Chapter 230

#230 Chapter Tin Knight and the Tower of Greed (10)

“…Valasculb has fallen.”

Even the enemy’s spear blades did not cast a shadow.

The atmosphere at the command center felt as if the enemy was already invading.

“From a lofty height where attack magic can’t reach, they summoned undead solely for mass destruction. It seems they just flattened the castle.”

“High-ranking wizards and numerous troops in the main castle didn’t even get a chance to fight back and were wiped out instantly. The forces outside the main castle were also attacked in confusion and annihilated, leaving the rest to surrender and be captured.”

“What a ridiculous situation! Undead is a technique that uses existing corpses. To summon undead capable of crushing the castle from thin air, you’d need to first get those corpses to the sky! How is that even possible?”

“Isn’t there a way to inflate the size of the undead using magical power?”

“That’s pure theorycrafting. That’d require hundreds of necromancers pouring magic simultaneously. Even then, they’d still be short on magic.”

“Gale Elilraz is famous for having a vast amount of magical power, isn’t she? Couldn’t she have lent her help?”

“Even if that were the case, it’s impossible!”

“What’s important right now is how to reclaim it! We need to discuss methods to take back Valasculb immediately!”

“The Tower of Guardian is launching a full-scale counterattack! The front line is collapsing rapidly, and if it continues like this, the front units are all going to get eaten alive! To save them, we must reclaim Valasculb as quickly as possible!”

“We’re here to find a way to reclaim it, aren’t we? The enemy’s monsters just crushed Valasculb in an instant! If we don’t know their exact means of attack, the same thing could happen to the recovery units! Why are we discussing an attack without analyzing the enemy?”

“─Everyone, shut up.”

At Teur’s low command, everyone who had been raising their voices fell silent.

That was proof that Teur’s authority still held sway among his subordinates, but it also meant the people were panicking enough to argue even with royalty from the tower present.

The reason was clear.

Fear.

Even those who could be considered the elite within the Tower of Control were terrified of the situation unfolding before them.

Teur examined the map depicting the battlefield.

The territory controlled by the Tower was gradually being occupied by the enemy.

It was, in a way, to be expected.

Valasculb, the core of the country along with the magic tower, had been breached in the blink of an eye, and the high-ranking wizards gathered from various places had also been taken down all at once.

There were still units maintaining combat power in various areas, but they were like kites with their strings cut, bereft of their critical support.

The ambush units that were originally planned to strike the Tin Knight’s group were hastily called back to form a second line of defense, but the area they managed to secure was only about half of what was originally controlled by the Tower. In a matter of days, half of the country had been taken.

Teur reflected on his decisions.

‘Should I have not focused all resources?’

No, if he had done that, the Tin Knight’s group would have been running wild, picking off the scattered bloodline members one by one.

‘Should I have gathered everything in one place instead of splitting between the tower and Valasculb?’

That was also impossible.

Leaving the tower with the Master and North Witch was out of the question, and Valasculb, which was essential to maintaining the front line and highly symbolic, couldn’t be casually sacrificed either.

‘Was the reaction too slow?’

That too wasn’t the case.

Teur had rushed troops to the border of the Tower of Annihilation, even leaving it unprotected, the moment he learned that the Tin Knights were targeting royalty.

Though he failed to complete the encirclement due to their swift actions, that was a better outcome than not having anything set up at all. Otherwise, making the second line of defense would have been impossible.

No matter how he thought about it, none of the moves he had made or judgments he had reached had been wrong.

So it was all the more absurd.

That nothing had gone wrong, yet the situation had come to this.

What troubled Teur even more was that this wasn’t even the worst case.

‘If the attack that nearly annihilated Valasculb could be replicated… this time, even the tower could be in danger.’

The levels of defense between Valasculb and the tower were nearly identical.

This meant that if the enemy had an attack capable of destroying Valasculb at a single blow, they could similarly collapse the tower in one fell swoop.

Having learned the enemy’s methods, he could at least prepare by placing spirits in the skies around the tower, but what if that air defense got pierced?

Cold sweat dripped down Teur’s spine.

He wasn’t incompetent, but there were absurdities in the world that couldn’t be solved by simple ability.

In short,

“The enemy turned out to be bad.”

Clack. The sharp sound of heels echoed.

The mages of the Tower of Control showed their wariness toward the intruder who had no business entering their protected space, but upon recognizing their identity, they quickly prostrated themselves.

The North Witch.

And the Gray Old Man, who seemed to have recovered from his serious injuries, was there as well.

“Master of the Tower. And Grandmaster.”

The North Witch clicked her tongue at the mages and repeated the same phrase.

“The enemy turned out to be bad, it’s true. They were simply too much for kids who don’t know the world to handle.”

Her words were less of a reproach and more of a resigned acceptance that it was unreasonable from the start, but for those who had lived their lives as elites, it was a far more humiliating statement than any rash accusation.

While the faces of the command mages flushed with humiliation and shame, the Gray Old Man approached Teur.

He gently patted Teur’s shoulder.

“You’ve worked hard. You fought well in my absence.”

Teur, who had braced himself for severe scolding, instead replied with a trembling voice to the unexpectedly gentle consolation from the old man.

“No, I, while taking on the Master of the Tower’s deputy role, committed such a significant blunder… I cannot atone for my crimes…!”

“How could you call this your fault? It is all my oversight.”

“Master of the Tower!”

Confusion welled in Teur’s eyes.

He felt uneasy, as if the Gray Old Man had laid down everything and might have given up as well.

But that unease lasted merely a moment.

When Teur locked eyes with the Gray Old Man, he discovered a bubbling, intense heat smoldering in the depths of his gaze, causing him to shudder.

“Master. May I ask you for a favor?”

“Your words are polite, but the content is not. There’s no other disciple who sucks the life out of their master like you.”

“I’m sorry. But— you don’t plan to run away now, do you?”

At the Gray Old Man’s words, Mombi the Witch twisted her lips upwards with amusement.

“Of course not. I can’t run away until I’ve repaid that Magical Automaton for what it did.”

The wicked witch asked the greedy old man.

“So, what is it that you want from me?”

The greedy old man replied to the wicked witch.

“Please ravage it. Just like your Master desires, in the manner you wish, and as much as you desire.”

“The Magical Kingdom is going to descend into chaos, you know?”

“I don’t care.”

At the Gray Old Man’s response, all the mages present gasped in shock.

“Due to unexpected obstacles, our forces have been significantly diminished. At this rate, even if things go as planned, controlling the entire Magical Kingdom will be impossible.”

“So, I say,” he added.

“Destroy it instead. Trample it thoroughly. Crush it completely. Only then can we swallow everything up.”

That was not a gesture of resignation.

Rather, the old man was chillingly rational.

Just like when he betrayed his own master.

To Mombi, there was no greater madness than that.

“─Fine. Just don’t regret it.”

And the wicked witch found it very much to her liking.

Mombi nonchalantly walked over to the window and jumped right out.

Leaving behind the shock of Teur and the mages, just before her feet touched the ground.

Wings sprouted from her back, and Mombi soared back into the sky.

Exactly one hour later.

News that the Tower of Guardian had been half-destroyed echoed throughout the Magical Kingdom.