Chapter 1473: Hunting the First Apostle (7)

The presence of the 5th Apostle, Eldrih, who had shattered the ceiling of The Nest and descended from the sky.

The moment they saw the old man who had appeared while splitting the Chroma Spell Master in two, everyone’s expressions froze.

A fleeting moment where judgment became tangled at the fact that, despite many reacting, they couldn’t prevent the disaster right before their eyes.

“Well, well.”

Eldrih readied his blood-stained sword and tilted his head with a smile.

“Now is not the time to be spacing out, is it?”

Swish!!

Simultaneously with his words, the 5th Apostle, who was trampling the Chroma Spell Master’s corpse, spun around like lightning.

He swung the sword, which exuded a numbing chill, with all his might, aiming for the Great Connection’s terminal floating in the center of the space—

At the same time, Lennok, who had landed in front of him, snatched Eldrih’s ice sword head-on with one hand.

CRACK!!!!!

“Adamant Thunder…!!!”

“Well now. I thought I’d put my all into it, but I suppose this speed was nowhere near enough.”

Betagron called out to Lennok, and the 5th Apostle, revealing his tattered face, looked at Lennok with a bitter smile.

“It is an honor to meet the Demon King of Paradise Lost. Truly a monster befitting your reputation.”

“Quit with the absurd epithets.”

Lennok glanced at the frozen sword caught in his hand.

Even while operating the Black God Demonic Art and gripping the sword with lightning wrapped around his hand, he could feel the numbing chill seep through to the inside of his glove.

Lennok already recognized this Bloodline Ability, which exuded a uniquely intense chill.

“This… it doesn’t seem to be your original ability. Is it the innate ability of a human you devoured?”

“He was the infinitely foolish lord of a fallen kingdom, once called Aronbaiger Kabahim.”

The smile of the old man with the stitched-up face momentarily twisted grotesquely.

“If you can see that much, then you must know what I’ll do next, yes?”

Crack!!

The moment the frozen blade cracked, the 5th Apostle let go of the sword without hesitation and retreated with all his might.

Simultaneously, a zipper-like spatial rift appeared in mid-air and swallowed the 5th Apostle’s body whole.

“…He ran?”

The sight of the 5th Apostle fleeing without a second glance the moment he faced Lennok.

At that incomprehensible sight, just as the other spellcasters stuttered like broken machines.

The Nest shook violently, and as glass windows shattered on all sides, the forces of the Guido Cult began to pour out.

CRASH!!!!

“Uwaaaaargh!!”

“I-It’s an attack!!”

“Those bastards from the Cult…!!”

SLASH!!!

Clad in pure white armor, the Knights of Rectitude began to indiscriminately kill the researchers fleeing in all directions.

Priests holding holy relics and praying deployed their spellcraft, dismantling and neutralizing the barriers placed throughout the area.

In the blink of an eye, the laboratories spread throughout the facility were stained with blood, and desperate screams echoed everywhere.

“This can’t be, The Nest is under attack…!!”

“Impossible!! How did those Cult bastards find this location—”

“The Chroma Spell Master is dead. We have to lock down all internal authority in The Nest immediately!!”

“Impossible. The internal mana circulation system is already completely paralyzed…!!”

All of the Order Alliance’s Spell Masters stationed at The Nest’s current location were veterans who had long been active on the battlefield.

The Spell Masters immediately moved to get the situation under control, but researchers were already dying quickly on all sides.

“Aaargh!! Help me—”

“S-Stay away!! Gurgle…!!”

Some were stabbed in the back while desperately fleeing, while others locked their laboratory doors only to be crushed to death.

The Guido Cult’s forces found and annihilated the resisting researchers with such precision and speed it was as if they had a prearranged plan.

The Transcendent beings, who had been looking down at the situation from in front of the Great Connection’s terminal, moved at once.

“Adamant Thunder, it’s the Libra Spellcraft…!!”

Whoosh!!

Betagron shouted urgently as he landed in front of Lennok, who was dusting off his hands with a blank expression.

“Only the 10th Apostle can deploy this many troops at once. Two of the highest-ranking Apostles have collaborated to attack the research facility!!”

“I saw. It was used to assist the 5th Apostle when he killed the Chroma Spell Master. That’s why the Spell Master couldn’t react.”

Immediately after the 5th Apostle shattered The Nest’s ceiling and appeared, the Chroma Spell Master’s reaction had been flawlessly fast.

Nevertheless, the reason the Chroma Spell Master fell was that the 5th Apostle had crossed space with unrealistic speed and split his head open.

Lennok knew that within the Guido Cult, only the 10th Apostle’s Libra Spellcraft was capable of such spatial transference.

“Dropping this many troops into The Nest must be the power of the Libra Spellcraft. It seems the new 10th Apostle has begun operating in earnest.”

“The spellcraft’s activation is abnormally fast. Vile bastards. I can only imagine how many humans they’re sacrificing at this very moment…!!!”

There had been no sign of them until just a moment ago, but now, every visible space was filled with the Cult’s believers and priests.

Transferring such a large number into The Nest all at once would have been impossible without the 10th Apostle’s Apostle Spellcraft.

Having fought the Cult for a long time, Betagron also seemed to have immediately deduced the 10th Apostle’s involvement upon seeing the situation unfold.

Whoosh!!

Riding the wind, Kalion quickly surveyed his surroundings and raised his mana.

“The situation is urgent. For now, I’ll try to stop all the researchers in The Nest from being massacred.”

The core of this operation was the restoration ritual taking place inside The Nest, where the Great Connection’s terminal was located.

For the restoration ritual, the cooperation of the researchers currently managing the facility was essential.

The Cult surely knew this as well, which was why they were trying to slaughter all the researchers as soon as they attacked The Nest.

“I’m going ahead…!!!”

Air Current-type Unique Magic Property Transformation: Accelerated Manifestation [Wind Body]

FWOOSH!!!!

Before anyone could reply, Kalion’s form vanished in a burst of wind pressure. His speed was so immense that even Lennok’s Magical Perception lost track of his movement.

The moment Kalion vanished as if sucked into one of The Nest’s corridors, an opaque glass wall was instantly stained with red blood.

Seeing this, Lennok also raised his mana, cast Lightning Transformation, and immediately used Flicker toward the opposite corridor.

KRA-KOOM!!!

Transformed into a streak of lightning, Lennok’s form traversed the laboratory corridor at incredible speed, arriving in the middle of the battlefield where researchers were dying.

As he landed at the end of the blood-soaked corridor, he casually snatched a praying priest by the hair with one hand.

“Oh, God…!!”

Before the priest could finish his prayer, Lennok gripped a mass of blue lightning and shoved it into his mouth.

Snatching his ankle with a Mana Thread, Lennok tossed him overhead, and the priest’s body flew into the air like a doll.

The lightning that exploded from within the priest’s stomach became a sphere of blue electrical energy, beginning to emit a dazzling light above the corridor.

[Tremor Thunder Epicenter]

BZZZZZZT!!!!

The light was so intense that the Knights of Rectitude and priests rampaging on all sides flinched for a moment.

Watching this, Lennok formed a hand seal with one hand and summoned a massive gatling gun, taller than himself.

Clank!!

A massive heavy weapon, created from multiple barrels bound together, that emitted a blue magical light.

Its official name was the Predator Overbound Gatling Gun. It was an item he had continuously improved even after his battle with Onnion.

Aiming the gatling gun’s rotating barrels at the electrical sphere floating in the sky, Lennok spoke.

“There isn’t much equipment as specialized as this for rounding up and killing trash.”

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!!!!!!

Simultaneously with his reply, the bullets pouring from the gatling gun struck the electrical sphere floating above at incredible speed.

The bullets, colliding with the electrical sphere, changed their trajectory like light reflecting off a mirror and rained down upon the corridor.

Thousands of electrically-charged bullets poured down on the knights’ heads, grinding them into chunks of flesh.

Drrrrrrrrrk!!!!

“Gyaaaargh!!! Aaaargh!!!”

“I-It hurts… It hurts!!!”

“The Blessing of Protection…!!”

The Cult’s forces either rolled on the floor with desperate screams or died without even being able to scream.

Leaving the instantly piling corpses of knights and priests behind him, Lennok advanced without hesitation.

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!!!!

The insane barrage of bullets became a defensive line, halting the Cult’s forces that were pushing in from all sides of The Nest.

Most of the knights who tried to advance while ignoring the bullets failed to notice the lightning mixed in with them and died instantly as their holy armor was pierced.

Seeing the corpses of their allies dropping like flies, the priests, who belatedly realized their opponent’s identity, retreated in horror.

“I-It’s the lightning spellcaster!!! The Apostle-Slayer is here!!!”

“Retreat!! Do not get hit by the lightning he’s firing!!!”

“Dammit, to think Priestess Ureka fell to that heretic’s magic…!!!”

The Apostle-Slayer who killed the 6th Apostle, Anathema, and the lightning wizard who had broken the 11th Priestess, Ureka Naydree.

A single hit, even a graze, from that lightning meant inescapable death. Even if they were lucky enough to survive, they would be tormented by the same excruciating pain as the Priestess.

Just as the Cult members, who had sensed this, hid between the corridors, gritting their teeth and looking for an opening.

Thunder rumbled from beyond the star-strewn sky, and a piercing blue flash of lightning sparked.

Rumble…!!

“You were the ones who broke through the ceiling, but it seems you’ve forgotten.”

The moment the pale-faced priests flinched and raised their gazes, Lennok slowly lowered his hand.

“The sky has always been my domain.”

Extreme Art, Fifth Law: Descent [Swarm Thunder]

FLASH!!!

Before anyone could reply, a piercing blue bolt of lightning fell from the dark clouds, striking down upon the Cult’s priests.

The moment they perceived the flash piercing the clouds, the light had already reached the ground and was incinerating people.

“Aaaaaaaaargh!!!!”

The lightning’s output was so high that bodies didn’t even catch fire or char.

The moment they were struck, a part of their body simply evaporated, and all the nerves throughout their body began to burn away.

Watching the priests scream desperately as they writhed on the ground, Lennok reached into the air and clenched his fist.

“Stop.”

FLASH-!!!

The bolt of lightning falling from the sky stopped just before hitting the ground, fixed in mid-air.

As he swiped his clenched fist sideways, the piercing blue lightning, flickering in place, moved along with him.

It began to mercilessly grind up the resisting priests and Knights of Rectitude on the spot.

“Ghhk…!!”

“No, no!!!”

The sight of the Knights of Rectitude desperately fleeing as their entire bodies burned away.

It was an unbelievably one-sided scene, considering they had been massacring The Nest’s researchers just moments before.

This entire massacre was being carried out by a single black-haired wizard standing on one side of the broken corridor.

“God is so indifferent…”

“How could such a demon possess such power…!!”

“Go to hell…!!!!”

Gasping for breath and trying to scoop up their spilling innards, the dying priests spat out hate-filled curses.

But even as he massacred the Cult members with a few gestures, Lennok calmly surveyed his surroundings.

‘Only small fry. Where are the real ones?’

“Adamant Thunder…!”

Pop!!

In that moment, the Fairy Conjunction Master appeared from mid-air as if leaping down.

“What happened to the Great Connection’s terminal?”

“It’s safe. I was just handling the problem over there.”

Glancing at the Cult members’ corpses strewn everywhere, the Spell Master swept his hair back.

He looked quite tired, as if he had been running all over the place during the tense battle.

“I’m evacuating the surviving researchers from this side. I’ll leave this area to you for now.”

“What about the others?”

“They’re fighting on all fronts. Thanks to that, we’re getting things under control faster than I expected for a surprise attack.”

Upon hearing that, Lennok immediately raised his mana and scanned the area around The Nest.

Just as the Spell Master had said, familiar presences were fighting the Cult’s forces all around the half-destroyed Nest.

[Hahahahat!! You maggot-like Cult bastards!!!]

There was Betagron, equipped with a laser-firing mechanical arm and riding atop a giant mechanical beast.

[Nature’s Dominion. Rise…!!]

The Archdruid, making trees sprout from all sides to break the priests’ limbs and tear off their necks.

[Annihilation.]

The Young Master of the Twilight Veil Bloodline, creating a sphere of gravity resembling a black hole to crush the Knights of Rectitude.

And even the Lord of the Valefor Magic Tower, traversing the corridors like the wind and cutting down Cult members at incredible speed.

“What about the Chroma Spell Master?”

“…Dead. He was split in half from the head down. There’s no way he could have survived.”

The usually carefree expression of the Fairy Conjunction Master turned bitter for a brief moment.

“We can sort out the details later. For now, dealing with the Cult’s attack is the priority—”

“No. This isn’t the end of it. The high-ranking Apostles are nowhere to be seen.”

Lennok cut the Spell Master off and replied coldly.

“Looking at the situation, it’s clear that several high-ranking Apostles are involved, yet none of them are in sight within The Nest. Something’s strange.”

According to the Chroma Spell Master, The Nest was a top-secret research facility managed by the Order Alliance. It was a crucial facility where the restoration ritual for the Great Connection was scheduled.

Not only was such a place discovered before the ritual even began, but they also failed to notice a high-ranking Apostle intruding and killing a Spell Master.

Lennok saw through it—this situation itself could not have occurred without the cooperation of several high-ranking Apostles.

“It’s certain that the 5th Apostle who killed the Chroma Spell Master and the new 10th Apostle are involved. Without the Libra Spellcraft, they couldn’t have deployed so many people into The Nest at once. But…”

“Are you thinking they have another objective?”

“If they simply intended to kill the researchers to stop the ritual, it would have been far better to send in a few high-ranking Apostles instead of launching such a loud attack.”

Lennok’s eyes grew cold as he looked outside The Nest.

“But the fact that they went to the trouble of mobilizing their highest-ranking Apostles and didn’t do that means the Cult is after something else.”

The Guido Cult was a massive faction that boasted the greatest numbers and scale on the continent, but their true value didn’t lie solely in their sheer volume.

The existence of the Apostles—processed from only the most supreme talents among their hundreds of thousands of members into incarnations of the end—was the ultimate military power that symbolized the Cult itself.

If they had intended to kill all the researchers from the start, the 5th Apostle would have been rampaging wildly inside The Nest instead of them pouring in these numbers.

The very fact that they didn’t do so suggested that the high-ranking Apostles were moving for a different purpose.

Not simply to attack The Nest and stop the ritual—

“Fairy Conjunction Master, step back.”

Lennok said, rolling up his sleeves and extending a hand.

“I need to confirm the Cult’s objective. It would be best if you evacuated as far away as possible.”

“What? What are you planning to do?”

CRACKLE!!

Holding a blue lightning spear in a reverse grip, Lennok mercilessly plunged it into the ground.

Simultaneously, the spear’s blade split into dozens of branches beneath the ground, spreading out below The Nest.

“If I can’t figure out their intentions, then it’s faster to just ask them directly.”

Lennok replied with a frigid expression and raised his mana.

“Come out. I know you’re there.”

KRA-BOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!

Before the Fairy Conjunction Master could reply to his words, the floor of The Nest exploded upward, and something shot out.

A giant insect Apostle rose from beneath the ground, as if to destroy the massive glass structure entirely.

[Kieeeeeeeeeh!!!!!!]

“Indeed, just as I’ve heard.”

The insect Apostle, impaled by the dozens of branching lightning spears, let out a horrific roar and thrashed madly.

Atop the leg of the insect, which was drooling acidic saliva, stood the old man with a sword at his hip.

“An intuition befitting your mythical reputation. There was a reason He warned me.”

The 5th Apostle, balancing on one knee and showing his respects, slightly tilted the fedora he was wearing and spoke.

“We couldn’t be satisfied with merely entering the Alliance’s Nest and ruining the ritual. As you said, the Cult has another objective.”

“You…!”

“However, trying to pull tricks in front of a demon god like yourself would be a useless endeavor.”

The old man smiled faintly and gripped the hilt of the sword at his hip as he spoke.

“That is why I’ve made my own preparations this time. You’ll have to play along.”

“…Preparations.”

Lennok turned his gaze to the side of the old man, his expression sinking coldly.

“The reason you obediently fled earlier… it was to bring this thing here from the start.”

Clank…!!

Next to the 5th Apostle, who was standing on the insect’s leg, sat a black-haired boy with both arms bound in chains.

He seemed unconcerned by the tremors that shattered the ground and shook the earth’s axis, his eyes comfortably closed.

But the moment Lennok faced the boy, he could instantly sense what kind of being he was.

A murderous intent so menacing that it was on a different level even by the standards of Lennok, who had faced all sorts of Apostles.

Perhaps, even more so than any Apostle he had killed until now—

“Eldrih.”

The boy, whose eyes had been closed, opened his mouth.

“Is it this man?”

“Yes, Lord Third Apostle.”

The old man, who had drawn his sword, looked at Lennok and spoke coldly.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to put your life on the line this time.”