The advance party that entered the old castle ruins mobilized to search for the Holy Kingʼs ruins.
The soldiers, brainwashed by the cultistsʼ magic, roughly rummaged through the old castle ruins in search of traces of those ruins.
But it was impossible for soldiers who had lost their reason to properly find them.
The hunting dogs gnashed their teeth in anxiety as they watched the soldiers rampage through the ruins on their own, but they lacked the courage to tell the impatient emperor to pull the soldiers back.
At that moment, surprisingly, the cultists used the sacred relic they had received from the Serpent in the Black Mouth to pinpoint the exact location of the ruins.
The cultist mages discovered a passage leading downward beneath a well hidden in the foundation of the collapsed old temple.
The emperor ordered the hunting dogs to secure the passage first.
He planned to lead his imperial guard inside safely once all dangers were eliminated and claim the Holy Kingʼs remains.
Soon, the hunting dogs returned after checking the passage.
The commander of the hunting dogs unit immediately returned to the emperorʼs carriage and reported.
"Your Majesty, there were no other dangers in the underground passage."
Unlike ordinary dungeons or other ruins, this meant there were no magical beasts or guardians.
The emperor issued a command upon hearing the commanderʼs words.
"Station the army here and prepare for the ruins exploration immediately. We must secure the Holy Kingʼs remains as soon as possible."
"Understood, Your Majesty."
It was then that the hunting dogs unit began setting up a camp inside the ruins and preparing for a full-scale exploration.
Something strange flew in from the sky.
At first, they thought it was a large bird.
But as it approached, it was too big to be called a bird.
The hunting dogs, the only ones in the imperial army who had maintained their sanity, spotted the descending entity from the sky and cried out in horror.
"Itʼs a d-dragon!"
What hovered in the sky was none other than the Tyrant, the dragon-species summon Zeke had called forth.
The Tyrant, which had devastated the imperial garrison base, had reappeared.
The Tyrant unleashed black conflagration toward the imperial army.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
The imperial armyʼs formation turned into a sea of flames from the black fire pouring down from the sky.
The soldiers, intoxicated by the cultistsʼ brainwashing magic and drugs, finally regained their senses from the heat and pain as the flames consumed their bodies.
"F-Fire! Itʼs fire!"
As the soldiers snapped out of it from the sudden attack, the entire legion fell into chaos instead.
This was exactly what Zeke had aimed for.
Maintaining brainwashing magic over such a large number of soldiers wasnʼt easy.
Naturally, they had also used soma to induce awakening effects, and such methods could be undone with external shocks to restore their minds.
The soldiers panicked amid the flames raining from the sky.
At that point, the knights of the Celestial Scorpion Palace stepped forward and shouted at the soldiers.
"Regain your formation! Anyone fleeing will be executed on the spot!"
But the words of the knights wouldnʼt reach the soldiers deep in panic.
In the end, a knight from the Celestial Scorpion Palace swung his sword and severed the head of a fleeing knight.
Only then did the soldiers stop in fright.
They reformed their ranks and moved to areas untouched by the flames.
The cultist mages shook their staffs, sprinkling black liquid onto the flames.
The fires writhed like snakes and gathered in one place.
At the same time, other mages pointed their staffs at the sky and chanted spells, soon summoning dark clouds that began to pour rain.
With the urgent flames suppressed by magic and rain falling, the fire was extinguished faster than expected.
It was just as the soldiers calmed down and began reorganizing their ranks.
"Gaaah!"
Screams suddenly erupted from various spots.
Terrifying monsters had appeared before the soldiersʼ eyes.
Monsters that seemed to have just crawled out of hell attacked the soldiers.
These were illusions created by Zekeʼs unique authority, the realm of illusions.
Even though they had awakened, the soldiers had been under the influence of awakening drugs until moments ago, maximizing the effect of the realm of illusions and making the hallucinations vivid.
Some soldiers even felt real pain from the illusory monstersʼ attacks and died on the spot.
The formation, which had barely stabilized, plunged back into panic.
The rain meant to douse the flames had turned the ground into mud, making movement difficult.
"Aaaah!"
As soldiers floundered in the muck, unable to move their feet, their ranks quickly collapsed.
One of the cultists, realizing the situation, paled and shouted.
"Q-Quickly dispel the hallucinations on the soldiers!" The cultists hurriedly cast spells to lift the illusions.
But Zekeʼs realm of illusions was the ability of Pan, a high-rank demonkind.
Even mages wielding the power of constellations couldnʼt dispel the magic affecting so many people in an instant.
At that moment, something appeared before the soldiers.
Clank! Clank! Clank!
Not ordinary skeletons, but ones crafted directly by Richmond.
A fully armed skeleton unit had emerged.
The skeletons targeted the busy mages behind the soldiers.
Shwaaak!
"Kraaak!"
Several mages, caught off guard by the sudden skeleton attack, failed to respond properly and fell.
Seeing this, the other cultists cast spells at the skeletons.
"Return to being dust!"
But Richmondʼs skeletons ignored their magic, charging forward to push the mages back with shields before stabbing with swords.
The cultist mages died with eyes wide in disbelief.
As the soldiers fell into chaos from the illusions and skeleton unit, and even the cultist mages collapsed, the knight orders meant to control them began to falter as well.
It was then.
Dududu-dudu!
New enemies appeared from the flank.
They were dragon warriors mounted on shark dragons.
At the forefront, Kaiman atop Gurab raised his Eastern-style sword high.
Whoosh!
In an instant, Kaimanʼs sword severed a knightʼs head.
Gurab roared toward the knights.
Kaaaaah!
The knightsʼ warhorses panicked and bucked at Gurabʼs cry.
Only then did Carlito, commanding the Celestial Scorpion Palace Knight Order, shout.
"Abandon the horses and fall back!"
Following Carlitoʼs order, the knight order used their mounts as bait and retreated swiftly.
The dragon warriors swept through the imperial armyʼs flank like a cavalry charge on their shark dragons.
The attacked flank split the imperial army in half.
As the legionʼs formation crumbled in an instant, Carlito withdrew with his knight order for now.
But at that moment, he spotted the cultist mages carrying the emperorʼs palanquin with the imperial guard into the ruins.
Suddenly, Carlito felt his mind clear.
'What am I doing here right now?ʼ
Carlito, brainwashed by the cultistsʼ magic, had also regained his senses from the external shock.
Having been directly drugged and magicked more intensely than ordinary soldiers, he had only just broken free.
He recalled how the emperor had forced the magic on him and Gillian. 'Damn it! We shouldnʼt have come to a place like this in the first place.ʼ But it was too late for regrets.
Carlito shouted to the Celestial Scorpion Palace knights.
"Everyone, snap out of it! We canʼt die like dogs here! All units, head into the ruins!"
The Celestial Scorpion Palace Knight Order moved toward the ruins in response to his voice.
Carlito, dragging the shackled Gillian, rushed to the ruins entrance.
But just as he arrived, he spotted the hunting dogs trying to break the entrance.
"Damn bastards!"
Carlito activated the magic engraved on the magic sword he carried.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-boom!
The explosion magic blasted the hunting dogs at the entrance.
The hunting dogs, seeing Carlito and the Celestial Scorpion Palace knights charging toward the entrance, drew their swords and shouted.
"His Majesty has commanded us to block the enemies! Do you intend to defy the imperial order?"
At those words, Carlito activated the hidden dart mechanism on his wrist toward the shouting hunting dog.
Pshuk!
A small arrow embedded precisely in the hunting dogʼs forehead.
Thud!
The other hunting dogs panicked at Carlitoʼs ruthless action.
Carlito glared at them and said.
"Shut your nonsense and get out of the way. Protecting His Majestyʼs safety is the duty of us, the Celestial Scorpion Palace Knight Order."
At that moment, skeletons approached, perhaps having spotted them.
Realizing they couldnʼt turn back Carlito with his fierce momentum, the hunting dogs unit members reluctantly stepped aside.
Carlito quickly descended the entrance with Gillian in tow.
"Hurry down!"
As all the Celestial Scorpion Palace knights descended and the hunting dogs tried to follow, the skeleton soldiers suddenly attacked them.
"Gaaah!"
The hunting dogs abandoned their attacked comrade and descended immediately.
Then, they activated the pre-attached explosion scrolls.
Kwa-kwa-boom!
The entrance collapsed with the explosion.
Some late-descending hunting dogs were caught in the blast and buried under the debris, but no one cared.
Inside, Carlito caught his breath.
'Damn, I need to get out of here quickly, but how...ʼ
For now, pretending to follow the emperorʼs orders while surviving took priority.
He shouted to a hunting dogs unit member.
"His Majestyʼs safety is at risk. Guide us to him immediately!"
The hunting dogs nodded with stiff expressions at Carlitoʼs threat.
"Understood. Follow us."
*
'What? This is a mess.'
Zeke, watching the battlefield from the underground catacombs through his summonsʼ eyes, was surprised instead by how easily the imperial army had collapsed, contrary to his expectations.
Even with the surprise attack, he hadnʼt expected them to disintegrate without mounting a counter.
'They werenʼt a proper army to begin with.ʼ
It was an army hastily conscripted to claim the Holy Kingʼs remains.
Originally, the plan was to intimidate the Holy Kingdom into surrender using the ork legion for a bloodless entry, then seize the Holy Kingʼs ruins, so they hadnʼt considered logistics at all.
The brainwashed soldiers, marching relentlessly without sleep or food, were utterly exhausted and couldnʼt exert proper strength.
The mad emperorʼs greed had driven his soldiers to death.
Then, a message came from Richmond.
'My lord, most of the soldiers have scattered and fled. Shall I pursue and capture them?ʼ
'Just block their path to the main force. If any escape and alert the main army to join, itʼll be a headache, so seal off the routes so they canʼt reach here.ʼ
'Understood, master.ʼ
After ending communication with Richmond, Zeke summoned another familiar.
Tss-tss-tss—
With a chill, a lich embedded with a blue gem appeared.
"You called, master."
Bane, the elemental lich who had reached the 8th circle with ice-attribute magic as a Nirvana mage before becoming Zekeʼs summon, bowed politely.
"Bane, go to the location I designate, stand by, and hold them until I send the signal."
"Your faithful servant Bane obeys the command."
Zeke summoned a ghost trooper and assigned it to Bane.
"Follow the ghost trooper and monitor their movements. There seem to be blue knightclass and even red knight-class beside the emperor. Keep your distance and focus on holding them."
"Understood, master."
Bane followed the ghost trooper to the designated position.
After issuing the order, Zeke steadied his breath and turned around.
A massive door stood before him.
"Well, time to enter the ruins and prepare before they arrive." Zeke reached toward the door.
[The senior administrator system attempts to connect.]
[Code verification]
[Title: One blessed by the ancient dragon confirmed]
[Title: Knight of radiant light confirmed]
[Title: Heir of Terakan Draker confirmed]
[Access rights to "Sanctuary of radiant light" acquired]
[Hidden code acquired by meeting conditions]
Kugugu-gu—
The firmly shut door opened.
At that moment, a new message appeared before Zekeʼs eyes.
[Welcome to the "Sanctuary of radiant light," successor.]
"Successor?"
He had visited other ruins through the system, but this was the first time such a message appeared.
At the same time, something emerged from within the door.
A massive knight in pure white full plate armor approached Zeke.
The knight, larger than any barbarian, knelt before Zeke.
[Welcome, successor. We have waited long for your arrival.]
Zeke couldnʼt help but be astonished at the sight of the knight.
'A golem?ʼ