Chapter 917: The Deep Web (6)

A cybernetic space trapped in silent darkness.

The sound of stones being placed alternately on a large game board echoed.

In the stillness, the administrators watched the match with tense expressions.

Before a faintly glowing statue, Lennok’s calm voice resounded.

Clack!!

“DA94, reverse. AL03, forward. RK81 through 99, sequential occupation complete.”

[…….]

The AI’s guide voice, which had never failed to respond, fell silent.

“HY93, block. CK17, protect.”

[…….]

The statue’s face, which always wore a benevolent smile, became expressionless.

“KD93 through 44, reverse-order corner attack.”

[Umm…….]

For the first time, a faint hesitation flowed from the AI.

Unlike before, when its moves were unhindered, it now hesitated, staring at the game board.

It was a sudden change for the search engine that had only ever responded with mechanical answers.

Everyone now realized this was the process of the AI cross-referencing its computational devices with its game record data to find the best possible move.

“It’s thinking….”

“The strong AI is hesitating.”

Although they couldn’t fully comprehend the ongoing match, the administrators were not ignorant of who had the upper hand.

The strong AI, which had never once lost its advantage in thousands of matches, was now struggling in its game against Lennok.

“He disconnected for a moment and his skill increased exponentially. Does that make any sense?”

“Do you think he found a way to surpass the Central City’s database in that time?”

“Don’t you think he secretly invited an Obaekro master to give him advice?”

“Everyone, be quiet.”

Unaware they had unwittingly touched upon a fragment of the truth, Raktasha rebuked the other administrators.

“Let Adamant Thunder concentrate. It looks like the balance has already shifted.”

Clack!

In that time, Lennok calmly placed a black stone, and the AI struggled to respond with a white one.

As time passed, the time Lennok took to make his moves grew shorter, while only the AI’s response time grew longer.

It reached a point where most of the time consumed by the match was spent paused on the AI’s turn.

“It seems you’re short on thinking time.”

Lennok spoke.

“If it’s difficult to keep up even with thought acceleration, feel free to use your authority to arbitrarily change the rules and extend the game time.”

[…….]

Watching the silent AI, Lennok picked up a black stone.

“This match will decide the game anyway. There shouldn’t be a problem even if it gets longer.”

Although they had extended the match time through the cybernetic space’s thought acceleration, even considering that, the time limit for maintaining the Dream-Thought Virtualscape was approaching.

If he couldn’t win this match, accessing the search engine would be a distant prospect for a while.

However, from the moment this match began, Lennok was certain he could not lose.

Papyrus Argenteus, a tool Jindun had used as a hobby to play against himself.

He had thought his chances of winning would increase by borrowing the wisdom of an Ascendant, but using it directly exceeded all expectations.

Every move Jindun made spread across the board so unpredictably that even Lennok couldn’t immediately comprehend it.

Every stone, which at a glance seemed like a bad move or a mistake, connected organically to dominate the entire board.

Was this what it felt like to throw a stone into a stormy sea and use its ripples to draw a complex barrier formation?

He was handling this entire process by keeping the papyrus open and having Davi make the moves for him.

‘It’s so effortless it feels unreal.’

It had been so long since he’d handled a job this easily that even Lennok felt awkward.

But even as he continued to overwhelmingly dominate the game against the AI, Lennok’s expression remained calm and subdued.

Playing Obaekro like this always reminded him of the final moments of the Ascendant who had taught him barrier arts.

“……”

While playing Obaekro, he would rebuke Lennok and nag half-jokingly that he was going easy on him.

But to Lennok, he had been the first teacher to show him the truth of the world.

Clack!!

A single, lonely white stone on a board covered in black.

As soon as Lennok saw it, he wrote down the AI’s move on the papyrus beside him.

Rustle…!!

Then, quite naturally, the next move appeared on the papyrus.

Lennok immediately picked up a black stone.

Clack!

As he placed the black stone exactly as he had seen on the papyrus, the white stone on the board was flipped without fail, and the remaining territory was completely occupied.

Clatter!!

The board was already so covered in black stones that the color had become meaningless; the situation was that one-sided.

It seemed he could completely finish this match in just a few more moves.

Just as Lennok thought so and was about to confirm the sequentially changed state of the board…

Fwoosh!!

All the pieces on the board vanished as if it were a lie.

The other administrators, bewildered by the AI’s sudden clearing of the board, shouted in panic.

“Hey!! Why did you suddenly stop the game?!”

“No, wait. This is-”

[It seems there is no longer any meaning in continuing the match.]

Before the empty board, the statue’s expressionless face gazed at Lennok.

[It is my defeat.]

“……”

[After the 10th move of the match, my chances of winning continuously declined, and with your last move, they vanished completely.]

The AI, calmly admitting its defeat, spoke.

A reaction it hadn’t shown even in the first match against Lennok now flowed calmly through the search engine.

[Mistakes and feints intermingle to become effective moves.]

The AI immediately began to evaluate the match that had just ended.

[The principles of the world are contained within meaningless bad moves, controlling all variables. This is proof of a standard that transcends even the axis of good and evil.]

“……”

[By this strong AI’s judgment, it is incomprehensible, but your game possesses the dignity of a Transcendent.]

The AI asked with the utmost politeness.

[May I interpret this as having had the honor of playing against an Ascendant?]

“……”

At those words, Lennok paused the hand that had lifted a black stone, and the other administrators also held their breath and listened intently.

Vulcan’s Adamant Thunder. The great wizard infamous for being the most insane in the megacity.

But that was also a tribute mixed with wariness for a genius whose talent would go down in Vulcan’s history.

An unprecedented monster who had reached the 8th level in less than a decade since drifting into this city.

One of the candidates among all existing Level 8 peak ability users said to be close to ascension.

If Adamant Thunder was, at this very moment, proving his qualifications to the AI—

[Once the emergency protocol is terminated, this AI will be completely annihilated, and the search engine will be opened to you. Could you please give me a final answer?]

“That’s an uncharacteristically polite attitude.”

Lennok smirked.

“Were Ascendants treated with courtesy even in the Central City?”

[They are Transcendents who have obtained a status comparable to the world itself.]

The AI said.

[Those who have altered their own destiny have always been treated with courtesy as proud answerers, even in the Central City. It is only natural.]

“……”

For Lennok, who knew about the matter of Gyebaek, the AI’s answer was not very trustworthy.

But instead of pointing that out, Lennok just smirked and stood up from his seat.

“I don’t have much to say about this match either.”

Lennok said, sensing the AI’s signal gradually fading.

“However, you have certainly experienced the honor you spoke of. I can assure you of that.”

[Is, that so…….]

The faint light that had been flowing from the statue dimmed and slowly flickered.

[In that case, that is enough…….]

The AI’s response went no further.

Simultaneously, the statue’s form twisted and transformed on the spot, eventually turning into the shape of a stone pillar.

Only then did the other administrators murmur in disbelief.

“Is, is it over……”

“So anticlimactically… No, should I say this went much better than expected.”

“If we knew it would be resolved this easily just by bringing a great wizard, we should have tried it sooner.”

“How do we use this stone pillar?”

When Lennok asked, pointing to the stone pillar standing at his feet, Raktasha answered.

“That’s not a stone pillar. It’s a [Wedge] that can occupy and modify cybernetic space.”

“A Wedge?”

“If you insert it into a specific cybernetic space, Ars Nova’s search engine will start working again.”

Raktasha muttered, looking at the Wedge with a strange expression.

“However, to make the search engine function normally, you’ll need a new AI to restore and update the algorithm.”

“A new AI, you say…”

“If you’re skilled enough to overwhelm Cunningham in the [AI Labyrinth], creating a new AI shouldn’t be too difficult for you.”

Shrugging, Raktasha stepped forward and spoke.

“The function itself should work properly, so it would be good to test it. You had information you needed to find using this search engine, didn’t you?”

“……”

“Information about Pandemonium’s Director and the Pontiff. Weren’t you trying to get your hands on it directly?”

“That’s true, but I don’t feel like doing it in a place like this.”

Lennok tapped the Wedge and smirked.

“There are too many watching eyes. I wonder if I really have to.”

“……Ah, so that’s what you meant.”

Finally understanding Lennok’s words, Raktasha nodded with a grim expression.

“We’ll step aside for a moment. I’ll put up a firewall around here so no other hackers can peek in. That should be enough, right?”

“Not bad.”

Leaving the grumbling administrators to disappear, Lennok immediately placed his hand on the Wedge.

The Deep Web administrators seemed to want to see how the search engine actually worked, but there was no reason for Lennok to show them the information he was looking for.

The fact that Lennok was searching for information on the Director and the Pontiff wasn’t particularly strange for those who knew about Adamant Thunder’s investigation into the Black Consumer Project.

He had revealed this fact to the Deep Web administrators because he felt there was no reason to be secretive about it.

However, viewing the specific information about the Director and the Pontiff with the administrators was a completely different matter.

At this point, when he had his own suspicions about their identities, showing that secret to the administrators was too great a risk.

“Open search engine.”

Clank!!

At that moment, the Wedge that had turned into a stone pillar split open sideways, and a long stone slab shot up.

A mysterious slab of stone stood tall before Lennok’s eyes, like a giant tombstone.

But the moment Lennok saw it, he understood that this was the true form of the search engine.

The Judgment Edict he had seen at the hearing had also taken a similar form to this slab.

“……Good.”

Taking an uncharacteristically deep breath, Lennok slowly placed his hand on the slab.

There was no need to convey his intent through language or letters.

The slab read Lennok’s will, planted its roots deep into the cybernetic space, and began to search this entire abandoned network in real-time.

The Director and the Pontiff.

Focusing on those two keywords, it began to carve meaningful information onto the slab in real-time.

KAGAGAGAK!!!

Rough, scribbled letters appeared, as if an invisible blade were carving the stone slab.

But immediately after, the inscribed letters were swept away by an unseen suppressive force and vanished as if covered over.

Drrrrrk!!

A series of characters that vanished at the same time they were being inscribed.

Realizing this was evidence of a very powerful prohibition—one that pinpointed and erased specific keywords as soon as they were pulled from the indiscriminate sea of information—Lennok cleared his thoughts and began to read the appearing letters.

“Guido… Pontiff…… under his command… 1st Apostle……”

After confirming that much, Lennok unconsciously frowned.

What Lennok wanted was information about the Director and the Pontiff themselves, not about the Apostles under them.

Of course, he wasn’t uninterested in the 1st Apostle, who had never been mentioned anywhere before, but—

That thought was washed away the moment he read the next phrase.

“Ascen…dant… origin… currently sealed…?”

A message so shocking that even Lennok, who had been casually reading the emerging text, flinched in surprise.

But something even more astonishing followed.

As soon as he uttered those words, the cybernetic space began to distort as if contaminated, emitting static.

JZZZZZZZIK!!!

The static, which had been frantically roaming the surroundings as if searching for the coordinates of the words just spoken, vanished into the sea of the Deep Web.

Lennok, who had been watching the traces of the static that had appeared and vanished in an instant, turned his gaze.

The slab, which had been covered in scribbled writing, was now clean as it was at the beginning.

Except, a faint crack had appeared on its surface.

Tuduk, tuduk……!!

“……”

The immense restriction that was triggered the moment Lennok mentioned the information about the 1st Apostle.

If this had been reality and not a cybernetic space, it was surely a restriction that would have triggered a prohibition.

Considering that, the cause of the new crack on the slab was obvious.

Simply searching for and retrieving information about the 1st Apostle had placed an enormous load on the search engine.

“……”

Should he continue from here?

This was the result of retrieving information about the 1st Apostle, not even the Pontiff himself.

This time, it wouldn’t be strange if the search engine broke down completely while looking for information about the Director.

Lennok, with his hand on the slab, hesitated for a long time before lowering his hand and stepping back.

Yes, the price of forcing it now, at the risk of overloading the search engine, was too high.

Rather than risk breaking the search engine he had just obtained, it would be better to take his time and find the information gradually.

Considering the time limit for maintaining his Domain, there was no reason to take such a risk here—

“……No.”

Lennok turned back toward the slab with a hardened expression.

A search engine that could break at any moment. A powerful prohibition that extended its influence even into the sea of the Deep Web.

There would be no next time. There was a secret he could only obtain now or never.

He had to move forward, even if it meant burning all the fruits of his labor.

CRACK!!

He gripped the cracked slab with both hands as if to shatter it.

The God-slayer of the Old World. The madman who had endlessly honed the talent of a Magic Marksman, seeking to eventually shoot down a god.

He couldn’t even properly remember the face or voice, but the existence itself was clearer than any other memory.

The moment Lennok desperately recalled him and poured his formless will-thought into the slab…

Kagak…!!

A new string of characters began to be scribbled onto the slab again.

Along with it, the cracks on the slab deepened, as if it would shatter at any moment.

Tuduk, tudududuk…!!

Holding onto the slab that was teetering precariously as if it would break at any moment, he desperately read the phrases that appeared and disappeared in real-time.

Unlike with the Pontiff, the influence of the prohibition seemed less severe, as the rejection itself wasn’t as strong.

“Bokmajeon… Director… consciousness response vanished from the Imaginary Dimension….”

But as he read the phrase inscribed on the slab, Lennok’s expression was colored with an even stronger bewilderment than before.

“……Manifestation complete somewhere in the world?”