Chapter 705: Uninvited Guest (6)
The assertion that the fifth Lighthouse’s owner was Lennok, not Lapis.
It was an answer he hadn’t expected to hear from anyone else but her, yet Lennok didn’t question it again.
Instead, he simply gazed intently at Lapis.
“……”
The last vestiges of youth had almost vanished from Lapis’s face as she turned her head.
She had grown noticeably taller, and her hair was long. Given how young she was when they first met, rapid growth wasn’t surprising.
The magical power and aura emanating from her body were astonishingly potent, almost unrecognizable. At first glance, one might have mistaken her for an entirely different person.
But what Lennok first confirmed on Lapis’s face was not merely her physical or mental growth.
A gaze so calm it felt profoundly somber. A sharpness, a keen edge, that had been absent from her eyes before.
Even though she was clearly the Lighthouse Keeper Lennok knew, she felt like a completely different person.
Lapis smiled.
“It’s been a long time since we saw each other. How have you been?”
“……You don’t seem to be doing well.”
Lennok replied.
“What happened?”
He knew that Lapis had obtained the Mind Imprint during the Pandemonium meeting and had properly inherited the previous Lighthouse Keeper’s Unique Ability.
He also knew that in that process, she had personally subdued Yanikus Barbaria of JeByeok and displayed her might on the Central Front.
However, the strength of one’s will is not something acquired through a sudden change of heart, nor is a Transcendent’s Unique Ability easily attained simply by meeting the qualifications.
Lennok could only assume that Lapis herself had experienced a significant turning point or catalyst.
Lapis was silent for a moment, then replied.
“What happened…… can it be explained in just a few words?”
Lapis began to walk, speaking as she did.
“It’s exactly as it sounds. I built several Lighthouses. I completed the Hierarchy, and advanced into the Central Front, establishing a foothold……”
She carefully stroked the crystal monument beside Lennok.
“And……”
“……”
The Watchers Lennok not only remembered but had actually conversed and fought alongside.
Lapis’s comrades, who had been perfectly fine in the Hanghasa Labyrinth. A significant number of their names were inscribed on the crystal monument.
Lapis hadn’t simply grown triumphantly while leading the Eyes of Blue.
To reach this very spot, she had left many comrades behind.
The sheer number of battles and sacrifices that had been made to advance into the Central Front and construct the fifth Lighthouse.
How much Lapis strove never to forget that fact.
The magnificent flower field now spread before their eyes revealed everything without embellishment.
Lapis, her face serene, placed a flower before the crystal tombstone.
“……”
Lennok watched Lapis, then quietly put his hand into his pocket.
Charrrr-rung!!
The magical power that bloomed from his fingertips with a clear resonance transformed into the shape of a beautiful glass flower.
Lennok placed the magic-sculpted flower before the tombstone and asked.
“How long have you been here?”
“Ever since the construction of the fifth Lighthouse finished, I’ve been here continuously.”
She slowly raised a hand to her eyes, muttering.
“After the process of stabilization, a period of recuperation was unavoidable……”
Did she mean she had returned here immediately after the Lighthouse’s construction and remained ever since?
As Lennok fell into thought, Lapis slowly stepped back from the tombstone and spoke.
“The fifth Lighthouse almost failed to be properly completed, in fact.”
“……”
“Given the location, contention and conflict were severe. It’s no different now. That place is considered a fierce battleground even in the Northern Continent.”
Lapis closed her eyes.
“But a miracle beyond my authority occurred, and it transformed into an anomalous concept, unlike other Lighthouses. At first, I didn’t know the cause……”
“An external variable intervened? But……”
If the fifth Lighthouse’s power originated from Lennok, then its exceptional performance would be understandable.
However, if the Lighthouse was operating by relying on Lennok’s talent without his knowledge, he would have noticed.
As if she had guessed Lennok’s thoughts, Lapis smiled quietly and nodded.
“It would be faster for you to see it directly than for me to explain.”
“……”
“I can show you. It won’t take long.”
With that, Lapis slowly raised a hand and brought it to Lennok’s eyes.
A gesture meant to shift the Sight Synchronization imposed on Lennok’s consciousness to another location.
This meeting would likely end here. To meet Lapis again, he would have to use other means.
Sensing this, Lennok opened his mouth.
“The place I work. You remember, right?”
“……Yes?”
Lennok smiled faintly at Lapis’s slightly bewildered face.
“If you have time during your recuperation, you can visit me separately.”
Lapis knew that Evan was serving as an Assistant Professor in Vulcan.
But it was the first time Lennok himself had explicitly told her she could visit Evan’s identity.
‘Though she appears fine on the surface, her inner state is likely different.’
Given Lapis’s rapid growth and the change in her aura, there was a high possibility that it was directly linked to a significant shift in her mental state.
Had the countless sacrifices required to advance to the Central Front changed her?
It was a thought one might easily overlook, but Lennok knew that in such cases, it was precisely when he shouldn’t dismiss it lightly.
Even if it meant investing some of Evan’s schedule and time, if he had to hold onto Lapis.
It wouldn’t be desirable for the Eyes of Blue, who had just advanced to the Central Front, to regress now, nor for the strengthened Lighthouse’s prestige to weaken.
Lennok rationalized this to himself, calmly reaffirming.
“Since I work at an educational institution, I know many wizards your age.”
“……”
“If you wish, I can introduce you. How about spending some time at the school?”
“Hmph-fufut……”
At that moment, she lowered her head and quietly let out a laugh.
“Evan…… Lord Evan hasn’t changed at all.”
Perhaps she understood why Lennok had said that?
Beneath Lapis’s faint smile, there was a sense of something having settled within her.
“But it’s alright. Everyone accepted that we couldn’t stop, and we prepared ourselves, which is why we’ve come this far.”
“……”
Lapis raised one hand towards her eyes, and with her other hand, took Lennok’s finger.
A tingling sensation flowed between their index fingers. But Lennok did not push the sensation away.
Lapis released his hand and spoke.
“I’ve shared the observation authority of the fifth Lighthouse with you. I hope you achieve your desired objective.”
“Lapis.”
“Lord Evan.”
Lapis smiled.
“I’ll stay here a little longer.”
“……”
As she, in her pure white dress, turned her back, the scenery reflected in Lennok’s eyes began to recede.
Lapis’s voice quietly echoed from the rapidly fading flower field in the distance.
“Thank you. Always.”
KWA-AAAAAH!!!
Upon opening his eyes, what he saw was the form of a blizzard covering everything in white.
Raging winds and cold air. A vast snowfield stretched as far as the eye could see.
But what enveloped Lennok’s entire body was not a chilling cold or the biting sensation of the wind.
‘……This is.’
An alien sensation, as if piercing a hole in space-time and peeking through it.
Instead of full sensory input, there was a floating sensation, as if only his visual perception had been unrealistically amplified.
Lapis wouldn’t have made a mistake, so it must be that she transferred the Sight Synchronization location to the Lighthouse’s position.
The problem was that it was difficult for Lennok to gauge by sensation where he was looking from or where he was looking to.
He had to figure out what the snowfield scenery in his vision was based on.
The moment he realized that, a violent explosion erupted from below.
KWA-AAANG!!
“Ugh-aahhh!!”
“Sa, save meee!!!”
Desperate screams. Hundreds of people started fleeing through the blizzard.
Frantically concentrating. Not a single person among them was not a superhuman using mana.
Lennok concentrated on the fleeing people, slightly startled, and stopped as his vision rapidly zoomed in.
SWISHH!!
“Haa, haa!!”
So close, as if watching their desperate escape right beside them.
He could clearly perceive their ragged breaths, the scent of sweat, their utterly exhausted muscles, and their fatigue-ridden faces.
Only then did Lennok realize how his senses had been amplified, and he marveled.
‘Is this the scenery the Lighthouse Keeper is looking at?’
A cognitive ability that seemed to penetrate everything in his sight, beyond merely seeing something from a distance or in detail.
With a little concentration, he felt he could even see through to the movements of muscles and joints beneath the skin.
Even without using any mana detection, he could vaguely sense the mana circulating within their bodies and the movement of their will-thought.
‘It’s not just vaguely seeing something, but rather focusing and forcibly shifting the view. In that case……’
KIIIIIING!!
Lennok’s gaze, which had been circling among the fleeing people, rapidly pulled back, beginning to encompass the entire snowfield.
People frantically escaping, and the blizzard raging behind them.
And at the center of that blizzard, a colossal mass of magical power, writhing.
“Where are you scurrying off to so hastily, you insects?”
SWISHH!!
With a grave voice, as the blizzard spun violently, a hand shot out from within, snatching a fleeing man.
Immediately after, a horrifying sound of bones and joints being crushed alive emanated from within the blizzard.
CRUNCH, CRUNCH-CRUNCH-CRUNCH!!
“Ugh-aaaah!! Haa-aaaah!!”
Along with desperate, inhuman screams, blood and flesh splattered and fell beneath the blizzard.
The faces of those who heard the screams turned deathly pale, and they gritted their teeth, forcing their legs to move.
Something leaped from behind them, tearing life from the fleeing individuals, devouring them alive.
CRUNCH-CRUNCH!! TEAR!!
“If you’ve set foot on this land without permission, you must bear the responsibility.”
The voice, its bare hand stained with blood from tearing a human apart, spoke.
“In this dull snowfield, even this serves as a sort of sustenance.”
The voice echoing from within the blizzard even sounded somewhat amused.
Hearing that, the other fugitives screamed desperately in defiance.
“Mo-monster!!”
“We just came to trade……!!”
“We’ll formally protest to the Lighthouse Keeper!!”
“Protest?”
The voice instantly seized the neck of the young man shouting, and asked.
CRACK!!
With just the grip of its hand, it half-broke his neck, and the young man’s body went limp without even a proper scream.
“Eloquence is a privilege granted only to the powerful. In my territory, I wouldn’t have granted you a clean death, but……”
“Kh, a-ha!”
CRUNCH!!
The voice from within the blizzard, which had broken the young man’s neck with a mere gesture, continued.
“As it is, I have too many toys to play with. Kha-ha-ha!”
The blizzard raged maniacally, instantly seizing and crushing the fleeing people one by one.
Hot, red flowers instantly bloomed here and there on the pure white snowfield.
The raw power to instantly kill hundreds of humans barehanded, alone.
The speed and precision were so fast and accurate that there wasn’t a single missed attack the moment the blizzard moved.
Hundreds of superhumans were broken like toys, collapsing and dying.
“Save me!! We came to trade!!”
“Please……!! Aaaaah!!”
CHOMP-CRUNCH!!
“Oh, was I too hasty?”
WHOOSH!
The relentlessly raging blizzard receded, and from within, a pale-faced old man walked out, his hands clasped behind his back.
“I should have left more alive to avoid boredom, I made a mistake in my excitement.”
The old man, his two eyes glinting with murderous intent, looked at the survivors.
The survivor stared blankly at the old man and mumbled.
“Ka, Kaiushyu’s tyrant…… why is he in this labyrinth!!”
Yanikus Barbaria of JeByeok.
A ruthless ruler who single-handedly governed a city, and an 8-level physical superhuman.
Why was that old martial artist, who had been holed up in Kaiushyu in the Western Continent and never moved, here in this remote snowfield?
‘Snowfield. Labyrinth……’
Lennok, who had been listening to the conversation beside him, only then fully understood where this place was.
The outermost perimeter of the Northern Continent’s snowfield, where Jindun’s Hanghasa Labyrinth was located.
The middle of the snowfield where Lennok was first summoned by Lapis’s call.
The location where the fifth Lighthouse was built was precisely the ruins of the Hanghasa Labyrinth, where Jindun had vanished, leaving behind his Ideological Domain.
‘Was this why an emergency was declared on the outskirts of the Central Front?’
Lennok immediately understood why multiple factions had been wary of the fifth Lighthouse.
Even though Jindun had died and disappeared, the area where his Ideological Domain was situated was in itself a valuable ruin.
Even after the Hanghasa Labyrinth collapsed and vanished, remnants of its power would still be wandering there.
Lapis had chosen precisely these ruins of the Hanghasa Labyrinth as the ground to build a new Lighthouse, as a mysterious realm.
A Lighthouse could only be built on a special mysterious realm, but a Lighthouse built on such a mysterious realm could possess transcendent Unique Abilities.
If a Lighthouse was built on the mysterious realm that was a Transcendent’s tomb, it would naturally possess the most powerful performance among the five Lighthouses.
And that’s why Lapis had asserted that the owner of the fifth Lighthouse was Lennok, not herself.
PWA-AAAH!!
The moment he realized that, Lennok began to observe and synchronize with the Lighthouse’s form that had been replacing his vision until now.
A pure white snowfield. A transparent pyramid-shaped spire built at the edge of the collapsed labyrinth ruins.
The fifth Lighthouse, built with the Lighthouse Keeper’s Unique Ability, yet drawing its essence from the depths of Jindun’s labyrinth.
The desperate shouts of the survivors, their faces resigned, were vividly observed.
“Yeah, f***ing kill us!! You came all this way to kill us, so the Watchers guarding the Lighthouse will be completely annihilated!!”
“……”
As he spoke, hundreds of superhumans were rapidly gathering around the transparent pyramid spire.
Factions trying to attack and seize the Lighthouse the moment they confirmed Yanikus Barbaria had left it.
Guerrilla units speeding across the snow-covered field, bombers flying above the Lighthouse, and all sorts of interception weapons positioned in the rear.
As Yanikus Barbaria frowned at the sight, looking as if bombardment would rain down any moment, a survivor shouted.
“We’ve confirmed the Lighthouse itself has no combat capabilities!! How long can the few Watchers withstand the Revolutionary Army’s bombardment?!”
“Let them. They too will accept their given mission.”
Yanikus Barbaria retorted.
At his answer, nonchalantly accepting the sacrifice of his fellow Watchers, the survivor’s face turned deathly pale.
Lennok thought, watching.
‘Lapis has surmised that I received something directly from Jindun.’
She secretly wished for Evan to join the Watchers, but never forced it.
This must be because she believes Lennok, as the inheritor of Jindun’s barrier magic, has obtained qualifications equal to her own.
That’s why she could transfer the authority of the fifth Lighthouse through a relatively simple method like Sight Synchronization.
If the Lighthouse was strengthened by the residual will-thought of the labyrinth, then Lennok, who inherited Jindun’s power, would naturally be able to utilize that power.
‘Indeed. All the scenery I see here……’
His observation ability hadn’t rapidly increased simply by receiving Lapis’s Sight Synchronization.
This beautiful snowfield scenery, the vivid conversations heard as if right beside him.
The overflowing mana and forms of will-thought.
Lennok had been synchronizing his senses with the fifth Lighthouse from the very beginning, looking down upon this entire snowfield.
“Since the Lighthouse Keeper entrusted the matter of the fifth Lighthouse to me, I shall handle it my way.”
“M-mad bastard……!!”
“Isn’t it enough for me to simply reclaim the stolen Lighthouse by myself?”
As Yanikus Barbaria spoke, grabbing the survivor’s head.
Far away, the upper part of the Lighthouse spire, surrounded by countless superhuman units, opened wide.
KIIIIIING!!
With a strange resonant hum, an attractive force that seemed to pull in the entire snowfield’s blizzard erupted.
And an immense light burst from the spire’s summit, soaring into the sky.
PWA-AAAH!!
The moment a thick beam of light burst from the top of the Lighthouse, sweeping across the sky and vanishing.
Dozens of bombers flying in the sky exploded on the spot, scattering flames across the snowfield.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-ANG!!!
Yanikus Barbaria and the survivor, whose head he was gripping, both looked up at the Lighthouse with blank expressions.
“Th-this can’t be……!! It clearly said it had no combat capabilities……!!!”
“……”
The survivor trembled, screaming, and Yanikus Barbaria tilted his head.
“Hmm, this wasn’t the scenario I envisioned.”
CREAK!
The golden light that had risen above the Lighthouse spire slowly turned its gaze towards Yanikus Barbaria.
[Yanikus Barbaria.]
“……”
Yanikus Barbaria’s face hardened slightly at the powerful mental transmission that seemed to pierce his mind.
“……The Lighthouse’s power? How dare you inject will-thought into my mind? Who are you?”
[Consider me the Lighthouse’s authority holder.]
Lennok ignored Yanikus Barbaria’s stern reply and spoke again.
[I intend to set up a Provisional Labyrinth here, so cooperate. It seems I need to further enhance the Lighthouse’s performance.]
“……What?”
Leaving a bewildered Yanikus Barbaria, Lennok slowly shifted his gaze.
[I’m thinking of checking what lies beyond the Central Front’s outer barrier while I’m at it.]