Chapter 1408: Paradise Lost (19)
[Precept One. Treading the ground on two feet is forbidden in this space.]
[Precept One. Standing on two feet is forbidden in this space.]
…
[Precept One. Parallel thought is forbidden in this space.]
[Precept One. Spell incantation is forbidden in this space.]
[Precept One. Time manipulation is forbidden in this space.]
Bwwoooong!!!!
A purple wave resonated, overlapping as it blanketed the endless plains.
A demonic realm where hundreds of Spell-Word Stones, each tens of meters tall and comparable to skyscrapers, simultaneously applied and layered all sorts of precepts.
[Precept One. Breathing is forbidden in this space.]
[Precept One. Heartbeats are forbidden in this space.]
[Precept One. Kidney function is forbidden in this space.]
Screeeech…!!
The deeper one went, the harsher, more bizarre, and more sinister the precepts of the Spell-Word Stones became.
The shapes of the grotesque characters grew sharp and jagged, dripping down like letters written in blood.
Eventually, they distorted and flared as if speaking directly to them.
[Precept One. Survival is forbidden in this space.]
[Precept One. Existence is forbidden in this space.]
[Precept One. In this space—you’re still here?]
“…Cough.”
Dead blood spurted from Ermont’s mouth as he walked between the resonating Spell-Word Stones.
He couldn’t even properly spit out the blackened blood, letting it trickle down his chin.
The other members immediately turned their gaze, but Ermont nonchalantly wiped his mouth.
“I’m fine. It’s nothing, let’s keep moving.”
“……”
It was a response uncharacteristic of Ermont, who usually made a fuss over the slightest scratch.
Conversely, that very incongruity made them realize just how dangerous this situation was.
They were currently breaking through the densely packed Spell-Word Stones surrounding Yeongheo Palace.
“This way.”
In this extreme environment where even breathing was impossible, where blood circulation was forcibly maintained with mana.
Among the superhumans who couldn’t even make a sound, only one person was free.
Kiiiiing…!!
[Precept One. Treading the ground on two feet is ■■■■■■ in this space.]
[Precept One. ■■■■■■ thought is forbidden.]
He erased the characters written on the Spell-Word Stones, rewriting the precepts and changing their meaning.
He even crushed the precepts themselves with mana, twisting them until they became meaningless.
It was a forceful, expedient method that weakened the power of the Spell-Words by twisting their meaning almost to the point of a word game.
The moment Lennok, having rapidly rewritten and broken the deadly Spell-Words pouring in from all directions, removed his hand.
The members, feeling their breath return in the blink of an eye, collapsed on the spot.
Fwoosh!
“Ugh…”
“Cough, cough!!”
Some spat blood, others coughed with pale faces. Some even closed their eyes, as if even enduring was a struggle.
“Rewriting the Spell-Words like this is just a temporary measure. It won’t last long.”
In front of them, Lennok glanced at his watch.
“Sorry, but I can probably only buy us about five minutes.”
“No, this is more than enough…”
“We should be thankful for any time to rest at all.”
The members, who had struggled to sit down, panted with grim expressions as they looked around.
This was a spacetime where hundreds of Spell-Word Stones were densely embedded around Yeongheo Palace, overlaying an Ideological Domain.
The purple Spell-Words filled the heavens and earth, creating a sinister unease, as if the sky itself were swarming.
The conclusion reached after roughly thirty minutes of exploring since breaking through the Spell-Word Stones near Yeongheo Palace was simple.
“This is hell.”
“The level of the Spell-Words around Yeongheo Palace is absurd. This is…”
The Ascendant’s Spell-Words forbade breathing, metabolism, heartbeat, and other human organ functions and life activities.
Deadly precepts, any one of which would be more than enough to instantly kill a human, were layered by the dozens.
The members’ expressions turned complicated as they realized this fact.
“The Spell-Word Stones we’ve passed so far weren’t even in the dangerous category. Can it really reach this level if they’re determined to repel intruders…”
“If it weren’t for the information Adamant Thunder gained from his regression, we all would have been corpses long ago.”
“It means no living human is to even approach Yeongheo Palace. Is there a way?”
Only a being that does not breathe, whose heart does not beat, whose metabolism and life activities have ceased, can enter Yeongheo Palace.
It was an incredibly arrogant declaration that they wouldn’t even deal with anyone other than a corpse or a Transcendent equal to Jinwa.
And yet, there was only one reason the members of Pandemonium had been able to explore the area around Yeongheo Palace until now.
“I see now what kind of absurd things can be done when a genius is given the ability to regress,” Soryu muttered in the suffocating silence.
“To steal and use an Ascendant’s Spell-Word after regressing just once… How is something like this even possible?”
“……”
The precepts of the Spell-Word Stones existed as the absolute laws of Paradise Lost.
But now, the group was breaking through the area around Yeongheo Palace, where such precepts were layered hundreds, even thousands of times.
It was something they couldn’t have even dreamed of before reuniting with Lennok, despite having explored Paradise Lost for over three days.
However, Lennok, who was timing them with his arms crossed, had a calm expression.
“It’s not a skill I can use as freely as you think. Spell-Word is a spellcraft that turns out to be highly dependent on aptitude.”
“……”
“Stealing a bit of an existing Spell-Word is possible, but creating one myself is difficult. Using it like this is about as realistic as it gets.”
Currently, the way Lennok used Spell-Words was by mimicking the Incarnation Body’s mana pattern to output Jinwa’s Spell-Words.
It was akin to using administrator privileges to execute commands and codes already embedded in Paradise Lost.
Because he mimicked the Incarnation Body’s pattern, the risk of detection was low, but conversely, the power of the Spell-Word itself couldn’t compare to the original’s.
Since Lennok’s own aptitude was far from suited for Spell-Words in the first place, creating the ones he wanted was also difficult.
Using the Spell-Words Jinwa had used, or breaking them as he was doing now, was the most efficient approach.
But the gazes of the members looking at Lennok had already surpassed the level of treating him as a monster.
“I don’t understand how you can say something like that so casually… In what sense is that ‘realistic’?”
“What’s so surprising now… Didn’t you know he was like this? We knew it from the moment we were unceremoniously beaten up in Gateway City.”
“That’s enough badmouthing me. It would be better to decide on a course of action.”
Lennok shifted his gaze slightly.
“We’ve managed to trick the precepts of the Spell-Word Stones to get this far, but from here on, such tricks will be difficult. The more I use Spell-Words, the more rapidly the probability of the Ascendant noticing the anomaly will increase.”
“……”
“Even if I mimic the Incarnation Body’s mana pattern to use the Spell-Words, there’s a limit to how long I can go undetected. It would be best to set a clear policy here and now.”
“I understand what you mean. We certainly haven’t been without gains on our way here,” Hylaea said with a pale face, casting her gaze toward the distant Yeongheo Palace.
“Can everyone see? The power emanating from the Spell-Word Stones doesn’t reach inside Yeongheo Palace.”
“……”
The sky swarmed with an immense number of Spell-Words and grotesque characters.
However, all those Spell-Words couldn’t seem to approach the airspace where Yeongheo Palace was located.
It was as if Yeongheo Palace itself was exempt from the influence of the Spell-Words, despite being surrounded by hundreds of them.
The members’ eyes sharpened as they realized this fact.
“Even with an Ascendant’s Spell-Words, she can’t enforce her laws within Yeongheo Palace.”
“It would be correct to view the interior of Yeongheo Palace as existing in a different spacetime from Paradise Lost.”
“That must be why she planted so many Spell-Word Stones around Yeongheo Palace. She intends to block the intrusion itself since she can’t stop them with precepts once they’re inside.”
“So that’s why the Three Grand Dukes chose that place for the transaction…”
Yeongheo Palace was the Emperor’s detached palace outside the central city.
According to rumors, the ruins were once seriously considered as a potential burial site for the Corpse Emperor himself.
It wouldn’t be strange if the ley lines themselves held a special power, making it a space that couldn’t be dominated by an Ascendant’s Spell-Words.
The reason Jinwa hadn’t been able to touch Yeongheo Palace before the regression was likely related to that.
“If we can somehow get inside Yeongheo Palace, there might be a way.”
“If we can proceed to the vicinity of Yeongheo Palace without thinking about the consequences, I have a method,” the Conjunction Spell Master said with a blank face, having been listening with his arms crossed.
“Using my spellcraft, I can put a living human into an artificial state of suspended animation. If done well, we should be able to bypass the dangerous Spell-Words deployed around Yeongheo Palace.”
“…I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re going to put a human in suspended animation?”
“It is one of several secrets more precious than gold, acquired through human experimentation.”
“……”
Lennok frowned, recalling the test subject impaled in the Spell Master’s Life Domain, but the other members couldn’t read that far into it.
Instead, they were lost in deep thought, pondering the Spell Master’s unexpected proposal.
“I see. Certainly, for a surgeon of the Spell Master’s caliber, inducing suspended animation wouldn’t be impossible, but…”
“What’s important is the exact level of suspended animation Chapman can create. Can we trust it?”
“What does the suspended animation created using Conjunction Spellcraft actually feel like? If it’s something like anesthesia before surgery-”
“I don’t believe I used any terms or words that could be medically confused. Was even that difficult to understand?”
The Spell Master tilted his head.
“I will artificially induce a state of complete suspended animation, literally. The heartbeat and breathing will cease, all bodily metabolism will stop, and even minimal life activities will be suspended.”
“……”
“In this process, consciousness can be kept alive, or conversely, completely blacked out. I don’t bother asking for the opinion of the subjects I use, but-”
“No, that’s enough. I didn’t ask because I wanted to hear about your sick hobbies, you know?” Freya grumbled, scratching her head in annoyance.
“I get that we can bypass the Spell-Words with that spellcraft. But if we’re all in suspended animation, won’t we be unable to do anything?”
“If you’re inducing a true state of suspended animation, you wouldn’t even be able to move your body normally.”
“Never mind moving our limbs, it would be difficult to even maintain consciousness. I doubt we could use spellcraft in that state.”
“Hmph…”
The Spell Master let out a rare, small sigh.
“Even after explaining this much, they fail to understand.”
“The Conjunction Spell Master is proposing to put all the members here into suspended animation and move them into Yeongheo Palace beforehand,” Lennok explained on his behalf.
“If we bypass the surrounding Spell-Words and wake up inside Yeongheo Palace, we can move around without being affected by them.”
“Adamant Thunder. No one but you seems to find it difficult to grasp the value and true nature of this spellcraft.”
The Conjunction Spell Master looked at Lennok and shook his head.
“They don’t understand what it means to be able to bypass the Spell-Words even for a moment… I have no desire to converse further with these dull-witted barbarians.”
“Hey, why are you getting angry when you’re the one who left out all the important explanations?” Ermont retorted, dumbfounded.
“Besides, according to what the Spell Master said, someone has to move us to Yeongheo Palace while we’re in suspended animation. And that person has to be able to withstand Jinwa’s Spell-Words with a clear mind.”
“……”
“They’d have to endure the Spell-Words and move all of us into Yeongheo Palace one by one. If there was someone like that in the first place, we wouldn’t be agonizing over a plan like this…”
Muttering, Ermont’s gaze slowly turned in one direction.
Only then did the other members naturally follow Ermont and turn their heads.
“I’ll do it.”
At the end of all their gazes, Lennok spoke calmly.
“I can withstand Jinwa’s Spell-Words for a short while. If the Spell Master puts you all to sleep in suspended animation, I will enter Yeongheo Palace myself.”
Fwoosh!!
He summoned the Demonic Giant, revealing the darkness flowing from its left arm.
“I tested it with Freya, but I can contain and transport even living humans if necessary. It seems most appropriate for me to take on this task.”
“No. That is…”
At a loss for words, the members just stared at each other.
“Will you really be alright? You’re going to break through all the precepts of the Spell-Word Stones and enter Yeongheo Palace by yourself?”
Targeted Resistance was a privilege that resisted and ignored all types of abilities targeting Lennok.
If the precepts of the Spell-Word Stones changed the laws of physics, Lennok too would have difficulty, but it was a different story if the precepts were used to kill or incapacitate a target.
All Spell-Words forbidding breathing, metabolism, heartbeat, or life activities were, to Lennok, as good as non-existent.
But to the other members who didn’t know this fact, it wouldn’t be strange if it looked like Lennok was attempting suicide.
“We don’t have much time to deliberate. Let’s quickly organize what we need to do before making a decision.”
Hylaea raised her hand.
“According to the information Adamant Thunder obtained from his regression, the transaction will begin at noon in the upper audience chamber of Yeongheo Palace. Considering the location, the legacy is likely stored somewhere within the detached palace.”
“……”
“As of now, we have three objectives to find inside Yeongheo Palace.”
-
Jinwa’s Incarnation Body, which will be prepared to face the Three Grand Dukes.
-
The Nether King’s legacy, stored in the detached palace for this transaction.
-
The Corpse Emperor’s Mausoleum, which exists in the deepest part of Yeongheo Palace.
“If we can locate all three of these variables—the Ascendant, the legacy, and the secret of Yeongheo Palace—our plan will become significantly easier. Let’s split into teams to search the detached palace until sunrise.”
Hylaea quickly spoke, instantly writing down and organizing the objectives on the ground.
“Remember that the priority is the legacy and the Ascendant. We don’t even know if the secret is something we can touch right now, and since it’s a problem with Yeongheo Palace itself, we don’t know what variables might exist.”
“……”
“We’ll divide into teams of two and decide which direction each will search. This time, not through Musical Scale Spellcraft, but through Agneta…”
Combining the information gathered so far, objectives were summarized and a plan was formulated in an instant.
Watching this, Lennok felt he could understand what kind of mindset Kaiser Bajour had when he sought to save the world.
Even Lennok hadn’t been certain about his regression until the last moment. Yet, the information and advantages gained from turning back time just once were this significant.
Just how intense must the sense of omnipotence have been for Kaiser, who had used his abilities and talents to repeat his regression tens of thousands of times?
It was ironic.
That Lennok, who had ended Kaiser’s regression with Ultimate Lightning, was now finding a clue through regression.
He had felt it when facing Kaiser at the end of the Subjugation Operation, but it was an unspeakably powerful and dangerous authority.
He had already concluded that regression could not be the answer, so he had to be mindful not to be swayed now.
“Adamant Thunder? Are you listening to me?”
“…It’s nothing.”
Lennok, who had been lost in thought, took a step forward.
“If you’re ready, let’s begin immediately.”
Fwooooo!!
Lennok walked alone and silently through the Spell-Word Stones where a fierce wind blew.
The wind that blew between the hundreds of stones was as sharp as a blade, and at times, as cold as frost.
Screeeech…!!
Passing one Spell-Word Stone, the very flow of the atmosphere stopped, making even breathing impossible.
Saaaaa-!
Passing another, the blood in his entire body chilled, and the temperature dropped drastically.
A transcendent authority that materialized an extreme environment, difficult for an ordinary person to even imagine, with just a few sentences.
The existence of Paradise Lost, which maintained such Spell-Words layered hundreds, thousands of times in a single spacetime.
But Lennok was thinking about Yeongheo Palace, which ignored all the Spell-Words tangled up in Paradise Lost.
The Emperor’s detached palace outside the Imperial Capital. The place said to hold the mausoleum of the Corpse Emperor.
Long ago, did his former self know what meaning that dilapidated palace, close to ruins, held?
“……”
Did he understand what the Emperor wanted, why he built a detached palace there, and what secrets he left behind?
After long contemplation of his own identity, he recognized that it was his past self, and yet,
At the same time, his heart felt complicated whenever he thought of that distant self, whom he could never understand.
Crack, craaack…!!!
The Transcendent’s Spell-Words engraved in spacetime became a real force, pressing down on Lennok’s shoulders.
Purple characters and Spell-Words flared violently, as if to be engraved on Lennok’s skin, intertwining like shackles.
A hell where dozens of Spell-Word Stones arranged around Yeongheo Palace overlapped simultaneously, enforcing hundreds of otherworldly laws.
Fwoosh!!!
Take one step, and the Yeongheo Palace visible on the horizon disappears. Take another step, and it appears in the opposite direction.
The form of Yeongheo Palace, changing its coordinates in real-time each time Lennok approached while walking between the Spell-Word Stones.
It wasn’t a clumsy illusion or hallucination that deceived the senses.
With every step, the entire spacetime of Paradise Lost was rotating, continuously moving away so that he could not reach Yeongheo Palace.
But even in the world of the Ideological Domain, which was flipping and rotating in real-time, Lennok walked on silently.
Through the memory from before his regression, he clearly remembered the coordinates of Yeongheo Palace.
Because he had returned after rewinding time once, he could not lose his way, no matter how much the path twisted and turned.
Kiiiiing….
A vision turning pure white. A sinister sense of unease, as if his five senses were disappearing and being extinguished.
How long had he swam through the rotating world, where words lost their meaning and will became law?
Click.
The moment he grasped the faintly visible palace gate and slowly pushed it open.
Lennok realized he had finally entered the interior of Yeongheo Palace and lifted his gaze.
“……”
Something, he tried to say, but no words came out.
But Lennok, without losing his composure, slowly turned and began to walk down the ruined palace corridor.
It was certain that the place where the Three Grand Dukes and Jinwa would trade the Nether King’s legacy was inside Yeongheo Palace.
‘Where… should I go?’
Currently, there were three objectives to find within Yeongheo Palace before the transaction began.
The Ascendant, the legacy, the secret of Yeongheo Palace.
All three were too important to ignore, and the environments where each might be hidden were vastly different.
Among them, the most dangerous would undoubtedly be Jinwa’s Incarnation Body, stored somewhere in Yeongheo Palace.
If the Ascendant wasn’t going to move her true body for this transaction, she would have prepared an Incarnation Body to represent her will.
It wasn’t the Incarnation Body he saw in the Cradle. She wouldn’t use an Incarnation Body of that level for an important matter like a transaction with the Three Grand Dukes.
It would have to be something that held power comparable to the Ascendant’s true body, yet could remain dormant until Jinwa moved-
‘Exclude all the small spaces like rooms or corridors around the detached palace from the list of candidates.’
It would require a large space, like the central audience chamber or courtyard within Yeongheo Palace. An underground relic vault.
After some thought, Lennok headed for the closest one, a cavern labeled as the underground relic vault.
The space itself was large, and it existed to store things. He thought that even if it wasn’t the Incarnation Body, there was a chance the legacy or the mausoleum would be nearby.
He entered deep into the ruins within Yeongheo Palace, following the half-destroyed remains of an underground passage.
Inside the quiet underground cavern, from which a mysterious radiance flowed like a song.
The moment he faced something ominously writhing beyond it, Lennok stopped dead in his tracks.
“This is…”
Kirik, kirik…!
The form of a monster, its entire body bound in purple chains, forming a giant sphere.
A grotesque sight where hundreds of people, bound by Spell-Words, had merged into a giant mass of flesh.
Absurdly, Lennok had seen that sight once before, long ago, in the Well of the Codex.
A monster that had continuously engraved Geas into its own inner self until its very nature had been inverted, its existence itself becoming a Geas.
Dozens of monsters, remarkably similar to the Fallen One, World-Soul, Aurel Silford, were sleeping in the underground of Yeongheo Palace.