Chapter 807: Arrival of the Ascendant (2)
“Using the Revelation Ability to glimpse the memories remaining in Dorye’s body…”
Kugugugu!!!
In the very center of Mugan’s sanctuary.
A fierce storm of mana raged around the Ascendant’s remains, which leaned against the core of a colossal throne.
The chains binding the throne rattled violently, following the intensely swirling mana that seemed to reject and repel anyone approaching.
The backlash was so strong that even standing still was difficult, and Lennok’s body was slowly pushed backward.
Lennok tilted his head, toying with his obsidian mask, and muttered.
“That means my Incarnation must endure within Dorye’s body, and I have to approach directly to attempt it.”
“This is the act of using the ability against the vessel of that revered one.”
The Priestess calmly assented.
“If one attempt fails, a second will be utterly impossible.”
So, while Lennok’s Incarnation was clashing with the Monarch’s spirit inside Dorye’s body, he had to break through all the violently swaying chains, countless seals, and Dorye’s scattered mana surrounding the body in Mugan, and then approach.
This was different from when Lennok’s Incarnation had easily approached Dorye’s body without any resistance.
Because Lennok himself was a living human body, a specialized spellcaster possessing real mana.
And perhaps because he shared the same essence as the Incarnation, yet was a distinct existence.
Moreover, there was only one chance to approach and make the gamble of glimpsing the vessel’s memories.
But Lennok nodded indifferently and rummaged in his pocket.
“I have an idea.”
Click!!
He pulled out an ampoule with a needle from his pocket and injected it directly into his forearm.
“Dorye’s mana is blocking the approach of living beings, but there’s a section where the concentration thins as the mana swirls.”
Lennok, who had amplified his Mana Sense to perceive the flow of mana in Mugan, stretched out a long Mana Thread and gripped it.
“I’ll circle the throne from the outside, then approach diagonally inward. Once I’m within ten steps, there’s a way to reliably make contact with Dorye’s body.”
Kugugugu!!
The Ascendant’s mana swirled around the throne.
But precisely because it was surging to repel external approach, there were sections where the force’s density became uneven and the mana thinned.
Breaking through the mana barrier imbued with Dorye’s power head-on would be too taxing.
But if he aimed for the sections where the mana density weakened along the swirling current, it wouldn’t be impossible.
Paat!!
In Lennok’s mind, the area of Mugan’s sanctuary where the colossal throne was located materialized into a three-dimensional map.
He instantaneously calculated the branching mana flows in real-time and pushed through, rapidly setting his path.
Kiriririk!!
Lennok hooked a Mana Thread between the cathedral’s inner walls, pulled it taut, and lowered his stance.
“Here I go.”
His shadowy form blurred, accelerating, and vanished from the spot.
Paaaaang!!
His dark form traced a long circle through the cathedral’s inner walls, illuminated by candlelight.
He instantly flickered up and down, dodging the chains of mist that shimmered indistinctly and collided from all directions.
He slipped through the loops of chain that seemed just wide enough for a person to pass, rushing at high speed around the throne.
While the Monarch’s spirit was moving to fully seize Dorye’s body, the Ascendant’s mana, a backlash from that movement, was wildly spreading, swirling around the throne.
To pass through it, he had to move along the swirling mana flow, constantly pinpointing and breaking through areas where the mana density was low.
Tatatatatak!!!
Hundreds of Mana Threads attached to the edge of his robe snapped at tremendous speed.
Each time, Lennok’s body gained even more momentum, accelerating further.
Flying precariously close above the tens of thousands of candles glowing below the cathedral, at that moment, as he gazed at Dorye’s mana surging in a trance, forgetting even his own senses.
‘…Now.’
Lennok’s body sharply angled, instantly rocketing towards the throne as if propelled.
Shaaaaeek!!
As he narrowed the distance to the throne, Dorye’s mana indiscriminately clung to him from all sides.
It was the will-thought of a berserker, instantly gnawing through his robe, desperately trying to tear away at Lennok’s living flesh.
But Lennok precisely chose the spots where that will faded within the mana storm, rapidly narrowing the distance in a circle to approach the throne.
Kwaaaang!!
“Kuh…!!”
Even if he chose areas of low mana density to break through, he couldn’t avoid the irregularly erupting shockwaves themselves.
He considered countering and resisting, but instead, he braced with a shield and rolled away as if swept back.
The Ghost Dragon’s Fortress. The decisive battle with Yao Xun. Passing through the Spirit Realm to enter Mugan, and lodging his Incarnation in Dorye’s body.
Having already expended a considerable amount of mana to get this far, he couldn’t rashly endure a frontal collision.
Deudeudeuk!!
Lennok, who chose mana preservation, momentarily lost his balance and slid into a pile of candles.
The moment his gloved hand carelessly grasped a curse flame, countless images of burning flashed before his eyes.
[Die, die…!!]
[I wish that person would disappear….]
[I curse all your kin.]
Resentment left by someone who hated and loathed another.
Or curses that had become empty echoes without a target.
Fragments of countless resentful will-thoughts, whose forms and origins were unknown, materialized into real images and flashed rapidly before Lennok’s eyes.
Each candle illuminating Mugan’s sanctuary was a piece of a curse left by someone in this world.
Was it for this reason that even the emotions and memories left by the individuals at the time of the curse could be observed, even if only in fragments, here?
But Lennok’s steps, as he stood up, gently touching a candle with one hand, paused for a moment.
[Onnion. Do you truly intend to leave like this?]
“…”
[Even if the Night Parade failed, this city needs you.]
Candles glowing all around.
Countless resentful will-thoughts of curses flashing before his eyes.
Among the emotions contained within them, traces of someone Lennok knew were also being revealed.
[I intend to participate in a project starting in Vulcan.]
[You mean that ridiculously huge city that was just built?]
[Its history is short, but all of the city’s founders are extraordinary lunatics. I saw potential in them.]
[….]
[They said even the failure of the Myriad Ghosts’ Night Parade could leave meaning within the project. Unlike us, they seemed to… rather welcome failure.]
[…Nonsense.]
[They said they needed my power in the civil war to determine the Eastern Continent’s border. They wanted an executioner who wouldn’t be swayed by any vested interests.]
Kwajik!!
[I intend to go there.]
He trampled on the shattered candle debris and rose.
Dorye’s mana, distorted like thick ink, rained down from above.
Lennok hooked a Mana Thread to his arm and pulled, sliding as if rolling over the candles, and once again evaded the mana storm.
Kwaaaang!!
The Ascendant’s mana, raging from all sides of Mugan’s sanctuary, caused the candle flames to burn even more intensely.
Each time Lennok rolled over them, gripped them, broke them, and stepped on them to rise, a flood of countless emotions surged before his eyes.
Memories of people he knew, resentment of people he didn’t, unfolded indiscriminately, confusing his senses.
But Lennok did not reject any of it; he embraced it all and pushed forward.
[Ermont, the elders of the family have agreed today to your eternal confinement.]
[Confinement… you mean.]
[The Ritual Transfer Spellcraft you created is an insult to our great bloodline and shakes the very foundation of the concept of a wizard.]
[…It was to resolve the curse passed down in our family.]
[Resolve?]
The stern voice momentarily held a bitter sneer.
[After killing your wife and son with your own hands, can you still babble such things?]
[….]
[Do you not feel pity for your family and kin who trusted you and entrusted their bodies to your spellcraft?]
[Before we seal your spellcraft, you will be given one last chance to demonstrate it before the Senate. We will not cut off your mana until then, so wait.]
Odeudeuk!!
[Instead, we will sever the tendons in your hands and feet so you cannot leave this place.]
“Cough!!”
He let out a dry cough and advanced towards the stormy throne.
The closer he got, the higher the density of mana swirling around the Ascendant’s body.
Accordingly, Dorye’s mana instantly enveloped Lennok’s body, attempting to completely swallow his existence.
The Ascendant’s body, not yet fully awakened. The endless madness of residual mana alone, as if consuming and reordering the entire space of Mugan’s sanctuary as its own.
Was this the power of the Ascendant, devouring Mugan’s sanctuary and reforming this entire space into its own?
Kiiiiiing!!
Each faint sway of Dorye’s pure white hair caused his chained body to subtly ripple.
And each time, the wild mana around him gained even clearer substance, tearing at the surroundings.
And with each such instance, the resentful will-thoughts of curses appearing before Lennok’s eyes began to be revealed with even greater clarity.
[This is the last pilgrimage, Antares.]
[….]
[Once you see the ending, there will be no turning back. Do you still intend to go?]
[From the moment I craved fragments of omniscience, I was prepared for the fate of a precognitive.]
A voice of someone Lennok knew. Calm assent, devoid of emotional highs or lows.
[Even if I return having seen an unavoidable death, it’s fine. I must know what lies at the end of this world.]
[You will regret it.]
[…Even so.]
Antares’s voice seemed to fade for a moment.
[I must leave meaning in our journey. If only to not let Croken’s sacrifice on the pilgrimage go in vain.]
Kooong!!!
Deureureuk!!!
The distance was close enough to see Dorye, leaning against the end of the throne, with the naked eye.
Mist chains convulsed on the high, wide black throne, seemingly prepared for a giant several tens of meters tall.
The mana storm emanating from the roughly shaking chain piles now entangled and bound Lennok’s limbs.
The size of the candles burning all around grew brighter and brighter, and now, only the resentful will-thoughts of curses, which wouldn’t easily extinguish even amidst that storm, remained here.
Lennok, who had tied himself up with Mana Threads to stand, gave a bitter smile as he saw the names of countless curses shining beneath his feet.
[Croken Asylus’s Debilitating Overlap]
[Croken Asylus’s Will-Thought Sealing]
[Croken Asylus’s Returning to the Fray]
[Croken Asylus’s Other-Powered Origin]
[Croken Asylus’s Undying Indomitable]
[Croken Asylus’s White Corpse Eternal Return]
……
……
……
Because the vicinity of the candlestick where Lennok stood was densely covered with virulent curses aimed at only one person.
Even when grasped with bare hands, they burned even more fiercely instead of extinguishing, resisting as if they would never disappear.
Lennok, who had been staring blankly at the surreal, illogical cycle of curses, eventually gritted his teeth and stood up.
His head throbbed as if it would burst from the deluge of countless memories and emotions, but contemplation was not his task now.
There was something he could not do without immediately seeking meaning beyond the Ascendant’s body.
The throne’s core, where the Ascendant’s mana raged and its backlash intensified.
Even with skillful movement aiming for gaps in the mana, cracks fractured the space, making it difficult to advance even an inch.
But Lennok didn’t hesitate; he pulled a golden glowing vial from his pocket and emptied its contents into his mouth.
It was the elixir diluent that Aris Richellen had given him as a gift.
A miraculous power that preserved Lennok’s mana in its original form for approximately four seconds.
Feeling the intense exhilaration surging through his entire body, Lennok strode fearlessly directly towards the Ascendant’s remains.
Kugwagwagwagwa!!!
The Ascendant’s mana plunged down from all directions, attempting to crush Lennok’s body.
A void, as if abandoning one’s entire body beneath a waterfall of steel, feeling it shatter.
But Lennok, drawing out all the mana swirling within him as never before, began to advance, directly resisting the Ascendant’s mana.
Deudeudeudeudeuk!!!
The time limit after consuming the elixir, when mana consumption became limitless, was just over four seconds.
The remaining distance to stand before Dorye’s body was ten more steps.
In front of the mana and will-thought storm, which swayed and shattered in a trance, Lennok held his breath and reached out his hand.
Each time he passed through the violently burning curse flames around him, another flood of emotions surfaced before his eyes.
Pajik!!
Breaking through the intertwining curses and surges of will-thought before his eyes, forging ahead through the Ascendant’s mana that sought to pummel and grind his entire body,
In the midst of hallucinations where even his senses wildly reeled and fluctuated, he blankly stretched out his hand, finally grasping Dorye’s shoulder.
Odeudeuk!!
That alone caused the Ascendant’s mana to violently recoil, twisting and constricting Lennok’s hand.
Just before the elixir diluent’s effect ended, Lennok had broken through all the illusions and curses, finally reaching Dorye.
“I’ve been waiting.”
Patzutzutsu!!
Dripping tears of pure white spiritual light from her eyes, the Priestess slowly stood before Dorye’s remains.
The jet-black mana scattering around the corpse instantly began to consume the Priestess’s spirit body, but no flicker of emotion showed on her face.
“The spirit of the unbeliever that covets the vessel is, by nature, an impurity that ought not to exist. From this moment, I intend to observe it through revelation and forcibly distinguish and separate it.”
The Priestess’s soul, slowly consumed by Dorye’s mana, asked without turning to look at Lennok.
“You were able to see the revelation I used, correct? Do you remember?”
Was she referring to the time when he posed as a cultist in prison? Lennok brought his trembling hand to his right eye.
The Mystic Eye, created to mimic the Revelation Ability, spun and opened. It began to share the revelation emitted by the Priestess.
The Priestess slowly nodded, walked forward, and knelt before Dorye’s remains.
She carefully stroked the Ascendant’s cheek, which was sinking into murky blackness, and met his gaze.
Even as she was slowly disappearing, covered by an ominous darkness, the Priestess knelt before Dorye.
Even Lennok, for a moment, felt her appearance was that of a devout religious figure.
“Once I accept the revelation, I may never return. So…”
The Priestess’s hesitation, unable to finish her sentence.
If she successfully separated the Guide’s Ghost from Dorye’s remains, she likely meant for him to handle Dorye in her stead.
As Lennok quietly nodded, the Priestess finally closed her eyes and met Dorye’s gaze.
The paradoxical act of meeting each other’s gaze with closed eyelids.
But there are moments when, to see the unseen, one must render the visible unseen.
Especially in rituals presided over by a priestess like her, the power yielded by such paradoxes could never be ignored.
The Priestess hesitated for a moment, then nodded as if resolving herself.
“I will go.”
The Ascendant’s body. The Pontiff’s vessel.
The act of glimpsing the memories of a corpse that had died long ago and was interred here.
Even though she had come to Yorta in spirit form for this very moment, she hesitated until the very end, unable to gain certainty.
It wasn’t because her faith in the Pontiff she served wavered, but because she couldn’t trust herself.
The moment Lennok carelessly recalled the essence of that fanaticism, the Revelation Ability activated.
A hallucination unfolded, as if the sky above his head had opened wide.
Paaat!!
No, not the sky.
Beyond this space of Mugan, the sky was not visible in the first place.
What Lennok felt was the sensation of the Outer Sea’s boundary opening, beyond the perception allowed to the two of them.
A hallucination that appeared as he fully embraced the Priestess’s ability to communicate directly with the gods of the Outer Sea, receiving their will and vision in proxy.
From a vast, distant sea, a will watched over this world.
A mighty will, craving new causality endlessly from an immeasurable distance, swimming through a sea of stars.
Following the path opened by the Priestess, that very will pierced through the constraints of time and space and plummeted down here.
Uwooooooong!!!
That alone caused Dorye’s mana, which had been gnawing at the Priestess’s spirit body, to convulse violently and cease for a moment.
And at the instant the Outer Sea’s gaze, inheriting that flow, slowly tilted and focused on Dorye’s remains.
Paaaaaaaaaat!!
The memories Dorye, the Ascendant and the Pontiff’s vessel, had left behind as he lived, unfolded before their eyes.
It began with a very trivial coincidence.
A sky shattering like glass.
The only thought the man kneeling on the frozen snowfield had, as he looked at the Pontiff, was that.