Chapter 156

Bam! Crash!

Grrrr!

—Catch that guy!

—It’s the Archduke of Darkness’s minion!

—Argh! My arm! It bit my arm!

—Hayan! Calm down, let’s talk first…!

Snap, clatter, scritch!

Shhh-shhh-shhh-shhh!

—Ugh! Where is he? Where did he go?

—It’s too dark, I can’t see anything!

—Use light magic, you idiot!

—Over there! He’s climbing the wall up the tower!

—Climbing? How!?

—How should I know!? Chase him! Close all the exits!

—Damn it, why is that mage so fast!

Kiiieeeek!

Crunch!!

Kkiiieeeeek!

Zap! Zzzzt!

—The mana elevator has ceased operation.

—The stairs are blocked too, it looks like something was triggered from above.

—My god, to think there was a spy hiding within the Special Unit.

—What should we do, Lord Robert?

—…Call for reinforcements.

—Reinforcements? By any chance, on the Special Unit side…

—No, I’m going to the ward for a moment. I have something to retrieve.

They were top-tier mages of the Magic Tower, but capturing me alive as I freely scaled walls and ceilings was impossible.

However, I, who had succeeded in escaping the conference room with my superior physique, was caught pointlessly the very next day by Robert’s ploy.

He had played a recording of a ‘morning call’ from the smartwatch I used during my active duty days and scattered it like bait in a zone rigged with traps.

For reference, the voice had been recorded personally by going to the ward where No Yeon-hwa was hospitalized.

—Yeon-hwa hopes Hayan oppa won’t oversleep…

—If you don’t wake up… shall I climb on top of you to wake you up?

I had been properly caught in a trap aimed at the pure me.

It was unfair.

A few days later, on a coast in Busan where waves were crashing violently.

I was tied to a cross like a criminal waiting for execution.

At my feet, the mages who had participated in the gathering had drawn a magic circle they had researched and brainstormed over.

It was a magic circle designed to summon the Archduke of Darkness.

Was it a cruel twist of fate, or irony, that the person who contributed most to completing it was none other than my clever disciple, Albireo?

If it weren’t for him mastering Black Magic, ignoring the rules of magic, we wouldn’t have been able to prepare it so quickly.

『Teacher…』

Albireo, who had drawn the final part of the magic circle with trembling hands, approached with sorrowful eyes.

With everyone watching, he carefully opened a channel to me and spoke.

『It is all my fault. If I had known it would come to this, I would rather…』

『Oh, Albireo. My disciple, who is like my own child, do not be sad. This is all the fault of my own incompetence for having accepted the power of darkness; it is not your fault at all.』

『No! You chose to sacrifice yourself to save the ignorant mages! Otherwise, why would you reveal that you came from the Black Magic Tower yourself!?』

『A smart disciple doesn’t even let their teacher go peacefully on their way. But it is already too late; forget your fallen teacher and move forward. I leave all the tentacles in my lab to you.』

『Teacher, Teacher!!』

Leaving Albireo’s sorrowful voice behind, I cut the channel.

It was an unavoidable choice, as his life wouldn’t be guaranteed if it was discovered that he was my disciple.

Fortunately, the genius boy had achieved remarkable growth in a short period.

To the extent that he didn’t even show a hint of sadness in front of the death of the teacher he respected.

“Albireo, is the preparation complete?”

“What are you doing there?”

“…I was just checking the status of the operator for the last time. It shouldn’t have any abnormalities.”

“Is that so? Get out quickly. That place is dangerous.”

Waves were crashing against the cliffs of the coastline.

Splash, splash!

At a glance, it might look like ordinary waves coming in at high tide, but anyone with a keen eye would have noticed.

That the water was unusually black.

Splash, splash!

—Kiiieeeek!!

—Kiiieeeek!!

Recognizing me tied to the cross, the tentacles—no, the corpses of countless tentacles—charged forward.

They were the bastards who had been sharpening their blades of revenge against me since the Sea of Decay had vanished.

You despicable wretches; I fed you and put you to sleep, and yet you try to kill me to the very end.

I should have gotten an oil tanker from Mayor Park Mak-rye and held an ‘oil party’ one more time a long time ago.

But this tiresome, bitter relationship would end today.

“They’re coming.”

“Shake the cross so they gather more.”

“Did he really kill that many living creatures?”

“Get a grip, those things are monsters.”

Because those tentacles were the very sacrifices to be used in this summoning.

Even I thought it was a pretty well-crafted plan.

The operator: a black mage from the Black Magic Tower.

The sacrifice: the corpses of tentacles harboring a grudge against him.

It was as if someone had intended for the preparations to summon the Archduke of Darkness to fall into place.

However, in reality, there was one major blind spot in this plan.

“We’re almost there…!”

“Confirm the predicted summoning coordinates! After freezing the sea, we enter battle immediately!”

“Is the siege turret ready?”

“Almost!”

There were only two people in Busan harbor, where almost all the mages in the world had gathered, who knew that fact.

One was naturally me, the party involved.

The other was the woman who had been watching our reactions quietly from a corner throughout the gathering.

It was Fran.

“Oh, Ms. Fran! You must not get too close!”

“It is fine, this degree of a storm is nothing to me.”

Walking along the pier on the coast where waves were undulating, she connected a channel to me, standing with arms spread like a figurehead.

There was a damp, noisy, and inhuman scent of mana, one I was familiar with somewhere.

『You told a lie.』

『Oh, a lie? What are you talking about?』

『You are not from the Black Magic Tower, are you?』

That was right.

It was a fact that even other Special Unit members, including Robert, didn’t know, but I was not a black mage from the Black Magic Tower.

In other words, there was no way I had a connection to the Archduke of Darkness from the beginning, and even if I drew a magic circle, my body was incapable of summoning him.

And yet, the reason I revealed myself as a black mage and let myself be tied to a cross.

It was, naturally, because there was a way to drag the Archduke out.

The 5th Tentacle, Abyssal Tentacle.

Once caught by this tentacle, not just top-tier monsters, but even an Outer God cannot escape.

It meant it would be simple to snatch the Archduke of Darkness, who was currently heading to the Red Magic Tower where the Outer God of Judgment was.

Of course, since it was a single-digit tentacle, I needed a Star Scar to use it.

And the woman—or rather, the tentacle—standing in front of me just happened to have what I wanted.

『You have a sharp eye. By the way, haven’t we met somewhere before?』

『…』

『Why have you suddenly stopped talking? Responding to a question from the other party is a lady’s etiquette.』

『…Shut up.』

The group of tentacles that had swarmed toward the cross no longer relied on the waves, but began to float into the air, using each other as stepping stones.

Creating the shape of a giant hand and trying to snatch me, I twisted my body to avoid it and said to Fran.

『Digestion, your master is hurt. How could you leave like that without a single word of farewell? Did you think I wouldn’t know that you ate the one in Albireo’s flowerpot and switched it?』

『You, surely…!』

『And when you sent the wine, why did you skim off the Star Scars in the middle instead of being generous with them? That’s why you’re treated harshly, unlike other tentacles—because you don’t have a pretty heart.』

『W-who did you learn that from! Grrr…』

In an instant, her beautiful appearance vanished, and in its place stood only a pink tentacle the size of a human.

Wasn’t that handkerchief draped around the end of her body the legacy left behind by the Archduke of Bewitchment?

She had prepared quite meticulously to hide her identity, not just from me, but from other humans as well.

Since we were face-to-face, I wanted to grill her and eat her to catch up on old times, but I had work to do.

I stuck my tongue out at her while tied up and said.

『Give me back the Star Scar.』

『I-I don’t want to!』

『Why? It’s originally mine. Aren’t you going to catch the Archduke of Darkness?』

『You can just use your own to catch him! Why in the world do I have to exert my power to save those guys!』

That’s true, why would she?

If she hadn’t appeared at Busan Station with Albireo, I wouldn’t have had reason to question this.

Seeing her act as an advisory chair and founder of some agency, it seemed she had blended in quite well over there, hadn’t she?

If so, this was an opportunity to gain the justification to firmly grab the reins again.

As if to say she wouldn’t be fooled by my tricks so easily, Digestion shrieked “Kkiiieeek!” and said.

『I, I know! Even if you are human, you can’t abandon your own kind that are here!』

『Me?』

『Yeah! Even that woman who came with you seems to have business with the Archduke of Darkness, so you’ll definitely end up fighting! What are you going to do if I just stand still! If you don’t want all the humans in this city to die, you’re going to use the Star Scar to drag that guy out, right?』

『Hmm, that’s not it.』

『It’s not…?』

Unfortunately, there is one fact she doesn’t know.

Humans are the species that loves divisiveness the most in the world.

Even if they are fellow countrymen, they distinguish between friends and foes based on skin color, religion, and even regional origins within the same land.

This place was Busan.

A blessed land imbued with the Dragon Immortal’s treaty, ruled by the iron-blooded monarch, Grandma Park Mak-rye.

From Seoul’s perspective, well, it wasn’t that Busan was useless, but it was an displeasing city that had started to get on our nerves recently.

『Of course, in my heart, I don’t want to do that. But some people just want to see the world burn.』

『You?』

『I said ‘some people.’ You should have seen how Commander Ha Yeri was planning to shatter Busan by having demons disguise their immigration. Unfortunately, I cannot disobey orders from above.』

『What do you mean…!』

There is a saying in this world: if you can’t have it, break it.

To Digestion, who was horrified by the pure malice of humans, I demanded the Star Scar again.

『So don’t say anything else and hand it over. Everything I gave you, plus what you secretly stole.』

『But if I don’t have this, I…』

『Who said I’m taking it forever? I’ll keep it safe without handing it over to the Constellation, and give it back to you later when you’re an adult. It’s bad to use the Star Scar so recklessly already.』

Perhaps it was because she didn’t want to escape the life she had been enjoying—slacking off in the Alps and indulging in the benefits of civilization.

Having grown to her heart’s content while breathing the outside air, she refused to go back into my comfortable sleeve.

『If nothing else, you know this one thing for sure, don’t you?』

However, since she had already faced me, Digestion had no choice.

『The Apostle of the Outer God does not negotiate with monsters.』