Chapter 173

Yuria thought to herself.

‘If it’s the Wizard of Rebirth, then he’s the chairman of Society, and if it’s the Wizard of Soul Severance, then he’s the leader of Magic Tower, right? How would those nomads know about their affairs?’

It would be understandable if the people singing were a mage collective. But they were completely ordinary nomads.

A 1st Circle mage was acting as their leader, and there was about one Mana User among them. The remaining fifty or so men, women, and children of various ages were just ordinary people.

Normally, they’d be people who shouldn’t be inside the tower. It was only because this was the 59th floor Great Labyrinth that they encountered each other.

The Great Labyrinth, where dimensions twist and turn, connecting to countless continents and countless floors, makes the boundary between inside and outside the tower ambiguous, so encounters with nomads from outside the tower like this weren’t uncommon.

The problem was that such nomads were singing songs about affairs within the tower.

‘How did they hear news from the tower? Is there a tower floor nearby?’

Wilderness residents live considering their small living area to be the entire world.

When Yuria lived in the Saharan Plains, Trimakos City was the center of the world, and she thought the mayor there was the strongest person in the world.

She couldn’t even imagine the tower’s strongest, Nine Dragon—forget knowing his name.

But those nomads clearly knew the epithets of those great mages and were even singing about them.

‘What happened? Was there some big event that spread even to civilians? The part about “fought extinction and won!” bothers me… Did the Magic Emperor also have a bout with the Outer God’s forces?’

Yuria narrowed her eyes and continued her reasoning. It was almost instinctive behavior.

Meanwhile, Beatrice was skeptical.

‘What? The Magic Emperor is a friend? That old man? Ridiculous! It must be nonsense bragging by those ignorant wilderness people!’

But while Beatrice was spacing out like that, Yuria was already approaching the nomads to ask how things had come to be.

Whoosh!

Soon after, a glowing bird flew back along the path they had come.

It was a message spell that Yuria was sending via pathfinder.

“Ah…”

Beatrice’s eyes followed the message magic. While she was bewildered, Yuria had acted. Being faithful to her original mission of ‘reconnaissance.’

Beatrice swept her wind-blown white hair with her small hand and looked once at the whooshing bird, once at Yuria.

‘Experience…’

Beatrice bit her lip tightly.

Everything was different from before.

The world called Ragnarok that she had believed in like iron was already collapsed, and even in the midst of that, there were subordinates who protected her to the very end.

She needed to change too, Beatrice always thought. But…

‘I can’t go on like this.’

She resolved to pull herself together more.

That’s how she was growing up.

* * *

Whoosh!

Whoo-whoosh!

Countless message magics flew into a corner of the Great Labyrinth, to the holy site of Ragnarok. Ever since Yuria and Beatrice first reported the strange developments in the tower, Pathfinder had been putting all its effort into reconnaissance operations.

“Things have been crazy chaotic for months… but it’s especially intense lately. Are they finally about to clash?”

Kaisel, who had been conducting mock battles at the Magic Strategy Research Institute, took off her helmet connected to the steel golem and looked out the window.

“It’s more like making contact than clashing. Thinking only about fighting all the time is a bad habit. Vampire sister.”

When Lytol teased her from the side, Kaisel frowned and glared at Lytol.

“What are you saying? You coward. Either way, aren’t we eventually going to fight those Outer God bastards or whatever?”

“W-well, yes. I was just surprised thinking you meant we were going to clash with the alliance of Truth Tower, Society, and Magic Tower.”

Lytol flinched and stepped back at Kaisel’s momentum.

Kaisel scanned Lytol with her red eyes and sneered.

“What’s wrong with fighting them too? Anyway. You’re such a scaredy-cat.”

Her gaze turned back to the sky covered with birds.

Whoo-whoosh!

The flapping sounds awakened Pathfinder, who had been crouching and gathering strength for months.

* * *

I opened the window and received a glowing bird.

The information sent by the reconnaissance teams was becoming increasingly accurate.

“Anyway, the Magic Emperor… is amazing.”

Pan-Dalus immediately responded to my words.

“Hehe—he’s always been stronger than we imagined.”

That’s for sure.

Honestly, I thought I might be able to fight evenly with him now, but hearing the news that was being transmitted, I wasn’t confident.

“If all the transmitted information is true… he single-handedly killed the Outer God’s second priest, fourth and fifth priests, including six priests total.”

That’s insane. The Prophet I had a hard time dealing with was also an Outer God’s priest. Although I could guess that he was strong since he called himself the first priest… even so, the Magic Emperor was in a different league.

According to recent news, the Magic Emperor had killed the second, fourth, and fifth priests all at once.

Of course, I’m also much stronger than before, but I still think fighting three Outer God priests at once would be impossible.

That’s how lethal the Prophet’s attacks were. A fighting style where the Outer God directly controlled magical power. That was essentially Ki-blood magic wielded by a god—an extraordinary attack that couldn’t be taken even once.

But if there were three such enemies?

No matter how much my battle senses had been honed through [Simulation], I couldn’t dodge all three of their attacks.

“The Magic Emperor’s achievements are so outstanding that it almost overshadows the contributions of Society and Magic Tower, who joined the alliance. Society also dealt with four priests, and Magic Tower handled three.”

Everyone had to nod at Oh Si-jin’s words.

I felt somewhat bitter too.

While we dealt with one priest taking over Ragnarok, they had dealt with thirteen in the meantime. The reason for such a difference was that there were no attacks on our side while the Outer God’s minions had all gathered to fight them.

The Outer God’s forces didn’t even consider us worth their attention.

Frustratingly, we had been pushed out of the vanguard position in the fight against extinction.

But… we couldn’t just stand by and watch either.

The Pathfinder elders gathered around also exchanged glances with each other.

The decision had already been made, for all practical purposes.

Given Pathfinder’s purpose of taking the lead in preventing extinction, we were already a step behind… but it was right to acknowledge what we had to acknowledge and fulfill our role as quickly as possible.

“Hmm… that old man is unpleasant, but he’d be reliable as an ally. Well, I’m also in favor, so there shouldn’t be anyone opposing, right?”

Beatrice, who had become Pathfinder’s seventh elder, also went with the flow.

Actually, currently 40 percent of Pathfinder’s total strength consisted of people from Ragnarok. Considering that, Beatrice’s position should have been higher than elder. We should probably create a new position like vice-chairman… when everyone was pondering this, Beatrice herself refused such special treatment.

‘I want to forget Ragnarok and start fresh with Pathfinder. Me too. And the kids who follow me too.’

Following her will to naturally assimilate from the bottom up rather than maintain exclusivity due to strong religious overtones, only she became a Pathfinder executive while excluding the wizards of Ragnarok.

Even during meetings, she showed the thoughtful behavior of not strongly asserting her own opinions and following the majority.

It was the same now.

Even though this was a matter of forming an alliance with the Magic Emperor, who had been their enemy, Beatrice was the first to express acceptance. Thanks to that, we could all finish the discussion with light hearts.

“Good. Then. We’ll decide to have our Pathfinder join the alliance of Truth Tower, Society, and Magic Tower. Now then, let’s discuss the selection of the delegation.”

Pan-Dalus concluded, and I raised my hand as if I had been waiting.

“Senior Elder Baek Jun-woo. I volunteer for the delegation.”

Right now, when I had finished all the research I could do.

All I wanted was to rush into the turbulent world as quickly as possible.

* * *

The delegation was decided to consist of five people total.

Me, Wizard of Extraction Ak-hu, Saint of Ending Times Beatrice, Mage of Penetration Yuria, Flash Mage Lytol.

The numbers were small but it was a powerful force.

By the way…

“Tris. Was your epithet originally ‘Saint of Ending Times’? I thought it was just ‘Saint’…”

“Right.”

Beatrice chuckled softly.

“It feels awkward when people call me the full ‘Saint of Ending Times.’ But anyway, that’s the official title. From very long ago, from the time when the me of my previous life’s previous life’s previous life inherited the Dragon Heart, I was called that.”

Do souls reincarnate?

That was still a controversial question, but at least Ragnarok believed in reincarnation.

The Dragon Heart had been passed down following the Saint’s soul through the generations. Early Ragnarok had to go through arduous searches lasting anywhere from ten years to a century to find the reincarnated Saint. Until the Well of Wisdom Mimir appeared, and then the Holy Grail appeared.

But… if the epithet ‘Saint of Ending Times’ had been passed down from the very beginning when the Dragon Heart was first inherited, it was a bit strange. Didn’t Ragnarok start hoping for the end times only after the Well of Wisdom Mimir appeared…?

“Well? Of course, ‘Saint of Ending Times’ does give the feeling of a saint who brings about the end times. I thought that too. But lately I’ve been thinking differently. ‘Saint who saves from ending times.’ Actually, it can be interpreted that way too, right? Thinking about it that way, I think it really could be an epithet that’s been around since the very beginning. That’s why I decided not to mess with my epithet.”

Ah, that works too.

The epithet of a mage is recorded in the tower as a kind of promise. If Beatrice’s epithet was the type that hoped for ending times, it would be right to change it even if it was difficult. But Beatrice’s words made sense.

‘Saint who saves from ending times…’

Interesting.

Who in those ancient times foresaw the ending times and gave the Dragon Heart to the Saint?

What was the grand design they drew?

Perhaps the person we’re going to meet might know the answer.

The apostate of Ragnarok. Owner of the Holy Grail, the Magic Emperor.

The one who built his karma by standing above all mages.

Yet such a person made equal alliances with other mage groups, even accepting the loss of his karma.

Why did he do that?

Was the threat of the Outer God so severe?

How far had he thought ahead when he played his final card of an equal alliance?

I took out the map that Pathfinder’s reconnaissance teams had created with great effort. At its end was the 65th floor Abyssal Swampland, where the three groups’ joint command was located.

I looked up.

Before my eyes, countless paths branched off toward the sky, the ground, and underwater. The gentle slope heading skyward curved around and eventually created a 90-degree incline. The grass and trees all grew horizontally. Looking at the tunnel below the hill, I could see a snowy field beyond the tunnel. Looking down at the pond we were passing, I could see ancient ruins beneath it. If you jumped into that pond, below it would surely be sky, not underwater.

A place where countless dimensions are tangled and twisted. The Great Labyrinth. Beautiful yet eerie.

I suddenly thought of the story my father had told me.

‘The Thousand Paths.’

Which path before me leads where?

If I meet the Magic Emperor ahead, what will I learn this time?

Such thoughts made my heart race and my steps quicken.

The groups of mages and nomads I met along the way all sang songs.

“We were born last year on the 70th floor.

In the hell of extinction.

As brave Ki-blood mages and flame mages.

We fight bravely through roaring calamity.”

“Braving seas of magic fire, hey!

For the peace of our homeland, our parents and siblings.

Mages, I will protect my world~”

“The fleeing people raised their heads.

Suddenly there were fallen monsters.

His Majesty the Magic Emperor! Standing tall there. Oh.”

The closer we got to our destination, the more militant, organized, and filled with praise for the Magic Emperor and various heroes their songs became.

Magic Emperor. I don’t know how far ahead he saw when he started this.

But one thing was certain.

I had to meet him as soon as possible.