Noisy Eve

Noisy Eve

Calamities are terrifying things.

Not just in the wilderness, but even inside the Tower of Covenant where mages live. No—precisely because it’s inside the Tower of Covenant, they’re even more terrifying.

The reason calamities are feared is because they’re unpredictable.

How many calamities, what kind of calamities, where they’ll appear—nothing can be known. Especially within the Tower of Covenant, it’s truly impossible to predict.

“Ari! Please!”

Whiiing-

Ari’s wind grabbed my body and threw me forward. All air resistance in front of me vanished, and I accelerated endlessly. From the center to the outermost edge, covering a distance of 1km in just 4 seconds. A sprint approaching the speed of sound.

‘Hmm…’

It was such a tremendous acceleration that even my enhanced body felt the strain.

I arrived at my destination. I blinked to adjust to the suddenly changed view.

“Ugh… Aaaaargh!”

The first thing I saw was a mage frozen in terror.

A young mage wearing an elegant black coat was trembling uncontrollably, staring straight ahead as if a calamity was approaching from that direction.

But the calamity appeared behind him.

It stood at only 1.6m tall, but its muscles were solid. Its movements were extremely stealthy, making no sound like a forest beast.

‘Night Calamity—Hop Goblin!’

A D-grade calamity. Its pure combat power was said to be slightly inferior to an orc’s. But it was far more cunning.

Thwack!

What saved the black-coated mage was his essential equipment, a protection necklace. The necklace flew up on its own and deflected the hop goblin’s knife.

“Ah, what?”

Only then did the mage turn around in shock. Horrified at the grotesque face of the hop goblin before him, he shouted,

“Magic Arrow!”

A glowing magical arrow pierced the hop goblin’s neck with a crunch! The instantly killed hop goblin fell to the ground. But…

Thwack!

Stab!

“Kuh… kuhuk…”

It happened in an instant. I didn’t even have time to help.

Just as the first hop goblin died and collapsed, and the mage was feeling relieved, two more hop goblins appeared behind him. Two attacks executed simultaneously. The protection necklace flew up and deflected one, but couldn’t deflect the other attack happening at the same time.

An attack that perfectly exploited the weakness of the protection necklace, the mage’s psychological vulnerability, and its own advantage of stealthy movement. Three hop goblins, weaker than even a 1st Circle mage, had taken down a 3rd Circle mage.

It was a chilling sight.

“Huh… huhuk… he…heal… kek! Kek! Kkeeoek!”

Stab! Stab-stab! Stab-stab-stab!

As the mage tried to use a healing spell, the hop goblin pinned him down and rapidly stabbed with its dagger.

Zing! Clang! Clang!

The protection necklace pummeled the hop goblin clinging to the mage. Black blood splattered everywhere, its head caved in repeatedly, its ears were torn off, and its shoulders were crushed, but still the hop goblin wouldn’t fall. Keeping its head low, it embraced the mage even more tightly and continued thrusting its dagger relentlessly.

“Kek! Keeek… sik, sieek…”

The mage, whose lungs had been repeatedly stabbed, finally died without managing to utter a spell. The hop goblin that had been stabbing him also collapsed, leaking dark fluid from its head.

Meanwhile, the last remaining hop goblin surveyed the surroundings, looking for its next prey. Its eyes met mine directly.

Kekik!

It laughed savagely. Malice of unfathomable depth.

Yes.

This was what a calamity was.

Whether strong or weak, something to be feared.

The truth is, humans are creatures that become frightened even when a powerless cockroach scurries toward them. That’s normal. Like the mage who just died so pathetically.

But in that regard, we were a bit different.

Crack.

I snapped the hop goblin’s neck with one hand.

Arrogant bastard. A mere calamity daring to glare at me?

Calamity? Fear?

We’d already come too far to talk about such things.

A human driven by evil can become a monster worse than any monster. A scurrying cockroach? We’ll gladly chew it up. That’s how we survived.

That’s why in battle, mindset matters more than magical prowess.

On this battlefield, the prepared and the unprepared were clearly divided.

Bang! Crash!

The calamity incursion brought heavy casualties. Especially to the academic mages in black coats.

In some cases, they even fell to D-grade hop goblins—there was no way they could defeat C-grade “Poison Calamities” or B-grade Earth Golems.

“Kuhuk! Kuk! Save me…”

Poisoned by odorless, colorless gas that approached silently, they failed repeatedly to cast detoxification spells and died crawling on the ground.

Or they were crushed to death by hands that erupted from the earth with a rumbling sound. Because of their helpless defeats, the barrier repelling calamities weakened, allowing more and more calamities to intrude.

But the “field researchers” dressed in unsophisticated clothes were different.

“Poison Calamity! Poison Calamity! Poison Calamity!”

Upon sensing poison, the field researcher immediately spread this information in all directions, covered his face with a cloth, and held his breath. Wielding a guardian charm, he quickly and precisely cast a “neutralization” spell.

“Ground tremor! Earth Golem rising! Jump!”

Upon detecting an Earth Golem, they leaped into the air while bombarding the Earth Golem breaking through the ground with attack spells.

“Teams 2 and 3, fall back! Reinforce the barrier as you retreat!”

Even amid all this, they didn’t neglect their duty to maintain the barrier.

The field researchers who had gone into the field to fight calamities and gathered clues about extinction had vastly different experience from the academic mages. Thanks to their efforts, the frontline was somehow being maintained.

‘But maintenance alone isn’t enough!’

I searched for the whitish objects occasionally visible in the chaotic battlefield.

Dozens of knights riding what were called Stealth Bikes were ravaging the frontline. They showed their cunning by specifically targeting the academic mages.

“Kuk! Damn it! Take out those Butcher bastards first!”

“But they’re using relics with stealth functions! They’re hard to track!”

The field researchers wanted to eliminate the knights first but struggled to find their targets due to the Stealth Bikes.

But that didn’t apply to me. Stealth or whatever—I could see them clearly with mana.

‘Cube! Stealth Bikes. We don’t have those in my subspace storage?’

-That’s correct. They appear to be equipment from a later period than when the cube or Arsenal #7 were active.

So… relics made with more advanced technology.

A smile involuntarily formed on my lips.

“Good! Then they’re ours from now on!”

Whoosh!

I shot forward on Ari’s wind. Though the Stealth Bikes were fast, they were no match for me riding Ari’s wind.

Crunch!

I reinforced my right hand with Iron Blood,

And threw a punch at near-sonic speed.

Boom!

The knight hit by my uppercut exploded and flew high into the sky. A knight wearing 8th class combat equipment. A warrior equivalent to 3rd Circle, turned into a fountain of blood from a single punch. It was powerful enough to surprise even me.

Wow! Ari, that’s no joke?

-Of course. This is so easy it doesn’t even deserve praise.

-These supply items… I don’t remember clearly, but it feels pathetic. To think we’re fighting such mundane supply items!

The wind surrounding me growled.

Ari. A wind that could be infinitely ferocious when needed.

The Stealth Bike left behind by the dead knight was put into my subspace storage with <Transportation>.

“One down!”

I stepped on the wind again.

Whoosh!

A distant knight suddenly appeared before me. Another 8th class combat equipment. But this one seemed stronger than the previous one—he noticed my approach and deployed a beam shield. Multiple beam shields layered in front of me. Even I couldn’t avoid damage if blocked by such solid barriers.

So,

[Spatial Leap!]

Whung!

While maintaining my forward momentum, I popped out behind the knight. He was still preoccupied with layering beam shields in front of him. Ari’s wind fixed my left foot in the air. My body naturally turned left. The straight-line energy converted to rotational energy, and a right hook connected with the knight’s side.

Boom!

“Kughughuk!!”

This knight was tough. He didn’t die.

His combat suit was solid, but… his body itself was sturdy too.

“You… underwent physical enhancement? At least level 3…”

But the knight didn’t answer my question. After looking at my face, sparks flew from his eyes.

“You… Divine Mage…! Die!”

Boom!

All the knight’s equipment exploded simultaneously. Everything within a 10m radius turned to dust and flew away. But having already predicted this situation with [Simulation], I had already escaped the blast radius.

“So you know me?”

I must have become quite famous. Well, this wasn’t the first group that had targeted me.

The only disappointment was not being able to salvage the Stealth Bike.

“But… there are still plenty more!”

I surveyed the battlefield. However, it was difficult to pinpoint targets because of the calamities rampaging everywhere. Then a voice pierced my ear. It was Refinement, whipping his black coat as he overlooked the scene from above.

-The youngest one fights most like a beast. I, the Mage of Refinement, will support you. First, let me mark enemies you should avoid. First, the knights’ commander. Second, the A-grade Night Calamity—Vampire. Leave these two alone and eliminate the knight lackeys first! I’ll draw targets on your cornea.

“You’re a 5th Circle mage—why are you providing support? Why not fight directly?”

-I’m focused on maintaining the formation and minimizing our casualties. You handle the offensive role.

Dozens of yellow arrows appeared before my eyes. Closer ones were darker, while distant ones were lighter. The positions of the knight commander and vampire, which I should avoid approaching, were marked in red in the air.

But…

“Telling me to avoid enemies… if you want to minimize casualties, we should take out the commander first!”

All those past days of grinding my bones and pushing through harsh training were to avoid running away anymore. Now that the results were finally showing, they want me to run away already?

Whoosh!

I stepped on the wind and rushed towards the knight commander.

-What are you doing! The opponent is a grand knight! Don’t face him directly—take out his subordinates first!

“Shut up! Refinement, you’re not my superior! Just watch!”

Flying low across the battlefield, I soon spotted a knight wearing an ominous combat suit.

‘6th class combat equipment?’

The power of a knight wearing 6th class combat equipment rivals that of a 5th Circle mage. Quite strong, but… I wouldn’t lose.

Crunch!

I reinforced my fist once more with Iron Blood,

Whoosh-!

I stepped on the wind once more. Breaking the sound barrier. A sonic boom left in my wake.

<Bolt!>

I placed my fist on the magical crossbow and fired!

“Equipment Overload.”

But the knight commander, keeping his eyes fixed on me until the end, spoke.

Complex mana patterns rose like bubbles from the commander’s combat suit and blocked me.

Boom!

My vision turned upside down.

[@%@:!#$!!TK@#4??

For the first time in a while, Iron Blood was properly heated. It seemed to be saying it was in pain.

I get it. Stop… My head is already ringing.

I rolled pathetically on the ground.

‘Equipment Overload… I really got hit hard. These must be real knights this time.’

The knights who had attacked Lanciel City had been proven not to be real knights. Their combat style that fused magic with ancient equipment was tactics that knights who considered magic sinful would never adopt. So when fighting them, I hadn’t seen techniques like “Equipment Overload.”

‘Equipment Overload.’

A technique used by ancient warriors to defend against Deus’s strikes. A technique that maximizes resistance to magical power.

Naturally, since Ari, Iron Blood, and <Bolt> all directly utilized magical power, I was thoroughly beaten.

As I stood up, creaking sounds came from my entire body.

Meanwhile, the knight stood proudly in place.

“I didn’t expect… that you would come to me. Heaven is aiding me.”

The knight spoke coldly.

“My name is Rain. The first sword of Lord Evan. Divine Mage. I will take your life.”

His beam hilt emitted a green light.

-Idiot! Run away quickly! Knights have bad compatibility with mages! And don’t even think about using Saíl! If you use it now when the barrier is unstable, you’ll attract even more calamities!

Refinement urged me.

But,

“Sorry, but you can’t run away. Sealing Formation!”

Rain threw a round disc from his waist. Blue light shot out from the disc like a net and surrounded me. In an instant, I was trapped in a web of blue light.

“What is this…?”

It wasn’t just a simple trap. The surrounding mana formed a crystalline structure and hardened. Suddenly it got hotter. My protection necklace and all-weather coat lost their functions. A relic that nullified magic itself. Now I couldn’t even escape with [Spatial Leap].

Rain spoke coldly.

“Sealing Formation. It was used to hunt ancient demons. Magic is difficult to use inside that prison.”

He pointed his beam hilt at me.

“Baek Jun-woo!”

I heard Refinement’s shout from afar.

Zing!

Arrows of light shot by Refinement fell on the Sealing Formation. But the formation didn’t budge at all.

“It’s 5th class equipment. Once trapped inside, even Pan-Dalus would struggle to escape! Now, it’s time for you to die, mage.”

Rain declared calmly.

But,

“You really should… properly understand your allies’ abilities.”

I drew the Twin Fang Blade from my waist. The blade as long as my height gleamed as it was unsheathed.

“With so many desirable items, how could I just let you go? I’ll take everything, and find out what information you have.”

And,

“I have many spells besides Saíl.”

I can’t use it independently yet. So I engraved incantations on the blade of the Twin Fang Blade to use as a medium.

“Ari. Shake the surrounding mana so it can move. Can you do that?”

-I can do it. I can’t completely break it in my current state, but I can shake it.

-I’m so sad that I’ve become so weak. To be bound by something like this… it’s sad.

Whoosh!

A whirlwind blew around me. The crystallized mana surged greatly under Ari’s windblast. Not all of it, but some of the mana loosened and flowed again. When mana moves, magic can be used.

I chanted the spell.

“This is the ultimate weapon that will burn even Deus. Death born into the world by my name, the Divine Mage. Burn. God-Slaying Lightning!”

[GOhD-SLAY-Liiite-Ning!!]

My Circle wailed,

And in the swirling wind, a brilliant white lightning ignited above the Twin Fang Blade.

I couldn’t throw the lightning. It would certainly go out of control and injure me too.

Sweat poured down as I struggled to contain the lightning on the Twin Fang Blade. I could probably swing it only about three times.

But, I smiled. I glared at Rain.

I was about to swing the blade once to break the Sealing Formation, then ride Ari’s wind to cut off Rain’s legs.

Regardless of whether it was 5th class equipment or whatever, nothing could withstand God-Slaying Lightning, born to kill gods.

Rain, who had been posturing to kill me until just a moment ago, stiffened.

He relaxed his attack stance and said,

“We’re doomed. Retreat. All forces! Retreat!”

…Huh?