Chapter 3: The Intruder
After discovering that the hunting dogs were searching for the ruins of an Elder Dragon, Zeke first assessed how far the excavation had progressed.
“They can’t get through the main entrance, so they’re forcing the slaves to dig an alternate route. But they still haven’t made any real progress.”
The original plan was to intercept the relics once they were unearthed and being transported. However, realizing they hadn’t even breached the ruins yet, Zeke decided to change his approach.
“Hunting dogs, I’ll make sure you rot here.”
With a chilling glint in his eyes, Zeke vanished into the shadows once more.
“Move faster!”
The hunting dogs drove the enslaved non-humans to hasten their work on the alternate route. The sooner they could enter the ruins, the sooner they could present the Emperor with the desired relics. The pressure had been mounting recently, leaving the hunting dogs on edge.
As they continued their grueling excavation, a noise suddenly echoed from within.
“Supervisor! There’s something here!”
Several members of the hunting dog unit, overseeing the slaves, rushed toward the source of the sound, hoping they might have found an entrance to the ruins.
As they hurried into the icy cave, something felt off.
Swish!
Instinctively, they drew their swords.
In that instant, daggers shot up from the ground, slicing through their ankles.
“Ugh!”
Just as they were about to raise the alarm, Zeke sprang up and swiftly silenced them with his blade.
The hunting dogs fell, unable to utter a sound, bleeding out where they stood.
Zeke dragged their bodies aside and donned the clothes of one who matched his build. He retrieved a key from the fallen man’s pocket and pulled out a magical time bomb, embedding it into the inner wall.
Setting the timer, Zeke slipped outside.
Disguised in a helmet, he barked orders at the slaves like the other hunting dogs.
“Move it, hurry up!”
All the while, he counted down to the explosion in his mind.
Soon, the bomb detonated as Zeke had planned.
Boom!
The massive explosion shook the excavation site violently.
“It’s collapsing!”
Though the blast caused a strong tremor, it wasn’t enough to bring down the cave. But it was more than enough to sow chaos among the hunting dogs.
Seizing the moment, Zeke used the key to unlock the chains binding the slaves.
Freed from their shackles, the slaves quickly turned on their captors.
“Raaah!”
Some fled outside, but the rebellious dwarves and fierce beastfolk charged at their oppressors instead.
Caught off guard by the sudden uprising, the hunting dogs scrambled to defend themselves.
Amidst the chaos, Zeke made his way to the hunting dogs’ camp.
He ignited the fuse of another pre-planted bomb and retreated.
As the fuse burned down, the bomb exploded.
Boom!
The powerful blast obliterated the camp and its key facilities in one fell swoop.
“What the hell is happening?”
The hunting dog commander emerged, bewildered by the sudden upheaval.
The camp lay in ruins, the slaves were running amok, and the cave had collapsed, rendering all their efforts futile.
Realizing the situation, the commander raged.
“You fools! There’s an intruder! Find them immediately!”
At the commander’s orders, the hunting dogs finally gathered their wits and organized search parties to hunt down the intruder.
But Zeke had already anticipated this.
He deliberately left a trail, leading the pursuers toward the snowy mountains behind the excavation site.
The hunting dogs followed the trail in haste, only for it to vanish without a trace.
“Where did they go?”
All around was a snow-covered wilderness, dotted with jagged trees. There was no sign of the intruder anywhere.
As the hunting dogs hesitated, Zeke, hidden nearby, hurled daggers at them.
Shhhk!
Some staggered back, hit by Zeke’s daggers, but most deflected them with their swords.
Unlike the syndicate’s assassins, the hunting dogs were formally trained knights.
Knights skilled in aura manipulation could remain calm even under Zeke’s assault.
“Ugh!”
However, those grazed by the daggers soon lost consciousness and collapsed.
Zeke’s daggers were coated in a potent poison.
Losing consciousness in this frozen wasteland was as good as a death sentence.
The hunting dogs, seeing their fallen comrades, grew even more wary.
“He’s using poison! Don’t let the daggers touch you!”
This, too, was part of Zeke’s plan.
Now, they would be hyper-alert, fearing the poisoned daggers.
Zeke had a knack for exploiting such psychological gaps.
Whoosh!
Zeke shifted positions and launched another volley of daggers.
The hunting dogs swung their swords to deflect them, just as before.
But this time, the attack was different.
The daggers flew faster and harder, imbued with all of Zeke’s strength.
Thud!
Caught off guard by the unexpected force, the daggers embedded themselves in the hunting dogs’ throats and foreheads.
Thud!
Most of the hunting dogs pursuing Zeke fell dead.
The survivors, wary of their surroundings, exchanged glances and decided to retreat, heading back toward the camp.
But Zeke wouldn’t let them escape.
Whoosh—
Emerging from his hiding spot, he drew his sword, Gram, and struck at the fleeing dogs.
The sunblade Gram converted the mana in Zeke’s core into aura.
The aura blade surged from Zeke’s sword, cleaving through the hunting dogs in an instant.
“Argh!”
The dogs fell, bleeding out from Zeke’s lethal strike.
After dispatching the fleeing dogs, Zeke gathered their bodies and rolled them off the ice dragon valley’s cliff.
Erasing all traces of himself, he retrieved equipment hidden in the snow.
These were tools for scaling the ice cliffs.
Equipped with the gear, Zeke moved toward the ice dragon valley.
He aimed to evade pursuit while finding an alternate entrance to the ruins.
Dangling from a single rope, Zeke clung to the massive ice cliff of the valley.
“Hoo.”
Trusting his instincts, he inched sideways along the icy face.
He needed to find the entrance to the ruins before the hunting dogs did.
Boom!
“You mean to tell me you don’t even know who the intruder is?”
The commander fumed as the search party failed to return the next day.
“Find them immediately! Or else…”
But just then—
Thud, thud, thud!
A heavily armed, unidentified unit approached the excavation site.
The hunting dogs, wary of the sudden arrival, gripped their swords.
The unit halted a short distance away, and a knight at the front dismounted. His uniform seemed familiar.
Thud!
Exuding an imposing presence, he approached the commander.
His red hair fluttered in the cold northern wind.
The commander recognized him immediately.
”…Abel Draker.”
It was Abel Draker, the new head of the Draker family, now allied with the Rom Empire.
With a smile, he addressed the hunting dog commander.
“It seems things are quite complicated. I bring a message from the Emperor regarding the excavation.”
With a calm demeanor, Abel handed the commander a letter, wearing the signature gloves of the Draker family.
The letter was none other than a personal missive from the Emperor of Rom.
The commander, taken aback, quickly opened the letter.
His expression soured as he read its contents.
“Follow Abel Draker’s orders?”
The command was to transfer all authority over the excavation to Abel Draker.
Abel surveyed the excavation site with a smile.
“So this is it. The Elder Dragon’s ruins that the former head tried to excavate with the Black Stage twenty years ago.”
Muttering to himself, Abel moved toward the magically sealed entrance of the ruins, only to be blocked by the hunting dogs.
Seeing this, Abel shrugged and looked at the commander.
Even under Abel’s gaze, the commander remained silent, issuing no orders to his subordinates. Abel slowly nodded.
“Ah, I see how it is.”
In an instant, Abel drew his sword and swung it.
Thud!
The heads of the hunting dogs blocking his path rolled to the ground.
The commander and the other hunting dogs were shocked.
“W-What is this…!”
With a crazed look in his eyes, Abel pointed his sword at the commander.
“Disobeying orders is grounds for immediate execution, isn’t it?”
With the emperor’s decree transferring command to Abel, he was now the undisputed authority here.
Even the leader of the Hound Unit would face Abel’s sword if he dared to defy him.
As the Hound soldiers, unaware of the full situation, grumbled and gripped their sword hilts in defiance, a sharp aura emanated from behind them.
The mysterious men who had accompanied Abel were now exuding a palpable menace toward the soldiers.
The unit leader was puzzled by the identity of these men who followed Abel.
‘They’re not Draker’s knights. Who on earth…’
As he furrowed his brow in suspicion, Abel sheathed his sword and, as if reading the leader’s mind, spoke.
“Perhaps you’ll understand if I tell you they’re the new execution squad of the Hound Unit, organized by His Majesty.”
The leader’s face turned pale at his words.
Until now, the Hound Unit had primarily handled espionage and covert operations in the shadows.
There had been rumors that, during the Rom Empire’s unification of the continent, a specialized assassination group had emerged within the Hound Unit.
These rumors also mentioned that this group was a special unit, not ordinary knights, but rather a force assembled to combat the black knights, known as the execution squad.
The fact that this elusive execution squad had appeared here with Abel Draker was beyond the leader’s comprehension.
Abel approached the bewildered leader and patted his shoulder.
“You probably have no idea what you’re up against here, which is why you look so clueless.”
The leader, his expression tense, asked, “What do you mean by that? What are we supposed to be facing?”
“You didn’t think the state of this excavation site was just a coincidence, did you?”
The leader flinched at his words.
He was baffled as to how Abel Draker, who had just arrived at the excavation site, knew there was an intruder.
Seeing the leader’s face, Abel clicked his tongue and continued.
“Completely oblivious to the fact that the Northern Ghost has arrived… utterly pathetic.”
The leader’s eyes widened at that.
“The Northern Ghost? Are you saying… Zeke Murray has returned alive?”
Zeke Murray, known as the Northern Ghost, was a nightmare for the Rom Empire’s forces.
Stronger than knights, elusive, and a master of disguise, he was nearly impossible to track.
It was believed he had perished in the war alongside the Northern Wolf when the fortress of Himonas fell, but the reemergence of that terrifying name left the leader stunned.
Abel shook his head at the leader’s words.
“Dead? There’s no way that bastard’s dead. He’s alive and well, dreaming arrogantly of assassinating His Majesty.”
The mention of an assassination attempt on the emperor left the leader aghast, struggling to suppress a hiccup.
Abel gave the leader’s shoulder a reassuring pat.
“Our mission is to capture the Northern Ghost with all our might and present his head to His Majesty. That’s our task.”
The leader nodded solemnly at Abel’s words.
“Understood.”
He then gathered the Hounds, relayed the situation, and began issuing orders. Watching the Hounds move with precision under the leader’s command, Abel allowed himself a faint smile.
‘Zeke Murray. No, Zeke Draker. Cursed youngest, struggle all you want. I will devour you and grow even stronger.’