Chapter 1296: Demonic Realm (19)

The Yaksha, speaking from inside the Mausoleum through the borrowed corpse of the Iron Spirit Spell Master.

But Lennok couldn’t dismiss the words of the Yaksha, who had introduced himself as a Pathfinder.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re saying you were the navigator of the Sun Ship, which means…”

The Sun Ship Megiddo was crafted from the Outer Sea Entity, Megiddo, which resided in the deepest part of the Sixfold Demonic Mirror of Return.

It was an object whose core the Director had extracted and given to Lennok during the process of converting Megiddo’s corpse into a bullet.

According to Antares, who was accompanying him at the time, Megiddo was originally a Level 9 bio-battleship created to wander the Outer Sea.

It was the immortal ark itself, used by alien phantoms to traverse the Sea of Darkness for eons.

If the Yaksha himself was a crew member of Megiddo, that meant—

“You’re… not human, but an extraterrestrial being?”

“To grasp that much from a single question, you are indeed a different breed of human than the Blaiver Magic Tower Lord.”

The Yaksha chuckled.

“If you already knew the origin of the Sun Ship, you wouldn’t have needed to save the Tower Lord at the First Gate back then.”

“…”

Was it this individual who took the Blaiver Magic Tower Lord, who had gone missing at the First Gate?

The Yaksha continued walking, disregarding Lennok’s cold gaze.

“You can hear me fine without coming closer, so let’s talk from there.”

Click!!

Aileen, who had cut her wrist and let blood drip into her magazine, said coldly.

“You, I had a hunch, but you’re not a lifeform of this world, are you?”

“A Holy Gunblade Wielder of the Ultima Sword Art, I see.”

The Yaksha, turning his black-sclera eyes back to Aileen, gazed at the blue blood drops with a faint smile.

“A magic bullet crafted from True Blood would certainly work even on higher beings. But now is not the time to use such a precious weapon.”

“I don’t know why you’re trying to decide that for me—”

“Since you know about Megiddo, I’ll be brief. As you may know, it was originally a type of Mythical Armament hidden in the deepest part of another Demonic Realm.”

“…What?”

“Though the specific circumstances are unknown, a tremendously powerful Transcendent alone broke through that Demonic Realm and ‘killed’ the immortal ship hidden within. I don’t know how that fragment was obtained, but that power should fundamentally never have been unleashed in this timeline.”

Ignoring a startled Aileen, the Yaksha continued.

“In the heart of each Demonic Realm on the Central Front, powers or armaments comparable to Megiddo lie dormant, and the Mausoleum of the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors is no exception. Having acquired the Sun Ship, you must already suspect this.”

“…”

“The Grand General of Brilliance who sleeps within the Mausoleum of the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors. The Quasi-Authority and Mythical Armament power he ‘guards even in death’.”

The Yaksha asked.

“Didn’t you also come to this Demonic Realm, desiring that?”

“I don’t think I need to explain my purpose again at this point.”

Even at this moment, corpses devoured by the Dead Flowers were reanimating all over the estate.

If they were to be surrounded by them while conversing with the Yaksha, things would become far more troublesome.

“Let’s get to the point. Are you saying that as a Pathfinder, you can find a way into the Mausoleum?”

“The Distortion Field currently spread across the Mausoleum, and the reanimated corpses, are all miracles based on the [Quasi-Authority] stored within the Mausoleum.”

The Yaksha replied calmly to Lennok’s cold response.

“As a corrupted authority rewrites the laws of spacetime and transforms it into an alien domain, trying to defy it would awaken the Grand General of Brilliance slumbering in the deepest part of the Mausoleum.”

“…”

“If, by any chance, the Grand General of Brilliance awakens and begins to roam the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors, you will never be able to obtain the Quasi-Authority. Therefore, to enter the Mausoleum without awakening the Grand General of Brilliance, preparation is necessary.”

“Preparation to avoid awakening the Grand General of Brilliance, you say… Does that mean we need to perform specific rituals or procedures separately?”

At those utterly unfamiliar modifiers, Lennok’s brow furrowed for a moment.

While he had naturally anticipated the Grand General of Brilliance’s presence upon arriving at the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors, the Yaksha’s words and actions contained an even stranger nuance.

As if the Grand General of the Empire, who was long dead and a corpse, was still watching over the Mausoleum even at this very moment—

“I’d like to explain in more detail, but… we don’t have much time.”

Clang!!

As the Yaksha raised his hand, metallic fragments rapidly assembled, forming a colossal barrier.

The outer wall of the estate exploded, and the two figures were violently thrown against the barrier, deforming it.

Arthur, his face contorted and bearing deep lacerations on his cheek, and Maiya, with parasitic flowers blooming on her face.

KWAANG!!!

Simultaneously, Lennok and Aileen, sensing the anomaly, began to distance themselves from the point of impact.

Behind them, the Yaksha, with an expressionless face, shook one hand, then turned his body to follow them, asking.

“Shall we talk as we get out of here first?”

“Damn it, Martinez!!!”

Arthur, who had been slammed headfirst into the metallic barrier, roared at Lennok.

His face and the barrel of his gun bore dozens of lacerations, as if cut by blades.

“I’ve been fighting my ass off, and you’re still only that far?! You damn turtle bastard!!!”

“Are you calling that an insult now?”

Slash!!

A sharp flash of a sword glinted above the metallic barrier erected by the Yaksha, then shattered it into dozens of pieces, causing it to collapse.

Through the gaps, Maiya Lonsdale’s figure burst forth, destroying the barrier, holding two short swords in a reverse grip.

Maiya’s silhouette, crouched low enough to touch the ground, sprinted between the tombstones at terrifying speed.

“She’s coming…!!”

WHOOSH!!!

Without any fancy footwork, Maiya’s figure lunged straight for Arthur’s collapsed barrier, taking the shortest route.

Arthur, gritting his teeth, rose, channeling mana as he spun his shotgun and pulled the trigger.

RAT-A-TAT-TAT!!!!

In a fleeting moment, dozens of barrages and exchanges of offense and defense took place, and the two figures were instantly flung beyond the estate.

At the ultra-high-speed combat, too fast for the naked eye to even catch a shadow, the corpses in the estate began to react and move.

Corpses, with black flowers blooming between their heads and eyes, rapidly approached Lennok and the Yaksha.

“Martinez. Your judgment to check your surroundings instead of directly engaging the Enforcer was correct.”

Yet, the Yaksha, seeing the corpses approaching from all sides, turned sharply without agitation.

“If there had been more mutated entities of a similar level near the Mausoleum, a desperate fight would have been unavoidable. The captain of the Sun Ship must always possess the prudence to check for variables until the very end.”

“I don’t recall receiving a title like ‘captain’.”

“But the Grand General of Brilliance’s Mausoleum, located in the heart of the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors, is not a place that can be easily trespassed upon. Look.”

WHOOSH—

Before he finished speaking, the Yaksha’s arm vanished in mid-air, then reappeared, tearing off the jaw of an approaching werewolf.

A monstrous grip tore off the jaw of the large beast-man with bare hands, even crushing its jawbone and teeth.

“KYAAAAAAAA!!! GURGLE!!”

He pierced the screaming werewolf’s neck with one hand, then grabbed both its eyeballs with the other and gouged them out with his fingers.

With a brutal motion that seemed to tear out the insides of the eyeballs, the black flower that had burrowed into the skull was pulled out.

Then, along with something grayish-white, the flower was pulled out entirely, and it began to convulse.

KYIEEEEE!!!!

The parasitic flower, clinging to the corpse, shrieked madly, seemingly struggling in the Yaksha’s hand.

The Yaksha showed the parasitic flower, wriggling like an insect, to Lennok and spoke.

“This is a parasitic flower created to take root in humans, and its very existence acts as a focal point, distorting the Mausoleum’s spacetime. As long as this exists, all spacetime within the Mausoleum will continuously warp, mutate, and reject intruders.”

“…Are you saying there are hundreds of Spacetime Distortion Points, parasitic on corpses, existing within the Mausoleum?”

“Hundreds of these distortion points overlap, forming a Distortion Field that mutates spacetime… Therefore, it’s impossible to reach beyond the Mausoleum through physical means, and its location constantly shifts with each observation.”

The Yaksha, breaking the flower and clutching it, turned his gaze.

“The entire Distortion Field spread across the Mausoleum is the Grand General of Brilliance’s ‘Will-thought,’ making it akin to a law of the world within this Demonic Realm. Breaking through it by force would be a difficult task.”

“The Distortion Field that mutates spacetime itself… is the Grand General of Brilliance’s Will-thought.”

A Transcendent who, even after becoming a corpse, scatters his Will-thought throughout the Mausoleum using parasitic flowers as a medium.

Even after hearing the explanation, he couldn’t even guess what kind of monster the Grand General of Brilliance must have been in life.

If the entire Distortion Field in this vicinity was a phenomenon composed of the Grand General of Brilliance’s Will-thought—

KYIEEE!!!

—

Maiya, who had been stomping on Arthur’s shotgun, snapped her head around like lightning.

Her movements were inorganic, as if reacting instinctively the moment she heard the flower’s scream.

The moment he saw her, Arthur swiftly kicked Maiya’s inner thigh like lightning, throwing her off balance.

“Enforcer, what are you looking at!!”

Click!!

Arthur, having reloaded his magazine, stepped on Maiya’s instep with one foot, pressed down on her thigh with the other, and leaned back.

Simultaneously, as he broke her balance and suppressed Maiya’s evasion and reaction, he pulled the shotgun’s trigger.

Even as Maiya fell, she elegantly rotated her body and swung her short swords as if rebounding.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!!!!

With her instep pinned by Arthur, she rotated both her arms like springs, based on her full body’s flexibility and elasticity.

She struck away all the buckshot pouring down right in front of her, scattering it in all directions.

“You’re insane!!!”

It was an unbelievable feat, to deflect high-capacity buckshot—capable of blowing apart a large magical beast in one shot—at point-blank range with just two short swords.

Before Arthur, jaw agape, could utter a curse, Maiya’s left foot plunged into his abdomen as if sucked in.

BOOM!!

Arthur’s figure, thrown back at tremendous speed, was slammed into the dusty graveyard, tumbling.

Arthur, spitting out blades of grass, rearranged his grip on his short swords and forced a bitter smile as he watched Maiya approach.

“Hehehe, she really does fight damn well. Even with her head as a flower garden, that’s her limit?”

—

“But it’s inevitable that her Will-thought usage becomes clumsy once her mind is gone. It seems she can’t use Mind Imprint—”

Arthur grinned, watching the short swords in Maiya’s hand glint sharply.

“Then I won’t lose in a one-on-one fight, not even if I die, you monster.”

Click!!

The moment the Enforcer’s blade spun, he discarded one of his two shotguns and gripped the other with both hands.

As he blocked the short sword falling towards his head with the shotgun as a shield—

Maiya’s left arm exploded as if detonated on the spot.

BOOOOOOM!!!!!

—

While blocking the short sword with the barrel, Maiya’s arm, conversely, appeared horrifyingly crushed by the buckshot.

The Magic Gunner in front of her had only been defending, yet Maiya suffered critical damage, as if she had taken a direct barrage at point-blank range.

In the fleeting moment the Enforcer hesitated at the counter, which had occurred ‘simultaneously’ in a way she couldn’t react to at all.

“Kh-hah, it’s over!!! I need to take you to the client, so just die quietly and leave your head behind—”

Arthur, who had risen with a loud laugh, lost his words when he saw the fibrous material surging from inside Maiya’s arm.

“…What is that?”

CRRRK!!

The parasitic flower rooted on Maiya’s face wriggled, extending its roots into her body and generating fibrous material.

The fibrous material, extending from the severed surface of her arm, intertwined like tree branches, instantly forming the shape of a left arm—

The moment he saw that, Arthur quickly raised his shotgun sideways and pulled the trigger, aiming at the fortress wall.

BOOM!!!

Arthur gestured towards the crack created as the outer wall of the fortress collapsed explosively.

“Hurry and run, you idiots!! What are you doing!!”

“…”

The Yaksha chuckled and shrugged, and while Lennok shook his head, Aileen quickly surveyed their path.

Behind them, the corpses with black flowers blooming on their faces, and the collapsing outer fortress wall amidst explosions.

Lennok, quickly retreating through the falling debris of the fortress, erected a barrier and asked.

“A mercenary, retreating with the target right in front of him? You have more patience than I thought.”

“That’s a monster. Can’t kill it right now.”

Arthur spat and replied.

“I don’t know if it’s because of the flower in her head, but she seems to have infinite stamina. There are no limits to her physical endurance, so her tempo is unpredictable. In terms of pure combat performance, she’s top-tier among us.”

“…”

“We’d have to exploit her inability to use her Miniature Universe to somehow win, but as you saw, her regeneration is absurd. That’s not the Enforcer’s original ability, is it?”

Maiya Lonsdale stood in the middle of the estate, instantly regenerating her exploded arm.

The sight of her shaping her body not from blood and flesh, but using the roots of the parasitic flower as fibrous material, was not just grotesque, but utterly chilling.

Having been devoured by the parasitic flower, had her very being become closer to a plant, causing her stamina and regenerative abilities to increase tremendously?

While Lennok extended the barrier, Arthur, who had sneaked a look at Maiya beyond the wall, clicked his tongue.

“Her inherent combat power and technique are already tremendous, but if she can restore her body at that speed, there’s no answer. We simply can’t stop her if she just takes attacks head-on and closes in.”

“For someone who was so confident, your excuses are unnecessarily long.”

“Shut up!”

Arthur, roaring at Aileen’s cold words, hastily suppressed his presence and scanned their surroundings.

As they emerged from the estate, the commotion inside the Mausoleum faded, and the surroundings had grown quiet.

“I’ve deployed a barrier, so they won’t pursue us here. Judging by when and where the corpses reanimated, they seem to be set to roam within the estate’s vicinity.”

Lennok watched the silence, then turned his gaze.

“Yaksha. I understand the concept of the Parasitic Flower that has assimilated the Enforcer. Considering that the spatial distortion around the Mausoleum is no ordinary power, it’s likely not a lie.”

“…”

“However, everything you’ve explained so far amounted to reasons why we ‘cannot enter the Mausoleum right now,’ not a solution to break through this situation.”

Corpses, holding the seeds of Dead Flowers, reanimating and black flowers blooming inside their heads.

All those flowers act as focal points, distorting spacetime within the Mausoleum, rejecting any approach.

That was why Lennok had felt no sense of distance when facing the Mausoleum, and why he couldn’t confirm its true nature even though it was visible to the naked eye.

But what the Yaksha had explained so far was closer to the cause of the phenomena Lennok experienced, not a method to resolve it.

“What is your purpose? Is your intervention at this point related to the method you’re about to propose?”

“That’s right. Only after a clear understanding of the Parasitic Flowers can I properly explain the method I propose.”

The Yaksha replied, looking down at the black flower he held in his hand.

“As I said, to undo the spacetime distortion spread across the Mausoleum, all these Parasitic Flowers rooted in humans must be eliminated. However, at that point, no living being who has entered this Demonic Realm will survive.”

“Is it because the Transcendent sleeping inside the Mausoleum will awaken the moment all the Parasitic Flowers are burned and the spatial distortion is undone?”

Lennok, who had guessed the reason from their first conversation, spoke.

“The Grand General of the Empire, said to be a corpse in this Demonic Realm… will personally reanimate and come to kill us.”

If the entire Distortion Field spread across the Mausoleum was the Grand General of Brilliance’s Will-thought itself, then the Grand General of Brilliance would realize it the moment the field was removed.

Lennok also knew what prestige the Grand General held in the central city of Ars Nova.

If such a being, even in death, had not lost its power but became a part of the Demonic Realm, a monster ruling this hell.

If the trigger to awaken that corrupted Transcendent was the act of erasing the spatial distortion around the Mausoleum.

“It seems you’re finally ready for my proposal.”

The Yaksha, perched on a nearby tombstone with two fingers splayed, spoke.

“If we don’t eliminate the Parasitic Flowers, we can’t enter the Mausoleum. Conversely, if we eliminate all Parasitic Flowers, the Grand General of Brilliance will awaken and kill us all. If there’s no choice either way, there’s only one method.”

“After retrieving all the Parasitic Flowers from outside the Mausoleum, we control the Spatial Distortion Field within the Mausoleum from our side… is that it?”

Aileen said, frowning.

“If we can neither break through the Spatial Distortion Field nor erase it, then the only thing we can do is directly adjust the field to create a path.”

“That is the only way to enter the Mausoleum without awakening the Grand General of Brilliance.”

The Yaksha affirmed, arms crossed.

“As you may have guessed, this plan requires multiple superhumans to move simultaneously both inside and outside the Mausoleum. While the Parasitic Flowers are collected from the Mausoleum’s exterior and the field is adjusted from outside, a pre-selected, elite few must enter the Mausoleum.”

“…”

“To enter the Mausoleum simultaneously, the Grand General’s tombstones, located in the four cardinal directions around the Mausoleum, must be manipulated simultaneously to open the entrance. This requires at least four high-level superhumans skilled in spell formations.”

“Incredibly stringent conditions, I must say.”

Lennok replied coldly.

“You’re saying that dozens of high-level superhumans are needed just to open the entrance, not even to raid the Mausoleum?”

“A hell that bears four heavens and where death blooms like flowers… that is the true essence of the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors.”

The Yaksha nodded.

“Immediately after the Great Upheaval, the internal environment of the Demonic Realm changed significantly, but as the path to the Mausoleum—from which no one had ever returned alive—opened, various pieces of information were released.”

“…”

“The Order Alliance and the Guido Cult obtained this information during their conquest of the Demonic Realm and simultaneously slowed their advance, formulating a plan to enter the Mausoleum. All their preconditions were nullified entirely because of you, Cheonbeon.”

In the chilling silence, the Yaksha’s words echoed calmly.

“While what you have accomplished in this Demonic Realm so far is unparalleled, if you continue with the same approach, you will now turn the central powers into your enemies. So, why not use the Order Alliance as bait?”

“Bait?”

“As one who was the navigator of the Sun Ship, I advise the captain of this new vessel: lend your abilities and use them as a shield to enter the Mausoleum.”

The Yaksha said.

“The process of entering the Mausoleum inevitably involves sacrifice, and they have already completed their preparations. If you join their plan, you can enter the Mausoleum without significant loss.”

“…”

“I know you’ve harbored resentment towards both factions for a long time, but here, I think you could set aside your emotions and cooperate temporarily for a common goal.”

“So the Order Alliance is leading the plan, and they want to borrow some of my abilities in the process?”

Lennok murmured.

“It seems the Order Alliance was also significantly shocked by the existence of the Sun Ship.”

If the Order Alliance had finished assessing the situation inside the Mausoleum and prepared a method.

If they had been cautiously proceeding with the Demonic Realm conquest to minimize necessary personnel and asset losses, then the current situation made sense.

If they could involve Cheonbeon in the Alliance’s plan and borrow the Sun Ship Lennok possessed to go straight to the Mausoleum, the situation would become much more convenient for them.

Conversely, Lennok himself might be able to proceed with the Mausoleum conquest more comfortably among them, by aligning with the Alliance leading the plan.

However, even amidst this, Lennok was simultaneously thinking of something other than the Yaksha’s proposal.

More precisely, Aileen’s reaction, as she was lost in thought even while listening to the Yaksha’s explanation.

“…”

Was it because she already knew the information the Yaksha explained, or because it differed from what she knew?

From the moment Aileen decided to guide Lennok alone, it was clear she possessed some means of entering the Mausoleum.

The reason she hadn’t told Lennok yet might have been due to the presence of outsiders, including Arthur and the Yaksha.

If he needed to confirm that, it might be better to retreat and buy some time for now—

But the Yaksha’s answer was completely different from what Lennok had been thinking.

“No. This time, the request for cooperation isn’t from just one side. Your existence and that of the Sun Ship have completely changed the situation.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Both the Order Alliance and the Guido Cult have agreed to cooperate in this operation, on the condition that you join, and for this one time only.”

The Yaksha said.

“Martinez. If you accept, this will be an unprecedented joint conquest, with the Guido Cult and the Order Alliance joining hands.”