Chapter 1278: Demonic Realm (1)
BOOOOM!!!!
Once again, the thunderous roar opened Vulcan’s morning.
Blackish-blue lightning surged upwards in a spiral, parting the clouds and revealing a clear sky.
Though Vulcan’s weather, predicted to be cloudy for days, suddenly shifted, no citizen was surprised by it anymore.
They merely gazed up with fearful expressions at the sky of the distant Outer Zone, or sighed as they folded away the umbrellas they had brought.
“HAHAHAHAHAH!!!!”
A closed-off research facility located near District 55.
The Tower Lord of Thorben Magic Tower, battered and collapsed, let out a hearty laugh.
Smoke, as if from cooking meat, wafted from the old man’s outstretched arms.
“Good. This scorching heat is just perfect!!!”
“To nearly burn to death and still only comment that much… your nonchalance is truly remarkable.”
From Lennok’s fingertips, as he calmly rubbed his wrist, blackish-blue lightning flickered faintly.
Lennok, who had extinguished the dark blue lightning now emblematic of Ultimate Lightning Magic by clenching his hand, stepped towards Thorben and spoke.
“If clashing like that is so enjoyable, perhaps you chose the wrong profession. Wouldn’t a warrior or martial artist suit you better than a wizard?”
“Disciple, what are you saying?”
Akendrias, propping himself up, ripped off his tattered robe and grinned.
“It is meaningful to engage in conflict wielding the great lightning. With such magnificent magic, what weapon else could I possibly pick up?!!”
“……Surely you didn’t just enter Lightning Magic for such a reason, did you?”
“Why not?”
“……”
Lennok was speechless at the Tower Lord’s bewildered retort, as if genuinely curious.
[Mm-hmm. It is an important question, after all.]
The Cybernetic Spirit, nestled in Lennok’s arms, nodded in agreement, arms crossed.
[If I didn’t think growing a tail looked cool, I wouldn’t have wanted to grow either.]
“What are you boasting about?”
While Lennok understood the visual impact of Lightning Magic, he found it hard to agree that it was a reason to begin studying magic.
Perhaps it was because Lennok’s circumstances hadn’t allowed him the luxury of choosing magic based on such considerations.
As he dismissed it as the idle talk of a noble wizard and composed his will-thought, a strange cry sounded beside him.
[Awoo.]
Chomp.
With a strange babble, a plump baby dragon chomped down on Lennok’s hand.
The Guardian Spirit Beast, floating in mid-air, was gnawing on Lennok’s hand as if mumbling in its sleep, eyes closed.
[Mmm-mmm.]
“……”
[Hey, get out of the way!]
Davi grumbled, trying to push away the Guardian Spirit Beast with her tail, but seeing Thorben approach, she quickly hid herself in Lennok’s arms.
The Tower Lord, sweeping back his singed hair and straightening his clothes, smiled benevolently at the dozing Guardian Spirit Beast.
“That rascal. Bonnoh has visited so many times, yet he still shows no sign of waking.”
“Indeed. Ever since acquiring the Ultimate Lightning… Ah, don’t come any closer. There’s a smell of roasting meat.”
“……”
Sizzle-
Thorben, who had been approaching with smoke rising from his entire body, scratched at the soot on his face and backed away.
The Guardian Spirit Beast, drooling as it caught the scent, fluttered through the air and clung to Thorben’s head.
[Munch-munch-munch-munch.]
The baby dragon gnawed violently on Thorben’s head as if chewing gum, having swallowed it whole.
As it licked him like a lollipop, as if trying to taste the scent of meat, Thorben’s head was instantly drenched in drool.
In an instant, the Tower Lord’s appearance became so ludicrous that even Lennok had to struggle to maintain a straight face.
“……”
[Pfft, hahahahaha……]
Davi’s burst of laughter echoed from Lennok’s arms.
But Thorben, despite his wry smile, didn’t shake off the spirit beast; instead, he cradled it upside down.
“Perhaps it’s because I’m getting old that it feels so heavy. Or is it just that its body keeps growing larger?”
“Indeed, its halted growth accelerated once the Guardian Spirit Beast began absorbing my Ultimate Lightning.”
Lennok replied.
“I suspect it’s a form of hibernation. It might not wake until its growth, powered by the Ultimate Lightning, is complete.”
Crackle, crackle……!!!
Even now, in the center of the research facility, the Ultimate Lightning glowed, surrounded by an array of blue magic circles.
Hundreds of magic circles intertwined to form a regular octahedron, and within it, blackish-blue lightning rotated and blazed.
In this mystical scene, faint dark blue ripples spread outwards, coiling around the octahedron like planetary rings and resonating.
The days spent researching and experimenting with the mechanics of Ultimate Lightning Magic alongside the Thorben Magic Tower Lord.
Lennok had found a stable method for storing fragments of the Ultimate Lightning.
“Though I’m still practicing, by training alongside you, I’ve managed to significantly increase the activation speed of the Ultimate Lightning compared to before.”
Lennok said, clenching and unclenching his hand, electricity coiling between his fingers.
“Achieving maximum output would require mobilizing even my Incarnation Body, as during the Subjugation Operation, but that’s not an area for immediate improvement. All that remains is stabilizing the Ultimate Lightning within my Domain and fixing it into reality.”
“I see……”
“If I can maintain the Ultimate Lightning with the Guardian Spirit Beast’s help and stabilize its output, I’ll be able to apply the ‘Prescience’ of Ultimate Lightning in situations other than combat. Of course, a few more abilities and spellcrafts are needed for that, but most of the immediate work is done.”
In particular, the effects of the Automeus Automated Calculus borrowed from the Dark Archive were significant, leading to progress in the research.
Wasn’t it called a ‘demonic calculation formula’ that could overload and boost the caster’s computational ability to near-automation?
Although borrowed to supplement the interpretation and computational abilities required for using Ultimate Lightning, it had the added achievement of boosting Lennok’s spellcraft abilities.
Even if it was by chance, the achievement was more significant than expected, proving to be the most helpful for immediate power reinforcement.
“Yes. It seems there isn’t much more Bonnoh can help with now.”
Thorben said, gazing as if dazzled at the Ultimate Lightning’s glow beyond the octahedron.
“I would have preferred to indulge him more while he was awake, but it seems a pity.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“As this sleepyhead began absorbing the power of Ultimate Lightning, he started returning the Domain he had held within him.”
The Tower Lord, carrying the baby dragon fast asleep with snot bubbles the size of watermelons, replied calmly.
“At the same time, the Shikigami contract that this rascal and Bonnoh were forcibly bound by was released.”
“…What?”
Akendrias El Thorben was staying in Vulcan because his Domain had been devoured by Lennok’s Guardian Spirit Beast.
The Root Mindscape, which formed the foundation of his Domain, was absorbed by the Guardian Spirit Beast, forcibly creating the Shikigami contract.
A contract that should have been maintained indefinitely, as long as the Guardian Spirit Beast, based on the Ouroboros magic system, kept Thorben’s Domain without returning it.
If that contract was now ending because the Guardian Spirit Beast had begun absorbing the Ultimate Lightning instead and growing…
The moment Lennok, subconsciously anticipating what would follow, sharply turned his gaze.
The Tower Lord calmly declared.
“It seems the time has come for me to depart soon.”
“……”
Akendrias’s expression, which had always been cheerful and somewhat childish, was now utterly serene.
At this moment, his master, who had lived as freely as a drifting weed and seemed destined to reside in Vulcan indefinitely, was announcing his departure.
Seeing Lennok hesitate, the Tower Lord chuckled heartily.
“Don’t look at me with such a face. Did you think Bonnoh would freeload in your Magic Tower for the rest of his life?”
“……”
“We are lightning. We don’t stay long in one place, and even when we are present, we soon yearn to look elsewhere and attain something new.”
The Tower Lord said in a gentle tone.
“I stopped in this city for a reason; when that reason disappears, shouldn’t I depart again? That is all.”
A wizard who has grasped the causality of lightning inscribes that lightning at the forefront of their life.
A way of life permitted only to Seekers who have vowed to prioritize the power of lightning above all else.
Akendrias El Thorben was a Seeker who maintained his words and actions more steadfastly than any Transcendent Lennok knew.
“Until now, I procrastinated out of concern for your Magic Tower… but with the war safely concluded, there’s no longer any reason to delay.”
The Tower Lord, slowly returning the Guardian Spirit Beast he had been carrying to Lennok, raised his gaze.
“A new conflict is brewing in the Central Front. Transcendent beings from across the continent will begin gathering towards Ars Nova. Just as you yearn for it, Disciple.”
“……”
“I know you’ve started taking an interest in the affairs of the Central Front. You probably believe you need to understand the fate of the Imperial Palace to find your answers.”
Thorben’s words echoed quietly beyond the wind, like a flute.
“But Bonnoh does not know if that is the right path… and thus cannot give you proper guidance. I lost the ability and the qualification to judge such things long ago.”
“…Akendrias.”
“Therefore, I shall now strive to do my best in what Bonnoh can do. Knowing that the Ultimate Lightning, dreamed of by the ancients, truly exists, I feel I can hesitate no longer.”
Thorben smiled.
“Bonnoh intends to lead Bonnoh’s Magic Tower in the Central Front and pursue enlightenment to the very end. So, Disciple.”
“……”
“Will you permit this foolish old man to depart from the Magic Tower as he pleases?”
Silence fell.
Because Lennok, too, understood the resolve Thorben held in making such a request.
He had known that a day like this would eventually come.
Yet it came sooner than expected. And the moments of researching magic with him had been more enjoyable than anticipated.
The farewell chosen by the Tower Lord was so fitting that it merely took Lennok a moment to accept it.
But this, in truth, was the essence and manner of the man, Akendrias El Thorben.
A Transcendent who had lived for hundreds of years as a Central Noble, a powerful general who had even been personally bestowed a strategic-grade cruiser by the Imperial Palace of The Empire.
He had merely stayed by Lennok’s side under the pretense of guidance, for he was never one to irresponsibly abandon those who followed him.
If he respected Lennok this much until the very end, Lennok, as one who had received guidance, had to fulfill his duty.
“…I’ll contact Jenny to prepare your travel expenses and supplies.”
Lennok said, closing his eyes.
“You’re not planning to leave immediately, are you? There should be enough time for those preparations.”
“Indeed. There might even be time to bid farewell to the non-lightning wizards who tormented Bonnoh in your Magic Tower.”
Thorben smiled.
“But Disciple. For the two of us, at least… wouldn’t this method suit us best?”
“……”
“If our connection ends here, then a proper farewell is still necessary at the end.”
Leaving Lennok speechless, the old man slowly placed a hand on his chest.
Thorben, bowing to Lennok with a gesture more polite and dignified than any noble he had ever seen, spoke.
“Akendrias El Thorben, Tower Lord of Thorben Magic Tower. I offer my gratitude for the grace received from the master of the great lightning.”
WHOOSH!!!
A rocky hill swept by dry winds.
Lennok sat on a plateau at the outermost edge of the undeveloped zone, looking down at the ground.
Every time he clenched and unclenched his hand, blackish-blue lightning pierced through the Material Realm, briefly flaring up before vanishing.
Crackle, crackle……!!!
As Lennok gazed silently, lost in thought, at the lightning that coalesced and vanished along his hand…
Beside him, an emotionless male voice resonated.
“Is that the Prescience known as Ultimate Lightning?”
“……”
A middle-aged man with black hair, exuding an aura as solid as steel, silently looked down at Lennok.
A contradictory aura; despite his human form, there was not a trace of humanity about him.
But it was closer to the otherworldly life force accumulated over a long time, rather than the ominousness of a monster or demon.
“You’ve succeeded in controlling the power gained by defeating Seonjong’s Dead Thoughts.”
The Iron Chain Dragon King said.
“So the answer you obtained in the Ninth Tribulation was not in vain, after all?”
“…It was not in vain.”
That moment in Kundara, when he drank the Elixir of Ascension and seized the Branching Point of Corruption.
Lennok first recognized Ban-gung’s existence and infused that power into his lightning.
From the moment the rampage of Lightning Magic began after that, until now, he had completely resolved it and achieved a new point of attainment: Ultimate Lightning.
The Iron Chain Dragon King, who had sided with Lennok in Kundara at the time, would probably have a vague idea of what had happened.
That’s why Lennok could also reply.
“Even so, I’m not sure if this is the end.”
“……”
“To know one thing is to be ignorant of another. When you gain something, something else becomes lacking again.”
Lennok raised his gaze.
“So many things in this world exist intertwined like a complex tangle, endlessly continuing, and it’s impossible to know if there’s an end… Surely, that is what they call causality.”
“……”
“But that’s enough. If causality isn’t confined, if the world only truly exists by not being destroyed…”
Lennok, grabbing his knees, stood up and said.
“I will reach the next stage with my own choices. That is all.”
“…The Silver Star.”
The Dragon King closed his eyes, then corrected himself.
“Why Maleon became ‘that’ kind of being… the answer was within that.”
“……”
“Was it that he came to believe the answer you chose so strongly, he couldn’t stop himself from falling into decline by abandoning his own answer?”
“Are you disappointed that it’s not the answer you expected?”
“…No. I see.”
The Iron Chain Dragon King, assenting as if denying, averted his gaze.
“I believed there was a reason, and so I wanted to understand. Maleon was the most perfect dragon among us, after all. I was searching for the justification for why he had to betray us.”
“……”
“Knowing that he follows you by his own will is enough. At least, if he chose a path where he wouldn’t compromise on a decision once made…”
The Dragon King approached Lennok and pulled something from his embrace, offering it.
“…then he will always be the Maleon Gnosis I know.”
“…What is this?”
In the Iron Chain Dragon King’s hand was a single old piece of parchment.
On the parchment, which was so old its color had changed and it was curled into a scroll, illegible characters were densely written, forming a circle.
Just by gazing at it, Lennok’s Spiritual Presence was stimulated, creating a strange sensation as if resonating with his inner power.
“It’s a textbook recording the core mechanism of Primitive Magic, the [Ancient Mystery]. It was found while cleaning Maleon’s dwelling.”
“……”
“It’s both a textbook for learning Primitive Magic and, in itself, a spell scroll containing the essence of the Star-Linking Eight Extremes Style. Originally, it should have been strictly managed as a national treasure of Kundara…”
The Dragon King, handing it to Lennok, slowly raised his gaze.
“After much thought, it seems you are still the one who should take this. You are already a member of the Elder Council and Maleon’s answer.”
“…Is that so.”
“Therefore, I hope you continue to advance to the very end for what you believe in.”
As the Dragon King closed his eyes, he spoke quietly, his presence fading.
“If you are Maleon’s god, then his ending, too, will not be in vain until the very end.”
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE……!!!
The entire vast rocky plateau shook violently as if struck by an earthquake.
The ground split open, and at that moment, rock tombs crumbled and exploded.
A colossal Iron-Plated Dragon, hundreds of meters in size, surged into the sky, emitting a deafening roar.
BOOOOOM!!!!!!
A Dragon-kind, unequivocally larger and more massive than any Long-lived Being Lennok had seen in Kundara.
The gigantic dragon, clad in iron-plated scales, turned its bright yellow pupils and silently gazed down at Lennok standing on the ground.
Their gazes met for an instant. Before there was time to exchange any significant meaning.
The Iron Chain Dragon King turned its true form and swam away into the sky beyond the undeveloped zone.
BOOOOOOM!!!!
A sonic boom, cutting through the sky like a powerful stream of water, reverberated to the horizon.
Lennok watched until the very last moment as the magnificent form of the colossal Dragon-kind vanished.
[It stayed for quite a while, considering it was just waiting to give Master a gift.]
“He wasn’t waiting to give me a gift.”
Lennok replied to Davi and turned his steps.
“As the Doctor also said, when an ancient dragon of that age moves away from its affiliation, there are usually several reasons. He won’t return to Kundara.”
[Then what?]
“Well… it’s clear that some change has occurred in Outer Tribulation City, either way.”
Lennok, raising his gaze, murmured.
“And that, just as I did, it’s now a problem for them to solve themselves.”
WHOOSH!!!!
The wind blew.
A wind that swept away all of Lennok’s lingering attachments from that city.
Now, with the war against The Legion over, and all its achievements and aftermath dealt with.
At this moment, having completed his preparations to move forward and acquired new means.
Lennok knew that the time to depart once again had arrived.
“Let’s depart for the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors.”
Lennok, closing and opening his eyes, murmured.
“I will begin my journey towards the Ars Nova Imperial Palace from there.”