Episode 564
As her voice rang out in a desperate cry, the nobles finally began to stagger backward, hastening their retreat.
But then, a low growl echoed from the front.
A chorus of monstrous roars filled the air. The dark sorcerers of the abyss had seized the chaos, launching their beasts into the heart of the allied forces’ camp.
A creature, resembling a tiger with the hide of a crocodile, bared its sharp teeth and claws, advancing slowly.
Knights from the Steel Order and the Silver Order, assigned by Kali, rushed to Helen’s side.
“Commander!”
“We’ll hold them off here! Fall back!”
The knights of the Steel and Silver Orders swung their swords at the oncoming beasts. Being from the esteemed Draker family, they were warriors of exceptional skill, surpassing even the violet rank.
Swoosh!
Their swords, imbued with aura, slashed toward the beasts. Yet, the mere aura-infused blades were insufficient to pierce the beasts’ tough hides.
Growl!
The beasts deflected the knights’ strikes with their armored skin, retaliating with ferocious swipes of their claws.
The Steel Order knights, equipped with sturdy defenses, managed to block the beasts’ attacks head-on. Then, the blue-ranked knights of Draker crafted aura blades and swung their swords once more.
Swoosh―
This time, the aura blades tore through the beasts’ hides, finally inflicting damage.
Roar!
The wounded beast let out a piercing scream, releasing a wave of dark energy. At the same time, sharp spikes erupted from its back.
Shriek!
As the knights flinched, the spikes shot out in all directions.
Thwack!
Sharper and more powerful than arrows, the spikes embedded themselves into the knights’ bodies.
“Ugh!”
Though they deflected the spikes with their swords, avoiding fatal hits, many spikes pierced through their Draker uniforms, lodging deep into their arms and legs. The tips seemed to be poisoned, as the wounds began to blacken.
Helen, who had been retreating, turned back upon seeing the knights immobilized by the spikes.
“Commander!”
Ignoring the calls of the other knights, Helen raised her Dragon Buster once more.
Vroom!
Clad in her steel armor, Helen swung her Dragon Buster at the beasts.
Boom!
Her powerful strike, fueled by her iron will, flew toward the beasts attacking the knights.
Crash!
The beasts, struck by Helen’s iron-clad attack, crumpled to the ground, their tough hides crushed.
Taking advantage of the opening Helen created, the knights began to retreat.
However, the poison on the beasts’ spikes was no ordinary toxin. Soon, some knights, severely poisoned, collapsed, black blood oozing from their noses and mouths.
Realizing the dire state of the knights, Helen gripped her Dragon Buster tightly once more.
‘I must hold them off until the knights can retreat.’
And then, it happened.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
A beast, several times larger than those attacking the main camp, emerged. It was a monstrous fusion of tiger and crocodile, a formidable threat even to the Draker knights.
Yet, Helen stood her ground, unwavering before the colossal beast.
Growl―
The beast charged at Helen, its massive body in motion.
Boom!
Its gigantic tail came crashing down toward Helen’s head.
Helen swung her Dragon Buster at the descending tail.
Crash!
Her aura-infused strike deflected the beast’s tail. Without hesitation, she advanced, launching a series of attacks at the beast.
Thud―
Her iron will struck the beast’s side like a massive hammer.
Boom!
Unable to withstand the impact, the beast rolled to the side, raising a cloud of dust that obscured the view.
As Helen prepared for another attack, the beast, surprisingly stealthy for its size, moved within the dust cloud.
Realizing she had lost sight of the beast, Helen was taken aback.
‘It’s targeting the knights?’
The beast had bypassed Helen, aiming for the knights struck by the spikes.
Shriek!
The knights, retreating to the rear, were startled by the sudden appearance of the giant beast.
‘Damn it!’
But then, a beam of light descended.
Boom!
A bolt of light struck the beast charging at the knights.
Roar!
The beast’s roar echoed across the battlefield. At the same time, a warm golden light enveloped the injured knights.
“What is this?”
The poison was purified, and their wounds began to heal rapidly.
The knights of the Silver and Steel Orders knew well who was behind this miracle.
“The Knight of Salvation!”
“Sir Zeke!”
Rumble!
Zeke emerged from the dust, cloaked in shadows.
A sharp, tearing sound emanated from his sword, as if the very fabric of space was splitting.
He swung his sword at the massive beast and those behind it.
Swoosh―
With a single stroke, the beasts were sliced cleanly, their bodies falling to the ground like paper.
As everyone gaped at the incredible sight, Zeke’s shadow rose, engulfing the fallen beasts.
The remaining beasts, witnessing their vanguard vanish, hesitated and began to retreat.
For creatures driven solely by the instinct to destroy, retreating was unheard of. Yet, even they sensed the formidable presence of Zeke.
Zeke approached the panting Helen, placing a hand on her shoulder.
“Sister Helen.”
Golden light flowed into her, healing her wounds and fully restoring her strength and aura.
Helen finally caught her breath.
Zeke spoke to her.
“I’ll handle things here. Please, go to the rear and lead the allied forces.”
The supreme commander of the Central Continent’s allied forces was Helen, not Zeke. It was her role to restore order amidst the chaos.
Aware of this, Helen hesitated briefly before nodding.
”…I’ll return as soon as the lines are reorganized.”
“Don’t worry about this place, sister.”
With those words, Zeke’s shadow released golem knights and shadow spirits.
Swoosh―
In an instant, a formidable army formed around Zeke.
Helen’s eyes widened at the sight. Though younger, Zeke had grown beyond her reach. Watching him with a mix of emotions, Helen nodded.
“Then, I leave it to you.”
Leading the recovered knights, she retreated to the rear.
Once Helen was safely away, Zeke, his eyes glowing with golden light, commanded his summoned forces.
“Take them all down.”
While the beasts attacked the allied camp, not far from there, the Dracul Knights lay in wait, hidden.
Among them, the Red King, clad in crimson armor, sat cross-legged on a rock.
A message from the dark sorcerers reached his ears.
[Zeke Draker has appeared.]
After the fall of the abyss’s headquarters and the disappearance of their priest, the dark sorcerers sought survival.
For now, aligning with Jupiter seemed the most rational choice, as they had no time to seek other allies.
However, Jupiter’s leader, Castro Pollock, was a concern. The sorcerers, sensitive to survival, doubted whether the speciesist Castro would fully accept them.
Thus, they turned to Count Vlad, the Red King, instead of Castro Pollock.
Though a figure of terror, Count Vlad was a staunch meritocrat and rationalist.
When the dark sorcerers approached him, his first question was what they could offer.
The sorcerers wielded magic that was both unclean and effective, beyond the reach of ordinary mages.
Recognizing their potential, the Red King decided to take them in, believing they would be useful for his plans.
Since then, the sorcerers had stayed close to Castro Pollock, reporting his every move to Count Vlad.
With this information, Count Vlad assessed Castro’s character and devised the most effective strategies.
In his view, the greatest threat in a siege was an incompetent leader.
Though Castro Pollock was one of the Thirteen Constellations, his noble upbringing left him ill-suited for the brutal realities of war.
If the Count had been the sole commander, he wouldn’t have had to go through all this trouble. But since Jupiter was under Castro’s control, he had no choice but to endure the cumbersome process.
He could have openly challenged Castro Pollock and taken the position for himself, but the situation at Jupiter Castle lacked the necessary justification. Attacking Castro Pollock under these circumstances would have been a clumsy move, so Count Vlad opted for a strategy that would provide a more solid pretext.
In the end, a siege was a battle of wills.
Every tiny factor could accumulate to change the outcome, so he carefully orchestrated his moves, maneuvering the battlefield with precision.
Count Vlad had one clear objective in this war.
“The Knight of Salvation. Zeke Draker.”
If he couldn’t capture him, it wouldn’t matter how well he defended the castle.
Count Vlad was well aware that Zeke Draker’s abilities far surpassed those of an ordinary knight.
As he sat cross-legged, organizing his thoughts, the Count slowly rose to his feet.
He gestured towards the Dracul Knights.
Having set the trap to capture Zeke Draker, it was time to begin the hunt in earnest.
Crack!
Zeke snapped the necks of the approaching beasts using shadows and absorbed them.
“Seems like things are under control.”
Zeke continued to extend his senses, trying to pinpoint where the enemy king would emerge.
Castro Pollock, who pretended to be a gentleman but was actually a petty man, was not fit to lead a siege of this scale.
Ultimately, Castro was bound to be devoured by the enemy king.
Accepting a monster he couldn’t handle into Jupiter Castle was a grave mistake from the start.
Meanwhile, Zeke’s summoned creatures had hunted down all the beasts, securing the allied forces’ main camp once more.
He looked at the collapsed barricades and invoked a spell.
“Raise the wall.”
Rumble!
As the spell took effect, the ground where the barricades once stood rose up.
A massive earthen wall formed, thicker and sturdier than the previous defenses.
A moat was dug below, making it difficult for even the swiftest soldiers to approach easily.
Zeke turned his gaze towards the distant Jupiter Castle.
“Conquering that castle is the key to ending this war.”
With his current divine power, Zeke could bring down the walls of Jupiter Castle with a single strike.
However, he hesitated to act rashly due to the constraints of karma.
As one who defied fate, Zeke was free from the restrictions of karma, but the repercussions still lingered.
Unlike other high tables, he wouldn’t be whisked away to a utopian realm for surpassing those limits, but the disruption of causality could invite beings from the demon or celestial realms to descend into the mortal world.
“If they descend directly, things will get more complicated.”
Since he hadn’t yet perfected his divine power to confront them, Zeke had to be cautious about when to exert his strength.
Just as he nearly finished reconstructing the allied forces’ camp, something caught Zeke’s senses.
“What is this?”
He was startled because the energy he sensed from afar was unmistakably that of a dragon.
Having never encountered a living dragon aside from Hades, Zeke was taken aback by the sudden presence of dragon energy.
He instructed his summoned creatures to guard the camp and took to the air, flying towards the source of the dragon’s energy.
Boom!
The dragon’s energy emanated from a valley not far from the allied camp.
The fact that such energy was flowing from a narrow, deep valley screamed trap.
“Even if it’s a trap, if there’s a living dragon, I must find it.”
Dragons were significant as the arbiters of the mortal realm.
With eyes gleaming, Zeke followed the trail of dragon energy into the valley.