Conjoining Sorcerer (14)
Whoooooosh............!!
An immense number of flaming petals drifted through the air, wrapping around the corpse of the Long-Lived.
After sending off the Conjoining Sorcerer, Lennok wandered through the still-unfinished Domain.
Even after the Conjoining Sorcerer had vanished, the Life Territory he had constructed was still burning within the Domain.
The trait-system installation-type Life Territory that he had prepared and manifested over several months: the Operating Room.
The reason the Life Territory still maintained its form inside Thousand-Mile was not because the Territory itself was stronger than the Sorcerer.
It was simply because Lennok intended to collect the supplies and items remaining in the Operating Room after completely settling this battle.
[Ooooooo......]
The Long-Lived chimera that had become one with the Life Territory let out a slow groan from within the pillar of fire.
Even if left alone, it would probably turn into a handful of ashes before long.
Rip!!
As Lennok slashed downward with his finger, the wall of flesh split open, revealing a corridor inside the Operating Room.
Leaning against the wall, Lennok stared into the distance of the corridor and muttered,
“I smashed the entire Territory apart, and yet there are still intact sections left...?”
The battle between Lennok and the Conjoining Sorcerer had been a continuous bombardment that burned and crushed the entire Territory.
Amid blazing heat magic, spatial conjoining, and the chimera’s rampage, they had torn the Life Territory apart.
Yet the fact that intact spaces still remained carried an obvious meaning.
Riiip!!
Pushing his hand into a gap between the flesh walls, Lennok pulled out a blood-soaked arm.
Realizing whose arm it was, he smiled bitterly.
“So he dissected Mikal Zellich’s body parts and embedded them throughout the Territory.”
A natural ability user whose power was based on super-regeneration.
The Immortal, Mikal Zellich.
If his body had been dissected and “conjoined” into the Territory, it would not be strange for damaged sections of the Territory to regenerate.
Lennok could understand why the Sorcerer had done such a thing.
Before being fused with the remains of the Long-Lived, this Operating Room had been a Territory made entirely of flesh.
There must have been spaces that collapsed or compressed under their own weight.
To prevent the Territory from destroying itself beneath its own mass, the Sorcerer had embedded parts of Zellich’s body.
“The things I need to recover from the Operating Room right now are...”
The Conjoining Sorcerer was dead.
Yet the reason Lennok had left the Operating Room within Thousand-Mile was because he was certain there were still things worth taking.
The series of battles that had begun when the Sorcerer noticed Lennok’s objective far sooner than expected.
At the time, Lennok had temporarily set aside the equipment and consumables inside the Operating Room.
Now he could recover them.
Rumble!!
He searched through the reserve medicine storage room and catalyst processing room on the Territory’s outskirts, taking every remaining item.
Salt mushrooms that grew only in the Central Region.
Ghost Spirit Grass.
Bingyo root harvested from northern snowfield plantations.
Standard emergency medicine processed by the Federation for spellcasters.
“As expected, it would’ve been a waste to leave without taking these.”
The Conjoining Sorcerer had been just as skilled at healing people as he was at ruining them.
Even by Lennok’s standards, many of the medicines stored here were exceptional.
Sitting against a shelf in the storage room, Lennok opened a package, took out a small pill, and chewed it.
As a sharp fragrance spread from the tip of his tongue through his entire body, sweat quickly formed on his skin.
Ssssss!!
A treatment item that forcibly liquefied and expelled impurities and waste accumulated inside the body.
Merely sweating made his body feel lighter and his vitality return.
“Hoo...”
Lennok let out a satisfied sigh and leaned his head back.
Being able to attempt some recovery immediately after finishing the battle was fortunate.
He could not completely treat all his injuries right away, but the faster treatment was administered, the more efficient the recovery.
‘Thanks to Thousand-Mile, my mana has recovered considerably. That alone gives me some breathing room, but...’
The true value of Thousand-Mile did not lie solely in its scale and duration.
Within the Territory that bloomed over time, spell effects and mana density increased explosively.
The mana that had been nearly depleted after the battle had already recovered to almost half.
As the headache tormenting him subsided and his strength returned, he began to feel hungry.
Clunk, clunk!
Deer antler made by melting down the horn of a summoned beast.
Concentrated extract made from Larabeli fire fruits.
After gathering medicinal ingredients useful for restoring vitality, Lennok stopped when he discovered jerky made from dried monster entrails.
“...”
Something that looked suitable only as a snack for a chimera.
Why was it stored in the medicine room of all places?
Perhaps the Conjoining Sorcerer genuinely enjoyed such grotesque food.
While Lennok pondered, Davi caught the scent and stuck out its tongue.
[Uweeeh.]
“What are you doing by yourself?”
[Do the organisms here not have any sense of taste?]
Judging from Davi’s reaction, it definitely was not something an ordinary human should eat.
Patting Davi’s grumbling head, Lennok left the storage room and immediately began searching the surrounding rooms.
“This is... a warehouse?”
Cutting open a wall of flesh and throwing open the warehouse door, he was greeted by a flood of equipment and items.
Boom!! Crash!!
“...”
Axes and staffs.
Magic books and spearheads.
Mana arrows spilling from quivers.
Looking at the dozens of pieces of equipment that had poured out, Lennok picked up a staff that had rolled to his feet.
“There are traces of use. The talisman wrapped around the grip is worn.”
His eyes sank deeply.
“A staff that assists changes in mana properties... Not low-grade equipment. But it’s not something the Sorcerer himself would use.”
Throughout the battle, the Conjoining Sorcerer had used no equipment other than simple surgical tools.
Not because he looked down on Lennok, but because such equipment would only hinder the use of his trait-system spells.
Rather than things he used personally, these were probably war trophies.
“I’ll take them for now.”
Opening his subspace, he swept all the equipment into it.
The space filled up quickly, but after applying reduction magic, he managed to force everything inside.
[There’s almost nothing useful for you here, Master.]
“They’ll be useful somewhere. If not, I can always sell them in a nearby city.”
If they had been ordinary weapons, he would have ignored them.
But most were mana-infused items or artifacts.
And if they were trophies personally collected by the Conjoining Sorcerer, they would surely be valuable somewhere.
Thinking that, Lennok headed toward the upper levels of the Territory.
He was deliberately suppressing his power to preserve its original form, but now that the Sorcerer was gone, the Territory would not last much longer.
There was something he needed to confirm before the Operating Room was completely consumed by the flames of the Flame Lord.
KABOOOM!!
Passing through a familiar corridor, he blasted open the door of Main Operating Room No. 2 with a blazing orb.
Stepping inside through the heat and flames, Lennok’s expression hardened at the sight of the empty operating table.
“...Gone.”
Only a blood-soaked surgical gown remained on the table.
The Lord of the Blaiver Magic Tower, who had been undergoing surgery, was nowhere to be seen.
It was not that Lennok had been certain the Tower Lord would be dead.
The Tower Lord he knew was obsessively careful about his own safety.
Such a man would never entrust his body to the Sorcerer without any precautions.
“Even with continuous mana detection, I can’t sense him... He may have already left the Gate City.”
Running a hand over the operating table, Lennok fell into thought.
The patient’s gown lay exactly as though someone had removed only the body that had been wearing it.
A strange trace.
‘A long-distance spatial leap or teleportation. Or perhaps a transfer ability of similar level...?’
Considering the physician’s oath sworn by the Conjoining Sorcerer, it was possible he had evacuated the Tower Lord before the battle began.
If the Tower Lord had truly left the city, pursuing him in Lennok’s current condition would be impossible.
It was unfortunate he could not seize more of the Tower Lord’s flames and treasures.
But there was another reason Lennok had returned here.
“It’s not as if I gained nothing.”
Bang!!
At the back of the operating room stood shelves for storing patients’ belongings.
Three brilliantly shining items rested there.
A phoenix robe woven with luxurious red embroidery.
A belt studded with numerous jewels like sockets.
A single white glove inscribed with a red magic circle on the back.
The Tower Lord had escaped, but he had not managed to take the belongings he had removed for surgery.
Lifting the red-embroidered robe, Lennok chuckled.
“Just like a Tower Lord. All three are top-grade artifacts...”
Items he had worn constantly.
Without a doubt, each was a top-tier artifact or something comparable to a relic.
[Huh?]
Looking at the artifacts, Davi tilted its head.
[Does this organism not wear pants?]
“...I’m not curious. Don’t ask.”
Perhaps they had burned away during the battle.
Deciding to believe that, Lennok quickly moved on and picked up the robe and belt.
“Hm...”
He could roughly guess the robe’s abilities.
It likely assisted incantation and mastery of heat magic.
Considering the fire resistance the Tower Lord had displayed against him, it might even possess related blessings.
The real question was the jewel-studded belt and the glove bearing the magic circle.
He had seen Maya Renslit use something similar to the belt.
But the aura emanating from the glove was unusual.
It might even be the finest artifact Lennok had seen in the Operating Room.
“The magic circle on this glove. I can’t decipher what kind of magic it is.”
Frowning suspiciously, Lennok muttered,
“Could it be a relic from the Old World...?”
Back in Vulcan, the Tower Lord had attempted to kill him using Old World combustion magic.
Was that magic related to this artifact?
After a moment’s consideration, Lennok decided he could not test every artifact here.
He stored the robe and belt and put the glove on directly.
“...”
The fit was surprisingly comfortable.
While testing its durability, he carefully examined the operating table once more.
Scalpels, scissors, and forceps neatly arranged beside a sterilization unit.
Staring at them, Lennok wrapped the surgical tool set in a towel and took it.
“Jordan will like this.”
As tools personally used by the Conjoining Sorcerer, they could hardly be ordinary items.
“Now then—”
The final thing he needed to find, recover, and interrogate in this Operating Room.
The layers of the Life Territory were melting into ruin amid the flames.
Buried among the remains of burning organs was a shattered tank.
Inside, half of a gray brain twitched and convulsed.
Standing before the tank, Lennok looked down coldly.
“Mikal Zellich. We still have things to discuss, don’t we?”
***
[...I can’t believe it.]
That was the first telepathic message Zellich sent from within the dried tank.
[That Avesta Chapman... was defeated by you?]
“It was probably a difficult battle from your perspective.”
Massaging his neck, Lennok replied.
“His Territory wasn’t particularly suited for combat. And he’d already split his own brain in half to fuse with yours.”
“...”
“I also started by nearly killing him with spell backlash. The circumstances aligned to force a handicap—”
[No. None of that is an excuse.]
Zellich cut him off firmly.
[The Sorcerer was not someone who failed because of circumstances or conditions.]
“...”
[He fought you inside his own Territory and lost. That is all.]
Despair rippled through the tank.
[Evan Martinez... You were stronger than even the Federation’s Grand Sorcerer. How...]
“It would’ve been nice if you’d realized that before the battle started, wouldn’t it?”
Crack!!
Lennok kicked the tank apart and seized Zellich’s left brain with mana.
Suspending it in the air and applying pressure, he drew out a painful psychic scream.
Looking at Zellich, Lennok said,
“As the one who provided the Sorcerer with immortality, don’t you think you bear responsibility for this outcome?”
“...”
“The leader of the Ability Awakening Brigade was named Aphelia, wasn’t she? I wonder how she’ll react when she learns you betrayed the Brigade and joined the Federation.”
[Aphelia is...]
A bitter smile colored Zellich’s telepathic voice.
[Lord Aphelia won’t care. She can no longer distinguish individual members of the Brigade.]
“What?”
[To unite the Brigade and stabilize their runaway talents, she became one with the collective mental network...]
“...”
[She is now closer to a group than an individual. Her consciousness is more like a program than a human mind. Some even call it a disease, but—]
Stopping there, Zellich sighed.
[Enough. What right do I have to speak of the Brigade now?]
“...You.”
[If it’s something I know, I’ll answer anything. So after you’ve heard everything, throw me into those flames.]
His consciousness seemed directed toward the enormous pillar of fire surrounding the Territory.
[If it’s the fire that killed the Conjoining Sorcerer, it should be able to burn even my consciousness away. Please.]
That was not impossible.
Thousand-Mile possessed the power to kill things that could not die.
Even Zellich’s brain would be reduced to particles within the flames.
But Lennok had no intention of granting him such a peaceful ending.
“Unfortunately, that won’t be possible.”
Lennok said,
“The incineration of the Life Territory is finished. My Domain is about to change into something entirely different.”
FWOOOOOOOSH!!!!
At that moment, the gigantic pillar of flame wrapped around the Long-Lived corpse began spinning upward into the heavens.
After burning everything on the ground to ash, the flames now reached toward the distant sky.
The Curtain hanging above the Gate City.
The fire of Thousand-Mile spread across it and blazed brilliantly.
Thousands of flaming petals drifted down like snow.
Flaaaaash!!!!
Scorching snow scattered endlessly above the city and spread across the plains.
Not merely leaving flames at the Gate.
It was power that altered the environment around the First Gate itself.
Only then did Zellich realize what kind of Domain Lennok had deployed.
[You’re insane... It was an image that altered the Gate’s environment itself?]
“Now that the Long-Lived corpse is gone, a new medium is needed to serve as the Curtain’s Gate.”
Lennok gazed at the burning Curtain.
“The flames of Thousand-Mile have already left my hands. Flames that transcend time will burn the Curtain and become a new Gate themselves.”
[...]
“Everyone will remember that I destroyed the First Gate of the Central Front and forged it anew.”
Lennok smiled.
“That’s enough.”
Fwoooosh...!!!
The flames on the Curtain gathered into a single point and rotated.
A colossal ring of fire appeared in the sky, illuminating the ruined earth below.
Watching the ring hanging over the devastated city, Lennok began walking.
Silent streets beneath falling flames.
A stillness that made time itself seem frozen.
“This is the last question, Mikal Zellich.”
Walking alone through the city as everything settled into silence, Lennok spoke.
“When you first tried to recruit me, you mentioned an artifact for pyrokinesis. The consciousness weapon, Morning Star, that Aphelia supposedly bestowed upon you. Even after searching the Sorcerer’s Life Territory, I couldn’t find a trace of it.”
The consciousness weapon Zellich had mentioned when they first met.
Lennok had not forgotten it.
The final weapon and artifact he needed to obtain from this city.
One reason he had preserved Zellich’s left brain was precisely to recover Morning Star.
“Where is it?”
[...That.]
Zellich trailed off.
After a long hesitation, he asked in a breaking voice,
[If I tell you... will you kill me with your flames?]
“That may be possible depending on your answer.”
At Lennok’s indifferent reply, Zellich murmured,
[I have lived too long... Most of my life was spent suffering at the hands of those who coveted my ability.]
“...”
[I was never strong enough to endure a life I never wanted. This talent... never suited me from the beginning.]
A life of pain caused by a gift he could never control.
Mikal Zellich had experienced the suffering of natural ability users dozens of times over.
It was not strange that he wished for peace before the end.
Perhaps Lennok’s silence gave him confidence.
[The consciousness weapon Morning Star is not a weapon with a physical form.]
Only after a long pause did the left brain speak again.
[To inherit it, you need the life of a Brigade member connected to Lord Aphelia’s mental network.]
“...The life of a Brigade member?”
A consciousness weapon that could only be transferred in exchange for a life.
The moment Lennok stopped walking at that unexpected revelation—
“Ah.”
A low male voice sounded from behind him.
“So you’ve finally withdrawn that monstrous Domain.”
Whiiiiiiing!!!
An enormous drill burst through the ruins of a building, spinning violently.
In an instant it swept through the place where Lennok had been standing and carved a massive scar into the ground.
KABOOOM!!
A heavy explosion echoed through the silent ruins of the Gate City.
Looking at Lennok, who had evaded with Blink, someone scratched his head.
“Huh. Your reactions are much faster than expected. Are you sure you just finished fighting the Conjoining Sorcerer?”
“...Not a spell.”
Turning with a hardened expression, Lennok looked at the figure standing atop a collapsed bell tower.
A silver-haired man in light traveling clothes.
Sharp features, appearing around thirty years old.
Though the face was unfamiliar, that was not what drew Lennok’s attention.
It was the giant metallic drill the man had launched.
Because it was not a spell.
A psychic ability that manipulated metal through mental power.
And at this point, there was only one psychic organization capable of invading the Gate City.
After hearing Zellich’s explanation, could this really be a coincidence?
Rapidly reviewing the situation, Lennok raised his mana and asked,
“The Ability Awakening Brigade. Don’t you think it’s a little early to stab me in the back?”
“That question became meaningless the moment you stimulated the collective mental network.”
The man slowly lowered his hand and looked down at Lennok.
“Lord Aphelia has become aware of your existence. You are being sought.”