are they? That’s hilarious!”
Zeke found it hard to comprehend Viper’s actions.
“This demon seems different from the others I’ve encountered.”
The Abyssal Sorcerers, who had been rushing toward Zeke, finally noticed Viper and paled, retreating in fear.
“V-Viper, sir. We apologize for interrupting your fun.”
Viper, who had been laughing, suddenly stopped.
Floating over to the sorcerer who had spoken, he leaned in, mask to face.
“Apologize? Apologize?”
He continued, his voice dripping with mockery.
“Why do something you need to apologize for? Why do it at all? Hmm?”
The sorcerer trembled, sweat pouring down his pale face.
“V-Viper, sir. P-please, forgive us…”
“Forgive? What’s that?”
In an instant, Viper swung his scythe.
The sorcerer’s body was sliced into dozens of pieces, arms, legs, torso, and head scattered.
Yet, like the monsters, the pieces moved, still alive.
“Ahh!”
Though his body was in pieces, the sorcerer’s consciousness remained, amplifying his terror.
Viper laughed as he began reassembling the sorcerer’s body, piece by piece.
“Here, this goes here. And this, like this.”
Arms attached to hips, legs to the head, ears to the torso.
The sorcerer was reassembled into a grotesque, inhuman form.
Viper chuckled, satisfied with his creation.
“Ha ha! Perfect, perfect! Much better this way!”
Turning to Zeke, Viper spoke again.
“What do you think? Fun, right? Want me to make you like this too…?”
But when Viper turned to where Zeke had been, he found the spot empty.
Viper’s laughter abruptly ceased.
He snapped his fingers.
Suddenly, the severed monsters and the reassembled sorcerer began to thrash in agony.
“SCREECH!”
Unlike before, the monsters bled out and died, while the sorcerer, his senses returned, writhed in his twisted form before vomiting blood and dying.
Viper floated back into the air, addressing the remaining sorcerers.
“You lot.”
The sorcerers, tense, responded.
“Y-yes!”
“Speak, sir!”
Viper twirled his scythe, speaking with a chilling calm.
“Find that guy again. If you don’t, you’ll have to play with me. And it’ll be very fun.”
The threat drained the color from the sorcerers’ faces.
“Let’s go! Find that intruder!”
The sorcerers scrambled into action.
While Viper toyed with the sorcerer, Zeke used the spirit form ability of his sword sheath to approach the gate.
“That guy… he’s not normal.”
Arataso clicked his tongue in response.
“Servants of ‘The Insatiable One’ are mostly like that. They don’t know limits and only react to their own amusement.”
Though Viper was dangerous, the gate took priority.
Zeke cautiously approached the altar at the boundary of the dimension.
Fortunately, the sorcerer seemed unaware or unconcerned, still standing on the altar.
“Alright, this should work.”
Zeke prepared to cast a magic sealing technique.
In case the sorcerer tried to escape using a ritual instead of magic, he had chains ready.
“Here goes!”
As soon as Zeke released his spirit form and appeared, he cast the magic sealing technique around the gate.
CRACKLE!
The altar and gate reacted to the sealing magic.
Zeke slammed Bahamut into the ground, unleashing a shockwave.
WOOOONG!
The shockwave pushed back the sorcerers approaching to stop him.
They tried to cast spells, but the sealing magic distorted their efforts.
“The magic won’t work!”
“What’s happening?”
Zeke seized the opportunity.
Drawing his sword, he slashed at the sorcerers with aura blades.
SLASH—
The sorcerers fell, their heads severed before they could scream.
He used the power of flame to incinerate their bodies.
Then, he approached the black-robed sorcerer on the altar.
The sorcerer continued chanting, oblivious to Zeke’s actions.
“What is this guy?”
Puzzled, Zeke sensed something amiss.
He immediately launched an aura blade at the sorcerer.
BOOM!
An explosion erupted on the altar.
The wizard’s robe was torn to shreds by the black wind, revealing the figure beneath.
Zeke finally saw the true identity of the wizard.
“A Night Gaunt, crafted by those Siemens scoundrels.”
A golem infused with the power of the Fallen Constellation, capable of wielding the might of the Blood and Madness Rider.
During his interrogation of William Siemens, Zeke had managed to uncover some details about this golem. Siemens had created an artificial vessel capable of containing the power of the Fallen Constellation, turning it into a weapon.
Drawing his green sword, Zeke turned to Arataso. “Do you sense the power of the Insatiable One in that thing?”
The green sword glowed and vibrated. “Hmm, it seems so… but the energy is all jumbled and chaotic. Still, I think you’re right.”
The Insatiable One was a dangerous constellation, one even demons avoided. Zeke knew that neither Narak nor Siemens would have been ignorant of this. They had simply played their most perilous card to escape their predicament.
Just then, the eyes of the Night Gaunt, hidden behind a black mask, flashed ominously. It pulled out a small sickle and began chanting.
Zeke realized it was using sorcery, not magic. He immediately launched a Dragon’s Claw attack at it.
Swoosh!
The Dragon’s Claw struck, forcing the Night Gaunt to retreat. Yet, its chanting continued unabated.
Soon, black smoke billowed from the Night Gaunt, coalescing into a shape. Something emerged from within.
Zeke watched warily. “What is that?”
It was a colorful ball, rolling towards him.
“A bomb?”
Suspicious, Zeke slashed at the ball with his sword.
Boom!
The ball exploded and split into three, rolling back towards him.
Rolling, rolling!
Zeke swung his sword again, causing another explosion, but the balls multiplied once more.
As this cycle repeated, Zeke felt trapped in a malicious prank. “Is this another illusion, like the Nightmare Pan?”
Whether it was or not, he decided it was better to confront it directly than to keep repeating pointless actions.
The balls charged at him, and this time, instead of swinging his sword, Zeke braced himself and collided with them.
Boom, boom, boom!
The balls exploded for real, engulfing Zeke in a cloud of dust. When it cleared, there was no trace of him, and the area was completely devastated.
“Intruder elimination confirmed.”
The Night Gaunt, satisfied with Zeke’s apparent demise, turned towards the gate. It swung its sickle at the barrier of magic suppression that was preventing the gate from functioning.
Whoosh!
The barrier was torn apart, and the gate began to hum back to life.
As the gate resumed its operation, the Night Gaunt started chanting to summon a monster horde. But then—
Clang!
Chains suddenly wrapped around the Night Gaunt’s ankles, snaking up to its hand holding the sickle like a living serpent.
Turning its head, the Night Gaunt saw Zeke, now equipped with Hershion and wielding Roland, standing there.
Zeke yanked the chains with all his might.
Whoosh!
The Night Gaunt was pulled away from the gate, dragged towards Zeke. In that moment, a golden aura radiated from Zeke’s body.
A brilliant blade of light enveloped Roland.
“Haah!”
Zeke drove Roland straight into the Night Gaunt’s body.