Chapter 231: Fallen Monk (2)

“Fifty years.”

McQueen murmured.

“Fifty years have passed since I descended the mountain, following her. So much has happened leading up to the establishment of the Cartel. I crawled through the darkness of the streets, enduring all sorts of humiliation and disgrace, and there wasn’t a day I didn’t inhale the smell of blood. There were times I quenched my thirst with the blood of corpses I’d killed because there was no water to drink.”

His deep-set eyes left Lennok, staring at the scenery beyond.

“I never regretted giving up my ascetic practices. Following her always brought me more wealth and glory than I deserved. Every single day was taxing, but it was also a moment of greater fulfillment. I didn’t even have time to reflect on each passing day.”

“……”

“But I was already too old when I came down the mountain. By the time I arrived in Vulcan, I was nearly eighty. From the start, I was on a different starting line than the other executives who still maintained their youth.”

McQueen looked down at his own hands.

At his tattoos, weathered and worn by the trials of time, wrinkled and faded.

It was the undeniable trace of aging that no human could escape.

“By sheer luck, I attained the Sacred Rank and was granted an extended lifespan, but even that has reached its limit now. I’ve denied it until now, but deep down, I knew. The gap between me and the others was steadily widening…”

Lennok listened quietly to McQueen’s utterly sincere monologue.

What it felt like for a high-level sorcerer to face aging and death, to confront the end of their long lifespan.

It wasn’t a chance he would often get unless he was in this very place.

“My loyalty to the Chairman remains unchanged. But unlike her, who still boasts divine power, I was becoming a useless component.”

“……”

McQueen’s face, which had been calmly murmuring, twisted into an expression of utmost agony.

He spoke candidly of the anguish and worry accumulated over more than a century.

Articulating the fear he had merely suppressed and forgotten.

The terror of confronting his own ugliness was breaking down his dignified face.

As he covered his face with one hand, his final monologue escaped his lips.

“Before being abandoned by her, I’d rather…”

“Did you think of betraying her first?”

“Well… I’m not sure anymore. What I truly wanted and yearned for… I’m still pathetically searching for the answer.”

Lennok shook his head, observing the self-deprecating McQueen.

Even a superhuman of his caliber, with strong mental fortitude, a robust body, and clear imagery, could not escape the fear of time passing.

Having rested on his laurels for decades, he couldn’t endure the approaching changes and crumbled.

“But, now, it’s enough.”

He gripped the stone staff in his hand so hard it seemed it might shatter, and simultaneously slammed it down onto the ground.

KWOOOOOOOOSH!!

A fierce surge of power erupted from his thick body.

At the same time, the tattoos etched across his entire body crawled along his skin, forming a unique pattern.

The dozens of rings at the end of his stone staff jingled madly.

“By confessing my ugly inner self, I have gained strength. This is both a promise and a geas, proving my own truth.”

“A sorcerous art…”

A method of drawing power through a geas by confessing one’s inner self and motivations.

Parden McQueen had modified the conditions that sorcerers at their limits used to push their abilities to the extreme, applying them in a different way.

“This trial, too, will be part of the process to find the answer. Clinging to this last chance given by the Chairman, I will return to her side.”

McQueen’s face, which had been twisted in pain moments before, had vanished without a trace.

Only the tattoos etched on his bald head, glaring at Lennok, rotated around his crown, continuously reciting an unknown incantation.

With one hand, he formed a hand seal, while with the other, he continued to slam the staff into the ground.

Unintelligible words poured incessantly from McQueen’s mouth, but Lennok merely watched.

Having passed through countless battlefields, he knew.

Victory or defeat would not be decided by such things.

For Lennok, this was his first battle against a 7th-level high-level sorcerer.

It was far more important to commit every single one of McQueen’s movements to memory.

Whoosh—!!

A powerful ripple spread across the floor following the movement of the staff slammed into the ground.

Within that ripple, which propagated into the air, an anomalous energy surged, eventually tearing open space itself.

‘This is…’

Lennok, who had many opportunities to encounter spatial abilities, recognized it immediately.

This was no ordinary spell or magic.

It was closer to a natural flow that did not defy the laws of the world, like the very order of things.

As if a gate was opening through a legitimate contract.

[Declaration of Main Summon Release]

[Arjumarta]

Thump-thump-thump-thump!!

At that moment, a massive stone statue, nearly ten meters tall, emerged from behind McQueen, tearing open the ripple and appearing on the skyscraper’s rooftop.

Summoned from a height of eight hundred meters, the statue clung to the building wall like a spider, only its face visible on the rooftop, and began glaring at Lennok with a furious expression.

McQueen howled amidst the surging storm of spiritual energy.

“Raise your hands, Wizard!!!”

“……”

“I will begin the transfer!”

“It has begun.”

Virgil nodded, looking at the building’s view beyond the screen.

From the empty skyscraper, a yellowish ripple spread, and simultaneously, a colossal stone statue appeared.

Eolara murmured in disgust, seeing the statue instantly embed its limbs into the building wall and begin to roar.

“Director McQueen brought that out from the very beginning…”

Parden McQueen, a 7th-level sorcerer, possessed power originally derived from the mountain range where he had undergone ascetic practices.

Despite being immersed in the mundane world, his cultivation had never faded, always remaining his potent weapon.

In particular, his primary abilities, the [Liberation Spell Formula] and [Spirit Contract Sigil], were traditional spell formulas passed down by the high monks who practiced asceticism in the Evatra Mountains.

They specialized in exercising diverse influences in all situations, encompassing both direct and indirect spell formulas.

McQueen, a powerful sorcerer and a high-level ancient martial arts practitioner, boasted exceptional combat abilities in both long-range and close-quarters engagements.

He was also adept at enhancing allies’ abilities and inflicting curses and restraints upon enemies.

If McQueen had led his subordinates into battle as he originally intended, his combat capabilities would have doubled.

To prevent such a situation and lead it to a one-on-one confrontation between the two, Virgil’s active intervention was, as Lennok expected, crucial.

“I have to do this much to keep my promise with Van.”

Virgil grinned.

“Don’t you want to make a good impression on him if you want your eyes back?”

“First, this matter needs to conclude successfully… but the situation doesn’t look good,” Eolara replied with a sour expression.

“Doesn’t the mere fact that he brought that out prove that McQueen’s condition is extremely good?”

McQueen was not only overwhelmingly the oldest among the executives but also, by far, the oldest sorcerer in the entire Cartel.

Though he had been active as a powerful 7th-level sorcerer for a long time, he was an old man who had followed a gradual decline for well over several decades.

Consequently, rumors had secretly spread among the executives that he often experienced difficulties in managing his condition, leading to severe fluctuations whenever he used high-level spells.

Perhaps conscious of such rumors, McQueen hadn’t appeared directly on the field for over 20 years.

Unexpectedly, from the very beginning, he brought out Arjumarta, his signature summon.

Arjumarta, summoned through a contract with an otherworldly being via the Spirit Contract Sigil, followed by a legitimate summoning right through the Liberation Spell Formula, was the most powerful spell-assist entity among McQueen’s summoning techniques, symbolizing the renegade monk in his prime.

Even Eolara vividly remembered its might from when she first joined the Cartel.

She spoke with a worried expression.

“If McQueen wins the battle against Van, it will be a headache in many ways. Van’s own artifacts and relics are presumed to be quite valuable, and there’s a high possibility that McQueen will completely absorb his sphere of influence.”

Virgil’s active involvement was, in fact, due to the necessity of decisively acting with the aim of removing McQueen from power.

He believed there was no future without ruthlessly severing a defector who had betrayed the organization.

However, for some reason, Olivera had given McQueen a chance to atone for his mistakes.

And that boomerang might not just return to Virgil.

“Although he doesn’t have much time left, if he gets help from the Chairman…”

“You don’t have to worry about that. The Chairman didn’t seem particularly interested in their battle today.”

“…Does that mean the outcome is already decided?”

“Well… She simply seems to not be inclined to waste time,” Virgil replied.

“In truth, there won’t be much meaning in us watching this either. McQueen’s Domain is specialized in obscuring himself from external observation more than anything else… so you probably won’t see anything once the battle heats up.”

“……”

“Let’s enjoy it moderately and then leave. This might be the last time we see Arjumarta, after all.”

As he spoke, Virgil’s eyes sank into an icy calm.

“At least I think that probability is much higher.”

Just as Virgil was murmuring this, someone suddenly appeared in front of Jenny’s bar.

Flapping a brilliantly colored robe, ‘she’ slowly descended the stairs to the bar below, then slowly raised her gaze.

Meeting Jenny’s eyes, who was shaking a shaker in the corner of the bar, she gave a slight smile.

[Finally, we have time to talk.]

Even as Lennok traversed the moments between life and death, the world moved relentlessly.

Today, in this very place, another fate was about to be decided.

Thump-thump-thump!!

Dozens of energy beams, traversing the skyscraper rooftop, struck down directly towards Lennok.

The fragments of Lennok’s rotating shield scattered in all directions, deflecting the beams with a time delay,

And pierced through the rooftop floor, continuing diagonally downwards.

Zzzzzzzzzzing!!

Even as the skyscraper, which the Cartel had painstakingly managed, began to fall apart helplessly, McQueen’s hand showed no hesitation.

As the statue, with its limbs embedded in the building wall, leaned its body, the skyscraper rooftop where the two sorcerers stood shook violently, and Lennok staggered.

Not missing the opening, McQueen swung his stone staff, and in response to his movement, released mana transformed into dozens of force arrows.

Simultaneously, the statue clenched those force arrows with one hand and swung them, and a blurred vortex poured down towards Lennok like fireworks.

Kwagagagagaga!!

Under that immense destructive power, a section of the rooftop instantly crumbled, and debris began to fall below.

Amidst the pouring bombardment, only Lennok’s shield moved wildly, pushing forward.

“……”

Behind it, Lennok, with a cigarette between his lips, merely looked up at McQueen with a sharp gaze.

‘It’s not just a simple summon.’

Typically, summoned beings used by wizards, especially those using summoning spell formulas, are used to compensate for the summoner’s most fatal weaknesses.

Sorcerers who devote themselves to spell training and asceticism possess powerful mana but are relatively vulnerable or untalented in close combat, and thus usually compensate for their lack of close combat and a front line through summons.

However, McQueen did not lead the battle with his summon in front; instead, he stood before Arjumarta, wielding the statue like a conductor’s baton.

Conversely, the mass attacks and spell-assist abilities emitted by the colossal statue continuously kept Lennok in check, unleashing incessant firepower.

‘Did he summon a spell-assisting entity precisely because he is confident in close combat? No, it’s not that simple… He doesn’t seem to lack combat ability himself…’

An interesting approach.

Lennok merely observed, putting aside any thought of counterattacking the barrage McQueen incessantly poured out.

Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump!!!

Dozens of energy beams and bullet arrays, along with unrestrained mass, poured down from the sky towards Lennok, but Lennok’s shield moved first.

The shield, fractured into dozens of pieces before Lennok’s eyes, simultaneously compressed and rotated, reducing its impact area, and at the precise moment, lowered its angle, deflecting and parrying every offensive.

Kagagagak!!

“……!!”

Lennok chuckled, seeing McQueen’s lips twitch as he fully chanted his spells.

The shield Lennok used was still the same common magic he first employed, and its overlap count was only five.

The sole reason Lennok hadn’t improved his shield magic thus far, despite its intensity being pierced by Girard’s full-power attacks, was this:

This was the extent to which he could reduce the magic’s capacity, making the shield magic almost integrated with Lennok’s consciousness.

Shield magic is incredibly useful, but conversely, it requires a massive amount of mana each time its strength is increased.

The more mana invested, the heavier the magic’s capacity becomes, making it harder for Lennok to wield.

For Lennok, who could freely manipulate the shield’s dispersion and concentration, compression and rotation, it was far more efficient to maintain a suitable strength and simply deflect impacts.

The important thing was not to block attacks perfectly, but to create a momentary window for Lennok to respond.

Lennok’s fighting style, which utterly lacked mobility yet paradoxically did not rely on the shield itself, was bizarre beyond measure.

But no one could say it was wrong.

‘I’ve pretty much grasped the pattern.’

Long-range bombardment is the most efficient means of attack a sorcerer can employ, but conversely, because of that, the number of usable spells is standardized for each sorcerer.

Unless the battle became more intense, it would be difficult to maintain an exchange beyond this in the current situation.

Having finished his calculations, Lennok’s mind raced instantly.

‘Considering the means I have… I can finish this within five moves.’

“Good.”

Whooosh!!

Lennok, raising his mana, instantly lifted his left hand.

Dozens of thick currents flowing from between his long five fingers instantly twisted and bound, rotating to transform into a colossal thunderous spear.

Lightning-type unique magic property change

[Spiral Thunderkill]

Pazzzzzzzzzzz!!!

The spearhead of blue light, rising along his left forearm, glowed, spiraling in mid-air.

In that brief moment, he had twisted the lightning and imparted such strong rotation that the tip of the spear formed a perfect spiral.

As McQueen flinched, Lennok released the hand that held the spear.

There was no need to throw it. The Spiral Thunderkill, launched by Lennok’s will, became a single flash of light and surged towards McQueen’s location.

Paaang!!

A speed that transcended perception. But McQueen did not evade.

He had witnessed Lennok batting away all of his attacks head-on.

Moreover, if he evaded now, his own summon would be hit by that Spiral Thunderkill.

“Hup…!!”

McQueen instantly formed a hand seal and slammed his stone staff into the ground.

[Gate of Harm Resistance]

Ku-ku-ku-ku!!!

A gigantic, arched gate, as if a massive maw had risen from underground, appeared and blocked Lennok’s lightning flash.

Seeing this, Lennok murmured.

“You should have dodged.”

The spearhead of the Spiral Thunderkill, twisted to its limit, tore through the thick steel wall of the Gate of Harm Resistance and burrowed inward.

Kagagagagagak!!

Just as a shield is shattered by twisting force from within, the Spiral Thunderkill was siege magic optimized for piercing through barriers and tearing flesh.

It was more akin to a battering ram than a spear.

The thunderous spear, having instantly breached the Gate of Harm Resistance, surged directly towards McQueen.

Kwoooosh!!

The solid arm of the statue standing behind him immediately grabbed the Spiral Thunderkill and twisted its direction.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!!

“Ugh…”

By a hair’s breadth, McQueen’s body was safe, but the cost was considerable.

The lightning flash, having pierced Arjumarta’s left arm, exited through the statue’s shoulder, unleashing a massive shockwave.

Boom!!

The lightning flower that bloomed in the blue sky shattered into pieces, disappearing on the cold wind.

McQueen’s face instantly hardened at the overwhelming firepower.

At first glance, it seemed like an intense exchange of blows, but the reality was different.

None of McQueen’s attacks had landed, while Lennok’s very first spell had blown off the statue’s left arm.

On the skyscraper rooftop.

Even in the disadvantageous battlefield, limited in space and surrounded by a giant summon, Lennok had accurately grasped the core truth:

That with equal firepower, McQueen, with his larger impact area, was paradoxically unable to evade.

Lennok looked up at McQueen and asked.

“For a stage you prepared, don’t you think it’s excessively cramped?”

“……”

Under that intense gaze, emitting a piercing blue light, McQueen flinched and averted his eyes.

“The preliminary skirmish is over. If you truly wish to live and find your answer, you’ll have to give it your all from now on.”

With those words, Lennok let his hands drop, then quickly began to form hand seals.