Chapter 206
"Siemens?"
Zeke was taken aback by Reyes's unexpected words.
'Could it be that Siemens I know?'
Zeke recalled the Siemens Magic Knights who had pursued Terakan Draker when he read the memories of the Holy Grail.
Even back then, the name Siemens had appeared, which was strange, but he never imagined that the name Siemens would have existed even in the era of the Hero King.
'Draker and Siemens. Are the two families more deeply connected than I thought?'
Zeke asked Reyes in a calm voice.
"Why do you think Siemens summoned the demons?"
At those words, Reyes clicked his tongue and said,
"Saturn, are you asking me that now? You're really acting strange today."
Reyes didn't answer Zeke's question and slowly rose from his spot.
"Well, anyway, let's go. If we enter the castle, the demon who created this domain should be there. We need to get rid of him so that this forest can return to normal."
Zeke suddenly realized that this place was somewhere on the continent in the past.
He turned on the map and examined the terrain before asking the system.
'System. Compared to the current continent map, where is the most similar place to this?'
[Commencing terrain scan.]
Soon, the system completed the scan.
The terrain the map searched for was surprisingly a place Zeke knew.
'The Forest of the Forgotten? Is this that place?'
The Forest of the Forgotten that Zeke remembered was an endlessly continuing swamp.
Due to the rampage of ancient magic, the Forest of the Forgotten was placed under an eternal curse.
An unending swamp stretched across it, so anyone who stepped in carelessly could never escape until they died.
That was why powerful ancient demonic beasts, wicked sorcerers, and those who held ancient mysteries hid within the forest.
Zeke's master, Nigel, lived in such a Forest of the Forgotten, acting as a kind of guardian as a Highlander.
If it weren't for his master, all sorts of impure things hidden within the forest would have spilled out onto the continent, undoubtedly causing tremendous chaos.
'So this is what it looked like two thousand years ago. Did the curse of the endless swamp happen after this?'
He didn't know how much the hidden stage created by the Inverted Tower reflected the situation at the time, but it was enough to roughly infer the circumstances.
While Reyes was preparing to leave, Zeke collected the magic stone and artifact left behind by the demonkin he had just dealt with.
'Is this the weapon that guy was using?'
It looked similar to the 'katar' used by the assassins of the Salmak.
While the assassins' katars had thin blades and were easily concealed inside the wrist, the demonkin's weapon was wider and longer, to the point where it could be called a regular sword.
Zeke checked the weapon's information.
---Weapon Information---
Description: Weapon exclusive to the Six Demon Martial Art
Unique Ability: Self-Repair
Special Note: A weapon exclusive to demonkin warriors who have mastered the Six Demon Martial Art. It has the ability to self-repair over time even if it is broken.
'Self-repair, huh. That's a fascinating ability.'
Weapons naturally lose durability and wear down as they are used.
If they aren't repaired whenever they take damage, they will eventually break and become unusable.
Bahamut, with its indestructible attribute, didn't have such worries, but he remembered how carefully he had managed the Solar Sword Gram, which he had used in his previous life, for fear of it breaking.
Having collected the artifact, Zeke organized his thoughts and followed Reyes, crossing the forest towards the castle in the distance.
The demonkin's castle had a similar atmosphere to the cursed Agamemnon's castle.
It was gloomy, and thorny bushes climbed up the castle walls, making it seem difficult to approach carelessly.
However, Reyes, as if not caring at all, confidently walked up to the castle gate and kicked the door open with his foot.
Thwack!
As the door opened, a corridor with an eerie aura stretched out.
He could feel suspicious movements going back and forth in the darkness.
"Let's go! Knight of Nobility!"
Zeke grabbed Reyes by the scruff of his neck as he tried to barge straight in. He chided Reyes.
"Surely you're not planning to just go in without any precautions."
Reyes thumped his chest and said.
"With the Knight of Nobility by my side, what demon would I fear! The blessing of the Hero King will follow us!"
Zeke held his throbbing head and said to Reyes.
"Stop with the nonsense and just follow me. The guy who rules this castle will obviously be at the very top."
As a hitman, Zeke was a specialist in assassinating VIPs.
Those in power always set up their residences at the highest point of a building.
Because of this, Zeke was skilled at finding ways to climb to high places.
Zeke, forcibly dragging Reyes who was about to enter the wide-open castle gate directly, looked for the best place to climb up from the outside of the castle.
Then, he took out his chain and connected it to Annexie's dagger.
Hum hum!
Charrrrk— Thwack!
After swinging the chain a few times, Zeke threw it, embedding the dagger into the castle wall.
Then, he wrapped the chain around Reyes's waist as well.
"Hold on tight."
Zeke then shortened the length of the chain.
Charrrrrrrk!
As the chain shortened, Zeke and Reyes were soon dangling in the middle of the castle wall.
"Heok!"
Reyes, hanging from the high castle wall, looked down with a surprised expression before turning to Zeke.
"Saturn, I never knew you had such skills."
Zeke didn't reply and took out another dagger, connected it to the chain, and embedded it in the wall again.
Repeating this several times, Zeke was soon able to reach the very top of the castle wall.
It was then.
Kieaaaaak!
A harpy-like demonic beast flapped its black wings and flew towards Zeke and Reyes, who were climbing the castle wall.
Whoosh!
It tried to attack Zeke and Reyes, who were clinging to the wall, with its sharp claws.
"Get lost, you!"
Reyes, still hanging, swung his spear at the demonic beast.
However, the demonic beast circled in the air, easily evading Reyes's spear.
And a moment later, the demonic beast flew towards Zeke and Reyes, leading a group.
"Reyes, that scale-throwing thing you did earlier. Can't you use that?"
"Did you forget that I can only use Azure Scale Barrage once a day!"
Reyes was of no help at all.
Zeke embedded the remaining dagger in the wall to secure his body and stood with his back against the wall.
In that position, he took out the dark elf's bow from his inventory.
'An artifact imbued with penetration power. Let's test it out.'
Originally, magical armaments themselves were rare, but enchanted bows were even rarer.
Zeke took out the arrows he had crafted using the item crafting system and nocked one onto the bowstring.
And immediately, he drew the bowstring taut and shot the arrow at the approaching demonic beast.
Ping!
The arrow Zeke shot passed through the demonic beast's body with astonishing speed.
Keeeek!
The demonic beast struck by Zeke's arrow staggered and then fell to the ground.
'The power is decent?'
Shooting a bow accurately was not as easy as one might think.
On the battlefield, even skilled azure knights often died when hit by the arrows of skilled archers while their stamina was depleted.
Excellent archers who could pierce through thick armor and aim for weak points were as valuable as knights.
If such archers used this enchanted bow with penetration, they would be able to easily pierce through knights' armor and kill them.
'It was a surprisingly powerful artifact.'
Zeke reloaded his arrow and aimed at the demonic beasts again.
Ping! Ping! Ping!
The demonic beasts fell to the ground, pierced by Zeke's arrows as soon as he shot them.
As only a few demonic beasts remained after Zeke's continuous attacks, they became frightened and fled.
However, Zeke didn't let the fleeing demonic beasts go and shot them all down with his arrows.
Once the demonic beasts were gone, Zeke retrieved his bow and climbed back up the wall with Reyes.
Thump!
A moment later, Zeke and Reyes were finally able to reach the top of the castle wall.
Looking down from above, it was quite a dizzying height.
Zeke immediately checked the structure of the castle wall and then headed towards the tower across the bridge.
'Those in power always want to be in a place where they can see the area below best.'
Considering the castle's layout, that place was the tower on the east side.
Just as Zeke and Reyes were about to cross the bridge and enter the tower, someone blocked their path.
Grrrr!
A lower-ranking demonkin, leading several Cerberuses, was waiting for Zeke and Reyes on the bridge.
[How dare humans try to enter our sacred castle! Die!]
The unleashed Cerberuses charged at Zeke and Reyes.
Bark! Bark! Bark!
Baring its sharp teeth, the Cerberus tried to bite Zeke.
It was then.
Whoosh!
Reyes swiftly unfurled the net he had slung over his shoulder.
Whoooooom!
Reyes, having caught the Cerberus in mid-air, swung the net and flung it off the bridge.
Yelp!
The Cerberuses let out strange cries and fell below the bridge.
The remaining Cerberuses on the bridge, seeing this, took a slight step back.
Grrrr!
Zeke drew his sword and aimed it at the Cerberuses.
"I don't have time to deal with you lot."
Zeke flipped his sword downwards and slammed it straight into the bridge.
Bahamut plunged into the solid stone bridge.
In that state, Zeke unleashed the Vibrating Force Resonance, spreading the shockwave.
Ddddddd!
Cracks began to form in the bridge, and fissures started to appear on the side where the Cerberuses were.
Yelp!
The Cerberuses instinctively felt fear and tried to retreat.
However, the bridge crumbled even faster.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
As the cracks deepened, the bridge collapsed in a shower of debris.
The Cerberuses on top fell to the ground along with the collapsing bridge remnants.
Yelpyelpyelp!
Just as the area where Zeke and Reyes were also about to collapse due to the impact, Zeke threw the chain tied to his dagger at the opposite wall.
Charrrrrrrk!
Zeke, leaping over the broken bridge with Reyes, charged towards where the demonkin was.
Zeke imbued the Vibrating Force Resonance into a kick aimed at the demonkin.
Thwack!
The demonkin, caught off guard by Zeke's attack mixed with the shockwave, retreated.
[Kuh! How can a human use a martial art?]
Arriving at the opposite tower in the blink of an eye, Zeke raised his sword and shouted at Reyes.
"Reyes! The net!"
At Zeke's words, Reyes quickly unfurled his net towards the demonkin.
Whoosh!
The demonkin rolled to avoid Reyes's suddenly approaching net.
However, it couldn't evade Zeke's persistently pursuing chains.
Charrrrrrk!
Zeke's chains wrapped around the demonkin's body.
"Kuh-uk!"
Just as Reyes was about to stab the demonkin with his spear, Zeke stopped him.
"Wait, let's get some information out of this guy."
Reyes was startled by those words.
"Saturn, you're going to interrogate him? If Kaisir saw this, he'd fall flat on his back."
"...Don't you know that people change over time?"
Zeke pretended to be nonchalant and quickly approached the demonkin bound by the chains.
"Demonkin, tell me how many are inside the tower."
The demonkin then glared at Zeke with red eyes and spat.
[Damn you humans! I'll rip off your scalps, chop your bodies into pieces, and kill you!]
Reyes, who was beside him, clicked his tongue.
"I don't know what he's saying, but I can tell he's cursing."
Zeke, somewhat accustomed to dealing with demonkin, calmly took out Agamemnon's Mask from his inventory.
Until now, he had refrained from using it as much as possible due to its high mana consumption, but since he had released the Infinite Stamina skill, he could quickly recover even if he used the purification skill.
'I can't use skills directly, but there was no mention that the skills contained within items are also restricted.'
Zeke put on Agamemnon's Mask, grabbed the chains binding the demonkin's body, and used the 'Purification' skill.
Whoooooom!
As Zeke thought, the purification skill activated, and golden aura flowed through the chains towards the demonkin.
He carefully controlled his power to prevent the demonkin from being annihilated by the purification.
[Kuaaaaak!]
The demonkin shrieked as the golden aura-filled chains dug into its body.
Zeke looked at the writhing demonkin and asked.
"How about it? Do you feel like talking now?"
[Ughhh...]
But as the demonkin still remained stubborn, Zeke scorched it again with the aura of purification.
[Aaaaaaak! Stop! Stop!]
If he could have used the Holy Flame skill, he would have subdued it much faster, but this was enough for a lower-ranking demonkin.
Zeke grabbed the demonkin by the collar and asked again.
"Tell me the number of troops inside the tower and where the master of the castle is. Also, tell me what abilities the boss has. The more you delay, the more painful it will become."
At Zeke's words, the demonkin's face turned pale.