Chapter 1358: Designed Transcendence (36)

“W-what? I-I’m a hostage? A h-hostage?”

Perhaps it was only after staring blankly at the messy handwriting scrawled on the napkin for a long time that she finally understood its meaning.

In some ways, the Corpse Spirit Sorcerer’s reaction to the Fairy Sorcerer’s message was quite something.

“I-I was abandoned to take c-care of a Dark Elf… No, that’s a lie…”

Her face pale, her fingertips trembling, she denied reality.

“I-I was tricked… After making such a big deal about s-saving me from Kundara, how could they do th-this…!!”

She raised her voice in an uncharacteristic display of anger, drawing up a significant amount of mana,

“C-couldn’t you let me go now…? If I b-bring someone to take c-care of the Dark Elf…”

She proposed, clearly trying to negotiate, while anxiously watching Lennok.

Seeing no hope herself, she soon retreated to a corner of the reception room, utterly depressed, and didn’t emerge until the party ended.

“N-no, this is wrong… I’m going to r-rot and d-die here for the rest of my life… This life is ruined…”

How long did it take her to go through denial, anger, negotiation, and depression, finally reaching the stage of acceptance?

“…If I d-diligently take c-care of the Dark Elf, you’ll at l-least still give me f-food, right…?”

Only after she accepted her situation could Lennok finally escort the Corpse Spirit Sorcerer out of the ballroom.

“I know she’s a forbidden sorcerer from the Alliance, but she looks really pathetic…”

“Given she’s still asking for food even now, it seems the Fairy Sorcerer’s message wasn’t wrong.”

Jenny and Felix’s wry remarks represented the sentiments of the remaining colleagues.

“I’ve arranged a private room for the Corpse Spirit Sorcerer for now. Her situation seems a bit ambiguous to put her in solitary confinement or a prison cell.”

The garden outside the ballroom, bathed in moonlight.

After the party, Lennok walked with Evelyn around the noisy venue, where the cleanup was underway.

He had called Evelyn to manage her treatment after unexpectedly taking custody of the Corpse Spirit Sorcerer.

Though she quit a long time ago, she was originally a high-ranking superhuman who worked as an Agent for a special agency.

There would be no one in the tower more skilled than her at handling forbidden sorcerers or lawbreakers like the Corpse Spirit Sorcerer.

Fortunately, Evelyn seemed to find the task Lennok assigned her easier than expected.

“She seemed quite agitated, probably from being suddenly taken hostage? She’s docile now, but it might be good to define her range of activity for a while.”

“There won’t be a need for that. From what I’ve observed, her personality seems to be inherently like that.”

“Eek. That sounds even more unsettling…”

Evelyn, her face contorted in alarm, let out a sigh.

“Well… if you say it’s fine, then it’s fine. Anyway, you really do need that forbidden sorcerer, right?”

“She seemed genuinely helpful in caring for the Dark Elf, a gift from the Fairy Sorcerer. It appears she feels an affinity for similar attributes.”

Lennok fell into thought.

“The Sorcerer said the Dark Elf had abilities specialized for black magic, but it’s highly likely it possesses even more unique properties or individuality. Especially considering the unique nature of the fairy race.”

“…”

“It possesses negative properties that ordinary living beings cannot, and it’s a rare species that inhabits the gaps of the Spirit World… Either way, it seems it could be a great help.”

Before meeting the Fairy Sorcerer, Lennok had never once seen a fairy in reality.

That’s proof of how extremely rare fairies are, existing in the Spirit World.

Just before the party ended, Lennok examined the Dark Elf and began to vaguely understand its meaning.

It seemed to possess a self and intelligence, but communication was impossible. He could understand its emotions, but not communicate directly.

It was an uncanny feeling, like observing an alien with a completely different thought process and sensory organs than humans.

Unlike phantom beasts or spirits, are fairies, in a literal sense, closer to ‘residents’ of the Spirit World?

As the Dark Elf gifted by the Fairy Sorcerer seems to be quite valuable, the presence of the Corpse Spirit Sorcerer, who can care for it, will also be necessary.

“As it’s an ancient species from primordial times, it will need to be handled with care. Let’s gradually adjust the intensity of the Corpse Spirit Sorcerer’s surveillance as we observe her.”

“…Van, you know, don’t you?”

Evelyn’s expression grew slightly serious.

“It’s unlikely they came all this way just to give a gift. Perhaps the Alliance’s true purpose is…”

“I know. The gift is a pretext; their goal might be to keep the Corpse Spirit Sorcerer in my magic tower.”

Why would the Fairy Sorcerer attend the party, even going so far as to give Lennok such a rare gift as the Dark Elf?

Even if it’s for the restoration of the Great Connection, why would they first mention the internal chaos within the Order Alliance, raise the terms of the deal, and then offer a gift?

And why did they bring the Corpse Spirit Sorcerer to care for the Dark Elf given to Lennok, then leave her behind as a hostage?

Lennok had already surmised that this very act might be the Alliance’s true objective.

“Are you sure it’s okay? Bringing that airheaded slacker into the tower?”

“Anyway, the Corpse Spirit Sorcerer won’t be a threat within my Domain. That’s why I’m more curious about the Order Alliance’s goal.”

Lennok’s Domain in District 49 is a space-time governed by the Ouroboros magic system.

Within the Domain, there would be no problem even if he held the Fairy Sorcerer herself hostage, let alone the Corpse Spirit Sorcerer.

The Order Alliance likely knew this too, which is why they pushed the Corpse Spirit Sorcerer into the Domain as a hostage, trying to avoid suspicion.

Thus, Lennok’s curiosity was less about the Corpse Spirit Sorcerer’s danger and more about the Alliance’s true objective.

“The Corpse Spirit Sorcerer is timid, airheaded, and a bit unhinged; she’s not someone who’d conspire. The Alliance likely pushed her into the tower, believing I’d realize that.”

“…Van, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you rate someone so low. Though I had a similar impression myself…”

“Who was it that first called her an airheaded slacker?”

“Hmph, it was just a figure of speech.”

“Anyway, I don’t think the Alliance sent the Corpse Spirit Sorcerer to plant a spy. Their actions were too blatant for that.”

“Then?”

“How about we think about it the other way around?”

Lennok fell into thought.

“The Alliance didn’t push the Corpse Spirit Sorcerer into dangerous enemy territory. They sent her to my magic tower as a hostage to protect her.”

“…That’s.”

“There’s a reason they can’t stop her within the Alliance, but she can be safe in a magic tower far away from it.”

Lennok mumbled, slowly walking forward.

“Perhaps that fact itself holds significant meaning for the Order Alliance.”

“To me, the Corpse Spirit Sorcerer sounds like a bomb that could go off any second…”

Evelyn let out a small sigh.

“Well, whatever. I’ll be directly supervising her for a while anyway. If push comes to shove, I’ll just put an arrow through her head.”

“Didn’t you just say something chilling so casually?”

“Act first, report later. You said I could always do that when you scouted me, didn’t you?”

Evelyn subtly changed the subject.

“Anyway, the party’s almost over. Are you planning to repeat the same schedule tomorrow?”

“I don’t know. Jenny said she planned to continue for about another day… Apparently, this party’s primary purpose was to be a public display anyway.”

“I think it might be alright if you don’t show your face tomorrow either.”

At that moment, a low male voice came from behind Lennok.

“Through today’s party, most of the tension and rumors rampant within Vulcan will be settled. You won’t have to worry about them for a while.”

“…”

“I’ve always thought Jenny is very skilled at these things. She has an excellent talent for reading and coordinating public opinion, and for handling situations, I suppose?”

At the end of the night garden, shrouded in darkness, a tall, long-haired man stood smiling.

“That’s why I could confidently leave my colleagues at her office.”

“…Antares.”

The leader of the Antares Mercenary Group. An 8-level martial artist and a transcendent diviner.

He, who had been away from Vulcan for a long time, had returned to District 49 and stood before Lennok.

“It’s been a while, Van.”

In Antares’s hand, as he revealed himself, was a half-empty whisky glass.

“I wanted to arrive before the party ended, but I apologize for being late. You’ll forgive me a glass of leftover whisky after the party, won’t you?”

“There’s nothing to forgive, really.”

Lennok chuckled.

“Why didn’t you check that with your divination?”

“It’s no different from before. There are things I can’t read with divination, and things I don’t want to.”

Antares smiled and shook his head.

“Your fate is like that, and so are the conclusions of the Ascendants. So, it was destined that I wouldn’t read today’s events.”

“…”

“Even without reading the future, you’ve always found the answer. I only hope that I don’t become an impurity in that process.”

“He speaks grandly, but don’t believe all of it. This guy suddenly appeared at the end of the Ascension Ritual and tried to dissuade me.”

Evelyn, standing beside Lennok, crossed her arms with a chilly tone.

“He told me things would work out even if I didn’t snipe Dadam. If you think about it, wasn’t that statement itself a use of divination?”

“That’s unexpected. You were already in Vulcan while the Ascension Ritual was underway?”

Evelyn had been quietly preparing something before the ritual, so did Antares intervene and stop her?

Evelyn’s judgment to potentially snipe an Ascendant was astonishing, but the fact that Antares had been in Vulcan even before that was unexpected.

The diviner didn’t deny Evelyn’s point and calmly offered an apology.

“I apologize if that was unpleasant. But even without using divination, there are conclusions that can’t be avoided when inevitability intertwines.”

Antares gave a wry smile and raised his gaze.

“His authority is close to an overwhelmingly superior version of my own abilities. So, while I fear him, I also come to understand him…”

“…”

“It was hard to accept at first, but if I follow in his footsteps, I might also be of help. That’s the vague thought I have now.”

“…What are you talking about?”

Evelyn tilted her head at Antares’s words, but Lennok had no difficulty understanding him.

The reason Antares knew the outcome of the ritual without using divination. The reason he returned to Vulcan after a long absence.

It was because he realized that the various reasons and motivations driving him now were intertwined with one particular answer-giver.

And, if there was a reason he was telling Lennok this now—

“You have something to tell me. What is it?”

“I have no talent for astrology, but I can read other things from the night sky’s stars.”

Antares raised his gaze.

“With the fall of the Four-Heavenly-Flower Demonic Realm, Ascendants have awoken from their long slumber and begun to move. Monsters akin to demigods will soon sweep across the continent.”

“…”

“They have cast off the shackles of mortality and gained the qualifications to transcend, but fundamentally, they haven’t become detached or indifferent to worldly affairs.”

“That means…”

“Some of the Ascendants, as they begin to move again, will try to settle old grudges.”

Antares stated calmly.

“Just like the Ascendant from the Oeroe Tribe today, they will try to achieve what they couldn’t before the Empire fell.”

“…”

“I have no advice to give. You already chose the right answer against Dadam. Continuing to choose like that will be enough.”

Even if you clash with an Ascendant, there’s no need to fight a deathmatch against every single one.

Regardless of what Lennok thought, Antares’s true meaning was likely closer to this.

His words, as before, held ambiguity, but unlike before, Lennok could understand their meaning.

A quiet silence momentarily flowed through the wide garden, illuminated by the night sky.

Only the loud chatter of colleagues cleaning the ballroom could be heard in the garden.

“I used to think of Ascendants as beings like stars in the night sky.”

Lennok, who had been silently pondering Antares’s words, spoke.

“They definitely exist there, yet are utterly unreachable… Even without knowing much about them, I used to harbor such sentiments.”

“They are answer-givers who have reached the pinnacle of a field. It’s natural to think that way.”

Evelyn replied quietly.

She too seemed to understand Antares’s words, her expression calm and subdued.

“I haven’t met many Ascendants, but among them were beings truly like gods, and admirable seekers. At the very least, it’s clear that all of them were great figures who would be remembered in history.”

“…”

“Now that I’ve come this far, I’m vaguely curious. Did such things happen in other worlds, or dimensions somewhere in the Outer Universe…?”

“Hmm. I’m not sure.”

Antares replied.

“If I had to guess, perhaps it was different… The Ascendants of the Third World are, on average, more exceptional seekers compared to the Old World.”

“An interesting answer. Can diviners vaguely know such things?”

“The Third World is the last where ascension is impossible. Even those who might have succeeded otherwise were bound to this world and perished.”

“…”

“They might not have been the strongest in terms of raw power. But there’s no doubt they were beings who longed for the future more than anyone else in a world without answers.”

In the dark garden, Antares’s gaze turned to Lennok.

“No one knows how they will ultimately move for their answers… So, you must constantly be vigilant and careful.”

The Four-Heavenly-Flower Demonic Realm has fallen, the Central Front has been breached, and the path to Ars Nova has begun to open.

This means the time of the Ascendants, long stagnant, is now moving, and the era of the Transcendants is dawning.

It’s the final moment when monsters, who have endlessly prepared, rush towards their respective answers.

“If you wish, I can explain what I know about the surviving Ascendants here. I very much enjoy such conversations. However…”

Antares said with a smile.

“Right now, it seems I should yield the floor to a crazy old geezer rather than an Ascendant.”

“…What?”

A strangely uncharacteristic crude slang from Antares.

Immediately after Lennok felt that discomfort and paused, he simultaneously noticed something amiss and turned his head.

Evelyn, her expression rigid, also grabbed Lennok’s arm.

“Van, in the ballroom…!!”

“…Yes. Someone’s here.”

The vast lobby of the ballroom, where the tower’s colleagues had been cleaning up long after the party ended.

The inside of the ballroom, which had been boisterous moments ago, had become unusually quiet.

Over a dozen presences were frozen inside the venue, though Lennok hadn’t called for them.

Presences frozen in place, as if their blood had turned icy cold, extremely tense.

And beyond them, a strangely palpable void—

“…”

Clank.

With a cold, settled expression, he opened the ballroom door and stepped into the lobby.

An unusually quiet corridor. A cool, sharp intent flowing through the air.

As he arrived in the opulent lobby, where the chandelier swung slowly, he was met with a familiar face.

“Dillian.”

“…Van.”

The mercenary, wearing a mask, stiffly turned his head.

Though he finally met Lennok face-to-face after the party, he couldn’t easily welcome him.

Dillian, clutching the short spear Lennok gifted him as if to shatter it, spoke with difficulty.

“A guest has arrived. But…”

“Enough.”

Lennok cut Dillian off and walked forward.

“I understand the situation. I’ll handle it myself.”

He walked past the motionless Dillian, Mila, Felix, and Tatiana, heading further inside.

Leaving his pale-faced, flinching colleagues behind, he headed for the innermost part of the ballroom.

In the center of the ballroom lobby, tables and chairs were scattered as if cleanup had been interrupted.

Among the empty liquor bottles piled on the floor, Ermont was visible, collapsed face down.

“Zzzzz.”

“…”

A peculiar situation: the ancient black wizard who had taken over Daymus’s body was inexplicably asleep in the middle of the ballroom.

But Lennok wasn’t surprised to see the black wizard sprawled on the floor in such a pathetic state.

He had already heard from the Dark Archives who had taken this black wizard, who went missing from Vulcan.

Why the ballroom was so quiet after the party, why his other colleagues, who had been busily cleaning, were frozen in place.

Even knowing those facts, the reason Lennok hadn’t sensed any abnormality or presence—

CRUNCH!!!

SCREEECH!!!

Dark-scaled flesh burst from the shadows, crushing the fallen black wizard’s back.

Ermont’s eyes snapped open, and he flailed his limbs, letting out a pathetic shriek.

A rough hand stomped on Ermont’s body, pressing him down, and then hurled an empty liquor bottle to the floor.

Bright yellow reptilian pupils gleamed in the darkness.

“It’s been a while, whelp.”

“…”

“How have you been?”

The figure of an alligator-giant, perched in the middle of the ballroom lobby, guzzling whiskey straight from the bottle.

The conclusion of the Ascension Ritual. The last guest to arrive at the chaotic party’s end.

Croken Asylus was waiting for Lennok.