Genius Warlock-Episode 498
498. rematch (1)
“It's a bit surprising.”
Merlin opened his mouth under a cloudy, gloomy sky. Thick snowflakes imbued with blue magic piled up on his shoulders..
“I never thought you'd ask for a fight first..”
“I'm not asking for a fight, but I'm asking for a spar. Elderly.”
Oliver, who came to the ice land at the end of the world with Merlin, corrected. Let's have a fight... Isn't this somehow rude??
“To be honest, that's it. How many students do you think there are throughout the world and the world who want to spar with a teacher they haven't seen in a long time??”
Oliver thought seriously. I wonder if there are really no students who ask to spar with a teacher they haven't seen in a long time. hmm······.
“······Because you are a temporary master. Wouldn't it be okay??”
“Hehe, crazy guy..”
Merlin said with a smile. Because of the wall of magic that was thicker than before, she couldn't read his emotions and couldn't tell if he was sincere or not, but at least she didn't seem to be offended..
“Well, it's not bad anyway. Some memories come to mind.”
Merlin said, looking around, and Oliver followed Merlin and looked around..
An open land of ice without even hills. Strangely enough, when I first visited this place, it was to spar just like now..
“The difference is that I asked for it then, but now you ask for it... After all, time is on the young man’s side. It grows quickly and tries to eat old people..”
“Elderly. I didn't really mean it that way..”
“know. I also mean this with all my heart. And I don't think that's a bad thing. Young people should always try to surpass old people. Isn’t that what progress is??”
Oliver tilted his head. After hearing it, he didn't think it was wrong..
It was right to respect elders, but there was also a need to surpass them. Like Merlin said, that was progress. Otherwise it was a regression.
The new always had to surpass the old..
“However, apart from that, I'm curious about the reason. Why are you suddenly asking for a fight? Do you suddenly want to evaluate my worth??”
Oliver recalled a conversation he had with Merlin in the past..
After rescuing Oliver, Rosburn, and other children from Mattel, he first said that human value is strength and urged them to fight..
“no. How could I dare to evaluate the value of the elderly? Also, I still don’t agree that power is value..”
“is it?”
“Yeah, I just realized that I'm weak and I just want to see how weak I am..”
“Depending on how you hear it, this may seem a bit arrogant..”
“Now that I say it, it seems a bit like that. sorry. I don't have anyone to talk to..”
After spitting it out, Oliver regretted it. He wants to know how weak he wants to be. But I meant it.
“Why am I suddenly curious about that? To be honest, you're not interested in power, are you??”
Oliver nodded. As Merlin said, Oliver wasn't really interested in power itself..
I studied and learned a lot of knowledge that could give me great power, such as black magic and sorcery, blood magic, corpse dolls, druid magic, close-range fighting techniques, paper imbued with spatial magic techniques, etc., but power itself was not the goal..
To be precise, my goal was to learn, and I only incidentally became stronger in the process. Of course, I had calculated that combat power would increase significantly depending on how it was used, but that was just a part of making the problem solver's job easier..
As evidence, Oliver did not overestimate or boast about his own strength. If it could be resolved through dialogue, he would resolve it through dialogue. If it was inevitable that there would be a fight, he would just fight..
Even after doing that, most of the problems were solved. Suddenly, when I thought back, I felt like I was really lucky..
“Was I unlucky in the New World??”
“There were times when I had bad luck, and times when it was good. I met the devil.”
Merlin was silent..
“You're not really surprised..”
“I heard a story about an omen appearing in the New World..”
This time Oliver was silent. Well, if you think about it, it was a natural story. If I knew about the burn on my right arm, I couldn't have ignored the signs..
Oliver remembered checking the canteen..
Apparently, the water turned red inside the abandoned mine, and frogs came out of it, but when it was opened again at the hospital, it had returned to normal water..
“I heard that beasts in the city ran rampant, the water turned red, and swarms of frogs abounded. That's one of the signs that the devil is about to descend. It is easy to predict who was trying to summon the devil in that situation..”
“okay.”
Oliver replied, observing Merlin. She was strange too. The devil's descent was a disaster to a small extent and a disaster to a large extent..
Oliver, who had encountered the devil, knew this even more keenly. However, Merlin's attitude was, what can I say, different from the general one?.
It's hard to explain in detail because I can't see through the emotions, but I felt something calm. Non-personal and objective. But that didn't mean I was indifferent..
‘I don't know how to express it. Calm and objective, but not indifferent..’
It was a reaction that I could not empathize with in a different way from other people..
“Have you ever fought a devil??”
“yes······. For now. I doubt whether it can be described as a fight, though..”
In the land of ice at the end of the world, Oliver briefly forgot his promise to the Church of Pater and explained in detail what had happened from the time the Burned One descended until he lost his memory..
It wasn't difficult. Each and every one of them was so shocking that it was deeply embedded in my mind..
The sight of him coming out from between the girl's legs, setting Pink Man on fire with just one breath, blowing people up and turning them into lumps of salt with just his voice and eyes, was something I couldn't forget even if I wanted to..
“To be honest, I don't even think I fought the Burned One. The one who was burned took care of me so that I didn't die. He could have just killed it.”
said Oliver, who plunged his hand into the devil's body and caused a huge white fire. It was an achievement that the average person could not even imagine, but for Oliver, it was nothing to be proud of. Even the white fire was possible because the devil looked after it..
“But why did you block it??”
“yes?”
“I asked him why he stopped the burned man. devil. He knew he couldn't win, and he also knew the city's secrets.?”
Unexpected question. Oliver scratched his cheek and pondered..
“uh······. If you ask me, I’m not sure. How come I see it? The Burned One was trying to kill Joanna, and I wanted to stop it. So he smoked Phil Garrett and fought, and somehow he kept fighting..”
“Was there any time to stop in the middle??”
Oliver pondered again. When I thought about it, it seemed like it existed..
“still······. I feel like I need to stop it.?”
“Why??”
“hmm······. First of all, it was my job at the time to assist the Holy Knights..”
“also.”
“also······. Isn't it a bit like that??”
“······?”
“Burning the whole city down. Men, women, the elderly, children, pregnant women, and even red people living in the slums... Isn't it a bit much to burn everything??”
Oliver shrugged his shoulders as if it was difficult to explain any further. Merlin looked at Oliver gently at this extremely normal yet abnormal reaction..
“Are you trying to prepare for when the devil comes again in the future??”
“It's hard to call it preparation, but I think we need to do something. When I saw the devil summoned, it felt a little real that the clock was moving..”
Oliver answered, remembering the puppet who first told him about the apocalypse. There was no other way to explain the success of the demon summoning, which has now entered the realm of myth..
“······Yes, it would be right to do something. That's what I'm saying, you shouldn't have followed me..”
“what does that mean?”
“First rule of fighting. Don't let your opponent take over the space.”
Just!
Merlin snapped his fingers that had condensed magical power..
Using this as a signal, Merlin's pure and vast magical power, which had been condensed at the tip of his finger, formed a thin film and quickly spread out in the form of a sphere, connecting with the natural magic of the ice land and coming under Merlin's control..
They took control of this place in an instant. Upon taking control of the place, Merlin manipulated the magical powers he had placed under his control to further lower the temperature, causing more snow to fall. So that you can clearly feel it physically.
He controlled the weather and temperature by mixing his vast magical power with the magical power of nature. It was possible in theory, but only in theory. I was embarrassed to show it off with my own strength..
“It can happen like this. so-”
-[Hate Bullet)]
While Merlin was speaking, Oliver made a gun muzzle with his index finger and fired a bullet of hate. Sudden attacks sometimes have surprising effects..
“It's a good attack. Although it is not polite.”
But the opponent is Merlin. He immediately responded by magically pulling out a book out of thin air and tearing up the paper..
The paper imbued with a large amount of magical energy flew towards Oliver, cutting the bullets of hatred into two like a famous sword..
Ahhhhh... Boom!! bang!!
The paper that flew out, cutting through the bullets of hatred, was unable to overcome the resistance of the emotional robe that Oliver had instantly wrapped around his body, and its trajectory was bent and unexpectedly hit the ground, creating a huge cloud of snow dust..
A development that feels like déjà vu.
Merlin used the magical power he had spread to move the white snow dust, blocking Oliver's vision..
At the same time, the snow dust split horizontally and a sharp and heavy sound rang out..
Wow!
“It's the same attack method as back then..”
Oliver, who barely succeeded in defending himself with his quarter staff, spoke..
“This is the best way to find out how much your skills have improved..”
Merlin, who had moved behind Oliver, answered. He had a piece of paper in his hand like when they first fought, but unlike then he couldn't cut Oliver..
It was good news. At the time, we couldn't even react, but now we can even block it, so it could be said to be a huge step forward..
“I've gotten better, yeah.”
“Thank you for the compliment······. The elderly are also great..”
“what?”
“It was moved by compressing a specific space. Of course, it wasn't just high-speed movement..”
“······like.”
Merlin showed a subtle but definite reaction. That's because there were only a handful of people who could see through Merlin's high-speed movement..
Most of them died without being able to react, and even if they survived, they did not understand what had hit them. Usually, it was understood that the body was simply strengthened using magical power, but that was not the case..
Such intense movement naturally affected those around him, but in a sense, Merlin's way of moving was very still..
Like death. quiet but powerful.
“It's a simple method of movement that uses space magic. Connecting specific points and folding that space. Like paper. How did you know?”
“In the New World, the devil showed something similar. It seemed a bit different from magic, though... How is that possible for you??”
Merlin grinned..
“Because it's an archive.”
With those words, Merlin threw a piece of paper at Oliver..
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