Chapter 236: Episode 236

Another deafening boom shook the tower, and everyone flinched.

I pushed my messy bangs back from my forehead. ’That bastard Albert… I land one hit, and he comes straight for my home base.’

“But why did no one wake me up before things got this bad?”

Everyone stiffened, and Cha Doyeon answered in a tiny voice.

“Your injuries were… quite severe, sir…”

I sighed.

I got out of bed and headed toward the hanger where my hunter suit was hanging.

The room spun. I staggered, and several people cried out in alarm.

I steadied myself and pulled on the hunter suit.

“All right, everyone, get ready.”

I spoke in a voice still rough with sleep.

“They brought this war to our doorstep, so we might as well accept it.”

“W-What are we supposed to do?! The whole area is crawling with certified rank-4 Icarus Ability users and higher! The moment we step outside, we’re toast!”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Na.”

I brushed my bangs back again and continued.

“We’ll just fight without ever leaving the tower.”

* * *

“Fire everything!”

“Keep shooting!”

In the skies over Gojo Island, hunters with white wings swarmed like a flock of birds, firing shells as they flew.

The Malta forces had also been stationed around the Magic Tower, but Albert, as a certified rank-1 hunter, had seized command from Yusin and ordered them off the island.

The only things left on the island were the Magic Tower, the Sky Castle, and the monsters.

A series of deafening explosions rocked the landscape. The Magic Tower was shrouded in black smoke, but it stood firm, shrugging off every attack.

“Damn, that tower is tough!” one of the hunters carrying out the bombardment complained.

“Is that some kind of magic, too?”

“It can’t be invincible. Keep firing!”

As the Sky Castle hunters relentlessly poured on the firepower, the entire colossal tower began to shimmer, emitting a blinding flash of light. They suspected the Magic Tower was preparing some new trick. Growing anxious, the hunters unleashed everything they had, but the curtain of light enveloping the tower did not fade.

Then, in an instant, the Magic Tower’s form became a mere silhouette before vanishing without a trace. All that remained was a circular imprint where the structure had once stood.

“What in the world…?”

Everyone was stunned that such a massive building could disappear in the blink of an eye, but this was only the beginning.

A tremendous roar echoed from the heavens, forcing everyone to cover their ears and look up.

“Those crazy bastards…!”

The Magic Tower had reappeared, now perched directly on top of the Sky Castle floating high in the air. The combined weight of the two fortresses caused the flying citadel to slowly begin its descent.

“The Sky Castle is falling!”

Chaos erupted within the Sky Castle, and in that moment, the Magic Tower began its counterattack. A massive magic circle unfurled from the tower’s surface.

<Destroyer>

The Magic Tower’s cannon was essentially at point-blank range. An immense amount of power, enough to shatter the Sky Castle, concentrated within the magic circle.

Suddenly, a single feather pierced the very center of the circle. Hundreds more followed, embedding themselves in a rapid-fire volley, and the magic circle cracked and shattered.

“Ah!”

“His lord is here!”

The Sky Castle hunters erupted in cheers as Albert appeared in the sky. He touched his earpiece and spoke calmly.

“Garrison team, prepare for impact.”

—“Yes, sir!”

But the Magic Tower’s assault was far from over. From other magic circles spread across the tower’s surface, golems swarmed out and charged into the Sky Castle. High above, Samia’s <Warp> tore open, and a flood of monsters from the Sixth Floor Mana Mine poured out as if a dam had burst.

“They’re even using m-monsters?!”

Faced with the Magic Tower’s unconventional tactics, the Sky Castle hunters were thrown into disarray. Just what were the limits of magic? A fear of this unknown power began to take root in their minds—an effect, of course, of the Magic Tower’s own <Field Magic>.

Golems attacked from one side, monsters from the other. A chaotic melee ensued, and fires broke out across the Sky Castle, sending up plumes of acrid smoke. Through it all, not a single person emerged from the Magic Tower. The Sky Castle alone bore the brunt of the assault.

As the fierce battle raged on, the once-high-flying fortress had descended until it was less than a few hundred meters from the sea.

—“Activate buoyancy system!”

—“Engage!”

The lowest section of the Sky Castle, a mass of rock, split open to reveal massive propellers. They began to spin violently, and moments later, the fortress slammed into the surface of the Mediterranean Sea.

The sea churned, sending up a rain of white spray. But the Sky Castle did not sink; it successfully remained afloat.

“Alright!”

“We held on!”

The hunters holding back the golems let out a cheer.

“Hey, behind you! Look behind you!”

Just as they celebrated, a mountain-sized, crimson pincer descended upon them. With a single swing of the colossal claw, hunters were swept away like dust. A second pincer joined the first, and together they seized the Sky Castle’s foundation.

“Wh-what the—?”

The floating fortress began to tilt, its balance broken where the pincers held it fast.

And then…

The Sky Castle and the Magic Tower were dragged beneath the waves. The hunters, Golems, and monsters on its surface were all plunged into the sea. There, they witnessed it: a colossal, shell-backed pincer monster, holding the edge of their fortress.

“No doubt about it! That monster is…!”

“The… the Lion Fleet!”

It was the very same beast the Lion Fleet used as their flagship.

The Sky Castle’s crew reacted quickly, activating a mana shield to prevent the interior from flooding, but the situation was dire.

“Of all places, the sea!”

Icarus ability users were generally powerless underwater. Their wings became waterlogged, making flight impossible, and the force of their projectile feather attacks was drastically reduced.

“Wh-what do we do?”

“What do you think?! The fleet launched a preemptive strike! Shoot down that monster, now!”

“Open fire!”

The Sky Castle’s artillery rained down on the beast. Explosions erupted across its body, but the monster’s grip did not loosen.

The Lion Fleet did not remain idle. From within the conch-like shell the monster carried, a squad of hunters poured out. They shot through the water like torpedoes, each clad in a hunter suit resembling a diving suit, with an underwater propulsion engine on their back and flippers on their feet.

-“Primary objective: Seize the Antidote.”

-“Lethal force is authorized against any resistance.”

-“Copy.”

The Sky Castle’s Hunting Devices fired in defense. But underwater, bullets and shells lost more than half their velocity to the resistance, falling uselessly short. The Lion Fleet hunters, however, were specialists in aquatic warfare. They launched infantry torpedoes, and a corner of the Sky Castle crumbled, allowing the sea to rush in.

“Lower the blast doors!”

“Hold your ground!”

While the Sky Castle hunters were swept up in the torrent and thrown into chaos, the Lion Fleet hunters boarded the fortress with ease. They drew harpoon-like Hunting Devices and began picking off the incapacitated hunters one by one.

“The Admiral, is it?” Albert murmured quietly. Yusin had brought the Lion Fleet into this. It had been a two-on-one fight from the start, with Admiral Sham’s forces lying in wait beneath the waves.

“I have no choice.” Albert raised his earpiece and gave the order. “Prepare for Spatial Transition.”

“Prepare for Spatial Transition!”

Repeating their lord’s command, the Sky Castle hunters scrambled into action. The mana within the fortress surged as if it would explode.

-“They’re trying to escape!”

-“Stop them! Concentrate all fire on the top level!”

The Lion Fleet hunters’ torpedoes streaked toward the Sky Castle’s fifth and highest floor. But at that moment, a man cut through the water and appeared before them all.

-“It’s the Sky Castle Lord!”

A pair of brilliant wings unfurled from Albert’s back, unleashing countless feathers in every direction. The feathers sliced through the water, destroying the torpedoes and cutting down the Lion Fleet hunters behind them. The fact that Icarus ability users were powerless underwater seemed to be a rule that simply did not apply to him.

-“Lord! The transition is ready!”

“Understood,” Albert replied. Having stained the sea red with a single move, he returned to the fortress.

A moment later, the Sky Castle’s mana detonated in a massive flash of light, and the fortress vanished.

’Damn, he got away,’ Yusin thought, watching the situation unfold on Ea’s holographic screen inside the Magic Tower.

-Tower Master, the Sky Castle hunters on Gojo Island have also retreated.

“Understood. Good work, everyone,” Yusin said into his earpiece. Cheers erupted from the Magic Tower’s team.

“Did you all see that?! Hahaha! We took down an officially ranked Grade 1!”

“Haaaah, I really thought we were done for.”

“You all did great!”

For now, they had survived. A wave of relief washed over him, but it was soured by the bitter disappointment of failing to secure the Antidote. Yusin turned his head and gazed out the ninth-floor window. The view that had always shown Sanggye-dong and the city of Seoul now displayed an underwater world. It still didn’t feel real that the Magic Tower was now sitting at the bottom of the sea.

“This thing isn’t going to leak, is it?”

“It will not, sir,” Ea said, appearing beside him. “A message has arrived from the Lion Fleet. They propose a meeting after we’ve each had time to assess our situations.”

“We’ll do that.” Yusin collapsed onto his bed. “First, I’m going to catch up on some much-needed sleep.”

“You’ve earned it, sir.” She pulled the blanket up to his chest.

Yusin was fast asleep in seconds.

* * *

The battle had left the Magic Tower’s mana reserves completely depleted. The repeated use of the Warp gate and two Magic Tower teleportations had taken their toll. For the time being, they were stuck at the bottom of the Mediterranean.

Still, it had its advantages. The Sky Castle couldn’t attack them here. It was a perfect refuge.

Though things had gone awry, he still had to take responsibility for the disaster he was involved in. He had already contacted Garam, whose overseas forces would soon arrive to protect the ’Seed of Sealing’ in his stead. Until then, Sham’s Lion Fleet had agreed to guard it.

“We’ve been dragged into something truly absurd,” Samia remarked. She, Seojin, and Yusin were in the first-floor lobby, holding a meeting over coffee.

“Let’s review the situation from the beginning,” Seojin said, picking up a marker and writing on a whiteboard. “The masterminds were researching an Infection Drug that turns humans into monsters. There were three research labs. You destroyed two of them, sir, and we used the Oracle to locate the last one.

“We reported its location to the Alliance and the various national associations, and the Lord of the Sky Castle personally stepped in to seize the facility.”

“Hmm.” Yusin crossed his arms as he listened to the summary.

Samia did the same. “Thinking back on it now, the fact that the Sky Castle Lord personally handled the raid on the lab was suspicious from the start.”

“I agree,” Seojin said. “He isn’t the type of hunter to take such a proactive role.” He wrote ’Albert’ on the board.

“After seizing the lab, the Sky Castle Lord falsified the data. The Alliance, unaware of the deception, collected the fabricated materials. It’s highly likely that the most critical items—the Infection Drug and the Antidote—remain in the Sky Castle.”

“That’s right,” Yusin confirmed. “I saw a substance in the Sky Castle that I believe was the Antidote.”

Seojin nodded and continued. “We also suspect the Sky Castle Lord had some sort of relationship with GreenCare. Ultimately, GreenCare completed the research and mixed the Infection Drug into their best-selling cold medicine, distributing it worldwide.”

’And Bora Jin had been unlucky enough to take that very medicine.’

“Afterward, you pursued the Antidote all the way to the Sky Castle, sir, where you discovered a large quantity of what appeared to be the cure. You tested the Sky Castle Lord, and he revealed his true colors. He then launched a surprise attack on us here in Malta, which we managed to survive thanks to the Lion Fleet’s support.”

“Ah, right. Did you have those teacups I sent tested?” Yusin asked.

“Yes. The results just came in.” Seojin held up a document. “Of the six teacups, one contained traces of the Infection Drug.”

’…Just as I’d thought.’

With that, the last shred of faith Yusin had in Albert crumbled away. A war with the Sky Castle was now unavoidable.

No, he wouldn’t avoid it.

’I will bring down the Sky Castle, no matter what it takes.’

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