Chapter 212
"The king of the fallen constellations... does that mean that warrior became the 'Demon Lord'? The one who invaded Chronos?"
"The Demon Lord..."
Tyr pondered for a moment before speaking.
"We couldn't tell if the being we fought was that legendary fallen God Slayer or a separate entity. In the end, it was the great sage who sealed the Demon Lord."
"The sage who was the teacher of Siemens Apollion, who summoned the demonkin?"
"Did you hear that from Saturn on the 99th floor?"
"Yes. But I didn't hear all the details."
Tyr put down the beer mug she was holding and looked at the burning fireplace.
Then, she slowly opened her mouth.
"Like Saturn, I too exist here as a spirit with time frozen, not my main body. It's because after the war, I agreed with Chronos's suggestion to build a tower to train warriors in preparation for any unforeseen events."
"Was it Chronos who proposed building this tower?"
"Yes. After experiencing the great event of the demonkin invasion while the Hero King was gone, Chronos was always anxious. Anxious that the balance of this mortal realm that he and Kaisir had created together would be broken."
"Bahamut, on the other hand, said that the balance was broken because there were too many humans."
At Zeke's words, Tyr looked slightly surprised.
"Have you seen Bahamut?"
Zeke slowly shook his head.
"I haven't encountered him directly, only through the records he left behind."
Tyr nodded and said,
"I see. Bahamut hated humans so much that he would have thought that way. In fact, Bahamut was somewhat right."
Tyr was silent for a moment before speaking again.
"Bahamut insisted that Siemens Apollion had to be killed. But because Siemens had stolen the dragon's heart and put it in his own body, his contracted dragon would also die if he died. Saturn, the king of Chronos, decided not to kill Siemens but to imprison him in the underground labyrinth of the Clock Tower. However, the cunning Siemens Apollion eventually escaped the labyrinth, and then he joined forces with the orcs and summoned the demonkin with forbidden magic."
Zeke understood why Reyes had said that he had paid the price for ignoring Bahamut's warning.
"So that's why Saturn Draker abdicated the throne and chased after Siemens."
"Yes, he was the one who raised Siemens with the Hero King. He even recommended him as a disciple to the great sage. He felt responsible for Siemens's actions."
Only after hearing Tyr's words did Zeke understand Saturn's actions in pursuing Siemens.
'Siemens Apollion, who was not only the adopted son of his lord but also someone he cared for, had fallen into darkness and brought about a crisis that could destroy the world. He had no choice but to act.'
Zeke asked Tyr,
"Did Siemens Apollion eventually summon even the Demon Lord?"
"It was even worse. The Demon Lord directly descended into his body."
"The Demon Lord descended? As far as I know, only a dragon's body is strong enough to withstand the Demon Lord's power... Could it be because he had taken all the dragon hearts?"
Tyr nodded.
"Yes, Siemens Apollion not only took the dragon's heart but also transplanted a dragon's body into his own with forbidden magic. Although he was human, he gained power no different from a dragon. No, because he gained power even stronger than a dragon, he was able to accept the Demon Lord into his own body."
Hearing Tyr's words, Zeke realized something strange.
'A human with a dragon's body and a dragon's heart... Could Siemens Apollion be the origin of the Dragonkin?'
The only proper Dragonkin Zeke had seen was Hoshgar Nirvana.
She had said that the existence of Dragonkin was a makeshift measure. A makeshift measure created by dragons who wanted to spend more time with their contractors.
'If the dragons saw that and created a method, it makes sense. To deceive the laws of Karma by sharing the contractor's and dragon's hearts and creating the existence of Dragonkin...'
Tyr continued speaking.
"The reason I knew that the relic you showed me earlier was made of Adamantium is actually because of the final battle I had with Siemens Apollion after he became the Demon Lord."
"What do you mean?"
"The great sage hid the God-Slaying Stone until the very end, and in the final battle, he took it out and sacrificed his own soul to seal the Demon Lord."
Zeke had heard this story from Richmond before.
The content was that the sage had sacrificed himself to seal the Demon Lord in the Book of the Dead.
At that time, he had heard that it was sealed in a book called the Book of the Dead, but he hadn't heard that the sage had used Adamantium.
Furthermore, through Nirvana, he had heard the story that the Hero King Kaisir had been defeated by the Demon Lord, and the sage had sacrificed himself to seal him, but even Nirvana hadn't known what material the relic was made of.
Zeke looked at the Elder Dragon's relic with a renewed sense of wonder.
'This contains the power to kill constellations.'
Then, Zeke suddenly remembered the dagger left by the dark elf, Annexie.
He took out the dagger and showed it to Tyr.
"Lord Tyr, is this dagger also made of Adamantium?"
Tyr looked at the dagger Zeke had taken out and was startled.
"Where did you get this?"
"I obtained it after entering this tower. A dark elf named Annexie, the strongest warrior of the Black Sword Tribe, possessed it."
Tyr sighed after hearing Zeke's words.
"Annexie. I remember her. She was tragically sacrificed after being deceived by Siemens's lies, but I remember her as a strong and beautiful warrior."
She examined the dagger and nodded.
"It seems this is also Adamantium. But unlike the Elder Dragon's relic, this dagger seems to be dead."
"The dagger is dead?"
"Yes. It's hard to explain in words... but I don't feel any 'aura' from this dagger."
"Aura..."
Zeke suddenly had an idea.
'Could I possibly see it through the Spirit Eye?'
He took out the Third Eye of Shambhala from his inventory and asked Tyr,
"Do you happen to know what this is?"
Tyr looked at the Necklace of Shambhala that Zeke had taken out with curious eyes.
"What's that?"
"This is also an artifact I obtained from the tower."
"Huh, there were things like this in the tower? Chronos put in all sorts of things. Well, I've never seen anything like that either."
To test the necklace, Zeke asked for Tyr's understanding before putting the Necklace of Shambhala around his neck.
Then, he looked at the dagger and the Elder Dragon's relic again.
As he activated the skill, surprisingly, light emerged from Zeke's forehead.
[The Third Eye, 'Spirit Eye', is opened.]
At the same time, things that had been invisible to Zeke became visible.
Startled for a moment, he looked at Tyr and immediately felt that she was a being made of an incorporeal spirit body.
'So this is what the Eye of Truth was like.'
Zeke looked away from Tyr and towards the Elder Dragon's relic and Annexie's dagger.
Just as Tyr had said, a faint aura swirled around the Elder Dragon's relic like heat haze, but there was nothing like that around Annexie's dagger.
'Is that heat haze the power of God-Slaying?'
Even without the power of God-Slaying, the dagger's value was sufficient just with its indestructible attribute.
Zeke closed the ability of the Spirit Eye again.
The spirit-form Tyr seemed to have instinctively sensed the difference in the aura emanating from the dagger and the relic.
Tyr looked at Zeke and said,
"You're not even a dragon contractor, yet you have many wondrous talents. The druids in the forest would have liked to see that."
Zeke felt it was his turn to tell Tyr his real purpose for coming here.
"Lord Tyr, there is something I need to tell you."
"What is it?"
Zeke took out the holy artifact, the Holy Grail, from his inventory this time.
Tyr's eyebrows twitched as she looked at the Holy Grail.
"...Do you know what that chalice is and still possess it?"
"I know it as the Holy Grail, one of the holy artifacts bestowed by the Fairy King."
Tyr's expression hardened.
She looked at Zeke and said,
"Zeke Draker, what is your purpose in coming here?"
Zeke said in a calm voice,
"The shield that Lord Tyr possessed. Is it perhaps one of the Fairy King's holy artifacts?"
At his question, Tyr was silent for a while.
Then, she slowly opened her mouth.
"Holy artifact... Zeke Draker. Why do you seek the holy artifact?"
Zeke took something out from his chest.
It was the Clock of Chronos, a memento of Laura Agamemnon.
Tyr was startled as she looked at the Clock of Chronos.
She seemed to know what it was.
"You know what this is."
Tyr nodded with a hardened expression.
"The clock containing Chronos's divine power... Chronos left it with Saturn when he departed the mortal realm."
Zeke said to Tyr,
"Lord Tyr, after your era, the era of the Hero King, there was another invasion by the Demon Lord's army. We call it the Liberation War. Thanks to the sacrifice of Bahamut, the Ruler of Twilight, this mortal realm barely avoided destruction."
"Bahamut sacrificed himself?"
Tyr clenched her teeth at Zeke's words.
Zeke continued speaking.
"The problem is that the prophecy of destruction has not yet ended. Despite the sacrifices of the great sage and Bahamut, the Demon Lord is waiting for his revival under the name 'King in Yellow,' and the 'Abyss,' a group that summons beings from the Demon Realm using the Book of the Dead in which he is sealed, is throwing the world into chaos."
Tyr wore an expression of disbelief.
Zeke looked at her and said,
"To prevent the prophecy of destruction, all three holy artifacts that the Fairy King bestowed upon humanity are needed. I have found the first holy artifact, the Holy Grail, and I have come all the way here to find Lord Tyr's shield, which is believed to be the second holy artifact."
Tyr was silent, lost in confusion.
Then, after a long while, she spoke again.
"Why did you think my shield was a holy artifact?"
"It was a conclusion I reached by synthesizing various legends that have been passed down. Lord Tyr, who received the shield from the Fairy King, was recorded as a brave knight with indomitable will and immortal power. The other hero who possessed the Holy Grail also had similar legends, so I made a guess."
Tyr wore a complicated expression before finally nodding.
"First of all, it is true that I possess a holy artifact."
Zeke inwardly cheered at Tyr's words.
'The Storyteller's guess was correct.'
He hadn't known that the Trial of Struggle was created by the Elder Dragon and the Dragon Lords under Chronos's lead, or that Tyr's spirit resided within it, but he had been right that the holy artifact was with the Turunn Clan.
Tyr looked at Zeke and said,
"However, what I possess is not a shield."
Zeke was surprised at those words.
"If it's not a shield... then the legends about the Immortal Shield were also wrong."
Then, Tyr tilted her head.
"No, I don't really know why such a legend arose in the first place. I've never fought with a shield."
He slowly rose from his seat.
Then, he drew the sword that was slung diagonally at his waist.
Since Tyr hadn't used her sword even once during their earlier fight, Zeke asked with a puzzled expression,
"Do you also use a sword?"
Tyr shook her head.
"I don't use a sword. The holy artifact isn't the sword."
She handed the scabbard, not the sword, to Zeke.
"Surely, you're not saying the scabbard is the holy artifact?"
Tyr nodded.
"Yes. Strictly speaking, it's the magic imbued in that scabbard that is the holy artifact."
"Excuse me? Magic?"
Tyr looked at the scabbard and slowly replied,
"It's a bit complicated to explain. Actually, what the Fairy King initially bestowed upon humanity was a stone containing the power to communicate with him."
"A stone to communicate with the Fairy King?"
"Yes. The Fairy King, who cherished humans, bestowed it specially. But humans misused that stone too much. Because of that, the Fairy King stopped answering its calls at some point."
Zeke recalled the 'Tears of the Fairy King' he had received as a reward before.
'It was definitely an item that could summon the Fairy King.'
He remembered Kaisir being quite reluctant about the Fairy King's intervention in the mortal realm, saying it was proof of a crisis.
'Still, I'll have to use it in an emergency.'
He decided to keep it as a last resort for now.
Tyr continued her explanation.
"The stone didn't work anymore, but the Fairy King's power still remained. That stone went around and eventually ended up with Kaisir, and the great sage transferred the power remaining in that stone to a scabbard to be used in a different way."
"How so?"
"I don't know the exact principle, but the sage said that it temporarily turns the scabbard's owner into a being of the spirit realm, not the mortal realm, making all physical attacks ineffective."
"Nullification of all physical attacks?"
Zeke's jaw dropped as he listened to Tyr's explanation.
