Chapter 1057: Shadow of the Star (3)
Rumble!!!
The colossal natural pathway created by the druids stretched dozens of kilometers, illuminating the Veil.
The Overmind, parasitically clinging to the Veil, and the densely packed hordes of monsters surrounding it.
The main force of the Headro Warlords, completely dominating one side of the front, vigilantly guarding against external intrusions.
Lennok gazed at the scene reflected beyond the pathway, then slowly took a step forward.
Whoosh!!
Just by stepping over a single line, the air instantly changed.
The cool forest breeze turned into scorching heat. The refreshing scent of grass transformed into the sticky stench of blood.
Even the color of the foliage underfoot was rotting to a sickly yellow.
The Western Front, steadily being corrupted in real-time by the monsters.
“There are three legions of the Headro Warlords currently stationed outside the Veil.”
Azelan, the deer-human, emerged from the pathway with the sound of hooves and said.
“They consist of the Central Special Mutation Legion, the Right Armored Incendiary Legion, and the Left Bio-Assault Legion.”
“…”
Thump!!
Azelan, pulling a spear woven from branches from the ground, gripped it and drew upon his magic.
“We will handle the Incendiary and Assault Legions on both flanks. I ask you to deter the Central Mutation Legion.”
“Is merely deterring them enough?”
“The Overmind is currently guarded by the Central Mutation Legion and elite monsters, including general-grade entities.”
Azelan said in a clear voice.
“Rather than trying to breach the most formidable force in the center, it would be better to circumvent it through the relatively weaker flanks and target the Overmind.”
“…”
“I want you to prevent the central force from dispersing to the sides. We will clear the path.”
Lennok would draw attention in the center, preventing the front lines from expanding, while the druids cleared paths on both sides.
The strategy was to assign tasks requiring firepower to Lennok, the wizard, while the druids undertook the high-risk breakthroughs.
Gazing at the swarming hordes of monsters, Lennok slowly began to warm up.
Hiss!!
He pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and plunged a syringe into his forearm.
Exhaling smoke, he took out a pellet from his pocket, chewed it, and swallowed.
“Y-you’re consuming a lot of strange things…”
The Corpse Ghost Spell Master, who had followed him through the pathway, glanced over and asked.
“T-taking too much of that might actually be bad for your body…”
“Don’t worry, it’s something I take after careful compounding.”
Lennok replied, casting a glance over.
“Elder Druid. What is your plan?”
“I will break through the Bio-Assault Legion on the left flank and open a path. Simultaneously, I must also guard against the intrusion of the Harvester Spell Master stationed on the left.”
Azelan replied.
“They are a human capable of establishing a front line by themselves. It seems they haven’t moved much in the past few days, but we need to prepare for the worst-case scenario.”
“…”
Azelan’s heavy gaze, from behind his helmet, fell upon Lennok.
“I will handle the Overmind. I have a way to purify the Veil it has corrupted.”
“Purification, you say…”
Lennok muttered, bowing his head slightly.
Crackle…!!
From Lennok’s back, as he stood atop the hill overlooking the ground, blue lightning erupted.
A brilliant azure radiance flickered, intensifying its density, then erupted continuously, coiling around Lennok’s entire body.
Crackle-snap-BOOM!!!
The vision before him seemed to warp and glow with blinding white light.
At the fierce flash, intense enough to blind them, the observing druids involuntarily stepped back.
“Charge complete.”
Kiiiing…!!!
Hundreds of lightning bolts, exploding outwards to his sides, curved and converged before Lennok.
Hundreds, even thousands of lightning particles rapidly gathered and converged at Lennok’s fingertips.
A chilling and mystical sight, as if all light existing in the heavens and on earth were being drawn in and loaded.
Lennok, with his index and middle fingers together, drew on his magic and pointed towards the monster-infested ground.
“Shall we start by giving them a taste?”
[Heavy Tremor Blossom]
[Lightning Siege Cannon]
The radiant blast of the Lightning Siege Cannon, erupting from Lennok’s fingertips, swept across the ground in a colossal triangle.
The swarming hordes of monsters were instantly swept away and incinerated by the scorching heat of the cascading lightning, without a chance to react.
BOOOOOOM!!!!!
[KYYAAAHH!!!]
[GUH-EHHHHHH!!]
Realizing the wizard’s presence a moment too late, the monsters roared hysterically, unleashing their dead thoughts.
They transmitted the fact that their legion was under attack through their hive mind and began preparing for battle on the spot.
Clack, clack!!
Drrrrrrr!!
They loaded firearms bizarrely embedded throughout their bodies and swiveled artillery pieces bulging with veins.
Drawing on their magic towards the source of power, they shrieked, their cries mixed with curses and resentment.
“Let’s go.”
Despite their shock at the firepower that had swept away the monsters in front with a single incantation, the druids moved as if it were a signal.
Snap-CRACK!!
As an elder druid chanted a spell, living trees rapidly sprouted, entangling the monsters.
A druid transformed into a giant bear swung its claws, smashing artillery pieces and bursting the tangled veins on them.
A storm of leaves scattered from the sky, tearing at the monsters’ skin like sharp blades.
The druids moved, dividing their forces to both sides, chanting Nature Spellcraft.
Observing them, Lennok moved towards the monsters swarming in the center.
Whoosh!!
Lennok’s form, plummeting as if falling from a cliff, vanished just before his feet touched the ground.
Cracks appeared in the ground with diagonally leaping lightning, and brilliant azure lightning surged upwards.
KWA-AAANG!!!
Lennok moved, riding the lightning that surged inverted from ground to sky.
[GUH-UHHH!!]
A bloated monster-human, formed from combining monsters, profusely vomited corrosive fluid towards Lennok.
The acidic vomit surged like a wave, dissolving even other monsters.
BANG!!
He slammed a lightning spear into the ground beneath his feet, kicked off it, and ascended.
He cast lightning into the acidic fluid, spreading it wide, then used Flicker to approach the monster-human.
With his left hand, he swept across the face of the bloated monster-human.
[Partial Lightning]
WHOOOSH!!
The monster-human’s head exploded, scattering its brains on the spot.
The monster-human’s corpse, embedded in its own vomit, melted and evaporated.
[Lightning Well]
CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE!!!
Drawing overflowing lightning from his entire body, he stepped on the corpse and moved forward.
He directly seized and swung the thick lightning bolts that appeared and vanished without direction or speed.
[Igniting Incineration]
The burning lightning in the air shattered and exploded like buckshot.
[Soaring Heaven]
The lightning held in Lennok’s hand warped sharply, piercing through and pushing back dozens of charging monsters.
[Transformative Guidance]
Drrrrrrr!!!
He imbued the meaningless, flickering, disappearing lightning with will-thought and incantation, twisting it into tangible magic.
The lightning surging from the Lightning Well, seized in Lennok’s hand, instantly transformed into lightning magic, tearing through space.
[KIIYAAAHH!!!]
[GRRRR-GRRRR-GRRRR!!!]
The monsters’ assault, as if unafraid of death, slowly began to be pushed back.
The muzzles of tank cannons, firing shells, melted away, and fighter jets flying overhead crashed, struck by falling lightning.
Dududududu!!!!
The wreckage of crashing, exploding fighter jets and the corpses of monsters were crushed and annihilated by the lightning.
Lennok, single-handedly tearing through hundreds and thousands of monsters charging from all directions.
As the wizard’s form, continuously unleashing lightning and advancing alone, the druids fighting on both sides turned their gazes with dumbfounded expressions.
“He’s breaching the Central Mutation Legion alone…!!”
“How can this be? He’s not just deterring the front line, but…!!”
Lennok had been assigned to the Central Mutation Legion because the central force guarding the Overmind was the most formidable.
Therefore, the plan was for Lennok to prevent the legion’s forces from dispersing, and then for them to clear paths on the flanks.
However, Lennok ignored the druids’ tactical orders and began to directly breach the center alone, clearing a path.
The situation on the battlefield was changing, dictated by the presence of a single person.
Azelan, sensing this as well, unleashed a powerful telepathic transmission and began issuing orders.
[All living druids, converge on the center!!]
As the Elder Druid, trampling monsters with the green spear in his hand, drew upon his magic,
trees rapidly grew on all sides, forming walls and connecting a path to the center.
[Adamant Thunder is clearing the path. Follow the strongest hunter!!]
Dududududu!!!!
Behind Lennok, who was unleashing lightning magic and advancing, the druids began to converge one by one.
The monster legions tried to cut off the path, but they couldn’t withstand the falling lightning and their heads exploded.
A path, sharp as an awl, was carved through the center of the monster legions swarming beneath the corrupted Veil.
KWA-GA-GA-GWANG!!!
With each step forward, the resistance grew fiercer, and the number of corrupted projectiles raining down from above increased.
From another monstrous aircraft carrier flying overhead, monster fighter jets continuously launched, and a rain of blood began to fall from the sky.
SWOOOOOSH!!!
“Ugh…!!!”
The druids made trees grow like umbrellas over their heads, but they quickly melted away.
Simultaneously, monster-humans with dark red skin, more akin to human form than monsters, appeared from all directions.
“General-grade entities…!!”
The most elite entities among the monsters, possessing strong magic, began to step forward as the center was breached.
Monsters who, even after being corrupted, retained their intelligence and obeyed the warlords of their own free will.
Swoosh…!!
Blood-stained bayonets and thick axes. Anti-tank cannons with bulging, rough veins.
The moment monster-humans, fused with all manner of fearsome war machines, approached them.
“The time has come.”
Lennok took out a golden glowing vial from his pocket.
Kiiiing…!!!
[…!!!!]
The moment they perceived the beautiful, golden liquid swirling within the vial, hundreds of monsters all simultaneously turned their heads.
A powerful sense of greed appeared in their eyes, regardless of whether they were mindless beasts or monster-humans.
As if they instinctively understood, without any explanation, how precious that treasure was.
But before the monsters could react, Lennok unhesitatingly opened the vial and brought it to his lips.
The elixir Aris Richellen had gifted Lennok. A diluted version of that ‘elixir,’ several times over.
A miraculous product with the ability to forcibly ‘fix’ Lennok’s maximum mana capacity for approximately 3.98 seconds.
He had only 4 seconds to use magic without worrying about mana consumption.
But that was more than enough for Lennok.
“Come.”
As he emptied the vial into his mouth, he reached out and grasped at the air.
[Piercing Thunder Key]
KWA-AAANG!!!
Space tore open, and a dazzling lightning key formed in Lennok’s hand, then swelled dozens of times in size before plunging into the ground.
The colossal, dozens-of-meters-long key, glowing, plunged diagonally into the battlefield like a lightning spear.
“…!!!”
Even the druids following Lennok momentarily faltered at the overwhelming size of the key that plunged into the battlefield.
[Insects.]
Simultaneously with the Lightning Emperor’s chilling message, hundreds of monsters were crushed to death by its weight.
Flesh and eyeballs burned, and nerve tendrils were torn and crushed in the vortex of lightning flowing through the key.
[KII-GEH-GEH-GEH-GEK!!]
[Ugh-guh-guhk…!!]
The monster-humans, convulsing, tried desperately to avoid the Piercing Thunder Key and charge towards Lennok.
But Lennok, instead of swinging lightning, simply pressed his palms together, watching them.
He hadn’t summoned the Piercing Thunder Key at this moment to use his lightning magic or Domain.
The spellcraft Lennok intended to use here, even with the elixir’s mana support, was—
“Summoning.”
CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE…!!
Above the crimson sky, a colossal eye of lightning was etched.
Like a giant pushing open its eyelids, the eye opened between the blood-red clouds, its gaze awakening.
Immediately after, from beyond, the War-Mage Tower, wreathed in lightning, tore through space and appeared.
KWA-AAAAAAANG!!!
“He summoned the Thorben War-Mage Tower here with summoning spellcraft…!!!”
Azelan, who had been trampling charging monsters with his hooves, widened his eyes in disbelief.
“This is impossible. That shouldn’t be a mana consumption amount a single person can bear…!!!”
The mana consumption required for summoning spellcraft is proportional to the distance of the summoned target and the target’s mana capacity.
The Thorben War-Mage Tower, which must have been dozens of kilometers away from this battlefield.
And to summon a magic tower with hundreds of War-Mages onboard, without a summoning contract, just how much mana would be needed?
Even if one could satisfy the required mana amount, expending that much mana at once would logically lead to unconsciousness from the backlash.
“Summoning it at this exact moment, the timing should be perfect.”
Lennok separated his hands and looked up at the sky.
“I’ll leave the rest to you.”
WEEEEEEEENG!!!!
As if in response, the War-Mage Tower, wreathed in lightning, fully activated the propulsion systems mounted on its stern.
The moment it roared its engines, almost deafeningly, and skimmed the ground in low-altitude flight, pouring all its power into the tower.
With that alone, the monsters raging on the ground were swept away like dust, all beginning to perish.
KWA-GWAA-GWAA-GWAA-GWAA-GWAA!!!
[GRRRR-GRRRR-GRRRR!!!]
[KYAAAH! UGWEHHHHH!!!]
Only black blood remained in the wake of the War-Mage Tower, staining the Western Front.
As if erasing the monster legions with an eraser, it massacred and burned monsters, opening a path wherever it moved.
The firepower of the Thorben War-Mage Tower, sweeping through the temporarily stagnant central front as if piercing it in a single strike.
KWA-AAAAANG!!!!
As the central force was breached, a path opened over the corpses of the monsters.
Beyond the radiance of the diagonally plunged Piercing Thunder Key, the Overmind, clinging to the Veil, could be seen convulsing.
Its colossal head pressed tightly against the Veil, mouth agape, desperately spewing out monsters.
“The path is open. First, we need to secure the Overmind—”
Beyond the wide-open path on the battlefield. The moment Lennok was about to move towards the Overmind.
From behind, a heavy, rotating spearhead plunged straight through Lennok’s chest.
CRACK!!
“…!!!”
Lennok’s form, pierced without a chance to react, was lifted directly into the air.
Lennok, unable to plant his feet on the ground, looked down at the spearhead piercing his heart.
“You said you had business with the Veil, yet you continuously focused on securing, not killing, the Overmind…”
Azelan, gripping the spear shaft tightly, looked down at Lennok with an expressionless face.
“As I thought, you noticed what was inside the Overmind.”
“…”
“You possess dangerously keen intuition. No, perhaps it’s closer to precognitive sensitivity?”
Azelan, twisting the spear shaft with a face devoid of emotion, said.
“If not now, with the War-Mage Tower distant, there will be no other chance. I thank you for your cooperation, human—”
Azelan’s gaze towards Lennok was utterly indifferent.
“No one must ever know the secret of the World Tree.”
“Indeed.”
Lennok replied.
“Because the World Tree’s Leaf contained within the Overmind was never truly yours.”
“…What?”
“A tribute offered to the central city, Ars Nova.”
Lennok slowly raised his head, met Azelan’s gaze, and smiled.
“If you want to be precise, that belongs to Ars Nova, not Larabelli.”
The reason they started the operation outside the Veil, despite being able to traverse the forest using Nature Spellcraft.
The reason they deliberately assigned Lennok to deter the central legion, intending to keep him and the Overmind far apart.
The reason they mentioned something hidden inside the Overmind, yet never revealed its true identity.
It was because the World Tree’s Leaf hidden within the Western Front’s Veil was, from the beginning, no longer Larabelli’s property.
The druids had hidden that fact and attempted to reclaim it as their own possession,
and the moment they instinctively realized Lennok knew, they immediately tried to kill him to silence him.
“…Human.”
Azelan’s expression, as he looked at Lennok, instantly turned utterly chilling.
The moment he grit his teeth and violently twisted the spear shaft, savagely thrusting it deeper into Lennok’s wound.
PA-AANG!!!
Lennok’s body shattered and dispersed on the spot, transforming into fragments of brilliant azure lightning.
“A clone…!!”
Azelan realized the truth too late and widened his eyes.
“Impossible. A form so precise it could deceive even my druid eyes…!!”
“I thought your true intentions were obvious from the moment you tried to hide the Leaf—”
“…!!!!”
Lennok had already, somehow, passed through the path cleared by the War-Mage Tower and stood directly in front of the Overmind.
“Acting so honestly, I can’t even be angry.”
“No!!!”
Azelan roared fiercely, and the moment other druids began to draw on their magic towards Lennok.
Lennok smiled and plunged his hand into the Overmind’s throat.
CRACKLE-CRACK!!
Lennok’s hand, wreathed in lightning, tore open the throat and stirred within.
[KYYAAAHH!!!]
The Overmind screamed a desperate shriek, its eyes wide open, but its skin was already pierced by mana threads, unable to move even an inch.
With its gaping mouth fixed open by mana threads, he pulled something out from within and gripped it.
CRACK!!
The form of a small leaf, about the size of a finger joint, imbued with transparent light.
But the moment it was clasped in Lennok’s hand, his body, which had been sluggish from the drug’s backlash, rapidly surged with vitality.
An immense power, as if merely holding the leaf forcibly infused the wielder’s body with endless life force.
Was this truly the power of the World Tree’s Leaf, also known as the Navel of the Star?
Upon obtaining it, it became clear why the Overmind had crawled all the way to the Veil to possess this.
“ADAMANT THUNDER!!!!!”
An enraged Azelan fiercely pounded his hooves in the distance, accelerating at incredible speed.
But Lennok, looking at the World Tree’s Leaf, opened his mouth without even turning his head.
“Corpse Ghost Spell Master.”
“I-I’m ready…!!”
The pale-faced Corpse Ghost Spell Master appeared atop the Overmind’s head, riding the Compassion of the Archangel.
Floating down with spell formations hovering in both hands, she pushed the formations onto the Overmind with all her might.
The Monster Manipulation Spellcraft, which the Corpse Ghost Spell Master had extracted from a general-grade entity, activated.
Using the Overmind’s existence as a medium, she completely overwrote the minds of all remaining monsters on the battlefield.
PA-AAAAT!!
Silence.
The monsters’ screams abruptly ceased, and the Headro Warlords’ legions, which had been raging, lowered their heads completely.
Thousands of monsters, scattered around the Veil, slowly turned towards the druids.
The druids, caught in the center of their gaze, swallowed hard, their faces pale.
“Well, the original objective has been achieved, so it doesn’t matter, I suppose.”
Only then did Lennok turn his gaze to Azelan and speak.
Lennok, gazing at the monster legions now under his control, nodded towards the druids.
“Now, kill each other.”