Chapter 265
Chapter 265
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 265
Chapter Title: Tag -5
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A truly chilling silence descended.
-Beep. Beep-beep.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
"Aaaah! Aaaah!"
Everyone halted their fights to stare at the scene. The mad wizard, curled up like a pillbug, was getting humiliatingly thrashed by the cleaning golem.
"Kaaaah! Someone help me! Yuri! Yuna! Seniors!"
-Beep-beep-beep!
"......"
"......"
The cleaning golem blinked with ferocious red lights as it wildly swung its duster. With every thwack-thwack, the mad wizard's dust—and mental fortitude—flew off together.
But the one whose mentality crumbled the most was Corpse Flower.
The magic had surely been perfected...
A whopping three hundred years of preparation. She'd verified it obsessively to prevent any mistakes or accidents, confirming it worked flawlessly right up to the final moment.
That left only one conclusion: the mad wizard's terror stemmed from the unbelievable cleaning golem. For real?
No, seriously.
She'd seen Sword Saints wield blades up close. She'd witnessed him parting the sea with his bare skull right before her eyes. Rumor had it she'd even spotted the capital knight commander once.
A guy who'd crossed paths with every top powerhouse on the continent was genuinely, deep down, terrified of... a cleaning golem?
For real?
"Oppa, why the hell are you getting beat up...? Can't you just blast it with one fireball?"
"No, it wouldn't work. Nothing gets through to that thing... It's invincible!"
Right now, learned fear had him abandoning all resistance?
If anyone truly deserved to scream and wail in mental agony, wasn't it Corpse Flower herself—the one whose three centuries had been swapped for a cleaning golem? She trembled with an injustice she'd never felt in life.
And things escalated beside her. Bennett ground his teeth, entering an awakened state.
"Are you mocking Abraham's death too? Corpse Flower, you won't die peacefully."
Why was he suddenly pissed? Who the hell was Abraham?
Why was his sword glowing?
"...Corpse Flower, what the hell is this? You said you could win!"
"Shut up, Faceless. I'm just as confused right now..."
Don't look at me like your three-hundred-year research led to just a cleaning golem. Think logically. No way.
Snare's words echoed in Corpse Flower's mind: anything involving the mad wizard always goes to hell. Right—she shouldn't have cast the spell on a lunatic.
Even if riskier, she should've used it on someone reliable like the Violet Magic Tower Master...
Actually, she wasn't even sure anymore. If she'd cast Terror Summon on the Violet Magic Tower Master and gotten a flying spaghetti monster, it wouldn't surprise her.
Beyond the horizon of common sense lay a creepy unknown.
And the time wasted in that unknown shock proved fatal.
Crack. Craaack, groooan—!
Clang—!
Space shattered, and the archmage descended amid dragons, tigers, and myriad illusions.
The quiet purple glow beneath her pointed hat brimmed with unmasked hostility and resolve.
She knew about the Violet Magic Tower Master. Her signature move was a beam that carved out information. For mages where knowledge equaled power, the Violet Tower Master's debuff was like deadly poison.
Even grazing it would permanently shear off chunks of wisdom.
She had to prepare. It's coming.
"Subtract."
"Bone Wall!"
The army of the dead wove into a barrier. Subtract had strong penetration against magic, but it couldn't pierce thick matter.
Unlike other illusion mages, though, she also wielded immense physical power.
"Illusion Realm: Giant's Fist."
Grraaash—!
From the fissures in broken space, a colossal hand extended, sweeping away the revived dead like sandcastles with an arm swipe.
The Violet Tower Master's casually raised fingertip flashed again. Simultaneously, an arm at least ten meters long clenched into a fist, poised to smash the ground.
Block Subtract with a shield, and the fist crushes you.
Focus on the fist, and Subtract slips through the gap to kill you.
If she hadn't cast Nightmare Summon, she'd have some leeway to drag out the unfavorable fight. But post-archmagic, she had no margin.
And the sea of manipulable bones was blocked by Siselle Yurensuto.
If that mad wizard snapped out of it here...
At the crossroads of life and death, Corpse Flower calmly sorted her thoughts. To escape alive, she had to yield what must be yielded. Forget grudges—do what needs doing.
She could flee. She'd answered Faceless's call because she had a long-range teleport artifact.
Overload the artifact for instant activation. Blue light enveloped Corpse Flower and Faceless. Emergency activation meant no coordinates, but anywhere away from here was fine.
Live to fight another day. She always had a next time.
Then.
Slipping between the beam and giant fist, Bennett appeared.
She saw the Violet Magic Tower Master startled, hastily bending Subtract's trajectory. An unsanctioned charge? She'd have deflected a mere warrior's lunge and counterattacked in one breath...
"Corpse Flower, I won't let you escape—!!"
Vreeee—!
That sword. The glowing one felt dangerous on instinct.
Corpse Flower immediately shoved Faceless's back.
She saw her eyes widen in shock. Hilarious. In a crisis, ditching the worthless first—wasn't that obvious?
Slash—!
Faceless hastily surged mana for defense, but Bennett's desperate strike deeply gashed her torso.
"Aaaah...!!"
Her scream cut short. Teleport activated, whisking her away fatally wounded. She'd played shield perfectly.
Simultaneously, Corpse Flower's form blurred. Escape. Flee like this, repay the humiliation tenfold...
Spark.
Sparks disrupted the magic flow, delaying teleport.
"...You summon my terror and think you can escape?!"
"...Interfering to the end!"
The mad wizard.
Even while thrashed by the cleaning golem, he'd disrupted with mana interference.
And the second strike. Bennett's sword bore down on Corpse Flower undeterred. Planning to cleave sister and all in one? No, unlikely.
A way to spare the body but sever Corpse Flower's soul alone?
Loss. Massive loss... but discard it. Abandon the body. Better than dying here. Corpse Flower muttered hollowly.
"Fine, Bennett. Truth is, I never meant to honor the promise... but you're taking it after all. Here."
Alter teleport target. Limit to soul, not flesh. Less data slashed cast time drastically.
Leave the body, escape the soul.
In that instant, Corpse Flower left a final curse.
"Bennett... You win, so enjoy short happiness with your sister. But how long will it last?"
"......!!"
Pop.
Bennett's sword halted just short, as teleport completed.
Green drained slowly from Corpse Flower's hair, reverting to its original shade—slightly paler than Bennett's, silky gray.
The Fear-Eating Corpse Flower had vacated the sister's body.
The woman's form crumpled like a puppet with cut strings. Bennett caught her, gently laying her on the ground. Pulse faint, but unmistakably alive.
Bennett had finally reclaimed all he'd lost.
Thus ended the battle with the black mage in that remote forest.
We won. The end was a bit unsightly, but still—thanks to my heroics, victory.
"Getting beat by a cleaning golem isn't something to brag about, is it...?"
Selbia's facts fell on deaf ears. The key point was wrecking a named black mage's scheme.
Imagine if a devil-boy knight had shown up. Instant world war.
And the battle's second MVP? Obviously Yuna. I scooped up the long-missed Yuna in a tight hug and spun her around. Loved how perfectly she fit in my arms, petite and all.
"Aigoo, pretty girl! Seeing your face after so long feels amazing, Tower Master!"
"Eua, you doing well? Eating and sleeping good?"
"Yup. Though sometimes I miss your scent so much I can't sleep..."
"Hehe..."
Yuna giggled too, nuzzling my nape and inhaling deeply. Ticklish.
We exchanged happiness, recharging energy, when Yuna hummed oddly, like something was off.
"Hm?"
"Huh, what's up, Tower Master?"
"Look, might be my imagination, but... why do you smell like Crimson Tower?"
"......"
Uh.
Yuna pressed quietly. Her eyes dull, lifeless.
"Did you use fire magic?"
"N-no. Well, circumstances. I split, power shortage."
"Did you use it?"
"Y-yes... a little. Just a bit."
I quietly set Yuna down and knelt demurely. Should've swapped to illusion magic and scrubbed the fire smell beforehand.
"Betrayal?"
"No, not at all... Violet Tower's my heart's home, illusion magic the world's best. Guess I strayed briefly."
As Yuna scolded me (didn't hurt at all), Selbia chimed in.
"Um, sorry to interrupt, but how about cleaning up first? Can't stay in the woods like this."
"......"
Yuna eyed Selbia and me alternately. A ferocious beast raged in her violet irises' depths. Silently, she asked me: what happened?
Well, couldn't tell someone who likes me "don't like me..." right? Feelings don't vanish. Felt a bit wronged being grilled.
Yuna seemed briefly panicked, eyes glazing, but soon accepted. Calming, she told Selbia:
"...Talk later. Selbia. You know others arrived first."
"Sure. Gotta address it someday. But FYI, no plans to give up."
"......"
Wriggle-wriggle. Yuna's fingers twitched like prepping death beam, so I hugged her from behind to soothe. She melted quick. Flower-shaped illusions floated around.
"Clean up, remember?"
Then Selbia got scratched.
First time two girls sandwiched me in a fight. Yuna and Yuri got along too well—no catfights till now. Brain freeze.
Suddenly missed Yuri, felt her greatness. I'd jealous her, not vice versa. Pink-haired lesbo, need you...!
What to do.
My brilliant mind devised the perfect icebreaker. Executed instantly.
"Everyone stop! It's 'cause I'm too handsome and charming that this tragedy unfolds... Don't fight over me. My fault entirely...!"
"...Yeah, if you were just a tad less hot."
"...Some rough edges would've helped."
Don't agree...! You know that's not the point!
Amid it, elves peeked from bushes, yelling. Somehow escaped alive.
"The mage did nothing wrong!"
"Yeah, yeah!"
"...?!"
In this situation, that was no assist—it was a bomb.
Yuna glared: who the hell are they? Her wrath gauge spiked to explosion, so I explained precisely to avoid misunderstanding.
"J-just elves with a crush on me."
"What the hell have you been up to—?!"
"No, my clone, one fragment acted on its own...!"
I fled Yuna chasing with staff raised to bonk my head, circling the clearing five laps in pursuit.
After roughly patching the love front and heading back, Bennett stood before his sister, face dark as if the world ended.
"...Verdi won't wake."
What now?