Ch.67Decisive Battle (2)

“Hueek…!”

Purple Tower Master, Alice let out a scream as she looked down at her MagicPad.

[Purple Tower Master Alice’s opponent is Blood Tower Master, Midir Tepes.]

‘Why?! Why her of all people?!’

She was on the verge of going insane.

She couldn’t understand why someone who originally had zero interest in running a Magic Tower would suddenly decide to hold something like The Greatest Magic Tower Tournament.

No, it would be better to speak accurately.

It wasn’t that she started this, but rather she simply gave permission for others to do as they pleased.

Everyone knew well that Eterna wasn’t the type of person to suddenly propose holding such a tournament.

Even Alice, who had little interest in the world, couldn’t help but know this fact.

Then surely there must be someone who suggested holding this so-called Greatest Magic Tower Tournament.

The Purple Tower Master could easily identify that person.

‘It’s obviously the Blood Tower Master, that woman did this…!’

A girl with a similar build to herself.

Of course, they only had similar builds; judging by how that woman spoke, she was definitely not the young girl she appeared to be.

Rather, there was a high possibility she was an old fogey like herself.

‘Why give me such a trial…’

When one reaches the level of an archmage, they transcend the concept of lifespan.

Just by circulating magical power through one’s body, one could maintain their health and youth unless they contracted a serious illness.

In that respect, Purple Tower Master Alice had ascended to the position of grand illusionist at a young age and had protected the Purple Tower for a long time.

No…

‘I’ve been holed up…’

To be precise, she had been holed up in the Purple Tower.

Mental magic.

The Purple Tower dealt with magic that showed illusions, created fantasies, and manipulated the minds of others.

Naturally, even offensive magic at most only affected the opponent’s mind, so for dream weavers like them, the very idea of attacking with magic that had physical form was absurd.

‘How am I supposed to win…!!’

How to win? It would be fair to say she simply couldn’t win.

In her opinion, even if the ancient Purple Tower Master or the founding Purple Tower Master came, it would be impossible to defeat the Blood Tower Master.

In reality, neither the founder nor even she herself could be considered strong in terms of combat ability.

‘Now I have no choice but to give up…!’

Unlike other magic disciplines, dream weaving didn’t require much academic research.

Due to its uniqueness in dealing with the minds of living beings, they did study psychology, but mostly they learned to draw to depict illusions more realistically or to handle magical power with precision.

Because of this, there were a few—no, frequent—cases of people secretly escaping from the Purple Tower to become drawing slaves at the Iron Tower, but that level of deviation was acceptable.

After all, there were hardly any people in the Purple Tower who cared about such things…

Anyway,

In a Magic Tower that was cold in the sense that talent determined everything, Alice, who had risen to the position of Tower Master, could be said to possess talent that was on a different level from others, beyond imagination.

Of course, that was only natural, as she couldn’t have reached the position of Tower Master otherwise.

In reality, the Purple Tower Master could affect even other Tower Masters if she could just cast mental magic on them.

‘That’s the difficult part…!’

True.

If given the chance, she could cast mental magic on superior beings, but due to the inconvenience of having to directly flow magical power into their body to interfere with their soul and brain, she couldn’t cast magic on those of equal rank or even high-ranking mages, let alone archmages, by herself.

For instance, if a situation arose where she could interrogate a specific person—a situation where she could be useful—she could bring most ordinary humans to their knees.

In any case, if she succeeded in landing her magic, her mental magic boasted tremendous power.

That was it.

‘What should I do…’

Apart from that, she was treated as having virtually no combat ability.

Of course that was the case.

How could she, who had no magic to use other than mental magic, face the Blood Tower Master, who was estimated to be the strongest among all Tower Masters?

It was a miracle she didn’t scream right then and there.

Especially…

“What should I do… I absolutely don’t want to fight…”

Alice knew very well about Midir’s strength.

She couldn’t help but know.

She was one of the people who knew the most about the TowerInside forum.

If one recalled the incidents Midir had caused since revealing herself, they would understand what incredible magical abilities she possessed.

If only it had been the White Tower, or even the Iron Tower!

With the White Tower, she could just ask the Saint to win gently, and with the Iron Tower, she could make a contract to lose painlessly.

After all, dream weavers were well aware that their combat abilities were the weakest among all towers, so losing was something they considered natural.

Even if she, as a Tower Master, were to be defeated, no one would make an issue of it.

At least, that was how it was here.

‘Let’s surrender…’

Alice.

She was a mage with excellent self-awareness.

* * *

“Do you know what kind of opponent the Purple Tower Master is?”

“The Purple Tower Master? Well…”

Razak pondered.

“She’s not particularly famous, but… from rumors I’ve heard here and there, she’s a witch who plays with people’s minds.”

“Hmm?”

“They say everyone who has seen the Purple Tower Master’s face has left the Purple Tower without a trace. Apparently, very few people within the tower have seen her.”

“…?”

Her?

‘That can’t be right…’

The Purple Tower Master’s face.

I only saw it briefly, but she was clearly a girl around my age.

Considering that becoming a Tower Master requires at least the level of an archmage, that girl must be quite old, but…

‘She didn’t seem like someone who would toy with people.’

Rather than toying with people’s minds, she seemed more like someone who would be scared of people and run away.

If that’s the case, the rumors must have been distorted somewhere…

‘I wonder where things went wrong…’

From what I heard afterward, those who had actually seen her face all never returned to the Purple Tower.

Such rumors would naturally spread.

It seemed unlikely that she would manipulate the minds of those who saw her face to make them leave the tower, especially since they reportedly left in good condition. People who were doing well in the tower wouldn’t suddenly leave.

Above all, the rumor spread that she played with their minds, making them leave happily after stealing their memories.

‘What a sad reality.’

It was unfortunate, but once such rumors spread, there was no way for her to personally correct them.

Whether she became that way because of these rumors, or whether she was like that from the beginning…

‘There’s no need to worry about that now.’

In the end, the Purple Tower Master is an opponent I must face and defeat myself.

There was no need to pity such an opponent.

At least not now.

‘The Purple Tower Master…’

Dream weavers are mages who deal with the mind and illusions.

She might try to brainwash me to make me lose, so it would be best to be careful.

Of course, now that I’ve become a True Ancestor, I shouldn’t be susceptible to mental magic, but it’s never bad to be cautious about unforeseen circumstances.

“Do you know anything else about the Purple Tower Master?”

“She’s such a reclusive Tower Master that I don’t know much. I’m sorry. The rumor I just mentioned is so famous that it even spread on the forums…”

“No, it’s fine… It’s not a crime not to know, and it would be stranger if you knew more about another tower’s master.”

After answering like that, a question suddenly occurred to me.

How much did Razak know about me?

‘Since he’s acting as my secretary, he must know a lot about me.’

Indeed…

“By the way, you do know about me, right?”

I asked with a mischievous expression.

I did it thinking he might get flustered if I asked like this.

However,

“Yes, of course I know well.”

“…Really?”

What’s with this confidence…

“Then, when did I become a Tower Master…”

“Magical Power Year 541, on the 12th day of the season when life shines down.”

“…”

March 12th.

He knows exactly…

“You became Tower Master at 11:27 AM. Would you like me to say more?”

“T-That’s enough…”

What the hell, this guy is scary.

Why does he know so much detail…

But Razak, gaining confidence from my response, began to spill TMI about me that even I hadn’t noticed.

I regretted bringing up the topic, wishing I hadn’t asked.

I let out a deep sigh.