Episode 624
CRACK!
A thick tentacle, armed with sharp, hook-like claws, burst through Harvey Draker’s chest.
CRUNCH―
The claws shattered his ribcage, emerging violently from within.
Harvey Draker looked down in horror at the grotesque appendage protruding from his body, blood trickling from his mouth.
“What… is this?”
He lifted his gaze to meet Baron’s eyes.
Baron spoke with solemnity, “A glorious day is upon us. A new humanity will usher in a new era!”
ROAR!
In response to Baron’s proclamation, the monstrous gate let out a long, eerie wail.
Dark energy began to seep from the gate, a sinister mix of otherworldly power and twisted fate spreading throughout the chamber.
The chained sorcerers absorbed this malevolent energy, their mask’s black eye sockets flaring with a crimson glow.
CRACKLE!
They began chanting ominously once more.
To everyone’s shock, the chains binding their souls started to transform.
HISS―
The chains, once coiled around the sorcerers, turned black and morphed into horrifying tentacles.
SLASH!
The magic circle, meticulously prepared by Nabu, was consumed by the dark energy from the gate, transforming into a swamp that summoned more tentacles.
Even the chains meant to bind Baron turned into tentacles, reversing the situation entirely.
Baron shouted to the sorcerers, “Awaken! The purest Draker blood will be the key to a new age!”
The tentacles, emerging from the ground, slithered toward the bloodied Harvey Draker.
They wrapped around his arms and legs, then began to envelop the tentacle protruding from his chest, growing in size.
CRACK―
The tentacle from Harvey Draker’s chest swelled ominously.
“Argh!”
Harvey Draker screamed in agony, desperately trying to tear the tentacle from his body.
But he soon realized it was impossible.
‘The dragon’s heart.’
To his shock, the tentacle was connected to the dragon’s heart that Arthur Draker had implanted in him.
Removing the tentacle would also extract the dragon’s heart, making it impossible for Harvey Draker to maintain his form in the physical realm.
Gritting his teeth, he stared at the monstrous tentacle sprouting from his heart.
‘Was this all part of Arthur Draker’s plan?’
From the very beginning, giving him the dragon’s heart was a step in this elaborate scheme.
As Harvey Draker pieced together Arthur Draker’s intentions, Zeke, having defeated the monsters summoned by Baron, flew toward him with his sword raised.
Zeke unleashed a powerful strike aimed at the tentacle-ridden Harvey Draker.
SLASH!
The crescent-shaped attack flew toward him.
But the tentacle, emerging from his split chest, moved swiftly, its sharp claws shattering Zeke’s attack.
“Ugh!”
As the tentacle moved, Harvey Draker coughed up blood, groaning in pain.
The tentacles swelled further, completely enveloping his body.
They twisted around his limbs, forming a grotesque armor.
The tentacles gathered, creating a new form, with Harvey Draker’s head positioned at the center of his chest, and a monstrous head emerging above it.
GROWL―
Zeke looked at Harvey Draker, now consumed by the tentacle, and thought, ‘What a horrifying sight.’
It was as if he was witnessing an angel corrupted by otherworldly power.
The monstrous angel, now fully encasing Harvey Draker, turned its head.
It faced Baron, who stood before the altar-like gate, surrounded by chanting sorcerers.
The monstrous angel began to respond to their incantations, moving toward the gate.
RUMBLE!
The dark, unholy power from the gate flowed into the monstrous angel.
Zeke clenched his teeth at the ominous energy emanating from them.
Watching from below, Mana and Ivan erected a barrier to counter the eerie incantations.
But even they couldn’t stop the black blood from trickling from their noses and mouths.
The incantations alone were enough to damage their souls, making it impossible for even the High Table to endure for long.
Seeing this, Zeke donned Theia’s armor, grasped Ascalon, and unleashed a powerful resonance.
WHIRR―
The amplified resonance, powered by orichalcum, created waves that partially blocked the sorcerers’ blasphemous chants.
Finally, Mana and Ivan managed to maintain their barrier with more ease.
‘We must find the Book of the Dead and escape this place as soon as possible.’
Zeke awaited a signal from Nabu and Nigel, who were searching for the Book of the Dead.
Once they found it, they planned to escape through Hercules, waiting outside, and seal the space entirely.
By closing the unique space, Baron and Harvey Draker would be trapped here forever, unable to escape, so Zeke continued to buy time.
However, finding the true location of the Book of the Dead was taking longer than expected.
The Absolute Compass and the power of the All-Seeing Eye indicated that the Book of the Dead was here.
Thanks to this, Zeke and his companions arrived before Baron, but they still hadn’t found the book.
Then, a thought crossed Zeke’s mind.
‘Could we have been thinking about this all wrong?’
Both he and Baron assumed the “Book of the Dead” would be in the form of a book.
But as the owner of the Kabbalah system, Zeke knew that knowledge didn’t have to be recorded in book form.
With this realization, Zeke spoke to the system.
‘System, check if there’s a secure archive here.’
The system began searching for the presence of a secure archive.
Moments later, a message appeared.
[Secure archive located.]
[Access is restricted by top-level security.]
[An authentication key is required for access.]
As Zeke suspected, the Book of the Dead wasn’t in book form.
‘It’s stored as karma data, embedded within this very space.’
The secure archive of Terracan Draker was similarly stored as karma data within the academy’s space.
The Book of the Dead existed here in a similar manner.
‘An authentication key.’
Zeke pondered for a moment, then made a decision as he watched Baron continue to feed the monstrous angel with ominous power.
“Innocent. Come forth.”
The guardian, Innocent, created from a fragment of the Great Sage’s spirit and his homunculus, was summoned.
HISS―
Emerging from Zeke’s shadow, Guardian Innocent bowed to him.
“Innocent, access the secure archive and disable the security.”
As a guardian created from the Great Sage’s spirit, he was essentially the authentication key for accessing the secure archive.
At Zeke’s command, Innocent raised his staff.
A faint light flickered at the tip of the staff.
HUM!
With a subtle vibration, the light shot up to the ceiling of the chamber.
A message appeared before Zeke’s eyes once more.
[Accessing the secure system with the authentication key engraved in Guardian Innocent’s soul.]
[Security can be disabled. Would you like to proceed?]
Zeke took a deep breath and selected to disable the security.
[Security for the secure archive has been disabled.]
[A portion of the Great Sage’s sealed unique space, the ‘Infinite Library,’ is revealed.]
RUMBLE!
With the message confirming the security was disabled, the entire chamber began to tremble.
Something started to rise from the chamber floor.
CRASH!
Astonishingly, bookshelves were emerging from the floor and walls.
RUMBLE!
Hundreds, thousands of shelves rose, quickly filling the vast chamber.
At that moment, something flew rapidly toward Zeke.
“Zeke!”
Nabu and Nigel, riding a flying carpet, were dodging the towering bookshelves as they approached.
Nabu shouted to Zeke, “We were searching for the Book of the Dead, but what on earth is happening here?”
Zeke replied to Nabu, “The Book of the Dead doesn’t exist as a book.”
Nabu’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Not a book? Then how… Ah! Could it be?”
As a sage familiar with karma, Nabu quickly understood Zeke’s words.
Zeke explained to Nabu, “I’ve unlocked the Great Sage’s library. Within it, there should be a medium containing the Demon King’s power, stored as karma data.”
Nabu looked at Zeke, bewildered.
“One challenge after another. How are we supposed to find that…?”
WHIRR―
Before Nabu could finish, a strange sound echoed throughout the chamber.
The source of the sound was none other than where Baron and the monstrous sorcerers stood.
The gate responded to their incantations, its maw opening wide.
Baron shouted from the front, “The key to a new era! Demon King, answer the call of the divine!”
The dark energy emanating from the gate began to coil around the towering bookshelves.
As if coming to life, the shelves shifted and moved, aligning themselves like pieces of a puzzle.
Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap!
In no time, the shelves formed a spiral, creating a massive void at their center.
Zeke felt a chill run down his spine as he sensed the power flowing from the void.
“That is…”
It was the same irresistible force that had once tempted King Solomon, now emanating from the depths of that hole.
At that moment, the chanting of the dark sorcerers grew louder.
Baron shouted toward the void, “Power of the sealed Demon King! We have prepared a new vessel for you! Descend upon this place!”
Floating above the gate was a grotesque angelic figure, within which resided Harvey Draker, the sacrificial vessel meticulously prepared by Arthur.
A clone of the purest Draker ancestor, bearing the heart of a dragon. A being destined to be a savior, yet corrupted by the most malevolent force.
Harvey Draker was the perfect vessel for the Demon King.
Arthur Draker had rescued Harvey, implanted a dragon’s heart within him, and sowed a seed of ominous power—all for this very moment.
Zeke finally realized that Arthur’s true goal was not him, but to infuse Harvey Draker with the Demon King’s power.
“Arthur plans to inject the Demon King’s power into Harvey and then absorb it using the power of the malevolent god.”
Arthur had taken Ramon Jimenez’s plan, who had been consumed by the malevolent god, and twisted it into something even more sinister and cunning.
“I must stop the Demon King’s power from taking root in Harvey Draker’s body.”
Zeke turned to the Guardian, Innocent, and commanded, “Innocent! Activate the library’s security system and stop them!”
Innocent raised his staff in response to Zeke’s order.
Vrrrrr!
A vibration resonated from the staff.
The books within the library began to glow, reacting to Innocent’s staff.
[The unique space of the Great Sage, ‘Infinite Library,’ responds to Innocent’s power.]
As Innocent attempted to harness the power of the Infinite Library, the sorcerers’ chanting intensified.
Another message appeared.
[A sinister aura fills the space.]
[Due to the corrupted energy, the unique space ‘Infinite Library’ cannot be accessed.]
[Innocent’s soul is insufficient to wield the ‘Infinite Library.’]
The Demon King’s power lingering in the space, combined with the unholy energy conjured by Baron and the sorcerers, seemed to block the library’s functions.
“The Demon King’s power… even just a trace of it is this overwhelming.”
Zeke was struck anew by the sheer malevolence of the Demon King’s power sealed within the library.
And then it happened.
“Demon King! Cast off the shackles of your seal and descend into the prepared vessel!”
Baron’s voice echoed throughout the library.
Roooooar!
A colossal roar erupted from the void at the end of the spiral shelves, reverberating through the entire space.