Chapter 1341: Designed Transcendence (19)
“After the subjugation operation, many came to know about you.”
In the heart of a colossal ruin city, where a golden kaleidoscope revolved.
Lutchman, a member of the Elder Council, appeared from thin air and began to walk.
“The fact that you are not someone who can be dismissed with mere strength, that your influence in this city cannot be denied.”
“……”
“There is no longer any individual in this city who can suppress you by force. Even if it were possible, it would require too great a price.”
Lutchman’s gaze never strayed from Lennok, who stood before the kaleidoscope.
“That’s why some thought the opposite: if he is a being that cannot be confronted by force, then why not further enhance that power?”
“……”
“If he becomes stronger and stronger, eventually becoming so powerful that he can no longer interfere with the mundane world?”
Lutchman looked up at Lennok and smiled benevolently.
“Only then can we remove your influence from this city. For that is what an Ascendant is.”
“So that’s why you readily cooperated in finding the Ascension Relic.”
Lennok asked calmly.
“Is this a plan orchestrated by the Mayor?”
It was Mayor Arjis Ormeon who informed him of the Ascension Relic’s existence immediately after the collapse of the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors.
It was also his initial suggestion that Lennok use the relic to become an Ascendant.
If anyone should be suspected of leading the plan, it should be him first.
But Lutchman shook his head even after hearing that.
“That fiend said that if you don’t wish it, you shouldn’t be made an Ascendant. He said there’s no reason to antagonize you in that way for now.”
“……”
“But my thoughts differ. I don’t think a better opportunity will come again to remove a Magic Tower Lord who is devouring Vulcan from this city.”
Lutchman stared intently at Lennok.
“If things continue like this, you will infringe not only upon the city government but also upon the authority and influence of the Elder Council. For that is what you do in your Magic Tower.”
“……”
“But regrettably, we have no intention of standing idly by. Although opinions within the Elder Council were sharply divided on this matter…”
Lutchman slowly adjusted his collar.
“Ultimately, the full consent of the Elder Council isn’t required to take action.”
“Using the relic’s power to forcibly make me an Ascendant, then compel me to withdraw my hand from Vulcan…”
Lennok let out a wry chuckle.
“I must admit, it’s a creative idea. You must have thought that once I became an Ascendant, I would inevitably have to withdraw from mundane affairs, one way or another, correct?”
An Ascendant is a challenger who has gained the qualification to give an answer and attained the Ninth Hierarchy.
Naturally, such a being becomes bound by their own answers and enlightenment, gradually distancing themselves from worldly affairs.
Therefore, some members of the Elder Council, including Lutchman, intended to forcibly elevate Lennok to a being of another dimension, removing him from the stage, rather than confronting him directly.
An idea unfathomable to ordinary people. A plan that only those with a deep understanding of Transcendent beings and Ascendants could conceive and attempt.
It was proof that the city’s Elder Council had been observing the world for a long time, dabbling in various ‘scenarios.’
If so, the reason Lutchman was now calmly explaining all this was, of course—
“You have something you wish to say. Speak.”
“The Ascension Relic of the ancient era is a mirror reflecting the self. It is a conduit connected to past timelines itself.”
Lutchman said.
“The moment one synchronizes their magic with the mirror, the user participates in an ancient ritual to receive the qualification for ascension, paying a massive amount of mana in the process.”
“……”
“Since this ritual was originally created not for humans, but for top-tier True Bloodlines or Ancient Species, a being born human cannot stop the ritual themselves.”
Lutchman said.
“In other words, you will be forcibly bound to the mirror, continuing the ritual until every last drop of mana in your body is drained. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“So, if I don’t want to die, I should obediently accept the ritual and become an Ascendant?”
“There’s no need for lengthy explanations, I presume. You are a genius. You are more blessed than any superhuman I have ever seen.”
Lutchman’s gaze, fixed on Lennok, deepened.
“Though the process is a bit drastic, I believe you could complete the ritual and become an Ascendant without issue, even in this situation. Couldn’t you?”
“……”
“I promise you. If you become an Ascendant and leave Vulcan as is, in the name of the Elder Council, no harm will befall you throughout the entire process.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Then…”
Lutchman gave a bitter smile and raised his hand.
“Then wouldn’t I have no choice but to give an opportunity to those who covet the relic you now occupy?”
KABOOM!!!!
At that moment, from beyond the street where space was separated, someone tore through the mirrored image and intruded into the city.
Peshia, clutching her spear, and Mistral, wearing her helmet, were flung out almost simultaneously from opposite directions.
“Adamant Thunder!!!”
“Intruders. More than expected—”
THUMP!!!!
Before the two could finish their sharply toned warnings, someone stepped through the torn mirrored image.
A powerful presence tearing through the ruins, entering from beyond, where different spaces were separated as if by a mirror.
RUMBLE!!!!
Five Transcendent beings, each leading dozens of superhumans, approached the relic without hesitation.
A pale-skinned man with sea-blue patterns etched into his attire.
A black-haired woman in black mourning clothes, exuding a sinister aura like a snake.
A giant mummy, its entire body bound in withered bandages.
A nervous-looking swordsman with ash-gray hair.
A deer-giant with white antlers growing from its head.
‘Their presence is unfamiliar, yet their level is extremely high… Each of them has an extraordinary background.’
Each was a Transcendent being who had surpassed the hierarchy to reach Level 8, and faces Lennok had never seen in Vulcan before.
While it was possible they were reclusive Transcendent beings of Vulcan who hadn’t shown themselves until now, Lennok was more interested in another possibility.
‘Seekers who came to Vulcan concurrently with Dadam’s visit. If so, the current situation isn’t entirely incomprehensible.’
“Van. I know about the first three.”
Jenny, apparently understanding the developing situation immediately, quickly whispered to Lennok.
“The Monarch of the Azure Gate. Dead Soul Yolan. The Left Protector of the Temple of Vanished Spirits. All three are Transcendent beings from outside Vulcan. I’ve seen one at the exchange, and the other two on wanted posters.”
“I see.”
The man with a tranquil presence like a deep lake is the Monarch of the Azure Gate. The woman with the sinister smile is Dead Soul Yolan. The giant mummy is the Left Protector of the Temple of Vanished Spirits, then.
Except for Dead Soul, whose name he had heard once during a parade, the other two were new names to Lennok, but he wasn’t particularly surprised.
He had already heard stories of Seekers from various parts of the continent, long detached from worldly affairs, coming to Vulcan in anticipation of an Ascendant’s arrival.
Challengers in this closed world who had not yet given up hope of advancing to the next stage. Transcendent beings who, in a way, pursued goals similar to Lennok’s.
It wouldn’t be strange if the Elder Council, or a faction within it led by Lutchman, had summoned them for this very moment.
“[Is the City Lord truly the renowned Grand Mage called the Demon King of Vulcan?]”
The giant mummy standing on the right exhaled a heavy, resonant voice.
A heavy golden circlet was wrapped around his bandaged, thick forearm, and in his other hand, he clutched a pillar-like stone staff.
The Left Protector, with an empty presence like an ancient ghost guarding an old temple, spoke.
“[Witnessing it directly, I understand immediately. The ominous killing intent and overbearing mana enveloping his entire body… it’s like seeing a devil, not a Seeker.]”
“You’re wrong, Left Protector. That’s no devil or ghost. He’s clearly a living human.”
Yolan, standing alone some distance from the Left Protector, scoffed with her arms crossed.
“If anything, he’s a being who has neared the state of an Ascendant in a living human body, perhaps? Only a monster of that caliber could have surpassed the Nether King to claim the number one spot in the power rankings, I suppose.”
“Adamant Thunder. This Monarch has obtained the qualification and seeks to challenge ascension, to proceed to the next stage.”
The Monarch of the Azure Gate raised his calm, subdued gaze to look up at Lennok.
A presence that felt exceptionally potent even among the Transcendent beings gathered here.
“If you do not require the qualification for ascension, I request you cede it.”
“What the hell are these insane bastards babbling about?”
CLANG!!
Before Lennok could reply, Peshia, readjusting her spear, strode forward to the front of the ruins.
Driving her spear tip into the ground and kicking up dust, she glared with bloodshot eyes at the approaching Transcendent beings.
“Have you no conscience? We found it first, why are you trying to snatch it?”
“The qualification for ascension is a prerequisite absolutely necessary for a Seeker who has accumulated hierarchy to transcend the world.”
The Monarch of the Azure Gate closed his eyes.
“However, not every Ascendant who gained the qualification challenged it, nor did every Ascendant who attempted the challenge succeed.”
“……”
“An Ascendant who gains the qualification but does not challenge it is merely an apostate who has abandoned their duty. This Monarch cannot tolerate such deviance.”
The Monarch of the Azure Gate slowly opened his eyes, their depth like a sunken sea.
“Therefore, this Monarch intends to directly punish such apostates and challenge the future of this closed world.”
A Transcendent being who had severed ties with the mundane world and pursued enlightenment their entire life.
A madman capable of anything to challenge ascension, perhaps that’s why he would step forward to seize the relic.
It wasn’t strange. Lennok knew well that beings who transcended hierarchy were often somewhat broken.
After all, Lennok himself had repeatedly risked his life in similar ways, winning against seemingly unbeatable opponents.
“I don’t understand what you people are trying to say.”
Mistral adjusted her motorcycle helmet and cast a fleeting glance at Lennok.
“Are you really going to fight us to take the relic? Do you all want to die right here?”
Her words were utterly ambiguous, yet no one present misunderstood their meaning.
Lennok stood in the center of the Ascension Relic, looking down at them without a word.
Everyone knew that the said mage was uniquely strong among the Transcendent beings gathered there.
But the Transcendent beings who had intruded upon the Ascension Relic did not back down, even after hearing Mistral’s urgent warning.
Instead, they slowly began to raise their mana with chilling smiles, as if they had been waiting for those very words.
“You seem to be mistaken about something, Elf.”
Beyond her black mourning clothes, Yolan, raising her darkly stained hands, burst into laughter.
“Isn’t it true that to covet an excessive power, one must risk their life? Have you forgotten that, drenched in peace?”
“[No matter how mighty Adamant Thunder is as a mage, if the prize is the qualification for ascension, wouldn’t it be a risk worth taking?]”
WHOOSH…!!!
The giant mummy, whose face was unseen, unleashed a gloomy, sunken mana.
“[Should we, by chance, gain the qualification and reach Level 9, no one would be able to hold us accountable for what transpired here.]”
“Ha.”
Only then did Peshia understand her opponent’s words, and a cold smile spread across her face.
“I thought you were crazy and wanted to die, but you’re worse than that. So, you think if you just seize the relic, the rest will somehow sort itself out?”
“[Why, I assumed the City Lord, having been a general of the Legion, would readily empathize.]”
The Left Protector chuckled softly, gripping his stone staff and stepping forward.
“[Adamant Thunder is, at this very moment, bound by the ritual and having his mana drained. If he uses mana to fight us, its consumption rate will multiply severalfold, even manifold.]”
‘Even a Transcendent mage, undergoing an ancient ritual while his mana is depleted, could he withstand our assault? It’s a hypothetical scenario where calculation itself is meaningless.’
The Left Protector’s empty gaze scanned Lennok’s impassive face through the bandages.
“[Even a prodigy of the ages is destined to kneel before ancient mysteries and calculated misfortune. Such is the fate of one born in the twilight after the Golden Age has ended.]”
“Ah, I see. I understand what you’re saying.”
Peshia, adjusting her stance, grinned with a distorted, ghastly smile.
“No need to hear more. Just die!!!”
“Hahaha, Peshia Grisbern. So the rumors that you’ve become Adamant Thunder’s dog were true? Do you have no pride?”
Yolan, rolling up her sleeve and raising her darkly stained hand, plunged it into the ground without hesitation.
Simultaneously, the remains of the Ark began to violently shake, and the dead bodies uniformly rose.
Dead Soul Yolan, ranked 10th in the power rankings. Her necromancy began to raise the dead bodies scattered throughout the Ark.
SHAAAAAA!!!!
“Ah, seriously…!! I didn’t get involved expecting this!”
Mistral, placing one hand on the ground and lowering her stance, muttered in a tense voice.
Thousands of corpses rising and encircling the entire ruin area from all directions.
Hundreds of superhumans approaching from various parts of the old city. And even five Transcendent beings at their forefront, drawing their mana towards them.
“[Disciples of the Temple of Vanished Spirits. Move.]”
At the Left Protector’s command, the apostate monks in gray cloaks who had been standing stiffly began to move.
Disciples who had forgotten precepts and sermons, surrendered their souls to spirits, and whose very selves were emptied, nearing the void.
The Left Protector, stone staff in hand, stepped into the ruins and gazed at Lennok with empty, spectral eyes.
“[Today, here, we will hunt Adamant Thunder and seize the qualification for ascension.]”
“Van…!!”
Jenny, standing beside the mirror, turned to Lennok with an urgent expression.
Only a few days ago, Lennok’s will-thought and mana had been almost entirely depleted, at rock bottom.
At this point, if Lennok’s mana synchronized with the mirror and forcibly initiated the ritual, he couldn’t avoid danger.
At the very least, if they believed that fact and took a gamble to kill Lennok, Lennok’s mana would already be—
“I’ll buy us some time with Ouroboros. First, concentrate on stopping the ritual as much as possible—!!!”
“Don’t worry.”
“What?”
“Step back. It won’t take long.”
Jenny wasn’t given time to comprehend his words.
Lennok glanced at the kaleidoscope, then unhesitantly stepped forward.
“It’s regrettable for those who’ve come this far, but I cannot hand over the mirror.”
Lennok looked down at the Transcendent beings, who were raising their mana from all directions, and spoke.
“This isn’t simply a matter of who found it first. This object, from the very beginning, should not be used in such a way.”
“……”
“Using this mirror to receive the qualification for ascension is not something humans can do. If you roughly understand, wouldn’t you withdraw?”
Lennok casually tapped the mirror floating behind him, then crossed his arms.
“Personally, I wish to experiment with the mirror further. I don’t want to waste time dealing with you all here.”
“In the end, we’ve only exchanged meaningless questions and answers, haven’t we?”
The Monarch, not particularly surprised by Lennok’s words, took a step forward.
“I will simply set the standard right with power.”
“Whose authority, you son of a bitch—!!!!”
KABOOM!!!!
Peshia, who had been confronting the Left Protector just moments ago, spun around and unleashed a cleaving strike towards the Monarch.
Simultaneously, an ancestral spirit emerged behind Peshia, roaring and suppressing the corpses rushing from all directions.
“Hahahaha!! Not so fast, Demoness!! Where are you rushing off to so urgently?!”
Following Yolan’s gesturing hand, corpses rose from all directions, and simultaneously exploded and burst apart in their places.
Yolan’s necromancy was a specialized ability, more focused on sacrificing corpses to amplify the power of her spellcraft than on directly manipulating them.
The corpse explosions, imbued with intense power, engulfed Peshia, and her form, directly hit by the shockwave, was forced back into the ruins.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
“You motherfu—!!!”
“Long time no see, Major General Grisbern.”
“…You.”
Peshia, who had just sprung up and was drawing mana, flinched as she confronted the ash-gray-haired swordsman blocking her path in the midst of the explosion.
Major General Grisbern. There were few left who would address her by that title now.
Peshia’s eyes, gleaming with killing intent, instantly became subdued.
“I don’t recognize your face. Were you a Legion Commander?”
“It brings back old memories. In those days, you didn’t even properly remember the Legion’s generals.”
The swordsman slowly caressed his blade and spoke.
“I will make you remember soon.”
KABOOM!!!
The Transcendent beings, who had been watching the spearman and swordsman clash in the distance, began to move in earnest.
The Monarch of the Azure Gate. Dead Soul Yolan. The Left Protector of the Temple of Vanished Spirits. The ash-gray swordsman. And the deer-giant with white antlers.
“Hey there, Deer-uncle, what are you doing?”
Yolan, who had been commanding corpses to bombard the battlefield, snapped her gaze around.
“You’re a Transcendent being who follows the Elder Council’s orders, unlike us. You should be at the forefront of confronting Adamant Thunder!”
“Necromancer. Do not command me.”
The deer-giant turned his ominous gaze to Yolan.
“I will cooperate in killing Adamant Thunder, but I am not a dog loyal to the Elder Council. Lutchman’s—”
“[Enough. Have you forgotten that this is no place for us to quarrel? I will go first.]”
The giant mummy leading the apostate monks stepped forward, clutching his stone staff.
“[The Left Protector of the Temple of Vanished Spirits. Udet Ahon.]”
WHOOSH…!!
As he infused mana into his pillar-like stone staff, an empty presence enveloped the Left Protector.
The bandages covering his entire body unraveled, revealing a void where flesh should have been.
“[Having seen infinite hells in life and realized the meaning of non-life. This means that life is akin to a void.]”
The apostate monks of the Temple of Vanished Spirits were beings who had cast away the right to live and the soul originally granted to life into oblivion.
Through this, they became heralds who, unbound by the material realm, eternally preached the laws of the void.
The disciple, who had abandoned his existence and sold his soul, slowly pressed his palms together, looking at Lennok standing before the mirror.
OOOOOH!!!!
A gloomy will-thought exploded from within the Left Protector, who had immersed himself in an endless void.
As he lowered his stance and gripped his stone staff, in a single stride, he tried to pierce through Lennok’s very existence.
“[Now, let me witness the martial prowess you are rumored to possess—!!!!!]”
“Die.”
THUD!!!!
Without time to react, the Left Protector’s body slammed its head into the ground and slid across the floor.
The Left Protector’s taut body went limp, his limbs flailing and twitching uncontrollably.
“Huh?”
A result so incredible it felt not just futile but absurd.
Everyone watching let out stunned noises, as if their souls had left their bodies.
“What… was that?”
“Left, Left Protector!!!!”
“What is this…? Don’t mess with me.”
The apostate monks who had followed the Left Protector halted in shock, and Yolan’s expression twisted grotesquely.
The Monarch of the Azure Gate stopped his movements, and Lutchman’s complexion, watching the situation, turned as pale as a corpse.
The Left Protector of the Temple of Vanished Spirits was an infamous Transcendent being active on the Northern Front. A wraith who had transcended hierarchy to reach Level 8.
A grim reaper half-shedding the shackles of flesh, consumed by oblivion, toying with and wielding the lives and souls of others.
Such a being, just now, with merely a single word from Lennok—
“For someone spouting nonsense, you wield quite a plausible power.”
Lennok, who had been standing with his arms crossed, slowly opened his eyes and looked down at the ground.
“This time, I’ll show you my hell.”
Beyond that transparently empty and gloomy gaze. The darkness beneath his eyes.
From the depths of the abyss, a demon chained in black rose to its feet.
WHOOOOOOSH!!!!!!
“Damn it, I shouldn’t be saying this, but…”
Peshia muttered with a dumbfounded expression, staring at the surging darkness.
“Is it really okay for things to be this unfair?”