Chapter 550 - Venting (4)
───In the forest on the eastern side of the Central Continent, by the lake at the heart of the 'Green Wood', there's a cabin where I'll be waiting, so hurry and come pick me up.
The message secretly delivered by Rayshen through the Bohemirn magic tower branch master was as short and concise as his personality, which hated troublesome things, implied.
"A lake and a cabin, huh. I wonder if he discovered some amusing specimen there, or if he's testing out a new one. Hohohot, conducting magical experiments amidst such a pleasant natural setting does have its charm. Inefficient though it may be. Don't you agree?"
"Indeed."
"As is proper for a Mage, one should discard such sentimental notions. Normally, unnecessary emotions dull with age… yet Rayshen, in remodeling his own body to preserve his vibrant youth, acquired the side effect of his thoughts following the age of his body. A pity, yet enviable all the same."
Omar, too, in his heart, desired a vigorous body over an aged husk, but he had not the slightest intention of attempting such.
Without the unique Mado
It was an achievement possible only for Rayshen.
Of course, through the organization called Gluttony, the option of bodily transplantation had recently appeared, but for Omar, who pursued pure magic, such a thing was unappealing in many ways.
Fwaaaaaash!
With fourteen Mages under his command, Omar soared at high speed above the clouds. They doubled as escorts and precious manpower who would establish the spatial pathway leading to the Bohemirn magic tower.
For only a magical existence that had surpassed the wall of the 7th tier could inscribe a spatial magic circle alone, while Mages still within the human category required the combined effort of many proficient in magic circles to manifest it.
"We've arrived, Lord Boldrak."
"Mm."
Through broken clouds, a small lake came into view. Around it, evergreens abounded.
Though not heavily blanketed in snow, their leaves were not green but darkly bluish, and the air was thick with the scent of winter.
They landed quietly before the cabin and restrained their magic power.
Creak, creak, creak.
With two elemental Mages at his side, Omar personally ascended the steps. The creak of aged timber resounded beneath his feet.
Then, clearing his throat with a cough, Omar knocked on the door with a smile.
Knock, knock.
"Hohohot! I've arrived, Lord Rayshen."
...
No response.
He gently pushed the door.
It opened loosely.
Stepping inside without suspicion, he saw dust drifting in shafts of sunlight. The cabin, of unknown age, was saturated with the musty scent of old wood.
And at the center of the living room, upon a weathered wooden table surrounded by equally aged chairs, sat someone, as if to be seen.
"Judging by your appearance, you must be Omar Boldrak, a limb of Itium. Just as the head said, you've come in person."
A beautiful woman sat with arms crossed and legs elegantly crossed. Dark green hair, golden eyes—her features distinctive.
Omar tilted his head.
"And the lady is…?"
"Isabella Argyle."
"Isabella?"
The name of the test subject Crodon failed to seize, but Rayshen had succeeded in securing.
"Hohohot? So you're the immortal specimen, are you, my lady? You look rather different from the information I had. Hair, eyes, aura… even your realm."
Omar's expression hardened.
"Where is Lord Rayshen Tailroad?"
"Where's Rayshen, you ask?"
Isabella bared her teeth.
"He's already been killed by the head."
KWA-AAAAANG!
The table she kicked apart shot forward in a straight line. Omar's escorts instantly responded with magic.
The cabin half-exploded. Wind from outside clashed with air inside. For a fleeting moment, countless wooden fragments scattered across the air.
"Beta!"
Kugugugugugugu...!
As if in answer to Isabella's call, the lake began to shake violently. Waves rippled outward, pressing beyond the shore.
And then, from its center, a massive, unknown figure rose.
"Wha…."
One Mage of the Bohemirn magic tower gasped in disbelief.
Two enormous arms supported its body. At the small head, a single oval eye of pure magic hovered.
At first glance, it resembled an immense boulder, yet its shape was unmistakably artificial.
Not at all the same, and yet, if compared, it resembled the artificial golems partially recreated within the Artison magic tower.
"...."
Omar gaped.
His cognition lagged behind.
For artificial golems were an unresolved challenge of the present magical world, a lost technology of the ancients.
Something this colossal even more so.
Total height: 23 meters.
Built upon the frame of an Earth Golem, Beta exploited the surrounding terrain to augment its size. It spoke.
[Activating barrier.]
Fwooooom!
Its core, a near-permanent power source, flared to life. Vast magic spewed from Beta's frame like steam.
Constructed within the Demon King's golem research facility, Beta's main body boasted extreme durability and was specialized in magical defense.
Unlike Alpha, who was unsuited for combat in many ways, Beta had been designed by the younger to aid Verden directly.
The torrent of raw magic rushed past all, stretching outward until it halted at its edge.
Thus, surpassing lake and cabin by far, a translucent dome spanning nearly 400 meters in radius was erected.
With this, events within would never reach beyond.
"A mana barrier?"
"Th-the range, it's…!"
Panic was evident.
Omar, regaining composure, calmly observed, though inwardly he too was shaken.
In Isabella's left eye, a grotesque magic circle of Defying the Heavens surfaced. Her gleaming eye visualized the essence.
"Without exception, all of you are Bohemirn magic tower insiders. Well, considering you openly spoke of specimens, that much was obvious."
"…Insiders?"
"No need to feign ignorance. The head told me everything. The compulsory magic circle engraved by Balrog Bessias is proof enough."
"Ah, is that so."
Omar stroked his lips.
"My, the head you speak of seems most knowledgeable of the tower's affairs. Too much so. More than ought to be known. There should be no traitors within the Bohemirn magic tower…"
He turned his head slightly, addressing the Mages behind him.
"It seems the secrets of the Bohemirn magic tower have been uncovered by an unidentified party. In that process, Lord Rayshen was either captured or killed. Hohohot. And we've walked right into a trap."
Gathering magic power, Omar clenched his fists.
The two rings on his left and right index fingers burst into light, transforming into vambraces that adorned his forearms.
Omar Boldrak's personal weapon, in place of a staff.
"Kill her."
At his chilling command, more than a dozen elemental spells aimed at Isabella. At the same time, a tremendous storm surged in.
Fwaaaaaaaaash!
The fourteen Bohemirn tower Mages instantly fell back.
Their eyes turned northward.
From the forest emerged Alderneys, holding a short staff, walking with controlled steps. The murderous gleam in his eyes was that of a professor shielding his disciple.
And not only him.
The Society's finest revealed themselves, abandoning concealment. From sky, ground, and all directions, Omar's party was encircled.
"I'd heard from a senior that the 4th-ranked Bohemirn magic tower had dabbled in human experimentation… but hearing it directly from your own mouths, I'm honestly shocked."
"The Sages were right. For a free magical world with responsibility, the current system, existing only for the towers, must vanish."
"Yeah, that's right."
Agreeing with Cain, Unia raised [Ultima].
"Wipe them all out!!"
The Society, using their numerical superiority, formed optimal units and entered the magical battle. In response, the Bohemirn magic tower swiftly rose into the air, skillfully countering.
Elemental magic clashed, detonations and flashes bursting forth.
Even amidst it all, Omar still remained in place.
Though directly exposed to Alderneys's storm moments ago, he stood unmoving, glaring at Isabella with chilling eyes.
"A colossal golem, and this much force as well. You've prepared well for the hunt. Yet it seems, young lady, you intend to face me alone."
"In Gargant, when Rayshen was dealt with, I was useless dead weight. Well, thanks to that, I met the head, but aside from that, I was left not with vengeance but only festering resentment."
Isabella softly stroked [Elderron] on her left arm.
"So I'll vent on you, before I track down Crodon Olentia."
"Hoho, how trifling."
The two smiled, each for their own reason.
The smiles soon vanished.
Two Magi of the upper 6th tier collided head-on.
***
'Th, the Coercion has truly been broken….'
Perhaps it was a mistake, but no matter how he examined his body, not a trace of the compulsory magic circle could be sensed.
He was freed from its restraints.
The sensation, first felt in decades, was strange, and at the same time brought an indescribable liberation.
"Whether you answer my questions truthfully or not is your choice. And choices, come with consequences."
At the emotionless voice, his body trembled.
Elder Hiram.
In some sense, he was a Mage who had been granted choice.
For having met the standards of the Bohemirn tower master, becoming a subject of Coercion, and rising to be a retainer of a transcendent who reigned over the world.
But because of that, Hiram did not know how to resist overwhelming power. To be ruled was far too natural.
Perhaps long ago he had possessed a trace of rebellious spirit, but if so, he had utterly forgotten it.
"Haa… haa… haa…"
Clutching the stump of his missing right arm, he breathed raggedly. Sweat poured like rain, dripping onto the floor.
Verden asked.
"What is the enhancement experiment?"
Hiram did not remain silent.
"The enhancement experiment is… ah, it was conceived based on the tier breakthrough incident triggered by Dark Moon, Dahit Wethroel."
"Explain in detail."
"Though it carried a price, Mages who dreamed, gained the ability to cast tier magic beyond their present realm, including their limit tier. And so the, the tower master thought. If this dream could influence even the upper 6th tier… if the backlash could only be overcome, perhaps, even without transcendence, one could reach for the 7th tier."
Thus, in preparation for the dream, suitable test subjects were readied.
By expanding the vessel through the body transplantation technology acquired from Gluttony, further enhancing magical ability by force… Abram Rekin, the 108th subject, was the example.
In other words, they sought to cultivate a Mage capable of casting 7th tier magic without awakening as a transcendent.
'Not a particularly unique subject.'
Naturally so.
Whatever the reason, whatever the cost, in an era when reaching beyond tiers was possible, not considering the 7th tier would be strange.
'Other towers and magical powers must already have entered such research. Though different from Bohemirn's unofficial experiments.'
Verden continued his questioning.
"I understand what the enhancement experiment is. Then what is the thought-bias experiment?"
"That is… Ghaaagh!!"
The moment Hiram hesitated, the Spear of Annihilation pierced his left hand.
His scream rang out.
With hesitation gone, Hiram's answer quickened.
"Th, the thought-bias experiment is…! Among those whose minds were brainwashed through Coercion, we selected some and researched focusing them on specific commands!"
Originally, the compulsory magic circle, Coercion, enforced the caster's commands by afflicting unbearable magical agony upon the subject.
A method of controlling the opponent. But its flaw was obvious.
The broader the scope of enforced actions, the more the self was lost, drastically lowering efficiency.
"Humans are far too complex…! Controlling countless actions with just a few commands is impossible in reality. But with Number 89, by using the linkage of Coercion… by forcing body and brain functions, we succeeded in deeply interfering with the mind, and brainwashing was realized."
"..."
"We, we induced the subject's thoughts so that they considered the command their mission, and led them to autonomously think and judge in accordance."
Thus, the flaw of Coercion was overcome.
But Balrog Bessias was not satisfied.
Again, he tampered with the mind.
Now, any command could be given without damage to the self, and efficiency would remain unchanged. So instead, he conceived the idea of deliberately eliminating the self, to maximize execution efficiency.
Thought-bias.
As the name implied, research to skew thought to one side.
"…The research is already complete."
Avoiding Verden's gaze, Hiram panted.
"A subject brainwashed with biased thought, in fields related to the command, can exhibit abilities beyond their limits. In exchange for eternally losing their reason… Number 70 was one such subject…"
"I heard brainwashing through Coercion didn't work properly because of the prohibition."
"Th-that's right. Yes. One of the Master's disciples, Number 70, for reasons unknown, was excommunicated and placed under prohibition. That interfered, caused failure. We tried to remove the prohibition, but there was no way to eliminate the transcendent concept lodged somewhere in his body… so we tried to handle him like Number 89."
Hiram spoke the truth.
Verden organized his thoughts briefly, then spoke again.
"What did you trade with Gluttony?"
"In exchange for, diverting corpses of tower-affiliated Mages from the war, and providing them with space to experiment, we received their body transplantation technology."
They had received technology from Gluttony.
"What ideal is Balrog pursuing?"
"I… I do not know the ideal. The only ones who know his ideal are 'Angelo' and 'Tilon', the two supreme elders of Itium."
He had never heard Balrog's ideal.
"Where is the location of the unofficial laboratory conducting the enhancement research in earnest?"
"T-that too, is beyond my knowledge. Number 77, no, Verden…! You must know. Internal personnel of the Bohemirn magic tower are strictly segregated, interference is impossible…!"
He did not know the locations of other unofficial laboratories either.
Verden nodded.
"I see. Certainly, there are no lies."
"Then that means…"
"But not speaking a lie, and not speaking, are entirely different."
Verden seized Hiram's head.
"So I will have to see directly."
He had never expected Hiram to confess everything. Even so, he interrogated him for 'two purposes'.
The first, was to fulfill the condition of magic.
Fwooooom!
Magic power surged.
The crystallization of Verden's painstaking preparation during the planning stage. A new unique magic, created from Dahit's memories and Infinite Mado.
Verden's chosen memories, and the nearest memories Hiram was recalling, intersected.