Ch.205Emergency Meeting (1)

‘I cannot directly perceive Ortes. Therefore, I use an indirect method of waiting for a special attack that only Ortes can use…’

Hector recalled that unique constitution that only Ortes possessed. A void existence where magical power itself does not exist.

The current Demon King didn’t appear to have anything resembling sight or hearing, at least not in any conventional sense. If the Demon King’s cognitive abilities were based solely on ‘magical power’…

Ortes was the only other being who functioned as an unknown to the Demon King.

The problem was that the Demon King, through whatever means, knew about this ‘unknown’ and sought to secure it.

The current situation demonstrated exactly that. Pretending to fall into the Tower Lords’ trap, then reactivating the moment Ortes’s presence was detected. Hector was reminded of a tropical carnivorous plant. The moment of predation when it closes its mouth to devour an insect that brushes against its sensory organs.

The Demon King had been waiting to deal with Ortes alone.

‘Why Ortes specifically?’

The question lingered in Hector’s mind. Even if the Demon King couldn’t detect magical power, it could still harm Ortes with wide-area attack magic, yet it hadn’t attempted any real attacks against him.

It had merely reached out its hand, beckoning him to come closer, promising to fulfill his desires.

Hector couldn’t complete his reasoning. The Demon King’s power swept through the surroundings once more. Despite the Pope’s holy spirit, the Demon King broke free from its restraints again.

Having analyzed how the Tower Lords’ binding spell against the Demon King was broken, Ortes couldn’t suppress a bitter laugh. The Demon King hadn’t used any sophisticated technique to destroy the non-elemental shackles.

Rather, it was extremely simple. It had directly projected the limitless magical power emanating from the Ten Commandments’ Green Wood that it wore.

In fact, in a sense, it was a technique no one else could replicate. Even if the magical power flowing from the Ten Commandments was limitless, the maximum magical power output of the mage wielding it couldn’t be limitless. Humans had limits to their instantaneous magical power output.

The Demon King wasn’t bound by such common sense.

“We have no choice. Let’s retreat!”

Ortes had made his decision. If they continued like this, they would be annihilated. The difference in output was too extreme. At minimum, they would need the support of the Ten Commandments for all the Tower Lords, or at least for Carisia, to make this even remotely a fair fight.

Carisia was the first to hear Ortes’s battle analysis and began retreating without hesitation. Following her, the Tower Lords and all personnel from the Ten Towers prepared to escape from the top of Green Wood. They rushed to board the dimensional exploration vessel.

“I’ve sent a message to Etna City. Told them to change the spatial movement coordinates to Elysion.”

“Then, Director, how will we escape?”

The Pope spoke with difficulty. Due to the collapse of the holy spirit from the Demon King’s attack, the sacred rupture was accelerating, and his voice was gradually weakening.

“Prodito will… come soon…”

The Pope was right. A golden door appeared before their eyes.

Prodito, who burst through the door, was shocked the moment he saw the Demon King slowly destroying the world.

“What is that—!!”

“Explanations later, let’s retreat for now!”

Ortes covered Prodito’s mouth as he exclaimed in shock and jumped into the door. He was holding Carisia’s hand.

Ortes, Carisia, Prodito, the Pope.

And Hector. He kept his eyes on the Demon King, who was devouring the very space that constituted the world, until the last moment.

“What are you doing, old man! Get in now!”

As Hector jumped in, the golden door closed hastily.

The Demon King began to move again. Toward the place where it sensed the Ten Commandments. Slowly, but surely.

***

The Ten Commandments front was chaos itself. The front, which had moved precisely according to Ortes’s plan, pushed against the Ten Towers even more fiercely after the fall of White Light.

Lampades overthrew Yellow Thunder, and the knights led by Hector brought down Silver Iron Tower.

Despite the emergency situation of the commander’s urgent dispatch, Niobe successfully made contact with Black Darkness’s Kine and the Blasphemia group, taking control of Black Darkness through a coup.

The Divine Faith Order targeted elemental towers widely spread in nature, such as Red Flame or Blue Water.

Among the Order’s deities, there were many who bestowed powers to handle such pure elements. By using the disciples of the blacksmith god Polyphron who handled fire, or the disciples of the sea god Pontomedon who controlled water, they could attack the towers with elements that countered the Ten Towers, regardless of the Ten Commandments’ magical suppression power.

In the end, five locations were finalized under the ownership of the Hydra Company alliance on the Ten Commandments front.

White Light, Yellow Thunder, Silver Iron, Black Darkness, and Blue Water. Just as the Divine Faith Order was about to capitalize on their momentum and attack Red Flame, news arrived from Green Wood.

Along with the dimensional exploration vessel that had fled from that place.

It was a time of heightened tension as the former Tower Lords prepared for battle to reclaim the Ten Commandments.

Suddenly, a broadcast from Yellow Thunder Magic Tower echoed throughout the Ten Commandments front.

“Current Yellow Thunder Tower Lord Lampades, together with White Light Tower Lord Carisia, Silver Iron Tower Lord Hector, Blue Water Tower Lord Knemon, and Black Darkness Tower Lord Niobe, jointly declare.”

The mages who had been dispatched as the extra-dimensional expeditionary force held their breath. What on earth had happened while they were away from this world?

“Come to Elysion to jointly confront the extra-dimensional being that has now descended upon this world. That is all.”

The Tower Lords, who should now be referred to as “former,” continued their communication amidst the confusion. The ancient elders gathered information from the former Green Wood Tower Lord, the only one who had survived among the Tower Lords who had remained during their expedition to another dimension.

“Just who is this Lampades that he, not even the monster of White Light, would issue such a statement as a representative!?”

“…I’ve heard about him in intelligence reports about Argyrion. They say there’s some kind of entity they call ‘the adversary,’ an ideological criminal with extremely dangerous schemes. I wonder if this Lampades, who has suddenly risen to prominence, might be the identity of the adversary.”

“I hear he was operating in a tower bearing his own name before succeeding Yellow Thunder. How audacious and blasphemous a provocation this is. To think that someone threatening the social order has been striding about so boldly!”

In truth, Lampades had merely read the hastily delivered speech that Ortes had prepared. However, this caused the name Lampades to resonate throughout the entire Ether Network, which was as good as fulfilling his dream of leaving his name in magical society.

***

“Using Lampades’s extra-dimensional radar, we’ve calculated the Demon King’s path.”

Extra-dimensional collapse occurs wherever the Demon King goes. If so, the Demon King’s direction can be determined by detecting the ratio of extra-dimensional erosion near Green Wood.

Ortes calmly continued his briefing before the gathered personnel.

“Our prediction that the Demon King would go to one of the two Ten Towers closest to Green Wood, either Wind Gale or Silver Iron, was correct. The place the Demon King chose was Wind Gale. This lends more credibility to the hypothesis proposed by External Director Hector.”

Hector’s hypothesis that ‘currently, the Demon King can only sense the world through magical power.’ As soon as Ortes heard this, he responded, “Then it will go to Wind Gale.”

This was because those occupying the Silver Iron Magic Tower were Hector’s knights. Silver Iron Magic Tower had the Ten Commandments’ Silver Iron plus knights, while Wind Gale Magic Tower had the Ten Commandments’ Wind Gale plus Wind Gale mages. In terms of total magical power, Wind Gale had more.

In the realm of infinity, the magical power possessed by individual human mages would be truly meaningless, not even accounting for calculation errors, but Ortes believed that the Demon King would detect even the slightest difference.

And the hypothesis was proven.

“Accordingly, we now know where the Demon King will head. The Demon King will devour the Ten Commandments one by one, and if that happens, there will be no hope for this world.”

Lampades hesitantly raised his hand.

“Yes, External Director Lampades. Please speak.”

“…Um, wasn’t it an ‘extra-dimensional being’ that descended upon this world? The one that eroded Argyrion?”

Ortes nodded.

“Didn’t you just call it the Demon King?”

Lampades looked at Ortes with eyes that seemed almost panicked. Ortes let out a soft “Ah” and then answered.

“Did I not explain that to you?”

“No, you didn’t!!”

Lampades raised his voice in extreme confusion. From Carisia’s perspective, he paradoxically looked much closer to Ortes than his usual fearful demeanor.

In fact, it wasn’t just the external directors who were dumbfounded by Ortes’s nonchalant declaration; the internal directors were equally shocked.

From their reactions, Ortes realized one thing: the mages’ response when the enemy was declared to be the ‘Demon King.’

‘The most effective approach in this situation is…’

“The extra-dimensional being that has currently descended reportedly claimed itself to be the Demon King when it eroded Argyrion. Therefore, instead of using vague terms like ‘extra-dimensional being,’ I’m simply calling it by what it calls itself—the Demon King.”

It wasn’t a lie. After all, it’s only natural that the Demon King would claim to be the Demon King.