Chapter 165
Chapter 165
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 165
Chapter Title: Apex of the Void
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Everyone frowned as they stared at the completely blocked entrance.
Judging by the number written on the wall, it was a considerable distance to the opening.
It was baffling where they had dragged such a massive amount of earth from.
The Tower Master of Phenomena, Elmaar, spoke nonchalantly.
“Doesn’t this mean they intend to kill their own executive, the production manager, along with us?”
The possibility that someone inside had relayed a message to the outside was slim.
They must have planned to seal it off from the start, once the Tower Masters were inside.
The Tower Master of Recognition, Anke, said,
“They must have factored that in. It’s a profitable trade for them. A hugely profitable one.”
Her gaze shifted to the Tower Master of Implementation.
Werner burst out laughing.
“Haha, it seems they’ve sealed the depot for us. And we haven’t even left yet.”
He had no talent for jokes. No one laughed, so Werner slowly quieted down.
Loan asked,
“Is there no way out through the mine shaft where you extracted the mana stone? Perhaps it connects to another entrance underground.”
“There might be, but finding it would be next to impossible. And even if we did, getting out that way would be incredibly difficult.”
“Why would it be difficult?”
“Because the miners dug the tunnels to match their own height. Imagine that large woman crawling through a dark maze, searching for an exit. It would be physically taxing for her, and mentally taxing for us who’d have to put up with her frustration.”
The miners were most likely dwarves.
Recalling Alric, the dwarf who had reforged Sheville, he realized the dwarf barely came up to Magda’s waist.
“Nonsense, tsk.”
Magda glared at Werner before turning back to Loan with a warm smile.
“Loan. It seems this is our only way out. What do you think the situation is like outside?”
As if he had been waiting, Loan carefully laid out his predictions.
“Before we came here, I thought they might be using their superior position to set up an ambush. But seeing how diligently they blocked the entrance, I suspect they don’t have as many people outside as one might think.”
A clear-cut answer.
It was thanks to his diligent studies; in fact, the Faith Division, whose main duties are reconnaissance, infiltration, and espionage, requires its members to study tactics and strategy in considerable depth.
The number of variables and diverse case studies was vast, making the study endless, and it was bound to feel difficult for anyone without a mind like Loan’s.
Lucas, however, was a case who, anticipating the difficulty, had never even started.
Loan continued.
“The fact that they didn’t bother to station many people outside means their true objective lies elsewhere. Since the Tower Masters are here, it wouldn’t be hard for them to pick a target.”
“They’re aiming for the Magic Tower,” Reinhold said with a low groan.
From the beginning, their plan might have been to lure the Tower Masters out and use the vacuum to attack the Magic Tower.
Using the production manager, who could exert the most power in a confined space, as bait.
Loan nodded.
“Yes. They probably know that all four Tower Masters are here. The entrance was buried after we came in, so they must have confirmed our entry.”
Mana was in turmoil throughout the forest.
They had made quite a commotion on their way in, so there was no way to know who was hiding where or how they had been observing the situation.
Magda said,
“That’s persuasive. We need to get out of here quickly, then. It seems there’s little chance of allies being outside, so there’s no need to hold back.”
Not a trace of fear or predicament could be felt from Magda.
Her confidence reminded Loan of the day he first met her.
And the way her eyes had gazed nonchalantly at the colossal Olen barrier before the confrontation with Le Tell’s main force.
“You once said, Commander, that if there’s a problem, you just have to get rid of it.”
“Hm?”
Magda stared blankly at Loan, wondering what he was suddenly talking about, before she, too, recalled Loan from that same day.
“Yes. I did.”
“May I give it a try today?”
Magda was confident she would permit anything Loan wanted to do.
She gently stroked Loan’s hair and stepped aside.
“Be my guest.”
As Loan stood at a distance before the new wall, the others naturally took a few steps back.
It was partly for safety and partly to give him space.
Werner spread his shield wide and thick, blocking off the entire mine shaft.
The mages standing behind it held their breath, eagerly anticipating what Loan was about to unleash.
Loan lightly stroked his enhanced necklace.
‘There was something I wanted to try.’
He had made significant achievements in this mana stone depot.
The first was being able to expand the [Sphere of the Void] to several times its original size. And he had adapted the sphere, which was originally meant to ensure internal safety, into a method of delivering external impact.
The second, of course, was the enhancement of his necklace.
The increased power to draw in mana was an unparalleled boon, as it would help him manage his magical power more smoothly.
That property was also helpful in other ways, and Loan was about to test that now.
[Infinite Void 1st Form, Sphere of the Void]
*Woooong—* Mana enveloped Loan, forming a sphere.
Reflexively, the others took a few more steps back.
The sphere that had felt so comforting from the inside now exuded a considerable sense of pressure when viewed from the outside.
Amidst the dust scattering everywhere, Loan, inside his transparent sphere, looked utterly mystical.
‘First, I’ll maintain the size but increase the density.’
Loan expanded the sphere just enough to leave a hair's breadth of distance from the tunnel’s inner walls.
Thanks to constantly drawing in and convecting mana, the time it took to reach this point was a mere instant.
Maintaining the same size, he increased the density of the mana. With each passing moment, the magical power contained within the sphere grew more formidable.
From here, Loan introduced another change.
With the two endpoints of a fan-shaped area in front of him as a base, the sphere of mana spread out like an umbrella.
[Infinite Void 2nd Form, Arc of the Void]
The necklace reined in the mana, which, mistaking itself for being released, tried to surge forward.
It felt much more stable than before.
According to Werner, he had essentially devoured a precious mana stone of nearly 100 percent purity, so it was perhaps natural for it to exhibit such power.
Just by letting go of the force he was holding.
‘The destructive power will be immense.’
This was the very magic that had erased the demon Naberius’s body in a single strike.
With nearly double the mana invested compared to that time, it would be powerful enough to annihilate an entire enemy unit in an instant.
‘But not now.’
The [Arc of the Void], which shoots out a bundle of convection, was a poor match for the completely blocked entrance.
And so.
Loan sought to go one step further.
He drew inspiration from a spell he had used himself.
Back when he had tested the lump of magical power he’d received from Aul with Commander Adrian.
The experience of applying [Mana Manipulation Magic] to a cylindrically constructed convection, creating immense pressure to fire a powerful stream of water.
Loan smiled inwardly, recalling Commander Adrian’s cracked glasses, and then focused his mind.
He gradually pulled the fan-shaped veil together, narrowing the angle bit by bit.
As the central angle decreased, the length of the arc shortened.
With it, he felt a tremendous pressure trying to burst outward.
From this point on, he could no longer hold the mana with just balance and restraint. Fortunately, the necklace held firm.
Loan narrowed the angle a little more.
More, more, more, more.
And finally.
The sphere of mana, which had been Loan’s absolute domain, eventually became a single line, converging to a single point.
There was a name he had conceived for it.
[Infinite Void 3rd Form, Apex of the Void]
An optimized point where the extending force formed a perfect right angle with the caster, with no dispersion of power whatsoever.
He briefly admired the straight line of mana connected to the point—incredibly beautiful, yet its destructive power was immeasurable.
The power of circulation continued even within the line. A high-speed spiral rotation continued in the direction it extended.
The magical power awaited its release.
Loan suddenly steadied his breath, reignited the condensed convection—and with that, *snap*—severed the line of mana connected to his necklace.
*Ruuuumble?*
There was no deafening roar that should have followed.
There was no shockwave from an explosion that should have been there.
Aside from an intense vibration that shook the entire mine shaft, it was as if nothing had happened.
Those who had only been watching Loan’s back tilted their heads in confusion.
The wall itself didn’t seem to have changed much either.
What had he done?
It felt like he had done something incredible, but there was nothing special to see.
But then.
Loan’s expression as he slowly turned his head was vastly different from the others.
He looked surprised, yet also deeply impressed by something.
Was his perception of what had happened entirely different?
Her curiosity piqued by both Loan and whatever it was he had done, Magda tore through Werner’s shield from the inside and strode forward.
Her eyes met Loan’s for a moment, and as he turned his head, her gaze naturally followed his to a spot on the wall.
Up close, something about it felt alien.
It was a small hole, about the thickness of a finger, but it was so perfectly round that it looked unnaturally artificial.
It was likely created by Loan’s magic, but the closer she got, the stranger it felt.
Magda didn’t stop walking and passed right by Loan.
She went right up to the wall, bent down, and examined the hole with her eyes.
A faint light struck Magda’s eyes.
It was dimmer than the glowing stones that illuminated the mine shaft, but the feeling was incredibly familiar.
Only then did she realize why it had felt so special.
“It’s moonlight. You’ve bored a hole all the way to the outside.”
That in itself was admirable.
Magda turned to Loan and smiled.
As she did, she reached out to gently stroke the prodigy her lovely junior had created.
*Sssshhh—*
Her fingers slid away without feeling the slightest resistance.
Startled, she turned her head to see the wall before her crumbling away.
The tunnel Loan had created widened exponentially with distance, and the earth and sand flowed into the empty space like a receding wave.
It lasted for just a moment.
And then, the wall was no more.
Magda walked forward as if in a trance.
Loan followed behind her.
“I don’t know what kind of magic that was, but it was closer to annihilation than destruction.”
“I think the targets that synchronized with the linear and rotational motion lost their physical properties. The rotational force added to the extending power amplified its might, causing it to expand in size as well.”
Loan voiced his internal hypothesis without reservation.
Magda nodded silently.
She and the other mages mulled over Loan’s words again and again, as if they were an extremely profound incantation or formula.
*Thud, thud—*
No one spoke as they walked through the newly formed, ever-widening, and strangely pleasant circular tunnel.
At its end.
After spending some time in the mana stone depot, they could finally feel the moonlight on their skin—and they saw that Loan’s magic had not only completely pierced the depot’s entrance but had also left a massive scar on the hill opposite it.
And around it, a few of the enemy party, blinking with dazed expressions.
Just as they confirmed the damage had reached the enemy, seeing numerous corpses with cleanly severed bodies.
Before they even had a chance to grasp the true power of the magic Loan had shown them—
The Union members’ notebooks began to buzz incessantly.
“Hmm?”
It was understandable that communication would have been difficult deep underground, especially in a place with such a strong mana influence.
But even so, it hadn’t been days.
It was only evening, meaning they had only spent a few hours, yet so many messages had arrived?
That, too, was far from ordinary.