Chapter 1311: The Grand General’s Mausoleum (9)
As the Yaksha fell, scattering blood, the will-thought piercing through the mausoleum soared into the Demonic Realm’s sky, ascending.
Its colossal will touched the edge of the Outer Sea, beginning to warp spacetime itself.
Ooooooooh-!!!!!!!
A chilling cry of souls, as if the entire Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors screamed and roared violently.
The sky opened, and something began to look down upon them.
The echo of Demise, waiting for its time from the other side of the world that maintains causality.
At this moment, one of the Outer Gods, endlessly dreaming beyond the sea, answered the call.
From beyond the hollowed-out hole, a blackened hand began to ooze downwards.
Chwaaaak-
“…That is.”
Though it took the form of a hand, it was viscous, dripping like tears.
It stretched its hand towards the ground, flapping desperately, yet it was slimy like seaweed.
It cautiously lowered a shapeless will, its movements hesitant, as if fearing something.
At that moment, everyone watching the scene within the mausoleum held their breath, unable to even properly breathe.
The black hand, oozing down from thousands of kilometers above, had ‘flowed down’ to the lowest floor of the Mausoleum in the blink of an eye.
Drip-drip-
“…!!!”
A sense of déjà vu, as if it had surpassed the speed of perception, arriving the instant it seeped into this world.
Was this truly a part of the Outer God’s True Body, descending into this world in response to the Yaksha’s Sacrificial Ritual?
Even as Lennok unleashed his full Magical Perception, he felt nothing within it.
The incomprehensibly empty void within it was more chilling than anything.
Splish, splash.
The blackened hand split and branched into thousands of smaller hands, transforming into countless tiny replicas.
Slap. Slap.
The fragmented black hands clasped and intertwined with the human hands supporting the Grand General’s corpse.
Thump. Thump.
The Grand General’s corpse, held by the black and human hands, began to pulse violently, enveloped in a gloomy will-thought.
Each time the corpse, wrapped in black hands, twitched as if alive, someone from beyond the Outer Sea reached out with joy.
Using the Grand General’s corpse as a medium, the will descended into this world, slowly stirring its viscous hands around.
“Where, where are you…”
“Co-come closer… please come closer…”
“…This is.”
Even though the Outer God’s will had touched the Grand General’s corpse, the Outer God did not immediately begin the Sacrificial Ritual.
Instead, it merely stretched its will out like a hand, stirring around the corpse and desperately calling out for someone.
A bizarre transmission, like a whisper not in words or sound, but to the world itself.
For a moment, Lennok forgot even the present situation, listening blankly to that voice.
“I want to see you… plea-please…”
“Let me… touch you…”
“Where are you…”
“….”
The black hand fumbled around, like a blind person unable to see.
The desperate, utterly earnest whispers continued endlessly.
Yet, would it be a mistake to feel as if he knew who the Outer God was so desperately searching for?
If it ignored even the Grand General offered as a sacrifice, and sought to meet someone as soon as it descended into this world.
If that itself had been the Outer God’s purpose in looking down upon this world from the beginning.
Then, it couldn’t be anyone else but—
“Mar-Martinez…”
Aileen whispered, her face frozen, unable to breathe.
Her fingers, clutching the gunblade, were deathly pale.
“The Outer God’s will has descended…”
“….”
“It’s saying something, but I can’t quite hear it—”
“Aileen. Calm down.”
At that moment, Lennok, having regained his composure, slowly lifted his gaze.
“The Sacrificial Ritual hasn’t truly begun yet. For some… ‘reason,’ the Outer God isn’t accepting the offering.”
Lennok calmly said, looking up at the Grand General’s corpse, which was distorting, engulfed in gloomy will-thought.
Even at this moment, the black hands fumbled around the mausoleum, stretching out in all directions.
Beyond them, the desperate whispers continued endlessly.
“I’ve been waiting…”
“I’ve been waiting all this time…”
He deliberately ignored the voice, whispering like a child, and turned his gaze.
The answer came slowly, amidst a taut tension, as if the Outer God’s will, descended upon the Grand General’s corpse, was concerned about being overheard.
“If the ritual hasn’t begun… there’s still time. We need to check the state of the corpse… and first understand the ritual’s principles.”
“….”
“Seventh Apostle… if you’re part of the cult, you must know about the Sacrificial Ritual.”
Lennok asked, turning to Lariata, who was stiff with an uncharacteristically strange expression on the opposite side of the mausoleum.
“Currently… what is the Grand General’s condition? Do you know anything about how to stop the ritual?”
“Hmm, I wonder?”
Lariata replied, her voice subtly stiff.
Perhaps even a high-ranking Apostle like her found confronting an Outer God directly to be quite burdensome.
Even the Seventh Apostle’s gaze, as she irritably answered, never left the blackened hand for a single moment.
“If you don’t want to be devoured by the Outer God here, tell us what you know about the Sacrificial Ritual. Don’t you understand?”
“…Hehe, why… are you asking me that, I wonder.”
Lariata, who had been staring intently at the altar, finally turned her gaze with a chilling laugh.
“Look at the state of the altar where the Grand General sits. Does that… look like a proper Mausoleum to you?”
“….”
As Lariata said, the Grand General of Brilliance’s corpse, seated upon the altar of human flesh, only grew more grotesque the more he examined it.
Despite being seated on the altar, it was a colossal figure easily exceeding 3 meters. Even decades after death, its muscular physique was distinct.
While the skin across its entire body had turned a pale, discolored hue, the blackened veins alone protruded distinctly.
Hisshhhh…
Between the corpse’s legs, a blue, crackling bodily fluid oozed out, continuously drenching the cradle covered in human flesh.
Grand yet hideous, once glorious, but now even its form was defiled and corrupted.
The ugliness of death, which should have been hidden within a coffin, was starkly exposed upon the cradle.
“Besides, if you’re a successor of Jindun, wouldn’t you know well about the ritual? Why are you asking now?”
“This is a ritual sacrificing a Level 9 Transcendent directly to an Outer God. If we carelessly destroy the ritual, we don’t know what kind of backlash will ensue.”
Lennok said coldly.
“The Yaksha knew that too, which is why he immediately began the Sacrificial Ritual. We need a way to stop it while minimizing the backlash.”
“….”
If it was simply about destroying or shattering the ritual itself, Lennok could do it immediately.
He could use his Mystic Eye to dismantle and break down the ritual’s structure, or use his Quasi-Authority to force its failure.
The problem was the sheer amount of power exchanged during the ritual’s initiation.
If an Outer God had responded to a ritual of human sacrifice involving the Grand General, the energy exchanged in that process had likely already reached an astronomical scale.
If the forces flowing through this place were to rampage and overflow the moment the ritual was interrupted, the entire Demonic Realm might literally be annihilated.
“Hmm… I don’t know. The procedures often become complicated when sacrificing a high-level superhuman.”
Kugugugugu…!!!!!
Lariata, perhaps finally motivated to act, thoughtfully touched her lips, which were stained with blood.
“The ‘preparation’ methods vary depending on the offering’s hierarchy, lineage, birth, and species. It’s only natural to tailor it to the taste of the god whose power you wish to borrow, isn’t it?”
“So, the ritual procedures might change depending on which Outer God is being offered the Grand General’s corpse?”
“Many Outer Gods enjoy human sacrifice, but the preference for adorning the offerings like that is limited.”
Lariata grinned, tilting her head towards the altar where human wrists were densely impaled.
“The ones that come to mind immediately are either the [Untouchable Hand] or the [Oily Embrace]. The fastest way to confirm would be to check the altar dedicated to the offering.”
“…All that makes up the altar are corpses that have been dead for decades.”
Lennok glanced at the layers of corpses, the cradle of human flesh supporting the Grand General, and spoke.
“It seems they used the corpses interred in the Imperial National Mausoleum as materials. Most of them would be from the central city…”
The corpses buried in the national mausoleum would mostly be Ars Nova soldiers or meritorious subjects of The Empire.
If the corpses of such individuals were exhumed and used as the Grand General’s mat, what greater act of sacrilege could there be?
A grotesque scene: an altar built from corpses, their severed wrists supporting the Grand General’s body.
“…Originally, the Grand General of Brilliance’s remains were enshrined in a coffin at the very center of the mausoleum.”
Aileen, her eyes trembling as she gazed at the Grand General, bit her lip.
“The fact that the Grand General’s corpse is brought out like this… wasn’t it forcibly exhumed during the Demonic Realm’s corruption process…”
“That means they were preparing to offer the corpse in this manner from the start.”
“Come here…”
“….”
Kwooooooo!!!!!
The black hand, flowing down from the mausoleum’s ceiling, clasped hands with the altar of human flesh and slowly pulsed.
Each time, the black hand oozed viscously, continuously fumbling and expanding around the area.
“Just once, show yourself…”
“I cannot stay long… please…”
Why was that Outer God so desperately trying to ask Lennok for something?
Why would a god of that caliber want to see Lennok even once, directly?
What was the extent of the risk Lennok would have to bear in the process of confirming it?
His thoughts lengthened, as he couldn’t even guess what meaning the answer he might gain through it would hold—
Yet, there wasn’t much time for contemplation.
Crack, crack…!!!
Each time the black hand enveloped the entrails placed upon the altar, a faint sensation arose, as if the Grand General’s existence was slowly vanishing from the world.
Each time, the black hole opened in the Demonic Realm’s sky grew larger, and blackened hands continuously dropped into the Demonic Realm.
The black hands, stretched like viscous oil, flowed down into the mausoleum, ceaselessly painting spacetime black with the very essence of defilement.
Kwooooooo!!!!!
“The Sacrificial Ritual… is truly beginning now.”
Aileen muttered with a grim expression, watching the sight.
“Once all the corpse is offered, not just its will, but a part of its physical body will descend…”
“….”
The black hands currently entwined around the Grand General’s corpse were not the Outer God’s true physical body, but matter formed from its will.
Since the Grand General had not yet been fully received as an offering, the Outer God’s True Body had not yet descended into reality.
At the very least, it would only be able to descend into this world after fully receiving the Grand General’s corpse as an offering and using that price.
“…I see.”
Having reached that conclusion, Lennok turned his steps without hesitation.
Aileen watched Lennok, who was striding towards the altar of human flesh, with a bewildered expression.
“Martinez?”
“I’ve found a way. This might be the only means to stop the ritual safely.”
Kugugugugugu!!!!!
He carefully walked onto the altar, avoiding the overflowing waves of black hands.
Even considering his Targeted Resistance ability, it was best to minimize contact.
Lennok, standing on the altar, looked down at the Grand General, who was engulfed by countless hands and had closed his eyes.
“As long as the Outer God has accepted the Grand General’s offering, my existence is nothing more than an impurity. If I intervene in any way, a backlash is inevitable.”
“….”
“Then, I will ‘create’ an entity that isn’t treated as an impurity within the Sacrificial Ritual, and have it stop the ritual instead.”
“Not a bad idea.”
The moment Lennok concentrated and stretched out his hand, a flat voice echoed from the other side of the mausoleum.
The Yeonri Spell Master, gripping his pipe, stood alone, billows of thick smoke wafting from his entire body.
“Instead of provoking the Outer God… you intend to swiftly conclude the ritual without disrupting its major flow?”
“…!!!”
“Yeonri Spell Master.”
Aileen whipped around with a stiff expression, and the Seventh Apostle, who had been observing the situation with crossed arms, grinned.
Lennok, who had been reaching for the Grand General’s corpse, turned to the Grand Spell Master, his body enveloped in mana.
“You’re quite late. Were you not satisfied with creating the Misty Palace to hold us back?”
“…There was just one thing I needed to confirm.”
The Spell Master staggered into the mausoleum.
“With your machinations, the Spell Masters of our Order Alliance were annihilated. How could I return to the Order Alliance empty-handed?”
“….”
“But now is not the time to face off while observing the situation.”
The Yeonri Spell Master’s blurry gaze fixed on the Grand General’s corpse, which writhed above the black hands.
“I will cooperate. I will help you stop the Sacrificial Ritual.”
“What?”
“The Yaksha’s goal is different from what our Order Alliance desires; I have no interest in the Grand General’s corpse.”
The Spell Master looked up at Lennok with a mechanical expression.
“If you accept one condition, I’ll help you stop the Sacrificial Ritual. Hand over the Ranger beside you.”
“…I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.”
“As a result of exploring the vicinity of the Grand General’s mausoleum, I confirmed that the Quasi-Authority our Order Alliance was supposed to retrieve has been lost.”
“….”
“In that short time, the number of people who could have taken the Quasi-Authority, even among those present here, would be extremely limited.”
So the Grand Spell Master’s late arrival wasn’t accidental; he had been circling this area, checking for the presence of the Quasi-Authority.
In that process, he had confirmed the absence and loss of the authority, and was now pinpointing the most suspicious candidate to interrogate.
“Ranger. I know you’re from the central city. As a noble, you might know a way to secretly access the mausoleum, avoiding the Yaksha’s eyes.”
The Spell Master’s expression, as he looked at Aileen, turned chilling.
“I need to confirm if you stole the Quasi-Authority. Come closer.”
“That’s pointless… I only visited the mausoleum once before Ars Nova’s destruction.”
Aileen retorted sharply, raising her gunblade.
“Moreover, this mausoleum was only opened on special occasions, and normally even nobles couldn’t enter. If I could have secretly stolen something, do you think I’d be confronting you like this now?”
“The Grand General of Brilliance was with the Emperor from the early days of The Empire and was one of the conquerors who achieved the greatest military feats in the Unification War.”
Amidst the escalating tension, the Spell Master said in a flat voice.
“He died from a worsening chronic illness due to the aftermath of war, but in life, he was said to be an outstanding hero. If he left behind an arrangement to transfer the Quasi-Authority to another noble before his death—”
“No. He wasn’t such a great hero; he was just a cruel and barbaric slaughterer. You can tell by the name ‘Mad Fortress’ attached to him, can’t you?”
Lariata, interrupting the Grand Spell Master, chuckled and moved.
“He lived with madness from birth, and was a monster who transcended while insane. He made killing humans his pleasure and his calling, and his talent caught the Emperor’s eye, so he worked as a butcher.”
“….”
“After being appointed Grand General, he achieved immense military feats in the Unification War, but soon after, his madness worsened, and he died half-imprisoned. That’s why his disgraceful acts weren’t recorded in history, and he was revered as a hero and buried in the Imperial National Mausoleum, wasn’t it?”
The vampire, with the Satellite Shredder on her back, slowly turned to the side of the altar and said, as if singing.
“Isn’t it rather amusing to think about what happened to The Empire’s other Grand Generals in the end? This is why, to become a hero, you really have to die young.”
“…What are you trying to say?”
“Oh, I’m not really trying to say anything specific.”
The Seventh Apostle, looking up at the Grand General’s corpse enshrined on the altar of human flesh as if mocking it, said in an utterly cold tone.
“Ultimately, whether you die young or live long… everyone in this world is destined to become ugly.”
“….”
“He suppressed his madness and was loyal to The Empire his whole life, but now, even after death, he’s oozing fluids like urine and displaying such a disgraceful sight. He’s using the citizens of The Empire he risked his life to protect as a mat to be burned, and now he’s becoming food for an Outer God, isn’t he?”
“…Seventh Apostle.”
Lennok said in a cold voice.
“Do you truly wish for us all to die here together?”
“Ahahahahah!!!! Martinez. Can you really say that to me?”
Clang!!
Lariata, with the golden axe on her back, turned around with a chilling, ghost-like laugh.
“Look at the mess around you right now. Do you still not know what’s happening?”
Splosh…!!!
At that moment, Lennok realized that the gazes of the Seventh Apostle, the Grand Spell Master, and Aileen were all directed at him simultaneously.
The waves of black hands, like oil, flowed down and covered the Grand General’s corpse on the altar.
Because those grotesque and bizarre hands were surging up, centering on Lennok, who stood upon the altar.
Oooooooooh!!!!!
The Outer God’s will, flowing from beyond the cosmos, surged up towards Lennok, revealing its palm as if to support him.
A grotesque sight: thousands of hands, spread out as if displaying an will of obedience, stretched towards Lennok and froze in place.
The oily hands intertwined above Lennok’s head, forming a stubbornly lingering, corrupted halo.
“I can’t reach…”
A whisper, filled with emotion, was heard.
“Still, I can’t reach…”
“But, you are there…”
“….”
The Outer God could not perceive Lennok’s existence, as he possessed Targeted Resistance.
But precisely because of that, if there was a space in this mausoleum that the Outer God couldn’t perceive, it was proof that Lennok was there.
Thus, the Outer God confirmed Lennok’s location and was caressing his surroundings, as if stroking a precious treasure.
The moment Lennok silently lifted his gaze, the Outer God whispered.
“Your wish… I will grant…”
Sloooosh-
The oily hands gathered before Lennok’s eyes, transforming into the shape of an overflowing, colossal goblet.
The form of a corrupted holy grail, created by gathering the Outer God’s will.
Lumps of oil endlessly overflowed within the blackened goblet.
The Outer God, having created the oily holy grail before Lennok, fumbled and spoke softly.
“You have a wish, do you not…”
“Anything, anything… I will make it come true…”
“If it’s now, I can do it…”
“Please, tell me…”
“Evan Martinez. The Outer God, descended from beyond the sea, is not accepting the offering because it’s looking for you, isn’t it?”
Lariata’s eyes, looking up at the altar, gleamed.
“But you, knowing that fact, don’t seem surprised at all… What the hell are you?”
“….”
“It seems… you ‘hear’ the voice…”
The Seventh Apostle, with the Shredder on her back, stretched her mouth into a wide grin up to her ears.
“Then, if we capture you and offer you to the Outer God, won’t we also be able to make a wish to it?”
Kugugugugu!!!!
Silence ensued before the Grand General’s corpse, enshrined within the cradle of human flesh.
At this moment, the precarious alliance, sustained by the goal of conquering the mausoleum, shattered completely.
The Transcendent beings standing before the altar simultaneously drew forth their mana and stepped forward.
“Stopping the Sacrificial Ritual, I’m afraid, is off the table.”
The Seventh Apostle laughed like a ghost, cracking her neck.
“Why bother when there’s a better option right in front of us? Shouldn’t we just go all the way?”
“On the contrary, vampire.”
The Yeonri Spell Master, with a chilling expression, looked at Lennok and bit down on his pipe.
“That wizard, he is precisely the means by which we can make a choice before the Sacrificial Ritual.”
“….”
“Cheonbeon. I will kill you and confirm if the Quasi-Authority remains within your corpse and the Ranger’s.”
Oooooooo!!!!
Blood surged inversely from beneath their feet, and a colossal sphere of smoke swirled above their heads.
Lariata’s Satellite Shredder gleamed heavily, and the Yeonri Spell Master’s Soul Smoke distorted with a bluish tinge.
At this moment, as the Outer God’s will descended into this world, and the Grand General’s corpse was being offered in human sacrifice.
Far from stopping the Sacrificial Ritual, the Spell Master and Apostle revealed their true colors before the Grand General.
In the air, heating up as if to explode, the two Transcendent beings unleashed their full power.
Lennok, watching them, slowly uncrossed his arms.
“These fools, both of them… Do they not remember who spared their lives?”
Why the Outer God showed such interest in Lennok.
Why it offered to grant Lennok’s wish, despite him not even participating in the Sacrificial Ritual.
He decided not to bother explaining. After all, Lennok himself didn’t clearly know.
In the past, he probably couldn’t have done it this way.
He would have meticulously guarded against both the Grand Spell Master and the Seventh Apostle, racking his brain for every stratagem to stop the Grand General’s Sacrificial Ritual.
Exploiting allies and enemies to their limits, barely achieving his goals – that was the method Lennok had always been accustomed to.
But from now on, things had to be a little different.
From the moment he acquired the Ultimate Lightning, what he had to look up to was always somewhere further away.
Even the Grand Spell Master and the highest-ranking Apostle, whom he would have had to risk his life to fight in the past—
If necessary, he would simply crush them with power.
Whirr!!
As Lennok clenched and unclenched his hand, flames erupted within it and rotated up his wrist.
The flames rotating up his wrist increased to two, three, four. From six to eight. Each of them took on a different color and continued to expand.
The moment all those flames transformed into colossal sun-like stars and began to revolve around Lennok.
KWAOOOOOOOM!!!!!
Lennok, activating the Crimson Star System, emerged, cloaked in eight suns, and cracked his wrist.
“I’ll kill you all right here.”