Genius Warlock

Venium, an underling of Human-meat Chef and a thief who tried to steal Crime Firm Auction items found himself in a precarious situation, caught in black spider webs.

His neck and cheeks were swollen with a greenish tint, resembling a frog, and it was immediately evident that he posed a threat.

The only good thing was that Oliver's attack had worked before Venium's black magic was activated.

"What the hell is this?"

Bear, clad in a full-body battle suit, approached the immobilized Venium and inquired.

It appeared to be a new form of black magic, a unique creation by Oliver himself.

"It's called Cling Web. Try not to touch it 'cause it's really sensitive to external impacts."

Bear, who was about to touch it, was startled and quickly pulled back his hand.

"Cling Web?"

Jonathan approached while putting away his revolver and held a dagger in one hand, ready to swing if necessary.

"Yes, it's a black magic spell based on obsession, designed to bind the target. It's strong and way more effective than any other black magic spells I have, but it's also kind of complicated to cast and can be disrupted by outside forces."

As if to prove his words his, Venium remained completely motionless, as though encased in cement.

Only his darting eyes indicated that he was conscious.

"Original black magic… Your skills are indeed extraordinary. Can we move him like this?"

"No, as I mentioned earlier, it's weak to external shocks, so it will break even with a slight impact. The same goes for moving."

"Is that so?"

Jonathan muttered, seemingly troubled.

The challenge was not only capturing Venium but also immobilizing him during transport.

It would be ideal to take him in this state if possible, but that wasn't an option.

Naturally, they could use drug to sedate him, but the issue at hand was that he had been apprehended just moments before casting black magic.

A weakening spell from the disease category, one of the most difficult to deal with. Based on his stance, it could be deduced that it was an area-of-effect attack.

It was unclear what damage might ensue if they inadvertently triggered it.

Even if it was a slum where only trash lived, attracting attention wasn't a good thing.

"Team leader, what should we do? We caught him, but things got messed up. What if he explodes when we touch him?"

Bear, the experienced member, accurately highlighted the issue.

"Well, I think we should call for backup first. We can't afford to create additional problems."

"Do we have the luxury of waiting for backup?"

Bear looked around and asked.

As the chaos subsided, a few individuals who had fled or hidden reappeared, cautiously observing the scene.

It wasn't threatening, but staying here with numerous onlookers wasn't an ideal option.

Amidst this challenging predicament, the group was unsure of how to proceed when Oliver proposed an idea.

"If you don't mind, can I try it?"

"Black magic?"

"Yes… It's not without risks, but I have a method worth trying."

Bear turned to Jonathan for guidance.

"I'll trust your judgment. He's a reliable ally, and he must have devised a solution. It's better than remaining exposed like this."

Jonathan agreed without hesitation, nodding in approval.

Once he received the go-ahead, Oliver promptly retrieved Bigmouth from the leather case fastened to his waist.

The fleshy mass expanded, resembling rising bread dough.

Oliver swiftly handed over a 10,000 Landa bill, requesting the creature's assistance.

Bigmouth surveyed the area before ingesting the bill and immediately complying.

As expected, it was diligent.

"Kueeek-!"

Something was spat out from Bigmouth's huge mouth.

It was a giant spider, but the creature Oliver brought out was not an ordinary spider, as its description was far from sufficient.

It was closer to a ragged monster mixed with other things beyond a simple spider.

The monster had the head of a spider, the pincers and tail of a scorpion, and countless human hands mixed throughout its form.

“Heeek…”

"What… what is that?"

A few onlookers, who had been hiding and observing from the slums, were startled by the grotesque creature's appearance and whispered among themselves.

But it wasn't just the slum dwellers who were taken aback.

“What the hell is this…?”

Oliver answered Bear's question.

"This is Parker, a Corpse Doll-Helper 2. It's created by attaching twelve human hands to a mutated spider lifeform as the primary component. These hands belonged to engineers or doctors. Fortunately, they were sold individually."

"……."

In silence, Bear, Jonathan, and the other Pinkmen stared at Oliver, feeling a bewildering mix of shock, anxiety, and a slight twinge of fear.

Oliver retrieved a test tube containing Child-First from his pocket and promptly administered it to the lifeless doll-helper 2, Parker. Within moments, Parker fused with the corpse doll, seemingly regaining its vitality as it extended its eight limb-like appendages that doubled as legs, along with the four fully-formed arms on its back.

Dududuk! Dududuk!

A lively sound echoed throughout the area.

As Parker loosened its body, it scurried forward, utilizing its multiple hands to spin webs around Venium, who remained ensnared within the dark spider webs.

Fushhhh-! Fushhhh-! Fushhhh-! Chahahahahaha!!

In the end, Parker climbed onto Venium's body, and from its tail, it released a spider web. Using a pincer-like appendage that resembled a human hand, it deftly manipulated the web and began to crawl all over Venium's body, spinning the web around him.

Chahahahahahaha…

Moving with the agility of a large dog, Parker maneuvered carefully to avoid damaging the spiderweb while tightly wrapping Venium's body with webs.

The process was more than just haphazard wrapping; it was systematic.

As soon as the wrapping was roughly finished, Parker went to Venium's front and wrapped a web around his neck, then aimed its tail at the uncovered part.

Fushhh-!

The tail struck with lightning speed, creating a tiny puncture in Venium's neck.

Poisonous gas seeped out of the hole.

Child, who had entered Parker, delicately moved the human hands it was using as legs and collected the poison gas in a test tube, then blocked the hole with a web.

Venium's pupils quivered as Parker returned to Oliver and handed him the test tube.

“Thank you, First.”

Oliver, upon receiving the test tube, expressed his gratitude to Parker and carefully observed the poison gas inside.

After a moment, Oliver opened the test tube, extracted the poisonous gas, and directed it into his hand.

Emotions swirled within Oliver's hand.

Oliver focused on the emotions in his hand, converting them back into poison gas on his own, then back into emotions, and repeated the rapid simulation.

He performed this process several times.

Oliver then extracted emotions from additional test tubes and created a gas resembling the poison gas.

Swinging his quarterstaff, he released Venium's restraints and allowed the gas to enter his mouth.

Venium, trapped in the spider web, swallowed the gas without any resistance.

It didn't take long for the toxic cloud forming in his mouth to neutralize and vanish as if nothing had occurred.

"Kuh… cough! …How did you?"

Venium gazed at Oliver in disbelief, as if he couldn't comprehend what had just transpired.

After all, it was very difficult to neutralize disease-based black magic.

It will take several years just to learn the basics, and neutralizing another warlock's black magic was even more challenging.

"I tried to guess what black magic you used based on the corpses you killed, and I prepared countermeasures accordingly. You combined several basic weakening-series spells, right? Like Blister, Fever, Weakened Immunity.”

Oliver recited the weakening-series black magic he had learned from past black magic books.

Fortunately, Oliver knew some of it.

While each spell was not inherently lethal, depending on the concentration and combination, they could transform into a dangerous and potent ability.

"It's truly amazing. The idea of fusing fundamental weakening-series black magic to create a novel form of black magic is simply incredible. The hardest part was figuring out the right ratio, but I've got that down now too. Thanks to you, I've learned a lot! I really appreciate it!"

Hearing Oliver's sincerity, Venium was about to shout something, but Oliver stabbed him with his quarterstaff containing [Deep Sleep], putting him to sleep.

Venium attempted to resist, but when Oliver administered a dose equivalent to that of dozens of people, taking into account the peculiarities of the Human-meat Chef faction, Venium quickly succumbed and lost consciousness.

Parker, seeing this, crawled back and spat out more spiderwebs to finish wrapping Venium.

Leaving only a hole for him to breathe, he was covered from head to toe.

"He probably won't be able to get up for a day… or maybe a month. Is this okay?"

At Oliver's question, Jonathan looked at Venium being tightly bound.

"Yes, it's fine. Thank you for helping us so much."

"No, I'm the one who should be apologizing. I messed up and got in the way of your work, Mr. Jonathan. Please forgive me."

After concluding his conversation with the Crime Firm Director Gordon Goodheart successfully, Oliver had to endure Jonathan's lecture.

However, he didn't feel resentful in the slightest.

In fact, Oliver was grateful for Jonathan's feedback and remorseful for his mistakes.

Despite the sudden turn of events, he had a responsibility to fulfill, but he acted impulsively.

Moreover, he negotiated with Goodheart without informing Jonathan, showing disrespect in various ways.

Oliver expressed his apologies to Jonathan repeatedly.

"I'm not sure if we'll have the chance to work together again, but I just wanted to apologize once more and promise that I'll do my best to prevent anything like this from happening again in the future."

"I appreciate you saying that…I was kinda rude to the person who helped us out. I'll apologize too."

"Team leader. It looks like the wrapping is done. I'll go ahead and take this to the vehicle with the kids."

“Oh, please do.”

Bear carried Venium, who was tightly wrapped in spiderwebs, on one shoulder and left.

"Thank you for saying that… So, is the job over now?"

"We still need to look into it more, but probably, yes. According to our investigation, Venium was the last of the Human-meat Chef underlings that came this way. We've also recovered most of the stolen auction items, and we've identified their whereabouts, so it's almost over."

"Ah, that's a relief… By the way, can I ask you a question about the auction items? I'm a bit worried about something."

"Worried? Please, go ahead."

"I don't really understand what Mr. Human-meat Chef wants or why they're doing this, but even if we capture them now, isn't there a chance they might try to attack again in the future?"

"Our main mission is to retrieve the auction items, so don't worry too much about that. But if I may say so, you don't need to be overly concerned."

"Why is that?"

"Crime Firm is also working on resolving this issue internally."

"Resolving?"

"Yes… Crime Firm has requested mediation from another Black Hand Finger. It's a business partner."

"A business partner? Black Hand?"

"Yes, there are some directors at Crime Firm who also have dealings with the Black Hand, although they're a separate faction from the one that Human-meat Chef belongs to."

"Um…"

"I don't know the details, but it seems like everything is going well from what I can sense."

"That's a relief."

Oliver nodded, feeling a sense of relief.

After just managing to reconcile the Fighter Crew and Crime Firm, it was worrisome to think what might happen if any more unnecessary trouble arose.

"Can I go now?"

"Yeah, absolutely. Thanks again for all your help. Everything went really smoothly thanks to you."

"I just did what I could. Don't mention it."

"You know, it's not always easy to find someone who's willing to go the extra mile. If you're okay with it, would you mind taking this?"

"What is it?"

"It's my office communication number. If you ever need help, have a request, or just want to ask me something, don't hesitate to reach out. Oh, and you'll need a bigger device to use it properly, so I'd suggest investing in one. They can be a bit pricey, but they're definitely worth it in the long run. Especially in Dave's case."

"Um…yeah, I understand. Thanks a lot."

Several days later, Jonathan managed to get in touch with Forrest.

As their investigation had revealed, Venium was the last of the Human-meat Chef's subordinates to arrive in Landa, and all the remaining auction items were successfully retrieved.

Since the items were being circulated within the black market overseen by the Crime Firm, the retrieval process itself was relatively simple.

"…They'll pay you the money tomorrow, but the book you were promised will take a bit longer. They're hoping you can be patient and understanding about it."

“Yes.”

"Just keep in mind that the Crime Firm needs to check all the auction items, so it's going to take some time. Your requested magic item will likely be delivered at the same time, so please be patient."

"Um, is this about the one I mentioned earlier?"

"Ah, luckily there was something like the one you described. Can I ask where you're planning to use it? Is it related to your recent interest in paperwork?"

Oliver thought of Magic Tower and replied.

"I'm preparing it just in case I need it at some point."

(To be Continued)

OR

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