[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]
Chapter 147
Thud!
As his size decreased, his movements became much faster.
Arataso jumped into the air and swung his sword at Zeke.
Clang! Clang!
The green aura surging from the sword engulfed Zeke.
However, Zeke's Hercyon deflected all of the green aura.
Arataso, floating in the air, descended and struck down with his sword.
Rumble!
The sword instantly grew in size and pressed down on Zeke with tremendous weight.
Crash!
Arataso's sword and Zeke's sword collided.
Clang!
Zeke infused Bahamut with golden aura and pushed Arataso's sword away.
Then, he took out the Orichalcum sword from his inventory and held it in his other hand.
Woooong!
The Purification Blade surged from the Orichalcum sword.
Zeke swiftly moved the blade imbued with the golden aura and thrust it into Arataso's heart.
Crack!
The Orichalcum sword pierced through Arataso's hard body and lodged itself in.
Arataso twisted his body and screamed.
The Purification Blade on the sword burned Arataso's insides.
Sizzle!
Green smoke rose from his body.
[Kyaaaak! How dare a lowly human!]
Arataso's eyes flashed green.
Branches grew from his entire body.
They tried to coil around Zeke's body like living tentacles.
Then, Zeke used the Light's Punishment skill in that state.
Crackle!
White lightning sparked, and white light exploded from within Arataso's body.
[Keugh!]
The branches that were trying to wrap around Zeke's body turned to ash and scattered.
Green haze rose from Arataso's body again.
[Y-you human! How dare you! I will curse you with death!]
The green haze tried to seep into Zeke's body through the Hercyon.
The green haze wasn't a physical entity, but Arataso's very soul.
His plan was to curse Zeke using a part of his soul and return to the demon world.
Just then, Zeke, still holding his sword, opened his mouth.
"Curse Reflection."
Crackle!
The Curse Reflection skill, which he acquired after absorbing the ancient specter that cursed Angelina, activated.
[C-cough!]
Trying to curse Zeke, Arataso himself suffered damage to his soul due to the skill.
The green haze that was trying to possess Zeke returned to its original body.
Arataso's green eyes were slowly dimming.
He gritted his teeth and hurled curses at Zeke.
[Lowly human... This isn't the end... As long as the green aspiration continues... you will never be at peace...]
Crackle!
Suddenly, Arataso screamed in excruciating pain.
[Keugh!]
Arataso found his body bound by chains made of light.
Just before Arataso disappeared, Zeke used the Soul Sealing Technique to bind his soul to his body.
Arataso, feeling the souls of his summoners disappearing, thought his soul would also return to the demon world. But he couldn't help but be surprised to find himself still in the physical world.
[H-how is this possible?]
Zeke, looking at Arataso's fading eyes, said,
"You can't just leave. You lost, so you have to keep your promise."
[I-I don't know what you're talking about.]
"Didn't you say earlier that you are separate, yet one?"
[Shut up! How dare you try to humiliate me with such sophistry, you...]
Zeke took out the demonfolk torture device, the Holy Flame.
Whoosh!
He shone the Holy Flame on Arataso's body, which he had captured with the Soul Sealing Technique.
[Uwaaaak!]
The effect was immediate.
Like Griesmodal, Arataso also screamed in pain from the Holy Flame.
[Aaaaak! Get it away! Get that away!]
Zeke removed the Holy Flame and spoke again.
"So, are you ready to talk now?"
[To inflict such humiliation on me, an honorable warrior... My master will surely capture you and tear your very soul apart...]
"Well, it would be a bit disappointing if you talked already."
Zeke burned Arataso's soul with the Holy Flame again.
After about an hour of carefully burning him here and there with the Holy Flame, he finally started speaking properly.
[Stop, please stop!]
"Are you ready to talk now?"
Arataso gritted his teeth and glared at Zeke.
Zeke asked Arataso,
"What are you trying to do with the relic?"
[There was competition among the subordinates...]
"I already know that. Tell me who the demon who wants the relic is, and what they're trying to do with it."
[I-I don't know that. Really.]
"Is that so? You might remember better if your body gets a little warmer."
[N-no! Aaaak!]
Zeke was ruthlessly torturing the demonfolk, who was in a soul state.
After another hour of diligently applying the Holy Flame compress, Arataso began to spill everything he knew, whether it was real information or not.
[The Demon Lord! The Demon Lord wants the relic!]
Zeke withdrew the Holy Flame as new information emerged.
"What's a Demon Lord?"
Arataso continued, breathing heavily.
[I-it refers to the constellation that my master serves.]
"By master, are you talking about the 'Clear Green Aspiration' you mentioned earlier?"
[That's right.]
"Your master is also a demon with a constellation name, and you're saying they serve another demon as their master?"
[Huff, huff. T-the demon world is a world of survival of the fittest. The strong take everything.]
It was surprising news.
It meant that there was a higher-ranking demon who ruled over demons with constellation names.
'A demon who rules over demons. Just how strong is that?'
Zeke pulled the chains and asked Arataso,
"Why does that Demon Lord your master serves want the relic?"
Arataso gritted his teeth and replied,
[I-I really don't know what they're trying to do with it. I swear on my honor.]
"What do I care about a demonfolk's honor? So, what's the name of the Demon Lord who wants the relic?"
Arataso shook his head.
[I-I can't say that.]
"Do you need more Holy Flame?"
[That's not it! We subordinates can't utter the name of the constellation my master serves!]
Arataso shouted as if spitting blood.
Zeke glared at Arataso with suspicion.
Arataso said desperately,
[I-it's true. It's really true, so believe me!]
"Hmm."
Seeing Arataso's desperate attitude, Zeke felt that his words might be true.
Zeke, deciding to stop trying to hear the name, said to Arataso,
"I have a question."
Arataso had given up by now.
[...What is it?]
"The green aura you used. It felt different from malice. Is that a technique that imitates human aura?"
Arataso laughed as if it were absurd.
[To think I'd hear such nonsense after living for so long! Human! You're foolish, foolish!]
Zeke grabbed the Orichalcum sword and channeled Light's Punishment into it.
Crackle!
[Kyaaaak!]
"Stop spouting nonsense and answer my question."
[Ugh. You foolish human! Isn't the aura you use a technique stolen from us?!]
Zeke was surprised by Arataso's words.
"Aura is a demonfolk technique?"
Arataso laughed maniacally.
[It's a power that only chosen subordinates who receive the power of a great constellation can use! It's on a different level from the imitation used by lowly humans...]
"If it wasn't created with aura, then what was that aura made of?"
Arataso pondered for a moment and slowly opened his mouth.
[...That is the power of my master. Chosen subordinates can use the power of the constellation they serve.]
Zeke fell into thought after hearing Arataso's words.
Until now, Zeke had known that aura was created by Saturn Draker. This was also information unknown to most people.
But according to Arataso, it was a demonfolk technique stolen by humans, which was puzzling.
'Did Saturn Draker learn the aura cultivation method from a demonfolk?'
He remembered the story that Saturn traveled all over the continent and referred to various techniques to create the aura cultivation method.
Perhaps there was a technique among them that was modeled after the power of demonfolk.
Zeke, learning an unexpected fact, asked Arataso another question.
"Do you know anything about Abyss or Abel Draker?"
Arataso shook his head vigorously.
[I know nothing about lowly mortals. When they offer sacrifices, we simply grant their wishes.]
Seeing that Arataso was a somewhat reasonable demonfolk, Zeke had another thought.
'He knows quite a lot and is useful. Can't I keep this guy in the physical world with the Soul Sealing Technique?'
Zeke opened the Soul Sealing Technique manual stored in his Secure Archive and checked if there was any relevant information.
'Oh? There's something similar.'
It was about putting a soul captured with the Soul Sealing Technique into a medium.
After some thought, Zeke took out the Woonchul sword, which he didn't use much these days.
Arataso, sensing a strange energy, said in a desperate voice,
[W-what are you trying to do?!]
Zeke, following the instructions in the manual, used the Soul Sealing Technique to pull Arataso's soul out of the piece of wood.
[Kyaaaaaak!]
Arataso's soul was dragged out with a scream.
Zeke wrapped the sword with chains and forcibly shoved the demonfolk's soul into it.
[N-no!]
"Shut up and go in."
As Zeke burned the soul with the Holy Flame, Arataso screamed and entered the sword.
Then, the sword shook violently.
After a while, the blade of the sword turned a faint green.
It meant that Arataso's soul had successfully settled in the sword.
"Golin said it absorbs energy well. It's perfect for binding souls."
Zeke grabbed the sword with a faint green glow.
Then, he heard Arataso's voice in his head.
'Damn human! In the demon world, everyone shows respect and fear to me, Arataso, who leads thousands of Death Knights! How dare you humiliate me like this! I will never forgive you!'
"What are you going to do if you don't forgive me?"
"W-well..."
"You need more mental training."
Zeke wrapped chains around the sword and sealed it with the Soul Sealing Technique.
As the tightly wrapped chains seeped in, a chain-shaped pattern was engraved on the blade.
Zeke threw the sword with Arataso sealed inside into his inventory.
Then, he looked at the Green Warriors who had summoned Arataso. They were already all dead and mummified.
"Is this the fate of those who make contracts with demonfolk?"
Zeke, looking at the dead, recalled himself from his previous life.
Back then, he did anything to become stronger.
Resentment towards the Draker clan who abandoned him and frustration with his own weakness for not being able to protect those he had to protect.
Zeke, who lived with those emotions, desired strength more than anyone else.
'If it were me back then, could I have refused a contract with a demonfolk?'
There was no being more susceptible to temptation than humans.
Zeke looked at the withered corpses of the dead Green Warriors, then shook his head to clear his thoughts and disposed of them with the power of Decay.
Sizzle!
The mummified corpses melted and seeped into the ground.
After finishing the cleanup, Zeke returned to where Boris was waiting.
"Boss!"
Boris greeted Zeke as he appeared.
Zeke, who had consumed a lot of stamina dealing with Arataso, took out jerky and chewed on it as he asked Boris,
"Was there any movement from the Holy Kingdom?"
Boris's eyes lit up as he said,
"Actually, we detected movement. They followed the traces we left and entered Death Valley."
Boris reported the size and status of the Holy Kingdom unit he had identified.
Zeke was surprised to hear Boris's report.
"You said there are children?"
"Yes. They were children with platinum blonde hair."
Zeke realized that those children were descendants of Lubern.
'It seems they blindly brought the children, hearing that the Lubern bloodline would lead them to the relic.'
Considering the possibility that Agamemnon was descended from Lubern, he couldn't ignore the children.
After some thought, Zeke said to Boris,
"We need to lure them to where the relic is."
[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]