Chapter 158
Chapter 158
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 158
Chapter Title: The Butcher's Welcome
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Magda was quite displeased with Werner's expression.
Unable to hold back, she spoke.
“Are you saying you came down this leisurely, despite such an urgent situation?”
“Ah, judging the priority of matters and making decisions is also the exclusive right of the Manifestation Tower Master, young Loan.”
In other words, offering Loan the position of Manifestation Tower Master was more important than losing the manastone shipping yard to Brien.
He didn't feel particularly grateful or embarrassed.
Although Loan didn't know the full details of Schwerin's situation, Magda's reaction made it clear that losing the manastone shipping yard was a significant matter.
Werner said.
“It would be wise for everyone to maintain a suitable distance. I have no intention of holding back, as this is a place we won't be using anymore anyway.”
He meant they should be warier of his own attack magic than of the damage from the enemies.
A man brimming with confidence in many ways.
Vaguely sensing how he himself might appear to others, Loan slowly followed Werner, who walked ahead.
Werner at the lead and the group following him wound their way through a dense forest path where no sunlight could penetrate.
After a while, a small complaint was heard from behind.
“If this was the plan, wouldn't it have been better to extend the Sky-Stair further from the tower?”
It was the Phenomenon Tower Master, Elmar, who spoke.
It was an understandable complaint.
Loan, too, had initially thought they were just walking.
But as he continued to watch Werner's back, he noticed something peculiar about the way he moved his feet when he reached a fork in the path and changed his mind.
‘He rolled his feet strangely in place. I thought it was just a habit.’
The mana concentration in the air was so dense it was hard to discern, but after seeing it a few times, he understood.
It was a dispelling formula.
He was unraveling a magic circle that spanned the entire forest.
A massive yet incredibly intricate—
‘A barrier and a maze. He's simply solving it with his body.’
The one who had manifested it was likely him as well.
It was something only possible with the comprehension to read the whole and the magical power to encompass the space itself.
Loan was quite impressed by Werner. He was a mage who had every right to be confident.
Magda noticed it around the same time.
She read Loan's expression and smiled. It was a smile of approval.
The rest of the party realized it when a stone building, out of place in the forest, came into view far below.
Stiefe furrowed his brow.
“Hmm… we've been walking for a while.”
The actual distance they had moved was not that far.
They had only climbed the low hill Werner had pointed to when they descended into the forest clearing.
Just as everyone was retracing the process in their minds.
Werner didn't wait and leaped down the hill.
He didn't use magic to lighten his body or display the divine skill of landing softly.
Instead, it was as if his briefly floating body was slammed into the ground in an instant.
Like he was wearing giant bludgeons imbued with powerful magic on both feet.
KABOOOM—!
The shockwave that erupted from him swept through the area. It was close to an explosion.
Only the building remained.
Trees, rocks, and everything else were shattered and torn apart, forming a large concentric circle around Werner.
And within it, there was also something that had been alive a moment ago.
Magical beasts that had been hiding in the terrain.
Their severed remains and traces of mana were visible, but it was hard to guess what the creatures had originally looked like.
“Intruders!”
With the shout, darkness began to flow out of the building.
A fog filled with the unique properties of dark mana. It was black magic that served for both concealment and attack.
The already dim space, devoid of sunlight, grew even darker.
Inside it, one would either lose their way or their mind.
Werner's voice pierced through the darkness.
“You're the ones who intruded.”
And with a click of his tongue.
Light spread out from Werner.
Rather than using a specific spell, he had simply released the formidable mana he possessed.
A marvel created by the friction of the momentarily erupted mana.
Pushing back the darkness with light, Werner extended a hand toward those pouring out of the building.
A sharp spear of flame mercilessly pierced their bodies and exploded in front of the one following behind.
Violently spamming magic, Werner stepped into the building.
His attack method was domineering yet flowed seamlessly. It also looked as comfortable as an ordinary, everyday movement.
Loan descended without hesitation.
Unlike Werner, he gently enveloped his body in Convection, gliding down.
To others, it looked as if he had manifested a Sky-Stair.
“Hah… why does he always imitate things right after seeing them?”
The one asking Magda was the Ideation Tower Master, Reinhold.
“It's less shocking than creating something from nothing on the spot, isn't it?”
Magda chuckled and followed Loan.
Loan had already followed Werner into the building.
Fearing they would lose them, the group on the hill scrambled to leap down.
The stench of blood hit them.
Inside the building, screams fitting the scene were in full swing.
“Aargh!”
“The enemy, the enemy…”
“Watch out! It's a monster!”
Werner advanced.
Spears of fire and ice poured alternately from his waving hands, and the black mages fell in a single blow, their bodies slumping to the floor.
Loan followed slowly behind him.
The stone building was different from how it looked on the outside. It served as a gateway leading down to an underground area and back up to the surface.
Soon, a mine shaft opened up, and from various paths, black mages charged forward with magical beasts leading the way.
When had so many people taken up position here?
Wondering, he savored Werner's skill.
The feeling was different from when he had once admired Magda's unique magic, ‘Nebula of Ruin’.
A powerful spell that could destroy part of a city in an instant was amazing, but freely wielding elemental magic of opposing affinities was also an incredible feat.
And it was all chantless.
He didn't even use the muffler that Schwerin mages wore to cover their mouths, as it was fine to show his.
In many ways, it was quite similar to the attack methods Loan himself employed.
‘It's practical, yet quite flashy.’
When manifesting magic, it's hard to give up on harmony and beauty.
He had always tried not to lose that mindset, and watching Werner, he felt his judgment was correct.
Just then.
-Even though I gave them plenty of time, there are quite a few of them. In any case, it seems Brien's influence has grown, just as the Union pointed out.
Werner's mental message reached Loan. He was still in the middle of pouring attacks on the Brien faction.
Something about his words didn't add up.
Loan pointed it out.
-Are you saying you gave them time on purpose?
-Those bastards dispelled the barrier north of the shipping yard last night. We lost all contact with the mages in charge this morning. Before you came up to the Manifestation Tower.
-And yet there are so many of them? That sounds strange.
-Ah, was my background explanation insufficient again?
-Yes.
-As you know, all of Schwerin's wealth comes from manastones. Losing the manastone shipping yard is the same as losing our only source of income.
-I understand it's a matter of national importance. Yet you were so relaxed.
-The manastone mines aren't what they used to be. In truth, this shipping yard was on the verge of being shut down.
Behind Werner's mental message, Loan felt a sense of unease and could guess the reason why his words hadn't added up.
Werner's mental message continued.
-They must have known that too. The fact that they have someone skilled enough to dispel the barrier means they would have quickly figured out how useless this place is.
-So that's why you said there are so many of them. If they knew it was a useless mine, they would have left quickly or reduced their numbers.
-The fact that they've dug in like this must mean they want something else.
-You mean they're luring Schwerin's mages.
-They aren't the only ones.
-Your objective wasn't this place either, but the ones who attacked it.
-Aren't you curious who they are?
The overly belligerent attitude peculiar to mages.
Like moths to a flame, they can't stop even when the danger is obvious.
It's a result born from the intense curiosity to confirm the unknown, powerful magic, and masters of exceptional skill.
In this way, the pursuit of truth in all things in the universe often leads to actions bordering on recklessness.
Loan knew this because he wasn't free from such impulses himself.
He, too, would have acted like Werner in this situation.
However, one must first be self-aware enough to know they have the skill to back it up.
From what he had seen of Werner so far, he felt the man was more than capable.
-It seems they're all gathered inside. We should be able to find out now.
Having dealt with all the remnants in the mine shaft, Werner stood before a massive iron door and gave a slight nod.
Screeeech— KABLAM!
The door swung wide open with a loud noise.
The space inside was quite wide and high.
Its original purpose would have been to store and sort manastones, but now it was occupied by out-of-place individuals for a different use.
Amidst the thick dark mana, nearly twenty black mages in formidable-looking robes stood.
And in front of them was an extremely large and obese man.
He reminded Loan of the Egger in his memories, dressed bizarrely with his upper body bare and an apron on.
Blood-soaked strands of hair stuck to his forehead and face, creating a sticky, unpleasant feeling.
Loan's gaze naturally drifted upward.
Drip—drip...drip...
The source of the blood was on the ceiling.
Schwerin mages were hanging from the ceiling, naked, their bodies pierced here and there with skewers.
Yet, he could identify them as Schwerin mages because they all wore only their mufflers around their necks.
A mocking gesture. Quite a twisted sense of humor.
The blood dripping from them was being collected in a jar below. The fat man, holding butcher knives in both hands, slammed one down on a wooden cutting board and spoke.
“You're finally here. Welcome. I was starting to get anxious, wondering if you'd show. Thank you for graciously stepping out of your tower.”
His calm tone and demeanor were quite different from the atmosphere he exuded.
Werner seemed unimpressed by the man's words.
He turned his head slightly to look at Loan and said.
“What do you think? Wasn't I right? These things were waiting for me.”
Loan nodded.
Though, strictly speaking, they had been waiting for each other.
The fat man clicked his tongue and said.
“‘Things’? That's unpleasant to hear. I am Karl Gerhardt, Head of Brien's Research and Production Department. And these are my deputy heads and adjutants.”
“But doesn't this look strange? The Manifestation Tower Master brought a Union small fry with him? Is the pretty boy his lover or something?”
“Haha, the ones who act all high and mighty are actually the filthiest, you know?”
Some of the adjutants chimed in one after another, followed immediately by snickering laughter.
Loan didn't hold back and thrust his fist toward them.
KABOOOM—!
A mass of hardened Convection, like a blunt cudgel, slammed some of the adjutants into the wall in an instant.
As if a siege weapon had struck the wall.
In the cracks that spiderwebbed out like lightning, the remains of what were once humans were left as bloody pulp.
He had tried to manifest it by recalling the shockwave the Manifestation Tower Master had created when he leaped off the hill, and it turned out to be quite useful.
And just like that, five or six adjutants were gone.
Of course, the others didn't know what Loan had done or how he'd done it.
While everyone was bewildered.
“I wasn't planning on interfering, but it seems I might be jumping in from time to time.”
Loan said calmly.
Behind him, Magda and the others entered one after another.