Chapter 382: Echoes of Shadow (1)
Lapis’s groundbreaking declaration. But no one was surprised to hear it.
The other Watchers standing beside her seemed to have expected this day would come.
“Are you sure about this?”
Lennok asked.
“I hear the grudges entangled in the Central Front are no ordinary matter. Once you set foot near the curtain, it might be hard to leave again.”
Not all renowned powerhouses on the continent were fixated on Central City Ars Nova’s legacy.
Quite a few monsters considered Central City Ars Nova’s prestige, which had once grasped all the continent’s wealth and honor decades ago, to be an illusion.
Even Ascendants were said to be divided on what meaning, if any, remained in the city’s depths, which no one had reached, blocked by the intricately tangled front lines.
It was uncertain whether it would be meaningful to step into a place where all sorts of factions and powers were not just intertwined but utterly congealed.
Lapis, too, would surely know that.
“Observing the Hanghasa Labyrinth up close, I also gained certainty,” the girl smiled.
“That an Ascendant isn’t merely a qualified Transcendent, and that Pandemonium also has its own reasons and meaning… If that’s the case, then we can’t simply remain complacent.”
“……”
“I’m not saying we’ll immediately plunge into the heart of the Central Front. It will take some time to establish a bridgehead leading to the front from the Eastern Continent and to assess the situation.”
“I see.”
“So, when that time comes…”
Lapis, hesitating for a moment, slowly lifted her head.
Towards Lennok and Evelyn, who looked down at her silently, the Lighthouse Keeper smiled faintly and extended her hand.
“Will both of you also join me on this path?”
A wind blew.
It was a wind that buried all the events from this Northern Continent, from that labyrinth, among the piles of dirt.
Lapis was saying that she would begin a new choice right from this place. That she wouldn’t look back.
From the moment she plunged into a war that would shake the entire continent, she didn’t hesitate, even knowing that she herself might not be able to stop.
Lapis was clearly aware that only those with such resolve could reach Central City Ars Nova.
Only then did Lennok, realizing that all the events with Jindun must be buried in his memories, raise his head.
“……”
Slowly, yet never sluggishly.
Lennok’s mouth opened.
Having exited the snowfield, Maiya looked back at the crumbling labyrinth before turning away.
With one arm, she dragged Jawoon’s fallen body, and with the other, she rummaged through the snow.
Having neatly retrieved the belongings she had buried in advance on the outskirts of the snowfield, she immediately pulled out her communicator.
Beep!!
“Doctor, can you hear me?”
[……]
“Doctor?”
[…Don’t rush me. I’m listening.]
The voice of a middle-aged man, sounding somewhat languid.
Maiya frowned at the faint sense of unfamiliarity in the voice.
“What are you doing acting so strange? I just got out of the labyrinth, so give me the coordinates. We can do the report while we move.”
[Wait… I’m not entirely sure what’s going on myself.]
Only then, realizing that the Doctor’s condition was unusual, she scoffed.
“What are you talking about, after observing the situation from outside the labyrinth all this time?”
[Phew… The after-effects of the forbidden spell, a reinterpretation of human sacrifice, are not to be underestimated. If I hadn’t taken precautions, I might have died at the third gate.]
Piercing through Jindun’s Conceptual Realm and transferring consciousness through it was, in itself, an exceedingly dangerous forbidden spell.
Furthermore, killing the medium that shared consciousness, in order to send Maiya into The Cradle at the very end, was no different from an extremely dangerous gamble.
Even if the forbidden spell of human sacrifice possessed immense power and efficiency, it was natural that its side effects would vary depending on the target.
And the Doctor had a premonition that he might die the moment he cast the forbidden spell of ‘position transference’ on Lennok.
[That wizard, Evan… His vessel itself is on an absurd level. From the moment I targeted him, it felt like my entire body was being eaten away.]
“……”
Maiya couldn’t deny those words and kept her mouth shut.
At the very least, Lennok’s appearance, whom she had encountered with the Commander inside The Cradle, was clearly more than enough to warrant such words.
What kind of power would the wizard who remained in Jindun’s Cradle until the very end, reconfirming its achievements, appear with next?
It was an undeniably ominous thought, but she forced herself to shake it off and stood up.
“…Whatever. I’ll be moving west for now, so contact me when you come to your senses.”
[Understood. Maiya, if you get in touch with the Commander, let him know. I’m aware the plan succeeded, but I can’t reach him.]
“Is it the first time the Commander disappeared without a word?”
If he disappeared after directly recovering Jindun’s remains, it wouldn’t be strange for him not to show his face for several months.
Both Maiya and the Doctor had grown accustomed to the Commander’s strangely mysterious conduct.
“I’ve packed clothes, food, and money… The rest, I’ll have to abandon.”
She put on the thick fur coat she had prepared and packed emergency rations needed for leaving the Northern Continent.
Until she could meet up at the coordinates specified by the Doctor, she also had to take care of this suspicious gem sorcerer’s body.
Having lived as an enforcer for a long time, Maiya quickly distinguished between what was necessary and what to discard, then finished preparations to leave the snowfield.
At the very last moment, as she checked Jawoon’s condition to see if he was still alive.
“Damn it…”
Opening his chest, she silently frowned deeply.
“Should I contact the Doctor again?”
Maiya’s gaze fell upon the area around Jawoon’s heart.
The large gem that had originally replaced his heart was nowhere to be found; only an empty, gaping chest was revealed.
Lennok and Evelyn, having bid farewell to the Watchers, were able to leave the forest soon after.
Although forced rest periods occurred due to Lennok’s stamina issues, Evelyn seemed quite content with finding edible weeds in the local ecosystem.
“Look at this, it tastes pretty good. If you can put up with a little stomachache, it seems like an edible plant.”
“A plant that causes stomachaches for a super-human like you… I’d prefer to just receive the thought.”
“Heh heh.”
Evelyn, nonchalantly chewing on a plant, adjusted the backpack on her back and spoke.
“She’s a good person, isn’t she?”
Lennok also immediately realized who she was talking about and smiled.
“She’s a good leader. I know that too.”
Though overshadowed by the prestigious name of the previous Lighthouse Keeper’s kin, Lapis’s fundamental disposition isn’t suited to an ideal leader.
A disposition too tender and uncalculating to serve as the head of an armed group.
Yet, despite that, Lapis succeeded in rapidly growing an organization called ‘Eyes of Blue’ and building power based on the solid support of the Watchers.
This is because she possesses the will and reason to embrace talented individuals with diverse personalities without losing her center in the process.
“She has a very good eye for people. The fact that she immediately accepted you, Evelyn, as a Watcher is probably because she possesses such an eye.”
“…Is that so?”
Evelyn scratched her cheek, smiling sheepishly.
But Lennok wasn’t just saying empty words.
Even if Lapis herself couldn’t be a rational leader, it was enough to bring talented individuals into the organization who could make her one.
In that sense, Lapis’s eye for people alone was truly exceptional.
The previous Lighthouse Keeper’s kin. A Lighthouse Keeper with eyes that see farther than anyone else.
Her insight was not only for the future but also fully demonstrated in her ability to discern people far more capable and excellent than herself.
“I don’t know how much of the previous Lighthouse Keeper’s talent she inherited, but if she continues like this, a force that ranks among the top in the Eastern Continent will emerge before long. By then, even Vulcan might not be able to ignore Lapis…”
“Ugh, if the City Council gets involved with autonomous region issues, I’ll be in trouble too.”
Evelyn, frowning slightly, sighed with a resigned expression.
“Nothing to be done. I was prepared for this the moment I took leave…”
“It might not be as big a problem as you think. Considering the Prohibition Edict was lifted right before I left the city, Vulcan won’t be quiet.”
Lennok chuckled and murmured.
“They might not have the leisure to worry about diplomacy with the autonomous regions.”
“…I’ll think about it once we’re back in the city.”
The two soon arrived at a nearby small city and immediately bought train tickets for Vulcan.
Since Agents play such a significant public role in the mega-city, it seemed that smaller Agent branches also existed in other cities.
By subtly changing their faces with disguise magic and concealing their mana, there was no way anyone could recognize them.
Lennok sat in the bustling terminal, feeling quite lighthearted.
Evelyn had said she would drop by the Agent branch to find out about the situation in Vulcan, so this was to pass the time.
Lennok, idly flipping through a free newspaper lying nearby, saw the colossal headline on the front page and his eyes sank.
[Ascendant Jaigys Ethernor Passes Away. Collapse of Hanghasa Labyrinth Confirmed.]
[Second death of an Ascendant in the past five years. Where is the continental situation headed?]
‘The news has already started spreading, huh.’
It wasn’t surprising.
Apart from Jindun’s unique reclusive nature, there was no one who didn’t know of the Hanghasa Labyrinth’s existence.
If such a labyrinth had collapsed, and if the survivors who returned from it spoke, the information would spread in an instant.
An Ascendant of Level 9, transcending the human world. There weren’t many ways to conceal the death of such a Transcendent.
It was just surprising that the news had spread even to such a small city in less than three days since the labyrinth collapsed.
Lennok flipped through the newspaper a bit more to find out how far the information regarding this matter had spread.
[This is the first time the death of an Ascendant, whose fate was uncertain, has been officially confirmed.]
[Who was the last person to meet Jindun?]
[All those who returned alive from the labyrinth are tight-lipped about it. Do greedy grave robbers have no conscience?]
“……”
Lennok silently frowned at the increasingly cheap-looking article titles further back.
It seemed most of the labyrinth’s survivors didn’t even know who the last ones to pass through the gates were.
[Strong suspicions that the Lighthouse Keeper is involved in this matter, based on the testimonies of numerous witnesses…]
[The Pilenom Autonomous Region dismissed it, stating they knew nothing about the incident.]
[Experts say there’s a high probability that the Floating Island cluster will once again be caught in a whirlwind of political strife…]
“It’s utterly complex…”
It was natural for the balance of power in the Northern Continent to be greatly disrupted by the absence of an Ascendant.
Lennok could see, even beyond the newspaper articles, that movements were naturally emerging to re-establish that balance.
The Northern Continent snowfield and the remnants of the Hanghasa Labyrinth, which had remained untouched due to Jindun’s presence.
The conflicts arising around the Ascendant’s ruins would surely unfold on a much larger and more desperate scale than what happened inside the labyrinth.
But even as Lennok surmised this, he knew there was nothing more for him to do here.
Too much time had passed since he left the mega-city, and he still didn’t know what Vulcan would look like with the Prohibition Edict lifted.
If his encounter with Jindun had succeeded in giving direction and meaning to his long-standing questions, then Lennok had no more work left here.
“I’m back.”
Evelyn plopped down next to Lennok’s chair, letting out a small sigh.
“Phew…”
“Is the situation really bad?”
“No, it doesn’t seem like there’s anything major happening within the Agents, but…”
“But?”
“The overall situation in the city seems to be exactly as you imagined.”
“……”
It wasn’t difficult to realize what Evelyn’s bitter smile implied.
She was indirectly implying that Vulcan was in chaos due to the clash of powers between the open and underworlds after the lifting of the Prohibition Edict.
“I might have to report back as soon as we return.”
“Looks like the situation is pretty bad?”
“It seems the situation varies greatly by district. Some places ended with just a simple war of nerves, but others seem to be in actual conflict…”
Evelyn glanced at her watch, grabbed her coat, and immediately stood up.
“Time’s up. Let’s get moving. Should we buy some packed lunches first?”
The two bought two packed lunches from a nearby store at the terminal and boarded the train.
Evelyn, having settled into their designated seats facing each other, unfolded her packed lunch.
Lennok chuckled, seeing the lunchbox filled only with various vegetables and roots.
“Still the same, huh. Is that diet enough for calorie replenishment?”
“Van, aren’t you eating too little?”
Evelyn pointed at Lennok’s lunchbox with a fork skewered with celery and scoffed.
Lennok had chosen a type of easily digestible gruel.
Given that Lennok had only consumed preserved food packaged with spells in the labyrinth, he had chosen food that would be as gentle on his stomach as possible.
The two, having exchanged light-hearted jabs about each other’s eating habits, finished their meal quite quickly and rested.
It was practically their first meal since parting ways with Lapis.
They had chosen the fastest possible train service to return to Vulcan as soon as possible.
Regardless of knowing that fact, Evelyn seemed to have some complaints about Lennok’s decision, but it couldn’t be helped.
Lennok, resting his chin on the chair and looking out the window, began to sway slightly.
The fatigue accumulated in the labyrinth, and the aftermath of it, still unresolved, caused drowsiness to overwhelm him once he boarded the train.
Evelyn looked at Lennok with a touch of pity, then checked her watch and spoke.
“I’ll go ask the conductor when the sleeper car is accessible.”
“…It’s fine. I just want to think for a bit.”
“You know that sounds completely unconvincing, right?”
Evelyn scoffed at Lennok’s slightly delayed reply.
Lennok, watching Evelyn’s back disappear beyond the train car after she lightly tapped his shoulder, slowly closed his eyes.
The physical fatigue from a much longer schedule than planned was considerable, but
the overload of knowledge accumulated in his mind from the discussion with Jindun was constantly making Lennok’s head tired.
No matter how outstanding Lennok’s spiritual insight and comprehension ability were, it was impossible to digest centuries of barrier magic knowledge accumulated by Jindun overnight.
Just classifying and organizing the series of knowledge crammed into his head into what was understandable and acquirable, and what wasn’t, consumed all of Lennok’s mental energy for the entire day.
How much time had passed like that? Lennok, who had been lost in thought with his eyes blankly closed, suddenly opened them.
In the unusually quiet train car. Someone was sitting opposite Lennok.
Black hair, partially obscuring a face held behind a newspaper.
Lennok, with a slightly sleepy expression, called out a name.
“Evelyn…?”
“She’ll be a little late. I twisted her path back a bit.”
“…!!!”
Lennok’s expression froze at the sharp male voice, utterly different from Evelyn’s.
It wasn’t merely because he was not her companion.
It was because he still vividly remembered that unique timbre, deep and subdued yet somehow seething.
What was visible over the slightly lowered newspaper was a complexion impossible to guess the age of, yet utterly ordinary.
Only the eerie mana, seemingly rising from the depths of the abyss, hinted that the man was a non-human entity.
“It’s been a while.”
The man, Myeong, grinned at Lennok.
“First time since the Cartel incident, isn’t it?”