The Sword Genius of the Magic Empire - Chapter 47



Only Noblemtl

Enoch is speeding through the middle of the city.

In an instant, a strong gust of wind blew past him, carrying the scent of Enoch’s wounded arm’s blood in exactly the direction he wanted.

Right behind Enoch, who was running quickly through the ruined city, a group of black figures chased after him, kicking up a huge cloud of dust like a storm.

A fierce chase was going on throughout the area.

A high vantage point overlooking it all.

Reconnaissance drone.

The latest artifact in modern magic engineering glided across the sky of the ruined city with its four propellers.

In the skies above the first test site, numerous drones were already scattered and moving in unison.

The optical lenses of drones positioned at various angles captured the entire, expansive view of the testing site.

The real-time video captured by the drone’s lens was being transmitted to the user, the Nemesis Knight.

Jiiing.

The interface on the screen automatically recognizes each team’s movements and locks on and zooms in.

In the drone view screens, each team was hunting the devil according to their own strategy.

But among those countless teams.

There was only one team that stood out by far.

“… It’s surprising, Vice-Captain?”

The one who gave a short review was the Nemesis knight who was watching the video transmitted by the drone.

It was Luca.

She reported the status of the exam to Theano, who was silently watching the screen next to her, in a slightly excited tone.

“Vice-Captain, I heard that Candidate Enoch Elseid’s team is currently in first place with the points!”

Theano nodded slightly at the report.

“… Yeah. I’m watching.”

Of course, Theano himself was also watching them more carefully than anyone else around him.

Enoch’s team, as seen on the drone screen, was moving more systematically than any other team.

– First, Bianca raised her staff high.

She detects all nearby demons with her detection magic.

First, we accurately identified the location of the special-class demon that we absolutely had to avoid.

At the same time, he uses communication magic to convey the exact location of the nearby demon to his teammates.

– Meanwhile, Ina sets up traps in locations designated by elemental magic in the outskirts of the city and waits.

She formed countless magic circles in hidden places that were invisible to others, and organically placed various traps and trap-type magic around them.

And only then does Ina let out a small breath and wipe the sweat that has formed on her forehead.

– Then, Tike climbed up to the roof of a tall building, closed his eyes, and stretched out one hand.

Whirlwind.

She threw her saddle high in the air.

The moment when a hexahedral dice made of glowing mana spins in the air and falls.

Pfft!

Tike activates magic amplified by her own magic.

Bianca just casted wind magic towards the demons she had detected.

Her unique magic causes a gust of wind to rush through the tall, abandoned buildings and lush vegetation of the abandoned city.

A gust of wind cut through the forest of broken buildings in the abandoned city and finally found Enoch, running far away from them.

-Krrrrr!

Soon, the scent of blood coming from Enoch, who had turned his back on the wind, made the demons all over the city react and howl.

The wind carrying the scent of blood blew in two or three directions at the same time, causing the demons to go into a collective frenzy.

Finally, Enoch, who had drawn all the attention of the surrounding demons to himself…

“… Even a wizard with level 10 physical enhancement ability would rarely be able to move to that extent.”

One of the Nemesis knights sitting at the round table admired his movements in the drone footage and said:

“I fully understand that mobility is my strong point. Even if I can’t do it, it’s a level of physical strengthening magic that has reached the realm of unique magic.”

The demons were following him in a frenzy, drawn by the scent of blood Enoch had released into the wind.

Kurrururur!

Enoch was running at the forefront of the storm-like rush of demons, as if leading them.

It would be no ordinary thing to not be caught by the pursuit of demons boasting powerful physical abilities.

But that wasn’t all.

The knight who was watching him added:

“In addition, the various movements that traverse terrain are very fast and skillful. It’s amazing.”

As the article said, the speed that Enoch was showing on the screen was truly admirable.

Quickly jump, spin, and acrobatically jump inside the tall abandoned buildings in the ruined city center, then quickly slide down ramps made of broken steel frames, and dash through the city center in the shortest possible distance.

When a broken building appears in front of him, blocking his path, he kicks the protrusions on the building’s wall without hesitation, then holds onto the rooftop railing with his arms and flies himself up onto the building.

He ran to where the other team members were waiting, luring countless hordes of demons that were running madly after the scent of his blood.

Around them, strange teams were screaming.

“Hey, what’s with that crazy guy!”

“Get out of here first! If you stay still, you’ll get swept away!”

Other participants who were waiting for a chance to hunt the demons nearby retreated in fear of being caught in the chase by the demons.

When Enoch finally reached the alley of the building.

Sigh.

As he gave a signal with a simple hand signal, Inaga raised her staff high in the air in response.

At the same time, the trap magic she had set up in advance rotated sequentially and activated.

Kuuuuung!

A series of powerful trap magic spells exploded in an instant, causing a large building to collapse in an entire area.

He destroyed all the demons that were chasing Enoch.

In the meantime, the group of demons that had somehow managed to survive were being finished off by Tyche, who had casted amplified magic in advance according to Enoch’s instructions.

All of this was captured on Nemesis’ drone screen.

“It’s better than I thought.”

Luca, the Nemesis scout who was watching it in front of the monitor, muttered in a small voice.

“It’s not just the operation, but he also accurately identifies the characteristics of his team members and assigns them appropriate roles. He also knows how to calmly command in the field.”

As Luca said.

The very act of using the scent of blood to hunt was a strategy that had been attempted several times by other teams during the first round of the long-running Nemesis tests.

But there has never been a successful team.

Of course, the reason was obvious. It was an extremely dangerous operation that could not tolerate even the slightest mistake, since they were driving a huge number of demons at once.

Moreover, this was a team hastily put together for a test. No matter how well they tried to work together, if the command was poor, mistakes were bound to happen.

In fact, all the teams that attempted that operation in the past had quite painful experiences due to very minor command mistakes.

But Enoch’s team was completely different.

Theano also looked at the screen and evaluated it coolly.

“Certainly, it was an incredibly clean and systematic operation that you wouldn’t believe was simply a hastily assembled testing facility team. Honestly, it was beyond my expectations.”

And that wasn’t the only surprising thing, even though Theano didn’t mention it out loud.

It was also hard to believe that Enoch was in charge of all the assignments and command of the team members.

“… Hey, what’s this? I was a bit excited because the stock market was worried about whether that person was suitable for the joint mission~?”

Luca shrugged her small shoulders.

“I didn’t know that you would have such a boring talent as a leader? How can you be like that without even a single follower?”

“That’s right. I didn’t expect you to have such a high level of understanding of linked combat…”

Theano, who was watching the screen, also silently agreed with the comments from other knights he heard from the side.

However, Theano opened his mouth coldly.

“It’s too early to tell.”

She spoke as if trying to remind us of our original goal.

“Candidate Enoch hasn’t passed the first test yet. We won’t know until then.”

“Well, that’s true.”

Lucado agreed languidly with Teano’s words.

“Apart from verifying his abilities, passing the first test is a condition for deploying him for this mission~.”

No matter how great a leader is in leading a team, in the end, they have to produce results.

No matter how good a command is, if the results don’t follow, the leader’s qualities cannot be proven.

And the results of this test aren’t out yet.

Theano added, looking back at the screen with calm eyes.

“And from now on, there are still plenty of variables that will determine whether that team passes or fails the test.”

Her gaze turned to the footage from another drone.

– Immediately after the test began, there was one thing that Enoch’s team, who were quickly gaining points, ‘failed to notice’.

If they don’t quickly realize the current situation, Enoch and his team’s trials may end like this.

Under the shadow of the sun.

Theano’s determined eyes stared at the giant demon’s form reflected on the drone’s screen.

-The special demon was moving.

***

The time limit for the test was approaching the halfway point.

And by then Enoch had lured the demons to the team a total of five times.

“Phew.”

Enoch wiped his mouth with his arm and took a moment to catch his breath, which was now starting to get ragged.

The wound on his forearm that he had intentionally made to lure her was soaked with sweat and felt hot.

But that wasn’t the problem.

‘That’s strange.’

He had just finished luring, and frowned for a moment. Clearly, he was steadily gaining points through the hunt as planned.

But for some reason, it didn’t feel right.

‘If it’s as expected, it’s better than this…’

“Lord Enoch!”

At that moment, Tike came over and waved his hand.

This time too, it seems that Ina has finished off the demons who survived the trap she set.

Although she looked quite tired from the continuous use of magic, she still ran towards me with a joyful expression and shouted.

“Thank you for your hard work. Thanks to you, I’ve already gotten over 40 points. If we keep going like this, we’ll get there in no time…!”

“… … .”

But Enoch did not answer. Instead, he slowly raised his head and looked around.

“…Why are you doing that?”

Tyche noticed Enoch’s strange behavior and approached him with a puzzled expression and asked.

“Something is wrong.”

“Huh? What is it?”

But it was not Enoch who answered.

Bianca, who had been far away using detection magic, came running quickly and shouted loudly.

“That’s weird, my score is lower than I expected!”

“Huh? You say the score is low?”

Tike asked with a puzzled expression, as if she didn’t quite understand the situation. But it was certainly as Bianca said.

Enoch nodded.

As she said, she had clearly been wandering around the area to lure the devil.

But there weren’t as many demons as I thought.

“All the demons in the vicinity have disappeared.”

“Yes, that’s right. Originally, there should have been more demons nearby than this… … .”

Inado, who joined while hesitating, said.

Everyone seemed confused.

Clearly everything was going according to plan.

But strangely, the number of demons was insufficient.

“If you keep doing this, you’ll miss out on points!”

“That’s right. Should we move for now?”

“Yes, yes… The demons suddenly disappeared. Uh, I think we can lure them more around here… .”

While the other team members were talking amongst themselves and trying to come up with a plan, Enoch was lost in thought for a moment.

‘In fact, that’s not the only abnormality.’

Even when I lured the demons for the last time and crossed the city center, I didn’t feel any signs of other participants nearby.

‘Of course, since we lured all the demons away, we may have moved our hunting grounds…’

Even so, it wasn’t like Tike’s amplified wind magic had attracted that many demons.

If you get too greedy and start sweeping away all the surrounding demons, it’s obvious that you’ll be completely focused on by the other participants. Furthermore, the power of the traps that Ina set up was limited.

So, the operation was carried out in several stages, luring the demons little by little at a time.

Therefore, the possibility of being aggroed by everyone and becoming a direct target of restraint was very low.

In addition, there was a time limit, so other teams would be busy hunting for the devil rather than restraining others. It was a strange situation that was difficult to understand in many ways.

Something felt strange.

‘no way?’

At that moment, a thought crossed my mind.

There was only one possible cause for all these plans going awry.

Enoch turned his head quickly to Bianca and asked.

“Bianca. Can you use detection magic to find the location of the special beast right now?”

“Yes, yes! I can find it because I remembered its shape earlier. However, even when I tried to use detection magic earlier, it wasn’t anywhere near us…”

─Keeeeeeeek!

But, cutting off Bianca’s words up to that point, a special-class demon’s roar was heard from far away.

When Enoch winked, Bianca suppressed her embarrassment and immediately raised her staff and deployed detection magic.

“Where is it?”

“5,500 meters, rapidly approaching across the ruins! And it looks like the target is… .”

She looked at Enoch thoughtfully.

“I think it’s on our side!”

Now it all makes sense.

As the special forces approached, it seemed that all the surrounding regular demons and participants had run away.

Moreover, this happened when all the team members were completely absorbed in the hunt.

It was a timing that was virtually impossible to deal with.

Meanwhile, Bianca, barely able to keep herself from panicking, held onto her horse tightly and looked at me with an anxious expression.

“But why is that guy suddenly following us? He was clearly far from us!”

“That’s right! I also clearly avoided places where special forces were likely to be present, and manipulated the wind as instructed… … .”

Tike, who had been saying that, suddenly became startled and muttered.

“Wait a minute, no way!”

Then, as if something clicked, he cast his magic again and shouted.

“This is a big deal!”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

To Bianca’s question, Tike answered urgently with a pale expression.

“Someone is interfering with the flow of my wind magic!”

“Huh? How exactly do you mean?”

Tike hastily added an explanation to Bianca, who was taken aback by the unexpected answer.

“The scent of blood that I had conveyed through the wind to lure you earlier… was intercepted by another team with another wind spell and moved the special forces!”

That means someone is intentionally directing the express towards this side.

Bianca muttered in a bewildered voice.

“So, you’re saying they were focusing on us? Are they trying to keep a rival team in check?”

“Maybe so. But this kind of sophisticated magical interference is definitely not simple! Who on earth would…?”

In fact, even if the unique magic was loose, it was such a sophisticated magical interference that even Tike, who was close to being a 10th-grade magician, couldn’t even notice it.

He is certainly not a wizard of average skill.

Enoch thought about the corner where the straw was.

‘Are there still any followers of Dionil left?’

Come to think of it, we formed a team almost immediately after the selection test and flew straight to the testing site.

So, I couldn’t confirm whether the Dionil family still exists.

‘Where did you find out how to lure the devil?’

But Enoch soon changed his mind, realizing that it was pointless to think like this now.

What’s happened is what’s happened.

The next step had to be taken.

Otherwise, you will definitely fail the exam.

‘… Then, what should we do?’

There is no point in coming here now and finding and eliminating the guy who lured the special beast to this side.

‘Since there is a time limit for the test, in the end, I’m just wasting my time.’

The first Nemesis test is not a test of winning or losing a battle between teams, but a test where you have to pass a cutoff score.

Whether it was the Dionil gang or whoever interfered, if I can’t pass the test anyway, there’s no benefit in eliminating those who are holding me back.

Besides, there was no way to immediately pinpoint the saboteurs’ location. If that were possible in the first place, Tike or Bianca would have noticed their trick first.

‘It’s quite annoying when you deliberately disrupt a test.’

Meanwhile, three sorceresses on the side were discussing something with serious expressions on their faces.

“What should I do? Rather than fighting the special, should I try to run away as much as possible…?”

“Ha, but… even if we run away, we don’t have the magic to run as fast as Enoch. We won’t be able to run away from such an agile demon! It’ll all be over if we do this…!”

The team members are increasingly panicking and panicking as they are terrified that a special force is approaching.

But between the opinions they shared.

Enoch spoke in a calm tone.

“There is a way.”

“yes?”

Enoch’s calm appearance caught the attention of the other team members.

“What do you mean by that?”

They seemed to calm down after seeing Enoch’s attitude for a moment.

Instead of answering, Enoch raised his hand and pointed to a structure near them.

There was a large artificial structure there, covered with fallen leaves and mud.

It was a huge entrance to a ‘certain facility’, completely covered with rusty iron covers and finished with solid rock.

And then, looking at the heavily damaged metal sign next to it, Inaga muttered softly.

“A, an underground water well…?”

Enoch nodded.

In the original, this testing site was visited several times.

And on the outskirts of this ruined city, which was the first testing ground, there was a secret location hidden.

“The Hidden Aqueduct”

Enoch checked the rusted sign markings on the side of the structure and told the rest of the team a simple operation.

“He came here following the scent of my blood, so I have to lure him there myself.”

“… Going into the sewer? No way…!”

Enoch spoke to Tyche, who was mumbling blankly.

“If he follows me into the sewer, then use magic to collapse the entrance to the sewer.”

“yes yes?”

Bianca looked embarrassed and shouted loudly.

“Then, Enoch… Are you trying to buy time by luring the guy alone into the sewer?”

Enoch nodded.

“That’s right. If the remaining regular demons move away from the special, we can meet again.”

“Ha, but that’s too dangerous! We, we need to help too…!”

“This is the most reasonable way.”

Ina hesitated, but tried her best to dissuade him. Enoch cut her off and said.

“Since the special demon has started to track my blood, it would be more efficient for me to be isolated from the team and for the rest of the team to collect points. After all, there’s no other way to pass the test, right?”

Ina, who saw his cold eyes, froze slightly and swallowed her words.

In fact, everyone knew.

Anyway, if you don’t reach the cutoff score of 50 by killing more demons, you will still fail the exam whether you get 40 points or 1 point.

So there was no choice.

Tyche took a deep breath and nodded slightly to Enoch.

“I understand what you are saying.”

With this, the plan was set. Enoch glanced at Ina and asked her a favor.

“Please open the door.”

“Ah! Yes, nehet!”

Inaga, who had been cowering, hurriedly installed an explosive trap on the surface of the structure and destroyed the iron bars blocking the entrance to the waterway.

Soon a dark waterway came into view.

A long tunnel extending underground.

Inside the abandoned canal, shallow water flowed, barely reaching the soles of your shoes.

Enoch briefly thanked Ina and then began walking straight into the darkness of the ditch.

“Ah, that… … !”

Tyche, who had just received Enoch’s instructions to block the entrance to the aqueduct, stared helplessly at his back as he disappeared into the darkness of the aqueduct.

But soon, as if she had made up her mind, Tike closed her eyes tightly and grabbed her staff member and spoke.

“Please, I wish you good luck!”

Kuuuung!

And in the next moment, a gigantic figure burst out of the wall of the ruined building and crossed the sky before Tyke’s eyes.

Amidst the massive debris of buildings cutting through the air.

“Ugh─!”

She was momentarily surprised, but she watched the guy leap past her.

Bright, shining red eyes.

A strange monster, clad in a tattered robe, running with the muscles of its twitching black body contracting.

-Krrrrrrr!

A special demon that goes berserk at the smell of blood.

Baphomet.

Just as Enoch had said, the bastard ran violently straight into the culvert, paying no attention to the other three wizards.

The moment the bastard fully thrust his body into the sewer, Bianca shouted from the side.

“It’s now!”

A magic circle rotates around the staff aimed at Tike. Activation.

Kwaaaaang!

The entrance to the culvert collapsed with a loud noise.

A huge barrier of dust and stone fragments formed at the entrance, blocking the entrance through which he had entered.

A deep, deep darkness fell over the sight of the demon who suddenly got excited and jumped into the waterway.

– … … ?

The demon stopped for a moment after the collapse that occurred with a loud noise and looked at the entrance where the light had disappeared.

Back.

His red eyes, drawn to the scent of blood and excited, twitched strangely once.

The entrance I came in through was suddenly blocked.

Could it be that I’m trapped here?

Have you fallen into some kind of trap?

-No, no.

Whew.

Baphomet turned his head violently forward.

Inside the waterway, thick darkness spreads.

That’s for sure.

-The smell of blood. Prey.

The smell of blood that he has been madly chasing all this time is clearly coming from inside this passage.

The prey you’ve been chasing is right here in front of you.

Have to hunt.

at that time.

“Nice to meet you.”

In the darkness of the culvert, a low voice spoke to the special beast, Baphomet.

─Suddenly… … .

A single footstep echoed through the waterway.

A boy with pitch-black hair slowly emerged from the darkness.

Baphomet paused for a moment and looked at him.

Enoch’s eyes, darker than the darkness of the culvert, stared at him clearly as he walked out of the darkness.

For a moment, Baphomet shuddered with an eerie sensation.

– Hunting, hunting… …?

Brrrr.

The special demon instinctively stepped back slightly, as if he was overwhelmed by the momentum, and tensed his body.

Enoch added, approaching the man.

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

Enoch stopped a short distance away from the creature. Circular waves formed in the shallow water beneath his feet.

He looked up and smiled as he confirmed that the ceiling of the culvert had not collapsed anywhere.

It was a place that boasted the same sturdiness as it did five years ago in the original.

‘The culvert is one of the few secret locations in this test site where drone vision is blocked.’

There is no other person’s view here.

That’s why I led you here.

“If there are just the two of us, there is nothing to be afraid of.”

Swish.

Enoch slowly took out the fox doll that Chloe had given him at the orphanage.

The bright beam of light emitted by the doll brightly illuminated the darkness of the underground sewer.

-Keeeeeek!

And in that light, the grotesque goat-horned head of Baphomet glared at him.

Enoch slowly lowered the black cloth bag on his back.

In his head, the voice that Tike had shouted earlier flashed through his mind.

-Please, I wish you good luck!

Enoch smiled faintly.

Perhaps they think this is a way to lure the devil by sacrificing themselves.

And while he’s killing time, they’re probably thinking that the only way to pass the exam is to accumulate as many remaining points as possible.

‘I don’t think everyone knows this, but.’

Actually, that’s completely wrong.

From the beginning, there was no guarantee that the team composition consisting of only them would be able to hold their own and raise the score during the remaining time.

The magic of these three is not suitable for this test, either. Even if you desperately continue hunting with them alone, you won’t be able to achieve any significant results.

So, Enoch chose the most risky but surest way to pass the test.

‘… Even special ones, there is a way to hunt them.’

Enoch dropped the camouflage staff he had been holding onto the floor, took down the cloth bag on his back, and untied the knot.

The black hilt of the one-handed sword was revealed.

Enoch pulled it out slowly.

Ugh.

The blade, emitting a cold chill, rang faintly.

“Let’s give it a try.”

The silver-white sword blade emerges from the scabbard,

Enoch’s dark blue eyes shone in the darkness.