Chapter 242
Chapter 242
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 242
Chapter Title: I Want to Reconcile (1)
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Slash!!
The blood blade, launched with a mere flick of his finger, sliced Oliver's tonfa clean in two in an instant.
It was quite surprising. He'd packed it full of mana to maximize its durability.
"...Falls is going to be disappointed."
Oliver tossed the broken tonfa at Bathory, then swiftly drew a quarterstaff from within his robes.
The shrunken quarterstaff, enchanted with miniaturization magic, expanded to its full size in a flash, and Oliver assumed his usual battle stance.
"Ho..."
Bathory showed interest in Oliver's quick weapon swap and hurled another blood blade.
This one massive enough to bisect a person.
Oliver wrapped his quarterstaff in Black Suit, then smacked the blood blade aside.
Aiming not for the edge, but the relatively fragile flat side.
Splatter!
Fortunately, Oliver's judgment paid off.
Striking the side caused the blade to shatter like glass.
Riding that momentum, Oliver manipulated the Black Suit—not his body—to acrobatically dodge and shatter the blood blade while closing in on Bathory at high speed.
He figured that once he got close, he'd have a way to handle her. A grave miscalculation.
"How about this?"
The shards of the shattered blade halted midair at Bathory's will.
In an instant, they turned to water droplets, then to needles, flying straight at Oliver.
Startled by the sudden shift, Oliver reflexively retreated, blocking the blood needles with shadow tentacles—but he couldn't block them all.
The silver lining: thanks to the Black Suit, none landed as effective hits.
'Not that I can fully relax...'
Oliver thought, eyeing the damaged Black Suit.
The blood volume was low, and it had three layers—that's what stopped them. Any slight difference in conditions, and it would've been pierced for sure.
'In that case...'
"If you're thinking of manipulating the blood, you'd best abandon it. It's mixed with my own blood, so it's practically part of my body."
"...Are you reading my mind?"
"No need. Talented black mages all try to copy me at some point. Cockily, of course."
"Ah... Sorry if I offended you."
"No need to apologize. Arrogance is the right of geniuses. And I don't hate those geniuses. I just use them well."
Bathory spoke leisurely as she formed another blood blade and attacked Oliver.
This time, smaller blades in greater numbers, making them far harder to evade.
Factoring in the enclosed space, dodging was practically impossible.
So Oliver opted not to dodge—but to counterattack.
[Devouring Flame]
Black flames that felled tricky foes like Marina and the female black mages in one shot erupted once more.
Bathory blocked the counter instantly.
"A bit disappointing? Recycling a method I've already countered. Is that all you've got?"
Bathory snapped her fingers, shredding the Devouring Flame with blood blades once again.
"I can't stand the heat."
"What about the cold?"
Oliver infused his quarterstaff with mana and emotion, then slammed it into the floor with all his might.
The moment it struck, the rune at the tip activated, unleashing a Black Light snowstorm in all directions.
"...?!"
Catching her off guard, Bathory marveled as she gathered floating blood to shield herself.
The snowstorm, laced with obsessive emotion, astonishingly froze Bathory's blood solid.
"Impressive! Mixing cold and obsession—even accounting for blood being a liquid."
"Thank you."
Oliver replied, mimicking a chef from the past as he kicked off the ground and dashed toward Bathory in a blink.
He circled back through the frozen blood, and Bathory's eyes couldn't keep up, her reaction one of genuine surprise.
"You..."
From point-blank range, Oliver fired icicles that pierced Bathory, pinning her to the wall.
Bam!! Bam!!
Pinned like a saint to the wall, Bathory groaned in pain, blood trickling—yet she kept her smile and composure. No, she seemed delighted.
"...That actually hurts quite a bit."
"I really didn't want to do this."
Oliver spoke sincerely as he extracted Bathory's emotions and mana.
An 'extraction' on a whole other level from typical black mages—chunks of her emotions and mana flowed into him. When she resisted, he stopped, storing the mana in his body, bottling the emotions in a vial, then unleashing the snowstorm on her again.
[Binding Frost]
Countless snowflakes and ice, tainted with obsessive emotion, shot toward Bathory amid the chill.
The relentless cold clung to her stubbornly, slowly freezing her body solid—soon, her skin was covered in white frost crystals, turning her to ice.
Any onlooker would call it a win.
But Bathory's leisurely emotions—and Oliver's instincts from countless battles—said otherwise.
Bam!!
Oliver smashed his quarterstaff into the frozen Bathory's abdomen, crumbling her like a snowman, then stomped her icy flesh into minced meat.
"Oh, dear."
After pulverizing her corpse completely, Oliver scanned the surroundings.
The blood frozen by his cold wasn't staying quiet; it was drawing up embedded mana to raise its temperature.
Surpassing even the ice he'd created.
To make matters worse, blood pooled in the corridor outside surged toward them.
Without hesitation, Oliver pulled a paper from his robes, activated its rune, and opened a portal.
The massive influx of blood boiled like lava, charging at him. Oliver slipped into the portal just in time and sealed it shut.
"Alright, I've decided. Time to run."
Evacuated to the safe zone of the chimera lab via portal, Oliver declared with firm conviction.
No matter how he sliced it, she wasn't winnable. Especially not in this lab where she'd prepared thoroughly.
Even after freezing and shattering her body, Bathory fought on by manipulating vast blood quantities.
She'd even countered his surprise cold attack that amplified emotions and mana in her blood.
Keep piling damage, and maybe he'd win—but Oliver was certain he'd fall first.
'Filterette might do it... but...'
Oliver shook his head.
No reason to burn a precious Filterette just to fight Bathory.
It wasn't a combat awakening agent to begin with.
'First things first, grab Mr. Willes and get out of here.'
Decision made, Oliver patted the papers in his robes.
Merlin had told him to use them sparingly, but he always carried a few portal spell papers for emergencies like this.
Especially one linked to his residence—at least one, always.
"Should've kept them all in one spot instead of splitting up."
Oliver thought as he exited the room toward Willes' location.
He'd scattered the papers in case of trouble, but now it seemed foolish.
"Don't put all your eggs in one basket, huh? But this is more inconvenient."
"What about stocks?"
Bathory's voice echoed from the path he'd passed.
Shrrrk—slash!!
The instant he heard it, Oliver spun shadow blades to cleave Bathory behind him.
The diagonal slash, packed with condensed emotion, easily quartered her body—but no major effect.
Pooled blood nearby caught her, healing her instantly.
'Similar to Puppet, but different.'
Oliver thought, watching her regenerate.
Puppet's corpse doll recovered by devouring people, but Bathory's was a step above.
Even body destruction was trivial with blood; she counterattacked too.
Truly like part of her body.
Reading his thoughts, Bathory said,
"Don't be too shocked. This entire lab is practically my belly. It's not your lack of skill."
Bathory spoke as her blood-sliced sections fused. No bluff—pure sincerity.
"How are you feeling right now?"
"Uh... I want to reconcile with you, Lady Bathory."
"If you want to reconcile, shouldn't you stop prepping spells behind your back?"
Bathory drew mana from her body and fired lightning magic at Oliver.
Pure magic—she couldn't mix emotions or mana without blood. Oliver blocked with an impromptu ice barrier from one hand.
It held only once, but that was enough for him.
[Black Mist]
Emotion-forged black fog engulfed Bathory, blocking even a black mage's sight.
With this—
"—right there?"
Before Oliver finished the thought, pooled blood speared at him like blades.
He barely reacted in time, grazed only—but the Black Suit's three layers tore instantly, a chilling sensation.
That was close.
The Black Suit that always protected him was shredded outright.
Bathory rendered his prime defense meaningless.
Oliver tried freezing the area again with cold magic.
Then, blood from the floor surged around him, bubbling.
[Blood Fire]
At Bathory's incantation, the blood boiled like oil, igniting into viscous crimson flames.
"Guh..."
Intensely powerful—even Kevin's flames would yield. It clung like blood, burning relentlessly.
Oliver's prepped ice magic burned away unactivated; the Black Suit was devoured like oil-soaked cloth.
The heat pierced through.
[Ecdysis]
Skin boiling from Blood Fire, Oliver boldly shed the Black Suit, exploding it outward to forcibly repel the flames.
Of course, Bathory's will kept it from vanishing fully—just pushed back momentarily.
As the explosion faded, the blood-fueled crimson flames lunged again.
No minimal defenses left—a dire pinch.
Staying calm, Oliver condensed mana in his quarterstaff and slammed the floor.
The blast-weakened floor crumbled on impact, dropping Oliver and Bathory to the level below.
"Th...!"
Bathory faltered briefly, losing blood control for a moment—but only that. Landing, she manipulated the scattered Blood Fire to strike.
Oliver, however, was ready.
"You learned that armor doesn't work."
Bathory smothered him in Blood Fire.
"Lightly cooked blood tastes pre—"
—Boom!!
Before she finished, the Blood Fire shredded apart with a massive shockwave.
Bathory's pride—hatred and mana fused via blood—was blown away, visibly shocking her.
Snapping to, she regathered the dispersing flames.
[Outcry]
Crimson flames parting revealed Oliver in black armor. His face-mouth split wide, bellowing black magic roar infused into the Blood Fire.
The physically charged scream not only blasted the Blood Fire but shook the lab with deafening roar, punching a massive hole in the ceiling.
Like a dragon's breath.
Bathory was truly stunned for the first time in decades.
"What in the world was—"
"—Pardon the interruption."
Incredibly, despite his grotesque form swathed in Black Suit, Oliver spoke in his usual calm tone.
Amplifying the eerie dissonance.
His mouth split wide. Bathory moved to counter.
[Outcry]
Another shockwave crushed her blood magic outright, striking her dead-center.