Advent of the Archmage

"Link, do you think he's really coming to discuss important matters?"

Celine walked up to Link as soon as he returned to the Mage Tower. She stayed at the top level during Link's meeting with Bryant, aiming her big fire gun at the Magician. No matter what Bryant did, she would fire as soon as she felt danger.

She wouldn't be able to kill Bryant, but she could at least affect his power.

However, she didn't observe or sense anything abnormal. Bryant seemed to have really come to discuss the portal.

Link found it strange too. Prophecies were always a bit iffy. They made nice reminders, but there would be problems if one completely relied on prophecies.

From the interaction, he believed that Bryant was up to something. However, he wasn't sure how he would rescue Katyusha or if he was here for another reason.

After thinking, Link said, "There's no hurry. He gave me the drafts now and will stay in Scorched Ridge for three days. If we wait patiently, he'll expose himself."

Celine shrugged, a bit confused. "That's too troublesome. He's not your match. Why don't we just capture him and interrogate him?"

Link shook his head immediately. "Celine, you're too confident in me. Bryant is still quite powerful. If we fight, I'll have to kill him. I can't capture him."

For someone like him, capturing him alive was 100 times harder than killing him.

It was easy to kill Bryant. Link could activate Lily and attack, ending Bryant in a few moves. However, if Bryant fought back before he died, the entire Scorched City could be destroyed.

Scorched City was Link's camp. He couldn't do something so risky.

"Alright. I'll continue watching him." Grasping the big fire gun, Celine returned to the Mage Tower's balcony. She could see the entire city and also had the magic seal for protection. It was the best place for spying.

Link took out Bryant's draft for the portal matrix and started revising it. Of course, he was only getting rid of some flaws.

…

Sewage system under Scorched Ridge

Merna swam through the sewage tunnel. In order to avoid having her aura sensed, she used her physical power. All her movements looked like a regular snake.

The sewage system was as complex as a maze, but Merna had shocking memory. She also had a great sense of smell. She could smell her own scent even in the dirty water.

These strong points paired with her acute sense of direction helped her reach the outside of the Mage Tower's foundation after around two hours.

There, she ran into a new problem.

The Mage Tower's defense was abnormally dense. Even the foundations underground were practically seamless. Merna circled it many times but couldn't find any flaws.

Even the drainage hole had a very detailed detection matrix. If she swam over, it would be activated immediately. She stared at it for half an hour without finding any defects. It was so sophisticated that she felt helpless.

The material elsewhere was extremely sturdy too, at Level-9. The critical parts reached Level-11. If she wanted to force her way in, it would cause a big commotion.

Who built this tower? Is he crazy? Would it kill him to leave a crack? Merna was frustrated.

Not willing to give up, she swam aimlessly, circling around the tower three times to no avail. Sneaking in from underground wasn't going to work.

Merna could only backtrack. After returning to the yard, she used the foliage for cover and slithered back to Bryant's room.

Bryant was lying on a chaise and reading. Two magic puppets stood behind him. One massaged him gently while the other held his drink.

"Stronger, lower, ah yes. Feels good."

"Let me drink again."

The servant walked over and gently spooned him the drink. All Bryant had to do was slightly move his head. He was in paradise.

Seeing this, Merna almost exploded in anger. She'd swum in the disgusting water of human feces for hours and had even accidentally swallowed some of it. But this guy was here enjoying everything. Feeling the difference, anger rose up in Merna. She rushed over and bit Bryant's calf, injecting poison.

Crash! Bryant almost fell from his chair in fright. Stinging pain came from his calf. Looking down, he saw that it was bruising at a speed visible to the naked eye. There were also two fang marks.

This was extreme poison.

Bryant hurriedly drank some Elf Nectar to push the poison down. Then he looked to the two magic puppets. They stared at him, confused, but didn't do anything abnormal.

He let out a sigh. Feeling Merna go inside his robe and wrap around his arm again, he said to the magic puppets, "Okay, I want to rest. Go out."

They turned and left the room.

Finally, Bryant muttered, "What? What did I do?!"

Merna huffed. "I risked my life to investigate the Mage Tower, and I was annoyed to see you like this, so I bit you!"

"Alright, alright… How's the situation?" Bryant did feel that he'd crossed the line, but Ferde's magic puppets were really nice. They were beautiful, had soft voices, gentle movements, and served extremely well. If he wasn't scared of being laughed at, he would take two back to the Isle of Dawn.

"The defense is very dense. I can't break through by myself. I need your help." Merna sighed. She'd underestimated Ferde.

"That bad?" Bryant was shocked too. He'd personally experienced Merna's espionage skills. If even she was helpless, Ferde's defense was really something.

Thinking, Bryant said, "How about I go out? I can definitely find an apprentice that will take you into the Mage Tower… Of course, you have to change your appearance, like a parrot that can talk or a white rat. Or another animal that people won't be scared of."

Merna sighed. "Fine. I'll do as you say."

The two immediately started acting.

Merna started changing her appearance in a hidden corner while Bryant walked out and wandered down the street. He walked until six at night. When he returned, there was a mouse the size of two fists in the room. The mouse was extremely fluffy and white. It was adorable.

Bryant petted Merna, praising, "Perfect."

Then he sat down and sighed. "Merna, my plan won't work."

"What now?" Merna felt depressed. The two large eyes on the cute mouse face glinted red. She'd spent the entire afternoon transforming, and now Bryant said this. It made her want to go crazy.

Stomping, she yelled, "You're a Legendary Magician! You've lived for almost 400 years, and you can't fool some 20-year-old apprentice?"

"Of course I can, and he would take you in, but from what I've observed, Link has a powerful Tower Spirit in the Mage Tower. She will detect all organisms brought in. If it isn't verified, the spirit will activate the alarms. So…"

"So none of our plans will work?" Merna was about to explode.

"Yes."

So Merna exploded. She jumped around on the table, yelling, "Link is crazy. Is he going to think a cockroach is an invader?! He should just die!"

"Actually, yes. I manipulated a cockroach into climbing in through the door. One second later, it was killed by a Level-0 spell."

Merna was speechless.

After a long while, she said, "Katyusha can survive two more days at most. After that, we will have failed our mission. You must think of something."

Bryant had a headache too. "Don't worry. We still have two days. Tomorrow, I'll go out again. I'll find something. I must!"