Chapter 448: The End of Paradise (2)

A state where tens of thousands of people are lumped together, forming a collective. Since it only moves with two arms, all it can do is claw at the ground and roll forward.

It possessed a strange power, enough to gather and coalesce that many people, yet it insisted on an extremely primitive form of movement.

There was no sense of powerful might or presence in the sight of these monsters, stretching out their arms as if clamoring.

Only the tens of thousands of black chains tied around their necks were lumped together, tightly binding their lower bodies.

Lennok, who had been silent for a long time, asked.

“……What, exactly…… is that?”

A world where magic and mystery breathe.

He thought he had spent no small amount of time in the mega-city, seeing all sorts of strange and mysterious things with his own eyes, but this was the first time he’d encountered such a bizarre and contradictory existence.

Despite possessing physical power capable of altering terrain just by moving, and a potent infection ability, the power emanating from the existence itself wasn’t particularly great.

Rather than lacking or having weak inherent power, it seemed perfectly bound, its strength not outwardly manifesting.

“His name when he was human was Aurel Silford. A soldier from the central city of Ars Nova, and a superhuman hundreds of years ago, known as the most promising prodigy in Ars Nova.”

Myeong, who had been standing silently beside Lennok, replied.

“And now, he’s a living natural disaster, called the Ascendant Kebaek.”

“Kebaek…? That human-sphere lump is the Ascendant Kebaek?”

Lennok roughly knew what kind of being Kebaek was.

Historically, fewer than thirty Transcendent individuals officially qualified to challenge ascension, and among those, fewer than ten were still alive.

It wasn’t difficult to study and remember their names and existences.

Among them, Kebaek was different from other Ascendants; he didn’t fail ascension and die, but rather went mad and became something other than human—a monster.

An existence no different from a natural disaster, moving solely as it pleased, heeding no one else’s words or control, and drenching its surroundings in death.

But Lennok never imagined Kebaek would look so horrific and grotesque.

Did he not merely go mad and degenerate, but become a phenomenon that indiscriminately enslaves other lives, making them his subordinates?

Contrary to the noble reputation of having challenged ascension, his grotesque appearance was beyond ugly.

“One of the central city of Ars Nova’s most abhorrent failures.”

But Myeong’s gaze upon Kebaek was somewhat lukewarm.

“Silford had a talent that could have gone down in history, but Ars Nova at the time had no leeway. So, they tried to control the direction of his talent’s potential with all sorts of Geases.”

“……”

“Even when bound by absurd shackles, his talent alone granted him the qualification to challenge, but as expected, he went mad immediately after failing. A monster that wasn’t challenged to ascension, but was challenged by it… that is Kebaek’s true identity.”

Geas, a form of binding and oath. The more difficult the conditions of the restriction, the more powerful the force and direction granted, but violating it would incur a corresponding price.

An Ascendant forcibly created by adding all sorts of conditions and restrictions to unrefined talent, compelled through transformation and growth.

That was what Myeong was telling Lennok about Kebaek’s existence.

A fantasy that every spellcaster vaguely imagined but believed to be utterly impossible in reality.

Could it be that the central city itself put it into practice and achieved meaningful results? Lennok found it hard to accept, even as he listened.

Spell restrictions like Geas or triggers aren’t simply technologies that modify humans by adding or subtracting from them.

It’s an act that delves deep into the subconscious, forcibly fixing a person’s identity and imposing corresponding contradictions.

Even if one forcibly overlays such a thing, what good is it if the person’s Mind Imprint’s output and strength cannot endure it?

Just how great was Kebaek’s innate talent and capacity in his human days, and how strong and resilient was his mental fortitude, for such a thing to be possible?

Myeong did not answer, instead turning his gaze away from the thoughtful Lennok.

“Ars Nova didn’t want to create an Ascendant with their own hands. They had long known there was no next step for them. They merely wanted to use the monster who failed ascension and lost his intellect… as a weapon.”

A shocking story.

That the central city of Ars Nova was such an overwhelmingly despicable city.

That they were so cornered that they deliberately made someone fail ascension and exploited the outcome as a weapon.

Even Myeong’s existence, explaining all these facts so casually.

“Do you know why I’m telling you this?”

A cold smile had settled on Myeong’s lips as he glanced at Lennok.

“Because that very sight, in a way, best explains what we intend to do.”

“What… does that mean?”

“Ars Nova’s commanders manipulated Kebaek’s talent with Geas until he qualified to challenge ascension. But when Kebaek failed ascension, his identity was completely inverted.”

Myeong nodded.

“The tens of thousands of Geases that elevated him to a Hierarchy comparable to a 9-level, instead became Kebaek’s very essence.”

Only then did Lennok realize what Myeong was saying, his mouth slightly agape.

“Wait, then that’s not just a living creature…!!”

“Exactly. Kebaek’s true nature isn’t simply a monster who failed ascension.”

Myeong muttered coldly.

“That is essentially a living mass of Geas. It’s closer to a conceptual being that carries tens of thousands of Geases on its body and binds any living thing it encounters within itself.”

The reason why, despite its enormous size and physical power, it emitted such strangely little mana and presence.

It was because Kebaek’s existence was no longer even a living creature to begin with.

It binds the minds of those who approach, then completely shackles their bodies and existences with Geas, making them a part of itself.

Did the form, where Geas was overlaid upon the human Silford, invert, becoming a state where living beings attach themselves to an existence made of Geas?

Myeong, who had explained Kebaek’s bizarre and horrific appearance so clearly in just a few words, spoke.

“Throughout human history, there has never been a monster that embraced such a colossal amount of Geas and became a concept itself. Can you imagine how complex the flow of causality is raging within that thing?”

“……Dangerous. It’s essentially a ticking bomb. No one can even imagine its inner form.”

What on earth was happening inside Kebaek, composed of tens of thousands of Geases?

Because no one could guarantee the outcome, such a natural disaster was openly roaming the continent without any hindrance.

As long as the damage and after-effects couldn’t be predicted, no sane person would dare to meddle with it hastily.

“The entangled flow of Geases within it must already be twisted and corrupted beyond anyone’s ability to unravel. The moment anyone tries to open it, they’ll be swept into laws completely different from reality, meeting a fate worse than death.”

Myeong said that, then smiled meaningfully and muttered.

“Even an Outer God floating in the Sea of Darkness.”

“……”

For a moment, Lennok couldn’t answer immediately, falling silent.

He immediately understood Myeong’s ulterior motive for saying such a thing, yet at the same time, he couldn’t comprehend it.

Realizing why Myeong had spoken at such length, Lennok slowly exhaled and chose his words.

“Insane… Could one of Pandemonium’s goals be…!!”

“Yes.”

Myeong smiled.

“We plan to use that monster as a bullet to fire towards the end of the Outer Sea.”

“That’s impossible… At this point, where on earth is there a hole to exit this world…!!”

Lennok also understood that this closed world was not intact, and that cracks leading to the Outer Sea existed here and there.

It was due to the existence of such cracks that relics and technologies from the old world flowed into and existed in this world.

But where in the world could a crack exist that was large enough to push a monster, maddened by failed ascension, out into the Outer Sea?

If such a space existed, it wouldn’t be strange if this world had already been encroached upon by monsters from the Outer Sea that descended through that crack.

“The Well of the Codex in the southernmost jungle of the continent. One of the very few [Gates] left in this world, less than ten.”

“The Well of the Codex…?”

The Pontiff’s words flashed in his mind.

‘I won’t expect much. The snake guarding the well has been consumed by lingering attachment, and no one will remember their mission.’

“The snake guarding the well” must have been referring to the Codex.

Has the Pontiff been aware of this situation for a long time already?

“At the end of this endeavor, you’ll be forced to understand what we want. But once you step in, you won’t be able to get out.”

Myeong’s deeply sunken black eyes gazed at Lennok’s mask.

“I told you that you didn’t have to choose only one side. That wasn’t a lie. But being able to choose and having to choose are different matters.”

Myeong, who had been staring intently at Lennok, slowly blinked and spoke.

“With the Elder Council’s intervention, the situation has spiraled out of control, and there’s not much time left… We need not just an exceptional superhuman, but a talent that can twist fate.”

“……”

“Van, what about you? Can I take it that you’re finally ready to answer our question?”

Lennok, who had been silent, spoke after a long pause.

“……You already know, yet you ask again.”

It was a strange feeling.

It hadn’t even been half a day since he had caused such a ruckus to get his hands on the Archangel’s Tear.

And now, he found himself suddenly in the midst of a clash between Ascendants.

It must mean that the clash between Kebaek and the Codex occurred so suddenly, and Pandemonium judged it a problem that needed to be dealt with quickly.

But regardless, Lennok had no intention of backing out of what Myeong was talking about now.

Wasn’t he wearing the mask precisely to understand Pandemonium’s intentions and assess their capabilities through this very kind of work?

Just as the Director and Myeong were assessing Lennok, Lennok also needed to gauge their judgment and will, and confirm their answers.

“I didn’t come back relying on Pandemonium. If there are hidden secrets about ascension, I need to see them with my own eyes.”

What he desired was always out of reach. It felt as if for every step he took closer, it moved another step further away.

It would be a lie to say he didn’t feel helpless, but could he say that the process of moving towards his desire was meaningless?

It was only by earnestly longing and struggling that he could grasp even a fragment of it.

Lennok had never doubted that conviction, and perhaps Myeong had lived a similar life.

Time-lines that should never have overlapped, at a place they should never have met, coincidentally intersected, bringing them to this point.

Nothing had changed from his past days, rolling in dirty back alleys, to now, standing alongside a great black wizard.

Even if it weren’t true, he believed it wasn’t wrong.

Click!

He boldly reached into his pocket, pulled out the shimmering tear, and swallowed it whole.

Crunch!!

Having consumed the Archangel’s Tear right there, Lennok slowly pulled his mask back on and replied.

“If I hadn’t thought that, I wouldn’t have started in the first place.”

“……Yes, so it seems.”

Myeong heard Lennok’s unwavering reply, and for the first time, smiled brightly.

Creak!!

As Myeong opened the back door of the truck’s cargo bed and stretched his hand to the sky, a colossal black passage began to open before their eyes.

Beyond it, the hazy, shimmering scenery of another region appeared.

As Lennok realized it was the shape of dense thickets and jungle, he held his breath, and simultaneously,

[Haaaaaark!!!!]

At that moment, as if sensing their presence, Kebaek abruptly changed direction and began chasing them.

More precisely, the tens of thousands of people attached to Kebaek’s entire body.

“When you arrive, a clown will be waiting. The South is his jurisdiction, and he’s been designated as the right person to handle this situation.”

Myeong calmly observed the grotesque spectacle and nodded.

“There’s so much to do… yet the necessary power is utterly insufficient. Can you truly be our answer?”

Lennok’s eyes slowly began to close, even as he watched the black figures screaming and twisting their bodies out of the canal before him.

From the moment he consumed the Archangel’s Tear, his body’s functions were completely improved, rapidly pulling his consciousness into sleep.

Myeong grabbed Lennok by the nape of his neck and unhesitatingly pushed the truck’s cargo compartment into the black passage.

Just before Lennok’s eyes closed and his consciousness completely faded, Myeong looked down at him and seemed to smile bitterly.

“I’ll look forward to it too. Welcome to Pandemonium.”