─Cease the attack. This is a warning. Stop the attack immediately.
“What if I don’t?”
─Stop the attack right now…
Kwahrrk!!
The Orb of Fire filled with hellfire instantly devours the Sentinel.
The sand-made Sentinel hardens in an instant, and soon it completely ignites and scatters into ash.
One remaining Sentinel raises its spear and charges, but the outcome is the same.
“Ugh…”
“I, I don’t know anything!”
The two Guild Masters, who nearly got burned, flee in panic, while the real Neris clicks her tongue and steps into the Outer Fortress.
“Such cowards.”
“What do you plan to do?”
“Is Baldy not coming?”
“Now that we’ve come this far, we should at least find out what’s going on. Plus…”
“Plus?”
The Sentinels that turn to ash and scatter.
It’s clear it’s not related to any disaster since no special message popped up.
But they definitely said they were controlling disasters, so there must be some connection.
“I agree that it’s strange. We need to investigate further.”
“Alright. But first, let’s do a test.”
“A test, you say?”
“You said it was definitely weird earlier.”
Neris’s staff gathers magical power once again.
This time, an orb of fire much larger than a person rises up.
I didn’t notice it while using defensive magic, but the power itself is definitely different from what I usually use.
“You’ve gotten stronger.”
“Yeah. Unnaturally so.”
Now, she raises blue magical power.
Master of the Magic Tower Neris is a color mage.
Unlike other mages who are limited to one or two attributes, she can learn and use any magic due to her multi-attribute trait.
Chukchuk…!
A tiny ice pellet springs from Neris’s staff.
Compared to earlier, it’s a much more pitiful level.
Wongo pokes curiously at the tiny ice.
“This looks… very weak. Did you do this on purpose?”
“No. It’s the same skill. The mana consumption and learning conditions are the same.”
Plop.
The ice drops onto the sand and melts away.
The reason for these conditions can only be one.
‘The sun.’
“It seems this is a land where fire-related abilities are drastically amplified.”
“The master of this place, that guy Uncle, was called the Emperor, the God of the Sun. So it might be only natural.”
“…Baldy. Do you have any fire skills?”
“It’s not my main focus, but… I do have Fire Rod Technique. It’s a technique that handles red heat.”
“Then use that from now on.”
Fwoosh!
A Cloak of Fire flutters behind Neris, amplifying her magical power tremendously.
The power is massively amplified.
“This place is like paradise for fire users.”
■
“That way!”
“Understood!”
“Quickly push through!”
Waves of fire engulf numerous Sand Soldiers as a Woman cloaked in fire flies above.
The Sand Soldiers reach out with their spears to stab her amidst the flames, but they cannot reach her.
“Haap!”
Brrrack!!
The red-hot mace has already crushed the Sand Soldiers.
—”Stop it right now…”
“Die!”
With each strike from Wongo, Sand Soldiers fall, and as attention shifts to him, Neris prepares Great Magic out of sight.
“Inferno Tornado.”
Kwahhhaaaang!!
A storm of fire swallowed everyone.
“Huhaa…”
“It’s over.”
“That Guy Uncle has certainly laid down a lot.”
It’s been about an hour since Neris and Wongo advanced.
The Outer Fortress surrounding the Inner Fortress, and other outer fortresses surrounding it, were waiting with countless soldiers.
The levels were around 90 to 100, not an easy opponent, but it wasn’t too difficult for the two Rankers who had already reached level 100.
Moreover, here the fire abilities are greatly amplified, making the Sand Soldiers literally just piles of sand.
“What the hell are you hiding that makes you act like this?”
“Are you not bringing any Guild Members?”
“They need to level up too. They won’t get anything if we go together.”
They’re strong opponents, but they’ve not been hard to deal with.
For Rankers over level 100, killing 90-level monsters doesn’t raise their levels, but Regular Guild Members are different.
If they properly use fire magic, they can quickly level up by killing a few.
“By the way… this is the third outer fortress.”
“It seems there’s just one Sentinel this time.”
The first outer fortress had two Sentinels, with nearly three hundred soldiers inside.
The second outer fortress had three Sentinels, but the soldiers were on a similar level.
Of course, since they came straight along the path, there would be many more soldiers positioned in the outer fortress.
“Are you going to break through again?”
“Of course… huh?”
As they got closer, the figure of the standing soldier grew clearer.
A much larger build than a typical soldier, with thick arms.
Armor wrapped around like an iron fortress, and the helmet covered the entire face, leaving the eyes in a T-shape.
“…that seems a bit large?”
“Even if it’s big, it’ll just burn more.”
Whoosh!
Hellfire bursts from Neris’s Staff.
Hellfire bursts forth.
The magic that had turned all the other soldiers into a handful of ash erupted…
Crash.
“Huh?”
The soldier was unharmed.
In fact, it seemed to radiate a dazzling golden light, as if it had grown stronger from the flames.
“What the heck? Why isn’t this burning?”
“…This feels kinda dangerous—”
─Attack confirmed.
─Identified as a threatening enemy to Deserthum.
Woom.
“…!”
─Eliminating.
The golden eyes inside the sand soldier’s helmet gleamed, and a massive fist barreled forward.
In a split second, Wongo instinctively crossed his mace to block it but was sent flying far away, crashing into something.
“Baldy!”
─Eliminating.
“What the… Inferno Barrier!”
Boom!!
The sand soldier’s fist barely got stopped by the barrier.
Normally, just touching the barrier would’ve set a regular soldier ablaze, but…
“…Insane.”
Kudududud!!
The soldier’s fist began not just to break the barrier but to absorb its heat.
The hellfire crazily sucked in all the heat of this land as if it belonged to it from the start.
The moment the last barrier shattered, Neris realized her mistake.
All fire-related abilities in this place received a massive amplification effect.
The reason this place had such an effect was, of course, the influence of that Guy Uncle.
“But that minion, the sand soldier, can’t be weak to fire!”
If anything, it should be stronger, not weaker.
The fire had only worked because it had superior strength compared to regular soldiers, nothing more.
However, she had forgotten the essence because the fire was so effective, and now she was in danger of dying.
Losing experience points and dying like this…
“No way, not the experience points!”
With her level, losing them once could cost her billions!
Think of a way.
As a weak mage, she couldn’t withstand like that bald guy.
Just one hit would be the end, and since she hadn’t completed her fourth promotion, she didn’t have any special skills.
If this sand robot or soldier living here was strong against fire, then conversely, what would it be weak to…
Ice…!
─…?!
‘Calling.’
The cold chill slowed the sand soldier’s movements.
Narrowly, the fist grazed Neris’s left side, and she barely escaped the attack range with a sensation as if her side was being ripped apart.
“Damn… that was close.”
Indeed, ice is a weakness.
Weakness confirmed.
Quickly downing the potion like water, I released the Cloak of Fire and put on the ice-related equipment I had set aside.
I had originally been wearing it, but the fire magic was so overwhelmingly effective that I took it off for a moment.
‘The consumption cost of ice skills has increased significantly, but… it’s still enough for now.’
In this place, fire magic consumes less mana, so I still had a sufficient amount of mana.
It’s powerful, but since its movements aren’t very fast, after using the bind skill ‘Calling Field’ and sticking a ‘Blizzard Sphere’ in, I should be able to take it down in one shot.
There was a moment I thought like that.
─Strong enemy detected. Requesting additional support.
─Connecting to the low Sun Palace… Approval complete.
Until the insane Sand Soldier became even stronger.
“Oh.”
Squish!
■
“Another attack has come.”
“Yes. Here’s the list of attackers reported by the royal castle’s defense team.”
Central Desertum of the Empire of the Sun.
Serrek, the master of the low Sun Palace located directly beneath the towering sun, received the report from his subordinate while providing support to the soldiers in the distance.
The empire of Deserutum, reborn by the Emperor’s will.
Though the empire had been growing day by day without any significant threats from external forces, as predicted, Scorpio emerged, and for a while, Deserutum experienced confusion.
Of course, that confusion was only temporary.
The Emperor was already in possession of his original body, and seeing the Emperor, Scorpio had no choice but to acknowledge him.
After that, while gradually stabilizing the body through Scorpio…
“In the last three days, a large number of outsiders have invaded Deserutum. Some are formally requesting entry, while many are using force.”
“…It’s definitely something we cannot ignore.”
“Perhaps if it were Lady Lily, she might have some insight into this situation…”
“She’s currently not responding.”
I know she defeated the Kraken, but whether she hasn’t recovered yet or simply hasn’t informed even the Emperor or me remains unclear.
“Understood. I will check personally and inform the Emperor.”
“…Are you sure you’re okay with that?”
“Of course.”
The mask of Serrek, concealing his true feelings, subtly nodded.
Since that day, I had seen that… person after quite a while.
“I’m truly fine. I’m more than okay.”
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.
