Dragonslayer’s Class Regression Chapter 98

Chapter 98

The hound bitten by Gurab soon died.

Zeke wondered why the Empire’s hounds were wandering around here.

‘They could be chasing Carus, but there might also be ancient ruins here.’

The mad Emperor of the Rom Empire was searching through every ancient ruin across the entire continent.

He wasn’t sure if Regent Julius had the authority to command even the hounds, but if the hounds were really pursuing Zeke’s group, crossing the border area would become even more difficult.

Soon Boris and Simon woke up, and the two were nonetheless shocked to see the hound’s corpse.

“Simon, are there any ancient ruins near here?”

At those words, Simon nodded.

“Yes. There are quite a few hidden dungeons near the border area.”

Zeke was somewhat relieved at Simon’s answer.

But he couldn’t let his guard down.

The hounds were also Empire knights.

No one knew when they might mobilize fully and cast a wide net.

‘We should leave here as quickly as possible.’

Zeke woke up Carus and headed straight for the tunnel.

The tunnel Simon mentioned for crossing the border area was a route previously used by smugglers.

When Ishtar hadn’t issued expulsion orders, the cartel sent all their soma through this route.

Back then, outlaws rather than the syndicate served as route guides.

Simon knew about this tunnel because he had helped transport the cartel’s drugs through here during his past activities as an outlaw.

“We’re almost there.”

Beyond the wasteland, they could see a small village built with earthen walls.

Zeke entered the village while staying alert to the surroundings.

Simon went deeper into the village saying he would meet with a broker briefly.

Zeke’s group entered the restaurant Simon had guided them to first.

Carus sat at a table and spoke dejectedly.

“Ugh. I don’t care what it is, but I’d like to eat something warm instead of dried food.”

His mouth felt stale after eating only dried rations while crossing the wasteland.

Soon the food they ordered came out, fulfilling Carus’s wish.

Although it had strong spices, the food was edible.

Carus put aside his dignity as royalty and devoured the food ravenously.

‘He’s a hundred times better than those nobles who make a fuss about food not suiting their taste.’

Zeke was glad Carus was an easygoing royal.

When they were resting after finishing their meal, Zeke sensed an ominous atmosphere developing around them.

‘Not good.’

As he expected, a group of men entered the restaurant.

Judging by their sword types, they seemed to be from the Central Continent.

‘They’re hounds.’

It seemed the hounds who were searching for ruins in the area had entered the village to get a meal.

Zeke signaled Boris and Carus to cover their faces and look away.

Just as they were about to quietly get up.

“Hey, you.”

Suddenly someone called out to Zeke.

Glancing back, one of the outlaws who had been sitting in the restaurant, not the hounds who just entered, was approaching Zeke.

“Haven’t seen your face before. Where are you from?”

Keeping his face covered, Zeke spoke to the outlaw in Southern language.

“From the syndicate. And where are you from?”

The outlaw flinched momentarily at the mention of syndicate.

Then he grinned and approached Zeke again.

“These days everyone just claims they’re from the syndicate. Listen kid. Did you think I’d be scared if you said that?”

One look and he was clearly just a thug who robbed travelers entering the village.

Zeke was concerned about the hounds sitting at the inner tables.

“I don’t want to cause trouble. What do you want?”

At those words, the outlaw spoke with a confident expression.

“Hand over everything you’ve got. Let’s see how much you give up before this elder decides what to do.”

Zeke nodded as if he had no choice.

“Fine. Most of what I have is on the horse. Let’s go there.”

The outlaw followed Zeke to the stable gleefully.

Zeke threw a pouch that was attached to the horse to the outlaw.

“Oh ho. Quite heavy. Let me see what’s insi…”

Before he could finish saying ‘inside’, Zeke struck his nape and knocked him out immediately.

He led the horse toward where Carus and Boris had already come out.

But the hounds who had been quietly eating had gotten up at some point and were approaching Zeke.

“Hey. You there, hold on.”

After considering the hound’s words briefly, Zeke approached him while keeping his face covered.

“What is it?”

“Earlier I heard you’re from the syndicate. What are smugglers doing all the way out here?”

Fortunately, it seemed they hadn’t been recognized.

Zeke slowly made up a story.

“The road into the Central Continent suddenly got blocked, so we came to take a detour through the desert and go up.”

At Zeke’s words, one of the hounds gave him a suspicious look and approached Carus, who had a different atmosphere from the three.

“You, take off your robe.”

The hound reached out to remove Carus’s robe.

That’s when it happened.

Thud!

Zeke drew a dagger and threw it at the hound’s hand.

Then he immediately drew his Cloud Iron Sword and slashed the hound’s neck in front of him.

Slash!

The hounds were momentarily stunned when their companion suddenly died.

“C-Catch them!”

Boris, who was next to him, drew his sword and stabbed the barking hound from behind.

Zeke threw a dagger at the hound trying to escape.

Three hounds died in an instant at the restaurant.

Boris approached Zeke.

“Boss, it’s only a matter of time before we’re discovered.”

“Let’s abandon the horses and head towards where Simon is. We need to pass through the tunnel quickly.”

Zeke grabbed Carus and ran to where Simon was.

But then other outlaws began chasing after Zeke’s group.

“100,000 gold is getting away!”

It seemed bounty hunters had barged in all the way here.

Zeke used a flash bang skill against the pursuing outlaws.

Flash!

“Arghhhh!”

The outlaws exposed to the flash bang rolled on the market floor.

It was when they were trying to get to the tavern Simon mentioned by crossing the market.

“Boss!”

Simon ran towards Zeke.

“What’s going on?”

“Those bounty hunter bastards are already on our tail. The hounds have caught our scent too. Can we enter the tunnel right now?”

“There’s no guide but we can enter.”

“I can find the way so let’s hurry.”

Zeke ran following Simon towards where the tunnel was.

Since this village was created when the tunnel was made, the tunnel entrance was closer than expected.

The entrance was inside an old well.

A single guard was standing watch in front.

When Simon showed the ticket received from the broker, the guard nodded and gestured to enter the well.

Starting with Simon, they entered the well one by one.

Whoosh!

Coming down, there was a narrow tunnel below the well.

It was so shabby it was hard to believe that just a few years ago, drugs from the south were transported to the central continent through this tunnel.

Zeke turned on his map and examined the tunnel path thoroughly.

“I’ll take the lead. Simon, protect Carus from the very back.”

Thanks to the map, Zeke could find his way through the intricately intertwined tunnel paths without confusion.

Soon the narrow path ended and a fairly wide passage appeared.

Simon said to Zeke.

“Boss, if we keep going this way we can pass through the border zone.”

Zeke’s group walked along the long stretching tunnel path.

It was unbelievable how people could have made such a long tunnel.

Then after walking for quite a while.

There was a loud noise from behind.

“Over there!”

Apparently there was more than one tunnel entrance.

Armed outlaws were chasing after Zeke’s group.

Simon, after observing them, said to Zeke.

“That guy in front is a quite famous outlaw called Yellow Wind Messenger.”

“Simon, protect Carus. Boris follow behind me!”

Zeke immediately drew his Cloud Iron Sword and charged forward.

Whoosh!

Since using too powerful techniques risked collapsing the tunnel, they had to deal with the outlaws using only swordsmanship.

Zeke swung his sword with Aura.

Thwack!

The Yellow Wind Messenger who clashed with Zeke’s sword flew straight into the wall and got stuck.

Boris too swung his sword against multiple outlaws at once.

Zeke shouted to Boris.

“Boris! Cover your ears and step back!”

At Zeke’s words, Boris rolled backwards.

Simultaneously, Zeke used the skill Dissonance.

ZIIIIING!

As strange sounds echoed around Zeke, the outlaws stepped back in pain.

The outlaws couldn’t maintain proper balance due to the dissonance.

“Is, is this magic?”

Though it was a skill Zeke used, to them it seemed close to magic.

Zeke’s sword swept through the confused outlaws.

“KUHEK!”

Since even the famous Yellow Wind Messenger was no match for Zeke to begin with, they were all just small fry.

Zeke personally beheaded the Yellow Wind Messenger and Boris finished off the remaining outlaws.

Zeke said while sheathing his sword.

“Boris, let’s hurry.”

Zeke’s group quickly moved deeper into the tunnel again.

But the outlaws continuously attacked Zeke’s group.

Slash!

Zeke’s sword cut through the outlaws creating a path.

The tunnel floor was wet enough with blood spilled by the outlaws.

Boris who kept swinging his sword showed considerable signs of fatigue but thanks to infinite stamina, Zeke could continue taking down opponents.

‘Without infinite stamina this could have been dangerous.’

Zeke distributed stamina potions to his companions and continued advancing towards the tunnel exit.

And when they finally arrived at the tunnel exit.

Zeke sensed something ominous.

‘This is… magical energy.’

Sure enough, magic flew in from outside the exit.

Crackle!

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Lightning and fireballs rained down towards Zeke’s group.

“Duck!”

Zeke activated Dragon Scale Armor while embracing Carus.

After the explosion ended, he got up and said to Simon.

“Stay and protect Carus. I’ll go out and deal with the mages.”

Zeke put on his Cloud Iron Armor and ran outside the tunnel.

“He’s out! Attack!”

As soon as Zeke emerged, the mages began bombarding him with attacks.

Since there were all sorts of outlaws, battle mages were occasionally seen too.

Like before, fireballs, lightning, and energy balls rained down.

But the shield activated, automatically defending against the magic.

WOOOONG!

As soon as the shield’s effect ended, Zeke ran towards the mages with his sword drawn.

Then he stretched out his hand and used the magic reflection skill.

As the magic field distorted, the mages couldn’t properly operate their magic and couldn’t help but panic.

“Wh-what’s happening?”

Zeke immediately swung his sword and took down the mages.

After quickly finishing them off and looking around, he could see the outlaws waiting behind the mages panicking.

“Those bastards! They said they were Delpoa mages but it was all lies!”

The battle mages killed by Zeke seemed to be deserters from the Delpoa Magic Corps.

He swept away all the outlaws who were waiting with his sword.

“Whew.”

Even though he had infinite stamina, Zeke had his limits.

He too was gradually starting to feel fatigue. Since he couldn’t properly use gluttony while moving quickly, he couldn’t resolve his mental fatigue.

‘If my consciousness suddenly cuts off, it’ll be even more dangerous.’

Zeke signaled his companions to come out.

Boris brought the horses the outlaws had.

Simon said to Zeke.

“Boss, if we ride horses for about two days, there’s a village we can stop at before entering the Forest of the Forgotten, outside Ishtar’s territory.”

“It would be better to regroup there and then enter the Grand Troy Principality following the forest’s outskirts.”

“That seems better than entering the desert region.”

“Alright. Let’s change the route.”

Although it was a more roundabout path, with even assassins targeting Carus, entering the desert region which was their base would be tantamount to a suicide attempt.

Just as Zeke’s group was about to leave the border zone on horseback.

They felt something fiercely pursuing them from behind.

Zeke enhanced his vision with Dragon Eye to observe the pursuers.

He immediately cursed.

“Damn, the Imperial hounds are onto us.”

It seemed they were traced because of the three killed at the restaurant.

Zeke’s group rode their horses even faster.

But horses stolen from outlaws couldn’t outrun Imperial military horses.

Soon the hounds caught up to Zeke’s group.

SWOOSH!

One of the hounds fired a crossbow.

Zeke, who was at the very back, swung his sword to deflect the arrow.

He shouted towards Simon.

“Keep running! Once we get closer to Ishtar’s territory, the hounds won’t be able to follow!”

Zeke fell slightly behind his companions and threw daggers at the pursuing hounds.

Ping!

The daggers imbued with Aura  gradually slowed the hounds’ speed.

But another dust cloud rose from the side.

Another group of outlaws came swarming in from behind.