Chapter 372: Jindun (1)
“How can this be…?”
The man who identified himself as Ermont seemed far more shocked by Jindun’s appearance than Maiya, who had arrived earlier.
From his perspective, having come this far intending to seize the Ascendant’s body, this situation must have been completely unexpected.
Lennok also hadn’t imagined Jindun would be waiting for visitors in the labyrinth in such a state.
Above the white palace of The Cradle. The sight of a frail old man, eyes closed, barely breathing.
Nowhere was the majestic dignity of an Ascendant to be found, yet there was no doubt this man was Jaigys Ethernor himself.
If not for this man, who had gathered all of The Cradle’s facilities and pipes into one place and fallen asleep, no one else could maintain and manifest this labyrinth.
“Pipes are forcibly inserted into his back, near the spinal cord, injecting something. It’s a crude method, but the connections are surprisingly seamless…”
Lennok murmured, his eyes fixed on the pipe connections behind Jindun’s back.
“Is it continuously injecting energy gathered from The Cradle into Jindun’s body? It looks less like a Spell Armament and more like a life support system…”
His mind had long since drawn a conclusion, yet that very conclusion made it harder to believe.
A Conceptual Realm. That an Ascendant, who single-handedly manifested an endless, colossal labyrinth in the snowy plains, was now dependent on machines to extend his life.
He had never once imagined that waking Jindun and holding a dialogue would mean this.
Maiya raised a finger towards the two and said,
“Everyone, don’t move from where you are.”
“……”
From the tip of her slender finger, a drop of red blood was forming and falling.
“I’m ready. You know what this means, don’t you?”
“That’s a lie.”
Lennok cut her off sharply.
“Someone truly ready wouldn’t babble like that, Maiya. It seems the magic circle takes time to activate, doesn’t it?”
Maiya gave no reply to Lennok’s words. She merely twisted her lips into a sneer.
Lennok ignored her and quickly began to assess his surroundings.
It was clear that Maiya had arrived one step ahead of them and was drawing a magic circle.
The fact that she had drawn the magic circle instead of waking Jindun, even after arriving first, implied this was her original intention.
Lennok’s eyes gleamed sharply as he checked the direction of the magic circle.
‘Jindun isn’t within the magic circle’s range. It’s not a spell targeting the Ascendant himself. In that case…’
What was she aiming for, drawing such a complex magic circle in the very heart of Jindun’s Cradle?
If it was a spell using her own blood as a medium, it was almost certainly a forbidden blood magic.
Blood magic activated using the blood of the Machine City’s top enforcer as a material. Its effects and results seemed likely to exceed Lennok’s imagination.
‘Both the direction and position favor Maiya. Moving rashly is impossible.’
Lennok, having instantly grasped the situation, came up with a solution.
‘Force a disturbance to create an opening.’
“To think the Machine City’s top enforcer is reduced to cleaning up after Pandemonium. How fleeting time is.”
Maiya’s shoulders subtly flinched, apparently not expecting to hear such words from Lennok.
“You, you bastard… how did you…”
Maiya didn’t know that Lennok had figured out their affiliation with Pandemonium through his conversation with the Doctor.
That was because Lennok had been heavily engaged in a struggle with the gravity-type superhuman Ballak O’Edon at the time he was conversing with the Doctor.
Therefore, the words Lennok now thrust at her shook Maiya more effectively than anything else.
“Did you bow your head to a criminal organization to escape the failure of the Ascension Gate? A surprisingly irresponsible decision, given your reputation.”
Maiya’s reaction, unable to tear her gaze from Lennok’s face.
The words themselves were proof that they touched her raw nerve and were based on her strong motivations.
“Evelyn should have seen you here, what a shame. To stand before an Ascendant and not even know what you want…”
Lennok smiled coldly, looking at Maiya.
“No matter how long you live, you can’t pick up the mistakes you’ve made, can you?”
“…!!”
Maiya’s body, for just a moment, rose from her spot.
Proof that her reason was shaken enough to momentarily forget the magic circle she had been drawing.
The failure of the Ascension Gate. Her entry into Pandemonium.
Whatever exactly happened in that process, it was clearly a matter of great importance to her.
But even so, Maiya gritted her teeth and slowly brought her hand back to the magic circle.
“…Think what you like. Now that I’ve come this far, what I must do is set.”
Had she managed to calm her anger and regain her reason in that fleeting moment?
The composure of a superhuman who had lived as an enforcer for decades was not something to be underestimated.
Crack, crack…!!
The magic circle drawn on the floor vibrated violently, and the blood covering it began to rise.
Maiya’s usually heavy hair floated up with it, and her eyes glowed red.
“I came here precisely to correct that mistake…!!”
[Blood Magic: Octuple Activation]
[One Child Arrives, Another Child Projected]
[Ascension Gate: Simplified Manifestation]
[River-Reversing Walk]
Rumble!!
Unknown characters packed densely within the magic circle writhed, then rose above the circle, densely piling something up.
Characters dyed red with blood surged above the circle, forming a giant rectangular shape.
A form resembling a massive gate.
Beyond the colossal blood-red gate carved into the air, as the landscape of The Cradle faintly distorted.
Lennok, too, swung his hand.
Splish!
Blood flowing down his wrist poured onto the blood-magic circle forming the gate.
Immediately thereafter, the magic contained within the blood activated, beginning to disrupt Maiya’s spell activation on the spot.
“…!!”
“Just as I thought, it was a type of summoning spell, calling someone forth.”
Lennok bit his thumb, drawing blood between his fingers once more, and said,
He scattered the blood drops flowing from his hand directly onto Maiya’s spell formation.
“I’ve roughly grasped the structure. I’ll reverse-engineer that spell from its root and dismantle it.”
“EVAAAAAN!!!”
The last remaining magic recovery pill, saved for contingencies.
Having consumed it, he used the magic contained within the scattered blood as a catalyst to reverse-engineer Maiya’s blood magic, beginning to dismantle it.
Maiya’s spell, which had been forming a gate, began to crumble immediately.
Realizing her plan had instantly evaporated, Maiya stood up and kicked Lennok.
Thud!!
“…!!”
Lennok, flung back over ten meters without a sound, gritted his teeth.
Pain like his insides were rupturing. It was astonishing that she still had such power, but there was no time to ponder.
With a demonic expression, she stood up, drew the blade hanging at her waist, and began to approach Lennok.
“Tell me, now! How did you decipher the principles of the Ascension Gate?!”
“Uh… I have no words… Are you mad… about that part…!!”
Was she angry not that her spell was disrupted, but that the spell containing the principles of the Ascension Gate itself had been deciphered?
That single remark encapsulated just how obsessed Maiya was with the failure of the Ascension Gate.
As Lennok’s trembling hand fumbled inside his lapel to grab an artifact, and Maiya raised her blade.
CRACK!!
A pillar of gems surged from beneath Maiya’s feet, piercing her shoulder.
“I apologize, but I can’t allow that.”
The black wizard Ermont, forming a hand seal with a smile.
Simultaneously, the gem pillar that had pierced Maiya’s shoulder exploded.
BOOOM!!
“Aargh…!!”
Maiya, thrown back, unable to even let out a proper scream.
Continuous battles and races. At the very end of her physical and mental exhaustion, only her will remained, burning.
Ermont watched Maiya, then helped Lennok, who had fallen, to his feet.
“It’s fortunate she didn’t seem too interested in Jindun himself. Thanks to that, I seized an opportunity.”
“…What are you trying to do now?”
“Seeing Jaigys’s condition, it seems my plan is highly likely to return to square one.”
Ermont said, smiling broadly.
As he smiled like that in Jawoon’s snake-like body, a truly eerie smile naturally formed.
“I thought once I seized the Ascendant’s body, I wouldn’t have to worry about what came next, but hasn’t the situation changed quite a bit?”
“So, you’re trying to earn some points in advance, in case you need to get out of the labyrinth?”
“Anyway, this friend’s body won’t last much longer like this.”
Ermont shrugged, mentioning Jawoon’s limitations as if it were nothing.
“In that case, I think it’s better to just get what we need from Jaigys and cooperate to escape this labyrinth.”
“……”
Was he intending to latch onto Lennok during the escape from the labyrinth to ensure his safety?
Instead of immediately answering, Lennok shook off his support and stood on his own feet.
Ermont, disregarding Lennok’s reaction, approached Jindun and muttered,
“First, I need to figure out how to wake Jindun. I actually thought he would have already woken up the moment the Changyoseok’s melody changed, but…”
“He’s too exhausted to open his eyes just by changing a song.”
The one who answered that was neither Lennok nor Maiya.
“A very long time has passed… Too long to receive an answer.”
The moment they realized, the entity was walking past them, brushing by.
So close that their breath could be felt. Its speed felt infinitely slow, yet it was imperceptibly fast.
CRASH!!
Scarlet drops of blood shattered overhead, scattering like rain.
A rain of crimson blood filled the white hollow of The Cradle. The half-shattered, crumbling spell gate was half-open.
“He must have remembered the promise we made a very long time ago.”
Amidst the scattering rain of blood, he spoke those words, calmly looking down at Jindun’s face.
As if completely uninterested in the presence of Lennok and Ermont standing behind him.
“Such a preposterous promise, one that wouldn’t be strange to forget… Did it touch his heart, leading him to make this decision? Either way, his will deserves respect.”
The entity, having murmured indifferently, turned to look at the two without a word.
Even though it clearly had a human form, its face could not be clearly discerned.
It was as if the information entering Lennok’s mind wasn’t processing correctly, like static.
Not that Lennok’s sensory organs were malfunctioning, but rather an alien sight, as if the entity itself had an error in its output value to the world.
However, instead of raising his magic against the sudden intruder, Lennok slowly backed away, sweating coldly.
This voice, reverberating through the air into his ears, he had undoubtedly heard it once before.
At that time, the message directly transmitted through the power of Agneta, the messenger of Pandemonium.
He still clearly remembered that utterly ambiguous voice, one that couldn’t be distinguished as male or female, old or young.
“Then I, too, have no choice but to respond.”
At the entity’s whispered murmur, Lennok gritted his teeth and muttered,
“Pandemonium…!!!!”
One of the continent’s foremost criminal organizations. The head of a group where all manner of monsters gather to form a den of demons.
The Leader of Pandemonium, shrouded in all sorts of mysteries and veils.
From the opposite side of the Lighthouse Keeper. The being closest to the truth of this world, in a sense, stood before Lennok’s eyes.
Rumble rumble rumble…!!!
Immediately thereafter, an immense magical pressure bore down on the two.
“Cough!!”
“…The power!!”
A heavy pressure, making even a shred of resistance impossible in their current state of magic depletion. No, even if they had been in perfect condition, would they have lasted long?
Their opponent was a being who had reached the pinnacle of Pandemonium, commanding monsters like Croken Asylus and Myeong.
It was impossible to even predict the extent of its power and potential.
Realizing he might not survive this encounter if he made a single mistake, Lennok bit his lip while sprawled on the floor.
‘Damn it, in a place like this…!!’
While rapidly checking the artifacts and escape routes at hand in a corner of his mind, he found himself unable to comprehend the situation itself.
If a big shot like the Pandemonium Leader had walked directly into the labyrinth, Lapis couldn’t possibly have failed to detect its presence.
Hadn’t Lennok himself consistently checked the faces of his rivals while sniping in the snowy mountains, to prepare for any unforeseen variables?
To that extent, the Leader’s presence was a critical issue, enough to completely overturn the situation that had unfolded until now.
The Leader, who had instantly pinned both Lennok and Ermont to the floor, stroked his chin and murmured,
“But I didn’t expect Maiya to be the only one here. I asked the Doctor to arrange for worldly causality to connect with the Transcendent, but…”
“So that’s why Pandemonium interfered…”
Lennok muttered, his shoulders trembling.
“So, someone had to make contact with the Ascendant for you to reach this point…!!”
“Ordinarily, I wouldn’t use such a cumbersome method.”
The Leader looked down at Lennok and replied.
“For me, who is only permitted to walk backward, revisiting the path I’ve traversed, this was simply the widest shortcut.”
Why only Maiya Lancelot from Pandemonium had entered the labyrinth — that question was now answered.
If they had coveted the Ascendant’s artifact or intended to confirm his status, it would have been normal to deploy more forces than this.
Instead, entrusting Maiya alone with breaking through the labyrinth was because direct contact with the Ascendant wasn’t a major concern for anyone in particular.
If someone simply laid eyes on Jindun’s form like this, the Leader would be able to ride that flow and reach the Transcendent.
“Even though things turned out this way, it doesn’t matter much. As long as I can reach Jindun, the process won’t have much meaning.”
The Leader glanced down at Lennok and Ermont, then began to walk towards the sleeping Jindun.
At that moment, Ermont, who had been groaning until now, began to let out a sinister chuckle.
“That unusual behavior… that utterly unique way of being… I think I know who you are.”
“……”
The Leader paused slightly upon hearing that, but didn’t stop walking.
Ermont also continued speaking, not caring at all.
“There was a being like you hundreds of years ago. No, you must have been alive then too, waiting for the conclusion, weren’t you?”
Ermont, struggling to lift his face, grinned.
“Jaigys… Poor man. You ultimately decided to entrust everything to an inadequate senior. It’s truly regrettable. Miracles, after all, never happen twice.”
“I am here now to change that predetermined conclusion.”
The Leader replied calmly, slowly placing a hand on Jindun’s shoulder.
“I… I know. That all of this might ultimately end as a futile struggle. That the reason I was given may have lost its meaning long ago.”
The Leader’s thinly spread fingers moved over Jindun’s shoulder, heading towards his back.
Towards the thousands of pipe lines firmly attached to his body.
“Wait, what are you doing…!! No way!”
The moment Lennok realized what the Leader was about to do, his complexion utterly changed.
“But even if this world isn’t the one I loved, I will stop the moment everything is cast into the Outer Sea’s vortex and disappears.”
Fzzzzzt…!!
The moment he forcefully tore at the pipes connected to Jindun’s back, immense energy leaked out from them, bursting into The Cradle’s hollow space.
The mechanical device used to sustain the Ascendant’s body and life. There was no need to mention how powerful and lethal the energy contained within it was.
But the Leader absorbed the energy leaking from the pipes, and simply tore off the pipes connected to Jindun’s back.
“That will be the only way for me, who was saved by the world, to repay it.”
CRACK!!
He exerted force on the cluster of pipes attached to Jindun’s back, tearing them off in one go.
Blood and flesh torn from along his back scattered into the air, spattering hot crimson blood.
The Ascendant’s frail body, as if his breath could cease at any moment.
At the very moment the mechanical device sustaining his life was completely destroyed.
Jindun opened his eyes.
Lennok was looking at someone.
A child playing with pebbles. A child who didn’t look older than five.
The child, arranging a few stones on the ground and drawing a circle, smiled awkwardly.
He turned his head.
The appearance of a matured boy. A striking presence with elegant golden hair.
He drew a circle with a twig in his hand, filling it with unknown symbols.
The boy, having completed a quite plausible barrier formation, smiled contentedly.
He turned his head.
The appearance of a young man, much older now.
He channeled magic into the ground with a staff held in one hand.
A high-level barrier, even to Lennok’s eyes, instantly formed and enveloped the young man.
The young man smiled proudly.
He turned his head.
The young man no longer aged.
But the level of the barrier formations he created exponentially increased.
Beyond anything Lennok could recognize, transcending systems, ignoring attributes, and interfering with space-time.
Surpassing the secrets of barrier magic that existed in the world, he completely perfected his own system.
The young man no longer smiled.
Time passed.
An immeasurable amount of time passed, and the young man who didn’t age gradually transformed into a middle-aged man, then an old man.
During the long time it took for a superhuman who had already reached a high realm to visibly age, barrier magic did not greatly develop.
He merely focused on continuously supplementing deficiencies and building up its foundations.
More time passed.
Each time he turned his head and shifted his gaze, he saw the form of a man exploring barrier magic in different timelines.
Tens, then hundreds… Until the moment he finally reached the end, traversing that incredibly long period.
The man always kept his head bowed, looking down at his feet.
Looking back, the act of looking down at something was something he was utterly accustomed to.
The joy of watching the small world he created spin no longer lingered, but.
Perhaps barrier magic was, in a small way, mimicking the work of a god.
Perhaps that’s why this man, of all people, gained the qualification to challenge Ascension.
If one imitates the work of a god and reaches its pinnacle, then eventually, they could be called another god.
Of course, the man was not a god, nor did he wish to become one.
His existence as a Transcendent, having shed causality, might have been enough to appear as a god in the eyes of others.
Regarding that fact, there was no resentment, no lingering regret.
However, if there was anything he wished to convey, even belatedly-
Click, click.
At the very end of the timeline where hundreds of men stood in a line.
An old man, frail-looking with a pale complexion, sat silently with his back bent.
Unlike the other men who had been toying with barrier magic, the old man was touching a small game board.
The game board, with its striking black and white checker pattern, somehow resembled something Lennok was familiar with.
Lennok stared intently at the old man, then slowly walked towards him.
He sat down opposite the old man, with the game board between them.
At that, the hundreds of men who had been focused on manipulating barrier magic, as if Lennok didn’t exist, all raised their heads and began to stare at Lennok.
The old man, who hadn’t lifted his head until then, slowly raised his eyes, looked at Lennok, and grinned.
“Will you play a game?”
Lennok smiled and nodded.
“Of course, Jaigys.”