Genius Warlock

[Greed Fire.]

Oliver chanted and clasped his hands together.

Soon, black flames erupted, and the flames moved according to Oliver's will, swallowing up the incoming ice magic from the surroundings.

"You fool! You think you can devour opposing ice magic?!"

The female warlock shouted, and she wasn't wrong.

Under the premise of having sufficient skill, fire magic could incinerate even other people's mana and use it as fuel, but only ice magic was impossible to overcome this way.

This was due to the attributes of magic; even Willes's flames, which burned everything, were repeatedly blocked by the female warlocks' ice magic, proving the point.

The rules of magic were above the power of magic or the ability of the caster.

However, Greed Fire, a mix of emotions and mana, easily ignored those rules.

"……!!"

"??!!"

"That's impossible…"

Greed Fire, which swallowed up the ice magic, suddenly grew in size and covered the entire area.

Like a ferocious beast stalking its prey.

Kwahwahwahwahwahahahahahahang—!!!

Screams echoed in every direction, accompanied by the unique roaring sound of burning air.

The screams of the female warlocks.

“Kyahahahahahahahahat一!!!”

“Kiyaaaaaaak!!!!”

“Kuh…! Kuh…!!”

“The fire… The fire won't go out…!!”

The surprise attack through a puddle of blood and the preemptive strike using Greed Fire displayed an astonishing synergy, neutralizing the enemy's numerical advantage in an instant.

Rather, he had to be careful not to kill everyone with the greedy flames.

‘Research samples and materials for corpse dolls are needed, after all.'

As the Greed Fire absorbed mana and tried to swallow everything around it, Oliver exerted control over it like putting a muzzle in a wild horse's mouth.

The Greed Fire, which had been rampaging in all directions without a specific target, came to a sudden stop, and dozens of otherworldly eyes appeared, staring intently at Oliver.

As if to protest against being restrained.

However, Oliver clenched his hand tightly, suppressing the flames instead of granting the request.

It would be problematic if everyone died.

Like when fighting against Marie, the flames screamed in agony, shrinking significantly.

Under normal circumstances, this would be a chance for a counterattack, but no one was left capable of doing so after Greed Fire had already wreaked havoc.

Countless zombies and even more than twenty female warlocks had mostly turned to ashes in just a few seconds.

It was a powerful technique, but also difficult to control.

"Kh… Kuh… What… What is this…?"

Fortunately, not everyone was wiped out.

The only surviving female warlock tried to crawl away with her remaining arm.

Oliver approached her, and she screamed in terror, trying to distance herself from him while displaying a mix of emotions like confusion, fear, doubt, dread, sadness, and embarrassment.

Regardless, Oliver went to her side, extracted the emotions, and cast the spell [Sedative] to calm her down and alleviate her confusion and fear.

Thanks to that, the female warlock became somewhat able to engage in conversation.

"Huh, black magic? … What are you?"

As soon as she calmed down, she asked Oliver with suspicion.

"My name is Zenon Bright, an employee of the Magic Tower. For now."

The female warlock frowned at the mysterious answer.

"Wait, don't tell me. Are you a warlock who infiltrated the Magic Tower like her?"

"Her? I'm not sure who you're talking about… But can you answer my question first? Where should I go if I want to meet Mother? I think she's here, but I don't know her location."

"Mother…? Why do you want to meet her?"

Oliver was slightly impressed.

Although Oliver had used black magic to calm her down, she still had some lingering fear. Despite that, she overcame her fear and expressed her love and concern for Mother.

"Um… I want to ask why you attacked this lab. I came here for work… and there are a few personal things I'd like to ask."

It was indeed an insincere answer, but Oliver was sincere. For some reason, he felt that he needed to meet her to delve deeper into the case.

However, the female warlock became angry, thinking that Oliver was disrespecting Mother.

"You're ridiculous! What? You have questions? Do you think you have the right to question our Mother?!"

To clear up the misunderstanding, Oliver calmed her down.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disrespect your Mother. I'm just genuinely curious."

"What's your curiosity? Give it up! Mother will come here soon after dealing with your colleague and get rid of you too."

"Colleague?"

Oliver was puzzled for a moment, but soon he understood who she was talking about.

It was Willes.

"If I had known you were this skilled, I would have sent you to Mother first… but it doesn't matter. Mother will avenge us. For me and my sisters!"

"Um… Mr. Willes, or rather, Mr. Will, is quite strong, so I think he'll be fine?"

"Pffft…! Maybe. He might be able to resist, but Mother will ultimately win. He's no match for Mother."

The female warlock's words were sincere, not boasting.

To be honest, Oliver couldn't imagine Willes losing, but he couldn't ignore the confident words of the female warlock, so he asked.

"That's a big problem. I have questions for him too, and he can't die yet… I'd like to help, so can you tell me where your Mother is?"

"Do you think I'll tell you? I'd rather die."

The female warlock overcame her fear of death and responded. It meant that her grief over losing her sisters and resentment towards Oliver was that great.

"You won't get anything you want from me."

Looking at the resolute female warlock, instead of anger or irritation, Oliver felt admiration and awkwardness at her attitude.

Seeing her emotions, Oliver knew that she wouldn't easily open up.

As he was wondering how to persuade her, Oliver muttered.

"Um… should I pull out her teeth?"

The female warlock was taken aback by the quiet but sincere muttering.

It was natural, as he was suggesting torturing her by pulling out her teeth.

However, Oliver did not harbor any particular malice.

He had just heard that pulling teeth was one of the good persuasion techniques. Wouldn't the claim of Arthur, an experienced soldier, be persuasive?

As Oliver seriously considered this, the female warlock, her face turning pale, steeled herself once again, and Oliver shook his head.

"No, that won't do."

"……?"

"I don't have the tools to pull teeth, and it doesn't seem like she'd be persuaded by that… She’s really something."

Oliver sincerely admired her.

Just as the female warlock was bewildered by his incomprehensible behavior, Oliver's shadow wrapped her torso and face with shadowy tendrils, immobilizing her.

In that state, Oliver focused the energy on his eyes and expanded his field of vision, examining the entire lab.

He discovered a space containing a large amount of mana below.

Oliver looked straight into the female warlock's eyes and asked.

"So, I'm going to ask about the suspicious location I found, can you please tell me if your Mother is there or not, truthfully or even lying? I will understand on my own."

With that, the shadowy tendril that had sealed the female warlock's mouth was released.

The female warlock looked at Oliver again, enveloped in fear.

It was as if she was looking at something that shouldn't exist in reality.

? ? ? ? ? ?

The Chimera Research Institute under the School of Life Magic. The bottom floor was filled with blood puddles everywhere.

With no air circulation, the pooled blood lay still in place. Suddenly, a tiny tremor rippled through one of the puddles, and a column of liquid sprouted, revealing a man.

It was none other than Oliver.

He casually wiped the blood off his face and looked around.

Although the surroundings were pitch dark, the lights turned on kindly, as if they had noticed Oliver's arrival.

Tic! Tiri… Tic!

Like the flickering bulbs when he first arrived at the research facility, Oliver used the slowly turning on lights as a guide to move forward.

The sound of splashing echoed as he walked over the blood covering the entire floor.

Splish. Splish. Splish. Splish.

As he moved forward, the air seemed to grow colder, and upon reaching his destination, he realized it was not an illusion.

A door greeted Oliver, and several meters around it were filled with high-density ice.

Feeling his body temperature rapidly being drained by the mere proximity of the ice, Oliver used a warming spell he had copied from Merlin to cover his body.

It may have seemed extravagant, but considering the level of cold, it was an appropriate measure.

Although it was just a feeling, he thought that exposure to this cold for even a few minutes would have significant effects on his body.

After covering himself with magical energy, Oliver entered the ice-filled room.

The room he entered after opening the door was covered in all directions with ice embedded with blood.

Whether due to the blood, the ice held traces of life force, making it difficult to find a person.

‘Is it some sort of camouflage?'

However, just as all camouflage could be distinguished upon closer inspection, Oliver managed to locate the familiar Willes.

Willes was half-buried in an ice wall, with a rather large wound on his torso.

‘It seems he was hit by an ice weapon…'

After assessing the injury on Willes's body, Oliver lifted his Tonfa like an ax to break the ice.

Thanks to the magical energy, spells, and life force that composed the ice, its hardness was almost like rock, so Oliver concentrated energy at the end of the Tonfa handle and struck it carefully.

Clang!! Clang!!! Clang!!

The sound of metal echoed, and the ice began to crack little by little.

"Are the two of you friends?"

A woman appeared behind Oliver, who was trying to free Willes, and asked.

She was dressed in a thin red dress, seemingly unaffected by the cold, as if her body was naturally warm. She sat casually on the ice and asked her question.

"Friends?"

"Trying to save him as soon as you saw him… why wouldn't you be?"

"Um… maybe, we're not."

After breaking all the ice, Oliver laid Willes down. He poured a healing potion on the wound, but surprisingly, instead of healing, the wound suddenly showed a rejection reaction and widened even more.

"Argh…!"

Even unconscious, Willes seemed to be in pain and groaned. Oliver watched him quietly.

"Did you, by any chance, inflict this wound using blood-based black magic?"

"More precisely, it's blood magic."

"Blood magic? …Ah, are you not a warlock but a wizard, Lady Bathory?"

Oliver asked, and the woman gave a slight smile. It meant he was correct.

"Correct… It's nice to meet you. I am Mother Bathory, the owner of the Bathory family."

(To be Continued)

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