Chapter 1315: The Grand General’s Mausoleum (13)
CRASH!!!!
[Evan Martinez!!!!!]
Before Ureka Naydree’s chilling telepathy could even reach him, killing intent exploded, sending Lennok recoiling backward.
The killing intent that erupted from the Altar of Human Flesh materialized into a shockwave, pushing away and crushing everything.
Even after bursting flames to kill his speed as much as possible, Lennok’s body was repeatedly smashed into the debris.
GROOOOAAAAAAN-!!!!!!
Leaning back on the Altar of Human Flesh, the Transcendent didn’t even twitch, even as the Outer God’s madly rampaging will weighed upon his entire body.
Overflowing black hands ceaselessly dug into his flesh, forcefully lodging themselves within him, yet he showed no reaction whatsoever.
Peeking through his disheveled black hair, a pale, corpse-like face, pickled in the storm of killing intent.
“Cough……!!”
But Lennok, who had let out a dry cough, never took his eyes off the Grand General for a moment.
‘The choice is made. The outcome……?’
From the moment Yaksha offered the Grand General’s corpse to the Outer Gods, it became impossible for Lennok to stop the ritual himself.
If the Priestess invoked the will of the Outer God into the Grand General’s body, the Grand General, now an Apostle, would awaken and slaughter everything in the Demonic Realm.
Therefore, if he couldn’t prevent the Grand General from becoming an Apostle, Lennok decided to awaken the Grand General of Brilliance himself instead.
Whether to face the Grand General as an Apostle, or to fight the mad Grand General himself, consumed by the mausoleum’s corruption.
If he had to face the Grand General either way, he would simply pivot to simultaneously ruining the plan initiated by Yaksha and continued by the Priestess.
‘I know the Grand General’s Will-thought still remains in the Mausoleum. A Transcendent of that caliber wouldn’t have their consciousness easily extinguished, even if their body dies.’
Everyone knew that the Grand General’s Will-thought, spread throughout the entire Mausoleum, manifested as a Distortion Field that forbade access.
If he could forcibly stimulate and awaken the Grand General’s consciousness, he could awaken that Transcendent who slept, using death as a medium.
Therefore, at the last moment, Lennok took out the Ritual Armament Crimson Star and succeeded in directly awakening the Grand General of Brilliance.
[I’ll tear you to shreds. You, son of a bitch……!!]
Because the Priestess also knew this, even as she glared at Lennok as if to tear him apart, she couldn’t easily move.
From the moment the Ritual Armament Crimson Star was plunged in, the Grand General’s sleeping consciousness was inevitably awakened.
Then-
Thump
From afar, the sound of a heartbeat echoed.
Thump
Along the walls of the tomb chamber, blue blood vessels spread, covering everything.
Thump
A powerful throb, as if the entire Mausoleum had become his heart.
RUMBLE……!!!
Centered around the corpse leaning back on the Altar of Human Flesh, everything momentarily defied gravity and rose.
Hidden beneath his unbound black hair was the Grand General’s bowed face.
Below the pale, expressionless lower jaw, emaciated lips faintly twitched.
An immense wave of killing intent erupted, sweeping through the Pantheon’s sanctuary that Ureka had declared.
CRASHHHHHHH!!!!
“Ghk……!!”
[Damn it-!!!]
To the extent that one could barely see in front of them, a repulsive force of will distorted space.
A will that pushed away and rejected everything covered Ureka’s sanctuary, pushing it back and forcibly stripping it away.
The power rendered the Priestess’s spellcraft, which had constructed a Phase Pantheon, freely wielded Forbidden Magic, and turned the entire Mausoleum into a tool for the cult, null and void.
The enraged Ureka extended her hand, unleashing pale holy light, but the ripples erupting from the altar merely rampaged ominously, without even a tremor.
Rather, it took even the approaching stimuli as material for awakening, and a chilling aura pulsed, as if awakening the stiffened body.
The moment Ureka, noticing that chilling sense of disharmony a step too late, clicked her tongue and withdrew her hand.
The surging waves parted to either side, revealing the scene within in its entirety.
WHOOSH!!!
“……!!”
The grotesque Altar of Human Flesh, crafted from human bodies as its material.
The Grand General of Brilliance, who had been leaning back as if enshrined upon it, faintly opened his eyes and looked down at them.
Bloodshot, blackened, unfocused eyes. Veins protruded from between his eyelids, forming a grotesquely twisted, chilling expression.
Without even tidying his long, disheveled black hair, he watched the movements before him with an empty, expressionless gaze.
One of the six Grand Generals who guarded the Ars Nova Imperial Palace.
The Grand General of Brilliance, known as the most ruthless conqueror, had finally awakened after a long time, at this very moment.
“Haa, haa……!!!”
Aileen, who had collapsed at the Priestess’s feet, gasped for breath and looked up at the Grand General.
Even Ureka, who had drawn her staff, couldn’t hide her twisted expression as she glared at the altar.
An immense killing intent began to press down on everything standing throughout the entire tomb chamber.
THUUUD!!!
“Ah, ugh……!!!”
“Haaah……!!!”
“Cough, URGHH!!!”
The Priests gasped for air, gagging, clutching their throats and rolling on the floor.
A chilling pressure, not even allowing breath, pressed down on their bodies, squeezing their lungs.
Will becoming weight, Will-thought becoming mass—a Transcendence that seemed to devour space.
A peculiar sensation, one he had only felt when facing past Ascendants: of being crushed by the opponent’s very existence.
But unlike before, Lennok forcibly endured the falling Will-thought and slowly raised his gaze.
“Ha……!”
If he couldn’t face that Transcendent at this moment, how could Lennok claim to discuss enlightenment from the same perspective as an Ascendant?
Having acquired Ultimate Lightning Magic and grasped a fragment of Transcendence, the place he had to look was always higher.
He hadn’t come this far simply to stand shoulder to shoulder with them, seeing eye-to-eye.
What Lennok wanted was the next step, one that even the great Ascendants had not found-
THUD!!
Lennok, who had with difficulty regained his balance and stood up, looked up at the Grand General, who stared blankly into the distance.
‘I succeeded in awakening the Grand General as planned. The problem is how damaged the Grand General currently is.’
By forcibly awakening the Grand General’s consciousness, he had prevented him from being possessed by an Outer God and becoming an Apostle.
But that didn’t mean the Grand General of Brilliance himself was perfectly intact.
Now, decades after the Grand General had died, his corpse was buried, and enshrined in the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors.
If he had been a cruel butcher suffering from madness his entire life, and if even his cause of death was a result of that chronic illness.
Given that the corruption of the Outer Sea had seeped into the very bones of his body, Lennok couldn’t know how much more damaged the Grand General might be.
In the worst case, he might be even more corrupted than an Apostle, having become a monster that killed everything that moved.
‘It wouldn’t be strange for the Grand General of Brilliance to see us all as invaders who trespassed his Mausoleum. Even if he isn’t damaged, there’s a very high chance he’ll attack first-’
The Grand General, who had awakened from death after a long time, had now become an enemy in this place.
Nevertheless, Lennok had no intention of letting a Transcendent of that caliber be offered to an Outer God and become the Priestess’s dog.
If the Grand General were to become an Apostle as things stood, he would then become a monster, slaughtering the entire continent on the cult’s behalf, according to the Priestess’s will.
If he had to face the Grand General no matter how the situation unfolded, it was better to face the Grand General himself, maddened and consumed by the power of the Demonic Realm.
Even if he had to escape from the Grand General, the Grand General himself wouldn’t follow if he just left the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors.
CLACK!!
Lennok, who had swapped out parts of his Array Device, took out a handful of painkillers from his pocket and chewed them down.
He put a cigar in his mouth, deeply inhaling at the same time, and exhaled the smoke that had seeped into his lungs to its limit.
Before a battle that might be his last, Lennok, having completed his minimal preparations, extended his foot sideways and lowered his stance.
[Hah, damn it……!!!]
Even the Priestess, who had descended using a Cardinal’s body as a vessel, now held her staff and kept her eyes fixed on the Grand General.
Lennok and the Priestess watched each other, while the cult’s forces, arrayed on all sides of the sanctuary, watched the Grand General’s movements.
GROOOOAAAAAN……!!!!
The atmosphere, sharpened and heated as if about to explode.
At that moment, everyone on the battlefield pondered and watched warily what action the Grand General of Brilliance would take next.
[Evan, Martinez…….]
Amidst the scattered killing intent, Ureka, gripping her staff, gnashed her teeth and glared at Lennok.
Her chilling telepathy came through, cold and covert, so as not to reach the Grand General.
[How dare you, pull such a dog’s trick to awaken the Grand General and stop the ritual…… I can’t possibly let this slide.]
“…….”
[I’m about to perform the miracle that He performed once more in this world, and a wretch like you dares to interfere? Did the dignity of God seem so easy to you?]
Ureka sent a series of chilling whispers toward Lennok.
[If you thought awakening that monster would change the situation, you’re mistaken. As long as the Outer Gods look upon us, I can restart the ritual anytime.]
Ureka’s eyes, clutching her staff as if to break it, glinted ominously.
[Once the Grand General starts rampaging, I’ll tear your limbs off first. After you and your cult’s rabble die, I’ll restart the ritual from the beginning-]
At that moment.
Piercing the chilling silence, the Grand General of Brilliance spoke first.
“There is no need to lower your stance and show courtesy just because this humble officer has awakened.”
“……!!!!!”
Everyone who was preparing to respond to the Grand General’s actions froze on the spot.
But the Grand General, ignoring the thousands of stiffened humans and corpses, raised his gaze.
Stabbing down through the tomb chamber’s ceiling were waves of the Outer God’s hateful grudge-thought.
Looking up at that distant sea of darkness, the Grand General’s black eyes deepened.
“The Empire has fallen, and the Imperial Palace has sunk. What use are past glory and prestige now? His Majesty ultimately could not achieve his will.”
“Impossible…… Could it be……!!!!”
“Great pride has faded, and loyalty has lost its direction. I am a faded promise.”
The Grand General slowly rose to his feet and walked down the Altar of Human Flesh.
Shaking off the altar’s hands that clung to his legs, and ignoring even the Outer God’s grudge-thought that tightened around his existence.
The black-haired general, having calmly descended to the tomb chamber’s floor, lowered his gaze through his disheveled hair.
“Strangers of the future. Welcome to this humble officer’s mausoleum.”
“……This can’t be.”
A body that had rotted away for decades since death. Armor, bloated and dripping flesh, consumed by corruption.
Blood vessels in his eyes burst, clotting black. His facial skin melted and twisted, a defiled and grotesque sight.
Even the tips of his waist-length hair were deeply permeated with curses and Dead Thoughts, a broken and contaminated body.
Yet, despite all this, the Grand General of Brilliance’s consciousness was neither mad nor broken.
Rather, he stood alone, utterly whole, with a will clearer than anyone else in this place.
The corruption of the Demonic Realm, which even the soldiers and other generals loyal to the Imperial Palace could not endure.
In this hell, where even the proud superhumans guarding the Mausoleum had succumbed to corruption and become monsters craving human flesh, only the Grand General remained intact.
[How…… is this even possible?]
Ureka muttered, glaring at the altar with a stiff, frozen expression.
[It’s impossible for a Transcendent like you to preserve both body and mind……!! Even after being devoured by the power of the Demonic Realm……!! How could your mind remain uncorrupted?!!]
“A follower bearing the Naydree name, I see.”
The Grand General cast a glance.
“There were revelators who followed the Savior even in the Empire. How many times their faces might have changed while this humble officer was buried in the Mausoleum.”
[…….]
“The flow of time means nothing, and only those absolutes who have bypassed the ages continue to discuss enlightenment. Therefore, this humble officer has respected those who sought different answers than the Imperial Palace, but…….”
RUUUMBLE!!!!
From the sky wide open above the Demonic Realm, sticky black hands fell.
The Grand General, gazing at the Outer God’s will flowing down his shoulders and arms, muttered.
“This body has already been offered to His Majesty, and now I cannot hand it over to the Sea Gods.”
[Hahaha……!!!! Don’t spout nonsense, Gwangseong!!! Do you think you’re some hero from a myth……!!!]
The Priestess firmly gripped her staff with one hand, drawing up her mana.
As if her words about being able to restart the ritual anytime were not a lie, pale holy light surged, beginning to draw complex magic circles.
[You are merely a vessel sufficient to contain the will of a god. Quietly abandon that rotting body and get out-]
WHOOSH!!!!
At that moment, the Outer God’s grudge-thought, stabbing down from the Demonic Realm’s sky, twisted violently and shuddered.
The Outer God’s will, connected to the present world through the Sacrificial Ritual, seemed to momentarily lose its direction and wander, a peculiar sight.
THWUMP!!
As the Outer God’s power, falling towards the altar, missed its mark, the rift opened in the Demonic Realm’s sky slowly began to narrow.
The Sacrificial Ritual, initiated through Yaksha and the Priestess’s plan, seemed to be forcibly interrupted and closed the moment the Grand General awakened and refused.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!!!
One of the Outer Gods, realizing this, let out a furious roar from outside the world.
They shoved swarming eyes through the narrowing rift and stared down at the Demonic Realm’s ground with bloodshot eyes.
An intense, convulsing reaction, as if trying to find the being who disrupted the ritual even now, as if trying to remember that being.
Perhaps that was all the sentiment the Sea Gods originally revealed to the mortals of this world.
Looking down on all other life, not Lennok’s, as worse than insects, dominated by eternal desires and impulses-
[……!!!!]
“It’s already too late to turn everything back.”
But the Grand General closed his eyes, even as he heard the ominous roars falling from the sky towards him.
“This humble officer’s existence holds no further meaning. Neither the pride that rested on my shoulders, nor the responsibility placed upon my armaments.”
“…….”
“Even this wretched body is now merely a pile of dirt rotting in the Mausoleum. But……”
RUUUMBLE……!!!!
The moment the Grand General stretched out his hand, the entire collapsed Mausoleum underground shook and vibrated.
A sensation as if something incredibly heavy and colossal was piercing through the Demonic Realm’s ground and approaching them.
CRASH!!!!
The tomb chamber’s wall shattered, and a golden crescent axe violently spun into the Grand General of Brilliance’s hand.
The moment he gripped the Satellite Shredder, the Grand General’s unique armament, the entire space seemed to be pushed back and crushed, an illusion.
“Huk……!!”
“Impossible…… That’s a corpse!!!”
“How could a dead human-”
At the moment, overwhelmed by that dominant presence, the cult’s forces, surrounding the sanctuary on all sides, gasped for breath.
The Grand General, letting the Satellite Shredder drag on the ground, slowly took a step.
In the blink of an eye, crossing tens of meters, he landed before Lennok.
WHOOSH!!
A pale giant, over three meters tall even in death. A swiftness so light it was hard to believe he held a house-sized axe.
His movements were on a different plane than the Transcendent he had faced until now, so much so that even Lennok could barely read them using his Empathic Ability.
Beyond the consciousness accelerating to its extreme in an instant, Lennok gritted his teeth and raised his gaze.
‘I must, react-’
Lennok was the one who, just moments before, had been interacting with the Outer God receiving the Grand General’s corpse as an offering.
If the Grand General had been aware of that fact even while asleep, it wouldn’t be strange for him to target Lennok first.
If the Grand General intended to act against Lennok first, Lennok would also have to respond immediately.
Thousands of thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant. The moment he tried to pick a winning strategy from them and put it into action.
The pale-faced Grand General passed by Lennok with an expressionless face and continued walking.
THUD.
“……!!!”
Casually passing Lennok, who stood amidst the debris, the colossal warrior walked through the center of the tomb chamber, dragging his axe.
His waist-length black hair swayed slowly with the Grand General’s steps, emitting corrupt and contaminated demonic energy.
The moment Lennok, with a pale expression, turned to look at the Grand General as he walked, surrounded by thousands of cult forces and warships.
“There is no resentment, no obsession, no lingering attachment.”
The Grand General of Brilliance’s empty gaze pierced through and stared down at the Priestess’s spiritual body, which was stepping on Aileen.
“However…… I cannot forsake this old connection that awakened this humble officer after so long.”
[What nonsense are you spouting-]
The Priestess’s face, understanding the meaning, twisted into an incomparably ferocious grimace.
[You crazy bastard-!!!!!]
WHOOSH!!
There was no reply.
The moment Ureka, who had spewed out her telepathy convulsively, swung her staff and unleashed holy light.
The Grand General’s axe, along with the holy light, crushed and burst the Priestess’s spirit-flesh, slicing all the way to the horizon.