“..... Capital Knight Order?! I heard that they were lured away, but there were still a few remaining….?!”
That was the only possibility he could think of at first. However,
Wringggg-!
Rodrus’ ears quickly realized something was amiss. The engine sound was too weak. When the Capital Knight Order goes into battle, the noise is usually so loud it feels like it’s scratching your eardrums.
It’s not supposed to be this quiet.
The only possibility was that the Purple Tower’s wizard had learned the Gold Tower’s magic. If he made the dirt golems wear the leftover armor and sent them to fight…..
The power of the Capital Knight Order lay in their power armor and the immense mana needed to activate it. With such a weak sound, they couldn't be operating at full capacity.
That meant they weren’t enemies to be afraid of. There were three of them, but he could take them on.
That was until the armors began using the Wizards’ strange martial arts.
Vroom-!. “Kuk…..!”
As if they knew his rapier’s trajectory, the armor's hand moved deftly to deflect the attack.
He infused Mana into his feet to retreat, but another armor expertly tripped him, making him lose his footing. He swung his arm trying to push it away.
A third armor slipped through, lightly nudging his arm. The slight disruption threw off his center of gravity, preventing a solid strike. His fist landed with a ting, barely denting the helmet.
Bam-!
A gauntlet struck his chin. It wasn’t a big deal. As long as he was protecting himself with Mana, it was no match for him. He gripped the Rapier with a reverse grip, and stabbed at the armor in the rear.
But in that instant, a low kick hit his knee from behind, while a push on his shoulder came from the front, altering his trajectory. His failure to land an attack created an opening. A knee jabbed into his side.
Gritting his teeth, he swung widely. The armors retreated like a receding tide, only to surge forward again like a high tide. He felt trapped, struggling in a marsh created by the three armors.
Every time he attacked one, the other two would stop him. They had an intricate understanding of the human body and its basic principle of motion, and used the least amount of strength required to neutralize his attacks.
“Just how…!!”
It was an impractical theory.
Fighting a strong opponent with three weaklings was nothing more than nonsense concocted by those who didn’t understand combat. In this context, 1 + 1 did not equal 2. There is an inevitable waste of strength in cooperation, and perfect synergy wasn’t a thing that could exist.
No matter how refined the coordination, a single mistake was all it took to unravel everything. It was nothing but a sandcastle, destined to crumble once the dominoes started falling.
Three becomes one.
The armors embodied this very principle.
Against the systematically coordinated barrage of attacks, Roderus was graduallygetting pushed back. One step to dodge, then another, then another.
He was getting further and further away from the Wizard. He was being led away!
Shiver.
In Roderus’ mind, alarms were blaring. You cannot give Wizards time. Especially not this one.
For example, with such a short time, he made these golems.
Roderus turned his head. The Wizard was standing there with his hand extended, his red eye glowing through his black hair, staring directly at him. Something…. was coming. He didn’t know what, but he was sure it was something lethal to him!
Roderus ignored the armors’ attacks and bolted. But as if to say they wouldn’t let him escape so easily, the armors reached out, grabbing his limbs and holding on.
“Shadow that lingers underfoot.”
He tore away the arm trying to put him in a joint lock, tanked the incoming fist with his forehead. He ignored the armor clutching his ankle and continued to run.
“Darkness that peeks through the closet.”
An unsettling Mana surged. Should he stop running and focus on defending? No matter how powerful, Magic was still Magic. As long as he was in Metamorphosis, Magic was nothing more than a projectile.
“The solitude of a pitch-black night .”
Attack or defend. At this crossroads, Roderus made his decision. Attack. That Wizard was not an idiot. If he prepared the Magic at the last second, then he must have calculated how it would hit as well.
He had to kill him first. Before the magic was complete!
Roderus used all his might to stab with his rapier. Before the sharp tip could pierce the Wizard’s forehead, the casting was completed.
“『Stygian Arrow of Mind Destruction』”
The black arrow obliterated all the mental barriers granted by the artifact──
⋯⋯⋯⋯.
===============================================================
Just 『What』 hit me?
His mind was blank. No, it felt as though half of his head had been ripped away. He couldn’t feel anything. No, perhaps he was feeling just too much at once.
His ears felt numb, a faint ringing filling them. Roderus squirmed. Wet dirt smeared across his cheek. It hadn’t rained.
"────!"
His body convulsed, reacting to the overwhelming stress it had endured. That brutal training. He remembered the times he received training that broke his heart so that he wouldn’t get affected by Mental Magic.
Since that day, he had thought he’d forgotten what ‘heartache’ meant. Even when he slaughtered countless under the duke’s orders, he felt nothing.
"──────!!"
His heart felt like it was tearing apart. He clawed at the ground until his nails cracked, but no matter how much he struggled, it wouldn’t go away. Only then did he realize what was filling his mind was resentment.
Only then, Roderus understood what that noise was.
“AHHHHHHHHHH──!!”
They were his own screams.
I…
Could not save the one I loved.
I was horribly betrayed by the person I trusted.
I could not protect the one who was like a father to me.
The fragile justice that upheld my heart shattered.
Even the faint hope turned to ashes.
Amidst the agonizing pain of loss, Roderus felt an indescribable horror.
He had lost the one he loved, the brothers he trusted, his kind and dependable father, justice, and faith. Even as he wailed and wept, he couldn’t understand why he had to scream like this.
It was a phantom pain without a cause. With no wound to heal, he couldn’t even hope for the pain to fade.
If I had to endure the rest of his life like this…..
“Ahhhak…!! Ke-Keuck….!!”
The ring on Roderus’ finger emitted a faint glow, easing his mind and dulling his pain slightly. He gained hope.
That this cursed magic wouldn't last forever. Roderus vigorously shook his head in an attempt to escape the memory that was not his own.
As he struggled to rise, tears kept streaming down his face.
He saw the limp figure of the Wizard. Since the first blow had landed, the wizard had to be in a critical condition.
He had to finish him. He had to complete the mission. Failure meant solitary confinement. He punched his trembling legs with his fist, and staggered forward, step by step.
Ten steps forward.
As Roderus gripped his rapier and prepared to end things, a ringing tone echoed. The Purple Tower Master had been freed.
“.....You were lucky. Peasant.”
If Roderus were caught by the Purple Tower Master returning to the scene, it would be a problem. Grabbing his head, Roderus ran away, disappearing instantly into the shadows of the streets.
The Wizard, who was left on the scene and feigning unconsciousness, undid his hidden magic trap and muttered to himself.
“The lucky one was you, you bastard….”
If Roderus had taken just one more step forward, the fight would have ended in the Wizard’s victory. He would have captured and extracted all the information.
The Wizard struggled to keep his heavy eyelids open, muttering to maintain his consciousness.
“....Do I need to get some armor or artifacts? I think that doll master is going to be decent in the meta ....”
Holograms have weak physical strength. While they had enough physicality to use equipment, he was thinking about making up for their weak strength with overpowered items.
The Wizard shivered.
“.....Ah shit, it’s cold.”
He thought he had sufficient strength. However, seeing the world's unfairness, he felt like he needed enough power to flip any situation and escape regardless of who appeared.
If you really thought about it, it became pretty obvious. Those who wanted to harm the Purple Tower Master must have the strength and foundation to back it up.
He thought blanky about various methods,
“Wh-What is this! Are you okay?!”
He lost consciousness as soon as he heard the familiar voice.
===============================================================
This was the first thing I checked when I woke up.
“......Tower Master, you didn’t cause an accident, right?”
“.....You’re awake?!”
The Tower Master grabbed my hand tightly and rubbed her cheek on my palm. Pink-Hair Lesbian answered my question in her stead.
“She hasn’t left the hospital room because she’s been nursing you. She was worried that if she left you alone, that someone would target you again, Mr. Crazy Wizard.”
Phew.
I was worried that when I opened my eyes, the Empire would be in flames.
Now that I think about it, wasn’t Pink Hair Lesbian also hospitalized?
“......Are you fully recovered now?”
“Yes. Mr. Crazy Wizard, you’ve been asleep for about three days.
“Damn.”
“To tell you the extent of your injuries, Mr. Crazy Wizard…..”
I waved my hand to stop her. I didn’t want to hear about it, and I was worried my palm would get sweaty, so I interrupted her.
Red Flavor’s side stopped putting in the pressure. I guess they didn’t expect their assassin to return after getting his ass kicked by me. I heard they quietly agreed to a ceasefire with the Second Prince’s group.
The other Black Wizard hideouts that we found were completely empty. They had cut their losses and escaped, but since we didn’t leave empty handed, we decided to be satisfied despite some disappointment.
The priest told me that I needed a few more days of rest, so I decided I’d just go back to the academy and do it. If I stayed in Crownhall any longer, who knows what might happen to me.
In hindsight, the Tower Master's decision to return was a wise one. If we had entered the mansion, maybe there would’ve been even more traps waiting for us.
“......Agh, shit.”
It’s not like we hadn’t gained anything. We got our hands on the weird stone sculpture the Black Wizards used, confirmed the existence of the traitor, and figured out that Duke Red Flavor was really an enemy.
But the second son or whatever who got hit by Stygian Arrow of Mind Destruction wouldn’t be doing too good right about now. So it wasn’t like I just got beat one sidedly…..
However, haven’t they just been toying with us? I got beat to a pulp, and Pink-Hair Lesbian got hurt.
Seeing my discomfort, the Tower Master’s eyes gleamed with anger, and she asked, "Should I kill them all, master?" but I stopped her. If we launched a full frontal attack…. I felt like one of our allies would die.
Wizards were flowers that used time as their fertilizer to blossom.
Watch closely. When you learn just how far I can prepare, you will all be shaking in fear.
Like that, I returned to the Academy.
===============================================================
At the end of the grueling train ride, we finally arrived at the Academy.
“.....D-Do you need me to help you?”
“Ah, yes. Please.”
We immediately did a system check. There were no power outages, though there were two intrusions that were successfully repelled.All the data was safe and sound. Thank god.
The reason I began with the security check was because I remembered someone at the Academy with the surname Red Flavor. If Duke Red Flavor was using his sons as manpower, wasn’t it highly probable that that student would listen to the Duke’s orders?
Steal the information from my research lab at the Academy. Maybe something like that.
My heart was troubled.
Gone was the me who wondered which session to open upon my return; now, my mind was only focused on upgrading stats and sinister plots by fighting from the shadows.
But if I carelessly played around and got ambushed again, it would be my fault. I needed to be ready.
If…. I could anticipate their moves somehow, maybe I’d feel a little more at ease.
"⋯⋯⋯⋯?"
“Oh, Tower Master. What’s wrong? Is there a problem somewhere?”
“Ju-Just a little. There was a weird frequency. You….. Haven’t done other TRPG sessions, right?
“Ah, yeah. I've done all of them with you, Tower Master.”
I looked at the monitor. When I followed the Tower Master's finger, there really was a weird signal coming from there. It wasn’t just one, but two.
One signal was of trust, coming from main NPCs like Centra, Pero and Abraham.
The other signal was sporadically coming from the giant mutant.
“....Hmmm. Huh?”
“Ah, eung?”
Tower Master and I exchanged knowing looks, voicing out our theories
I hit Duke Red Flavor's second son with the Stygian Arrow of Mind Destruction, but some of my memories must have mixed in.. He seemed to have realized the existence of the main NPCs.
“I….. used the giant mutant against the Capital Knight Order Captain. I guess that memory must have made a strong impression…..!”
Uh.
Sssseup…..Uh?
My head spun. The Tower Master nodded in agreement, continuing her hypothesis.
“Even though it’s faint, there's a bond of trust. That means they’re connected through Mana.”
“If they’re connected…. We can trace their location. Depending on how far they are.”
“Not just locating them, I think we might even be able to cast some super long range Illusion Magic at them. Look, we can try using the giant Magic Circle in the Academy’s basement.”
“An-And…. We-We ask Yuri… to use the properties of a Dream Demon. If we use dreams as the medium, we can increase our effective range significantly.”
Then what does this mean?
It means that I could mess with the guy who sucker-punched me. No, more than that….. If we strengthen the connection, I could turn him into our informant without him even knowing about it.
I trembled, whispering words filled with ambition and hope.
“Long-Range TRPG…..!!”
“Kni-Knight Order Captain. Tea-Teach her a lesson too!”
I grabbed the Tower Master, who was bouncing with excitement, and spun her around as I wondered. What kind of session should I do? What did I have to do to change him, while messing with him and extracting some information simultaneously?
I recalled the screams of the Evil God (7% included) and snapped my fingers.
“TS Magical Girl Session.”
"?"
My mouth was watering in anticipation.
***
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