Chapter 97

That arrow wasn’t as silent as Baek Jun-woo’s <Saíl>.

Ziiiiing-

With a piercing noise loud enough to cause a headache, the silver arrow flew. Violently vibrating from the uncontrollable power, the arrow appeared to multiply into two or three like a trembling string.

Sensing danger, the knight activated his wing device and attempted to dodge. Just then, the restraint from the [Magic Eye] wore off. But the knight realized too late that the wing device hit by the knife earlier hadn’t yet been repaired.

“Damn it……”

Paang!

The vibrating arrow struck the knight’s body and passed through. His body exploded like an overripe tomato. The arrow, with power still to spare, was drawn into the high-rise building across the street.

Thud…

A distant collision sound was heard, and the reaction came about 30 seconds later.

Rumble. Rumble-rumble.

A particularly tall building, nearly 80 stories high, began to collapse in a cloud of dust. Crushing everyone who hadn’t yet evacuated inside…

‘The auxiliary spells maintaining the building must have been destroyed.’

Yuria lamented.

<Saíl> was the arrow of ancient gods. Even in its degraded form, it was fundamentally high-dimensional violence. Practical spells like lightweight magic, compression, or levitation magic couldn’t withstand it.

A single small arrow had brought down a skyscraper.

Just as expected.

What differed from expectation was Ann Jack’s reaction.

The woman who had coldly urged Yuria to shoot just moments ago was now kneeling, prostrate on the ground, sobbing loudly.

“It’s all your fault! What have you ever done for our city? Why must we bear all these losses? First my eldest brother, and now… you’ve even taken my father this way! What about my second brother…? In the end, you put him in danger too! And now what? You’re not satisfied until you’ve killed our city and all our citizens too? How much more will you destroy before you’re satisfied? Sob… hic… I’m sorry, everyone. I’m sorry.”

Yuria couldn’t say anything as she watched.

Plop, plop plop,

Something fell from the sky, hitting her head. She reached out to grab it—a beautifully wrapped candy.

The sweet foods that citizens had thrown during the victory parade. The candies and chocolates she had shared with Monggu were now falling, covered in dust.

With a hollow feeling, she stared blankly at the sky… when suddenly blue and white magic circles began appearing all across the sky. Not just there, but on the floor, ceiling, and outer walls of the building they stood on, magic circles filled the entire city. The world stirred. What could this be? Magic that seemed even more powerful than the <Saíl> Jun-woo had fired earlier.

Crack, crack.

Could they sense it?

Beyond the blue barrier encasing the city’s sky, black shadows rippled. Calamities drawn by the great magic. The barrier protecting the city made sounds as if it were about to break.

‘Ah… if that breaks, this city will be destroyed.’

I’ll die too. Feeling completely drained, Yuria stared blankly at the sky.

“What… is this now?”

Ann Jack also looked up at the sky with wide eyes. Her eyes, trembling with anger and emptiness, soon grew calm. She wiped away her tears and stood up, gripping her spear. In just moments, she had composed her expression and voice to be as cold and hard as ice. She manipulated a magical device from inside her garment. Her voice echoed throughout the city.

“This is Ann Jack, acting with full authority for Lanciel City. I hereby declare a calamity alert. All citizens arm yourselves. Proceed immediately to designated shelters and prepare for enemy raids.”

In any situation, she thought of her duty first.

+ – + – +

Lytol looked at me.

I shook my head.

“It’s not me.”

“If not you, Captain, then who could it be?! You’re saying a mage appeared?!”

“I don’t know. It’s not me.”

What could this be…

I don’t understand how everything became such a mess.

…10 minutes ago,

Enemies were rampaging everywhere. Were there really this many left? A quick count suggested well over 200.

The enemies pretending to be knights had now fully revealed their true colors. Using both ancient warrior powers and magic simultaneously, they gathered their last strength to target me.

“Capture him! The white-haired one!”

“Team 4! Team 4 attack!”

“Capture the Divine Mage!”

“I don’t see Team 4 anywhere!”

“Once we catch him, we retreat immediately!”

“Team 4 still hasn’t joined? Damn it! Charge anyway!”

Enemies targeting only me without regard for anything else. Unable to withstand their momentum, I even considered pretending to go berserk and using <God-Slaying Lightning>. But…

“I’ll join you.”

Seeing Fel join with a rigid face, I suppressed that impulse.

I sensed it intuitively from his expression.

‘His family must be dead.’

‘He’s worried about the citizens.’

The lord’s castle walls had been destroyed long ago. The battle that began in front of the lord’s castle had spread to Lanciel City’s streets. Streets were demolished and buildings collapsed. By then, citizens who had noticed the disaster at the lord’s castle armed themselves and poured out to defend the city.

Befitting a city that only elites could enter, there were many Mana Users among the ordinary citizens. But the violent group from the Tower of Covenant was on a different level. The citizens who came to save us were mercilessly slaughtered, and even those trying to escape were butchered.

In this situation, Fel, the heir to Lanciel City, had decided to protect me rather than the citizens.

“Why?”

To my question, Fel answered:

“I’ve realized… the priority.”

I couldn’t quite understand, but Fel was unusually rigid and mournful compared to his normal self. Yet I could clearly tell he had made a momentous decision. In front of him… I couldn’t bring myself to use <God-Slaying Lightning>. The moment I used that magic, calamities would break through the barrier and rush in to destroy the city. It didn’t seem like something a human should do.

At least while Fel was alive… I decided to trust him and wait.

So I blankly observed the battle flowing around me. I could have unleashed one big attack and collapsed, but I didn’t have the strength left for small skirmishes.

Whoosh-

Among the enemies, the knight wielding the yellow beam spear was the strongest. Each of his strikes was beyond what I could handle in my current state.

“Damn it!”

But when Lytol reached out his hand, the knight charging like lightning suddenly slowed. A <Magic Ball> flew and smashed into the slowed knight’s face. Bang! With a satisfying sound, the knight flew away. But he quickly shook his head and stood up. He thrust his yellow beam spear forward and snarled.

“You… what’s with you suddenly!”

“Hmph! Earlier I just hadn’t warmed up properly!”

Lytol mocked him with a pale face. Of course, it wasn’t simply that he’d suddenly warmed up.

‘He’s grown.’

I don’t know the catalyst, but Lytol had succeeded in <Connection> and suddenly grown stronger. He had gone beyond applying [Time Acceleration] to himself and begun applying it to others. Thanks to that, he could continue to withstand powerful enemies.

‘While this side is pathetic.’

Del, the 3rd Circle mage, and Horatio, the 2nd Circle mage, showed nothing that could be called growth.

They had joined to protect me… but their performance wasn’t impressive.

They still used outdated spells like <Fireball> or <Fire Arrow> to fight enemies… but couldn’t easily penetrate the enemies’ magic resistance.

They struggled greatly just to take down a single minion wearing 10th class equipment.

Without Fel, who had grown much stronger than before, they would have been killed long ago.

‘But that one is quite decent.’

Hwarin, with her black hair flying as she ran around, fought better than Del, the 3rd Circle mage.

Whoosh-

Around Hwarin, countless hundreds of sparks fluttered like butterflies.

Those sparks, seemingly drifting with the wind, were actually each controlled by her Gift [Telekinesis].

[Telekinesis], on the surface a common Gift. But I’d never seen anyone handle it so delicately and elegantly.

She too had blossomed her Gift’s true potential through <Connection>.

“Ugh… what is this…?”

The hundreds of sparks fluttered about before entering the enemies’ mouths and noses. At first, they didn’t take it seriously, but once thin smoke began seeping from their mouths and noses, it was already too late.

“That is rebirth. Prove your worth.”

As the incantation flowed from Hwarin’s lips like a song,

<Ignite!>

When the magic activated,

“Arghhh!”

Two or three enemies collapsed, belching black smoke from their eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. The flames that started from within didn’t stop until their bodies turned to black ash.

Though it took a long time for the fire to catch, once activated, even the enemies’ magic resistance was useless.

She, a 2nd Circle mage, had killed more enemies by herself than Del and Horatio combined.

‘Ah… I see.’

This was the first time I had observed my companions fighting like this.

A silver lining to being incapacitated?

A picture was forming in my mind.

Lytol is the rear guard. Standing at the back, he disrupts enemies with quick ranged attacks, creates openings by reflecting enemy attacks or neutralizing defenses.

Hwarin is in front of him. She sends countless sparks to methodically plant bombs inside enemies. Del and Horatio would be suitable as soldiers beside Hwarin, protecting her and casting appropriate attack spells.

Further ahead is Fel. He blocks and neutralizes enemy advances, swinging his spear as if possessed.

And at the very front… the role of receiving all enemy attacks to break their momentum would suit Monggu.

Monggu was wearing only 9th class combat equipment. Considering that knight-level enemies wore 7th or 8th class equipment, 9th class equipment was merely at the level worn by the leaders among those minions. However, with level 2 physical enhancement and high synchronization rate, Monggu showed remarkable achievements.

“Uaaaaah!”

Three beam hilts spewed orange beams through the air, occasionally emitting even more powerful yellow beams. He fought the knight order minions rushing in from all directions with three-dimensional maneuvers, actively using hook guns and booster boots. He maintained the battle line by jumping here and there, pushing back enemies and threatening them. Monggu had killed almost no enemies, but countless enemies had been delayed because of him. Thanks to him breaking the enemy’s momentum at the front, Fel and the mages in the rear could be more effective. Of course… the biggest reason was that only one knight-level enemy remained due to <Saíl>.

If Yuria were added to this, it would truly be a sight to behold, wouldn’t it? Somehow… I found myself looking forward to the future our nomad would create.

‘But first we need to survive this.’

I sighed. We were holding out well, but the situation wasn’t good. There were too many enemies and no time to rest. Lytol, Fel, Monggu, and Hwarin all had pale faces. I could see their limbs trembling. Their limits would soon arrive.

‘Should I use <God-Slaying Lightning> after all?’

For us to survive… is Lanciel City’s destruction the only way?

Just as I was making up my mind, suddenly across the entire sky, on the ground, and over all buildings, white and blue magic circles appeared.

……

Lytol looked at me.

I shook my head.

“It’s not me.”

“If not you, Captain, then who could it be?! You’re saying a mage appeared?!”

“I don’t know. It’s not me.”

As I blinked, not knowing what to do,

A resolute voice urgently announced:

-This is Ann Jack, acting with full authority for Lanciel City. I hereby declare a calamity alert. All citizens arm yourselves. Proceed immediately to designated shelters and prepare for enemy raids!

“Ann… she’s alive.”

Fel murmured blankly.

Oh, please stop that. Fel being so solemn today makes me uneasy. And what is this great magic? Look. Because of this magic, the calamities outside the city are all looking this way. If those calamities rush in all at once… how many of us could survive? After all my restraint in not using <God-Slaying Lightning>, what is this…

Then, another voice was heard.

A youthful and cheerful voice.

-Ah, ah, no need to evacuate. As of now, I, the Mage of Refinement, am taking control of Lanciel City.

What is this now?

My eyebrows contorted, but everyone except Monggu and me let out joyful exclamations.

“The Mage of Refinement? Is the Mage of Refinement really here?”

Meanwhile, the knight wielding the yellow beam spear let out a sharp scream.

“Damn it! Retreat! Retreat immediately!”

What? Who on earth is this Mage of Refinement?