“Arghhh!!”
The iron door has been completely shattered, and from within, hundreds of buckshot rounds are being rapidly discharged.
The brutes are utilizing their mana in an attempt to withstand and counterattack, but the shotgun’s power, enhanced by auxiliary magic consistently cast by Lennok, surpasses their defenses.
Lennok’s magic, meticulously developed through continuous research, provides protection to the gun barrel using mana, amplifies the gunpowder’s explosion, minimizes recoil, and rapidly dissipates heat.
The process of optimizing the act of shooting, achieved through a comprehensive understanding of the shotgun’s structure and precise application of magic to every component, has reached a level unparalleled by others.
Despite pulling the trigger faster than the blink of an eye, the shotgun astonishingly matched the speed and began firing like a machine gun.
Bang bang bang bang bang bang!!!
“Urrrrghhh!!”
“Gughhh……!!”
The firepower, transcending mere stopping power, evolved into a formidable defense in its own right.
As Lennok advanced, casually squeezing the trigger toward those invading the area he pushed forward, the bodies of the brutes clad in thick bulletproof vests were cleaved in two.
The screams emanating from these lungless bodies were no longer coherent human language.
In the corridor, constructed of pristine marble, a sticky pool of blood rapidly formed, but Lennok continued his advance without concern.
At the top floor of the building.
He blasted open the door of the spacious office, designed for the CEO, and stepped inside, facing an even more intense exchange of fire than before.
This time, not only bullets, but also various mana users charged directly with their bodies and equipment.
Crackle Sizzle!!
Chains of lightning erupted from Lennok’s fingertips, wreaking havoc in all directions.
[Chain Lightning]
Boom!!
The impeccably arranged spacious office descended into chaos in an instant, and the mana users who had rushed at Lennok fell helplessly.
Even though they knew there was no escape, they continued their desperate resistance. However, the moment they lost their balance from the impact of the magic Lennok cast, they were shot in the head and fell.
The security forces that filled the office rolled their lifeless eyes, and beyond the numerous bodies, a plump, elderly man sitting at the desk caught Lennok’s attention.
The man, drenched in sweat and trembling, couldn’t even bear to witness the tragedy unfolding before him.
“Sigh…”
With a sigh, the smoke-filled room released a cloud of blood-tinged air.
Lennok approached the man with heavy steps and perched himself on the desk.
Gazing down at the man’s quivering head, unable to lift it, Lennok inquired:
“Kelly Alves. Right?”
“Tha-that is…”
“You know why I’m here?”
“I heard… that you were tampering with the Cartel’s collaborators… So, our company too…!!”
“No.”
Lennok extended his index finger and gently touched it to Alves’s forehead, causing his body to stiffen.
He was a wizard who had effortlessly vanquished all the security forces with a mere gesture.
Lennok was the most renowned lightning wizard Van of the 49th district, a name known to all.
Recently, he had begun to dominate the underworld’s arms industry, from Dyke Corporation to the elite mercenary group Antares office, and even collaborating with city agents – a subject of ominous rumors.
He was taken aback when he heard that Lennok had started to antagonize the Cartel, but he never expected to face him in this manner.
Just by channeling mana into Alves’s head, the heat could melt his brain – an unsurprising outcome.
Looking down at Alves’s face, frozen and unable to wipe away the dripping sweat, Lennok remarked:
“To be precise, I’m wrecking the businesses each councilman has secretly taken for themselves.”
Tap, tap.
“If you shake the wallets they’ve been secretly fattening with backdoor money from the Cartel, wouldn’t they react?”
“How did you… Ack!!”
Alves gasped in shock and covered his mouth, but Lennok paid him no attention.
Among the elite agents, according to information provided by Evelyn Marcia, the Cartel had been surreptitiously funneling businesses they controlled to the council members, thus inflating their wealth.
The list that Evelyn had handed over to Lennok contained the identities of these council members and the businesses associated with them.
Armed with this knowledge, Lennok commenced dismantling the relatively less guarded businesses one by one.
The advantages of this course of action extended beyond merely striking at the Cartel’s branches and were threefold:
Firstly, it curtailed the Cartel’s direct source of funds by dismantling businesses that collaborated with them.
Secondly, it instilled caution in council members who had been accepting kickbacks from the Cartel.
Thirdly, it made other businesses wary of entering fundamental partnerships with the Cartel.
The Cartel, known as the Triumvirate in the underworld, represented a vast and intricately structured corporate conglomerate. Therefore, a protracted conflict favored Lennok, allowing him to achieve much more within this context.
‘It’s difficult for high-ranking officers like Virgil to move freely, so the initiative is always with us.’
The sphere of concern for Lennok and the Crimson Gale Mercenary Office, which included Killian from Dyke Corporation, was limited to the investors in Jenny’s business and the pub that served as their headquarters.
As long as it didn’t escalate into an all-out war, the Cartel would inevitably bear the brunt of the losses.
‘Before they feel the crisis and gather their full strength, I need to focus on reducing and diverting the Cartel’s power as much as possible.’
While expanding Jenny’s enterprise, Lennok continued to inflict losses upon the Cartel.
Throughout this process, he expanded and safeguarded the scale of their own enterprise while countering and balancing the power of rival organizations.
Maintaining this equilibrium was challenging, but thanks to the information Evelyn had provided, progress had been relatively smooth so far.
“How the hell did the information leak that we were funding the city council…?” Alves murmured despondently, seemingly resigned to his fate.
This reaction was to be expected.
Despite outwardly presenting itself as a legitimate company, their business, conducted clandestinely under a different guise, involved illicit money lending.
Designed to ruthlessly drain the most vulnerable strata of society, it was an ideal operation for handling significant sums of money while evading substantial taxation.
Once such attention was attracted, whether from the Cartel or the council members, they would undoubtedly distance themselves, leaving Alves with nothing but a grim end.
Understanding this, Lennok adopted a slightly softer tone as he spoke.
“It’s not difficult to spare your life here.”
“…”
“If you tell me who the Cartel officers managing businesses like yours are, I’ll help you change your identity and start a new life.”
“Uh, uh…”
Even if Alves considered Lennok’s offer to be an obvious falsehood, how could one facing imminent death resist such a tempting lifeline?
Alves’s eyes flickered uncertainly.
A lifeline thrown to someone who had believed all hope was lost and had given up could appear exceedingly enticing.
Lennok did not rush him, waiting patiently instead.
The lingering scent of blood and the lifeless bodies strewn across the office would undoubtedly influence his decision.
It didn’t take long for Alves to break his silence.
“The, the executives don’t involve themselves much in our business. It’s the Cartel’s acting managers who directly handle the financial statements and the flow of funds…”
“What’s the name of the officer managing your business site?”
“Gi, Gira…”
At that moment, a dark shadow descended upon the full-length window at the back of the office.
Both Lennok and Alves turned their heads.
Crash!!
The office window shattered as something burst in from the outside.
“Ahahhh!!”
Alves, unable to evade the flying shards of glass, let out an uncontrollable scream, while Lennok narrowed his eyes.
‘It’s a building well over 30 floors. Easily over a few hundred meters in height to reveal themselves from this distance means…’
This was compelling evidence that the intruder possessed extraordinary physical abilities.
As expected, the man who had broken through the window got up unscathed after crashing through the thick glass of the high-rise building and stretched leisurely.
“Ughhh!! Used a bit of strength after a long time… a bit tired now…”
The man, bald and heavily made up, was dressed in a tight leather jacket and had a peculiar appearance.
Tall but exceedingly lean, his look defied easy categorization, whether it be as a death metal enthusiast or a biker.
Ignoring his surroundings, the moment Alves saw the man’s face, his expression brightened instantly.
“Girard sir…!!”
Alves, his face bleeding from the glass shards, crawled on the ground and clung to Girard’s legs.
“I, I believed in you!! You came to save me…!! I, Alves, as a member of the Cartel, have been resisting without passing any information to that guy…!!”
“…”
Just moments ago, Alves had been on the brink of revealing secrets, but now he was vehemently reaffirming his loyalty as if nothing had transpired. His behavior was quite the spectacle.
Girard, finally noticing Alves clinging to his leg, twitched his heavily adorned eyes.
“What? You’re not dead yet?”
“…What?”
Those were Alves’ final words.
With a casual flick of his hand, Girard cleaved Alves’s head in two, exposing its contents. Gazing down at Alves’s lifeless form, Girard spoke with an oddly gentle expression.
“The defeated should die quickly. What’s the use of living longer anyway?”
Lennok’s face involuntarily twisted at the gruesome sight.
Killing could have been executed simply by beheading or a gunshot to the head, but splitting the head in half was purely a matter of taste.
Lennok stretched his stiff neck and rose from the desk against which he had been leaning.
“It seems the Cartel has no dress code. To maintain an officer position with such makeup and attire is quite something.”
“Whaaat? How do you know I’m a Cartel officer? That pig must have squealed everything!!”
Squeak!
“…”
“I did well killing him early. My judgment is never wrong.”
Girard, contentedly stroking his own head, momentarily rendered Lennok speechless with his eccentric behavior.
“Well, our boss doesn’t care as long as we do our job and submit our performance reports on time. In fact, he has no interest in the underlings.”
Girard nonchalantly replied, scratching his back with his lengthy arms.
Swoosh!
Naturally lowering his arm, Girard’s pale hand now held a lengthy saw blade.
The blade, seemingly appearing out of thin air, was impressively long.
Despite its blade-like form, it appeared to be as long as Girard’s own height.
“You have to watch your step and align your words with the bosses. That’s why I was a bit late for today’s appointment.”
Lick.
Girard licked the blade with his long tongue, smearing it with blood.
“The wizard of the 49th district. I’ve received the gifts you’ve sent. Everyone was so moved, almost to the point of bursting with joy. Thanks to you, our losses are not insignificant.”
“Is that so?”
“Hehehehe… I should have acted before that woman Eolara started meddling. Because of the disturbance in our jurisdiction, we ended up looking incompetent. How are you going to take responsibility?”
“Why should I take responsibility for that?”
Lennok responded by firmly grasping the shotgun he had placed on the desk.
Click!!
“Ask the woman Virgil let escape.”
“Aaaah!! That’s not possible!!”
Girard shrieked, frantically waving his saw blade.
“Virgil is especially favored by the boss among the executives. What if the boss remembers my name because of a trivial issue? Do you want to die?”
“…”
Dealing with such an individual was confounding.
The way he referred to his superiors, disclosing internal information that the Cartel boss didn’t even recall the names of his subordinates, and his eccentric demeanor of wanting to remain silent despite his appearance.
‘The more I think about it, the more it gives me a headache.’
Even with a wizard’s formidable intellect, there were people in the world who defied comprehension.
Lennok gave up on trying to comprehend the enigma called Girard.
After all, the crucial fact was that this man, whether it was his own blood or someone else’s, did not hesitate to shed it.
As Lennok aimed the shotgun’s barrel upward, Girard let out an eerie laugh.
“Right? Now that I think about it, you’re the damned bastard I have to kill anyway.”
Kabooom!!
As the grotesquely grinning Girard charged forward, Lennok squeezed the trigger.
[Projectile Grouping Adjustment]
[Precise Shot]
[Concentrated Fire]
[Recoil Control]
[Armor-Piercing Rounds]
[Five-Round Burst]
Bang bang bang bang bang!
In an instant, six auxiliary spells were seamlessly integrated to enhance the shot, arresting Girard’s lightning-fast advance in its tracks.
The stopping power was formidable enough to immobilize a Cartel officer-level mana user right on the spot.
Throughout the conversation, Lennok had already arranged a sequence of spells.
[Shadow Eater]
A shadowy maw emerged from the ground, clamping down on Girard’s elongated legs.
[Wind Bloom]
A gust of wind from outside the building surged into the office, dispersing blood and glass shards in all directions.
In that crucial moment when Girard attempted to break through amid the airborne debris,
[Blood Bound]
The suspended blood droplets exploded, generating a potent blast.
Boom!!
“Whaaat?!”
Caught by the explosion near his temple, Girard’s head jerked back and forth like a spring.
A brief lapse in consciousness created a small opening.
Only blood droplets as tiny as a fingernail could trigger such a communal spell when infused with a bundle of magic. Although it couldn’t match the scope, efficiency, or power of the blood magic employed by blood wizards, it was an impactful hit that couldn’t be dismissed.
That fleeting moment was enough.
[Exploding Flame Sphere]
[Triple Fire – Repulsion]
Boom!!
In an instant, three fireballs encircled and erupted around Girard, constricting and closing in on him.
Lennok extended his right hand, commanding all the flames to converge at once, while his other hand gracefully formed intricate seals.
With a clenched fist, a crimson sphere of fire began to spin, closing in on Girard.
[Flame Core Prison]
Sizzle and crackle!!
This flame, initially intangible, acquired physicality, guided by a potent will, and sustained by formidable magic.
It was a superheated cell crafted for the solitary confinement of a single individual.
The sequence of chained spells unfolded swiftly, leaving no room for resistance. Though they appeared coincidental at first glance, every move Lennok made masterfully manipulated Girard’s senses, exploiting the slightest gaps in his perception.
This was the essence of the distinctive application of fire magic, knowledge extracted through the interrogation of Byzen.
While Byzen possessed only theoretical understanding and couldn’t manifest it properly, Lennok effortlessly brought the fiery prison to life.
It was a unique spell designed to inflict a torturous demise, consuming all the available oxygen, constricting the space, and plunging the captive into a nightmarish blaze.
Crackle and pop!!
“Gyaaaaaa?!”
A typical mana user would have surrendered the moment they found themselves trapped within the Flame Core Prison. However, immediately following a strange sound and a piercing scream from within the fiery enclosure:
Boom!!
Girard, tearing through the wall of flames, burst forth with his eyes rolled back, hurtling toward Lennok.
“……!!!”
The shortest route to Lennok, who stood with his back to the office desk.
As Girard sprinted through the diminishing gap between them, he vanished from view, his leg plunging into Lennok’s abdomen.
Crack!!
The continuously active shield shattered in clusters, swiftly bringing Lennok within striking range. Recognizing he was about to endure a direct blow, Lennok triggered an impact spell right before him, propelling his body backward.
Boom!!
Lennok’s body was flung through the shattered office window, and astonishingly, Girard let out an eerie scream as he leaped out of the building.
In an incredible feat, Girard had shattered the binding force of the Flame Core Prison at its zenith and escaped.
Lennok, focused on maintaining the prison at its peak strength, reacted a fraction too late, resulting in his expulsion from the building.
It was inevitable that Lennok would be cast outside the structure.
“Keheheheheheheh!!!”
With blood seeping from his bitten tongue and his saw blade extended, Girard pursued Lennok, descending the building’s facade.
“It hurts, damn you, you’re screwed now!!”
“Hufff……!!”
Despite witnessing it, Lennok struggled to comprehend the high-level vertical maneuver.
Gritting his teeth, he turned his head while descending.
The emergence of such a formidable adversary had not been anticipated, but it didn’t mean he was unprepared for such a contingency.
Having accomplished his initial objective, it was time to transition to the next phase.
Capturing a rabid dog necessitated a proportionate investment.
Fortunately, all the necessary preparations had already been made.
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