Chapter 61
Zeke’s mind went blank at the Commander’s unexpected words.
‘What nonsense is this bastard spouting now?.’
The Delpoa Knights were essentially combat ineffective.
Without the Mage Corps’ ranged attacks, the Delpoa Knights were literally nothing more than sturdy arrow catchers.
It made no sense that he would deliberately arrive late and then cause such problems despite knowing the situation.
In front of the bewildered Zeke, the Commander’s face turned bright red as he shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Who told you to attack the enemy when you were ordered to scout?! Is that how they teach at Valhalla?!”
Zeke listened to the Commander’s words silently.
Andrei, who came as the escort, also quietly observed the situation without saying anything after seeing Zeke’s reaction.
After ranting for a while, the Commander, still breathing heavily, turned to Andrei and shouted.
“Take the students and leave the scene immediately! I will speak directly to Valhalla about this matter!”
Though Andrei was also dumbfounded by this unreasonable response, he decided to wait and see how Zeke would handle it.
He had specifically come as an escort to assess Zeke’s capabilities, so he was curious to see how he would react in this situation.
That’s when Zeke slowly opened his mouth.
“Then should I consider our cooperation with Delpoa to be over?”
The Commander was momentarily taken aback by Zeke’s words.
“Wh-what did you say?”
“If that’s the case, since this is no longer a troop deployment, I no longer need to listen to the Commander’s words.”
The Commander’s eyes shook violently.
Zeke looked at the Commander and took one step closer before speaking.
“From now on, we will carry out our mission independently here. So I’d prefer if you didn’t try to give us orders.”
“Wh-what! This is Delpoa territory! How dare you…?”
That’s when Andrei, who had been standing behind, stepped forward.
“Black demon is registered as a continental criminal. Since Zeke and I have received official knight status from House Draker, we can carry out independent missions with reporting after completion.”
The Commander broke out in a cold sweat as the conversation went in a completely different direction than he had expected.
However, it was difficult to take back what he had said.
He clenched his teeth and shouted.
“Damn it! Do whatever you want with your mission!”
Then he retreated to the rear with the mages.
Originally, he had planned to retreat with his troops, but it seemed he was setting up camp on the mountain without descending, presumably to keep watch on what Zeke’s side would do.
In this situation, the 8th Knight Division led by Jorge found themselves in an awkward position.
Without the mages, it was impossible to attack the fortress in the first place, and it was difficult for them to do anything on their own.
That’s when Zeke approached Jorge.
“Commander Jorge. There’s something I’d like to ask.”
Jorge tensed at Zeke’s words.
“Wh-what is it?”
“I’m curious if you have any desire to capture the Black demon.”
Jorge pressed his lips together before answering after a long pause.
“Though we can’t compare to the knights of House Draker, we are still knights. What knight would want to stand by while an evil criminal torments their countrymen?”
Jorge and the other knights clenched their fists.
Zeke could feel their sincerity in their reaction.
He said to Jorge.
“If that’s how you feel, Commander, I’d like to ask for your help.”
“He-help?”
“Yes. I plan to infiltrate the fortress and capture the Black demon.”
Jorge was startled at those words.
“Go-good heavens. Without the help of mages?”
“It seems the Mage Corps isn’t very interested in capturing the Black demon anyway.”
Jorge couldn’t continue speaking at Zeke’s words.
Indeed, for several years, the subjugation force led by the Mage Corps had only engaged in small-scale local battles in front of this fortress.
Moreover, the mages only cast a few spells safely from the rear, and even then they weren’t very aggressive, so only Jorge’s subordinate knights got injured or killed.
Zeke said to Jorge.
“If you help me, we can remove the Black demon from Delpoa today.”
Jorge and the other knights looked at each other.
They nodded in agreement.
Jorge said to Zeke.
“What would you like us to do?”
* * *
As the night deepened, the fortress was enveloped in silence.
Then at some point, the 8th Knight Division took position in front of the fortress, holding thick shields.
They drew their swords and began beating their shields.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The loud sound of swords hitting shields echoed throughout the mountains.
Perhaps due to the sudden noise, there was a commotion from the fortress.
Following Zeke’s instructions, Jorge and the knights kept changing positions while making loud noises.
After a while, mercenaries holding torches appeared on top of the fortress.
“Have these guys gone mad?!”
Then they started shooting arrows at the knight division.
Ting!
The knight division blocked the incoming arrows with their sturdy shields.
The 8th Knight Division had completely mastered shield techniques after fighting with the mercenaries on top of the fortress for several years.
While the knight division was drawing attention at the front of the fortress, Zeke’s group moved to the rear of the fortress.
When interrogating the patrol personnel, they had already discovered the passage leading to the inside of the fortress.
Zeke led his companions stealthily towards the passage.
Then he swiftly climbed the fortress wall, took out his dagger, silently killed the mercenary at the top of the castle, and opened the gate.
Diego and Aster were shocked at seeing the cleanly dispatched dead mercenaries.
‘Bro Zeke is scary yo!’
‘Huh, maybe I shouldn’t have graduated early.’
The group followed Zeke into the fortress while having their own different thoughts.
That’s when it happened.
Thud Thud! Thud! Thud!
A figure quickly rode out from inside the fortress on horseback.
Zeke, who enhanced his vision with dragon eye, confirmed the face of the mounted figure.
‘Black demon!’
It matched the appearance of Black demon he had seen before the mission.
Zeke said to Andrei.
“I’ll chase after that guy. Please stir up the inside, open the main gate, and send up a signal flare. That way, those mages won’t be able to hold out any longer.”
Andrei nodded at Zeke’s words.
He immediately chased after Black demon who had ridden away on horseback.
Whoosh!
After exiting the fortress, Zeke summoned Bucephalus.
“Bucephalus, let’s catch that guy.”
The speed of Bucephalus, not an ordinary horse but a dragon steed and the king of dragon steeds at that, was beyond imagination.
Bucephalus chased after Black demon in no time, running across the mountains as if they were flat ground.
As Zeke closed in while pursuing closely, Black demon turned around and shot a crossbow at him.
Ting!
Zeke simply deflected the arrow with his dragon scale armor.
Then he drew Bahamut, went to Black demon’s side, and swung his sword.
Bang!
Unable to withstand the weight of Bahamut imbued with Aura, Black demon rolled off his horse.
Whoosh!
Zeke also dismounted from Bucephalus and approached Black demon who had fallen.
“Where are you rushing to in this late night?”
Black demon immediately got up and drew his sword.
It was a deformed sword with a saw-like blade.
Most outlaws used such deformed weapons and mainly employed irregular techniques.
Well aware of this, Zeke wasn’t surprised and provoked Black demon while adjusting his grip on Bahamut.
“Come on.”
Whoosh!
Black demon dove in with a low stance and swung his deformed sword.
Clang!
Zeke’s sword imbued with aura deflected Black demon’s sword.
Black demon frowned as if his wrist was stinging.
“…You don’t seem like one of those Delpoa bastards. Who are you?”
Zeke spoke to Black demon with an expressionless face.
“What difference would it make if you knew?”
At that moment, Black demon spat something towards Zeke.
Swoosh!
Scorpion poison showered towards Zeke’s face.
[Desert scorpion poison detected.]
[Due to the Constitution: Immunity to All Poisons effect, you are not affected by the poison.]
Desert scorpion poison was a paralyzing poison mainly used by desert assassins that paralyzed the body upon contact.
Like a proper outlaw, he had many dirty techniques.
Zeke brushed off the poison sand and slowly approached Black demon.
Black demon was bewildered when Zeke showed no reaction to the poison he had prepared.
“Where are you from? Salmak? Or the southern border region?”
“You’re quite curious.”
Zeke swung his sword at Black demon as if he had no intention of answering.
Bang!
Overwhelmed by Zeke’s strength, Black demon lost his balance and tumbled.
‘If he’s registered as a continental criminal, he should at least have Blue Knight level skills. Is he hiding his true ability?’
Zeke slowly approached Black demon who had fallen to the ground.
That’s when it happened.
Swoosh!
Hidden throwing needles were shot at Zeke.
Dozens of needles so thin they were barely visible showered towards Zeke.
Zeke, who had already donned his dragon scale armor, deflected all the needles but deliberately pretended to be hit.
“Ugh!”
As Zeke stepped back, Black demon who had been lying down sprang up.
Then he took a completely different stance from before.
Woong!
An aura blade arose from Black demon’s sword.
As expected, he had been hiding his true ability.
Zeke immediately recognized the style of swordsmanship from Black demon’s movements.
‘Imperial swordsmanship. And it’s from the intelligence bureau.’
Whoosh!
Black demon rushed in quickly and swung his sword to behead Zeke.
Just as the sword was about to reach Zeke’s neck.
Crackle!
Black demon couldn’t maintain his consciousness due to the electricity surging through his entire body.
“Arrrgh!”
Zeke had stabbed Black demon with Bahamut which had a Lightning skill imbued.
Crackle!
Black demon rolled on the ground with lightning sparking all over his body.
His true face was revealed as the mask covering it burned from the Lightning.
‘He’s younger than I expected.’
Zeke slowly got up.
But Black demon’s condition was strange.
He was foaming at the mouth, eyes rolled back, and his body was violently convulsing.
“Damn!”
He momentarily forgot how ruthless the imperial intelligence bureau members were.
Zeke immediately took out an antidote potion and poured it into Black demon’s mouth.
“Cough!”
Fortunately, since the poison hadn’t fully circulated through his body yet, the antidote potion neutralized it.
Zeke poured a healing potion into Black demon’s mouth.
When Black demon tried to end his life after being forcibly healed, Zeke removed his jawbone to prevent him from biting his tongue.
“Urrrgh.”
Zeke said while looking at Black demon,
“I wonder why an Intelligence Bureau agent caused such chaos in Delpoa while pretending to be a continental Criminal.”
Black demon’s face turned pale at the mention of the Intelligence Bureau.
His identity as a secret agent of the Intelligence Bureau was top secret information.
He needed to end his life quickly somehow.
Zeke shook his head at his face as if he knew everything.
“You can’t die just because you want to. I’ll let you die after you tell me a satisfactory story.”
Black demon despaired upon seeing Zeke’s eyes.
People with such eyes were professionals in this field.
Zeke dragged the paralyzed Black demon into a nearby cave.
Then he took out a dagger.
“You must be familiar with ordinary torture.”
Zeke channeled Lightning into the dagger.
“But this will be your first time experiencing this.”
Crackle-zap!
Zeke repeatedly tore into Black demon’s body with the electrified dagger, then healed him with potions, only to tear into him again.
He couldn’t die even when he wanted to, and whenever he was about to lose consciousness, he was awakened with potions.
It was truly hell.
Finally, Black demon surrendered under Zeke’s interrogation.
“Are you ready to talk now?”
Black demon nodded.
After his jawbone was reattached, Black demon moved his jaw a few times and spoke slowly.
“…What do you want to know?”
“Let’s start with your identity and what you were doing here.”
Black demon hesitated, but upon seeing Zeke’s electrified dagger, he broke out in cold sweat and spoke again.
“I’m an agent from the Empire’s Intelligence Bureau, Division 13.”
“Division 13, huh. I thought the Intelligence Bureau only had up to Division 12, but I guess there’s a separate division managing undercover agents like you.”
Black demon was shocked by Zeke’s words.
Even within the Empire, very few knew that the Intelligence Bureau had 12 divisions.
Zeke continued pressing Black demon without pause.
“So, what were you doing here, Mr. Intelligence Bureau?”
Black demon answered.
“I was conducting experiments.”
“Experiments? What kind of experiments?”
He steadied his breathing and said.
“…Experiments on Stimulants drugs.”
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