"Well, then, I'll mention one thing you can do."

"Raspuchin" laughed in a low voice.

"How's it for me to do it once? I'm a member of Steppenwolf now, and there are things that I can't do in my current capacity, but you, the former leader who was banished, are different. I think in the eyes of many people, you should be a dead man who has been dead for hundreds of years, right? ”

He doesn't know what the other person has, and he can't expose his ignorance or thirst, which means weakness. So you can only choose this as a condition.

"Okay."

This time, the hanged man nodded cheerfully in agreement.

"However, only if it is within my means."

"Of course. If it's something I can't handle myself, I won't call you. There's no point in doing that, is there? ”

"Raspuchin" replied without giving any face.

The choked upside-down man looked a little worse — of course, this was just Richard's guess. The expression is not visible from the dotted lines of the face.

“…… In just two days, I'll have someone send the remaining half of the magic key," the hanged man turned the conversation back to the plan, "at the very bottom." At that time, it will be time for the invasion of the experimental objects I have arranged to begin, and chaos will soon be in the first three floors of the tower. ”

With this sentence, the plan formulated by the hanged man can be regarded as officially kicked off.

And Richard, who was involved in the "debt" left by Rasputchin, although less than half an hour had passed, he had rightfully become a traitor to the Magic Tower......

It's not that Richard doesn't feel bad about doing so, but for now, it seems as if he has no choice.

*

After a brief exchange of information, the two agreed on a time and "went offline" together.

The huge starry sky illusion slowly dissipated in front of Richard.

He returned from the illusory universe to the real world. The hall, which originally seemed quite spacious to him, seemed a little cramped at this time. Only the icy touch coming from the armrest of the throne and beneath him reminded Richard of the dividing line between the real and the unreal, even though it was so vague and ambiguous to the human senses.

Richard, seated on the Iron Throne, closed his eyes. The energy consumed when communicating with the hanged man is simply more exaggerated than his sleepless exercise all day long. Feeling tired, he subconsciously wanted to rub his eyebrows, but in the end he held back. He forced himself to open his eyes.

…… There's one more person to deal with.

Ms. Alice still maintains the same posture as Richard entered the virtual space, kneeling on the ground as if she were saluting the god she fanatically worshipped.

This is a world of gods, and there are many wizards who believe in gods. But ordinary people who pin their fate and future on the hope of the gods are more willing to sing the praises of strength, power and truth. Richard felt that the other party was this kind of person.

Speaking of which, the "Reverse Cross" sounds like a very religious group, including its name itself, including the seven leaders called the "Apostles", as well as the titles of "Priest" and "Sacrifice"...

"Lord Priest, is it over?"

The witch who was kneeling on the ground looked up, her face as pale as a dead person, and there was not a trace of blood that symbolized life and vitality. The woman's forehead was covered with sweat, and her hair became wet as a result, and the strands of hair stuck to her forehead in a mess. Ms. Alice was panting, her chest rising and falling violently, and she looked exhausted and on the verge of exhaustion.

"Hmm."

Richard replied briefly, looking at her with a hint of curiosity. At this time, he didn't have any special thoughts about Lady Alice, but he was curious about what secrets she was hiding.

In her current situation, she is like a medium through which she is interconnected with the Reverse Cross. …… Ms. Alice should have brought her with Rasputin on her own initiative, which shows that the other party was a member of the Reverse Cross from the beginning.

"That's good......"

The witch said in a hoarse voice, as if she were lying on the bed of a seriously ill patient, looking like she might faint at any moment, and she was shaky.

Did that kind of contact just now consume her a lot?

Richard blinked, noticing that Miss Alice's cross-scarred pupil was glowing, and it didn't look like a human eyeball at all, but closer to some kind of electronics. After a while, her eyeballs rolled back again, this time as if they were normal human tissue.

He also noticed that there was something strange about the ears on both sides of the witch's head.

"That's ...... Pointy ears? ”

She turned out to be an elf?

Ms. Alice reached out and lowered her hair, obscuring the pair's distinct racial characteristics, intentionally or unintentionally.

"Lord Priest, please allow me to leave."

The witch lowered her head again and said respectfully. From beginning to end, she didn't look at herself.

It can be seen that without Raspuchin's permission, Alice would never have acted on her own. This reverence is not like the reverence of an ordinary wizard for a wizard leader, but the complete obedience of a slave to his master.

Richard nodded. Judging by her appearance, if she doesn't agree quickly, she may die of exhaustion here.

......

When Ms. Alice's figure disappeared into the doorway, Richard suddenly thought of something: let her go out like this, if others bumped into her, they would definitely misunderstand, right? Raspuchin's mysterious and ruthless character is about to collapse...... Before he could feel depressed, Miss Real Name suddenly spoke, "That woman has traces of body modification. ”

“...... Body makeover? ”

Richard felt that something was not right—how did the topic come back to it?

"Yes, I guess it's implanted with some kind of prosthesis."

Oh, it's a human body transformation in the sense of soundness...... Then again, the implant setting is really cyber. Did Ms. Alice rely on implants to communicate the reverse cross?

It is not known if there is a "headquarters" in Reverse Cross, but since it can build a virtual space and have the ability to bring together all the members of the organization from all over the world, it means that it has at least one server that can host thousands of people to log in online.

"Can only people with special prostheses contact this server?"

Richard felt that the "reverse cross" was indeed cautious enough, and that it was a dual way of using advanced information technology and the most primitive "liaison" to ensure secrecy.

If so, I'm afraid there is more than one person like Ms. Alice, and every member of the "Reverse Cross" should have similar people around them. Of course, the only person who can make a master magician follow him as a human flesh signal transmitter should be the priest or the apostle.

…… And, why the elves?

Richard couldn't help but think of the true origin of the elves, and felt that this was probably another big hole.

"Alright, let's put this aside for now."

He stretched his waist and stood up from the Iron Throne very unfiguratively.

"Next, we have to plan it well."

Three days later, it will be time to connect with the person sent by the Hanged Man to infiltrate the magic tower. In addition, he also needs to adjust the ladder system, which he can't leave to anyone, so he can only prepare it himself.

*

Two days later, the wizard dueling arena on the top floor of the magic tower.

"Wizard duel" is one of the important customs of the Magic Tower - of course, most groups or forces that do not allow infighting on the surface, but secretly encourage members to compete for development, have similar rules - it can be used to adjudicate conflicts between two wizards, regardless of life or death.

As long as you have the permission of the Steppenwolf Council, no one will blame you for killing someone. If you hold a grudge because of this, you can only see the truth in the gladiatorial arena in the same way.

However, today's duel is not such a bloody life-and-death struggle, but the Grimm School's monthly "duel competition", which is aimed at young members under the age of 30, with the aim of selecting the best talent as a backup, and at the same time stimulating competition through a ranking system.

The reason why duels really attract attention is because its ranking is often an important reference for the selection of the top students of each school, so a large number of wizards come to watch it every time. Today, however, the number of visitors is particularly high.

In the center of the arena is a wide earthen field, surrounded by a three-person high ravine, and beyond the stands.

The grandstand is a large and wide cylindrical arch that forms three rings of different heights (i.e., corridors supported by arches), and the top floor is a solid wall with a height of 100 meters. The structure is pushed backwards layer by layer, creating a stepped slope.

If Richard were here, he would probably feel familiar. This is because it is a replica of the Colosseum of the secular kingdom, which in turn bears a striking resemblance to the Colosseum built in Rome many years ago.

Although it is in the future, when the institutional civilization once again regresses to the feudal era, the aristocracy and the upper class will once again begin to become fascinated by the adrenaline-pumping custom of flesh-and-blood gladiatorial fights, and everything will be like history repeating itself. However, this time standing in the gladiatorial arena is not only the battle-hardened human warriors and ferocious beasts, but also the extraordinary beings with extraordinary powers, and the demons who seem to have crawled out of a nightmare.

……

The results of today's duel will announce the end of the long selection of the chief student of the Grimm School, so at this time, the top level can be called the attention of everyone, whether it is people who are keen on the politics of the school within the magic tower, or those who are simply interested in spell combat, all of them are concentrated here, and only the members of the Rasputin School, who have always been gloomy and self-contained, under the influence of the school leader, will be indifferent to this.

For a while, the field was crowded with people, and the sound was like a boil,

The Colosseum's auditorium's seats are arranged in order, highlighting the strict class gap. On the periphery of the Colosseum, five VIP rooms were built. Needless to say, everyone knows who it was offered to there.

Silky stood in one of the VIP rooms, looking down at the arena below, with a slightly worried gaze.