Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
“Keep scanning,” Abel said to the battle command spirit.
After White Cloud gained the “teleportation” ability, it took half a day to get from the duchy of Carmel to the Kingdom of St. Anwall. The ability wasn’t just limited to White Cloud, but the entire battle fort 03. Given how much energy was needed for this to work, Abel thought that it was a miracle that he could move everything together with so little time.
The battle command spirit spoke, “Scanning has begun, sir.”
At the same time, White Cloud reverted to flight mode. The battle fort 03 was being pulled as it switched to invisibility mode. The battle command spirit did everything in its power to locate the Assassin Union headquarter, but Abel wasn’t going to let it do everything on its own. While standing on top of his magic tower, he decided to search for his target with a simple scope that he brought with him.
The top of the magic tower was fully open. There was no top nor wall blocking Abel from seeing the outside world. As he could see, valleys covered up the entire geography of the area that he was entering. There were a lot of plants lying around. The only color that he could pretty much see was the color green.
After searching for half a day, the sky began to darken. Neither the battle command spirit nor Abel managed to find anything.
Abel said to himself, “It’s hard to believe it, but the Assassin Union may have just hidden everything under a gigantic seclusion circle.”
There were two possible explanations for this situation. One, the Assassin Union building was somewhere else. Two, there was a large-sized seclusion circle that was covering the entire building up. Usually, the latter would not be possible, but this was an association that was known to be extremely wealthy. Not even Abel had his own large-sized seclusion circle. He did have a lot of points he earned from Liante City, but it wasn’t something that could be bought unless one made special arrangements with the right craftsmen.
Abel scratched his head as he thought about his next move. There really could be a large-sized seclusion circle in this area. He trusted the information Wizard Allenby gave him. After all, he wasn’t the type of man to risk so much to give out false information.
As powerful as the battle command spirit’s scanning ability was, it was not enough to break through the power of a seclusion circle, capable of generating a completely separate dimension from the outside world.
Abel’s eyes sparkled as he saw the plants that were around, “I could just go under, can’t I? These trees can help me a lot.”
After he said that, he teleported to a giant tree that was on the ground. A black venomous snake immediately went to bite him as he did so, but he was fast enough to grab its head and throw it far away.
“That’s kind of sketchy. When was the last time I got attacked as soon as I landed?”
To figure out what was going on, Abels scanned his surroundings with his power of the Will. He could sense tens of different poisonous snakes within the radius of several hundred meters. It was hard to think that this happened naturally when they were all so densely packed together. Someone must’ve set this up as a trap.
Abel focused his power of the Will on the transformation necklace that he wore. He let out a single trace of his dragon essence, which made all the snakes rattle away from him in fear. He quickly put away his necklace after that because if he was to let out more of his dragon essence, he would be causing too much noise in this area.
Without the venomous snakes’ interruption, he began by placing his left hand on the giant tree’s bark. As he activated his soul speaker’s ability, he connected his mind to the giant tree. From there, he used the tree to send out messages to the trees that were nearby, and when they all rattled with their leaves, he began to receive information that went directly into his brain. There were some images of animals. Others were of humans.
By collecting visual information from trees within a radius of several hundred meters, a map started to form inside Abel’s mind. Upon a close inspection, he could see that there was a valley that was clearly different from the other locations. It was blank there, strangely. Something about it clearly stood out.
Abel smiled, “So that’s where it is.”
Having the soul speaker’s ability in a location with trees was pretty much cheating. With every tree here to act as Abel’s eyes and ears, he could learn everything that has ever happened here. Also, the seclusion circle might be a perfect tool against any sort of investigation techniques, but plants had the power to sense things as they were. Nothing could really hide from them if it was close enough.
After saying his gratitude to the trees, Abel converted the colorless energy inside his druid spirit into a green life force. He then injected it into the giant tree that he was touching, which made it grow at a speed that was observable to the naked eyes. The tree grew about ten years old in just a few minutes, with more life force than it had ever carried. After that, Abel teleported himself back to the battle fort 03.
Now that he had his target, his next move was simple. He told White Cloud to pull the battle fort 03 to the top of the valley, and from there, he looked directly at the ground that was below him. As expected, there was nothing special about it if he was just looking at it directly. With the seclusion circle, the valley looked normal. Even the circle scanning didn’t show anything abnormal.
Still, the Assassin Union must’ve done everything in their power to find a location like this. First of all, without finding a way to go over the cliffs, it would be impossible to enter into the valleys like this. Also, given the number of snakes that were put here, most people wouldn’t even think about coming here for a look. No, not even the elves with their soulspeakers, because none of the soulspeakers were known to be as good as Abel. Usually, it would take a tremendous amount of energy to search around an area this big. For most people, there really wasn’t any benefit in going this far to find the main building of a dangerously notorious organization such as this.
“Ready for battle,” Abel said to his summon creatures, “Actually, you all look way too excited for this. Especially you, Flying Flame. Keep yourself calm before I call for you.”
Flying Flame was a real dragon now. It could slaughter any orc city that Abel pointed to. Still, this was the human world. If someone saw him with a dragon under his command, he would have no choice but to silence anyone who was a witness.
After gruntling for a bit in disappointment, Flying Flame crawled back into its cavern.
Abel said to White Cloud, “Teleport inside there.”
Before, White Cloud would never try to get close to the frontline, but with the “teleportation” ability, it was capable of sending all the fighting units to where they were most needed. Also, with the battle fort’s invisibility ability, white cloud became a terrifying spy machine that could send up troops right on top of the enemies’ heads.
White Cloud understood what Abel’s orders meant. By grabbing the battle fort 03 with it, it teleported everyone and everything into the seclusion circle. Abel was right. After teleporting here, the first thing he saw was a level seventeen magic tower and a building that was about two miles away from it.
“Yes, finally!” Abel thought to himself. Just like he read from the intelligence report, the one backing the Assassin Union was a wizard going by the name of Kilmer. The tower should be the Kilmer Magic tower, whereas the building away from it should be the Assassin Union’s main building. If he began his work here, it would be long before the Assassin Union becomes a thing of the past.
When Abel was about to do it, the battle command spirit immediately sent out a message to him.
“Sir Elder. A spirit has been discovered. It is without any sort of defensive ability. Should I make a forced connection with it?”
“There’s a spirit here?”
Actually, this wasn’t all that surprising. This organization was responsible for handling almost all the assassination work on the Holy Continent, so it would be hard not to have a spirit to keep information.
Abel was very glad to hear this, “Wait, so I can get to see the hit list now. Can you make a forced connection with this spirit?”
“Elder, should I make a forced connection?” the battle command spirit asked again.
“Yes, do it!” Abel slapped his head as he realized how pointless it was for him to repeat the question.
“Connection has been commenced… the connection is a success! Sir Elder, are you going to claim ownership of this spirit? If you do this, you’ll have the option to remove the ownership of all other existing users.”
Abel clapped his hands frantically, “Yes, exactly! Do that, battle command spirit! Make me the only owner of that spirit! Make sure no one else has access to it.”
“Understood. I have canceled ownership of all other users. You are now the only owner of this spirit. If you want to access any information that it contains, you can either do it through me or access the spirit by commanding it directly.”
“Before that,” Abel replied. As far as he saw it, it’s probably for the better if he killed everyone here before he took out the spirit.
Actually, if he wanted to retrieve the spirit, then the option of using the super exploding ball would not be available.
Abel sought for the suggestion, “So, battle command spirit, are you capable of hacking into all the spirits?”
The battle command spirit explained, “Only ones without protection, Sir Elder. If the spirit is protected, I’ll not be able to make a forced connection from afar. However, if you use me to make a direct connection to a spirit below me, I can guarantee that a forced connection can be made.”
Abel asked as he didn’t know too much about the specifics, “So can you make a forced connection with the tower spirit? You know, of the magic tower.”
The battle command spirit replied, “Sir Elder, that spirit is too protected.”
So it wasn’t possible to hack the Kilmer Magic Tower. Unlike the Assassin Union building’s spirit, not only was the magic tower protected with defensive circles, but mana also filled the entire place.
Abel asked again, “Search something for you, will? Look for the closest teleportation circle nearby.”
“Yes, Sir Elder,” the battle command spirit replied, “I have found a teleportation circle nearby, but it’s switched off right now.”
“Is there any way to open it?”
The battle command spirit gave a surprising answer, “The only way is through the spirit, Sir Elder, and you are the only one who has ownership over it.”
That just reminded Abel, “Oh, right. This is to the battle fort 03. Repeat. This is to the battle fort 03. Prepare to attack the magic tower.”
As far as he was concerned, the only threat that was guarding this valley was Wizard Kilmer. Once he was gone, no one in the Assassin Union would be a threat to him.
Immediately, two hundred battle units prepared themselves on the battle fort 03. 200 small-sized war puppets were automatically loaded and readied themselves for an upcoming assault.
The battle fort 03 sent a message, “Ready to attack Master. Please give your signal.”
Abel spoke to White Snow, “Go scout the Assassin Union building. If anyone tries to escape from there, shoot them on sight.”
It wasn’t exactly the best climate for White Snow, but its strength as an advanced level spiritual beast still made it the power equivalent of an advanced wizard. That being said, it had no problem locking down an entire building of assassins that had to rely on one advanced wizard for survival.
The battle fort 03 moved once again next to the level seventeen magic tower. Since it had yet to make an appearance, the scanning circle inside the magic tower didn’t detect anything. It was only for a short while, though. Soon, Wizard Kilmer heard a siren ringing. Then, he saw a gigantic metallic monster from the window inside his tower.
Out of all of Abel’s summoned creatures, Johnson was pretty much the only one that could match Flying Flame in terms of defensive power. With its +75% magic resistance ability and other sorts of defensive runes, it was pretty much invisible against a vast majority of magic attacks. It wasn’t just magic attacks, either. Since it’s outer layer was made of pure fine steel, its immense physical durability made it the perfect candidate to make a front-on assault against a magic tower.
After jumping down from the hidden battle fort 03, Johnson took out a super knight’s big sword from its sheath. It raised the massive blade, and with all of its might, it slashed against the level seventeen magic tower.
“Enemy attack!”
As soon as Wizard Kilmer heard the warning, he immediately connected his power of the Will to the magic tower’s scanning circle. When the scanning circle was opened, the first thing he saw was his tower being struck by a sword that was bigger than any he’s ever seen. Needless to say, the first thing he tried to do in response was to activate the tower’s defensive circle.
Johnson was very heavy, so it was pretty much at the pinnacle of physical attacks. Now, the magic tower’s defensive circle was not without its limitations. Since Johnson literally came out of nowhere, not even a fifth of its true power could be switched on in time. No one saw it coming because no one knew that it was possible to launch a sneak attack like this against an entire magic tower.
Wizard Kilmer felt a giant boom that made his whole tower shook. His legs had trouble moving on their own.
The tower spirit announced, “Master, the magic tower’s body has been damaged. The defensive circle has sustained damage of 10%.”
That’s 10% with one slash. The other wizards wouldn’t have believed it if they’d heard about it. Not even a head knight’s commander could do damage this ridiculous. Wizard Kilmer was forced to come back to his senses from the shock. He was finally starting to realize who was attacking him.
That’s right. It was the legendary Abel. Grandmaster Abel was famed to own a gigantic metallic monster like this. In fact, it was this very metallic monster that was rumored to have killed a rank seventeen advanced wizard on its own.
Wizard Kilmer turned to his speaker, “Let’s talk this out, Grandmaster Abel! Can you please come out, wherever you are?”
He spoke even louder for a response, “Grandmaster Abel, I know you can hear me! I can give you the list of my clients if it’s what you’re looking for. Please, just end this now! If this isn’t enough, the Assassin Union will pay you back for the trouble it has caused you.”
Abel didn’t reply. Instead, Johnson continued to attack the magic tower ferociously with its super-sized sword. Negotiation was not available. Things were already too tense for any sort of peacemaking agreement. An enemy was best off dead. It’s the way he’s been sticking with ever since he came to this world. And no, he wasn’t going to change his ways to a level seventeen wizard that could back up an entire organization of killers on his own.”
Wizard Kilmer had to resort to retaliation, “Damn this golem, whatever it is! “Blizzard!”
As the damage was already done, Wizard Kilmer decided that he would rather go all-out than worry about how much the tower’s maintenance cost. He screamed, and a black cloud started to form on top of Johnson. Snowflakes started flowing. Each of them contained tremendous chilling energy that was the equivalent of several magic runes.
To respond to this, Johnson switched to the blue side of its multi-dimension metallic spheres, to the sides that were supposed to repel against ice element spells. Wizard Kilmer didn’t know. He just thought that the metallic thing in front of him would slow down and continue to take damage from the “blizzard” before it fell completely.
After the blue light flashed on Johnson’s body for two seconds, it vanished without a trace. From then, its speed was normal, and it managed to swing five and six times more with its blade. The “blizzard” continued to slow it down, but it was not effective enough to stop it from recovering.
Of course, it wasn’t like Johnson didn’t get hit. Abel would like to heal it with potions, but it was only allowed to be healed with potions from the dark world. This way, Abel had to provide it with the “light healing potion” with its druid spirit, just so that it didn’t sustain too much damage from the ice element.
Wizard Kilmer was frightened to see how powerful Johnson’s defensive force was. His spell attack was pretty much the same as something launched from a rank seventeen wizard, who was supposed to be the strongest being on the entire Holy Continent. What was more ridiculous was that the metallic monster was still attacking his magic tower without resistance.
It would be over if it kept going like this. Wizard Kilmer had too many things in his magic tower. He had a lot of things he was keeping. Since there were too many of them, he had to put them inside his magic tower instead of the portal bag that he was keeping.
Wizard Kilmer was clearly surrendering now, “Stop, please, Grandmaster! Let’s discuss this calmly, can’t we? I’m willing to hand Head Commander Acton and Wizard Elliot to you. They are the ones that are fully in charge of the Assassin Union. I have nothing to do with whatever they’ve been planning, please!”
Abel didn’t speak. The only thing he knew was that Johnson had to keep attacking the magic tower. He had no idea what sort of magic circles could be inside, so the safest plan was to make sure that the defensive circle was the only thing that remained switched on. The idea was very simple: let the tower use up all of its energy on defense. After that, Johnson would have to face attacks from both the tower’s security system and Wizard Kilmer directly, but he had potions that he could use to heal it.
Whatever the case was, the real battle was when Wizard Kilmer came out. He might seem very weak now, but advanced wizards had plenty of ways to turn the situation around. Things had to be done methodically, and now, the important step was to make sure that the man showed himself.
As time passed on, Wizard Kilmer realized that his beloved tower was no longer safe. He was very saddened to have to say goodbye to his beloved collections, but he was left with no choice but to make an emergency exit.