Episode 645
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
It felt as if he was being sucked into a dark tunnel in an instant.
“Ugh!”
Zeke felt dizzy, as if he might lose consciousness. But thanks to his unique power, he managed to stay awake.
Soon, the dark tunnel ended, and his vision was flooded with light. Zeke opened his eyes again.
“Rex.”
Back in the body of Rex Thurn, Zeke was startled to see the person standing before him.
“Mother?”
Laura Agamemnon was looking at him with a worried expression.
“How is she here?”
Rex, equally surprised, looked at Laura and spoke.
“Laura? What is going on…?”
Looking around, it seemed they were at the campsite they had set up before entering the dungeon. The teleportation scroll Ramon had activated had brought them here.
“Ugh.”
Rex realized his body was wrapped in bandages. There wasn’t a part of him that didn’t ache.
He turned to Laura and asked, “What happened…?”
Just then, Ramon appeared, carrying a bundle of dry twigs from the forest.
“I called Laura.”
He set the twigs down and approached Rex.
“The scroll I used was given to me by Laura, just in case. I chose the destination, but I never thought we’d actually need it. She saved our lives.”
Hearing this, Rex tried to sit up.
“Ugh…”
Laura gently supported him as he struggled to rise.
“I’ve healed you a bit, but you’re not fully recovered. You should rest a little longer.”
The injuries from the dungeon seemed to have worsened during the teleportation.
As Rex tried to gather himself, a sudden thought struck him, and he shouted, “Arthur!”
The image of Arthur, pierced through the heart by an unknown beast, flashed vividly in his mind.
He looked at Ramon, but Ramon remained silent, sitting on a nearby rock.
Laura spoke to Rex, “As soon as Ramon contacted me, I came here. It’s been two days since you left the dungeon. But… Arthur hasn’t come out yet.”
Laura’s words made Rex force himself up again. Ramon quickly moved to stop him, but Rex pushed away his helping hand.
Rex glared at Ramon and said, “Arthur is still in there. We have to go get him.”
Ramon furrowed his brow and replied, “Rex, Arthur is dead.”
Ramon’s definitive statement about Arthur’s death made Rex jump to his feet.
“Arthur’s not the kind to die so easily!”
He was stubborn, infuriatingly so, and only cared about swords, but Arthur was their dear friend. He was the kind of guy who would give strange daggers as birthday gifts, yet never missed celebrating his friends’ birthdays.
Even Laura, who didn’t always get along with Arthur, would join him on dungeon expeditions, despite her complaints. They had fought recently, vowing never to team up again, but it was something that would eventually blow over.
Despite his awkwardness, they knew Arthur genuinely cared for them as friends.
That’s why Rex couldn’t accept Arthur’s death. Even if he was dead, he couldn’t leave his body in the dungeon.
But Ramon was different.
“Think rationally, Rex. The creature killed Arthur in one blow. What can we do in our condition?”
Ramon, ever the logical thinker, assessed the situation calmly.
Rex understood this in his head, but his heart refused to accept it.
“Arthur can’t be dead. He must be pretending to fool the beast. He’s waiting for us to rescue him somewhere in the dungeon.”
Determined, he tried to find his sword.
Seeing this, Ramon shouted, “You fool!”
Ramon pushed Rex back down, preventing him from getting up, and raised his voice.
“If you go, you’ll die too! Is that what Arthur would want?”
Ramon’s voice trembled with emotion as he glared at Rex, his fists clenched tightly.
Rex slowly lowered his head.
“Ramon…”
He knew Arthur was likely dead and that he was being stubborn. But he couldn’t just sit and do nothing.
Then Laura, who had been silent, spoke up.
“Ramon, we should inform the Draker family about the situation. Even if Arthur is… gone, we need to recover his body.”
Ramon paused, then sat down on a nearby rock, his strength leaving him.
After a moment of silence, he spoke slowly.
“The Drakers won’t act just because we tell them.”
Rex and Laura were taken aback by his words.
Laura asked, “What do you mean? Arthur is a direct descendant of the Drakers. Why wouldn’t they act?”
Ramon lifted his head and continued.
“Arthur is a direct descendant, yes. But… that’s precisely the problem.”
Rex’s eyes widened as if he realized something.
“Are you talking about the Draker succession race?”
Ramon nodded slowly.
Arthur Draker was a direct descendant, but not the only one. In fact, he had many siblings.
In the Draker family, the power of the maternal family was crucial for gaining influence in the succession race.
The current head of the Draker family had married into various families, both large and strategically important, to strengthen their position.
As a result, the Draker family had grown significantly, becoming a central power in Midland, far removed from its past as a vassal of the Agamemnon family.
This made the competition for the next head of the Draker family fierce.
Arthur Draker, despite being a direct descendant with exceptional talent, lacked strong maternal family support.
More accurately, his maternal family was a merchant family, not a noble one, which had amassed wealth by supplying military goods to the Drakers.
The current head of the Drakers had married the daughter of this merchant family as his fourth wife, disregarding their status.
Arthur was born from this union, but the merchant family was later dismantled due to various scandals, including accounting fraud.
While this was kept quiet, it was known within the family that the current head had orchestrated these events.
The merchant family’s assets flowed into the Drakers, leaving Arthur with the stigma of being from a disgraced merchant lineage and without any support.
Had he not been a direct descendant or lacked talent with the sword, he might have been expelled from the Draker family.
Ramon shared Arthur’s situation with his friends.
Laura, unaware of these details, now understood why Arthur was so guarded.
Ramon continued, “The Draker council always saw Arthur as a threat. His talent overshadowed the most likely candidate for head of the family.”
The Draker family had a principle that the most capable person should inherit the leadership.
While the eldest son held the most power, Arthur’s talent was undeniable.
Becoming a Blue Knight and mastering the Aura Blade in his twenties was unprecedented, even in the Draker family, known for its aura blessings.
This made the Drakers wary of Arthur.
“Arthur’s reckless dungeon explorations were likely a way to escape the family’s scrutiny. But… the Drakers used that against him.”
Ramon added his thoughts, and Rex’s eyes changed.
“Ramon, do you think the Drakers lured Arthur here?”
Ramon’s expression hardened at Rex’s question.
Laura, shocked, looked at Ramon.
“Even the Drakers wouldn’t trap a direct descendant, would they? How could they…?”
The Drakers’ ruthless tactics left Laura feeling faint.
When her family was cursed and nearly destroyed, the Drakers had betrayed them, seizing the position of Midland’s ruler.
She knew the Drakers were ruthless, but she hadn’t imagined they’d use such tactics against their own bloodline.
Ramon addressed Rex and Laura.
“Listen carefully. What I said is just a theory. But if it’s true…”
He swallowed hard.
“We must keep Arthur’s death a secret. Otherwise, the Drakers might come after us too…”
“Keep it a secret.”
A familiar voice interrupted from behind.
Ramon, Rex, and Laura turned in shock.
Rex, despite his injuries, jumped up.
“Arthur!”
To their astonishment, Arthur Draker, whom they thought dead, was alive and well.
He walked slowly towards them.
Step by step, Arthur’s approach made Ramon’s face turn pale.
Inside the cave, the magical lantern cast a bright light on Arthur Draker’s face.
In that moment, Laura felt something unsettling about the man who had returned from the dead.
“What is it?”
His appearance was the same, but the aura he exuded was different.
It was as if a powerful entity had been compressed into the shell of Arthur Draker.
Rex, seemingly oblivious to this change, approached Arthur and clapped him on the shoulder with familiarity.
“Arthur! My God, I thought you were dead!”
Seeing Arthur alive brought tears to Rex’s eyes, tears he hadn’t realized he was holding back.
To his surprise, Arthur smiled and responded warmly.
“Rex, my loyal friend. Thank you for worrying about me. But there’s no need to anymore. As you can see, I’m perfectly fine.”
The old Arthur had been a man of few words, often curt and to the point.
Yet now, he spoke with an eloquence and charm that seemed almost theatrical, as if he were comforting Rex instead.
Rex, overwhelmed with joy at his friend’s survival, failed to notice the change.
Then Arthur turned his gaze to Laura.
“Laura, did you come all this way for us? Thank you. It’s late, but I owe you my gratitude.”
Unlike Rex, Laura was taken aback by Arthur Draker’s sudden change in demeanor.
The old Arthur had been irritating and unpleasant, but he had his human moments.
Now, there was something disturbingly off-putting about him.
“What is this? Arthur’s back, but something feels wrong.”
Instinctively, she felt a deep-seated aversion to him.
Even though Laura remained silent, her expression complex, Arthur merely smiled at her and turned away.
He then slowly approached Ramon.
“Ramon, thanks to your quick thinking, we all survived. The Siemens lineage truly is remarkable.”
His tone was more like that of a master praising a servant than a friend.
Ramon sensed the change in Arthur but hesitated to speak.
Arthur stopped right in front of Ramon, placing a hand on his shoulder as he continued.
“Thank you, Ramon. But there’s something I’m curious about.”
In that instant, Arthur’s eyes flashed.
His grip on Ramon’s shoulder tightened.
Looking directly into Ramon’s eyes, he asked,
“Why did you set me up?”