Chapter 569
Plan of the Tower of Time
From the very beginning, the Ivory Tower’s plan was to cross into the Neutral Zone and form a third territory. That much they had been preparing for, but the Tower Master and his close aides took it one step further.
Even among the “radicals”, those who knew of this plan were extremely few.
The Tower Master said that after releasing the seal of the “Frozen Clock”, he would push things into an overdrive even worse than the Gate Incident. In short, their plan was to turn the Tower into a literal “time bomb” and then move it to Roke Island to detonate.
Simon asked blankly, his face dazed.
“Th-then what happens?”
“What else?”
Serne lifted the corner of her lips with a sly smile.
“According to the research, the range of the ‘time bomb’ would cover at minimum the whole of Roke Island, the nearby seas, and even part of Langerstine. Keyzen would be trapped forever in the shackles of time, utterly destroyed.”
What was happening now in the Tower of Time—fragments of the past being replayed—was nothing compared to what could come. When the Gate first opened in the Ivory Tower and the dungeons were activated, it was an unmitigated catastrophe.
Past Tower Masters long dead reappeared to stand in the way, and even figures from the future emerged. Some were trapped in the present, doomed to repeat the same actions endlessly, unable to break free.
“The most wonderful part of this plan.”
Serne clasped her hands with a radiant smile,
“Is that we can be sure to eradicate Neftis. Since she possesses abilities tied to time itself, she’ll be all the more ensnared, like a tangled skein of threads. This might be the only chance to capture her. Conveniently, word has it she has returned to Roke Island.”
“……”
“All of this will be blamed on Girdon, the great master of spatial magic. We’ll say that he, who bore a grudge against Keyzen, took the 100th floor and committed these atrocities. After Keyzen vanishes, our Ivory Tower will take control of the Dark Alliance.”
The story was so shocking that Simon felt his head throb.
“That’s why I have a proposal for you, Simon.”
“……?”
“You have no idea how hard we worked to smuggle you out of that deadly Roke Island. Keyzen’s destruction is already assured, and soon the Dark Alliance will belong to the Ivory Tower.”
She opened her palm and smiled.
“Come to the Ivory Tower, Simon.”
“……”
Simon stared at Serne for a long moment before letting out a heavy sigh.
“The reason you want to recruit me—is it to unseal that ‘Frozen Clock’?”
Simon’s remark cut sharply.
To accomplish their objective, there was one monumental obstacle: unsealing the dungeon master “Frozen Clock”.
Without releasing the seal, nothing—whether detonation or rampage—could happen.
But the ice enshrouding that clock was a kind of seal that could not be broken. Not even the Greatsword of Destruction could scratch it.
“Of course not~”
Serne feigned a girlish gesture, cupping her cheeks.
“Not even someone like you, a Legion Commander, could unseal it. That is the ‘Absolute Seal’ magic, cast three hundred years ago by the Frost Mage at the cost of his life.”
Simon’s eyes widened.
“…Absolute Seal?”
“Yes. A pure elemental magic that sacrifices the caster’s life to trap the target in unbreakable ice for eternity. And the only way to break an Absolute Seal… is to cast the same Absolute Seal again.”
Simon’s jaw dropped.
“Wait—you’re saying someone has to give their life to undo it?”
“Yes. And even then, it can’t just be anyone. Only a mage blessed by spirits, or a direct heir of the Frost Mage’s bloodline from the Ivory Tower, can perform it. And recently… a talent like that has been born.”
She flicked her tongue playfully.
“Do you know who it is? I’m sure you do, Simon….”
“Serne!”
Simon roared, his voice shaking.
“Don’t tell me—you mean Maelyn?!”
“Not everyone can be saved. It’s an inevitable sacrifice.”
Her smile twisted into something chilling.
“At least one life must be forsaken.”
Simon’s lips quivered.
“…Are you serious?”
“Yes, absolutely. But more importantly—Simon? Come to the Ivory Tower. That’s the only way you’ll survive.”
Simon clenched his teeth.
“I refuse a proposal to cling to life like some coward.”
“Ah, so you won’t.”
The cheerful expression vanished from Serne’s face, replaced with ice.
“Then there’s no helping it.”
Her hair whipped around her, and countless pure-white feathers spun into the air, circling into rotation. Simon raised the Greatsword of Destruction in response.
“The last time we fought was during the first-year survival exam on the island, wasn’t it?”
Both of their Darknesses surged high, competing with one another.
Simon slowly drew his greatsword back, and Serne formed the feathers into the shape of a magic circle.
“Ready?”
“……”
The air grew taut, the two forces of Darkness colliding. Just as they were about to clash—
“Stop.”
Bang!
Simon lowered his blade first. Serne blinked, surprised.
“Serne, you think only you observe and analyze others. But that’s a mistake. Others watch and analyze you just as closely.”
His breathing grew rough.
“When you test someone, you always smile like that. When you joke, when you want to see a reaction, when you fought Maelyn, even when you fought me—you always smiled.”
“Is that… so?”
Serne blinked as if realizing it for the first time. Simon spread his arms.
“If you truly wanted to make me an accomplice, you wouldn’t have tried to lure me with such idiotic logic as ‘join us if you don’t want to die’. You’ve watched me enough to know better. Instead, you told me everything. Even that you’d sacrifice Maelyn. You wanted me to notice something in this information, didn’t you? Am I wrong?”
Simon’s gaze sharpened.
“What do you really want, Serne?”
Heh.
Heheheh.
Covering her face with her palm, Serne shook with laughter.
“You really are impossible to fool.”
When she lowered her hand, her face carried a mix of emotions.
[Did I not tell you, Serne?]
A third voice suddenly echoed, making Simon’s head snap around.
The long-sought “Ghost of Time” was approaching.
[There’s no use trying to bait this steadfast friend.]
They seemed to know each other.
As Simon looked between them in puzzlement, the Ghost of Time spoke.
[Didn’t I tell you before? About those who steal my research results.]
‘Ah.’
—Sometimes I leave my results by the window. And every day someone comes to snatch them, claiming them as their own work, rising to the very top of the Ivory Tower!
So that was Serne.
Simon began to piece together the situation. Perhaps now he understood why the Ghost of Time showed him the past of Serne and Maelyn—because it was all to prevent the Tower’s calamity.
[To reach the truth, one last thing remains.]
A glow shimmered in his hand.
[One minute should be enough.]
Fwoooosh!
Simon’s vision was engulfed.
* * *
-You’ll die soon, child. Will you follow me?
-From today, I am your father. I will make you the greatest human on this continent.
The young Serne entered the Ivory Tower, following the Tower Master.
As he warned, the people there loathed and shunned her.
But then—
-Hi, Serne! I’m Maelyn. First time here? Let’s play together!
In this alien place, Maelyn was her ray of hope. The very girl who should have kept her distance was instead the kindest of all. Even the adults, embarrassed by their own behavior, softened their harsh criticisms.
Thus Serne and Maelyn became inseparable friends.
They were everything to each other.
-I’m going to be Tower Master when I grow up.
Maelyn declared it with conviction.
-I promise, Maelyn. I’ll make you Tower Master.
Serne supported her dream with all her heart.
They believed their friendship would last forever.
But—
The truth shattered everything.
One day, the Tower Master—who otherwise ignored Serne except for magical training—summoned her to his chamber.
“Excellent.”
He marveled at the orb she had frozen—the “Orb of Frost”, jagged icicles jutting from its surface.
“Do you know what this orb is?”
Serne shook her head.
“I only heard that if you can freeze it, you’re said to be a great mage….”
“Correct.”
The Tower Master cleared the frost from it and set it on the table.
“This orb was created three hundred years ago by the Frost Mage, to practice his ice magic, before he sealed the Tower of Time.”
“Ah…”
“To freeze it requires innate affinity for ice magic. Not mere talent, more like the blessing of a spirit.”
He unleashed his own frost magic, pouring immense mana into it, but the orb did not freeze. Only the table beneath iced over.
“Since the Frost Mage, only two mages have ever managed to freeze this orb with mana.”
“……”
He set it down.
“For centuries, the Ivory Tower has searched for a child with the same blessing as the Frost Mage.”
“But why? A great mage need not be of the ice affinity…”
“To undo the ‘Absolute Seal’ he cast.”
The Tower Master laid out the Tower’s long-prepared plan: relocating to the Neutral Zone, and the sacrifice needed for Absolute Seal. It could only be released by casting the same magic again—at the price of one’s life.
Serne’s eyes widened.
“W-wait! Then…!”
“Indeed.”
He closed his eyes.
“Maelyn will become Tower Master at twenty. As protector of the Tower, she will embrace its noble destiny and give her life to unseal the Tower of Time.”
“……!”
Serne froze in shock before exploding in anger.
“W-what?! I won’t allow it! Why must Maelyn sacrifice herself for the Tower? What about her will?!”
“It is a glorious fate. Human lives are short, but her name will be immortalized in the Ivory Tower.”
“Leaving behind a name after an unjust death, what meaning does that have?! That’s not sacrifice, that’s murder!”
It was the first time Serne had ever shown such a rebellious attitude, and the Tower Master was inwardly surprised. But he replied coldly.
“Sacrifice is inevitable. If time continues as it is, our Ivory Tower will be caught up in Keyzen and torn to pieces.”
He slowly laid a hand on Serne’s head.
“You’re a clever child, so I trust you’ll understand. And from now on, don’t go freezing the Orb of Frost just to attract the adults’ attention. The one to unseal the Frozen Clock is Maelyn. After her death, you will become Tower Master…”
Smack!
Serne harshly slapped away his hand and seized the Orb of Frost.
“No, Father. Maelyn doesn’t have the ability to do it.”
Crack-crack-crack!
As she poured her strength into it, the Orb of Frost erupted with sharp spikes of ice.
“See?! I’ve frozen it this much! Maelyn can’t do this!”
The whole premise was that Maelyn could unseal the Absolute Seal. But if she couldn’t manage more than freezing the surface of the orb, how could she possibly undo it? Failure would mean Maelyn’s life lost for nothing.
Serne was pressing that very weakness.
“Serne, you are our hope. Instead of that defective one, it would be perfection itself if you were the sacrifice—”
Her eyes blazed red as she shouted.
“I’ll tell you plainly, this is the one thing I won’t yield on!”
“Serne!”
“I will become Tower Master!!”
She screamed, refusing to back down.
“I will be the one to break the Absolute Seal…!”
Tadadak—
Then, faint footsteps echoed from afar. Serne flinched and turned her head, but the sound vanished.
“Was that the truth? That you mean to die in her place?”
The Tower Master fixed her with a heavy gaze.
“Yes. I mean it.”
Serne clenched her teeth.
“From this moment on, I’ll use any means necessary to become Tower Master. And with my own hands, I’ll unseal the Absolute Seal.”
Shhhhhhh—
The vision of the past ended. As Simon’s sight blurred, his heart was thrown into turmoil.
‘Then Serne, from the very beginning…’
It was all for Maelyn.
She had sought the position of Tower Master only to gain the right to unseal the Absolute Seal—so that she herself could sacrifice, instead of Maelyn.
Even her constant provocations and mockery of Maelyn, even the choice to rely on Darkness Fire as her main magic—were all strategies to prevent Maelyn from focusing on and developing her own ice magic.
—I promise. I’ll make you Tower Master.
Serne had not lied.
By disappearing in sacrifice, she would naturally leave the seat of Tower Master to Maelyn.
‘That’s…!’
Simon bit his lip so hard it bled.
Then his blurred vision cleared—
“!”
Simon realized his arms and legs were pinned against the wall. Feathers pierced his body, preventing Darkness from flowing. He couldn’t even sense the undead.
Looking ahead, he saw the Ghost of Time bowing his head with a pained expression, while Serne smiled sweetly.
“W-what are you doing, Serne?!”
“Sorry, Simon. Just stay like that for a moment.”
She turned toward the Frozen Clock.
“If I left you free, you’d only stop me.”
“You… don’t tell me…!”
She laid her hand on the Frozen Clock.
“Do you remember Tarados? When we fought together in the dungeon controlled by the ‘Executioners’? I was watching everything through my feathers.”
“Serne! Wait! Let me out and talk!”
She clicked her tongue playfully.
“The more I watched, the more I realized your Greatsword of Destruction had a new function. Absorbing dungeon masters, and seizing dungeons, wasn’t it?”
“……!”
“If I undo the Absolute Seal now, I’ll die. When I die, the spell pinning you will vanish too. And then—”
Serne beamed.
“Use that sword to absorb the sealed dungeon master and take control of this dungeon. That’s the only way to stop the Tower Master’s plan.”
Simon’s face twisted in pain.
“Didn’t you hate Keyzen? Why… why betray the Tower Master to this extent?!”
“Because—”
Serne smiled faintly.
“My father, the Tower Master, was nothing more than a pawn of the ‘Executioners’.”
“…What?”
“Remember the records in the Tarados dungeon? You thought you and Loraine split them evenly. But I snatched a few for myself. And guess whose name was on the member list?”
Her eyes gleamed with icy rage.
“Such a worthless man. Maybe this plan could destroy Keyzen, but it wouldn’t make the Ivory Tower greater, it would only serve the Executioners’ schemes. That, I will not allow. If we destroy Keyzen, they’ll just seize the Dark Alliance themselves.”
“Serne…!”
“And more importantly…”
She grinned.
“That man keeps telling them to kill you, Simon. How annoying.”
—Sacrifice is inevitable.
“Yes, sacrifice is inevitable. But this way, both you and Maelyn can live.”
She released the Frozen Clock and walked slowly back to Simon. Smiling, she brushed his cheek with her hand.
“Simon, do you remember when we first met in first year?”
“……”
“During the island survival exam—you barged in while I was fighting Loraine and boldly asked for help. The three of us defeated that giant undead together.”
“Serne…!”
“Oh, and during Magical Combat class—I taught you Internal Darkness Divergence. I hugged you from behind, remember?”
One stamp for fighting alongside the Saint of Purification.
Another for toppling the Executioners at Tarados.
As she spoke, her voice was calm, and Simon’s memories of her piled up like a panorama.
“This is my last request. I haven’t filled all ten coupons yet, but I’ll use them all now.”
Her trembling hand pressed against Simon’s chest.
“When I die, stop the Tower Master’s plan. Promise me.”
She withdrew her hand and walked away. Simon struggled desperately.
“Serne!! Wait! Don’t do this! I’ll figure something out! There has to be another way! You don’t have to die here! Please…!”
“I’m sorry.”
Serne invoked the black magic she had prepared. Magic circles flared across her body, echoing along the walls and ceiling.
Enveloped in runes, she threw her arms around the Frozen Clock.
“Farewell, Simon.”
“Serneeeeeeee!!”
A blinding light and a deafening roar swallowed the ice.
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters