Episode 478
“Where… am I?”
As Zeke opened his eyes, he found himself surrounded by an impenetrable darkness.
He tried to move, to lift himself up, but it was as if his limbs were bound tightly, rendering him immobile.
“I can’t even tell if I’m lying down or standing.”
The absence of light and any sense of direction made it feel like he was floating in a void, a space of nothingness.
Zeke had seen this ominous place before.
“When King Solomon was trapped in the Abyssal Prison.”
Through the memories of the Elder Dragon connected to Solomon in Carcosa, Zeke had indirectly experienced this place.
Before becoming the Demon King, Solomon had been imprisoned here for millennia.
The flow of time differed from the physical world, making such a long imprisonment possible.
Zeke tried to recall why he was trapped here.
“I attempted to implant the Black Star into my body and absorbed it all, but…”
After that, his memory was blank.
Despite the system’s warnings, he thought he could handle it and tried to absorb the Elder Dragon’s heart. Yet, even Zeke’s immortal body seemed unable to fully accept it.
“I don’t know why I’m here, but I need to wake up.”
Zeke attempted to summon the system to regain consciousness.
No matter how much he called, the system did not respond.
As time passed, Zeke grew increasingly anxious.
A world where he couldn’t move, where nothing existed.
Even Solomon, the first irregular and god-slayer, had succumbed to despair and become the Demon King after enduring this space.
The Abyssal Prison was that perilous.
Zeke tried to use every ability he possessed.
But neither the shadow spirits, the elemental sword, nor any special skills were of any use.
“What should I do?”
Even his immortal power seemed meaningless here.
The thought that he might drift through this void for eternity, like cosmic dust, began to creep into his mind.
As that thought grew, fear gripped Zeke.
“I can’t let that happen. I must escape this place.”
He struggled and struggled again, but there was no way out.
In a space where he couldn’t even tell how much time had passed.
After struggling endlessly, Zeke finally gave up and let his body go limp.
“Is there really no way?”
He tried to focus his mind to avoid losing himself, but he felt his consciousness fading.
He kept forgetting who he was and why he was here.
To prevent himself from forgetting, Zeke constantly reminded himself.
“I am Zeke Draker. The Knight of Salvation.”
Repeating his name, Zeke revisited his past life memories, his current life, and everything up to the present, over and over again.
In doing so, he naturally reflected on what he had done and had the chance to calmly contemplate.
“How ironic. Only when imprisoned do I find the time and space to reflect on myself.”
In a situation where he could only think, Zeke found a new path.
He began to review the swordsmanship he had learned, step by step.
From the basics of dragon-slaying techniques, Agamemnon’s swordsmanship, the Paladin’s swordsmanship, the elemental sword, the gale technique, the black sword technique, the dragon-slaying sword, to the infinite sword technique, all mixed chaotically in his mind.
Even the legacy of the Draker family, passed down from Shaton Draker, was mixed in.
Sword techniques from the Chronos era and the secrets of ancient kingdoms now extinct surfaced chaotically in Zeke’s mind.
Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of sword techniques unfolded and vanished repeatedly.
Without proper focus, the techniques blended together, making it impossible to distinguish one from another.
While reviewing the swordsmanship and maintaining his memory, Zeke realized something.
“Is it necessary to forcefully separate and distinguish the techniques?”
Letting them flow naturally with the current.
Swordsmanship was learned to master precise forms.
Moreover, those forms had long been unified under the name of the infinite sword technique.
Was there a need to remember and separate those forms again now?
Zeke changed his thinking and let the countless techniques and forms mix and flow as they wished.
Then, the sword techniques trapped in his mind began to break free, finding their own paths.
Zeke didn’t try to restrain them.
He let them go where they wanted.
Some went in strange directions, but it didn’t matter.
As long as they returned to their original state, it was fine.
With plenty of time, watching the sword techniques find their paths and return was no problem.
The mixed and intertwined techniques showed Zeke a new world.
Watching the endlessly forming and disappearing techniques, he thought they resembled stars.
Zeke observed them closely.
He couldn’t tell how much time had passed, but it didn’t matter. Then, one day, a thought struck him.
“Am I wielding the sword, or not?”
As his consciousness blurred, he couldn’t tell if he was merely imagining or truly wielding a sword.
Zeke realized then.
“Whether I’m wielding it or not, what does it matter? If it feels like I’m wielding it, then I am.”
With that thought, Zeke swung the sword without hesitation.
Before he knew it, a sword was in his hand.
He swung it along the path he had seen, over and over.
The sword, which he had focused on to remember himself, now made him forget himself. Yet, paradoxically, his belief in himself grew stronger.
As he swung the sword endlessly, Zeke felt a gaze upon him.
He met the gaze that gradually approached.
The gaze seemed displeased with Zeke’s sword-wielding.
An intangible force pressed on Zeke, trying to immobilize him.
But Zeke didn’t yield and continued to swing the sword.
Ignoring the gaze trying to stop him, Zeke focused solely on finding the path of the sword he had seen.
As he swung the sword repeatedly, he gained a realization.
“I see something.”
A single path where everything converges.
In a state of selflessness, Zeke swung the sword again to tread that path.
The sword, scattered, mixed, and unified countless times, unfolded in Zeke’s hand.
At that moment, something appeared before Zeke’s eyes.
[Passive skill Limit Break activated.]
[Special skill ‘Heart Sword’ activated.]
[Perceive the essence of the mental barrier with the mind’s eye.]
For the first time since being trapped here, the system activated.
Having awakened the Heart Sword, Zeke realized this wasn’t the true Abyssal Prison but a pseudo-space created by the Elder Dragon’s heart.
“Cut the prison of the mind with the sword of the heart.”
The Heart Sword in Zeke’s hand shone, slicing through the darkness before him.
The world that had imprisoned him opened up.
“Ugh!”
Zeke, whose breath had stopped, coughed up the black blood pooled in his mouth and regained consciousness.
Nabu and Nigel, who had been anxiously pondering what to do, rushed to Zeke’s side in surprise.
“Zeke!”
Nigel quickly checked Zeke’s condition.
Warmth returned to Zeke’s body, which had been lifeless and stiff.
Nabu, watching Zeke gasp for air, spoke.
“Zeke! Snap out of it! Are you alright?”
As his breathing returned, Zeke’s immortal body and healing factor quickly restored him. He looked at Nigel and asked.
“How much time… has passed?”
Nigel calmed Zeke and replied.
“About three hours since you stopped breathing.”
Zeke felt both relieved and confused at the mention of three hours.
Nigel and Nabu helped Zeke to a comfortable chair, and Nabu brought him a warm cup of tea.
After sipping the tea and finally calming down, Nigel asked.
“I thought… you were really dead.”
To Nigel, skilled in medicine, Zeke had indeed seemed dead.
Believing Zeke had died because of the Black Star he implanted, Nigel had fallen into deep despair.
Seeing Zeke rise again, she felt both relief and confusion.
Zeke set down the teacup and spoke.
“I was probably dead. If I hadn’t awakened from the mental barrier, it would have been as good as being dead.”
Hearing about the complete darkness of the prison Zeke had been trapped in, Nigel and Nabu were left speechless.
After hearing the whole story, Nabu asked Zeke.
“My God, all that happened in such a short time… How long were you trapped there?”
Zeke pondered before slowly speaking.
“I’m not sure, but… it felt like at least 200 years.”
Though only three hours had passed in reality, the mental barrier, modeled after the Abyssal Prison, had a different flow of time, making 200 years not an exaggeration.
Nigel looked at Zeke and said.
“So, the shock of the Black Star’s implantation must have pulled your soul into that place.”
Zeke nodded at Nigel’s words.
The Black Star is a fragment of the Elder Dragon’s heart.
Long ago, King Solomon, who had forged a pact with the Elder Dragon, was captured by the constellations and imprisoned in the Abyssal Prison.
The Elder Dragon shared those memories, and from them, a mental world resembling the Abyssal Prison was created.
“If it had been the real Abyssal Prison where King Solomon was held, I wouldn’t have escaped, even with the awakened Sword of the Mind.”
The deep world of the Black Star was a mere imitation of the Abyssal Prison, allowing him to return to his body by mastering the Sword of the Mind.
Yet, he had narrowly avoided losing himself forever in a void of nothingness.
“This time, I was truly fortunate.”
Zeke admitted to himself that he had underestimated the Elder Dragon’s heart and resolved to be more cautious.
Once his body had calmed, he stood up and moved around, testing his limbs.
Thankfully, there were no issues with his physical movements.
As he observed Nabu and Nigel, who were both keeping an eye on him while attending to their own tasks, he checked his message window.
“[Special Skill ‘Sword of the Mind’ has been activated.]”
“[Special Skill ‘Sword of the Mind’ has been converted into a unique power.]”
“[With the activation of the Sword of the Mind, your constitution has transformed into the Sword God’s Body.]”
“[Mastery of Infinite Swordsmanship has increased.]”
“[Mastery of Soul Technique has increased.]”
“[Mastery of Spirit Technique has increased.]”
“[The power of your soul has strengthened, increasing mastery of Soul Sealing Technique.]”
“[Soul Sealing Technique has combined with Soul Technique.]”
“[The true power of the special skill Soul Technique has been awakened, upgrading from S-rank to SS-rank.]”
The activation of the Sword of the Mind had significantly enhanced his skills.
But that wasn’t all.
“[You have absorbed a portion of the Elder Dragon’s power contained in the Sealing Stone.]”
“[The current compression seal rate of the Sealing Stone is 65%.]”
“[The absorbed power of the Elder Dragon has transformed your body.]”
“[Your constitution has changed from Dragon God’s Body to Elder Dragon’s Body.]”
“[Due to the influence of the Elder Dragon’s Body, mastery of dragon-related skills has increased.]”
“[The absorbed power has generated the ancient dragon skill, Spirit Magic.]”
As Zeke’s body stabilized, he could feel a distinct difference in his senses.
Even with only about 35% of the Elder Dragon’s heart absorbed, an infinite reservoir of mana filled his core.
“With this, I can wield the Elemental Sword without strain.”
Having absorbed the Elder Dragon’s power, Zeke was certain he had surpassed the limits of humanity.
He turned his gaze to Nigel and Nabu standing before him.
Previously, he couldn’t discern the source of their power, but now he could sense it clearly.
He realized that a pact with their leader was forcibly anchoring these two, who possessed powers that shouldn’t exist in the physical realm.
He could also gauge the immense power Nigel was suppressing.
Things that had been invisible to him before were now within his sight, having broken through a barrier.
“I’ve surpassed the wall of the Black Knight.”
Zeke understood that he had finally reached the level of a Grand Master.
Nigel, too, could feel the transformation in Zeke.
After a moment of contemplation, she spoke with resolute determination.
“Zeke, come outside.”
A sword had appeared in her hand.
“I will teach you the final stage of Soul Technique, the Triple Spell.”