Episode 510

Whoosh!

Ignis’s flames roared down the corridor, incinerating the monstrous beings that filled it.

Zeke watched the ashes scatter with a satisfied smile.

But then, a voice interrupted his thoughts.

[It seems our time is up.]

Zeke could only summon the high-level spirit when he polymorphed into an elf. Once the polymorph’s time limit expired, the spirit would inevitably be dismissed.

“So, summoning a spirit affects the duration of the polymorph,” Zeke mused.

Ignis turned to him, offering a word of caution.

[Contractor, the power of chaos is dangerous. It’s best not to get too close.]

“Understood. Thanks for your help, Ignis.”

With a soft rustle, Ignis vanished, and Zeke reverted from his elf form back to his human self.

“Knowing we can use the spirits’ power against these outsiders is a significant advantage.”

The elves of Ishtar, including Yellin, could summon spirits, which meant they could potentially counter the outsiders with their help.

Just then, Raven, perched on Zeke’s shoulder, took to the air and let out a piercing cry.

Rumble—

Zeke turned his gaze forward. Something different, something more menacing than the creatures they’d just faced, was approaching.

‘This presence…’

A knight clad in armor, exuding a familiar demonic aura, emerged.

Clang—

Around the knight, countless sharp metal shards floated ominously.

Zeke realized that a bloodline ability user had been possessed by a demon.

‘Telekinesis? Or perhaps a magnetic ability?’

As he tried to discern the nature of the power, the metal shards suddenly launched toward him.

Clatter—

Zeke quickly donned his Hershion and summoned his Shadow Armor.

Crackle—

The shards bounced off the solid shadow shield, unable to penetrate.

With his black shield raised, Zeke charged directly at the demon-possessed knight.

Boom—

The shards attacked with ferocity, but they couldn’t pierce the tightly wrapped Shadow Armor.

Protected by the armor, Zeke barreled forward, his shield sending the knight flying.

Crash—

The knight slammed into the wall, but soon began to rise again.

At that moment, Zeke enveloped his Levatein in Shadow Armor, forming a massive hammer.

Whoosh—

The hammer came crashing down on the knight pinned against the wall.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Zeke relentlessly pounded the knight with the hammer.

After several strikes, the floating metal shards clattered to the ground.

Only then did Zeke release the hammer and inspect the knight buried in the wall.

Creak—

The knight, not yet dead, tried to rise, but Zeke swiftly ensnared him with shadows.

“Stay down.”

Approaching the subdued knight, Zeke extended his hand and invoked the Wisdom of the Dragon.

Zap—

Information surged into Zeke’s mind as he read the memories of the demon-possessed bloodline user.

He saw fragmented memories of being captured by the Nostra family due to his bloodline abilities, imprisoned, and then sent to a laboratory.

In the lab, he underwent possession experiments by demons until a masked man brought him here.

The masked man was the Nostra family’s boss.

‘So, he really is here.’

The Nostra family was a mafia deeply rooted in the empire.

Various intelligence agencies, including Draker’s Black Stage, had long sought to uncover the identity of the Nostra family’s boss.

The empire’s intelligence agency was particularly vigilant, as the Nostra family influenced kingdoms centered around the empire.

Yet, even during the reign of the mad emperor, they failed to uncover the truth.

It was no wonder, as the boss was hidden beneath the royal palace of the Thebea Kingdom.

Zeke speculated that the boss created the mafia to conceal himself, needing minions to act on his behalf.

The bloodline user, whose memories Zeke had read, trembled violently.

Groan—

The demon, unable to endure, seemed to be leaving the host’s body.

Black smoke billowed from the knight’s helmet.

In that instant, Zeke’s shadow enveloped the smoke, devouring the demon’s soul.

Sizzle—

Absorbing the demon’s soul restored Zeke’s mana and stamina.

However, it seemed to be a low-level demon, as no new powers or skills emerged.

Crack—

With the demon’s soul gone, the knight’s body slumped, and the helmet clattered to the ground.

Beneath the helmet was a lifeless, mummified face, drained of all vitality.

Zeke clicked his tongue and incinerated the bloodline user’s corpse with pure flames.

‘He didn’t choose this fate… just another pitiful victim of the Nostra family’s cruel experiments.’

Watching the ashes scatter, Zeke clenched his teeth at the Nostra family’s wickedness.

Just then, a voice broke the silence.

“Ha… you’re quite the nuisance, aren’t you?”

Zeke turned to see a masked man in a suit standing across from him.

The Nostra family’s boss had finally revealed himself.

Without hesitation, Zeke swung his sword at the man.

Slash—

The Astral Sword, guided by Zeke’s will, sliced through the boss’s body.

It was the same technique Arthur Draker had once demonstrated to Zeke, allowing him to unleash powerful strikes at will.

Swoosh—

The boss’s body turned translucent, letting Zeke’s attack pass harmlessly through.

In an instant, he vanished and reappeared behind Zeke, unleashing a powerful telekinetic force.

Crack—

Zeke countered with a field of gravitational force.

The telekinetic pressure clashed with the gravitational field, creating a fierce backlash.

Rumble—

The intense backlash threatened to collapse the underground labyrinth of the royal palace.

“Tch!”

The boss retreated first.

Reappearing behind Zeke, the boss spoke.

“Why do you keep following me? It’s infuriating.”

Zeke pointed Levatein at the boss and replied.

“Hand over Abel Draker.”

The boss floated into the air, responding with a sneer.

“Do you have any idea how much trouble your cursed dagger caused me?”

Rumble—

Another bloodline ability surged from the boss’s body.

He looked at Zeke and declared.

“It seems I have no choice. I’ll kill you today, no matter what.”

Snap!

With a snap of his fingers, the surroundings began to change.

Sizzle—

The underground labyrinth transformed into a barren desert filled with gray sand.

‘Where is this?’

Zeke scanned the area with sharp eyes. It seemed too real to be an illusion.

The boss floated higher, speaking with confidence.

“Here, I can use my powers to the fullest.”

Rumble—

A massive wave of energy radiated from the boss.

Zeke realized this wasn’t the underground labyrinth. The boss had moved them to a different location to avoid collapsing the palace.

Suddenly, a colossal wave erupted from the boss’s body.

Screech—

A deafening roar accompanied the wave, enveloping Zeke.

Crash—

The wave tore at his flesh and bones, boiling his blood.

Red steam rose from Zeke’s body as his blood evaporated.

‘Gah!’

Even with his passive healing factor, the pain was nearly unbearable.

But Zeke’s body, having reached the Grandmaster level and absorbed an Elder Dragon’s heart, wouldn’t break so easily.

Enduring the pain, Zeke pressed forward.

The boss, seeing this, shouted in disbelief.

“You insane… Zeke Draker! What are you?”

Zeke, pushing through the storm of waves, shouted back.

“You said we could use our powers freely! That goes for me too!”

With effort, Zeke raised his sword and summoned the Elemental Sword.

Rumble—

A powerful wind field erupted from his blade.

Crash—

The Elemental Sword, usually restrained to avoid harming allies, was unleashed in full force.

In this space created by the boss, Zeke could wield his power without restraint.

Rumble—

The massive storm of wind consumed the boss’s wave.

Boom—

The crime boss staggered back, eyes wide with shock as the storm Zeke had summoned threatened to consume the very space around them.

“Damn it! My barrier!”

The storm tore through the boss’s carefully crafted dimension, growing ever larger and more ferocious.

Zeke wasn’t about to let up. He poured even more energy into the maelstrom.

“Come on, show me what that fancy bloodline power of yours can really do!”

The boss tried to counter the storm with other abilities, but it was clear that neutralizing a natural disaster of this magnitude was beyond him. In the end, he had no choice but to dismantle his own barrier.

Crack—crack—

The space around them fractured like a shattered window, collapsing into pieces.

With a final surge, Zeke’s storm obliterated the boss’s barrier, and the two found themselves back in the original underground labyrinth.

The boss, exasperated, pointed a trembling finger at Zeke.

“You… what the hell have you done…?”

But before he could finish, a shadow leapt from behind, wrapping around him.

Swish—

The boss struggled against the shadow’s grip, cursing under his breath.

“Damn it!”

He attempted to teleport away, but Zeke had already anticipated this, using a spell to block any spatial movement.

“Finally caught you,” Zeke said, as the shadow dragged the boss toward him.

Zeke studied the boss, a hint of curiosity in his eyes. “I knew something was off. When I captured you before and tried to read your memories, there was nothing coherent. It was like trying to piece together a book that had been torn to shreds.”

Zeke recalled the last time they clashed, when he had used the Dragon’s Wisdom to delve into the boss’s mind. The flood of information had been overwhelming, and he had hoped to find some clue within it. But when he tried to analyze it later, he found it impossible to decipher.

At first, he thought the data was encrypted, but it wasn’t that. It was just fragmented, incomplete.

Zeke leaned in close, his voice low. “I wondered why all I got was broken, incomplete information. Now I understand.”

He whispered into the boss’s ear, “Six yet one. One yet six.”

The boss shuddered violently at Zeke’s words.

“The exiled princes became one through the power of chaos, cursed to exist as a single entity. But they were never truly one. It only appeared that way.”

Rumble—

A massive energy surged from the boss, causing the shadow holding him to waver. Zeke extended his hand, using the power of gravity to pin the boss down.

Crack—

The gravitational force was too much, and the boss was once again restrained.

“With six souls merged into one, it’s no wonder I couldn’t get any real information from just one of your avatars.”

Zeke placed a hand on the boss’s head, applying pressure.

Crack—

The mask covering the boss’s face began to fracture.

“I thought the mask was changing, but now I see it wasn’t that.”

Crack—

Zeke’s hand pressed deeper.

“It wasn’t the mask that changed… it was your entire avatar.”

With a final push, the boss’s head burst open, but instead of blood and brains, fragments of bloodstone spilled out.

“Bloodstone… so that’s how you were moving around, possessed by a spirit.”

Zeke recalled a similar structure in the secret weapon of Siemens, an adversary he had faced before.

Just then, a slow clap echoed through the chamber.

Clap, clap, clap—

Zeke turned to see another version of the crime boss approaching, applauding as he walked.