Handbook (2)
The figure of a handbook contemplating the four directions by twisting a coil as if coiling itself on top of a huge altar rising high.
Above the firmament of the altar wriggling in a spiral, space cracks as if it were breaking, and beyond that, a vast sea of darkness is peeped out.
At the same time as the well was opened, the great Ascendant awakened from a long slumber and was summoned to reality.
Just by simply existing under the same time and space, an irresistible sense of intimidation oppresses and binds the whole body.
A presence so shocking that even Lennok, who was manipulating the wizard in the middle of the stairs, had to hold his breath.
Lennok, who was watching the figure through the mask, muttered involuntarily.
“The snake guarding the well….”
Who would think that it is not simply a metaphorical expression, but a word that clearly indicates the essence of the handbook.
I thought I didn’t lightly listen to a single word of the leader I heard back then… … The thought itself was an illusion.
The Ascendant’s Handbook was not a human being, but a giant, intelligent serpent itself.
“Crazy bastard….”
“Did you wake up the Ascendant!!”
“That…The consul of the southern continent, who was called the god of the jungle… … ?”
Superhumans, unable to speak properly, gritting their teeth and stepping back slowly.
A warlord as the head of the Revolutionary Army of Reading. As if they had promised to kill Lennok, the people who had been rushing at him until just now widened their distance.
A transcendentalist who challenges ascension to the pinnacle of predators.
It is because the human body in front of it is instinctively appealing that it is no different from its prey.
A pure spiritual creature itself, not even a human or a sub-species with intelligence similar to that.
Was it born in the body of a beast, and by polishing and polishing himself, inheriting the mission and acquiring the qualifications equivalent to ascending to heaven?
Lennok probably wouldn’t be able to comprehend what happened in this human-dominated world until that giant serpent rose to its current position.
That’s why Lennok could understand why the information about the handbook was so little-known.
Reaching level 9 with a human body is unrealistic, but who can understand that a monster that is not a sub-species has reached that level?
It’s hard to believe that one of the monsters who lived in this jungle broke through astronomical odds and obtained the miracle, even if told in words.
Only those who have faced the handbook and recognized its presence can understand it.
The mightiest and greatest predator in this huge jungle.
The Ascendant, who could not rise to the top of the food chain and transcended even the basic law of the jungle, appeared before their eyes.
Handyam quietly looked at those people and slowly tilted his characteristic sharp pupils down.
“It is a landscape in my memory….”
Unlike other superhumans, the snake did not use its strength.
It was just that the tongue of a reptile was twisted and spit out, so it was unbelievably clear human language.
Lennok didn’t know it, but it was evidence that she had at least once tried to communicate and socialize closely with humans.
“Where am I now?”
“….”
Everyone held their breath at the Ascendant’s low monologue.
For those who did not understand its meaning were frightened, and those who did understand questioned it.
Lennok, too, noticed the strangeness of the handbook and listened.
‘You’re saying things that don’t match. Is the timeline out of alignment?’
According to the clown, this huge ancient ruin and altar were built for the purpose of offering alms to the Ascendant Handbook.
No matter how much time has passed and only traces remain, shouldn’t we remember the shape and purpose of the plaza?
However, the overwhelming Transcendentalist who now suppressed the audience seemed to have no idea where he was.
“I thought I was having a dream that never ends…. Am I just waking up… … ?”
Naturally, the direction of the question is still towards the clown standing in front of her.
An appearance far removed from the human who seems to have opened the well at the end of the altar. A strange mana flowing from his body.
The existence that greeted Handbook for the first time. In a way, it is natural that the next question is addressed to the clown.
However, the clown’s answer that followed was completely different from what everyone expected.
[Where is the dream and reality, what does that mean?]
Where is this place. What caused the handbook to wake up? Why did you open the well?
The clown tells the handbook nothing. He only whispered in a smirking tone with his burning eyes streaming down.
[Isn’t it up to you to decide where to stand on the border between dreams and reality?]
“You’re trying to mislead me… … .”
The huge snake slowly laid its head down and closed its eyes.
As if trying to bring back a long forgotten memory.
But even for a while, the handbook opened its eyes with a look of regret and muttered slowly.
“But you are not wrong. I can’t remember many things… … . All I know is that the two of you are away.”
[…] … .]
“Thousand and Jindun…. I can’t smell it anywhere on this planet. Has the moment we have hoped for and feared finally arrived?”
Lennok laughed bitterly at the transcendent perception that he couldn’t believe even after hearing it with both ears.
Are you saying that he sat in the middle of the jungle and checked all the life reactions of the Ascendant?
Hearing the voice of the handbook, which had collapsed somewhere, the clown began to sign quietly.
[Where is the end in the cycle of life and death?] A
truly bold act of chanting a spell in front of an ascendant.
However, the handbook was staring at the clown in spite of being undoubtedly aware of it.
[But if you want, I think I can help you wake up from the dream for a while.]
“…A dream?”
[Kihihi, then do you think it’s real? This lousy landscape where the city and civilization you cherished and loved were destroyed and abandoned?]
“….”
Even at this very moment, Leya’s song resonates over the head of the silent handbook.
While shaking the entire plaza, on the contrary, the tone that quietly permeates the heart embraces the handbook.
As if the songs I’ve been doing so far were just a warm-up process, the sound decreases and the density increases.
A quiet hum that echoed as if it had been prepared for only one Ascendant.
I listened to the subtle tone resembling the sound of a flute as if I was possessed by a handbook.
The clown whispers without missing the gap and completes the hand sign.
awesome… … !!
[I understand, but I want to pretend I don’t know. The desire to wake up quickly from a nightmare is no different even for a small creature like me.]
With those words, a dark green flame rises from the clown’s fingertips.
The flame swaying slowly between the five fingers is much larger than the body of the clown, but in front of the handbook, it is as small and precarious as a mere candle.
However, from the moment the flame started to rise, the pupils of the handbook began to sway along with the flame little by little.
[After falling into a comfortable sleep, you will wake up from your dream like a lie and come back to reality….]
“….”
The behavior of a clown whose intentions are incomprehensible.
The other superhumans who watched him with bated breath gritted their teeth and spat out swear words.
“So crazy…. What the hell are you thinking?”
“Looks like he’s going to act like a clown in front of the Ascendant.”
“Do you think that you will be able to keep your life for a little while longer?
No matter how crazy you are, do you think you’re going to play a joke in front of a transcendental person like that?
Others, who did not understand the clown’s actions, spat out dizzying curse words in the confusion.
Lennok, who belatedly realized what the clown was up to, let out a dejected laugh.
“Are you thinking of tricking the Ascendant into casting illusions…I’m pretty sure you’re crazy.”
Somewhat detached, yet calm, the clown’s words and actions. Leya’s voice continued to resonate even when the situation had reached this point.
And surprisingly, the ascendant’s reaction to the series of events seemed to be shaken.
Considering the abilities of the two, only one conclusion could be drawn.
The clown intended to cast a phantom spell on Pyeon-ram to deceive Gye-baek’s perception until the moment he entered the well.
The arrogance of deceiving those who dare to ascend to the 8th level of the hierarchy.
Who can dare to assert that the idea itself is not a delusion that has spread to madness?
But what was even more surprising was the fact that the attempt itself did not appear to be in vain.
The snake’s pupils, which had been quietly watching the clown’s flames, rotated slowly at some point and then began to close slowly.
Wow… … !
At the same time, the overwhelming presence that used to press down the entire square gradually fades and deteriorates, and begins to breathe.
The miracle that a mere 8th-tier illusionist is successfully performing magic against a completed ascendant.
It is an unbelievable result even after seeing it with my own eyes, but there is no way that this kind of thing is happening without any reason.
Lennok inwardly guessed the causal connection and nodded.
‘It’s clear that the handbook’s memory is not intact. At that level, he must be suffering from oblivion close to a curse.’
The religious leader said that the snake guarding the well had forgotten its mission.
The story of a blood spirit tribe who forgot about it while immersed in a given mission.
A message that everything in the jungle has lost its meaning as the time of the snake goes back.
If the set of contexts all point to similar information, the answer is obvious.
If the handbook wasn’t just suffering from forgetfulness, it’d be if he fell asleep long enough to remember what he was doing.
If the clown and Leya were aware of that fact and were planning to actively use it.
It may be possible to realize the delusion of enchanting ascendants at the boundary between dreams and reality into reality.
Through Raya’s song, Pyeonram’s spirit is forcibly maintained in a calm state, and Pyeonram misleads himself into accepting the clown’s magic.
A reckless gamble that could never be attempted except for this fleeting moment when I just woke up and my memory is unclear.
The clown was trying to succeed in a way no one else could think of right here and now.
“Right…. Was it all a dream… … The flames of welcome that the
8th-tier illusionist fully chanted and lit up.
It is a kind of local-scale area in which the whole twisted image of a clown is compressed and materialized.
Beyond deceiving and twisting reality, the clown’s own geass technique amplified to the limit reached the point of playing around with cause and effect.
True genjutsu is not about forcibly blaming and coercing the opponent.
The climax of contradiction that was elaborately completed to the point of accepting that he wanted phantom magic himself.
Reversing the perception of phantom magic itself, making the other person wish for it completely in their heart.
The handbook’s huge pupil slowly closes and its huge head begins to rest between the altars.
“It was a terrible dream…. I don’t want to do it again… … . Wake up soon to my children… … I want to go back to my children… … .”
[I’m sure you’re still waiting,”
the clown whispered softly.
[After sleeping comfortably in a dream, you will be able to return to reality.]
“Yes, I hope so…” … .”
The body of a huge snake wraps around the altar and sinks as if asleep. It was so quiet that even breathing could not be heard.
A miracle that forced even those who had not understood the ulterior motive of the clown to trick the Ascendant into falling asleep.
The very moment when the handbook’s head seemed to be twisted between the giant rings of the altar as if it were sleeping.
The snake murmured with its eyes closed.
“But child, it has been hundreds of years since I have not had a dream.”
[…] … Yes?]
At that moment, the handbook’s tail disappeared on the spot and struck the body of the clown standing on top of the altar.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!
The clown’s elongated body jumped at the speed of sound and landed dozens of meters below the altar.
[Kahak….!!]
Pyeonram opened his eyes as he looked down at the clown’s trembling body while letting out an incomprehensible scream.
At the same time, a huge pressure that was incomparable to that of earlier began to press down on all sides and explode the atmosphere.
A storm raged.
OOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
“I loved everything that remained in the passing time.”
The Ascendant who was leaning on the altar raised his head and murmured.
“Children buried in the sand of memories. Everything that was missed and missed.”
“Have you failed…!!”
I don’t know what the reason was, but Pyeonram refused the clown’s illusion and stood up.
Realizing this fact, Lennok immediately left the spot and used the blink spell to distance himself from the altar.
They find the body of a clown who was hit by the tail of a handbook and stuck among the rubble.
“This….”
The elongated, curved demon-like shape remains intact, but the upper and lower body are on the verge of being severed.
In fact, it is doubtful that he is even alive.
[Ugh, geez…!!]
While Lennok paused, the clown raised his blazing eyes and let out a grotesque scream.
Crunchy!!
At the same time, the elongated body is joined and regenerated as if it finds its place on its own.
“….”
It was to the point where I felt as if I was seeing a monster rather than an illusionist.
The clown muttered blankly.
[Time was tight, but it failed…. Shouldn’t I have just waited for support?]
“What?”
The moment Lennok tried to ask again, the sky in the jungle that had been dyed black turned completely black.
At the same time, screams and roars began to quickly close the distance from the other side of the overgrown bush.
[Haaaaaaa!!!]
A terrible feeling, like tens of thousands of people screaming at the same time.
Even if you’ve experienced it once, it’s hard to endure. Or rather, is it because he is clearly aware of its existence?
If Lennok did this, it was obvious how the other superhumans would react.
“It’s Gyebaek…. The corrupted monster has arrived… … !!”
“No no…. already…. this is not… … .”
“It’s different from the plan… … . This sound… … me…me….”
[I’m calling you!]
The bodies of several superhumans who couldn’t stand it turned black, and at the same time, they were dragged across the forest with chains around their necks.
Immediately after that, the ground was completely hollowed out, and there was a shock as if the ground was going to collapse, and a huge black orb appeared from the outermost periphery of the plaza.
[Haah Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
!
There was no intelligence anywhere in his appearance, and only a desperate scream resounded as if he was covered with all the grudges and hatreds of the world.
At the same time as the well of the handbook is opened, it sets the direction accurately and covers thousands of meters at once.
In the process, the nature of the jungle is damaged and broken to the extent that it is difficult to restore it again, but that is also a minor problem.
A giant snake that has struggled to open its eyes and a monster that has turned into a living geas mass face each other.
The square, which seemed infinitely wide even when hundreds of people were playing freely, seemed narrow in an instant as the two Ascendants met face to face.
Handbooks and Encyclopedias.
There are now less than ten people left on this planet, the transcendentalists who have qualified to challenge the ascension.
One forgot her mission in the endless flow of time, and the other went mad under the weight of an irresistible fate.
Even though they had the power and qualifications to reach the pinnacle, they were still alive and moving.
Even Lennok forgot to breathe and just stared at the two Ascendants face to face.
How many people have been waiting and waiting for this moment.
How many people secretly hold their breath and steal this moment?
The two transcendentalists, whose bodies and minds were broken, faced each other for the first time with a
huge well above their heads overlooking the scenery of the open sea .
[I’m going to have to completely revise my plan… … .]
muttered tremblingly to the clown who had been impaled on one side of the ruins of the plaza.
[The Handbook refused to fall asleep. A war of ascendants will break out.]
The Genius Wizard Who Takes Medicine, Chapter 457
