As the sun disappeared over the horizon, Oliver secretly spied on the magic workshop by sending a minion who shared the view.
The bored gangsters just wandered around, and those who were lazy just drank or played card games.
Forrest's words about the gangsters who had nothing to worry about life came to his mind again.
In the middle, there was an old truck that seemed to be loaded with 20 boxes of what was presumed to be magic wine.
When Oliver realized the need for money due to the black market, he even wondered how much would a box cost.
After a while, when the sun was completely gone and the darkness covered all the area, Oliver came out from the stealth state as he took out the test tube he had in his pocket and extracted the emotions.
Then he cast three black magic on himself.
[Eraser Exit]
[Shade Cloak]
[Sneak Step]
A magic that erases one’s presence, a magic that hides one in the dark, and a magic that eliminates the sounds of footsteps.
A normal person could be completely deceived by these three combinations.
Oliver didn't stop there, as a precaution he casted [Deep sleep] on his quarterstaff.
After getting ready, Oliver began to walk slowly.
Along the way, he released the minions again and placed them around the magic workshop.
He thought the chances of the target noticing and running away are low, but he still prepared just in case.
Oliver slowly approached the workshop while hiding himself in the dark.
When he focused a little power on his vision, he could see the emotions of the gangsters that were deployed everywhere.
Even though it was not long before the end of the shift, their concentration remained as low as during the day.
All they wanted was to go back quickly and satisfy their desires.
Thanks to this, Oliver was able to combine the mission and practice with a relatively low burden.
Someone walked over to Oliver’s side.
Oliver pressed himself close to the wall and controlled his breathing.
Moments later, steps drew closer and a gangster appeared.
The gangster did not notice Oliver, who was right in front of him, and turned to the opposite direction.
Even though the opponent's concentration was low, it was still a bit strange that someone wasn’t able to sense the person in front of them.
Oliver felt that the three combinations of black magic could be more useful than he thought.
Oliver maintained his composure as much as possible as he picked up the quarterstaff and slammed it on the back of the gangster.
The deep sleep spell applied on the quarterstaff partially entered the gangster’s body, and the gangster fell like a broken doll.
Oliver quickly caught the falling gangster.
There were still gangsters nearby, so if he even made a small noise then everything could go wrong.
Oliver picked up the sleeping gangster and took him to the spot where he stood previously and laid him down.
The gangsters didn't patrol this area well because it was dirty, so if the gangster were to be laid down here, Oliver thought no one would be able to find him.
Oliver wondered as he looked at the fallen gangster.
The gangster wouldn't get up until the sun rises, but Oliver thought it might be better to kill him just in case.
But killing an opponent that has already been suppressed felt kind of bad to Oliver.
It wasn't a matter of conscience, but it was because of Kent's words.
-Violence and murder are part of this job. But please don't abuse it and keep them under the right line. This is a personal request.
"Um…"
Oliver groaned and pondered over where the right line was.
At that time, he had no idea, so he just nodded, but now that he thought about it there seems to be a problem.
If he had known this would be the case, he'd have asked about the right line in detail.
Of course, there was also the option of completely ignoring Kent's words, but Oliver didn't want to do that.
To ignore Kent's request… he felt a little uncomfortable.
So Oliver came up with a rather neutral solution.
It was extracting the Life-force from the fallen gangster, which makes it less possible for him to wake up early and there was also the possibility of him never waking up.
Even if he woke up, he would not be able to move properly for a while due to his lack of energy.
In other words, it could be said that the gangster couldn't get in the way of Oliver.
It was a pretty good idea.
A great solution to both safety and the request of Kent.
And he could get free Life-force.
In one stroke Oliver accomplished three goals.
Oliver moved again after filling an empty test tube with Life-force.
The patrolling gangsters usually moved only in one to two, and they patrolled at their will without any fixed path, so it was perfect for taking them down one by one.
Oliver secretly moved around while hiding himself in the dark and whenever a gangster passed by, he pounded on them with his quarterstaff and put them to sleep one by one as he had done before.
After that, he laid them down in a deserted place and extracted some of their Life-force.
Thanks to this, Oliver was able to fill the test tube with Life-force.
“Um… Maybe I can use this way to acquire Life-force or emotion if I ran out in the future. It's not bad.”
Oliver leisurely thought as he got rid of the gangsters one by one, who was patrolling the area, but that leisure did not last long.
As the patrolling gangsters disappeared within a short period of time, the others began to notice something strange.
“Hey, where did all the bastards that went out on patrol go?”
“I don’t know. Why the fu*k are you freaking out on me!"
“No, because you're the only one here…"
“Huh, the only one? Something seems wrong. Fu*k, everyone who was patrolling over here is gone."
“Damn them really… what the heck?”
Oliver groaned inwardly.
‘Stupid…’
The new method of subduing enemies was so interesting, and he also got free Life-force, so he let his guard down.
He should have knocked everyone down as quickly as possible, but he was so distracted which made the enemies notice something was wrong.
It wasn't a big deal, but still, Oliver felt a small regret that he couldn't achieve his goal.
‘No. No.'
Oliver shook his head and reorganized his thoughts.
He remembered what Kent said,
-Don't fall into despair even if you fail on a mission. In the first place, nothing in this field goes according to one’s will.
Kent said that it was common for clients to cheat, colleagues to make mistakes, and things to go wrong because they are unlucky.
In this case, Oliver made a mistake, and even if things were to go wrong, the priority was to correct them without getting caught.
Therefore, Oliver focused his attention on his eyes to see whether the target escaped or not, and also to find out the location of the other gangsters.
"………..uh?"
Oliver groaned as he looked at the wall, behind which he was hiding.
Something approached him quickly, it broke the wall and came out to attack.
BAM
Fortunately, Oliver quickly deployed the black shield to avoid a direct hit, but he was pushed back and flew back.
And that wasn't the end.
[Hat Bullet]×12
Twelve bullets of hate flew swiftly out of the dust and came straight towards Oliver breaking the wall.
BANG BANG BANG.
Oliver spread the Black Shield with his quarterstaff as he landed on the floor.
The bullets of hate simultaneously hit the black shield and the shield shook.
Fortunately, Oliver's skill was a bit higher, so the shield did not break.
“Okay! I think this guy is firearm-type! Push it!”
At those words, something came out of the dust.
It was a monster with chains tied around its neck and had a very huge body, but when Oliver looked up at its face, it was a face that he knew.
It was the third person in the picture that Forrest showed him.
Fighter Crew's mutated Bigjaw.
He was much larger and more muscular than what Oliver saw in the picture, and the most overwhelming part of him was his deformed big jaw and his sharp fangs.
He looked more like a beast than a human, it seemed like it would be over with one bite.
"Bite him! Bigjaw! Bite him!"
Warlock Nico, who sat on top of Bigjaw, shouted.
Oliver contemplated on whether to avoid it or not.
It would be too close if he tried to avoid the attack with his athletic ability.
Even if he dodged it, the Warlock on the top of Bigjaw would attack, so instead of avoiding Oliver chose the other option.
He swung his quarterstaff in the air and casted a deep sleep spell on it.
“…..!"
"Uhhhhh?"
True to the name of an organization that specializes in combat, Nico reacted quickly and jumped off from Bigjaw.
Thanks to that he managed to avoid Oliver’s attack, and the only one who fell into a deep sleep was Bigjaw, but from Oliver's point of view, that was more than enough.
It was enough for him to remove the aggressive warlock that stood in front of him.
A third voice was heard when Oliver was about to end the battle by concentrating his firepower on Warlock Nico.
“There he is!”
“Shoot! Grind!”
TA-DAAADADDADADADADA!
Suddenly, the gangsters broke in and fired at Oliver.
Oliver hurriedly opened the Black Shield and fired Hat Bullet to counterattack.
"Ahh!",
“Hide! Hide!”
The gangsters immediately dispersed. Then suddenly Hate bullets rushed toward Oliver from the side.
"This…"
To stop the incoming attack, Oliver once again unfolded the black shield, then, the dispersed gangsters regrouped and started firing tenaciously once again.
It was a clumsy cooperation, but it was quite annoying, and on the other hand, Oliver felt it was interesting.
The gangsters were not a threat, but when they worked together with a warlock, it was annoying.
It reminded him of the fight he had with the dolls in the past.
Oliver thought maybe he should try this later.
At that moment.
SHA SHA SHHHH ᅳ!
Something jumped out of the gangsters and approached Oliver.
Ignoring the pouring bullets and the bullets of hate, he drew close and then swung his fists fiercely.
BANG!
Oliver saw the Black Shield that was cracked with just one punch.
"Oh… you're pretty strong, aren't you?"
Boom——! Boom——! Boom——!
The one who quickly approached was the Knuckle Joe.
Just like how Forrest described, he constantly swung his knuckle fists after they had been doped with black magic.
As if to acknowledge his skill, the guns and bullets of hate that were fired from a distance stopped, and as if responding to this, Knuckle Joe swung his fists in succession with the intention of killing Oliver.
In the end, the black shield got broken by the rapid fist attack.
It seemed that the shield was weak against melee attacks.
Or maybe because melee attacks are generally more powerful than ranged attacks.
Oliver instinctively leaned back. Then, something suddenly grabbed him.
“Don’t miss it.”
Knuckle Joe said, raising his eyes.
Looking into his eyes, Oliver understood that he seemed to have killed a lot of people.
“Minion."
“……?”
At Oliver's words, the minion that was hidden in his arms came out and opened its mouth.
It vomited a shockwave.
[Thrust], a black magic that pushes and destroys enemies.
Knuckle Joe was not hit hard but was blown away by the shock wave, and the gangsters were also indirectly damaged.
Nico immediately fired a Hate Bullet to attack Oliver, but luckily Oliver was faster this time.
[Lasbomb]x5
He detonated a bomb of rage, which filled the area with dust.
"What?!"
“Where is he?!”
“Damn it, we missed that fu*ker!”
Oliver had a lot of thoughts as he ran.
Even though he had experienced it in the battle with Puppeteer, the idea that warlocks fight in many different forms enthralled him.
He was taken aback, but it was a pretty enjoyable experience.
Oliver understood the meaning behind the words of Kent asking him to try different fighting methods felt.
Perhaps, if Knuckle Joe, Nico, and the Bigjaw had been a little more talented, Oliver might have been taken down without being able to perform at his best.
Oliver could think of many scenarios, like when, as soon as the Bigjaw came out, if he had bitten him right away, it would be a game over. A similar thing could have happened if Nico pierced the shield with a powerful firearm-based black magic at once,
Or if Knuckle Joe pierced the shield with a single punch.
Oliver felt he was lucky, and he felt the need to learn different styles of fighting.
It seemed like an essential element to survive in this field, which was necessary to reach his goal of entering the black market.
Oliver stopped running, turned his head in the direction he had run from, and looked back.
In the middle of the night, with the dust all over the place, everyone was confused and couldn't chase after him quickly.
Oliver took out two test tubes.
One was a test tube filled with emotion and the other with Life-force.
He pulled out both so that he can use them right away.
Once again feeling lucky, Oliver casted…
[Black suit ver.2]
(To be Continued)
