Chapter 340
Chapter 340
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 340
Chapter Title: Theodore (1)
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"Of course."
The moment he heard the reply, Oliver swiftly extracted life force and emotions to activate his black magic.
Revive
Life force infused into corpses
Muscle Up
Muscles hypertrophied using life force
Object Hate
Intense hatred implanted toward targets
The life force and emotions transformed into smoke, flowing calmly yet swiftly between the corpses hanging on the walls like gentle waves. The corpses came alive with new life, feeding on the infused life force to massively enlarge their muscles.
"Kyahaha—!!"
"Kuhahaha!!!"
"Kyahahaha...!"
There were dozens of them at least. That meant at least dozens of mages had lost their lives in this space.
The zombies, burning with intense hatred toward Carl and Theodore, snapped their restraints using their forcibly swollen muscles and charged at them from all sides like an enraged mob.
Because of Object Hate, which had implanted that hatred toward them.
In fact, since they were people with real grudges, the black magic produced effects beyond what Oliver had imagined.
'Of course, they're not the type to be finished off by something like this.'
Oliver recalled Theodore's innate mana, his precise mana flow, and Carl's skills as he made his prediction.
His prediction was spot on. They erected mana barriers to block the horde of furious zombies while igniting flames and explosions to start burning them.
But it didn't matter.
Oliver's goal from the start had been to buy time.
'Derek and Felix... and everyone else still alive.'
With that thought, Oliver extracted a large amount of emotions from test tubes he'd prepared in advance, slammed both hands to the floor, and activated black magic.
Bless
Original black magic by Marie – Control of building seized
An original black magic Marie had once demonstrated.
With the incantation, the emotions Oliver extracted morphed into a form between mist and light, sweeping through the entire building.
This allowed Oliver to seize control of the building.
Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack.
The moment he gained control, Oliver used the bricks to secure the mages hanging on the walls and Derek and Felix collapsed on the floor.
Then, he removed the outer walls of the entire floor, opening up the building and sending the mages fixed to the walls outside.
The walls that should have been fixed in place moved as naturally as if they had always been that way, like detached blocks, sliding down the exterior of the building.
Boom!!!
A massive flame explosion erupted, incinerating or bursting the dozens of zombies that had been pounding on Carl and Theodore's mana barriers until their fists were crushed. They turned to ash and flames.
Black smoke and the stench of burning flesh filled the air everywhere, but fortunately, since he'd removed the outer walls when evacuating the captured mages, the thick smoke and smell of charred bodies were soon swept away by the wind.
As the smoke cleared, he could see an enraged Carl and Theodore gazing this way with an intrigued glint in his eyes.
Even after the surprise attack by the furious zombie horde, they showed no signs of injury or panic.
It was somewhat surprising.
He hadn't activated it with the intent to inflict damage in the first place, but even so, he hadn't expected this level of resistance.
Depending on how it was used, it could have taken down even decently skilled opponents... Oliver was impressed.
"Keep underestimating—"
Clack.
As Carl bristled with veins popping, misunderstanding it as disdain and about to explode in anger, Theodore placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him.
Surprisingly, Carl—who was arrogant to the point of hubris and skilled enough to mix emotions and mana like Wrath Thunder—obediently quieted down in an instant.
It was a state of psychological subjugation to his protector, similar to Yarelli with Tilda, but far more intense.
For example, Yarelli was bound to Tilda by a few chains, whereas Carl was tightly shackled by dozens to Theodore.
Oliver had seen something like this before. It resembled the master-disciple relationship in black magic families.
Black magicians dominated their disciples psychologically by granting favors, ensuring their livelihood, and passing down black magic knowledge. It was strikingly similar.
"Intriguing..."
Theodore spoke.
It wasn't idle talk; it was genuine.
Unlike what he'd heard from Kevin, he was intrigued by Oliver—a mere fixer and the professor's personal employee. Along with greed.
"What's so intriguing?"
"That you helped unrelated mages escape. It would've been better in every way if you'd just attacked."
Oliver nodded.
When the dozens of zombies had swarmed to tie down Theodore and Carl's feet, a direct attack might have been more efficient.
He could have made corpse golems from the zombies or triggered corpse explosions to break their mana barriers and create openings.
However, Oliver had his own reasons for not doing so.
"Professor Kevin told me to evacuate Derek and Felix."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. I'm his personal employee, after all. And I want to emulate him."
"Emulate what?"
"His attitude... Didn't you mention Professor Kevin's past earlier, Lord Theodore? Regardless of personal feelings, thank you for that. It made me realize again just how remarkable he is."
"I see."
"Yes, isn't it? He never forgets past grudges yet fulfills his duties and responsibilities... He even feels pity and sympathy for Mage Tower students who harbor resentment toward him... It's fascinating and impressive."
Theodore scoffed dismissively. But Oliver didn't care.
He had no desire for validation of the value he saw in things. If he found something admirable and beautiful, that was enough.
"What a joke. Evaluating a dog tamed by its environment and food like that."
"I don't see it that way, but I won't argue either."
Theodore's eyebrow twitched at Oliver's tone, as if he couldn't care less about his opinion.
"...Earlier, it seemed like you had feelings about me. Did I hear that right?"
"Hm... By any chance, were you involved in the Martel experiments? The Reincarnation Project."
"Involved? I ordered it."
"Ah, then yes, I do hold a grudge. I'd love to beat you up alongside Carl."
Oliver spoke his honest feelings. He really wanted to.
Hearing that, Carl—who had barely been suppressing his rage—finally exploded.
"You insolent bastard! How dare you...!!"
With those words, he unleashed the vast mana within him, fused it with his rage, and fired Wrath Thunder straight at Oliver.
The intense black lightning streaked fiercely and savagely; Oliver dodged it by a hair's breadth, rolling to the side.
For some reason, the Wrath Thunder's power had grown even stronger.
It was far more refined than the one he'd used when they first met today.
Back then, the fusion of mana and emotion had been weak enough to disrupt and neutralize easily, but not now.
'Can his skill improve this much in such a short time? This is bad. I have to watch him too...'
Oliver thought as he glanced at Theodore, who stood behind Carl with hands clasped behind his back.
Strangely, Theodore didn't seem inclined to fight Oliver. But dismissing him felt risky too. He exuded a sinister intent and sense of purpose.
So Oliver decided to hold back on big moves, facing Carl with minimal power.
Kevin had said Theodore was the real deal. One slip could lead to irreversible damage.
"Daring to underestimate me again?! Let's see if you can dodge this!!"
Carl vented his fury, twisting the Wrath Thunder arcing through the air into a bundled mass of black lightning, building internal pressure until it detonated.
Wrath Explosion Thunder
Bundled lightning detonates chaotically
With the incantation, the bundled lightning's currents and rage couldn't contain the pressure and burst, lashing out irregularly in all directions.
Blind attacks like this were more threatening to Oliver than targeted strikes.
In the end, he spread his blood like a curtain to form a barrier.
Blood Curtain
Blood barrier absorbs lightning
The blood barrier looked thin but was reliably effective.
Blood magic countered anything mixing emotions and mana.
It shared the same essence as Wrath Thunder yet differed enough to block far more easily than standard spells.
Moreover, thanks to blood's conductivity with electricity, it not only defended but absorbed part of the Wrath Thunder.
"Cunning...!"
Realizing blood magic was tricky, Carl shifted to close combat emphasizing raw power over finesse.
He fused his rage and mana into a black mana greatsword and charged.
A pure mana school's mana synthesis renowned for physical might.
With legs transformed like a chimera's, Carl was incredibly fast. Oliver reflexively used the blood that had absorbed the Wrath Thunder as material for blood magic.
Impalement
Lightning-charged blood stake thrusts forward
The lightning-infused blood compressed into a massive clot, then exploded outward as a vicious stake.
Splat—Boom!!!
The blood stake, which had cleanly pierced the ceiling without a crack when focused, was astonishingly blocked by Carl's greatsword.
Though pushed back due to insufficient power, it didn't break through.
Truly remarkable hardness.
But even this dissatisfied Carl. While being repelled, he roared, twisting the greatsword's flat to deflect the stake, then savagely slashed its side and pressed forward.
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
The blood stake was instantly chopped to pieces, falling limply to the floor out of Oliver's control, leaving red stains. With it came a storm of blades rushing at Oliver.
Oliver slammed his hand to the floor, using Bless's building control to open a hole beneath his feet and drop down below.
Whoosh—!
The black blade barely missed, slicing through empty air.
Carl shouted in excitement.
"You rat-like bastard...!"
He raised his greatsword high to smash the floor.
Needle
Syringe-shaped blood bullets fired
The moment Carl lifted his greatsword, Oliver—clinging to the ceiling below—opened a small hole and fired syringe-shaped blood projectiles at him.
Not overwhelmingly powerful, but the unexpected swift attack flustered Carl, who blocked with his mana greatsword like a shield, just as before.
Seizing that timing, Oliver manipulated the controlled building to form a stone pillar above Carl's head and smash down on him.
"Guh...?!"
Focused only on frontal assaults, Carl was struck by the pillar from behind, collapsing the floor and plummeting to the lower level with it.
What to call it... His vast mana reserves, solid mana control, and emotion-mana fusion skills were all excellent overall. Yet his ability to utilize them seemed somewhat lacking.
Usually, they balanced harmoniously.
But instead of questioning it, Oliver used all remaining blood to attack Carl.
Because Theodore was still watching from here.
Better to subdue him before interference.
The large volume of blood morphed under Oliver's control into crescent-shaped blades slicing toward Carl, who couldn't respond.
At that instant, a massive fist burst through the ceiling like lightning, shattering the blood blades Oliver had launched.
Kaboom—!!
The fist, formed of dozens of hands like a giant's, seemed to hammer in mana proportional to its size at first glance. But Oliver spotted complex spellwork woven as if by dozens of mages in sync—matching the immense mana.
His blood magic hadn't been neutralized merely from lack of power.
"G-Grandpa?"
Carl, barely surviving, called out to Theodore in a frightened voice.
Ignoring him, Theodore descended to Oliver's location.
"Why only blood magic? Isn't your specialty mixing emotions and mana?"
Theodore spoke as if he knew everything.
Well, Oliver had used it openly several times against Seamus.
"What was that arm?"
Oliver pointed at Theodore's arm, which had sprouted, retracted into his body, and was shrinking.
He couldn't tell if it was magic or black magic.
"I asked first."
A fair point.
Oliver exclaimed in admiration and apologized.
"Ah... Sorry. I just didn't need to use it. I had blood available."
As if he'd just picked something handy from what was on hand.
But it was somewhat true, not mere bravado.
"And one more thing: mixing emotions and mana isn't my specialty. It's powerful, sure."
Oliver explained in detail, hoping for a proper answer in return.
Mixing emotions and mana had happened by chance and worked, but it wasn't his specialty.
It was intriguing, certainly... But Oliver had no true specialty to begin with. He was just proficient in everything.
"I see."
"Yes... Will you answer my question now?"
"I'll humor you. Curious about my arm?"
Theodore permitted it readily. As expected, different from Kevin's description. Why?
"Hm... That too, but I have something more pressing. How did Carl mix emotions and mana? I heard it's extremely difficult. Did the Life School research it separately?"
Oliver asked, recalling Merlin's past explanation.
"Something like that. Not developing the technique itself, but injecting blood from someone who can use it."
"...??"
Oliver tilted his head. As far as he knew, only one person could mix pure emotions and mana without blood as a medium.
Himself.
"No way..."
"...That's right. Your blood. You spilled a few drops fighting our researchers."
"Ah..."
Oliver let out a gasp.
The three mages from Martel had been exceptionally skilled individually and coordinated well, making them a nightmare.
He'd only won the end because they'd let their guard down.
"I injected that blood into this child."
Theodore gripped the shoulder of Carl, who was rising with a cowed expression.
Carl's face showed burden, fear, guilt, and more from the touch.
"G-Grandpa. Sorry for disappointing you."
"No, it's fine. I've never expected anything from you anyway."
"...Pardon?"
Carl questioned Theodore, doubting his own ears. Never expected anything...?
Theodore didn't answer immediately. Instead, he gripped Carl's shoulder, thrust his other hand through Carl's back, piercing it, then replied.
"I've never once expected anything from you. Not even once."