“We can’t advance any further. The blast radius is too big,” Pyre said and shook his head as he sucked on his pipe. The halflings lying on their backs were either sleeping or groaning with sweat pouring from their bodies. Even the archangels had exhausted their mana reserves for the second B.F.G. assault, and the mountain was crawling along at a child’s walking pace.

“Then what’s the plan?” Mathias asked. After the mountain passed through the wall, Pyre had ordered them to stop. “You do have a plan, right?”

Pyre snorted. “Everyone knows the plan always crumbles upon first contact with the enemy.”

“Then…”

“I have a backup plan,” Pyre said and rolled his eyes. “I thought of it just now. Have all the halflings who haven’t had their mana extracted scatter. Take the orbs, group up, and kidnap as many angels as possible. That should buy us a little bit of time.”

“But the only ones who haven’t used their mana aren’t even greater halflings,” Mathias said and furrowed his brow. Was it a mistake to replace Solra with Pyre? No, Solra hadn’t even explained how they would enter the capital. Pyre did that at least.

“That’s what the orbs are for,” Pyre said. “Disable the angels’ powers and beat them with numbers, then bring them back here.” He paused. “And pray they don’t encounter any archangels. As long as we can gather enough angels, we can fire the B.F.G. again. If we can hit the central tower, the majority of the capital will be wiped out from the explosion and it’ll be our victory.”

Mathias scratched his head. “Why didn’t you hit the tower with the one you fired just now then?”

Pyre smacked the centaur with the back of his pipe. “You think I didn’t try?” he asked. “Do you know how hard it is to aim this thing? I designed it to maximize power, not accuracy!”

“…Which means it’s possible to miss again?”

“Anything’s possible! Hurry up and gather those angels,” Pyre said. “I don’t know how fast those freaks will recover.”

Two figures dropped from the sky and landed beside Pyre. He inspected them and nodded. “You two don’t look too exhausted. It seems like you wiped out one of the families?”

Two scaly hands popped out of Danger Noodle’s jaw. Cleo climbed out of the snake and shook herself off. “It was the Ingel family,” she said. She took out the Ingel family’s necklace and kicked it. “Stupid glowing bird.” Palan and Raea wouldn’t have been discovered if it weren’t for the necklace triggering an alarm system. Cleo hoped Palan didn’t realize that; otherwise, he’d definitely leave her behind next time. Luckily for her, Palan was a bit absentminded after fighting with the lightning avatars.

“Sariel’s body will be destroyed if you follow through with the plan, right?” Palan asked and furrowed his brow.

“Uh, probably?” Pyre scratched his head. “I haven’t heard any rumors of her being sturdy enough to survive something that can destroy red metal.”

“Is there another plan?” Palan asked. Mathias had already run off to inform the troops about kidnapping angels. “I need Sariel’s head.”

“It’ll take a while to gather all the angels,” Pyre said and bit down on his pipe. “You can kill her before then, and we’ll fire the B.F.G. when you come back. Do you think you can do that? A lot of options are no longer viable after finding out the lightning avatar can come back to life repeatedly.”

“Then I guess there’s no other choice,” Palan said with a frown. “Though I’m only interested in killing Sariel and returning to Eljiam.”

“Will the portal be destroyed?” Raea asked. “It’s in the basement of the tower.”

“Bah,” Pyre said. “That doesn’t matter. If you want a targeted portal, I can build one. It might not be as efficient mana-wise, but we have enough archlings to power an inefficient portal.”

“You can build one?”

“Of course,” Pyre said. “Who do you think I am? I’m a genius.”

“It’s also in the books,” a slurred voice said. The headmaster was approaching the group with an open bottle in his hand. “There are step-by-step picture books on how to make a portal. It’s just difficult for the populace to gather enough mana to activate one, not to mention illegal if you don’t have proper authorization.” He took a swig from the bottle. “I couldn’t help but overhear, you wanted to kill Sariel?” His eyes twinkled.

Palan glared at Pyre. “I thought you locked this guy up,” he said and crossed his arms. “Why’s he look so free?”

“He’s my teacher,” Pyre said and shrugged. “He wouldn’t sabotage me. He’s also voluntarily filling up orbs for us. There’s no reason to torture him and keep him locked up.”

“Let’s make a deal,” Headmaster said and sat on the ground, tossing his empty bottle over his shoulder. He waited for Palan’s response, but neither Palan nor Raea said anything. A sigh escaped from his lips. “Look, I know Lady Caelum might have a teensy grudge against me for those puzzles I gave her, and I’m fairly certain I left a bad impression on the demon and his lizard, but—hear me out—I’m useful.” He thumped the ground with his fist. “I’m useful, dammit. None of you have been to the capital. I have. You’re looking for Sariel? I know where to find her.” He glared at Palan and hiccoughed.

“I’ve lived in the capital for the majority of my life…,” Raea said. Headmaster shushed her without turning his gaze away from Palan.

“What do you want?” Palan asked. Even if Headmaster demanded something outrageous, Palan could always torture the information out of him. Besides, bribery and deals were second nature to residents of Eljiam—and backstabbing of course.

“I’m not going to ask for much. I just hope you can leave Hailing Academy intact,” Headmaster said. “And spare my family. I have two grandchildren living there.”

“You’d sell Sariel for your academy?” Palan asked.

“There’s no reason not to,” Headmaster said and lowered his head. “If you lose, Hailing Academy stays intact. If you win, then the academy stays intact. What do you say? You don’t have anything to lose from this deal.”

“We accept,” Raea said, answering for Palan. He frowned, but didn’t refute her.

Chapter 316

“Sariel stays in her tower, practically never leaves. There’s a few angels who bring her everything she requires,” Headmaster said, standing up and dusting off his pants. “Any public appearances she makes is from her balcony. The tower overlooks the main plaza used for gatherings, announcements, and merit awards.”

“Central tower then,” Palan said. “That already was our original goal.”

“That wasn’t all,” Headmaster said and cleared his throat. “You didn’t let me finish speaking.” He scratched his chin and muttered to himself before raising his head again. “I bet Lady Caelum doesn’t know how many floors there are to the central tower.”

“There’s four,” Raea said and rolled her eyes. She had only accepted Headmaster’s deal because she wanted a place to educate her harpy underlings. And maybe she felt a little guilty and wanted to preserve as much angel culture as possible. She was regretting it a bit now. There was no reason for him to undermine her words. “The first floor for the masses. The second floor for the council and Sariel’s living quarters. The third floor which has been sealed off. And the basement for the portal.”

“See,” Headmaster said and nodded. “Superficial knowledge.” Raea resisted the urge to hit the angel over the head. “There’s actually more floors beneath the basement. Sariel could be hiding in one of those.”

“Are you sure?” Raea asked. “I’ve never heard anything about this.”

“Of course I’m sure,” the headmaster said. “I helped build them after all. Sariel wanted to construct places for certain … activities. And I’m practically the smartest archangel in the world. I was hired to help her, but I couldn’t shake off the feeling of guilt, so I left the capital and became the headmaster of Hailing.”

“Sariel wouldn’t do anything to make you feel guilty,” Raea said and narrowed her eyes at the headmaster. She paused while biting her lower lip. “Unless you’re a sinner. Then you’ll feel really bad.”

The headmaster nodded. “That’s what I thought at first,” he said. “Maybe a normal angel wouldn’t have felt bad for what Sariel’s doing. She requested for me to create an arena of sorts. I don’t know what she intended on using it for, but anyone creating an environment like that away from public eyes can’t be up to any good. Maybe she really wasn’t planning on doing anything wrong and wanted to grow flowers down there or something.” He snorted. “Everyone, even Sariel, has secrets. The cleaner they are on the outside, the dirtier they are on the inside.”

“Does it work the other way around too?” Cleo asked. “Like is Palan secretly a saint?”

Palan nudged Cleo aside with his foot and snorted. “So there’s a few secret lairs inside the tower is what you’re saying,” he said. “If Sariel’s not in the first three floors or the basement, then she’s hiding underneath?”

“Correct,” Headmaster said. “Angels don’t have anywhere to evacuate to. Never in anyone’s wildest dreams would they believe the capital would fall. It’s simply impossible to break down the wall.” He glanced at Pyre who was lying on his back and blowing smoke at the moon. “They didn’t prepare for the impossible. Who would?” His attention turned back on Palan. “Anyways, the entrance to the lower floors is a secret that only I and Sariel know. You’ll need me to access them. There were a few slaves she employed, but their bones have probably already been used to reinforce the arena’s walls.”

“You sound like you’re on good terms with Sariel,” Palan said, raising an eyebrow. “You don’t mind if I kill her?”

The headmaster let out an empty laugh as he looked down and pulled a bottle out of his bag. “It’s true that I was on pretty good terms with her,” he said. He didn’t meet Palan’s eyes as he popped open the cork. “But not anymore. I’m sure she’d understand if I traded her life for the safety of my legacy.”

“Weren’t you the one lecturing me about assaulting the angels?” Pyre asked and raised an eyebrow. He sat up and coughed a few times before spitting purple phlegm onto the ground. “What changed your mind?”

Headmaster shrugged. “I thought about your words,” he said and took a sip from his bottle. “I really don’t have much longer to live. My grandchildren are the only family I have left. I don’t want them to die without realizing their potential. If I can guarantee their safety, then I’ll do it.” His eyes narrowed at Pyre. “Also, to be completely honest, the B.F.G.’s firepower played a major part in convincing me. How the heck did you even come up with a concept like that, you madman? I didn’t think you’d actually get this far, but now that you have, I need some contingency plans.”

“It wouldn’t hurt to take him with us,” Cleo said and tugged on Palan’s pants. “He’s actually really strong too if he drinks his magical liquor. We should take him.” And maybe if there was a problem with more alarms, Palan would blame Headmaster instead of her. Having a scapegoat was always nice.

“We should,” Raea said. “If Sariel really is hiding underground, he could be useful.”

“If you’re lying, I’ll kill you,” Palan said to Headmaster. The drunkard nodded while drinking, brown liquid spilling onto the front of his shirt. “And your grandchildren.” The headmaster’s eyes widened for a second. Palan smiled. “But that shouldn’t matter, right? There’s no way you’d try to deceive me.”

“Right,” Headmaster said and cleared his throat. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and muttered at the ground, “For the sake of my grandchildren.”

“We’ll leave immediately,” Palan said.

“You don’t want to smoke to recover your mana?” Pyre asked holding up his pipe.

“I prefer having a clear head at all times,” Palan said. He furrowed his brow. “What exactly have you been resting on this whole time?”

Pyre looked down. A cocoon was pulsating underneath him, causing his body to rise up and down. “Oh, this? This is Cory,” Pyre said. “She’s evolving into an existence beyond archling. I think. This hasn’t happened before.”

“Then why are you sitting on her…?” Cleo asked.

“You know how birds imprint on the first thing they see after they’re born?” Pyre asked. “It wouldn’t hurt to be the first one she sees. Even if it doesn’t work, it’s not like she’ll know I sat on her.”

A bird’s foot popped out of the cocoon, stabbing its talon’s into Pyre’s butt. He yelped and fell forward, landing face first onto the ground. Another foot popped out of the cocoon and proceeded to tear it apart. Pyre grumbled and scratched his head as Cory worked on freeing herself. “That was an awfully fast evolution.”

A slimy, feathered creature flopped out of the cocoon and started to cough. “Cory?” Raea asked. The harpy’s body was unchanged. She was still red all over and the same size as before. But when she raised her head, Cory’s eyes had changed from blue and angel-like to yellow and hawk-like—the same as the ones she ate off the floor.