-The Archmage’s Skill
Watching the tiger and the orcs munching away at the Golden Apples without encroaching on each other’s territory, Kim Seonho and I continued our conversation.
“Are you saying Yasin said he would take those test subjects?”
“He’s quite eager to have them. It seems he heard that we’d even acquired orcs as test subjects. He showed particular interest in them.”
“You said Yasin contacted you recently. When was that?”
“Two days ago. That’s why we hurried to establish defensive measures. We gathered mages and even elves to guard the annex, but I still couldn’t feel at ease. That was when Team Leader Han Dain reported to me that you had finally decided to accept the request.”
Kim Seonho looked at me and smiled broadly.
Now, every time I saw that smile, all it did was remind me of his madness.
‘Has Yasin finished recovering?’
Ever since I lost Yasin in Neo Forest, I hadn’t heard a single thing about him.
I’d assumed he was hiding somewhere, focusing on recovering from his injuries, but it seemed he was finally about to resume his activities.
He coveted the orcs that had been fed Golden Apples? Was he planning to create his own troops with them?
I absolutely had to stop that. These test subjects could not fall into Yasin’s hands. On that point alone, Kim Seonho and I were of one mind.
But was Yasin truly the only problem? Chairman Kim Seonho and Vanaheim also carried seeds of disaster just as grave as Yasin did.
The problem began with creating test subjects like these in the first place.
Even setting aside the moral issue of using orcs—another race—as test subjects, every single test subject here was a massive seed of calamity.
The thought of the tentacled monster, the orcs, and the other test subjects transformed by eating Golden Apples being released into the world was dizzying.
Not only that, but the release of Golden Apple products themselves into the world would mark the beginning of yet another disaster.
I didn’t even want to imagine how people who ate Golden Apples would change.
“Are there more?”
“Pardon? More what?”
“Test subjects. Are there more besides the ones I’ve seen?”
“Ah, yes. This underground cavern is far larger than it appears. There are areas you haven’t set foot in yet, Master Mage. There are a few more test subjects there as well.”
That matched what I had detected. I had sensed many types of life-forms, and various waves of magical power.
An alarm bell rang in my head.
Dangerous. Extremely dangerous. This had to be stopped.
But what I had thought was an alarm bell ringing in my head was actually a real alarm.
Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep!
A shrill alarm sounded. It was coming from the Hall communication device, and it sounded far louder than usual.
It was probably because we were inside a cave.
At the same time, I found it fascinating that a signal could reach this deep underground, but since it was Hall communication equipment, I could guess that it used special radio waves designed to be received anywhere.
But that shrill alarm seemed to agitate the orcs.
The orcs, who had been focused solely on the Golden Apples, were suddenly all looking our way. Their faces were tense and on edge.
Perhaps something about the alarm had disrupted their meal, because the orcs glared at us as if they were irritated to death. Then, gradually growing excited, they began to shout.
Uooooooooh!
Kraaaaaaak!
It wasn’t just the orcs. The enormous golden tiger also left the tree, staggering about in confusion before opening its maw wide and letting out a roar.
Roooooooar!
The low-frequency roar thundered through the cavern.
With sounds ringing out from every direction, the test subjects grew even more agitated and began fighting one another.
The orcs rushed in and attacked the tiger, while the tiger tore into the orcs.
The orcs were swinging their arms wildly, as if determined to destroy anything that got in their way.
There was even one that uprooted the Golden Apple tree it had been so obsessed with until just moments ago.
“Huh? Why are they doing that? What’s gotten into all of them?”
Kim Seonho muttered in a flustered voice. It seemed this was a scene even he had not expected.
Several orcs tried to charge toward us. But something caught them by the ankles. It was the grass growing around the apple tree.
Astonishingly, even the grass was moving here and there.
No, it wasn’t merely moving—it was attacking.
The grass, suddenly shooting up, stretched out like mad and coiled around the orcs’ ankles and the tiger’s body.
The tiger roared and twisted its entire body, while the orcs shrieked and tore at the grass. They leapt about, stomped, and swung their fists wildly.
It was an abrupt feast of violence.
“Has this never happened before?”
I asked while keeping my eyes on the rampaging test subjects.
“Not even once. I thought we’d removed all that violent nature from them... Anyway, Master Mage, stop them somehow.”
“May I kill them?”
“No! If possible, don’t kill them. Just do something!”
Kim Seonho, frightened and shuffling backward, still told me not to kill the test subjects.
I didn’t want to kill the tiger or the orcs either. I had only asked because I was curious how Kim Seonho would react.
No matter how much they had lost their minds, the orcs were another race rather than mere animals.
In some countries on Earth, they were people living with citizenship.
When I thought of the dwarves who had lost their minds after being subjected to a dark mage’s mind magic, I didn’t feel any desire to slaughter orcs indiscriminately.
For a moment, my heart wavered.
Wondering whether, to prevent disaster, I should kill every living thing here.
Not just the orcs and the tiger, but the tentacled monster, the bats, the remaining test subjects. And even Kim Seonho.
“This won’t do. Master Mage, let’s get out of here!”
While I was drawing up my magical power, the orcs finally came charging toward us.
The orcs that had won their fights against the others approached with clumps of grass hanging raggedly from their bodies, raising both arms and making their intention to attack clear.
Kim Seonho immediately turned and began to run. Still, he did not flee alone; he told me to come with him.
‘Right. Let’s get out of here first. I’ll decide what to do with the test subjects after thinking it over a little more.’
The orcs were almost right in front of me.
I quickly executed elemental magic. Extending waves of magical power from my fingertips, I poured my intent into them.
‘Barrier!’
It was elemental magic that made use of the terrain of the underground cavern. I borrowed the elements of the minerals forming the stalactite pillars and wove them densely together with waves of magical power.
In an instant, a transparent, high-density membrane spread between the pillars. The charging orcs were blocked by the barrier and tumbled down where they stood.
The barrier did not stop just in front of me; it climbed over the pillars and stretched out to either side. The magical membrane swept through the space like a wave.
‘Hm?’
I was a little surprised that the magic covered such a wide area with greater speed than I had intended.
It seemed to be due to the characteristics of this underground cavern.
Not only were there no anti-magic devices installed here, but the place was saturated with magical power.
The waves of magical power emitted by the Golden Apples and the test subjects that had lived on them permeated the entire space.
Thanks to that, although it had been elemental magic cast in haste, a perfect barrier was completed in a single breath, as if it were the handiwork of an archmage.
‘Not bad.’
The orcs that had swarmed in continued to be blocked by the transparent barrier and collapsed.
If I wanted to, I felt as though I could eliminate all the test subjects without lifting a finger.
For now, the properties of this space and elemental magic had combined automatically. But what if I were to deploy two types of magic at the same time?
It seemed I could produce effects far more astonishing than I had expected.
“Master Mage, come here quickly! Hurry up and get in the elevator!”
Kim Seonho shouted.
When I turned around, he had already gotten into the elevator and was gesturing at me.
Though he was gripped by the madness of experiments and eternal life, I thought perhaps he was not an entirely bad person.
I raised one hand toward Kim Seonho and said,
“Wait a moment.”
“But those things are... What?”
Kim Seonho could not finish his sentence. His eyes widened as he stared at the orcs toppling over.
To his eyes, it must have looked as if the orcs were falling on their own in front of empty air.
He must be wondering what magic I had used.
I stood squarely before the transparent barrier. The orcs were flailing as they tried to climb over it, stretching out their arms, kicking with their feet, and thrashing like mad.
But even though it could not be seen, they could not cross the membrane of minerals densely intertwined with waves of magical power.
Uooooooooh!
Kraaaaaaaa!
The grotesque cries the orcs let out sounded faint, as if coming from far away.
They were trapped inside the barrier and could not attack me, but I had no intention of being satisfied with this.
Now, I intended to carry out the task Vanaheim had requested of me.
‘I’ll make sure Yasin can never take them.’
There were already plenty of protective barriers inside and outside the annex, but Yasin would be able to break through that much easily.
To keep him from approaching the test subjects, I had to completely seal this underground cavern and even pin the test subjects in place so they could not move.
Kim Seonho would not like the result, though.
‘Sorry, but I’m going to use up all the effects of the Golden Apples inside here.’
Anyone who entered this cavern and used magic would likely see astonishing effects, just as I had.
So I planned to use up in advance all the waves of magical power permeating this space.
When it came to meticulously weaving waves of magical power and rendering living beings unable to move, nothing was better than freezing magic.
It was also the magic I was best at.
‘Through every gap in the waves of magical power filling this space, flow forth, freezing cold!’
I steadied my breath, focused my mind, and drew out the maximum waves of magical power I could.
I transformed all of those waves into the energy of freezing and sent them flowing through the gaps in the waves of magical power within the space.
‘Entangle! Freeze!’
At last, when I spread both arms wide, the energy of freezing stretched out, and waves surged in every direction.
My waves of magical power and the waves of magical power within the space intertwined, causing the magic to manifest even more quickly.
In an instant, ice particles like snowflakes bloomed throughout the entire space.
Shaaaaaaaa! Shaaaaaaaa!
The freezing cold passed through the transparent barrier, coiled around the orcs, and flowed into every corner of the space.
The orcs and the golden tiger were quickly transformed into ice sculptures.
The Golden Apple tree and the grass all froze white as well.
The bluish cold flowed deep into the cavern at a terrifying speed.
Faint screams and roars echoed, then soon died away. Even the test subjects far inside the cavern had failed to escape the grasp of the freezing cold.
Before long, the waves of freezing filled every gap in the space and froze the space itself.