Chapter 118: Reversal and Cleanup

Riders checked the rear where the mages were.

Without exception, everyone wore shocked or dazed expressions.

No matter how he looked, it seemed the healing magic hadn’t been cast by an ally.

It was right then.

“Puhahat!”

Laughter rang out.

Riders heard the laughter and furrowed his brow.

The direction the laughter came from was behind the lava giants.

Of course, that wasn’t the only reason for the frown.

The laughter was extremely familiar.

He had a feeling he knew who it was.

Riders turned his head again to look behind the lava giants.

And soon, the owner of the laughter revealed himself.

As expected, it was someone he knew.

“Bersa……!”

The owner of the laughter was Bersa, the leader of the Bersa Mercenary Group, who had competed for supremacy with the Riders Mercenary Group in the 12th Coexistence Zone before converting to the demon world.

Naturally, Bersa hadn’t appeared alone.

Not only the Bersa Mercenary Group but also unfamiliar faces appeared with him.

Bersa, who had been smiling broadly, suddenly wore an extremely cold expression as if nothing had happened and opened his mouth.

“Long time no see, Riders.”

Riders said nothing in response to Bersa’s greeting.

It wasn’t a situation for returning greetings.

Riders quickly racked his brain to assess the situation.

The lava giants are a failure for now.

They hadn’t fully recovered.

Honestly, even if they resumed battle now, they could kill the lava giants.

It would just take time.

The problem was Bersa.

Would Bersa, who had healed the lava giants, not join the battle?

No, he would 100% join.

And if Bersa joined, the battle was a guaranteed loss.

Not just low chances of winning — 0%.

Retreat is the only answer.

Riders made his decision.

And right then.

“Escaping won’t be easy, you know?”

Bersa said with a grin.

“Yeah, yeah. Escape isn’t easy at all.”

And someone chimed in agreement with Bersa’s words.

The problem was that the agreement came from the direction of their retreat path.

Riders turned his head to check behind the mages.

……!

And he couldn’t help but be shocked.

The one who had chimed in was a being wrapped in purple bandages except for the eyes.

It was someone he’d never seen before.

But Riders had a feeling he knew who the purple-bandaged being was.

After all, the symbol of a famous person with countless rumors was “purple bandages.”

“Keptin.”

It had to be “Keptin,” who held the alias Trap Sorcerer.

The fact that Keptin had appeared from the retreat path.

That meant all sorts of traps had been set up in the retreat path.

“Oh, you know me?”

Keptin, who had stopped walking, let out an exclamation and retorted.

Riders said nothing.

He didn’t say nothing — he couldn’t say anything.

In front were the lava giants and the demon world forces, including the Bersa Mercenary Group.

In the rear was Keptin.

It was a truly hopeless situation.

How on earth…….

It didn’t make sense.

No matter who looked at it, the current situation was a perfect “trap.”

How had they known to set such a trap?

Could there be a betrayer among us……?

He didn’t want to believe it, but the most likely possibility was betrayal from within.

“Riders! What are you gonna do? Fight to the end?”

“Why ask the obvious? You think we’ll just die quietly?”

Fighting would be a guaranteed loss.

But that didn’t mean they could meekly accept death.

“Uh, take your own lives. Then I’ll spare half of you.”

At Bersa’s words, Riders paused for a moment.

But then he said with an incredulous expression.

“You expect me to believe that bullshit? As if you’d really spare us.”

“Haha, who else is as trustworthy as me?”

“Trust coming from a betrayer’s mouth — that’s hilarious.”

At Riders’ words, the smile vanished from Bersa’s face.

And a moment later, Bersa opened his mouth.

“Come out.”

……?

At Bersa’s words, Riders couldn’t help but be puzzled.

Come out all of a sudden?

Come out from what?

But that was only for a moment.

In the following situation, Riders could resolve his confusion.

Several people ran toward Bersa.

It wasn’t a charge to attack.

So it was those guys.

He had thought there might be betrayers.

And now he knew who had betrayed.

Adilon, even you…….

It was bitterly disappointing that among the betrayers was the vice leader “Adilon.”

What on earth had they been promised to betray humanity?

Soon, the betrayers including Adilon stood behind Bersa.

And then Bersa grinned again and said.

“Riders, you should’ve come over long ago. Why cling to a place with no dreams, no hope, no future? Stupidly.”

And right then.

Crack!

Crack!

The sound of something freezing rang out.

Not only Riders but also Bersa, Keptin, and everyone else looked toward where the sound came from.

“……!”

“……!”

“……!”

And without exception, everyone was shocked.

The lava giants were frozen solid.

And not just one — all of them.

Shatter! Shatter!

Then the frozen lava giants began to shatter into pieces and collapse.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The shattered pieces of the lava giants’ bodies hit the ground, resounding with booms.

And then silence followed.

No one opened their mouth.

Riders looked at the remains of the lava giants with a dazed expression and thought.

What?

The lava giants had been recovering through healing magic.

So why had they suddenly frozen?

No, beyond freezing — they had shattered into pieces.

An archmage……?

Suddenly, an archmage came to mind.

No matter that the lava giants weren’t in normal condition, dying like this couldn’t be explained without the magic of a wall-crossing archmage.

If not a mage, it was definitely the work of a wall-crossing being.

Glance —

Riders turned his head to look at Bersa.

Bersa’s face was full of panic.

It seemed he couldn’t comprehend the current situation.

And right then.

A man appeared in the sky.

A young man with thick black hair.

The moment Riders saw the man, he instinctively knew.

That the man had killed the lava giants.

And one more thing.

That the man was their only way to survive.

Riders’ thinking made sense.

Would the being who killed the lava giants be from the demon world forces?

The possibility was extremely low.

And it wasn’t just Riders who spotted the man.

Bersa saw the man as well.

And Bersa was feeling the exact opposite emotions from Riders.

The current situation made him extremely uneasy.

What kind of magic was that?

If the magic that killed the lava giants was directed at him?

Bersa had no confidence in blocking it.

So he couldn’t open his mouth.

Lest he become the first target by speaking unnecessarily.

The silence that seemed like it would continue endlessly was broken by the man.

“Riders.”

At the man’s call, Riders flinched and replied.

“Yes.”

“Remember clearly what happens from now on.”

“Yes.”

Riders replied again and thought.

What is he planning……?

He was both curious and afraid of what the man intended to do.

And having heard Riders’ reply, the man extended his hand toward Bersa’s group and swept it from left to right.

Whoosh!

At the same time, wind blew.

And in the following situation, Riders couldn’t help but be shocked.

Bersa’s upper and lower body separated.

Naturally, it wasn’t just Bersa.

Those behind him were the same as Bersa.

In other words, they had all met death.

Th-this is impossible.

He couldn’t believe it.

All dead with a single gesture?

Of course, whether Riders believed it or not, the situation didn’t change.

The fact that they were dead remained unchanged.

It was right then.

Dash!

Keptin, the sole survivor of the demon world forces who had been blocking the retreat, began to flee.

Riders instinctively lifted his foot to chase Keptin.

But he had to stop as soon as he did.

It wasn’t because traps came to mind.

Like Bersa who had died earlier, Keptin’s upper and lower body separated.

Riders swallowed hard.

And he turned his head to look at the man.

Just then, the man also turned his head, and their eyes met.

And the man opened his mouth.

“I’d like you to help the Tower of Wind and completely clean up the 12th Coexistence Zone — can you do that?”

“O-of course!”

At the mention of the Tower of Wind, Riders’ eyes flashed as he replied.

So it was the Tower of Wind!

He didn’t know exactly what magic had killed Bersa’s group and Keptin.

But “wind” had blown.

In other words, it must be wind magic.

And the man had mentioned the Tower of Wind.

Considering both, the man was clearly an archmage affiliated with the Tower of Wind.

Of course, there was one nagging point.

The lava giants had died to “ice” attribute magic, not wind.

But he’s an archmage.

Just because he was from the Tower of Wind didn’t mean he had to use only wind attribute magic.

Besides, wasn’t he an archmage?

It wasn’t strange for him to handle other attribute magics at a high level.

And the important thing wasn’t what magic had killed the lava giants, but the fact that they were dead.

“I’ll trust you and go. And…….”

Trailing off, the man extended his hand toward the retreat path where Keptin had appeared.

Boom! Explosion! Rumble…

Then explosions sounded from the retreat path, and the ground shook as if an earthquake had occurred.

“I’ve removed all the installed traps, so you can return at ease. You can take the lava giant remains as evidence if you want. Same for those betrayer guys over there.”

“Th-thank you! Really, thank you!”

Riders expressed thanks repeatedly.

And while Riders was thanking him, the man disappeared.

As suddenly as he had appeared.

With the man gone, silence returned.

The silence didn’t last long.

“Team 1, recover the lava giant remains! And Teams 2 and 3, collect those betrayer bastards’ heads and spoils! The rest of the teams, please secure the perimeter!”

Riders shouted, and those who had regained their senses began moving according to the orders.

And as Riders approached Bersa, he thought.

I should’ve asked his name…….

He was so curious.

But the situation hadn’t allowed for asking.

I’ll find out soon enough.

The man’s power was extraordinary.

A being with that much power would become widely known before long.

Soon arriving in front of Bersa’s corpse, Riders picked up Bersa’s head, then glanced over the items Bersa had been wearing.

Perhaps because of the clean death?

The spoils were in excellent condition.

At this level, they would be a huge help in the upcoming war.

He’s truly someone to be grateful for.

As Riders collected the spoils, he inwardly expressed thanks once more.

***

Gardion Tower’s grand conference hall.

Currently, the grand conference hall was being used as a joint office for Graxios, Balversa, and Sdrin.

The leaders of the three factions — the three of them.

“Oh.”

Graxios let out an exclamation.

At the exclamation from Graxios, who rarely showed emotion, Balversa and Sdrin, who had been checking their respective documents, lifted their heads.

And under the two’s gazes, Graxios opened his mouth.

“Lord Gaon has cleaned up the Tower of Fire, it says. Vice Tower Master Sillin will lead it now. And they’ll send a surrender letter soon.”

“Hoho, to think the war ends like this.”

Balversa said with a hearty laugh.

When the war with the Tower of Fire started, Balversa had thought it wouldn’t end easily.

The power difference wasn’t great, and the distance was far.

Moreover, it wasn’t a situation where they could focus solely on each other.

He had thought it could only end after the war with the demon world forces concluded.

Yet it had ended so easily.

Of course, Gardion Tower hadn’t done anything.

It was all accomplished by Gaon alone.

It was right then.

Creak —

The door opened, and a mage entered.

With an extremely urgent expression, no less.

And the mage placed the report he brought in front of Graxios.

Graxios immediately checked the report.

“Oh!”

And having checked the report, Graxios let out an exclamation.