Chapter 342
Chapter 342
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 342
Chapter Title: Theador (3)
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"Do you know about the Apocalypse Theory?"
Oliver stepped right up to Theador and asked.
Theador didn't answer. Instead, he redirected his lightning straight at Oliver.
Dozens of bolts merged into a massive wave of thunder that hurtled viciously toward him. Oliver defended with blood magic.
Using blood summoned from blood balloons and the blood wings attached to his back, Oliver formed a massive curtain. He layered black magic Voracity onto it, creating countless mouths.
The blood-formed lips emitted a chilling sound as they devoured the massive lightning bolt, allowing the curtain of blood to absorb it entirely.
Oliver wrapped the lightning-infused blood around his arm and swung, unleashing a swarm of bat-shaped blades that slammed into the surrounding structures.
Though only slightly larger than a palm, the blood bats crackling with blinding sparks possessed tremendous power, instantly crumbling the structures Theador had created.
Thanks to that, the wire-linked globe collapsed, and Theador's lightning spell dissipated. Oliver landed safely on the now-secure floor.
The moment he touched down, Oliver seized control of the building again, reshaping the terrain to stabilize his footing while making Theador's unstable.
He then manipulated the blood bats flying through the air to attack Theador from all sides.
The situation had completely reversed from moments ago.
Theador, seeing the blood bats approaching from every direction, erupted with mana from his body and wove it into multiple magic circles. Using them as muzzles, he unleashed a barrage of mana bullets in all directions.
Du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du!
The deafening gunfire rang out as dozens of blood bats were neutralized by the mana bullets. Theador then swiveled all the magic circles toward Oliver.
"Minions."
Impressed by Theador's magic, Oliver responded immediately.
His minions emerged from his chest, flying with their signature nimble grace toward the magic circles and spitting hate bullets.
Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!
The minions' bullets shattered Theador's magic circles like glass. Trusting his Black Suit, Oliver abandoned defense, extended his fingers, and added his firepower.
His prediction was spot on.
The minions swam smoothly through the air, spewing hate bullets from all sides, while Oliver machine-gunned them from the front. Theador's magic circles were destroyed without landing a single proper attack.
Oliver pressed the advantage, going straight for Theador.
"Hmph..."
Theador didn't panic even as his circles shattered. He drew out a massive surge of mana in an instant and whipped it like a lash.
The powerful mana clump moved too fast for the eye to follow, swatting minions like flies. It didn't stop there, barreling toward Oliver.
Oliver used Bless to twist the building structure into layered barriers, but it was a poor choice.
In that brief moment as Theador swung, he altered the mana whip's formula, detonating it.
"Oh, th..."
——Boom!!!
Before Oliver could finish, the mana whip exploded massively, obliterating the building's upper floors entirely.
Simple, but overwhelmingly powerful.
Having chosen to block rather than dodge, Oliver was caught in the blast and plummeted far below.
The explosion's force was so immense that even multiple wall layers left cracks spiderwebbing across his Black Suit, with shock seeping inside.
Suddenly, memories of his past battle with Merlin surfaced—along with his words.
'Dodging instead of blocking. A good call.'
This time, Oliver had made a bad call.
'Why did that old man suddenly come to mind...? Is he as strong as the elder?'
Honestly, he couldn't tell.
At his level back then, Merlin was too lofty to even gauge.
Had Merlin not held back, Oliver's head would've been gone in seconds.
'How did I even satisfy him?'
His brain rattled from the blast, Oliver struggled to focus.
Thankfully, the shaking subsided, and the memory resurfaced.
'Filterette.'
Regaining his senses, Oliver repaired his Black Suit, then used obsession-fueled Targeting to stick to the building's outer wall.
Luckily, he'd only blacked out briefly. He halted at the mid-floors.
"Xenon...?"
A familiar voice. Peering through the shattered exterior, Oliver locked eyes with Philip, who gripped swords in blood-splattered hands.
Dozens of corpses—presumed life-school mages—littered around him.
"...Good day, Colonel."
"Not feeling too good, but greetings. What happened? There was a massive explosion up top."
As Oliver opened his mouth to explain, a presence dense with condensed mana descended rapidly from above.
Oliver shouted.
"Get out of the way!"
Philip didn't grasp it at first, but in that split-second, he sensed the approaching entity and deployed a massive mana barrier.
However, like Oliver, it was a bad choice. He should've dodged.
Boom—!!
Theador plunged through the building using Gaia school's earth magic, stomping down on Philip.
The mana barrier, compressed to extreme density, shattered in one blow. Philip plummeted with the collapsing floor.
Boom! Boom! Boom! The impacts echoed. Astonishing. Just a mana-compressed kick.
The power born from his vast mana reserves and equally superb physique.
One hit wrong, and it'd be perilous.
Oliver extracted life force to revive the corpses Philip had slain. He didn't stop there.
He fused the life-school mages' bodies into a colossal mouth and had it swallow Theador.
Creeeak... Crunch!!
Layers of gums from stitched corpses, human teeth, ribs, and spines forming hundreds of fangs engulfed Theador.
Oliver clenched his fist. The grotesque maw twisted, grinding its contents—but he felt nothing at his fingertips.
Proof Theador had defended effortlessly.
Undeterred, Oliver manipulated the Bless-controlled building, hauling that floor to the top.
Bricks moved with willful precision, lifting Oliver and Theador upward. He amped Bless further, floating Theador's footing into the air.
In that state, he unleashed black magic.
Dozens of mages' corpses and vast life force as propellant detonated mid-air.
Boom———!!!
The investment in rare materials yielded one of Oliver's most devastating spells yet.
The shockwave rattled the surrounding mist, and the battle-scarred building trembled on the verge of collapse. Oliver used Bless to forcibly reinforce it while gazing skyward.
An explosion like that—even an Archmage or Grand Master couldn't survive unscathed, regardless of skill...
But it seemed that was wishful thinking.
"Oh, dear..."
Oliver exclaimed at Theador floating unharmed amid the blast, radiating bottomless mana.
"You just keep using tricks."
"I put some real effort into that one."
Oliver retorted.
He hadn't expected death, but hoped for at least a limb... Merlin kept coming to mind.
Makes sense—nobody since had been this tricky.
Kell's Willeth, army mage Kevin, the cannibal's disciple, development opposition committee, Bathory, Seamus... Many powerhouses, but all took damage eventually, making it feasible with effort. Theador transcended that.
No attack had truly landed.
Yet a subtle difference from Merlin: Merlin dismantled with unfathomable control and finesse; Theador crushed with endless physique and mana.
Punching air versus a mountain...
'The latter might be better, at least.'
Oliver pondered countering that mighty body and mana.
Same firepower level might work.
"...No intention of using your real strength?"
Theador asked abruptly from above, eyes gleaming with curiosity about Oliver.
"Don't know what 'real strength' means, but not yet."
Theador smiled outwardly but seethed inwardly, erupting vast mana and emotion.
"Then let me help. Those humans below distracting you?"
Malicious killing intent.
Oliver instinctively glanced down, spotting rescued mages and Terence aiding them.
Theador meant to sweep them all up too.
Rumble. Rumble. Rumble...!!
Theador's immense mana and rage mixed with the pervasive mist, forming artificial clouds where black lightning writhed like serpents.
The ominous aura caused chaos below. Oliver tensed, observing.
Unlike the Thunderbolt he'd used on the druids' fortress, this was twice the scale.
Enabled by Theador's vast mana.
Oliver debated.
'Dodge? Can I? If I do, what about below?'
Regretfully accepting the excess as unavoidable, Kevin's face flashed again.
Pity for hated foes... Unknowable why, but it spurred Oliver to push limits.
'No safe dodge anyway.'
As he resolved, Theador mocked from on high.
"Decided? Show me your answer!"
With that, he pointed downward, unleashing a torrent of fierce thunderbolts.
"Understood."
Oliver replied flatly, merging emotion, mana, and life force in both hands to forge an artificial soul.
First since Bathory.
Skill improved—the pea-sized limit now pebble-sized. Emboldened, he injected it into his Black Suit for reinforcement, then dual-cast black and regular magic.
Forming a lightning rod centered on himself to focus thunderbolt strike points, while Targeting over a dozen to draw all attacks to him.
Theador above and mages below gaped in shock. But soon, an even more astonishing sight unfolded.
Countless toothless lips sprouted from the pebble-soul-enhanced Black Suit, sucking in the thunderbolts.
Oliver had overlaid Voracity on his Black Suit.
The myriad mouths on the suit made eerie sounds as they absorbed the thunderbolts.
Normally impossible to swallow emotion-mana fused thunder, but the artificial soul enabled Voracity to gulp them smoothly.
"Hahaha! That's your real specialty?!!"
Theador laughed as if Oliver's feat was his own, sprouting hundreds, thousands of arms on one shoulder to forge a building-sized fist, hurling it at Oliver.
The prior thunderbolts seemed child's play.
Air tore with explosive rumbles, an impossibly vast fist descending from the heavens.
"Can you block this too?!!"
Theador tested.
Honestly, doubtful. Not just size—equivalent mana and emotion from thousands, woven into complex formulas defying average defense.
Like a fortress plummeting from the sky.
No attack could block or counter it.
So Oliver wouldn't block.
"Vomit."
At his command, the suit's lips gaped, expelling all the thunderbolts.
Voracity's absorption granted Oliver control, wieldable instantly.
"Think that'll stop it?!!"
"No."
Oliver calmly replied, then used his control to separate emotion from mana in the thunderbolts.
"......!!"
Impossible by common sense, yet Oliver's transcendent talent split the fused elements cleanly.
He draped the emotion like a robe over himself, spreading the mana like spiderwebs linked to the mist.
The space-school infused mist barrier, specifically.
Snap!
Combining Theador's vast mana with his control, Oliver interfered with the mist, seizing dominance, then clenched his fist.
Web-like mana compressed toward his hand; the blocking mist gathered inward, forming a massive portal.
A mist portal.
"Impossible!"
Theador yelled as his fist got sucked in, but regardless, he was dragged through, emerging above the vast lake at Lake Village's center.
The unexpected counter rattled his composure; the giant fist lost control, flailing.
Then, a voice from behind.
"So this works."
Oliver's voice.
He'd pursued instantly through the mist, taking Theador's rear.
Theador tried countering mid-fall with mana, but the oversized fist hindered him. Oliver faced no real interference, drawing mana-infused papers and hurling them.
Whish-whish-whish!!
The papers sliced like blades into the exposed Theador.
His tough body prevented deep penetration, but it sufficed for Oliver.
"This is Merlin's—"
——Whirr...!!
Before Theador finished, Oliver gathered mana, linking it to the papers' formulas to activate space magic.
A faint, insect-wing hum resounded as violet portals bloomed on the papers, slicing Theador: shoulders, arms, legs, waist, etc.
It didn't end there—over ten corpse dolls burst from the portals.
Self-destruct dolls packed with explosives, blast magic, and disease black magic.