Magic Emperor

Which mage group is strongest in the Tower?

Seven out of ten would name Society, three would name Ragnarok, and two would name Magic Tower. Only about one person would even consider naming Truth Tower.

But that one person would argue with far stronger conviction than the other nine.

‘Truth Tower is the strongest! No one can stand shoulder to shoulder with His Majesty the Magic Emperor!’

When others bring objective indicators to argue, they alone insist with absolute certainty, ‘His Majesty the Magic Emperor will win anyway.’

From a step back, nothing could be more bizarre. So the disparaging nickname for Truth Tower became ‘fanatics.’

The person who introduced himself as representing the entire Cherry Blossom Continent, the mayor of Five Petal City, was just such a bizarre individual.

He had prepared a massive welcoming crowd and scattered cherry blossoms to welcome us. He approached with a bright smile and began explaining the situation without being asked.

“Welcome. Divine wizard. The fact that you’ve come to Cherry Blossom Continent means you intend to head to the 50th floor through here, correct? Leave it to me. I will guide you. Haha, but what do you think of Cherry Blossom Continent’s first impression? Isn’t it truly beautiful? Every time I see how stable this place is, I can only feel grateful and more grateful to His Majesty the Magic Emperor. Haha.”

I got chills in two ways.

I got chills at finding traces of Truth Tower right away when I had been looking for them, and I got chills at the Five Petal City mayor’s blind praise for the Magic Emperor.

His eyes sparkled as if he was incredibly delighted.

“His Majesty must have predicted this situation, as he sent magic battalions to Cherry Blossom Continent in advance. Thanks to that, we were able to endure this chaos without much confusion.”

Every single word dripped with reverence for the Magic Emperor. At this point, I had to ask.

“Were you… originally affiliated with Truth Tower?”

The mayor gently shook his head.

“How could that be? Five Petal City was a free city that belonged to no one. I too initially thought of Truth Tower as just a fanatic group. I’m ashamed to think of it now.”

The mayor smiled sheepishly and began personally guiding us to the gate leading to the Tower of Covenant.

Though his overly cooperative behavior felt suspicious, it was what we had hoped for, so we didn’t refuse. Even if we weren’t going to enter right away, it was better to confirm the gate’s location.

As the mayor had said, Cherry Blossom Continent looked safe everywhere, and the citizens of Five Petal City were living their daily lives with happy faces.

Following the mayor’s guidance, we entered an area under strict security.

From the outside, it had looked as grim as a prisoner-of-war camp, but once inside, there was only a lush garden and an old mansion covered in ivy standing quietly.

We entered the mansion and went to the left corridor on the third floor.

The corridor, old and dusty with age, was unrealistically long. The deeper we went, the darker it became, and far in the distance we could see a pitch-black vanishing point. Walking aimlessly, it felt like we might reach another world. This was the path existing in dimensional distortion—the gate leading to the Tower of Covenant.

At the front of the corridor, the mayor extended his left hand with a bright smile.

“His Majesty the Magic Emperor specifically instructed us to guide the divine wizard with proper courtesy when you arrived. He is currently down on the 50th floor, so if you pass through this corridor, you should be able to meet him immediately.”

What?

“Wait. Wait just a moment. What you’re saying sounds exactly like… His Majesty the Magic Emperor anticipated our visit?”

The mayor of Five Petal City smiled gently.

“His Majesty knows everything there is to know.”

At that answer, my eyes met with Pan-Dalus’s and the five elders’.

Everyone except Pan-Dalus had shaking eyes.

Telepathy spells fluttered between us like butterflies.

-This is too sudden a development, isn’t it?

-It’s dangerous. The opponent knew about our visit. What if they’ve laid a trap…?

-Shouldn’t we withdraw for now and approach the 50th floor through a different route?

-We need to consider the possibility that this is all a trap. In the worst case, what’s waiting beyond there might be another hostile force disguising itself as Truth Tower.

-Let’s capture the mayor first and interrogate him.

Originally, Truth Tower’s public reputation had been positive.

‘They have some bizarre aspects, but they’re friendly to all mages. They can be trusted.’

But now that the great cataclysm had occurred, there was nothing we could trust recklessly.

Now, rather than the positive evaluation that ‘they’re friendly to mages,’ the unsettling evaluation that ‘they have some bizarre aspects’ bothered us more.

Right. This is unsettling. What is Truth Tower plotting? How did they know we were coming?

No. Are we even dealing with Truth Tower right now? I can’t trust that from the start.

Only Pan-Dalus remained unshaken.

-Don’t worry. He wouldn’t stoop to such tricks. And… impersonating the Magic Emperor? That could never happen.

My god. Truth Tower really was bizarre.

I couldn’t help but feel unsettled even by Pan-Dalus, our direct superior. No matter how many times he’d met the Magic Emperor personally… where does this blind faith come from?

Pan-Dalus being a wizard shouldn’t mean he’d talk nonsense… but somehow I felt uneasy.

What kind of person is the Magic Emperor?

The eyes of the six elders, including me, met in confusion.

But had even this confusion been anticipated?

Step.

‘He’ appeared truly unexpectedly.

From the end of the long corridor said to connect to the Tower of Covenant, footsteps could be heard, and then an elderly man with neatly combed white hair slowly walked from the passage’s far side. He was alone and wore a plain white robe without any decoration. But he didn’t look modest at all. White and blue magical power stretched from behind him like a halo, and every step and hand movement carried profound mystery. Greatness that oppressed the soul.

A perfect entrance without any time to prepare mentally. Everyone was overwhelmed by his presence.

Oh Si-jin, Hedric, Ak-hu, Sonnet, Kim Ji-woong. The five elders all bowed their heads at once. Looking at their confused expressions, they seemed unaware that they were bowing.

The only ones who didn’t bow were Pan-Dalus, who wore a bitter smile, and me, tensely on guard.

“You… appear at unexpected moments again. I’ve been had.”

“It’s been a while, Pan-Dalus.”

The Magic Emperor’s deep gaze briefly rested on me and Refinement.

“You’ve always made me proud. You’ve raised excellent children.”

Calling a mage’s name casually was a great rudeness unless they were quite close. However, Pan-Dalus merely smiled bitterly without objecting.

“I couldn’t compare to Your Majesty.”

Alarm bells rang in my head.

What? What’s with this atmosphere?

The Magic Emperor was certainly no ordinary person. But no matter how extraordinary, Pan-Dalus is our representative, isn’t he? Taking such a subservient attitude isn’t right.

The Magic Emperor treating Pan-Dalus completely like a subordinate, and Pan-Dalus smiling bitterly but not objecting. I was suddenly curious about their relationship.

I narrowed my eyes and observed Pan-Dalus and the Magic Emperor.

‘That is… could that be 7th Circle?’

The Circle glowing in the Magic Emperor’s chest was very unique.

Mouth, lips, teeth, palate, tongue, vocal cords make up the 6th Circle. But the Magic Emperor had a spider web-like magical power structure separately connected to all six Circles.

‘What is that? It’s not speech organs. Rather, that looks like…’

Like a neural network extending to every part of the body, magical power spider webs connected to every Circle.

Tension mounted.

‘Well… let’s give it a try.’

I swallowed nervously. When encountering an unknown phenomenon, there was only one thing to do.

Fortunately, I had also reached 6th Circle wizard status, and my simulation capacity had increased to nearly three times what it was before.

Even if the Magic Emperor was 7th Circle, it was worth attempting.

[Simulation]

Condition burden: 840,011 Jun-woo

Simulation capacity: 8,134,756 simul

Time limit: 10 minutes

I couldn’t drag out the simulation long while facing such a threatening opponent. Consuming too much magical power would make it difficult to handle unexpected situations.

‘Exactly 1 minute. I’ll draw out a reaction within that time.’

Ding—

Darkness fell, and as the pure white Magic Emperor appeared beyond it, he immediately rang a water-colored bell.

The <Host Transformation Secret Art> used by his disciple Hwi Someong. If the Magic Emperor had also mastered the same secret art, he would show some reaction to this move.

But the Magic Emperor just looked at me with a gentle smile.

From his perspective, it would seem like we had suddenly been left alone in the middle of our conversation, yet he showed no doubt at all. It couldn’t be that he didn’t sense something wrong with the [Simulation]. Even Hwi Someong had immediately seen through the strangeness.

But the Magic Emperor just smiled. As if he already knew everything.

That irritated me.

‘Good. If the water-colored bell doesn’t work, that means he doesn’t use the <Host Transformation Secret Art> that fuses with spirits, right?’

Then, can you avoid this?

[Saaaaíiiil!]

Nearly perfect pronunciation.

The divine weapon once wielded by gods descended upon me.

Creak.

I drew the brilliantly glowing bowstring back more than thirty centimeters.

My strongest spell aimed at the Magic Emperor.

But the Magic Emperor showed no intention of dodging, just standing there looking at me.

‘What is he thinking?’

I don’t know why he’s just standing there… but you’re going to regret that decision.

Once caught in the bowstring, even if the opponent were 8th Circle instead of 7th Circle, I would have the advantage.

Swelling with confidence, I spoke.

A small suspicion that had just occurred to me.

Though the chances of being right were low, it was something that would force a reaction from the Magic Emperor if true.

“Ha! I already knew Pan-Dalus was nothing but your puppet. You’re the one who fell into the trap, Magic Emperor.”

“Hm.”

My expectation was wrong. The Magic Emperor didn’t get angry or flustered. He just chuckled quietly. He wasn’t mocking my words either. He wasn’t paying attention to my words at all. He was just analyzing and admiring me with transparent eyes.

And then…

Bang!

‘Bang?’

The Magic Emperor exploded. An enormous amount of liquid gushed from his body. Endlessly pouring liquid filled the dark simulation and drowned me.

‘Wh-what the hell? Simulation end!’

Feeling an ominous premonition, I tried to end the simulation, but my command didn’t work. Buzz. Buzz. Noise like a broken TV filled my ears.

[Error. Error occurred. Wrong record loaded. Loaded record is running wild. Overload occurring.]

‘What?’

[Forcibly disconnecting.]

Bang!

Another explosion sound came. This time from inside my head.

Blink.

My eyeball and eyelid seemed stickily stuck together. Even blinking once felt like my cornea was being torn off.

A loud ringing buzzed in my ears.

Hot blood trickled from my nose.

Pan-Dalus caught my swaying body. Through my blurry vision, I could see his troubled face.

“Oh? An insight gift? A gift that can directly access ‘records’… you really are no ordinary person.”

Deep satisfaction colored the Magic Emperor’s voice.

What, what is this bastard?

I struggled to straighten my body to avoid fainting. I brushed off Pan-Dalus’s helping hand too. This wasn’t a situation where I could be picky. Honestly, the current situation… was frightening.

‘Ari, Inggolli, Gyeolli, protect me.’

Wind spirit Ari.

And the spirits I had awakened with my remaining magical power and Philosopher’s Stones.

Fire spirit Yinggolli and water spirit Gyeolli wrapped around me protectively.

Even during this, the Magic Emperor just stood there smiling.

I bristled like a hedgehog, warily watching all directions, but he instead spread his arms wide and greeted me.

“It’s even more delightful to see you’ve grown so much. It’s been a while. Divine Mage.”