Chapter 2375 – 2375. Modern Magic War
I roughly caught the falling bat with the wind. Thinking about it, there was no need for me to keep holding it, so I floated it in the air with the wind.
The transparent monster that had been knocked away got up as if nothing had happened. It was quite tough.
‘That’s a familiar. The old man is a warlock.’
Wasn’t that old man supposed to be a bureau chief? Sorry, but I don’t really know. In my view, a bureau chief is like an S-class in reality. But if that old man is really a bureau chief…
‘I need to correct myself. The power balance here is probably lower than in reality.’
I was slightly disappointed but also understood. All the mages in this world rely on grimoires. They are trapped by the limitation that they cannot use magic without a grimoire. They don’t develop and use skills like martial arts or magic like in reality.
“My name is Owen Little. People call me the Sage of Lemegeton.”
“Sage? A wise man? You?”
“Haha. I know very well that it’s an excessive title even if I know more than others. Still, I’m confident that I have a good eye for people.”
“If you have something to say, say it while I’m listening.”
“Would you consider joining Lemegeton? Judging by your personality, Lemegeton seems to suit you better. Lemegeton’s goal is to create a world for mages. It’s an appealing goal for a powerful and talented mage like you. Aren’t you tired of the oppression of mages?”
“So, a world for mages needs drugs? Enough to build a factory for them.”
“The drug factory is for funding. Unfortunately, we can’t infinitely create food with magic.”
“Enough with the nonsense. Aside from the drug factory, what’s Lemegeton’s real purpose? Tell me that first.”
Due to the penalty, I can’t see the original webtoon in this world. Even if I came here after reading the webtoon in reality, the penalty prevents me from remembering the content.
“I can tell you if you join us.”
I turned my gaze to the side. Two more transparent monsters had appeared.
“So, you can see these cute fellows. Is it magic related to the eyes? Aside from recovery magic, you use more than four types of magic… That’s amazing talent. Or maybe you have a special magic that allows you to use other magic.”
Owen smiled faintly. He seemed convinced that his guess was correct. He was completely wrong.
‘I thought I could get some useful information through conversation… but there’s no information that’s actually helpful to me. The title of sage isn’t just for show.’
It didn’t seem like I could get any more information.
Thud, thud.
Rain began to fall from the sky. Dark clouds gradually gathered. The rain didn’t soak into the ground but began to collect on the surface. The forms of the transparent monsters became visible in the falling rain, but it was meaningless. I could already see them clearly.
“You can even make it rain. You must be a great mage.”
“This isn’t the time to be relaxed. Rain is just falling water droplets. If you infuse it with magic, it becomes this powerful.”
The rain began to fall like bullets onto the ground. The transparent monsters quickly moved to protect Owen.
“Stop wasting magic. Bullets can’t defeat my cute fellows.”
“It’s not bullets, it’s rainwater with the power of bullets. The important thing is that it’s rainwater.”
The rainwater flowed down the transparent monsters’ bodies. No matter how thoroughly they protected themselves, it was impossible to completely block the water. Including the water flowing on the ground, he was already wet.
‘Rotate.’
Inside Owen’s embrace, the water rotated at high speed like a circular saw blade. Blood splattered. Owen focused his magic on his body to stop the rotating water before his body was completely sliced.
“Heh heh. Such delicate magic control… Amazing. You’re the best young man I’ve seen recently.”
“This is just the beginning. I wonder how long you can afford to be relaxed.”
“I admit it. I can’t beat you like this. Rainwater pouring like bullets and rotating like saw blades. It feels like death is all around. If I were an ordinary mage, I would have already died.”
“If that’s your last words, it’s a bit boring. How about telling me the location of Lemegeton’s headquarters as your last words? I might go crazy and charge in there alone and die.”
“There are no last words. Because I won’t die. You’re the commander of the 8th division, so… you must know how to use Ars Magna. The true power of the grimoire. Now, the real battle starts now. Ars Magna. Fairy Tale.”
Owen’s white beard suddenly grew longer and began to wrap around his body.
‘Is his beard a grimoire?’
Most grimoires are in the form of objects, but some grimoires become the mage’s body, so it’s not surprising.
The beard pulled in and absorbed the three transparent monsters as if eating them.
Owen transformed from a shabby old man into a muscular transparent monster over 3 meters tall.
The rain fiercely struck and cut at him, but it didn’t even leave a scratch.
Thud!
When Owen stomped his foot, the surrounding rainwater flew in all directions.
“Using something I’ve already used once again… it’s tiring. Let’s finish this quickly. Understand. When you get old, your energy declines.”
‘On….’
Before I could finish my thought, he appeared in front of me in an instant. A huge fist was coming to crush me.
[Using Instant. Remaining stacks: 11]
I leaned my upper body forward, barely dodging the fist. Then, I infused wind into my foot and delivered a low kick.
Bang!
The sound was as loud as a shell exploding, but Owen’s leg was fine.
Owen pulled back his other leg and launched a soccer kick. The position and timing weren’t good for dodging with Instant. Leap? Too late. I need to focus on the place I’m leaping to, so there’s a delay before activation. I created wind and water.
Wham!
I crossed my arms to block the kick, but I couldn’t withstand the impact and flew backward, crashing into the factory wall. The wall crumbled.
Cough.
I coughed up blood and got up.
‘His physical abilities are superior. He’s called a sage, but he fights so recklessly.’
There was almost no internal damage. There was no problem with fighting.
“You created water and wind to reduce the impact. Excellent. Your combat sense is truly amazing.”
“On the other hand, you don’t show any technique at all. If you’re going to rely on your body to fight, you should at least learn boxing.”
“Technique is meaningless in the face of overwhelming power.”
Owen kicked off the ground and charged at me. I curled up the corners of my mouth. If I focus on the target and enhance my body with magic, I can keep up with Owen’s speed.
A huge fist reached out. I shifted my body’s center of gravity to the side and deflected his fist with the back of my hand. The direction of his power was disrupted, leaving Owen’s body defenseless.
Hwajing. A technique also known as ‘four ounces deflects a thousand pounds.’
“That’s right. But you don’t have overwhelming power.”
Before Owen could fully regain his balance, I placed my palm on his chest.
Ars Magna, Azure Flame.
Whoosh.
Blue flames engulfed Owen.
“Kuaaaak! This azure flame…! Could it be that you’re the Blue Phoenix…!!”
The Blue Phoenix’s azure flame is a flame that burns everything. Magic is no exception. However, it couldn’t burn everything in an instant.
Owen, writhing in pain, made the best decision. To kill me and extinguish the azure flame. He knew that if I died, the magic would disappear.
‘Leap.’
I created distance with space movement. It was easier than eating a piece of cake to avoid Owen’s attacks, who was out of his mind from the pain of his whole body burning.
Thud.
Owen returned to his old body and collapsed on the ground. His lower body had already burned to ashes.
“Don’t think this is the end…! I am one of the symbols of Lemegeton…! Since you have broken that symbol, Lemegeton will surely retaliate to restore its prestige!”
A definite retaliation that could overthrow a nation.
Lemegeton always kills its enemies. That’s why all nations fear Lemegeton. That’s why they can’t carelessly provoke them.
“That’s what I want.”
I sneered at Owen until the end as he turned to ashes and disappeared.
• • •
The situation was resolved. When Owen died, some of his subordinates ran away, but most were captured or killed. I handed over the 4th division commander, Park Son, to the 4th division members. They will take him to the 6th division to recover. Judging by the 6th division’s skills, it won’t take many days for him to recover.
“Thank you, 8th division commander! If it weren’t for you, our 4th division would have been annihilated! I will definitely repay this debt! Ah, you can call me hyung!”
“Hyung my ass.”
I ignored Park Son’s nonsense and headed towards Oh Jeonil. The guy was sitting slumped in front of the car, covered in blood.
“O-oh, you’ve arrived, commander. I heard on the radio. You killed the Sage of Lemegeton? You’re truly amazing.”
“How many did you kill?”
“22… I missed two. I’m sorry.”
“You look like that after killing 22 stragglers. Get stronger. That way, I won’t be bothered.”
I took out a recovery potion and poured it on Oh Jincheol’s head.
“Is that recovery magic?”
“It’s a recovery potion.”
“There’s such a thing? Well, there’s magic, so it’s not strange to have recovery potions. The effect is good. Can you give me one?”
“Grab the steering wheel.”
“Should I take you to headquarters?”
“No. I need to hit up a room salon, so head to Gangnam.”
“Ha… Is that okay for a public official?”
“If you don’t like it, file a complaint. Grab the steering wheel. Or do you want to join? The pretty ones are mine.”
“No, thank you. I still owe you for the potion… I’ll take you there.”
Oh Jeonil sat in the driver’s seat. When I didn’t get in the car, he looked at me with a puzzled expression.
“Commander? Aren’t you getting in?”
“Wait. Some punk has appeared.”
I raised my head. I saw a young man standing on a tree branch. A man in a hoodie. It was definitely Jeon Sehoon, the executive of Luminus that Im Hyuna had mentioned.
“Seong Yujin. I know you’re exhausted from fighting the Sage. I’ll get straight to the point. Join Luminus.”
“I don’t listen to someone weaker than me.”
“Is that so? Then die.”
Jeon Sehoon snapped his fingers.
A black warp gate-like thing appeared in the air and pulled me and Jeon Sehoon in at the same time. I could have resisted with magic, but I was curious, so I willingly let myself be pulled into his space.
The space was in the middle of a ruined city.
“Ughhhh….”
Zombies that hadn’t died were walking out from all over the city. There were thousands of them with their squishy corpses.
“Welcome to my magic, the zombie apocalypse. Once you’re in this space, there’s only one ending for you. Becoming a zombie.”
Jeon Sehoon was standing on a streetlight. He was already certain of his victory and had a smile on his face.
I raised my index finger and flicked it towards the approaching zombie horde.
Wind Cutter.
A blade of wind flew out, instantly cutting down over a hundred zombies. The durability of the zombies was at best similar to that of humans. They couldn’t block the wind blade.
I moved my fingers like a maestro conducting an orchestra. The already dead audience was sliced by the wind blades and lay scattered on the ground.
Jeon Sehoon, horrified, shouted desperately.
“Zombies are infinite in this space! No matter how many zombies you kill, it won’t end! Eventually, your magic will run out! Everything you’re doing is a futile struggle!! Once you’re in this space, the outcome is already decided!”
“I’m bored.”
I launched a Wind Cutter towards Jeon Sehoon. Jeon Sehoon was terrified and jumped to the side to avoid the Wind Cutter.
“This kind of attack… Huh?!”
Jeon Sehoon’s gaze turned to the sky. His magic detection was decent. But did he have a way to avoid it in the air? Judging by his face filled with despair, he didn’t.
Rumble!
Lightning struck him. His burnt corpse fell to the ground.
Grrrrrrrrr.
As the mage died, the magic space collapsed.
I was in front of the car. I reached out, opened the car door, and sat in the back seat.
“C-commander. What happened?”
“Let’s go. Room salon. Urgent.”
Oh Jeonil stepped on the accelerator with a bewildered expression.
