Chapter 72

<72. Ambush (2)>

"Someone is coming."

At those words, Murphy instinctively sensed something was wrong and signaled his subordinates.

Thanks to the fact that many of them were former combat veterans, they moved in unison with just a light hand gesture, spreading alert signals around as if they had been trained.

"Red alert! Red alert! Everyone to your positions!"

The sound of running and the sound of loading guns echoed from all around.

Murphy, despite being the leader, also took off his jacket and picked up the knife and pistol in his coat.

His armament was relatively simple, but considering his physical abilities, it was enough.

As a modified human, he possessed physical abilities far beyond those of an ordinary person. However, he did not let his guard down.

As if he knew that there were many strong people in the world.

"Who is coming, sir?"

"Wait a moment."

Oliver focused his attention on his closed eye.

He had placed minions around the warehouse at intervals of a few hundred meters, and those minions had detected something.

Oliver synchronized his vision with the minion that sent the signal and kept checking what was around.

It was late at night, so there weren't as many people around as during the day, but even so, he could see workers sleeping in the corners of the factory, vagrants, and beggars.

"No, no, it's not that person... Ah!"

Oliver saw something. Someone was quickly moving toward them, climbing the buildings around the warehouse.

Surprisingly, it was just one person, and he was emitting a powerful magical force like lightning.

Oliver had seen such a form of magical force before.

The lightning mage who attacked Wainham.

It was very similar, and this person had come to attack the place with malicious intent.

However, surprisingly, he felt no tension or fear, even though he was about to fight the gang.

On the contrary, he was enjoying it, like a child going on a picnic.

Beneath that joyful emotion was an indescribable, boundless confidence, an abnormal level of self-assurance.

"There's one intruder. A mage."

"A mage?! Just one?"

Murphy asked in surprise.

While a mage is a threatening presence, it was strange that he came alone.

"What is it? Did he come to rescue Hubert? Or does he plan to destroy everything?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Huh?"

"Though I'm not sure, from the amount of magical power, it doesn't seem like he came to destroy this large warehouse. It's a bit risky, but even if he did, I think I can do something while he gathers his magical power. I've placed a few test tubes there, so don't worry too much."

"......"

Murphy looked at Oliver with a surprised expression. Oliver, seeing this, asked,

"......? Did I make a mistake?"

"No, no... Then what should we do?"

"I'm not sure. This is only my second time fighting a mage... Huh?"

Oliver made a sound again.

His emotions had suddenly increased.

The mage who had climbed the building was alone, but when he took out a magic-infused item and activated it, magical power suddenly condensed in the air, and more mages appeared.

"The number of mages has increased. Three of them."

"Huh?!"

"They appeared in the air after activating some kind of magic tool. Do you know what it is?"

"In the air...? It must be the Spatial School. Damn! Why are they here...?"

"Trouble..."

"Why...?"

Murphy asked urgently, but Oliver couldn't answer.

The situation was urgent because one of the mages suddenly spread magical threads around the warehouse.

It didn't cause direct damage, but the fine magical threads disappeared upon contact with the building and obstacles, and in the process, the information was passed to the mage.

It was quite surprising. He had thought magical power was just a kind of explosive, but it could be used in such a way.

However, the admiration was short-lived.

As soon as the mage understood the layout and the number of people in the warehouse, he began to condense magical power in his hand.

The amount was considerable, and it was quite dangerous.

Oliver had seen such a form of magical power before.

'Magic Missile...'

"An attack is coming."

"Everyone, take cover! The enemy is attacking!"

Murphy shouted, but honestly, it was meaningless. When he saw the condensed magical power, it was clear that it was a kind of bomb.

Walls or boxes were not enough to block it.

Is he really planning to blow this place up?

At that moment, the magical power changed.

It was difficult for Oliver, who hadn't received specialized training, to describe, but if he had to, the condensed magical power had split into dozens of parts.

The large projectile had turned into smaller bullets, and at that moment, the mage used another spell.

He targeted the point where the Magic Missiles were fired.

It was similar to Oliver's targeting, but while Oliver targeted people directly, the mage targeted the coordinates of people's positions.

He wondered if it was necessary.

"...Isn't it inefficient?"

"Huh? Rather, you should hide somewhere, sir..."

"It's fine. I can block it."

"......?"

Murphy's response came as a mage a few hundred meters away on a building fired Magic Missiles.

Unlike the Magic Missiles he had seen before, they didn't have a bright color, making it difficult to see where they were being fired, but fortunately, this wasn't a big problem.

The enemy mage had already revealed where he would fire.

*Clack* *Clack* [Black Shield]

Striking the ground with his quarterstaff, the test tubes planted around the building reacted to the black magic array and released their emotions.

Then, according to Oliver's will, they turned into a black barrier, efficiently blocking all the incoming Magic Missiles.

*Boom* *Bang* *Crash* *Boom* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam* *Bam*