Chapter 1453: New Phase (18)

[Master. I’ve successfully negotiated with the City Council and obtained access rights to the satellite city, Fayuz.]

Whoooosh!!!

A wind mixed with cement dust blew from beyond the ruins. It was a desolate ghost town with no signs of human life.

Lennok was now in a satellite city named Fayuz, a place outside Vulcan that had been abandoned for over several decades.

[It went smoothly since there were some friendly individuals on the Countermeasures Committee. They’re asking if you can make some time in a few days. What should I tell them?]

“I’ll do that. Good work.”

Immediately after discovering that components of the World Tree’s cells had been observed in a nearby satellite city while analyzing the Black Edict staff, Lennok had contacted the Vulcan City Council to gain access to said city.

Normally, he wouldn’t go through the trouble of getting permission for every little thing, but the environment of this satellite city was vastly different from others.

Creeaak…!!

With every step, the asphalt beneath his feet crumbled and collapsed, making a strange sound.

It wasn’t that the ground was weak and collapsing, but rather that an extremely dangerous power seemed to be breaking down the matter itself.

[Estimated radiation exposure: over 140. At this level, it’s a wonder the city is still holding its shape.]

“They say it’s the result of a failed experiment that took place here. It seems the entire city has been designated a prohibited zone now.”

There were countless failed satellite cities that had been indiscriminately built around Vulcan during the urban expansion development plan.

Some, like Etanoc or Bailuts, had become lairs for outlaws, but others had turned into hellscapes where no one could live.

Crackle, crackle…!!

The radiation exposed to the atmosphere poured down onto his shield, causing the mana particles to collapse and break apart.

From all corners of the alleys, ghouls and mutants contaminated by radiation drooled as they watched Lennok.

[Kereuk, kereuk….]

[Guuuhhh-]

While ghouls and specters were common in other satellite cities, the killing intent and life force felt here were far stronger.

These must be monsters that had survived by indiscriminately attacking and devouring any humans or living creatures that entered this place.

A hellscape steeped in high-concentration radiation that even most superhumans couldn’t endure for a single moment.

Ironically, this confirmed to Lennok that he had chosen the right destination.

“Indeed, if one were to hide a sample of the World Tree, there would be no more suitable place than this.”

The entire satellite city was exposed to radiation far exceeding lethal levels.

Normally, hiding a valuable item in such a place would be pointless, as it would become so steeped in radiation that it would be untouchable.

But a sample of the World Tree was highly likely to maintain its original form, no matter how much radiation it was exposed to.

The fact that the entire city was contaminated with such powerful radiation made it all the more plausible that the sample was hidden here.

“This should be far enough.”

Thud!

He stood in the middle of a city block where the asphalt had cracked and crumbled.

An expansive four-way intersection where an eight-lane road crossed. High-rise buildings with shattered windows and exposed steel frames.

Standing in the center of it all, Lennok let his arms hang forward and deactivated his protective shields one by one.

Tsshh-

The shield Lennok used was a result of modifying common magic. It was less an impenetrable barrier and more a consumable that was constantly layered and regenerating.

This was because he knew that stacking moderately strong shields was more efficient than maintaining a single, immensely strong one.

After obtaining the Automeus Automated Calculus, he had kept the shields up virtually 24/7, but now he deactivated them, exposing his body to the atmosphere.

However, even as he heard the shattering sound of the shields breaking, Lennok stood his ground, closed his eyes, and clasped his hands together.

Kree-gee-geek…!!!

“Before I search for the World Tree’s sample… there was one thing I needed to check first.”

With a simple hand sign, Lennok’s hand sliced down vertically, grabbing and pulling something from an unseen dimension.

Simultaneously, a pitch-black branch was drawn out, revealing itself as it began to devour all the radiation.

“Awaken.”

Kuuuoooo…!!!!

Merely grabbing the black staff, which resembled something a shepherd might carry to lead his flock, caused black tree roots to erupt explosively.

Pulsating as if alive, the tree roots greedily absorbed atmospheric particles and radiation, and a storm brewed with Lennok at its center.

Lennok watched the staff absorb all the radiation from the air, then plunged it into the cracked asphalt.

In that instant, the entire landscape of the bustling city intersection, where eight-lane roads crossed, collapsed and began to be absorbed into the staff.

Kururururururu-

Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!

The skyscrapers standing throughout the city shook violently and crumbled in place.

The roads split, the earth tilted, and all the shattered debris turned into a handful of dust.

Amidst the chaos, even the drooling ghouls and mutants who had been watching cautiously screamed and fled.

Watching the furiously pulsating staff, Lennok unhesitatingly summoned the Grimoire of Fate’s Libra.

Shhhlick!!!

As soon as it was summoned, the grimoire’s old pages emitted a dazzling light and began to flip at high speed.

Lennok grasped the glowing grimoire and plunged the Black Edict staff into its center.

“Outer Heaven First Law [Demigod Transformation], activate.”

Watching the pages of the grimoire where the staff was embedded turn black, Lennok’s eyes shone coldly.

“Open.”

Kiiiiiiing-

A black line split open vertically, becoming a massive gate that instantly covered and spread across the satellite city.

As the dimensional gate opened before his eyes, at the center of the [Hell] that had swallowed the satellite city and now stretched out endlessly…

Kuuuoooo!!

Along the black plains, darkness floated like clouds, looking down upon the land, and from within the clouds, red eyes glinted.

This was the Hell he had personally inherited from Myeong after the Gabihaeng. A chaotic dimension that originally didn’t exist anywhere in this world.

Watching the landscape of Hell, now vastly different from before, spread out and cover the satellite city in the blink of an eye, Lennok opened his mouth.

“I think I have a rough idea of the conditions required to properly use the power of Hell I inherited from Myeong.”

[Is it an efficiency problem, by any chance?]

His reason for coming to the radiation-contaminated satellite city with the City Council’s permission wasn’t just to find the World Tree sample.

After the Paradise Lost incident, he had visited the Black Edict’s ancestral home. There, he had obtained the Black Edict staff, which contained the power of the Extinct Tree Outer God.

This had been an experiment to determine the resources needed to open the gate to [Hell], which he had received from Myeong, using the staff.

Since the staff forcibly absorbed and annihilated everything it touched, it was impossible to test its abilities in a normal laboratory or testing ground.

That’s why Lennok thought a deserted satellite city like this, rather than Vulcan’s Outer Zone, would be a suitable stage for the experiment, but—

Unfortunately, the results were not as optimistic as he had thought.

“The gate barely opened only after devouring this much of the satellite city’s radiation… If it requires this level of resources every time, it will be difficult to use it freely on a regular basis.”

[So it needs sufficient fuel, whether it’s mana or radiation, to feed the staff.]

Lennok had inherited ownership of Hell from Myeong, but that didn’t mean he could summon it freely whenever he wanted.

Hell was a concept from another dimension that didn’t exist in the present world, so the coordinates to it needed to be newly set each time.

Hadn’t Lennok himself reached the Hell where Myeong lay dormant through the [Gate] that existed in the Yeongheo Palace Mausoleum?

Owning Hell and opening the gate to reach it were two different matters.

This was a constraint that arose because, fundamentally, Lennok was not a proper demigod or demon.

That was why Lennok had been trying to gauge the conditions needed to open the gate to Hell using the Black Edict staff.

But upon actually conducting the experiment, he realized that the resources consumed in the process were beyond imagination.

“Using Demigod Transformation at its full output without Hell’s support is difficult. This problem isn’t as simple as I thought.”

Fate’s Libra: Outer Heaven First Law Demigod Transformation.

It was a Transcendent Magic that had played a decisive role in the battle of Paradise Lost, possessing the unrealistic power to completely ignore the backlash of all spellcraft and authority.

Because he had drawn upon his power through the authority of Demigod Transformation without thinking of the consequences, Lennok had been able to return even after killing Jinwa and meeting the Outer Gods.

Only after everything was over was he once again realizing just how demanding and complex the necessary conditions were.

Demigod Transformation was a Transcendent Magic he could use because he had inherited Hell from Myeong.

It was more like because he had been given Hell, which only a demigod or a demon could possess, that he was, in turn, able to use Demigod Transformation.

In Paradise Lost, he had used Demigod Transformation immediately after emerging from Hell, so there had been no difficulty in casting the Transcendent Magic.

But after everything was over, he couldn’t use Demigod Transformation without opening Hell using the Black Edict staff, as he was doing now.

[So you can only use Demigod Transformation if you open Hell, but to do that, the fuel you need to feed the staff is on the scale of a city.]

Davi tilted her head.

[What should we do then?]

“If it’s simply a problem of insufficient fuel, it’s not without a solution.”

Lennok stepped away from the staff.

“It would require a lot of preparation, but by combining the authorities and artifacts I currently possess, I might be able to temporarily construct a suitable environment to use the staff.”

Through the decisive battle in Paradise Lost, Lennok understood just how asymmetrically powerful Transcendent Magic was.

A miracle that completely ignored the backlash of all spellcraft and authority, descending upon reality as a contradiction itself.

Among the amplification abilities Lennok currently possessed, the only one that could compare was the extreme of the Crimson Star System, the spell effect [Seamless Robe of Heaven].

No matter how astronomical the resources required to use Demigod Transformation again were, he had no intention of easily giving up that power.

“Preparing won’t be difficult once I’ve clearly identified the necessary conditions. And making arrangements before a fight is something I put the most effort into.”

[I guess we’ll have to study it diligently. Should we just be content with the fact that we’ve identified a problem that can’t be solved immediately?]

“No, that won’t do.”

Lennok shook his head.

“If I were to be satisfied with such a meager harvest, I wouldn’t have bothered experimenting in this satellite city in the first place.”

[Huh? Then….]

“I’ve gained enough clues while experimenting with the power of the Extinct Tree Outer God.”

Lennok said as he turned the page of the grimoire impaled on the Black Edict staff.

Past the [Outer Heaven First Law: Demigod Transformation] written on the first page, there was a new sentence on the second page.

[Fate’s Libra: Outer Heaven Second Law]

[■■■■World]

Lennok looked down with calm eyes at the page, which flickered as if covered in noise.

“From now on, I’ll have to research a new Transcendent Magic.”

After securing clues about the new Transcendent Magic, Lennok immediately returned to reality.

Kurururururu…!!!!!

The landscape of the black wasteland that had stretched to the horizon crumpled and disappeared.

Completely closing and sealing the dimensional coordinates that had opened in reality, Lennok descended into the satellite city.

“I’ll resume the research on Transcendent Magic when I get back to the lab. For now, let’s find the World Tree sample.”

Lennok had come to this satellite city because components of the World Tree’s cells had been observed near it.

To be precise, it was because Davi had confirmed the discovery of said components in the observation data from the Outer Zone’s weather service.

Those within the weather service hadn’t known the identity or origin of the components and had dismissed them, but the related data had remained on the central network.

Davi immediately began digging through the database and summarizing information that seemed helpful to Lennok.

[I looked a bit more into the Outer Zone weather service’s data, and about 98% of it was from observations randomly mixed in with atmospheric components.]

“And the other 2%?”

[They were included in the surface components. That’s probably why the weather service concluded that an unknown atmospheric component was briefly observed mixed in with a magnetic storm.]

Davi explained that 98% of the World Tree’s cell components were observed in the atmosphere, and 2% were mixed in on the surface.

Could it be that the World Tree sample was hidden somewhere in the sky or atmosphere above this city?

Certainly, for an item of that caliber, it wouldn’t be strange for it to be stored at coordinates independent of spacetime constraints, but—

“I think it’s correct to interpret it the other way around.”

Lennok was lost in thought.

“What the weather service observed wasn’t the whole story. A tiny fraction diffused into the atmosphere and was observed multiple times, and an even smaller percentage remained on the surface.”

[Are you saying there might be some error in the weather service’s observation data?]

“Just look at the ghouls wandering around this satellite city right now.”

As he said this, Lennok glanced back at the ghouls and mutants wandering among the debris, drooling.

They had fled far away after seeing the staff’s power and couldn’t bring themselves to approach recklessly, yet the monsters panted, unable to suppress their appetite.

“Despite being steeped in radiation, their appetite is strong and their movements are unusually vigorous. Doesn’t it seem like they’ve been influenced by some very powerful life force?”

[Aha.]

Finally understanding Lennok’s words, Davi’s ears perked up.

[The World Tree sample might be much closer than we think.]

“I believe the World Tree sample is not in the sky, but underground in this city.”

With his arms crossed, Lennok glanced down at his feet.

“It’s buried deep underground and was never exposed to the surface from the beginning. That’s why it was barely observed on the surface, and the components that leaked from underground spread into the atmosphere.”

[I’ll run a scan directly below the ley lines.]

“No, there’s no need for that.”

Lennok said as he grasped the Black Edict staff stuck in the ground.

“If the World Tree sample is truly underground, using an object of the same material would be most effective.”

Kwaduk!!

Black tree roots exploded from the Black Edict staff, digging into the satellite city’s ground.

As if searching for a substance of the same material, the tree roots burrowed through the asphalt, touching and stimulating the ground below.

If the World Tree’s cell components were hidden beneath the satellite city, he should be able to synchronize with them in some way through his resonance.

All that was needed was to use the staff’s power to stimulate the location where the components existed and pinpoint its specific coordinates.

Kurururururu…!!!

Each time he manipulated the staff to probe below the ground, a faint resonance echoed from deep within.

The black tree roots dug into the ground, stimulating something buried beneath the satellite city.

“…The reaction is faster than I thought.”

At the same time, Lennok’s expression hardened slightly as he intuited its form.

“It’s coming up this way.”

[Huh?]

Kwaaaaang!!!!

In that instant, a withered tree trunk shattered the satellite city’s foundation and shot up into the sky.

It intertwined with the black tree roots extending from the staff, covering the ground as if alive.

The tree roots, contaminated by the power of the Extinct Tree, and the tree trunk that shot up from below the city collided and soared high.

Kugwagwagwagwagwa!!!!!!

The tree trunk that burst through the ground rotated, and the earth’s axis twisted, causing the entire city to shake violently as if being ground to pieces.

A massive tree stump of indeterminable size revealed itself from beneath the satellite city.

So that was the secret hidden beneath this city. Was this the sample of the World Tree said to exist in Larabelli?

It was surely a fragment, not the main body of the World Tree, yet its scale was enormous enough to cover the entire satellite city.

However, Lennok’s gaze was not on the tree trunk that had covered the ground in an instant, but on the ‘someone’ standing at its tip.

“Hmm…”

A blue-skinned woman stood atop the violently shaking tree trunk with her back turned.

Slowly lowering a hand that dripped with blood, she turned her gaze toward Lennok.

“I’ve lived in this city for quite a while, but this is the first time I’ve met someone this way.”

“You are…”

“A pleasure to meet you, Tower Lord of Vulcan. Or perhaps it would be better to call you Adamant Thunder.”

Behind the woman’s back, eight massive black wings unfurled, slowly undulating.

Beneath the wings, on which grotesque veins protruded, rows of mangled human corpses hung, swaying.

Splish, splash…!!

A horrifying sight of corpses dancing in the air as if they were alive just a moment ago, scattering blood with the movement of the wings.

At the same time, sensing an unfathomably bizarre magic from the woman, Lennok’s expression turned cold.

A supremely powerful individual whose strength he could faintly intuit just by reading the lingering traces of her magic.

An extremely twisted, yet stable, contradictory presence, the likes of which Lennok had never seen before.

And yet, he certainly remembered a similar feeling.

When he had met the Director at the end of the Ascension Ritual. It was similar to what he had felt from the demon’s corpse he was observing—

“A demon…”

Instantly realizing the opponent’s identity, Lennok’s eyes grew frigid.

“So the World Tree sample was possessed by a demon. Who are you?”

“Judging by your expression, it seems you didn’t come here to make a contract with me.”

The woman smiled strangely as she looked at Lennok.

“My name is Sakia. Did you, by any chance, come to take the World Tree sample I possess?”