Chapter 251: White Lion (1)

Only then did Lennok realize his true intention, looking up at him with an incredulous expression.

“You’re insane. You’re planning to steal the furnace’s core flame?”

“No, I’ve prepared everything for this very moment.”

Gionis said firmly.

“All facilities near the furnace were built to control and manipulate its heat. In short, if I can save and transport just one ember, that’ll be enough.”

An assertion bordering on conviction. It was impossible to dissuade him now.

Noticing the ominous implication in his words, Lennok slowly rose from his seat.

“…So there was another reason you put Mauser in charge of furnace maintenance. You planned to use the artisan’s hands by pretending to be generous?”

If Mauser, who showed such deep interest in the furnace that he even entered the control room, saw something wrong with it, he would be very likely to intervene.

It all made sense if deliberately leaving Mauser alone was also a setup for this very moment.

“I’ve already damaged the furnace’s primary functions to some extent and disconnected its internal components enough for transport. If Mauser just reconnects the severed parts, I’ll be able to perfectly extract the furnace’s essence and escape.”

“…”

Was the furnace accident, which seemed like Gionis’s trickery, simultaneously a test of Lennok’s abilities and an event that occurred while detaching the furnace’s core flame for transport?

But the specific details of that matter weren’t important now.

Seeing Lennok fall silent, Gionis smiled faintly.

“Do you have any idea why I’m telling you all this long story?”

“…You want my cooperation.”

“Yes. I’ve been keeping an eye on your skills. Someone capable of using such high-level ice magic even in these unfavorable conditions would surely be helpful in transporting the furnace.”

What expression would Gionis make if the skill he so admired was something Lennok learned from a book titled [Ice Magic for Beginners]?

Lennok was suddenly seized by an inexplicable urge, but he quickly shook his head clear.

His answer had been decided even before hearing the offer.

“Let me be frank. It’s not that I don’t understand your feelings.”

Who could possibly fathom his feelings, betrayed by the master he trusted so completely, relegated to a dog guarding the magic tower?

Lennok understood why Gionis Verbane had gone to such lengths.

Perhaps this too was a future Lennok could have faced.

He knew he could have withered away as someone’s experiment or toy in an unknown magic tower, unable to even gauge his own future.

He still remembered what Grisha had said.

That all those entangled with Pandemonium would eventually either oppose them or join them.

This must be the power of Pandemonium and the reason they are so incredibly powerful and terrifying.

Proof that they could perfectly exploit the gaps in human hearts with their knowledge and power was right before Lennok’s eyes.

“But I have no desire to help you. Even if you’ve joined hands with Pandemonium, you’ve blown things up too much… No one will escape responsibility for this.”

Regardless of Gionis’s circumstances, many people unrelated to this incident had died.

The members of the Elder Council, the missing wizards of the magic tower, and the city’s delegation members, plus those caught in the furnace accident.

He had no desire to side with the magic tower, but he also didn’t feel like helping Gionis.

After all, who could guarantee that Lennok wouldn’t also be sacrificed by Gionis in the end?

“…”

Gionis fell silent.

“I don’t think you understood my words very well.”

After a long pause, he slowly inhaled and said.

“Or do you think there’s a reason for me to let you live?”

At the same time, flames erupted from beneath Lennok’s feet and engulfed him.

Whoooosh!!!

Ruthless execution. But there wasn’t a hint of wavering on Gionis’s face.

From the moment Lennok found this place, he had no choice left anyway.

Gionis had sought his cooperation only because he thought Lennok was a top-tier ice wizard, even knowing his true identity as Van.

For Gionis, who had unhesitatingly sacrificed people unrelated to his own circumstances, letting an opponent live was not an option.

Whoosh!!!

“It seems you’re the one who didn’t understand my answer.”

“…!!”

Lennok, walking out of the pillar of flame, lightly brushed off the heat and smiled.

“Such conditions won’t even buy me one of my legs.”

Immediately after, the shotgun in Lennok’s hand spat fire.

It accurately struck Gionis’s left shoulder. A circular shockwave swept over him, collapsing the tower’s thick wall.

Kwoooong!!!

Gionis, who blocked the impact with flames drawn from below his feet, took a step forward.

“I wonder if you’ll say that after I crush both your legs… but!”

The two wizards simultaneously channeled their mana and swung their hands.

[Chain Lightning]

[9-Linked Overlapping White Thunder]

[Exploding Flame Sphere]

[Blood Transformation Line]

Thump, thump, thump, thump!!!

Two streams of red and blue light intersected dozens of times in an instant, tearing apart the tower’s floor.

Fragments of the wall, severed and shattered by the intense firepower, crumbled like sand, instantly blasting through the nearby corridor and exploding in a chain reaction.

Lennok’s thrown lightning spheres exploded in mid-air, unleashing dazzling light, and Gionis’s downward-swung disk of flame grew endlessly, turning the surroundings into an inferno.

In the fleeting moment their breaths intertwined.

The mana channeled by the two wizards transformed into more than a dozen exchanges of offense and defense, blooming into a violet flower in the air.

Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!!!

“…!!”

Amidst the fierce, continuous flashes that almost blinded him.

However, Lennok did not miss the moment Gionis’s expression subtly warped.

Gionis must have guessed the level of Lennok’s combat ability and strategic thinking from their previous spar.

But as soon as the initiative was snatched away in an all-out first strike, he became agitated as suspicion turned into certainty.

Conversely, Lennok was faintly impressed by Gionis’s initial response.

‘It seems the rumor about him having operated on the central front wasn’t baseless.’

As soon as Lennok channeled mana, he indiscriminately sprayed it in all directions.

He deliberately destroyed the research wing’s floor, moving the stage to the conference room and expanding the battlefield.

At first glance, it seemed like a pointless waste of mana, but Lennok guessed that this was his own attempt to seize the initiative in the initial exchange.

It was proof that he recognized wizard duels as a struggle for initiative, with clear offense, defense, and mind games.

As Lennok quickly cleared the initial exchange, the battle continued.

Unlike Lennok, who barely moved from his starting position, Gionis furiously ran down the corridor with both legs, increasing the distance from Lennok.

At the same time, he traced a line on the floor with one finger, channeling mana to form a hand seal, instantly transforming it into a powerful spell.

[Red Imposter Army]

Kwa-ga-ga-ga-ga!!!

Following the long line of mana drawn on the floor, a red fissure opened in the middle of the corridor, and soldiers engulfed in flames rose from within.

Witnessing that unique summoning magic, Lennok unknowingly grinned.

“Oho.”

Not just a straightforward exchange of firepower, but summoning vanguards to change the nature of the battlefield once more?

Setting aside his wizardly pride, his stance was to thoroughly engage in his specialty.

This was a practical combat style utterly unexpected from a wizard from a magic tower.

To possess Blaiver Tower’s ancient unique magic, yet fight like a worldly wizard who grew up on the battlefield.

How could one be so similar to Lennok, a sorcerer who grew up in the world of conflict?

“Go!”

A group of figures instantly filled the wide corridor, moving towards Lennok.

They rushed disorderly towards Lennok, following Gionis’s fingertip.

[Grrrraaaah!!]

Their bodies, burning with super-heated flames, charged directly at Lennok, forcing a messy close-quarters fight.

It wasn’t just about blocking the flames; the scorching heat burned all the air in the corridor, hindering breathing.

Lennok snickered and stomped one foot forward.

Kwooong!!

[Sinkhole]

At that moment, the corridor floor collapsed heavily, forming a gigantic hole, and the soldiers charging at Lennok fell helplessly to the floor below.

“…!!”

Gionis, who had been chanting a spell behind the soldiers, flinched.

Basically, the internal structure of a magic tower uses mana-blocking materials to prevent magical interference from wizards.

While destruction by exceeding a limit is unavoidable, wizards are forbidden from artificially manipulating the tower’s structure.

Despite this, Lennok casually opened a hole, instantly clearing the corridor and creating space between the two.

If he had shattered the floor with impact, the backlash would have caused the soldiers’ bodies to explode, instantly filling the corridor with massive flames.

Did that wizard think even that far, digging a hole to the floor below?

The internal conflict lasted but a moment.

Hesitating meant losing the initiative.

Putting aside his specific questions, he finished chanting the spell, and a vivid red light began to form in his hand.

Fire Element Unique Magic

Nature Transformation Emission Manifestation

[Red Connection]

Kwaaaaah!!!

The red flash that emerged from Gionis’s hand spun violently in place.

Five branched streams of fire-elemental mana rotated in different directions, burning with immense heat and erupting in all directions.

A vivid red beam of light leaking from between the red spheres rotated once in place, slicing through everything at eye level, and the lower floor of the tower, unable to withstand the impact, completely collapsed.

Kwoooong!!

“…Is he trying to push through with raw firepower rather than precise exchanges?”

Instead of losing balance to the unexpected power, Lennok, who used mana-ropes to grab the surrounding walls and escape outside the tower, muttered.

The spell Gionis just used had enough power to completely obliterate the surroundings if anything went wrong.

To be precise, it was an all-directional firepower projection spell that operated on a similar principle to Lennok’s unique nature transformation magic, [Extreme Incineration], which he used in his decisive battle with the black wizard Craig Tillian.

Even if he desperately wanted to kill Lennok, he must know the implications of casting such a powerful spell inside a magic tower with stacked buildings.

With this level of impact, it wouldn’t be strange if the current situation reached Evelyn, who was outside the tower.

If Evelyn came rushing to help Lennok right now, their plan to steal the entire furnace would become useless.

But Gionis continued to indiscriminately cast powerful spells, as if such repercussions didn’t concern him at all.

“He’s not even trying to hide it. Was this the plan from the beginning?”

“It was only a matter of time once the Elder Council was neutralized.”

He quickly formed hand seals with both hands and replied.

“Even if the other branches of the magic tower don’t interfere with each other, problems will arise if regular reports stop. I left those old geezers conscious until the very last moment to smooth things over… but that’s over now.”

“…”

“From now on, I have no choice but to use all my hidden cards.”

All members of the Elder Council were Commander Wizards of level 6 or higher.

Furthermore, they were old monsters who had accumulated decades of experience managing the magic tower.

There was no need to speculate on how meticulous and cunning Gionis’s skill was to seize the consciousness of such experienced wizards and merely keep them alive.

Moreover, what about his resolve, to so casually discard the results of such a carefully constructed plan?

‘A dangerous man.’

He was an opponent who thoroughly prioritized his objectives and didn’t hesitate to cut corners to achieve what was most important.

He was ready to abandon anything solely for the purpose of stealing the furnace and escaping.

If he concluded that killing Lennok was more important than stealing the furnace, he would not hesitate to throw the furnace itself as bait for that purpose.

Knowing this, Lennok could not put his life on the line in the immediate battle.

‘It’s hard to make a judgment without hearing Evelyn’s opinion…’

Lennok was only facing this situation out of interest in Blaiver Tower and his deal with Evelyn.

The one who had to take responsibility for and handle all this was Evelyn Marcia, not him.

Protecting the furnace and Mauser, saving the lives of the unconscious Elder Council, and killing Gionis right here.

What was the first thing to do, what was the highest priority goal?

Unlike Lennok, Gionis had finished his calculations long ago.

Above all, Lennok’s current condition was not at a level where he could guarantee victory against Gionis.

Furthermore, comparing McQueen, who was clearly on the decline among 7th-level Archmages, with Gionis, who had accumulated experience on the battlefield, was absurd.

And considering his confident attitude, he surely had a hidden card—

“I won’t let you escape. I told you, didn’t I?”

While Lennok was deep in thought, Gionis smiled as if he had seen right through him.

“I wasn’t the one who consumed those old geezers from the Elder Council.”

As Gionis grinned cruelly, the tower shaking behind Lennok collapsed, and a dazzling white flash erupted from within.

Kwaaaang!!

Emerging through the scattered, crumbling rocks was a massive figure with an impressive mane and gleaming teeth.

Its ferocious, murderous eyes, like those of a beast, accurately pinpointed the wizard’s form.

“Hahahahahaha!!!!”

A giant over 3 meters tall. A massive double-bladed axe, a combination of beastly physique and human technology, struck the spot where Lennok had been.

Pa-aaaaang!!

A massive shockwave erupted in mid-air, instantly blowing away the scattered lightning bolts.

A fierce wind burst from behind Lennok, instantly carving away the stone slabs.

In a split second, Lennok, who had crisscrossed shields to deflect the White Lion’s axe and bound it with pillars of ice, muttered.

“Serial killer, cannibal lion… Yes. If a member of Pandemonium was hiding here, I thought it would be you.”

The scent of mana furiously emanating from its entire body was hot.

The White Lion’s mana, smelling strongly of burning, seeped through its thick mane, proving the number of people it had devoured.

“Were you strengthening yourself by devouring the Elder Council members and others?”

“What’s it to you, you bastard?”

The White Lion growled, strongly pulling the axe bound by thick ice pillars.

Blood that wasn’t its own dripped from its mouth, and its hot breath brushed Lennok’s cheek.

“I’ve heard a lot about you too. You’re the kid who’s got the Underworld King’s old man’s attention, aren’t you?”

“…”

“Let’s see how stiff your neck is already, you worm!!!!!”