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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]
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Chapter 157
Zeke hid behind a rock as soon as he saw the wolf flag.
They were clad in armor made by processing thick monster hides and carrying claymores on their backs.
At first glance, they looked like mercenaries, but they exuded a much fiercer and more menacing aura.
'Why are Himonas knights here?'
Usually, the Ice Mountains were guarded by Northern Rangers, so unless there was a special situation, Himonas knights rarely came this far.
This was because Himonas itself was a place where monsters frequently appeared, so they lacked the manpower to dispatch troops to the Ice Mountains.
The fact that the knights, the most important force in Himonas, were in the Ice Mountains meant that something was happening here.
Zeke, concealing himself with stealth, activated the 'Will of Hearing '.
He could hear the knights' conversation.
"Damn those central continent bastards, I don't know what the hell is going on."
"Those knights are sneaking around like rats. If we catch them, we'll crush their skulls."
Although most Northern Continent knights were rough, the elite knights of Himonas under the Northern Duke were particularly known for their roughness and ferocity.
Even the Imperial Army, which had engulfed the entire continent in flames in his previous life, couldn't conquer Himonas until the very end.
The Himonas knights, saying they would rather die than surrender, burned their castles, poisoned their wells, and retreated to fortresses deeper within the Ice Mountains.
Even the Drakers, who were second to none in their ruthlessness, avoided getting involved with Himonas.
"Anyway, those Imperial rats and those damned Draker bats... If we catch them, we'll skin them alive."
Zeke was surprised to hear the knight's words.
The ones referred to as bats in Himonas were none other than the Draker Black ops.
'The Black ops is here too?'
Zeke recalled that Arthur Draker, the head of the clan, had mentioned an Elder Dragon relic hidden in the Ice Mountains a few years ago.
It was five years ago, when Zeke entered the academy.
Quite some time had passed, and he thought they had stopped searching because there were no results, but it seemed they were still looking for the relic.
In principle, the Northern Continent, including the Ice Mountains, was the territory of the Northern Duke, so usually, Northern Rangers stayed in fortresses and prevented monsters and monsters from descending from the mountains.
The Northern Rangers, veterans of mountain warfare, weren't knights, but their unique techniques passed down through generations were often more effective than aura blades in the mountains.
But now was an exceptional situation.
The problem arose because the Hound unit and the Draker Black ops, who were knights but didn't act like them, invaded the Northern Rangers' territory.
It seemed that the Himonas Knights were dispatched because of that.
'I didn't expect to see those crazy bastards here.'
Although his words were harsh, Zeke's heart was filled with longing and affection.
In his previous life, Zeke was also part of the Northern Allied Forces, so he had a connection with them as comrades, but the situation was different now.
Not only did Himonas have negative feelings towards people from the central continent, but they also extremely disliked the Draker clan, so it would be difficult to have the same relationship as before.
It was then.
"Rats!"
With that shout, the Himonas Knights drew their swords.
"You bastards! Let's go!"
The knights, shouting rough words like true northerners, ran towards where the signal came from.
A battle broke out in the forest.
Clang! Clang!
Zeke, observing the situation with Dragon Eye, saw that the Himonas Knights and the Empire's Hounds were clashing.
Thud!
The Himonas Knights, wielding their claymores ferociously without shields, were like gray wolves running across the snowy field.
Like wolves that never let go of their prey once they set their sights on it, the Himonas Knights fiercely pushed back the Empire's Hounds.
"You Imperial rats! How dare you set foot in this place with your filthy bodies!"
The claymore swung by a Himonas knight split a Hound's head in half.
Even the tenacious Hounds were nothing more than prey to the Himonas Knights.
Beep!
The Hounds blew their whistles and hurriedly retreated.
But the Himonas Knights had no intention of letting them go.
They chased the retreating Hounds and tried to stab them in the back with their claymores.
The white snowfield was dyed red with the blood of the Imperial Hounds.
The Himonas knights rummaged through the Hounds' belongings, took what they needed, and collected their heads to record their achievements.
They counted the severed heads, processed the skulls into cups or bowls, and collected the hair separately to use for making armor or clothes.
Then, they tied the headless bodies with ropes and hung them on nearby trees, setting traps around them.
The traps were meant to catch monsters or wild animals that came to eat the corpses.
In the resource-scarce north, they didn't waste even the corpses of their enemies.
'I didn't think much of it when I was with them, but it's hard to get used to after a long time.'
After setting all the traps, the Himonas Knights moved to another patrol area, cursing and grumbling.
Zeke revealed himself only after the Himonas Knights, who had swept through like a storm, disappeared.
'The Himonas Knights, the Empire's Hounds, and Draker's Black ops.'
The three worst groups on the continent were gathered in the Ice Mountains.
Zeke opened the map and carefully examined the surrounding terrain.
As he examined the map, he realized one thing.
'It's not far from the cave where I obtained the Elder Dragon's relic.'
In his previous life, he went to find that relic and was brutally killed by the Hounds.
He had gone through all that trouble to obtain the relic, but he died without even being able to use it and then experienced the absurd event of returning to the past.
'Did I use that relic because I returned through it?'
Zeke chuckled and, after a brief thought, decided to secure the Elder Dragon's relic first.
Since many things had changed from his previous life due to his return, there was no guarantee that the Black ops or the Hounds wouldn't accidentally discover the relic.
'Since I have that power, there's a high chance that the relic isn't there now... but I should check.'
Thoroughness was the key to avoiding future problems.
Zeke followed his memories and moved towards the place where the Elder Dragon's relic was.
***
"Whew."
Zeke stood before the endless icy cliff.
"This is still breathtaking."
Zeke, in his previous life, discovered the location of the Elder Dragon's relic through this cliff.
At that time, he was able to enter the cave where the relic was through a series of coincidences.
After the Continental War ended, Zeke, who had nowhere to go, happened to take on a job for the Syndicate and carried out several missions.
During that time, he became acquainted with Kay, who was an executive of the Syndicate at the time.
Thanks to Zeke, Kay secured an important transportation route and solidified her position as a Syndicate executive.
As a result, Zeke was able to obtain a lot of information from Kay, and among them was information about the 'relic' that the Emperor of the Empire was looking for.
Zeke headed to the Ice Mountains after obtaining information from Kay, thinking that the relic the Emperor of the Empire had been searching for for over ten years must be of immense value.
In fact, the Empire had already found the entrance to the ruin at that time. However, even with all the mages of the Empire, they couldn't figure out how to get inside, so they couldn't obtain the relic.
In the end, the Empire mobilized the Hounds to search the entire Ice Dragon Valley for another entrance.
Zeke, obtaining this information, trusted his instincts and started searching the Ice Dragon Valley secretly from the Hounds.
And importantly, following the Southern Continent proverb that said to hide things where others didn't want to go, he chose the most undesirable place to search.
That place was this ice cliff.
The Northern Rangers said that this place was created ten thousand years ago when the Ice Dragon and the Fire Dragon had a fierce battle for a month.
He didn't know if it was true, but the bottomless cliff instilled a primal fear in humans, so even the rough Northern Rangers didn't approach this place.
Zeke in his previous life was a madman, even considered a diehard by the tough northerners. He tried to find traces by hanging from the bottomless cliff.
He spent over a month hanging from the cliff, searching for traces and repeatedly taking shelter to warm himself.
Then, one day, while hanging from the cliff as usual, he almost died from an avalanche.
Zeke, barely surviving the avalanche, looked around and found a crack in the cliff caused by the impact.
Instinctively feeling that an opportunity had come, Zeke hammered at the crack with a chisel and a hammer to create a small gap. Surprisingly, the gap led to the cave where the Elder Dragon's relic was hidden.
Originally, he had to go through a more complicated process from the ruin entrance to reach the relic, but the collapse of the cliff created a shortcut.
Zeke, recalling his past life, looked at the cliff and shook his head.
"Hmm, I can't remember where the cliff cracked back then."
Since he found the entrance by chance due to the avalanche, it was difficult to pinpoint the exact location.
Even with the map, the terrain wasn't displayed in detail beyond a certain range, so he couldn't use the pathfinding function either.
Zeke decided to change his plan.
"I'll have to enter through the entrance the Empire found."
Although the Empire's mage couldn't find a way to enter through the entrance at that time, Zeke's situation was different.
Since he had already found the relic and received the title Blessed by the Ancient Dragon in his previous life, there was a high chance that the ruin would recognize him as an administrator.
Zeke followed his memories and moved towards the entrance of the ruin that the Empire had found.
Just as he arrived at the snowy mountain where the entrance was, Zeke sensed a presence.
'Could it be the Empire already?'
Zeke concealed his presence with stealth and examined the surroundings with Dragon Eye.
But surprisingly, it wasn't the Imperial Army that was there.
They were people with two pairs of black wing emblems.
It was none other than the Draker Black ops, who had set up a camp and were stationed near the entrance.
Zeke was surprised to see the Black ops with the Black Wing emblem.
'Why is the Black ops here instead of the Imperial Army?'
In his previous life, it was definitely the Imperial Army that set up camp at the entrance, and hundreds of Hounds were guarding the place.
'Did the past change because I returned? Or... could it be that Draker was the one who originally discovered the entrance?'
After Abel Draker became the head of the clan, everything belonging to Draker was handed over to the Empire.
In the process, the entrance to the ruin might have also been handed over to the Empire.
Zeke frowned as he saw the Black ops members stationed near the snowy mountain where the ruin entrance was.
'If it were those Hounds, I would have just wiped them out and entered.'
The Draker Black ops was different from other Draker knights.
Not only were they an intelligence unit, but they were mostly composed of those who didn't or couldn't have connections or patron families within Draker.
Therefore, most of the Black ops members were recruited or selected during their probationary period and trained separately.
Only after completing a much harsher training process than the Draker knight training could they wear the Black Wing emblem.
Those who were Drakers but couldn't use their names as Drakers and had to live in the shadows, maintaining a secret identity, were the Draker Black ops.
As a result, the Black ops members had an exceptional sense of belonging and pride in their unit.
If he messed with them, he would end up with a huge burden he couldn't handle.
'It might be better to just hammer at the cliff and find the entrance myself than to provoke those wasp nests.'
As Zeke was pondering, a good idea suddenly came to mind.
'I should use those Hounds.'
He planned to lure the Black ops with the Hounds and then quickly enter the ruin while they were distracted.
Zeke had already identified the Hounds' camp while passing through the snowfield.
He summoned Dragon Tooth Soldiers and raided several Hound camps simultaneously.
As expected, the Hounds, suddenly attacked by the Dragon Tooth Soldiers, started appearing like cockroaches, blowing their whistles.
Zeke controlled the Dragon Tooth Soldiers and lured the Hounds towards the snowfield.
Then, he detonated the magic bombs he had set up in advance.
Crash!
With a huge explosion, the Black ops also went on alert.
At the same time, as news came in from the members on perimeter patrol that the Hounds were moving in large numbers, the Black ops also moved to assess the situation, leaving only a minimal number of members behind.
Zeke was watching all this while hiding and using Dragon Eye.
'Good, with this much, I can enter without being noticed.'
Zeke stealthily infiltrated the Black ops's camp using the Stealth skill.
As expected of a wealthy Draker intelligence unit, state-of-the-art surveillance equipment was installed throughout the camp.
Fortunately, Zeke could also detect the surveillance equipment with Dragon Eye, so he was able to avoid the magic detectors and alarm devices and enter.
Checking the map, he saw that there was an entrance to the ruin beneath the snowy mountain connected to the back of the camp building.
Zeke cautiously headed towards the entrance.
It was then.
Someone came out from inside the camp.
Zeke hurriedly hid himself, using both the Stealth skill and Will of Concealment to completely erase his presence.
'That's...!'
The person who came out of the camp was none other than Arthur Draker, the head of the Draker clan.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]
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