Chapter 344: Battle of the Lake (2)
"Shahahahahaha——!!"
The massive serpents made of earth and sand flew toward Oliver, emitting eerie cries as if they were living creatures.
And there weren't just one, but five of them.
Not only infused with magical power, but they also seemed to be imbued with life force, allowing the earthen serpents to move as naturally as if they were truly alive.
Of course, the human-faced serpents Oliver had created moved just as fluidly as Theodoor’s serpents.
"Would you lend me a hand?”
Upon Oliver’s request for help, the human-faced serpents, made from the frozen water of the lake, moved to intercept the earthen serpents. Some bit the earthen serpents in his place, while others opened their jaws to strike back.
Crack! Zzzzt—!! Boom!!
The gigantic serpents, made of earth and ice, tangled together in a fight that resembled the torment of the damned.
But that was not the end of it.
Drawing upon an unending supply of magical power, Theodoor continued to create earthen serpents, forming three more around himself, infusing them with both magic and emotion.
The magic and emotion, once inside the serpents, blended together. Soon, the two energies merged into one, causing the serpents' bellies to swell, glowing with a sinister black-red light.
They looked as if they were about to explode.
[Breath of Fury]
With Theodoor’s incantation, the three serpents spewed out a black magma, mixed with the magic and emotions from within their bellies.
The intense surge of magma was overwhelming, not only in heat but also due to the venomous aura it carried.
As some of the magma splattered onto the forest, the grass and trees turned black and melted away, while parts of the lake began to boil, darkening where the magma had touched.
Even the smoke it released was threatening.
Oliver extracted the emotion of sadness, merging it with the vast magical power of the lake stored within him, casting a spell of ice magic.
[Lament]
The black ice, infused with the emotion of sadness, not only froze the surface of the lake before Oliver but also formed a massive wall of ice, neutralizing the oncoming magma.
Rage was met with sorrow, fire with ice.
Due to their opposing properties, the venomous magma lost its initial momentum and faded away without causing significant damage.
It was a relief. If Oliver hadn’t stopped it, the lake would have turned into a poisonous swamp, and the surrounding forest would have burned down, creating an environment extremely unfavorable for him to fight in.
This battle with Theodoor was on a scale far greater than any of the previous ones Oliver had fought.
One misstep could mean death.
Yet, oddly enough, Oliver didn’t entirely dislike the moment.
The danger was as exhilarating as the sense of achievement he felt.
To be able to manipulate the interconnections between emotions in such a way… it was quite enjoyable.
‘It’s similar to making Filgaret... blending different emotions and letting them interact…’
Oliver recalled the first time he had mixed various emotions to create Filgaret.
It was truly fascinating and awe-inspiring.
Even though the circumstances were completely different, there was a connection between then and now.
Oliver thought that if he survived this battle, he would document this discovery. With that in mind, he drew even more magical power from the lake, pouring it into the massive wall of solidified magma and ice, taking control over it.
The vast amount of magical power caused the wall, where the ice and magma had fused, to crack into hundreds of fragments, which all shot toward Theodoor.
Normally, such an attack would have been unthinkable for Oliver, but absorbing all the magical power from the lake made it possible.
He was quite fortunate.
It was truly lucky to have discovered such a lake when facing someone like Theodoor, who possessed an extraordinary amount of magical power and physical prowess.
The enormous boulders, filled with magical power, flew forward like bullets, and each one carried enough force to cause the earthen serpents Theodoor had created to collapse like sandcastles.
However, Theodoor, the sorcerer himself, easily fended off the assault.
"How laughable!"
Concentrating magical power into both of his hands, Theodoor invoked a shockwave spell, slamming his fists together to unleash a wave of force. The boulders flying toward him were shattered to pieces.
He didn’t stop there. He slammed his fists together once again, this time sending a wide-ranging shockwave directly toward Oliver.
[Shock Wave]
It was a basic spell of the Pure Mana School’s shock magic. However, because of the spell’s complexity and the vast amount of magical power used, its power far exceeded anything ordinary.
The massive shockwave, which spread out in a fan shape, tore apart the lake’s surface and even shattered both Oliver’s and Theodoor’s serpents as it advanced toward Oliver.
It was too vast to evade. So, Oliver chose to face it head-on.
[Out Cry]
Oliver focused the power of the Black Suit, which had been enhanced with an artificial soul, into his face, releasing a shockwave that could strike both internally and externally in a straight line.
"Graaaahhhhh—————————!!!!"
The fan-shaped shockwave unleashed by Theodoor collided with the straight-line shockwave from Oliver. Theodoor’s shockwave split in two like the Red Sea.
It wasn’t due to a lack of power, but a difference in focus.
The surface of the lake churned like boiling oil, and raindrops reversed direction, shooting upward from the surface like tiny droplets being flung into the air.
Whoosh.
The fine droplets caused a mist to rise, turning the surroundings hazy, and Oliver once again concentrated power into his face.
[Out Cry]
As the incantation echoed, a grotesque expression appeared on the face of the Black Suit. Oliver fired another shockwave, this one even stronger than the previous.
————Boom!!
But Theodoor didn’t back down. He summoned an enormous fist woven from dozens of arms, encircling it with layers of magic and black magic, and struck directly against Oliver’s shockwave, canceling it out.
For a moment, even the shockwave that had overwhelmed Bathory was neutralized.
However, on the other hand, it was understandable.
When Theodoor had grown multiple arms, it wasn’t just his magical power that increased. The complexity and precision of his spellwork also grew, amplifying his already immense magical power even further.
And, as if he weren’t even tired, Theodoor immediately used multiple spells to keep pressuring Oliver.
[Ptah’s Assistant]
Theodoor conjured numerous mechanical hands, similar to the ones he used to repair his own body, and surrounded Oliver with them.
These mechanical hands, created from magical particles, were thin and sharp like needles and scalpels, as if they could easily dismantle or repair anything.
Just as expected, the thin and menacing mechanical arms, charged with malice, approached Oliver from all directions.
Their purpose was clear—to thoroughly dismantle and destroy him.
The mechanical arms shot toward Oliver from all angles—front, back, left, right, and even from above. Dodging them would be nearly impossible. So, Oliver mimicked Theodoor’s method and faced them head-on.
[Ptah’s Assistant]
Oliver, drawing upon the magical power stored within him, constructed multiple magic circles in the air around him, using them to form his own mechanical arms.
The mechanical arms Oliver created rushed toward Theodoor’s, and soon, both sets of mechanical arms, like the earthen and human-faced serpents before, were locked in a fierce struggle.
The difference was that instead of brute strength, they relied on agility and precision to dismantle and destroy each other.
Zzzzzz—
As Oliver and Theodoor’s mechanical arms reached a stalemate, Theodoor created new magic circles around Oliver, firing magical bullets to destroy Oliver’s mechanical arms.
Not to be outdone, Oliver also conjured magic circles in the air, mimicking Theodoor, and shattered the incoming mechanical arms.
The magic circles in the air shot at each other, sending magical bullets flying, some of which exploded like geysers and fireworks in the lake and sky.
Amid this chaos, Oliver managed to shield himself with a magic barrier, avoiding injury, but for Theodoor, that level of destruction seemed sufficient.
He advanced rapidly, attempting to close the distance between them.
Noticing Theodoor’s approach, Oliver quickly manipulated the lake beneath his feet, using the water to increase the distance between them.
A close-range fight with Theodoor was too dangerous.
While magic combat, drawing from the lake’s power, was manageable, the stark difference in their physical abilities made close combat impossible to entertain.
Though their magic reserves were nearly equal thanks to the lake, the vast differences in their emotional reserves, life force, and most significantly, physical strength were too overwhelming.
'But I’ll have to fight him up close eventually... Magic alone won’t do enough damage.'
"I won’t let you get away."
Theodoor, sprinting on both legs to narrow the gap, summoned waves from the lake, persistently chasing after Oliver.
Oliver, drawing on the magic and life force stored in the test tubes within him, conjured more human-faced serpents, having them burst from the water below to strike at Theodoor.
Splash!!
The human-faced serpents leaped upward, piercing through the waves controlled by Theodoor and launching him into the air, their jaws wide open, ready to swallow him.
But it didn’t last even a second. Theodoor enlarged his arms into massive tentacles, bursting out of the serpents’ grasp.
But that was fine. In that split second, Oliver had already prepared another spell.
[Breath of Obsession]
Oliver conjured two more human-faced serpents, just like Theodoor had done, and inside their bellies, he mixed the emotion of obsession with magical power before unleashing it.
A black avalanche of ice crystals rushed toward Theodoor, freezing everything in its path. In response, Theodoor ignited a black flame, trying to counter the freezing storm.
But he failed.
The black flames conjured by Theodoor, unlike Oliver’s, couldn’t counter the storm of obsession and were pushed back. The storm hit him head-on, and his body began to freeze.
"Graaaah—!!”
Theodoor roared, burning his life force and emotions to melt the ice off his body, then swung his enormous tentacle arms once more.
Unlike Oliver’s method, Theodoor’s approach worked.
The tentacle arms, infused with magic and emotions, cut through the freezing storm and shattered the human-faced serpents like they were nothing.
Oliver assumed Theodoor would continue his assault by attacking him directly, so he submerged himself in the lake to avoid the next blow. But Theodoor, seeing this, compressed his tentacles into a massive fist and, instead of attacking Oliver, smashed into the lake.
Boom———!!!
A tremendous shockwave spread from the center of the lake, sending water crashing outward, flooding the surrounding forest.
It was like a tsunami.
Oliver, who had dived into the lake to avoid the attack, lost his balance in the powerful currents, swept away by the chaotic waters. He was flung out of the lake along with a column of water as the receding waves returned to the lake’s center.
Thrown helplessly by the torrent...
The moment he surfaced, what greeted him was Theodoor’s massive fist.
"...!"
In a desperate attempt, Oliver gathered the surrounding water to cushion himself like a shield, but it was no use.
———!
When Theodoor’s fist collided with Oliver’s watery shield, it shattered like a balloon, sending Oliver flying into the distance.
Even the Black Suit that covered Oliver’s body shattered into pieces.
Though Oliver had used up much of his energy in the earlier Out Cry attack, the fact that even the Black Suit, reinforced with an artificial soul, had been destroyed was astounding. Oliver couldn’t help but marvel at the overwhelming power difference.
Up until now, the only effective attack Oliver had landed on Theodoor was when he had teleported behind him using the lake and thrown in an explosive doll between his wounds, making it explode.
‘Ah, there’s one more…’
Oliver suddenly remembered the forgotten advantage of black magic.
Just as Oliver was about to get back on his feet, another surge of chaotic water swept him away.
Theodoor was using his vast reserves of magical power to control the lake.
He created a vortex at the center of the lake, pulling Oliver toward it.
His goal was clear—to finish Oliver off now that the Black Suit had been destroyed.
Oliver tried to resist using his remaining magical power, but Theodoor’s power was equally vast, leaving Oliver only able to stall for time.
On top of that, Theodoor conjured multiple magic circles in the air, sending magical bullets and lightning strikes at Oliver, forcing him to focus purely on defense.
The strategy worked, and Oliver was helplessly drawn toward the heart of the vortex.
Struggling to maintain balance within the vicious current, Oliver saw Theodoor casually enlarge his hand once more, surrounding it with various spells, ready to grab him.
At that moment, Oliver undid his magical barrier and destroyed the attacking magic circles, calmly murmuring to himself.
“Force.”
In that instant, Duncan, the corpse puppet Oliver had hidden with a shrinking spell, emerged from his pocket, returning to its original size.
As it did, the force stored within the test tube reacted, entering Duncan’s body. He immediately lunged toward Theodoor.
"Graaaaaahhhhhhh!!"