Chapter 199
The 17th branch of the Black Mage Tower near Italy.
Shadow frowned.
‘Why is there no answer?’
The current time is 2 PM.
Less than 4 hours left until the time he promised with Shin Ha-yul.
Nevertheless, Shin Ha-yul has not yet responded to Shadow’s text message.
This made Shadow feel bad.
‘Is something wrong?’
With Shin Ha-yul’s loss of contact, Shadow’s head became complicated at once.
Whatever it is, Shin Ha-yul is in the same place as the parade.
No matter what happens to Parade, it’s not strange.
‘Considering the arbitrary nature of the parade, there is a possibility that he got tired of waiting for me and acted first.’
Shadow’s expression became more serious.
Shin Ha-yul’s death means Shadow’s despair.
I just thought Shin Ha-yul might be dead, but my heart beats wildly.
‘no. If Parade were to come into action, they should have contacted me by now. The purpose has already been accomplished, so there’s no need to call me and go into debt.’
Parade doesn’t like living in debt to anyone. As much as it was a parade like that, if the matter had been handled, he would have contacted Shadow first.
‘I took care of the work by myself, so I don’t have to come.’ You should have sent the same text right away.
‘Then, is it just that I can’t reach you because of the mana instability within Mt. Baekdu?’
The mana instability within Mt. Baekdu is within three fingers of the world.
As Shin Ha-yul’s purpose was to reach the top of Mt.
I don’t know if it’s a regular cell phone, but most of the secret line terminals work through mana, especially.
‘This seems right.’
Shadow let out a sigh of relief. When I thought of Shin Ha-yul’s samurai, my mind suddenly calmed down.
‘… … But just in case, I need to move to the scene a little faster.’
Whether I move quickly or not, I am confident that I will not be noticed by the parade.
Considering the cooldown compared to the movement distance of shadow movement… … I’ll be there around 5 o’clock.
You can watch the situation for about an hour.
After finishing organizing his thoughts, Shadow immediately stood up.
‘Is Russia a suitable stopover?’
When it slowly sinks into the shadows.
“Shadow.”
A voice was heard.
high pitched voice peculiar to women.
“Where are you going?”
If you ask 100 people passing by, you will surely say that 100 people have a beautiful voice.
Shadow’s brow furrowed at the sound of that voice.
“Do I have to report where I am going?”
Shadow gathered the shadows again and turned his gaze towards the owner of the voice.
Short, only about 150 cm tall. Waist-length silver hair and red eyes. Whiter skin than whites.
A woman who boasts the unique whiteness of an albino person.
“Hermes.”
Hermes.
With a smile on her face, she stood in front of Shadow.
“hmm. There is no need to do that between the same executives, but… … .”
Hermes placed a hand on his cheek and smiled bitterly with a troubled expression.
“It is sad. Can’t you even say this much between us?”
“… … .”
Shadow’s brow furrowed again. Certainly, Shadow owed quite a lot to Hermes.
To the extent that if Hermes asked for something, he would have to follow the request without questioning and answering without endangering his life.
“… … I think I heard that the debt will be paid back all at once.”
“yes. Originally, I was thinking of getting a big refund, but… … .”
No, it wasn’t just Shadow who was in debt to Hermes.
“I changed my mind after seeing Tkeish. Debts can be repaid only if you are alive, right?”
The officers belonging to the Black Mage Tower are all indebted to Hermes except for one.
If it was natural, it was natural.
Hermes’ ability is excellent at gathering information.
Knowing the importance of information, requests for support from other executives continued endlessly.
Every time I passed on that information, the debt piled up.
In fact, this is the reason why no one can refuse when Hermes demands to repay the debt in earnest.
“… … There was a request for support from the parade. I plan to go there from now on.”
Shadow answered as if he couldn’t help it.
“Hmm. It’s the support of the parade… … . Are you saying that you, who don’t receive any requests other than the orders of the Dark Mage King, are going to support you?”
Hermes laughed meaningfully. A chill went down Shadow’s spine.
I felt like a mouse in front of a cat.
“… … It’s not like I’m responsible for draining all the power of the parade. I’m just going there to make up for it.”
“Compensation. Nominally, that’s for sure.”
Hermes’ smile deepened. The more he did, the more Shadow’s cold sweat grew.
‘Have you noticed?’
Hermes is the best in the world in terms of information.
As such, it wouldn’t be strange if he noticed Shadow’s cheating.
“Shall I go for you?”
“… … Are you going?”
even that word.
That Hermes said that he would go ahead and go to support.
It is certainly.
Hermes noticed something.
“It would be nice if you would do that.”
Shadow hid his embarrassment and answered as calmly as possible.
‘When I think of the operation, I must go, but… … .’
Right now, it’s not a situation where you can say ‘I’m going.’
Considering the appearances Shadow has shown in the Black Mage Tower so far, here ‘I will go.’ Saying the word itself becomes a huge seed of doubt.
There is only one way to answer this here.
In the first place, Hermes would not have the slightest desire to go there himself.
“Hmm.”
Hermes smiled like he was having fun and glared at Shadow.
“just joke. It’s true that you seem to have had a lot of trouble standing in the middle of the day, so I’d like to give you a little bit of strength… … . I have a mission too.”
Hermes stuck out his tongue and laughed.
“There is no way to move to Mt. Baekdu in an instant like you… … . Above all, I can’t go outside.”
Hermes twisted his silver hair.
Hermes is albinos, an albino.
Germany is the only sunlight for her.
Therefore, she can’t go outside for a while.
“hmm. He thought he meant to go for a walk after a while, but was he joking? I was just excited.”
Shadow answered calmly again.
After all, Hermes only said that to open up Shadow. He hadn’t really intended to go in the first place.
“sorry. Then work hard on your mission.”
Hermes smiled and approached Shadow.
Then, he placed his hand on Shadow’s shoulder.
“It’s too small.”
Hermes is only 150 cm tall, but Shadow, who stopped growing around the 3rd or 4th grade of elementary school, is much shorter than that.
“… … Are you going to fight?”
Shadow’s atmosphere suddenly became heavy.
“Please. just… It’s nice to feel a strange sense of unity. Is that why? Among the executives, I like you the most.”
Hermes tapped Shadow on the shoulder a couple of times.
“So, let me give you one piece of advice.”
Hermes brought his face to Shadow’s ear.
“Just as you can exist anywhere in this world, my eyes and ears exist everywhere in this world. Always remember that.”
It was as if he knew perfectly well about Shadow’s betrayal.
Shadow’s heart trembled slightly.
But only my heart trembled.
There was no change in facial expressions or gestures.
“… … I don’t know what it means, but keep that in mind.”
Shadow replied with a calm expression and gesture.
“yes. Please keep that in mind.”
Hermes smiled, tapped Shadow twice on the shoulder, and stepped back.
“Then I’ll see you later.”
Shadow stared at Hermes for a while.
* * *
The top of Mt. Baekdu, Cheonji.
We reached the top in a total of 10 hours.
“Wow, you really see all the heavens and earth.”
Charles let out an exclamation as if he was genuinely surprised.
“Is this your first time coming to heaven and earth?”
“Of course it is the first time. Last time I only got to halfway through. How many people would have come this far in the first place? The mana of Mt. Baekdu must be so bizarre.”
Baekdu Mountain’s mana collapse was enough to turn Baekdu Mountain into a labyrinth.
Even if you’re going up a mountain, you’re suddenly going down.
As you walk, a flat area suddenly appears. If you notice it, it’s the beginning of the mountain again.
Since it is Baekdu Mountain, very few people have reached Heaven and Earth.
As far as I know, there were less than 3 people.
“He’s great, he’s great. When I was running around for 7 hours just at the beginning, I honestly had a lot of doubts.”
Charles looked at Miho at my feet and stuck out his tongue.
As if admiring Miho’s guidance, he raised his thumb.
Miho was just rubbing her body against my feet, as if she had no interest in Charles’ beating.
“It’s arrogant… … .”
“sorry.”
“What, is there anything to be sorry for? I’m a little envious.”
Charles crouched down and looked at Miho as closely as possible.
There is no sign of wanting to touch.
It is to understand that Miho is sensitive to the touch of others and to be considerate of her.
I mean, he’s also a good person.
“It is the path of the soul… … . It seems to be very versatile.”
It was Miho’s ability that allowed us to come this far safely.
It’s because of ‘The Road of the Soul’.
The effect is to roughly forge the soul and create the shortest route to the destination.
“Isn’t it particularly versatile?”
It’s a great ability, but its versatility isn’t that great.
First of all, there is no reason to use it unless it is a place where both mana and soul have collapsed like Mt. Baekdu.
As the places where it can be used are limited, it cannot be said that it is excellent in versatility.
“The versatility is not good. It’s almost like a cheat key on the battlefield.”
“ah.”
Battlefield.
As it is a place where groups often fight, mana and souls are often twisted.
In such a place, Miho’s ‘Path of the Soul’ will exert great power.
As far as the battlefield is concerned, it’s true that it has excellent versatility.
“Well, how long do you have to go to the battlefield? If you look at it that way, it’s true that it has no versatility.”
Charles took his eyes off Miho, got up from his seat, and focused his gaze on me.
“Anyway, I came to heaven and earth. The most important herb… … Where is Laplace?”
Then I looked around.
“Doesn’t it look like a herb, let alone Laplace?”
The surroundings were very empty.
Beyond the level of no herbs, there is simply no life.
Whether it should be called the land of death, I couldn’t find a common tree or even a piece of grass.
“Laplace is over there.”
I slowly raised my hand and pointed in the direction of Laplace.
“… … Are you in the sky?”
“yes.”
Where Laplace is is the sky.
waiting
“Laplace is a flower that blooms in the air.”
“Was that an herb? I just thought it was a high-end herb that would be unnecessarily expensive… … . It’s a herb like a ttolai.”
Charles looked in the direction I pointed with a bewildered expression.
“… … what. no? There is no detecting mana.”
“You won’t see it. As I said, Laplace is a flower that blooms in the air. Like air, it is invisible and intangible.”
“… … Was it a real ttola-like herb? How are you going to dig something like that? It seems impossible to pinpoint the location.”
“Fortunately, Laplace reacts when approached within one meter.”
“Get within one meter… … ?”
Charles lowered his gaze again and looked at the natural lake at the top of Mt. Baekdu, Cheonji.
Cheonji boasted a beautiful blue light in the past, but now it is just a lake of death polluted with dark red.
“I guess that would be a bit difficult. You can’t even use water walking magic, let alone flight magic, on heaven and earth.”
As many have said, the mana structure of Mt. Baekdu has collapsed.
And the collapse of Cheonji, which is the same as the center of Mt. Baekdu, is much more serious.
This is not the level where mana forms a maze, but mana is frozen at all.
Because mana is frozen, it is impossible to use flight magic.
Not to mention flight magic, I couldn’t use water walking magic or any other magic.
The mana around Cheonji was distorted to that extent.
If it was serious, wouldn’t even a single monster inhabit this area?
“It would be possible to throw you in that direction. It would be impossible to dig up Laplace in that short amount of time… … . maybe good… … .”
Charles was troubled with a serious expression on his face.
“You don’t have to worry about gathering.”
I sat down on one knee and stroked Miho.
“From here on out, we can do it ourselves.”
