"Should I bury them alive or..."
I muttered while looking at the black wizards blocking my path.
Among them were familiar faces.
The elders of the Dark Tower.
How could I not know them?
When I had personally ripped out each of their hearts.
It would be difficult to massacre all the elders like last time.
Since I had come to the Dark Tower more for escape than annihilation.
If I was determined to run, they'd find it a hassle to catch me.
So let's keep it simple.
Besia seemed to agree, mumbling beside me.
"Bury them all. Or burn them all down."
"If someone saw, they'd think I was using necromancy."
"I think you could use it, right? Like hellfire?"
Strictly speaking, I could use it...
Just bringing hellfire itself was at the transcendent level.
In the history of the continent, only one or two wizards could ever do something like that.
What, was this priest who smites wizards actually fantasizing about dark wizards?
Ignoring her nonsense, I gathered magic power for the mass burial.
While doing so, the eldest looking elder spoke up.
"Which ancient faction do you hail from? You contain no magic power in your body like a wizard yet wield skills rivaling the Tower Master."
He approached with a somewhat respectful attitude.
Hierarchy among wizards was ironclad law.
No matter how unfamiliar or hostile the opponent, if they seemed higher than you, you showed respect.
Especially for a transcendent-level wizard, rare in the continent's history, they would immediately serve him as lord.
Though one couldn't expect loyalty from wizards.
"Is that what you think?"
"I can't think of anything else. If we could end this peacefully, that would be best. We will quietly let you and the girl behind you leave."
I scoffed at this honeyed compromise.
Besia also seemed tempted by it.
But did I not know these creatures?
Behind Ambrosia was the Enforcement Corps.
And the Enforcement Corps was the kingdom's powerful military force.
The Commander at the top, Buddha's right hand man, was a quasi-transcendent. Even the Senior Enforcers below him were stronger than the Tower Master.
If a few Senior Enforcers came at Ambrosia's request, the situation would definitely worsen.
While I could defeat a Senior Enforcer dozens of times, Besia would certainly die.
Just in case, I decided to test it out.
If his words were true, we could have comfortably left the Dark Tower.
"So you plan to send us away immediately?"
"Not knowing what you will do if you go up, we ask that you wait until the Tower Master arrives from our standpoint."
"What if the Tower Master joins and you attack me together?"
"I swear no such thing will happen."
Wizards could swear oaths like magicians.
If they broke a sworn oath, the magic power in their bodies would destroy them.
While wizards being wizards had various ways to circumvent or twist oaths, speaking so resolutely meant it was likely true.
But would I fall for this?
"And guarantee the Enforcement Corps won't come?"
When I brought up the Enforcement Corps, the atmosphere changed instantly.
Not all of them seemed to know this fact, as aside from the elders and some high-ranking wizards, the others showed bewildered expressions.
"Enforcement Corps? Why are they being mentioned here..."
"What does the kingdom's military have to do with us..."
The eldest elder raised a bony finger and shouted,
"Kill him immediately! No matter the sacrifice, do not let him leave the Tower!"
The collusion between the kingdom and wizards.
A fact that could never be revealed under any circumstances.
Just that one line was enough to trigger the elders.
While confused by the suddenly changed atmosphere, they were all veteran wizards.
Tremendous magic power flowed from their fingertips as war magic spells of great power were simultaneously activated.
"I expected this."
But I had prepared faster than them.
Since the elders and wizards had an atmosphere of swearing truce, how fast could they be?
I had already gathered and condensed magic power, only needing to unleash it.
I turn my back and embrace Besia.
She seems very flustered.
Seeing her flushed cheeks.
"Hey, you crazy...!"
"It's bursting."
ᅳᅳᅳBooooom!!!!
An explosion more than enough to collapse the Dark Tower.
Besia seemed half-crazed, shouting something I couldn't make out with my eardrums rattling.
I had intentionally detonated it below us, so the repelling force shot our bodies up.
Thanks to the maximum barriers I had set up, we withstood the blast without major injury, but aside from some elders, the wizards didn't leave a single corpse behind.
Upon reaching the top floor of the Dark Tower, the lower levels were half-demolished by the explosion.
My goal of destroying half the tower was roughly accomplished.
I caught my breath on the high floor.
I could tell we were just steps away from the surface.
As I stared up at the sky.
"You..."
Having caught her breath, Besia spoke without her usual playful mood, with a serious expression.
"Are you okay?"
"What do you mean?"
"Your breathing, your heartbeat. They're gradually weakening."
As if I wouldn't know that myself.
The all-too-familiar boundary of death.
I was gradually approaching it.
The lifespan I had traded for the Dagger of Kersia's Altar was nearly depleted.
No wonder after stabbing myself properly twice.
As an immortal, I would return after facing death once.
But I couldn't tell her I was immortal, so I just casually replied.
"I know."
"You, you..."
Besia had an indescribable expression.
I was far too numb to read those complex emotions.
Leaving it at that, I took her hand and led her up.
We went above ground.
With the lower levels in a mess already, no wizards tried to obstruct our path.
Wizards had no loyalty or sense of sacrifice. If escaping, they would have escaped.
There was just one person left to block us.
Beneath the blazing hot sunlight.
A being was waiting for us in the air.
Despair blocking our freedom.
Black robes were the mark of a wizard.
The gold embroidery indicated a high position.
For the strongest and wisest in the Tower,
it would be the emblem engraved on their chest.
The Black Tower Master, Tiagris, had arrived.
"While I was away from my seat..."
She smiled sinisterly.
A smile giving those who saw it a sense of despair.
"You've made quite a charming mess."
A moment of silence descended.
I tried to stab my hand with the dagger, but at that moment, my hands were tightly bound by her spell.
"Oh my, you'll die either way if you stab yourself, so isn't it better to obediently surrender?"
Ugh-
The physical strength binding my hands seemed ready to crush my bones.
Did I let my guard down?
The moment my hands were bound, another dark spell activated.
Tiagris wasn't giving me any leeway, intent on killing me.
As the black spear of magic power tried to pierce my heart,
*Boom!*
"...How annoying."
A massive divine power shield blocked my front.
Clergy of considerable ability.
The traditional nemesis of wizards.
I tried to take the chance to stab my hand again, but
"Stop!"
Besia prevented me.
When I turned my head, I saw the girl gritting her teeth, eyes full of tears.
...Were women just naturally prone to crying?
Well, it probably varies person to person.
*Swish-*
Despite the atmosphere as if it were our last moments, I stabbed my hand with the dagger again.
The dagger rapaciously consumed my remaining lifespan down to the dregs, then started spewing out tremendous magic power.
Seeing this, Tiagris' expression twisted as she spoke.
"Foolish."
The moment the magic power raged out of control, a gigantic sphere of darkness assaulted us as if waiting for it.
Blocking that consumed half the magic power I had just obtained.
And another massive sphere was positioned behind her.
As expected of the Black Tower Master.
Just her lifetime of accumulated magic power surpassed ordinary levels.
While there were many existences stronger than the Tower Master, there weren't many she couldn't defeat if she sacrificed her own life as the Tower Master.
Since wizards were beings who didn't continuously pour out strength, but instantaneously attained ultimate power by spectacularly crumbling everything they had built up.
Tiagris was sincerely trying to annihilate me for destroying the Dark Tower.
No matter how much stronger dark magic I could use compared to her, I had no chance of winning the moment she poured out her entire lifetime of gathered magic power.
"It's over now."
Boom- Boom! Crackle!
Since it wasn't a barrage of attacks poured out carelessly like before, I could block more efficiently, but using up the remaining half of my magic power was unavoidable.
All that remained for me was a handful of magic power.
Yet still, I smiled.
"...Smiling?"
It's regrettable I can't kill her now, but it can't be helped.
I didn't plan to finish this here.
I realized one thing - I was using my first sacrificed life very effectively.
I had devoted my entire lifespan to the dagger.
And was planning to use my nearly dead life one more time.
*Whoosh-* *Swish-*
With the remaining magic power, I write up a contract.
There was a demon who liked stuff like this.
A demon who loved to featherbed yet hated working properly after eating delicious prepared food.
I scribed its name.
"You've gone mad."
Tiagris panicked.
She was probably unfamiliar with this form of threat by proxy.
The demon's form rose up in the air.
While not an Archdemon, it was still a powerful being.
The black-mounted demon wielding a gigantic trident appeared.
"Eligos, I make a conditional contract in exchange for my life."
[Speak.]
"Guard Besia from Tiagris. The term is two days."
An extremely malicious condition.
Despite being a protection contract, it was to guard just one person.
Moreover, the term was a mere two days.
For a contract to guard against a Tower Master-level powerhouse, even offering one's life would make the conditions very poor.
Of course, my life was nearly worthless.
That's why Eligos accepted the contract.
If he accepted this contract and Tiagris attacked Besia at the risk of her own peril, Eligos would take a loss too.
Yet the reason this demon accepted the contract was because he knew such a situation wouldn't occur.
Since he could see the future as a demon, how could he refuse taking a free life?
The demon laughed coldly and spoke.
[The contract is established.]
The moment the demon disappeared, I felt an oppressive sensation like a padlock on my heart.
An awful atmosphere like having slammed into the ground.
Tiagris now wore an expression close to horror.
"Madman, what is that girl to throw away the last dregs of your remaining lifespan?"
Well.
Getting out of the Dark Tower, and incurring a debt along the way?
An immortal's life was worthless.
So it was an action I could take.
I'll just say this much.
Whenever the hero sacrificed everything to save others,
if he heard the line 'Was that much needed to help?' he would always say one thing.
"There is no reason to save a person."
While I completely disagreed,
the hero always used this line, and others sympathized.
So it should make a decent excuse.
For the last time.
My body collapsed to the ground.
It was my first death after returning.