The God of Jesters
Chapter 439 - 7.13.3 Venom Witch.

Chapter 439: 7.13.3 Venom Witch.

First, it was only Black Sun who had come to the rescue. But in his absence, many mages rose from the barracks, trying to counter the flying weapons of destruction.

However, although they were able to counter a few of them that were closer to them, the ones that were shot through the seaside, there were no military personnel defending from that angle, leaving many missiles to go unscathed.

"We have been made a fool of..." The enemies were hidden too close and not just on the border, it would seem that they had covered the waters with their ships carrying those weapons.

As for how they went unnoticeable, Genera Vera didn’t know. Nor did he have time to investigate, the most he can do is hope that the defensive circle that protects the city does its job properly and nothing unsightly happens.

This is what ended up happening, as the magical shield that was once used to cover the Magic Institute had long expanded its range to include most of the important parts of Durum, leaving the outskirts undefended. But the larger the range, the weaker the shield would be. This is why, the houses and slums that were outside the range suffered for the folly of Durum.

There were only a few who had left for the inner city bunkers, some had hidden in the sewers and some never bothered to hide at all, which ended up becoming a major portion of the public. As never in history, the border had been breached or the city had been harmed by the skirmishes between the two countries.

Even with being so close to the border, Durum had survived without much effort, and with the support and protection of Mages, it was harder for people to ever consider an attack of this scale would reach their doorstep.

This was utter destruction. The mortals didn’t even have the time to screen as their bodies were blown to smithereens or crushed under the debris.

But that was not all.

"This." They were aware that war was on the horizon, they were even aware of the weapons that their enemies had created hence to counter it and prevent anything bad from happening to Durum, they expanded the reach of the magic circle and supported the Mage institute with enough funds to defend the city during its time of needs. The mage institute did just that, but when they saw the onslaught of the missiles that hit them seemed to be too much.

From all that, the mages of the institute understood, that the long-range missiles were of mortal build, capable of destruction and fire of immense scale, or so the story went, but they found it hard to believe something like this could exist.

Which made some in the institute misappropriate some of the funds to support the magic circles toward their own research.

Not like anyone would have noticed.

This is the reason for the current state of things, thereafter the first round of onslaught, the magic shield seemed to flicker from time to time.

"No, this can’t be happening." The mages were horrified to see such a scene.

The flaming rods of destruction had already made them mute, but at least they still had some confidence in their magic formation.

Confidence which also crumbled after watching it flick in and out of existence, as if it was lacking resources to function properly.

"Where are the Masters?"

"Most of them had gone to the war front, to support the troops." With the war on the horizon, the magic institute was only filled with students, or teaching staff that mainly consisted of mage scholars or newly ascended Adept mages. People whose involvement in the war won’t bring any advantage.

Although there was a small group of elites left in case something unworldly happened like a raid, they had no understanding of the formation or how to protect the city from the hellfire that rained from above.

Or so many have thought.

"Guess it’s time to show it." At the peak of the Tower of Transmutation, the old man Venglebod, Faust’s old teacher looked at the ensuing destruction with awe and a bit of fear, but that was it. He understood the theory behind the creation of these weapons and even knew to how to recreate them if the need arose, of course, it would use the method of transmutation and formations.

But that was not it. He had witnessed the wreckage a while ago from the peak of Mehmet’s War Fortress. He had been sent there to do this job under the orders of Duke Wortham and come to understand how this thing works.

It’s why he had been able to develop a way to counter it in case the border was breached using this.

A fact that he had kept secret from virtually everyone in fear of an unknown enemy whose strength was information gathering.

"Launch on my mark." As if to reply to his words, some more missiles appeared on the horizon. Which seemed to be the apt time for him to launch his own creations.

Small missiles leaving a blue trail on their back flew out of Venglebod’s tower, each flying and intercepting the missiles at twenty kilometers of range before they could even reach the city.

And after the third round of the missiles that failed by being intercepted, the onslaught came to a stop.

This caused the city to incur losses only during the first rain of the missiles, but it still left an impact on the citizens.

This was going to be a long night.

"I will be coming in a while..." Seeing that the attacks had stopped, Venglebod rose from his tower and flew toward the Tower of Arcana, coming across a woman who seemed to be looking at the sky as if she were watching some fireworks.

"Mage Sana, some support might have been appreciated." An elemental archmage with water mastery had one of the greatest defenses as well as control in the world, more so for an Archmage like Sana, who would have easily defended the city if she willed it. And originally, Venglebod had expected this as well, which originally was an oversight on his part.

"I am a mere figurehead, remember? So don’t expect anything else from me unless you are paying for it." She said, gulping a glass of fresh juice, appearing nonchalant even to the arrival of an Archmage of Venglebod’s level.

"You were brought here as a figurehead, yes. But it’s also the responsibility of those in power to protect those around them."

"Old man, don’t take me for a fool... I got this job just when the relationship between the two countries was at an all-time low... did you expect to hire a strong Archmage mercenary at that meager amount?"

"I just do what I am paid for... and I expect payment first, not after."

It would be a lie to say that this was not what Venglebod wanted from the start. Among the five archmages that existed before, only two of the original exist, with Anna barely present and being busy with her own adventures most of the time, and it was only half a year ago that she finally came back.

Which had forced Venglebod to shoulder a lot of responsibility for the mage institute. And even when they brought Sana as the head of the tower, not much changed for the remaining two towers that were under the management of Master level Mages and had lost all the credibility they once held. This caused the recent admissions to the mage institute to suffer, which also impacted the funding it used to receive from the state.

This caused Venglebod to pay for certain faculties from his own pocket, which included Mage Sana, who was here under the promises of Venglebod.

"Permanent seat... You can become the permanent leader for the tower of Arcana, any profits from it are yours to squander."

"If I wanted this seat, I could have obtained it easily with a bit of begging from the old Duke... so think again, think something different. So think again, think faster, as who knows what might happen later... as for the things you created, I expect not many of them exist in your hand?"

"Arrogance... from what I see, you really are not the Tower Master material, so let’s forget what I said before." Venglebod didn’t like this woman for various reasons, none of which were her greed.

It was arrogance as if she expected the world to move around her. "But if you want to be treated as a mercenary, then I agree to it." It was then the small hole built of pure darkness appeared in front of Venglebod, through which a small vial floated out. "Scad Mercurial, a living one. You should know how priceless it is." A small glass vial containing liquid metal that seemed to jump up and down on its own.

A vial that was tightly sealed with various magical circles that made it appear as if it was sealing some great evil.

Which was also true to some extent.

This was the Scad Mercurial, a living poison that had killed daemon-level figures in legends and whose existence is still considered just a myth by the majority of the world.

But here it was now, right in front of Sana.

"You are not joking are you?" She asked, looking at the small creature as if it were the world to her.

"Why would I joke to the legendary Venom Witch Sana." At those words, Sana suddenly smiled and bowed in respect to the old man. "I thank thee for thy gift."

"Work with peace of mind, nothing will happen to the city on my watch."