If the duergar's appearance had merely shocked the city guards without causing serious harm, then the arrival of the dark elves was undoubtedly a full-fledged "invasion."
"Hm? Kill!" After a brief moment of confusion, the dark elves, clad in fine clothes and carrying exquisite weapons, attacked the city guards without hesitation, even though they hadn't figured out what was going on.
This was a one-sided fight.
Perhaps "slaughter" was a more fitting word.
Although every dark elf in the city was a low-ranking male in Drow society, and they were generally unable to use magic, one thing had to be remembered: competition among other races might amount to a contest of wits or strength, but among the black-skinned folk, competition was literally a matter of life and death.
The weak never got the chance to grow up.
They were sacrificed to the Spider Goddess in all sorts of ways, or they failed to advance and became half-spider, half-human monsters.
The direct result was that the Drow—dark elves—were pitifully few in number compared to humans, but their soldiers were far superior on average.
Faced with a shield wall formed by more than a dozen human city guards, what do you think the dark elf warrior on the other side did?
In just two or three strides, he leaped onto the rooftops lining the alley and delivered a graceful spinning kick to a huge jar that a local resident used for storage.
"Ah!"
"Run!"
The enormous jar, weighing over a hundred pounds, came crashing down from the second floor. No ordinary soldier could withstand that.
They scattered in panic.
The jar shattered, and in the instant its fragments flew everywhere, the dark elf was already upon them.
The curved blade's distorted, bizarre lines made it look more like a failed work by some eccentric artist. Yet the exquisite weapon, which hardly looked like a weapon at all, easily pierced the two-millimeter-thick iron armor worn by the city guards, mercilessly reaping their flesh and lives.
Ordinary human soldiers weren't entitled to wear iron armor. Although it offered far less protection than forged plate armor, it was still beyond the means of common soldiers. Only the city guards of the royal capital had such a lavish setup.
Even with protection this strong, the guards' armor was easily pierced by their opponents. This fight was practically impossible to win.
In fact, only the adventurers rushing out of the Adventurer's Guild could match these black-skinned warriors in individual combat ability.
Led by Famite and several other Master Level powerhouses, the high-ranking Extraordinary Persons were preparing to act.
Only an overwhelming show of force could bring the situation under control at once and minimize the damage these visitors from another world would cause to the royal capital.
They might have been full of complaints and gripes about the culprit behind all this, but this was no time to hesitate.
Who could have guessed that all the white clouds in the previously clear sky would suddenly change color?
Black thunderclouds surged overhead, displaying the power they contained.
It all happened so abruptly that the battlefield fell silent for a moment.
In the dark clouds directly above the Marad Mage Tower, magic circles suddenly appeared. They lined up neatly in a formation like rows of soldiers. From within the circles, composed of tens of thousands of magical runes, brilliant bands of purple light suddenly burst forth.
Lightning descended from the sky, radiating dazzling light.
Its dazzling brilliance drew the attention of every living thing in the city.
"Is that the Mage Tower's defense system?"
"Impossible..."
"How can it have such incredible power?"
The rumbling thunder drowned out every voice of discussion, human and Drow alike.
Only the sound of thunder echoed across the land.
The man who had orchestrated the invasion seemed to come to his senses and decided to clean up his little prank.
It was as if a scepter of supreme power were slowly descending from the heavens, obliterating the invaders while also bringing the stubborn "natives" to heel.
Chain lightning flashed so brightly that people couldn't keep their eyes open. When the thunder finally faded, they stared in shock at the scene before them: most of the dark elves who had been rampaging through the district moments ago had vanished without a trace. They were like sand swept up by a gale, scoured from the battlefield and gone.
That wasn't a figure of speech. Famite had seen one of the black-skinned warriors struck by lightning, turning into something like charred earth before promptly vanishing into thin air.
Not every dark elf had gone down without a fight. A capable Rogue first took shelter inside a house, only for a ball of lightning to chase him in. He leaped back out in terror.
In his final moments, he kept dodging from side to side, trying to escape the fatal strike.
Unfortunately, it was useless.
After Lein used the system to lock onto him, the impression the fellow made on the copycat Great Mage was: What a Lightning Rod, jumping left and right like that.
Then came the test of his skull's resistance to lightning.
Well, he failed the test. There was nothing to be done.
I, Great Mage Lei, am kind and compassionate. I'll kill you and bury you.
"Boom!"
The world fell silent.
By this point, Lein knew he'd gone a little too far.
But he was like a child who'd gotten a new toy. If he didn't tinker with the Mage Tower, he honestly couldn't help himself.
Fortunately, he'd come up with an excuse before stirring up trouble.
"Ahem! This Mage Tower is a bit tricky to deal with. Its previous owner left behind some nasty 'inheritance.' But I've already eliminated the danger."
When Ganis and the others rode up to the Mage Tower, this was what they heard coming from inside.
Lein had no idea that, as the defensive core of Cervantes Kingdom's royal capital, the Madela Mage Tower transmitted his voice directly to the palace!
The next instant, Ganis and King Cervantes turned pale.
In Lein's eyes, there was nothing wrong with what he'd said.
He really didn't understand Spatial Magic. Even if the system thought he did, and the Tower Spirit thought he did, he himself was sure he didn't.
Besides, every profession had its specialty. It was perfectly reasonable that a "Great Mage of Lightning" didn't understand Spatial Magic, right?
But to the other side, it sounded completely different.
Thinking back to Ganis's message, His Majesty the King bitterly regretted his decision.
First, he'd sent over monsters and enemies that hadn't hurt anyone.
Not once, but twice.
What would come next?
A group of high-ranking monsters, presumably?
What did that mean?
It was clearly a warning!
They'd coveted the man's disciple, paid the disciple, and expected to get the master to work for them for free.
What kind of bargain was that?
Now the man was starting to lose his temper.
What had given a tiny kingdom like Cervantes the confidence to mess with a Legendary Archmage?
They'd insisted on courting death, and now they'd gone too far!
At that moment, the Palace Minister beside the king, a man over seventy years old, spoke up. "Your Majesty, I may not understand magic, but I understand human nature. Your Majesty, we can't hesitate any longer."
King Cervantes grimaced, then finally nodded heavily.
Meanwhile, one of Ganis's attendants suddenly alerted him. "Lord Ganis, the palace is signaling."
Three red braziers had been lit atop the palace gatehouse wall. That meant His Majesty the King was willing to offer up everything.
Ganis looked grave as he found Downs, who had just walked out of the Mage Tower, and asked as tactfully as he could, "May I ask, if our kingdom wanted to invite your master to take on a disciple, what would be the best way to earn his favor?"
Downs solemnly repeated what his master had once said. "My master said that a king once presented him with his entire treasury, but he didn't give it a second glance, because the king's children simply didn't have the talent."
Ganis understood at once.
He got it completely.
This was about status! This was about standing!
The Legendary Archmage's attitude was simple: "I can refuse it, but you can't withhold it!"
If you refused to give it, that meant you had a bad attitude, and deserved to be beaten.
If I didn't take it, that meant I was in a good mood and owed you nothing.
Before you continue