Chapter 707: Uninvited Guest (8)

Hoooom…!!!

A colossal Spell-Word Stone, slantedly embedded in the center of the orchard, emitted a strange humming sound.

Standing tall like a giant tree, the Spell-Word Stone’s height easily exceeded tens of meters, even at a rough estimate.

On the surface of the monument, standing as if presiding over the strangely colored orchard, illegible characters were haphazardly carved.

As if hammered in and scrawled, as if forcibly seized and etched, the characters were inscribed in a crude yet powerful hand.

Lennok instinctively knew that it was a remnant recording a ‘language’ no longer used on the continent.

‘Though I’ve had a few opportunities to study ancient texts and documents…’

He had indeed contacted Ascendants, or discovered and investigated traces of ancient civilizations through ruins several times.

But even knowing that, Lennok had never delved deeply into the history or ancient civilizations of this world.

After realizing this world was the third to be created, he had focused on finding traces and knowledge of the already vanished Old World.

But if three worlds had pioneered their futures in different times and spaces,

wouldn’t the world Lennok now stood in also have built its own unique history, different from the first and second, and cycled through it?

Before all the languages of this continent were unified, what was the world like then?

What had existed hundreds, thousands of years ago in this third world?

The Transcendent who were born in this world and seized the right to challenge ascension would surely know.

“……”

Even as Lennok was lost in thought, the number of people coming and going along the orchard paths steadily increased.

Desperately trying not to look at the orchard’s fruits, yet twitching as if unable to resist their scent.

Those who succumbed to temptation, rushed out, and consumed the fruits, without a single exception, began to spew viscous fluid and bow towards the Spell-Word Stone.

“Gurgle, g-g-gurgle!!”

“I understand… Now I understand…!!”

As if overcome by some profound revelation, with an ecstatic expression, they spewed fluid from their mouths and cried out something.

As they prostrated themselves without controlling their strength, their limb joints collapsed, and their foreheads, slammed against the ground, cracked and bled.

Soon even those words transformed into grotesque, unintelligible language, echoing.

With their limbs broken, they merely began to grotesquely bow their heads.

Lennok watched the worshippers, then shifted his gaze to examine the orchard’s trees.

What on earth were they made of that people would become so fanatical and begin to worship after eating them?

The moment he looked at the tree and its fruits, casting shadows over the worshippers who were transforming into monstrous shapes.

“…A book?”

Lennok realized that the inside of the fruit’s skin was formed from dozens of layers, like pages of a book.

The fruit’s skin was like a book cover, its flesh a bizarre appearance as if dozens of pages were stacked together.

On the flesh, made of dozens of layers of paper, unknown characters wriggled like flowing water.

It was a strange sight, as if a book filled with ancient characters had been forcibly processed into the shape of a fruit.

“Delicious!! So delicious…!!”

“I need more!! Give me more!!”

Eating them, as if gaining some unknown enlightenment, people endlessly prostrated themselves, driven mad.

Only after properly observing their appearance and the fruit’s form, could Lennok understand why they had become like this.

The fruits growing in this orchard did not satisfy the consumer’s appetite.

They merely provided forgotten knowledge, no longer existing on this continent.

Ancient information, no longer remaining as language, was merely shoved into them in the form of consumption.

Those who had ‘consumed’ knowledge through the fruits, without exception, offered fanatical worship towards the Spell-Word Stone.

Thoroughly obeying, even as they ruined their own minds and bodies.

As if they had recognized the existence of a god and begun to worship.

“……”

Lennok tore his gaze from the orchard trees, and slowly approached the Spell-Word Stone.

Rumble…!!

Though Sabrinah, the Spell-Word sorcerer, had shown him a Spell-Word Stone before, its size was barely two meters. And even that covered only a confined space where several people gathered.

But the Spell-Word Stone here was tens of meters tall. The area enveloped by its power was a vast domain, reaching thousands of meters in diameter.

With this Spell-Word Stone simply taking root and emitting power, it would be no exaggeration to call the surroundings a ‘Domain’ placed under the dominion of a specific will.

Twitch.

Above the Spell-Word Stone, which pulsed as if alive, something that protruded like a vein throbbed.

Beyond merely representing power and knowledge, it was someone’s will, autonomously seeking to claim the entire orchard as a Domain.

Handing over knowledge, enlightening humans, becoming an object of worship. A grotesque and eerie cycle that ultimately made the Spell-Word Stone’s master be served as a god.

Lennok already knew about this being.

Perhaps he had instinctively known the moment he recognized the existence of the Spell-Word Stone.

Why other factions were so wary of the Fifth Lighthouse peering beyond the outer curtain of the Central Front.

Why the Deadrise headquarters, to counter the Eyes of Blue, had tried to build a satellite to observe the Central Front.

And why the mere fact of the Central Front’s outer curtain being breached held such great significance.

The master of this orchard, covering the plains outside the front lines, was not a powerful superhuman or an incomprehensible monster.

It was an Ascendant who had acquired transcendent Hierarchy through language and script.

A great researcher who had unified all languages of the continent and established a common language.

And now, a renegade who, mimicking the ways of Outer Gods, attempted to become a god by creating Apostles.

The master of this eerie Spell-Word Stone, erected on the outskirts of the Central Front.

The Ascendant, Jinwa [진와].

That Transcendent, counted among the most revered figures in continental history, was now greedily devouring that very reverence.

Using knowledge-transmitting fruits as a medium, he was increasing the number of worshippers who revered him.

A ruthlessness that completely disregarded the human psyche, becoming stained with madness and corruption.

Perhaps it had already escalated to an irreversible point.

‘Deimus said the Deadrise main force couldn’t move due to certain circumstances… The possibility of the headquarters knowing this fact was very high.’

The Eyes of Blue were wary of the Lighthouse being used to peer beyond the curtain, and conversely, tried to produce a satellite to directly oversee the front lines.

Their interests aligned with the Blaiver Magic Tower Lord, and they must have planned to build a factory in Vulcan and use the Phoenix Hall as an engine.

However, if the circumstances that prevented the main force from moving during that process were related to Jinwa’s matter.

“……”

Had Deadrise and Jinwa joined hands? But Lennok thought that possibility itself was low.

Jinwa was an Ascendant who had reached a transcendent Hierarchy through Spell-Word sorcery, and a great being who had established the continent’s common language.

If they had joined hands with such a being, Deadrise’s actions would not be so quiet or passive.

Rather, weren’t they in a position to be wary of Jinwa, or perhaps restraining themselves so as not to overstep the Ascendant’s Domain?

Thinking so, the moment Lennok quickly shifted the Lighthouse’s focus towards the people moving around the Spell-Word Stone,

he spotted a procession of soldiers trying to bypass the orchard’s outskirts.

Clank, clank!!

As if transporting something, they had loaded their trucks and armored vehicles heavily, and the soldiers moved, not sparing a single glance at their surroundings.

The uniformity of their uniforms, the placement of their epaulets, and the firearms they wielded were familiar. Was that the equipment of the Cerberus Annihilation Squad mercenaries?

Restrained emotions and disciplined movements. Organizational power that silently maintained formation without a single command.

If soldiers this well-trained on the outskirts of the Central Front were collectively transporting supplies outside the front lines.

Wouldn’t those be the Deadrise-affiliated military unit soldiers transporting supplies for satellite production?

Thump! Thump!!

Considering their route to bypass the orchard, they must have stayed in this vicinity for quite some time, yet there was no sign of disturbance.

At the edge of the orchard, near the trees, the corpses of worshippers who had died from madly bowing lay stiffened in grotesque poses.

Lennok shifted the Lighthouse’s gaze, and was about to silently follow the soldiers, but stopped.

“……”

Dozens of worshippers’ corpses were visible in his sight.

Because the postures of the corpses lying dead under the trees evoked a strong sense of uncanny dissonance.

‘Common language?’

The continental common language created by the Ascendant Jinwa.

It felt somewhat similar to that script, yet its form was clearly different.

Lennok, who for a moment compared the postures of the corpses with the common language script in his memory, realized their true nature belatedly.

‘They’re reversed. Could it be…’

A horizontal reversal, as if seeing words written on the other side of a window reflected in a mirror.

The corpses in his sight were forming characters, reversed in that way.

The moment Lennok mentally reversed the corpses’ forms, converted them into characters, and read them.

[THE FOOLISH OLD ONES STILL WANDER BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH]

“……!!”

At the eerie sentence, his gaze involuntarily froze.

Because the corpses, long dead and stiffened, were forming an unmistakably clear message.

Every time he shifted the Lighthouse’s focus to other corpses, they naturally transformed into characters, their meaning hammered into his mind.

[HAVE YOU COME TO MOCK ME?]

“This is…”

Thrummm…!!

At the same time, the colossal Spell-Word Stone standing tall in the distance began to emit a powerful, purplish-red glow.

At the heavy pulse, like a beating heart, those who were bypassing the orchard at a distance grew alarmed and prostrated themselves, bewildered.

Meanwhile, wherever Lennok’s gaze pointed, new messages were being formed.

Using the bodies of his worshippers as characters, a direct manifestation of will, personally delivered to a mortal.

[YOU BELIEVED YOU LOVED HUMANS, BUT YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE.]

Though these were clearly corpses long dead and stiffened, the message seemed to point directly at someone.

The old ones wandering between heaven and earth. Meaning, mocking the Ascendant.

Was it not pointing out Lennok’s situation, who was peering into Jinwa’s Domain by combining the Unique Abilities of the previous Lighthouse Keeper and Jindun?

This was no mere illusion.

An Ascendant, not present here at this moment, was precisely recognizing Lennok’s presence and speaking to him.

As he shifted his gaze sideways, as if a conversation was continuing, messages formed from dead corpses sequentially appeared before his eyes.

[ABANDONING DUTIES AND MISSIONS MUST HAVE BEEN WHAT YOU HATED MOST.]

“……”

The powerful pulsation of the Spell-Word Stone felt behind his gaze. The eerie messages unfurling before his eyes.

Though it recognized Lennok and delivered a message, that message was not actually for Lennok.

It was Jinwa’s Spell-Word, as if speaking to someone not present here, speaking on their behalf.

Every time a new message was formed, the Spell-Word Stone standing far away shone powerfully.

But soon, as if losing its will, it slowly began to suppress its Will-thought.

[I DON’T HAVE MUCH TIME TO LISTEN TO THE LAMENTS OF THE DEAD.]

Above the fading Spell-Word Stone, the pulsing of the veins weakened, and the orchard’s scenery returned to its original state.

Still, in the midst of that demonic landscape where mad worshippers, peddlers, soldiers, and all sorts of people were fleeing.

As if fruit berries were popping, the dead corpses depicted their final message with their bodies, revealing it to Lennok.

[GO AND GAZE AT THE ENDING YOU ABANDONED TO YOUR HEART’S CONTENT.]

The corpses that had been ceaselessly dying and transforming into the Ascendant’s messages lost their momentum and stopped.

A stillness that had settled as if dead. From beyond the deep-seated purplish-red Will-thought, so profound that no emotion could be read.

Lennok felt as if Jinwa was sneering.

[I WILL MAKE FLOWERS BLOOM FROM THE RESENTMENT THAT COULD NOT BE COMPLETED.]

Fwoooosh!!

Along with those words, the Spell-Word Stone completely ceased its resonance and reverted to its original form.

Only after seeing that, Lennok realized that this orchard was merely one of the many vessels containing Jinwa’s power.

Since Jinwa himself could not directly arrive here, he must have sent the message in this crude form.

But even that method of transmitting messages vastly exceeded the realm of what ordinary humans could imagine.

Beyond mastering language and awakening to Spell-Word sorcery, it was a distortion that turned his worshippers into the message itself.

That creaking way of thinking, was already far from that of a normal mortal.

“……”

The corruption of the Ascendant Jinwa, which he had vaguely heard about.

The words that he mimicked gods, created Apostles, and craved their faith must not have been mere empty boasting.

Though he wished to immediately investigate Jinwa’s state, Lennok forcibly suppressed that thought.

His gaze falling upon the Domain ruled by the Ascendant Jinwa was entirely by chance.

At this point, it was a foe he had no business encountering, a foe he should not encounter.

Jinwa, too, must have understood that Lennok posed no immediate threat, and left him alone despite recognizing his presence.

In that case, Lennok had no need, at this point, to unnecessarily provoke Jinwa and create trouble.

Before the Lighthouse’s power, peering beyond the Central Front’s curtain, was completely exhausted.

Before the Deadrise transport unit, bypassing the orchard, departed, he had to achieve his original objective.

Fwaap!!

He instantly narrowed his focus, and delved into the departing transport unit.

Beyond merely closely observing the supplies and the soldiers escorting them, he located the commander leading the group at the front.

Using the Lighthouse’s power, he temporarily acquired powerful observational abilities.

Beyond merely observing distant objects with precision, if he concentrated his mind and Will-thought, it was a Unique Ability capable of even X-raying obstacles, including curtains.

Through it, Lennok, who X-rayed the commander’s belongings as if they were his own, quickly found the necessary item.

A small terminal located closest to his heart.

It wasn’t a cellphone, but given the presence of a screen and connectors, it was undoubtedly a terminal used for communication and information exchange.

‘Davi.’

[Terminal code confirmed. Network packet interference.]

Davi, understanding Lennok’s words, immediately began to interfere in the Cybernetic World, but soon flapped her tail as if troubled.

[As expected, it’s an isolated terminal with an independent network. Hacking it will take some time.]

Lennok wasn’t surprised by Davi’s words.

Gileon and Kaiser, whom he had met decades ago in the past, were also using independent network terminals for security at that time.

It was not strange for Deadrise members, who had branched off from them, to use the same method for security.

To break through this, as Davi had done before, she would have to directly penetrate the firewall with the transcendent computing power of a strong AI.

At this point, with the Lighthouse’s power running low, it was a difficult task.

But Lennok, knowing that fact, nodded.

‘Break through. Get ready.’

[Master?]

The Fifth Lighthouse was a power created by assembling the previous Lighthouse Keeper’s Unique Ability atop Jindun’s Labyrinth.

Although it was said to borrow the Unique Abilities of dead Transcendent, if he could wield two different Unique Abilities combined,

and if Lennok was directly manipulating those concepts, then the story was different.

Even if it was merely a fleeting, temporary authority, only for the moment he borrowed the Lighthouse’s power.

Now, with his senses sharply heightened by the encounter with Jinwa, he could certainly-

Beep!!

[…Connection complete. Did you bypass the entire firewall?]

‘I didn’t break through.’

Lennok replied.

‘I merely X-rayed it.’

-He could X-ray the firewall itself and forcibly access the system within.

This was possible because the independent network’s firewall used by the Deadrise transport unit wasn’t very thick.

Nevertheless, it undoubtedly drastically shortened the hacking process, which would normally require time.

Davi grumbled as if dumbfounded, yet swiftly began sifting through the terminal’s internal information.

[It’s thorough. Even the files stored within the network are individually encrypted.]

‘Will it take long?’

[Of course not. Once I’m connected to the network, there’s no system smarter than me. Huh?]

‘A problem, huh.’

[No. More like…]

Davi replied, and shared the files as if to show him directly.

Bzzzt-bzzzt!!

Above Lennok’s vision, Davi quickly began to display the decrypted files.

[Supply Organization Database.]

[Food Supply Aid Schedule]

[Frontline Movement Plan, 3rd Revision]

[Frontline Movement Plan, Final Revision]

[Frontline Movement Plan, Final Final Revision]

[Frontline Movement Plan, Final Revision]

[Frontline Movement Plan, Completed Version]

[Frontline Movement Plan, Last Completed Version]

“……”

As Lennok was speechless, Davi whispered, as if impressed.

[Organic beings these days hide the completed version of files like this. Is it a strategy to prevent knowing which one is the completed version?]

‘No, this is…’

Lennok was about to explain something, but soon gave up.

Because telling her the truth would only increase Davi’s disdain for organic beings.

Lennok, forcing a wry smile, selected one of the files Davi had laid out and pushed it.

‘This will be the final completed plan.’

[(True) Frontline Movement Plan, Last Completed Version]