Chapter 615: Compress, Compress, Compress the Air
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 615: Compress, Compress, Compress the Air
A Floating Castle is still a castle. And castles are meant to have defenses against invaders. This was true even for the supposedly impregnable Floating Castle.
The capital of the Mage Federation, true to its name, possessed magical defenses. The five magic towers located at the points of a pentagram aimed a colossal power, enough to shatter mountains.
But they were aiming that power at us? Why?
Lankart answered my question.
“I was modifying the scroll and ended up on a forbidden trajectory. It's forbidden to fall vertically from a trajectory far higher than the Floating Castle.”
“Hey, you bastard! This is your fault!”
“Hmph, don't worry. I bear some small responsibility for this, so I'll handle it.”
“Saying the obvious so confidently... More importantly, how are you going to handle it?”
“Like this.”
Before Lankart could finish, the magic towers unleashed their light. First, long trajectories of light streaked across the sky, followed by a torrent of power rushing along those paths.
Flames, wind, lightning, steam, and vibrations. Beams of mana, each imbued with a different element, shot forth. The elongated projectiles tore through the sky, hurtling toward us.
Magic that can single-handedly change the tide of a battle is called Tactical-Grade Magic. And magic that can alter the strategy of an entire war is designated as Strategic-Grade Magic. Each of the five beams fired from the magic towers held enough power to reshape the very terrain.
It was a situation where even moving was difficult in the empty air.
In this touch-and-go situation, Lankart raised his right hand.
“World of the Right-Handed.”
Lankart's Unique Magic transmuted all straight lines into curves.
The five beams of light, which had been tracing different paths, veered off in all directions. They didn't hit anything, nor were their directions forcibly changed. As if it were their true intended path, they naturally arced away, drawing different curves around Lankart as their axis.
It was an anticlimactic result for such immense power.
Sensing the miss, the magic towers altered the beams' direction. As if swinging giant swords of light across the sky, the beams bent sharply, sweeping toward us.
But it was useless. As if a transparent glass sphere surrounded Lankart, whether they were swords of light or simple beams, they all curved around him and passed by.
“How cliché. Something like that.”
Lankart continued to fall, ignoring the Floating Castle's defensive magic as if it were no hindrance at all.
“They've only increased the magnitude of the power, with no novelty whatsoever. It might be useful against fools... but against someone like you or me, who can twist the very rules, it's completely useless.”
“Why am I suddenly part of this? That stuff is plenty scary to me.”
Only someone like Lankart, with a Unique Magic that was practically an absolute defense, could call that cliché. I would have been turned to ash. It was an attack that possessed magical properties beyond simple physical force. Even Shei at full strength couldn't have broken through as easily as Lankart.
The beams of light gradually subsided. Lankart muttered quietly.
“Looks like they've decided to stop wasting mana. At least they're mages, so they have the intelligence to stop doing something useless.”
Whether the Floating Castle realized its defensive barrage was useless or learned that Lankart was here, it stopped the bombardment and lowered its defenses.
We now fell straight toward the Floating Castle, which had finished its preparations to welcome us... Huh, wait a minute.
“Wait. We're falling?”
I hadn't noticed our speed while suspended in the air, but our approach to the Floating Castle was alarmingly fast. The castle, once distant, instantly filled my vision. The massive structure that had been far away was now right before our eyes.
“We're going to crash!”
Just then, right before we reached the Floating Castle, a tremendous force gently enveloped us without any impact. We, who should have been smashed to pieces falling at meteor-like speeds, landed on it as lightly as if stepping onto a mountaintop.
“Is this... reverse gravity?”
“Equilibrium Gravity Field. A grand spell that applies different levels of gravity depending on velocity, causing everything, be it people or air, to converge on this Floating Castle. That's how the castle holds onto its air and people in this high void.”
“They have all sorts of spells, huh.”
“This is the Mage Federation. The nation that handles magic better than any other in the world. It's on a different level from the Military State. Even you, Huey, would probably need a year of study to learn all the magic here.”
In any case, thanks to that, we landed safely on the Floating Castle. The Floating Castle, a castle that roamed the sky, something I had only heard of in legends. It was certainly mystical... but a little different from my expectations.
When I heard "Floating Castle," I imagined a castle literally floating in the sky, looking down upon the world, aloof and majestic.
But the ground was so far below that nothing was visible. All I could see was the endless sky and the clouds spread out beneath us. It was too far from the surface to rule or govern anyone. It felt like they lived in a completely different world.
“...More importantly, are we allowed to just drop in like this?”
Shei, who had landed after us, asked worriedly. Lankart replied.
“Are you feeling any gravitational anomalies?”
“No, not that. I'm talking about the light from the magic towers that attacked us earlier.”
“The Floating Castle's defensive magic? It's nothing. A product of convention can't break through my World of the Right-Handed.”
“That's not the problem! The fact that they used defensive magic means they intended to eliminate us! Even if we broke through the defenses, what if the Federation's defense force comes for us...!”
Ah, this pattern again. The one where Shei gives a belated warning about a danger, and then it shows up. Feeling a sense of déjà vu, I looked around and took a step back.
And this time, too, it arrived without fail.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
People in large cloaks began to fly from the magic towers like bats. Each holding a staff adorned with a jewel, they stuck to the walls and aimed their weapons at us. Amidst the glint of hundreds of mana lights, a woman in a green dress, leaning on an umbrella, approached with a sullen expression.
“Sigh. Lankart Spendry. It's you again, isn't it?”
The five magic towers that protect the Floating Castle. Only the most powerful mage can become the master of a tower.
In other words, the Tower Master before me was one of the five strongest mages in this entire castle.
“Green Tower Master? What are you doing here?”
“You're asking why? You, a Federation investigator?”
The Green Tower Master tapped the ground with her umbrella and asked.
“Landing on the Floating Castle from an altitude of Sector 7 or higher, at an angle of incidence greater than 45 degrees, is forbidden. It's because we can't distinguish between you and a falling meteor fragment from space. The magic towers also can't tell the difference and will fire their defensive magic.”
So that's why it seemed too powerful to be aimed at people. The tower's bombardment was for intercepting meteors. Do they see meteors often enough to need an interception system? That's fascinating in its own right.
“It doesn't matter. The defensive magic still follows the laws of the right hand.”
“The problem isn't that you're fine, Investigator. What about all the mana wasted because of you? A loss of 5 Exion of mana is something your salary can't cover.”
Even facing one of the five Tower Masters of the Floating Castle, Lankart's attitude didn't change. He spoke brazenly and egocentrically, as if he were the center of the world.
“Then you shouldn't have fired in the first place. It was useless anyway.”
Twitch. A vein popped on the Green Tower Master's forehead. Her face twisted into a fearsome scowl as she pressed her green-brimmed hat down firmly.
“You... just because you were lucky enough to get a powerful Unique Magic, you're running wild without knowing your place.”
“Luck? Is that something you, who has benefited from Unique Magic more than anyone, should be saying?”
“That applies to you, Lankart Spendry. For such power to fall into the hands of someone like you, who rampages around as if you own the world with a Unique Magic you stumbled upon as a child, can only be called misfortune.”
If you had to pick the most useless item on the Floating Castle, it would be an umbrella. Being above the clouds, neither rain nor snow falls here. I wouldn't stop her from using it as a parasol... but that too is a bit hard to understand.
Because the residential areas of the Floating Castle are down below, inside the castle itself.
Therefore, the umbrella the Green Tower Master held was not an item with a practical purpose, but something closer to a weapon.
“I may not be luck, but you certainly are. I'll teach you a lesson, you brat!”
The Green Tower Master opened her umbrella. Sparkling jewels dangled from the tips of the leaf-like, light-green parasol. The ribs of the umbrella, running across the multicolored gems, formed a magic circle in and of themselves.
“Emerald Parasol, Set.”
Mana coursed between the jewels. Dozens of the hundreds, even thousands, of umbrella ribs lit up, forming a single geometric pattern.
This was the essence of White Magic, which used jewels as a medium.
The Green Tower Master aimed the umbrella, with its inscribed magic circle, at us and chanted.
“Pascal!”
The wind doesn't blow very strongly on the Floating Castle. This was likely because they had found some way to capture and contain the thin air.
But now, a massive gale raged from behind the Green Tower Master's umbrella. There's nowhere to take cover on the Floating Castle. One wrong move and you'd be blown away, plummeting below. I flattened myself against the ground, using Moon Arts to adhere to the surface, while Shei used Chun-aeng to absorb the wind's flow.
Attacked by a Tower Master the moment we arrived, Shei and I shouted frantically.
“What? Why is she suddenly attacking?”
Lankart, standing perfectly still amidst the raging storm thanks to his 'World of the Right-Handed,' tilted his head.
“I'm not sure. An inferiority complex?”
“You think I feel inferior to the likes of you?! Don't be ridiculous, you brat!”
The Green Tower Master poked her head out from behind her umbrella and snapped furiously.
“Lankart. She says no.”
“Then there's no reason for her to throw a fit. Especially by creating a wind that won't even work.”
Lankart muttered to himself, genuinely pondering. I think I was starting to understand why the Green Tower Master was so angry. Mages were known for being lost in their own worlds, but Lankart was so extreme that even other mages would find him annoying.
I'll have to fix this guy's attitude someday. After I make sure I survive this, that is.
“It might not work on you, but it works on us! Do something!”
“There's no point.”
“What?”
“I said, there's no point. The Unique Magic the Green Tower Master possesses cannot be broken by any means I have. Therefore, there's no need to try.”
Lankart replied shamelessly.
“I don't use pointless magic. Unlike the Green Tower Master.”
“I was just trying to teach you a little lesson...!”
And with that, Lankart finally flipped the Green Tower Master's switch.
Mages are self-centered, just to different degrees. One needs the stubbornness to project their own inner world onto the real one to awaken a Unique Magic.
The Green Tower Master was also one of the most powerful mages on the Floating Castle. Which meant she was just as stubborn and self-centered.
Enough to attack a Federation investigator just back from a mission without any hesitation.
“Arrogant to the very end. Die.”
In that final moment, her anger surpassed its critical point, and the Green Tower Master declared in a cold voice. And the laws of the world were rewritten.
Unique Magic, One-Way Traffic.
The Green Tower Master's Unique Magic is simple.
She creates an invisible, imaginary wall. That wall is a one-way street. It allows passage from this side to that, but not from that side to this.
A very simple, yet powerful ability that fixes the direction of a certain space to one side.
And the true power of One-Way Traffic is unleashed not when it blocks, but... ‘when it stops blocking.’
“Windbreak. Release.”
The Green Tower Master's umbrella contained a virtual sphere. A sphere visible only in her mind's eye, made of a one-way wall that allowed things in but not out.
And the wind summoned by her White Magic had the misfortune of entering that sphere, only to be trapped by her Unique Magic.
Wind is a flow of countless gaseous particles. The particles, which should have been free to roam, were trapped inside the one-way umbrella and began to compress. Piling up, piling up, the wind condensed until its form was visible, glowing on its own as it reached its limit.
The power, compressed merely by maintaining the Unique Magic, had on its own surpassed that of a Strategic-Grade spell.
The Green Tower Master moved her umbrella aside. The one-way wall in our direction was released. The wind, now transformed into light, was unleashed and swept over me.