The western part of the continent, near the Sanctuary.
In a barren basin without a single blade of grass, a flower garden spread out.
The “Wizard’s Flower Garden,” centered around an ancient tower.
In the flower garden, aside from the flowers, dolls that tended them were moving about.
They were the doll golems that had been stationed in the tower.
Once the tower was revived, the doll golems had begun farming again.
Like gardeners in a flower bed, the golems continued to tend the flowers.
They grew flowers, harvested those that had fully bloomed, and gave them to the humans who came to the tower—a life of endless repetition.
Even when a gigantic mushroom cloud rose from a distant land and ruined the flower garden, even when monsters fell from the sky and swept across the continent, the golems did not stop working.
Clank.
Today as well, the golems that had been tending the flowers as usual suddenly looked up at the sky like people.
There was a broken moon in the sky.
Strangely, something flashed atop the moon that had been quiet, but that was not why the golems were looking up.
Something was falling from the direction of the moon.
Things had fallen to this land before, but this time, what was falling was headed precisely this way.
An object drawing closer and closer, glowing red-hot.
All the golems straightened.
Like scarecrows standing in a flower field, like farmers looking up at the sky.
The golems stared at the falling object.
The golems’ heads lowered.
Kwaaang!
The burning falling object slammed into a corner of the flower garden.
With an explosion and a wave of heat, dirt and flowers shot into the sky.
Grrrrrr.
A moment later, amid the flowers raining down like rain, a monster rose to its feet.
The monster climbing out of the crater was a black creature with many tentacles.
It was an Akzar monster called a scout.
The monster that emerged from the crater lifted two tentacles upward and looked around.
What it saw nearby were flowers, a tower, and motionless dolls.
No humans were in sight.
But the monster did not leave.
The scout monster stood there and continued moving its tentacles.
While the monster surveyed its surroundings, the golems remained motionless like scarecrows.
It looked as if they wanted the monster to pass by without noticing them.
But the scout did not do that.
Chwarararara!
Leaving only four tentacles to serve as legs, the scout stretched all the rest upward.
It was a posture for an attack.
The monster swung the tentacles it had raised in every direction.
Chwaaak!
The severed flowers scattered through the air like fallen leaves.
The scout cut down the flowers like a reaper in autumn.
The monster seemed to know what these flowers were.
No, even if it did not know, it did not matter.
Because the golems could not allow the flower garden to be ruined.
The doll golems that had been standing like scarecrows began to move.
Dadada.
They ran toward the monster carrying sickles, plows, and farming tools.
Perhaps because they were golems, they were faster than humans, but it was not an impressive speed.
Perhaps because of that, the monster paid no attention to the charging golems and focused on destroying the flower garden.
Was it because an opening had appeared?
The golems were able to cling to the monster’s body.
The golems clung to its body and brought their farming tools down.
The sight was like people hanging from a giant mammoth and swinging spears.
Unfortunately, unlike people swinging spears, the golems’ attacks had no effect.
Thung. Thung.
Farming tools that held no dark energy could not pierce the monster’s skin and merely bounced off.
Still, the golems did not stop.
They attacked again and again.
Grrrrrr.
Perhaps finding them bothersome, the monster swept its tentacles around its body.
Pupupuck! Kwajik!
The golems were flung in every direction.
The instant the tentacles struck them, their bodies folded or split in half.
Most of the golems that crashed everywhere were broken in at least one place.
But the golems did not give up.
Dragging broken legs, gripping their farming tools again with whatever hands remained intact, they rose once more.
The monster that had been ruining the flower garden stopped its tentacles.
The tentacles that served as eyes stared at the golems getting up.
The other tentacles also changed direction toward the fallen golems.
It seemed the monster intended to deal with the golems first.
The scout monster raised its tentacles and approached the golems struggling to rise.
If the monster stretched out its tentacles again, the golems would surely all be destroyed.
It was then.
Flash.
Light flashed again in the sky.
The monster lifted its head along with two tentacles.
In the night sky gazing down at the monster was the broken moon.
The broken moon was sparkling now.
Like a small lamp blinking to send a signal, the surface of the broken moon kept glittering.
The golems, too, were looking at that moon.
Like the people of the underground city watching fireworks made by spirits, the golems gazed at the glittering light on the moon.
Grrrrrr.
Did it think it was nothing?
The monster, whose attention had been stolen by the light, lowered its tentacles again.
The golems that had been staring at the moon likewise lowered their heads.
The situation was no different from before.
Just as it had a moment ago, the monster stretched its tentacles toward the sky for the final attack.
But unlike before, the golems did not flail about trying to get up.
They merely all reached their hands toward the monster.
Even the golem whose waist had been cut away, the golem with one arm shattered, and even the golem whose head was gone.
Every golem reached its hand toward the monster that had raised its tentacles.
The next instant, the silent tower spewed forth dark energy.
Magic circles unfolded before the golems’ hands.
A magic circle also formed beneath the monster.
An illusion magic circle once created by the vengeful spirits of dead wizards.
The magic circle that had been thought gone had unfolded once more.
Kraaaaaaaa!
The monster screamed, startled by the illusion, but the golems did not stop.
In the end, the scout monster fell into the illusion magic.
The monster grew quiet.
With the magic circles unfolded, the golems approached the monster.
One of the approaching golems lifted its head.
In the sky the golem looked at, the moon was still sparkling.
The doll golem that had unfolded the magic circle gazed at the moon like an ancient wizard.
***
Kwaaaang!
Flames made from a nuclear explosion once again swept across the moon’s surface.
Hundreds, thousands of monsters were blown away by the impact and melted in the flames.
It was tremendous power, but I could not help frowning.
“With no air, the firepower is weaker than I expected.”
Since there was no medium called air, the shock wave could not spread far, and neither could the heat.
That did not mean it had no effect at all.
It was simply not as effective as I had thought.
Even after using more than half of the nuclear warheads I had, the plain was still swarming with monsters.
The lack of air caused problems for magic as well.
With no air, not only air-related magic but also temperature-related magic such as water-type and flame-type magic failed to show proper effects.
In the end, the things that worked were lightning magic, spatial movement magic, and gravity magic.
Floating several kilometers above the ground, I clicked my tongue and caught a large fragment passing overhead with telekinetic magic.
Ggeugeugeugeuk.
The rock that had been crossing the sky at tremendous speed slowly changed direction.
I seized the rock with telekinetic magic and strengthened gravity to pull it toward the ground.
Without my staff, my dark energy was beginning to run low.
But I gritted my teeth and cast the spell.
“Fall.”
The rock became a meteorite and struck the ground.
Kwaaaang!
Dozens of monsters crushed beneath the meteorite flew into the sky along with scattering fragments.
It was not even a tenth as powerful as a nuclear explosion, but since the monsters would not gather where a nuke had gone off, there was no helping it.
In truth, even magic was becoming increasingly ineffective at drawing their attention.
Only a few hundred monsters gathered where the meteorite fell.
Compared to the thousands, tens of thousands of monsters flooding toward this plain where the magic circle was, it was nothing.
“Don’t tell me I’m the one drawing the monsters here.”
It was possible the monsters were gathering here because of the magic and nuclear explosions, but even so, I could not stop.
There was only this one chance.
Since I had begun, I had to see it through to the end.
“Blink.”
After spatially moving to where the meteorite had fallen, I threw a nuclear warhead, then moved somewhere else again.
I continued the task I had repeated dozens of times.
The remaining nuclear warheads dwindled, and the dark energy I possessed also began to run dry.
The moon’s plain where the magic circle was located turned into rags.
Even with the moon shattered, it had been one of the relatively flat areas, but because of the nuclear explosions I had created, it was covered in craters.
Countless monsters died in the nuclear explosions. I must have killed at least tens of thousands.
However, many monsters still remained on the plain.
They were monsters that had surged in from outside the plain.
I had killed more monsters than had gathered, so their numbers had decreased significantly compared to the beginning, but there still seemed to be several thousand.
Running out of dark energy was a problem, but the bigger problem was that luring them away had now become impossible.
The monsters were not fools.
Now, even when I used magic or detonated a nuke, the monsters did not leave the vicinity of the magic circle.
The monsters had realized that I could not set off a nuclear explosion near the magic circle.
Bang! Kwaang! Bang!
Under the monsters’ attacks, the shield weakened rapidly.
It was weakening enough that I could tell immediately from outside.
In the end, I gave up on luring them and headed inside the shield.
“Blink.”
The shield that Soph had adjusted did not block me.
I passed through the shield and moved to the center of the magic circle.
The center of the shining magic circle.
The shining spear floating in the air and the black stones lined up around it were incredibly beautiful, but this was no time to admire them.
“I can’t lure them anymore. The shield doesn’t look like it can hold much longer either.”
Through my senses, I checked both the magic circle and the shield.
How much durability remained in the shield, and how much longer the magic circle would take.
The shield would soon break.
If the shield broke, the magic circle would be destroyed along with it.
However, more time was still needed before the magic circle could activate.
In the end, there was not enough time.
After calculating the time over and over, I made my decision.
I said to Soph.
“Let’s withdraw. The operation is a failure.”
Regrettable as it was, we had to retreat. If we stayed any longer, we would not be able to retreat at all.
It was different from when I had fought the Demon King.
Even if the operation failed, humanity would not end like it had threatened to back then.
And unlike back then, there were people I had to protect now.
Monsters would continue descending from the moon, and we might not be able to set foot on the planet, but we had the underground city of the Ice Star.
Even if the connection between Earth and the other refuges was cut off, we could survive with the people in the underground city.
“We can buy time by dealing with the monsters falling onto the Ice Star, then slowly reclaim the planet.”
It might take hundreds or thousands of years, and in the worst case, we might not be able to save the people who had taken refuge on Earth and other stars, but there was not no hope.
I reached out toward the spear.
‘Come back.’
Even now, that spear belonged to me.
Naturally, it should return according to my command.
Thung.
But the spear did not return.
Instead, Soph’s voice came to me.
[Not yet. It is too early to speak of failure.]
Soph, the ego of the spear, had rejected my command.
I was shocked that the spear had disobeyed my order, but before that, I tried to persuade Soph.
“But there’s no time. We have to retreat!”
Hearing my words, Soph said something unexpected.
[It seems you wish to fail.]
“Th-that’s not true, but…”
It was an absurd thing to say, but I could not properly refute Soph’s words.
[Then wait. The archmage’s battle is not over yet.]
Kwajik.
The moment Soph finished speaking, the shield shattered.
Fragments scattered like a broken mirror, and I saw the monsters rejoicing.
Kwaaaaa!
The monsters charged inside.
It was then.
The black stones floating in the sky moved.
The black stones drew a new magic circle.
A magic circle drawn with black stones.
When the magic circle was completed, a translucent form appeared above the spear.
A handsome middle-aged wizard. It was Soph’s illusion.
He looked down at me.
Soph’s illusion spoke to me.
[I am the last archmage of the kingdom. I will show you what magic a prepared wizard can use. This is my final lesson.]
When the illusion spread his hand, the magic circle made of black stones scattered light.
The black stone mounted on the spear likewise scattered light.
Soph, the archmage’s magic, had unfolded.
It was a magnificent sight, but I could not rejoice.
Because as the magic unfolded, a sight I did not want to see unfolded as well.
Kwajik.
Soph’s body—the old spear that could not withstand the magic—began to collapse.
Soph