Chapter 374: Jindun (3)
The fleeting moment life support was torn from Jindun’s body.
Even if he couldn’t interfere with the timeline where Jaigys and Lennok stood, did he perceive what was happening?
“He’s not an Ascendant, but he’s a being even more unknowable than an Ascendant. That’s why I decided to take a gamble on him.”
“What… do you mean?”
Jindun didn’t answer, turning his head instead.
“We made a deal a long, long time ago. It’s simply time to keep that promise.”
Jaigys looked at Lennok with profound eyes.
“Doing something like this at the last moment, even knowing the outcome is predetermined… it’s because we’ve constantly faced each other all this time, so why are you asking now?”
“……”
Lennok knew too.
That the visions of Jindun, which he had constantly encountered by combining the monocular with his mystic eye, were not merely simple illusions.
Jindun’s appearance, aging from the labyrinth’s exterior to its interior, was something that could never exist without Jaigys’s own will.
He had witnessed a man’s entire life, from boyhood to youth, through middle age, and finally to old age.
At the very end of The Cradle, Jindun had been waiting for Lennok to come meet him.
“Those eyes of yours… they see beyond what is visible. They are eyes that see and gauge what doesn’t exist. I can tell.”
“That’s…”
“It’s not just a simple mystic eye; it’s a mirror that directly projects your Mind Imprint, isn’t it?”
There was no need to explain everything in detail to him.
With just the slightest trace Lennok revealed in the labyrinth, Jindun casually pinpointed its essence and informed Lennok once more.
It was merely a process of reconfirming what he already knew. It wasn’t even strictly necessary when he was the only one truly present.
“Tracing back from there, you can guess what your Mind Imprint looks like. And what the previous Lighthouse Keeper saw in you to leave their message.”
The game was almost over.
The white stones Jindun placed dwindled in number, while the black stones Lennok placed endlessly expanded their territory.
Each time the tide turned, the amount of information flowing into Lennok’s mind intensified, and its density grew immeasurably.
It would be difficult to fully absorb all of it immediately, but there was a possibility that it could one day manifest in a complete form through Lennok.
Jindun was, in essence, conveying the landscape at the end of the path he had built, entirely to Lennok.
“Though I’ve only known repeated failure… I still don’t wish for the world to perish. If everything I’ve built can leave some meaning, wouldn’t that be enough?”
Jindun chuckled and said.
“To put it simply, I’m leaving an insurance policy before I go. It feels uneasy to put all your eggs in one basket. You can think of it that way and forget about it.”
“No. I won’t forget.”
Lennok replied calmly.
“I won’t let it be forgotten.”
What did it matter if there was no fourth world?
He had suspected that fact ever since the previous Lighthouse Keeper spoke of a ‘closed world’.
For causality to loop and close meant that there was no “next” for this world, didn’t it?
Today, he had simply confirmed that fact directly from Jindun.
What Lennok had to do hadn’t changed.
Jindun listened to Lennok’s words and remained silent for a long time.
“You know, I’ve always loved playing games since I was a child.”
Jindun said, holding a stone.
“But no one could be my match for long, so I soon quit. I found it much more enjoyable to play against myself.”
“……”
He knew this was the last game.
Lennok tried not to let his words go unheeded.
“Barrier magic is a continuous match against myself. It’s not about breaking through internal contradictions, but gently grasping and resolving them. I rather liked that intricate profoundness.”
Jindun smiled.
“Or perhaps, I just liked myself for being that way? I’m not sure which.”
“Is that so?”
Thud!!
The end was near.
As Lennok picked up the last remaining stone, Jindun spoke.
“Before I go, let’s make one thing clear.”
“Speak.”
Jindun gazed at Lennok’s face for a moment before opening his mouth.
“I didn’t lose; I let you win. You know that, right?”
At the absurd joke, Lennok couldn’t help but laugh.
They had known each other for what felt like a fleeting moment.
But Lennok felt an immense sense of familiarity with this humble old man crouching before him.
Perhaps it was because ever since Lennok entered this labyrinth, he had constantly reflected on the trajectory of Jindun’s life.
He knew.
“No.”
Lennok replied, placing the final stone and completely overturning the game with black.
“I will win.”
“This game? Or reality?”
Lennok smiled.
“Either way.”
Amidst the long fragments of consciousness, Lennok opened his eyes.
The cold chill from The Cradle’s floor rose directly along his cheek.
Then, something warm poured over him, drenching his body.
Splaaash!!!
Fresh, crimson blood flowed before his eyes.
An uncontrollable amount of blood poured from Jindun’s body, stripped of its life support, and his remains soaked the floor warmly.
His faint, lingering breath ceased in an instant.
Jindun Jaigys Ethernor thus met his death before the eyes of everyone who had entered The Cradle.
One of the 9-level Transcendants who challenged Ascension and transcended human reason had, at this very moment, departed the world forever.
The very person who directly stopped Jindun’s breath, the Leader of Pandemonium, carefully lifted Jindun’s body.
“You accepted that you had no place in the desired outcome. I offer my respects to you for keeping an impossible promise.”
A strangely ambiguous voice, both male and female, old and young. But Lennok understood that amidst the utterly calm declaration, a trace of mourning was mixed in.
“But I will ensure you are not the last. No matter how much it’s stained with sordid sacrifices and costs… this world must continue to exist.”
Through the unrecognizable noise shrouding his face, an infinitely cold gaze radiated.
A resolve so coldly hardened that even Ermont could glimpse his intent.
The Leader murmured, looking down at Jindun’s body, eyes closed as if peacefully asleep.
“If miracles no longer exist in this world, I will prepare for what’s next, even if I have to create miracles myself.”
“That’s absurd. Do you intend to become a god of a new world?”
The Leader did not reply to Ermont’s dazed murmur.
He merely looked down at the two fallen figures, then turned his head.
Towards Maiya, who was staggering to her feet and looking up at the Leader.
“Maiya. Recover these two and take them outside the labyrinth. Both possess enough skill to join the organization.”
“I have no intention of joining Pandemonium.”
Ermont replied weakly, still sprawled on the ground.
“It would be much more convenient for you to simply kill us cleanly here.”
“I don’t kill people so easily.”
For the first time, the Leader replied to that remark.
The Leader’s answer, who had until now ignored others and only spoken to Jindun.
Ermont immediately asked again.
“Even if we don’t follow your will?”
“The moment the heavens open and the Outer Sea’s demise descends, human will shall become utterly insignificant.”
“……”
Ermont fell silent at the calm declaration.
“At that time, humans, contrary to their thoughts and values, will move for a single purpose… What I desire is not much.”
The Leader slowly turned his gaze towards Ermont.
“Under the single goal of survival, to find another breakthrough before all the world’s values are consumed.”
“That’s…”
“Life can truly build and sustain the world only when it dedicates itself to a goal greater and more noble than itself. This must happen through a natural, inevitable flow, irrespective of one’s own will.”
The Leader said.
“Miracles never happen through chance or dramatic reversals. I am prepared to overturn everything and sustain existence for that one miracle.”
“You’re insane.”
Ermont asserted.
“Perhaps it seems that way.”
The Leader agreed.
“But I merely wish for others not to experience the pain I went through.”
The Leader muttered as he passed by the fallen Ermont and Lennok.
“Once a person has glimpsed the end, no one can escape the will to move towards that conclusion.”
As the Leader slowly walked down the stairs, Maiya slowly ascended them.
The moment the Leader’s steps, aiming to leave The Cradle’s palace, crossed with Maiya’s, intending to subdue and carry the two.
Thump!!
Lennok’s body, which had been lying still as if dead, twitched and rose.
A majestic roar echoed from within Lennok’s body as he staggered to his feet, limp like a puppet with cut strings.
Wooooosh!!!
A majestic and utterly terrifying rotational hum, as if an airplane engine were spinning.
An unknown force violently rotated within his body, causing his magic power to surge unrestrainedly in all directions.
A golden circle appeared behind Lennok, illuminating his back like a halo.
A golden wave, rotating once behind the limp wizard, burst forth, sweeping away the debris within The Cradle.
Craaash!!!
Amidst that immense repulsive force, Ermont’s fallen body flew up like a toy, and Maiya swiftly snatched him, breaking his limbs to prevent further movement.
Snap!!
“Ugh…!”
“I’ve severed all the ligaments in his arms and legs, so he’ll have trouble walking on his own.”
Maiya, glaring at Ermont with cold eyes, tossed his body at her feet and looked up the stairs.
Lennok was rising, his head bowed low. From his swaying body, a terrifyingly immense amount of magic power ceaselessly burst forth.
A powerful aura, hard to believe it came from a wizard who had just been panting, having expended all his magic power.
For Maiya, who remembered the power of Fiery Spiral, the area-of-effect magic Lennok had unleashed just before entering the gate, her complexion couldn’t help but worsen.
“The problem is over there… Leader, what do you plan to do?”
“……”
Still the unrecognizable noise. But it was clear the Leader was stroking his chin and nodding.
An expression of clear interest. That attitude was entirely evident in his next words.
“Indeed. I was mistaken.”
“What?”
“I thought everyone had acknowledged and accepted it, but it wasn’t quite like that.”
The magic power calmly flowing from the Leader’s body settled down even further.
“We exchanged answers at the very last moment… The promise was kept, but the will belongs to that wizard.”
“What are you talking about?”
The Leader, who had been muttering incomprehensible things, finally turned his gaze towards Maiya.
“That wizard has inherited the control authority over the Hanghasa Labyrinth that Jindun possessed.”
“…What?”
“Since the Ascendant has died, the labyrinth created from his Mind Imprint won’t last long, but all the magic power gathered in The Cradle will temporarily belong to that wizard.”
The Leader leisurely murmured as if it were none of his concern.
“He must have already regained consciousness, and once he refines his magic power, he’ll start moving. Considering the speed of his magic arrangement, it seems he’s found a direction, but I wonder how far he can go—!!”
Craaash!!!
There was no answer.
Lennok’s body, standing dozens of meters up the stairs, vanished from that spot.
Immediately after, Lennok appeared before the Leader’s eyes and swung his arm.
Following a light gesture, like fanning with his fingers, a crimson inferno erupted like a wave, dyeing The Cradle’s ceiling red.
Whoooosh!!!!
Amidst the dark crimson wave of flames, a faint Azure Flame flickered and spun.
From the edges of the raging inferno that overflowed in all directions, it began to freeze backward, instantly reversing temperatures of hundreds of degrees and chilling the space.
Crackle!!!
“Gah…!”
Maiya twisted her body, desperately resisting the intense magical assault that instantly shifted several attributes before her eyes.
She too had expended a considerable amount of magic power reaching The Cradle.
Even if there was a fundamental difference in their Hierarchy, it would be difficult to hold out long against a wizard who had obtained such immense magic power.
Riiip!!
The chilling cold that climbed up her fingertips instantly transformed into hellish heat, beginning to gnaw madly at Maiya’s flesh.
An attribute reversal so dazzling it was hard to believe even while witnessing it with her own eyes.
Terrified, Maiya looked back and shouted.
“Damn it, Leader!!!”
Her intention was clear, but the Leader merely gazed at Maiya before turning away as if nothing had happened.
“If we stay here much longer, Jindun’s remains will spoil.”
“Hey!!”
“As I said, take both of them out of the labyrinth alive and unharmed.”
He seemed to show no interest whatsoever in either Lennok or Ermont.
The moment Maiya’s mouth hung open in shock at his abnormal reaction.
Lennok, appearing with a flash in mid-air, placed a hand on Maiya’s shoulder and whispered.
“Move.”
Craaash!!
A shockwave erupted from his hand, crumpling Maiya’s body like paper and smashing her into The Cradle’s wall.
Lennok, ignoring the impact he had caused, fixed his gaze on the Leader, who had turned his back.