Ch.89The Great Chaos (6)

Talo stared at the farce unfolding beneath his feet, bewildered.

‘Why are they fighting each other?’

Based on their attire and speech, the newcomer was clearly a member of Arguilion, so why were the angels attacking their own reinforcements?

Several hypotheses formed and dissolved in Talo’s mind. The most credible one was that the dimensional contamination had increased to the point where their minds were too damaged to recognize allies.

Though he hadn’t yet deciphered the exact operating principles of angelification, he had observed that the transformation occurred only after opening a gateway from the outer dimension. This suggested that one needed to absorb mana from the outer dimension beyond a certain threshold to transform.

As a result of consuming outer dimensional mana, even Arguilion, who unlike ordinary contaminated beings had maintained their rationality, had now lost their minimal reasoning and begun attacking their own reinforcements…

While this hypothesis seemed most logical upon rational assessment,

‘Hmm?’

Arguilion’s movements were too organized for beings who had lost their reason. In an instant, they had divided into two groups—one responding to the weapon’s barrage, the other attacking the reinforcements.

They composed their barrage with diverse spells to determine the most effective attack attributes and continued sniping at blind spots.

These sophisticated tactical movements were too refined to be the random attacks of mindless monsters.

To begin with, it was hard to believe that those who could properly wield “magic” had lost their reason.

That left another possibility.

“Could the one who just cut off my arm be a third force impersonating Arguilion…?”

How interesting.

For what reason would someone impersonate Arguilion, the enemy of the magical world, and try to attack him while helping Arguilion?

“I just need to keep it attached above the neck.”

He still had enough magical power to maintain spatial alchemy. Talo leisurely gathered silver iron to alchemize several aerial batteries.

Targets appeared marked as ready on each battery in the augmented reality UI visible to Talo. His finger lightly tapped the floating fire button.

***

It was truly baffling. How on earth had my perfect plan been exposed?

‘Arguilion’s forces are more elite than I expected. Who would have thought they’d ask for passwords even in such extreme circumstances.’

I couldn’t expect support from the Divine Light Order, nor should it come.

If either the Ten Towers or Arguilion detected a third force interfering in the battle, they would prioritize eliminating us first.

I had initially planned to approach diplomatically, but the moment they realized the Divine Light Order was the “superstition cult” they despised, both sides would likely join forces—or at least separately—to deal with us.

With no hope for allied support and enemies who were fighting each other now showing hostility toward me.

Damn it. Should I have waited until Arguilion was pushed further into crisis?

No choice now. The priority is reducing the number of enemies. I need to destroy Arguilion’s gateway—

BOOM!

Bombardment fell from the sky toward the place I was about to rush to.

No, not just that location—indiscriminate bombing across the entire battlefield. Insane—does magical power grow on trees?

The explosion’s roar continued in succession like the noise of a chainsaw.

I hastily opened my eyes. The impact points and blast radii appeared before me.

Gateway destruction canceled. Now I need to use Arguilion to the fullest just to survive!

I run through the gaps between impacts. I twist my entire body to avoid the trajectory of incoming shells. The safe zones for survival changed moment by moment.

With eyes wide open, I take in information about the battle in the sky.

The first bombardment scattered the Arguilion forces surrounding me.

They responded intelligently to the explosions, flying higher than the aerial batteries to escape the blast radius.

The angels cast spells toward the aerial batteries alchemized by the Ten Towers’ mage.

The first angel called forth clouds.

The second added water elements to create storm clouds.

The third channeled electricity.

The chain of magic flowed as smoothly as if cast by a single person. Thunder swept through the aerial batteries soaked by the clouds.

A gap formed in the bombardment below. The angels created this gap to protect their gateway.

Other angels accelerated to secure the gateway.

It was fortunate that the Ten Towers mage’s powerful magic had broken Arguilion’s angelic encirclement, but…

‘Can I actually make it back alive?’

Flying truly gives a terrible advantage. It’s fundamentally unfair that my attacks can’t reach them while theirs can reach me.

I check my magical inscription drives.

“Fireball”? I can’t use flames as footholds. “Iron Wall”? Useful, but my opponent is a mage from the Silver Iron Tower. Using metal-attribute magic might backfire.

The magic attributes I can use to create something like footholds are ice, earth, and wood.

Conditionally, wind.

‘Let’s give it a try.’

I charged toward Arguilion’s human gateway.

***

The gateway must be protected.

One of their comrades had already decided to sacrifice themselves to open an additional door. But now they were inside the barrier deployed by the Ten Towers elder.

The barrier was interfering with their connection to the Great Cause. They needed more time to search for a pathway to connect with the Great Cause.

If the first gateway was destroyed before the second one opened, their physical bodies would be instantly alchemized, depriving them of freedom.

The angels who dove down to retrieve and protect their comrade who had become the gateway felt a gust of wind. It wasn’t from their comrades’ wingbeats.

Something was approaching.

As soon as they turned around, flames spread. In the flickering fire, the shadow of a magical weapon danced. The approaching figure was obscured by the battlefield’s smoke and noise.

But upon careful observation, one could discern that while the smoke from the flames was thick, the firepower itself was unremarkable. A water spell quickly extinguished the fire.

The water stream that formed at the fingertips wasn’t properly discharged. The water bent in a completely different direction from its intended trajectory. Before they could comprehend this strange anomaly, a blade pierced an angel’s neck.

Normally, even a high-frequency blade with enhanced cutting power shouldn’t have been able to penetrate an angel’s silver body.

However, the moment Ortes’s blade touched the neck, the formula structure forming the angel’s body twisted grotesquely.

From where the blade touched, the skin burst open and flesh protruded outward. This was the effect of the distorted and destroyed formula. Ortes quickly overlaid the flame magic inscription drive onto the blessing of angelification.

Flames rose from the wound where the blade was embedded. It looked as if the angel was bleeding fire instead of blood.

The result of mixing fire into the “angelic” form that the angelification magic was supposed to achieve. The Arguilion angel would burn endlessly as long as magical power continued flowing from the Great Cause.

Ortes jumped off the crown of the angel who was streaming flames from its neck. While one angel engaged Ortes, the other three had secured the gateway and taken flight.

He switched his magic inscription drive. For a moment, an earth cube materialized beneath Ortes’s feet in mid-air.

The magical power charged in the drive would be depleted in about a second, causing the earthen mass to fall. Ortes stepped on the cube and jumped again.

But it wasn’t enough. The angels’ flight was faster than Ortes’s charge. The gap between those crawling on the ground and those flying in the sky couldn’t be overcome.

He could see newly alchemized aerial batteries aiming their muzzles toward the ground. The Arguilion angels sensed that this unknown impostor would soon be riddled with holes and fall.

At that moment, vines extended to wrap around the blade Ortes was wielding. The basic wood-attribute magic “Growth.”

Originally suitable only for growing simple flowers, this magic could be used in such ways depending on the plant being grown.

Modified seeds of carnivorous plants ordered from Meconion’s garden. The greedily extending vines caught an angel’s ankle.

Ortes used the elasticity of the vine to propel himself upward. The body of the angel caught by the vines tilted and twisted.

As the angel’s body began an involuntary landing toward the ground, the aerial batteries initiated their second volley.

Just as his eyes showed, the barrage of bullets raining toward Ortes was completely blocked by the falling angel’s body.

Leaving the angel embedded in the ground behind him, Ortes readjusted his grip on his blade in mid-air.

The high-frequency blade, held in reverse grip, pierced the shoulder joint of an angel. This was the last of the three angels who had descended to secure the gateway.

“Let’s go together.”

Ortes pointed at Talo floating in the center of the barrier.

“Just to there.”