Chapter 1187: Legion Parade (1)

An outermost coastal city in the Pilenom Autonomous Region.

A blood-soaked signature written at the horrific scene where most of the city’s residents had been massacred.

“Conqueror Baitan…” Lennok muttered, hearing Euphoria.

“He was definitely a Trait-type Ability User, ranked similarly to you on the Power Ranking, wasn’t he?”

“It seems you don’t recall the evaluation written in the ranking,” Euphoria replied calmly, pulling a long scroll from her embrace and handing it to Lennok.

“As it happens, I have a handwritten copy of the Power Ranking, so you may take a look.”

“…By chance, indeed?” Lennok said, yet still peered at the scroll Euphoria offered.

[Conqueror Baitan. ? Level Trait-type Ability User. Warlord of Wargear.] =A warlord currently invading and conquering cities along the Eastern Continent coastline. =Mobilized from the northeast and advanced to the outskirts of the Central Front. Specific military strength unknown. =Conquered 7 city-states. Decapitated all five Level 8 superhumans who governed those cities. =Presumed to possess a highly unique growth-type spellcraft or innate ability.

“So he didn’t cease his activities when the Power Ranking information was updated,” Lennok muttered, after scrutinizing the information on the scroll, then lifted his gaze.

“Is he still relentlessly invading the coastal cities of the Eastern Continent even now?”

“……”

Gwoooooh!!! Sticky pools of blood collected everywhere. Corpses lay strewn, long since lifeless. Only death filled the bustling streets where people once moved with vibrant energy. Beyond the suffocating silence, the shimmering sea mingled with flowing blood, turning crimson. Even the foam of the incoming waves took on a reddish hue, distorted as it reeked of blood.

Conqueror Baitan’s Wargear army. Was the Trait-type Ability User who massacred the people of this city still stationed nearby?

As Lennok stared at the crimson coastline, Euphoria averted her gaze.

“It seems not all Short-lived Beings living in the city have perished,” she said to Lennok, turning to examine the fallen corpses around them with a cold expression.

“There are traces of packing and evacuation. It seems some human species managed to escape.”

“He only targeted and killed those who remained in the city and resisted,” Lennok replied quietly, still looking at the coastline.

“Most of the corpses are armed, and there are no elderly or infirm among them. Citizens unable to fight would have already evacuated.”

“…Your observational skills are considerable. Did you know this from the start?”

“I was aware of it from the moment I entered this city. But that’s not the only suspicious part.” Lennok’s gaze, fixed on the puddles of blood splashing under his feet, deepened.

“Looking at the remnants of magic, the battle ended more than a day ago. Yet, the blood isn’t coagulated; instead, it’s hot and sticky, as if it just flowed…”

“……”

“I don’t know if there’s some other external factor, or if this itself is related to Baitan’s ability.”

According to the Power Ranking information, Baitan is a Trait-type Ability User. Furthermore, he is a superhuman with an extremely rare “growth-type” ability, evolving on its own. That was likely why Baitan’s rank was not precisely indicated in the ranking. His continuous invasions of coastal cities along the Eastern Continent. The traces of blood from his victims refusing to coagulate. Could this series of seemingly inconsistent anomalies be related to the ability he possesses?

Lennok, pondering, took out a small flare from his pocket and lit it.

Pewww- The flare shot upwards, scattering red smoke, lingering in the sky for a long time. Lennok, watching it idly, slowly turned his steps.

“This should be enough for the Watchers of the autonomous region to notice the anomaly.”

Lennok had no time or leisure to delve into the details of the incident. Informing the Watchers about what had transpired in this city was the best he could do.

“Let’s go find the cure. Where were you planning to get the medicinal herbs?”

“The Water Vortex Soul Escape Herb is such a rare medicinal ingredient that there’s no designated place that handles it,” Euphoria said, walking behind Lennok.

“However, I knew that this city sold that particular herb, so I intended to search the pharmacies.”

“Then we’ll just have to comb through every pharmacy in the city.”

After that, Lennok and Euphoria wandered through the city, searching pharmacies. They moved from one pharmacy to another, filled with the scent of herbs that even the smell of blood couldn’t mask. Lennok narrowed his eyes, gazing at the corpses strewn across thresholds and between shelves.

“The causes of death are quite varied. Some were cut by blades or crushed, others caught in spellcraft.”

“Is that so.”

“This wasn’t a massacre committed by one person. Was this the work of Conqueror Baitan’s Wargear army…?”

The suspicious part about Baitan’s evaluation was the lack of clear description regarding his military strength. Was the Wargear’s power so unique that even the ranking’s author couldn’t ascertain it? Or was it that Baitan wasn’t leading an “army” to begin with? Either way, it was clear they were dangerous enough to invade the autonomous region and commit massacres.

“This is the last pharmacy in this city.” Thwack! Lennok, ignoring Euphoria’s silence, closed a shelf and turned around.

“If the herb you’re looking for isn’t here either, then there are no more pharmacies left to search.”

“That is problematic,” Euphoria replied with an expressionless face.

“Without the Water Vortex Soul Escape Herb, it will be impossible to suppress the side effects when using Life Spellcraft for healing.”

“What happens if the side effects aren’t suppressed?”

“Cells will disregard their death cycle and abnormally proliferate, invading bodily tissues and organs.”

“…In simpler terms?”

“Short-lived Beings seem to call it cancer, in their medical terminology.”

“……”

If Life Spellcraft possesses the ability to interfere with cellular regeneration, such side effects are not unusual. It became clear why Euphoria Aosel was reputed to possess unparalleled destructive capabilities.

“If we’ve searched every pharmacy in this city and the herb isn’t here, we’ll have to think differently,” Lennok said, turning his gaze. At the end of the main street, even within this small city, a particularly large and lavish fortress stood out.

“If the Water Vortex Soul Escape Herb is treated as a rare commodity or valuable asset, there’s another place to look.”

“It would be the case that the owner of this city holds all the Water Vortex Soul Escape Herb as personal assets,” Euphoria said, immediately understanding Lennok and nodding.

“Indeed, I made a mistake by not considering the greed and barbaric customs of Short-lived Beings.”

“Even Long-lived Beings don’t seem entirely detached from worldly desires, after all.”

“To see one is to know ten, as they say. Just by observing this city’s conduct, one can infer the usual behavior of Short-lived Beings.”

“Then that Long-lived Being who just stole precious metals and artifacts earlier could represent all of you, too.” Euphoria lost her words and fell silent.

After quietly walking behind Lennok towards the fortress for a while, she spoke.

“I have never stolen another’s belongings.”

“Still bothered by that?”

“……” Lennok, ignoring the subtly intensified gaze from behind him, opened the fortress gate.

Thud!! As the heavy iron gate swung open, revealing the front yard, a blood-soaked garden lay within. Blood pooled generously within the meticulously tended garden, spreading like a thick mist. The stench of blood, sharp enough to pierce his nostrils and claw into his lungs, made Lennok’s expression harden involuntarily.

“No corpses are visible, but there’s only blood. Something is strange…”

“I’ve found it. I detect a scent.” Euphoria cast her gaze towards the fortress built behind the garden.

“It’s a room located deep within the innermost part of the fortress.”

“We’ll need to confirm first before entering,” Lennok said, snapping his fingers to ignite a flame, then turned to Euphoria.

“If Baitan is still nearby, as you say, that fortress is likely where he’s residing.”

“……”

“In the worst case, we might encounter Baitan and have to fight. What are your intentions?”

“I have no intention of shifting the effort required to find the herb onto you,” Euphoria said, looking at Lennok with an expressionless face.

“Since we’ve come this far, if my power is needed to cut short the brief lifespans of Short-lived Beings, I will act myself.”

“…It’s not a response I particularly like, but that makes it all the more trustworthy.” This Long-lived Being, not favorably disposed towards humans, would not hesitate in the slightest to use spellcraft. As Lennok let out a hollow laugh and shook his head, Euphoria stepped forward without hesitation.

A river of blood flowed through the fortress corridor. The blood seeped down the corridor, originating from the room inside. Euphoria, meeting Lennok’s gaze, nodded with an expressionless face, raising her mana. CRASH!!! A powerful shockwave erupted, shattering the door and revealing the scene within the room. Lennok gasped, witnessing a sight beyond imagination amidst the blood mist.

“This is…”

Splish…! Inside the wide, audience-hall-like room, dozens of people sat aligned in rows on chairs, left and right. They sat facing each other, arms resting on the armrests, utterly motionless. All of them were decapitated, their heads severed above the neck, blood profusely flowing.

“……”

A bizarre sight, as if everyone in the room had been decapitated while calmly seated. There were no signs of fear or resistance; they seemed to have awaited and accepted a predetermined execution. Other than the severed neck, there were no wounds anywhere else on their bodies—grotesque traces.

“I sense no vital signs,” Euphoria said, looking at the corpses seated on the chairs with an expressionless face.

“All Short-lived Beings seated here are unequivocally dead.”

“…So Baitan himself wasn’t residing in this fortress?” The Butcher, whose face he had never seen, whose rumors he was just now hearing through the ranking. Yet, Lennok felt he had seen this bizarre scene left by him somewhere before. This method: sitting on a chair, without any resistance, and cleanly having only their heads severed and taken. Surely, in Kundara’s Ninth Tribulation—

“Evan Martinez.” It was the clear voice of the Long-lived Being that pulled Lennok from his thoughts. “I’ve found the Water Vortex Soul Escape Herb. It was here after all.” At the innermost part of the room, where corpses lined both sides. Behind the decapitated corpse of an elderly man, seated on a lavish chair in the very center of the room. Euphoria knelt before a box that appeared to be a medicinal herb storage, her head bowed.

Whirrr…!! Petals, clear as lake water, trembled. Water droplets clung to the leaves, never falling from the herb, maintaining their freshness.

“The Water Vortex Soul Escape Herb is an herb that only grows naturally within the deepest part of a lake’s vortex,” Euphoria explained, gazing at the five neatly arranged herbs at the bottom of the medicinal herb storage box.

“It’s also an extremely rare catalyst, having absorbed the properties of water for a long time, embodying both the energies of stillness and motion.”

“……”

“Among naturally growing herbs, it’s rare to find one that holds such harmonious energies, making it difficult to find anywhere on the continent. The rumor that the Pilenom Autonomous Region is a blessed herb cultivation area was not mistaken.”

Euphoria slowly extended her hand and carefully retrieved the herb the corpse was holding. Placing the gold coins prepared for the herb’s cost into the box, the Long-lived Being, having wrapped the herb in parchment, stood and turned to Lennok.

“With this, I can fulfill my role at the Legion Parade. Let’s head to the Legion Command.”

“Hm, I guess it’s a bit late to ask now, but…” At that moment, an unfamiliar voice came from beside the Long-lived Being. A young man, squatting beside Euphoria, rested his chin on his hand with a languid expression.

“Do you really have to take that now?”

“……” Instantly, Euphoria’s presence turned chillingly cold. As she turned her gaze, the entire fortress violently rumbled. Mana warped before their eyes, and one side of the room’s wall exploded. CRACK!!!! The fortress roof burst open and shattered, its debris raining down across the corridors.

“Oh, I apologize if I startled you.” The young man, who had tumbled out towards the corridor, casually stood up and brushed himself off. “It’s just that I prefer to preserve the scene as much as possible. I’d like this place to remain untouched until the investigation team arrives.”

“Short-lived Being. Do not approach.”

“Yes. Understood.” At Euphoria’s utterly frigid words, the young man obediently replied and turned his gaze. He tilted his head, facing Lennok, who stood with his arms crossed amidst the crumbling fortress debris.

“Anyway, my business was with someone else.”

“Business with me, you say.” Lennok scoffed, walking forward. “You hid without a trace, then popped out late, and that’s all you have to say?” A skilled individual capable of hiding even from Euphoria’s senses, which were acute to vital signs as a Life Spellcaster. And to appear specifically at the moment they obtained the herb and strike up a conversation. Neither situation seemed to bode well.

“I don’t mean to harm or threaten you, but there’s something I need to confirm.” The young man asked, rubbing his neck with a languid expression. “Evan Martinez. I have something to say to the hero of the First Gate. May I first confirm if you are indeed him?”

“Confirm?” Lennok sneered, raising his hand. “That’s not something I should be doing, but rather you.”

Whoosh!! There was no reply. In the instant flames flickered from Lennok’s fingertips, the young man twisted his body with invisible speed. A colossal pillar of fire erupted diagonally, vaporizing the entire fortress wall and exploding. [Crimson Fire Cannon] CRACKK!!!!

Even Euphoria, who had been guarding the young man with a cold expression, was momentarily startled by the immense power output. Beneath the rotating pillar of fire, which didn’t vanish even after the incantation, the two clashed. Clang!! Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!!!!

Each time the flames wrapped around his fingertips brushed the air, a blazing Fist of Flame appeared, striking the young man. Crimson, blazing shockwaves of fire exploded, pushing back the surroundings and replacing them with intense heat. An overwhelming offensive, as if waves of fire rising from behind Lennok were projecting physical force.

“Flames, certainly different—!” Clang!! The young man’s expression finally hardened slightly as he drew the sword from his waist. It wasn’t an ordinary blade, but a mechanical straight sword, seemingly assembled from multiple complex parts. The instant Lennok focused on its unique design, the young man, grasping the sword, deflected all the exploding flames before him. Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!!!!

“…Hoo.”

An incredible speed, its trajectory and velocity invisible to the naked eye. But even more surprising was the swordsmanship itself, feeling not just exquisite, but precise. The swordsmanship itself seemed similar to that of Kabahim’s Knight Commanders, yet the manipulation ability executing it was terrifyingly detailed. By breaking down movements to their extreme and distributing them efficiently, he could parry the onslaught, even at such close range, if only for a moment.

Bang!! Lennok, pulling out a flame spear and pressing it down on the young man’s sword, lowered his head and laughed. “It seems you have enough skill to talk so boldly. Shall we continue?”

[Ignite] [Flame Arrow] [Piercing Flame] [Crimson Bloom] The moment his will-thought moved, without incantation or hand seals, fire-heat magic combined and completed. Over 16 types of conflagration magic were fired, tracing overlapping trajectories, exploding with a time difference. He relentlessly stomped and crushed the young man, conjuring consecutive red fire clouds. Pow-pow-pow-pow-pow!!!

Amidst this, the young man surprisingly employed exquisite swordsmanship, evading direct hits and creating distance. Even while unable to perfectly counter Lennok’s offensive, his judgment was precise, and his movements were mechanical. This was evidence that, contrary to his outward appearance, he possessed rich combat experience and had crossed many battle lines.

CLANGGG!!!! With a clear clang of steel, the distance between Lennok and the young man instantly widened by nearly ten meters.

“Hmph…!!” “…You.” The young man, breathing roughly and trying to regain his composure, and Lennok, standing with an expressionless face, faced each other. Lennok, gazing at the young man with a contemplative look, slowly withdrew his mana.

“Alright. Your skill is better than I thought.”

“……”

“If you could read the flow of our exchange to that extent, you clearly had an opportunity to counterattack. Did you not intend to fight seriously from the beginning?”

“Cough, it’s not exactly that… To be fair, I also didn’t respond because I wanted to see your skill,” the young man said, struggling to wipe his mouth with his sleeve as he raised his gaze. “I intended to confirm if the rumored Cheonbeon was a monster as rumored… I overstepped. I nearly died, it seems.”

However, just as Lennok was about to use even stronger magic, the young man ghosted his way into noticing it and forcibly created distance. He was skilled enough to not only partially read Lennok’s judgment in the high-speed engagement but also insert his own reactions into the gaps. Even as Lennok unilaterally overwhelmed him, his brilliant technique, which Lennok unconsciously admired, and his alien, uniquely designed weapon, stood out. Lennok remembered a group of skilled individuals possessing such characteristics.

“You’re an Enforcer, aren’t you?”

“……” The reason he stopped fighting at this point was not, in fact, due to anything else.

“I thought your movements felt oddly familiar, so you’re from Machina, the Machine City?”

“…I did used to work there, a long time ago,” the young man said with a bitter smile, standing up. “Not anymore.”

“So you’re not affiliated with the Conqueror,” Lennok muttered, rubbing his wrist and turning around. “If you were the one who destroyed this city, you wouldn’t have approached me like that.”

“That mad butcher left this city a while ago,” the young man said, shrugging. “He has no intention of governing or ruling the cities he conquers. He simply crushes whatever he sees and descends upon it.”

“……”

“More importantly, I’m more surprised that many of the stories about you weren’t lies,” the young man muttered, rubbing his waist. “The rumored flames. The absurd fighting skills… Is it true that you became even stronger after being defeated by Adamant Thunder?”

“You weren’t hiding here just to confirm the veracity of my rumors, were you?” Lennok said, turning with a cold expression and tilting his head. “So, what do you want to tell me?”

Though unilaterally pushed back, he was a superb fighter, capable of sustaining a direct engagement with Lennok. Possessing such skill, this unidentified superhuman was tracking Conqueror Baitan’s traces alone. They didn’t have much time, but if he had no hostile intentions toward Lennok, it might be worth listening to him once. The young man, seemingly sensing Lennok’s reaction, quickly adopted a serious expression.

“I am a member of ‘The Agency’, a frontline organization dedicated to conquering the Demonic Realm in the deepest part of the Central Front,” the young man said, calmly sheathing his sword, straightening his posture, and speaking in a respectful tone. “Evan Martinez. We require your strength for the upcoming conquest of the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors. Would you please join us?”

“……” The Agency. Lennok had heard of an organization referred to by that name before. One of the organizations composed of elite superhumans dedicated to conquering the Demonic Realm in the deepest part of the Central Front. Was it an organization of skilled individuals who operated independently, not affiliated with major powers? But what Lennok was immediately curious about was not the inner workings or explanations of The Agency.

“Why is The Agency, whose objective is to conquer the Demonic Realm, pursuing Baitan in the Eastern Continent?”

“Since I was the one who first offered recruitment, it’s only proper that I provide information first as compensation,” the young man said, clearing his throat and regaining his breath. “You intend to participate in the Legion Parade, right? I believe I can assist you with that.”

“…Did you also come after seeing the Power Ranking?” The rumors of Cheonbeon had always been famous, but after the Power Ranking’s release, they seemed to have worsened. Now, even superhumans he had never met before would casually ask about his destination as if they knew him. However, the young man’s next words were enough to momentarily capture Lennok’s thoughts.

“We hypothesize that Conqueror Baitan is an entity from the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors. Simultaneously, we believe he will be an important key in conquering the Demonic Realm.”

“……”

Conqueror Baitan, not an ordinary life-form, but an entity from the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors. That implied Baitan was likely not a normal human to begin with. If so, the near absence of information about Baitan made sense, but—

“Does Baitan being an entity from the Demonic Realm have any connection to the Legion Parade?”

“Yes,” the young man nodded. “Because the Marshal of Deadrise, Ethan Bajour, was ‘reborn’ in the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors.”