“How did you manage to break in? The defensive magic on this facility isn’t that simple.”
They sensed somebody’s presence on the other side of the room. A woman strolled out of the darkness.
“Another research group? Or a spy sent from abroad? Hmm, you guys look too young for such a violent mission.”
It was a woman with bobbed hair.
Wearing a long lab coat that reached her calves, every time she walked, there was a clicking sound coming from her high heels striking the floor. She looked at the cylinder in which the subject was contained.
“Given the fact that you killed valuable data producing material, you guys are clearly not part of the research industry. So who the hell are you guys?”
“Are you the general manager of this facility?”
“I’m the one who will be asking questions, not you. You should know your place.”
As she spoke, the nearby mana changed subtly for just a moment. Desir sensed a spell on the level of the Fifth-Circle based on the amount of mana she was using.
‘At this time, Fifth-Circle wizards are unlikely to be common, even in the Magic Kingdom.’
Desir guessed that she must hold a rather high position in this plan. Given her demeanor, it wasn’t particularly difficult to guess, and wasn’t far from the truth.
The director of the research institute, Totlina, spoke while reaching out towards Desir.
“Oh well, guess I can just drag you over and perform my own investigation.”
Her spell was finally invoked. The whole building shook as hundreds of earthen spears rose up out of the ground. They descended on Desir’s party like waves.
[Burst Fire]
*Boom*
Dozens of fire bolts were instantly invoked by Desir and collided with the ground. None of the hundreds of stone spears retained their shape. But that wasn’t the end of it. Totlina invoked magic again.
[Stalactite Rain]
Sharp stalactites began to form on the ceiling and soon poured down on Desir’s party.
*Boom*
*Boooom*
She had invoked this spell at a tremendous speed. However, Desir’s response was almost instantaneous.
[Sigh of Kizard]
Totlina whistled, betraying her slight admiration for Desir, since he had managed to stop two consecutive attacks.
“Oh, you’re pretty good.”
She spoke with a relaxed smile.
“I’ll put my heart into this just a little bit more.”
Totlina beckoned and the walls of the lab began to wriggle like a bunch of living creatures.
As the research conducted here was dangerous and uncertain, the laboratory was not only equipped with defensive facilities; the building itself was constructed out of solid stone and concrete. This made it the best battleground for Totlina, an earth attribute wizard. She held the utmost confidence in beating any enemy with her home-field advantage.
*Swish*
The development speed of a Fifth-Circle wizard is always very high. Her magic was no exception to this, as it devastated the place Desir had been standing just moments before. Desir deployed defensive magic, blocking such spells, and shouted out a command to Pram.
“Pram, open the way.”
As if expecting this command, Pram dashed forward towards Totrina. He flitted along a path, as if enhanced with speed and reflex magic, narrowly dodging the numerous spells that Totlina flung out. Tortlina snorted.
“What a riot!”
[Scream of Wriggling Earth]
Fourth-Circle magic.
Totlina was powerful enough to invoke Fourth-Circle spells in just five seconds.
*Crack*
Parts of the stone walls and floors were compressed into the shape of whips, and within a few moments, dozens of them could be seen. It was clearly a powerful magic. Any place the whip passed was destroyed, leaving nothing but a gaping hole.. Countless whips blocked the way forward while the rest rushed forward towards Pram directly.
“Haah!”
Pram did not slow down in the slightest, even as the menacing whips bore down on him. His rapier flashed brilliantly and several whips fell to the ground. However, they regenerated in an instant. It was impossible to clear the way by removing these whips one by one.
[Scream of Wriggling Earth] was a notorious spell among swordsmen. The infinitely regenerating whips gave a wizard complete control over the battlefield, limiting the movement and actions of their opponents. For swordsmen who need to close distance and fight directly, the spell was infamous for just how oppressive it could be. Truly a spell that played into the ego of wizards of the Magic Kingdom.
‘It’s said that earth attribute wizards that reach the Fourth-Circle must develop magic like this in order to deal with swordsmen.’
Pram recalled the things he had learned while training with Desir. The most important thing he had learnt from the training was how to remain calm and cope with unexpected situations. He had to rely on the hard work he had put into honing his swordcraft.
‘This magic has a mechanism in which every whip attacks enemies charging the caster from head on. But, if an opponent were to attack the wizard from a large enough distance… ’
Pram was not afraid of getting swarmed with whips and approached Tortlina without thinking further. It was an act that could only be pulled off due to his full trust that he placed in his party members.
Approaching a certain distance, Pram pulled his sword back as if drawing a bow. With an explosive burst of power, he stepped forward and launched his Blankšum rapier towards the wizard with all of his power.
As he did this, Aura gathered at the tip of the rapier and was concentrated into a single point. It was the technique of concentrating Aura until the durability of your sword reached its limit. It was one of the techniques that Pram learned from Professor Hersaint-Blanc to control the strength of one’s Aura.
A Blankšum sword is strong enough to hold all the Aura a user could possibly pour into it. This was the reason why it was often referred to as a material with infinite durability. As a result of this, the power of the sword that Pram had chucked far exceeded Fourth-Circle magic.
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*Baaaam*
The whips burst apart in all directions as the rapier flashed by. A path had momentarily opened.
“Adjest!’
Right on queue, as he called, Adjest kicked off against the ground and leaped forward. Totlina quickly attempted to deploy a spell as Adjest swiftly narrowed the distance to close-combat length.
All that Totlina could do was defend herself. She had thoroughly lost the initiative.
[Dancing Thorns]
Up from the ground sprang a thorned rose, surrounding Totlina in an attempt to buy her breathing room.
*Kagang*
Adjest’s sword struck the stone thorns, showering the room in sparks.
Totlina barely managed to fend off Adjest’s attack, but Adjest had already gained the initiative, allowing her to pressure Totlina. Eventually, her relentless attacks gave her the opening she needed.
[Ice Speaker]
A flood of magic attacks were launched by Adjest.
It took a bit longer to compute and invoke upper tiered magic, and Adjest did not allow Totlina any opportunity to reverse the tables.
*Kagagang*
Totlina’s magic and Adjest’s sword clashed fiercely. Enough sparks had been generated at the contact point between the two parties that there was sufficient heat to even start a fire.
In this brief confrontation between the two forces, it was already clear that the situation was favorable for Desir’s party. No, rather, Totlina found herself being pushed back little by little.
‘Who the hell are these guys?’
With her skills, she thought she could quickly subdue the enemy without causing much damage to the research facility.
But it was purely her delusion. Desir’s party was not at a level that could be handled with composure and restraint.
Totlina was forced to gather the magic she was spending to keep the others in check. She wanted to invoke higher tiered magic to see if she could win.
[Stone Break]
While Adjest responded to the magic just sent, Totlina suddenly widened the distance between them before invoking another spell.
[Vindell Earth]
Fourth-Circle defensive magic.
As the magic was deployed, the stones and rubble lying around the room were lifted up and compressed around Totlina.
A cube-shaped wall was soon formed.
It was magic that was developed with one purpose in mind… defense. No matter how strong a blade filled with Aura was, it was not easy to break through this magic. As Totlina breathed deeply in relief and tried to calculate a Fifth-Circle spell, they pierced the wall.
*Bang*
*Bang*
*Bang*
A series of loud clashes rang out and cracks appeared on the wall of the cube. A long time ago, Romantica had encountered this magic when fighting against a leader of the Outsiders who was attacking the Magic Tower. For her, it used to be a magic strong enough that she couldn’t even conceive the idea of breaking it, but things had changed.
Romantica now had the ability to penetrate even Fourth-Circle defensive magic.
Totlina, who saw the wall of the cube beginning to collapse, shouted urgently.
“Wait… Wait!”
“Are you trying to buy time with such a lame trick?”
Adjest approached Totlina immediately. Piles of stones and debris lay scattered around Adjest.
“What a waste of five circles.”
Desir’s party had been harshly trained by Desir for the past year and had received all kinds of experience as a result. They were now too much for a lone Fifth-Circle wizard to deal with on their own.
Seeing the approaching Adjest, Totlina crawled backward in fear. Her previously relaxed appearance was nowhere to be found.
“Shit-!”
Totlina tried to invoke magic out of sheer desperation, but the magical array in front of her scattered instantly. It didn’t take her long to realize that it was magic inversion.
But Totlina couldn’t believe it. There was certainly no wizard here who possessed a higher circle than herself. It was impossible.
She traced back the mana to figure out who was blocking her spell invocation, and soon realized it was the boy.
Totlina, who looked at Desir, could plainly see that he had blocked her magic with tremendous computational speed.
“You little bastard… !!”
Tortlina cried out.
But her consciousness was reaped.
“Shut up.”
Before she knew it, Adjest, who had still been approaching Totlina, punched her in the stomach.
“… !!!”
Totlina immediately collapsed into a heap.
No matter how strong Fifth-Circle wizards were, their bodies were no different from ordinary people. Adjest looked down in contempt at the fallen Totlina.
It took less than five minutes to subdue the Fifth-Circle wizard. The result showed that they had achieved considerable growth, but no one was happy about it.
“This is a Shadow World, which means it actually happened.”
“… Yes.”
It was clear that people would flock here shortly, after having caused quite a ruckus in their fight. Des1r began to destroy the lab by invoking various spells before the interruption could arrive.
—-
Chapter brought to you by SlopypeepS.
???: …
ED2: Purplemen101
TLC: N/A (this could be you!)
QC: Dr Lock
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