Chapter 120: Neither Truth nor the Greater Good (1)
Orthes wiped one side of the scale with his sleeve. As the dust cleared, the golden dish underneath regained its shine.
A pair of blue eyes reflected in the golden balance.
After gazing at the scale for a moment, Orthes finally tucked it into his coat. The object was far too large to physically fit into his inner pocket, but wasn’t overcoming such limitations the very essence of magic?
His jacket, imbued with spatial magic down to every fiber, had pockets far more expansive than they appeared.
The clattering of the lamp and the scale echoed together. Orthes dusted off his jacket, straightened his attire, and looked around the storage room.
‘Originally, my interest was only in ancient relics…’
But in a secret warehouse holding suspicious items like this, it was only natural to find other unsettling objects that shouldn’t be shown to the public.
Illegal experiments, secret ledgers, or even the records of forbidden items forbidden by the Ten Towers.
I rummaged through the warehouse with a willing heart.
This was the final preparation to unseat the Tower Master of Amimone Tower.
***
The silver soldiers mass-produced by Argyrion, known as the Drachmas, possessed a considerable level of magical prowess. Even under the harshest scrutiny, they were still several steps above greenhorn wizards who were newly deployed to the battlefield.
First and foremost, they carried out their commander’s orders without hesitation, whether it was engaging the enemy or acting as a shield. This quality was highly important for soldiers sent to the frontlines.
However, Sprigo was unable to fully utilize the potential of the Drachmas.
It wasn’t because Sprigo was unfit to be a commander. Rather, the wizards of Amimone Tower, who were clashing with the Drachmas, were actively preventing any cooperation with Sprigo.
The Drachmas had the ability to regenerate endlessly as long as there was residual mana, and the peculiar circumstances of the extra-dimensional overflow made it difficult for the wizards to completely defeat them. However, the Drachmas were equally unable to inflict fatal damage on the wizards holding them in check.
Such was the nature of the wizards of the Pure Towers. As long as the extra-dimensional overflow continued, if a war of attrition were forced to the very end, the Drachmas would eventually gain the upper hand, but how long that would take was anyone’s guess.
A decisive move was needed.
Beneath Sprigo’s bark-like skin, his muscles—made of wood fiber—began to writhe, shifting something stored between the fibers.
It was the elixir of angelification, used by Argyrion’s forces at the Temple of Pluton.
For an ordinary wizard, using the angelification elixir would mean an irreversible transformation, unable to return to their original body. But for Sprigo, such an irreversible choice carried little weight.
Not because of blind faith in some greater cause. The process of angelic ascension was somewhat religious, and in fact, strong faith would make the burden even heavier.
Sprigo was already a wizard who had transformed his body into plant matter. He had already abandoned his original flesh once.
Thus, with quick resolve, Sprigo absorbed the elixir into his body without hesitation. The potion spread through his bloodstream, circulating throughout his system.
Gorgov and Danao watched as parts of Sprigo’s body began to turn silver.
‘Huh?’
Gorgov thought. Something seemed… off. That elegant transformation into a silver hue was a characteristic of Argyrion’s Silver Thread worms. Had Blasphemia, and the Silver Iron Tower behind them, succeeded in recreating that process to such a degree?
Danao’s thinking was much simpler: Don’t let him transform.
Without hesitation, Danao ripped off his left prosthetic arm. The arm stored a variety of solidified reagents. As the magic of poisonwater soaked his hand, the solid reagents began to melt.
A terrible stench spread, indescribable in its intensity. Just breathing it in was enough to dissolve one’s lungs. With a wave of his hand, Danao hurled the poison-laden solution toward the silvering Sprigo.
As more reagents melted into the poison, it began to morph, taking on new properties. It was a kaleidoscopic poison that constantly changed, ensuring that even those with antibodies against poison could not defend against it.
Sprigo countered it in a very simple way.
From beneath his silvered bark, root-like tendrils exploded outward. It was as though every single fiber in Sprigo’s body had transformed into roots in an explosive expansion.
The deadly poison Danao had created instantly corroded, dissolved, and destroyed any surface it touched, ensuring no regeneration would occur.
However, the sheer physical volume of the poison couldn’t match Sprigo’s massive growth. Having rooted himself in Algoth City, Sprigo drew in the mana of the extra-dimension, growing even larger.
“Yggdrasil…”
Gorgov muttered in awe. The legendary tree that the elves sometimes babbled about—a colossal tree so immense that it could support an entire world.
The silver-streaked, towering form of Sprigo resembled the world tree of legend, its massive form evoking a kind of divine reverence. From the roots to the trunk to the leaves, everything gleamed with a brilliant, holy silver.
「Truth and the Greater Good!」
Gorgov was overwhelmed by even greater confusion. There was no reason to pretend to be Argyrion at this point, not when things had reached this level.
‘Think about it. In a situation where there’s no reason to pretend to be Argyrion… why claim to be him?’
There was none. The only reason left to claim to be Argyrion was if…
‘Could this really be the true Argyrion?’
What in the world was going on? Wasn’t the one who revealed the truth to him still inside Amimone Tower?
Sprigo’s expanded senses now felt everything. Every branch extending from him, every leaf sprouting on those branches—they were all his eyes and ears. With hundreds, no, thousands of eyes, he looked upon the two wizards standing against him.
Danao’s face was filled with a sense of defeat, while Gorgov’s showed clear signs of shock. On top of that: confusion, and fear.
That expression… Sprigo had once worn that very same expression himself, after suffering defeat at the hands of an enemy.
「Listen, Gorgov. The true truth and the grander cause are with us.」
“Im-impossible! That can’t be! I was instructed by the Guide!”
While listening to Gorgov’s conversation with Sprigo, Danao steadied himself. He didn’t know what relationship the two had, but the fact that they were lost in their own world, rather than launching an immediate attack, was fortunate.
「The Guide? No! What you encountered was no guide of Argyrion!」
“Huh?”
Danao let out a baffled sound. If Gorgov had met someone, it could only have been that Blasphemia agent.
‘Did that agent claim to be Argyrion’s guide in front of Gorgov? Does that mean Gorgov is the traitor working with Argyrion?’
The plan to lure out Argyrion’s accomplice by using the Blasphemia agent as bait… If Gorgov had fallen for that, why had the agent tried to make Gorgov acting tower master?
Danao’s survival instincts quickly began deducing possibilities.
‘In the best-case scenario… that agent only just figured out that Gorgov is the traitor. That’s why they covertly sent Gorgov to the frontlines to have him engage in a civil war with the real Argyrion.’
If the Blasphemia agent was also working for Argyrion, there would be no reason for Sprigo and Gorgov to be fighting now. If Gorgov had gained access to the tower’s mana core, they would have launched a two-pronged attack, making Danao’s position far more precarious.
Still, Danao couldn’t shake an ominous feeling. Something told him that the agent’s schemes weren’t over yet.
“That’s impossible! He promised me the position of Tower Master of Amimone!”
Gorgov shouted in frustration, heedless of Danao’s presence beside him. Having already unleashed his ace in the form of the poison blast from his prosthetic, he calculated there was no immediate threat.
「Did he now? Haha. Can you truly trust him?」
“Of course I c─”
「If you really trust him, then why haven’t you attacked me? Didn’t you feel, upon seeing this sacred silver glow, that I am your true ally? Tell me, Gorgov.」
When you first saw him, didn’t you feel a sudden surge of hostility for no reason?
And at the same time, didn’t you find yourself strangely drawn to his words…?
In the end, whatever he said, didn’t it just feel true?
Danao watched as Gorgov’s eyes grew wide, his expression frozen in shock. From the way they were talking, it seemed that this Blasphemia agent had clashed with Argyrion several times, toying with them over and over.
As Danao felt a strange sense of relief, Gorgov clutched his head in agony.
Everything Sprigo said was true. Gorgov trembled in confusion and doubt, his mind swirling with suspicion.
Sprigo’s cold, unforgiving judgment came next.
「Tell me. Have you ever heard that man’s true name?」
“Name?”
「Even once, have you heard something that could be called his real name?」
Gorgov racked his brain. But the ‘
Guide’ had never once revealed his name.
「That is our enemy—an unnamed demon who hides in shadows and mocks us all.」
Unconsciously, Gorgov turned back to gaze at Amimone Tower.
At that moment, Danao also realized that he had never heard the agent’s name.
TL Note: Rate us on NOVEL UPDATES