Episode 166
* * *
Imperial Calendar XX, XX month, XX day, 3rd day of the Feast of Saint Santiago, clear weather
The experiment has failed again. I am having great difficulty in obtaining children for the experiment. My co-experimenter, the demon sorcerer Prelati, does not seem to understand my plight at all. If the next exorcism fails, Prelati demands that I leave the island of Britannia and join the ‘Devil Worshipers’ Society’ in the Empire.
* * *
Reaching the level of the 5th Circle was a special test that required the power of Eris and Shuve.
But apart from that, Dale’s test to prove himself in front of everyone as the successor to the Black Tower was no exception.
The Test of the Tower, the 21st floor of the Black Tower.
There was a black magician who had obtained the realm of the 5th circle, the ‘Black Prince’.
Five circles began to rotate around the heart.
And among them, the pitch-black tentacles forming the fifth circle began to writhe, generating a large amount of black magic power.
Black blood spread throughout the body along with the heartbeat, infusing dark magic into every part of the body through the bloodstream.
The body of Dark Blood that has completed its fusion with the 『Book of the Black Goat』.
Reborn as one with the most terrifying darkness in the world, a twisted thing that cannot be biologically called human.
At this point, Dale didn’t know what to call his existence.
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t even clear whether the thing encircling Dale’s heart should be called a ‘circle’.
However, Dale was no longer a ‘mere host’ to Shuve. Just as the current Shuve was no more than a parasite to Dale.
Nothing changed.
Fusion and symbiosis that are closer to perfection.
The blood flow in his body accelerated with his heartbeat, and the black blood, as black as coal tar, began to pulsate.
The Shadow Lord’s avatar was placed over Dale’s body, which was determined to become human.
The body and armor of the dark blood.
He just raised his head.
“Ha, ha, I surrender! I surrender!”
“… … .”
The Shadow Lord nodded silently as he looked at the young warlock kneeling with pale face.
As I walked up the steps to the next staircase, nothing changed.
The dark wizards of the lower floors, and even the dark creations created by the elders of the Black Tower for testing, were no exception.
The black successor stepped forward to take his place, and no one stood in his way.
It was a free pass that couldn’t even be called a test.
* * *
After defeating the level guardians guarding the steps of the Black Tower one by one, Dale finally reached a new location called the lower level.
The upper floor of the tower.
The opponents for the tower’s exams starting from here are the black magicians of the 5th circle or higher who live in the corresponding floor as their workshop. And they also participate in the exam every year to determine their position, and at the same time, there are some restrictions to prevent the entire black magic tower from turning into a battlefield from the 50th floor to the 100th floor.
First, the competition is fought in order from the lowest level to the top.
Second, the person being challenged can freely utilize the workshop where he resides.
For a magician, a workshop is a fortress and territory in itself, and in the case of the Black Magic Tower… …the battles fought in their workshop are like a siege.
In order for the wizards to defend their positions, they have converted their workshops into defensive fortresses, and to break through them, a difference in skill beyond winning a one-on-one fight is required.
Fortress conquest.
If we assume that a 4th circle wizard is a level beyond a proper wizard, and that it is the final destination where most ordinary people get frustrated and hit a wall… … .
The wizards of the 5th Circle are an established force that has established their firm position within the Magic Tower.
You can use an entire level as your own residence and workshop, and the benefits provided by the tower, from funds to black magic materials, are also enormous.
‘The problem is that they are all using that benefit to transform their own class into a defensive fortress.’
Level 50, the workshop of a 5th circle black magician.
Waiting for Dale in front of him was literally an army of the dead.
He desperately defends his position by obtaining and reviving the corpses of the Orcs and other demons that flood the Duchy of Saxony every year, arming them into an army… … and literally remodeling every part of the hierarchy into a military camp.
Dale just turned his head away.
He opened his mouth softly, facing the elders of the Black Tower who were still watching his test.
“In the past, some elders raised an uprising to revive the dead spirit of the Black Tower.”
He didn’t care about the 50-level warlocks or the army of the dead in front of him.
“In a sense, it may be true that the spirit of the Black Tower is stagnant.”
Dale spoke, and the elders of the Black Tower held their breath at his words.
“The magicians who are not supposed to fight, are so crude and desperate in their attacks and defenses… … It goes without saying that they expend a lot of effort and money in the process.”
And as a warrior who has lived on the battlefield his entire life, Dale accelerated five circles.
“What would be the point of wizards who don’t even know real combat desperately playing war among themselves in a well?”
Proving yourself in the tower’s exams is also an essential goal.
But apart from that, Dale’s real purpose was different.
Just as he pioneered the Demon King’s Territory and brought about a wind of reform as the Viscount of Saxony, he will also break down the old customs and stagnation of the organization known as the Black Tower.
An uncountable army of the dead began to charge to defend his workshop. They were a horde of orcs resurrected by the 5th Circle Warlock with the undead, and Dale stretched out his arm in front of their charge.
Choaack!
At the same time, pitch-black tentacles rose from within the Dark Blood’s armor and swept away.
The current Dale will not be able to be dealt with by something like an orc corpse with only a little more strength than a normal soldier.
“Ah, ahh… … !”
It couldn’t even be called a battle anymore.
“In the case of the Red Tower, there is an organization that has been honing its magic from the beginning with the assumption that it will be active in war.”
Dale said, recalling the Purifier’s presence.
“Assuming those Purifiers were to raid this 50th floor, how long would it take for this fortification to collapse?”
Dale finally asked the 5th Circle Warlock hiding among the undead soldiers.
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“If you are so desperate to protect your position by building such a flimsy fortress, the repercussions will also affect the younger warlocks in the lower ranks.”
“But, Prince Dale! This is strictly according to the tradition of our Black Tower… … .”
Finally, the 5th Circle Warlock opened his mouth after a long silence, and Dale nodded.
“It was this tradition that the hardliners of the Black Tower needed to change, not by storming Father’s Castle and proving their folly.”
“… … !”
Old-fashioned bad habits that eat away at the function and efficiency of an organization from top to bottom and bottom to top.
I didn’t think things would change overnight. That’s why Dale just quietly waited for the right time.
When he looks down on them as a proper black magician, and furthermore, solidifies his position as a black successor that no one can suspect.
Dale waved his hand again.
Not to reveal the power of the Dark Blood’s armor, but to reveal the power of the Dark Blood’s body within it.
A storm of black magic began to swirl along the ground beneath my feet.
The winds of death swept through the entire fortress desperately built by the 50-tier black magician.
The minerals corroded, and the bodies of the dead, reduced to nothing but bones, collapsed into heaps of ash.
“Hee, heek!”
Feeling the fear of death, the 5th circle warlock falls to his butt.
But the Shadow Lord doesn’t even glance at him and just walks away indifferently.
To advance beyond the already scorched 50 levels, to a place that Dale can reach solely with his own strength.
* * *
Since Dale had declared with his own mouth that he would overturn the organization of the Black Tower, it was inevitable that he would face resistance from the black magicians who owned his own class.
That is why the resistance of the black magicians against the ‘Black Prince’ from the 50th floor onwards was incomparable to that of before.
Still, there was no way for a single 5th Circle wizard to block Dale’s path.
51st layer, 52nd layer, 55th layer… … .
Dale opened his mouth as he laid waste to the fortifications of the warlocks who were desperately struggling to defend their lair.
At first, he showed a power that they did not even dare to think of opposing, but Dale’s card was not only oppression.
Rather, just as he had turned the Demon King’s Territory into a land of opportunity that could not be exchanged for anything else, he had finally come up with a reward that they could accept.
While the Black Tower Lord is officially absent, he takes over as his proxy… … .
As was once the case in the Demon King’s Territory, it was time to change many things in the Black Tower for the future.
* * *
At that moment, the ‘Black Guard’, an organization comprised of elders of the Black Tower, were gathered in one room of the tower.
Watching Dale’s test starting from the 50th floor, I couldn’t hide my indescribable shock.
But what really shocked them was not the reforms Dale was advocating.
As high-ranking magicians of the Black Tower, it was clear that they were pursuing the principles of darkness.
What was happening to Dale’s body. A darkness that even they could not dare imagine was reborn as one with the body of the ‘Black Prince’.
“Your Majesty, you are young and intelligent, and you seem to have great ambitions. It is truly a pleasure to see you.”
Just then, one of the elders of the Black Tower opened his mouth.
Eris, the black substitute who was sitting in the empty seat of the absent black tower lord, turned her head.
“And, to my great shame, what Confucius said is true. Aren’t his words truly as sharp as an awl?”
“No, sir… … !”
Leaving behind several elders who could not hide their embarrassment, the old master smiled without paying any attention.
“As my old friend Edgar once said, there is no doubt that our thinking is stagnant and rusty.”
A few elders held their breath, and Eris asked back, her monocle glowing.
“Do you have anything to say?”
“I just want to say that Confucius’s actions are justified and, furthermore, he is capable of doing so.”
“… … .”
“Then excuse me for a moment.”
After saying that, Nosa got up.
“Where are you going?”
“This is the path to welcoming the new spirit of the times.”
As he said that, Nosa laughed heartily as if he was enjoying himself.
