Chapter 1167: Fate of Demise (18)
“Wrong.”
The cruise ship, having sailed near the Arctic Ocean, had crashed into an unknown island and stopped.
The Conjunction Spell Master, who had been staring indifferently at the ship’s keel, stood up and shook their head.
“The framework supporting the ship’s weight is broken. Repairing it like this is impossible.”
“What?”
Freya frowned deeply.
“Hey, just patch it up roughly with your spellcraft. We still need to ride that back, don’t we?”
“My spellcraft is the product of analysis, refined to the point where it can fuse cellular tissue, based on a precise understanding of the human body.”
The Conjunction Spell Master brushed their hands and replied.
“I have no desire to use my spellcraft on such greasy scrap metal. I refuse.”
“It’s not that you don’t want to use it; you can’t, can you?”
The Clown teased the Conjunction Spell Master as if he’d been waiting.
“Don’t you need an understanding of the target or structural analysis to use Conjunction Spellcraft? It seems your knowledge of ships is quite lacking, perhaps?”
“You’re mistaken. I could weld such simple metal with my eyes closed.”
The Conjunction Spell Master frowned, annoyed.
“However, if I force it together and it breaks down in the middle of the sea, those without ability would simply drown.”
“…”
“It doesn’t matter to me, but could you all swim hundreds of kilometers back to land?”
“Let’s stop this pointless debate and start moving…”
Chebien’s puppet twisted its head and spoke.
“There are plenty of ways to repair a ship… The Director must be waiting…”
“Hmm, the ship’s damage is more severe than I thought…”
The Clown pretended to ponder for a moment, then chuckled and spun around.
“Well, if it comes down to it, couldn’t Agneta just hold the broken keel? Let’s leave immediately.”
“No. I won’t…”
Leaving Agneta’s faint grumbling behind, they moved towards the island.
A massive island, with a colossal shadow spread out like wings.
Its center rose high like a mountain, giving it the appearance of a volcanic region from afar.
“The shadow wings enveloping the island pierce through its center and span outwards on both sides.”
“Do we have to walk all the way there to meet the Director?”
The scattered members walked across the wide sandy beach, each heading towards the distant shadow.
As they entered the dense forest, overgrown with palm trees and vines, a muggy humidity enveloped them.
“Ugh, it’s hot… humid… I feel awful…”
“This is strange.”
Soryu spoke with a grim expression from behind Freya, whose face had instantly crumpled.
“Just moments ago, we were sailing near the Arctic Ocean. Yet, this island’s environment is hotter than a tropical region. In that case…”
“It means there’s a powerful magical beast or monster inhabiting this place, strong enough to alter the surrounding environment and climate.”
Lennok replied, scanning the forest.
“It’s not the influence of an artifact or spellcraft; there’s no magic or spiritual power. This is purely heat from an environmental change.”
The presence of a magical beast powerful enough to completely change the island’s climate and environment.
He had heard such creatures inhabit rugged, remote lands untouched by humans, or hidden realms imbued with leylines, but he had never actually seen one.
Could the Director’s presence here also be partly related to the island’s environment?
“If we’re unlucky, we might have to fight a magical beast before even meeting the Director. Victor, can you handle it?”
“Why are you asking me that?”
Lennok cast a chilling gaze at the Clown from behind his mask.
“You should do as you did in the Royal Capital of Kabahim. Did you forget how to fight in the meantime?”
“Killing people isn’t difficult, but large magical beasts are just a hassle. Wouldn’t it be faster if Victor used his Domain, like he did in the Royal Capital?”
“…Domain?”
At his words, all the members’ gazes turned to Lennok simultaneously.
Not only Freya and Chebien, but even Soryu and the Conjunction Spell Master reacted with surprise.
“You used it in the Royal Capital, something you didn’t even use at the Well?”
“My Domain is a power that requires specific conditions, so it’s not an ability I can unleash anytime.”
Lennok replied casually and walked forward.
“It’s difficult to handle and, in some cases, less effective than not using it at all. I have no intention of using it in a place like this, so don’t expect anything.”
“Huh, you say that, but haven’t you shown several utterly unbelievable abilities?”
The Clown pushed aside the bushes in front of Lennok and tilted his head.
“It’s not unusual for a Trait-type Spellcaster to impose various restrictions to deploy their Domain, but even considering that, your power is unusually bizarre.”
“…”
“To hear that Illusionist speak this way, my interest is piqued.”
The Conjunction Spell Master stared intently at Lennok from behind.
“Trait-type Domains often differ vastly in form and nature compared to other Domains. Is your Domain also of such a nature?”
“I don’t know why you’d think I’d tell you that.”
Lennok turned to the Conjunction Spell Master with a chilling gaze.
“If you’re curious, why don’t you unleash your own Domain and check for yourself?”
“My Domain is not an ability I can control and use at will.”
The Conjunction Spell Master replied nonchalantly.
“To be precise, it’s more like an ‘impulse.’ I don’t know if it would be helpful in combat, and if I unleashed it here and now, everyone would die.”
“…”
Was that why the Conjunction Spell Master split their left and right brain at the First Gate, risking their Domain being sealed?
Lennok inadvertently learned why that battle was possible, but he ignored it and moved on.
Behind the three spellcasters walking ahead, the other members made disgusted faces.
“To discuss Domains so casually like that, it’s a strange feeling.”
“Heh heh, revealing one’s spellcraft information so carelessly. It’s nothing but lunatics…”
“Didn’t Victor not say anything specific?”
Hearing Agneta’s bewildered counter-question, Lennok stopped.
“We’ve arrived. This is the place.”
ROOOOOOOAR!!!!!
In the center of the dense, humid forest, permeated with scorching heat, a colossal sphere of shadow rotated.
Above the house-sized sphere of shadow, magnificent shadow wings stretched across the island’s center to both sides.
As the shadow wings overlapped, a black pillar seemed to pierce the island and slowly rotate.
“This is…”
“A passage?”
The mass of shadow before their eyes. Several members, realizing its true nature, made strange expressions.
“A large-scale spatial distortion created by condensing shadows.”
“Only one black wizard can use such spellcraft…”
“Did the Nether King… visit this place before?”
“…”
A large-scale spatial distortion point created using shadow-manipulating black magic.
Even within Pandemonium, only the Nether King, who wasn’t here, could do such a thing.
Lennok, recalling the Archive’s memories for a moment, fell silent, and the other members closed their mouths.
This was likely because Myeong’s prestige within Pandemonium was absolute.
“The space hidden within the shadow is completely undetectable. This is unexpected.”
The Clown, who had been squatting and peering into the shadow, tilted his head.
“It seems we might need some preparation to meet the Director. What do you intend to do?”
“Is there any other suitable way than just entering the shadow right now?”
Soryu retorted.
“If this shadow is a ‘medium’ prepared by the Nether King for the Director, then we have no choice.”
“What I meant was, wouldn’t it be better to establish a simple course of action before going in?”
The Clown stood up and pointed at the shadow passage.
“This, I suspect, the internal space is far larger than it appears. Considering the Nether King’s level I last witnessed, there might even be temporal distortion at play.”
“…”
“Even if we all go in together, we might end up in different timelines and spaces. Shouldn’t we decide on a plan beforehand?”
“Are you saying this shadow passage itself might take the form of a wormhole, distorting spacetime…?”
Lennok fell into thought.
“I didn’t realize such preparation would be necessary to meet the Director directly.”
“Kekeke, it’s not a difficult problem…”
Chebien rattled his puppet and spoke.
“Let’s split our forces. If the two strongest individuals enter separately, we can prepare for the worst-case scenario…”
“The two strongest?”
“I don’t think I need to explicitly name them…”
The puppet’s gaze naturally turned towards the Clown and Lennok.
“Or, should I even decide here which of you is stronger…?”
“…”
The Clown and Lennok’s gazes met for a moment, and a strange tension filled the air.
As for which of the Clown or Lennok was stronger.
It was merely a meaningless comparison, but Lennok felt a surge of interest precisely because of that.
While Lennok would have an overwhelming advantage in spellcraft output, the Clown’s illusions possessed the potential to nullify such comparisons of power.
In fact, the Clown had never once revealed his full power, including his Domain.
Lennok was intensely curious about what level of reality manipulation could be achieved if the Clown pushed his roulette luck to its absolute limit, but—
“Chebien. If you don’t like my suggestion, just say so honestly. Do you want to see me torn apart by Victor’s hands?”
The Clown, who had feigned surprise as naturally as breathing, grinned and turned to Lennok.
“Well, it might be effective if Victor and I split up. Unless we all scatter completely, one of us should be able to meet the Director.”
“It doesn’t matter to me.”
Lennok nodded.
“Set the order and the personnel. I’ll go in with the ones remaining.”
“Alright then. Who wants to go meet the Director with me? Raise your hands~”
“…”
No one raised their hand.
The Clown made a wounded expression.
“No, are you saying everyone prefers Victor over me? I admit it honestly, but this is too much.”
“Victor’s annoying, but his Manipulation Spellcraft is reliable.”
“And that one, not only has a bad personality but unreliable spellcraft too.”
“Ugh, fine, I’ll just choose. Agneta, Chapman, Antares. Follow me!”
The Clown, grumbling as he picked his team, vanished into the shadow in an instant.
“Not only their presence, but their life signs and magic patterns have completely vanished.”
Soryu, watching the scene, quietly narrowed his eyes.
“It seems undeniable that the spacetime within the shadow is distorted beyond perception.”
“Let’s go in too.”
Why did the Director leave a medium imbued with Myeong’s black magic on this island?
What was the reason for meeting the other members through such preparations?
Once they entered, everything would surely become clear.
Lennok met Freya’s shrug, and the moment he stepped towards the shimmering shadow.
WHOOSH!!!
Lennok realized Agneta and Antares were standing opposite him, looking at him.
“Oh.”
Agneta tilted her head with a blank expression.
“Victor. Why are you here? Weren’t you supposed to enter later?”
“…”
Instead of answering, Lennok turned his gaze to the dark corridor stretching before them.
Within the shadow entrance, a dark, endless corridor extended.
“…It seems the criteria for splitting the party wasn’t the order of entry into the shadow.”
Lennok tilted his head, looking at the darkness lurking beyond the passage.
“Did the Director design things to happen this way from the start?”
“He probably didn’t prepare this himself.”
Antares replied.
“He wouldn’t be in a state to accomplish such productive tasks anymore.”
“…What?”
Lennok paused at her words, and Antares quietly looked down the corridor.
“To defy one’s origin, one must fully comprehend that origin.”
“…”
“To twist an already determined answer, one must already know what the answer is. That’s how he exists as a mortal.”
“What are you two talking about right now?”
“Antares.”
Leaving Agneta bewildered, Lennok spoke in a cold voice.
“Were you foreseeing this moment, where you and I would be left behind, from the start?”
“No. But now, it should be fine.”
Antares smiled.
“Agneta won’t put much meaning into this conversation, and he won’t care what I say.”
“…”
“However, before I leave for good, I was waiting for a moment like this, to speak with you.”
Antares, slowly turning towards Lennok, spoke.
“He is inevitability. From a distant past, beyond all foresight, he accomplished a task so immensely great that he became such a being himself.”
“…”
“But that also means that with every moment he exists in reality, he guides everything towards inevitability.”
She spoke, slowly walking down the seemingly endless corridor.
“Every moment he exists as a cause and stands as a result in this world… the still unbroken causality intertwines and inevitably transforms.”
“Is that… why the Director is staying in a place like this?”
“Well, strictly speaking, this isn’t a passage, but…”
Antares smiled.
“It’s clear that it’s why he avoids contact with others and acts alone.”
“…”
“I believe that is proof he still wishes to be human.”
Unlike the Pontiff, who had undergone two Ascensions, the Director had not lost himself.
Even as he struggled to continue existing in this world after successfully ascending.
He persisted, striving to achieve the answer he first set his mind to.
At the culmination of a magnificent task no Transcendent dared to imitate—to shoot down a god and prevent the world’s end.
What he was challenging once again in this world was—
“From here, it’s a story beyond the realm I can foresee.”
Antares turned her gaze to Lennok.
“Yet I’m saying this because I’m grateful to you for the matter in the Royal Capital.”
“Grateful?”
“After glimpsing a failed future, I believed I could change it by using foresight.”
Antares said.
“So I chose Aron, my colleague, connected him to the Archive, and helped him seize the throne with its knowledge. But I shouldn’t have done that.”
“…”
“The knowledge in the Archive is vast, but ultimately, it has limits. It’s a concept designed to persist after the world’s end… and it wasn’t originally created for ‘humans’ to access.”
Her expression blurred. Her voice, explaining past events, also faded slightly.
Rummaging through old memories, recalling irreversible past days, her emotions revived.
“While I used my foresight to help him, Aron gradually abandoned ‘himself’ and changed. Without realizing it, we were repeating the failure of the Pilgrimage Path.”
“…Antares.”
“Even my crude foresight, which glimpses failed futures, can lead to irreversible consequences if misused.”
Antares looked down at Lennok.
“That’s why I know how dangerous and transcendent a concept inevitability itself is.”
“…”
“He no longer designs or creates anything. Whether intentionally or not, he simply always exists there as the outcome.”
Antares’s expression, as she looked at Lennok, briefly took on a complex light.
“So, if you intend to be with him, you’ll need to judge more carefully than you have.”
“…”
“That’s all I wanted to convey. I’ll turn back here.”
Leaving Lennok in silence, Antares smiled gently and turned away.
“He won’t exactly welcome my presence. From the beginning, I—”
“Not particularly.”
Someone replied.
“Whether I dislike someone or find them bothersome… I haven’t often paid that much attention to others.”
“…”
A chillingly serene silence fell.
In the blind spot where Lennok’s and Antares’s gazes did not meet.
At the end of the shadow-laden corridor, beyond an awe-inspiringly vast darkness.
Someone, whose face was obscured, sat leaning back, quietly watching them.
Just by slightly tilting his head and casting a gaze, a presence so sharp and piercing it sent shivers down their spines.
At the same time, an immensely powerful, bloated, and distorted transcendence, capable of completely overwhelming and erasing that sense of unease, took its place.
In a calm, quiet voice, ‘he’ spoke.
“A failed foreseer, in a sense, somewhat resembles my origin.”
“…”
“Myeong, it seems, didn’t care for you for that reason. But it doesn’t matter to me.”
Faint static flickered within the hazy darkness.
“I no longer place much meaning in such inevitability.”
“…Director.”
Lennok turned with a hardened expression.
“Are you… there?”
“You are the last, then.”
He, who had been leaning back in the darkness, slowly rose and spoke.
“Let’s begin inside. Neither of us can stay here long.”
“What… do you mean? Wasn’t this the shadow passage Myeong created?”
“I had to temporarily borrow the shadow of the star to overlap my coordinates with that side.”
A static-laden gaze seemed to sweep across the passage from within the darkness.
The Director, turning to Lennok, slowly spoke, tilting his static-laden gaze.
“This is inside the Sixfold Demonic Mirror of Return, located deep within the Central Front. It’s also one of the few places where I can manifest and reside.”
“…What?”