Chapter 251: The Thunderbird Flock
"So, how did it go? You two seem to have made quite a haul, huh?" Perhaps it was the earlier windfall, but for once, Sylas West's face was lit up with a rare, genuine smile—a fleeting warmth in this cold stone tower.
"Heh, it was nothing special." Leon smiled, but kept his thoughts to himself. From a distance, he watched Fran. Ever since Fran had signed the contract with the Crystal Balance, something in him had shifted. Back when he was just a fifth-level Magus, his magical aura barely registered. Now, just by standing there, Fran radiated a surging tide of magic, relentless as waves crashing on the shore... It was hard not to wonder what else had changed beneath the surface.
Leon understood—this was the power the Crystal Balance had awakened in Fran. And maybe, Leon mused, it was more than just power. It was possibility.
Fran was still a fifth-level Magus, but now, with the Crystal Balance equipped, he could unleash the strength of a Title Archmage at any moment. Compared to before, his power had increased at least fivefold.
This leap in strength had filled Fran with a confidence that seemed inexhaustible, almost intoxicating. Leon wondered if he himself would ever feel that kind of certainty again.
Fran was almost unrecognizable now—like he'd been reborn. Standing before Leon, he was no longer awkward or reserved; instead, he seemed to glow, every movement brimming with new energy. Leon watched, half envious, half amused, at the transformation.
"Enough, Matthew Merlin, Salomon. You two are already ten minutes late. Save the chit-chat for later and get to the fourth floor—that's where the real secrets of this stone tower are." Fran, riding high on his newfound vigor, didn't bother with courtesy. Leon couldn't help but notice how easily confidence could turn into arrogance.
Leon and Salomon kept quiet, their silence saying enough. Sylas West, though, shot Fran a frown, his eyes heavy with barely concealed discontent. Leon felt the tension crackling between them, a reminder of how quickly fortunes could shift.
But Fran, basking in his moment of triumph, didn't care in the slightest what Sylas West thought. Leon watched him, wondering how long this streak of luck—and confidence—would last.
The four of them skirted the edge of the Magisteel Furnace, eventually finding a path to the fourth floor. It was here that the true extent of Vaughn's spatial distortions became clear—just traversing the passage from the third to the fourth floor took them a full hour. Leon couldn't help but marvel at how reality itself seemed bent and broken in this place.
Both sides of the corridor were lined with empty metal cages. No one knew what had been kept here, but now they all stood vacant. As they walked, Leon counted at least hundreds of cages, some enormous and still pulsing with faint, lingering magical energy. The sight made him wonder about the secrets these cages once held—and what might have escaped.
"This must be where Vaughn kept his magical beasts..." Salomon, master of the Sage Tower, was no stranger to such cages. In fact, both the Sage Tower and Cloudspire Tower had their own cells for magical beasts, though none quite like these.
"Yeah, probably for experiments..." Leon nodded. For an alchemist of Vaughn's caliber, using magical beasts as test subjects was nothing unusual. Legends spoke of the Azure Sage, who once captured a demon lord from the Abyss just to complete an experiment with an Alchemical Golem. The line between genius and madness was razor-thin here.
"So... where are all the beasts?" Salomon faltered, swallowing hard. Everyone knew that experimental magical beasts were usually kept under strict watch. An entire row of empty cages—hundreds of them—was deeply unsettling.
And if this was the situation, one thing was almost certain: there had been a mass escape of magical beasts from here... Leon felt a chill run down his spine at the thought.
Which brought them to the real question...
If they escaped, where did they go?
They hadn't seen a single magical beast on the first three floors of the stone tower...
Besides, eight flying Alchemical Golems were patrolling outside the tower. Even if the beasts had grown wings, they might not have made it out. That left only one possibility...
At that thought, Salomon instinctively glanced up at the ceiling, as if expecting something to come crashing down from above.
There was no doubt about it—the fourth floor was the only place these magical beasts could have gone... Leon felt the tension ratchet up with every step.
"It's fine, it's fine. Vaughn was only a Title Archmage. Even if he captured magical beasts for experiments, he wouldn't have gone after anything too powerful..." Salomon tried to reassure himself, but the words sounded hollow in the echoing corridor.
"Don't be so sure..." Leon shot back, dousing Salomon's optimism. Vaughn may have only been a Title Archmage, but he inherited the Azure Sage's legacy. Three Sky Rank Alchemical Golems—back then, they were nearly invincible. Even the strongest mages had to bow before Vaughn. If he wanted to capture magical beasts, there weren't many that could escape him.
As the two spoke, Fran suddenly straightened, his expression stern. "Enough with the worrying. We haven't even seen a single magical beast, and you're already losing your nerve. If you're so scared, just stay here. Sylas and I can handle the fourth floor ourselves."
Leon just chuckled. Fran was eager to prove himself—at this point, even if a horde of demon lords escaped, he'd probably rush in just for the chance to shine. There was no point arguing; sometimes, a simple laugh was the best response.
After another hour of walking, the seemingly endless corridor finally came to an end... Leon wondered if time itself bent differently in this warped place.
"Vaughn never ceases to amaze..." Standing on the fourth floor of the stone tower, Leon couldn't help but marvel inwardly. The last artificer of the Third Dynasty had truly taken alchemy to unfathomable heights.
Just look at all this...
Blue sky, white clouds, forests, rivers, mountains...
Everything here felt like a real world unto itself—complete, alive, and impossibly vast.
Standing here, who would ever guess this was only the fourth floor of a stone tower? Leon felt a strange sense of vertigo, as if the boundaries between reality and illusion had blurred.
Even Leon, with all his experience, was awestruck by the sight. For a moment, he wondered if Vaughn had truly been just an artificer. After all, creating worlds was the domain of Saint Alchemists—a level few ever reached.
"There's movement ahead..." Just as Leon was lost in thought, Sylas West released a Wizard's Eye. The arcane sensor darted into a patch of forest, and moments later, Sylas's expression turned to surprise. "It's Lays and the others!"
[Irrelevant navigation prompt—omit from translation.]
"What?" Even Leon was caught off guard by Sylas's words.
They'd assumed that when the maze array broke, that strange Luck Box would send Lays and the others somewhere else in the alchemy lab. No one expected they'd end up right here, on the fourth floor of the tower.
Still shocked, Leon summoned his own Wizard's Eye...
Sure enough, about a thousand meters ahead in the forest, the rest of the joint exploration team had gathered. Leon scanned the group—Lays, Badrock, Huber, William Merlin, and all sixteen members, not one missing.
But the situation those sixteen found themselves in was anything but optimistic...
To be precise, they'd been thrown into a deadly battle...
Their enemies? Hundreds of Thunderbirds...
Each Thunderbird was at least level thirty—a magical beast of terrifying power. Right now, they seemed utterly deranged, attacking the joint exploration team with relentless fury. The lead Thunderbird, its wings spanning over ten meters, swooped down from above like a golden stormcloud. The larger the Thunderbird, the higher its rank; Leon guessed this one had to be level thirty-five or more...
With over a hundred Thunderbirds led by that monstrous alpha, the fight could only be described as hellish. Lightning and thunder filled the air for hundreds of meters around. The exploration team had huddled together, relying on Sars's shield and a rune barrier maintained by several magi—barely enough to keep the flock at bay.
But any hope of counterattack was long gone...
Leon calculated they could hold out for five minutes at most. After that, some of the magi would run out of mana, the rune barrier would shatter, and Sars's shield alone wouldn't be enough to withstand the terrifying flock.
"We have to help them, now." As Sylas spoke, he cast Flight and shot toward the forest like an arrow loosed from a bow.
Leon and Salomon didn't hesitate. They summoned their elemental avatars, flashing through the trees in a burst of flame, appearing in the fray within moments.
When the four of them burst into the forest, the battle had reached its breaking point. Two magi had already exhausted their mana, leaving a gaping hole in the rune barrier. Several Thunderbirds surged in, their electrified talons scattering the exploration team in chaos.
Fortunately, Sylas arrived just in time...
He hurled a Frost spell into the crowd, instantly freezing three reckless Thunderbirds into icy statues. Without missing a beat, he reinforced the barrier and then shot toward the largest Thunderbird, ready to face it head-on.
Sylas's strategy was straightforward: take down the alpha first.
But the alpha Thunderbird, a beast above level thirty-five, wasn't backing down. As Sylas charged, it spread its massive wings and unleashed a torrent of high-voltage lightning.
A newly minted Title Archmage against a level thirty-five alpha Thunderbird—the clash was instant and furious, sparks and magic glyphs flying everywhere.
Leon and Salomon arrived just in time, patching the gaps in the rune barrier left by the depleted magi. They barely had time for words; survival came first.
But Leon and Salomon were far stronger than those magi. With Sylas distracting the alpha Thunderbird in the sky, the tide began to turn. The barrier was restored, and the team even found a chance to strike back.
"Merlin, how did you end up here?" Lays finally managed to ask, snatching a moment between attacks.
"We walked here from the first floor of the tower, of course."
"What?" Lays's reaction was instant—shock and disbelief. "Isn't this the Caucasus?"