Chapter 30. Second Exemption Mission (4)
Tentacles, writhing like bizarre creatures, surged forward.
Dark blue mana swiftly slashed through their path.
An alleyway shrouded in the night's darkness.
The attacks of the two figures crossing the dark path clashed violently, colliding continuously.
‘He’s not an opponent I can’t beat.’
Enoch calmly assessed his opponent while moving his sword.
The tentacle man fought in a considerably grotesque style, just as he looked.
‘Surprisingly tricky.’
Even if I dodged one attack, second and third tentacles aimed for openings from blind spots.
I only had one sword.
Compared to that, his fighting style was quite unfair.
[─He was quite renowned even among the Empire's mages who primarily focused on close combat in the past.]
Experiencing it firsthand, I understood why Omen had said that.
Woong.
Just as Enoch cut down one tentacle, beyond his vision, a line of mana was drawn above his head again.
A premonition of attack felt through the ‘Sense of Mana’.
Enoch reacted instantly.
Kuuuuung!
The moment he threw his body sideways, a huge tentacle slammed down, shattering the road where he had stood just moments before.
Asphalt fragments exploded in all directions right before his eyes.
Shrapnel grazed past Enoch’s eyes.
His eyes narrowed for a moment.
-An opening.
Without missing that momentary gap.
He immediately spun the sword in his hand, gripping it in reverse, and stabbed downwards, piercing the tentacle into the ground.
Chwaaaak!
Blood spurted from the tentacle pierced by the sword.
But the tentacle man shouted triumphantly.
“Got you!”
The next moment, Enoch realized his sword, having pierced the tentacle, wouldn't move.
Looking closely, the tentacle impaled on the blade was regenerating and gripping the sword's body with muscle power.
An astonishingly fast regeneration speed.
Swaeeeeek─!
Just then, beside Enoch whose sword was immobilized.
Another tentacle rapidly rushed in.
Without a shred of hesitation, Enoch used the fixed sword as a pivot, launching his entire body into a large spin.
Spin.
He lifted both legs high in the air like an acrobat. Simultaneously deploying the sword’s mana to his limbs, igniting it.
He kicked the tentacle man squarely in the chest with both feet.
Kwaaaaang─!
The force of the kick, enhanced by the recoil of Form 1, Explosive Sword, exploded throughout the man's body.
A dull impact sound that pressed on the eardrums erupted.
Instantly, the man’s tentacle, which had been gripping the sword blade purely with muscle strength, was torn vertically wide open.
Hit squarely by the counterattack, the man was flung violently into the corner of the street and crashed.
Kuuuung!
With a roar, part of the building's outer wall collapsed, and dust erupted like an explosion along with the debris.
-Application of the Sword Form.
The explosive acceleration surpassing human limits allowed for applications like this, not just mobility.
It must have been a considerable shock.
However, from within the dust cloud where the man had crashed, the tentacle man's surprisingly composed voice was heard.
“…A physical enhancement type magic? The proficiency is astounding.”
Instead of answering, Enoch flicked his freed sword once, shaking off the tentacle's blood and flesh stuck to it, and glanced back at the spot where the man had crashed.
Amidst the billowing clouds of dust.
The tentacle man was visible, cracking his neck nonchalantly.
He was grinning creepily.
Perhaps in the brief moment of hitting the wall, he had nullified the impact with magic or tentacles. The tentacle man slowly got up and continued speaking, seemingly amused.
“But you, something’s strange about you?”
The man checked his rapidly regenerating tentacle by moving it once and said.
“You seem like a mage specializing in close combat, yet you don’t even use the minimal magic for body protection. Fighting relying solely on pure reaction speed and kinetic vision. I’ve never seen such a crazy bastard.”
Seeing him run his mouth with pointless nonchalance, he probably thought he had the leeway to to taunt Enoch.
Enoch silently readjusted his grip on the sword, observing the sight of the man's tentacles regenerating rapidly.
‘Regeneration is considerably fast.’
Even if I cut off one tentacle, second and third tentacles step in to respond.
In the meantime, the attacked entity regenerates and attacks again.
There was no end in sight this way.
‘Ultimately, I have to eliminate all those tentacles in one strike to aim for the main body.’
A tricky condition.
But there was no reason he couldn't do it.
First, the open area was advantageous to the man.
In that case─
Enoch started running sideways again, cutting down the tentacles the man began extending.
Simultaneously, the tentacle man pursued him vigorously.
“─Are you running away!”
Enoch sprinted, dodging and cutting the tentacles flying consecutively through the air.
His eyes calmly scanned the surroundings.
‘I learned something from the battle with Lien at the banquet hall last time.’
A confined combat space restricts mobility and range of action.
Of course, the same should apply to the opponent.
‘Even those huge, numerous tentacles will have simpler movements in a narrow space.’
Of course, unlike Lien, he couldn't create a confined space using wires.
‘Then I just need to use the terrain.’
Immediately after making the decision.
Enoch changed direction instantly, cutting down the charging tentacles and moving away from the open city street.
Naturally sprinting, he entered the alley between buildings.
A long, complex terrain unfolded before his eyes.
A narrow path littered with numerous obstacles like old wooden boxes and external building fixtures.
However, Enoch didn't slow down his sprint, vaulting over structures acrobatically, quickly traversing the path.
Leading the opponent just like that.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
The tentacle man shouted triumphantly and pursued.
As expected, the opponent, thinking he had gained momentum, chased after him fiercely.
Glancing back at that, Enoch’s eyes narrowed.
‘Good, follow me.’
Enoch agilely dodged among the flying tentacles, swiftly crossing the narrow path.
Seeing this, the opponent extended a tentacle upwards this time.
Whoosh!
The man grabbed onto the external structures of the alley buildings lining both sides with his tentacles and launched himself.
Continuously grabbing and leaping off the upper railings and structures of the buildings with his tentacles, he pursued Enoch from the air at terrifying speed.
The tentacle man closed the distance from behind in an instant.
Kuuuuung!
He launched himself and landed in front of Enoch.
Then, he immediately tore off a large metal pipe from the adjacent building with a tentacle and swung it violently.
Whooong!
A powerful attack that would render one combat-ineffective if hit.
But Enoch, while running, pulled one leg back into a long slide, dodging the blow.
Simultaneously, maintaining his sprinting speed, he kicked off the alley wall, rapidly changing his direction of movement.
─Skak!
The sword aimed at the man’s opening pierced through space.
But before the sword could reach.
Another tentacle flew in from the side.
“……!”
He hastily changed the sword's trajectory, cutting down the tentacle aiming for him instead.
However, a momentarily faltered offense was fatal.
Immediately seizing the initiative, other tentacles relentlessly assaulted Enoch from all sides.
Enoch quickly launched himself into the air, pushed off one of the incoming tentacles to create distance first.
Taak─
Enoch instantly moved out of attack range and landed.
Seeing this, the tentacle man, having retrieved his tentacles for a moment, spoke in a relaxed tone.
“You must have realized by now, kid. There’s such a thing as compatibility in battles between mages.”
As if flaunting his difference in power.
He spread out all his tentacles at once.
Amidst the writhing tentacles that filled the alley sky, the man laughed contemptuously.
“From the looks of it, all you know is swinging a sword. Even if you can enhance movement and reaction speed with magic, if that’s all you can show in close combat… you can’t break through this endlessly regenerating guy.”
“Ah, is that so.”
Enoch looked at him for a moment with eyes full of pity.
Truly living up to the magic-supremacist Empire, associating every little thing with magic.
However, the tentacle man paid no heed and continued speaking, his eyes gleaming in the darkness.
“The outcome is already decided. But I’ll let you live if you answer obediently. How did you find this place?”
Instead of answering, Enoch raised his sword before his eyes and assumed his stance again.
His dark blue eyes shone coldly in the darkness.
“Your tongue is as long as your tentacles.”
“Right. I thought as much.”
The tentacle man’s expression contorted as he thrust out a single tentacle like a stab.
A tentacle movement aimed at taking a life.
Enoch immediately used a box piled in the alley as a foothold, kicking off with his legs to launch himself into the air.
Whirik!
Instantly, his body rotated horizontally in mid-air.
A tentacle grazed past behind him in that moment.
Enoch turned his body and landed on the massive tentacle that had passed behind him. He then quickly sprinted along that tentacle, approached the man, and swung his sword.
“Not a chance!”
The tentacle man reacted by retracting the tentacle Enoch used as a foothold. Simultaneously, he constructed a thick wall with his tentacles.
Kaaaang!
The sword Enoch swung failed to penetrate the tentacle wall and bounced off to the side.
Enoch, having lost his foothold tentacle, fell to the ground, rolled once to land.
However, the moment he righted his posture again, Enoch was left defenselessly exposed to the opponent's attack.
Instantly, the tentacle man laughed savagely and shouted.
“This is the end!”
As he let out a confident shout, he launched himself high in the narrow alleyway and thrust out all his tentacles simultaneously to ensure the finish.
Countless tentacles rained down on Enoch.
─But the man didn't know.
The reason Enoch deliberately lured him into such an alleyway.
The reason he intentionally launched ineffective attacks in the confined space, giving the man the confidence that he had seized victory.
‘Hooked.’
As soon as Enoch confirmed the man was attacking with all his tentacles, he kicked off the ground and launched himself.
Taaang!
Mana instantly erupted from the sword blade in a single burst.
In mid-air, Enoch’s dark blue sword, glowing with mana, rotated, drawing a huge diagonal line.
─Twirl
The dark blue trajectory trailed a long tail in the air, etching a vibrant circular dance.
Form 2, Fire Wheel.
A dark blue sun unfolding in the darkness of the air.
A sword of transcendent meaning meant to face multiple enemies simultaneously.
Three swift rotating slashes instantly butchered all the tentacles the man wielded into dozens of pieces, creating a blood spray that exploded in all directions.
“……!”
In that fleeting moment, Enoch's and the man’s gazes met in mid-air.
The man’s eyes were wide open as if unable to believe what had just happened.
Because his tentacles were so long and numerous, just three slashes severed countless parts at once.
The tentacles, fragmented into massive chunks of flesh, burst apart in all directions, completely detached from their master.
Kuuuung!
Having lost all his tentacles in one blow, the man couldn't even land properly and crashed straight onto the ground.
“This…!”
His eyes, as he lifted his head, were filled with horror.
Behind his back, the severed ends of the tentacles wriggled, somehow trying to regenerate quickly.
Step.
However, Enoch was already walking slowly towards him, his sword lowered before his eyes.
“Did you say something about compatibility?”
Enoch stepped on the fallen man's chest, pressing down, and pointed the tip of his sword at the man.
The sword once used by the ‘Empire's Last Sword Saint’, who sought to cut down mages.
The one-handed sword inherited by him across countless ages.
Its blade gleamed sharply in the darkness.
Enoch slowly raised the sword above his head and added curtly to the man lying on the ground.
“Seems like it.”
```