Dragonslayer’s Class Regression 147

Chapter 147

BANG!

As his body size decreased, his movements became much faster.

Arataso jumped into the air and swung his sword at Zeke.

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

Green aura erupted from the sword and engulfed Zeke.

However, Zeke’s Hersion deflected all of the green aura.

Arataso descended from the air and struck directly with his sword.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

In an instant, the sword transformed into a massive size and pressed down on Zeke with tremendous weight.

CRASH!

Arataso’s sword and Zeke’s sword collided.

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! BANG!

Zeke infused Bahamut Aura  and pushed back Arataso’s sword.

Then he took out an Orichalcon sword from his inventory and gripped it in his other hand.

WHOOSH!

The blade of purification surged from the Orichalcon sword.

Zeke quickly moved the blade imbued with golden aura and thrust it into Arataso’s heart.

CRUNCH!

The Orichalcon sword penetrated and lodged into Arataso’s solid body.

Arataso twisted his body and screamed.

The blade of purification on the sword burned Arataso’s insides.

HISS!

Green smoke rose from his body.

[ARGH! You worthless human, how dare you!]

Arataso’s green eyes flashed.

Branches grew from all over his body.

They tried to wrap around Zeke’s body like living tentacles.

Then Zeke used the Light’s Punishment skill in that state.

CRACKLE!

White electricity sparked and white light exploded from inside Arataso’s body.

[KUHEEEEEEK!]

The branches that tried to wrap around Zeke’s body turned to ash and scattered.

Green smoke rose again from Arataso’s body.

[You, human! How dare you?! I shall place a death curse upon you!]

The green smoke tried to seep into Zeke’s body through Hersion.

The green smoke wasn’t a physical gas but Arataso’s soul itself.

His plan was to place a curse on Zeke using part of his soul before returning to the demon realm.

At that moment, Zeke opened his mouth while holding his sword.

“Curse Reflection.”

Crackle!

The Curse Reflection skill he obtained after absorbing the ancient ghost who cursed Angelina activated.

[KU, KUHEK!]

While trying to place a curse on Zeke’s body, Arataso’s own soul was struck by the skill instead.

The green smoke that tried to settle in Zeke returned to its original body.

Arataso’s green eye light slowly started to fade.

He gritted his teeth and spewed cursed words at Zeke.

[Worthless human… This isn’t over… As long as the Green Wish doesn’t end… You will never be at peace…]

Crackle!

In that moment, Arataso screamed feeling tremendous pain.

[Kuheeeeeek!]

Arataso discovered chains of light binding his body.

Just before Arataso disappeared, Zeke had bound his soul to his body using Soul binding technique.

Arataso felt the summoner’s soul perishing, and expected his soul to return to the demon realm as well. But he could only be shocked to find himself still remaining in the physical realm.

[Wh-what is happening?]

Zeke looked at Arataso’s fading eye light and spoke.

“You can’t just leave. Since I won, you need to keep your promise.”

[I-I know nothing.]

“Earlier you said you were separate yet one.”

[Silence! To try to humiliate me with such sophistry, you…]

Zeke took out the holy fire, a torture device specifically for demon race.

WHOOSH!

He shone the holy fire on Arataso’s body that was bound by the Soul binding technique.

[AAAAAARGH!]

The effect was immediate.

Like Griesmodal, Arataso also screamed in pain from the holy fire’s flames.

[Aaaaargh! Remove it! Remove that!]

Zeke removed the holy fire and spoke again.

“How about it, feeling like talking now?”

[To bring such humiliation to me, an honorable warrior… My master will surely capture you and shred your soul…]

“Right, it would’ve been disappointing if you talked already.”

Zeke burned Arataso’s soul with the holy fire again.

After about an hour of burning various spots with the holy fire, proper words finally came out.

[Stop, please stop!]

“Feel like talking now?”

Arataso gritted his teeth and glared at Zeke.

Zeke threw a question at Arataso.

“What were you planning to do with the holy relic?”

[There was competition among the servants…]

“I already know that. Tell me who the demon is that wants the holy relic, and what they plan to do with it.”

[I-I don’t know that. Really.]

“Oh? Maybe your memory will improve if your body gets a bit warmer.”

[N-no! AAAAGH!]

Zeke was brutally torturing the demon race soul.

After another hour of thorough holy fire treatment, Arataso started spilling all information, whether he had it or not.

[Demon Lord! The Demon Lord wants the holy relic!]

When new information came out, Zeke withdrew the holy fire.

“What is the Demon Lord?”

Arataso continued speaking while breathing heavily.

[It-it refers to the constellation my master serves.]

“By master, do you mean the ‘Clear Green Wish’ you mentioned earlier?”

[Yes.]

“Your master also has a constellation name and is a demon, yet serves another demon as master?”

[Huu, huu. The-the demon realm is a world of survival of the fittest. The strong possess everything.]

It was surprising.

It meant there existed an even higher-ranking demon who commanded demons with constellation names.

‘A demon who commands other demons. Just how powerful they must be?.’

Zeke pulled on the chains and asked Arataso.

“Why does this Demon Lord that your master serves want the holy relic?”

Arataso answered while grinding his teeth.

[I-I really don’t know what they plan to do with it. I swear on my honor.]

“Who cares about demon race honor. So what’s the name of this Demon Lord who wants the holy relic?”

At that, Arataso shook his head repeatedly.

[I-I cannot say that.]

“Perhaps you need more holy fire?”

[That’s not it! We servants cannot speak the name of the constellation our master serves!]

Arataso shouted as if coughing up blood.

Zeke glared at Arataso with suspicious eyes.

Arataso spoke desperately.

[It-it’s true. Please believe me!]

“Hmm.”

Seeing Arataso’s desperate attitude, Zeke felt his words were somewhat true.

Deciding to stop asking about the name, Zeke said to Arataso.

“I’m curious about something.”

Arataso had now somewhat given up.

[…What is it?]

“That green aura you used. It felt different from demon energy. Is it a technique that imitates human aura?”

At those words, Arataso laughed as if finding it absurd.

[Living long enough, I get to hear such nonsense! Human! How foolish, how foolish!]

Zeke gripped the Orichalcon sword and channeled Light’s Punishment.

CRACKLE!

[ARGHHHH!]

“Stop spouting nonsense and just answer the question.”

[KUHK. Foolish human! Isn’t the aura you use the technique stolen from us!]

Zeke was shocked by Arataso’s words.

“You’re saying aura is a demon race technique ?”

Arataso laughed maniacally.

[It’s a power that only chosen servants who received the great constellation’s authority can use! It’s on a completely different level from what worthless humans imitate…]

“If it’s not made from aura, what is that aura made from?”

After pondering for a moment, Arataso slowly opened his mouth.

[…It’s the power of the master I serve. Chosen servants can use the power of the constellation they follow.]

Zeke fell into contemplation after hearing Arataso’s words.

Until now, Zeke had known that Sethon Draker created aura. This too was information unknown to others.

But according to Arataso, humans had stolen the demon race’s technique, which raised questions.

‘Did Sethon Draker learn the aura training technique from the demon race?’

He remembered hearing that Sethon had traveled across the continent referencing various techniques to create the aura training technique.

Perhaps among them, there was a technique modeled after demon race power.

Having learned an unexpected fact, Zeke threw the next question at Arataso.

“Do you know anything about The Abyss or Abel Draker?”

Arataso shook his head vigorously.

[I know nothing of worthless mortals. When they offer sacrifices, we simply grant what they wish for.]

Seeing that Arataso was a somewhat reasonable demon race member, Zeke had another thought.

‘He knows quite a lot and is useful, I wonder if I can keep him bound to this realm with the Soul sealing technique.’

Zeke opened the Soul binding technique manual stored in the secure archive to check if there was relevant content.

‘Oh? There’s something similar.’

There was content about putting souls captured by the Soul binding technique into a medium.

After thinking for a while, Zeke took out the Cloud iron sword he rarely used these days.

Sensing something strange, Arataso spoke in a desperate voice.

[Wh-what are you trying to do?!]

Following what he saw in the manual, Zeke used the Soul binding technique to pull Arataso’s soul out of the wooden block.

[ARGHHHHHH!]

Arataso’s soul was pulled out while screaming.

Zeke wrapped the Cloud iron sword in chains and forcefully put the demon’s soul inside.

[N-no!]

“Shut up and get in.”

When Zeke burned the soul with holy fire, Arataso entered the Cloud iron sword while screaming.

Then the Cloud iron sword thrashed about wildly.

After a moment, the sword blade turned a faint green.

It meant Arataso’s soul had settled well into the sword.

“They say Golin iron ore absorbs energy well. It’s perfect for binding souls too.”

Zeke gripped the Cloud iron sword that had a faint green glow.

Then he heard Arataso’s voice in his head.

‘Damn you human! In the demon realm, everyone shows respect and fear to me, Arataso, who commands thousands of death knights! To humiliate me like this! I will never forgive this!’

“What will you do if you don’t forgive me?”

‘Th-that…’

“You need discipline.”

Zeke wrapped chains around the Cloud iron sword and sealed it with the Soul binding technique.

As the tightly wound chains seeped in, chain-shaped patterns were engraved on the blade.

Zeke threw the sword sealed with Arataso into his inventory.

Then he examined the green warriors who had summoned Arataso. They were all already dead in a mummified state.

“Is this the fate of those who contract with demon race?”

Zeke looked at the dead and recalled his past life.

Back then, he would do anything to become stronger.

The resentment towards the Draker family who abandoned him, and frustration at his own weakness for failing to protect those he should have protected.

Having lived with those emotions, Zeke had desired power more than anyone else.

‘If it were me back then, could I have refused a contract with demons?’

No beings were as weak to temptation as humans.

Zeke looked at the withered corpses of the dead green warriors, then shook his head to clear his thoughts and disposed of them with the power of decay.

CHIIIIIK!

The mummified bodies melted and seeped into the ground.

After finishing the cleanup, Zeke returned to where Boris was waiting.

“Boss!”

Boris greeted him cheerfully when Zeke appeared.

His strength depleted from fighting Arataso, Zeke chewed on dried meat while asking Boris.

“Any movement from the Holy Kingdom’s side?”

Boris’s eyes lit up as he replied.

“Actually, we detected movement. They entered Death Valley following the traces we left.”

Boris reported on the size and condition of the Holy Kingdom’s forces that he had observed.

Zeke was shocked hearing Boris’s report.

“There are children?”

“Yes. Children with platinum blonde hair.”

Zeke realized those children were of Lubern’s bloodline.

‘Seems they brought them along after hearing Lubern’s bloodline leads to holy relics.’

Considering the possibility that Agamemnon inherited Lubern’s bloodline, he couldn’t ignore the children.

After contemplating, Zeke said to Boris.

“We’ll need to lure them to where the holy relic is.”