Reason or Instinct

Tap, tap, tap…

Halos of magical radiance spread outward. In an instant, a chill far surpassing Yun Wujiu’s extinguished the flames of the underground world, and the temperature plummeted.

The spores buried beneath the earth and within the rocks were all frozen.

"Your affinity with me isn’t very good either, Tree Herder."

Snow Witch Fu Qinghuan had somehow already hidden herself within this underground world. Tree Herder’s expression changed.

"Solomon changed his mind?!"

He had long secretly discovered the secret of Solomon’s ability. Its overwhelming suppression of reincarnators on the magic side, along with its vague ability to absorb the magical traits of others, had immediately made Tree Herder, an ambitious man who wanted to become the "final boss" behind the reincarnators, think of Conspiracy.

He was almost certain that Solomon had not founded the Far East Magic Society, a society purely on the magic side, just to form some kind of "hobby club."

He wanted to cultivate a group of reincarnators who had gone far enough in various magical fields!

Then, one day in the future, kill them one by one and absorb all their traits.

After encountering the existence of the Stairway, Tree Herder had even vaguely guessed the truth behind Solomon’s power: the power of a Magic God, the ultimate existence of A Certain Magical Index World!

A Magic God was not a god of demons, but a god of magic!

A great existence that had exhausted the mysteries of magic, stood at the peak of all power, occupied every possibility, and could cause the world to collapse merely by stepping out of the hidden phase.

Solomon was using a convenient method unique to reincarnators in an attempt to exhaust every possibility of magic!

"How could he let you go… That shouldn’t be possible. Could Mercenary Tao’s injuries after fighting Odin actually be so severe that Solomon believes he can accomplish his goal in this world without absorbing your powers?"

A flash of light appeared in Snow Witch’s hand, and an enormous staff emerged. The authority of ice shone within her body.

She felt somewhat regretful. Tree Herder was indeed exceptionally intelligent. She could frankly admit that neither she nor Jin could compare to Tree Herder when it came to intellect.

She herself was like a puppet manipulated by Solomon, completely unable to keep up with Solomon’s thinking.

But Tree Herder could.

Unfortunately… Tree Herder had made the wrong choice.

Snow Witch stepped forward one step at a time. The underground world’s entrance was instantly frozen shut, leaving the puppets Tree Herder had left aboveground unable to enter.

In truth, this world was indeed the best possible opportunity to kill Tree Herder.

There were no other reincarnators in this world. Therefore, Tree Herder could not create new divine servants. Likewise, because Solomon had emphasized that this was a secret mission for the gathering, Tree Herder could not bring any other divine servants inside.

Within the dark green veins across Tree Herder’s body, blood began flowing faster and faster. Soon, the bulging veins slowly pulled themselves out from beneath his skin.

Like some kind of energy conduit, the dark green veins shifted positions across Tree Herder’s back and inserted themselves into his body.

Tree Herder’s muscles rapidly swelled with dark green divine blood. His muscles bulged inch by inch as immense power emerged.

The black cross mark between Tree Herder’s brows also turned entirely dark green, gleaming with fluorescent light.

A thin layer of divine power began flowing over his body.

His druidic spellcasting abilities could not accomplish much against such powerful ice authority, so Tree Herder swiftly transformed himself into the form of a divine servant.

He sacrificed his spellcasting ability in exchange for a powerful body and a covering of divine power.

His gaze swept around, searching for a direction through which he could escape.

"Fu Qinghuan, do you really think Solomon has this in the bag?"

"You’ve never seen Mercenary Tao’s power. If you act now, once Mercenary Tao returns, he’ll definitely kill you."

As he retreated, Tree Herder tried to persuade Snow Witch to switch sides.

But Snow Witch merely extended a hand, and the temperature dropped at an unbearable rate. Divine power flickered over Tree Herder’s body, and he temporarily stopped breathing.

He suddenly spun around and lunged at Snow Witch.

Snow Witch simply spread one hand. A huge ice spear stabbed out of thin air. Using both hands and feet, Tree Herder flashed through the underground world several times like a launched projectile, grazing past the ice spear to evade the attack before hurling himself toward Snow Witch.

He thrust out a claw. Within his palm, now mutated into something claw-like, was a tube of golden blood.

Bang!

Snow Witch’s body exploded directly into a pile of ice shards.

Tree Herder, meanwhile, was frozen in place by the chill released as the ice shattered.

Snow Witch’s body slowly gathered and reappeared nearby. With a single gesture, she rapidly thickened the ice.

Looking at the dark green cross between Tree Herder’s brows, she sighed.

"It’s useless, Tree Herder. Solomon knows everything, including your last-ditch attempt to use Odin’s blood as an attack to turn me into a divine servant. His eyes saw it all…"

Frozen in place, Tree Herder was protected by divine power and would not be killed immediately, but he truly could not break free from the increasingly solid ice.

It contained the power of authority.

Spellcasters like Snow Witch, who specialized in a single school of magic, were the type most likely to raise their authority to a higher level.

Even now, Tree Herder’s mind was still racing, trying to figure out where things had gone wrong.

Then he realized that only Artoria, Mercenary Tao, and himself knew about obtaining Odin’s blood.

Even Solomon’s Future Sight, through those magic eyes, should theoretically have been unable to see the scene of Odin and Mercenary Tao’s fierce battle.

That had been a clash between two absolutely high-level powers. Solomon’s magic eyes should not have been at such a high level.

His heart suddenly turned cold.

As if confirming his thoughts, Snow Witch added,

"Mercenary Tao won’t act for your sake. He… has already joined forces with Solomon…"

Snow Witch had not wanted to move against one of her own, but she had no choice.

If she did not act, she would die, and Yun Wujiu would die too.

"Solomon and Mercenary Tao have given up their internal conflict. They’re joining forces to reap this entire world!"

Tree Herder felt as though he had fallen into an ice cellar. Yes, that was the only explanation. And as he recalled the personality Solomon had always displayed—

Calm, rational, always putting profit first.

It seemed that before every battle, he had already made every arrangement.

Even when the enemy was too powerful, he would find a path where the cost of failure was lower.

After learning how overwhelmingly powerful Mercenary Tao was, and after Tree Herder’s defection, Solomon’s most appropriate choice… had only been one: give up opposing Mercenary Tao, cooperate with him, and become the truly dominant side!

A stabbing pain shot through Tree Herder’s brow. He hated himself for understanding this only now.

He had always believed that someone like Mercenary Tao would never consider cooperating with Solomon, because Mercenary Tao was a monster, a beast. Someone like that would never share his benefits.

But he had overlooked the fact that, after his battle with Odin, Mercenary Tao had already been severely injured. Under those circumstances, rationally speaking, cooperating with Solomon truly was Mercenary Tao’s best choice.

Tree Herder’s scalp prickled. The divine power over his body was growing weaker and weaker.

Damn it, did I choose wrong…

Crack!

Within the ice, Tree Herder’s skin began to split from the extreme cold. This was a sign that his divine power was fading and his body was beginning to die.

Mercenary Tao’s face appeared before Tree Herder’s eyes. All kinds of expressions flashed past, finally stopping on that arrogant, wild laughter when he saw Odin unleash divine power.

Tree Herder’s heart stirred. Would someone like Mercenary Tao really make his choice based on reason…?

Ring!

The cry of a sword rang out as scarlet and black sword light violently cleaved through the ice.

Tree Herder saw Artoria’s face and nearly wept with joy.

Not because he was going to live, but because he was certain that he had not chosen wrong!

Mercenary Tao would not cooperate with Solomon. He had been right!