Chapter 1131: Showdown (2)
As Freya’s song echoed, her voice spread through the speakers.
The sharply varying melody ceaselessly amplified, extending throughout the stadium.
The mana filling the entire stadium began to resonate and synchronize with her vocal tone.
Woooosh…!!!!
“Wooooahhhh!!!!”
At that alone, spectators everywhere rose from their seats, wildly cheering and leaping.
Each time, the entire stadium trembled and began to vibrate as if it would collapse.
Watching the scene, Lennok murmured.
“So, it’s a Musical Scale Spellcraft that uses song as a medium…”
Freya Kallince’s area-of-effect Musical Scale Spellcraft.
It manipulates frequencies and melodies to resonate mana, synchronizing it with will-thought to produce specific effects.
A medium-type spellcraft activated through sound, boasting an overwhelming range among all existing spellcrafts.
It places everything within a radius of nearly several thousand meters under the influence of her song.
Whooosh!!!
The melody echoing from the sky transformed into a warm, green magical light, falling like rain.
A gentle, soft green rain, like the warmth of nature, fell across the vast stadium, embracing the spectators.
Chiiiik!!!
The green rain that fell onto the Clown’s head soaked his skin and trickled down.
Each time, his wounded and cracked skin began to heal and recover.
“Starting with a rather powerful blessing, I see.”
Seeing his wounds heal, the Clown grinned and waved his lightstick.
“It seems she’s really committed this time.”
Woooosh…!!
The pouring green rain now transformed into a soft, sky-blue breeze.
Hazy cloud-like masses, like cotton candy, spread from the stage, exuding a sweet fragrance.
A warm will-thought, gently stimulating Lennok’s five senses, calmly uplifting his innermost self.
Each time he listened to Freya’s song, his internal mana and natural mana simultaneously resonated, infusing him with power.
It boosted his metabolism, instilled vitality, and made him forget fatigue.
A continuous stream of powerful buffs, so potent that even Lennok, who had rested before coming to Torquepaz, could distinctly feel them.
The harmony of the spellcaster’s vocal tone and melody, building complex harmonies through it.
Various blessings and buffs activated through sound, orchestrated by intricate melodic combinations.
A medium-type spellcraft based on musical talent, requiring all of this to be achieved not through calculation, but through innate intuition.
[Aahhh-aahh-aahh-]
Each time the song changed, Freya’s humming continued, and buffs layered upon layer accumulated over the stadium.
The spectators’ cheers grew more intense, and they began to sing along with her.
People sang along with Freya’s song.
Each time, Freya’s song grew stronger, adding more blessings.
It accumulated upon the bodies of the spectators gathered in the stadium, wishing them well-being.
“So, this is the efficiency a powerful Musical Scale Spellcaster can achieve when fully focusing on buffs.”
Lennok, watching from his VIP seat, quietly marveled.
“Remarkable. To wield such power with just a song…”
Lennok had witnessed Freya’s spellcraft previously at the Well of the Codex, when dealing with the warlords’ superhumans.
Back then, Freya had used her humming from thousands of meters away to turn the tide of battle in her allies’ favor.
An astonishing precision that allowed her to accurately distinguish between allies and enemies outside the battlefield, applying buffs and debuffs selectively.
However, by forgoing spellcraft control and focusing entirely on buffs, Musical Scale Spellcraft alone could achieve this level of power.
As she resonated with the audience and amplified the sound, the spellcraft’s power increased, and the blessings grew stronger.
Freya, singing at the heart of the melody, breathing with a hundred thousand spectators.
At that sight, even Lennok, who had been analyzing the Musical Scale Spellcraft, momentarily stopped thinking and fell silent.
“…”
It wasn’t merely for the power of her Musical Scale Spellcraft that he admired and loved her.
It was because he loved the songs she sang, because he yearned for the existence of Freya, the songstress.
It was because he loved Freya Kallince’s songs and music that even her Musical Scale Spellcraft was so powerful.
Why Freya was called a global diva, why her fame was renowned across the continent.
Lennok felt he could vaguely understand it just by watching this one performance.
And also the fact that the audience gathered here was enjoying this moment beyond measure.
“Victor.”
As if sensing Lennok’s mood, the Clown called out to him.
The Clown, shaking his body with a lightstick in each hand, spoke nonchalantly.
“Shall I do it?”
“…”
“The Police Chief has left his seat. Twenty minutes until the break ends and the performance resumes. He’s probably planning to conclude the deal by then.”
The Clown shrugged, pointing to the empty seat on one side of the VIP section.
“I’ve heard Freya’s songs many times. If Victor wants to enjoy the performance, I won’t stop him.”
The Clown winked, handing Lennok a lightstick.
“I’ll handle it quietly. You can leave the cheering for Freya to me in the meantime.”
“No.”
Lennok adjusted his mask, ignored the lightstick the Clown offered, and rose from his seat.
“I have no intention of pushing my work onto others. I’ll do it myself.”
“Oh, are we still strangers?”
Ignoring the Clown’s nonsense, Lennok glanced away.
He remembered the face of the Police Chief, who had been sitting in the distant VIP section.
An old man with a kind face and snowy white hair. He had already recorded his mana pattern and presence.
By now, all the other members were probably moving for this very moment.
In this situation, Lennok had no intention of remaining alone to listen to Freya’s song.
“There will be no signal. Match the timing yourself.”
“What words are needed between us?”
The Clown grinned, waving his lightstick.
“Once you’ve made your move, leave the rest to me.”
“…”
The Clown’s words were entirely untrustworthy, yet ironically, that’s precisely what made them reliable.
Lennok nodded, then turned without hesitation and exited the VIP section.
He slipped through the crowd of people carrying snacks and swiftly headed towards the stadium’s inner corridor.
As soon as he opened the door marked “Authorized Personnel Only” and stepped inside, a security guard in a suit approached him.
“You cannot pass this way—”
Piiing!!
The moment a black mana thread pierced his temple, the guard collapsed, unconscious.
The unconscious guard’s body, pulled by a faint mana thread, vanished.
He had pre-arranged with Agneta to move the unconscious individuals outside the stadium.
Lennok bypassed the unconscious guard, used Flicker to vault over the stair railing, and headed to the stadium’s basement.
Whoosh, whoosh!!
Chiiiiik-!!
A power room densely packed with intricately intertwined pipes, pressure control levers, and gauges.
Click!!
As he reached across the power room, a precisely engineered mechanical device landed in Lennok’s hand.
A pre-set mana-repulsion igniter he had bought from Machina’s underground black market but never had a reason to use.
Sssshhhk!!
Pipe connections, lever handles, gauge buttons, and pipe inlets.
He attached explosives to the vulnerable connection points and regulated the detonation time with mana threads.
Boom! Boom!!
Dudududung!!
Violent drum beats echoed from the ceiling.
Freya’s faint lyrics, overlapping with the cheers.
In a strange silence, as if isolated from the festive noise.
Lennok, manipulating mana threads and extending his will-thought throughout the stadium’s internal facilities, spoke.
“Davi.”
[Trigger inserted. Activation word set.]
Davi, who had been diligently wagging her tail and focusing on calculations from within Lennok’s robe, spoke.
[Five minutes until full hack of Torquepaz Stadium’s facility control system.]
What Pandemonium expected from Lennok was to manipulate the facilities with Manipulation Spellcraft to cause a terrorist attack.
How to turn this city upside down had already been decided.
All that remained was to disrupt the concert according to schedule.
Before he knew it, Lennok had arrived near the waiting room located directly beneath the stage.
[STAFF ONLY]
The voices of Freya’s staff could be heard chattering beyond the door with the red sign.
“-Only fifteen minutes until the break is over. Hurry and prepare!!”
“-Bring water and supplements. Lay out the costumes in advance!”
“-Bring the microphone batteries. Tell them to fix the speaker power leak immediately!!”
Preparations were in full swing to greet Freya, who was about to come down for her break.
“-She’s coming!!”
“-Get ready. We’re moving right away!”
Bang!!
The moment Freya descended from the stage, Lennok also threw open the door.
Colorful stage costumes hung everywhere in the cleanly tidied waiting room.
Dozens of staff members frantically moved about, cleaning and carrying items.
People exchanging opinions in real-time while adjusting sound and lighting.
Amidst them, Freya emerged, sweeping back her hair.
She was soaked in sweat from singing non-stop under the intense stage lights.
Yet, her eyes, far from losing their vitality, quickly scanned the waiting room.
Flash.
Lennok and Freya’s gazes met simultaneously at the door, and as Lennok took a step, he vanished.
Confirming this, Freya immediately raised her head and said.
“I want to be alone for a bit. I’ll be in the lounge, so don’t look for me.”
“Huh? But there are still sound adjustment issues we need to discuss…”
“Five minutes is enough. Is that alright?”
Freya, guided by the staff, entered the lounge.
Seeing this, Lennok also moved directly towards the lounge.
Flash!
He used Flicker to enter the lounge where Freya had gone.
Freya, who had been pacing and biting her nails, turned towards Lennok.
“You brought it, right? It’ll be a real disaster if you didn’t!”
“Here it is.”
Lennok spread open the inside of his robe and set Chebien’s puppet onto the sofa.
“Ugh.”
An intricately crafted puppet, indistinguishable from Freya, slumped onto the sofa.
Freya made a disgusted expression as she looked at the puppet’s closed-eyed face.
“That creepy guy’s taste. He really made it exactly like me, didn’t he?”
“There’s no time. Let’s start immediately.”
The agreement made just before the concert began was simple.
Use Chebien’s puppet to switch out Freya, and Agneta would manipulate the puppet to act as Freya.
However, since Agneta couldn’t use Musical Scale Spellcraft, she would be immediately exposed once the concert resumed.
The operation’s execution time was immediately after the break ended and Freya’s puppet ascended the stage.
With a hundred thousand spectators watching Freya’s puppet, they would unleash a terrorist attack, plunging the city into pandemonium.
“Agneta. Are you ready?”
The moment Lennok spoke, calling Agneta’s name.
Bang!!
The lounge door swung wide open, revealing the scene outside.
Freya flinched in surprise and whipped her head around.
“Diana! I said I wanted to be alone for about five minutes—”
“Oh dear.”
An elderly gentleman in a vintage fedora stood holding the doorknob.
The white-haired old man adjusted his fedora with an awkward smile.
“It seems there was already a guest. My apologies.”
“…The Police Chief?”
Lennok, recognizing the old man’s face, murmured from behind his mask.
The person Hylaea had so earnestly cautioned him about, the one to be most wary of in this operation.
The Police Chief, who had left his VIP seat earlier during the concert, now stood at the lounge door.
“You don’t seem like the kind of talent one would find on such a stage.”
The Chief asked, gazing at Lennok with a benevolent smile.
“Perhaps, young man, you too have come to abduct Freya Kallince, just like me?”
“…”
The air froze solid with a single word from the Chief.
“Wha-what…”
A flustered Freya stammered, slowly backing away.
She, too, must have sensed an unspeakable danger from the old man before her.
But instead of answering, Lennok looked past the old man, at what lay beyond the door.
A thick scent of blood flowed in the moment the old man opened the door.
An eerie silence, so profound that the earlier boisterous atmosphere felt like a lie.
Lennok realized what had happened outside the lounge and turned his body.
“I see. I wondered why things got complicated at this precise moment—”
A massacre of unknown cause. An inexplicable atrocity.
The chilling sense of wrongness he felt upon encountering it, and simultaneously, the stigmata throbbing on his right wrist.
If the Priestess’s Authority, which the Priestess had gifted Lennok, was reacting, there could only be one reason.
Lennok, looking at the old man, spoke with a chilling voice from behind his mask.
“So, an Apostle of the Cult has latched onto this affair.”
“Ah, indeed. My introduction is rather late.”
The old man slowly brought a hand to his face and said.
“I am Eldrich, the Fifth Apostle of the Cult. If you don’t mind, would you yield that Musical Scale Spellcaster to me?”
At the same time. The VIP section Lennok had left.
The atmosphere in the audience, somewhat emptier with the arrival of the break.
Someone sat next to the Clown, who was looking down at the stage with an expressionless face.
“So you were here.”
A middle-aged man sat casually in the seat Lennok had vacated, leaning back comfortably.
The man, leaning against the seatback with a low sigh, spoke to the Clown.
“They say you’re a master of illusions, and your reputation holds true. Even knowing your description, it took me a while to recognize you.”
“Hoo…”
The Clown glanced sideways, a peculiar smile on his face.
“How amusing. Have you decided to give each of your followers one of those cute tentacles these days?”
The man with the expressionless face next to him. Outwardly, he had an ordinary, unremarkable appearance.
Yet, beneath his chin, grotesque tentacles, like an octopus’s legs, squirmed.
“It’s been quite some time since we collaborated with you at the Well, by His message.”
But the man, unconcerned by the reaction, continued calmly.
“I, too, have no desire to confront a big shot who dealt with the World-Soul in a place like this. So I’ll say this only once.”
The Eighth Apostle of the Guido Cult. Camlodal slowly rolled his eyes to look at the Clown.
“The Gate, located beneath Kabahim Royal Capital, will be taken by our Cult. Retreat.”
“Hmm. I’m not quite sure what you’re talking about.”
The Clown grinned, slowly turning his gaze.
“How about I rip out those octopus legs first, and then listen again?”