PLOP!

PLOP!

PLOP!

PLOP!

Tung!

Tung!

The sewers where all kinds of filth from the city gather, the air was humid and there was always water on the floor, making a damp sound when moving.

Even the old iron grates in the middle of the road can’t silence the loud noise caused by the sewage

As a result, Allister and Hewitt, executives of the Kell Liberation Army, fled as far as possible from Oliver.

‘It doesn’t feel like they are just running away, they’re waiting for something. What could it be?’

Oliver focused on Allister and Hewitt’s emotions and wondered.

They were uncomfortable with Oliver’s presence but ran away as if they had a chance.

A backup? Or, a trap?

Whatever it was, it was fortunate for Oliver, as it kept them from leaving the place.

Oliver, who couldn’t rush in because of the complex internal geography even though he had figured out their approximate location by reading their emotions, was grateful.

SSRRRRRR!

A centipede, as thick as two human fingers, crawled out of the flowing sewage and made its way toward Oliver.

As soon as Oliver saw the centipede, he quickly acted, using his quarterstaff to strike and kill the creature.

Despite its struggle, the centipede’s movements soon slowed, and its body fluids leaked out in a mixture of purple, green, and black.

Though he had never been taught, Oliver could tell that this was poison, not a natural venom, but one created by human hands.

[Go back now]

Suddenly, a voice echoed through the area.

Oliver looked around, trying to locate the source, and soon noticed that it was coming from a corner wall ahead of him.

On the wall, a black magic circle had been drawn with blood as the medium, and it was being used to transmit the voice from a distance.

The voice spoke again, coming through the magic circle.

[I’ll say it again. Go back now if you value your life]

Oliver responded, focusing the energy in his eyes and scanning his surroundings.

The humidity in the area seemed to be high, and as a result, there were countless creatures living there, including small bugs.

And through the cracks in the walls, Oliver could see some powerful creatures approaching him.

‘The spider’s web has already been attached. Cobwebs are faintly mixed with mana.’

“I’m sorry, but I can’t. Mr. Allister.”

A brief silence passed by.

[… Are you willing to risk your life for money?]

“Money is important, but a promise is more important. I’ve already told my broker and my colleagues I’m working with that I’ll be bringing you.”

After Oliver finished answering, instead of a response, a massive column of water suddenly shot up from below and something emerged from it.

It was a creature that resembled both a frog and a crocodile that Oliver had seen before, it lunged at Oliver’s face with its dull red tongue extended out.

Pak-!!

The contaminated creature, a hybrid of a crocodile and a frog, was quick, but Oliver was able to react quickly.

He managed to lower his body just in time to avoid its attack and swung his quarterstaff, slicing the creature’s tongue in half.

“……!!!”

The contaminated creature let out an indescribable scream as it tried to retreat back into the water.

However, Oliver was faster and before it could fully submerge, he shot a [Hate Bullet] from his index finger, striking it in the head.

BANG!

A hole the size of a fist opened in the creature’s head, and pink flesh and brains that had been consumed by parasites flowed out through the hole, getting washed away by the sewage.

The contaminated creature would most likely be carried away by the powerful Shems River that flows through Landa.

Despite this, Oliver remained cautious.

The person who had attacked him using the contaminated creature, Allister, seemed flustered at first, but soon regained his composure and decided to continue fighting.

PING!

This time, Oliver lowered his head, preparing for the next attack.

As before, a mix of mosquitoes and earwigs hung from the ceiling and attacked him with needles on their tails.

With a swift strike of his quarterstaff, Oliver smashed the insects, causing them to vomit dark green bodily fluids.

And at the same time, he heard the footsteps of beasts approaching from the nearby passages.

Judging from the agitated emotional state and footsteps, it appeared to be contaminated creatures controlled by Allister.

“You’re amazing. I know mental manipulation is quite difficult.”

[Compliments won’t save your life.]

Allister spoke in a hostile tone, likely still upset about the loss of his contaminated creatures.

After a while, Oliver could see more of these creatures emerging from every aisle.

A naked mouse, a dog with scales, and a giant mole with a tentacle-like nose came running toward him from three different directions.

As described in the documents, Allister was known to use a wide variety of contaminated creatures and had used them to torment the Empire’s army on countless occasions.

‘This seems to be the reason why the bounty is 110 million.’

Suddenly, a question rose in Oliver’s head.

He wondered why Hewitt, a net navigator, who could do net sailing, would have a higher reward than Damon and Allister combined.

Additionally, Allister’s current emotional state seemed strange.

He was trying to protect Hewitt, the magic hacker, more than defeating Oliver.

This led Oliver to believe that there must be more to Hewitt than just being a man of outstanding talent, there seemed to be a specific reason for this behavior.

‘Well…, then I shouldn’t use this right away.’

Ice magic would have been perfect to subdue the humid surroundings and the contaminated creatures approaching from three directions, but Oliver decided to save it for more important situations.

He had learned from his battle with Merlin that simple firepower had its limits.

He should use his decisive skill when it is truly needed. And also, he had another option at his disposal.

[Brainwash]

He cast the black magic spell “Brainwash” on the contaminated creatures charging towards him, feeling confident that he could take control of them as he had done before.

His plan was to buy time by making them fight the contaminated creatures coming from the left and then rush to the center to chase Allister.

However, things didn’t go as planned.

The muscles of the contaminated creatures swelled up and their reasoning flew away at the timing of Oliver’s use of black magic.

Their eyes turned upside down, foam came out of their mouths, and all that was left was their instinct for destruction.

He could see that each contaminated creature was wearing a dog necklace mixed with drug cases and injections.

Oliver never thought he would be counterattacked like this.

He learned another valuable lesson.

‘What should I do now?’

Fortunately, thanks to the drugs that had removed any reasoning from the contaminated creatures, they began attacking each other, allowing Oliver to take advantage of the opportunity and run towards the creatures coming from the central passage.

Wearing his [Black suit], he was confident in his ability to endure most physical attacks and bacterial contamination.

However, he wondered why Allister had used drugs on his own creatures.

And his question was soon answered as a giant mole with a tentacle-like nose suddenly exploded from the central passage, as if Allister had already predicted Oliver’s plan.

“Ah!”

Oliver realized at that moment that there was a bomb attached to the mole’s body.

It wasn’t very powerful, but it was enough to collapse the old sewer ceiling.

Allister spoke aloud from among the sound of rumbling bricks and dirt.

[Blame your arrogance. Soon you too will go to the afterworld and meet your colleagues who would have died at my comrade’s hands.]

“Um… They’re strong people in their own way, so I don’t know about that.”

Oliver replied while using [Shadow tentacles].

The shadow tentacles stretched out in an instant and stopped the collapsing ceiling for a moment.

It was only a stopgap, but that was enough for Oliver in [Black suit].

BAM—!

Concentrating black magic energy on his legs, he kicked the floor, and at the same time, Oliver entered through the cracks held up by the shadow tentacles.

Behind him, scared and frantic contaminated creatures chased him, but when he released the shadow tentacles, they could not come out of the collapsed ceiling debris and could only be heard crying.

Wiiiiiiiiiii

Woowwwuuuuuu!

Garrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Gigigiiiiiiiii!

Perhaps the effects of the drug had not worn off yet, and the cries soon turned into the sound of fighting.

It was just a hunch, but it seemed like the contaminated creatures would soon perish after fighting among themselves.

However, Oliver knew that it was none of his concern.

‘Let’s focus on the job first.’

He concentrated energy on his eyes, narrowing his focus even more, and soon saw a very thin mana-filled spider web.

He wondered if there was a Wizard nearby, but it did not add up.

According to the data provided by Forrest, there were only about three people who could use magic, and none of them used it in this way.

‘More than anything, it’s not a web made of mana. It’s a web with mana.’

Feeling unsure, Oliver started walking forward, and every time he came into contact with the invisible spider webs, small amounts were smeared on his body.

It didn’t cause much damage to the black suit, but it accumulated in his body little by little.

Nevertheless, Oliver did not let his guard down, and secretly extracted the mana from his body as he moved forward.

PLOP.

PLOP.

PLOP.

PLOP.

PLOP.

As he walked on the wet floor, more webs accumulated on his body, and he was getting closer to Allister and Hewitt.

They didn’t run away, instead, they stood in place calmly, with a determined look on their faces, like hunters who had set a trap.

Oliver approached them, hoping that his predictions were correct.

And, after navigating through a maze-like path, Oliver reached the end.

Soon, at the end of the road, there were two men standing there.

“Are you Mr. Allister and Mr. Hewitt? I’m…”

“BURN IT!”

“Yes!”

A relatively old man shouted at a relatively young man.

The boy, who appeared to be in his mid-teens, lit the fire by pulling something like a stick.

Oliver’s shadow was swept away by the intense light and became smaller and smaller.

“Um…”

“Parker! Pull it!”

With those words, the spider webs on Oliver’s body became entwined like a rope and restrained Oliver in an instant.

SURRRRUUUU.

Oliver’s body in black suit floated in the air with the sound of a strong pull on the fabric, and his arms spread out.

“Well done, Parker!”

Oliver could see Parker hanging from the ceiling.

It was a person’s name, but the creature that appeared was not human.

It was a monster that couldn’t be defined by any particular species, it had the tail of a scorpion, raising and pulling out numerous spider threads and on the side of the tail there were five claws like a crab leg instead of front legs. No, it would be more like human hands. The claw-like fins attached to each leg were moving flexibly, spinning the thread.

Looking into Parker’s eyes, Oliver thought,

‘Chimera? Contaminated creature? Is it a combination of the two?’

He moved his body unconsciously, but the cleverly woven spider web restrained him like steel.

He tried hard, but the black suit was surprisingly unable to break the web.

It was a very strong spider web.

“Are you surprised?”

The orange curly-haired man gritted his teeth and asked. His emotions were radiant with exhilaration, joy, and contentment.

“Honestly… yes, I am,”

Oliver said heartily. To some extent, the existence of that spider and spider web was quite amazing.

To the point where he wanted to study it.

“Is it a contaminated creature? Or is it a chimera?”

“You wouldn’t know that. Although you are a talented Warlock with many skills, this creature is one that I raised since it was young, so your mind manipulation won’t work on it. Furthermore, your shadow can’t exert its power because of the light. You’re finished.”

As Alister finished speaking, the giant spider, which pulled out its web and controlled it with its claw hand to strengthen Oliver’s restraints, approached.

Grasping Oliver’s face with humanlike pincers, it tried to stab Oliver with the huge stinger protruding from his tail.

Allister, who was convinced of his victory, shouted excitedly.

“You can’t do anything with the emotions in your hands!”

“Um… It’s not an emotion.”

With those words, Oliver unleashed the mana in his hand, applied the magic formula, and activated the magic, magic suitable for use in damp sewers

[Freeze]

Intense cold air spread in all directions along with the chant, and froze the surroundings.

Spider webs that were as sticky as steel and tough as rubber were no exception, and those that lost their flexibility easily broke.

Cluk!

In the intense cold, the spider monster named Parker also fell into hibernation, squeezing its legs and arms, and falling to the floor.

‘I’m going to take that.’

“What have you done, you son of a…”

—BANG! BANG!

Oliver swung the quarterstaff at Allister and Hewitt and knocked them out.

As expected, their physical strength was not good, and they passed out with their eyes widened in one shot.

Oliver, who was looking at the fallen two people, said as if he remembered something.

“Ah… I was going to ask you why they were protecting Mr. Hewitt, but I forgot. Well, it doesn’t matter. Let’s finish the job first.”

With those words, Oliver took Allister, Hewitt, and Spider-monster Parker.