Chapter 11

Skeleton King charged toward Ziel while swinging his giant ax. When the attack almost hit him, Ziel dodged it with minimal movement and cut his opponent's hand off. Even though some of his body was cut off, the Skeleton King punched Ziel with his other hand.

This time Ziel didn't dodge the attack. He compressed the mana and aura on the greatsword and swung it toward his enemy's fist. His blade and the Skeleton King's attack collided, creating a tremendous shockwave and destroying the surrounding area.

Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooommmmmm!

Crack!

Small cracks formed in the Skeleton King's hand, then shattered into pieces. Ziel swung his sword again and slashed his opponent apart. He split apart the Skeleton King's upper and lower bodies. Ziel knew that it wasn't over yet. The Skeleton King's separated body suddenly reconnected as one, and his shattered hand returned to its original state.

"Hahaha... The Skeleton King wouldn't lose with just that kind of attack! Even if you cut him into small pieces, he won't die!" The evil spirit that saw the battle laughed and sneered at Ziel.

"I know. It will take a lot of time if it goes on like this. It'll be morning soon. So I'll end you two together." Ziel injected his aura and mana into his weapon. The blade was red from the heat, and there were more cracks than before due to excessive compression. A thick blade aura with gray color was created.

"What!? Quickly get out of that place, Skeleton King!" The evil spirit felt terror from the power emitted by Ziel's sword. He and the Skeleton King immediately made a stacked barrier to block their opponent's attack because he felt they would not have time to dodge it.

Ziel brandished his sword, but the sword shattered into pieces as it could no longer withstand the compression of his mana and aura. Even so, the aura blade is still there. He swung his shattered sword toward the evil spirit, and the aura blade was slashed out with incredible speed. Then his attack and the evil spirit's barrier collided.

[Orbit Slash]

Crack!

The barrier couldn't even last for 1 second. The heavy attack from the aura blade hit the evil spirit and the Skeleton King, catching them by surprise.

Boooooooooooooooooooommmmmm!

The hall shook violently from Ziel's attack. A giant scar was carved into the ground all the way up to the cave wall. The attack had divided the place into two parts separated by a small chasm. The existence of the evil spirit and skeleton king disappeared without a trace after being swallowed up by the aura blade.

Ziel didn't care about the two people and looked towards the cave wall hole. He narrowed his eyes after discovering the large room there. Ziel entered and suddenly stopped after seeing what was behind the cave wall.

The room was spacious, and many large tubes filled with strange liquid lined up. The number can reach hundreds or even thousands, and each tube is filled with humans. No, they couldn't be called humans anymore. They are more accurately called human chimeras.

Their circumstances are different. Some have their body parts exchanged for the monster, some have transformed like strange creatures after being injected with unknown DNA, and some have become monsters. So they couldn't be recognized whether they were humans or other races. Besides humans, Ziel also saw several elves, dwarves, and demons with the same fate in the large tubes.

"It turns out that this organization also has something to do with The Fallen Gods. What exactly are they planning?" Ziel was suspicious of what The Fallen Gods were doing. Because as far as he knew, The Fallen Gods never showed themselves in this era, and their existence could be called a myth.

Ziel could see several people in the tube looking at Ziel and saying something. One was a little girl with short red hair and big brown eyes who looked very cute. But her lower body was no longer a human but a spider. Ziel couldn't hear her words but could tell what she was saying from the movement of her lips.

PLEASE...KILL...ME...

Ziel understood why she said that because her body and mind were no longer human. She was no longer herself after being the object of an inhuman experiment. The pain she felt was not only in her body but also in her mind.

He couldn't feel pity or sorrow for their suffering. Ziel also couldn't get angry when he saw a little girl treated cruelly and unfairly. By this time, Ziel was no longer a hero and would never be one again. But he will grant the little girl's wishes and everyone in the tube who have become the experimental object.

"I will grant your wish. You can think of this as fate because you and I met, although I don't believe in that." Ziel mumbled softly then nine magic seals formed on his body. The magic seal is a mutation of the combined magic circle and aura seal that Ziel released when he first stabilized the seal. Two dragons circling the magic circle appeared on his body.

Outside the cave, the previously bright and starry weather suddenly turned into a thunderstorm. Maybe no one pays much attention to it because Ziel keeps changes to natural phenomena to a minimum, and only nearby residents can see it.

[Sign Expulsion]

Ziel said in a deep voice and instantly created thousands of magic circles over every canister in that place. After that, a gray light shot out of it and enveloped the tube.

Before the gray light completely enveloped the tube, Ziel noticed the little girl was looking at him. At this moment, she smiled sweetly, and Ziel could tell what she was saying from the movement of her lips.

THANK YOU...

An incredible sight occurred as the thousands of magic circle was activated simultaneously, and the place was filled with gray light. After it disappeared, all the tubes in the room also vanished without a trace. It didn't shatter or turn to dust, but Ziel completely erased the presence of all the canisters and experimental objects inside.

Ziel silently looked at the empty hall. He didn't know why; tears were running down his cheeks. Ziel took off his mask and wiped his tears.

"Why do I shed tears for them?" Ziel is confused because he shouldn't be able to feel anything due to Azael's curse. But right now, he was shedding tears because of the scene before him.

"Perhaps...?" Ziel suddenly thought of a possibility. But he immediately shook his head and pushed the thought away.

"Even if possible, it wouldn't be that easy." He said in a low voice. After that, Ziel left the cave and disappeared into the forest's depths.

***

After Ziel left the cave, dozens of the Neigal Kingdom soldiers arrived. Their leader was a middle-aged man with a bald head and beard. He wore black armor and carried a large sword and shield.

He was Egil Valther, the current General of the Neigal Kingdom. His strength was at the level of a sword king and was on par with General Farold Walmond of the Argaint Kingdom.

General Egil and his soldiers are in front of the cave where Caldeon is hiding. King Jonathan received reports of a sudden thunderstorm in the forest near the border with the Alba Mountain Range. He was preparing to hold a virtual meeting with the other four kings. That's why he sent General Egil to check it out.

"This is where the thunderstorm occurred. But what is this? Cave? Was there a cave before?" General Egil was suspicious of the cave in front of him.

"Some of you go inside and check what's in the cave!!" General Egil ordered his soldiers, and he followed them from behind. After checking for more than 15 minutes, a soldier quickly ran to General Egil.

"General! I found traces of battle in a hall inside the cave." The soldier immediately reported to General Egil.

"What!? Take me there!" General Egil ran to the scene of the battle between Ziel and Caldeon.

When he arrived at the place, he was dumbfounded when he saw the state of the hall. General Egil had cold sweat on his forehead as he found a gigantic scar running down the ground all the way to the cave wall. He knew it was a sword mark from a slash with terrifying power.

"What kind of battle has happened here?" General Egil muttered in a trembling voice. Then he saw a hole in the cave wall. General Egil saw another room that looked very spacious. He immediately checked, but all he saw was space without anything.

"No, if this place was hidden, there must have been something important beforehand. I must report this to His Majesty immediately." General Egil gathered all the soldiers he had brought with him.

"Some soldiers will be on guard here! Keep on searching. If you find any clues, report to me later. I will return to the castle to report this matter to His Majesty." General Egil divides the duties among the soldiers.

"Yes, General!" The soldiers answered in unison. After hearing their answers, General Egil left the place and headed towards the Neigal Kingdom castle at full speed.