Chapter 112: Archmage Dalstream (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 112: Archmage Dalstream (2)
The night Teramond was murdered.
Maria met the White Lion in her room and wept.
Her fragile heart, that of an ordinary general store owner from the countryside, was already exhausted.
The White Lion held her.
“What you did was an execution of justice. Not a simple murder.”
The devil’s wickedness is born of his tenderness. Sweet logic flowed from the lion’s mouth like a stream.
“Maria.
No human in this world ever calls themselves just.
They only point fingers at others, accusing them, ‘That one is evil.’
That is how ordinary people acquire a sense of justice.
Becoming a socially just person is simple.
All you have to do is condemn those who have done wrong, caused controversy, are morally flawed, or have been caught up in scandal.
By pointing a finger at a scoundrel, you place yourself in a relatively righteous position.
That is how all humans live. It is human nature.
That’s why humans are not tolerant of others’ mistakes. Humans are justice addicts. But at the same time, they are cowards.
It is the fate of humanity to suffer in the dilemma of these two incompatible concepts.
When they hide and gossip with like-minded people about someone’s faults, they aren’t criticizing out of a true sense of justice.
They are simply enjoying the small moral superiority they gain from it, finding stability in that feeling.”
The White Lion anchored her broken heart, making it firm.
“But Maria, you took a risk and stepped forward yourself. That was true justice.
You were so brave.
While social justice is simple, pursuing absolute justice is exceedingly difficult.
Righteous deeds always require a great price and immense effort. That is because human nature is virtueless.
Think of that psychopath who murdered the adoptive parents who had shown him grace.
Look at the courts and the Magic University of Sohen, which valued his abilities so highly that they arbitrarily forgave him and accepted him back into society.
To fight against such vile, wicked laws and fascistic order, justice uses courage as its fuel.
Courage is the certified check of justice.
The reason you tremble is because you were afraid, and the reason you did it anyway is because you were brave.
That courage proves that what you committed was not a simple murder, but an execution of justice.
So, Maria, you don’t have to doubt yourself.
You are a much more wonderful person than you think.”
And so, perhaps.
“Your parents would be proud of you, too.”
The lion’s logic was sweet.
So sweet that Maria had no choice but to accept it.
And the lion’s logic was cruel.
Leaving her with no way out.
“But you made a mistake. You bumped into an elf. You will be tracked.”
Resting her head on his soft, thick mane, Maria felt her life gradually sinking into a hellish swamp.
“You will be caught and executed in Sohen.”
“…”
“If you’re going to be caught anyway, let’s put on a heroic display. Show your courage one more time. Announce your message to the world. Teach them that Sohen is wrong.”
“…”
“There is someone just like Teramond. He, too, committed murder and became a slave. But that wicked murderer is now the most beloved student at the Magic University.”
The demon produced a Corpse Explosion Scroll from his palm and handed it to her.
“Kill him.”
*
Inside the massive, spherical Ethereal Lake floating in the air.
The White Lion scratched the nape of his neck with his index fingernail, looking down.
“This is a little different than I thought.”
The club hadn’t exploded.
There was no act of terror for Blackdog to clean up.
None of the constables were hurt, and the wizards didn’t need to waste time mourning the death of a brilliant student.
They were all moving as one to deal with the Labyrinth Eruption.
“I thought the club would explode.”
To the White Lion, who had lived for countless ages, all mortals were like children.
Just as an adult can easily see through a child’s innocent heart, the White Lion was confident in his ability to see through the minds of humans.
And in manipulating them.
He had thought that by pushing Maria into the club and creating a situation where the constables surrounded her and caused a commotion, she would panic and set off the explosion. A powder keg like that only needed a single match to ignite.
What was even more surprising was…
“They’re too fast.”
It was as if they had known about the White Lion’s attack in advance.
They had raced from Blackdog to here at incredible speed, and the Consul had already entered the Public Security Headquarters.
“Not everything can go your way,” Professor Dalstream said.
“Attacking me today was also a reckless move. The Deep Layer adventurers are already gathering. You will be caught.”
“I think not.”
The corners of the lion’s mouth curled up gently.
“I will kill you and escape. Then I will melt back into Sohen. No one will be able to find m—”
The White Lion suddenly found himself unable to breathe.
Water pressure…?
The Ethereal Lake looked like sapphire-colored water, but one could breathe and speak inside it.
But now, the White Lion couldn’t make a sound. He couldn’t even breathe.
It’s the pressure.
Imagine someone holding a hose connected to the air outside in their mouth and diving deep into the water.
Since they can inhale and exhale the outside air through the hose, would they have no problem breathing?
No. That person would eventually suffocate underwater.
Because of the water pressure.
Deep underwater, the weight of the water physically compresses the chest, pressing on the lungs and preventing them from expanding.
So even if you try to breathe oxygen through the hose, you can’t take a proper breath.
Dalstream’s magic was exactly the same.
“Crush.”
The old professor’s left hand, focused on the Ethereal Lake, clenched into a tight fist.
Even for that most alien of monsters from the floor-villages, it was difficult to stay upright when tons of water pressure were applied.
Inside the Ethereal Lake, the caster was like a miniature Wizus.
No matter the opponent, it was not easy for an Archmage to be defeated in this space.
*
“This way, Back Attack!”
I was heading back to the annex behind the Public Security Headquarters with Back Attack.
The headquarters was in chaos, inside and out. In the main building, the Consul and the constables were chasing out the monsters that had gotten inside. In the plaza outside, high-floor monsters were battling professors, university assistant instructors, Krom, Blackdog, and some of the constables.
What about Aimus and Yernil?
They were most likely inside the main building.
I would pass through the wreckage of the annex and enter through the main building’s back door.
All I needed was a small opening.
Shadow Leap!
I leaped inside with Back Attack.
“Yernil!”
“Caleb!”
“Hyung-nim!”
“Oh! You two are safe!”
Monsters raised by Professor Hailey’s necromancy were fighting other monsters.
The main building was more or less being brought under control. The Consul’s participation was more than just adding one more Deep Layer powerhouse to the fight; I could feel the morale of the entire Public Security Headquarters soaring.
“Caleb!” Professor Hailey shouted, holding her staff like a rifle and firing a continuous stream of lasers.
“Get outside! We have to go out and protect Professor Dalstream!”
I understood her reasoning.
“The magic Professor Dalstream is using right now is the Ethereal Lake, in the form of a spherical prison.”
Professor Hailey kindly explained, but I already knew.
The owner of an Ethereal Lake could cast several types of attacks, and that one had the most powerful single-target suppression ability.
The form of a spherical prison.
In game terms, the target enters a ‘Suppressed’ state. As time passes, the water concentrates on the target, gradually increasing the pressure.
After one turn, two more status effects are added. If this were a game, right about now, above the White Lion’s head…
[Suppressed]
[Suffocating]
[Silenced]
…messages like these would be floating there.
In a suppressed state, you only get one action point per turn, and your speed is so reduced that it’s extremely difficult to move.
On top of that, the silence prevents you from chanting, and after three turns, the suffocation starts dealing damage every turn.
That damage isn't a fixed value; it's a certain percentage of the target's total health, which is why even boss monsters with incredible durability can be brought to the brink of death in an instant.
“But if he’s attacked from the outside, his concentration will break!” Hailey shouted.
That was true.
In the game, whenever I used that spell, I did everything I could to have my party members protect the wizard.
The monsters, meanwhile, would go crazy trying to touch my wizard to break their concentration.
“We need to go outside and stop the monsters from sniping Professor Dalstream…”
“Aimus! Help me out!”
I rushed back out through the broken rear entrance with Aimus and Yernil.
Professor Hailey’s thinking was usually correct.
But not now. There was no time to explain, nor was there an easy solution.
Dalstream can’t beat the White Lion inside the lake.
Because of that monster’s ridiculous ability, and the single action point he gets while suppressed.
*
The monsters inside and outside the headquarters weren’t targeting Dalstream.
Even though it would have made sense for them to try and snipe him to free the White Lion.
So that’s why.
Now Dalstream understood the reason.
“What kind of magic is that…?”
How mysterious.
Even Dalstream, who had studied magic for so long, still had things to learn.
“To think that’s possible…”
The White Lion pulled a scroll from the palm of his hand.
Magic that summoned scrolls? Dalstream had never even heard of such a thing.
Tap.
The White Lion smiled and tapped his own throat with a finger.
It meant he couldn’t speak.
So even if he wanted to explain the nature of the magic show he had just performed, he couldn’t.
Instead, he revealed the scroll’s identity by showing its front to Dalstream.
[Summon Lord of the Spirit Tower]
“Haha…”
The old professor let out a small sigh.
The scroll contained Tier 8 magic.
As an Archmage, he was certain that none of Sohen’s professors could even dream of creating such a thing.
That was a ‘Labyrinth Product.’
And a very rare one at that, something that could only be obtained from a treasure room deep within the high floors.
Riiip.
The scroll was torn.
A warrior of brilliant emerald color materialized inside the spherical prison.
The Lord of the Spirit Tower’s movements were not restricted within the lake.
After all, the Ethereal Galaxy was his home.
“Wizus, you’ve gone too far.”
Even a 3rd-floor monster like a Frost Hunter could use Tier 1 magic like Ice Spike. Labyrinth monsters had always been able to use magic originating from the memory books.
Dalstream knew that, of course, but wasn’t this too much?
Wasn’t the ‘Book of Hegemony’ a part of Wizus’s power, manifested on the surface world?
Swoooosh!
The Lord of the Spirit Tower, a native of the galaxy, was now far faster than when he ran on two legs on the ground. Summoning the lake had backfired.
Even an Archmage had no way of predicting such a situation.
Even if he had trapped Isilof in here, Isilof would have been silenced and unable to summon the Lord of the Tower.
The very idea that someone could pull out such an absurd scroll was beyond the realm of common sense.
Therefore, it seemed inevitable that the greatsword of the Lord of the Tower would pierce through Dalstream…
Fwoosh!
Suddenly, something flew in front of Dalstream.
It was a person, thrown from the ground.
“Ca… Caleb?”
The mid-floor wizard was wearing an electrostatic coat, charged with lightning to its highest level.
And in his hands, the wizard held a bundle of Corpse Explosion Scrolls.
The sword of the Lord of the Spirit Tower stopped just before his chest.