I Became the Narrow-Eyed Henchman of the Evil Boss – Chapter 88

Chapter 88 – The Prelude to Chaos (4)

Argyrion had transformed into a metallic angel. Seeing this, Talo’s laughter deepened.

This was because Talo was an elder of the Silver Iron Magic Tower.

Even if it was mutated through the power of an extra-dimension, if it was metal, it was worth researching. No, perhaps because it was a metal derived from an extra-dimension, his desire to research was even more ignited.

The elements of this world had already been thoroughly dissected by the Ten Towers throughout history. To acquire new research subjects, one would either have to create them directly or bring them in from outside this world.

The sample of the Silver Thread used by Argyrion had disappointed the Silver Iron Magic Tower. It possessed no unique qualities beyond its ability to corrode living organisms.

What about the composition of this ‘angel’ that had been influenced by the extra-dimension more deeply than the Silver Thread? What utility might it display?

Talo checked the progress of calculations on his auxiliary brain. Forty-seven percent.

He hoped it would hold out until the magic was completed. If it collapsed before the Grand Magic could be finished, it would prove to be worthless scrap, devoid of any research value.

***

Smoke and magical light filled the sky. Orthes looked on at the battle between the two groups, smiling with satisfaction.

‘This is a fight.’

Getting others to fight without fighting oneself—when he was working as a fixer, it took him a considerable number of trial-and-error experiences to grasp this simple wisdom.

It was easy to provoke a fight between Argyrion and the Ten Towers by leveraging the luck that the magic user from the Ten Towers had set the familiar’s automatic tracking target to ‘anything possessing mana.’

But the real problem began now.

‘How should I stage the “end of the fight”?’

Whether to eliminate Argyrion or the Ten Towers, one side had to be removed, at least. If not, I would have to eliminate both.

If Argyrion were to leave this place alive, they would surely think the Ten Towers were engaged in some suspicious excavation and would act accordingly.

The odds were high that they would waste their resources trying to uncover a nonexistent excavation by the Ten Towers.

On the other hand, if the Ten Towers got wind of this situation, what would they conclude?

‘They would probably think that Argyrion was attempting to plunder the ruins of the ancient Mage King, wouldn’t they?’

In that case, the Ten Towers would likely strengthen their surveillance of all ancient ruins. That would be bad news for both me and the Hydra Corporation.

‘It’s too risky to eliminate both sides at once. I lack high-powered techniques like magic.’

It would’ve been great if I had properly learned even the basics of martial arts. The person who taught me something akin to martial arts told me, ‘It’s no use learning that stuff,’ and only taught me the fundamentals of handling supernatural abilities and how to strengthen the body.

Well, even I don’t know exactly what kind of supernatural ability I have. All I know is that it’s not mana-based.

The time spent learning to suppress my eyes and enhance my body wasn’t wasted, though…

I made up my mind.

The best option was to eliminate both sides so that accurate information wouldn’t reach either of their main camps.

If eliminating both wasn’t possible and I had to choose one side to eliminate, then it would be better to remove the Ten Towers and let Argyrion go.

I had to determine the right moment to intervene in the battle.

I watched the fight between the machine angels and the magical weapons. At a glance, it seemed like the group of angels, continuously using powerful magic, had the upper hand, but I could see the durability of the ‘Gate’ supplying the angels with extra-dimensional mana gradually declining.

‘At this rate, the Ten Towers will win without any problems.’

Alright. I’ll pretend to side with Argyrion and join the fray.

After taking down the mage from the Ten Towers, I’ll eliminate Argyrion when they let their guard down.

If I don’t see an opportunity, there’s nothing I can do about it.

I put on the garments I had picked up earlier from Argyrion’s commander.

***

Talo waved his fingers, and the weapons in sync with his will formed a meticulous web of fire.

The blueprints of the weapons inputted from his brain and outputted through his fingertips were released, containing various magical formulas.

It could be considered a performance test of the weapons against Argyrion’s angels. Talo tested the angels’ resistances with special bullets imbued with various attributes of magic.

‘They’re more durable than I expected.’

The result was surprising. Uniform resistance to all attributes and self-healing capabilities.

It was regenerating based on principles different from conventional magi-engineering. It must certainly be a power derived from the extra-dimension.

If the Silver Iron Magic Tower could replicate that with their own power, they would be one step closer to ascension than the other Ten Towers.

“You’ve put in quite an effort. I applaud you. But it’s unfortunate.”

Talo raised his right hand.

A message indicating that the calculations were complete appeared in his vision.

“In the end, those who are not part of the Ten Towers have their limits.”

The Grand Magic Talo had been preparing was activated. Spatial Alchemy.

The limits of the Silver Iron Magic Tower were synonymous with the limits of the elements they could handle. Just as their name implied, their world of magic was one dedicated to metals.

The ability to handle organic material that was not metal was inevitably limited.

Learning the magic of Zaton or Nokmok to bypass those limits was meaningless, as one could not reach the extremes with the magic of the Silver Iron Magic Tower.

But mages were those who sought the gaps in the world’s order rather than accepting its limits. The Silver Iron Magic Tower devised various means to gather metal elements.

They would create elements with mana, gather elements from within the earth, or, finally…

Transmute existing substances into metal.

Talo intended to transmute everything except the hearts and brains of the subjects into research materials.

Alchemy, which had originally been a procedure for transforming substances to create gold, had evolved into a powerful attack magic in this era.

Through a barrier, it isolated a specific space from reality and transmuted everything within into silver iron. The Spatial Alchemy that reverted everything visible to silver iron, as long as the user’s mana permitted, was indeed the essence of the Silver Iron Magic Tower.

Thus, the world began to be painted in silver.

The twilight wasteland, lit by starlight, became brighter. It was as if the surface of the world was being painted in silver, reflecting back the radiance of the stars.

Even the bodies of the angels, who did not touch the ground, began to slowly change color. The dazzling, otherworldly sheen derived from the extra-dimension was being devoured by the hue of refined weaponry forged for war.

The bodies of the silver angels began to harden, slowly. Starting from the extremities, their bodies grew heavier. Talo could feel control over the joints of their bodies, now being transmuted into metal, shifting to him.

For now, the ‘Gate’s’ blessings were counteracting the effects of Spatial Alchemy, but once the Gate closed, they would instantly lose control over their bodies.

To resolve this, one of them would have to become a new Gate. The angels of Argyrion were prepared for another act of martyrdom.

It was at that moment that a high-frequency blade, tracing a dark trajectory, severed Talo’s right hand.

“You greedy Ten Towers bastards! I can feel the vile nature of the Ten Towers! Comrades, rise up!”

***

Talo, whose right hand had been cut off, felt both curiosity and confusion.

For him, the body was fundamentally a consumable, so transmuting another arm to replace the severed one was a simple matter. Thus, he wasn’t bewildered by the physical destruction itself.

How had the enemy, who was within his barrier, escaped his detection?

Why was that person not affected by the transmutation?

There was only one fundamental reason why Spatial Alchemy wouldn’t work. It was to negate the transmutation’s interference by expending one’s supernatural ability.

Whether it was through having a domain like a barrier, fully controlled by the user, similar to Spatial Alchemy, or by continuously infusing the body with supernatural power to ward off magical interference, the principle was the same.

Unless they possessed a perfect material immune to transmutation, which only existed in the Silver Iron Magic Tower’s archives, the intruder must have withstood the transmutation by expending an enormous amount of supernatural power.

‘To sever my arm floating in midair without any equipment or signs of mana. Was there someone among Argyrion who could handle martial arts?’

Argyrion, too, was feeling confusion.

Was this a new reinforcement sent from the main base?

It was possible they hadn’t heard from the main base due to the barrier deployed by the mage from the Ten Towers. But the problem was the intruder’s choice of words: ‘greedy bastard.’

Argyrion had not come to the ruins seeking the relics lying within.

They had come in response to a distress signal from their comrade.

It was only natural for them to interpret the ambush by the Ten Towers as an extension of that.

They could only assume the Ten Towers had either mimicked Argyrion’s distress signal or tortured their comrade to extract the signal and used it to set a trap.

The relics inside the ruins were never a consideration from the start.

The intruder’s words caused a deep sense of dissonance.

Thus, it was only natural for the angels to point their weapons at the unidentified figure clad in Argyrion’s combat uniform as they approached.

“Code word.”

“Pardon?”

They didn’t know the passphrase.

“Kill them!”

***

What went wrong?

It was supposed to be a perfect plan…?!