Chapter 352
Just then, someone slammed their fist on the table and raised their voice.
“Aren't you all too scared? What is the Demonic Radiance? If our Round Table and the Magic Tower combine our strengths, we can defeat the likes of the Demonic Radiance any day.”
“That's right. And besides, isn't Sir Heperlman, the Sacred One, at the Magic Tower?”
Right, if the full strength of the Round Table and the Magic Tower were to be combined, it would be incomparable to the Demonic Radiance.
Even Duke Duma, the Head of the magic noble house, possessed a power greater than Christian’s.
But there were still voices that could not be at ease.
“The problem is the Demonic Radiance’s bizarre and cunning schemes. I can't even begin to guess what kind of trick the whelp will pull.”
The House Heads of the Round Table fell silent again.
In truth, that was the point they were most concerned about.
The terrifying thing about the Demonic Radiance was not the power he possessed.
It was because he had always brought down opponents stronger than himself with wicked schemes that no one could have predicted.
“The whelp must not be unaware of our strength. This time, too, he is surely plotting some terrible scheme.”
It was when everyone was wearing a heavy expression.
“There is no need to worry. Please leave it to me.”
“Your Highness the Hero!”
Everyone turned their gazes toward Chris.
“Do you have a countermeasure?”
Christian nodded his head.
“Of course. I have a good idea of what kind of scheme the whelp will use.”
He was being sincere.
‘Because it's my own fabrication, after all.’
“I am the Hero, after all. I can't be pushed back by the likes of the Demonic Radiance, can I? Please leave it to me.”
The House Heads of the Round Table looked at each other.
The Demonic Radiance was terrifying, but the Hero they had experienced was no pushover either.
‘Perhaps the Hero is even more terrifying than the Demonic Radiance.’
As the House Heads of the Round Table nodded as if to leave it to him, Chris twisted the corner of his mouth and said.
“Instead, there is a condition.”
“What is it?”
“That you all will follow my instructions completely.”
“!!”
The House Heads flinched.
“It is to face the strong enemy that is the Demonic Radiance. It is impossible unless everyone combines their strengths properly, so you must absolutely follow my instructions.”
“…Understood.”
As everyone nodded their heads in a daze, Chris inwardly rejoiced.
‘Excellent. Just as planned.’
Naturally, the message from the Demonic Radiance was a disguise.
His plan was to use the threat of the Demonic Radiance to achieve his goals.
Afterward, having parted with the House Heads of the Round Table, Chris went to find another person.
It was Ranya.
“Have you been well?”
“…So-so.”
Unlike her usual noisy self, her tone was heavy.
“I heard you were mastering a grimoire. It seems you’re overworking yourself.”
“Overworking? Not at all. I am a genius mage. This is a piece of cake for me. Just you wait. This time, I will show you my greatness.”
Ranya feigned being unbothered and put on a show of bravado.
But her face, as she forced a smile, was pale.
“Are you pushing yourself so hard to find your parents’ murderer?”
“!!”
Ranya’s expression instantly hardened.
“…Yes, that’s right. So you’ve heard about my birth.”
Ranya was the adopted daughter of the Tower Master.
Her biological parents had been murdered by an unknown figure from the Round Table.
“This time, if I master this grimoire and set foot into the 8-Star state, the Tower Master has promised to tell me the identity of the murderer. I will absolutely… get my revenge.”
At the sunken voice, filled with a deep resentment, Chris wore a heavy expression.
‘I don’t know if Ranya will be able to handle it well when she learns the truth.’
Chris knew the whole truth.
And what would soon happen to Ranya.
Because it was the incident that had broken Ranya in his past life.
He couldn't stop it.
Furthermore, this incident was necessary for Ranya to grow into a Grand Magus.
‘But it would be a problem if she breaks down like in my past life.’
Ranya was already his sucker.
He could never allow his sucker to be broken.
‘All my suckers must work for me.’
Chris decided to give Ranya a seed of help in advance to avoid the worst-case scenario.
“By the way, that grimoire, can you even master it? With that lacking talent of yours, it seems it would be forever impossible.”
“What nonsense are you talking about? What do you take my genius for? I’ve already mastered most of it. The 8-Star state is not far off.”
Ranya was incensed, but Chris stared at her and asked again.
“Really? With your talent, already? Isn't that grimoire a bit too shoddy?”
“Ha. This grimoire was authored by my teacher, Tower Master Heperlman, himself, and the essence imbued within it is….”
Ranya, who had been speaking up to that point, suddenly clamped her mouth shut.
She had felt that something was strange.
‘Come to think of it, why is this so easy?’
It hadn't been long since she had begun to master the grimoire, and yet she had mastered most of its contents.
And it wasn't as if the contents were mediocre.
She could feel that just by mastering the grimoire, she had gotten much closer to 8-Star.
And yet, she had learned it too easily for the depth of its contents. She had just thought it was because she was a genius, but hearing him speak, something felt strange.
“Haven't you mastered it properly?”
“…That can't be.”
“If it's your teacher's work, it should be about the attribution and domination of laws according to the diversification of space. I doubt you've properly understood the formula where mana acting on the elemental system dominates the surrounding phase.”
Chris let out a sneer.
“Somehow, it seems you didn’t properly understand that part and just glossed over it. Let me see that for a moment.”
Chris snatched Ranya’s grimoire.
Before Ranya could say anything, he flipped through it, then threw out a single sentence as if tossing it aside.
“If it were me, I would have reverse-calculated the initial premise itself and converted it to the phase system. The reverse of the reverse is the correct, so it is the new path of the phase system. Ah, I guess that would be impossible for a failure like you.”
“B-be quiet! I’ll take care of it myself, so just you wait! I’ll be sure to crush that arrogant nose of yours!”
Ranya, huffing and puffing, began to pore over the grimoire again.
‘With this much, she should be able to guess what the problem with that grimoire is.’
Even if the incident occurred, she wouldn't be taken completely by surprise.
Having finished his business, Chris came outside and turned his gaze.
Toward the sky above.
He could see the floating island of the Celestial Magic Tower.
It was time to take down the Sacred One, Heperlman.
* * *
The floating island where the Celestial Magic Tower was located was situated on the border of the Round Table.
It was extremely closed-off, so even the white mages of the Alliance could not easily visit the floating island.
‘Only those who have been recognized by the Magic Tower are able to.’
If even white mages were treated like that, it went without saying for others.
The doors were relatively open to the figures of the Round Table, who were close allies geographically, but for other outsiders, it was out of the question.
They did not easily grant permission even if a high priest of the Holy Empire or a highest-ranking noble or royal of the Karn Empire were to visit.
It was the same even if Chris was the Hero.
‘In the first place, the Magic Tower does not recognize the Hero.’
It was closer to ‘ignoring’ than denying the existence of the Hero itself.
‘It’s an inferiority complex. In every crisis the Alliance has faced, the Magic Tower has only ever played the role of the Hero’s sidekick.’
For some reason, there had never been a single time a mage from the Magic Tower had become the Hero and saved the Alliance.
That was the reason.
The moment Chris set foot on the floating island, unfriendly gazes poured down on him.
“I am Kairn, the Chief Elder of the Magic Tower. You said you were the Hero?”
“Yes, that is what I am called.”
“You’ve come to watch the Contest for the Tome of the Sage?”
Kairn let out a smirk and muttered under his breath.
“I don't know what he thinks he'll understand just by watching.”
A mutter meant to be heard.
Evan, who was beside him, twitched his eyebrows and was about to step forward, but Chris raised his hand to stop him.
‘How cute.’
He had to bring the mages of the Magic Tower to their knees once, anyway.
It was more convenient if they came at him like this first.
“I heard that the House Heads of the Round Table requested His Highness the Hero’s cooperation due to the threat of the Demonic Radiance, but it is not necessary. The likes of the Demonic Radiance are nothing that our Magic Tower cannot handle with our strength alone.”
It was the reaction he had expected.
The House Heads of the Round Table had experienced Chris’s greatness with their own bodies, but the Magic Tower only held resentment toward the Hero.
Chris, instead of giving a direct answer, brought up another question.
“It’s noisy inside. Is there a competition going on?”
Chris asked, feeling the clash of mana occurring inside the floating island.
“Yes, that is correct. It is a tradition for our Magic Tower to bestow teachings upon the white mages who have visited from all over before the Contest for the Tome of the Sage. Are you perhaps interested?”
Once again, a light of disdain rose in his eyes.
It was a reaction that said, what do you know about white magic to be interested?
“May I perhaps participate?”
“You, the Hero? Your Highness the Hero is not qualified….”
“I don't know about that. Looking at the level of a condescending whelp like you, the Chief Elder, I don't think my qualifications will be lacking.”
“!!”
Chris let out a sneer.
He had also dropped his polite speech.
“I am curious as to just how great the Magic Tower is. I don't know if your skills match your boastful mouths.”
Kairn, incensed, flushed red.
He was about to raise his voice, but suppressed it and nodded his head.
“Very well. However, if you are defeated in the first round, we will judge that you are not qualified to watch the Contest for the Tome of the Sage and will banish you from the floating island.”
‘I will use this chance to humiliate him thoroughly.’
Chris let out a smirk at Kairn’s plainly visible intentions.
“Right, but what will you do if I become the final champion?”
Kairn let out a hollow laugh as if it were absurd.
“If that happens, whatever you demand, our Magic Tower will follow.”
“And you have the authority to say such a thing?”
“I am the Chief Elder. I am acting with full authority in place of the Tower Master, who is in closed-door training, so do not worry.”
And so, his participation in the competition was decided on the spot.
In the first place, the purpose of this competition was for a white mage from the outside to challenge the white mages of the Magic Tower and receive teachings, so there was nothing strange about such an on-the-spot participation.
“I am Walter, a Supreme Mage of the Magic Tower.”
He was a young mage.
A Supreme Mage, an achievement of 5-Star.
‘They’re really looking down on me.’
Then again, come to think of it, Chris had never publicly shown his white magic achievement in the Alliance.
Chris the Hero was known for his skill with the sword.
“Be careful. My Jinkang magic has no eyes. Even now… Keoheok!!”
Annoyed by the cocky talk, he flicked his hand and subdued him in an instant.
Mana Disruption.
He had precisely aimed for the moment the magic was manifesting and had reversed his mana flow.
In an instant, the hall fell quiet.
“Wh-what? Why, all of a sudden? Don’t tell me, Mana Disruption?”
“But Mana Disruption is only possible if one’s achievement is far higher than the opponent’s.”
Only then did flustered voices begin to be heard from here and there.
Chris yawned as if he were bored.
According to the rules of the competition, his next opponent was supposed to be a 6-Star white mage.
“The likes of you small fry are beneath my station, so you, come out.”
Chris beckoned with his finger.
It was the Chief Elder, Kairn, who had just been ignoring Chris.
A 7-Star white mage, no less.
“You were talking such a big game, so you must have the skills to back it up, right?”
Kairn stepped forward with a stiff face.
“You will regret this. I don’t know how you managed to pull off a Mana Disruption by a fluke.”
“You really have no eye for things, do you? This looks like a fluke to you?”
Chris twisted the corner of his mouth into a smirk.
“Go on, show me some of your cute tricks.”
* * *
Annihilation.
It was a single word that expressed the result of the competition.