Chapter 723 – #155_Party(4)
#723
1.
-Whoosh!
The dark corridor turned crimson red from the flames rising from the candelabra.
It resembled a flashing warning light.
Rinne ran down the corridor with Siwoo on her back.
She sprinted along the pre-planned escape route.
After all, from the moment she broke down the workshop door, a stealthy escape was virtually impossible.
Therefore, she ignored all the security devices in between and dashed towards the shortest path.
However, she couldn’t just run straight ahead.
All sorts of attack magic designed to eliminate intruders poured down, hindering her progress.
The devices were not primarily intended to inflict fatal damage, but rather to buy as much time as possible.
Having to move with Siwoo, who had been reduced to a 0-tier infant state by the leash, on her back, Rinne’s movements were also hampered.
“Hold on tighter.”
Siwoo, who was clinging tightly to Rinne’s back to avoid falling off, was certain.
This was indeed an illegal intrusion.
Rinne had truly made the decision to turn her back on the entire Hexennacht for the sake of Siwoo alone.
“What are you going to do?”
“Hide in a pre-prepared hideout and look for an opportunity to escape Hexennacht.”
As she answered, Rinne, who had been running on the wall as if it were nothing, landed lightly on the floor.
“You might get caught up in it, so stay away.”
“…Yes.”
Siwoo, who couldn’t use magic but whose magic eyes were working normally, also obediently got off Rinne’s back and stuck close to the wall.
Because he could feel it.
Someone approaching the corridor without any attempt to conceal their presence.
-Clack, clack
There was no need to mention the identity of the person who appeared with the sound of heels clicking.
The owner of this Almac Club and a powerful public enemy of the 23rd tier.
The Golden Witch, Lydia Magnus.
“Well, well, look who we have here, a little rat.”
Lydia, who had sensed the intruder alarm while attending the Grand Assembly, had returned to the Almac Club faster than anyone else.
Her golden eyes, which did not fade even in the red and black mixed darkness, were smiling calmly.
“You interrupted my happy time earlier… Do you have some kind of grudge against me?”
“I’ve come to get him back.”
“You’re very quick on the uptake. I didn’t think you’d notice at all.”
Lydia abandoned the polite language she usually used as a formality.
Instead, she deployed a hidden barrier that enveloped the entire corridor.
Acts of violence are strictly prohibited within Hexennacht.
Even if an illegal intrusion occurs, it is the consensus of all Hexennacht members that punishment should be carried out through due process.
However, the Solidus Trading Company is a powerful organization within Hexennacht, and the Almac Club is practically its headquarters.
They had prepared hidden devices to punish intruders who had done something foolish.
This meant that even if they deployed a barrier and fought inside, no one would notice.
Knowing this, Rinne also drew her sword without saying anything.
“If you leave him behind, I’ll turn a blind eye to your illegal intrusion. I haven’t even had a proper chance to play with him yet.”
“If you let him go, I will quietly leave Hexennacht. I will also make a proper show of sincerity for covering up my criminal act and transferring ownership.”
The conversation between the two was calmer than Siwoo had expected.
Lydia did not get angry, pointing out that Rinne had illegally intruded into the workshop.
Rinne also did not express anger that Lydia had secretly taken Siwoo and lied about it.
The one who gets tricked is a fool.
Rules are just blurry lines that can be easily crossed to achieve a goal.
The only thing that can make a clear judgment about what is right and wrong is one’s own power.
This is how public enemies live and interact with each other.
Lydia and Rinne, who had offered different conditions for Siwoo, quietly met each other’s eyes.
Each analyzed the current situation in their heads.
First, in Lydia’s case.
Rinne had committed the serious crime of illegally intruding into another witch’s workshop alone.
However, if she were to make this public and try to resolve it through normal procedures, Siwoo’s existence would inevitably be exposed.
Furthermore, Lydia would not be able to freely decide on Siwoo’s fate.
The best way was to bury Rinne here and make it seem like ‘nothing happened’.
Next, in Rinne’s case.
Lydia’s act of taking Siwoo was an act done solely on her own initiative.
The fact that Lydia had come to settle the matter herself, despite attending an important meeting called the Grand Assembly, supported this.
If she could defeat Lydia here, she could escape immediately without any other interference.
In short.
Winner takes all, loser takes the fall.
“I need to get back quickly, so I’ll finish this in 5 minutes. Come at me.”
“……”
The two, who had reached an agreement without any further words, began to draw out their magic power.
The heavy tremor of magic power drawn out by the 22nd and 23rd tiers made the glass windows tremble.
-Whoosh
A faint barrier formed around Siwoo.
Lydia and Rinne had each deployed two layers of defense to prevent him from getting caught up in the fight.
No matter how the outcome of this battle was decided, it would be a waste of effort if the merchandise was damaged.
“Cut.”
After Siwoo’s safety was secured.
Rinne was the first to move.
At the same time as the incantation, Rinne’s body melted and collapsed, then shot forward.
It was an explosive leap that combined perfect relaxation, which eliminated all unnecessary force, and Rinne’s magnetic magic, which controlled inertia.
The subsequent draw of the sword, which flowed like water, would have cut off the neck of most witches without them even being able to identify it.
Even if they managed to block it, Rinne’s deformed swordsmanship, which bent like a phantom, would cut off one of their limbs.
However, even though she had missed Rinne’s figure, who was rushing at her with a ferocious momentum, Lydia did not even blink an eye.
“That’s only if it hits.”
-Ting
A clear and pure sound that did not belong on the battlefield.
Lydia’s thumb flicked a small, crude gold coin.
The gold coin, which disintegrated in the air, creating ripples, was forged by melting the spirits, flesh, and souls of humans.
An average of 21.7 healthy adult men and women were needed for just one of these small metal pieces.
As the small amount of magic power that Lydia had drawn out acted as a catalyst, the vast amount of magic power accumulated within the gold coin scattered like a runaway.
In this way, Lydia had paid the price.
The world would respond to it.
“Prove it.”
As Lydia moved her lips and chanted a spell, the fine particles that had been shattered and turned into gold fragments took on a certain shape.
Moths with golden bodies, filling the corridor and flapping their wings.
They were familiars that seemed too fragile to block Rinne, who was charging like a black predator.
However, Rinne, who had been charging like a black wedge, gave up on a frontal breakthrough.
Her body twisted, drawing an unnatural curve like a snake crawling.
Furthermore, the black and white colors that had been painted along Rinne’s dash also stopped spreading and twisted strangely.
It was a scene that Siwoo, who was watching from afar, could not easily understand.
Rinne and Siwoo’s fighting styles had many similarities.
The ability to gain an advantage over most witches the moment they closed the distance was one of them.
She had left a gap that she could have easily entered, and had suppressed the momentum of her initial attack.
At first glance, the moth didn’t seem that threatening.
“Huh?”
However, the moment the black and white world, which had spread out half a beat late, overlapped with the moth that was emitting a brilliant light.
Siwoo realized that it was nothing more than carelessness.
He also realized that if he had been in Rinne’s place instead, he would not have even been able to attempt a proper fight and would have been defeated.
The moth, which was fluttering its wings, was not losing its color even in the black and white world.
Rinne’s black and white world steals the inherent nature of magic power, but that doesn’t mean it can take away everything without restriction.
It cannot steal the color of magic that has a strong ‘self-formation’ that is impossible to invade.
For example, Siwoo’s red branches, which had concentrated magic power, maintained their red color even in the image that Rinne had created.
This meant that Lydia’s moth possessed a huge power that was completely different from its appearance.
“……”
On the other hand, Rinne knew about this magic.
It was the ‘worthless death moth’, one of the few known magics of Lydia, who had lived for a long time but remained shrouded in mystery.
In itself, it has no power or destructive force to inflict harm.
Even if it touches the bare skin without any defense, it will simply scatter and disappear.
However, the golden death moth eats away and corrodes the ‘value’ of the being itself.
Once it has made contact with the body, any belated defense or evasion is meaningless.
If the target is a witch, it will affect everything that makes a witch valuable, from self-forming magic, magic power, physical abilities, and even life force.
It returns all of these elements to ‘worthless’.
It is an absurd technique that degrades a high-level character to the level of a beginner with a light touch, and causes them to lose a certain percentage of their life force no matter how solid their defense is.
Even an ordinary great witch would have their power limited to the level of an apprentice witch if about 5 moths touched their body, and from that point on, they would face certain death without being able to remove the moths.
In other words, this swarm of moths was a death trap that Lydia had laid out widely.
A fatal trap where defeat is certain the moment even one of them touches the body.
This was Lydia’s self-forming magic, which dealt with the concept of ‘value’ itself, not elements, magic formulas, or force fields.
There are other witches who deal with concepts in a similar way, such as the ‘Witch of Luck’, but Lydia is of the 23rd tier, and her precision and power are on a different level.
“……”
However, Rinne was also a warrior who had survived through various experiences.
She had never been optimistic that it would be an easy fight.
Black magic power blazed along Rinne’s sword.
Like ink being sucked into the void, it concentrated on the tips of the great sword and the small sword.
No matter how powerful the death moth’s power was, there were so many of them.
If you were to compare which was superior, the power concentrated at one point or the power scattered, the answer was obvious.
Even though the speed of the moths was very slow, Rinne jumped into the dance of the death moths without any hesitation.
Every time her body drew a black line like a black storm, the evil insects fell in droves.
-Swish! Swish! Swish!
However, for Lydia, the death moths were nothing more than guardian golems for stalling time.
They had fulfilled their purpose the moment they had initially held back Rinne’s charge.
“Prove it.”
Once again, a clear sound rang out as a clean and beautiful gold coin was flicked.
The gold coin, which had been forged by recovering Rosie’s corpse earlier, spun around as if dancing.
At this point, Lydia was certain of her victory.
