Thud!
As Frets's head exploded into pieces, the knights behind him panicked.
In truth, it was the knights of the Cancer Palace who had struck first and were now trying to pin the blame on the other side.
They drew chain sickles from their cloaks.
The sinister energy emanating from the chains suggested they were artifacts imbued with dark magic.
The knights gripped the chains and hurled the sickles toward Zeke.
Whoooosh!
Dozens of sickles attached to chains flew straight at Zeke.
At that moment, King's Fist and the barbarians behind him surged forward to intercept.
Clang!
Even weapons enchanted with dark magic could not pierce the barbarians' sturdy bodies.
The barbarians deflected the sickles and instead grabbed hold of the chains attached to them.
Whoooosh!
Pulling with all their might, they yanked the chains, dragging the knights toward them. "Wh-what?!"
Unable to resist the immense strength of the barbarians, the knights were pulled in helplessly. Fists came flying at them.
Crunch!
One punch caved in a helmet, smashing the knight's head.
Following King's Fist's lead, the other barbarians joined the assault.
Crunch! Crack!
The sounds of armor clashing and bones breaking echoed loudly around them.
"Argh! Block them!"
"Signal the mages! Drop the barrier!"
Unable to use aura due to the barrier, the knights of the Cancer Palace were utterly overwhelmed by the barbarians.
Meanwhile, as they watched the barbarians rampage like wolves tearing through a flock of sheep, Reina and the knights of the Thurn family could only gape in astonishment.
'How did Zeke tame these terrifying savages?'
While Reina stared blankly at the barbarians, Zeke, who had been observing from behind, raised his hammer and shouted.
"Capture the mages up top! Follow me!"
At Zeke's command, the members of the Black Sword Knight Order immediately fell in behind him.
Seeing this, Reina turned to the Thurn knights.
"I'll go help them too. Block their retreat so the imperial knights can't escape!"
After issuing orders to the Thurn knights, Reina hurriedly chased after Zeke and the Black Spirit Unit.
The situation was the same for her—no aura usage allowed—but the Black Spirit Unit members seemed accustomed to such conditions as they advanced through the dense underbrush with their swords, without a hint of panic.
Reina felt a strange unfamiliarity as she moved solely on her own physical strength after so long.
'Is the Black Sword Knight Order used to situations like this?'
Though they shared the same blue knight rank, the Black Spirit Unit's members, hardened by countless perilous battles, far outstripped her in practical experience.
Just then, Zeke called out from ahead.
"Remove your gauntlets! I'll disrupt their mana flow! If they flee, cut off their flanks!"
With that, Zeke tossed aside his gauntlets and unleashed the mana suppression technique. Instantly, a suppression field expanded around him.
Woooong!
Within the domain of the mana suppression technique, which halted the flow of mana, the mages could no longer cast spells properly.
Far more potent and precise than the pureblood Draker trait of "mana interference," it left the Narak dark mages utterly flustered as their magic failed to manifest.
"D-damn it!"
As the mages turned to flee, Liam and Felix led the Black Spirit Unit in spreading out to block their escape routes.
Whoosh!
Liam drew a dagger from his cloak and threw it at the fleeing mages.
Thud!
It struck one squarely in the back.
The swift-footed Felix dashed ahead, cutting off the dark mages' path.
The mages hesitated and fell back to regroup, but by then, other Black Spirit Unit members had appeared behind them, encircling the group.
Just as the Narak mages exchanged glances and reached for relics infused with demonic power—
Crackle!
Zeke's mace of light came crashing down on the herded dark mages.
"Grrrk!"
Struck by the lightning of light, the mages foamed at the mouth and collapsed.
The Black Sword Knight Order members efficiently bound the fallen mages' arms and legs, restraining them completely.
Reina watched their coordinated movements in a daze. Then Zeke approached her.
"Reina, follow me. We're destroying the barrier's core." Snapping out of it, Reina hurried after Zeke.
Deeper into the forest, they found a dark mage holding a demonic relic, surrounded by a horde of monsters.
The dark mage shouted at the monsters.
"Kill them!"
The monsters, empowered by demonic energy and drooling, charged at Zeke and Reina.
Still within the barrier's influence, aura remained unusable.
Facing the ferocious monsters, Reina broke out in a cold sweat.
Zeke looked at her and said,
"Your power doesn't come solely from aura. Trust in the sword you've wielded."
Hearing Zeke's words, Reina steadied her resolve, feeling her trembling body gradually calm.
Gripping her sword, Reina charged at the monsters.
Whoosh!
Using her body's momentum, she sliced through the enemy like a flash of light—Reina's signature technique.
The flash technique finally revealed its true form.
Slash!
Reina's sword cleaved a monster in half.
It was an astonishing feat achieved purely through physical strength, without aura.
Reina, who had relied only on aura, realized that the true power of the flash technique, much like Duke's gale technique, stemmed from the body's foundation.
Through that moment of enlightenment, Reina's movements grew even faster, transcending human limits.
Whoosh!
Becoming a dazzling flash herself, her sword gleamed as it cut down the oncoming monsters.
Zeke nodded, watching her.
'With this, Reina has truly reached the realm of a blue knight.'
While Reina handled the monsters, Zeke slowly advanced toward the mage clutching the relic.
Seeing this, the Narak dark mage focused the barrier more intensely on Zeke.
But Zeke was using spirit power instead of aura, rendering the barrier ineffective against him.
Drawing his hammer instead of his sword, he concentrated the power of the sacred radiance technique.
Whoooosh!
The hammer flew forward, carrying immense light, shattering both the mage and the relic in one blow.
Crunch!
The mage's body twisted at unnatural angles, and the relic crumbled completely, rolling across the ground.
With that, the surrounding barrier dissipated.
Woooong!
The knights could once again wield their aura freely.
But by then, the knights of the Cancer Palace had already been subdued by the barbarians and the Thurn knights.
Zeke approached one of the dying dark mages and read his memories, noting how the situation had ended more easily than expected.
'This isn't their main base. The real one is higher up. He doesn't know the gate's exact location either.'
It seemed they had set up a gate there to summon monsters.
Using this as a spearhead, they planned to unleash a monster legion across the northern continent, pushing down to the central continent.
Having grasped the situation, Zeke crushed the dark mage's throat, killing him instantly.
He then returned to the captured knights of the Cancer Palace with Reina and the Black Sword Knight Order members.
He incinerated Frets Maise's corpse completely with the authority of flame.
'Frets was practically Azmun's right hand. Cutting him off weakens them significantly.'
Now, only the Gemini Palace and Taurus Palace remained aligned with the scheming Azmun.
As Azmun's faction weakened around Abel, the pressure on the Rom Empire would intensify.
Moreover, Julius's side was relentlessly persuading legion commanders across the empire, so as time passed, Abel and the Siemens faction in Rom would inevitably be pushed into a defensive position.
Zeke organized his thoughts and briefed them on the next plan. Then he captured all the knights and dark mages of the Cancer Palace and descended the Ogre Mountain Range.
He concealed the banners of the Black Sword Knight Order and Thurn family, raising the Cancer Palace banner instead, and entered their camp as if they were the Cancer Palace knights.
Unaware that their captain Frets was dead, they let Zeke's group in without suspicion.
As Zeke, disguised as Frets using the transformation cloak, entered, the adjutant who had been commanding in his stead approached.
"Captain! Thank goodness you're safe. A telegram arrived from Grand Captain Azmun."
Zeke looked at him and asked,
"What did Azmun say?"
The adjutant felt a slight oddity in Frets's unusual tone but dismissed it and replied promptly.
"If it's Reina Draker, she might be connected to Zeke Draker, so avoid engaging and observe until I arrive. But it seems you've taken care of them all safely, so no issue..." At that moment, Zeke, disguised as Frets, drew his hammer.
Seeing this, the adjutant's eyes widened.
"Captain?"
In an instant, Zeke's hammer smashed into the adjutant's skull.
Crunch!
At the same moment, the barbarians, Black Spirit Unit, and Thurn knights, who had been waiting in disguise at a distance, revealed themselves.
As the Cancer Palace knights panicked at the sudden assault, Zeke activated the authority of charisma and lion's roar together, shouting,
"The conspiracy of Cancer Palace Knight Order Captain Frets Maise has been exposed to the world! The imperial forces allied with dark mages to lead a monster legion, invading not just Barkal City but the entire northern continent!" Zeke's shout spread throughout the camp.
The lion's roar instilled fear in enemies and boosted morale among allies, working perfectly.
The once-solid Cancer Palace knight camp began to crumble.
But as one of the empire's elite forces, the Cancer Palace knights quickly regained their composure after a brief moment.
Assessing the situation, they abandoned the camp and charged toward Barkal's gates instead.
They judged it better to confront them within the city.
But then, Barkal's gates swung open, and armed citizens poured out.
"Kill those vile imperial dogs!"
Leading them were none other than the dwarven blacksmiths.
Wearing helmets, heavy armor, and wielding battle axes, they charged at the knights with roars.
The momentum of the Barkal citizen militia caused the advancing Cancer Palace knights to falter and retreat momentarily.
At Zeke's command, the barbarian unit immediately blocked their escape, holding the line.
With the sturdy barbarians barring the path, the Cancer Palace knights could neither flee nor escape attacks from the rear and flanks.
As more citizens streamed out from the city, the Cancer Palace knights had no choice but to raise the white flag and surrender.
The Barkal citizen militia erupted in cheers of joy.
As the battlefield was brought under control, representatives from the Barkal Assembly approached Zeke, who had orchestrated the situation.
Seeing the assembly representatives who had come to him, Zeke wore a surprised expression.
'A human, a naga, and a dwarf.'
They were the three who had been discussing the Grand Duke of the North at the table next to his during his meal in Barkal earlier.
The human representative bowed to Zeke.
"Knight of Salvation, we were shocked to receive your letter via the assembly. We sincerely thank you for saving Barkal from crisis."
Before ascending the Ogre Mountain Range, Zeke had contacted the Barkal Assembly in advance, informing them of his plan.
Thanks to that, Barkal had prepared a citizen militia to block the Cancer Palace knights.
The dwarf snorted at the human's words.
"We're grateful for the help, but you're not here to claim Barkal for yourself, are you?" The naga behind him shook his head as if exasperated.
"Would the Knight of Salvation Zeke Draker stoop to such petty schemes? It won't happen. Right, Sir Zeke?"
True to his intelligent naga nature, he probed Zeke with smooth words.
"I have no intention of attacking Barkal, so rest assured."
At Zeke's words, the human representative nodded as if he had expected as much, while the naga eyed him cautiously, wondering if there might be hidden motives.
Then Zeke said to them,
"There is one thing I'd like to request from the Barkal Assembly." The three representatives tensed at his words.
The composed human asked,
"What request, Sir Zeke?"
Zeke pointed to the captured Cancer Palace knights and dark mages.
"The imperial forces allied with dark mages to invade Barkal. Please announce this in Barkal's name."
The three, who had been bracing for something major, were taken aback by Zeke's request.
The naga asked, "That will suffice?" Zeke nodded.
"Yes. If I must ask for more, a refreshing Barkal beer would be most welcome." At that, the dwarf representative burst into hearty laughter.
"Hahaha! In all my dwarven years, this is the first human like you. I like you! Knight of Salvation Zeke Draker! I recognize you as a friend of Barkal! Let's head into the city and raise a toast to victory with some ale!"
The imperial forces that had sought to invade Barkal faced a backlash, their conspiracy soon to be known across the continent.
As the dark mages were handed over to the three representatives, Zeke's eyes gleamed.
'Wait for it, Siemens. I'll tighten the noose around your necks even more.'