Feeling the flow of magic, Akira came face to face with one of his worst enemies—stairs. He and Ottar climbed, feeling the magic concentration increase as they went higher.
"Huff!" Akira opened the gate to the roof of the tower. He breathed in the magically saturated air, feeling reinvigorated.
"I expected a monster." Akira could physically see the shining fog of magic gathering toward the clock tower standing at the center of the roof.
The clock tower was as tall as a five-floor building. On the fourth floor, he could see a clock, and above it hung a bell waiting to be rung. Deciding to check it out, they opened the gate and saw an empty floor. On the opposite wall, a progress bar was being projected.
'98.7%... 98.9%... 99.2%...' The loading bar was about to be filled.
They climbed to the upper floor, finding it full only of gears to turn the clock and bells. Finding nothing that could be responsible for absorbing all this magic, Akira had nowhere to start.
"Got any idea?" Akira asked the giant beside him.
Ottar took out his sword and swung it against the wall with full strength.
BANG!!!
Akira slipped back as the air pressure pushed him away. When the dust cleared, the wall was intact. Ottar pulled his sword back—there wasn't even a scratch.
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[Magical Particle Requirement Complete]
[Frevius Clock Tower Activated]
[The trial is being decided…]
[The essence of the world is being detected…]
[The wishes of mortals are being detected…]
[Trial decided: Three waves of monsters will be produced every 2 hours.]
[The first trial will begin in 12 hours.]
[Till the end of the trial, the tower will be indestructible.]
[Designated area of combat being isolated.]
A mechanical voice echoed in the heads of all mortals in Orario. The wind wall surrounding Babel dispersed, and the hole in the clouds above Babel closed.
Hestia opened the chapel door to see the vertical downpour. The wind had stopped, but dark clouds still covered all of Orario in rain.
Seeing the healer stop in the middle of bandaging Asfi, Hermes was confused. He looked around to see everyone frozen in place, clearly hearing a voice in their heads. As the message ended, Asfi turned to ask him, "Hermes, what was that?"
Hermes looked intrigued, but as he listened to her explanation, his expression turned serious. The problem had become far more dangerous than he thought.
"Looks like I have to visit Uranus," Hermes murmured.
-----------------------------------
Ding!
The elevator door opened. Ottar and Akira reached the ground floor of Babel. As the gate opened, they came face to face with the most powerful team Orario had ever seen.
Freya Familia — Hedin Selland, Heith Velvet, and the Gulliver Brothers.
Loki Familia — Finn Deimne, Riveria Ljos Alf, Gareth Landrock, Ais Wallenstein, Tione Hiryute, and Tiona Hiryute.
There were other adventurers too, all at least Level 2 and above, weapons drawn and ready.
"Excuse me, step aside. King Ottar is coming. Make space for him," Akira tried to wiggle through the crowd. Despite initial success, he was caught by a thin but powerful hand. Feeling his collar pulled back, Akira turned and said, "Ah, Asfi—fancy meeting you here."
Seeing the bandages wrapped around her arm and neck, he felt a little guilty, thinking he should have stopped or deflected the attack. He turned toward her and took her palm gently. "Does it hurt?"
"No, forget about it. Tell me what you found… hiss." Asfi winced in pain as Akira poked her arm, shaking his head at her poor lie.
"I know you have to be strong as a captain, Asfi. But that doesn't mean you can't feel pain. Here, let me."
He bit his thumb, letting a drop of blood form, and rubbed it on his index finger.
"Now, stay still." With his index finger, he drew a rune on her bandaged arm. As he completed it, the blood-red mark glowed for a second.
Releasing her hand, he warned, "That only takes the pain away. Your hand is still injured. Even with the rain, it should be okay for a day. If you want to remove it, just rub some alcohol on it."
He took out a roll of bandage from his pocket, tore a piece, and began wrapping it around his thumb. As he struggled to tie it, Asfi took over.
"Thanks," he said, watching her focus on tying the knot as if it were a matter of great importance.
'Idiot… how embarrassing…' Asfi thought, completely focused to avoid showing how flustered she was. 'How can he say that with a straight face? Everyone's watching… calm down, Asfi.'
When she finished, she looked up and met his gaze—his face was close, and he smiled. "You're cute, princess."
Asfi's face turned red as Akira laughed. "How can you say that?" she murmured.
"Oya, my Asfi is blushing! Akira-kun, you're quite the charmer. But I can't let you take my Asfi-chan; she's the only reason I can have so much free time." Hermes teased, wrapping an arm around Akira's neck.
"Hermes-sama, that's what you think of me?" Asfi's strict captain mode returned, making Hermes sweat. As she punished him while he apologized, Akira decided it was a good time to sneak away.
"Where do you think you're going? You're coming with us. Tell us what happened above." Asfi's gaze locked on him.
"Yes, ma'am," Akira said, following her obediently.
-----------------------------------
After a thorough examination of the Frevius Clock Tower, they didn't find any monsters. Testing it with Riveria's magic didn't yield results either, and even Tsubaki and the other blacksmiths couldn't make a dent in it. After that, Akira explained everything he saw.
Now, it was time to decide on a strategy.
"We can just surround the tower and blast the monsters as they spawn," Riveria said confidently.
"No, we can't fight on the roof. Our goddess lives on the top floor—it would cause too much damage. We should push the monsters off the roof and fight in the square," Hedin replied.
"What if the monsters can fly? They could slip past us into the city," Asfi countered.
"We'll cut their wings. And if they slip into the city, we'll handle it too." Hedin said politely.
Seeing more people join the debate, Finn felt uneasy. He agreed with Riveria but sensed something missing. As he looked around, he noticed one person completely uninterested in the discussion—Akira, yawning.
"What's your opinion, Akira?" Finn asked. Everyone turned toward him.
Akira sighed. "You're underestimating the monster spawn rate. The message said 'waves of monsters,' so no matter what we do, some will slip past. Also… why do you assume the tower is where they'll spawn from?"
Finn frowned. He realized he had made that assumption unconsciously. "Designated area of combat…" he muttered.
Akira pointed. "Exactly. 'Designated area of combat being isolated.' That was the message. The whole combat area might be the spawn point."
"Area of combat, huh… what do you think it is?" Finn asked, hoping for an answer.
"Who knows?" Akira shrugged.
A Ganesha Familia adventurer rushed in to report to Shakti. "I think I know what the combat area is. Momonga—tell them what you told me."
"My name's Modaka, not Momonga," the man complained. "Cough! There's an invisible barrier surrounding Orario, just outside the walls. It doesn't let living beings through, but magic and weapons can pass. We've confirmed reports from the east, west, and north. We're still waiting for the southern one, but… not expecting good news."
"Have you tried digging under it?" Asfi asked.
"Yes, but it doesn't work. We even tried the sewers—no luck." Modaka shivered, remembering the squeaking of rats.
"Well, Momonga's report makes it clear the whole Orario is the combat zone," Akira said, ignoring Modaka's complaint.
"It could still be possible the tower is the spawn point," Lefiya said hesitantly.
"Yeah, I could be wrong. I'm only talking about the worst-case scenario," Akira replied.
"It doesn't matter if you're right or wrong—we'll have to act according to the worst case," Hedin said grimly. If they'd followed his earlier plan and monsters appeared in Folkvangr, he wouldn't have been able to protect his goddess.
In the end, everyone agreed to prepare for the worst. With the combined minds of Orario's top adventurers, they devised a comprehensive plan.
Three places would serve as bases for gods protection: Folkvangr (Freya Familia), Twilight Manor (Loki Familia), and the Guild. Each would be protected by first-class adventurers and groups of third-class ones. Finn chose three locations in case one was overrun.
Next came the frontline. Most first- and second-class adventurers would encircle the Tower of Babel, with the strongest stationed at the top. Ottar, however, didn't even return to the lift to come back up and had gone home.
Lastly were the citizens. Since the fight was expected to last three to four hours, they would be evacuated to safe places like the colosseum and parks protected by adventurers.
Finn pointed to the most problematic place—Daedalus Street. Evacuation there would be nearly impossible, and the people might even attack adventurers. He turned to Akira. "What should we do about it?"
"Well, those people won't listen anyway. Why not burn a few buildings? Let the fire flush them toward the evacuation zone," Akira said with a grin.
Everyone stared in shock. Akira laughed it off. "I'm joking! I'm not stupid enough to burn buildings in this much rain."
In the end, it was decided to evacuate as many as possible, leaving the rest to their fate. They could only hope the encirclement would work.
With the two most powerful Familias deciding the course of action, every other Familia—and even the Guild—could only follow their lead.
......….
(A/n: Those who know Frevius/Privius Clock Tower can guess the first wave of monsters)
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