Chapter 230: The Tin Knight and the Tower of Greed (10)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 230: The Tin Knight and the Tower of Greed (10)
“…Balascamb… has fallen.”
Though not a single enemy blade had been seen.
The atmosphere in the command center was as if the enemy had already breached the gates.
“From an altitude far beyond the reach of our attack magic, they summoned undead for the sole purpose of a mass-based attack. It appears they simply crushed the castle with them.”
“The high-ranking mages and numerous troops stationed at the main fortress were killed instantly, without a chance to fight back. The forces outside the fortress were thrown into chaos and annihilated in the ensuing attack. The rest have all surrendered and been taken prisoner.”
“That’s absurd! Necromancy is an art that uses existing corpses. To summon an undead large enough to crush a castle out of thin air, you would first need to summon a corpse of that size into the sky. How is that even possible?”
“Couldn’t they have used mana to inflate the undead’s size?”
“That’s just armchair theory. It might be a different story if hundreds of necromancers poured their mana in simultaneously. No, even then, they wouldn’t have enough mana.”
“Isn’t Gale Elilaz famous for her vast mana reserves? Perhaps she lent them her aid?”
“No, even with her, it’s impossible!”
“How they did it isn’t what’s important right now! We need to be discussing how to take it back!”
“The Tower of Protection is launching a major offensive! The front line is collapsing fast, and at this rate, our forward units will be completely devoured! We must retake Balascamb at once if we’re to save them!”
“Isn’t that what we’re trying to do by discussing how to retake it?! The enemy consists of monsters who flattened Balascamb in a single blow! If we don’t know their exact method of attack, they could use it on our reclamation force! How can you suggest we attack without even analyzing the enemy first?!”
“—All of you, be silent.”
At Teur’s quiet command, the men who had been shouting themselves hoarse, veins bulging in their necks, fell silent as one.
It was proof that Teur’s authority still held sway among his subordinates, but it was also a sign of how cornered they were, that they would unconsciously break into a heated argument in the presence of the tower’s royalty.
The cause was obvious.
Yes.
It was fear.
Even these men, the so-called elites of the Tower of Control who belonged to its command center, were terrified by the unfolding events.
Teur looked down at the map displaying the current state of the battlefield.
The territory once ruled by Control was steadily being occupied by the enemy.
In a way, it was to be expected.
Balascamb, a fortress as vital to the nation as the Magic Tower itself, had been breached in an instant, and with it, the high-ranking mages gathered from all over had been wiped out in one fell swoop.
Though there were still units maintaining their combat strength in various locations, they were like kites with their strings cut, now that the core base that supported them had vanished.
He had hastily recalled the ambush unit originally meant to strike the Tin Knight’s party to form a second line of defense, but the territory they managed to protect was only about half of what Control had originally ruled. In a battle that had lasted only a few days, they had lost half their country.
Teur looked back on his decisions.
‘Should I not have concentrated our forces?’
No. If he had done that, the Tin Knight’s party would have stirred up trouble everywhere, picking off the scattered bloodline members one by one.
‘Instead of splitting them between the Magic Tower and Balascamb, should I have gathered them all in one place?’
That, too, was impossible.
Leaving the Magic Tower, where the Tower Head and the Witch of the North resided, was out of the question. And Balascamb, the linchpin of the front line and a place of immense symbolic importance, was a land that could never be surrendered without a fight.
‘Was my response too slow?’
That wasn’t it either.
The moment Teur realized the Tin Knight’s party was systematically targeting the royal family, he had immediately mobilized his troops, even leaving the border with the Tower of Annihilation undefended.
The Tin Knight’s party had moved too quickly, so he had failed to complete the encirclement, but without that effort, even forming this second front line would have been impossible.
No matter how he thought about it, none of the moves he made, none of the decisions he’d taken, had been wrong.
That’s what made it all the more absurd.
The fact that the situation had become this dire even though he had done nothing wrong.
What tormented Teur even more was the fact that this wasn’t even the worst-case scenario.
‘That attack that annihilated Balascamb. If they can replicate it… this time, even this Magic Tower will be in danger.’
The defenses of Balascamb and the Magic Tower were nearly identical.
That meant an attack capable of destroying Balascamb in a single strike could also cause the Magic Tower to collapse in an instant.
Now that he knew the enemy’s methods, he could make some preparations by stationing spirits in the skies around the tower, but what if the air defense network he created was breached?
A cold sweat trickled down Teur’s spine.
He was by no means incompetent, but there were absurdities in the world that could not be solved by competence alone.
In a word…
“—You were simply outmatched.”
Clack. The sharp sound of shoes echoed through the room.
The mages of Control turned as one, their guards raised against the intruder who had appeared in a space that should have been sealed to outsiders. Upon recognizing the figure, they quickly prostrated themselves.
The Witch of the North.
And, having apparently recovered from his critical injuries, the gray old man stood there, his body whole once more.
“Tower Head. And Great Teacher.”
The Witch of the North clicked her tongue at the mages and repeated her words.
“You were outmatched, simply outmatched. They were far too much for children who still don’t know the ways of the world to handle.”
The witch’s words were less a reprimand and more a resignation, as if to say it couldn’t be helped since they were given an impossible task in the first place. But to these men, who had lived their entire lives as elites, it was more humiliating than any rash condemnation.
As the faces of the mages in the command center flushed with humiliation and shame, the gray old man approached Teur.
He gently patted Teur’s shoulder.
“You’ve worked hard. You fought well in my absence.”
Teur, who had braced himself for a stern rebuke, answered in a trembling voice, surprised by the old man’s gentle consolation.
“No, sir. I was entrusted to act as your deputy, yet I have made such a grave error. There is no way to atone for my sin…!”
“How can you call that your fault? It is all my own failing.”
“Tower Head!”
A look of bewilderment filled Teur’s eyes.
The gray old man’s attitude, as if he had let go of everything, made Teur anxious, fearing he had given up all hope.
But that feeling lasted only a moment.
Meeting the gray old man’s gaze, Teur saw the seething heat dormant in their depths and shuddered.
“Great Teacher. May I ask a favor of you?”
“Your words are polite, but their content is not. There can be no other disciple who leeches off his teacher as you do.”
“My apologies. But—you have no intention of running away, do you?”
At the gray old man’s words, a corner of Witch Mombi’s mouth curled upward.
“That’s right, of course. That magic doll. I can’t run away until I’ve paid him back for what he did to me.”
The evil witch asked the greedy old man, “So, what is it you want me to do?”
The greedy old man told the evil witch, “Lay waste to them. Whomever you wish, however you wish, as much as you wish.”
“The Magic State will become a chaotic mess, you know?”
“I do not care.”
At the gray old man’s reply, every mage in the room started in shock.
“Due to this unexpected difficulty, our forces have been greatly diminished. At this rate, even if things proceed as originally planned, it will be impossible to control the entire Magic State as we intended.”
“Therefore,” he added.
“Let’s just tear it all down. Let’s just trample it underfoot. Let’s just destroy it completely. Only then can we devour it all.”
It was not the desperation of someone giving up.
On the contrary, the old man was perfectly rational.
Just as he had been when he betrayed his own master.
To Mombi, there was no greater madness.
“—Very well. Don’t you regret it.”
And the evil witch found it very much to her liking.
Mombi casually walked to the window and leaped out.
Leaving Teur and the other mages in stunned silence, just before she reached the ground…
Wings sprouted from her back, and Mombi soared back into the sky.
Exactly one hour later.
The news that the Tower of Protection had been half-destroyed echoed throughout the entire Magic State.