Magic Monopoly: Reborn as the Sole Magic Tower Master-Chapter 189: Episode
"Huff, huff!"
I ran frantically, fleeing the swarming inhabitants of this world.
[Stamina has increased by 1.]
Whenever I felt my stamina flagging, a stat would increase. 'Right, let's think positively. I'm getting stronger just by running away. Getting stronger just by jogging! It's like…'
-Tower Master! It's a dead end!
No time for stray thoughts. At Ea's warning, I slammed on the brakes. It really was a dead end.
Meanwhile, people swarmed in from all sides. Men, women, young, and old—everyone of them brandished a weapon.
-What is your plan?
'Ah, screw it! If it's come to this, I have no choice but to fight.'
I turned around and unleashed my magic.
<Rapid Arrow>
Golden arrows materialized around me and shot forward like beams of light. The charging mob was struck down one by one. I maintained the spell as I advanced, a barrage of firepower clearing my path as people collapsed like dominoes.
[Magic Power has increased by 1.]
[Magic Power has increased by 1.]
I was fighting with satisfaction at my rising stats when I witnessed something truly bizarre. A man with a Rapid Arrow embedded in his thigh was licking the shaft of pure mana, even as blood poured from the wound, his face a mask of pure ecstasy.
"Mana! It's mana!"
"Ooooh!"
The others were the same. It was a lethal attack, but the more magic I used, the more frenzied they became. Five people would swarm a single arrow lodged in someone's body, everyone licking at it, including the victim. If they saw an arrow stuck in the ground, they would mob it.
'This is seriously creeping me out.'
It felt like I was scattering thousands of dollar bills in the middle of a city. I used Rapid Arrow to break through their encirclement and started running again.
"GIVE ME FOOD!" a giant roared.
An entire building was demolished as a fat, thirty-three-foot-tall giant reached for me.
"Why are you asking me for food?!"
Instead of food, I cast and fired a Fire Cannon. Instantly engulfed in flames, the giant roared in agony.
"Give me mana, too! I hate fireeee!"
Even so, it stuck out its tongue to try to eat the flames, only to be burned to a crisp.
'…Is that thing an idiot?'
"There he is!"
"Get him!"
Before long, I was surrounded again. The locals knew this city's layout far better than I did; there was no escape.
'Of all the times for my wing golem to be broken!'
I still grind my teeth whenever I think of that Enforcement Bureau sniper. 'Once I get stronger in this trial and get out, I'll take my sweet time crushing him.'
-Tower Master! There is no path on the ground. You must use shields as stepping stones to escape through the air!
'Okay. Do it!'
The moment Ea created a makeshift bridge of shields, I leaped onto it. The people below didn't even try to follow; they were too busy devouring the shields.
I sprinted across the air, stepping from one shimmering platform to the next. Below, a countless swarm of people, like ants, waved their arms frantically. It was an utterly horrifying sight. If I fell into the middle of that… I didn't even want to imagine it.
"There he is!"
Now people were climbing onto rooftops and jumping off, trying to catch me. They were all completely insane. I activated Deva's Eye and ran, dodging the falling bodies.
'That was close.'
As I ran frantically across the shields, I came to a cliff. The terrain dropped off sharply, revealing another section of the city on a lower level. In the blink of an eye, I was running at a considerable height.
'Ea! Mark the least populated area in this city!'
-Understood. Commencing detection magic.
A moment later, Ea marked a spot with Deva's Eye. I leaped toward it with all my might, tucking my knees to my chest and swiping the soles of my shoes with my palms.
<Devastar>
My body shot forward, trailing black smoke. It didn't take long to reach the spot Ea had marked.
"Haah… Haa…"
Sweat poured off me like rain. I braced myself against a wall, gasping for breath, and shouted, "What the hell is this place?! You said it was time travel!"
-I am bewildered as well. There is nothing like this in any of Erendel's records…
A sudden sound made me jump back. A magic circle was spreading across the massive wall that surrounded the city.
"M-magic?"
Debris fell from the wall as glowing letters were carved into its surface. I couldn't understand the words, but after they were complete, an arrow appeared, pointing straight up.
"You want me to climb this?"
I looked up at the dizzyingly high wall. Judging by their reaction when I used magic, a mage was undoubtedly a rare sight in this world. The fact that a mage left me a message meant it had to be…
'The Tower Master.'
It had been a struggle, but I finally had a lead.
-What will you do, Tower Master?
"Of course I'm going. Is there any other choice?"
I pulled out a mana elixir and chugged it. Without my wing golem, I had no other option. Just like when I scaled the wall of the Tanzanian rebel camp, I attached Adhesion magic circles to my hands and feet and began the slow climb.
'All this trouble just to learn one spell.'
I was climbing carefully, one step at a time, when a player message popped up.
[Stamina has increased by 1.]
An involuntary chuckle escaped me.
'Alright. Let's see this through to the end.'
* * *
A fierce wind battered my body relentlessly, as if it had a will of its own, trying to throw me off. I pressed my hands and feet tighter against the wall and kept climbing.
'Ugh, this is so tedious.'
My initial confidence was draining away, replaced by exhaustion. As my stamina dropped, my mental fortitude grew sluggish. 'What if no one's there when I get to the top? Was this all for nothing? How am I supposed to get back down?' All sorts of worries chipped away at my resolve.
-Hang in there, Tower Master. I am watching over you.
If anything, Ea's gentle voice gave me strength.
"I'm worried about Korea. I wonder if everyone's okay."
-Yes, Tower Master. For now, I believe they are safe.
For some reason, her words "for now" sounded incredibly ominous.
"Did something happen in Korea? Did Frost pull some strange stunt again…?"
-…Tower Master. Not even a full day has passed since you entered the trial.
Ea's tone was cold and clinical.
-From now on, unless it is a truly urgent situation, I will not share news from the outside with you.
"What? Why!"
-Now is the time to focus solely on the trial. Whatever is happening outside, there is nothing you can do while trapped here.
She was right. There was no quitting the trial halfway. I had to clear this constructed space to get out.
-If you are worried about your comrades, then focusing even more intently on this world is the correct course of action.
"You're right. Thanks, Ea."
I pushed the worries from my mind. I looked only forward and clenched my jaw, forcing strength into my arms and legs as I continued my ascent.
[Endurance has increased by 1.]
[Stamina has increased by 1.]
This was brutally difficult. Without the trial's unique growth bonus, it would have been agonizing. I had to think of it as training and remember where I started. Remember my time as a non-combatant. Compared to back then, when I lifted gravity equipment like a madman just to raise my Stamina by one point, this was practically a luxury cruise.
[Stamina has increased by 1.]
After passing through the stage of self-justification, I reached the stage of anger.
'…When I get out of here, I'm going to kill the bastards who broke my wing golem. I'll kill them. I'll kill them. I'll kill them.'
I pushed forward, fueled by a burning rage toward those who had subjected me to this ordeal. Anger was excellent fuel for concentration, a source of vitality that made adrenaline surge.
And finally.
My outstretched right hand touched the top of the wall. As I reached up with my left to pull myself over…
Someone on top of the wall had grabbed my hand and was pulling me up.
"Th-thank you."
His grip was incredibly strong. I was hoisted up effortlessly. I could feel the rough, weathered wrinkles of age on his hand where it met mine.
'So this is what the top looks like.'
The top of the wall was much wider than I had expected, with watchtowers and even buildings constructed upon it. I caught my breath and looked at the person who had pulled me up.
'…Whoa.'
This person had no face. He wore a long, flowing robe with a deep hood, but beneath it, there was no outline of a face—just an endless, pitch-black void. If I reached out, would my hand find a face? Or just empty space? Suppressing the urge to touch it, I faced him.
"Welcome, human from beyond the wall who appeared from within it," he said. His voice was mystical, reverberating with an unnatural tremor.
"Thank you for your help."
"What is your name?"
"I am the 14th Tower Master. My name is Kim Yusin."
When I revealed my identity, the man simply nodded, showing no surprise.
"Just as I thought. My name is Roist, the 6th Tower Master."
So it was him. I did as Anton had in his diary, dropping to one knee and bowing my head.
"It is an honor to meet you, Great sunbae!"
"Rise, my junior from another world."
We shook hands once more.
"Fourteenth, you said? A considerable amount of time has passed," he muttered, his voice filled with reminiscence, before looking straight at me. "Your presence here means you are undergoing the sixth-floor trial. Is that correct?"
I was stunned. Just like during the fourth-floor trial against Anton, he saw right through my situation.
"That's right."
"I, too, met my predecessors and sought their teachings during my own sixth trial. I miss the youthful vigor of those days." The faceless man looked up at the smog-filled sky. I followed his gaze before speaking.
"How did Erendel end up like this? What on earth happened?"
"This is not Erendel."
I fell silent.
"W-what? If this isn't Erendel, then where…?"
"The name of this planet is Ankor de Antirs. It was once a world of thirty billion people."
Wait a minute. He said he was a Tower Master, too. There was something else besides Erendel? My entire understanding of the world was shattering.
"You seem confused. Erendel is a world I do not know. Perhaps it is your planet, or the one where the Tower Master before you resided."
'No, this is insane. Just how vast is the scale of all this?'
"I do not know where Erendel is, nor where your world is. But if there is one lesson I can give you…" Roist led me to the other side of the wall. "If you fail, your planet may end up just like this."
"Ugh!"
Far below, countless monsters formed mountains. Starting from the very base of the wall, they had piled their bodies higher and higher until they nearly reached the top.
And it wasn't just in front of us. To our left and right, more mountains of monsters were forming. Three mountains on this side alone. Since the wall ran in all four cardinal directions, that meant this city was being assaulted by a total of twelve such mountains.
'I can't see the end of them.'
Beyond the hordes piling up against the wall, the plains teemed with them. Monsters stretched as far as the horizon.
"Eleven years. That is how long we have protected this city." Roist walked along the rampart, his hands clasped behind his back. "This is the final bastion of Ankor de Antirs. The moment this city falls, the world will be destroyed, recorded as just another planet lost to a disaster."
"Ah."
He turned to me and continued, "Of course, your arrival means this world has already fallen."
He was right. If this place hadn't been destroyed, the 14th Tower Master wouldn't have been Kim Yusin of Earth, but someone else from Ankor de Antirs.
But even knowing the world he protected was doomed, Roist's reaction was understated. There was no despair or resignation, only the calm acceptance of a truth he already knew.
"But I've spoken at length. You have a purpose for being here."
"Yes!"
The sixth-floor trial is the 'Tower Master's Trial.' I had to meet four Tower Masters in total, each of whom would present me with a task. If I succeeded, they would reward me by teaching me one of the sixth-order magic spells. That was the gist of it.
"The trial I, Roist, the 6th Tower Master, bestow upon you is this." He pointed to the countless hordes outside the wall. "Destroy the three mountains before you."
* * *
