-Thud. Thud.
The surroundings fell silent at Rotheron's appearance.
The mages of the New Magic Tower who had made a deal with Nikolai stared with wide eyes, wondering why he was here.
Rotheron's appearance delivered quite a shock to them.
"If you withdraw now, I promise you'll be spared the worst consequences."
Rotheron spoke in a resonating voice from within his iron mask.
"Lord Rotheron. This is not a matter for you to interfere with."
The one who answered was Jeffrey, the current leader of the War Mage unit commanding the magicians.
With his long sideburns and beard, he spoke in a strong tone, not wanting to appear intimidated by Rotheron.
"We are currently executing our official duties to capture the criminals who attacked the Magic Tower. So please step aside."Jeffrey's wording was polite, but his tone and expression were not.
His reaction showed that Rotheron's appearance was more of an annoyance.
It made no sense to welcome Rotheron, who belonged to the opposing faction.
"Yes. Official duties. Of course, that's natural when the Magic Tower has been attacked."
"Yes. So would you please step aside?"
"But doesn't something seem strange to you?"
Rotheron said as he looked around.
"There are some faces I don't recognize."
Rotheron examined everyone positioned around him through his iron mask.
It wasn't just War Mages from the Magic Tower who had been deployed.
There were also some who didn't belong to the Magic Tower. No matter how you looked at them, they appeared to be people who did dirty work.
"And what are these automatons? Has our New Magic Tower made such things as well?"
"...They're newly created automatons. They were just completed recently, and we brought them to test their effectiveness as this opportunity arose."
"Test operations. Not bad."
Rotheron nodded.
"However, these automatons seem to far exceed the existing regulations."
The automatons standing like mannequins around them were excessively armed.
"Wasn't there an agreement regarding this within the Magic Tower? Don't say there wasn't. I have all the regulations memorized."
"That's..."
"And to bring even armored suits that haven't been properly released yet. While you say you're catching criminals who attacked the Magic Tower, isn't this excessively disproportionate? Almost as if..."
"As if what?"
"As if you're doing everything in your power to erase your own filthy secrets."
"You go too far!"
A War Mage shouted angrily at his words.
That passionate voice was filled with fury and hostility toward Rotheron.
Jeffrey raised one hand to restrain his subordinate and then spoke.
"Lord Rotheron. Even for someone of your Lexer rank, I find those words difficult to overlook."
"Difficult to overlook?"
"Yes. That is an act of insulting us now. Or are you deliberately obstructing us because we belong to the faction opposing yours?"
"Obstruction... obstruction..."
As Rotheron muttered incredulously, Jeffrey continued his flow.
"Besides, it's curious that you appear alone in this situation, Lord Rotheron. Isn't your timing just as suspicious? It appears you're blatantly blocking us and protecting that black mage."
Jeffrey's lips curled into a sneering smile.
"Unless, perhaps, you were in league with them all along?"
With those words, intense hostility surged and dominated the space around them.
The energies of magic power, killing intent, and hostility mixed together, threatening to press down on Rotheron and Jeffrey like a mountain.
Through it all, Rotheron remained calmly standing in place.
"That's truly an interesting statement."
Rotheron looked around.
It was hard to find any gaze not mixed with hostility directed at him.
Their intentions were obvious without needing to look. They probably planned to label him a traitor to the Magic Tower and dispose of him in this opportunity.
Rotheron represented a major force as part of the opposing faction.
Having constantly picked at every detail and held back meetings, it was natural that their grudge ran wide and deep.
So they were trying to eliminate him here, judging that they had more than enough force to do so.
Rotheron had walked right into the wolf's den on his own.
"Yes. If you respond like this, it's certainly easier for me."
When he had received the message from Rudger beforehand, he had been half-skeptical but seeing this situation now, he clearly understood.
"I had hoped you wouldn't cross certain lines."
Intense magical energy began to rise around Rotheron's body.
The magical energy soon transformed into something resembling a large person, appearing behind Rotheron with arms folded.
As Rotheron, a 6th rank mage using special class magic, displayed his power, all the War Mages prepared for battle.
"A fierce battle is about to begin."
Rotheron quietly warned Cravat who stood behind him.
"I don't have the capacity to protect you too. When the fight starts, hide yourself or run away immediately."
"I appreciate the warning, but aren't you underestimating me a bit too much?"
Cravat didn't hide his displeasure, as if his feelings were hurt.
"I was planning to take care of all these guys myself, even without your help."
"That's fortunate then. I hope you won't slow me down."
"The same goes for you."
The mage wearing an iron mask and the black mage wearing a goat bone mask stood shoulder to shoulder.
"Wipe them out at once!"
At Jeffrey's command, the automatons drew blades from both hands and charged toward the two.
"I don't need to worry about you. Rather, you should be worried about yourselves."
"Ha! Keep your bluffs in check! What are you all waiting for? He's asking for his punishment, so give it to him!"
As if they had been waiting for this, the War Mages activated their magic.
Simultaneously, the test subjects cleverly surrounded Rudger, attempting to attack him from all sides.
It was a coordinated attack with absolutely no openings.
Seeing this, Rudger infused magical power into the sword stick hanging at the end of his arm.
The blue light in his eyes blazed strongly behind his shadow mask.
"The punishment will be yours to bear."
Magic power welled up from the tip of the sword stick and began to take on an elemental property.
-Crack-crack.
Following the trajectory of his whirling body movement, countless ice formations grew and dominated the space.
Some test subjects who rushed in unknowingly were caught in it, suffering severe frostbite on their arms or legs.
Seeing this, the War Mages fired flame magic.
Falling rain of fire.
Flying spears of fire.
Waves of flame spread across the floor.
Amidst all this, Rudger's sword dance never stopped.
As his sword stick, imbued with the energy of cold, lightly stamped the ground with a thud, water overflowed as if underground water had burst forth.
Rudger grabbed the water with his free hand and pulled it forcefully.
-Whoosh.
What emerged was a whip made of water.
Rudger swung the whip. The trajectory of water remaining in the air instantly extinguished all approaching flames.
The War Mages tried to respond after seeing this. But Rudger moved even faster.
-Crackle!
The cold magic power in the sword stick changed to lightning property.
The form of magic power surrounding the sword stick also changed to a curved single-edged saber.
As he swung the lightning saber, intense electric current surged and spread in all directions.
"This, madman!"
"How is his magic conversion speed even possible!"
The War Mages tried to respond to this as well, but Rudger raised new magic as if mocking them.
The water whip disappeared, and in his empty hand appeared a spear blazing with flames.
When he threw the flaming spear into the air, it exploded and split into hundreds of fragments, pouring down like hail around them.
It was different from the rain of fire magic that the War Mages had used.
While it was a wide-area attack, each individual flame had enough power to burn a person to death.
Some of the War Mages deployed defensive magic but some veterans instead charged boldly toward Rudger.
They blocked the falling flames with protective artifacts and wielded weapons imbued with magical properties, just like Rudger.
"Did you think you were the only one who could use Southern Kingdom magic!"
-Clang!
The wind blade wielded by a War Mage collided with Rudger's lightning saber.
The wind magic power ferociously whirled, starting to gradually chip away at the saber.
It was closer to a drill than a sword in form.
Wielding what was essentially a small whirlwind in the hand, its power was certainly not ordinary.
"You seem to have learned something somewhere, but you can't face us with just that!"
"Then how about this?"
Rudger withdrew the force he was applying to the lightning saber.
The War Mage's center of gravity collapsed. As his balance faltered, creating an opening, what he saw was the blade of the sword stick approaching like the teeth of a comb.
-Slash!
His neck was severed as it spun.
Rudger didn't stop there and delivered a back kick toward a War Mage attempting to ambush him from behind.
-Boom!
Though the mage blocked Rudger's foot with stone shields in both hands, he gritted his teeth at the impact shaking the shields.
'What! A barefoot attack with such power!'
Just as he tried to retreat to regroup, the shield suddenly caught on something and wouldn't move.
Only then did the War Mage realize that something like black claws was clutching the shield and wouldn't let go.
"Crow's foot?"
Aether Nocturnus in Rudger's foot had made his foot sharp like an eagle catching prey, gripping the shield.
The War Mage, who had been trying to retreat, instead found his body lurching forward from the pulling force.
And waiting for him was the execution block of the sword stick.
Another life vanished, but Rudger didn't stop.
He pushed forward with this momentum.
As Rudger extended his arm, a shadow stretched out like a demon's hand and grabbed a War Mage by the throat.
-Crack!
Another War Mage was taken down.
In the midst of the raging crimson flame shower, a black shadow monster flickered its eyes searching for the next prey.
At this sight, the other War Mages felt chills running down their spines.
"I've never heard of such a fighting style!"
"He's a complete monster!"
Rudger was like a knight while being a mage, and also like a beast moving on instinct.
The ever-changing magical properties and fighting style, plus the irregular variations that sharply caught opponents off guard.
And yet each attack was fatal enough to certainly end the opponent's life with a single blow.
It was like a fighting style honed solely for killing.
In the face of this terror, the War Mages froze despite their veteran status and extensive experience.
In such a situation, there were those who moved—Nikolai's test subjects.
The test subjects took the rain of fire with their bare bodies.
Their special material coats couldn't completely block the rain of fire, but their robust bodies could endure it sufficiently.
-Clang!
Against the simultaneous attacks, Rudger spread his cloak wide like wings and swung it like a weapon.
Some test subjects blocked the wings with weapons in their hands.
Timed perfectly, one test subject burrowed under the cloak to target Rudger from his blind spot.
That is, if Rudger's leg hadn't been waiting first.
-Crunch!
Rudger's leg, wrapped in Aether Nocturnus, had transformed like a crow or eagle.
With that power, the test subject's head was trampled, and even for a test subject, there was no way to withstand it.
The test subject was slammed into the ground, leaving a red bloodstain.
The moment Rudger thought he had eliminated one, the headless test subject grabbed his ankle with both arms.
"Hmm?"
Just as he wondered what this was, the test subject's body suddenly swelled and then exploded.
BOOM!
The War Mages had to block the aftershock with defensive magic as the powerful explosion rocked the entire area.
"Is, is he dead?"
Considering the power of the explosion just now, it seemed difficult even for a monster like Rudger to withstand it, especially an explosion that occurred at such close range.
But when the smoke cleared and revealed Rudger's figure, the War Mages' faces were filled with despair.
"He's unscathed after that explosion?"
"H-how is that possible?"
Rudger was completely fine.
He was unharmed despite taking such a powerful attack right in front of him.
"So they've even implanted bombs inside their bodies."
Not only the vitality of test subjects that kept moving even with their heads blown off, but they had also hidden powerful bombs inside.
Unfortunately for them, such conventional explosions didn't work on Rudger.
The surviving test subjects saw Rudger and charged at him with weapons in hand.
"All is vanity and vexation of spirit."
Rudger deployed the same magic he had used earlier.
Rudger's body became blurry as if leaving afterimages, and the test subjects' weapons passed through his body lightly.
Even the test subjects, who always made the best judgment to kill enemies in any situation, found this phenomenon difficult to understand and momentarily paused in their movements.
"If I'm given time, ordinary physical attacks won't work on me."
True magic that naturally deflects attacks, limited to those without mana or aura.
It was an attack that would inevitably catch first-time observers off guard.
Rudger's sword stick gleamed with a sharp edge.
The test subjects' heads flew off, and their hearts were split.