When the name Zeke Draker came up, Manna's expression grew intrigued.
"You're talking about the Knight of Salvation, I presume. I heard he became a disciple of Nigel the Hermit."
At his words, Nigel snapped irritably.
"Disciple? What disciple? His skills were so pathetic I just taught him the basics of how to hold a sword!"
Nabu snorted at that.
"After getting all your secrets stolen, now you're putting on airs."
Nigel shot a murderous glare at Nabu again. Manna quickly clapped his hands together in a joined-palms gesture.
Boom!
In an instant, an aura spread from Manna's body, and Nigel's killing intent vanished as if washed away.
Manna, the last monk of the long-defunct Daera Sect, had deployed an absolute defensive barrier.
Manna chanted a brief Buddhist chant and then spoke.
"Om Aranam Arada Svaha... So, Nabu the Hermit. Why do you say we need the power of the Knight of Salvation?"
Though the killing intent had faded, Nabu still sounded choked as he addressed Nigel.
"Keh! Ugh. Well, that's because... there's a karma upper limit there."
At the mention of a karma upper limit, Nigel shook Nabu's neck vigorously.
"Don't try to dodge it—spit it out straight, you sly fox!"
Nabu grimaced in pain before he finally managed to fan himself open.
Ssssh—
In a flash, Nabu's form vanished, reappearing behind Manna. Dodging Nigel, he spoke from there.
"You old hag with your foul temper. Anyway, what I mean is, if we go there, karma might recognize our existence and open the path to Peach Blossom Paradise." Manna's eyes widened in surprise at Nabu's words.
"A path to Peach Blossom Paradise... That could mean the restrictions of the oath our leader placed on us might be lifted." Nigel ground her teeth.
"Peach Blossom Paradise? As if I'd go to some rundown old folks' home like that!" Nabu clicked his tongue.
"You're the one who could head there anytime without it being weird, old hag. Honestly, it's absurd that a monster like you is still lingering in the phenomenal world..."
Woooong!
As Nigel stirred her energy again, the absolute defensive barrier Manna had erected rippled.
Manna calmed her down, barely containing her agitation.
Nabu, floating lazily in the air while fanning himself, continued.
"Anyway, if we go, it's straight to Peach Blossom Paradise, so we need a reliable proxy." Manna asked Nabu.
"Is there a reason you can't just select suitable members from the Highlander?" Nabu looked slightly troubled.
"Uh, well, our guys would all die before even reaching the place." Manna's eyes widened at Nabu's firm words.
Nabu, known as the Hermit of Stories, might seem frivolous at times, but he never spoke falsely.
Moreover, Nabu was notoriously picky about people, so his acknowledgment meant the person was a true powerhouse.
"For Nabu the Hermit to say that much... Now I'm curious about this Knight of Salvation." Nigel glared at Nabu with a dissatisfied expression.
"Damn it, fine, I get what you're saying. Then hurry up and call Zeke. He destroys the place, and we clean up the remaining magical beasts, right?" Nabu looked embarrassed again.
"Ah, about that. I've been trying to contact Zeke nonstop, but for some reason, it's not connecting."
Nigel finally exploded at Nabu's words.
"You bastard! You call a busy guy and then mess around?"
"Why take it out on me? It's not my fault your disciple isn't responding! Master and pupil are both so damn willful!"
As Nigel and Nabu bickered again, Manna turned his head to look outside the tent.
In a low voice, he said to them.
"It seems this isn't the time for us to fight among ourselves." Nabu and Nigel turned to focus on what Manna watched.
Soon, both reacted with shock.
"What is this? High-rank demonkind... No, this is the aura of top-tier demonkind?"
Narak had devised a method to summon high-rank demonkind to the phenomenal world using artificial blood tear stones.
But it was known that the limit with artificial blood tear stones was high-rank demonkind.
Yet the demonic aura they sensed now was unmistakably from top-tier demonkind.
Nabu said gravely.
"And this... It's been summoned in its full power, without any weakening. The wavelength itself is different."
Nigel nodded, drawing her sword.
"So Narak's gone and summoned top-tier demonkind now. They must have lives to spare.
Manna, hold the defensive barrier steady without breaking it. Nabu, no funny business —keep trying to reach Zeke until you get through, and tell him to rush here the moment you do."
Woooong!
Her body floated into the air as the power of the body of strength enveloped Nigel. "I'll handle that demon bastard."
Kwaaaang—
With a massive explosion, Nigel's form shot out of the tent toward the source of the demonic aura.
Feeling the storm-like energy of Nigel, Nabu broke into a cold sweat.
"Whew, that old hag's got some real power."
Turning back, he saw Manna already seated in meditation, chanting a Buddhist chant to focus his mind.
It was to firmly maintain the absolute defensive barrier that kept the magical beasts at bay.
Nabu pulled a mirror from his robes.
"Ugh, Zeke, pick up already. Hurry."
*
"Solomon obtained the power of immortality."
Zeke's eyes wavered at the elder dragon's words.
Zeke himself had wondered how the power of immortality came to be and how it started with Solomon and passed down through the Draker family.
"The first immortal. So that power was a distortion born from a rift that escaped fate." The small rift created by the evil god "Chaos," an irregular.
That rift, combined with various factors, had produced the unexpected result of the power of immortality.
After a moment's thought, Zeke asked the elder dragon.
"King Solomon didn't seek the power of immortality from the start, did he?"
"The power of immortality is a contradiction in itself, something a mortal cannot possess.
Even Solomon couldn't deliberately create such a paradox. The rift made by the evil god "Chaos" manifested in this form."
It was astonishing that the immortal—the only one capable of slaying a constellation—had arisen purely by chance.
Then the elder dragon continued.
"After becoming an immortal, Solomon pondered what he could do. The path he chose was something even I couldn't foresee."
Zeke could guess what it was from the elder dragon's words.
"Did he begin his godslaying then?"
"Solomon, realizing he could not be extinguished as an immortal, sought to save the land from the grasp of the constellations."
It was the same story in the end, so Zeke nodded and pulled the ring of Solomon from his inventory.
"Then this ring was also something he received while starting his godslaying?"
"Solomon used the Akashic Code to create the initial form of the system. After sharing in that system, I too gained the ability to wield karma. That ring was the first artifact I created while handling karma, meant to seal evil entities."
Sensing something off in the elder dragon's explanation, Zeke asked.
"So it wasn't originally made to seal fallen constellations?"
"In the age of the constellations, there were many dangerous beings on the land besides the constellations themselves. To protect his people, Solomon fought those entities without borrowing the power of the constellations and sealed their souls into the ring."
The system's description stated that the ring of Solomon sealed fallen constellations and high-rank demonkind, so Zeke hadn't considered other uses.
"It could originally seal other souls as well, then." But just then, the floor and walls began to shake.
Rumble rumble—
Feeling the massive vibration, Zeke asked the elder dragon.
"What's happening all of a sudden?"
Crackle crackle—
The elder dragon statue on the throne flickered, its form vanishing and reappearing repeatedly.
"It's them."
Sparks flew from the dragon statue on the throne.
Crackle crackle—
As Zeke approached the statue, the elder dragon's voice pierced his ear.
"It seems I've used too much of my remaining causality on you."
The sparks intensified, sending currents scattering in all directions.
The dragon statue flickered as the elder dragon's words came in fragments.
"This place, Carcosa... exists yet does not exist... within fragments of spacetime... lacking causality... they can invade..."
Zeke repeated the broken words to himself.
"Fragments of spacetime? Who are 'they' exactly...?"
Screeeeech—
A horrific noise echoed through the grand hall.
"This sound?"
Something slithered in through cracks in the ceiling and walls.
From the wall fissures, tentacles dripping acidic fluid bared sharp teeth.
Zeke knew what these tentacles were.
"Outsider species?"
One part of a tentacle swelled, splitting open to reveal an eyeball.
The eyes protruding from the tentacles glared at Zeke.
The suddenly appearing tentacles of the outsider species gradually wrapped around the hall's pillars and descended.
They then reared up like snake heads, slowly advancing toward Zeke.
As the outsider species appeared, the storm of currents around the dragon statue on the throne grew fiercer.
The elder dragon's voice flickered back.
"Connection... Zeke Draker... to the north of the city... there's a temple there..." With those words, the dragon statue vanished completely.
Though Zeke hadn't heard the full message, he realized it was time to move.
He immediately drew Roland and donned his Hercion.
Aiming his sword at the dozens of approaching tentacles, he said.
"Come on, then."
KeeEEEEk—
The tentacles lunged at Zeke all at once.
In that instant, the aura of sacred radiance technique surged from Roland.
Crackle crackle—
From the sacred radiance technique hovering above Zeke's head, white lightning bolts shot out in all directions.
KieeeEEk—
The tentacles struck by the light's lightning charred black, but they soon regenerated, multiplying into several more.
Seeing this, Zeke, now wearing Agamemnon's mask, summoned the blade of radiant light and slashed at the tentacles.
Slaaaash—
Acidic fluid sprayed from the severed ends.
Sizzle—
So potent that the stone where the fluid landed corroded and crumbled away.
No matter how many Zeke cut, the tentacles kept growing, only increasing in number.
"This won't end."
To halt the tentacles' movements first, Zeke invoked the authority of freezing.
Ssssh—
Cold air infused with the authority of freezing spread from his body.
Crackle crackle—
The tentacles touched by the cold froze solid, immobilized in place.
Zeke succeeded in stopping their advance with the authority of freezing.
"In this gap, I need to head north..."
But then, one frozen tentacle suddenly turned red.
Sizzle—
Incredibly, it broke free of the authority's cold and began moving again.
Sizzle—
The other tentacles followed, turning red one by one, shedding the authority of freezing and baring their teeth at Zeke.
Kaaaaak—
"To break free of an authority on their own? What kind of things are these? This is
a first..."
Zeke immediately released the authority of freezing and swung at the tentacles.
Dodging the incoming ones, he unleashed a dragon race skill and full power technique simultaneously.
Kwa kwa kwa—
Dragon's claw and the will of severance sliced through the tentacles.
But the severed ones regenerated unchanged, multiplying further.
Their numbers had clearly increased from the start.
"Annoying bastards."
Just then, something flashed through Zeke's mind.
He recalled using elemental sword's elemental power when repairing the statue of Theia's saintess, from which the outsider species had emerged.
"Maybe elemental sword?"
Zeke immediately gripped Roland and invoked the power of elemental sword.
"Huuuu."
Elemental sword was so potent that even Zeke struggled to control its intensity.
It could easily run wild, so reining it in was crucial.
Among elemental sword techniques, Zeke summoned the most powerful: chamber of firepower.
Roooar—
Pure flame erupted from his sword.
"I can control it this far. The key is when I swing."
The tentacles rolled their eyes, crawling along walls, floor, and ceiling toward Zeke.
Then, in an instant, they shot forward like arrows.
Kaaaaak—
Zeke stepped forward, sword in hand.
Elemental Sword
Chamber of Firepower
White Flame Barrage
Blazing white flame engulfed the entire grand hall in whiteness.