Huh. My goodness.
War? What do you mean, war? How long has it been since the great battle with the Betas—and now another petty land grab is starting already?
The green mage thought this as he gazed out over the sea of his homeland, where a new war was already unfolding.
No matter how you look at it, how can living beings possibly be this foolish? Every mage alive today—without exception—lived through the Great War. Have they really still failed to understand the value of peace?
It was hard to believe.
Moreover, the victim whose death had become the catalyst for this war was someone he already knew.
By the way, if you're talking about a major tycoon from the eastern lower district, could it possibly be... him?
That's right. The scholar we know.
Orange blood, and fat?
I think "well-built" would be a better way to put it. Well, I suppose it doesn't matter now. He never paid much attention to his bulk while he was alive anyway...
He had been the only one who dared pour out his worries to the unprecedented mage who had torn apart every adult Beta, even going so far as to tell him to be careful.
The hero may not care, but didn't our country's long-standing festival take place last week?
That's right.
That well-built scholar was apparently on his way back to his family home for the first time in ages when he got caught up in the disaster. I feel sorry for him.
The two mages gathered in the room exchanged their thoughts for a while.
I don't quite understand. That orange tycoon may have been weaker than me in terms of combat ability, but his defensive magic was still fairly impressive, wasn't it?
Of course. If I remember correctly, his family was the first to create a barrier that surpassed the protection of the [Spy Coral]... or at least, that's what I heard a long time ago.
Then how did he suddenly die?
It's a long story, but let me explain.
Okay.
And while we're at it, let's decide what we should do from here on out.
Normally, when an incident like this occurred, an expert in barrier magic would be summoned to fortify the area thoroughly. The head of the academy, however, had chosen a different approach. After all, a war hero from the Great War was already here. No sane enemy would dare intrude lightly.
***
A little more time passed.
Green blood. Long legs. And a red, circular eye with an odd number of pupils.
It was only after the chaos had already escalated considerably that the marine creature possessing those characteristics finally became aware of the planetary civil war.
Ironically, the academy's thorough security had delayed the messenger's arrival.
The Academic Hall, both by location and by nature, was an extremely closed-off community. That had not changed even after the Great War. Noble or not, every scholar shared the same desire to protect the precious research materials painstakingly accumulated through years of sacrifice.
If I'd known things would turn out like this, I should've created a spell specifically for sending messages.
Those belonging to the academic guild were generally ignorant of worldly affairs. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say they simply had no interest in them. The orange-colored individual who had gone out to observe the national holiday was an exception.
Furthermore, during the Great War, even this individual had been forced onto the front lines, because standing aside would have meant allowing Alphauri civilization itself to collapse. In truth, given their disposition, the scholars of this place were about as far removed from aggression as one could get.
Anyway, that person's already dead. Is there really any point in leaving this place just to avenge him?
Such was the cold calculation that followed.
Even during this comparatively compassionate middle period of Alphauri's history, funeral culture remained largely neglected. And for someone who had once been treated as a psychopath, it was difficult to imagine him rising to action merely for the sake of a corpse.
It's inefficient. If I was going to act, I should've done it before that orange one died.
Besides, there were so many magical scholars gathered here.
When he thought about it, there was probably nowhere safer than the academy at the moment.
And so the green man made his decision.
He would remain here, avoid venturing outside recklessly, and observe the situation for the time being.
Hmm.
During the Great War, they had fought monstrous outsiders, slaughtering them on a massive scale without much hesitation.
This time, however, things were different.
#############
Beta Star - Bad
Alphauri - Good
#############
That was the ideology the planet's rulers had instilled into the mages of the breeding grounds in order to win the last Great War.
The green hero in this scene belonged to the very generation that had undergone that education.
But a person's nature did not remain unchanged forever.
It might have been difficult to understand during the narcissistic years of youth, but as he grew older and the fever of his younger days faded, doubts had begun to creep in regarding the slaughter of his own kind.
Therefore...
It's unfortunate that one of my countrymen died, but I don't feel like involving myself in a conflict between nations. I'm not the one who was directly harmed, after all...
He was sick of being a soldier.
He decided to remain neutral for the time being and reflect carefully on this war between his own people.
He also recalled the historical records of his homeland that he had studied during his time at the training camp and thought to himself.
Well. Yeah. There are plenty of professional knights in this country. There's no way the conflict will spread so far that scholars in a remote place like this will have to get involved, right? The real soldiers will deal with it, and it'll be over soon!
Of course, contrary to this Alphauri's hopes, the Academic Hall was swiftly dragged into the conflict.
***
Boom—!
A spectacular explosion, strangely reminiscent of fireworks on Earth, erupted.
Ordinarily, generating extreme heat underwater was no easy feat. But if a magician's wish was sealed inside a dry shell and then suddenly released, like opening a grenade or a gift box, such a phenomenon could be produced surprisingly easily.
An Alphauri had just exploded right before his eyes.
By the time the heat dissipated, the blood of his own kind had already flooded the area.
The murky liquid, glowing almost like the brilliant crimson of burning strontium, began spreading through the sea.
Only then did his mind slowly return to him.
The first person to speak among the gathered mages was a young green man.
This is f*cking insane.
Really, how could anyone not swear in a situation like this?
Before explaining this mysterious underwater explosion, one term must first be introduced.
[Korean Magic Tower].
In fact, there had once been an alien who came to Earth and was greatly surprised upon encountering that expression.
A quick internet search would reveal that it was essentially a compound formed from the concepts of 'magic + tower'.
Interestingly enough, Alphauri had an almost identical compound word.
Magic Tower.
When shortened in the same fashion, it became—
Ma-Tap
.
On Alphauri, however, the Magic Tower referred to an organization quite different from the company owned by Seo Esther.
To put it simply, they were armed thugs.
The people of the Academic Hall at least maintained some minimal sense of ethics in their pursuit of knowledge.
The members of the Magic Tower, on the other hand, cared nothing whatsoever for morality or ethics.
Did they decipher Beta's teleportation magic somehow? How did they manage to arrive directly at this deep hill?
That's not what the messenger said!
They said the fighting was still limited to skirmishes near the border!
That's what doesn't make sense.
And to think they'd actually try to destroy our barrier this way...
Murmur, murmur.
The various marine creatures began talking over one another.
Now, then.
Let us explain why the magical scholars were so shaken.
...How many of us have been hit like this?
The members of the neighboring nation's Magic Tower had launched a massive hunt for magic in their pursuit of greater power.
Their first target was none other than this Northern Hemisphere nation—[Alphauri]—chosen because it ranked among the three greatest magical powers in the world.
But these treacherous members of the Magic Tower murdered a noble of a foreign nation and, in an instant, pushed the entire world to the brink of chaos.
How many more?
As though they had no concern whatsoever for the safety of their own homeland, they slipped past the knights of the great powers marching toward the border and headed straight for the richest vault of all.
Their objective was simple.
To devour the Academic Hall.
However, as mentioned 30 hours earlier, the Hall of Knowledge was an extremely closed community.
In other words, its security was exceptionally tight.
So what method did the Magic Tower use to breach the barrier of a foreign nation?
Aah.
Poor things...
How could they do something like this to such young, fragile apprentice sorcerers...?
This was the first real demonstration of brainwashing magic.
The barrier surrounding the Hall permitted only individuals authenticated as members of the Academic Hall to move through it freely, and its authentication system was highly secure.
Rather than trying to break through that barrier by force, the Magic Tower chose to use people.
Yes.
People.
This spring, the young mages newly admitted into the garden of this place were secretly brainwashed, then sent outside.
Bombs were implanted inside their bodies.
Then they were sent back into the Academic Hall.
And afterward, they were detonated.
All twenty-five freshmen who had fallen victim to the brainwashing.
Until now, nothing resembling such powerful mind control had ever existed in this world.
The barrier had been designed to withstand external impact.
Against an attack like this, it failed to function properly.
...
The young mage whose heart had burst forced his sound box to move.
I'm sorry...
Since the place was filled with renowned geniuses, a new barrier capable of blocking magic was quickly erected to prevent any further brainwashing.
Even so, their response had come too late.
Research... Everyone helped so much...
Because every one of the young mages had exploded near the barrier's core, the magic sustaining it had been deprived of power.
Soon, it would collapse completely.
Clang, thud.
Someone green raised their head.
Far above, fragments of the barrier could already be seen scattering into the current.
Aah, I haven't finished anything yet...
Once the barrier vanished, all-out war would begin.
They had to take their positions and prepare to face the enemy.
Yet the mages gathered here could barely bring themselves to swim.
Every healer rushed forward.
But in the end, the final victim of the mind control still died.
...
The Alphauri who had just passed away was the youngest member of the Academic Hall.
A full year younger than the war hero.
Yeah.
Then came the mage's calm voice.
Come to think of it, that orange noble probably met his end in much the same way out there.
Only minutes earlier, his heart had been torn by hesitation.
Was it really acceptable to turn the magic he had once aimed at the Beta species against fellow Alphauri?
Was the dean he had met in his youth truly someone who deserved to die?
Was there no better way to settle this?
Now that he had mastered magic completely, couldn't he simply have ignored everything and escaped this dangerous situation?
Why did he have to step forward?
Why did he have to stain his own hands with blood?
Lifeless.
Pathetic.
But now, at this very moment, his attitude finally changed.
Fine, then.
Looks like I won't feel any better unless I spill some blood.
Those idiotic bastards from the enemy nation who shattered the peace—
He would have to crush every last one of them if he ever wanted to sleep peacefully with those writhing tentacles of his held in check.
Killing someone simply because you're angry is obviously the sort of thing you're not supposed to do...
But really.
At this point, did ethics even matter?
The barrier is broken!
Summon the Archmage. Immediately!
What about the messenger bird?
Damn these b*stards. How can people calling themselves sorcerers look this pathetic, hanging magic tools all over their bodies...
If this path truly was wrong, then sooner or later someone would come to stop him.
By force.
And if no one ever did—
If his side retained absolute authority until the very end of its existence...
All the better.
Then there was nothing to worry about.
Boom, boom, boom!
Immediately afterward came the screams of the barrier.
Just as they had in the past, enemies began pouring in from the distant upper waters.
At that, the scholars moved in perfect coordination.
.
.
.
A dark liquid slowly spread through the deep blue water.
Haha! What do you think? Those goody-two-shoes who've buried themselves in their studies inside that cave won't even know what hit them, right?
Hahaha.
The heretics from the neighboring nation raced through the water at {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} tremendous speed, violently disturbing the surrounding currents.
A new form of magic, developed in secret throughout the long years of peace.
Mind control.
The members of the Magic Tower had kidnapped the poor and subjected them to every imaginable form of brain research.
Armed with this superior magic, they had easily surpassed the mages of the Academic Hall.
Just as electric magic had once dominated an entire era, whenever a powerful new branch of sorcery emerged, time was required before an effective countermeasure could be developed.
The endless struggle for power is finally over. We, the Magic Tower, will absorb all your knowledge and unite the waters under one will!
Ahh!
Aaack!
What—what is this? Why all of a sudden...?
It happened then.
The researchers of the Magic Tower suddenly tumbled from their mounts.
And that was not all.
This entire area had long since been prepared with a hidden masterpiece, transformed into a perfect cradle for mental intrusion.
Below!
It's below us!
A gigantic creature opened its eyes deep beneath the water.
The relentless mental attacks of the Magic Tower were reaching it without obstruction, yet the creature ignored them as effortlessly as breathing.
At present, no magical barrier stood between them.
The spells were undoubtedly reaching its body.
Green, with red eyes? It's!!!! The deep-sea being who ended the Great War!
The moment the members of the Magic Tower recognized the legendary god of war, cries erupted from all sides.
He was violent.
He was cruel.
And those fortunate enough to meet such a famous figure always paid dearly for that privilege.
I wonder what kind of treasure is hidden inside your brain!
Let it be said once again.
By Earth standards, the mage was currently in his twenties.
And for additional context, the protagonist himself had been recognized as an Archmage at an exceptionally young age—an accomplishment achieved during what could still be called his coming-of-age years.
A disaster.
The green mage was now at the absolute peak of his prime.
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