Chapter 214
"Zeke Draker."
Seeing that he had come here as soon as Zeke emerged from the Trial of Struggle, it seemed they had been waiting for him to come out.
As he stepped forward, Rex Turunn opened his mouth.
"Have you seen the end of the trial?"
At those words, Zeke looked at him and nodded.
"Yes. I have cleared all the trials down to the 100th floor, the lowest level of the trial."
At Zeke's words, Rex Turunn's eyebrows twitched.
Rex Turunn and the other administrators were also watching Zeke with bated breath.
Zeke couldn't tell what Rex Turunn, who remained silent, was thinking.
'I don't know if conquering the tower will be a blessing or a curse... but let's test the waters first.'
Zeke immediately knelt on one knee and spoke to Rex Turunn with a polite attitude.
"Lord Rex Turunn, the head of the Turunn clan, I have something to tell you."
Zeke took a breath and continued.
"By reaching the lowest level of the Trial of Struggle, I have come to realize the astonishing secret of the Turunn clan."
At his words, Rex Turunn's thick eyebrows twitched.
"What do you mean by that?"
Zeke reached into his chest and took out the 'Secret Scroll of the Giant Hunting Art' from his inventory.
Zeke handed the Secret Scroll of the Giant Hunting Art to Rex Turunn and slowly opened his mouth.
"This is the secret scroll of Tyr, the God of War."
"The God of War? Who uses such an arrogant name?"
It was Rex Turunn's first time hearing the name Tyr, the God of War, so he reacted this way.
Zeke took a breath and corrected the name again.
"Tyr, the God of War, is the true name of Tius, the valiant knight who was one of the Knights of the Clock Tower representing the Chronos Kingdom and the king of the Cretan Kingdom in the Northern Continent."
At those words, not only Rex Turunn but also the administrators present were shocked.
"Tius, the valiant knight!"
"He's a legendary hero!"
Zeke looked at Rex Turunn and drove the point home.
"The Turunn clan are the descendants of the valiant knight and hero, Tyr, the God of War."
The administrators buzzed with chatter at Zeke's words.
Then, Rex Turunn stomped his foot loudly.
Thump!
As a powerful shockwave spread around, the administrators who had been murmuring behind him shut their mouths and stood at attention.
He leaned in close to Zeke's face and shouted loudly,
"The Turunn clan are descendants of Tius. Is that true, Zeke Draker! I'm asking if you can truly take responsibility for those words!"
Then, Zeke nodded.
"I swear on the honor of a knight that it is the truth."
Rex Turunn looked at Tyr's secret scroll that Zeke had handed him.
If Zeke's words were true, it was a precious secret scroll whose value couldn't be estimated.
Zeke looked at Rex Turunn again and said,
"To clear the Trial of Struggle, I also learned that secret art, but if the Turunn clan does not permit it, I will seal that technique forever."
It was a principle to forbid the leakage of a clan's secret art, even to those of the same bloodline.
Of course, Zeke had no intention of actually sealing the technique.
'I can just use it secretly without the Turunn clan knowing.'
After all, to properly use the Giant Hunting Art, he needed Tyr's weapon, the 'Giant Hunter'.
Since the Giant Hunter was stored in Zeke's inventory, there was no risk of the Turunn clan finding out.
For Zeke, Tyr's secret scroll was just a fancy piece of paper, so he had handed it over to Rex Turunn without any regrets.
'If I can build a relationship with the Turunn clan with this, it's a profitable deal.'
Rex Turunn looked at Zeke and said,
"You must clearly know the value of this secret scroll, so why did you give it to me?"
Zeke took a breath and said,
"The rightful owner of that secret scroll is the Turunn clan, the descendants of the God of War. I simply thought it was the duty of a knight to return a lost item to its owner."
Zeke continued,
"Also... I consider the Turunn clan to be true allies. How could I covet and steal what belongs to a friend?"
Just then, Rex Turunn suddenly slammed the Giant Hunting Art down on the floor.
In that instant, Zeke bit his lip hard inwardly at Rex's action.
'Did my plan fail?'
He had thought that if it were Arthur Draker, who was skilled in such schemes, he might have seen through his intentions.
But he had expected his plan to work with Rex Turunn, who valued loyalty, so this unexpected reaction caught him off guard.
Rex Turunn looked down at Zeke and said,
"Zeke Draker, did you think I would be pleased if you said that?"
Hearing Rex Turunn's words, Zeke thought his plan had definitely gone wrong.
'Unexpected. I underestimated the Turunn clan too much...'
But something felt strange.
Rex Turunn, who had been looking down at Zeke, suddenly turned his head sharply and shouted at the ceiling.
"Did you think this Rex Turunn would be moved if you said such things?!"
'Huh?'
Zeke felt something was off and raised his head to look at Rex Turunn.
Rex Turunn, looking up at the ceiling, had red-rimmed eyes and looked like he was struggling to hold back hot tears.
Zeke, on the other hand, was bewildered by Rex Turunn's reaction.
'W-what is this?'
Rex Turunn suddenly approached, grabbed Zeke's shoulders, and pulled him to his feet.
Then, he shouted as if scolding him,
"Zeke Draker! The fervent friendship you have shown towards the Turunn clan! That spirit! I have seen it well!"
An almost overwhelming intensity shone in the eyes of Rex Turunn and the administrators.
'Huh?'
Zeke's plan had worked out much better than he had expected.
Rex Turunn patted Zeke's shoulders and said,
"To be the first to clear the Trial of Struggle, and to personally discover the roots of the Turunn clan! And even bring back proof! Zeke Draker! You are already as good as clan to our Turunn clan!"
Rex Turunn embraced Zeke tightly with his solid, broad chest.
The administrators watching from the side finally couldn't hold back their hot tears and applauded.
"Lord Zeke Draker! We are moved!"
"An eternal ally of Turunn!"
"Zeke Draker! A true paragon of a warrior! We are captivated by your fervor!"
The reaction of the Turunn clan members was so fervent that Zeke couldn't help but be flustered.
'This is crazy.'
Rex Turunn's reaction even made him feel somewhat guilty.
But since things had turned out this way, he decided to drive the point home.
He pulled away from Rex Turunn's embrace, put on the most moved expression he could muster, and said,
"Lord Patriarch and everyone in the Turunn clan, I am overwhelmed by your kind words. Rather, I am the one who has learned so much through the Trial of Struggle."
At those words, Rex Turunn asked Zeke with a serious expression,
"What did you gain inside?"
Zeke, reading Rex Turunn's gaze, pondered what answer to give before taking a deep breath and opening his mouth.
"I have gained the true mindset of a warrior."
At Zeke's words, Rex Turunn closed his eyes tightly and felt a poignant emotion.
After savoring the lingering emotion, he opened his eyes again and patted Zeke's shoulders.
"Zeke Draker. Never forget that precious warrior's heart you have gained."
Zeke met Rex Turunn's gaze and nodded.
The fervent emotion that had filled the space slowly subsided.
Zeke wiped away the cold sweat and let out a sigh of relief.
'Phew, I almost messed up the whole plan.'
Fortunately, his experiences in the north in his previous life allowed him to play along; otherwise, he would have been too flustered to respond properly.
Thus, Zeke's return ended with a grand welcome.
* * *
Rex Turunn decided to hold a grand banquet for Zeke and took him to the Turunn clan's main residence.
Rex Turunn promised Zeke that he would tell him about his mother as promised.
'Arthur forbade mentioning Laura, but what do I care? Come find me whenever you want to hear about her.'
Zeke first entered the guest room of the Turunn main residence and finally caught his breath.
'It feels like it's been a long time since I've rested properly.'
Zeke was about to lie down on the bed when he seemed to remember something and sat back up.
"This isn't the time for that. I should organize my Karma Points when I have time."
He had gained quite a lot from the Inverted Tower.
Following the breakthrough that gave him a clue to advance to Black Knight by breaking through the blocked wall, he had also gained new divine powers and abilities.
"First, let's try using the newly acquired divine power, 'Shadow Domination'."
As Zeke unleashed 'Shadow Domination', his shadow rippled for a moment and rose.
Surprisingly, Zeke's shadow detached from him and began to move freely.
"The shadow is moving?"
Moreover, the separated shadow could move freely according to Zeke's will. He sent the shadow to move secretly.
Just then, a servant was seen walking down the hallway. Zeke moved his shadow and merged it with the servant's shadow.
Thuk!
As Zeke's shadow completely merged, surprisingly, Zeke was able to control the servant.
In addition, fragmented information about the servant was transmitted to Zeke.
'He was on his way to bring me a simple meal.'
Zeke released the shadow's domination.
Then, the servant, who had paused momentarily under Zeke's control, began to move again as if nothing had happened.
Knock, knock!
The servant approached Zeke's door, knocked, and set the food on the table.
"Please let me know if you need anything else, Lord Zeke."
As the servant retreated, Zeke retrieved his shadow.
"This is Shadow Domination. It could be useful in espionage or assassination."
As the divine power grew stronger, the range of shadows he could control would likely expand, and the amount of information he could extract would also increase.
Next, Zeke examined the newly unlocked functions of the Upper Administrator.
"Come to think of it, it said it unlocked the Defense Mode settings. What is this?"
Zeke entered the administrator system and opened the Defense Mode settings.
[Retrieving the list of 'Stronghold Areas' that can be linked with Defense Mode.]
---Area List---
1. Fortress of ???
2. Tomb of the Dragon Slayer
3. Resting Place of the Hero King
4. Resting Place of the Sky People
5. Guardian Tower of the Giants (Access Denied)
6. The Ark
"What is this?"
A list of ancient ruins that could connect to the administrator system appeared.
"Resting Place of the Sky People... Come to think of it, Terakan Draker called that the Fourth Defense Base."
He remembered seeing through past recordings how Terakan Draker led the Dragon Slayer Corps and fought against the demon beast legions.
Zeke could somewhat grasp what Defense Mode was.
"Can defense bases like the Resting Place of the Sky People be controlled by the system?"
In the past recordings, when the gate opened, an enormous number of monsters and demon beast legions had poured out.
Ordinary castle walls wouldn't have been able to stop them.
'With large demon beasts and even dragons corrupted by demonic energy flying around...'
Zeke recalled the solid rock walls that protected the Rock Tribe's village.
On the surface, it looked like a simple pile of rocks, but within it resided a mysterious ancient power.
The reason why the hydra corrupted by demonic energy couldn't enter the Rock Tribe's village was likely due to those rock walls.
'What is the Fortress of ???'
Zeke pressed number 1 on the area list.
Then, the screen changed and a map unfolded.
"Huh? This is..."
What appeared on the map was surprisingly Agamemnon's Castle located in Mycenae.
Only then did Zeke remember the message that had appeared when he had previously eliminated the demonic energy from Agamemnon's Castle with the Great Purification.
'It said it would unlock the emergency defense mode.'
At that time, after seeing Agamemnon's Castle link with the system, he had tested to see if configuration changes were possible like with the Tomb of the Dragon Slayer or the Resting Place of the Hero King, but since then there had been no other changes, so he had forgotten about it.
"Ah, it can't be configured with the normal administrator system, but it needs to be linked with Defense Mode."
Zeke had become somewhat accustomed to the Kabbalah System.
Zeke examined the panoramic view of Mycenae and Agamemnon's Castle on the screen.
"Wow, the terrain details are incredibly detailed compared to a normal map."
When Zeke pressed other functions on the map, a warning window appeared.
[Access to the Karma Data List is denied, so the latest data cannot be updated.]
[The functions of Defense Mode are limited.]
[Only defense functions on the scale of a bunker can be used.]
[It is possible to construct a defense area in a designated limited area.]
Zeke frowned as he read the message.
"What does this mean? Only bunker-scale defense functions are possible?"
When Zeke pressed the screen, the map changed again.
The room he was in was marked on the map, and related information appeared.
[A temporary area has been designated.]
[Do you want to construct a defense area?]
"Construct a defense area?"
He didn't know what it was, but he decided to construct it for now.
Whoooooom!
At the same time as his decision, light spread out in all directions centered on Zeke.
The light reached the location marked on the map, and then the screen changed.
[Confirming the defense area.]
[Updating area information.]