Chapter 1392: Paradise Lost (3)
Koooooh…!!
A majestic spectacle as the Nether King’s black magic and the Ascendant’s Spell-Words covered and clashed in the sky.
Having emerged from the lake, the party immediately began to cautiously approach the entrance of Paradise Lost.
People squeezed out their soaking wet clothes, took out their belongings to dry or reorganize them, and moved forward.
“Ugh. I drank too much water, my stomach is full…”
Ermont stumbled, gagging, and mumbled with a dazed expression.
“It’s just stomach acid coming up. Is there anything we can do about it…?”
“You’d be lucky if it’s just stomach acid you’re throwing up.”
Soryu brushed back her wet hair and cast a glance.
“This lake. Unlike Gateway City, which we passed through, the water here is stagnant and putrid. It’s a miracle you didn’t get sick from drinking that water.”
“Huh? No, hearing that suddenly makes my stomach ache…”
“Even if the water quality is bad, the smell is just too terrible.”
Freya grumbled as Ermont, whose face had turned pale, crawled on the ground.
“I smell like fish everywhere. Can’t you dry off the moisture with your ability?”
“My ability is closer to condensation, not drying. If you don’t want to freeze to death, you’d do better to find that wizard, not me.”
Soryu glanced over and said.
“He’d be far more useful than all of us combined for something like this.”
“…”
Freya pouted and looked at Lennok, who was walking beside Maiya.
Holding Maiya’s prosthetic left arm, Lennok carefully examined its interior and said,
“The structure of the prosthetic itself isn’t significantly damaged. It seems there are no components sensitive enough to be harmed by moisture.”
“That’s fortunate, at least.”
“Just in case, I’ll use drying magic to dry the inside. It will help preserve the condition of the components.”
Woo-woooong-
Lennok made a light gesture, and a blast of hot air quickly dried Maiya’s prosthetic arm.
Maiya, feeling all the moisture vanish from her entire body, not just the prosthetic, said with a strange expression,
“It’s undeniable that a wizard is incredibly helpful in situations like this.”
“Suddenly? It’s not your first time working with a wizard, is it?”
“I’ve rarely worked with a wizard this capable. This much is enough.”
Maiya gave a cold smile and pointed to the other side.
“If you have time, please help them too. They’ve been staring at you like drowned rats since earlier.”
“…That’s quite an apt description.”
Only then did Lennok see Freya staring at them with an envious expression. He forced a wry smile and turned around.
“Anyone who needs help, come closer. I’ll take care of it before your condition worsens.”
Weee-ing-
A brief lull ensued as they moved towards the entrance of Paradise Lost.
He dried the party members who had fallen upside down into the lake and dissipated the smell of the stagnant, putrid water.
He used simple cleansing magic to clean the members’ clothes and luggage, suitably sterilizing them before returning them.
In less than two minutes, the party looked as clean as if they had just taken a bath.
“Oh, oh.”
“…Not bad.”
Ermont made a strange sound of admiration like a monkey, and Soryu nodded.
Freya, who had been silently touching her now soft hair for a long time, said,
“I’m not working without a wizard anymore.”
“Don’t be so dramatic…”
“It’s striking how expensive high-level wizards are,” Sarin said with a chuckle, touching her sleeve as if fascinated.
“This is a burial shroud made with a very special method, so it only allows dry cleaning. It’s amazing that one spell can fix it.”
“Vampire, why did you wear such a difficult-to-maintain outfit? Do you think this is a fashion show or something?”
“Black Wizard, I’m sorry, but this is a relic-grade burial shroud that’s immune to swords and resistant to spellcraft, you know?”
Sarin snorted.
“It’s an extremely rare item, only five of which have ever existed in the Blood King’s Castle. It’s just hard to wash because it’s woven with blood instead of fibers.”
“Everyone seems to be misunderstanding something, not all wizards can freely use magic useful in daily life.”
Hylaea organized the neatly dried complex documents and data, smiling wryly.
“Rather, Adamant Thunder is unusual for being a pure spellcaster who has mastered such a wide range of magic. If you expect this ability from other high-level wizards, you’ll be disappointed.”
“Tower Lord, I’ve felt it since Gateway City, but you’re incredibly capable. You seem to know how to do a lot of things.”
Perhaps pleased to be clean after falling into the putrid water, Freya patted Lennok’s shoulder.
“You’re also much easier to talk to than I thought. Since it’s like this, why don’t you join Pandemonium?”
“Freya. Are you trying to scout people off the street? Do you think Pandemonium is some small entertainment agency?”
“What are you talking about? Why are you always picking fights? Wasn’t the idea to just throw it out there if someone capable came along?”
Freya scoffed.
“A wizard like this would be helpful anywhere. And with that personality, he’s sure to get along with Victor.”
“I really don’t think things would work out that easily…”
“It doesn’t matter who recruits him. We can just get him to join and then get the Director’s permission later, right?”
“I have no intention of joining Pandemonium, but I will help whenever I can, so feel free to ask without hesitation,”
Lennok said with a smile.
“Each of us will have our uses in this plan, so it would be troublesome if someone died unnecessarily first. Don’t worry.”
“…”
As soon as he finished speaking, the atmosphere turned chillingly cold, as if on cue.
Freya, who had been affectionately patting his shoulder, subtly withdrew her hand, and Sarin distanced herself.
Lennok tilted his head, watching Hylaea sigh.
“Was that also something I shouldn’t have said just now?”
“I don’t know whether to call that kind or insane…”
“Enough, let’s move. Hearing that just now really sobered me up.”
The members, having recovered their condition with Lennok’s help, began to move one by one.
“The Fisherman?”
“He left. He wasn’t here in person to lend his ability anyway.”
Hylaea picked up her luggage and stood, replying.
“It was a deal to assist with the fishing in the Spirit World using my talent, so it will be difficult to borrow his ability next time. We’ll have to think of another way back.”
“He’s incredibly stingy, considering he’s part of the same organization. Isn’t it okay to lend it a few more times for such an important matter?”
“I think you’re misunderstanding. The Fisherman’s ability isn’t something he can control himself, to begin with.”
Hylaea gave a wry smile at Ermont’s grumbling.
“The reason he possesses such immense power to freely traverse the Star’s Wellspring is precisely because he, from the outset, views his ability as a tool for fishing. In a sense, he is bound by a Geas more powerful than anyone else’s.”
“That’s quite an interesting hypothesis. Does it mean he restricted his spellcraft by making the very emotion of pleasure his Geas?”
“It’s probably not even spellcraft to begin with. It’s closer to an Authority created for the sole purpose of enjoying fishing in various locations.”
Hylaea mumbled as she walked.
“His incredible movement ability is merely a byproduct of his fishing objective. It’s powerful precisely because it’s unintentional, and even more transcendent because he doesn’t attach much significance to it himself.”
“…”
“So, if you want to use the Fisherman’s ability, you must respect his intentions as much as possible. The reason his ability can be so powerful is, conversely, because the Fisherman himself doesn’t attach much meaning to his own power.”
Hylaea said, pushing through the thickets.
“Anyone who wants to borrow the Fisherman’s ability for future endeavors should remember that. Although, surviving this current task is the priority.”
“Do you always have to add such ominous words at the end to be satisfied?”
The Fisherman of Pandemonium.
A possessor of transcendent ability, capable of moving anywhere there is a wellspring suitable for fishing.
Yet, what was truly astonishing was not just the Fisherman himself, but his ability to move other objects and beings as well.
Even transferring several superhumans thousands of kilometers away was no different to the Fisherman than bringing a distant bucket of water.
The paradox: the Fisherman himself considered his ability to be of such little significance, which is precisely why it harbored such powerful and transcendent strength.
It was a sufficiently intriguing topic, but there was no time to ponder the Fisherman’s existence for long.
“Hylaea…”
“Agneta.”
The dazed voice of the Ancient Species, hanging upside down in the forest, entangled in Magic Scribes like spiderwebs.
“The boundary of Paradise Lost… I found it…”
The lakeside where the party had fallen, thanks to the Fisherman’s ability, was the mountain range at the entrance of Jinwa’s Paradise Lost.
Thus, everyone knew that their destination was not far, as planned.
The Garden of Language, ruled by a fallen Ascendant.
Beyond the rotten forest, a vast, purple-hued orchard stretched endlessly before the party’s eyes.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-
The foliage underfoot was stained purple. Fruit pulp fallen between the blades of grass had turned to paper.
Human corpses emerged from among the piles of dirt. Knowledge trees grew, feeding on these remains.
[DELICIOUS]
[I UNDERSTAND]
[HUNGRY]
The foliage underfoot swayed with the wind, incessantly speaking to them.
The purple-stained tree trunks whispered ceaselessly in gloomy voices.
Corpses with eaten-out heads revealed their faces from among the tree roots, their lips twitching.
Hallucinations, as if everything visible was continuously speaking to them.
[I WANT TO EAT MORE]
[I WANT TO KNOW MORE]
[MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE]
“Ugh…”
Hylaea, forcibly ignoring the hallucinatory whispers, struggled to turn her gaze and mumbled.
“Look here. The corpses’ heads have been eaten.”
“…”
The skulls of the corpses that had been speaking to the party were fractured, their brains exposed.
A gruesome sight, as if someone had forcibly torn out their contents or bitten them off with teeth.
“The cause of death for the corpses in Paradise Lost has a commonality…?”
“No. These are wounds sustained after the skin had necrotized. It’s highly likely they are marks inflicted after death.”
The Conjunction Spell Master, who had long worked as a surgeon, negated.
“If the skull had been incised for dissection or research, it would have been cleaner than this. It appears to be part of a ritual or offering.”
“Your deductions about the bodies are good, but there seems to be something else we need to confirm first.”
Soryu lifted her gaze with a cold expression.
“Over there, it’s starting to become clearly visible.”
“…”
Beyond Paradise Lost, densely overgrown with ominously purple-hued trees and fruit blooming between their branches.
A colossal Spell-Word Stone, piercing the sky, flickered with an ominous glow.
Oooooooh!!!!
The essence of power, rooted in the center of the vast orchard, transforming the entire spacetime unfolding before their eyes.
The others, looking up at the colossal Spell-Word Stone, hundreds of meters tall, silently exchanged glances.
“That’s it, right?”
“Undoubtedly. It’s Jinwa’s Spell-Word Stone.”
Spell-Word Stone.
The pinnacle of spellcraft, where the transcendent Spell-Word user Jinwa directly carved her own Spell-Words.
At the same time, it is one of the core central mechanisms forming this vast Ideological Domain.
A spectacle of Spell-Word Stones scattered throughout Paradise Lost, transforming the world with formless language and making it Jinwa’s territory.
The members’ faces turned pale at the grotesque sight, which they had heard countless rumors about but were seeing with their own eyes for the first time.
“Unbelievable. To be able to transform the world just by carving one’s own Spell-Words…”
“She is the Spell-Word user who founded the common language of the continent. Few can be compared to her in terms of accomplishments.”
The two pillars that supported the Imperial Palace of Ars Nova: the Three Grand Dukes and the Six Grand Generals.
And Jinwa was a great Transcendent, bestowed with the title of Whispering Grand General in the Imperial Palace.
In her prime, her prestige was comparable to the Three Grand Dukes, and in terms of achievements, she even surpassed them.
It was not surprising that even now, driven mad by her desire to become a god, her Spell-Word magic had reached the highest level.
“Look at the sky. Day and night are mixed, giving it a gray hue.”
“Is that proof that the Nether King was defeated in this orchard…?”
The sky above the Spell-Word Stone was chaotically distorted, as if soaked in black ink.
A fierce storm raged, with day and night mixed, unable to fix into one state.
Even after her defeat by Jinwa, the Nether King’s power remained in this battleground, ceaselessly wandering Paradise Lost.
Some members, holding their breath and silently observing, noticed anomalies and their eyes gleamed.
“Look below. Near the space covered in black magic, the trees are not whispering.”
“You’re right. No way?”
The trees and corpses that had been constantly whispering everywhere fell silent near the space covered in black magic.
A peculiar zone of silence, as if they were unable to speak or recite Spell-Words near that space.
“The Nether King’s power remains within the Ideological Domain, interfering with Jinwa’s Spell-Words.”
“So, if we pass through the space covered in black magic, we can traverse the Ideological Domain without being noticed by the Ascendant?”
“Even so, it doesn’t mean it’s completely safe. That phenomenon itself means that the powers of the Nether King and Jinwa are clashing and canceling each other out.”
“If the balance shifts even slightly, we’ll be swept away immediately and won’t be safe either.”
“In the end, we can’t neutralize the Ideological Domain without removing the Spell-Word Stones. What will we do?”
The objective of this plan, finalized in Gateway City, was to recover the Nether King’s legacy before it fell into the hands of the Three Grand Dukes.
To do so, they needed to accurately determine where the Nether King’s legacy was located, both inside and outside Paradise Lost.
Ermont, who shared the Nether King’s bloodline, and Sarin, who could use blood magic, would locate the legacy. Then, they would figure out its movement path and intercept it before it reached the Three Grand Dukes.
To penetrate deep into Paradise Lost and continue the search while avoiding Jinwa’s gaze, they had to remove these Spell-Word Stones one by one as they advanced, secretly from the Ascendant.
Fortunately, the path to the Spell-Word Stones could be traversed undetected thanks to the darkness left by the Nether King, but there was a corresponding risk involved.
The hesitation was brief.
“Let’s go.”
Lennok stood up and said.
“We need to investigate the Spell-Word Stones now, while Jinwa’s gaze cannot reach all of Paradise Lost due to the Nether King’s power.”
“After removing the Spell-Word Stone, we should use black magic to check if we can search for traces of the Nether King, and then refine the plan further.”
“Hey, where’s the consideration for my position as a legacy scanner?”
The members ignored Ermont’s grumbling and quietly entered the orchard, following Lennok.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!!!
The landscape of the orchard, where a dry wind blew.
A desolate garden where no living beings stirred, and trees nourished by corpses swayed.
Rustle, rustle.
Rustle, rustle.
Rustle, rustle.
With each step, a strange sound like skin being cut by paper could be heard.
The faintly audible whispers grew more fanatical, vivid, and intense.
A sense of unease, as if something within was wearing away with each whisper from the orchard.
The moment they noticed, the number of people in the group sweating cold grew one by one.
Shushhhh…!!
[Know know know know know-]
[Together together together together together]
[Wait wait wait wait wait]
“Ugh…”
“…Phew.”
The corpses with eaten-out heads continuously rattled, spewing incomprehensible, bizarre whispers.
Despite passing near the black magic left by the Nether King, the sensation was so dizzying that they lost focus at every moment.
If they had entered Paradise Lost unprepared, they might have lost their minds long ago and become part of this place.
How much time had passed?
Before they knew it, the party had arrived right in front of a monument so colossal it seemed boundless.
Wooooooong!!!!
“Something is written on the Spell-Word Stone…”
“It’s hard to make out. Can you read it?”
Despite being a monument created by the founder of the continental common language, the characters inscribed on the Spell-Word Stone were not in the common language.
They were strangely familiar yet alien pictograms, as if existing characters or languages had been grotesquely twisted and mixed together.
“…Sabrinah once compiled a copy, a long time ago.”
Hylaea, breathing heavily with a pale expression, carefully pulled out the documents she was clutching.
“It’s a record she made before falling into slumber to avoid being assimilated by Jinwa’s Spell-Word magic. Referring to this…”
Sabrinah, the Spell-Word user of Pandemonium.
A member of the Demonic Conflux who participated in the interim settlement, and the one who helped Lennok acquire the Guide’s Ring to go to Yorta.
How much time had passed since she had fallen into slumber to avoid being engulfed and influenced by Jinwa’s Spell-Word magic?
As Lennok recalled a name he hadn’t heard in quite some time, Hylaea shone the documents on the Spell-Word Stone.
“…I’ll interpret it immediately.”
[The compilation and [omitted] of information is a miracle that must only occur in the form of language.]
[Therefore, I hereby stipulate the [omitted] of the Heogongrok as the new world’s commandment.]
[Commandment One: The formation of hand seals is forbidden.]
[Commandment One: The deployment of [Domains] is forbidden.]
[Commandment One: One shall feast upon the knowledge of others.]
[Eat, record, and regurgitate without cease.]
[Only new knowledge shall be your daily bread.]
“…”
Silence fell.
“What, what is this?”
Three commandments, etched onto the Spell-Word Stone, felt chilling just to read.
One of them was even distorted beyond recognition, making it uninterpretable.
“These are the ‘rules’ Jinwa inscribed on this Spell-Word Stone for this place.”
The Conjunction Spell Master said with an expressionless face.
“They must be commandments, stipulated in the form of Spell-Words in this spacetime… not to be broken. It’s not a difficult concept, is it?”
“An Ideological Domain is a spacetime that reconstructs physical laws based on an Ascendant’s standards.”
Lennok was lost in thought.
“Considering Jinwa is a Spell-Word user, the commandments inscribed on this Spell-Word Stone must be the physical laws of Paradise Lost itself.”
“‘Do not form hand seals.’ ‘Do not deploy XX.’ Isn’t this obviously about Domains?”
Ermont asked.
“It seems like this place is thoroughly designed to exclude high-level spellcasters. Physical ability users will have to take charge here.”
“These Spell-Word Stones only have three commandments inscribed, but the commandments on other Spell-Word Stones might be different.”
“You mean the rules and laws within the Ideological Domain might change as we go deeper into Paradise Lost…?”
The physical laws of an Ideological Domain, being based on an Ascendant’s standards, are rules that even the Ascendant themselves cannot easily change.
However, Jinwa, through the concept of the Spell-Word Stone, is arbitrarily altering the rules within the Ideological Domain in place of her own standards.
This was evidence that she was freely wielding a transcendent level of reality alteration through the medium of the Spell-Word Stone.
That fact alone made it easy to realize how great a Spell-Word user she was.
“I don’t quite understand the third rule. What does it mean to feast upon the knowledge of others?”
Freya asked.
“Knowledge isn’t something you can eat, to begin with. Does it mean it’s possible in this space?”
“Perhaps… that’s not what it means. Language is a rule that can only be established when there is a concept that the majority accepts and shares.”
“To establish rules that the majority cannot share, there must first be a premise that the language will be rewritten in a different way. In this space, a commandment like ‘intangible knowledge can be eaten’ would have had to exist first.”
“Then does this third rule mean it’s useless?”
“My thoughts are a little different.”
Hylaea said, looking pensive.
“Language often takes on various meanings depending on how it’s interpreted. Sometimes a specific word metaphorically refers to an entirely different concept.”
“Like the name Ermont being used to mean a foolish imbecile, right?”
“Feast upon the knowledge of others. The meaning of ‘knowledge’ that the mad Ascendant had in mind when she wrote this commandment…”
Hylaea looked down at the eaten-out corpse and quietly mumbled.
“Could it literally have meant, the human brain?”
CRUNCH!!
The other members had no time to answer or ponder her words.
As soon as Hylaea uttered those words, the corpse lying at their feet sprang up and lunged.
[KIEEEEEEEEEK!!!!]
CRASH!!!
The moment Soryu kicked the corpse standing next to her, the surrounding fallen corpses began to rise like a swarm of bees.
Thousands of drooling corpses awakened from all over the orchard, glaring at them with bloodshot eyes.
[Ughhhhhh!!]
[Grrr…!!!]
In the chaotic center of the orchard, the members, with grim expressions, drew forth their mana.
“Damn it, was that the right answer!!”
“In the Ascendant’s paradise, even human brains were merely daily bread.”
“The Spell-Word Stone’s commandments have awakened and begun to activate. At this rate…!”
The party had been able to enter Paradise Lost because they knew that the entire Ideological Domain was in chaos due to the battle between the Nether King and Jinwa.
It was also possible due to the judgment that Jinwa herself had long since fallen and was not fully controlling Paradise Lost.
However, if the Spell-Word Stones began to activate and deploy commandments, the probability of the Ascendant noticing them would sharply increase.
At that moment, as the other members instinctively looked up at the sky beyond Paradise Lost, realizing this fact.
An immense darkness erupted from around Lennok, covering the sky of Paradise Lost and beginning to paint it black.
WHOOSH-
BOOOM!!!!
The Nether King’s black magic and Lennok’s black magic intermingled and spread, instantly covering the purple-stained sky.
A vast output of black magic, hard to believe came from a single wizard.
As the members momentarily faltered, realizing this, Lennok opened his mouth.
“Using the Nether King’s black magic, we can keep the Ascendant from noticing us. I grasped the trick back in Gateway City.”
“…Adamant Thunder.”
“I’ll handle the Spell-Word Stones, so could you take care of those corpses first?”
Lennok glanced over.
“I want to see how far Jinwa’s Spell-Words and commandments extend. Let’s start quickly.”
“…It really looks like the subjects you want to observe for the commandments aren’t the corpses, but us.”
“I’m sorry, but we’re not experimental subjects to do whatever the Tower Lord wants, you know?”
“No wonder he was unusually kind earlier, you monster!!”
The grumbling members drew forth their mana and clashed with the surging corpses.