I Became the Narrow-Eyed Henchman of the Evil Boss

Argyrion, mutated into the form of a metallic angel. Talo’s laughter grew even more intense at the sight of them.

It was because Talo was an elder of the Silver Iron Tower.

Even if they had mutated under the powers of an extra-dimensional being, if it was metal, it was worth researching. No, perhaps it was precisely because the metal originated from another dimension that his research desire was ignited even more.

All the elements of this world had been meticulously dismantled by the Ten Towers in the past, so if he wanted to obtain a new research subject, he needed to create it himself or bring it from outside the world.

The sample of silver threads used by Argyrion disappointed the Silver Iron Tower. It had no notable traits other than its property of corroding living beings.

What kind of utility would the material of that ‘angel’ affected more deeply by the extra-dimensional energies show?

Talo checked the computational progress of his auxiliary brain. 47 percent.

He hoped they would hold out until the magic was complete. If they fell before this grand magic was completed, it would only prove that it was worthless scrap with no research value.

*

Smoke and magic light adorned the sky. Orthes smiled contentedly while watching the two groups fight.

‘Now that’s a fight.’

I didn’t fight, but made others fight. It took quite a bit of trial and error to realize this simple wisdom while playing the troubleshooter.

It was simple to lead Argyrion versus the Ten Towers by luck, such as limiting the target of the summoned beasts’ automatic tracking to ‘those with magic power.’

The real problem starts from here.

How should I orchestrate ‘the end of the fight’?

Whether eliminating Argyrion or the Ten Towers, at least one side must be taken out. Or both.

If Argyrion came back alive from this, he would likely act under the assumption that ‘the Ten Towers were conducting some suspicious excavation work.’

There was a high probability that he would expend resources to find excavations that didn’t even exist.

Conversely, how would the Ten Towers interpret the information from this scene?

‘Argyrion is attempting to plunder the ancient Mage King’s ruins; they might think that way, right?’

If that were to happen, the Ten Towers would strengthen their surveillance over the entire ancient ruins. That would be bad news for me and Hydra Corporation.

‘It’s too risky to eliminate both at once. I don’t have high-powered techniques like magic.’

I wish I had learned how to use fighting spirit properly. The person who taught me how to handle something like fighting spirit only instructed me on the basics of using my abilities, reinforcing my body, saying, “There’s no point in learning that.”

Well, I also don’t know exactly what my ability is. I only know it’s not magic.

It can also be used to suppress my eyesight, so the time spent learning wasn’t wasted, but…

I decided.

The best option is to eliminate both sides so that accurate information does not reach either’s headquarters.

If I can’t take them all out and only have to eliminate one side, then taking out the Ten Towers and allowing Argyrion to escape would be my second choice.

I needed to gauge when to intervene in the fight.

I watched the battle between the mechanical angels and the magical machinery. At a glance, it seemed advantageous to the group of angels constantly using powerful magic, but the durability of the ‘door’ supplying extra-dimensional mana to the angels was slowly diminishing.

‘If it continues like this, the Ten Towers will likely win without a hitch.’

Alright. I’ll pretend to be on Argyrion’s side and intervene.

After taking down the Ten Towers’ mage, I’ll prepare to eliminate Argyrion when he’s at ease.

If I can’t see an opening, then so be it.

I donned the garments I had picked up from the commander of Argyrion earlier.

*

Talo waved his finger. The machines, synchronized with his will, formed a clever web.

The design diagrams for the machines input into his brain and output through his fingertips were released, containing diverse formulas.

It could very well be called a performance demonstration of the weapon against Argyrion’s angels. Talo tested the angels’ elemental resistances with special bullets containing diverse attributes of magic power.

‘They’re tougher than I expected.’

The results were beyond his expectations. Uniform resistance to all elements and self-repair capabilities.

Regeneration occurred through principles different from traditional magical engineering. It was undoubtedly a power originating from another dimension.

If he could reproduce that with the power of the Silver Iron Tower, the Silver Iron Tower would be one step closer to ascension than the other Ten Towers.

“I’ve put in quite the effort, so give me some praise. But alas, I’m afraid it’s too late.”

Talo raised his right hand.

A message indicating completion flashed in his vision.

“In the end, these guys’ limits are just as I said.”

The grand magic Talo had been preparing activated. Spatial alchemy.

The limits of the Silver Iron Tower were synonymous with the limits of the elements they could handle. Like its name, their magical world catered to metals.

Methods to manipulate organisms themselves were inherently limited.

Even if he learned the magic of Zatona or Wood Tree to bypass those limits, it was pointless since they couldn’t reach the extreme with the magic of Silver Iron.

However, mages were those who sought flaws in the world rather than accepting the constraints set by it. The Silver Iron Tower devised various means to condense metal elements.

Generating elements from magic power, gathering elements from within the earth, or lastly—

Transmuting existing materials into metals.

Talo intended to transmute their bodies, excluding their hearts and brains, into research subjects.

Originally an alchemical process to create gold, alchemy had evolved into an extremely powerful offensive magic in this era.

By isolating a specific space from reality through a barrier and transmuting everything within it into silver iron. The transmutation of all that the mage’s magic permits within sight into silver iron was the essence of spatial alchemy.

Thus, the world began to be tinged with silver.

The dim wilderness under the starlight began to shine brightly. The reflected light returned the radiance of the stars directly. It was as if the surface of the world was being painted in silver.

Angels not stepping on the ground, the bodies of the silver angels, were gradually shifting in color. The dazzling luster originating from the extra-dimensional space was devoured by the colors of weapons honed for war.

The bodies of the silver angels began to solidify slowly. Their limbs grew heavy from the tips. Talo could feel the control over the joints of their bodies transitioning to him.

For now, the wave of the blessing’s power from the ‘door’ was offsetting the effects of spatial alchemy, but if the door closed, they would lose control of their physical bodies in an instant.

To break this situation, one of them would have to become a new ‘door.’ It was once more a moment when Argyrion’s angels prepared for another martyrdom.

The high-frequency blade tracing dark trails sliced through Talo’s right hand.

“Those greedy Ten Tower bastards! I can feel the vile nature of the Ten Towers! Fellow comrades, rise!”

*

Having lost his right hand, Talo felt both curiosity and bewilderment.

To him, the body was fundamentally expendable, so transmuting another hand to replace the severed arm was simple. Therefore, Talo was not bewildered by the destruction of his flesh.

Why hadn’t he sensed an enemy inside his barrier?

Why hadn’t that person become the target of transmutation?

The reason spatial alchemy wasn’t effective boiled down to one fundamental cause. The adversary had negated the interference of the transmutation by expending their own abilities.

Whether it had a domain like a barrier that was entirely controlled by the mage, or continuously pouring abilities into their body to defend against the invasion of magic power, the principle remained the same.

If they had a completely resistant substance to transmutation, it would be a different story, but that only existed in the vault of the Silver Iron Tower.

Thus, the new enemy who had just intruded clearly bore the burden of immense ability expenditure while attacking.

‘To cut off my arm, which was floating in the air without any magical signs. Was there someone in Argyrion who could handle fighting spirit?’

The bewilderment was mutual for Argyrion.

Was this newfound support sent from headquarters?

Due to the barrier deployed by the Ten Towers’ mage, it was possible they hadn’t heard communications from headquarters. However, the author’s phrase, ‘greedy bastard,’ was an issue.

Argyrion had not come to plunder the relics lying dormant in the ruins.

They had come in response to a distress signal from their comrades.

Naturally, the fact that the Ten Towers were lurking in the ruins could only be interpreted in that context.

Imitating Argyrion’s distress signal, or torturing comrades to obtain it, and setting a trap with that signal.

The relics inside the ruins had never even been considered from the start.

There was a serious sense of discomfort in the authors’ statements.

Thus, it was a natural conclusion for the angels to point their weapons at the unknown giant approaching them, dressed in Argyrion’s battle attire.

“The Divine.”

“Eh?”

They didn’t know the code word.

“Kill him!”

*

What was the problem?

This should have been a perfect plan…?!

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