◈ Episode 262 Ars Goetia (1)
Ludwig laughed at Ludger’s words.
“It seems you don’t understand the situation. Do you think you’re in a position to do something just because you’re angry?”
Rudger didn’t answer that.
Ludwig, intrigued, beckoned to his men.
I meant to end it because there was nothing more to hear.
sereung.
The knights who received the signal drew their swords and slowly approached Ludger.
Without saying a word, they tried to swing their swords at Ludger.
Even in the midst of this, Ludger’s gaze remained fixed on Ludwig.
‘Is it the last outburst right before death? At least I’m not obscenely begging for help.’
Ordinary people, no matter how strong they pretend to be, are bound to collapse ugly in the face of death.
Even so, Rudger remained tenacious.
You may beg to be saved.
I didn’t even scream that I would kill this side.
I felt it from coming to this place, but isn’t he a really strong man?
I felt oddly sorry to think that that figure would soon become a cold corpse and disappear from history.
Considering that this was the price to pay for ruining our plan, it was a natural retribution.
The important thing now is to calculate how long it will take to restore the cause Rudger ruined.
It was then.
“What, what is it?”
“What are you doing? Cut properly.”
“You cut it right!”
Immediately, the puzzled sounds of the knights who should have killed Ludwig reached Ludwig’s ears.
Ludwig, freed from his thoughts, narrowed his eyes and surveyed the situation beyond the barrier.
Rudger, who should have been dead, was still standing still, unconcerned.
‘what?’
His men must have swung their swords, but Ludger was fine.
Even now.
Every time the aura-clad sword was swung, Ludger’s figure would scatter like an illusion and then return to its original state, repeating.
There was one thing that came to mind in that scene.
“… … Magic?”
But what kind of magic is that?
Not defending the sword wrapped in aura, but rather spilling it.
At that time, Ludwig met eyes with Ludger, who was staring at him endlessly.
‘what… … .’
Seeing his eyes dyed red, Ludwig felt an indescribable fear.
“Vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas.”
“what?”
Ludwig involuntarily questioned the unknown words that flowed out of Ludger’s mouth.
“Vanity, vanity, all vanity.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“It is a Latin word meaning emptiness. It is written in the Vulgata, Ecclesiastes, chapter 1, verse 2.”
“What is that… … .”
Facing an incomprehensible and inexplicable situation, Ludwig contorted his face for the first time.
I didn’t like the fact that I was scared in an advantageous situation.
“Professor James Moriarty. What kind of spell did you use?”
“Did it look like witchcraft?”
“Isn’t that witchcraft?”
“It’s magic. Yes, my ‘real’ magic that you guys will never know about.”
Vanitas.
As the meaning of the word meaning void, it has a characteristic that makes the user himself unaffected by any attack.
Even if it was a sword or magic wrapped in an aura, it was the same.
Known as having been transmitted by Solomon, this was the magic Ludger created individually after coming to this world.
“I didn’t want to use it much because it ate up too much mana. It’s not a very pleasant feeling to make my own body like a ghost. If you think about the future, it’s a skill that I would never have used.”
It’s like your body doesn’t belong to you.
The feeling that his five senses had disappeared as if they had been discolored and only his mind remained, floating in the air, was something he could not bear with his sober mind.
A dangerous magic that might have disappeared without being able to hold on to the scattered spirit if a normal wizard had used it.
So even Rudger didn’t want to use it.
“But after hearing what you said, I changed my mind.”
Embarrassed, Ludwig’s escorts slightly distanced themselves from Ludger.
Rudgar, who had canceled the magic at that timing, took out a magic potion from his pocket and quickly poured it into his mouth.
“From now on, I decided not to think about the future.”
Agjak.
Along with the coolness of the magical potion that crumbled in his mouth, the red light in Ludger’s eyes grew stronger.
“Even if I have to collapse.”
“… … What are you doing now! Go ahead and kill me!”
Ludwig, noticing the suspicious feeling, shouted in a fit.
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Even the panicked subordinates regained their senses and tried to attack.
It’s already a step too late.
The magic that Rudger used was faster than their attack.
“Ars Goetia.”
Goetia.
It is the name of the first chapter of Clavicula Salomonis Regis, a sorcery book written by Solomon, who was called the ‘King of Wisdom’.
Its ability was close to that of strong magic that summons the 72 demons inscribed in books.
Of course, it doesn’t summon an actual demon.
It is nothing more than imitating the devil through magical imagery and miracles.
Nonetheless, its power.
It was too cold to sweep away all the enemies in this place.
Shuhua ah!!!
The shadow cloak fluttered violently, and countless black specters came out and swept the area.
Demons approach people, seize them with their hands, and bite them with their mouths.
Knights with swords and wizards with magic were no exception.
“Ouch! What the hell! What the hell!”
“The attack doesn’t work! help me!”
In an instant, screams erupted, and the drawing room was stained with blood.
Ludwig’s proud face collapsed for the first time at the gruesome sight unfolding beyond the barrier.
All of the family guards to protect him were defeated.
Even by just one person.
“Ah, the devil.”
Ludwig muttered involuntarily.
It’s a dream.
I think you’re having a nightmare about something.
But cruelly, the owner of the nightmare slowly began to approach Ludwig.
Ludger, who was approaching Ludwig, stopped in front of the barrier blocking the drawing room.
Ludwig laughed at Ludger looking at that.
“Ha ha ha ha ha! okay! No matter how hard you are, you can’t break through the barrier that blocks even 6th tier magic!”
“… … .”
“If all the troops of the family come here, you will be dead!”
Ludger did not respond to Ludwig’s words.
Instead, he just stretched out his arms and brought them to the barrier.
“So no matter what I do, it won’t break through… … !”
Ludwig, who was about to shout that, hardened his expression.
Jiji Jijik!
The evil spirits that had eaten all their prey and wandered around the room were driven to Rudger.
The specters gathered around Ludger’s arms and cast a black shadow that covered his fingertips and forearms.
Chow!
The black hand, sharpened like that of a beast or a demon, eventually completely tore through the magic barrier.
The fact that a barrier impenetrable to 6th tier magic could easily be pierced by an individual.
Ludwig could not tell whether this was a dream or reality.
It was such an unreal sight.
‘Is this a dream?’
Even so, I wanted to deny the horrors in front of me.
Rudger, who was walking straight this way, was clear about reality.
“Let’s talk for a while… … !”
Before Ludwig could even exclaim.
Rudger grabbed him by the throat with a violent hand and pushed him to the window.
Quaang!
The overwhelming power of the explosion went beyond breaking the window and blew away the entire wall with an explosion.
Ludger did not intend to kill Ludwig easily, so he kindly protected him with magic.
“Keuuugh!”
Ludger grabbed Ludwig by the neck and pushed him outside the broken wall.
Ludwig struggled to his feet.
Ludwig stared at Ludger with a desperate gaze in fear that Ludger might fall down if he let go of his hand.
The look on his face when he looked down from above was gone.
“Your eyes have become obedient. Are you ready to have a proper conversation now?”
Ludwig desperately tried to nod.
“But I’m sorry, so what? I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”
Kwak.
Ludger slowly applied force to Ludwig’s strangling grip.
Ludwig struggled, but he couldn’t escape from Ludger, whose anger had already risen to the tip of his head.
Quaang!
At that moment, the door to the parlor behind him was smashed and a huge jet of water was shot at Ludger.
Rudger didn’t even look back. Instead, his cloak moved on its own.
The black specters that flowed from the cloak gathered together to form a wall.
The water cannons scattered emptyly without penetrating the black wall.
“James Moriarty!”
Casey Selmore, dressed as a detective, stormed inside.
She saw the corpses all around, the broken walls, and the figure of Ludger holding Ludwig’s neck.
“Let go of him right now!”
Casey Selmore had a similar situation at Ordo University.
Back then, they couldn’t stop Rudgar from killing Dean Gord.
In order not to make that mistake again, Casey activated all his senses.
rumble.
The water, which had previously been nothing more than a threat, moved according to her will.
Its scope did not simply stop at the surrounding area.
“This… … .”
Rudger stared outside the broken wall.
All the water from the artificial lake in the gardens of the Duchy of Bencanto rose up and surrounded the huge mansion.
Huge mass of water close to hundreds of tons.
As if the appearance he had shown before was nothing more than a child’s play, Casey Selmore was now showing his true power.
Rudger was genuinely amazed.
“Awesome.”
And at the same time, I thought that this might be a little dangerous.
This side consumed a lot of mana and mental power with the magic a while ago.
As it stands, dealing with Casey Selmore, who is at full strength, was pretty daunting.
However, Casey seemed to be using quite a bit of strength as she lifted the lake, and Rudgar caught her expression slightly collapsing.
“You are doing too much. Casey Selmore. Aren’t you having a hard time?”
“Because I’m not going to miss you this time.”
“… … .”
“Come on, let him go.”
Rudger thought for a moment.
If you kill Ludwig here, Casey will grit his teeth and come after him.
It seemed that he couldn’t escape easily since he had come this far in the first place.
‘But if what Ludwig said is true.’
The cleaner sent by Ludwig might have reached the secret facility where Arte is now.
There would have been no lies in those words.
‘There are Hans and Sheridan inside, but it would be difficult to block them with the power of the two.’
Rudger had to make a choice.
Ludger dragged Ludwig, who had grabbed his neck.
Then I whispered to him.
‘Don’t be relieved. I’ll be back soon.’
Fu-wook!
Then, he immediately pulled out a dagger from his left hand and thrust it into Ludwig’s body.
“oh!”
Casey, embarrassed, threw Ludwig at Casey before he could prepare.
Casey rounded the water to get Ludwig to safety.
Seeing the bleeding in Ludwig’s abdomen, Casey glared at Ludger with wide eyes.
“you… … !”
“If the bleeding is not stopped immediately, he will die within three minutes. But if you stay and stand by my side, it might save your life.”
Will you pursue criminals even while letting people die?
Will you give up chasing criminals and save people?
“Choice is free.”
Rudger said so and jumped out of the broken wall.
Seeing that, Casey gnashed his teeth.
Even if I wanted to pursue him here, I couldn’t do this or that because of the injured Ludwig.
“Keugh! Uh, that drawer… … .”
At that time, Ludwig pointed at the drawer in a state of collapse.
Casey noticed something and immediately opened the drawer and took out the item inside.
It was a potion.
I don’t know why such an item was in the drawing room, but Casey immediately poured the potion on Ludwig’s wound.
The wound healed slowly, but not to the point where I could move right away.
But still, the fire was immediately extinguished.
“Please hold on to him.”
In Ludwig’s earnest gaze, there was something other than the intention of wanting to catch the opponent simply because he was a criminal.
Casey knew that, but couldn’t argue right away.
The important thing now was to chase after the runaway James Moriarty.
But how do you know where he fled?
no. There is one.
Casey’s gaze turned to Ludwig.
“you. You know where he went.”
* * *
Ludwig’s “janitors” have arrived at the secret laboratory where the Steel Choir project is being carried out.
The entrance to the abandoned coal mine, which was originally accessible, was blocked, but there were many other passages leading inside.
They formed a group and moved slowly, in case of an unexpected situation.
However, there was no sign of popularity inside.
“Is anyone there?”
All I could see was the little rats running around.
The cleaners were called cleaners, but in reality they were more like fixers who took care of the nobles’ dirty work.
Among them, each armed with a firearm, there were some quasi-knights and freelance wizards.
They were confident that they would not lose no matter how many opponents were on the inside.
I did, but the fact that there were no people inside rather cooled the excitement.
“it’s okay. It’s better for us if it ends soon anyway.”
Those who nodded at the leader’s words sped up a little more.
“for a moment. stop.”
At that time, the leader raised his right hand and clenched his fists, and all the subordinates following him stopped.
Ignoring the gaze asking what the hell was going on, the leader pulled a dagger from his waist and touched the fine metal wire hanging in front of him.
Teeing.
“It wasn’t like there were no people. You’re digging a trap like this. But too crude.”
The line ran along the wall and connected to the ceiling.
If you touch it wrong like this, the bomb installed on the ceiling will explode and collapse the passageway.
“Rather than killing the intruder, is it for the purpose of buying time somehow?”
If so, you couldn’t move according to the other person’s intention.
“More speed. Be prepared for any potential pitfalls.”
“yes.”
The cleaners moved at a faster pace.
And Hans, who heard the report through the mouse, wrinkled his expression.
“Damn it. Did you speed it up? I was just a little scared and expected you to come slowly.”
“Then what?”
Sheridan, who installed the booby traps, didn’t know it would turn out like this, so it was embarrassing.
Hans’s gaze turned to the glass tube containing Arte.
“… … We’ll have to hold on to each other somehow. Until my brother comes.”
