Chapter 221: Bloodline Front (3)

“…Good.”

Avid slowly raised his head.

On his face, having lost all his subordinate units in a single instant’s mistake, there was instead only an inexplicable sense of relief.

“I made a mistake.”

“…”

“It has been too long since I faced a talented wizard like you. Arrogantly, I must have forgotten. I should have set up the board more thoroughly, calculating every possible move with relentless persistence…”

Immediately after, all the blood spread across the area gathered around him, once again forming a massive vortex.

“If it led me to realize that, then my subordinates’ lives were not in vain, were they?”

Not only the blood that had seeped into the ground, but even the dried bloodstains across the entire factory grounds melted and swirled behind Avid.

Lennok finally realized what Avid was doing and clicked his tongue.

“…Using the blood of dead subordinates as fuel. Considering how little agitation he showed… was this his plan from the beginning?”

“Blood imbued with pain and despair naturally contains denser mana.”

Whiiiiirrr!

Amidst the swirling blood-wind, Avid’s face gradually turned expressionless.

Processing a barrage of calculations in his mind, even manipulating his own body became difficult.

“From now on, my judgment will not err.”

A spell constructed by artificially shaping the environment and drawing in the blood of dead unit members.

There was no need to calculate what such a high-level wizard’s first move would be.

Avid raised both hands, forming hand seals in a trance, and simultaneously, his mouth opened.

“Domain deployment.”

Pa-aa-aa-ang!

Splish!

There was no achromatic wave generated when a Domain was deployed.

Instead, a thick pool of blood suddenly overflowed at Lennok’s feet.

Blocked by his shield, it flowed past Lennok’s body without directly touching him, quickly engulfing the surrounding space.

In an instant, a river of blood formed, covering the entire abandoned factory grounds and beginning to flow.

Lennok let out a hollow laugh, realizing what Avid had done the moment it happened.

“So, this is how a Blood Magic Domain works… It’s not entirely the same, is it?”

“Oh, you recognize it?”

Babababa-bak!

Contrary to Avid’s pleasant words, dozens of spikes that shot out from the river of blood simultaneously struck Lennok’s shield.

Thud-thud-thud!

Lennok scattered bolt magic to clear his surroundings and walked forward unhesitatingly.

“The moment it manifested as a physical phenomenon, it’s no longer an ordinary Domain. But if you had properly completed the mental imprint, it would have been much larger in scale and more intense than this.”

“…”

Avid fell silent at Lennok’s incisive words, and Lennok pressed his point.

“So, if the inner mental image is complete, but you can’t project it into the Domain, it ends up like this?”

In a way, it was the complete opposite of Aris Richellen’s case.

Aris had sufficient personal talent and qualification, but couldn’t reach Level 7 because she hadn’t finalized her desired mental image.

However, Avid had succeeded in forcibly manifesting a perfectly envisioned inner landscape, using his subordinates’ blood as sacrifice.

At that moment, Lennok’s mind flashed back to a memory of meeting a wizard from Blaiver Tower.

The wizard’s desperate struggle to reach the Domain, not only sacrificing others without hesitation but even resorting to drugs.

It was no different.

There was only one reason why wizards who had reached Level 6 would go to such lengths to achieve a Domain.

It was a simple story.

Simply because the difficulty of deploying a Domain itself was too high.

Because a wall of an entirely different dimension from successfully altering the properties of mana stood before them.

The corners of Lennok’s mouth twisted faintly as he looked at Avid.

“Indeed… magic is truly interesting. Even walking the same path, the differences in interpretation and manifestation vary so greatly depending on the individual. No, this, if you think about it… is it just reaching a limit?”

It’s not strange to seek another path when the way forward is no longer visible.

The fact that wizards who feel a wall at Level 6 begin to interpret magic in different ways must be because their individuality becomes intertwined while they are lost.

Lennok thought that such attempts were never wrong.

After all, magic was a way of interpreting the world’s laws according to one’s own standards.

In the end, it was natural for it to return to one’s own standards.

However, it was certain that Avid had not chosen the correct answer in that process.

Unable to bear it, Avid roared.

“What are you spouting such arrogant nonsense for!!!!”

Kwa-aa-aa-aa-ang!

Simultaneously with a fountain of blood erupting around Lennok, a massive hand of blood current wrapped around him and slammed down.

At the same time, using the slamming hand as a support, a red giant rose from the bloodstorm.

Fizz-fizz-fizz…!!

Immediately after, Lennok’s grabbed and swung lightning exploded the giant’s arm, but the blood current, now returned to liquid, drew a sharp arc and flew towards Lennok again like a wedge.

Thud-thud-thud!!!

Blood magic indiscriminately striking the shield, aiming for the wizard’s breath.

Blood current, which fundamentally acts as a viscous and powerfully reactive magical catalyst, may be less versatile than water-based magic, but its manipulation ability overwhelms spellcasters of the same level.

Moreover, at the point when the wizard deploys a Domain and pushes their spell control to the extreme, thoughts arising in their mind are practically attacks.

Beneath this river of blood, deployed by sacrificing his subordinates’ lives, he could undoubtedly stand on equal footing with Lennok.

Convinced of this, Avid drew on his mana with full force.

Kwakwakwakwakwakwa!!!

As the two wizards, glaring at each other, waved their hands, two currents of mana violently spun, transforming into waves of lightning and blood.

In the fleeting moment their gazes met, dozens of blood bullets struck, aiming for Lennok’s vitals.

He blocked them by simultaneously deploying the concentrated, compressed, and rotating mysteries of his shield.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

A tightrope walk where a single mistake leads directly to death.

However, Lennok did not stop there, scattering the lightning gathered in his hand into the sky, unleashing a massive lightning wave.

The lightning wave, spreading across the rainy sky, precisely split and branched into elongated spearheads according to Lennok’s will, plunging down like rain.

[Swift Net of the Earth]

[Multiple Extremes]

[Flying Azure]

Pop-pop-pop-bang!

Upon striking the blood-red giant’s body, they caused powerful explosions.

The giant twisted its body haphazardly and crumbled to protect Avid beyond it.

Amidst that, it ceaselessly lunged with fists and blood-formed projectiles, struggling to somehow destroy Lennok’s offense and defense.

Lennok, continuously emitting azure light from his eyes, also seized and swung the currents of lightning hurtling down from the sky, setting the ground ablaze with heat.

Ku-gu-gu-gu-gu…!!!

Under the destructive aftermath wielded by the two wizards, the factory grounds not only shook but slowly began to sink downwards.

In the standoff, which had thoroughly escalated into a battle of pure firepower, it was Avid, not Lennok, who first made a move.

“Ugh…!!!”

Thick blood streamed from Avid’s nose as he gritted his teeth.

His constantly moving hands, forming seals, became dizzy, and his mind, continuously calculating coordinates and mana flow, blurred.

A decisive battle between Level 6 ranked wizards, who could not only use mana property alteration but also deploy their Domains through their own talent.

It was fundamentally very rare for spellcasters, who rarely stand on the front lines, to remain on the battlefield until the very end, vying with spells, but Lennok’s absurd battlefield control made it possible.

There must have been a reason why Avid, instead of retreating, gathered even his subordinates’ blood and deployed his Domain.

He calculated that Lennok would have expended considerable mana in his initial large-scale area magic, and manipulating such unique magic on the spot would have consumed immense mental energy.

Moreover, there was the sharp insight characteristic of high-level wizards, estimating that considerable effort went into the illusion deployed to help Killian escape.

Under these conditions, he had judged that, assuming he deployed his Domain first and pressured Lennok, he could secure at least more than half a chance of victory.

But absurdly, Avid Yonsen, who had deployed his Domain first, was helplessly being pushed back in the firepower duel with Lennok.

The mana still lingering at his fingertips freely mixed with the blood scattering everywhere, and the giant standing before him steadily unleashed heavy shockwaves according to his will.

However, Lennok’s initial offense and defense remained unbreached, and instead, Avid could feel the blood current under his control rapidly diminishing.

The blood current, facing firepower beyond its limits, was evaporating directly, exceeding Avid’s manipulation ability.

Tremble-tremble-tremble-tremble…!!

And the moment he realized it, Avid’s hands began to shake wildly.

His mind recognized that there was still time to decide the outcome, but conversely, it meant that Avid himself had to create the variable.

And the inability to regain his composure at this moment was equivalent to the difference in time Lennok and Avid had experienced.

The difference in time between Avid Yonsen, who spent years as the head of the Execution Squad, purging Cartel’s enemies, and Lennok, who accumulated time by crossing the line of death against stronger opponents who pushed him beyond his limits.

What did it mean to directly contend with a wizard who had encountered numerous wonders beyond human perception, teetering on the boundary of life and death?

The answer was known not by Avid Yonsen’s mind, but by his body.

“Hoo, hoo…!!”

But even so, Avid was undoubtedly a Level 6 ranked wizard.

He was one of the veterans who had steadfastly held his position in the field for decades.

Regardless of his body’s inability to adapt to the current crisis, his mind diligently began calculating profits and losses, searching for an answer.

As he slightly slowed the pace of his offense and defense with his stiffened mana, he reached into his embrace from beyond the obscuring blood mist.

What his trembling fingertips grasped was a dagger the size of a wrist.

It was Merilda’s Fang, secretly passed down to him by his direct superior, Parden McQueen.

With Merlida’s fangs, which possessed mana resistance, he could instantly shatter Lennok’s shield and sink its teeth into his heart.

And to achieve that outcome, there were a few things Avid had to sacrifice.

Blood-type unique magic: Augmentation.

[Inverse Blood Gate]

Screech-screech-screech-screech-screech!!!

“Aghhh…!!”

The most powerful blood magic was sacrificial casting using one’s own blood.

It reversed the flow of blood throughout Avid’s body and simultaneously converted all potential residing in his emaciated form into kinetic energy.

For an ordinary wizard, it would be a forbidden art that would cause instant death by spraying blood from all seven orifices, but for a blood wizard like him, it was merely a trump card saved for moments of desperate need.

Along with a massive surge of power flowing throughout his body, he clutched the fang in his hand as if to break it.

The blood circulating in his head reversed, causing the centers responsible for fear to go haywire.

His trembling hands stabilized, and with an uncommonly calm mind, he took a step forward, and at the same time.

Avid’s body vanished from the spot.

Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!!

A momentary miracle performed by a wizard, seemingly unrelated to physical abilities.

Simultaneously, the giant swelled its entire body and began forming hand seals with its massive arms.

“Is he entrusting the proxy casting to a summon? I knew it was theoretically possible, but this is the first time I’m seeing it directly.”

Lennok, who was about to swing the lightning in his hand to blow away the giant’s arm, paused, confirming the sight.

“Indeed, there’s much to learn from high-level wizards…”

“Dieeeeee!!”

Chwa-aa-aa-ak!!

Avid, who burst out from the giant’s chest, swung Merilda’s Fang directly.

The hand seals made by the giant were merely a feint. The real move was a single stab by Avid, who had hidden inside the giant’s body at a speed invisible to Lennok’s eyes.

A single all-or-nothing gamble, attempted even by discarding all the cards he had stacked up until now.

There was no need to explain the depth of Avid’s desperation contained within it.

But the moment he recognized Avid bursting from within the giant’s body, Lennok’s mind reacted before his body.

The mana flowing from his hand instantly materialized under a single will, transforming into a new spell.

The chaotic common magic, unique magic, and alchemy within Lennok achieved compatibility, and a single concept transcending definitions descended from Lennok’s fingertips.

Crackle-crackle-crackle-crackle!!!

The azure flame that bloomed in Lennok’s hand burned with an impossible sound in reality.

Creation-type unique magic: Alchemy application.

Double Refinement.

[Azure Flame]

It was a crystallization of contradiction, forcibly hammered into reality for a brief moment, based on a law that could not originally exist in this world.

A forceful connection of two completely opposing spells—the heat-based [Construct Fire] and the ice-based [Ice Ring]—using the forbidden alchemy of World 1.0.

The concept of alchemy, originally used to combine two different substances, was now applied to combine and refine two branches of magic.

The miracle that Lennok, even when deploying his Domain with full power, could not have guaranteed success, now flowed so naturally from his rain-soaked fingertips.

As the impossible law was forcibly manifested in reality under Lennok’s talent, space itself distorted little by little.

It was cold fire.

Instead of consuming the air as fuel, rapidly increasing in size and burning everything around, the perpetually freezing azure flame struck Avid’s forehead.

Thwackkkkk!!!

Everything in that violently moving space suddenly stopped.

Silence fell upon the factory grounds, where ceaseless thunder had echoed.

“C-co…”

Avid’s desperate cry from his throat did not continue.

From the exact posture he burst out from the blood-made giant’s chest, to the massive body of the giant that had feigned forming hand seals.

All the vivid, living blood flow froze in place.

Thud-thud-thud!

Unable to withstand the cold air filling the space, raindrops pouring from the sky froze solid, turning into hail.

With the dull impact of the hail striking the vicinity, the slowly frozen blood giant slowly crumbled.

Ku-gu-gu-gung…!!

Like a statue shattering, fragments of the giant splintered as it slammed its head into the ground.

Avid, who had also fallen to the ground from the impact, finally looked up at Lennok weakly.

Lennok silently bent down and grasped the dagger in Avid’s hand.

Avid chuckled weakly.

“Heh, heh…”

“It was a good fight.”

Though it was no comfort to him, Lennok truly thought so.

“It’s not often I get a chance to fight someone of your caliber like this. I only realized that after climbing so high.”

Lennok knelt down, meeting Avid’s gaze.

He was a man who shamelessly used the corpses of others, and even the blood of his subordinates, yet

His magical talent was undeniably real.

For the first time in a long while, Lennok truly felt he had risked his life fighting a wizard of this level.

He had tested his strength against Grisha in the Autonomous Region once, but that was merely a part of proving his qualifications.

How long had it been since he faced a high-level wizard who desperately threw everything into a life-or-death situation?

Avid Yonsen’s application methods of Blood Magic and the various tricks he used to overcome the situation provided Lennok with more than enough inspiration.

Furthermore, it helped him ascertain exactly where he stood now.

“This much… connecting other systems… insane…”

Avid struggled to pull up the corners of his frozen lips.

At the same time, the spark of life rapidly faded from his eyes.

Nevertheless, Avid did not stop speaking.

Though he was a cruel villain, leaving no room for sympathy, he was also a wizard.

He knew there were still insights to be gained, even at the precipice of death.

“Th-that’s right… Already, reached… such a form… Heh heh, already…”

Lennok’s reflection no longer appeared in his blankly muttering eyes.

The chill of death enveloped his consciousness, guiding him into a moment unknown even to Lennok.

Lennok silently watched him, enduring the falling hail on his shoulders.