It comes as no surprise.
Considering the astounding solo performance he had showcased at the auction house, there was never any doubt from the outset regarding his exceptional acting prowess.
Brook, fixing a gaze of frigid malice upon Lennok, inquired, “You knew all along and still played with us?”
Gone was any trace of emotion from his mellifluous voice.
“I don’t want to hear that from people who’ve thrown rocks onto a moving car,” Lennok retorted.
Brook released a profound sigh and cast his eyes downward.
“I was going to kill you painlessly, but you kicked it away yourself… Foolish, to say the least. Or is it that you’re so smart, you make foolish choices? Either way, there’s no need to know the truth before dying.”
“……”
“Well, forget it. The acting is pointless now. I’ll kill you and go meet Yakson. That’s all I have to do.”
“Would have been nice if you did that from the beginning.”
Lennok chuckled as he observed Brook’s newly exposed face.
“So it wasn’t just your unilateral decision. It seems Irina Pheffield is colder than the rumors suggest.”
Lennok gave a nod of understanding to the silent Brook.
“I understand. A famous explorer being indifferent to the sacrifices of others isn’t that surprising.”
He snapped his fingers.
In that very moment, something suspended from his finger swiftly soared forth, grazing past Brook.
Thwack!
The distinct sound of flesh and sinew rending.
Brook turned his head in disbelief.
Miles, the young man known by that name, had his neck cleanly severed and collapsed to the ground.
“Cap…tain…?”
A countenance unable to grasp the reason for his impending demise, even in his final moments.
Lennok muttered, his expression bereft of any semblance of a smile.
“Now, there’s no need for you to experience any unnecessary discomfort.”
“Aaah!!”
“My goodness, Miles!!”
“No, no!”
“Miles!!”
The reaction of the exploration team upon confirming the passing of their comrade was nothing short of tumultuous.
Voices clamoring Miles’ name, others glaring at Lennok with ireful visages.
Among them, one individual seemed to have held a close bond with Miles. He rushed toward the lifeless body, but Brook’s voice rang out in alarm.
“Jenson! Refrain from approaching!”
“Too late.”
Thwack!
Jenson, who had been hastening forward, was cleaved in twain from the upper torso.
His visage contorted in spasms, depicting a torment more harrowing than Miles’.
“Urgh…!!”
The expression of the team underwent a complete metamorphosis upon witnessing Jenson’s anguished demise.
Only then did they realize that an imperceptible snare had been laid near the spot where Miles had fallen.
“Taking down two was beyond my initial anticipation.”
Lennok ruminated as he shook his gloved hand, sundering myriad magical threads all at once.
Whooosh!
The magical filaments, once ensnaring Miles, were released in every direction, birthing a tempest of razor-edged gusts.
It was inevitable that nearby members of the exploration party would become ensnared.
“Aaah!”
“My arm…!”
“Be cautious! It’s an unseen blade!”
Others hastily distanced themselves from the two lifeless forms, yet still suffered minor wounds they could not evade.
“Do not lower your guard!”
Brook bellowed, teeth clenched.
“He’s a manipulation-type wizard. He conserved time for spell while engaging us in conversation! Everyone, exercise caution and remain vigilant!”
They may not have been novices in combat, for they swiftly regained their focus upon hearing Brook’s admonitions.
Judging from the lethal intent gleaming in their eyes, they were seasoned warriors in their own right.
Brook’s acumen was also commendable, for he deduced Lennok’s status as a manipulation-type wizard simply from the sight of the conjured magical threads.
However, Lennok’s preparations extended beyond that measure.
“If you’ve discerned this, you should have fled by now.”
Crackle!
As he splayed his five fingers, the colossal stone positioned adjacent to the vehicle commenced a writhing motion.
Simultaneously, as though pre-cut well in advance, numerous fragmented sections crumbled down.
Before anyone else could react with astonishment, Lennok manipulated his fingers.
Kwaaaang!!
Explosive stones surged forth, promptly shrouding the dimly lit streets.
Brook, having meticulously verified the magical seals on every single rock, now bore an expression that crumbled into desolation.
He clenched his lightly outstretched hand and uttered,
[Burst].
The words that escaped his lips metamorphosed into a spell, setting off a monumental chain reaction upon interaction with the mana encapsulated within the stones.
An explosion ensued.
Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwa!!!
A torrent of incandescent crimson heat surged forth, engulfing the expansive thoroughfares and igniting them in flames.
“Aaaah!!”
The flames birthed by mana relentlessly consumed all directions, scorching all living matter in their path.
Who could have foreseen the detonation that utterly dominated the space?
Following the explosion, the appearance of the exploration team was reduced to ruins.
“Ugh…!!”
“We must eliminate him. Immediately!!”
Though not many members perished, none emerged unscathed.
Now, they were not merely driven by a thirst for vengeance but rather desperation, each unsheathing their weapons and training them upon Lennok.
This was a predicament that could not be quelled casually.
Should they fail to vanquish Lennok at this juncture, they fully comprehended that their own demise could be the outcome.
Even Brook, who possessed the most composed demeanor, strode out of the inferno, conjured a cerulean blade into existence, and heightened his magical potency.
“Do not misjudge the timing.”
Brook, his gaze ablaze as he fixated on Lennok, asserted,
“Approach with caution, akin to how we hunt beasts.”
“Shouldn’t that be ‘like when we hunt humans’?”
Lennok’s derision no longer permeated their consciousness.
The eyes of those preparing for combat, their gazes affixed upon Lennok, harbored no space for leisure any longer.
Certain members of the exploration team even distanced themselves completely, seizing moments to catch their breath while keeping a watchful eye on Lennok.
An atmosphere of palpable tension hung heavy in the air.
The instant all members, their magical prowess maximized, surged forth with concerted breath,
“Davi.”
[Understood.]
Simultaneously, the streetlights lining the road extinguished, plunging the street into darkness.
“…!!”
“How can he manipulate the electricity across this entire area…!!”
People swiveled their heads to locate Lennok, yet that fraction of diverted attention proved fatal.
Swoosh!!
From an angle eluding their acute senses, a silhouette pounced with swiftness, striking vital points with eerie ease.
Boundaries of shadows blurred within this murky instance, and Lennok’s spell reached its zenith.
The window for casting Lennok’s spell had been adequately established throughout the preceding standoff.
The members of the exploration team never stood a chance from the outset.
“Aaah!!”
“Cap, Captain…!!”
Lennok’s spellcraft consecutively pierced their defenses in a state already burdened with mental fatigue.
No member withstood the three successive strikes of Lennok’s spell.
Among those who fell, blood spraying, fewer than three remained who still drew breath.
“Could, could this truly be… intentional?”
Brook’s countenance disintegrated into desolation as he belatedly apprehended his surroundings.
Before he could even swing his weapon, the verdict was irrevocably cast.
The frustration of not having engaged in a proper battle and the realization that it was all over must have been an agonizing weight to bear.
However, if he had truly failed to fathom the combat style of a wizard, then his strategy had been flawed from the outset.
No, even at the juncture when the compassion of the archangel had been manipulated as bait to target the amulet, he should have acknowledged his defeat.
Acting in haste, Brook engaged without adequately evaluating his adversary, heedlessly squandering precious time, inadvertently granting Lennok a significant window.
From the very instant Lennok assumed control, the upper hand in the conflict was largely determined.
Clink!
Lennok advanced at a leisurely pace, extracting a revolver from his waist and expertly loading the chambers.
Brook, now kneeling, raised his gaze to Lennok, his eyes vacant.
Lennok, pressing the frigid muzzle against Brook’s forehead, queried,
“Did you genuinely believe you could disrupt the auction with so few individuals? Who is your accomplice? What remains of the exploration team’s strength?”
“You simpleton. Do you presume I would divulge such information to you?”
“…Well, I can speculate. The elderly man with whom you quarreled on the third floor. He is likely the one who facilitated your juvenile theatrics.”
The solution was straightforward upon pondering who ultimately received the ‘compassion of the archangel’ at the auction.
Ultimately, this tumult could be effortlessly quelled if the victorious elder merely acquiesced.
From the outset, the exploration team had meticulously orchestrated their plan to secure the amulet within manageable parameters.
“If I ascertain the identity of the old man, I shall also unearth Irina Pheffield’s whereabouts.”
“You impudent…!”
A spark rekindled within Brook’s eyes, which had appeared devoid of all resolve.
If Lennok’s deduction had arrived at the accurate answer with such swiftness, the captain of the exploration team might be imperiled. That sense of urgency spurred him into action.
“If you lay a finger on Irina…!”
Before he could conclude, a blade arced from a distance.
In an instant, the weighty medium sword rested in Brook’s grasp and hurtled toward Lennok’s heart along a low trajectory.
Szzz!
Fluid and swift swordsmanship, as if he had been anticipating this moment.
The blade’s reflection targeted Lennok’s eyes with an innate precision.
It halted before Lennok as if conjured illusion.
Brook’s blade, which could not even breach the shield perpetually enshrouding Lennok, came to an abrupt halt mid-air. Dozens of mana threads ensnared its keen edge.
Lennok’s heightened spatial awareness, honed since awakening his domain, found direct expression in his manipulation of the mana threads.
Though his focus hadn’t specifically been on cultivating manipulation mana, the multitude of threads adroitly coursing between his digits seamlessly filled the gaps in the fray.
From the outset, Brook had no avenue for reversing the situation.
It amounted to verifying the capabilities of the nascent wizard, Lennok.
The blade fragmented and scattered at the flick of a finger.
Lennok raised his revolver once more, his gaze fixed upon the gradually dimming fervor within Brook’s disillusioned gaze.
Further words were superfluous.
Bang!
As the trigger was pulled, Brooke tumbled, blood spraying.
The bullet, suffused with fire magic, ignited upon impact, consuming his form without leaving a trace.
Whoosh!
Immediately, Lennok commenced a search for signs left by the already deceased members of the opposing exploration team, disposing of them in analogous fashion.
Indeed, objects that remained immaculate within mutilated bodies were likely anything but ordinary.
After all, they constituted an exploration team renowned for unearthing relics from ancient ruins.
The presence of additional valuable artifacts or relics within their possession was hardly inconceivable.
Before long, Lennok discerned an unfamiliar, faint radiance emanating from Brooke’s remains, and his eyes gleamed.
“……Hmm?”
Though glimpsed visually just once, it was a radiance not easily forgotten.
Amidst the pinnacle of heat within the Teyna Auction House, a relic had been showcased before all.
The very rainbow-hued gemstone that once adorned the Compassion of the Archangel now resided within Lennok’s grasp.
