Chapter 219
Chapter 219
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 219
Chapter Title: Memory Fragments
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Eloise Arin.
The youngest daughter of the prestigious Eloise family.
And in the future, upon reaching adulthood, she would become the fourth Magic Tower Lord—a genius sorceress for the ages.
‘Ahh, I...’
Yes.
The frail girl with red hair and snow-white skin was undoubtedly a Tower Lord.
Moreover, one deemed the worst in history, infamous for her tyrannical rule.
‘But...’
What in the world was this situation?
“Uwaaaah!”
“I-It’s collapsing! Everyone, run! The spectator stands are crumbling!”
“W-What the hell?! What are the sorcerers from the four great families doing? What’s going on here?!”
“I don’t know— just run!”
Wasn’t this the arena on the 20th floor?
The place where nobles often held duels.
Rumble rumble rumble!
So why was that arena crumbling?
“Urk, guh! Cough!”
A man with his chest pierced by a spear of water.
More precisely, his lungs punctured, blood trickling from his mouth—what was that?
Step, step.
Arin straightened her back and walked across the arena.
Her body was slender, but her gait carried undeniable power.
The aura only an absolute ruler who had dominated a world could possess.
It was the stride of a Tower Lord.
“...Urk!”
“W-What...?! How can Arin wield such mana...!”
“I-It’s like looking at a Tower Lord! No, it’s even more than that!”
“Family head! What in the world is happening?!”
Surrounded by the immense mana swirling around Arin.
The sorcerers of the four great families gripped their staves with panicked expressions.
‘Those guys.’
Arin gazed at them impassively.
‘They’re... the ones I eternally sealed away using forbidden magic.’
Andrew sprawled on the ground.
The disgusting Eloise family head bellowing at her.
For a moment, nausea welled up in her.
Ah, aah.
So that’s how it was.
Was this a nightmare?
Or a repeat of the past?
“Subdue her first!”
“Magor! She’s no ordinary foe—give it everything you’ve got!”
“Worry not!”
Boom boom boom!
Spells unleashed by elder-level sorcerers shot toward Arin.
Spells so powerful that, in the past, one would have had to brace for annihilation upon impact.
But.
Swish.
Not even a staff.
Simply raising her hand was enough.
Halt!
The oncoming mana halted in its tracks.
“...W-What?”
“What’s going on? Why is the mana resisting control?!”
And then.
[‘Reverse’ (SS Grade) activates.]
As Arin lowered her hand.
Boom boom boom!
The spells began rebounding straight back at their casters.
“Insane?”
“Damn it, block them!”
The flustered sorcerers hurriedly erected shields, but.
There wasn’t enough time to block spells they had meticulously prepared themselves.
KABOOM!
An utterly overwhelming disparity in mana.
Especially considering the opponents included elders and family heads.
It was a mad level of difference.
Nightmare or repeat.
Nothing changed.
- ...You pathetic wretch.
- Shame of the family.
- Don’t embarrass us— just live like you’re dead. I never had a youngest like you.
To Arin, they were less than family.
Not just the Eloise family—they were all the same.
A repulsive clan where only strength equaled authority, and one was only acknowledged as family with sufficient power.
In this damned world of magic.
Second Arins, third Arins abounded.
“Everyone, combine your powers! Sh-She’s a monster!”
“No! It’s forbidden magic! The library’s guardian spirit has finally invoked it!”
“Kill her! All family sorcerers, come out and slay Eloise Arin!”
Spectators fled.
Sorcerers swarmed in.
“......”
Arin let out a faint sigh.
Even with the power of a Tower Lord.
A horde of sorcerers like that would be tough.
‘Of course.’
Forbidden magic would resolve it.
Step.
As she continued walking, Arin extended her hand.
From it, pure white energy burst forth in three streams.
[‘Mana Explosion’ (SS Grade) activates.]
[‘Mana Explosion’ (SS Grade) activates.]
[‘Mana Explosion’ (SS Grade) activates.]
The streams shot out, embedding into the hearts of the sorcerers.
All of them elder-level.
[Seals the target’s mana.]
[Unable to use magic until the seal is released.]
“G-Gaaah!”
“W-What...?! Magic that seals magic?!”
“How can that girl, who couldn’t even light a flame, use such impossible magic?!”
She knew.
Using this magic.
Meant she would die in a week.
All the mana accumulated in her heart would devour her body.
‘But.’
What did it matter.
To a body already dead.
‘A body already dead?’
Amid the barrage of spells from the sorcerers.
“Urgh.”
Eloise Arin clutched her temple then.
Truth be told.
There had been a figure nagging at her eyes for a while.
A man staring at her, blood at his mouth.
Why, when watching someone steadily losing their life force.
Zap!
Why did her heart hurt?
Why did it throb as if pricked repeatedly by dozens of needles?
Why on earth?
In that moment.
- I’m your supervising professor, Arin.
- In this vast world, the fact that you and I ended up sitting here is quite the coincidence, really.
- Eat this. Then I’ll help you.
An unfamiliar man’s voice echoed in her mind.
What?
Coincidence?
Supervising professor?
Why was a voice from a man she’d never met lingering in her head.
Why.
Drip.
Were tears flowing.
These were.
Tears she hadn’t shed even before dying.
“Kill her!”
“Unleash your most powerful spells!”
“Arin, that woman is no longer Eloise! She’s just a monster created by the Orchen family’s vile sorcery!”
Amid the venomous cries of the sorcerers.
“......”
Arin’s mind was a mess.
Memories tangled and clashed in confusion.
Every breath brought dry heaves, headaches surging from forehead to nape.
Breathing grew labored.
‘All of you, get lost.’
Whoosh!
Arin irritably swung her arm.
At the same time.
Roarrr!
High-temperature fire streams appeared throughout the space, slamming down toward the ground.
Fire Shower.
The scorching flames hitting the floor melted rock into lava.
“Th-This... what?!”
“Water! Patrick’s sorcerers, erect Water Shields! Block the fire!”
Block?
What to block.
Boom boom boom!
As Arin instinctively shook her hand, the earth flipped and the air twisted.
“Urghhh!”
Elder sorcerers raised their staves, barely holding it off.
The fully bloomed power of Eloise Arin boasted tremendous might.
But even then.
Tears streamed from Arin’s eyes.
It hurt.
Strangely, it hurt.
More than burning in flames.
More than staking her life to fight them.
Her heart hurt so much.
“Cough!”
Seeing that man with punctured lungs, vomiting blood.
Why?
Why did her chest hurt like this?
“......”
Arin bit her lip hard.
Why.
Why did it feel more agonizing than the traumas of her childhood?
‘No, before that.’
Who was he?
In that instant.
Another voice resounded.
- Hmm?
- From now on, your name is Bone Five, Bone-O.
- Whoa, really? Skeletons using magic...!
- Bone-O! Use up all your energy— blast them with Fireball!
- That’s it! G-Good job! Bone-O! That was perfect! Good boy!
‘Joo Dong-hoon.’
Her master’s name.
The one who cared for her despite her blank memory, trained her relentlessly.
The one who cherished her.
From the image of her master in some weird grassy field, telling her to grip and swing a weapon.
To awakening before a pig-shaped monster, him handing her a staff.
Then all the journeys, battles, trials that followed.
‘What?’
What were the Tower Lord’s memories.
And what were Bone-O the skeleton’s memories.
Arin was confused.
Memories intertwined.
Bone-O entered the library and read books.
Arin responded to her master’s summons.
Amid the absurd jumble, new memories flooded in.
Total chaos.
“......”
How much time passed like that.
Arin’s pupils dilated slightly.
‘Come to think of it.’
I.
On that night of the Eloise event.
Remembered seeing her master.
The new professor who offered to counsel a hopeless failure like her.
The one who persistently cared for a hungry, penniless her.
Who kept looking after her even as she pushed him away in fear.
‘Aaaah.’
Yes.
The professor was her master.
Her master was the professor.
Somehow.
The scattered puzzle pieces began fitting together one by one.
Arin’s splitting headache began to ease bit by bit.
“No.”
In that moment, Arin’s heart throbbed painfully.
Memories continued flooding in relentlessly.
The incoming memories slowly began to sort themselves.
The man who suddenly appeared, claiming to be her patron.
Who staked his life for someone with nothing.
“No...!”
A cry escaped her unwittingly.
Finally, she understood everything.
That night.
From why the professor approached her in that alley with what feelings.
To how he knew the secret chamber in the library that was her private hideaway.
Why he was fighting for her—Arin finally realized.
“For me... for the past me.”
Arin’s gaze turned back to her master—no, the professor.
The professor, bleeding, his vitality fading away.
“N-No! You can’t die, Professor!”
Arin ran toward the professor.
No.
Her master...
No, the professor.
Could not lose his life just to save the her from his memories.
“All of you, get lost!”
Boom boom boom!
She erupted her mana like a madwoman.
From her memories.
She pulled out every spell she could, resisting.
But the collective power centered on elder sorcerers was formidable.
Linking mana to mana for near-infinite reserves, they poured out relentless powerful spells.
Even for Tower Lord Arin, piercing that tightly woven net of magic was no easy feat.
“No!”
In the end, Arin gave up the attack.
Because she saw some spells heading toward the professor.
“Don’t attack! Stop!”
Even as she cried out in desperation.
She knew better than anyone they wouldn’t stop.
“Professor!”
So she moved to his side and unleashed a shield with all her might.
Along with.
Recalling the list of spells from the forbidden book.
Flinch!
Something gripped her heart.
Immensely powerful.
An energy that made her skin tingle.
To her, the fourth Tower Lord, only one being could evoke such a feeling.
Another Tower Lord.
‘Gospelheim.’
KABOOM!
Some entity plummeted from the sky like a meteor at tremendous speed.
“......”
Arin furrowed her brow.
The old man stabbing a long wooden staff into the ground was someone she had faced in the past.
“I don’t know where you came from, but you’re a threat to the Tower.”
Because she foresaw the aura radiating from Gospelheim would make things even harder.
Gulp!
Arin swallowed.
And muttered through gritted teeth.
“Don’t... touch the professor, Gospelheim.”
Eloise Arin’s blunt command.
She continued.
“...Unless you want to die again.”
At those words.
The Tower’s sorcerers gaped in shock.