Chapter 163
『Translator: RainTL』
༺ Estelle Hadassa El Rath (5) ༻
Two weeks went by since the kingdom’s military forces had been in the middle of a stalemate with the Tower of Mages. The navies retreated from the sudden tempest and a storm and stayed still for the next two weeks, and the mages of the Tower started feeling bored by it.
“Huaahm… So when are these guys finally going to attack us?”
“That’s what I’m saying. They’re such a scaredy-cat.”
“I heard there were intruders in the Tower though…”
“Weren’t they all killed straight away?”
The lower-grade mages of the Tower weren’t even alerted that the Saintess had long escaped the Steel Archipelago.
However, the higher-ups of the Tower of Mages didn’t really care. There was enough sacred blood in their possession already, and the plan to resurrect the Titans was coming to fruition.
The resurrection ritual was going to be held in a week’s time, and from the looks of things, the border was looking like it would hold for another week.
Although the Tower of Mages might fall, if they could cross the ocean with the revived Titans and their experiment records, and reach the Dingle Peninsula, they would be able to reach Tates Valtazar, the one behind everything, who was residing in the Northern Kingdom.
The mages protecting the borders might be massacred by the royal navies but a loss of that level didn’t mean much for them.
‘Hmm… I suppose I should tell the useful disciples about the plan beforehand.’
It was when Elder Blayne of the Blue Cult was contemplating on whom he should discard and whom he should save.
“Master! Master…!”
“What is it?”
“The Kingdom! The Kingdom’s ships are on their way towards us!”
“Hmm… Finally, huh.”
It seemed that the Kingdom was finally going to move their heavy asses after spending weeks doing nothing, distraught by the natural disasters.
“Prepare yourselves! It’s time to show them our power! The might of our Tower!”
Even though they were all pawns that the higher-ups were willing to discard, the mages dispatched to the coastlines were undeniably powerful.
Hundreds of the mages here could destroy enemy fleets with their spells, and the thousands of familiars under their control would devour those that somehow landed on the shores.
The Tower would eventually fall should the Kingdom decide to push on with numbers, but they would have to shed the blood of thousands if not tens of thousands in the process.
“Elder Blayne! We have spotted a flying beast in the sky!”
“What? Wyverns shouldn’t be able to fly in this weather though?”
Only a small number of flying beasts were able to fly around the Tower of Mages due to the severe weather around this area. Most of the flying beasts would freeze to death without having the energy to even flap their wings.
That was true for even large flying beasts like monster carriers, so the Kingdom hadn’t been able to mobilize any flying monsters for this operation.
“It’s not just any flying beast! It’s a Hresvelgr!!”
Hresvelgr. An enormous flying beast that was famous for being used as a monster carrier in the South. That beautiful white eagle, unlike other monsters, was a descendant of a legendary heavenly beast. A monster of that level was probably one of the few that could persist within the chilly blizzard of the Steel Archipelago.
“Hoh~. Are they trying to drop a small number of elites behind us for a pincer attack? Tell those idiots from the Red Cult to shred that eagle to pieces. There’s probably only one or two so just shoot it down with numbers.”
“M, Master.”
“Hurry up and move. What are you doing?”
“I, it’s not just one or two.”
“Huh?”
“There’s thirty in total.”
“Of what? Wyverns?”
“Hresvelgrs.”
“??????”
Don’t each of them cost 20,000 gold coins or something?
-KIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
Thirty Hresvelgrs roared from the skies of the Steel Archipelago. Their mighty voice woke Elder Blayne up from his momentary stupor.
Every Hresvelgr under the Dunareff Family, the Empire of the South, was called for the operation.
The Purple Cult, in charge of chimera experiments, quickly sent up their mutant flying beasts but they were insignificant before the Hresvelgrs majesty. They struggled to keep their balance from one flutter of the wings of the enormous monsters, and the giant eagle shredded the mutants with their beaks, claws, and their overwhelming weight.
It was a complete defeat. After dealing with the cumbersome obstacles, the Hresvelgrs landed behind the defense line.
What they momentarily forgot from their overwhelmingly destructive strength, was that Hresvelgrs did not specialize in battles. Their main job was to carry items and VIPs. They were the best methods of transport that could carry dozens of tonnes at once.
“Look! The Hresvelgrs are pouring out soldiers!”
The real fight was about to break out. Elder Blayne gazed at the enemy that suddenly appeared behind them and readied his men.
“Do not fret! There’s less than a thousand of them so… W, wait!”
“That uniform and that flag… Aren’t they the Arden Sword Squad? What are the swordsmen of the East doing all the way here?”
“Look at them! Those mercenaries are the bastards that constantly raided our labs! Warsky Mercenaries!”
Elite swordsmen under Lunia Arden, and the renowned Warsky Mercenaries that cost a fortune to hire.
The former were the elites among elites that money couldn’t even buy, while the latter were professional war veterans who ate up way too much money.
Why are these monsters all here?
“T, that doesn’t change anything! Wipe them out!”
Elder Blayne shouted from his guts. Things weren’t looking good. Their mages were supposed to focus their spells on stopping the navies at the front but a formidable enemy had suddenly appeared from behind!
However, it was still doable. The mages here weren’t the only mages that the Tower had in possession.
After sensing something strange, the Tower of Mages would send reinforcements and that strange combination of forces would be pincer-attacked to annihilation!
Elder Blayne told himself that he simply needed to hold the line of defense until the reinforcements arrived.
“Huahn?!”
That was when someone let out a high-pitched voice.
“Who is that?! Who’s letting out that strange moan?!”
Elder Blayne roared out in fury but what came in response were more of those strange moans.
“Hauht…!”
“Huaahn?!”
They were disgusting high-pitched moans, and hearing his men utter that disgraceful sound infuriated Blayne.
“These guys… Uahk!?”
He was struck by sudden pain. His lower belly churned as his bladder quivered like it was hit by a lightning strike.
Blayne was surprised but the pain didn’t last long. Soon, his mana circled around his body and increased his magic resistance, but that was only possible for high-level mages like himself.
All the mages of the shores except for the higher mages all cried out in pain… exclusively the male ones.
“Uoohhhnng…?!”
“My belly, bellyyy!”
“Mother…!”
“Huhh?”
“W, what’s going on? What is wrong with everyone?”
The ones who were flustered the most were the female mages who were made to hear those despicable moans that came from all around them. They were puzzled at the sight of the male mages crying out in pain as if their uteruses were contracting.
Like, why were these people who don’t even have a uterus crying out like a woman in labor?
No one here knew – none of them knew about the cursed seeds that had been scattered all around the Steel Archipelago by a small number of intruders. The horrifying curse that would make every man inside the lands affected by the curse suffer the pain of childbirth when ‘under attack’.
A high enough resistance to magic would nullify the curse and it was limited to areas that were the size of a small to medium city like the Steel Archipelago, but despite all things considered, this was still the curse of Macha, one of the three goddesses of war.
This horrifying curse immediately rendered more than half of the mages that had been sent by the Tower useless. In turn, that meant that their familiars were also freed from the control of their owners.
“Uaahk! The chimeras are going crazy!”
“Do something! Control your familiars again!”
A squad composed only of familiars like golems and chimeras became completely useless when half of the familiars started going on a rampage. Meanwhile, the troops that were dropped off by the Hresvelgrs… Korin Guardians raided the mages.
“Look at them fall!”
“Wipe them out!”
“Kill the women! And the men, we…! I mean, capture them alive! All of you will become like Chunsik! Do you hear that?! WAHAHAHAHA!!”
It was the beginning of the fall of the Tower of Mages.
Although it was slightly more vulgar than how it went in the last iteration, it was still working out as planned.
***
“Kuooohng…!”
“Mommyyyyyy…!”
The Tower of Mages was in utter confusion. All the male mages that were readying themselves to escape the Steel Archipelago suddenly started crumbling down onto the ground with intense pain.
“...What??”
In the middle of his search for the disappeared Saintess, the mages that were with him suddenly collapsed, so Dun Scaith left them behind and returned to the Tower of Mages, only to find that there was nothing different in the Tower.
Of course, it was unlikely that the mages that collapsed from the intense stomachache under the blizzard would return alive, but that had nothing to do with Scaith.
He quickly went to the 9th floor, looking for the Lord of the Tower. Adelene, the Great Mage of Gold, was peacefully gazing down at the uproar happening underneath from his office.
“Tower Lord~. What is going on?”
“A strong curse. It’s my first time seeing a curse this powerful.”
“Curse?”
“One that would come out in the myths. There must be a limit, but that still renders half of our forces useless.”
It wasn’t just half. Being a secluded organization that rejected outsiders, most of the work was done by familiars who were under the control of the mages. The great confusion that happened due to their rampage was certainly a lot more than a ‘half’.
“This marks the end of the Tower of Mages.”
“Eing… That’s too early though.”
The fall of the Tower of Mages itself was inevitable. Ever since they tried to lay their hands on the oldest daughter of the Dunareff Family, they knew they wouldn’t be able to last long.
However, it was much earlier than expected. Adelene was expecting the Tower to last two more weeks at the very least and wasn’t thinking that the defense line would break in less than a day.
“We still have the data we need for the Titans' resurrection. All that’s left now is the reproduction of the sacred blood… That would have to wait until we get to the facility prepared by Sir Valtazar.”
“What about the remains of the Titans?”
“We have to take them. Might have to give up on some though.”
Dun Scaith did not ask, ‘How?’ for that was a foolish question. With the help of his cauldron and infinite vitality, it was definitely possible to carry the Titans' remains across.
“Hihi, then let’s goo~. Master has most of the Titan's bodies with him anyway~.”
After all, most of the ones here were only for research purposes that had been discovered from the surroundings.
The two of them headed to the 8th floor, to the private laboratory of the Tower Lord.
King of Titans, Balor. Next to the hanging evil eye of the giant were other remains of various other titans.
Evil Eye of Balor.
Leg of Mata.
Right Arm of Elatha.
Oil of Tethra.
Rib of Cethlenn.
Those were the remains of the Titans that had been brought into the Tower for research purposes, but they were still far from enough.
“Joints, flesh, and other organs. We are still short of 74% of the body.”
“Hihihi…! One second!”
Dun Scaith walked to the middle of the remains of the Titan bodies and stood up tall; into the magic circle that had been drawn beforehand by the master of Alchemy and the pinnacle of the Gold Cult, Adelene.
And in his hands was Undry the Magic Cauldron, which was the true name of the Holy Grail that was considered to be a sacred artifact by both the New and the Old Faith.
With Undry at the core, the flesh of tens of thousands of animals that made up Dun Scaith started to fill up the body of the enormous giant. Sitting in the control room which served as the brain of the Titan was Adelene.
“These bones aren’t compatible with one another, but I guess we have no other choice.”
Adelene used his profound magical abilities to combine the remains of the Titans with the chunk of flesh that was summoned by Undry.
Before long…
“■■■■■■■■■■----------!!”
A gigantic Titan started to soar into the air from the middle of the Tower.
“T, Tower Lord?”
“W, what is that thing?!”
Some of them recognized what it was but that wasn’t the case for most of them, who were at the lower end of the hierarchy. Seeing the 20-meter-tall giant jump off the peak of the Tower was an appalling sight for them.
『Every mage shall hereby begin the process of scrapping the Tower of Mages. Those allocated beforehand are to follow the protocol.』
Adelene had no plans of escaping with all the mages of the Tower. This war was going to end in a year or two anyway, so he didn’t even bother explaining about the escape protocol to the lower mages.
“F, follow the protocol! Hurry up!”
“E, excuse me, Professor Reina! What is this ‘protocol’?”
“If you don’t know what it is, just see what everyone is doing and copy them!”
Only a small number of them knew what to do as chaos enveloped the Tower of Mages.
They were mainly higher-ranked mages that were positioned above the 5th floor, but because of the ‘Curse of Macha’, there were even fewer mages that were moving with a clear goal in mind.
A fair few of them quickly noticed what was going on and moved themselves. They discarded the male mages that were rolling across the ground in pain and quickly chased after Balor the Titan.
During that, they released several chimeras and magical creatures who would serve to hold back the Kingdom forces that were attacking the Tower.
The resurrected King of Titans, Balor, headed north along with roughly 100 mages from the Tower. They planned to cross the frozen ocean and escape to the Dingle Peninsula, to be met by Valtazar.
“E, Elder Drerian! Where are you going!?”
“To the forest!”
“This is an emergency! I know there are all sorts of elixirs and herbs there but…”
“You have no idea how precious they are! There was even a Korean Ginseng from the East that costed us 10-years-worth of our budget! We must retrieve that at all costs!”
“Ugh… Hurry up. I don’t think the Tower Lord would be willing to wait for you to finish.”
Just like that, one of the elders quickly left the group, but what they didn’t know, was that the Prohibited Forest had long been wasted.
That wasn’t the end of their trouble.
“Aren’t those half-giants?”
“Huh? Why are they there?”
“I, is that a mammoth?”
It wasn’t hard for them to reach the Dingle Peninsula across the ocean. The mages all had familiars that could help them with travel and were able to respond swiftly to most matters. Since most of them were medium or high-ranked mages, crossing the ocean itself didn’t serve as a problem for any of them.
The problem, however, approached them before they could fully cross the frozen ocean.
On the shores of Dingle Peninsula, Balor and the mages found a group waiting for them.
Everyone in that group ranged from 3 to 4 meters in height. On top of that, there was also that animal that those giants were stroking like a pet – Blizzard Mammoth, a Grade 1 demonic beast of the North.
“Aren’t they the half-giants that were stubbornly harassing our excavators?”
“Were they waiting for us?”
“Hah, those idiots… They were rambling about their ancestors being dishonored and whatever, and it seems that that will spell their downfall.”
The mages grinned while looking at the group of 50 half-giants that were blocking their path.
Of course, half-giants were a menacing foe. They had high resistance to magic and were tougher than most knights. They were like a natural enemy to the mages, but not anymore.
『…』
The King of Titans, Balor, had been brought back to life. To be exact, it was just a scrap of several Titans with the Evil Eye of Balor at the center, but its physical might was nothing to scoff at.
『Wipe them ou-』
It was then. A large magic circle floated from the middle of the giants as a mage soared into the sky.
A blonde-haired beauty carrying her characteristic whip.
She was someone well-known among mages – in fact, anyone who had gone to primary school would have at least seen her face once.
“G, Great Witch. Josephine Clara…”
Oh no.
It was only then that they remembered that they weren’t at the Steel Archipelago. Although dimensional spells were restricted in the archipelago, they were already close to the Dingle Peninsula. Without the safehold, that was the archipelago, they had no option but to face a frontal battle against the Great Witch.
“S, someone! Stop the witch…”
Before one of them could even finish their outburst, Josephine raised her whip. In an instant, an unbelievable phenomenon started to transform the world around them.
“I wasn’t expecting I would use this again after the revolution 90 years ago.”
The sky opened.
The white sky of clouds cracked open, revealing the dark void behind it.
Dimensional Spell.
The great witch who could freely make use of the dimension – one who could go against the rightful regulations of this world.
❰Meteor❱
A disaster started to fall on them from the sky.
………
……
…
Although it was called ❰Meteor❱, it wasn’t like she was actually summoning a meteorite. Usually, she would keep a piece of rock that was carved out of a mountain range inside her alternate dimension, accelerate it, and throw it down through a gate when required for an absolute demonstration of might.
What other name could you give to the rock that was more than 100 meters wide, if not the legendary meteor?
The fall of that gigantic rock reminded the old mages of the Tower of a nightmare.
Back when the Steel Archipelago – the Tower of Mages – clashed head-on against the revolutionists without knowing anything about them.
Two monstrous spearmen that could divide the heavens and a dimensional mage who could teleport them everywhere. Back then, when all the important facilities were crushed, leaving behind nothing but the Tower itself, the mages were shouting for revenge and fought to the death when the sky started to crack open.
That spell which ignored all the theories they learned about magic showed the infinite possibility of dimensional magic, and at last, the Tower gave up after the disastrous meteorite, which inflicted more damage than what the two spearmen had done during the entire war.
And that was why the Tower of Mages were frightful of the name, Josephine Clara.
But unfortunately for them, that legendary nightmare was being reenacted in front of their eyes.
“W, we are all going to be killed!”
“Uaahk! Help me!”
“Somebody. Do something!!”
As if responding to the cries of the mages, the Titan started to move. The eyelid was pushed up.
The eye saw the light of the day, as mana started to pour out through it. The overwhelming supply of mana was overflowing out of the eye like tears.
A radiant golden ball of energy started to gather before its eye.
The Eye of Death that could destroy everything in existence, was what had killed the King of Gods, Nuada, during the war of Titans and the Danann. This mythological power was none other than the ❰Evil Eye of Balor❱
-■■■■■■■■■■■■-------!!
The light that destroyed everything penetrated through the 100-meter-wide rock. When the Titan turned its head, the light continued up as it bisected the rock into two.
It was such a powerful ray of light, that it separated even the clouds in the distant sky.
The Great Witch calmly watched that happen. That spell was the strongest one in her arsenal, and the accumulation of all her power, and yet there was not a single sight of despair on her face.
“Student Korin. Looks like meteor has failed.”
“The situation calls for justice, friendship, and courage.”
‘Again with some nonsense…’ Muttered Josephine as she clicked her tongue to his words. But what was incredible, was that Korin had been expecting her meteor spell to fail.
“The Evil Eye is down. It will take 5 minutes until it’s back up. Kranel, Yuel. It’s on you now.”
As if he had been waiting for it, the knight called out the names of his two allied mages. Heeding his call was the Sage of the Forest, Yuel, and the elementary Golem Mage, Kranel.
“Alchemic Combination. Golem Formation.”
They threw dozens of Elemental Cores into the air, as the materials that had been stacked up on the Hresvelgr started to combine into one around the cores.
That was the last reward of Golem Mage, Kranel Luden’s character scenario quest.
❰Grand Siege Golem - Junk Golem❱
The siege golem reaching 13 meters in height stood up on its two legs while displaying its might, but there was more.
“Shell Reinforcement. Wicker Man.”
Branches and roots soared from the ground and surrounded the Junk Golem. Yuel, who had now become a Sage of the Forest, reinforced the Junk Golem and thus created ——— the Master Form Junk Wooden Golem!!
It was the two-legged golem made by the so-called ‘Mecha Dream Pair’ of ❰Heroic Legends of Arhan❱!
“This is not the end! Combine!!”
Kranel smirked before taking out the treasures he gained from Mag Mell, the Island of Treasures.
Danann of Smithing, Goibniu.
Danann of Brasswork, Credne.
Danann of Carpeting, Luchtaine.
He took out the treasure left behind by the three Dananns, ❰Maige Tuired Handicraft Set❱.
It was one of the hidden pieces of ❰Heroic Legends of Arhan❱, and when combined with the cores—!
The Junk Wooden Golem started to gain size. Absorbing the surrounding environment, it used it to supplement its body and increased even more in size without an end.
Supporting that were the Great Witch, the Sage, and the Golem Mage.
An endless wave of mana crushed through the earth and pulled them inside to become one.
Behold.
That was the secret technique that the Danann craftsmen had created in order to combat the Titans. Added to that was the wisdom and knowledge of modern mages, which created a technological collaboration.
❰System All Green,
—You have Control❱
“Behold! The fruits of the earth have combined into one to call for new power! Become a star that sheds light upon the path!”
“Umm, Kranel? Do you really have to say that?”
“Tuning Combination! Dream Over Fusion! Golem… is arrrttt!!!!”
❰Over Master Form Unlimited Union
—Nature Golem Wicker Warrior❱
Go, Nature Golem Wicker Warrior!
You can do it! Nature Golem Wicker Warrior!!