Chapter 1378: Variation (17)
The commotion that had heavily damaged the Red Dragon Hotel’s top-floor suite was quickly brought under control.
Currently, Gateway City was a place where countless superhumans gathered from all over the continent, aiming for Demonic Realm exploration.
As such, clashes between superhumans and the resulting disturbances were frequent throughout the city.
It seemed the suite’s reservation fee had initially included insurance for such incidents.
After hotel staff used restoration spellcraft and shape-memory magic for cleanup, the top-floor suite soon returned to its original state.
The members, perched between sofas and chairs, were gingerly settling themselves, looking displeased.
“Although your body temperature dropped, your injuries aren’t severe. So, you truly had no intention of fighting.”
“Not that it matters now, but still.”
“The commotion outside… are we sure it’s fine without us handling it…?”
“They say the guardian defending Gateway City right now is an incredibly powerful Transcendent. It seems the chaos quickly subsided because of their presence.”
“That’s a relief to hear. Then…”
Sarin, standing with a pale complexion, glanced sideways.
Thump! Thump!!
Blood splattered onto the suite’s luxurious carpet.
The sickening sound of flesh being repeatedly kicked and bones breaking.
“Kuaaaagh!!”
“Die, die!!!!”
Freya repeatedly kicked Ermont, who was tightly bound by mana threads, like a soccer ball.
A desperate scream accompanied a gush of nosebleed, but no one paid it any mind.
“Wait, wait a minute!!! It hurts, it really hurts!!! I’m telling you, it really hurts!!!!”
“Just die, you bastard!! Something like that happened, and you didn’t contact anyone? Are you seriously insane?!!”
Even after brutally kicking Ermont, she didn’t seem satisfied and began repeatedly striking his face.
The black wizard’s face was disfigured and bleeding profusely, yet no one intervened.
The fact that Ermont, upon joining Gateway City, had not informed anyone that he was accompanying Adamant Thunder.
As soon as the situation was grasped, it was, in a way, natural to hold Ermont accountable.
“N-no, I couldn’t help it!! A-Adamant Thunder already knew about the entire plan when he came to me.”
Ermont, flailing and being beaten by Freya, shouted desperately.
“I didn’t want to bring him either, but I had no choice. I didn’t want to burn to death by lightning!!”
“Stop spouting nonsense, you frivolous fool.”
Freya stared down at Ermont with an icy gaze.
“Who told you to ditch Adamant Thunder and come to Gateway City alone? If you brought a monster like him, you should have contacted us in advance. That way, we could have prepared!!”
“…”
“Were you stuck together for 24 hours straight on the way here? You should’ve made contact even if it meant sneaking to the bathroom!!”
“K-heh, heh. But, there wasn’t really that much time…”
Only then did Ermont chuckle awkwardly.
“It’s more fun this way, isn’t it?”
“Just die!!”
“Kieeeeeek!!”
“I don’t think there’s a need to chastise the black wizard too much for not making contact.”
From behind the desperate screams, Lennok, who had been observing the situation with amusement, spoke.
“In any case, if Ermont had tried to contact you, I would have stopped him. If you had known in advance, there was a high probability you would have left Gateway City or changed the meeting point.”
“…”
“I don’t wish for variables in the existing plan. Let’s just say I preferred the current situation.”
“…You.”
A single chair sat isolated on the carpet, where all sofas and tables had been cleared.
But everyone present watched Lennok, who was perched on that chair, with wary eyes.
Freya, who had been stepping on Ermont’s face, paused, and Agneta, hanging from the ceiling, wriggled her fingers.
Soryu stood stiffly, gripping her Ice Scabbard, while Sarin carefully clutched the short saber at her waist.
“…”
The magical perception of the expressionless Soryu and the pale Sarin sharply wavered from both sides.
In the unending silence, their gaze never left Lennok for a single moment.
Their tense reactions prepared for battle, as if a fight might resume at any moment.
How much time passed as Lennok ignored them and leisurely smoked his cigarette?
Click!
Hylaea emerged from a room down the corridor outside the lounge, holding her phone.
“I got through to Doctor. It doesn’t seem like a lie after all.”
Hylaea, her face etched with fatigue, looked at Lennok and spoke.
“Apparently, Adamant Thunder and Croken Asylus met in Vulcan a few days ago. It seems the discussion about the plan came up then.”
“…”
“It’s hard to know Croken’s intentions, but given how things turned out, it’s probably true. It would be strange to doubt it further after coming all this way.”
“This is driving me crazy.”
Sarin said with a forced smile.
“They’re bringing this man, of all people, into this plan? Is this seriously happening?”
“…I don’t know what this situation is either.”
Hylaea sighed softly, as if troubled.
“I never expected this man to show up… I didn’t think something so unexpected would happen right at the start.”
“You. Why didn’t you mention Croken Asylus from the beginning?”
“If I had told you, would any of you have believed me?”
Lennok, leaning back in his chair, said leisurely.
“Considering you attacked me without believing a single word about why I came to Gateway City, you wouldn’t have been easily convinced if I had told you about Croken.”
“…”
“If you wish to discuss me, feel free. After all, this isn’t a plan that can be enforced by force, is it?”
With the speechless members before him, Lennok rested his chin in his hand.
“Most of you are likely participating due to personal motives or specialized talents. From the start, I never thought this was something I could do alone.”
While Pandemonium boasts many skilled individuals, very few joined purely through martial prowess.
From the Director downward, such aspects were rarely prioritized, often favoring exceptional talent or aptitude.
Even if surpassing Lennok in raw power was difficult, most members possessed talents or aptitudes that offered differentiation in some way.
Not only Freya and Agneta, but Soryu and Hylaea too, were individuals of extraordinary birth and talent.
At Lennok’s calm suggestion for them to deliberate first, the other members made strange expressions.
“This guy, I felt it earlier, but he’s completely out of his mind.”
“It feels like talking to an alien… Was he always this peculiar?”
“The design and discussion for this plan will have to be restarted from scratch.”
Soryu turned her gaze away, her face expressionless.
“So, what are you going to do? Are you going to reconfigure the roster to include Adamant Thunder even now?”
“Since he told us to deliberate, I’ll say it: I’m against it.”
Freya immediately stated with a resolute expression.
“He’s not even one of us to begin with. You want to work with an outsider?”
“Freya. Has Pandemonium ever moved while prioritizing such concerns?”
Soryu said with an expressionless face.
“If they’re capable, we accept them; if they’re helpful, even if their goals differ, that’s enough. Trust isn’t particularly important.”
“I agree that trust isn’t important… but even considering that, he’s excessively dangerous.”
Hylaea, in a calm tone, mediated between their arguments.
“However, it’s also undeniable that he’s an exceptionally capable Transcendent. You wouldn’t find a teammate like him even if you searched the entire continent.”
“What good is capable if we all end up dead? Besides, isn’t this the man from the Subjugation Operation? The one who supposedly killed tens of thousands alone?”
Freya frowned, circling a finger against her temple.
“You want us to enter Paradise Lost with someone like this? Do you want to commit suicide right now?”
“…”
“At this point, it’d be quicker to curse him out right here and die, wouldn’t it?”
“I don’t kill people just for speaking a little roughly.”
Lennok answered leisurely, looking at Freya.
“However, it’s rather grating to listen to, so I’d appreciate it if you refrained from swearing. Weren’t you a famous entertainer?”
“…”
Perhaps not expecting Adamant Thunder to reply in such a way, Freya’s body stiffened.
Soryu and Hylaea’s expressions also subtly shifted, as if Lennok’s answer had surprised them.
Freya, staring at Lennok with a pale expression, soon averted her gaze, unsure of what to do.
“A-anyway…!! I’m against it. Why do we have to work with someone like this when we have Victor?!”
“The current situation doesn’t really have much to do with Victor’s participation, though…”
“No, why are you all deliberating so much after coming all this way?”
Ermont, prostrate at Freya’s feet, grinned.
“He didn’t just show up on his own; the old man called him, didn’t he? Don’t we have no choice? Are you going to go protest to Croken?”
“…”
“As you’ve all undoubtedly realized by now, this man is ridiculously strong. He’ll be helpful in this operation no matter what—GAAH!!!”
“I told you to shut up!!!”
Freya angrily stomped on Ermont’s head, but no one pitied him.
They all simply looked down with cold gazes at the black wizard squirming like an insect.
“He still has the strength to scream, so he hasn’t been beaten enough.”
“His left side of the face is relatively intact. It might be good to hit that side a bit more.”
“Why don’t we beat him until his face is so swollen he can’t speak? It’s not even his real body, after all.”
“No, wait… that’s not what I’m trying to say… bl-bl-bl.”
As Ermont, tied up and unable to resist, was being pummeled, Lennok spoke.
“Regardless of the black wizard’s excuses, my abilities will be somewhat helpful in this endeavor.”
“…”
“By chance, I had the opportunity to learn some of the Nether King’s black magic. There won’t be any issues hindering the plan to retrieve his legacy.”
“…I don’t understand what you’re saying. The black magic you learned belongs to the Nether King?”
“Wouldn’t it be best to confirm it directly with that black wizard?”
Only then did the members’ gazes turn towards Ermont, who lay unconscious and battered to a pulp.
“While a lack of trust is unavoidable, I hope you understand that I didn’t come here to fight you all.”
Lennok said leisurely, arms crossed.
“If I held a grudge against Pandemonium, I wouldn’t be sitting here idly chatting like this. You know that, don’t you?”
“…”
Lennok glanced away and smiled.
“There are a few faces here I saw during the Subjugation Operation. I don’t think you’d fail to understand even this much.”
“It’s true I didn’t expect to meet the champion of the war in a place like this.”
Soryu said with a pale face.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect you to appear in a situation like this. Especially since I’ve seen you at Anathema’s temple.”
“…”
“It’s undeniable that it’s even harder to guess your intentions, as your feelings towards Pandemonium couldn’t possibly be positive.”
Soryu, toying with her cold, frozen scabbard, asked.
“I want to hear the opinions of those who participated in the Subjugation Operation. Do you think you can work with this man during the plan?”
“I’m sorry, but it’s absolutely impossible.”
Sarin, her hand on her hip, said with a smiling face.
“I know because I participated in the Subjugation Operation; this Tower Lord is monstrously strong. If he decided to kill us mid-plan, our heads would explode before we could even put up a proper fight, wouldn’t they?”
“…”
“Even the Legion Commanders, supposedly a gathering of geniuses, struggled against a single Tower Lord and all died. Frankly, I think there’s no point in us even being here.”
“…If I had to say, I’m leaning towards a similar opinion.”
Hylaea said with a stern expression.
“He’s too dangerous to control, yet excessively strong. Ironically, he’s the same type as Croken.”
“…”
“In such an extremely dangerous plan, his mere presence could be a help, but conversely, he could also ruin everything.”
“…This is a problem with no right answer.”
The three who participated in the Adamant Thunder Subjugation Operation were Hylaea, Sarin, and Ermont.
Agneta, Soryu, and Freya were practically outsiders who hadn’t directly witnessed that war.
Therefore, they were in a situation where they couldn’t clearly assess how dangerous Adamant Thunder truly was.
Despite this, opinions among the members were mixed and clashing, making it impossible to reach a single conclusion.
What decision could they possibly make when Croken Asylus, who hired Adamant Thunder, wasn’t even in Gateway City himself?
“You all seem to have a lot to deliberate. I can give you time, so I’ll wait.”
In the center of the silent suite, Lennok pulled out a cigarette.
“Or should I step out for a bit? If you need time to discuss amongst yourselves, it’s fine for me to leave.”
“…You. For someone called Vulcan’s Devil King, you’re unnecessarily considerate.”
Freya asked with an exasperated look.
“What is this? Was Adamant Thunder, the wizard, always such a socially adept person?”
“I don’t know how you feel about it, but it’s been a long time since I participated in something like this as a Tower Lord.”
Lennok spun the cigarette between his fingers and smiled.
“Just observing quietly, this is quite entertaining in its own way. It reminds me of the old days, and that’s good.”
“Ha, so this is the esteemed Tower Lord’s ‘deviation,’ is it? Suddenly talking like some washed-up freelancer—”
“Freya. That’s enough.”
Soryu cut her off with an icy expression.
“You may be seeing him for the first time, but Adamant Thunder wasn’t always completely unreasonable in the past. Here, it would be better to accept his consideration.”
“No, why are you deciding on your own? If he’s reasonable, shouldn’t we be talking to him more?”
“Both of you, stop it. If we’re divided on something like this, what are we going to do?”
Freya and Soryu glared at each other, and Hylaea sighed.
Sarin gave a bitter smile, looking at Lennok, who was leaning back in his chair and smiling.
“I don’t know who the host is anymore. Is it really okay for things to be like this, all the way here?”
“I told you. I didn’t come all the way to Gateway City to ruin this operation.”
Lennok replied to Sarin’s question.
“Even if you willingly accept and do your best, success isn’t guaranteed. I don’t wish to force it upon you.”
“…”
“I’ll give you plenty of time, so do as you wish. When does the plan officially begin?”
“Today.”
At that moment, Lennok’s words halted abruptly at the indifferent female voice from behind him.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t sensed her presence, but he hadn’t expected to hear that voice here of all places.
“It seems a wasteful debate has been ongoing. I’ll make a decision on Doctor’s behalf.”
The woman ignored Lennok’s reaction and walked silently into the suite like a ghost.
“I don’t know the full story, but I approve. You can never have too many talented wizards.”
“…”
“Especially if that wizard is a transcendent genius capable of shutting down Machina’s Ascension Gate.”
Short, cropped hair at the nape of her neck. An empty expression that felt not just indifferent but utterly hollow.
A unique, eerie and calm presence, like a sharp blade.
Even the slightly awkward strangeness of one empty sleeve swaying.
“Enforcer.”
“It’s been a long time, Adamant Thunder.”
Machina’s finest Enforcer and technician.
Maiya Lonsdale, who had gone missing from the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors, stood before Lennok, having lost an arm.
“Let’s conclude this pointless discussion here. Would you care to step out with me for a moment?”
Maiya said, holding her empty sleeve with her intact hand.
“I’m going to buy a prosthetic arm for this operation. I’d like you to choose it.”
“…”
“While we’re at it, let’s discuss the most important key to this plan.”
Maiya’s gaze, fixed on Lennok, sank low.
“It’s about the fate the Nether King met in Paradise Lost.”