Chapter 1434: The Power to Defy Fate (8)
In a sea of endless clouds, Lennok stood face to face with a pure white whale.
A being that swims ceaselessly through a vast sea of lightning, floating for eternity.
The symbol of the [Answer] he first obtained upon reaching Level 7.
‘…’
Lennok gazed up blankly at the whale floating in the lightning.
The whale, in turn, silently lowered its gaze to look at Lennok.
Only after so much time had passed could Lennok faintly understand.
That the giant whale floating in the sea of lightning also resembled the harbingers of demise that swam in the Outer Sea.
Perhaps the very existence of the Eightfold Lightning Firmament, transcending a distant time, had been pointing to this realization.
Perhaps Lennok’s first Domain, which embraced a vision of the future, had surpassed all possibilities and timelines to reach its final destination.
Was it coincidence or inevitability that the first Answer Lennok obtained had taken this form?
He pondered briefly, but he knew that in truth, it didn’t matter either way.
In the end, the only important thing was that Lennok had chosen it.
That he had embraced this scenery within himself by his own will, and no one else’s.
No attachments, no regrets.
And yet, if there was one thing that still bothered him—
R-rumble…!!!
The moment he closed and opened his eyes, the form of the whale swimming in the clouds was engulfed in black darkness and twisted.
Flashing a crimson-black gaze, a black whale swimming among dark stars glared at Lennok—
[Master…!!!]
With Davi’s urgent whisper, Lennok awoke from his dream.
Kwwwwaaaaa!!!!
Lennok’s body, having fallen from the distant sky, broke through the atmosphere and plummeted at a tremendous speed.
Due to the friction heat, the shield enveloping Lennok’s body glowed red, emitting a terrifying sonic boom.
A roar that surpassed any limit, one that could shatter eardrums just by hearing it.
But even as he fell from the sky, Lennok’s eyes were slowly closing.
Right after using the power of Demigod Transformation to unleash the Eightfold Lightning Firmament without a care for the consequences and rejecting the end.
This time, Lennok’s mental strength and mindscape had been completely emptied, pushing him to his absolute limit.
[Master…!!!]
“…Davi?”
Only after hearing Davi’s urgent telepathic call from within his robes did he snap back to his senses.
Seeing the ground, which had become close enough to be seen with the naked eye, Lennok’s expression hardened as he drew up his mana.
The minuscule amount of mana he had recovered in the short time it took to fall from the atmosphere. But it was enough.
Whoooosh!!!!
He manipulated the airflow to reduce friction and cast Ice Magic to lower the temperature.
He forcibly inserted a sub-space between himself and the ground, increasing the falling distance and reducing his speed.
Preparing to use Feigenbaum’s Eye, which he had saved as a last resort, he gauged his position as he looked at the ground.
Lennok’s rapidly falling body landed, almost crashed, onto a pile of rubble scattered among the ruins.
Kraaaang!!
Unable to withstand the impact, the surrounding piles of debris scattered explosively, letting out a roar.
The impact of returning to the ground from such a distant height was enough to create a small crater.
Lying in the pushed-aside mound of earth, Lennok touched his forehead with one hand.
“Ugh… my head is ringing.”
He quickly circulated his mana to check his body, but thankfully, there were almost no injuries from the fall.
Was it because he had come to his senses just before crashing, or because his mana had just barely held out?
It would have been quite ridiculous to get seriously injured on the way back after finishing a battle like that.
Lennok got up from the center of the crater, slowly rubbing his hands as he looked around.
“This place… is it near Yeongheo Palace?”
Somewhere on a nameless plain, at the coordinates where Paradise Lost had crumbled as Jinwa perished.
To be more specific, was it near the ruins where Yeongheo Palace had been located?
After a moment’s hesitation, Lennok walked out from among the debris and started walking slowly.
“To think I fell from such a height and still managed to return to this spot…”
Whoooosh…!!
During the fierce battle, even Yeongheo Palace had been completely destroyed, damaged beyond recognition.
Only the dust mixed in the wind blowing from afar served as proof that everything that had happened here was over.
[Is it… is it really all over now?]
It seemed Lennok wasn’t the only one with similar thoughts, as a tired sigh came from within his robes.
[This one felt particularly long. In many ways.]
“We did go through a regression midway, so that makes sense.”
Lennok stroked Davi’s head.
“There were so many unexpected situations this time… For you, it might not have been a bad thing.”
[Not at all! Don’t you ever use that ring again!]
Davi grumbled, then said dejectedly, her body drooping.
[I don’t like it when Master doesn’t recognize me… Don’t leave me alone.]
“Alright… I’m sorry.”
Lennok knew how ‘he’ had reacted to Davi right after using the ring.
Although Davi hadn’t mentioned it directly, he knew how shocked she had been.
The very fact that she was confessing it now was proof that the spirit had been enduring and considerate for Lennok’s sake for a long time.
Understanding this, Lennok gently stroked Davi’s head over and over again.
After rubbing her head against Lennok’s hand for a while, Davi cautiously asked.
[So you’re going to throw that ring away now, right?]
“…I can’t promise that.”
[Just give it to me!]
Davi scurried up his arm and lunged as if to bite Lennok’s hand.
As Lennok was bickering with Davi amidst the ruins, the sound of a very heavy boulder being thrown reached his ears.
Thud, thud…!!
“…Hm?”
The intensity and range of the noise were too unusual to be dismissed as simple noise.
A violent impact, as if a massive giant was tossing around house-sized boulders.
Turning his steps toward the direction of the loud noise, he saw a familiar face.
“Croken? What are you doing here?”
“Huh?”
With his face scrunched up in a deep frown, Croken, who had been kicking away the debris of the Spell-Word Stones, whipped his head around.
The crocodile giant, who had been staring intently at Lennok with reptilian pupils, finally dusted off his hands and turned.
“What, I thought for sure you’d be buried under the rubble, dying.”
“…Don’t tell me, you were searching that place to find me?”
Lennok asked with a dumbfounded expression.
“If you were clearing the debris like that, your kicks would have blown my body to bits long ago.”
“As if.”
Kwaang!!
Kicking apart a house-sized pile of rubble, Croken leaped over the debris and landed in front of Lennok in an instant.
As he stared at Lennok with a glint in his eyes, a strangely somber smile appeared on Croken’s lips.
“Hmph… So, you finally killed the Ascendant and returned in one piece.”
“…”
“Well done. You’ve certainly become someone worth looking at now.”
“…You’re saying something out of character. What are you trying to say?”
He had expected Croken to mock him for being weak, but he was acting very calm and composed.
Was it because he hadn’t done much in this incident, or was there some other reason?
Lennok frowned and asked.
“In the first place, where have you been all this time to only show up now—”
“I ran into that fellow, the Grand Duke of Yeongheo. It took some time to get away.”
“…What?”
“I’ll explain the details later. Have you settled everything with Myeong?”
Croken stared down at Lennok.
“Knowing him, I doubt he would have sent you out of the [Gate] empty-handed.”
“Yeah…”
Lennok looked up with a complicated expression.
“I heard the truth about the Gabihaeng and inherited Hell. That’s why I was able to kill the Ascendant who ate the branch of the Extinction Tree.”
Lennok was able to use the power of Demigod Transformation because he had inherited the already completed Hell from Myeong.
Without the power of Demigod Transformation, which ignores the backlash of spellcraft, he wouldn’t have been able to conclude all this.
It was an unrealistically powerful ability gained from researching the World’s Ten Laws, but it was a power contrary to the path Lennok pursued.
A Demigod was a being who, instead of pursuing ascension, chose to become a fallen demon confined to their own world.
If he continued to use this power, Lennok’s own path and hierarchy would also continue to twist and distort.
Perhaps that very danger was what made the power so potent, but—
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Croken, who had been listening with his arms crossed, tilted his head.
“A branch of the Extinction Tree? Why is something like that here?”
“Are you kidding me? You’re saying you don’t know why the Extinction Tree is here?”
“Don’t expect too much from a mere mercenary. Am I supposed to study to learn things I don’t know?”
With his arms still crossed, Croken glanced away.
“But Myeong was very different from me. He was always in such a rush, never at ease, and later he grew anxious about everything, constantly chased by time.”
“…”
“I don’t care what he went through to become who he is now, but I do know that he was waiting all this time to give you something.”
Croken’s lips twisted as he stared at Lennok.
“If it was delivered, that’s all that matters. He must have left without any lingering attachments. A great warrior should leave empty-handed.”
“Myeong was neither great nor a warrior, but…”
“Are you going to argue over trivial things?”
“That’s not the only part worth objecting to.”
Lennok sighed.
“Myeong’s soul is still with me. I think we need to discuss this part a bit more.”
“Huhh?”
For the first time, Croken’s expression twisted viciously.
“What, what kind of bullshit is that?! I scraped together some words I don’t even have to eulogize him, and you’re telling me he’s still here?”
“I never once said Myeong had left. You’re the one who jumped to conclusions.”
“Are you trying to play word games with me now? If he passed on what he needed to and left, that should be the end of it, not clinging on pathetically like some stray ghost… Tsk, I misjudged him!!”
“I’m pretty sure I told you that’s not what’s happening.”
Lennok, turning towards the ruins, and Croken, growling and stomping his feet, walked side by side.
Every time, the ground shook as if from an earthquake, and debris fell from all sides—
A vaguely familiar voice was heard from somewhere.
“…Ugh.”
“Adamant Thunder…?”
“What, who are these guys?”
Where the debris had fallen, Sarin and Soryu were looking this way with surprised expressions.
Sarin was covered in blood, and Soryu’s entire lower body was completely shattered and scattered as ice.
“…Your wounds are quite severe. I’ll treat you.”
Lennok, frowning at the sight, walked towards them.
He took a blood pack from his robes, threw it to Sarin, and grabbed Soryu’s shoulder.
As Lennok infused his mana, Soryu’s body began to restore itself with ice right on the spot.
Chiiik…!
“Ugh…”
“Glad you’re alive. Were you hiding near Yeongheo Palace?”
“Those with Bloodline Abilities… have many ways to stay alive.”
Soryu exhaled and looked up at Lennok with difficulty.
“I… am more curious about how you returned. The sky, it was…”
“…”
“The sky… turned into a sea…”
Lennok didn’t answer.
With a blank face, he just infused mana into Soryu’s body, helping him activate his Bloodline Ability to regenerate parts of his body.
Soryu looked at Lennok’s face for a moment, then said no more and quietly shut his mouth.
“This brat is quicker on the uptake than he looks.”
Croken, watching from the side, chuckled.
“I was about to blow his head off if he uttered one more word. Lucky him.”
“…Lord Asylus.”
Sarin, drinking the blood pack with a pale face, asked.
“Have we… learned a secret we shouldn’t have?”
“That’s not for you lot to judge.”
Croken turned his reptilian pupils to Lennok.
“Hear it from him yourself.”
“…”
Soryu and Sarin looked at Lennok without a word, and Lennok said calmly.
“At this point, it’s not a secret worth killing to protect.”
“That…”
“I won’t tell you to forget it, but simply not speaking of it will be enough.”
What the others saw of the Eightfold Lightning Firmament from the ground must have been just a fragment of what Lennok unleashed in the Outer Sea.
If they only saw the sea of lightning from a distance, and not the Kaleidoscope itself, there was no reason to silence them.
Rather, the fact that Croken was reacting so sensitively felt like it had some other meaning.
“Anyway… if it weren’t for you, all of us would have died in this Paradise Lost long ago.”
Soryu nodded.
“We’ll do as you wish. Whatever it is.”
“That’s settled then. Can you stand?”
“…I’ll try.”
Crackle…!!!
The ice freezing his lower body transformed into the shape of legs, regaining its original form in the blink of an eye.
Grasping a rock for support, Soryu got to his feet, swaying with a pale complexion as he balanced himself.
“Where are the other members of Pandemonium? Did they already manage to escape Yeongheo Palace?”
“I have a caller—”
“There’s no need for that.”
At that moment, a blunt Enforcer’s voice rang out from behind Sarin.
Maiya, with the prosthetic on her left arm, stood amidst the debris with a blank expression.
“You falling from the sky like a meteor shower was visible all over Paradise Lost. They should all be on their way here by now.”
“You make it sound like I turned into a shooting star.”
“That was excellent, Adamant Thunder.”
Maiya ignored Lennok’s remark and said calmly.
“Among the countless choices… coming here with you was the only right answer. If it hadn’t been for you, no one could have defeated the fallen Ascendant.”
“…”
“I don’t know what you went through at the end, but you deserve respect for the feats you have accomplished so far. By now, perhaps…”
Glancing away, a faint smile seemed to appear on Maiya’s lips.
“I suspect the news has already spread to the outside world.”
“…”
“Tower Lord!!!”
At that moment, a sharp voice from the other side of the ruins pierced his ears.
A rich voice that could be recognized at once no matter how noisy it was.
Freya, riding on Agneta’s back, waved her hand with a delighted look.
“Holy crap, you’re really here! How the hell did you make it back alive?!”
“Freya. Saying it like that makes it sound as if you were hoping he’d die.”
“The fuck are you talking about, you crazy bastard?! You’re just trying to stir up trouble!!”
Freya, furious, kicked Ermont, who was riding behind her, off and onto the ground.
Hylaea walked out from beside Ermont, who had been planted headfirst into the ground.
“Everyone, I’m glad you’re alive. Even in the worst-case scenario, we managed to survive somehow.”
“Though there is a psychopath who didn’t make it out alive.”
“…”
Everyone glared at Ermont with murderous intent for tactlessly mentioning the Conjunction Spell Master.
“I received the bodies of the Conjunction Spell Master and the Nether King from Maiya and am keeping them safe…”
Agneta said in a dazed voice.
“If we’re going to mourn together here, should I take them out…?”
“No, that’s not what I meant… Anyway, let’s sort out the situation first.”
Hylaea sighed softly, looked around, and slowly nodded.
A brief silence followed as the members gathered, centering on Lennok and Croken.
“As you’ve probably already guessed, Adamant Thunder has recovered the legacy and defeated the master of Paradise Lost.”
Hylaea, who had been lost in thought for a moment, slowly looked around at the others and spoke.
“Soon, the entirety of Paradise Lost will collapse, and the environment here will return to normal. Everyone worked really hard this time.”
“I really thought we were done for when we got caught trying to sneak away the legacy.”
“If that ‘Grafter’ fellow had caught us, it’s hard to imagine we would have had a clean death.”
“So much happened, but in the end, I’m ashamed I wasn’t much help.”
“Not holding someone back or getting in the way at a crucial moment is also the virtue of an excellent teammate.”
Maiya said without a change in her expression.
“You were the one who drew up the overall plan for this operation, so there’s no need to blame yourself too much.”
“But…”
“In the first place, if we’re talking about contributions, it seems no one here besides Adamant Thunder has the right to speak.”
“…”
“Well, I guess Maiya, who brought the legacy directly to Adamant Thunder, can at least clear her throat, right?”
As everyone fell silent, unable to retort, Freya shrugged.
“It’s true we weren’t much help at the end… but that doesn’t mean we were just messing around.”
“Hoh, what’s that supposed to mean?”
“Remember the Cradle of Paradise Lost that Freya visited with Adamant Thunder before?”
Hylaea asked.
“Right after escaping Yeongheo Palace, we changed direction and found the Cradle’s location again. At first, it was to decipher the Absolute Script and help even a little against Jinwa, but… we found relics with transcendent power stored there.”
“…Don’t tell me?”
“It means the treasure vault that the Ascendant, who also served as the Grand General of the central city, had been collecting for decades is still intact.”
Freya grinned.
“It’s time to do what we do best. Let’s go raid the stash Jinwa left behind.”