Chapter 163
Chapter 163
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 163
Chapter Title: Army Mage (2)
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Sudden as it was, looking back now, Oliver realized he'd received a lot of unfair orders in his life.
For instance, at the orphanage, he could only use the bathroom at set times, had to stay quiet at all times, and wasn't allowed to scream even when he was getting hit.
Whether it was the orphanage director beating him or one of the other kids, it was the same.
Even after moving to the mines, nothing really changed.
He had to eat the bare minimum, work at least twelve hours a day, and if he didn't meet his quota, he had to work even more.
But back then, Oliver didn't even know that was unfair.
He couldn't know what unfairness was since he'd never known any other world.
And yet, this Oliver—thanks to his time in the world—could now vaguely recognize what unfairness was.
The army mage's order was unfair.
"Try not to die if possible..."
That was not something you said to someone attacking with waves of flame from all sides.
Dodging and enduring the searing waves of fire, Oliver asked very politely.
"Um... could we possibly stop fighting?"
"Why? You gonna apologize?"
The red-skinned army mage countered, flicking his hands slightly.
It looked like a casual gesture, but the mana gathered in his hands linked with the stone pillar, manipulating the surrounding flames on a massive scale.
Following the flow of mana from the stone pillar, part of the flames surged into the sky and merged, slamming mercilessly down onto the ground.
It resembled lightning... no, correction.
It fell from above just like lightning, but it didn't look anything like it.
Lightning was a natural phenomenon, whereas this was closer to a calamity.
Roooaaarrrrr—!!
A fiery typhoon devouring the air as it descended.
It dyed everything around it red, and Oliver leaped sideways to evade it.
The heat was intense, the air thin—moving even a little left him breathless—but he didn't stop, launching a dozen Black Darts loaded with anger bombs.
"If I apologize, will you let me off?"
"Hmm... doesn't feel sincere."
The army mage wrapped the flames around himself like a curtain, blocking all the Black Darts.
No, not blocking—he incinerated the attacks entirely.
The Black Darts burned away in an instant, and the anger bombs inside detonated, trying to neutralize the flames.
But what was this?
As the explosions went off, the army mage manipulated the mana within the flames, using the blast force to amplify the fire's power even further.
Then he flicked his mana-infused fingers again.
The fiery typhoon embedded in the ground reorganized along the mana flow and chased after Oliver.
Like a beast made of flame.
"Ah, this has no end..."
Oliver extracted mana, then intervened in the relatively weaker-controlled flames, seizing control.
"Hah...!"
The mana gap was huge, so it wasn't easy, but Oliver's control was slightly superior, letting him wrest away a small portion of the flames.
Oliver condensed the seized flames and reversed their flow upward in an explosive burst.
Surprisingly, the fiery typhoon stretched upward along the path Oliver had opened with heat and explosion.
Maybe this method worked.
But Oliver didn't stop there, immediately wrapping his entire body in five layers of Black Suit.
The flames and heat continuously damaged the Black Suit, so this much was necessary.
'Short-range melee combat for now... Huh?'
Oliver thought as he spotted the stone javelin hurtling right at his face.
A javelin mixed with flame, rock, earth, and mana flew like a cannonball toward Oliver's face.
Oliver dodged by tilting his head sideways, just like the first time.
The difference was that it didn't explode on impact—instead, it bounced off the mana barrier created by the stone pillar, spinning wildly back into the sky.
And then—
"Unlike clumsy black mages or mages, your physical abilities seem decent too. Impressive."
The army mage closed in instantly, snatching the javelin from midair and attacking Oliver.
The javelin slammed down with full force.
Flames erupted in an explosion where Oliver had dodged, and he had no choice but to take the hit.
Two layers of his five-layer Black Suit vanished.
Tadak—Bang!
The army mage chased after the flung Oliver, swinging the stone javelin from right to left in a wide arc.
Thanks to that, Oliver had no time to roll away; he manipulated his Black Suit to forcibly twist his body and evade, then regained his stance.
Crack—Crack—his joints and muscles screamed.
Now it was clear. He needed to work out.
"I'm truly sorry."
Oliver swung his quarterstaff wrapped in Black Suit as he spoke.
The army mage responded in kind, swinging his stone javelin.
"I said it doesn't feel sincere."
Quarterstaff met stone javelin.
Like steel clashing steel, a clang rang out along with a sizable explosion.
Not just the flame magic in the stone javelin—Oliver's Wrath Boom detonated too.
Wrath Boom
[Explosion amplified by synergy]
Magic and black magic intertwined in the blast, amplifying the power not just twofold but fivefold.
Thanks to that, the flames cloaking the army mage's body were cleanly blown away. He looked quite surprised too.
"You really—"
"—Minion."
At Oliver's call, the Minion hidden in his clothes burst out, spitting Hate Bullets at the mage.
Pew—! Pew—! Pew—! Pew—!
Hate Bullet
[Fired from Minion]
Even without his flame armor, the army mage dodged them all with his dynamic vision.
Oliver had thought it was perfect timing now that the defensive magic was gone, but it was a shame.
"Is there really no way we can make peace?"
"If you wanna talk like that, stop attacking first!"
Dodging Oliver's attacks with cat-like agility, the army mage wrapped one hand in flames and swung.
Whoosh—flames roared!!
A flamethrower-like wave of fire engulfed Oliver, sending him flying backward.
The power was weaker, so the damage was minimal—but only relatively speaking.
The mana-infused flames were strong enough to burn one layer of Black Suit, and the heat drained Oliver's stamina.
'This is bad. I need to save mana for escaping, and emotions aren't plentiful anymore.'
But trying to extract the mage's emotions or mana right in front of him could get him killed in an instant.
Extraction left an opening.
Maybe bind him with Imprisonment first, then extract? But that seemed unlikely too.
With the fresh flame magic around him, he'd burn before being bound.
Flick—
The army mage snapped his fingers, pulling earth and stone from the ground to merge with the surrounding flames, forming multiple projectiles.
They looked far from ordinary.
[Black Cube]
Black Cube
[Six shields enclosing target]
Oliver gave up strengthening his defense and used six Black Shields to enclose the army mage.
As the army mage hesitated at the unfamiliar black magic, Oliver activated another.
[Wrath Boom]
Wrath Boom
[Inside Black Cube - synergy explosion]
An anger bomb born inside the Black Cube.
The army mage's eyes widened as he realized too late, but Oliver activated half a step faster.
The mage's meteor projectiles synergized with Oliver's anger bomb, causing an explosion that shattered the Black Cube.
Not just shattering—the shockwave hurled Oliver backward.
Honestly, he hoped the guy would just die now.
It was a calculated strike catching him off guard, and emotions were reaching their limit.
Any more use, and they'd bottom out.
Using a Filterette was too wasteful.
So he wished he'd die. Preferably with an intact corpse.
If properly wrecked, he could recycle with another body.
But Oliver's modest wish didn't come true.
Proof: the stone pillar sharing mana hadn't extinguished and kept operating.
With the intent to press the attack, Oliver poured his remaining emotions into crafting an artificial soul from mana, emotions, and life force, then mixed it into his Black Suit and cloaked his body.
He didn't stop there—inspired by Joe's idea, he formed Black Armor into a round mace at the end of his quarterstaff, then charged straight through the exploding smoke blooming where the army mage had been.
It felt like striking a mana shield, and the army mage flew back, crashing into the stone pillar.
Bam!!
Surprisingly, despite being swept in the explosion and hit by such a massive attack, he looked fine.
The only "damage" was dust and some scorch marks.
Or was that impressive? He'd worn flames over his whole body without a single scorch before.
Having taken two huge attacks in a row, he landed leisurely on the ground.
Not content, he spread his arms, recalling the mana dispersed to the stone pillars back into his body, instantly recovering stamina and mana.
It was a shocking sight, but Oliver was surprised for a different reason.
That stone pillar could be used like that?
The army mage dusted himself off, took a few steps forward, and asked calmly—no anger, just a hint of admiration and acknowledgment.
"...What's your name?"
"Pardon?"
"What's your name? ...For the record, I'm Kevin Dunbard, from the Mage Tower's Elemental School."
The unexpected introduction caught Oliver off guard, but he answered.
"Ah, my name is..."
His words caught in his throat midway.
He was on a secret city mission right now. He couldn't reveal his name.
"...I'm really sorry, but could I tell you next time? I know it's rude, but I have my reasons."
Fortunately, the army mage—no, Kevin Dunbard—nodded understandingly instead of getting angry.
"Not from Kel's Free Solo Army, then. Makes sense—with skills like yours... Ah, from Randa?"
Ho... Oliver was inwardly surprised, though he didn't show it.
He'd heard mages were smart, but this was next level.
"Whatever, doesn't matter. Everyone has their circumstances. Especially someone with your skills."
The army mage saw through Oliver's Black Suit.
He noticed the artificial soul overlaid on it.
"...I acknowledge you. Nameless black mage. So I won't hold back anymore."
With those words, the mana surged.
Oliver instinctively lunged forward to attack, but this time he was half a step too slow.
The surrounding flames, as if doused in oil, couldn't contain the pouring mana and exploded outward, massively roiling and engulfing Oliver from all sides.
Rooooaaaarrrrrr!!!!
This wasn't something you could dodge by sensing mana.
The flames, feeding on mana to balloon explosively, soon swallowed the entire area encircled by the stone pillars.
Not a dot or line, but the whole canvas.
A literal sea of fire.
Even worse, matching the mana pouring from Kevin's body, the inferno formed artificial currents, starting to rotate like a typhoon.
The flames burned Oliver's Black Suit amid the fierce flow, but he endured and closed in on Kevin.
The heat and pressure made even advancing difficult, but he had no other choice.
Countering with fire-based black magic would just burn up too.
"Not holding back, but... impressive?"
Kevin said from the calm eye of the red typhoon protected by mana.
Leisurely, he moved his fingers, drawing stone and earth from the ground he stood on, mixing it with fire and compressing it.
Then he pointed at Oliver.
Shiiiieeeek!!
Meteor projectiles hurtling at Oliver.
Oliver realized he couldn't dodge. The mana-mixed flames restricted his movements like a raging current.
Only one option left: make use of it.
Oliver manipulated the Black Armor on his quarterstaff into Wrath Boom and detonated the incoming meteor projectile.
The black magic and magic fusion caused an explosion so massive it halted even the fiery typhoon, flinging Oliver to crash into the opposite stone pillar.
An enormous amount of mana was felt.
"You wouldn't..."
The army mage's words laced with unease.
As expected, Oliver placed his hand on the stone pillar and extracted the mana.
"Nice mana."