Chapter 63

<63. Recovery (2)>

As the sun disappeared beyond the horizon, Oliver sent a minion to secretly scout the magic liquor workshop, sharing its vision. The guards, bored, merely patrolled mechanically, and some who found even that troublesome drank or played card games. Forest’s words that they wouldn’t be a concern now made more sense than ever.

From time to time, old trucks, groaning as if on their last legs, carried away about twenty boxes presumed to be magic liquor, indicating a substantial production volume. Oliver, who had come to realize the need for money due to the black market, even found himself wondering about the price of a single box.

As time passed, and the reconnaissance was finally complete, the sun set completely, and darkness enveloped everything. Oliver stood up, took out a test tube from his pocket, and extracted an emotion. He then cast three black magic spells on himself:

[Eraser Exit]

[Shade Clock]

[Sneak Step]

These spells, which muffled his presence, hid him in the darkness, and eliminated his footsteps, would fool most people with this combination.

Not stopping there, Oliver cast Deep Sleep on his Quarterstaff, infusing it with a considerable amount of emotion for sustained effect, though it took some effort, he managed to do it without issues.

After completing his preparations, Oliver began to move slowly. Along the way, he released more minions, placing them at key points around the magic liquor workshop, just in case the target noticed and tried to escape, though the likelihood was low.

Oliver approached the workshop, hidden in the darkness. Focusing his vision slightly, he could see the emotions of the guards, who, despite a recent shift change, were as inattentive as during the day, their only desire being to return and indulge in their vices. This allowed Oliver to approach with relatively low stress, combining his mission with practice.

Thud, thud. Someone approached from Oliver’s direction. A guard on patrol, Oliver pressed himself against the shadowy wall of an alley, regulating his breathing. Calmly...

After a moment, the footsteps drew near, and the guard appeared, completely unaware of Oliver right in front of him, turning in the opposite direction. It was strange how even with Eraser Exit and Shade Clock, the guard didn’t notice him, perhaps this combination was even more effective than Oliver thought.

Maintaining his composure, Oliver raised his Quarterstaff and tapped the guard’s back. The Deep Sleep within the Quarterstaff entered the guard’s body, and he collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

Thud—

Oliver quickly caught the falling guard. Any noise could alert the other guards nearby, potentially ruining everything. Carrying the sleeping guard, Oliver took him to a spot he had marked earlier and laid him down. It was a dirty, neglected area that the guards rarely patrolled, so no one would likely find him here.

‘Hmm...’

Oliver looked at the fallen guard, thinking.

What to do. He probably wouldn’t wake up until sunrise, but just in case, it might be better to kill him. But killing someone already subdued felt wrong, not so much for moral reasons but because of Cant’s words.

‘Violence and murder are inevitable in this line of work. But please, don’t abuse it and stay within reasonable limits. This is a personal request.’

‘Hmm...’

Oliver groaned, reconsidering what those limits were. At the time, he had just nodded, but now, it seemed a very ambiguous issue. If only he had asked for a more specific definition of those limits.

Of course, he could ignore Cant’s advice, but that felt wrong. Ignoring Cant’s request left a bad taste in his mouth. So, Oliver came up with a neutral solution: extracting some of the guard’s life force. This would make it less likely for him to wake up early, and if he did, he would be too weak to move properly, thus not interfering with Oliver’s mission. It was a good plan, achieving safety and fulfilling Cant’s request, plus getting free life force. A win-win-win.

After filling a used test tube with life force, Oliver moved on. The guards usually patrolled in groups of one or two, without a fixed pattern, making it easy to take them down one by one. Oliver circled the area, hiding in the darkness when the guards passed, and used his Quarterstaff to put them to sleep, then carried them to secluded spots and extracted some of their life force. This allowed him to fill the test tubes with life force.

‘Hmm... I can continue to acquire life force and emotions this way. Not bad.’

Oliver thought this as he smoothly took down over a dozen guards.

However, it didn’t last long. As the number of missing guards increased, the remaining guards began to notice something was wrong.

“Hey, where are all the guys who went on patrol?”

“Don’t know, why are you asking me!”

“Well, you’re the only one I can ask... Hey, over there?”

“Something’s wrong? Damn, the guys on patrol are all gone on this side too.”

“Damn, really... What’s going on?”

Oliver inwardly sighed. Stupid. He had been too complacent, fascinated by the new method and the free life force. He should have reduced the numbers faster, but he got distracted, and now the enemies were on alert.

It wasn’t a major issue, but the disappointment of not achieving his goal was palpable.

‘No, no.’

Shaking his head, Oliver refocused. He remembered Cant’s advice: don’t get stuck on failure during a mission. In this line of work, things rarely go as planned. Clients lie, partners make mistakes, or sheer bad luck can ruin everything. This time, it was Oliver’s mistake, but the key was to recover and adapt.

So, Oliver focused his vision to check if the target was trying to escape and to locate the guards.

“...Huh?”

Oliver gasped as he saw something approaching quickly. A massive figure burst through the wall and attacked.

Boom!

Fortunately, Oliver quickly cast Black Shield to avoid direct impact, but the force pushed him backward. And that wasn’t the end.

[Hay Bullet] x 12

Amid the dust from the broken wall, twelve hate bullets flew rapidly.

Click, click

Oliver, using his Quarterstaff to cast Black Shield, deflected the hate bullets, which shook the shield but didn’t break it.

“Great! This guy’s a ranged specialist! Keep pushing!”

As the dust cleared, something emerged. A monstrous figure with a chain around its neck, it was huge, and Oliver recognized the face. The third person in the photo Forest showed him: Fighter Crew’s Mutant Big Jaw. In person, he was even larger and more muscular than in the photo, with a deformed, large jaw and fangs that made him seem more beast than man.

“Bite him! Big Jaw! Bite!”

Nico, the black mage riding on Big Jaw, shouted. Oliver considered dodging, but it was a close call with his reflexes. Even if he dodged, Nico would attack from above. So, he chose another option: swinging his Quarterstaff to release the Deep Sleep inside.

“...!”

“Cough...?”

True to the organization’s name, Nico reacted quickly, jumping off Big Jaw. This allowed him to avoid the Deep Sleep, which only affected Big Jaw, but that was enough for Oliver. Removing the large, advancing threat was sufficient.

Just as Oliver was about to finish Nico with a barrage of gunfire, a third voice interrupted.

“There he is!”

“Shoot! Fire!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Suddenly, more guards appeared and fired at Oliver. He quickly cast Black Shield and returned fire with Hay Bullet.

“Ah!”

“Hide! Hide!”

The guards scattered. Then, more hate bullets flew from the side.

“Damn...”

Oliver cast Black Shield again to block the incoming attacks, and the guards continued to fire persistently. It was a clumsy coordinated attack but quite annoying, and somewhat interesting. Individually, they weren’t much of a threat, but together, they were quite troublesome. It reminded him of his fight with the puppeteer, and perhaps he could use this tactic later.

Then, something burst through the guards and approached Oliver, ignoring the gunfire and hate bullets, and swung a fierce punch.

Crack!

Oliver saw it. A single punch that cracked his Black Shield.

“Hmm... Pretty tough?”

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

The figure, the Knuckle Crew member Forest described, had completed doping with black magic and swung his gloved fists relentlessly. The distant attacks stopped, acknowledging his skill, and the Knuckle Crew continued to swing punches with lethal intent.

Crack... Crack!

Finally, the continuous punches broke the Black Shield. It seemed the shield was weak against close-range attacks, or close-range attacks were generally more powerful.

Oliver instinctively stepped back. Then, something grabbed him.

“I won’t let you go.”

The Knuckle Crew member, with a buzz cut, glared at him. His eyes suggested he had killed many people.

“Minion.”

“...?”

At Oliver’s command, a hidden minion emerged and opened its mouth, releasing a shockwave.

Thrust. A black magic spell to push or destroy enemies.

The Knuckle Crew member wasn’t seriously injured but was pushed far away, and the guards were indirectly affected.

Nico tried to attack Oliver with Hay Bullet, but Oliver was faster this time.

[Lust Boom] x 5

He detonated anger bombs, raising a cloud of dust.

“What?!”

“Where is he?!!”

“Damn, we lost him!”

Oliver, fleeing, had many thoughts. Like with the puppeteer, he realized black mages fought in various ways. Some used puppets to fight from a safe distance, others controlled multiple puppets to perform feats impossible alone, and some, like now, combined their strengths to cover each other’s weaknesses and maximize their strengths.

It was bewildering but a fun experience. He now understood, beyond theory, why Cant emphasized learning diverse combat styles. If the Knuckle Crew member, Nico, and Big Jaw had been slightly better, Oliver might have been overwhelmed before he could use his skills. For example, if Big Jaw had bitten immediately, or Nico had used a powerful ranged black magic to break the shield, or the Knuckle Crew member had shattered the shield with a single punch, hitting Oliver.

This was a stroke of luck for Oliver. The vague reason for learning various combat styles became clear. It was essential to survive in the black market and beyond.

Stopping, Oliver turned to look back at the direction he had fled. The guards, confused by the dust, couldn’t catch up quickly. In the meantime, Oliver took out two test tubes. One contained emotions, the other life force. He had extracted them just in case, and now they were useful.

[Black Suit ver. 2]