The Sword Genius of the Magic Empire - Chapter 23
Only Noblemtl
The underground research facility was spacious.
The pungent smell of chemicals wafted from all directions.
The hallway, dimly lit by the lights lining the hallway, was clearly a place he had seen in the game.
But there was a difference in the most crucial part.
‘My prediction was correct.’
Enoch’s sunken black eyes scanned his surroundings closely.
The iron bars lining the basement hallway were all empty.
‘As expected, it seems that the research has not progressed much at this point.’
The original is set five years ago.
As Vendetta’s experiments progress, hundreds of children lose their reason and become demons.
That’s why in the original, the inside of the iron bars that you’re passing by now were filled with children who had become demons.
‘But there are no test subjects here yet. That means the children haven’t mutated into monsters yet.’
The absence of test subjects means that the missing children have not yet been put into experiments.
In fact, there was already ample evidence that the children were alive, from the reports in the safe he had acquired and the conversations with the administrators recorded on the lens.
‘The missing children are definitely still alive.’
If so, it’s not too late.
The children can still be saved.
widely.
Finally, when we reached the end of the underground passage.
A sudden noise was heard from the iron bars on the side.
“Who, who are you?”
Enoch looked back.
A person emerged from the darkness of the iron bars.
A man with a rather haggard appearance.
Through his sense of mana, Enoch sensed the faint presence of mana emanating from his body and immediately identified him.
It was the same mana as the artifact that Chloe had given me.
“Are you the wizard dispatched from Elseid?”
“That’s right…. Are you, by any chance, in need of rescue…?”
Enoch nodded briefly.
A faint color appeared on his gaunt face.
“The situation is… urgent. Another child has just been captured… and will be locked up in the innermost cell of the laboratory, along with the other children…”
He said this with a strained voice, then fell forward as if he was falling.
Judging from the faint breathing, it seemed like he had exhausted himself by holding on with his mental strength.
You probably weren’t treated well when you were locked up.
But thanks to what he told me, I was able to find out the information.
‘It would be easier to work if you were passed out like that.’
Enoch instinctively looked down at his sword, which he had hidden just beyond his sight.
It would be no good for his family to directly find out that he uses a sword.
Not yet.
***
A laboratory with a rather familiar landscape unfolded before my eyes.
‘You came to the right place.’
A room with a laboratory-like appearance, with numerous test tubes, reagents, pipes, etc. scattered about in a mess.
Inside, there were also devices such as restraints and an operating table.
Enoch looked around slowly.
A laboratory filled with equipment that looks so complicated that you can’t even guess what it’s used for.
In the original, I couldn’t see the place properly because I was busy fighting off the mobs that were rushing in. Looking at it this way, I felt like I had a new sense of emotion.
‘Was this the place where the original experimental demons were created?’
I pride myself on being a veteran who has cleared the game countless times in countless ways, but I still don’t know exactly what I was trying to create here.
In the first place, they said that the “Leopolis’ Hand” they created here was also a ‘failure’.
‘The problem is that it is that very devil who kills the original Enoch.’
I never suspected that the group called Vendetta was the obvious villain of the original work, but was the purpose of the human experiment really just to create a stronger force?
‘If not that, then is there some other purpose?’
But that wasn’t important right now.
The mission he was given was to rescue the children.
‘Let’s focus.’
Enoch took a short breath.
We can’t be at ease just because there are no enemies right now.
In this complex laboratory, it is still unknown where the raid will come from.
There was no way to let my guard down.
Because this isn’t a game you can just try again and again if you fail.
Sling.
Enoch took stock of the surrounding space and took a guard stance, aiming his sword forward.
But what he used was not his usual, normal posture.
‘You have to be careful about your actions when wielding a sword in such a narrow space.’
Although it is a one-handed sword, it is a double-edged sword that is 1 meter long.
In a narrow space, you may be restricted when fighting. Therefore, depending on the surroundings, your sword holding posture here must also change.
‘Raise your empty left arm. Aim your sword horizontally forward across it.’
A stance where the sword is held close to the body, protecting its owner while providing a tactical advantage in dealing with attacks coming from all directions.
The moment I picked up the sword so naturally─
‘… What was that just now?’
At that moment, a strong sense of discomfort came over Enoch.
‘I’ve never inherited this kind of attitude in my inner world?’
The moment when a sense of alienation about one’s own posture seeps into one.
Swish.
I felt a presence right next to me.
With a sharp tension, the distracting thoughts were instantly cut off.
Reacting immediately, Enoch aimed his sword at the sound.
And almost simultaneously.
A dull thud echoed through the room, as something swung in this direction.
Phew!
Enoch immediately sensed the sound and leapt backwards.
Beyond the blow that barely passed overhead, I could see eyes that were shining ominously.
[Krrrr…]
Before his eyes stood dozens of monsters, growling softly.
At first glance it resembles a human figure.
Beasts that can never be called human.
Their dark green mana shimmered and glowed between their split black skin.
The arms, covered with hard carapace, were almost as large as large boulders in circumference.
‘It’s exactly like the [Test Subject Demons] in the game.’
In the basement of the Leopolis magistrate’s mansion, there was a mob exactly like that in the original.
Except that the numbers are incredibly large compared to this.
“Masuhwa Experimental Subject: Watchdog Type”
These guys appear quite frequently in the original work.
Five years later, one of the terrifying demons that caused massive damage around Leopolis.
‘Fortunately, the test subjects were not made of children.’
Surely, before we started full-scale experiments here, we had already created some specimens for testing in other areas?
In that brief moment, I suddenly remembered their true identities.
They all opened their mouths in this direction.
Oh my.
‘And the biggest characteristic of these guys is….’
Cheeeeeeek!
A green, glowing gas burst out from their gaping maws.
“Nerve gas for paralysis”
It is clearly highly volatile and does not last long even indoors, but if you breathe in the gas emitted in that way directly, even a small amount will immediately paralyze your limbs.
Of course, since it was a paralytic, being exposed to it did not mean that one would die immediately.
My body just becomes paralyzed.
But what’s the difference between being killed by a test subject and being paralyzed and then torn to pieces?
‘When I first saw it in the game, I had a hard time because I suddenly got status abnormalities and died several times…’
But that was a story from when I was a newbie to .
He slowly lifted the black metal gas mask in the shape of a mask.
The administrative office’s mansion storage room.
An artifact brought from there just for this moment.
“Tactical Gas Mask: Prototype”
Tub.
A sleek metal gas mask that covered only the user’s lower body concealed Enoch’s faintly smiling mouth.
An artifact that filters out harmful substances entering the respiratory tract through the filter using the power of magic stones, without the user having to use separate magic.
The gas mask’s filter responds to his breathing.
The filter neatly blocked the inflow of outside gas.
[Karrarak!]
Despite being directly exposed to the gas, Enoch was unharmed, so the test subject demons rushed at him, roaring in anger.
The explosive power from the bodies transformed by the experiment. A pressure engulfed my body as if small trucks were rushing towards me.
But Enoch took a half step back and lowered his posture.
‘If an unstoppable attack comes, cut down the opponent faster and more powerfully.’
Memories experienced in the inner world, inherited by the last swordsman of the empire.
It was an appropriate stage to put what I learned there to use.
Wheeing.
Once again, a dark blue mana rose from the sword.
Mana spreads from the sword to each part of Enoch.
He charged forward, kicking the ground and exploding mana.
Taang!
The distance between the two parties was instantly erased.
Both sides moved their bodies to attack simultaneously.
Phew!
The one in front swung his huge arm first.
An attack that grazes Enoch’s waist.
In an instant, blood gushed out from his side.
But it’s shallower than you might think. It’s not a fatal wound.
Enoch spun around and unleashed the mana projected onto his sword.
– Type 2, Fire Wheel.
The mana flowing through the sword explodes in an instant.
The recoil caused my body to rotate greatly.
Binggle.
A dark blue light carved three large, consecutive strikes into the air.
The power that could never be achieved with a single-handed sword pierced the test subject’s hard shell and cut off their arms and waists with a single blow.
Quazazazazak!
With one sword strike, several bodies were cut down simultaneously.
Three consecutive circular strikes that swirled like the sun in the air.
Numerous enemy debris scattered around, spraying blood.
Those who had their waists and heads cut off died instantly. Only one who had his legs cut off barely survived.
Hwarin is a powerful sword type that is used on large groups.
If you deploy it head-on at close range, no matter how many enemies there are, they will all be literally burned to death like microbes facing the sun.
[Karrarak!]
The one who managed to survive staggered after landing and tried to regain his balance, but he collapsed without being able to do anything about his severed leg.
The surviving test subject’s mouth gaped open.
The gas burst out again, as if in a fit of rage, toward Enoch.
Cheeeeeeek!
But Enoch went straight through the gas and slowly approached it.
The air you breathe through the filter of the gas mask has already been purified.
In that situation, there was no way the paralyzing poison would work on him.
“You have no learning ability.”
Enoch spoke quietly through his mask, and thrust his sword into the man’s gaping maw.
Phew
I forcefully pulled the sword stuck in his neck out to the side, and the bastard’s hideously mutated head fell to the floor.
The monster’s green blood sprayed like a waterfall on the floor.
“… Phew.”
Only after cutting the monster’s neck in two did Enoch draw his sword, breathing heavily.
Blood was oozing out of the waist where he had been hit by the bastard.
But thanks to the adrenaline rush from the excitement of battle, I still didn’t feel the pain of my wounds.
Now I just had to find the kids.
But before I could even catch my breath.
A sudden voice rang in his ears.
“What are you doing in someone else’s precious laboratory?”
At the end of a room lined with dark white lights.
A languid voice rang out from there.
“Anyway, I’m telling you guys that you can’t mess with my experiment. You’re just idiots who don’t understand anything.”
Enoch slowly turned his head.
A young man in white appeared, walking slowly from beyond the darkness of the laboratory.
He stroked his chin and pointed to Enoch’s sword.
“That looks a bit funny for a horse. Is it your taste?”
But Enoch did not answer.
No, I couldn’t answer that exactly.
‘Why on earth is that guy…?’
Enoch took a half step back without realizing it.
A strangely dressed man with shining dark green eyes, wearing a white robe that doesn’t match his noble clothes.
Although this was obviously the first time meeting Enoch, he was definitely aware of his identity.
“Vendetta – 13th Rank in the Order of Destruction: Tantalus”
‘Vendetta’, one of the original’s powerful villain groups.
He was one of the ‘destructionists’ there.
The in-game settings stated this about them:
“Within Vendetta, there are thirteen [Annihilators]. They command the rank-and-file members of the organization, and are powerful executive-level magicians who remain loyal to the organization in their own way and according to their own will.”
In other words, the ones who make Vendetta the most threatening in the original work are the Destructionists.
The man in front of them, the lowest of them all. Even “Tantalos”, ranked 13th, was above grade 10.
Needless to say, he was a powerful figure with at least the status of a mid-boss in the original work.
That’s exactly why it was a problem.
‘That guy wasn’t supposed to appear on this stage!’
A cold chill ran down Enoch’s spine.
The identity of ‘that person’ mentioned in the conversation between the Ten Commandments and the Administrator in the previous lens is this wizard.
And at the same time… .
A formidable enemy that we can absolutely not defeat at present.
“You don’t even answer. You’re embarrassing me.”
Meanwhile, Tantalus spoke with a slightly annoyed expression as he walked towards me.
“I see that the stock market dispatched a new person, but I thought it was strange that the regular reports suddenly stopped coming… It was a good thing I came just in case.”
The man took out a short cigar from inside his white coat.
Enoch took a step back, sweat dripping down his face.
That wasn’t just any cigarette.
A unique magical armor with a green magic stone that has the same color as Tantalus’ eyes.
As soon as he saw that sight, Enoch sensed danger and readjusted his sword.
“Anyway, I guess I’ll have to get paid for this.”
Ah, warm.
In an instant, the bastard’s fingers snapped, and the cigar in his mouth lit up.
At the same time, a halo of mana exploded from the bastard’s body.
For a moment Enoch doubted his own eyes as he looked at him.
‘That’s ridiculous.’
Hard to believe, the mana felt by the “Sense of Mana” was sinking like a swamp and covering all directions.
Enoch gripped his sword tightly, overwhelmed by the amount of mana he had just seen.
Chijik… .
Tantalus took a deep breath. The flame in his pipe flared bright red.
The front of the cigar shrank to ash, and the green smoke exhaled from his mouth spread thickly in all directions.
And the next moment.
A line of green mana was drawn in front of Enoch’s body.
‘Coming!’
As soon as I realized it, a magic circle began to rapidly rotate and unfold in front of my nose.
An invisible blow burst out from there and rushed towards him in a short direction.
Kaaaaang!
Perhaps because I was concentrating all my nerves due to tension, I was barely able to react thanks to my “Mana Sense”.
By quickly inserting the sword that had been projected with mana in advance, I somehow succeeded in blocking the attack.
“Huh!”
But that’s it.
With the tremendous impact of the sword, Enoch’s body was thrown back with great force along with the sword.
Enoch was pushed for a long time and his back hit the wall of the laboratory, so he lost his balance and fell down.
A cold sweat ran down his back as he let out his breath in an instant.
‘It was too complacent.’
You may have been excited without even realizing it.
A world that resembles the games you usually enjoy.
So, without realizing it, I might have been unconsciously mistaken in thinking that it was no different from a game where everything was driven by one choice.
But of course, this world was not a game.
So anything could have happened outside the route he had experienced.
Since I was clearly aware of that fact, I had thought about and prepared countermeasures for unexpected situations to some extent in advance.
But even though this was a variable, it was something very unexpected.
‘I never thought a person of the mid-boss level would suddenly appear here out of nowhere.’
But Enoch is not the only one who regards his opponent as an unexpected being.
“You’re stopping that.”
Tantalus took out his cigar and twirled it around in his fingers, as if he found it interesting.
“It was a magic circle activated at close range. The projectile wouldn’t have been visible, so how? Even the flying and long-distance battle magicians of Elseid couldn’t react at all. That doesn’t make sense.”
He tilted his head and looked at Enoch, then slowly opened his mouth.
“You bastard… .”
He asked with a creepy smile.
“Mana, can you read it?”
For a moment, a chill ran down Enoch’s spine.
He had already figured it out.
Of course, for ordinary magicians, being able to visually check an opponent’s mana was by no means an ordinary thing.
Of course, if someone were to draw mana from their surroundings to the point where it would condense around the space, it would be possible for an ordinary person to observe it with the naked eye.
For example, Enoch’s blue-black mana projected onto his sword, and the magic circles that wizards normally deploy, etc.
Mana that is concentrated in one spot has a unique bright light that is easily visible to the eyes of ordinary people.
The former is because it focuses and confines mana to the sword, and the latter is because it arranges mana in the air in a concentrated state.
However, unlike the phenomenon of light emitting through such natural condensation, it is a completely different story to be able to see the entire ‘flow of mana’ that makes up the magic itself.
“Interesting. What is your identity, you bastard?”
If it were a normal wizard, they would have died without even being able to react to the attack just now.
Because it was magic designed from the beginning so that the enemy would be unable to even respond.
But Enoch responded.
That must have been the point that surprised Tantalus.
It would have been nearly impossible to respond to an attack while recognizing exactly how it was coming, given the nature of the magic’s design.
But while it may have been surprising from his perspective that Enoch had escaped, from Enoch’s perspective, Tantalus’ absurd judgment was even more surprising.
With just one attack, you can almost accurately gauge my abilities.
Kwak.
Enoch felt a chill and grabbed the hand holding the sword.
As expected, it wasn’t for nothing that he was promoted to the position of a senior officer in Vendetta.
“What, you’re not going to answer? Well, that’s only natural.”
Tantalus looked down at Enoch, who was still lying down and not saying anything, and made a suggestion.
“Okay, let’s do this. I’ll spare your life. Be my test subject.”
He said with shining green eyes.
“You are still an ongoing experiment, but you are special. You seem to have potential. If you undergo my experiments, you will become thousands of times stronger than you are now.”
Chijik…
He took a puff of his cigar.
“Don’t you want to be a powerful wizard? If you’re a wizard of the Elseid clan, no. If you’re a wizard of this damned Magic Empire, that’s what everyone wants.”
Gulp.
And in the next moment, dozens of green magic circles appeared, rotating, aiming at Enoch. The speed and amount of mana were ridiculous.
If you refuse, you will die.
Actions that imply such meaning.
“I know you don’t have a choice, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing for you either.”
Tantalus said, putting a cigar in his mouth.
“Incompetence is a sin in any society. Especially if you are part of a wealthy family… Don’t you know this better than anyone else?”
Enoch tried to move his body somehow.
However, his legs and arms, which had already reached their limits due to the use of swordsmanship, would no longer listen to him. At this point, even running away was impossible.
But in such a desperate situation…
Enoch just smiled briefly.
“I refuse.”
“what?”
And the next moment.
Tantalus’ eyes were filled with a puzzled expression as he questioned the unexpected answer.
The lit cigar’s stub snapped off in an instant and flew away.
Crunch.
“…?”
The magic circle, which lost its power source due to the destruction of the magic field, was canceled by instantly transforming into particles of light before it could be activated.
Tantalus opened his eyes beyond the halo of his mana that was scattering in all directions.
Phew.
Before his eyes. Beyond the darkness of the laboratory, silvery white threads filled with mana were shooting out in all directions.
“A contract that involves life….”
Black dress with white apron.
Her silver hair danced and rippled in the darkness over her familiar maid outfit.
Enoch spoke quietly as he watched Lien pass by.
“Because I have a prior engagement.”