Chapter 1373: Variation (12)
Smoke continuously streamed from the debris of the collapsed city walls.
The burnt plains were littered with metallic fragments beyond recognition.
A vast plain and the ruins of a fortress, as if abandoned after an intense battle.
Paradox Blue, an advanced outpost of the Central Front’s outer fortress. A critically important stronghold where The Legion’s 1st Command Ultima Alert was located.
Hwooooo!
“…”
Why did the Ascendant, whom Lennok had encountered, drop him in this battlefield where Maleon had rampaged, instead of Gateway City?
Given that he had operated in Kundara under the alias Adamant Thunder, it wasn’t strange for him to recognize the connection.
But it didn’t seem like the Ascendant would have thought that far ahead for Lennok at that point.
“Cough, cough!!! What, is this Paradox Blue?”
Only after hearing Ermont, who crawled out of the debris, did Lennok understand the situation.
“The flight path entered into the airship did have this as its destination… but did you, Adamant Thunder, actually pilot the airship all the way here?”
“…”
From the start, Ermont had changed the airship’s flight path, making this battlefield the destination.
It seemed the aforementioned Ascendant had read the direction the airship was headed and brought them here on the wind.
As Lennok briefly explained the situation, Ermont, covered in dust, made a strange face.
“No, I thought you were talking to yourself for a long time, but you were actually conversing with an Ascendant? I couldn’t properly hear a word you said.”
“Perhaps the Ascendant had nothing to say to a black wizard who only blabbers.”
The story the Grand General, in his Strange Peng form, told Lennok was an ancient secret from a long-lost past.
Ermont, who had lived for hundreds of years, might know something, but perhaps that was precisely why the Ascendant prevented him from hearing the conversation.
However, what Lennok needed to confirm with Ermont immediately wasn’t about the conversation with the Ascendant.
“Why didn’t we head straight to Gateway City? Was there a specific reason to set this as the flight path’s destination?”
“Well, we don’t need to advertise to the whole world that we came by airship, do we?”
Ermont scratched his cheek with an awkward expression.
“This place is relatively close to Gateway City from the Central Front, and it’s a battleground where the Silver Dragon Invasion took place, so there aren’t many people coming and going. It’s dangerous, but there’s no better environment to avoid prying eyes.”
“You committed an act of terror by hijacking an airship, yet you still want to hide it.”
“Isn’t the completion of a crime about getting away cleanly?”
“Was there anything in this plan that actually succeeded properly?”
The Silver Dragon Invasion.
An unprecedented event where Maleon Gnosis attacked The Legion’s 1st Command immediately after the Adamant Thunder Annihilation Campaign ended.
The world seemed to call the incident, where an Ascendant single-handedly devastated Paradox Blue, by that name.
“Well, I thought I was really going to die… but thanks to that Ascendant, arriving faster than planned isn’t bad.”
Ermont grumbled, dusting off his clothes with a troubled expression.
“This area is somewhat dangerous due to the Silver Star’s power, but if we’re careful enough, we should be able to reach Gateway City quickly.”
“Is Maleon dangerous?”
“Huh? No, how can you not know about the Silver Star?”
Ermont’s eyes rolled around with a flabbergasted expression.
“He’s the mad dragon of Kundara. An Ascendant who went insane after reaching Level 9, isn’t he? In a way, he’s the same kind of monster we just met.”
“…”
“We thought he died when Outer Tribulation City fell, but then he suddenly returned and single-handedly destroyed The Legion’s command center, didn’t he? It caused an emergency across the entire continent.”
The Silver Star, Maleon Gnosis.
A Gemstone Dragon who wielded the Primitive Magic Star-Linking Eight Extremes Style, and a challenger who tried to save Kundara with his own power.
But upon reaching Level 9, his mind and body were corrupted, consumed by irreversible decay.
It was the only battle where the Silver Dragon, who refused contact with others and wandered the continent, directly intervened for Lennok.
Everything that existed upon these ruins was a trace of Maleon having carved his authority into it.
“Well, since things turned out this way, it’s for the best. Let’s quickly search inside Paradox Blue.”
While Lennok was lost in thought, Ermont shrugged and started walking.
“From here, we’re near the Veil, so I can’t use lightning magic, but if push comes to shove, couldn’t we use your demon? With that monstrous greatsword, it would be an easy victory.”
“If you’re expecting anything from the summoned entity, you’d best give up. It’ll be difficult to use it that way until I adjust its abilities.”
“Huh? Why is that?”
“Its power was drawn excessively the moment the restraints were released. Even now, it’s connected ‘somewhere’ and constantly consuming power.”
From the moment the Demonic Giant’s left arm was freed by Ikanthara’s Key, it remained connected to the darkness beyond.
While existing connected to an incomprehensible darkness, the summoned entity’s power source was also continuously being consumed.
It was good that the summoned entity’s usable abilities themselves had increased, but he hadn’t yet found a way to control it.
“It can fight, but it’s difficult to maintain the summoning for long. If I draw out that greatsword even once, it’ll be un-summoned instantly.”
Lennok continued walking.
“The sensory synchronization became much stronger after the restraints were released, which is an advantage. To this extent, it seems I can even use the summoned entity to manipulate mana indirectly.”
“Excuse me, but isn’t that completely useless for immediate combat?”
“Just tell me what we need to find inside the fortress. How were you originally planning to travel to Gateway City from here?”
“This place, even though it’s in this state now, has a very long history. It probably had a similar name even when I was alive.”
Ermont glanced back at the fortress.
“The fortress itself is closer to an ancient ruin, so if we search inside, there should be some useful means left. For example, a teleportation magic circle to get to Gateway City?”
“Isn’t that an excessively convenient assumption? It feels not just careless, but brazen.”
“Come on, I heard it from a reliable informant, so just follow me. Did you think I’d disembark here without any plan?”
“Really? I hope this informant isn’t the type to just hang up the satellite phone and disappear.”
“…”
Lennok still didn’t trust Ermont’s words, but he entered the fortress with him nonetheless.
Lennok himself was intrigued by this battlefield where Maleon and The Legion’s command center had fiercely clashed.
Rumble, rumble!
As they entered the inner courtyard of the collapsed fortress, they saw disabled war machines everywhere.
Tanks with rusted cannons, armored vehicles with blown tires overturned, and fighter jets with broken wings.
At the center of all the tragically crushed metallic fragments, a colossal silver ‘star’ was embedded, glowing.
Hiss-s-s-s…!!!
The enormous star-shaped entity ominously flickered with a faint silver light.
Each time the star glowed, a pungent smell of burning brushed their nostrils, and a sound of something corroding echoed in their ears.
A fatal sense of incongruity, as if merely observing it was enough to pollute one’s mind and twist one’s sensory organs.
“It seems to be a star dropped by the Silver Star… If you don’t want to die, let’s not get too close.”
Ermont said, looking back at it with a cringed expression.
“He summons stars and rains down bombardment, and not only is the destructive power immense, but the ‘pollution’ is no joke. They say it renders the surrounding area completely uninhabitable?”
“…Was this why you said the inside of the fortress was dangerous?”
“I only heard rough stories, but they say it pollutes not only contacted matter but even the mind, damaging it to the point where it can’t maintain its original form.”
Ermont replied with a look of disgust.
“The devastation is truly beyond words, to the point that The Legion’s command center was unilaterally pushed back and defeated in the decisive battle with the Silver Star, all because of this one spellcraft.”
“…”
“It was a rare instance in this era where an Ascendant truly went berserk… So, many people must have genuinely realized how strong an Ascendant can be through this incident.”
The Primitive Magic Star-Linking Eight Extremes Style of Maleon, corrupted and polluted, having gazed into the future of destruction.
Though it had lost its beautiful, dazzling light, it could also function as the most lethal weapon against living beings.
Even after Maleon left, the star he summoned remained here, turning Paradox Blue into an uninhabitable place.
Perhaps countless stars dropped by Maleon were still embedded across this vast plain, staining the surrounding space.
But Lennok, knowing that fact, turned and headed towards the ominously glowing silver star.
“No, I told you not to go near it? I’m barely resisting mental pollution with Will-thought Transfer Spellcraft right now.”
“Be quiet, I need to concentrate.”
Ignoring Ermont, Lennok took out a scroll from his pocket and unfurled it.
The grimoire on Primitive Magic that Iron Chain Dragon King had given him after the subjugation operation.
There seemed to be something he could do by applying the Star-Linking Eight Extremes Style he learned from Maleon and the principles in this grimoire.
As Lennok stared intently at the writings in the grimoire, he slowly reached out his hand.
Rumble…!!
With a strange resonance, the silver star vibrated and began to shrink from its spot.
The star’s form, embedded between the broken tanks and fighter jets, soon changed to a size he could hold in his hand.
“Eh…?”
Leaving Ermont with a dumbfounded expression, Lennok, with his gloved hand, picked up the silver star.
Although he had learned the knack of the Star-Linking Eight Extremes Style from Maleon, Lennok couldn’t properly wield Primitive Magic right away.
He understood the essence of Primitive Magic, but Lennok couldn’t create the core ‘star’ of the Star-Linking Eight Extremes Style by himself.
Perhaps it was because he wasn’t born a top-tier Long-lived Being, let alone a blessed Gemstone Dragon.
However, even if he couldn’t create stars, it seemed he could manipulate existing ones as he wished.
“Good.”
Having reached that conclusion, Lennok casually tossed the star he was holding above his head.
Ermont flinched and retreated at the sudden action, but the silver star thrown into the air did not fall.
It merely floated above Lennok’s head with a strange resonance, glowing and rotating this way and that.
“Left. Down. Right. Down. Up.”
Whoosh!
“Four round trips back and forth. Repeat figure-eight turns, vibrating up and down.”
“…What are you doing? Are you practicing juggling or something?”
Whooooosh…!!
Each time Lennok spoke, the star floating above his head gracefully glided through the air.
While Ermont watched with his mouth agape, Lennok finished his test run and brought the star down.
“Control isn’t an issue, but it won’t do. I could manipulate it somehow, but the pollution is too severe. More than that, the patterns are too erratic.”
“…”
“If I try to force its use and make even a small mistake, it’ll consume my body. It’s better not to use it at all.”
Manipulating the star left by Maleon was possible, but the star’s pollution was too severe.
Perhaps because it was a weapon wielded directly by the polluted Ascendant himself, even Lennok found it difficult to endure for long.
He could withstand it using a barrier, but he would have to constantly adjust the barrier to match the star’s real-time changing pollution level.
Ermont, perhaps dimly grasping Lennok’s thoughts by then, finally looked enlightened.
“You’re truly out of your mind. To see a polluted entity left by an Ascendant and immediately think of exploiting it. Are you extremely curious, or do you have dozens of lives?”
Shaking his head, Ermont said.
“Anyway, like Victor, I just can’t understand the minds of geniuses. Why do these madmen conspicuously survive and throw the world into chaos?”
“How about you put down the body you stole before you speak?”
After that, Lennok let go of his lingering attachment to the star and explored the vicinity of Paradox Blue with Ermont.
The aftermath of Maleon summoning stars and dropping them across the 1st Command area was etched like unerasable scars throughout the fortress.
Every visible spot was crushed and polluted by fallen star fragments, leaving nothing salvageable.
Ermont grumbled, having found nothing of interest.
“How much did the Silver Star hate Deadrise, anyway? There’s nothing left intact around the fortress.”
“Let’s go into the innermost part of Paradox Blue. Shouldn’t something remain where the 1st Command was located?”
If Maleon had raided the 1st Command and destroyed Ultima Alert for Lennok, traces of that engagement would be scattered around.
As expected, the landscape inside Paradox Blue was even more desolate than what they had seen from outside.
Rumble, rumble…!!!
Metallic debris tens of meters in diameter was torn away and fallen, or completely corroded engine fragments lay scattered.
Enormous structures, once internal facilities or components of the 1st Command, were crashed and crushed everywhere within the fortress.
Would it feel like this if an entire sky fortress were stomped and torn apart by a mad beast?
At the end of the ruins, where crushed fragments piled up like mountains.
Among the components and debris that once formed the core facilities of the command center.
A gaunt metallic wing, stripped down to its skeleton, was obliquely impaled.
“…”
“Oho, could it be…”
Lennok fell silent, and Ermont, walking behind him, his eyes gleamed.
Even the ancient black wizard knew who the owner of that wing was; there was one Ascendant famous in The Legion.
“Surely, the Silver Star didn’t actually capture Gileon Miloze, did he?”
“…”
“I heard the results of the Silver Dragon Invasion weren’t properly publicized, so this is a surprise. A mad dragon single-handedly… the entire Legion…”
“No.”
Lennok dismissed Ermont’s words and continued walking.
“Gileon Miloze no longer needs such equipment. He has obtained entirely different wings.”
“What? How do you know that?”
“I had contact with him before the subjugation operation began.”
Lennok left Ermont behind and walked towards the wing.
“The last time I saw him, he was so weak he could barely control his own body. It doesn’t seem like he fought Maleon carrying such a colossal wing.”
“…”
“So, this wing isn’t left here as proof of Gileon’s defeat. Rather, it’s the opposite…”
Lennok reached out to the gaunt, skeletal right wing and murmured.
“It’s closer to proof that the Silver Star didn’t achieve a perfect victory in this war.”
[Van.]
Between the skeletal wing bones, rough letters were carved as if scratched in.
[Since ascending to the Upper Heavens and striving for qualification, I’ve learned to glimpse the ends of fate.]
“…”
[Every time I travel the world, pursuing your path, I vaguely perceive the ambiance of paths I haven’t taken.]
[This wing is an artifact held by The Legion’s commander, yet it seems to have a connection with you, so I’ve left it here.]
[Take it if you need it, or break it and bury it in the dirt if not.]
Maleon Gnosis was an entity that followed Lennok’s answers with an Ascendant’s body.
Was that why he vaguely discerned the fact that Lennok possessed one of Gileon’s wings?
Lennok, thinking that far, slowly grasped the gaunt wing and was about to pull it out when—
“Excuse me, but would you mind putting that wing down and stepping back?”
From behind, a leisurely voice spoke.
“That’s something we’ve been looking for quite a while. We’re just one step too late, but perhaps we could play rock-paper-scissors?”
“…”
“Wha— Whoa?!!”
Ermont, belatedly snapping to attention, quickly retreated to Lennok’s side.
“Wh-What is it?! Suddenly crawling out from nowhere…!!!!”
“No, I didn’t crawl out. That’s too harsh an expression, I’m not a cockroach.”
A man with a relaxed impression and sparse beard, complaining with his hands in loose pockets.
His face showed he hadn’t shaved in a long time, his hair was disheveled, and his collar was askew. He looked like an idler more suited to a gambling den than these ruins.
But that utterly incongruous appearance made one feel a profound sense of unease from him.
The man stood there without any premonition, as if he had been there from the start, watching them.
“I believe introductions come first when making presumptuous requests of others.”
Lennok released the wing and turned his body towards the man.
“Given your presence here, neither of us is an ordinary superhuman. Who are you?”
“Who am I? Ah, my name? Or should I state my title?”
The man tapped his chin and clicked his tongue.
“My apologies. It’s been so long since I’ve handled this kind of work. I’ve forgotten how I used to do it.”
“…”
“I hope you, as a Grand Mage, will understand with generous magnanimity. My name is Saul.”
The man said, giving a hearty laugh as if extending a handshake.
“I hold the 1st Seat of the Ability Awakening Warband. Is this introduction too late?”