Chapter 1098: Level 9 (16)
The light particle convergence spellcraft scraped surrounding photons, converting them into heat, and firing them.
There was no time to chant a spell, counter, or block it.
The moment Lennok pulled out Enakphil’s five fingers while gripping Maleon’s collar.
BOOOOOOOOM!!!
A pale beam of light, erupting from the angel’s fingertip, pierced through the bulkhead sealed behind Lennok.
[Aaaaaargh!!]
[Grooooooh……!!]
Immediately, the horrifying screams of the mummified beings burst forth.
This ability penetrated the bulkhead in a single shot, a bulkhead that had withstood not only the mummified Long-lived Beings but also the power of an Invasion Domain.
It was naturally impossible to avoid annihilation if even momentarily pierced by that light.
Lennok, having barely evaded the beam by moving a few meters sideways, gritted his teeth and stood up.
‘A True Bloodline heir, inheriting the blood of an angel…!!’
This woman herself couldn’t be an angel who directly crossed over from the Second World.
Such ‘selections’ were possible for only a very limited number of beings.
Yet, it was undeniable that this True Bloodline heir had inherited the ‘true blood’ of an angel that existed in the Second World.
Even the fact that she projected the Pontiff onto Lennok and, through him, poured out an unknown hatred.
[Why did you abandon me?]
The True Bloodline heir, her desiccated body creaking, approached Lennok.
But instead of responding to the meaningless question and answer, Lennok quickly scanned his surroundings.
Maleon’s mind and body had reached their limit, on the verge of collapsing.
Lennok had no choice but to fight the angel here and clear the path.
The problem was that the mana consumption in this process was immense, to the point where even Lennok had to worry about mana depletion.
Just maintaining the barrier to withstand the Ninth Tribulation’s environment was already burning through his mana.
If a battle began now, even Lennok’s vast, ocean-like mana reserves would quickly run dry.
Nevertheless, the answer was already decided.
Click.
Lennok’s expression turned calm as he pulled out a golden vial from his pocket.
‘Use the Elixir to fix mana capacity, and seize victory within 4 seconds.’
The time he could ‘fix’ his mana capacity with the diluted Elixir, a gift from Aris, was approximately less than 4 seconds.
This was the time Lennok could operate his spellcraft at full power without being affected by the Ninth Tribulation’s environment.
‘I must crush her in one go and incapacitate her. Otherwise, I won’t have enough mana left for the deepest part of the Ninth Tribulation.’
If he didn’t secure victory or incapacitate the angel, Lennok’s mana would begin to deplete.
With Maleon on the verge of unconsciousness, if things came to that, survival inside the Ninth Tribulation would become uncertain.
Considering the Erosion Rate, the angel before him was probably the last True Bloodline heir.
The bulkhead behind the angel was surely the destination: the deepest part of the Ninth Tribulation.
Consume the Elixir, operate spellcraft at full power, overwhelm the angel, and cross the bulkhead.
If the task was set, there was no need for hesitation.
Lennok’s face turned expressionless, pushing aside complex situations and emotions.
The moment he brought the Elixir vial to his lips, even before the angel’s fingertip could twitch.
Thud!!
He felt a thick, scale-covered hand grasp his shoulder, helping him stand up.
“……Maleon?”
RUMBLE!!!
The dragon-kin, his entire body scorched red and covered in bodily fluids and blood, supported Lennok’s shoulder as he stumbled forward.
His eyes were still hazy, as if confusing hallucination with reality, and his exhausted body twitched faintly.
Yet, the mana Maleon wielded was still directed not at Lennok, but at the angel before them.
“……I, promised…….”
Maleon’s eyes flickered into focus, then out again, repeatedly.
Even now, countless Dead Thoughts of the Founders swirled within him.
In the agony of absorbing those memories and emotions, forgetting even who he was.
Maleon was still enduring, striving to remain the same as he was at the beginning.
“I would take you, to the end of the Ninth Tribulation….”
“You…”
Despite having long surpassed his limits, he persisted with the sole determination to take Lennok to the end of the Ninth Tribulation.
He pieced together his ego, using the resolve he harbored before reaching Level 9 and the gratitude he wished to repay after reaching it as his foundation.
In the moment Lennok was momentarily speechless at this transcendent willpower—unbecoming of an Ascendant, yet only possible for an Ascendant.
“Let’s go, Van.”
Maleon’s flickering eyes regained their clear focus.
“As promised, I will take you to the end of the Ninth Tribulation.”
Primitive Magic: Star-Linking Eight Extremes Style
FLASH!!
As Maleon stretched both hands forward, the Primitive Magic that wielded stars unfolded once again in that place.
Two beautiful streaks of starlight grasped in the massive dragon-kin’s hands.
But what Maleon was using was not the conventional spellcraft he wielded as easily as breathing.
It was the transcendent inspiration he gained by expanding his horizons and grasping new senses upon reaching Level 9.
The Ninth External Method, wielded by embedding his own existence and Mental Image.
Ninth Form - External Method
[Prosperous Star Cycle]
The two streaks of starlight Maleon ignited overlapped in the air, as if obscuring each other.
A solar and lunar eclipse. The moment two stars, obscuring each other, simultaneously manifested the miracle they drew in the sky.
[Celestial Conjunction]
THWACK!!
The next bulkhead, which had read [Erosion Rate 93%], vanished as if erased by a rubber.
Metal fragments that were once the bulkhead fell and shattered, bouncing around like toys.
Splat!
Simultaneously, the angel’s corpse, with only its right torso remaining, slumped down, scattering sticky bodily fluids.
[…Ah.]
The angel, with only half a face remaining, uttered a dying gasp, not even realizing what had happened.
The moment two stars overlapped and obscured each other in a single spacetime, an antimatter phenomenon occurred, and spacetime itself was annihilated.
The angel attempted to evade as soon as she saw the spellcraft, but could not completely escape the External Method that designated coordinates.
“……!!!!”
Lennok, witnessing the true power of Maleon Gnosis’s Level 9 spell, the Star-Linking Eight Extremes Style, from directly behind him, couldn’t close his mouth in surprise.
“It’s a spellcraft I’m trying for the first time, glad it succeeded in one go.”
Maleon smiled and turned his gaze.
“I’m afraid I can’t walk. Could you help me up?”
“……Maleon.”
Why had the True Bloodline heir of the angel remained here?
Did the Pontiff know that a True Bloodline heir of the Old World had died here?
Was even that resentful voice, that misplaced hatred, a result of his accidental arrangement?
He wanted to know, but nothing could be learned here and now.
But perhaps, beyond that bulkhead, he would see.
A black gate, grander and more magnificent than any bulkhead he had passed through, yet also ominously dark.
“This is the last one. Beyond that bulkhead is the end.”
Maleon said quietly, looking down at Lennok.
“Let’s go see what awaits at the end of the Ninth Tribulation.”
After breaking through the bulkhead blocking the deepest part of the Ninth Tribulation.
As Maleon had said, no more bulkheads were visible.
Instead, along the long, vast glass corridor, Erosion Rate numbers were written one by one.
[Erosion Rate 94%]
A sharp tinnitus deafened his ears.
[Erosion Rate 95%]
The sensation in his fingertips became numb, slowly disappearing.
[Erosion Rate 97%]
He felt as if his legs were gone.
[Erosion Rate 98%]
He couldn’t breathe.
[Erosion Rate 99%]
None of his bodily senses remained intact.
Only his sight, blurring and distorting, reflected the scenery of the corridor.
Screeeeeee……!!
A tearing sound, as if everything constituting a single existence was slowly collapsing, could be heard.
This dizzying sensation of rushing towards self-destruction without doing anything.
Like infinitely swimming in a sea of radiation, leading to self-annihilation—
[Erosion Rate 100%]
“Maleon.”
“……”
There was no answer.
No, even if he had answered, Lennok might not have heard it.
Perhaps Maleon had also forgotten the sensation of moving his mouth.
He no longer even felt Maleon being supported.
The barrier he had created to withstand the Ninth Tribulation, the mana threads he had left for Maleon.
Amidst the crumbling scenery, he stared blankly ahead and walked.
He knew.
He knew that normally, the moment the Erosion Rate reached 100%, Lennok too should have met the same fate as the mummified beings he had killed.
Yet, the Targeted Resistance and Spellcraft Immunity, along with various other Talents that upheld Lennok.
The penalty that was his origin and foundation was stopping him from transforming.
Refusing to allow Lennok such a ‘betrayal’ of his true nature.
Screeeeeee……!!
Beyond the limits of where matter could exist.
The realm beyond, permitted only to Level 9 Ascendants.
The Horizon of Thought, which even the Founders who created and designed this space could not endure.
One more step. Then another. And once again.
The moment he took one last step from beyond the origin that formed Lennok.
[Erosion Rate 101%]
WHOOSH!!!
All his senses returned, and Lennok stumbled forward.
CRASH-BANG!!!
Lennok, falling headfirst, face-planted onto the ground and tumbled.
His skin burned as he slid across the floor, and his heart pounded frantically.
“Haa, haa……!!!!”
The eerie sensation of his senses completely vanishing was so profound that he instinctively raised a hand to touch his face.
Only after exhaling for a long time could Lennok confirm that he was still alive.
“……Cough.”
Lennok coughed lightly and struggled to lift his gaze.
His senses had returned to normal after the Erosion Rate had exceeded its limit.
As if it should have been this way from the start, his mind and body were perfectly fine again at the very edge of the limit.
He didn’t know why this was happening, but there was something he needed to confirm.
The end of the Ninth Tribulation. A physical space created outside the Outer Sea.
The deepest Tenth Coffer, located in the innermost part of this vast, transparent space station.
What was its true nature? What was the outcome for Kaiser stored here?
As Lennok thought this, he rubbed his blurry eyes and looked up.
WHOOSH…!!
In the desolate open space, a basin filled with blood appeared before him.
Blood droplets dripped steadily from a hanging tube above the basin, replenishing the blood.
The other end of the tube stretched very far somewhere, with no end in sight.
Lennok soon realized that there were exactly ten tubes.
“……Tenth Coffer.”
The meaning of those words, referring to the ten tubes.
The place he had first heard about from the Fearsome Blood King and searched for throughout his journey in Kundara.
The key to that place was right here.
Lennok dazedly repeated that fact, then belatedly remembered something and turned his head.
“Maleon.”
The Ascendant who had brought Lennok to the end of the Ninth Tribulation was still by his side.
The dragon-headed giant, bleeding profusely, lay collapsed a few steps behind Lennok.
Gritting his teeth, Lennok got up and hurried to the fallen Maleon.
“Maleon. We’ve arrived. This is the entrance to the Tenth Coffer.”
“……”
Maleon did not answer.
He simply lay there as if dead, not even breathing, showing no reaction.
Like a burnt-out flame, his mana and Will-thought were no longer felt.
Realizing this, Lennok struggled to search his pockets, patting Maleon’s shoulder.
“Maleon. Wake up!”
What medicine could help Maleon here?
No, at the point where he had used extreme drugs like spinal cord stimulants, was there any medicine that would even work on Maleon?
Even as his mind considered the worst possibilities and coldly concluded it was hopeless, Lennok desperately searched for medicine.
If there was anything that could restart Maleon’s stopped heart in this situation, it would be the one obtained from the Conjunction Spell Master’s Life Domain—
“Van…”
At that moment, Maleon answered Lennok.
“My head aches, could you speak a little softer?”
“……Are you even alive?”
Checking with Mana Perception, Maleon’s heart was still stopped.
Despite feeling no will or Will-thought from him, Maleon had regained consciousness and was conversing with Lennok.
As Lennok hesitated at this incomprehensible phenomenon, Maleon slowly propped himself up on one arm.
“Hmph…”
THUMP…!!
Maleon, having with difficulty lifted his upper body, leaned against a nearby pillar and tilted his head back.
“Dragon-kind can continue blood circulation even if their heart stops. Unlike humans, it’s not a sign of death.”
“……”
“I’m fine. Much better than I expected, at least.”
Maleon said, slowly massaging his shoulder.
“I don’t know why, but I feel better than when I was passing through the Ninth Tribulation. If anything… I feel much calmer.”
“Calmer?”
“How should I put it? Like hearing a very soft melody and feeling my mind stabilize?”
Maleon closed his eyes and replied.
“It’s hard to explain concretely, but that emotion is truly calming my mind and body.”
“……”
“Everything feels calm and clear. Right now, I feel like I could make any judgment with perfect clarity.”
Maleon, who had been checking his condition with his eyes closed, slowly stood up.
“Let’s move. We need to finish everything while there’s still time.”
“When you say there’s still time…”
“Because this feeling, this emotion I’m experiencing, might be a miracle right before a candle extinguishes.”
Maleon said calmly.
“We’ve arrived before the Tenth Coffer, but we haven’t entered it yet. You know that, don’t you?”
“……”
Maleon’s mind, which had been pushed to its limits, hallucinating and nearing madness, had miraculously returned to normal.
Maleon believed this moment itself might be a fleeting return of lucidity before death.
While Lennok remained silent, realizing this, Maleon slowly walked and stood before the basin of dripping blood.
“I know what this tube and basin signify.”
Maleon said, looking at the blood dripping into the basin.
“The blood contract made by ten True Bloodline heirs together. It’s the result of their resolve to preserve this spacetime eternally until the very end.”
“……”
“However, one of them broke the promise and siphoned off some true blood, rendering this contract meaningless.”
Maleon looked back at Lennok.
“You know what I’m talking about, right?”
“……Nives Orosia’s true blood.”
Lennok replied.
“It must be because of the blood she siphoned off to create the Elixir of Ascension.”
“Indeed.”
Maleon nodded.
“To reconnect the blood contract and reactivate the Tenth Coffer, Nives’s true blood is needed. That would be the first step in activating the Ninth Tribulation and moving Kundara.”
“……”
“Would you put Nives’s true blood into this basin?”
Maleon asked, looking at the silent Lennok.
By then, Lennok held a small vial containing blue blood in his hand.
Nives’s own true blood, forcibly squeezed out after her hierarchy was forcefully lowered by Pyeonram.
Lennok approached the basin, opened the vial, and slowly poured it in.
Swoosh……!!
The blood quickly spread, instantly forming the shape of an intricate Blood Magic Circle.
As if drawing an extremely delicate pattern inside the basin, a Blood Magic Circle interwoven with ten locks appeared.
The remaining blood defied gravity, rose, and began to be sucked into the tubes.
Grrr-thunk-
The moment the ten blood-filled tubes, unable to bear their weight, bent and lowered.
SPLASH!!!
Blood surged from the basin, creating a massive new gate of blood before Lennok’s eyes.
A gate of blood created using the Blood Magic that the Fearsome Blood King had once shown.
A spatial rift created from the true blood of a supreme Long-lived Being as material.
Lennok, realizing this, felt an indescribable emotion and fell silent.
“……”
Kaiser Bajour was beyond this.
His fate, which Lennok had pursued ever since learning about the Black Consumer Project.
His fear, which Lennok had empathized with after encountering the past Kaiser in the sealed zone.
The downfall of Kaiser, who failed to change the world, lay beyond.
A Seeker who dreamt of salvation before Lennok.
A renegade who ultimately changed after the project’s failure.
To that name, which he had pondered countless times and chased.
To that plan, which failed and yet remained unfinished, could he finally bring closure?
“I hear a sound…”
Maleon whispered, his eyes closed.
“Inside there, I feel a beautiful melody…”
“……”
“It’s in there. Do you feel it?”
“……Yes.”
Whether it was a melody or not, Lennok also instinctively felt it.
It was definitely in there.
Whether it was the outcome Lennok desired, or a failure he didn’t want, he couldn’t know.
It was simply something that could only be known by seeing it himself.
Hadn’t Lennok endured such a long journey to reach this point for that very reason?
If he could give meaning to all the aimless wandering and agonizing.
Before he could finish his thought, Lennok’s feet were already moving.
Step.
He stepped beyond the endless gate of true blood, instantly passing through the spatial rift.
The deepest part of the Ninth Tribulation. The most secret and dangerous core of Outer Tribulation City, Kundara.
WHOOSH!!
Cold and hot air. Damp yet dry humidity.
He stood inside a protruding section, like a probe, at the very end of a vast, transparent space station, a hollow cosmos where contradictions of extreme opposites mingled.
Ten tubes stretched along the wall, pulsing like blood vessels, supplying blood.
And that gathered blood was infusing true blood into something.
Gulp, gulp……!!!
A throne intricately entangled with ten tubes like blood vessels.
A man sat on that throne, his arms resting on its arms.
The mana flowing from his body and the familiar languid atmosphere immediately confirmed it.
His physique was slightly different from what he remembered, but it was unmistakably him.
The Kaiser Bajour he had only met as a past phantom in the sealed zone.
Kaiser Bajour himself, abandoned in reality after decades of failure.
He had never met him directly, yet he felt so familiar.
The answer Kaiser left within Lennok was still so vivid.
He felt as if he could picture that face without even needing to confirm it.
If he lifted his gaze now, even that curly hair he remembered—
“……Huh?”
Lennok muttered blankly in question.
He couldn’t see a face.
No, there was no face.
Instead, a sharp sword mark was precisely carved where the neck should have been.
The scene of the throne, as if someone had forcibly severed the head from above the neck.
A grotesque eeriness, as if standing before an execution block, not a tomb for Kaiser.
Only then did Lennok understand what he was seeing.
The corpse of Kaiser Bajour, sitting on the throne, had no head.