The groom and other peddlers were startled by the sudden roar of the orcs.
"Wow, that's ridiculous! How can there be an orc in the safe zone!"
The coachman whipped the horses more frantically.
"Run quickly! Run quickly!"
Wow! Wow!
Once again the orcs' battle cry rang out.
Heeeeeeling!
The horses lifted their forelegs in excitement at the shout.
Kugu palace!
The horses started to buck and soon the carriage overturned.
Zeke quickly jumped out of the carriage.
thud!
Soon the carriage completely overturned, and the horses also overturned, their legs being caught under the load.
In this condition, it was impossible to reach base camp.
The roar of orcs could be heard from all directions.
The adventurer who had been showing off in front of Zig earlier was trembling with a pale face and holding his sword.
'You sound like you graduated from the Academy.'
Zeke hid behind a tree and watched the situation.
After a while, something jumped out of the forest.
"Kuaaaah!"
A group of orcs wielding giant stone axes appeared and began to attack the people.
"Ugh! Sa, save me!"
The orc split people's heads with a stone axe.
The armed adventurers tried to resist the orcs in any way they could, but it was no use.
"Hey, save me!"
The man who was showing off got his head crushed by the orc's stone axe.
The floor quickly became a sea of blood.
Zeke, who had been keeping a close eye on the movement, watched the orcs collect the bodies and belongings of the dead.
He waited calmly until the orc disappeared because he knew that if he stepped forward, a trace would be left behind.
'How did the orcs get into the safe zone?'
Argos, where the dungeon industry is developed, strictly protects safe zones at the national level to protect merchants coming and going.
'It seems like something's wrong at base camp.'
He hid his presence as the orc horde passed by and entered the forest path towards the base camp.
The base camp we arrived at was, again, a miserable sight.
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The fences were all broken, as if the monsters had swept through, and bloody luggage was strewn about in disarray.
Zeke examined the bodies.
Among them were soldiers dispatched from the Kingdom of Argos.
'At this level, I think I could stop most monsters.'
In an incomprehensible situation, Zeke examined the traces left at base camp.
His expression darkened as he checked the traces.
This was because traces of 'humans', not monsters, were found at the raid site.
Although it was disguised as an attack by monsters, it was clearly a disaster caused by humans.
It was clear that the base camp had been raided and then monsters had come in after smelling blood and looting the bodies and supplies.
Then, it seemed that the orcs who had come down the mountain path had attacked the regular transport wagon.
Zeke shook his hands and stood up.
'The most important thing right now is to find the ruins of Caesar.'
Zig immediately left the messy base camp, picking out only the necessary supplies from the remaining ones.
If I were to stay here for no reason, I might end up being misunderstood.
He immediately turned on the minimap and headed towards the area where the barbarians were.
As we went higher, the terrain became more rugged and our movement speed became slower.
After going deep into the mountains for about two days, Zig discovered something.
'It's been a while.'
Hundreds of skeletons hanging on tree branches.
Not only human skeletons but also skeletons of various monsters were hung together.
From here on, there were traces indicating that it was Barbarian territory.
Monsters don't often visit places with these traces.
But Zeke entered the Barbarian's territory without hesitation.
Then something clicked with Zeke's senses.
I felt someone following him.
At first I thought they were Barbarians, but I soon shook my head.
Barbarians never secretly pursue intruders into their territory.
If you see it, just grab it right away and literally 'tear' its limbs off.
Whoosh!
Zig flew the new model up a tree and disappeared.
Then he took out a dagger from his bosom.
As soon as he completely disappeared, the figures chasing him appeared.
There were three of them, and they were not just adventurers.
'They are professionally trained knights.'
But for a knight, his movements were secretive.
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It was clear that some of the knight trainees were selected to be taught the techniques of pursuit and assassination.
There was only one place in Zeke's memory where such crazy things were done.
'Hounds... ...Why are the Imperials in Argos?'
The Hounds were a secret unit organized by the Emperor of the Roman Empire to collect ancient relics.
In the previous life, these hunting dogs quickly rose to become the main force of the Roman Empire.
However, the hunting dogs have remained hidden behind a veil, and few people know their true identity.
At that moment, Zeke realized that it was also the hunting dogs who had destroyed the base camp.
It didn't seem like a coincidence that hounds specializing in hunting ancient artifacts were near the ruins of Caesar.
For Zeke, who had been promoted to the rank of Blue Knight, hunting dogs were easy to deal with.
'I guess I'll have to interrogate them and get some information.'
Whoosh!
The tables were turned, and this time it was Zeke chasing the hounds.
He erased all traces of his presence and followed the hounds for a while, observing their range of activity.
The hunting dogs move in groups of at least twelve.
Since Zeke had a bad relationship with hunting dogs in his previous life, he knew a lot about them.
Zeke noticed that they were on external security missions.
'If it's like that, the period of regular contact will be quite long, so it will take some time for them to notice even if I kill them.'
Zeke followed the hounds patiently.
Then they were finally able to find the cave where they were nesting.
He took hold of his dagger and slowly approached the cave.
When I used the Yong-an skill, dark places became clearly visible.
Just then, one person came out of the cave.
Whoosh!
He covered his mouth from behind, stabbed him in the lung with a dagger, and then severed his carotid artery.
The hunting dog fell down without even screaming.
Zeke pushed the body aside and searched through his belongings.
Maybe because of my status, nothing in particular came out.
Zeke entered the cave stealthily and checked the terrain with the minimap.
The hunting dogs had already remodeled the inside of the cave and made a base.
'It reminds me of the old days. Back in the cartel days, we used to live in camps in the jungle like this.'
Zeke once worked as a hitman for the infamous McCain Cartel, which ruled the southern continent.
He was tricked by a dungeon guide and sold into slavery on the southern continent, where he was trained as a killer and sent on assassination missions.
Even though they were rotten, they were still good at what they did, and the skills they had learned in the cradle and academy had become second nature, allowing them to somehow survive even the harshest assassination missions.
The cartel found this curious and formally trained him to become a hitman for their organization.
Thanks to this, Zeke was in the middle of a power struggle between the cartels of the Southern Continent for five years.
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Compared to the fierce cartel bosses, the immature hunting dogs were an easy opponent.
Zeke covered his face with a mask and put Bahamut in his inventory.
After completing all preparations, he entered the cave.
Whoosh!
The dagger thrown by Zeke pierced the neck of an unsuspecting hunting dog.
I had already figured out the terrain and the locations of the hunting dogs using the minimap.
Zig went straight into the cave.
Two hunting dogs stood guard on the railing of a two-story building built into the cave wall.
He took the daggers out of his inventory and swung them with both hands.
Puff!
The two hunting dogs that were hit by the daggers thrown by Zeke fell down.
When an unusual sound was heard, the hunting dogs waiting inside rushed out.
Zeke held a dagger in each hand and threw it at the approaching hounds.
visor!
One of them aroused an aura in his sword and deflected Zeke's dagger.
And at that moment, a hunting dog from one side rushed towards Zeke.
Zik lowered his posture and rolled on the floor.
Then he took out a dagger and stabbed it straight into the hound's leg, then immediately took out another dagger and cut off Achilles' tendon.
"Ugh!"
Zig, who had gone behind the hunting dog, turned its neck and snapped it.
This was exactly how Southern hitmen dealt with knights.
"It's the Southerners! Block their retreat and keep their distance! Shoot your crossbows from afar!"
There were soldiers as well as knights, as soldiers with crossbows jumped out from inside the building.
Zeke ran forward at incredible speed.
Push!
A hail of arrows rained down on Zeke, but as he moved in a zigzag pattern, they lost their aim and missed all hits.
Before he knew it, Zeke was right in front of the soldier holding the crossbow.
Chomp!
Zig decapitated one of the soldiers with his dagger and snatched the crossbow he was holding.
He expertly handled the crossbow and fired bolts at the other soldiers.
puck!
The soldiers who had the bolts stuck in the center fell down.
While he was dealing with the soldiers with crossbows and daggers, hounds swarmed around Zig.
Zeke took up a stance, holding a dagger in each hand.
Then a man who seemed to be the leader stepped forward and spoke to Zeke.
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"What is this southern guy doing here?"
It seemed as though they had mistaken Zeke for a Southern hitman.
'Where can I make this more confusing?'
He spoke in a low voice and with a southern accent.
"Did you think you could get away with going after McCain's stuff? You fucking empire bastards."
The hound leader looked embarrassed at Zig's words.
"McCain's stuff? We never touched your stuff."
"After I die, go and ask your fucking emperor about it."
At that moment, Zig kicked the stone that was on his feet.
Whoosh!
A hard rock was lodged squarely in the captain's left eye.
"Kwaaak!"
Zeke, who didn't miss the gap, rushed in and slit the hunting dogs' throats with his dagger.
"Kwaaak!"
There was nothing easier to deal with than a knight who rushes forward excitedly.
Zeke picked up the dead knight's sword and threw it at the charging knight.
The black sword that contained the will of Tong pierced through the knight's body and entered the body of another knight.
In an instant, Zeke annihilated the hunting dogs, and the only one left was the leader who had spoken to Zeke earlier.
"How dare you, you uncivilized southern bastard!"
Whoosh!
Zeke dodged the captain's sword and swung his dagger, cutting off his arm.
"Ugh!"
Phew!
Zeke's dagger stabbed the captain in the lung.
Just before he died, Zeke spoke to the captain.
"You fucking imperial bastards. The ruins of Caesar belong to our McCain Cartel."
The leader's eyes wavered at those words.
"What the heck… … ."
The hunting dog leader died with a look of doubt on his face.
Zeke just realized from the leader's reaction that they weren't after Caesar's legacy.
"Then why are these kids here?"
Zeke went up to the second floor of the camp and investigated their traces.
And I was able to find a coded letter from above.
The codes used by the Imperial Knights were so complex and sophisticated that they were nearly impossible to decipher.
However, thanks to his battlefield experience in his past life, Zeke knew how to decipher the Empire's code.
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He quickly scanned the letter, examining its contents.
'These kids don't even know what's here, and they just went to look for ancient ruins because the Emperor told them to.'
It seemed that the Emperor of the Roman Empire, obsessed with immortality, was searching all over the continent to collect ancient relics.
Any place where there was even the slightest possibility of ancient ruins was occupied by hunting dogs.
Zeke clicked his tongue when he saw the letter.
"Even if the emperor is crazy, he is seriously crazy."
There was no need to waste any more time, now that the hounds knew nothing about the ruins of Caesar.
Zig left the cave, leaving behind a trail.
He turned on the minimap again and tried to head towards the ruins.
That was when.
Pew pew!
An eerie sound was heard from the sky.
Zeke knew this sound all too well.
It was the signal for the hunting dogs to start their rampage.