Ch.62Grave Robbing and Theft (5)

The wizards of Arguirion gritted their teeth.

The agent who had undoubtedly appeared from Blasphemia had pitted them against the silver-threaded worm and then vanished without a trace. It was clear they were trying to collect evidence and proof of the pact with Torres Mage Tower that would be scattered throughout the middle level.

At least one of them needed to leave this place to stop the agent.

But the silver-threaded worm was the problem.

Just as wizards absorb mana and convert it into magical power, the silver-threaded worm converts magical power back into mana, and the more mana it absorbs, the more its physical body grows.

The released worm had already absorbed a considerable amount of magical power, having grown to more than ten times its original size compared to when it was sealed in the containment chamber.

The silver threads densely embedded throughout the worm’s body flew out fiercely. The Arguirion wizards cast high-level spells in succession that would normally have made them stagger just from attempting to use them.

These attacks were only possible thanks to the blessing of the ‘Greater Cause.’ Pillars of fire rose up, melting away both ceiling and floor.

The scorching flames were effective against the silver-threaded worm as well. In an instant, about twenty percent of the worm dissolved in the flames.

However, that didn’t mean the worm’s movement was halted. Though called a worm for convenience, it wasn’t truly similar to a biological worm in the real sense.

No, it couldn’t even be classified as a living organism. Its behavior pattern was more accurately understood as a machine with the function of devouring magical power.

The silver-threaded worm tore away the parts of its body engulfed in flames. Then it advanced again toward the two wizards who possessed high-quality magical power.

Simultaneously, to restore its lost body, it extended silver threads into the magical circuits throughout the middle level. Being the control center of the ruin, there were plenty of magical circuits available.

Flicker. The lights in the middle level blinked.

It was evidence that part of the ruin’s system, having its magical power absorbed by the worm, was malfunctioning.

However, neither the Arguirion wizards nor the few Torres Mage Tower wizards who remained in the middle level could pay attention to this.

They were in a situation where they would lose their lives if they didn’t focus on the battle with the otherworldly beast right in front of them.

***

In the depths of the Crete Island ruins, at the very bottom of the deepest part—the darkest place in the ruins—wizards were shouting.

“Didn’t you say you were ruin exploration experts?! You sluggish bastards!”

Dozens of fixers and mercenaries were clinging to the door, but the final gateway remained firm. Inwardly, they regretted Utis’s absence.

‘Damn it. If that Visor guy were here, he would have opened the door in an instant…!’

“The protective magic is too strong! Even you Torres wizards need to lend us your magical power if we’re to attempt to dismantle it!”

The Torres school wizards didn’t trust the fixers. Fundamentally, they were rogues. What if they suddenly turned on them the moment the door opened after lending them magical power?

“We haven’t even depleted our magical power yet! Just shut up and—”

That’s when it happened. With a creaking sound, cracks appeared in the protective magic surrounding the gateway.

“Huh? It’s opening!”

It was an incredible coincidence. The silver-threaded worm that had spread its roots to the middle level caused a disruption in the magical power supply maintaining the protective magic. There was a separate magical power source to maintain the protective magic for the sealed chamber at the lowest part of the deep level, but in the instant before that source activated…

The efforts of the fixers who had been struggling to break the protective magic exploited that moment, causing the magic to collapse.

“Pour in magic before it recovers! Overload the magic circle and bring it down!”

As befitting a gateway blocking the deepest part of the ancient ruins, the protective magic was incredibly sophisticated. Being ancient magic, the method itself was classical, but its durability was beyond imagination.

However, the protective magic couldn’t withstand the onslaught of dozens of fixers pouring in their magical power. As the protective magic reached its critical point of destruction, the door turned blue.

To be precise, it was the colorless protective magic surrounding the door that turned blue.

This was because there was too much residual magical power flowing from the neutralized magic. With one final attack added, the entire blue barrier shattered like glass.

A thunderous roar that seemed to shake the entire underground depth and a storm of magical power. The fixers fell to their knees under the pressure created by the pure magical power pouring from the destroyed protective magic. They had almost depleted their magical power in breaking through the protection.

In contrast, the Torres Mage Tower wizards withstood the magical storm relatively comfortably. They had been conserving their strength and had enough time to prepare for the aftermath of destroying the protective magic.

They looked down at the fixers sprawled here and there. These people were no longer a threat.

“Wait. We’ve broken the protective magic, but other magics like the alarm are still—”

One of the fallen fixers warned, staggering to his feet. But the Torres Mage Tower wizards paid no heed.

Their anxiety about possibly losing the spirit-human to Utis, their psychological resistance to the ominous prophecy, their complacency from having had no accidents so far, combined with their self-indulgence in their lofty goal of reaching the Tenth Circle, unlike those ignorant fixers—all these factors influenced their judgment.

‘After all, what’s in there is just a spirit whose sense of self has dimmed over more than a thousand years. Though its continued existence proves its high rank, it couldn’t have properly absorbed magical power in such an isolated sealed chamber…’

They were thoroughly prepared to subdue the human spirit weakened over centuries. An ancient scroll containing spells for forced contracts and spirit binding. Compared to magic inscription drives, it took longer to use, but since the forced contract spell itself had been lost long ago, it only remained in scroll form, occasionally excavated from ancient ruins.

The wizards, equipped with various artifacts to weaken the lightning spirit, entered the stone chamber with confident smiles.

As the fixer had warned, the undeactivated alarm magic sounded. Loud noise and chaotic pulsations of magical power could be felt.

But the entity that should heed that warning had fallen asleep a thousand years ago, hadn’t it? The wizards’ smiles deepened.

At the end of the narrow passage was a single sealed chamber with a dome-shaped ceiling.

In the chamber, there was a human figure sitting cross-legged. Black, withered, and twisted, it looked like a burned corpse.

That must be the one who was once the master of the ancient Crete Island Mage Tower, who had been reborn as a spirit-human through the secret art of spiritization.

“Magical power?”

If that thing was merely a corpse that had failed to become a spirit and died, it would be the worst comedy. A wizard analyzing artificial spirits with an artifact in the form of glasses nodded.

“I can sense lightning-attribute magical power from within, albeit very faintly. It seems to have entered a dormant state due to lack of magical power.”

It was the perfect time to use the forced contract scroll. Just as the senior wizard of Torres Mage Tower was about to infuse magical power into the scroll…

Rumble!

Thunder roared. The Torres school wizards hurriedly tried to activate the spirit binding scroll, but the spirit-human was no longer in the place they were looking.

Crackle…

The sound of air burning could be heard. They turned their heads toward the sound. A human figure, charred black like charcoal. Golden lightning was leaking from within it.

The next moment, they could see the spirit-human’s hand piercing the abdomen of the senior wizard who had been holding the forced contract scroll.

“Kuhak…?!”

The senior wizard felt his magical power, which had filled his body, being drained in an instant. His body, struck by lightning from both inside and out, was rapidly charring into ashes.

Seeing this, one wizard aimed a spirit binding scroll. At that moment, the spirit-human’s body scattered into countless pieces of lightning, then reassembled right in front of the wizard.

Not exactly in front—it reassembled around the wizard.

“Huh?”

The wizard holding the spirit binding scroll felt his entire field of vision turn golden. And that was his last memory.

The spirit-human, having enclosed the wizard within itself and released lightning to instantly kill him, began absorbing the magical power the wizard possessed, tinting it with lightning attributes.

Only then did the Torres Mage Tower wizards realize the situation and begin to flee.

With a sense of self eroded over centuries, the spirit-human, left only with a dim obsession for vengeance, had no intention of forgiving those who dared to invade the tower master’s laboratory.

Especially if they were filled with delicious magical power.

The spirit-human, once known as the Lightning Duke, raised its head.

It could sense magical power above as well.

It had been thirsting for magical power for a very long time.

The consciousness awakened by the alarm magic did not reject the impulse to feed.

***

‘Strange…?’

I had found and stashed away several artifacts, but the Talisman of Thunder was nowhere to be seen.

‘Could it be in another ruin, not here?’

That would be troublesome. If news of this commotion reached the main tower of the Torres school, security would be multiplied.

Or if they failed to conceal this disturbance and the Arguirion collaboration was discovered by the Ten Towers, the Torres school might be crushed along with their tower.

Either way, getting hold of the Talisman of Thunder would become remote. I felt a gradually intensifying headache.

‘Staying here any longer isn’t a good choice. I should get out first…’

Crack!

A strange roar filled the middle level. It sounded like someone forcibly tearing and ripping leather. I turned my eyes toward the outside.

The Arguirion wizards seemed to have realized they shouldn’t fight the silver thread mass in an environment where it could continuously absorb magical power. They were using strong telekinetic magic to expel the silver thread mass from the middle level, like pulling out weeds.

The body, reaching tens of meters in length, was being pulled out. The sight of tens of thousands of silver threads writhing was reminiscent of a centipede’s creepy appearance.

Other wizards in the middle level were heading toward the passage while the two Arguirion agents held the silver thread mass. They weren’t abandoning them to escape. They were widening the entrance by blasting the passage with explosive magic.

‘Are they planning to drag the silver thread mass to the surface to fight?’

It was a rational choice, as continuing to fight here would lead to a protracted battle unless they had magic powerful enough to incinerate the entire mass at once.

I moved only after they had dragged all the silver threads to the surface.

‘The Talisman of Thunder wasn’t in the middle level either. Should I watch how they handle the silver thread mass before returning?’

***

And on the surface.

The fixers were fleeing from the jaws of the abyss. A giant of lightning fire and dark clouds that devoured people was chasing after them.

Strangely, it targeted the Torres school wizards rather than the fixers, allowing them to barely escape.

The fixers ran straight to the morning gathering place. Having come this far, they could catch their breath. Now they could escape the island by boat or whatever means available.

“Th-there!”

The fixers who were catching their breath looked up.

They saw the strangely writhing silver-threaded worm. Its massive body, which would require more than a dozen humans lined up to match its size, was scattering silver threads in all directions, searching for victims to burrow into.

The gathering place, devoid of magical power, was suitable for fighting the silver-threaded worm. The Arguirion wizards had lured the worm to the gathering place.

“What is this…”

Rumble!

Thunder sounded from behind the bewildered fixers. It was the roar of a hungry giant.

Ortes was making his way toward that place.