Chapter 104
Installing a doorbell is something that needs to be prioritized.
"No, no! There's no need to torture her!" I hurriedly stopped Damala from walking towards the iron frame. "Put her down, put her down, she's our friend."
The lich immediately settled them down and bowed to me, saying, "I'm sorry, Master, they intended to force their way into the tower, which is why I mistakenly identified them as enemies."
Even after getting his feet on solid ground, Luolan still had round eyes. Lusien caught him around the waist to prevent him from falling headfirst into the barrel of juice from the Highland Giant Worm on the table next to me.
Luolan shook his head, and after a long while asked me, "Xipei, have you figured it out? Are you ready to become a world-destroying demon king?"
No, I didn't! Mel, don't stand behind me and chuckle. Don't think I can't see you. This tower has merged our two spiritual worlds into one. Do you think I wouldn't sense you trying to suppress your laughter?
Lusien, supporting Luolan, stood at least ten meters away from Damala and craned his neck to say to me, "Your Field, there is an emergency that requires your help. Speaker Reynold and Vice Dean Doug, who were rescued, returned to the capital a few days ago, but this afternoon, for some unknown reason, they both fell into a deep coma, and their condition is very... indescribable. Therefore, the Legion Commander hopes that you two can come and check whether they are under a curse or something."
Hmm... I looked at Mel with a puzzled expression, and he shrugged in confusion as well—even Machine Zealots would use curses to harm people?
Before I could even ask a question, Lusien answered first, "Some of the Machine Zealots possess Superpower, call themselves Superpower, and claim to be 'the direction of human evolution.' Therefore, His Excellency the Federation Marshal suspects that these people might be causing trouble."
Superpower? What are those? The banshees all had expressions that said, "What are Superpower? Can you eat them?" So I'm sure this is 100% a 21st-century term.
Mel and I exchanged glances, but decided to go take a look anyway. After settling into the house, we got into Lusien's car, and along the way Luolan explained to us what Superpower were.
"This is a special group that has only been discovered in recent years. They claim that magical mechanical radiation has improved their bodies, and that they have taken certain drugs that have allowed their Superpower to stabilize in areas such as fire, ice, lightning, or wind. Fire is the most common Superpower, and a very small number can use telepathy and space-breaking abilities. These two types are rare, and an even rarer type can summon otherworldly creatures..."
As Mel and I listened, our expressions turned incredibly strange.
Because... throwing fireballs, throwing ice blocks, or unleashing lightning and wind sounds very... unscientific, but rather very magical!
"... Furthermore, in the northeastern region where Machine Zealots reside, there is a systematic and comprehensive Superpower rating system. After Superpower awakens and stabilizes, there will be a series of tests..."
Mel and I fell silent again...
Why does it sound increasingly eerie, and yet strangely familiar?
A somewhat absurd guess lingered in Mel's and my minds, and to confirm it, I asked him, "Are Superpower a relatively recent phenomenon?"
Luolan thought for a moment, then nodded and replied, "Yes."
"They seem to prefer randomly throwing big fireballs?"
Luolan thought for a moment, then answered, "Yes."
Are your emotions still often unstable?
Luolan exclaimed in surprise, "You already know about Superpower? That's right, because their bodies have evolved Superpower, they always have some mental issues..."
Mel and I both covered our faces in perfect unison.
--Where did this sorcerer come from? He's got nothing better to do than wander around the world and randomly change his name?
Upon seeing Reynold and the Five-Star Old Man, Mel and I were utterly dumbfounded—this was the magic of warlocks! The demon warlocks among them could summon otherworldly demons, and many of these demons had venom extracted from them, which was extremely potent. Combined with the warlocks' innate spells, they could achieve a wide variety of combined effects.
Luolan had never seen a real Superpower before, so when he saw the two victims, he also showed a twitching expression, his mouth twitching—as Divine Magic spellcasters, they, like us mages, despise warlocks.
In short, warlocks are at the very bottom of the social hierarchy among spellcasters.
"Go contact the 'Arcane Covenant' and have them send over a few sane, disciplined sorcerers who can get things done," Mel told Lusien.
--This must be some warlock who accidentally threw their brain out while casting a fireball, which is why they're colluding with Machine Zealots. So we're not worried about the Arcane Covenant not helping. It's an ancient warlock organization, as old as the Arcane Magic Council and the Mages' Association of mages, and the only officially recognized alliance among warlocks. They've long been stationed at Silverheart Fortress in the southern part of the Osland Federation —that Immortal City known as the Arcane Royal Capital and the Arcane Orb.
We may despise them, but that's just a hierarchy of contempt among us spellcasters. If any mech warrior outside dares to call a warlock an idiot, we mages will pounce on them and throw a big fireball. And if any warrior dares to say a mage is crazy, the warlocks will do the same to protect our reputation.
Therefore, I find the group of sorcerers who call themselves "Superpower" and collude with Machine Zealots very puzzling.
... Oh no! Mel and I thought at the same time—a group of warlocks had also entered Radiant Fortress before. Although we didn't encounter them, they might be the evil warlocks from the Mechanical Maniac's side! What if they stole the artifacts from the fortress? What's worse, many of the books my teacher left me, as well as the demons he asked us to guard, are all there!
I became more serious and, through a spiritual contract, commanded Damala to immediately set off back to the fortress ruins to check if any intruders had stolen anything important.
A moment later Lusien returned holding his phone and handed it to me. A small part of it was visible inside...
An old man with a pink beard?
I stared in disbelief as the old man with the pink beard said to me with a serious expression, "A decade or so ago, some young sorcerers had wicked intentions. They weren't satisfied with the power of their innate bloodline and hoped to enhance their magical abilities. At the time, our Arcane Covenant Elders unanimously believed that this practice was highly inappropriate. Although such spells did exist in ancient texts, while using them greatly increased a sorcerer's power, it also destabilized their bloodline, causing a very high frequency of mental derangement..."
Huh? His mental state is even more unstable than that of a typical warlock?
"... Later, those young people betrayed the Arcane Covenant, and we have been searching for them ever since!" the old sorcerer said.
"Oh, I see!" I nodded, expressing my understanding of the angry old man. However, every group has its bad apples, like my second teacher, who was a bad apple in our mage group.
"Therefore, the most urgent thing is to ask the Arcane Covenant to send someone over as soon as possible, otherwise there will be more corpses here." I nodded and urged the old man.
--Reynold and the Five-Star Old Man look terrible. Reynold lies unconscious on the bed, his face deathly pale, seemingly in great pain, his body trembling slightly. The Five-Star Old Man...
Or, how about we turn him back into a slime...? Why is the Five-Star Old Man -Five-Star Old Man's skin green? All of his exposed skin is green, and it has patterns that look like toads, it gives me the creeps—is he entangled with green? But, green humans are even more repulsive than green slimes!
The old sorcerer exclaimed in surprise, "Is it that serious?"
I fought back the urge to vomit, rubbing my fingers together incessantly, and nodded earnestly. "Yes, it's very serious. If the warlock doesn't come soon, I'm going to unleash Hellfire on him!"
Mel has already cast the initiation animation for Hellfire! Someone, hold us down!
Chapter 104
... So I really have to praise Goliath. In that critical moment, this brave and handsome paladin commander broke through the window, like a ray of holy light, illuminating... well, illuminating the rest of the Five-Star Old Man's life.