Ch.123123. Raid (5)

“…After all that talk about pride, I didn’t expect you to call a friend, Nella.”

“Ah, yes. A very good friend who’s been through thick and thin with me.”

Edwin glared at Daphne with narrowed eyes. Nella hadn’t realized it yet, but the presence exuded by a 6th Circle mage fully immersed in combat was truly overwhelming. The power dynamic was different. At that moment, the balance that had been gradually tilting toward Edwin completely collapsed when Daphne burst in. Recognizing this, Edwin slowly backed away from Daphne.

“What are you doing here? I specifically asked you to guard the materials securely.”

“I thought I’d rather not have you die in the process.”

Daphne answered so nonchalantly. Nella’s face, which had been red with shame, now flushed for an entirely different reason. Meanwhile, Daphne was looking at Nella suspiciously.

“W-what are you saying?”

“So, why did you call for Ilroy? You weren’t subconsciously hoping for someone to appear at this moment, were you? Care to answer?”

“I don’t know, idiot! Don’t ask such things! Obviously, in a situation like this, who else would dramatically appear but the hero? I told you to just guard the room in the first place.”

Nella was horrified as she looked into Daphne’s lifeless eyes. Wait, that’s right. What happened to the materials she was supposed to be guarding? How did she get all the way up here? Surely she didn’t just abandon them to burn?

Even if she was worried about me, isn’t that a bit extreme?

Nella was at a loss for words as she stared at Daphne. She remembered Daphne as having a somewhat timid personality. Did she learn this from Ilroy? Since Daphne had saved her life, Nella couldn’t really complain, and could only look at her with a dumbfounded expression.

“I’m still guarding the room.”

Daphne stated confidently. What? Can she supply all the mana needed for protective magic from so far away? Was the difference between 5th and 6th Circle that significant? Nella couldn’t tell if this was a lie to reassure her or the truth.

“Here.”

And then, space opened. Nella blinked as she watched Daphne’s hand disappear into empty air. When Daphne’s hand reappeared, it was holding a reference book that had been on the desk in her laboratory. Daphne then placed the book back into the seemingly empty space.

“…Wait, you completed that? In this time? Are you insane? What kind of brain structure do you have to think of completing that and actually create it? And you’re maintaining it entirely with your own magical power? All of this in just a day or two…”

“Explanations later. That’s not what’s important right now.”

Daphne turned to Edwin.

“I’m willing to accept your surrender. Of course, you’ll have to be restrained and imprisoned in the deepest dungeon. You must know you’re no match for us.”

The monstrous Edwin let out a hollow laugh. It sounded like nails scraping against a brass pot. Then he drew up his magical power to its fullest and faced off against Daphne.

“How ridiculous. You’re still under the delusion that you have the advantage.”

At that moment, frost formed at Edwin’s feet. With a sound like hundreds of eggs cracking at once, the tentacles that had replaced his legs instantly froze. As Edwin showed a bewildered expression, Daphne’s next spell struck him mercilessly.

“Freezing…? No, and this is…!”

They sprouted. Like thorns growing on a rose vine, icicles began to bloom from the frost binding Edwin’s tentacles. The icicles pierced through the tentacles and emerged straight through Edwin’s torso.

“Guh…ack!”

Even the black blood that poured out froze. Edwin hurriedly deployed his full magical power to escape Daphne’s spell and rolled across the floor. Daphne’s face showed no sign of surprise as she watched him. Her mouth opened, and a cold assessment flowed out.

“Not bad.”

Not bad.

Edwin’s face contorted like a demon’s. Meanwhile, the next spell was already activating and flying toward Edwin. The power of the 6th Circle, achieved not through sudden gains like his but through her own talent, showed an incomparable difference in precision and versatility.

“You—!”

Edwin’s tentacles were paralyzed stiff after being struck by a shower of lightning. While his movements were restricted again, Daphne relentlessly unleashed various attack spells. Magical power transformed into all kinds of forms and ravaged Edwin. Fire, ice, lightning, or even pure mana light clusters. Daphne poured out spells as if there were no limit to her magical power.

“…Why has she become so strong?”

Nella thought she had worked just as hard. She thought she had grown enough to not fall behind anyone. But Daphne, who had taken her place as a pillar of the hero’s party, was making all of that look like futile struggling.

“Damn you, hero’s lackey!”

Edwin’s enraged voice echoed, but his voice was the only thing actually opposing Daphne. His body was alternating between freezing and thawing, now tattered as if pierced by countless blades. What looked like human organs spilled out between torn flesh.

“Since you rejected the chance to surrender, you won’t get another. Accept your fate.”

Daphne was summoning a massive flame for her final strike. Edwin’s pupils began to tremble madly as he realized this would be the final blow. Then suddenly, as if he had realized something, or as if stopping a seizure, his gaze changed to a calm one.

“…Yes. I feared losing my sanity. Why did I fear that? In this world, my sanity matters not at all.”

Daphne’s arm froze as she tried to gather more clues from Edwin’s muttering.

“Whether I have my sanity or not, I will ultimately reach the same destination.”

Daphne’s spell was fired. Simultaneously, Edwin’s body began to swell more grotesquely. The spell that would have pierced his tattered body was blocked by Edwin’s transforming skin. The magic left only scorch marks, unable to penetrate the enlarged body of Edwin.

“The Absolute One… Worship immortality and transcendence… Welcome the coming destruction…”

Those were Edwin’s last words as a human. Like the assistants who had been sacrificed before him, Edwin had become a monster that had lost its sanity. Daphne clicked her tongue as she looked at the monster that had instantly become a threatening presence. She shouldn’t have paid attention to those words hoping to gain information.

BOOM—!!

The ground exploded. The tentacle Edwin lashed out moved too fast for even Daphne’s eyes to follow. With a roar that seemed to tear eardrums, Edwin, or rather the monster that could no longer be called Edwin, faced the mage with nothing but the power of its burgeoning flesh.

“At this point, it’s just a magical beast.”

Daphne clicked her tongue and gathered her magical power. It would be difficult to take it down in one go. She needed to weaken it by continuously casting spells before defeating it.

“This won’t be easy.”

But what needed to be done was clear. Seal its movements, render its defenses useless, and then deliver the final blow. Of course, that thing would be difficult to restrain with ordinary magic.

“…I need to finish this quickly and go help Ilroy.”

Muttering complaints, Daphne squeezed out another chunk of magical power. The cold spread to cover the entire 11th floor. The monster that had been effortlessly blocking Daphne’s spells began to slow down gradually. A chill that seemed capable of freezing even space itself. Its movements became slower and slower.

“So, stay right there.”

She couldn’t stop it completely. The resistance was fierce. Before more magical power was consumed, she needed to construct a spell. Daphne floated a frost spear made from the cold in midair. She had to conserve magical power. If she poured all her magic into defeating this monster here, the aftermath would be problematic.

“I need to take it down with this.”

The compromise she found in the midst of it all. Daphne closed her eyes tightly, then opened them and fired the spear.

…This isn’t going to work.

By the time Daphne reached that conclusion, the spear had already failed to penetrate the monster’s head, stopping halfway through. As she was about to pour in additional magical power, the monster’s head lurched forward, causing the frost spear to pierce through its head completely.

“…Did it work?”

Nella, with an expression that suggested she had squeezed out every last bit of her magical power, was trembling as she held up her hand. Daphne nodded, though not entirely satisfied.

“Thank you.”

“You were trying to conserve magical power, right? Wise choice. I’m completely drained.”

Daphne supported the staggering Nella and began heading toward the lower floor. It seemed the battle below had already ended, as no loud noises could be heard. This somewhat fueled her anxiety, so Daphne practically carried Nella as she made her way toward the 10th floor.

“Ilroy!”

The 10th floor they urgently sought was completely destroyed without a trace. The corridor lined with professors’ research labs had become a wide-open plaza, and only uncertain fragments remained of the rooms and walls that had made up the corridor.

“…What a complete mess. Other professors would fall to their knees and wail if they saw this.”

Nella uttered words typical of a researcher. Her own personal research materials had probably been reduced to ashes as well. Meanwhile, the pink-haired mage carrying her was looking around with bloodshot eyes, searching for the hero.

“…Ilroy?”

And then, Daphne’s gaze stopped abruptly. As the hand holding Nella suddenly lost strength, Nella was half-thrown to the floor.

“Hey! How could you drop me so suddenly!”

Nella frowned sharply and turned her head. And there, in Nella’s line of sight—

Was the hero, collapsed in a pool of blood, clutching a sword in his arms.

==

For the first time since its founding, the Magic Tower area was closed off, and the Academy entered an indefinite suspension. Fortunately, the damage did not spread beyond the Magic Tower. Ongoing research was halted, and casualties and fatalities were tallied. While there weren’t many deaths, there were numerous missing persons. One-third of the university’s professors had vanished without a trace, and half of the assistants had disappeared.

Amid the anxiety and sense of crisis pervading the capital and the entire kingdom, a rumor driving the residents to despair began to spread like a drop of ink in water.

“They say the hero has died.”

“Come on… He wouldn’t die so meaninglessly when he hasn’t even fought The Seven Calamity.”

“I heard he was caught off guard during the battle at the Magic Tower? They say he hasn’t shown himself for quite some time.”

None other than the rumor that the hero had died.