The Sword Genius of the Magic Empire - Chapter 69



Only Noblemtl

Episode 69. The Second Coming (6)

The destruction of the world.

Tantalus’ words echoed in the air.

Enoch’s eyes narrowed for a moment. Tantalus muttered softly with his eyes losing their light.

“You’re not surprised, even by such words.”

Enoch did not respond.

This isn’t the first or second time I’ve played the Atlas of the Magic Empire. It’s something I already know to some extent.

What ‘endings’ are there at the end of this story?

What is Tantalus trying to say now?

I already knew those things very well. But even so, there were still many things I needed to know in this world that had become reality.

Enoch asked him, who had little time left to breathe.

“What is the purpose of the magic experiment?”

Even in the original, little was known about Tantalus’ true purpose.

Moreover, since Enoch Elseid was destined to be sacrificed as a test subject for Tantalus, he wanted to know the ultimate purpose of the experiments he conducted.

From the beginning, I wondered why Enoch had to die to the demons he created in the original.

“You conducted the human experiments recorded in the Book of Gnosis. What on earth were you planning to do with those experiments?”

“Salvation.”

Tantalus muttered quietly.

“The magic experiment is a project to create a lost god.”

Enoch tilted his head for a moment at his answer.

It wasn’t just that Tantalus was surprisingly open about the purpose of his experiments.

Even for him, who was an old hand, it was the first time he had heard the story.

‘… …create a god?’

Wasn’t there anything like that in the original?

Humans must become the lost gods. Is this related to the “goddess” he mentioned earlier?

But that was a word related to the ‘religion’ to which the wizards who worship the goddess belonged.

There’s no reason to mention Vendetta’s annihilation.

“What about the goddess?”

“It’s a disaster, Enoch.”

He looked at Enoch with eyes that were losing focus.

“In a world that has lost its gods, a great disaster will strike one day. That disaster will lead to the destruction of the current civilization.”

He spoke with blood streaming from the corner of his mouth. Dark red blood spread across the white robe he was wearing.

“That is exactly what was prophesied in some pages of the Book of Gnosis.”

Tantalus added quietly.

“Direct. It would be difficult for you to understand everything right away. I didn’t believe in prophecies either. However, no matter how much I studied and cross-checked, those prophecies were undeniably true.”

Tantalus suddenly turned his gaze to the side. Then he looked at the test subjects scattered on the floor and said.

“Therefore, I wanted to create a god.”

Looking at the rapidly decaying corpses of the test subjects, Tantalus spoke in a calm voice.

“In a world where God has disappeared, we humans must become gods ourselves.”

He muttered without even groaning.

“If there is no God, then eventually, a great disaster will come and destroy everyone. But unfortunately, we can never become God.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Because we are too imperfect to become gods.”

He smiled slowly.

“Whether they are non-magicians or monsters praised as first-class demigods, they are all imperfect beings who are far from being gods in the true sense of the word.”

Tantalus raised his head and looked upward.

He spoke, gazing into the distance as if trying to see stars that were hidden by the ceiling of the basement.

“But what if we could improve upon our imperfections through human experimentation and overcome them?”

He let out a dry laugh.

“If humanity could become superhuman through experimentation and approach the realm of complete gods, we could finally become gods ourselves in a world without gods. Then, I thought, we could prevent the coming destruction.”

And then.

Kwaaaaak.

Tantalus reached out with one hand and grabbed Enoch’s shoulder, who was piercing him with his sword.

In that moment, a strong evil force that was so strong that he could not have imagined that he was dying was transmitted to Enoch’s shoulder.

“Elseid’s direct descendant. Do you understand why I tell you these stories?”

In front of my eyes, Tantalus’s green eyes filled with his intense will were staring at me eerily.

“Find out. Definitely.”

He sentenced him low.

“My experiment into the world is not over yet. It is something that falls outside my plans. However, this is not a task that is solely my own.”

He caught the blade that had pierced him with his hand.

His blood flowed over the frosty blade.

“Remember, Enoch. One day, there will come a day when you will understand all of what I say. Even the truths you do not know now!”

The scholar’s eyes were reflected in the cold metal of the blade.

“So, you must find your own way. A way to prevent the disaster. The truth about the future of the world that Gnosis foretold!”

Tantalus, the mortal of Vendetta, chanted like a ghost with his eyes wide open as he lay dying.

“If things continue like this, there will be a tragic ending in the future….”

And then.

“Tragic ending?”

Enoch looked at him with his dark blue eyes and said.

“Who cares?”

Tantalus was not wrong.

I’ve seen enough bad endings like that to get sick of them.

I know better than anyone else.

What kind of final endings lie at the end of this long, long story? And how many terrible things happen.

─But.

Enoch looked at him with a cool expression and said.

“I have no intention of seeing that ending.”

It was a natural thing.

Since I’ve become Enoch Elseid, I can’t get caught up in those bad endings and die.

And at the same time, as a veteran who has been addicted to this game for a long time and has rotted away, the bad endings are endings that I can never tolerate.

Either way, I had no intention of letting the future drift towards a miserable ending.

“I see.”

Meanwhile, hearing Enoch’s words, Tantalus muttered with a faint smile.

“Maybe you are truly the prophet….”

The next moment, his eyes lost their light.

And when Tantalus’ heart stopped.

Oh my gosh─

A sharp, cracking sound rang in my ears from above.

Enoch raised his head.

In the middle of the large magic circle that filled the deepest part of the underground area, there was a large crack.

And along that crack, the mana that had formed the giant magic circle slowly broke apart.

The shape of a green magic circle shattered and shattered in the darkness.

Enoch slowly retrieved his sword, looking at the translucent green light crystals fluttering in the darkness of the underground area.

‘There are more things to find out.’

Not much has been clearly revealed yet.

Just a bunch of questions and clues that keep coming back to haunt you.

But that doesn’t mean there was no harvest.

‘I only found out a rough idea of ​​what Tantalus’s purpose was…’

This alone is actually an unexpected harvest.

For now, just this was enough.

‘If I prepare the original work as planned anyway, I will gradually learn everything.’

Moreover, despite such uncertain questions, there was one fact that was the clearest of all.

Swish.

Enoch looked up for a moment at the large magic circle of Tantalus that was slowly disintegrating.

Now, the first goal he had set out was finally being accomplished.

‘Finally, Enoch’s planned death was prevented.’

That was the most important thing.

The demonization experiment that played a decisive role in Enoch Elseid’s death in the original work.

The huge magic circle that should have been activated in the original story was shattered into pieces, proving that at this moment, his fate was flowing in a different direction than in the original.

Enoch Elseid was an unfortunate genius who died without ever being able to display his talents.

His fate, which had been decided in that way, will now take a different path at this point in time.

─Good.

But the moment the tension is released.

Enoch’s vision suddenly became distorted.

‘uh……?’

He lost his balance and stumbled.

A feeling of extreme fatigue suddenly swept over my body, to the point where I let out a deep groan without even realizing it.

The cause of this physical condition was quite guessable.

‘A recoil using the mana of the best sword!’

Just a few minutes.

That’s the time when the mana of my best sword was projected.

When he projected his fire-like unique mana onto the sword, he was able to more perfectly utilize the sword techniques and power he had actually used in the past.

But at the same time, it seems that during that short period of time, there was a tremendous burden on the entire body.

Enoch barely managed to regain consciousness.

‘Is it still too much of a burden for the Sword Master to directly use his own mana?’

It wasn’t that, my whole body was screaming in unison in reaction to the mana used up by my best sword in that short period of time.

… … Well, that might be natural.

The fatigue that had been accumulating in his body until now, the minor injuries that had not yet healed, all of those things had already piled up.

But after directly projecting the mana of my best sword, I swung the sword several times more forcefully than usual, abusing my body… … .

As a result, all the injuries and fatigue that had built up until now exploded at once.

“Ugh.”

Enoch clenched his teeth as fatigue began to creep in. This time, the fatigue was quite severe.

To the point where I couldn’t even control my body properly.

─Beetle.

Enoch stumbled a few times and realized that he was losing his balance. For a moment, his vision plummeted to the floor.

‘this.’

The floor of the completely destroyed underground area. The cold, chilling ground was trying to swallow him up.

Enoch eventually lost his balance and collapsed.

But right then.

Before his body completely collapsed.

widely.

Someone was holding the falling body from the front.

I could feel the soft texture and subtle fragrance.

‘…ah.’

Somehow, I felt like I knew who it was.

Enoch’s dark blue eyes, clouded by fatigue, glanced at the person who had embraced him.

Long silver hair that glows softly in the dark.

Enoch opened his mouth slowly while holding her in his arms.

“Lien.”

The silver-haired maid quietly caught Enoch, who was falling into her arms.

She was looking at me quietly with her usual emotionless eyes.

Enoch asked her.

“What about the enemies outside?”

Before she came here earlier, she must have been tying up Vendetta’s reinforcements alone in the tunnel outside.

Lien answered quietly.

“I ran away. As soon as something went wrong with the large magic circle.”

Enoch nodded slowly. The destruction of the magic circle must have been a signal to Vendetta’s forces that things were awry.

Meanwhile, Lien’s cold eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at Enoch’s body with increasing wounds.

“… … I should have come sooner.”

Enoch smiled without realizing it and replied.

“Enough.”

Not dead.

That was the most important thing.

And in the future, Enoch will not die like the future planned in the original work.

The Vendetta’s annihilation hall, which mass-produced the demons that killed Enoch in the original work through human experiments, is no more.

That fact gave some strength back to Enoch’s legs, which were about to collapse on the floor at any moment.

Scrub

Meanwhile, Enoch shook his head as he watched Lien take out a bandage from her maid uniform apron like before. She was bleeding a little, but it wasn’t serious enough to require immediate stopping.

It’s just that I’m just so terribly tired and in pain.

But there was something more important than that.

“It’s not over yet.”

Enoch slowly looked up at the ground.

Kuuuung!

The ceiling of the underground area shook violently. Some debris from the ceiling fell down due to the vibration.

Even though the battle here had already ended, there was a faint vibration coming from the ceiling above.

Just above this underground area.

It was the aftermath of a battle taking place on the ground.

-Scirocco and Leontos.

The final battle between two powerful water-man wizards is still going on at this very moment.

Feeling the presence, Enoch sat up.

“Because there are still things to check.”

I couldn’t lose consciousness until then.

Damn it.

Enoch walked slowly.

I’ve done everything I had to do.

So, I wanted to see it for myself.

The first major change to the original’s fate.

The future of the Suin tribe will be different from the official history.

and…….

The beginning of a new future, one that will change in the future.