Chapter 39: The Warlord

“Sir Albert Newton demands that you leave his domain immediately,” Sophie said. “He doesn’t rule out the possibility of using force to achieve his aims.”

“Little girl, are you so confident in yourself?” The female mage sneered.

“Speaking of which, what sort of experiment are you conducting?” Vinigo asked curiously. “I hear that magically altering the human body is a favorite trick among warlords—Ultimate Knights are the best example.”

The female mage shook her head and gestured at the large crystal jar on the stone table behind her, sighing. “We specialize in offense, so we must spend some effort compensating for our lack of survivability. My idea is to create a magical artifact that absorbs damage, taking on most of the harm to buy time for casting spells or to create an opportunity to escape.”

“It seems you haven’t succeeded. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be wasting words with us now,” Vinigo chuckled. “From what I see, you fear you can’t eliminate both of us at once, while we fear that if you resolve to attack, there’s a good chance you’ll kill one of us. This stalemate is why we’re having such a pleasant conversation.”

“More or less,” the female mage smiled. “You’re an interesting young man. I am Renora among the warlords.”

“You may call me Young Fox,” Vinigo replied with a smile.

“Sophie Spar.”

“And me, me—I'm Honey!” Little Honey squeezed out from between Vinigo and Sophie, introducing herself with enthusiasm.

“Huh... you are...” Renora was clearly startled, but she suppressed the urge to say more and cast a nonchalant glance at Vinigo.

“Speaking of damage absorption, are you planning to make a transparent magical shield like a bubble?” Vinigo inquired. “If so, you might as well craft a large shield that automatically judges the direction of attack and actively intercepts it.”

“A large shield?”

“Obviously, achieving sufficient strength is much harder with a bubble than with a shield,” Vinigo explained. “Of course, it doesn’t have to be a shield—it could be a floating iron sphere, as long as it proactively takes attacks from all directions for you. You don’t need to spread your power in all directions; most of the time, two or three sides are enough for protection.”

“Hmm... three round shields surrounding you—that’s indeed a good idea.” The female mage nodded.

“Well then, could you perhaps relocate your research?” Vinigo asked.

Renora let out a snort of laughter. “Why should I listen to you? You barely qualify to bargain with me, Young Fox.”

“So, must we fight before we can talk? Hmm... Let’s cool our heads for a moment.” Quoting the famous words of the White Devil, Vinigo suddenly moved.

The female mage was taken aback. Her thoughts raced, her fingers lifted slightly, and powerful mental energy locked onto Vinigo.

Warlords are the elite of the magical world—focused on attack efficiency, nearly all of them can achieve ‘mental lock-on.’ By concentrating, their spells never miss their target.

Although focusing is quick, it still takes a moment.

Lightning Flame—or Fire Bolt... When cast by a warlord, Fire Bolt is on par with Yarrow’s strongest attack spell, the Blazing Flame.

Vinigo had no doubt he’d be reduced to ashes in an instant by that overwhelming firepower.

Unless it missed.

But Renora was remarkably efficient with her mental lock-on; her Fire Bolt shot straight at Vinigo.

Vinigo suddenly smiled. The Sword Fiend template grants quick reflexes, meaning he could react faster than his opponent. The Action+4 skill ensured he could perform more actions in a given time than his foe.

Just as the Fire Bolt was unleashed, Vinigo halted his feigned charge—he had already prepared his spell.

Summoning—The Ripper.

Among the summoning spells, only the Ripper was large enough... As the massive summoned creature appeared before Vinigo, it blocked Renora’s line of sight and her spell.

Warlords are indeed formidable, but even the tough-skinned Ripper couldn’t withstand Renora’s Fire Bolt—within moments, it was incinerated.

Vinigo’s feint had worked; Sophie seized the initiative and lunged at Renora.

Gate of Hell!

“Though I’m not skilled in melee, don’t underestimate a warlord who’s spent her whole life fighting,” Renora sneered. Her ten fingers twisted deftly, and flames surged at her feet.

Ring of Fire—too bad Honey didn’t advance, for Renora’s spell would have proven quite effective.

The ring of fire forced Vinigo and Sophie to retreat, yielding the center of the flames.

Both Sophie and Vinigo had decent resistance to magic. Sophie’s was innate, her bloodline granting her some anti-magic power, while Vinigo, under the Sword Fiend template, possessed relatively strong magical defense. More importantly, the Ring of Fire itself dispersed its damage over a wide area, limiting its lethality.

“You underestimated us, Auntie,” Vinigo laughed lightly.

Sword Fiend—Soul Breaker!

A burst of sword energy erupted in a limited area. Though not particularly powerful, its range exceeded what a simple sword swing could reach. This sudden sword energy startled Renora.

She had never seen such a thing as sword energy.

Vinigo’s sword energy was unique: it extended his attack range and area, but its power was less than that of a direct sword strike, and it consumed considerable mana—his elemental pool, so to speak. If not for the Sword Fiend’s elemental enhancement, Vinigo would have needed much longer to gather enough mana.

But to Renora, unfamiliar with swordsmanship, it made her realize she had underestimated the boy before her.

Caught off guard, she triggered the Color Shield Ring on her left hand’s ring finger—an invisible surge of magic dispelled the incoming sword energy.

Renora quickly realized Vinigo’s sword energy was less lethal than her own apprentice-level spells.

But it was already too late. Sophie had closed in, her great sword raised overhead, bringing it down with a mighty blow.

Azure End Severance!

At the same time, the innocuous Honey, who had been lingering nearby, finally revealed her “ferocious” fangs. A silent spell of Rage landed on Renora, sending her emotions into turmoil and nearly compelling her to rush into close combat with Sophie—forgetting all about keeping distance to cast spells!

Renora’s strength was formidable—her magical attack was overwhelming, her combat skills superb. The only pity was that, to avoid disrupting her experiment, she had sent her most reliable Ultimate Knight to block the enemy.

She underestimated her opponents, and now she was forced to face two skilled swordsmen, plus one creature whose purpose was unclear but who actually wielded master-level mind magic.

The remaining magical energy of the Color Shield vanished instantly under Sophie’s forceful blow. Sophie’s great sword easily severed Renora’s right arm, eliciting a sharp, high-pitched scream.

“Damn you!” Renora cursed through gritted teeth. A spiritual glow flashed around her, and in an instant, a milky-white power surged from her body—though it didn’t regenerate her arm, it clearly staunched the gruesome wound.

Immediately, Renora turned to flee. With her left hand, she tore off her necklace and flung it forward, and a dazzling ripple of blue light appeared before her.

As long as she passed through this ripple, she could return to her preset waypoint—a magical artifact crafted with the most practical water-based time-space marker spell, extremely valuable.

But unfortunately, Renora never had the chance to use it.

As the time-space marker appeared, Vinigo activated his speed trait, rushing forward to intercept her.

“Go!” Renora hissed, triggering her left-hand ring. A surge of invisible air force tore apart everything in front of her with violent shockwaves.

Vinigo’s sword shattered instantly, but he was too slippery—dodging Renora’s powerful strike.

He reached back, and Sophie, understanding, kicked his backpack over. Without looking, Vinigo pulled out a weapon of exaggerated design.

Chainsaw Sword.

Once activated, the chainsaw sword, imbued with speed and bloodlust, produced an ear-splitting roar—a formidable intimidation. Vinigo gripped it with both hands and swung casually.

Wherever the chainsaw sword passed, even steel would be cleaved in two. Though Renora’s body was enveloped in a magical shield for absorbing damage, that shield was as flimsy as paper compared to the chainsaw sword’s terrifying power.

Renora let out a scream as Vinigo’s casual swing sliced her diagonally in half!

Mission accomplished.

Vinigo disengaged his character template and first removed the three rings Renora hadn’t had time to use. He examined them, then analyzed their magical properties.

One was a three-eyed gem ring that greatly enhanced fire-element magic, called the Ring of Blazing Flame; one was a grimace stone ring boosting resistance to four elemental magics, called the Ring of Many Colors; and the last was the Flame Pool Ring, capable of storing a master-level fire-element spell or three expert-level fire spells in advance.

Vinigo kept the Ring of Blazing Flame for himself, gave the Ring of Many Colors to Sophie, and handed the Flame Pool Ring to Honey.

After a while, Vinigo once again used his character template, turning into the Scavenger Cat, and began searching the surroundings.

Pushing open Renora’s laboratory door, he found a warehouse inside. Though the female warlord’s magical research had consumed most of the materials, what remained was still a considerable fortune.

Vinigo could no longer suppress his curiosity. What treasures awaited him here?