Chapter 342: Theodore (3)
“Are you familiar with eschatology?”
Oliver approached Theodore and asked directly.
Instead of answering, Theodore redirected his lightning attack toward Oliver.
A massive wave of lightning, formed from the fusion of dozens of electric currents, hurtled fiercely toward Oliver. In response, Oliver defended himself using blood magic.
[Blood Curtain]
[Voracity]
Using the blood summoned by his Blood Balloon and the blood wings attached to his back, Oliver formed a large barrier, enhancing it with Voracity, a black magic technique. This created countless gaping mouths across the blood curtain.
The ghastly mouths made unsettling noises as they absorbed the lightning, allowing the blood curtain to completely take in the energy.
[Blood Blade]
Oliver then wrapped the blood, now infused with lightning, around his arm and slashed outward, sending countless bat-shaped blades flying, crashing into the surrounding structures.
Even though the blood-infused bats were only slightly larger than the palm of a hand, they were powerful enough to emit blinding sparks, instantly collapsing the structures Theodore had created.
As a result, the intricate globe-like structure, held together by what seemed to be threads, fell apart, and Theodore's lightning magic dissipated. Oliver safely landed on the now-secured ground.
The moment he touched down, Oliver seized control of the building again, reconstructing the terrain to make his position stable while destabilizing Theodore's footing.
Next, he directed the blood-infused bats, which were flying through the air, to attack Theodore from all sides.
The situation had completely reversed from earlier.
Seeing the blood-infused bats approaching from every direction, Theodore released a surge of magic from his body, quickly forming multiple magic circles. Using these as barrels, he unleashed a barrage of magical bullets in every direction.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat—!
With a deafening sound, the magical bullets neutralized the swarm of blood-infused bats, and Theodore swiftly turned his magic circles toward Oliver.
“Minions.”
Though Oliver was impressed by Theodore's magic, he immediately countered.
Responding to Oliver's call, the minions appeared, their movements swift and agile as they flew toward the magic circles, spitting out bullets filled with hate.
Thwip! Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!
The minions' bullets shattered Theodore’s magic circles like glass, and Oliver, trusting his Black Suit, abandoned defense and stretched out his fingers to intensify the firepower.
[Hate Bullet]
His prediction was spot on.
The minions, gliding smoothly as if swimming through the air, continued spitting out bullets filled with hate from every direction. Meanwhile, Oliver fired his own Hate Bullets in rapid succession, like a machine gun. Theodore's magic circles were all destroyed before they could even mount a proper attack.
Oliver, pressing the advantage, launched an attack directly at Theodore.
“Hmph...”
Despite the complete destruction of his magic circles, Theodore remained unfazed. He immediately drew out a vast amount of magic power and swung it like a whip.
The force was so immense and fast that it crushed the minions as easily as swatting flies, and then flew directly toward Oliver.
Oliver twisted the structure of the building using Bless, creating multiple layers of barriers, but this proved to be a poor choice.
In the brief moment that Theodore swung his magic whip, he altered its formula, causing it to explode.
“Oh, shi—”
BOOM!!!!
Before Oliver could even finish his sentence, the magic whip detonated, obliterating the upper floors of the building in one powerful blast.
It was a simple yet overwhelmingly powerful strike.
Oliver, who had chosen to block rather than evade, was caught up in the explosion and plummeted toward the lower levels of the building.
The explosion was so forceful that, despite the layers of walls he had created, his Black Suit cracked in several places, and the impact seeped through to his body.
Suddenly, he recalled his past battle with Merlin and something Merlin had said:
“Dodging instead of blocking—that was a wise decision.”
It seemed Oliver had made a poor judgment this time.
‘Why am I suddenly thinking of the old man...? Does that mean he's just as strong as him?’
Honestly, Oliver couldn't tell.
At the time, Merlin had been such a high-level existence that Oliver hadn’t even been able to assess him. If Merlin hadn’t held back, Oliver wouldn't have lasted even a few seconds before losing his head.
‘Then how did I manage to satisfy him?’
Dazed by the aftershock of the explosion, Oliver's thoughts began to blur. Fortunately, the dizziness soon subsided, and his memories started to return.
‘Filgaret...’
As soon as his mind cleared, Oliver restored his Black Suit and used the emotion of obsession to target the outer wall of the building, clinging to it.
Thankfully, he hadn’t lost consciousness for long, and Oliver was able to stop his fall halfway down the building.
“Zenon...?”
A familiar voice reached his ears. As Oliver peered through the damaged outer wall of the building, he locked eyes with Philip, who was holding two blood-stained swords.
Surrounding him were countless corpses, presumably those of life magic practitioners.
“...Hello, Major General.”
“I'm not exactly fine, but hello. What happened? There was a massive explosion upstairs.”
Just as Oliver was about to explain, an immense magical presence condensed above the building and descended rapidly.
Oliver shouted, “Get out of the way!”
Philip didn’t understand at first, but in that split second, he sensed the approaching presence and immediately conjured a massive magic barrier.
However, just like Oliver, this was the wrong decision. He should have dodged instead of blocking.
BOOM!
Theodore, using Gaia Sub-School's earth magic, descended through the building as if phasing through it and stomped on Philip.
The powerful magic barrier Philip had created shattered in an instant, and he plummeted downward with the crumbling floor beneath him.
Boom! Boom! Boom! The resounding crashes were truly shocking. It was merely a kick, but the destructive force behind it was terrifying.
The sheer amount of magic power in Theodore's body, combined with his exceptional physique, was what made it so deadly.
Even a single wrong hit would be incredibly dangerous...
[Revive]
Oliver extracted life force and revived the corpses Philip had killed. But he didn’t stop there.
[Corpse Mouth]
Oliver fused the bodies of the slain life magic practitioners, creating a massive mouth to devour Theodore.
Squelch...! Crunch!
The grotesque mouth, made of conjoined bodies, with countless layers of gums, human teeth, ribs, and spinal bones, swallowed Theodore whole.
When Oliver clenched his fist, the monstrous mouth twisted and chewed its contents, but Oliver felt nothing in return.
This was evidence that Theodore had defended himself without difficulty.
Still, Oliver didn’t lose hope. He manipulated the building, using Bless to lift both himself and Theodore to the uppermost floor.
As if each brick in the building had a will of its own, the structure moved, raising Oliver and Theodore toward the sky. Without stopping, Oliver increased the output of Bless, lifting the ground beneath Theodore into the air.
In this state, Oliver activated his black magic.
[Corpse Bomb]
Using the bodies of dozens of mages and a massive amount of life force as fuel, Oliver detonated the corpses in midair.
BOOM——!!!
The sheer amount of material invested in this attack made it one of the most powerful pieces of black magic Oliver had ever used.
The explosion shook the fog surrounding the area, and the battered building trembled as though it might collapse.
To prevent that, Oliver used Bless to reinforce the building, holding it together as he looked up at the sky where the explosion had occurred.
Considering the scale of the blast, Oliver thought that even a Grandmaster wouldn’t come out of it unscathed... but it seemed that was just wishful thinking.
“Oh, no...”
Oliver murmured, seeing Theodore floating in the air, completely unharmed by the massive explosion.
With an incomprehensible amount of magic power radiating from his body, Theodore hovered above the battlefield.
“You keep using petty tricks.”
“I put quite a bit of thought into that attack,” Oliver responded.
He hadn’t expected to kill him, but he had at least hoped to break an arm or a leg... yet Theodore remained intact. Once again, Merlin came to mind.
It was no surprise, as Theodore was the first opponent since Merlin to make Oliver feel this way.
Whether it was Kel's freedom fighter Wallace, military mage Kevin, the flesh chef’s disciple, the anti-development committee, Bathory, or Seamus—no matter how powerful his past adversaries had been, they had all sustained some kind of damage. With effort, Oliver had felt he could take them on.
But Theodore was on a different level. None of Oliver's attacks had landed properly.
However, there was a subtle difference compared to Merlin.
Whereas Merlin had skillfully dismantled Oliver's attacks with an unfathomable level of control and finesse, Theodore used his overwhelming physical body and boundless magic power to crush everything in his path.
It was like the difference between striking air and striking a mountain...
‘Perhaps the latter is slightly easier to deal with,’ Oliver mused.
He began contemplating how to confront such immense strength and magic power. If he could fight with firepower on par with Theodore’s, maybe there was a chance...
“Are you going to continue holding back your true strength?” Theodore, still floating in midair, suddenly asked. A spark of curiosity flickered in his eyes as he observed Oliver.
“I’m not sure what you mean by ‘true strength,’ but yes, I believe I am,” Oliver replied.
Theodore smiled outwardly, but inside, anger flared. Magic power and emotions surged from his body.
“Then I’ll help you reveal it. You’re concerned about the humans below, aren’t you?”
A surge of malicious intent accompanied Theodore’s words.
Oliver instinctively glanced down and saw the rescued mages and Terrence helping to evacuate them.
Theodore wasn’t only targeting Oliver—he intended to wipe them all out.
Rumble, rumble, rumble...!!
The vast amount of magic power and rage Theodore exuded began to merge with the thick mist around them, forming artificial clouds in the sky. Dark lightning flickered like serpents between the clouds.
A palpable tension spread across the battlefield below. Oliver, too, tensed as he watched the ominous development unfold.
Compared to the Lightning Strike Oliver had used to attack the druids’ stronghold, Theodore's attack was on a completely different scale—at least twice as powerful. The immense magic power contained within Theodore made this possible.
Oliver pondered his options.
‘Should I dodge? Can I dodge? And if I do, what happens to those below?’
Oliver felt a twinge of regret. He had pushed things too far, and now it seemed he had no choice. But then, Kevin’s face flashed in his mind again.
Even when facing those he hated, he couldn’t help but feel pity and compassion... Oliver didn’t fully understand why, but thinking of Kevin gave him the resolve to take a risk.
‘There’s nowhere to dodge anyway.’
Just as Oliver solidified his decision, Theodore, still high in the sky, taunted him.
“Have you made up your mind? Then behold the answer!”
With those words, Theodore lowered his hand, and an intense rain of Lightning Strikes descended upon the battlefield.
“I understand,” Oliver replied calmly, clasping his hands together and merging his emotions, magic power, and life force to create an artificial soul.
This was the first time since his battle with Bathory that Oliver had used this technique.
He had grown stronger since then, and whereas his artificial souls had once been no larger than a pea, he now created one the size of a pebble. Emboldened by this, Oliver infused his Black Suit with the artificial soul, enhancing it further, and simultaneously activated both black magic and magic power.
[Targeting]
[Lightning Rod]
Oliver formed a lightning rod to draw all the Lightning Strikes to himself, while also casting Targeting on each of the incoming bolts, ensuring they would converge on him.
The sight shocked everyone—Theodore in the sky and the mages below.
But soon, they were even more astounded by what happened next.
From within Oliver’s Black Suit, which had been fortified by the artificial soul, countless toothless mouths emerged. These mouths began to devour the Lightning Strikes one after another.
Oliver had layered Voracity over his Black Suit, and the eerie mouths produced by the black magic made horrible noises as they consumed the bolts of lightning.
Normally, Voracity couldn’t absorb lightning strikes, as they were a mix of emotions and magic power. But thanks to the enhancement provided by the artificial soul, Voracity was able to take in the Lightning Strikes without issue.
“Hahaha! Is that your real specialty?!”
Theodore, thrilled as if Oliver's success was his own, laughed maniacally. Hundreds—no, thousands—of arms sprouted from one of Theodore’s shoulders, and they combined to form a massive fist, rivaling the size of a building, which he hurled directly at Oliver.
Compared to this attack, the Lightning Strikes seemed like mere child's play.
The air exploded with a dull roar as the enormous fist descended from the sky, so vast it seemed to have no end.
“Can you block this too?!” Theodore shouted, testing Oliver.
In truth, Oliver wasn’t confident he could. The attack wasn’t just large—it carried the magic power and emotions of hundreds, maybe thousands, of individuals, intricately woven into a defensive magic formula.
It was as if a colossal fortress were falling from the sky. No ordinary means could block or counter such a strike.
So Oliver decided not to block it.
“Spit it out,” he instructed.
At his command, the countless mouths covering his Black Suit all opened at once, vomiting out the lightning strikes they had swallowed.
Because Voracity had devoured the lightning, Oliver now controlled the attacks. He immediately directed them all toward Theodore’s massive fist.
“Do you really think that will stop me?!” Theodore roared.
“No,” Oliver answered calmly.
With careful precision, Oliver began separating the emotions from the magic power within each bolt of lightning, a feat that was beyond normal comprehension. Yet, due to his unique abilities, Oliver managed to split the combined force into two distinct elements.
He wrapped the emotions around himself like a cloak while dispersing the magic power into the surrounding fog.
Then, he intertwined the magic power with the fog using a Spatial Magic Array.
Pop!
By combining his own magic control with Theodore’s overwhelming magic power, Oliver manipulated the surrounding fog, gaining complete control over the area. Finally, he clenched his fist.
The vast network of magic, now extending like a spider’s web, responded to Oliver’s will. The fog and magic coalesced, forming an enormous portal—a fog portal.
“This can’t be happening!”
Theodore cried out in disbelief as he watched his gigantic fist get swallowed by the fog, only to reappear above a massive lake in Lake Village.
The sheer unexpectedness of Oliver’s counter shattered Theodore’s composure, and his fist, now displaced, lost its coordination.
It was at that moment that Oliver’s voice came from behind him.
“So, this was possible after all.”
Oliver had followed Theodore through the fog portal and now had the advantage, striking from behind.
Though Theodore attempted to counter with magic, the enormous size of his conjured fist hindered his movements. This gave Oliver just enough time to take out several pieces of paper imbued with magic and hurl them toward Theodore.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
The magical papers flew like sharp blades, embedding themselves into Theodore’s body. Though his robust physique prevented deep penetration, for Oliver, this was enough.
“This is Merlin’s—”
Wiiing...
Before Theodore could finish his sentence, Oliver channeled his magic into the enchanted papers, triggering Spatial Magic.
A faint but distinct buzzing sound filled the air as violet-colored magic portals appeared on each piece of paper, cutting Theodore’s body into sections—his arms, legs, waist, and shoulders.
And that wasn’t the end. From each of these portals, Oliver summoned more than ten corpse puppets he had crafted.
These puppets, packed with explosives, explosive magic, and disease-type black magic, flew toward Theodore, ready to detonate.
[Corpse Bomb]