Chapter 702 – #141_The Silent Witch (2)
#702
1.
Tag.
This game, loved by children across Eastern and Western cultures, is quite peculiar when you think about its name.
Strictly speaking, tag isn’t a game where you catch the tagger, but rather a game where the tagger catches multiple participants.
However, the tag game that Rosie proposed and the playroom implemented created a situation that lived up to its name.
The tagger is Shin Siwoo.
Dozens of Gyeongo rush in from all directions to play tag.
It’s an absurd rule for a dome-shaped space that’s only about 20 meters in diameter.
Just the Gyeongo all running wild makes the dome-shaped space almost impossible to avoid.
-Woof! Woof!
-Grrrr
Even if their eyelids were sewn shut with wire, the Gyeongo’s ability to spot prey was excellent.
Their enhanced sense of smell, driven by deeply ingrained gluttony, clearly picked up Siwoo’s scent, and they swarmed in from all directions like a pride of lionesses hunting a buffalo.
Even a single familiar, the mobility of a demon enhanced by magic is already beyond comparison to ordinary beasts.
Even if the being standing in the middle of the dome was an elephant instead of a buffalo, it would normally be reduced to bones in an instant.
However.
-Bang! Thud!
The heads of the dog pack, swept away by the black ribbon swung at high speed, explode as if they were bursting.
Green curses scatter in the air amidst the flying skull fragments.
The triple shockwave emitted from the ring-shaped magic formula bursts the Gyeongo like swatting a fly.
The Gyeongo, ruptured from the inside, die spitting black blood without even having time to scream.
Occasionally, black flames burn the hungry beasts.
The beasts, cooked well-done to the bone, tumble across the floor, charred black.
All of this is the tagger’s resistance, without taking a single step from the spot.
Despite this overwhelming display, Siwoo’s expression did not ease.
The situation is not as smooth as it seems.
The rules of tag were tricky.
If this playroom implemented ‘play’ as expected, then Siwoo is now committing repeated fouls.
In tag, the runner can’t do anything against the chaser.
Siwoo’s attacks against the Gyeongo are a clear violation of the rules.
The actual power of the magic he uses is not even half as effective.
But that’s not the only problem.
The corpse of the demon that just died in a bloody mess boils like crude oil.
What rises from the black puddle, twitching, is the Gyeongo, restored without injury.
The number of Gyeongo has not decreased by a single one.
Through this series of events, Siwoo was able to gauge the extent of the rules’ enforcement.
It’s not as strong as the chapel Dorothy implemented, but it’s powerful enough.
Without the red branch, complete destruction is difficult.
He measures the merits that the offense and defense give to the opponent, and re-evaluates them.
“……”
“Wow.”
Meanwhile, Rosie, with her eyes wide open, expresses her admiration.
Rosie is also a Great Witch.
She can reproduce the overwhelming power that Siwoo is displaying in a different way.
Without the intervention of another witch, it is a natural disaster that can devastate a country single-handedly.
Rosie, who followed each of Siwoo’s various magics, came to one conclusion.
“What are you?”
His magic is clearly strange.
Generally, a witch’s inherent magic has its own unique color.
Even if they study different types of magic, they tend to converge and evolve.
For example, the recovery magic that Rosie, who is based on curses, has built takes the form of a curse: ‘Recovery power and physical durability are dramatically improved, but despair that has been extracted is used as a sacrifice.’
But the magic he uses has no common convergence point.
The ribbon that strikes the Gyeongo is similar to Ea Sadalmelik’s ‘Maiden’s Loom’ if she is not mistaken.
The familiar ring is similar to Dorothy Sahakiel’s ‘Angel’s Ring’.
The basis of both is a shadow she has never seen before.
It’s suspicious enough that he uses the magic of famous figures from the Qliphoth.
And yet, he doesn’t just copy the originals.
He unfolds a field by using a unique method of engraving magic formulas on the ribbon, and creates a wave of magical power like a wave with that field.
In the meantime, he spews black flames that seem to be a kind of orthodox elemental magic.
It’s a colorful magic feast that seems to be reminiscent of the Great Sage of Gehenna, Duke Erelim’s ‘Celestial Void Record,’ which she has only heard rumors of, but in reality, it’s clearly just a lower-level imitation.
The reason why the magic of a Great Witch is so powerful is because each of their inherent magics creates a synergy.
His magic, which seems to have been hastily piled up, is more like a block pile of great magic stacked haphazardly rather than promoting each other’s rise.
Even so, it’s powerful enough that the tag game isn’t very fun…
After all, the Gyeongo are just a way to buy time for preparation.
“Okay. Shall we start properly?”
Rosie, who had entrusted the battle to her familiar and was condensing her magic to prepare a large-scale magic formula.
Her fingertips elegantly stir the air as if conducting.
-Woooong!
At the same time, the ground that was supporting the floor disappears, and a new space appears.
The playroom takes the form of a sphere with a mirror attached to the ground of the semi-spherical space, creating a symmetrical shape above and below.
In between, a grid created by green mist crosses like a spider web.
“I prepared this because it might be the last time I compete with my rival, so I was a bit sad. How is it?”
Siwoo, who had levitated himself with telekinesis as soon as the ground to step on disappeared, looked around.
What fills the spherical space is a giant regular dodecahedron.
And a number of smaller regular dodecahedrons, each inscribed on a different face.
It’s the first time he’s seen a scale of this size, but it’s a very familiar space.
The new game that Rosie implemented was truly clear.
It was a board game that she was most confident in and actually showed her peak skills in.
Position Board.
It’s not just a basic magic competition created by connecting a single pass and rune, but a real-scale position board that utilizes each person’s inherent magic.
Siwoo, who was focused on the battle, couldn’t hide his bewilderment.
Rosie had implemented a scale of play that a young witch might create in her delusions as part of her inherent magic.
Apart from his bewildered feelings, he tried to grasp the rules.
Originally, the position board itself is a miniature version of a magic battle.
It means that if you modify the rules a little, you can apply it to real battles.
What’s important here is ‘what kind of modified rules are applied’.
“……”
He tried using magic in a space other than the designated ‘pass’.
Then, a strong load was immediately applied, and golden sparks flew.
-Patsutsutsutsu
In fact, he didn’t even need to experiment to see it with his magic eye.
The magic resistance in the area except for the pass was soaring to its limit.
The outside of the board, which is implemented on a large scale, is at a level where you can use magic, but you have to risk unnecessary consumption.
Even if you engage in hand-to-hand combat, as long as you use magic enhancement, you will move as slowly as if you were moving underwater, and you will need a lot of strength.
On the other hand, while the rules of the game so far have given Rosie a unilateral advantage, this game was fair to both of them.
The magic relays that have appeared at various points instead of runes are also neutral.
The penalties for magic operation that apply to Siwoo are also applied to Rosie.
The stronger the restrictions on magic, the more powerful it becomes.
That’s why the coercion of this game is so powerful that it’s on a different level.
Rosie has drawn Siwoo into the field she is most confident in.
A field of thorough brain battles that only compete to see who has the more superior calculation ability and who demonstrates more excellent inherent magic.
“You can’t just stand there blankly, you know?”
Although she is adhering to the rules of the position board, the current battle is a real battle.
There is no need to take turns playing one move at a time with sportsmanship.
Rosie, who knew this, took the first move.
She expanded her magic to the center.
The target is the neutral relay.
The relay that connects the passes in the space where the magic load has soared to its limit helps the person who occupies it to operate their magic smoothly.
In terms of the position board, it plays the role of a ‘rune’.
The relay, which was shining white, turned green as if green water was being injected, and the wriggling dark magic quickly finished shaping the curse.
Dozens of pairs, reminiscent of a viper’s sharp teeth, flew towards Siwoo along the pass.
-Woong!
In response, the ribbon engraved with golden magic formulas swells.
The power of the wave that spreads out like an explosion is Count Yesod’s protection.
-Ping! Ping! Ping!
The poisonous fangs that flew like bullets ricocheted along the sides of the field, making a sharp sound.
Siwoo wasn’t just preparing to defend either.
He unfolded a field and jumped into the fight to take the relay.
-Clang! Clang!
Magic intertwined in the air, accompanied by dazzling flashes and explosions.
Heat hotter than the flames of a steel-melting furnace burns Rosie’s poisonous fangs,
and the curse of corrosion cuts off the bundles of ribbons that twist like a waterspout like rotten ropes.
If the field, which has become stronger with the help of the relay, expands its influence,
the ring-shaped curse with the curse of penetration distorts the field.
A battlefield that is different from the position board but uses the rules of the position board.
Rosie’s strength was fully demonstrated in the limited number of moves.
“Hahahahahaha!!!!”
Extreme snowballing that seeks even greater gains based on small gains.
The series of moves are as cold and precise as if they were a machine.
While persistently attacking Siwoo’s weakness of weak magic-to-magic links, she prepares even more fatal inherent magic links.
In just a few seconds, she takes endless small gains in the remnants of magic that are unfolded, built, broken, and reassembled.
As a result, Rosie quickly occupied 60% of the relays.
Since the space where magic can be used is limited on the position board, the amount of usable magic is determined by how many relays and passes you have occupied.
In other words, it was safe to say that the overall situation was also leaning towards Rosie.
-Kugugugugu!!!
The condensed curse, completed by weaving together the remnants of broken magic, was aimed at Siwoo.
A curse that even the Pope would curse God and writhe in terrible pain if it hit directly.
“Ah, games are fun after all. It’s the best! It’s thrilling!”
Rosie, who showed an overwhelming difference in skill compared to the position board as a board game, looked at Siwoo with a cruel smile.
“What do you think?”
Shin Siwoo, who she thought would be flustered and overwhelmed with a sense of failure by now.
He is looking at Rosie with an expression that shows no sign of agitation.
A spirit that does not know how to give up flows along the golden magic reflection.
“……”
Rosie is definitely strong.
She creates a battlefield that is advantageous to her while pretending to be fair, and even the number of moves that overwhelms with pure skill.
It’s impressive enough to understand how she survived among the public enemies who are always engaged in fratricide.
But the preparation is over.
Now it’s time to let Rosie know.
That this is not a game, but a life-or-death battle.
