Chapter 406 – Only Me (3)

"Duck!"
"Move away from the tower!"

Boom!

The ground started to shake as a part of the seventh floor exploded.

The fancy area where the royalty, power players, and influential people were having fun was destroyed.

– Human! They all seemed to have run away! There was nobody on the seventh floor!

As Raon mentioned, the people fooling around until late at night on the seventh floor were the first to run away without even looking back as soon as they heard an explosion.

"Ha, haha-!"

Cale turned his head after hearing someone laugh.
Mage Becrock was laughing while looking at the exploding seventh floor. He started to sneer as he looked at Cale.
It was at that moment.

Baaaaang!

Someone broke through the window and burst out of the burning tenth floor.

This person was covered in black mana.
It was the Southern Alchemists' Tower's Tower Master.
No, his real title was the Southern black magic branch manager.

His alchemist robe was fluttering as dead mana surrounded him.
Becrock watched him come out before he looked toward Cale and started to speak.

"It looks like your plan was to destroy the royalty and the other high ranking people? But too bad. We evacuated them first, so it is likely that none of the royalty died."

However, Becrock could not hear a response from Cale.
Cale just quietly flew behind a knight and stood there.

Clang!

The knight took out his sword as he responded.

"It doesn't matter."

Sir Rex confidently made a proclamation as well.

"We have secured all of the secret passages from the Southern Alchemists' Tower already. I'm sure the royalty are escaping through those secret passages right now."

The tip of his sword pointed toward the Southern Tower Master.

Sir Rex. The Southern Tower Master.

Two people who were both aiming for the future of the Mogoru Empire observed each other.

"I'm sure the Tower Master appeared late because he was helping them evacuate. But those escaping royalty will probably get caught by our soldiers too."
"Do you really think that'll be the case?"

The Southern Tower Master responded in a relaxed manner.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep-!

A sharp noise shot out with the tower at the center.

Beeeeeeep- Beeeeeeeep-!

More sharp noises came from the forest around the Alchemists' Tower as if they were responding to the first noise.
The birds shot up into the air in shock.

– Human! It looks like the soldiers are starting to move!
'Me, me! I saw it as I shoved the merchant guild leader into the cave! The hidden troops are moving toward the tower!'
'They're not coming to the tower, they are trying to surround the soldiers from the capital! I think they are heading for the teleportation magic circle!'
'Enemies located. Death. Chaos. Rain down destruction! Kahahaha!'

The hidden enemies started to move.
At that moment.

"Surround them!"

The Southern Tower Master gave the order.

"Mm."

Sir Rex let out a moan.

Oooooong- oooooong-

He could see black mages flying up into the air from different spots in the forest.
They created a large circle with the tower at the center.

"Start!"

Other mages flew up next to the black mages once Becrock shouted.

Flap, flap.

Becrock and the Southern Tower Master.
Their robes fluttered more as the two of them moved toward each other while being surrounded by their respective mana.

Becrock looked toward Sir Rex, Cale, and Rosalyn, who was surrounded by red mana, and nonchalantly added on.

"Seeing you barging in here like this, I'm sure you've started to raid the other three towers as well. You probably have a map of those towers."

The corners of his lips slowly went up as well.

"Sir Rex, do you know what your weakness is?"

Sir Rex, who was pointing the tip of his sword at the Southern Tower Master, looked toward Becrock. However, Becrock was looking past his shoulder at Cale as he continued to speak.

"It's the fact that you are a collection of trash."

Sir Rex's expression stiffened.
However, Becrock leisurely continued to speak.

"Sir Rex, I'm sure your backing is reliable. But there are only a few of them."

Cale quietly observed Becrock who was talking about him.

"But the people around you or the Saint are all soldiers that the Imperial Prince determined that he had no issues throwing away. Our side has more knights and mages as well."

Becrock started to think about their allies coming toward the tower.
About 100 of them went to Plavin's secret residence. He was certain that they would die or get captured. However, there were a lot more knights and mages.

On the other side, the majority of Sir Rex's forces were abandoned soldiers.

"Soldiers are things we can always refill. You think you can take them and strike all four towers at once?
Hehe."

Becrock started to laugh as he added on.

"Thank you. Thank you for walking yourselves to your deaths."

It was at that moment.

– Human, human!

Cale heard Raon's urgent voice in his mind.

"Huh?"

A confused sound came out of Cale's mouth at the same time.

The Southern Tower Master.
Becrock.
Once the two people got close to each other…

Crack! Crack!

The dead mana and mana surrounding the two people crashed into each other.

'No, are they merging together?'

He didn't know whether to say it was crashing or merging.
It was hard to describe what was going on between the two mana.

"…Perhaps?"

Cale looked toward Rosalyn after hearing her mumbling.
However, Rosalyn's eyes opened wide after seeing the dead mana and mana merging together.

Yes, the manas were merging.
They were getting much stronger as they merged.

It was not as simple as one plus one equals two.
Their merging seemed to not be reaching two, but at least four or more.

Becrock then looked toward Rosalyn whose face was still covered by her red robe.

"You asked if I was the person who wanted to be the Tower Master?"

He eagerly nodded his head.

"Yes. I am the only one who will become the Tower Master."

He was the only one who could do it.
Becrock truly believed this to be the case.

Why?

"I am the person who figured out a way to merge dead mana and mana."

He was a genius.

"It is a new law of nature."

It was a new way of using magic that had never existed before.

"The living and the dead. Those two oppose each other but exist together."

The mana that mages used was the natural mana.
In comparison, black mages used dead mana.
These two could not exist together.

Furthermore, society had decided that black mages had to disappear from the Eastern and Western continents. They were beings that needed to be eradicated.
Becrock started to smile even more toward the mage in the red robe who seemed less certain about herself.

"Did you know? Things that oppose each other create an even greater deadly force the more they clash."

The living natural mana and dead mana.
These two opposing forces became much stronger as they clashed and merged together. This explosiveness went beyond all imaginations.

Crack. Crack.

Cale looked around after hearing the noise get louder. He could still hear Becrock's voice.

"The East, West, and the North. This should be the situation in the other three towers as well."

A circle.

Black mages and mages were making a large circle around them.
All of them started to draw out magic circles.

The dead mana and mana increased in volume as they clashed.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Small explosions could be heard inside the fierce mana whirlwind.

"You will all die from this mana whirlwind."

Becrock's one remaining hand pointed to Rosalyn.

"This is the reason I am the greatest mage in the world. You are just shit."

Next was Raon.

"And as for you, Dragon?"

The black Dragon.
Becrock knew about the Dragon.
He realized the Dragon was near after seeing the black mana.

However, he was not afraid.
It was different than at the Castle of Light.
This was a battlefield made for him.

"The reason Dragons are strong is because they can control more mana than humans."

That was why the method to defeat a Dragon was simple.

"So, I just need to supplement my mana."

Becrock waved his hand toward the tower.

Baaaaang!

The eighth floor door burst once more.

"…Finally!"

The Southern Tower Master started to smile.

Boxes started to appear.

Clank. clank.

The locks were removed and the boxes opened. They could see the spatial pocket bags inside the boxes.

Crack. Crack.

The mana in the circle started to get stronger.
These opposing forces were clashing to create a stronger power.

"Dodge!"
"Move back! Kill the soldiers from the capital who teleported over!"

Becrock savored all of the noises.
He was happy.
They were all sounds of him getting revenge on the people who took one of his hands and poisoned his body.

"Kehehehe, we can make up the mana with magic stones. We can just kill the Dragon. I'm sure the liege will be happy."

Becrock motioned toward the spatial pocket bags.
It all happened in a moment.

Ooooooong- Ooooooooong-

The bags flew out of the box and toward the mages forming the circle. They moved so fast that Cale and the others could not snatch them in the middle.

Half of the bags started to surround Becrock.
Becrock's eyes clouded over.

'There are magic stones in these bags.'

This combined mana whirlwind was already extremely strong.
He would exponentially increase that power with magic stones.

Becrock started to shout.

"You are the only ones who will explode!"

It was at that moment.

"You're being so loud."
"…What?"

Sir Rex started to laugh.
His cape fluttered from the wind caused by the combined mana.

Rex, Cale, and Rosalyn.
All of them looked as if they would get swept away by the mana whirlwind at any moment.

"It's true that most of my people are regular soldiers."

Cale quietly observed Rex's back.

– Human! It looks like Rex grew a bit!

As Raon mentioned, Rex looked different than before.
Sometimes, a position could help a person grow.

"But our soldiers survived the boundaries of death. They were there while that trash of an Imperial Prince and the fallen nobles ran away."
"Trash of an Imperial Prince?! How dare you! You were a knight of the Empire! Aren't you the leader of the rebels?!"

The Southern Tower Master glared at Sir Rex as he shouted.
However, Rex continued to smile. Becrock sneered after seeing Rex's smile.

"Interesting how you can still smile in such a situation."
"Of course. I didn't come empty handed either."
"…What?"

Becrock flinched.
Sir Rex started to shout.

"Start round three of explosions!"

His voice spread out with amplification magic.
A few seconds later.

Baaaaang! Baaaaang! Baaaaang!

Tens of explosions started to occur.

Each individual explosion was not strong enough to shake the ground.

Baaaaang! Bang! Baaaaang!

However, the numerous explosions started to cause smoke in all directions.
The Southern Tower Master's pupils started to shake.

"…A circle?"

That smoke created a large circle.

"It may be true that the Mogoru is lacking in black magic and magic." ( Rex doesn't call it an Empire because right now it is no longer an Empire to them as Cale mentioned many chapters ago about how they didn't know how the Mogoru will recover. )

The Tower Master could determine the identity of those explosions.
They were too weak to be called magic bombs and he did not feel any mana coming from them.
Rex's confident voice echoed in the area.

"However, the Mogoru still has the real Alchemists."

Baaaaang! Bang! Baaaaang!

The alcoholic Alchemist, Rei Stecker. He had gathered the alchemists who were in hiding.
They then got to work and started to research.

"You cannot forget that the Mogoru is the land of alchemy."

The alchemy bombs that Sir Rex and his comrades had used to blow up the palace in the past.
These bombs that were created by the alchemists who will become a new foundation for the Mogoru.

They were placed as weapons in the soldiers' hands.

The soldiers at the capital trained day and night to use these bombs to defeat the enemies and protect themselves.
These soldiers who were thrown away once already trained and trained again so that the strong weapon in their hands could become even stronger.

Bang! Baaaaang! Baaaaang!

The sounds of trees breaking could be heard along with the explosions.
Dust and smoke started to rise.

The dust and smoke created an even larger circle than the circle created by the black mages and mages.

"You are the ones who are surrounded."

Sir Rex started to smile.

– Human! Rex became juuuuuuuuuuuust a bit cool!

Cale nodded at Raon's comment.
It was at that moment.

"Kekekeke!"

Becrock was laughing so loud his shoulders were moving.
He then shouted with a stoic expression.

"The trash did something funny! I will show you the greatest power of all!"

Magic.

Becrock believed magic was the greatest power.
Why else would Dragons, who were known as the greatest living creatures, use magic?

"Open the bags! Cast the magic circles!"

Becrock waved his hand.
The mages started to open the spatial pocket bag.

Ooooooooong-

They pointed the spatial pocket bags downward.

"I will show you the power of mana that even a Dragon could not have imagined-!"

However, he could not finish speaking.

Plop. Plop.

They watched the things touching their shoulders.

"…Rocks?"

Rocks were falling out of the spatial pocket bags.
The tiny rocks plopped to the ground through the opening of the spatial pocket bags.

They were not magic stones that would float back up in response to their mana. They were all rocks that were crumbling from their magic.

"…This…just what?!"

His eyes opened wide.
He could see the mage in the red robe step forward.

"Here, take this."

He could also see Cale Henituse throwing her a spatial pocket bag with a stoic expression.

"Perhaps-?"

Before he could finish this terrible thought in his head…

Plop. Plop.

The items in Cale's spatial pocket bag fell into the palm of the mage in the red robe, Rosalyn.

They were magic stones.
An endless number of magic stones continued to pour out.

They then started to surround her along with her red mana.
She opened the bag even more.

Chhhhhhhhh.

Tons of magic stones mixed with her red mana and shone like jewels as they surrounded Rosalyn.

Rosalyn raised her hand.
As Becrock looked at her hand…
Rosalyn formed a fist.

Crack!

One of the magic stones broke as if responding to her action.
Then a voice that was mixed with laughter started to come out of her mouth.

"The Tower Master, that's going to be my position."

That was the signal.

Crack. Crack. Crack!

The magic stones started to break and get absorbed by Rosalyn's mana.

Ooooooong-

The circle made with the combined mana of the black mages and mages.
A light that resembled the sun shot up from the center of that grey circle.

Rosalyn pointed that red light toward Becrock.

"Go."

A red arrow was shot toward the enemy.

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]