The wizards of Argeyirion gritted their teeth.
There was no doubt that the agent who had appeared from Blasphemia had fought them and their silver thread creature before disappearing calmly. It was clearly attempting to gather the secret agreements with Torres Tower and any evidence left behind in various parts of the middle layer.
At least one of them needed to break away from here and stop him.
But the silver thread creature was the problem.
Just as a wizard absorbs mana and converts it into magical power, the silver thread creature reverses this process by reducing magic back into mana. The more mana it absorbs, the larger its physical body grows.
The freed silver thread creature had already absorbed a significant amount of magic. Compared to when it was sealed in the chamber, it had swollen to over ten times its original size.
The fine silver threads covering its entire body shot out fiercely. The wizards of Argeyirion continuously incanted high-level spells they would normally waver just trying to use.
An attack made possible by the blessing of ‘Greater Purpose.’ A pillar of fire surged upward, melting away both the ceiling and the floor.
The scorching flames were also effective against the silver thread creature. In an instant, about twenty percent of the creature melted away into nothingness.
However, this did not mean the creature’s movements were hindered. This thing was only called a bug for convenience; it wasn’t truly similar to an actual insect.
Rather, it wasn’t even biological. It was better understood as a machine designed to consume magical energy.
The silver thread creature tore apart its own burning body. Then it advanced again toward the two wizards who possessed quality magical energy.
Simultaneously, it extended more silver threads throughout the middle layer’s magic circuits to restore its lost mass. Since this area was the control center of the ruins, there were sufficient magic circuits.
The lights in the middle layer flickered.
This was proof that part of the ruins’ system was malfunctioning due to having its magic drained by the silver thread creature.
However, neither Argeyirion nor the few remaining wizards of Torres Tower could concern themselves with this.
They had to focus on the battle against the interdimensional beast right in front of them or risk losing their lives.
Deep within the ruins of Crete Island, and even deeper still at the very bottom. In the darkest place of the ruins, the wizards were shouting furiously.
“Didn’t you say you were experts in exploring ruins? You useless bastards!”
Despite dozens of mercenaries and bounty hunters clinging to the door, the final gate remained steadfast. They inwardly lamented Utes’ absence.
‘d*mn it. If that Visor guy was here, he would have opened the door in one go…!’
“The protective magic is too strong! We need your magic power, wizards of Torres, if we are to attempt dismantling it!”
The wizards of Torres School didn’t trust the bounty hunters. Fundamentally, these people were unreliable. How could they handle the situation if, after lending their magic power, the bounty hunters turned hostile the moment the door opened?
“We haven’t exhausted our magic yet! Stop stalling…”
That’s when it happened. A grinding sound accompanied a crack forming in the protective magic enveloping the gate.
“Eh? It’s opening!”
It was an incredible coincidence. Due to the silver thread creature spreading through the middle layer, the supply of magic maintaining the protective magic had been disrupted. Though there was a separate magic source set up to maintain the protective magic in the deepest lower chambers, it took a moment for it to activate.
The relentless efforts of the bounty hunters to break the protective magic during this brief moment succeeded in causing its collapse.
“Pour magic into it before it repairs itself! Overload the magic circle and bring it down!”
Worthy of being the gate blocking the deepest part of the ancient ruins, the protective magic was incredibly sophisticated. Though the methods were classical for ancient magic, its durability was beyond imagination.
But even such protection couldn’t withstand the combined magic power of dozens of bounty hunters. As the protective magic reached its breaking point, the door glowed green.
To be precise, what glowed green was the colorless protective magic surrounding the door.
Because the residual magic from the counteracted spells was so abundant. When the final blow came, the entire green barrier shattered like glass.
A thunderous roar reverberated through the entire subterranean deep layers, and the pressure from the pure magic pouring out of the destroyed protective magic forced the bounty hunters to kneel. They had almost depleted their magic breaking through the protection.
On the other hand, the wizards of Torres Tower received the magic storm relatively calmly. They had conserved their strength and had ample time to prepare for the aftermath of the protective magic’s destruction.
Glancing disdainfully at the bounty hunters sprawled all around, they thought: At this point, they’re no longer a threat.
“Hold on. Though we’ve broken the protective magic, other magics like alarms are still─”
One of the fallen bounty hunters swayed and warned. But the wizards of Torres Tower ignored him.
Their anxiety over possibly losing the elemental human to Utes, their resistance to ominous prophecies, and the habit formed from years without incident combined with their self-absorption in their lofty goal of reaching the Ten Sages led to this judgment.
‘Anyway, isn’t the thing inside merely an elemental whose identity has faded over a thousand years? Its existence proves a high rank, but trapped in this isolated chamber, it must have been unable to properly absorb magic…’
Preparations to subdue an elemental weakened over centuries were already thorough. Ancient scrolls containing spells for forced contracts and elemental binding. Although slower to use compared to a magic-engraved drive, the spell for forced contracts had long been lost, leaving only these scroll forms discovered in ancient ruins.
With various artifacts to weaken the lightning elemental, the wizards entered the stone room confidently.
As expected, the alarm magics sounded off. A cacophony of noise filled the air, along with chaotic pulses of magic.
But wasn’t the entity meant to heed these warnings already asleep a thousand years ago? The wizards’ smiles deepened.
At the end of the narrow passage was a small chamber with a dome-shaped ceiling.
Inside the chamber sat a human-like figure in the lotus position. It looked like a charred corpse, black and twisted.
This was the master of the ancient Crete Island tower, reborn as an elemental human through the secret art of elementalization.
“Magic?”
If this turned out to be just a dead body that failed to become an elemental, it would be the worst kind of comedy. The wizard analyzing with an artifact in the shape of glasses nodded.
“Very faint, but I can sense traces of lightning-element magic coming from within. It seems to have entered hibernation due to a lack of magic.”
The perfect timing to use the forced contract scroll. Just as the senior wizard of Torres Tower was about to infuse magic into the scroll,
Rumble!
The sound of thunder echoed. The wizards of Torres School hastily tried to activate the elemental binding scroll, but when they looked, the elemental human was already gone from where they had been looking.
Zzzziiiiiiip…
The sound of searing air rang out. They turned their heads toward the source of the sound. The carbonized human-like figure now emitted a golden glow of lightning escaping from within.
In the next moment, they realized that the elemental human’s hand was embedded in the abdomen of the senior wizard holding the forced contract scroll.
“Khhk…?!”
The senior wizard felt his magic being sucked out of his body in an instant. Struck by lightning both internally and externally, his flesh quickly turned to ash.
One of the wizards aimed the elemental binding scroll. In that moment, the elemental human’s body dispersed into countless lightning fragments, reassembling in front of the wizard.
Or rather, not directly in front. Surrounding the wizard.
“Eh?”
The wizard holding the elemental binding scroll noticed his vision turning gold. And that was his last memory.
After trapping the wizard within himself and releasing lightning to instantly k*ll him, the elemental human began absorbing the magic power contained within the wizard, converting it into lightning-element magic.
Realizing the situation, the wizards of Torres Tower began fleeing in panic.
Over centuries, the elemental human’s sense of self had eroded, leaving only a faint desire for vengeance. Such intruders daring to invade the tower master’s study would not be forgiven—especially not those brimming with delicious magic power.
Once known as the Thunder Giant, the elemental human raised his head.
He could sense magic above.
For a very long time, he had been starved of magic.
The consciousness awakened by the alarm magic did not resist the urge to feast.
‘This is strange…?’
Though I had found and stored a few artifacts, the Talisman of Thunder was nowhere to be seen.
‘Could it be in another ruin instead?’
If so, things get complicated. If the commotion here reaches the main tower of Torres School, security will undoubtedly increase several folds.
Or if this disturbance isn’t concealed and our collaboration with Argeyirion is exposed to the Ten Towers, Torres School might be crushed entirely.
Either way, obtaining the Talisman of Thunder becomes increasingly difficult. I slowly felt a headache intensifying.
‘I shouldn’t linger here too long. Better to escape for now…’
Crackkkkk!
A bizarre roar filled the middle layer. It sounded like forcibly tearing apart leather. I turned my eyes toward the outside.
It seemed the wizards of Argeyirion had realized they shouldn’t fight the silver thread mass in an environment where it could keep absorbing magic. Using powerful telekinetic magic, they were forcefully expelling the silver thread mass from the middle layer as if pulling weeds.
A body spanning tens of meters was dragged out. The sight of tens of thousands of silver threads wriggling evoked a creepy resemblance to a centipede.
Other wizards in the middle layer headed toward the passage while the two agents of Argeyirion held onto the silver thread mass. They weren’t abandoning them but widening the entrance by casting explosive magic toward the passage to escape.
‘Do they plan to drag the silver thread mass to the surface and fight?’
Continuing the fight here would lead to a drawn-out war unless there was a magic powerful enough to completely annihilate the mass at once, so it was a reasonable choice.
I moved only after they had taken the silver thread mass all the way to the surface.
‘There was no Talisman of Thunder in the middle layer either. Perhaps I should observe how they handle the silver thread mass before returning?’
*
And then, on the surface.
The bounty hunters were fleeing from the abyssal maw. A man-eating bolt of lightning and a giant cloud of thunder chased after them.
Strangely, they managed to barely escape because the entity targeted the wizards of Torres School rather than the bounty hunters.
The bounty hunters immediately sprinted back to the morning assembly point. Having come this far, they could catch their breath briefly. Now they could board a ship or something and escape the island.
“O-Over there!”
The panting bounty hunters looked up.
They saw the peculiarly wriggling silver thread creature. Its massive body, which would match the length of a line of a dozen humans, was flailing silver threads in all directions as it searched for its next victim.
The assembly point lacked any magic power, making it an unsuitable place to fight the silver thread creature. That’s why the wizards of Argeyirion had guided the creature here.
“What is this thing…”
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
From behind the stunned bounty hunters came the sound of thunder. The roar of a starving giant.
Ortes was heading towards that location.
