-Large-Scale Joint Operation
“Good. Then let’s make sure we’re fully prepared before we go. We’ll move through a portal, and let’s put up barriers in advance.”
I said, looking into those brave eyes.
At the same time, I drew up my mana to cast barriers over my teammates.
“Ah! I’ll make the barriers with life force. Save your mana and use it when you cast your magic. You’re going to need an enormous amount of power, aren’t you?”
Cheon Danbi stepped forward and immediately began forming barriers. She wove life force with meticulous care, crafting transparent, net-like shields.
“Thanks.”
“No need to thank me. We’re a team.”
“Gil, are you all right? Do you have enough mana?”
“I’m fine. I was just caught in a snare and then got out, that’s all.”
“Ren, what form will you be going in?”
“Since I’ll be going with the mage and the whole team, I’ll go in my true form. My face has already been shown on the broadcast, and I don’t think there’s any need to hide anymore.”
“Good. It’ll also be a chance to show what kind of person you are, Ren.”
All preparations were complete.
Now it was time to move out. I activated spatial magic and opened a transfer portal leading to the Samseong Station intersection.
A sense of bustle came through from beyond the portal. It seemed quite a number of mages had already gathered.
“Let’s go!”
Once again, we passed through the transfer portal one by one.
The crows followed through the portal as well, then quickly flew off somewhere. I let them be.
The moment I stepped out of the portal, I swiftly looked around.
Visibility was poor because of the hazy sand dust, but I could still make out movement.
The gathered mages were using wind magic to blow away the surrounding dust.
They seemed to be trying to secure visibility, but perhaps because they were saving mana for the full-scale assault, they were using their magic weakly.
So the effect was not particularly impressive.
In one direction of the intersection, several mages were fighting a sandworm.
The sandworm, glimpsed now and then through the dust, was indeed much larger than before. Seeing how it sometimes stretched its body up to the height of a five-story building, it seemed to have grown several times larger.
The sight of it opening its huge red maw wide in threat was quite terrifying. Even so, the mages did not retreat and continued pouring attacks onto it.
‘Is that Han Dosu’s team?’
The person leading the mages at the front while attacking with fire magic seemed to be Han Dosu. I couldn’t see clearly because of the sand dust, though.
Engulfed in scorching flames, the sandworm writhed and retreated.
I silently cheered the mages on and turned my gaze away.
The sandstorm blew and blew again. It was not so fierce that we couldn’t stand, but it swept in from every direction so wildly that it was impossible to tell where it was coming from.
The sand dust blown away by wind magic scattered for a moment, only to return exactly as before.
‘As expected, we need to use powerful magic to sweep it all away at once.’
I was examining the scene with my five senses and sixth sense, thinking over the method of attack from here on, when it happened.
“Mage Oudin!”
Hearing someone call my name, I turned around and saw Freyja approaching.
“Ah, Councilor. When did you get here?”
“I just arrived. We heard that all the mages had decided to gather here, so we elves came as well. We agreed to help stop the terrorism, didn’t we? Oh! Your teammates came with you too, Mage?”
“Yes. They came with me.”
“See? I told you even people who aren’t mages want to take part in stopping the terrorism.”
Freyja said with a wink.
Even amid the sand dust, her beauty was not obscured. On top of that, seeing how she was withstanding the wind perfectly well, it seemed elves were also using life force to wrap themselves in barriers.
I looked behind Freyja and saw dozens of elves gathered in combat gear.
But on closer inspection, it wasn’t only elves. Behind the group of elves, dozens of dwarves were also approaching. The sight of them holding all sorts of magic tools in their hands made it clear they had come fully prepared.
Noticing my gaze, Freyja continued.
“That’s right. Not only the elves, but the dwarves came too. Everyone wants to fight the black mages.”
“I see. It could be dangerous, but all of you have stepped forward. Thank you.”
“Anytime, as long as you give us the chance. Actually, we were originally planning to help capture the pigeons. If we want to stop the launch of Golden Apple, we have to stop the pigeons, don’t we?”
“That’s right. The pigeons that suck up life force were undoubtedly spread by Vanaheim. Though right now, we can’t even see properly where they are.”
“Exactly. Then the sandstorm suddenly swept in, and we couldn’t see anything, so we thought we had to deal with this first and came here.”
“Removing the sandstorm is urgent. If we leave it as it is, the city will be completely paralyzed.”
Even while conversing with Freyja, I continued keeping watch on the surroundings.
In particular, I watched the Eternal Life Building, where the Magic Tower space was located, but there was no particular movement. Rather, it was quiet.
The gray building was submerged in sand dust and barely visible.
Only the light message that read “From now on, the era of the Magic Tower begins” still shone brightly.
Just looking at those words gave me chills.
‘They’re declaring war that openly, that brazenly.’
The light message alone remained clear and bright, not obscured in the slightest by the sand dust scattering wildly in every direction.
No, because the whole world was covered in pale sand dust dense enough to swallow even the darkness of night, the light message stood out all the more brilliantly.
“Now, lead us. Let’s hurry and blow this stifling sand dust far away.”
Freyja urged me on.
“Understood. Elves and dwarves, please line up over there. I’ll go to the center and command the whole operation.”
“Good.”
I had Cheon Danbi and Ren stay with the elves and dwarves. It seemed better for the non-mages to gather together.
Freyja took good care of the two of them as she led them away, then placed them in the elves’ line.
I took Gil with me and headed toward the center of the intersection, where the mages were gathered.
By now, it seemed the mages had more or less all assembled. Familiar faces were visible here and there, but I did not greet them separately.
Han Dosu’s team, apparently finished with their battle against the sandworm, was there as well.
At that moment, Yu Jaeseon saw me and ran over. He was still covered head to toe in white sand dust.
“Welcome. All the mages have gathered.”
“No, why didn’t you put up a barrier? You’re completely covered in sand dust.”
“I did use a barrier. This happened earlier, when the sandstorm first started and I went outside to assess the situation. I’m fine.”
Yu Jaeseon gave an awkward smile. He looked like a lump of dough smiling.
That was how tremendous the sandstorm had been, for him to end up like that in such a short time.
As the person in charge at the Bureau, he was the one who had to grasp the situation first whenever an incident occurred, so it couldn’t be helped.
“Please begin the operation now. Everyone has been waiting for you to arrive, Mage Oudin.”
Yu Jaeseon handed me a megaphone.
Magic to amplify sound was simple enough, but right now was the time to gather every bit of available mana and carry out the operation, so he meant that I should conserve unnecessary spellcasting.
I took the megaphone and stood in the middle of the intersection.
As promised, command of the operation on-site had been entrusted to me.
All the mages, even the executive mages of the Bureau and the Hall, were waiting for my orders.
Slowly looking over the hundreds of people who had bravely stepped forward into battle and were standing firm amid the rough sandstorm, I opened my mouth.
“Thank you all for coming. We will now begin the operation. First, form ranks and prepare your mana. We will all activate wind magic at the same time.”
In the darkness and hazy dust, the mages moved without a sound. As everyone drew up their mana, waves stirred in the air around us.
I continued explaining the detailed plan and directed them in the operation.
It was our first large-scale joint operation.
* * *
A space hidden while overlaid upon the Eternal Life Building.
Within the towering Magic Tower, all sorts of buildings were piled up in chaotic layers.
Around the middle of it was a bulging building with an infinite pentagon drawn on its outer wall, and the figure engraved inside that infinite pentagon was particularly unusual.
It was the figure of a person like the Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara, with countless arms stretching out in every direction and an eye in each palm.
It was the form of Samir, deified as the god who gazed upon every place in the world and presided over all things.
Right below it, inside the building, the real Samir, who had two arms, was looking out the window.
“Good. Let’s see what you can do.”
Samir, wearing a smile full of contempt, was enjoying himself in his own way.
Yasin, who had thought Samir did not know how to enjoy himself, was wrong. Samir knew how to enjoy himself. It was merely that his pleasures were composed of things entirely different from those of ordinary people.
Human suffering, and among it the suffering of mages, brought Samir quite satisfying pleasure.
He did not want to know why, nor did he try to know.
There had never been anyone before who tried to dig into Samir’s past to uncover the reason, and there would not be anyone in the future either.
“Don’t drag this out. Hurry up and try something, anything. Oudin, you know very well that I’ve been watching you for a long time, don’t you?”
In order to occupy and rule this land from now on, he needed to see just how skilled mages like Oudin were.
That was why he had set the stage like this and was watching.
In truth, there was no need to hurry.
If he finished them off all at once, the suffering they showed him would be brief as well.
He wanted to enjoy slowly drying them out and killing them. There were more than enough humans for that. All he had to do was cook the resisting mages properly.
“Worthless little ants.”
The fact that the mages down there could not even peer into the Magic Tower space where Samir stood satisfied him.
From here, he could observe them as if looking into the palm of his hand.
The ant-like mages, unaware that they were clearly visible from within, bustled about like fools straightening their clothes in front of a display window.
Samir merely watched those mages as if watching ants, soulless dolls, or children playing in a playground.
At last, their preparations seemed to be complete, and the mages began forming ranks.
Oudin stood in the center, and mages lined up in three directions. In the remaining direction stood rows of non-mage other races.
It was utterly pathetic.
It seemed the country was so short on mages that they were desperate.
Well, a considerable number of mages had come under the Magic Tower’s command, and many had also died while claiming they were fighting against terrorism.
‘You’ll all be dying soon. For the sin of standing beside humans. Just wait.’
In any case, the fact that even the elves and dwarves had joined the operation was contemptible, yet amusing.
Though he could not understand why other races would go out of their way to keep in step with human mages and resist the Magic Tower.
“Oh! Is it finally starting?”
Samir focused on the scene below.