SHUUUUUUUU!
Oliver placed his hand on the stone pillar and drew out the mana.
To his surprise, the mana was of exceptional quality and in abundant supply, surpassing anything he had encountered before.
With childlike excitement, he harnessed the extracted mana to manipulate the flames controlled by the war wizard Kevin.
"…Is this how you do it?"
The flames obeyed Oliver's movements, as if responding to his command.
It was easier for him to control the fire, possibly due to the use of Kevin’s own mana.
Although he had only extracted a small portion, about 10% of the total, Kevin appeared taken aback.
"……!!"
With one hand extracting mana and the other controlling the flames, Oliver faced off against Kevin's blazing wave.
The mana and air quickly ignited as the two fires clashed in a fierce battle.
Oliver realized that flame magic was the best way to counter flame magic.
So, he intensified his extraction of mana, as Kevin's mana was being depleted anyway.
A war of attrition was in his favor, giving him the opportunity to escape at the right moment.
After all, Oliver's aim was not to defeat Kevin, but to make a strategic retreat.
Moreover, Forrest had also advised Oliver to avoid conflict with war wizards whenever possible, as battles could drain his energy.
"Um…"
Silently, Oliver infused the extracted mana into the flames, causing them to grow even more intensely.
The opposing fire began to slowly diminish under the pressure.
It appeared that Oliver's proficiency in manipulating magic was superior to that of the war wizard.
Kevin's stamina waned as a result of the extraction. However, Oliver was still uneasy.
Despite being at a disadvantage, Kevin seemed surprisingly calm.
Just then, a voice echoed through the air.
It was the communication magic [Speaker], represented by a square block of mana in the air.
Kevin used magic to transmit his voice.
[Wow! I never thought you'd fight back like this… Let me ask again, what's your name?]
"I'm sorry, can I give you my name next time we meet?"
[Do you think there will be a next time?]
"…..?"
Oliver was confused by the sudden question, but soon realized its meaning.
Mana surged from the surrounding stone pillars and rushed towards Oliver like a wave.
The amount of mana being extracted by Oliver also increased.
"…..!!"
[I've encountered several warlocks who steal and use mana like you. Some were cunning, but it wasn't difficult to subdue them. Contrary to popular belief everyone has mana, only the amount and control vary. This means even warlocks have mana storage in their hearts. So, what do you think happens when that storage is exceeded?]
Kevin was demonstrating his point by increasing the amount of mana injected into Oliver's body, which was squeezing him mercilessly through his arms, legs, chest, and other parts.
It was like over-inflating a balloon.
Despite the inefficiency of this method, it was still effective.
Trapped by the overwhelming mana, Oliver had no choice but to accept it all.
Kevin kept pushing Mana out of the stone pillars towards Oliver.
More.
More.
More.
More.
More.
More.
“……Um?”
Despite the obvious decrease in mana from the stone pillar, Oliver's body remained unscathed and unaffected.
Kevin noticed this oddity and tried to cease supplying mana, but Oliver refused.
SHUUUUUUUU
He absorbed all of the mana from the stone pillar into himself, but surprisingly, he didn't feel any overwhelming effects, contrary to what Kevin had warned about.
Oliver couldn't comprehend the situation, but he decided to focus on the task at hand and poured the stored mana into a single, explosive blast.
BOOOM BOOOOOM
This mixture of explosion and fire magic was a successful improvisation of the magic shown by a student of the Magic Tower he fought and resulted in considerable power, destroying the surrounding stone pillars and wreaking havoc on the surrounding terrain.
The fire spread rapidly, leaving behind a trail of broken stone pillars, overturned earth, and fallen trees.
Oliver staggered to his feet and scanned the emotions that had been staring at this place from afar.
Most of them were kingdom soldiers, and they seemed surprised by the sudden explosion.
‘Should I run now that I’ve drawn everyone’s attention? Mr. Willes and Mr. Arthur should have safely reached the destination by now.’
He had the opportunity to escape as the flame was no longer under control and the stone pillar obstruction was gone.
Although the right time to flee was now, Oliver had the desire to engage in battle a bit longer.
He wasn't seeking enjoyment from the fight, but instead, he wanted to learn more from the war wizard in front of him.
He believed that he could gain valuable knowledge through the fight or conversation with the wizard.
Amid the dark gray smoke, the war wizard Kevin appeared.
He did not borrow the power of the potion even though he exhausted considerable mana, but gathered the mana to bring and control the flames around him.
With the addition of will, mana, and unknown power, the processed flame was re-energized, and turned into a huge snake……. No, turned into a huge DRAGON.
"Are you a Finger?"
Finger.
The word referred to the executives of Black Hand, a group composed solely of Warlocks.
Oliver shook his head.
"No, I'm not. I'm intrigued, but I don't want to be part of an organization."
"That's strange. With your abilities, it's unusual for you not to be a Finger. But I don't think you're lying."
Flames, which turned into a dragon with Kevin's chant, twisted and rushed toward Oliver.
The fire dragon, shining like the sun, burned and extinguished the surroundings that had already turned into ashes, and rushed toward Oliver.
As if it were really alive, the flames exuded a heterogeneous life force from its entire body.
Oliver knew instinctively. That it was different from the previous attacks. He hurriedly pulled the flame under his control and tried to deflect Kevin's attack.
The towering inferno created a barrier, but to no avail.
Kevin's dragon not only devoured the flames that Oliver had control of, but it completely consumed them.
The fire dragon wasn't just dominating the mana, it was actually consuming the flames.
"Salamander. One of the Spirits of Fire. He eats up the fire and uses it as his own nourishment."
Spirit… Oliver wrote down another piece of information on the side of his head.
Despite only encountering the spirit for a short time, it had already captured Oliver's interest with its diverse energy and Life-force.
As he had hoped, Oliver was able to gain new knowledge from the War Wizard.
“The person I was originally going to use this wasn’t you, but… don’t die this time either.”
With the flames that only fueled the dragon's power now, Oliver retreated and began casting a spell on the spot, incorporating both magic and black magic.
Though he couldn't fully explain what he was doing, he attempted to replicate Kevin's fire dragon by applying the spell on the fly.
To reinforce his control over the remaining flames, Oliver infused mana into them, then transformed his black suit into raw emotions.
This was a risky move that left him vulnerable, but his curiosity and desire to experiment prompted him to mix his emotions with the flames and activate the black magic.
However, the spell wasn't as fast as he'd hoped, as he was performing it without proper training or understanding.
‘Just a little bit more…….ah.'
Oliver's thoughts halted as he looked at the mouth of the fire dragon that was just above him before he knew it.
He was half a beat late because of the excessive wind.
Just as he was about to be chewed to death or burned to death, the Fire Dragon looked into Oliver’s eyes.
Soon, it hesitated, hesitated while exuding emotions of fear.
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…
It was similar to the guard dog in the mine and the Chimera he saw in the past.
Oliver and the wizard Kevin were both shocked by the dragon's behavior.
This series of events was mysterious, but Oliver felt grateful for his luck as he finished his black magic just a beat later.
[Hunger]
With the chant, the flame that embodied emotions of desire and avarice, combined with mana, started to form a distinct shape.
The result was a monstrous, misshapen man with a large head, a gaping mouth stretching from ear to ear, a long, spindly neck like a branch, and a distended belly contrasting with its scrawny limbs.
It may have had an ego like a fire dragon, but before Oliver could give an order, the grotesque-looking man formed from the flames charged toward the fire dragon.
With its skinny arm, it grabbed the dragon and started to feast on its head with its large, toothy mouth.
-GUGUGUGUGUGUGGUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUUGUGUGU!
-Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Fire Dragon struggled in pain and Hunger tried to satisfy its hunger somehow.
The two beings clung together like beasts and fought ugly.
It turned out that Hunger was eating up the existence called salamander in the flame rather than devouring the flame– as if to quench its thirst
Honestly, Oliver was curious to watch more, but he realized it was really time to run away.
As time passed, the sun was about to rise, and he could feel the soldiers of the kingdom approaching here.
Even the wizard Kevin appeared to be drained of energy and unable to continue the fight.
Oliver took two sheets of paper out of his pocket and threw them at Kevin, who was approaching with a stone- javelin.
Threw them at the path Kevin was approaching, to be precise.
"This is…?"
Kevin was surprised looking at the paper.
Oliver didn't care and used the magic stored in his body to activate the magic on the paper.
Two purple portals appeared on paper.
Three zombies popped out of one of them.
"Gyayayagayygayagyaa!"
"Kukikikikiki!"
"Kirrrkirrrrrrr!"
The self-destructive zombies 1, 2, and 3, ran madly toward the existence in front of them, grabbed Kevin, and stretched, as Oliver set them up.
Meanwhile, Oliver ran toward the second portal.
This second portal was for an emergency exit to get away.
Oliver threw himself into the portal and said.
"It was truly a pleasure meeting you. I hope to see you again next time.”
Upon entering the portal, Oliver cast a black magic along with his greeting.
According to Oliver's will, Hunger, who was fighting the fire dragon and the three corpses clinging to Kevin, caused an explosion with their bodies swelling up, and Oliver was able to escape completely through the portal.
BOOM BOOM BOOOOOOOOM!
Oliver hurriedly ran away and rolled on the floor.
The familiar ceiling caught his eye. It was the ceiling of the accommodation where he was staying.
Bam! Bam!
Someone rushed up and knocked on the door.
"Sir, is there anything wrong? I heard a loud noise.”
Oliver answered, looking up at the ceiling.
"No… nothing much. I'm sorry for the noise."
(To be Continued)
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