Episode 822:
Knot (9)
Lennok’s question about the origin of Nymel, the ancient heroic spirit who awakened in the underground level of Yorta.
But Naimel did not answer that question right away.
Nymel, who was looking down at Lennok with a cold gaze, spoke to Oris.
“Oris Isen. “Could you please leave for a moment?”
“what?”
“I have no intention of harming this person, but I feel like we have a serious story to discuss.”
“….”
Nymel said, looking at Lennok’s obsidian mask with an expressionless face.
“It’s a personal secret. “It doesn’t seem to have much to do with Yorta’s work.”
“…You’re bothering me. “Does it have anything to do with the name you threw away?”
Even though Oris grumbled, he calmly followed Nymel’s words and stood up.
Oris glanced back at Lennok and spoke as if asking.
“I already told the other heroic spirits, but he is Onion’s successor. “You have to make sure you don’t touch it carelessly.”
“Didn’t you come to a conclusion about this person’s treatment at the festival?”
Nymel answered without taking his eyes off Lennok.
“Do not worry. “What you are worried about will not happen.”
“I can’t trust those guys who were locked deep in the basement of the damn tower…”
The silence that came at the same time as Oris left the place, muttering.
Nymel spoke while looking at Lennok, who was unable to move due to being bound by the chains of fog.
“He played a major role in suspending your disposition at the festival. “It looks like you were in favor.”
“You pretend not to, but you think you owe me something.”
Lennok responded indifferently.
“He has a personality that is too honest to stand on top of someone. “If you’re thinking of giving that guy power over Yorta, you’ll have to help him well.”
“There’s no reason for you to worry about that-”
“Or should we at least tell you about their origins now?”
Lennok suddenly interrupted Nymel and looked away.
“Now it seems there is no need to confirm again that you are from a religious order.”
“….”
Lennok asked.
“Were you one of the souls who held the position of priestess in the church?”
A sense of discomfort that I felt from the moment Naimel first appeared here.
The strong sense of déjà vu felt from its presence and atmosphere clearly resembles that of the priestess Seina Naidry.
This is not a groundless inference that starts from a simple intuition or vague suspicion.
The church’s stigma transferred to Seina. Because the stigma symbolizing the priestly authority was reacting to Nymel.
This is clear evidence that Naimel is connected to high-ranking positions in the church and the existence of priestesses.
However, on the other hand, Naimel did not notice that Lennok actually had a stigma.
That’s why Lennok was suspicious of whether Nymel had given up her position as a priestess.
For Lennok, who knows that the position of priestess is inherited, it is natural to think that Nymel will continue the lineage.
Moreover, if a soul of that caliber had an enemy in Yorta, it would not be strange for him to become the highest-ranking military commander, such as a heroic spirit.
“The religious leader I know is not a person who would let his followers go without anything in return.”
Nymel’s shoulders trembled at Lennok’s words casually calling the leader.
Lennok asked, looking closely at Nymel’s expression.
“If you were really a priestess of the church, how did you abandon the doctrine and become a heroic spirit in Yorta?”
“….”
“No, why did you abandon the church and join Yorta’s hand?”
The only believers in the cult are those who blindly serve, believe in, and follow the cult leader.
Even Seina, who maintained a neutral attitude toward doctrine, never wavered in her faith even for a moment.
However, Nymel, who is now standing in front of Lennok, is a person who has escaped from the church and has become a heroic spirit in Yorta.
What made her like that and how is that possible?
As soon as Lennok saw her, he knew what to ask.
“…You really know a lot about the church.”
Nymel closed his eyes, trembling.
Would it be an illusion if even that slight gesture felt similar to the one Lennok remembered from Seina?
Nymel quickly calmed down and opened his mouth to Lennok.
“There are very few outsiders who know so accurately the rules of the order of sex and authority given to priests from generation to generation…” “
….”
“There is only one thing you are mistaken about.”
Nymel opened his eyes and spoke slowly.
“I am not a priestess of the church. To be precise, it is one of the substitutes prepared to become a priestess.”
“substitute?”
“At a time when the Night of the Dead was in full swing, the church and Yorta made a deal over the body of the ascendant.”
Naimel succinctly explained the secrets of the past.
“It was decided that the church would help with the nocturnal ritual in exchange for keeping one sacred object forever.”
“….”
“I was one of the souls chosen to assist in the ritual and sacrificed at night.”
A candidate for priestess who did not officially receive the title of priestess but was prepared to replace her.
However, without becoming a priestess, is she a being sacrificed to Yorta to help with the ritual of the night journey?
It’s ironic.
Seina Naidri, who officially inherited the title of priestess, sacrificed herself and perished.
Nymel, who was sacrificed in the nocturnal ritual, still maintains its existence as a heroic spirit.
Should we be surprised that even candidates who did not reach the position of priestess became such powerful heroes?
Should we be satisfied with the realization that there are more candidates to replace Seina as the new priestess?
“Then are you still a believer who serves the doctrine?”
“…I don’t know.”
Nymel looked away with a complicated expression.
“I have no regrets about being sacrificed to Yorta and accompanying him on his night trip. Even after turning away from doctrine, he devoted himself to carrying out his mission.”
“….”
“But the moment the night trip failed and I was forced to make a choice… I felt the faith that remained in me shaken.”
Nymel turned his head to avoid Lennok’s gaze and muttered as if confessing.
“What is worth doing at a time when I have not been able to fully follow Him or achieve His nocturnal journey? “I couldn’t understand it myself.”
It was not of their own will to begin with, but as a result, their faith in the church was shaken and they came to exist as an independent entity.
While Lennok was thinking about that fact, Nymel asked a question.
“It seems you have already met the priestess of the church. “Did you guess my origin by comparing me and her?”
“The priestess knew that the requiem was trying to use the remains of the ascendant for personal use and tried to stop it.”
Lennok answered.
“They said they couldn’t forgive him for trying to gain the Ascendant’s body and increase Yorta’s power.”
“I see… I heard from the Grand Inquisitor what they were planning at the Requiem Pavilion.”
Nymel asked hesitantly.
“Where is she now? If you are still staying near Yorta, even now-”
“The priestess is dead.”
“….”
Lennok spoke quietly to Nymel, who was silent.
“I sacrificed myself in the collapsing Infinite Sanctuary and was completely destroyed.”
“It’s immortality…”
Nymel was speechless and raised his gaze.
“She has already achieved the ending I wanted a long time ago and left this world.”
“….”
“That might be the difference from me, who was just a substitute.”
What is the meaning of the ending that Seina Naidry chose at the last moment?
What is clear is that she made her own decision and tied the knot without any regrets.
Does Nymel, who heard of Seina’s death, have similar thoughts to Lennok and honor her?
However, instead of giving in to sentimentality, Lennok immediately stood up halfway and opened his mouth again.
“There is one thing I would like to ask about the church.”
The reason I revealed Nymel’s origins and explained the priestess’s fate was not to indulge in sentimentality.
“If you were a member of a religious order and devoted yourself to the night tour, you would know in what direction the power of the religious leader worked during the process.”
“….”
“Before placing Dorae’s body in the Infinite Sanctuary, I want to know where the sect leader left his power in this city.”
There is a secret story that I did not know even after encountering Dorae’s corpse in the Infinite Sanctuary and looking into his memories.
“You are making a request that I cannot meet.”
Nymel shook his head with a dull expression.
“I am not an insignificant soul who has abandoned the religious order or the nocturnal practices, nor am I a person who does not know the principles of duty. “How can I-”
Nymel, who was speaking with a troubled expression, fell silent the moment her gaze landed on the glowing stigma on Lennok’s wrist.
The moment Lennok waved his hand while looking at Nymel’s expressionless face.
Scream!!
As if it were a lie, Lennok’s hands were freed from the chains.
“Ask again.”
Lennok stood up from his bed and walked towards Nymel and asked.
“Is there a place you can guess?”
“…This is impossible.”
Nymel, who was looking at Lennok’s stigma with a pale complexion, spoke with difficulty.
“The authority of a priestess cannot be passed down in this way, so how…!!”
“Is there a place you can guess?”
“….”
Lennok’s question about escaping from here and searching further in Yorta.
However, instead of dissuading or blocking Lennok, Naimel nodded with a complicated expression.
“There is a ceremony hall used by church officials. At that time, the only relics touched by the church were-”
“Where is it?”
“…19th floor underground in Yorta.”
Nymel responded with a small sigh.
“This is a crematorium where the public servants and traitors of Yorta were gathered together and burned.”
* * *
Gurgling!!
Deep in the Hedrain River.
A huge ghost ship is swimming and sinking as if twisting under the dark riverbed, oppressed by water pressure.
The shape of the ship was damaged, broken, and quite worn, unlike when Lennok first got it.
Lennok shook his head, looking at the mast that was broken in half and shaking.
“…I guess I’ll have to try repairing it separately when I get back.”
Onion’s ship is useful in many ways, but since it is an item obtained as Victor, you must be careful when using it.
It would be relatively safer for Lennok to handle the repairs of the damaged ship alone rather than entrusting it to someone else.
As soon as he heard Lennok’s words, Dabi stuck his head out as if he had been waiting.
[Should I download the ship parts procurement catalog?]
“That’s it. “The specifications themselves are so old that they will not be compatible with modern manuals.”
Lennok said and glanced around the ship.
Even after all the parts are damaged and deteriorated, the function of the ship itself remains intact.
The ability to sail safely even after the mast is broken in half is probably possible because of the power built into the ship.
That was the part that Lenno needed to look at and fix.
“If you learn the commanding techniques properly, things will become easier, but there is hardly any progress…”
The sight of military commanders clinging to the lead of a ship and dragging it deep underwater.
However, unlike the ghost sharks that Oris handled, the military orders controlled by Lennok cannot use any power and only whine.
[Uuuu….] Since
the military command spells that Lennoc casts remain at a crude level, the military spirits that follow his will are also weak spirits.
The problem was that the reason to learn military command techniques was not simply to transport ships.
The incarnation of Lennok was placed in a pure white coffin and fell asleep immediately after the decisive battle with Dorae.
This is because the incarnation no longer moves and has fallen into suspended animation.
‘I thought there would be a backlash for turning the apostle selection ceremony to the incarnate body, but…’
The method is to remove the incarnate body from Dorae’s body while unfolding the magnetic realm Gwangra Muhae Palace and obtain the power of the monk. There was nothing outside.
However, it was unexpected that the incarnation of Lennok, who became an apostle through the selection ceremony, was trapped in a pure white coffin he had created and could not move.
The remaining methods are to directly manipulate it using manipulation techniques or to forcibly awaken the incarnate body through martial arts.
In order to find a solution, you must first awaken your incarnate body and synchronize it with yourself again.
It is an incarnation that originates from Lennok’s own existence and no one else. Even if he was selected as an apostle and changed, his essence would never have changed.
Above all, Lennok had no intention of losing the incarnation he had acquired to someone else.
‘Only when you have an incarnation will you be free from the problem of coexisting status.’
Unlike the Onion’s ghost ship, the incarnation can be used in a variety of ways regardless of status, so it cannot be given up.
Lennok thought so and tried to manipulate the command hanging at the head of the ship to drag the ship deeper into the water.
[Woooo….]
The military commanders only made weak moans and twisted their bodies, but did not properly follow Lennok’s orders.
“…It feels a lot different than when I learned the trick before.”
An embarrassed Lennok scratched his cheek and muttered.
“It was very easy to copy the tips of martial arts and apply them to other techniques, but the techniques themselves are difficult to learn.”
After becoming convinced that learning martial arts would organically lead to Lennok’s harvest.
Lennok has been taught the art of military command several times with the help of Oris, but he is rarely able to use military command.
Although he quickly understood the principles and tips of the technique, the military commanders did not follow Lennok’s will.
“Look. Like now…”
The moment Lennok said that and stretched out his hand towards the white ghosts swimming below the Hedrain River.
The white ghosts floating down the river holding scythes were frightened and began to run away in a hurry.
[Hehehe!! Leave me alone!!]
[I apologize if I did anything wrong, please…!!]
“….”
The military orders are extremely afraid of being under Lennok’s control, and refuse to do so and run away.
All they do is run away or become afraid, trying to escape from Lennok’s spell at any moment.
[Hmm, Master is a scary person, but not to that extent…]
Dabi also just tilted his head with his chin as if he was surprised.
[If it wasn’t like this before, wouldn’t it be because there was a change that made the Master fearful?]
“…That’s right.”
Lennok answered with an uneasy expression.
“The problem is that there are so many guesses that it is difficult to pinpoint the cause.”
[….]
Just to sum up the new techniques and powers that I acquired after coming to Yorta, there are more than a few.
Acquisition of the incarnate body. The authority of a priest transferred from a priestess. The awakening of Archangel Kashuin of the Old World.
Not only the martial arts of Gujung Dorae, which he learned from Do-rae over his shoulder, but also the martial arts he is learning from Oris.
There are so many factors that continually change Lennok that it is difficult to narrow it down to just one cause.
Since I’m not in a position to research this issue right now, I’m just vaguely repeating trial and error.
Dabi also gave up his worries after hearing Lennok’s words and lay down in his robe.
[Then there’s nothing I can do about it~ How can I know something the Master doesn’t know?]
“Okay. I had no expectations from the beginning….”
Boom!!
At that moment, the military spirits that had been lurking at the head of the ship with their chains in their mouths could not hold out and disappeared.
It has become so weak that it can no longer maintain its own shape under the increasing water pressure.
The appearance of a ghost ship that suddenly lost its guiding force and stopped in place.
Lennok, who was looking for a military commander to guide the ship on his behalf, turned his magic detection once and shook his head.
“It’s difficult. “Maybe because we went too deep, there was no sign of anything around us.”
The ship is a legacy of Madrich Onion, a military commander, and is almost incompatible with techniques other than military command.
Although it may be possible to forcefully operate it with Lennok’s magic, it would be unsuitable for long-distance sailing due to low fuel efficiency.
Lennok, who was contemplating on the deck of a ship stopped under a dark waterway, landed on the spirit rolling around in his arms.
[….]
“….”
[Master. I don’t even have fins.]
Dabi responded as if it were absurd, but Lennok lifted Dabi up with both hands.
The limp fox spirit stuck out its front paws and looked back at Lennok with an expression of shock.
“The 19th basement level that Nymel mentioned is right in front of you. “Give it a try or quit right away.”
[….]
“You don’t have to do it if you don’t feel like it. “It doesn’t matter if I do it since using magic is the same anyway.”
[no. It’s not difficult, so I’ll give it a try.]
Buung!!
In an instant, the Thunder Spirit, which grew in size to the size of Lennok’s body, jumped out in front of the ship’s deck and closed its front paws, holding the chain in its mouth.
[My dream is to climb on top of a palanquin and receive praise, but it turns out to be the opposite…]
While grumbling, Dabi raised his magic power, inflated his entire body, and slowly walked down into the river.
The five tails stood up stiffly and began to spin like propellers.
Huh!!
The shape of the ship starting to slowly move forward as Dabi swims.
The existence of a spirit is completely different from a military spirit, but it is compatible with a ghost ship as it is bound by the concept of the same spirit body.
Wooooow…!!!
As Dabi increased his magical power, the speed of the ship increased, and both the spirit and the ship glowed at the same time.
Lennok, who was watching the scene from up on the deck, frowned at the strange sense of unity he felt for a moment.
“Wait a minute, this is…”
As the spirit’s magical power responds strongly to the ghost ship, the thoughts themselves are merging into one and mixing together.
The moment when Lennok immediately called Dabi and tried to stop him due to the unusual resonance of his thoughts.
Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
The radiance that rose up around the ship’s chain began to be absorbed towards Dabi.
A movement that seems to cause the entire ship to respond and vibrate according to the will of the spirit leading the ship.
Onion’s entire ship rotates as if being sucked towards Dabi and disappears.
Dabi’s thoughts quickly raced down the 19th floor underground with Lennok on his back.
It instantly broke through the barrier colliding from all directions and fell onto a dry plain in the middle of the water.
Kwaaaa!!
[Master!!]
As the shape of the ship is absorbed into Dabi, Dabi, who has grown into a giant size, catches the falling Lennok with his front paws.
Dabi, who looked embarrassed, swung his tail and rolled over with Lennok in his arms, jumped up and picked Lennok up.
[Are you okay?!]
“Okay. “I can heal the bruises.”
Lennok coughed lightly and got down from Dabi’s arms.
The image of Lennok landing on a barren field and the shape of a pile of ashes piled up around it.
And Dabi is waiting for Lennok with a worried look, waving his six tails right in front of his eyes.
Just as Lennok was thinking that, he passed Dabi and was about to find the ruins and the missing ship.
“…Wait.Sixth?”
Lennok quickly grabbed the sixth tail, which was floating like a ghost at the end of the five tails.
