'Linked combo skill category?ʼ
Zeke examined the newly created skill category.
A related message appeared.
[Please designate a name for the newly combined linked combo skill.]
[Simply naming the skill will make it executable.]
'Skill name, huh.ʼ
Zeke named the lightning skill combination "Lightning Hell."
[Linked combo skill "Lightning Hell" has been created.]
[The skills applied to the linked combo skill will not be displayed in the active skills window.]
[Press the detailed view of the linked combo skill to see the contents of the combined skills in detail.]
Zeke pressed the newly created Lightning Hell skill.
Lightning Hell: Water Bomb [Grade C (Beginner)] + Confusion [Grade C (Beginner)] +
Reduced Friction [Grade C (Beginner)] + Lightning [Grade A (Beginner)]
Through the status window, he could see which skills were combined into the Lightning
Hell skill.
'The higher the proficiency of the combined skills, the stronger the power of the linked combo skill.ʼ
After confirming the contents, he became curious about the power of the linked combo skill.
He went out to the training ground and activated the Lightning Hell skill himself. "Lightning Hell."
Pajijijik!
In a way similar to the Draconic Tongue Magic that Xeros had shown in Nirvana, four magics unfolded in an instant, creating a skill that was wider in range and more powerful than a regular lightning skill.
Zeke wanted to compare the power of his previous lightning magic with the skill he had designed.
He called Felix, Liam, Aster, and Diego.
"My lord, why did you call us so suddenly?"
Zeke lined up Felix and the others in front of him.
"You heard I received the Blessing of the Fairy King, right?"
"Yes, we know."
The curse-healer knight who received the Blessing of the Fairy King.
Zeke's fame had gradually grown as the savior who saved the western region attacked by monsters.
Rumors began to spread through the mouths of the Zoin tribe about a savior who rode a flying horse, swung a divine sword, and defeated evil monsters.
After this content came out in the news bulletin, Zeke had pondered and publicly announced that, just as he had told the Zoin tribe, he had received the Blessing of the Fairy King, awakened new powers, and received weapons, armor, and a spirit beast as gifts.
Following his words, the central continent made a big fuss, calling Zeke the reincarnation of Holy King Gio Rubern, who had received the Blessing of the Fairy King.
Before he knew it, Zeke's epithet had changed from curse-healer knight to Knight of Salvation.
Thanks to this, Zeke used the excuse that all the powers he obtained from the system were awakened through the Blessing of the Fairy King.
And the people who heard this story just glossed over Zeke's various abilities he had shown, thinking they were all thanks to the Blessing of the Fairy King.
This naturally created an opportunity for Zeke to reveal his powers to the outside world.
"I've awakened another new power. Let's test it out."
Felix and Diego's eyes sparkled at the words of awakening a new ability.
"My lord, what ability did you awaken?"
"I'll show you. Stand still."
Zeke positioned the summoned knights in the training ground.
"You can use aura. Block it as best as you can."
At Zeke's words, the knights drew their swords and raised their aura.
Zeke first unleashed a plain lightning at them.
Pajijik!
A current like a regular thunderbolt magic poured down on the knights.
It was powerful, but not to the extent that knights using aura couldn't dodge or block it.
After confirming that the knights easily blocked the lightning skill, Zeke prepared the Lightning Hell skill this time.
"Block this one well too."
The knights wore confident expressions at Zeke's words.
Seeing that, he chuckled inwardly and raised his hand to unleash Lightning Hell.
In an instant, the water bomb spread out, and as the knights' minds became dazed, the ground became slippery, causing them to lose balance, and immediately lightning wrapped around their bodies.
"Kuaaaak!"
Before they could defend their bodies with aura, all the knights collapsed, foaming at the mouth.
Only Liam, with his quick reflexes, didn't fully collapse.
Zeke nodded as he saw the difference between the plain lightning and Lightning Hell.
'Now I understand why Draconic Tongue Magic was so strong.ʼ Regular magic didn't work well on knights who used aura.
But linked combo magic could sufficiently affect even blue-rank knights.
The barbarians who had been lounging nearby approached with interested expressions as they watched this.
"Zeke hyung, looks fun."
"We want to try it too."
The barbarians, who had strong resistance to magic, were good test subjects.
Zeke nodded and positioned the barbarians, then used the lightning skill on them.
As expected, the barbarians' sturdy bodies weren't greatly affected by the lightning skill.
Zeke then activated Lightning Hell with an area buff applied.
In an instant, Lightning Hell activated not only where the barbarians were but also toward Felix and the others who were resting nearby.
"Kiaaaak!"
The barbarians and Felix's group collapsed side by side on the ground, writhing and steaming from their bodies.
The barbarians with strong magic resistance took less damage, but it was definitely much more effective than using plain lightning.
'This is amazing.ʼ
By combining C-grade skills with A-grade lightning, he could achieve effects comparable to Draconic Tongue Magic.
Now he had a technique to effectively attack knights while reducing mana consumption.
Zeke purchased a few more skills and created several linked combo skills.
There were four linked combo skills in total: Lightning Hell, Flame Hell, Glacier Hell, and Sand Hell.
Flame Hell was a wide-area attack skill similar to Lightning Hell.
Glacier Hell was a skill that lowered the temperature in a certain range to slow the knights' movements, and Sand Hell was a skill that obscured vision.
All were linked combo skills designed with fighting knights in mind.
For dealing with mages, the mana suppression technique he had learned and developed from Luther was sufficient.
'Letʼs see. I have 2,211 points left after buying the skills.ʼ Zeke decided to leave the points as they were for now.
He might need to craft new potions or equipment, and once Bahamutʼs Heart fully regained its power, he planned to immediately unlock Dragon Race Skill tier 5, so he needed to save points.
While staying at the fortress and training skills, Helen came to visit Zeke.
Helen, along with Song of the Crouched Flame and Big Joe, had arranged a meeting with Kali in Alencia, which claimed to be neutral, to discuss the Western Allied Forces.
The meeting ended smoothly, and the Ghetto Region was declared the territory of the Western Allied Forces for the beastmen's free struggle under the guarantee of Kali Draker.
Despite successfully completing the difficult process, her expression was quite dark as she entered the fortress.
"Sister? What's wrong?"
Helen looked at Zeke and said.
"Letʼs talk inside."
The two entered deeper into the fortress.
Before even sitting down, Helen looked at Zeke and said.
"The Empire has marched on the Holy Kingdom." Zeke asked in surprise at her words.
"What do you mean? Did the Empire start a war?"
Helen shook her head and took out a recording orb from her bosom.
"It arrived yesterday."
When she activated the recording orb, surprisingly, a scene appeared of a city guarded by paladins of the Holy Kingdom being captured by a mysterious army.
Zeke was startled upon seeing the footage.
'Those are... orks.ʼ
orksʼ Iron Legion was attacking the Holy Kingdom and marching toward the capital.
Zeke looked at Helen and said.
"Did the Empire send troops to stop them?"
"Sending troops isnʼt the problem."
Helen said with a serious expression.
"The Emperor himself is leading the army into a holy war."
*
"Aaaah...."
The injured monk and priests shed tears as they watched the burning temple in the forest.
The Pamesis Temple, famous across the continent for its beauty since the days of the Holy Empire, was burning.
The Pamesis Temple was the most beautiful and largest among the temples worshiping the sun god, and one of the Holy Kingdom's precious cultural heritages.
Now, that beautiful cultural heritage was being trampled by a barbaric army clad in thick armor and wielding massive axes.
The citizens in the city had all been killed or captured and turned into slaves by them, and the buildings had burned away.
The paladins and priests who fought against the Iron Legion eventually had no choice but to abandon the order and flee.
If they stayed longer, it was obvious they would become their sacrificial offerings.
At that moment, the boy in the basket the monk was carrying opened the lid and came out, looking at the burning Pamesis Temple.
"Th-the temple...."
boy shed tears upon seeing the burning temple.
Then, the priests behind him hurriedly approached, grabbed the boyʼs shoulders, and tried to put him back into the basket.
"Lord Roban, showing your face is dangerous. You must hide quickly. Do not come out until we arrive in Vadoka."
Since they couldnʼt use portals, it would take about a week to reach the Papal Palace in the Principality of Vadoka. The problem was that the fierce barbarian legion was scattered everywhere.
The expressions of the priests and monk who had to safely escort the boy to the Principality of Vadoka were inevitably dark.
The reason they were taking this boy to the Principality of Vadoka was that he was the Popeʼs successor.
To become the Pope of the Holy Kingdom that follows the sun god, the Token of the Sun had to appear on the body.
This young priest boy named Roban was the one who possessed that token, which had not been found for decades.
The monk carrying the basket with Roban inside and the priests escorting him turned their backs on the burning temple and entered a sparsely populated mountain path.
They planned to cross this area, avoid the legion, enter the highway, procure horses, and head to Vadoka.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
But at some point, the sound of the Iron Legion approaching could be heard.
The priests trembled in fear upon hearing the sound and said to the monk.
"We will draw their attention. Brother, please succeed in escaping and guide Lord Roban to the Holy Kingdom."
The monk gritted his teeth at the elderly priestʼs words and nodded.
priests held up their holy books and shouted.
"O flames that burn my body! This is not the fierce fire that consumes me, but the glory that leads me to eternal life!"
As their shout ended, flames simultaneously rose from the priestsʼ bodies.
The priests hurled flame bombs toward the approaching Iron Unit.
Kwa-kwang!
The Iron Unit raised their shields to block the flame bombs thrown by the priests.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
They slowly advanced, using their sturdy shields to block the priestsʼ fireballs.
Then, one of the warriors in the back threw a massive axe.
Whoooong!
The sharp axe blade embedded into the body of a priest igniting flames.
"Keheuk!"
Starting with that, dozens of axes flew toward the priests.
Puk-puk-puk!
The priests were annihilated by the axes thrown by the Iron Unit.
Krr-r-r—
After slaughtering all the priests, the unit commander leading the Iron Unit removed his helmet.
The orkʼs face hidden inside the helmet was revealed.
He pulled out the axe deeply embedded in the priestʼs body and said to his subordinates.
"Humans all look so similar, I canʼt tell them apart. Hey, check if the young human they mentioned is here."
Then, another ork nearby tilted his head and said.
"Uh, doesnʼt seem to be here. Thatʼs an old human. Not a young one." The commander put his helmet back on.
"Damn bastards. Whatʼs with all the fuss about finding some young human? Hey, search again. There must be some around here."
The orks picked up their axes again and began tracking.
The monk, hiding on a tree branch while carrying the basket and watching this, tried to calm his trembling body.
'Monsters? No. Monsters donʼt act like that. What on earth is their identity? Has the Lord truly abandoned us?ʼ
The monk gritted his teeth and steeled his resolve again.
Though the situation was desperate, the monkʼs faith, cultivated over decades, was deep.
With a firm heart, the monk gripped the basket and swiftly moved from tree to tree. His movements were no ordinary feat.
Fortunately, the monk was able to flee into the forest until the orks were out of sight.
'If I climb the mountain all night, I might reach the highway in two days.ʼ The problem was Roban inside the basket.
He, who had trained his body, could endure two days without sleep or food, but the young Roban could not.
'For now, I need to somehow get drinking water.ʼ
The monk leaped with agile movements toward a place where he smelled water.
Soon, he found a stream, temporarily set the basket on a nearby rock, and went down to drink the water.
'Clean water. I can take some of this.ʼ
As he took out a leather canteen from his waist to fill it with water.
Shiiik!
An arrow flew from the opposite side, knocking the canteen out of the monkʼs hand.
'Pursuers.ʼ
The monk quickly leaped, grabbed the basket, and ran into the forest.
Men in black followed silently behind him.