Chapter 1437: A New Phase (2)
Vulcan, the mega-city, District 49. The Adamant Tower.
The ascension ritual that began with Dadam’s visit had ended. In the newly constructed isolation training grounds of the magic tower’s annex.
Weian stood alone on a desolate corridor resembling the vastness of space, his eyes closed.
His hands rested on the dual swords at his waist as he breathed slowly, steadying his breath.
He tensed every muscle in his body, gauging the timing as if waiting for a starting signal—
[START!]
The moment the string of text appeared in the air, Weian’s eyes shot open, and he sprinted forward without hesitation.
Th-th-th-thump!!!
With the first step, he felt the gravity lighten and the oxygen thin.
From the very start, his mana drained rapidly, hitting rock bottom in an extreme environment where it was difficult to maintain consciousness.
[Grrrrr!!!]
From the far end of the old corridor, bizarrely shaped Long-lived Beings, their bodies reduced to rags, revealed themselves.
An iron-scaled dragon with all its leather and scales peeled away, its intestines spilling out. A Blood Kirin with its neck torn off, blood dripping profusely.
A colossal centipede, dead for a long time but mummified instead of decaying, rampaged through the dark corridor.
“Kuhk…!!!”
Clang!!!
He dodged the centipede’s legs falling from above and parried a blow from the iron-scaled dragon’s forepaw with his dual swords.
Rolling backward as if flipping his body, he snapped his waist back and slid across the floor, evading the Blood Kirin’s fins.
He instinctively swung his dual swords, deflecting and parrying the falling attacks in a way his mind couldn’t comprehend, then sharply turned his head.
Spat-
From the far end of the corridor, an angel’s prayer spell aimed at him narrowly pierced the spot where he had just stood.
He stepped on the back of the rampaging iron-scaled dragon and rode the fin of a Cloud Kirin to vault over its massive body.
Evading the centipede’s rampage, he passed through the bulkhead door and ran like mad toward the end of the corridor.
“Hah, hah…!!!!”
How much time had passed to get this far?
Weian, a wretched sight with broken limbs and his stomach torn open, intestines spilling out, opened the door with a trembling hand.
Creeeak…!
The scene was like the cabin of some nameless spaceship, with a view of the distant universe unfolding.
A silver dragon, draped in starlight, that had been gazing out the glass window, slowly turned its head—
Flash!!!
At the same time a silver radiance exploded before his eyes, Weian’s body shattered the bulkhead and was flung outside.
As Weian fell toward the endless Outer Sea, everything before his eyes stopped moving.
[DEADLINE]
Fzzt-
As the red warning message flickered, everything vanished, revealing the vast training grounds.
The Fearsome Blood King, Racy, approached Weian, who was lying on the training ground floor, gasping for breath, and spoke.
“Hologram system down. Garden of Memories closed. How was this training session?”
“…Dammit.”
Weian spat out a low curse, his face scrunched in a frown.
“I managed to save my Apostle Transformation for the first time… but I died the moment I met that dragon thing. Just how much of a monster is it?”
“Maleon Gnosis? He was the last True Bloodline that Adamant Thunder fought in Outer Tribulation City. A weakling like you could be incinerated with a single finger.”
The Fearsome Blood King placed her hands on her hips and looked down at Weian with disdain.
“I told you to stop with the useless attempts and fight the other Long-lived Beings. Do you have any idea how much it cost to artificially reproduce Adamant Thunder’s memories of the Ninth Tribulation in this training ground?”
“Ugh…”
“It’s a virtual space that can only be constructed after purchasing massive quantities of dream gems grown from dream trees to induce the materialization of memories, and then specifying the area with my blood magic. There’s a line of applicants besides you, you know.”
“But… I really want to practice my Apostle Transformation and try fighting an Ascendant.”
Weian grumbled.
“When else would I get a chance to fight data of an Ascendant? You have to fight the strongest opponent to grow quickly.”
“That’s not wrong, but there’s a limit. The difference in level is astronomical. What do you possibly expect to learn?”
Before the Subjugation Operation began, Lennok had projected his memories onto the magic tower, making its environment similar to Kundara’s Ninth Tribulation.
What Racy had done now was use the memory data Lennok left behind in that process to create a training system for her tower colleagues.
In other words, she had turned the monsters of the Ninth Tribulation that Lennok fought in Kundara into training opponents for the mercenaries.
It was merely an afterimage of memory, not the real thing, so it couldn’t replicate even half of the original’s power—
Nevertheless, no superhuman had ever made it to the end of this [Ninth Tribulation Hologram Simulation Training] that Racy created with Lennok’s permission.
“But even the mummies on the outskirts of the Ninth Tribulation are ridiculously strong… Is this really a difficulty level a human can pass?”
“My contractor is the standard, not humans, so of course it is. Is that even a real question?”
Racy replied coldly.
“Stop overreaching and just check the combat data for the Cloud Kirin you’ve faced the most.”
“Ah, that animal covered in white clouds? I remember it.”
Weian sat down, crossed his arms, and spoke with a thoughtful expression.
“Even with most of its hide peeled off, my swords don’t penetrate well. Its belly is softer, but since it floats in the air, it’s hard to hit…”
“And?”
“…It uses a strange technique called an Invasion Domain to change the surrounding environment, and it’s incredibly dangerous. If you get close, it feels like all the blood in your body will freeze.”
“How long did it take you to get past it in your first training session?”
“Uh… 6 minutes? No, maybe about 7? Though I didn’t kill it, I just ran away.”
“Adamant Thunder dealt with it in about 15 seconds and moved on to the next section.”
“…”
Ignoring the speechless Weian, the Fearsome Blood King snapped her fingers.
Fwoosh!!
In that instant, the mummy of a Cloud Kirin, its entire hide peeled away, appeared in the training ground.
Almost simultaneously, the faint hologram of a wizard materialized in front of the Cloud Kirin.
“Watch carefully. This is the combat data extracted from my contractor’s memory of that time.”
“…Is that really Van? He looks like he’s about to die.”
The hologram of Lennok standing before the Cloud Kirin mummy looked to be in extremely poor condition, even at a glance.
His body was tilted askew as if he could fall at any moment, and he walked slowly, dragging his feet.
Just as Weian’s expression hardened at the sight of the hologram, which seemed to have trouble even moving, let alone fighting, Racy spoke calmly.
“It can’t be helped. Adamant Thunder broke through the Ninth Tribulation alone and killed Maleon in this state. It’s better to show you a memory as close to the original as possible, isn’t it?”
“No, I mean, sure, but I don’t really want to secretly watch Van dying—”
“Shut up and watch.”
The floating Cloud Kirin mummy and the staggering hologram of Lennok moved toward each other at almost the same time.
Every time the cloud-wreathed fins moved, concentrated beams of light rained down from the air like a bombardment.
Lennok, flickering faintly from side to side, advanced while peeling away the bombardment falling from the sky at incredible speed.
KRA-KRA-KRA-KOOM!!!!
“…Crazy.”
Amidst the hundreds of dizzying beams of light, he seemed to be moving with every position perfectly memorized.
He evaded every single omnidirectional bombardment as if it were a matter of course, even slipping past the erratically bending beams.
FWHOOM-FWOOM-FWOOM!!!
He grabbed a beam passing right before his nose, twisted its trajectory, and forcibly created space to dodge.
He used Flicker just as the roaring Cloud Kirin mummy swung its fin.
Zap!!
The Cloud Kirin, having predicted his evasion path, swung its fin ferociously, but Lennok was not there.
Lennok, who had used Flicker to remain stationary, had a bolt of lightning explode from his hand—
[ERROR]
A red warning light flashed in the training ground, and the hologram went down and vanished.
“…”
“Looks like it overloaded from loading too much data. Anyway, even after severely degrading the original combat data, this is the limit.”
Racy walked out from beside the speechless Weian and said.
“Anyway, you get the gist, right?”
“…No, sorry, but I don’t get it at all. What?”
“Between my contractor and the Cloud Kirin mummy just now, there was a strategic battle involving roughly 144 moves.”
The Fearsome Blood King said nonchalantly.
“Among them, there were about eight critical junctures. Adamant Thunder won all of the first seven, then used psychological warfare at the end to destroy the Long-lived Being in one blow.”
“…”
“I trust that even your dull brain is starting to understand what I’m trying to say.”
Racy stared intently at Weian.
“In battles between high-level superhumans, strategic and psychological warfare aren’t options; they’re essential. You have to calculate at times, and guess at others, gaining insight into your opponent’s abilities and how they’ll react in specific situations to win.”
“That’s too difficult for me… huh?”
“My contractor is the most skilled person I’ve ever seen in my life at that kind of strategic and psychological warfare.”
Racy said, cutting Weian off coldly.
“Calculation and intuition aren’t talents that can be sharply divided. In a way, he’s the best case for showing how they contain each other.”
“…”
“If you can use your Apostle Transformation ability to borrow even a fraction of my contractor’s disposition or talent, you must remember this. I don’t know why, but my contractor seems to be watching your talent with particular interest, though I’m skeptical no matter how I think about it…”
“No, wait a minute.”
“…Weian.”
At some point, Weian was staring blankly into space, not even paying attention to her.
The Fearsome Blood King stopped talking and turned to Weian with an irritated expression.
“Let me be clear, I don’t like being interrupted. If you’ve disrupted my explanation for some trivial reason, I’ll kick you out immediately.”
“I think I’m possessed.”
“What?”
“I feel like… I’m hearing a strange voice.”
Weian muttered, ignoring the Fearsome Blood King’s words.
“What kind of strange nonsense have you been hearing—”
“Someone… is talking to me…”
Weian turned his gaze, his face slightly pale.
“…Who is Chapman?”
After Inepin, who had proposed attending the Grand Generals’ banquet, left Paradise Lost without a second thought.
Lennok, along with the members of the Demonic Conflux, was checking the last things that needed to be done in the Cradle.
“I see.”
The corpse of the Conjunction Spell Master lay with a pale face, his eyes closed.
Maiya checked the pulse of the spell master, who was not even breathing, let alone moving, and nodded.
“Observing his condition, I’m certain. This man is not completely dead.”
At Maiya’s declaration, the other members watching the situation wore strange expressions.
“Just as I thought…”
“I knew it. There’s no way this psychopath would go down so easily.”
The Conjunction Spell Master had died after a heroic effort to buy time alone in Yeongheo Palace, but those who had seen him in action had doubted his death.
An 8-level Trait-type Grand Spell Master. A psychopath who would nonchalantly perform the insane act of splitting his right and left brain and transplanting them into different bodies.
It seemed unlikely that this madman, who performed deranged human experiments without distinguishing between himself and others, would meekly accept death in a place like this.
“Do you remember the suspended animation procedure the spell master used on us when we first entered Yeongheo Palace?”
Maiya said.
“It seems the spell master performed that procedure on his own body to halt the necrosis of his tissues. Although he has reached an irreversible state, strictly speaking, he isn’t dead yet.”
“So the spell master’s body is stopped in a state similar to being a vegetable.”
“If his brain isn’t completely dead, then there might be a slight possibility.”
“He performed a suspended animation procedure on his own body in the middle of that urgent situation…?”
Freya said with a dumbfounded expression.
“What, did he suddenly open up an operating room in the middle of a fight? How is that even possible?”
“…”
“Adamant Thunder, what are you going to do about the banquet?”
As Lennok, who knew the truth, remained silent, Soryu turned his gaze.
“If the Ascendants are attending, it seems difficult to refuse outright. She might have handed over the quill so readily for that very reason.”
“Perhaps…”
Lennok silently raised his gaze.
“She said Ascendants of the Old World, but there’s a high chance that those who actually attend the banquet won’t be entirely sound beings.”
“…What do you mean?”
“As far as I know, only one being has successfully ascended from the First World to the Third World.”
Lennok replied with a bitter smile.
“In that case, all the other beings must be from the Second, but… even they likely aren’t in a normal state.”
“…”
“There must be some benefit to be gained through the seat of a Grand General. It seems we’ll need to investigate that part.”
At Lennok’s calm reply, the expressions of the other members changed strangely.
“Uh, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Seeing you like this, you really do seem like an Ascendant.”
“He doesn’t seem like one, he is one.”
“No, he’s never admitted it himself, has he?”
“Stop with the useless talk and let’s move.”
Leaving the others to their bickering, Lennok turned to leave.
“Paradise Lost will soon collapse completely, and those who hear the news will start flocking here. Getting entangled with other factions or superhumans will make things troublesome.”
“We were delayed a bit longer than expected because of that woman.”
Lennok and the members of the Demonic Conflux began to move, gathering the remaining relics and magical tools in the Cradle.
“That staff. It was a magic tool forged using Primitive Magic. It increases spell-casting efficiency, so keep it.”
“I’ll carry it.”
“This stone statue is from the Stania Monastery… The hole inside is blocked, so it must be storing a monk’s sarira.”
“It’s quite a bit heavier than I thought… Can I even carry it?”
“The Fan of the Eight Desolations. There were several commissioned requests at my magic tower to buy this for a price equivalent to several tens of billions of cells. Hold onto it for now.”
“Hey, let’s be reasonable here.”
Ermont, shouldering a backpack larger than his own body, said with a look of disbelief.
“You haven’t lifted a single finger since the beginning, making us do all the porter work.”
“You have complaints even when I’m letting you have the relics from this place. Don’t you want to make money?”
“You just want to use us as living luggage!”
“Ermont, will you shut your mouth?”
Freya glared at the grumbling Ermont with an annoyed expression.
“In any case, the Tower Lord said he’d share the spoils with us. You should just carry it quietly, why are you talking so much?”
“Freya might be fine, but I’ve had a ton of blood sucked out of me, I feel like I’m dying. Why are you giving such a heavy task to a patient?”
“You weren’t given a heavy task, you were just given heavy luggage. Now, put this in your bag too.”
Freya held up a necklace carved from sapphire.
“This was made by Yepnen, who was called the legendary designer of the Imperial Palace. If this came up for auction now, all the collectors on the continent would go crazy.”
“Couldn’t you just wear the necklace around your neck and carry it?”
“Are you blind? Can’t you see me right now?”
“…”
Freya, too, was laden with bags on her front and back, both as large as her torso, stuffing them with all sorts of treasures.
Finally rendered speechless, Ermont quietly took the necklace. Maiya, watching the scene, shook her head.
“Looking at you all like this, you’re no different from thieves.”
“What’s with the sudden… are you trying to maintain your dignity as an Enforcer?”
“You have to have something before you can throw it away, so it’s best to take what you can when you can.”
Soryu said nonchalantly as he passed by Maiya.
“When my father died, I often regretted not having plundered more from the Kabahim royal treasury.”
“Oh~ what a patricidal response. It suits you very well.”
“My father likely thought something similar about me, so it’s fine.”
“…”
“Adamant Thunder, I’ve prepared an Authority to ensure a safe return from here.”
As Ermont was, for once, at a loss for words, Hylaea approached Lennok and said.
“Now that the events of Paradise Lost are known to the outside, we won’t be able to return to Gateway City, but at the very least, we can go to a safe place together…”
“No. There’s no need to use another location as a waypoint. My business here is all finished.”
Lennok raised his gaze.
“However, there is one last thing I must do before returning to Vulcan.”
“What?”
“Now that I’ve recovered Myeong’s soul, I can’t just leave him as he is.”
At the unexpected answer, the other members were stunned into silence as Lennok began to walk.
The memory of the distant past that Myeong had shown Lennok just before accepting annihilation in hell.
It wasn’t just significant for his past self and the end of the Black Edict.
The very place where the Ascendant of the past and the family of the Black Edict met to research the Heavenly Abasement Spellcraft.
“The main house of the Black Edict… is not far from here. I’ll have to go there, if only to revive Myeong.”