Even among all the magical towers in the world, the magical tower in Sunewick was considered the best. The interior of the magical tower, which seemed to stretch up to the sky and exude an unshakable presence, was on the brink of exploding into an enormous conflict. The conflict was intense enough for it to be categorized as a war.

Bam! Bam!

All kinds of magic flew around with the stairs in the center. Fireballs and water bombs were thrown and thunder and wind magic were sometimes added in. Many magic attacks were offset by each other, and some bounced off and hit the walls or stairs. However, not a single magic could make a dent on the magical tower.

“It’s great that the tower is tough!” Zich said this while slicing a fireball flying towards him. From behind, Lyla created tens of fireballs at once and literally bombed the upper floors. Their enemies hiding behind the top of the stairs let out screams and magic stopped coming from them for a short time. Zich used that opening to jump up to the top floor.

“The magical tower is not just tough! It also decreases the power of magic! It’s fundamentally tiring to use magic here!” After letting out a powerful magic, Lyla complained unlike her usual self.

Zich loudly laughed, and while cutting down an enemy blocking him, he said, “Hang in there! It’s just the magical tower’s defense system working! I warned you about this before!”

The tower’s defense system was a system that activated when people invaded the tower. There were several functions of the defense system, but the most basic ones were strengthening the tower’s physical structure through mana and interfering with magic activation. When the defense system was activated, the magic interference effect that was usually only in the dungeon exponentially increased and spread to the rest of the magical tower.

Naturally, the magic interference effect lessened as one went up the tower. Therefore, when a fight occurred inside the tower, the people on the upper floors had a clear advantage against people on the lower floors. It was a system that effectively stopped mages from attacking and invading the tower. Unfortunately, this effect was clearly being exploited right now as well.

Bang! Bang!

Mages began pouring down magic from the upper floors. Their magic was significantly weaker than the magic they usually used, but the mages’ magic on the lower floors was literally a level weaker. However, the mages on the lower floors were slowly pushing their enemies back and climbing up.

Baaang!

It was thanks to Lyla who continued to send out astounding magic without getting hampered by the magic hindering effect—

Crunnch! And Zich who ripped apart all the magic that flew towards them. Of course, Hans wielding Estellade and Snoc using mithril to attack his opponents also played a large part in pushing back the enemy’s forces.

“Hmm.” The old mage, Alben, let out a small cry as he watched Zich and his companions. He knew who they were. Of course, he didn’t know them well; he just knew them from the rumors going around in the magical tower.

Zich and his companions were the evil group that had kidnapped the master’s granddaughter, Elena Dwayne. At the same time, they were also the main reason why this whole conflict had started in the magical tower in the first place. He obviously didn’t have a favorable impression of them at all. Frankly, he thought that collaborating with them felt extremely uncomfortable and unpleasant. However, it was also true that Wayne Jaewick and his group had started a coup, captured the master, and locked Alben and other mages up in the dungeon. Thus, Alben decided to cooperate with Zich and his companions with the mindset that an enemy of an enemy was a foe; that was how desperate he was.

However, Alben soon contemplated why Zich and his companions decided to form an alliance with them. ‘…Wouldn’t it have been enough by themselves?’

The magic interference effect greatly reduced the capabilities of mages on their side, including Alben’s magic. Moreover, the mages on the other side were also experiencing a less but still significant decrease in their magic powers.

However, Zich and his companions, excluding Lyla, were not hampered by the magic interference effect in the first place, and Lyla was strong enough to overcome the tower’s defense system. Thus, the tower’s defense system actually created a thoroughly favorable environment for Zich and his companions.

Even though it was good that the people on his side were strong, it was a serious problem if they became his enemies later on. Alben fell into deep thought. However, Zich and his companions paid no attention to Alben’s concerns and continued to push forward with great speed.

“We’ve arrived at the 11th floor!”

When Zich said this, Alben pointed at the 11th floor corridor with his staff and said, “Our enemies might be here! Check all the rooms!”

The mages began to gather all together on the 11th floor. Zich signaled to Hans and Snoc with his eyes so that they could help with the search.

“I’m also going to say this to everyone—don’t look at other people’s research! If anyone gets caught looking at the progress of another mage’s research, I’m going to use the rest of my life to kick them out!” Alben raised his voice.

“That person is pretty good.” While heading towards the staircase that connected the 11th and 12th floors, Lyla murmured to herself from behind Zich.

Zich glanced back. “I investigated a bit and he’s not from an elite family nor is he strong enough to participate in the top mages conference, but he’s a highly reputable mage. Even though he’s not from a high-ranking family and he doesn’t have much talent in magic, he gave up on having a family, friend, and high status to research magic. Just by this, he was close to gaining the rights to participate in the top mages conference. He also holds the highest rank among all the mages in the dungeon.”

“He sounds like an amazing person.” Lyla could trust a person like that to carry through with his words. Then she looked past the stairs to the upper floor. “I’m glad everything is going pretty smoothly. I don’t think our side received much damage.”

“They made the mistake of activating the tower’s defense system. It’s working great against them.”

“If we continue like this, everything will go smoothly, right? If everything goes according to plan, the people who were being locked up separately will also escape and help us fight against the coup’s forces.”

“If everything goes according to plan.”

“…Did you create another ploy?” Lyla asked with suspicion in her voice.

“What do you mean ‘ploy’? I just imagined something bad. The magic interference effect isn’t the only function of the tower’s defense system. It also has something a bit more dangerous.”

“Something dangerous?”

“You must be talking about the final device.”

Lyla turned back in surprise. Without her noticing, Alben had crept up right behind her. Did he perhaps hear them talking about their plan? However, there was no change in expression on Alben’s face. Moreover, there was no way Zich would reveal important information when someone was approaching them.

Lyla worked to maintain a neutral face and asked, “Did you just say final device?”

Just hearing it sounded ominous. However, Alben replied with a light tone as if they had nothing to worry about. “Don’t worry. Since it’s a final device, only the master can activate it, and the current master will never activate it—even if his son and granddaughter’s lives are at stake.”

Lyla paused and then said, “…Then it might be better if he actually activates it.”

“…”

Alben looked at the beauty in front of him. She was probably the genius mage who had taught Elena. Her magic was amazing like the rumors said. It was enough to make his jealousy, which he thought he had thrown away years ago, come flaming back again. Although he was able to extinguish the fires of jealousy through his years of mental cultivation, a question popped up in his mind. The name Elena had come out of this woman’s mouth a few times now, and there was deep concern in her voice whenever she mentioned Elena’s name.

‘…Are they really the people who kidnapped Elena?’ At the very least, it seemed as if Lyla wouldn’t try to harm Elena.

Lyla tightly clutched her staff. Even though Zich assured her that Elena was safe, and Lyla also thought she was probably safe, she wasn’t able to fully control her emotions. ‘Yeah, like Zich said, Elena is probably safe. Then, it would be better if Walwiss doesn’t activate the final devi…’

Lyla stopped her thoughts as Zich was swinging Windur noisily in front of her. However, his face was looking towards her direction with a strange smile on his face.

‘…Perhaps!’ Lyla strongly thought that her companion, who was like a villain, had done something useless; no, she was certain of it.

* * *

A large group of people was at the top floor of the magical tower. It was a special place reserved for the master of the magical tower, and not many outsiders entered the top floor unless there was a special event like the top mages conference. However, the top floor was filled with people, including Wayne Jaewick, who were all the leaders of the coup. Their plans had progressed successfully. They were able to capture the master of the tower, many reputable mages, Sunewick’s mayor, and other high officials. Their plan had worked so well that it made them almost wonder if it was okay that everything was running so smoothly. However, the most important part of their plan was its ending. Wayne and his group still had to nicely settle the ragged situation that they had ripped and cut apart to achieve their goals. Regardless of how well they carried out their plans, if they messed up the end, their plan would end up as a failure.

If everything went according to plan, Walwiss would now use the coup to get rid of his true political opponents, granting authority and power to Wayne and his forces who instigated the coup. In order to achieve this goal, Wayne acted as the villain and staged a coup. Even though he felt frightful and nervous, he worked hard to obtain the sweet fruits of his effort. Moreover, it hadn’t been long, but Wayne recalled how he felt when he found out that the person leading them was actually the master, Walwiss Dwayne.

When Wayne first learned of this, his shock was immense. He couldn’t believe that the opponent they had to work the hardest to defeat was on their side. He praised the master’s intelligence and guts. Then, he was certain of his plan’s success. Who would imagine that the two opposing forces fighting against each other in the magical tower were actually on the same side? Just thinking about this had made Wayne want to burst out in laughter.

However, all of his plans and dreams were crashing down upon him.

“Ah, damn it!”

Crash! Wayne strongly hit the floor with his staff. His extremely expensive staff didn’t break from this movement. However, mages normally took great care of their staffs, and there were very few people who would treat their staffs like this. Wayne’s actions clearly reflected how angry he was. Tied up in a chair with silver cuffs, Walwiss looked at him with a cold expression.

“What are you staring at me for!” Wayne grabbed Walwiss’ collar; there was a crazed look on his face. “You’re the one who sent us the codes! You’re the one who made all the plans! You’re the one who led us!”

A pathetic, dirty, and extremely desperate cry came out from Wayne. However, Walwiss still spoke coldly. “I don’t know what kind of misunderstanding you have but… I never instigated this coup and I never sent a code to you guys. You either had some kind of serious misunderstanding or were played by another person.”

“D-don’t make me laughhhhh!”

Crash! Wayne threw Walwiss on the ground. Walwiss fell onto the ground, and his body rolled. His head also began bleeding, but his expression did not change.

“Are you—are you trying to throw us away?” Wayne said as if he was cursing Walwiss. “You’re trying to use us and throw us away! You had no plans to share your power with us!”

“I’m saying this again but…” Walwiss glared at Wayne and said, “It’s not me. And if I did start a conspiracy like that, do you think I would join hands with low-lives like all of you?”

“This bastard!”

Kick! Wayne kicked him. Walwiss let out a groan as he received a heavy blow against his old body. However, Wayne kicked him several more times.

“H-hey! What are you going to do now!” Another mage grabbed Wayne’s shoulder and desperately asked, “You said that the master was definitely on our side! Wasn’t that the reason why we made this plan in the first place!”

“Hey! Answer, Wayne Jaewick!”

Wayne heard his comrades—no, pieces of trash start barking. People who obediently followed his words, even before he revealed to them that Walwiss was the one who was ordering them, were now pushing all the responsibility on him.

Wayne let out a laugh in shock. His ultimate dream of becoming the next master was flying far away. No, it didn’t just end with his dream being crushed, his life and the Jaewick family was at serious risk. However, he couldn’t let it end like this. He couldn’t just be played like this and do nothing.

Wayne pushed away the pieces of trash rushing towards him and glared at Walwiss. “So you’re not the mastermind behind this plan?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Wayne smirked. “Then tell me. How do I know about this?”

Wayne began walking away.