I Became the Magic Tower Master's Experimental Mouse - Chapter 88

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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My teacher moved first.
Without warning, her Short Dagger traced a smooth arc, slashing near my throat.
I was already gone from that spot. I slipped toward the building, pulling a small Knife from my pocket.
‘Glad I thought to bring it.’
I hadn’t forgotten the kidnapping and wandered out carelessly.
There was something I desperately needed to know, so I’d risked coming here—naturally bringing along a dining Knife from the Magic Tower, hidden away.
I’d ground it myself little by little, and it was nearly as sharp as any blade.
‘This fight will stay quiet.’
Since she was attacking a child, my teacher wouldn’t make a mess of things.
Of course, I had the same need for silence. The Imperial Palace Guard was stationed about ten minutes away.
Without knowing why the Emperor wanted me, I had no intention of unleashing my power here and being dragged off.
‘If only my strength wouldn’t suddenly erupt, I’d call for help without holding back.’
I had no desire to face a fight to the death with my teacher, so if I could simply avoid this confrontation, that would be ideal. But the sudden changes in my body were the problem.
Because of that, the fight unfolded in absolute silence, like two assassins sparring.
“Not bad?”
My teacher whispered with obvious delight as she pressed forward.
She attacked with her Short Dagger while simultaneously hurling several more Short Daggers from her pocket.
‘I can’t dodge them all.’
Instead of evading, I released Crimson Poison Aura from my fingertips with each breath.
Luckily, the surface of the daggers warped like taffy.
“……Oh my.”
My teacher stared down at the warped dagger. Seeing her eyes lose that composure for the first time, I felt a small thrill of satisfaction.
“What are you? What kind of power is that?”
“Just an experiment.”
I answered as I counterattacked.
I kicked stones at her while taking careful pains to keep my distance. Get too close and she’d grab me for certain.
‘Direct confrontation would be suicide.’
I knew my teacher’s skill. My body had grown, and I was roughly on par with my age group now, but that was still just a grain of sand in comparison.
But unlike when I’d been kidnapped before, I had a weapon now.
I knew all of that woman’s habits inside and out. And my newborn Core was spewing poison, filling in my inadequate strength and speed bit by bit.
‘So this is what having a Phantom Beast feels like. If Cassian learns to wield a sword well too, he’d be utterly broken, wouldn’t he?’
Each time I put force into my feet, my Core vibrated pleasantly, reinforcing my body.
“Hmm……?”
After seven exchanges with a six-year-old, my teacher erased the smile from her lips.
“……That’s strange.”
The next moment, I retreated before she could flick her wrist.
Her eyes narrowed.
“That’s strange. It’s as if you know all my habits perfectly……. You’re really saying you’ve never trained once?”
She murmured in puzzlement.
And at the same time, I saw the direction her upper body was moving and twisted my left shoulder. Throwing Throwing Blades while distracting with chatter was one of my teacher’s habits.
Then, as I bent my body the opposite way, a second Throwing Blade whistled past where my head had been just an instant before.
‘She throws two feet in succession. I really thought I was dead when I didn’t know that…….’
My teacher’s hands stopped.
All pleasure had vanished from her face now.
* * *
Meanwhile, at the Poison Tower.
Six shadows filtered through the quiet window frame, making no sound.
The moment the leader grasped the inner railing of the window and descended—
“Stop.”
An Elder of Rank 2 appeared from the end of the corridor, holding a Lamp with a satisfied smile.
“H-how…….”
The intruders froze. It had been a flawless infiltration route, and after careful surveillance, they knew the defenses at this position were lax…….
“You see, in our Magic Tower,”
The Elder of Rank 2 stroked his white beard and spoke with great satisfaction.
“There’s a brilliant little darling who went around asking what routes bad people would take if they tried to break in.”
The Elder of Rank 2’s long Staff tapped the floor with a thud.
A newly woven Barrier throughout the corridor blazed with light, materializing on the walls.
“Thanks to that, we reorganized our defenses. Ahahaha!”
The moment a hand touched the outer wall, an alarm transmitted to the representative overseeing each section’s Barrier.
The newly written incantation worked by not only dispersing Paralysis Poison to capture the intruders alive, but also smothering them in a net of Mana that made proper resistance nearly impossible.
“At least I got to test the new Barrier’s performance out of it.”
Similar scenes were unfolding throughout the Magic Tower.
The intruders had resisted, but the Paralysis Poison had already taken hold, leaving them bound and helpless; only two managed to slip back through the window and vanish.
The two who fled never realized that on the palms and sleeves of their hands where they’d gripped the windowsill, a Special Scent had adhered—one that would linger for ten days no matter how much they washed.
* * *
“Well then.”
My master adjusted her grip on the remaining Short Dagger.
“I wish I’d recognized your talent sooner.”
She clicked her tongue—the gesture of someone who regretted not killing me outright when she’d first caught me.
I threw myself into desperate, evasive movements, trying my best to slip past the arc of her blade.
‘Somehow I’ve managed to hold on so far, but my reserves are about to show…!’
Above all else, my stamina was about to run dry. My vision burned hot, and my limbs grew heavier by the moment.
‘Just once—if only the poison I want would come out…!’
Of all the poisons I’d produced so far, none were what I needed.
If I could get something like what came out at the very beginning, it would be perfect.
“Ugh!”
In the split second I’d narrowly dodged, my master’s fist grazed my belly. The moment I stiffened from the impact—
“Gh—ghhk… aaaahhh!”
Venom erupted from my mouth, splashing across my master’s upper left body.
Cloth and skin began to char and burn away in patches.
My master couldn’t hold back a low scream of agony. Even for an Assassin accustomed to every form of torture, the pain that flooded through her seemed almost unbearable.
“Haah… haah…”
Now was the moment.
I rolled my eyes desperately.
I wavered—should I flee, or should I end this here and now?
‘If I let her go like this, she’ll only attack me and the Magic Tower again!’
With half her upper body ruined, she’d struggle to keep her balance, and soon she’d be unable to move at all.
I made up my mind not to waste this chance and charged at her instead.
“Hyah…!”
My Knife-wielding hand drove toward her leg.
And just as I was about to plunge it into her thigh—
“You dare defy me…! I’ll kill you…!”
My master seized my long hair and hurled me away.
I hit the ground in a tangle, regretting that I’d never cut my hair short.
“Ah, ow…!”
Pain radiated from every part of my body as I tumbled across the floor.
Just as I was trying to endure it and find my footing, my master pressed the advantage and came at me, flinging her Short Dagger.
‘This—I can’t block this!’
Thwack!
A Wooden Sword came flying from somewhere, striking the dagger’s path. Wood and steel collided with a sharp crack.
“Ugh…!”
The Wooden Sword hit the wound on her body, and a cry of pain escaped my master’s lips.
I knew I shouldn’t take my eyes off her, yet I couldn’t help but turn my head.
Cassian stood there, his knees caked in dirt from having leaped straight off his running horse, and his gaze was fixed on us.
“Get away from Pip!”
“…Cassian!”
Cassian, having thrown the Wooden Sword, came sprinting toward us at once.
Before my master could reach us, a violet barrier of Mana erected itself before us like a shield.
Defensive Magic wasn’t their specialty, so the barrier was thin and translucent, but it was enough to keep my master from advancing recklessly.
“Tower Master…”
I recognized the wielder of the violet Mana and murmured their name.
“Do not lay a hand on my child.”
The Tower Master dismounted from their horse and stepped down to the ground.
* * *
My master attempted escape three times from the Tower Master’s grasp.
All three failed, and in the end, stripped of every Throwing Blade, she was captured.
With no one else around, the Tower Master fought with unreserved application of poison and Mana—terrible and overwhelming in power.
“…You won’t kill her?”
I stepped forward before my master, captured now in the Tower Master’s grip, and asked the question purely out of curiosity.
‘You know you’ve done something to me that deserves death, don’t you?’
I felt the killing intent rise within me as I stared at my master’s face—the most defenseless I’d ever seen her look.
‘What this woman has done to me… even killing her a hundred times wouldn’t be enough.’
As if swept up by my own fury, crimson poison dripped from my fingertips and seeped into the ground.
The venom that drifted several paces away on the wind proved its lethal nature by withering the weeds blooming there in an instant.
“I won’t live like you do.”
And with that, the poison dripping from my fingertips stopped, as if it had all been a lie.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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