Chapter 817: The Knot (4)
Above the cracked ceiling of the Memorial Tower, brilliantly glowing mana poured down like rain.
Hissing!
[Aaaah!!!]
Sacred-attribute mana, so potent it melted the Military Spirits simply by its presence.
Kashuin, the Archangel from the Old World, summoned by Lennok using the priest’s authority, was glowing intensely, struggling to descend upon them.
[Where are you?!]
Only after hearing the Archangel’s chilling roar did Lennok understand how the current situation was unfolding.
The Archangel’s declaration of Sanctuary, thrown out with the intent of sweeping away all the Military Spirits gathered here.
However, a Sanctuary, unlike a Domain, does not occupy the entire space. Instead, it’s more akin to a provisional zone, forming like a carpet.
While the Sanctuary itself is remarkably powerful and its output dramatically increases, it is originally bound to the caster, not remaining stationary but rather moving with them.
That’s why the Court of Soul Pacification altered the Memorial Tower’s structure, isolating Kashuin’s Sanctuary in the upper levels of the tower instead of directly confronting it.
Rather than exhausting themselves by facing the Sanctuary directly, they moved the entire floor where the Sanctuary was located upwards, putting distance between them.
Concurrently, they intended to bring the fleeing Lennok back before them and seize his body.
But all of the spirits’ plans went awry the moment they faced the monstrous presence that emerged from the depths of the tower.
Rumble, rumble…
Amidst the rain of pure white mana falling from above, a massive, obsidian body stood alone, sinking into darkness.
Its overwhelming presence seemed to devour the entire space of the tower simply by standing there.
Predatory pupils gleamed from beneath the shadows.
[Croken Asylus…!!!]
The spirits of the Court of Soul Pacification, finally realizing his presence, began to writhe in fury.
[Why in the world are you here?!]
[How long have you been in Yorta?!]
Even if the spirits of the Court of Soul Pacification had long fallen into decline and lived in reclusion, their insight wasn’t so dim as to not know him.
Monstrous strength that shook heaven and earth. Ferocity that spared neither friend nor foe. Experience and wisdom hidden beneath chaotic words and actions.
Dozens of curses alone rested upon the shoulders of this monster, who moved as he pleased, unconstrained by common sense.
And there was no way the Court of Soul Pacification wouldn’t know that all those curses were being meticulously observed from the sanctuary of Mugan.
They, too, knew very well just how unrealistically powerful Croken Asylus was.
[What are the Headrain River administrators doing?]
[Weren’t they supposed to be checking for and blocking the entry of such individuals?!]
“Noisy.”
Thud, thud, thud!!!
As Croken moved, tilting his head, the ground rippled like waves, trembling beneath his steps.
The impact made the tower reverberate loudly, emitting shockwaves, and the tide of Military Spirits gradually receded.
A bizarre sight: a single presence caused all the spirits in the tower to simultaneously distance themselves.
Conversely, dozens of barriers activated from all sides of the Memorial Tower, rotating to envelop Croken.
With the emergence of an immeasurable evil, all of the tower’s security spellcraft and barriers forcibly activated, attempting to suppress him.
Chiming!
With a clear chiming sound, a grayish-white barrier unfolded like an umbrella and descended upon Croken’s head.
An attempt to forcibly separate the space where the alligator giant stood from the rest of the Memorial Tower and immediately teleport him away.
But Croken paid no mind to the descending barrier. Instead, he reached out his hand toward the raindrops falling from the ceiling.
Brilliantly shimmering sacred-attribute mana collected like water on his thickly callused palm, dripping down.
Kashuin, whom the Court of Soul Pacification had isolated, was rampaging in the tower’s upper levels, and the fallout was raining down even to the lower levels.
“Hmm…”
Croken gazed at the pure white mana pooled on his palm, then lightly grasped it and swung his hand sideways.
A light gesture, as if a child were scooping up water from a lakeside and scattering it.
Yet with that single, light hand movement, a pale flash of light shot forth from the alligator giant’s hand at sub-sonic speed.
It instantly became a dazzling pillar of light, piercing through dozens of barriers that formed the tower’s inner and outer walls.
CRASH!!!
A grating roar, like panes of glass colliding and scraping against each other.
That alone shattered the rotating barriers from all sides of the tower at once, scattering their fragments haphazardly.
[I-Insane…!!]
[The Memorial Tower’s Phase Barriers, so easily…!!]
Thud!!
Croken walked out as if nothing had happened and stood beside the fallen Lennok.
…
Croken stood there, lost in thought, his chilling pupils calmly surveying his surroundings.
Lying prostrate, Lennok struggled to turn his head to look at him, barely managing to part his lips.
“Why, here…”
“Shut up.”
Croken swung his tail, striking Lennok squarely.
CRASH!!
Lennok’s body, unable to even resist, was instantly sent sprawling against the outer wall.
…!!
Without even glancing at Lennok, who was writhing in agony and struggling to get up, Croken said nonchalantly,
“I have something to ask. Just stand there and watch.”
“…Watch?”
“After the sanctuary of curses was created, I considered it a few times.”
“That someday, I’d kill those who unpleasantly peered into me.”
…
“Now that you’ve destroyed the sanctuary and defiled the Night Parade, it doesn’t matter anymore, does it?”
Crack, crackle!!
Croken slowly cracked his knuckles and wrists, then smirked.
“From now on, I’ll wipe this gloomy abomination remaining in Yorta off the map.”
…!!
Croken’s declaration: to tear down the Memorial Tower, the remnant of the Myriad Ghosts’ Night Parade, right here and now.
As Lennok hesitated at that absurd declaration, furious spirits erupted with violent roars from all directions.
[How dare that insolent wretch…!!]
[A beast-bodied subhuman who merely ascended through ranks dares to discuss the continuation of the Night Parade?!]
The spirits hovering above the tower’s cavity began to glow, then fearlessly merged into the tide of Military Spirits.
The moment the spirits’ wills permeated into the Military Spirits stationed all around, the presence of the tower-bound Military Spirits began to amplify dramatically.
[Ah, aaargh!!!]
[M-Memories…!!]
Ethereal forms clutching their heads and wailing. Military Spirits swelling their bodies to increase their mass.
The weapons they held transformed, imbued with sharp will-thought, and the souls’ ranks rapidly ascended everywhere.
A miraculous feat: sharing the spirits’ power with the tower’s Military Spirits, temporarily boosting their output significantly.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!!!
The Military Spirits, who had been wailing in pain, now unleashed far stronger mana, glaring at Croken from all directions.
From Military Spirits drooling like beasts who had lost their minds, to spectral fiends roaring, having shed their human forms to become monsters.
Even Thousand Ghosts, whose momentum alone surpassed that of a Saint Wizard, were summoned from all sides of the tower to confront Croken.
Hordes of ghosts, scattered across the tower’s ceiling and walls, forgetting even balance and equilibrium as they radiated murderous intent.
Yorta’s Myriad Ghosts’ Night Parade.
Though it had failed and faded, the ghosts who participated in the Night Parade still remained here, becoming part of the tower.
[No matter how formidable your power, you are still nothing more than an unascended being who failed to reach ascension…!!!]
A spirit, erupting with a reverberating roar in a furious tone, cried out.
[A mere mortal dares challenge the Myriad Ghosts’ Night Parade? You will pay the price here and now!]
[Haaah!!]
Mad ghosts, losing their judgment due to the surging power granted by the tower’s amplification, focusing solely on destructive urges.
The tide of Military Spirits surged forth, as if grinding down everything in the Memorial Tower, compressing and bursting everything beneath their feet as they charged.
Thousands of pale vengeful spirits rotated around Croken, clawing at his obsidian body.
CRASHHH!!!
A fierce wave of resentment that would grind both spirit and flesh of an ordinary superhuman into oblivion just by being caught in it.
But Croken made no attempt to shake off the Military Spirits swarming him.
He merely gazed indifferently at the thrashing Military Spirits, as they burrowed under his obsidian scales.
Croken’s bright yellow eyes, which had been indifferently surveying his surroundings, suddenly contorted in irritation.
“To still call this the Myriad Ghosts’ Night Parade…”
With thousands of Military Spirits biting and clawing at him, clinging to his entire body, the alligator giant raised a hand.
“I just want to kill them all.”
Whoosh!!
He seized the swirling, attacking Military Spirits with his bare hands.
An unbelievable feat: grasping the very ‘flow’ of resentment itself, which was formed by the Military Spirits gathering, having no physical substance.
Yet with that alone, the Military Spirits surrounding Croken couldn’t even approach, scattering in all directions.
[Kieeeek!!]
[M-My soul… my spirit…!!!]
CRASHHH!!
Thousands upon tens of thousands of Military Spirits were dragged along by Croken’s hands, helplessly, as if grabbed by their hair.
An unreal sight: the Military Spirits themselves couldn’t control their own flow and speed, being flung around, screaming.
As a result, the entire Memorial Tower was shattered as if struck by a club, sending fragments flying everywhere.
[This can’t be, how can he with bare hands…!!]
At the moment the spirits shrieked in horror at his sheer strength—grasping the tower-bound Military Spirits by seizing their entire flow—
As Croken slowly swung thousands of Military Spirits, a vein slightly bulged on his temple.
His two hands clashed together with a speed that was barely visible.
CRACK!!!
A light motion, like clapping his hands together.
Yet, caught within that motion, thousands of Military Spirits were crushed as their very beings collided from both sides, following his movement.
The space at the point of impact twisted as if being shredded, and a rift, not of this world, briefly appeared.
KWA-AAANG!!!
Dazzling light surged from beyond the rift, instantly sweeping away the tide of Military Spirits.
The radiance of will-thought, erupting diagonally, collided with the tower’s outer wall and exploded, immediately piercing through the Memorial Tower’s wall and extending into Yorta’s skies.
[Aaaah!!]
[Kiyaaagak!!]
[My soul, my soul…!!]
Innumerable Military Spirits caught in the storm of will-thought helplessly detached from Croken’s form and vanished outside the tower.
The Military Spirits, who were originally bound to the Memorial Tower, were forcibly separated from it and simultaneously disintegrated on the spot.
They scattered into the overcast sky beyond, transformed into hazy mist, screaming in anguish and making monstrous sounds.
Koooooooh!!!
[Stop him! Stop that beast and drive him out of the tower!]
[Move now! Thousand Ghosts, step forward!]
The spirits screamed, pouring power into the Military Spirits to somehow stop Croken.
The Thousand Ghosts, who had fully built up their ranks, charged toward Croken in perfect unison.
Unlike the mindless Military Spirits, these Military Spirits knew perfectly well how formidable the monster before them was, both in martial prowess and physical body.
A middle-aged man, gripping a double-bladed axe and standing at the forefront, looked at Croken with a grim expression and spoke.
“To possess such martial prowess even while layered with curses equivalent to a Phase Seal… your skill is astonishing.”
…
“Since participating in the Night Parade, I’ve seen countless strong individuals, but your formidable strength is truly unlike anything I’ve witnessed before.”
The warrior, who had taken the lead and slowly assumed his stance, nodded.
“If I can give my all against you here, I’ll have no regrets. Come!”
“Regrets?”
CRUNCH!!
Before the words even finished, Croken’s shoulder twitched violently, and the warrior’s upper body exploded as if bursting open.
BOOOM!!
Two other Military Spirits standing behind were also crushed by the pressure.
Croken’s pupils gleamed as he swept away the vanishing ethereal forms, which dissolved into hazy mist, with his tail.
“If you wanted to discuss martial prowess with me, you should have at least endured that last attack.”
[H-Huh…!!]
CRACKLE!!
Before they could even react, he seized other Thousand Ghosts and flung them, swinging them in a semicircle.
The ethereal forms of the colliding Thousand Ghosts twisted and vanished on the spot, along with the very space around them.
The fallout from that sent out shockwaves, obliterating the Memorial Tower’s inner walls and every floor of its corridors.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!!!
“Stop babbling about what the Myriad Ghosts’ Night Parade once was, and show me.”
Amidst the mercilessly pulverizing fragments of the tower, Croken let out a ferocious laugh.
“Even so, the fact that this tower will fall today won’t change.”
“…Our opponent is a mercenary who left his name in the continent’s history.”
The Military Spirits, gritting their teeth, slowly narrowed the distance, glaring at Croken.
“Move, prepared for spirit annihilation!!”
[Haaah!!]
Whoosh!!
Superhumans, who retained their pre-mortem ranks even as Military Spirits, unleashed their martial arts and spellcraft with full power.
These were ghosts who, in exchange for participating in the Myriad Ghosts’ Night Parade, were acknowledged as bound, and whose challenge became striving for ascension with the tower.
Warriors and sorcerers, existing as superhumans despite losing their bodies, relentlessly pounded Croken with their will-thought.
Thud, thud, thud, thud!!!!
The radiance of Military Spirit spellcraft poured down like rain upon the lone alligator giant.
Thousands, hundreds of blades rotated, slicing through the gaps in space and piercing Croken’s massive body.
“Khahahahaha!!!”
As Croken took the falling slashes with his entire body, he let out a maniacal laugh, and the air trembled from the impact.
From the distorted point of impact where blades and spells overlapped to the point of invisibility, a scale-covered hand burst forth, seizing the empty air.
CRUNCH!
Following that grasp, space itself distorted as if folding in on itself, crushing all the Military Spirits that had rushed in from all directions.
KWA-AAANG!!
“Ugh…!!”
The will-thought of physical ability users moved their Mind Imprints, turning them into Miniature Universes, while Military Spirit Wizards drew colorless ripples.
But Croken began to tear apart every single one of those Mind Imprint-based offensives with his bare hands.
He grabbed a faintly shimmering blade and crumpled it into a swordsman’s chest, then seized a deflected bombardment spell and hurled it back at the sorcerer’s head.
He kicked apart the waves of Domains that were unfolding and enveloping him from all sides, shattering them.
The esoteric secret of Mind Imprints, which actualized the caster’s will.
He crushed, flung, pulverized, and trampled the superhumans’ ultimate techniques—attained by perfecting their ranks—as if they were toys.
Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!!!
“No…!!”
“Zarian!!”
“Ah, aaargh!!!”
The moment power surged into Croken’s massive body, the tower’s inner and outer walls exploded as if bursting open, from movements that didn’t even take an instant.
Some called out their comrades’ names, while others, oblivious to the reality before them, were buried in pain.
There was no technique, no will, no Mind Imprint.
He merely crushed the desperate struggles of Military Spirits charging with all their might, clad only in the minimum mana enhancement needed to move his body.
Even when he randomly threw punches at the empty air, the shockwaves pushed space away, compressing the Military Spirits.
As souls disintegrated, hazy mist surged forth, spreading like a mirage behind Croken, dyeing the Memorial Tower’s cavity pure white.
CRASH!! CRASH!! CRASH!!!
[Ah, ah, ah…]
Following the domino-like explosions, the Military Spirits’ screams strangely overlapped like a song, reverberating.
Croken’s massive body, leaping through the air, instantly descended before the remaining steles of the Court of Soul Pacification.
WHUMP!!!
The impact alone caused faint cracks on the surface of the steles, making them wobble precariously, and Croken sneered.
“Cleaning up the remnants of failed ascensions always leaves a bad taste. It should have been finished a long time ago.”
At his nonchalant response, the spirits let out dull roars in a daze.
[This, this can’t be…]
[This isn’t right. No one, no matter who, could do this…]
[The Memorial Tower, because of just one monster…]
“It’s the Director’s message.”
Thump.
Croken extended a finger toward the outermost stele and said.
“He said the balance of the Imaginary Dimension has been set, so this tower is no longer useful.”
[…What?]
“Until now, I’ve refrained from touching those cultists, but now it doesn’t matter much, does it?”
The alligator giant twisted his lips into a smile, looking at the speechless spirits.
“So, I’m just destroying it.”
[Nonsense!]
[No longer useful? By whose authority…!!]
[Who dares make such a decision?!]
“I do.”
CRUNCH!!
The moment Croken’s finger burrowed into the stele, an intangible wave rotated around his forearm.
It utterly shattered the stele where the spirit of the Court of Soul Pacification resided.
KWA-AAANG!!!
As all nine steles shattered, the tower’s shaking intensified.
It was as if the Court of Soul Pacification’s steles had been acting as wedges maintaining the tower’s balance all this time; the Memorial Tower now swayed as if it would collapse at any moment.
The spirits, freed from the steles, realized this and shrieked madly.
[Aaaaaaah!!]
[Croken Asyluuus!!!]
[We will not forget! I swear upon my spirit, I will curse your name forever!]
Curses of spirits, spewing hatred madly, unafraid even of spirit annihilation.
But instead of replying or sneering, Croken silently watched them, then immediately turned and walked toward Lennok.
The alligator giant grinned down at the blood-soaked, fallen Lennok.
“There’s still a bit of time left until the tower is completely toppled.”
“…Time?”
Time remained.
Was there a specific timeline by which the Memorial Tower had to be destroyed?
While Lennok, clutching his stomach, was lost in thought, Croken raised his hand.
The vibration that erupted the moment he lightly flicked a finger instantly enlarged the cracks in the Memorial Tower’s ceiling.
KWA-AAAH!!!
He dropped the radiance of sacred-attribute mana, which had been falling like rain, onto that spot like a waterfall.
[Aaaaaaah!!!]
The Archangel’s Sanctuary falling from above. Kashuin’s belated screams reverberated.
The Archangel’s form descended upon Lennok’s head, its cracked, fractured skin gleaming.
Its very existence became a space that constructed a Sanctuary, possessing the power to annihilate the spiritual energy and fiendish aura of the entire area.
[Where are you, wizard!!!]
With pale wings spread wide, Kashuin shrieked, dyeing the surroundings pure white.
[Where is my god?!]
“Touching that bastard’s mana earlier, I felt it contained a faint healing ability.”
As Lennok, unable to answer, weakly stared at Kashuin, Croken gave a fierce laugh.
“Then it should at least make your pathetic body somewhat functional.”
…
Indeed, Croken knew.
Whose face was hidden beyond this Obsidian Mask.
And also what Lennok had faced beyond Mugan, and what meaning he had gained before escaping and arriving here.
Contrary to his boundless ferocity, it was proof that his judgment and intuition had reached a considerable level.
The fact that he knew but didn’t show it. The fact that he hadn’t shown particular interest.
It must have been because he believed they would eventually confront each other like this when the time was right.
“There was one thing I couldn’t finish because of a trivial interruption.”
Croken, with his arms crossed, lifted his head.
Reptilian eyes gleamed above his elongated jaw, staring intently at Lennok.
“Myeong has already made his decision, and the Director doesn’t seem to care either way, but I’m different. Regardless of that talent, no one knows if you can go all the way.”
Croken twisted his lips.
“So, I need to confirm it before you’re completely broken.”
…
“Bring out your Domain.”
A confidence that felt almost arrogant. A complacent expectation that the moment he anticipated would always be there.
An unfounded belief that the insignificant wizard he had spared back then would eventually survive and reach this point.
But even that suited this monster standing before him perfectly, like a tailor-made garment.
“…Alright. I will.”
Thinking that, Lennok slowly braced himself with one hand on the ground and pushed himself up.
“But I won’t be the only one who has to show something.”
Kooooooh!!
The Sanctuary unleashed by the rampaging Archangel rotated around Lennok, burrowing into his body.
He didn’t filter it out with Targeted Resistance; instead, he fully captured the will-thought permeating his body.
The sacred power of an Archangel serving a failed god, which he would never have allowed otherwise.
But now, with the priest’s authority in hand thanks to the priestess’s help, he could heal Lennok’s body as he wished, even if only for a moment.
CRACKLE……!!
How many times had he picked himself up after his body was broken and defeated from countless battles?
But either way, this had to be the last time.
He lightly shook his blood-soaked wrist, opening the wound.
Using Lennok’s blood as a medium, a double helix surged up his wrist, emitting a golden radiance.
Whoosh!!
On the spot, it became a dazzling golden magic circle, coiling around his wrist.
The Ouroboros magic system.
Lennok’s unique Perpetual Motion Engine, which analyzes and dismantles all existing laws and spellcraft.
With the Archangel of the Old World before him, swaying, yet bearing the Ouroboros’s magic circle on his hand.
Submerged in pure white light in the heart of the Sanctuary, Lennok slowly drew forth his mana.
“Because I, too, intend to uncover your true identity, your Miniature Universe, and the source of that transcendental power.”