Labyrinth of the Ark (1)
"Wh… what in the world is this…?"
The color drained from Diana's face as she stared at the TV screen.
The British Magic Tower, sealed away inside a barrier of golden light.
All around it, hunters were attempting to breach the enclosure from the outside.
British hunters hurled their skills at it, but the golden curtain didn't so much as scratch.
Was that thing even a barrier to begin with?
It felt less like a barrier and more like someone had summoned a new pocket of space between one place and another. Closer to a 'gate' than a barrier, you might say.
That kind of alien power — and an assault on the Magic Tower that doesn't exist anywhere in my memory.
There was only one group capable of pulling off something like this.
The Advent Church…!
So they had a branch in the United Kingdom too? With two World Rankers calling it home, Britain was a genuine great power, and I'd been quietly letting my guard down. Even if the church did have a foothold here, I'd never imagined they'd attempt something this brazen.
Surrounding the entire Magic Tower, of all things.
I had no idea what they were trying to do, but one thing was certain — left alone, this situation would unfold in a way that favored the Iron Blood Monarch.
"Ah… ahh…? Wh-why, of all things…?"
Diana checked the situation, sweat beading down her face.
"Th-there was definitely no warning…? The Tower's protective activation signal, the emergency alerts — everything was quiet. So why…!"
"It's because of that barrier."
Ji Yeon-ha spoke as she took Diana's trembling hand in hers.
"That barrier seems to be blocking every signal trying to reach you."
"Th-that's impossible…! The signal magic I installed isn't flimsy enough to be stopped by some barrier!"
"Then all that means is that this is no ordinary barrier."
It had been designed by none other than the Advent Church, after all. Assuming those bastards weren't idiots, they'd have anticipated that a signal would reach Diana the moment the Tower fell into crisis. That was exactly why they'd deployed a barrier of such an unusual form.
Meticulous bastards.
My fist clenched without my noticing.
"Lady Diana."
"What am I supposed to do about this…."
"Lady Diana!"
I grabbed the shoulders of the woman spiraling into confusion and shouted.
"Now is not the time to be falling apart. First, we have to deal with that thing somehow."
"R-right. You're right. I can't just stand here freezing up."
Diana slapped her own cheeks a few times, then let out a small, steadying breath. When she looked up again, her usual composed gaze had returned.
She handles her emotions better than I expected.
She'd shown me plenty of unglamorous moments, but at her core she was a Head Tower Master who received the reverence and respect of countless people. Even with every safeguard she'd installed breached, she seemed aware that sinking into blind panic wasn't an option.
"First things first — does anything come to mind as a possible motive for this attack?"
"If they're assaulting the Tower — the headquarters itself, no less — there's only one reason."
Diana said it in a calm voice.
"The Ark."
The treasury of all magic. The mages' ark, anchored at the heart of the labyrinth.
"Any group capable of deploying a barrier on that scale… they're after the Ark, without a doubt."
"My thoughts exactly."
The Advent Church wouldn't stage an operation like this in the middle of Britain just to swipe a handful of magic tools or manufacture a few magic-wielding warriors. Only something on the level of the 'Ark' would make the cost-benefit math work.
In terms of pure value, it ranks up there with Behemoth — no, higher.
If I had been the one raiding the Tower, eight times out of ten that's what I'd have come for.
"The Ark is, for all intents and purposes, the wellspring of the Magic Tower itself. The Tower wasn't built beneath the Ark — the Tower was raised on top of it."
"Which means…."
"If the Ark disappears… the Tower loses its very roots."
And the Iron Blood Legion would only grow stronger for it.
Did losing Behemoth push them into acting this aggressively?
On top of that, Diana — the Tower's single greatest asset — happened to be in Korea at the moment. It was the perfect window of opportunity for them to strike at the Tower for the Ark's sake.
…No.
This wasn't their opportunity. Not theirs — it was mine.
The chance to drag the Advent Church, who'd been hiding with their tails between their legs ever since I wiped out their Japan branch, out into the open and kill them.
In that case.
I would use this chance to annihilate yet another branch of the Advent Church. They were practically running advertisements, standing out in the open and begging to be slaughtered.
"I'll need to assemble the guild members."
Once again — it was war.
Assaulting the headquarters of the Magic Tower was, for all practical purposes, an assault on me. Everything I'd gained through this recent duel would be rendered worthless if the Advent Church made off with the lot.
Not that I needed the excuse — with the Advent Church as the enemy, I had every reason to step in and crush them.
You could call this convenient timing.
I gathered the Sinseong Guild members and gave them a brief rundown of everything that had happened.
"…So that's why that woman is here."
"D-D-D-D-D-D-D… Dia… Diana… ma'am…!"
Ah Seo-ah was hyperventilating to the point of near-collapse. The others were a bit surprised too, but the general mood was more of a shrugging 'ah, the Guild Master is up to something weird again.'
"In any case. We have every reason to intervene in this attack on the Magic Tower."
"But don't we have no way to get there? We're in Korea, and that's England, Tae-hyun."
"No — there is a way."
Diana stepped forward and spoke up.
"With my Coordinate Relocation, it's possible."
Coordinate Relocation. The very spell Ji Yeon-ha had used on Diana in their duel — a teleportation magic that carried you instantly to a pre-designated coordinate.
"Huh?! You can cross that kind of distance with Coordinate Relocation?!"
Ah Seo-ah pressed her wizard's hat down and asked.
"Not normally, no. But a modified version built on my Moonlight can manage it. The conditions are quite strict, and there's a price to pay — but in a situation as urgent as this, every second counts, there's nothing to hold back."
A continental-crossing teleportation spell. Once again, I was reminded that this woman was a World Ranker–class mage.
"But didn't you say there's a barrier around the place? I heard even an S-rank hunter's attacks couldn't put a dent in it."
Shin Yeon-hee asked, and Diana answered as if she'd been waiting for the question.
"Doesn't matter. The coordinates I've designated are inside the barrier. Coordinate Relocation is a form of summoning — or rather, reverse-summoning — magic. It works even when the connection to the outside is severed."
By setting the inconvenient precondition of a 'coordinate,' the spell could be cast regardless of circumstances. Perfect for a situation like this.
Effectively the only way into that barrier.
Under normal circumstances, David or another World Ranker–level force breaching the seal would be the ideal move — but time was bleeding out. We had to bring the intruder down before they reached the Ark. There was no leisure to sit around gathering forces.
"Then let's go right now! We have to stop them, fast!"
"No — we can't all go."
"What? Why not?"
"Only three people can perform Coordinate Relocation alongside Diana. In other words, the maximum number who can enter the barrier is four, including her."
It would've been nice to set coordinates in Korea too and shuttle back and forth, but continental-crossing magic placed a heavy strain on the caster's body even for Diana. However hard she pushed herself, activating it once a month was apparently her absolute limit.
"One of those slots, obviously, is mine."
Having effectively reached quasi–World Ranker level, there was no way I could sit this one out. Naturally, nobody raised a complaint.
"As for the remaining two slots — one of them is…."
"Ahem!"
"Ooh, ooh~."
"……"
For some reason, everyone's eyes were sparkling at me, and I found myself unable to answer easily. This could turn into a death trap — why were they reacting like this?
"Ahem. Seo-ha. It's you."
"…Yes!"
Baek Seo-ha let out a small cheer at being called.
Baek Seo-ha, now capable of wielding Corruption, is a top-tier S-rank asset.
We might well face mutated hunters or mind-controlled monsters inside, just like before. So it was only natural to bring someone with her wealth of combat experience and outstanding abilities.
"And the last slot goes to…."
I turned my head toward the woman watching me with an almost burdensome intensity.
"Karin. Will you be all right with this?"
"Yes sir! Just leave it to me!"
"…Tch."
I ignored Baek Seo-ha clicking her tongue.
Karin has actual combat experience against the Advent Church.
More than that, she was still the strongest force in Sinseong after me. In truth, she'd proven her worth in the Behemoth subjugation, fighting with her own body until the very end. She was someone I absolutely had to bring.
"I won't be disappointed."
"Hehe, a wise choice, Tae-hyun!"
"Haaah… I wanted to go with you, big brother!"
"It's a shame — I don't think a battlefield like this suits the bow."
"Well… it is true I still can't handle that spell properly yet…."
The remaining guild members let out sighs laced with complaint, but there was nothing to be done. What lay beyond that barrier was an unknown quantity, which meant we had to approach as prepared as possible.
"All right, then."
With that, the Magic Tower strike team was set.
Me, Baek Seo-ha, Karin. And Diana.
We finished our preparations quickly and lined up before Diana. She pursed her lips, hesitated, then finally forced the words out.
"Um… are you really sure about this?"
"Sure about what, exactly?"
"Honestly… I don't understand why you'd go this far for me. I tried to steal your Horizon away from you, and…."
"Well, that's true. Honestly speaking, from my position this is something I have absolu~tely no obligation to help with."
"Ngh…."
"But when someone asks for help, you can't let yourself hesitate to reach out a hand just because you're busy weighing profit and loss."
Unlike certain someones who monopolized the magic tool market clinging to faded old traditions, the world needed a few people capable of kindness without an agenda.
…Not that, if we're being pedantic, my agenda is quite thick.
Crushing the Advent Church. Protecting the Tower headquarters, in which I now held a fair bit of stake(?). And if the Tower vanished, Ji Yeon-ha's position would be in jeopardy, so preventing that was a bonus. Truthfully, the portion of pure kindness extended to Diana amounted to about two percent in ten.
But it's not zero, so there!
I hadn't lied. So there.
"T-Tae-hyuun…!"
Diana's eyes reddened, and she covered her mouth, visibly moved.
"…There he goes. It's the mage thing again, isn't it?"
"You truly do seem… burdened with sin, Tae-hyun."
Why me again? What did I even do?
"Anyway — what are the conditions for the continental Coordinate Relocation? And what's the price you mentioned?"
"Right. First, we need two mages of S-rank or higher. My mana alone isn't enough, and the calculations would be beyond me."
Fortunately, with Ji Yeon-ha and Ah Seo-ah on hand, that part sorted itself out.
"As for the price… my total mana capacity. In other words, my mana stat."
"…I'm sorry, what?!"
That was… a considerable sacrifice. Especially for someone like Diana, a powerhouse for whom raising stats was exceptionally difficult.
Every single stat must be precious to her right now.
And she was willing to burn one of them just to cast Coordinate Relocation?
I shot her a worried look, but her resolve was unyielding.
"The Tower is as much a part of me as my own soul. To protect it, I can burn my mana stat a hundred times over — even if it means stepping down from my seat as a World Ranker."
"If you've resolved yourself that far… then I understand."
All that was left was to see her through it, no matter what.
"Then, if you'd come over here? You two as well."
"Understood."
"Y-yes, ma'am!"
Diana walked Ji Yeon-ha and Ah Seo-ah through what needed to be done. Whether the process simply wasn't complicated, or the two of them were simply that brilliant, it didn't take long.
"Then… here we go!"
Vuuuuum—
The mana of the three mages resonated and began transforming into moonlight. Across the floor spread a magic array shaped like a crescent moon.
FWAAASH!
In an instant, brilliant moonlight draped itself over Diana and the three of us.
"Haaah—…!"
Diana's body swayed under the strain, but—
"I have… to get there…!"
She gritted her teeth and carried the spell through to the end.
[Moonlight: Crescent Moon's Footpath]
A wide-area Coordinate Relocation, remade through moonlight.
"We'll be off, then."
The moment the spell activated, a mystic energy flooded my body, and the scenery changed in a single breath.
And the place where we arrived—
"Ugh…!"
"Wh-what is this…?!"
A virulent stench of blood and iron that stabbed at the nostrils, mingled with the reek of corpses. Flesh and viscera packed every direction as far as the eye could see. Blood, blood, and more blood, everywhere you looked.
…You insane bastards!
A hell built from hundreds upon hundreds of corpses spread out before us.