An old mage, a middle-aged mage, and Abelard Pavlenko.
The white-haired mage sat facing Abelard, wearing a mage’s robe and hat of white fabric embroidered with pale green thread.
- Tower Master.
- Speak.
- Tetradia still has strength to spare.
- That is only how it appears on the surface.
- And so you intend to leave things as they are?
- There is nothing we can do.
- See here! Tower Master!
His voice rose higher and higher.
The old mage slammed his hand down on the table and stretched out his arm, pointing outside.
- So many people have gathered out there! Surely you, Tower Master, know that if we leave them be, every last one of them will die a dog’s death!
What the two of them were discussing was none other than the people outside the city.
They were speaking of the countless crowds Hio and Claire had first seen, the masses gathered like clouds in order to enter Tetradia.
The old mage spoke with such fervor, but Abelard merely shook his head, his expression unchanged.
- If we let them in, even Tetradia will be shaken. You know that if we are shaken, there will be no future.
- How can you be so certain? You have not even tried! How many Grand Mages does the school of miracles have? Are you telling me they cannot solve a single problem like this?
It seemed the countless people gathered outside were all refugees.
The old mage in the pale green mage’s robe appeared to be of the opinion that those refugees should be taken in, while Abelard believed they could not be accepted.
Hio did not know the circumstances in detail, but even to him, taking in that many people seemed impossible.
Tetradia was already packed with people as it was.
How did they intend to handle the chaos and various problems, including food, that would arise from accepting such a number?
It must have been out of concern for such things that Abelard had ultimately refused to permit Vasterion’s migration.
And so Abelard Pavlenko,
the master of Tetradia’s Mage Tower, spoke firmly.
- Every mage of High Mage rank and above has been deployed to that operation. Tetradia has no strength to spare either.
- You mean that absurd operation?
- Yes.
- Ha!
That operation meant—
- Do you truly believe that absurd plan to move the city of Tetradia itself will succeed?
The operation to isolate all of Tetradia in another space.
Hio’s eyes flashed strangely the moment he heard that much.
He had already had his doubts regarding Tetradia’s whereabouts.
After all, nowhere on the current continent could one see the Mage Tower rising to the very end of the sky.
At the very least, it meant that the magic city of Tetradia was not on the same continent.
If so, then……
“They succeeded in spatially isolating Tetradia?”
He would have to hear more to know.
Abelard nodded, his expression still unchanged.
- The possibility is sufficient.
- Do you know how many Grand Mages are tied down for the sake of that thread-thin possibility?
- Better than anyone.
- And do you also know that if they had gone to the battlefield, half the continent might still be safe?
- I know that, in the end, they would have been defeated and it would be no different from now.
- Then are you confident that if you separate Tetradia and complete that magic, you will be able to defeat the anomalies?
- Of course I have no certainty, but it is the most likely……
- No! That is not it, Tower Master!
The old mage slammed the table once more and glared at Abelard.
It was astonishing how such force could come from that body, with its wrinkled eyes and head of white hair.
- You are terrified right now!
The old man raged, still gazing at Abelard with eyes that burned fiercely.
- What are you so afraid of? Is it because you have too much to protect? Because you have too much to lose?
- That is not it.
- Not it? I have watched you for a very long time, Tower Master. Right now, in a situation where hundreds of thousands are dying as if it were nothing! Crushed beneath the burden of having to take responsibility for all of it, you are merely making excuses!
A brief silence followed.
Abelard, whose face still showed no expression, slowly closed his eyes.
And when he soon opened them again, his expression was quite sorrowful.
- Druid Ren Hank. No……
With a rather pained look, Abelard called the old mage.
- ……Master.
The old mage’s name was Ren Hank.
He was one of the few remaining druids of the Mage Tower, and at the same time, the teacher who had guided Abelard since childhood.
- We must separate the continent and Tetradia. The anomalies…… no, against the Abyss, this is the method by which frail humans have the highest chance of survival.
- The method with the highest chance? How much higher is that chance worth? Do you truly believe such trivial number games are worth trading for the lives of millions, tens of millions? Tower Master!
- ……I do.
- Ha……
Ren Hank leaned weakly back against his chair, as though all strength had left him.
- Abelard, you are thinking only with your head now, and moving only with your head.
His gaze was no longer on Abelard.
- You must not do that. That is what you must be most wary of. Have I not taught you so time and time again?
- I had no choice. If we release all the superhuman-class mages at once, then as you say, Master, we may save many people, but then the completion of the magic……
- Did you even try?
The old mage, Ren Hank, had grown calm before anyone realized it, but his quiet voice was filled with reproach.
- You did not try, I am sure. Because the possibility was low. No matter how many people die, that too would merely be a number included within a low probability.
His wrinkled eyes turned toward Abelard again. They filled themselves with Abelard’s figure, eyes that somehow seemed to be weeping sorrowfully.
- In the end, you have forgotten, Abelard. How you rose to that position. Were you not also someone who survived by breaking through a probability so low it was dreadful?
- ……Master. This is a matter so grave that it cannot even be compared to that……!
Ren Hank pushed back his chair with a scrape and rose from his seat.
- It is all right, Tower Master. You need not make excuses even to an old man who has grown so old he is only waiting for the day he dies.
- ……Master!
- It seems I forced my thoughts upon you too much, Tower Master. So do as you think best. However, since you have chosen to do it, you must accomplish it thoroughly.
- That, of course……
- Even if this old man dies, do not ever stop.
With those words, Ren Hank immediately turned his back and left the room.
- I sincerely hope you can complete that great magic, Tower Master.
He was so old that it was difficult to guess his age rashly, but his back was straight and there was strength in his steps.
He looked like one who still had something to do, and a goal to achieve.
- I will live and depart according to the way I have lived.
Without ever looking back, Ren Hank left the room.
- May you accomplish your will.
Abelard was left alone.
Hio watched for a while as Abelard swept back his hair with a complicated expression, then conveyed his intention to Claire.
“Let’s follow that old man.”
It seemed that, for the moment, the one who would take action was Ren Hank rather than Abelard.
They would follow him to obtain more information.
“Okay. Let’s follow him.”
The moment the two of them chased after Ren Hank and left the room, their vision began to darken.
Hio thought the scene was about to change as it had before, but that was not it.
「You have cleared the first dungeon.」
The dungeon had been cleared.
They had done nothing, merely moving along with memories of the past.
Soon darkness came, and when they opened their eyes again, they were in a space similar to the previous one.
It was a room painted entirely black in every direction.
“Wh-what? Is it over?”
“……It looks that way.”
At a glance, it seemed identical to the room they had first entered, but if one looked closely, it was different.
The size of the wavering black gate was slightly different, and its position was different as well.
So this was before the second dungeon.
“Let’s go in right away.”
There were still nearly twenty such dungeons left ahead.
In other words.
“To glimpse the memories of the past.”
It meant they could draw much closer to the unrecorded, lost truth.
* * *
「Skill—‘Tropical Night’ is activated.」
「Skill—‘Desertification’ is activated.」
「Skill—‘Antlion Pit’ is activated.」
As he stretched his sword straight forward, the surrounding area withered dry.
Antiphus Praman.
The direction he pointed became a windless night, and then a desert where one’s feet sank deeply into the sand.
- Kehehehek!
The charging monster rolled across the sandy ground, and its blackened body began to dry out rapidly.
「Skill—‘Blessing of the Sandstorm’ is activated.」
「Attribute—‘Earth’ is granted to your aura.」
A hell of sand where the more one moved, the more one’s body sank.
And Antiphus’s two feet roamed freely over it.
With unnecessary movements minimized, the swords he swung cut down the Abyss monsters before they even had time to scream.
Skills that altered the surrounding environment were treated differently, even if they were of the same rank.
After all, the changed environment also affected the caster of the skill.
It was only natural, since they were difficult to handle and their strategic value varied wildly depending on how they were used.
And yet just how many of those kinds of skills did Antiphus possess?
Even as he freely created environments, he himself moved faster and stronger, swinging his sword as though he ruled over the altered terrain.
Antiphus’s skills created unfavorable environments for his opponents, and favorable environments for himself.
The number of skills he had displayed while clearing the dungeons easily exceeded ten.
At the same time, his own martial power was formidable, and the aura that changed color from time to time would explode, grow harder than anything, and be used in various ways depending on the situation.
Antiphus Praman.
When one watched him fight, the only thought that came to mind was how anyone could possibly defeat such a man.
A strong man among strong men, beyond any room for disagreement.
He skillfully handled dozens of skills, and at the same time had reached a level of swordsmanship high enough to occupy the position of Knight Commander.
That was why they were already in the middle of clearing their tenth dungeon.
It was truly an astonishing speed.
An overwhelming speed that even Silvert would have been startled by.
Even this tenth dungeon was completely cleared before much time had passed.
「You have cleared the tenth dungeon.」
The surrounding scenery warped, and their vision darkened.
Thus, when they opened their eyes again, they were in that familiar square room.
The eleventh dungeon was before their eyes.
“We enter immediately.”
Antiphus immediately gave the order to enter, without even giving them a moment to catch their breath.
“Why not rest a bit before we go? We don’t know what might come out.”
Silvert tried to stop him, but there was no way his words would reach a man whose goal was already set in the far-distant sky.
“Are you tired?”
“……That’s not it.”
“Then what is the problem? We enter immediately.”
There was nothing to refute.
In truth, Antiphus had dealt with more than sixty percent of the dungeon monsters.
“……Fine.”
They did not know how many dungeons they had to finish before the common space where the boss monster waited would appear.
However, considering that the average was twenty, they were already more than halfway through.
This time, there would be no comparison at all.
It was far too obvious that they would be overwhelmingly first.
“Let’s go in.”
And so Antiphus’s party entered the eleventh dungeon without taking a rest.
It was at the moment when Hio and Claire had only just begun entering the second dungeon.