Ch.114Storm Within (1)

# Could I Stop the Extradimensional Storm?

If Carisia were here instead of me, she could probably stop it with a fairly high probability. The issue would be generating enough output to counteract a supernatural disaster….

I could confidently guarantee it if it were the Baek Mu-myeong from the original work, but I can’t be certain since it’s Carisia. If I had prepared to support her with a sufficient quantity of sacred artifacts, it might be possible nine times out of ten.

I carefully looked up at the sky. With my eyes opened as wide as possible and using the artifacts I brought, I tried to gauge whether I could resolve this in time.

‘I might be able to pull this off…’

The aftermath is the problem. Even if no one notices my suspicious eyes, using an artifact that can erase that storm would naturally lead to questions about what it was.

Insurance I prepared after Carisia saw that shocking future where two Ten Towers elders appeared.

I shamelessly bowed my head to Knemon and borrowed an artifact, but it would be better not to use it if possible. The moment Blasphemia decides to analyze it thoroughly, they’ll discover strong traces of extradimensional contact, and that would be the end of my L13 identity.

‘My L13 identity is still useful. It would be a waste to expend it here.’

“Senior! What should we do?!”

My hand habitually moved toward my temple. I consciously twisted its trajectory toward my chin instead.

As relaxed as possible. I portrayed the image of L13 that Niobe believed in.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

“What?”

“One of us must report what happened in this city. And I have a higher probability of surviving inside the extradimensional space than you do.”

“So you mean—”

“Run away, Miss Niobe.”

Not loud but resolute. A stern tone without urgency.

Niobe’s lips twitched. She probably couldn’t accept it and wanted to object. I searched for appropriate lines to use in this situation.

“Don’t misunderstand your position.”

“You belong to the command in this operation, and I am a field agent. Your duty is to supervise agents and achieve results, not to jump into extradimensional spaces on the front line.”

The time remaining until the approaching storm breaks down the world wall and causes an extradimensional overflow is about 10 minutes. If she starts running now with all her might, she could reach the outskirts of Algoth City.

If she continues running steadily after that, she might barely escape the overflow.

“Retreat to the best of your ability and report to headquarters.”

***

Niobe, who had been about to say she would stay and fight together, had to close her mouth.

She couldn’t disregard the determination showing behind L13’s resoluteness. The resolve to inform Blasphemia about Arguirion’s atrocities even if it cost her own life.

Instead of expressing respect for her senior, Niobe left only a brief “understood” and sprinted to leave Algoth City as instructed.

She knew this was the best way she could respond to her senior’s determination.

A concise explanation of the situation along with an urgent request for support. She transmitted it repeatedly toward Blasphemia headquarters.

With the extradimensional rift now open, communications in the area would become extremely unstable, but if even one of her hundreds of messages reached headquarters, it might turn the situation around.

While Niobe ran off, carrying in her heart the resolve of her senior who was prepared to die in the line of duty, Ortes was looking at the Amimone Magic Tower.

‘How can I bring that back to Knemon without destroying it….’

If suspicion had fallen on the right people according to plan, there would have been a way to just replace the leadership, but now things have come to this, I have no choice but to improvise aggressively.

***

“This is an absurd waste.”

After the Arguirion leadership meeting ended, Nastion emerged from Haltos’s shadow and spoke frankly.

Haltos nodded slightly. A gesture indicating permission to continue.

“There is no plausibility whatsoever that this ‘archenemy’ exists. If you had said you were deploying powerful forces to destroy what might be a Ten Towers trap, I would have understood.”

Nastion vented his dissatisfaction with the irrationality and unreasonable actions for quite some time. It was truly sharp criticism. Excessive even for a subordinate addressing a superior.

However, Haltos’s expression remained unchanged. That was the point where Nastion felt something was off.

Despite ordering such an irrational operation, he maintained an extraordinary calmness.

“Listen.”

Haltos’s words were brief but heavy. Nastion once again set aside his emotions and lurked in the darkness, waiting for the instructions from Arguirion’s leader.

“When hunting, there are times when you corner your prey. When all plans mesh together like a complex machine in an instant, there’s an intellectual pleasure like solving a complicated puzzle. The sense of achievement from defeating a formidable enemy. A complex emotion mixed with relief that you can now go home. All these rush in at once.”

It was a story that had nothing to do with the subject. Nastion wondered if Haltos was indeed gradually losing his mind.

“And that’s precisely when the archenemy appears and says, ‘You’ve also reached a dead end.'”

“What do you mean?”

“The hunter who followed the prey into the cave is also trapped in a cave with only one exit. And the archenemy doesn’t hesitate to blow up the cave.”

“Pardon?”

Nastion didn’t know, but this was sincere, stemming from Haltos’s experience.

Once, when they had cornered Ortes at some ruins, he had collapsed the ruins and escaped leisurely. Haltos could list several such experiences.

Every Arguirion executive had experienced tracking failures more times than they could count on both hands. With life-threatening situations to boot.

Cases where he had insisted on tracking in pairs because one person alone could never succeed, only to have the two agents attack each other and become incapacitated.

Cases where they had rigged an entire extradimensional ruin with explosive magic, but the magic that didn’t activate when the archenemy entered caused localized explosions as soon as the tracking team entered, being used against them.

Before every terrible experience was the emotion that “this time we’ll surely catch him.”

After experiencing such situations multiple times, the very existence of the archenemy became a dilemma.

‘He acted like a bullfighter…’

What gave Haltos and the Blasphemia tracking team of that time migraines was the moment Ortes revealed his tracks.

The rational inference that Ortes couldn’t possibly have had time to prepare anything deliberately, given that the clues were obtained after desperate tracking each time.

If they charged right now, they might finally be able to take his head. If they delayed even a second, they would lose the trail again.

The moment they were captivated by such impatience, they fell into a trap.

Should they step in, or should they grit their teeth and turn away?

Even if they turned away, was there another way to find him?

The suffocating pressure that came with approving each operation.

The intense mental image fused with an indescribable emotion using as adhesive the fury, fear, and vengeance that Ortes would describe as “the feeling when you’re matched with that player who plays like a dog again!”

Haltos felt the same irritation from the distress signal in Algoth City this time.

…After hearing this explanation, Nastion thought:

‘Is he insane?’

“There’s no doubt. This disgust is something only that guy would dare to imitate…”

Haltos’s appearance as he muttered with conviction. Nastion felt both pity for the human Haltos and anxiety about the leader who would guide Arguirion.

***

Gorgof was bewildered by the sudden storm.

‘What on earth is happening?’

There’s no way an extradimensional storm could occur so unnaturally. Only Arguirion could break the stability of a city protected by a magic tower and summon an extradimensional storm.

Gorgof tried to interpret the current situation rationally.

‘Tch, was there a coward among my comrades!’

A coward who couldn’t withstand the increasingly deteriorating situation and Blasphemia’s encirclement must have sent a distress signal.

This situation must have occurred because Arguirion took immediate action upon receiving the distress signal.

‘There’s no way to communicate with Arguirion now. No choice. First, I’ll gather our comrades inside the tower and attack Danao after the storm subsides…!’

It’s obvious that an overflow follows an extradimensional storm. The indolent Danao will struggle to adapt to the rapidly changing mana. With a surprise attack from his comrades, eliminating the corrupt tower master would be no challenge.

Looking out the window, Gorgof spotted an unidentifiable narrow-eyed man staring at the tower.

A blue light seemed to flash momentarily around the man’s eyes.

‘A Blasphemia agent?’

What a chilling appearance. Somehow, it feels ominous. He might be a Blasphemia agent who came to urgently arrest everyone in the tower after detecting the unexpected situation.

Just as Gorgof was unconsciously preparing magic, the man’s lips moved. Gorgof murmured along with those words.

“Truth and… the cause?”

***

Good. Gorgof.

I’ve chosen you.