Chapter 1377: Variation (16)
In a lavish suite on the top floor of the Red Dragon Hotel, where ornate carpets and tapestries swayed.
The moment Lennok appeared with Ermont, the Pandemonium members waiting inside the room moved in unison.
“Adamant Thunder……!!”
Click! Snap! Clang! Glint!
The Ice Scabbard, the royal sword of ice, was seized in Soryu’s hand, who had activated his Bloodline Ability at full power.
As the clear blade of the royal sword was drawn slightly, momentarily exposing its freezing chill to the air.
The ceiling of the hotel’s top-floor suite exploded, and a pristine white pillar of ice erupted, piercing through the outer wall.
Kwooosh! Boom! Bang! Crash! Rumble! Slam! Crack! Roar! Boom! Crash! Bang! Boom!
“Aaaahhh!!!”
“W-what?! What is it?!”
The street below erupted into chaos as the pillar of ice burst forth in the heart of Gateway City’s bustling district.
Ignoring the screams from outside the hotel, Lennok glanced over.
Sarin, drawing the short sword at his waist, sprinted vertically, leaping over sofas and furniture.
In a fleeting moment, he reached near-supersonic speed, scattering a flurry of sword light towards Lennok’s temple.
“Fast, aren’t you.”
Whoosh!
Lennok tilted his head, dodging the blade, and Sarin’s sliding gaze crossed his own in the air.
Lennok, watching Sarin’s face, smiled faintly.
“A face I saw during the subjugation. The true ancestor of the Blood King, if I recall.”
“……!!!”
As the blood drained from the pale vampire’s face, Agneta moved from behind him.
In the instant Lennok retreated, avoiding Sarin’s sword strike, Agneta’s Mana Thread snagged Sarin’s body, pulling him back.
At the same time, Mana Threads, like countless threads, shot out from all directions, perfectly sealing the space around Lennok.
Shashashashashasha!!!
Sarin, sliding back across the frozen carpet, looked up at Lennok with a pale expression.
“W-what?! No way……!!”
“Freya, quiet!!!”
A flustered Freya sprang up, and Hylaea pulled her back, making her retreat.
In the center of the completely frozen suite, people stared with astonished expressions.
But Lennok leisurely massaged his wrist, unfazed by the gazes pouring in from all sides.
“You’ve grown much stronger since we faced off at the Temple of Anathema. Is it the power of that royal sword?”
The royal sword Aron, the Lord of Kabahim, possessed until his death. An artifact that had reached the pinnacle of ice-elemental equipment.
Lennok, having acquired it under the identity of Victor and lent it to Soryu, wondered if Soryu had also honed his Bloodline Ability during that time.
“Just briefly exposing the blade to the air gave off considerable output. It seems to suit you well.”
“…….”
A chilling silence followed, devoid of answers.
Lennok, who had unsummoned his staff the moment he let it go, spoke.
“If you want a fight, I’ll oblige, but there seems to be a misunderstanding. It wouldn’t be good for you either if the hotel gets too rowdy, would it?”
“……I’m not sure who I’m speaking to right now.”
Soryu brushed back his damp hair, speaking coldly.
“Adamant Thunder. Why are you here? Surely you haven’t come for revenge on Cheonbeon, have you?”
“Revenge?”
“There’s nothing else that would bring you to Gateway City.”
Soryu stated with conviction.
“Do you intend to seize this gate while Cheonbeon is away? Or perhaps your intention is to massacre this city to draw Cheonbeon out.”
“……I understand what you’re saying, but it’s not that.”
Lennok shrugged.
“I have no ill will towards Gateway City. You can trust that I have no intention of wreaking havoc here.”
“Trust you? Trust the man who forcibly stole the Ice Seal and the Curse-Eating Ghoul from the Temple of Anathema?”
“…….”
“That’s right, the Curse-Eating Ghoul!! Do you still have it, by any chance?”
Ermont suddenly remembered, his face lighting up with excitement.
“Could I borrow that toad for a bit for this mission? It would greatly assist my black magic!”
“Black wizard, sir.”
Sarin, holding his short sword, turned to Ermont with a chilling expression.
“If you open your idiotic mouth one more time, I’ll pull out your tongue.”
“…….”
“How……how are you here?”
Ignoring the now speechless Ermont, Hylaea looked at Lennok, disbelievingly.
“It hasn’t even been half a year since the subjugation ended. There’s no way you could be moving already—”
“I’m not sure why my presence here is so surprising. Don’t you think your reactions are a bit excessive?”
“So, the Tower Lord of Vulcan, who should be incredibly busy, is simply on vacation here?”
Hylaea raised her hand to her eyes, channeling mana.
“Whatever your scheme, stop with the ridiculous excuses. You must know what your Magic Tower means to the Eastern Continent right now.”
“I appreciate the concern, but I’m not that busy. The tower’s work has been divided, and a capable partner is handling the administration.”
“What do you mean by……”
Lennok’s unexpectedly compliant replies to Hylaea’s questions.
As the members, seeing Adamant Thunder for the first time, exchanged strange looks, Lennok tilted his head.
“There’s no need to consider me an exception. Pandemonium has cooperated with all sorts of eccentrics, haven’t they?”
Lennok crossed his arms.
“To put it simply, it’s just my turn now. I’ve come to participate in the operation to retrieve the Nether King’s legacy.”
“Huh?”
Crunch.
Before Lennok could even finish his sentence, Sarin abruptly kicked Ermont in the inner thigh.
As Ermont, eyes wide, stumbled, Agneta manipulated her Mana Threads.
She immediately bound Ermont’s neck and limbs tightly, pinning him to the floor like a cocoon.
Ermont, instantly reduced to a wriggling insect on the floor, shrieked.
“Ehhhh?!!”
“Shut up, black wizard, sir.”
Sarin, pressing the blade to Ermont’s neck, said with a smiling face.
“How much did you spill? Adamant Thunder wouldn’t know about this if you hadn’t told him.”
“It seems this idiot has meticulously confessed the entire plan to you.”
Hylaea said, her mana surging with a resolute stance.
“If you intend to intervene in this matter, you’d best give up. I’m afraid we need you to withdraw.”
“Oh, really?”
A response so utterly resolute that Lennok found it surprising.
Could they actually be prepared to fight Lennok right here and now?
Considering Hylaea’s personality, he had expected her to try to avoid a confrontation as much as possible in such a situation—
Whoosh!
At that moment, Soryu, sliding on ice next to Lennok, charged with incredible speed.
Soryu’s body transformed into ice, moving amidst the ice debris covering the top floor of the hotel.
Holding the frozen royal sword still in its scabbard, he plunged a gemstone-transparent dagger, held in his other hand, into Lennok’s side.
Kaaang!
A distorted illusion sparked flames as it collided with a shield.
Following Soryu’s hand gesture, the sword’s trajectory lingered in the air, freezing and creating a glacier.
Sarin’s figure, sliding along the ice path formed in the air, accelerated rapidly and vanished.
In a fleeting moment, the hands of the two swordsmen, having breached Lennok’s guard, spun at invisible speeds.
Soon, they collided with the shield protecting Lennok’s body dozens of times, scattering dazzling sparks.
“Ah, I get it now.”
Kagagagagak!!!!
But Lennok was looking not at the two, but elsewhere amidst the scattered sword light.
Seeing Agneta weaving Mana Threads in the air from the back of the room, Lennok’s eyes gleamed.
“Your intention wasn’t to defeat me, but to distract me long enough to escape?”
“……Oh. Were we already found out……?”
Soryu and Sarin were buying time by facing Lennok, while the plan was to escape under Hylaea’s command.
Were they attempting to escape by crossing into an Imaginary Dimension using Agneta’s Manipulation Spellcraft?
For an improvised method, unaware of Lennok’s visit, it was quite sophisticated.
Lennok was once again reminded of how capable the Pandemonium members were.
“Not a bad idea. I admit it.”
Lennok said, sharply turning his body.
“In that case, I’ll have to show you an interesting technique that matches it.”
“What nonsense are you—”
Whoosh!
At that moment, the protective barrier and shields around Lennok’s body vanished as if they were never there.
Lennok’s figure was exposed, completely unprotected, between the accelerating sword lights of Soryu and Sarin.
Before they could react to his utterly unexpected and defenseless state, the two men’s blades merely increased their speed.
They simultaneously pierced Lennok’s body from both sides with tremendous velocity.
Crunch! Crack! Thud! Smash!
“…….!!!!”
Soryu flinched in surprise, and Sarin’s hand twitched faintly.
A bizarre sight where the ones who stabbed were more astonished than the one who was stabbed.
Hylaea, too, was horrified by this unimaginable sight, but the truly astonishing thing was yet to come.
Lennok, his body pierced by blades from both sides, calmly raised his head.
“So this is what it feels like.”
“Wait, this is……!!!”
Even with the swords thrust in, there was no sensation of flesh and muscle being cut.
Only a pervasive emptiness and vastness, like pushing a sword into endless darkness.
It was only when they realized their blades were being ‘sucked into’ Lennok’s body that moment.
Lennok placed his hands on their shoulders, easily pushing them back using the Corrupted Golden Rule.
With just that, Soryu and Sarin lost their balance, stumbled, and tumbled onto the suite’s carpet.
Thud! Crash! Bang! Clatter!
“Cough!”
“Ugh……!!”
The prince and the vampire, having momentarily lost their center of gravity, simultaneously dry-heaved.
With just a brief touch, they felt a sickening sensation of buoyancy, as if their entire body’s balance and axis had collapsed.
It was a strange feeling, as if a single gesture had destroyed all their sensory organs, including the semicircular canals in their bodies.
Soryu, intuiting this fact, felt an indescribable chill envelop his body, and his limbs stiffened.
“Just now, that was…….”
Sarin muttered with difficulty.
“How did you…… my sword…….”
“The sensation isn’t bad, but it’s difficult to control. However, I’m getting used to it.”
Lennok slowly rubbed his shoulder.
“Using it this often, I should be accustomed to it by now. Shall we continue?”
“Kuh……!!!”
Soryu gritted his teeth, stood up, and channeled his mana.
Paaang!!!
As he kicked pillows and cushions placed around the suite, countless feathers scattered.
The scattered feathers in all directions froze and connected, momentarily obscuring their vision.
Sharp ice shards rained down consecutively, and Soryu wielded an ice spear amidst the hoarfrost.
Kwoooosh! Boom! Bang! Crash! Rumble! Slam! Crack! Roar! Boom! Crash! Bang! Boom!
The hotel room wall, draped in red tapestry, crumbled, revealing another room after another.
They continuously broke through the empty corridors and rooms of the entire top floor suite, which had been rented out.
Lennok chuckled, looking at the ice spear impaling his abdomen.
“Your movements are much better than when I saw you at the Temple of Anathema. Your skills have improved greatly.”
Soryu was a high-level superhuman, born with the Bloodline Ability of the Kabahim royal family.
Their growth curve, for those who inherit powerful Bloodline Abilities, differs from that of typical superhumans.
With changes in their inner self or mindset, or with a medium or means to amplify their abilities, their skills can dramatically increase.
Soryu, having inherited the royal sword used by Aron, was a perfect example of this case.
As his Bloodline Ability grew stronger, his options in combat increased, his perception of battle sharpened, and his skill itself improved.
He gazed deeply into the essence of life and death, his inner intuition and spirituality constantly stimulated, aspiring to higher realms.
How much time had passed since he obtained the royal sword and entered the Central Front? Soryu stood at the threshold of Level 8.
But—
“Got you.”
Crunch!
Ignoring the spear plunging into his abdomen repeatedly, Lennok abruptly embraced Soryu, who had drawn near.
A bizarre sight: Lennok’s arm draped over Soryu’s shoulder during a fierce exchange.
“……!!!”
Soryu felt his entire body turn cold and transformed his entire being into ice, tumbling to the floor.
At the same time, the ice forming Soryu’s body exploded and scattered, engulfing Lennok at point-blank range.
Kwagagagagak!!!!
Spears were plunged into his abdomen repeatedly, and Sarin aimed for his neck from behind.
The chill exploded, and sharp sword light splintered into dozens of rays, descending with a dazzling glow.
A storm of frost raged. The temperature inside the vast suite plummeted to below zero in an instant.
From amidst the thick ice fog, Lennok, impaled by ice spears all over his body, calmly walked out.
“A few more, please. Still not quite refreshing enough.”
“Like a monster……!!!”
“How is such a thing even possible?”
Lennok continuously absorbed and swallowed all attacks pouring down like living darkness.
Soryu’s Bloodline Ability, Sarin’s sword art, Agneta’s Mana Threads—all were swallowed and buried.
In the endlessly continuing one-sided exchange, only a sense of futility, like swinging a sword into an abyss, remained.
A grotesque spellcraft that turned his entire body into empty darkness, nullifying all impacts that came into contact.
Only then did the members’ faces turn pale as they realized the true nature of the darkness Lennok wielded.
“For a spellcraft to deviate from its specifications to this extent, could it be…….”
“It was black magic……!!!”
The negative magic allowed only to the Nether King and Ermont among Pandemonium’s eccentrics.
In a way, it required a peculiar and tricky talent comparable to Trait-type Spellcraft.
“Impossible…….”
Hylaea, behind Soryu, muttered, forgetting even to channel her mana.
“How can you, who has reached the pinnacle of elemental magic, use black magic……!!! Did you really sell your soul to a demon?”
“An interesting expression, but incorrect.”
Lennok glanced back at Hylaea and smiled.
“To be precise, I’m synchronizing my body with darkness, transforming it into a kind of subspace.”
“What……?”
“I’m sending physical impacts aimed at my body not to my internal organs, but beyond to a non-existent darkness. It’s a simple trick borrowing the ability of a summoned entity.”
He forcibly applied the darkness connected to the Demonic Giant’s left arm to Lennok’s entire body by synchronizing his senses with the summoned entity.
In that process, external interferences directed at Lennok were redirected not to Lennok’s body, but to the Demonic Giant’s darkness.
With the speechless members before him, Lennok stroked his chin.
“Simply put, you could call it a human black hole. I devour all attacks coming my way, trap them in an endless gravitational pull, and keep them circulating.”
“That’s impossible…….”
Sarin muttered.
“If you used Sensory Synchronization like that, it wouldn’t be strange to acquire a permanent disability—”
“Certainly, it would have been difficult if I didn’t understand the operating principles of the Singularity Reactor. I only grasped it after studying the circulation of the Black Hole Engine.”
Lennok, emanating dense darkness from his entire body, walked out and looked around.
“While this kind of reunion isn’t bad, I’d like to see the faces of the other members soon. This can’t be all the participants in this plan.”
Since it was a plan to breach Jinwa’s Paradise Lost, there must be more participants than just the members gathered here.
It would be good to know the entry list in advance, assuming they might need to divide personnel later.
But again, the others seemed to have understood Lennok’s words in an entirely different way.
Crack! Rumble! Shatter! Break!
Soryu, drawing the royal sword for the first time, pushed his Bloodline Ability to its limit, engulfing himself in a storm of cold.
Sarin, wielding twin swords, layered Blood Acceleration, accelerating to the point where time around him seemed to slow.
Aaaaaaah……!!!
A faint singing voice supported their movements in real-time, infusing them with dozens of blessings.
Soryu’s and Sarin’s mana swelled in real-time, their presences sharpening.
Simultaneously, curses and debuffs poured towards Lennok like waves, staining the room’s floor ash gray.
“Something I don’t quite understand.”
Lennok tilted his head, intuiting that Freya had activated her Musical Scale Spellcraft.
“Were my words so strange as to cause such misunderstanding?”
“How could you even say—”
Kwoooosh! Boom! Bang! Crash! Rumble! Slam! Crack! Roar! Boom! Crash! Bang! Boom!
Soryu, exploding with his Bloodline Ability, vanished, and Sarin, holding twin swords reversed, accelerated, frantically probing Lennok’s defenses.
Freya, having activated her Musical Scale Spellcraft, simultaneously cast blessings and curses, while Hylaea, her blindfold removed, channeled her mana.
As Hylaea fixed her gaze on Lennok, the unstable mana particles were simultaneously observed and halted their movement.
The Talent for Duality, capable of causing coordination interference more powerful than most Mystic Eyes, simply by looking.
“Ha, ahh……!!”
Sarin, who had spun his body in the air, slid behind Lennok, gritting his teeth.
Stepping on falling ice, he changed his stance dozens of times per second, unleashing a barrage of sword light.
The twin swords, pushed to the limit of Blood Acceleration, accelerated at invisible speeds, slicing at Lennok’s body.
Tatata! Tatata! Tatata! Tatata! Tatata! Tatata! Tatata! Tatata! Tatata! Tatata! Tatata! Tatata!
Amidst the dance of cold and sword light, the darkness comprising Lennok’s body faltered and fluctuated.
With each addition of Freya’s spellcraft, Soryu’s Bloodline Ability strengthened, and the space began to freeze.
The flow of mana froze, and the sword light rampaged, slicing and scattering the darkness.
While defenselessly absorbing the onslaught, Lennok’s presence gradually became disturbed.
“Oh? Are we winning, by any chance?”
Ermont, who had been watching the battle with his mouth agape, regained focus in his eyes.
“F-fight! Do your best and win!! Kill him!! Kill that monster!!!”
“He can’t be killed, so shut up……!!!!”
Leaving the black wizard who had flipped his allegiance so quickly, the fierce battle hastened towards its end.
Each flash of chilling frost accelerated Soryu’s figure frantically, increasing the cold.
Following Lennok, who absorbed every incoming attack, Soryu drew the frozen royal sword from its scabbard for the first time.
Soryu, descending between the collapsed walls and scattered sofas, plunged the royal sword into Lennok’s heart without hesitation and activated his ability.
[Ice Sea Demonic Wall]
“Freeze……!!!”
Tzeeeeeeooooooong!!!!
This time, the entire top floor where Lennok stood was completely frozen over.
Simultaneously, Agneta finally finished manipulating her spellcraft and began to move.
“Hylaea. Imaginary Dimension connection complete…… opening the gate now…….”
Whirr—
Agneta, having finished her Mana Thread manipulation, installed and opened a gate on the frozen hotel room wall.
The moment she opened the connection portal to the Imaginary Dimension to allow Pandemonium’s members to escape.
A demonic arm bound by black chains shot out from beyond the gate and seized Agneta’s wrist.
Click! Snap!
“Ah?”
Agneta, caught helplessly in mid-air with a single shriek.
As the other members looked up at the sight, their bodies stiffened for a moment.
Lennok, who had been watching the situation with his arms crossed, closed his eyes.
“This should be enough.”
At the same time, an immense force surged from within Lennok’s empty core.
“Then, I suppose I should return what I’ve received.”
“Wait, no way……!!!”
A chilling cold erupted from the darkness filling Lennok’s inner self.
In the instant they realized this was the very Bloodline Ability that Soryu had poured into Lennok at full power just moments before.
A tremendous storm of frost burst forth from Lennok, this time completely obliterating the entire top floor of the hotel.
Kwoooosh! Boom! Bang! Crash! Rumble! Slam! Crack! Roar! Boom! Crash! Bang! Boom!
Amidst the gigantic ice pillars surging from all directions, sharp sword light danced chaotically.
Mana Threads, now without a master, ran wild everywhere, and reversed melodies sang grotesque tunes.
An unreal scene unfolded as all the power Pandemonium’s members had poured into Lennok now burst forth, inverted, from within Lennok himself.
“Kuh……!!”
“Kyaah!”
“Hwuh! Ehh? Ehhh?!”
The members, caught in the very power they had unleashed, couldn’t withstand it and were trapped within the icy waves.
From the center of the massive, pristine white ice palace, Lennok slowly walked towards the members.
Looking at them, frozen solid and stiff, Lennok asked.
“Is everyone alright?”
“……What, did you say?”
A question they had never expected to hear from the one responsible for this disaster.
But Lennok’s face was serious as he examined the members staring at him blankly.
“I only intended to return the power you poured into me, but I misjudged the control. You might have been exposed to the Silver Star’s starlight.”
“I…… don’t…… understand…… what…… you’re…… saying…….”
Soryu, trapped within the ice he himself had unleashed, muttered with difficulty.
“You, did this…… and now…… what……”
“If you feel any particular discomfort in your body, tell me immediately. If there are any after-effects, I’ll take care of them right away.”
“…….”
The top floor of the Red Dragon Hotel lay in ruins, shattered and collapsed.
Amidst the chaos of blaring sirens, alarms, and screams echoing from all directions.
In that moment, the very cause of all the devastation was asking about their well-being and offering to treat them.
As even the battle-hardened members of Pandemonium were rendered speechless, Lennok smiled and said.
“I won’t hurt you, so let’s talk for a bit. Are you ready to listen now?”