This Is How You Kidnap (2)
This Is How You Kidnap (2)
"Elders, prepare your offensive magic."
"Yes. All senior mages, follow me!"
A Magic Tower siege differed fundamentally from an ordinary castle siege. A castle required arrows, oil, and countless soldiers, but a Magic Tower needed only the mages who resided there.
Mages were a profession naturally advantaged in defensive warfare to begin with, and the colossal Mana Stone situated at the tower's summit provided an endless supply of mana, allowing them to unleash magic nonstop for a month or a year.
That was precisely why they had been able to build a Magic Tower in the remote north.
No matter how many monsters swarmed them, so long as the Mana Stone remained intact, they could hold out indefinitely.
Having guarded the frontier for decades under that very principle, they could not simply hand the tower over to a greedy dragon.
The White Tower Lord approached Glacia with a resolute expression.
Who would look at that colossal form and think it was a young dragon?
'Still, I'll confirm it first.'
The possibility was low, but it was not impossible that she had genuinely come on other business.
The White Tower Lord bowed his head and asked courteously.
"O great being. Might I inquire as to the reason you have visited our Magic Tower?"
[Move aside.]
The White Tower Lord's face twisted for an instant.
There were limits even to contempt. Even those arrogant lords at least pretended to listen when addressing a Tower Lord.
They knew that while humans were weak, things became troublesome when their numbers grew.
Concealing his agitation, the White Tower Lord asked again.
"Our Magic Tower is far too cramped for a great being to enter. Please, I beseech you..."
[I will not say it twice. Move aside.]
The creature was utterly beyond reason.
In that case, he had no choice but to respond forcefully.
"I cannot permit that. If you desire something, state it from where you stand."
[How impertinent.]
Glacia's eyes flashed as she spoke.
[Very well. Just as you wish, I shall state it from here.]
The White Tower Lord waited with a tense face, anticipating the words that would leave Glacia's mouth.
[Hand over three of the humans inside the tower.]
Three. Far too specific.
"If I may be so bold, might I hear the reason for the number three?"
[Simple. When eating, the truth begins at three... Tru... Eh?]
"...?"
Glacia whispered in a flustered voice.
'Eating? Did I hear that correctly?'
'You did, so turn your head first! She's staring at you!'
Glacia turned her head away at once.
'Even we dragons have standards! If rumors spread that I ate a human, who would see me as a dragon? They'd see a starved beast's whelp!'
'What? You want me to kill you right now?'
Olivia raised her staff and pressed its tip hard against the bare flesh where a scale had fallen away. Glacia's draconic dignity and survival instinct waged a fierce tug-of-war inside her skull.
'If you can't do it, say so now. I hear dragon corpses fetch a good price. In that case, I'll sell the meat to a merchant and hand the bones over to a Necromancer. I should clear at least a million gold. Right?'
'...'
In the end, instinct won.
[One would be too few, and two insufficient, so three seemed appropriate.]
"Appropriate for what, exactly..."
Glacia squeezed her eyes shut and said.
[An appropriate portion for eating.]
"Excuse me?"
A brief silence passed.
"...What did you just say?"
[I said hand over three mages.]
"Before that."
[An appropriate portion for eating...]
"You've crossed the line after all!"
The enraged White Tower Lord roared at Glacia.
Young though she might be, a dragon was still a dragon. If a fight could be avoided, that was the wisest course, so he had done his utmost to accommodate her.
But no longer.
'Eat them? Not take them away, but eat them?'
There could be no further dialogue with a beast that defied reason.
The White Tower Lord drew his staff from thin air and slammed it against the floor. Radiant light enveloped his body. The next moment, his figure shifted inside the Magic Tower.
"...I am abandoning negotiations. Prepare for battle at once."
"What on earth did the dragon demand..."
"She demanded we hand over three mages. Not for any other reason, but as provisions."
The elders shouted, unable to contain their fury.
"How dare she!"
"We will sever her head this instant!"
One elder and three senior mages were stationed on each floor. When the ordinary mages deployed in support were included, they were more than sufficient to handle one young dragon.
The White Tower Lord spoke with a resolute face.
"As of this moment, the main Mana Stone's function is converted to offense! Simultaneously, all mages' magic-usage restrictions are lifted!"
The moment the blue Mana Stone shifted entirely to yellow, the mana concentration inside the tower began climbing without end.
"Huhk!"
"Wh-what is this power!"
Exclamations escaped the ordinary mages, who were experiencing such a situation for the first time. They had only known that maintaining the massive barrier consumed great quantities of mana; they had never realized the amount was enough to saturate the entire tower.
"Whoaaa..."
"With this power..."
The awestruck mages trembled. If they themselves had grown this strong, how much stronger had the senior mages become? And the elders?
...And the Tower Lord?
The mages who had leaned over the railing and looked upward flinched and ducked back into hiding.
"Why?"
"Ah, Aramis is watching."
Aramis looked down at them with a scornful expression.
Letting their attention wander right before a battle.
He had already committed their faces to memory. Once the battle ended, a staggering volume of research and an endless stream of assignments would be waiting for them.
"First floor ready!"
"Second floor ready as well!"
"Third floor..."
The elders on each floor shouted in ringing voices. Not a trace of fear could be found in them.
"Aramis."
"Yes, Tower Lord."
"This affair will be a valuable experience for you. I hope you will learn through it that no matter how strong one may be, there are limits to what an individual can accomplish."
"I shall take it to heart."
The White Tower Lord spoke with a grave face.
"I am aware that your way of thinking differs from others'."
"..."
Aramis's disposition was difficult to describe as befitting a mage of light. He was endlessly cold toward others, and he severed even the oldest ties without a moment's hesitation.
With that icy detachment, he was a man better suited to frost than to light.
And yet the reason Aramis did not leave the White Tower was that the tower had taken him in when he was an orphan.
"I regard you as my successor as White Tower Lord."
"...That position does not suit me."
"Then you will have to make it suit you."
The White Tower Lord clapped Aramis on the shoulder.
"Nineteenth floor ready!"
Every floor had completed its preparations. The White Tower Lord wiped away all trace of humor and shouted with a resolute face.
"As Tower Lord, I give the order! Show that insolent dragon the true might of White Magic!"
Magic Circles unfurled, signaling the start of battle.
Fwoosh!
It began with innumerable rays of light. Beams thicker than a grown man's waist shot toward Glacia in an instant.
KABOOOOOM!
The rays collided with the barrier and exploded with a hideous noise. Glacia grimaced as though she had expected this.
She had merely asked for a few humans because she wanted to try eating one.
Which mage in their right mind would accept such an absurd proposal? Moreover, her opponents were the White Mages, famous for their devotion to their comrades.
"Die!"
"You arrogant, insolent lizard!"
"This is the strength of humanity!"
It was unfair.
'I didn't mean it like that!'
She had only done as Olivia commanded.
True, she had always treated humans like insects, but unless they trespassed into her territory, she had never gone out of her way to threaten them.
Yet the declaration that she 'wanted to eat humans' was more than enough to shatter the image she had maintained.
'How did I end up like this...'
She had reached a point where even the insult of being called a lizard failed to anger her. Honestly, she wanted to grab anyone she could and pour out the injustice of her situation.
'It's all because of him. That goddamned son of a bitch.'
Glacia tilted her head slightly and looked up at Olivia. If she had her way, she would flip her body over, crush her, and stomp on her with every ounce of her strength, grinding her to paste.
But she knew she would be sliced in half and killed before she could even flip over, so she had no choice but to swallow her fury.
"Glacia."
Glacia, who had been jumpy for no reason, stammered.
[S-Speak, please.]
"Fire one breath attack at the main gate. Control your power carefully—we can't have the people inside dying."
[...Yes.]
Glacia took flight and drew a deep breath. Her belly swelled in an instant, then contracted as she unleashed a terrible cold.
Kwaaaaaah!
The Dragon Breath, fired with ferocious momentum, grew fainter as it neared the Magic Tower and vanished before it could travel much farther.
[...Huh? That shouldn't be possible.]
The flustered Glacia drew another huge breath. This time, she put a little genuine effort into it, unlike a moment ago...
At that instant.
Tu-kwaaaaang!
A spear of light shot forth, precisely aimed at that fleeting moment when she inhaled. Its speed was incomparable to the magic that had come before.
'D-Danger...!'
The next instant, a snowflake-shaped shield materialized.
Glacia stared up at Olivia with a dazed expression.
Had she not blocked it, her wing would have been pierced clean through.
"Can't you focus?"
[M-My apologies!]
Olivia looked down at the white Magic Tower with an irritated expression.
Her eyes had caught it clearly.
The Magic Circle that had glowed white the moment it touched Glacia's Dragon Breath.
'An Absorption Formation.'
A next-generation defensive spell that absorbed magical damage and redirected it.
Perhaps it would struggle against the highest-tier magic, but it had no trouble deflecting a feeble Ice Chicken's breath attack.
I'd forgotten about that thing.
With Olivia's magic, she could shatter a mere Absorption Formation like that in an instant.
'And destroy the Magic Tower behind it along with it.'
Which left only one answer.
Physical attack.
"Ram it just like that."
[...Pardon?]
"Ram your skull into the main gate, I said."
[Wh-What do you...]
"I just saved your life a moment ago, and you can't even do this one thing?"
When Glacia hesitated, Olivia drew her staff and jabbed it into her back.
"If you don't want to, I'll drop you off myself."
Pajijijik!
Glacia's eyes darted frantically between the staff emitting that horrific crackle and the Magic Tower, which looked unyieldingly solid to anyone's eyes.
Whatever happened, the outcome would still involve crashing into the tower.
In the end, the answer was already decided.
[I-I can do it by myself!]
With uncanny timing, the electric current died away at once.
'Y-You insane bitch! The fact that I felt grateful to you even for a moment makes me the idiot!'
Glacia beat her wings fiercely. Having soared up to the clouds in an instant, she twisted her body and plunged downward at a monstrous speed.
'Shiiiiiiiiit!'
That was going to hurt like hell when she hit it, wasn’t it?
My head might even burst open.
But even knowing that, she could not slow her speed.
Tu-kwaaaaang!
Glacia did not merely smash the Magic Tower's main gate; she plowed through dozens of pillars before finally coming to a halt.
Having done her job thoroughly, Glacia's eyes rolled back and she fainted on the spot.
"Wh-What in the world is this suddenly!"
"Did she really eat something wrong?"
The mages buzzed at the abrupt turn of events.
"All of you, do not let your guard down!"
The Ninth Elder roared. At his bellow, the mages hastily shut their mouths.
That was the moment.
Step.
Footsteps rang out, piercing the silence.
Someone was walking toward them from beyond the dust.