Chapter 596: Form Change (4)

RUUUUMBLE!!!

By merely shifting the library’s levels and rearranging the bookshelves, the Growth Promotion Ritual was shattered.

Over a dozen sorcerers, who were drawing ritual circles and conducting the ritual throughout the stairwells, had their balance broken simultaneously.

The intricately drawn ritual circles were covered and torn apart by the railings, stairwells, and wall structures, utterly demolishing them. In reaction, violent mana burst forth from various places, and the spirits wielded by the sorcerers began to rampage fiercely.

“Damn it, someone’s ruining the ritual!!”

“What are the guys on the outside doing…!!”

“Communication is cut off from the second floor.”

“It’s an intruder!! Kill them!!”

Hearing the sorcerers’ conversation through Davi’s ability, Lennok immediately turned his gaze to Mila.

“We’ve been discovered. They’ll be here soon.”

While the true source of the library system manipulation wasn’t exposed, finding the floor where communications were severed after Mila killed the sorcerers wouldn’t have been difficult. Lennok, too, knew that with things having come to this, they couldn’t hide their position for long.

Mila, unfazed by Lennok’s words, caressed her shotgun and asked, “Did you succeed in disrupting the ritual?”

“Unless they reset all the disarrayed internal positions of the library, restarting will be difficult.”

“Good. Better than I expected.”

CLACK!!

Mila reloaded her shotgun and stood up, nodding. “That’s enough.”

Amidst the ceaselessly vibrating library structures, faint growls and roars of beasts blended in.

“Graaargh…!!”

A bizarre airborne domain where hundreds of bookshelves, filled with tens of thousands of books, floated seemingly adrift in every direction. Among those bookshelves, over a dozen spirits appeared in various places, as if forcefully dragged out.

“Grrrrowl!!”

“Kahaaak!!”

An eagle made entirely of ice soared above the library ceiling, and an alligator with blade-like scales crawled up the walls. Over a dozen fire-breathing lizards simultaneously burst from between the bookshelves, flicking their tongues.

A giant hedgehog boasting sharp metallic quills, a four-armed monkey, and a two-headed gorilla appeared. Creatures resembling the spirits Lennok had already dealt with, or should have dealt with, burst forth throughout the library, instantly glaring at the two.

The presence of spirits filled every corner, making it impossible to believe this was the same quiet library from moments ago.

“Impressive. I’ve never seen so many spirits gathered in one place.”

Only then did Mila realize Lennok had gathered all the spirits hidden throughout the library, and she let out a low whistle. “Instead of hunting them down one by one, you’re gathering them all in one spot to wipe them out completely?”

“No, it’s impossible to deal with all these spirits. It’s not something just the two of us can handle.”

“…The two of us?”

The moment Priscilla, sensing something, asked back, Lennok didn’t reply and snapped his fingers once more.

CLICK!!

At that moment, the floor behind Priscilla split open, forming a gentle slide leading down into the basement. Mila, meeting Lennok’s eyes, lightly nudged Priscilla’s shoulder.

“Ah?! Sis…!!”

As Priscilla slid down the ramp with a startled look, the floor closed, sealing her away.

Lennok, having instantly pushed Priscilla down the underground slide, spoke. “She’ll be moved to a hideout used by the librarians. It seems to have ventilation, emergency rations, and an escape route connected to the subway, so she should be able to get out on her own.”

“Right. Thanks for looking out for her. That’s definitely like a professor, in that regard.”

Mila chuckled, a slightly embarrassed expression on her face. “It would have been difficult to separate her like this if not for now. I’ll talk some sense into her later.”

“I’ll buy time against the spirits, so please take care of the Dean.”

But Mila immediately shook her head at Lennok’s words. “…No, that’s not it.”

Saying that, Mila pulled out unknown components from her waist and rapidly began assembling them onto the shotgun she was holding.

CLACK, CLACK!!

She attached an exhaust port for heat dissipation, a different magazine than before, and swapped out the barrel for a multi-barrel system that looked three times thicker. Shouldering the shotgun, which had instantly transformed into a massive bazooka, Mila turned to Lennok and grinned.

“I’ll buy time and hold off the spirits, so you, Professor, go find and rescue the Dean. That’s the right way.”

“Mila, but…”

Davi’s Automatic Combat Algorithm is still a power specialized in spirit combat for now. Thus, Lennok was confident he could hold his own among dozens of spirits with just Evan’s spirit magic. However, Mila, who uses superpowers, might suffer a serious injury if something went wrong.

“Anyway, even if you go to the top floor, you’ll still have to search inside to find the Dean, won’t you?”

Mila cut Lennok off. “I’m not good at that kind of brain work. I’ll finish up quickly and follow you.”

Mila’s proposal to take on the far more grueling and difficult task of dealing with the spirits to buy time. There was no time to argue against her words.

Lennok, embracing Davi, rose to his feet and nodded at Mila. “See you alive.”

“Of course. If I died in a place like this, how could our Director show his face?”

Saying that, Mila pulled two levers attached to the side of her shotgun simultaneously and inserted a magazine. As dazzling magical light erupted, a powerful resonant hum echoed, and the shotgun’s barrel progressively synchronized with Mila’s superpower.

“I’m going first…!!”

Mila, shouldering the thick barrel, sprinted forward, then sharply twisted the muzzle backward and pulled the trigger.

BOOOOM!!

A colossal storm of shockwaves erupted from the muzzle, propelling Mila’s body tens of meters away like a rocket. Mila freely soared amidst the floating bookshelves, engaging the spirits in combat with a long curved blade in her other hand.

Lennok realized the output of the superpower erupting from Mila’s body had dramatically increased, and he nodded. ‘Her output and efficiency have both greatly increased. Did she succeed in raising her Hierarchy by changing her weapon?’

Mila’s superpower was an intuitive yet powerful type that compressed and unleashed shockwaves. However, it was difficult to control and regulate its output, so she used to channel it through her shotgun, visualizing it. This had the disadvantage of only allowing her to use her superpower in fixed forms. Therefore, Mila chose to push the shotgun’s form and specifications to the limit, transforming it into a bazooka her own size to wield.

“Look here, you monsters!!”

CRASHHH!!!

Even as she freely wielded a storm of surging shockwaves, the mental energy required to use her superpower actually decreased. Superpowers are innate abilities that rely on the vague power source of human mental energy. However, precisely because of this, a shift in perspective and a change in mindset can elevate one to an entirely different realm. She, too, must have continuously adjusted her abilities and equipment to enhance her combat power and compensate for her weaknesses.

Someone once said everything depends on one’s mindset. At least for the extraordinary power known as superpowers, that statement had never been wrong.

Thinking that, Lennok averted his gaze from Mila, who had transformed into a moving storm, drawing the spirits’ attention in his stead.

“Davi, open the way to the top floor.”

“Ready!”

Davi’s body rippled like colorful autumn leaves, in faint sky-blue and indigo waves, moving the entire internal structure of the library. Immediately, dozens, even hundreds, of bookshelves floated up and rose before Lennok, solidly supporting his feet like a colossal staircase.

However, Lennok’s expression as he gazed at the endless staircase had turned somewhat disgruntled. “You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”

“Hehe.”

Davi let out an embarrassed giggle and immediately moved the bookshelf Lennok stood on, lifting him straight up. In an instant, Lennok’s form ascended through the floating space of bookshelves, heading towards the summit of the colossal library.

CLUNK!!

Pushing open the heavy, dark brown wooden door and stepping inside, the scent of old paper wafted out. As if completely unrelated to the commotion outside, the corridor inside the top floor door of the library remained silent.

The top floor reading room boasted a larger and more expansive area than any other floor Lennok had passed through so far. However, Lennok’s deduction that the Dean was trapped here wasn’t solely because mana sensing didn’t properly work on this floor.

[History Exhibition Hall of Rebatenon University]

[Master’s and Doctoral Thesis Archive]

The culmination of research and effort accumulated by generations of Rebatenon University’s scholars. A place where the flow of time, marking the continuous pursuit of knowledge without faltering even in the magic-ridden city of Vulcan, was recorded. It was precisely here that the Dean must have intended to consolidate the clues and answers to the questions he had given Lennok.

“Mila was right. The Dean wanted me to find him myself.”

Regardless of whether Mila or Lennok was quicker-witted, it was Lennok who had directly heard the Dean’s message and hints. If the Dean had sent a message to Lennok before he was detained, he would have tried to convey where he was trapped and at what point the problem occurred through his spirit.

Considering that, Lennok quietly opened the door to the archive where the theses were kept.

CLICK!!

Under dim lighting, the archive was filled with thousands of file folders containing theses, not books. Standing before them, Lennok continued to rack his brain, trying to decipher the meaning of the Dean’s message.

“He wouldn’t have twisted the message into something obscure… Let’s think simply.”

This was different from racking his brain to find traces of Kaiser. The Dean’s message was meant to convey meaning quickly amidst a rapidly unfolding situation. He wouldn’t have left behind a difficult-to-remember or encrypted message that needed decoding.

“The spirits’ cries? No, that’s hard to remember and the code decoding based on musical scales is unclear.”

Lennok mumbled to himself at a rapid pace, quickly pulling out theses and flipping through them one by one. “Nothing came out when I searched the spirits’ bodies. It’s not a material form. If it’s something specific from the message, then it must be…”

Thinking that far, Lennok stopped and slowly retraced his steps. The Master’s Thesis Archive and the Doctoral Thesis Archive. Between them, the Integrated Master’s and Doctoral Thesis Archive. As different processes were treated differently, the classification was also different.

Among them, Lennok found one particularly familiar name, and only then did he slowly nod. “This was it.”

[Plavis Magic Tower. 492nd Grand Magic Research Society. Approved by all 32 Magic Tower Elders.]

[Integrated Master’s & Doctoral Thesis Approved: Saiolus Garteanon.]

[Title: The Immaterial Realm Where Spirits Reside. Proving the Existence of the Spirit Realm]

It wasn’t for nothing that the Dean had told Lennok about the incorrect review schedule for the integrated master’s and doctoral thesis. That itself was a pretext to make Lennok realize something was amiss, and a keyword to make him find the Dean. Saiolus Garteanon, the Dean of Rebatenon University of Magic, had also once been a research wizard of a Magic Tower long ago.

The Dean intended to use that fact to tell Lennok how to find him.

SCRAAAPE!!

Without hesitation, Lennok pulled out the Dean’s thesis and rapidly began to read through it. The introduction of the thesis explained the existence of spirits and the rationale for the Spirit Realm’s existence, but Lennok skipped past it all.

THWACK!!

The serial number written on the last page. One of the unique codes used by the Central Library to classify books.

Holding the code written on that thesis page, Lennok immediately left the reading room and headed to the very end of the top floor corridor of the library.

At the end of the corridor was a massive gate shaped like a book. “The only structure that couldn’t be interfered with using the library’s parallel operation system. This must be it, right?”

Davi, perched on Lennok’s head, replied, “Not only can its position not be changed, but it’s set up so that no magic or command can be given to it using the system’s internal authority.”

Opening the lock mechanism at the bottom of the gate, inscribed with mysterious ancient characters, revealed a slot for entering numbers and character sequences. The moment Lennok meticulously transcribed the thesis’s identification code into it.

CLUNK!!

The gate, shaped like a book, swung wide open as if unfolding, revealing the scenery beyond to Lennok. Beyond a shimmering, indistinct veil, an unknown landscape faintly appeared.

“A hideout or an evacuation route? No, perhaps it’s more like a hidden space within the library itself…”

Either way, it was a place connected to this library, yet not the inherent space of Rebatenon University. The moment he pushed aside the veil and slowly stepped inside.

WHOOSH!!

Lennok realized he was standing in the middle of a vast plain overlooking an enormous field.

SWISHHHH!!

With each warm breeze, the lush vegetation in the field swayed, creating a rustling sound. The swaying grass rippled like waves, stirred by the wind.

Lennok, surveying the sprawling field, saw something protruding at the edge of his vision and walked towards it. Ten stone slabs, each far larger than an average person, were driven vertically into the ground in a single row. The enormous stone slabs stood neatly, as if prepared for something to be inscribed upon them.

On six of the ten stone slabs, blood-soaked people were impaled, their bodies pierced through. Of the other three stone slabs, an old man, bound tightly, lay collapsed directly in front of the seventh slab, which remained smooth and untouched.

“Dean?”

“…Ah, Van.”

Saiolus, opening his eyes with difficulty, mumbled as he saw Lennok. Lennok didn’t wait for a reply and immediately checked the Dean’s physical condition, including his breathing and mana circuits.

‘His mana is depleted, but it’s not life-threatening. Is he just exhausted from expending his vigor and stamina to the limit?’

Lennok’s eyes, calm and steady, took out an emergency kit, connected an IV drip, and began injecting nutrients. ‘His condition isn’t as good as I’d hoped, but it hasn’t reached its worst. Just as I expected.’

The confession he’d heard from the sorcerer wearing a monkey mask: that they were proceeding with the ritual by sequentially sacrificing lower-tier wizards first. It was clear that Saiolus, a Level 7 Completer wizard, would have his turn relatively much later.

Thus, Lennok was certain that while the Dean might be incapacitated, his life wouldn’t be in immediate danger. As he administered a restorative elixir he usually carried and connected an IV drip for nutrients, the Dean’s complexion slowly began to return.

His breathing stabilized, and his trembling eyelids settled calmly. The moment Lennok stepped back, seeing the Dean’s color gradually return, the Dean closed his eyes and waved his hand in the air.

WHOOSH!!

PFOOOO!!

The fluffy spirit, resummoned by the Dean’s own invocation. It cried without restraint, nuzzling its face into the Dean’s arms.

“Pfu-pfu, pfu-pfu-pfu!!!”

At the sight of the spirit rapidly pouring out sounds as if excited, the Dean finally managed a weak smile. “Thank you… You never disappoint me, indeed.”

“As for me, I haven’t heard anything about this situation yet. And this grassland scenery, too.”

Lennok said, rubbing his temples with a tired expression. “I understand that the Central Council might be behind the Ghost God Palace. Can you explain the other parts?”

“…It was about half a month ago.”

The Dean’s expression darkened slightly. “Rumors began to circulate that the quarantine of District 25, designated as a Sealed Zone, would be lifted.”

“…”

“Among the city councilmen, there are those who have buried their misdeeds in the Sealed Zone. If the quarantine on District 25 is lifted, there could be a complete turnover of council members, both in the upper and lower houses.”

Does that mean the events of solving Kaiser’s memories in the Sealed Zone are already spreading like a butterfly effect?

“Most have other backing beyond their positions, but some do not. They are criminals who wouldn’t be surprised to find themselves in jail immediately if they lost their council seats.”

“Criminals, you say?”

He had thought it natural that the city of Vulcan tended not to dwell on the past, but he never imagined there would be so many from the underworld among the city councilmen. That they held onto power despite having charges that could lead to immediate arrest, in a way, perhaps it suited the city of Vulcan.

“Do you know how such criminals obtained their council seats? It’s because they provided something beneficial enough to the Council to cover up those misdeeds.”

“…”

“Once the lifting of the District 25 quarantine was confirmed, they had two options: rush to the Sealed Zone and be the first to find and destroy the evidence…”

The Dean looked back at Lennok and said, “Or cover up their misdeeds with an even greater achievement.”

“So, councilmen on the verge of losing their influence orchestrated this?” Lennok shook his head as he asked. “I don’t understand how human sacrifices of Rebatenon University students, using the power of sorcery, could result in any achievement. Even if the councilmen were to share in the results created this way—”

“[Of course, an ordinary result wouldn’t be enough to clean this up.]”

From behind him came an utterly magnificent voice. A profound voice, imbued with an undeniable weight.

“[But decades ago, before the Prohibition Edict was lifted, it was common for minor transgressions to be covered by unprecedented achievements.]”

“…”

“[A new era has dawned, and the world has changed a great deal, but isn’t it only natural for minor flaws to be obscured by monumental achievements of genius?]”

Instead of replying, Lennok slowly turned his gaze backward. A colossal lion, boasting a resplendent silver mane. From the lion’s body, its eyes shining with dazzling silver-white radiance, immense mana surged ceaselessly as if about to burst forth.

With a beast’s face, the lion, displaying a benevolent smile like a human’s, looked at Lennok and spoke. “[For instance, by demonstrating the miracle of directly creating spirits with human hands.]”