Chapter 259: Remnants of Fanaticism (1)

Lennok had originally given one shotgun to Evelyn, but after some deliberation, she ended up handing the other one over to him as well.

After all, for her, who could handle both long and close ranges with just a bow and a few arrows, the shotgun was more of a white elephant.

And it wasn’t easy to simply pass such a gift on to other agents, so she ultimately decided to entrust it to Lennok, who was in a similar situation.

And naturally, Lennok had no intention of stashing away the hard-earned gift in a warehouse and forgetting about it.

“Rechargeable, huh… This method could certainly boost a firearm’s firepower significantly.”

It wasn’t as if rechargeable firearms didn’t exist when Lennok played games as a magic gunner.

However, back then, most rechargeable guns, while powerful, had the drawback of poor durability, which is why they didn’t gain much traction among magic gunners.

At the time, Lennok also didn’t find rechargeable weapons very appealing, but now, with the talent of a wizard in his grasp, it was a completely different story.

Charging with mana. Rapidly degrading durability.

From Lennok’s perspective, these were all problems that could be solved with ease.

Crack!!

Lennok effortlessly detached the shotgun’s stock and muttered ambitiously.

“I’m going double-barrel.”

[…Wouldn’t it be better to just leave it to Palmer?]

“That old man only carries revolvers because he finds other guns too bothersome to touch. Do you think he’d do it?”

He tightly bound the two barrels together with mana threads, then used the heat of mana drawn from between his fingers to fuse them directly.

Chzzzzzz…!!

“I’ve found all the necessary data on the deep web. If I have the manual, touching it myself isn’t difficult.”

The heat sparking from the barrel’s fusion illuminated Lennok’s face brightly.

“I’ll finish the modifications within half a day, and for the remaining time, I’ll focus on organizing and equipping the artifacts and grimoires I’ve acquired.”

Since that day he first arrived in this city after escaping the factory, he realized how far he had walked, yet how much further he had to go.

Because he knew he could run farther, because he realized he still had strength left.

Because he hadn’t yet reached the pinnacle of the talent he had unleashed before even opening his eyes in this world.

Lennok still didn’t stop.

As desperately as he yearned, he had no choice but to cling, strive, and struggle.

The research lab’s lights went out after he had spent a full day and night awake.

“Vaaan!!”

Seeing Dylan wildly waving his hand, Lennok subtly averted his gaze.

A mask resembling a professional wrestler with elaborate patterns, and a leather jacket.

And all sorts of long-bladed weapons hanging from his back.

It had been quite a while since Lennok last saw him, but he didn’t seem to have changed much outwardly.

“Hey, hey, hey!! Hasn’t it been too long?!”

At Dylan’s exaggerated antics, other customers sitting at the bar collectively turned to look.

Jenny, horrified by the spectacle, slammed the shaker she was holding onto Dylan’s head.

Thunk!!

“Quiet down, you idiot. What kind of nonsense are you pulling in my business establishment?”

“No, but… while I was away on business, how dare you guys make out like bandits without me, huh??”

Dylan, despite being thumped on the head, vigorously got up and started protesting.

“Velber and Velita have been boasting all over the neighborhood about how much they raked in from the Cartel job, I couldn’t stand it!!”

“…”

The words were certainly twisted, but broadly speaking, it wasn’t entirely wrong.

When Lennok and Jenny borrowed personnel from the Antares Mercenary Group last time, they indeed paid Velber and Velita a substantial sum.

Since the expenses were covered within the tax-deductible range, there was no burden, and putting their names in the company was a win-win situation.

Having officially established a cooperative relationship with the Antares Mercenary Group, it wasn’t a difficult task.

“Whew… my mistake. Whatever happens, I should have stayed by Van’s side to pick up the crumbs.”

He naturally ordered a bottle of whiskey from Jordan, poured it into a glass, and muttered.

Jenny shook her head and said,

“Is he a mere mercenary, or a parasite?”

“A parasite! Where else would you find a partner who’s worked with Van for as long as I have? I’m much better than that cunning Velita and that money-hungry Velber, definitely.”

He said so, then took out the sword he was carrying on his back and began to stroke it dearly.

“Look closely, Jenny. This is a token of trust Van gave me as a gift. Do you have something like this? No, you don’t?”

“Crazy bastard…”

Jenny was so taken aback by his strange intensity that she avoided the conversation.

But Lennok tilted his head slightly, looking at the shape of the sword Dylan held.

“Dylan. The sword looks a bit different.”

If it was the sword Lennok gifted Dylan, it would mean the crimson greatsword that Arashack Exploration Team Leader Irina Pespield once wielded.

It was one of the Guido Cult’s relics, characterized by an unusually thick blade and bulging veins, as Lennok remembered it.

But the sword Dylan now held, while still the same vibrant crimson, was thin and elongated, with a smooth surface.

“Hahahaha!!”

“…”

Ultimately, Lennok had to order about ten more bottles of whiskey and pour them into Dylan’s mouth before he could have a proper conversation with him.

“I went up north.”

Dylan, tilting his head slightly, swirled the glass in his hand and said.

“Well, there’s no point in hiding it now… I’m from the Guido Cult. To be precise, I was one of the test subjects cultivated there.”

“…”

Silence fell.

Lennok had somewhat guessed it, but he hadn’t expected Dylan to reveal his past so casually.

Dylan, who spoke of his experiences as if they were nothing, nodded.

“I survived for quite a long time among them, so I was implanted with a bio-code that allowed me to use the cult’s artifacts, with the authorization of the cult officials. That’s why I can use this sword.”

Irina Pespield displayed formidable combat power wielding that crimson greatsword, but she also supplied the sword with an enormous amount of blood and pain.

There was a deeper reason than expected for Dylan not being exposed to the sword’s side effects.

“I didn’t expect to get my hands on something like this while helping you, but now that I have it, shouldn’t I figure out how to use it? So, I infiltrated the northern continent’s cult branch I knew about, and I… ‘massaged’ some of the officials there.”

So that was why Dylan had been on a long business trip even after Lennok returned from the Autonomous Region.

Though he spoke lightly, going all the way to the northern continent meant he had seriously invested his time.

“It seems you had some success.”

The distinctly changed shape of the blade itself was proof that Dylan had understood how to handle the sword.

“That’s right. Actually, my body is different from others, so I had some difficulty understanding the insights I gained. You could say handling this guy gave me definite progress in that area.”

Dylan grinned.

“And I beat up some of the priests there while I was at it, so personally, it wasn’t a bad trip.”

“Do you resent the cult?”

Lennok asked.

Lennok knew well what kind of place the Guido Cult was.

It wasn’t just because he had become accustomed to this world.

The Guido Cult was a powerful fanatical group that existed even in WORLD 2.0, the game Lennok enjoyed.

It was unknown why an organization that boasted such a notorious and bizarre spirituality in the game also existed in this world.

But fanatics who treated human lives like objects surely hadn’t changed their ways in the meantime.

Dylan, after a moment of silence, replied.

“Do you know what the cult worships?”

“…”

“They’re lunatics who deify monsters from the outer sea, believing those things will take them to paradise.”

This was a fact unknown in WORLD 2.0. Had they, who were only known to worship an unnamed god, now acquired a specific object of worship?

“Resentment… resentment? I’m not sure. ‘Disgust’ would be a much more accurate word.”

“Disgust, huh…”

“I don’t want to be involved with them, and I have no intention of being involved, but if I see them, I just want to kill them all… that’s about it. It’s not like I’m the type of person to obsess over grand things like revenge…”

Dylan said that and tried to laugh it off lightly, but Lennok could read a different emotion beneath that indifferent response.

How much pain and sacrifice had he endured, living as a cult experiment, escaping, and then living as a mercenary in Vulcan?

At least the Dylan Lennok knew was certainly not the type of person to forget the tears and blood he had shed during that process.

“…Well, let’s stop talking about useless things. So, what’s the reason you called me after such a long time?”

Dylan’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.

“Have you accepted some incredible request that needs me, after all? Hurry up and tell me where you’re planning to raid again.”

“The cult.”

Lennok replied.

Dylan blinked silently through his mask.

“I need information about the Guido Cult. I’d like your help.”

There was still an overflow of tasks to be done, but at the same time, Lennok hadn’t forgotten the conversation he had with Agneta.

The message the leader of Pandemonium had left for Lennok.

If he was looking for time magic, he should follow the cult’s traces, was it?

To gather information about the cult, listening to their actions directly from Dylan, who was involved with them, would be the most accurate method.

That was precisely what Lennok wanted.

“Assistant Professor Evan?”

Lost in thought, Lennok abruptly raised his head at the voice calling him.

Rebatenon Magic University. Faculty of Elemental Magic, Lecture Hall 3.

In the sunlight-drenched classroom, Priscilla, sitting in the front row, looked at Lennok with a bewildered expression.

“…My apologies. Let’s continue the lecture.”

Lennok said that and naturally averted his gaze.

It was his first day back at work as an assistant professor.

Lennok was still lecturing students on elemental magic, filling in for the absent Aris.

Normally, someone of a chaired professor’s standing shouldn’t be absent for so long, but no one complained about Lennok lecturing instead.

Perhaps that was because rumors were widely circulating within the university that Aris Richellen had completed her hierarchy.

No one was unaware of what it meant for Aris, who was at the forefront of talent even in the Sinclair Magic Tower, to reach Level 7.

“To explain the compatibility between attributes once more…”

‘This is difficult.’

Even as he projected mana onto the blackboard to draw, Lennok realized that his talent for teaching was not particularly outstanding.

It wasn’t hard to inject theory into undergraduates without losing their interest, by mixing in Lennok’s own tricks.

But fostering students’ magical aptitude in the same way Aris did was impossible.

To be precise, it was difficult to gauge how much the students understood the theory from a single lesson and how well they could apply it in practice.

In the past, Lennok himself could immediately apply and adapt theories to combat after just one glance, but wouldn’t it be overwhelming for other undergraduates?

Ultimately, it meant needing multiple repetitions and diverse perspectives to enhance understanding and some memorization… Honestly, it required patience more than interest and enjoyment.

The reason Aris could provide such high-quality lectures to other undergraduates was precisely because she genuinely cared about education and treated her students with sincerity.

“…”

After a not-so-brief lecture, Lennok, left alone in the empty classroom, organized his teaching materials and stood up.

It had been a while since he visited the university, and there was a lot to do.

He had to organize Aris’s research data and papers that she left behind, and assign homework to the undergraduates according to the curriculum she had set.

It was ironic.

Even though Lennok himself had more than a few tasks to handle, he was deliberately making time to play the role of an assistant professor.

Why did he insist on maintaining this identity, even now that the legitimate status Aris had created for him no longer held much meaning?

Perhaps it was because Lennok also didn’t want to let go of this unexpectedly forged bond in vain.

Just as Aris had shown kindness to Lennok, Lennok also cherished her as a person.

That’s why he was willing to invest his time and effort to remain at the university.

“I should get a lot of incentives for this…”

He didn’t think she wouldn’t return.

She was someone who valued herself as an educator and researcher more than as a sorcerer of the Magic Tower.

If she had grasped the qualification to uphold her intentions, she would surely try to return to this position someday.

All Lennok had to do was wait for that time and adequately fill her vacant spot.

“Hmm, hmm…”

At that moment, someone cleared their throat behind Lennok.

A young man with neatly combed hair stood awkwardly at the classroom door.

“…Archwood?”

“Oh, it’s been a while since I saw you at school.”

He flinched and slowly walked into the classroom.

Looking around nervously, he approached and whispered,

“About the task you assigned… I came to tell you something.”