Chapter 1420: Lord of Hell (3)
The hell that existed beyond the [Gate] The Grafter had forcibly torn open.
From the bottomless pit churning with darkness, a colossal body with ink-black scales revealed itself.
The moment the alligator giant, its bright yellow pupils flashing, shot into reality as if surfacing from water.
KWWAAAAAAAH!!!!
“Ah…?”
For the first time, Lennok felt his thoughts grind to a halt, unable to comprehend the situation.
He had considered Croken’s presence, but given his eccentric personality, there was no way he would obediently help them.
In the first place, since Croken hadn’t shown himself in Yeongheo Palace until now, Lennok hadn’t expected any meaningful assistance.
In fact, it was precisely for that reason that he had never once imagined Croken would appear from beyond the [Gate] at this moment.
At the very instant several Pandemonium members were incapacitated and he was surrounded by the Ascendant and the Herald of the Three Grand Dukes.
For this monster to reveal itself from within the [Gate] The Grafter had opened—what in the world—
“Move.”
KUUUNG!!!
Before his thoughts could continue, the massive body landed in reality, letting out a thunderous roar.
It casually strode through the darkness that surged back from beyond the [Gate] like an explosion and planted its feet.
The alligator giant, clad in a viscous darkness that dripped like mud, scanned its surroundings.
Staring blankly at Croken’s back, Lennok managed to squeeze out his words.
“How….”
“It’s full of nothing but disgusting lumps.”
Croken cut Lennok off, speaking in an indifferent voice.
“You got the thing that bastard Myeong left behind. What are you dawdling for?”
“What Agneta said… it was true….”
Ermont, who had collapsed behind the jeweled crown, lifted his gaze.
Looking up at Croken with a blurry gaze, he opened his mouth.
“He wasn’t in Yeongheo Palace… but nearby….”
HWEOOK!!
There was no answer.
Before Ermont could finish speaking, Croken swung his rebar-like tail.
It instantly grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and slammed him into the mausoleum floor, where water flowed.
KWAANG!!!
“Don’t you talk to me, you fucking maggot. It’s grating on my ears.”
“Gack…!!”
Croken looked down at the convulsing Ermont with a cold gaze and spoke.
“I don’t give a damn what kind of bullshit you’ve all been up to. I didn’t come here to clean up your mess.”
“……”
“Just shut your mouth and stay still. If you drag me down for no reason, I’ll kill you.”
CHWAAK!!
As Croken took a step, the water at his feet spread like a wave, creating ripples.
The alligator giant strode across the mausoleum without hesitation, walking toward the Three Grand Dukes and the Ascendant.
The Grafter, who had been watching the situation with his arms crossed, felt his gaze turn chilly.
‘I should have at least rendered him incapable of resisting, but I failed… His strength isn’t something that can be explained by simply calling him strong.’
The Herald had known from the moment he encountered Lennok that he was not in a normal state.
The moment he realized Lennok’s identity, he had also guessed what would happen when the [Gate] opened.
What existed beyond the [Gate] was the power he himself had discarded long ago, and causality itself.
Therefore, the process of taking it back was like a forced ‘growth,’ and even a Transcendent could not avoid becoming vulnerable.
Immense pain, as if his mana circuits were being forcibly expanded and his soul violently stretched, must have followed.
That was why The Grafter, with Jinwa’s cooperation, had borrowed Authority and the blessings of the Three Grand Dukes to corner Lennok, but—
Now that the battle had stopped, he saw that there were almost no significant external injuries or scars on Lennok’s body.
The only meaningful gain had been stimulating the black cracks etched on his body to cause internal damage.
“……”
Even while being pushed back by the onslaught from all sides, had he absorbed or deflected most of the impact?
His opponent was a Grand Mage who had attained transcendence. A monster whose instantaneous output might even surpass that of an Ascendant.
That was why he had been extremely wary of Lennok using high-level magic and had thoroughly dragged him into close-quarters combat, yet the exchange had ended like this.
How long had it been since he’d known his opponent was weakened, yet had been so unable to steer the situation as he wished?
‘A monster who has attained transcendence even after losing his memories… Did he reach this state through a different method than in the past? How, with such a broken body—’
His two remaining heads exchanged complex feelings, but The Grafter instantly cleared his distracting thoughts.
It was unavoidable from the moment the identity of the [Gate] hidden in Yeongheo Palace’s mausoleum was discovered.
It was an inevitable process from the moment that mage uncovered the mausoleum’s secret all by himself.
One couldn’t blame the opponent’s unparalleled brilliance on their own mistakes or misjudgments.
Losing his past memories, discarding all his Authorities, and then facing the truth once again.
If all of that was like an unavoidable destiny—
KURRRUNG…!!
Slowly raising his body, The Grafter’s expression became calm.
Watching Croken stride toward him from a distance, the Herald spoke in a chilling voice.
“A being that harbors an unpredictable chaos… It seems you are allied with them, yet you don’t hesitate to raise a hand against your own comrades?”
“Why would I be allied with maggots like them?”
Croken asked in an indifferent voice.
“The only one I called for this job was that arrogant mage bastard. I don’t care where the rest of them die.”
“Hoh… Those are words I cannot simply ignore.”
Slowly uncrossing his arms, the Herald waved his three remaining arms and spoke.
“The esteemed one is a meritorious subject who once shouldered a mission more noble than anyone in the old Empire. Though his light has faded with time, his great deeds have not vanished.”
“……”
“He is one who should have long ago reached the same place as His Majesty, the Emperor.”
GDEUK, GDEUDEUDEUK-!!!!
The grotesque sound of tearing flesh as bones twisted and muscle grew.
A new head sprouted from the Herald’s neck, and the three severed arms regenerated, growing anew.
Having regenerated his body in an instant, The Grafter looked down at Croken with six eyes and spoke.
“Old beast. If you intend to step forward now to protect him, I will have no choice but to punish your presumption.”
“I don’t know why you keep spouting incomprehensible nonsense….”
Croken retorted, picking his ear with one hand.
“I was the one who made a promise first. I have something for that bastard to do, so get lost.”
“……”
“If you interfere, I’ll kill you all.”
“So you’re an insect that can’t understand words.”
The Herald gestured with a cold expression, and the house-sized Titan holding an axe moved.
KUNG!!!
The giant, twice Croken’s size, stomped with all its might and twisted its waist with full force.
Its entire upper body spun violently, transferring extreme centrifugal force to the axe, and the moment tens of tons of weight fell upon Croken’s head like an explosion.
Croken caught the axe blade, falling at supersonic speed, with the tip of his tail.
JJEOOONG!!!!
An immense shockwave, powerful enough to shake the entire mausoleum, exploded, and the recoil sent others staggering.
The recoil was so great that even the Titan who swung the axe momentarily lost its balance and staggered.
But Croken, who had caught the axe blade head-on, didn’t move a single step from his spot.
“You done?”
KWAJIK!!
Just by coiling the tip of his tail, the axe blade crumbled, and fragments rained down.
The moment the Titan flinched back, seeing its weapon crushed like tofu before its eyes.
Croken’s rebar-thick tail vanished from the air, and at the same time, the Titan’s head exploded.
PPEOEOEOENG!!!!
The instant they saw this, the Dragon Riders arrayed around the Herald moved.
“Kill it!!! Don’t let it escape!!”
“It attacks with its tail. Get in close!!!”
Superhumans, their menacing eyes flashing, with cephalopod-like forms squirming from beneath their helmets.
In an instant, they surrounded Croken, thrusting their blades into his vitals at imperceptible speeds.
Chilling gestures as they ruthlessly stabbed their blades between his ink-black scales, as if scraping out his insides.
But Croken ignored the attacks raining down from all sides and bent down.
“Don’t cling to me, you disgusting octopus bastards.”
CHALBAK!!
He scooped up the water flowing at his feet with his thick hand.
Croken, having scooped up less than a mouthful of water, ignored the flashing blades and turned.
The moment he, with a blank face, flicked the water at the superhumans charging at him as if throwing it into the air.
Droplets of water shot from Croken’s fingertips at tremendous speed, fanning out into hundreds of streams that pierced and exploded the Dragon Riders.
PEOBEOBEOBEOBEONG!!!!
“Geok…!!!!”
“Kuaaaak!!!”
“W-What is this…!!”
Silver armor shattered, and the slick flesh of the cephalopods hidden within was pierced and crushed.
The contradiction of mere drops of liquid, which should have no form, crushing and exploding the superhumans’ armor and bodies like cannonballs.
The Dragon Riders, their bodies lost and mangled, screamed in bizarre voices as they tumbled, unable to accept reality.
Croken bent down once more and scooped up a mouthful of water from his feet.
“Next.”
“N-No…!!”
PEOBEOBEOBEOBEONG!!!!
Every time he scooped and flicked the water, superhumans died all around as if a bombardment had struck the mausoleum.
The bodies of the Titans and Dragon Riders protecting The Grafter were crushed and exploded, and the Fallen Ones controlled by Jinwa’s Spell-Words were helplessly pushed back.
As The Grafter watched with his three hardened heads, Croken’s glowing eyes turned toward him.
In the center of the mausoleum, the Herald and Croken collided at tremendous speed.
KWAAAAAANG!!!!
“Kuk…!!”
“Hoh, you blocked it?”
Watching the Herald withstand the blow in place while unleashing a shockwave, Croken twisted his lips into a smirk.
The Herald had used all six arms on the right side of his body to block Croken’s fist.
But in return, three of the six arms were completely crushed, mangled like lumps of rotten meat.
The Herald’s quick-witted response, sacrificing three of his arms to block the punch head-on.
“I thought you were some strange monster, but it seems having all those extra arms wasn’t just for show.”
Only then did Croken scrutinize the Herald’s face and frown.
“You’re fucking disgusting to look at. Why are there three heads only on the right side?”
“You. You are no ordinary Long-lived Being…!”
The three heads moved simultaneously, spewing a chilling voice.
“I have never seen a beast with such physical strength. What is your identity!!”
“A mercenary.”
PPEOEOEOENG!!!
With the answer, his tail swung, and the Herald’s left head burst open.
He grabbed the staggering Herald’s fifth arm and tore it off, then kicked him in the stomach, piercing his organs.
Chilling gestures that dismantled the Transcendent’s body like a chunk of meat with every casual motion.
The splendid dragon robe the Herald wore was soaked in blue blood, and the mangled chunk of flesh tumbled backward.
CHWAAAAAK!!
“You regenerate every time I hit you. The feel of it isn’t bad.”
Croken smirked, looking at the Herald’s left head regenerating as if turning back time.
“I wondered what kind of monster you were, but you’re a nobleman with Blue Blood. If even that hideous body of yours was created through genetic modification, I suppose it’s not surprising.”
“……”
The Herald did not answer.
Instead, he simply stood up, regenerating the parts battered by Croken with a blank expression.
Watching him, Croken slowly dusted off his hands and asked nonchalantly.
“You don’t seem to be a Spell-Word user. Are you one of the Grand Dukes who participated in this deal?”
“……I see.”
The Herald’s six eyes stared intently at Croken.
“A monster that can sever causality with its bare fists. That’s not something a mere beast born of common mongrel blood can do.”
“……”
“Yes…… now I remember.”
Staring intently at Croken, the Herald muttered with all three heads moving at once.
“You are, from the Cradle long ago-”
PPEOEOEOENG!!!
Before he could finish his sentence, Croken’s fist vanished, and the Herald’s neck was torn off.
He instantly used the Authority of Grafting to reattach his severed body and ‘graft’ the mangled flesh back onto his form.
Having restored his body at incredible speed, The Grafter stepped forward to confront Croken.
Eujijik!!
Cheobeobeobeok!!!
The chilling sound of flesh being mangled, muscles and bones rupturing, the whole body being crushed into a piece of meat.
Even as six arms and two arms exchanged blows, he couldn’t gain the upper hand for even a moment.
Every time Croken reached out, The Grafter’s body was mangled, damaged beyond recognition.
But even in the midst of it, The Grafter used his Authority of Grafting to graft the impact from Croken’s blows in a different direction, twisting it away.
He used the Blessing of Yeongheo to nullify the hits themselves, or the Blessing of Ferocity to manipulate spacetime and alter trajectories.
The moment he, lavishly using the blessings and Authorities bestowed by the Three Grand Dukes, tried to cast a spell with his three heads even as his body was breaking apart—
[Lingering Thunder Body]
[Involuntary Form]
[Azure Link]
PAJIK-!!
The instant a pure blue lightning bolt struck his side, his entire body stiffened as if paralyzed.
The moment he was struck by the lightning, a chilling sensation as if the Authorities and blessings he was using were temporarily severed.
“You…!!”
The Grafter gasped raggedly at the sight of Lennok, his face pale, reaching a hand toward him.
JJEOOOONG!!!!!
Before he could even let out a roar, Croken’s fist smashed down on the crown of his head, and his entire frame was crushed as he was slammed into the floor.
With a powerful shockwave, the chunks of flesh that made up the Herald’s body spread across the floor like slime.
Croken, having popped a Transcendent’s body like a balloon with pure physical strength alone, glared at Lennok.
“Brat. What are you doing?”
“I did… what I do best.”
Reaching out a hand with difficulty, Lennok staggered to his feet.
He didn’t know why Croken was here, but now that things had come to this, what he had to do was clear.
Put the strongest warrior Lennok knew on the front line and provide fire support from the rear.
But Croken twisted his lips as if he didn’t like Lennok’s answer.
Ignoring the Herald regenerating at his feet, Croken turned and was about to say something when—
[Obey]
KIIIIING!!!!
At that moment, a violet Spell-Word flashed and entangled Croken’s arm as if grabbing it.
Ominously shimmering, bizarre characters assembled in the air and dug into his arm.
Croken’s arm moved explosively and once again blew up the Herald’s head, which had begun to regenerate.
[Swing]
PPEOEOEOENG!!!!!
“Hm?”
The Herald’s head was crushed once more on the spot, unable to even react.
But Croken frowned in displeasure, looking at his arm that had moved on its own.
“What was that all of a sudden?”
[Watching you quietly]
From above Croken’s head, Jinwa, her entire body made of Spell-Words, looked down at him with chilling eyes.
[You harbor a valor far too great for an insect]
DEUDEUDEUK…!!!
The violet Spell-Words dug into Croken’s arm and the viscous darkness clinging to his body.
Simultaneously, Croken’s arm began to move on its own, as if it had escaped his will.
[Your body is already afflicted with an innumerable number of curses]
Jinwa’s Spell-Word told Croken, as if whispering.
[It should not be difficult to insert a binding incantation among them]
“Aha, so this is that famous snail’s Spell-Word? It’s quite tingly.”
Croken tapped his stiffened arm, smirked, and turned around.
“To cast a Spell-Word directly on my body, that’s impressive. As expected of an Ascendant, you’re on a different level.”
[I shall help you use that presumptuous power in the right way]
KIIIIING-
The fragmented telepathy instantly merged into one, forming meaning.
The characters assembled in the air, imbued with the real power of Spell-Words, fell as an inescapable command.
[Kill the insect]
KWAJIK!!!
Moving Croken’s body for him, it began to slaughter the Herald’s minions rushing in from all sides.
Every time the alligator giant’s hand struck the air against its will, a shockwave exploded, grinding up the charging Dragon Riders.
At the same time, Lennok, realizing Jinwa’s aim, flinched and raised his gaze.
“Don’t tell me, using Spell-Words and curses…!!”
Within Paradise Lost, Jinwa’s Spell-Words were hypothetical imperatives close to absolute law.
They didn’t work on Lennok, who possessed Targeted Resistance, but it was a different story for others.
Moreover, Croken was a being who had placed innumerable curses on his own body, dragging it down to the realm of mortals.
The moment Jinwa saw him, she realized this fact and was trying to use her Spell-Words as a binding incantation to control his body.
KUOOOH!!!
The Ascendant, cloaked in violet light, slowly descended toward the stationary Croken.
[Not bad for suddenly crawling out and rampaging]
[From now on, I will let you serve in my garden for all eternity]
“Serve? You’re mistaken about something.”
Croken replied with a sullen expression.
“I’m not your gardener, you rotten snail. Do you think I came here to pull weeds in someone else’s garden?”
[You will soon come to accept it]
A hint of laughter mixed into Jinwa’s Spell-Word.
[Continue to devote yourself to me by doing what you do best]
“Piss off.”
[In the beginning, there was a glorious covenant]
[Obey]
[Submit]
[Revere]
[Worship]
KIIIIIIING!!!!!
The ominous, violet-glowing Spell-Words burrowed into Croken’s body in real time.
The whisper-like echoes became real meaning, moving and twisting the muscular giant’s body.
DDU DU DU DUK!!!
Croken’s arm moved on its own, slowly touching the floor, and he lowered his stance as if to kneel before Jinwa.
The Ascendant stood before him, her hand outstretched, concentrating on ceaselessly engraving the binding incantation onto Croken.
Her plan was to place a binding incantation on Croken right here and turn him into a tool to protect Paradise Lost.
But—
“This Spell-Word user bitch just doesn’t get it.”
DDUDEUK!!!
Croken’s arm, which had been moving on its own, returned to its place with the sound of it snapping.
He was forcibly twisting his own arm, which was moving against his will due to Jinwa’s Spell-Word, to force it back.
[Impossible]
The Ascendant’s Spell-Word distorted strangely.
It wasn’t that the Spell-Word wasn’t working. Even at this moment, her Spell-Word was merging with the curses entangled in Croken’s body.
It was just that Croken was using his pure physical strength to stop his rampaging arm and shatter the Spell-Word.
The moment Jinwa realized this and was about to pour layers of curse-laden Spell-Words onto Croken’s body.
A pure blue lightning bolt exploded, striking Jinwa’s Spell-Word head-on and momentarily reducing it to nothing.
KAAAAANG!!!!
[How dare you-!!]
A momentary opening created by interfering with and blocking Jinwa’s Spell-Word.
The instant the enraged Ascendant was about to unleash an explosion of Spell-Words to engulf Croken.
KWAJIK!!!
Croken, his vertically slit pupils flashing, shattered the Spell-Word and snatched Jinwa by the throat.
With a flick of his wrist, Croken threw Jinwa’s form all the way to the other side of Yeongheo Palace.
KWAAAAAAAAAH!!!!
The walls and corridors of the mausoleum located in the deepest part of Yeongheo Palace were successively smashed, pierced, and collapsed.
Debris rained down on the mausoleum, and thunderous explosions erupted ceaselessly.
Blood-soaked corpses scattered everywhere. The center of an explosion unbelievable even when seen with one’s own eyes.
“You’ve been wasting mana on useless things this whole time.”
Croken turned to look at Lennok, who had collapsed in the meantime, and spoke.
“I told you there was something you had to do.”
“……You are.”
Lennok looked at Croken and finally gave a bitter smile.
“Still a monster.”
“How many times are you going to make me say the same thing?”
“We’ve incapacitated the Ascendant and the Herald…… but it won’t last long.”
Lennok said, staggering to his feet.
“Neither of them are ordinary Transcendent. They’ll recover their strength somehow and come at us.”
“……”
“They were only holding back because they chose Yeongheo Palace as the transaction site. Now that it’s come to this, they’ll bring their ‘main force’. I’m sure of it-”
BBUUUUUUUUUUU-!!!!!!!
At that moment, from beyond the skies of the collapsed Yeongheo Palace, a deafening trumpet blast echoed.
The sky, dyed jet-black with dark magic, split open, and from beyond, streamlined, distorted ships appeared.
Several flying vessels with twisted curves, like blue marlins swimming in a sea of darkness, appeared and cast shadows upon the ground.
OOOOOOH!!!!!
With every moment the fleet moved toward Yeongheo Palace, a strange wave spread out, stimulating Lennok’s consciousness.
Lennok frowned, realizing the energy it held was similar to the blessings of the Three Grand Dukes that The Grafter had wielded.
“The Grand Dukes’ fleet….”
A tactical weapon directly under the Ars Nova Empire’s Imperial Palace Cabinet. Is the fleet’s presence a concept like a medium that bestows the Grand Dukes’ blessings upon this place?
KU GWAGWAGWAGWAGWA!!!!!
Simultaneously, the violet-tinged horizon of Paradise Lost split open, and a giant bathtub revealed itself.
The giant mass of slime within the tub writhed like a snail and let out a chilling, ominous roar.
「How dare」「How dare-」「How dare-!!!!!!」
The Three Grand Dukes’ direct fleet and the Ascendant’s true body appeared simultaneously, a pandemonium of Authorities pouring down like a bombardment.
There was no more conversation, no persuasion, no negotiation.
An all-out war would follow, with both sides revealing all their hidden cards and pouring them onto Paradise Lost and Yeongheo Palace.
“I’ll take the rear. I’m counting on you for the front.”
Slowly stepping forward, Lennok gathered his mana and spoke.
“I’ll do something about the interference from their spellcraft and Authorities. The rest is-”
“No.”
Croken was staring intently at Lennok.
“I told you. There’s something you have to do.”
“What?”
“You think I cleared away all these obstacles lying around for no reason?”
KUOOOOOOH!!!
Looking at the hellish [Gate] open in the center of the mausoleum, Croken gestured with his head indifferently.
“That bastard’s soul is sleeping beyond the gate. I went through some trouble to wake it up.”
“……”
“Since you opened the gate yourself, he should be starting to feel its presence over here by now.”
The soul of someone sleeping beyond the [Gate]. The true nature of what Croken had been doing all this time.
Lennok, quietly mulling over that answer, muttered.
“……Don’t tell me.”
Don’t tell me, Croken appearing from within the [Gate] was, from the very beginning—
KUOOOOOOH!!!!!
Yeongheo Palace, Audience Chamber, Deepest Sealing Room.
The corpse of Myeong, which had been sitting on the throne with its head bowed, slowly lifted its head as if awakening.
Shedding black tears, the corpse of Myeong, its inverted eyes dyed jet-black, slowly shifted its gaze.
It looked up at both the fleet floating thousands of meters away in the sky and the bathtub simultaneously.
The corpse, looking at the sky with turbid, soulless eyes, slowly reached out its hand.
Kki
ri
ri
rik
A curtain of darkness poured down from the edge of the sky, covering Yeongheo Palace and descending upon it.