Almost everyone inside the tower fell silent, as they all knew what Anastasia’s words meant.
“Then what about those auxiliary personnel?”
Someone took the initiative to change the topic, and Anastasia responded, “Let them leave while the tower’s protective mechanisms are still active; otherwise, if these people are affected by the Black Rain Curtain later, the situation may worsen.”
Anastasia sighed deeply. Once the tower entered a fully sealed state, these auxiliary professionals would lose their constraints, potentially causing immense chaos.
It was impossible to detain all these professionals within the tower.
At that moment, the emotionless intercom buzzed urgently, echoing throughout the tower. Some areas flashed with blinding red lights, seemingly warning that the tower was about to seal.
“This rain curtain, as we have studied, makes it very difficult to transmit information through magical means, so right now, the situation of the tower must be made known to the outside.”
Having said that, Anastasia pointed out several relatively light-duty professionals to relay messages to the outside world.
Of course, these people also inherited the knowledge spark of the tower.
Other tower personnel looked at these professionals with complex expressions, hard to discern whether they were envious or felt something else.
After all, these individuals would no longer be bound by the God of Contracts and could directly intervene in the secular world.
Anastasia was also hesitant because the situation on this continent was quite chaotic. Countless small kingdoms aside, the kings of An Zhu and Cape were currently in a state of war. The conditions previously proposed by the tower were also hoping these two countries would temporarily cease fire to handle the matter of Supremacy Magic first.
Although it appeared that the tower favored Cape more, it was mainly because Cape was directly affected by Supremacy Magic, while An Zhu not only took the opportunity to annex part of Cape’s territory but had also unearthed some relics from the Old Empire.
Anastasia still thought An Zhu was encroaching on Cape’s territory, unaware that Cape had already swiftly reclaimed its lands and planned to push forward, which made it seem as if she stood on the side of Cape when conveying messages to Alberto.
Though according to Deborah, Cape’s iron creations were incredibly strong, Anastasia did not have an intuitive understanding of this. On the contrary, from the perspective of outsiders, Cape had just endured internal strife and coup, with the Northern Border Governor directly sidelining the king and reckoning with a significant number of Royal Capital Nobles.
Moreover, the Eastern Border had directly suffered an attack from Supremacy Magic after its abnormality, subsequently being occupied by the Demon Clan, not to mention the ongoing state of war with An Zhu.
Aside from having a relatively good relationship with the elves, Cape could be said to be surrounded by enemies.
Under such circumstances, Cape’s governor had even assured the tower that Supremacy Magic would not be used until the last moment and actively established contact with the tower. Regardless of what others said, Cape’s attitude was much better than the evasive An Zhu.
So from Anastasia’s perspective, Cape looked like a pitiful white lotus that had just assured the tower it wouldn’t use Supremacy Magic, only to be struck down by it, having just experienced a coup and barely managing to stabilize the situation.
As everyone began to prepare, Anastasia called over those responsible for relaying messages to the outside.
“The return of Eryx is likely just the prelude to war; afterwards, we may be unable to interfere with the situation on the continent for some time, and those auxiliary professionals may further complicate the entire continent.”
“So while you relay messages to the outside, you must also try to let the two major kingdoms of Cape and An Zhu cooperate, even if they can’t, they should unite against the impending assault from those dragons and the counteroffensive from the Avar Kingdom.”
Afterwards, Anastasia kept the person responsible for heading to Cape behind and said, “The situation in Cape must be stabilized. Inform Deborah, who remains in Cape, that if the governor has more advanced thoughts, we can provide certain support.”
It was evident that the Demon Clan had fully sided with the dragons and the Avar Kingdom across the strait. In this scenario, if Cape’s regime continued to waver, the worst outcome would be that the internally conflicted Cape would be divided among the Demon Clan, the Avar Kingdom, and even An Zhu, leading to chaos across the continent once again.
After a slight hesitation, Anastasia handed a board to the person preparing to head to Cape: “Although the Holy Grail might not connect with the tower’s equipment afterwards, the Holy Grail itself still has some use; if that governor can’t hold on, let Director Deborah give the Holy Grail to him. Cape cannot fall.”
After everything was arranged, Anastasia sent off those who carried the spark of knowledge, and then the various levels of the tower began to seal slowly.
In the level where Anastasia led the tower personnel, there were many containers the size of a person, soaked in liquid.
“Please remember, we do not have permission to enter the Sea of Consciousness, so during the procedures in the Sea of Consciousness, we are also invaders, so we must be more cautious; while purifying the pollution, we cannot be deleted by the protective procedures of the Sea of Consciousness.”
At that moment, Eryx’s voice rang out by everyone: “Why do you have to stay? Who will remember your sacrifice? Who will mourn you? This tower is about to become your grave; but as high-level professionals, what can stop you? That old relic elf? Just take a step out, and you can leave this grave!”
Anastasia noticed that the rotting, corroded flesh of Eryx had become a part of him, crawling not only on the unsealed exterior of the tower but even sprouting mouths to speak for Eryx.
Eryx had turned into a monster. Although the protective mechanisms prevented him from entering the tower, his numerous mouths, like devils from the abyss, began to tempt the people inside the tower.
“You are high-level professionals; wherever you go, even kings must come out to meet you. Why follow this old relic elf to the grave? Just take a step out, and you can enjoy power, wealth, and everything in this world!”
Eryx’s rotting flesh could not corrode the tower, but his voice seemed not to come from outside the tower, but from within everyone’s hearts. Or perhaps everyone present was experiencing a collective hallucination, or Eryx had connected with everyone’s consciousness through the Black Rain Curtain and the enormous phantom appearing above it.
When they heard this voice, many hesitated for a moment. Just as Eryx said, all present could step outside, relying on their identities as high-level professionals and the tower’s knowledge, to stand atop the pinnacle of this world.
Next to the cold containers was fear that surged like a tide, possibly never to awaken, on one side, and the temptation to stand atop the world’s pinnacle with just one step on the other.
At this moment, Anastasia looked around at the crowd. The structure of the tower was quite interesting, mostly composed of humans, with only a few elves and very few others.
“I will open the tower’s sealing system one last time; if you want to leave, now is your chance.”
After Anastasia opened the sealing system, the outside of the tower was already filled with Eryx’s flesh, but these flesh chunks did not seem to enter the tower or attack these professionals.
Many people silently retreated as they saw the sealing system open.
“Hahahaha, how ugly, Anna! Without constraints, your tower is just a bunch of mortals afraid of death!”
Several flesh chunks, several mouths, mocked the exhausted elves amidst the Black Rain Curtain, but Anastasia was the first to lie in the container, the lid of the container slowly began to close.
“Eryx, throughout human history, there have been many deserters. Humans can be afraid, can be fearful, can be desperate, and that’s entirely normal.”
As Anastasia began to converse with the scattered Eryx, those still remaining in the tower seemed to muster courage and one after another stepped into the containers.
“But this world has never lacked those who stand up to change it.”
As more and more people stepped into the containers, the tower’s sealing system was activated again, and the tower was about to be isolated from this world.
“Whether it is fear, despair, or unity and resistance, these are all human traits. Even at humanity’s peak, there are dark sides, but in the darkest times, there are still those who hold onto hope.”
“Humans are such complex beings.”
It seemed that as more and more people entered the containers, Eryx’s flesh chunks grew restless and said, “Anna! Don’t forget you are an elf! You are not human! You can never truly be human!”
With the tower on the brink of complete closure, Anastasia turned to glance at Eryx’s flesh one last time and said, “No, I have always been human, and we always will be.”
