◈ Episode 488. Fertilizer (4)
Bensch William.
The reason I entrusted Bensch with the terribly, terribly weighty role of temporary acting chief of the Magic Tower was simple. To be honest, I dumped it on him. Put yourself in my shoes for once and think about it!
—‘You’re worse than most spam texts, you know.’
In anything, the beginning is important.
Not long ago, Bensch, who had never known the taste of leaving the tower, had gotten a proper taste of it, hadn’t he? Where could that desire, already fierce as flame, have gone?
That’s right. It all came back to me in the form of applications to leave the tower.
One, two, three……
Now it wasn’t one a day, but at least three or four.
If only the reasons were still absurd, I could have scrawled a rejection signature on them. The bigger problem was that, unlike before, they weren’t nonsensical—they had become strangely plausible.
‘……Did he figure out Granfell’s temperament?’
No matter how obvious the other party’s intentions were.
If matters weren’t handled fairly according to formality and procedure,
he was the sort of person whose whole body would bristle with thorns.
Thanks to Granfell’s stubbornness, I couldn’t simply overlook Bensch’s applications to leave the tower, nor his applications for continental expeditions.
I had no choice but to evaluate the slickly worded reasons for his requests.
—“Have you finally realized it, Bensch William? Your pride.”
At that point, I changed my mind.
Fine. Rather than tantalizingly stimulating Bensch’s desire by letting him leave the tower, wasn’t this the perfect situation, with me, Marcelo, and Matisse all away from the Magic Tower?
—‘Let’s see you feel my suffering for once.’
I would dump the chief’s duties on him as a lesson.
It was only for such a petty, Lee Hoyeol-like reason that I had entrusted Bensch with the position of temporary acting chief. And yet, of all times, this unprecedented catastrophe had to break out when I had handed Bensch full authority over the Magic Tower.
My lips moved as if making an excuse.
“Bensch William, you will surely be able to respond.”
Do you really think so, Granfell?
You might fool everyone else, but you can’t fool me, you know?
If only there were a mirror, I would have been able to read the true intent behind those words……
“Your instincts do possess a truly keen edge.”
……
What, he’s serious?
Above all, this was a loose tongue incapable of empty praise. The fact that Bensch had received such a favorable evaluation meant that, regardless of my own prejudice as Lee Hoyeol, Granfell held Bensch in high regard.
‘……If that’s what you think, then that’s a relief.’
Ruuumble.
I watched the collapsing finger and made an estimate. The fused intelligence Yugweed was probably causing damage in reality, damage unprecedented since the Cataclysm.
‘Naturally, reality is even more dangerous than the Arcana Continent.’
In that sense.
“The probing battle is over. Show your sincerity.”
It would be best to advance the phase quickly.
Flash.
At last, a new quest objective flickered.
- Fused Intelligence: Defeat Yugweed Lupeng. (In Progress)
● Neutralize the fused intelligence’s finger. (Success)
● Neutralize the fused intelligence’s right arm. (In Progress)
After the finger, the right arm?
No sooner had the message flickered than a colossal shadow fell over us. With the sound of rubble falling, Yugweed’s gigantic arm was shooting straight up toward the sky at a right angle.
Kudududuk.
If one judged the destructive force by its size……
Perhaps that thing contained destructive power surpassing even the highest-level spell, Meteor Strike. This was not a problem that could be solved by simply dodging.
The Wind Spirit King, Ariel, trailed off.
“At this rate, the axis of the Arcana Continent will be shaken……!”
Then there was only one solution.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
I rapidly raised my mana.
[Natural Enemy Relationship]
Now that it hadn’t activated, my mana stat was roughly one thousand. If someone asked what could normally be done with around a thousand mana,
the illusion magic manifested in the Magic Tower.
The Tower Master’s illusion magic that had blocked the uninvited guest at the regular conference—I had judged that to be in the realm of one thousand mana. The reason I had been able to gauge it intuitively was, of course, thanks to Granfell’s talent.
That very Granfell was speaking.
“Hiel, and all of you, keep this in mind.”
Perhaps, as I was now, merely blocking that one strike would plunge me into mana exhaustion, or I might close my eyes on the Arcana Continent from even greater aftereffects.
Goooooo.
Even so, I did not stop and continued raising my mana. Though a different caliber of mana had been combined with the uncanny, the other side was likewise a being that had entered the realm of the uncanny.
‘Well, it might be far ahead of me.’
After all, that thing was an existence that might have been born from the fusion of Yugweed, an elder mage of the Magic Tower, and Oried, the Earth Spirit King. So this side also had to give it everything.
[The stat, “Tenacity,” is converted into “Mana.”]
My tenacity.
My resolve.
It was converted into mana, transforming into an even more vast quantity of mana.
No matter how excellent the mana efficiency of architectural magic was,
in order to withstand something like that,
an immense amount of mana would be required.
Ssssss.
Long strands of silver hair fluttered into my field of vision.
It was because I had raised my mana so abruptly.
Mana was flowing out to the point that it affected my body.
[※Warning: Mana is flowing backward.]
[Status abnormality, “Mana Intoxication,” has occurred.]
[Status abnormality, “Manafication,” has occurred.]
……
Mana intoxication.
Manafication.
This was a phenomenon I had only seen in Magic Tower books.
‘I never thought I’d experience it myself.’
Soon after, messages appeared from [Blessing of the First World Tree], saying that it had rejected those status abnormalities. But there was no need to go to the trouble of rejecting them. As I said, this too was part of my plan.
“……!!!”
By then, everyone must have realized it.
That something had gone wrong with me.
They had no choice but to.
Status abnormality, Manafication.
I recalled the knowledge from the books I had stuffed into my head.
──────
What a beginner in pure mana studies must be wary of is “Manafication.” High mana sensitivity is like a double-edged sword. There is a possibility that one’s body and mind will instead be devoured by mana……
──────
Manafication.
To put it simply, it was a status abnormality similar to the “Blackening” of black magic studies.
If there was a difference,
it was that Manafication was far more dangerous than Blackening.
──────
Therefore, beware. A mage who has undergone Manafication will inevitably die.
──────
When I read that sentence, I had snorted.
—‘I’m more afraid of Blackening than Manafication.’
Of course, that thought still hadn’t changed.
Thanks to the effect of [Last Adventurer]. For me, someone who could revive even after dying on the Arcana Continent, it was only natural that [Blackening], which might make me blurt out my dark history with my own mouth, was more frightening than this one life of mine……!
Therefore.
[Status abnormality, “Manafication,” has occurred.]
[Status abnormality, “Manafication,” has occurred.]
[Status abnormality, “Manafication,” has occurred.]
……
Even now, with death before me, I could stand upright.
“Blessed One, your body……?”
I, too, could see and feel it, so I knew.
Manafication, literally.
My body was turning into a mass of pure mana.
To the question filled with concern, I continued speaking.
“You can do it.”
Even if, due to the death penalty, I could not enter the Arcana Continent for twenty-four hours. At this moment, with the strength of those on this battlefield, they would be able to stop it sufficiently.
‘It isn’t some grand sacrifice.’
I was merely playing the role of pushing them from behind.
To put it metaphorically, I was a medium.
As I said, I was mana itself, mana that would amplify the Spirit Kings’ {Nature} abilities.
With amplified natural abilities, surely.
“All of this is the providence of nature.”
……
Yes, according to that damned grand providence of nature.
No matter how many phases remained, they would be able to overcome them. The earth spirits that had been an obstacle no longer pledged loyalty to Oried thanks to the effect of [Hierarchy of Blessing].
However.
“……Providence? What do you mean by that?”
It seemed everyone had taken “the providence of nature” differently. Of course, a person dying was also the providence of nature. And it was true that I was dying here and now, but……
“Surely, you don’t mean……!!”
I’m telling you, there’s no need to make such a fuss.
After all, one day later.
Four days in Arcana Continent time, I would return alive and well.
Swish.
Did she vaguely know that fact?
Only Hiel bowed her head at my words.
Watching them, I manifested my final magic.
An aesthetic element not forgotten even in such a situation.
I manifested architectural magic infused with [Aesthetic].
At last, a statue surged upward.
Kukugugugung.
Amid the collision, my Manafied body began to scatter into the air. Into nature, into flame, into wind, into ice, into forest, into lightning, it began to seep into the spirits.
A system message that did not lie flickered.
[Your mana surges across the area.]
Then another message flickered.
[You have died.]
[The death penalty is applied.]
[Acquired experience has decreased.]
[Your achievement resounds across the Arcana Continent.]
[The lives of the Arcana Continent speak of your sacrifice.]
[The title, “Sublime,” changes.]
[You have acquired the title, “Noble.”]
[The effect of the title, “Last Adventurer,” activates.]
[You will immediately return to reality.]
[Cooldown: 23 hours 59 minutes]
Within my fading consciousness.
I had only one thought.
As I said, I wasn’t worried about the Arcana Continent in the slightest.
I only desperately hoped.
Please.
You’re doing well in reality too, right?
Right, Senior Bensch William……?
*
The Another Space.
“This is insane.”
The mere fact that a monster bearing the same name as a former elder mage of the Magic Tower had appeared was shocking enough. And yet its size was so vast it could be detected even from distant space.
“The Magic Tower? Still impossible to make out?”
“Yes! It’s buried in rock, so we can’t see anything.”
“Damn it. No choice, then. Start shifting the angle.”
“Yes, sir!”
Tatatadak.
As he manipulated the control panel, the angle of the Another Space began to shift.
Toward the unidentified rift
that had spewed out such an absurd creature.
Toward the prototype rift.
“An incomplete rift, huh.”
The players of the Holy War Alliance who had been caught up in the prototype rift on the Arcana Continent. He had thought he had glimpsed the possibility of a connection between the Arcana Continent and reality within it.
“……Maybe that’s why it feels even more ominous.”
The fused intelligence Yugweed had only revealed half of itself in reality.
Considering the possibility of a connection between reality and the Arcana Continent, there was a high chance that the remainder had appeared on the Arcana Continent.
“It’s different from an ordinary rift. In this moment, the Arcana Continent may be facing the same thing we are. If that’s the case…… it means we can’t expect help from the Arcana Continent’s side.”
It was a truly bleak conjecture, but accurate confirmation was necessary.
The camera of the Another Space zoomed in toward the rift.
Then.
“……We, we can see it!”
“You can see it? What? The Magic Tower?”
“N-no. We can see the scenery inside the rift!!”
The scenery inside the rift.
More precisely, as expected, they could see the scenery of the Arcana Continent.
Why was it that bad premonitions never missed?
Sure enough, weren’t they struggling desperately over there too?
“Damn it.”
It was the moment he forcibly swallowed back a curse.
Amid radiant light.
This time, he saw a scene that should not have been visible.
That’s right.
“?!!”
A sight that left his mouth hanging open.
—Another Space. Please respond.
A sight that made him forget even the urgent transmission.
“……”
After a silence, the man murmured hollowly.
“This is the Another Space.”
Even if he couldn’t believe it,
“Beyond the prototype rift, on the Arcana Continent……”
all the footage was telling him the truth.
“The death of player Lee Hoyeol has been confirmed……!”