kscans

Chapter 114 - Infiltrating the Magic Furnace, The Mages Fall Asleep

The Magic Furnace was a round, cylindrical building.

Hidden in the shade of the trees, Leonhard and Darius peered at the grounds. Several mages floated in the air, keeping watch around the facility.

"…They’re really flying," Leonhard breathed, unable to help himself.

For an ordinary person, flight was something out of a storybook. The sight alone made him feel as if he had wandered into another world. The sense that he could never match them clung to his back like a feeling of powerlessness.

Neighboring countries had created flying machines with scientific technology. This country would make them lose control with its magic and bring them down.

The people before them were doing that on an individual level.

Darius smoothly extended a hand.

"I’ll disrupt their magic."

The next moment, Leonhard’s eyes widened. An immense amount of magic surged from Darius’s palm, vibrating the air as it spread toward the Magic Furnace.

"—Hh!" A sound almost escaped his lips. His mouth went dry with fear.

(Darius… Just who is he…!?)

"My family line has always had excessively strong magic. Of course, my older brother is stronger than me… and Ariel is even stronger than him," he stated nonchalantly. A cold sweat ran down Leonhard’s back as he wondered just who Ariel was.

The mages hit by the magic began to fly erratically, as if drunk. They bumped into walls, wavered, and eventually lost control and fell.

Ignoring the staggering mages, Darius floated a small Sleep Orb.

"…Hmph."

With that single breath, the orb shot forward like a bullet. The moment it hit, the mages collapsed powerlessly to the ground, one after another.

It was all over in a matter of minutes.

"…Exterior secured. Let’s capture them."

Leonhard and the others moved immediately, gathering the sleeping mages by the wall and restraining them with binding ropes.


According to the blueprints, the Magic Furnace was on the third floor. The control devices were also concentrated in the same location.

The first floor housed communication and conference rooms, the second was for lodging. And the third was the core.

First, secure Rainer. Next, seize control of the Magic Furnace.

"The entrance… is mana-authenticated. This is a problem." Even when they brought one of the sleeping mages over, there was no reaction.

"The only way is to break it down by force…"

Darius knit his brow at the suggestion. He made a small cut on the fingertip of a fallen mage and sent the floating blood scattering toward the door.

Kachan.

The lock released.

"…It reacted to the magic in the blood."

At this point, there were no words for Darius’s incredible display of power. He pushed the door open without hesitation, and the soldiers flooded in.

"First, secure the first floor!"

The corridor was pitch black, but with Night Vision Lenses, it was no problem. The unit split into two groups, clearing one room at a time.

However, there were still mages inside. They put them to sleep with Sleep Orbs and captured them without injury.

But, many of those who rushed out before the Sleep Orbs could be used had faces that still retained a youthful innocence. Some even looked to be in their early teens.

"Children…?"

Even so, they attacked with their lives on the line. They must have been ordered to. They tried to unleash merciless flames and muddy torrents inside the building.

"Kuh…!"

But because they were unskilled, their power was crude. Leonhard shook off his hesitation and knocked them unconscious with karate chops.

(Where did they get all these children…)

Even within the same organization, the Knight Order had no children like this. It was clear just how abnormal the Mage Order was.

By the time the two separated units regrouped, the first floor was completely secured. Moreover, there wasn't a single injury on their side. The ones on the first floor were an assembly of immature mages who could use magic but had no combat experience, merely flinging spells around.

Amidst a swirl of tension and impatience, the staircase leading to the second and third floors awaited them in the darkness ahead.