◈ Episode 215. Go Ahead and Run Wild All You Want
『The worst enemy will come to your side, everyone.
A new boss monster, the Tower Master, has been added.
Its area of appearance is “the entire Earth.”』
The shocking news spread at tremendous speed.
No one was more bewildered than the AAU.
A new boss monster was the Tower Master?
If that were true……
Yun Sugyeom swallowed dryly.
“The phrase ‘worst enemy’ won’t be an exaggeration.”
Even back when Arcana was nothing more than a game, mages had been treated as precious.
Regardless of level, simply having a mage-type class was enough to get one into a famous guild.
It was only natural.
A mage was worth a hundred men.
Depending on their ability, they could accomplish even more than that.
Including the cost invested in them, they were one of the noble classes of that era. Their difficulty of development was atrocious, but if one succeeded in raising them, they were a class that guaranteed a sure reward.
“Because that was Arcana’s setting.”
One only had to look at the Empire to know.
It was an empire that could be said to have unified the vast Arcana Continent. And yet, compared to its countless soldiers, the number of mages belonging to the Empire was a mere drop in the bucket.
“To put it bluntly, the Magic Tower was a setting created for balance.”
Mages were beings capable of shaking the balance of the Arcana Continent.
That was why, back when it was only a game, the Magic Tower had served as a shackle to keep those mages from running rampant.
However, now that Arcana had become reality.
The mages of the Magic Tower were not NPCs, so its settings could not remain eternal either.
At first, how anxious had they been over that fact alone?
They still could not forget the day the Magic Tower appeared in reality.
“We were on absolute emergency alert back then.”
“Until the Magic Tower officially announced its stance, we worked overtime every day, didn’t we?”
“Thinking back to then, we should be grateful for the present.”
The Magic Tower surpassed even a nuclear bomb in terms of danger.
They had never imagined that such a Magic Tower would become a reliable ally of humanity.
All of that must have been thanks to the Magic Tower’s Chief, Hoyeol.
In that sense, this update could only be even more shocking.
“Has there been any contact from the Magic Tower?”
“As a matter of fact, we’ve received word from players who were staying in the Magic Tower as apprentice mages. They said Elder Mage Yugwid will state her opinion regarding the incident!”
“Whew. For now, that means the entire Magic Tower hasn’t turned against us.”
Amid the sighs that burst out.
Seong Hyeonjun and Yun Sugyeom exchanged glances.
Because both of them had the same question.
Seong Hyeonjun’s lips moved soundlessly.
“Why isn’t it Hoyeol-nim this time?”
Until now, the one who had revealed the Magic Tower’s stance to the public had been Hoyeol.
The person of true authority in the Magic Tower, the Chief, and a player.
There was no one who could serve as the link between reality and the Magic Tower as perfectly as Hoyeol.
Seong Hyeonjun’s eyes widened.
“……Could it be that he anticipated the emergency update and is already making a move first?”
“No, it’s not a ‘could be.’”
“Pardon? Do you have some idea, sunbae?”
“There must be a reason the Tower Master has turned into the players’ enemy. If it’s Mr. Hoyeol, he must know that reason. No, there’s no way he wouldn’t.”
“……Because he belongs to the same Magic Tower?”
“Yes. Yugwid must have grasped it as well.”
Yun Sugyeom nodded with conviction.
But Yun Sugyeom’s confidence did not last long.
The lobby of the Magic Tower.
Elder Yugwid appeared before the reporters.
-“I never expected the Tower Master to reveal hostility.”
At her declaration, Seong Hyeonjun stammered.
“……Th-that means there wasn’t even the slightest sign, right?”
The AAU could not possibly predict that the Tower Master had fallen into a comatose state and was floating inside a sphere of mana.
However, even if they could not predict it exactly, they could make a similar guess.
“Still, this is a reaction we more or less expected, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. Judging from her calm voice…… it seems she had at least noticed that his whereabouts had become unclear. Damn it, if only we could know what kind of foreshadowing is hidden in the Magic Tower.”
“Right. Since we have no way of knowing which setting was realized in what manner.”
Had they not witnessed it countless times until now?
The sight of a few lines of setting added to avoid ruining the balance of the Arcana Continent Biography becoming “real” boomerangs and flying into reality.
In that sense, further speculation would only give them headaches.
Shake, shake—
Yun Sugyeom shook off his thoughts and said,
“Good. For now, let’s think only about the crisis in front of us.”
The circumstances of the Magic Tower?
That meant nothing in the face of the crisis before their eyes.
The mages of the Arcana Continent, said to be so magnificent.
The Tower Master, the pinnacle of those mages.
Had appeared as an enemy of humanity.
“Damn it, and it hasn’t even been long since the dragon took flight.”
For harsh words to come out of Yun Sugyeom’s mouth.
That meant the situation was truly hopeless.
Most importantly, the Tower Master had not appeared in a rift.
He had simply left the Magic Tower.
And immediately burst out into reality.
As if to remind them of that fact.
It was clearly stated in the update details.
Its area of appearance was “the entire Earth.”
“Is the Tower Master thinking of fighting by flashing from east to west?”
“The only one capable of keeping up with that kind of mobility is……”
“Among players, it would only be Mr. Hoyeol.”
The AAU tried to use their heads in their own way.
However, they were wrong from the very start.
Because the Tower Master did not even need to take portals to appear in the east.
Or in the west.
Wiiing—
A blaring alarm.
The front monitor screen switched automatically.
It was a sudden alarm, but no one panicked.
“……!”
Because they had heard the exact same alarm recently.
That was right.
At the very moment the dragon had taken flight from the summit of the Zero Mountains.
Branch Director Park Minjae opened his mouth.
“Damn it all, it’s a transmission from the Another Space.”
His voice trembled in an unfamiliar way.
“A cluster of asteroids is falling toward Earth.”
“……Pardon?”
“Based on the circumstances, it is presumed to be Meteor Strike manifested by the Tower Master.”
“!!!”
Because that was what a transcendent was.
*
You’re running wild on an awfully grand scale, aren’t you, our boss!
Reading magic books was also.
One of the daily routines I never skipped.
Thanks to that, I knew well.
Flash—
I knew what magic that meteor shower pouring down from the sky was.
‘Crazy, ten consecutive Meteor Strikes?’
Even if it was part of the plan.
Are you determined to blow up Earth or what?!
Meteor Strike.
It was a magic most mages did not even know existed.
You could tell just by looking at the manifestation process, couldn’t you?
It meant one had to search not the sky, but asteroids floating in outer space. Then pour in enough mana to interfere with them to the point of making them fall, and only then reach the stage of manifestation.
How many people would possess that level of magic manifestation ability?! In that sense, I could say this with certainty.
To manifest Meteor Strike, one absolutely needed a “Circle.”
I opened my mouth.
“Are you celebrating your escape?”
I gave my impression of that great magic, Meteor Strike.
“However, your fireworks are aimed in the wrong direction, Tower Master.”
Calling those nuclear bombs fireworks.
What a bluff, seriously……
However, I did not say things I could not uphold.
『Reversal Magic』 manifested.
I looked at the Meteor Strikes moving backward.
Yes, the way they stretched straight back into the sky in reverse.
As Granfell said, they did look like fireworks now.
Suddenly, voices reached me.
“What is that……? The meteors are going backward?!”
“Wait. Th-that’s Lee Hoyeol!”
“What?! Where?!”
“Mom, I guess those weren’t shooting stars, but fireworks!”
Citizens stuck their heads out windows and looked at me.
As you could see, this was a densely populated downtown area.
Though I spoke calmly, I was genuinely dizzy with dread.
‘It’s a damn good thing I struggled with all my might, dug every well there was to dig, and, as if that weren’t enough, even grew and ate elixirs myself to form a Circle……!’
If I had gotten a cramp in my leg while struggling?
At this moment, I would not have even been able to search the Meteor Strikes.
It was only natural.
It might have been different if I had manifested them myself.
But this was unfamiliar magic manifested by someone else.
‘Normally, it would be impossible.’
However, if I was also a transcendent, the story changed.
[Transcendent: Your transcendent realm is sufficient to be called transcendent.
- Current achievements reached: Circle (all magic manifestation ability increased by 1,000%) / Incomplete Swift Swordsmanship / None / None…….]
Manifestation ability was a concept encompassing every ability related to magic.
That included search ability and interference ability.
Granfell’s vision, already wondrous thanks to that embarrassing setting, had become 1,000 percent brighter. In that sense……
Perhaps Granfell and I ourselves might be anomalies.
『Setting』 and [System].
We were making full use of two completely different concepts.
Anyway.
I could not afford to be dragged around by the Tower Master forever.
I raised my mana and tracked the Tower Master’s mana trace.
Since I had searched the Meteor Strikes and identified his mana, it was not difficult to pinpoint his location. Without delay, I manifested a portal directly toward those coordinates.
“……Fighting!!”
Suddenly, a voice from behind my head caught my steps.
Words someone had mustered the courage to say.
That voice became a signal flare, and cheers poured toward me.
“Sob, thank you……. Truly……!”
“Please win, Hoyeol-nim!”
“We’ll cheer for you with pride!”……
This was the first time I had heard such things directly.
Well, though I had clashed often with players.
I had never had much occasion to face ordinary people.
Was it because I was conscious of that fact? My shoulders felt terribly burdened.
Was it because of the pressure?
I wish it were!
I shamelessly recited,
“Such truly modest wishes.”
That was right.
There was no way this damned pride would feel pressure.
The reason my shoulders felt burdened was, of course.
Because of the jacket fluttering even in this situation……....
Anyway, you have no business ethics, Raymond Sean.
Even if it was an emergency update, isn’t it basic etiquette to at least announce the level in the details? Of course, even if from the transcendent level onward, levels lost their meaning as a realm.
‘Still, I’d at least be able to make a guess, wouldn’t I?’
I came out of the portal and raised my head.
And then I realized.
I had merely dipped my toe into the power of the Circle.
The Tower Master did not need a battlefield.
Because he could create a battlefield himself.
To the naked eye, it looked like an ordinary sky, earth, mountain, and forest.
But dense mana surged through the area.
I soon realized it.
‘It isn’t real.’
Everything was a “mass of mana.”
Everything visible in my sight was all illusion magic.
It was magic implementation ability that was genuinely wondrous.
‘Sorry to Nasrow, but.’
Senior of Illusion Magic, Nasrow.
It was on a completely different level, to the point that I felt bad comparing it to his illusion magic.
If ordinary illusion magic deceived the target, this was on the level of trying to deceive the world. In fact, I was standing on masses of mana with my two legs as though they were the ground.
However.
“Illusion magic again this time?”
Who was I, who was Granfell?
Back when I had not long since awakened as a player, when I was at most around level 100.
I had walked into the Magic Tower, where the regular conference was being held, without even an invitation.
And I had seen through the Tower Master’s illusion magic.
That was why I could prattle on calmly.
“Tower Master, unexpectedly, you have made no progress.”
What scheme the Tower Master, who had caused such a ruckus, had in mind.
I did not know.
But the Tower Master.
To be precise, the hostility possessed by the Tower Master’s body.
I had clearly grasped it from the ten consecutive Meteor Strikes.
So I had no choice but to be serious as well.
The direction of the Hexagram Brooch aligned.
As I straightened my clothes, I confirmed the buffs currently active.
[Natural Enemy]
Had not activated, but.
Just as written in the update details.
The Tower Master’s body was judged to be a boss monster.
[Hexagram Brooch 2/6]
[Set item effect is being applied.]
[Currently applied set effect: 2/6]
[1. All basic stats increase by 2 points.]
[2. When attacking a boss monster, all damage increases by 10 percent.]
Without [Natural Enemy],
Even a 10 percent increase in combat power was precious. Of course, I could not leave out [First World Tree’s Blessing], which supported my amount of mana that was insignificant compared to the Tower Master’s.
Besides, the Tower Master’s body.
That side did not have even a single magic tool like I did, right?
He must have escaped the mana sphere bare-handed.
Even putting aside the fluttering Jacket of Dawn.
I was covered head to toe.
In epic-grade items that could hardly be seen even in the Magic Tower.
Lastly.
Even the greatness of anomalies, which I had unintentionally come to feel thanks to the high-ranking Demon King.
Against the worst enemy known as the Tower Master.
There was a rational yet complicated calculation behind the fact that I had stepped forward alone.
But that was not the end of it.
Suddenly, mana rippled in the air.
From within the slowly manifesting portal.
An unexpected reinforcement appeared.