The Sword Genius of the Magic Empire - Chapter 64



Only Noblemtl

In the pitch-black darkness of the night.

The dried grasses of the rocky desert swayed violently in the wind that blew with a rustling sound.

And over those grasses.

Elseid’s two operational vehicles, their blue headlights shining, raced through the midnight darkness.

The interior of the vehicle.

The overhead lights dimly illuminated the interior.

The battle magicians of the family sitting on the seats were each silently checking their own equipment and preparing for the upcoming battle.

At that moment, a voice was heard from next to me.

“Lord Enoch.”

It was Askle. He was sitting on the seat next to me, holding a long metal saddle under his left armpit.

“First, I will tell you the current situation as relayed by the village standby team.”

Askle continued speaking in an even tone, reporting the situation to Enoch, who had been at the fortress.

“There are currently black magicians belonging to the Vendetta gathered in the Suin tribe village. The number is over 200.”

“That’s not a small number.”

“Yes. I didn’t know that the last-ditch destroyer called Tantalus could mobilize this many vendetta agents.”

Askle also shook his head, seeming somewhat at a loss.

In fact, it is the largest scale we have ever faced.

Even Elseid is in a position where she has to fight to protect the people in the village as much as possible.

Needless to say, the situation was extremely unfavorable.

However, the battle magicians of the families participating in the operation simply looked at this side with their own eyes in silence. Not a single one of them wavered.

Askle continued.

“Given the circumstances, it appears that the first step of the Vendetta men’s human experiments is to knock out all the villagers at once.”

“So you’re talking about preparation work?”

“Yes. They are currently preparing to activate a large-scale magic circle underground to ‘turn all the fainted water people into beasts at once.’”

“A large-scale magic circle that can be transformed into a demonic circle at once?”

Enoch frowned for a moment.

“Is that possible?”

“Yes. This is information obtained from interrogation of the exiled Suin people. I don’t think it’s a lie, but…”

Askle said, clicking his tongue lowly.

“Actually, I’ve never heard of this kind of magic. As a black magician who has surpassed level 10, the magic itself is beyond imagination.”

at that time.

“Then! It’s beyond imagination~”

A woman’s voice with a languid tone interjected.

“From experience. The magic used by high-level warlocks above level 10 always exceeds expectations, right?”

Askle glanced over and sighed.

“Sir Luca.”

“Hey, I told you to call me Unnie. I hope you haven’t forgotten about the group drinking game we had last time, Askle.”

Short hair that clearly shows off her thin neck, and small cheeks that look like they’re chewing gum.

“Well, whatever.”

And the shadow of the hat deeply obscured that small face. The knight called Luca smiled brightly.

“It’s a headache because they cause chaos with black magic that goes beyond such predictions.”

Luca was sitting in a unique posture with one leg raised and hugged.

She lifted her head slightly from where it was resting on her knees, looked at Enoch, and smiled faintly.

“Isn’t that so, Enoch Elseid?”

She took off her hat and placed it on her chest towards Enoch, and gave a brief introduction of herself.

“Luka. I am a scout from Nemesis.”

Wink.

She glanced at Enoch, then winked briefly with her cat-like eyes under the shade of her hat.

“This is the first time I’ve greeted you since the operation began? Actually, I saw you last time I supervised you at the first test site.”

Enoch simply nodded.

“Enoch Elseid. Current 9th rank.”

“Hahaha, I mustered up the courage to say hello for the first time. Please be a little more gentle with me. It’s a shame~”

Luca playfully scolded Enoch in his characteristically relaxed tone, without a trace of tension.

Enoch glanced at her.

But contrary to his playful tone, Luca was looking at me with sharp eyes from under the shade of his hat and smiling faintly.

“anyway.”

She shrugged her shoulders slightly and continued speaking to Enoch in a more serious tone.

“I’ll add some key information that I found out while subduing the ambushers during the reconnaissance earlier. That’s why I got involved in the first place.”

Enoch nodded.

Luca held up one finger.

“First of all. The magic circle of the water flower is being built underground by a black magician named ‘Tantalos’.”

“Tantalus alone?”

“Yes, to begin with, in order to construct and activate a magic circle large enough to cover the entire village, you need to be a level 10 or higher magician.”

Luca summed it up in one word.

“Judging by these circumstances, it seems that their goal from the beginning was to use the entire village of the Suin tribe as a stage for biological experiments.”

“no!”

At those words, Sirocco’s ears, who were listening from the seat in front of Enoch, stood up stiffly with anger.

“…I will never let that happen.”

Enoch also nodded silently.

The goal here was not much different from Sirocco’s.

Preventing Enoch Elseid’s impending death was his top priority.

‘And Tantalus’s magic experiment is not directly connected to Enoch’s death in the original work.’

This was the very reason why the future that was coming to the village of the Suin tribe had to be changed.

‘In order to survive Enoch’s impending death, you must prevent Tantalus’ human experiments, which were successful in the original.’

In that case, the fate of the water people who were destroyed by the demonic fire had to be changed.

And that goes for the Elseid family as well.

Askle continued speaking heavily.

“Since we, Elseid, have been dispatched, we must stop the vendetta. The missing wizards of Elseid who were dispatched here are probably still being held there if they are alive.”

If Vendetta’s experiment succeeds here, Elseid’s position will become ‘a case of sending the direct line and Nemesis but failing to resolve it’.

Needless to say, this would have a huge negative impact on the Empire’s ‘reputation’.

Therefore, Elseid, a clan that was obsessed with reputation, had to stop their experiments.

This means that a head-on collision with the vendetta is unavoidable.

Enoch, who had been listening to the story up to that point, suddenly remembered what had happened a little while ago and asked Askle.

“By the way, you said you were worried about people lying in wait on the way back. What about that?”

“Well, that’s….”

Askle shrugged and nodded to the side.

“As you can see, it’s Nemesis.”

At the end of his natural tone of speech, there was Theano, who was dressed in his usual attire.

She looked at Enoch from under the dark shadow of her hat and opened her mouth in her usual confident tone.

“We have subdued all the ambushes.”

……indeed.

Enoch glanced sideways at the Nemesis knights for a moment.

He saw wizards in black uniforms. Luca felt his gaze and smiled brightly, making a V sign with his hand.

As expected, the elite knights are the elite knights.

Even though the number of enemies was small, it was amazing that they secured the safety of all the routes leading to the village in such a short period of time.

“That’s amazing.”

“We just did what we had to do.”

She answered shortly.

“Evil acts are absolutely unacceptable.”

Theano spoke monotonously, glancing at his own eyes reflected in the glass of the car window.

“Nemesis will stop the warlocks at all costs.”

She glanced at Enoch.

And then he added a short word.

“……certainly.”

After saying that, Theano took her gaze away from the window. Then she spoke calmly.

“We will soon arrive at the village. I will now explain the operation.”

“Listen.”

She spoke, looking in the direction of the village for a moment.

“As you heard earlier, they are preparing a large-scale black magic spell to ‘demonize’ all the unconscious people at once throughout the village.”

Turning his gaze this way, Theano added:

“But there is one obvious flaw in their experimental method.”

Enoch nodded at her words.

The following words were also something that Enoch could have easily predicted. There is a most fundamental method of destruction in the human experimentation method planned by Vendetta.

She added shortly.

“If the target leaves the village where the magic circle is spread out, the magic circle of demonic power will have no effect even if it is activated.”

It is said that if the water people can escape the range of influence of the magic circle that covers the entire water tribe village, they can avoid the demon transformation itself.

Enoch summarized it simply.

“Rescue the unconscious people out of the village?”

“Yes, before the magic circle is activated.”

Theano answered in a clear voice.

“Therefore, we must restrain Vendetta, secure as many people as possible, and rescue them as we can. Nemesis will provide rear cover and command.”

“How much time is left until activation?”

“According to the magicians on site, the magic circle of the demonic spirits will likely activate in 30 minutes. We must proceed with the rescue operation as much as possible until then.”

Theano’s words were clearly an ideal operation.

But if I were to rephrase this operation another way…

“no!”

Sirocco.

She looked at me with red eyes. The wolf ears on her head were shaking as if she was agitated.

“Our tribe’s village is huge, and there are a lot of people! We won’t be able to save everyone in time like that!”

Sirocco spoke desperately, looking flustered.

“If that happens, all the people we couldn’t save… …!”

But Theano opened his mouth in a cold tone.

“There’s nothing I can do.”

She added, as if to wake Shiroko up to reality.

“Realistically, we can’t rescue all of the unconscious Suin while engaging the Vendetta.”

“but……!”

“There are a lot of enemies, and the unconscious people all over the town are basically hostages. It’s virtually impossible to completely secure the hostages.”

Theano spoke briefly to Sirocco.

“This is the most ideal way.”

The other magicians from other families sitting in the seats lined up on both sides of the car seemed to agree.

While engaging the Vendetta forces, it was impossible to save all the people in the village at the same time.

The wizards here are wizards who have been through a lot, so they all understand this.

Enoch looked at Sirocco for a moment in silence.

‘If it had been a matter of dealing with all the vendetta wizards in the village, Sirocco would have definitely taken the lead, even if it was just by himself.’

If it had been just a simple battle, Sirocco, who had surpassed the level 10 wall, could have taken down all of the regular members of Vendetta on his own.

But this is not a simple fight.

You must rescue and protect the unconscious people all over the town during fierce battles.

Even Nemesis, one of Elseid’s elite, was having a hard time with this. Not to mention that even a 10th-ranked Sirocco couldn’t do it on her own.

“Ugh… … .”

Meanwhile, Shiroko lowered her head and clenched her fists on her knees.

Her eyes became red and her vision became blurred.

I just couldn’t understand it.

I wanted to refute that statement.

But even she, who had always been treated as a child among the warriors of the tribe, could easily understand.

-That was right.

Realistically, it was impossible to save all of them.

Shiroko bit her lip.

In this situation, there is nothing I can do.

‘… And in this case, what kind of successor is he to the tribe?’

A feeling of resentment and guilt creeping up from her whole body enveloped her small body.

Crushed by guilt, my breathing gradually became more rapid.

Even if she ignored these wizards and acted alone, there was still no way she could save all the people in the village by herself.

If things continue like this, most of the tribesmen will be sacrificed.

And yet, in this desperate situation, I am in a helpless position where I can do nothing.

‘Ah. I see.’

Shiroko lowered her head and shrank down.

‘No matter how strong I become… … .’

Her vision suddenly blurred with tears.

Soon, tears began to flow down Sirocco’s round cheeks.

‘If you’re strong alone, you can’t do anything.’

That desolate realization became a weight of guilt, pulling Sirocco’s vision into a deep abyss.

The sounds in his ears seemed to be making him sad. Shiroko lowered his head as despair washed over him.

Her hair flowed down weakly, casting a dark shadow over her expression.

Barr.

Her slender shoulders trembled slightly.

“… … .”

Theano looked at the trembling Sirocco for a moment, then spoke to Enoch with a cold expression.

“That’s the outline of the operation. So, Lord Enoch, please act together with us and do your best… … .”

“no.”

Then suddenly Enoch opened his mouth.

Enoch spoke briefly to Theano.

“You can get them all.”

At that moment, Sirocco, who had been lying down, raised his head and looked at Enoch.

A small exclamation escaped from her slightly parted lips as she looked at Enoch.

“ah……!”

Her clear eyes, looking at Enoch with an earnest expression, were filled with transparent moisture.

Meanwhile, Theano tilted his head at Enoch’s words.

“What do you mean?”

“This time, I just have to do the same thing.”

“If it’s the same, then surely… … .”

“Just like during the fortress operation just now.”

Enoch added simply.

“If Elseid proceeds with the operation to rescue the Suin tribe as planned, Vendetta will be distracted trying to stop it. Then there won’t be many enemies in the underground area.”

Vendetta’s forces are not infinite.

Inevitably, when there are more people on one side, there will be relatively fewer people on the other side.

So at that time, there was only one more option we could take.

“I will infiltrate and stop Tantalus, the spellcaster who constructs magic.”

Burglary.

For a moment, silence fell inside the car as he spoke.

The family magicians sitting in the seats were all looking at Enoch with eyes that asked if he was serious.

“This is such a reckless action.”

And Theano also shook his head quietly.

The wizards of House Theano are not fools. If such a plan had been possible, they would have planned their operations in that direction long ago.

But to anyone who saw it, it was an impossible task.

“According to our information, Tantalus is in the underground living quarters, and he has gathered all the members of Vendetta, including a level 10 warlock, who appears to be under his command.”

Theano said as if to tell us to face reality.

“The scale of the enemy is different from the one we saw earlier. Risky, independent action is absolutely unacceptable.”

… … Of course.

Enoch did not deny it.

It was not that he didn’t know.

Common sense tells us that Theano’s story is a hundred percent correct.

But I never thought of giving up on entering the underground area, especially not this time.

because…….

‘─In the original story, Elseid failed to stop Vendetta’s experiment!’

It was a definite future, clearly recorded in history. The cold facts of what was about to happen flashed through Enoch’s mind.

“The Elseid battle wizards, including the elite knights Nemesis, fail to complete their mission.”

“The village of the water people will be completely transformed into beasts by the activation of the magic circle, and the magicians of Elseid will deal with all the transformed water people.”

“In that way, the Suin tribe was destroyed, leaving behind only one survivor, Sirocco, who had gone out from the village with Elseid to attack the fortress.”

‘In other words, what this means is that their rational strategy ultimately failed to stop the magic experiment.’

Why and how exactly does it fail?

I don’t know.

But if the process is the same, the result is the same.

That much was clear.

Therefore, if Elseid’s plan had been carried out as planned, they were destined to fail in rescuing the Suin tribe.

In that case, we definitely had to throw a variable.

Enoch slowly opened his mouth to Theano.

“… … There is a reason.”

She glanced at Enoch and asked.

“Do you have any other plans for the operation?”

Enoch nodded.

“First of all, the enemy is hiding in the underground tunnels.”

Theano looked at him quietly as if he wanted to listen. Enoch continued calmly.

“Because there is a risk of the tunnel collapsing, the enemy cannot fully deploy their firepower due to the geographical constraints. Of course, this is the same here. Therefore, it is most efficient for a small number of people to quickly break through.”

If the entire tunnel collapses, Vendetta’s plan will also go up in smoke.

Therefore, even Vendetta’s combat personnel will not be able to rashly fire high-powered magic inside the tunnel until the magic circle of human experiments is activated.

In other words, the enemies’ firepower is also somewhat limited.

“Certainly, that’s not wrong, but… … .”

Theano answered with a slight hesitation. Enoch’s eyes narrowed slightly at that.

If we continued like this, it seemed possible to persuade them.

But one biggest problem still remained.

“But, isn’t the underground living area incredibly complicated?”

Meanwhile, Sirocco, who had been listening, stuck his head out from the front seat and said.

Enoch asked back.

“How do you know that?”

“That’s….”

Sirocco hesitated for a moment before answering.

“Actually. When I was very young, I got lost several times while trying to sneak out to play without the adults knowing.”

“There’s no place you haven’t been.”

Sirocco took Enoch’s scolding as a compliment, wiped away the tears that had gathered in his eyes and smiled proudly as he responded.

“Yeah! I thought there might be some kind of treasure. Of course, no matter how much I looked, there was no treasure, and of course, there weren’t any warlocks hiding at the time… .”

But after saying that, she soon looked up at Enoch with a worried expression and said.

“The underground area is bigger and deeper than our entire town. It’s like a real maze. If they’re really hiding in a place like that, will we be able to find them?”

“maybe.”

Enoch simply replied,

It’s not a lie. I don’t know the way to the tunnel, but even so, I definitely have a way to find him.

Siroc nodded slightly, tilting his head at Enoch’s confident answer.

But even so, I didn’t think everyone would accept this calculation.

In particular, Theano, who had actual operational command.

Enoch glanced back at her.

Theano opened his mouth, his sharp eyes slightly narrowing.

“… I don’t know if you have any other thoughts. The fact that you are moving alone in the enemy territory is a huge burden to all of the members of Elseid.”

She added coldly.

“I believe you are aware of that.”

Enoch is the direct descendant of Elseid.

If he were to die or be injured during the operation, Elseid’s reputation would plummet.

Therefore, if Enoch were to act alone and face danger, the already insufficient force would have to be split even further to rescue him.

What if, by some chance, that situation really unfolds?

At that time, it was clear that the entire family of magicians might be put in danger.

It would be natural for Theano, who was practically the person in charge of this operation, to say such things.

Swish.

Enoch took a moment to check outside the car window.

Before I knew it, the village of the Suin tribe was visible in the distance.

Before we knew it, our arrival was drawing near.

It’s time to make a decision.

With everyone’s attention focused on it.

Enoch opened his mouth slowly.

“… As a direct descendant, I am aware of the risks of moving alone in this operation.”

As the car shook as it drove on the dirt road, Theano’s eyes narrowed slightly as he watched him.

“Let’s do it like this.”

Enoch raised his head and looked at her.

There are probably two main reasons why she, as the vice-captain of Nemesis, is reluctant to act alone.

First of all, he is a direct descendant of Elseid.

And another one─

“If I enter the underground tunnel and fail to stop Tantalus and retreat… .”

─That Enoch’s suspicions about his connection to the vendetta have not yet been completely dispelled.

The reason Theano is reluctant to act alone is probably because of concerns about the safety of his immediate family, as well as his trust in Enoch, who may have been in collusion with the vendetta.

Of course, if Enoch were to show her how to fight, she would trust him, but coincidentally, the swordsmanship he uses cannot be revealed yet.

In this dilemma.

There was only one card that Enoch could offer to persuade Theano.

He raised his head and said.

“… Lord Theano, I will tell you everything about the questions you have for me.”