Chapter 62
Chapter 62
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: Cadrel's True Face
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“Guhhh!”
Suddenly, blood erupted from Ariella’s mouth.
“Tower Lord!”
“Someone fetch a potion! Prepare emergency treatment!”
The already chaotic banquet hall grew even more uproarious.
Now they had to worry not just about the three trapped in the mental world, but the Tower Lord’s well-being too.
“Master, are you alright?”
“Don’t worry. It’s nothing serious.”
Ariella wiped the blood from her mouth and waved her hand dismissively. Ezekiel let out a hollow chuckle at the sight.
[What, having fun?]
[It’s… a rather novel experience.]
Even amid all this, Ariella was smiling.
Ezekiel knew what that smile meant. Curiosity about the disciple who had caused this mess.
[Did I go too far?]
Damian’s telepathic message rang out.
That alone showed the influence he now wielded in the mental world.
[It’s been decades since I last bled. Thanks to you, I remembered I’m just human after all.]
[I apologize. It wasn’t easy for me to control either.]
[I can understand shaking up my mental world, but how are you even ‘dominating’ it?]
Ariella maintained the mental world, yet Damian was the one controlling it now.
It made no sense.
Even Ariella couldn’t fully exert her influence over it anymore. She was pouring all her strength into preventing the destruction within.
[Just observe the structure breaking down and reforming… and it becomes easy to see how to handle it.]
His understanding of the mental world had more than doubled since Ariella’s explanations.
He had felt the world shattering and rebuilding with his own body.
What Damian did next was simple. He injected a bit of mana into the core structure. Barely even qualifying as magic—a basic mana manipulation.
[It all comes down to the eye for it, huh. Guess I’ll have to apologize to your master later.]
It had been a day full of shocks.
She had realized that her supposedly perfect mental world had unexpected vulnerabilities from within.
But she was still pleased.
Even though she was already deemed at her peak, this meant she still had room to grow.
[Is this the result of the plan you had in mind?]
[One of the possibilities. And honestly, the best outcome.]
Even with Dennis as guardian, she hadn’t expected him to subdue the Tower Physician alone.
In a worst-case scenario, she had planned to use the Book of Hell, but thankfully it hadn’t come to that.
“This is what happened.”
Damian explained the situation to Dennis as well.
After securing control, they moved straight to the battlefield and crushed Cadrel instantly.
The mental world itself turned hostile toward Cadrel. He scattered without even leaving a proper form behind.
“To deceive the enemy, you first deceived your allies.”
Dennis hadn’t even considered Damian’s support.
So he had fought Cadrel with full force, and Cadrel hadn’t factored in Damian at all.
“But what about the memories leaking out?”
“Still needs some work.”
Cadrel’s mind seemed gone, but remnants lingered in this space.
They would extract those memories and expose his crimes.
“That part about my memories leaking was a ruse too. To make me fight even harder.”
That… Damian couldn’t guarantee either way.
[Ariella seems eager to reveal it herself anyway.]
Dennis thought he had to hide it for his master’s sake, but it felt like Ariella was hiding it to spare Dennis the burden.
“All set. Let’s see what filthy deeds this bastard’s been up to.”
The hazy projection revealed Cadrel’s crimes in detail.
Not only had he stolen other mages’ research, but he’d smuggled items exclusive to the Tower out to the outside world.
He had even kidnapped homeless people and the disabled for illegal experiments.
-Kyaaaah!!
-Please, spare me! Spare me!!
The scenes of blood and screams gnawed at the viewers’ sanity.
But the most crucial part came right after.
-I-Is implanting this chip really all it takes, Physician Cadrel?
-Do I have to explain it twice?
It was the trio from the Tower who had ambushed Damian: Kell, Max, and Lena.
-This is my latest research, not yet announced. It transplants a chimera’s life pattern. It’ll dramatically boost your mana control.
That was why he’d needed chimeras recently.
And the means? The triangular magic tool Dennis had shown last time.
-But the stability is still…
-Do we have time to worry about that? You all know it—the Tower’s facing an unprecedented crisis.
Cadrel in the projection looked gravely serious. He slammed the desk, making the trio flinch.
-The Tower’s values are freedom and equality. Do we really have to watch those noble scum flaunt their bloodlines here too?
He avoided naming them outright as a precaution, but he meant Boris, Erewin, and Rubia.
[What a load of crap.]
He’d incited the young mages like that, only to side with the orthodox faction himself. A cold-blooded opportunist who cared for nothing but his own gain.
The next scene: Cadrel watched the trio being dragged away via a crystal orb.
-Tsk. Useless trash.
He manipulated another magic tool, and Max’s body glitched, lunging at Damian.
But Boris and Erewin’s attacks rendered it futile.
-Pawns without even that much value. I need far more chaos than this.
Cadrel shook his head. It hadn’t specifically targeted Damian.
Just chaos.
For reasons unknown, Cadrel wanted massive turmoil in the Tower.
From that perspective, Ariella’s disappearance might even have been his doing. Nothing created chaos like the Tower Lord vanishing.
But Damian didn’t think expelling Cadrel alone would solve everything.
[There’s definitely someone behind him.]
With that, the projection ended, and Damian and Dennis exited the mental world.
They’d dragged Cadrel out too, but the shock had left him unconscious still.
“What is this…?”
“What the hell was that footage?”
“Ugh, blegh!!”
The banquet hall was pure pandemonium.
Veteran mages, including the physicians, exchanged panicked glances, while the young ones retched at Cadrel’s atrocities.
“Koooh. Koooh.”
Agnes’s face alone remained serene, passed out drunk.
“D-Damian!!”
Erewin wore a deeply worried expression.
With Agnes asleep, she could approach Damian freely.
But Damian raised a hand to stop her. Explaining the situation came first.
“Wh-What were those videos just now, Sir Damian? A-Are they all real?”
One Tower physician stared in horror. They’d only seen the footage, not the context.
“First, I’ll explain what happened in the mental world.”
Damian cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Physician Cadrel attacked us.”
Ha. Dennis shook his head in disbelief. Ezekiel wore the same expression.
Only Ariella covered her mouth, chuckling softly.
“Then… the Tower Lord spitting blood just now?”
“Cadrel’s doing, no doubt.”
Cadrel had tried destroying the mental world and attacking Damian and Dennis. But in the end, they’d subdued him.
“It’s more Sir Damian’s achievement than mine. I’d have been done for without him.”
The banquet hall filled with even greater shock. Cadrel might be younger, but he was still a Tower physician.
A rookie who’d entered the Tower just over a month ago had taken him down.
Even with the guardian’s help, Dennis himself admitted Damian’s contribution was greater.
Everyone knew Dennis’s character. He wasn’t the type to butter someone up.
[You didn’t have to say that.]
[I’m not like some people—I can’t lie easily.]
Dennis shrugged. But the wariness in his expression toward Damian had softened considerably.
“What about that footage?”
“No idea. The mental world is a mystical spell only the Tower Lord can wield.”
Damian’s gaze swept over the assembled crowd, closely observing their reactions.
“But it’s reason enough to investigate.”
They couldn’t expel Cadrel today. As a physician, he required due process.
But Damian had set the guardians in motion. The rest could be left to Dennis.
Most mages nodded in agreement.
A few looked uneasy, though. Some even sighed in relief.
[I checked the memories you sent. Heh. Quite a few physicians up to no good.]
Damian hadn’t revealed all of Cadrel’s memories. Those involving other mages, he’d sent only to Ariella.
Trying to settle it all at once could backfire.
He’d already identified everyone plotting the Tower’s chaos. Now he just needed to hunt them down one by one, patiently.
“But…”
Damian trailed off, drawing all eyes. After today’s events, he’d earned that spotlight.
“So who’s the winner?”
The tension deflated from the room. In this mess, the Tear of Eternity hardly mattered.
But to Damian, it was crucial.
He needed the Tear to gain knowledge from Gremory. With it, he could craft a magic tool mimicking black magic—Absorption.
“Ha. Fine… Sir Damian wins.”
Dennis shook his head.
Cadrel was out automatically, and Dennis forfeited, so the Tear went to Damian.
Grab. Then someone seized Damian’s wrist.
“You damned illegitimate bastard…”
It was Cadrel, whom they’d thought unconscious. He clutched Dennis’s wrist too.
“You think I’ll just end like this?!”
With his shout, light burst from Cadrel’s mouth. It took a moment for vision to clear.
“Where…?”
But the scene after the flash wasn’t the banquet hall.
A sticky floor, the sound of dripping water. A high ceiling, a vast cavern. And the characteristic stench.
“No way, the sewers? Ugh!!”
Black blood poured from Damian’s mouth, from the sewer filth. Dennis grimaced in pain beside him.
No gas masks now. The toxins gnawed at their bodies.
Whoosh. Damian scorched the surroundings with Hellfire. Pollutants and warped mana vanished in green flames.
Breathing eased. Dennis deployed mana for a safe zone. But it was temporary—couldn’t last long.
Battles in the mental world affected reality. Neither Damian nor Dennis was at full strength.
“How did this happen?”
“Cadrel must’ve pulled something.”
They’d let their guard down. No one expected this desperation over facing an investigation.
“Ha. Never thought trash like you would ruin my plans.”
Cadrel’s voice echoed from the darkness right on cue.
“While we’re at it, tell me this: Cadrel, what’s your real goal?”
“Goal? Asking a Tower mage his goal? Isn’t it obvious?”
Truth.
No lie tainted Cadrel’s voice.
“Truth? And your way of pursuing it is experimenting on people and inciting young mages?”
“I don’t expect vermin like you to understand. Truth is reached only by walking a path tended with blood. Nothing is gained without sacrifice.”
“Save your shitty philosophy for prison.”
Fleeing was as good as confessing to the crimes in the footage.
The Tower was likely launching a massive search right now.
Even deep in the sewers, with a spatial magic expert like Ezekiel, they’d pinpoint the location soon.
Damian and Dennis just needed to hold out. Cadrel’s doom was sealed.
“Puhahaha. Not sure you’ll have time for that. The mental world’s collapse gave me tremendous inspiration.”
Step. Footsteps echoed from the dark. But the figure that emerged left both Damian and Dennis stunned.
“What the…?”
Crimson-black skin like he was drenched in blood. His lower body was that of a shaggy goat.
Massive horns crowned his head, and his eyes had inverted whites and blacks.
“Physician Cadrel… what is that form?”
“A step toward truth, I suppose. Heh heh heh. Never dreamed Ariella’s mental world would grant such enlightenment. All thanks to you, you wretched illegitimate spawn.”
Yellow drool dripped from Cadrel’s maw. His fangs weren’t human either.
But Damian wasn’t shocked by the appearance. It was the power emanating from it.
[Hmm… this is, truly.]
[Remarkable.]
[Oh my.]
[To think this is possible.]
[Heh heh. Witnessing something like this—makes long life worthwhile.]
The demon lords contracted to Damian chimed in one by one. Power special enough to provoke them.
[That power…]
It stemmed unmistakably from Hell.