Chapter 239

“How on earth did things end up like this?”

A deep lament escaped Teur Lognir’s lips.

As the de facto supreme commander of the Tower of Control, he was a man of many talents.

Not just magic and politics; he was equally capable in military command.

For quite some time, the Tower of Control had been training wizards and soldiers for large-scale military operations, making it their home ground.

Even if the individual abilities of the mages on the defensive side matched those on the control side, they had never trained for large-scale battles and were fighting on enemy territory.

Considering tactical movements and the advantages on the defense, while losses were inevitable, victory for them was almost guaranteed.

Thus, he couldn’t help but sigh at the current situation.

“If only they hadn’t acted on their own and had followed my orders!”

It sounded like he was blaming Valdeus for his reckless actions, but in truth, it was directed at the Witch Mombi.

He had intended to use Mombi not as a frontline attacker but as a hidden dagger among the allied forces, lurking in the shadows.

In the chaos of battle, that was the environment best suited for Mombi to fully utilize her magic.

What kind of confidence do you have to calmly engage in battle when there’s a witch nearby who can change her form at will and kill you with just a touch?

To Teur, Mombi could create so much confusion and self-destruction among the enemy troops just by subtly showing her presence.

If only she hadn’t been so obvious, fighting out there on the outskirts of the battlefield!

“It’s like she’s half-tying her own strengths behind her back!”

Mombi’s gamble to infiltrate the enemy camp and take out foes had turned into the worst possible outcome.

She likely thought she could escape whenever she wanted, but on the opposing side, there were two magical automatons strong enough to forcefully keep her held back while being immune to her instant-death attacks.

Teur was reluctantly trying to exclude Mombi from the equation and win by his own strength, but that too was not going as planned.

-Fuuuuuh

-Gwaaar!

Corpses were wandering the battlefield.

The Tower of Control could easily reduce dozens or even hundreds of undead to a handful of dust, but if that number exceeded five digits, and the situation intensified, it was a different story.

Precious firepower that should’ve been aimed at the opposing mages was being wasted on pointless corpses, while the enemies used the undead as shields to freely unleash their firepower or even poured supportive magic onto them.

If it were just the undead army, no matter how many there were, they would have ultimately just been fuel for the fire.

On the other hand, if it were just the defending forces, the Tower could have easily defeated them by its own strength.

But with both forces combined, no matter how hard Teur tried, the flow of battle was shifting irreversibly to one side.

Suddenly, Teur recalled his father’s words.

“The Queen of the Undead can raise the army of an entire nation.”

“If it were her, she wouldn’t have pulled such petty tricks but would have directly attacked the tower.”

Although he understood this intellectually, it was only now that Teur felt it deeply in his bones.

A necromancer who surpassed a certain level was practically an embodiment of the absurdities of the battlefield itself.

Teur gritted his teeth and shouted to his subordinates.

“How’s the recharging of the magical cannon coming along!?”

“It’s about 90% complete!”

“It doesn’t have to be perfect! Get it ready to fire right now!”

The magical cannon, using dragon veins as fuel and the tower itself as its barrel, was a large-scale attack technique.

The first shot had used up its power to take down a massive undead falling from the sky, but its original purpose was to repel ground-based enemies.

“B-but there are intruders inside the tower right now! If something goes wrong and the spell goes wild…”

“At this rate, we’ll still be in danger when our power gets depleted! Hurry!”

At Teur’s firm command, his subordinates quickly shouted something at the crystal ball.

And then, after a moment, immense magical power began to surge from the top of the tower.

The defenders noticed this and began to react, but there was no such thing as a perfect dodge or defense in this situation.

“Fire!!”

As the gathered magical power reached its peak, it was finally about to be released as a beam when—

Zap!

It was as if the light from a lamp had suddenly gone out, and the gathered magic was painfully wasted.

“What…?”

Teur’s eyes widened in disbelief and shock.

He didn’t know that just before that moment, the Master of the Tower, Rotbart, had been subdued by Adelheid.

With his death, the crystal pillar integral to the tower had lost control over the magical power they had been manipulating.

The loss of the tower’s capabilities immediately brought changes to another battlefield.

Kang!

[The ‘Tin Knight’ protests, can’t you let the boss character’s invincibility drop first?]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ declares you’ll never escape from here!]

“Ugh, that annoying puppet! Just get lost already!”

The Tin Knight shifted into a full combat stance in an instant.

Until now, he’d minimized magic consumption, considering he couldn’t inflict any damage anyway, but now he was prioritizing offense even if it meant spending some magic.

You might think that with a support-tank going full-on damage dealer, his ability to suppress the enemy would drop, but that wasn’t the case.

With a barrage of strikes!

“Ugh!”

The fierce consecutive strikes from the White Knight were intercepting every one of Mombi’s tentacles trying to sneak up on the Tin Knight from behind.

While the White Knight lacked the transcendent skills of the Tin Knight, he was still a top-of-the-line magical automaton.

Its artificial brain was exceptionally advanced, having completely analyzed Mombi’s movements long ago.

As magic from swords and spears scattered, the magic symbols protecting Mombi’s body were rapidly whittled away.

During that time, while they were busy trying to stop Mombi, the Tin Knight and the White Knight both suffered some damage, but far from slowing down, their movements became sharper than ever.

They were warriors of steel, not flesh and blood, possessing a strength of their own.

Observing Mombi cornered, Dorothea snickered.

“No matter how great of a witch you are, you’re borrowing someone else’s workshop, which is why you’re in this state.”

If this had been a workshop created entirely by Mombi, breaking the connection between her and it wouldn’t have been something easily accomplished.

No, even if she had temporarily severed the connection, Mombi would have reclaimed her space right away.

Indeed, Dorothea and her group hadn’t employed tactics like this during the suppression of the West Witch, nor could they have.

That’s why the West Witch, Elphaba, was able to unleash consecutive devastating spells that left Dorothea shocked.

But Mombi was not in the same situation.

She had only just stepped into this world after being sealed for a long time, and thus, had no time to leisurely create a workshop.

She likely thought that even with a hastily assembled workshop, she could defeat Dorothea and her crew, but that was simply a miscalculation.

Even Gale added a cold remark.

“…Just because you’ve clumsily borrowed your master’s power, relying too heavily on it is your downfall, Mombi. If it were you at your full strength, you wouldn’t have resorted to calling us out for a direct confrontation, but would instead have concealed your form and identity and tried to drain us dry through meticulous ambush and deception. You haven’t grown stronger like your master; you’ve simply become muddled.”

Mombi’s tactics were those of an assassin luring the enemy and striking at their vulnerabilities.

Olin’s tactics were thorough defense, protecting himself and his comrades as a backend tank.

For an assassin to reveal themselves in broad daylight just because they gained invincible defense was nothing short of arrogance, she pointedly noted.

Mombi seethed at the words of the two women, who spoke as if victory had already been decided, but she didn’t even have the leisure to express that anger now.

The barrier of magic symbols had all but been whittled away, and the damage that had been endured while protected by them was now reflected in real-time on her health.

Every clash with the two knights caused cuts, bleeding, and broken bones.

Mombi was somewhat skilled at healing wounds.

After all, she could ‘transform’ back into her pre-injury form.

However, that too consumed magical energy.

While she could recklessly expend power with the external battery of the dragon vein attached, once that supply was cut off, she had to shoulder all magical expenditure on her own.

The body she had taken from Olin was potent enough by a witch’s standards, far above that of an ordinary magician, but even so, it didn’t compare to the dragon vein.

As the battle dragged on, her magic power was rapidly depleting, leading Mombi to feel an absurdity.

Wait, while she was now forced to use her own energy, why did those in front of her still seem to have their reserves left?

‘This won’t do.’

At that moment, Mombi accepted that there was no longer any chance of winning.

She would have to resort to her trump card that she had wanted to avoid as much as possible.

Olin made a desperate attempt to unleash a large attack, forcibly pushing the two knights back.

At that moment, her body swelled like a grotesque balloon.

Fwooooosh!

Then, it exploded.

Countless chunks of flesh split apart and started to scatter like a flock of mice in every direction.

The Tin Knight and White Knight quickly tried to sweep away the pieces, but the number of fleeing pieces was greater than those being swept away.

While taking the pathetic escape route, Mombi burned with vengeful thoughts.

She’d lost this time, but things would be different next time.

‘Slowly, surely, I’ll let you bleed to death.’

How long could they endure in such extreme stress, where they could trust no one and a single touch could lead to their death?

Once she’d taken care of the witches, it would be child’s play to dispose of the knights, rendered powerless without magic.

Thus, she waited for her next chance.

“Even with such great power, resorting to such petty and cowardly methods is one of your strengths. But do you think I will just let you slip away?”

Cold words from Dorothea pronounced the end for her.

With a crack, Dorothea’s staff struck down on something.

It was the pieces of her flesh that the Tin Knight and White Knight had gathered while she fled.

The Black Witch’s mouth uttered a curse.

“I offer this warm blood, so you angry souls come here and drink.”

“I offer this delicious flesh, so those with desire come here and feast.”

“I offer this bloated soul, so those who wail in sorrow come here and take vengeance.”

“The name of this tribute is Witch Mombi. The wicked witch who ended your lives.”

The world turned a murky gray in an instant.

Souls, who had been screaming holding onto their own corpses, souls who had continuously fought not even knowing they were dead, and souls who had broken down into tears on the ground, all suddenly revealed themselves, thanks to Dorothea’s magic.

Some of the souls shook their heads and quietly disappeared despite Dorothea’s call.

But over 70% of them charged toward the pieces of flesh and the fleeing bits with anger, lament, and despair flooding their expressions.

The blood that touched the souls turned black. The flesh that touched the souls rotted away. The souls that touched each other screamed.

If Mombi had been in her original state, such a curse would have bounced off her, but the witch who had shattered herself into so many pieces had no power to resist it.

The feast of devouring and vengeance was fleetingly brief.

All flesh particles shattered like sand, and the souls that confirmed this sight began to leave the earth one by one.

For one once infamous in the world as a witch, her end was rather pathetic.