“Incarnation Technique of the Ghost Dragon, huh…”
The spirit’s message revealed that the Ghost Dragon Yao Xun’s original technique, the power that shaped the fortress’s environment, was the Incarnation Technique.
Upon hearing this, Lenok pieced together the explanations and situations, nodding in understanding.
If Oris was correct, then the Ghost Dragon’s rise to military commander was rooted in the Incarnation Technique.
Moreover, the Incarnation Technique was one of the three goals Lenok had set for himself in Yorta.
He had shelved it due to the Soul Requiem, never imagining it would be connected in this way, causing him to hesitate for a moment.
“I had a feeling, but it was the right answer.”
The spirit, as if anticipating his reaction, spoke mockingly.
“The fact that you knew so much about the Soul Requiem’s secret history, beyond comprehension, must also be because you were in league with Yao Xun, right?”
“…”
The spirits, already assuming Lenok was in cahoots with the Ghost Dragon, drew their weapons.
Their eerie murderous intent descended upon him, instantly filling the surroundings with a gloomy spiritual energy.
Clatter, clatter!!
“Using force in the fortress will strain our relationship with the Ghost Dragon… but if we let you go here, it will cause irreparable damage.”
They were aware of Lenok’s actions at the Spirit Tower.
Knowing he had joined forces with Grand Inquisitor Oris and disrupted the Spirit Tower, they would never let Lenok escape.
“That’s not wrong, but there’s one thing that doesn’t make sense.”
However, even after hearing those words, Lenok chuckled and reached out his hand towards the spirit.
“Isn’t that something you should worry about when you can actually face me?”
Swoosh!!
At that moment, the pale-skinned spirit hanging under the tent was split in half on the spot.
A gruesome cutting force cleanly bisected him vertically from head to abdomen.
The thread of light extending from Lenok’s hand flashed like a sharp blade, killing the spirit instantly.
Fwoosh!!
The spirit, unable to utter a word, exploded into a blurry spiritual energy and vanished.
Upon witnessing that, the other spirits surrounding him began to move in unison.
“Daybon is down. Begin!!”
“He’s a Manipulation-type manipulator. Keep your distance as we discussed beforehand!”
“Maintain formation and move carefully!!”
Boom!!
At that moment, dozens of fruit boxes piled up in the night market exploded, sending fruit flying in all directions.
Hundreds of piles of fruit, dripping with pulp and juice, rained down from all around.
“Is the goal to obscure my vision? Such a petty trick.”
Amidst the chaos, Lenok twirled a magic thread around his finger.
Just as his will, piercing through the rain of fruit, was about to become a tangible force and penetrate the spirit body,
Lenok suddenly turned his gaze and grabbed a piece of fruit in mid-air.
A bomb, painted a similar color and mixed among the fruit, detonated.
A huge pillar of flame rose in the middle of the night market.
Boom!!!
A wave of bluish spiritual energy, burning the surrounding objects with the shock.
Lenok frowned, realizing that the wave was destabilizing the surrounding magic.
Was it a disruption device that compressed and detonated a fallen military commander, artificially twisting the surrounding magic?
A spiritual distortion aimed at the surrounding objects and environment rather than Lenok himself.
They knew that such a disruption was fatal to a manipulator who required precise control.
Clack, clack!!
“As expected, he’s not skilled in military commander techniques. If we disrupt his senses, offense and defense will be established!!”
“He’s a manipulator who is extremely sensitive to his condition. Kill him before he adapts!”
The spirits, with yellow talismans in their mouths, rushed through the storm of spiritual energy.
They detonated bombs hidden among the piles of fruit, constantly harassing Lenok’s nerves.
Thud, thud!!
Crash!!
As the store buildings and boxes collapsed with a roar, bombs flew up from all directions.
Mixed with the pouring piles of fruit, it was difficult to even recognize their shapes.
Just as he was desperately closing the distance by wielding waves of spiritual energy, Lenok accelerated and disappeared into the tents, avoiding the spirits’ blurry dashes.
Clack, clack!!
A thick robe fluttered, casting a dark shadow over the courtyard of the daytime night market.
At the same time as he accelerated by hooking his body on the magic thread, the spirits’ slashes flashed from all directions.
The scythes and curved blades, shrouded in a blurry mist, collided with the magic thread, sparking a desolate fire.
Thud, thud, thud!!
Lenok’s figure seemed to be in a hurry to escape. The movements of the magic thread seemed random, as if he was just pulling and swinging it.
But each time, the silver threads pushed, pulled, and caressed the blades of the scythes and curved blades.
Each time he waved his hand as if tapping the air, the bundles of magic threads, rotating like a dance, completely avoided the trajectory of the sword strikes.
“What kind of precision is that…!!”
“Is he completely unaffected by the surrounding environment?!”
The spirits, who were running along the walls and tents of the night market, gritted their teeth at the unbelievable manipulation of the magic thread.
“You’re thinking on a predictable level. It’s not like that.”
Squeak!!
Lenok, who had tied the magic thread to his inverted wrist and twisted the neck of a spirit with the other end, killed and annihilated the spirit who had misjudged the distance, and laughed as he burst the spirit’s spiritual body with magic.
“I’m deploying the technique while taking into account the changing environment.”
“…!!!”
“Perhaps because it’s an explosion using a military commander as a material, the degree of disruption in the magic pattern is very different.”
Lenok, who had landed amidst the scattered piles of fruit, raised his hand towards the rushing spirits.
“It’s annoying, I can’t stand to watch anymore, so let’s stop here… huh?”
At that moment, Lenok raised his masked gaze straight up.
“What in the world are you doing!!”
Immediately after, someone fell down with a booming voice, and a bright yellow light burst out.
Whoosh!!
The storm of spiritual energy that had been exploding from all directions subsided, and the spirits stepped back.
What appeared as if blocking Lenok’s path was a monk with a blindfold, his hands clasped together as if in prayer.
He shouted, deploying a barrier that protected Lenok and himself by gathering light in both hands.
“For the spirits of the Soul Requiem to try to oppress the living, aren’t you ashamed!!”
“…”
“To commit such an outrageous act in Yao Xun’s fortress is an insult to those participating in the ritual! Withdraw immediately!”
The monk shouted at the spirits, then turned his gaze to Lenok and nodded.
“It’s the first time since the checkpoint. Now that I’m here, rest assured.”
“I don’t know what nonsense you’re talking about. You are…”
Lenok searched his memory, and soon recalled the face, then nodded.
“You’re the monk who spoke to me at the pier. Why are you here?”
The blind monk who had spoken to Lenok first when he was crossing the Headrain River using a boat made from a corpse of a follower.
He had suddenly appeared in the night market street to help Lenok.
The spirits also quickly exchanged information in front of the monk.
“…Who is he?”
“He’s a monk from Stania. It’s recorded that he came to Yorta for the Spirit Transformation Ritual.”
“An outsider? Then it’s okay to take him with us.”
“Try it if you dare.”
The monk stood in front of Lenok with a determined expression, drawing his power to the fullest.
“Though I may not have many talents, I will show no mercy to ghosts who violate the principles of life and death-!!”
Squeak!!
At that moment, the monk noticed a large shadow cast over his head and stopped speaking.
A shadow so large that it covered not only the monk but also the positions of the other spirits in the night market.
The monk and the spirits, who had inadvertently raised their gazes, closed their mouths as if they had made a promise.
[Kikikikik.]
A huge old man with a grotesque hooked nose was looking down at them with a grinning face.
A hunched back. Eight skinny arms and dozens of long, stretched fingers.
Bundles of magic threads tied to his withered fingers hung down like a veil, swaying slowly.
Beyond the fingers that gently caressed as if embroidering, an alien magic of unknown origin flowed out incessantly.
“W-what is this…”
“I understand the intention, but it’s not very helpful.”
As if responding to the monk’s dazed mutter, Lenok opened his mouth from behind.
Lenok, who had already summoned his summon while clasping his hands together, slowly tilted his head.
“Get out of the way, you’re in the way.”
“S-summon!!”
Kiiing…!!
As a strong light shone from behind the obsidian mask, and the spirits realized its identity and were terrified,
The tailor’s fingertips slowly began to tap the air.
Manipulation-type Unique Magic
Magic Projection Dispersion Resonance
[Willpower Release]
Kiiiiiiik…!!
At that moment, the swaying of the magic threads that had been stretched out in all directions began to slow down as if time had stopped.
Not time, but an optical illusion that the space itself hanging on the magic threads was stretching and filling the gap.
In the infinitely slowing perceived time, everyone stared as if hypnotized at the trajectory of the thin lines.
At the end of the magic threads rotating in all directions, fragments of fruit that had been falling from above were hanging.
Clatter!!
In the distorted perception, the magic threads that had been contracting infinitely slowly began to rotate explosively.
Crack!!
The fruit hanging at the end of the magic thread broke its pulp on the spot, leaving only the core twisted.
The fruit cores, transformed into sharp bullets, simultaneously pierced the heads of the spirits on the spot.
Thud!!
The spirits’ bodies, engulfed in bluish flames, slumped and fell on the spot.
The monk watched with a complicated expression as Lenok walked out from among the corpses of the disappearing spirits.
“Is there anything more regrettable than perishing in a foreign land due to a moment’s misjudgment? It’s foolish.”
“…You’re being unnecessarily nosy, just like at the pier.”
Lenok, who was walking past the monk, chuckled.
“Considering that, you seem to have lived quite long, you must be quite talented, right?”
“Heh heh, that’s what I should be saying.”
The monk smiled faintly as he looked at Lenok.
“Compared to the skill you just showed, my talents are utterly meaningless.”
“…”
When Lenok didn’t answer, the monk’s smile deepened under his blindfold.
“You are in that place, yet you are not standing in that time. Where are you looking now?”
A vague yet sharp question that pierced the essence.
The precise manipulation and sharp calculations that are inevitably involved in using manipulation techniques.
However, the moment he combines the Eye of Possibility [a technique that allows one to see potential outcomes] and the power of Revelation [a form of precognition], he can confirm the odds of victory that are not immediately visible and act accordingly.
The monk had recognized that Lenok’s current battle against the spirits was the result of a power close to precognition.
‘If I overlap the left Eye of Possibility, which confirms the realm of possibilities, and follow the knack, I can predict the offense and defense much further.’
Lenok pondered as he looked at the monk.
‘If I can use Revelation without the help of the priestess, it will be of great help in assisting the manipulation techniques.’
The power of Revelation is not the priestess’s, but rather a fragment of omniscience based on the existence of the pontiff.
Therefore, if he learns the knack properly, Lenok might be able to follow suit.
Lenok had realized this in prison and had been repeatedly practicing using Revelation without the priestess’s help.
“You said you were a monk from Stania. I’ve heard the name before.”
However, without revealing any such thoughts, Lenok looked at the monk from behind his mask and asked.
“I’ve heard that you’re actively involved in worldly affairs, despite being holed up in the snowy mountains focusing on your practice. What brings you here?”
The Stania Monastery.
He had only heard about it occasionally in passing, but Lenok knew what kind of organization they were.
A monastic religious group that focused on inner practice rather than faith or belief.
The elixirs they produced were so famous that they even operated a pharmaceutical company under their name.
Lenok himself had even taken their elixir, ‘Stemonia,’ during his freelance days.
But if there was one thing Lenok knew best about the monastery, it was that the former first president of the cartel, Parden McQueen, was from the Stania Monastery.
A skilled individual who wielded the Liberation Technique [a technique that releases one’s inner power] and the Cursed Scripture, using the scenery of the monastery as a mental image for his domain, ‘Hundred Night Rakshasa.’
Even though he had completed his rank and stagnated, his unique technique still remained in Lenok’s memory.
Perhaps he never expected to hear such specific circumstances from Lenok’s mouth, the monk was taken aback and bowed his head.
“Hoo, you are more knowledgeable than I thought. I apologize. I didn’t think the Demon’s Lair would be interested in someone like me.”
“I’m not interested in the monastery, but I am interested in the techniques derived from it.”
Lenok answered indifferently.
“I know that there are unique techniques passed down in the monastery, including the Liberation Technique.”
“…”
The apostate monk, Parden McQueen, combined the Liberation Technique and the Cursed Scripture to handle a unique summon called Arjumarta.
The existence of an artificial summon that greatly increased and assisted the output of the technique was also a considerable inspiration for Lenok in creating the tailor of the imaginary dimension.
The monk, unable to answer, looked at Lenok with a somber expression.
“Very well. If you know the circumstances of the monastery, then a long explanation is unnecessary.”
The monk, who had quietly clasped his hands together, began to introduce himself.
“My name is Kraya Nirjuma. I came to Yorta to learn at the behest of the monastery.”
“Learn?”
“If it’s alright, would you like to participate in the Spirit Transformation Ritual held in the Ghost Dragon’s fortress?”
The monk, who introduced himself as Kraya, asked Lenok.
“The Spirit Transformation Ritual is a test regularly held by the Ghost Dragon Yao Xun, and those who pass the test can be taught the Incarnation Technique.”
“…”
“The ritual is held in the fortress, and aside from the minimum qualification verification, rewards can be obtained depending on the participant’s abilities.”
Kraya continued to explain, leaving Lenok without an answer.
“Your martial prowess is so different and powerful that it doesn’t fit in, so you should be able to pass the ritual without difficulty.”
“I understand that the Ghost Dragon wants to pass on the Incarnation Technique to humans.”
Lenok answered nonchalantly.
“But I don’t think there’s any reason for you to recommend it to me. What are you thinking?”
“The Ghost Dragon, who presides over the ritual, is a tricky authority even within Yorta, and it is said that he is extremely concerned with procedures and customs.”
Kraya said immediately, as if he knew those words would come out.
“But conversely, there is also a rumor that every time the ritual is held, one of the participants is designated as an internal candidate and is taught the technique, ignoring the procedures.”
“…”
Was this what the Soul Requiem’s pursuit squad was talking about when they mentioned the internal candidate?
If the spirits themselves were mentioning it, then perhaps the rumor Kraya mentioned was not a false lie.
Kraya, who had politely clasped his hands together towards Lenok, said.
“And in my opinion, you are most likely to be the internal candidate of the rumor.”
“In short, you don’t have the confidence to pass the ritual alone, is that what you’re saying?”
Lenok sneered.
“Regardless of the Ghost Dragon’s nature, if you have enough skill, you don’t need to be bound by such rumors, right?”
“…The Liberation Technique you mentioned is a long-standing shame and regret for the monastery.”
“What?”
Kraya answered calmly.
“Because the ancient formula was lost and broken a long time ago, the transmission is in danger of being cut off after the high-ranking monks die.”
The monk drooped his shoulders with a self-deprecating air.
“We even looked for the traces of the apostate monk who betrayed the monastery to restore it, so how can I explain that desperation?”
“…”
“The Incarnation Technique is one of the very few powers that could help restore the monastery’s Liberation Technique.”
Kraya’s gaze, with his blindfold, seemed to pierce through Lenok’s mask.
“If you have both the qualifications and aptitude, there will be something to learn just by participating in the ritual alongside you.”
“…”
Because he was convinced that Lenok possessed both the qualifications and aptitude of an internal candidate, he wanted to participate in the ritual alongside him, even if it meant doing so.
Seeing Lenok’s lack of response, Kraya made various suggestions, as if he wanted to be with him at all costs.
“Instead, I will handle the complex procedures of the Spirit Transformation Ritual for you. Also, if you need any elixirs made by the monastery-”
“You’ve been talking about the qualifications and aptitude of an internal candidate since earlier, but let’s hear what that is first.”
Lenok asked, looking around at the chaotic scene of the night market.
“Can that be a condition that is enough to cover up this commotion?”
“Hmm. From what I’ve heard, the more a manipulator uses something as a medium, the easier it is to pass the ritual.”
Kraya explained, recalling his memories.
“It was also said that the rarer and more unique the system, the more suitable it is to catch Yao Xun’s eye.”
“…”
Lenok immediately understood why Kraya was trying to help Lenok participate in the ritual together.
A rare system that uses something as a medium. Isn’t that a perfect modifier for a Manipulation-type manipulator?
Of course, there are many rare system techniques that require a medium, such as Language Techniques or Sound Techniques, but among them, the status and position of Manipulation Techniques are a more special kind.
“Hmm…”
[Sir. Are you considering participating in Yao Xun’s Spirit Transformation Ritual?]
“Perhaps it’s the fastest way to directly contact Yao Xun.”
Lenok, with his arms crossed, answered the priestess’s spirit, without the monk seeing.
“If they choose an internal candidate based on the aptitude for the Incarnation Technique, as he says, things might become easier than I thought.”
[But…]
“Ah, and there’s one more thing. This is just a story I overheard…”
Kraya said, glancing at Lenok.
“There’s a rumor that the more twisted one’s nature is, the easier it is to learn the technique-”
“…Why are you telling me that?”
[Hmm.]
Contrary to Lenok, who replied unpleasantly, the priestess suddenly nodded as if she had understood.
[Come to think of it, it might be a good idea. It might even be the perfect opportunity for you.]
“…”
While Lenok was contemplating whether to throw the priestess’s spirit into the river right now, Kraya immediately turned around.
“The ritual is about to begin, so if you’re interested, how about we go together now?”