DOTD Chapter 13

13 Tower of Gold

 

All black skin, piercing black eyes.

 

They resemble humans in appearance, with attached arms and legs, but it would be obvious to anyone who saw them that they were not human.

 

Their saliva was like poison, and wherever it touched, life lost its glow.

 

“Aaahhh!”

 

Screams filled the air.

 

Innocent people were being trampled on for merely standing in their way.

 

Those with the power to attack stepped forward and tried to stop the monsters, but it was no use.

 

The monsters charged toward the tower at the center of the city as if they knew no pain.

 

Suddenly, the creatures that had been charging so fiercely faltered.

 

They could advance no further, blocked by the transparent barrier of mana that enveloped all of Avantha.

 

It was an area-wide binding that was triggered in times of crisis.

 

The eerie cries of the monsters mingled with the constant pounding of their bodies against the barrier.

 

The relief was short-lived, however, as the barrier began to crack with an ominous crackling sound.

 

It was the beginning of an even worse tragedy.

 

💫

 

The mages gathered in the Tower of Gold’s upper conference room were confused by the sudden crisis.

 

They had always been prepared for the possibility of an invading army in wartime, but never before had so many monsters descended upon the tower without warning.

 

Up until this point, only a few monsters had been sighted, too few to identify.

 

We were caught off guard by this massive attack.

 

Speculation ran rampant as to their identity and purpose.

 

In such a raucous room, three men remained silent.

 

Sitting at the head of the room, with grave faces, were the elders of the Tower, master-level mages who had been active since the previous generation of Mages.

 

One by one, the wizards shut up as they realized they were being watched.

 

As the room grew quieter, one of the wizards stepped through the door leading to the back of the room and shouted.

 

“We’re in trouble! The Avantha primary defense shield has collapsed!”

 

A murmur of agreement once again erupts among the mages.

 

The green-haired Elder, who had intervened with his hand over the shouting mages everywhere, spoke up.

 

“And the restoration?”

 

“We tried right away, but the speed at which it broke is too great for repair!”

 

“No way, so easily broken!” the mages exclaimed in shock.

 

The commotion intensified as they realized the strength of the monsters’ attack.

 

“This is bad, once it collapses, it will require more mana to reactivate it.”

 

“What happens to the mage who is currently in charge of the crystallization stone?”

 

“Three high ranking ones, and one supreme!”

 

That’s a lot of mages in the tower.

 

It was shocking to realize that even with four mages of that caliber stuck together, it was difficult to repair.

 

Sensing the gravity of the situation, another blonde elder jumped to his feet and spoke up.

 

“This could be worse than we thought.”

 

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, a glow surrounded one of the empty chairs at the head table.

 

Soon, the light morphed into a human form, flickering and then taking shape.

 

“Yzmel, you’re late.”

 

“I apologize.”

 

Yzmel bowed to the gray-haired elder, who silently berated him.

 

“No need to apologize. Now that you’re here, we can proceed with the accounting.”

 

Jafar, the green-haired Elder, said as he nudged Yzmel to raise his head.

 

All the mages in the room, including the other two Elders and Yzmel, turned to look at him.

 

“What’s your plan, Jafar?”

 

When asked if there was a plan, Jafar replied firmly, “From now on, only the Masters will be in charge of the crystals.”

 

“What?! That’s such a waste of power!”

 

Vadim, the blondest and largest of the elders, shouted, but Jafar had already moved to the door of the council chamber.

 

“Vadim, there’s no time to lose. We’ll be in more danger if we break the secondary shield.”

 

Turning his head quickly to look at the white-haired elder, Vadim called out.

 

“Pamela!”

 

But Pamela followed Jafar wordlessly.

 

“Hah, all the master-level mages are chained to the council seat?”

 

Yzmel, who had been quietly observing the three elder mages, assessing the situation, said to the fuming mage.

 

“I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”

 

Vadim frowned, sensing the heaviness in his tone.

 

At that moment, Jafar and Pamela opened the door to enter the closing room, and everyone in the room saw the sight inside.

 

Four wizards, one from the east, one from the west, one from the north and one from the south, pale-facedly clutching the crystalline stones, and a brightly glowing round gem in their center.

 

Mana flowed through the crystals and into the gem, traveling along the magic circles carved into the floor.

 

But the sight was short-lived, as all four in the room collapsed with an agonized scream.

 

The shock from the shattering shields had been transmitted to them.

 

“Crack!”

 

As the mages fell, the crystalline stone instantly lost its glow, and the circle and its central gem began to flicker.

 

“Oh no!”

 

Once all that light was extinguished, all the shields protecting the Golden Tower and even Avantha would cease to function.

 

In the heat of the moment, master mages rushed to defend the council seat with all their might. 

 

No, they approached. But before they could move, a blindingly bright light burst forth from the darkening gem.

 

“Ugh!”

 

Everyone turned their heads or shielded their eyes from the light.

 

A moment later, all they could see was a figure with long red hair fluttering about, with the hem of his cloak flapping wildly.

 

The mana in the space swirled as if it were being sucked into the tall, handsome man who had suddenly appeared.

 

Jaws dropped in astonishment, people rushed forward to call out his name.

 

“It’s the Master!”

 

“Ah, Lord Adrian!”

 

The man with his hand on the jewel looked up at the shrieks of the mages.

 

“I’ll take this one.”

 

His voice was slow and low, unlike his explosive mana.

 

As if to prove his ease, the gem began to glow with a power beyond the power of a single man.

 

Everything had been running smoothly since Adrian’s arrival.

 

With him at the helm, there was no need to worry about anything falling apart.

 

The mages divided into sections and set out to prioritize the monsters that had entered the city.

 

They joined with the mages already helping to stop the monsters.

 

Fortunately, the damage was less severe than expected, as the monsters that had entered the inner reaches of the city had rushed unconditionally toward the Golden Tower.

 

Of course, the number of monsters still swarming toward Avantha hadn’t diminished at all, so it wasn’t a good situation.

 

“What’s going on?”

 

“Lord Yzmel, the Master of the Magic Tower, is calling.”

 

Yzmel, who had been leading the monster extermination of his section, returned to the tower at Adrian’s call.

 

He stopped dead in his tracks as he stepped into the council chamber.

 

The golden light from the jewelry streamed down the handsome man’s face.

 

The man’s eyes were closed, and his hair was blown about by the flow of mana in the air.

 

The round gem, glowing golden in the center of the crystalline stone, was called the Eye of Carey and was a treasure of the gods, passed down from generations in the tower.

 

It was the pivot of the shield that protected the Tower of Gold from Avantha.

 

‘Normally, it takes four people to make it work.’

 

There was only one of them, but the gem, glowing as if it could never be extinguished in a crisis, was a marvel to Yzmel’s eyes.

 

And the man in front of him.

 

“Yzmel.”

 

“Yes, my lord!”

 

Before he knew it, Adrian’s eyes were open, and he was looking at him.

 

Rushing to him, Yzmel swallowed hard, trying to catch his breath.

 

The deep dark eyes staring back at him were as bored as ever.

 

“I assume you heard the order.”

 

“’The order, you mean…”

 

‘You mean the orders about the unaffiliated mages?’

 

Adrian had returned to the tower after a long absence, locked himself away in his laboratory with inexplicable orders.

 

So when Yzmel heard of his return, he didn’t see him.

 

His disappearance and reappearance without warning, and his talk of business matters, made Yzmel feel uneasy, but he tried not to show it.

 

“There are not many unaffiliated mages, and I understand that only a few were taken, probably because of the monster attack not long afterward.”

 

“The mages that were taken?”

 

“All but one are currently being held in the basement of the tower.”

 

Glancing up at Adrian’s face, wondering what he was thinking as he answered.

 

Not surprisingly, there was no emotion on his face. As always, the sight of his impassive face made Yzmel’s stomach turn.

 

Yzmel had always wanted his attention and was curious about him.

 

“Adrian, are you…”

 

Yzmel’s courage to open his mouth curiously vanished as soon as his eyes met Adrian’s.

 

‘Can’t I ask him why he suddenly disappeared?’

Why not, her rational mind whispered. And then it added, ‘But…’