༺ Mages of the Tower (8) ༻
I returned to the Academy with Lady Josephine. Since they carried out the attack on Josephine, it was highly likely that they were going to continue the plan by kidnapping Marie and murdering the chairman.
Of course, everything had been prepared already.
“Senior Marie!”
After returning to the dormitory, I found Marie waiting for us.
“Korin!”
She welcomed me with a smile as Doggo also appeared from her shadows.
“Did everything go well? Are you okay?”
“Uun… You see…”
Marie fidgeted for a while, before giving a shocking response.
“No one… attacked me.”
“Sorry?”
“I went outside today and created the best stage for them to attack me and yet… Nothing happened until I arrived at the Academy.”
How could this be?
The seal on Lady Josephine would have lasted only 3 days at best, and Master Erin was going to return soon as well. Now should have been the best time for them to attack Marie.
“…There’s no way they can attack both at once though.”
Elder Admelech had gone off to seal Lady Josephine and the original plan would have been for Elder Morushtan to kidnap Marie. At the same time, the Great Golden Mage Adelene would murder the chairman. That would have been the best way to allocate the right people to the right task.
However, Elder Morushtan was under arrest by the paladins of the New Faith because of my report, so there was no way they had enough manpower to attack Marie and the chairman at once.
Unlike the original storyline, Marie wasn’t imprisoned and was instead an unprecedented mage and a Unique Grade vampire. Kidnapping her without Elder Morushtan would be impossible so I thought Lord Adelene and the group would prioritize kidnapping her while the chairman was away.
That was why we spread the news of Dunareff Fresh Produce and made her leave the Academy.
We had been creating a trap so that it would be easy for them to attack Marie and yet…
“Did they figure it out? Or more like, where are the mages right now, Senior?”
“…We also went looking for the mages straight away after returning to the Academy but… we couldn’t find anyone.”
30 mages of the Tower evaporated at once. What did this suggest?
Did they give up and leave the city because of Morushtan’s arrest? That was impossible. If that was the case, there was no need for them to seal Lady Josephine in the first place.
They took action and those 30 mages should have headed somewhere with a plan in mind.
“The professors are looking for them right now but… we have no clue where they went.”
“What in the…”
It was making me uneasy. Something had definitely gone off-course, but where did it go wrong and what was it?
“Do you want to know where the mages of the Tower have gone off to?”
That was when a sensuous voice reached our ears. At the source of the sound was a female student wearing a reddish-black dress, staring at us with a cunning smile on her face.
“Your Highness Miruam.”
Miruam Elizabeth El Rath. Her eyes met with mine.
“Do you know where the mages…”
I stopped in the middle of the question. Was there a point in asking such a thing? The Tower of Mages was one of the powerful sponsors for the princess. Even if she knew something, there should be no reason for her to tell us about it.
“Senior Korin. Shall we have a little conversation?”
Lifting the corners of her lips, Princess Miruam invited me to her room. Unlike the fanciness of her own self, her room was rather simple and lacked decorations.
Overall, the room had a cold tone of colors and a practical placement of furniture. It seemed even more desolate than how it looked when I came here at the start of the semester.
“I know where the mages have gone.”
That was the first thing she said to me after entering the room.
“What do you want from me in return?”
“Let’s see. I wonder how much we should put on stake?”
“…”
Seeing me deeply looking back into her eyes, Princess Miruam returned a faint smile.
“It’s very important to me.”
“I know. And it is just as important for me.”
This woman… She knew what I was trying to do to the Tower.
Then this would inevitably become a deal, but how would I be able to pay the price matching the fall of the Tower of Mages, one of her most powerful sponsors?
“…”
There was… only one way for me to pay enough price for the fall of the Tower.
“I will…”
“The Tower has gone to hunt the wolves. It is something I have confirmed directly with my ‘snake’ so it’s certain.”
“…”
I was lost for words. Just a little more patience and she would have gotten what she was after so… why?
However, I didn’t have time to sit here thinking, because it was obvious why the Tower would be after the siblings.
“Thank you.”
“You know.”
She said, making me momentarily stick to the ground.
“I have given up quite a lot. There will be no next time.”
“…”
Right. I knew what she valued even more than the Tower of Mages. Her hatred and rage, and how she was waiting for the opportunity…
“We will say I owe you one.”
“Fufu. I know, and you will definitely have to pay the price for this.”
I wasn’t sure what she was thinking but… what I did know was that Princess Miru – Miruam Elizabeth El Rath – would never do something that put her at a loss.
However, my first priority right now was saving the siblings.
****
Distance and location did not matter in the slightest. With the help of the overpowered teleporter, Josephine Clara, we immediately arrived at the western mountain range where the prac lesson was taking place.
“The forest… is strange.”
The howls and roars of the boars echoing throughout the mountains were proof that something strange was happening inside. In that mountain would be the freshmen students taking their prac lesson.
Quickly, I designed a plan.
“I will go together with Senior Marie and Doggo. We will go looking for the twins.”
“Sure. But… I believe the twins would be in the most danger right now.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
It was my job to protect them – an obvious duty of mine as the guardian.
“Doggo!”
Senior Marie called out as Doggo revealed himself from her shadows. He was the second fastest out of everyone here after Hua Ran.
“Doggo. Do us a favor.”
I let him take a sniff of one of the items that were in the twin’s room. After smelling it, Doggo pointed at a direction.
“Let’s go, Korin!”
Marie got on Doggo who then immediately kicked off the ground.
“Woof!”
I followed them from behind and soon, we arrived at the middle of the mountain where we found Ren who was encircled by black mages… and a young man.
The handsome young boy with blonde hair who appeared around the same age as me, was being made to kneel on the ground by the surrounding black mages.
Ron… He must have grown.
It seemed that the child had chosen to become an adult to fight them off. Seeing that made me feel proud yet remorseful at the same time, because that proved that my fences as the adult had been insufficient.
“Korin, look…!”
Marie said while pointing at Ren, who was on the ground with a spear penetrating through her stomach.
“Those motherfuckers…!”
I was about to run off immediately but stopped momentarily upon sensing a strange aura emanating out of Ron. It was a thick, rusty and sticky fog of mana that did not suit the bright golden wolf in the slightest.
“I will kill you… All of you. I will definitely kill every one of you…”
『I will kill you… All of you. I will definitely kill every one of you…』
His words reminded me of the past.
Both the game and the last iteration.
The wolf siblings depended on and loved each other so endearingly, and one of them would go berserk and morph into something else whenever the other was defeated first.
“This is looking dangerous. Just in case, stay here with Doggo please, Senior Marie. I will go there by myself.”
“Korin. Will you be alright?”
“Yes. Don’t worry.”
What reached my ears straight after Marie’s voice of concern was Ren’s groan and plea.
“Please… help us.”
I had to answer her call.
“Please save us, oraboni…”
“Hmph…! No matter what you say, there’s no one who’s going to save you bitch… kuak!?”
Dashing forth, I smacked the guy on his face.
– Kaduduk!
The old mage miserably rolled across the ground several times. Without even bothering to look at him, I quickly checked how Ren was faring.
“You’re late…”
Her hair was disheveled. Her cheeks were swollen with blood flowing down her lips.
It was infuriating. How could they do such a thing to such a small girl…?
“Sorry. It’s alright now.”
Giving her a tight hug, I tapped her on the back to reassure her. Then, I walked towards Ron, who was looking at me with a dumbfounded look on his face with his knees still on the ground, and patted his head.
“You did an excellent job. You protected your sister.”
“Bro…”
Leaving Ren with Ron, I scanned the 10 black mages around us. All of them would probably be above Grade 2 at the very least considering how they were here to capture golden wolves. On top of that, there were also tons of undead Fang Boars behind them.
“That insolent brat!”
“K, kill him…!”
I pointed my spear at them. By putting a large amount of mana into the spear, I unleashed one of the powers of the sun.
❰Temporary Sun Concentration – Claiomh Solais❱
Activating every Rune of the Sun engraved on the silver spear, I used it as a temporary catalyst to give off sunlight.
It was a short and momentary display of light, but even that was detrimental to the unholy creatures.
– Kweeeeek!
– Kuahkkkkk!
The undead Fang Boars started to melt while letting out agonized screams. Wicked beings had not a single chance of retaliating against the cleansing ability of the sun.
Whether it be undeads, black mages, or even the poison of a chimera.
“It would have been slightly better for you if you were using normal familiars.”
That was one of the weaknesses of black mages. They had a strong tendency to easily resort to killing and shifting body parts to use them at will.
In the blink of an eye, the undead Fang Boars were all cleansed. Due to being polluted by black magic, they all vanished to nothing without leaving behind a single bone.
And that was the same for the black mages.
“Huahkk… T, this is impossible! My disciples!”
Arkai, who managed to escape the range of the Sun thanks to flying far away by the punch, screamed after seeing the black mages who had been reduced to ashes.
Soon, after realizing that he wasn’t dreaming, he lifted his eyes and looked at me.
“P, please don’t kill me! I… I was just doing what my master told me to do!”
Elder Morushtan. Sure, that guy was the biggest motherfucker but…
“Are you any different?”
“I, I’m…!”
“Of course not. Even your disciples were all one of the world’s dirtiest pieces of trash. Otherwise they wouldn’t have been cleansed by the sun. Do you think you’ll be different? Do you want to bet on whether you get cleansed or not?”
Seeing the silver spear being pointed at him, he frantically backed off. That was a natural reaction, considering how he witnessed the eradication of the undeads and the black mages with his own eyes.
“Huhiiik… P, please don’t kill me! Please! Have mercy!”
He begged after going down on his knees. It reminded me of what Ron was like before, but…
“Your knees seem a lot cheaper in comparison.”
There was no way that his knees could ever hold the same weight as Ron, who had been desperately trying to save his sister.
– Slam!
I smacked his head with the shaft of the spear as he fell face first onto the ground. Ren curiously raised a question after seeing that.
“Are you not killing him?”
“Killing him would be way too merciful.”
They had to pay for all their sins without leaving a single pound behind.
………
……
…
After that it was fairly simple. Although the black mages had been controlling most of the Fang Boars of this entire mountain, in the end, Fang Boars were nothing more than Fang Boars.
No one from our group was weak enough to be injured by a mere Grade 4 monster.
There were a few injured students among the freshmen kids that were attacked first, but thanks to Professor Orgen protecting them with his life on the line, there weren’t any serious injuries nor casualties.
“Student Korin!”
I was in the middle of gathering the neutralized mages to one place when Lady Josephine called my name.
“The chairman’s marker is giving off a signal!”
“…So it really was an attack on two fronts, huh.”
Unlike us who had the overpowered Josephine in our group, the mages inevitably had some problems with synchronizing their attacks. It was fortunate that they started the attack on the chairman after everything was pretty much over for us.
“We have to leave right now.”
“Let me go with you,” I replied.
Obviously, I had to be one of the ones going with her, because I was the only one here who knew about Adelene, the Great Golden Mage.
It should be possible for me.
I had obtained the sun; I reached the end of Six Ways of the Spear, and was even in possession of 3 Aura Cores, which was the symbol of a High-level Knight.
Unique Grade Great Mage, Adelene. I would have to put my life on the line if it was a 1 on 1, but I also had Lady Josephine, the Dimensional Witch, on my side.
“M, me too…!”
“I can’t stay here when you are going there, Mr. Korin!”
“…”
Marie, Alicia and even Hua Ran. Although they had already told me that they were going to come with me from the beginning, it was still reassuring to have them step up without any hesitation.
Josephine seemed concerned by the fact that she had to bring students into a dangerous battle, and warned them.
“Be careful. Unlike the Red Cult and the Black Cult where we had an absolute advantage over them… this will be different.”
“I know.”
Even though there had been a slight modification to the plan, it was perfect until now. Everything was going alri—
“Chairman!”
The moment we arrived at the land on the other side of the dimensional gate, the first thing we saw was the chairman lying on the ground.
“Clara… Student Korin…”
“Are you alright?!”
“I’m fine. But more importantly…”
『System Message』
– All the 4 treasures of Tuatha de Danann have been gathered.
『Spear of Light, Areadbhair』
『Cauldron of Infinity, Undry』
『Great Stone of Destiny, Lia Fail』
『Sword of the Sun, Claiomh Solais』
– The Quest, 《Coronation of Paradise》 has been activated.
———!!
The system window raised an alarm, and at the same time… they revealed themselves.
“Hihi. Hello?”
The user of Undry, Dun Scaith.
“It has been a while. First Spear of Erin.”
Lawmaker, Dumnorix.
“Ohh– thee. We are at last facing each other atop the log bridge of destiny. Why have we been forced into such a tragedy? To kill or be killed; that is the question.”
The all-powerful King of Beauty, Eochaid Bres.
Gathered were the final bosses of ❰Heroic Legends of Arhan❱ – the King’s Subjects. Each and every one of them were at the level of a disaster themselves but there was one more. Standing with them was—
“Destiny has bound our fates into one. Now, your destiny has come before your eyes.”
—A man carrying a splendidly radiant spear.
『System Back-up in Operation. Reviewing the Precept.』
Dumnorix: Relativity A+
Dun Scaith: Relativity A+
Eochaid Bres: Relativity A++
Tates Valtazar: Relativity EX
Support: 740% Increase in Stats
『Hero Korin Lork. Defeat all evil and save the world.』
“Have you had enough time to prepare yourself, young man?”
Tates Valtazar.
He was standing there, waiting for us to arrive.
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