Chapter 1308: The Grand General’s Mausoleum (6)
Kwaaaaah!!!!
The square’s walls crumbled, and countless corpses tumbled wildly from all directions.
Below them, Corpse Flowers bared their fangs, and the figures of the Imperial Grand Generals smiled brightly.
In each of the two generals’ hands, a closed-eyed Yaksha and the distorted head of a Cardinal were held.
“How… Yaksha and the Cardinal—”
“They were already dead when we found the Singularity Reactor. That’s why we couldn’t sense their presence.”
Leaving the astonished Aileen behind, Lennok looked at the two Grand Generals descending from below the barrier.
“Both of them fell to a Grand General the moment they reached the Singularity Reactor. In that case, their abilities must be—”
“Aaaaah!!!!”
Hundreds of corpses, their faces blooming with Corpse Flowers, poured down from all directions, screaming madly.
As the grotesque, screaming corpses fell, the superhumans of the Cult and the Alliance moved simultaneously.
“Everyone, prepare for battle. They’ve discovered us.”
“Were they waiting for us to approach from the start?”
“It was a trap. We couldn’t have avoided it in the first place.”
If they killed Yaksha and the Cardinal to absorb their power, and had been aware of their presence from the beginning, a clash was inevitable.
If the Grand General of Brilliance was ahead, there was no need to hesitate further. From here on, it was an all-out war, throwing every remaining force into breaking through.
The Spell Masters of the Alliance, having assessed the situation, activated their unique spellcraft and unleashed it entirely upon the charging corpses.
Pwoooosh…!!!
Drrdrrrrk!!!
Metal drills surged from the ground, grinding the Corpse Flowers, and burning giants rose to seize the corpses.
Reflected, multicolored lasers sequentially pierced, incinerated, and scorched the Corpse Flowers.
“Kahahahaha!!!! What, was it always going to end like this?”
Corpses falling from all directions surged towards the Seventh Apostle, who stood before the Singularity Reactor, like a wave of human flesh.
Lariata, laughing madly and clutching The Shredder, flared her bat-like wings taut, drawing up her magic.
She began grinding the charging corpses, wielding blood magic and an axe, at incredible speed.
Kwooogagagagaga!!!!!
“Crazy monster……!!”
Even as her entire body was torn apart by corpses, she regenerated her wounds, pushing back the surging wave of human flesh alone.
It seemed like an impulsive act, facing the onslaught of monsters consumed by Corpse Flowers head-on.
But the elites from both sides immediately understood the Seventh Apostle’s intention and began to move.
“Corpses are falling throughout the mausoleum. If we don’t stop them, there won’t be any room to breathe in the square.”
“The vampire is buying time by grinding the falling corpses. We need to subdue the generals and move on during this window.”
“Everyone, this is the last stand. While the Seventh Apostle holds them, unleash blessings and declare a provisional sanctuary!!”
Pwaaaat-!!
Dazzling blessings surged forth one after another, and the Cult’s knights clashed with the damaged Left Grand General, scattering shockwaves.
The sound of flesh and bone pulverizing echoed as pure white and golden armors intertwined.
Crunch, crunch…!!
“Ugh, ugh…”
“…For an Ars Nova general, you’re quite pathetic.”
The Rectification Knight said coldly, looking at the Left Grand General who gritted his teeth, crunching.
“I’ll make it quick for you.”
“Grrr… Crunch…”
The Left Grand General, eyes rolled back, flung the head of Cardinal Molten, which he held in his other hand, into the air.
As the distorted Cardinal’s head floated up, the Rectification Knight’s gaze momentarily fixated on it.
With a single punch, the Left Grand General burst the Rectification Knight’s head, snatched the sword he was holding, and opened his mouth wide.
Thwack!!
Crunch-crack!!
The moment the Left Grand General unhesitatingly grabbed the grayish-white brain within his mouth and devoured it with one hand.
Pure white blessings and protections erupted from the Left Grand General’s body, pressing down on the Cult’s priests.
Kwaaaang!!!
“Guh…!!!”
“Surely, ability absorption through cannibalism—”
Before the priests could react, the Left Grand General’s blade split a head and sliced a brain.
The Left Grand General’s grotesque ability was to continuously wield blessings and protections, devouring brains from among the fallen corpses.
Aileen, who had been shooting down corpses approaching the Singularity Reactor with her gunblade, gasped in horror.
Bang!!
“They’ve been completely modified into cannibalistic monsters. Eating brains to steal abilities…!!!”
The Cult’s prayer spellcraft, a degraded version of an Outer God’s authority. The Alliance’s unique spellcraft, linked to the Great Connection.
Were these two monsters devouring the brains of Spellcasters and Priests, including Yaksha and the Cardinal, to steal and use their abilities?
“The Grand Generals aren’t being properly affected by the Alliance and Cult’s abilities. If they killed Yaksha and the Cardinal in such a way—”
From the moment they ate brains and stole abilities, the two monsters had adapted to the energies of the Cult and the Alliance respectively.
That’s why the spellcraft and prayers unleashed by the Spellcasters and Priests were not easily harming the Grand Generals.
The power seemed to be almost halved. At that level, it wouldn’t be strange that Yaksha and the Cardinal were so easily killed.
Snap!!
The Grand Spell Master’s form, after embedding the end of his pipe into the Left Grand General’s abdomen, spun, enveloped in dense mist.
The Yeonri Spell Master, adjusting his speed and movements by treading on smoke, drove the Left Grand General into the ground beneath the Singularity Reactor with immense force.
The Left Grand General’s form violently collided with the Seventh Apostle, who was grinding corpses beneath the Singularity Reactor.
The vampire and the corpse general’s bodies intertwined and crushed each other, tumbling across the square.
Kwaaaang!!!!
“Ahahahaha!!! What’s this creepy thing now!!!”
The Seventh Apostle, one wing broken by the weight of the Left Grand General falling on her, was covered in blood, roaring with laughter.
The Yeonri Spell Master, who had fallen towards that scene, immediately struck the Right Grand General, who was charging from right beside him, in the head.
Thwack!!
“Kehehit, Grand Spell Master. You want to try this, huh?!”
“Shut up and focus. You take care of him.”
The Yeonri Spell Master and the Seventh Apostle, the Left Grand General and the Right Grand General, simultaneously intertwined, stepping over the corpses scattered beneath the Singularity Reactor.
Amidst the piles of corpses underfoot and the waves of corpses falling from the ceiling, they exchanged sword strikes and spellcraft.
Magic and will-thought clashed and shattered beyond the rapidly flashing light.
Kwooogagagaga!!!!!
“Protect Lariata-nim!!”
“Don’t let them get close to the battleground!!!”
Bishops and Spell Masters alike crushed the corpses falling above and below the Singularity Reactor, tearing apart the fanged Dead Flowers.
It was a hell of human flesh, a chaotic slaughter where even allies, let alone the negotiated superhumans of the opposing side, were unrecognizable.
Boom!!!
Beneath the Singularity Reactor, the forms of the Grand Spell Master, the Seventh Apostle, and the two generals clashed, adhering together as if splitting and rejoining hundreds of times in a fleeting moment.
Smoke unfurled amidst the scattering sword energy, binding the feet of the three, and sticky blood slowed their movements.
Each time, the Left Grand General used blessings to protect his body, and the Right Grand General unleashed his Iron Spirit Spellcraft, churning their insides.
Thwack!!
“Cough!!”
The Grand Spell Master, whose movements were tangled and caught by the Right Grand General, was slammed headfirst, then dissipated into smoke to strangle him.
The Seventh Apostle, vomiting a torrent of blood from the impact of her organs being crushed, plunged her axe into the Left Grand General’s flank.
The exquisite art of two Transcendent beings, striking back at their opponents even while exchanging blows at supersonic speeds.
Aileen, kicking away charging corpses, aimed her gunblade at the Transcendent beings fighting below.
Click!!
To reduce their numbers here, which one should she target first?
Considering what comes next, which one should she shoot first?
The situation was so overly complicated that it was impossible to predict anything for the next moment.
If she had to choose the easiest one to deal with, then surely—
“It’s fine, Aileen.”
Lennok spoke, as if reading Aileen’s thoughts.
His hand stretched towards the Singularity Reactor, not even turning his head, as if observing the entire battlefield.
“Both the Grand Spell Master and the Seventh Apostle must have realized I intend to stop the Singularity Reactor. They’d also know it won’t take long if they read the engine’s mana flow.”
“…Martinez.”
“If time passes like this, they’ll be tied down by the Grand Generals, and we can stop the Singularity Reactor and move into the mausoleum. So, naturally—”
Lennok’s chilling gaze swept over the Transcendent beings fighting below.
“Wouldn’t they try to deal with the Grand Generals as quickly as possible, even if it means revealing more of their hidden cards?”
Kwooong!!!!
“…Vampire.”
The Grand Spell Master, pushed back by the Right Grand General’s punch, knelt and bowed his head deeply.
Amidst the dense smoke swirling from his entire body, he asked Lariata without looking at her:
“How much longer can you hold out?”
“Hmm? If I just replenish some blood, I think I can keep going.”
Lariata, covered in blood and gore, slowly cracked her neck.
“Fighting more isn’t a problem, but I lack a decisive strike. And I don’t want to exert more power first…”
“…”
Her glistening red eyes, holding a faint sneer, gazed at the bowed Grand Spell Master.
“Asking such a thing so abruptly, does that mean our Grand Spell Master has already reached his limit? Aren’t you embarrassed?”
“We don’t have much time for nonsense.”
The presence of the two Grand Generals, continuously replenishing their power by eating human brains.
Though rotten corpses, they were drawing out power close to their living selves by supplementing will-thought and mana through cannibalism.
If this dragged on, the Spell Masters and Apostles would be tied down by the Grand Generals, while Cheonbeon alone would leisurely proceed to the Grand General’s mausoleum.
“Cheonbeon will stop the Singularity Reactor soon. The square will collapse, and the gate to the mausoleum will open.”
The Yeonri Spell Master glanced up.
“If we’re still stuck then, we’ll only be manipulated by him until the very end. Here, we need to forcibly shorten the time, even if it means overexerting ourselves.”
“…”
Hwoosh-
The Spell Master, taking a deep drag from his pipe, stepped forward.
“I will kill both the Left and Right Grand Generals. You hold them in one place.”
“Aha, so you’re finally showing your hand first this time?”
Lariata grinned, clutching her axe.
The Grand Spell Master’s declaration to kill two corpses, equivalent to Level 8, in a single strike.
That was impossible unless the Grand Spell Master revealed abilities he had kept hidden until now.
“Even if I show my hand, a mongrel’s discernment wouldn’t even recognize it.”
The Grand Spell Master, a faint sneer on his face, turned his gaze.
“Endure until you die with your only pride, your sheer physical bulk.”
“Hey, sorry, but I don’t die from things like that.”
Lariata replied in a lazy tone, raising her blood-soaked axe.
“Our Priestess, perhaps because she’s of humble birth, cares deeply for hybrids like me. A kind of shared suffering, you could say.”
“What a disgusting thought, fitting for a mongrel.”
Hwoosh!!
The Yeonri Spell Master, sneering at Lariata’s blasphemous words, vanished from that spot.
The art of transforming one’s presence into smoke, then dispersing it to the extreme limit in the atmosphere, perfectly concealing oneself: Traceless.
As soon as they sensed it, the distorted expressions of the two corpse generals focused on the Seventh Apostle, left alone.
“Kikirik…”
“Guh, ugh…”
The faces of the Left and Right Grand Generals were contorted in pain, drooling, their eyes rolled back.
Corpse Flowers, blooming on their exposed brains, moved incessantly, signaling them to absorb vitality.
Naturally, the two generals’ consciousness was wholly focused on the vampire, who held the most powerful vitality in that place.
“Apostle Spellcraft activation.”
With Lariata’s whisper, the stained golden armor explosively slammed into her form.
Kwaaaang!!!
“Ahahahahaah!!!”
The vampire, roaring with laughter and swinging her axe, clashed with the corrupted corpse generals, who had split into three forms.
Blades and spears, moving beyond the speed of perception, collided, sparking blue flames and distorting space with the impact.
A melee of three monsters, equivalent to Level 8, exchanging sword strikes at incredible speed within accelerated time.
Bang!!! Thump-thump-thump!!!
She stomped on the charging Left Grand General’s foot, tripping him with an inner leg sweep to unbalance him.
She braced herself on her right wing, swung her axe to push back the Right Grand General, and parried the sword strike from the Left Grand General falling from behind.
With every exchange of blows, shockwaves erupted, creating craters, and the piles of corpses beneath their feet were crushed in the chaotic battle.
Slash!! Squish-squish-squish!!!
The Left Grand General’s sword and the Right Grand General’s broken spear dug into Lariata’s chest and abdomen from both sides.
Her pure white, shimmering magic tore at her shoulder blades and spilled her entrails onto the ground.
Even as she parried the onslaught from both sides, every small opening became a fatal wound, spilling her organs.
But Lariata did not fall, even as she alone held out against the two Imperial generals.
Instead, she merely laughed madly, scooping up and swallowing the flowing blood.
“Puhahahahat!!! Let’s keep going. I can still do so much more!!!”
The Blood Tribulation Outer God, whom Lariata Armush served, was a mad slaughterer, obsessed with conflict among the Outer Sea’s Demise.
A berserker who considered only constant bloodshed, fighting, and killing as offerings to herself.
The Seventh Apostle’s Apostle Spellcraft was a blessing of slaughter that allowed her to keep moving as long as she fought, even if her entire body was broken and crushed.
It was the blood-soaked power of a god that allowed her to stand on the battlefield ceaselessly, even after death.
Kwa-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga!!!!
Her wing blades tore off, her cheek was ripped away, and her heart and lungs were gouged out and pulverized.
Lariata’s form, spilling half her entrails and spitting out intestines and liver, wielded The Shredder at incredible speed.
The moment the madly rampaging Apostle, caught in a mist of blood, tangled with the corpse generals and was slammed against the end of the Singularity Reactor, halting there.
The Yeonri Spell Master moved.
Soundless.
No premonition, no incantation, no will-thought, no mental image.
Traceless, the ultimate art of reducing one’s presence to the extreme limit and melting into the world.
A point of attainment reached by the Yeonri Spell Master, who manipulates clouds and mist, after erasing himself to the absolute limit.
Descending from beyond perception, without touching anyone’s senses.
Without any reverberation, leaving no trace whatsoever.
But that strike undoubtedly reached its intended target precisely—
Thud!!
“Guh—”
“Ah…”
An opaque blade of smoke pierced through the brains of both the Left Grand General and the Right Grand General simultaneously, stopping there.
It precisely severed the roots of the Corpse Flowers intertwined within their brains, preventing even a spasm.
The corpses of the Left Grand General and the Right Grand General, letting out a single scream, simultaneously toppled forward onto the ground.
At the same moment, Lennok slowly opened his eyes.
“I see.”
Soundless. A colorless, odorless, traceless strike that even Level 8 Transcendent beings could not perceive.
Was that one of the cards the Yeonri Spell Master had hidden until the very end?
Even Lennok only noticed the existence of Soundless just before it pierced the Left Grand General’s head.
The assassination capability of that ultimate art, when used on a single target, must be indescribably powerful.
All information gathering on the Grand Spell Master and the Seventh Apostle, the two greatest forces of the Order Alliance and the Guido Cult, was complete.
Lennok unhesitatingly grabbed the hand he had plunged into the Singularity Reactor and slowly pulled it out.
“This side… is also ready.”
Kiiiiing-
He extended his will-thought to find the parts where the overflowing golden wires were severed and cut.
The gigantic black hole that had appeared in the center of the square slowly faded, its rotation speed slowing.
Woo woo woo!!!!
The colossal distortion of light, hovering in the center of the square, accelerated madly, spun, and then abruptly stopped in place.
The scattered photons disintegrated and vanished, brilliantly illuminating spacetime.
The moment Lennok slowly withdrew his hand from the Singularity Reactor, the entire engine rotated counter-clockwise, wrapping around his arm.
Kwarururuk!
The sound of hundreds of thousands of components, integrated within the engine, dismantling and splitting apart.
The rupturing sound of the black hole engine, once connected by a single massive circuit, ceasing operation and breaking down.
Beyond the crack where the distortion warped, Lennok pulled out his arm, a colossal jewel shrouded in darkness clutched in his hand.
Pwaaaat!!!
A miracle that unified and operated the mana circuit of this transcendent black hole engine.
The moment Lennok stopped the black hole engine and extracted its core into his hand.
The entire square, which had been clustered around the Singularity Reactor’s gravity, began to tremble and collapse.
“-!!!!”
Kwa-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga!!!!
A dizzying sensation as if the entire mausoleum was collapsing and falling apart. Fragments of debris fell from all directions, obscuring his vision.
In the center, Lennok’s upper body was warped, clutching the darkness-shrouded Singularity Reactor core.
The core power component of the black hole engine used by the Ars Nova Empire.
But even after obtaining the core component of that transcendent power device, Lennok did not move immediately.
Instead, he stood at the edge of the wildly shaking square, quietly turning his gaze.
“…”
Thud!!
The Seventh Apostle crushed the Grand General’s corpse underfoot, and simultaneously, Yaksha’s and the Cardinal’s heads rolled on the ground.
The Yeonri Spell Master, having materialized his body, descended to the area below the Singularity Reactor and simultaneously raised his gaze.
At this moment, the five who had initially forged the agreement between the Cult and the Alliance reunited, divided into living and dead.
“Honestly.”
Lariata, covered in blood, slung the Satellite Shredder over her shoulder and let out a wry chuckle, looking up at Lennok.
“It’s the first time I’ve been manipulated so diversely by a single human. How old are you?”
“Don’t move, Cheonbeon.”
The Yeonri Spell Master slowly tapped his pipe, speaking in a cold tone.
“You know what you’ve done. I will not allow you to play any more tricks.”
“…”
Now that Lennok had stopped the Singularity Reactor, opening the path to the mausoleum, and the Spell Master and Apostle had dealt with the Grand Generals.
Although it had unfolded as if they were inadvertently cooperating, they knew it wasn’t their will.
Since beginning the assault on the mausoleum, they had been unilaterally swayed by Lennok up until they stood before the Grand General’s mausoleum.
Koo-goo-goo-goo-goo…!!!!
The will-thoughts of the Seventh Apostle and the Yeonri Spell Master, fixed on Lennok, transformed into sharp and overt killing intent.
Up until now, they had maintained a precarious cooperation for a common goal, based on an agreement.
But now, having cleared all obstacles within the mausoleum and standing before the Grand General’s mausoleum, that cooperation was meaningless.
From here on, the obstacles and difficulties inside and outside the mausoleum were not the enemy; rather, those who had been working together until just now were the competitors.
The target to be checked and dealt with first in this place was clear.
“Put down the Singularity Reactor core and step back. Refusal is not an option.”
“Martinez. You know we’re closer to the mausoleum entrance, right?”
Lariata grinned, tilting her head.
“Don’t do anything foolish. If you’ve pushed all the hard work onto us, you should at least concede on the order, shouldn’t you?”
While Lennok dismantled the Singularity Reactor in the center of the square, the Spell Master and Apostle had been fighting right in front of the barrier.
In terms of distance, it was obvious that the two were slightly closer to the Grand General’s mausoleum than Lennok.
Both the Grand Spell Master and the Seventh Apostle knew this, which was why they were trying to definitively distance Lennok from this spot.
“Indeed. I admit it.”
But Lennok nodded calmly, even knowing that fact.
“You were more useful than I expected. Thanks to you, many things within the mausoleum became easier.”
“…”
“But I also never expected you to faithfully uphold the agreement until the end.”
Pwaaaat!!!
At that moment, the remnants of the Singularity Reactor engine piled at Lennok’s feet began to emit a dazzling light.
The engine debris glowed, spitting out immense heat, even though Lennok hadn’t laid a finger on it.
The Grand Spell Master’s face hardened as he immediately understood the reason.
“You. No way—”
The remaining heat and energy in the black hole engine, which had been actively running in the center of the square.
Had he extracted the Singularity Reactor’s core and simultaneously induced the engine’s power to run wild, causing it to explode after a time delay?
Crack, crack…!!!!
“The agreement ends here.”
Lennok, clutching the Singularity Reactor’s core, raised his gaze.
“So now there’s no reason to keep both the Alliance and the Cult alive.”
“Martinez, you crazy—!!”
There was no answer.
The Singularity Reactor’s engine unleashed an immense shockwave, sweeping across the entire square, and began to reduce the superhumans of the Alliance and the Cult to ashes.