Ch.121Neither Truth Nor Greater Good (2)

Silence descended. Gorgov turned his head toward Danao.

“You were in on it all along, Danao! How dare you plot such a scheme!”

It was closer to a wail than a shout. A conspiracy theory born of deep betrayal, spewed forth as self-justification.

In truth, it was hard to call it merely a conspiracy theory. Danao himself had clearly received information about this situation from that man.

‘Using sacred artifacts as bait to gather Arguirion’s collaborators…’

However, he couldn’t have known that a simple bait operation would end like this. He had thought they would quickly deal with the trembling, betrayed collaborators and restore stability to the magic tower without having to witness their distress.

In Danao’s mind, all he could see was the empty landscape of the Amimone Magic Tower. Gorgov was the only one who had requested access to the mana core, and Danao had only authorized Gorgov as a temporary user.

But he couldn’t guess what that “agent”—whom Arguirion called the “Adversary”—might be doing inside that tower.

While formal use of the mana core required authorization from the tower master, wouldn’t other tactics like hacking have developed as well?

As a formal magic tower, it would be equipped with high-level security measures, but a secret organization like Blasphemia might have prepared means to bypass the current generation of security systems.

‘…No.’

Was that person truly a Blasphemia agent? Danao couldn’t help but question the fundamental assumption.

The only means by which the agent had proven his identity was a single ID card indicating he belonged to Panoptes. As a Blasphemia agent, everything written on it would be false—a fake business card for cover.

Danao himself hadn’t even seen that card. The mage who was acting as gatekeeper at the time had testified that he “saw a Panoptes agent ID,” and Danao had simply accepted it when the man entered the tower and began by stating he was from Panoptes.

‘More precisely, I assumed he was a Blasphemia agent hiding behind the massive organization of Panoptes.’

But now everything had to be questioned.

The fact that Arguirion’s leadership consisted of former Blasphemia agents was something that tower masters of formal magic towers came to know through unofficial channels.

But would someone whom such people referred to as the “Adversary” rather than by any specific name actually be a Blasphemia agent?

Amid the mounting confusion, Gorgov tried to lunge at Danao. Despite some misunderstandings, Gorgov had trusted Arguirion with whom he thought he could work together, and he made this choice because the safety of the colleagues he had left behind in the tower rang alarm bells in his mind.

Danao quickly moved his body away. At this distance, a normal evasion wouldn’t be enough against such an attack. He had to use Amimone’s arcane magic to momentarily transform part of his mage’s body into toxic water.

But it was a mistake.

“Water!”

Tree roots erupting from the ground pierced through Danao’s body, greedily sucking up the liquefied parts. He hastily returned to his physical form, but significant marks remained on his body.

‘Blood deficiency. Is my liver affected too?’

When dealing with poisons, increasing the proportion of artificial body parts would be safer and more stable. However, Danao believed that a mage’s own flesh and blood were the best catalysts, so his artificial body ratio wasn’t particularly high.

His specialty was a fighting style that freely transformed body parts into toxic water in close-quarters combat, but in the current situation where his physical body had been absorbed, it was a poor move.

His vision blurred. He tried to fill his blood vessels through alchemy, but silver root fragments, like embedded splinters despite his attempts to tear them out, disrupted his circulation.

As Danao gasped for breath, strangely clear footsteps could be heard.

Thud. Thud.

Forcing his unresponsive body to move, Danao struggled to lift his head. In the center of the wavering landscape, as if pure alcohol had been poured directly onto his cerebral cortex, stood a silhouette that appeared completely black.

No. A strangely faint face. Only the blue eyes and mouth on that face glowed with a blue light.

“You…”

Whether it was Gorgov or Danao himself who muttered this was unclear.

The man’s lips seemed to twitch. That ominous smile was the last sight Danao witnessed before losing consciousness.

***

“Traitor—!”

Gorgov shouted loudly. He released all limiters on his combat prosthetics, preparing every spell he could project, targeting the figure. But something strange happened.

While relatively inexpensive enchantware that detected targets through thermal imaging recognized this Arguirion impostor precisely, high-end enchantware that distinguished individuals by their subtle mana patterns failed to recognize the impostor.

‘Is it because of artifacts creating interference between mana wavelengths? Or is it Blasphemia’s unique mana wavelength suppression technique?’

Since there are limits to how much one can suppress mana wavelengths, it was more likely the effect of artifacts.

Gorgov gritted his teeth and switched to manual targeting by connecting the targeting device directly to his brain.

Thus, eight spells ready to be cast and fired at any moment were aimed at the impostor.

But Gorgov couldn’t begin firing. It was because of some unspeakable emotion. Why had this person who had deceived him thus far abandoned the Amimone Magic Tower to come here?

Just by listening to the communications from the mana core, the impostor would know that his lies had been exposed and that he was revealed to be Arguirion’s Adversary for all to see.

‘…The mana core’s communication relay.’

The possibility that he might have heard it made Gorgov fearful.

Other colleagues were with him in the tower master’s chamber where the mana core was enshrined.

“What have you done to my colleagues!”

“Ah. They’re just taking a little nap. They might have some nightmares, but their lives aren’t in danger.”

With a composed face, it whispered.

He wanted to shoot right now. But he didn’t know what would happen to his incapacitated colleagues once the attack began.

Gorgov glanced behind him. Sprigo had grown enormous, almost reaching the sky. While such massive volume would generally increase the chance of being hit, for Sprigo who had transformed himself into a plant, the return was worth the risk.

The tree roots that had pierced through Danao’s water-transformed abdomen. He would be extending countless similar roots throughout the entire city of Algoth, absorbing extra-dimensional mana.

With the explosive mana constructed from a vast amount far beyond individual capacity, he could vaporize the impostor before he could attempt anything.

The silver giant tree’s words vibrated through the air.

“You—”

***

Sprigo’s sensory tendrils extended throughout the entire city of Algoth, thanks to the roots that were still growing even now. Wherever the roots reached, he could perceive movement.

Therefore, it didn’t take long to notice someone approaching from the Amimone Magic Tower.

However, Sprigo deliberately avoided paying attention to the humanoid object approaching. The Adversary was dangerous even to look at.

This isn’t about spreading urban legends of horror where merely witnessing something could kill you. There was a reason that thing revealed its form.

—At least, that’s how it was in the fragments of memories remaining among Arguirion’s executives.

He needed to grow as quickly as possible and secure a psychic field strong enough to send a signal to Arguirion’s main body beyond the extra-dimensional storm.

To tell them that ‘the Adversary is here.’ That Chairman Haltos was needed.

But there was a limit to ignoring. The moment it came right before his eyes and started speaking, hundreds of the thousands of eyes formed on the silver leaves moved reflexively. It was the influence of anger seeping from the marrow.

In that brief moment before focus was established, Sprigo’s brain, along with the tiny consciousnesses in countless roots, began to debate.

How should they deal with this Adversary?

Of course, the optimal answer would be to attack without exchanging any words.

At the same time, that would be amateurish. The fact that it revealed itself directly meant it had “confidence.” Sprigo did not overestimate his own capabilities.

Only Chairman Haltos could contend with and defeat that evil wisdom. What he needed to do was buy time until he could grow into a powerful organic relay capable of penetrating the dimensional storm.

First, he should display some casual composure.

‘Heretical dog, are you still wandering without a real face or name?’ That should do. That much—

It was the moment when the eyes that had bloomed instead of fruit captured the Adversary’s face.

***

“You fucking piece of shit—!!”

Empowered by a surge of rage like a tidal wave, Sprigo spewed forth anger in its raw form, without any processing or restraint.

Considering the magnitude of emotion, the fact that Sprigo’s outburst was limited to words merely suggesting genitalia or sexual acts indicated that he was an intellectual member of society.

Ortes shrugged his shoulders once.

“Were we acquainted? I apologize for not recognizing you.”

And calmly added:

“I’ll make sure we won’t meet again.”