Genius Warlock

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“Go and see them, Zenon.” Yareli suggested, indicating that he should assist Jane. It was an unexpected proposal, but her sincerity was evident.

Involuntarily, Oliver inquired, “What did you say?”

“Go and help Ms. Jane… She is your friend, isn’t she?” Yareli recalled Oliver’s unusually peaceful behavior during his initial encounter with Milieu and continued.

To her, both sides of his character appeared genuine, making it more appropriate to send Oliver.

“You’ll just be worried if you stay here, right? It’s better for you to go yourself. It won’t be a big problem to miss one external person.”

With this statement, Yareli turned to Kevin and sought his approval.

Oliver also cast a glance at Kevin. When their eyes met, Kevin contemplated for a moment before giving a nod.

“Go ahead. You don’t have to be here right now.”

The moment Kevin spoke those words, Oliver’s internal conflict between his mission and his friendship with Jane seemed to dissipate.

Honestly, with someone as capable as Jane, Oliver probably didn’t need to go himself, but he couldn’t shake off his unease.

Oliver expressed his gratitude to Yareli for her suggestion, to Kevin for his approval, and to Terrence, who had been silently observing the situation.

Terrence, upon receiving the thanks, remarked, “It’s my first time just standing by and receiving thanks, but it does feel good.”

“Seriously… Would you mind taking one of these each?” Oliver took out three pieces of paper infused with portal magic and handed them to Kevin, Terence, and Yareli.

Being skilled wizards, they immediately recognized the type of magic contained in the papers Oliver gave them.

“Portal magic? Is this a scroll? Strange, it’s a form I’ve never seen before?” Terrence, with his deep knowledge of scrolls and magical items due to his profession, inquired.

“It’s similar… Anyway, I will return as soon as possible.”

***

Oliver left those words behind and, after receiving Lucian’s communication device from Terence, promptly exited the university.

Every building within the university was already enveloped by a hemispherical magic barrier. Leaving the university was as challenging as entering it from the outside.

Much like when he moved with Yareli earlier, Oliver touched the hemispherical magic barrier, understood the flow of the magic formula, and interfered with it by channeling his internal mana to create a small hole through which he exited.

Fortunately, as soon as Oliver passed through, the hole in the magic barrier sealed itself, just as he had intended.

Once outside the magic barrier, Oliver retrieved a test tube from his pocket, extracted emotions, processed them into thread-like form as the first step, then into a cloth-like form as the second step, and wrapped it around his body before overlaying it with a black armor made of iron bars tailored to his muscle structure.

With his preparations complete, Oliver slightly bent his knees and leaped.

Bang!

The high-density emotional armor responded with maximum power corresponding to the force applied, thanks to extreme compression and intricate spells.

Oliver pushed off the ground with great force and, in an instant, crossed the university’s perimeter fence.

Boom!

With a single leap, Oliver moved from inside to outside the university, landing on the wall of a three-story pub.

The powerful jump left a crack in the building’s exterior wall, but fortunately, it appeared to be a minor issue given the abnormal state of the city outside the university.

The commercial district, which had faced the university, now lay partially in ruins due to the footsteps of giants, and those buildings that hadn’t collapsed were either on fire or had become battlegrounds where people clashed.

“Ugh… Why is this happening?”

“Die! Die!”

Oliver witnessed people fighting beyond the shattered roofs. Some, driven to a frenzy by black magic, indiscriminately attacked those around them like wild animals.

Those unaffected by the black magic fought back in self-defense, and violence spread in all directions.

Amidst the chaos, emotions such as fear, dread, anger, hostility, and various other intense feelings swirled throughout the city, slowly subsiding.

“…”

Observing the emotions escalate to their peak due to the disturbance and observing where these emotions led, Oliver quickly regained his focus and remembered why he had ventured outside the university.

There were several concerning matters, but one stood out as more urgent: aiding Jane, Murphy, and Lucian Mura, who had cooperated with him thus far.

Oliver turned towards Zone 10, where the Mura family resided, and, as before, he slightly bent his knees and propelled himself off the building he stood on.

Bang!

With a sharp sound of the air tearing, Oliver leaped, swiftly demolishing the roof of the burning building in an instant.

“Ah… So that’s the monster.” Oliver muttered to himself as he used the black suit to leap gracefully between buildings, approaching Dix Castle in Zone 10 by the quickest route.

On his journey here, he had encountered werewolves, giants standing at less than 10 meters in height, griffins, bizarre humanoids with pig or chicken heads, gun-wielding zombies, and a host of other peculiar creatures. Yet, the beings surrounding the castle were unlike anything he had seen.

These creatures exhibited an eerie mix of features: bird-like bodies with women’s faces, bizarre avian beings with insect-like wings, soldiers with the heads of chickens atop human bodies, cymbal-playing monkeys, and more.

The chaos these creatures were causing in the city was even more grotesque than their appearances. However, what concerned Oliver the most was the malevolence emanating from them and the fact that they were creations of black magic.

They were artificial life forms forged through the black magic of the creation series, akin to Oliver’s Child. However, there was an indefinable difference that set them apart.

‘Maybe that’s natural…’ Oliver thought to himself. After all, the creation series of black magic was renowned as one of the most intricate and demanding branches within the realm of black magic.

This was reflected in the scarcity of books Oliver had come across that delved into the intricacies of the creation series. From his readings, he had gleaned that mastering this form of black magic required not only technical skill but also a unique blend of creativity, imagination, sincerity, and personal aptitude – qualities that defied precise definition.

‘It was hard to understand… But was Human-meat Chef skilled in the creation series?’ Oliver wondered as he observed the monsters feasting on human flesh while circling the castle.

To his knowledge, Human-meat Chef’s expertise lay in amassing power through consumption and enhancing the body using disease-based magic.

‘Maybe there’s a black magic user specialized in the creation series.’ Oliver recalled a black magic user who specialized in the manipulation series, one of the Human-meat Chef’s subordinates he had encountered previously.

This warlock had materialized an army of zombies in an instant, harnessing his considerable life force and emotions to exert a formidable presence.

‘But that’s not immediately important.’ Prioritizing his objectives, Oliver redirected his focus away from the eerie surroundings and sprung into action.

He descended rapidly from the building, knelt on one knee amidst the chaotic streets, and placed his hand on the ground. Injecting the magic stored within him into the earth, he altered its properties to enable his descent.

Enveloped in his black suit, Oliver sank into the ground like a swimmer submerging in a swamp, finally arriving in the underground sewer.

[Light]

Upon descending, Oliver instinctively channeled the stored mana within him to generate light.

However, the purpose of illuminating his surroundings extended beyond mere visibility. It was a necessity, especially considering the adversaries he anticipated lurking in the darkness.

Chiang!

With the creation of the light source, the obscurity receded, revealing a shadowy figure hurling a dagger toward him.

‘Shadow? Black magic of the manipulation series? No. It’s a creature.’ Oliver realized as he watched the shadow, initially expansive in the tunnel, recoil due to the light, making it relatively easy for him to parry the impending attack.

But complacency was not an option.

“Heeheeheeheeheehee!”

Upon deflecting the dagger, a clown-clad man descended gracefully from the sewer ceiling, brandishing a scythe that appeared more like a toy than a weapon.

At first glance, the figure seemed genuinely human, but Oliver’s discerning eye quickly detected that this clown, too, was a creature.

It was a remarkable sight—a creature so closely resembling a human.

“Heeheeheeheeheehee!”

The clown-like creature swayed its body in an eccentric fashion, scanning for an opening before wielding its toy-like scythe.

Despite its crude appearance, the scythe possessed enough power to gouge deep scars into the concrete walls and slice through iron pipes, although its handling was rather clumsy. Oliver, with close combat training received from Kevin, Terence, and Yareli, effortlessly evaded and counterattacked.

Squish.

As Oliver sidestepped the toy-like scythe and thrust his quarterstaff forward, the rotund clown’s chest collapsed with a deflating sound.

The clown creature continued to laugh.

“Yohohohohohoho!”

[Grind]

Oliver chanted, and the resonating sound merged with the grotesque laughter that filled the sewer.

“Kyo ho ho ho ho! Ah ha ha ha!”

Despite sporting a gaping hole in its chest, the clown creature, writhing on the ground, convulsed as if in agony while maintaining its incessant laughter.

Observing the clown’s grotesque and ill-fitting appearance, Oliver tilted his head in bewilderment as the shadow, which even the light couldn’t pierce, swallowed the darkness and elongated the dagger-like appendage to deeply impale and engulf the clown creature.

Gulp!

The surreal scene unfolding before Oliver resembled something out of a newspaper comic strip. He silently observed it, attempting to decipher the underlying principles behind such an occurrence.

The shadow, having fully assimilated the clown creature, flicked its finger, summoning an alligator from the water pooled in the center of the sewer.

The alligator, with subtle deviations from reality—larger eyes and a mouth bearing an uncanny resemblance to a human’s—piqued Oliver’s curiosity.

Curiously, as the alligator opened its mouth, a parrot emerged.

[Are you! Dave?]

The parrot spoke, its voice a discordant blend of human and animal tones, akin to nails scraping against a chalkboard. However, Oliver responded politely.

“Currently, I am Zenon. An employee of the Magic Tower. May I ask your name?”

[I am! Pan!]

Pan. Oliver instinctively sensed that this ‘Pan’ was the Eternal child Pan.

“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Pan. If it’s alright with you, may I ask a question?”

[Just as I heard! What is it?!]

“Did you attack the castle above?”

[Yes!]

“May I ask why?”

[To lure you out!]

An unexpected response. Pan continued.

[Human-meat Chef! That old man promised! If I helped him, he said he would help me catch you!]

“Me?”

[Yes! But I’ve changed my mind! I don’t want to move according to that old man’s wishes anymore!]

Oliver found himself perplexed by the abrupt change in Pan’s stance. The sudden attack followed by a change of heart didn’t appear to be mere words.

Narrowing his focus, Oliver activated his warlock’s vision. Darkness enveloped his surroundings, gradually fading his regular sight and revealing the emotions of Jane and Murphy in the distance, as well as the true essence of the creatures.

The nature of these creatures proved to be quite intriguing.

“…If you’ve changed your mind, can we part ways peacefully?”

[You came to rescue people! Worried, huh?]

Pan hit the mark with that observation, and Oliver nodded.

[Why! Are you worried!?]

“Yes.”

[What’s! The reason!?]

“Um… They helped me and are acquaintances. And friends.”

[Friends!?]

“Yes, friends.”

The parrot seemed to wear a contented expression at Oliver’s response.

***

After his conversation with Pan, Oliver promptly headed in the direction he had seen through his warlock’s vision.

Fortunately, Pan, seemingly disinterested in assisting the Human-meat Chef any longer, allowed Oliver to proceed. Thanks to this, Oliver soon encountered the Mura family, the Kimbell family, and Jane, who had escaped through the secret passage of Dix Castle into the sewer.

Their expressions were a mixture of surprise and relief upon seeing Oliver, particularly Jane.

“Da- No, Zenon… How did you get here?”

Jane was taken aback by Oliver’s presence. However, she swiftly grasped the situation and turned her gaze to Lucian.

Lucian, with a shrug of his shoulders as if he had no other choice, addressed Oliver.

“Thank you for coming, Zenon. We owe you our lives.”

“It’s nothing. Were you attacked by the monsters?”

Oliver inquired, recalling the creatures associated with Pan.

“Yes, they suddenly attacked my castle. They were so strong that our forces crumbled helplessly, and we had to flee here immediately. We were surrounded and powerless, even here.”

“Luckily, it seems everyone safe.”

At this point, Murphy interjected, “For some unknown reason, although they could have finished us, they suddenly stopped and just left. Despite having attacked us as if they wanted to kill us just moments ago.”

Oliver’s mind drifted back to his recent conversation with Pan. He contemplated whether Human-meat Chef had genuinely lost interest or if there was another underlying cause for the sudden change in behavior.

However, he realized that pondering alone wouldn’t provide the answers he sought.

“Anyway, now that you’re here, Zenon, we should be safe even if the monsters reappear.” Lucian remarked, expressing his trust in Oliver.

“I’m not so sure about that.”

“Excuse me?”

Oliver replied, causing everyone to look at him with confusion.

As he spoke, Oliver turned his attention toward a passage within the sewer.

“Mr. Puppet.”

At the utterance of that word, everyone froze, and after a moment, an old man emerged from the darkness.

A beggar clad in tattered rags.

“It’s been a while.”

The beggar—or rather, Puppet—responded.

(To be Continued)

CH 414-423 (Vs Human-meat Chef Part3) $3CH 424-433 (Vs Human-meat Chef Part4) $3CH 434-443 (Dave Vs 100 Druids) $3444~ $1/chapter

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