Chapter 1298: Promise of Corruption (2)
“So, this is Dead Fire, then.”
“Touch it carefully. If you get hurt, your life might be in danger.”
Crackling, crackling!!!
A dense jungle stretched outside the encampment where the Guido Cult and the Order Alliance had signed an agreement and gathered. Lennok sat with Aileen in the middle of the jungle, warming his hands by a bonfire.
Whoosh!!
At first glance, they looked like two people who had lit a bonfire to thaw their frozen bodies.
But the light of the bonfire before Lennok was not red; it was closer to a dark, ashen gray.
What touched his hands was not scorching heat, but a lukewarm, damp warmth.
He silently watched the ashen flames rise as the stacked Dead Flowers’ petals burned.
“The color is unique, isn’t it?”
“……”
Half a day of rest was given to the party before the assault on the Mausoleum.
Lennok and Aileen were outside under the pretext of investigating the Demonic Realm.
“Flames that burn death as their raw material… it is certainly peculiar.”
Lennok, who had held his hand into the Dead Fire’s flame, lowered his head.
Even though he had reached his hand into the burning bonfire, Lennok’s glove didn’t char in the slightest.
“It’s not a power that can burn or ignite anything. Does it only exist as a phenomenon that arises from burning Dead Flower petals?”
“Regarding the effects of Dead Fire, some facts have been revealed through The Agency’s expeditions.”
Aileen said, pushing the pre-stacked petals into the bonfire.
“It’s a flame that only occurs by burning the petals, but as long as the flame is maintained, it can also burn away the inherent property of death in other objects.”
“Interesting. Burning away the inherent property of death in an object?”
“Exactly. For example… imagine it burning away the ‘death’ inherent in the glove you’re warming by the bonfire right now.”
Aileen tilted her head.
“The more you expose your glove to Dead Fire, the longer its lifespan will become, and the longer you’ll be able to use it. It burns away damage or the property of death in objects.”
“I see. That’s…”
Does that mean simply by exposing an object to this death flame, its damage or demise can be somewhat delayed?
Flames that, while unable to reverse an object’s damage or breakage, can burn away the very potential for such things inherent within the object.
Even just hearing the explanation, countless applications came to mind; it was a power of truly immense value.
“So that’s what the Iron Spirit Spell Master meant when he asked if I intended to prolong my magic with the power of Dead Fire.”
Lennok, lost in thought, spoke.
“Did he think I came to the Demonic Realm to try and delay my weakening magic, even if only a little, using Dead Fire?”
“The potential and utility of Dead Fire have been known for a long time. The reason it couldn’t be properly utilized was because the conditions for using Dead Fire were so stringent.”
Aileen raised her gaze.
“The effects of Dead Fire only occur when the petals are burned, and the smoke produced at that time contains concentrated death energy, acting as a fatal toxin to living beings. Even a high-level superhuman could die if they breathe it for more than two minutes.”
“……”
“Without processing using True Blood, it withers quickly, and an enormous amount is needed to process even a business card-sized piece. Either way, the efficiency is extremely low, and it requires a significant amount of time… so despite several attempts to utilize the power of the Demonic Realm, all ended in failure.”
“The risks are absurdly high compared to the potential gains?”
“That’s why the Demonic Realm Travelogue you possess is such an unbelievable item.”
Aileen pointed to Lennok’s chest and adjusted her sunglasses on the bridge of her nose.
Her two eyes, gazing at Lennok from behind the sunglasses, shone brightly.
“All the front pages of that travelogue are made from overlapping Dead Flower petals. Do you understand how bizarre that is?”
“……”
“I don’t know how great a Pathfinder Ethan Bajour was, but processing Dead Flower petals to that extent and making them into a journal is practically impossible. That’s why I was so surprised when I saw the travelogue.”
“Yet, so far, not much truly significant information has been gained from the travelogue itself.”
Lennok, pulling out the travelogue from his chest and opening it, replied.
“The only truly helpful information was about the plants in the Demonic Realm going dormant when the sun rises… other than that, it’s still full of enigmatic records.”
“The contents of the travelogue. Can I see them too?”
“You’ll understand immediately once you see it.”
As Lennok turned the page, Aileen saw the words appearing in real-time and was speechless.
[Dead Fire petals taste sour when depressed. Sweet when sad. Astringent when happy.]
[Presumed to produce flavors that contradict the emotion felt at the time of ingestion.]
[Chopped the leaves and brewed tea, but it was tasteless. Fed it to a headless deer wandering nearby, and it went mad, so I had to kill it.]
[The eyeballs hanging like fruit on the vines have the same composition as real human eyeballs. I spat them out to avoid cannibalism.]
[The deeper one ventures into the Demonic Realm, the richer the scent and taste of all flora and fauna become.]
“……”
Aileen, staring blankly at the page, took off her sunglasses and rubbed her eyes.
“……What on earth is this talking about?”
“I’ve felt it before, but Ethan Bajour, during his lifetime, seems to have been a very peculiar gourmet.”
Lennok said.
“Perhaps because he was born with the Talent for Reversing Heaven, which could restore his body to its original state no matter what, it seems his hobby was to personally taste everything he saw wherever he went. That’s why the travelogue contains almost nothing but such records.”
“……”
“He also seems to have noticed that plants go dormant when the sun rises in the Demonic Realm by observing how their taste changes at specific times. Of course, some information could only be discovered that way, but…”
Lennok closed the notebook and shook his head.
“Choosing ingestion as a method was ultimately Ethan Bajour’s personal preference. Although the sense of taste is sensitive among the five senses, it’s not that precise a sensory organ.”
“That’s not a gourmet; that’s just someone with a taste for bizarre food.”
Aileen said, frowning.
“As you said, it won’t be easy to get help from it for Demonic Realm exploration or investigation.”
“However, not all information recorded in the travelogue is like that. Look at this.”
Lennok opened another page and showed it to her, and Aileen shifted her gaze.
[The water flowing through the river near the deepest part of the Demonic Realm tasted of blood.]
[Even though I traveled upstream to find the source of the taste, I couldn’t find the cause.]
[After searching through my past travelogues, I remembered that this was the taste of True Blood.]
“……Ah?”
As Aileen was slightly startled, a shocking passage was written below.
[It seems someone’s True Blood is flowing within the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors, forming this river of hell.]
“……”
“Can you guess what kind of being this ‘someone’ refers to?”
Lennok asked.
“A being who shed so much blood that it became part of the river system throughout the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors. A Transcendent who possesses all that blood as True Blood.”
“……The Grand General, then.”
“Right.”
A powerful being capable of covering the entire Mausoleum with their Will-thought, distorting spacetime.
A noble who possessed such a vast amount of True Blood that they could spill it into the Demonic Realm to form rivers.
If it was a being of such profound transcendence, unimaginable by mortal standards, it could only be the deceased Grand General slumbering within this Demonic Realm.
Leaving Aileen to her shock, Lennok retrieved the travelogue.
“Although most of the travelogue’s records are focused on Ethan’s bizarre diet, they aren’t entirely useless. As you search through them, like now, they can sometimes lead to meaningful clues or conclusions.”
“……”
“The same goes for the method of entering the Mausoleum. If Ethan Bajour entered the Mausoleum, he surely would have left behind the method. It might not be visible now, but it must remain somewhere.”
Thud. Lennok said, closing the notebook page.
“Aileen. Just as you know another method but haven’t spoken of it yet.”
“……”
Crackling, crackling.
Aileen looked at the ashen bonfire and fell silent.
“If not now, with the Yaksha and the mercenary gone, there might not be another opportunity like this.”
Lennok stared intently at Aileen’s face.
“Can I hear the reason why you haven’t spoken about the method of entering the Mausoleum, despite being assigned as a guide?”
“……The method I know isn’t to formally open the Mausoleum entrance, like the Yaksha’s suggestion.”
Aileen said quietly.
“It’s a shortcut that bypasses the Mausoleum’s security and barriers by passing through the Imaginary Dimension, but it’s an exploration method used by The Agency before the Great Upheaval, so it has a few problems.”
“……”
“If the Mausoleum’s spacetime is contaminated, the explorer’s consciousness and spiritual presence are highly likely to be contaminated along with it, and knowing this method makes it even worse. Without resistance, your mind could collapse before even attempting it.”
“Knowing the method actually increases the risk…”
Lennok recalled the conversation he had with Aileen while heading to the Mausoleum with Arthur Mason and asked.
“It must be a type of exploration method that borrows knowledge from the Outer Sea.”
“……Yes.”
A source of knowledge that endangers the mind merely by being perceived, and whose side effects only increase.
The knowledge of the Outer Sea, which The Agency manages by imposing information restrictions on its members.
Was the Demonic Realm exploration attempted by The Agency using forbidden knowledge?
“Because of the Grand General’s Will-thought spread around the Mausoleum, if we had passed through the Imaginary Dimension, our consciousness would have been devoured. In the worst case, our consciousness would have been absorbed by the Grand General’s Will-thought.”
“Is that why you didn’t object to the Yaksha’s proposal to adjust and remove the Distortion Field?”
“Because there would be an opportunity at some point while the Order Alliance and the Guido Cult moved simultaneously to clear the Distortion Field.”
Aileen looked at the bonfire and nodded with a somber expression.
“Therefore, Martinez. I will personally take responsibility and ensure you enter the Mausoleum. That would be my duty as your guide.”
“You speak like someone bearing a grand mission… There’s no need to take on unnecessary burdens.”
If he had intended to rely entirely on others’ abilities or means, Lennok would not have headed to the Demonic Realm alone in the first place.
By the time he acquired the travelogue and the Sun Ship, Lennok already had the means to explore the Demonic Realm alone.
The only reason he hadn’t done so was because he thought this way would be easier once inside the Mausoleum.
What Lennok intended to ascertain was simply how much he could trust Aileen in this matter.
“If your method was absolutely necessary, I would have made you reveal it whether you wanted to or not. The reason I didn’t was because I ultimately believed there was a need to retreat once before the Mausoleum.”
“But…”
“Is it because you’re a noble? You feel responsible in strange ways for a member of the Central’s conquest faction.”
Lennok chuckled and averted his gaze.
“Right now, even within this Demonic Realm, there are plenty of irresponsible individuals like that.”
“Did you call me?”
Whoosh!!
Arthur Mason, pushing through branches where corpses hung by their necks, spat sharply.
Facing Lennok and Aileen with a sullen expression, he dropped the bundle of petals he had been carrying on his shoulder.
“I picked all the Dead Fire petals blooming nearby. There wasn’t enough, so I had to cross the river and come back.”
“……”
“Damn it, the riverbed was full of bloated corpses, it made me want to puke. Anyway, this much should be enough, right?”
Arthur, using his shotgun as a staff, sat on a nearby rock and massaged his waist.
“To want to investigate the Demonic Realm’s environment even during your precious break time, why are you Agency folks so needlessly diligent?”
“Shut up, mercenary.”
Aileen sighed and said.
“This was originally something that should have been finished while exploring the early parts of the Demonic Realm, but I never imagined we’d reach the deepest part so quickly. I thought it would take at least a week of dedicated time…”
“……Are you bragging about arriving quickly or something?”
“Martinez has the guidebook, so I’m only explaining the truly essential background knowledge. If you can’t be helpful, just sit quietly and rest.”
“Hah, the one who truly needs rest isn’t you or me, but that annoying wizard.”
Arthur snorted and looked back at Lennok.
“This whole thing wouldn’t even start without that damn Sun Ship. Didn’t the Yaksha know that and give us half a day’s leeway?”
“……”
“He didn’t say it directly, but he’d need time to recover mana and be able to summon the Sun Ship. And you’re dragging him out to explain the Demonic Realm.”
“Don’t worry about it; I was the one who asked for explanations and guidance regarding the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors.”
Lennok said with an expressionless face.
“It will take some time to recover since so much mana was expended, but talking or walking isn’t a problem. It should be mostly recovered by the time we depart.”
“……”
“Rather, being moderately depleted like this actually sharpens my senses. This level of deficiency allows me to perceive the surrounding mana and flow of power more sensitively…”
Lennok murmured, staring at the Dead Fire’s flames burning before him.
“If I observe it a little longer, I feel like I’ll grasp the sensation, but I’m not sure if I’ll make it by departure time.”
“You monster… what part of that is good?”
“……”
Arthur, unaware of the full details, merely grumbled, but Aileen was looking at Lennok as if he were literally a monster.
From killing the former 9th Apostle and the Iron Spirit Spell Master, entering the Demonic Realm, shaking off the Grand Spell Master and the 7th Apostle, and subduing Arthur, all the way to arriving at the Mausoleum.
Even though all those engagements were localized battles of destruction that burned through mana, could he really recover most of his mana with just half a day of rest?
It would be impossible unless his recovery rate was as vast as his mana capacity. It was almost unbelievable unless his recovery began simultaneously with mana consumption.
“Instead of worrying about me, you should take care of yourself.”
Lennok, still with his hand deep in the ashen flames, turned his gaze.
“Once the assault on the Mausoleum begins, there might not even be time like this. I won’t tell you to recover your condition perfectly, but let’s not hinder each other.”
“Hah, who’s worrying about whom? You’re the one who made that bizarre agreement with the Order Alliance and the Guido Cult.”
“The Grand Spell Master and the 7th Apostle. Perhaps because they clashed several times in the Demonic Realm, they seemed to want to kill each other right away.”
Aileen fell into thought.
“I understand why Martinez accepted the agreement, but it would be wise to pay more careful attention to the balance between the two factions going forward.”
“If we’d made even a slight misstep, we might have had to face both the Cult and the Alliance right then and there.”
Arthur grumbled, sitting on a box and holding his shotgun upside down.
“No matter how I look at it, the agreement doesn’t seem like it’ll be properly upheld. Did we come here for nothing?”
“It’s unlikely that will happen before we enter the Mausoleum.”
Lennok replied.
“The Cult’s Cardinal seemed to know the situation exactly. He accurately pinpointed my reason for participating in the agreement and mediated the situation.”
“……”
“He seemed like a different person from when he was picking a fight with me using the 10th Apostle as an excuse. Perhaps he intentionally gave off an impression of hostility to those around him to alleviate suspicion.”
Lennok said that and calmly looked away.
“So that even if I take a moment like this, no one around would suspect anything.”
“……Huh?”
Aileen, who had inadvertently answered that, stopped moving as she saw an old man in white ceremonial robes.
The Cult’s Cardinal, who sat at the round table and carved his name onto the oath document. An Archbishop assisting the 7th Apostle named Molton.
The very person they had just been discussing appeared behind Lennok.
“……”
Whoosh-Whoosh-Whoosh-
A slow, throbbing sound echoed from beyond the gathering point.
A password adjusted to an extremely low frequency, audible only to mana users.
Hearing the sound announcing their imminent departure, Lennok and the Cardinal exchanged silent glances.
“Just like the apostate who reportedly defeated Amrita.”
The Cardinal, who spoke first, slowly stroked his chin.
“As expected, you anticipated my visit, didn’t you?”
“What is it?”
“I came to tell you something before we enter the Mausoleum.”
The Cardinal’s gaze, fixed on Lennok, had become much clearer than before.
“Since they saw me question you, accusing you of killing Amrita, the priests won’t suspect much even if I come to find you.”
“……”
“I know why you participated in this agreement. It’s because you want to ascertain what the Guido Cult and the Order Alliance desire within the Mausoleum, isn’t it?”
“I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.”
Lennok said in a cold tone.
“Does a Cardinal serving the Guido Cult wish to inform me of their objectives?”
“Yes.”
The Cardinal nodded.
“The ritual the 11th Naydree is preparing at the main temple has already deviated from the norm. The Demonic Realm affair is a massive stepping stone for it.”
“……”
“The Priestess has gone mad, obsessing over her own inadequacies and inferiority complex, and to satisfy it, she is even trying to defy the order of the Guido Cult.”
For a moment, Lennok paused his reply.
He hadn’t expected the Cardinal to be the first to mention that the Priestess was preparing a ritual at the main temple.
The reason for contacting him while bringing up a plan secretly underway within the Guido Cult.
Could it be the result of an unexpected internal strife within the Guido Cult itself?
“It sounds as if the Priestess’s objectives are somehow in conflict with the doctrines.”
Lennok, having quickly made his judgment, asked.
“Do you think I would believe that, when the Priestess, the Pontiff’s representative, is practically the order of the Guido Cult itself?”
“Perhaps.”
But the Cardinal’s answer completely transcended Lennok’s expectations.
“However, no matter how extraordinary the Priestess may be, she must never arbitrarily misinterpret His will.”
“……‘His’ will?”
In a Cult that worships myriad gods, there was only one being referred to as ‘Him.’
Lennok instinctively realized this concerned the Pontiff himself and paused for a moment.
“I will say this only once, here and now.”
The Cardinal said with a frighteningly grim expression.