Chapter 698: The Witch and the Magic Tower (12)
As Lennok said, the Cartel’s work efficiency was incredibly swift.
Less than half a day after the list of executives was submitted and their presence requested, they were summoned and delivered to Jenny’s bar in District 49.
“Well, Mr. Van. Long time no see.”
A slender young man with bronze skin and white hair bowed deeply.
His light attire of a thin shirt and jeans made him look more like a passing university student than a Cartel executive.
Lennok pushed a glass of liquor towards the young man and replied, “It’s been a while since the Agent incident.”
“Yes, yes. I owe you for that time.”
The young man held Lennok’s hand with both of his, accepting the handshake courteously.
His excessively polite and respectful demeanor made others standing nearby look at him with curiosity.
“…For a Cartel executive, he’s quite humble.”
“Yes, he is.”
At Killeyan’s words, the young man awkwardly scratched his head.
“I’m merely an outsider who was scouted and brought in, after all. To be honest, I don’t really understand the authority of an executive.”
Jenny tilted her head at his strangely deflated tone.
“Olivera wouldn’t particularly like that kind of personality… Did he completely hand over the talent acquisition department to Virgil?”
“Oh, if you put it that way, I’m a little hurt.”
Even as he spoke, the young man bowed deeply again.
“My name is Anghel, everyone. I’m in charge of the Cartel’s communications business unit. Please treat me well.”
“…”
Anghel, the 4th Executive of the Cartel.
He was a newly recruited talent after an executive position became vacant, and also a cryokinetic superhuman specialized in freezing bodily fluids and moisture.
He was the one who arrived late during Director Greta Witherhill’s raid on the Cartel’s headquarters and protected the underground vault.
His wide-area ability, which spread an enormous range of frost mist, remained vividly in Lennok’s memory.
“You seem very motivated. Are you interested in this task?”
“Of course. If Deadrise succeeds in launching a satellite, they’ll attract enormous capital in the communications sector.”
Anghel nodded quickly.
“Then the performance of my communications business unit will plummet, and I might even be kicked out of my executive position.”
Lennok chuckled at the sly reply.
“It seems you’re quite fond of your executive role.”
“While I do have to diligently approve troublesome documents, where else can you find such a comfortable position?”
Anghel replied cheerfully.
“Well, I can’t stay here forever, but I’ll cling on like a leech as hard as I can for as long as possible—”
“Why do you keep spouting useless nonsense?”
At that moment, a small girl appeared behind Anghel and struck the back of his head with all her might.
Thwack!
The force was so strong that Anghel’s head folded in half on the spot and slammed into the bar floor.
A young girl with striking fluorescent hair.
“The Chairman finally allowed you to do field work, and this is what you say to a cooperating firm?”
But the eyes staring at Anghel, convulsing on the floor, were filled with a contempt that didn’t match her appearance.
“If you keep dragging the company’s prestige through the mud, I’ll crush your head along with it. Understand?”
“Ugh, Merlida… you don’t have to be so harsh.”
Anghel coughed out bluish frost instead of blood and muttered, “I just wanted to get along well with the external director.”
“…Well, that’s true.”
The girl called Merlida seemed to ponder his words for a moment, then sharply turned her gaze to Lennok.
She rummaged through her pocket and then pulled something out, tossing it to Lennok.
“Hey, Adamant Thunder. The item you requested from the Chairman. I got it.”
“Thank you for your trouble.”
An old, rolled-up document in scroll form.
An ancient-looking seal, melted like candle wax, was stamped on the paper.
As Lennok immediately unrolled it to check its contents, the girl nodded, arms crossed.
“So, let’s do well this time. I never thought you’d call for me.”
Merlida, the 3rd Executive of the Cartel.
Unlike Anghel, she had been an executive since the Cartel’s early days. Her true form wasn’t human, but a massive white-furred wolf.
A therianthrope, heavily inheriting the blood of phantom beasts rather than humans. Her monstrous strength and demeanor, unfitting for her appearance, must be a strong influence from her true form.
Despite having met a long time ago, Lennok had almost no direct interactions with her.
However, after checking the contents of the scroll, Lennok shook his head at Merlida’s words.
“No. I’m sorry, but I don’t recall calling for you.”
“…What?”
Merlida’s expression twisted.
Lennok ignored her reaction and explained, “I did call for Anghel, but I requested another executive who was proficient in weapon techniques. It seems there was a misunderstanding.”
Since both Lennok and Tatiana were magic-users, powerful front-line support was sufficient.
Anghel was called because his large-scale cryokinetic abilities were useful in many ways.
Therefore, he had wanted another executive to provide solid front-line defense, but he certainly hadn’t expected Merlida.
“While the power and abilities of a phantom beast are flawless, you’re unsuitable as a front-liner.”
“No, I’m pretty sure I was called correctly.”
“Why?”
Merlida snorted confidently, arms crossed.
“Because among the executives, I’m the most proficient in weapon techniques!!”
“…”
“I’m the one who trains the execution squad in armed combat.”
“For someone like that, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wield a weapon.”
Lennok’s eyes narrowed.
“I only remember you rampaging in wolf form and chewing on humans. Am I mistaken?”
“Th-that’s just because it’s easier against small fry!”
Merlida flinched, as if pricked, and retorted.
She quickly glanced around and argued in a rapid tone, “And I don’t eat humans. That’s just something I say to scare the weaklings.”
“Hmm…”
“It’s humans who betray and offer up their own kind, not powerful beings. In fact, the stronger a being is, the less likely they are to do that.”
Seeing Lennok’s continued suspicion, Merlida spoke again with a hint of irritation.
“There’s hardly any fat or flesh, just a lot of bones! It’s not worth eating! Haven’t you heard that sharks don’t like humans as prey?”
“…”
“Oh, really?”
Even Jenny muttered in surprise, searching on her laptop as if hearing it for the first time.
“It’s true. There’s a post on the deep web written by a half-breed ancient shark. It seems they don’t prefer humans as prey from the start.”
Jenny nodded.
“That’s good. Our tuna harvest was a bit constrained by the shark habitats, so now we can expand our fishing grounds.”
“…”
So her sudden interest was because it involved an issue hindering tuna harvesting.
In the sudden awkward silence, Lennok cleared his throat softly.
“Alright. So you haven’t been eating humans lately. I understand.”
“I don’t eat them at all!”
Merlida stomped her foot on the bar in annoyance, making the display case rattle from the impact.
While Jordan tidied the shelves in surprise, Lennok nodded.
“Alright. Then, may I test you?”
“Test? Teeeest?”
Merlida drew out her words, asking, “You’re going to test me!”
“The reason I wanted a superhuman proficient in weapon techniques wasn’t simply to get a front-liner for the operation.”
Lennok said, nodding his head.
“I want to test something against a warrior skilled in armaments for the capture of Peshia Grisbern. Will you cooperate?”
The training ground located behind the distribution company’s building.
A place where mercenaries and soldiers affiliated with the company occasionally came to focus on their personal training.
The training ground, lined with various exercise equipment, weapons, and targets for shooting practice, was uncharacteristically quiet.
The reason why the training ground, which would normally be bustling with dozens of people, was quiet for a change.
Aside from the security personnel on duty, the rest were out at sea, following Jenny’s ambition.
Lennok looked at the scroll Merlida had given him and pointed to the training ground wall.
“Here.”
Lennok wrapped a mana thread around a spear hanging on the training ground wall and tossed it to Merlida, who had followed him out.
“Let’s start with a polearm. If you don’t like it, you’re welcome to use any weapon you desire.”
“So, you want me to attack you with this?”
Merlida asked, her face bored, as she took hold of the spear shaft.
The sight of the small girl holding a spear shaft much taller than herself looked awkward, but conversely, Merlida’s center of gravity didn’t waver in the slightest.
Proof that she was extremely adept at holding such weapons and maintaining balance.
Lennok nodded, his gaze still fixed on the scroll.
“You have a two-minute limit. You can start whenever you wish. The location will be confined to this training ground. Oh, and…”
Lennok looked at Tatiana, Jenny, Anghel, and Killeyan, who were watching them from the far end of the training ground, and said, “Don’t cause any damage to the surroundings. This is just training. Understood?”
“Hey, you keep looking at me like I’m some thoughtless beast…”
Merlida grumbled. The moment she stood diagonally, holding the spear shaft, her eyes turned chillingly cold.
“I’ve lived a hundred years longer than you, kid. Just because you have some talent, you think non-humans are invisible to you?”
“…”
“I don’t know what kind of confidence makes you want to experiment with close-quarters combat, but… fine.”
The moment Merlida lowered her stance, gripping the long spear shaft, a heavy pressure erupted from her body.
Clang!
The spear shaft in the girl’s hand seemed to bend deeply, then sprang back from where it was stuck in the training ground floor.
Merlida’s body shot forward like a bullet, propelled by the elasticity that had pushed the ground and the spear’s durability to their limits.
Whoosh!
At the instant the deeply bent spear snapped straight, her eyes gleamed right before him.
Her fluorescent hair whipped around, drawing an eerie crescent moon beneath her feet.
She swept the spear diagonally upwards under Lennok’s chin, and a circular shockwave spread above his head like a halo.
Bang!
At that perfect preemptive strike, the faces of the other onlookers turned serious.
“It seems to have landed cleanly.”
“He doesn’t seem to have used a shield either. What is he thinking…”
“No, hasn’t the fight already ended?”
An attack that crept like a snake beneath the ground, instantly passing through the abdomen, flank, and chest, then striking upwards at the chin, exploding all its momentum at the crown of the head.
If properly hit, it was a powerful attack capable of rupturing internal organs and severing blood vessels in the brain.
It wouldn’t be strange if black blood were now gushing from Lennok’s orifices.
But Lennok’s eyes, tilted upwards, were neither rolled back nor bloodshot.
Instead, they gleamed with an unknown golden light, focusing precisely on Merlida, who was surging through the air.
Merlida’s brow twitched as she stared at Lennok with an expressionless face.
“…He endured it? No, did he deflect it?”
If Lennok had deflected Merlida’s attack, the shockwave from the spear shaft wouldn’t have blossomed above Lennok’s head.
But conversely, if he had endured it head-on, it was also true that this wizard’s body didn’t seem strong enough.
Even if she wanted to ignore it and continue her attack, it would be useless if she couldn’t grasp the principle of how her opponent was reacting.
As Merlida carefully observed Lennok’s appearance in that subtle gap of understanding, he slowly turned his head and spoke.
“1 minute, 40 seconds.”
“What?”
“You used 20 seconds for that one attack. Do more.”
“…”
“If you try to figure out what I’m doing, you’ll just keep wasting time on useless contemplation.”
Lennok smiled bitterly, stroking the scroll in his hand.
“I’m not even sure if this training will succeed yet.”
At his honest confession, the expressions of the group watching the training turned blank. Merlida, too, waved her spear shaft around as if it didn’t please her, asking,
“…Hey, is that something a wizard like you should be saying?”
“Isn’t that why we’re facing each other like this, to find out?”
“…”
Did she realize that Lennok was quite desperate for this training?
Merlida’s eyes changed slightly, and she stomped her foot, her smile gone.
“…Fine.”
Thump!
Immediately after, the training ground floor shook violently, and the polearms hanging on the walls clattered down.
Dozens of weapons gathered in a circle around where Merlida stood.
Clang!
She stepped on the tip of a long halberd to raise it, then gripped both the spear shaft and the halberd with both hands.
“I’ll do this with the intent to kill, so try to block me properly!”
Merlida, gripping two long spears unfitting for her small stature, twisted her body sideways and spun.
Using the halberd and spear shaft as supports, she struck the ground and charged forward with the recoil.
Kagagagak!!!
She instantly approached Lennok, unleashing a storm of spinning spear tips.
“No.”
But even as Merlida charged towards him, Lennok slowly raised one hand.
“I won’t be the one blocking.”
“What?”
Olivera’s scroll, which Merlida herself had delivered to Lennok.
Lennok quickly scanned the contents of the scroll and began to form intricate hand signs with both hands.
His fingers and wrists bent at complex angles, interlocking perfectly without an inch of error, a precise incantation.
At the same time, the mana rotating behind Lennok’s back strangely bent and began to emit a bright glow.
Fwoosh…!!
In an instant, a colossal hemispherical barrier of light surrounded Merlida, shining and rotating.
Massive lines of light connected, with each light source becoming a focal point for constructing the barrier.
A high-tier sealing magic that layered hundreds of focal points within the barrier to simultaneously trap different spatial domains.
Light-Attribute Unique Magic.
Great Light-Bearing Grand Seal.
[Unfolding Wheel of Holy Construction (展侖築聖)]
Recognizing the true nature of the magic, Merlida shrieked with a horrified expression.
“How do you know the Chairman’s magic…!!!”
KWA-ANG!!!