Chapter 455: Pyeonram (1)
A light humming, as if testing a musical note. Yet, its timbre was richer and clearer than any voice Lennok had ever heard.
It was obvious whose voice this was, resonating as if striking down from the sky.
Freya was projecting her voice thousands of meters away into the square, using only a single speaker attached to the Besponir.
But what surprised Lennok more than her overwhelming vocal power was the powerful intent contained within it.
A perfectly clear will, embedded within the resonating timbre, without any lyrical meaning.
With just that communication of intent, the magic all around began to resonate and synchronize with her imagery.
Whoooosh!!!!
‘Magic…!!’
She wasn’t specifically using magic or spells.
By merely shaking the surroundings with the powerful mental image contained within the melody, all the magic swirling in the square rotated according to her will and pressed down on everything.
Flash!!!!
A gentle intent, coiling around Lennok’s body, simultaneously uplifting his deepest self.
Following that will, the rotating magic began to arrange itself in a specific direction, materializing into a visible ability.
It quietly boosted his internal metabolism, adjusted his condition, made him forget fatigue, and stabilized his mood.
Even Lennok, who was normally insensitive to bodily changes, could clearly feel the powerful augmentation effects on his body.
But even more surprising was the reaction of the superhumans who were listening to her humming alongside Lennok.
Unlike Lennok, whose condition was instantly corrected and who received powerful augmentation effects, the others began to writhe in agony.
“Damn it, my mind…!!”
“It’s a top-tier tone-scale spell, everybody cover your ears!!”
“How can we cover our ears in this situation…!!”
Blades swung at the magic beasts missed, and they looked around as if hearing hallucinations.
Even without focusing on the song, their thoughts scattered, their magic flow twisted erratically, and was overturned by the timbre.
Boom!!!!
“Maintain formation!! We must hold out until we reach the altar!!”
“N-no…!! The front-line warriors are collapsing…!!”
“We can’t stop the magic beasts of the jungle, where on earth are they all coming from to cause such chaos…!!”
With the artifacts damaged by Lennok’s Daerayeoncheong spell and the superposed effect of reduced combat focus, formations collapsed and lines crumbled everywhere.
Even the leaders of each organization, who had positioned themselves around the square to encircle the altar, were drawing upon their magic with serious expressions, watching the square.
Corpses of flesh and magic beasts piled up like mountains all over the square, which spread out like a giant airport runway, even blocking the path towards the altar.
‘So that’s why they were so confident…’
Seeing that, Lennok finally understood the nature of Reiya’s ability and secretly admired it.
A wide-area tone-scale spell that unleashes intent using the resonance of sound as a catalyst.
But its true value lay in its overwhelming scope and precision, which even Lennok couldn’t fully comprehend.
It encompassed a vast area, covering this square from thousands of meters away, and precisely distinguished hundreds of people fighting within it, selectively applying buffs and debuffs.
Presumably, The Clown, Lennok, and the surviving Glen received buffs, while others were inundated with curses and debuffs that even high-ranking superhumans found hard to ignore.
If it was a powerful augmentation spell system that Lennok could feel so strongly, then for other superhumans, it must have been a corresponding curse and vulnerability spell system.
While a single augmentation or curse spell system might not be effective against top-tier superhumans.
What if multiple curses were unleashed in this situation where magic beasts and various forces were causing chaos, and artifacts were malfunctioning?
The claim that she was one of the most famous divas on the continent was no exaggeration.
Freya was a more powerful curse-caster than anyone Lennok had ever seen, and a bard who had reached a transcendent level.
“No, covering your ears is useless…!! It’s a method that uses vibrations to resonate the senses!”
“Don’t mind the song and move forward!! Ignore the magic beasts and head to the altar!!”
“Has even a tone-scale sorcerer of that caliber joined Pandemonium…!! What on earth is the world coming to!!”
At that moment, Reiya’s voice, which had merely been humming, changed dramatically.
She strung together unknown words that couldn’t be translated into this world’s language, adjusting their pitch.
A song crafted using ancient language was applied to the spell, multiplying its power.
More than the altar visible before their eyes, her song, resonating from the sky, filled their entire bodies and vibrated within them.
The moment clear meaning began to be imbued in the song, the spell’s power erupted, multiplied severalfold, completely shaking the heads of those who were barely trying to regain their composure.
Seeing this, Lennok immediately used Translocation, leaping over the heads of the magic beasts and superhumans brawling everywhere.
Whoosh!!
His thick shadow robe fluttered like smoke, and he instantly appeared in the middle of a dizzyingly high flight of stairs.
Adjusting his mask, he looked down at the superhumans who had just reached the bottom of the altar and were beginning to climb the stairs.
“I’ll show you how dangerous this terrain is for humans.”
[…You mean the altar, not the stairs, right?]
Ignoring Davi’s untimely remark, Lennok immediately spread his fingers and drew out magic threads in all directions.
Shhhhhhhhhh!!
At the same time, several superhumans who were charging recklessly onto the altar screamed, scattering blood, and tumbled down to the bottom.
Hundreds of magic threads, densely installed throughout the thousands of steps leading to the altar, changed their positions ceaselessly like living organisms, slicing through flesh and muscle.
“It was a manipulator…!!”
“That ridiculous interference spell earlier was a manipulation type!”
“It doesn’t matter now that we’ve made it this far, just charge through!!”
As they pushed forward with sheer force, disregarding the magic threads cutting them, the threads installed everywhere couldn’t withstand and snapped.
Snap, snap, snap!!!
Lennok nodded, seeing the people who instantly blackened the bottom of the stairs.
“Not a bad judgment.”
The strength of the magic threads Lennok handled was considerable, but ultimately, it was closer to magic stretched thinly and manifested as a manipulation spell.
Unless hundreds of strands were twisted together, it was natural that a single magic thread’s tension couldn’t withstand the superhumans’ close-quarters assault.
But Lennok didn’t panic, even seeing the superhumans quickly closing the distance, running up the stairs as if on flat ground.
Instead, he simply raised his hand from beneath his robe and simultaneously pointed at the already broken magic threads.
At that moment, the magic thread strands, fluttering and broken everywhere, collectively attached themselves to the limbs of other superhumans and began to intertwine.
Crackle!!!
He connected the two ends of the nearly invisible magic thread strands to the bodies of different superhumans.
The moment the magic thread’s tension held, the superhumans’ muscles contracted in opposite directions, pulling each other simultaneously.
In an instant, dozens of superhumans got entangled and fell, obstructed by the magic thread strands.
Crash, bang, crash!!!
“Aghhh!!”
“You goddamn bastard!!”
“That damn sorcerer…!!!”
The magic thread fragments stuck to clothes and skin, but they were so thin and transparent they were barely visible.
They slipped on the blood-soaked stairs, got tangled, stumbled, and fell there.
Superhumans wouldn’t be seriously injured by mere bruises and sprained joints, but they knew that wasn’t the important thing.
What the masked sorcerer, looking down at them from dozens of meters up the stairs, wanted was just to buy time until the Well of the Codex opened.
It was clear he had no intention of wasting energy fighting and killing them right now.
A very brief lull, separated by hundreds of stairs.
And finally, even those who had been observing the entire situation from a distance on the outskirts of the square began to step forward.
“No choice then.”
“To think just one person could be such an obstruction…”
“We’ll buy time here and send the others up. Prepare.”
A middle-aged man in military uniform carrying heavy armaments, a shabby young man in a worn-out long robe, and an elderly woman with a cold expression in uniform.
The three commanders leading the elite units of the Headro Warlords, the Ability Awakening Vanguard, and the Redding Revolutionary Army stepped forward.
They instantly traversed the stairs, where hundreds of people were tangled, bound by magic thread fragments, and stood before Lennok.
As the white-haired woman in uniform drew her saber, the young man in the long robe opened his mouth wide and let out a high-pitched cry.
Whoooooong!!!
A powerful high-frequency sound poured towards where Lennok stood.
As the old stone stairs burst apart, a cold, silvery flash swept across the area.
Between the flashes of the saber, cutting ruthlessly through the dimly fluttering robe, an arm-sized grenade flew and embedded itself at his feet, exploding on impact.
Boom!!!!
“This is why I hate those attribute-based sorcerers.”
The man in military uniform, adjusting the heavy armament on his shoulder, sneered at Lennok’s unharmed appearance.
“The combat doctrine I’ve learned my whole life just doesn’t seem to work quite right.”
“…”
“Well, whatever. From now on, we’ll hold you back and keep The Clown in check.”
Click!!
“If we overwhelm him with numbers, what can even a god of war do? It’s one of our warlords’ old lessons.”
“It’s hard to adjust supernatural abilities because of the tone-scale sorcerer’s curse.”
The young man in the long robe muttered, twisting his neck.
“I’m just going to shoot randomly, so try to dodge.”
“Foolish. Is that all you have to say?”
The elderly woman in uniform rebuked him, adjusting her saber, but the two didn’t even respond.
All three instinctively knew that the attribute-based sorcerer standing before them was by no means an easy opponent.
Lennok quietly chuckled, looking at them.
“You don’t seem to mind wasting time spouting such nonsense.”
“…”
“Whatever. If you were an important variable in this, there would have been a hint. If you’re going to do it, start quickly.”
“Let’s see the true power of that renowned Pandemonium. This is our chance to see how hollow its reputation really is!!!”
The elderly woman, seemingly provoked by Lennok’s nonchalant reply, vanished from her spot, and at the same time, three diverging streams of Saint-tier power exploded.
Boom, boom, boom!!!
Heavy armament fire support, saber vanguard, and high-frequency superhuman ability suppression.
The immense shock erupting from between the thousands of stairs made the giant altar, soaring high into the sky, sway.
But amidst it, Lennok forcibly adjusted his body through Translocation and magic threads, counter-attacking and holding them back.
He ghosted through the ceaseless onslaught of attacks, and in those gaps, used his uncanny skill to ensnare the feet of other elite units trying to climb the altar.
Hundreds and thousands of broken magic thread fragments fluttered like feathers, gripping the stairs everywhere, perfectly controlling the angled battlefield.
“C-crazy…!!”
“He was a monster, how can his combat ability be this…!!”
“His mobility is insane, everyone be careful!!”
At the moment the other three’s faces turned pale, realizing they weren’t just holding up better than expected, but were actually being pushed back in a 1-on-3 fight.
Tatiana Chiglet, who had been observing the battle with a slightly bewildered expression from afar, suddenly lifted her head.
“This is…!!”
“It seems the time has come.”
As Lennok nodded, a bustling groan echoed from below.
[Guoohhh…]
[Screeech… screeech…]
It wasn’t just people.
The magic beasts, which had been rampaging endlessly below the stairs and the altar, hesitated nervously and wandered.
The moment specific meaning began to be imbued in Reiya’s song, the magic beasts hesitated nervously and wandered.
They were so docile, it was hard to believe they were the same beasts that had been wildly searching for the bait Lennok had thrown just moments ago.
But Lennok instinctively knew that the magic beasts’ behavior wasn’t just due to Reiya’s song, and he sharply turned his head.
The Clown, who had been uncharacteristically focused on adjusting the altar amidst the square’s transformation into a hellscape, had finally completed his calculations and unleashed his illusion.
[Found a suitable timeline.]
The Clown’s spine curved in a bizarre shape, as if his entire body was on fire.
With his elongated limbs, he gripped the giant stone ring on the altar and slowly began to turn it.
[Heheheh, shall we go for something a bit smoother this time?]
At the same time, Dice of Fate ceaselessly fell from The Clown’s mouth, rolling and once again testing his luck.
An illusion where a Peak of Extremes ability user exerted their full power.
Even his own Geas, which determined his abilities solely by his luck, could now be arbitrarily interfered with, having transcended Hierarchy.
Five dice fell from The Clown’s mouth. But the numbers engraved on all six faces showed only 4, 5, and 6.
The Clown’s dice, which excluded the lower numbers 1, 2, and 3 from the start, rolled across the floor and determined his fate.
[5] [4] [6] [6] [4]
[Let’s gooo!!]
The Clown, as if he had been waiting, vigorously rotated the ring counter-clockwise.
Clatter, clatter, clatter!!!
A fierce and dazzling speed, like a roulette wheel spinning.
At the same time, as if pushing away the magic blackening the altar’s sky, the mist hanging over the square’s sky began to crack like glass.
A strange peeling phenomenon, as if space was breaking through cracks in the sky.
The earth trembled from the aftershocks, and explosions of magic bursting forth echoed everywhere, but The Clown paid no mind.
[Kihahahahahahaha!!!!]
He merely continued to turn the ring on the altar like a clock, enduring the attacks pouring from behind him, with the expression of a child eagerly anticipating what was to come.
Kwaaaaah…!!
The Clown, who had reached the 8-level Peak of Extremes, deployed his illusion to its limits, completely deceiving the altar’s timeline.
What happens when the privilege of a Peak of Extremes ability user, who interferes with space-time as a result, is given to an illusionist?
Why is it so difficult for illusionists to transcend Hierarchy?
The Clown, who had reached that point by burning his own body, twisting luck and fate, was showing everyone as if to prove it.
Creak, creak, creak…!!!
[Behold…!!]
Each time the giant circular ring on the altar rotated by The Clown’s touch, it sounded like a clock’s second hand moving.
At the same time, the scenery inside the wide-open ring twisted slightly, beginning to reflect something other than the jungle.
Kieeeeee…….!!
The sound of a very old, worn-out door opening was heard.
No one directly witnessed the moment the door opened, but the scenery beyond it had already appeared before everyone’s eyes.
In the endless darkness, giant meteor showers swam like fish.
The flashes shone so brightly they seemed to blind everyone’s eyes, yet a thick darkness, like waves, swallowed the light, as if ready to make them lose consciousness at any moment.
A chaotic sea where light and darkness endlessly intersected and coexisted, disturbing the senses.
The world’s mirror, reflecting the Outer Sea.
The Well of the Codex, which Ascendant Pyeonram had guarded for generations, inherited its mission, now opened its door again after transcending a long passage of time.
[Kiii-ing, Kiii-ing…]
[Hee-g, hee-g, hee-g…!!]
[Kukukuku, kugu…!!]
The magic beasts panted madly and collapsed on the spot.
As if they couldn’t even think of escaping from the overwhelming powerful being about to appear.
The monsters that had torn and devoured people, delighting in flesh and blood, now let out feeble whimpers and shed copious tears.
Reiya’s song, ceaselessly echoing in the sky.
The Clown, silently turning the dozens of meters wide ring on the altar.
Hundreds of superhumans barely able to regain their composure and gaze at the altar, and the magic beasts who had already given up everything.
At that climactic moment, when the sharply heated tension swelled as if about to burst.
[…]
At some point, The Clown realized that the altar he was holding with both hands was no longer turning.
No, it was no longer even a solid stone altar.
A body thick enough to not be grasped by one hand, and massive, hardened scales.
Vividly coiling and moving tough muscles within them.
The dozens of meters wide stone ring that had been on the altar no longer existed.
Instead, a giant snake of comparable size was quietly gazing down at the altar.
Lennok found himself muttering, seeing the sight.
“It’s big…”
A magnificent physique, unbelievable for a living creature. Its length seemed hundreds of meters, its girth dozens of meters.
An overwhelming sensation, like a living skyscraper writhing before his eyes.
A single giant snake, large enough to occupy a third of the jungle square, merely gazed down with its massive green eyes at The Clown who had awakened it.
[Oh, imprisoned god dwelling in the ancient jungle…]
The Clown, his burning body trailing, slowly stepped back and grinned.
[It is truly an honor to meet you at the culmination of the great mission.]
The serpent guarding the Well of the Codex to the Outer Sea.
A transcendent being who unified all faiths of the southern jungle.
The apex predator at the top of the entire food chain of the vast Southern Continent.
A recluse who had been in hibernation for hundreds of years, showing no interest in the secular world.
A Spirit Serpent worthy of challenging Ascendance, having inherited the great mission.
Ascendant Pyeonram had transcended hundreds of years of time, revealing himself from within the Well of the Codex.