[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]
Chapter 111
“What’s this?”
It was the bundle of chains he had seen in the video left by Terakhan Draker.
Zeke reached out his hand towards the chains.
[Detected ‘???’s Chain’.]
[Title inheritance of Terakhan Draker is activated.]
[Registered as the inheritor of ‘???’s Chain’.]
Just like the Ancient Hercyon he obtained from Cain, the name of the chain left by Terakhan Draker was hidden with question marks instead of letters.
Woooong!
Suddenly, a vibration emanated from the chain.
At the same time, the chain began to glow.
‘What, what’s this?’
The bundle of chains rose up like a snake, seemingly on its own.
Then, it wrapped around Zeke's gauntlet-clad arm.
“Ugh!”
Surprised by the sudden situation, Zeke tried to shake the chain off his arm, but in that moment, the chain transformed into a blaze of light.
Woooong!
The chain, now transformed into light, passed through the gauntlet and coiled around Zeke's arm, burrowing into his skin.
Zeke felt a burning pain in his arm.
“Aaargh!”
The pain from the chain wrapped around his arm wasn't healed even with his Healing Factor.
Zeke collapsed, clutching his arm and trembling in agony.
Then, at some point, the chain seemed to melt into Zeke's arm, coiling around it.
“Uuugh!”
Zeke hurriedly took off his gauntlet.
Chiiiik!
When Zeke checked, a chain-shaped pattern was engraved on his arm.
The pattern emitted a red light as if it were on fire, then the light subsided, leaving only a faint mark.
The burning pain in his arm finally stopped.
“Huuuh.”
Wiping away the cold sweat, Zeke looked at the chain-shaped pattern engraved from his left wrist to his shoulder.
“What the hell is this?”
A message appeared before Zeke's eyes.
[‘???’s Chain’ has been successfully registered to your soul.]
[You have acquired the skill ‘Soul Sealing Technique (A-rank)’ by registering ‘???’s Chain’.]
[Documents related to Soul Sealing Technique have been added to the ‘Random Stuff’ folder in Terakhan Draker's Secure Archive.]
“Soul Sealing Technique?”
After reading the message, Zeke opened the Secure Archive.
―Terakhan Draker's Secure Archive―
1. Organization Operation Manual
2. Dragon Slayer Manual Ver. 5.21 (Final)
3. Reference Materials
4. Collection of Aphorisms for Growth
5. Random Stuff
“Random Stuff? Ah, is this the folder the system said it would create?”
When he clicked on ‘Random Stuff’, he saw a list of photos and videos of the laboratory that Zeke had saved.
And at the very bottom of the list, a new item had been added.
―Soul Sealing Technique_Final Edition
Zeke clicked on Soul Sealing Technique and examined its contents.
As he had seen in the holographic video, the technique of using chains to restrict an opponent's movements was described in detail.
“This is as detailed as the Dragon Slayer Manual, isn’t it?”
Most knights these days use swords.
Only the Empire and the Holy Kingdom utilize swordsmanship with shields; those who use spears or bows are extremely rare.
Therefore, there was no way a sealing technique using chains would still exist.
Even so, the fact that Terakhan Draker, a Dragon Slayer and the knight of knights, was a master of this sealing technique as well as swordsmanship was completely unknown. This was also strange.
Looking at the contents of the Soul Sealing Technique, Zeke held out his left arm.
“Let's see. It says the chain will come out if I do this?”
Zeke made a pose as if throwing a chain.
Then, the pattern engraved on his arm glowed, and a chain smoothly emerged.
“Wow, it really works?”
Zeke grabbed the chain that emerged from his arm and swung it around.
Whooosh!
The chain stretched and contracted, moving according to Zeke's will.
After trying out the movements of the sealing technique left by Terakhan, Zeke returned the chain to its pattern form.
“If I master this properly, I can easily catch monsters.”
Catching monsters yields a large amount of Karma points.
The points have many uses, so it was necessary to hunt monsters and gather them whenever he had time.
Zeke had a satisfied look on his face, having obtained an unexpected new weapon technique.
"It's fortunate that I got to it first, before those Empire guys found it."
Since things had turned out this way, he decided to see if there was anything else besides the legacy left by Terakhan Draker.
"System, are there any other artifact locations besides this protective base facility?"
[Checking facilities according to administrator's command.]
[Search complete.]
[An old dragon lair built before the establishment of the protective base is detected underground.]
Zeke was surprised by the system's words.
"What? A dragon lair?"
In response to Zeke's reaction, the system automatically displayed a map, marking the path to the dragon lair.
[The current protective base's movement system is not operational. It is possible to move underground through the emergency exit.]
Looking at the map, Zeke found the entrance to the emergency exit in one corner of the protective base.
Zeke descended endlessly down the dark emergency exit stairs.
"This is the first time I've seen a dungeon like this."
It seemed that the Zoin people built a temple on top of the dragon lair, and then Terakhan Draker built a protective base there to block dragons and monsters.
As he went down the stairs and pictured the structure of the dungeon in his head, Zeke had a question.
'Come to think of it, the dragon called the World Adjuster attacked humans along with monsters. Does that make sense?'
In his memories of the past, Bahamut had said that if humans became stronger through Aura, he would kill them all to balance the world.
Perhaps Bahamut, feeling threatened by a world full of humans, led other dragons and monsters to try to destroy the human world.
'But Bahamut made a contract with Terakhan. Something doesn't add up.'
According to Kaisir, for humans and dragons to make a contract was like sharing each other's souls.
He called the relationship between a dragon and its contractor 'Eternal Partners'.
This meant that Terakhan Draker and Bahamut were also Eternal Partners who shared souls.
But in his memories of the past, Terakhan himself had destroyed his contracted dragon, Bahamut.
To borrow Kaisir's words, it was 'something that could never happen'.
Zeke fell into deep thought, recalling the scene he had seen in his memories of the past.
'There's so little known about Terakhan Draker, let alone Bahamut, that I can't figure out what happened. I have the information, but it's hard to connect the dots.'
Lost in thought, Zeke finally reached the bottom of the underground stairs and stood in front of a huge door.
"Is this the dragon's lair?"
It was a door so large and thick that it couldn't be compared to an average castle gate.
Shaking off the immense pressure, Zeke slowly reached out his hand towards the door.
[Confirmed the title 'Blessed by the Ancient Dragon'.]
[Opening the lair.]
The tightly closed lair door, seamless and sturdy, slowly opened.
Zeke had a bewildered expression on his face as he watched the door open by itself.
'At this rate, there's no ruin I can't enter, is there?'
Zeke was once again surprised by the power of the 'title', which he didn't know how to use, unlike powers or skills.
Walking inside the lair, Zeke's jaw dropped at its size. It was even more astonishing than when he saw the Zoin temple.
The size of the dragon he saw in the holographic video was amazing, but the lair where such dragons resided boasted an unimaginably massive scale.
Despite being sealed for a long time, the floor, pillars, and walls remained almost undamaged.
Passing through the long, wide corridor while admiring its enormous size, a large open space appeared inside.
"What is this place?"
The center of the open space was hollowed out, and surprisingly, the bottom was covered with refined magic stones like pebbles on the ground.
"Oh my god."
The sight of magic stones covering the floor of the circular open space, about twenty times the size of Valhalla's Grand Arena, was truly spectacular.
Just then, letters appeared before his eyes.
[Accessing the lair control system.]
[All functions are shut down because the previous administrator closed the lair.]
[Searching for other access routes.]
Soon, another system message appeared.
[Confirmed the title 'Successor of the Sword Saint'.]
[Playing a message left for the successor.]
Seeing the message that appeared, Zeke was surprised.
"Successor of the Sword Saint? Why is that suddenly appearing?"
Woooong!
Suddenly, a giant dragon appeared before Zeke's eyes.
A Gold Dragon with two pairs of wings, scales shining like gold, and blue eyes.
Zeke took a step back at the sight of the Gold Dragon that appeared as a holographic image.
Even though it was a holographic image, its overwhelming presence was conveyed directly to Zeke.
The Gold Dragon in the holographic image shone its blue eyes and looked at Zeke.
The dragon's voice echoed in Zeke's head.
"Successor of the Sword Saint, Saturn Draker."
Zeke felt Bahamut's heart beat faster at the dragon's voice.
The Gold Dragon continued speaking.
"My name is Uranus. I am the leader of the Gold Dragon clan. I have been waiting for the successor of the Sword Saint, according to Chronos's prophecy."
'Chronos's prophecy?'
Uranus looked at Zeke with deep eyes and said,
"Saturn Draker entrusted a part of the seal left by Chronos to me and the representatives of each clan."
Upon hearing Uranus's words, Zeke suddenly remembered something.
'A seal? Could it be the seal of the Chronos Kingdom?'
Uranus continued speaking.
"To prevent the fulfillment of the prophecy Chronos spoke of, I leave here a part of the seal and arrangements for the successor. The successor of the Sword Saint must find the remaining seals and discover the truth left by Chronos."
Woooong!
As if the image had ended, Uranus's body became blurry and then disappeared.
Then, a message appeared before Zeke's eyes again.
[You have acquired 1/4 of the Seal of the Chronos Kingdom.]
[The coordinates of the Chronos Kingdom's treasury will be activated when you find all the remaining seals.]
Zeke pondered, recalling the image left by Uranus, the leader of the Gold Dragons.
"The truth left by Chronos. So the treasury of the Chronos Kingdom wasn't simply a treasure vault."
He didn't know what Chronos's prophecy meant, but seeing that the Sword Saint Saturn Draker had prepared arrangements with the leaders of the dragon clans, it didn't seem like a trivial matter.
"This is so far removed from the future I experienced, it feels unreal."
Just then, another message appeared before Zeke's eyes.
[The arrangements prepared by Uranus, Guardian of the Sky, will be given.]
[Arrangements will be assigned according to the user's abilities.]
[Confirmed the title 'Dragon Knight'.]
[Acquired the dragon skill 'Dragon Tooth Soldiers'.]
"Dragon Tooth Soldiers?"
Zeke immediately checked the skill at the unfamiliar term.
―Dragon Skill Information―
Dragon Tooth Soldiers: Summons soldiers using dragon teeth as a medium.
"Does this mean I can summon and command soldiers?"
Zeke took out Bahamut, which was made from a dragon's tooth.
Then, he tried using the Dragon Tooth Soldiers skill.
[Summoning Dragon Tooth Soldiers using the Black Sword Bahamut as a medium.]
[The maximum number of Dragon Tooth Soldiers that can be summoned at Dragon Skill Level 3 is 15.]
[Due to the stat correction from Bahamut's Heart, up to 20 soldiers can be summoned.]
Woooong!
Zeke's shadow spread wide, and soldiers clad in black armor emerged from within.
Chuck! Chuck! Chuck!
They had swords at their sides, bows on their backs, and spears in their hands.
Twenty Dragon Tooth Soldiers, dressed in unfamiliar attire, lined up in front of Zeke in perfect order.
Zeke was impressed by the sight of the Dragon Tooth Soldiers, each exuding a strong aura, despite being called soldiers.
"Each of them seems to be at least at the level of a Yellow Knight."
Twenty Yellow Knights would be more than enough to match the strength of an average mercenary unit.
While Zeke was thinking about how to give them orders, he tried giving a mental command.
'Turn left, everyone.'
As if they were all one body, the Dragon Tooth Soldiers turned left.
Zeke nodded with a satisfied expression.
"This will be useful in chaotic battles. I won't need to waste other soldiers for searching or reconnaissance either."
For Zeke, who often had to hide his identity and infiltrate, the Dragon Tooth Soldiers would give him a significant advantage in disrupting the enemy.
When he deactivated the Dragon Tooth Soldiers, they scattered like black smoke and seeped back into Zeke's shadow.
Zeke fell into deep thought as he looked at the magic stones embedded in the floor of the lair.
"Hmm, I wonder if I can dig all those out and take them with me."
Just then, a message in red letters appeared before Zeke's eyes.
[Completely closing this lair according to the previous administrator's command.]
[The lair will soon self-destruct. An emergency escape portal will open; please use it to move outside.]
[Starting countdown.]
"What? Self-destruct?"
[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]