Chapter 164

Splash.

Splish-splash.

Struggle.

The white-haired little child, her doll-like face resolute with glistening eyes, swims forward. Like a drunken frog or a dandelion fallen into water… Ahem, I shouldn’t laugh. Thinking of the menacing inquisitors surrounding Beatrice, laughing would be problematic. Cough.

I had just called her Tris, but thankfully it didn’t seem awkward. Maybe she didn’t hear it amid the chaos.

The girl apparently forgot she was a mage and stubbornly swam until she finally reached me, bumping my chest with her head.

“…Where’s Evan?”

Her voice was gruff, as if trying to hide that she’d been crying.

“He’ll be here soon.”

“…Really? Then what’s our plan from now on?”

“We have to fight. Looking at your condition now, I’m certain that what I was looking for is hidden in Ragnarok.”

“What were you looking for?”

“Minions of the Outer God.”

“Outer God? …Well, whatever. Anyway, you’re saying we’ll fight the Prophet?”

“If the Prophet is the one who attacked you, then yes. I’m going to crush the Prophet.”

Beatrice’s eyes, which had looked like those of a lost child, blazed with fighting spirit.

“I want to fight too.”

“Why don’t you rest a bit?”

“I have injured subordinates. They’re the one who need a place to rest at most.”

“Hmm… Alright. Don’t push yourself too hard, Beatrice.”

Beatrice looked at me with a strange expression before nudging me with her elbow.

“Earlier you called me Tris, didn’t you?”

Ah… she did hear it?

I scratch the tip of my nose.

“I’ll be right back.”

Beatrice grinned and patted my arm before passing by. Her followers trailed behind her.

The underwater area briefly became noisy with the sounds of guiding, treating, and resting Beatrice’s group.

Lytol slyly approached my side.

“Ooh, Captain, you’re quite skilled for someone so young.”

“Nonsense. She’s fourteen now. Just a complete kid.”

This guy is trying to tease me. I was about to ignore him, but Lytol kept running his mouth.

“There’s only a three-year age gap. Hmm… I learned something good. Maybe I should look for the right timing to casually call Erina ‘Eri’…?”

…Come to think of it, weren’t Lytol and Miss Erina also about three or four years apart? But this guy? He used to adamantly deny liking Erina before…?

This is getting on my nerves.

‘Gyeolli. Hang him upside down.’

-Got it!

The deep sea currents grabbed Lytol’s legs and hung him upside down.

How pathetic. I suspected this might happen, but he really fell for such a simple ambush.

“Whaaat? Waaaah!? What are you doing!”

“Love is love, but keep your head on straight, will you? 5th Circle Mage Lytol.”

I left the squawking Lytol and focused on the trench where Beatrice had emerged.

After guiding the group to the underwater city, Beatrice quickly returned to my side.

The girl crossed her arms next to me and gazed at the trench together before speaking.

“Beyond there is the Tower of Covenant’s 59th floor, the Great Labyrinth.”

“…Great Labyrinth?”

“Yeah. The place with the most gates and staircases. The dimensional connections are imperfect, so there are several staircases that skip floors, and gates that appear temporarily. It’s such a complex place that it was perfect for Ragnarok to hide. It was also good for expanding to other places.”

It was a moment when another secret of how Ragnarok, practically an enemy of the world, had survived until now was revealed.

“Hmm—a sacred ground… Then that area beyond must be well-defended?”

“Why? Were you planning to attack it?”

“If that person doesn’t come out, I’ll have to go in. I can’t let this opportunity slip away.”

At my words, Beatrice shook her head firmly.

“There’s no need. The Prophet will come out.”

“Why?”

“Because there’s Mimir’s Well of Wisdom in the sacred ground. The Prophet would stake her life to protect Mimir. I’m certain of this. She would never risk Mimir being destroyed by fighting inside.”

“…She hasn’t come out so far though?”

“That’s exactly why she’ll come out now.”

I looked once at Beatrice’s determined face. This girl was making her declaration as if it were nothing. At this point, I had no choice but to believe her.

Then the sooner we act, the better.

“Everyone prepare for battle!”

My shout roused the Pathfinder mages who had been somewhat relaxed.

“Prepare for battle!”

The loose formation snapped into alignment like a blade.

[Whooong-whoooong]

The sounds of Circles opening their mouths could be heard from all directions.

Without taking my eyes off the trench, I recited the instructions.

“The enemy’s strength is unknown! Our objective is to capture them and buy time! If the enemy’s offensive is strong, retreat toward the surface without hesitation! Our goal is to minimize casualties. Not annihilation!”

“Yes sir!”

The response was crisp. But at that moment, I didn’t know. The fact that we had already entered their jaws.

The Outer God.

I should have thought more deeply about the meaning of those words. The Outer God does not follow the laws of our world. To learn that simple fact, we had to pay no small sacrifice.

At first,

Only the wizards felt the chill. Then one by one, two by two, and eventually all the mages trembled from sudden chills, but no one thought it serious. The moment the chill was felt was too brief. They just thought, ‘Well… I guess I was a bit nervous,’ and dismissed it. Fortunately, there was someone who didn’t miss this situation.

Yuria said that moment looked exactly like an unconscious scream. The scene where all of Pathfinder’s mages unknowingly shivered slightly to shake off the chill. If one or two had done it, it would be coincidence, but when everyone does it, it can’t be coincidence.

Her intuited that a crisis no one had consciously perceived was approaching.

“Everyone fall back!”

Only when Yuria screamed like her life depended on it did I realize something was wrong.

“Pull back the formation!”

There was still nothing visible. But I postponed judgment and followed the premonition, issuing the command. Pathfinder’s mages retreated without delay, and thanks to that, we were able to reduce casualties.

Keeeeeeeeek—!

Disgusting.

Infuriating.

The moment I heard the sound, I couldn’t stand it anymore.

Crrrrrrreeaaaakkk!

With a sound like metal being scraped and torn, seawater distorted everywhere, and when jellyfish-like things that floated languidly with octopus-like long tentacles slipped out through the gaps, I could barely maintain my sanity.

Incomprehensible rage boiled in my head.

“Gaaah!”

“Aaaah!”

The creatures swung their long tentacles the moment they appeared. They attacked the spots where mages had been floating just moments before. Several mages who were unlucky or slow to move were caught by the attack and spat blood.

But what made my emotions explode to this degree wasn’t because of the dying mages.

Transparent, elongated jellyfish with bodies half the size of humans.

I absolutely could not tolerate their existence. All of us felt the same way.

Even the mages dying to those creatures were busy vomiting primordial rage toward them rather than clinging to life or feeling indignant.

<Disgusting!>

<Filthy!>

<Get lost right now!!>

It wasn’t just people. The magical powers were also seething. Magical powers that only cared about memories of the past turned their attention to ‘this very moment.’ They began pummeling those jellyfish as if unable to tolerate their existence.

Like smelly shoes dropping onto a table set with a feast.

We, this world, could not tolerate the minions of the Outer God.

Our strategic objective of minimizing casualties became useless at that moment. We all became slaves to rage.

<God-Slaying Lightning>

White lightning crashed down over my twin swords. The scabbards of my twin swords had torn sides, and the quick-draw technique that briefly caught on the torn side before springing out was truly like lightning. White lightning swept in all directions.

But it was blocked.

The lightning that had been spreading in all directions was intercepted by the enemy and disappeared as if being sucked in.

Krrrrrrreek—!

The unpleasant noise scratched at my nerves, and the corpse of an elongated jellyfish, half-crushed and dead but neither burned nor annihilated, made me furious.

‘I used God-Slaying Lightning and only caught one of them?’

A cold sense of crisis briefly grabbed reason by the collar, but reason shook it off again and flew away.

I don’t care.

I’m pissed.

I’m so pissed!!

<God-Slaying Lightning!>

White lightning dwelled in my twin swords once more.

Krrrrreek—!

This time too, I only managed to kill one jellyfish. I kicked the squashed jellyfish away with a thud! The more I swung my sword, the more rage built up.

I roughly sheathed my twin swords and clenched my fists instead.

<Bolt!>

<Collapse Strike!>

Crash-boom!

Two jellyfish caught in my punches were torn to shreds. Only then did I feel somewhat relieved. I could finally pull myself together. Looking around, it was chaos beyond description.

A submarine pierced by jellyfish tentacles was sinking. 5th Circle mages were pouring out spells that crushed the jellyfish.

Keeeeek—!

The unpleasant sound of metal being crushed and split continued to assault my ears.

A languid jellyfish casually neutralized the beam cannon fired by a submarine.

‘What the hell are these jellyfish?’

They appeared without any warning, and even now I have no idea what principle they use to fight. They have no magical power or mana. Their very existence shouldn’t be possible in the first place. Yet they’re terrifyingly strong. The tentacles they swing casually tear through defensive magic and bring down mages.

My mind snapped back to clarity.

‘This is bad!’

It’s not just that magic doesn’t work on them—the existing laws themselves don’t apply. Is this the power of the Outer God? At least it was fortunate that Ki-blood magic worked well on them, but there aren’t even a hundred mages in Pathfinder who can skillfully use Ki-blood magic.

‘We need to pull the front line back…’

We need to keep increasing distance while pouring out ranged attacks.

‘If we keep fighting this haphazardly like this, even if we win the war, we’ll suffer irreversible damage!’

But then,

“Kukuku. There are more Ki-blood magic users than I expected, but this level is nowhere near enough. Mages, let’s see you struggle. Let’s see if your world is stronger or our master’s world. Let’s clash once.”

The moment ‘that bastard’ appeared before my eyes, my reason flew away into the distance again.

It was a being with transparent skin like the jellyfish. A disgusting creature where you could see right through to the eyeballs, skull, and brain beyond.

The moment I saw ‘that bastard,’ the entire world raged along with me.

<Aaaaaaah! I’ll kill you!>

<How dare! How dare!!>

Even the magical powers attached to the jellyfish went berserk and charged toward ‘that bastard.’

“Prophet!!!”

I could faintly hear… Beatrice screaming. Ah, right… is this bastard the Prophet?

The Prophet chuckled.

“Saint. You trusted these pathetic guys? Hah, the magical powers are going too wild—it’s annoying… Let’s end this pointless fight quickly.”

I couldn’t stand the Prophet’s irritating voice, so I unconsciously manifested a spell.

[Traaaaaanspoortation!]

I summoned every weapon I could call forth. I don’t even know what or how much I summoned.

“Hmm…?”

Just the sight of the Prophet looking slightly confused made me want to smash that transparent skull.

“Ha! So you’re that damn brat!”

Only now noticing me, the Prophet screamed venomously.

Even to the very end, nothing but annoying.

* * *

‘Stop screwing around!’

‘I’m not screwing around. You have to trust me.’

‘What?!’

‘This is the only way. We need to go this route first. Think about why Baek Jun-woo sent us here. Let’s go first, Ganda. Then a path will open.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous…!’

‘Trust me. Even if I’m not a mage, I know about honor and pride. I’ve never broken my word in my entire life.’

Evan raised his head.

He recalled the fierce argument he’d had with Monggu just before entering the meeting.

The decision was already made.

Taking a deep breath, Evan held up the ‘Coin of Rebellion’ that symbolized him before the lords filling the meeting room and spoke.

“By the authority the coin has granted me, I propose an agenda. Currently, Ragnarok and Pathfinder are engaged in all-out war. Therefore, I, Evan Petrov, disciple of Doomknight Zeros, propose an expedition.”

“What’s the purpose?”

One lord asked back. A man with sunken cheeks, dark eye sockets, and fiery eyes glowing beyond them made an impression.

Evan stared directly at him and answered.

“To reap the benefits while others fight.”

“Hehehe… That sounds good to hear. Already I can hear the screaming of those mage bastards. Kuhehe.”

Starting with the laughter of a massive lord, killing intent descended upon the entire meeting hall. Cold, hot, quiet, noisy—the killing intent came in all varieties. True killing intent forged purely from accumulated murders, without a speck of magical power.

‘Evan… this is really okay, right?’

Standing in one corner of the meeting hall observing the proceedings, Monggu swallowed nervously in his anxiety.