Chapter 281
The Fire Giant, with the fiery whip of binding wrapped around his body, charged towards Zeke.
KWAKWAKWAKWA!
The Fire Giant, enveloped in explosively surging flames, collided with Zeke’s body.
HWAREUREUREURYEOK!
Zeke’s body was swirled in the fiery storm.
The watching Mages were flustered.
“Wait a moment. Is this okay?”
“Oh no, what if Sir Draker burns to death?”
Hearing the Mages’ murmurs, Hickson was also panicked and tried to stop the match.
At that moment.
“Wait a moment.”
Antonio, who had suddenly appeared beside him, blocked Hickson’s hand that was about to be raised.
Suddenly seeing his master, Hickson’s face turned deathly pale.
“M-Master…”
As Hickson tried to make an excuse, he realized that not only Antonio but also the masters of Nirvana were watching Zeke and Zeros’ confrontation.
Hickson’s eyebrows trembled.
‘I’m dead.’
Antonio clicked his tongue while looking at Zeros, who had summoned the fire giant.
“TSK TSK, Zeros, you rascal. I always told you to be careful when dealing with knights.”
A short, ruddy-faced elderly mages beside Antonio smiled and spoke in a soft voice.
“Tony, don’t be too hard on him. It’s because the opponent is Draker. If it were a regular knight, he would have been turned to bone powder already.”
However, Antonio’s expression was full of dissatisfaction.
“If you’re going to do it, do it properly.”
Hickson wondered while listening to the two masters.
‘Zeros seems to be completely winning, so why are they like this?’
When Hickson looked at the arena again, Zeros was still maintaining his magic with utmost effort, not relaxing his tension.
At that moment.
CHWAAAAK!
Zeke swung his sword and broke through the flames wrapping around him.
KWAKWAKWAKWA!
Following Zeros’ gesture, the flames tried to reattach to Zeke, but to no avail.
Zeke’s movement was much faster.
HOOOOONG!
Zeke, holding Bahamut aloft, rapidly descended from the air and charged towards Zeros.
KUGOGOGOGO!
Zeros stretched out his hand and created a magic shield in front of him.
KWADEUDEUDEUDEUK!
Yet Zeke’s sword pierced through the magic shield.
A flustered Zeros unleashed all the magic he could use, but Zeke’s sword deflected everything.
CHWAAAK!
Zeke, who had cut through all the magic, landed on the ground and placed his sword at Zeros’ neck.
Zeros, with a deathly pale face, raised his hand and said,
“I… I surrender.”
After speaking, he collapsed limply to the ground.
Zeke extended his hand to Zeros.
“You worked hard, Zeros. I learned a lot.”
Zeke had intentionally minimized his attacks and induced gaps to observe as many magic combinations as possible when fighting Zeros.
Zeros’ sophisticated chain magic was challenging even for Zeke, who had extensive battlefield experience.
While savoring the match with satisfaction, Zeros took Zeke’s hand and stood up.
“Sir Zeke, I’d like to hear honestly how my magic was.”
After some contemplation, Zeke spoke.
“It’s sophisticated, but I definitely felt a lack of practical experience.”
Zeros was shocked, his face turning pale.
“L-Lack of practical experience?”
“Yes. As you said, the connection between magics and the strategically placed attacks were effective. However…”
Zeke looked Zeros in the eye.
“The more sophisticated it is, the more likely it is to collapse with just a few unexpected events. On the battlefield, a mana bomb might suddenly explode behind you, or a colleague next to you could die instantly, causing mental shock. I wondered if it would be possible to perform such sophisticated magic in such situations.”
Zeros nodded seriously after hearing Zeke’s words.
“Certainly… that could be the case.”
“It would be best if you could train considering such situations. If not, creating a similar environment…”
As Zeke was speaking, he felt a gaze and turned to see Antonio and the other masters intently listening.
When Zeke stopped speaking, Antonio awkwardly coughed and said something to Zeros.
“Ahem, Zeros! Didn’t I tell you to stop the habit of bringing out summons in a hurry? I told you that with knights, it’s about striking first! It’s even better if you can ambush.”
Zeros was flustered by Antonio’s words.
“N-No, but an ambush is a bit…”
Zeke shook his head.
“No. Master Antonio is correct. The best way to use magic against knights is precisely to launch an unexpected ambush.”
When Zeke spoke, Antonio smiled and said,
“See? A knight of Draker says the same thing. Sir Zeke truly knows something.”
Antonio’s favorability towards Zeke had clearly increased since the Fairy Stone incident.
At that moment, the short, ruddy-faced mages beside him smiled and spoke softly,
“This is a good opportunity. I hope Sir Zeke could talk to our young ones about practical combat. They’re all stuck in research labs, holding only writing tools, so their practical sense has completely dropped.”
Antonio nodded in agreement.
“Oh, that’s a good idea. Gutan, you’ve come up with a surprisingly good suggestion.”
Zeke was startled upon hearing the mages’s name.
‘Gutan Nirvana? Indeed, an 8th Circle Master. The pinnacle of combat-type Mages, holding the title of Top Mage.’
Gutan Nirvana was one of the war heroes who participated in the Eastern Empire invasion war 25 years ago, achieving numerous merits.
Unlike Howard Draker, a fake hero who stole his colleagues’ achievements, Gutan Nirvana was a genuine combat mages.
Gutan approached Zeke and Zeros, floating in mid-air.
He smiled at Zeke and said,
“Sir Zeke, if you’re amenable, I’d like to invite you to the combat magic society where I serve as an advisor. What do you think?”
There was no reason to refuse, as it was an opportunity to build rapport with Nirvana’s masters.
“If you invite me, I’ll gladly participate.”
Gutan nodded with a smile.
“Good. Then let’s meet with the society members tomorrow.”
The moment he finished speaking, Gutan’s body became blurry and then disappeared.
Seeing Gutan, Antonio shook his head.
“HUH, that guy invited a knight first. It’s amazing how knights can be so provocative.”
“Hey, the battle’s over. Quickly go finish writing your papers!”
Hickson, who was trying to escape with the other Mages, was caught by the nape of his neck by Antonio.
“I was going to have you keep me company, but you’ve already caused trouble.”
“Master, it’s not like that. Sir Zeke wanted it first.”
“Are you talking back to me now?”
“No, no, Master.”
Antonio dragged Hickson and approached Zeke.
“Sir Zeke. I’ve concluded talks with these old guys. They say it was very good.”
“Thank you, Antonio. I’ll send the official contract soon.”
“Haha, good. It’s refreshing that I don’t have to look for that Fairy Stone for a while.”
Antonio held onto Hickson and said,
“You, don’t cause any more trouble. Guide Sir Zeke’s guest room properly.”
“Ah, yes, Master.”
Antonio finished what he wanted to say and created a door in the wall, just like when Zeke first saw him, and entered.
Hickson, breaking into a cold sweat, said to Zeke,
“PHEW, I barely survived. Sir Zeke, this way. I’ll guide you to your room.”
At that moment, Zeke extended his hand to Hickson.
“Hickson, before that, shall we settle the calculation? I bet 10,000 pesos, so I’m curious about the payout.”
Hickson’s face turned pale again.
* * *
Zeke, now staying in Nirvana’s guest room, was surprised that the room was more ordinary than he expected.
He had thought the Mages’ room would be something special.
‘I was full of prejudices.’
But it wasn’t completely a prejudice. In fact, each facility was operated by magic, so Zeke couldn’t even turn on the lights.
Just as the Draker family always trained using aura, Nirvana had deliberately designed the room for magic training.
‘It’s inconvenient that I can’t turn lights on and off without calling someone.’
Zeke tried connecting to the system to see if he could interact with the facilities.
[High-level Management System attempting connection]
[Code Verification]
[Confirmation of Title: One Blessed by the Great Dragon]
[Accessing Third Defensive Base ‘Infinite Tower’]
Zeke was surprised by the emerging text.
‘Infinite Tower? Was this place also created by a dragon?’
Places where system access was possible were likely created by dragons.
Zeke used the system to activate the room’s facilities.
“Turn on the lights.”
The magic lights turned on according to his command.
He could now use the Infinite Tower’s functions by linking with the Kabbalah system.
‘Interesting. Let’s see what functions are available.’
Zeke opened the system window and looked through the information stored in the Infinite Tower.
Most of the stored content was records of who was currently using the space and how.
‘I expected Hoshgar to know how to use the system. Can’t the current Mages access the system?’
The Infinite Tower had a function to infinitely expand space within the building.
This function seemed usable even without system access permissions.
Since there had been no dragon-born from Nirvana after the first owner Hoshgar, they appeared to be using only the basic functions and unable to utilize other features.
‘Let me check the records from when Hoshgar was here.’
Examining the thousand-year-old records, Zeke discovered much more information compared to the present.
‘These seem like records left by mages during the Golden Age after the war.’
The early days of the Nirvana family seemed to result in scattered records.
Mages of the Magic Tower considered research results secret and never disclosed them to others.
Even when published, they would only release general content in paper format, with core theories passed only to the immediate disciple.
However, Nirvana’s Mages aimed to share research results to develop better magic.
Their goal was to prepare effectively against potential invasions by demon king armies into the current realm.
This intention had continued from Hoshgar onwards.
Something seemed strange in the records from 500 years ago.
‘What’s this? The records are cut off here.’
Until then, information had been recorded in the system, but afterwards, only space expansion information remained.
It seemed system access permissions to the Infinite Tower were severed from 500 years ago.
Zeke carefully reviewed the records from 500 years prior.
The records revealed significant events in the Nirvana family during that time.
‘Necromancers? They were originally part of Nirvana but were eventually expelled.’
Early Nirvana included necromancers practicing dark magic alongside regular Mages.
Problems began after the first Lubern dynasty established the Holy Empire 800 years ago, when religious orders gained power.
The orders began unconditionally persecuting necromancers, treating them all as evil dark magic practitioners.
Nirvana’s Mages tried to counter these claims and protect necromancers, but the orders used paladins to indiscriminately arrest them.
Many Nirvana Mages who fiercely resisted were sacrificed, causing those with Infinite Tower access permissions to die or disappear.
Necromancers gradually retreated underground, leading to a rapid increase in those conducting illegal experiments.
‘A continuous vicious cycle.’
One name caught Zeke’s eye.
“Experimental journal for artificial blood stone production using Mandragora manufacturing method?”
It sounded familiar.
When he tried to enter, a warning appeared about limited access permissions.
Zeke scanned the list of experiment journal authors.
An enormous amount of documents and journals were displayed.
Zeke opened his mouth in surprise and examined the author’s name.
“Victor Nirvana…”
The unfortunate genius necromancer.
Richmond’s real name.
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Lore !!!