Chapter 217
'Is that the Island of the Sea God?'
The island, once they passed through the whirlpool, appeared quite large, but it was shrouded in a thick mist, giving it an eerie feel.
Zeke told the captain to approach the shore. The terrified captain, trembling and muttering prayers, steered the ship closer to the island.
Once the ship docked, Zeke ordered Nahuel to guard it.
"If you sense anything unusual, run imdiately."
Rumble!
Zeke disembarked from the small boat and entered the island with his companions.
Splash!
The waves were rougher than expected, even right at the island's edge.
As the boat finally touched the island, Zeke stepped onto the sandy beach and surveyed his surroundings.
'The atmosphere is as gloomy as it looked from outside.'
It wasn't as bad as the demon territory he had seen in the inverted tower, but the dense mist surrounding them felt like a heavy weight pressing down on their bodies.
Just then, sothing caught his Battle God's Senses.
Grrr!
Black shadows abruptly burst out of the forest behind the sandy beach.
Zeke shouted to his party,
"Enemies! Everyone, prepare for battle!"
Zeke and his companions drew their weapons.
A mont later, sothing leaped out of the forest.
Screech!
Giant spider monsters approached, moving their eight long, enormous legs.
"Ugh, what are those things?"
Felix recoiled from the disgusting spider monsters, stepping back hesitantly, but a slap from Clone made him regain his posture. The spider monsters quickly surrounded Zeke's party.
Zeke, wielding Bahamut, observed the spiders' movents.
'They're Giant Spiders. They're not a common monster... and I've never seen so many of them before.'
These were high-level monsters that could only occasionally be found deep within the Forest of the Forgotten, specifically in its watery
areas.
Their outer skin was as hard as armor, and they were cunning creatures that would ensnare their targets with webs, drag them back to their nests, and save them as future food.
'Those things were definitely weak to fire.'
Zeke recalled his past life's mories and used the Field of Fire to summon flas.
Whoosh!
Flas surged around Zeke's party, making the spiders recoil.
Keeeeeek!
But it was only for a mont. Excited by the rare sight of prey, the monsters tried to break through the flas and attack.
Crackle!
One large spider, relying solely on its tough carapace, charged directly into the flas.
At that mont, Zeke concentrated his elental power, changing the quality of the flas.
Whoosh!
White Fla, a pure fire that incinerated everything, lted the hard skin and instantly reduced the spider to ash.
Keeeeeek!
The spider let out a desperate scream and vanished.
As one of their comrades was engulfed in flas and disappeared, the other spiders suppressed their instincts and retreated.
They were intelligent creatures with excellent learning abilities.
Nevertheless, the spiders retreated, watching Zeke's party and waiting for the fire to die down.
'They're tenacious.'
Zeke couldn't maintain the pure fla indefinitely, so he had to devise a plan.
He opened his map to search for a suitable location to set up a base camp.
'Is this so kind of special mist? The terrain isn't properly marked on the map.'
He had no choice but to explore directly.
Zeke thought of a strategy and told his party,
"As you can see, those things are weak to fire. I'll imbue each of your weapons with Holy Fire, so get as close to them as possible and aim for their underside. That's their weak point."
Zeke activated his special skill, Holy Fire Imbuent.
Imdiately, Holy Fire erupted from Zeke's sword, as well as from his companions' weapons.
"Wow, what is this, My Lord?"
Zeke looked at Felix and said,
"Consider it a fire that can deal several tis more damage to monsters and demons. While you deal with the spiders here, I'll go deeper into the forest to find a place for a base camp. This White Fla will last for an hour, so if more monsters gather, co inside here and fire a signal flare."
After giving instructions to his party, Zeke quickly moved out of the White Fla.
Screech!
The spiders instantly sward Zeke as he erged from the White Fla.
Zeke used Phantom Steps to move away from his party and dashed towards the forest.
Keeeeeek!
The spiders shot webs at Zeke as he ran.
At that mont, Zeke infused his sword with the power of Holy Fire Imbuent and swung it.
A ball of light exploded among the spider horde.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Kiiiiiii!
The spiders, engulfed by the Holy Fire, scread in agony.
Zeke was slowly beginning to grasp the capabilities of Holy Fire Imbuent.
'The Hamr of Light and Shield of Light are also rged within this. If so...'
Zeke used Holy Fire Imbuent, imagining a Shield of Light.
The holy fire swelled and transford into the sa shape as a Shield of Light.
"So this is how it's used. Good."
Zeke hurled the Holy Fire Shield towards the approaching spider monsters.
Crackle!
The massive shield blocked the spider monsters like a wall.
Keeeeeek!
The blocked spider monsters shot webs at the Holy Fire Shield, but it was useless.
Then Zeke extended his hand towards the Holy Fire Shield.
"Explode!"
Whoosh!
The Holy Fire Shield burst into dozens of fragnts, scattering in all directions.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The fragnts transford into Shield of Light, devastating the spider horde.
Keeeeeek!
The spiders hit by the Shield of Light shrieked in agony and scattered.
But that wasn't the end.
"Die!"
Clone, wielding a mace imbued with the Breath of Light and Punishnt of Light, rushed towards them with maddened eyes.
Thwack!
Clone's mace effortlessly shattered the tough carapaces of the spider monsters.
The other party mbers, imbued with the power of Holy Fire, also calmly hunted the spider monsters.
Having relentlessly hunted monsters in Troy under the guise of training, after so ti, they were able to skillfully deal with the spider
monsters.
"Die! Die!"
Clone's mad shriek echoed across the beach.
The Giant Spiders, the predators of this island, involuntarily trembled at that madness.
Having entered the forest, Zeke quickly moved around to grasp the island's overall scale and topography.
During his reconnaissance, Zeke discovered a cave in the forest.
'That cave might be suitable as a base.'
Zeke cautiously approached the cave to check if it was a good place to use.
Just then.
Grrrrr!
He detected the presence of a monster inside.
'Spiders again?'
What appeared before Zeke, who was preparing to activate Holy Fire Imbuent, was not a Giant Spider but a different monster.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
A powerful monster with a massive body, strong jaws, and a sturdy tail.
"Huh? Isn't that a Shark Dragon?"
Its body was much larger than the ones Don Juan raised on his farm, but it definitely had the exact sa appearance as a Shark
Dragon.
Grrrrrrr!
Shark Dragons were incredibly aggressive and belligerent monsters.
But surprisingly, the one that spotted Zeke showed signs of fear.
'It's a Dragonkin monster, so it must be sensing my draconic aura.'
Zeke approached the Shark Dragon to confirm his suspicion.
[You have elicited fear from a Dragonkin monster.]
[Unique Authority: Dragonkin Dominion is activated.]
[Would you like to subjugate the target?]
Zeke didn't feel the need to turn the monster into a summoned creature, so instead of subjugating it, he used the skill Ta.
Grrr.
Upon using Ta, the Shark Dragon approached Zeke and rubbed its cheek against him.
"To be able to ta a Shark Dragon. Don Juan would be green with envy if he saw this."
Zeke let out a small laugh and led the tad Shark Dragon into the cave.
The cave was surprisingly spacious and seed to be a habitat for Shark Dragons.
The one Zeke tad appeared to be the leader of this pack, as the other Shark Dragons also adopted a submissive attitude towards
Zeke.
"Good, no other monsters will co here."
Zeke decided to establish a base camp here. Moving quickly, he set up a campsite in one corner of the cave and then summoned
Richmond.
Shhh-shhh-shhh-
Richmond erged from Zeke's shadow.
"Gah!"
Richmond was flustered by the sudden summoning and looked around.
"M-Master! Where are we?"
"An island in the Southern Sea."
"An, an island in the Southern Sea... How many months have you been here?"
"No, it's not. It's a bit complicated to explain, so let's save the past for later. First, we're making this place our base camp, so deploy the
kids and get the area cleaned up."
"Ah, understood. But is that really a Shark Dragon?"
"Yes. It is."
Richmond's eyes glead as he looked at the Shark Dragons, then he muttered softly,
"The scale color and tail shape look a bit different from a regular Shark Dragon. Is it a different species from the ones on the Southern
Continent? I need to observe it closely and investigate..."
"Want to taste Purification after a long ti?"
"Gah! No, Master!"
Richmond finally snapped out of it and quickly summoned skeletons, ordering them to set up the campsite and scout various parts of
the cave's surroundings.
While waiting for the campsite to be established, Zeke took out items he had acquired from the tower from his inventory and handed
them to Richmond.
"Wh-what are these, Master?"
"These are what I obtained this ti. They're from a Royal Vampire and a Balrog, so research them."
"What? A Royal Vampire and a Balrog?"
It was Zeke, simply bringing things that were practically impossible to acquire and handing them over.
Just as Richmond's eyes sparkled, examining the items Zeke had brought from every angle.
"Hm?"
He felt a signal from one of the skeletons and called out to Zeke.
"Master, it seems there's sothing deeper inside this cave."
Zeke took Richmond and went towards the skeleton that had sent the signal.
Upon entering, the cave branched into several paths.
Zeke found the skeleton that had sent the signal quite a distance from where the Shark Dragons were.
Before going closer, Zeke sensed sothing ahead with his Warrior's Senses.
'This breathing is human. More than five people, and two of them are seriously wounded.'
Zeke left Richmond and the skeletons behind and entered alone.
As he went deeper, the sll of blood grew stronger, and the sounds of ragged breathing beca louder.
Zeke, hidden by his Stealth skill, assimilated into the darkness, concealing his presence as he slowly approached.
In his hand, he held Annexie's dagger.
Having approached very close, Zeke confird the presence of people deeper within the cave.
'Are those...?'
Surprisingly, the people hiding in the cave were mbers of the Silver Knights, led by Cali.
Zeke dropped his Stealth and revealed himself, approaching them.
The knights were startled by Zeke's sudden appearance.
"K-Knight Zeke Draker?"
The knight who seed to be in the best condition among them recognized Zeke and, surprised, tried to get up.
Zeke looked at the knight and said, "Where is Lady Cali?"
The knight shook his head at Zeke's question.
"We don't know the Captain's location either. Our ship was caught in the whirlpool and shipwrecked, and everyone was scattered. We
barely reached the shore but unexpectedly encountered monsters and fled this way."
"How long have you been here?"
"It's been almost over a week."
Judging by the knights' condition, they looked quite unwell, seemingly having neither eaten nor drunk properly.
Zeke first took out water from his inventory and offered it to the knights as an imdiate asure. Then he examined the condition of
the injured knights.
Their wounds, likely from spiders, were poisoned and had turned bluish-black, with necrosis setting in in various places, causing the
flesh to rot.
Zeke took out antidotes and potions from his inventory.
"This will sting a bit."
He poured both the antidote and potion onto the wounds.
Hiss!
"Ugh!"
Bubbles foad up from the injured areas.
He poured antidotes and potions onto the other injured individuals' wounds as well, but due to the severity of the injuries and their weakened state, it was impossible to regenerate the necrotic parts.
'It's probably not a good idea to take them to a campsite where skeletons and monsters are wandering around; I should move them to
the ship.'
Zeke said to the knight,
"Treatnt here will be limited, so it would be better to move you to the ship."
Even with their reduced stamina, the Silver Knights were elite knights who had joined by achieving top scores among the Draker knights.
Agreeing to Zeke's suggestion, they, despite their poor physical condition, carried their injured comrades out of the cave. Zeke headed towards the sandy beach where the ship was docked, accompanied by the Silver Knights. Fortunately, they didn't encounter any notable monsters along the way, allowing them to reach the coast smoothly.
And when they arrived at the beach, an unbelievable sight unfolded before them.
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