Ch.118Storm in the Tempest (5)

Danaos frowned as he looked at the Blasphemia inspector who had requested another private audience.

“Gorgoff is one of those dispatched to Argos. When you ‘guaranteed’ the innocence of those most suspected of being collaborators, I honestly found it hard to believe.”

He had just witnessed Gorgoff hurling heartfelt curses at Argyrion while chanting a deadly hex. An unhesitating attack that could only be used against those truly considered enemies.

“Indeed. A disguised spy would find it difficult to launch such a fierce attack against their own headquarters.”

Ortes shrugged. There was no need to reveal all the backstage details like ‘Actually, Gorgoff is Argyrion’s spy, but he genuinely believes the Argyrion group are spies for the Ten Towers.’

“The Heresy Inquisitor’s discernment is impressive. Your reputation is well-deserved. But why has someone who should be interrogating Argyrion come to me?”

“Didn’t Argyrion himself come to us?”

“Didn’t they retreat from Gorgoff’s attack? If they need to hurriedly regroup, they shouldn’t be much of a threat.”

Danaos’s words revealed his pride in the defensive magic installed in the Amimone Tower.

The defensive spells installed in a tower typically correspond directly to its history. And to its finances.

A siege against Amimone Tower, with its deep history and ocean-like capital as a regular tower, would impose overwhelming disadvantages on the opponent. This was Danaos’s assessment.

‘And I must shake that assessment.’

Ortes formulated his basic strategy.

Mislead the whole with a single example, exaggerate rare cases, and focus on low probabilities.

After making his judgment in an instant, Ortes’s first word was “No.”

“No.”

“What?”

“The potential that Argyrion’s army possesses is not limited to what we’ve seen.”

“Ha. Even so, could they break through the tower’s defenses? Not even your Blasphemia commander coming in person could directly challenge a regular tower, let alone some corrupted deserters from Blasphemia.”

“Of course not. The fact that despite such a powerful extra-dimensional overflow, only a few outskirts of Algoth City have been distorted while reality is maintained throughout the city is testament to your abilities. However.”

Ortes paused briefly—an intentional delay to provoke Danaos’s discomfort.

“Will Argyrion fight us head-on?”

“What?”

“Let’s think about it first. How did Argyrion, who just retreated from Gorgoff, enter Algoth City?”

“There must have been a mage already in Algoth City capable of conducting a ritual advanced enough to summon such an extra-dimensional storm. He must have arrived with other villains, no?”

“I don’t think so.”

Ortes began by saying this was classified information from the analysis of “The Elder Talo Murder Case” and whispered fragments of truth.

“…It seems they’ve already acquired a long-distance spatial movement artifact. When Elder Talo was dispatched on an external mission to a remote area, numerous assassins appeared simultaneously.”

“What!”

“Blasphemia believes this ability was provided by cult followers. There are records of a similar ability being used by a cult that worships the ‘God of Gatekeepers.'”

“So. You think Argyrion is now preparing an invasion with that relic?”

“You saw those silver soldiers that seemed like evolved silver worms. Our Blasphemia has done its best to establish methods to capture silver worms.”

And Algoth City had been thoroughly searched by Blasphemia over the past few days, looking for any pretext. If there were hosts carrying silver worms or their subspecies, they would have been discovered.

After explaining this, Ortes lowered his voice to almost a whisper.

“Blasphemia found no suspicious elements in Algoth City. So what does the appearance of such silver worm subspecies mean?”

In truth, Ortes’s explanation was far from reality. Argyrion had already prepared countermeasures against Blasphemia’s silver worm detection magic—a technique that put both silver worms and their hosts in a dormant state, minimizing both ability field and life responses.

Through this, they had been able to use all the silver worm hosts planted throughout Algoth City to summon the extra-dimensional storm.

But such “facts” were not important. What mattered to Ortes now was not reality but realism—a deception that appeared real.

“Are you claiming that Argyrion’s mages who just appeared space-jumped from outside my city?”

“Yes. It’s clear that a strange relic from cult followers was involved.”

“Grr…”

“Of course, I believe unlimited spatial movement is impossible without a medium. That’s why they chose to transfer to Algoth City, at some distance, rather than directly into Amimone Tower.”

Danaos realized what Ortes was implying. If spatial movement is restricted without a medium, it means those restrictions disappear when a medium exists.

And within Amimone Tower, there are mages who could burn themselves to become such magical mediums at any time.

“Only three identities have been confirmed for certain: you, the Tower Master, and myself—or including Gorgoff, just three. Three is not enough to monitor all mages.”

‘If a collaborator uses magic to connect to that sacred object when surveillance is relaxed…’

A pincer attack by enemies from within and without. Danaos gritted his teeth.

“Then, what do you suggest we do?”

“It’s simple. We must pursue and annihilate the retreating Argyrion.”

“What are you saying…?”

“If everyone, including the spy, goes into battle, it won’t matter much if the spy creates a spatial movement medium, would it?”

A spy is dangerous only when they can commit betrayal by responding to Argyrion’s invasion from within. Conversely, outside the tower, the spies’ actions become meaningless regardless of how many spatial movement mediums they create.

Argyrion already has the ability to break through Algoth City’s barrier, but cannot penetrate the most important barrier of Amimone Tower.

“At the same time, it’s difficult to focus on advanced magic like spatial magic in urgent situations. In the midst of battle, one precise and swift spell that can end a life, or one defensive spell that can save a life, is more crucial than large and powerful grand magic.”

“What if they abandon spatial magic and the traitor attacks allies from behind?”

“Form groups for pursuit. If signs of betrayal appear, other mages can deal with it immediately.”

Finally, when Ortes judged that Danaos’s trust had crossed a certain threshold, he revealed his true purpose.

“Excluding the silver worm subspecies from Argyrion’s forces, only one mage remains—the one who argued with Gorgoff. If we find and eliminate that person, our chances of survival will increase exponentially.”

However, this mage was dispatched by Argyrion alone. They must possess skills befitting that role.

“To defeat such a mage, we need an equally powerful mage.”

“You want to use me as a shield?”

“Let’s call it a tactical temporary protective measure. If the Tower Master personally eliminates Argyrion’s mage, wouldn’t that also prove Amimone Tower’s loyalty?”

After consideration, Danaos raised one sensible and rational objection to Ortes’s plan.

It was the final puzzle piece to complete the picture Ortes desired.

***

Sprigo, Argyrion’s mage, was deep in thought.

“To face the adversary, or not to face him. That is the question.”

If the adversary had revealed himself directly, Sprigo would have chosen to flee without hesitation. That being harbored an evil and madness too terrible to be measured by worldly standards.

The adversary was not one who set traps.

He was the trap itself.

Sprigo believed that this terrifying entity could turn even the air he breathed into a trap.

But he was also a member of Argyrion who had fought against the adversary. Unless the adversary himself had descended upon this place, Sprigo believed he could overcome any traces left behind.

Was that monster lurking inside Amimone Tower? Or had he simply set traps, as in the darkness of faintly remaining memories?

Having withdrawn his forces from the tower, Sprigo began a brief but deep contemplation.

What roused Sprigo from his contemplation were simultaneous warnings from the drachma he had hidden throughout Algoth City as scouts.

“What?”

An attack?

Not defense?

The personnel remaining in Amimone Tower was minimal. In case the Ten Towers truly intended to purge Amimone Tower, Danaos had dispatched supervisors to the factions he had absorbed through mergers, to preserve at least some power by making other businesses independent.

Even so, it was a regular tower. The capacity of Amimone Tower, which had diverted all personnel to offense except the minimum required to maintain the barrier, exceeded expectations.

“There you are.”

The spot where Sprigo had been standing was completely transformed into strong acid. Feeling his shoes dissolving, Sprigo extended his wooden branch arms to climb up the building wall.

The next moment, an entire side of the multi-story building turned into deadly poison and poured down on Sprigo.

At the spearhead of this sharp and fierce offensive was, of course, Tower Master Danaos.

***

The final question Danaos asked me.

It was who would maintain the barrier through the power core if the Tower Master, the most excellent mage, left the tower.

As an outsider, I naturally couldn’t.

But wasn’t there an Amimone Tower mage whose abilities were outstanding enough to be dispatched to Argos, and who had been verified as innocent by Blasphemia?

Gorgoff.

“Oh… OH! To think we could enter the Tower Master’s chamber bloodlessly like this!”

The “flawless” ones verified by Gorgoff remained as the minimum personnel for tower defense, and naturally, they were all collaborators.

“Praise the forerunner of Argyrion! Worship the wise one who achieved victory without bloodshed!”

I stood before Amimone Tower’s power core with the legion of collaborators.