Orthes wiped one side of the scales with his sleeve. As the dust cleared, the golden plate underneath regained its luster.
The blue eyes reflected on the golden scales.
After staring at the scales for a moment, Orthes tucked them into his coat. It couldn’t physically fit in the inner pocket of his jacket, but overcoming that was what magic was all about, right?
The jacket pocket, infused with magic power and space magic, was wider than it appeared.
A lamp clattered against the scales. Orthes dusted off his jacket, straightened his clothes, and surveyed the storage room.
“I was originally only interested in ancient relics, but…”
A secret storeroom that kept such suspicious items naturally housed other taboo things that shouldn’t be shown to others.
Illegal experiments, secret ledgers… records of banned items designated for the Ten Towers.
I eagerly searched the storage.
It was the final preparation to replace the head of the Amimone Tower.
*
The silver-plated warriors, Drakma, produced by Argyrion had impressive magical capability. No matter how strict the evaluation, they were several levels above the rookie mages just deployed in battle.
First of all, they didn’t hesitate to execute the commands given by their commander—whether it was engaging the enemy or providing cover. This was an essential quality for front-line soldiers.
However, Sprigo couldn’t fully utilize Drakma’s qualities.
It wasn’t that Sprigo was unfit as a commander, but rather that the mages from the Amimone Tower were doing everything they could to prevent cooperation with Sprigo while confronting Drakma.
As long as there was residual magic power, Drakma could recover endlessly; however, due to the special circumstances caused by the overflow from the extra-dimensional plane, the mages couldn’t easily defeat Drakma, but Drakma also couldn’t inflict fatal damage on the mages holding them captive.
That was the ability the mages of the Apex Towers possessed. As long as the dimensional overflow continued, if they were forced into a war of attrition to the very end, victory would tip in favor of Drakma, but how long that would take was anyone’s guess.
A decisive gamble had to be made.
Something moved beneath Sprigo’s bark-like skin, his wooden fibers shifting to transfer something stored between the fibers.
It was the Angel Transformation Potion used by Argyrion’s crew of Pluton Great Temple.
For a regular mage, using the Angel Transformation Potion would be a decision that locked them into a transformation that couldn’t be reversed. However, for Sprigo, the meaning of that irreversible choice felt light.
It wasn’t due to blind faith in the divine. The transcendence into an angel had a somewhat religious aspect; thus, a strong faith weighed even heavier.
Sprigo was already a mage who had transformed his physical body into plant components. He had already given up his original flesh once.
Thus, Sprigo quickly reached a decision, absorbing the potion into his body without hesitation. The potion spread along the bloodstream coursing through him.
Gorgopf and Danao watched as various parts of Sprigo’s body gradually turned silver.
“Huh?”
Gorgopf thought. Something felt a bit off? That elegant silver transformation was a characteristic of Argyrion’s Silver Thread Worms. Did Blasphemia and the Silver Iron Tower manage to replicate that?
Danao’s thought process was simple. Can’t let him transform.
Danao unhesitatingly tore off his left prosthetic arm. That prosthetic was storing countless solidified reagents. The poison water spell soaked his hand as the solidified reagents began to melt.
Then an indescribably terrible odor spread. A poison so potent it could dissolve lungs with mere inhalation. Following Danao’s gesture, his left hand shot towards Sprigo, whose body was turning silver.
As the reagents dissolved in the poison increased, the poison began to transform into new characteristics. It changed like a kaleidoscope, making it impossible for antibodies to react accordingly.
Sprigo solved this quite simply.
Underneath the silver-hued bark, root-like things burst forth in an explosive manner. It was an expansion that seemed as if all the muscle fibers in Sprigo’s body transformed into roots.
The extreme poison Danao had created immediately corroded and dissolved everything it touched, destroying it irreparably.
However, the physical amount of the poison could not keep up with Sprigo’s expanding size. Rooted in Algoth City, Sprigo swelled in size, drenched in extra-dimensional magic.
“The World Tree….”
Gorgopf muttered blankly. A legend often spoken of by the Elven race. A colossal tree of a transcendent size that could support the world.
Sprigo, now grown and rendered silver, resembled a gigantic tree reminiscent of the legendary World Tree. Its roots, trunk, and leaves all shined brilliantly, evoking a sense of the sacred.
“Truth and—The Divine!”
Greater confusion washed over Gorgopf. There was no reason to impersonate Argyrion at this stage.
“Let’s think. In a situation where there’s no reason to impersonate Argyrion, why would one declare themselves to be Argyrion…”
There was no reason. Yet if one claimed to be Argyrion, there could only be one reason.
“Is it the real Argyrion?”
What on earth could this mean? The guide who revealed the truth to him was meant to be within the Amimone Tower!
Sprigo felt an expanded sense. Every branch that extended from him, and each leaf that blossomed held his vision and hearing. He saw the two mages opposing him with hundreds, thousands of eyes.
Next to Danao, who wore a look of utter despair, he could see Gorgopf’s bewilderment, mixed with chaos and fear.
That expression was once an expression Sprigo himself bore when faced with opposition.
“Listen, Gorgopf. The true truth and grand divinity are with us.”
“I—impossible! That can’t be! I was clearly instructed by the guide!”
Hearing the conversation between Gorgopf and Sprigo, Danao steadied himself. He didn’t know what relation those two shared, but it was a relief that their world was lost in discussion and that an attack had yet to commence.
“The guide? No! What you met was not Argyrion’s guide!”
“Huh?”
Danao let out a confused exclamation. If Gorgopf had met someone, it could only be that Blasphemia agent.
“If that person claimed to be Argyrion’s guide in front of Gorgopf, then it means that Argyrion’s traitor is Gorgopf!”
The plan to use the Blasphemia agent as bait to draw out Argyrion’s traitor. If Gorgopf had fallen for that, then why did the agent try to make Gorgopf the acting head?
Danao’s survival instincts rapidly began to piece the puzzle together.
“In the most ideal scenario… it seems that agent has only just now discovered Gorgopf is the traitor. Thus, they quietly sent Gorgopf to the front lines to cause mutual annihilation with the real Argyrion.”
If the Blasphemia agent was also an Argyrion traitor, then there would have been no reason to create the situation where Sprigo and Gorgopf were fighting. The moment Gorgopf gained access to the Mage Tower Core as the acting head, Danao would have been at an even greater disadvantage.
Yet Danao felt an unexplainable sense of foreboding. That ‘agent’ seemed up to something more than just this.
“That can’t be! He promised me the position of head of Amimone!”
Despite being beside Danao, Gorgopf shouted in confusion. He had calculated that there was no need for extreme caution now that Danao had used the explosive poison from his secret weapon.
“Is that so? Haha. Can you really trust that person?”
“Of course, I—”
“Then why aren’t you continuing your attacks? Didn’t you feel that I am the true ally when you saw this sacred silver? So tell me, Gorgopf.”
Didn’t your instincts raise opposition unfathomably when you first met him?
At the same time, didn’t your heart feel drawn when you listened carefully…?
Ultimately, wasn’t everything that person said felt as truth!
Danao watched in relief as Gorgopf, unable to retort, looked wide-eyed in shock. It seemed clear that the Blasphemia agent had toyed with Argyrion multiple times while mocking them.
While a sense of relief blossomed within Danao, Gorgopf clutched his head.
Everything was just as Sprigo said. Trembling with doubt and confusion filling his mind, Gorgopf received Sprigo’s grim judgment.
“Have you ever heard that person’s name?”
“Name?”
“Have you ever heard them referred to by their true name, even once?”
Gorgopf racked his brain. However, his ‘guide’ had never revealed their name.
“That is our adversary. A devil that lurks within anonymity, toying with people. One without name or face.”
Gorgopf unconsciously turned to stare at the Amimone Tower.
In that moment, Danao realized he too had never heard that agent’s name.
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