Chapter 122

“You want to stay here? In the middle of a demon stronghold?”

“It-it’s not so bad. The food is good, and it’s warm at night. A-and most importantly, there’s no professor here telling me to check the status and angle of the Astronomical Observation Wing every thirty minutes or saying I should sleep once I ‘become a star.’”

“…”

What should I do?

I hadn’t anticipated this variable.

Theresia was so physically and mentally devastated by her life as a graduate student that she refused to leave the villa. Her entire body looked like it was melting, on the verge of becoming one with the sofa.

To save this one girl, I had used Mayor Park Mak-rye’s statues to track Lee Sohyun, and through her testimony, specified this location. I’d flown all the way to Switzerland using the Magic Tower’s transfer device, yet the target was actually… well, she seemed incredibly satisfied with her life as a demon hostage.

“What are you doing? Just drag her out.”

“But…”

“If you can’t do it, I will. Stand back. Hey!”

“H-Huh?”

“Stop whining and follow us.”

No Yeon-hwa stepped forward and used her Word-Spirit. She wasn’t the type to hesitate in situations like this. The power of her ability, which had reached the Upper Level after wiping out the monsters of the Alps, coiled around Theresia’s body. The girl let out a pained scream.

“Agh! N-no…! Stop…!”

“Quiet and get out. We don’t have time to waste.”

“Not the research lab…! I can’t go back to that horrible place…!!”

“I. Said. GET. OUT!”

Rats and cockroaches from the floor scrambled out all at once at the command. Yet, Theresia remained stubbornly clung to the sofa. It was a remarkable sight. To resist No Yeon-hwa’s Word-Spirit—which could influence even inanimate objects—through sheer willpower was more than just simple stubbornness.

When she continued to defy the command, No Yeon-hwa pulled a megaphone out of her pocket. She glanced at me and muttered, “Tch, I was saving this for a more important moment. Listen well, the revelati—”

“Wait a moment, Miss Yeon-hwa.”

“What now?”

Theresia’s desire to never return to the Magic Tower was already etched deep into her soul. I didn’t know what kind of Word-Spirit she was about to use, but at this rate, there was a high chance the girl’s mind would snap. I hurriedly stopped her.

“Let me try to persuade her with words.”

“What for? You said yourself graduate students don’t have human rights.”

“She too was likely once just a student who truly loved magic. Am I not a Professor of the Red Tower? I don’t wish to trample out a flickering spark of intellect.”

“…You’ve been acting weird for a few days, and now you’re getting way too into the role.”

She gave me a pathetic look, then walked toward the door. “Fine, do what you want. But you’d better hurry.”

Outside the mountain range, monsters were still pouring down. The demons must have sensed our intrusion, as the remaining duration of the curses and Gates sold by the Witch Trade Association was visibly dropping in real-time.

As a professor, I knelt down to meet the graduate student’s eye level. Sometimes, gentle persuasion is better than coercion. There’s a saying about the North Wind and the Sun—or in this case, the Word-Spirit and the Tentacle. A harsh Word-Spirit can’t strip a traveler of their clothes, but a gentle tentacle can make a traveler undress themselves.

Unlike the cold-blooded No Yeon-hwa, I, the kind Apostle of the Outer God, was confident I could make her walk out of the villa on her own two feet.

“Miss Theresia, your father is worried. Please, come back with us.”

“I don’t have a father. He was killed by monsters long ago…”

“You have Lord Hans. Even now, he is desperately waiting for you to return home.”

“Hans…?”

At the mention of her mother’s ex-husband, a spark of life returned to her eyes. However, after reflecting on her life and realizing how hollow the bond between father and daughter truly was, she merged back into the sofa.

“If Lord Hans thought of me as a daughter, he wouldn’t have sent me to work under Professor Esma.”

Esma Miller was a mage of such outstanding talent that the Management Bureau had requested her cooperation first during the Mutation Gate incident. Sending his daughter to work as her assistant was essentially laying out the fastest elite track in the Blue Tower. Of course, it came with a grueling workload, but wasn’t she being a bit ungrateful? Lee So-hyun, who had started later than her, had already spent years toiling away in the Special Unit.

“Since I started working for the Professor, I haven’t been home once. I only sleep about three hours a day. I eat Ascetic Energy Bars, or maybe three cups of black tea a day…”

“That’s practically paradise compared to wandering the Demon Realm for fifteen years.”

Truly, the youth of today made me click my tongue. What was she whining so much for? Granted, her stuttering didn’t make her look normal… had something gone wrong with her mind?

“M-more than anything, I can’t stand that gaze anymore.”

“Pardon?”

“That being that is always looking down on me from the sky. When I observe the movements of the Outer Gods from the Astronomical Observation Wing under Professor Esma’s orders… whenever I look into the vast darkness between the twinkling stars, there’s a presence that has been staring back at me for some time now.”

“…”

“It isn’t an Outer God. No, it isn’t any god we know. Every time my eyes meet with that being—the one approaching Earth while holding the end of the world with countless arms and legs—something inside me withers away, and I see visions of tentacles growing all over my body…!!”

Ah, it was because of Mala-nim.

It seemed that through Esma Miller’s keen insight, she had become aware of Mala-nim’s presence and could no longer endure it.

I checked the time on my smartwatch. Emergency alerts were constantly blaring, signaling the urgent preparations for the demons’ full-scale invasion of the Magic Towers.

Though her situation was pitiful, I couldn’t neglect the fate of humanity just to cater to one person’s comfort.

I spoke quietly.

“About Albireo.”

“Yes?”

“He’s been attending my classes lately. A very bright young man.”

Since she and Hans weren’t blood-related, her only kin was her younger brother. Mentioning the name of the boy who had fallen in love with tentacles got an immediate reaction.

“Did something happen to my brother!?”

“There’s nothing to worry about. At this rate, Albireo will finish his month-long summer session and return home safely.”

“Phew.”

“However, if Miss Theresia refuses to return to the lab on her own, I might have to make him a proposal at the end of the final lecture… an offer to become my ‘graduate student’…”

“N-no! Not that!”

Theresia shrieked, her face turning pale. Scrambling off the sofa, she grabbed the hem of my robe and burst into tears.

“I-I’ll go! I’ll go, so please… not my brother! Anything but my brother!”

“Oh, you’re finally up! Then let’s head out—to Miss Theresia’s precious ‘home’.”

As expected, the winner in stripping a traveler’s clothes wasn’t a cold Word-Spirit, but a warm tentacle. I flashed a smile at No Yeon-hwa, who was standing by the door, signaling that everything was settled.

“You really are a devil.”

The only response I got was a curse.

With Theresia safely rescued and Hans joining our side, all that remained was preparing for the Great Invasion.

Globally, Magic Towers were recalling mages from the field and fortifying their defense spells. Meanwhile, checking the news from Busan, I heard that numerous “Magic Towers” were being constructed all over Seoul.

This was Ha Yeri’s strategy.

—We’ve filled the interiors of the towers with cannons stripped from siege turrets and various traps.

“And the troops?”

—On standby. In the worst-case scenario, we will evacuate them through the Tower Master’s Room and use the explosives rigged in the Astronomical Observation Wing to bring the towers down on the invaders.

True to the woman who had rammed a tanker into the Sea of Decay and detonated Claymores in the Thirteen Palaces of Emptiness, she seemed perfectly willing to accept some collateral damage. One of the towers was even rising within Ground Zero—likely another decoy to sow confusion. The writhing purple structure in Sector 4 was steadily climbing toward the sky.

“Do you think the demons won’t be able to tell the real ones from the fakes? There were originally only four in Seoul.”

—It doesn’t matter. We’ve hollowed out the real towers and treated them the same way.

Apparently, the records inside had been moved to a secret vault known only to a tiny fraction of Division 2. Of course, they couldn’t take everything, so while the precious research data was gone, a fair amount of equipment remained.

—The mages resisted, claiming they’d rather perish with their towers, but we were able to proceed smoothly with the relocation thanks to the cooperation of the graduate students who rebelled against them.

“…”

—We’ve left some valuable data and artifacts scattered about. From their perspective, the number of ‘objectives’ they have to conquer has simply increased. Just like… Gates.

Gates. Just as humanity had suffered from the demons’ invasions, she intended to pay them back in kind. It was a solid plan, but uncertain elements still remained.

—This operation only works if the Yellow and Blue Towers, which can be restored, take the brunt of the damage. We’ve prepared the leaderless White Tower the same way, but we cannot allow it to be destroyed.

“I see.”

—Hayan, you should start heading back to Seoul. I’ll assign you to Division 3 to help fortify the Yellow Tower—the one you predicted the Archduke would manifest at.

“Uh… about that.”

There was one factor even Ha Yeri hadn’t accounted for.

“If possible, I’d like to defend the Red Tower.”

—Why?

“My research lab is there, and more importantly, I still have lectures to give.”

Only Cheon So-baek and I knew the secret that the Heavenly Immortal was gone. Since the threat of Hans siding with the demons was gone, the tower in Busan wouldn’t be attacked, but Seoul was a different story. If the Red Tower in Seoul fell, it would be lost forever. While Cheon So-baek was busy defending the overseas branches, I had to hold the fort here.

“I can’t just abandon the students who have finally grown fond of tentacles. When the invasion starts, I’ll head straight up to Seoul via the Tower Master’s Room.”

—You’re not planning to go around doing more weird things, are you?

“Weird things? No, I’m talking about ‘that’.”

Communications with Ha Yeri were strictly secured. Nevertheless, to avoid any risk of eavesdropping, I used a code only the two of us would understand.

“The code is ‘Mask’. As the Commander who knows my situation, surely you understand?”

—Hmm… true, Hayan must not arouse the demons’ suspicion. I’ll allow it. I’ll let Commander Yoo Se-byeol know, so act freely within the bounds of not causing too much damage.

“Thank you. Then I will immediately begin marking Commander Ha Yeri’s height on the first-floor pillars of every Magic Tower to distract the demons.”

—What? I never authorized that—!

Click.

I cut the transmission and immediately changed my profile status to ‘Do Not Disturb’. If I defended the Red Tower, I could control one of the major variables, but Trishy would almost certainly show up. If that was the case, I needed another power to stop the Archduke.

I flipped through the Witch Trade Association’s catalog.

After a moment of deliberation, I ordered a new cheese grater.