Chapter 235: Episode 235

Albert and I were facing each other once more.

What was he going to do now?

Once again, the guide appeared, pushing a cart.

The cart was laden with various teapots and snacks, offering over six varieties of tea alone.

This time, the guide poured hot black tea for both of us.

“Did you find anything?” Albert asked.

I laced my fingers together and met his eyes with a serious expression.

“Yes. All the documents you are keeping in your possession have been tampered with.”

I decided to play my trump card. I would throw everything I had at him and push him into a corner.

“According to my investigation, important information has been removed or rewritten. For example, the main ingredient of the monsterization drug is Telos’s saliva, but your documents claim it’s Crolos’s saliva.”

“And how would you know that?”

“Because I raided two demon research labs before I came to you.”

I gave a little shrug.

“Both labs were developing potions from Telos’s saliva. Why would your documents be the only ones that are different? I believe someone wanted to hide the potion’s true ingredients.”

Albert simply took a sip of the tea the guide had poured for him.

“Is that all?”

“Who knows?”

Tension surged through me, and my heart pounded.

I stroked my chin, putting on a troubled look.

“From here on, this is purely my imagination, but… I get the feeling something is being manufactured on the fourth floor of the Sky Castle. Is it an infection agent? Or an antidote?”

He did not answer.

Thump.

His face unreadable, Albert leaned back in his chair.

“How rude.”

“If it sounded like I was doubting you, my lord, then I apologize.”

At that moment, his finger pointed at my teacup.

“You have refused the tea your host offered you. Twice.”

“Pardon? Ahaha! You mean the tea? Black tea just isn’t to my taste.”

“Is that so?”

At his gesture, the guide poured a light, refreshing green tea for both of us this time.

“Will you refuse this one as well?”

In other words, he was asking if I was going to keep doubting him to the very end.

“If you put it that way, I suppose I have to drink it.”

I picked up the teacup and gave him a playful wink.

Thump.

The tension tightened around my throat.

My focus sharpened to a razor’s edge, and my heartbeat slowed. Time itself seemed to crawl.

Albert lifted his cup with elegant grace and took a sip.

I brought my own cup to my lips. As he drank, his gaze shifted toward me. And then I—

Very deliberately, I let my fingers go slack.

The cup slipped from my hand, dropping straight into the warp gate Samia had opened on the floor beneath me.

Fine wrinkles creased the Sky Castle Lord’s forehead.

“…What do you think you are doing?”

“Let’s play a fun little game. If I lose, I’ll walk away from the World Guilds without a fuss.”

I flicked my hand. A warp opened under the cart as well, and the entire thing was sucked down into it. The guide recoiled in shock.

“Of the six types of tea on this cart, do you think even one of them contains Telos’s saliva? Or not?”

Albert stared at me in silence.

For the first time, a smile tugged at the corners of Albert’s previously expressionless mouth.

“Impressive.”

Before I could register what was happening, something slammed into me, sending me flying into the wall.

A moment later, the impact of a semi-truck collision rattled every bone in my body.

“Gah!”

“But you are still insolent.”

Albert rose from his chair.

’So he’s finally dropping the act.’

For someone merely offended by my rudeness, that attack held genuine killing intent.

I looked down to see a single feather embedded dead center in my chest. I had been on guard, but I hadn’t even had time to react.

Albert’s wing unfurled. Only his right wing spread out, but its size and splendor were on a completely different level from those of other Icarus ability users.

“…I have a question.”

I ground my teeth and forced the words out.

“Why is a hunter of your caliber doing something like this?”

Albert answered by sweeping his wing.

Feathers shot out like flashes of light. I threw up layered shields in front of me.

The barrage of feathers crumpled the shields like tissue paper and slammed into my body. The impact sent me flying back into the wall again.

The shock turned my vision white, and my consciousness wavered.

’The weight…’

Each feather felt heavier than a chunk of solid metal.

It felt less like being hit by feathers and more like being rammed by cars. I used my mana to clamp down on the feathers tearing through my flesh, then activated Devastar in my right foot.

<Devastar>

I immediately hurled myself backward.

The moment Devastar kicked in, and my perception expanded, a prickling sense of danger crawled up my spine.

I looked up to see Albert flying right above me.

’He’s faster than Devastar—!’

Albert grabbed my head and slammed it into the floor.

“Aghh!”

On the verge of blacking out, my body moved on instinct. I planted my hands hard on the ground and kicked upward.

Albert blocked my kick with ease, but the magic circles Ea had prepared for a pincer attack activated at once, unleashing a barrage of Fire Cannons and Wind Cutters.

Albert pulled back to evade, and in that brief opening, I pushed my upper body up.

-Tower Master! Your injuries are severe!-

“Haa… haa…!”

All he had done was throw some Icarus feathers and stomp his foot once, yet I was already on the brink of death.

There was a reason he was a certified rank-1 hunter. He was on a completely different level.

“If you are thinking of running, give up.”

Albert opened his palm. The feathers that had flown from his wing gathered around his hand and extended upward, taking the shape of a sword.

’Stay calm. Stay calm.’

I reached back and gripped Specter’s hilt. With my other hand, I brushed the sole of my shoe and loaded a shot of Devastar.

We locked eyes, unmoving.

With a soft rush of air, Albert’s body surged toward me at a speed that outstripped Devastar.

The feather sword in his hand traced a straight arc downward, and I swung Specter horizontally to meet it.

Through Deva’s Eye, I could see the feather sword splitting apart mid-swing.

I knew what this was. The sword was a feint. The moment I raised my weapon to block, it would break apart into over five hundred feathers that would tear into my body.

But I wasn’t going to let that happen.

<Devastar – Chain Hole>

A black hole bulged from Specter’s surface, sucking in every feather of the swinging sword. Startled, Albert tried to retreat.

’Transfer!’

I shifted Specter to my back, transferring the black hole with it. Then, I kicked out with every ounce of strength I had.

With a thunderous roar, the black hole shot forward, spewing out chains as it hurtled toward Albert.

It worked.

But I didn’t for a second think that meant I had won. Without waiting to see the result, I immediately triggered Devastar and hurled myself into the warp gate Samia had opened.

Using my strongest kill-shot as a mere distraction felt terrible, but I had no choice.

Accelerated by Devastar, my body shot straight through the warp gate.

“Urgh!”

The sensation was like riding a roller coaster through twisting space-time before I was flung out into the Magic Tower.

The fifth floor, where the warp gate was located.

“Hunter Kim Yusin!”

“Tower Master!”

Samia rushed over, out of breath, and Ea appeared in midair in a swirl of light. I barked at them.

“Close the warp first! Now!”

If Albert made it into the Magic Tower, we were finished. He could seize control of the entire tower by himself.

A true veteran, Samia immediately grasped the situation and began collapsing the warp space.

Samia twisted her body. Feathers shot out of the warp, grazing her cheek and shoulder before slamming into the wall.

The supposedly indestructible wall of the Magic Tower caved inward where the feathers had struck.

’Damn it, he really is a monster…’

At last, the warp space fully closed. I collapsed onto the floor.

“Hunter Kim Yusin!”

Samia rushed to my side, shouting.

“Are you all right? Your wounds are serious!”

“…I-I’m f-fine. The Magic Tower has a healing function, so after a bit, I’ll—cough!”

In truth, I was far from fine. The heavy feathers I’d been holding in place with mana were now tearing through my flesh, sliding deeper and piercing my organs.

“Hold still.”

Samia pulled me onto her lap, resting my head on her thigh, then carefully gripped the feathers embedded in my body.

With a flare of teleportation magic, the blood-soaked feathers began to pile up neatly on the floor.

Once she had removed them all, Ea doused my wounds with a top-grade Red Elixir.

The pain was sharp enough to bring tears to my eyes. A groan escaped my lips, and I shuddered in agony.

“E-Ea. That stuff is expensive…”

Ea’s eyes flashed coldly.

“Coming from the Tower Master who threw seven bottles onto the floor in a row, that comment is rather inappropriate.”

I had no comeback for that.

The elixir closed my wounds and stopped the bleeding. I could feel the Magic Tower’s healing effect kicking in properly as well.

Once the worst of it had passed, Ea took me to the bed on the ninth floor and laid me down.

“No one in this world could ever match the Tower Master’s recklessness.”

She pressed a hand to my forehead and spoke in a sulky tone. Samia, who had followed us up, let out a sigh of her own.

“To pull a stunt like that in a certified rank-1 hunter’s stronghold… it’s a miracle you came back alive.”

“Haha, could you maybe save the nagging for later? I’m still the patient he—cough!”

My vision was blurring. I was on the verge of passing out, but there was one last thing I needed to confirm.

“…Samia. What about those teacups I sent?”

“I received them safely. I already sent them to hunter Jeong Seojin to analyze their components.”

“…Good. Ea. Can you get my phone out of the suit?”

“You need to rest now!”

“Just one call…”

Reluctantly, Ea handed me my smartphone.

I squeezed out the last of my strength to make a quick call before I finally blacked out.

* * *

Clink, clink.

I was in the Magic Tower, helping brew potions.

I finely chopped ingredients, coated them with mana, and gently dropped them into a bubbling magic cauldron.

“Wow, you picked it up right away, just like I showed you.”

I looked up. A girl with light lavender hair was beaming at me.

“B-Bora?”

“…What? Why do you keep mixing me up with some other girl? You idiot, Jance.”

She poked my forehead with a pout.

Looking at her face, subtly different from Jin Bora’s, I realized the truth.

“…Bellica?”

“Yeah, it’s me. We don’t have much time, so hurry up and fix the ratio on this mixture.”

“Ah, okay.”

At her urging, I grabbed two vials filled with different liquids and stepped up to the cauldron.

“Bellica.”

“Yeah?”

“Was I still in Machinatio this whole time?”

She tilted her head.

“What are you even talking about? Did you eat something weird this mor—”

Like red paint splattering across a camera lens, her blood sprayed my face.

My eyes trembling, I looked down.

A blade was jutting out from the center of Bellica’s chest.

She fell silent.

She glanced once at her blood-soaked chest, then looked up at me.

“Sorry.”

Her body crumpled like a marionette with its strings cut. I stood frozen in place.

The scene shifted.

Buildings burned, and thick smoke blanketed the sky.

“Aaaaah!”

“Please, stop!”

Terrified people, covered in blood, were running for their lives.

Monsters were relentlessly chasing them down, slaughtering civilians.

“This is all your fault.”

The chilling voice made me shudder. Bellica, who had died with a hole in her chest, was getting back up like a zombie.

No, it wasn’t Bellica.

Her body was entirely mechanical, but her face was disturbingly human. An android.

Somehow, I knew exactly who she was.

“Eve…”

A black tower crashed down from the sky.

“This world was safe. Machinatio was destroyed because of you—a foreign contaminant from another world.”

“No! I—!”

Another black tower slammed into the ground beside me.

“For humanity to survive, human freedom must be controlled. Do you think I was happy to slaughter the creators I loved? Can you understand even a ten-millionth of the resolve it took for me to surrender myself to the infection catastrophe?”

“Stop, stop!”

Black towers rained down, encircling me like iron bars. I was trapped.

“You made my resolve meaningless. You killed everyone.”

Tears of blood streamed from Eve’s eyes.

“No! Listen to me! I—!”

A shadow fell over me. I looked up to see a black tower plummeting toward my head.

“Stoooop!”

I jolted upright, drenched in cold sweat.

“Haa! Haa! Hah!”

I tried to calm my racing heart and looked around.

I was lying in the Tower Master’s bedroom in the Magic Tower.

A horrible nightmare. My entire body was still shaking. I covered my forehead with a hand and let out a long breath.

’…I never should have seen those androids.’

“Wah!”

’What? It wasn’t a dream?’

The Magic Tower shook, sending documents and snacks tumbling from my desk. Even my cherished character clock fell and rolled across the floor.

At the same time, the magic-circle elevator on the ninth floor lit up.

“Tower Master! We have a problem!”

“Yusin!”

“Hunter Kim Yusin!”

“Master!”

Ea and Jeong Seojin burst in, followed by Eunsol, Samia, and Na Daeyong.

All of them were in hunter suits and fully armed.

“Waaaaah! Yusin Oppa!”

Shivering, Eunsol dove under my blankets.

“What is it, all of you? What’s going on?”

“I will project the feed.”

Ea brought up a holographic screen showing the situation outside.

Hunters with wings were swarming the Magic Tower like a flock of birds, bombarding it with attacks.

And floating above them all was Albert’s Sky Castle.

“The Sky Castle has declared war on us.”

* * *

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