Too strong

Too strong

To unravel a complex intertwined structure, there is one precaution.

It’s setting the order of what to do first and following it.

If you do just this, you can solve most things without much difficulty.

As I recalled this, I was unraveling the magic formulas of the illusion maze.

A mocking voice is heard from the front.

“Do you think someone like you can unravel the magic that has been created for thousands of years?”

I’m not sure if it’s because he’s been hit by me consecutively, or if he’s saying this out of pride in his magic.

‘One thing is certain.’

There was no magical formula that I couldn’t unravel.

As I was analyzing this while blocking the pouring magic using the bishop, around that time.

The bright voice is heard from above.

“Got you.”

With that brief word, the ground I was standing on turns into the mouth of a giant monster, trying to swallow me.

I find it somewhat amusing that the area affected by my mana is also changing, and as I confirm this.

I slowly smile and tell her.

“I understand everything now.”

“… What? You’re struggling to survive as you’re about to die! How can someone who doesn’t even know the principles, let alone understand…”

As I hear that voice shouting desperately, I use the magic she had used earlier in reverse.

“Illusion Maze.”

With those words, the monster’s mouth that had appeared beneath me disappears.

Instead, numerous monster mouths appear where she is, trying to grab and devour her.

I look at her and explain the principle of this magic.

“For something called an Illusion Maze… the illusion wasn’t that important in this magic.”

“……!”

I let out a hollow laugh as I watch her shocked expression.

“The illusion magic is just the outer shell. In reality, it would be more accurate to see it as a large-scale teleportation magic circle that applies teleportation magic.”

“You, how did you…!”

“I told you, didn’t I? That I would analyze it.”

As I sneer.

I slowly wave my hand and start to counterattack, lost in thought.

‘It really is a maze-like magic, just as the name suggests.’

The structure of this magic is simpler than expected.

The part that is shot at the enemy is an ‘illusion’.

The magic formula works by using teleportation magic to instantly insert the real magic into the enemy the moment the illusion touches them.

‘It’s a dirty, crude, and stupidly foolish thing to do.’

If the caster’s mana or magical energy is enormous, and they have practiced this technique for a long time to maximize its efficiency.

I smiled, thinking that it would certainly show great effectiveness.

‘Its efficiency would vary depending on how it’s used.’

That guy, despite having practiced this magic for a long time, hasn’t perfected his proficiency.

It’s disappointing that there’s no sense of having pushed this magic to its limits.

I imitated that guy’s illusion maze magic and said.

“And rather than using magic like that, it’s better to use it like this.”

The advantage of illusion magic is to deceive the opponent into thinking ‘the magic is real’ while using little mana.

In other words, because it specializes in deception.

The purpose was to make the opponent ‘waste’ the mana they use to respond when they are captivated by my illusion magic.

‘So if you’re going to use this illusion maze magic.’

Instead of using it like that guy did earlier.

The most ideal method was to mix ‘fake and real’ magic and shoot it at the opponent.

‘I’m not sure if that guy didn’t want to reveal the true nature of the illusion maze, or if it was difficult for him to operate thousands or tens of thousands of spells simultaneously.’

Thinking that he hadn’t used the magic properly.

I decided to show him a proper illusion maze.

“Y-You bastard!”

The woman who had been watching the outpouring of magic and weapons, her previously relaxed expression now completely gone.

With a face filled with shock, jealousy, and anger, she spat out only curses at me.

I attacked her while mixing lies and truth as I watched her in that state.

*

“……”

Thanks to her amazing regenerative abilities, she was still alive despite having holes all over her body.

Looking at her in that state, I briefly said.

“How does it feel to be Emmental cheese?”

I mentioned the cheese with many large and small holes inside.

It seemed to be a food that didn’t exist in this world, as she couldn’t give any answer and just trembled violently.

Thinking her reaction was boring, I pulled out a mace from my pocket.

‘It’s a shame to kill her, after all.’

Thinking that she could be used as a meat shield or an experimental subject, I wondered if there was really a need to kill her.

Then, using ‘information gathering’ as an excuse, I decided to keep this one alive for now.

‘The reason I called this one in the first place was for information anyway.’

Watching the floor gradually spread with blue blood.

I roughly sprayed a top-grade potion on her head to prevent her from dying, then stuffed her into the mace as if cramming her in.

‘Well, that’s roughly done… Now what’s left is to clean up.’

Looking at the mess the surroundings had become, I smiled awkwardly and sighed.

* * *

After that, everything started to pass by quickly.

The Per family mobilized magicians and knights to clean up the mess I had made and to handle the situation itself.

Sien was holding me in her arms under the pretext of nursing me, even though I didn’t have a single scratch, let alone an injury.

‘It seems like there’s something strange attached to the end.’

In any case, the important thing is that the Fer family is trying to cover up this situation somehow.

I’m worried about the Fer family, who not only exploited the Heaven God Cult but also openly showed hostility towards me.

I’m setting up a magic spell that will send me a warning if the Heaven God Cult invades this place, when Sien suddenly starts touching my back.

“… Sien, what are you doing?”

“As your fiancée, I’m checking if my fiancé has any injuries. Is there a problem?”

I inwardly sighed at Sien’s words, which were spoken as if there was nothing wrong at all, and instead questioned me in return.

‘Surely when we first met, she was somewhat rational… or was she?’

In any case, she seemed to have common sense… or maybe not.

I found myself denying every thought as soon as I recalled it.

I quickly changed the subject of my thoughts and sighed.

‘How did it come to this?’

Thinking that the root cause of all this was Delia’s statement about ‘becoming a dog’, I was pressing my head gently when.

Sien looked at me and slowly continued speaking.

“Lord Deren, are you very tired?”

“… No, I’m not that tired. Just having a headache.”

“Is that so? Even Lord Deren has difficult times.”

I wonder if Sien knows that she contributes to a certain extent to this headache.

Feeling that if I continued to exchange words, a real headache would come, I inwardly sighed and turned my gaze away.

‘Then all that’s left is to extract the information.’

Now it’s time to confront the Heaven God Cult in earnest.

I decided to return to the main house, thinking that I should focus on extracting information with Espin for a while.

* * *

“… This is interesting.”

After about 3 days of digging for information, we were able to hear some quite intriguing details.

Upon learning these facts, Espin chuckled a few times while looking at the documents.

Then, with a long sigh, he tells me.

“You going to the Per family and fighting with this guy… No, even before that, the Heaven God Cult contacting the Per family was already a well-laid plan.”

As Espin said, the reason why the Heaven God Cult deliberately approached and persuaded the Per family was.

To guide the information to ‘me’ and intentionally make me come to the Per family.

“When I asked why they specifically wanted you to come to the Per family… they said it was because of the Illusion Library.”

The Illusion Library.

The mysterious place where I learned ancient magic.

I looked at Espin with a puzzled expression when this place was mentioned, wondering why it suddenly came up here.

Seeing my curious gaze, Espin nodded and slowly continued speaking.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand why they went to such complex and troublesome lengths because of the Illusion Library. I tried everything to dig up related information, but it seems they’ve explicitly blocked it with a contract or something because no matter how much I dig, nothing comes up.

“I see.”

“But I did learn one interesting fact.”

Espin taps the magic book beside him and tells me.

“I heard this from someone on Delia’s side. A lot of Heaven God Cult followers gathered near the Illusion Library and then suddenly disappeared without a trace.”

“What’s so interesting about that?”

“The interesting part here is the timing of when these events occurred.”

Espin held up one finger as he spoke to me.

“The time when those guys gathered near the Illusion Library and the time you met with the bishop at the Per house are the same… “

He smiled as he explained that the time I knocked out and confined the bishop was the same as when they disappeared without a trace.

“So, to summarize. You took down the bishop so quickly that all the things those guys were planning to do were nullified.”

I could only blink at those words.