Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The might of Level-9 destructive fire spell Blazing Sun was practically at the peak of mortal power. After it exploded, the huge blast spread in all directions, sweeping through the entire Ferde within seconds.
Under the light of the giant surging fireball, the entire Scorched City sank into terror and chaos. Looking down from the Mage Tower, one could see people scurrying around on the street for somewhere to hide. Link had great hearing; he could hear shocked cries from all over.
Even the Mage Tower fell into an uproar.
Many apprentices wandered like aimless flies. Faced with such a change, most people were dazed; they had no clue what to do.
In Link’s room, Evelina, Elovan, and Milose were all floored. They gaped at the burning white ball in the distance. The three High Elves couldn’t imagine that someone dared to use such a spell in Ferde. Did that person not fear for their life? Or did they not fear Ferde’s power?
Their minds were in a mess. However, some were still calm.
Link recovered immediately and ordered, “Lily, upgrade battle mode!”
In the battle mode, Lily would be given the biggest authority. She would be in charge of a range of ten miles around the Mage Tower. Within this, she would kill anything that didn’t follow the safety rules!
“Mode changed. Currently in battle mode!” Lily’s voice used to be gentle, but as the mode changed, it became cold and murderous.
Whizz, whizz, whizz. The defense matrixes in the Mage Tower cluster were all activated. Under the various dazzling flashes, a 20-centimeter-thick golden crystal shield appeared on the walls. This was a Level-11 defense spell—Crystal Enchantment. It was very sturdy.
Not only that, a thick magic door appeared before each critical entrance in the Mage Towers. The critical zones were locked and impassable.
While following these commands, Lily also sent commands to the Magicians of different levels in the Mage Tower.
“All apprentices must stay in place and keep quiet.” This was what the apprentices received.
“All official Magicians, converge on the second-floor hall… All official Magicians, converge in the second-floor hall and await further instruction.”
This was the alert for all Magicians under Level-6. The passageways were locked, but they could go through with their badges.
The message for Magicians above Level-6 was different. They were the elites of Ferde and only numbered to around 30. They were told to converge on the third floor. When they all reached the location, they saw that Magician Eliard was already waiting for them.
Eliard quickly assigned tasks. He sent a Magician to watch over each node in the Mage Tower to ensure that the tower would operate normally.
When each Magician who received their task hurried to their location, two magic puppets would follow closely for protection. These magic puppets weren’t only servants. When needed, they could be powerful Warriors equal to Nana, the first magic puppet.
On the other hand, Link gave orders to Evelina and the others. First, he looked at Evelina and said quickly and powerfully, “Eve, protect the Mage Tower’s core!”
“Uh…yes!” Evelina finally recovered.
Link turned. “Elovan, Milose, your authorities have upgraded. Go immediately to the secret room underground. Ensure that the ‘weapon’ transformation won’t be disturbed!”
The weapon was Katyusha. Link had a feeling that this crisis was for her.
“Understood!” The two High Elves turned and ran towards the underground room.
After these orders, white light flashed around him. He disappeared, and an instant later, he reached the balcony. Celine was watching Bryant there.
Even with this great and sudden change, Celine still wasn’t disturbed. After all the wars, her mind was much stronger than those High Elves. No matter what happened, she wouldn’t even blink if Link was still alright.
Right now, she still had her eyes on Bryant.
“How are things?” Link asked.
Celine’s eyes didn’t leave from the lens. Knowing that Link was here, she said, “Bryant is still in the yard. He looks normal.”
“Oh?” Link activated a Spatial Lens and saw Bryant through the distorted light. The elf was reading in his room, unaffected by the chaos outside. His movements didn’t even change. He was just reading page after page.
“I’ve been watching for a few days, and he’s always like this,” Celine says. “It looks like he’s patiently waiting for you to finish designing.”
Link watched closely but didn’t find anything strange. He couldn’t keep watching. As the lord, he had to hurry to the suburbs and take care of the explosion.
Thinking, he said, “Keep watching him and call Lily if anything is wrong, then fire. Don’t give him time to react! I’ll teleport back immediately.”
“Understood.” Celine nodded. She rubbed her reddening eyes and continued watching Bryant.
Seeing her like this, Link cast an Essence Vitality on her. Celine felt the power surging through her and smiled at Link. Link smiled as well. Then he activated the transmission spell again, hurrying to the suburbs.
When he got there, it was empty. Link could sense Jacker bringing many soldiers here. They were fast, but they couldn’t compare to Link’s spell.
The explosion site was around five miles from the Mage Tower. It was at the border of Scorched City, and the buildings were sparse. The Level-9 spell only destroyed around 30 houses. Link circled in the air and got an estimate of the casualties. Around 100 had died while close to 1000 were hurt. This was much better than he’d expected.
At this time, Jacker arrived with 1000 Sunlight Warriors above Level-6. Link descended.
“Lord!” Jacker ran over and saluted. The others followed suit.
Link nodded and ordered, “The attacker has escaped, and this place is safe. Go help the affected citizens… Oh, leave a dozen to help me. I will investigate the explosion site.”
“Yes, Lord.” Jacker immediately turned. “You, you, you, you guys go help the lord!”
The chosen Warriors were all excited. Puffing up their chests, they walked forward in unison, yelling, “Understood, general!”
Link waved. “Come with me.”
“Yes, Lord!” they replied together. They were so excited that they were as tense as robots.
The group hurried to the heart of the explosion.
…
While everyone in the upper level of Ferde was in a flurry, Bryant was still reading in his room. He looked calm. Fifteen minutes had passed since the explosion. During this, he seemed to have flipped through 20 pages. He actually hadn’t comprehended any words.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Merna had successfully infiltrated the Mage Tower. However, she seemed to have disappeared, having not said anything after all this time.
She didn’t even send their signal, let alone show up.
Bryant looked out the window. The Mage Tower loomed before him. At this time, it glowed with dazzling magic light. Less than three seconds after the explosion, the entire Mage Tower completely closed off. The magic seal was very powerful—at least Level-11.
His reaction is too fast. Merna can’t break through the magic seal with her power. I hope she’ll be okay.
Bryant was very anxious. Honestly, if Merna wasn’t Nozama’s daughter, he would have left immediately after seeing the Mage Tower’s transformation. This place was too dangerous. Trying to rescue someone from the tower was no different from suicide.
I’ll wait for four more hours. If there still isn’t any news, I’ll find an excuse to leave Ferde! Bryant decided inside.
As for the rescue plan, Bryant didn’t think about it. The Isle of Dawn and Army of Destruction were only temporary allies. There was no need to die for each other.
At that time, Merna was going crazy inside the tower.
With the detection earring from the God of Destruction, she had a vague sense of where Katyusha was. Thus, she went straight to the underground room after entering the Mage Tower.
She was very fast. Within two seconds, she was on the first underground level. She ran into trouble when she tried entering the second level.
Just as she was about to get through the entrance, a magic door appeared in the previously open passageway. Surprised, she retreated immediately but found that it was blocked behind her.
Even more shocking was that the magic door was very powerful. It was impossibly sturdy, and the runes on it were past her understanding. She couldn’t even break through forcefully, let alone undo it.
Thus, she was stuck in the first underground level. She couldn’t walk as wished either because there were detection runes all around. Many were hidden in unnoticeable corners too. She would be exposed easily if she wasn’t careful.
This damn Mage Tower is scarier than the Abyss!
The only thing she could do was hide in a corner and wait patiently until the other lowered their alert. Then she would find a chance.
However, Merna didn’t notice that there was a painting of King Charlie on the wall behind her. The king’s eyes were so detailed that they seemed to be real.
And now, they were staring at Merna’s back.
