'No way…!'
Jin remembered a conversation he had with his master.
—The Zipfels' pillars have wands with special mechanisms. On the upper part of the wand, there are small rune characters on it.
—What for?
—If the pillar activates the rune, a signal is sent to the tower. Basically an emergency call to summon reinforcements. Of course, they use it when they're in grave danger or facing an enemy they can't defeat. Damn, that was a pain in the ass.
Jin rushed over to Myuron's corpse.
If his master was right, then Myuron's last whip of the wand would be him activating the rune.
"What's wrong, kid?"
"I need to see his wand!"
"Why his wand?"
Murakan didn't know about the existence of such a mechanism in the Zipfels' wands. It wasn't something that was developed during his period of activity.
Jin thought of an appropriate response, but Kashimir clapped his hands, as if he realized something.
"The rune characters! I heard about how the pillars' wands have a rune that could call for reinforcement."
"What? Something like that exists?"
"It's just a rumor I've heard. I'm sure Young Master Jin would know more about the Zipfel Clan as a Runcandel."
"I'm just checking because Eldest Sister Luna mentioned something like that. If there really are rune characters…"
"That would be problematic…"
Eyes flickering in uncertainty, the three stood in front of Myuron's charred body.
"Hmm… That bird burned him too hard. I can't even tell if this wand is wood or charcoal. I don't think there's any rune. You said it would glow when activated."
"That's what I see as well, Sir Murakan. Haha, it must've been just a false rumor."
The two stared at the black wand and awkwardly smiled.
Jin scraped it with his dagger.
He could see it. Faded green characters—glowing. His premonition was spot on.
"Shit."
"Fuck!"
Murakan and Kashimir smacked their foreheads.
"Hey, kid. That divine relic thing… Can we tell the people to look for it later? I can't even transform into my true form. Runt, about how many will come?"
"There are at least one hundred magicians stationed for each pillar. With a mix of 7- and 8-stars, half of them would be enough to wipe us out."
Not even half. A quarter of the magicians would be more than enough to deal with the trio.
"Damn. This world got a lot better. Really. Four or five 8-stars were nothing during my prime. Damn it! Well, tell them to come. We'll destroy them. I'll show them my three thousand years of experience."
"Sir Murakan, I personally don't think we can win. Even if you faced all of them alone, I don't think I can protect Young Master Jin in such a situation."
Luckily, Jin's mana overflow was stopped by the unicorn horn.
However, he still wasn't fully recovered. His mana would overflow again during battle, and it wouldn't be something they could just heal.
"Well, we can't just leave with the relic still here. Runt, you return with Jin. I got a lot weaker, but I can still beat up some peons."
"How could we leave without you, Sir Murakan?!"
"Haha, you runt. I always knew you were kind. Don't worry. There's no way I'd die, right?"
Murakan scratched his nose with his inflated ego. Kashimir nodded furiously.
"…I understand! Then I shall take Young Master Jin and leave immediately!"
"Wait. Why'd this bitch give up so fast? Isn't it normal to say that we'll die fighting together or something? It's strangely annoying."
"That's just you, Sir Murakan."
The two exchanged a pointless conversation, and Jin sighed.
"How long would it take?"
"Oh, Young Master. How long would what take?"
"Hmm… The Seventh Tower of Magicians is at the edge of the northern region. They would need approximately two hours to get here, maybe a little earlier."
'Two hours, he says. Can we recover the artifact within that time frame? Even if they'll face the possibility of death, I don't think the natives will leave the land without it.'
Tika's tears said it all. They wouldn't throw away this chance after centuries of being under the Zipfel Clan's oppression.
'Two hours, two hours… Either way, we need strong reinforcement that could come ASAP.'
They exempted the Runcandel Clan. As a provisional flag-bearer, calling Luna again would be problematic, and Jin's other siblings wouldn't let him be.
A reinforcement other than his clan, able to fight against the Zipfels, and could come to the Kollon Ruins immediately.
There weren't many allies like that.
Making a final decision, Jin looked at Kashimir.
"Sir Kashimir, there is something you need to do."
Jin quickly explained his plan, and Kashimir's expression froze up.
"…Young Master, do you think that would really be possible? If they refuse, you and Sir Murakan will be in grave danger."
"We should try. Well, even though it's a little humiliating, they wouldn't refuse. There's no time. Please hurry."
* * *
The continent's northern region, Seventh Tower of Magicians.
"The crystal ball turned red!"
"The pillar is in danger!"
"Don't you think he's just joking around again? We went last time, and he was sound asleep. Probably drunk as well."
"Even if it's a joke, it is our duty to respond to his summons."
"Ha, how is he the pillar when he can't even respect the tower elders?"
"Shhh! Troublesome words will be drilled into our ears if the vice pillar hears you. Either way, let's alert the vice pillar. Hey! Summon the vice pillar."
Although Myuron's rune triggered the alert system, most of the elders looked disappointed. However, it was their usual cold reaction to Myuron's call.
One servant started running in one direction, and soon, the vice pillar emerged.
A beautiful and young skillful magician, Midor Elner.
Kelliark Zipfel's son.
"Where did the crystal orb locate Myuron?"
"The Kollon Ruins."
"As of now, we shall gather all magicians of the Seventh Tower and go there. Elders, please alert the main house and other towers."
"And other towers? Aren't you just escalating the situation?"
"I have a bad feeling. A summon this early in the morning… I'm sure something bad happened. Third elder, please open the transfer gates."
"Hm, I wanted to do that, but…"
The third elder scratched his chin and pointed outside.
"So much snow has been falling since an hour ago, vice pillar. We cannot use the transfer gates in such weather."
As he said, a blizzard ravaged outside.
"We will go by dragon. After flying to Chenka, we shall use the transfer gate to the Kollon Ruins."
That meant that all of the dragons of the Seventh Tower were going as well.
After an hour, morning came.
In that time, Jin and Murakan helped the natives bury the dead, and Dino found some undeniable evidence regarding Myuron's atrocities.
"Murakan, I've been thinking. The Seventh Tower's magicians probably can't come here in two hours."
"Why?"
"There's always harsh snowfall in the northern region around January and February. And during that time, they can't use transfer gates."
"That's a relief."
"I'm not certain, though. It just snows a lot, and there's some wind as well. But two hours is too short."
Thankfully, as Jin predicted, the magicians couldn't use the transfer gates.
However, he didn't know that the dragons were coming as well.
Blergh!
Jin vomited a clump of blood. An aftershock of mana overflow. The immediate danger was avoided with the unicorn horn, but it didn't completely suppress the symptoms.
"Errrrr, I guess I'm pushing myself too much."
"Too, too much. I didn't know that crazy bastard would use darkness-type spells. On top of that, a rune that could summon his allies… Back in my day, we would draw out completely after losing a battle. The audacity of people these days. No honor."
"We summoned Eldest Sister Luna with Orgal's Pendant last time. And Kashimir left to call for his allies."
"That's a little different, yeah? That time, we were protecting the world, and if we hadn't stopped the Demon God's Orb, the world would have been in shambles. It's the same with the Kollon natives' relic getting into the Zipfels' hands."
Jin smirked. He thought of his master. If it weren't for them, he would have had no idea about the reinforcements.
'Master… I wonder if you're growing well. I hope you are.'
* * *
"Sir Kashimir! Why did you return alone?!"
"Honey? Why are you alone? You don't look good—Did something happen?!"
Gilly and Alisa shouted at him while Enya and Quikantel looked in disbelief.
"There's no time to explain! Gilly, where is that flower?!"
"Flower? Why are you looking for a flower?"
"Oh! Over there!"
Kashimir pointed at a flower vase as he shouted.
A vase with a unique flower adorned with pure-white, snowflake-like petals grew from it.
The Hidden Palace's snow blossoms.
"Alisa, open a transfer gate closest to the Hidden Palace. The faster I go, the more likely Young Master Jin will survive."
—————