Chapter 740: Low-Altitude Flight (8)
“……Indeed.”
Lennok, who had been silent while holding the key, turned his back to the man.
A being who had been observing the entire situation unfolding within the ruins even before Lennok.
A nobleman holding the Ducal title of Kabahim, and a physical ability user who had reached Level 8.
The only man who could claim himself as the master of the fortress.
“So you are the Archduke of Kabahim.”
Gillian, the Archduke of Kabahim, whom The Clown had sought so desperately, was present within the Colossus Brigade ruins.
What’s more, his limbs were bound by heavy restraints, as if he were shackled by someone.
But Gillian merely waved his hand with an irritated expression at Lennok’s words.
“Ah, don’t call me by that name. Was there still someone who knew me by that?”
“……”
“If you must call me something, call me a mercenary. If you absolutely have to append some trivial title, that’s better.”
Clank!
At that moment, the restraints binding Gillian’s limbs fell off.
A reaction as if it had belatedly recognized Lennok’s presence and released the Archduke’s bindings.
Thud!
Contrary to their appearance, the restraints seemed incredibly heavy, unleashing a tremendous roar as they hit the ground.
The weight was so substantial that the entire area of the ruins faintly vibrated for a moment.
Had he been lying there, heavily restrained by such weighty shackles, concealing his presence?
But even after his limbs were freed, Gillian showed no intention of getting up.
Instead, he merely propped up his arm leisurely, gazing at the fallen restraints with an indifferent expression.
“Ah, the restraints came off because an intruder entered. It’s a bother to move…… can’t you just leave on your own?”
“……”
“Anyway, the artifacts in these ruins can’t be used without my permission, tied as they are to the Colossus Brigade. I have no intention of giving them to a thief, so just go.”
Lennok stared at Gillian with a bewildered expression before asking,
“Rumors say you have a lazy and debauched nature; it seems they weren’t wrong. Do you truly intend to act this way at such a crucial moment?”
“Fuck off. What do I care?”
Gillian yawned widely as he retorted.
“I absolutely detest troublesome things. The outside seems a bit noisy, but that’s none of my business.”
Lying there, Gillian scratched his belly and chuckled.
“Honestly, I don’t really care about you either.”
“……”
“So just put down that stolen item quietly and run. Then I won’t care whether you live or die here.”
Even though he claimed the entire ruin was a collection of his fallen comrades’ keepsakes, was he truly not angry at Lennok, who tried to steal the key?
His answers and reactions showed no interest whatsoever in the surrounding events.
‘So there was a reason he never showed his face to the Eyes of Blue and other organizations. From the outset, his circumstances and nature…’
Lennok himself had heard Gillian’s name during the Hanghasa Labyrinth operation.
He’d been told by other Observers that many powerful figures affiliated with the Eyes of Blue couldn’t join the labyrinth due to their own busy schedules.
He hadn’t fully understood then, but meeting the Archduke in person, Lennok now grasped why this man had never appeared among the Eyes of Blue.
His nature was so lazy that it was difficult to even comprehend why he would lend his name to the Eyes of Blue in the first place.
His role as an Observer was practically that of an outsider, with only one foot in the door. He likely had no interest in the Lighthouse Keeper’s mission whatsoever.
‘What to do…’
When he had received the mission briefing from Sabrina, this scenario hadn’t been anticipated.
Perhaps she hadn’t known much about the Colossus Brigade, or she hadn’t realized that the key was an artifact tied to the ruins.
But Lennok had no intention of abandoning the key and retreating at this point.
It would be absurd to give up his plan after having split his busy time, dedicated to establishing a magic tower, writing theses, and researching spell formulas, to come all this way.
Lennok caressed the key with his gloved hand, falling into thought.
‘The power on this key isn’t a simple spell. It’s closer to a curse.’
While conversing with Gillian, he had secretly examined the key and determined what was preventing the coffer from being opened.
Gillian’s appearance, bound within the ruins. His explanation that permission was needed. Even his strangely unmotivated attitude.
It was likely a binding enforced regardless of his will, or a restraint akin to a curse.
Perhaps Gillian, like the other ‘stolen goods’ in these ruins, was himself bound to this place.
It seemed the relationship between the Kabahim Royal Family and Gillian was more complex than known, but Lennok focused more on the curse afflicting the key.
‘The Colossus Brigade ruins. Giant corpses. The lingering grudges of the dead. The most efficient catalyst to resolve this kind of curse would be…’
Unfortunately, as Gillian himself had implied, he was most likely holding the solution.
For a smooth resolution, Gillian would need to be provoked enough to act directly.
A direct confrontation with a Colossus Brigade associate, a combat mercenary, and a high-tier physical ability user.
But even knowing this, Lennok slowly circulated the mana within his body, immediately beginning to refine his thoughts on the spot.
Ordinarily, it wouldn’t be worth the trouble, but there was a shock-ridden idiot he’d conveniently left behind on the way here.
If he could utilize that useful sandbag effectively, he could manage things smoothly, even if he had to act somewhat aggressively here.
“Well, my thoughts are a little different.”
Having completed his thoughts, Lennok let out a small laugh and replied.
“The keepsakes of your comrades, as you call them. They’re utterly useless stolen goods that wouldn’t even be stored here if you didn’t have your Archduke status, aren’t they?”
“……What?”
“You have no interest in what these items are, or what value they hold. What do you think allows you to hold such a contradiction—attaching meaning to past events, yet distrusting the very essence of them?”
Lennok shrugged, looking at the silenced Gillian.
“From where I stand, you seem to be childishly dependent on that trivial Archduke title you yourself disparage.”
[Wow. That’s a real hit below the belt.]
It was a scathing provocation, enough to make Agneta, listening nearby, click her tongue.
And the Archduke, still sprawled out far away, felt no differently.
In Gillian’s eyes, which had been staring at Lennok with a blank, sleepy expression, a momentary illusion of sparks ignited.
“Alright. Is that how it is?”
Thud!
As Gillian scratched his head and pushed himself up, the deafening roar of an entire mountain of armaments collapsing echoed through the ruins.
He lightly stepped onto the ruin floor barefoot, and a smirk spread across his face as he looked at Lennok.
“For a thief, that was quite a decent provocation. Frankly, it’s even more so because it wasn’t entirely wrong.”
“……”
“I’ll kill you myself. Wasn’t that what you wanted from the start?”
Gooooooh…!!
The moment the Archduke took a step forward, the air throughout the entire ruin began to swirl around him.
Distorted mana surged from beneath his feet, coiling around Gillian’s body and leaping up, transforming into a colossal, devil-like form.
Standing with a slight twist of his shoulders, Gillian tilted his head back and extended his right hand towards Lennok.
“Let’s see if your skills are as sharp as your mouth.”
‘His stance…’
But Lennok focused more on Gillian’s stance than his chilling declaration.
Lennok had heard that Gillian was a high-level physical ability user. A martial artist accustomed to pushing his body to its absolute limits.
So why was he extending his palm and drawing up mana instead of rushing at Lennok?
A long-range projectile. Or a powerful slash equivalent to one.
The possibility of a pre-emptive strike that transcended space itself could not be ignored.
In the worst case, he might suffer an attack before even registering the hit.
The moment Lennok quietly drew out his mana threads, rapidly simulating dozens of scenarios in his mind—
Gillian’s presence began to explosively amplify and swell.
An illusion, as if his very existence was becoming infinitely vast. The moment Lennok frowned beneath his mask at that unsettling sensation—
Inner World Miniature Universe: Colossus Armament
[Piercing Collapse]
The Archduke’s hand, expanded dozens of times its size, thrust Lennok’s form directly into the cavern wall of the ruins.
KABOOOOM!!!
Unable to withstand the impact, the cavernous rock wall of the ruins collapsed, and a colossal forearm burst out from the other side.
The ceiling and floor of the fortress shook violently, debris flying wildly up and down.
Kwo-gwa-gwa-gwa…!!!
Gillian, who had walked out from among the instantly shattered fragments, retracted his greatly enlarged arm and surveyed the opposite side.
A chilling sneer spread across Gillian’s face as he confirmed the pulverized wall below.
“Your reactions are as quick as a rat. Can you really move that fast without knowing anything about my power?”
“Cough…!!”
Lennok, leaning against the collapsed rubble, let out a light cough.
He pushed aside the debris and rubble he had been holding with his mana threads and stood up. Lennok adjusted his mask and asked,
“This isn’t a normal… Miniature Universe. It doesn’t seem to be just about expanding your body.”
The pre-emptive strike Gillian had just shown wasn’t simply an expansion or elongation of his own arm.
It had explosively manifested as if a giant’s arm had existed there from the very beginning.
With its speed and mass alone, it had effortlessly crushed Lennok’s defense and pushed his body backward.
A mass hundreds of times that of an ordinary human, and the explosive power to wield it as he wished in an instant.
Conversely, Gillian also seemed to have discerned the lineage of Lennok’s spellcraft in that brief moment.
“A Manipulation Wizard? I’ve seen them occasionally on the battlefield.”
Thud!
Gillian took a step forward and spoke.
“Every single one of them was incredibly cunning and fickle. But most of their abilities were useful.”
“……”
“To be wasting such a rare talent on mere thievery, you should be ashamed.”
“I’m not exactly doing this thievery because I want to. How can there be room for negotiation when the owner doesn’t even show up at the counter?”
Lennok said, chuckling.
“Or have you decided to negotiate now?”
“Oh, that sounds good.”
Gillian grinned.
“I plan to take your pathetic life as payment. You don’t mind, do you?”
At the same time, Gillian whipped his left hand like a whip.
Inner World Miniature Universe: Colossus Armament
[Sweeping Fall]
The explosively enlarged giant’s forearm shattered even the remaining walls of the ruins, scattering its impact all the way down to the underground stairs.
Crackling!
The outer wall didn’t just crack; it completely crumbled, instantly revealing the landscape outside the mountain range.
But Lennok dodged Gillian’s strike with a Blink, instead closing in on him.
“The Miniature Universe’s deployment speed is astonishing, but once you read its direction, it’s not hard to avoid.”
Whoosh!
Beneath Lennok’s shadow robe, his obsidian mask gleamed sharply.
As he tapped the air like a piano, mana threads extending from his fingertips instantly lashed out sharply in all directions.
Dozens of mana threads writhed like living snakes, surging forward to bind Gillian’s limbs.
“Shall we see if you can still giant-transform with your limbs bound?”
“Hahahaha, you’ve got no fear at all!”
Gillian, too, roared with wild laughter at the movements of the menacing mana threads, and began to swing his arms.
Whoom!
Even without using the Giant Transformation’s Mind Imprint, the physical ability user’s monstrous strength remained.
A single strike, so fast his hands were barely visible. A strong wind swept through, clearing away all the dust and dirt.
Fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh!
He read the trajectories of the mana threads, each moving differently, and grabbed them bare-handed, pulling them tight.
Red lines instantly etched themselves onto his skin, and blood streamed between his palms, yet he focused solely on crushing Lennok’s head.
The warrior’s momentum, pushing forward with a crazed laugh, utterly disregarding his own body, was truly terrifying.
A laughter so frenzied, it seemed he couldn’t endure without tearing Lennok’s limbs apart and drinking his blood.
His initial lazy and relaxed demeanor was so sharply contrasted by this violent reaction that one might suspect it was a defense mechanism to hide his inherent brutality.
Most mana users would be overwhelmed upon facing such intensity.
But Lennok completely ignored it, focusing on manipulating the mana threads directly in front of Gillian.
Shhhhrk!
Manipulating hundreds of mana threads simultaneously, Lennok subtly adjusted their trajectories and force, all while maintaining a precise distance from Gillian.
A delicate range: too close for Gillian to use his Giant Transformation, yet too far for him to strike with his bare hands.
Gillian, sensing this instinctively, pushed forward powerfully, enduring his injuries.
Kwo-gwa-gwa-gwa!
As he swung his arm, flicking away the dozens of blood-etched lines on his skin with an annoyed expression,
The ruined outer wall of the monument was swept away like a storm, following his will-thought.
KABOOOOM!
Old armaments piled beneath their feet scattered explosively, and the ground and walls trembled from the impact all around.
Even as skull-rattling impacts erupted one after another, Lennok extended the tension of his mana threads to their limit, absorbing Gillian’s monstrous strength.
Creak…!!
He precisely manipulated the mana threads, using the physical ability user’s indiscriminately flowing raw strength and reflexes against him, swinging him around like a puppet with broken strings.
The moment dozens of layers of mana threads, crisscrossing the ceiling and floor, coiled between Gillian’s fingers—
Shhhhrk!
Dozens of mana threads were layered successively over Gillian’s forearm, binding and pinning his arm to the ground.
“What despicable parlor tricks…!!”
The moment Gillian, with one arm instantly impaled like a stake, gritted his teeth and exerted force, the entire foundation of the earth began to shake.
Thud!
It wasn’t merely breaking the mana threads; it was an overwhelming sense of weight, as if the entire surrounding terrain had been used as a fulcrum.
Feeling this, Gillian looked up at Lennok with a bewildered expression.
“You…”
Even if Gillian had been off guard, stopping his movements head-on was an impossible feat in itself.
Only then did Gillian realize Lennok was no ordinary spellcaster, and his eyes completely changed.
“You’re no mere thief. Where do you hail from?”
“Who knows?”
Lennok let out a small laugh and raised his other hand.
At that moment, one of the giant corpses that had been standing preserved on the ruin wall slowly began to move.
Kwoo-goo-goo-goo…!!
A bizarre movement, as if a dead body was being forcibly reanimated and manipulated.
The moment Gillian’s eyes, having recognized it, lost their composure for the first time and widened—
“It seems your comrade wants to answer for you instead.”
“What in the…!!”
The palm of the Corpse Giant slammed down hard on the Archduke’s back, like flattening dried squid.
KWOOOOOM!!!