FIRST FLOOR OF THE SAGE’S TOWER
There weren’t any enemies in the entrance hall, so we did a final check of our potions and supplies before heading upstairs. The horses and Tyrion stayed outside to wait for our return, but Leaf and Leon insisted they could handle stairs, so they came with us.
FLOORS TWO THROUGH FIVE
OF THE SAGE’S TOWER
The enemies here were goblins—little creatures that some also called imps. The boss on the fifth floor was a goblin lord, and we took him out in seconds.
FLOORS SIX THROUGH TEN
OF THE SAGE’S TOWER
The enemies on these floors were pig-like monsters called orcs. Though, honestly, they didn’t look much like pigs to me. Maybe it was just meant as an insult because they were on the chubby side? If so, it felt a bit mean.
The boss on the tenth floor was an orc king, and we defeated him instantly, just like the previous boss.
FLOORS ELEVEN THROUGH FIFTEEN
OF THE SAGE’S TOWER
These levels were crawling with ogres, also known as demons. The boss on the fifteenth floor was an ogre king. Letia ended that fight in a single stroke, lopping off the king’s head.
FLOORS SIXTEEN THROUGH NINETEEN
OF THE SAGE’S TOWER
We started running into trolls, or giants, on these floors. They were bigger and stronger than ogres, but heavy and sluggish with slow, lumbering movements. Whenever one tried to swing its huge club down on us, I’d freeze it in place with an Ice Wedge, or Ariel would shoot an arrow straight into his head, making the troll crash to the floor.
Mark and Letia worked together to avoid their clubs and defeat the rest of the trolls, while Lynn smashed their skulls with her hammer. Honestly, I had to admit that we were a little overpowered for these floors.
TWENTIETH FLOOR OF THE SAGE’S TOWER
The boss here was a cyclops, a big giant with one eye. Its whole face was practically one humongous eyeball. Didn’t that make for an obvious weak spot? We couldn’t have had an easier target!
Sure enough, Ariel went straight for it and shot her arrow into the eye without hesitation. For someone so beautiful, she sure was ruthless.
FLOORS TWENTY-ONE TO TWENTY-FOUR
OF THE SAGE’S TOWER
The enemies on these floors were undead. Skeletons, zombies, ghouls, and all other forms of reanimated life all came charging at us. The air stank of decay.
“Ugh, I’m not going to waste my time shooting them one by one.” Ariel turned up her nose, then purified the entire floor with one fell swoop. Her wide-area purification spell consumed a lot of mana, so I handed her a mana potion when we reached the stairs, and then we moved on.
TWENTY-FIFTH FLOOR OF
THE SAGE’S TOWER
The boss here was a necromancer, a skeletal figure wearing a tattered robe. He summoned back all the undead Ariel had just defeated and filled the floor with them from wall to wall.
“Are you serious? I just cleaned up this disgusting mess,” Ariel snapped. “What do you think you’re doing?!” She unleashed another massive purification spell, disintegrating the necromancer along with his minions.
That was supposed to have been the boss, but it was hard not to feel a little sorry for him being vaporized right along with the small fry.
FLOORS TWENTY-SIX TO TWENTY-NINE
OF THE SAGE’S TOWER
There were undead magicians and living armor floating around everywhere on these floors.
Living armor was essentially empty suits of plate that moved around on their own, while undead magicians were just empty robes. In other words, a whole bunch of floating clothing.
“Guess it’s up to me again,” Ariel sighed and started another round of floor-wide purification.
This time, however, the living armor vanished while the undead magicians stuck around.
“Hm?” she tipped her head to the side, looking puzzled.
“It looks like they activate a magic barrier if you attack with spells,” Letia explained calmly as she observed them.
“I see,” Ariel said. “That means we have to hit them with physical attacks!” She tried shooting one with a holy arrow, but it still bounced right off the barrier. Apparently, even arrows crafted by mana counted as magic. I realized I needed to make sure she carried a few real arrows for enemies like these.
“Hmph! If that’s how you want to play, I’ll bless everyone’s weapons instead!” she said, puffing out her cheeks in frustration. “Holy Crusade!” Casting a support spell, she enchanted everyone’s weapons with holy power.
Well, except mine, because…I didn’t even have a weapon.
Everyone else went smashing the mana stones inside the empty robes, the undead magicians’ cores, but I could only stand there, useless.
THIRTIETH FLOOR OF THE SAGE’S TOWER
The boss here was a Dullahan, riding on a kind of ancient wagon called a chariot. He was headless, and held his head carefully in his left hand while holding a spear in his right. Isn’t that kind of an awkward setup?
The chariot itself was infamous for its spiky wheels that it used to mow people down. Overall, it was rather macabre. However, he never got the chance to charge, because Ariel’s holy magic vaporized him before he could even move.
FLOORS THIRTY-ONE TO THIRTY-FOUR
OF THE SAGE’S TOWER
Suddenly, we were surrounded by vampires in flowing capes and their familiars, swarms of bats. I figured the boss waiting on the unexplored thirty-fifth floor must be a vampire king. They all swooped at us, eager to drain our blood, but Ariel’s holy magic once again obliterated them with little fanfare.
THE UNEXPLORED FLOORS
OF THE SAGE’S TOWER
Since Ariel had been working so hard, I made sure she drank another mana potion before we went up the stairs to the thirty-fifth floor. Climbing the last few steps, we crossed the threshold.
There were countless vampires crowded inside, but they weren’t the typical kind. These wore the gear of fallen adventurers; some had armor, some wore robes, but all of them had pale, blue-tinted skin and bloodshot red eyes. A few were crying tears of blood.
“Kill us!”
“It hurts…”
Some begged for death, while others called out names, which I guessed were their family members. The whole place was terrifying.
“Yuck…” I said.
They didn’t even look like monsters; they looked like people who had been twisted into something inhuman. My stomach churned and everyone clamped a hand over their mouths. Even Mark and Letia looked shaken, which was unusual for such seasoned adventurers. I wondered if they recognized some of the poor souls.
At the end of the nightmare stood the one responsible for all this, and he greeted our stunned silence with a voice full of glee.
“Welcome, all! What do you think of my collection of servants? Aren’t they wonderful? Now, you shall join them!” He snarled, baring pointy fangs, and swept his black cape around himself as he launched straight for us.
He was the undead king, the ruler of all vampires, and the reason the Sage’s Tower had remained unconquered for so long.
“Ariel!” I shouted.
“Leave it to me! Banish!” Ariel raised her hand overhead and unleashed a blinding pillar of divine light. However…
“Ariel, look out!”
Apparently, Ariel had assumed that he would be vulnerable to her holy magic like every other vampire. She looked truly stunned that her attack had failed—too stunned to even dodge the incoming counterattack.
Letia dashed between them, intercepting the undead king’s fangs with her katana. She hooked her free arm around Ariel’s waist and kicked off the floor, putting distance between them and the monster.
“Thank you, Letia.”
“Sure thing.”
Ariel had been spared by only seconds.
“I’ve never seen an undead being that isn’t affected by holy magic. What else can we do?” Ariel put aside her panic and immediately started brainstorming.
“I am a king, not a fool!” the vampire bellowed. “When one thinks of the undead, they think of holy magic. It’s common sense! Naturally, I prepared for such tactics, so your precious holy magic is useless. Now, despair! You shall become my puppets for all eternity! Cry, beg, scream for mercy! I want to see your faces twisted in grief, resignation, and despair! That is my greatest delight!” He threw back his head and laughed, a high-pitched mocking sound that filled the room. His thin red lips curved into a smirk.
All it did was provoke Ariel. She narrowed her eyes, burning with anger. “Then how about fire? Azure Fireball!” She gathered a flurry of blue flames around her as if to vent her frustration.
The other element most effective against undead monsters was fire, and Azure Fireball was an advanced form of the Fireball spell. Ariel poured everything she had into the flames and hurled the blazing fireball straight into the undead king’s stomach.
“How dare you underestimate us! Take this!” Lynn was already behind him, swinging her hammer down to follow up Ariel’s strike. Letia sprinted over, her katana flashing as she struck his side. Meanwhile, Mark swung his halberd down to break his neck.
But it was all in vain. He didn’t have a scratch on him.
The vampire trembled with laughter. “Physical attacks and all manner of elemental magic are useless. Be it holy, darkness, light, evil, fire, water, earth, wind—none shall work! Now give up! Wallow in despair! You shall join my collection at the end of this hopeless struggle!” He seemed almost drunk on his confidence in his own victory.
Honestly, I couldn’t blame Ariel for being furious, because I couldn’t wait to see this smug monster get what he deserved. But if physical attacks and elemental magic didn’t affect him, then what would?
Wait… I still have another element!
“Hey, you! I’ve got something you can’t nullify!” I shouted.
“Ha! You can’t harm me!” The undead king sneered down his nose at me.
“You sure about that?” I raised my hand toward him and gave him my sweetest smile. Then I shouted, “Rose Whip!” Countless vines burst through every window and crack in the tower, surging toward the vampire all at once.
“Wh-what’s happening?!” For the first time, he sounded shaken.
The thorny vines whipped around him like tentacles. No matter how he struggled to tear them off, they only tightened their grip. Within moments, he was bound tightly in a thick cocoon of vines.
I’d completely immobilized the undead king! Yes!
“H-how can magic work on me? This is impossible! What sorcery is this?!” He thrashed in vain, as the vines only squeezed him tighter. Before long, he lost his balance and crashed onto the floor.
This is nature magic! You never said anything about that!
“He’s neutralized now, right?” Mark came over to me, looking relieved.