Episode 611
Zeke stared at the darkness on the screen and the presence whispering to him.
“A new king?”
The voice echoed again.
“Do not fear me. Just entrust everything to me.”
There was an inexplicable comfort in the voice that burrowed into his mind. Zeke felt an overwhelming urge to surrender everything and rely on that voice.
Just then, a message flashed before his eyes.
[Untrustworthy external access detected.]
[User’s mental defenses have partially collapsed.]
[For the user’s safety, access is being blocked.]
With the system’s intervention, the voice that had been ringing in Zeke’s ears vanished.
“What?”
Regaining his senses, Zeke realized he had been momentarily entranced by the voice from the screen.
“It broke through my mental defenses?”
Zeke’s mental fortitude was so strong that not even the Blood King Caligula or the Chaos God could penetrate it. The fact that this presence had breached his defenses with just a few words hinted at its immense power.
“Could it be…?”
Zeke’s expression shifted as he began to understand the identity of the presence shrouded in darkness.
The voice spoke again.
“We shall meet again soon, O King.”
With those words, the screen went dark, and Zeke finally opened his eyes.
“Zeke.”
He looked up to see Nigel standing before him, her expression filled with concern.
“Zeke? Are you alright?”
Feeling the reassuring grip of Nigel’s hand on his arm, Zeke nodded.
“Yes, I’m fine, Master.”
Relieved by his response, Nigel nodded. Nabu, who was standing nearby, let out a sigh of relief.
“Phew, that’s a relief. You just stood there silently for a few minutes, and I was starting to worry.”
Zeke raised an eyebrow at Nabu’s words.
“It felt much longer to me, but only a few minutes passed?”
The message from Chronos hadn’t been particularly special. Although the latter part was damaged, preventing him from fully understanding Chronos’s warning about the Demon King, Zeke was left with a strong impression of the presence that had interfered with Chronos’s message.
He had only encountered it briefly, but the chilling sensation lingered.
He speculated about the identity of the enigmatic presence hidden in the darkness.
“The Demon King.”
The source and pinnacle of all demonic power sealed within the Book of the Dead. He had seen it in the past, tempting Solomon, but this was his first direct encounter.
Zeke recalled how his mental defenses had momentarily crumbled under the Demon King’s whispers.
“The Demon King… It felt different from what I imagined, but dangerous in another way.”
Zeke turned his gaze to the firmly closed door. Shaking off the lingering image of the Demon King, he raised his hand toward the door.
Using the control authority he had received from Innocent, he opened the door.
[Opening the highest security area of the deep-sea city R’lyeh as per user’s command.]
With a rumbling sound, the door opened, and Nabu let out a soft exclamation.
“Wow! The door really opened.”
Spitting into his palm and rolling up his sleeves, he grinned.
“Now that I’ve regained some strength, it’s time to show them what we’re made of!”
Nigel clicked her tongue at Nabu’s enthusiasm.
“They’re the ones who interfered with the leader’s authority and opened the security area. If we act rashly, we might end up in trouble.”
Nabu scratched his head, taken aback by Nigel’s sharp words.
“Uh, that’s true. But we don’t really have any other options, do we? The leader’s already in that state.”
Nabu glanced at Guardian Innocent with a newfound expression. Though a homunculus following the legacy of the Great Sage, the leader had guided the Highlanders for over a thousand years. With the Highlanders’ focal point lost, the High Table was in chaos.
Nigel turned to Zeke and approached him.
“Zeke, lead us.”
Zeke’s face filled with surprise at Nigel’s words.
“What do you mean, Master?”
“Exactly what I said. The Highlanders have lost their leader. Regardless of his blind and distorted beliefs, he was the center of the Highlanders who protected the material world. In this situation, you’re the only one who can take his place.”
Nabu nodded in agreement with Nigel’s words.
“That’s right. You’re the one who received R’lyeh’s authority from the leader.”
Nabu looked at Manna and Ivan.
“There are only four of us left at the High Table. If we agree, you’ll become the leader of the Highlanders.”
Zeke looked at Nigel, Nabu, Manna, and Ivan. Manna also nodded in agreement with Nigel and Nabu.
Nabu turned to Ivan, who stood silently.
“Ivan, you agree too, right? We don’t have any other choice.”
Ivan slowly raised his head to look at Zeke and spoke.
“The leader once promised to help me eradicate all demonic beasts in the material world.”
Ivan had lost his family to demonic beasts centuries ago. Driven by revenge, he learned magic and how to hunt them. He lived with the sole purpose of eradicating all demonic beasts.
He met the leader when he was on the brink of death, fighting a demonic beast alone. The leader offered him a contract, and Ivan became a member of the High Table, hunting demonic beasts for centuries.
Ivan looked at Zeke and said, “Zeke Draker, if you make the same promise, I will follow your orders more faithfully than anyone.”
Unlike the other independent members of the High Table, Ivan was the most loyal to the leader. Though they had just met, Zeke could sense Ivan’s sincerity.
Zeke extended his hand toward Ivan.
A soft glow enveloped Ivan, and his severed arm regenerated.
Ivan stared in astonishment at his restored arm.
Zeke spoke to Ivan, “I will eradicate not only the demonic beasts but everything that disrupts the material world.”
Ivan could feel the truth in Zeke’s words.
He bowed his head to Zeke.
“I acknowledge and will follow you as the leader of the Highlanders.”
With Ivan’s agreement, the High Table unanimously recognized Zeke as the leader of the Highlanders.
Zeke addressed the High Table members before him.
“As Master said, Baron Draker and Harvey Draker are not opponents to be taken lightly.”
He turned to look inside the open door.
“But they don’t know I’ve received control authority over R’lyeh. We must exploit that.”
Nigel and the rest of the High Table nodded at Zeke’s words.
“I have a plan.”
Zeke’s eyes gleamed as he explained his plan to the High Table.
The last stronghold before reaching the capital of the Rom Empire, the fortress of Thermo.
The area around the fortress, which had been a battlefield not long ago, was eerily quiet.
Daria, the commander of the garrison at the fortress, climbed the walls of Thermo.
She approached Leo, who was standing on the wall, gazing at the horizon.
“Your Highness.”
At Daria’s call, Leo, the prince and commander of the fortress, spoke while looking beyond the walls.
“Commander.”
Daria stepped closer to Leo and said, “It seems the enemy won’t attack again. You should leave this place to us and return to Rom, Your Highness.”
The undead legion that had attacked Thermo Fortress had suddenly ceased their assault and vanished. This was due to Zeke forming an alliance with Beelzebub, the ruler of the Abyss in the demon realm, halting the undead legion’s attack.
With the Abyss collapsed and Jupiter liberated from Castro Pollock’s control, the continental alliance had gathered at Thermo Fortress, the last battlefield.
The alliance and the garrison defended the fortress, engaging in several battles with the undead legion, and soon the tide turned.
After the undead legion ceased their attack and disappeared, only remnants of the old imperial army and mercenary bands turned bandits remained to be dealt with.
Despite this, Leo couldn’t easily leave Thermo Fortress, standing guard daily in case other enemies appeared.
Daria sensed the true strength of a knight in Leo, not just the lip service of justice.
Leo, still gazing at the horizon, turned to Daria.
“Do you think the war is over, Commander?”
Daria shook her head at Leo’s question.
“No, I don’t. But with the enemy retreating, I don’t expect any more large-scale battles.”
Leo pondered for a moment before speaking again.
“I heard something unsettling during a recent communication with Karus.”
“Unsettling? What do you mean?”
Leo paused before continuing.
“Though the kingdoms are keeping it quiet… there’s talk of the black knights across the continent disappearing.”
Daria was taken aback by Leo’s words.
“The black knights disappearing? How could that be…?”
The Black Knights were formidable warriors, so powerful they were often referred to as a one-man army.
Every kingdom went to great lengths to protect and retain these knights. The number of Black Knights in each kingdom, their locations—such details were classified, known only to a select few.
For several Black Knights to suddenly vanish without a trace was no ordinary occurrence.
Leo spoke again, his voice grave. “According to Karus, while it’s not confirmed, the prevailing theory is that they’re being ambushed and killed.”
Daria’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Ambushed? A Black Knight? Who could possibly do such a thing?”
Attacking a Black Knight was akin to declaring war on an entire kingdom. To assassinate one, you’d have to breach tight security and face hundreds of knights and wizards first. Then, you’d need to strike the Black Knight without anyone noticing—a near-impossible feat.
Daria, having been trained in spear fighting by the Empire’s own Black Knight, Duke Crevan, knew well the extent of their power. Leo’s words were hard to accept.
Leo, too, furrowed his brow as he continued. “It’s impossible. But if it truly happened… it means something beyond our imagination is unfolding on this continent.”
Daria realized why Leo hadn’t left the Thermo Fortress, even though the war was supposedly over. Instinctively, he sensed that the conflict wasn’t truly over and that a greater threat loomed over the continent.
‘Who could attack the continent’s Black Knights and remain hidden? Who could possibly do such a thing?’ Daria felt a cold sweat trickle down her back.
Just then, a horn blared loudly, signaling an enemy attack.
Hearing the alarm, Leo swiftly climbed to the fortress’s watchtower. Gripping the railing, he strained his eyes to see beyond the horizon.
Something was approaching from the previously empty expanse.
‘What is that?’
The approaching force wasn’t the undead legion they had faced before. It was an entirely new kind of enemy advancing toward the fortress.
As they drew closer, their forms became clearer, and Leo’s eyes widened in shock.
He shouted to the soldiers below, “Beasts! These aren’t the ones we’ve fought before—new ones are coming!”
A cacophony of roars erupted as thousands of monstrous creatures charged toward Thermo Fortress.