Chapter 578: How to Use Space (2)
The deepest underground floor of the Cartel headquarters.
An iron barrier sealed off the entire vast underground cavern, turning it into a single colossal vault.
Amidst the darkness before the barrier, a dozen or so agents moved, desperately trying to create an opening against their foe.
“The power for the underground vault, where the server room is located, is being supplied through a backup power plant.”
A quiet voice resonated, piercing the agents’ ears.
[Hoo, hoo…!!]
[Haaah…!!]
Strained breaths echoed one after another through the comms network, then vanished with a final, desperate gasp.
“The reserve power here isn’t just drawing from stored electricity; they’re even unlawfully drawing power from external public facilities for their own use.”
Crackle!!
[Kuaaagh…!!]
“You could call it theft only possible for an underworld corporation of Cartel’s caliber.”
Every time a faint electric flash pulsed in the quiet darkness, all traces of movement around them vanished with it.
The agents, too, tried to gather their mana and will to respond to the attacks pouring in from all sides.
Yet, in almost every moment, a barrage of lightning and bullet flashes erupted a step ahead of their judgment, sweeping through the area and crushing their momentum.
[…Everyone, fall back. We await orders from above.]
A despondent-looking agent murmured, their words quietly flowing through the comms line.
[Further operations against that man are impossible.]
There was no reply, but all the agents silently agreed.
The master of the relentlessly flashing electrodes in this vast cavern.
The black-haired wizard perched on the steps before the colossal vault door.
Barely visible in the pervasive darkness, the searing light emanating from his eyes was starkly visible even from dozens of meters away.
And how powerfully and dangerously the mana blazed beyond that light.
The underground vault of the Cartel headquarters.
This single individual stood as an insurmountable barrier before the steel wall, said to guard the corporate conglomerate’s most sensitive classified documents.
Elite agents, who had undergone thousands of hours of combat training, could not breach this one wizard.
Far from closing in and striking with their weapons, all they could do was desperately evade the life-threatening electric charges, trying to buy time.
Around Lennok, dozens of bullets floated, defying the force of gravity.
Like a living breath, a faint electric field rippled outwards in all directions, completely blocking any approach.
“I thought I could take down a few more, but that old man has made this take longer than expected.”
In Lennok’s hand, as he nodded towards the agents, a thick electrical cable was gripped, its insulation stripped bare.
Fizzz…!!
Electricity erupted from the end of the cable and flowed across Lennok’s skin. Yet, instead of burning him, it spread outward like a surging tide into the air, using his body as a conduit.
At the same time, it revolved around him in a hemisphere, forming a colossal curtain of lightning centered on Lennok’s body.
[Electronic Field]
A starter technique for lightning magic, it covers a fairly wide area among common spells but isn’t particularly strong in terms of raw power, primarily serving a supportive role.
However, the colossal electric field flowing from Lennok’s fingertips and circling in the air had grown powerful enough to completely black out even an ordinary superhuman’s consciousness.
Lennok was deploying common magic on a massive scale with virtually no cost, utilizing the reserve power stockpiled at the Cartel headquarters.
In the process, he was manipulating the electricity in real-time to intercept any agents who approached the barrier.
“It really seems the Agents’ fundamental approach and internal atmosphere have changed a lot.”
Crack!
[Kuaaagh…!!]
The moment he caught a floating bullet and flicked it with his finger, the repelled bullet vanished from its spot.
Simultaneously, an agent who had been trying to sneak up on the vault behind Lennok collapsed, spraying blood from his abdomen.
Without even turning, Lennok crooked a finger, dragging the agent’s body to his feet, and murmured,
“There are a lot of faces I don’t recognize, and their operational formations and equipment are quite different from what I remember.”
[….]
During the Defense Force Rebellion Incident, Lennok had conducted mock training with the Agents’ field operatives.
The operational formations and equipment he remembered from that time had almost nothing in common with what he was seeing the agents use now.
“And the Agents I knew would never actively seek conflict with Cartel, not by launching such an aggressive operation. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Lennok asked, removing the visor of the agent lying at his feet.
“Ugh…!!”
As soon as he regained consciousness, the agent was unable to suppress the nausea that surged through him and simply emptied his stomach.
The lightning Lennok used was not optimized solely for burning and killing matter.
By manipulating the flow of lightning using Property Transformation, it could be manifested to interfere with the nervous system, causing confusion.
It could be used in various ways, such as suppressing its lethality and instead half-crushing a person’s senses, as was the case now.
“I don’t particularly cling to the position of external advisor… but I personally owe Pallard O’Con.”
“…”
“Those who’ve lost their wits will regain them after about three days. Take the injured and retreat.”
Lennok’s eyes gleamed coldly.
“Then, for the sake of personal ties, I’ll spare your life.”
“Cough, ugh…!!”
In the process of resolving the Defense Force Rebellion Incident, Lennok knew that Pallard O’Con had sacrificed a great deal for them.
Hadn’t Pallard repeatedly overstepped his authority to protect civilians, rather than for his own achievements, and borne all necessary expenses from his side?
As a result, he had allowed Lennok into Sector 6, one of the sealed zones, which enabled Lennok to meet Kaiser and learn another secret.
Holding his breath, the agent, who had finished vomiting, lifted his bleary eyes and managed a strained laugh.
“I’m afraid that’s difficult, Van.”
“…”
“Deputy Director O’Con is not in command of the Agents now. And Team Leader Marcia, who you were close to, is no longer with us either…”
Click!
The agent quickly drew a pistol from his hip, aimed the barrel at Lennok’s forehead, and said,
“Please move aside. Once we secure Cartel headquarters’ accounting ledgers, we will quietly withdraw.”
Was his vomiting in front of Lennok an intentional act to quickly shake off the after-effects of the lightning?
Even so, his recovery was excessively fast. He must undoubtedly be a superhuman of considerable skill and Hierarchy among them.
But Lennok, knowing this, shook his head as he looked at the muzzle aimed at his forehead.
“I’m not here to persuade or mediate with you.”
“…Huh?!”
Crackle…!!
A streak of lightning pierced through the agent’s back, burrowing into his spinal cord and immobilizing his entire body before he could pull the trigger.
Thud!!
“You seem to have been an Agent during the Defense Force incident too. If you have nothing more to say, go to sleep.”
Leaving the agent, who had collapsed again with a blank expression, Lennok lifted his gaze upwards.
A sight like a black, ink-spill well opening up in the vast underground cavern’s ceiling.
“I suppose I’ll have to speak with other executives, not you.”
Riiiip!!
As the Shadow Pathway opened wide, Lennok waited for something to fall from beyond it.
But no trace of anything appeared through the pathway.
The pathway itself was a diversion. In the fleeting moment Lennok realized his opponent had already arrived and shifted his senses,
A white-haired old man appeared like a ghost right beside Lennok and swung his sword with the speed of a light ray.
A slash so swift, the act of drawing the sword wasn’t even visible.
A fierce sword-arc, rising from his shoulder, carved a semicircle, surging as if to cleave Lennok’s body in two.
KWAANG!!!
A tremendous roar accompanied by a violent tremor that shook the entire underground cavern.
Cement dust, agitated by the impact, billowed outwards, simultaneously obscuring the vision of dozens.
The old man’s quiet laughter echoed from beyond the swaying dust.
“I wondered who could constantly emanate such powerful will-thought…”
Woooooong!!
From beyond the dust, the whirring of iron-plated wings could be heard.
Simultaneously, a violent engine sound completely blew away the pervasive dust, once again revealing the scene before the vault.
The old man, O’Neil, stood stopped, gripping a thin blade in one hand, while the wizard, a cigarette in his mouth, didn’t even glance back at him.
Iron-plated wings extended from Lennok’s back, directly blocking and halting the old man’s blade.
“That powerful thunder from earlier, this searing magic… You must be the wizard known as Adamant Thunder.”
“I haven’t seen your face before. Are you an Agent?”
Lennok lit his cigarette and flicked his gaze.
Click!
At the same time, the Iron-Plated Wings split into five segments, transforming into the shape of a colossal hand that framed the old man’s face.
“I understand you’re an external advisor to this special agency. Why are you interfering with our operation?”
“You seem to be a high-ranking official, but I don’t see why I should explain.”
Ignoring O’Neil’s words, Lennok simply nodded.
“I have my reasons for guarding this underground vault. Take your agents and retreat. Then I’ll stop here.”
“Hmm…”
“Are you not hearing me?”
“No, it’s just that, now that I see it for myself, I’m a bit conflicted… Give me a moment.”
The old man’s eyes, sharply observing Lennok through the parted wings, gleamed.
“I’ve been out of the field for too long, I can’t seem to recall the manual on how far I can go against an external advisor from the same organization.”
“Is that so?”
The moment Lennok smiled and raised his hand, a heavy engine ignition sound rumbled from within the wings.
At the same time, the base of the wings rapidly heated up, emitting hot steam.
Hiss!!
“Then I recommend you try this first before deciding.”
“…What?”
Gileon’s Iron-Plated Wings were a rare artifact possessing the ability to greatly amplify spatial interference.
Although Lennok had not acquired both wings and was only wearing it as a single wing, it was possible to borrow some of its abilities.
The Spatial Leap Unique Magic Projection currently in use was also a result of that.
Lennok was continuously employing new applications to intervene with space, utilizing the functions of the Iron-Plated Wings.
Crackle!
The scene before Lennok and the old man: space itself began to crack and split.
At the moment the old man’s expression slightly hardened at the sight of the empty air cracking as if a glass pane was shattering,
Shatter!
Lennok, with a light flick of his finger, simply shattered those cracks.