The robe burning away in smoke revealed a familiar face.
Izazel, the ‘Mountain Burner,’ couldn’t close her mouth upon realizing the identity of the man standing before her.
It was Clark, who had been chased out of the Magic Tower and was making a name for himself as a dark wizard at the time.
He was a member of an adventurer party she had encountered in the mountains of the Pejac region.
Back then, she didn’t even know who they were.
She only thought that adventurers or the Empire’s guards had been sent to hunt her due to her notorious reputation.
Although she didn’t use magic to kill people, there were cases where villagers who had lost their homes gathered money and requested the guild’s help.
Until that point, she had never worried that she might be caught.
How would they find me in a blazing inferno?
The forest, full of firewood, was no different from a mine packed with explosives for Izazel.
The place was impossible to approach, and even adventurers skilled in tracking would have given up on finding traces, seeing only the ashes.
So, she thought they would either die from the flames or leave the mountain out of frustration, as usual.
Until the moment when the fire she had spent her life unveiling was quickly consumed by darkness and a spear flew straight at her heart.
‘Ugh, I feel like I’m going to vomit…!’
Just recalling that day brought back the memory of her shattered chest, as if it were in pieces.
If it hadn’t been for the artifacts and various potions she had wrapped around her body, she would have certainly died before being handed over to the guards.
Her magic, which could have been swallowed up by the wildfire at any moment, saved her life thanks to the survival gear she had prepared.
Later, she learned that the three were hunters gathered to catch a dragon. They were a party searching through all the famous mountain ranges of the continent under a lord’s orders.
The fact that she had been captured by these future great adventurers was a point of pride even in prison.
A year later, when she succeeded in escaping from prison, it had a significant impact on the offer she received from Black Star…
‘They said they died in the Dragon Mountain range! Damn it, this is why you shouldn’t trust those b*stards…!’
To avoid encountering them again, she had periodically checked their movements, paying a huge amount of money to an intelligence organization.
The last message, saying that all three were missing after successfully subduing the dragon, had come over five years ago.
The day their identification tags were found on the steep slope of a canyon where only death remained, she had cheered with delight, stamping her feet in the hideout!
She even performed a ceremony burning the missing persons posters officially distributed by the adventurer guild. Now, she wanted to go back to that time and slap herself.
“How have you been?”
“Ah, yes… Um, I’m currently working, so if it’s not too much trouble, could I visit you after I’m done?”
“What a coincidence? I’m working too.”
“Ah~ I see! Then let’s stay far apart so we don’t interfere with each other…”
“You’re the ones interfering right now.”
F*ck, f*ck, f*ck-!
As the veins on the back of the hand gripping the spear throbbed, Izazel’s face turned pale.
She didn’t know why, but it was clear that their intervention had irritated him.
To make matters worse, a large group of people emerged from the exit of the labyrinth.
Mages from the Glesia and Mittier Schools, Black Star members, and members of the Silver Wing Knights were all gathered in one place.
“Huff, huff…!”
“We’re out, finally!!”
“Damn it, keep your voices down…!”
“Irene, make sure there are no stragglers. Owen, check the way to the next floor. Lady Mariel should be close by.”
“Understood.”
“Wait, Captain, who are these people?”
As the smoke began to clear, a heavy silence fell.
It was clear that if anyone drew a sword or gathered magical power, it would immediately turn into chaos.
The leader of the hidden sect, the representatives of the two apprentices exchanging glances, and even Clark, who was carefully examining the height of the 11th floor.
“Faster than I expected.”
“Since we don’t know how long the client will keep the peacekeepers occupied, it’s better to be quick. Shall we start soon?”
“Leave no witnesses. Or use mental contamination.”
“There shouldn’t be anyone from the Haeju School here, right?”
“What’s this ‘Mountain Burner,’ are they negotiating with us or something?”
“Where did the robe go?”
It was taken away.
As Clark made an unpleasant gesture to take it, it was quickly removed and thrown to him. Not knowing this, the dark wizards made jokes about whether they had burned their own robes by failing at magic.
The mission failure was a given, but Izazel instinctively felt that her fate hinged on the choices made at that moment.
Whether she faced the continent’s worst criminals, knights without armor or words, and apprentice mages struggling in the lower floors.
Or, whether she betrayed her companions, or rather former companions who hadn’t yet grasped the situation, by aiming her staff in the opposite direction.
The source of this mission was a high-ranking officer from the Security forces, but behind them were one of the prominent factions of the Magic Tower and even connections to the royal family.
If she chose the latter, living comfortably in the Empire would be impossible for the rest of her life.
“Did you throw it away because it was too hot?”
“Come to think of it, it’s the first time I’ve seen you without a robe.”
“Oh, even if the face is hidden by magic, the body is quite…”
“Tsk, not my type. I would have preferred it if they were blonde.”
“Your strange taste is probably only on the forum.”
“What’s wrong with honeybees!”
But damn, it can’t get any worse since she’s already being hunted.
No matter how she thought about it, stabbing criminals without any sense of loyalty or morality seemed better than fighting a dragon slayer.
Instead of worrying, the members of the Haeju School quickly began to show their lewd intentions, as if it were only natural.
It was clear that their time learning magic at the Magic Tower had been as unpopular and friendless as their current behavior.
“How about it, Mountain Burner? If you’re interested, we could have a little after-party later…”
“Get lost. It’s a hundred times better to be crushed and eaten by that crazy monster over there than to deal with you idiots.”
“What?”
“Go and at least wash yourself once in a while! I’ve been holding back thinking you might get embarrassed, but even with mental interference, your breath doesn’t go away!!”
“What are you doing!? Ugh!”
As Izazel made her decision, flames imbued with magical power erupted from her gloves.
At the same time, all members of the Silver Wing Knights drew their swords, and the battle began.
*
“Damn, this is dark magic?”
“Are the guys next to him part of the same group?”
“We can’t retreat now!”
“Secure the way up!”
“Charge! For Holcroft!”
Kwang!
The peculiar three-way battle between mages, dark mages, and knights began.
However, since Black Star only targeted the Silver Wing Knights, it was effectively a 2v1 situation.
The balance of power could be attributed to two factors:
One was the unexpected blow from a traitor among the allies.
The other was my presence, which Black Star hadn’t anticipated.
Each time the air was torn apart by a sound, one of the allies fell. No defensive magic was effective against the spear’s deadly accuracy.
Until now, I had no way to automatically retrieve a weapon I had thrown, but that weakness was somewhat mitigated.
The magical circle continued around the spear embedded in the wall, and it reappeared in my hand.
“Good job, SolSol. You’re somewhat useful, huh?”
— I can also manage
“I’m not good with swords, so that’s not my thing… but I’ll give you the authority to deal with a hundred rowdy ones later.”
— …
“Don’t like it? This is a specially selected list of the notorious.”
However, this method wouldn’t last forever.
The dark mages quickly changed their target to me once they confirmed that my attacks couldn’t be ignored.
Not only was I subjected to direct magical attacks, but SolSol’s summoning magic was also being disrupted.
If this had been before, I would have been significantly weakened by just that, but now that I had mastered interference devices, I had an additional weapon.
“Oh, it’s you, senior. Have you used the forum?”
“We don’t use such things. Die…!”
“Oddly enough, there’s a record of your access. Unfortunately, the very person you revered as a king ended up falling because of my one sentence.”
“This is… Curse Name!? Could it be, cough!”
As I subdued a dark mage who had been active on the Honeybee Forum even after leaving the Magic Tower, Izazel rushed toward me from afar, her red hair flying.
She returned with the spear I had thrown, hugging it tightly to her chest.
Without hesitation, I threw the spear at another dark mage who was attacking Irene.
Then, I looked at her panting and asked.
“What are you doing?”
“Hah, hah… Yes?”
“Go and pick it up again.”
“Damn it…!”
Having already betrayed the organization, if she failed in this battle and the Silver Wing Knights lost, it would be the end for her.
Despite her curses, she had no choice but to move forward, gritting her teeth.
When SolSol’s magic successfully retrieved the spear, it was a wasted effort, and she had to urgently ignite flames to escape from the middle of the battlefield.
Thanks to her relentless effort, the tide of the battle turned, and the dark mages lost their advantage.
As some began to flee, abandoning the corpses of their fallen comrades, the formation collapsed instantly.
Izazel, having barely retrieved the last spear she threw, handed it to me while using it as a staff, then collapsed.
Her recognition interference magic had worn off, and tears were falling from her smeared eyes.
“Oh, Mom! I can’t take it anymore…!”
“If you wanted to avoid meeting someone like me again, you should have lived decently. Why did you burn down a perfectly good mountain?”
“Well… because there was a mountain?”
“…”
I’ll need to throw it at the ceiling this time.
As I was about to deal with the last one fleeing using magic, I hesitated for a moment and then changed the direction of the spearhead entirely.
There was one last thing to do before the chaos subsided.
“Um, is it okay if I leave now? I feel like I’ll get caught if I stay any longer…”
“Where would you go? You’ve already hit them from behind.”
“Well, if I go hide in a quiet mountain for about five years, it should be fine! Even though I look like this, I know a lot about herbs and fruits from being a forest dweller!”
“Unfortunately, there’s still something you need to hear.”
“I’ll write a letter later! Definitely!! So please…!”
When my permission didn’t come, all color drained from Izazel’s face.
As a wanted criminal, if she were captured and exiled, the Empire’s guards would be waiting at the Magic Tower’s entrance, unlike other outlaws.
Imagining herself hanging in the execution chamber, her thighs trembled with fear.
“If you want to live, I have a good suggestion. Do you want to hear it?”
As I spoke, I dropped a Witch Note.
