Dragonslayer’s Class Regression 160

Chapter 160

WOOOOOONG!

As the portal opened, Zeke appeared somewhere in the Ice Mountains, not at the ruins.

Feeling the cold north wind brush against his cheeks, Zeke stretched.

“Phew. Portals really are convenient.”

Though it was close to a hidden trump card due to various restrictions, it was definitely convenient and good when usable.

Having secured the Elder Dragon’s relic, all that remained for Zeke was to return to Atlas.

As Zeke was about to descend the Ice Mountains with a light heart, he sensed presences from beyond the forest.

‘Are they the Hounds?’

It would have been better if they were the Empire’s Hounds.

If it was the Draker Black Corps, he would need to suppress his presence and take a detour.

That’s when he saw a flag with a wolf drawn on it beyond the forest.

It was the Himonas Knights.

‘Better than the Black Corps, but these guys are just as crazy. I should pass by quietly.’

Just as Zeke was trying to pass by secretly while focusing his hearing.

A loud voice reached his ears.

“Damn it! Sven! You bastard, come to your senses!”

Zeke was startled by the voice echoing across the snowy mountains.

‘That’s definitely Nikolai’s voice.’

Nikolai and Sven.

Both were Himonas Knights who had connections with Zeke in his past life.

Zeke, who was about to pass by, stopped his steps. After hesitating briefly, he took out and put on Northern-style clothes from his inventory.

After changing clothes, Zeke slowly approached where the Himonas Knights were.

* * *

“Damn it! Sven! You bastard! Open your eyes! I said come to your senses!”

Nikolai, a knight of the Himonas Thistle Order, kept talking to his comrade Sven while tightly binding his wounds and trying to stop the bleeding.

But the wound was too deep and the bleeding wouldn’t stop.

Other comrades around tried to hold Nikolai back.

“Nikolai, stop. It’s already too late.”

Despite being held back by his comrades, Nikolai didn’t stop treating him.

“Fuck! What do you mean it’s too late?! Sven’s a tough bastard with too much damn blood! He’s too tough of a bastard to die from losing a little blood!”

Although Nikolai kept holding the wound and treating it, Sven’s bleeding wouldn’t stop.

Given that the bleeding wouldn’t stop even in the cold weather, it seemed he was hit by a weapon that was either poisoned or enchanted.

That’s when.

“Is there an injured person there?”

The knights were startled by the sudden unfamiliar voice and drew their claymores.

Zeke, dressed as a Northern mercenary, held out his hands as if telling them to be at ease.

“I’m a mercenary heading up to support the Ice Wall. I came to help as it seemed there was an injured person.”

Even at his words about coming to help, the knights didn’t lower their guard.

Zeke carefully took something out from his chest.

“It’s a potion. If you apply it to the wound, the bleeding will stop.”

The North was poorer and had fewer resources compared to the Central Continent.

Therefore, potions were hard-to-obtain luxury items.

But since he suddenly appeared and offered an expensive item like a potion, the knights rather looked at Zeke with more suspicious eyes.

‘These Himonas bastards. Always so suspicious.’

Zeke, who knew the behavior of Northerners well, opened the potion cap, took a sip, and gulped it down.

Only then did the knights lower their guard a bit.

Nikolai got up and approached Zeke.

Then he snatched the potion Zeke was holding and poured it on Sven’s wound.

HISSSSSS!

The bleeding stopped, but the wound area was foaming and the flesh was turning black.

Seeing this, Zeke spoke.

“From the reaction, it seems he was poisoned. I have an antidote. We need to treat him quickly.”

After contemplating, the knights nodded.

Zeke approached the fallen Sven and took out the antidote he had prepared in his backpack.

He took out a dagger and asked the knights.

“Do you have any Fire Spirit Wine left?”

Fire Spirit Wine was strong alcohol that Northerners drank to endure the cold.

The knights took out all the liquor bottles they were carrying.

Zeke received the bottles from the knights, sterilized the dagger with Fire Spirit Wine, and also sprinkled some on Sven’s wound.

Then he stabbed around the wound with the knife.

SHUK!

Black blood gushed out from where the knife cut.

Zeke drained some of the black blood and poured the antidote on it.

HISSSSSSS!

There was a sound like flesh burning.

The pain must have been tremendous as Sven, who had lost consciousness, woke up.

“ARGHHHHHH!”

For a Himonas knight who was skilled at enduring pain to scream like this, the pain must have been unimaginable.

Nikolai who was beside him put his dagger sheath in Sven’s mouth.

“You bastard! Stop making a fuss and just bite on this!”

Sven bit on Nikolai’s dagger sheath and endured the terrible pain.

Zeke treated the worst thigh wound first and then treated the other stab wounds with antidote and potion as well.

After treating all the wounds, Zeke thoroughly sterilized the wound areas with Fire Spirit Wine and wrapped them with bandages.

“Emergency treatment is done. If you take him to your unit’s healer right away for treatment, his life shouldn’t be in danger.”

At Zeke’s words, Nikolai finally seemed relieved and fell backward.

“Ha! Fuck! Sven, you bastard! You’re really one lucky bastard! You bastard!”

Though his words were rough, Zeke knew Nikolai was an excellent knight with deep camaraderie.

When the Himonas Knights were pushed back by the Imperial Army and faced annihilation, he threw himself at the enemy until the end to protect his comrades.

Nikolai and Sven, who just nearly died, were the commander and vice commander of this Thistle Order when Zeke belonged to the Northern Alliance.

‘It’s been a while for both of them. Seeing people who died in my past life again like this. Should I say it feels nostalgic.’

That’s when Nikolai came over and put his hand on Zeke’s shoulder.

“Hey! Mercenary friend. What’s your name? I really owe you one, damn it! Well, it’s actually Sven that bastard who owes you!”

Zeke grinned and answered Nikolai’s words.

“I’m Zeke Murray.”

“Zeke Murray! Great name. I heard you’re heading to the Ice Wall, did I hear that right?”

“Yes. I’m applying to join the Rangers.”

“Northern Rangers. That’s a man’s job.”

Though both the Himonas Knights and Northern Rangers were extremely rough people, they respected each other.

Nikolai put his arm around Zeke’s shoulder and said.

“If you’re heading to the Ice Wall anyway, stay a night at our camp. I’ll talk to the commander and get him to write you a recommendation letter for the Rangers.”

Though he wanted to leave right away, Zeke accepted Nikolai’s offer since refusing here would likely raise suspicion.

Having decided to travel with Zeke, the Thistle Knights skillfully made a stretcher, put Sven on it, and climbed the snow mountain.

Zeke also followed the knights toward their camp.

Nikolai was surprised to see Zeke following them without showing any signs of fatigue.

“You’re skilled at climbing snow mountains. Are you originally from the North?”

“Yes. I was born in Gorka in the North but left home to become a mercenary wanting to live by the sword. Then I heard they’re recruiting Rangers at the Ice Wall these days, so I was on my way up.”

Zeke smoothly told his lies.

Since Zeke’s Northern dialect was so perfect, Nikolai just nodded without suspicion.

“Where did you learn healing? Your emergency treatment skills earlier were no ordinary thing.”

“Though I’m a mercenary, I actually spent more time in dungeons. Naturally picked it up after rough times with adventurers.”

Nikolai nodded at those words. Being from an adventurer background explained why he had potions and antidotes.

Monsters often had bizarre poisons, so adventurers always carried potions and antidotes.

After such conversations while climbing the snow mountain, the Thistle Knights took Sven to their nearest camp.

Though called a camp, it was no different from a fortress.

The Ice Mountains had naturally fortress-like terrain everywhere, and the Northern Rangers built solid fortresses using earth and ice throughout to prepare against monster and beast attacks.

SCREECH!

As the fortress gate opened, Zeke entered with the Thistle Knights.

* * *

“Hahaha! Zeke Murray! Drink up! Drink!”

Nikolai filled Zeke’s cup with Fire Spirit Wine. Zeke didn’t refuse and downed the entire drink.

Seeing this, the knights and rangers whistled and clapped.

As Zeke kept downing Fire Spirit Wine without changing expression, Nikolai excitedly shouted.

“Zeke Murray! Savior of Sven and! Master of the drinking world!”

Zeke was being treated as a savior for saving Sven.

Though familiar with Northern culture, it was a bit difficult to naturally accept such rough treatment after so long.

Still, without showing it, Zeke downed the Fire Spirit Wine others offered while asking Nikolai.

“But how did he get such a serious injury? Did some vicious beast appear in the mountains?”

At Zeke’s words, Nikolai took a big drink of Fire Spirit Wine and said through gritted teeth.

“Beasts would be better. Those damn Imperial rat bastards have been defiling our territory for years.”

As expected, it seemed to be the work of Imperial Hounds.

Though poison had no effect on Zeke who was immune to all poisons, it was different for ordinary people.

In actual battlefields, poison took more lives than aura blades.

Zeke recalled the traces of poison left in Sven’s body.

‘If I hadn’t secretly used healing, Sven would have died. It wasn’t an ordinary poison.’

He suspected it might be one of the synthetic poisons the Empire was secretly researching in their secret labs.

Nikolai put down his cup and shouted through gritted teeth.

“Damn Imperial bastards and arrogant Draker bastards! I, red-haired Nikolai Eiriksson, will catch them all and hang them!”

At Nikolai’s shout, others excitedly banged their cups on the table.

Seeing the Northerners’ chaos after so long, Zeke shook his head internally.

Nikolai, full of excitement, sat down next to Zeke.

“Let’s drink! Zeke Murray! Himonas Knights never forget a debt!”

While drinking Fire Spirit Wine in response to Nikolai’s words, Zeke slowly spoke.

“Himonas Knights. You’re under the Northern Grand Duke.”

Nikolai nodded.

“Yes. The Northern Grand Duke. Truly a difficult position. Especially these days.”

Zeke knew what Nikolai meant.

Around this time, the previous Northern Grand Duke would have died and the Grand Duchess would inherit the position.

As anywhere else, where there was power, there were those who smelled of corruption.

The North was no exception.

Zeke recalled her, who had risen to Grand Duke among the Northern lords who were like rough beasts.

He slowly began to speak to Nikolai.

“How is the Grand Duke these days..?.”

That’s when.

BANG!

Someone roughly opened the door and came in.

Instantly, everyone who had been noisily drinking grabbed their weapons and stood guard.

The person who kicked in the door shouted.

“We’ve caught suspicious Central Continent people!”

At that, the Thistle Knights including Nikolai and the Rangers all rushed outside.

Zeke went outside with them, wondering what was happening.

They were gathered at one side of the training ground, where they had dug a deep pit and made a prison entrance by weaving sharpened wood.

Nikolai shouted toward the wooden entrance.

“You damn Central Continent bastards! What were you trying to eat that made you crawl all the way here! Huh?!”

That’s when.

BOOM!

Suddenly, fireballs flew and burned down the wooden entrance.

Nikolai stepped back in surprise.

Someone crawled up from the pit.

He picked up the claymore Nikolai had dropped and shouted something at them.

“????????????????????!”

Since he shouted in the Central Continent language, the Northerners including Nikolai couldn’t understand at all.

“Fuck, what is this bastard saying?”

“Don’t know. Whatever, let’s just kill him.”

That’s when.

“He’s asking why you suddenly attacked them and demanding to know who you are?”

Zeke, who was behind them, translated the Central Continent language to Northern speech.

Nikolai turned to Zeke in surprise and said.

“Huh, Zeke Murray! Amazing friend! You can speak Central Continent language too?”

“Picked it up while living as a mercenary and rolling around with adventurers.”

That’s when the man holding the sword suddenly shouted something urgently.

“Zeke Murray? Could it be Sir Zeke? I! I! Am Rick! Rick the adventurer who you saved in the Giant Mountains!”