Chapter 137
Chapter 137
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 137
Chapter Title: The Five Pillars (14)
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After the barrier was shattered, the battle turned utterly one-sided. Oklamud's forces, deprived of their most critical artifact, couldn't regain their footing against the relentless joint assault from Kadim and Coltran's side, and were completely annihilated.
Shwaaaaa...
A relentless downpour hammered the muddy mire of thin ice and blood. The eyes of the dead, staring blankly skyward, were inevitably glazed over with a cold frost. In this hellish wasteland, only one survivor remained.
A ragged old man draped in tattered robes—Oklamud.
"Kuhk, kehuk! Kkuk, kkuk..."
He had poured out every last drop of his mana and collapsed into exhaustion, little more than a breathing corpse. But the hatred buried deep within him remained unbroken.
"Kuhhuhu... Unbelievable. To think I'd end up like this at the hands of mere barbarians, beasts not even worthy of the name... I, the 'Black Rock Inferno' Oklamud, reduced to such a pathetic state..."
Kadim swept back his wet hair and tilted his head.
"They say wizards spend their lives studying inscrutable mysteries. Yet every one I've met seems oddly ignorant of the simplest common sense."
"...And what might that be?"
"That you die if you take an axe to the head."
Thwack—!
A deep vertical crease split the furrowed horizontal lines on his forehead. Viscous fluids oozed from the cracks like sap from a maple tree.
"Urk, uuuuugh..."
Oklamud, the 'Black Rock Inferno' who had commanded the largest faction among the Magic Tower elders, lost all his subordinates to the barbarian he so despised. His skull shattered, he breathed his last in vain.
Kwah—crack!
Kadim stomped down on the shattered skull to confirm the kill. As he scraped the sticky remnants off his sole in the mud, Coltran approached with a stunned expression.
"The man you just killed... that was Oklamud, wasn't it?"
"Yeah. With his head smashed like that, not even resurrection's possible this time."
"..."
Was it ruthless thoroughness, or excessive brutality? Coltran hesitated, unsure how to respond. Deciding it was unnecessary chatter, he changed the subject.
"Well, you did an outstanding job... This is embarrassing. I promised to protect you, yet here you are protecting me. Regardless... how exactly did you summon that endless barrage of lightning bolts earlier?"
"..."
"I know 'lightning magic' is too taxing for sustained casting. If you could just explain the principle a bit..."
The 'lightning' effect on his thunder axe had a hidden feature. On stormy days like this, he could thrust it skyward to instantly recharge lightning. It was one of the handy Easter eggs he'd discovered while playing the game.
But there was no reason to explain it. Kadim cooled his overheated throwing axe in the rain, hung it at his waist, and turned away indifferently.
"I've been drenched enough. With the troublemaker gone, let's head into the Magic Tower."
"..."
Coltran looked uneasy but couldn't muster an argument and followed behind. The surviving mages trailed wearily after their leader.
Stepping inside the Magic Tower, they were greeted first by an oddly out-of-place figure.
Asillus, acting vice-captain of the battlemages. His strangely distorted face stared at the barbarian and the elder.
"Y-you! E-elder Coltran! You're both safe! Th-that... Suddenly the tower entrance got sealed off, you have no idea how panicked I was! I was searching for a way to sneak out when Oklamud's men caught me..."
"..."
"B-but just now, while all eyes were on the entrance, I managed to escape! Is the cleanup of Oklamud's scum finished? If so, let's hurry through the secret passage before it's too late!"
The elder's wrinkled lips tightened coldly.
Coltran now knew. There was a spy selling their information to Oklamud's faction. And this battlemage, who hadn't shown his face during the fight and only scurried out once the outcome was clear, was the prime suspect.
Still, until they had solid proof, he'd play along...
Thud—crunch!
...But before he could intervene, Kadim stepped forward and cleaved Asillus's head in two.
"...Guh."
Asillus collapsed like a scarecrow, without even a proper last word. The mages' astonished gazes converged. Kadim scowled and spat out his deduction.
"It was this rat. The one who sold my information."
Coltran suppressed his shock and asked,
"Kadim... What do you mean?"
"You knew too. Someone sold info on me to the dead elder. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been ambushed in the first place."
"W-well, yes, but how can you be sure this guy's the spy...?"
"Doesn't it strike you as odd? He claims he escaped while attention was on the entrance—but who stands right by the entrance in the first place?"
"...!"
"Plus, he always addressed the dead elder with respect, even though they were enemies. But not this time. He was probably playing both sides like a bat."
Kadim added indifferently that they could verify it with magic later if they didn't believe him.
The other mages glared at Coltran fiercely, as if asking how he could kill so brutally. But Coltran thought differently.
'He spotted Asillus as the spy, picking up on details I missed. And with such a critical event ahead, eliminating even the slightest risk is the right call over leaving it be.'
A combat prowess surpassing high wizards' mysteries, cold judgment distinguishing friend from foe, and decisive action leaving no loose ends...
This man outshone most elders in every way. It was a pity such talent belonged to a mere barbarian, not a seeker of mysteries.
'Compared to the fools still hanging around me... Tch.'
Coltran clicked his tongue briefly, dismissed the other mages, and proceeded to the secret passage with only Kadim.
*
A corridor stretched ahead, its plain walls cast in gray shadows. The footsteps of the old man and the giant formed a steady rhythm.
The secret passage to the lowest floor was at the end of this hall, he said. Kadim rolled his stiff shoulders from all the axework.
"By the way, Elder, don't you think you've leaned on me too much so far?"
"..."
"Fair trade for your efforts: answer one question."
It wasn't an exaggeration to say Kadim had handled everything to get here. Coltran nodded readily.
But if he'd known what question was coming, he might have hesitated.
"What caused ancient mana to vanish from the continent?"
"..."
Coltran's lips tightened.
Foolish Oklamud had blabbed it publicly, but it was a secret not meant to be known. He'd never tell anyone else.
But with this man, Coltran figured it was fine.
"...Fatefully, we're heading to that cause right now, Kadim. The 'Grand Ancient Magic' devised by the first Tower Lord. Long ago, a single casting depleted all 'ancient mana' in the world."
"...!"
An unexpected answer. Surprise and suspicion flashed in Kadim's eyes.
"...What kind of spell required such a price?"
"Sorry, I don't know that much. Only modern Tower Lords could access records of it. But... we're on our way to see them now, so we'll find out soon enough."
"..."
The information came too easily, but its weight was immense. A 'grand magic' that incinerated mana across the continent in one go? Why had Melissa invented and cast something so absurd?
Perhaps tied to Hendark's guess of a 'demon incursion.' Or some other circumstance. The truth lay in Melissa's records.
Kadim steeled his resolve further. Then he followed the elder through a narrow door.
"We're here. This is the secret passage to the lowest floor."
The 'secret passage' was a circular chamber about twenty meters wide, with a dizzyingly high ceiling and walls on all sides. Intricately carved reliefs of humans, monsters, and demons crowded the walls, giving it the feel of an ancient altar or elevator shaft rather than a mere passage.
A magic circle etched concentric rings into the floor, with five evenly spaced holes around its edge. It was obvious how it worked.
'Stick the keys in those holes, I suppose.'
Kadim pulled the pillars from his inventory one by one. Confirming Coltran's guess was right, he picked up the Pillar of Water and inserted it into the nearest hole.
But the moment it locked in.
Kugugugugugu...
The floor and walls shook violently, and then...
―――― Kwagwagwagwa—!
...An enormous cascade of water poured down from above.
―――― Kwadduduk! Kwaddudududuk—!!
The wide-area freeze spell encased the falling water entirely, anchoring it to the wall. Cooled so rapidly, even the foam and bubbles were preserved vividly, like a painting in ice.
Soon after, the Pillar of Water popped out of the hole, as if mocking the visitors' panic.
"..."
"..."
Kadim shot a demanding glance, but Coltran only returned a clueless look. He'd gathered all the keys and never used this passage before either.
Tch. After pondering, Kadim reached a conclusion.
"...Looks like each 'pillar' has its proper spot. Insert the wrong one, and a trap matching its attribute triggers big-time."
Good thing the mistake was the Pillar of Water. Fire or Light would've carbonized them before they could react.
Coltran felt no relief. Clutching his chest—the spell had strained his heart—he let out a hollow chuckle.
"Heh, ridiculous... Five pillars, five holes... That's 120 possible combinations. If luck's bad, we'd have to endure traps over a hundred times...?"
"..."
Kadim shook his head.
It wouldn't be that brute-force. There had to be a clue to the correct order. And in this room, only one place fit: the intricate reliefs on the wall.
Kadim approached and examined them closely.
At first glance, the scene resembled a chaotic melee of humans, monsters, and demons. But looking closer, they weren't fighting—they were entangled. Truly opposing the horde were five subtle figures at the bottom.
A hero wielding a holy sword.
A priest offering prayers.
A shrine maiden unfolding a ritual circle.
A mage raising a staff.
And... a warrior swinging a massive axe.
"...!"
The moment Kadim realized something and widened his eyes,
the grand scene parted like a curtain, and the final fragment of the past unfolded like an illusion.