Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Oliva looked up in surprise... that metal eagle flying quite high did look rather familiar.

Come to think of it, Gilbert really did like birds.

But unlike those small birds that could live on flies and mosquitoes, hawks and eagles were creatures he’d only ever seen in paintings.

The Mages hadn’t failed to research why these animals had disappeared.

After all, in theory, with bugs, Black Taro, and some wild grasses that Humans couldn’t eat, it shouldn’t have been enough to wipe animals out so completely.

Yet the result of the research was... the world’s degeneration was far, far too fast, so fast that before the animals could change their own habits, they had already run out of food.

No matter how tenacious a lifeform is, it can’t change its diet and its ability to capture food in such a short time.

Even powerful Flying Eagles couldn’t quickly learn to catch palm-sized, extremely fast little birds in midair.

Their talons, when turned on those small birds, were a bit too big.

Most importantly, in that food chain, almost all the mid-to-low-level creatures faced extinction virtually in an instant.

And Humans, who originally could have served as their food, escaped that calamity thanks to the protection of the Mages... or rather, because back then the Mages had been a bit too thorough in eradicating threats.

There was no helping it. For those huge, powerful animals that could be called monsters, Humans were the most convenient food source.

Oliva shook his head... no wonder he hadn’t recognized it at first glance.

Gilbert’s Flying Eagle had really been modified countless times.

At the start, it was just a relatively large sparrow.

Gilbert had slowly rebuilt it into something resembling a Flying Eagle by poring over all kinds of books and examining every oil painting related to eagles he could find.

He hadn’t expected it to have turned into what it was now, looking, at a glance, mighty and imposing, murderous intent billowing off it.

Oliva wasn’t surprised that Ruth could recognize that Flying Eagle immediately; Ruth had always paid close attention to Gilbert... and precisely because of that concern, Oliva had chosen not to care about Gilbert.

He wasn’t like Aislin; he didn’t want to know every one of his teacher’s secrets and every object of his special attention inside out.

Sometimes, not knowing was also a kind of respect for one’s teacher.

But perhaps this had a lot to do with how Aislin herself actually didn’t care about any so-called authority... in the depths of her Soul, she probably didn’t feel reverence for anyone.

That was why, even though she wasn’t the strongest, she always had that attitude of ”I’m the greatest under heaven and no one gets to defy my orders.”

To be honest, after realizing this, Oliva only then noticed that he’d actually been brooding over it all along: why couldn’t he be that confident in just being himself?

Why did he have to constantly look over his shoulder, terrified of taking a single wrong step!

The reason he always liked to stand behind Aislin was also related to this lack of confidence in himself.

Even if the other first disciples of various factions weren’t as overconfident as Aislin... well, she just happened to be the one right next to him.

If the one fighting him over real power had been someone like Gilbert, he actually wouldn’t have taken such a heavy psychological hit.

Oliva watched that huge Flying Eagle circling in the sky for a while longer... it seemed that thing had several Halos hanging on it.

No wonder Aislin was flustered like that.

But with the strength of an Eighth Ring Mage, no matter how useless Aislin was, she shouldn’t be unable to catch two Junior Mages falling from high altitude.

Seeing that in the end they’d had to trouble that Rosero Archmage, who had never left, to catch that White Robe Junior Mage... Oliva couldn’t help tugging the corner of his mouth downward: this was exactly Aislin’s style—she could choose to save her own people and drop that little White Robe from Sia.

Obviously that foolish kid had definitely gotten into this mess because she’d used him, yet she could be utterly indifferent.

It was only because the relationship between that Sia White Robe and her was clearly abnormal; otherwise... just this one incident would’ve been enough for that Ninth Ring Archmage named Rosero to fall out with her.

Although Oliva also understood, this only proved that Aislin’s true body’s status was much higher than Rosero’s.

But being able to do something like this so naturally was also one of Aislin’s ”talents.”

If Aislin’s face had looked so ugly when she caught her own attendants because she’d actually failed to overcome the multiple Halos attached to a single Puppet Eagle, then the twist in Rosero’s expression was a bit abnormal as well.

He was a Ninth Ring Mage!

Did those two Junior Mages have some sort of special type of Spell cast on them?

Oliva couldn’t help turning back to ask Ruth curiously, ”Teacher, what Spell is Gilbert using here?”

”The ones on it up there I can estimate: Sixth Ring Brute Force and Elegance, Energy Conversion Force Field.

Seventh Circle Spells for immunity to energy damage. Mass Human Hold Spell.

Oh, wait, and a Shocking Emblem.

Uh...”

He didn’t continue, but Oliva had already understood... the Shocking Emblem was definitely one of the Spells cast on those two Junior Mages.

The unbelievable part was that Aislin, an Eighth Ring Mage, had actually been affected by the Shocking Emblem, to the point that she hadn’t been able to turn around quickly enough to catch that other White Robe Junior Mage.

And it was only when Rosero had no choice but to come forward and patch up this flaw for her that he discovered the reason.

Was his expression twisted because he realized that ”Aislin” was actually this unbelievably weak?

Although there had always been rumors that Aislin was the weakest Eighth Ring of the Tower of Dark Enigma, Sia Tower—especially Rosero, who might actually know who ”Aislin” really was—probably hadn’t been willing to believe it, right?

Oliva thought for a few seconds and decided to skip over this topic: ”Ah~ Gilbert really is something.

How long has he even been a Seventh Circle Mage! And he can already stack so many Seventh Circle Spells onto his Puppet Flying Eagle!”

Especially that Shocking Emblem—some Eighth Ring Mages might not even be able to learn it.

Oh... Aislin definitely couldn’t.

But Oliva wouldn’t go so far as to use her as a comparison; there are way too many things that girl doesn’t know!

”You really... know absolutely nothing about making Strange Objects!” Ruth couldn’t help but glare at him. ”You think the hard part is being a Seventh Circle Mage?

With Gilbert’s Talents, what’s a few months? Learning a dozen-odd Seventh Circle Spells is nothing.

What really makes me feel a little creeped out is that he can actually make all those Spells coexist on a single Flying Eagle!

In Strange Objects crafting, the biggest headache isn’t how difficult the Spells are, but how to make multiple Spells coexist on the same object without interfering with each other!

Even if Gilbert tried his best to keep the schools of Spells used to a minimum, with some Runes being able to coexist and even support other Spells... still... tsk...”

Ruth shook his head helplessly. ”Talents, this kind of thing, really is...”

Oliva turned his head to glance at Aislin, whose face looked awful. ”Teacher, how did she end up provoking Gilbert?”

Ruth had already guessed it, and he believed Oliva couldn’t have failed to: ”What are you playing dumb for?

Who knows which corner she had Gilbert’s station assigned to!”

Oliva let out a helpless laugh. ”I just didn’t expect that even at a time like this, she’d still go after Gilbert.

Seriously, does she have some kind of obsession?”

Her Soul is already gone, and yet she can still make another Soul keep going after Gilbert.

Ruth glanced at ”Aislin,” who was flying into a Thunderous rage from sheer embarrassment, and the corner of his mouth faintly pressed into a trace... that looked vaguely like a smile: ”Ah... that eagle of Gilbert’s should have another Spell on it: Far Sight Spell.”

Oliva blinked. ”The advanced version of Hawk Eye Spell?

That one’s hard to learn...”

He’d only barely managed to learn it after long-term use of the Magic Tower’s remote surveillance Array.

Ah, right—Gilbert, that guy, probably has more monitoring Arrays than anything else in his Side Tower!

-----------------

”Mm...” Hilbert took off the monocle in front of his eye and gently rubbed it.

He’d already felt it—”Aislin” had clearly been trying all this time to find a way to interact with him and Sia Tower, so how could she suddenly come make trouble for him again?

Wanting to provoke him and vent was certainly an important reason, but not the main one.

That fellow was notifying Ruth that she wasn’t completely dead yet!

Also, if she went to bother someone else, that would be pure venting... but knowing full well that Gilbert would never let her be, that he’d definitely rack his brains to humiliate her in front of everyone, and she still did it in front of Sia Tower’s Ninth Ring Mage—that’s not exactly normal.

Whether the real Aislin or ”Aislin,” both belong to the more vain type; they really don’t like getting slapped in the face in public.

Weird.

Hilbert couldn’t help tilting his head slightly: a Spell like False Mask actually can’t be dispelled?

That’s just too unbelievable!

Did Glaysia mix in some special spice as glue in there, so it seeped all the way into the depths of the Soul?

Does it have something to do with those blank Souls she used to patch up the Soul Shards?

Even the Soul cleansing of Asmodeus can be partially resisted by certain beings whose will is too firm... If those blank Souls were made by Glaysia herself, something going wrong wouldn’t be surprising.

Especially if the material she used to bond the Soul and the False Mask came from the same world as those blank Souls—well then... think of the God of Time and Space.

Though Glaysia is definitely more ruthless in her methods than that unlucky Lord of the Sky, Uranus.

After all, the Succubus Queen doesn’t need some Soul to help her mask her presence, and the blank Souls she uses are definitely not just one; but accidents are most likely to happen to those prideful Great Devils.

What can you do, when the Souls they like to collect are all the finest, the purest, or the most unyielding?

Hill lightly clapped his hands and flipped through his ring: he seemed to have that scented candle infused with Pure Soul Clarity Spell.

Back when he was in Toril, he’d casually bought it as a souvenir. It was actually pretty crudely made, and the scent was very faint—that Laurel smell was practically there and not there.

But since it had been bathed in the Moonlight of Celene’s Main Temple, it could also serve as a sort of ”I was here” marker.