Chapter 44

The Purifiers of the Crimson Magic Tower. Roughly estimated from horseback, there were a dozen or so. Those very dozen ‘Purifiers’ were channeling their crimson magic, their murderous intent burning bright.

“Gaaaah!”

Alongside hundreds of Orc horsemen supporting them, they pursued Dale’s cavalry force of over three hundred knights.

It was the worst possible situation.

Charging the Red Tower’s mages in formation with cavalry was tantamount to suicide. Facing their overwhelming firepower, it was like openly begging them to bombard this very spot.

The true strength of knights lies in their tactical destructive power, born from thorough organization. And the terrifying aspect of the Red Magic Tower was precisely its ability to seal off that very organization. The enemy mages weren’t called the ‘God of War’ for no reason.

But if they scattered and spread out unilaterally, the pursuing Orc horsemen would catch up to them.

‘This situation has become a real headache.’

As he thought this, just as Dale was about to turn his gaze to the ‘tentacle’ constricting his heart.

“Dismount, Dale.”

The voice of the elf mage, Sepia, reached him. She had regained her usual composure and calm. At Sepia’s command, Dale did not hesitate. He knew full well the meaning behind the words of a 6th-circle elf mage.

Following Dale’s command, he dismounted, leaving the scattered cavalry behind.

Alongside Charlotte, the knight guarding his side.

“The rest of the cavalry, carry out my orders as directed!”

Seeing the commander suddenly dismount, the cavalrymen began to stir. At that moment, Dale shouted at the top of his lungs. Immediately after, the orc riders and purifiers charged toward the ‘Black Prince,’ who stood defenseless on the frozen ground.

“Ice Crystal.”

Before the rapidly approaching enemies, Sepia spoke softly.

Within the blessing of the Saxon family’s frozen land, as a Snow Elf and a Water-attribute 6th Circle Elf Mage, she resolved to protect her disciple and confront the enemy.

“Sweep them away.”

Sepia opened her mouth. Her voice rang out, incredibly clear and transparent. It was a resonance of unparalleled purity.

At that very moment, the world froze.

Ice crystals began swirling like a storm, centered beneath her feet.

Whoosh!

Hundreds of wolves and orc riders charging toward the two were all caught in the swirling vortex of cold air churning beneath Sepia’s feet, instantly frozen solid. Like fossils trapped in ice from the Ice Age.

Except for a few Purifiers who protected themselves with their ‘Flame Armor’ against her cold.

“Defeat your young knight, Dale.”

Sepia spoke amidst the storm of cold air.

“I… I have a duty to protect Dale…”

Charlotte, grasping the meaning of those words, adjusted her grip on the sword hilt.

“Charlotte.”

But Dale quietly shook his head.

“It’s the lord’s command.”

“……”

After a moment’s hesitation, Charlotte nodded.

“Mount your horse, and never slacken the reins.”

With that, Dale lifted Charlotte onto his horse. Along with the heavy responsibility she must carry.

“Retreat to the designated crossing point and inform Father of our situation.”

“……Understood.”

Charlotte nodded. She was not one to misunderstand the weight of the command given to her.

As Charlotte receded, the ‘Shadows of Flame’ revealed themselves amidst the swirling storm of frigid air. Standing on two legs, they enveloped their bodies in gleaming armor of blazing flame. Twelve Purifiers of the Enemy Tower. By no means a small number.

Meanwhile, Dale’s scattered cavalry was finishing off the orc horsemen.

“Why is the Crimson Mage Tower acting alongside the demonic forces?”

Dale asked.

“……”

The Flaming Shadows did not answer.

Purifier.

The fanatical executors of madness, who worship the flames of the Crimson Spire and do not hesitate to burn their own bodies. For them, the only thing that matters is incinerating the enemies of the Crimson Spire.

For the Purifier, the pursuit of magic boils down to one thing: ‘How to burn enemies in any situation.’ Any magic beyond the purpose of killing is nothing but a luxury.

They truly deserve the title ‘Knights of the Crimson Spire’.

As individual mages, their capabilities alone cannot compare to Sepia, the elder of the Blue Magic Tower. Yet their true value lies in their collective strength as an organization, just as their epithet ‘Knights of the Red Magic Tower’ suggests.

The shadows of flame simultaneously extended their arms. The crimson magic swirling from their hands converged toward each other, creating a synergistic effect.

To strike down the infernal flames that would obliterate Dale and Sepia in a single blow.

“Resound.”

But Sepia flicked her fingers once more.

With a clear, yet inexplicably unpleasant harmony.

“……!”

The bombardment that should have struck like a blazing inferno fizzled out like a fleeting candle flame. It vanished into a scene that seemed to be drifting in sleet.

I knew it the moment I saw it. The technique of the Blue Mage Tower, prioritizing defense and disruption over attack.

Disable… It’s a dispel spell.

Countless particles of blue magical energy generated from Sepia’s hands scattered in all directions.

The blue mage’s specialty: infiltrating the forming magical bonds to shatter their structure, sealing off the magic at its source.

《Blue Dissonance》.

Seeing this, Dale hesitated not a moment.

“Knights of Saxony, now is the time!”

As long as spells requiring a certain level of complexity are blocked by Sepia’s Dissonance, a mage unable to wield advanced magic has few options against charging cavalry.

“Charge!”

Thus, the Saxon Black Cavalry quickly regrouped and began their charge.

At that moment.

Orcs relentlessly attempted to force their way across the ford, while the main force commanded by the Duke of Saxony engaged them in fierce combat.

The wall of heavily armored knights and the orcs’ desperate struggle to break through it.

The Black Mage and the elders of the Black Mage Tower under his command also watched from a distant slope. Behind them stood countless young necromancers of the Black Mage Tower.

“Eris.”

“Yes, Tower Lord.”

Watching the battle unfold, the Black Duke spoke softly.

“Send the children to the river crossing point commanded by Baron Kenneth and Mercenary Captain Yones.”

He pointed to the relatively hard-pressed section facing the orcs’ forced breakthrough.

“I will obey the Tower Lord’s command.”

At those words, Eris, the Black Mage Tower Lord’s secretary, silently nodded.

‘The children’.

The young dark mages of the Black Tower, silent behind them, began to move. For the mages of the Black Tower, the battlefield was a place of learning beyond compare. Death unfolded everywhere, and truth always lay within death.

Meanwhile, as the lords gathered under the name of the Duke of Saxony engaged in bloody combat, and the intensity of the battle reached a certain fever pitch.

“…It is time.”

The Black Duke finally spoke. To the Black Robes, the empire’s foremost black mages clad in jet-black robes. To bring this battle to its conclusion.

He was about to give the order.

“Now, Your Highness, the Duke of Saxony!”

It was shortly thereafter that the young knight Charlotte arrived bearing Dale’s message.

The cavalry charged in a broad formation, and against them, the twelve Purifiers began to move.

They charged, kicking off the ground, scattering streams of flame in all directions.

Swift, instant incantations, unhindered by the blue discord. Yet, the firepower was more than sufficient to wipe out the cavalry charging toward them.

“……!”

From the fiery armor surrounding the Purifier, streams of flame erupted and engulfed the cavalry. Dale and Sepia easily erected a wall of cold to block their strike. Though the cavalry’s charge was halted by the sudden wall of cold, it was still better than suffering casualties.

Two water mages, on the land blessed by heaven, built a shield of ice. They reinforced the bond to withstand the Purifiers’ heat—in other words, they added the modifier of rapid cooling. Furthermore, Dale added the modifiers of fissure and fragmentation to the ice wall.

Immediately after defense, to shatter the ice wall for offensive purposes.

The cavalry charge was nothing but a feint.

Shard Magnum.

The massive ice wall exploded, scattering countless sharp, finely crafted ice shards like shot. Over the fiery armor surrounding the Purifiers.

But before reaching the shadows of the blazing flames, the ice projectiles melted away.

‘……!’

Flame is the result of the three fundamental elements—heat, matter, and oxygen—combining… and heat is ultimately a measure of the intensity of molecular motion that constitutes matter.

Just as coldness refers to the concept of molecular motion decreasing and gradually approaching a state of rest.

Yet the flame armor that melts even ice bound by Sepia’s formula.

‘Impossible.’

We weren’t even fighting on the scorched sands of the desert. Could one truly ignite flames powerful enough to melt even the ice conjured by the Elder of the Blue Tower, here in Saxony’s frozen wasteland? With what, exactly?

The answer came sooner than expected.

After the ice wall protecting the cavalry vanished, the twelve Purifiers scattered in all directions. Most were exposed defenselessly before Dale’s charging cavalry, while a few broke through the cavalry’s encirclement and closed the distance toward Dale and Sepia.

Right after that.

“Shadow Bullet.”

A ‘Shadow Bullet’ that couldn’t be melted by mere flames plunged down, and one Purifier was riddled with bullets and fell.

Right before Dale’s eyes.

His robe was torn away, revealing his face. It was a being resembling living ash—skin scorched by flames, bones melting away.

“……What’s your purpose?”

Dale asked, looking at the Purifier who had fallen to his knees.

“Heh, heh heh heh.”

He hadn’t exactly expected a plausible answer.

“Soon, everything in this world will be engulfed in flames……!”

Just as expected.

“The world will burn, and from the ashes, they will descend…!”

Only twisted smiles and mad ramblings followed.

BOOM!

At that very moment, an explosion erupted. A blast powerful enough to engulf everything in the vicinity, including himself.

‘A suicide magic!’

Seeing it, I could sense it immediately. Only then did I understand. They weren’t clad in some armor of flame.

The Purifiers of the Crimson Mage Tower here had been burning themselves from the start. Not armor, but their own flesh and blood and bone.

The moment Dale grasped this truth, his blood ran cold.

A baptism of flames swept over everything within the blast radius, including Dale’s cavalry. Not even Dale and Sepia could escape it.

And that was just one of the ‘twelve explosives’.