I Became the Narrow-Eyed Henchman of the Evil Boss – Chapter 146

Chapter 146: Turbulence (8)

Mana bombs, intricately arranged according to the principles of the magic circle, were designed to create a more powerful explosion by using mana conduits as connecting lines. That was why Orthes was horrified upon seeing the mana conduits.

From the moment the mana bombs received their detonation signal, the mana conduits became part of the explosion magic. The infrastructure laid throughout the city was cleverly edited to function as a single massive magic circle.

Orthes was aghast at the sheer madness of the idea, but what could he do?

Keeping an ace hidden until the very last moment. Turning the opponent’s moves against them. Carisia had learned all of this from Orthes himself.

Orthes began to wonder if the original White No Name wouldn’t be taken aback by Carisia’s explosive tendencies too.

He closed his eyes. Not to give up on life. Carisia had created an even more powerful explosion, but it didn’t result in a larger explosion.

Using the mana conduits to draw the magic circle was an annoying task, but it ensured that the explosive force would not be wasted and instead be focused on a single point. With every ounce of strength in his legs and eyes, Orthes managed to distance himself from the epicenter of the explosion.

The point of concentrated force would be the Amimone Tower. Orthes inferred the full design of the magic circle based on the part he had observed. At the center of the hexagram-shaped arrangement of mana bombs was the Amimone Tower.

The destruction caused by the mana bombs would all be concentrated on the Amimone Tower. Orthes wondered if even a trace of the tower’s foundations would remain. Just as he began to delve into this question…

A flash.

It was a brightness so intense that any ordinary human optic nerve would be rendered blind instantly. Even with his eyes closed, Orthes’ vision turned entirely white.

The reason Orthes had closed his eyes was similar—to protect them from blindness. While his eyes would not be harmed by mere brightness, the magical information crafted meticulously by Carisia was of a nature that assaulted the brain rather than the eyes.

Closing his eyes to block out the flood of information was Orthes’ best defense.

***

On the surface, the heat and light concentrated in the tower reached down underground. The materials at the explosion’s epicenter evaporated instantly. Substances were broken down below the level of physical existence and transformed into shimmering fragments of light.

The parasite was stunned. There had been no incantation.

No, it wasn’t even a matter of “no incantation.” Mana continued to converge on that location. The spell wasn’t even fully prepared yet.

「How──」

“How did I cast magic?”

Carisia sneered. Her smile was a mix of mockery, ridicule, and the euphoria of utterly defeating an opponent.

“Idiot. I activated it three minutes ago.”

A firepower capable of distorting space itself erupted into a towering column of light. The spatial disintegration caused by the overwhelming explosion reached its climax, collapsing back in on itself.

The column of light, large enough to sweep away the entire Amimone Tower, was perfectly suited to vaporize the parasite’s physical form—both corporeal and divine—constructed by reassembling the tower’s space.

The violent light erased even the sound of screams. A white radiance so bright it blinded the eyes.

While the searing light obscured everyone’s vision, Carisia slipped away unnoticed. There was no need to waste time on the dead. She planned to search for Orthes.

***

“How are you feeling?”

“Dizzy.”

The first thing I saw upon opening my eyes was hair whiter than the earlier flash. I responded with a wry smile.

“Boss, were you trying to kill me?”

“Oh, don’t worry. I checked beforehand.”

“Checked?”

Carisia pulled a crystal of Phoibos from her pocket and held it up.

“If you were in danger, it would have shown me a vision. Nothing came up even when I decided to set it off.”

“Hah, damn. You’re bold.”

She hadn’t designed the spell to spare the underground from the blast. No, her reasoning was simpler: if the instant death detection function didn’t activate, he wouldn’t die. Knowing how accurate the crystal was, I couldn’t exactly argue.

“Sometimes that thing doesn’t work properly.”

I tried to recall how it was described in the original work. The artifact’s power couldn’t perfectly foresee beings that transcended its limits—essentially, entities akin to gods. In the source material, the Mage King himself had been one such “godlike being,” so it hadn’t been an issue.

“Now that I think about it, didn’t Carisia once face off against me and several elders?”

At least the artifact seemed capable of foreseeing opponents like the Ten Tower Elders, the worst-case scenario one might typically encounter.

“Really? Tell me more about it when we’re back. I need to take notes.”

I felt as though I could hear the length of her report growing. I took Carisia’s outstretched hand and got to my feet.

***

What had once been the Amimone Tower…

Nothing remained.

Truly, nothing. The issue wasn’t whether the foundations were intact; even the mana core had evaporated. The very heart of the tower was gone.

And it wasn’t as though anything else was left intact. All that remained were minor branches of the Amimone faction.

It was like a patient who had died, leaving only their donated organs. If Kynemon were to rise as the new tower lord, he might be able to reorganize the branches into a new tower.

But with the mana core gone, it would no longer qualify as a legitimate mage tower.

“Boss, by the way, how are you planning to handle this explosion?”

“Blame it on Argyrion, of course.”

Argyrion agents had infiltrated the Tower Lord selection process, and their minions nearly seized the position. However, their suicide bombing destroyed the mana core before it could happen.

It was a plausible enough cover story—better than admitting Carisia had blown up the Amimone Tower with a bomb.

If that truth came out, Panoptes wouldn’t even matter. The Ten Tower Elders would hunt us down with murderous intent.

“What do you think will happen if we pin this on Argyrion?”

Argyrion had already overstepped the Ten Towers’ bounds repeatedly. Adding the complete obliteration of a proper mage tower would be an intolerable provocation. The Ten Towers would likely abandon all pretense of diplomacy.

“A war will break out. The spatial magic used by the Argyrion executive you killed recently, and the space magic this parasite used to connect itself to the extra-dimension—both will become leads for tracking Argyrion’s main base.”

“Twice. In theory, spatial coordinates can be calculated, but the manpower required would be astronomical. Even with support from the Ten Commandments, it would require the combined efforts of the Ten Towers.”

Once the coordinates were verified, the Ten Towers would likely launch a counterattack. Even a personal campaign by a Tower Lord was not out of the question.

I began to recall Argyrion’s known—or suspected—actions.

A full-scale declaration of war in Elysion. Disruption of magical society through tower infiltration. Assassination of Ten Tower Elders. Betrayal of proper mage towers followed by a “if I can’t have it, no one can” mentality that led to the destruction of Amimone Tower.

Plenty to push the Ten Towers’ patience to its limits.

Admittedly, about half of these incidents were my doing, but hey, hadn’t Argyrion operatives been present at every scene?

At the Pluton Sanctuary, for instance, without the angelified Argyrion agents, I wouldn’t have fared so well against Talo.

Even if the Amimone Tower Lord wasn’t colluding with Argyrion, it was true there had been traitors from Amimone working with them.

And before Carisia obliterated the tower, the parasite had already shattered it.

…Wait. That last one wasn’t my fault at all!

I glanced at Carisia. She caught my gaze and smirked faintly.

“Feels like we’re nearing the endgame, doesn’t it?”

No. That wasn’t the emotion behind my look. But as ever, I couldn’t help my corporate instincts. My mouth began offering flattering commentary.

“Progress is much faster than expected. If the Tower Lord vacates his position, the final stage of the plan could begin sooner than anticipated.”

According to my predictions, the Mage King’s resurrection was still about three years away. I had expected the fall of White Light to follow only after the war between the Ten Towers and the Mage King began.

If the Ten Towers responded as predicted…

“The era is about to enter a time of turbulence.”

“Yes. Whether we capitalize on the turbulence to launch the final phase or wait a little longer will be a matter for discussion.”

Carisia remembered my prophecy about the Mage King’s return.

If the White Light Tower Lord joined a campaign against Argyrion, and the Ten Commandments of White Light were destroyed in the process, the White Light Magic Tower would certainly fall into ruin.

But could the Ten Towers, after losing one of the Commandments, still stand against the Mage King?

A turbulent era—and a question Carisia and I must answer.