Chapter 1337: Designed Transcendence (15)
“Even before the civil war began, Gagameon was considered one of the most powerful warriors.”
Shhhhwoosh…!!
Waves mixed with foam swept over the coastline.
Mistral said, walking along a hill covered in pristine white sand.
“As a hybrid of the Ancient Species, he was different from humans since birth, and even during the time when Transcendent beings were active, he was said to have surpassed hierarchies at an unprecedented speed.”
“…”
“Gagameon, who had immense pride in his lineage, shared his blood with his followers, making them his Blood Alliance, and their power was said to be so great that it became uncontrollable.”
Szzzzzzz-
Lennok listened to Mistral’s explanation, his hand caressing the air around the coastline.
Atmospheric particles tangled in Lennok’s hand, crumbling, collapsing, and emitting lines of decay with a crackling sound.
It was similar to the restricted areas scattered across Vulcan, yet he felt a subtle, alien discomfort.
Just that was enough for him to understand why this coastline had been designated a Forbidden Zone, even though it wasn’t officially part of Vulcan’s territory.
“At that time, there were only three forces that could rival the Blood Alliance, and Kaiser’s Guard was one of them. Though even they couldn’t compare in sheer scale…”
“Yet, it was Kaiser’s side that won the civil war?”
“Hah, isn’t that obvious?”
Peshia let out a sharp laugh at Lennok’s question, stretching her shoulders.
“Deadrise was composed of elites meticulously selected by that venerable person. Even though there were many formidable individuals in the civil war, in terms of average talent, they were undoubtedly—”
“Noisy. Be quiet, it’s grating.”
“Hey!!! I was the one in The Legion, so why are we getting explanations from this elf-eared bastard?!!”
“Well… a lot happened to lead to that. One of the biggest Branching Points was probably here.”
Mistral’s gaze swept over the blood-stained coastline, ignoring Peshia’s shrieks.
“The southeastern coastline where Gagameon, unable to achieve victory in a one-on-one duel with Ethan Bajour, was defeated… This is the legendary battlefield where Gileon, drawing upon Croken Asylus (Cheondun), killed Gagameon after more than two days of fierce combat.”
“…”
“Rumors circulated that Gagameon was looking for a decisive move here to turn the tide of the war. Now that I think about it, that might have been the Ascension Relic that Dadam mentioned.”
“An ancient Ascension Relic might be hidden near that gigantic ark…”
Jenny murmured with a jaded expression, looking up at the colossal, fallen ark on the coastline.
“I understand what you’re saying, but this size is just absurd… How could something like this move intact?”
Shhhhwoosh-
The immense ark lay toppled, completely covering one side of the wave-swept coastline.
Stretching thousands of meters in length, it surpassed the size of any ship, comparable instead to a sizable island.
It wasn’t merely occupying a part of the coastline; it literally dominated one side of the horizon, lying there fallen.
In terms of sheer size, it was tens of times larger than the Sun Ship, the largest armament Lennok possessed.
“If Gagameon was one of the most powerful Transcendent beings in Vulcan at the time, then it’s not so strange.”
Lennok lifted his gaze.
“Such a ruler would have been able to freely commandeer all the assets existing in Vulcan at the time. It’s not unbelievable that he would have used them to create a flagship of this scale.”
Though he had never met Gagameon, Lennok vaguely surmised how powerful a Transcendent he must have been.
Even Kaiser, whom he met at the parade, remembered his name and commemorated the victory achieved then, didn’t he?
It meant that the aforementioned tyrant was an outstandingly powerful individual, so much so that even a Regressor couldn’t forget the victory won against Gagameon.
“A monarch powerful enough to rival Kaiser during the civil war. A valiant general whose legendary renown claimed he died standing, he might have used the Ascension Relic to reach Level 9.”
Leaning on his staff, Lennok slowly turned his gaze.
“I’ll need to go inside that ark and investigate. Jenny, that’s fine, isn’t it?”
“…Huh? Me?”
Jenny reacted with a startled expression, having been intently watching the fallen ark with her arms crossed.
But Lennok ignored Jenny’s reaction and turned his gaze towards the wave-swept sandy beach.
“Around this coastline, mana particles are constantly disappearing, emitting lines of decay. That’s likely why this place was designated a Forbidden Zone.”
“…”
“With ordinary detection spellcraft or Magical Perception, it would be difficult to get a sense of direction or even a field of vision, but using Ouroboros’s circulation, there should be a way.”
“You want me to use Ouroboros to get a sense of direction… Ah, I understand.”
Jenny, who had been muttering along with Lennok, immediately nodded.
“You’re thinking that Ouroboros will react most strongly in the direction where the particle decay is most intense, right?”
“Precisely.”
If the Forbidden Zone’s particle decay is caused by the Ascension Relic, then the closer we get to the relic, the more severe the decay will be.
In that process, Ouroboros, which aims for perfection, is also highly likely to activate more vigorously and react to it.
Jenny instantly grasped what Lennok meant and immediately understood the role she needed to play.
Only then, Peshia’s lips twitched, understanding Lennok’s intention.
“…Wait, Adamant Thunder. You’re not actually telling me you brought Jenicia here to use her as a navigator, are you?”
“I’m not yet relaxed enough to wield various powers or spellcrafts simultaneously.”
Lennok replied calmly.
“For now, I’ll leave the combat to you. Jenny and I should move to find the relic.”
Entrusting Jenny with the search using Ouroboros wasn’t for any other reason.
It was because Lennok himself was also checking the coastline using the Quasi-Authority he gained in the Demonic Realm, the Corrupted Golden Rule.
The Corrupted Golden Rule was a type of sensory organ completely different from the unique abilities or spellcraft Lennok had acquired until now.
As he hasn’t yet adjusted to the senses of this Authority, parallel operation of the Golden Rule and Ouroboros is still difficult.
And, Gagameon’s ark, viewed through the Quasi-Authority that captures the cross-section of causality—
Szzzzk, szzzzk…!!!
—was distorting, enveloped in a noise whose origin even Lennok couldn’t guess.
“…”
“Hah, what a ridiculous excuse…! Does a monster like you truly need an extra hand, requiring such bothersome preparations—”
“Peshia.”
Flash!!
As Jenny spread her hand, a glowing blue triangle appeared simultaneously.
A spellcraft operation so skilled it was hard to believe Jenny, who had no talent for magic or spellcraft, was performing it.
Jenny shrugged, raising a spell formation of the Ouroboros magic system right before Peshia’s eyes.
“It’s fine. There’s no problem at all right now. You know I wouldn’t have come along if I were going to hold you back, right?”
“…”
“Just by encasing myself in spellcraft for protection, I won’t be affected by the lines of decay at all. I still have plenty of leeway right now.”
Jenny shook her head, watching Peshia cross her arms and fall silent with a displeased expression.
“If any problems arise, I’ll ask for help, so don’t worry. Still, for now, I’m quite—”
“Jenicia.”
Peshia muttered gruffly.
“Duck. You’ll get hit.”
“What?”
Her reply was slow, but her actions were swift.
Before Jenny could even process Peshia’s words, she ducked her head, and Peshia snatched a flash of light that had flown from across the coastline.
CRAAASH!!
A sharply rotating fragment tore through Peshia’s palm, instantly drenching it in blood.
Yet, even as Peshia gazed at the fragment of light slicing into her palm, she wore an eerie smile.
“Hehe, yes… I’d rather have something like this happen to me.”
Woooooooosh…!!!
From various spots on the chaotically scattered sandy beach, blurry, flickering shadows rose.
Twisted Mutants, covered in sticky blood, muttering incomprehensible groans.
Monsters whose skin was covered in blade-sharp scales and teeth, having shed their human forms.
Jenny’s expression hardened as she recognized the face of a dead corpse within those blurry-eyed, scaly lumps.
“They’re dead… Have they turned into zombies or ghouls?”
“They must be members of Gagameon’s Blood Alliance who drank his blood. They likely died during the civil war and were buried all around here.”
Mistral said, putting on the motorcycle helmet she had tucked under her arm.
“In exchange for receiving his blood, they were consumed by the instincts of the Ancient Species after death. The Ancient Species Gagameon was born into was originally ‘that kind’ of being.”
“…”
“They shouldn’t normally look like this, but it seems they lost their reason and became monsters precisely at the moment Gagameon died.”
Zzzip, Mistral asked, putting on her helmet and pulling up her jacket zipper.
“Adamant Thunder, what’s the plan? Should we just pick up Jenicia Bajour and run?”
“Even if we avoid combat here, there’ll likely be similar monsters inside the ark.”
Lennok nodded, looking at the Mutants approaching from all directions.
“We’ll move while dealing with them. Go.”
“You’re giving orders like it’s obvious, but you’re much better at fighting than I am…!”
Despite the grumbling reply, her actions were swift.
Whoosh—
As Mistral crouched, her form vanished, blending into the surging wind.
Her speed was so immense that even Lennok, who had already extended his Magical Perception, could only discern her direction at the last moment.
The elf’s explosively accelerated form tore through the air, manifesting with a powerful shockwave.
And then, she kicked and burst apart the corpses that had risen from various spots along the coastline at incredible speed.
THUDTHUDTHUDTHUD!!!!!
The entire silent sandy beach violently shook as if a bomb had exploded.
As if taking that sound as a signal, monsters rushed out from everywhere, charging towards the group.
Kaaaagh!!!!
Haaah, Haaagh!!!
Wooooooargh!!!!
The corpses buried on the coastline were members of the Blood Alliance who had been defeated in the Vulcan civil war.
Each individual was a formidable superhuman who had stood on the front lines of that civil war, a veteran who had crossed countless thresholds of death.
It was obvious that such superhumans, having drunk the blood of the Ancient Species and mutated, had become difficult monsters.
Thwackthwackthwack!!
Their steps, kicking off the sandy beach, were light as if treading on wind, and the weapons in their hands rotated gracefully.
Their bodies, covered in blade-sharp teeth and scales that had erupted through their skin, moved with a creaking sound,
a horde of Mutants approaching the group at immense speed over the blood-stained coastline.
“Hah, goddammit, really…!!!”
Click!!
Peshia cursed, flipped her spear, and lightly crouched.
She parried a Mutant charging from the side with her back, while dodging another blade falling from above her head.
The spear in her hand spun explosively, stabbing every Mutant charging from all directions.
Peshia cursed again, watching a Mutant charge forward with a spearhead stuck in its crown.
Kwoooooargh…!!!
“Damn it, this thing won’t die even if I stab it with a spear!!!”
CRACKCRACKCRACK!!!!
Peshia’s slash burst forth, sending a colossal pillar of sand surging up, and the coastline tilted to one side.
On the tilted ground, Peshia, carrying Jenny over one shoulder, began to run at high speed.
“Adamant Thunder!! I’ll open a path to the ark. Follow as best you can!!!”
“Do you even know where the entrance to the ark is, mouthing off like that?”
“No, goddammit!! We’ll find it eventually…!!!”
Peshia, carrying Jenny, sprinted towards the fallen ark on the other side of the coastline, and Lennok shrugged, leaning on his staff.
Mutants, sensing Peshia’s movements, charged, but Mistral, having already accelerated, kicked Mutants from all directions, reducing obstacles.
BANG!! THUDTHUDTHUD!!!
She grabbed a Mutant’s collar and tripped it. Kicked its flank, bursting flesh, and shoved it away with her back.
The elf’s form, moving at a speed that could barely be caught by Magical Perception, weaved through the Mutants on the wind at immense velocity.
Each time, the monsters on the coastline caught in Mistral’s rapid maneuvers had their limbs broken or were flung towards the surging seawater.
Aaargh!!!
Kaaaagh!!!
The forms of monsters tumbling and collapsing in place or swept away by the waves, accompanied by enraged roars.
Peshia twisted her lips, running across the sandy beach that was cleared in an instant.
“Hah, she’s fast, so even without strength, she’s quite useful…! Keep going!!”
“Are you still complaining even when I’m helping? I didn’t come all this way to listen to your orders!!”
Mistral and Peshia slid across the white sand, approaching the tilted ark.
With Gagameon’s death, the ark itself was completely destroyed and collapsed beyond any hope of recovery.
Mutants, wandering beneath the ark’s port side that hung like a colossal barrier, shrieked, and Peshia, carrying Jenny, swung her spear, carving a path.
Thudthudthud!!!
Beyond the wall of sand that surged as the ground shook, she repeated five thrusts at invisible speed.
Peshia burst the Mutant’s head with a hypersonic spear tip, kicked away the falling chunks of flesh, and yelled.
“Elf-ears, where’s the entrance? I don’t know the ark’s structure!!!”
“We’ll have to find it. I’ve only been here a few times during the civil war…!!!”
“And you don’t even know that, yet you claim to be a guide—do you actually want to die?!!!”
“I told you this is one of the candidate sites where an Ascension Relic might be!!”
Mistral tripped a Mutant, stepped on its head, and replied while running in a low stance.
“Just run. Something’s bound to show up if we head towards the deck…!!!”
“Bullshit, the ark’s too big for that!!!!”
This colossal ark, thousands of meters long, was not just a ship but of an immense size comparable to an entire island.
No matter how fast Peshia or Mistral were, it wasn’t a manageable size to reach the end in just a few leaps.
Every space inside the ark, where the group was running, felt vast and enormous, like a plaza.
“Entrance, that way…!!!”
Jenny, clinging to Peshia’s shoulder, raised her hand, rotating Ouroboros.
“Direction where particle decay is strongest, towards the port bow…!!!”
“Heard that? Run!!”
“Not very general-like. Why is a murderer so obedient?”
“Shut up!! This woman is clearly much smarter than us!!”
KWOOOOMCRACK!!!!
As the commotion intensified, blood-soaked Mutants rose from all directions and approached.
Their grotesque forms were covered in sticky, fresh blood, with scale-like rashes erupting all over the bodies of the dead.
They were tough enough not to break unless struck with infused Will-thought, and, true to the superhumans of the civil war, their skill was also considerable.
Even having lost their intellect, with such numbers, they felt like a bothersome force to contend with.
Peshia and Mistral, with Jenny clinging to them, raced across the sandy beach at immense speed.
Just as they finally reached the bow to climb onto the slanted deck of the ark—
“Ah.”
Mistral’s mouth parted slightly as she met the gaze of a colossal, inverted statue hanging from the bow.
The figure of a man, hanging upside down with his arms spread wide, like a typical figurehead adorning the bow of a ship.
But regrettably, it wasn’t a mere statue or ornament; it was a monster that had once been human.
“Damn, that’s a face I remember.”
CHOMP…!!
A bald giant, whose entire body was stained dark red, opened his mouth wide towards Peshia and Mistral.
A grotesque form, with blade-like teeth and scales densely covering not only his skin but also the inside of his throat.
As he lightly shook his tail, the fins on his arms and legs violently thrashed.
The giant’s massive body, beyond mere sound, crashed directly onto the sandy beach.
CRASHHHHHHH!!!!!
An intense shockwave erupted in place, subtly shaking the entire sandy beach.
A resonant roar, loud enough to burst eardrums, echoed along the coastline, where no ceiling or walls existed.
The monster, whose face had transformed to resemble a colossal shark, let out a spine-chilling shriek.
KWOOOOOOOOOOOOORGH!!!!!!!
“Trouble. That’s a Transcendent who was one of Gagameon’s closest confidantes in the Blood Alliance.”
Mistral shrugged and adjusted her helmet.
“Looking at the greatsword disgustingly stuck to his arm, it’s clear. You probably saw his face during the civil war too, didn’t you?”
“…”
Peshia also seemed to vaguely recall that face, unable to deny it, and her expression crumpled.
Proof that he was such an outstanding superhuman during the civil war that even a murderer, who cared little for anyone outside The Legion, vaguely remembered his impression.
“He was famous within the Blood Alliance as a powerful individual who had an exceptionally good affinity for the Ancient Species’ blood. It seems he became half-Ancient Species after dying. What are you going to do?”
“Damn it, what else can we do?”
Peshia spat, put Jenny down, and re-gripped her spear.
The presence of a sentinel proudly guarding the deck entrance into the ark.
A killing intent and pressure that, at a glance, clearly differed in dimension from the other Mutants.
Considering the other Mutants kept moving even after their heads burst, this one must be even worse.
If they were facing a monster that wouldn’t die even when killed, Peshia could only think of one method.
“I’ll handle him, so get inside the ark. From now on, you’ll protect Jenicia—”
“No, I don’t want to split up our forces already.”
…!!!
Peshia sharply turned her gaze at the sudden voice from behind her.
Lennok, leaning on his silver staff, looked up at the roaring monster, his coat fluttering.
Peshia, who had instinctively flinched at Lennok’s voice, instead grew enraged by her own reaction and yelled.
“Adamant Thunder, you slug…! You told us to go to the ark, what were you doing that you’re only arriving now!!!”
“Because the Mutants abandoned on this coastline are quite interesting beings.”
Lennok said, looking down at the crushed Mutant beneath his feet.
More precisely, at the blade-sharp teeth and scales that had erupted through the Mutant’s skin.
“These aren’t simply moving corpses or monsters; they’re literally closer to the ‘Concept’ of ‘teeth’ or ‘scales.’ When consumed by the blood of the Ancient Species, they cease to be even organic matter.”
“What?”
“Their very existence has become materialized, closer to matter or inorganic substances, so the outcome of ‘killing’ them through normal means wouldn’t even be established in the first place.”
Lennok said, glancing over.
“It probably has something to do with the origin of the Ancient Species whose blood Gagameon inherited… but we can look into the details later.”
Lennok stretched out his hand without even looking back at the roaring monster striding towards them.
“I’ll handle that one. I have a spellcraft I was planning to experiment with for situations like this.”
“Bann!!”
The monster, whose crown was split like a shark’s, drooled and raised its greatsword.
Blood and rotting flesh, thickly wedged between the greatsword’s blades, emitted a pungent, charred odor.
And as it turned its bloodshot eyes towards Lennok, it vanished from sight.
FLASH-!
The monster’s colossal body, explosively accelerated, spun at an immense speed, and a rusted greatsword descended towards Lennok’s crown.
In an instant, the sword strike, having broken the sound barrier, crushed the air and unleashed a shockwave. Immediately after, just before it could pulverize Lennok’s upper body—
—from behind Lennok, the grasp of a Demonic Giant, enveloped in darkness, stretched out and surged upwards.
Whoosh—
Black Edict-type Unique Magic
Principle Change, Concept Distortion
Muscular forearms wrapped in black chains, sharply curved demonic hands, coiled around Lennok as if to protect him.
Ignoring the astonished Mistral and Peshia, Lennok, his eyes half-closed, lifted his gaze.
“Now, I think I can at least roughly imitate it.”
The Transcendence he had briefly acquired during the Subjugation Operation.
That sensation, as if he had become a god, he could now imitate at least a part of it.
Using the Quasi-Authority, the Corrupted Golden Rule, obtained from the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors, he foresaw the cross-section of causality.
Using the Black Magic he had been taught by Myeong at the First Gate, he captured the moment Concepts twisted.
With the help of the Demonic Giant, he seized and severed a singularity existing within the vague Conceptual Domain.
Crea
k
He recreated a fragment of the hellscape Myeong had shown long ago, right here.
As the black-stained grasp of the Black Edict slowly tilted, it slid through the greatsword.
Grotesquely twisted black fingers, slowly stretching and lengthening as if reaching out, tapped the monster’s chest as if knocking.
The moment that reverberation passed through flesh and bone, reaching the rotting heart within.
[Die.]
As a somber black ripple exploded, everything on the coastline stopped moving.