Chapter 5

“…Wake up.”

“Wake up!”

“I said, everyone wake up!”

My head hurts. Clutching their temples, the people who had awoken realized they were in a facility they’d never seen before.

The quicker-witted among them recalled their last memory before collapsing and stiffened their expressions.

Being apprehended by unknown assailants, and waking up in an unfamiliar space—this was far too common in this world. Especially for those who lived in crime-ridden slums, it was almost routine.

They must have been captured as test subjects for a mad mage or modified to be sold as slaves.

Just as despair began to well up among those who sensed their fate—

“It’s too early to give up!”

A young man’s voice rang out.

“The bastards who brought us here seem to have been sloppy. They didn’t take my magic glyph drive. We can escape.”

The young man gathered the others, revealing himself as an illegal cracking panel magic glyph drive dealer, and began distributing his drives.

As the young man persuaded the crowd to escape together, someone hesitantly asked:

“H-But…”

“Isn’t it true that if we go out there, we’ll just die at the hands of mages?”

It was the resigned lament of people who had always been trampled upon. The young man acknowledged the possibility.

“Perhaps you’re right. The trivial magic available from the magic glyph drives might not even be worth a laugh to real mages.”

“But tell me, what difference is there between dying now while standing up and slowly wasting away under the control of mad mages?”

Is praying for someone else to die so you can survive one more day really living?

Emphasizing the horrors of the mages’ experiments and their broken morality, the young man declared he would rather die on his feet than live on his knees.

After handing out all his spare magic glyph drives, the young man slowly surveyed the room.

“I know it’s hard for you to trust me easily. After all, I could use you as bait and escape alone. So I’ll go first and draw their attention.”

Leaving instructions for everyone to escape during the ensuing commotion, the young man stepped outside the door.

In the solemn atmosphere, those left behind waited for the signal of revolt.

Of course, none of them knew that this young man had already visited three other slave holding facilities conducting similar incitements.

***

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEENG!

The warning sound, like nails on a chalkboard. The red flashing lights. These signaled the slaves’ escape.

Division leader Tarknia nervously scanned the monitors. It seemed the slaves from Holding Facility 3 had escaped en masse.

He recalled the supplier responsible for Facility 3 – some minor organization from a city called Etna.

Next time he met the supplier, he vowed to make them pay dearly. Then he summoned his subordinates.

“Take care of it quickly. Losing an arm or leg is fine, but keep their heads intact. They’re merchandise meant for the main tower, so keep them alive.”

His subordinates were skilled combat mages who specialized in manipulating human bio-electricity to incapacitate minds.

These vagrants who couldn’t properly use magic wouldn’t last five minutes against them.

Occasionally, someone resisted the neural manipulation through sheer willpower, but physical attacks eventually broke their spirit and made them submit to the magic.

This level of disturbance could be handled on-site. Tarknia sat back with mild irritation.

“I can’t rot away in this backwater post forever. One day, I’ll return to the main tower…”

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEENG!!

The alarm sounded again.

Tarknia’s expression twisted as he awaited the report of situation resolution. Escape attempts were starting at other holding facilities as well, indicated by the continuous alarms.

“There’s a clever one involved…”

Those who understood knew that the more people attempted escape together, the easier it was to flee.

Not only were the slaves escaping from their own holding facility, but also coordinating escapes across multiple facilities.

Though it was just a temporary collection point with limited resources, the ease with which barriers were broken suggested there might be a wild mage involved.

While wild mages who instinctively wielded magic without proper training were valuable commodities to Torres Tower, this situation was problematic.

“You useless fools! When handling wild mages, either use stronger sedatives or sever their limbs outright.”

With a large-scale escape involving wild mages, inevitably a few would succeed.

He could already picture the reprimands from the elders at the main tower. Anger surged through Tarknia’s body.

“Kreton, was it? I’ll make sure to report this humiliation to the main tower.”

First, he needed to report the situation. Losing a valuable wild mage warranted much harsher criticism than a few escaped slaves.

He activated the emergency signal device.

And nothing happened.

Perplexed, an unfamiliar voice reached his ears.

“May I ask a question?”

“Who’s there…!”

He channeled mana. His dormant cybernetic enhancements activated. His enhanced visual cortex identified the intruder amidst the crimson-tinted field of vision.

Actually, the intruder wasn’t hiding at all.

“Is this the office of Tarknia, supervisor of the Torres branch?”

The figure simply stood calmly in front of the door asking questions.

Tarknia felt a sense of unreality. He could clearly sense the presence in that spot, but couldn’t discern exact features.

Even though he was looking directly at it, the figure remained indistinct – likely camouflage magic.

Light-bending camouflage magic was commonly used by light attribute school mages for concealment.

‘Taking advantage of the slaves’ escape to break communication equipment with the main tower while hiding…’

High-level camouflage perfectly blends with surroundings to hide its user.

But this intruder’s form was merely blurred, clearly indicating presence. Therefore, his camouflage proficiency was clumsy second-rate at best.

And yet…

An inexplicable foreboding arose.

Though the mysterious figure was indistinct, the plank-like object he held was perfectly clear.

“Tarknia, is that correct?”

Now in a relatively high position where direct combat was rare, Tarknia was still a battle-hardened mage who rose from the bottom.

He recognized the weapon held by the intruder – a high-frequency blade.

An invention from a sound-manipulating school, using ultra-high frequency sounds beyond normal hearing to enhance cutting power.

‘High-frequency blades are mass-produced items, but not exactly cheap for someone who owns nothing. Did another magic tower send him?’

But what a fool. If he snuck in secretly, he should have launched a surprise attack.

Tarknia activated the magic glyph drive embedded in his right hand. One per finger.

Accumulated lightning spells were instantly unleashed. Five layers of electric chains rushed toward the intruder.

Simultaneously, he input the next spell into the computational chip embedded in his brain, alerting his tightly connected subordinates about the intruder’s appearance.

While destroying relay equipment could cut off communication with the main tower, it couldn’t block short-range communications between the purification chips exclusively granted to Torres School purifiers.

But no response came.

“Looking for these?”

Thud. The intruder tossed something.

Five chips, still dripping fresh blood.

Meaning they were all killed before they could send any communication, with precise strikes targeting their brain chips.

In the next moment, Tarknia’s action was pure battlefield-instinct driven desperation. He threw himself sideways with full force.

A dark straight line extended past where Tarknia had been standing moments ago. A high-frequency blade thrown while distracting him with the brain chips.

The black blade shattered the control panel of the surveillance equipment installed on the office wall.

Tarknia screamed frantically.

“Which tower sent you?! Flauros? Tipoen? Directly from Huang Lei!”

His scream was also an attempt to buy time. Using electricity manipulation magic to revive the circuits connected to the microphone inside the control panel to report the situation here.

Calculating that the mages deployed to suppress the slaves would hear the sounds of battle in the office and move to rescue him once they understood the situation.

“Where would you prefer?”

An absurd question came back.

“If you have any wishes, please let me know. I’ll accommodate them accordingly.”

“You son of a bitch─!!”

Provoking him to choose how he would die. Tarknia began unleashing prepared spells.

First spell: Neural disruption.

The intruder showed no reaction as if it were natural. If it had worked properly, the overload would have caused him to collapse right there.

The second spell was also neural manipulation, but targeted himself this time. Sharpening senses to read air currents and maximizing reflexes.

The third spell was electric attribute enhancement limited to cybernetic parts. Sinister yellow electricity crackled ominously.

All within one breath. Tarknia leaped forward.

Gambling on the situation since the intruder had thrown his weapon. Close combat relying on enhanced cybernetic body and reflexes.

‘Even a slight touch of electricity will paralyze. Then victory is mine!’

Closing distance took less than a second. Tarknia looked the intruder in the face, sensing imminent victory.

Close enough to see each other’s irises. The previously blurred figure came into view.

‘He’s smiling?’

The intruder’s magic glyph drive activated. It wasn’t threatening magic. Water compression bullets – basic water attribute magic that launches compressed water.

Unless used by a skilled mage, the low-output temporary magic stored in the drive could only knock someone back and leave bruises.

However…

Electricity flowed through various parts of Tarknia’s body. Trying desperately to retract mana was too late. The water bullet struck him, scattering and soaking him.

Electricity penetrated even non-cybernetic parts. Tarknia’s scream echoed.

At that very moment, the intruder – Ortes – finally moved.

Instantly retrieving the blade stuck in the wall. Before the knocked-back Tarknia even hit the ground, he swung to sever the right arm with the embedded magic glyph drive.

The high-frequency blade, never returning to its sheath, continued its black trajectory. Next target was both legs, removing agility.

Clang──

By the time Tarknia collided with the wall, only one limb remained.

“What… What are you?”

Tarknia trembled with fear. Though the fight was brief, he clearly understood.

This person is not a mage.

If the blurred form was due to camouflage magic, it should have dispersed or at least revealed magical energy flow during intense combat.

But he couldn’t sense any magical energy from this person.

A mage capable of completely controlling magical energy flow wouldn’t need such a troublesome way to subdue him.

Only the grandmasters of Torres School or Tower Masters could reach such a level, and he would have been killed without noticing.

The reason why the intruder used only basic magic from the magic glyph drive was likely because most mass-produced drives could only contain minimal magical energy.

Thus, higher-level magic required the user to personally infuse additional mana.

Ortes approached Tarknia’s bedside, trying desperately to identify the intruder.

Smiling faintly.

The intruder’s smile against the backdrop of red backlight. Tarknia closed his eyes.

“It seems you’re finally ready to talk.”