Ch.198Human Bomb (1)

Haltos and the Director were facing each other with their weapons down, shouting at one another. Rather than a sharp debate between mortal enemies, it looked more like a lovers’ quarrel between two people whose emotions had somehow gone awry.

Thanks to this, Ortes had time to rest and recover his eyesight. After hearing the Pope’s insane plan, he had overused his eyes without restraint due to the surge of agitation. He blinked several times.

‘Even though this space is already filled with magical formulas, so closing my eyes briefly won’t allow for complete recovery…’

He needed to prevent his eyes from being factory-reset like they had been after facing the White Light.

Ortes listened to the argument between Haltos and the Director.

“Why can’t you understand! The One who was banished beyond the extra-dimensional realm will come! To restore this rotten world to its rightful form!”

“There are countless beings from other dimensions. Haven’t you considered that one of them might be deceiving you in the name of the greatest magician?”

“No. This is the truth! The Ten Towers destroyed the Demon King’s ascension and banished Him beyond the world! Even our enemy, that Ortes over there, would affirm this!”

Caught off guard by the sudden mention, Ortes turned his head toward the Director. She rolled the word “enemy” around in her mouth several times. Having only recently regained her self-awareness, the designation from her memories seemed somewhat hazy.

And suddenly, her eyes filled with rage.

“Enemy…! So it was you who ruined the Golden Desert Operation and caused dozens of our agents to go missing during the mission!”

“That’s how it turned out. But right now, aren’t I standing against you, who is being controlled by the Pope, alongside Haltos?”

“Have you also become one who is Corrupted?”

“Of course not. While I’ve occasionally poked my head into extra-dimensional realms, that doesn’t mean I want to become Corrupted.”

Ortes drew a line, explaining that his reason for fighting alongside Haltos now was to stop the Pope’s madness that was controlling her.

“Your anger toward me is meaningless. Right now, in this place, the greatest threat to the magical society is none other than you and the Pope.”

The Director bit her lip. It was a correct assessment. A brief freedom gained while extra-dimensional magical power and divine power fought against each other. However, it was clear that regardless of which power won, there would be no freedom for the Director herself.

Both the extra-dimensional realm and the Pope were elements driving the world toward destruction. The Director closed her eyes.

“Haltos.”

“Director.”

“Kill me.”

“What?”

It wasn’t that Haltos didn’t understand the true meaning of that short sentence. The Director had ordered Haltos to kill her.

Extra-dimensional magical power from the left half of the Director’s body and divine power from the right half were infiltrating her nervous system like a plague, binding her. She could think, reason, and speak, but any movement beyond a certain degree would be controlled by external forces.

The best the Director could do was to suppress both powers together to prevent either the extra-dimensional realm or divine power from completely taking over her body.

“I don’t want to participate in that damn superstition follower’s plan, nor do I want to gift my death to that grinning madman enemy. I didn’t know my only friend would return as an idiot who fell into the extra-dimensional realm, but still, the best cause of death I can choose right now is you.”

What is she saying? Haltos’s gaze wavered. The reason Arguirion had consistently tried to recruit Blasphemia. Of course, it was true that they were familiar with Arguirion’s system because they had originally been part of the same organization, making persuasion easier.

But the true purpose that penetrated all the rational reasons Haltos had calculated was the Director. To live a new life together under the Cause after realizing the truth.

But now the Director was saying she would rather die than accept the Cause.

“Why?”

Why won’t she accept the truth?

No. Haltos had spent a truly long time with the Director. From the bottom of the magical society to the top of Blasphemia. Their separation had occurred after the Golden Desert Operation.

Someone with whom he had shared most of his life. Reading the emotions of such a person was as easy and natural as breathing. Haltos could sense that the Director had accepted the truth of the Ten Towers’ betrayal.

Yet she still rejected the ‘Cause.’

The Director slowly opened her mouth with sunken eyes.

“Because it’s not for the good of the magical society.”

“So you’re just another lackey born from the Ten Towers’ power? Think again, Director. The Ten Towers have already fallen. The Cause is slowly approaching us. Their petty power is meaningless!”

“It’s not about power, Haltos. Have you ever thought about how many people the coming Demon King will kill? Have you ever counted the number of people who will fall together with the society as the entire Ten Towers collapse, the people who will drown together? What about those who will die in the war against those who reject the extra-dimensional realm?”

“Necessary sacrifices!”

“…My Haltos was buried in the Golden Desert.”

The verbal battle between the two grew longer. Ortes became somewhat impatient and glanced behind him. Although his eyes weren’t limited by field of vision, it was an expression of his desire to physically confirm Carisia’s safety.

Fortunately, the fighting on that side had also reached a lull. But there was no telling when the Pope might move again. Not only was the resumption of the fight between the Pope and Carisia a problem, but it would be an even bigger issue if the Pope turned his attention to the Director.

Right now, the extra-dimensional corruption and divine power were in a state of antagonism. But what if the Pope noticed the abnormality in the Saint and bestowed sainthood upon the Director again?

They would have to start this whole mess over from the beginning. Ortes felt his patience gradually wearing thin.

‘If only I had brought an artificial Ten Commandments to detonate…’

Unfortunately, the artificial Ten Commandments was currently embedded in the White Light Main Tower along with the entire city of Etna. Any attempt to retrieve it would be futile in this place where time and space had stopped.

“So, Director. It seems your loyal subordinate has already chosen to serve the Cause rather than you. Shall I fulfill your wish?”

Haltos distorted his face with anger and glared at Ortes. How dare he intrude on the sacred process of persuasion to join the Cause.

The Director looked at Ortes with a bitter smile. If she could have committed suicide, she would have tried it long ago. But neither the extra-dimensional realm nor divine power would permit her death.

“Let me ask you one thing. What will you do with this world?”

“What will I do? I’m not the decision-maker. I’m just a subordinate of the person who’s facing the Pope on our behalf over there. That person doesn’t particularly have much desire for the world. Now that they’ve obtained the White Light, they’ll probably prepare for retirement.”

The Director let out a long sigh. To think that the oldest magic tower had fallen into the hands of the enemy.

Another sigh followed.

And to think that this enemy was envisioning the most moderate future among all those gathered here.

“I never thought I’d entrust my neck to the enemy.”

“Alkife!”

Haltos let out a roar. He uttered the Director’s real name, which he hadn’t called for a very long time. Why couldn’t she understand him, the Cause?

Ortes pondered. It would be right to kill the Director here.

Who would have thought that Haltos’s extra-dimensional corruption would be so incomplete that his self-awareness would awaken? It would have been better if he had been reborn as an extra-dimensional Corrupted in one breath, without any sense of self.

It seemed difficult to break the delicate balance between divine power and the extra-dimensional realm in one go. The two forces, which repeatedly multiplied using each other as fuel, were not easy to analyze in their structure of fusion.

Even if he tried to force Haltos to become Corrupted, time would be wasted because the Director was rejecting the extra-dimensional realm. If the Pope noticed the Director’s anomaly because of that wasted time, it was clear that things would become even more complicated, if not catastrophic.

‘Is Haltos the problem?’

Haltos was obsessed with the Director. It was obvious that he would respond immediately if Ortes tried to kill the Director.

‘Wait a minute.’

Thinking about it, it didn’t really matter if the Pope noticed the Director’s current state.

To be precise, within the gap until the Pope realized the Director’s incomplete liberation and tried to bestow sainthood again, all they needed to do was dispose of the Director.

And Ortes had the most certain means to deal with the Director.

“Don’t interfere, enemy! This is a matter between me and Alkife!”

“Since you put it that way, I won’t interfere.”

Ortes raised both hands and stepped back a couple of paces. Haltos opened his mouth to persuade the Director, deliberately ignoring the disappointment and contempt that flashed in her eyes.

At that very moment, a shout from the enemy came from behind.

“Carisia!”

Another name of the enemy. Hadn’t she been opposing the Pope?

He had already known that the sounds of battle from the rear had ceased. But sometimes silence is more deadly than gunfire. An intense confrontation where they pointed blades of vigilance at each other in a state of extreme tension. What reason could there be to call out a name in such a situation?

Was Ortes trying to help Carisia stop the Pope so that Haltos himself could fully concentrate on Alkife?

Certainly not. Ortes was not the kind of being who would think that way.

Haltos turned his head with an inexplicable chill.

At the tip of Carisia’s hand, a light of destruction was ripening.

It was aimed at both Haltos and the Director.