The First Gate (1)
The first gate Lennok arrived at in order to obtain the fragment that would serve as the catalyst for twisting the orbital cycle of the veil.
The corpse of a gigantic demonic beast stood there as though protecting the gate that led into the Central Front.
Woooooong......!!
The waves of mana flowing out from the white skeleton of the beast swept across the grassland as a roaring wind.
But instead of heading toward the beast’s corpse, Lennok had been wandering around the hill for quite some time.
“Wrong.”
Lennok, who had been closing his eyes and stretching out his hand into empty space to touch an invisible ‘flow,’ rose from his spot.
The moment he found the first gate, Lennok had attempted to interfere with the flow of power existing around it, but every attempt had failed.
‘I can feel that it exists here, but it’s not a concept I can touch as a tangible form.’
Lennok’s eyes sank deeply as he stared at the veil swaying like a transparent curtain.
‘It’s impossible to obtain a fragment of the veil here immediately.’
The first gate was both the passage leading inside the veil and the actual path leading toward Ars Nova.
The closer one got to Ars Nova, the fiercer the collisions became, and the thicker the veil grew.
With Lennok’s sensitivity, he could pierce the thin veil draped around the gate, but he could not forcibly tear off its fragments.
‘In the end, I’ll have to obtain the veil fragments directly from inside the gate.’
It would have been nice if he could acquire the fragments without taking risks, but at the point he had already come this far, there was little chance things would proceed so easily.
Still, the reason Lennok did not immediately head into the gate despite knowing that was because he understood that he needed to be far more cautious from here onward.
‘The Conjoining Sorcerer is an 8th-level trait-type sorcerer. If we clash, there’s a high chance he’ll be completely different from any opponent I’ve faced until now.’
The reason Lennok had been able to gain the upper hand against transcendents of the same level after reaching Level 8 was due to the primordial image he possessed.
The kaleidoscopic image that reflected the possibilities of the future, and the talent unconstrained by systems, allowed him to gain compatibility advantages in nearly every battle.
Learning various abilities and sorceries, then bringing out the appropriate one according to the opponent, the situation, and the conditions.
There was no need to look far. His victory against Lieutenant General Robert Roberide had been the same.
Wasn’t it because the Hellfire Phantasmal Palace had been an ability close to a natural counter against the Legion Commander’s microcosm that he had been able to exploit the opening so easily?
But against a trait-type sorcerer, that sort of analysis and strategy likely would not work.
‘Should I have demanded more information from Olivera?’
Since the first gate itself was not a hidden place, he had judged he would be able to obtain related information on site.
But now that the situation had become tangled after losing contact with Angel, he could not deny how desperately he needed information.
“There are still methods.”
Muttering that, Lennok sat atop a hill overlooking the gate and reached into his coat.
Click!
The Eye of Cheonhye.
An artifact carved from a jewel to imitate a human eye.
It was the Celestial Seer’s spell-armament that Lapis had gifted him at the end of the Bolt and Treadburn incident.
A tool said to possess the power to record all things in heaven and earth, and which itself functioned as the Thirteenth Lighthouse.
During the conference, Lennok had modified it into a scope for his gunstaff, but afterward he had recovered the artifact and preserved it in its complete form.
“......”
Lennok stared blankly at the Eye of Cheonhye before tightly grasping it.
This was proof that Evan Martinez had shared in the duty of the Lighthouse Keeper.
For Lennok as well, it was an object carrying many complicated meanings.
He had never been bound by the Eyes of the Blue, but it was true that he had sympathized to some degree with the answer Lapis had chosen.
Respecting Lennok’s will not to be bound by the karma of the Watcher, Lapis had given him this eye and sent him away.
When she awakened fully as a Lighthouse Keeper and handed him the relics of the Celestial Seer, whose lingering attachment had she been trying to sever?
Ironically, after leaving the Eyes of the Blue, Lennok had found himself thinking about Lapis more often instead.
Even though it was what she wanted and Lennok had helped her achieve it, had it really been the correct decision to send Lapis to the boundary of the world back then?
Could the Lapis Falcia who had completely let go of the Celestial Seer and inherited the mission still truly be called the same person Lennok remembered?
“......”
Nothing eternal existed, and everything continued to change.
Lapis was merely following and inheriting the conclusion that the Celestial Seer had faced long ago, changing along the way.
Lennok gave a bitter smile, cut off his thoughts, and carefully infused mana into the artifact.
Kiiiiing......!!
The Eye of Cheonhye softly rotated after receiving mana and emitted a faint glow.
A spell-armament that responded to the user’s mana, awakening its functions and gradually expanding its abilities.
Even among the artifacts Lennok currently possessed, it would not be an exaggeration to say that this treasure ranked among the top three in terms of sophistication.
Holding up the transparently glowing Eye of Cheonhye before one eye, he looked through the lens toward the gate.
The moment he did, his field of vision rapidly expanded, and things previously unseen began to appear.
Rotating the artifact like a telescope as he observed the gate, Lennok muttered unconsciously.
“......A city.”
The corpse left behind by the dead demonic beast.
Below lay a small city built upon that white skeleton as its foundation.
A gate city constructed for people to live in, using the beast’s ribs as pillars and its spine as a roof.
Judging solely by its area and population capacity, it was slightly smaller than Kaishu, the mid-sized city Lennok had once visited.
Forces passing through the gate, merchants, and refugees had gathered here over a long period of time, eventually forming living districts.
In effect, it was the first entrance into the Central Front and also its transit point.
‘The entrance to the gate itself...... can’t be seen from here.’
The term “first gate” referred to the gate city built beneath the gigantic beast’s corpse.
The city itself, erected under the beast’s bones, served as the entrance leading to Ars Nova.
But if the gate was a passage leading toward Ars Nova, then there should naturally be designated spaces through which entry and exit were possible.
‘To cross the veil, I’ll ultimately have to pass through the gate city once. It’s not difficult to understand, but......’
Lennok’s objective was not immediately crossing the gate and heading into the depths of the frontlines, but obtaining fragments of the veil.
And after observing the gate through the Eye of Cheonhye, Lennok could see a massive haze rippling above it.
Wooooooong......!!
The transparent haze spread out from both sides of the gate like waves, causing space-time itself to tremble.
At one moment it merely reflected the scenery beyond without any apparent function, yet the next it blocked all information like an inviolable wall.
Something immensely powerful that could neither be seen nor felt was preventing Lennok’s senses from extending behind the gate.
That haze extending from both sides of the gate together with the bizarre resonance—
That was the [Veil].
The conceptual barrier personally installed and managed by the high-ranking Long-Lived of Kundara, the Outer Fear City.
‘For now, this is as far as I can go.’
Though he had only confirmed traces of the veil through the Eye of Cheonhye, Lennok was not particularly surprised.
According to what Clarisse had explained, the veil was a stellar ceremonial installation spread across the continent using the shadow of the stars as its medium.
A barrier that would continue to exist semi-permanently as long as night existed on this planet.
Precisely because of that, however, its form could not properly be seen during the day.
He would likely need to wait until nightfall to directly confirm the veil’s true form.
‘Waiting here until night wouldn’t be difficult, but......’
Even after arriving near the gate, he still could not contact Angel.
In the end, if he wished to reconnect with Angel, he would have to search for a method within the gate city.
“......It can’t be helped.”
After some thought, Lennok sighed and began walking.
Riding the winds of the grassland and leaping over the hill, he headed directly toward the makeshift fortress erected at the city entrance.
“Halt. Stop right there.”
The soldiers standing guard immediately raised their hands toward Lennok the moment he approached the fortress.
“Stop circulating your mana and suppress your willpower. We’ll conduct a brief inspection.”
“Suppress my willpower? You’re telling me to kill it?”
Lennok tilted his head expressionlessly and instead raised his mana.
“Do you say that to everyone passing through the gate?”
Whoosh!!
The traces of mana flowing outward rode the wind and transformed into scorching heatwaves.
A technique that mixed intent into pure mana and converted it into an attribute.
“......!!!”
An ambiguous yet skillful pressure that flaunted his status as a superior sorcerer while concealing his identity.
Only then did the soldiers realize that the person before them was an extremely powerful high-ranking mage, and their expressions changed completely.
“Our apologies. You’re affiliated with the frontlines.”
The soldiers instantly became respectful and bowed their heads.
Anywhere else might have been different, but this was a battlefield where countless transcendents and monsters clashed.
A sorcerer of this level would naturally be assumed to be an executive-class figure of some massive faction.
“At present, the guard corps is wary of victims of demonization rituals. May we inspect your belongings?”
“Demonization ritual?”
Perhaps feeling an explanation was necessary, one of the soldiers exchanged glances with the others before speaking.
“It refers to sacrificial rites conducted by cultists. Around the gate, people have been clumsily imitating the Gido Cult, and casualties are occurring one after another.”
“In particular, when mana users are afflicted by this ritual, they become monsters obsessed with murder, so the situation requires extreme caution.”
Cultists, human sacrifice, and demonization rituals.
There certainly seemed to be an unusual amount of talk about the atrocities committed by those imitating the cult.
Not only these soldiers, but even the Deadrise Third Legion had been watching the cultists closely and remaining wary of them.
“I think I may have seen that demonization ritual several times on the way here.”
Lennok pulled out the pendant stained crimson from inside his coat and showed it to the soldier.
“Is it perhaps connected to a faction using something like this?”
“......!!”
“Ah......”
The ceremonial item placed upon the altar during the extermination of the cultists while assisting the search party.
As expected, the soldiers recognized the pendant and exchanged looks.
The soldiers, who had fallen into thought with hardened expressions, cautiously asked Lennok,
“Could you perhaps be the mage who assisted the search party’s mission?”
“So information has already spread into the gate?”
“The command headquarters issued information regarding you. We thank you for saving the search party.”
The soldier immediately saluted Lennok and nodded.
“The commander is waiting for you. I’ll guide you.”
Since Lennok had displayed himself as a high-ranking mage and revealed the ceremonial item first, he had apparently avoided suspicion.
Entering the gate city more easily than expected was not a bad outcome.
Still, there was something unsettling about the makeshift fortress guarded by the soldiers.
‘There’s no trace of the Order Federation.’
If the rumors were true and the Conjoining Sorcerer had taken control of the first gate, then sorcerers from the subordinate Order Federation should also have been stationed here.
Yet the ones guarding the gate leading into the city were search party soldiers, not the Order Federation.
Had the Conjoining Sorcerer delegated all operations to the search party?
Or was the Federation simply not paying attention to the gate at all?
As Lennok walked alongside the soldier toward the bridge leading into the city, contemplating various possibilities—
Rustle...
Fwoosh......!!
A chilling sensation crawled down his spine.
Lennok immediately raised his hand.
It was not a movement based on proper reasoning or judgment, but pure instinct activating the Eye of Cheonhye.
Just before entering the city, Lennok turned the artifact toward the makeshift fortress, and his steps abruptly stopped.
“......”
After silently staring at the fortress, Lennok asked the soldier,
“This makeshift fortress and bridge—were they originally part of the city?”
“No. Those facilities didn’t exist back when the Blaiver Magic Tower Lord managed this place.”
The soldier answered casually while crossing the bridge.
“When the Conjoining Sorcerer arrived, he said it was necessary to guard the entrance to the gate city and built them all within a single day.”
“......”
“We also don’t know how someone could construct a makeshift fortress of this size in just one day, but......”
“I see.”
Lennok gave a suitable response to the soldier trying to continue the explanation while lifting the Eye of Cheonhye toward the fortress.
The sense of incongruity hidden from normal sight.
The grotesque truth glimpsed beyond the lens.
Above the gate made from piled foundation stones and bricks, a gigantic sticky flesh giant crouched atop it.
Jjeojeojeojeok......!!
Its upper body had been grafted into the gate itself, its form wrinkled and grotesque like a creature whose entire body hair had been ripped out and dried.
Like a living organism, veins and flesh stretched beneath the makeshift fortress as it breathed and writhed.
[Gurururup......!!]
The flesh giant, stitched together from countless pieces of meat, silently screamed as it opened its mouth wide.
It was not disguising or hiding the form of the fortress itself.
That flesh giant was also merely part of the gate.
What the Eye of Cheonhye revealed was not the interior of objects, but the essence of souls.
The makeshift fortress, which should have been inorganic by nature, was actually a chimera created by modifying a living creature.
And even after converting that lifeform into a fortress, someone had deliberately kept it alive.
The Conjoining Sorcerer had not abandoned or neglected management of the gate.
In a manner possible only for him, he had modified living creatures and assigned them the role of monitoring the gate city.
A truth Lennok, whose spirituality was exceptional but who did not possess eyes capable of directly seeing souls, could finally perceive.
And the moment Lennok realized it and slowly lowered the Eye of Cheonhye—
The flesh giant twisting atop the gate met Lennok’s gaze directly.
From the giant’s unfocused mouth flowed the calm voice of a man.
[As far as I know, discussions concerning the Lighthouse matter ended long ago.]
“......!!”
Swaaak!!
The giant’s upper body attached to the flesh suddenly stretched forward at terrifying speed and reached Lennok’s face in an instant.
As the mass of flesh attached to the gate crawled down beneath the bridge, the entire structure shook violently from the impact.
Kkiiigigig......!!
Jjeoeop!!
“W-What is this......!!”
[So that was why I kept feeling such an irritating gaze.]
Ignoring the soldiers, who could not even comprehend the source of the shock, the flesh giant merely crawled before Lennok and stared directly at him.
The giant moved its wrinkled, swollen lips and spoke in a low male voice.
[So it was your doing.]
“I didn’t expect such hospitality upon entering the gate city.”
Lennok spoke while staring at the flesh before him.
Though he maintained a calm exterior, his mind was racing.
Because he understood that the moment the flesh giant fused with the gate recognized him, the situation had already gone wrong.
But now that Lennok realized exactly who was speaking to him, he could not retreat here.
Having reached that conclusion, Lennok slowly tilted his head and asked,
“Conjoining Sorcerer, is this how you usually greet guests?”
The Grand Sorcerer of the Order Federation.
An 8th-level trait-type sorcerer.
The administrator of the first gate.
The Conjoining Sorcerer himself had directly descended his consciousness before Lennok.