Chapter 968: The Prohibition (23)

The underground cavern, where purple and black magic churned and boiled.

A manifestation of a black hole, drawing in even light and distorting space, caused the entire underground area to churn as if being sucked in.

The time it manifested at Victor’s fingertip was a mere instant, imperceptible to the five senses.

But the miracle wrought using the Forbidden Armament, by its very existence, erased all traces left by Anathema.

A dark ruin, buried beneath the earth, where not a single ray of light could penetrate.

Pull-sak, pull-sak!!

“Phew!!”

Felix’s face, whose beak struggled through the piles of earth, burst forth.

The bird-headed figure, breathing rapidly as if searching for oxygen, shook its head while still buried.

“Van? Ghost Demoness?”

“Felix. Over here.”

C-clank!!

At that moment, a door above Felix’s head burst open, and Lennok reached out a hand.

“The mansion wasn’t badly damaged, protected by spellcraft. Come up.”

“…I feel like something similar to this happened once before.”

Felix, covered in grime, opened his eyes after momentarily losing consciousness, finding Lennok, who had already woken up, taking care of him.

Recalling the incident in the sealed zone, Felix gave a wry smile and powerfully pulled Lennok’s hand.

Thud!!

Lennok’s body plummeted straight out of the door.

“…Van?!”

As Felix gasped in shock and frantically cradled Lennok’s head, Lennok casually stood up.

“My apologies. I forgot about the anti-gravity manipulation.”

“…Are you alright?”

Felix asked with a worried expression.

“Indeed, you don’t look too good.”

“No. I just have a few things to think about.”

Lennok’s own expression, as he said this, was also furrowed, as if concentrating on something else.

As Felix looked at him suspiciously, Lennok, having restored the crumpled shield, cast a gravitational chain and pulled Felix up.

Boom!!

With a roar that shook the earth, Felix’s massive body was dragged onto the ground.

Shaking off the dust, Felix finally let out a sigh and stepped into the mansion.

“The drawing-room is…”

The mansion, which had been clean when they first found it, was now covered in piles of earth from the backflow of mud.

The structure of the mansion itself was intact, but it hadn’t prevented the earth from pouring into the interior.

“You’re late, bird-head.”

“…”

Peshia, lounging on the drawing-room sofa, snapped at Felix.

“If you’re so incompetent you couldn’t even avoid a bit of mud and got buried, wouldn’t it be better to just suffocate and die?”

“…My apologies. My body is needlessly large and heavy.”

“Let’s sit down and talk for now.”

Lennok, patting the dejected Felix’s shoulder, gestured to a chair in the drawing-room.

The mansion was half-tilted. Piles of earth lay thickly underfoot, making their appearance dishevelled.

The surrounding scenery had changed greatly, but they gathered as they had before heading to the temple.

However, a silence settled among the group in the drawing-room, with not a single word spoken.

“…”

Felix and Peshia quietly glanced at Lennok, who was lost in thought.

A strange sight, as if they were observing Lennok, trying to gauge his mood.

“…Hmm?”

Only then did Lennok, noticing their reactions belatedly, let out a small laugh.

“Sit comfortably. Why are you both so fidgety, like you’ve done something wrong?”

“Ahem, well, that is…”

“It’s because we thought you’d be furious about losing the Forbidden Armament.”

While Felix cleared his throat, Peshia offered a wry smile.

“It’s normal to be absolutely livid after having your property suddenly stolen by some thieving bastards. If it were me, I’d have smashed this mansion to pieces already.”

“Ah, that’s what you were talking about…”

Lennok trailed off, a wry smile on his face.

Peshia, arms crossed, tilted her head and said,

“That creepy masked man. He used a bizarre spellcraft I’ve never seen before.”

“…”

“I’ve met a few manipulation spellcasters in the Central Front, but none of them could perform such strange tricks as that guy. What happened?”

“He’s an idiosyncratic spellcaster recently recruited into Pandemonium.”

Felix replied with a troubled expression.

“He’s incredibly arrogant and ill-tempered, but he’s said to possess an unparalleled talent in handling manipulation spellcraft.”

“An idiosyncratic spellcaster with that level of skill and background, and his identity is still not properly known?”

“Apparently, information leaking from within Pandemonium itself is extremely scarce. Some even say no one has ever seen his face. He must be a truly special monster with a unique background.”

Felix, who had been answering Peshia’s blunt questions, asked with a puzzled expression.

“He’s appeared in a few major operations for Pandemonium, so I would have thought information about him would have spread among corps-level forces by now… Did you not know, despite having reached the rank of general?”

“No, that… Damn it, he wasn’t that strong when I was working in the field!”

Peshia, who had been rambling defensively, hastily changed the subject.

“Even considering that, the black hole he used at the end. That’s insane. Is it really possible to extract gravity just by obtaining one artifact?”

“It would be more accurate to say that a dangerous artifact fell into the hands of a dangerous spellcaster.”

Felix closed his eyes, his expression turning uncontrollably troubled.

“It was, quite literally, a miracle that manipulated concepts. It’s no wonder he could stand so boldly before Van with such a talent.”

The miniature black hole that Victor’s incarnation had used at the very end.

Its true form was revealed above the underground temple for only a fleeting moment, but it was impossible for superhumans like Felix and Peshia not to recognize its true value.

No, rather, they knew well that a power condensed from such a concept could only exist in reality for a very short time.

Because they possessed the skill and insight to witness and understand the true value of manipulation spellcraft, they couldn’t help but feel even more disheartened by the disparity.

“Indeed, the continent is vast. There are too many talents I can’t even begin to imagine.”

“So, wizard. What are you going to do?”

Peshia asked in a cynical tone.

“You must have something in mind, otherwise you wouldn’t still be here, would you?”

From Felix and Peshia’s perspective, it wouldn’t be strange if it seemed like Lennok had failed to achieve his goals and come up empty-handed.

But how could Lennok explain here that he had, to some extent, designed and guided that outcome from the start?

Lennok pondered his answer for a moment, then spoke in a level tone.

“You don’t need to worry about it for a while.”

“…Don’t need to worry about it?”

“A failure or two is nothing surprising. For today, it’s tolerable to consider it a trial and error.”

“…”

“We can pay this debt back to Pandemonium later, can’t we?”

At Lennok’s composed reply, Peshia squinted at him.

A strange reaction, as if she was looking at an incomprehensible creature.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“…This isn’t the patience I know of him.”

“…”

Peshia’s strangely sharp question.

Peshia, who had been staring intently at Lennok, suddenly declared.

“I’m not going.”

“What nonsense are you talking about now?”

“Even if you suddenly go completely insane and decide to kill everyone in Pandemonium, don’t drag me into it.”

“…”

“I don’t know what kind of plan you’re cooking up to be so relaxed, but since you had something in mind from the start, that’s why you’re acting—”

“We’ll talk about what to do with Pandemonium later.”

As if fed up with being dragged around, Lennok cut off Peshia’s rapidly spewing words and raised a hand.

“For now, let’s focus on what we gained today.”

“Gained? What gained? We didn’t even get to touch anything, and everything was stolen.”

Hadn’t Peshia herself been observing Lennok cautiously precisely because they had seen all the artifacts in Anathema’s temple but couldn’t take them?

But instead of refuting Peshia’s words, Lennok silently reached into his pocket.

Whoosh!!

The ill-tempered poisonous toad and the ring radiating cold air appeared simultaneously on the table.

“…Oh?”

“This is incredible.”

Peshia, who had been lying indifferently, sat up, and Felix looked at Lennok in astonishment.

“Those are the artifacts seized by Pandemonium’s retainers. Since when…?”

The Ice Seal and Curse-Eating Ghoul, which should have originally been stored in Anathema’s temple, had fallen into the hands of Soryu and Ermont respectively.

Lennok had snatched those two artifacts from Pandemonium’s grasp and escaped the temple.

It was surprising enough that he had managed to do such a thing while facing Pandemonium, but even more astounding was that neither Peshia nor Felix, who were on his side, had noticed.

“There was an opening where their spellcraft, used right before escaping the temple, dispersed their attention.”

[Ribbit-gurgle]

Lennok said, placing a hand on the head of the noisily croaking poisonous toad.

“I failed to recover the Forbidden Armament, but I succeeded in securing these two items.”

The reason he hadn’t left immediately after Victor’s incarnation recovered the Forbidden Armament, but instead had him confront Lennok.

From the beginning, Lennok had no intention of letting the Ice Seal and Curse-Eating Ghoul fall into Pandemonium’s hands.

Thus, Lennok moved the incarnation body to assist Pandemonium until just before the escape.

The moment Van’s lightning lance shattered the gemstone staircase, he smuggled out the Curse-Eating Ghoul and Ice Seal, equipped the Forbidden Armament, unleashed the miniature black hole, and simultaneously collapsed the temple, passing the two artifacts into Lennok’s hands.

It would have been impossible without the nearly imperceptible manipulation of Magic Scribes and the Archangel’s Compassion, which could spatially transfer inanimate objects.

However, if he hadn’t used such a technique to disrupt the situation at the very end, Soryu and Ermont would have immediately realized that the artifacts had been stolen.

“I couldn’t let them brazenly steal all the items whose ownership had transferred to me.”

Lennok smiled at the two who were looking at him with astonished expressions.

“So, rather than the items immediately lost, I was thinking about how to utilize these two artifacts.”

“Utilize? Who among us, besides you, would even use these artifacts?”

Peshia scoffed, snatching the poisonous toad.

[Gurgle-gurgle-eek]

She stared blankly at the squirming toad, which emitted strange croaking sounds, then opened its mouth and said,

“This isn’t a living creature. It’s a casting made from a mass of resentment.”

“…”

“It must be an artifact made by ancient shamans or sorcerers. Many high-level casting methods are lost, so modern sorcerers can barely use them. It’s a deplorable situation in the sorcery world that even sorcerers rely on artifacts.”

“I’ve never heard of the origins of castings before. You have considerable knowledge of sorcery.”

Felix turned to Peshia with a surprised expression at her fluent explanation.

“Did you, personally, study sorcery separately?”

“Damn it, as if! When would I ever learn such troublesome spellcraft to use it?”

Peshia replied with disinterest, shaking her head as if exasperated.

“I know a sorcerer. A crazy one who constantly tries to spread and teach sorcery. I heard it from him.”

“…”

Peshia spoke as if it were nothing, but Lennok focused on the existence of that sorcerer.

Given Peshia’s personality, it was safe to assume she wouldn’t politely tolerate a sorcerer spouting useless information to her.

Therefore, the sorcerer who forcibly instilled sorcery knowledge into Peshia’s mind must be a practitioner so skilled that even Peshia couldn’t handle him.

And if such a being possessed that level of skill and status within the corps—

“For those of us, like me or bird-head, who have no talent for sorcery or black magic, these are just creepy decorations.”

Peshia, holding the toad’s mouth wide open, said with a mischievous expression.

“That Ice Seal ring is even worse. Who here has mastered an ice-elemental bloodline ability?”

“…”

“Judging by what that prince fellow said, it seems to be specialized equipment tailored for their royalty. If you foolishly touch such an item, you’ll get a curse, not a blessing.”

Peshia said, leaning back half-reclined on the sofa.

“Both are useless. Well, maybe some blind customer will buy them if we sell them at an auction later.”

“Hmm…”

Had what they gained after fighting for over half a day amounted to nothing more than items none of them could use?

At this fact, Felix merely groaned, unable to react, then hung his head.

“I apologize, Van. I should have been able to do more in that situation. If I had pushed Dorye’s magic even a little further—”

“Dealing a blow to Maiya was enough, so there’s no need to apologize.”

Lennok said, picking up the Curse-Eating Ghoul that Maiya had thrown.

“And forget the nonsense Peshia was spouting. This item is quite useful for all of us right now.”

“What, you bastard?!”

“If you saw the black wizard Ermont using the Curse-Eating Ghoul, you’d know this item devours specific curses or resentment.”

Lennok tapped the poisonous toad’s head and said,

“To be precise, no matter what you feed it, it only absorbs curses and resentment, spitting out the rest.”

How could Ermont have used the Curse-Eating Ghoul to summon Maiya and the Blood Elder into the underground temple?

It wasn’t because Ermont fed it his own curse and received pure black magic in return.

Rather, he simply fed his own magic to the Curse-Eating Ghoul, and then used black magic purified by the device.

“Devouring curses and resentment seems like a fixed purpose, but if you think about it further, it can be applied in various ways.”

Lennok looked back at Felix and Peshia, his eyes shining.

“Purification of Will-thought or magic power. It can cleanse items or powers imbued with malevolent energy.”

“So, what does that have to do with—”

“…Ah!”

Felix, cutting off Peshia, trembled violently as if struck by lightning.

Felix met Lennok’s gaze, his expression slightly agitated, and asked,

“You don’t mean, Dorye’s magic power…?”

“Exactly.”

Lennok nodded and tossed the Curse-Eating Ghoul to Felix.

Lennok said, looking at Felix, who had instinctively caught the poisonous toad.

“The malicious resentment contained within Dorye’s magic power. If we feed that to the Curse-Eating Ghoul and filter it, the magic power’s purity will increase significantly.”

“…”

“If the madness and side effects that come during magic use are a problem, wouldn’t purifying it allow you to focus on training more comfortably?”

Dorye’s magic power, which Felix used, was originally magic power transferred and obtained separately from an artifact.

However, since it was the magic power of a superhuman who had ascended as a berserker, it was true that he had continuously suffered side effects from using it.

That’s why Lennok had been thinking about how to use the Curse-Eating Ghoul’s ability from the moment he heard about it.

He believed he needed to test its ability before completely escaping District 55.

“Felix. Try feeding Dorye’s magic power to the Curse-Eating Ghoul and see if it can purify the magic.”

“That…”

“If it works out, you can obtain purified Ascendant magic power. And if its purity is high enough for others to use—”

Lennok said, rising from his seat.

“Peshia and I might also be able to utilize that magic power.”

“Where are you going, leaving others to do the work?”

“I’m going to test the Ice Seal’s ability.”

Lennok said, clutching the ring that radiated cold.

“As you said, this item will bestow a curse rather than a blessing if it’s not for Kabahim royalty. I need to investigate exactly how it works.”

“You’re determined to freeze to death. Do as you please.”

Peshia crossed her legs, lay back, and chuckled at Lennok.

“Well, if you end up dying outside, I’ll at least build a bonfire for you.”

“If I fail, you’re next, so be prepared.”

“…”

Lennok left Peshia, whose expression had soured, and immediately exited the drawing-room, heading behind the mansion.

The mansion was half-tilted due to the collapse of the underground temple, but it wasn’t completely buried yet.

The open space below the sewage passage was partially destroyed, but there was still some room remaining.

In such a place, even if he tested the Ice Seal’s ability, the cold air wouldn’t spread inside the mansion.

“Alright then…”

However, contrary to his earlier words, Lennok immediately put the ring away and sat down, leaning against the ground.

With his back against the tilted mansion wall, he closed his eyes, concentrating and redirecting his consciousness.

He had given the two a plausible reason for his absence, but there was still one task he needed to handle first.

“Hoo…”

As he let out a low sigh, cold sweat trickled down his forehead.

The moment he closed his eyes, tilted his head back, and rapidly dispersed his consciousness as if letting it flow away,

Lennok’s consciousness rapidly sank as if being sucked somewhere, then began to flicker.

Vulcan City, District 21. Hylaea’s Cathedral.

Above the chapel, where the quiet sound of an old organ resonated.

Pandemonium members stood surrounding the spellcaster wearing an obsidian mask.

The air was sharply heated. The other members’ gazes were watchful, as if seeing an enemy.

But Lennok paid no attention to the surrounding stares and intently examined the glass-colored gauntlet on his left hand.

The metallic gleam shimmered brilliantly on the palm of the gauntlet.

A strange reaction, as if he was captivated, gazing at his own reflection within it.

“So.”

Hylaea, the nun, massaged her temples with a troubled expression, said.

“Regarding what Victor did during this operation, I’ll need an explanation from beginning to end.”