Episode 491

Zeke, armed with information from Baron and the enemies he had interrogated, was certain that Ramon Jimenez was in Baranaon. Determined to stop him, Zeke set off for the estate of Hoshgar Nirvana in Baranaon.

“Master!”

Richmond and Bane, who were staying at Hoshgar’s estate, greeted Zeke warmly upon his arrival. It felt different from the times he had been summoned and dragged there.

Zeke let Bucephalus and Raven roam freely in the front yard of the estate. As he surveyed the estate, he was momentarily speechless at the transformation it had undergone.

“Richmond… what happened here?”

To his surprise, Hoshgar’s estate now looked like a place inhabited by a lich—dark, eerie, and somber. Monster statues were scattered everywhere, and piles of monster remains, mysterious bones, and ancient relics were stacked in one corner. The place had always been avoided by people, known as the “Mansion of the Wraith,” but now it was even more grotesque.

Richmond, with a shy smile, responded to Zeke’s astonishment. “Hehe, isn’t it magnificent, Master?”

Richmond had a unique sense of aesthetics, unlike anyone else.

Zeke, however, was not amused. “Clean it up. Before I burn it all myself.”

Richmond’s jaw dropped in shock. “What? Clean it up? But there’s nothing to—”

Whoosh!

As Zeke conjured white flames, Richmond hurriedly sprang into action. “I’ll clean it up! Right away, Master!”

Richmond’s undead and the Dullahan began diligently clearing away the grotesque items piled in front of the estate. Watching them for a moment, Zeke clicked his tongue and approached Bane.

“Bane, you haven’t caused any trouble, have you? If you have, speak up now.”

Bane shook his head. “I’m not like that monster-obsessed lich.”

Unlike a typical lich, Bane was an Elemental Lich who could wield elemental magic, and he took great pride in that.

As Zeke nodded, something appeared behind him.

Bark! Bark! Bark!

A pack of ice wolves, armed with jagged ice blades, ran menacingly around the front yard. Bane, despite being a skeleton, looked pleased.

“Aren’t they adorable, Master?”

”…”

Zeke had momentarily forgotten that both Richmond and Bane were liches from Nirvana. After ordering the threatening ice wolves to be tied up in a corner of the garden, Zeke led Bane inside.

He pulled out a box from his coat and handed it to Bane.

“What is this, Master?”

“Open it.”

When Bane opened the box, an intense cold emanated from within, startling him.

“This… this is?”

It was an elemental stone of ice, enhanced with eternal frost.

Zeke looked at Bane. “Do you think you can create an artifact with this?”

Bane examined the elemental stone closely before shaking his head. “Whew, a mineral with such intense cold… To be honest, it’s beyond my capabilities.”

“If the only 8th-circle ice mage can’t do it, who can?”

“It’s not about the circle. This isn’t something that can be manipulated with mere magic.”

The elemental stone, containing primordial cold, was in the realm of divine power. Even as an Arch Lich, Bane couldn’t handle such power, making it impossible to create an artifact from the stone.

Understanding Bane’s explanation, Zeke nodded, albeit disappointed.

Then Bane, looking at the elemental stone, recalled something. “This cold reminds me of something.”

He continued, “Do you remember the request I received before?”

Zeke thought for a moment and nodded. “The request to melt the coffin encased in ice. That was from Arthur Draker, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, the cold from that coffin felt similar to this.”

Zeke was taken aback by Bane’s words. ‘Does that mean the coffin was frozen by someone’s divine power?’

Zeke himself possessed the power of freezing, a power he had absorbed from the Nephilim, the Queen of Ice.

‘Could it be that the Queen of Ice used her power to freeze that coffin? Or was it another being with divine power…?’

Why Arthur Draker had a coffin frozen with divine power, and what he intended to do with it, remained a mystery.

‘Perhaps Arthur Draker’s legacy includes something about that coffin.’

Zeke stored the elemental stone back in the box and placed it in his inventory.

Just then, Richmond, having cleared the estate, entered.

“Phew, it’s all cleaned up, Master.”

Zeke, looking at Richmond with a mix of exasperation and curiosity, noticed an incense burner in his hand. “What’s that, Richmond?”

Richmond, as if remembering something, replied, “Oh, it’s the ancient relic I mentioned before, found in the natural undead dungeon.”

“You still had that?”

“I had set it aside and forgotten about it, but I found it while cleaning and brought it.”

It was surprising that such a valuable ancient relic had been piled up with monster remains.

“Bring it here.”

Given that it was an ancient relic from the estate of Hoshgar, the first head of Nirvana, it was unlikely to be ordinary.

Zeke examined the old incense burner Richmond brought.

‘There’s definitely something about it.’

At first glance, nothing seemed unusual.

“Richmond, did you notice anything special about this incense burner?”

“As I mentioned before, spirits kept emerging from it, causing quite a nuisance.”

“Hmm, it seems fine now.”

“Watch this.”

Richmond channeled mana towards the incense burner. In response to the dark mana, a ghastly wail echoed from the burner.

Screeeech—

Simultaneously, smoke-like spirits began to pour out of the burner.

Screeeech—

The indistinct spirits swirled around chaotically. Zeke watched the noisy, wailing spirits with a frown.

Richmond shook his head, looking exasperated. “These things keep coming out.”

“They don’t seem like wraiths or any typical spectral monsters.”

“Yes, they don’t possess any curse power and are just annoyingly loud and bothersome.”

Zeke attempted to subdue the spirits with the power of the Blood King.

Screeeech—

Screeeech—

Screeeech—

However, instead of being subdued, the spirits were drawn to Zeke’s power, swarming towards him like moths to a flame.

‘They’re neither souls nor spirits. This is new.’

Zeke examined the incense burner with his third eye. Surprisingly, even the Blood King’s power couldn’t fully reveal the structure or interior of the burner. It seemed to be heavily sealed.

‘Perhaps the Dragon’s Wisdom can reveal something.’

If even the Blood King’s power couldn’t decipher the ancient relic, it likely contained a powerful sealed force.

Zeke slowly reached out to the burner, activating the Dragon’s Wisdom.

Wooooom—

Zeke’s mind began to connect with the burner. The spirits flying around screamed even louder.

At that moment, a message appeared before Zeke’s eyes.

[Scanning unidentified ancient relic.]

[Detected a powerful seal within the ancient relic. Would you like to release the seal?]

Upon choosing to release it, a brilliant light erupted from the burner.

Wooooom!

With the powerful light, the seal broke, and countless spirits surged from the burner.

Rumble—

It was like a fountain of spirits, enveloping Zeke.

Screeeech—

Unlike before, the spirits now carried strong resentment and curse power.

Seeing Zeke engulfed by the spirits, Richmond and Bane were alarmed.

“Master!”

“Master!”

Zeke raised a hand, signaling he was fine. At that moment, his shadow began to writhe and rise.

Rumble—

The shadow, linked with his Shadow Armor, enveloped Zeke, protecting him from the spirits. Simultaneously, the shadow opened its maw, devouring the spirits like a waterfall.

Screeeech—

Sensing the ominous energy from being sucked into the shadow, the spirits tried to retreat. But black hands extended from the shadow, capturing and absorbing the fleeing spirits.

Screeeech—

Thus, the multitude of spirits from the burner were inexorably drawn into Zeke’s shadow.

A message appeared before Zeke’s eyes once more.

[The lost souls have transformed into shadow spirits.]

The numerous lost souls had become shadow spirits, now under Zeke’s command.

‘Interesting.’

Zeke summoned the shadow spirits. The black shadow rippled, revealing the spirits, their numbers vast. Though they didn’t possess the power of shadow summons, the sheer number of shadows was sure to be intimidating.

If he could bind them with other shadow summons or guardians, he could create an entire legion of shadows.

“An unexpected gain,” Zeke mused to himself.

Curiosity piqued, Zeke wanted to uncover the true nature of the censer that held so many lost souls.

Using the wisdom of the dragon, he delved deeper into the Akashic records to extract more information about the censer.

A low hum began to resonate—an ominous vibration as Zeke probed further.

With no more souls to release, the censer started to emit an unfamiliar energy.

Zeke quickly realized what this strange energy was.

“This feels like the presence of the Outsiders.”

Simultaneously, a flood of new information surged into Zeke’s mind.

The censer’s stored memories began to project scenes from the past.

―“Aaaahhh!”

―“Please, spare me!”

―“Nooo!”

Horrific screams and gruesome sights unfolded before Zeke’s eyes.

In front of a palace adorned with sharp spires stood a colossal demon statue with countless arms, and a vast arena lay before it. Soldiers lined up in formation, but their armor and the palace itself were unlike anything Zeke had ever seen.

It seemed to be an ancient civilization long lost to time.

Across from the soldiers, hundreds of humans and demi-humans were bound to frames, screaming in agony.

Masked soldiers tortured and brutally killed them, displaying their bodies impaled on spears.

“What is this…?”

The blood of the tortured victims flowed through grooves in the arena floor, converging at a single point.

There, in front of the demon statue, someone sat cross-legged.

A golden crown resembling a lion’s mane adorned his head, and a golden mask covered his face.

His bare torso was draped with ornaments of bone, jewels, and gold, while women around him scooped blood from the lake with golden jars, pouring it over his body.

The man in the golden mask chanted ominous incantations as he bathed in the blood.

Then it happened.

A rumbling sound echoed as a massive, wheeled cage was brought into the arena.

The cage came to a halt in the center.

With a creak, the soldiers pulled taut the chains attached to the cage.

The iron door swung open with a clang.

Thud!

The heavy iron wall crashed to the ground, sending a reverberating sound throughout the arena.

Something emerged from the cage.

A soul-piercing shriek filled the air.

A creature with a human face and four pairs of wings—a hybrid of man and bird—appeared, struggling against the chains that bound its soul.

Zeke recognized the creature trapped within the cage.

“A Nephilim?”

A Nephilim, descendant of the celestial beings, was imprisoned inside.

At that moment, the man in the golden mask rose from his seat by the blood lake.