Chapter 1109: Level 9 (27)

The spacetime of the Ninth Tribulation, burning and falling, engulfed in flames.

The entire transparent space station glowed fiery red, accelerating into the distance.

The end of the Ninth Tribulation, falling towards the continent from thousands of kilometers above.

Inside the colossal hollow leading to the Tenth Coffer, two spellcasters clashed at immense speed.

KWA-AAAAAANG!!!

Maleon and Lennok’s forms collided, spinning amidst shattered bulkheads.

The moment the mana flowing through both spellcasters’ bodies, each bearing a different hue, violently surged.

Simultaneously with a tearing sound that seemed to shred space, dozens of shockwaves erupted in succession.

DRRRRRRUK!!!!

“Adamant Thunder!!!!!!”

The moment Seonjong, grasping starlight, stomped his foot, a circular ripple spread from him.

Primitive Magic: Star-Linking Eight Extremes Style Seventh Form - External Method [Starfall Sea Retention]

Simultaneously, a colossal Celestial Sphere appeared above Maleon’s head, embracing stars, rotating and accelerating.

It unleashed a bombardment of immense thermal energy towards Lennok.

KUGWA-GWAGWAGWA!!!!!!

Waves of silver light surged ceaselessly, flashing wildly between the inner walls of the Ninth Tribulation.

Thermal energy beyond all limits melted both the inner and outer walls of the gigantic station, revealing a sky engulfed in flames.

In the heart of the stellar impact zone, Lennok’s figure crouched, rotating a Black Halo.

JJIYU-UUUUUNG……!!!!

The distorted halo violently spun for a fleeting moment, and Lennok’s body moved explosively from its spot.

A strange acceleration, without any prior sign, as if Lennok’s body was forcibly propelled from a standstill.

TUTUTUTU-TUNG!!!

Evading the exploding starlight, Lennok’s form flickered over dozens of meters.

But Seonjong’s eyes gleamed, not missing Lennok for a single moment as he accelerated at an incredible speed.

“Got you……!!”

The fleeting interval, less than an instant, as Lennok, wreathed in a Black Halo, appeared across space.

Seonjong seized that instant with an Ascendant’s transcendent perception, stretching it infinitely.

He grabbed Lennok as if by the collar and slammed him down.

KWA-AAAAAANG!!!!

Under immense pressure, strong enough to burst even a Dragon-kind’s solid body like a balloon, Lennok’s body was pierced and crushed.

But Maleon didn’t stop, gripping Lennok’s throat and fully chanting Primitive Magic.

Eighth Form - External Method Annihilating Star Cycle

OH-OH-OH-OH-OH-OH!!!!

The starlight flowing through Maleon’s entire body converged at a single point, emitting an enormous light.

Converting Dragon-kind’s unique magic into a heat source, he condensed it in his hand, unleashing a zero-range bombardment.

[Unveiling Star Assembly]

PU-OOOOOOONG!!!!!

A pillar of silver flame exploded from Maleon’s hand, piercing through the outer wall of the Ninth Tribulation and erupting outwards.

The firepower of an Ascendant, shattering and piercing the Ninth Tribulation, which had withstood all battles and impacts until now.

But Seonjong was not satisfied, even after witnessing the devastating destruction he had wrought.

The moment Seonjong, standing with a chillingly hardened expression, roughly spun around.

A Black Line, shimmering like pitch-black darkness, struck his face like a slash.

Creation-Type Unique Magic Property Transformation: Heaven’s Nadir [Black Dissolution: Direct Extremity]

CHWA-AAAK!!

A black line, piercing scales and diagonally engraving itself as if slicing across the sharp head of the dragon.

The instant Seonjong perceived the Direct Extremity, which tore through space at an impossible speed, too fast to react.

As the compression of the Black Line embedded in the silver dragon’s face was released, dozens of Black Lightning bolts contained within it exploded simultaneously.

KWA-AAAAAANG!!!!

“……!!!”

Blackened lightning surged, and Maleon’s massive body lost balance, pushed backward.

The moment the Ascendant’s body faltered under the barrage of Black Lightning, which diagonally sliced and exploded the impact points.

Dozens of Black Lines flashed and struck Maleon’s entire body like slashes.

[Rampage: Black Rhapsody]

KAGAGAGAGAK!!!!

Black Lines, created by compressing black lightning, sharply embedded themselves into the Dragon-kind’s body.

They exploded in quick succession, almost instantaneously, unleashing Black Lightning.

Each time, the Dragon-kind’s scales and flesh couldn’t withstand it, ripping open, shattering, and vanishing.

Yet, staggering and being pushed back, Seonjong endured all the slashes bare-bodied and advanced.

PUBUBUBUBUBUNG!!!

A rampage of slashes composed of Black Lines. Immediately after, the release of compression and the radiating explosions of Black Lightning.

The moment he endured the extreme continuous bombardment of spells that sliced, exploded, and pulverized, and stepped forward.

In Maleon’s hand, starlight violently rotated, becoming a saturation of thermal energy that swept forward.

[Fusion Star Cannon]

KWA-AAAAAAAANG!!!!

Black thunder and silver starlight surged, chaotically mixing from all directions.

Waves of thermal energy and storms of mana raged alternately, incinerating and melting spacetime.

The clash between Primitive Magic, imbued with primeval mystery, and Creation Magic, standing at the precipice of Heaven’s Nadir.

The moment these two magics, standing at the apex and nadir of their respective spellcraft systems, rotated, devouring each other’s mysteries.

“I’ve faced countless Transcendent and monsters before, but…”

A low voice resonated amidst the starlight that filled all directions.

“It’s truly been a long time since I’ve encountered a Transcendent with such a purely high ‘class’.”

HWAAAK!!

Cutting through the starlight, hot as the fires of hell, Lennok emerged, scattering black aura from his eyes.

Behind him, a distorted ring of black light ceaselessly rotated, annihilating all the pouring heat.

Facing Maleon, who watched him, Lennok casually dusted his hands and spoke with an impassive face.

“I see no limits in either your physique or your spellcraft. Does a true upper limit of your abilities simply not exist?”

Maleon Gnosis was not a physical superhuman, but a grand spellcaster wielding ancient Primitive Magic.

However, the Dragon-kind’s astonishing physical and regenerative abilities granted him combat power on par with an equivalent warrior.

As Maleon himself was a spellcaster specialized in combat, combined with Seonjong’s combat experience, a monster that transcended limits in both offense and defense was born.

“That’s rich coming from you, of all spellcasters.”

But Seonjong gave a hollow smile, as if not agreeing with Lennok’s words.

“Has the master of this body already forgotten who he fell into ‘heart-demon’ over?”

“……”

“But indeed, that ‘magic’ rotating behind you can only be called special. I suspected it completely disregarded the laws of spellcraft, being a miracle predicated on destruction, but…”

The dragon’s eyes sank deeply, as if piercing through the distorted halo.

“To create magic out of the concept of dismantling and shattering everything, regardless of matter, spellcraft, or laws… There’s a limit to being overly talented.”

Having clashed spells with Lennok for only a brief moment, Seonjong instantly recognized the principles of Ouroboros.

The destructive ability to dismantle and grind everything that exists without analysis or understanding.

Through this, he understood that Lennok was maintaining an equal footing in their battle.

Dismantling Maleon’s spellcraft, erasing the mana Maleon emitted and the thermal energy being converted.

Even the physical impacts and recoils from clashing with the Dragon-kind’s body were ‘dismantled’ by activating Ouroboros.

“So you’re essentially erasing all damage dealt to you with that one magic. But—”

Seonjong turned his hollow gaze to Lennok.

“Despite wielding such astonishing power, you use your spellcraft as if it were a slash. Or rather, is that how you control an uncontrollable force?”

“……”

He shoots Black Lines, formed by compressing Black Lightning, like slashes, hitting the target.

Since it accelerates beyond spacetime simultaneously with the incantation, it’s virtually an unavoidable spell.

However, Seonjong realized that this method of use was simplistic compared to Ouroboros’s complex principles.

He discerned it as proof that Lennok still couldn’t perfectly control the corrupted Black Lightning.

“You’ve grasped transcendence, but it’s not fully refined. How long do you think you can endure in this battlefield?”

KUGUGUGUGUGU!!!!!

Even at this moment, the external landscape changed minute by minute, stretching at immense speed.

The flames clinging to the outer wall extended their heat to the battlefield where Lennok and Maleon stood, forming an anoxic zone where breathing was impossible.

In an extreme environment where no life could endure for even an instant, Lennok and Maleon utilized their spellcraft to keep each other in check.

“This is a battlefield you created yourself, and a calamity you brought upon yourself.”

Maleon dramatically spread his arms and said.

“At this rate, there’s only one outcome left: your corpse will burn and evaporate before it even reaches the ground. You’ve made a self-destructive move.”

“I never intended to leave the Ninth Tribulation intact outside the Outer Sea from the start.”

Lennok said this, then lowered himself, kneeling on one knee.

As he lightly touched both wrists with his fingers, black blood flowed from beneath his wrists.

“The worst-case scenario in this situation was Kundara being dragged out into the Outer Sea. To prevent that, I had to preemptively change the Ninth Tribulation’s position.”

Lennok spoke, gazing at the black blood dripping from his hand.

“From the moment I manipulated the Ninth Tribulation to fall, Kundara will not drift into the Outer Sea. And…”

Lennok, grasping the blood flowing down his fingers with one hand, stood up.

He met Maleon’s hollow gaze and said.

“Regardless of how this battle ends, my conclusion is already set.”

“……”

He had merely suppressed the Elixir’s toxicity for a while, borrowing Pyeonram’s power, but had not fully stopped it.

Even at this moment, the extreme poison contained within the Elixir was eroding Lennok’s body.

The sensation in his fingertips vanished, and the blood throughout his body circulated, chillingly cold.

A chilling sensation, his entire body hollowly cooling, becoming closer to a corpse than a living human.

Any other spellcaster would have long since gone mad and died as the poison reached their very bones.

Only Lennok’s unwavering consciousness remained, moving this body.

Having gained destructive power by staking his remaining lifespan, Lennok’s allotted time was rapidly running out.

That’s why Lennok intended to lead them both to an inescapable battlefield, before his given time ran out.

“While saving Kundara, you also intend to fulfill Maleon’s plan, and furthermore, seek a conclusion at this very moment?”

Seonjong spoke softly, as if savoring his own words.

“You don’t choose to possess something. Instead, you merely try to embrace all moments under your own causality.”

“……”

“Certainly, that must be the fruit of the transcendent talent that swayed Maleon Gnosis.”

Maleon’s pupils gleamed with unparalleled sharpness.

“The answer you seek lies precisely there.”

Even facing destruction, Lennok neither went mad nor changed.

Embracing the death that consumed his entire body, he stoically advanced towards the end.

Seonjong realized that the wizard’s unchanging path, even at the precipice of the end, fully contained the configuration he sought.

All these actions Lennok had decided upon and carried out were part of the answer he envisioned.

“For a qualified Transcendent is akin to an entity that embodies their own answer.”

In the burning spacetime of the Ninth Tribulation, Seonjong slowly clasped his hands together.

“This must be the true, undeniable moment where your decision and will connect with your answer.”

“……”

Simultaneously with those words, Maleon’s presence began to slowly swell.

Mana surged explosively from within him, filling spacetime immeasurably.

Amidst the violently swirling storm of mana, Seonjong spoke softly.

“Then I shall ascertain what kind of landscape your Root Mindscape depicts.”

KUGWAGWAGWAGWAGWAGWA!!!!!!

The mana radiating from Maleon converged from all directions, transforming into colossal starlight.

Hundreds of stellar lights extended beyond Maleon, past the Ninth Tribulation, even beyond the atmosphere.

A beautiful meteor shower of countless surging starlight, centered around the Ninth Tribulation as it plummeted at immense speed.

This was the incantation of a Level 9 Ascendant, performed by concentrating his mind and forming hand seals.

The spellcraft that would follow next would undoubtedly be a world-altering blow.

Yet Lennok, seeing this, neither checked Maleon nor interfered.

He merely gripped the Black Halo that appeared before him, powerfully drawing up mana.

“You’re not the only one with spellcraft that requires time.”

He held the distorted halo, fully channeling mana.

Lightning, dyed pitch-black, extended from beneath Lennok’s feet, eroding the surrounding spacetime.

JJEO-JJEO-JJEO-JJEO-JJUK!!!!

Blackened lines spread across the Ninth Tribulation’s battlefield, dyeing everything in darkness.

Not a colorless ripple of will-thought spreading to cover spacetime, but a destructive resonance that ground the surroundings with mana.

From the moment he accepted corruption predicated on destruction, the Kaleidoscope could not be fully used.

Lennok’s Kaleidoscope was the power to reflect the possibilities of an unarrived future.

Therefore, the Branching Point of Corruption, which erased the future itself, could not be used simultaneously with other Kaleidoscopes.

However, precisely because it was twisted to this extent, there was a branching point that Lennok could draw forth from within himself.

Even within the Kaleidoscope that reflected infinite possibilities and branching points, it was a heretical Mental Image symbolizing the path Lennok did not take.

As the power of a madman who kills the unkillable, and as the Apostle of the Void who serves no god—

PA-AAAAAAAT!!!!!

The Mental Images of the two spellcasters, projecting and altering the world, whirled in the abyss of the Ninth Tribulation.

Centered around Maleon’s massive body, beautiful starlight and melodies began to play, adjusting the world.

Thousands of meteor showers falling from the atmosphere embraced the plummeting Ninth Tribulation, drawing a dazzling silver Celestial Sphere.

“Space-Thought Domain: Manifest.”

Maleon, with hands clasped, opened his eyes.

“Galaxy Dragon Star Cluster.”

KKIKIKIKIKIK!!!

Almost simultaneously, Lennok’s incantation ended, and a distorted Kaleidoscope appeared.

The moment Lennok unhesitatingly gripped the black-light-rotating Kaleidoscope.

“Domain Deployment.”

Lennok raised his gaze from the darkness.

“Release: Madness-Naked Void Palace.”