Chapter 177
“A-A Death Knight? Damn it, is that an illusion too?”
Calito exclaimed in surprise and drew his sword.
Like his armor, his sword was also a rare artifact bought at a high price.
He immediately swung his sword towards the Death Knight. The sword cut through the air and flew towards the Death Knight.
Crash!
A huge explosion erupted around the Death Knight.
Calito gave a triumphant smile.
“Ha! You damn monster!”
However, the Death Knight slowly walked out from the dust cloud. Calito's face instantly turned pale.
“N-no, how?!”
As he was stunned, a black aura surged from the sword the Death Knight was holding.
Calito panicked and tried to swing his magic sword again.
“Sir Calito!”
Just then, the man in the suit, sweating profusely, rushed towards Calito.
Just as the Death Knight's sword was about to be swung, the man in the suit's body flashed, and he instantly appeared where Calito was standing.
He raised his hand and created a small portal, through which the Death Knight's sword passed.
Crack!
The sword, having passed through the portal, emerged from behind the Death Knight and stabbed him in the back.
Calito's eyes widened at the sight of the man in the suit's ability.
A red light flickered in the eyes of the Death Knight, stabbed in the back by his own sword.
Suddenly, the man in the suit grabbed Calito and disappeared into a portal he created behind him.
The Death Knight stared at the spot where the two had disappeared for a while.
After confirming that no one was around, Zeke took off his cloak and returned to his original form. He looked bewildered as he thought about Calito and the man in the suit who had disappeared.
“Teleportation. That's an absurd ability.”
Even among the mages of Nirvana, only high-ranking mages of the 7th Circle or higher were capable of teleportation.
So, being able to use teleportation without any time lag was astonishing.
“Is that a bloodline ability too?”
It seemed like he was one of the clan's special bloodline ability users called the Six.
Zeke frowned as he sheathed his sword.
“It's a shame I lost the commander... but it's not a complete loss since I discovered they have a teleporter.”
Although bloodline abilities were highly effective, as long as one knew the nature of the power, there was no major problem in countering it.
Now that he was aware of the teleportation ability, he could prepare countermeasures.
Zeke turned his head and looked at the Siemens warships deployed on the river.
With Nahuel attacking from the riverbed, illusion attacks from above, and the onslaught of Dragon Tooth Soldiers and undead, it would be difficult for them to withstand, even with mages and knights.
Looking at the burning ships, Zeke signaled to Richmond.
Upon receiving the signal, Richmond detonated the mana bombs he had planted in advance on the ship disguised as a ghost ship.
Crash!
With a massive explosion, the ship shattered into pieces, and the Siemens warships also began to sink, unable to withstand the impact.
He could see Richmond, in his monster form, flying up into the sky with Bisco on his back.
Zeke activated his stealth skill and disappeared into the bushes.
***
A week later, Zeke and Bisco safely returned to Agamemnon Castle.
“Sir Zeke!”
The first to greet him was none other than Arina.
“Lady Arina.”
He entered the castle with Arina, who had come to welcome him.
Zeke noticed something strange about the atmosphere of the Rose Knights in Agamemnon Castle, including Arina.
“Everyone seems on edge. Did something happen?”
“Well, actually...”
After hearing Arina's answer, he understood why the Rose Knights were like this.
“You mean Dario revealed the location of the monastery where the Lubern bloodline members are imprisoned?”
Arina nodded.
“Yes. As you said, Sir Zeke, Dario's organization was kidnapping Lubern bloodline members and handing them over to the Holy Kingdom.”
While Zeke and Bisco were dealing with the Siemens pursuers, Boris had safely brought Dario to Agamemnon Castle.
As expected of a Nostra clan executive, Dario maintained a defiant attitude despite being captured and brought to the enemy's headquarters.
Then, Arina, who was observing, volunteered to conduct the interrogation herself.
Boris initially doubted if Arina, with her innocent appearance, could properly conduct an interrogation.
However, less than an hour after she entered, Dario started trembling like a leaf and spilling everything he knew.
This information included details about the Lubern bloodline members.
Arina said to Zeke,
“Sir Zeke, we plan to go to the monastery and rescue the Lubern bloodline members.”
“It's located in the heart of the Holy Kingdom. Will that be possible?”
Arina smiled serenely and said,
“We have to make it possible.”
He could sense Arina's determination to succeed, no matter the circumstances.
Zeke nodded at Arina's words.
“Alright. Let's do that. Ah, and there's one thing I'd like to ask.”
“Anything, Sir Zeke.”
“Please take Felix with you and give him a chance to complete his grandfather, Sir Fab's, mission. He's still lacking, but he'll be able to do his part.”
Arina smiled and replied,
“It would be a great help if Sir Felix could join us.”
She slowly got up, took Zeke's hand, and said,
“Thank you, Sir Zeke. You are truly a great benefactor to Lubern.”
Zeke looked embarrassed at Arina's words. Then, suddenly remembering something, he asked her,
“Speaking of which, how are Jason and Arin, whom I asked you to train?”
Arina smiled brightly and said,
“I wanted to thank you for entrusting me with such interesting children. The Lubern children learning magic together also like them very much.”
It seemed they were adapting well. Since they were on the topic, he decided to see them, so he got up and followed Arina.
Zeke went to the magic training room with Arina.
However, he heard a strange sound coming from inside the training room.
“Ugh... Guys, uncle will give you candy, just please turn this over...”
It was definitely Jason's voice.
He opened the door with a puzzled mind and went inside, only to find an astonishing sight.
'What's this?'
Jason was inside a huge barrel, filled with soil and stones, with only his head sticking out.
The problem was that the soil and stones inside the barrel were gradually rising, threatening to cover Jason's face.
The Lubern children gathered around Jason were looking at him with interest.
Just then, one of the Lubern children spotted Zeke and ran towards him.
“Black-eyed God!”
She recognized Zeke, who had saved them. Zeke smiled and patted the head of the girl who approached him with sparkling eyes.
“It's been a while. Have you been well?”
“Yes! Thanks to you, God, we have a home, and I'm learning magic from a beautiful princess!”
Arina blushed and smiled shyly at the mention of "beautiful princess."
“Oh my, Alice. A beautiful princess, indeed.”
Learning that the girl's name was Alice, Zeke called her name.
“Alice. What a beautiful name. My name is Zeke.”
“You have a name, God?”
“I'm not a god, so I have a name.”
“Then I'll call you Mr. Zeke!”
Alice replied energetically and moved her small hands, forming a hand seal.
Soon, a bright light burst from Alice's hands.
Alice, with her big, round eyes, said to Zeke,
“This is the magic the princess taught me! It's pretty and sparkly, right?”
Zeke was surprised to see the light Alice created.
'Healing?'
He knew that the Lubern bloodline members could learn light magic, but he didn't expect Alice, who was only about ten years old, to be able to use magic already.
'What an incredible talent.'
Just then, Jason, who was about to be completely buried in the soil, cried out pitifully.
“S-Sir Zeke! Ugh! P-please get me out of here!”
Zeke picked up the girl and asked Arina,
“Lady Arina. Is that magic training too?”
Arina smiled and nodded.
“Yes. Jason has outstanding talent. But his willpower is a bit weak. So he uses some powerful magic, gets exhausted, and collapses.”
Arina was bluntly evaluating Jason's magic skills.
Her eyes gleamed as she said,
“If Jason can experience the will of the earth by directly confronting it with his body, he will surely become a great mage.”
Zeke nodded, listening to Arina.
“That makes sense.”
Hearing their conversation, Jason, buried in the pile of soil, shouted urgently,
“Kyaaaak! Sir Zeke! Uwaaa! The soil is getting in my mouth!”
At some point, he must have been completely buried because Jason's voice was no longer heard.
The other Lubern children poked the barrel with their eyes shining.
That's when it happened.
Thud!
The barrel shook violently, and soil and stones erupted from within, overflowing from the barrel.
A moment later, Jason emerged from inside.
“Phew!”
Just before he suffocated, Jason managed to escape from the barrel.
He crawled out of the barrel, his face pale.
Arina smiled at the sight of Jason.
“Oh my, he really did it!”
Arina had an innocent expression, as if she hadn't expected him to actually succeed.
She flicked her finger, and the erupted soil and stones returned to the barrel.
Seeing this, Zeke realized that Arina had mastered not only light magic but also other types of magic.
'6th Circle? No, maybe even 7th Circle or higher.'
A 7th Circle mage possessed power comparable to a Red Knight.
Zeke thought Arina might be the strongest person in his forces, besides himself.
As Arina pondered what other training to give Jason, who was still pale, Zeke cautiously asked,
“Lady Arina. But where is Arin?”
Arina replied with a bright smile,
“Ah, about Arin... well, that's a secret.”
'A secret? What on earth did you have Arin do?'
Although curious, Zeke just wished for Arin's safety instead of asking further.
Leaving behind Jason, who was begging to be taken with them, Zeke headed towards the knight training ground.
An unexpected sight unfolded there.
“Good! One more!”
Rick was doing basic strength training with Farel.
Thud!
Rick, who had just put down the special high-weight barbell exclusive to Agamemnon, had grown significantly larger.
Noticing Zeke, Farel and Rick stopped what they were doing and stood at attention.
“Salute to the lord!”
Rick saluted in unison with Farel's call.
Zeke shook his head and gestured for them to relax.
“I don't see the others.”
“Sister Clone took everyone to subjugate monsters in the surroundings to hone their combat senses.”
According to the explanation that followed, thanks to the subjugation conducted under the guise of training, there were no monsters, bandits, or outlaws to be found around Mycenae.
As a result, Clone and her group often went on expedition training beyond the city.
'It was a good decision to leave it to Clone.'
Zeke nodded and turned his gaze to Rick, picking up a wooden sword that had fallen on the ground.
Then he immediately swung it towards Rick.
Shhhk!
Despite the sudden attack, Rick immediately rolled his body and dodged Zeke's attack. Zeke continued to swing the wooden sword at Rick without pause.
Rick, unfazed by getting covered in dirt, dodged the sword and maintained his balance.
After observing Rick's movements for a while, Zeke withdrew his sword.
“You've improved a lot compared to before.”
Rick's eyes sparkled as he bowed his head.
“Thank you, my lord! I realized how much of a frog in a well I was!”
Jeffric, who had grown up under the pressure of his outstanding brother's shadow, had never truly focused on training with all his might.
He went to Valhalla to seek stimulation, but even there, he couldn't settle his mind and remained an outsider.
However, seeing his peers training fiercely here, breaking through their limits and becoming stronger day by day, he was quite shocked.
As a result, Rick accepted Farel's advice and decided to start from the most basic strength training and reflexes training, step by step.
It was a tedious and repetitive training regimen, but its effects were evident.
His skills, which had been stagnant for a long time, were finally starting to show cracks.
Looking at his well-balanced physique developed through strength training, Zeke could see at a glance that Farel's training method had worked perfectly.
'I have even higher expectations for his future growth.'
Jeffric Solma was also one of the Five Star Knights who showed outstanding performance in his previous life.
His potential was by no means inferior to others.
After checking on his comrades, Zeke finally headed to the basement of Agamemnon Castle.
He opened the door to the deepest underground prison and entered. A man with a haggard face and white hair was huddled in the corner.
Zeke was surprised to see Dario, who looked completely different from when he was interrogated.
'He's completely changed.'
Just then, Dario suddenly lifted his head and looked at Zeke.