Chapter 2: The Ancient Relic
“An ancient relic buried in the Ice Mountains, huh?”
Zeke mused over the information he’d gathered from his informants, slicing a piece of jerky with his dagger in his hideout. According to the intel Kay had brought, the mad emperor was indeed up to something in the Ice Mountains. The involvement of the emperor’s elite unit, the Hounds, suggested the excavation was a significant operation.
“Whatever they’re digging up, intercepting it would definitely piss him off.”
While the relic itself was tempting, Zeke’s true goal wasn’t the artifact. His aim was to use it as a means to draw out the mad emperor. Trained as a Highlander under his mentor Nigel, Zeke had hunted beasts, but his true nature was that of an assassin.
If the mad emperor lost his composure and showed himself, Zeke was confident he could assassinate him by any means necessary. Only by killing the emperor could Zeke hope to end the nightmares that plagued him.
Just then, Zeke’s keen senses picked up something—a faint sound from the security devices he’d set up beyond the forest. His heightened awareness caught what others would miss. Rising from his forest cabin hideout, Zeke gathered his gear. Along with his daggers, he strapped the Gram, a sword from his Highlander days, to his back. Though oversized for an assassin, Gram’s unique abilities allowed him to wield the power of a red knight, making it indispensable.
Zeke pressed himself against the cabin wall, holding his breath as he waited. Soon, he sensed the approach of a dozen figures outside the cabin.
“Not knights… Syndicate hitmen, perhaps.”
Kay was bound by an oath and couldn’t betray him. But other Syndicate leaders wouldn’t hesitate to target him. They were always wary of Zeke, the problem-solver, fearing when his blade might turn on them. It seemed the Syndicate’s top brass had decided to eliminate him.
Crouched and ready, Zeke waited for them to come closer. He sensed them cautiously approaching the cabin door. Silently, he gripped his dagger, erasing his presence.
The door burst open, and crossbow bolts flew into the cabin.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
The hitmen realized the cabin was empty and lowered their crossbows. At that moment, Zeke, hidden behind the door, hurled his dagger at them.
Swoosh!
The dagger, thrown with all his might, struck the hitmen’s throats and foreheads with deadly precision.
Thud!
Leaving the fallen hitmen behind, Zeke moved swiftly to the back of the cabin. As he exited through the back door, he detected more hitmen closing in. Like a panther, he leaped onto the cabin roof, silently approaching the hitmen from behind and slitting their throats with his dagger.
Thud!
The hitmen on the roof fell without a sound, unable to resist Zeke’s stealthy attack. He seized one of their crossbows, waiting silently for more enemies to approach.
With no response from the cabin, the remaining hitmen gathered in groups. Calmly, Zeke aimed the crossbow and fired as they came into range.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
The bolts struck the hitmen’s legs with pinpoint accuracy.
“Aaargh!”
As the leading hitmen screamed and clutched their legs, the others panicked.
“He knows we’re here!”
Zeke had deliberately aimed for their legs to sow confusion. Observing their movements, he leaped from the cabin to a nearby tree. From his new vantage point, he hurled daggers at the approaching enemies.
Whoosh!
The daggers curved through the air, embedding themselves in the hitmen’s necks.
Thud!
In an instant, a dozen enemies lay dead. Then, a second wave of assassins emerged from hiding, including a combat mage.
“They even brought a combat mage. The Syndicate really wants me dead.”
The mage raised his staff, conjuring a massive fireball aimed at the cabin. But before he could release it, Zeke leaped from the tree, severing the mage’s arms with his claymore and dashing away.
“Ah, ahhh!”
The armless mage failed to contain the backflow of magic, and the fireball exploded.
Boom!
The explosion engulfed the assassins, leaving them no time to react.
“Aaargh!”
As the burning assassins screamed and fled, Zeke calmly picked them off with his daggers. The hitmen and assassins who had come for Zeke were swiftly reduced to corpses.
Fwoosh!
Watching the forest burn, Zeke turned and vanished into the shadows, leaving only the heavy scent of death in his wake.
“Hmm.”
Castro Pollock, one of the Rom Empire’s legion commanders and the Northern Army’s supreme commander, sat across from the captain of the emperor’s Hound unit, visibly displeased. As a noble and a legion commander, taking orders from an unknown unit’s captain was a bitter pill to swallow.
Sensing Castro’s discomfort, the Hound captain produced a letter from the emperor.
“A personal letter from His Majesty.”
Grinding his teeth, Castro took the letter. It was indeed from the emperor. Breaking the seal, he read the contents. The message was clear: support the Hounds in excavating the ancient ruins hidden in the Ice Mountains.
With a stern expression, Castro addressed the captain.
“What exactly is His Majesty seeking in these ruins?”
The captain shook his head.
“I’m afraid that’s classified information.”
Castro frowned.
“You’re saying even I, a legion commander and the Northern Army’s supreme commander, can’t be told?”
“His Majesty has deemed this matter top secret. Not even the empire’s enforcers are privy to the details.”
Frustrated, Castro clenched his fists. Though the Hounds were an enigmatic group, they were the emperor’s personal unit, handling his dirtiest work. Even Castro couldn’t treat them lightly.
Swallowing his pride, he nodded.
“Very well. If you need anything, let me know. The Northern Army will provide support.”
The captain stood, nodding in acknowledgment.
“Thank you for your assistance. I’ll take my leave.”
With his message delivered, the captain departed. Despite the captain’s rudeness, Castro had no choice but to endure.
Bang!
Once the footsteps faded, Castro slammed the table, trying to calm his anger.
“Damn it… First Abel Draker and the Siemens bastards, now even these nobodies disrespect me?”
As a noble of the Rom Empire and a staunch supremacist, Castro Pollock had established himself at Himonas Castle as the Northern Army’s supreme commander. He relished the opportunity to subjugate the non-human races, sending them to mines or the southern frontier. But being stationed in the harsh north meant he was far from the central power.
While he was isolated, Abel Draker, the new head of the Draker family, and the Siemens family, who supported him, were solidifying their influence in the empire by playing key roles in the central kingdom’s subjugation. As they seized prime territories in the central region, Castro found himself stuck in the desolate north, growing increasingly anxious.
The emperor showed no intention of recalling him to the center, instead sending the Hounds to excavate ancient ruins in the Ice Mountains, driving Castro to the brink of madness.
With a grim expression, Castro rose from his seat.
“This won’t do. If I stay trapped in the north, I’ll die of old age. I need to visit Rom and assess the situation.”
Muttering to himself, he left his office, heading somewhere with purpose.
As he left, a shadow flickered in the corner of the now-empty office.
Emerging from his hiding place, Zeke revealed himself.
Zeke approached Castro Pollock’s desk and examined the emperor’s personal letter handed over by the leader of the Hound Unit.
“Just orders, with no mention of which ruins they’re about.”
The fact that even he, the Supreme Commander of the Northern Garrison, was kept in the dark suggested just how much the emperor was invested in this excavation.
The emperor had always been obsessed with ancient ruins, but Zeke had never seen him pour so much effort into one before.
“That means the payoff will be significant if I intercept it.”
For now, the key was to discover what the Hound Unit was trying to unearth in the Ice Mountains.
Having extracted all the information he could from Castro Pollock’s office, Zeke melted back into the shadows, concealing his presence once more.
“Move it, move it!”
The Northern Garrison of the Rom Empire roughly shoved the chained non-humans into cages.
Dwarves, as well as Nagas and Beastfolk, were being loaded into the cages.
Once confined, the non-humans were loaded onto carts and transported to an unknown destination.
Trapped, they had no choice but to follow the garrison’s orders, unaware of where they were being taken.
For days, they were carted off, with no care or assistance provided. The biting northern cold seeped through the gaps in the cages, leaving them defenseless. Some suffered frostbite, and the unlucky ones succumbed to the harsh cold.
“Get out! Quickly!”
Finally, the non-humans, still chained like animals, arrived at the icy walls of the Ice Dragon Valley and were released from their cages.
There, many other non-human slaves were already laboring to break through the ice walls.
They had been conscripted to excavate an ancient ruin hidden somewhere in the Ice Dragon Valley.
In the brutal cold, with barely enough to eat, they were forced into grueling labor.
Most didn’t survive more than a few weeks, but the Rom Empire’s garrison didn’t care.
If numbers dwindled, they simply brought in more slaves to replace them.
All efforts were directed by the emperor’s command to uncover the ancient site.
The Hound Unit, overseeing the excavation, was stationed at a camp near the site.
As the unit leader entered the camp, the other members stood and bowed their heads.
The leader took his seat at the head of the table.
In a low voice, he addressed his subordinates.
“Progress.”
His terse question was met with silence, until a lieutenant standing nearby spoke up.
“We’re pushing the excavation with the slaves, but we’ve yet to find anything significant.”
The leader frowned at this.
“Is it really that difficult to dig a bypass to the entrance of the ruins?”
The entrance to the ancient site had been discovered long ago by the Draker family, but the magic sealing it remained unbroken.
As a last resort, the Hounds were using slaves to dig an alternative entrance.
The leader slammed the table and shouted at his subordinates.
“The emperor’s top priority is this excavation! Find a way to open that entrance by the end of the month!”
His outburst sent the subordinates scurrying from the room, heads bowed.
Left alone, the leader clenched his jaw, trying to calm his anger.
“Damn it… all this madness over some Elder Dragon ruins.”
Feeling a wave of exhaustion, he sighed and left the command room.
As he did, the ceiling shimmered, and Zeke emerged from the shadows.
“Elder Dragon ruins.”
At last, he had discovered what the mad emperor was seeking in this place.