Genius Warlock

A cloud that rotates slowly around a point.

Mana that gathers around it and finally the lightning that eventually struck.

The blue lightning that fell to the ground like a flash left a huge scar on the ground.

White snow dust rose and blurred the surroundings like fog, and Oliver's ice wall blew away without a trace.

All that was left was a hollow, scorched area of ice.

Merlin thought it was a little too much, but soon brushed it off and approached the place where lightning struck.

When he cleared the snow dust by creating a light wind through his hand gestures, he saw the land with nothing left.

"Did I overestimate him too much? No… Even so, can he disappear completely?"

And at that moment…

BANG

Something popped out from under the hollow ice.

Merlin stepped back at the unexpected attack from the bullet of hate and soon blocked it lightly by tearing a piece of paper.

It was a surprise attack but the power wasn't so intimidating.

While Merlin tried to grasp the situation, something caught his ankle.

It was a hand that was smeared with ice and snow.

"Ugh…"

Along with the short exclamation, Merlin was dragged down by the hand.

He was dragged under the ice without any resistance.

There were a few seconds of silence and then…

BANG!

With a loud noise, icebergs soared from the ground and vomited two people– Merlin and Oliver.

Merlin stood proudly on the top of the iceberg, while Oliver rolled on the floor as if he had been thrown away.

Before he knew it, Oliver's clothes became a rag, and his body was full of light bruises and abrasions.

No, maybe considering the fact that he was fighting Merlin, this might be a good thing.

Oliver rose up while staggering.

His physical strength was already at the bottom, but he couldn't let his guard down for a moment against Merlin.

"That's great."

As Oliver desperately tried to catch his breath, Merlin speaking to him first was like an oasis in a desert.

Oliver slowly asked back, catching his breath.

"What do you mean, Elder?"

"When I was about to strike you with lightning, you used the gap to take control of my ice magic and went underwater… Amazing. Truly amazing."

Oliver, who barely caught his breath, replied as a haunting chill crept over his body.

"Thank you for the compliment. I was just trying to stay alive….. I was lucky."

"I was lucky. It's an expression often used when putting down others. Luck isn't something that just follows anyone. I truly think it's great. Usually, when there is a difference in power like this, people get desperate and give up easily. An old man shouldn't say this, but young people these days have no backbone."

"I'm just desperate because I don't want to die yet. There are a lot of things I want to know.”

"What do you want to know so much about? What are you so curious about that you're trying so hard?"

Merlin said, pointing to the [Targeting] spell surrounding his body.

Oliver installed it as unnoticed as possible, but Merlin was really quick-witted.

Oliver extracted mana in one hand and emotion in the other and slammed them on the ground.

He then pulled out a piece of ice, the size of a house from the ground, and covered it with emotions while casting [Targeting] on it.

Then, he shattered the ice into a small needle-like structure and launched it at Merlin.

The launched ice missiles flew toward Merlin from all four directions.

"Hmm…"

SWOOOOOSH

BANG——!!!!

The ice missiles struck the target with a huge roar.

With a huge impact, foggy snow and ice covered the surroundings white.

From a common-sense point of view, it was a deadly attack that could kill anyone, but the problem was Merlin was someone who could not be included in that common sense.

Oliver extracted emotions with both hands, put them in the shadow, spread them on both sides, surrounded the surroundings, and triggered numerous shadow spikes as small as a needle toward the center.

Pababababababababababababababababababababababat!

With a piercing sound of air, he attacked Merlin, who might be somewhere.

But…..

Before he could get a response, a purple magic portal got created in front of Oliver, and from it numerous shadow spikes stabbed him.

"Ugh…!!"

Fortunately, only two or three of the dozens of shadow spikes penetrated the black suit since the concentration of emotion was lowered to increase the number.

As Oliver gasped from the pain, a strong wind blew and the snow dust in the spot where Merlin was attacked got blown away.

And in the place, there was Merlin, standing surrounded by a purple portal that wrapped around him like a donut.

Oliver predicted he would stop the attack with defense magic, but he couldn’t believe that he counterattacked at the same time.

At best, he thought his attack would be blocked with defense magic, but Merlin not just defended but also counterattacked at the same time.

It showed how ahead he was in terms of battle experience compared to Oliver.

However, that doesn’t mean Oliver was cornered.

"Minions."

At Oliver's call, the five minions he planted when he first entered this place sprang up and spewed bullets of hatred toward Merlin's head like a machine gun.

Merlin also tore five sheets of paper and threw them as if he had already seen through this.

The minions were split in half before they could spew all the bullets of hate.

All the attacks ended in vain.

But it was not the end.

As if he had predicted it would fail, Oliver prepared his next move.

[Black suit]

[Lay the foundations]

[Burning life]

[Muscle up]

[Terrible anger]

[Endurance skin]

Oliver wore a black suit that combined emotions, Life-force, and mana, and then covered it with numerous disease-based black magic.

Every time the disease-based black magic, which dramatically increases the physical ability and attack power was cast, the Life-force that made up the black suit was visibly burned, the color darkened, and the appearance changed ferociously.

BANG!!

Oliver rose up by kicking the ground.

And as soon as he stopped in the air, he threw out the quarterstaff toward Merlin with all his weight and strength.

Despite looking at the fast-approaching quarterstaff, Merlin calmly fixed the book and swung the book in the direction of the quarterstaff.

BANG—————!!!!

As if two objects with huge masses were bumping into each other, shock waves spread in all directions with a loud sound, and the iceberg on which Merlin was standing cracked.

"Haha…Ineteres…"

[Black Javelin]

Oliver added a [Black Javelin] spell to the quarterstaff to further increase its thrusting power.

The thick book, which was wielded as a shield and hammer was torn with a clunky sound, and at the same time, Merlin's chest was pierced by the quarterstaff– to be precise, Merlin’s alter ego’s chest

"Um…."

At the same time as Merlin's ice alter ego broke like an iceberg, three sheets of paper poured down and attacked Oliver.

It wasn't a fatal injury but his forearm, thigh, and hips took damage.

The black suit ripped lightly, and Oliver was rolling down on the floor.

His whole body was literally throbbing.

“Ha…. Ha…”

Oliver tried to stand up, breathing heavily.

However, soon he fell down to his knees as if he really ran out of gas.

The iceberg split in half and Merlin in it walked out.

He didn't look tired.

"…is this also an ice alter ego?"

"Well, I think it's a matter for you to figure out, mate. Mean adults never tell the truth.”

"Are you a mean adult, Elder?"

"Remember. Every adult who has a Strength like me is bound to be mean."

"That's so kind of you….. To teach me something like that.”

"……."

"As a bookstore customer, may I ask the owner of the bookstore a question?"

"…shoot it."

"I’m curious, why did you use Strength as a measure of human worth?"

"It's a stupid question. Because one’s Strength decides one’s worth."

"I still don’t get it. Would you mind explaining it in an easy way?"

Merlin looked at Oliver for a moment and said.

"……I don't know how to explain an obvious thing. Can I give you an example that's easy to understand?"

"Yes."

"Then like before, let's take the child you tried to save as an example."

"Rosbane?"

"Yes, why did you try to save that child?"

"Because he's an amazing kid. He's brave, has a will, and his emotions are pretty.”

"I think so, too. It's nice to see him act as the eldest brother to the other kids, even though he himself is in a difficult situation… But objectively, he's just a helpless orphan, one that can be found anywhere. Nothing more, nothing less."

"……."

"They miraculously survived this time because it’s a rare occasion. But, there are countless children like Rosbane who are exploited in this world, and most of them can't get out of that situation. Why? Because they have no worth. Because they don't have any Strength. It's uncomfortable, but that's the truth.”

Oliver recalled what Merlin had said in the past.

-Most people find the truth uncomfortable.

"Do you understand now, mate?"

"…half."

"Half?"

"Yes, half of what you said is really true. In the orphanage, in the mine, and later when I came out into the world, most of the things were as the elder said, the one who had Strength exploited the one who didn’t have Strength. But… I disagree that Strength alone defines one’s worth"

"Why?"

"Because I have seen it. People who are weak yet worthy and beautiful."

Oliver said, recalling Marie, Lightning Wizard, Joseph, Kent, Murphy, Edith Rock, Jane, Duncan, Joe, etc.

"Above all, a world where only those who have Strength can live…. It's a boring world, isn't it?"

Merlin looked at Oliver silently and clapped his hands.

Clap- Clap- Clap- Clap- Clap-

"Bravo Bravo, that's so cool. [Isn't it a boring world?] That's really cool. To the point where I'd fall for you if I were a girl, mate. I didn't know there would be a young man in this world who would say such a thing with a sober mind."

"Is that so?"

"That's right. You have to prove your ability to say such nice things. Winners get to write the history. If you don't, you'll only get ridiculed. It's just some loser's crap. Isn't that ironic? You need Strength to say that Strength is not everything."

“Um…”

Oliver seemed to realize something.

You need strength to have your voice heard.

It’s an obvious thing, but at this moment, he felt what it really meant.

"I see.”

"Yes, I will ask you in that sense. Will you continue to fight me? You can stop here. I think I've seen enough. I'm satisfied with your continuous attack without giving up. More than anything, I think you’re no longer in a good condition, mate."

Merlin said, scanning Oliver from head to toe.

Indeed, Oliver's condition was not good.

The clothes were already ragged, and the whole body was covered with half-melted snow.

But Oliver could not readily nod.

Even though he was tired, he couldn't do it because he was bothered by Merlin's words.

"…Were you satisfied? Am I worthy enough for your help?"

Merlin thought for a while and said bringing his thumb and index finger close to each other.

"It's a close pass."

"Um, I'll fight a little more. I don't want you to feel sorry for your help.”

"Oh, that would be nice, but can you fight like that, mate?"

"Can you wait for a moment?"

Oliver searched his pockets.

He couldn't tell where it was because it was a mess due to the fight.

And when he thought he had lost it, his hands touched something.

"That's…."

"It's Pilgaret. Just one moment..”

Oliver made a small fire in his hand by extracting mana while struggling to bite the Pilgaret in his mouth.

Then he sucked it with his mouth as hard as he could.

With that, the Smoke filled with Duncan’s life, memories, and emotions reached Oliver’s lungs and soon spread into the whole body.

As the dead-fish eyes of Oliver began to shake, his hand slammed the ground along with the words.

[Hell Summon]

BOOM

(To be Continued)

OR

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