Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Spear Bearer
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Dean Entar of the Andimion Academy was penning a book in his office.
On Sorcery and Grimoires - Author: Andimion's Second Dean, Entar Scritch-scratch.
He wrote swiftly without a hitch, as if every word in his head was flowing straight onto the page.
Crack.
Perhaps he'd pressed too hard. His face twisted as the quill snapped.
Instead of fetching a new one, he checked if ink had stained his dean-proving robe.
"They're late."
He'd invested a long time crafting vessels shaped like grimoires from corpses dug up and ground down.
Now, proper vessels were finally ready, allowing him to create grimoires.
Initially, he'd planned to use the wizards on the 90th floor as materials.
But wandering wizards were rare, and the kingdom's wizards wielded immense power.
Not to mention, if the library's young god caught on, it would complicate everything and ruin the grand plan.
So he'd targeted the souls of novice wizards outside the 90th floor.
His homeland had already been half-destroyed by the Tower, and life as a refugee in the Tower was no picnic.
The Tower was a meritocracy.
Exiled from the kingdom without power or ability, all they could rely on was sorcery.
Thus, the Andimion Academy was born—a small band of outcasts unwanted even by the kingdom.
But what about now?
They had grown. Still no match for the kingdom ruled by Godin, the Tower's conqueror, but as time passed and generations changed, sorcery diversified, and their talismans grew stronger.
They'd even reached the point of crafting grimoires, the pinnacle of magic.
Grimoires usable by ordinary folk without mana manipulation.
A monumental discovery that could upend the world's foundations.
They could finally be called proper wizards, not the heretics and sorcerers scorned and shunned.
If "Jera" recovered the grimoire, he'd be the first in Andimion history to bear that title.
Was it age, or the dream so close at hand? Waiting felt unbearably tedious and painful.
Dean Entar sank into contemplation. The noise outside was annoying, but...
Bang!
One of his subordinates burst into the office without decorum. He was about to berate him harshly but held back, seeing the urgency.
"What is it?"
"Dean! Sorry, sir. A rift has opened in front of our Andimion building, and an unfamiliar magic circle appeared..."
A rift and a magic circle.
Rifts occurred when the Tower connected to the outside world. Tower residents rarely ventured out.
Dimensional rift stones were pricey and led to regions teeming with the world's powerhouses—far too risky for anyone to use.
They'd only managed it by luckily copying the stable dimensional link tied to the library god. Normally, no one even considered leaving.
Yet a rift connecting from outside? It had to be the library god.
This world hadn't even reached the 90th floor yet.
Invincible in the library, but just an ordinary wizard outside—charging in so directly?
Childish thinking, or perhaps hidden power.
An ominous feeling settled in. He decided to check personally.
"I'll go myself."
The Andimion Academy's base, disguised as a forest prayer chapel, was an underground cave.
It didn't take long to exit from the office disguised as a prayer room.
"Th-that way, sir..."
"...Hah."
There was the rift. The problem was the magic circle before it.
"It's still growing! Keeps expanding!"
The magic circle grew rapidly. Shooting up like crazy.
When he first spotted it, its diameter barely exceeded his height. Now it matched the chapel ceiling.
Soon, it pierced through the forest trees above.
"This... impossible! It doesn't make sense!"
The densely packed runes showed how meticulously and complexly the magic was designed.
Simply pumping more mana wouldn't make a magic circle this massive.
It was adjusting the runes in real-time to match the size.
He'd never heard of a wizard capable of such magic.
A feat impossible without being easier at it than breathing.
Finally, the magic circle stopped growing and slowly tilted. Beside it floated a black orb.
"That's..."
An eye.
Not just any orb—an eyeball bearing an evil gaze.
The tilting circle halted.
The dean could sense it: at that angle, the spell would vaporize the underground cave in an instant.
The transcendent magic's caster was targeting the Andimion Academy itself.
"......"
No will to resist stirred. Just resignation.
How could a dwarf defy a giant? He could only accept the calamity.
Dean Entar of Andimion's final memory was the magic circle sparkling beautifully.
Thus, the Andimion Academy was erased from the universe.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Tap-tap-tapity-tap. Tap.
In the small round room, sounds like frantic keyboard clacking echoed.
The only furnishings: a chair and holograms covering the walls.
Someone crouched, pounding away at a keyboard.
Weeeen. Weeeen.
A siren-like emergency wail filled the room as one hologram window turned red.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Damage detected on the 90th floor. "Fuck! Seriously!"
Bang-bang!
The seated woman slammed the desk in fury.
She even hurled her headband in a rage.
"The 90th floor! No one's even reached it yet—why's it exploding?!"
Frustrated, she pounded the desk again.
The silver lining: no users active, so no need for special inspections.
But that didn't lighten her workload.
Lately, some lunatic kept flipping off the rules, rebelling against the entire system just to mess with her.
"This is that bastard too! What kinda insane power lets him keep smashing shit?! Fuck!"
Her screams echoed unheard; no one cared about her plight.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Han Yu-seong had felt this pressure before.
Moon Star, standing before the shattered rift, exuded the same aura that had made him cower like a dog.
Moon Star had suddenly asked that thieving bitch to open a space to the terrorists' locations.
"I've been studying remote magic lately. Think I can use it."
"Remote... magic?"
"Yeah. Controlling spells from outside. Gonna wipe these guys out."
Han Yu-seong was mildly shocked. By his standards, anyone not measuring up was just fodder to kill.
'Does he have some firm criteria?'
He couldn't grasp Moon Star's standards. Infinitely merciful to those he saw as human, utterly cold to the rest.
Always stressing his humanity, yet somehow lacking in it.
Transcendents must have their own benchmarks.
Moon Star rotated his wrist slowly. His natural-looking hand detached casually, like a movie prosthetic.
A black energy hand in the shape of his own filled the void.
Probably his true form.
Han Yu-seong had seen that hand before. The moment Moon Star revealed it, the air grew heavy.
Even though it wasn't aimed at him, the ingrained terror made him shrink back.
Not stopping there, he plucked out his right eye with that hand.
Grotesque at a glance, but no questions arose.
A rift tore open in the sky. He reached toward it.
Whatever he was doing, calamity was surely unfolding on the other side.
After a long while, he quietly reattached his wrist.
"Done."
A flat declaration. That was it.
It really was over. Han Yu-seong had no doubts. Because it was Moon Star.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ I'd wiped out the humanoid monsters on the 90th floor and reported the results to Akashic.
Handed over all the cubes trapping those bastards. As a 90th-floor resident, she'd handle disposal.
"Illegal grimoires are here too."
I passed her the illicit grimoires I'd been carrying. She gazed at them with a strangely wistful expression.
"Where do the souls go?"
A random question, but pure curiosity. Where did souls go without bodies?
"A wizard's soul scatters as mana into the atmosphere. These liberated from illegal grimoires will too."
"Wizards only?"
"Yes."
"......"
I didn't buy into reincarnation or rebirth. Just delusions born from humanity's fear of death.
Everything reformed and dispersed in time's flow.
Nothing eternal; all cycled naturally. Wizards at least got better treatment.
Persisting in some form wasn't bad.
Wizards turning themselves into grimoires—wasn't fear of death, not magic, driving those pathetic struggles?
"Here's the reward I prepared."
She pulled a small leaf from her bosom.
"Called the World Tree Leaf. Probably one of just three left in the world? Lost one regrettably at the auction last time—this is one of the remaining two."
"......"
"Precious leaf. Consume when your life hangs by a thread."
Familiar shape. My tea leaves, after all.
"Honestly, it's too valuable to give away like this..."
"Give me something else."
"Pardon?"
I said flatly,
"Don't need this. Something else, please."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ China's territorial waters.
Midway across an endless ocean meeting the horizon.
"How's Korea these days?"
A man on the boat lounged on a sunbed, sipping champagne while baking in the sun.
"Looks like there really was a check. Even America's doomsday clock got adjusted."
A bikini-clad woman briefed him from the side. Her outfit screamed vacation, but her demeanor was all business secretary.
"Really? Suspicious as hell... We still got about a month, right?"
"Yes, Mr. Khan."
The man called Khan grabbed the red spear propped nearby, sauntered to the stern, and swung lightly.
Splash!
For a moment, the sea parted, revealing a tuna neatly bisected within.
Brawny attendants dove in to retrieve it.
"Curious. Might as well check the cause and pay a visit."
Khan set the red spear back and resumed sunbathing.
"When shall we schedule it?"
"Hmm, tomorrow?"
The bikini woman adjusted her glasses, looking troubled.
"Contacting the Korean government and getting clearance would take at least five days..."
"Nah."
"Pardon?"
She blinked, uncomprehending.
"Not getting permission."
"......"
"We go if we wanna. Neighboring country, right?"
Khan slipped on sunglasses and kept tanning.
China's Khan. The nation's top-ranked Climber.