Chapter 420: Truth and Requiem (5)
Madrich, who had been staring down at Lennok with a somber expression, raised a trembling arm and snapped his fingers.
Simultaneously, the massive phantom ship, which had been embedded in the naval base wall, began to crumble instantly from its keel to its deck.
Koo-gwagwagwaga!!
It was the Corrosive Domain: Phantom Chain Ship, actualized as if eroding reality by strongly projecting one’s inner landscape.
However, once the naval base was discovered to be where Madrich stored his own Military Spirits, it could no longer exert great power.
Madrich instantly recognized this and decided to dismantle the Domain he had painstakingly deployed with his own hands to minimize losses.
Woodeudeudeudeuk!!
All the structures forming the rapidly collapsing ship, holding the body of a giant that had slumped, were instantly sucked into the naval base.
[Perpetual Thunder]
Lennok didn’t miss the opportunity, immediately launching a massive orb of lightning that slammed into the naval base wall. But, surprisingly, the ship’s structures formed a gigantic shield, blocking Lennok’s attack once.
Kwaaaang!!
Immediately after, it began to constantly transform its shape, quickly repairing the base wall that the ship had destroyed.
Lennok, descending from the collapsing ship’s deck, understood Madrich’s intention and smiled.
“You mean, if I want an answer, I should come inside?”
He stepped on the corpses of Military Spirits fallen by the tidal wave, walking towards the naval base, and rummaged through his pocket.
Click!!
He pulled out five ampoules from his pocket and injected them into his shoulder. Leaving the syringe needles embedded through his muscles, he chewed and swallowed a pill.
He opened a potion from his waist, mixed it with rainwater and drank it, then poured the blended herbs used for tobacco into his mouth.
As Lennok chewed and walked forward, the ampoule cylinders stuck in his shoulder and chest rattled.
He rinsed his mouth with the pouring rain and spat it out, then slapped his cheeks a few times with both hands. Finally, Lennok pulled out a massive scroll and slung it over his shoulder.
Cheolkeok!!
He drew a rechargeable shotgun with four slowly rotating barrels into his other hand, and then unleashed a shock magic blast at the heavily rusted naval base gate.
Kwaaaang!!
The iron gate burst open, and dozens of grayish luminous eyes gleamed forlornly from within the dark void of the base.
The source of power where Madrich Onnion had stored all the Military Spirits he possessed in his lifetime.
Lennok knew very well what it meant to walk into it himself, yet he let out a wry chuckle.
His condition was heightened to the limit. He forcibly drew out his depleted mana, momentarily forgetting the pain in his body.
“Let’s begin.”
Lennok lit a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and exhaled contentedly. As he walked inside, the iron gate slowly closed.
Between the closed gate, a brilliant blue flash began to flicker.
Under the damp, sunken night sky, the naval base lay abandoned, looking as if it could collapse at any moment.
A chilling wind blew, and occasional sounds of waves broke the silence.
The base presented an incredibly sinister appearance, as if ghosts might pop out and scream at any moment.
But within the naval base, which seemed to have already been swept by a storm, roars that replaced silence erupted incessantly.
Paaaah!!
Long corridors connected various parts of the naval base located on the coast.
Amidst them, a brilliant blue lightning flickered, simultaneously unleashing massive explosions that swept and engulfed everything within the base.
“Uwaaaah!!”
In the dark corridors, Military Spirits, previously lying as if dead, rushed towards Lennok.
Their respective polearms and firearms spun gracefully, emitting and unleashing mana in various directions.
Kwagwagwagwang!!
A massive barrage of firepower and a symphony of flashes constantly erupted, covering and sweeping his entire body.
The number of flashes crossing his eyes was too fast and intense for Lennok’s senses to count at once.
An 8th-level Military Spirit Sorcerer. This abandoned naval base was the stronghold where that sorcerer’s entire power source was gathered.
While this abandoned naval base was Madrich Onnion’s greatest weakness, conversely, it was also tantamount to a rallying point that allowed him to exert his most potent power.
It wasn’t just about a single sorcerer; by utilizing the Military Spirits under his command, he transformed individual power into a collective force comparable to an army.
With an 8th-level sorcerer’s combat ability and situational judgment intervening in the Military Spirits’ battles, the level of group combat was dramatically elevated.
Dududududu!!!
Blades extended through the gaps, pressing down on the shields deployed in all directions and pushing aside the carapace shields.
Gloomy flashes formed between blades and spear shafts, raging relentlessly, desperately trying to tear at Lennok’s flesh.
“Die!! Die!! Die!!”
“Become nourishment for him!!”
“We want the living!! We need living hearts!!”
The killing intent shot forth by the Military Spirits was too sharp and lethal to simply stand there and counter.
He blasted away the blade crossing above his head with a lightning stake and received the mana bullet targeting his side by raising a lightning barrier.
He pushed back a Military Spirit shoulder-charging him head-on with a 4-barrel shotgun, then drew up the slushy water beneath his feet and instantly froze it.
Arrows sharply aiming for vulnerable spots—under his arm, inner thigh, between his collarbones—difficult to perceive, yet extremely susceptible to injury, were tangled and dropped by unleashed mana threads.
Even as he swung both hands and slightly twisted his shoulders, his pace did not slow down in the slightest.
With each step, Lennok’s body vanished from his spot, leaping several meters forward, passing by and bursting countless Military Spirits.
Each time he appeared and disappeared, he changed his hand gestures and posture, forming hand seals smoothly, and striking down from above his head.
Each time he caressed the air, clenched his fist, or pointed at someone, mana raged wildly, flashes flickered, and swept and burned everything around him.
Kwaaaaaaa!!!
“Kkhaaaah!!!”
“Haa, aaaah!!”
“Can’t catch him, can’t see him……!!”
“He passed!!”
“No way, how can a wizard’s mobility be……!!”
[Azure Night Thunder Gathering]
[Overflowing Blade]
[Ice White Pillar: Spring Tide]
Pachichichichichi!!!!
In the middle of an island transformed into a flooded wasteland.
Could there be a better environment for a sorcerer adept at lightning and ice magic to toy with their opponents?
By merely flowing lightning through their water-soaked feet, he could electrocute their tough bodies, and instantly freeze and stiffen their already water-saturated forms from their toes.
[Water Cypress Snow]
Pababak!!
Dozens of water streams, rising from puddles, transformed into tree-like shapes and pierced the Military Spirits’ bodies.
“Kkeuueuuk……!!”
“Damn it, I can’t move……!!”
“No. If I stop here, the next attack will……!!”
Kadeudeudeuk!!!
The blades of water currents pierced through their weakened counterattacks, as they were isolated and alternately stuck by electrocution and freezing.
It didn’t end there; pierced and frozen, they swelled in volume, entangled themselves within the torn flesh, and plundered life force.
When Lennok blinked and unleashed shock magic behind the frozen Military Spirits, their bodies shattered and split with absurd ease.
“Cut off the frozen parts!!”
“We have to kill him before our whole bodies freeze solid!!”
They cut off their own stiffly frozen shins and dodged an attack aimed at Lennok’s back.
As the Papyrus above his head glowed twice, Lennok’s body leaped through space in mid-air.
He instantly traversed nearly ten meters, grabbed the neck of a Military Spirit shooting arrows from the back of the corridor, and incinerated it with [Accumulated Fire].
“Kyaaaah!!”
12-fold deployment of Incandescent Orbs
Thermal Resonance
[Crimson Link]
[Doubled Fire Fan Wheel]
[Crimson False Army]
Kwaaaaaaa!!!
The flames clinging to one Military Spirit instantly spread to others, making their limbs move in agony.
Each time the Military Spirits, engulfed in flames, writhed in pain, the flames spread in all directions, filling the corridors and extending outwards.
Hwaaaah!!
The naval base was brightly illuminated by the erupting flames, revealing the dark scenes throughout the base.
Figures of people, still alive, squirming while hanging from various parts of the base walls.
Their eyes were already rolled back, their minds gone, no longer in a state that could be called human.
These were Military Spirits who, according to their contract with Madrich, had decided to wholly offer their spirits and bodies to the sorcerer.
Wiiiing……!!
Through his constantly rotating purple Mystic Eye, Lennok saw thick chains binding all those Military Spirits.
And the point where all those chains converged.
The naval base’s underground hangar.
Having confirmed that, Lennok hesitated no longer and reached out his hand above his head.
Pajijijik……!!
The fragments of lightning coiling around his fingertips spun and then vanished from the spot.
Simultaneously, a deafening thunderclap ripped through and filled the entire base.
Lightning-type unique magic
Archmage-level Multi-Resonance Emission
[Foundation Thunder Pillar]
[Vast Thunder Bias]
[Hundred-Shot Thunder Rain]
Kwagwagwagwagwaga!!!!
Innumerable pillars of lightning rained down from the night sky, piercing through the dilapidated ceiling of the naval base.
Massive firepower, enough to reduce living humans and superhumans to mere ashes, aligned and descended at Lennok’s command, illuminating his path.
The Military Spirits also tried desperately to block the raining lightning and advance, but their frantic struggle only intersected with the sorcerer’s form, which flickered past them.
He climbed onto the railing of the stairs leading underground, fired a gatling gun indiscriminately, and rained down fireworks by scattering cluster bombs on the ceiling.
A chaotic melee, impossible to discern a step ahead, muddled by the mana and heat unleashed by Lennok himself and the Military Spirits.
But even amidst that chaos, Lennok’s Mystic Eye shone clearly, unhesitatingly pointing the way forward and predicting the next move.
Kkiiiiik!!
At the end of the vast corridor at the bottom of those stairs was a hangar blocked by a thick iron gate.
He gathered the incessant lightning strikes into one place, collected the bodies of the Military Spirits he had killed, and hurled them towards the hangar door.
He added shock magic, bound them with chains of gravity to accelerate them, and conjured a wave from the water overflowing beneath his feet to strike.
[Spiral Thunder Kill]
Pajijijijijik!!!
Dozens of lightning rays gathered at Lennok’s fingertips, spinning in a spiral to transform into a single spear of lightning.
“Madrich……!!”
Gritting his teeth, he drew up his remaining mana, manifesting extreme penetrative power.
He threw the raging lightning spear in his hand directly at the hangar’s iron gate.
“I’m here!!”
Kwaaaaang!!!
Even the hangar’s iron gate, made of several meters of thick steel, could not withstand the force and crumpled like paper.
The lightning flash of the Spiral Thunder Kill rotated and vanished into the dark hangar space.
Lennok’s magic, which seemed to have lost power and dissipated, burst forth in a final struggle, brightly illuminating the inside of the hangar.
The figure of a giant, slumped and propped up on something.
More than a dozen Military Spirits supported the giant’s massive body, forming a human throne.
Four Military Spirits stood rigidly before the utterly desperate throne.
Each bowed their heads deeply, holding different chains and polearms in their hands, waiting for Lennok.
Madrich Onnion looked down at Lennok and smiled weakly.
[I was mistaken.]
“Hoo, hoo……!”
Sweat and blood already streamed down Lennok’s face as he panted ceaselessly.
A fierce battle where even perfect shield, carapace, intricate feints, and combat prediction couldn’t prevent blood from splattering.
An immense exhaustion of stamina and mental strength that no amount of drugs or doping could prevent.
It was as if he had crushed more than half of the Military Spirits an 8th-level Military Spirit Sorcerer had accumulated over his entire lifetime in this very spot.
[Even as you search for answers, your vessel itself is overflowing. How can a sorcerer, by himself, accumulate such profound power?]
Madrich sighed.
[I have seen countless monsters through long wars, but you are truly the most incomplete and dangerous answer.]
“……Let’s stop with the useless talk. We still have things to say to each other.”
Lennok’s eyes turned to the other four Military Spirits standing rigidly before Madrich.
Each had a perfectly composed aura. But what caught his eye more was that the chains bound to their necks were not merely single ones.
These were the chains of the countless Military Spirits Lennok had killed and eliminated so far. The evidence of their spiritual subservience, visible through his Mystic Eye, was tightly bound around these four Military Spirits.
Realizing its meaning, Lennok nodded weakly.
“So, even the remnants of spirits that have lost power and collapsed can be incorporated into other Military Spirits, and their power and memories can be revised?”
The mist seeping into the bodies of the Military Spirits was the power of other Military Spirits Lennok had destroyed.
Madrich was pouring that spiritual energy directly into the surviving Military Spirits, further enhancing their power.
This wasn’t merely about strengthening their mana, physical mass, or brute strength.
It was on the level of completely rewriting and reinforcing the life memories and minds infused into a person’s body as a Military Spirit.
“If it’s easier to interfere with a superhuman’s Hierarchy from a spiritual aspect, it’s not hard to understand why so many Military Spirit Sorcerers have formed cities and lived together.”
[You are right. At the peak of Military Spirit magic, it becomes possible to adjust the total amount of fate a spirit possesses.]
“…….”
[A powerful desire for vengeance is, in other words, a powerful will. By simply attaching it to another spirit, it’s possible to forcibly expand the vessel and inflate its contained power.]
Madrich calmly conceded.
[Of course, as you say, there is the hassle of completely rewriting the memories and minds of these beings, but what does that matter? In the end, a person’s memories and mind are merely proof of how weak and meaningless they are.]
Madrich smiled.
[Earnest wishes and desires come from a mind and memories built precariously like sand. They are merely illusions that could crumble and change into something else at any moment, and it wouldn’t be strange.]
“…….”
[That is why I have always desired… a truth that cannot be an illusion.]
Puuk!!
At that moment, a pure white pillar erupted from the floor, directly piercing the giant’s chest.
Piercing the slumped giant’s body, the pillar instantly swelled in size and height, soaring towards the sky.
Dududududu!!!!
At that moment, the ground the two stood on shook wildly, and cracks spread.
The base’s bottom, made of solid steel plates, cracked open, bending and breaking as if something was erupting from within.
And through the undeniably widening cracks, a clear, colorless wave emanated.
The moment Lennok noticed the intention and raised his head, with a world-flipping shock, something surged from the base’s underground and extended towards the night sky.
Spirit Hierarchy Unique Magic
Military Spirit Magic Convergence Secret Art
[Soul Requiem of the Dead: Crossing the River of Karma]
[Opening the Gate of Comfort]
An ivory tower, gleaming pure white under the moonlight.
Like a colossal screw, it rotated diagonally between majestic pillars, roaring and displaying its might in all directions.
[Aaaaaaaaah!!!!]
Hundreds, thousands of skulls stuck to the sloping surfaces of the tower.
And from within, a desperate scream, as if hundreds of people were screaming at once.
The incessant rain and storm were nowhere to be seen.
The night sky was eerily silent, as if it had lost its sound. Only the faint starlight reflected in Lennok’s eyes.
The massive Soul Requiem Tower extended endlessly towards the dazzling full moon, floating in the middle of the night sky.
From the top of the tower, which should have been built to comfort the dead, but was now used to confine and subjugate Military Spirits.
A young man with a somewhat familiar face sat perched, looking down at Lennok.
[You are dreaming an endless dream, Van.]
The young man whispered in Madrich’s voice.
[If there is no path forward, then building that bridge must be the only way. I will not waver.]
Instead of answering, Lennok silently gazed at the Soul Requiem Tower that had risen before him.
Its form, rising towards the moon by constantly inflicting pain and making resentment its power, instead of comforting the dead.
It wasn’t difficult to understand what Madrich wanted.
“So, you’ve been gathering those who couldn’t become Military Spirits in this abandoned naval base’s basement and using them like this.”
[…….]
“Do you truly believe this scene is the path forward?”
To open a path forward by using even those who couldn’t become Military Spirits as fuel.
It was nothing short of a reckless gamble, sacrificing the present already in hand for an uncertain future.
He had seen countless individuals consumed by madness in ignorance and fear, but this was the first time he encountered such a madman who so concretely resented the future and burned the present.
Precisely for that reason, he had to show a reason befitting the answer Madrich had chosen.
Saying so, Lennok slowly raised his wrist to his mouth.
“Then I shall show you a part of the answer I have chosen as well.”
It had taken a long time.
Skipping over vague promises, hopes, and uncertain possibilities, Lennok had finally obtained his own magic system.
He had run until now to gain the single truth encompassing all systems of magic and techniques: Mystic Eye and Mind Imprint, Domain and Military Spirit magic.
Though still infinitely unstable, he had somehow succeeded in completing its basic components.
A new branching point, chosen by no one else.
Its direction was now about to reveal itself anew, right here.
Genius Wizard’s Drug Addiction Chapter 421