“Mr. Zich!” Orland greeted Zich very welcomingly, but in his mind, he cursed and thought, ‘Damn it, he’s here already!’
Orland wanted to monopolize the achievement of defeating the coup’s leaders, and he wasn’t pleased to see Zich in the conference room so early. On the other hand, he was also surprised. ‘He penetrated through the final defense system already?’
Even if the effect of the final defense system was weaker on the lower floors compared to the upper floors, that was only in comparison. The system was also powerful even on the lower levels. However, Zich managed to penetrate it in a short amount of time. Looking at the number of mages he brought, it didn’t even seem like he received much damage either.
Still, Orland kept these thoughts to himself and reached his hand out to Zich.
“You have succeeded splendidly!”
“Isn’t it the same for you, sir?”
The two shook hands. One of the mages with Orland looked at Zich suspiciously and asked, “Isn’t he the one who kidnapped Ms. Dwayne? Why is he here?”
“I don’t have enough time to explain, but he is our helper for this incident.”
“A helper?”
Along with the others, the mage who had asked the question looked confused.
“He is a Karuwiman Honorary Knight.”
“What do you mean he’s the Honorary Knight? Wasn’t his brooch already proven to be fake?”
“He showed a fake one to Elena for various reasons. I already saw the real brooch and checked it with the Karuwiman temple.”
People murmured—to think that Zich was really a Karuwiman Honorary Knight. Zich took out his brooch and showed the people who looked at him with surprise. People who knew what the brooch was supposed to look like murmured.
“That really is…”
“Then why did he kidnap Ms. Dwayne?”
Orland cut them off. “I know you have many questions, but let’s hold those for now! Currently, we have to go to the top floor of the magical tower and capture our enemies to calm the situation down!”
People thought for a moment and nodded one by one.
“I will take the lead,” Zich said.
“We can’t just go without any preparations. It’s impressive how you were able to lead the other mages here without receiving any significant losses, but the effect of the final defense system is much stronger in the upper floors.”
“We don’t have enough time. From what I know, if we don’t stop the final defense system soon, the magical tower will be in danger.”
The end of the final defense system meant the destruction of the magical tower. The system operated by inflating the mana flowing in the tower exponentially. If they didn’t stop it on time, it meant the end of the magical tower. Thus, Orland couldn’t disagree right away. In the first place, he hadn’t even considered the final defense system in his plans.
“You don’t have to worry so much. I am an expert in these things. I think I proved myself in the Jaewick family residence when I broke down the master of the magical tower’s magic.”
In the end, Orland couldn’t help but accept Zich’s proposal. The reason for his scheming had been to chase away Walwiss and take the magical tower for his own. Thus, he couldn’t let the magical tower be destroyed at all costs. Since the situation had escalated to this point, they could no longer tie Zich and his companions down for Elena’s sake. Right now, reassuming control at the top of the magical tower was the utmost priority.
Other mages also looked serious as they listened to the two’s conversation. There was no mage who could accept the destruction of the magical tower.
“What if they try to halt the system before the tower gets destroyed?” one asked.
“They are guys who activated the final defense system because the coup was getting pushed back. I don’t think they will stop from going further.” Although there were some questions, Zich quelled them down with his words. “We will go with the most skilled and powerful people from here on out. Sir Dwayne, could you choose among the mages from the tower?”
“I will do that.” Orland gathered the magicians. Although he had taken the end seats at the tower’s top conferences, he took command among the group of mages naturally.
Zich glanced at him and thought, ‘He is capable.’
Then, he took Hans and Snoc and headed to where Lyla was with Elena. Lyla had run to Elena after seeing that she was in the conference room. While asking questions, Lyla looked all over Elena’s body to see if she was hurt anywhere. Thankfully, Elena didn’t seem injured. In the first place, Elena wasn’t even handcuffed with the cuffs made specially for mages, so there was a low chance of her getting hurt.
“Lyla, it’s time to go.”
“Okay,” Lyla responded to Zich while grabbing Elena’s hand tightly. Then, she commanded, “You must never leave this room. Do you understand?”
“I-I understand,” Elena hesitated because she didn’t know how to respond to Lyla. Although it had been settled before that Lyla was a bad person, the current situation seemed to indicate the opposite.
Like she knew what Elena was concerned about, Lyla said, “Don’t worry. We are not really the enemies of the magical tower. I will explain everything after this incident is over.”
“…Yes, Teacher.” As if Elena decided to believe in Lyla again, she called Lyla ‘Teacher’ again. Lyla’s face brightened up, but her face stiffened again.
“You have to stay strong and endure it. Alright?”
“…Yes.” Elena thought Lyla was comforting her after Walwiss was revealed to be the leader of the coup. But Lyla neither meant that nor could she tell Elena the truth right now.
“After this is over, let’s practice magic again.”
“Yes.”
Lyla moved away from Elena.
“Are you done?”
“Yeah.”
After Lyla joined the group, Zich turned his head towards the entrance of the conference room.
“Let’s finish this.”
* * *
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
It wasn’t a lie that the final defense system would be much more powerful on the upper floor. As if it were proving Orland’s words, the storm of magic shot out from all directions and filled its onlookers with fear and terror. It was to the point that it made them think entering it was an act of suicide. Thus, Orland thought it would be difficult to make their way up the tower and expected many casualties. However, the situation progressed a bit differently from what he thought. Zich stretched out the arm that was holding Windur.
Ziing! The mana that had gathered in Zich’s sword scattered out as if magic was being activated. At the same time, all the magic around Zich was nullified. While magic frantically flew all around them, only the area around Zich was calm.
“Let’s run!” Zich led the group of mages who hurriedly tried to follow behind him.
‘…This is amazing.’ Orland clicked his tongue at the sight in front of him; Zich’s ability was enough to make him click his tongue in awe. Since the final defense system was fundamentally supported by the mana’s explosive power, there were a lot of unstable areas. However, Zich precisely located those unstable areas and made a safe space for everyone to pass through by forcefully pushing enormous mana into those areas.
‘He really didn’t nullify my father’s magic by luck.’
Of course, Zich had an easier time nullifying the final defense system since he had experienced it before his regression, but there was no way Orland knew about this. Orland began to feel nervous as Zich’s achievement in this commotion seemed to be piling up. However, he forcefully repressed this feeling.
Zich was not an official member of the magical tower. No matter how great his achievements were in resolving this conflict, he could never become the next head or the master of the magician’s tower.
‘He’s not going to be a problem in my plan to become the next leader.’
Since Orland’s achievements would be fewer than Zich’s, it would be a bit harder for him to become the next master, but these were things to think about later on. Orland worked with the other mages to nullify the magic that Zich wasn’t able to destroy and continued to climb up.
* * *
Crash! Zich broke an enormous door that appeared in front of them. A powerful spell immediately flew towards Zich. However, Zich had already moved back.
Crasssssh! The spell’s ability to make the whole tower shake made it seem extremely powerful. Even though the magical tower was strengthened by mana, it couldn’t completely withstand the spell’s powerful force and a part of the tower was destroyed. Stones and dust fell down from the ceiling.
Tap! Zich began running ahead again. He saw mages standing in front of the entrance with their staffs drawn—they were the last remaining members of the coup. The others probably died from the final defense system or had already escaped to a safe place.
“You punnnk!” Wayne put out his staff towards Zich.
Zich increased his speed further.
Ziiing! Wayne shot a wind spell towards him by using silent incantation. Zich ducked and easily evaded his attack. The mages next to Wayne began hurling all kinds of magic towards Zich. However, Zich also had a mage on his side.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Magic attacks flew from behind Zich. While the magic attacks that flew towards Zich were activated by silent incantation, the magic attacks that flew behind Zich were all powerful magic attacks that Lyla sent by saying her incantations out loud.
“Ugh!”
“Agh!”
The mages from the coup collapsed on the ground while screaming. In an instant, the only enemy left was Wayne Jaewick. Zich moved right in front of Wayne.
“Agghhhhh!” Wayne let out a shout and swung his staff towards Zich. However, there was not much strength that an old mage like Wayne could let out.
Slice! Windur too easily cut Wayne’s expensive staff in half.
Punch! Zich immediately landed a punch. Wayne’s body flew as Zich’s fist slammed against his cheek.
Thu-ud!
Wayne’s body was pathetically crumpled on one side of the room. Like this, all the mages from the coup were gone.
“Arrest them immediately!” With Orland’s order, the mages rushed into the room. They put handcuffs specially made for mages on the members of the coup, and they groaned in pain.
“Where is my father!” Orland grabbed one of the better faring members of the coup by his collar and shouted at him. However, Orland received a reply from another person.
“Sir, he’s over there.”
At Zich’s reply, Orland stared at where Zich was pointing to. Orland saw Walwiss on the ground with his body tied up to a chair.
“…Father?” Orland let out his confused question, and a mage moved behind him.
“Didn’t we hear that the master was the one who instigated this coup? Were we mistaken?” the mage said with hope in his voice.
However, Orland shook his head and gravely replied, “It could be an internal strife.”
“Anyways, we won.” Orland approached Walwiss and set the chair back up. Walwiss seemed to have been beaten up quite a lot since his appearance was quite unappealing. He looked up at Orland. The two members of the Dwayne family looked at each other.
“…You’ve crushed the coup. Great job.” Walwiss made a faint smile.
However, Orland did not smile. “Father, were you the one who directed this coup?”
“Of course not. Why would I direct such an event? I have no reason to and look at my state right now. Do I look like their leader right now?”
“He’s lying!” Someone urgently denied Walwiss’ words—it was Wayne. Even though he was handcuffed and on his knees, he continued to shout towards Walwiss. “We were definitely moving according to the master’s orders. The master is just acting right now!’
“What nonsense.”
“Then how would I know the password for the final defense system!”
“…” Walwiss couldn’t answer that question either; he also really wanted to know the answer to that question as well.
Then Orland said, “…If we investigate, we’ll be able to figure out what happened. However, it seems like what we’ll find won’t be favorable for you, Father.”
“What?”
“Father, a Karuwiman Honorary Knight thinks you’re the culprit.” Orland pointed at Zich.
After Walwiss saw who he was pointing at, Walwiss was shocked and exclaimed, “That person is…!”
He was the wicked criminal who kidnapped Elena. What was he doing here?
“Sir, you’re right.” Zich paid no attention to Walwiss’ shock and nodded. With a very serious face, he said, “I know the culprit.”