The Sword Genius of the Magic Empire - Chapter 58



Only Noblemtl

Episode 58. Fortress assault operation (3)

I was embarrassed.

Enoch held back his thoughts from becoming confused and first calmly assessed the current situation.

‘The free world is being activated by force? Why?’

This has never happened before.

And the hidden one has been unlocked?

I couldn’t even guess properly, and now was not the time to examine each and every one of them.

‘Why did it have to be in the middle of a battle… … .’

You have already entered the fortress, where you don’t know where the enemies are waiting to ambush you. If you enter the inner world here, your body will be defenseless.

In a combat situation where you never know when you’ll be attacked, if you become like that, it could lead directly to death.

Enoch swallowed dry saliva.

? Free World: Until Entry Completed… 7%

The ‘message’ that only appeared within the world of nothingness was floating before my eyes like a hallucination, beyond the field of vision where reality and the inner world were mixing.

The progress indicator kept going up.

This is a situation where there is no such thing as a time attack.

Then there was only one option left. Enoch raised his head and concluded coolly.

‘It ends before you fully enter the inner world.’

The point is, you just have to finish it quickly.

Enoch calmly calculated the time.

Judging by the progress, there is only about 10 minutes left. If you rush, it is not a short time.

‘Plus there’s Scirocco. It’s worth it.’

He judged it so.

“The leader is probably at the top of the fortress.”

Sirocco, who was just walking inside the fortress, looked back at Enoch and said.

“But, what are you doing behind the scenes?”

Siroc tilted his head as he looked at Enoch, who had stopped with a solemn expression.

“Oh, by any chance!”

She thought deeply for a moment, then turned to Enoch and asked with a rather clear expression.

“Do you want to go to the bathroom?”

“Similar.”

Enoch replied vaguely and stepped into the hallway.

“Finish it quickly.”

Sirocco nodded once at Enoch’s answer and followed him.

“good!”

***

The hallway of the fortress.

In the darkness of the long corridor, there was movement to respond to the two intruders who had attacked.

“Two intruders. Strike!”

The Vendetta magicians waiting in the inner corridors of the fortress aimed at the magic field and deployed their magic circles. The magic circles formed in the darkness and emitted light.

And at the same time.

Taat!

A red-tailed girl ran out beside Enoch.

“Get out of the way, you sloppy old men!”

Shiroko shouted confidently, using the walls of the hallway as footholds to kick away from the men.

In an instant, her red tail cut through the darkness and spun horizontally. She turned her body towards the enemy at the forefront and delivered a sharp high kick.

Phew!

With a dull thud, a kick to the head struck him in an instant. His head smashed through the wall and crashed down.

The enemy from behind quickly aimed at the horse.

But Sirocco didn’t even land, but quickly turned his waist once more while floating in the air.

The second roundhouse kick hits hard.

Her bare foot cut through the air and hit the enemy directly in the waist. He was unable to scream and was sent flying into the wall, crashing down. A large blast of dust and stone debris flew out.

Boom!

Sirocco charges straight through the dust barrier.

Enoch nodded inwardly as he passed by his enemies who fell like fallen leaves in the blink of an eye.

‘It’s not tier 1 for nothing.’

In the original, Shiroko was a magician who used his own physical abilities to the limit through his unique body-strengthening magic to engage in close combat.

“The Suin tribe is born with an innately strong body.”

「Therefore, Shiroko’s unique magic is the simplest yet most powerful fighting style that boasts the greatest synergy with her innate body.」

‘In that sense, Sirocco is truly a natural genius.’

In the original work, that was one of the reasons that made Sirocco the unrivaled tier 1 melee character.

Because she freely engages in close combat with such overwhelming destructive power, even the most difficult opponents are often useless in front of her.

‘However, it is still very rough compared to the original.’

Enoch judged coolly.

Maybe it was because I saw it so many times while playing as the main character, but I could already tell that all of the movements were familiar.

It may be natural, but the power and perfection of her movements seemed considerably less powerful than those of her five years later.

But it’s surprising that it’s that strong.

one side.

Blowing away the enemies blocking his way, Sirocco headed towards the stairs leading to the upper floor of the fortress.

I run up the stairs leading up to the fortress in a giant spiral without slowing down, like the wind.

Whee!

The countless torches lined up on the wall passed by her as she sprinted forward, her posture low.

Sirocco, who had been running at his usual pace for a while, suddenly looked behind him with a sense of urgency.

‘Oh, that’s right! I was so excited that I ran like usual!’

Enoch would be following behind now.

Of course, this is not full speed. But even at this speed, the warriors of the water tribe could not even keep up with her footsteps in hunting the demons.

Even the boy was an ‘outsider’ known to have much lower physical abilities than the water people like her.

‘Should I slow down so that he doesn’t fall too much…?’

Shiroko thought so and glanced back.

But just then,

Her eyes opened wide in surprise.

Right behind her, a boy with pitch-black hair was gliding behind her.

A look of doubt flashed across Sirocco’s eyes as he confirmed it with his round eyes.

‘…Huh?’

Meanwhile, Enoch, who had been calmly following her, was checking the progress that was taking up one corner of his vision.

? Free World: Until Entry Completed… 15%

I had to hurry.

What’s most important to us right now is time.

Thanks to Sirocco’s help, things have been going very smoothly so far. But the real story was just beginning.

At the end of the endless stairs, a door leading to the last floor of the fortress appeared.

A thick, tightly shut iron gate blocked them. Sirocco ran without slowing down and shouted at Enoch.

“It’s inside!”

Sirocco, who had shouted like that, quickly ran towards the large iron gate.

As it was, Shiroko ran, touched the ground, and jumped heavily, lifting her body into the air.

Binggle.

As he flew, Sirocco kicked the huge iron door blocking the top floor with both feet together.

Tear-rrrrr!

With a loud metallic clang, the iron door snapped and split in half, flying inward.

The view inside the door opened up along with the dust.

Sirocco paused for a moment as he looked inside.

The top floor of the fortress.

Inside the door she opened, a room thick with the heavy darkness of midnight unfolded.

Sirocco, who had stopped, muttered without realizing it.

“Here, there’s something….”

She raised her tail with an ominous feeling.

Unlike before, she walked carefully inside the room, looking around cautiously.

And finally, when she entered the room, the sight of the dark top floor came into view.

“……ah!”

Sirocco, who saw the scenery lined up in the darkness inside, took a deep breath for a moment.

Her tail and ears also stiffened for a moment.

An unbelievable sight unfolded before her eyes.

-People and individuals who have been kidnapped and disappeared.

They were unconscious and trapped in a test tube, filled with a green liquid inside the glass.

“…why?”

Shiroko’s lips turned blue and trembled as she looked at the tragedy suffered by the kidnapped people.

She moved her lips for a moment as if to say something, but then closed them without even being able to continue.

“Why on earth, like this… .”

Shiroko’s eyes, muttering weakly, lost focus and stared blankly at the tragedy.

Shiroko approached one of the test tubes and stroked the glass with her tiny fingertips.

A water man floating unconscious inside.

He was a small child of the Suin tribe.

Shiroko’s ears and tail hung limply as he stared at Suin, who was much younger than him, for a while.

Enoch, who was following her, looked at her for a moment.

‘In the original, Shiroko loved her people so much that she felt guilty about not being able to protect them.’

After the village of the Suin tribe was destroyed.

Her mind is badly broken.

A lonely figure fighting in vain as the last survivor of the Suin tribe, struggling with guilt for not being able to protect the Suin tribe as the successor to the tribe, without taking care of his own body or safety.

Her back, which was no different from that of a lone wolf, overlapped Enoch’s eyes for a moment.

‘Even though he is still young, his love and care for his people are no different.’

Even in the car earlier, I openly asked him how he should lead the group.

‘And it seems that the chieftain and the tribal warriors did not send Sirocco here on purpose.’

No matter how strong she is and how she is the heir to lead the tribe, she is still a young girl of only fifteen years old.

The reason why Shiroko had not been sent to recapture the fortress until now was probably the last consideration of the Suin adults who wanted to prevent her from seeing such a tragic sight.

It must have been quite a shock for her to see this sight for the first time with her own two eyes.

Enoch calmly checked the remaining time.

? The World of No Cost: Until Entry Completed… 34%

And then,

“… I was wondering when Elseid would come.”

A rough voice echoed from inside.

“You were a step faster than I thought. You got hit hard.”

Among the glowing test tubes in the dark.

Someone slowly revealed himself.

“It’s been a long time, young Lycaon.”

On his head are the scarred ears and tail of a lion.

A large, water-man warrior with long, gray-brown, shaggy hair that hangs down in braids.

He was carrying a huge stone axe-shaped saddle on his muscular arms.

He spoke as if greeting me, with his back turned to the numerous bloody test tubes and an axe slung over his shoulder.

“It’s been two years since I was banished. It seems like only yesterday that you were going around the Suin warriors’ barracks, nagging them to have a sparring match.”

Shiroko looked at him quietly and said.

“Uncle Leontos.”

“I heard news from those who were recently exiled.”

Leontos said, tapping the stallion.

“As you declared before, you defeated all the village warriors in a duel. As expected from the successor of the Lycaon family. How admirable.”

He glanced at Enoch and said.

“By the way, it seems the Chieftain has finally joined hands with Elseid. It’s a bit late, though.”

Sirocco shouted at him.

“Why on earth are you doing this?”

She asked with a desperate look.

“Once upon a time, you were warriors who protected the village! Then why are you suddenly doing such bad things…!”

“That’s a bad thing. Even though he’s strong, he’s still a kid.”

He chuckled and spoke softly to Shiroko, who was still visibly shaken.

“Everything is for the future of the Suin tribe.”

“… The future… ? Something like this?”

The light in Shiroko’s eyes had dimmed.

Leontos responded even more fiercely to her, who seemed to be so deeply broken-hearted.

“Chief Successor, you must know this too, right? If we continue like this, there is no future for our people.”

“What, I don’t understand…!”

“This is the only way to secure our future. The Empire abandoned us long ago. Two years ago, after what they did to me…!”

And then,

“Who asked?”

Enoch stepped forward and spoke quietly.

“Shut up, drop your weapons, and get on your knees.”

Even at this moment, the erosion of the world of nothingness was in progress. There was no time to listen to each and every one of those nonsense.

“Black hair. You bastard.”

Leontos glared at Enoch and asked fiercely.

“What the hell are you? How can you, a non-magician, create a 10th-grade black magician Persona all by yourself…?”

Taaaaaang!

But before he could finish speaking.

A straight line cut through the darkness, and a dark blue light pierced Leontos’ head.

An unexpected and explosive approach.

Leontos’ yellow eyes widened before he could finish what he was saying.

Kaaaaah!

The next moment, a loud metallic noise rang out.

Just in front of Leontos’ forehead.

The chillingly cold blade stopped sharply, aimed at his head.

Enoch’s sword was barely blocked by the crude axe-shaped scepter that Leontos had raised.

? The World of No Cost: Until Entry Completed… 55%