Episode 469
Zeke approached the glass chamber where a child with violet hair floated, curled up like a fetus in a womb.
“This child was supplying magic to the gate?”
Maintaining a gate connected to the lands beyond the eternal barrier required an immense amount of magic. The idea of extracting such power from a child’s body was beyond comprehension.
He placed his hand on the glass and absorbed the information related to it.
Crackle—
A strong spark flew, and fragmented pieces of information flashed through Zeke’s mind. Amidst the jumble of words and images, he grasped one crucial detail.
“Irregular?”
There was a faint trace of information indicating that the child trapped inside the glass was an Irregular.
Zeke recalled how the Nostra family had kidnapped children from Luvern and traded them with the Holy Kingdom.
“They weren’t just after Luvern’s children; they were kidnapping kids to find bloodline ability users or Irregulars.”
His expression hardened, and anger surged within him at those who committed such atrocities. Having been dragged to the southern continent as a slave in a past life and forced to become a hitman for the cartel, Zeke was particularly sensitive to crimes involving children.
He spoke to Arataso and Nevilos in his mind.
“I’ll summon you both. Create a distraction outside the supply depot.”
Sensing the urgency in Zeke’s voice, both Arataso and Nevilos complied without question.
Vroooom—
Through the eyes of ghost soldiers stationed in different locations, Zeke confirmed the summoning of Arataso and Nevilos at the Green Sword and Eastern Sword.
As the two demons suddenly appeared and attacked the supply depot, the surrounding beasts, monsters, and dark wizards were thrown into disarray.
Zeke watched the chaos unfold at the supply depot through the ghost soldiers’ eyes. Then, he conjured shadow clones using the power of shadows.
Sssshhh—
The shadow clones, identical to Zeke, shared his thoughts and were already aware of his plan.
“When we move to the coordinates, we’ll strike swiftly and cut off the energy supply.”
Despite already knowing the plan, the clones nodded at Zeke’s emphatic words. Soon, they flashed with light and moved toward the stone buildings of different energy supply depots.
Multiple battle scenes appeared before Zeke’s eyes, divided into several screens.
“The demons are attacking!”
“Why are they here all of a sudden?”
“Stop them! Report to the higher-ups immediately!”
“Good, Arataso and Nevilos are doing well. Now the clones just need to infiltrate the buildings.”
As the clones approached the interior of the energy supply depots, Zeke spoke to Titus and Yulina, who were waiting behind him.
“Go outside and use your bloodline powers to subdue the monster army’s spirits and create chaos. We’ll cut off the magic supply and create a portal to escape.”
“Understood, my king.”
“We will follow your command.”
Titus and Yulina responded respectfully and immediately climbed onto the stone building.
At that moment, messages appeared indicating that the shadow clones had reached the underground of the stone buildings.
Using a skill to open the doors, the clones, like Zeke, saw the children trapped inside the glass chambers.
“They’re extracting magic from Irregulars in other places too.”
Clenching his teeth, Zeke drew Levatein, and the other shadow clones unsheathed their shadow-forged Caladbolgs.
Zeke and the clones assumed the same stance simultaneously in different locations.
Vroooom!
A powerful aura emanated from the swords.
Zeke charged forward, slashing at the glass chamber imprisoning the Irregular child.
Crash—
The glass shattered under Zeke’s strike, sending sparks flying throughout the underground.
Crackle—
The magic that had been flowing toward the gate seemed to reverse and go berserk.
Zeke cradled the child in his arms and performed a magic reversal technique.
Vroooom—
Under the influence of Zeke’s reversal field, the magic began to flow backward into the storage area.
He monitored the flow of magic, then crouched with the child in his arms and donned his shadow armor.
Crackle—
Magic currents erupted in all directions, and the reversed magic caused an explosion in the storage area.
Boom!
A massive explosion shook the ground at all three energy supply depots simultaneously.
The dark wizards guarding the depots were thrown into panic as the demons attacked, the monster army ran amok, and the energy storage exploded.
“We must stop this immediately!”
The wizards rushed to stabilize the reversed magic in the storage, but it was futile. Instead, the reversed magic spread, wreaking havoc on the dark wizards’ insides.
“Ugh!”
The dark wizards of the Abyss fell, bleeding from their orifices, unable to restore the depot’s magic.
Titus and Yulina, who had subdued the monster army’s spirits and created chaos at the depot, watched the battlefield Zeke had plunged into chaos from afar.
“Yulina, do you see? This is the true battlefield of a king.”
Yulina, standing beside Titus, nodded slowly, using the power of her bloodline to skillfully control the monster army. Her potential was greater than Titus’s, so she had no trouble using her bloodline power for the first time.
At that moment, a flash of light appeared behind them.
Vroooom—
Three Zekes emerged, each holding a rescued Irregular child from the glass chambers.
Titus’s jaw dropped at the sight.
“Three kings?”
Zeke gestured toward the astonished Titus.
“There will be a second explosion. It’s dangerous, so let’s get out of here quickly.”
Immediately, Titus and Yulina grabbed Zeke’s hand and vanished into the portal with a flash of light.
“What did you just say?”
Anastasia asked incredulously, addressing the lower demon who had reported to her.
The reptilian lower demon, trembling under Anastasia’s aura, spoke again.
“The, the three supply depots were destroyed simultaneously, and the gate has closed…”
Crash—
An invisible force lifted the lower demon into the air, squeezing him.
“Ugh—”
The lower demon struggled in agony as the powerful force crushed him. Anastasia’s eyes were filled with murderous intent as she watched him.
“Three supply depots exploded suddenly. Why? How? How did this happen? Tell me. Hurry up and tell me. Tell me!”
Thud!
The invisible force vanished, and the lower demon fell to the ground. But he was already dead, having succumbed to the overwhelming pressure.
Anastasia’s expression changed abruptly upon seeing this.
“What? He’s dead? What do I do now? Hey, wake up. I just wanted to scare you a little because I was angry! If you die here, what does that make me?”
Anastasia shook the lifeless demon frantically, but he didn’t revive.
Her expression shifted again as she stood up and kicked the dead lower demon.
“Kids these days are too weak since coming to the material world. There’s a problem.”
With a snap of her fingers, other demons appeared.
“Clean this up. And bring the apostle. The gate’s been wrecked, so why isn’t anyone saying anything?”
A rat-like demon beside her spoke up.
“Well, actually, the apostle has been waiting outside for a while.”
“What? Then why isn’t he in here?”
“Because you didn’t say anything, my lady…”
Anastasia shouted in frustration.
“If it’s urgent, you should speak up! Let him in!”
At her command, the other demons hurriedly dragged the dead lower demon’s body away.
Anastasia, fuming, glanced at Nigel lying in the stone coffin beside her.
“I was so close to seeing something…”
Nigel’s defenses were so strong that even using all the keywords had been futile. But surprisingly, the keyword “Zeke Draker” had elicited a different reaction.
Excited, Anastasia had been about to delve deeper into her subconscious world using Zeke Draker. But the interruption at such a crucial moment had left her quite irritated.
Caressing Nigel’s hair, Anastasia smiled and spoke.
“To think there’s such a beautiful and powerful being in the material world. I put him to sleep because he’d go berserk if provoked… but I want him. I want him so badly. I want to make him mine, keep him by my side, and play with him every day…”
As Anastasia trembled with desire while looking at Nigel, the door opened, and the apostle entered.
Anastasia, her pleasant moment interrupted, frowned and rose from her seat.
She addressed the apostle with an authoritative tone.
“I heard the gate’s closed. What happened?”
The apostle knelt before Anastasia and spoke.
“It seems the Three-Eyed Clan we stationed in the supply depots have betrayed us.”
Anastasia tilted her head at the apostle’s words.
“You’re telling me that two members of the imperfect Samjian clan managed to destroy three supply stations at once? And you expect me to believe that?”
A faint, invisible energy began to swirl around the Apostle.
Anastasia fixed him with a sharp gaze. “What are you hiding from me?”
“Gah! M-my lady, please, calm down…”
The Apostle was lifted into the air by Anastasia’s power, his body trembling uncontrollably. Suddenly, his eyes turned pitch black, and a dark mist began to emanate from him.
Crack—
The force that had been restraining the Apostle dissipated, replaced by the menacing spread of the black mist.
Anastasia frowned at the sight. “Still exuding that repulsive aura, I see. Priest.”
The Priest of the Abyss, Harvey West, had possessed the Apostle’s body. He offered a courteous bow to Anastasia.
“I apologize for my unseemly appearance, but I felt it necessary to explain things personally, as you seemed displeased.”
“Your very existence is an affront. If you have something to say, spit it out and be gone.”
The Priest nodded at her irritated command. “The destruction of the energy supply stations wasn’t solely due to a rebellion by the Samjian clan.”
Anastasia’s frown deepened. “I suspected as much. Why was I fed lies, then?”
“There was a mix-up in orders. A being I had placed a non-disclosure constraint on appeared, causing the Apostle to act disrespectfully.”
Anastasia’s curiosity was piqued. “A being under a non-disclosure constraint? Who is it?”
“Zeke Draker.”
The Priest continued slowly, “He appeared here, dismantled thousands of the beast army, and destroyed the energy supply stations at the gate.”
Anastasia’s eyes widened at the mention of Zeke Draker. “Zeke Draker? The only human disciple of Nigel?”
The Priest nodded. “Indeed. It’s still a mystery why the proud and reclusive Guardian took a human as a disciple… but it speaks to his uniqueness.”
Anastasia’s expression shifted, a delighted smile spreading across her face like a child with a new toy. “So, Zeke Draker is coming here, then?”
“Yes. He intends to completely destroy the gate and defeat all the beasts here.”
The Priest paused, pointing a finger at Nigel, who lay in a stone coffin. “And he will try to rescue his master.”
Anastasia let out a shriek. “No! Nigel is mine!”
She stood protectively in front of Nigel, her breath coming in angry huffs. The Priest addressed her calmly.
“If you manage to capture Zeke Draker, you’ll have a truly unique addition to your collection.”
The mention of a unique addition changed Anastasia’s demeanor. “A unique addition, you say.”
She glanced down at Nigel, then turned her gaze back to the Priest. “So, where is this Zeke Draker now?”