Chapter 918: The Summit (1)

“Move the icebox carefully! Don’t you know temperature maintenance is vital for ice-type items?”

“Curse users, get over here and clean this up! The talismans you threw around are blocking one of the hallways!”

“Pharmacists, hurry up. The medicinal herbs will spoil if left at room temperature for too long.”

Rough shouts echoed from all directions.

People of all ages, genders, races, and species mingled, ceaselessly ascending and descending the vast floors of the Magic Tower.

The tower’s facilities, damaged by the battle between Adamant Thunder and Cheonbeon, were being restored, and one by one, affiliated businesses began to move back in.

The once-quiet tower was once again bustling and noisy.

While the tower was on hiatus, the businesses had been busy preparing new products and items to bring in, rushing to secure their spots.

And Lennok sat in his office on the top floor, prepared especially for the Tower Lord, watching the bustling Magic Tower below.

“…”

Pharmacists hurriedly carried herbs wrapped in sturdy packaging.

Porters transported tablets of learning devices pouring out of a factory.

Managers dispatched from research institutes and businesses bustled about, checking quantities with their ledgers.

What stood out was the marked increase in wizards from other Magic Towers, who had previously been few in number.

Despite the notoriety and grim rumors surrounding Adamant Thunder, the market’s excitement, once formed, did not easily die down.

Rather, the incidents he caused became a pretext for a new influx of people.

Beep.

As Lennok leaned back in his office chair, gazing out the window, the phone he’d tossed on his desk vibrated.

-Adamant Thunder. As promised, I’m sending a copy of the search engine’s algorithm.

A message from Raktasha Samir, the Deep Web administrator.

-I’m not sure if it’ll be of any use now, but since you said you needed it, I’ve taken care of it. If you’re willing to participate in the search engine’s restoration, please contact us again later…

Click.

Lennok closed the phone and, with a glance, turned on the massive TV mounted on the office wall.

As soon as the screen lit up, new stories were being reported on the news channel.

[Professor Evan Vylun has broken his long silence to announce the schedule for the fourth Universal Magic update.]

[Following Luminescence, Variation, and Suture, the development of [Ignition] magic has been newly updated on the research institute’s website…]

[Various columns are being published in academia debating whether this means he has deciphered the fundamental principles of manifesting elemental magic, which was once considered the exclusive domain of the Magic Towers—]

Click.

Lennok turned the TV off and leaned his chair back.

“…”

The Lighthouse Keeper’s journey that had shaken the entire city, the hearing to manage its aftermath, and the announcement of Evan Vylun’s research that had been postponed—all were proceeding smoothly for the time being.

For at least a few months, the world would be preoccupied with illuminating the [Ignition] magic Lennok had announced.

But even as he handled the postponed work of the Magic Tower and the research institute simultaneously, Lennok’s thoughts were elsewhere.

The administrators of the Deep Web. The Ars Nova search engine he had acquired at their request.

And through it, the information he had finally succeeded in obtaining about the Director and the Pontiff.

The series of facts confirmed through the search engine were so unexpected that even Lennok had been unable to reach a conclusion easily.

‘The First Apostle of the Guido Cult is a sealed Ascendant…’

He knew that the Second Apostle, considered the head of the Apostles, was the most powerful and perfect among them.

But he had never paid any mind to the First Apostle, who was ranked even higher.

Not only did he believe that the strength of the Apostles wasn’t a simple numbers game, but it was also difficult to obtain specific information about vacant Apostle positions.

But to think that the first apostle to follow the Pontiff was none other than an Ascendant who had reached Level 9.

While he couldn’t hide his astonishment at such an absurd fact, a part of him found it understandable.

A failed savior who had transcended two endings to reach this world.

If it was a being who once reigned at the pinnacle of the world as a failed god, it wouldn’t be strange for even a monster like an Ascendant to serve as an Apostle.

At least in Lennok’s mind, the Pontiff was an incomprehensible monster who possessed that level of status and causality.

‘I was searching for information on the Pontiff, so it was strange that information on the First Apostle came up.’

The performance of the Ars Nova search engine was a power that dwarfed any other program or software.

It was a miracle that could pluck the exact desired keyword from the trash heap of a broken and abandoned external network.

Was it truly a coincidence that he learned the First Apostle’s identity after pushing the search engine to its limits to find information on the Pontiff?

Lennok suspected that this, too, was the Pontiff’s intention to hide his own objectives.

What if the information about the First Apostle being revealed was itself the Pontiff’s design to use him to erase his own traces?

What if he had taken measures in preparation for someone else who would one day be hot on his heels?

Given the Pontiff’s disposition as Lennok had encountered it, it didn’t seem unlikely.

‘The Pontiff and the Director seem similar, but they have many contrasting aspects. What if that itself is intentional to some degree…?’

Unlike the Pontiff, who tried to hide himself in the memories of others, the Director made no effort to conceal himself.

He did what was necessary, when and where it was necessary.

Mixing deceit or lies in the process would be meaningless to him.

Ultimately, it likely stemmed from the ‘origin’ that the Pontiff and the Director fundamentally symbolized, but-

“…I don’t know.”

For days, Lennok had mulled over the meaning of the information he had obtained, but he couldn’t find a clear answer.

He thought he knew enough, understood enough, yet he still couldn’t reach the crucial essence.

Perhaps it was because while Lennok understood their essence in words, he couldn’t truly comprehend their meaning.

Was Lennok now feeling, as he chased after them, what others felt when they looked at him?

Certainty and speculation mixed, making even what he knew seem unclear.

His mind was filled with countless abstract thoughts and concepts, but one thing remained unchanged.

He still didn’t know how this world would end.

Just as the Pontiff’s answer and the Director’s answer differed, there was only the vague conviction that Lennok’s answer would not be the same as theirs.

However, unlike the information on the Pontiff, the news about the Director just had to be—

Knock, knock.

A knock sounded on his office door, and Jenny peeked her head in.

“Van, have you snapped out of it yet?”

“…”

“I know you’re drained from all the work lately, but come out for a second. There’s a problem.”

“…A problem?”

He had never shown it on the outside, but had she guessed his mood like a ghost?

A wry smile on his lips, Lennok stood up at Jenny’s words.

With a flick of his hand, he summoned the staff standing in a corner of the office and gripped it.

As he limped out of the office, a furious shout echoed from the first-floor lobby below.

“I already confirmed that your complexion is as stiff as a corpse’s, and yet you feign ignorance!”

“Excuse me, that’s not it… Please, calm down.”

Amidst the mountains of various materials and herbs, an old woman stood with her hands behind her back, shouting.

And in front of her, a young man with a pale face bowed repeatedly.

But the old woman paid no heed to the young man’s servile reaction and continued to shout relentlessly.

“I won’t hear it! I cannot remain in the same space as a sinister being like you, so get out!”

“…Is that the Yakson?”

Yanushika Greenway, the Level 7 pharmacist who had dramatically treated Lennok’s mana poisoning.

She was one of only two people who had ever examined Lennok’s body, in exchange for him resolving her grudge with the drug lord.

Excluding the vampire doctor Murphy, she was the first he had entrusted with his own treatment.

After the tower had stabilized, he had recruited the Yakson to manage the medicinal herb business division. What could the problem be?

“It seems there’s a porter, here to move new materials for the tower, that the Yakson doesn’t like,” Jenny said, pressing her brow with a troubled expression.

“She’s been trying to kick that man out since a while ago, halting all other work.”

“…”

At Jenny’s words, Lennok listened closely to the Yakson’s shouting.

A sinister being. An unpleasant presence. A stiff complexion and pulse.

“If we’re talking about being sinister, the curse users and shamans staying in the tower are no slouches either.”

“That’s what I’m saying. Why is she picking a fight with a porter and not the other magic users?”

Jenny let out a sigh.

“I wanted to mediate, but the Yakson has a considerable reputation in this field, and she’s someone you brought in personally, so…”

“It was difficult to intervene carelessly. I understand.”

With those words, Lennok immediately snapped his fingers.

Crackle…!!

A faint current of electricity flashed from the tower’s ceiling, and Lennok and Jenny’s forms teleported dozens of meters down into the middle of the lobby.

“The, the Tower Lord…!!”

The crowd stirred at the sight of Lennok, who had appeared in the center of the Magic Tower’s lobby in the blink of an eye.

“Is this something that requires Adamant Thunder himself to step in?”

“Is that man the great wizard?”

“It’s my first time seeing him in person. He’s much younger than I thought…”

The businessmen and wizards of the tower, seeing Lennok for the first time, couldn’t help but whisper quietly among themselves.

“The woman standing next to him. She’s not a magic user, but she used spatial teleportation with him.”

“There was no warning before they appeared. Has he already mastered teleportation spellcraft?”

“I can’t read the pattern. It doesn’t even seem like mana…”

Tap, tap.

As Lennok walked forward, tapping his staff, the surrounding murmurs vanished as if washed away.

In the quieted lobby hall, only the sound of the staff echoed between the Yakson and the young man.

“Yanushika Greenway.”

Lennok, now standing between the two, asked in a low tone.

“Is there a problem?”

“…Adamant Thunder. You’ve come at a good time.”

The Yakson glared at the young man with a hardened expression.

“This man must be expelled from the tower immediately. He is a wicked being. The longer he stays in the tower, the more harm he will cause.”

“H-Harm? That’s a bit harsh!”

At the young man’s protest, the Yakson shouted back.

“You wretch! I don’t know what tricks you’ve pulled, but you’re quite the talker after playing such a creepy prank! If you don’t leave this tower at once, I will personally throw you out!”

“Wait, at least you have to tell me what the problem is!”

“Th-that is…”

The Yakson looked like she was about to say something but then clamped her mouth shut with a troubled expression.

Seeing her reaction, the young man seemed to gain confidence.

“I am only here on a business trip to deliver materials to the Magic Tower. If you act like this, I have no choice but to file a formal complaint through my company-”

“Enough.”

Silencing the young man with a single word, Lennok nodded.

“Jenny. What company does this man belong to?”

“The Gulag Merchant Guild. They were selected as a partner business last month, and these are merchants who have just moved in today for the first time…”

“Give their workers double their pay for today.”

Lennok said this and began to walk toward the young man.

“With this man gone, the other workers will have to work harder.”

“What? W-wait a minute. What does that—!!”

Before the young man could finish, Lennok lightly tapped his staff.

And in that instant, the young man’s body vanished from the spot as if washed away.

WHOOSH!!

“H-He’s gone…”

“Wait. Don’t tell me he used teleportation spellcraft…?”

The faces of the people, belatedly realizing that Lennok had banished the man from the tower, turned to expressions of bewilderment.

“Did he just cast spatial teleportation on a complete stranger with a flick of his wrist?”

“Even a slight miscalculation would have turned him into a pile of meat.”

“As if that man would care about something like that.”

“Didn’t you see the hearing? He wasn’t completely unreasonable…”

Ignoring the voices coming from all sides, Lennok turned back to the Yakson.

“Yanushika.”

“Adamant Thunder, I apologize.”

Only then did the Yakson realize the situation and apologize with an embarrassed expression.

“To others, it must have looked like I was being stubborn for no reason. I have no excuse if I looked like a senile old woman.”

“I understand the situation.”

Lennok replied calmly.

“I will handle his matter separately.”

“I don’t mind, but your reputation for arbitrarily banishing a porter just by listening to my words…”

Finally realizing what the Yakson was worried about, Lennok let out a faint smile.

“It’s fine.”

In reality, the feelings and reactions directed at Lennok right now were far from fear or disgust.

He knew that what he had said at the hearing had caused a great stir, but seeing the situation now, it seemed the perception of him had changed slightly.

He had gone from an insane wizard who wouldn’t listen to an insane wizard who would. Should he call that a win?

But the Yakson, not noticing the meaning, simply nodded with a gloomy expression.

“…I am ashamed. Still, thank you for believing this old woman’s words.”

“If I don’t believe the person I brought here, who would I believe?”

“Oh…”

Jenny let out an impressed sound as if to say, ‘not bad,’ but Lennok ignored her reaction and returned immediately to his office.

Jenny, having confirmed that the transportation work in the lobby had resumed, followed Lennok up and said.

“The reaction wasn’t as bad as I expected. Maybe because it makes you look like you take care of your own people. You handled that well for once.”

“I didn’t do it just to side with the Yakson.”

“What? But you placated them by giving the workers extra pay-”

“That man’s role in the transport work was likely not insignificant. I just paid more for the extra trouble.”

Lennok said as he opened the office door.

“More importantly, the Yakson wasn’t lying. In fact, that man is-”

Lennok spoke, looking at the young man’s form collapsed in the middle of the spacious office.

“—a dead corpse.”

“…What?”

The dissonance of the young man, who had been getting berated by the Yakson, having arrived in Lennok’s office before them.

Jenny froze, then gasped in horror as she finally understood the situation.

“You didn’t banish him, you teleported him to the office. Wait, but that man is a corpse?!”

“We’ll have to ask him about that now.”

Lennok brought over a chair and unceremoniously tossed the young man onto it.

Sitting on the sofa opposite him, Lennok asked.

“Get up already. How long do you plan on resting like that?”

“…To say I was resting is a bit harsh.”

At that moment, the young man, who had been limp as a literal corpse, sat up straight.

A pale complexion, an unfocused face. A heavy countenance that seemed devoid of blood.

“The teleportation spellcraft you used was so clean, it just took me some time to find this body’s coordinates.”

The young man smiled melancholically at Lennok.

“Well, that would have been impossible if you hadn’t briefly opened the tower’s barrier. You knew from the beginning, didn’t you?”

“My eyes haven’t gotten so bad that I can’t recognize a necromancer.”

Lennok said with a deadpan face.

The young man who had gotten into a dispute with the Yakson was no ordinary porter.

He was a corpse whose life functions had long ceased, bound and controlled by necromancy.

As soon as Lennok saw this young man, he had recognized him as a tool of the necromancer he had contacted before for a summit.

“A corpse manipulated by necromancy doesn’t get tired. The idea of using the role of a porter as a pretext to enter the Magic Tower wasn’t bad in itself.”

Lennok sneered at the silent young man.

“But it seems you forgot that this Magic Tower is home to many masters of various spellcrafts. Did you really think no one among the magic users gathered here would recognize a corpse?”

“My necromancy is perfect. Only the Yakson noticed. I should have used the fact that she couldn’t properly state my identity to mess with her.”

“The Yakson is in a state where she cannot speak of her diagnoses due to certain circumstances. She tried to kick you out without revealing you were a corpse, so it’s no surprise people misunderstood.”

Yanushika Greenway, the Yakson, was a Level 7 pharmacist who had reached her level by using a powerful Geas.

She was bound by a restriction that made her forget all memories of the patients she diagnosed.

If the Yakson had revealed on the spot that the young man was a corpse controlled by necromancy, her own Geas would have made her forget that fact completely.

That was why Yanushika Greenway, despite knowing the young man was a corpse manipulated by forbidden arts, couldn’t state the reason and simply tried to drive him away.

“If you wanted to contact me, there are other ways. Why did you foolishly crawl into the Magic Tower yourself and get caught by the Yakson?”

“Hah! I don’t know who’s talking. Weren’t you the one who’s been holed up in this tower for days since the hearing ended?”

The necromancer scoffed and said.

“I had urgent news to deliver, so I took the risk of sending a contact directly to the tower, only to be treated so poorly. It’s truly baffling.”

“Poorly…”

Lennok chuckled and nodded.

“First, let’s hear this urgent news.”

“I was planning to tell you right away if you hadn’t interrogated me about the Yakson’s affair.”

The young man spoke, slowly opening his mouth.

“The summit between the apex ability users has been scheduled. Decide on your participation within 24 hours. The gathering will happen within 48 hours, so take note of the location and contact method.”

“A summit…”

So the summit that had been planned since before he dealt with Lapis’s matter was finally happening, and he was being summoned.

But that wasn’t the reason Lennok had bothered to bring the necromancer into his office.

It was the information about the Director that he had obtained through the Ars Nova search engine.

The confirmed fact that the head of Pandemonium had completed his advent somewhere in the world.

For the Director to start moving at this point was surely an event on par with the Gabihaeng incident.

“And about the summit, it looks like the planned meeting place will be changed.”

The young man, not noticing Lennok’s thoughts, said nonchalantly.

“Someone completed their advent in a forbidden ritual site in Vulcan and then disappeared, so the ley lines have become unstable.”

In that moment, Lennok’s entire body froze as if it had turned to ice.

“…What?”