Chapter 1303: The Grand General’s Mausoleum (1)

KWA-AAAAAH!!!

As the Severed Plane of Causality was pried open, spacetime cracked and exploded.

The entire underground facility of the Mausoleum, shrouded in darkness, split apart along the fissure, and Lennok, returned to reality, fell into a passage with no footholds.

A wind blew from beyond the endless void. The stench of rotting corpses.

“The interior of the Mausoleum is already completely encroached…!!!”

CRASH!!

Aileen, who had crashed into the passage wall as she fell, gritted her teeth at the sight of human faces densely embedded in the wall.

It was a gruesome sight: not statues or patterns, but the actual flayed skin of human faces meticulously stitched together across the passage walls.

Thousands upon tens of thousands of faces plastered to the wall stared this way simultaneously, emitting silent screams – a horrifying spectacle.

At the moment Aileen’s will-thought wavered at the sight of the corrupted forbidden magic, so vastly different from the Imperial National Mausoleum she remembered.

Lennok, falling beside her, abruptly bowed his head.

“……!!!”

He looked powerless, as if he had fainted during the fall.

Startled, Aileen grabbed Lennok’s hand and pulled him closer, shaking his shoulder.

“Martinez!! Snap out of it!!”

“……Just a moment.”

KWA-AAAAAH!!!!

In Lennok’s vision, as he struggled to open his eyes, golden threads of causality overflowed.

The Corrupted Golden Rule operated without limit, reading all causality in reverse in every direction.

It was a miracle that existed and activated purely by will, so Lennok, like someone who had just gained a new sensory organ, couldn’t control it.

“Just, give me some… time.”

KWA-AAAAANG!!!

Immediately afterward, Arthur and Maiya’s figures plummeted at incredible speed above Aileen’s head, clashing repeatedly.

The two Transcendent beings did not stop their engagement even while falling after entering through the opened Mausoleum entrance.

Shotgun blasts erupted, and grenades scattered. Amidst them, Maiya’s figure, brandishing a myriad of sword-lights, pursued, avoiding even the Yaksha.

Had they followed after the Mausoleum entrance opened, refusing to give up?

If Maiya Lonsdale wasn’t killed here, it would be virtually impossible to shake her off.

“Enforcer…!!”

WHOOSH!!

Aileen grabbed Lennok by the collar and pulled him behind her, just as she was about to parry a short sword that was twisting and falling like a snake.

Lennok carelessly snatched at the golden threads of causality fluttering before his eyes and swung his hand.

CHAE-AENG!!!

“—!!!!”

An indifferent gesture, containing no spellcraft or magic.

But with that alone, Lennok’s hand precisely struck Maiya’s short sword, deflecting it.

The sharp, accelerating blade of the short sword shattered like glass on the spot.

A blow so eerie and incomprehensible that even the Enforcer, encroached by the Parasitic Flower, flinched.

“Whoa, what the f*ck!!”

“……What was that?”

Arthur’s jaw dropped, the Yaksha flinched, and Aileen looked back blankly. At that moment.

Lennok, still bowing his head as he fell, caressed the golden melody.

“……Rotation.”

Without incantation or mana manipulation, he touched causality purely by will.

With that alone, the highest-tier destructive magic instantly assembled within Lennok’s inner world and manifested in reality.

[Explosive Flame Orb]

[Eightfold Incineration – Nuclear Fusion]

KUGUGUGU……!!!!!

Eight fire orbs merged in mid-air following Lennok’s gesture, turning into a brilliant blue light.

The transcendent heat manifested as plasma, condensing and appearing as a blue luminous body.

[Self-Rotation: Blue]

KWA-AAAAAAAH!!!!!

The blue heat incinerated the underground passage, illuminating the scene that had been filled with endless darkness.

All the flayed faces on the walls burned away and vanished, revealing the charred interior walls of the Mausoleum.

It was not merely a matter of illuminating darkness and removing obstacles; the sheer heat was so overwhelming it could have obliterated even the superhumans who had fallen with them.

Upon seeing the plasma explosion, Maiya moved with an instinct that transcended understanding.

CLANK!!

As she retracted her pressing blade, she crossed her arms in reverse to protect her upper body.

She received the plasma orb that exploded right in front of her with her blade’s surface and was propelled away at incredible speed.

The entire underground passage exploded, and Lennok and Aileen were thrown in opposite directions, slamming into the walls.

KWA-AAAAAAANG!!!!

KUGUGUGUGUGU!!!

“Ah, ugh…!!!”

Amidst the collapsing debris of the passage, unable to withstand the explosion, it was difficult to even guess their direction or location.

Even as they tumbled backward, they could only desperately bat away debris falling in front of them with their blades.

After being pushed deep into the darkness for a long time, they managed to halt themselves precariously by bracing their feet.

SPLAT!!!!

It was only after sliding dozens of meters that she realized where she had landed.

“This is……”

The farthest end of a vast, enormous basement, difficult to discern its direction.

The entire ceiling and walls were blackened as if coated with crude oil, and rough as if long corroded.

It was a form of the noble sanctuary, similar to the landscape Aileen remembered, yet infinitely defiled and corrupted.

“We’ve…… arrived inside the Mausoleum facility.”

Lennok, slumped beside Aileen, struggled to raise his head.

“Finally, at last…… it seems we’ve reached the end of the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors.”

“……”

GO-OOOOOH……!!

The lamps illuminating the endless darkness and blackened corridors emitted a black light.

It was a bizarre sight: Dead Flowers, which could be burned to produce this unique black flame, were being used as mere lamps.

Would this be how it felt to be buried alive within a colossal altar or temple?

Aileen hastily composed herself and looked back at Lennok.

“Martinez! Are you alright?”

“……Better than before.”

Lennok slowly closed and opened his eyes, answering quietly.

Aileen’s expression immediately turned serious at his unusual response.

“There’s a problem with your vision, isn’t there? Surely, due to the Mausoleum’s environment, something with your eyes—”

“No, it’s not that. My body is fine. The problem isn’t my condition, but……”

PA-AAAAAH!!!

Even at this moment, golden threads of causality filled Lennok’s vision, obscuring it, and melodies overflowed in his ears.

Simultaneously with acquiring the Corrupted Golden Rule, the sensation of reading causality was flooding in madly, overwriting his other five senses.

The sensory overload was so extreme that his perception itself was paralyzed, but Lennok instinctively knew why this was happening.

‘This is the price for gaining a new sensory organ. Is the stimulus threshold too low, causing me to feel every sensation with extreme sensitivity…?’

Lennok’s current state was no different from a person who had lacked taste their entire life suddenly gaining a tongue.

He was re-evaluating everything anew, having gained the sensation of reading causality, something he had never experienced before.

Since it wasn’t a problem with his body or mind, the only immediate solution was to wait until he became accustomed to the stimulus.

‘It’s difficult. Controlling this sensation purely by will makes it too volatile. It might be better to just let it all out.’

Quasi-Authority, as its name suggests, is a power that exists and operates based on the user’s own will and intent.

Because it functions purely on will, separate from mana, will-thought, or mental power, Lennok found it difficult to control the Corrupted Golden Rule.

He didn’t know how much he needed to suppress the sensation to avoid affecting his other five senses, or if it was even possible to learn such a knack.

The best method would be to use the Quasi-Authority to its limits and narrow the gap between its highest and lowest points, but that was not feasible in the current situation.

Perhaps he should consider himself lucky that this wasn’t even the worst-case scenario he had anticipated when acquiring the Quasi-Authority.

“It’ll be fine after a short rest… Don’t worry. It won’t hinder our Mausoleum raid.”

“……”

“By the way… this facility is truly bizarre. It’s hard to believe this was once the Imperial National Mausoleum.”

Lennok surveyed the dark interior of the Mausoleum stretching behind Aileen.

“Even the bricks forming the ceiling and walls are steeped in malice and lingering resentment. An enormous amount of radiation must be pouring out even at this moment.”

“……That’s.”

“Any ordinary superhuman would have died the moment they entered the Mausoleum, their cells destroyed. But apart from that, the sight within this Mausoleum is……”

Lennok muttered, opening a massive coffin displayed next to the basement.

“It’s no longer something that can be explained by human sensibility or morality.”

“This can’t be…”

Inside the colossal coffin, countless corpses were melted and mixed together.

Like humans stirred in a bowl, organs and body parts were irregularly jumbled.

Eyeballs, blood vessels, hearts, and lungs, along with other traces, protruded from the fleshy mass, hardened in place.

“Ow, ugh…”

A human head, impaled on a candlestick, slowly rotated, emitting an indistinct wail.

A peculiar mechanical device that forced the vocal cords to move and produce sound even though it was already dead.

The faintly twitching human head began to speak, like a recorder.

“WorshiptheAlmightyEmperor”

“AdoretheGreatThreeGrandDukes”

“FollowtheFiveOldestFamilies”

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK……!!!

A corpse, spread-eagled and dead, hung upside down, swaying slowly like a scale.

A mural created by cutting out smiling faces, crying faces, and angry faces, then piecing them together in a mosaic.

Hundreds of corpses lined the corridor to its end, arms and legs splayed wide, bellies slit open.

“……Ah.”

The superhumans of the Order Alliance and the Guido Cult, who went missing in the Demonic Realm, were now trapped in the Mausoleum’s basement, becoming wombs that gave birth to living creatures.

As if something had gained life, been born, and crawled out, all the corpses with burst, open bellies were smiling brightly.

Human flesh flowers, made by cutting wrists and arranging them like fresh blooms. Ornaments crafted by extracting throats and spines.

Everywhere one looked, human corpses were meticulously displayed.

A grotesque landscape, as if humans had been used as materials for long-term experiments and then discarded.

A foreign sensation, utterly unlike the methods of the Cult or the Alliance, and seemingly not even human.

Would this be how an alien being, having traveled from a distant universe, would meticulously prepare humans?

Was this the landscape of hell, existing in an alternate dimension that did not follow this world’s laws?

“……We’ll need to assess the situation.”

Lennok said, gazing at the Mausoleum, which seemed to have summoned an alien hell into the present world.

“We’ve successfully entered the corrupted Mausoleum without awakening the Grand General, as planned. In the process, the Mausoleum entrance expanded, forcibly pulling in other superhumans.”

“……”

“While the Enforcer’s intervention made things chaotic… now that we’re inside the Mausoleum, the objective is simple.”

Lennok, struggling to stand, raised his gaze.

“Find the Grand General’s corpse and recover the Imperial legacy he protects. Afterward, we must find a path to Ars Nova.”

“……”

“Why this Mausoleum has become what it is… the answer will lie beyond the Grand General’s corpse.”

The Corrupted Golden Rule is a type of reality-altering ability created using the profound principles of the Three Cosmic Poles.

Among the powers composed of the three concepts of Heaven, Earth, and Man, it is clear where Lennok’s yet-to-be-acquired concept of Man lies.

Not just for the sake of the power itself, but also to find the way to Ars Nova, breaking through this Mausoleum to its very end was already predetermined.

Now that they were inside the Mausoleum, there was only one thing to do.

Find the Grand General’s corpse and obtain the secrets left within it.

“It’s clear this Mausoleum is dominated by the power of the Outer Sea. And that the Imperial Palace somehow induced this corruption…”

Aileen quietly said, sweeping back her hair.

“What remains here is undoubtedly the Emperor’s failure itself. If that failure was further twisted by a cataclysm, I don’t know what could exist inside.”

“……”

“The Grand General of Brilliance, who slumbers within the Mausoleum… is he truly the person I remember?”

“There’s no need to get too far ahead of ourselves. For now, the fact that the Grand General hasn’t awakened even after we’ve entered the Mausoleum is enough.”

Lennok, struggling, turned his steps.

“And… the Order Alliance and the Guido Cult are surely thinking the same thing.”

“……That’s.”

DU-DU-DU-DU-DU

KIE-EEEEEE!!!!

If one pressed an ear to the wall and sharpened their senses, agonizing screams could be heard.

With every expansion of his magical perception, he felt countless corpses running wild.

A chilling sensation of sticky, demonic energy-steeped corpses forming a surging sea within the Mausoleum.

At this very moment, somewhere in the Mausoleum, superhumans from the Order Alliance and the Guido Cult were fighting the Mausoleum’s corpses.

“Those guarding this Mausoleum are clashing with and scattering the forces of the Order Alliance and the Guido Cult.”

Lennok said, pressing his hand against the wall.

“That alone means the agreement we made in front of the Mausoleum holds significance.”

“……”

“How long we should maintain this relationship… we can consider that later, once we’ve progressed further.”

“……To do that, it’s still important for us to get ahead, even if only a little.”

She nodded, her gaze fixed on one of the many corridors branching off in all directions from the basement.

“Let’s go that way. That’s probably the path to the Mausoleum’s core.”

“You know the way?”

“The Imperial National Mausoleum of The Empire used an architectural style that created many false passages and entrances to deter intruders.”

Aileen explained calmly.

“It distorts spacetime itself, making it impossible to distinguish with the naked eye… but there’s one sure method.”

DRIP, DRIP…!!

By now, blue blood was dripping from Aileen’s palms.

Lennok nodded, looking down at the True Blood seeping into the blackened Mausoleum floor.

“A blood resonance using the same True Blood, then. You intend to find the Grand General’s direction with that.”

“I didn’t want to use this method if possible… but let’s hurry.”

Aileen said, then chose a corridor and led the way.

“For anyone else, perhaps, but the Seventh Apostle might pick up the scent of blood in this Mausoleum. If that mad vampire latches on, things will get troublesome.”

“No… you won’t have to worry about that for a while.”

Lennok said, glancing at the fork in the path Aileen had indicated.

“The smell of blood is already thick in this Mausoleum.”

“……Ah.”

SPLASH, SPLASH…!!

A corpse of an Order Alliance sorcerer, throat half-severed, rolled out of the darkness.

The body of a Guido Cult priest, split vertically from the crown of his head, tumbled into a pool of blood.

Dozens of corpses of Order Alliance and Guido Cult members densely covered the intersection of the underground passage.

Standing atop that mountain of corpses was the Enforcer, where black flowers bloomed.

CRACK!!

She crushed the neck bone of a struggling Rectification Knight with the grip of her hand and slowly turned around.

Aileen bit her lip, looking at Maiya, who gazed down at them without a single word.

“Oh, of all times…!!”

“Considering the Enforcer’s senses… it’s not surprising she didn’t lose our trace amidst that chaos.”

Lennok slowly said, stepping forward past Aileen.

“Her reflexes were sharp enough to parry the magic I unleashed right in front of her… I had a feeling we might meet again soon.”

“Run, Martinez. I’ll buy you time.”

Aileen immediately made her decision, raising her blade.

“Fighting here is disadvantageous. It might even be more dangerous than before…!!”

The interior of the Mausoleum facility was a complex labyrinth of corridors. It was not an ideal environment for projecting magic or unleashing concentrated firepower.

Conversely, for the Enforcer, who specialized in close-quarters combat, it was an absolutely perfect battlefield. In a way, she was a more dangerous opponent here than outside the Mausoleum.

Fighting the Enforcer on such a stage, especially with Lennok’s seemingly poor condition, could genuinely go very wrong.

Aileen immediately realized this and was about to force herself to buy time, when Lennok shook his head and stepped out.

“No… I’ll deal with her here.”

“What?!”

“If we run, she’ll persistently chase us through the Mausoleum. Given the Enforcer’s skill, it won’t just be a tingling sensation at the back of our heads…”

SWISH!

Lennok rolled up his sleeves and slowly warmed up, rotating his wrist.

“If she exploits a moment when things get complicated, our lives will be in danger. It’s better to definitively eliminate the possibility here.”

“That’s…”

“More importantly… there’s something I want to test.”

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK……!!!!

As Lennok placed his hand on the blackened wall, a chilling cold spread along the wall, freezing it pure white.

As the white ice covered the corridor where Lennok and Maiya stood and scattered cold air, the Enforcer moved.

FLASH!!

Holding her short sword in a reverse grip, she accelerated, sliding over the ice, and explosively rotated her body.

She twisted the short sword’s trajectory more than nine times in an instant, and just as it was about to plunge into Lennok’s neck before he could react.

Maiya’s upper right body exploded, tearing apart, and her figure slammed into the wall.

KWA-AAAAAAANG!!!!

“—!”

A blow that not only overwhelmed the Enforcer’s preemptive strike but also momentarily severed the regeneration of the Parasitic Flower.

But what made the Enforcer, encroached by the Parasitic Flower, convulse was not that sharp counter.

Despite reacting and deflecting when Lennok unleashed the flames, her entire sword-wielding arm exploded.

Just as before, when he shattered the Enforcer’s short sword with a mere gesture, her attack simply could not be ‘received.’

Before the Enforcer, having lost her reason, could even fully feel it, Lennok slowly opened his eyes.

“A power that reads causality in reverse and forcibly perceives the Inflection Point of Ruin.”

PA-AAAAAH……!!!!

Beyond Lennok’s vision, as he looked at Maiya, golden threads of causality overflowed.

“It’s terribly difficult to wield… but its value is undeniably immense.”

The Corrupted Golden Rule was a Quasi-Authority inverted and reversed along with the corruption of the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors.

Instead of reading where cause and effect connected, it read where cause and effect ‘severed.’

Thus, every spellcraft and magic Lennok cast while using the Quasi-Authority pinpointed the Severed Plane of Causality at every moment.

Literally, it acquired the property of being ‘undefendable.’

“If it works against a specialist in personal combat, then it will work against every superhuman I encounter in the future.”

An unreasonable power that distorts the process itself, preventing any exchange of offense and defense from even being established.

But precisely because of that, it would be the most powerful key to breaking through this Mausoleum, steeped in corrupted causality.

This was his first real combat test with the Corrupted Golden Rule, now that he was somewhat accustomed to the sensation.

“I need to confirm how far I can use this newly acquired power.”

Lennok slowly stepped forward, extending his hand.

“Since things have come to this, I will finish it with my own hands.”