Chapter 119

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Chapter 119: Other Side

The crowd stood frozen, staring from afar at the strange bird above their heads.

This creature looked very much like a crow, its shiny blue wings glistening. The way it flapped its wings to fly, the position of its feet and claws, were all just like a real crow. But it couldn’t possibly be just a bird, the way it moved its wings was so natural—it was exactly that unnaturalness that stood out, no bird could fly so calmly with such a terrible wound.

It seemed like something was moving at the severed edge of its left wing, a black semi-fluid substance of unknown material oozing and writhing, different from the outside Fluid Guard, with a cold metallic texture. These things seemed to want to wrap around the wound, even reshape the missing portion of the wing, but they always failed after a brief attempt. After creating a small part of the wing root, the black semi-fluid substance quickly collapsed, merging back into its body, causing strange ripples in all its feathers.

With everyone holding their breath, Miranda trembled as she took a barely audible breath and whispered, "Tower Spirit…"

"Go up, up, snap," answered the Raven Tower Spirit, "Tea-cher, find."

Tasha took a few steps back to confirm that the Tower Spirit was talking to Dark Robed Wizard Miranda, who still had tears in her eyes. The Tower Spirit’s eyes glowed red like faulty light bulbs, and its voice changed from normal to loud and sharp, sounding like a broken toy.

Anyone with keen eyes could see that the Tower Spirit was badly damaged, like scattered bones and remnants of magical creatures. The question was why it appeared at that moment. Was it malfunctioning after an attack by the Pathfinder, or…?

"Did the teacher summon me?" Miranda asked.

In the blink of an eye, the wizard in black robes wiped away her tears, stood up straight, and regained her confidence as a researcher. Her eyes sparkled as she spoke ancient wizard language slowly and carefully, with humility and poise.

The sharp, discordant sound of the bird stopped suddenly.

Its wing movements ceased abruptly, and the bird-like figure hung in the air motionless for some unknown reason. Tasha’s sharp hearing could pick up the Spirit’s chaotic yet organized sounds, like a rewound tape.

Almost ten seconds later, the Tower Spirit "rebooted." Its wing movements became erratic, and the sound from its beak was hoarse and unintelligible. It turned around, flapped its wings, and flew to a corner of the laboratory.

Miranda followed it.

The remaining people looked at each other, but they had no time to hesitate. Miranda ran after the Spirit with all her strength, moving faster than before, and quickly ran deep into the laboratory. "Let’s follow her!" Gloria urged. "Follow the path she took!"

They quickly made a decision. Rudolf provided basic protection for everyone, and the Necromancers abandoned the slowest zombies (since there was no need for light on this floor, the black candles had already been put away). With Tasha leading the way, the group started running as fast as they could.

The group veered off from the corridor next to the laboratory and followed the Raven Tower Spirit flying ahead, running deep into the laboratory.

At first, everything around them looked the same as the hallway, clean and neat, filled with magical instruments that would make wizards excited. After a while, the laboratory started to become messy and chaotic, with familiar Casting Golem debris scattered everywhere, getting more and more dense. The initial "cleanliness" of this floor seemed to make sense – all the guards had been drawn towards the center, and whatever the Pathfinder had done had made the firepower intensive area look more and more exaggerated.

After less than ten minutes of walking, the surroundings looked completely different from the entrance, with various items in disarray and traces of spell usage everywhere. Large charred areas covered the ground and ceiling, even damaging some ore lamps, making the nearby light dim. They looked like acid Miranda had used, remnants of fire spells, lightning, and a combination of many spells – Tasha was in awe of the devastation on the ground and ceiling, with tables all turned into pieces, or not even left as pieces.

Miranda slipped on some icy ground while crossing an icy zone, and being a wizard with a developed mind and simple limbs, she couldn’t finish the marathon in one go. She slid out for quite a distance, and Tasha caught up, pulling her up and running ahead. The Raven Tower Spirit continued to fly steadily, not looking back or caring about others catching up behind.

Finally, the Tower Spirit stopped.

They crossed the entire laboratory, passing through traces of intense battles and astonishing amounts of shattered golem pieces. In the end, the surroundings became empty again. The scrapped Casting Golem were sparsely scattered, and the guards in this Mage Tower probably had exhausted their resources. Where the Raven Tower Spirit stopped, there were no tables, magical instruments, or signs of battle, just an empty floor with a single-winged bird hovering above.

The long line of running people converged here, and the wizards realized their abilities along the way. Those who couldn’t keep up climbed onto the soldiers’ backs before now getting down from the guards, still a bit out of breath and looking worse than the ones who had been running with them on their backs. Tasha put down Miranda, who eagerly took two steps forward and went under the Raven Tower Spirit.

As she approached, the circling bird landed, placing its two claws into small claw-shaped grooves in the ground. Tasha saw its talons sink below the ground, like a tenon inserted into a mortise.

The ground suddenly lit up.

Under the Raven Tower Spirit’s claw, a huge magic circle appeared on the empty ground, resembling a round table for feasting, its brilliance comparable to the overhead ore lamp. The edge of the magic circle stopped right in front of Miranda. Tasha instinctively pulled her back, just out of the range of the magic circle.

The Tower Spirit at the center of the magic gazed at them with emotionless, inorganic eyes.

Gloria took a few steps forward and squatted at the edge of the magic circle. She examined the magical runes that made up the magic circle and said, "This is an unstable teleportation circle."

"The teleportation destination is unstable?" Tasha asked.

"The activation time is unstable, the destination is unstable—there is a default destination, but as long as the person activating it wishes, the person stepping on it may be thrown to various chaotic places." Gloria said, "Undisturbed, this probably leads to the ‘Teacher’s Office’ at the top of the tower… I guess."

Tasha nodded, not really hopeful of getting a definite answer anyway.

"Most likely leading to the floor above, we might already be at the top." Bruno said, "We ran all the way here and didn’t see any stairs leading upwards or a fixed teleportation circle."

So, this one could very well be the teleportation circle leading to the top of the Mage Tower.

In ancient times, the Mage Tower of the wizard was like a pyramid, where the Tower Master who controlled everything lived at the top. There were no stairs or fixed teleportation portals between the top and other levels, only "unstable teleportation portals" controlled by the Tower Master. This setup made it easy for the owner of the Mage Tower to stay safe, whether there was a rebellion inside the tower or if the lower levels were under attack. It also added to the mystery and authority of the wizard who owned the tower. Every visit to the top of the tower was a matter of life and death, all controlled by the Tower Master, seeding obedience in the hearts of the apprentices, giving the Tower Master an advantage in future conflicts.

Tasha didn’t study the wizard’s domain in depth, most of it was just mechanically recorded and required some effort to find related materials. One piece of information that stood out was interesting – wizards who were not interested in common things and worldly power actually used some cunning tactics when building the Mage Tower.

The tense relationship between teachers and students was unimaginable for modern wizards.

Therefore, the command "teacher wants to see you" was not just a risk of psychological trauma for ancient wizards.

Miranda also knew this.

When Tasha pulled her back, Miranda resisted for a moment, but now she stood still, hesitating as she looked at the teleportation portal, feeling a bit nervous. Tasha could almost see countless thoughts flashing through the mind of the wizard in the black robe, struggling and fighting with each other.

"If the top is really up there, we need to be prepared mentally first," Bruno said. "The teleportation at the top of the Mage Tower is completely controlled by the Tower Master. After we go up, we might have to face the owner of the Mage Tower."

"I’d prefer it that way," Gloria muttered. "If it’s not the Tower Master summoning us, but the Tower Spirit getting attacked and going crazy, we might not be able to come back after going up. We can’t expect it to have another malfunction and open the door for us, right?"

"Is there a difference between being stuck up there and being stuck down here?" Tasha asked.

"Maybe it’s even more crowded up there? More dangerous? With spells traps everywhere? A never-ending army of Casting Golems?" Gloria pondered a few times, shaking her head. "Anyway, the protection up there must be tighter than down here. If we go up, it’s like going from a regular jail cell to a high-security one. Even though we don’t know how to escape from a regular jail cell right now, we always have to keep hope alive, right?"

"At least that Pathfinder has already gone in," Tasha said.

The signs of battle along the way disappeared here, with no other paths around, and no corpses. As long as the Pathfinder didn’t disappear into thin air, there’s a good chance they went to the other side of the teleportation array.

"There are no traces leading elsewhere, and we haven’t found any signs of the Pathfinder leaving," Bruno’s eyebrows drooped, his narrow face resembling a melancholic greyhound.

After the Pathfinder went in, they didn’t come out. They could have died there, or they might have successfully escaped from the highest-level cell in that Mage Tower. It’s quite clear which outcome is more likely.

"Maybe we should go look for other passageways." Rudolf suggested, "Rushing into a suspicious teleportation array doesn’t seem … wait, is this how the Tower Spirit is supposed to look?"

Everyone’s gaze focused on the Raven Tower Spirit, its bird form with flashing red eyes that had just gone out.

After a bright flash, the red eyes extinguished, like a lighter running out of fuel. The ruby-like eyes dimmed instantly, whether it was their original color or if they lost their brilliance after the energy that made them sparkle disappeared. The previously shifting metal feathers softened, like food thrown directly from the freezer into the fire, rapidly melting and dripping, no longer clinging to the frame. The Raven Tower Spirit disintegrated, the once-feathered entity dropping bit by bit to the ground, resembling melting tar.

It melted rapidly, more and more, feathers and flesh falling apart, revealing a silver-white skeleton beneath. The skeleton seemed to have peculiar patterns, but they flashed by and quickly faded, like silk unearthed from an ancient tomb. Gloria covered her mouth, unable to silence her lament completely.

It is unlikely that the Tower Spirit or Tower Master would want this. It was destroying not too fast nor too slow, the process was very ugly, the ending was irreversible but not complete. A pile of debris, faintly showing feathers of the past, now lying in a sticky black substance like tar, surrounded by scattered, dim silver skeletons, collapsed messily in the teleportation array.

Guiding and activating the teleportation array seemed to be the last straw, causing the Tower Spirit, which had endured massive damage for who knows how long, to be declared unusable.

There’s no time to ponder on this now, the more urgent issue is that those two claws are almost unable to stand.

The previously stable teleportation array began to flicker, resembling the Raven Tower Spirit’s flickering eyes.

Miranda rushed out, her figure disappearing in the flickering light. Dolores then took a step forward, the Undead Sorcerer who mostly stayed silent, was the second to step into the teleportation array. Gloria bit her lip, Bruno sighed and shook his head, Rudolf clicked his tongue, the wizards had different expressions but moved as one.

They walked in.

Tasha did the same.

The other side of the teleportation array was unknown, making one cautious yet curious. Without hesitation, she gambled on this round, at the same time not giving anyone an order to proceed or stay back—when unsure which path is the way to survival, everyone made their own choice, everyone was responsible for their own lives.

Some gritted their teeth and rushed in, some resisted and stayed behind, while others hesitated, their steps slow as if stuck to the ground. The teleportation array made a choice for the last group, finally landing two tiny bird claws, and then the teleportation array flickered one last time, before completely extinguishing.

The power of the teleportation spell pulled Tasha’s body.

They had walked a long way and had already used several teleportation portals. The portals were as smooth as elevators, but this one was different. Was it because unstable portals were always like this, or was it because the sudden malfunction of the Tower Spirit caused the mishap? Those being teleported couldn’t tell, they just felt dizzy and disoriented, as if they were tossed into a washing machine set on the highest spin cycle.

After a long moment, Tasha tumbled out from the other side of the portal. If she hadn’t practiced various flying maneuvers extensively (including mid-air somersaults), she would have been thrown around uncontrollably. Tasha stumbled for a moment but quickly steadied herself, looking around. She saw everyone else who had been teleported lying around, feeling nauseous and disoriented.

Wizards, apprentices, and guards all collapsed to the ground at the same time, unable to stand up. Some were even vomiting. If this was the scheme of the Tower Master, it was quite successful. With just one failing portal, the Tower Master had rendered the team’s combat ability nearly useless.

The only one standing, Tasha looked around and saw nothing but her companions on the ground.

On the other side of the portal, there were no armies of golems, no ready-to-cast spells or magical creatures, and no sign of the Pathfinder or Tower Master. They were standing on a circular platform, surrounded by emptiness.

The circular platform was as large as the teleportation portal that had brought Tasha’s whole team. Despite having fewer people now, there was still plenty of room for everyone. Even so, the sight around them was terrifying, and Tasha understood why everyone was lying down.

When feeling dizzy and standing on the edge of a cliff, everyone’s instinct was to lie down quickly, to be caught by the ground and friction.

Around the platform, there were no fences, just a deep pit. It was like being on a floor as wide as the previous one, but only the platform they were standing on was solid. The rest was empty, leading all the way down to the bottom of the tower – whether the space was as vast as the previous laboratory floor or if the height matched the tower was uncertain. It was dark once again, but thanks to Dolores lighting a black candle, they could see their surroundings.

Dolores was another person in the room who didn’t look too bad. She still had no expression on her face, half lying down like the others, holding a black candle in her hand. There is a legend that this Undead Sorcerer had an accident in various spells (some say it was intentional), turning herself into a dull half-dead person. Judging by her calm expression at the moment and still slow heartbeat, perhaps the rumors weren’t completely wrong.

By the light of the black candle, looking down from the edge of the circular platform, it was pitch black below, as if leading to a bottomless abyss.

Before the members who had been lying on the ground stood up, they didn’t encounter any attacks.

It was very quiet here, besides their breathing, no other sound could be heard. Tasha pondered whether to take the candle and fly around the nearby area but was stopped by the Alchemist.

"Let’s stick to the ‘plan’ for now, okay?" Gloria said, pointing in a certain direction.

On one side of the circular platform, there was a suspension bridge.

There were no railings around the platform, but two thick poles stood on one side, with a narrow suspension bridge in the middle that only one person could pass through. Walking to the edge of the bridge with the candle, even if you stretched out your arm, the light from the black candle only illuminated the solitary suspension bridge within its range, unable to see anything on the other side.

"Could this be the top of the tower?" Rudolf asked.

"No one knows what the top of the tower looks like." Bruno forced a smile, "Ancient wizards didn’t like writing memoirs and diaries."

He probably tried to tell a joke, but it didn’t go well and no one laughed.

"I really don’t know what to expect." Gloria held up two fingers, "Either this isn’t the top of the tower, and we’ve been thrown into some unknown space by the Tower Master for some reason. Or this is the very dangerous Mage Tower top, known as the last defense of the wizard, the lair of an ancient wizard. No one interfered when we were transported, the Tower Master is not here – or maybe just wants to slowly play with us on the top of the tower… It won’t be that horrible, right? An archmage wouldn’t stoop so low, right?"

She looked down at her two fingers placed down and then one finger stood up, and pouted.

"I’m going over there." Miranda said firmly, "No matter how you see it, I’m going over there."

"Yeah, you’re the chosen one in the black robe. Maybe the ancient wizard won’t kill you, but take you as an apprentice." Laurien whispered.

His teacher Bruno looked disapprovingly at him, Laurien shrugged fearlessly, appearing to be used to being casual. Miranda glared at him darkly, stopped speaking, and just nodded slightly towards Tasha.

The black-robed wizard turned around and decisively walked toward the suspension bridge.

"Then you wouldn’t mind having someone accompany you, right?" Tasha said.

Miranda stopped in her tracks.

Gloria sighed heavily and said, "This is why I don’t like you."

"I don’t need you to like me either," Miranda replied reflexively.

"I don’t dislike you because of what you study or how harshly you scold people," Gloria brushed off the dust from her colorful robe and continued, "You always act like you’re ready to fight, as if we are naturally on opposite sides, but aren’t we all wizards? We all seek knowledge and the power that knowledge brings. What’s wrong with that? Just because you don’t speak up, you assume you’ll be abandoned by everyone. How does that make sense? – For example, besides the path you took, do we have any other choice?"

Miranda’s determined expression cracked, looking a bit embarrassed.

"I agree with taking that path," Rudolf intervened.

"I second that," Bruno said.

Dolores nodded.

"We follow the teacher," the apprentices marching forward said.

"I’ll be at the rear," Tasha said.

"We can walk at the front," said the guards who followed along.

"The skeleton sentry can be at the front," whispered the Undead Sorcerer apprentice who had been carried by the guards all the way.

One by one, the black-robed wizard’s fanatical expression faded, showing a mix of shame and discomfort. She moved her lips, said nothing in the end, just shifted her gaze away, nodded.