Chapter 284: Apostle’s Advent (1)

A 7th-level Archmage.

A state achieved by balancing the strength of a warrior with the secret arts of her sorcerous family.

While it might be difficult to compare her to other superhumans who have fully completed a Hierarchy in a single field, there’s no need to elaborate on how agile the Ibon Family Head’s reaction speed is.

Yet, what does it mean that she couldn’t react until the prayer beads were clasped around her right forearm?

It’s proof that Lennok’s proficiency in activating the Compassion of the Archangel, and his sharp intuition, which exploited the gap between breath and perception, already far surpassed Ibon’s level.

But the Ibon Family Head was given no leisure to deduce such internal workings.

“…!”

“Wait, this feeling is…!!”

The prayer beads clasped around her wrist rotated, powered by Lennok’s mana, and activated instantly.

Starting from the wrist where the beads were bound, it began to freeze the very space itself.

In an instant, the solidification spread from her wrist, rigidifying her elbow, and encroaching upon her shoulder.

“Kyaaaaaaaah!!”

It was no ordinary artifact. It was one of the nine tools cherished by the Heavenly Seer just before he ascended as an Ascendant.

Ibon shrieked horribly, realizing that even with full resistance, she might not escape the prayer beads’ restraint.

At this rate, her entire body could be frozen along with the space around it in an instant.

It wasn’t a rational judgment, but a body sensing mortal danger that moved faster than Ibon’s decision.

Slice!!

Almost simultaneously with the bracelet being clasped, she raised her left hand and severed her entire arm.

Everyone present, except Lennok, widened their eyes at her extremely drastic countermeasure.

As Ibon retreated after cutting off her arm, Chen caught Oren’s body and dashed towards Lennok.

“Ugh…!!!”

No matter how excellent a sorcerer or how powerful a warrior, there was no way she wouldn’t feel the pain of severing her entire arm.

She had not only cut off her physical limb but also the flow of mana within it to avoid the spatial freeze.

The Ibon Family Head’s face twisted grotesquely, screaming in pain.

In the meantime, Walter, who had escaped the encirclement of Soo-ryun and Manson, supported her.

“…You!!”

“Let’s retreat. I told you, didn’t I?”

Walter replied calmly.

“We still have a chance. We saved the Ilwon Family Head for a moment like this, even though we postponed it until the very end, didn’t we?”

“That’s not for you to decide.”

Lennok, having quickly retrieved his artifact, stepped forward.

He had used a considerable amount of mana to preheat the Charm of Earth’s Embrace, but severing one of the Ibon Family Head’s arms was not a bad result.

Others seemed pressured by Ibon and Walter’s power, having defeated Oren, but Lennok surmised that Walter wouldn’t be able to maintain his combat ability for long.

There was no need to explain how inefficient it was to imbue life into an already dead corpse.

If he could stall for time and keep the two of them occupied, Walter’s combat ability would naturally fade, and he would only have to deal with the one-armed Ibon Family Head.

There was no reason to let them go here.

Click!!

But Walter merely smiled calmly, even as he saw Lennok raise his double-barrel shotgun.

“Spatial freeze… I was surprised when I first saw it, but you couldn’t possibly use such an artifact repeatedly, could you?”

“…”

“The preparations are complete. Once the Ibon Family Head agrees, it’s over.”

“Wait, you mean…”

At Walter’s words, as he subtly glanced skyward, Lennok immediately drew upon his mana, but he was a step too late.

The Ibon Family Head bit her lip and raised her hand, and simultaneously, her retainers, holding their polearms, simultaneously thrust them into their own necks.

“……!!!!!!”

Many of the Ibon Family’s retainers who had attacked Oren had fallen, but dozens still remained alive.

It was obvious what spell they intended to activate by sacrificing their entire force.

Amrita’s Scales, which had swallowed dozens of lives, activated again, and the rift opened in the sky sucked Walter and Ibon away with lightning speed.

From the start, if things went awry, the two had planned to escape by sacrificing the lives of others.

Crunch!!

The sound of flesh being gnawed.

“It’s not your mistake. Don’t be too disappointed.”

Walter, perched in the rapidly closing rift, looked down at Lennok and smiled.

“This is a miracle woven by the will that manifested directly on earth through the cult’s Apostle. Unlike ordinary cult spells, its Hierarchy itself changes depending on the number of lives offered.”

“…”

“It’s impossible to reverse a miracle bestowed by Amrita. Today, you truly had us. We’ll see you again soon.”

He meant that beyond simply transferring space by sacrificing an equivalent amount of life, the spell’s Hierarchy itself changed based on the number of lives offered.

Considering Walter’s word ‘Apostle’, it must mean that this spatial transfer rift was a spell directly manifested by the Apostle named Amrita, receiving the will of the Outer Sea.

But Lennok raised his hand, even as he watched the rapidly closing rift before his eyes.

“I don’t put much stock in what fanatics babble about.”

He understood that they had prepared an escape route. It was an activated transfer spell for which a price had already been paid, a case where its scale had been amplified by sacrificing dozens of lives.

Even for Lennok, it was impossible to instantly decipher and cancel a spell of this magnitude.

But interfering with it was entirely possible.

Dozens of mana threads extended from his hand, seizing the rapidly closing rift and burrowing inside.

Creak!!!

On the other side of space.

Through the mana threads, he fully analyzed and absorbed the operating principle of Amrita’s Scales, a spell that designated coordinates and transferred physical forms in exchange for lives,

And simultaneously interfered with it.

Walter’s face, looking down from beyond the rift, contorted.

“To the very end…!”

“I can’t just let you go easily.”

Lennok smiled, looking up at the rift with a suddenly exhausted expression.

Simultaneously analyzing the operating principle of Amrita’s Scales through mana threads, he slammed mana in all directions, forcefully shattering the rift.

Overloading the already perfecting spell through his overwhelming mana sensitivity and manipulation capabilities.

The space inside the rift glowed with an eerie heat, starting to scorch Walter and Ibon’s skin.

“Ahhhhhh!”

With a single scream, the rift closed, and the two figures vanished.

Everyone in the manor stared blankly at the sight of them twisting into a spiral, leaving a faint shimmer in the space, then disappearing.

“They, they escaped…”

Soo-ryun murmured with a gloomy expression.

Chen sighed and slumped to the ground.

“In the end, we couldn’t settle it here.”

The plan to reveal the Ibon Family Head’s true intentions and claim justification at the end of the Proxy Battle, while also punishing the Guido Cult’s Bishop and the Ibon Family Head, had fallen apart.

In terms of the meticulousness of the plans, which both sides had prepared while hiding their true intentions, this side had been outmaneuvered.

The damage incurred by this side in the process was immeasurable and fatal.

They had succeeded in protecting the safety of the fortress residents, but the Ilwon Family Head was taken, and Oren was in a critical condition.

But despite this, Lennok shook his head with a calm expression.

“I wasn’t just standing by. They wouldn’t have arrived with their bodies intact.”

He hadn’t stopped the activation itself, but at the last moment, he had certainly succeeded in overloading the spell.

If there was a problem with a spell that leaped between spaces, it wouldn’t be strange for parts of the body to be permanently lost in the worst case.

Walter’s final shriek before escaping must have been an expression of his anger, sensing that.

“And I found out their destination. That’s enough.”

The center of Palgung Fortress. The Ibon Family’s main compound, which gathered information as the fortress’s roots.

There was no need to explain their true intention for choosing to flee into Ibon’s innermost depths instead of escaping outside the fortress.

“Van’s… Van’s words weren’t wrong.”

Oren, who had struggled to get up with Chen’s support, murmured.

“Family Head!!”

Samyeong’s retainers, who had belatedly joined after evacuating the fortress residents, hastily caught his body.

Oren paid no mind to their reactions and spoke to the others.

“Things… cough! got complicated, but taking control of the Fortress Head’s authority… succeeded. Because we won the Proxy Battle…”

“Yes. That’s what’s important.”

Lennok nodded.

The Fortress Head’s authority, which allowed complete management of all internal facilities as well as the outer barrier of the fortress, through the Proxy Battle system.

Lennok had gained the qualification to designate the Fortress Head by winning the final decisive battle against Walter Martinez.

The act that the Ibon Family Head and Walter tried to carry out at the end, by sacrificing the fortress residents, was probably an attempt to change the qualified candidate for the Fortress Head designation selected in that manner.

“The Fortress… cough!!”

As Oren coughed up blood and stooped, the Samyeong Family warriors quickly supported him and moved.

“You must not speak anymore!!”

“Bring a doctor at once. What are you doing!”

So serious was Oren’s condition that the retainers couldn’t go far.

The group silently watched as Oren was laid down and treatment began in an unnamed mansion near the manor.

[The plan got tangled up.]

Manson, who had approached Lennok’s side, murmured.

Lennok glanced at him and asked.

“Is your arm alright?”

[Ah? Well… I have to accept this much.]

His left forearm was stained with blood, perhaps due to damage incurred while suppressing Walter, who had absorbed the life force of the two Family Heads.

Manson glanced down at his arm, then replied in an unconcerned tone.

[That woman isn’t alright either.]

“…”

Soo-ryun faintly frowned, touching her shoulder.

And Chen and Asi, pale-faced and slumped where they were.

As Lennok silently looked around, others hesitated, then approached him and asked.

“Van, you said…”

The other Family Heads, who had sided with Ibon until just before the Proxy Battle.

They didn’t fully understand the details of what had just happened, but they knew which side to align with now.

The Yukryeong Family Head spoke with a grim face.

“With the Samyeong Family Head fallen, I know you’re the only one who fully comprehends this situation.”

“…”

“Although we were swayed by the Ibon Family Head’s scheme, we never intended to join hands with the cult. From now on, we will fully cooperate with you.”

“The same goes for us.”

The Paldun Family Head said with a reluctant expression.

“Not only did she draw in fanatics, but she also tried to sacrifice all of us… The Ibon Family Head is insane. We’ll cooperate as much as possible without incurring damage to our family.”

“Without incurring damage, you say.”

Lennok smiled.

“I think you’re mistaken about who’s in urgent need right now.”

“What, what did you say?”

“It’s you who will be devoured by Ibon, not me. If you plan to shift responsibility and minimize damage from behind, I have no reason to care about you either.”

“That’s…”

These were the ones who had floundered and watched the situation from behind while this side engaged in a fierce struggle with Ibon’s retainers.

There was no reason to grant them any favor in this situation.

“If you want to survive intact after Oren regains consciousness, you’d better follow my words carefully from now on.”

At Lennok’s chilling words, the other Family Heads fell silent, unable to utter a single word.

Lennok sharply watched those Family Heads, his mind rapidly working.

With Oren unconscious and fallen, someone needed to gather the scattered fortress residents and evacuate them to the outer regions.

Beyond humanitarian concerns, it was crucial to prevent the residents’ lives from being used as weapons by Walter.

Lennok intended to dump that troublesome task on the Family Heads. Considering that, he needed to seize the initiative now.

“Will it be okay?”

Chen asked, watching the Family Heads, who were hastily taking their family’s retainers and moving away.

“They’re not people you can trust.”

Most of the Family Heads of the Eight Families were neither benevolent nor particularly capable.

There was a possibility that the Family Heads might become unnecessarily greedy during the process of gathering the fortress residents.

But Lennok, with a cigarette in his mouth, shook his head.

“They won’t even have time to scheme. I plan to reach a conclusion within a day, one way or another.”

The reason the fortress’s diminished status, barely worthy of being called The Triad, had been maintained until now was likely because it refused communication with the outside world, maintained a closed society, and controlled information.

But those futile glories and ambitions all end today.

Chen’s eyes widened at the unexpected reply.

“…A day?”

“They didn’t pull back because they lacked resources. They only fled to Ibon’s main compound after confirming the Ilwon Family Head had been retrieved beforehand. That wouldn’t be possible without another secret plan prepared.”

Considering what the two of them had done so far, it was highly probable they intended to do something using the Ilwon Family Head’s body.

He had little interest in the well-being of Tae-oh, who was willing to sacrifice thousands of lives for his father’s resurrection.

But if they planned to proceed with the ritual, taking advantage of that opening to launch another preemptive strike would be most effective.

It was nothing short of the optimal opportunity to observe the cult’s true purpose right up close.

Lennok’s eyes gleamed sharply as he looked down at the ruined manor.

“Since things have dragged on this far, they won’t be in perfect condition either. I’ll move as soon as my mana recovers.”