“First?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know where he is?”
Gaon was elusive.
Just from the information in the reports, his movement speed was incomprehensible.
Honestly, it made one wonder if he had a twin.
So how could they contact Gaon first?
“Doesn’t Gardion Tower have a means to contact him?”
“…….”
Silpia’s words made Mild let out a groan.
Come to think of it, Gardion Tower likely had communication crystals to reach Gaon, whether one-way or two-way.
“But how do we contact Gardion?”
The four factions of Lude Tower were monitoring each other.
Visiting Gardion Tower in the current situation?
The chance of the other factions noticing was extremely high.
“I happen to have a business trip nearby.”
“It’s dangerous.”
Mild said with a surprised expression.
They were at war with Gardion Tower.
They might not even accept contact — or listen to the purpose.
“Hey, you know me, right? If it’s dangerous, I’ll bail immediately. And I’m going for my future, too.”
It wasn’t empty words.
It was sincere.
If they stayed idle like this, Mild would lose his position as Tower Master, and the faction’s power would weaken.
What would happen then?
Silpia’s future would be miserable as well.
“……Alright.”
“Call me when the letter is ready.”
“Okay.”
Mild nodded with a complicated expression.
Then Silpia turned away.
“Ah, wait.”
Mild called out to Silpia as a sudden thought occurred to him.
“And I think I’ve found the ringleader.”
“……!”
Silpia’s eyes flashed at Mild’s words.
Recently, evidence of collusion with external forces had been discovered.
The problem was not knowing which faction was involved.
They had been half giving up, but now he said he’d found the ringleader?
“Where?”
Silpia asked with a face full of curiosity.
Which faction, and with which external force?
“Afern.”
“Ah……..”
Silpia let out a low sigh.
Afern Lipheed.
The former Great Elder and chairman of Lude Tower’s Elder Council.
And the leader of the Elder faction, one of the four major factions in Lude Tower.
“And the colluding force isn’t certain, but……..”
Mild trailed off, then continued with a bitter expression.
“It seems like forces from the demon world.”
“What? No way.”
Silpia retorted with an incredulous expression.
But only for a moment.
Certain pieces of information and events came to mind, and the disbelief vanished from his face.
Then, with an utterly serious expression and voice, he asked.
“What do you plan to do?”
Collusion with demon world forces was no ordinary matter.
If handled poorly, Lude Tower could become a public enemy of the human alliance.
“There’s no solid evidence.”
“……Searching for evidence could destroy the tower.”
“It’s the same if I start something without evidence.”
Silpia couldn’t say a word.
As Mild said, it was truly an ambiguous situation for taking action.
Then Mild continued.
“Let’s include it in the letter.”
“The letter to Gardion?”
“Yes.”
Gaon thought as he looked at the distant city wall.
What should I do?
It was the wall of the city where the Tower of Wind was located.
There were two choices.
The first was to rescue Tower Master Winder first.
The second was to deal with the Kurshum converts first.
They’ll show up during the rescue anyway.
To rescue Winder, he needed to go to the location of the central tower’s core.
And once he went there, the Kurshum converts would flock on their own.
Rescue first makes sense.
Gaon made his decision.
Then he increased his speed.
Before long, he arrived at the entrance.
“Stop…….”
“Sleep.”
Gaon cast Sleep on the mages and soldiers blocking his path.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The strongest among them was at the 4th-Circle level.
Naturally, even the strongest lacked the ability to resist Gaon’s Sleep, and every single one fell without exception.
“Huh!”
“.”
“What.”
As those guarding the entrance collapsed, the nearby people wore surprised expressions.
That was all.
They glanced around or moved away from Gaon, but none blocked his way.
And Gaon passed right by the fallen ones and entered the city.
Upon entering, Gaon expanded his senses.
It was to locate the high-ranking officials of the Tower of Wind who had converted to Kurshum, as well as the central tower’s core.
Before long, Gaon found both.
The high-level mages were gathered in the central tower.
And to the north of the central tower, a powerful energy presumed to be the “core” could be felt.
Given that energy was flowing toward the central tower, it was definitely the core.
Almost all of them seem gathered…….
Originally, Gaon had planned to rescue Tower Master Winder of the Tower of Wind, who was occupying the core, first.
But seeing the various energies assembled in the central tower, he pondered for a moment.
Wouldn’t it be better to kill them all on the way?
No, not all are gathered.
Many were there, but that was it.
Intense energies were detected in a few other places outside the central tower as well.
And there might be people among them who shouldn’t be killed.
Rescue first.
Gaon decided to proceed as planned and headed toward the core’s location.
Before long, Gaon arrived at his destination.
The core wasn’t left exposed, of course.
It was protected by a thick blue curtain that allowed no view of the inside.
He must be in there.
According to Hailey, Tower Master Winder of the Tower of Wind had occupied the core.
In other words, Winder was presumed to be inside the curtain.
It was right then.
“Who are you!”
Among the group of mages outside the curtain, the strongest — a 5th-Circle-level mage — spotted Gaon and shouted.
“This area is restricted…….”
“Sleep.”
Of course, he collapsed to Gaon’s Sleep before he could finish.
It wasn’t just the mage who had spoken.
All the accompanying mages fell asleep and collapsed as well.
Then Gaon approached the curtain and placed his hand on it.
An extreme chill could be felt.
Gaon pushed back the chill and inversely injected Pacheonki.
Crack! Crack!
The Pacheonki disrupted the curtain’s structure, and cracks began to appear.
Shatter!
Not long after the cracks formed, the cracked section collapsed, creating a hole in the curtain.
And Gaon could see.
A mage with a resolute expression.
He was no ordinary mage.
A wall-crosser — it had to be Winder.
In the conference room of the Tower of Wind’s central tower.
Currently, numerous mages were gathered in the conference room, engaged in discussion.
“What happened to Vice Tower Master Hailey?”
“I don’t know — regular contact has been cut off, so it seems something occurred…….”
“Could there be a problem at the Tower of Fire……?”
“Hey, what kind of problem could happen at the Tower of Fire?”
“Then is the contact being cut off normal?”
“Your words are a bit off, aren’t they? Is the contact cutoff my fault?”
As the conversation grew increasingly heated.
Creak —
The door opened, and a mage entered urgently.
“What’s the matter?”
Great Elder Asiris asked.
“Someone has invaded the city. Those guarding the entrance all appear to have been hit by Sleep magic, so it’s presumed to be a 7th-Circle archmage.”
“……What?”
Asiris had no choice but to retort.
A 7th-Circle archmage had invaded the city?
It was far too out of the blue.
“……Current location?”
“It’s not certain, but based on witness statements, it seems they’ve headed toward the core’s location.”
“……!”
“……!”
At the mage’s report, not only Asiris but everyone flinched.
Contact with Hailey had already been lost, and now an invader appeared and headed to the core?
The feeling wasn’t good.
Asiris swept his gaze over those present and said.
“We need to deal with the invader first, it seems.”
The discussion about Hailey was important, but handling the invader appeared more pressing.
“Agreed.”
“Who will go?”
“Let’s all go. If the invader is connected to the Tower Master, we might have to face him as well.”
“Then how about calling all the absent ones too? It’s the final stage anyway.”
“Yes, let’s do that. It’s time for them to make their decision regardless.”
“Sigh…….”
Winder let out a deep sigh.
I never imagined the inside was this rotten…….
Given the situation, he had thought they just needed to fight the demon world.
And he had assumed everyone shared that thought.
But they didn’t.
Only a few held the same view.
Winder turned his head with a bitter expression to look at the core.
Should I make it go berserk?
The core was the power source for all the magic arrays and artifacts in the central tower.
It contained an immense amount of energy accordingly.
If the core went berserk and was destroyed?
The surrounding area would be devastated as if an 8th-Circle spell — no, a 9th-Circle spell — had been cast.
And those who had converted to the demon world, those colluding with the force called Kurshum, would all die.
The reason Winder hadn’t made the core go berserk, even though he could kill them all.
It wasn’t because he feared death.
It was because the innocent would all die too.
Ugh……..
Winder groaned inwardly and sank into thought.
What on earth should he do?
It was right then.
Crack! Crack!
At the sound reaching his ears, Winder startled and whipped his head around.
Cracks had appeared in the curtain.
“……!”
Winder couldn’t help but be shocked.
It was a curtain that could block 7th-Circle magic without issue.
Yet cracks had formed in the curtain?
And this many?
……Wh-what do I do?
Winder pondered.
Should he make the core go berserk now?
No.
The pondering didn’t last long.
He couldn’t kill the innocent just to eliminate those who had betrayed humanity.
Winder began to draw up his energy.
Shatter!
Soon, a portion of the curtain collapsed, creating a hole.
And Winder could see.
A man with thick black hair.
What……?
Winder couldn’t help but be bewildered.
The man had destroyed the curtain.
Yet no energy could be felt from him at all.
That was the problem.
If it’s to the point where I can’t detect it.
Winder swallowed hard.
He had planned to resist with full force.
But seeing the man, his resolve wavered.
He wondered if resistance would even mean anything.
It was right then.
“Are you Winder?”
The man asked.
“…Yes, I am Winder.”
Winder swallowed and replied.
“Let’s form a vow first.”
“……A vow?”
“Swear.”
Swoosh!
The moment Winder finished speaking, a light glowed on his chest.
Gaon nodded with a satisfied expression.
In case he belonged to some other demon world force besides Abyss or Kurshum, Gaon had made him form the vow.
With conditions that absolutely couldn’t be escaped.
Fortunately, Winder was firmly on the side of humanity.
It was right then that Winder asked, glancing cautiously.
“May I ask your honored name?”
“Ah, come to think of it.”
The vow had been urgent, so he hadn’t given any explanation.
Not even his name.
“Gaon Varta. The reason I came here is…….”
Gaon briefly explained what had happened at the Tower of Fire.
“Are you perhaps the first Tower Master of Gardion Tower……?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“It’s an honor!”
Winder exclaimed with a surprised expression.
“Wait a moment.”
Gaon turned around.
Then he went out through the hole.
“……?”
Winder wore a puzzled expression.
Why had Gaon suddenly gone out?
Did I say something wrong?
But that was only for a moment; soon, sensing the presences in his range, Winder startled and followed outside.
And he could see.
The betrayers who had turned their backs on humanity and converted to the demon world.
Glance.
Winder looked at Gaon.
Gaon was gazing at the betrayers with an expression devoid of any emotion.
And it was right then.
“So it was a guest invited by the Tower Master after all. Tsk tsk, even if you’re an archmage, did you really think you could escape with just one person?”
Great Elder Asiris at the front spoke with a sneer-filled tone, and Winder shouted.
“Asiris! Shut your mouth!”
Then Gaon asked Winder.
“By any chance, are there any among them who need to be spared?”