Chapter 467
Chapter 467
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 467
>Chapter Title: Anyone Got a Problem?
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Gurk.
With a gurgling sound, the 11th Elder’s body slumped to the floor. Right after, scorching heat spread through the space.
Roar—!
Aster cleanly incinerated the 11th Elder, dusted off his hands, and scanned the people in the room.
“Anyone got a problem?”
No one responded. Jamal’s Arbiter and Demeia were indifferent from the start, and the three idiots in the parlor had no clue what was going on.
And Pahren...
His face was still unreadable.
Unexpectedly, Kahazar stepped forward.
“Got a problem?”
Aster replied calmly, looking at Kahazar.
“I was even gonna give you a smoke.”
“......?”
“Nah, forget it.”
“......”
Kahazar stared at Aster. He furrowed his brow, unable to make sense of it. And then...
“Good lord! Fuck, no way.”
Kahazar gaped at Aster in shock. Aster met his gaze evenly.
“What.”
“You’re denying it.”
“Denying what.”
“Please...”
Please what?
Aster watched Kahazar, who seemed to be wishing desperately for something, then turned his eyes back to the others.
‘For now, everyone who needs to be here is here.’
What remained was ‘forward.’
“Mind filling me in on the situation first?”
“......You’ve gotten awfully cocky.”
Aster let out a snort at Kahazar’s words.
“Must be your imagination. But seriously, you got a problem? You teamed up with Salvatium?”
“Nope. As if.”
“Good. So, what’s the deal?”
“Hmm. Fine... I’ll tell you.”
Kahazar eyed Aster suspiciously but calmly explained the situation so far.
From the moment they encountered the 11th Elder at the deep stairs to the attack by the ‘Hand’ right after letting him slip away.
He explained joining up with Jamal’s Arbiter and Demeia, and heading to the barrier with the 11th Elder afterward.
Once he’d heard it all...
Aster tilted his head.
“You really teamed up with Salvatium?”
“You mean letting the 11th Elder get away? There were circumstances.”
“Circumstances?”
At Aster’s question, Kahazar sighed deeply. Then he glanced at Pahren.
It was a signal to explain himself, but Pahren rolled up his sleeve and showed his forearm in response.
“It’s exactly as you see.”
“......Hmm.”
“Can you accept that?”
With those words, Pahren pulled out a smoke and lit it. Aster smirked at him.
‘No wonder he’s been chain-smoking...’
Pahren’s forearm was covered in dark bruises—clear signs of internal injuries. That meant the smokes weren’t ordinary; they were a remedy for internal wounds.
But injuries this bad?
‘......Yeah, that must be it.’
Aster recalled the magic Pahren had unleashed at the end during the Sanctuary trial.
An incomprehensible spell rivaling a grimoire’s power.
If Pahren was injured, that was the only explanation.
“Tch.”
Aster clicked his tongue at Pahren.
“You’re useless.”
“Tower Lord, isn’t this a golden opportunity for you?”
“That too, but...”
The situation itself was tricky.
With injuries like that, burying him with a fragment’s power wouldn’t be hard...
‘......The other archmages are the issue.’
Taking out Pahren would shatter their already tenuous alliance into dust.
Truth be told, without the Sun and Moon, it wouldn’t even be worth agonizing over.
‘It’s all because of the Sun and Moon.’
That’s when.
“No need to worry. I won’t hold you back.”
“......”
Aster stared at Pahren. It sounded empty coming from anyone else, but from Pahren, it carried real weight—surprisingly convincing.
Fine.
If he said so... whatever.
‘For now, focus on one thing.’
Pahren was Pahren, Sun and Moon were Sun and Moon.
Neither was easy enough to handle while worrying about the other.
Especially the Sun and Moon that needed attention now.
‘......The fragments they hold—this is our only shot.’
So, focus on the Sun and Moon for now.
There’d be a chance for Pahren.
Definitely.
He soothed his regrets like that.
* * *
After shaking off the last lingering doubts, Aster gathered the archmages at the table.
“Gentlemen, listen up.”
The archmages eyed Aster with apathetic glares—insolent as hell—but Aster magnanimously let it slide.
What mattered now wasn’t their attitude; it was crushing those insolent Sun and Moon bastards.
For that, he’d need the archmages’ help to some degree.
‘No—technically, I’m the one helping them.’
Because without him, they’d all be goners here.
Anyway.
“As you all know, we’re at a life-or-death crisis. They haven’t breached here yet, but the Sanctuary interior is overrun by the magic-immune mystery ‘Hand’ and the ‘Deep Ones.’ Of course, the three idiots holed up in the parlor might go ‘Huh?’ But...”
Aster looked each of the three idiots in the eye and calmly laid out the dire straits facing the Sanctuary’s observers.
First.
“Warp gates are down.”
Aster had heard this just before, and the three idiots knew it too, but he said it anyway.
Second.
“Can’t escape via barrier either.”
Same deal, but whatever.
“So, what do we do? Sit here and wait to die? Hell no. As the saying goes, even if the sky falls, there’s a way out. Rejoice—I’ve risked my neck to find it. Everyone, clap.”
“......”
“......”
“Ahem.”
Aster cleared his throat at the frosty reception and continued calmly.
Anyway...
“......There’s a strategy.”
Dumping info on these unresponsive clowns wasn’t fun, but it couldn’t be helped.
The strategy was tough solo.
“Look here.”
Aster placed his hand on the parlor table. Soon, black scorch lines etched across the surface, forming a map.
It was the deep level’s map.
“The strategy is simple. First...”
Aster’s voice echoed through the parlor.
Clear and resonant.
* * *
The core of the first strategy was the Black-White-Purple-Blue-Green 5-stage magic circle.
Obvious?
‘No, not at all.’
It wasn’t just about dismantling the Black-White-Purple-Blue-Green circle to lift the suppression.
The Black-White-Purple-Blue-Green circle hid an astonishing secret.
What was it?
Indurance had said...
- Magic immunity.
That was the circle’s other effect.
- The higher the stage activated, the stronger the magic immunity. For reference, white maxes it out, and black...
- Black?
- Reflects magic.
A truly horrifying situation. But Indurance claimed black wasn’t a worry.
Why?
- The wraiths possess ‘bodies.’ They’re dodging the circle now with ‘tokens,’ but tokens only block up to white.
Sun and Moon wouldn’t deploy black. It’d affect the bodies they’d gone to such lengths to seize.
Apparently, Salvatium goons thought tokens blocked black too and gleefully tried activating it.
Anyway, no black circle worry.
That left...
- First, dismantle the circle.
There was an order.
- Nothing special—just dismantle from highest stage down. You pros don’t need me explaining how.
The remaining issue: reaching the control rooms.
Not easy.
‘Separate control rooms for each Black-White-Purple-Blue-Green circle?’
One at each pentagon vertex—top black, then clockwise white-purple-blue-green.
Consider this.
Sanctuary crawling with ‘Hand.’ Magic useless. How to reach control rooms?
Like Jamal’s Arbiter and Demeia tried?
‘......No, even without white suppression, that’s tough.’
Indurance had balked at this too.
- How to get to control rooms...? If I knew, I wouldn’t have failed.
Fair point.
......Of course, fragment power might brute-force it.
‘But that’s no good.’
‘Hand’ aside, real problem was Sun and Moon. No point without handling them.
So, conserve fragment power.
No.
‘If using, minimize it.’
He had a method in mind.
......And so, Aster calmly recalled his talk with Indurance and explained the plan to the observers. It chafed allying with Pahren unwillingly, but he swallowed his anger.
When the explanation ended.
“Here.”
“This is...”
“Ah, that’s a token.”
Aster placed seven tokens on the table—all but his own. Gifts from the generous tree, Indurance.
But.
“Th-thanks, I’ll...”
“Whoa, there.”
Aster smacked Parapus’s pale hand reaching for a token. The imperial mage turned Decullan lackey visibly panicked.
“Why, though...?”
“Why? Nothing’s free in this world.”
Even riding the same boat, public and private must be kept separate.
Especially from Parapus, Taurus, Pahren—had to squeeze something out of them.
Oh, Kahazar too.
‘......He’s Decullan-friendly on closer look.’
“Must... it be... like this?”
Parapus protested, face ashen like he’d keel over any second, but Aster grinned.
“You, double.”
“......”
“Hate it? Triple.”
“......What do you want?”
Aster blinked at Parapus’s question, tilting his head side to side. Then he tossed out a vague query.
“Dunno? How should I know? Value’s negotiated, right? You propose first?”
“......”
“Come on, out with it quick. At this point, it’s just tribute.”
Kahazar blinked at Aster collecting dues. He finally got why Aster rushed to off the 11th Elder.
“This why you took him out so fast?”
“What’re you on about. Cough it up already.”
“Tch, fine.”
And so, from Parapus, Count Taurus, Kahazar... even Pahren. Aster rifled their sub-spaces moderately and smiled in satisfaction.
‘Let’s see...’
Pretty lucrative.
Especially from Parapus and Count Taurus—secret tomes too.
Not their core secrets, but grimoires carried by archmages weren’t lightweight.
Anyway.
“......Phew, feels like I can breathe now.”
“Hmm.”
“Indeed...”
As the token-holding archmages sighed in relief...
Aster shot to his feet.
“Let’s go, gentlemen.”
......If this were a heroic tale, title might be [The Reverse Heaven Lord and the Seven Archmages].
Anyway, time for counterattack.
Though he hadn’t really taken any hits.