Chapter 106
Chapter 106
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 106
Chapter Title: Enemies on a Log Bridge
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Zect and Baya were sworn enemies who were dying to kill each other.
It was odd for a man in his thirties and an old man in his seventies to harbor such deep animosity, but whenever anything happened at the guild, the two would clash over every little thing.
Eventually, it escalated to a duel where their pride was on the line, and Zect, having lost, fled to the Albius Kingdom in shame—that was the situation up to now.
Perhaps Zect, who had vanished from the Albius Kingdom, had returned here for revenge. Of course, it had never happened even once so far.
"The magic tower is still intact... Was it just my imagination after all?"
In the middle of a vast, empty field after the harvest, a massive magic tower of red brick soared toward the sky.
That was Arch Wizard Baya's magic tower.
The magic tower in Tolari, slapped together in just a few years, wasn't even comparable.
It was the largest magic tower Baya had built over thirty years in his youth, and thanks to that, it had become a landmark visible from anywhere in the Bangar region by simply looking up.
As an aside, Bangar was the empire's largest granary, located in the northwest of the Empered.
Half of the empire's grain production came from this area. Good thing the harvest was already done. If a fight broke out and ruined the crops, it would be a disaster.
In any case, the magic tower was still a ways off, but he landed on the ground ahead of time and activated Stealth.
"Its detection range is 300 meters, right...?"
The magic tower had the ability to sound an alarm if anyone approached within a certain range.
Of course, they were still far from 300 meters, so he slowly made his way along the field path.
The plan was simple: get as close as possible, then smash it to pieces in an instant before Baya could react.
The entire magic tower.
"He's probably heard the rumors about the Eclipse Gate by now... But there's no reaction at all, so it must be nothing."
He justified it to himself like that, taking care of his mental health. Just in case, he kept an eye out for any farmers who might still be around in the post-harvest fields.
Lalala...
Come to think of it, he had gotten some information from Regal about new cores to acquire.
-Excluding the Ancient Bear, the magical beasts I know of are the Ancient Turtle and the Ancient Eagle.
-The Ancient Turtle left for a distant place long ago, and its whereabouts are unknown. If you're after its core, head to Arrowhead Peak. The Ancient Eagle still lives there.
Arrowhead Peak was a unique terrain even further north in the Jairut Mountains.
Based on the empire's territory, it was beyond the northwest border. He'd been there exactly once in his nine previous regressions.
He'd eliminated a bandit group called the Cluster Assassins who had set up base there, hoping to get a special treasure they were rumored to have hidden...
"There was nothing. Absolutely nothing."
The info had been bait spread by the bandits themselves to lure in naive fools tempted by the treasure.
Fools like him.
...
Was that the 5th cycle?
Suddenly, he felt anger boiling up. No, before going after the Ancient Eagle core, he should crush those bastards first.
Ah, but before that, he needed to head back to the mansion and confess to Kyle first.
Sorry, Kyle. It just came to me late. There are three more people I want to recruit for the Guardian Knights. Sorry for making you work twice.
The reason the memory came late was that the new recruit wasn't one of Kyle's classmates.
They were first-year students currently attending the Imperial Academy, originally planned to be scouted leisurely after a long time. At this point, they were still green rookies.
Still, they were overwhelmingly more useful than the current mess of a Guardian Knights. Even with the few months left, Kyle could train them into something handy, right?
Anyway, as an apology for the hassle, he'd bought some wooden cakes, a Bangar specialty, to give to Kyle. When he got back, he'd hand those over as a gift and put him to work again.
In the meantime, he had drawn close to the magic tower's detection range.
Time to start the demolition work, then?
Of course, one or two Tempests wouldn't be enough to bring down that massive structure.
But what about five at once?
It had taken out three berserkers in one shot, so a mere magic tower should be no problem.
The moment he released Stealth and struck a pose to rev up his brain for full power—
"I've been waiting for you."
A voice came from the side.
But there was no one beside him.
The sun hung in the distant sky, and in the middle of the vast harvested wheat field, he stood alone with his shadow.
Him.
And the shadow.
That shadow warped, and something pure white rose from the ground.
A figure wrapped head to toe in bandages...
Pure Magic, then.
The instant he recognized the sponsor's presence, his brain and hands moved almost automatically, processing a complex sequence in a flash.
He fired the completed Pure Magic straight at the figure's chest.
Zing!
But it missed. There was nothing in front of him.
"Pure Magic, huh. Do you think No. 1 couldn't dodge it, so he didn't?"
The sponsor's voice came from behind.
Eek!
It felt like a centipede crawling into his clothes.
With spinal reflex speed, he unleashed a torrent of electricity at the figure.
Pzzzzzt!
At the same time, he cast Flame Tempest at the fastest speed in his magical history, applied Flight Magic for sudden acceleration, and swiftly put as much distance as possible from the enemy.
And flames unfurled their wings.
Everything around erupted in flames and explosions.
But when the explosion died down, not even a scorch mark remained on the figure's body.
"Impressive. No wonder No. 1 went to such lengths to set a trap for you. Haha."
The sponsor chuckled mockingly, brushing off his clothes.
"To cast Pure Magic this quickly. And using the old-fashioned hand gestures instead of mental casting, no less."
"..."
"The lightning bolt was impressively powerful for something fired off without preparation. And the flame magic goes without saying. We call that Tempest around here, right?"
"You should be dead."
"My apologies. I forgot to introduce myself."
The sponsor bowed elegantly in greeting.
"I am Sponsor No. 2, who has taken over the affairs of this Ald Dimension from Sponsor No. 1."
No. 2?
Now that he thought about it, the appearance was a bit different.
One arm missing, head half-crushed, abdomen sucked in like he'd been on a diet.
But he could be lying, right? What did the Lord's Eye show?
"..."
But nothing was visible.
A flood of information that should overwhelm the mind poured out, yet nothing showed on the figure's body.
No life force, no mana.
No neural flows, no emotions or directions.
A literal blank white sheet.
Even the ground and air touching him blurred, hiding their essence.
This might be...
The bandages?
Were those bandages concealing the sponsor's true form inside? Distorting even what touched the outside?
Dangerous.
He couldn't predict what this guy was planning at all. He scattered three light shields around the figure, bracing for a possible ambush.
"I'm not here to fight you. In fact, we mustn't fight. It would violate regulations. Haha, heh, heehee."
The sponsor shrugged, laughing like a madman. Regulations again? The last sponsor had said the same before smashing the back of his head.
"So?"
"So?"
"So what are you here for? Has the year-until-invasion shrunk to a month? Here to notify me?"
"I wish that were the case. I'd be truly happy then."
The sponsor nodded, showing a hint of weakness somewhere.
"But no. I am here to notify you, though. That way, what I did won't violate regulations. Now, then..."
Unease crept in already. What he'd done? What had this guy pulled off this time? Another gate opening?
If so, he needed to kill him first...
His movements were too fast earlier—barely visible. How could he land Pure Magic? Other spells didn't work at all?
"The Saik Dimension's additional interference via sponsorship in the Ald Dimension has been halted."
Suddenly, the voice turned mechanical and stiff. Right, the previous sponsor had done the same before dying.
"Permissible interference is limited to entities already interfered with prior to the taste invasion."
"..."
"Five entities remain. Two were fused into a new entity, but anomalies occurred during fusion, requiring additional techniques in the containment process."
So, five human traitors left... and he'd fused two of them into one?
But something went wrong, so he applied more stuff?
"This may violate Dimensional Invasion Regulation 3114-7. Following the Committee's evaluation, prior notice is hereby given to a prominent entity in the Ald Dimension. Phew, that's done."
The figure stopped its mechanical creaking and shrugged.
"Anyway, that's how it happened. Fusing those two patrons produced a far more absurd result than I expected. Heh, kekeke. Ahahaha!"
"..."
"Haha... Phew. Sorry about that. You have no idea how much I looked forward to telling you this to your face."
Don't know. Don't want to know.
But why was he acting like a lunatic since earlier? No. 2? No. 1 had at least some dignity.
"You know Zect and Baya, don't you, Your Highness? No, you must know. You have a knack for sniffing out sponsored ones like a ghost. That's why you've come all this way, right?"
Then Baya was confirmed as a human traitor too.
More importantly, fusing two traitors—was that Zect and Baya? What did fusing even mean? Melting them into one?
"Too much chit-chat. Anyway, even the creator can't control it and is struggling—that thing... Ah, sorry. Got excited and spilled the secret. Heh. Haha! Now, behold!"
Snap!
The sponsor snapped his fingers with a cheerful sound.
At the same instant, the distant magic tower collapsed.
KABOOM!
As if an explosion had gone off inside, the massive building shattered and crumbled in seconds.
And like hatching from an egg, it emerged.
Scales like jagged iron armor covering its entire body.
A dinosaur-like build, reminiscent of a theropod.
Yet it had two long necks and heads.
Above all, its enormous size—half the magic tower's height. How many meters tall? Around 30?
That absurd thing crawled out, bulldozing through thick dust and tower debris.
What the hell was this?
Monster? Beast?
"KIIIIIEEEEEEK!"
"KRAAAAAAAARGH!"
Yeah. A monster.
It reared its heads and unleashed a demonic screech, like a human scream.
"Magnificent. Those two completely wrecked one of the armories."
The sponsor smiled wistfully at the monster.
"I never intended to make it that ridiculously huge at first. But during fusion, they rejected each other so fiercely that the distortion amplified infinitely. Seizing the moment, I cranked up the dimensional device's pump."
No... even so, fusing two humans shouldn't produce that size...
"But it grew too big, and its mind—not just intelligence—collapsed entirely. I had no choice but to inject unconditional hatred toward living beings to give it a target. And so, the fusion bio-weapon 'Zectbaya' was born."
"...What?"
"Don't like the name? You can call it 'Bayazect' if you prefer. Either way, Prince Claude, it was made just to fight you. Go ahead, savor the frustration of all your attacks bouncing off."
The sponsor bowed deeply and vanished into the monster's shadow draped over his body.
"Enjoy it long and hard as you die. Miserably, pathetically, suffering at least as much as I have..."
Then the monster in question, Zectbaya, roared again.
And around its dinosaur-like maw, it began compressing magic into a spherical form.
Oh... He knew that.
Tempest.
A compressed Tempest bigger than his head. Normally, it fit in one hand...
Nah, no way, right?
Must be an optical illusion making it look that big. No Tempest in the world was that huge.