Ortes’ perplexity was irrelevant; Niobe’s judgment was spot on. The false god trying to be born was an existence that could not be stopped with half-hearted determination to leave a mark on the Mage Tower’s foundation.
If Ortes had seized control over all the Blasphemia forces and dismantled the false god’s spell one by one, it might have been possible, but there was a lack of time and communication for that.
Ortes quickly grasped and acknowledged this fact.
‘Amimone Tower is….’
Service termination.
Ortes squeezed his eyes shut. Damn it. What should he say to Knemon?
‘Thinking about it, I did end up fulfilling the original request to erase the tower from the world. It came true as I said.’
Ortes didn’t see himself as a hand of a wish-granting monkey, but since Carisia’s invisible—truly invisible—hands had ruthlessly cast magic on the tower, he believed that was why things turned out this way.
Ortes, who smiled helplessly, looked down at the ground. It was a mixture of resignation and sorrow regarding Amimone Tower.
However, Nastion, observing the fairy tale linked to the biological entity, thought differently. That guy had never cared about ‘Amimone Tower’ from the start.
As soon as the signs of the fairy tale appeared, to mobilize such a strategic weapon to halt its growth and pour in all the reserve forces for an attack.
‘Did he know from the beginning?’
The last desperate idea from the mental biological entity was simple. He wanted to change the target of the fairy tale he would inhabit into the Mage Tower’s Mage Tower Core.
The Mage Tower Core installed in the tower was within the influence of the Ten Commandments. As long as the connection with the Ten Commandments was maintained, even a follower of superstition would not be able to grasp them. Therefore, if he could attempt infiltration just once without being detected, it could be a surprise attack against Ortes.
Fortunately, Nastion knew a route for a stealthy intrusion.
The traces of Sprigo, who had likely met his end after confronting Ortes.
Nastion realized through the remnants scattered throughout the city that Sprigo had used the Angel Transformation Potion. He would have rooted himself in the city as a silver giant. He must have absorbed the magic from the city’s magic conduit as nutrients using the powers of the Silver Threads.
Even though Panoptes had set about repairing the city facilities, there was too little time to examine every single underground facility in Algoth City.
Of course, there were alarm spells densely surrounding the magic conduits. But that was after Sprigo had taken control of the magic conduits and ensured that the Silver Threads would not be recognized as ‘foreign substances.’
Honoring the spirit of that unfortunate comrade, Nastion filled the Silver Threads merged Mage Tower Core with a mental biological entity and sent it flowing back into the magic conduit.
The mental biological entity rode the magic conduit back up and settled into the Mage Tower’s Mage Tower Core. Now, waiting for the fairy tale’s timing, if he could land a sudden strike against Ortes, who was pouring his spirit into the tower lord decision battle, the plan would be complete.
Nastion did not think that the guy would die easily, but at the very least, he could inflict a deep, hard-to-heal wound to restrict his activities.
This was the story when he had only calculated the surprise attack of the false god. If he aided from the shadows himself, the possibility of murder would certainly exist beyond permanent injury.
But what was this scene?
As soon as the fairy tale began, Ortes launched a surprise attack. Nastion couldn’t help but think of the ominous possibilities.
What if from the very start, Ortes had the certainty that he could hunt the false god?
The situation he dreaded the most wouldn’t be a showdown with the false god; it would be the scenario where the mental biological entity continued to expand its reserve terminals as a biological entity. Without a priest like Bacchus who specialized in mental manipulation, it would be impossible to eradicate the biological entities.
However, if he could concentrate all the minds into one for the fairy tale, it would lead to permanent silence with just one death.
A trap layered over an even bigger trap.
The situation had to be changed somehow.
He could see Ortes looking at the ground with a mocking smile. No, it wasn’t just looking at the ground.
Deep beneath the ground. He must be looking at the magic conduit that the mental biological entity had infiltrated.
Was he trying to analyze the intrusion route and backtrack to the position of Nastion, the mental biological entity’s aid?
If so, that was a poor choice. Nastion, who had pushed the merged Silver Threads Mage Tower Core into the magic conduit, had long since fled that position.
‘…No.’
In the past few days, the Divine Cult’s pursuit of him had lessened. At first, he thought it was due to the need for a reorganization period given that the consumption had exceeded the recovery amount of divine power from the demigod. Or perhaps it was preparation for unleashing even greater power.
Considering the time allocated to the cult and the nature of the ‘demigod,’ they would have accumulated enough divine power to use Holy Power above the Saint level.
To ensure that strength would not overwhelm Ortes in a tussle of might against the false god and to eliminate Nastion himself, the last remaining variable, with accumulated divine power.
Even as the situation turned desperate, the pursuers from the Divine Cult had not appeared to confront the false god. They had likely been placed as a reserve to ambush him to ensure their survival.
Nastion’s survival instincts accelerated. It seemed certain that Ortes had obtained the Blasphemia dispatched to Algoth City, but it was impossible for him to control all of Panoptes.
Disruption was not a tactic that only Ortes could employ.
*
Due to my employer, the construction site had changed categories from redevelopment to demolition. As I watched the underground facilities’ disarray, dizziness surged within me.
I could see traces of erosion here and there on the magic conduits. When I saw it elsewhere, I thought it was the result of Sprigo conducting a large-scale bioterror attack, so it didn’t mean much.
But now that I saw the biological entity nesting in the Mage Tower’s Mage Tower Core painting a surrealistic artwork on the tower as a canvas, I realized at once what role the poorly maintained magic conduits played in this commotion.
Damn it, those Argyrions. If they’re going to damage public facilities, they should fix them.
An invasion through the magic conduits. The conduits connected to the Mage Tower Core. And my eyes and spell overlay.
As I was calculating what I could do, I heard a roaring sound like it was shaking the earth from behind.
“Followers of superstition───!!”
Another chaos was added to the already sufficiently tumultuous center of Algoth City. Near Amimone Tower. The chaos originated from the lodging where Knemon and his sponsor, Hydra Corporation, along with the nominal employees of the Divine Cult, were staying.
That uproar was the origin.
Crossing the limits of what my eyes could see, a glimpse of a wizard launching flames and lightning toward the lodging flashed in my retina.
The wizard had no notable features. A tall figure clad in a robe, wielding a staff with several spell-engraved drive slots, resembling an average modern wizard.
Yet the information presented to my eyes wasn’t just that. The essence beneath the human mask was a seething black shadow-like form. They were not an ordinary human.
“…I’m going insane.”
There were allies to the mental biological entity.
*
What’s going on?
Nastion could not read emotions from Ortes’ gaze. It was squinting.
However, he could capture that Ortes turned toward this place with an unusual lack of composure. It must have been an unexpected ambush for him as well.
Ortes mobilized all the forces of Blasphemia he held and launched a preemptive strike against the false god. This was undoubtedly the right decision.
However, sometimes ‘the right decision’ could lead to being caught off-guard, just as he had opposed Haltos’s mobilization.
Nastion felt a long-lost sense of pride deep within himself.
As the biological entity continued to siphon the city’s magic to promote the fairy tale, even the barrier of the tower lord decision battle collapsed. The other Panoptes operatives who Ortes had kept excluded as supervisors of the trial could now move.
In addition to the Panoptes operatives, the participants who had been taking the trial also began to move to punish the Divine Cult. Now that the trial had turned futile, they must have deemed that accumulating points by punishing those who violated the order of the Ten Towers would be beneficial.
If they couldn’t eliminate Ortes through the false god, then they had to execute the most efficient attack while the false god stalled for time.
Nastion knew well that the most ‘efficient’ attack wouldn’t be directed at Ortes himself but rather at his forces.
If the collusion between Hydra Corporation and the Divine Cult were revealed openly here, Ortes himself would become an enemy of the Ten Towers.
As Nastion prepared the next spell to stage the battle, a clear voice and an uncharacteristically harsh word reached his ear simultaneously.
“That bastard! That bastard is a pure evil bastard!”
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