Zeke approached the glass tube where a child with violet hair floated, curled up in a fetal position.
"This child was supplying mana to the gate?"
Maintaining a gate connected to the land beyond the Everwinter Wall required an enormous amount of mana.
Extracting that much mana from a child's body didn't make any sense.
He placed his hand on the glass tube and read the related information. Pzzzt—
A strong spark flew, and fragmented pieces of information surfaced in Zeke's mind.
Among the various words and scenes, Zeke pinpointed one crucial detail.
"Irregular?"
Faint information indicated that the child trapped in the glass tube was an Irregular.
Zeke recalled how the Nostra Family had previously kidnapped Rubern children and traded them with the Holy Kingdom.
"It wasn't just Rubern children. They were abducting kids to find bloodline ability users or Irregulars."
His expression hardened as anger surged within him against those who had committed such atrocities.
Having been dragged to the southern continent as a slave in his previous life and forced to become a cartel hitman who committed horrific acts, Zeke was especially sensitive to crimes against children.
He spoke inwardly to Arataso and Nebilos.
"I'll summon you both. Draw attention to the outskirts of the supply depot."
Zeke's tone was unusually grave, so Arataso and even Nebilos followed his orders without complaint.
Woooong—
Through the perspectives of the Ghost Troopers positioned in different locations, Zeke confirmed that Arataso and Nebilos had been summoned from the Green Sword and the Eastern Sword.
As the two demonkind suddenly appeared and attacked the supply depot, the surrounding magical beasts, monsters, and dark mages panicked and flailed about.
Zeke watched the chaotic situation at the supply depot through the Ghost Troopers' views.
Then, after a moment, he invoked the Authority of Shadow to create shadow clones.
Shhh—
The shadow clones, identical to him, shared his thoughts and already knew his plan.
"Once we move to the coordinates, strike in and cut off the energy supply." Even so, Zeke emphasized it once more, and the clones nodded.
Soon, light flashed as the clones teleported to the stone buildings of different energy supply depots.
Multiple screens divided before his eyes, showing various battles.
"Demons are attacking!"
"Wh-what? Why demons all of a sudden?"
"Block them! Report to the superiors immediately!"
"Good, Arataso and Nebilos are doing well. Now the clones just need to infiltrate the buildings from below."
While the clones approached the inside of the energy supply depots, Zeke spoke to Titus and Yulina, who waited behind him.
"Go outside and use the Blood Eye to suppress the monster legion's spirits, then stir up chaos on the perimeter. I'll cut off the mana supply and create a portal to move right away."
"Understood, my king."
"We shall obey the command."
Titus and Yulina responded politely and immediately climbed atop the stone building.
At that moment, messages appeared one after another indicating that the shadow clone bodies had arrived underground in the stone building.
The clones, who had opened the door with the curse-lifting treatment skill and entered, now saw the children trapped in glass tubes just like Zeke.
"They're extracting mana from Irregulars in other places too."
Zeke gritted his teeth and drew Laevatein, while the other shadow clones pulled out Caladbolg made of shadow.
Zeke and the clone bodies simultaneously assumed the same stance in their respective locations.
Woooong!
A powerful aura emanated from their swords.
Zeke charged forward and unleashed a sword strike toward the glass tube containing the Irregular child.
Crack—
The glass tube shattered under Zeke's sword strike, sending sparks flying throughout the underground chamber.
Pzzzt—
The mana being sent to the gate began to backflow and go berserk.
Zeke scooped up the child from the glass tube into his arms and deployed the Mana Reversal Technique.
Woooong—
Under the influence of Zeke's reversal field, the mana started flowing backward into the storage facility where it had been kept.
He monitored the flow of mana, then crouched with the child in his arms and cloaked himself in Shadow Armor.
Pzzzt—
Soon, mana currents sparked in all directions, and an explosion erupted in the storage facility where the backflowing mana had poured in.
Boom boom boom boom boom!
Massive explosions that shook the ground occurred simultaneously at three energy supply depots.
The dark mages guarding the supply depots were stunned as the demons suddenly attacked, the monster legion rampaged wildly, and now the energy storage facilities exploded.
"St-stop that right now!"
The mages rushed in desperately to normalize the backflowing mana in the storage, but it was futile.
Instead, the backflowing mana spread outward and shook the dark mages from within.
"Gah!"
The Narak dark mages, far from normalizing the supply depot's mana, collapsed vomiting blood from all seven orifices.
Titus and Yulina, who had suppressed the monster legion's spirits to sow chaos in the supply depot, watched the battlefield of confusion Zeke had created from afar.
"Yulina, can you see? This is the true king's battlefield."
Yulina nodded slowly beside Titus as she used the power of the Blood Eye on her forehead to skillfully command the monster legion.
With potential stronger than Titus's, Yulina showed no strain despite using the Blood Eye for the first time.
At that moment, light flashed behind them.
Woooong—
Three Zekes appeared, each holding the rescued Irregular children from the glass tubes.
Seeing this, Titus's mouth fell open.
"The king... three of him?"
Zeke gestured toward the stunned Titus.
"A secondary explosion will happen. It's dangerous—let's get out of here quickly." Immediately, Titus and Yulina took Zeke's hands and vanished into the portal along with the light.
*
"What did you just say?"
Anastasia asked the low-rank demon who had delivered the report, her voice laced with disbelief.
The low-rank demon, resembling a reptile, trembled under her pressure and spoke again.
"Th-the three supply depots were destroyed simultaneously, and the gate has closed..." Crunch—
An invisible force suddenly pressed down on the low-rank demon, lifting him into the air.
"Gaaah!"
The low-rank demon writhed in agony under the crushing pressure on his body.
Anastasia's eyes gleamed with killing intent as she stared at him.
"Three supply depots exploding at once? Why? How? Explain it. Tell me now. Tell me!" Thud!
The invisible force vanished, and the low-rank demon plummeted to the ground.
But he was already dead from the overwhelming pressure.
Seeing this, Anastasia's expression changed abruptly.
"What? Dead? What now! Hey, get up. I was just angry and meant to scare you! If you die here, what am I supposed to do!"
Anastasia hurriedly grabbed and shook the low-rank demon, but the dead demon wouldn't revive.
Her expression twisted again as she kicked the corpse lightly.
"Ever since coming to the Phenomenal World, these kids have gotten too weak. This is a problem."
She snapped her fingers with a click, and other demons appeared.
"Clean this up. And bring the apostle. The gate's wrecked—why hasn't he said anything?" Then, a rat-like demon beside her spoke to Anastasia.
"Th-that... He's been waiting outside since earlier."
"What? Then why hasn't he come in?"
"B-because the princess didn't say anything..." Anastasia shouted in irritation.
"If it's urgent, you tell them to come in quickly! Let him in!"
At her command, the other demons dragged away the dead low-rank demon's body and hurried out.
Anastasia huffed and glared at Nigel, lying in the stone coffin beside her.
"I was so close to seeing something..."
Nigel had such strong defenses that even using all the keywords had no effect.
But surprisingly, the keyword Zeke Draker had elicited a different reaction.
Excited, Anastasia had been about to delve deeper into her inner world using Zeke Draker when this interruption occurred, leaving her quite annoyed.
She stroked Nigel's sleeping hair and smiled.
"To think such a beautiful and powerful being exists in the Phenomenal World. I put her to sleep because she'd go berserk if I touched her carelessly... Sigh, I want her. I want her. I want to make her mine and keep her by my side to play with every day..."
As Anastasia shivered with delight while gazing at Nigel, the door opened and the apostle entered.
Anastasia, who had been looking at Nigel, rose with a frown, as if her enjoyable time had been interrupted.
She glared at the apostle imperiously and said,
"I heard the gate closed. What happened?"
The apostle knelt before Anastasia and spoke.
"It seems the Third-Eye Clan members we placed in the supply depots have betrayed us." Anastasia tilted her head at the apostle's words.
"Two incomplete Third-Eye Clan members destroyed three supply depots at once? You expect me to believe that?"
Shhh—
An invisible energy swirled around the apostle's body.
Anastasia eyed him sharply and said,
"You, what are you hiding from me?"
"Guh! P-princess, please calm down..."
The apostle floated into the air under Anastasia's power, his body trembling.
But then, the apostle's eyes suddenly turned black, and black miasma began to rise from his entire body.
Crunch—
The energy pressing on the apostle's body was nullified, and the rising black miasma threateningly extended in all directions.
Anastasia frowned at the sight.
"You still reek of that disgusting aura. High Priest."
The High Priest of Narak, Harvey West, had possessed the apostle's body.
The high priest, manifesting through the apostle's body, bowed to her.
"Forgive my rude appearance; I came to explain personally since the princess seems displeased."
"Your very existence is rude. It annoys me just to look at you—say what you have to say and get out."
The high priest nodded at Anastasia's irritated words.
"As the princess said, the destruction of the energy supply depots wasn't simply due to a rebellion by the Third-Eye Clan."
Anastasia scowled at the high priest's words.
"I knew it. But why did you have him lie to me?"
"There was confusion in the orders. The apostle was rude because the being I restricted from speaking appeared."
Anastasia grew curious at the high priest's words.
"A being you restricted from speaking? What is it?"
"Zeke Draker."
The high priest, possessing the apostle's body, continued slowly.
"He appeared here, crushed thousands of magical beasts, and destroyed the gate's energy supply depots."
Anastasia's eyes widened at the name Zeke Draker.
"Zeke Draker? Her only human disciple?" The high priest nodded.
"Yes. Why the proud and insular guardian took a human as a disciple remains a mystery... but he is that special."
Anastasia's expression changed at his words.
She smiled enchantingly, her face lighting up with pure joy like a child receiving a new toy.
"If he destroyed the supply depots, that means Zeke Draker will come here, right?"
"Yes. He will try to completely destroy the gate and take down all the magical beasts here."
The high priest paused, then pointed at Nigel lying in the stone coffin.
"And he will try to rescue his master."
Anastasia shrieked at the high priest's words.
"No! Nigel is mine!"
She huffed and blocked the way in front of Nigel.
The high priest said to Anastasia,
"If the princess can capture Zeke Draker, it means one more special doll added to your collection."
At the words "special doll," Anastasia's expression shifted.
"Hmm, a special doll."
She looked down at Nigel, then turned to the high priest.
"So, where is this Zeke Draker now?"