Chapter 818: The Knot (5)
There was a time, when I was building my reputation under the name Adamant Thunder, that I thought about this.
Opponents who, despite recognizing the vast power disparity, resisted with all their might and burned with a fighting spirit.
Enemies who, even in desperate situations where no solution seemed apparent, desperately sought openings and weaknesses.
Why did they resist so desperately, burning with such fervor for life?
And yet, like moths to a flame, they endlessly approached Lennok, only to be consumed.
Lennok himself had experienced a time when he had to gamble his life to envision tomorrow, so he thought he understood their feelings, but he was mistaken.
Only after scraping every last ounce of his remaining strength and standing before Croken did Lennok truly comprehend their mindset.
They didn’t fight because they thought they could win, nor did they move because they believed they could survive.
It was simply because this moment—of opening their eyes, breathing, thinking, and agonizing—was too precious.
They had no luxury left to move while envisioning some distant future.
Before that monster, more fearsome and ferocious than any other, Lennok felt the raw instinct for life he had momentarily forgotten.
I want to live.
Realizing that the wish he had first harbored in this world had never faded within him.
Lennok thus steeled himself, lashing his broken body onward.
RUMBLE!!!
Below his feet, the form of a brilliant white Sanctuary glowed.
The Holy Spirit magic emanating from Kashuin occupied the space, healing Lennok’s body in real-time.
Standing in the heart of the slowly crumbling Memorial Tower, arms crossed, Croken watched Lennok with an amused expression.
His form, draped in the remnants of the Military Spirits he had torn apart and an ethereal mist, slowly swayed its tail.
Even from dozens of meters away, his bright yellow pupils glowed with an eerie intensity.
The moment Lennok’s mystic eye revolved, visualizing the crimson and azure realms of possibility to illuminate Croken’s gaps—
“…Hah.”
Lennok confirmed that all space around Croken had not just turned crimson, but had died, sinking into utter blackness, and he gave a bitter laugh.
Measuring gaps or calculating distance against that monster was utterly meaningless.
The moment one stepped into that pitch-black domain, only a future of defeat, directly leading to death, awaited.
From this point, he had to forcefully break through that gap and achieve a meaningful outcome against Croken.
“Kashuin. Prepare yourself.”
Lennok said, pulling out a huge, silver-glowing Papyrus from his pocket.
“You must take the vanguard. Move the Sanctuary forward and expand the battlefield.”
[……]
Recalling memories from his past battle with Croken, he quickly organized the strategy.
During the mobile fortress battle, the goal was to use Felix as the vanguard to land high-firepower spellcraft.
He had vowed not to repeat the same mistake, but with the situation as it was, his course of action was clear.
“The opponent is a monster who has reached the pinnacle of close-quarters combat. Instead of confronting him head-on, focus on enduring as much as possible—”
[Do not command me, Wizard.]
The Archangel turned, an indignant expression on his face, glaring at Lennok.
At the same time, magic burst from Kashuin’s body, powerfully coiling around Lennok.
Snap!
[You promised to summon me only for His work. I, too, entrusted myself to you, believing in Him.]
“……”
[Are you abandoning the trust I patiently endured within that cramped artifact day after day?]
His tone was so furious it was hard to believe he was standing enveloped in holy magic and radiance.
However, the Archangel’s reaction wasn’t entirely incomprehensible.
Even after encountering Dorye multiple times in the Sanctuary of Infinite Void, he had awakened the Archangel not for the Pontiff’s matter, but to deal with the Military Spirits of the Court of Soul Pacification.
For Kashuin, who had declared a Sanctuary to raise his full power, it was no exaggeration to say he felt betrayed, not just disheartened.
But Lennok, even as Kashuin glared at him, remained unfazed and calmly retorted.
“Ridiculous. Do you think I’m lying?”
[Then what is it?]
Lennok rubbed the stigma carved into his right wrist.
“The reason you were summoned with such power. It seems you still don’t understand.”
[……]
The priestly authority transferred by High Priestess Seina Naydree.
Though it might not be as potent as when the High Priestess wielded it herself, it was a favor she had granted by staking her own soul.
Lennok had used this very stigma to fully awaken Kashuin’s existence and summon him here,
and precisely because of that, he knew he could act with confidence towards Kashuin.
“This very moment is proof that I kept my promise. If I weren’t pursuing traces of the Pontiff, could I have obtained such authority and awakened you?”
[……That is.]
Lennok glared at Kashuin with cold eyes.
“If you defy me like this one more time, our promise is void. Do you understand?”
Subjugating Kashuin to the Compassion of the Archangel was not a relationship formed by an equal contract.
Lennok had already fought the Archangel, utterly crushing his spirit and body, merely taking his essence to utilize.
Granting Kashuin’s wishes during this process was fine, but he shouldn’t forget his place.
Crushing Kashuin now with justified reasons was, ultimately, also an implication meant to extract his maximum ability.
“If you understand, move the Sanctuary immediately. What we’re about to do is a gamble that cannot be attempted without risking our lives.”
[……Very well.]
Kashuin slowly turned his back, a hint of grudging acceptance on his face.
Kashuin, facing Croken in the distance, spread his hands and spoke.
[The mark that summoned me clearly bore His will. You are correct. I will cooperate this time.]
Clink!
At that moment, a spear and a sword materialized simultaneously in Kashuin’s hands.
His pure white wings twisted and shed, transforming into the forms of real blades.
Kashuin, his broad wings spread wide, gripping the spear and sword in both hands, stepped forward.
The lanky Archangel, well over two meters tall, and Croken, equally massive, faced each other in the tower’s center.
Croken laughed at Kashuin’s unnaturally elongated, disproportionate figure.
“While I wasn’t looking, you’ve acquired a disobedient dog. Quite fitting, the way it snarls at its own master.”
[A dog? You call me a dog?]
“Do you think not?”
Croken’s lips twisted into a cruel sneer.
“To merely bark and whine, unaware of its place… this must mean your situation isn’t comfortable enough to even resort to such a weapon.”
CRUNCH!
Croken slowly clenched his fist and spoke.
“Watch closely. I’ll show you just how useless a disobedient tool can be.”
“On that point, I disagree.”
Lennok muttered, slowly unfurling the Papyrus he held.
“A spellcaster’s path is to use anything at their disposal to change the situation, if it can be used.”
Shimmer!
The magic circle inscribed on the Papyrus, large enough to cover his entire body, glowed dazzlingly.
The magic circle mingled with the Sanctuary’s power and began to be absorbed into Lennok’s body.
Feeling a strange buoyancy as if magic was being poured into his entire body, Lennok pulled himself upright.
The Papyrus Argenteus, acquired from Jindun’s Cradle. A divine artifact capable of storing and reserving spellcraft or magic.
Normally, it’s used to instantly cast pre-stored flash spellcraft one by one through incantation.
But the true value of Papyrus Argenteus lies in its explosive power to instantly convert reserved magic into tangible force.
It was one of Lennok’s most effective trump cards, an Ascendant’s legacy he had conserved even amidst the Court of Soul Pacification’s pursuit.
RUMBLE!!!
He raised his bloodied body with the Sanctuary’s power, filling it with the Papyrus’s magic.
Fueling his depleted body, he spun his worn-out engine, increasing its RPM.
Huuuuu…
A miracle, as if a second breath was being blown into Lennok’s already exhausted body.
Beyond the ceaselessly falling cascade of magic, Croken’s eerie smile was visible.
As if it wouldn’t deplete so easily, as if he thought Lennok had long since finished preparing to fight and could run again.
He waited, even with the Archangel glaring bizarrely before him.
Facing Croken’s glinting gaze, Lennok covered his Obsidian Mask with one hand.
Whoosh…!!
The moment he gently stroked the mask, concealing his magic, Lennok’s form vanished as if wiped away.
[Charge!!]
At the same time, Kashuin, standing before Croken, rapidly elevated himself, drawing up Holy Spirit magic.
RUMBLE!!!
The brilliant white Sanctuary rotated as if seething, rising like a hemispherical dome between the two monsters.
[In the paradise ruled by my God, exceptional warriors trained themselves for Him.]
As Kashuin raised his crossed spear and sword, veins explosively swelled on his arms, instantly amplifying his power.
[I shall ascertain if your foolish body possesses the qualification to enter that hallowed hall!!]
The instant Kashuin’s spear plunged onto Croken’s shoulder, a pillar of pure white light exploded, erupting above them.
CRASH!!
Twisting his wrist, elbow, shoulder, and fingers in different directions, the spear shaft attached to them spun at an incredible speed.
Kashuin’s form blurred, hunching slightly, and the wings on his back violently flapped, shifting his direction and altitude.
CLANG!
Each time Kashuin’s spear point weaved through the air, white light inverted, scattering chaotically.
Acceleration and transformation occurred instantly with every explosively accelerating swing, distributing magic and will.
He precisely landed fierce blows all around the massive body of the crocodile giant.
THUD-THUD-THUD!!!
……!!
A balanced preemptive strike that surprised even Lennok, who was preparing his final incantation.
In fact, his martial arts were far more refined than when he faced Lennok at the Ascension Gate.
Was this the effect of Lennok using his priestly authority to summon the Archangel and declare the Sanctuary?
CRACKLE!!
The Archangel’s furious assault, unleashing monstrous strength not easily permitted to a human body with just one arm, relentlessly pounded Croken’s colossal form without tiring.
But Croken wasn’t greatly perturbed by Kashuin’s balanced spear techniques.
Instead, he merely smiled, his gaze fixed on the chaotically swirling spear point before his eyes, as if amused.
“Three bursts and one convergence. Spear techniques perfected using the profound principle of the Trinity, perhaps. Uncharacteristically dogmatic martial arts for you.”
He tilted his head back as if bothered by the spear tip aiming for his eyelid, evading it, and then seized the spear blade with his bare hand.
CRUNCH!
An astounding feat: seizing Kashuin’s spear blade, which had been fluttering like silk and accelerating, with effortless ease.
“But once you seize the center, breaking it down and shattering it isn’t difficult.”
Before Kashuin could even retort to the absurd reaction, Croken moved first.
Twisting his wrist, Croken broke the spear blade, then clenched his fist and, with invisible speed, slammed it into the Archangel’s jaw.
“Die.”
A dull glow pierced the Archangel’s form from bottom to top, like iron.
BOOM!!
Kashuin’s head couldn’t withstand the force and exploded instantly.
The Archangel’s head, which had instantly exploded, scattered into white dust.
[……!!!]
The moment Croken lightly flicked his hand away from the Archangel’s body, which was staggering, losing balance.
WHOOSH!!
Holy Spirit magic erupted from Kashuin’s neck, gushing upwards like a white fountain.
Simultaneously, the Archangel’s head regenerated in an instant, and his body creaked as if forcibly righting itself, regaining balance.
Croken let out a hearty laugh at the bizarre sight.
“I thought you looked unpleasant, but you’re a truly disgusting monster. You’re not even an insect, yet you can regenerate your head?”
[The moment I declared the Sanctuary, I myself became merely a component to sustain it.]
Kashuin, having instantly regenerated his head, re-assumed his stance.
[I will not fall until my power is exhausted. Come, Celestial Flight Monster!!]
CRASH!!
The Archangel’s and crocodile giant’s forms briefly intersected, only for the Archangel to be utterly shattered, unable to withstand Croken’s power.
Not just his head, but his swinging spear and sword, and his very body, were crushed and battered in a one-sided struggle.
But Kashuin, like a zombie, regenerated his own body and relentlessly clung to Croken.
He clearly understood what he had to do here, at least he hadn’t dismissed Lennok’s words.
Each time the Archangel’s body was destroyed and regenerated, the Sanctuary’s power rapidly dwindled, ceaselessly vanishing.
The moment the Sanctuary’s power, deployed around Kashuin, faded, his ability to endure like this would also end.
“Go.”
Lennok’s body rapidly accelerated, falling from beyond the crumbling Memorial Tower’s ceiling.
WHOOSH!!
An incredible speed, making everything around him stretch into long, thin threads.
Even as he plummeted towards Croken at an almost uncontrollable speed, he rapidly cast flashes, interweaving unpredictable movements.
He slid past, barely grazing the Archangel’s shattering wings, and instantly reached Croken’s front.
THUD!
Flashing obsidian scales right before his eyes. A colossal body that stole his breath just by looking at it.
Just standing this close, a strange certainty suddenly gripped him, as if death itself was closing in.
Perhaps because he had already confirmed multiple times that there was no chance of victory at this range.
Huuu…!!
But if not this moment, he might never be allowed to try again.
While Croken wasn’t a rigid personality obsessed with promises, neither was he so flippant as to throw words around carelessly.
Therefore, he would surely wait for the moment Lennok deployed his Mind Imprint.
Even with magic replenished by the Papyrus’s power, his depleted mental energy wouldn’t recover easily.
He could only deploy his Mind Imprint once before Croken. And what he would show was already decided.
Behind him, Kashuin’s form exploded overhead, the Archangel’s body crushed and broken.
Ignoring even the monstrous strength and fierce will erupting amidst Croken’s roars and growls for a moment.
Fwoosh…!!
It felt as if all sound around him was being washed away.
In the endlessly silent depths of his mind, everything before his eyes darkened and sank deeply.
A level of self-reflection so intense it was like digging deep into his own subconscious.
At its culmination, he drew up his Mind Imprint as if pulling it from the depths, unfurling a golden magic circle.
Kiiiiing……!!
The Ouroboros magic circle flashed, twisting spacetime, and revolved as if prying open the perfectly sculpted muscular body beneath the obsidian scales.
The power of Ouroboros, which analyzes and dismantles laws and spellcraft.
However, what Lennok was aiming for was not Croken’s Miniature Universe or his Mind Imprint.
When he had previously embedded the Thought Lightning into Croken’s solar plexus, he had already realized such attacks were futile.
If the same situation, the same setup, and the same outcome awaited, at least Lennok’s choice had to be different.
Therefore, he made the curses burdening Croken, not Croken himself, the target of Ouroboros.
If it was a curse targeting Croken, not Croken himself, then Lennok’s power could surely analyze and dismantle it.
Compounded Weakness. Will-thought Seal. Resurgence. External Power Source.
He observed them in the Sanctuary of Infinite Void, recognizing and forcefully apprehending the curses entwined around that colossal body.
“…You, surely not?”
Croken’s expression, realizing Ouroboros’s target wasn’t himself, hardened for the first time.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!!!
The intangible curses binding Croken’s body gradually lost their restrictive power and began to unravel.
It wasn’t directly digging into Croken’s Root Mindscape, but rather unraveling the curses that bound him to glimpse what lay within.
Beyond the dissolving shackles of the curses, Lennok observed Croken’s inner self with transcendent intuition.
The moment Lennok, recognizing an immeasurable, vast presence beyond, paused.
“No, that won’t do.”
In Croken’s hand, a small, pitch-black sphere, seemingly sinking into itself, emerged.
Gooooo……!!
With a mere clench and unclench of his fist, all of spacetime around Croken seemed to be pulled inward.
An unreal miracle: merely with grip strength, he gathered all nearby gravitational force, conjuring a sphere of extreme density.
CRUUUMBLE!!!
The sphere, explosively growing as it devoured all surrounding matter and magic, collided with Ouroboros’s magic circle the very next moment.
The Gravity Sphere, unable to overcome the Mind Imprint of creation magic, disintegrated and vanished on the spot.
……!!!
The backlash sent Lennok’s body sprawling backward as if flung, but he couldn’t even pick himself up, replaying that reaction in his mind.
Croken’s first real display of a Will-thought-based Mind Imprint technique.
But it wasn’t a technique used to kill Lennok or counter his assault.
To prevent Ouroboros’s power from fully activating, Croken had created the Gravity Sphere and thrown it as a substitute.
That was, in essence, an admission that the power of Ouroboros Lennok had activated had been effective—
THUD!!
Before his thoughts could properly connect, Croken’s body accelerated with tremendous speed.
Crushing and shattering Kashuin’s form, he instantly stomped on Lennok’s body, pinning him to the ground.
……!!
“The power to dismantle and deconstruct laws, you say. Was that your creation magic?”
The crocodile giant looked down at Lennok, who was gritting his teeth, unable to scream, and asked with a hint of surprise.
“You are truly an audacious one. From the start, you weren’t targeting me, but the curses afflicting my body?”
Cough…!!
But Lennok, even as he writhed under Croken’s foot, gritted his teeth and lifted his gaze.
“You want to see the answer… don’t you?”
“……”
The Domain that emanates all possibilities, and Ouroboros that absorbs and converges laws.
Both powers Lennok had obtained by completing his hierarchy and transcending were part of the answer he sought.
It was the process of wishing to become the conclusion itself.
“A bias in the process of envisioning the answer, you say… Yes, I concede.”
Croken let out a small laugh and nodded.
“The magic you just showed had considerable value. But that is not the fervent wish that must be fulfilled now.”
“Why not?”
Lennok retorted.
Even battered and pinned, a strange certainty filled Lennok’s eyes as he looked up at the giant.
“Regarding the curses binding your body… is there a reason you must react so sensitively?”
Croken seemed to ponder for a moment at his words, then quietly replied.
“It is natural for paths to diverge when aiming for a single culmination, boy.”
“……”
“Myeong stood before it, and the Director surpassed it. Those who gained qualification will also find their situations no different.”
“……And you?”
“Sometimes, you see.”
At Lennok’s words, Croken let out a wry smile.
“Someone might be born before the threshold… and only be able to live by taking a step back.”
“……”
What could that possibly mean?
Croken’s uncharacteristically quiet reply.
The moment he desperately racked his unresponsive brain to comprehend its meaning.
“It’s time.”
Croken, seizing Lennok’s feebly twitching neck, began to drag his body along.
“What are you… trying to do?”
WHAM!!
The instant he heard Lennok’s words, Croken lightly kicked Lennok’s abdomen with his tail.
“Don’t talk back.”
……!!
A violent impact that rattled his brain, piercing through the effects of the painkillers.
If he had put his full strength into it, Lennok’s body exploding on the spot wouldn’t have been strange.
Dragging Lennok’s limp body, Croken suddenly hurled him out of the violently shaking tower.
Lennok’s form, along with Oris’s spirit hanging from a Magic Scribe, helplessly plummeted out of the tower.
……!!!
As Lennok fell, struggling to lift his head at the incomprehensible action, at that very moment.
“I told you a disobedient tool is useless.”
Croken, standing at the edge of the tower, looked down at Lennok and said.
“From now on, I will teach you how such a tool should be used.”
“……What?”
At that moment, the crocodile giant’s colossal body began to surge upwards at immense speed, shattering the Memorial Tower’s levels.
CRUUUMBLE-CRUUUMBLE-CRUUUMBLE!!!!
Each time Croken’s form shot up the tower, the levels exploded and collapsed.
As a result of the tremors, the tower’s height gradually decreased, and it began to crumble.
With merely a few repeated bounds, the crocodile giant’s form broke the sound barrier.
Becoming a living storm with a tremendous sonic boom, he instantly shot towards the tower’s summit.
CRASHHH!!
Croken’s form ascended hundreds of meters into the air, enveloped in the tower’s debris.
He surveyed the ground, perfectly balanced in mid-air by swinging his tail, thick and strong as rebar.
The moment Croken, gazing at the swaying Memorial Tower with his bright yellow reptilian pupils, stretched one hand skyward.
CRACK!
From beyond the overcast sky, a pitch-black, twisted beam of light plunged into Croken’s hand.
CRACK, CRACKLE……!!
The blackened radiance distorted within Croken’s hand, soon transforming into the shape of a massive hammer.
The moment Lennok realized that hammer was the artifact that had once contained Dorye’s magic.
Croken’s form, gripping the hammer, flashed and spun on the spot.
With no leap, no preparation, no warm-up, he swung the grasped hammer towards the ground in a single strike.
But at that instant, an immeasurable titanic force, erupting from Croken’s center, first collided with his will-thought, transforming into a colossal pillar of light.
Becoming a monstrous column of light that connected the ground and the sky, it utterly crushed the Memorial Tower.
CRASHHHH!!!
The Memorial Tower, hundreds of meters tall, collapsed from its summit, its debris compressed and exploding.
The spirits of the Court of Soul Pacification, the tower’s shaking levels having lost their keystone. The remnants of Military Spirits eternally extinguished within.
Croken’s strike crushed and obliterated all of it, as if gathering and grinding it together.
The culmination of the Myriad Ghosts’ Night Parade. A failed bridge of souls.
The colossal Memorial Tower, which had long guarded the heart of Yorta, was crumbling with the decision of a single individual.
CRUUUMBLE!!!
Even Lennok, who had been falling beneath the tower, was swept up by the aftermath, flung in the opposite direction, and began to plummet towards the ground.
“……”
With Oris’s spirit still tethered to the end of a Magic Scribe, Lennok, dumbfounded,
watched the crucible of destruction that Croken Asylus had wrought with his full power.