Chapter 144: Chapter 144

Karnak’s group encountered a huge ogre, standing 3 meters tall, for the second time in the Great Forest.

“Roarrr!”

A deafening roar reverberated through the air, making the birds flee and the branches tremble.

Laven, pale-faced, drew his sword.

“Damn it! Why did it have to be a monster like that?”

The ogre was wielding a massive wooden club nearly 2 meters long. Even a mere brush from it would surely mean instant death.

“Quick, form up!”

When facing a giant monster, there is a somewhat standardized formation.

The strongest warrior, Baros, takes the front, followed by the second strongest, Serati, in the rear. Laficel and Laven stay on the sides, providing support and protecting Karnak and Millia.

In this formation, they face the giant creature with the assistance of the mage and the cleric.

This is how they treat a formidable foe like this higher-ranked ogre.

However, Karnak’s group was far from conventional.

“Oh, I’ll take care of this one,” Karnak said, stepping forward alone and raising his magic wand.

Instead of forming a formation, the others simply stepped back.

“I’ve advanced a level, so it’s time for some practical training.”

First, he cast a suitable spell to grab the ogre’s attention.

“Explosion.”

The ogre’s head exploded in a burst of flames.

Enraged, the huge ogre charged towards Karnak with a thunderous roar.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The ground trembled slightly under the ogre’s massive weight as it ran.

Karnak chuckled.

“Well, that makes things easier.”

Thanks to the ogre’s stomping, the ground had been shaken, making it easier for Karnak’s magic to take hold.

He pointed his wand to the ground and began chanting.

“Arise and bind, Earthquake Hand!”

Suddenly, mounds of earth shot up from the ground, transforming into dozens of grasping hands.

The rocky hands tightly gripped the huge ogre’s legs.

“Grr?”

The ogre, caught off guard, swung its club furiously at the stone hands.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Laven, watching, was amazed.

‘Is there such an earth magic spell?’

Karnak’s magic was unique.

Normally, Earthquake Hand would summon a single large hand of stone to grab the target.

But Karnak’s version was different.

He summoned dozens of small hands of stone, intertwining to bind the target. It was something Laven had never seen before.

‘No, it seems oddly familiar.’

Somehow, the appearance of the hands reminded him of something unsettlingly familiar.

‘Could it be my imagination, or do they resemble the grasping hands that necromancers use?’

Regardless, the spell was certainly effective.

The ogre, its legs bound, growled in frustration at Karnak.

“Grrr!”

Karnak, unbothered, calmly prepared his next powerful spell.

“O King of Flame, I summon thee by our contract…”

Flames ignited in the air, gradually forming into a humanoid shape.

“Descend upon this place by my will!”

Whooosh!

The flames fully took shape.

A giant clad in fire armor, wielding a flaming sword, materialized in the physical world.

This was the fire spirit giant, El Ragnatia.

‘That’s a 7th-circle spell!’

Laven’s eyes widened in shock.

‘He said he was a 6th-circle mage? But at such a young age, he’s already in the 7th circle?’

Even for a prodigy, it was common knowledge that one had to be at least in their 40s to reach the 7th circle.

Yet, no matter how he looked at Karnak, he appeared to be in his early 20s.

“Well, that hard work paid off,” Karnak said, smiling, as he gave the command.

“Go, El Ragnatia.”

The giant of flame charged towards the ogre.

Standing over 4 meters tall, the fire giant loomed over the 3-meter-tall huge ogre.

Seeing a creature larger than itself for the first time, the ogre screamed and charged in desperation.

“Grr, GRAAAHH!”

The fire giant, radiating intense heat, swung its flaming sword downward.

Boom!

As the two giants clashed, waves of intense heat spread in all directions.

***

At the heart of the forest, where the huge ogre and the fire giant had collided, the surroundings had turned into a scene of massive destruction.

Sunlight poured down onto the ground through the shattered canopy of trees.

The trees nearby had been reduced to smoldering stumps, and even the massive ancient trees, which hadn’t seen sunlight in centuries, were split and burning.

Laven glanced around at the destruction and clicked his tongue.

“The power is overwhelming…”

Despite using such a large-scale magic spell, Karnak didn’t seem the least bit tired. He inspected the fallen huge ogre, murmuring casually.

“Alright, spirit magic seems pretty useful.”

Millia, impressed, asked, “When did you reach the 7th circle?”

Karnak shrugged.

“Not long ago. I’ve only just entered it, so it feels a bit embarrassing to call myself a 7th-circle mage.”

“Still, 7th-circle is 7th-circle. And on top of that, spirit magic…”

Her admiration was justified.

Spirit magic was incredibly powerful.

Not only was its offensive capability remarkable, but it also required less mental energy, allowing the summoned spirit to act autonomously, making it much more effective than other magic of the same tier if used correctly.

However, it was also an extremely difficult magic to use.

The difficulty wasn’t just in the complexity of the magic itself.

There was no guarantee that the summoned spirit would obey commands!

Depending on the mage’s condition that day, the spirit might be tremendously powerful one moment and the next moment, it might send out a tiny flame and disappear. In the worst-case scenario, the spirit wouldn’t even answer the summons.

Thus, the effectiveness of spirit magic depended greatly on how well one could maintain a good relationship with the summoned spirits.

This ability was called “spirit affinity” in the field of magic.

“As expected of Captain Karnak. I’ve heard only upright and pure-hearted people have high spirit affinity.”

Karnak scratched the back of his head and waved dismissively.

“Oh, it’s not that big a deal. It just happened by chance.”

Laven silently admired him.

‘How humble.’

It made sense now. Someone with such a personality would naturally earn the favor of even the most difficult spirits.

Meanwhile, Baros and Serati looked at each other with skeptical expressions.

[Upright and pure-hearted?]

[Young master?]

[What did you do?]

[Oh, nothing much.]

Feeling frustrated that he couldn’t boast in front of Millia, Karnak began bragging through secret telepathy.

[I just applied the necromantic technique for controlling wraiths.]

First, when summoning a spirit, he poured in twice the usual amount of mana. This greed for power attracted the spirits.

However, in this scenario, the spirits would often take the mana and run away.

[So I cast a bewitching spell to forcibly control them! Once they’re under the spell, they all behave like wraiths.]

[Wait, can you really do that?]

[I can. Because I’m me.]

Serati, still doubtful, chimed in.

[But once you summon a spirit like that, won’t it refuse to answer your summons again?]

[That’s why I erased its memory before sending it back.]

And so, when he summoned the spirit again, it would behave obediently once more.

[Can you really get away with that?]

[Like I said, I can. Because I’m me.]

Karnak remained smug.

Regardless, his spirit magic was undeniably powerful. Laven, watching from the side, felt a pang of inadequacy.

‘How can these people be so strong?’

It wasn’t just Karnak. Baros and Serati were also incomprehensibly powerful.

He had expected them to be strong, as high-ranking mages and aura users, but their power seemed to defy common sense.

‘Especially Sir Baros. He seems stronger than my older brother Emile.’

At 23, Emile Strauss was acknowledged as a genius.

Despite his youth, he had already reached the level of a Blue Knight, and in a short duel, he could even rival a Purple Knight.

With more experience, it was widely believed that Emile would one day become the Martial King.

So why did Baros, still classified as only a Red Knight and seemingly not much older than Emile, seem stronger?

Curious, Laven cautiously asked.

“If it’s not too rude, may I ask your age?”

“Me? I’m 25 this year,” Serati answered without much thought.

“I think I’m 21 now?”

“I’m 22. Yeah, that sounds right.”

When Karnak and Baros answered, Serati was shocked.

“Wait, am I the oldest here?”

The youthful “old-timers” nodded their heads.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Seems like it.”

Indeed, despite their wisdom and strength, these people were in their early 20s in terms of physical age.

Laven, at 20, and Laficel and Millia were even younger.

‘Why do I suddenly feel so wronged?’

[What’s wrong?]

Serati glared at Karnak, who seemed puzzled.

[I suddenly feel like I’ve aged.]

Of course, there was no way a 25-year-old woman would have wrinkles. It was just a figure of speech.

But Karnak took it seriously.

[Are you worried about skincare? I can regenerate your skin if you’d like?]

For a moment, Serati’s eyes gleamed dangerously.

[You can regenerate skin?]

[If I can regenerate limbs, why not skin? Though, it only works on my subjects.]

[Oh my, being one of your subjects doesn’t sound so bad?]

[…..Hey, Serati. Your eyes are scaring me.]

Seeing her sudden transformation, Karnak shivered slightly.

[If I ever fall to the dark side, you’re supposed to stop me. What if you fall first?]

[Well, if my skin can go back to looking like I’m in my teens!]

As the two of them bantered and stared each other down, Baros chuckled and turned to Laven.

“But why are you curious about our ages?”

Laven scratched his head awkwardly.

“It’s nothing much. It’s just that Sir Baros seems stronger than my older brother Emile…”

Of course, he was right.

Considering Baros’s experience, defeating someone of Emile’s level wouldn’t be difficult, even if his aura reserves were relatively low.

But Laven didn’t know this.

Even so, just from watching Baros’s less-than-full-powered combat, he had judged him to be stronger than Emile, a Blue Knight.

‘As expected of Sir Laven. His natural instincts are nothing to scoff at.’

***

The group encountered several more monsters along the way. Naturally, they dispatched them without much trouble.

Eventually, night fell.

Karnak’s party found a relatively safe place to set up camp.

As they settled down and ate, Laven quietly approached Laficel and asked,

“Excuse me, but what school of swordsmanship is that from?”

This was in reference to the battle earlier when they had encountered a group of harpies.

There was a specific sword technique that Laficel had used which stuck in Laven’s mind.

She had dropped her sword low and performed two consecutive upward strikes. For some reason, it gnawed at him until he could no longer resist asking.

“Oh, this?”

Laficel demonstrated the move again before answering.

“It’s a technique Lord Karnak has been practicing. He calls it ‘Overkill.'”

Impressed, Laven glanced at Karnak.

“He is a mage, but he practices swordsmanship as well?”

“Nah, just as a form of exercise…”

Indeed, from what Laven could tell, Karnak’s sword skills were quite average.

Satisfied, he turned back to Laficel.

“May I observe it again?”

Laficel thought for a moment.

This Laven guy had taught her some sword techniques (or so she believed, though in truth, she had just copied him). She thought it was only fair to reciprocate.

“Sure!”

Once again, she demonstrated ‘Overkill.’

Laven, his eyes sparkling with interest, imitated the technique.

His keen eye for detail was remarkable. He nearly replicated it perfectly after just one demonstration.

Watching this, Baros muttered in disbelief.

[The creator of ‘Overkill’ is learning it from someone else. Is this okay?]

[Yeah, no kidding.]

Karnak, who had been laughing along, suddenly turned serious.

[Wait, Laven just learned ‘Overkill’ from Laficel, right?]

A question arose.

[Then who created the sword technique ‘Overkill’?]

[Well, Sir Laven did, of course.]

[But the creator didn’t create it himself. He learned it from someone else. So, doesn’t that mean Laven didn’t actually create it?]

[Huh. You’re right.]

Furrowing his brow, Karnak began to ponder.

[So, what happens now?]

The fact that Laven had created ‘Overkill’ had seemingly vanished.

And yet, the technique still existed.

‘Is this a case of something being born out of nothing?’