Chapter 109
A completely different landscape.
It was a strange place she had never been before, but somehow it felt familiar. An uncanny feeling.
“It’s like this is the… Side of the world.”
Was it because she had experienced it twice?
The atmosphere was familiar, the feeling was familiar.
But it wasn’t as if the space was hostile or possessive or trying to harm her, but it wasn’t deserted or scary.
She stood still, blinking, and the sparks in the air seemed to draw her in.
“Follow me?”
She followed the flame and the room grew larger, as if expanding in real time.
She reached the end of the room.
Woo-woo-.
The negative energy in the air was calling out to her, vibrating.
“This is…”
Ether?
It was a rare item that crackled with condensed energy and had been picked up by a minor villain when the tower was destroyed later in the novel.
It came back as a big bad and gave the reader a big tease.
Was this the hidden item in the secret room?
“I never thought I’d get something like this.”
She touched the ether, and the silver energy that recognized her coalesced into an object.
Ah, yes…
She is a violinist.
“I’ve heard that instruments change to fit their masters…”
So it was the item that changed hands most often and changed shape the most. She has a staff, a sword, a shield, and even a memorizer, but in her hands, she’s a musical instrument.
It was a very strange feeling.
“That’s strange. I guess I’ve been recognized as the master.”
Why is there no exit and no change in space?
Woo-.
As if to answer the question, ether that had turned into a violin trembled.
It seemed to be asking to play itself.
“You’re ridiculous. I’m an instrument, I have to play.”
She grumbled, but there was no hesitation in her grip on the bow.
After playing in the nightmare, the violin was no longer difficult or painful.
‘What shall I play?’
The thought was short-lived.
The bow in her hand scratched the strings cheerfully.
Ta-da-da-da-!
The Super Mario theme song.
The melody, as famous as the game itself, flowed from her fingertips.
An encore piece she’d heard at a recital of a friend of her mom’s that she’d once gone to with her. She was so impressed that she played along.
It’s nice to do that sometimes.
After the short performance, the space seemed to collapse and disappear.
So far so good.
Ddddddddd.
“Huh?”
Suddenly, the steeple shook as if the building itself was vibrating.
Was there an earthquake?
That can’t be!
She realized quickly.
We’re going to get screwed if they stay like this.
***
In the pitch blackness.
【…】
The mist stretched out like wings and chewed something huge, crouched like a beast, whole.
Waggle, waggle, waggle.
Amidst a murderous sound that would make a normal person’s heart stop at the mere sound of it, the man opened his eyes, savoring the flavor of something with his eyes closed as if he were listening to a symphony.
His golden eyes, narrowed vertically like those of a reptile, were cold.
-…
[…]
A multitude of eyes and ears brought him news from the outside world.
In the darkness, his bored eyes glinted.
“Well, well.”
He’s so full of energy that he can barely speak, but he can’t help but smile.
“My little girl couldn’t hold it together for a second and got into trouble again.”
He doesn’t know if she’s unaware, has no self-control, or just has a tendency to spill.
“I’ll have to catch her again.”
Cheyenne snapped his fingers at the lump that hadn’t been ‘digested’ yet.
“I don’t want to see her cry.”
It’s a strange thing.
He’d never been moved to tears by a toy crying before.
Mere mortals. How could he care so much about a creature that he cherished so much, but would die at the touch of a finger?
He really didn’t know.
“A singularity…”
To say the least, he was strangely generous from the first meeting.
He thinks it’s because he’s seen her freaking out and rambling on about topics he doesn’t know anything about.
Her eyes were clear and her voice was calm.
“Tsk.”
Cheyenne clicked his tongue.
If he had more freedom, he would have brought her here without hesitation.
It wasn’t enough yet.
He’s using the method of eating the sealed ones to fill up his energy, but that’s the limit.
‘I still need to hunt down the mage…’
As long as the Imperial Palace’s ‘it’ is untouched, Nathan won’t move. Now that he’s made a deal, he doesn’t have to worry about it anymore.
The summoning of the Sky Tower was what he intended.
There was only one variable.
Archmage Mercedes.
“I didn’t think you’d be here already.”
It was unlikely that a little girl who preferred to stay home would run into the archmage on the street.
But even if it was only one possibility, Cheyenne felt he had to be prepared.
“Well, it’s what it is. If you can’t bring her, I’ll have to go.”
***
The proud star mage of the Sky Tower, Robert, groaned at the turn of events that had happened to him while he was on duty.
‘Why is this happening to me?!’
The red-haired mage’s misfortune narrative was endlessly updating.
Suddenly, he was sent away to investigate the anomaly at Lake Sharit.
He was only there for his cute apprentice, but he became a witness to the events at the Imperial Palace.
Feeling responsible, he’s forced to report to the Emperor, then to the Sky Tower, then to the idol of all mages, the Great Master.
As if that weren’t enough, he’s on duty and something happens to the tower!
‘What is it? Is it cursed?’
He was just trying to help his cute apprentice get into an event that would allow him to become the archmage’s apprentice!
Besides.
That melody just now.
The faint but unmistakable power that the melody contained.
“Ha, damn.”
The lowly bastards on the lower floors of the tower hadn’t noticed yet, but the ones who had climbed up to the sky tower couldn’t help but notice.
Pah-pah-pah-pah-!
The wizards of the Sky Tower rushed to Robert, warping in a hurry.
“What happened?”
“What.”
“Who.”
Their half-unconscious faces searched for the same thing.
“That aura I felt earlier must have been real.”
Wizards are all born with star energy, and when they reach a certain level, they are chosen by the stars to become ‘real wizards’.
This was the true definition of a star-class mage, set by the inner circle, as opposed to what was known outside.
A Star Wizard could claim the chosen star as his domain, like the realm of an immortal or a god, and could come and go as he pleased.
It was a long-kept secret among wizards that the reason the Sky Tower normally floated so high in the atmosphere was to facilitate their access to the stars.
Here’s the problem.
The purity of stellar energy is something that mortal bodies cannot properly absorb.
Wizards are inevitably tainted by stellar energy and often go insane.
Those who could control this energy well enough to create their own stars could become ‘archmages’, but the end of most mages was an irrational rampage.
This was the true reason why the Temple and the Tower were never at odds, and why wizards sought truth, not conquest.
But.
“It was a purification.”
He felt nothing but ease for the briefest of moments, but it was all the more convincing for it.
“The power of purification, or is it the power of purification, but it was purification!”
“Who is it?”
“What happened?”
Robert took a deep breath as he looked at his office, which had turned into a bazaar.
There was nothing he could do to stop the wizards, who had already turned their backs on him.
“Find it!”
“Find it!”
The steeple flipped over.
***
She’s made a mistake.
She doesn’t know what it is, but this sense of urgency that she’s really crashed…
Woo- woo- woo- woo-.
“You’re getting small.”
She hurriedly moved, wiping at the ether.
Let’s get out of here!
