Chapter 733: Low-Altitude Flight (1)

Agneta, Pandemonium’s messenger.

She was a mixed-blood of an ancient race, her upper body that of a human woman, and her lower body that of a spider with eight legs.

Using her innate manipulation sorcery, she freely traversed imaginary dimensions, delivering messages between members.

“I’ve always wanted to meet you. Manipulation sorcerers are all so unique, and opportunities like this don’t come often.”

Whirrr…!

The spider form descended ever so slowly from the ceiling.

A graceful movement, almost giving the illusion of floating in mid-air.

But Lennok knew that this movement relied on a single, extremely thin mana thread, barely visible.

Her mana was incredibly faint, just barely detectable by Lennok’s mana perception.

In terms of total quantity, it was so minuscule it couldn’t even ignite a lighter, yet she spun it into a fine thread, calmly fixing herself in the air, suspended.

The precision and endurance of her manipulation sorcery were at a level even Lennok would find difficult to imitate.

Agneta, hanging upside down, turned her eyes, stitched with needles and scarred eyelids, towards Lennok.

“As I’ve heard, your aura is truly unique. It barely feels like a living being, let alone a human…”

“So you’re the one in charge of being Pandemonium’s messenger.”

Lennok replied, not avoiding her gaze.

“What do you mean by ‘spell transfer’?”

“Oh, should we take care of that first?”

She abruptly raised her hand.

Whoosh!

The mana surrounding the spider seemed to ripple slightly, then a faint thread shot out rapidly.

A presence so faint and thin it was hard to perceive without sharpening one’s senses to the extreme.

“These people do whatever they want…”

Lennok reacted, shaking his head with annoyance.

Shimmer!

Mana threads erupted from beneath his feet, grappling with and binding the spider’s threads in the air, twisting their flow.

Sharp, spiderweb-like mana threads of two different natures tangled in the air, pulled taut.

Krrrk-krrk…!

The sound alone, like the surrounding air being stretched thin, faintly echoed through the hangar.

“The sensation is quite good.”

The spider looked down at Lennok, upside down, and smiled.

“It’s much better than what I heard. Its composition, elasticity, density, durability… in terms of properties, it even surpasses mine in some aspects.”

“…”

Did she truly grasp all that just by pulling on it once?

It was intuition based purely on sensation rather than theory. And ample experience, enough to gauge his skill by comparing it to her own.

“I don’t need to say anything about your mana thread composition. At this level, we could start the transfer right away, couldn’t we?”

As the spider spoke, her will-thought began to surge powerfully through the tangled mana threads.

Thrummm!

Like transmitting a voice through a thread, her will flowed in as a tangible force.

The moment something unseen and indescribable dissolved into Lennok’s mana threads and seeped into his body.

Snap!

Lennok solidified his will-thought, immediately repelling the formless will.

“Oh?”

While Agneta looked bewildered, Lennok responded coldly.

“Who decided to pour strange will-thought into my body?”

“Huh? But if not this way, the transfer…”

“If you want to compete over whose mana thread aptitude is superior, I’ll crush you anytime, but sharing will-thought is an entirely different matter.”

“…”

Lennok crossed his arms and tilted his head.

“If you want to transfer a spell to me, tell me the principles and incantations. I have no intention of receiving some unknown power or will-thought in this manner.”

Lennok’s object-targeted resistance ability possessed the power to resist all kinds of spells, will-thoughts, and cybernetic abilities that targeted him.

Of course, if Lennok himself wished, he could neutralize and accept them, but he had no intention of thoughtlessly accepting any spell Agneta offered.

‘Pandemonium’s messenger. An excellent manipulation sorcerer. And a mixed-blood of an ancient race.’

Lennok’s eyes narrowed behind his mask.

‘Her judgment and standards are likely different from humans. She’s not someone to be trusted.’

Agneta might not know it, but Lennok had met Agneta once long ago under the alias of Van.

After killing Turan, Pandemonium’s White Lion, at the Blaiver Magic Tower’s Western Continent Branch, hadn’t she come to retrieve Turan’s body?

The memory of her delivering the Director’s message to Lennok as Pandemonium’s messenger was still vivid.

It was right to refuse direct contact, as there was no telling how Agneta’s non-human will-thought would react when it touched Lennok’s inner self.

Because Lennok’s Root Mindscape was so powerful it was hard for even Lennok himself to conceal, the possibility of Agneta perceiving it and discovering Victor’s true identity could not be ignored.

Agneta shook her head, looking troubled by Lennok’s answer.

“Hmm, but it’s hard to deliver the item if I don’t transfer the spell.”

“Deliver an item?”

“Sabrina asked me to hold onto something for her. Oh, I’ll show you how first, would you like to see?”

“Go ahead.”

Lennok nodded.

“I’ll decide after seeing it.”

“Alright. Let’s do that then.”

Agneta said so and, pressing her hands together in prayer, concentrated, then suddenly snapped her gaze aside.

“Isn’t Hylaea coming out? It’s been a long time, I’d like to see her face.”

At her words, the nun, who had been quietly guarding the surroundings, flinched.

The nun, wearing an eye patch, raised her head and slightly averted her gaze as she replied.

“If she were out, there would be interference when you cross imaginary dimensions.”

“Ah, because of the Talent for Duality?”

Agneta asked, still sounding puzzled as she spoke.

“But that shouldn’t matter much when I’m observed in the material world. You can come out now.”

“…She doesn’t seem to want to come out.”

“Ehh…”

Agneta looked disappointed and dejected.

Sabrina shook her head, watching Agneta.

“That’s enough, just show me the item quickly. Unlike me, it’s dangerous for you to stay here long.”

“Why? Not just Victor, but I also want to see Adamant Thunder again. As I said, I’ve met him before.”

When Agneta asked with a bewildered expression, Sabrina sighed.

“I know. I know, but… the situation is so different from when Turan died, you know? That wizard is being treated like a madman now.”

“When I met him last time, he wasn’t completely unreasonable…”

“Is that the same as now, having transcended hierarchy?”

Sabrina, giving up on persuading Agneta, gestured.

“Do what you want when this is over. But I won’t be responsible if the Director calls you in later, okay?”

“Ugh. I don’t want that.”

Only then did Agneta awkwardly and slowly wiggle her spider legs.

Hanging upside down in the air, her movements were as if manipulating invisible mana threads.

With her fingertips pressed together and her head tilted back, Agneta whispered to Lennok.

“Watch closely. I can only show this without transfer a few times.”

At that moment, a crack appeared out of nowhere in the distant air, as if stitched together with threads, and then slowly began to split open.

Crrrrrrack…!

With the sound of the entire space splitting like a shell, a monochromatic landscape appeared.

Sabrina’s mouth hung open, and Lennok’s eyes gleamed behind his mask as he watched from behind.

He realized that the monochromatic space had a different texture than his existing understanding of space.

“It feels completely different from an imaginary dimension or a domain… Could it be subspace sorcery?”

It was a quasi-space arbitrarily constructed using the paradox of cognitive bias.

A paradoxical spell that sculpts a concept that inherently doesn’t exist through the caster’s conviction, using it by disassociating it from existing space.

The spell Agneta showed Lennok was closer to handling such subspace.

Agneta casually reached her hand into the crack that had opened in the air.

“Let’s see. I thought I put it around here… Ah, not here… not there either… Ah, here it is.”

Agneta smacked her lips, rummaging inside the subspace.

Eventually, she struggled and wiggled her arm inside, then pulled something out.

Click!

A small case, small enough to fit in Agneta’s tiny hand.

It was a silvery cube, appearing to be about the size of a ring box or a small music box.

“Here, this is it, right?”

As Agneta handed it to Sabrina, Lennok, who had been quietly observing the subspace, spoke.

“It’s a method of forcibly tearing space, then stitching and holding the crack with mana threads to maintain it.”

“Oh, that’s right. You recognized it right away, didn’t you?”

Agneta nodded as if she had expected it.

“I tried various experiments, and this turned out to be the simplest and most efficient.”

“It’s crude, but sufficient for maintaining an artificially formed subspace. In fact, the means itself is so elaborate it’s quite striking…”

At Lennok’s subtly impressed words, Sabrina asked in surprise.

“You figured out how Agneta’s subspace is created just like that?”

“Rather than possessing subspace aptitude, it’s the result of manipulating sorcery to its extreme to forcibly sculpt it.”

Lennok replied.

“It’s like tearing space once, then holding the opening with mana threads to prevent it from sealing shut. You could say it’s like repeatedly stitching and tearing a wound’s scar to keep it from healing…”

“Exactly, exactly! That’s perfect. I made it with that exact feeling.”

Agneta said with a laugh.

“I couldn’t quite explain the feeling myself, but that example just now is really good. I’ll have to explain it that way from now on.”

The level of artificially maintaining subspace by stitching space itself with manipulation sorcery’s mana threads.

While this might be possible due to Agneta’s innate birth rather than her hierarchy having reached such a level, the fact that its precision was enough to draw Lennok’s admiration remained unchanged.

The idea of constructing subspace was crude, but the fact that all those processes were handled solely with a single mana thread was even more astonishing.

Perhaps her sensation for manipulating mana threads was on a completely different level than what ordinary humans feel.

It would be strange for her, born a mixed-blood of an ancient race, to possess the same senses and standards as a pure human.

Her somewhat unhinged way of speaking and conversing must also stem from that reason.

“But I don’t know how she tore space with mana threads. While it’s understandable to seal and carry already disassociated space with mana threads…”

“I don’t even understand that first part, you know.”

Leaving exasperated Sabrina aside, Agneta replied cheerfully.

“Oh, Croken helped me tear the space.”

“…Croken Asylus, you mean?”

“I helped him with a simple errand, and he just did it. He just kinda tapped it a few times with his bare hands, and it happened right away?”

“…”

“Huh, you don’t understand? Like this, like this, you just tap your hands…”

“No, I understand.”

Lennok smiled wryly as he watched Agneta clap her hands together as if to demonstrate.

For that monster, who defied common sense, it wouldn’t be strange if he tore space apart with just a few claps.

Perhaps Agneta, who could even ask Croken for such a favor, was the more unique one.

‘Subspace sorcery is worth learning the principles and methods of. Even without direct will-thought contact, separate research will be necessary.’

Direct spell transfer through will-thought contact should be avoided due to the risk of Lennok’s Mind Imprint being shared.

However, studying and mimicking the principles of the spell Agneta demonstrated was worth attempting.

As Lennok adjusted his mask, deep in thought, Sabrina shook the cube she held.

“Alright, enough chitchat between manipulation sorcerers, let’s get back to the main point. This is the item for this transaction.”

“Is this item related to the Hundred Demons’ Night Parade?”

“To be precise, it contains some byproducts of the Hundred Demons’ Night Parade.”

Sabrina explained.

“It’s an item containing a part of the ‘Idol of the Guide’s Bones’ hidden beneath the memorial stele that forms Yorta.”

“…Idol of the Guide’s Bones?”

“Don’t you know what the Hundred Demons’ Night Parade means? If you’re going to lead spirits on a nocturnal procession, there has to be someone leading from the front, right?”

Sabrina said, shaking the cube.

“We don’t know who that is, but anyway, this contains some of that Guide’s bone dust.”

“…Let me hear first what purpose it serves.”

“Since the Hundred Demons’ Night Parade began, Yorta has been dividing all positions and authorities in the city according to the grade of the souls. The bones of the one who leads the procession would naturally be the highest-grade ticket among them, wouldn’t they?”

“…”

“It’s highly likely to be an essential item for crossing the Sea of Oblivion, which must be traversed to enter Yorta, or for ascending the memorial tower.”

“You’re not certain, then.”

“I haven’t been there myself. But I heard it from members who’ve been to Yorta, so it should be accurate, right?”

Sabrina remained unshaken by Lennok’s half-hearted reply.

She knew that since Victor had come all the way to Vulcan, he wouldn’t easily refuse the deal.

“Alright, keep listening. But there’s one problem. The case holding these bones isn’t an ordinary item.”

Sabrina said, abruptly handing the cube to Lennok.

“You see? It’s clearly a case for holding something, but there’s no keyhole.”

“…”

“It’s called ‘Gyro’s Coffer,’ a very rare item, with only about 10 discovered across the entire continent. No one knows the exact quantity.”

“So?”

“The coffer’s interior is twisted by 48-layered dimensional functions, so no one but its designer, Gyro himself, can undo it, and it can only be opened with a specific key. If exposed outside for too long, it crosses dimensions on its own and disappears, so if you don’t store it using subspace, you’ll lose it easily.”

Sabrina rustled, picking up a snack, and explained.

“That’s why a coffer that exists with its key is a very, very valuable miniature vault artifact.”

Only after hearing all that did Lennok understand why Sabrina had so readily handed him the coffer.

“You want me to find the key, keep the contents, and hand the coffer over to you?”

“Exactly!”

Sabrina clapped her hands.

“I got my hands on it by chance, but I had no way to open it and no use for it. So I’d forgotten about it for a while, but it seemed like it would be useful for this particular job.”

“…”

“You open the coffer, you get the Idol of the Guide’s Bones, and I’ll take Gyro’s Coffer itself. What do you say?”

Was she offering the coffer’s contents for free, but entrusting the act of opening it to him?

It seemed Sabrina was more interested in the coffer itself than the bones.

This wasn’t because of the coffer’s value, but likely because there was something else she needed to store inside it instead of the bones.

Lennok was about to ask what item she needed to store but stopped himself.

Considering Sabrina’s talkative nature, if it was something she could talk about, she would have explained it already.

It was probably related to how she ‘sealed’ her own Spell-Word magic.

At this point, her proposed terms of trade were complete, and only Lennok’s decision to accept or decline remained.

But Lennok had no intention of readily accepting Sabrina’s conditions, even knowing them.

Holding the coffer in one hand, Lennok toyed with it, letting it dangle like a yo-yo on mana threads, then spoke.

“The condition of finding the key is too vague. It’s insufficient to accept the trade without even an accurate form or clue.”

Even if information about Gyro’s Coffer could be found through research, if each coffer required a different key, the difficulty would increase tenfold.

Even if he found a coffer’s key, discerning whether it was the right one for this coffer was an entirely different matter.

Accepting Sabrina’s deal as it was could easily lead to a wasteful expenditure of time searching for the key.

Just as Lennok was about to put the coffer down without hesitation, thinking this.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I’ve already secured the key’s location.”

Sabrina replied.

“As I said, I’ve sealed my Spell-Word magic, so I can’t use my power for a while. So I need someone else to steal the key for me.”

“The key’s location, you say…”

Was she implying that the coffer’s key was hidden in such a heavily guarded place that Sabrina alone couldn’t retrieve it?

If so, her eagerness to strike a deal with Lennok, as if she had been waiting for this, also made sense.

She must have finalized the operation’s planning and preparations long ago, only to revive a plan that had fallen through due to a lack of personnel to execute it.

‘The transaction itself won’t take long.’

If the key’s location was already secured, there was no need to waste time on reconnaissance.

All that was needed was to confirm the hidden location, assess its feasibility, and then act.

Whether it succeeded or failed, it wouldn’t take long.

Lennok, having made his decision, put the coffer into his pocket and nodded.

“I’ll decide after verifying the site. Give me the coordinates.”

“There’s no need to give you coordinates. It’s already a very famous strategic point in the Northern Continent, so its location is well-known.”

“A well-known location, you say?”

“The Giant’s Fortress, ruled by Jillian, the Watcher, and the Grand Duke of Kabahim.”

As Lennok frowned, Sabrina pulled out a photo from her pocket and handed it to him.

The photo showed the vast scenery of a fortress so massive it filled an entire valley.

Above the fortress, countless bloodstains flowed down, as if streaming from the neck of a giant.

“It’s one of the few ancient Golem legions’ ruins across the entire continent, and also a secret locale designated as the Sixth Lighthouse by the Eyes of Blue.”

“…”

Sabrina nodded, observing the silent Lennok.

“The key is there.”