Chapter 440: Archangel’s Tear (2)
Rick’s lips twisted at Lennok’s indifferent declaration.
“…Hah, you’re certainly arrogant for a specialized sorcerer. Let’s see how long you can keep that up!!”
Without waiting for a reply, Rick pulled an arm-length dagger from his waist and instantly lunged at Lennok.
He sprinted at high speed, then staggered as if falling, vanishing from sight.
Whoosh!!
Even with Rick vanishing from sight in an instant, Lennok didn’t flinch, raising a finger.
Mana threads extended from it, wrapping around the dagger digging into his temple, subtly halting it.
Chir-rick!!
“It’s not over yet!!”
It was a marvel to behold, a few strands of mana threads halting a full-force attack from a 6-level combatant of military rank.
It went beyond merely manipulating thin threads; it was impossible without subtly distributing the tension of the threads to toy with physical forces.
But instead of being startled by that fact, Rick unhesitatingly released the dagger in his hand and burrowed into Lennok’s space.
Ka-ga-gak!!
He moved erratically, bouncing back and forth, pressing Lennok without giving him time to react.
His movements were so flexible and agile that it barely felt like his feet touched the ground.
Lennok, too, unleashed mana threads pre-deployed below his feet, suppressing Rick’s movements as he fell into thought.
‘I need to be careful.’
Rick, whom he was currently facing, wasn’t the big problem.
What Lennok truly needed to worry about was his fourth identity, Victor, which he was currently using.
‘Victor is different from Evan. Both the timeline and alibi could raise suspicion for Van.’
Unlike Evan, who operated in autonomous regions and the Northern Continent far from the mega-city, Victor was an identity created by revealing himself to Hylaea, who was stationed in a cathedral within Vulcan.
He didn’t even completely change his face; wearing a mask made it easier to attract suspicion about his identity.
When operating as Evan, he roughly mixed the spells he used as Van, but Victor needed a clear distinction.
His abilities, system, identity, and even personality needed to be somewhat differentiated from his previous ones.
A specialized sorcerer with an arrogant personality, almost bordering on insolent.
And he needed to appear to possess abilities so exceptional and rare that his arrogance seemed natural.
The system he would use was mana thread manipulation. And something Lennok himself had never once seen before—
‘Spatial magic.’
[Blink (點滅)]
There wasn’t even a flash.
Ignoring Rick, who was furiously charging at him, he overtly used Blink to move several meters forward.
The moment he lifted his foot into the seemingly empty air.
“Kahak!!”
All the surrounding scenery melted away, and a pained scream echoed from beneath Lennok’s foot.
Rick, who had just been wildly swinging all sorts of weapons at Lennok, was nowhere to be seen; instead, Rick was crawling on the ground, his neck precisely pinned by a foot.
His entire body was bound by mana threads, and his head was tilted, his face looking more startled than pained.
“H-how…?”
“I did suspect you had some unusual tricks up your sleeve.”
Immediately after the team assignments were finalized, Pillar raised an objection to Olga, but said nothing to Rick or Tucker, who were in the same infiltration team.
Even setting aside Tucker’s role as leader, not coveting Rick’s position likely meant Rick’s abilities played a crucial role in this vault heist.
Lennok chuckled, putting more pressure on the leg that was pressing Rick’s neck.
“So you were a high-level illusion-system sorcerer. And you, a specialized sorcerer yourself, dare talk about arrogance…”
“G-gasp, cough!!”
The illusion system, categorized as a specialized system due to the rarity and complexity of its spells, similar to manipulation or spatial systems.
It was said that beyond merely deceiving human senses, high-ranking illusionists could even deceive localized physical laws and phenomena.
It was well-known to require specific aptitude and talent, and delving too deeply could induce mental madness, so Lennok himself had never seen an illusionist this proficient.
Sque-e-e-e…!!
The mana threads wrapped around Rick’s entire body crept up like snakes, slowly beginning to constrict his neck.
“Dragging you, bound limb by limb, all the way to Kaiushyu seems like a good idea.”
“I-I was wrong.”
Rick, his face pale, frantically moved his facial muscles and quickly spoke.
“I just wanted to test a t-teammate’s skill, that’s all. As you know, the disparity in power here is just too great…!!”
CRASH!!
Lennok, without even hearing Rick out, slammed his head into the ground and retorted coldly.
“You talk too much.”
CRASH!!
“I hate noise.”
“That’s enough.”
Olga, who had been watching their fight with her arms crossed, chewed her gum noisily and spoke.
“He’s a pain in the ass, but we absolutely need him to easily breach the vault’s security for this operation.”
“……”
“Or are you going to fool the image scanning devices and biometric security and open the vault’s bulkhead instead?”
“No.”
Lennok replied.
“I don’t do dirty work like that.”
Silence enveloped the surroundings.
As Lennok briefly wondered if his act was too much, Tucker patted Olga’s frowning shoulder.
“Stop bickering and let’s get moving. Has everyone roughly understood why I can’t mention the higher-ups?”
“……”
No one seemed particularly empathetic, but no one refuted him.
Not only was there very little time left until the operation, but Rick’s complete defeat also proved Lennok’s considerable power.
Tucker’s shrewdness, seizing the opportunity of Lennok trampling Rick to subtly gain leverage for himself, was beyond words.
Tucker looked around and threw out several formal remarks to appropriately settle the situation.
“I’ll explain the full details after the job is done. Until then, everyone will diligently follow my orders.”
“That’s…”
“Let’s begin.”
Tucker replied with a heavy voice, then silently bent down and began to pick up his equipment.
His demeanor clearly suggested a complex hidden agenda.
To Lennok, it was a perfectly executed act, making his previous “burnt-out sergeant” persona seem like a lie.
As Tucker, cutting his words short, began to move ahead, the others followed him.
The group quickly ascended a hill overlooking the city.
Kaiushyu, a medium-sized city located on the Western Continent.
With a population of 4 million, its sheer size was enough to easily cover several districts of a sprawling mega-city.
It was the time when late afternoon transitioned into evening.
Streetlights throughout the city began to glow one by one, and lights flickered on in the windows of buildings.
“An old geezer who doesn’t even know what treasure he holds doesn’t deserve to have it.”
From atop the hill, overlooking the city slowly regaining its light, a stark contrast to the darkening night sky, Tucker muttered.
“Let’s all be thieves, just for today.”
Finding the penthouse’s location wasn’t difficult.
Tucker, Rick, and Olga quickly approached within close range, while Lennok and the other three remained on standby. When the signal sounded, they were to scatter in all directions and monitor the situation.
The sight of the chattering man and woman, and Pillar standing with an irritated expression.
Lennok gazed at them idly, then asked the man and woman.
“I have a question.”
“Hmm?”
“What is it?”
Adjusting his mask slightly, he subtly observed Pillar’s expression through the gap.
“We divided into infiltration and perimeter teams, but we haven’t decided how to infiltrate the penthouse.”
“Of course, we had all the specific plans laid out before you arrived.”
The man and woman chuckled, adding their own remarks.
“What, you’re asking about that now?”
“You’re a parachute drop-in, and you’re not even curious how the operation is going?”
“Shouldn’t you have explained it yourselves before I even had to ask?”
“What?”
The man and woman slightly gaped in disbelief, but Lennok maintained his confident demeanor.
“I’m a guest invited to this place. I should be receiving courteous treatment, so I don’t understand what this is.”
“…It seems you’re misunderstanding something just because you stomped on Rick once.”
The man let go of the woman he was clinging to and stepped forward.
A destructive aura emanated from the smiling man’s body.
“Do you think I don’t know that specialized sorcerers have significant elemental weaknesses, making them easy to exploit?”
“……”
Mentioning a fact even Lennok hadn’t known, the man quietly gathered his power.
A combatant of Sacred Rank who had completed the seven Hierarchy levels. Along with Olga from the infiltration team, he was one of the superhumans with the most powerful Hierarchy in this operation.
The man made a gesture of grabbing Lennok’s mask with a hand heavy with power.
“A specialized sorcerer could be useful if kept alive. Just shut your mouth and prepare to run. Everything’s ready.”
Lawless individuals who had lived by brazenly taking from others. Their strength allowed them to live as they pleased.
It was, in fact, astonishing how Hylaea and Pandemonium had managed to gather and organize such individuals.
People intoxicated by irresponsible pleasure, who couldn’t even comprehend conforming to organizations or order.
That’s precisely why it was easier to gauge their reactions.
“So, the escape plan is already laid out.”
“What?”
“And Tucker didn’t mention that to me.”
“……”
At Lennok’s words, which immediately picked up on their inadvertently spilled information, the man and woman simultaneously fell silent.
Of the two who quietly exchanged glances, the woman smiled strangely and spoke.
“If you want to hear it, why don’t you take off that black mask and show your face first?”
As if on cue, the man quickly added.
“…Right. You’re keeping your identity a secret and just planning to pick up whatever information we spill?”
The moment Lennok was about to reply, the communicator he had received from Tucker earlier began to ring simultaneously.
Beep-beep-beep!!
The signal to begin perimeter duty.
A tense atmosphere briefly lingered, then the four, who had been observing each other, silently scattered around the penthouse.
Lennok, too, followed the other three, maintaining an appropriate distance and diverging in direction.
The distance each of the three covered was roughly a few hundred meters. This meant they could reliably detect any anomalies within that range.
Whoosh!
As if mocking them, Lennok, who had extended his mana sense to cover the entire street, naturally leaned back on a nearby bench.
The mask, in any case, wouldn’t be perceived by ordinary civilians.
Even if someone were to somehow penetrate his sensory range and approach, it wouldn’t be difficult to primarily monitor those who could perceive the mask.
All that remained was to wait for the infiltration team to finish their work and emerge.
“……”
The anomaly occurred not long after.
One of the four presences centered around the penthouse had secretly begun to move.
It was Pillar, the young man with the snake-like expression.
Given that the other man and woman hadn’t detected Pillar’s movement, perhaps he too had some hidden trick.
Lennok smirked and immediately stood up.
He subtly glanced up at the penthouse’s rooftop, then stood behind Pillar, who was heading for the elevator corridor.
Only then did Pillar sense Lennok’s presence, turning his head to glare at him.
“The infiltration team shouldn’t be done yet.”
“Beat it.”
“Tucker won’t be too happy if you deviate from the plan without the others knowing.”
Though his voice was modulated, there was no way Pillar wouldn’t have noticed the blatant amusement in Lennok’s words.
Pillar frowned with displeasure, but Lennok deliberately let out another chuckle, provoking him.
He knew full well that if this operation went wrong, the problem wouldn’t come from outside, but from within, centered around someone like him.
“Still holding a grudge about getting beaten by Olga?”
“…You son of a bitch.”
Pillar, his eyes glinting with killing intent, turned his body and spoke.
“Are you saying you want to fight right here?”
“No, I’m saying let’s do it together.”
“…What?”
Lennok smiled, looking at Pillar’s slightly dazed face.
Although he had started the Pandemonium job at Myeong’s word, he had no intention of moving exactly as Hylaea wished.
Determining his judgment and criteria regarding Pandemonium had to be solely according to Lennok’s will.
In that sense, this fool, who was extremely hot-headed, was undoubtedly a very useful pawn.
“While those two are keeping a friendly watch, let’s go in and grab a handful of elixirs each. How does that sound?”
Ding!
As Lennok took the lead, hacking the door’s security device and touching it, Pillar, who had been watching with a displeased expression from behind, also moved.
They took the elevator directly to the penthouse’s top floor.
“…Manipulation-system abilities are certainly useful. You weren’t just spouting nonsense.”
“I have no intention of discussing percentages now.”
Lennok, adjusting his mask, quietly shook his head.
“We’ll each take what we can grab, and we’ll cooperate only until we’ve opened the vault door and escaped.”
“Alright. We’re getting along much better than I expected.”
Only then did Pillar smile and nod.
However, his faintly smiling expression instantly flipped, contorting into a devilish grimace.
“That Tucker has no flexibility. Do you think it makes sense to determine the success or failure of an operation based on the outcome of a brawl? We came to steal the Archangel’s Tear, not to fight some old geezer.”
“You’re not wrong.”
As Lennok appropriately agreed, Pillar’s tightly sealed lips began to loosen a little.
“If you can see through the dummy artifacts I installed, your detection ability must be quite good. You keep an eye on our rear. I’ll open the way to the vault.”
Saying that, Pillar canceled the button Lennok had pressed for the top floor and instead pressed the button for the floor directly below it.
At Pillar’s seemingly significant action, Lennok naturally uncrossed his arms.
“You seem to have something up your sleeve. Shall I take the gamble?”
“Shut up and follow me.”
Whirrr!!
Pillar said that and unhesitatingly began walking down the spacious penthouse corridor.
“Because I plan to get into the vault before those infiltration team bastards.”
Pillar unhesitatingly picked a room, entered it, and swiftly pulled down a framed picture hanging on the wall.
Within, an intricate panel of gauges was revealed.
Pillar didn’t even look properly at the panel, constantly looking around as he punched in a password.
Beep-beep-beep!!
At that moment, the light fixture in the middle of the room split open left and right, and a staircase descended from within.
Lennok stared at the sight with a bewildered expression and asked.
“What is this?”
“It’s a secret passage to the penthouse’s top floor. I thought it might still be active.”
Pillar unhesitatingly stepped onto the staircase and motioned to Lennok.
“Check if anyone’s following behind us, then come up.”
“Hmm…”
Honestly, Lennok had bad memories associated with stairs.
The embarrassing incident with Ermont in the Hanghasa Labyrinth was a difficult memory to forget, even if he tried.
Fortunately, since it was a passage located directly below the top floor, the stairs weren’t very long.
Upon ascending into a corner of the warehouse, which exuded a warm aura, his sensory range opened up, allowing him to perceive all presences heading into the top floor simultaneously.
The cleaners and caretakers managing the house interior. And even the infiltration team, who were still outside, focused on breaching security.
When Lennok relayed this information, Pillar smiled contentedly.
“I knew it. How dare those pathetic fools… If they had taken me, things would have been much easier.”
“……”
So, because Tucker hadn’t included him in the infiltration team, he deliberately withheld information he knew?
Indeed, no one would have imagined Pillar knew the penthouse’s internal structure this well.
“The vault where the elixirs are stored is over there. Follow me.”
He unhesitatingly crossed the spacious house lobby and headed towards the opposite side, where rooms were densely clustered.
He tapped the light switch on the wall three times and turned on the emergency light, upon which a small crack appeared in the corridor wall, revealing a hidden door.
Before opening the door, Pillar glanced back at Lennok and said.
“A log is created the moment the vault door is opened. After the door has been open for more than 5 minutes, reports will be sent to the old geezer at regular intervals.”
“So we have to finish within 5 minutes and get out.”
“No, we’ll cut it as close as possible.”
Pillar’s lips stretched into a long, thin smile.
“Because when that old geezer realizes the vault is open and comes here, those guys will stay behind and take the blame for us.”
“……”
As expected, I wondered why he was moving with a team when he knew the penthouse’s internal structure so well; it seems he needed someone to take the fall for him.
Even this young man, who looked down on everyone around him, was clearly afraid of the 8-level monster known as Je-byeok.
But instead of refuting him, Lennok calmly nodded.
“Not bad.”
“Alright. Let’s start.”
Whoosh!
As soon as the door opened, inside a small, dimly lit alcove, countless cases were stacked.
Lennok and Pillar, having spread out to either side, simultaneously opened different cases, revealing various elixirs carefully wrapped in thin paper.
As the elixirs varied in manufacturing method and origin, their appearances were also diverse.
Some elixirs simply took the form of pills, others were hard and subtly luminous like jewels, and some even looked like entire uprooted plant roots.
Lennok, who had simultaneously grasped the aura of the surrounding elixirs using his mana sense, nodded.
Since he had begun the distribution business with Jenny and no longer lacked money, he had never spared investment in maintaining a balance between combat and daily life.
Lennok himself had consistently consumed elixirs and tested various products on his body, so his knowledge in this field was by no means shallow.
‘On average, mid-to-high grade. Each one is worth hundreds of millions.’
Perhaps because they were elixirs hidden in the vault of a superhuman who dominated a city, their quality was uniformly considerable.
Even from Lennok’s perspective, having consumed various elixirs and experienced their effects, some truly desirable rare items occasionally caught his eye.
If consumed properly, there were quite a few items that could help increase maximum mana and vitality, which were never enough no matter how much he had.
While Lennok carefully picked out only items of a portable size, Pillar motioned for him.
“I think I found it. Come over here.”
A case so old its form was unrecognizable.
Inside the wooden box, tightly bound with bandages, was the sight of poorly congealed elixir residue.
“It’s most similar to the description Tucker gave us. This must be it.”
“…Indeed.”
Pillar seemed unable to perceive it even with his own eyes, but Lennok, rotating his Mystic Eye beyond his mask, could recognize the wooden box’s special quality.
Even within this vault, the rampant auras of countless elixirs completely failed to reach the vicinity of this particular wooden box.
Perhaps it was an item that, rather than being special on its own, emitted an anomalous aura when around other elixirs.
That must be why Je-byeok also failed to recognize its special nature and just left it stuffed in the vault.
The Archangel’s Tear. The target object had fallen into their hands so easily that all the plans they had made felt in vain.
In the tense atmosphere, Pillar asked.
“Should I keep it, or will you hold it?”
“Why ask such a thing separately?”
It was obvious how Pillar, squinting his eyes, thought of Lennok.
Lennok chuckled and casually pushed the wooden box in Pillar’s hand into his arms.
“You opened the door and found it first, so it’s your credit.”
“…Right.”
“We still have about 3 minutes left. Let’s grab whatever useful items we can in that time.”
“Okay.”
As Lennok nonchalantly turned away, Pillar, who had been looking down at the wooden box in his arms with a strange expression, raised his head.
A faint killing intent flickered in Pillar’s eyes as he watched Lennok’s back, defenselessly bending down without mana threads.
Pillar, darting forward like lightning, deeply struck Lennok in the lower back.
Wham!!
A full-force surprise attack from a 6-level combatant of military rank. His forearm rotated at near-subsonic speed.
A hidden blade between Pillar’s wrist, which had precisely pierced Lennok’s lower back, accurately stabbed his lung and churned his heart.
Lennok, unable to even scream, trembled and then slowly slumped.
Thud, thud, thud!!
Without a moment’s hesitation, he repeatedly stabbed Lennok’s body, then stood up.
“Thanks, you dumb bastard.”
Pillar’s eyes, staring at the fallen Lennok, were coldly fixed.
“No matter what, Tucker isn’t an idiot. If there were no obstacles, he’d quickly get out of Kaiushyu.”
“……”
“It would be good if your corpse could hold Tucker back and buy us some time, wouldn’t it?”
“……”
“Hoo, they kept hyping you up as a specialized sorcerer, so I got nervous for nothing… Turns out you’re useless up close after all.”
The moment Pillar, sweeping back his hair, exhaled and immediately turned his back.
A reply came from the fallen Lennok’s lips.
“On the contrary, I should be thanking you.”
“…!!!”
A cold sneer echoed in Pillar’s ears, his eyes wide open.
“To be honest… if it hadn’t ended this way, I would have been disappointed.”
As if he were a puppet manipulated by strings.
Lennok’s limp body slowly began to rise.