Chapter 78 Slow Client (1)
Chapter 78: Slow Client (1)
Edited by : Vasosulf
Slow Client (1)
“We are keeping an eye on that monster approaching the north gate. As soon as the first report came in via the telecommunications server, I dispatched people to every town to confirm it.”
“A monster, you say?”
‘What is this monster that everyone is talking about?
Can a monster just pop out?’
“The report stated that it looked like a boney undead lizard. It was slow and didn’t seem to be attacking any humans…by now, the first team should’ve reached their position.”
‘A boney lizard walking on two feet?
Could be a one-of-a-kind thing.’
The monster that was seen underground of the Ivory Tower in the past.
No, the line from the Dragonian household.
‘Then, a dragon?’
As Ian was searching for a possible explanation, his mind came up with a dragon. It is difficult to be certain, but typically, in these cases, an unexpected scenario was never out of the question.
“What’s its exact location?”
“It’s approaching from the Imperial capital’s direction. It crossed Rolf Village and…”
Ian stared at the gate attached to the road. Its exact location was a little off the mark from the south gate. Already, countless mages from the Imperial Forces were gathered in the middle of the south gate. Little by little, formations were being made.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The aggressive magic of the mages was very strong. The ‘boney lizard’ could be described as a body with large bones. Only the head of the ‘boney lizard’ looked like a skull, but overall, the body was that of a human.
“What, what…!”
One eye was focusing on the attacks of the mages, but not a single bone was wavering on the boney lizard. It was like virtually every attack was being absorbed.
‘Isn’t it better to stay away from this?’
“Doesn’t make any sense…”
“I-I’m not dreaming, am I?”
These were the agitated words of the mages; they didn’t know what kind of action the monster would take. It was only moving forward. Its destination was the capital of the empire, Greenriverdum.
“Prepare to use ice wall.”
The absence of Ian was abnormal, so a few senior mages who were ahead took the liberty to command the rest of the mages. In the middle of nowhere, all the mages were pouring out their abilities to halt the advance of the boney creature.
“Spread out in all directions!”
The solid barriers of ice were summoned, surrounding the boney monster from all four cardinal directions. It could no longer move.
Bang!
The walls of ice were wailing.
Kwang!
Sounds of the barrier that was breaking from the inside could be heard.
Bang! Kwang! Bang!
The lizard managed to penetrate the wall.
Not only a single layer, but all the layers of the barrier.
Bang!
It is difficult for even siege weapons to break through the wall, but it was an easy feat to accomplish for the boney monster.
And he was back on track to head towards the Imperial capital.
But he was still not attacking any humans.
“Where the hell is the monster…?”
Senior Mage Ronan muttered as he lost his cool. This was the first time that he saw a monster like this. Even when the mages were constantly attacking it, it was not counter-attacking.
‘And where the hell is the monster going?’
“Excuse me!”
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The mages were getting ready before entering, followed by the Imperial army in the rear. The Imperial army horseback riders were divided into two teams and were on the move. With horses equipped with chains, the riders continued to mount dozens of attacks in an effort to trip the monster.
“Heiiiiiiing!”
After waiting for a moment, the horses that were running lifted their front feet and cried out. While running, they began to tighten the chains around the boney monster, but it wasn’t being dragged.
Thousand of attacks were launched, but the monster couldn’t be taken down.
“It, it doesn’t make any sense…”
The mages of the Ivory Tower greeted the monster with a sophisticated look after witnessing the scenario, but the Imperial army was overwhelmed with embarrassment. One thought surfaced to mind.
“Support has arrived…”
The siege army and many mages stepped onto the field, but their efforts were fruitless. Nothing was able to be accomplished.
“For starters, step back.”
The moment when helplessness filled the advancement team.
Everyone heard the voice, making them relieved.
The voice was amplified with mana.
“Tower lord…?”
The kind of support which would help mitigate the overwhelming difference, also known as the most powerful weapon of the empire. The Ivory Tower’s Ian Page was arriving on scene with a pure white unicorn.
“Tower Lord has been late!”
“All of you back off! We have come from the Ivory Tower!”
Ian got down from the unicorn and stepped in front of the enormous boney monster. The skull of the monster was more similar to that of a lizard, so this was what he expected.
‘Dragon.’
It was larger than what was previously seen underground in the Ivory Tower, but compared to its size, it seems more powerful than before. It was clear that this was a dragon. No, to be precise….
‘It was an empty shell’
Just as the fairy queen had explained, its physical appearance was akin to an empty shell. The body had no soul.
‘By any chance, did he come for revenge?’
There were only two possible answers for moving towards Greenriverdum, the Imperial capital. One, was to get Ian, while the other was to find the fairy queen who came from a similar lineage.
‘First, let’s halt its advance.’
They advanced towards the monster to stop it. No one wanted the dragon’s shell to reach the city. It was the same for Ian. Otherwise, won’t a lot of disturbances arise?
‘If physical force is not enough to stop it…
We should take care of the advances that are being made.
There are additional methods to stop it.’
“Entangle.”
The entangle spell invoked vines from the ground. Though it was a low class spell, when a 6th class mage used it, it was a different story. Ian touched the floor with his staff, and many vines came out from the below and flooded to the top. The mages were surprised at the vastness of the spell.
“That is ‘entangle,’ right…?”
The mages’ confusion was one matter, but what about the Imperial army soldiers were wholly unfamiliar? They stared at the spell Ian casted with their mouths wide open. No need to think about the mages, since their bodies were stiff as if paralyzed.
“Catch it.”
One word from Ian.
A word that people could not have heard cleared through the numerous vines. The vines immediately locked onto the empty shell dragon and rushed towards it. The boney lizard’s limbs, neck, and body were covered by the vines.
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Ujik! Ujijik!
Though there were numerous vines, it didn’t seem to be sufficient. The dragon lifted its arms, and the vines were uprooted. It indeed possessed great strength. It was a different opponent than the one from the Ivory Tower in the past.
“Summoning.”
Ian was definitely not done. He calmly drew a circle. He wanted to use a complicated spell to summon the spirit of a wolf, a unicorn, or a salamander; something that was summoned began coming out of the circle.
“The eternal spirit of Earth, Noice.”
The higher spirit of Earth, ‘Noice’
A giant with earthly skin came out.
Its size was not much less compared to the dragon’s.
“Noice, below that creature.”
With a brief command, the large body surfaced from the floor. How many seconds have passed since then? A big palm surfaced from underneath the feet of the dragon who was tearing the vines apart. The hands of Noice became lightly tattered.
“Bury.”
The command from Ian was brief.
But Noice understood the command and immediately grabbed both ankles of the dragon.
Kung! Kkung! Khyuung!
And it started to drag the dragon into the ground before squeezing it into a pit.
There was no hesitation, no clogging.
The pit was the will of Noice.
The pit wasn’t a result of force, but the result of sincerity.
“…….”
Even the mages who were familiar with this spell were astonished. Witnessing this sight, what words could they mutter?
The boney monster which didn’t even stop for a second despite being buried in numerous magic spells before was now buried in an instant.
“Haah!”
Ian gave out a huge sigh and proceeded towards the pit.
To finish it off.
“Cio Oiv Lava”
Ian was calling for lava to submerge the pit.
There was no way for the dragon to remain inside lava.
(Fairies……… Queen……….. with……..human being?)
A voice appeared inside Ian’s head.
It sounded similar to that of the fairy queen.
But it definitely wasn’t the voice of a woman.
It was a heavy and slow-paced voice.
‘…?’
Ian thought of him from the order.
And he peered at the face of the dragon.
The dragon was looking out from the pit.
His gnarled eyes were now a little blue.
‘A soul?’
In the past when they met the dragon in the underground of the Ivory Tower, the fairy queen stared into the eyes of the dragon and informed him of the absence of its soul before telling him to attack it freely.
Previously, the boney eyes were empty, but a blue shine was now present in them.
“It’s not a shell after all?”
Said Ian after lowering his body. And he did not forget to cast the silence spell. It was an intangible spell and the mana was sprinkled on the land. Fortunately, nobody could notice that.
(The shell…….. is talking…….. like this. Right now……. I’m ……. not an……… empty shell. The shell………… had the…………… name Sparto.)
A slow-paced walk along with suitable words. Suddenly, he recalled the words that the fairy queen stated in the Ivory Tower in the past. Wouldn’t it have been nice to not hear the frustrating voice of the empty shell?
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‘That is what happened.’
Without realizing it, Ian nodded his head.
The dragon spoke about ‘Sparto’.
There was a lot that he wanted to ask, and now was a good time.
“What is the reason for you to come here?”
He had to ask about it, and he chose what to ask.
(To……….. meet……….. the fairy………. Queen.)
“The queen?”
(Tough to……….. understand………. the reason. Wish……. to talk with opponents ……….. no one other than her ……… need to find her only.)
Ian heard till that and then began to look around.
‘I knew that something was the matter with the dragon.’
Now he understood that it was here to meet someone, but that created a new problem; he was not the enemy.
‘How do I get him out?’
There were many eyes that were watching.
More will arrive soon.
This was not a situation to share the story.
“Firstly, I understand that you have come to meet with the fairy queen. The problem is that this it the wrong way. What are we supposed to do if you come here like this?”
(There was……… no other way.)
Okay. There was no other way.
But it wasn’t necessary to continue like this.
‘How to circumvent this situation…’
Ian didn’t see a way out.
(There……. must…….. be……… one……….. way out.)
“What way?”
(It is………… simple.)
After replying, the dragon didn’t move a muscle. Instead, the blue light emitting from the skull disappeared. The soul that was inside its body looked like it was coming out of the shell.
(Please……… process it. Your………. magic……. can……. damage….. the empty shell.)
The weakened shell would end by the process. That was what the words of the dragon meant. It was much smarter than he thought, compared to the his slow speech.
“Cio Oiv Lava.”
Ian summoned the lava, and it began flow inside. As scorching hot lava was filling the pit, Senior Mage Deckard arrived on the scene.
“What is happening? The monster?”
Deckard was in charge of the reinforcements.
He asked Ronan.
“Whatever…I think it is over.”
“What? How?”
“The Tower Lord…”
Deckard took a closer look at the scene before his eyes.
There was a large and deep pit with smoke arising out of it.
He just missed the monster that was in the pit.
“Hooo…”
Deckard wasn’t able to witness the entire situation. The Tower Lord solved it by himself, and that was all there was to it. Ronan, on the other hand, had the privilege of viewing it directly.
He witnessed the overwhelming power difference of the 6th class mage.
“It was more of a monster…than what I thought.”
Ronan was furiously murmuring.
“A monster? The monster talks?”
Deckard sensed something and asked.
“No, the Tower Lord. The new head of ours.”
Ronan shook his head and answered.
At that voice, he was stunned.
The 6th class which had only been recently measured and recorded.
And the 6th class just a while back he had witnessed with his eyes.
‘Do I have the courage to reach it?’
There was a lot of gap in the power.
“The lord of Ivory Tower, I seem to have regained my senses. I’m certain that what he displayed, that power…”
If that kind of power was witnessed, one will have a desire to reach the pinnacle. Specifically, Ronan, the senior mage. In the entirety of all mages, is there no one who can be classified as a genius? But even a genius will feel overwhelmed in this case; however, he did not even desire to reach that level.
“Deckard.”
“I’m listening.”
“If you won’t mind…I plan on following him.”
“What do you mean?”
The endless suggestion of Ronan.
The suggestion was simple.
“From now on, everything that he does, I hope to follow. Whatever it is…he seems to have transcended beyond humanity.”
Ronan’s eyes peered in that direction.
Ivory Tower’s Ian Page.
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