A corrupted magical beast.
Ludger had seen one before.
‘It’s the sa as Kaloto.’
In the Kingdom of Sevya — the holand of Casey Selmore — he had once encountered the Black Magic School’s leader, Kaloto.
Kaloto, the master of the Hellfire Magic School, had failed to suppress his own mana and was ultimately devoured by it.
And what took over that body was the fierce will embedded within the mana itself.
A corrupted magical beast born from pure hellfire mana.
Such creatures were disasters rely by existing.
And now, five of those sa abominations had appeared before them.
‘So he created corrupted magical beasts intentionally?’
One of the blazing crimson skeletons raised its finger toward them.
“Everyone, move!”
The mont Ludger shouted, Phyron and Cravat reacted imdiately.
Thanks to that, they narrowly avoided the five blood-red beams that ripped through the air.
Boom!
Those blood-colored rays were long-range attacks made of pure, searing fire.
Every steel structure they brushed past lted into drooping slag, leaving behind glowing red trails.
“Phew, that’s one hot welco.”
Phyron had dodged a bit late— his skin bore faint burn marks.
But when he pressed his palm over the wound, it healed instantly.
Just seeing how the steel itself had lted was enough to show the power of that heat— yet he had endured it with his body.
When it ca to physical endurance, Phyron had already reached the realm of superhumans.
“You noticed pretty quickly, Professor. You’ve fought sothing like that before, haven’t you?”
“I have fought one almost identical. Their patterns are similar too. But these ones seem weaker than that corrupted beast.”
“That thing, weaker?”
“But since there are five, we can’t take them lightly.”
Those beings, eternally burning with hellfire mana, were avatars of endless destruction.
So long as they lived, they would never stop burning sothing.
“Even if this sector’s uninhabited, releasing creatures like that... What is Nicolai trying to do?”
At this «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» point, Nicolai’s actions were beyond suspicious.
If such monsters were unleashed, Isla Machina itself would fall into chaos.
Did that an Nicolai was willing to accept that much collateral damage just to kill him?
Ludger didn’t have ti to ponder.
The corrupted magical beasts didn’t give him the chance.
Fwoosh—!
Blood-red embers spread through the air.
Ludger enveloped himself in cold mana and erected a massive ice wall across the area.
A biting chill surged outward, colliding with the beasts’ hellfire— but it was only a stalling tactic.
Under the combined heat of five creatures, the thick ice wall began lting rapidly.
“How the hell do we kill these things?”
Cravat flew in on a carpet of black smoke, shouting toward Ludger.
“You said you’ve fought one before, right? Then you know how to deal with them? What did you do last ti?”
“I trapped it inside an iceberg big enough to freeze the sea.”
“...We have to go that far?”
“Fortunately, these ones won’t require that.”
The previous creature had been born from the death of an entire school’s master.
Even if these were made by combining a black mage’s corpse with World Tree cells, they were still patchwork imitations by comparison.
“So we just need to extinguish those flas, right?”
Phyron exhaled sharply.
And before Ludger or Cravat could stop him, he charged forward with a roar of delight.
“Ha-ha-ha! Burn hotter!”
As Phyron rushed in, all five beasts turned their attention toward him.
Even if they tried to ignore him, his overwhelming presence made that impossible.
The magical beasts exhaled waves of scorching heat— flas of hellfire mana, far more potent than any ordinary spell.
The air shimred, the ground glowing red beneath the radiance.
Phyron leapt boldly into the inferno.
“Nice and warm!”
Wrapped in mana, he withstood the heat with only sweat beading over his skinless muscles.
For any normal human, entering that heat would have ant instant incineration.
“I know he’s absurdly tough, but to actually hurt those things, elental counter-damage is essential.”
Cravat, ever the analyst, deduced their weakness imdiately.
Phyron’s combat magic relied on pure mana amplification without any elental attribute.
Without water or ice properties, there was no way to harm creatures of fire— or so they thought.
Their worry was unfounded.
Phyron’s fists shimred faintly blue, as if brushed with dye.
Crack!
His punch smashed into the nearest beast’s jaw.
He should have been the one lting from the hellfire contact, yet instead, the beast’s head snapped sideways with a crunch and toppled over.
“...What is that? Did he just wrap his fist in frost mana?”
Cravat’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Ludger’s were the sa.
The spell Phyron had used was unlike any elental magic they’d ever seen.
“Ha-ha-ha! Take this— Frostbite Punch!”
“......”
“......”
Even though the na was ridiculous— much like his ‘Chiropractic Magic’— its effect was undeniable.
Each ti Phyron threw a punch, another corrupted beast went flying.
Those that fell writhed weakly but could not stand again— proof that his blows were landing effectively.
“We’ll leave those troubleso ones to him.”
“Agreed. We’ve got our own problems.”
They turned.
Beyond the crimson glow of the hellfire beasts, deeper shadows rippled— and within them, blue eyes lit up one by one.
On their shoulders, ampoules of glowing blue liquid glead like ghostly lights.
“New ones again.”
This ti, unlike the red ones, these were blue.
Where the red units had steel masks over their jaws, the blue ones wore visored helts glowing faintly with blue light.
The blue subjects raised their arms toward Ludger and Cravat.
They didn’t rush forward like beasts. Instead, the montary stillness made it clear— the tips of their fingers had holes.
“Tch.”
Ludger imdiately cast a barrier spell.
Cravat layered his own black curse energy over it for reinforcent.
Monts later, a storm of bullets poured from the blue units’ fingertips.
Tatatatatatat!
The barrier trembled violently, like an umbrella under heavy rain.
Inside the defense field, Ludger tried using Silence of Fire, but clicked his tongue and canceled it imdiately.
“They’re using special gunpowder.”
“The kind that nullifies fire-type magic? They really ca prepared.”
“And it looks like their bodies have been cybernetically modified.”
No sooner had he said that than a shrill chanical whine sounded beyond the barrier.
The next mont, sparks flew— part of the barrier sliced open as a unit appeared, both hands transford into spinning sawblades.
As its head poked through the breach, a sharp beam lanced straight between its eyes.
Pshing!
The subject reacted— twisting its head aside just in ti.
The mask over its left temple exploded instead.
The strike that should have pierced its forehead had only grazed it.
But the follow-up sword-stick strike left no room for evasion.
The head rolled across the floor; the body collapsed.
“Its reaction speed’s faster than the red ones, but its vitality’s lower.”
Ludger drove his sword-stick into the headless torso’s chest.
The biobomb that had been prid to detonate lost its signal and deactivated.
“You’re not reusing old tricks again, are you, Nicolai?”
[Oh dear, John Doe. When you say that, it sounds like you’re underestimating .]
As he expected, Nicolai’s voice ca from among the blue units.
[The fact that I sent both my precious Red and Blue divisions shows how highly I regard you. You should feel honored.]
“You’re still the sa coward. Hiding among your test subjects, too afraid to even project yourself directly. Don’t you have the courage to face in person?”
[Ha-ha. You don’t really think I’d fall for such a simple taunt, do you? I prefer being precise and thorough. Since I’ve realized you’re far stronger than I anticipated, it’s only reasonable to be cautious.]
“You really think you can deal with using just this?”
The Red and Blue legions were indeed dangerous—
The Reds, made from black mages’ corpses, combined physical power with the ability to wield dark arts.
The Blues, fused with machinery and drug enhancents, were ard with a variety of built-in weapons.
Yet still, it wasn’t enough.
Even if Ludger’s side was small in number, every mber was elite.
[Oh, I know. No matter how many I send, all I can really do is delay you.]
“And yet you keep doing it. You must have ti and resources to burn.”
[Don’t say that. Losing my Reds and Blues is quite the loss for . Originally, I intended to drag things out longer— maybe play territory wars with those black mage fools. But thanks to you, I had to move my plan forward.]
“Plan?”
[Of course, I wouldn’t be stupid enough to tell you that outright.]
Nicolai’s mocking laughter echoed through the test subjects.
Ludger, never expecting a straight answer, showed no reaction.
The Blue Division began to move, surrounding Ludger and Cravat.
Yet they didn’t attack— not imdiately.
“What are you scheming? You know these things can’t take down.”
[You’re right. I’m not dumb enough to bash my head against a solid wall. Against soone as powerful as you, brute force doesn’t suit . But what about others?]
“What?”
For a brief instant, Ludger thought he heard Nicolai laugh.
[John Doe. I was quite surprised when you appeared on this island— out of thin air, no less. You’d been in Lederbelk only recently. And then I learned you’re desperately protecting a certain girl.]
The laughter seeped out from the test subject’s throat.
[How fascinating. The great John Doe, running across this island, risking everything just to save one little girl.]
“You... don’t tell —”
[I may not be able to strike at you directly, but I can certainly target the girl you care about.]
“You seem to have forgotten who’s with her.”
[Ah, Gariel Cosmo, yes? Quite the man. I never expected there to be a mage capable of wielding sothing as peculiar as ti magic.]
Nicolai had already identified Gariel as well.
[Of course, I’ve prepared counterasures for him. Ti magic sounds impressive, but it’s bound by heavy restrictions. Practically useless in combat, wouldn’t you say?]
“You bastard...”
[Now, I wonder— how long can that Gariel fellow truly protect the girl?]
At that instant, Ludger understood why the Blue Division had surrounded them.
It wasn’t to attack— it was to keep them trapped.
To stop them from leaving.
[John Doe. I can’t kill you right this second. But I can kill the girl you cherish— and that man, Gariel.]
From the beginning, Nicolai had never intended to kill Ludger outright.
Once he discovered what Ludger valued, he chose instead to exploit it, to drag the suffering out as long as possible.
He was not a man who offered rcy by ending things quickly— he was one who found joy in watching others writhe in agony.
That was First Order Nicolai.
[Please, do enjoy my gift.]
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