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“What the hell is this?”

A thick, viscous, tar-like liquid was dripping from the monster’s mouth.

“A composite? A chimera or something…Who would make something so ugly?”

It had a human head but not a single hair, not even eyelashes. Its eyes were hollowed out, with no pupils visible, and hundreds of jagged teeth covered the pierced mouth.

“And this mana….”

Nella’s shoulders slumped at the foreboding she sensed. She had felt it a year ago, near the sea. Nella gritted her teeth as she stared at the many tentacles on the creature’s limbs. It was reminiscent of the Kraken.

“What the hell is going on?”

The sporadic screams were replaced by the noise of a raging battle. Even the most inexperienced wizards of the Tower were competent individuals. Nella couldn’t care why the noise below her died down, and she found her way up.

When Nella made that decision and lifted her head, she jumped through the hole in the ceiling.

With a slimy sound, monsters turned their heads toward her.

“I’m going to make you an octopus dinner.”

The fire in her hand swole to a size far larger than her. What had been a fist-sized ball soon became a roiling wave of flame. Nella shot the wave of fire forward before the monsters could charge.

“Die-!”

A wave of flames swept forward, enough to incinerate the entire area. The magical flames consumed the remaining equipment on the destroyed floor. The monsters that had gotten in the way crumbled into handfuls of ash.

“…Tenth floor is done.”

Half of the tenth floor had been melted away, but the enemy had been defeated. Nella looked up as she approached where the monsters had fallen through. Somehow they’d pierced the Tower’s floor, which had only melted slightly with her magic.

“Who did this?”

Nella’s squinted eyes caught sight of the gaping hole in the ceiling. Smoke from the tenth floor was being sucked into the hole, and she could dimly see what was happening on the eleventh floor.

“…We have to put out the fire…! Where are all the materials…!”

“…Where are the teaching assistants? Get them now! Where have the professors gone in all this?!”

Shouting and shifting shadows. It wasn’t pandemonium, but it wasn’t safe either. The wizards ran around with their soles on fire, trying to get things under control, but judging by the occasional pitiful scream, things didn’t seem to be going well. Nella clicked her tongue and reached for the hole in the ceiling, creating a strong gust of wind. Her light body floated through the air, rising to the eleventh floor.

“Associate Professor Nella!”

The wind blew the smoke away, and when Nella arrived, her teaching assistants greeted her with tears. Typically, their faces were pale as they were confined indoors, but now they were covered in blackness and scars, as worn as any soldier.

“Where are the other professors?”

“Most of them have rushed to the eleventh floor, trying to find the intruder. We have only seen one, but he was already a corpse. We don’t know what happened or who the intruder is. We’re dealing with the monsters running around the floor right now.”

An assistant explained the situation, squeezing all the air out of his lungs. He inhaled the smoke and coughed as he inhaled it.

“We have never seen a monster that has been roaming around. It looks like a person, but it’s definitely not human.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it either. It’s much stronger than most monsters I know. It’s probably too much for wizards like you below the Third Circle to handle….”

Even Nella had to use Fourth Circle magic to kill the monsters on the floor below.

“First, we shouldn’t let those monsters escape from the Tower. They’re too much for an academy student; they’ll be decapitated in no time. Have you sealed off all the stairs down?”

The assistant nodded, his face grim.

“Fortunately, the automatic shielding system is working well, so down to the fire escape is blocked. I’ll help you as much as I can, Professor. What can I do?”

Nella opened her eyes and looked at the assistant—a very ordinary wizard of the Third Circle. There was nothing he could do in this situation. At best, he’d hold the monsters back from going anywhere, and if he were lucky, he’d be able to hold out until help arrived or flee.

“What happened to the research?”

The assistant’s expression fell into an indescribable slump. Nella didn’t need to hear his answer to know what had happened to the data.

“I’m sure we have a backup.”

“…Of course we do, but the next one is scheduled for tomorrow… Most of the data for the past week must have been wiped out. It’s disgraceful…!”

The assistant apologized by banging his head into the ground, but Nella didn’t care. Daphne is probably guarding the most crucial material anyway. It’s just observations. We can re-observe them when the case is over. ….

Wait. Re-observation?

Nella’s mind froze. ‘This is the eleventh floor. All the materials and tools needed to observe and study the Meteor are here…’ Seeing Nella’s face go white, the teaching assistant did the same

“P-professor….”

“We need to protect everything we can and everyone we can find!”

“Yes, yes! Got it!”

Nella scrambled to her feet, and the assistant followed suit.

“I’ll find out where the other professors are, and I’ll find the damned intruder.”

Nella ran across the half-ruined hallway of the eleventh floor. In front of her, monsters of unknown origin appeared and stood in her way. Nella’s hand was about to fire a blast of magic at the creatures but froze.

“You… what are you?”

The monsters were clothed this time, and the white robes were familiar to Nella. It was what the people in the lab wore. Nella frowned at the torn and burned robe.

“You think I can’t use my magic on you?”

Nella muttered to herself and fired a blast of magic at the researcher’s robe, and it burst into flames, burning away along with the rest of her clothes. Nella bit her lip and stepped over the creature’s corpse. ‘What the hell is going on in the magic tower right now-!’

In Nella’s dizzying mind, a man’s face suddenly appeared.

‘Elroy. That damned Hero. Where the hell is he, and what the fuck is he doing?’

Nella shook her head in disbelief. No. It had been so long since she’d decided not to rely on him. She shook off the image of his face that flashed in her mind and drew up her mana again.

“Just die.”

Flames baptized the hallway. Gasping for breath, Nella arrived at the terrace, which was more intact than expected, except for the telescope in the center, which was completely shattered.

“…I knew this would happen….”

Nella stepped toward the wreckage of the telescope. The telescope was shattered as if someone had targeted it. The shattered lens fell from her grasp. Looking up at the ceiling, the retractable glass dome was also broken. Staring at the seemingly irreparable wreckage, Nella gritted her teeth.

‘It was all planned.’

Someone had done this to stop the research on the Sixth Disaster thoroughly. But who? Breaking in from the outside was impossible, so the answer was that someone had to be on the inside.

“I’m not a big fan of looking at the sky through a telescope. I guess I’ve come to appreciate old-school astronomy in my later years.”

At the sound of a voice, Nella whirled around. A very familiar silhouette was ambling toward her, backpedaling.

“It’s been a while since we’ve been alone, Associate Professor Nella Thar. You look very much in a hurry.”

“Edwin Blub…!”

“My, I didn’t expect you to be so hostile.”

Professor Edwin let out a huffy laugh and stroked his beard with one hand. Nella clenched her fists, her face contorted. ‘At least I found the intruder.’ Nella glared at Edwin, who oozed energy more ominous than the monsters before.

“Why in the world would you do this? Do you know how much data we lost?”

“You don’t know what you don’t know.”

Professor Edwin shook his head.

“Do you know why I went into astronomy?”

“Shut up.”

Nella conjured up a spell in her hand, but Professor Edwin only looked at her in amusement and laughed. He concentrated on what he had to say, not caring what she did.

“I’ve loved to look up at the sky since I was a little boy. With my bare eyes.”

Beyond the shattered glass dome, the moon slowly dominated the night sky.

“Its enormity is much better appreciated with the naked eye. I feel closer to it than I do through a telescope. So, for me, it was unnecessary. I never tried to look at anything in particular. We’re just one of hundreds of millions of entities in the sky, and I keep reminding myself endlessly.”

Edwin’s laugh was hollow. Nella looked into his blank face, her tension rising to a fever pitch.

“You must not defy fate. Running away from destruction will only lead to a more terrible end that will further twist your logic.”

Nella did not heed Edwin’s words; for now, she only thought about defeating the wizard and binding him. ‘He has four circles. If I used my magic to the fullest…’

“So, you did this so we could all die?”

“We’re mortals, Nella. We’re all destined to die one day, one by one. Humanity defied that fate once before, long ago, in the name of heroism, escaping the destruction it deserved.”

Edwin shook his head.

“We’re the apostles of that deserved destruction, Nella. Not one of you can stop us.”

“‘We?’ You mean there are others besides you?”

“Of course. If one man cannot prevent destruction, how can one man execute it?”

Nella was stalling with the conversation, secretly drawing on her magic. Professor Edwin was engrossed in his story.

“Your face shows what you’re thinking, Associate Professor Nella.”

“Oh, yeah? Then stop this-!”

Ice spikes sprouted rapidly from Nella’s feet, aimed at Edwin.

“Pathetic.”

Then, a group of tentacles from the entrance shot forward and blocked the spikes.

“Slaves for research…but now they’re my mindless slaves or something like that.”

In addition to the monsters that blocked the attack, more appeared behind Edwin’s back. Nella’s face hardened.

“They are my dear comrades who gathered for your destruction.”

Like a commander, Edwin stood rigidly behind them and looked at Nella.

“Well, I tried to talk you out of it the other day, but you’ve learned too much.”

Edwin laughed, and Nella’s expression turned even more rotten.

“I’ll give you one last chance; don’t you want to see the end?”

At Edwin’s question, Nella scoffed and extended her middle finger.

“Does this answer your question?”

“…Grab her and tear her apart.”

The monsters charged toward Nella in unison.