The First Dimensional Rift (7)
Behind the Vilheim Magic Tower, in a small open lot.
“We start here!”
I sprang down from my horse and quickly surveyed the area.
The massive shadow of the Vilheim Magic Tower sheltered us, while in front of it the others were hurrying to activate the maximum-output barrier in preparation for battle against the crystal golem.
“Alberte, build the basic framework first!”
“Understood!”
Alberte raised his wand and began tracing red lines across the ground. Mana of the fire attribute seared itself into the earth.
“Sophia, place the mana stones. Carlos, prepare the materials!”
“Yes!”
The three of them moved at once, swift and efficient.
I took the bead of Fire Concentration Cannon from my robes. A small orb holding an almost pure-white flame pulsed hotly in my palm.
This is different from Mana Block. This isn’t about circulating mana internally. I have to unleash it in one direction, in an explosion.
While Alberte and I completed the basic framework, I kept calculating the structure in my head.
KWAANG—!
From the front of the Vilheim Magic Tower came a massive explosion. The crystal golem had begun attacking the barrier.
They started fighting sooner than I expected.
I had said an hour, but there was still travel time before the crystal golem even arrived.
So I’d thought we could buy ourselves a little more time.
But contrary to my expectations, the crystal golem had already begun its assault on the Vilheim Magic Tower.
“Tower Lord! Vilheim Magic Tower’s barrier is shaking!” Carlos shouted in panic.
“Ignore it! Focus only on our job!”
I clenched my teeth and buried myself in the magic circle.
No time. As fast as possible…!
Ten minutes passed.
The basic framework was complete, but the real difficulty started now.
“Inner pattern construction! We have to concentrate the flow of fire in one direction!”
Alberte began drawing a complicated geometric pattern. But unlike Mana Block, this wasn’t a circulation structure—it was a concentration structure.
Like a giant arrow, it had to be designed so that every stream of mana converged on a single point at the center.
ZZZRRRK—!
But the moment the pattern was drawn, mana began to surge in unstable waves.
“The mana is dispersing!”
Alberte shouted in alarm.
“Why?”
“I don’t know! Theoretically the concentration structure is correct, but when we actually infuse mana, it keeps trying to burst out in all directions!”
Alarm colored Alberte’s voice.
“It’s as if… as if the flames refuse to be trapped!”
Hearing him, I understood at once.
That’s right… the essence of fire is change.
If you try to fix it in one place, it pushes back harder.
I remembered when I had created Fire Concentration Cannon before. I had twisted two flames together in a spiral, making them resonate.
“Alberte, not a straight line. Make it spiral!”
“A spiral?”
“If you force fire into a cage, it explodes. You have to make it rotate while you concentrate it!”
At my words, Alberte’s eyes widened.
“Ah… I see! So instead of suppressing the fire’s nature of change, we’re using it!”
He hurried to revise the pattern. The straight mana channels shifted into a spiral.
Like a whirlpool, it became a structure that drew the flames inward while making them turn.
Whoooooosh—
Only then did the flow of mana begin to settle.
“You were right, Tower Lord! The mana flow is stabilizing!”
“Good. Keep going.”
Then it happened.
KWA-KWA-KWAANG—!
Another colossal explosion rang out. This one was closer.
When I looked toward the Vilheim Magic Tower, I saw cracks already beginning to spread across the barrier.
“At this rate, we won’t last even twenty minutes!” Carlos shouted desperately.
It had barely been twenty minutes, and already the barrier had weakened this much.
At this pace, we wouldn’t make the hour Chief Mage Roimdel had promised, and we might not even last forty minutes.
“…Trust Roimdel and keep working!”
Now was the time to do our part. We had to trust the others with their end of the battle.
“Sophia! The mana stones?”
“Yes! I’ve placed them all!”
Sophia replied, sweat streaming down her face. She had positioned each mana stone precisely at the intersections of the spiral pattern.
The basic magic circle that would fuse with Fire Concentration Cannon was complete.
“How much time do we have left?”
“There are forty minutes left until the time Chief Mage Roimdel promised. But looking at the situation now, it may break in twenty minutes… maybe even sooner.”
Twenty minutes. Could we do it?
No. I had to trust Roimdel.
“…Keep going.”
“Yes! Understood!”
“Now we fuse the bead with the magic circle!”
This was where the real work began.
I placed the Fire Concentration Cannon bead at the center of the magic circle.
Then I took a deep breath.
It’s the opposite of Mana Block. Not internal circulation, but external explosion. We aren’t imprisoning mana—we’re releasing it.
I reached out and began melting the bead’s outer shell.
ZZZZRRT—!
The fire mana inside the bead began to writhe violently. I barely managed to restrain the white-hot flames from exploding.
“Ghh…!”
Sweat ran down my forehead.
Fire Concentration Cannon is a spell where two identical flames resonate. If that’s the case…
I began splitting the fire mana flowing out of the bead into two. One rotated clockwise, the other counterclockwise.
“Tower Lord! If you do that, the mana will collide—!”
Alberte warned me, but I kept going.
The point where the two flames met while spinning in opposite directions—that was where the intense resonance would occur.
Whoooooosh—!
“There!”
The two spiral flames began to flow along the lines of the magic circle. They rotated in opposite directions, yet maintained perfect balance.
KWAANG—!
Then another explosion shook the air. This time it was close enough to make the tower itself tremble.
“Tower Lord! The barrier is almost gone!” Carlos screamed.
“Just a little longer…!”
I gritted my teeth and poured more mana into the circle, waiting for the exact moment when the bead and the magic circle would become one.
And then—
The Fusion Mage special trait has been activated.
Offensive magic circle fusion success rate +30%
Magic circle output amplification +30%
With the special trait activated, the runaway fire mana slowly began to stabilize.
But even so… the flames still weren’t fully under control.
The two spiral flames still tried to push each other away.
No, at this rate…!
The 30% correction from the trait wasn’t enough. Offensive magic circles were far more unstable than defensive ones.
“Tower Lord! The mana is flowing backward!”
Then I suddenly realized something.
Wait. If they’re resonating, why are they repelling each other?
The core of Fire Concentration Cannon was the resonance of two flames.
But right now, the two spiral flames were resonating and repelling one another at the same time.
Ah. I see.
The problem was the point where the two flames met.
A defensive magic circle was meant to trap mana inside, so it didn’t matter if they met at the center.
But an offensive magic circle had to release mana outward.
The meeting point shouldn’t be the center—it should be outside.
The two flames had to meet at the very end of the magic circle, at the point aimed toward the target. Only then could the force of resonance be unleashed explosively outward.
“Alberte! Add another convergence point to the end of the circle!”
“What? At the end of the magic circle?”
“Make the two spirals meet outside the circle! Not in the center—outside!”
Alberte’s eyes flashed.
“Ah! I understand! You’re setting the detonation point outside the magic circle!”
He swiftly added a new pattern to the end of the circle.
Like the tip of an arrow, every stream of mana now converged on a single point—except that point lay outside the magic circle.
And then it happened.
KWA-A-AANG—!
Once more, the Vilheim Magic Tower shook violently.
“Tower Lord! The Vilheim Magic Tower’s barrier has completely shattered!” Sophia cried, her voice trembling with fear.
“What…?”
I stopped what I was doing and looked toward the tower. The blue barrier that should have been there was gone.
…
There was no time.
How long will it take?
At least another ten minutes would be needed to guide the fire mana to the convergence point at the end of the circle Alberte had just made.
But now that the barrier had fallen, would we even have that much time?
No. I have to trust Chief Mage Roimdel.
I forced my attention back to the magic circle and began guiding the two spiral flames toward a single point beyond it.
From the center, spiraling outward, and then to the convergence point outside the circle.
At first the mana resisted. The moment it tried to leave the circle, it scattered.
“Tower Lord! The mana is dissipating as it leaves the circle!” Alberte shouted in urgency.
Of course it is. The magic circle is a vessel for holding mana, and I’m trying to drag it out beyond the vessel…
But I couldn’t give up. This was the only way to bring down the crystal golem.
GWOOM—!
Something collapsed inside the Vilheim Magic Tower. It sounded like the crystal golem had begun attacking the tower itself.
“Tower Lord!”
Carlos called to me in desperation, but I didn’t answer. I focused only on the magic circle.
If the mana is going to keep its shape outside the circle…
Suddenly, the answer came to me.
I need to create a mana channel!
If I made a temporary channel outside the circle, the mana could reach the convergence point without dissipating.
“Alberte! Draw a support pattern outside the circle! A temporary channel leading to the convergence point!”
“Tower Lord, if we do that, we’ll run out of time. The crystal golem is already attacking the Vilheim Magic Tower directly. The outer wall has already cracked!”
“…”
Then it happened.
A new blue barrier formed around the Vilheim Magic Tower.
“A new barrier!” Carlos cried in astonishment.
I was shocked too. The tower’s barrier had definitely collapsed completely—so how had it returned?
“No, that isn’t the tower’s barrier.”
The new barrier wasn’t uniform.
It was… a barrier built by mages casting defensive spells of their own and layering them one over another.
A temporary wall made by dozens of mages pouring in their own mana. A barrier created by every mage from Vilheim and Blue Rose working together.
One that didn’t even receive the amplification effect of the magic circle.
Chief Mage Roimdel…
After the tower’s barrier collapsed, he had stacked the mages’ individual defensive spells as a last resort.
Each one was weak, but if you layered dozens together, they could buy a little time.
But the price was steep. Since the mages were holding it up by burning through their own mana, it couldn’t last long.
It might even trigger mana backlash.
“Tower Lord, they’re… doing this for us! They’re pouring out their own mana to buy us time.” Sophia said, her eyes glistening with tears.
“I know. That’s why we can’t fail.”
I clenched my teeth and looked at Alberte.
“Can you finish the support pattern in five minutes?”
“…I’ll try!”
Alberte lifted his wand with a resolute expression. His hand moved quickly as he began drawing the temporary channel outside the magic circle.
At the same time, I poured in more mana.
I guided the two spiral flames through the temporary channel, leading them toward the convergence point outside the circle.
ZZZZRRT—!
The mana resisted fiercely. The moment it tried to cross beyond the magic circle’s boundary, the flames threatened to burst apart in all directions.
“Ugh…!”
Blood dripped from my nose. The strain of forcibly controlling the mana was reaching its limit.
I bared my teeth and kept forcing it down.
Three minutes passed like that.
“Support pattern complete!”
Alberte shouted. A red line stretched outside the magic circle, forming a single channel to the target point.
With the support pattern complete, I poured in everything I had left.
The two spiral flames rotated along the magic circle, gaining speed and speed.
Whoooooosh—!
The entire circle began to blaze red. When the two spiraling flames reached the end of the circle, they surged outward along the support pattern.
And finally—
KWA-A-A-AANG—!
The two flames met at the convergence point, and a flash of pure white erupted.
Fire Concentration Cannon
Power: 2200
Range: 500m
Success!
But at that very moment—
CRACK—!
Something shattered inside the Vilheim Magic Tower, and the final barrier broke.
There was no time to waste.
“כולם, fall back!”
I adjusted the aim point of the circle. The crystal golem’s chest—the exact spot where Roimdel had created the crack.
“Fire!”
The instant I poured the last of my mana into the circle—
With a deafening roar, a colossal pillar of white flame burst from the magic circle.
—