Chapter 401: Growth and Proof (2)

“Hmm…”

As always, for Lennok, smoking the hand-rolled tobacco isn’t merely for the sake of smoking.

It’s a process of processing herbs, painkillers, and stimulants, then inhaling the smoke to forcibly raise his near-bottom condition to something resembling a normal person’s.

It goes without saying how much time and capital Lennok invested to reduce side effects and increase efficacy during this process.

It had been a considerable time since he started making his own hand-rolled tobacco after gaining knowledge of Old World alchemy, but there were still incomplete aspects.

“Once this is over, I’ll have to refine it again.”

“[This is the 15th prototype, isn’t it? I hope number 15 smells better.]”

“That’s not something I can control.”

For Lennok, the most important things are the efficacy, duration, and side effects of the medicine, tailored to his condition and environment.

Smell, taste, and addictiveness are secondary concerns.

“[The smell of the current number 14 is too harmful to a brilliant spirit like me! Master has an obligation to improve the working environment for spirits!]”

Davi’s protest, as she pawed at Lennok inside his coat, made him burst into laughter.

“Well, it’s not impossible… I’ll try once I get back to the workshop.”

As his understanding of alchemy deepened through the research of magic systems, suppressing scents became something within his grasp.

Even if replacing the necessity or convenience of the hand-rolled tobacco itself was a distant goal, he was now beginning to reach the point where he could suppress the discomfort arising from it.

Of course, it was obvious that Davi would suffer through no small number of trials and errors in that process… but the Cyber-Domain spirit didn’t seem to have thought that far yet.

“Still, I put a lot of effort into adjusting it to have a herbal scent. Number 14, who’s listening, would be disappointed.”

“[I’m not.]”

At Davi’s firm reply, Lennok turned his head.

“What do you think? Doesn’t it smell quite fragrant for hand-rolled tobacco?”

In the central lobby on the 8th floor of the Dyke Corp. branch, engulfed in darkness.

Among the piles of documents in the office.

Just moments ago, where no presence was felt, a faint, whitish figure stood motionless.

“…I’ve smelled something similar in Kertritz.”

The figure sniffed, seemingly lost in thought for a moment, then opened its mouth not long after.

“When you open the mouths of those whose brains have melted from being saturated with drugs, they smelled like this. Do you know why?”

Thud.

As he took a step forward, the moonlight streaming through the window revealed the figure’s face.

The appearance of a middle-aged man with a bushy beard and dense tattoos covering his entire face.

Despite wearing a clean shirt and shoes, the crude bestiality emanating from his body could not be hidden.

The man looked up at Lennok and spoke with an expressionless face.

“It’s because when drug-soaked tongues and brain matter mix, there’s a bitter aroma. The funny thing is, many guys started taking drugs because of that smell, even after seeing what happened to those who died from it.”

“I see. Kertritz, huh…”

Lennok nodded, exhaling a puff of smoke.

“They say it’s one of Vulcan’s top three special detention facilities. I heard they repeatedly inflict severe abuse and oppression, making it hard even to breathe, so you must have managed to escape.”

“Well, what’s it called… I’m not in a position to say this, but dirty work always needs someone to handle it, doesn’t it?”

The man grinned.

“Even friends who envied The Triad for freely exploiting shady bastards never refused when the stage was set.”

“Oh ho…”

Only then did Lennok, who had descended from among the document piles, laugh along with the man.

“For someone claiming to be an escapee, you seem overly well-informed about the city’s affairs.”

“…”

“You must have escaped long before the Prohibition Edict was lifted. Can I interpret that as Achilles also gathering shady forces, evading the City Council’s eyes?”

Perhaps because it was a pointed remark.

Lennok watched the speechless man, then put the hand-rolled tobacco in his mouth and tilted his head.

“Now, if you’d just tell me your testimony about Madrich Onnion, it would be perfect.”

“…Try it if you can.”

The man raised a hand, tapping the dense tattoos on his face, and laughed.

“Before we completely demolish this building…!!”

Kwooosh!!

Immediately after, the ground beneath Lennok’s feet shattered, and something massive surged up from directly below.

With a violent impact, the dozens-of-stories-high skyscraper swayed violently, and the piles of documents stacked high in the 8th-floor lobby scattered in all directions, obscuring the view.

Amidst this, the giant, who had accurately grabbed Lennok’s leg, swung his arm, and the wizard’s body stretched long before being slammed down into the 7th-floor below.

Crrruuunch!!

A chilling roar, like bones shattering.

The tattooed man and the massive giant, who had descended to the 7th floor through the collapsed floor, simultaneously began to surround the landing spot.

“I was careful not to kill you, so how about you get up now?”

The giant, who let out a booming laugh, said with his arms crossed.

“There are some things I want to hear before I kill you. If you want to live a little longer, you’d do well to listen.”

He was completely shirtless on his upper body, and thick iron rods protruded between his elbows, forming a bizarre shape.

His appearance was as if the bones of both his arms had been replaced with some unknown metal. The magic flowing out from between them swirled slowly and solidly.

“Can’t you hear me?”

“…”

Lennok, lying sprawled in an unkempt posture, gave no answer.

The giant scratched his head and then turned his gaze towards the tattooed man standing beside him.

“Revi, did that wizard bastard already die? He looked awfully frail, like he wouldn’t last long.”

“No way.”

The man called Revi burst out laughing.

“He’s one of the top-ranked individuals based on his recent track record in the outer districts. His skill is definitely proven. There’s no way he’d die from just this.”

“Then why isn’t he getting up yet?”

“He’s obviously preparing something, like a wizard would.”

Revi smiled faintly, raising his head and looking around.

“Considering our objective, this is correct. Once we defeat the wizard known as Adamant Thunder head-on, Dyke Corp. will give up all resistance and hand over all their assets to us.”

“Hmm.”

“It’s enough just to shatter the will of the top executives who have been granted all authority over Dyke Corp. They must be watching this from somewhere right now.”

With those words, the tattoos covering the man’s face began to wriggle as if alive.

The tattoos slithered like snakes across his face, then writhed and disappeared down his neck, gathering at his fingertips.

The man formed a hand seal and spoke.

“We’ll finish this before the others come up. Prepare. All that’s left is to kill Adamant Thunder and prove our strength.”

It wasn’t that they were unaware of the fame and strength Adamant Thunder had accumulated in the underworld.

However, Van mostly showcased his power when dealing with powerful superhumans one-on-one.

Or in cases where the stage was thoroughly set for him.

Today, the two of them weren’t the only ones gathered here to destroy the Dyke Corp. branch.

Their comrades, who were still approaching from all sides of the branch, were not only confident in their individual skills but also adept at combined attacks.

Regardless of how unbelievable it was that a sorcerer specialized in one-on-one combat existed, it wouldn’t be too difficult to overwhelm Adamant Thunder with sheer numbers to kill him.

In the process, they could also showcase their increased range of activity and organizational power now that the Prohibition Edict had been lifted.

Kiiiiiririk!!

As Revi formed a hand seal, thousands of tattoo fragments gathered at his fingertips spread out in all directions, densely covering the room.

Revi, who had completed the spell without hesitation, immediately drew upon his magic and began to chant.

“Domain — activate.”

Kwooosh!!

The tattoos, which densely covered the walls, floor, and shattered ceiling, emitted a bright light, drawing colorless waves in all directions.

They completely overturned the surrounding environment.

An isolated island, dotted with black and white like an ink painting.

Around the island, jet-black ink pooled like a lake, constantly raising unknown patterns and characters on its surface.

“Ipmu Seondo-gyeong. It is the Domain manifestation of absolute commands, realizing the power contained in language and words to its fullest.”

Revi, who had firmly established his Domain by forming hand seals, brought his hand to his mouth and spoke.

“I don’t know how long you intend to watch our first move, but if we set the stage first, you’ll have no choice but to move.”

Revi grinned, whispering something through the hand he held to his mouth, and simultaneously, language materialized as characters began to rise in perfect order on the lake’s surface.

[Burn]

[Twist]

[Freeze]

[Pierce and shatter]

[Crush and burst]

[Roll and grind]

A series of intentions, transformed from language to words, and from words to commands, were contained within the ink-filled lake, then resurfaced.

Immediately after, they transformed into various forms of power befitting them, rushing towards the fallen Lennok.

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

A scene of destruction where flames and ice crumbled and burst like sand.

“Within Ipmu Seondo-gyeong, the output and volume of the linguistic commands I can use increase nearly tenfold.”

Revi, who was constantly whispering linguistic commands through his fingers, mumbled.

“Let’s see how long you can last?”

Kwooosh!!

Breaking through the bombardment Revi continuously poured out, the giant who had entered the Domain with him also began to move.

The sturdy iron cores embedded in his forearms writhed, emitting a strange humming sound, and in sync with that, the atmosphere intensely vibrated and spun as a whole.

As he fully grasped that vibration between his two fists and swung, a storm raged and a whirlwind began to form along the path his forearms carved.

Whoooosh!!

Revi, too, watched the scene and relentlessly materialized linguistic commands, wielding them like weapons.

“It’s useless to try not to react. Once your existence is specified within the Domain, there’s no avoiding it… Hmm?”

Revi, who was about to provide fire support in sync with the giant’s movements of grasping and swinging the air, casually tried to brush away the papers falling from above, but stopped.

He realized that the existence of the document piles, which had been scattering everywhere before the Domain was deployed, were objects that shouldn’t be there at this moment.

“Wait, why are these paper piles still in my Domain…?”

It was impossible for mere documents containing work instructions to penetrate Revi’s deployed Domain’s filter and enter it.

Unless all hundreds of papers scattering above Ipmu Seondo-gyeong right now had been subjected to a specific magical procedure.

And Revi’s complexion turned utterly pale for the first time when he confirmed that the characters written on the documents falling overhead were not simple work instructions, but complex barrier formations, unrecognizable in their original form.

“No, that’s impossible… To draw such a massive barrier formation on mere paper… That means, from the beginning…!!”

At that moment, hundreds of barrier formations drawn among the papers scattering from the distant sky, including the paper Revi held, simultaneously glowed.

Paaaat!!

Like paint dissolving in flowing water, the scenery of Ipmu Seondo-gyeong began to vanish as if washed away.

D-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d!!

The noise generated as the space dissolved and then restored to its original form.

“Kuh-haak…!!”

Revi staggered, spitting blood from his mouth from the shock and recoil of the entire Domain being canceled.

“Oh my, you should be careful.”

Someone caught Revi’s body from directly behind him.

A calm male voice in his ear.

Revi, realizing it was the voice of the wizard he had been talking to just moments before, trembled all over and turned his head.

Lennok, who had been lying prostrate and enduring the giant and Revi’s assault until just now, stood there with an unblemished complexion, holding Revi by both shoulders.

“For an escapee, your body is quite frail. No, for someone who escaped from prison, being malnourished would be normal, wouldn’t it?”

“You, you… this…”

“Deploying a Domain from the start was a bold first strike, not bad. Perhaps because you’re a criminal, your methods are quite fiery.”

Lennok smiled faintly, patting Revi’s neck.

“But when deploying a Domain, you should have checked the location and situation carefully. It’s not a powerful spell or weapon. If you unleash it without certainty of killing your opponent, you’re often likely to be countered like this.”

Kiiing!!

His neck burned, and the heat instantly spread through his spinal cord and brain.

“It’s a double-edged sword, so to speak. You learned how to hold the sword, but not when to wield it. Next time, a more careful choice will be necessary.”

Lennok let go of Revi’s shoulders, subtly stepping back, and mumbled.

“If there is a next time for you, that is.”

“No, don’t…!!”

Whooosh…!!

With Revi’s shriek, hot flames erupted from every opening on his face.

Immediately after, his head burst like a balloon.

Bwooong!!

Sticky blood and bodily fluids fell onto Lennok’s head, only to slide off as they were blocked by a shield.

Lennok stared blankly at the headless corpse that had collapsed, then casually shifted his gaze.

At his light movement, the giant, who had been dumbfoundedly watching the recent atrocity, stepped back.

Lennok took a step forward and mumbled.

“Let’s begin.”