My head was pounding.
It wasn’t just a simple headache. I could feel the burst capillaries from not being able to accept the violent information pouring in from my eyes.
Damn it. My eyes, nose, and blood are gushing out like a leaky faucet.
It felt like I was being chased by Blasphemia again.
The pain accumulated in my eyes was even greater than being electrocuted by the lightning from Keranos.
‘Still, it’s better than the time I was in a life-or-death struggle with Blasphemia in the desert…’
I looked at the jewel in my hand.
Inside the splendid golden orb, torrents of lightning swirled continuously. A rough sealing job that wasn’t properly stabilized.
Yet the power didn’t leak out. The silver threads absorbed the lightning that seemed ready to explode at any moment and circulated it inside.
Every time this bizarre cycle happened, the silver threads surrounding the jewel wriggled about.
It looked almost alive.
If I viewed this jewel as a gigantic eye, the condensed lightning inside would be the iris, and the clinging silver threads would serve as blood vessels.
‘This isn’t the right item.’
It wasn’t originally intended to create such a precarious balance between two entities.
What I wanted was precisely the performance of the original Talisman of Thunder.
Compared to the original Talisman of Thunder, sure, the addition of the silver thread worm definitely enhanced the mana-to-magic power conversion speed and all that.
But if mishandled, this could turn into something that would eat away at my body with the threads or get fried by the escaped electricity!
‘I need to get this to Carisia and have her sort it out.’
I tucked the Thunder Orb into my bosom and turned around.
There were troubleshooters approaching from afar and the trembling mages of the Torres Tower.
How the hell was I supposed to deal with this?
*
Lugret witnessed the man tuck away the ominous jewel into his belongings.
As he approached Keranos, a possibility he had entertained flickered in his mind.
That smiling man might not just be a simple agent of Blasphemia.
They wouldn’t act like that. Agents of Blasphemia, prioritizing self-preservation and maintaining their system, preferred verified methods or, in other words, stable approaches.
Having once been an agent of Blasphemia, he was sure of this.
The near-mad display he had just shown was…
‘A Doomsday Cultist.’
Those who would laugh even when engulfed in the flames they spread to destroy the world. Only such people could make such a catastrophic choice and still manage to smile.
The man who had just been at the heart of thunder was already charred in various places. The flesh showing through his burnt, torn clothes was in shambles.
Yet the faint smile on his lips did not disappear.
The blood streaming from his eyes was likely the aftermath of magic gone beyond limits. The smiling man raised his hand to wipe his face. The blood-stained face looked pale and foggy rather than clean.
Even while witnessing it firsthand, it gave off a strange impression as if he could vanish at any moment.
Lugret looked around and sensed that the mages of Torres Tower had already lost their will to resist. They probably judged it futile to confront the fearsome mage who single-handedly ended a battle that resembled a natural disaster.
The heart that followed ‘the Divine’ sounded an alarm. He should not exist in this world.
He had to bring him down somehow, here and now.
Slowly, he started to reassess the situation. At this point, it was impossible for a single mage to develop magic to control the silver thread worm. They were lacking in both time and materials to obtain a sample of it.
So someone or something must have handed down the magic.
The personnel who could handle the silver thread worm were limited even in Argyrion. There should be records if someone tried to approach and learn control magic. Naturally, no mage fitting that description existed in Argyrion.
If it wasn’t an independent development or a leak from Argyrion, then the only conclusion was that this man learned control magic from Blasphemia.
Chills of fear rose in Lugret. A Doomsday Cultist? Infiltrating not just any subcontracting organization, but Blasphemia itself?
Hiding his true nature so perfectly that he could receive the latest confidential magic?
Suppressing his fear while scouring for a chance to attack, the smiling man turned his gaze toward the Torres Tower side.
“Torres Tower, you’ve gone too far. Not only have you allied with the main perpetrators of the Elysion Terror, but now you’ve unleashed this magical disaster as well.”
The words he threw in a reprimanding tone, possibly trying to continue his imitation of Blasphemia, contained a de facto death sentence for Torres Tower.
Lugret saw hope in the provocative declaration. If you push someone too hard, a backlash is sure to follow.
The principle was instant execution for enemies of the Ten Towers. But would the Torres Tower, captivated by the Ten Commandments, willingly roll over and die?
Right now, the mages were entranced by the overwhelming power the smiling man had just shown. But if they broke free of their fear and thought rationally for just a moment, it was only natural that using such massive magic would come at a tremendous cost of magical power.
If they realized that and started to resist, they could stop that wicked Doomsday Cultist.
The smiling man’s gaze shifted behind the mages.
“Troubleshooters and mercenaries, did you sign contracts knowing that Torres Tower allied with Argyrion, a traitor organization to the Ten Towers?”
Lugret understood the smiling man’s intentions.
“I have the authority of immediate judgment regarding the current situation related to Argyrion as an agent dispatched from the Ten Towers. If you wish for leniency, then show me through action.”
The smiling man had no intention of directly confronting Lugret or the mages of Torres Tower.
He intended to leave the disposal to the troubleshooters and mercenaries who had fled throughout Crete Island.
‘That sly…!’
Elimination had become impossible. Maybe if I had my full magical power bolstered by blessings, it would be one thing, but now facing that Doomsday Cultist alongside troubleshooters and mercenaries was outright suicidal.
Just as Lugret was about to make a run for it, a cold blade pierced through his back.
“Cough!”
“P-Please spare me! I’ll tell you everything I know!”
The one trembling and bowing down to Orthes was Smichia.
He was the examiner from Torres Tower who had been overseeing the excavation team on Crete Island.
*
As Smichia stabbed Lugret and threw himself to the ground, the mages of Torres Tower followed suit, pleading for their lives.
The sudden change of heart was simple. The highest authority among the mages dispatched to Crete Island had already been burned to death by Keranos.
The mages left were well aware they had no chance of defeating the mage who took down Keranos.
Instead of going up against such a mage, it was far better to hope for a future where they could last a little longer by betraying their comrades and superiors.
Behind the prostrated mages, the troubleshooters and mercenaries were aiming their weapons.
Orthes raised his hand to stop them.
“Alright. Then please recount every detail, without leaving a single thing out.”
*
“…And that’s how things transpired.”
It was Orthes’ report upon returning from his mission. The holographic video that Carisia had set up displayed an urgent notice proclaiming the official extermination order against Torres Tower.
“The silver thread worm rampaged and destroyed the communication relay… and you gathered all the personnel remaining on Crete Island and handed them over to the nearest tower before returning?”
“Yes. I tried to contact Blasphemia to have them clean it up, but the communication equipment wasn’t functioning properly. There was nothing I could do.”
As he spoke, Orthes continued explaining.
To prevent tracking, he hadn’t gone to the tower directly and used a troubleshooter as a messenger, leaving instructions to collect the personnel tied up on the outskirts of the city while ensuring he was using the identity of a Blasphemia inspector, telling them not to worry and so on.
Carisia pointed to the mail log that popped up on Orthes’ gauntlet-type communication device.
“What’s this?”
“Oh. That’s a conversation record with the priest of Enyalius that I had arranged beforehand. They sent a message while I was waiting on the outskirts of the city to hand over Torres’ mages.”
『I wonder what the vote results will be. The Divine Cult seems to believe that if they can obscure the eyes of the Ten Towers, it’s rational to leave Argyrion alone.』
『There are also suspicions about whether you’re truly the prophet of Phoibos. Some think you’re a spy from the Ten Towers.』
『Only those who have met the prophets directly can feel their unique presence. I know it’s presumptuous, but if I could show proof of the prophet…』
Proof of the prophet of Phoibos would be a prophecy itself. Orthes shrugged his shoulders.
“I mentioned to them that soon an extermination order would come down against Torres Tower for their alleged alliance with Argyrion. I thought they might suspect I was getting information that I shouldn’t have as an insider of Blasphemia, but thankfully, it seems to have taken.”
It couldn’t help but take. The alliance between Torres Tower and Argyrion was not even known within Blasphemia.
“Soon, the Divine Cult will certainly solidify their stance regarding Argyrion. However, there is still some time before the vote concludes. In the meantime, I will reconsider the recruitment of Lampades.”
*
The troubleshooters emerging from the depths of the ruins slowly divided the remaining rations.
Their bodies were exhausted, but their minds were sharp.
The quality of the air had changed. They’d soon be able to make it back to the surface!
They had been in the depths for hours, perhaps days, since discovering Utis’s husk.
At first, they too had tried to get back to the surface directly. But just as they carefully felt their way through the passage…
Ka-boom! Cawwwwwk!
A sound like thunder clashing against human screams echoed faintly. Then the depths trembled, accompanied by the sound of something collapsing.
It was easy to guess the entirety of the incident. As foreseen by Utis, something horrific was unleashed.
The released disaster was sweeping through the people. The troubleshooters had survived, isolated in the darkness.
But at the same time, the path they originally intended to take was blocked.
Using magic might clear the debris, but…
What traps might lie hidden among the ruins? And whom might they encounter that could come chasing after the escaping magic? Fearful, they dared not move.
The booming sound faded, followed by silence. Having gone through two meals in the darkness, the troubleshooters resolved to ascend to the surface.
They were not going to head back through the passage they used to explore the depths. They knew not how that place, which had become the epicenter of prophecy, might have changed.
They aimed to make good use of their abilities as ruin explorers, seeking to navigate around the collapsed passage and forge a new path. Rather than dying in the darkness, it was more fitting for troubleshooters to take one last challenge.
“I see! I see light!”
The lead comrade exclaimed. Those reinforcing the passage to prevent collapse dashed over, breaking the ground apart.
Finally, the brilliant sunlight drenched their hair.
As they reveled in the air of the surface, the troubleshooters looked around. Something felt off. They could understand the remnants of destruction, but…
There was no sign of life at all.
No trace of a single person was felt across all of Crete Island. One of them muttered in confusion.
“Utis…”
The being who bore the name that meant ‘nobody.’
Yet even that ‘nobody’ was no longer present on Crete Island.
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