5th Iteration (1)
5th Iteration (1)
[Main Match Concluded]
[Score tallying has ended as of this moment]
"Ugh, why is it over already!"
Hong Yeon-hwa burst out in frustration at the voice ringing from the sky.
In the end, they hadn't managed to capture Lee Ha-yul before the match ended. If she had to name the decisive mistake, it was not bringing down the citadel in the Spell Workshop's core fast enough.
A mage fighting from inside their workshop isn't just a nuisance—they're a genuine threat.
Breaking through the barriers left undefended and getting inside had been relatively easy, but once Lee Ha-yul was fighting from his workshop, destroying the citadel became far from simple.
And that was even with him sticking purely to defensive measures like restricting their movements.
Time dragged on and on until the match ended.
"And what's been your deal this whole time!"
Hong Yeon-hwa jabbed her sword roughly into the ground and pointed at Ellia.
Ellia tilted her head innocently at the accusation.
"You're in the Red Faction! So why were you sitting there helping Ha-yul!"
Throughout the battle, Ellia had healed and layered support magic from inside the workshop. Once the workshop collapsed, she'd thrown herself into assisting him from under Lee Ha-yul's protection.
Ellia was Red Faction. Lee Ha-yul was White Faction.
"That's betrayal! Why were you helping the enemy?"
"Yeon-hwa, you attacked me too, remember? No matter what faction we're in, if you're about to die, you stick to whatever keeps you alive."
"...You just respawn anyway. It'd be more efficient to finish you off here and let you revive at the main base."
"We're in the Tower of Growth—might as well practice like it's real. You don't resurrect in reality, do you?"
Hong Yeon-hwa's mouth snapped shut.
To be honest, she had gone after Ellia a bit on purpose. The sight of her inside the workshop had already gotten under her skin, but later, watching her beam while Lee Ha-yul shielded her was just unbearable.
So she'd put a little extra weight into pouring Calamity Flame in that direction.
Then a visibly panicked Lee Ha-yul had protected Ellia even more carefully, which irritated her further, so she poured on even more Calamity Flame...
"...Ahem. Anyway, that's what I meant."
"Such a shame. We almost had him."
Baek A-rin clicked her tongue as she caught her breath. They'd been close to restraining Lee Ha-yul with Ice Purity.
"......"
Beside her, Lee Ji-yeon, who had been trying to restrain him by manipulating the ground, kept her expression neutral but the disappointment still showed.
[?]
Lee Ha-yul, having observed all of this, felt a shiver run through his body. It felt like a danger signal, yet at the same time oddly not dangerous—a strange sensation.
After letting his eyes shift for a moment, Lee Ha-yul cautiously, step by step, approached Hong Yeon-hwa.
"Here, take this."
"Eeeng."
As if she'd been waiting for it, his cheek was seized. Hong Yeon-hwa took hold of the soft, yielding cheek and kneaded it to her heart's content.
"So now you're even kidnapping girls and taking them with you? You didn't do anything weird, right?"
At Hong Yeon-hwa's question, Lee Ha-yul's eyes shifted momentarily.
Anything weird. Even by the standards of common sense currently being warped by intense possessiveness and obsession, firmly grabbing and kneading someone's backside was not a normal thing to do.
The plush sensation that had overflowed in his grip still felt vivid.
"...No, I didn't."
"Why are your eyes shifting...? Did something seriously happen?"
"Urrgh..."
Hong Yeon-hwa, who'd been half-joking, recoiled and tugged his cheek. Lee Ha-yul let out a dazed sound and obediently offered his cheek further.
"Hooo..."
After savoring the feel of his cheek for a while, Hong Yeon-hwa swallowed a sigh.
Because she found it utterly ridiculous how her irritation just dissolved the moment she started touching his cheek.
'......'
Hong Yeon-hwa gazed at Lee Ha-yul's face with an odd expression.
A face that glowed even in the deepening darkness. Staring at his lips pushed forward as she pressed his cheek, sparks flew from all sorts of unsavory and dark desires.
'Just a little more...'
She calmly suppressed the urge. If it were an indefinite wait, she might run wild right now, but there were only a day or two left.
Not a year, not a month, not even a week.
Just one or two days. She only had to endure that long...
- Muah
"Muah... hehe."
Repeating that to herself, Hong Yeon-hwa lowered her head and placed a brief kiss. At the kiss that mixed affection and desire, Lee Ha-yul let out an easy grin as if he'd never been nervous at all.
"Now, there are cameras about. Shouldn't you be a little more mindful of your conduct?"
"Hmph, what's the big deal."
Hong Yeon-hwa snorted dismissively at Baek A-rin's remark from beside her.
[Next schedule: the Event match will now begin]
[Gimmick activated]
"Starting awfully fast."
That was when the announcement echoed from the sky. At the same time, as if there were no time to waste, light poured down from the distance.
Everyone's eyes turned to the light falling from the night sky. A brilliant, pure white so intense it lit up even this place, so far away...
"Huh?"
Hong Yeon-hwa blinked. The others reacted similarly. That bright, pure-white light felt familiar.
'My mana?'
Lee Ha-yul felt it even more keenly. A pillar of light that had abruptly plummeted from the sky, impaled the flag, and illuminated the night. Probably the sign heralding the event's start.
That pillar of light was composed of Lee Ha-yul's mana.
'Why is that there...?'
A use of his mana that he himself didn't understand. Lee Ha-yul soon inferred that it was the mana that had been siphoned from him en masse on the day of the Opening Ceremony.
But why it was being poured into that spot, he couldn't grasp.
[Horrified]
After a moment, he observed the man taking shape from the pillar of light, and then he understood. A figure that had manifested its body steeped in his mana.
[...Why here of all places...]
That thing...
The question repeated itself. Lee Ha-yul ran his hand over Purification with a mixed expression.
* * *
"Huh?"
Baize stared blankly up at the man.
There was nothing immediately striking about the man's appearance.
A burly build glimpsed even through the loose robe. The forearm protruding from the black robe was as thick as rebar, and the gnarled fingers looked like they wouldn't let anything caught in their grip end cleanly.
The body visible outside the clothes amounted to about that. His upper and lower body were empty voids, yet his head wore a crude helmet.
'A person...?'
He had his doubts. Baize looked at the man before him and questioned whether he was human.
Visually, he fell into the fairly average category, but the mana he sensed was something he couldn't possibly attribute to a person.
A hopelessly tangled and knotted skein. The mana perceptible on the surface was already that much. He couldn't even begin to guess how tangled the inside was.
"■■, ■ ■■■ ■... ■, ■■ ■■■ (What, why no answer... Ah, there's a restriction in place)."
The man raised his hand to scratch his head, then let out a belated exclamation at the helmet blocking his hand.
'Well, I suppose if the original body's here too, having the same face would be a bit grating.'
The man, having come to his own understanding about something, nodded to himself and then stared down at Baize with complicated eyes.
'......'
He could call him a friend, at least.
They knew each other's circumstances and had built familiarity. Baize had contributed in part to the man's strength, and the man had helped Baize secure his position in the Magic Council.
Occasionally, when they had time, they'd share a meal and lament each other's fortunes.
"■■ (Hooo...)."
But this Baize was not his friend. This was clearly the first time they'd met. Baize didn't know the man, and the man didn't know 'this Baize' either.
'......'
The man stared down at Baize for a moment, then pulled his leg back.
"...Huh? H-hey. W-wait."
Baize, who had been blinking blankly, flinched and stammered. Because the motion that would follow from that stance had already painted itself in his mind.
The man didn't stop. He kicked his drawn-back leg forward, punting Baize, who was sprawled on the ground, like a soccer ball.
- Boom!
"Guak!"
Baize let out a sound like a stuck pig and flew into the air. After a brief moment airborne, he sailed over the cadets' heads and slammed into the ground.
"■, ■■■■ ■■■ (Hmm, the impact feels lacking)."
Pulling his kicking leg back, the man nodded. Maybe because he hadn't matured enough yet, the hit felt oddly unsatisfying.
[Event entity summoning complete]
[Subjugate the entity]
"■■ ■■■ (What a lousy introduction)."
The man looked up at the sky and clicked his tongue. He really didn't care for the introduction text.
When he lowered his head, he could see the cadets beginning to subtly encircle him.
The man's eyes narrowed. There were a few familiar faces, and many he didn't know.
The familiar faces were people he'd met and who'd died on the battlefield. The unfamiliar ones were... people who'd died before he met them or who'd never been on the battlefield...
"■■, ■■■ ■ ■■ (Ugh, what's the point of dwelling on it)."
The man, who'd been scanning the wary faces, let out a deep sigh.
Facing the face of a friend who didn't know him did make his heart complicated, but his task here was already decided anyway.
"■■ (Ssss)."
The man drew in a breath. Screech! Magic formulas manifested. Cross-sections of circuits rose like tattoos from the nape of his neck across his entire body.
Body Enhancement, Strength Enhancement, Durability Reinforcement, Visual Correction, Sensory Amplification, Thought Acceleration, Sensory System Composite Linkage...
Mana raced through circuits already shaped into spell formulas.
Seventeen on the inhale. Twenty-six more on the exhale. In an instant, the man's body was filled to the brim with all manner of enhancement and correction magic.
"Magic response! Count is... over thirty?"
"Deploy defensive magic! And prepare for interception!"
The cadets didn't stay idle at the man's actions. He'd already been announced as the event entity. They'd long since accepted him as a humanoid monster.
Their formation encircled him at a distance, the standard approach for subjugating a high-rank monster.
The vanguard established a defensive line, while those capable of ranged attacks fell back and readied their respective attacks.
Those proficient in support positioned themselves even farther back and poured out all sorts of buffs.
Then came the attack.
Countless spells, curses slinking covertly through the air, arrows and throwing weapons wrapped in aura... every form of attack surged toward him.
"■ (Hm)."
The man stood still and observed. The sight of hundreds of cadets gathering, swiftly forming ranks, and responding felt quite familiar.
Their skill already far surpassed the cadet level, but this was Siyoram, so it made sense.
The man gave a slight nod. Circuits opened and spell formulas manifested. Countless hexagonal barriers materialized, encasing the man's surroundings in dense layers.
Kaboom! The attacks struck the barriers and exploded. The dust cleared, revealing the barriers without a single scratch.
The cadets prepared their next attack without panic. No one had imagined an entity personally summoned by the Headmaster would be finished off by attacks of that caliber.
Crackle! From the man's shoulder blade down his forearm, various support spells occupying parts of his body manifested.
Accuracy Correction, Trajectory Prediction and Guidance, Output Augmentation.
Then he gave a twitch of his ring finger.
The grades of magic aren't complicated.
They're usually divided into low-grade, mid-grade, and high-grade. The standard is generally the spell formula's difficulty, not its utility or output.
Typically, low-grade magic can be cast chantlessly with moderate proficiency, while mid-grade magic requires a short incantation or simple hand seals.
High-grade magic needs a bit of preparation.
Among those, the more intricate types require extended mana structuring or even ritual procedures using prepared materials and catalysts.
The sheer volume of spell formulas involved makes what people call internalization practically impossible.
High-grade magic, Monstrous Breaching Spear Arrow.
A pitch-black spear coalesced above the man's head. Siege magic typically used to pierce through fortress walls and detonate inside. A spell registered with the Magic Council.
The faces of several mage cadets who recognized it drained of color.
Black droplets dripped from the spear's tip. When the man casually flicked his finger, the massive black spear rotated ferociously.
Whirrrrr! The currents of wind tangled, and the empty air shuddered. At the sheer force, even those unfamiliar with the magic's nature went pale.
Release.
The black spear tore across the sky. It impaled a cadet who flinched and raised their shield, manifesting a barrier with their unique ability.
Boom! A short, sharp tremor rang out. The spear that had collapsed one axis of their formation embedded itself diagonally in the ground. The cadet that had been in its path scattered as a Light Cluster.
Kaboom! A massive tremor shook the earth. The enormous spear exploded, scattering thousands of smaller spears in every direction. That was its function—to burrow inside a fortress wall and detonate it entirely.
Screams erupted. Cadets hit by the fragments tumbled to the ground, two or three limbs mangled. Few had managed to block with aura. Ordinary aura couldn't stop the spears; bodies were pierced straight through.
'Hmm.'
More of them blocked it than he'd thought. The man tilted his head.
Even for Siyoram cadets, the number who'd taken siege magic head-on and survived was unexpected.
Truthfully, he didn't know the current cadets' skill level at this point in time. The man himself had been pretty pathetic at this stage, after all.
He flicked his hand again. Five identical black spears coalesced above the man's head.
"Ah."
One mage cadet's mouth fell open blankly. Even as he slathered himself and the people around him in every defensive spell he could manage, he couldn't hide the sigh between incantations.
Just moments ago he'd been reeling at the sight of Lee Ha-yul's Spell Workshop, which he'd experienced firsthand multiple times. Now he was staring at a freak who was barraging high-grade magic chantlessly.
Were mages supposed to be like that? In his memory, they absolutely were not...
Kaboom! Spears embedded themselves throughout the formation and exploded. The hastily assembled ranks collapsed.
'They said there's resurrection, so I suppose they'll trickle back after a while.'
Not all the cadets had gathered here yet. The man glanced at the flag, still shooting its pillar of light into the sky.
'A gauntlet run... they called it an event, right? They probably won't drag it out too long.'
Just as he was sorting out his thoughts, the man raised his head at a presence that wasn't even trying to hide itself.
The pitch-black night sky. Brighter than the starlight dotted like specks and the comparatively massive moonlight, he saw something pure white.
Three pairs of wings wreathed in light fluttered, proudly displaying their owner.
The man's brow furrowed once he confirmed the face of Lee Ha-yul.
"■■, ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■■ ■■■ (Fuck, I'm decent-looking myself)."
But next to the real thing, he looked like a squid. As the man clicked his tongue, Lee Ha-yul flicked his hand.
Mana flowed from Purification's crystal orb as it cut through the air, giving life to spell formulas. Lee Ha-yul also drew formulas himself.
Pure-white starlight twinkled in the night sky. The man blinked, and the starlight poured down. Hexagonal barriers rose around the man once more.
- Kaboooom!
A different sound rang out this time. Crack! The man, who'd been reinforcing the fiercely fracturing barriers, blinked.
'...His output is a bit intense, isn't it?'
He recognized the magic type. Mid-grade offensive magic. But the output was far stronger than normal. The man muttered as he glanced at several barriers that ultimately shattered and fell to the ground.
- Tap
Lee Ha-yul, his wings beating, touched down on the ground. A short distance away—but for both mage and martial fighter, a gap that posed no issue.
The two acknowledged each other.
"■ (Mm)."
The man let out an awkward sound. His eyes are closed. He'd heard the explanation, but facing it directly felt strange.
"......"
Lee Ha-yul was equally awkward. He'd fiercely unleashed magic and faced off, but now that they stood across from each other, it was just strange.
The 2nd Iteration he'd met before had been taciturn and silent. His face, too, had been devoid of any emotion, like a corpse.
This 5th Iteration... spoke. His face was hidden by the helmet, but his baffled and awkward feelings came through clearly.
"...■■? ■■ ■■ ■■■■ ■ ■■? (...Hello? Your restriction is lifted, isn't it?)"
"What's he yammering about?"
Hong Yeon-hwa, who had landed beside Lee Ha-yul, furrowed her brow. The voice that reached her ears felt like noise, grating on her nerves.
[Yes, I can hear you.]
"Oh, good. I heard the explanation beforehand, but I was worried those worthless bastards had messed something up again."
The man nodded, relieved. Then he rubbed his chin and rolled his eyes.
"Um... so, nice to meet you... I guess?"
[...Hello?]
The two exchanged small, awkward nods.
Hong Yeon-hwa blinked and turned toward Lee Ha-yul.
"...You can understand that guy?"
"Yes, well..."
Soon Baek A-rin and Lee Ji-yeon also landed nearby. The man glanced at them once, then fixed his gaze steadily on Lee Ha-yul.
Under that stare, Lee Ha-yul gulped.
"Your magic... you're only a freshman, but you're already beyond the expected level. That Tower of Knowledge bitch, for all she's insufferable, at least treated the real one well, huh?"
After the awkward stand-off, the man muttered as if chewing on the words. Lee Ha-yul's mouth closed.
"When someone went to her desperately seeking help, she wouldn't even open the door, just sent a golem instead... Well, it's a relief she treated you properly since you're the real deal. A relief, but... honestly, it still pisses me off."
The man scratched the back of his helmet irritably.
He'd heard the circumstances. Knew it wasn't intentional, knew she'd had no choice.
But knowing the circumstances didn't make the negative feelings from back then easily fall away.
Reason and emotion rarely matched up perfectly.
"Ah, fuck, such a petty, shallow—"
Bang! The man's body was hurled backward. Fragments of the protective barrier reflexively deployed pattered down around him.
The man blinked, utterly dumbfounded. The edges of his vision suddenly tinted red. Goosebumps rose all over his exposed skin.
As the man looked up in a daze, he saw Lee Ha-yul's face, gone cold.
Violent hostility radiated from Lee Ha-yul.
[Don't insult Ariel, you fucker.]
A torrent of magic poured down on the man.
* * *
[The Tower Master of Knowledge wears a complicated expression.]
[......]
[The Tower Master of Harmonization clicks her tongue.]
[Well, look at her, dying of happiness.]