Chapter 362: End of the Labyrinth (1)

It had been a long time since Lennok knew Evelyn Marcia.

They had become acquainted from the moment he first drifted into this back alley and started taking on proper requests, so by rough count, it had been nearly four years.

Even without trying, it was enough time to learn about each other.

That there was absolutely no information about Lennok’s past, that his identity was unnaturally precarious compared to his abilities.

The suspicion she had quietly harbored, without voicing it, must have solidified into certainty after they started working together in this snowfield.

Seeing Lennok handle the alias Evan Vylun with excessive naturalness, it was only natural for her to think that the name Van might also be an alias.

And it was natural to worry that the relationship they had built so far might vanish like a bubble.

“……”

If Lennok were to abandon the name Van and disappear, their relationship would be severed with an absurd ease.

With Lennok’s mana manipulation abilities, and his power to freely mimic mana patterns, escaping without anyone knowing wouldn’t be difficult at all.

She didn’t want such an ending. She disliked such a unilateral severance.

Without being able to tell Lennok directly, Evelyn Marcia quietly swallowed her regret.

A lengthening silence on the rapidly speeding motorcycle.

Only the heavy engine roar echoed softly through the vast void.

Lennok, who had been silently driving the motorcycle, murmured quietly.

“The factory where Croken Asylus almost killed me still often comes to mind.”

“……”

“I have no intention of disappearing without a word to the person who saved my life. What you’re worried about won’t happen.”

“……Really?”

Lennok smiled at Evelyn Marcia’s hesitant question.

“I never intended to abandon the identity of Van from the start. The foundation I’ve built with this name has grown too large, after all……”

Lennok answered in a much lighter tone, as if chiding her.

He knew there was no need to explain his thoughts to Evelyn Marcia.

It might even be more efficient to vaguely gloss over her questions and be prepared to escape whenever necessary.

But Lennok, knowing this, did not hesitate to give Evelyn Marcia an open-ended promise then and there.

Because both his intuition and reason, forged through considerable experience, recognized how important it was not to abandon those who approached him with good intentions in this world full of chaos and distrust.

Evelyn Marcia was a good person.

Lennok was not so foolish or dull as to abandon this oblivious archer who had followed him into the Eyes of Blue and become a Watcher.

“No, I mean, it’s not just that, I just wanted your real name…… Anyway, I get it. Let’s talk about it later.”

Lennok smiled as Evelyn Marcia’s words sped up slightly, murmuring as if making an excuse.

He realized that even a seasoned, veteran Agent had clumsier aspects than he did in some ways.

Rumble, rumble, rumble…!!!

A faint vibration echoed from deep within the snowfield.

But that rumbling was so grand and distinct that it reached everyone scattered across the snowfield, waiting.

Lapis, sitting at the edge of the Floating Island, eyes closed, looking up at the sky, also felt it.

“Lady Lapis……!!”

Seon-myeong appeared, his expression surprised, rushing out.

Lapis quietly shook her head at his appearance, clutching his spear so hard it seemed it might break.

Seon-myeong, who had been standing stiffly, let out a sigh of relief at her answer.

“It’s…… not over yet?”

It had been almost a week since the core forces of the Watchers successfully entered the Labyrinth.

Even for warriors with strong bodies and minds, it was enough time to become exhausted and disorganized.

That’s why Lapis was trying to maintain a clean rotation of duties and rest for the Watchers waiting outside the snowfield.

Even if the Watchers who entered the Labyrinth successfully completed their mission and came out, the Floating Island’s forces would need to be ready to immediately recover them.

However, it wasn’t only the Eyes of Blue thinking that way; intense power struggles were actively taking place near the canyon, each side attempting to secure their entry and exit routes.

Both inside and outside the Labyrinth, battles were continuously unfolding for different reasons and motives.

“There isn’t much time left.”

“That means……!”

Instead of answering, Lapis raised her eyes to the sky again.

In her wide-open eyes, countless starlight shimmered in the endless void, illuminating the vast darkness like a universe.

“I feel a power overseeing this snowfield. The will of a Transcendent with an immeasurably vast Hierarchy. It must be Jindun.”

“……”

Seon-myeong seemed not to grasp it, but Lapis, who inherited the Lighthouse Keeper’s calling, knew.

The will of a Transcendent who not only overlooked the entire snowfield but also rotated their consciousness beyond the spatiotemporal boundaries of the world.

It was clearly to ascertain the identity of the impending doom approaching from beyond that outer sea.

Now, even the Ascendant sensed that there was truly little time left.

Lapis didn’t know if the Ascendant’s belatedly realized will was left behind in the aftermath of life and death.

Only one thing was certain: he had intended all of this from the very beginning.

With a conviction akin to intuition, Lapis opened her mouth.

“I think I’m starting to understand why the Ascendant suddenly began to move.”

“Surely not……. Are you saying he succeeded in his ascension?”

She shook her head at Seon-myeong’s tense question.

“He’s waiting.”

Lapis spoke blankly.

A vague, utterly unfounded certainty, without logic.

But Lapis didn’t hesitate to tell Seon-myeong.

Because in the gaze that scrutinized her, she seemed to have read Jindun’s intentions a little herself.

“Waiting? For what, exactly?”

“For someone who can give him an answer…… or for someone to whom he can deliver his answer.”

Lapis replied.

“Ultimately, only those who reach the end of the Labyrinth will be able to confirm that truth.”

The end of the operation, which had continued for nearly 50 days, was close at hand.

The Hanghasa Labyrinth did not reject those who entered, and given the skill and Hierarchy of those who threw themselves into it, they would surely be able to navigate its end and beyond.

But what clouded Lapis’s expression was anxiety rather than joy.

“Please, may everyone be safe……”

She knew it was an unrealistic and futile wish, yet she couldn’t help but pray.

Since the moment she inherited the Lighthouse Keeper’s calling and resolved to change an unreasonable outcome, she had always hoped for the impossible.

For the sake of those who gathered by her side, drawn by her absurd resolve, Lapis could only always hope.

Not everything one hopes for comes true, but if one doesn’t hope, nothing comes true.

To prevent the sky from opening and to preserve the world, Lapis was prepared to be as unreasonable as needed.

Whooshhh!!!

The wind grew stronger. It was hard to open their eyes against the fierce gale whipping their faces.

“I see the end of the bridge.”

With Evelyn Marcia’s murmur, Lennok’s mind also gradually became calm.

The rapidly passing bridge scenery, the hundreds of phantoms seen through the monocular lens.

Hundreds of bridges.

Even in environments where time flowed differently on each bridge, the phantoms Lennok saw moved forward at the same speed and pace.

“……”

The phantom’s unchanging gaze back at him.

When he first entered this Labyrinth, it had resembled a young boy, but now it had clearly transformed into an old man with a stooped back.

Its appearance seemed to embody an entire human lifespan from beginning to end.

Lennok now felt he understood what this phantom, about which he could only make vague guesses, meant.

“He realized all the timelines and possibilities that could have existed in a single life within the Labyrinth, trying to gain a Hierarchy equivalent to a world, all by himself.”

Lennok murmured.

“That is the answer given by a Transcendent who challenges ascension as a barrier master. But it must mean that even cramming such a miracle into reality was still not enough……”

“……You’ve concluded about the phantom?”

Evelyn Marcia instantly grasped the context from Lennok’s sudden words and arrived at the correct answer.

Lennok nodded, glancing back at Evelyn Marcia’s face, which had also grown serious.

“Before we reach the final gate, we should decide what each of us needs to do.”

“……”

“We don’t know who will reach the end of the Labyrinth. It might even be that the gate itself only lets one of us through.”

“But if that’s the case, then rather than me, it’s you, the wizard—”

“Hear me out.”

Lennok interrupted Evelyn Marcia, adjusting his grip on the motorcycle’s throttle.

“Reaching The Cradle doesn’t end everything. We need to think about what happens after confirming the Ascendant’s life or death.”

“……”

“In the worst case, one person might have to block the path while the other goes inside. It wouldn’t be strange for time to be even more distorted inside The Cradle.”

Lennok turned his head.

“If that happens, no matter how I think about it, it’s more rational for me to block the path and buy time. Establishing a defensive line and adding firepower is a wizard’s job. So, if that situation arises, don’t hesitate.”

Lennok’s cold, sunken eyes met Evelyn Marcia’s green ones.

“Whether Jaigys Ethernor is alive or dead, we must find out the fundamental reason that moved him.”

“……Understood.”

“It would have been good if we could have conveyed this to the other Watchers, but there’s no time to exchange information……. The Labyrinth is excessively wide.”

Lennok said that, then turned his gaze forward again.

“There are quite a few who are more interested in the Ascendant’s legacy or artifacts than the Ascendant himself. If the situation becomes complicated, we’ll have no choice but to aim for maximum profit at that point……”

Evelyn Marcia placed a hand on Lennok’s shoulder as he murmured. Her face had hardened coldly.

“Van, ahead.”

Following the direction of her gaze, Lennok turned his head and uttered a low groan.

“Right……. It’s starting.”

Pewwong……!!

A dark reddish beam of light, fired from the diagonal left, was precisely aimed at the bridge where they were speeding.

Precise and sharp designated firing, so accurate that if it weren’t for the gloomy mana light, one might even think it was Evelyn Marcia’s.

The competitors who had passed the second gate had spotted each other at the end of the bridge and begun to put pressure on one another.

A gently curving reddish mana light, with a slight tilt, aimed precisely at the bridge above where they were racing.

Crackk!!

The bridge, which had been so solid that Lennok’s revolver shots couldn’t even scratch it, shattered with absurd ease.

The broken bridge quickly began to repair itself, but its speed and extent of repair made it difficult to support the heavy motorcycle.

Lennok quickly realized this and immediately extended mana threads, sharply swerving the motorcycle towards the adjacent bridge.

Screech!!

With thick tire marks pressed onto the bridge, the motorcycle lifted into the air.

The heavy motorcycle landed on the bridge right next to it, but the much sturdier bridge easily withstood the impact.

“It’s not just one. They keep coming!”

Dark reddish flashes of light continuously flickered from the dark void beyond. If the same mana light flashed repeatedly, the chance of it being coincidental was low.

At Lennok’s words, Evelyn Marcia stood up from the back of the motorcycle where she was sitting.

“Keep going. I’ll intercept.”

Click!!

Balancing precariously on the very edge of the motorcycle with her toes, she reached behind her back.

The bow frame attached to her back expanded widely on both sides, forming a heavy longbow.

Evelyn Marcia also instinctively knew that she couldn’t counter the sniper fire from afar with the power of a shortbow.

Even as she retreated to the very end of the motorcycle to secure space to draw her bow, there wasn’t a hint of agitation on Evelyn Marcia’s face.

Creeeeak……!!

As she notched an arrow to the string and pulled her shoulder back, a green light bloomed from her fingertips and transferred to the arrowhead like a flame.

On the motorcycle speeding so fast that surroundings were barely visible, she aimed the arrow purely trusting her eyesight and senses.

The moment her bent fingers lost strength, three streaks of green light soared into the void beyond.

Whoosh!!

Immediately after, they clashed with the dark reddish mana light pouring down from the air, precisely targeting them.

Green and black-red mana light intertwined and exploded, unleashing a dazzling radiance above the void.

In the aftermath, mana rain incessantly fell all around the bridge, igniting fierce flames.

Thump, thump, thump!!!!

They trampled over the lingering mana flames that erupted all over the bridge and sped forward.

The heat caused the thick tires of the vehicle to melt, and the smell of burning rubber began to rise, but this was no time to be concerned about such things.

“Can you pinpoint the sniper’s location?”

“No!”

Evelyn Marcia replied.

“My mana sense isn’t fully developed yet, but I can’t see anything ahead either!”

Communication was difficult in the ceaseless wind.

But Lennok, even after hearing Evelyn Marcia’s words, nodded as if he had expected it.

‘I think I get it.’

Hundreds of bridges laid out in the vast void. The different speeds of time flowing on each bridge.

And considering the phantoms that consistently moved forward on all those bridges, he could understand what it all signified.

The bridges of this Labyrinth leading to the third gate represented all the divergent futures a single person could have experienced throughout their life.

If they had lived with different possibilities—as a warrior, a carpenter, a farmer, a sorcerer, a barrier master, an engineer, an explorer—the perceived time felt within each would have been completely different.

If one realized that the different timelines flowing on each bridge signified this, they could also understand why Lennok and Evelyn Marcia hadn’t noticed the presence of those gangsters earlier.

Only from an advanced timeline could one look back and perceive the existence of other possibilities.

Perhaps because within the same timeline, even closely adjacent possible futures couldn’t be actually perceived.

The Conceptual Realm of the Ascendant, Jindun, which unfolded and actualized the myriad possibilities of humanity into a single Labyrinth.

The Hanghasa Labyrinth was precisely an alternate dimension that overlaid and manifested the countless number of those possibilities within the Labyrinth.

‘The bridges starting to converge into one, and the path gradually hardening, must also be part of that.’

As one ages and accumulates Hierarchy, the number of possibilities available to a human decreases, and instead, their future becomes solidified.

Does it signify the process of passing through a fragile and vulnerable childhood, then completing one’s self and hardening?

The idea of Jindun, who delved into a person’s inner world to its limits to complete a single world, instilled even a faint sense of awe.

Unlike Lennok, who completed his Mind Imprint by envisioning an unrealized future, Jindun was looking back at the past, retracing the path already traveled.

The chosen directions of two individuals: an unrealized future and a past already traversed.

Which one was closer to the answer would be confirmed at the end of this Hanghasa Labyrinth.

Creeeeak……!!

The more Lennok constantly surveyed and observed his surroundings, absorbing new insights and know-how, the deeper the cracks etched into his Mystic Eye became.

But Lennok was lost in thought, unaware of this fact himself.

‘I wish I could observe and analyze a little more…… but time is the problem.’

If Lennok’s hypothesis was correct, all competitors who entered this Labyrinth would eventually reach the destination at a similar time, regardless of whether they arrived at this bridge sooner or later.

Ultimately, the countless mazes of possibilities realized within this Labyrinth would have to converge towards the existence of the Ascendant, Jindun.

This implied that the advantage of the two who passed the second gate relatively quickly would fade.

It was no different from saying they would have to race to be at the forefront for the final gate.

“Evan Vylun!!”

Whooshh!!

At that moment, Lennok, jolted from his thoughts by Evelyn Marcia’s shout, suddenly looked down at his feet.

The angles between the rapidly moving bridges suddenly narrowed, integrating into one massive path.

At various points on the gigantic bridge, which had lost its boundaries and stretched endlessly, competitors, like Lennok, speeding on different vehicles, began to come into view.

No words were needed.

The Labyrinth entrants, recognizing each other’s presence, simultaneously drew upon their mana and unleashed it with full force towards one another.

KWA-A-A-ANG!!

Widespread waves of mana and sharp, piercing thorns clashed, unleashing shockwaves.

As if affected by that shockwave, the void scenery surrounding the bridge cleared away completely, revealing the full landscape of the Labyrinth.

Even the superhumans who were unleashing killing intent towards each other groaned at the astounding sight.

“Gasp……!!”

“C-Crazy!!”

“No way, what in the world!!”

A vast clearing within the Labyrinth, filled with endless void.

Below it, gigantic evil god statues, easily tens of meters tall, stood densely in rows.

Evil god statues with human bodies but faces as hideous as demons. Their sight, holding various weapons and looking up at the bridge, was truly terrifying.

Hundreds of such stone statues filled the Labyrinth with their grotesque and vibrant appearances and immense presence, as if they could come alive at any moment.

And at the end of that magnificent group of evil god statues.

The appearance of an immeasurably vast gate, stretching from the dark ceiling of the cavern to the ground.

Golden patterns faintly glowed between the pure white gates, dazzlingly illuminating the gradually widening and merging bridges.

Everyone who saw the beautiful gate realized.

The third and final gate. The last path to The Cradle.

The end of the Labyrinth was almost at hand.