Chapter 1105: Level 9 (23)

A colossal tidal wave surged above the Hall of the Eighth Tribulation.

The waves gathered, expanding in size and thickness, slamming into the ground with overwhelming force.

CRASHHHHHHH!!!!

The hall shattered, trembling as if bombs had detonated on the ground swept by the tidal wave.

Immense power, closer to a tactical weapon that intervenes in space through its results, bursting space with water pressure.

The Fearsome Blood King gripped his blood scythe, his face pale.

“Adamant Thunder…!!!”

[I don’t know what trick you’re trying to pull, but I have no intention of allowing even a moment’s respite to a spellcaster like you.]

Alohan looked down at the raging tide on the ground, his dragon eyes narrowed, and declared.

[Arise. There’s still much you need to answer about Maleon-?!]

The venerable Dragon King’s roar abruptly ceased the moment his gaze met Lennok’s amidst the pouring tide.

Even within the currents that crushed and collapsed space, Lennok’s form remained unchanged.

As if Lennok alone stood far removed from the destruction unfolding around him.

As if physical destruction and impact could no longer affect his body.

[You fiend!!!]

Alohan roared in rage, deploying his Water Minister Spellcraft to manipulate the currents.

[Slaughtering Sea: Water Demon Kill]

Cacacacac!!!

The water currents, flowing at supersonic speeds, rose sharply, carving into Lennok’s body with immense velocity.

A barrage of vicious spellcraft, capable of turning a human’s fragile body into minced meat with a mere graze.

But Lennok, with his eyes closed, completely ignored all the incoming spells.

‘It’s cold.’

His blood, flowing throughout his body, felt as if it were freezing solid.

So cold and chilling, just standing there felt as if his nerves and muscles would freeze.

A profound sense of unease, as if the blood in his entire body had become cold-blooded.

[Kill them all… Kill every last one…]

[Now, I can kill… I can die…]

[Exterminate the vermin… Slaughter them all without a trace…]

Lowly Dead Thoughts echoed, permeating his entire body.

Whispers of curses and resentment resonated not in his ears, but through his blood vessels and nerves.

Every cell forming his body writhed, craving the death of himself and others.

It felt as if his entire body was rotting and decaying, rushing towards irreversible ruin.

Yet, a vast sensation comparable to it filled Lennok’s mind and body.

‘So this is what it felt like.’

Immediately after consuming the Elixir of Ascension, Lennok realized that Nives’s explanation hadn’t been wrong.

A potent poison that forcibly induced a ‘status effect’ equivalent to an Ascendant in the user.

It was a miracle made possible by staking the user’s own certain destruction as a condition.

Cr-cr-crackle…!!!

Every cell, down to his fingertips, decayed and crumbled, drawing and burning all remaining life force.

All his nerves withered, transmitting all information and will-thought with unparalleled sensitivity.

“Haaah-”

SHAAAAAA!!!

The moment he lightly exhaled, Lennok’s breath, now a deep black, spread through the water.

Simultaneously, the seawater, dyed black, instantly became contaminated, rapidly expanding its reach.

An insidious Dead Thought, invading Alohan’s own Deep Sea Domain and instantly encroaching upon it.

[What in the…!!!!!]

The startled Dragon King created distance, but Lennok ignored him and reached for his waist.

Until now, he had focused on organizing his senses, but if he continued like this, it would truly become irreversible.

Before it was too late, one final ‘measure’ remained to be taken with Lennok’s body.

Click!!

In his hand, where even the veins on the back of his hand were dyed black, he gripped a Dark Scale.

The Dark Scale [묵린] that the Ascendant Pyeonram had gifted Lennok, detached from her true form.

The catalyst for metamorphosis, used to shape a body by combining with Pyeonram’s own consciousness-

Lennok plunged it into his own neck.

THWACK!!

His black-blooded hand easily parted the flesh and pulled it open.

The moment the Dark Scale pierced through flesh and muscle, lodging itself in his common carotid artery.

[Die-]

[Exterminate-]

[The vermin-]

The incessant whispers resonating throughout Lennok’s body abruptly ceased.

At the same time, the collapse of his body, which had been decaying and crumbling, miraculously stopped.

‘It worked. Fortunately.’

An unconventional method to retain the senses gained by taking the elixir while suppressing its backlash.

That method was to use Pyeonram’s Dark Scale to suppress the elixir’s potent poison below the carotid artery.

The Elixir of Ascension was made by mixing the Inner Core of a Transcendent who failed ascension and died, with Nives Orosia’s True Blood.

Considering the method of manufacturing such a potent poison, the owner of the Inner Core and Nives must undoubtedly be Imoogi-type Long-lived Beings.

In that case, according to the Curse of Metamorphosis, both the Inner Core’s owner and Nives would submit to Pyeonram, who stood at the apex of their species.

Even if not submission, it was highly probable that all effects would be suppressed the moment they perceived the scale left by Pyeonram’s true form.

‘It’s not a proper form. I can’t hold out long with this either. But…’

Lennok slowly opened his eyes, his pupils rotating with black rings.

‘This is enough.’

He had not gained this qualification or reached Level 9 through his own answers.

It was merely an unconventional method, forcibly awakening the senses that one could originally only obtain at Level 9, and then suppressing the backlash with Pyeonram’s authority.

But that very ‘lack’ was precisely what Lennok needed most at this moment.

A means to reascend to the Ninth Tribulation, and a means to move freely within it.

The last piece he needed to face Maleon Gnosis ‘with his full power’ once again.

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!!!

The capillaries visible around his pupils were dyed black, enveloping his eyes.

Lennok, whose very blood flow had turned black, slowly raised his gaze.

[You… what have you done?]

Alohan, who had been looking down at Lennok with shocked eyes, murmured.

[In all my life, I’ve never seen a spellcaster with such an aura. What exactly do you intend to become…!!!]

“I did use some rather dangerous methods.”

Lennok said, looking at his hands trembling in the water.

His skin color hadn’t changed, but the veins visible beneath were as dark as pitch-black night.

If he were cut, the blood flowing out would be black and cold like crude oil.

“It’s not a situation where I can be picky about backlashes or side effects.”

[…]

“But this isn’t so bad, actually.”

Lennok closed his eyes and murmured quietly.

“Perhaps because it’s not the right way, but it’s much calmer and more desolate than I expected… and I like that.”

What would it feel like to become a Level 9 Ascendant?

He had imagined it thousands of times, but there was no exhilarating feeling of his entire body and mind exploding.

Instead, only a deathly silence and stillness filled Lennok’s inner world.

But Lennok felt this profound quietness resonate deeply within him.

‘…Right.’

Only then did Lennok understand how to describe this serene feeling.

Now, experiencing the ‘senses’ and ‘state’ of an Ascendant qualified at Level 9.

What Lennok felt was neither transcendent exhilaration nor an unending sense of omnipotence.

It was simply, familiar.

As if he had known this sensation for a very long time.

As if his body and mind were only now recalling it.

Like someone who, after a long and arduous journey, had finally returned to their rightful place.

There was no joy, no ecstasy, no exhilaration, no inspiration, as if he held everything.

Only a quiet sense of relief, as if everything had been reclaimed, was there.

Perhaps because he hadn’t reached Level 9 through the proper method, or perhaps because he had stopped the backlash through an unconventional means.

Either way, Lennok now, finally-

“My apologies, but I don’t have much time left from now on.”

Lennok slowly opened his eyes and said, extending his hand forward.

“So, if you don’t want to die-”

KIIIIIIING!!!!!

Behind Lennok, a golden halo rotated and rose, beginning to turn pitch black from its roots.

The Ouroboros, the serpent symbolizing eternity.

The incomplete magic system, endlessly progressing towards eternity, activated on its own, beyond Lennok’s control.

From its very origin, it corrupted and transformed from golden light into lowly Dead Thoughts.

ZIIIING!!!!

The black halo grotesquely warped, slowly rotating behind Lennok’s back.

The once clear resonating sound strangely stretched out, transforming into a grating, bursting noise.

Lennok, with the distorted oval halo unfurled, looked up at Alohan.

“You’ll have to bow your head on your own accord.”

[Impudent-!!!!]

Alohan twisted his body in fury, and the water currents chaoticly swirled.

[Spirit Sea: Water-Gnawing Chaos]

TUTUTUTUNG!!!

The water filling the Hall of the Eighth Tribulation clashed and exploded, unleashing silent vibrations underwater.

Dozens of water columns shot up out of the water, creating whirlwinds in all directions.

An applied Water Minister Spellcraft, directly striking and shattering Lennok’s submerged body.

But Lennok did not evade, even seeing the explosions of water currents erupting all around him.

He simply nodded slightly and stepped forward.

CRASH!!

The black halo spun explosively, and Lennok’s body vanished from the spot.

In the fleeting moment Alohan flinched at the vanished presence, the halo unfurled behind the water dragon, and Lennok emerged.

An art of transcending space-time, ignoring all incoming spell attacks that surged from all directions, without any mana consumption.

[Human!!!]

Alohan, realizing it was a miracle that commanded space through will, poured all his mana into a barrier, but it was already too late.

A black halo glinted in a circle above Alohan’s head, pressing down the enormous body of the water dragon.

Creation-Type Unique Magic Property Transformation: Heaven’s Nadir

[Fall: Blazing Incineration]

CRASHHHH!!!!

The water dragon’s head and back were grotesquely crushed in unnatural directions, and the sound of bones and flesh shattering echoed.

[GUUUUOOOOOHHH!!!!]

The Water God Dragon King’s roar reverberated, shaking the Hall of the Eighth Tribulation.

Simultaneously, the currents swirling below Alohan split into hundreds of streams, launching at supersonic speeds.

[Blue Allure]

[Water Bullet Blade]

DUDUDUDU!!!!

The water columns shot up and spun, grinding away the surrounding terrain.

A barrage of water bullets rained down, aiming to intercept Lennok, who stood with the black halo at his back.

But Lennok didn’t evade the onslaught of water bullets and exploding water columns; he simply raised his hand.

The lightning that blossomed from Lennok’s fingertips, the moment it met the pitch-black mana of the halo-

ZZZZZZT!!!!

With a grotesque, withering sound, the lightning began to turn black from its very root.

“Th-that is…!!!!”

The moment Regnus’s eyes widened at the sight of that strangely twisted Black Lightning.

The Black Lightning, compressed to its extreme, transformed into a black thread, and Lennok gestured as if pointing to the void.

Creation-Type Unique Magic Property Transformation: Heaven’s Nadir

[Black Dissolution: Direct Extremity]

Pha-!

A black thread unfurled, stretching across the entire Spacetime of the Eighth Tribulation.

A sinister black line, shimmering as if redrawing the horizon.

Simultaneously, Black Lightning erupted above and below the black line that bisected space-time, tearing open the space before them.

CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE!!!!

Piercing Water. Water-Gnawing Chaos. Blue Allure. Water Bullet Blade.

Hundreds of Water Minister Spellcrafts deployed by Alohan vanished the moment they encountered the Black Lightning.

A colossal water barrier surged, simultaneously colliding with the Black Lightning fired by Lennok.

The black lightning penetrated the barrier with such ease it seemed meaningless, slamming Alohan’s massive body into the wall.

CRASH!!!

DRRRRUUUUGHH!!!

[Cough!!!]

Alohan, having crashed through the Founders’ statues and tumbled between the walls, gasped roughly for air.

The recovery of his body, struck by the Black Lightning, was completely nullified.

A strange power that seemed to render the Dragon-kind’s formidable regenerative ability utterly useless.

Only then did Alohan, realizing the power of the Black Lightning, glare at Lennok with astonished eyes.

[A lightning that shatters laws without even questioning them…!!]

“Good eyes for a Dragon-kind.”

The black halo, created by the distorted and corrupted Ouroboros Creation Magic.

From the power to deconstruct and analyze all spellcraft and laws, it ‘removed analysis’ and forcibly ‘expanded the target of the spellcraft’.

The result was a twisted Ouroboros that forcibly deconstructed physical laws and spellcraft without understanding them.

A deconstruction engine powered by the destruction that settled upon Lennok’s body after he drank the elixir.

[How disappointing, human!!!]

But Alohan roared fiercely, even having noticed the Black Lightning’s abilities.

[To cast your mind and body into such volatile authority, can you truly call yourself the spellcaster who taught me Obaekro!!!]

“You’re not wrong.”

The moment a black thread was etched onto Alohan’s scales, Black Lightning surged explosively from its center.

CRACKLE-CRACKLE!!!!

Lennok, who had descended before Alohan with the black lightning, spoke with an expressionless face.

“A spellcraft of corruption that presupposes self-destruction, not self-transformation. If not for the safety device, I wouldn’t have even had the chance to wield it.”

Because he accepted destruction by his own will, Lennok’s spellcraft also distorted and changed accordingly.

That was why Lennok’s lightning, unaffected by external variables, had turned black.

Yet, even so, Lennok still stood, without losing consciousness or going berserk.

“If it’s a power that runs wild beyond control, then I simply need to wield it while it’s running wild.”

Lennok said, watching the Black Lightning randomly spark between his fingers.

“I can’t control its power, but I can suppress the backlash.”

[That’s nonsense…!!!!]

He made the rampaging Black Lightning collide with itself to change its direction, forcibly nullifying the rebound heading towards Lennok.

Every time the black halo rotated, all backlash inflicted upon Lennok was ‘deconstructed’ and vanished.

The sensation was like forcibly operating the manipulation of severing, stolen from the Harvester Spell Master, at a completely different level of mastery.

But Lennok, even while wielding power in a way that even the Dragon King couldn’t comprehend, subtly stiffened his expression.

“But you’re right. This is indeed… dangerous.”

It wasn’t the body and mental image, rushing towards destruction after consuming the Elixir of Ascension, that was the problem.

Rather, the fullness that filled his inner world, and this endless sense of relief, were even more dangerous to Lennok.

Just by momentarily experiencing the senses and state of an Ascendant, he felt as if he was already on the verge of realizing something profound.

He felt as if he might understand the wonder that had settled upon his entire body and arrive at the answer then and there.

Lennok’s transcendent talent was a power that progressed towards completion the moment it reached Foreknowledge.

That’s why Lennok was forcibly restraining himself at this very spot, the Lennok who might truly reach Level 9.

‘I mustn’t challenge Level 9 now. I must stop at the point of leaving this branching point within me.’

The sensation Lennok had gained now was not a miracle originating from himself.

It was a side effect caused by the potent poison created by mixing the Inner Core of a Transcendent who failed ascension with Nives’s True Blood.

If he were to challenge Level 9 using this moment as a catalyst, Lennok’s branching point and answer would also become ‘fixed’ to this moment.

That would be tantamount to rendering all the causality and journeys Lennok had accumulated until now completely meaningless.

‘The more I try not to be conscious of it, the more conscious I become. I can’t hold out for long.’

What Lennok was doing now was a forced act of not understanding what could be understood, and not remembering what could be remembered.

It was no different from forcibly looking away from an obvious answer sheet before him.

The paradox: the more he tried not to be conscious of it, the more conscious he became. He could barely maintain this state by desperately steeling his mind.

“Let’s finish this. Before the other Dragon Kings arrive, I need to kill you and show them your corpse.”

Lennok’s gaze, fixed on Alohan, sank indifferently.

“I think I need to issue a warning to prevent them from interfering while I reascend to the Ninth Tribulation.”

[Though you’ve seized transcendence through perverse means, can you truly say that power was arranged for you?]

The water dragon, who had been bowed, let out a chilling cry.

Simultaneously, the surrounding water streams lifted the enormous body of the water dragon high into the sky above the Eighth Tribulation Hall.

[Excessive ambition always invites disaster.]

Alohan bared his teeth, looking down at Lennok.

[Today, I will personally teach you that truth.]

[Dead Sea: Heavy River]

WHOOOOOSH!!!

Instantly, Alohan’s entire Deep Sea Domain began to sink into a deep indigo.

In the ultra-compressed water, salt dissolved to its limit, changing even its color.

He then gathered dozens to hundreds, hundreds to thousands of these water streams, connecting them into one.

Tens of thousands of water streams converged in Alohan’s mouth, focusing into a single point and launching.

It became a single blue flash, shooting out at hypersonic speed.

The Ultimate Art.

[Water Drops Pierce Heaven]

KWAHAAAAAAAH!!!!!

Tiny water droplets gather to pierce the heavens.

The profound secret of Water God Spellcraft, activated by manipulating all sea currents in the Domain simultaneously.

Forcibly generating Spatial Fusion by condensing all the water in the Deep Sea Domain down to the particle level.

By mixing the nature of the Water God to its extreme within a specific spacetime region, it phase-transforms all existing matter.

As a result, it was a point of achievement within Water God Spellcraft, reaching the peak of manipulating space.

The ultra-compressed water current changed direction from vertical to horizontal, accelerating once more.

SNAP!!

The black halo clutched at Lennok’s fingertips collided with Water Drops Pierce Heaven, forcibly deconstructing the spell’s core.

CRASHHHHHHH!!!!

The ultimate art of Water Minister Spellcraft split diagonally around Lennok’s hand, veering away behind him.

The water streams disintegrated, scattering and vanishing, and the black lightning ground everything away.

But Lennok didn’t stop there; he began to advance, deconstructing Alohan’s ultimate art.

With each step, multiple halos appeared and vanished in the void like eyes shedding darkness.

Alohan shrieked in astonishment at Lennok’s counter, which pierced directly through the Spatial Fusion spellcraft.

[You mean you can withstand the Deep Sea Domain’s currents all by yourself!!!]

“Dismantle and analyze. Remove the analysis, leave only the dismantling. But…”

Lennok raised his gaze, walking resolutely towards Alohan.

“Even if twisted and distorted, the essence doesn’t change. Even if broken, the purpose remains the same.”

ZIIIING!!!!

The moment the warped halo rotated, scattering black light.

“The ability to deconstruct, raised on the condition of abandoning the fundamental premise of the Ouroboros magic system. So now-”

WHOOSH!!!

He pulverized and scattered all the sea currents in the Deep Sea Domain without a trace.

In an instant, Lennok stood directly before the colossal water dragon, with one hand outstretched.

“I can even dismantle your very origin.”

CRUNCH!!!

As Lennok’s hand gripped the empty air, something shattered in Alohan’s mind.

[OOOOHHHH?!!!!]

But Alohan let out a desperate scream, feeling a backlash far beyond a simple rupture.

It wasn’t just deconstructing and analyzing the Water Drops Pierce Heaven spellcraft.

A chilling sensation, as if the very culmination of Water Minister Spellcraft Alohan had built up within him was being ground away.

An anomaly in principle, as if carving away the very core of the Dragon-kind.

Mimicking the evidence and fragments of transcendence Pyeonram had shown against Nives Orosia.

Lennok was forcibly eroding the rank Alohan had accumulated over his lifetime.

[This, this is impossible…!! This cannot be!!!]

Alohan shrieked fiercely, his scream echoing through his soul.

The Dragon King, losing all his previous resolve and ferocity, writhed and shrieked desperately.

[How dare you interfere with my rank…!!! You, you actually became an Ascendant!!!]

Alohan thrashed violently, but it was already too late.

Black Lightning, bent from the sky, curved long and swept down towards the water dragon.

Dark lightning radiance, curved like a black kaleidoscope, sank and flashed.

WHOOSH!!!

Lennok, now close, spread his hand as if to cover Alohan’s eyes.

[This, this can’t-!!!]

The moment Lennok extended his hand, Alohan’s vision turned utterly black.

The ceiling was diagonally split, revealing the Universe of Mist above the Hall of the Eighth Tribulation.

Lennok walked with an expressionless face, gripping the tail of the colossal water dragon.

THUD, THUD, THUD!!!

Each step Lennok took dragged the water dragon’s body, erupting in tremendous roars.

Lennok, ignoring the backlash and dragging the dragon’s tail, flung it aside.

CRASH!!!

The blue-scaled water dragon tumbled across the hall floor with a mighty crash.

Lennok lightly dusted his hands and turned, speaking.

“Alohan, one of the Eight Great Dragon Kings. The leader of the Water God Clan, who rules the Deep Sea Domain.”

[…]

“If you bear the name of a fellow Dragon King, you’ll recognize him without needing an explanation, won’t you?”

Lennok said, raising his gaze.

WHIIIRL!!!!

Before Lennok, five colossal dragons floated, swimming through the Universe of Mist.

A dragon with a ghostly spirit, a dragon wreathed in fiery flames.

There were also dragons with scales as beautiful as jewels, and dragons with bodies as tough as chains.

Each one was an Arch-mage who had reached Level 8, a Transcendent who had reached the pinnacle as Dragon-kind, the most noble of Long-lived Beings.

The five Eight Great Dragon Kings looked down at the spellcaster standing below the hall, each carrying different emotions and will-thoughts.

“I don’t want to drag this out, so I’ll only say this once.”

Lennok said, his black gaze sweeping over the Dragon Kings.

“I’m on my way to meet Maleon Gnosis. Step aside if you don’t want to die.”