Chapter 998: The First Gateway (8)
[Explosive Flame Orb]
Whoosh!!
The wall, wrapped in ornate silk, collapsed layer by layer, flames surging through the gaps.
The insubstantial flames spun at immense speed, mercilessly pounding the walls and ceiling.
KWA-AAANG!!
The Tower Lord, wreathed in flames, explosively accelerated. Lennok, his hands wreathed in fire, clenched his fists.
Lennok and the Tower Lord’s figures intertwined and tumbled, then in the next moment, leaped dozens of meters and collided.
Waves of flame exploded dozens of times, scorching and incinerating the wide hallway of Hwacheongru.
[Miniature Incendiary Bomb]
Drrrrrrrr!!
With a sound like a machine gun firing, hundreds of miniature Explosive Flame Orbs exploded.
They pierced the ceiling of Hwacheongru’s top floor hallway, leaving behind honeycomb-like burn marks.
“Fast. To miniaturize the Explosive Flame Orb to this extent…!!”
Thump-thump-thump!!
Lennok, who had been sprinting to avoid the barrage of miniature Explosive Flame Orbs, leaped behind a wall and concealed himself. Immediately after, Lennok appeared from behind the Tower Lord, twisting his hands together, and instantly created and shot a spear of flame.
BWOOM!!
The Vestment of Calamity wrapped around the Tower Lord’s body split apart, incinerating the flame spear Lennok threw and vanishing.
It was a type of counter-fire, burning flame magic with flame magic. Lennok narrowed his eyes.
“The Vestment of Calamity, is it? I’ve seen Tatiana Chiglet use it.”
“If you fought that child in Vulcan, then perhaps you did.”
The Tower Lord laughed, shifting his gaze.
“But in the end, didn’t you, you dog, fail to kill either Chiglet or Adamant Thunder, and were defeated?”
“…”
“I considered that defeat you’re brooding over to be rather admirable, and even gave you a chance to lead the vanguard in your next battle against Adamant Thunder…”
Beyond the blazing flames, the Tower Lord’s eyes gleamed eerily as he stared at Lennok.
“Do you dare disregard this Lord’s goodwill, knowing not your place?”
[Radiant Spirit Armory]
KWAAA-AAAK!!
The Vestment of Calamity’s hem flared open, spewing forth countless weapons made of flame.
Flame spears, fire swords, and other fiery blades made of blazing fire shot towards Lennok.
At the same time, Lennok harshly stomped the floor with one foot.
[Radiant Flame Step]
[Trampling Fire]
Flames erupted in ripples from Lennok’s foot, incinerating the floor of Hwacheongru’s top floor.
The moment the ground where the Tower Lord and Lennok stood collapsed, the wave of weapons lost direction and went astray.
KWARURURUNG!!
“Goodwill, you say. I never wanted such a thing.”
As he fell to the lower floor, Lennok, one hand hidden behind his back, scoffed.
“Shouldn’t the goodwill be for you, who lost the administrator position to the Conjunction Spell Master?”
“…You truly…!”
Perhaps those words touched a raw nerve for the Tower Lord.
The Tower Lord’s expression twisted, and almost simultaneously with Lennok, he swept one hand downwards and spread it open.
Lennok and the Tower Lord’s palms, falling through the air, met head-on.
CRACK!!
Flame-attribute Unique Magic
Property Transformation Compressed Manifestation
Flame-attribute Unique Magic
Property Transformation Designated Manifestation
“Forged Flame.”
“Forged Flame…!”
KWAAA-AAANG!!!
The two wizards’ Forged Flame, originating from the same source, inverted diagonally.
Flames, exhibiting maximum power at point-blank range, erupted in all directions from their clasped hands.
BWOOOOMMM!!!
Hwacheongru’s top floor corridor burned and collapsed, and the head of the opulent golden pagoda exploded, enveloped in flames.
Flame jets, dozens of meters long, sprayed out in two directions, tearing apart Hwacheongru’s magnificent golden pagoda.
Amidst the distorted cloud of flames, the Tower Lord and Lennok’s figures plummeted along Hwacheongru’s exterior wall.
Whoosh!!
The Tower Lord, lying back beneath the clouds with his hands behind him, and Lennok, turning to face him, wreathed in flames.
Just as the Tower Lord glared at Lennok with a hardened expression, Lennok smiled and flicked his finger.
The moment the Tower Lord understood the direction of that gesture and abruptly looked up.
[Flame Seal]
[Celestial Collapse]
A giant fist of flame, appearing beside Hwacheongru, slammed directly into the Tower Lord.
KWA-AAANG!!
The impact sent the Tower Lord’s figure crashing into Hwacheongru’s middle floor, skidding across the empty corridor.
“Ugh…!”
Even with the Vestment of Calamity consuming the force and halving its power, the impact was breathtaking.
It was a magic spell so heavy it was hard to believe it was merely physical force materialized from flames.
The Tower Lord, face hardened, balanced himself with one hand. With the other, he conjured flames as if painting in the air.
Screech!!
Lennok, atop the massive fiery fist, accelerated at incredible speed, ramming into the Tower Lord.
“You mere heretic!!!”
Roaring, the Tower Lord drew a magical formation of fire with one hand and formed hand seals while incanting a spell with the other.
[Shifting Fire Branding]
[Closed Gate]
A blazing gate surged forth, closing its doors firmly and blocking the path between Lennok and the Tower Lord.
This was a high-difficulty simultaneous incantation, casting different spells with a magic circle in one hand and hand seals in the other.
KWA-AAANG!!
Lennok, wreathed in wings of flame, collided with the burning gate, which shook violently.
Flames that looked ready to break through the gate and engulf the Tower Lord filled and surged through Hwacheongru’s middle floor.
The Tower Lord watched, quickly completing the fiery magic circle and plunging his hand into it.
[Incendiary Armament No. 2]
The Blaiver Magic Tower’s Solar System. Incendiary Armament, which summons flames existing in the tower’s consciousness space into the form of armaments.
At that very moment, just as the Tower Lord was about to draw forth one of the numbered armaments, from 1 to 10.
Lennok’s low voice echoed from beyond the gate.
“Summon Combustion Armament.”
KWAAAA-AAANG!!!
A massive Ignition Device smashed through the gate and plunged in, spewing flames.
Lennok’s left arm shot out from the shattered gap in the gate, and the array attached to it activated.
Pipes rotated, sucking in all the fiery magic circles the Tower Lord had been drawing.
Wiiiiiiing!!!
“What trickery is this…!”
It was pure attribute manipulation, closer to innate ability than magic. It felt like battling pyrokinesis.
The startled Tower Lord watched his magic circle scatter, trying to somehow bring out the Incendiary Armament. At that very moment.
CRACK!!
Lennok, having stomped on the Tower Lord’s instep with the Ignition Device, spun his body.
[First Flame]
Exploding flames acted as a booster, propelling his body upward, while the power of drugs suppressed the burden on his body.
[Second Yin]
The Ice Seal flowing through his blood prevented the necrosis of his cells, rigidly patching together his creaking body.
[Third Ring]
Hundreds of layers of miniature barrier spell formations wrapped around his entire body suppressed the breakdown of joints and muscles, preserving their original form.
[Fourth Blaze]
Lennok, accelerating by using the flames coiling around his body as recoil, plunged his fist into the Tower Lord’s side at tremendous speed.
All these movements were assisted and amplified by flame magic, pushing their power to the limit.
The moment dozens of spells, barriers, drugs, and blessings supporting Lennok’s fragile body activated simultaneously.
Ninefold Dorye Chain Secret Art
[Ultimate Ten]
Lennok’s fists, momentarily forgetting recoil, battered the Tower Lord’s entire body like a bombardment.
PUPUBUBUBUBUK!!!!
Bones in the instep shattered and pulverized, while tendons in arms and legs snapped and muscles ruptured.
His sternum, jaw, liver, and lower back were pulverized and pierced from top to bottom, then torn and ripped apart by burning hands.
It was a heavy barrage of strikes, targeting and crushing vital points across the entire body, catching the Tower Lord off guard as he tried to react and defend against spell activation.
“…!!!”
His eyes blurred for a moment as the Tower Lord’s entire body was ravaged by the full-force barrage of striking techniques.
Even high-level superhumans couldn’t avoid their brains shaking and thoughts momentarily cutting off after taking a blow to the jaw.
But the Tower Lord, despite the bone and muscle-shattering impacts, instantly regained his composure and lifted his head.
“GRRAAGH!! You…!”
After enduring a murderous barrage capable of turning a human into minced meat, he didn’t even lose consciousness, let alone his breath; he instantly recovered.
This was the transcendent mental fortitude of a great archmage, unfettered by physical pain.
It was the skill of a War Mage, who inherently possessed considerable resistance to such injuries and impacts.
It was proof that the Tower Lord, too, had constantly faced life-or-death situations in the Central Front.
“Very well, if you wish to settle this personally, I shall accept…!!”
The Tower Lord, burning his own blood and wrapping it around his body, gritted his teeth and stepped forward, a mess of wounds.
“I shall test myself here and now, to see if I am worthy of reclaiming Adamant Thunder’s Phoenix Hall!!!”
“No, it’s the opposite.”
But Lennok, seeing the Tower Lord emerge, covered in blood, took a step back.
Lennok, with a weary expression, dusted off his hands and said,
“This itself was an incantation. It’s all over.”
“…What did you say?”
The Tower Lord, recalling the spellcasting method that had caused the most buzz among the techniques Cheonbeon displayed in his battle with Adamant Thunder, instantly snapped to attention and tried to gather his mana.
At that moment, flames erupting from beneath his feet instantly trapped the Tower Lord’s body and began to spin.
Whoosh!!
[Hwashimgoe]
[Wellspring Heat]
[Crimson Eruption]
[Red Forge]
…
The martial arts strikes that hammered the Tower Lord’s body belatedly activated as Alternative Incantations, manifesting flame magic.
Each magic spell, erupting belatedly, acted as a starter, preheating the flames and boosting their power.
It was a complex incantation that designated a space to trap a person and concentrated firepower within it.
Flame-attribute Unique Magic
10-Layered Incantation Compound Resonance
Heart-Will Spellcraft.
“Dragonflame Aegis.”
The moment Lennok pressed his hands together and then twisted them as if sweeping them down.
The Hwashimgoe, which had trapped the Tower Lord, split diagonally and exploded dazzlingly on the spot.
KWAAA-AAANG!!!
Hwacheongru’s golden pagoda, dozens of stories tall, split along the cut surface, breaking into two.
Flames ignited on the severed surface, and the Tower Lord’s figure plummeted through the boiling steam.
He crashed onto the collapsing golden pagoda, unleashing a thunderous roar.
KWOOOOMM!!!
Lennok, landing on the ground behind him, chuckled as he looked through the rising smoke.
“Disgustingly tough. Did he reverse the combination sequence of Dragonflame Aegis to halve its power?”
Heart-Will Spellcraft, Dragonflame Aegis, which combines flame magic in a 10-layered incantation.
It was, quite literally, the ultimate flame-attribute technique for designated targets, designed to suppress dragonfire and concentrate firepower within a specific space.
Despite using Alternative Incantation to cast this ultimate technique, which was powerful but required time to incant, almost instantly, the Tower Lord’s body did not vaporize.
The moment he instinctively realized evasion was impossible, the Tower Lord reversed the sequence of spells combined for Dragonflame Aegis’s activation.
Immediately after, he forcibly inserted his own flames and twisted the combination formula, neutralizing the power.
This counter-measure was possible because the Tower Lord was also a flame mage of the same origin, who, instead of suppressing spells, forcibly amplified them.
At the same time, it was proof that the Tower Lord’s grasp and understanding of spellcraft had truly reached the level of a Grand Master.
“His instantaneous sense and judgment are higher than I expected. Is this his level even without relying on sheer output?”
When he encountered the Incarnation Body as Adamant Thunder, he thought the style relied on overwhelming output, but facing him directly, his techniques and judgment were surprisingly sharp.
Proficient simultaneous incantation. Mastery in handling magic circles and hand seals. Layering preheating effects without relying on high-level magic, anticipating and countering the opponent’s spellcraft.
Even his judgment to endure Lennok’s Heart-Will Spellcraft bare-bodied instead of avoiding it, to reduce its power.
This was proof of the Tower Lord’s talent in magic, as well as his flame resistance reaching a near-immune level.
“But all those judgments are only possible because he’s confident that he won’t die from flames… Just how high is his flame resistance?”
“Hmph… Isn’t that also true for you, mongrel?”
The Tower Lord, leaning against the debris of Hwacheongru’s first-floor restaurant, chuckled with a soot-stained face.
Whoosh!!
As he conjured a pale green flame and brought it to his shoulder, the wound on the Tower Lord’s neck slowly healed.
‘A Spark with healing ability.’
One of the Sparks the Tower Lord had shown Lennok.
Among them, it was a flame with a special ability Lennok had never seen before.
Even Lennok found it difficult to easily estimate the use and value of that Spark just by looking at it.
As Lennok’s eyes gleamed, watching the healing Spark, the Tower Lord slowly stood up and said,
“To absorb this Lord’s flames with an array and channel them into your body, an ordinary wizard would not have escaped death on the spot.”
“…”
“You. It seems you possess abilities beyond mere equipment for regulating body temperature.”
The Tower Lord, wobbling as he stood, his eyes glinted with a strange light.
“What are you hiding… in that blood?”
The Tower Lord had recognized that Lennok absorbed his flames to cancel the magic circle and endured the recoil with the blessing of the Ice Seal.
However, the battle had unfolded so quickly that he hadn’t grasped what that ability truly was.
“This isn’t the time to be curious about that.”
Lennok sneered at the Tower Lord.
“By now, you must understand. That you can’t defeat me by limiting your output.”
“…”
“Or do you intend to continue until you’re discovered by the Conjunction Spell Master here?”
Due to the veil cast over Gateway City, the magical environment within the city was undergoing drastic changes late at night.
However, great archmages who could manipulate mana at the particle level were not bound by such environmental restrictions.
Both Lennok and the Tower Lord had reached such a realm, allowing them to rampage while incinerating the black market, but even that had its limits now.
Given that they had exchanged blows while limiting their output, to settle the matter, they would have to preheat their flames to the utmost and clash.
But could the former Magic Tower Lord truly risk being noticed by the Conjunction Spell Master and go all the way?
Lennok was already convinced that the Tower Lord was not such a person.
“If you were someone willing to take such risks, you wouldn’t have stepped down from the administrator position in the first place.”
“…”
“You used the Flame Pillars, contacted me in the black market, all because you believed it was within your control, didn’t you?”
The Blaiver Magic Tower Lord’s attitude had many contradictions.
He seemed wary of the Conjunction Spell Master, yet wasn’t so wary of being discovered by him in this commotion.
He seemed reluctant towards the Order Alliance, yet showed no particular emotion about the Alliance occupying the Gateway.
Within that incomprehensible gap between attitude and judgment, a secret the Tower Lord was hiding must exist.
Therefore, it was necessary to provoke him further here and forcibly extract his true intentions.
“Just like when you were disgraced facing Adamant Thunder, you’re only interested in saving your own skin, aren’t you?”
“…”
“You mocked me, calling me a dog defeated by Adamant Thunder…”
Lennok walked towards the bowed Tower Lord and said.
Lennok’s gaze, looking down at the Tower Lord, gleamed coldly.
“Who’s bowing their head like a dog here now?”
“…Hahaha.”
At that moment, the Tower Lord slowly shrugged his shoulders and lifted his gaze.
Through his scattered hair, his crimson eyes gleamed with an oily sheen.
“What do you, you wretch, know to spout such nonsense?”
“…”
“The incident in Vulcan was not this Lord’s fault. It was due to the blunders of incompetent subordinates who couldn’t even handle a single task properly.”
The Tower Lord slowly stood up, his head creaking, and stepped forward.
“You, Chiglet, that Adamant Thunder… all of you are the same. This Lord gave you opportunities, offered choices, and you brazenly rejected them.”
“…”
“I showed patience repeatedly, giving you chances to reconsider your decisions, and yet you dare to mock this Lord’s goodwill?”
A vein pulsed on the Tower Lord’s forehead as he muttered, as if spitting, and crimson blood trickled from between his lips.
Self-mutilation, biting his tongue to cause bleeding.
The Tower Lord, catching the blood flowing down his lips with one hand and spreading it on both hands, said,
“It’s all useless. Indeed, such consideration was a luxury for imbecile wizards.”
“…You.”
“Evan Martinez. I admit it. You deserve to see this.”
The Tower Lord, his blood-stained hands pressed together, his eyeballs glinting.
“The master of a magic tower with hundreds of years of venerable history shall teach you, a wizard walking a heretical path, what history truly means.”
Solar System Deployment.
[Incendiary Armament No. 2]
Whoosh!!
A staff, erupting and spinning from his blood-stained palms.
The secret treasure the Tower Lord had attempted to summon earlier, but failed, now appeared without any premonition.
“Burning Time Melody, open.”
CRACK!!
He gripped the staff, which was a staff made of flowing flames, and slammed it down harshly.
“Time, ignite…!!”
The moment the Tower Lord, glaring at Lennok through the flames, incanted the spell.
KIIIIING!!
A powerful sense of incongruity began to be felt from the depths of Lennok’s consciousness.
A sense of déjà vu, as if his consciousness was rapidly accelerating while time slowed down.
The Eight Trigrams Formation, obtained in the battle against Anathema. The innate ability to extend one’s internal time was reacting to that staff.
“…No way.”
A Dharma Treasure made from the relics of a previous Blaiver Magic Tower Lord.
Something that, upon activation, stimulated and activated the Eight Trigrams Formation.
If it simultaneously stimulated and coerced both flames and time, what principle was it based on?
Lennok’s face hardened as he instantly intuited the staff’s ability.
“Is it a Dharma Treasure that accelerates by burning time…!!!”
“If I must not be discovered by the Conjunction Spell Master, then I simply need to settle this quickly, before he can even notice.”
The Tower Lord, grinning, gripped the staff, tilted his head back, and whispered.
“Domain Deployment.”
Domain Deployment
Origin Hierarchy Mindscape Manifestation
[Solar Flame Incineration]
There were no achromatic ripples, no precursors of the landscape changing with the imprinting of a mindscape.
A miracle that skipped the Domain’s deployment process and instantly manifested the completed Domain in this very place.
KWAAA-AAANG!!!
Space tore above Lennok’s head, and the Tower Lord’s Domain descended.
Through the fractured space-time, glimpses of the mindscape’s completed landscape were visible.
A colossal, burning altar of fire. On that altar, those burned to death by the Tower Lord danced madly.
Eerie figures, reaching out their burned hands towards Lennok, as if beckoning him over.
‘Too late.’
The moment a Domain exerts its greatest presence is precisely when it is deployed.
That’s why the Tower Lord chose to use Burning Time Melody to complete the Domain beforehand.
The mystic artifact, Burning Time Melody, was a miracle that temporarily accelerated one’s own time by burning lifespan, pulling time forward at the cost of life.
The Tower Lord had completed the Domain within the accelerated time and overlaid it directly onto this spot.
His judgment was that he could overwhelm Lennok within the Domain while remaining unnoticed by the Conjunction Spell Master through the veil.
Within the accelerated time, Lennok’s mind raced.
‘Deploying Celestial Flower’s Myriad-League Fragrance is impossible. Even if I started preheating now, it wouldn’t be much help.’
Cheonbeon’s Domain, Celestial Flower’s Myriad-League Fragrance, was powerful but required a very long preheating time.
It exerted its greatest power only after all its petals fully bloomed, but reaching that point took time.
If he had prepared for it as soon as the battle with the Tower Lord began, it might have been different, but at this point, not having anticipated a Domain battle, it was virtually useless.
‘I don’t know if he’s confident he won’t be discovered by the Conjunction Spell Master, or if he has something else up his sleeve…’
Domain deployment, being an ultimate technique that overlays the entire space-time rather than targeting a single person, meant that Lennok, with his Targeted Resistance, could not avoid being encompassed by it.
However, once inside the Domain, combat would inevitably become extremely difficult.
Should he finally unleash the Crimson Star System, which he had held back even against Lieutenant General Roberaid?
But once the Crimson Star System was activated, it couldn’t be stopped.
After activating the Crimson Star System, he would either have to storm the Operating Theater and continue fighting, or fight the Conjunction Spell Master without the Crimson Star System.
He didn’t want a confrontation with the Conjunction Spell Master, but ruling out that possibility entirely was impossible.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!!!
The landscape of the completed Domain unfolded as space tore open above Lennok’s head.
Just as the Solar Flame Incineration Domain was about to engulf Lennok’s figure and alter space-time.
“I believe I’ve told you clearly.”
Someone emerged from behind Lennok and stretched out a hand towards the unfolding Domain.
GRAB!
He seized the tearing space with one hand and, lifting his gaze, said,
“Don’t interrupt during scheduled surgery hours.”
“…!!!!!”
The landscape of the Domain unfolding towards Lennok instantly closed, beginning to ‘splice’ itself shut.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!!!!
The already completed Domain, before Lennok’s eyes, closed shut without altering reality and vanished.
An unreal scene: the altar of fire that had been tearing through the black market’s night sky folded and disappeared through the spatial rift.
The heat that had filled the night streets moments ago vanished as if a lie, replaced by a quiet stillness.
As Lennok and the Tower Lord, seeing this incredible, bizarre miracle, lost their words and stopped their actions.
Someone in green surgical scrubs slowly turned around.
When he pulled down his mask with one hand, the face of a young man with an indifferent expression was revealed.
“Blaiver Magic Tower Lord. Did my words not register with you?”
“…”
The surgeon appeared between the Tower Lord and Lennok as if it were nothing.
He wore green surgical scrubs and a thin glove on one hand.
Outwardly, he seemed ordinary, without any mana, will-thought, or presence.
But Lennok knew who this man was the moment he saw him.
The only person who could forcibly ‘close’ a Domain by splicing space with his bare hands and intervene to resolve a situation between two Level 8 archmages.
The Grand Spell Master of the Order Alliance, and the administrator of the First Gateway. The Apostle-Slayer who massacred the cult’s Apostles.
The Tower Lord’s prediction was wrong.
The Conjunction Spell Master, Avesta Chapman, had noticed the anomaly within the Gateway and intervened.