WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 672: A Tower Without a Ceiling and Intermingling Humans - 8

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I read the Holy Maiden's thoughts. Valuable information.

It was a little different from the Steel Maiden. She could only foresee her own future, and she was thick-headed. No matter how valuable the words, they were hard to read when written on rough stone.

The Holy Maiden of Light, by contrast, was bright, just as her name suggested. Her clear, clean memories were easy for me to read.

"Malice alone doesn't lead the world to ruin! What matters is intelligence. If you're foolish, if you lack the insight to see far ahead, even the smallest kindness can lead to a terrible tragedy."

"There's a term for that too: the butterfly effect."

"You're not foolish. You're simply someone who watches a child walk toward the water without doing anything. So the outcome won't change either."

Ruel raised a finger and pointed at the artificial sun above us. Fearlessly staring at the light source, no different from the sun, with her bare eyes, she made her judgment with a gentle smile.

"I can't entrust 'Pride' to you."

Then Ruel lowered her finger.

With that motion, the light pouring from the artificial sun gained physical force. The light itself remained unchanged, but the rules surrounding the world changed and crushed me.

"Urk!"

Light with physical force was unbelievably fast and powerful. The light simply shone down, yet it created a blast of wind. It felt as though a waterfall were pressing down on my shoulders and back.

I read Ruel's thoughts and moved a step ahead of time, but the light had already battered my entire body. I was slammed into the ground twice before being flung away.

A tingling pressure ran through my whole body. My eyes had probably not burst only because the light was crushing the rest of me too.

"The reason Holy Maidens don't enforce order through 'power' isn't because they lack power. It's because they know how fragile and empty an order enforced through power can be."

After rolling several times, I got up and barely steadied my vision as I faced the Holy Maiden of Light.

A halo floated above her head. Wings made of light spread behind her back. The soft radiance flowing from her whole body exerted a physical pressure. It was overwhelming power, so intense that merely looking at her drained my strength.

I staggered back and spoke without thinking.

"Isn't that because it's power borrowed from the First Holy Maiden?"

"Other Holy Maidens might be. But..."

Ruel smiled brightly and circled both hands. Clusters of pure white light shimmered in the air around them.

It was neither qi nor mana light. What she held was a cluster of pure light. Light that should have vanished the instant it touched something instead possessed physical force through her innate arcane, trapping other light within it.

"My innate arcane wasn't granted to me by the First Holy Maiden who blessed me, you know?"

With a smile, Ruel fired the ring-shaped light at me.

"Sparkling Light!"

The speed of light was faster than sight. Of course it was. Seeing was simply light entering our eyes.

By the time I came to my senses, my body had already been struck countless times and flung far away. The light with physical force vanished the instant it hit me.

"Argh!"

What was this? Reading her thoughts didn't matter at all?!

I could at least get hit a little less painfully. The light traveled in a straight line, following the trajectory Ruel predicted exactly. As long as I avoided a direct hit, it wouldn't have enough force to split a person in half.

But that was all. It struck the instant she thought of it. No matter how quickly I reacted, I would be too late. This wasn't my problem, but the fundamental limit of living creatures.

At this rate, I wouldn't even be able to get close! There had to be some way... Ah!

"That's a vicious ability for such a cute spell...!"

I babbled to buy time and pulled out a card behind my back.

Nine of Spades. The Tree of Origin. Tiny moss and leaves grew over the hem of my clothes. They absorbed light and drew in air, forming green armor around me.

Plants were devourers of light. Just as Nevida had blocked light with plants, if I could do something similar, then maybe...

"There are vicious spells too. Would you like to try one?"

Ruel sneered at me and enlarged the ring. Light rippled sluggishly through the much larger circle. Crackle, crackle. The light vibrating through the widened gap was far weaker than before, and more sinister.

"Curse-light."

Yet its speed was the same. The instant Ruel released the light, my body rang with a thump. The blow itself wasn't strong. Instead, its force struck my entire body and passed through it.

It felt as though my soul had been pulled out behind me. An unpleasant floating sensation enveloped me. When I came to my senses, I was rolling across the ground.

"Ugh!"

It felt like my body was riddled with holes. Nausea rose from the sickening sensation.

Light? This was light, but...

"Light doesn't come in only one kind. The light visible to our eyes is only a tiny fraction. True light exists beyond that range. This curse-light exists far beyond red light. It has enough penetrating power to pierce even ten fathoms of water. Passing through a person who is only one fathom deep is effortless."

"It passes through the body?"

Bright light didn't pass through bodies. That was why shadows existed.

But other kinds of light existed in this world. Light didn't come in only one kind. The light we saw was only a tiny fraction.

Light with a lower frequency and greater penetrating power? She could give physical force to something I could neither see nor feel? What kind of innate arcane was this?

"Yes. Though the physical force I give it passes through as well, so the effect isn't that great. At most, it makes you dizzy."

"That's far too vicious to call 'at most'...!"

This dizziness went beyond simple sensory confusion. It was the result of light passing through my body and shaking it. If it had simply been low-frequency light, it would have passed through and that would have been the end of it. But with physical force behind it, it became an unblockable strike. That made my grass and moss armor useless too!

"Light beyond violet is difficult to handle, and it doesn't suit an innate arcane that grants physical force, so I won't use it. It's destructive even without innate arcane."

"How considerate...! Is it really okay to tell me all this?"

"Yes. Look all you want. Enjoy it all you want. That's what light is, isn't it?"

Ruel was both a mage and a Holy Maiden. She possessed both a Holy Maiden's self-righteousness and a mage's arrogance.

But the arrogance of the strong was their right. Ruel had the power to back it up.

"Try to dodge this. Firelight."

Blazing light raced across the ground, setting the earth aflame. The white-hot radiance that heated the air could neither be dodged nor blocked. Watching the firelight approach, I felt hollow.

This was absolutely impossible, wasn't it? Was there anyone who could help me?

"The White Tower Master is cheating. You can't fight that woman without an innate arcane."

The ability to turn light directly into force was simply too fast, regardless of how strong that force was. Unless you dominated a certain space with innate arcane, you couldn't even respond to it. It was tyrannical power that crushed weaker opponents.

"He's raising dust to hide himself from view and growing grass to hold out, but even Hui can't manage this. Still, to think the White Tower Master was the Holy Maiden of Light. I wonder whether the Demon King knows."

After observing the situation for a while, Lankart was about to move. Beating the White Tower Master would be difficult, but Lankart's Right-Handed World encompassed light too. He could at least deflect her attacks.

Yet as Lankart walked toward Hughes, he suddenly felt his senses distort. Regaining his composure, he looked around and clicked his tongue.

"...Damn it. When did this happen?"

Hughes and Ruel stood in every direction, north, south, east, and west. Mirror Image. A tactical-grade spell that copied a scene and scattered it all around. Small in scale, but more precise than even a strategic-grade spell.

The proper use of light magic was illusion and disruption. Even while attacking Hughes, Ruel had formed part of a spell to surround Lankart. The moment Lankart chose one direction and fired out a torrent of force, Ruel's image distorted.

The concentrated light exploded, turning his vision red. Lankart had anticipated it and covered his eyes, but he frowned.

The black crystal shielding his eyes prevented blindness, but the light trap was still troublesome for Lankart.

He couldn't block visible light. If he did, Lankart would see nothing. Yet blinding light could hurt even without physical force. He couldn't move recklessly.

"Hui. Sorry. I don't think I'll be much help. But..."

Lankart hadn't been particularly concerned from the start. There was no need to rush.

"You won't lose to a mage, will you? Right?"

The same trap unfolded around Shei. But Shei had Seven-Colored Eyes that could see through light, and she was more perceptive than Lankart. The moment she recognized it as a trap and chose a direction to move in.

"...Wait."

A transparent crystal formed and blocked Shei's path. She immediately tried to break the ice wall, but a sudden sense of unease made her stop.

That wasn't ice. It was an ice crystal. If she carelessly touched that wall of crystallized air, it would cause an enormous backlash.

Shei shouted urgently.

"Elisha! Get rid of this wall!"

"You know about the 'Pride' above us too, don't you?"

"I do! So what?!"

"You must know that 'Pride' is dangerous power for anyone to possess. Why are you helping Hughes and the Temple of the Demon God obtain 'Pride'?"

Elisha Celsius, the Cyan Tower Master, was more exceptional than anyone else. That was why she was the first to realize the danger when 'Pride' was released.

It was difficult to believe, but every clue pointed to it. The purpose of this floating castle's existence. The principle supporting it. The mage towers guarding against what lay above rather than below.

And their teacher, the Demon King.

The Demon King had been waiting for someone to reach him. He selected and raised geniuses, helping their research while interfering as little as possible. The qualified geniuses entered the Tower of Babel, faced the Demon King's trials, and climbed floor by floor.

Everyone praised the Demon King as a merciful and benevolent King of Magic, but Elisha did not agree.

Even when mages with innate arcane fought each other, the Demon King did not stop them. Instead, he expanded space to protect the surroundings. That allowed bystanders to watch duels between mages like a sport.

It seemed like the Demon King's kindness, but he wasn't looking after the people around them.

He was encouraging them to fight.

The Demon King was a kind teacher, but only to mages with potential. Anyone who wasn't a mage was one of the ignorant masses.

The ignorant masses crawling through the lower realm were none of his concern. The mage families living among them in the lower realm should worry about them.

...Then what did the floating castle mean to the Demon King? What would happen if everyone climbed the Tower of Babel according to his wishes and reached 'Pride'?

Elisha's vision was broad. That was what made her superior to the other geniuses. One day, another genius's sharpness might catch up to her, but for now, Elisha was more exceptional than anyone else.

So Elisha trusted her own judgment. A judgment made by someone smarter than anyone else couldn't be wrong.

She might not be able to reach the ideal world she dreamed of through world law. But that was better than bringing about ruin.

"If you know that too, wouldn't it be reasonable to persuade Hughes and stop him?"

Shei wasn't smart, but she had flashes of insight. Elisha asked Shei for her reasoning.

Then Shei answered as if it were obvious.

"No. I trust Hughes!"

"...Trust?"

Elisha tilted her head.

"Hughes isn't a bad person. He can be a little harsh and sly, but even though Hughes has caused chaos, he has never led things to ruin. He must have something in mind!"

"What does he have in mind?"

"How would I know?! He didn't tell me! But Hughes isn't someone who'd just sit and watch 'Pride' fall. That's for certain!"

It was, in fact, an obvious thing to say. Who would want to drop a star of destruction? A mage who judged rationally would never create a switch that led to ruin in the first place.

But if everything in the world worked rationally, why would something like 'Pride' exist at all? True rationality had to include caution toward irrationality. It would be more rational to make sure no one could obtain it from the start.

Someone as outstanding and intelligent as Elisha Celsius would make that judgment. So that had to be right...

"Forget all that. Hughes is the smartest person here! The rule is that the smartest person climbs the tower and receives the Demon God's relic! The Demon King decided that! So it's okay for him to take it!"

But what about Hughes?

The King of Humanity. Someone superior even to Lankart and Elisha. If perhaps... someone comparable to the Demon King judged that he should take it. If the Demon King, wiser than anyone else, decided to give it to him.

If two people superior to Elisha had decided it, how should Elisha act?

As Elisha briefly fell into that contradiction.

"Stop...!"

Avant-garde, the only one free from restraint, gritted her teeth and charged forward, blocking Ruel's path.

Footnotes:

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