Chapter 23
Summary
Jack the Ripper still alive jumps to a sword embedded in the tunnels ceiling which he pulls down revealing a secret passage that he runs into. Speedwagon is in fear of following Jack but Zeppeli says that they have to go however; he states that Jonathan will go alone. Zeppeli then tosses Jonathan his wine glass still full, which he catches without spilling a drop Zeppeli then tells Jonathan of an old saying they had in Norway.
“The Northern Wind created the Valorous Vikings”
Zeppeli then tells Jonathan that he must defeat Jack the Ripper in the secret tunnel without spilling a drop of the wine or else Zeppeli will abandon Jonathan on his quest regardless if he defeats Jack or not. Speedwagon objects to this ridiculous challenge but Jonathan understanding Zeppelis use of the saying enters the cave.
Zeppeli then starts to tell Speedwagon a story of a brave angler he met once who fished in waters with sharks over ten meters tall. One day though sharks attacked his boat and he fell into the sea. In a bold move however, he severed his own leg with his fishing spear. This then attracted a shark to his location but! It turned out that this bold move was actually a clever trap for the shark going to eat the angler’s severed leg for then the shark became one of the angler’s greatest catches. Speedwagon understanding Zeppeli then inquires if Jonathan will be able to finish his challenge to which Zeppeli replies that if Jonathan fails he will not be able to defeat Dio.
Meanwhile inside the secret passage Jonathan is searching the mazelike dark corners of the secret passage with a torch but unfortunately, because of the construction of the passage it is still has dark corners and spots even with a torch in hand. Suddenly though Jack the Ripper comes from nowhere with a strange instrument of torture shaped like a horses ribcage. He tries to entrap Jonathan in it but he misses and Jack is only able to break a pillar with it, cutting it into other circles of rock after which he vanishes into the darkness. However, Jack’s weapon has cut Jonathan in several places along his back and arm and he almost spills the wine because of this. From this narrow miss Jonathan deduces that Jack is targeting his torch so he extinguishes it to try to get him by a surprise attack but then Jonathan realizes that without the light Jonathan cannot tell where Jack is hiding. However, this proves futile because in hiding right around a corner Jack can smell Jonathan’s blood from the cuts he made trying to kill Jonathan earlier and Jonathan is going to round the corner where Jack is!
As Jonathan is about to round the corner however he suddenly notices a ripple in the wine. Jonathan then realizes the reason why Zeppeli gave him the wine glass. The wine has a ripple inside of it that shows where Jack is, which meant that the wine glass detected life around it! Jonathan thinking quickly uses the Sendo Ripple Overdrive technique through the wall at Jack, which then makes contact with his face burning off the left half of his face entirely thus killing him.
