The Sword Genius of the Magic Empire - Chapter 68



Only Noblemtl

Episode 68. The Second Coming (5)

The giant green magic circles constructed by Tantalus.

Between the large flashing green light and the test tubes.

The test subjects rushed towards Enoch.

In the darkness of the underground, immortal beasts run wild, roaring madly and losing their senses.

And in the face of their galloping,

A single spark rose and burned away the darkness.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Facing the onslaught of test subjects that shook the basement, Enoch lowered his stance, raising his sword alone.

Take a deep breath.

Grab the sword, concentrate mana into the left leg, and stomp forward with a large kick to fire.

Taaang!

In an instant, my body was thrown out with a tremendous recoil and a speed that left an afterimage. An enormous acceleration enveloped my body, enough to narrow my vision.

Type 1, Explosive Sword.

Behind Enoch, who was running like a bullet, the flames of his sword drove away the darkness, leaving a bright red trail behind.

The distance between us and the demon horde has been explosively shortened.

Enoch quickly slashed at one of the test subjects running at the very front with his sword.

─Sgak

Without even understanding what had happened to him.

The subject was unable to overcome its body’s inertia and walked a few more steps, before suddenly being split in half.

The man who fell down could not get up again.

A sudden, sudden slash.

The test subjects behind them, who witnessed the scene, became even more frenzied and charged at Enoch without stopping.

Phew!

One of the test subjects approached and slammed his massive fist down on Enoch, seemingly trying to crush him along with the floor.

Dodge by immediately spinning your body in half.

At the same time, he raised his sword in a large diagonal cut.

Crunch!

In an instant, both of the bastard’s arms were severed.

Before the bastard could even check his severed arm, a whirlwind of slashes struck the subject one after another.

Sword strikes wrapped in flames struck like a storm.

In an instant, the subject’s body collapsed.

Just as I was about to break through the enemies behind me without slowing down, the ground suddenly shook violently.

Enoch’s dark blue eyes glanced to the side.

Right off the side, another test subject was charging forward with a barrage of bullets, its massive shoulders forward.

A dash with power no different from that of an armored vehicle.

Enoch immediately turned around and got out of the path of the creature’s attack.

Fit.

He narrowly avoided a collision with the creature, but another evil spirit’s arm flew out from behind him, aiming for him.

Enoch managed to dodge by lowering his posture. But it wasn’t perfect. The bastard’s sharp nails grazed his shoulder. A small spurt of blood spurted to the side of his cheek.

For a moment Enoch’s eyes narrowed.

‘There is no test subject that sprays anesthetic gas like last time, but the physical abilities have increased by leaps and bounds.’

The physical abilities of the test subjects, who were able to penetrate close range at a speed that did not match their enormous size and size, were truly threatening.

The moment you let your guard down and allow an attack to strike, you will be the one to be reduced to a piece of mangled meat.

But there is no problem.

‘Still, compared to the original, they are imperfect.’

Even so, it is still far from the level of Tantalus’ test subjects who were running wild in the original five years later.

Of course, it is still in the development stage.

If so, it’s worth a try.

Enoch turned his sword around and ran quickly.

The next moment, the sword’s flames surged forward in a spiral tail.

In the darkness, a fierce storm of flames raged.

Countless enemies along the sword’s path were instantly cut in two, and test subjects were swept away by the sword.

Enoch looked at the familiar trajectory his sword was drawing, and suddenly felt a strange emotion.

‘That’s what it felt like.’

Beyond the familiar sword movements.

Someone’s emotions enveloped him.

In the swordsmanship drawn by the sword, the memories of the swordsmanship inherited until now were faintly overlapping.

In the past, a swordsman wandered around, slaughtering hordes of demons alone.

The emptiness, sadness, and sorrow he felt.

His sword that constantly searches for answers to life.

All that life seemed vaguely visible beyond the trajectory of the flames that cut down the enemy.

Enoch smiled slightly at the strange feeling of deja vu.

When he first saw the memories of young Enoch, the voice he had heard suddenly came to mind.

─ [But you are different. You have the potential to understand the sword techniques created by others and the unique mana contained in those techniques.]

The genius of the sword.

Now I can be sure.

The title was not an exaggeration at all.

Enoch had a talent for swordsmanship that transcended magic.

Stop.

Enoch’s sword, which had cut down the test subject that was rushing at him, suddenly stopped in midair.

The enemies no longer attacked.

His dark blue eyes scanned the surroundings.

The tables had already turned completely.

Before they knew it, the test subjects were cowering and hesitating, as if they had lost their will to fight against the sword-wielding assassin.

The sound of Enoch’s footsteps rang out before him.

Damn it.

With the sword of flame in hand.

Enoch walking from the darkness of the basement.

A fierce flame projected onto Enoch’s sword.

As he approached and the red glow of his flames grew wider, the surviving test subjects retreated in fear into the darkness of the basement.

The pain of burning heat.

The greatest pain that life can feel.

Their roars, already wounded by swords engulfed in flames, clearly had lost their fighting spirit.

─Kiiiii… .

Tantalus’ eyes distorted.

The test subjects had already lost their minds and gone berserk.

But even these beasts that had lost their sense of reason felt a primal fear of Enoch.

I realized it instinctively.

That if you get cut by that sword of fire, you won’t recover.

The body tissues that were burned by the sword’s flames and rapidly stopped bleeding immediately after being cut were completely unable to recover.

The beasts began to back away, as if afraid of the flames blazing from Enoch’s sword.

“I understand.”

With a one-handed sword engulfed in flames.

Enoch walked slowly towards them.

“I want to experience it too.”

Countless times in my inner world when I was stabbed by the Black Sword.

Enoch smiled a little as he remembered the pain of that learning.

“It was so painful that I thought it would be better to just die.”

Enoch added simply:

“yes?”

Bam.

Before they knew it, the test subjects were backing away at Enoch’s pace, cornered to the point where their backs were touching the basement wall.

They paused for a moment at the fact that there was no more way out, but soon they were gripped by extreme fear and began to run madly towards Enoch.

At the same time, Enoch also concentrated his mana into his legs. He fired successively and charged towards them as if cutting through the air.

He raised his sword and leaped greatly into the air.

To comfort the last resistance of the test subjects who were running towards the flames like moths to a flame, terrified.

The last swordsman of the empire has returned.

***

How much time has passed?

Tantalus stared blankly before his eyes for a moment.

Before we knew it, the floor was littered with the corpses of test subjects.

dump.

The last test subject collapsed, impaled by flames.

The boy with the sword was now walking towards him, who was left alone.

‘What the heck.’

Tantalus opened his eyes wide as he looked at Enoch, who had reached right in front of him.

‘That flame…?’

A fire that burns immortal beasts.

The test subjects who had their vital points cut by the sword engulfed in flames all ceased their life functions.

Clearly, the improved test subjects would have considerable resistance to powerful fire-type magic.

It wasn’t for nothing that the test subject’s performance was raised to a level comparable to that of a level 10 through repeated research.

That must be the case.

It must have been so.

How on earth does the flames from that sword overpower the specs of those test subjects?

“…indeed.”

Tantalus muttered, biting his cigar.

Things that simply cannot be explained by magic.

“Is that the unique mana that the Black Sword manifests?”

Enoch looked around silently.

Although the test subjects were currently being sorted out, the situation was still not very relaxed.

A large magic circle created by Tantalus.

Like the gears of a complex machine, countless small magic circles were interlocked and rotating.

I’ve seen that kind of form in the original work too.

‘A large-scale complex magic circle.’

An extremely difficult magic structure that works by linking magic with multiple effects, and a magic to turn all of the last beastmen of the empire into beasts.

Even though it’s almost finished being built.

Judging from the progress, it was obvious why Tantalus himself did not intervene in the battle while the test subjects were being processed. He must have been trying to quickly complete and activate the large-scale magic circle that was his primary purpose.

If that happens, Tantalus wins.

It’s not long now until that happens.

As expected.

Whew Whew Whew… .

Giant magic circles constructed by green mana.

The geometric patterns that filled the entire space began to slowly rotate, gradually becoming complete.

Construction has already been completed and preparations are underway for launch.

There is no time.

How to stop that?

Enoch glanced around quickly.

Tantalus’ mana lines, which had already filled the entire basement and were already densely packed in all directions.

‘I can’t cut through all this mana.’

Even if it were possible, it wouldn’t be possible in time.

Because it was a large magic circle, the lines of mana that Tantalus pulled from the surrounding area were countless.

Even if you cut one or two of those here, it’s impossible to cancel the entire large-scale magic.

‘There is only one answer.’

The main body that directly manipulates those manas.

Aiming directly at Tantalus’ windpipe.

Taang!

Enoch, without a word, kicked the floor and rushed at him.

Tantalus also watched him approach and calmly exhaled green cigar smoke.

Immediately, magic circles began to rotate behind him and unfold.

Cheeeeek!

Green magic circles summoned and sprayed large quantities of powerful corrosive solvent into the surrounding area.

Enoch immediately dodged the attack by flipping his body sideways in the air.

I glanced behind me and saw that the cement and steel frame of the pillar was melting away with a terrible sound.

The moment I landed on the ground and got up, a loud noise poured out from all sides of the basement.

Kurrururur!

The stones on the floor and walls of the underground area were all torn away in an instant by the powerful gravity of the magic circle.

Then, Tantalus began to quickly block Enoch’s path by building huge walls on both sides in real time.

It wasn’t an attack magic. It was hard to fight while pouring mana into a large magic circle, so it was obvious that Tantalus’ current fighting power was low.

But in the end, if Enoch doesn’t stop him in time, it’s over.

So, what Tantalus is trying to do now is─

‘Buying time!’

It only takes a few seconds for the magic circle to activate.

If a barrier of that size were built in front of Tantalus, it would certainly block their approach for a while. Then, there would be enough time for the magic circle to fully activate.

It can’t be left like that.

‘We have to close the distance in one breath.’

Judgment comes before an accident.

It’s not even close to the mobility of a Type 1 explosive sword.

It has to be run even faster than that.

Otherwise the barrier construction will be faster!

Then how?

In an instant, only one answer occurred to me.

Type 2 fire wheel.

Hwarin’s sword technique is to trigger the mana projected onto the sword body, gain momentum through recoil, and quickly cut.

The three consecutive strikes based on a violent rotation are powerful, but that’s not all there is to Fire Wheel.

‘If it were my best sword.’

Enoch held his sword horizontally at his side, with the blade pointing towards his back.

The tip of the one-handed sword was pointed towards Enoch’s rear.

‘I guess it was applied like this.’

Red mana is concentrated on the sword.

The flames on the sword extended behind his back became more condensed.

Kiiiiiing───

The maddening roar soon changed into the sharp roar of an engine emitting high-pressure heat.

Soon, the red mana condensed into a spiral shape behind Enoch’s body, where the swordsman was facing─

Kwaaaaang!

Mana gathered in an instant explodes in one strike.

The sword blade propelled the projectiles with a trail of flame, just like an aircraft’s jet engine.

In an instant, Enoch was shot out like a ray of light, with a violent recoil that exploded from behind him.

Enoch uses the 1st type of sword and the 2nd type of fire wheel to accelerate by exploding mana three times in succession from his sword.

It ran through the darkness at a speed close to the speed of sound, leaving a long trail of flame in the air.

Before the rock wall was even fully built.

Break through the unfinished center in one breath.

A meteor engulfed in fire rushed down in a straight line, tearing through the middle of the curtain formed by the gathering of huge rocks.

“…!”

Tantalus’ eyes widened when he saw that.

Immediately he put the cigar in his mouth.

But before he could properly construct his next spell, Enoch closed the distance in the blink of an eye and cut through the line of mana he had deployed.

Chaang!

Beyond the halo of the shattered magic circle.

The tip of Enoch’s sword, piercing through the thick green smoke, pierced Tantalus’ chest in an instant.

Still unable to slow down, he pushed away the impaled man and charged furiously to the end of the basement.

He forced his back against the large stone wall that was propping up the basement.

A loud bang shook the entire basement.

The old cement walls were cracking and bursting, spewing out debris and dust as the cracked walls rumbled.

“Cough.”

And then, from the mouth of the man who had received such a great shock, the cigar he had been biting slowly fell out.

Bam.

Enoch exhaled quietly.

My heart was pounding as if it was going to burst, whether it was the recoil from using a large sword technique in succession to sprint just now.

Take a deep breath and raise your head.

Before I knew it, the large magic circle that had spread out before my eyes had changed.

The large magic circles that had been forming in the air, emitting dazzling light, were slowly coming to a halt.

Swish.

The large magic circle that Tantalus had constructed was shattered into pieces after losing the command of its master.

As the magic circle was canceled, the shattered crystals of light scattered across the basement like translucent eyes of light.

Enoch, who saw that, calmed his breathing, which had become intense due to the battle, and quietly released the mana from his sword.

The sword’s flames flickered and slowly died down.

“… That’s amazing.”

Then Tantalus opened his mouth softly.

“Is this the Black Sword?”

Enoch looked down at him for a moment.

Tantalus’ wounds from the sword were cauterized by the fire and the bleeding stopped. So, even though his body was pierced, he was still able to avoid excessive bleeding and die.

However, he already seemed to be having difficulty controlling his body, and all he could do was sit leaning against the wall in the same position as when he was stabbed by the sword.

“I have a question.”

Enoch still held the sword that had pierced him and asked Tantalus softly.

“The Book of Gnosis. What is written in it?”

To survive in this world, it doesn’t end with simply avoiding Enoch Elseid’s death.

Surviving as Enoch is only the first step.

What we really need to prepare for are the ‘incidents’ of the original work.

We had to prepare thoroughly for them.

That’s why you need to know.

In the original work, Tantalus, who killed Enoch through a magic experiment, and even among the major forces including Vendetta, there were several instances where the book was mentioned.

‘I doubt he’ll answer, though.’

At least, if possible, I should have known.

A prophecy that did not appear in the original work. About the “Book of Gnosis”? H?