novelraw Chapter 323: Episode 323
Chapter 323: Episode 323
"...Yusin, wasn’t that coming on a bit too strong?" Jin Bora asked, her face pale with terror.
I just shrugged my shoulders.
"Compared to the stress I’ve been under lately, this is nothing."
"I’m scared. What if the FBI or someone comes after us?"
"...Have you been watching too many movies? Besides, you can’t do this kind of work if you’re afraid of being hated."
"However, Tower Master," Ea said, revealing herself from thin air. "It is true that the situation is serious enough for America to lower themselves to such an extent. The public will not stay quiet."
"Let’s buy some time with media spin."
Fortunately, Jeong Seojin had maintained a tight grip on the global press while running Alchemia. I immediately issued my directives.
"Publicize the destruction of the Third and Seventh Fleets on a massive scale to reinforce the justification for disbanding the assault teams. And since we can’t have people panicking too much, emphasize the fact that a second assault team will be established. Keep the heat focused squarely on America and China, just like it is now. Specifically, we need articles that consistently bring up Hines’s failures."
Ea nodded.
"Understood. I will relay these instructions to the scribe right away."
*
[8,118,500,167 : 7,000,000,000]
[09:35:27]
The numbers floating in the sky were steadily ticking down. If Jeong Seojin was right, and that eight billion truly represented the population count, then a staggering number of people were dying.
Given the circumstances, rather than blaming America and China, more than a few people were raining criticism down on me and the Alliance for effectively dismantling humanity’s only hope: the assault teams.
Of course, I had no intention of playing political games with human lives as collateral. The real reason I disbanded Plan A, the assault teams, was simply because the current situation heavily favored the odds of Plan B.
And today was the day we executed Plan B.
The Magic Tower’s solo breakthrough of the Pacific.
"Alright, move it! Move it!"
"Align the turret formations!"
We were currently aboard the Sky Castle, hovering above Busan Port. Through numerous recent modifications, the Sky Castle had finally regained its true castle-like appearance. Though, of course, it wasn’t just a regular castle—it was a cutting-edge war fortress loaded to the brim with artillery.
—"You’ll be setting off soon, it seems," Hong Yeon’s voice rang out from my phone.
—"Yeah. We should be heading out as soon as the preparations are complete."
—"Are you sure you’ll be okay? They say the monsters in the Pacific are overwhelmingly numerous... I heard the Seventh Fleet collapsed before they could even make any real headway."
—"I’d be a little hurt if you compared them to us. Our military power is on a completely different level."
This expedition involved the entire elite force of the Magic Tower. We had prepared extensively for this, and I was confident.
—"Honestly, I’m more worried about Korea."
—"Excuse me?"
—"Once that countdown finishes, things are likely going to get a whole lot worse."
I had personally seen the Tower of Judgment that fell on Machinatio. Compared to that, the difficulty of the Towers of Judgment currently on Earth was absurdly low. There was no way Nemesis would remain this quiet. It was undoubtedly preparing something else.
—"It would be much smoother sailing if President Lee Deokbae would just keep his mouth shut," she sighed.
—"That guy was quiet for a while. Did he crawl back out again?"
—"Yes, he’s been shouting that we should follow America’s example, dissolve our assault team contributions, and focus entirely on protecting our own citizens. And quite a few people are siding with him."
...That man was truly something else.
"Yusin!"
Ha Yerin came running over, waving her hand at me.
—"Looks like I need to get ready. See you on the new continent, Yeon," I said.
—"Okay. Please be careful, Yusin." After saying that, she added a soft, quiet word. I smiled and gave her the same reply.
Once I ended the call, Ha Yerin came up to me and beamed.
"We finally get to fight together!"
"Yeah, did you prepare a lot?"
"I sure did!"
The pure white suit she wore looked like a massive upgrade from last time. Now she actually looked the part of the Lord of the Sky Castle.
I smiled at the hunters who had followed her.
"I have high expectations for all of you from the Sky Castle as well."
"T-Thank you very much!"
The Sky Castle mages handpicked by Ha Yerin had all mastered the commercialized version of her original spell, Wind Chakram. Numbering about fifty, they were capable of combining high-speed flight with magic, making them the current ultimate elite force of the Magic Tower.
"Alright! We’re starting now!"
"Please step back!"
Samia’s subordinates, the mages of the Fifth Floor, began to secure the perimeter.
"Let’s go over there too!" Ha Yerin pleaded with me to watch, so we walked closer together.
The magic circle drawn on the ground flashed brilliantly, and a rippling glow emerged above it as something colossal began to take shape.
"It’s here!" Ha Yerin’s eyes sparkled.
Behind the rippling light, the entire Magic Tower teleported straight into the empty plaza of the Sky Castle. I pressed my hand to my earpiece.
"Report on flight status."
"Output reinforced. Maintaining flight mode!"
"We have returned to stable flight status!"
We had upgraded the Sky Castle’s levitation system to the latest model. Now, it could maintain flight while bearing the full weight of the Magic Tower.
Together, we were going to cross the Pacific.
"Boss!" Kim Sarang called out, striding toward me.
"Ah, Sarang. Is something up?"
"We have a volunteer for this battle, so I wanted to introduce them to you!"
"A volunteer?"
Kim Sarang smoothly stepped aside, revealing Cha Doyeon standing behind her. Cha Doyeon was awkwardly brushing her hair back with an embarrassed expression. When our eyes met, she quickly bowed her head.
"Doyeon! Wait, I mean, Minister Cha. Why are you here...?"
"It’s fine, you can just call me what you normally do. I know it’s a bit shameless since I left the Magic Tower, but... I came hoping I could be of some help."
I strode over and grabbed her hands.
"Of course you’ll be a huge help! Thank you so much for coming!"
"N-No, I’m the one who should be thanking you... I look forward to working with you."
Kim Sarang pulled down the sunglasses resting on her head and giggled.
"It would be nice if you just told the truth and came back to the Magic Tower."
"Hey! Are you going to keep making sarcastic remarks? I told you, I’m here as the Minister of Magic to monitor the Magic Tower!"
"Ah, yes. Yes, of course you are."
As I stood there watching the two of them bicker, a vibration buzzed against my leg.
The ringtone of my phone sounded from my pocket.
[Caller ID Restricted]
...Who is this?
If it were the Alliance, they would have contacted me through my earpiece, not my phone. Perplexed, I answered the call anyway.
—"Yes, this is Kim Yusin."
And the voice that came through the phone’s speaker...
Was one I had completely never expected.
*
We finally set sail.
High above the vast, open sea, the Magic Tower and the Sky Castle soared through the sky. Having passed over Japan, we were now at the entrance of the Pacific Ocean. Everywhere I looked, left, right, in all directions, there was nothing but ocean. The waves swelled below, and the fierce sea breeze made it hard to even keep my eyes open.
Our primary goal for this voyage was, without a doubt, entering the new continent. The assault teams had been disbanded, but we were advancing to the new continent in our capacity as a World Guild.
The best part about traveling via the Sky Castle was that we could skip past the vast majority of the swarming aquatic monsters. When I looked down at the ocean surface with the Deva’s Eye, I could see black masses writhing and trailing beneath us. Unless we got shot down, we didn’t have to deal with those sheer numbers. It was a tremendous stroke of luck.
The only things we needed to worry about now were flying monsters, and since we were still near the entrance, there weren’t that many of them yet.
"Five Stone Gargoyles spotted at twelve o’clock!" a scout shouted over the comms.
"Target acquired. Vanguard batteries, twenty turrets opening fire."
Turrets popped out from all over the Sky Castle and spewed fire, instantly turning the five gargoyles to dust in the blink of an eye. This was exactly why I called it an armed fortress.
Man, this firepower is amazing.
Our main forces were the ’Turret Golems’ heavily deployed all across the Sky Castle. They looked like mechanical turtles, but with turrets mounted in place of their shells. They moved autonomously to take aimed shots, clung tightly to the walls of the Sky Castle, or locked themselves onto its vulnerable underbelly to protect the fortress from enemies attacking from below.
-However, on the other hand, it makes me uneasy, Ea spoke to me telepathically. -We have entered the Pacific, yet there are far too few enemies.
I think so too.
-If Nemesis and the Führer are gathering their forces...
We might be heading straight into a massive battle later on.
Just like that, four hours into our flight from Busan... I realized my prediction was spot-on.
"Enemies! Over a thousand flying monsters approaching from the front!"
The exact same scene I had witnessed in the Alliance Headquarters’ command control room unfolded before us. Countless monsters blanketed the sky like specks of dust. From common flying types like Harpies, Gargoyles, and Wyverns, to numerous named entities like Sky Predators.
Especially those massive ray-like monsters floating in the sky—the Rank-Seven Stingrays were highly threatening.
I switched on my earpiece.
"We are going to break through in one go. Prepare all firepower."
"Understood!"
"Fire all batteries!"
A colorful array of turrets raised their barrels, and Iron Golems equipped with boosters lifted off into the sky. The combat mages, who hadn’t had a chance to flex their muscles until now, earnestly channeled their mana and prepared for battle.
"Kyaaaak!"
"Kieeeeeeek!"
Over a thousand flying monsters lunged toward the Sky Castle, drool dripping from their jaws.
"Enemies have entered firing range!"
"Open fire!"
Thousands of artillery barrels spewed fire simultaneously. Coated rounds, infused with mana through magi-engineering, streaked forward in bursts of blue light, embedding themselves into the monsters’ flesh before exploding. They easily tore through even the armored monsters typically resistant to conventional firepower.
I gripped my earpiece.
"Prepare for the second and third strikes."
"Understood!"
"Fire all batteries!"
Clank! Clank!
Missiles shot out from the roof of the Sky Castle with brilliant flashes. The monsters were pierced without any chance to dodge, or caught in the resulting explosions of missiles dropping from high altitudes.
"Ea. Can you blow away that densely packed cluster of monsters over there?"
-I obey the Tower Master’s command.
It was an offensive spell possessed by the Magic Tower itself. A colossal beam of destructive light shot out, slicing vertically through the sky. Watching every monster caught within its range turn into a pile of ashes and fade away was quite the spectacular sight.
"Whoa!"
Exclamations of awe erupted from all over. I briefly relaxed and looked around. It was a grand festival of firepower born of human technology. Such a diverse and blinding array of artillery exploded forth that it densely packed the airspace and made my eyes ache.
"Two hundred thousand rounds expended," the tactical team reported.
"Beam Sabers require recharging."
"The monsters keep swarming in!"
As if trying to crush us with sheer numbers, the monsters dodged the turret fire and closed in on the Sky Castle.
The distance had narrowed. Now it was the mages’ turn.
This time, elemental magic conjured by thousands of mages blanketed the sky. The monsters that barely managed to evade the heavy artillery and reach the Sky Castle were met with fierce resistance, their bodies burning up and freezing over.
Among them, the ones with the most overwhelming performance were undoubtedly the Administrators. Eunsol freely controlled over fifty Iron Golems; Jin Bora used explosive potions to form an inescapable net of fire; and Jeong Seojin rode a Wing Golem up high, casually assassinating only the named monsters.
"Thirty Harpies approaching from the rear at eight o’clock!"
"We’ve got it."
On top of that, the firepower from the Archmage-order trio, Kim Sarang, Jo Yonghee, and Cha Doyeon, was dazzling.
Water elementals rose above spreading waves, firing off torrents of water in every direction.
A colossal serpent manifested purely from poison soared through the sky, melting hundreds of monsters alive.
A terrifying band of light incinerated everything caught within its radius.
It was a sight that made my heart race. I felt deeply moved by the fact that all this human strength, and the military might of the mages, had started with me. Although I was anxious at the time, I thought teaching them magic had been the right decision after all.
-Tower Master! A peculiar magical phenomenon is manifesting ahead.
What is it?
-It is the exact same effect as when the Führer appeared six months ago.
Our ultimate prey had finally appeared.