Chapter 1152: Demise’s Fate (3)
KABOOM!!!
The underground cavern shook as the gigantic Gillian fell.
Research facilities collapsed, and ice coffins trembled, unable to withstand the impact.
Knights gripped their swords, emanating cold bloodlust, while Aronbaiger Kabahim was frozen in the embrace of the Frost Giant.
Hoo…!!
The breath escaping Aron’s lips froze instantly, turning into a cold blizzard.
His entire frozen body glowed like a jewel through the frost.
Thousands of ice coffins stored throughout this vast cavern.
In their center, the king stood, drawing in all the preserved talents and mana at once.
“In the journey toward a great goal, a certain degree of sacrifice and deceit is indispensable.”
Crack, crack…!!
Each time Aron spoke, the ice covering his cheeks cracked and shattered.
“However, I must admit that this time, it went a bit too far.”
“…”
“The lies I forcibly wove for you were as precarious as a sandcastle, like walking on a blade’s edge every moment.”
Aron slowly opened his eyes and murmured in a languid voice.
“Indeed, such a strategy does not suit me.”
“It’s quite a talent to confess to lying in such an elaborate, roundabout way.”
Lennok scoffed, stepping forward.
Counting the number of knights drawing their swords one by one amidst the ruins, Lennok asked,
“You knew everything from the beginning but pretended not to. Perhaps you have a talent for acting?”
“Wrong. This is not a confession of my mistake, but rather a reflection.”
Aron closed his eyes.
“My fault as a monarch for failing to truly see a man like you. Indeed, it is due to my lack of virtue.”
“…”
“Knowing you were from a cursed bloodline, I still trusted you, allowing you to devote yourself to the same goal, leading to this moment. All current events are my responsibility.”
CRACK!!
WHOOSH!!!
With a raised frozen arm, fragments of frost shattered into pieces.
Aron, looking down at Lennok through the scattering ice shards, said quietly,
“So, it must be my responsibility to now pick up the pieces of today’s failure.”
‘The atmosphere…’
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!!!
A frozen voice and a somber expression. All of it was chillingly heavy and dull, as if he were a completely different person.
His gestures and tone. His will and gaze. Every movement and will-thought seemed to press down with intense pressure.
Was even his emotional attitude towards the Dead God merely a deception crafted to face Lennok?
If the intangible concept of a king’s dignity were to be condensed and materialized, would it feel like this?
“Here, in the royal treasury, your talent and existence shall be ‘preserved,’ laying a bridge to eternity.”
The moment Lennok thought that, pulling up his mana, Aron’s raised hand pointed at him.
In the instant he realized that Aron’s index finger was aimed precisely at his heart.
Aron, looking at Lennok with sunken eyes, declared,
“You, too, shall atone for today’s transgressions by offering your cursed body and mind.”
CRASH!!
One of the ice coffins floating behind Aron shattered, and a sharp harpoon plummeted.
The elongated harpoon, imbued with an oceanic blue glow, spun counter-clockwise, accelerating.
In a fleeting moment, surpassing sound, before Lennok could react, it attempted to pierce him.
“No, that won’t do.”
A giant hand appeared before Lennok, seizing the falling harpoon in mid-air.
CRACK!
KAGAGAGAK!!!
The harpoon, caught in the giant’s hand, spun furiously, vibrating as if to grind his palm away.
The friction generated intense sparks within his grip, continuously scattering loud noise.
But Gillian didn’t even look at the harpoon he had caught, fixing his gaze on Aron.
“You can’t just twist your words like that, big brother.”
“Gillian.”
“You froze so many people, not letting them die, and then, greedy for a god’s power, you dragged in a thief?”
Gillian sneered, looking down at Aron.
“Is that insane idea of resurrecting an Ascendant to exploit them truly something a king of this nation should do?”
“What is preserved here are somatic bodies of criminals who defied the royal family, prisoners of war from the Central Front, and priests of the cult.”
Aron spoke calmly, despite Gillian’s accusations.
“Their very existence was a sin, so using their talents for the prosperity of the royal family is their atonement.”
“You also froze civilians with your power, didn’t you? You just didn’t use them because they were useless.”
Gillian’s lips trembled.
“Aron, what you’re doing now is human sacrifice. How is it any different from the cult…!!!”
“It is no different. I, too, admitted as much.”
ROOOOOOAR…!!!
As Aron raised his hand, weapons made of ice crystals surged upward.
“No matter how much I strive, no matter how strong I become… the simple truth is that alone, I cannot even be a ripple in this world.”
CRACKLE CRACKLE CRACKLE!!
Upon the ice-crafted weapons, the talents of the somatic bodies were added, transforming them into weapons imbued with unique abilities.
Curved swords with patterns. Greatswords carved with screaming faces. Blood-red long spears. Guandaos with serpent heads.
Replicas of Forbidden Armaments, transcending the realm of mere artifacts, spun in the air according to Aron’s will.
Using the royal family’s bloodline ability to ‘preserve’ humans, their talents and origins were processed into royal assets.
All the weapons thus created were the property of the monarch ruling Kabahim, and thus, his weapons.
Surrounded by countless ice weapons, Aron said,
“If the cult seeks salvation by relying on a demise that has not yet come, I shall bring forth the power that erased even that demise, to this future.”
Aron whispered lowly,
“[The Gate] beyond which the Dead God’s Remains slumber is proof that Ban-gung himself dreamed of it. Therefore, only I can inherit that will and thus–”
“Aron! You crazy bastard—!!”
Gillian raised his voice, pulling up his mana, and Aron lowered his hand.
As the giant’s fist rotated, the Frost Giant simultaneously extended its arm behind Aron.
The two giants simultaneously swung their fists at each other, dyeing the massive cavern white.
KABOOOOM!!!!
The entire cavern tilted violently, shaking as if splitting in half.
Amidst the cold air and mist that spread thickly with the explosion, Lennok’s figure darted out.
Gillian’s body, battered and bruised, hung limply in the shadow robe.
Lennok, hiding among the ruins, tossed the trembling Gillian onto the ground.
“Gah…!!”
“You weren’t bad as a meat shield. Thanks to you, I gained some time.”
The clash of physical forces when the Frost Giant and Gillian swung at each other almost simultaneously.
It was Gillian’s defeat, as he had been exhausted even before escaping, but he hadn’t lost his wit until the end.
The moment he realized he was losing the power struggle, he absorbed the impact with his entire body and simultaneously released his gigantification.
He widened the area of impact to minimize damage, obscured vision, and created time to escape.
Perhaps because he belonged to the Titan Legion, he knew exactly how to act in an unfavorable fight.
Thanks to this, Lennok also managed to get a brief respite in this cavern filled with enemies.
“Cough!! Damn it… So, what are you going to do?”
“The amplification rate of Aronbaiger’s power is higher than I expected.”
Lennok said, glancing through the thick mist.
Aron’s figure, leaning back, coldly frozen, in the embrace of the Frost Giant.
But Lennok could feel the uncontrollable surge of power revolving within him, as vividly as if he could grasp it.
“He’s receiving almost unlimited mana and will-thought support through the somatic bodies preserved here. Even hundreds of external mana cores wouldn’t be this much.”
SWISH!!
Lennok pulled mana threads from between his fingers, wrapping them around his wrists, and said,
“If I’m seriously going to kill him, I’ll have to change locations, and even if I succeed, I won’t gain much.”
Aronbaiger’s power: preserving humans with ice-elemental bloodline ability, then drawing out their mana and will-thought like weapons.
As the monarch of Kabahim, his right to use royal assets combined with his innate talent for controlling all things, creating a transcendent synergy.
It was the king’s authority to claim the entire underground cavern as his Domain, imbuing all matter and concepts present here with power.
Even Lennok would have to go all out to kill Aron in that state.
“…Are you going to fight?”
“There’s no need to necessarily settle it with a head-on power struggle.”
Lennok replied, raising his gaze from beyond his mask.
“I’m going to completely smash this place and annihilate the knights. Where’s the spatial transfer magic circle you mentioned?”
“The… research facility… cough!! It’s behind it. The opposite side of… what I collapsed…”
Gillian coughed weakly, raising his hand.
Gillian looked at his trembling hand, clicked his tongue, and sank to the ground.
“Damn it… I can’t move. I can only use Miniature Universe a few more times.”
“…”
“…Are you going to leave me?”
“If you get caught here and become Aron’s ‘weapon,’ things will only get harder for me.”
Lennok sneered, wrapping a mana thread around Gillian’s arm.
“For now, you’ll have to do your best as my meat shield.”
“Heh heh, a meat shield. You bastard…”
Gillian, pulling on the mana thread, stood up and laughed.
“Just you wait until we escape, I’ll beat you until you beg for your life.”
SWISH!!
Ignoring Gillian, Lennok firmly gripped and pulled the mana threads wrapped around both his wrists.
He strung the mana threads between the collapsed cavern fragments and the ice coffins embedded in the walls, forming supports.
Mana threads were strung between collapsed cavern fragments and ice coffins embedded in the walls, forming supports.
Lennok, hanging his body like a bowstring using the tension and elasticity of the mana threads, nodded.
“If you don’t want your tongue cut out, grit your teeth.”
“I’ll do it without you telling me—damn it!!”
WHOOSH!!!
Gillian’s complaining eyes elongated, and everything turned into lines of light.
An incredible acceleration, so fast that even Gillian, an 8-level physical superhuman, missed the reaction.
The moment Lennok, with Gillian attached, burst through the thick mist, the knights moved instantly.
“Over there!!”
“They’re moving along the cavern wall. Pursue them!!”
“Converge from this side. Block them!!”
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!!!
Knights in heavy armor sprinted vertically up the walls as if it were nothing.
They used mana to accelerate, closing in while swinging their weapons.
KAGAGAGAK!!!!
Blades plunged into the ice coffins embedded in the wall, reaching Gillian’s toes as he accelerated.
The exploding ice coffins, containing preserved humans, scattered condensed cold energy.
“Damn it, was I really just a meat shield?!”
As the terrified Gillian flailed in mid-air, deflecting some of the incoming blades, Lennok, still accelerating, hooked mana threads into the knights’ armor, changing direction.
He then swung his hand, slamming the charging knights into the cavern wall and grinding them away.
CRUNCH!!!
“Aargh!!”
“Ugh, ugh…”
A gruesome sight: Lennok accelerating around the ice cavern, turning pursuing knights into mangled flesh.
Smashed armor rattled down the frozen cavern wall.
“Crazy bastard. Kabahim’s knights, so easily…!!”
Ignoring Gillian, who was aghast at the overwhelming spectacle, Lennok turned and sped up.
Immediately afterward, dozens of ice weapons rained down on Lennok.
KABOOOM!!!
Aron’s chilling gaze, stretching his hand from within the ice at the cavern’s center, watched them.
As soon as he detected Lennok’s movement, he immediately launched an interception.
But Lennok ignored the barrage Aron unleashed and veered off.
SWISHHHH!!!
A steep dive that even the barely pursuing knights couldn’t react to instantly.
Lennok’s figure, plunging vertically into the research facility ruins, sped through the debris at incredible velocity.
Flicker flicker flicker!!!
“……!!!”
Sharp rebar and concrete fragments whizzed past Gillian’s eyes, nose, and cheeks.
Even a superhuman’s body would have flesh torn off if hit by such obstacles at this speed.
The knights watched in horror as Gillian gritted his teeth, unable to even scream.
“How can he move through such gaps at that speed…!!”
“Does a Manipulation Spellcaster truly have no limits?!!”
“Everyone, get out of the way!”
“I’ll handle it.”
The commanders of the Ten Royal Knights of Rectitude, Florian and Albian, simultaneously pulled up mana and activated their Miniature Universes.
Florian’s flexible sword accelerated like a snake, chasing Lennok, while Albian’s greatsword, plunged into the ground, caused an earthquake that toppled debris.
SWISHHHH!!!
CRASH CRASH CRASH!!!
“You bastards!!”
Gillian, with his right arm grotesquely enlarged, pulled on the flexible sword and kicked away the debris falling overhead.
Gillian’s toughness was evident as he repeatedly gigantified, enduring the knights’ slashes and Miniature Universes with his bare body.
Accelerating precariously through the narrow gaps of the ruins, Gillian identified their position and yelled,
“Over there!!”
FLASH!!!
Behind the half-destroyed research facility. Where an emergency exit sign should have been.
A transfer magic circle, originally prepared for evacuating research facility personnel, glowed with a faint light.
Following Gillian’s words, Lennok extended his mana sense and, in that instant, flinched at a terrifying presence.
“……!!!”
Lennok had completed a half-turn, reaching the deepest part of the cavern’s opposite side.
Aron’s figure, rising from the center of the ice cradle, radiating pure white cold.
Crack, crack…!!
Each forced movement, each turn of his cracking body, brought an eerie sense of déjà vu.
All of Aron’s will and actions seemed to collectively point to Lennok’s death, warning and confirming it.
CLANG!!
Aron’s hand, lightly lowering and turning, gripped an elongated spear shaft in a reverse hold.
There was no time to even touch the transfer magic circle, which was right in front of them, to activate it.
The moment Lennok swerved with all his might, expelling his remaining mana in the opposite direction, Aron’s arm vanished from its spot.
Whoosh—
Without a sound, a pure white light spread wide, sweeping past Lennok’s eyes.
The flash, surging diagonally towards the ground, pierced through walls and ceiling, ascending endlessly.
It evaporated half of the underground cavern, clearing a path to the surface.
KABOOOOMMMMM!!!!
The magnificent roar echoed a beat too late. The ground shook as if in an earthquake, and a pillar of light soared into the night sky.
Even Gillian, who had tumbled with Lennok to the transfer magic circle, gaped.
“You… crazy…”
The area obliterated by Aron’s single spear throw spanned kilometers.
If it hadn’t been thrown from underground towards the surface, tens of thousands of citizens near the royal capital would have been massacred like insects.
“This isn’t the time to lose your mind, you know.”
“Huh?”
Thud!
At that moment, Lennok kicked Gillian in the back, pushing him forward.
As Gillian tumbled weakly forward, the transfer magic circle’s light enveloped his figure.
Only then did Gillian, understanding Lennok’s intention, whip around with a horrified expression.
“Thief, are you crazy?!! Why…!!!”
“You idiot, ignorant of spellcraft, wouldn’t know, but I’ve already finished analyzing the transfer magic circle.”
Lennok, retrieving his mana threads, wrapped the remaining strands around his fingers and replied,
“That’s an artifact only usable by the Kabahim royal family. It wasn’t even something prepared to evacuate research facility personnel in the first place.”
“Wait, you mean…!!!”
“If you understand, get lost, you deadweight.”
Lennok smiled from behind his mask.
“I still have something to do here.”
“Thief—”
FLASH!!!
Without even finishing his sentence, Gillian vanished along with the transfer magic circle.
Lennok slowly turned his gaze from the magic circle, which had fulfilled its function and lost its light.
“…I don’t know what to say.”
CLANG!!
Albian stood with his greatsword. Lyell glared at Lennok, covered in blood. Uzel forced a bitter smile.
Behind them, hundreds of knights formed ranks, surrounding Lennok.
“Should I thank you for saving His Grace the Grand Duke?”
“No need for greetings.”
Lennok replied, rubbing his wrist.
“I activated the magic circle to conceal a signal.”
“…A signal?”
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE…!!
SWOOOOOSH!!!!
The sound of water resonated above the knights’ heads, and simultaneously, the underground cavern shook violently, a surging sensation.
Florian’s face instantly changed color as she caught the scent of water, and an immense volume of water poured into the cavern.
KABOOOOM!!!
“This can’t be.”
Albian, finally understanding Lennok’s intention, murmured with a hardened expression.
“You didn’t… interfere with the underground sewage system in the midst of all that…!!!”
“I flooded the entire fortress, including this underground cavern and the prison.”
Lennok smiled, slowly raising both hands.
“Soon, all the sewage systems near the fortress will collapse. If that happens, the plan to open the [Back Door] won’t be able to proceed.”
“…”
Aron’s ability to observe the [Back Door] with his Talent for Duality was only possible around this fortress.
That’s why Lennok sent a signal to Davi in the fortress, ordering him to make the sewage system run wild.
Knowing that if the sewage system collapsed, the original plan to open the [Back Door] wouldn’t work normally.
“You never intended to escape from here in the first place.”
Florian murmured with a chilling expression, watching the water pour down from above.
“You meant to completely ruin His Majesty’s plan…!!!”
KABOOOOM!!!!
Before she could finish, Lennok’s figure plunged into the pouring water and vanished.
Ice coffins shattered and scattered everywhere. The ice-elemental bloodline ability, unleashed, raged within the destroyed cavern.
The immense torrent of water, pouring from the ceiling, met the cold air filling the cavern and instantly froze.
“…Bloodline.”
On Aron’s frozen face, a faint flicker of anger appeared for the first time.
The ice, its volume rapidly expanding, surged above the underground cavern, vertically piercing the fortress.
A colossal ice storm exploded from within the fortress, obliterating the surrounding terrain.
KABOOOOMMMMM!!!!
Splash, splash…!!
Late at night. The moonlight grew dim amidst the clouds.
At the unnamed estuary dock where the river turned into waves.
A black figure, soaking wet, drifted downstream with the current.
“…”
The shadow, floating as if dead, slowly moved an arm, stirring the water.
He weakly brushed his hand across his face, revealing a shining obsidian mask, wet from the water.
Lennok leaned against the breakwater, tilting his head back, letting out a low sigh.
“…Managed to escape here, at least.”
After blowing up the sewage system near the fortress and freezing the entire underground cavern.
Lennok hid in the ice explosion that ripped apart the fortress and fled downstream to the estuary.
His mana, which had been full when he arrived at the fortress, was now greatly depleted after repeatedly using Forbidden Armaments.
He thought there was no need to confront the rampaging Aronbaiger and the other knights head-on at that point.
After doing a mana sense scan while drifting here, it seemed he had successfully evaded pursuit, but—
“Now, what shall I do…?”
With the plan to open the [Back Door] at the fortress having failed, Aron had only one option left.
He would move to formally open [The Gate] beneath the royal capital and enter the sanctuary.
If so, Lennok also had to return to the royal capital immediately and join Pandemonium.
By now, the other members, led by The Clown, must have also initiated their actions.
As Lennok thought this, attempting to stand up.
“They said if I fished at this dock, you might come. Indeed.”
A voice grabbed his robe and pulled Lennok’s body directly from the breakwater.
SWISH!!
“Isn’t it quite a sham that a Seer would point you in a direction they themselves couldn’t foresee?”
“…You are.”
A middle-aged man who was fishing near the dock in the middle of the night.
The man, wearing a conical hat and sitting cross-legged barefoot, smiled at Lennok.
“You’re not the type of person that Illusionist would like, yet surprisingly, you’re quite dispassionate in such matters.”
“…What did you say?”
An outsider who calmly addressed Lennok, mentioning a Seer and an Illusionist.
A capable individual who could casually fish up Lennok, who had concealed his presence in the estuary.
Lennok, quickly ruling out various possibilities in his mind, spoke.
“Surely….”
A member whose name had been mentioned even before [The Gate] conquest operation began.
One of Pandemonium’s executives, who had not appeared until his arrival in Kabahim—
“Are you… The Fisherman?”
“Great Apostle.”
“I know.”
A field shrouded in darkness.
The Second Apostle replied before the priest, who had quietly approached from behind, could even speak.
“Camlodal’s task seems to have run into trouble. If it’s about the Northern Continent, is it concerning the deceased Outer God?”
“…”
“The Cold Comet… I think that was its name. It’s not a god worshipped by our cult, so I don’t know much about it.”
Though the cult adheres to a doctrine of worshipping myriad gods, not all demises and Outer Gods are fully revered by the cult.
On the contrary, quite a few among them were displeased by the cult’s faith, or simply ignored it.
The Outer God, the Cold Comet, who crashed and died on the Northern Continent, was one such entity for the cult.
Thus, the reason Camlodal was now attempting to retrieve its remains was understandable, but—
“Is he trying to rewind the First Apostle’s Time Seal to forcibly release the confinement? The possibility itself seems quite high, but…”
The young man rested his chin on his hand, gazing at the dark field.
“Still, I think I need to witness the prelude to the conflict that will unfold here with my own eyes.”
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE…!!!
A deep darkness approached from beyond the endless field.
Black ships surged from the gloom, supported by Dark Giants.
On those vessels, the figure of the ‘black wizard,’ so disfigured his face was unrecognizable.
“A confrontation between one who failed to challenge ascension and one who chose not to.”
The Second Apostle pushed up his glasses, tilting his head back with a smile.
“Since the Third World came, there have been almost no battles of this magnitude throughout the centuries.”
“…Transcendents…”
“The worst event to occur on the Central Front is not far off now.”
The young man’s amiable eyes shone eerily.
“The Nether King enters Jinwa’s Paradise Lost.”