Chapter 320
Chapter 320
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 320
Chapter Title: Frozen Intruders
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Chief Mage Murray of the Red Tower gazed at the black tower visible in the distance.
He was one of the top ten powerhouses in the Red Tower and a veteran who had visited the Abyss several times. As such, he had been to the Black Tower before.
Of course.
The purpose of that visit and this one were entirely different.
"Um... Chief."
At that moment, the youngest mage from the Red Tower who had come with him called out to him.
"What is it?"
"Is that really the Third Tower?"
The Black Tower consisted of nine small towers and one massive central tower. When they were told they were heading to the Third Tower, he had naturally assumed it was one of the small ones.
But contrary to his expectations, the Third Tower of the Black Tower was far from small.
It was tall enough for clouds to drape over its peak, and its width rivaled that of a castle. It was astonishing enough that they had ten such structures, but it was said that the Black Tower's main tower was several times larger still.
"Why? Are you worried I might have gotten the directions wrong?"
"N-no, of course not."
"I understand the surprise. I could hardly believe it myself the first time I saw it."
Watching the youngest mage stand there dumbfounded for a moment, Murray decided it was the perfect time to instill some vigilance.
"Everyone, stay sharp. The Black Tower is no pushover. And you there!"
"Yes!"
"Keep your face properly hidden. Our presence here must remain an absolute secret."
With that final warning, Murray led the mages toward the Black Tower.
He didn't notice that one more person had joined the group of robed mages hiding their faces.
'Managed to slip in nicely.'
Siwoo stared at Murray's back from within his robe, his face concealed. He was positioned at the very rear of the Red Tower mages.
What had they been doing for the past twenty years?
He was confident in suppressing his presence and hiding. He had an excellent mentor and plenty of time, after all.
He had successfully infiltrated the Red Tower mages.
Their destination was the Black Tower.
Siwoo headed to the deepest part of the Abyss alongside the Red Tower mages.
Up close, the third tower was even larger.
It was as if the heavens had struck down a massive black spire as punishment.
Some mages murmured that they could feel ominous demonic energy emanating from the tower, but Murray shook his head.
"Don't talk nonsense. Right now, I don't sense anything here."
"Is that so?"
"If you're really feeling something, then you're being deceived by its outward appearance."
"Ah, I see."
At Murray's words, the Red Tower mages looked up at the Black Tower once more.
Indeed, upon closer inspection, no energy emanated from the Black Tower at all. The only thing they felt was a single, ominous premonition.
'Why do I have this foreboding feeling?'
Murray couldn't shake off the chill of unease. He checked again and again, just in case, but no unusual energy registered.
'Normally, these hunches of mine are spot on...'
Feeling unsettled, Murray resumed walking.
At the entrance to the tower stood two guards.
They had been dozing off with their heads bowed low, but they snapped to attention upon spotting Murray and the Red Tower mages.
"Who are you?"
"We've come after hearing that abducted children were brought here."
"What?"
"Open the door. We're here to investigate."
Murray's eyes glowed red beneath his robe. As he summoned the power of flames, a scorching heat radiated from him.
The guards, who had been nodding off moments ago, jolted awake at the implicit threat that he could incinerate them at any moment.
"Wh-where are you from?"
"Red Tower."
"R-Red Tower?"
Even guards who would normally refuse entry couldn't ignore the name of the Red Tower.
Among the many towers, the Red Tower was the only one comparable to the Black Tower.
Not just in influence, but because they housed a grand mage.
The guards stood frozen like statues, unsure what to do. Murray then removed his hood and unleashed his mana.
"Open it now!"
"Eek!"
Murray was a high ranker even among the Red Tower's elites. Mere guards couldn't withstand his mana.
Unable to endure the pressure, the guards finally opened the door.
Kiiiii-.
The Black Tower's door swung open. Murray glared at the guards once more before leading the way inside.
He had expected Black Tower mages to swarm out from within.
But no. What greeted Murray and the Red Tower mages was pitch-black darkness.
Fwoosh-.
Orbs of fire floated above the mages' heads.
The darkness was illuminated. The first things visible were the high ceiling of the first floor and the stairs leading to the next level.
"Is no one here?"
They scanned the surroundings, but the Black Tower interior was empty. Even detection magic yielded the same result.
It was strange.
An inexplicable sense of wrongness. An intangible anxiety.
Murray focused all his nerves on uncovering its source.
That was when it happened.
"Wait."
As he slowly stepped forward to ascend the Black Tower's stairs, Murray turned and surveyed the Red Tower mages.
And then.
"There's one extra."
He had finally pinpointed the source of that wrongness.
"One extra?"
"Now that you mention it..."
Only then did the other mages realize the formation had changed from the start.
One more mage had joined them. That meant someone not from the Red Tower had sneaked into their midst.
To infiltrate so stealthily, it had to be a player specialized in assassination skills.
It wasn't good news, but Murray felt a quiet relief. He seemed to have identified the source of the odd feeling he'd had. No wonder his premonition had been off—a rat had slipped in.
"Everyone, remove your hoods. Now!"
At Murray's command, the Red Tower mages doffed their robes and checked each other's faces. Naturally, they all knew one another.
The only unknown face was one person present.
The moment Siwoo pushed back his hood and revealed his face.
"Everyone, scatter!"
Flash-.
The Red Tower mages blinked away, reappearing a short distance apart.
They were the mages who had come to the Black Tower in the Abyss. Mostly Red Tower elites, and especially Murray, one of the tower's top powerhouses.
Siwoo let out a deep sigh. He'd thought he'd hidden well, but in the end, he couldn't pull it off like Ye-ryeong had.
"Busted, huh."
Of course, he hadn't made any mistakes. If anything, it was bad luck.
If Murray hadn't been on edge in this environment, if he hadn't kept searching for the cause and scanning around, Siwoo might have slipped by undetected.
Siwoo looked at Murray among the Red Tower mages.
"You all have fallen into a trap."
"Hardly. Your plan has failed."
"No, the trap isn't referring to me..."
Realizing the misunderstanding, Siwoo waved his hand dismissively.
"You really don't get it? Why you've been feeling that wrongness since earlier?"
Siwoo had noticed Murray sensing something off from the Black Tower's entrance.
"Isn't it weird? This is the Black Tower. It should be brimming with ominous mana, but why do we feel nothing?"
"...!"
Murray's eyes widened.
Only then did he realize the true nature of the foreboding he'd felt.
Right. This was the Black Tower. Nowhere was more sinister unless you entered a demon lair.
Yet truly nothing emanated from here. The silence in a place that should reek of malice created the dissonance.
"It's a trap. And a blatantly obvious one."
"How would the Black Tower know we were coming and set one?"
"Ask the one who sent you here—not me. Wasn't it the Red Tower Lord, by any chance?"
Murray's eyebrow twitched. It was a subtle change, but enough confirmation for Siwoo.
"Figured as much."
"...And if so, what changes?"
"No. If it was the Tower Lord, he chose someone unflappable. Someone who would come this far and push on even if they noticed something off. Stubborn like that. That's you."
Every word rang true, undeniable. Even if Siwoo hadn't pointed it out, Murray would have climbed those stairs anyway upon realizing it himself.
Of course, even if all that were true, Murray couldn't trust the intruder.
"And who are you? Why sneak into our group?"
"I'm..."
Siwoo pondered his answer too long. Seeing him stand there awkwardly without responding, Murray scowled fiercely.
"Not planning to answer, I see."
"If I intended to reveal myself, I wouldn't have hidden in the first place."
"Fair enough."
Roarrr-.
A red flame ignited at Murray's fingertips.
"No need to hold back, then."
The spark, small as a dot, ballooned in size instantly—fist-sized, head-sized, torso-sized, then as massive as a boulder.
The fireball wasn't just large. The flames Murray conjured heated the entire first floor in moments.
Fwooooosh-.
Murray's fireball hurtled toward Siwoo, infused with the intent to melt him down to the last bone fragment.
But it never reached him.
Pssshhh-.
The fiercely flying flames lost power midair and dissipated rapidly.
"The Chief Mage's spell..."
"It vanished?"
Murray was just as shocked.
But not because his magic was blocked—it wasn't an extraordinary spell, so that was possible.
The problem was the speed of its extinction.
For that flame to snuff out so quickly?
Whoooosh-.
The scorching heat of the first floor plummeted. The air cooled from chilly to skin-prickling cold.
The chill seeped into his lungs with every breath. Sensing the opponent's power was no joke, Murray shouted.
"Everyone, attack!"
"Yes!"
At his command, the Red Tower mages began preparing their spells in unison.
But.
"Too late."
Ting ting ting-.
By the time they tried, winter had already arrived.
"In my presence, flames..."
"...!!!"
Murray noticed his hand, mid-spell, frozen white. He turned for help, but the other mages were already encased in ice.
The Red Tower elites had been taken down in an instant. Overwhelmed without a proper fight.
"Who the hell are you...?"
As doubt about the intruder's identity filled his mind, one person came to Murray's thoughts.
A player wielding ice-attribute mana, the antithesis of the Red Tower. And with this level of skill, only one came to mind.
"No way... Kim Si..."
Crackkk-.
Murray froze mid-sentence.
As if an ice age had descended, the entire first floor of the Black Tower turned white.
"Stay frozen here for a few days."
He didn't particularly mind his identity being exposed.
"By then, it'll all be over."
They wouldn't awaken until he released them anyway.