The Problematic Child of the Magic Tower - Chapter 220

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]

Chapter 220: Eternal Moment (8)

In the collapsing world, a green dragon opened her eyes.

She could feel her stiffened body, depleted mana, and waning life force.

‘The time that has passed since I halted my thoughts…’

Roughly six years, perhaps.

Waking from a long slumber, she felt dazed and groggy.

She blinked her large eyes a few times and gazed up at the hand resting on her head.

It was warm.

The unfamiliar human’s touch against the cold scales of a cold-blooded dragon felt remarkably warm.

‘…A stranger. A mage.’

She wondered if she knew him, but no matter how hard she tried, the face was clearly unfamiliar.

Then why?

Why did his gaze, looking at her, carry such longing and joy?

Edna felt a strong curiosity and decided to ask.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because I’m glad to see you.”

“That expression is inaccurate. That word presumes mutual memory, or at least recognition. I, however, have no idea who you are.”

“Hm, I don’t think that’s entirely true.”

His voice trailed up at the end, in a tone reminiscent of how someone might speak to children.

It was a tone often used by her one and only friend.

He once lamented that, though he hadn’t even married yet, raising young disciples had made that fatherly tone stick to his speech.

“…Oscar?”

When Edna muttered the name involuntarily, the mage beamed and nodded.

As she gazed at that beautiful face, she instinctively denied it.

“That’s impossible. He’s already dead.”

“Yes. But somehow, here I am.”

“…I see how it is.”

Edna sharply turned her head and brushed off his hand.

“This is the demon realm. This must be a trick by demons trying to extract knowledge from me through illusions.”

“Hm. A reasonable suspicion.”

“It’s not suspicion. I’m 99% certain.”

“And the remaining 1%?”

“That’s…”

Edna fell silent.

That last 1%—it was a fragile hope that, if this impossible situation were real, how wonderful that would be.

RUMBLE!

Oscar glanced up at the crumbling world and spoke.

“Doesn’t this remind you of when we first met?”

With a faint smile, he looked at the dragon—who was wary of him, just like back then—and asked:

“I’m Oscar Crucian. And you are?”

“!”

With those words, Edna’s eyes trembled.

How could she not remember?

That was the day someone first reached for the doorknob of her closed heart.

More than that, it was a secret memory only the two of them shared.

“…Oscar? Is it really you?”

“Yes.”

“But your face… and your voice… they’re different.”

Thḭʂ ƈhɒp𝘵ꬲr ı𝗌 p𝘰ṡ𝐭ҽ𝒹 b𝗒 𝒦ɪ†ᥱп𝕠𝕧ҽ𝘭

“I’ve been through a lot. Thought I was going to die, honestly.”

Oscar sighed deeply, whining to his old friend.

“There’s no time to explain everything right now. I’ll tell you the details later.”

“Ah, that reminds me—why are you even in the demon realm?”

“Why do you think? I came to retrieve what I entrusted to you.”

What he entrusted to her.

Edna flinched as she recalled the records from the White Tower.

—If I die, please deliver this to the next master of the White Tower.

In the end, she had failed to fulfill his request, to keep their promise.

“Oscar, I…”

“It’s okay.”

Pat, pat.

Oscar gently patted the green-scaled head of Edna.

“Say no more. I already know how hard you tried to keep our promise.”

“…”

“You’ve been through so much.”

He said he understood.

He said she’d suffered.

Ordinary words.

Nothing special.

And yet, for some reason, tears started dripping from Edna’s massive eyes.

Oscar laughed, clutching his stomach.

“What’s this? You’ve become such a crybaby while I was gone?”

“I’m not crying.”

“Then what’s with those tears?”

“I’ve had my eyes closed for a long time, so this is just an automatic moisturizing response. Reptilian eyes are very sensitive to external stimuli.”

“Hah, so you’re not crying?”

“Assuming tears mean crying is a very human-centric viewpoint.”

Oscar stared at her for a while, then chuckled and nodded.

“Okay, then. I’ll take it as a reptile’s tearful moisturizing reflex.”

Edna looked away and muttered:

“You still don’t understand. I repeat—I’m not crying.”

“Alright, alright. If you say so… hmm?”

Oscar suddenly frowned and turned around.

The crumbling world had started to emit ominous energy from outside.

‘This… is Yuribe?’

A demon count he had personally suppressed to level 7.

He could now clearly feel that demon’s demonic energy.

‘Did he chase me all the way here for revenge?’

Oscar’s heart grew anxious as he thought of his companions outside—especially Sasha.

Noticing his change in demeanor, Edna asked:

“What’s wrong? Your heart rate just spiked by 14%.”

“Seems like things outside are getting messy.”

“Those demons out there?”

“Yeah. Let me think for a second.”

Oscar fell into thought.

He had succeeded in waking Edna and retrieving the records of the White Tower.

But that wasn’t going to help the current situation in the slightest.

‘I can’t ask Edna to break the Code and help us fight…’

More importantly, Sasha was currently deep in mind-space and couldn’t be counted as a full combatant.

As he grew more troubled—

CRACKLE!

Edna stood up.

She stretched her stiffened neck elegantly and spoke.

“Let’s go. I’ll help you.”

“What? But that violates the Observer’s Code!”

“Oscar, why do you think I’ve been stuck in this wasteland for 21 years?”

“…Huh?”

Observers like dragons do not fight.

But that wasn’t because they were weak.

Quite the opposite.

They were so overwhelmingly powerful that their involvement was feared.

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]

And yet the demons were the ones who made the first move—trying to kill such a being.

“Yes, that’s right.”

Edna blinked her now-glossy eyes, her spirit burning.

“For this battle only, I’m going to strongly insist it’s self-defense.”

* * *

“…Haa, haa.”

Kaya Lockwood’s shoulders rose and fell heavily.

Every breath she exhaled came with hot steam.

“Hm.”

The demon Yuribe, watching with folded arms, clicked his tongue.

Three of his subordinates had died in just 15 minutes—at the hands of a single human.

“Phew, huh…”

Kaya forced her trembling body upright and glared at her enemies.

‘Damn it.’

The numbers before her eyes kept decreasing:

-48.

-47.

-46.

The power that surpassed all limits, Allform Primordium—

The miracle that lasted only 999 seconds was now down to less than a minute.

‘I wanted to at least take out all the small fry before this ended…’

Fighting five mid-tier level 7 enemies at once wasn’t as easy as she’d hoped.

Even if she had momentarily gained power comparable to the peak of Level 7 through World Liberation…

It was only a half-measure.

‘Neither the purity of mana nor technique has improved.’

What was forcibly elevated through World Liberation was only the level of her physical body.

The fact that she managed to take down three with that incomplete power was purely due to her exceptional skill.

-42.

-41.

-40.

“Hoo.”

Kaya took one last breath to steady herself.

Eight seconds of rest was enough.

She just needed to take down two more within the remaining 40 seconds, and the objective would be complete.

‘After that, you’re on your own.’

Kaya bit her teeth together, and her form began to blur.

“She’s coming!”

“Focus!”

The two demons—excluding Yuribe—sharpened all their senses on their vision.

Among the group of demons they came with, these two were the strongest.

Naturally, they couldn’t keep up with Kaya’s speed, but they were capable enough to defend themselves.

Boom!

Kaya’s fist slammed into the demon who had crossed his arms into an X.

With a sound like a bomb going off, his body was blown backward, skidding across the ground.

‘Tch! What kind of monster is she?’

Just blocking the attack had shattered the bones in both his arms.

Shocked by the damage, the demon immediately leapt away.

‘At least I’m out of her attack range—?’

But what awaited him as he soared into the air was a dense web of threads, like a spider’s web.

Unique Magic:『Thousand Silk Ensnarement』

“Ugh!”

The demon’s entire body was bound.

He thrashed, trying to break free, but the more he moved, the tighter the threads pulled.

‘Wait. The woman?’

In the instant he lost track of her position, a chill ran down his spine.

Ominous mana crept in from behind.

Crunch!

“Gah!”

Kaya’s knee crushed the demon’s spine.

He died with a final cry.

“Well done!”

Throwing a compliment to her junior, Kaya quickly checked the time.

28 Seconds left, and two enemies remaining.

A sliver of hope bloomed in her heart—maybe, just maybe, she could do it.

“Senior! Behind you!”

“…?”

Crack!

First came confusion.

Then a wave of dizziness, as if the world had flipped.

And finally—overwhelming pain.

“…!”

Her ribs shattered as her side was struck by a sudden kick.

The pain was so intense, Kaya couldn’t even scream.

Her mouth hung open, but only faint, strangled groans escaped.

“Tch. Pity.”

Yuribe clicked his tongue, genuinely disappointed.

He’d aimed to destroy her heart with that strike.

Only the sudden formation of magical threads around Kaya had protected her from immediate death.

“Senior!”

The thread that connected her to Oscar had been severed.

But Oran, who had been supporting her from the rear, extended a thread and pulled her back.

“You okay?”

“Do I look okay…?”

Grimacing, Kaya involuntarily looked toward Sasha.

Still unmoved.

She hadn’t shown the slightest sign of awakening from her trance.

A shadow fell across Kaya’s face.

‘Damn it. This might actually be our grave.’

-3.

-2.

-1.

The time limit of World Liberation: Allform Primordium had run out.

Now, she didn’t even have the strength to lift a finger.

‘Then the only one I can rely on now is…’

She looked at the man holding her up.

Oran Quill.

Could he buy them some time by holding off those two demons?

To be honest, it was hard to picture.

“What’s with that look?”

Maybe reading her thoughts, Oran Quill spoke sharply.

“Should I just dump you here and run?”

“…You’d still die.”

“Damn it, I know.”

Die here, or die a few kilometers away while running—it made no difference.

Knowing that, Oran Quill gritted his teeth and stood up.

“I’ll try something.”

“Just hang on. If we can buy some time, maybe…”

Will something really change?

That doubt passed through both of their minds at the same time.

Crack.

“…Huh?”

Yuribe’s eyes twitched.

A strange sound had come from beyond the humans, from the place where “everything had stopped” for over twenty years.

‘Did I imagine that?’

He doubted his ears for a moment, but it was no illusion.

Crack! Crackle!

Countless fractures formed over a translucent barrier.

KABOOM!

A world collapsed, and shards of glass reflecting sunlight revealed a massive green form.

“…A dragon.”

Yuribe’s eyes trembled.

It was the last of the observers—

A remnant of the long-lost dragonkin.

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]