Chapter 240
Chapter 240
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 240
Chapter Title: Mother Bathory (1)
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Tanhwa, the Greedy Fire.
Oliver chanted the incantation and clasped his hands together.
Soon, black flames rose up, moving at Oliver's will to devour the ice magic flying in from all directions.
"You idiot! You think you can consume ice magic, your natural counter?!"
The female black mage shouted, and she wasn't wrong.
Assuming sufficient skill, flame magic could burn away even others' spells and use them as fuel, but ice magic was the sole exception.
This stemmed from the properties of magic itself—even Willes's flames, which burned everything in their path, had repeatedly been blocked by the female black mages' ice magic as proof.
Magic power, the caster's ability, and the rules governing magic above all that.
Yet Tanhwa, infused with emotion and mana, lightly ignored those rules.
"......!!"
"??!!"
"No way..."
Tanhwa devoured the ice magic in one gulp, instantly swelling in size to blanket the entire space.
Like a savage beast eyeing its prey.
Kwahwahwahwahwahang————!!!!
Along with the distinctive roar of air igniting, screams echoed from every direction.
The female black mages' screams.
Kyahahahahahaha—!!!
Kkyaaaaaah!!!!
Cough...! Coughhh!!!
The fire... the fire won't go out...!!
The surprise attack via blood puddle teleportation, combined with Tanhwa's preemptive strike, produced astonishing synergy, instantly neutralizing the enemies' numerical advantage.
In fact, they now had to focus on not being completely incinerated by the ravenous flames.
'I need research samples and bodies for materials too.'
As Tanhwa, absorbing mana to grow its bulk, tried to swallow everything around it, Oliver exerted control like muzzling a wild horse.
Tanhwa, rampaging in all directions with mindless malice, came to an abrupt halt. It formed over a dozen heteromorphic eyes that stared fixedly at Oliver.
As if protesting against the interruption.
But instead of granting its plea, Oliver clenched his fist to suppress the flames.
He couldn't afford to let them all die.
Just like when facing Marie, the flames let out an agonizing, indescribable scream from its entire form, its momentum visibly waning.
In normal circumstances, this would have been the moment to seek a counterattack opportunity, but after Tanhwa's rampage, no one capable of fighting back remained.
Not only the horde of zombies, but over twenty female black mages had been reduced to ash in mere seconds.
It was powerful indeed, but equally difficult to control.
"Guh... guh... W-What... are you...???"
Fortunately, they hadn't been completely wiped out.
A lone surviving female black mage was visible, crawling away desperately with her one remaining arm.
Oliver approached her, and she screamed hoarsely, her face a whirlwind of confusion, terror, doubt, fear, sorrow, and bewilderment as she struggled to distance herself from him.
Ignoring her, Oliver drew near and injected 'Sedative' to extract her emotions and stabilize her mind and body, dulling her panic and fear.
Thanks to that, the female black mage became coherent enough for conversation.
"B-Black magic...? Who... the hell are you?"
As soon as she calmed, she eyed Oliver suspiciously and asked.
"I'm Xenon Bright, an employee of the Magic Tower. For now, at least."
His cryptic answer furrowed her brow.
"N-No way. Are you another black mage who infiltrated the Tower like that bitch?"
"That bitch? Who might you be referring to...? But first, could you answer my question? If I want to meet your mother, where should I go? She seems to be here somewhere, but I don't know the exact location."
"Our mother...? Why do you want to meet her?"
Oliver was slightly impressed.
Though he'd used black magic to calm her, some fear lingered, yet she overcame it to show affection and concern for her mother.
"Well... I wanted to ask why you raided this lab? I'm here on work, but... I have a few personal questions too."
It was a terribly insincere answer, but Oliver meant it. For some reason, he felt delving deeper into the incident required meeting her.
However, the female black mage took it as him disrespecting her mother and flew into a rage.
"You smug bastard!! What? You have questions? You think a worm like you is worthy of questioning our mother?!"
Oliver calmed her again to clear the misunderstanding.
"Ah, sorry. I didn't mean to disrespect your mother. I really am just curious."
"I don't care what you're curious about—give up! Mother will finish off your ally soon and come here to deal with you too."
"My ally?"
Oliver tilted his head briefly, but soon realized who she meant.
Willes.
"If I'd known you were this skilled, I'd have sent you to Mother first... But it doesn't matter. Mother will avenge us. Avenge me and my sisters!"
"Hmm... Willes—no, Mr. Will—is pretty strong, so I think he'll be fine?"
"Pffft...! Doesn't matter. He might resist, but Mother will win in the end. That man can't possibly match her."
The female black mage's words weren't bravado; they were sincere conviction.
Honestly, Oliver couldn't easily picture Willes losing, but he couldn't ignore her firm belief either, so he asked.
"That's troubling. I have questions for him too, so he can't die yet... I'd like to help. Could you tell me where your mother is?"
"You think I'll tell you? Just kill me."
She answered, having overcome her fear of death. It spoke volumes about her grief over her lost sisters and her hatred for Oliver.
"You'll get nothing from me."
The female black mage, resolute in her determination.
Oliver felt not anger or annoyance at her defiance, but admiration—and a touch of exasperation.
With his ability to read emotions, he knew she wouldn't break easily.
As he pondered how to persuade her, Oliver muttered.
"Hmm... Should I pull her teeth?"
Her flinch at his low, utterly sincere murmur was telling.
After all, it sounded like he planned to torture her by extracting her teeth.
But Oliver harbored no special malice.
He'd simply heard tooth-pulling was an effective persuasion method. Arthur, with his military experience, had vouched for it—quite convincingly.
As Oliver seriously considered it, the female black mage paled but steeled herself anew. Shaking his head at the sight, Oliver said.
"Nah, that won't work."
"......?"
"No tools for pulling teeth, and you don't seem the type to break that easily... Impressive."
Oliver was genuinely admiring her.
As she grew bewildered by his unpredictability, Oliver's shadow extended tendrils to bind her torso and face, immobilizing her.
In that state, he focused his eyes to expand his field of vision, surveying the entire lab.
He detected a space below teeming with dense mana.
Oliver stared straight into her eyes and asked.
"Then, I'll name a suspicious spot. Just answer truthfully—or lie—whether your mother is there. I'll figure it out myself."
With that, the shadow tendril sealing her mouth released.
Terror washed over her again as she gazed at Oliver.
As if beholding something that shouldn't exist in reality.
Chimera Research Lab under the School of Vitality. Blood pooled here and there on its deepest level.
In this windless space, the blood on the floor lay utterly still, undisturbed.
Suddenly, faint ripples stirred in one puddle, erupting into a watery geyser that birthed a man.
None other than Oliver.
He casually wiped the blood trickling down his face and scanned his surroundings.
The area was pitch black, without a single light, but as if sensing his arrival, the lamps flickered on obligingly.
Click! Cliiick... tick!
Just like when he'd first entered the lab, the bulbs stuttered to life. Oliver used their gradual illumination as a guide, pressing forward.
Blood covered the entire floor, producing splashing sounds with every step.
Splash. Splash. Splash. Splash.
The air seemed to grow colder the further he went, and upon reaching his destination, he confirmed it was no illusion.
A door greeted him, its surrounding meters encased in dense ice.
Even proximity rapidly sapped his body heat to the ice, so Oliver cast a warming spell mimicking Merlin's—enveloping his body.
It might seem extravagant, but given the chill's intensity, it was prudent.
Even on instinct, he sensed mere minutes of exposure would ravage his flesh.
With mana cloaking his form, Oliver entered the ice-filled room.
Ice. The room beyond the door was blanketed wall-to-wall in ice embedded with flecks of blood.
Due to the blood, the ice pulsed with vitality in places, making it hard to pick out human presences.
'Some kind of camouflage?'
But like any camouflage, close inspection revealed flaws—Oliver spotted the familiar Willes.
Willes was half-buried in one ice wall, bearing a sizable gash on his torso.
'Not wounded by an ice weapon...'
Judging from the injury's nature, Oliver hefted his tonfa like an axe to chip away the ice.
Its density—thanks to the mana, formula, and life force—was rock-hard, so he concentrated mana at the tonfa's handle tip and struck carefully.
Clang!! Clang!!! Clang!!
Muffled metallic rings echoed as the ice began to crack.
"You two friends?"
A woman appeared behind Oliver as he worked to free Willes, asking casually.
She sat atop the ice in a thin red dress, unperturbed—perhaps due to her body's inner heat.
"Friends?"
"Rushing to save him the moment you see him... Why not?"
"Hmm... Probably not."
Once the ice was cleared, Oliver laid Willes down. He poured a healing potion on the wound, but astonishingly, it seemed to heal only for the injury to reject it and tear wider.
"Guh...!"
Even unconscious, Willes groaned in pain, and Oliver observed quietly.
"Might this be a blood magic wound?"
"More precisely, blood magic, dear."
"Blood magic? ...Ah, so Lady Bathory isn't a black mage, but a proper mage?"
Oliver inquired, and the woman smiled faintly. Correct.
"Right... Pleased to meet you. I'm Mother Bathory, matriarch of the Bathory Family."