The Anapacshio volcanic arc.
Anapacshio was the tallest mountain in the center of the continent and a dormant volcano with a hollow peak resulting from an eruption that occurred a long time ago. The basin was several kilometers in diameter, and if one looked up from the center of the volcanic arc, it would seem like they were in a large bowl that contained the sky.
However, despite the superb view, all five players gathered there looked upset.
“He got me,” Wisdom calmly said. “I forgot I shouldn’t trust Nebula for even a moment. I must have thought we got a bit close since we saw each other quite frequently. I was purely having fun while playing Go, and I didn’t realize Nebula had any other intentions.”
Jang-Wan replied, “I don’t care about your emotional wounds. You two having fun while playing Go is none of my business.”
Jang-Wan then raised the eyebrows of his lion mask and shook his head as he continued, “So what are you gonna do? Aren’t the Wizards our secret weapon? Now that we’ve lost them, we don’t have any other hidden cards to pull if we go to war with Black Scale. They also have gunpowder.”
“Uh…” Lunda hesitantly interjected, “I know it’s kind of out of place to say this in such a situation, but though we’ve lost our Wizards, it’s not like Nebula has one either, right?”
“Doesn’t he have Ravina? The one with antlers.”
“I don’t think she’s a Wizard yet.”
Crampus nodded. “She’s not a Wizard. And she doesn’t seem interested in becoming one either.”
Jang-Wan tilted his head. “She won’t become a Wizard? Why do you think that?”
“Well, firstly, she seems to have no desire to become one based on what I saw in her History.”
“Really? Well, that’s unexpected.”
“And above all, Nebula seems to be going for the Anti-Magic strategy.”
“…Is that Anti-Magic?”
Anti-Magic was another strategy in the game.
If a player could control a Wizard, it would be a great advantage to include them in a battle. But the problem was Wizards couldn’t be easily controlled. Apart from the risk of losing control over a Wizard, there were also the possibilities that the Wizard would turn around to attack the player’s species.
In fact, the three Wizards that had belonged to the alliance of the five countries, Yan, Talay, and Mazdari, all caused damage to their respective countries before running away. In order to avoid such risks, there was a need to strictly ban magic and Wizards and cultivate a distrust and fear about them. Rather than losing the advantage magic would bring, this kind of strategy would allow the player to fulfill demand magic couldn’t fulfill with scientific development, all the while preventing the loss in Faith points supporting magic could bring about.
Jang-Wan then carefully said, “But Black Scale is too open-minded about Wizards and magic to be Anti-Magic. They are punishable by national law, but the king has been tolerant to uses of magic.”
“That is true, but Black Scale had the chance to obtain extra magical knowledge. With so many alchemists running away from the Alchemist Tower, they could have caught any one of them, but they didn’t seek any other alchemists’ knowledge. It was as if all they needed was Hwee Ravina Muel. And the same goes for Ravina.”
Jang-Wan nodded. 𝘪𝑎.𝘤𝑜𝘮
They had to admit Sung-Woon was going for Anti-Magic when he could have made a Wizard but didn’t.
Then AR, who had been listening to the conversation behind a black bridal veil, said, “By the way, Crampus and Wisdom, have you guys found out where the Wizards have disappeared to?”
AR1026, Crampus, and Wisdom each had a Wizard that they had lured to their sides and helped create—Yan of Golden Eye, Talay of Danyum, and Mazdari of Asbestos.
Crampus shook his head and replied, “In my experience, it’s difficult to find a lost Wizard. Isn’t that right, Wisdom?”
Wisdom agreed. “Because Wizards have the Deception spell. If there is a priest near the Wizard, they could be located, but we can’t just go around looking for the Wizard on this huge game board.”
There was no such thing as a search function in The Lost World. Even with someone who wasn’t a Wizard, it would take lots of effort to give their followers the relevant information and tell them to look for a random person. Therefore, it was even more difficult to look for someone deliberately hiding themselves, and someone with the means to elude a god’s scrutiny at that.
“…That only applies to when we look for them ourselves,” AR said.
Wisdom and Crampus turned to her.
Then Wisdom said, “Oh, do you mean…”
“Yes.”
AR1026 called up a system window and said, “I made a creature.”
In the window was a beast that looked like a pig.
Crampus asked, “Why a pig?”
“Don’t pigs have a good sense of smell?”
“…Wouldn’t a dog make more sense then?”
“Apparently pigs have a better sense of smell than dogs. Pigs are used to find truffles.”
“Really?”
“Its name is Dasamu.”
“…I like the name.”
AR1026 continued to say, “Anyway, I put in lots of tracking-related functions, and luckily, it ended up getting the skill Excellent Sense of Smell.”
Only then did Wisdom voice his approval and say, “That’s good. With that, the Wizards will be found sooner or later.”
It would take a long time for a player to find an individual on their own, so using a creation would be the better method. And even after a Wizard disappeared, the objects they had touched remained. Therefore, a creature with the skill Excellent Sense of Smell would have a high chance of finding the Wizard.
Finding and dealing with a lost Wizard was an important task for the player that lost them.
Then Wisdom said, “We’ll be removing the uncertain variables by dealing with the Wizards… Even if that’s not the case, just like Lunda said, isn’t there not much to worry about?”
“Right?”
Wisdom continued, “We can tentatively assume that Nebula is going for Anti-Magic, and to put it simply, his strategy isn’t that different from ours, while we’re five times bigger than he is.”
In terms of territory, AR1026’s Golden Eye was the smallest country among the five, but it was still bigger than Black Scale.
Black Scale was able to gain an edge in economic development and become a powerful nation because Sung-Woon had achieved strategic success. However, war would be a different story. Unlike culture, politics, and diplomacy, war was strictly a matter of mathematics. Having larger territory meant more crops could be harvested, who would in turn support a bigger population and allow for more room for growth.
“Even with a simple comparison, the number of troops we can mobilize for battle is up to eight times compared to his. And we could probably gather some more.”
Jang-Wan shook his head. “Don’t get complacent after making a simple calculation. I think we should remain somewhat vigilant. I know it’s kind of annoying to praise the opponent as the top player…but it’s still true that he’s better than us, isn’t it?”
“But between us and Nebula, we have the same technology and neither side has magic, while we have more troops”
“Hm…”
“Of course, there’s a high chance that Black Scale will enter an arms race with us. If we don’t seize this chance now, their artillery technology will become more advanced, and it will become more difficult for us to take advantage of the asymmetry of military strength that exists right now. This is our best opening. There’s no way Nebula doesn’t know that. If we go into a siege battle with cannons right now, we stand a higher chance at winning when looking at the death rates of the troops on each side. What part do you find risky?”
Jang-Wan went over his concern and shook his head.
“I simply meant that we should be more cautious.”
“And I agree with that, but I don’t think it’s necessary to raise concerns about something that doesn’t exist yet. If we have any weaknesses, that would be the weakness to exploit.”
“Elaborate on that.”
Wisdom explained, “We need to face Nebula. Fortunately, Nebula isn’t an unfamiliar enemy to us, as we have been observing his play until now. Nebula has a consistent play style when facing enemies bigger than him.”
“Ah, I know what it is. Divide and conquer, right?” said Jang-Wan.
“Yes,” Wisdom said. “And it’s the same this time around. For Nebula to win, he probably hopes for us to split up and fight each other, but he wouldn’t expect that to naturally occur. So he would actively intervene to make that happen.”
“So as long as our alliance stays strong…”
“We’ll win without any issues.”
At those words, Lunda felt a pang of guilt, but she didn’t let it show at all.
***
Sage Valley was one of the sacred places of the religious order of Night Sky, as it was the canyon where the Vampires became Night Sky’s followers and willingly starved themselves to death.
It had been a dry land where no food could be grown, and even now, it remained deserted because the dead Vampires were still in the caves. The place rarely saw any visitors.
However, deep within the Sage Valley was a long path that had yet to be named. And at the end of the path, three people sat on dimly glowing seats. They had something in common: they were all Wizards.
The Garuda, Mazdari, said, “We’ve finally gathered together.”
The Gnome, Yan, replied, “It’s a shame that only three of us from the Alchemist Tower could make it here.”
The Ent, Talay, then said, “What about Hwee Ravina Muel?”
Both Yan and Talay turned to Mazdari, who knew Ravina.
“Ravina didn’t seem very interested in becoming a Wizard.”
“Well, that’s a possibility. She doesn’t need to suffer further when she was already born with a curse.”
Mazdari nodded in agreement.
Cursed ones were constantly tested to maintain their sanity as they talked to the spirits of Demonic Magic. Of course, some spirits had no other ulterior motives, but others were ill-natured. And those ill-tempered spirits went beyond bullying the cursed ones and actively inflicted pain on them or tried to kill them. If the consciousness of the spirit of Demonic Magic and the cursed one became assimilated, that person would become corrupted. They would become a villain or go crazy.
After a long investigation, alchemists learned that those were the reasons cursed ones were shunned. Therefore, alchemists endlessly talked with the spirits of Demonic Magic within them and trained their minds to placate and contain the desires of the ill-natured spirits.
However, becoming a Wizard was another matter. Becoming a Wizard meant assimilating oneself with such a spirit of Demonic Magic.
The three Wizards hoped Ravina would thrive in the path that she chose and started their meeting. Each Wizard could have created a family on their own, but a long time ago, they had agreed upon a meeting place for them to come together if something like their current situation happened.
They intended to restore the Tower that had fallen because of the gods, but this time, they were going to name it the Wizard Tower rather than the Alchemist Tower. And they were planning on spreading their powers and knowledge.
Talay, who was immersed in the planning, then said, “Wait, what’s that sound?”
“I think it’s just rain…”
As Yan looked around, Mazdari shook his head.
“No, there’s something else amid the rain.”
Then came a high-pitched sound, and all the Wizards took out their weapons. The magic circle they had drawn at the entrance of the cave to repel intruders had activated.
Following the sound of something being dragged across the ground, a Lizardman appeared. .
“Who are you?”
The Lizardman didn’t reply to Yan’s question. He had in his grasp a pig-like animal that was bigger than him.
Then the Lizardman asked, “Are you the Wizards? Hm. It does seem like it. Gnome, Ent, and Chicken.”
“I’m a Garuda.”
“Ah, Garuda. My apologies. I’ve never seen your kind during my lifetime.”
Mazdari reacted at the word ‘lifetime’.
“I’ll ask again, who are you?”
“My name isn’t important. Let’s just say I’m a messenger of Night Sky, for now.”
Mazdari frowned after hearing the god’s name yet again.
Yan then said, “How did you find us?”
“I didn’t follow you. I followed this pig here.”
The Wizards looked at the pig in his grasp.
“As soon as I saw it, I knew it wasn’t a normal pig, but a creation another god had made to find you. You become careless when you’re too immersed in something.”
The Lizardman seemed to be saying that the Wizards were to blame. The Wizards themselves had been full of confidence because they had deceived the gods.
Then Mazdari said, “I know who you are. You’re an apostle of Night Sky, who has enough power to easily kill a god’s creation.”
The Lizardman raised his head as if suggesting Mazdari to call him by his actual name.
“Lakrak, have you appeared in front of us to kill us?”
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