“Ah.”
Research on immortality.
Hearing Benny’s words, I suddenly remembered the bait I had planted in the Mage Tower.
If the Elf had Queen Eve as a key keyword in the episode, and the Pope collaborated with heretics in the Temple, then the key keyword for the Mage Tower’s bait was a failed attempt at immortality.
I hadn’t set up detailed information on this part like other settings, but there was one thing I was absolutely sure of.
That was the corruption of the Mage Tower.
The Mage Tower brought magic down from miracles to technology, allowing more people to enjoy the grace of magic.
What if one day such a Mage Tower fell into corruption and started experimenting on people in the name of creating technology for humans?
It’s a common cliché, but if used well, it could become a content that both you and I would love.
With that thought, I envisioned the Mage Tower’s corruption.
Mages, who forsook ethics and morals to complete limited immortality, began to spread evil that was once the pride of Pangrave.
The protagonist challenges the towering Mage Tower that stood for nearly a thousand years for their precious ones and ultimately brings it down.
Just imagining it makes my mouth water.
I thought that way until I became the first victim of that Mage Tower’s corruption…
“Benny, you said it would be hard but that we could get out, are you really sure about that?”
“Yeah. It would be impossible if I were alone, but with Shadow, escaping is possible.”
“……”
Why did that statement make me feel so uneasy?
Benny’s presence stood out too much. Small and childlike appearance. An ugly monster. And the protagonist who was starting to resemble it.
The nickname “Creepy Vichi” and the name Vanitas Benibeni both made it impossible not to stand out.
Yet, I had never set Benny as a character.
Of course, just because I’m writing the novel doesn’t mean this world has to move entirely according to my will.
I’ve experienced many times that it’s not a world that runs like that.
However, Benny’s characteristics are too special, and to make matters worse, a crazy Mage targeting such Benny is conducting research on immortality.
It bothers me so much that I can’t endure it.
Could this be a coincidence? Perhaps even if it’s not right here, someday Benny might fall victim to Morgana and become a test subject.
Thus, the incomplete research on immortality achieves results, leading to the Mage Tower’s corruption.
Such ominous thoughts spiraled endlessly.
Benny, noticing my anxiety, simply puffed out her flat chest and smiled.
“Don’t worry. I may not be good at anything else, but escaping is what I do best in the world… I’ve done it once already.”
As Benny’s smile twisted into a fierce grin, sharp teeth were revealed between her lips.
Breath roughening. Following that breath, the mana light that had temporarily vanished flickered and danced around Benny.
I realized then what Benny’s words about being the best at escaping meant.
For Benny, magic is a miracle. A lifeline pulled from despair that seemed impossible to escape.
And now, Benny is attempting to recreate the first miracle that had come upon her.
With a scary expression she had never shown me, Benny was releasing mana in streams.
At first glance, it seemed as though she was unable to control her strength, but the sensation of her slightly improved mana sensitivity confirmed otherwise.
The wild and untamed mana was moving in the direction Benny desired at the same time.
Primordial power. The will to break through and devour everything blocking her.
Gazing into the void, Benny spoke clearly, encapsulating everything.
“No one can keep us locked up.”
She said she aimed to pursue magic closer to its primitive source than standardized circle magic. I now understood what that meant.
Benny’s emotions amplified, and each word penned in blue mana was inscribed into the air.
“No one can hurt us.”
I instinctively knew. This declaration was a kind of incantation in itself.
I gazed at Benny before me with half regret and half awe.
Beside her was Shadow, whose body was boiling and swelling violently.
The playful atmosphere until now had vanished, replaced with a bizarre aura.
Before me, the hidden glint of teeth flashed, tentacles drooped grotesquely, and bloodshot eyes multiplied into hundreds, filling the space.
Overwhelmed by an appearance that could easily be believed to belong to a Monster, I quickly distanced myself, albeit for a moment.
Unknown runes blazing in blue air were swiftly absorbed into Benny’s hands.
“So let everything shatter.”
Snap!
With a short phrase and a flick of her finger, blue waves radiated from her hand, condensing into a point and transforming the entire space into dazzling thunder.
“What the…?”
I had no idea what kind of magic that was. But one thing was certain. The force imbued within it could surely tear apart space itself.
Crack!
In reality, the void was splitting, revealing a fracture filled with thick darkness. Pale lightning surged to shatter the rift completely. I tensed my body, bracing against the immense force that I couldn’t even begin to imagine.
I thought the rift would soon tear apart and swallow us, but it stubbornly held its ground.
From within, gray mist was pouring out.
“Ah.”
With an instinctive aversion to the gray mist, I realized. That is not a power permitted to humans.
Both Benny’s magic and the magic emanating from the rift emanated awe, but from that mist came only thick fear and rejection.
Death.
That mist was a finely refined embodiment of death itself.
A force of extinction that hastens the end of all things. My eyes widened at the alien echo of divinity.
It was the relic of the God of Death. Only with equal or denser power could one resist it; otherwise, everything it touched would crumble.
Fortunately, since magic is a branch of power, Benny’s lightning was evenly matched against the mist of death.
But I understood why Benny had said she would ‘fix’ it with the power of the relic.
That power had likely annihilated even the magic that severed this space.
A space where beginnings and ends die, leaving only results. Dissolving that would not be an easy task even for Benny.
Wondering if I should do something to help, I began fiddling with the seed in my pocket.
-Kyahaah!
With a sound resembling a sharp scream, Shadow charged towards the rift.
“Shadow?! Stop!”
Panicking, I called out to Shadow, but it ignored me and began viciously gnawing at the rift with its mouth dripping with acidic fluid.
Just as I was ready to brace myself to pull it away, Benny stopped me.
“It’s fine. Shadow won’t die. …More precisely, it can’t die.”
“……!”
That’s right. Shadow was something that mixed the corpses of the dead and forcibly infused life into them.
It wasn’t a new life born over someone’s death; it was simply a malformed entity moving while still dead.
Shadow facing the mist head-on. Looking closely, I saw there were no wounds on its body. In fact, it seemed to be overflowing with energy.
Countless eyes had gone beyond being bloodshot and now glimmered with blood-red hues, while its tentacles split and merged dozens of times per second; even its teeth appeared to be snapping at the air.
And this resembled a phenomenon I was familiar with.
“Rampage…?”
A phenomenon seen only in tier guardians or certain powerful monsters from the depth.
A kind of ultimate move exclusive to monsters, where crazed madness consuming the body draws forth power beyond limits.
I suddenly realized. Shadow, despite its appearance, was an essence condensed from the madness of countless monsters.
The blessing of madness it harbored could rival that of the tier guardians of the depths.
Simultaneously, seeing the two fighting together, I began to comprehend why Morgana was so obsessed with Benny.
Although Benny had become an immortal being that did not age since the experiment, she was still a mortal who could die if her heart stopped or neck was severed.
In contrast, Shadow was an unstable existence that could not maintain its being without Benny… but as long as its host existed, it could grow stronger, fueled by madness.
Though each might be imperfect on their own, combined, they could be termed immortal, which likely explained Morgana’s obsession.
Without realizing it, I clenched my fist and focused on the rift.
Crash!
With the sound of something breaking, a transparent object encircled us like flames before vanishing.
Emerging from the haze was the same scenery as before.
Only this time, a figure I hadn’t seen before stood at the other end of the passage.
A middle-aged woman clad in traditional yet splendid magician robes.
Surprised, Benny staggered forward a step toward her, still revealing her sharp shark teeth.
“Hey you! Feeling ashamed digging traps on the second floor while still suckling at your mother? Because of you, a poor guy was about to die… Huh? Yo, Jonah? Where did you go?!”
Benny, who had been showing a cool demeanor, suddenly became flustered and looked around.
To her ear, I softly whispered.
“Shh! I’m hiding.”
