Chapter 546: Archive

Archive.

A being that inherits over a thousand years of history and knowledge.

Now, a Zombie Puppet created from that Archive stood before Oliver.

As soon as he saw it, Oliver wondered how, while Puppet extended his hand and unleashed an overwhelming force.

The force spread like the wind, instantly seizing control of the space.

The particles composing the force moved with a will of their own, forming a semi-transparent rainbow-colored gravity field above Oliver’s head.

Thunk━!

A hexagonal gravity field, with Oliver at its center, ruthlessly crushed everything within a 10-meter radius.

It pressed down not only on people but also on the very earth.

The heavy sound of the entire space being compressed echoed, causing the ground to sink.

Rumble·····!!

Fortunately, Oliver could withstand it.

He was lucky. If he hadn’t consumed the Flesh Cook’s flesh, his knees and spine would have collapsed instantly.

Oliver immediately tried to Extract emotion and force to counterattack, but it wasn’t easy.

To his shock, the relentless gravity field even suppressed and hindered the Extraction of emotion and force particles.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

Dong-! Dong-! Dong-!

A 4-meter tall Zombie Puppet, stitched together from dozens of warlocks like a scarecrow, swung a staff larger than itself, ringing the giant bell at its end.

The heavy bell’s sound resonated deep within, sending black soundwaves spreading in all directions before converging again around Oliver.

Oliver’s body grew as heavy as a thousand pounds, his reactions slowed, and strength drained from his muscles.

It wasn’t Disease Magic. It was a twisted spell that manipulated sound to deliver a control-type Death Magic.

At the same time, the gravity field contracted around Oliver, increasing its power to thoroughly crush him.

The earth sank further around Oliver, indicating the pressure he was enduring.

At that moment, a swarm of dead rats, infested with maggots, rushed toward Oliver.

Their teeth, claws, and fur contained Disease-Weakness Death Magic.

It was impressive because it wasn’t created artificially by magic; it was a naturally cultivated Disease-Weakness Death Magic over a long period. In terms of Disease-Weakness prowess, it surpassed even the Flesh Cook.

This meant it was still a significant threat to Oliver, who had built up a resistance to Disease-Weakness Death Magic.

Puppet seemed to know this, subtly adjusting a portion of the relentless gravity field to create a path for the rat swarm to approach.

He did it as delicately as drawing a curtain aside.

In the small gap that formed, Oliver seized control of the gravity particles pressing down on him and wrestled for control, twisting the gravity field to deflect the approaching rats.

Bang bang bang bang!!

Hundreds of rats were shredded as if they were caught in a blender.

Immediately, a zombie warlock, swollen like someone sick, activated Blood Magic without bending its arms.

“Gruooo·····.”

An incomprehensible sound escaped from its throat and mouth, which were filled with a swollen tongue, as the rats’ blood turned to smoke.

The corrupted blood vaporized in a Blood Magic fog that would infect anyone who inhaled it.

But under Oliver’s control, the gravity field condensed the blood fog into a single point.

Just as Oliver was about to use the gravity field to send the blood fog back, a massive pressure appeared, centered on the blood fog.

The rapidly rotating blood fog formed a red vortex, whose speed and power only increased, pushing back the gravity field to create a giant blood-red tornado.

It was a spectacular maneuver from the Zombie Puppet created from the Archive. The tornado clashed with the gravity field, grinding it away and expanding its domain through sheer force.

Just as the gravity field was about to break, Oliver twisted its shape into multiple sets of fangs and crossed them.

As the fang-shaped gravity field pressed from both sides, the expanding blood-red tornado was annihilated.

[Negation]

Oliver nullified the blood-red tornado and was just about to launch a counterattack when the enormous Zombie Puppet pointed at him with one hand and chanted with its face covered by a veil.

“Huh····?”

With the chant, the person dangling from the staff of the Zombie Puppet twisted and disappeared.

The gravity field under Oliver’s control collapsed, and he felt a strange, inexplicable pain, causing a bit of blood to leak from his eyes, nose, and mouth.

“Cough.”

The unfamiliar pain made Oliver stagger.

Since consuming the Flesh Cook’s palm flesh, this was the first time Oliver had felt such pain, except when facing Merlin and The Burned One.

It was quite confusing, but before he could even savor that confusion, a loud neighing sound rang out.

A mounted Zombie Puppet, wearing a mask of human skin, was charging towards him on a massive horse.

The speed was astonishing, especially considering it was a Zombie Puppet, and the size was even more daunting up close.

Oliver manipulated the environment of the Verdant Forest to fold space and create distance.

Neiighhh!!

In an instant, the horse of the mounted Zombie Puppet let out a loud cry and began absorbing the life force and force of the Verdant Forest and the people around it.

The horse was using the Extract skill.

And that wasn’t all. The mounted Zombie Puppet, perched on the horse, absorbed emotion, life force, and force through its glowing eye sockets, narrowed eyes, and gaping mouth.

It was similar to how a whale swallows shrimps.

Consuming the absorbed emotion, force, and life force, the mounted Zombie Puppet unleashed a hellfire-like ominous flame from its eyes and mouth as it charged towards Oliver at a speed that seemed to defy space itself.

It closed to a distance where it could strike Oliver at any moment.

To block this attack, a basic shield wouldn’t suffice. He would need to draw either the Quarterstaff or the Blood-Stained Dagger.

But instead of doing that, Oliver once again applied his control over the environment and created a massive black hand in the sky to crush a designated target.

Boom━!!

It wasn’t just crushing; it was more like slamming down with tremendous force.

As the ground shook and the space seemed to distort, the ground beneath the Zombie Puppet indented deeply.

However, the high level of each Zombie Puppet prevented them from being completely crushed.

In particular, the Zombie Puppet created from the Archive expanded its reverse gravity field to neutralize Oliver’s pressure.

“But that much is enough.”

Puppet seemed puzzled by Oliver’s cryptic words but soon understood what he meant.

Oliver pointed at the mounted Zombie Puppet inches away and at the grotesque puppets, the golem, and the zombie sorcerer behind it.

“No way-”

-[Negation]

Oliver mirrored the black magic seen from the golem Zombie Puppet created from the Archive.

-━━━━━!!

The four Zombie Puppets in Oliver’s line of sight, spaced apart, all suffered damage as if hit by an invisible projectile.

The mounted Zombie Puppet nearest to Oliver took the most damage.

Its body started to crack all over, the horse’s head collapsed, and the figure slumped, spewing blood from the eye, nose, and mouth holes in its skin mask.

The golem Zombie Puppet behind it, though it had lessened the damage by sacrificing the person tied to its staff, almost stumbled.

The bloated zombie sorcerer Zombie Puppet, who had its stomach packed with rotting rats, maggots, flies, and internal organs, vomited it all out onto the ground. All the expelled materials lost function, becoming true corpses.

“I didn’t expect him to replicate even this·····. What materials did he use?”

Puppet asked aloud. The black magic Negation is inherently a black magic but requires a sacrifice.

It was because it borrowed the power of a demon to attack the very existence of its target.

Yet, Oliver pulled it off.

“I borrowed some from the Princess.”

“Ah····! I see!”

Puppet immediately understood. Oliver had used a portion of the people comprising the Verdant Forest to perform the Negation.

Indeed, as long as one could exert control over the Verdant Forest, finding a sacrifice wouldn’t be difficult.

In that haunting Verdant Forest, there are hundreds of thousands of people, terrified by the Pied Piper and countless more consumed thereafter.

However, in the midst of it all, Puppet grasped something Oliver didn’t realize.

Even with a sacrifice, the Negation spell could only be perfectly used if the demon lent its power.

Naturally, Oliver did not borrow the demon’s power. With merely the sacrifice, he flawlessly executed the Negation.

The severely damaged mounted Zombie Puppet and the zombie sorcerer Zombie Puppet are proof.

It defied all logic.

But somehow, Puppet felt like he understood why. He just couldn’t articulate it yet.

While the tension from the furious battle suddenly settled, Puppet spoke.

“Impressive. Truly. In fact, this combination was something I brought along just in case things got tricky, but it’s not going to be easy.”

“Thanks to your mercy.”

Oliver locked eyes with Puppet, fully seeing through his emotions. Not that Puppet had entirely held back against Oliver, but if Puppet had been completely serious about defeating him, he would have used different tactics.

The core force, the beggar Zombie Puppet, only played a supporting role. Of course, Oliver also hadn’t shown his full power yet.

In any case, they had tested each other’s abilities enough, and a tense silence settled between them.

Puppet spoke through the beggar Zombie Puppet.

“So shall we continue?”

“·······.”

“I also have my reasons, so I can’t just back down. Though fighting you scares me, if you wish to continue, I will do my best. Of course, if that happens, it would be hard to keep this forest, and the surrounding area intact.”

“Are you threatening me?”

Oliver asked, and Puppet laughed heartily.

“Ha! I’m no fool. I know who to threaten and who it’s dangerous to make threats towards. Consider this advice instead. You know as well as I do that if we keep fighting, it’s the surroundings that will suffer.”

Puppet demonstrated that his words were not merely bravado by swiftly taking a stance.

The force the beggar Zombie Puppet gathered quickly spread through the air.

A distinct suppression unique to the Enlil Faction.

Astonishingly, Puppet, with just one body, unleashed a force comparable to the hundreds of thousands of the Verdant Forest.

‘Impressive. It’s the Archive, after all, but compared to the elders, it’s like a dying ember. Yet, this much is still possible.’

While impressed by the sheer power contained within the beggar Zombie Puppet, Oliver also coolly observed its limitations.

If Merlin were still a roaring bonfire, the beggar Zombie Puppet in front of him was like an ember about to extinguish.

Probably, that’s also why Puppet avoids using the beggar Zombie Puppet unless necessary. Despite its immense power, the more it’s used, the more that power is consumed.

Oliver tilted his head and pondered what to do.

He could still seize control of the Verdant Forest, and if he used the hundreds of thousands of people as material, it might be doable.

As his mind leaned in that direction, and the energy of the Verdant Forest under his control began to rise from the ground, a black smoke caught his eye, and a shadow puppet show the Princess had shown him flashed through his mind.

Hundreds of thousands of people tried to sacrifice the Princess for their safety, and the Princess, who understood them over the centuries.

······Suddenly, he lost the will to fight.

“Puppet.”

“Yes?”

“I suddenly became curious… Can I ask how you created a Zombie Puppet from the Archive? I couldn’t ask because you attacked so suddenly.”

“It wasn’t an attack, Oliver. It was a preemptive defense. As for the Archive, it’s simple. Despite their struggles, humans can’t defy fate. I just picked it up.”

It felt like he was saying he had dug up the Archive’s grave and simply made it.

It sounded plausible at first but Oliver found it oddly inconsistent.

In a world where even average magicians or wealthy individuals set up various defenses to prevent grave robbing, obtaining the body of someone as esteemed as an Archive shouldn’t be that simple.

However, Oliver decided not to dig any deeper.

Although simple-minded, Puppet’s answer indicated he had no intention of sharing the truth.

What bothered Oliver more was Puppet’s earlier phrase.

‘·····Humans can’t defy fate, no matter how much they struggle.’

It sounded like something a necromancer who deals with demons would say, but at the same time, it felt like it wasn’t.

Puppet asked once more what Oliver would do, exerting his influence through the force he was spreading.

The trembling air suggested that if he wished, Puppet could create a huge storm and engulf the area.

It was amazing to see a force typically regarded as auxiliary in the Elemental Faction being used to this extent.

While taking in the vast and complex spell forms the beggar Zombie Puppet used, Oliver approached the Swan Prince.

Puppet remained still as he watched Oliver reach out to the Thistle Crown that adorned the Swan Prince’s head—

“·····Ah····!”

—and tore it off.

Shk.

The Thistle Crown was torn off, and the Swan Prince was thrown into despair. Puppet stared silently, as if reading Oliver’s intentions.

“I lost. Take him.”

With those words, Oliver stowed the torn Thistle Crown into his pocket.

***

With Oliver’s permission, Puppet took the damaged Zombie Puppets and the Swan Prince, causing a rift in the air, and disappeared into the gap.

As if the fierce exchange between heaven and earth was a lie, Puppet withdrew cleanly.

Hundreds of people silently watched the scene, unable to believe what they had just witnessed.

Ignoring them, Oliver spoke to about half of them. They were the ones who had been absorbed into the Flesh Cook’s knife and were now released.

To them.

“Are any of you still interested in the Flesh Cook’s legacy?”

Hundreds of people were literally silent at Oliver’s question.

Although they didn’t fully understand, they realized Oliver had saved them, and after watching him fight the Swan Prince and Puppet without losing ground, they understood he was different from the other strong individuals they had encountered.

They felt something beyond the simple fear they had felt towards other powerful figures before; they gave up the fight.

Oliver merely wanted to know if they truly needed the Flesh Cook’s legacy.

In any case, after confirming through their emotions that they were no longer after the Flesh Cook’s legacy, Oliver went to Millieu and Ewan and spoke.

“Then, let’s be off.”