Chapter 779: Ghostly Expedition (5)
Seina Nadiri, the High Priestess of the Cult, found inside the beast’s belly.
It was an unexpected situation: she, who had been praying with her eyes closed as if dead, suddenly spoke to Lennok.
[…!!!]
Davi, startled, tumbled backward inside the robe, but Lennok watched her with a calm gaze.
Lennok chuckled, not even bothering to hide his face, half-covered by the hood.
“I don’t see the point in a dead person imitating a living one’s voice.”
“……”
“It already looks hopeless. Why are you still clinging to that body?”
Her vital signs weren’t just stopped; her insides were so destroyed that recovery was impossible.
He didn’t know what kind of monster did it, but he confirmed that not even a spark of life remained in her body.
Lennok knew there was no need to retract his words.
The High Priestess was currently not in a state to see Lennok with her own eyes or perceive his presence by sound.
Her spiritual power was so potent that even Lennok couldn’t easily gauge its level.
It was more likely that she perceived Lennok and spoke to him through the unique spiritual inspiration granted to the Cult’s High Priestess.
The imitation of a living voice from a dead body was probably in case Lennok couldn’t hear her spiritual voice.
“I can hear you even if you speak spiritually, so if you have anything to say, say it.”
Lennok said, simultaneously bringing a hand to his face.
The decision of what identity to present to the High Priestess was made.
Lennok, swiftly donning an obsidian mask under his face-obscuring robe, scoffed at the High Priestess.
“Given my past memories, I might briefly listen to your last words.”
[….] The moment she heard Lennok’s answer, openly implying he knew her, the High Priestess’s demeanor completely changed.
It was as if she had only now fully perceived Lennok’s presence and was changing her attitude accordingly.
[I thought you possessed a rare insight into the true nature of things, wondering what esteemed individual you might be….]
At that moment, a pale spiritual body rose above the High Priestess’s corpse and faced Lennok.
The spiritual body, identical in appearance to her living form, respectfully clasped its hands and bowed slightly towards Lennok.
Whoosh…!!
From her calm, inscrutable demeanor, an aura of authority befitting a High Priestess of the Cult seemed to emanate.
A body already dead.
The High Priestess, who had raised her will instantaneously to such a degree that it was bizarre for her to emit such a presence even after her life had ceased, spoke.
[To think it was someone I’d met at the Well of the Codex once before. My apologies for the late greeting. You were a sorcerer from Pandemonium.]
The High Priestess’s voice momentarily became complex, but Lennok ignored it and examined the state of her spiritual body.
‘Her memory and mind are surprisingly intact. More importantly, the preservation of her soul is exceptionally good.’
The human memory and mind are a miracle made possible by the coexistence of body and soul.
If even one of the two pillars supporting self and identity collapses, it’s difficult for them to function properly.
Most often, memories fade, even language is forgotten, and communication becomes impossible.
Superhumans who have built up their Hierarchy can endure relatively longer, but even then, without special measures, they often don’t last long.
“I heard you’re at war with the Order Alliance, but looking at you now, the outcome seems obvious.”
Lennok sneered.
“To think a High Priestess who should be protected in the Cult’s main stronghold is dead in such a remote area… the zealots’ handling of things is truly pathetic.”
Since he had decided to wear Victor’s mask, there was no reason to restrict his words or actions.
It was obvious how chaotic the Cult’s internal situation was, given that the High Priestess died in such a swamp and her body couldn’t even be properly recovered.
In such a state, could they engage in an all-out war with a colossal sorcerer group like the Order Alliance and achieve meaningful results?
Although there were several special forces known as Apostles, with the Pontiff himself absent, it would be impossible to gauge their chances of victory.
As Lennok recalled the portal usage authority sent by the Order Alliance’s leader and fell into thought, the High Priestess calmly replied.
[You. You know much about our Cult, yet you don’t grasp its true nature.]
“I don’t particularly want to know.”
[The High Priestess’s position can be replaced at any time. The abilities I possess are merely a personal grace bestowed by that person… if one is not qualified, they are but foam that will vanish at any moment.]
Despite the blatant sneers, the High Priestess did not waver in the slightest.
[Even without me, there will be no problem with the Cult’s power and standing. The holy war with the Order Alliance that you know of is merely an outcome that has already been decided.]
“……”
[Within half a year, the holy war will end, and the First Gate will be placed under our Cult’s management.]
Suddenly, a chilling spiritual aura seemed to whisper around Lennok.
A resolute answer that the outcome of the war with the Order Alliance was predetermined.
A fanaticism that unnaturally guaranteed victory.
It wasn’t entirely different from the high-ranking Cult officials Lennok had dealt with so far, but…
Lennok, knowing this, cast a cold sneer from behind his mask.
“But no new Apostles will be born for a while, will they?”
[….] The High Priestess fell silent for the first time, and Lennok chuckled, saying.
“Given that your Cult’s boasted special forces can’t be continuously deployed to the front lines, I wonder if the war will really proceed as you claim…”
While the Cult is an indescribably powerful and strange group, the Order Alliance is by no means an easy opponent when considering its history and origins.
All the large organizations currently forming a part of the Central Front are merely gatherings of lunatics whose goals and methods are bizarrely twisted.
If those mad in both sorcery and faith clash, it’s unlikely that one side will gain an overwhelming advantage.
The High Priestess, who had been listening to Lennok silently, slowly tilted her head.
The spiritual body, staring intently at the obsidian mask with an expressionless face, whispered.
[Indeed, I should have made you an Apostle at the Well of the Codex back then….]
“……”
[There have been many times when our intentions reached out but our power was insufficient, but an esteemed individual with aptitudes like yours is extremely rare, so it’s regrettable.]
“That’s quite a useless thing to say as a last will.”
An unenthusiastic compliment Lennok really didn’t want to hear: that he had good talent for becoming an Apostle.
The High Priestess, abandoning any lingering thoughts and turning her gaze away, clasped her hands as if in prayer towards Lennok and spoke.
[Before my soul exhausts its will, I have one request.]
“Not to make you an Apostle again?”
Despite Lennok’s sneer, the High Priestess firmly opened her mouth.
[Could you recover my corpse and transfer it to the Cult?]
“…You want me to transport your corpse?”
As Lennok countered, the High Priestess calmly replied.
[Because the death I met was so grotesque, my soul cannot depart from my body. If this continues, my soul will collapse along with my body.]
“……”
[The death of my body is lamentable, but I still have work to do. If you deliver my corpse to the Cult, I will surely reward you in the name of the Papal Seat.]
“You’ve asked the wrong person.”
Lennok replied coldly.
“I am no undertaker. Why should I be responsible for your death?”
[….]
“After seeing this, do you still ask me to move your body?”
Even with Lennok’s gesture, the High Priestess couldn’t immediately reply.
Because from the High Priestess’s opened casket, ominous will exploded forth.
Shhhkkk!!
The sticky moss spread everywhere rotted away, and the ground beneath the casket turned black.
Thud!!
He closed the casket lid and sealed it by wrapping mana threads around it, only then did the ominous will subside.
Lennok, looking at the casket with a dumbfounded expression, asked the High Priestess.
“Who on earth killed you for it to change like that the moment your soul left?”
The evil aura currently erupting from the High Priestess was not her own.
Almost certainly the manifestation of power left by the powerful individual who killed the High Priestess.
Until now, the High Priestess herself had suppressed that evil aura, but it must have been released immediately after her spiritual body emerged for conversation.
An ominous and strange will, powerful enough to not only kill the Cult’s High Priestess but also carve the lingering essence of its power into her body.
If the master of this malevolent thought was someone Lennok had never seen before in his life, it must undoubtedly be a monster that left its name in the continent’s history.
[Worldly grudges and conflicts are but fleeting moments. Connections and ill-fated ties are merely temporary cycles.]
However, instead of answering, the High Priestess looked at Lennok’s hand, obscured by his robe, and spoke.
[Though I am in this state, I still possess several abilities. I can be of help to you in some form.]
“Help from a zealot who couldn’t even keep her own body safe…”
Lennok scoffed at the High Priestess’s words, but instead of immediately refusing, he fell into thought.
From the moment he said he would listen to her last words, he knew there was something to be gained from the High Priestess herself.
Her abilities and authority as High Priestess.
What did it mean that she could still use them?
Overwhelming revelation abilities, borrowing the power of monsters swimming in the Outer Sea.
The High Priestess’s authority to summon Avatars of Ruin, whose origins were unfathomable, and perform rituals.
Hadn’t he confirmed their true worth when facing High Priestess Izel Nadiri and 10th Apostle Amrita at the Cult’s Far Eastern Branch?
If either could be used even in a spiritual state, there was a possibility they could help Lennok with his plans.
Regardless of what the High Priestess had experienced and what death she had met, her detached attitude wasn’t particularly annoying.
However, the biggest reason Lennok was considering the High Priestess’s proposal at this point was.
The thought that this very encounter might be the ‘arrangement’ the Pontiff had spoken of.
“……”
An old video remaining on Balitz Corp.’s network.
Confronting the Pontiff’s memories during the Papal Seat’s procession, and his final message.
Considering what Lennok was trying to do, had he said there was a chance he would soon meet one of his ‘failures’?
‘I don’t know what exactly he meant by ‘failures’…’
If what the Pontiff called ‘failures’ referred to the failure of High Priestess Seina Nadiri.
If even this encounter was foreseen and hinted at by the Pontiff, then the process itself could be a means to understand him.
And there was only one way for Lennok to get what he wanted here while still reserving the High Priestess’s offer.
Lennok, finishing his thoughts, slowly shook his head.
“…No, I refuse to deliver your body to the Cult. No matter how I think about it, it’s just a waste of time.”
[Is that so?]
Lennok touched his mask, observing the High Priestess calmly accept his decision.
“However, there’s a way to help your soul avoid being trapped and rotting away in your body.”
[…Huh?]
Ignoring the High Priestess’s retort, Lennok rolled up his robe sleeve and extended his hand.
Shedding his glove, the moment he manipulated and activated the Guide’s Ring, a pale spiritual body rose and directly confronted the High Priestess’s spiritual body.
[This is…]
The High Priestess, facing the Guide’s Ghost, immediately recognized its true nature and her expression changed.
[It’s a spiritual body that affects other souls. Moreover, it’s a power of ancient rank and origin…]
“I’ll use this item to store your soul inside this ring. It can temporarily prevent your soul from collapsing along with your body.”
[….]
The High Priestess, belatedly realizing the meaning of Lennok’s proposal, fell silent.
He wasn’t going to recover and move both her body and soul, but only recover her soul and carry it around for a while?
[…Understood.]
However, even understanding Lennok’s intentions, the High Priestess immediately nodded.
As Lennok said, if more time passed like this, her own soul was in such a poor state that it would be damaged.
Even the brief reprieve he offered was akin to a necessary measure for the High Priestess.
“Good.”
Lennok nodded and gestured to the Guide’s Ghost, but the Guide’s Ghost didn’t move at his word.
Instead, it simply gazed silently at the High Priestess’s spiritual body, then slowly moved it aside.
[…?]
Leaving the perplexed High Priestess, the Guide’s Ghost pointed to Lennok’s ring.
A strange movement, as if it was making a little room instead of directly devouring the spiritual body.
Kiiiing…!!
At that moment, the sensation of the High Priestess’s soul slowly being drawn into the ring was felt.
A feeling as if he was directly grasping the soul with his hand, forcibly binding it under his own existence.
The peculiar thing was that this unfamiliar sensation, which should have felt strange, instead felt incredibly comfortable.
The High Priestess also seemed to feel it, as she stared intently at Lennok’s masked face with a strange expression.
[You were far more compatible with our doctrines than I thought. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt such a sense of fidelity…]
“…Stop spouting nonsense.”
Lennok retorted irritably, but his thoughts were on the strange behavior the Guide’s Ghost had just shown.
Why did the Guide’s Ghost just make room in the ring instead of consuming and guiding the High Priestess’s spiritual body?
Perhaps the reason lay more in the essence of the High Priestess’s soul than in the Guide’s Ghost itself.
As Lennok kept that in mind, the High Priestess clasped her hands and prayed.
[It is regrettable. Your fate. And the fates of the devotees who perished. Even standing elsewhere, we could have been one.]
“You killed the devotees who protected you with their lives, yet you feel no emotion?”
[They, too, have done similar things against apostates.]
Despite Lennok’s sneer, the High Priestess calmly replied.
[It is merely the rightful conclusion that has arrived. It was a fate that both I and the devotees had to accept someday.]
“……”
The deaths of the devotees and her own death.
Did she think that this was something they, who served the doctrines of the myriad gods, ought to endure?
As Lennok fell silent, contemplating the bizarre rationality that was both vastly distant from ordinary humans and yet, paradoxically, seemed understandable.
Before long, the High Priestess’s soul had fully settled within the ring and began to glow.
Kiiiing…!!
Two lights swirled above the transparent, pure white gem set in the ring.
One was the Guide’s Ghost, which Lennok used as Evan’s duplicate, and the other was the soul of High Priestess Seina Nadiri.
The peculiar thing was that within the ring, Seina’s soul seemed to follow the Guide’s Ghost, spinning in a tail-chasing manner.
Lennok, who had been secretly marveling at the visible confirmation of a soul’s existence, belatedly adjusted the ring and spoke.
“I have work to do, so I cannot immediately transfer your soul to the Cult.”
[….]
“As long as you’re in the ring, you won’t be able to perceive or hear external situations unless I call you. Wait until I finish my work.”
Even if it was the soul of a dead High Priestess, there was no need to show her what Lennok intended to do in Yorta.
Just as Lennok thought this and was about to put the High Priestess’s soul to sleep inside the ring, Seina asked.
[Then, could I at least know how long it will take?]
“I’ll tell you after I cross the Headrain River. Much time has passed, so I don’t know when I’ll arrive—”
[You.]
At that moment, the High Priestess, with a surprised expression, cut Lennok off.
[Could it be that your destination, through this swamp, was Yorta?]
“Is there a problem?”
[Not exactly, but….]
The High Priestess replied with a reluctant expression.
[The destination I was leading the priests to was precisely—]
…!!!
At that moment, a colossal shadow fell over Lennok’s head from beyond the swamp.
A faint tearing sound brushed past his ears.
A powerful, concentrated mass of magic, instantly entering his sensory range and surging forward.
The moment Lennok perceived it and sharply looked up, something like a gigantic beast plunged down onto Lennok’s head with tremendous speed.
CRRRRASH!!!
The impact of an overwhelming mass falling and slamming into the ground.
As a result, the ground undulated like waves, and all the moss covering the swamp was torn apart.
Thud, thud, thud, thud!!!
The damp ground couldn’t withstand the force, crumbling softly, and the casket, just hidden beneath the cracks, shot into the sky.
The moment Lennok, clutching mana threads and sliding away as if bouncing to evade the recent preemptive strike, looked up at the sight while kneeling on one knee.
“Found it.”
Grab!!
Something that had just fallen snatched the floating casket with one hand.
[Hooof, hoooff!!]
Breathing out roughly through its nose, it was a colossal monster in the form of a Minotaur.
A terrifying figure, shouldering a house-sized hammer on one shoulder, its eyes glowing red as it powerfully snorted.
Lennok, confirming its ferocious appearance, which exuded uncontrollable bloodlust, muttered.
“…An Apostle?”
A special force of the Guido Cult, and an Avatar of Ruin that swims the Outer Sea.
Unlike the half-formed monster Lennok killed by the lake earlier, this was the presence of a fully completed Apostle, having properly received the power of an Outer God.
[Whooooosh…!!]
From atop the monster’s shoulder, which was uncontrollably snorting with excitement, another voice echoed.
“Didn’t I warn you to be careful when passing through the Central Front?”
“……”
“Jinwa is completely insane, and no sentient being can escape his wrath. I wonder if the High Priestess wasn’t overly confident in her abilities.”
An utterly gloomy tone. A bizarre voice, like creaking in a damp swamp.
Something resembling a sticky octopus tentacle was clinging to the Apostle’s shoulder, speaking.
“Thanks to you, I’d appreciate it if you considered my position, having to wander the Eastern Swamps to find you. What kind of ridiculous situation is this?”
Jinwa. Central Front. Seeking the High Priestess.
Lennok tilted his head towards the tentacle, which was babbling incomprehensibly, beyond the fact that it was speaking to Seina Nadiri.
“What nonsense have you been muttering to yourself?”
“Ah, these aren’t words for an unbeliever, so just disregard them.”
The tentacle said, wriggling.
“My situation is so urgent that I made a mistake by not bothering to filter my words.”
Thud!!
As the tentacle spoke, the bull-headed monster fiercely stepped forward.
A horrifying will that seemed to burn so intensely, it could melt the heads of those who faced it.
At this level, it was no longer an emotion that could be emitted by a normal sentient being.
A blindness akin to madness, impossible to emanate without some part of the brain being broken and driven insane. A mad Apostle.
And a monster of considerable level at that.
‘Did it sense the evil aura I released and come searching?’
The very fact that the Apostle appeared belatedly, right after Lennok recovered the soul, wouldn’t be a coincidence.
It was rational to assume that they became aware of the evil aura contained in the High Priestess’s body after the casket was opened and belatedly began their pursuit.
Lennok, who had recovered and taken in the High Priestess’s soul, and the Cult’s Apostle who had come looking for her.
And the bizarre tentacle babbling instead of the Apostle.
The moment Lennok glanced down at the ring, the High Priestess’s voice echoed from within.
[You. I will speak directly with Camlodal.]
“Camlodal?”
As Lennok casually questioned, the tentacle hanging on the Apostle’s shoulder reacted.
“Hmm? It’s not a grand enough name to tell an apostate. Who are you to know me?”
“……”
Immediately after Lennok realized that the tentacle’s name was Camlodal, he fell silent.
The High Priestess explained.
[He is the Cult’s Eighth Apostle, and the one currently controlling that mad Apostle.]
A special force of the Guido Cult. Among them, a single-digit Apostle, belonging to the elite.
The High Priestess was stating that the 8th Apostle Camlodal had arrived at this location.