◈ Episode 341. A World Line Without You (4)
Lick.
“Burned just enough. Exactly savory enough.”
The Tower Master licked his singed fur. ‘That last one must have shaved off half my lifespan.’ He was the Tower Master, able to assess his own condition more coldly than any mage in the Magic Tower. Naturally. To manifest the forbidden magic that separated body and mind, one had to understand one’s own vessel with precision. ‘Perhaps it wasn’t such a bad trade.’ Soul Separation Magic.
The instant the Tower Master came into contact with the Dragon Breath.
He separated his mind from his body, minimizing the damage. As could be seen, damage remained on his body, but his mind—and the magic power that stemmed from it—had been able to avoid the aftermath.
If it had been most magic, he would likely have suffered no damage at all. Even a supreme high-level spell, Meteor Strike, would have been no exception. But what had flown at him was none other than Dragon Breath.
Considering that his body was not in perfect condition……
It would not have been strange if he had failed to divert it and died on the spot.
But as could be seen.
Lick.
It had ended with only a few singed hairs.
You ask if, now that I’m near death, I’ve belatedly achieved some magical breakthrough? Ridiculous. Did I not just say so? Among mages, I am one of the rare few who knows his own measure.
Thanks to that, he knew.
“My, it seems your body is a tattered rag as well. Isn’t it, Draggie?”
You are no more normal than I am, dragon.
“Tower Master!!”
“Everyone saw that, right? That is our Tower Master of the Magic Tower!”
“H-how did he let a Breath like that pass him by?”
Color returned to the faces of the senior mages.
The Tower Master smiled.
It was not a gentle smile, but a cold one.
“Hah.”
With eyes so lacking in discernment, the future of the Magic Tower is deeply worrying. Among them, watching Senior Benshi William’s shoulders even tremble, he could not help but sigh beyond mere ridicule.
And yet, thinking on it another way…… ‘Still, perhaps they are better than I was back then.’ Soon, the dragon’s wings began to glow once more.
No, to be precise, what served in place of wings.
The Magic Tower’s magic tool, the White Outer Wings.
Facing them, the past flashed through the Tower Master’s mind like a lantern before death. From the days when he had been an adept mage. The number of times his research into forbidden magic had been brought before the Magic Tower’s Round Table as an official agenda item numbered in the dozens. ‘Perhaps I was born in a fortunate era.’
The Magic Tower of those days was not like it was now.
Even if it valued discipline.
Because there was no sincere interest in others, its punishments had been absurdly light as well. ‘If I imagine there had been someone like you, Chief Lee……’
He would likely have been driven out of the Magic Tower long ago.
He would have become an imperial mage or a noble, stained by the secular world.
The Tower Master’s tail swayed.
“Well, that ending might not have been so bad either.”
Kwaaaaaaaa—!
A tremendous pressure bore down.
How could it fire such Breath without so much as taking a moment to catch its breath?
Even if its body was not whole, a dragon was still a dragon.
The Tower Master drew up his magic power.
Someone might ask.
Couldn’t he simply dodge the Breath?
Couldn’t he easily avoid it with short-distance teleportation?
Of course, he could avoid it without much difficulty.
But if he dodged, who would be left to face that Breath?
None other than reality, the world of adventurers. ‘I have already caused more than enough trouble.’
With a single stream of Breath, millions of lives and several cities could be destroyed. To withstand such Breath, the Tower Master manifested two spells at once.
Kwaaaaaaaa—!
He minutely twisted the trajectory of the Breath, concentrating it on himself.
Kukwakakakakwang—!
The moment it struck, he manifested Soul Separation Magic.
He separated body and mind.
Of course, he could not waste much time.
Soul Separation Magic consumed a considerable amount of magic power.
Once again, he succeeded.
But damage began accumulating in his body.
This time, several of his whiskers burned away. ‘To be reduced to this by the residual damage alone.’
He realized it anew.
The arrogant Magic Tower had not declared complete defeat in the Dragon-Mage War for nothing. Of course, the Tower Master did not particularly care about the outcome of the Second Dragon-Mage War. If surrendering could bring it to an end, he would have declared unconditional surrender to that dragon this very instant.
But unfortunately.
“You don’t look the least bit inclined to listen, Draggie.”
The Elder Dragon’s mental state seemed even worse than its physical condition. According to the adventurers’ information, its exact name had been “Elder Dragon Yunaxus, Who Swallowed the Evil Fruit,” had it not? ‘I don’t know exactly what it is, but this Evil Fruit must be the problem.’
In truth, even without that information, there had been enough signs that something was strange. Yunaxus, who had poured out Breath as if it would kill him at any moment, had suddenly begun to twist its body.
Krrraaaaa—!
Then an unfamiliar voice rang out.
“It’s a pattern! It poured out two big attacks in a row. That means we’ve been given a damage window. Though I don’t know how long it’ll last.”
Flap, flap—!
Perhaps because he had just been facing a dragon moments before.
The wyvern’s wingbeats looked absurdly dainty by comparison.
Where the Tower Master’s gaze turned, there was an adventurer.
A knight’s armor.
Skin that looked sunburned.
No matter how one looked at him, he was not a member of the Magic Tower.
Fortunately, it seemed he and Marcelo had met before.
“What brings you here, Sir Skal?”
“I apologize if I’ve intruded, Chief Marcelo. But with Commander-in-Chief Lee Hoyeol absent and a dragon appearing now of all times, I had no choice but to make a decision.”
“Intruded? Not at all. Thank you for finding the courage.”
Hm……
Had it been his past self, he would have sneered.
Saying, what could a mere adventurer know to prattle on like that?
Telling him to try displaying that vaunted authority of resurrection.
He might even have fired a suitable spell at the adventurer. ‘What a hopelessly narrow-minded fellow I was in the past.’
But that self was no longer here.
Had there not been someone who broke that prejudice for him?
As expected, it was him. ‘There is much to be grateful to him for, in many ways.’
This time, too, it was thanks to Chief Lee.
Because from Hoyeol, the Tower Master had witnessed a possibility unique to adventurers.
A possibility different from that of Arcanians.
That Tower Master asked Skal.
“So, are you saying this is our opportunity, adventurer?”
……
As if a cat blocking Dragon Breath had not been enough, now it was speaking to him. As Skal stared with an expression of utter confusion, Marcelo explained concisely.
“He is the Tower Master.”
“A c-cat was the Tower Master of the Magic Tower……!”
“The Tower Master has changed his outward appearance due to circumstances.”
“Ah.”
As though he had immediately accepted it, Skal continued.
“That’s right! It won’t be easy to land attacks on a rampaging dragon, but…… as you know, boss raids are long battles by nature, aren’t they?”
A boss raid.
Due to the communication issues between two completely different worlds, he could not fully understand. But it likely meant that it could not help but become a prolonged battle. The Tower Master nodded.
Skal nodded along with him.
“So if you, Tower Master, can keep tanking…… I mean, taking the Dragon Breath like you are now, our allies will have openings to attack. If that exchange repeats and the dragon’s health falls to an appropriate level……”
Skal’s pupils blazed.
“I’ll climb onto the dragon!”
“……?”
The Tower Master made a cold expression unique to cats.
At this rate, the Tower Master would misunderstand.
Marcelo busily added an explanation.
“Sir Skal is a dragon knight.”
“Ah. Indeed, if he has something to rely on, it makes sense that he stepped forward with confidence.”
Swish—the tail swayed.
It was not bad.
There had to be at least that much of a plan for him to wager his life, no?
The Tower Master reached a conclusion.
Now that Chief Lee Hoyeol did not exist here.
The plan laid out by this adventurer named Skal was the best they had. ‘It will be impossible to bring down that monster, after all.’
An adventurer who had grasped the destiny of a dragon knight.
He could only hope that, from this man, he might witness a light of a brightness similar to yours, Chief Lee.
At last, the Tower Master gave an order.
“All senior mages, listen. From this moment on, I authorize the use of the decisive battle magic tools. The authorized target is the sworn enemy of the Dragon-Mage War, the dragon now flying above our heads.”
The moment permission was given.
Pajijijijik—!
Countless spells embroidered the air.
Freezing, flame, lightning……
Attribute magic responsible for destructive power opened fire.
From illusions to healing magic.
Non-combat spells supplemented the weaknesses of attribute magic.
“Shall we move as well?”
The elder mage, Yugweed, did not remain still either.
The golem’s magic heart emitted an intense light.
Rumble, rumble—!
For a brief moment, its massive body crouched as though taking a ready stance.
Then it leaped toward the sky.
“Wh-what the hell is that!”
“Rox. Did you people in America…… seriously make combining robots too? What’s that thing surging out of the sea? Did you hide it in the Pacific? So those movies were based on true stories after all?”
“……What are you talking about?”
The weighty leap was more than enough to shock the players of the Zero Mountains.
Of course, even amid that, Harkon was observing the state of battle.
Thanks to that, he could shout.
“Everyone, prepare to attack!”
Shing—!
Harkon drew his sword.
Preparing to attack from this distance—it could not be immediately understood. But an order was an order. Including Nam Taemin and Skal, who had been conversing, every member of the Holy War Allied Forces raised their weapons.
Harkon’s eyes narrowed.
“It’s coming!”
The golem that had soared into the sky.
Clack—!
Its enormous hand seized the dragon’s ankle.
Sssaaaaaaaaak—!
Using its massive weight with all its might, it was dragging Elder Dragon Yunaxus down toward the Zero Mountains. Watching from a wide archer’s field of vision, Camilla stammered.
“Our Jessie became a proper adept mage in a Magic Tower like that, right? Jessie really is amazing. Yeah, that’s all well and good……! But if something like that falls here, can we really be okay?”
“……!!!”
The golem’s weight added to the dragon’s.
The impact would not pale in comparison to a nuclear warhead.
To the vast Zero Mountains, it would amount to little more than a scratch.
The problem was the players spread widely throughout those Zero Mountains.
Like Camilla, Dmitry, an executive of Shining, made a fuss beside her.
“Won’t the Magic Tower mages here do something? If they combine their strength and manifest magic, they should be able to block it! It doesn’t look like it’s going to fall directly on top of our heads, so……”
A noise cut off the end of his words.
Kwakakakakwang!
Thanks to the golem seizing its ankle and locking down its movement.
The spells poured out by the senior mages struck Yunaxus.
Watching that scene, the adept mage Jibril opened her mouth.
“……We can’t block something like that.”
Jibril, an inveterate lover of Magic Tower gossip, knew.
She knew the rumors of the Magic Tower surrounding the twenty senior mages.
All but one were of bloodlines from renowned houses whose fame resounded across the continent. And even the sole commoner-born, Senior Vangrit Tom, possessed an innate affinity for magic power that put prestigious families to shame.
The power of such senior mages was normally……
“At least ten times that of us adept mages.”
And if one considered the decisive battle magic tools on top of that.
Right now, it would be no less than fifty times.
And yet even the combined attack of those senior mages was failing to inflict significant damage on the dragon. It had only managed to scratch its scales. Even if they added their strength……
“We could never……”
“No, Jibril.”
“……?”
“We’re not stepping forward because we think we can do it, are we?”
When Jibril lifted her trembling head, Klee was there. Klee, who was normally endlessly gentle and frail. Yet she, with an unexpectedly calm expression, was holding Jibril’s trembling shoulders.
“We do it because this is when we must step forward, because we have no choice but to step forward.”
Jibril spoke her honest impression.
“……Have you been influenced by staying at Chief Lee’s side, Klee?”
“Pardon? All of a sudden? What do you mean?”
“It’s nothing. I showed you an unsightly side of myself.”
Jibril gathered herself.
Even apart from Chief Lee’s teachings, Klee’s words were right.
For mages of the Magic Tower, this was precisely when they ought to step forward.
A mage was a being who could only live by proving their worth through magic. And there was no opponent against whom they could display their abilities more fully than the king of all things.
Swaaaaaak—!
Impact was imminent.
The figures of the golem and Yunaxus rapidly grew larger.
The mages of the Magic Tower drew up their magic power and manifested mana barriers.
Hisagi muttered without realizing it.
“……
This is no joke.”
“Why are you muttering to yourself?”
“I had suspected as much, but this is on another level.”
Class: Magic Spearman.
Half of Hisagi was a mage, so he had often gone in and out of the Magic Tower as well. Thanks to that, he had thought he had indirectly grasped the magical level of mages by encountering them.
But this was a level that far surpassed anything he had imagined.
“Even taking into account the difference between skills and magic, this is……”
Manifesting a barrier with mana was one of the spells that drove mana efficiency to its absolute worst. And yet they had not only manifested a mana barrier of this scale, but were maintaining it as well.
Hisagi added to Leoni.
“Honestly, it makes me wonder whether we can ever catch up.”
Leoni gripped her twin swords and answered indifferently.
“We have to catch up. Only then will we be of any help.”
She could only be indifferent.
Inefficient magic, was it?
Even she herself was doing something far more inefficient than that—worrying about Hoyeol, their commander-in-chief. Even with such worries in her heart, she had still stepped onto the battlefield.
“Aren’t we all trying our best in the same way?”
“……
What’s she suddenly going on about?”
“Please do not ask me so familiarly, Nam Taemin.”
“Oh, come on. The both of you, seriously.”
They exchanged words for a brief moment to ease the tension.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang─!
With a deafening roar, Yunaxus and the golem crashed into the Zero Mountains.
To state only the result:
The mana barrier manifested by the mages of the Magic Tower did not collapse.
Crack!
Cr-crack!
Crack!
Countless fragments of rock shot upward from the impact.
Because it had succeeded in perfectly blocking the fragments that flew in like missiles.
But the problem was what they had overlooked.
A dragon.
Even if it was not in a complete state.
That creature was still called the king of all things.
Craaaack─!
“?!!”
The noise had not come from the mana barrier, but from the ground on which everyone was standing. The endlessly vast Zero Mountains had begun to transform from the crash of Yunaxus and the golem.
Messages flickered in the players’ vision.[The Elder Dragon who swallowed the evil fruit, Yunaxus, transforms the field.][The Zero Mountains worship the king of all things.][The Zero Mountains build a fortress for the king.]……
The Zero Mountains are building a fortress?
The question lasted only an instant.
Because soon, the once-flat land truly began to rise like towering castle walls. As a result, the Holy War Alliance began to be scattered and isolated.
“Can you hear me?”
“Yeah, I can hear you! Looks like a rock wall separated us.”
“Damn it, what the hell is going on……?”
But before they could even gather their wits.
Another realization came crashing down on them.
Yes, they were not the only ones in the vast Zero Mountains.
As they slowly turned their gazes, they saw a looming shadow.
“!”[Moon Glaive Bear : Lv.800]
“You’ve got to be fucking……?!”
It was the moment a hellscape unfolded in the Zero Mountains.
“Oho.”
The body of the Tower Master, who had been staring at Yunaxus, began to shine. It was not mana. The Tower Master, who knew his own limits well, could not understand the power himself.
The Tower Master licked his forepaw and muttered.
“So this is what they call the final radiance before death? Not too bad.”...
But in reality, there was no such thing as a dramatic final radiance before death. Especially in the Arcana worldview, if some phenomenon occurred, there was surely some cause behind it.
-“Hey, Dragon-Dragon. Your opponent is me.”
Naturally.
At this moment.
There was a reason behind the strange phenomenon appearing in the Tower Master as well.
A tiny beast that had withstood a dragon breath.
A cat that dared call a dragon, the king of all things, Dragon-Dragon.
And Lee Hoyeol, absent from such a scene.
Another misunderstanding spread throughout the world.-……
No matter how I look at it, that cat’s definitely connected to Lee Hoyeol.
-A Nettuber said that’s a cat that lives in the Magic Tower?!-For real? But is Homen the kind of person who’d keep a pet?
-Wait, there’s also the Akshan wolf!
-And it’s not like there’s any rule saying he can only have one pet……?
The misunderstanding spread in an instant.
Repeated tens of billions of times by a population of billions.
It became a legend.
And the power of such a legend had nothing to do with truth or falsehood.
-If that cat is Lee Hoyeol’s pet……
-Doesn’t that mean it might seriously stand a chance?
-It’s the pet of the Dark Dragon feared by all dragons?!
Dragon and tiger clashing.
The cat cloaked in froth became a tiger.
It was the moment it bared its claws at the king of all things.