A wizard from the Magic Tower was murdered. The circumstances and evidence at hand eliminated the probability of suicide.
…Obviously, murder isn’t something one can accomplish alone.
And in this vast snowy field, Lukas could only sense the presence of one other person.
[Is it certain that this man is a wizard from Tower 77?]
Residue first brought up the possibility of other probabilities.
“Definitely.”
[How can you be sure?]
“This robe.”
Lukas coldly touched the stiff robe with his palm.
“Not all the administrators wore robes, but those who did had one thing in common.”[A commonality?]
“Yes. Something special was mixed in.”
[Just that…]
“It's not just anything. I haven’t been able to explain what exactly was mixed into this robe.”
He sighed before continuing.
“…Honestly, I don't even have a guess. It feels similar to when I saw The Beginning Wizard’s mask.”
[Hmm…]
“…It doesn't seem to be the same material that made up the mask, but nonetheless, if this wizard is from the outside world, the probability that he shared a common trait unique only to the Magic Tower's people is incredibly low.”
[I see.]
Residue acknowledged this late realization, and Lukas looked up at the sky.
In this area, free from blizzards, the pitch-black night sky was clearly visible.
…What kind of place is this universe?
It's one of the Three Thousand Worlds connected to the Magic Tower, but that's all Lukas knows. He hardly has any knowledge about the characteristics of this universe, much less this planet he's currently standing on.
Maybe it’s something like an ice planet that’s frozen all over.
…What could Min Ha-rin be doing in such a place?
Searching for Hope Herb? No. That's just a preparation for ‘something else' Min Ha-rin intends to do.
Min Ha-rin has not disclosed her own purpose.
Lukas felt a strong premonition that he needed to know what that ‘something' she was going to do was.
─Some chaos that struck the Magic Tower,
Could it be related to Min Ha-rin?
If what she intends to do involves causing chaos in the Magic Tower, or if it extends even to destruction itself…
[You also need to make a decision.]
Residue muttered.
‘…That’s a problem for after I hear the circumstances.'
Lukas sighed again.
[You aren’t thinking of restraining your power even in this situation, are you?]
“…….”
He turned around.
The swirling blizzard was still visible beyond the thin wall. It had been just over 30 minutes since he had arrived here.
Lukas stepped back into the cold snowflakes.
Something had changed. The moment the snowflakes touched Lukas, they began to disappear like fog. More precisely, they instantly turned into liquid and melted away, evaporating before even wetting the ground.
Fwoosh, a tremendous amount of steam exploded around Lukas. The heat he emitted began to affect not only the surrounding environment but also the climate.
[You insolent fool!]
A harsh voice boomed in his ears.
Lukas stopped walking and slightly raised his head.
Whoosh—
The blizzard that had disappeared started swirling again, and an aberrant presence revealed itself. Now that he had unleashed his power, it was easy to identify what this being was.
‘Ice Spirit', possessing considerable latent power. At least at the Spirit King Level.
Perhaps it's not just the ruler of this vicinity but also the lord of the planet.
[Who dares to release heat in my abode, an insolent act, if ever there was one? Did you not realize that such behavior clearly violates our agreement?]
“I am not a wizard of the Magic Tower.”
Lukas curtly responded, and the Ice Spirit scoffed.
[How ludicrous. You appeared in this world suddenly. Without any forewarning. Your arrival was much more abrupt than if you had fallen from the sky. Do you think I wouldn’t recognize that as the Magic Tower’s doing?]
Explaining his relationship with the Magic Tower was a terribly tedious task. Above all, the Ice Spirit was quite enraged, making it seem unlikely that they could have a proper conversation.
Lukas pointed in the direction he had come from, where the body of the wizard lay.
“Look over there. Isn’t that the body of the wizard you had an agreement with?”
[That is…]
The Ice Spirit's gaze shifted over Lukas's shoulder.
“When I arrived, he had already been attacked and was dead—”
[So it turns out you weren't a wizard of the tower but an intruder!]
What nonsense is this?
“Don't be mistaken. It wasn’t me; it was some other being…”
[Who sent you here? Did you take this ‘Biofrost’ for a fool?]
“…So, I’m just the one who found the scene. If I had killed the wizard, I wouldn’t be talking to you so openly.”
[I never liked you lot from the start! Good riddance… I shall show you how bitterly cold the winter can be!]
“…….”
Suddenly, something snapped in Lukas’s mind.
[Just beat him up a bit.]
Residue said nonchalantly.
[Historically, that has been the remedy.]
* * *
A moment later, the Ice Spirit kneeled and said,
[I, I apologize. I did not recognize you, the absolute being.]
“…….”
Lukas was not the Absolute Being, but he did not affirm or deny the Ice Spirit's words. It was hard to articulate his current state in just a few words.
‘I’ve wasted unnecessary time here.’
Tsk, Lukas clicked his tongue as he glared at the Ice Spirit. The Ice Spirit flinched under his gaze, but Lukas felt no sympathy.
Should I just annihilate it?
Lukas suppressed the rising impulse and said,
“What happened here?”
[What?]
“As the ruler of this area, you should have a rough understanding of the situation. Tell me what you know.”
The Ice Spirit hesitated for a moment before speaking.
[I do not know.]
“What?”
[I have grasped nothing.]
“…….”
[I, truly. I have been unconscious until just recently.]
Lukas paused.
“…Unconscious? You, a spirit?”
[Yes. It’s the first time in thousands of years this has happened to me… After regaining consciousness, I could not even muster a hundredth of my original power.]
The Ice Spirit said with a sullen face.
“…What about other intruders besides me?”
[What?]
“There’s someone in the cave in that direction. Were you unaware of her presence too?”
[Yes, yes.]
The Ice Spirit said with a face devoid of honor.
Lukas frowned.
…Of course, if it's Min Ha-rin now, it wouldn’t be difficult for her to commit a murder without catching the attention of the Ice Spirit, but the fact that it was unconscious bothers me.
[Ah.]
Suddenly, the Ice Spirit spoke up.
[I don’t know if I should say this… but just before I passed out, I think I saw a pitch-black darkness.]
“Pitch-black darkness?”
[Yes. It was quite blurry, almost like a dream.]
“…….”
Lukas asked the Ice Spirit a few more questions afterward, but there was nothing more to glean.
After letting the creature go, he headed back towards the cave and arrived in the blink of an eye.
“…….”
Inside the cave,
Min Ha-rin was still sitting there.
Her eyes closed, her head bowed, she hadn't changed at all from when he had left.
She appeared to be either immersed in thoughts, in contemplation, or perhaps in the midst of meditation.
But Lukas knew none of that was true.
Min Ha-rin was awake, and her attention was directed at Lukas.
“You left without a word.”
With a soft voice, her only eye opened.
“Where have you been?”
A soft voice approached Lukas as if probing his intentions.
“From where you came.”
“……”
Their gazes met.
Min Ha-rin's eyes were like glass, not mirrors.
Glass that cannot contain light can neither reflect nor hold anything.
However, Lukas continued to look into those eyes as if he were half-enchanted.
Then she said,
“─Lukas Trowman.”
The moment she spoke his name,
He could not react with surprise, or show any other reaction.
That was because, at that moment, the cave ceiling collapsed. Ice-mixed stone fragments fell like hail, and the real cause of the cave's destruction became visible.
It looked like a murky form of liquid, leaving elongated footprints as it fell.
Like endlessly stretching icicles, where the liquid passed, pitch-black fissures remained as if drawn with a brush.
─A sudden, eerie fear chilled his heart.
Lukas had experienced this fear before.
The ‘Apocalypse' he had seen through the Spring of Wisdom.
The darkness that surrounded that apocalypse, the sensation was strikingly similar to when he had encountered it.
Kwaaa!
Without hesitation, Lukas unfolded the Void. He had completely forgotten about the constraints he had set for himself at that moment.
Gwaang!
The unfolded Void took the form of a barrier. However, it was useless. The falling droplets of darkness, as if they had the properties of a strong acid, penetrated the barrier effortlessly. It seemed as though they simply passed through without any hindrance.
Lukas was shocked that the Void he deployed had no effect whatsoever.
[Unleash the power of Omniscience!]
Following Residue's advice, Lukas invoked ‘Thunder' and used Omniscience.
Everything around him turned into forms of information and was sucked into his brain.
“……!”
And Lukas understood what the droplets of darkness were.
They were death.
They were annihilation, and it was the ‘most perfect destruction' Lukas had ever observed.
The droplets were obliterating ‘all space' they passed through without leaving any trace.
Through his heightened senses, Lukas came to one conclusion.
‘…There’s no way to block it.'
If it couldn't be blocked, the answer was to evade.
He identified spots where the droplets weren’t falling and moved his body there. At the same time, he looked at Min Ha-rin.
The moment he used Omniscience, he realized.
These droplets were not deployed by Min Ha-rin. The timing was very intricate, nonetheless.
‘In the [Minimal Time Zone], she’s not skilled enough to enter.’
Lukas shook his head at the sudden thought.
As Residue said, it was obvious.
The space Lukas had now entered was a scene not even allowed for twenty people across all universes.
─It blurs the consciousness that was clear.
Time, which had been moving slowly, returned to its original flow, and right after the destruction resumed, Lukas nudged Min Ha-rin.
“…Ah.”
Staggering, Min Ha-rin took a few steps back.
“There.”
He continued, looking at her as she stopped abruptly.
“Don’t move a step from there for 13 seconds.”
Lukas briefly warned her and then left the cave. There were things he needed to see for himself, but first, he had to figure something out.
He had memorized all the points where the droplets were falling, so there was no risk.
Immediately after exiting the cave, Lukas looked up at the sky. The blizzard had already stopped, so he could immediately see what was happening.
It was a sight you'd expect at the end of an apocalypse.
The sky was crying murky tears.
Within the fissures that ripped through space, ominous liquid flowed like sand from a broken hourglass, pouring down like a waterfall.
The recent assault on the cave was just a small part of a much larger flow, like a river.
[‘Apocalypse’…]
The moment Residue murmured that word, Lukas felt his fingertips freeze as if they were icing over.
“So, it was you, Master, after all.”
A dry voice came from behind.
13 seconds had already passed.
Lukas turned around and saw Min Ha-rin standing in front of the cave.
“You’re still alive.”
“…Yes.”
Denying it till the end could be one method, but there was no reason to. Moreover, from Min Ha-rin’s demeanor, it seemed she had somewhat guessed this from the start.
A brief silence.
Lukas used this time to slowly observe his disciple, and he realized that she showed neither joy nor surprise, not even the slightest disturbance.
Has our reunion now become so meaningless to her?
“…….”
Min Ha-rin opened and closed her mouth repeatedly.
It looked like she was carefully selecting her words.
“I’m glad.”
The voice that eventually flowed out was still clear and emotionless.
…It’s joyful yet bitter.
But.
“I’m sorry.”
Then, Min Ha-rin bowed her head deeply.
Her voice was still dry.
“…I’m sorry.”
When she repeated the same words again, Lukas’s mouth fell open slightly.
…Something is off.
There might be no emotional response to our reunion. Expecting joy from her here might just be Lukas’s own desire.
…But this situation?
The sky is crumbling, and from it flows a murky liquid, in this landscape of destruction.
…How can she not be disturbed at all? How can she not feel fear even upon seeing ‘that'?
─All I see is that… but perhaps she has sacrificed even more than it seems.
Suddenly, Residue’s words came to mind.
Besides eyes and arms, what she had sacrificed.
At this moment, Lukas realized what it was.
Min Ha-rin had lost her emotions.
*****
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