Dragonslayer’s Class Regression 276

Chapter 276

Zeke stared intently at Richmond.

Richmond suddenly raised his voice in confusion.

“I, it’s true!”

“HMM.”

In response to Zeke’s reaction, Richmond spoke as if feeling aggrieved.

“Generally, to become a lich, one must go through a ritual to undead oneself and then embed their soul in a ‘life vessel’.”

Having been a Highlander, Zeke, who had also caught many liches, was familiar with the basic principles.

Sometimes they would use an object carried on their body as a life vessel like the arch lich he had previously caught, and sometimes they would hide it elsewhere and only carry the vessel when escaping urgent situations.

Zeke said to Richmond,

“Come to think of it, was it originally non-existent? I thought it disappeared after you became a summoned creature.”

“I was able to become a lich in a unique way using the blood stone I created. In fact, my original goal was to become a dragon kin monster…”

Zeke made a bewildered expression at Richmond’s words.

“So you mixed dragon kin bones into your body?”

“Ultimately, I failed and became half-human, half-lich.”

“You’re quite unique in many ways.”

“HEHE, thank you for the compliment.”

Though he hadn’t exactly complimented him, Zeke didn’t deny it since Richmond liked it, and asked Richmond, “So should we assume that the Narak guys discovered the manufacturing method of the artificial blood stone you created?”

“That’s somewhat questionable. I researched blood stones 500 years ago, so how did they figure it out?”

“Is creating an artificial blood stone difficult?”

“Well, it requires a fairy stone, so there’s an initial barrier to material acquisition.”

“Is it possible if you have a fairy stone?”

“It requires several other things. The method I applied is the Mandurago method, which involves burying a fairy stone in a place where death row inmates filled with resentment will bleed and die, and setting up magical devices around it to let the resentment seep in.”

“So it’s a method of forcibly embedding resentment into a fairy stone.”

“That’s correct. The important thing is actually the magical circle driving mechanism I created, and I’m wondering how they figured that out.”

Zeke thought deeply about Richmond’s words.

‘If, under the premise of knowing Richmond’s driving mechanism, they gather sacrifices, make them die carrying resentment, and then transform the fairy stone into a blood stone…’

Since Narak has always been unreserved about forbidden techniques, creating an artificial blood stone seemed entirely possible.

‘If the sacrifices and fairy stones are well-sourced, production would be entirely feasible.’

Zeke’s expression became serious.

If high-ranking demon kings like the Monma board could freely manifest in the current realm, it would be impossible to stop Jimenes and Abel who move them.

‘We must stop this before blood stone mass production becomes possible.’

Zeke discovered through the Abyss mages that they were experimenting with resurrecting demon tribes who died during the 1st and 2nd invasions.

Now that he knew about baptism ritual sites and laboratories scattered across the continent, he couldn’t just let it go.

‘I’ll search thoroughly and eliminate them all.’

After releasing Richmond’s summon, Zeke gripped Bahamut upside down and stabbed the sword’s blade into the ground.

“The Elemental Sword that raises storms and splits the earth… let’s see its power.”

Zeke spread the Gold Aura while holding the sword.

DRRRRRR!

The Gold Aura began to resonate with the earth through the sword stabbed into the ground.

WOOOOOOO!

Along with the resonance, Zeke felt mana rapidly draining from his middle diantan.

KUGUGUGUGU!

The Gold Aura began to react with the salt mine entirely.

And at one moment, the Gold Aura escaped Zeke’s control, and the vibration grew even stronger.

‘Oh no…’

The Gold Aura field was more difficult to control than the fire power field.

KUGUNG!

The ceiling collapsed, and the floor split.

Zeke immediately pulled out his sword and ran forward, avoiding the collapsing ceiling.

Spreading dragon wings and flight simultaneously, he instantly rose above the mine, but the mine entrance was blocked by collapsed rocks. Seeing this, Zeke raised Bahamut and aimed forward.

WOOOOO!

He unleashed his full-power technique, “Will of Breakthrough”.

KWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!

The will of breakthrough pierced through the blocked rocks, and Zeke rolled his body to burst out of the mine.

KWARRRRRNG!

As soon as Zeke emerged from the mine, the surrounding ground collapsed, and the underground space was completely buried.

Having consumed all his mana, Zeke took a breath while looking at the natural disaster created by the Gold Aura field.

“PHEW, controlling the Elemental Sword has become too difficult since becoming SS-rank…”

Even using just a little power caused massive mana drainage and devastated the surroundings, and Zeke himself was completely exhausted, making it difficult to use in combat.

‘I need to find a way to control this power.’

As Zeke slowly started to gather himself, Shadia approached, seemingly having arrived just then.

Having evacuated the villagers, Shadia looked bewildered seeing the collapsed salt mine.

“B-Boss? Did you do this?”

Zeke nodded. “There will be no more traces left.”

“The problem isn’t the traces… Never mind. I’ve evacuated the villagers, but what should I do?”

“I’ve already spoken to Simon. He’ll send people to handle the cleanup. First, we need to systematically address the cult issues spread across the southern continent.”

Shadia, who had been watching Zeke closely, felt a sense of reverence beyond fear.

‘If the entire Salmak were to fight Zeke Draker with full force…’

Even if they employed every scheme and assassination method, the result would be the same.

Certain defeat.

Cold sweat ran down Shadia’s back.

‘Did the master know Zeke Draker’s true nature when giving that order?’

In fact, Shadia had received a secret order from the Salmak lord before following Zeke.

If Zeke Draker ever showed any weakness, she was to assassinate him and return.

Known as the Desert Flower, Shadia thought she might find an opportunity to assassinate him while by his side.

But the longer she remained near him, the more she realized this was impossible.

Zeke looked at the dazed Shadia.

“Shadia, are you okay?”

Snapping back to reality, she nodded.

“I’m fine.”

Zeke pulled out a potion from his chest and tossed it to her.

“You look tired. We’ll return soon, so just endure a bit.”

Shadia stared intently at Zeke, who casually threw her a precious potion and showed her his back.

He was entirely different from the Salmak lord who trusted no one, not even his own disciple.

‘Or is it confidence that he could handle being attacked from behind?’

Shadia gripped the potion tightly and tried to calm her turbulent mind.

******

After wrapping up the situation at the salt mine, Zeke returned to Atlas.

Having found a lead on the Abyss, Zeke decided to first track down the baptism sites they had established and the locations where artificial bloodstones were being produced.

Shadia parted ways with him along the way, taking on the mission of joining Boris to gather related information.

Atlas, Iason, and most of the eastern region of Midland were under Kali’s territory.

There stood a palace, once a summer villa built by the former Pope of the Holy Empire. Kali had named it the Silver Palace and spent most of her time there.

Zeke’s carriage entered the grounds of the Silver Palace.

Seeing its elegant structure made of pristine white marble, Zeke couldn’t help but admire it.

‘They say this is the most beautiful palace on the continent… It’s practically a work of art.’

After passing through the palace gardens and entering the main hall, Zeke was greeted by a familiar face.

“Zeke!”

It was Carus, the exiled 4th prince of the empire, who had been waiting upon hearing of Zeke’s arrival.

Zeke greeted Carus warmly.

“Carus. It’s been a long time.”

Carus was dressed in Central Continent attire, having abandoned the traditional imperial style. His hairstyle had changed as well.

Hugging Zeke, Carus spoke with enthusiasm.

“Welcome! You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to see you.”

“I’m glad to see you looking well.”

Carus nodded with a smile.

“I may have no power here, but it’s far better than suffocating inside the imperial palace. There’s delicious food, and the women are much pretty—uh, anyway, let’s go inside.”

Carus led Zeke to his room.

The room was filled with paintings scattered all around.

Zeke looked at the canvases leaning against the walls and was impressed.

“Amazing. Carus, did you paint these yourself?”

The paintings covered a variety of themes,landscapes, as well as abstract pieces that were hard to interpret.

Carus nodded proudly.

“Yes, I finally found a place here in the beautiful Silver Palace where my artistic talents could bloom.”

Zeke had known that Carus had an interest in art, but he hadn’t expected it to be this intense. The paintings weren’t just casual works; they showed real talent.

Seeing Zeke’s interest, Carus eagerly began explaining each piece to him.

While listening and admiring the artworks, Zeke noticed one canvas in the corner, turned around and covered with a cloth.

“What’s that?”

At Zeke’s question, Carus hesitated slightly, his expression a bit awkward.

“HMMM. That.”

“May I look?”

After pondering, Carus nodded.

Surprisingly, nothing was drawn on the canvas.

More precisely, the canvas was entirely covered in black, painted over haphazardly.

“What kind of painting is this?”

Carus hesitated, then slowly spoke.

“Actually, when I heard you were coming, I wanted to draw a gift portrait of you.”

Zeke was startled.

“Me?”

“Yes, I was going to give you a portrait as a gift. But…”

Looking at the entirely black canvas, Zeke said,

“This is me, apparently.”

“Ha, this has never happened before. Usually when I try to draw someone, their features are very clearly visible in my mind. I wanted to draw you impressively, but… the brush went like this.”

Zeke stared intently at the black canvas.

Then he nodded.

“I really like it.”

Carus asked in surprise,

“Really?”

“Yes. You’re the first to give me a picture as a gift. Thank you.”

Except for Kei, Zeke had almost no one he could call a true friend in this life or his previous one.

He thought Carus might feel like a friend of the same generation.

As Zeke examined the picture satisfactorily, a servant entered.

“Sir Zeke, Lady Kali has arrived.”

Zeke bid farewell to Carus and went to Kali’s office.

Upon entering, Kali and Helen were waiting for him.

“Sister Kali, Sister Helen.”

Helen, who had returned from her mission, stood with a stiff expression.

She quickly handed something to Zeke.

Seeing the rough box, Zeke tilted his head.

“What’s this?”

Helen remained silent and seated herself stiffly.

Kali smiled and said,

“Helen bought some eastern specialties she wanted to give to Zeke.”

Opening the box, Zeke found it full of delicious-looking pies.

Zeke was surprised.

‘Pies? Suddenly?’

He had assumed it would be some local artifact.

Helen stared silently at him.

Feeling the unspoken pressure, he picked up a pie and took a large bite.

Though not usually fond of sweets, he ate it as deliciously as possible.

After swallowing the last piece, he said,

“It’s very delicious, Sister.”

Helen smiled in relief.

“I’m glad it suits your taste. I bought a lot, so eat plenty.”

When Zeke turned around, he saw dozens of similar boxes stacked up.

‘Oh my.’

As Kali smiled at Helen’s proud expression, she changed her tone and looked at Zeke.

“Zeke, Abel has started moving.”

Hiding his complex feelings, Zeke took another bite of pie and asked,

“After becoming a Black Knight, he’s officially moving. Where did he go?”

Kali spoke with a heavy expression, “The Bird tribe ghetto. The Empire is targeting it again.”

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