#1
Avatars emerged from all over the forest.
Every one of them wore the same emblem, their eyes gleaming with pure amusement.
Death Valley’s emblem was stamped all over them.
Not five, but more than ten people wore clothes bearing that same insignia.
Were they exploiting the matchmaking?
Probably not.
More likely, they had simply been lucky enough to end up in the same session.
“It’s Lord 93. Lord 93!”
“Oh, I’m a fan.”
“Are you filming? How about we give you some good footage?”
They snickered as they raised their weapons.
Hwanung was dumbfounded by their manner, which made it hard to tell whether they meant well or ill.
They were certainly an odd bunch of characters.
Death Valley took enjoyment of the towers quite literally.
Other Climbers considered them a thorn in their side, but they never let that discourage them.
Just like now.
“And! There’s what you did to our guys last time!”
“They attacked me first.”
“Ah, we don’t know anything about that!”
They giggled like mischievous children.
His summons raised their weapons to meet their hostility.
Whirrrr.
The drone flew around, beginning to film in earnest.
“Shall we dispose of them?”
“Yes. There are a lot of them, so be careful.”
“Everyone, to your positions. Prepare for battle.”
Eyas, the highest-ranked summon, drew her hwando and announced the start of combat.
The summons moved in perfect order at her words.
Hwanung decided to stay at the back and act as commander.
‘Let’s see how the footage turns out.’
The enemies belonged to a variety of classes.
Skills flew everywhere, adding to the spectacle.
Eyas cut straight through them.
Racing past Lucas, their dependable front liner, she struck out alone like a wild horse charging across the battlefield.
The Land Wolves followed her, advancing to tear through the enemy ranks.
Behind Eyas and the Land Wolves, Lucas, the Steel Shield Bearer, and the rest of the front line settled into a dogged contest of strength.
“Oh, that’s insane!”
“These are summons!?”
“Don’t let them break through!”
The Death Valley avatars threw themselves enthusiastically into the fight.
Avatars climbing Sobaeksan-grade towers generally had stats in the mid-to-high thirties.
Seeing his summons fight them without giving an inch, Hwanung could tell his forces had grown stronger.
“Come out.”
Ten minutes had passed, and another N-rank summon appeared.
He wasn’t far from his tenth summon now. He just needed to draw things out a little.
“Jina, hit them with a big one.”
“Okay! Leave it to me!”
Jina swung her staff, tracing a magic circle.
Fwoooosh!
An enormous mass of flame awoke, writhing like a dragon.
Some might call it a mere third-circle spell, but to the people fighting in a Sobaeksan-grade tower, it was practically a disaster.
[Mana Amplification]
[Doubles magic damage for one attack.]
[Afterward, the summon’s casting speed decreases by 30%.]
One big hit.
An enormous fireball took shape.
Spotting it, the ranged damage dealers launched projectiles at Jina.
“Not so fast!”
“Argh! Those bastards are way too good at blocking!”
Hwanung’s summons moved as though they were a single body.
They fought as a unit, compensating for each other’s weaknesses and carefully filling every gap.
And ahead of them, Eyas was the undisputed highlight, toying with her enemies through sheer superiority in stats.
“How is she that fast!?”
“Hehe. That’s just my afterimage. Where are you looking?”
Slash!
A base Agility of fifty.
Some might say it was only fifty, but to these people, it was a catastrophe.
Eyas moved so quickly that they couldn’t touch a hair on her head.
She was playing with them without even needing to use her skills.
Whirrrrr!
And the drone was capturing every moment.
Hwanung nodded in satisfaction at the sight.
Maybe these Death Valley guys would make good video material after all?
“Let’s finish this.”
“Yes, Master!”
After that, well, they crushed the enemy with an overwhelming stat advantage.
A truly summoner-like way to fight, you might say.
And so Death Valley went down in a blaze of glory, leaving behind some rather excellent footage.
“I’ll consider the items a donation~.”
“Oh, right!”
Naturally, he made sure to collect the items, too.
#2
While Death Valley and Hwanung spent their time brawling, the other Climbers headed for the Mage Tower.
They saw no reason to get involved in the fight between Hwanung and Death Valley.
They thought it would be more profitable to hunt monsters, or head to the Mage Tower and kill the boss.
As a result, Hwanung had fallen behind and now had to hurry.
Taking it easy when he could win would make him the hare in the tortoise-and-the-hare story.
Besides, it wasn’t as though the towers offered nothing of real-world value.
“Let’s hurry, too.”
“Yes.”
“We’ve wasted too much time. There’s so much research material in there. Can I go off on my own for a bit?”
“Sure. Though I can’t give you long.”
“Good. I have the Mage Tower’s layout in my head, so I’ll just visit the important places.”
Hwanung nodded at Jina’s words.
Even as they walked, he continued adding N-rank summons.
After adding about three more, Hwanung and his summons reached the Mage Tower’s entrance.
The doors stood wide open, and occasional sounds drifted out from inside.
There were probably plenty of monsters in the Mage Tower, too.
He assumed those were the sounds of people fighting them.
Time to split into two teams.
“Jina, how long do you think you’ll need?”
“Hmm… At least thirty minutes? I’ll need that much to look through the research materials.”
“All right. Take in as much as you can.”
“Got it. You really are the best, Master!”
Recalling the conditions for her evolution, Hwanung spoke again.
Investigating was all well and good, but she also needed to deal her share of damage to the boss.
“Let’s have you branch off on each floor as we head toward the boss room. How does that sound?”
“Good. That way, I can… see who’s up there, too.”
With that, they settled on a method for their search.
He assigned five R-rank summons to Jina.
He had Eyas with him, so they should be able to keep climbing at a brisk pace.
“There’s nothing much on the first floor. Laboratories in a Mage Tower usually start on the tenth.”
“Good. Then let’s hurry up to the tenth floor. You all heard her?”
“Yes!”
Hwanung began his climb through the Mage Tower.
#3
With every flight of stairs, Jina searched the memories faintly surfacing in her mind.
They were shrouded in fog, as though someone had deliberately hidden the important parts.
She had to investigate the Mage Tower, if only to confirm those memories.
[Intruders detected.]
Yes, she remembered those.
The magitech weapons that guarded the Mage Tower.
They were about as strong as soldiers in sturdy armor, but these artificial soldiers weren’t meant to subdue enemies in the first place.
Their sole purpose was to buy time.
“These things are weak. We can handle them ourselves.”
“Very well. Here we go!”
“Provide support!”
Jina steadily brought the weapons down with her magic.
Perhaps this Mage Tower wasn’t particularly advanced, because its weapons weren’t especially powerful, either.
Master was doing well, wasn’t he?
With Eyas there, she had no reason to worry.
“Let’s see…”
The weapons were primarily built to protect mages.
Which meant the room here was some unknown mage’s laboratory.
Drawing on the information in her still-hazy memories, Jina carefully opened the laboratory door.
The musty smell of old paper washed over her.
How much time had passed? Most of the paper had deteriorated so badly that its contents were illegible.
“Nothing worth salvaging. It would’ve been nice to at least know what they were researching.”
Just as Jina specialized in fire magic, each mage had a field they excelled in.
She had been hailed as a genius and rarely forgot anything she had seen once.
That was why she wanted to salvage some intact research and add it to her store of knowledge.
Somehow, she felt that she had to.
‘I should be able to read this.’
The cover was terribly worn, but the pages inside seemed to have survived somehow.
She carefully opened it and examined the contents.
Unfortunately, it held no magical knowledge, but a few sentences revealed what things had been like at the time.
[What sort of attack will come today?]
[There aren’t many mages left now. They must all have been called up and sent to the battlefield.]
[I remain here only because I am ■■■.]
‘Battlefield, called up… Huh?’
Jina tilted her head.
Something seemed to stir in her mind, almost within reach, but not quite.
She turned the page.
[■■ draws near. ■■ will swallow everyone. ■■! ■■! ■■!]
[■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■.]
“What is this…?”
Letters obscured by what might have been bleeding ink, or some liquid spilled across the page.
Strings of words that might have been scribbles, a diary, or simply scattered thoughts.
All of it was stirring Jina’s memories.
She clutched her throbbing head.
It was as though something was deliberately preventing her awakening.
Whenever she tried to think, the pain grew so intense that she couldn’t follow the thought any further.
In the end, she closed the book in her hands.
“…Damn it.”
She had gained nothing despite the consideration Master had shown her.
In the end, she had to leave the laboratory without any results.
It felt as though she could find something if she only dug a little deeper.
She clicked her tongue in frustration and looked elsewhere.
‘It’ll probably be the same, but I still have to try.’
Though she was bound to Master, she had been given a new life.
As a mage, she felt she almost understood.
Why things had turned out this way.
Why she had been given another chance.
‘I will uncover the truth.’
She believed no action was taken without purpose, and no miracle came without some result expected of it.
That determination drove her onward.
The moment Jina’s desire solidified, her resolve reached Hwanung as well.
[Jina, the Archmage’s Apprentice, has finished investigating the tower.]
[Jina’s longing grows stronger.]
“Oh.”
She had finished investigating already?
More to the point, what was she longing for?
Hwanung stroked his chin, his curiosity growing.
Progress had been quicker than expected, but he supposed that was because she was R-rank, after all.
He spotted Jina walking toward them from the distance to rejoin the group.
He asked her a question.
“Did you find anything?”
“No… Something seems to be interfering. I don’t think there’s any point in searching further.”
“Then let’s keep pushing ahead from here. All right?”
“Yeah. I’m sorry, Master, after you went to all that trouble for me.”
Hwanung chuckled and shook his head.
Then he told her something much like what he had told Eyas.
“You follow me, and I look out for you. We have to trust each other along the way, don’t we?”
“…Y-yeah, we do. You’re really something.”
“I have to take care of my own.”
Hwanung murmured the words, thinking back to his days as a Sherpa.
At that, Jina’s eyes—and those of the other summons—began to sparkle.
Feeling uncomfortable under their intense gazes, Hwanung started walking.
“We’re short on time. Let’s kill the boss and clock out.”
“Yes, Master.”
And so they reached the boss room.
There, Jina’s eyes and mouth opened wide.
“That person…?”
[Excommunicated Mage: Saxen]
It was someone Jina knew.
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