Chapter 231: The Tin Knight and The Witch of Heaven's Change
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 231: The Tin Knight and The Witch of Heaven's Change
Turning back the clock, to the time when news of Balascamb’s fall had just spread to the lowest ranks of the Tower of Protection.
As if to prove that the world’s happiness and misfortune were a zero-sum game, the atmosphere in the Tower of Protection was nothing short of a festival.
“Hah, she’s a real monster. Seriously, how did she conquer that fortress?”
“They say she’s the Witch of the East’s star pupil. And with Lady Gale there too, is there anything they can’t do?”
“Lady Gale? La~dy? Oh, listen to you. Weren’t you the one who was just gossiping about how she was a disgrace to the tower, always playing with her dolls? What’s with the sudden change of heart?”
“Ahem! Don’t say things people might misunderstand! I’ve always respected her, you know?”
In truth, at the beginning of the war, the morale of the Tower of Protection had been near rock bottom.
Only the highest echelons of the four magic towers and her direct disciple, Gale, knew the truth about Orin and Mombi. To the ordinary mages who were unaware of the details, the situation was utterly absurd.
The Witch of the North, whom they had served so diligently, had suddenly betrayed them to join Control. Then, out of nowhere, they were branded by those around them as ‘wicked fiends who tried to use the great teacher of the Magic State as a puppet.’
They were in a position where their heads would roll if they didn’t fight, so they had simply been swept up by the atmosphere. Their participation could hardly be called proactive, and to make matters worse, the war had been going terribly.
On top of that, spies from Control were subtly spreading suspicion about the tower’s leadership and discontent with the war. It would have been stranger if morale had been high under such circumstances.
If not for the respect the mages had for Tower Head Hermina, the Tower of Protection might have crumbled without ever putting up a proper fight.
But now, the situation had changed.
The grim tide of war had been reversed in an instant. Their enemies had been defeated with almost anticlimactic ease, and they had seized about half the land, capturing various strategic points that Control had once held.
Of course, enemy troops still remained within the captured territory, but now that they were cut off from their main base, the tower, their only options were to be surrounded and slowly wither away or to surrender.
Even if it was a fight they had been swept into without fully understanding, victory was a sweet and joyous thing.
If Control were to fall like this, the rewards for the Tower of Protection would be immense.
Perhaps they were intoxicated by such a sweet future.
It was relatively late when the gatekeepers guarding the tower’s main entrance noticed the visitor who had appeared before them.
“Hello, everyone. You’re all working hard.”
A white magician’s outfit. Blonde hair and blue eyes. A top hat and a staff.
Though her appearance was that of a perfect young lady, her demeanor held an intriguing blend of coolness and casualness.
It was Gale Elilaz, one of the most famous figures in the entire Magic State.
The mages on guard duty, who had been chatting idly, immediately straightened their backs.
“Lady Gale! Welcome!”
“We heard you were at the front lines…”
“I have an urgent matter to discuss with the Tower Head, so I returned alone for a moment.”
Gale approached the main gate without a hint of hesitation.
Swoosh.
The magic dolls standing by near the gate moved in unison to block her path.
“Oh, my.”
“Ah, ah, my apologies. Please wait just a moment.”
As Gale stopped with a surprised look, one of the gatekeepers panicked and ordered the magic dolls to stand down.
This was one of the reasons the mages could afford to chat so idly.
It was nothing special for a mage to use a familiar to cover their weaknesses, but the Tower of Protection, which specialized in crafting magic tools, had reached a level where they could form and operate entire units composed solely of magic dolls and golems.
The reason Gale had been criticized in the first place was that she had poured money into her White Knight with the sole purpose of achieving high specs, completely ignoring cost-effectiveness, and had even bowed her head to other factions to gather technology to strengthen it. Otherwise, using magic dolls as conventional weapons was something other mages did as well.
The gatekeepers didn’t need to be on high alert and constantly scan their surroundings, because the dolls did all the actual guarding for them.
Once the magic doll unit cleared a path on command, Gale strode through their ranks with a confident gait.
The main gate protecting the Tower of Protection was a massive, heavy iron door that ordinary people wouldn’t even dream of opening. A different mage, not the one controlling the dolls, gave an order to a giant golem standing beside the gate, and the golem moved to open it.
“Thank you, everyone. Keep up the good work.”
After a graceful and stylish farewell, Gale entered the tower with her head held high.
With the war in full swing, the inside of the tower was quite crowded and noisy.
Some mages greeted Gale, while others shot furtive glances from a distance, but no one blocked her path.
And so, she reached the 7th floor.
The stairs leading to the 8th floor were heavily sealed with various kinds of magic barriers. The mage guarding them showed a look of puzzlement upon seeing Gale’s face.
“Gale Elilaz. What are you doing here?”
“I have an urgent matter to report to the Tower Head.”
“I received no prior notice.”
“It’s a sensitive matter that would be dangerous if it leaked, so I returned alone in secret.”
“…Wait a moment.”
The mage, with a cautious expression, approached the wall and manipulated a magic tool that looked like a black glass panel.
A moment later, the panel lit up, and the Tower Head’s face appeared on its surface.
《What is it?》
“Gale Elilaz is here and says she has something to report to you, Tower Head. Should I let her up?”
《Gale?》
The Tower Head’s gaze in the glass panel turned to Gale.
Gale offered a graceful greeting and spoke.
“Hello, Tower Head. I have something to discuss with you in private regarding our next operation. Could you spare a moment?”
《Hmm, can’t you send it via a message spell like last time?》
“I’m afraid the contents are too dangerous to risk being leaked.”
Gale replied calmly, and the Tower Head nodded.
《I see. I’ll hear it. Pim, open the barriers up to the 9th floor. My room on the 10th floor is so layered with defensive magic right now that dispelling it is a major task. Let’s meet on the 9th floor.》
“Understood.”
The mage called Pim nodded nonchalantly and manipulated the black glass panel again.
The barrier to the 8th floor was released, and Gale began to climb the stairs once more.
It was the moment she reached the landing between the 7th and 8th floors.
—BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!
—Intruder detected, intruder detected! All personnel, assume combat positions!
—The enemy is currently isolated between the 7th and 8th floors!
Gale’s steps came to an abrupt halt.
She looked at the barrier that had trapped her like an iron cage descending from above. A dry sneer formed on the face of Gale Elilaz.
Or rather, on the face of the witch Mombi.
“—How did you know?”
《It was a simple leading question. Though I have no obligation to give you the details.》
“No, I can guess. I see, you don’t use message spells? Or perhaps you ordered them to suspect anyone who arrives without an appointment, or that a specific keyword must be used during conversation.”
《…….》
“Tsk, so you won’t give away any unnecessary information. Wise, but no fun.”
After speaking, Mombi reverted to her true form.
However, it was not the alluring adult woman she had shown when fighting the Tin Knight, but the form of the ‘witch Orin.’
The atmosphere around the Tower of Protection’s head, Hermina, became tinged with fury.
“This is a gift, and a bit of mischief, for you who are so wise and cautious. I shall face you in this form.”
Hermina’s voice was no longer heard.
But as if in answer, a tremendous torrent of flames erupted from the stairs above and below.
Even in the face of heat that could melt a steel sword without a trace, Mombi was unperturbed.
The gray old man had said that Orin and Mombi shared memories, but that guess was only half-right.
It wasn’t that she couldn’t read them at all, but parts were missing.
The same was true for their skills.
Mombi could not fully wield the magic of Orin, an enchanter specialized in protecting things.
But a portion of those skills…
Not the techniques for protecting others or casting massive barriers, but the magic for protecting only her own body—that, she had already mastered perfectly.
The defensive magic that had once been chipped away by the Tin Knight had long since been restored. To one of the Four Great Witches, heat of this level was nothing more than a warm breeze.
Mombi extended her right hand to the side. The instant her fingertips transformed into a blade, she swung her arm with all her might.
CRACK!
The resistance was fierce.
No matter how she altered her body’s structure to be like a blade, its base was still human flesh.
Slicing through an ordinary stone tower might be possible, but cutting through a tower plastered with all manner of defensive magic was impossible.
But.
Now, with Orin’s defensive magic creating a ‘body that cannot be damaged by external pressure,’ things were different.
SLICE!
The barrier blocking her path, and indeed the entire tower, was sliced clean through at an angle.
RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE.
With a deafening roar, the upper section of the tower slid off and crashed to the ground.
As the ceiling that had blocked her view vanished, revealing the blue sky, the wicked witch burst into laughter.
She leaped straight down toward the ground.
Magic dolls swarmed toward her.
As expected of a tower reputed to have the continent’s best technology in magic dolls, the quality of the dolls was extremely high.
Moreover, their power, enhanced by the enchanters’ unique skills, was incomparable to that of any ordinary order of knights.
“Pathetic. As I thought, he was the strange one.”
But the Witch of the North remained composed before the storm of incoming spears and blades.
She dodged only the attacks that obscured her vision, taking most of the blows with her bare body, yet not a single scratch appeared on Mombi’s skin.
Ignoring the magic dolls, which were a waste of mana to attack, Mombi dashed toward the mages in the rear.
The mages each cast defensive spells or fled backward, trying to buy time until the dolls could return, but Mombi’s fingertips made contact with one of them.
The mage’s body swelled up like a balloon and, in the next instant, exploded.
Just as terror from the gruesome sight was about to spread, the Tower Head, who had escaped from the fallen upper floors, shouted.
“Avoid contact! And even if you are touched, if you calmly control the mana in your body, you can prevent the forced transformation!”
Mombi smirked.
The theory itself was indeed correct.
The principle behind Mombi’s instant-kill technique was to inject her own mana into another’s body, then manipulate it along with their existing mana to ‘make the target use transformation magic on themselves.’
But.
“Just as I’d expect from technicians, not fighters. You’re as good at armchair theorizing as scholars.”
POW.
POW!
POOOOW!
Among the mages who came into contact with Mombi, only a handful of 4th rank or higher mages could actually execute that maneuver.
And even those few mages made little difference.
Being able to freely change one’s body with transformation magic also meant one could make their body as strong as they wished.
Those who managed to resist the mana and avoid instant death by physical transformation simply offered up their lives to the physical might of Mombi, who, despite her appearance as a young girl, displayed monstrous strength and speed.
Their attacks were completely ineffective, while their opponent’s attacks presented a brutal choice between instant death and a fatal wound.
The same sense of absurdity that the Tower of Control had tasted against the Tin Knight’s party was now being unleashed upon the Tower of Protection.
In the end, Hermina had to make a decision.
“All units, retreat!! Everyone, run!”
“But, Tower Head! How can we abandon the tower…!”
“Even if we go, you must come with us, Tower Head!”
“Our people are more important! Just go, hurry!”
With that, Hermina unleashed a barrage of enhancement magic on all the golems and magic dolls on the battlefield.
Proving that the title of Tower Head was not just for show, Hermina fought with dazzling effort, but the Four Great Witches were in a league far above.
Despite using every magic doll, golem, various magic tools, and barriers that protected the tower, she failed to completely pin Mombi down, and casualties mounted.
Soon, after the battle was over.
Instead of killing Hermina and her high-ranking inner circle, Mombi turned them into plants, stuffed them into a sack, and leisurely spread her wings to fly away.