Chapter 151

Decades ago, at the Bakis Stairs. Two men sat facing each other.

“You. Work with me.”

“You want me to work under you? Why would I?”

“If you work with me, I’ll let you bet against the entire tower.”

“Betting?”

“That’s right.”

“Hmm…?”

“I’ll give you unlimited business rights. Magic Tower, Truth Tower, Ragnarok—mold them however you want. If you have the ability, you can even deal with the Knight Order. You don’t need to ask for permission.”

“Hmm… it’s about 10 percent short of a satisfactory proposal… but it’s still the least boring offer I’ve heard so far. Fine. Let’s do it. Work. With you.”

Shilo de Medissa in his late twenties was gaining attention as a mage destined to lead the next generation.

He leaned forward and added,

“But remember this. If playing subordinate to you becomes boring, I’ll leave anytime.”

The Chairman of Society, the Wizard of Rebirth, smiled faintly.

“By all means.”

* * *

Yuria made this proposal to Shilo de Medissa.

“You. Join Pathfinder. Team up with us. The ones who’ll survive the world’s destruction aren’t Society anyway. It’s us.”

The expressions of the other expedition members became puzzled.

A recruitment offer to the enemy they’d been fighting to the death just moments before? Did this make any sense?

Suddenly, there was some understanding too. Was there meaning in fighting until one side was completely annihilated? But then… what about their dead comrades?

Evan was the first to object.

“Insane! We can’t join hands with those who killed our comrades!! Are you saying we fought like this just to make that proposal?”

Limping Evan actually raised his beam hilt to aim at Yuria. Monggu, his face hardened, stepped forward to block and check Evan.

“Ha! Young brother! Tell me! Is that woman in her right mind?”

“…I don’t know. Yuria’s will is my will.”

The stutterer expressed his will without even stuttering.

“…It seems you need to have a conversation with your subordinates first, not with me?”

Shilo de Medissa’s cold sneer.

But Yuria didn’t even look back at Shilo de Medissa as she spoke to everyone.

“I wasn’t sure at first either. Originally, I was going to kill him if possible, or maybe fight moderately and then run away. But fighting made me certain. He can become one of us.”

Yuria’s sky-blue eyes and Evan’s red-brown eyes clashed like charging warhorses.

“If he can become one of us, we have to make him one of us.”

Stopping the world’s destruction with just created beings?

To Yuria, this was preposterous.

But making preposterous words into reality—wasn’t that what magic was about?

‘Every moment must be a miracle. If you can’t do that… you don’t deserve to be called a mage. At least this era… is that kind of era.’

Evan couldn’t answer.

Because Yuria was asking with her eyes.

‘You joined Pathfinder too, didn’t you?’

Killing comrades. When it came to that, was there anyone like the Knight Order? The Knight Order had massacred innocent mages for long ages. Mages called them butchers with hatred. But Baek Jun-woo had wanted to join hands even with the Knight Order. The other elders, though uncomfortable, accepted the cause that Baek Jun-woo put forward.

That story.

Pathfinder’s purpose was to prevent immediate destruction, not for the happiness and safety of individual members. Of course, they had to prevent the world’s destruction to enjoy happiness and safety… but anyway, that was a story for the future. Whether their purpose for joining Pathfinder was pure idealism or future glory, they had to endure sacrifice for now. Whether it was heroic sacrifice or loss from investment.

Yes. If necessary, shouldn’t they join hands even with enemies they’d been fighting to the death?

Watching this scene, Shilo de Medissa twisted his lips.

“Who decided that?”

He thought.

‘You have to flip all your cards before talking, right?’

He acknowledged it. He liked Yuria. This one day of fighting Yuria’s expedition felt more fun than his entire lifetime. Everything went against expectations and ultimately made him admire her.

That’s why he wanted to clash even more viciously. To see where the end was.

Making a proposal for conversation? It wasn’t because he wanted to hear what she had to say. He was subtly trying to buy time.

Actually, it was too petty a move to use against rookie mages far his juniors. But who cares? Shilo de Medissa just wanted to try every move he could.

Finally. His long-prepared spell was complete.

“Debt… doesn’t always have to be incurred by me, does it?”

Shilo de Medissa stretched both hands toward Yuria and shouted.

“Debt Inheritance!”

The terror of Shilo de Medissa’s <Debt> was twofold.

First, the more it accumulated, the more terrifying it became.

And second, as a target-designation instant spell, it was impossible to avoid.

No. Avoidance was possible. But the more you avoided it, the more interest accumulated, making it progressively harder to avoid. That was the terrifying part. Once <Debt> was activated, you eventually had to accept that damage.

That’s why the best strategy for dealing with <Debt> was to accept it right away before interest accumulated, while Shilo de Medissa’s strategy was to create situations where the opponent couldn’t immediately accept the first attack.

And when even that didn’t work… that’s when Shilo de Medissa’s secret technique <Debt Inheritance> came out. A method of attaching interest in advance and then imposing it. Though extremely inefficient compared to <Debt> and a much more complex spell, once it succeeded… at least Shilo de Medissa had never seen anyone survive after witnessing <Debt Inheritance>.

It was the perfect spell for Yuria, who had been handling <Debt> right away with ‘decoys’ that took magic in her place.

Whoooooosh—

A massive vortex of mana enveloped Yuria.

Crack!

The ‘decoy’ protecting Yuria’s body couldn’t withstand the excessive pressure and shattered completely. The remaining power all poured into Yuria.

Rumble!

Yuria’s body shook violently.

To avoid detection by Yuria, Shilo de Medissa had sacrificed only 2 Morning and added interest bit by bit. But later, the time gained through even conversation was a full 2 hours. With 10 percent interest added once per minute, that alone had grown to over 90,000 times the original power. Even considering the dropped efficiency of <Debt Inheritance>, it was at least 20,000 Morning worth of power. Taking this head-on, even Pan-Dalus wouldn’t escape unharmed.

‘It’s over!’

Shilo de Medissa was seized by thrilling excitement. And simultaneously, conflicting disappointment and emptiness washed over him. Complex emotions captivated him.

‘What do I do now? Ah, let me hurry back to headquarters and suggest we wage war with Pathfinder. But… even then, could it be as fun as today?’

Shilo de Medissa was briefly dumbfounded.

‘Did I kill her for nothing…?’

That’s when Yuria’s clear voice pierced his ears.

“I am Yuria Lin. By the authority granted to me by the Divine Mage, I command. I call forth the bitter trial that will test my will. I desire the single arrow that will pierce even fate. Following those distant footsteps, I, <I shall shoot the sun.>”

Yuria had consulted with Sonnet, the Wizard of Resonance, to modify her spell.

Before modification, the spell Yuria used was like this,

‘I am Yuria Lin. By the authority granted to me by the Divine Mage, I command. I desire the single arrow that will break the insurmountable enemy. Though it may fall far short of ancient miracles… still, by way of comparison, <I shall shoot the sun.>’

She described the power she sought to summon in more detail and changed the parts that lacked confidence into confident ones. The effect was tremendous.

Hummmm—!

Yuria’s bow, the Ultimate Bow, was dyed in complete silver. Silver overflowed, even dyeing the special arrow from Refinement’s workshop that rested on the string with dazzling light. A clearly different appearance from before when it had only a slight silver tint.

Creak—

The bowstring became more sticky and heavy too.

‘The trial that tests my will.’ Yuria thought the newly added phrase fit quite well.

Crack.

Though the bow itself was quiet, her body drawing the string was loud with overload.

The magical joint attached between her index finger and thumb was about to tear from the string’s tension, and her Ki-blood, refined through Philosopher’s Stone training, twisted.

‘More… more!’

Endlessly surpassing her limits, Yuria gathered her will and drew the bowstring.

‘Hey! Iron Blood! You help too!’

And she realized.

‘Ah…’

Gulp.

Swallowing the sigh that tried to escape, Yuria aimed at the shocked Shilo de Medissa.

Vicious bastard.

The move he’d just pulled couldn’t be detected even by Yuria’s [Magic Eye]. He had analyzed the principles of [Magic Eye] and exploited Yuria’s fatigue to find an opening. His persistent concentration that continued testing her even in the dragging stalemate.

But Yuria had survived. Not thanks to her own abilities, though.

Anyway, she was alive and had gained perfect timing.

‘Got you.’

Yuria intuited it.

What hung on this unbearably heavy bowstring wasn’t an arrow. Shilo de Medissa’s very existence was caught on the string. If she released it, he would die.

Like an established fact.

To Shilo de Medissa, who could only gape like he’d seen a ghost, Yuria asked one last time.

“Will you continue? By the way, I can’t accept you as just a colleague. Swear perfect obedience to Pathfinder. That’s the condition.”

Shilo de Medissa’s face scrunched up.

Yuria’s eyes sharpened.

‘Is this failure? Then let’s kill him here.’

But Yuria saw the corners of his lips quirking up through his scrunched face.

“Kuk… kukukuk! Kahahahahaha!”

Shilo de Medissa laughed. Madly.

“I lost! I lost! Kahahahahaha! I had no reason to lose but I lost! Kahahahahaha!”

Like releasing long-held resentment, after venting his long, long laughter, Shilo de Medissa placed his right hand on his chest.

“Yes. I shall obey. But not to Pathfinder—I obey you. Yuria Lin. I, Shilo de Medissa, will absolutely obey your words until this life ends. This is an oath sworn on my Circle. A covenant staked on my existence. Yuria Lin. Your enemies will become my enemies, and your friends will receive my service.”

Yuria’s expedition members all wore dumbfounded expressions.

‘No way… really?’

Meanwhile, Society’s combat unit strongly objected.

“Are you insane? You’re betraying the Chairman?!”

The voice of Wizard of Piercing Hotsen shook the battlefield thunderously. The combat unit reformed their formation all at once. It was a formation hostile to not only Yuria’s expedition but also Shilo.

Watching this scene, Shilo de Medissa slowly smiled.

“Bankruptcy.”

Snap—!

How long had he been anticipating this moment? The instant Shilo de Medissa’s fingers snapped,

“Urgh!”

“Argh!”

The entire combat unit spewed blood and clutched their chests, rolling on the ground.

Among the scattering blood drops, Shilo de Medissa bowed deeply to Yuria.

“This is my gift to you. Please, let the magic you cast on me today last forever. Master.”

Yuria approached Shilo de Medissa silently through the blood drops.

“Am I the master?”

“Yes. Master.”

“Then drop your guard.”

<Collapse Strike!>

Crack—!

Yuria’s fist shattered Shilo de Medissa’s teeth. His defensive spells didn’t activate.

“Bastard.”

Yuria looked down at the unconscious Shilo de Medissa and brushed the blood off her fist.

* * *

Like movie cops, I only found Yuria after everything was over. Fortunately, she wasn’t hurt. The reason her regular messages had stopped was because she’d been fighting for a full day.

However, Yuria silently buried her face in my embrace.

When she looked up again, she was smiling brightly, but the front of my shirt was damp.

“Magic is miracles that gods once wielded. But… they were imperfect miracles. It’s my… fault.”

Nine died in the end.

Horatio, who had joined our nomads as Fel’s subordinate, also died in battle that day.

And…

Iron Blood died.

It had taken Shilo de Medissa’s final attack in her place, they said.

She said this. Looking at the 7th floor’s situation, whether they killed Shilo de Medissa, recruited him, or held him until the main force arrived, they absolutely had to accomplish one of these. If they’d stalled any longer, it seemed like these people would escape with all the 7th floor’s resources.

It was a reckless challenge, but it succeeded.

When you keep your word, you gain magic, and when you break your word, you lose magic.

In the mage’s world, results say everything.

Magic didn’t care about the sacrifices in the process.

Pathfinder had gained control of the 7th floor and three continents in a single battle. They had secured the strength to fight against destruction.

And nine died,

And I collected Iron Blood’s remains.

A few drops of blood mixed with magical metal and Philosopher’s Stone, I gulped down.

It was bitter and sour.