Chapter 396: Pruning (4)

Click!!

Simultaneously with the pull of the trigger, a bluish magical light erupted from the shotgun’s muzzle, striking the empty air.

BOOM!!

A thunderous roar, a beat too late, echoed through the air. The explosion, like thousands of people clapping at once, reverberated as magic swirled.

A single shot of magical power from a charged shotgun, refined to its limit to maximize penetration.

Its power wasn’t just enough to rip up the immediate vicinity; it reached beyond the Domain itself.

CRACKLE!!

As the spray of azure flame spread in all directions, crashing sounds like crumbling blocks filled the air, and the street began to collapse in various places.

The mechanical devices that had been rotating towards Lennok ceased their operation, and tightly affixed talismans fell off.

Each time Lennok recharged and fired the shotgun, parts of the Filthy Accumulation Binding Array’s scenery were shattered and distorted, as if a shell was being peeled away.

The ruined and collapsed traces of the mechanical formation were revealed hideously through the gaps.

Everywhere within the Domain, which invaded reality, was riddled with holes, exposing its inner workings and revealing the entire scene to others.

“Stop… stop it…!!”

A strike that saw through the Qimen Dunjia’s design from the imaginary dimension and pierced it precisely.

Even though it looked like shooting into empty air, the shotgun’s penetrating fire, mimicking Maiya’s magic, certainly reached the other side of the Domain.

CRACKLE!!

“Guh-huh…!!”

With a sound of tearing paper, Ayoon was thrown out from the torn other side of the Domain.

His appearance, with dozens of syringes stuck into his limbs and even his scalp, supported by devices, resembled a child strapped into a stroller.

Ayoon, half-naked with both hands clasped, had an eerily familiar pattern densely tattooed on his chest.

“…So that’s why you were fine after injecting yourself with so many drugs.”

Only after confirming Ayoon’s appearance did Lennok shake his head with an incredulous expression.

“Someone already mad with fanaticism can’t be driven mad by any more drugs.”

That was why Ayoon, even after injecting drugs and deploying his Domain, quickly regained his sanity.

That was why, even after becoming a director, he still roamed outside, indulging in pleasure.

That was why he was strangely unenthusiastic about the Cartel’s internal affairs.

The answer to all those questions was clearly displayed on Ayoon’s naked chest.

“Did you… join the Guido Cult?”

“Th-this…!! No, no, Auntie!!”

Ayoon, flailing his arms, frantically shouted.

“Everything about the cult is a misunderstanding! If you just listen to me for a moment—!!”

Ayoon desperately screamed, trying to explain himself to the empty air.

He, too, realized that Olivera was watching this entire moment.

If he couldn’t make her understand the cult’s emblem now, it wouldn’t be strange if his neck was taken by her, regardless of any demonstration.

“I-I was forcibly captured and tortured by them!! If you give me time, I’ll prove my innocence! Just a little more time—!!”

Lennok, instead of bothering Ayoon further, crossed his arms and watched Ayoon’s pathetic display.

At this point, with Ayoon’s hidden secret revealed, Lennok’s part in the demonstration was practically over.

Especially since he had directly shattered and countered Ayoon’s Domain, even pulling him out, further determining superiority in the demonstration was meaningless.

Virgil and Olivera must have expected the outcome to be decided this way from the start.

The only unexpected part was that it didn’t just end with teaching the third director a lesson.

“Chairwoman!! Auntie!!”

To Ayoon’s desperate cries, Olivera finally responded.

[I believe the demonstration is not yet over.]

“…Y-yes?”

Her voice was impossibly warm, despite everything happening before her eyes.

Even facing clear evidence that Ayoon had betrayed her and converted to the Guido Cult, she seemed entirely unconcerned.

[Regardless of what happens, contracts and procedures must be followed. It is natural for both of you, as directors of the organization, to set an example, but this is disappointing.]

Through her low, deep voice, Lennok could feel an intense magical power that made even him shake his head slightly.

Even after being said to have declined from her prime since the project’s failure, was this her true potential?

Regardless of Lennok’s thoughts, Olivera’s voice echoed.

[I will listen to the one who remains conscious after the demonstration is complete. You haven’t failed to understand my words, have you?]

“…”

Both Ayoon and Lennok understood what that meant, what she expected.

Ayoon frantically got up, glaring at Lennok, who frowned with an annoyed expression.

“Auntie gave me a chance…!!”

Ayoon muttered, pulling out the syringes one by one from his body.

“She trusts me more than you…!! Hahahahahat!!!”

His face, bruised all over, as he formed hand seals, was filled with a euphoria like someone returned from hell.

Lennok looked at him and laughed incredulously.

In that desperate expression, he saw a glimpse of the renegade monk who had died by Lennok’s hand years ago.

“Anyone would think you’ve been a director for decades. Have you grown so attached to the position already?”

“Shut up!!”

Ayoon shrieked.

“How dare a street beggar like you speak to me, a descendant of the Do-mun…!! From now on, I will prove that the Chairwoman’s choice was not wrong!!!”

CRUMBLE!!!

At his words, the surrounding street violently shook, instantly transforming its terrain.

It was a form that drastically narrowed the range of the Domain user’s reach while concentrating power in one place.

Ayoon’s Filthy Accumulation Binding Array, which was close to reality invasion, channeled its power towards a single person – an unorthodox secret of Qimen Dunjia.

[Domain Deployment: Filthy Accumulation Binding Array (汚磊禁鎖陣)]

[Life and Death Six Gates Linkage (生死肉汶聯動)]

[Essence of Qimen Dunjia: Ding (丁)]

A dueling ground created by twisting the principles of Qimen Dunjia to the extreme, connecting the ‘Life Gate’ to the user and the ‘Death Gate’ to the opponent.

As the user, who should be ‘motionless’, becomes the Life Gate, and the enemy, who should be ‘motionless’, becomes the Death Gate, the closer the distance, the more the entire Qimen Dunjia twists, crumples, and breaks around these two gates.

A Taoist sorcerer’s ultimate technique, used with the understanding that the Domain, based on the user’s mind, will be shattered and warped.

However, the compatibility gained by enduring that cost grants an extreme level of close-quarters combat ability and physical resistance, which originally did not exist for Taoist sorcerers.

Thump-thump-thump-thump!!

Broken mechanical devices, talismans, and all sorts of rare artifacts and relics piled up around Lennok and Ayoon, forming a colossal mountain of scrap metal.

“Impressive.”

Lennok, standing at its summit, lightly exclaimed at the suddenly elevated landscape.

“When one reaches the peak of Qimen Dunjia, capable of adjusting the Domain through prior preparation, can they overlay the concept and definition of the Domain onto living beings?”

He had faced several Domain users before, but this was the first time he’d met a user so specialized in adjusting the Domain itself.

“If the raison d’être of an invasive Domain is for arbitrary customization, then ancient sorcerers must have strived to manipulate their mind imprints far more flexibly than now. This is a good learning experience.”

“How long do you think you can afford to be so relaxed?!”

Ayoon bellowed at Lennok’s soliloquy, wildly swinging his arm.

In response, massive fragments of an axe blade, like wildfire, rose and lashed out at Lennok, following Ayoon’s gestures.

As the broken mechanical devices simultaneously turned and concentrated their firepower on Lennok, Ayoon unhesitantly closed in on Lennok.

As Ayoon’s black and white hair wildly scattered, dozens of talismans, which had somehow gathered circularly around his forearms, simultaneously glowed.

[Do-ye-ji-bo (度藝支寶)]

[Je-mol (提沒)]

A large circular wave erupted, passing through Lennok and exploding in the sky beyond him.

KWA-AAANG!!

This was different from when he’d been hiding on the other side of the Domain, tormenting Lennok by channeling his power.

The desperate magic overflowing from Ayoon’s body.

Conversely, while all the output of the Domain, which constantly writhed as if alive, concentrated on Ayoon, gloomy, rigid magic and space continuously overlapped, directed at Lennok.

It constantly superimposed augmentation and attenuation on himself and his opponent, with the intensity growing stronger as the distance narrowed.

As the arbitrarily assigned Life Gate and Death Gate forcibly drew closer, the form of Qimen Dunjia warped, but the power woven through it grew even stronger.

[Al-lak (軋落): Cheon-eum (穿蔭)]

[Swae-ra-do-hae (殺癩渡海)]

Hundreds of talismans rippled around Lennok, and thick ropes rotated from all directions, drawing a massive formation.

The essence of Taoist sorcery exploded from beneath his feet, targeting the firmly bound subject.

[Tui-seon (頹仙)]

The light of order, which extinguished wicked spirits and established dharma, mercilessly pierced the Death Gate.

KWA-AAANG!!!

“Ahahahahahah!!!”

Magic wielded freely and mercilessly, as if drawn from an endless abyss.

A savage burst of mad laughter continuously erupted from Ayoon’s mouth, filled with an unknown ecstasy.

‘It was a good choice to join hands with the cult…!!’

Ayoon’s aging master had not easily passed down such dangerous techniques to him.

Even though he had taken and raised him as an orphan simply because he had talent, and even though he had devoted all his efforts to understanding the essence of Qimen Dunjia.

He had constantly tested and guarded against whether Ayoon was worthy of inheriting such power.

Because a Taoist sorcerer who used Qimen Dunjia to arbitrarily sculpt and arrange their mind imprint could, at any moment, have their will broken and turn into a living puppet.

But Ayoon believed that this characteristic did not define a Taoist sorcerer but merely drew a limit, and so he took the cult’s hand.

He believed that if his mind was protected under the Guido Cult’s doctrine in the name of fanaticism, there would be fewer side effects no matter how he manipulated his power.

Ayoon, no longer fearing the side effects of a shattered mind, made a name for himself on various fronts, and hadn’t he finally received recommendations and entered a mega-city?

Just as it had always been, everyone in this city had to admire and tremble before Ayoon’s power and ability.

He had never once doubted that fact, nor had he ever feared it.

Until he saw the colossal shadow rising before his eyes right now.

Wooooooong…!!

A mystical vibrating sound, like dozens of brass instruments overlapping.

But the chilling cold flowing from beyond it was so intense it made Ayoon’s entire body tremble.

“Why…!!!”

Ayoon, stepping back while massaging his faintly twitching hands, muttered through gritted teeth.

“How are you alive after taking Tui-seon head-on…!!”

In the Qimen Dunjia formation, composed of Life and Death Gates, the light of [Tui-seon] piercing the Death Gate was one of the most powerful spells allowed to a Taoist sorcerer.

He had believed that if it was a spell of righteous judgment, whose power amplified the closer or more directly the opponent was in the Death Gate, it would surely be more than enough to kill him.

But as if mocking his conviction, an endless shadow billowed out beyond the light of Tui-seon.

Through the black mist that felt even more ominous than Ayoon himself, who had joined hands with the Guido Cult.

Lennok walked out casually and spoke.

“The idea of intentionally crushing a Domain to wring out its power is quite intriguing.”

Swoosh…!!

With each step, shadows followed his pace, dyeing everything black.

The towering mountain of scrap metal in the middle of the street was helplessly swallowed, turning the surroundings into a dark void.

As the spiraling shadow spreading from Lennok took a step forward, twisting space, Ayoon also took a step back in response.

“It’s also surprising that you systematized such an idea into a single spell. Was it an experiment to pursue beyond limits, even at the cost of the user’s mind? I’ve seen something similar before.”

Hadn’t the black wizard Ermont deployed the gem sorcerer Jawoon Audis’s Domain in an invasive form, then consumed his emotions, converting them into gems to use spells?

It was similar.

Just glimpsing a fragment of the ancient sorcerers’ methods of experimenting with the possibilities of Domains and mind imprints, one could grasp how cruel and merciless they were.

“But even if your mind is protected by the Guido Cult’s doctrine, you can’t avoid the side effects of deliberately crushing your Domain.”

Shhhhiiik!!!

“Ugh—!!”

A fragment of shadow instantly wrapped around his arm.

Ayoon was more astonished by the fact that he couldn’t even resist the not-slow movement of the shadow than by its horrifying touch.

“The cracks in the imaginary dimension that arise when a Domain, completed as a spell, is twisted. Before, I could only vaguely perceive their existence, but now it’s different.”

Lennok looked down at Ayoon and slowly clenched his fist.

Thump-thump-thump!!

At the same time, the shadow fragments transformed into sharp spears, instantly piercing various parts of Ayoon’s limbs, impaling him like stakes.

“Forcibly breaking the balance of reality and illusion to handle the non-existent. Controlling that sensation… I’m accustomed to it now.”

At the moment Ayoon let out a furious roar at his pathetic appearance, impaled alive like an insect.

Lennok unleashed a colorless wave beneath his feet.

Whooosh!!!

Despite the unique sound of space splitting, the thousands of golden kaleidoscopic streams reflecting Lennok’s mind imprint did not appear.

He was constructing the Domain from the non-existent imaginary dimension. Through a hidden mind imprint, invisible in reality, he was disassembling the Filthy Accumulation Binding Array from its roots, piece by piece.

This was a counter-Domain inversion spell that cleverly exploited the flaws of an already deployed Domain, expanding cracks in the imaginary dimension.

Because Qimen Dunjia designates a target and varies the Domain’s function, a Domain inversion in the imaginary dimension would more fatally corrode Ayoon’s mind imprint.

A counter that meticulously targets and adjusts individual sorcerers, then collapses the Domain from its roots on the other side of the imaginary dimension.

[Domain Inversion Deployment]

[Paradoxical Hierarchy Mind Imprint Manifestation]

[False Morning Star (虛僞啓明星)]

KU-GU-GU-GOONG!!

Not many people truly grasped what Lennok had done.

[This is…!!]

Only Olivera, who had been looking boredly at the sky beyond, suddenly stood up with a voice of astonishment.

The space of Ayoon’s Filthy Accumulation Binding Array began to vanish with unnatural cracks, as if filled with static.

Ayoon, realizing that the forcibly raised power was slipping through his fingers like sand, struggled madly, but was only devoured by the imaginary dimension’s shadow covering his entire body.

“Uwaaaahhhhh!!!”

As he, corroded and consumed throughout his body, let out a desperate scream, the Filthy Accumulation Binding Array that had invaded the city center shattered.

Ayoon, whose foaming mouth was also consumed by the imaginary dimension’s shadow, fell headfirst to the ground.

Thud!!

Lennok calmly looked down at Ayoon, silently adjusting his coat.

Whoosh……!!

The chilling wind blew across the quiet street of the Undeveloped District.

Confirming that Ayoon had completely lost consciousness, Lennok cast [Gravity Bind] and lifted his body.

He was in a state worse than death, but still alive and breathing. Lennok recognized a strange emotion within himself at this fact and chuckled.

He remembered the time, years ago, when he had fought Parden McQueen, ready to die.

McQueen, a formidable foe who had just reached Level 7, whose victory could only be discussed if Lennok deployed his Domain with all his might.

But now, he was easily subduing a sorcerer of McQueen’s level without even deploying his own Domain.

The passage of time and the vast difference in results made Lennok realize where he stood now.

Lennok glanced towards the end of the street and let out a small sigh.

“Olivera… You handed me a troublesome task, so you’d better keep your promise properly.”

Ayoon seemed to think Olivera had given him a chance, but Lennok knew she had merely dumped a bothersome task on him.

If Lennok had only exposed Ayoon’s collusion with the cult and then withdrawn, it would have taken ages to subdue and interrogate the agitated man.

Olivera, instead, wanted Lennok to subdue Ayoon and hand him over during the demonstration.

She probably made such a blatant request because she knew Lennok wanted to meet her privately.

As he had felt during the Parden McQueen incident, she was a master at not wasting effort on unnecessary things.

Against this incredibly shrewd chairperson of the corporate conglomerate, Lennok intended to exact a definite price this time.

Seeing Yerien’s astonished face running towards him from afar, Lennok put a cigarette into his mouth.

It was time to meet the Chairwoman.