It was the moment Zeke was about to follow up with another attack.
Splash—
Some of the blue blood clumped together and transformed into snake-like tentacles that lunged toward Zeke.
Sizzle!
The tentacles emitted a grotesque hiss as they tried to tear into Zeke's face. Zeke immediately drew Ascalon and unleashed his Holy Spirit Qi.
Woooong—
The white light pouring from Zeke's sword incinerated the oncoming blue tentacles on the spot.
But that wasn't the end of it.
Similar tentacles emerged from the remaining blue blood scattered on the floor, writhing as they crawled toward Zeke.
At the same time, the monster's severed arm began multiplying on its own, rising up and morphing into a four-legged, hound-like magical beast.
Grrrrrr—
The beast's tail was a tentacle that had sprouted from the blood.
Zeke recalled that Wirynom's authority was "Dominion of Blood."
'No way. Can it keep multiplying indefinitely using blood as a medium?'
He hadn't obtained information on the test subject's abilities from the dark mage who had used Dragonʼs Wisdom, so he could only infer from the situation.
As he assessed the current state, dozens of tentacles extended from the severed arm toward Zeke.
Even if he sliced it apart now, based on what he was seeing, it would just keep multiplying and increasing in numbers.
Instead of cutting it down, Zeke raised Ascalon and unleashed a surge of Holy Spirit Qi.
Whoosh—
He then swung his sword toward the tentacles crawling up from the floor.
The tentacles struck by the sword, infused with Holy Spirit Qi, crumbled into black ash and scattered. This confirmed to Zeke that the power of light worked against the test subject.
The tentacles created by Wirynom's authority recoiled, wary of the Holy Spirit Qi emanating from Zeke, and began retreating.
At that moment, the hound-like magical beast from the severed arm bared its sharp fangs and charged at Zeke.
Kaaaaak—
In an instant, the hound opened its maw and spewed blue blood toward Zeke.
Zeke dodged backward while hurling a bolt of light lightning at the beast.
The lightning struck its body directly, shattering the hound into pieces.
But then, tiny flying insects emerged from the blue blood the beast had spewed earlier.
Whiiiing—
The insects gradually grew, soon reaching a size ten times that of ordinary wasps, and buzzed around Zeke.
'It's got all sorts of tricks.'
With the ability to change forms using blood as a medium and keep multiplying, it was becoming a headache for Zeke to deal with.
Zeke glanced at the swarming insects with a bemused expression before summoning the high fire elemental, Ignis.
Rumble—
After acquiring the draconic tongue skill and a perfect dragon heart, Zeke had advanced to expert level in spirit arts, allowing him to summon high elementals without polymorphing.
Moreover, with his heightened spirit affinity, Zeke could now issue commands to Ignis with mere intent.
Fwoosh!
Following Zeke's will, Ignis breathed flames toward the insects.
The bugs caught in the spirit's fiery gale turned to ash and scattered.
Zeke conveyed his intention to Ignis to capture the test subject bearing Wirynom's authority.
Thud!
Ignis, in the form of an armored primordial being, fully manifested and advanced on the test subject.
The test subject lashed out with a bundle of tentacles toward Ignis.
Screeeee—
The tentacles sprayed blue blood, attempting to ensnare Ignis.
But before they could, the spirit's flames erupted, incinerating the tentacles completely.
Screeeee—
As the blood—the medium for Wirynom's authority—evaporated under the pure spirit flames, the power failed to manifest.
Sensing the danger from Ignis's opposing nature on instinct, the test subject hesitated and backed away.
It then leaped toward the pile of knights' corpses behind it, extending its arm to grab and devour them greedily.
Blood flowed anew from its burned arm, spawning more tentacles, insects, and magical beasts.
Zeke now understood how the test subject's ability worked.
'Wirynom is the harbinger of blood and madness. Even consuming the blood of other beings, as long as there's blood, it can wield its authority through it.' Now that he knew the nature of the power, countering it was straightforward.
Without the blood medium, the authority couldn't activate.
Instead of relying on intent, Zeke spoke clearly to Ignis this time.
"Burn them all so it can't scatter any more blood." Ignis nodded at Zeke's words.
[Understood.]
Having become a transcendent with budding divinity, Zeke was no different from a dragon to Ignis, the high elemental, who obeyed without question.
Ignis unleashed a fierce blaze toward the test subject.
Boom boom boom boom!
The test subject faced the full brunt of Ignis's flames head-on.
Screeeee!
It let out a horrific screech, trying to evade the fire, but there was no escaping a high elemental's inferno.
The flames clung to it, turning its body to white-hot ash in moments.
Zeke confirmed that Wirynom's power no longer emanated from the scattered remains.
He scanned the surroundings to check for other cages holding test subjects.
'Fortunately, this seems to be the only one.'
But the underground labyrinth was vast and complex. There might be other test subjects infused with authorities from fallen constellations besides Wirynom.
Zeke summoned Caligula from the shadows and commanded him.
"Caligula, search the labyrinth for any test subjects bearing the power of constellations." Caligula nodded and levitated into the air to carry out Zeke's order.
Soon, his form faded into a spirit body, beginning the search of the underground labyrinth.
Linked to Caligula's soul, Zeke could sense everything he detected, planning to rush to any found test subject and eliminate it immediately.
With the search entrusted to Caligula, Zeke delved deeper into the labyrinth.
Not long after, he spotted a group of dark mages and knights rushing by.
"Intruders in Sector C! Send everyone there!"
They headed in another direction, likely dispatching guards to intercept Boris's group entering via a different entrance.
Zeke held his breath and slipped deeper into the labyrinth stealthily.
Descending further, a space with a different atmosphere appeared.
'Demonic energy is thick here.'
The air was saturated with demonic energy, dense enough to mistake it for the demon realm rather than the phenomenal world.
An ordinary knight would struggle to exert full strength in such a demonic energyfilled space.
But it had no effect on Zeke.
He traversed the demonic energy-saturated area calmly, concealed in the shadows as he advanced down the corridor.
Soon, armed figures appeared ahead.
Zeke halted upon seeing them.
'Demons?'
Low-rank demonkind warriors, not human knights, guarded the door.
Zeke suspected a portal to the labyrinth's core lay beyond this door.
'With low-rank demonkind warriors here, stronger demons are likely waiting inside.'
High-rank demonkind or above would be tough to handle stealthily, so Zeke decided on a swift, decisive strike.
With that resolve, he leaped toward the low-rank demonkind while cloaked in shadows.
Whoosh—
The shadows morphed into black blades in an instant, surging up to attack the demons. Slash—
The black blades severed their necks before they could react.
Some demon species could survive decapitation, so Zeke immediately incinerated the remains with Holy Spirit Qi.
Simultaneously, he shattered the door with the chamber of metal power.
Boom boom boom crash!
As the door crumbled, Zeke charged inside.
Waiting beyond were hundreds of black knights.
Clink!
Knights clad in far thicker and heavier black armor than standard plate stood with greatswords at the ready.
What caught Zeke's eye was what they carried on their backs.
Each bore a long, rod-like device, which Zeke immediately recognized.
'No way. Are those magic guns?'
Larger and bulkier than the sniper magic guns used by Airen for the Knight Killer, they were undoubtedly magic guns.
Then, from behind the black knights, a sinister figure emerged, wielding a staff and wearing a black skull mask.
It resembled a lich more than a dark mage, yet lacked the typical undead aura.
Zeke recalled the black-masked figure he had encountered before.
Siemens' secret weapon: injecting infinite demonic energy into black knights to create an undying legion.
'I thought I'd wiped them all out back then, but some survived.'
As the skull-masked figure raised its staff, thick fog-like demonic energy billowed out.
At this signal, the undying unit began to move.
Step! Step! Step!
Red eye-glow pierced the slits of the black knights' helmets as they advanced in formation toward Zeke.
Simultaneously, the massive magic guns on their backs shifted forward, settling onto their shoulders.
Click!
The magic guns aimed at Zeke and unleashed a barrage of black rounds.
Boom boom boom boom!
Larger and heavier than sniper rounds, the projectiles poured toward Zeke.
Hundreds of black knights fired in volleys, bullets flying from all directions.
Zeke hurriedly summoned shadow armor to block the onslaught.
Thud thud thud thud!
The sheer power was immense; concentrated hits tore through sections, penetrating inward.
'Ramon Siemens. So this is what he was building in the labyrinth.'
Ramon Siemens, head of the Siemens family, had accelerated secret weapon development to conquer the continent, hiding them in this labyrinth.
But after his greed led to him being devoured by Abel, the entire underground labyrinth fell to Narak, with the secret weapons further enhanced by dark magic.
Sizzle—
Even after the barrage ended, black smoke lingered over Zeke's position.
As it cleared, the spot was pockmarked with craters like a bomb site.
The skull-masked figure raised its staff again, commanding the black knights.
Step! Step! Step!
The front-line black knights advanced, guns forward.
They approached Zeke's position and scanned the area.
But they found nothing.
Just as they prepared to report no anomalies—
Tss tss tss tss—
Zeke emerged from the shadows behind the skull-masked figure on the dais, beyond the black knights.
With Ascalon, Zeke severed the skull-masked figure's head in one stroke.
Splash!
The head rolled across the floor, and simultaneously, Zeke ignited pure flames from the chamber of firepower on the remaining body.
Roar!
White flame consumed it in an instant.
From past battles, Zeke knew that to neutralize the undying black knights' legion, the controlling skull-masked figure had to be eliminated first.
That's why he had used the authority of spiritualization to phase through dimensions and strike from behind.
The skull-masked figure's body crumbled to black powder.
A clean kill—but a problem arose. The black knights turned, aiming their guns at Zeke once more.
Boom boom boom boom!
Bullets rained on the dais.
Zeke raised shadows again to deflect them.
'What? They should have stopped once the controller was down.'
As he blocked the gunfire and leaped airborne to evade, something caught Zeke's eye.
Incredibly, the skull-masked figure Zeke had just killed stood intact once more, staff raised, directing the black knights.
Rumble!
Demonic energy from the staff seemed to replenish the black knights' ammunition.
The volume of incoming bullets showed no sign of diminishing.
'Dodging alone won't cut it.'
He formed a shield with shadow armor, gripped Ascalon, and wheeled around, diving from the air toward the black knights.
Rumble!
Brilliant light radiated from Zeke's body, enveloped in Holy Spirit Qi.
Focusing the light into his sword, he assumed the dragon slaying technique stance.
Dragon Slaying Technique Special Transmission Technique
Holy Spirit Qi
Light Burst Wave
The radiant light plunged toward the black knights.
Zuuuuuuum—
The entire space was engulfed in massive brilliance.