Andras opened his eyes wide.
He hadn't expected Rudger to suddenly activate magic.
With those rough hands gripping his mouth, he couldn't use verbal magic either.
"You seem curious about how I can use magic."
Despite the pressure of this enormous magical resonance field, Rudger remained calm.
If earlier he had been pretending to be calm, now he seemed closer to someone barely affected by this environment.
'No way.'
An uneasy thought flashed through Andras' mind.
Seeing Andras' expression, Rudger nodded as if confirming that his guess was correct.
"Like you, I've surrounded my body with a thin layer of magical energy to match the resonance frequency of the wave."The reason Rudger could remain unaffected despite being in the same space as Andras.
He was maintaining the same frequency as the powerful magical waves resonating around them.
But Andras knew well how difficult this was in practice.
The resonance frequency isn't constant.
The basic principle was that as the number of steel needles installed around increases, the frequency changes from moment to moment.
With at least 50 needles spread throughout the area, there were at least 50 different wave variations.
In an environment where over 50 waves change their frequencies randomly and exert pressure even Andras would have difficulty properly casting magic without artifacts prepared in advance to adapt to the wavelengths.
Yet Rudger had not only figured out the pattern in that short time but adapted to it.
Even now, the same thing was happening.
The moment the wavelength changed, Rudger altered his magical veil to immediately match the same frequency and adapt.
He had been caught completely off guard.
"No matter how powerful word magic might be, it's useless when I cover your mouth like this."
Rudger tightened his grip on Andras' mouth.
While Andras excelled at catching opponents off guard in battle, in close combat, he was no different from ordinary magicians.
Having verbal powers meant he never needed to move his body much, which led to this weakness.
Once Rudger got this close, Andras' defeat was all but certain.
"Re-eally? So you deliberately let it happen?"
Andras curled the corners of his eyes and 'said'.
'How?'
Sensing something strange, Rudger immediately removed his hand from Andras' mouth and stepped back.
「Crush」
Boom!
The ground where Rudger had been standing sank down.
It looked as if an invisible giant hammer had struck it.
Rudger couldn't help but wonder how this verbal command, even stronger than before, was possible.
'I definitely covered his mouth, but how?'
He soon found the answer to his question.
Andras raised both hands and spread his palms wide.
There were mouths on his palms.
"You modified your own body?"
"That's right-t."
Andras spoke simultaneously with three mouths.
"The weakness of verbal magic is that you can block the caster's mouth-h. But this way, that weakness practically doesn't exist-t."
Creating mouths on both palms.
No ordinary magician could modify their body to that extent.
"Did you modify your body after joining hands with Nikolai? Do you have no pride as a Lexer-class magician?"
"If there's a way to compensate for my weakness, why would I refuse-e?"
Andras stretched both hands toward Rudger.
「Die」
Three mouths to cast verbal magic. By simple calculation, the power of the verbal command increased at least threefold.
Dark energy rose around Andras and shot toward Rudger like a comet with a long tail.
The verbal command infused with killing intent took shape to carry out its given objective.
Seeing the black smoke flying from all directions, Rudger instinctively knew that this was a curse that would kill a person the moment it touched them.
If he had to compare, it seemed similar in nature to the black substance that Cravat had shown during battle.
'Best not to let it touch me.'
The shadow cloak on Rudger's back spread wide like wings.
The large feathers of the wings scattered in all directions, transforming into wraith-like forms and colliding with the black smoke.
Magic explosions erupted in mid-air.
Instantly, black fumes spread like fog around them.
Though the magic disappeared, its traces remained suspended in the air.
「Swirl」
Andras activated a verbal command.
Strong winds whirled around him, pushing the black fog toward Rudger's direction.
The black fog flew like a sandstorm, engulfing Rudger.
It would have been nice if he fell right there, but Andras didn't take Rudger lightly.
「Protect」
Multiple layers of magical barriers formed around Andras.
It was an action to prepare for any possible surprise attack.
"An excellent choice."
Without turning around at the voice from behind, Andras extended his left palm.
「Rise」
The gravity where Rudger had been standing reversed.
Debris scattered around rose skyward as if moving backward but Rudger had already disappeared.
"Spatial movement? Isn't that a bit much-h?"
Despite his words, Andras frantically rolled his eyes, desperate to find Rudger.
Rudger seemed perfectly fine despite what must have been significant mental strain from constantly adjusting his frequency in the magical resonance field to cast spells.
Andras knew he just needed to stall for time, but at this rate, he would be struggling just to survive.
At that moment, screams erupted from one side.
"Oh no."
Andras realized Rudger's objective.
Even if not for himself, Rudger had enemies scattered all around to deal with.
The War Mages guarding the metal needles fell, spraying blood, without even managing a proper counterattack.
They weren't lacking in skill, but were useless against Rudger.
After removing one steel needle, Rudger moved to eliminate another.
Rudger's appearance, vanishing like a mirage only to appear elsewhere repeatedly, was like watching a ghost.
Able to move anywhere shadows existed, Rudger was elusiveness personified.
Wherever he passed, only traces of blue light remained in his eyes, filling the War Mages with terror.
「Calm down」
Andras forcibly suppressed the commotion with his verbal power.
"Everyone, cast defensive magic!"
"He can't freely enter our magical barriers!"
The War Mages cast defensive spells, preparing for Rudger's possible attack.
But even as time passed, Rudger didn't appear.
Andras, tensely looking around, felt the same.
「Show yourself now!」
Andras used the power of his verbal command.
Three mouths shouting simultaneously created a large mechanical eye above Andras' head.
The eye, rotating like a globe, quickly scanned all directions around Andras.
Even this eye, which could unfailingly catch enemies within a certain range, failed to locate Rudger.
'Could it be?'
Andras belatedly realized he had overlooked one fact.
"Did he run away-y?"
Rudger never needed to fight them in the first place.
Andras knew this, which is why he had tried to hold Rudger back to buy time.
The mistake was thinking Rudger would continue to face them as the battle intensified.
While they were on edge, defending and worrying about where they might be ambushed, Rudger had long since left.
"Ha, haha."
Andras couldn't hold back a bitter laugh.
"Amazing-g. To think that I would fall for a trick-k."
He had revealed his secret weapon, verbal magic, and even used the hidden mouths on his palms after modifying his body.
Yet, not only did he fail to kill his opponent, but he ended up playing right into his hands.
"Sir Andras."
Sensing Andras' discomfort, the War Mages spoke with trembling voices, watching his reaction.
「Why are you standing around?」
Unlike his usual drawling tone, his voice fell hard and sharp.
The War Mages straightened their backs, filled with tension.
「Find him now!」
The command issued through verbal magic subtly penetrated the minds of the War Mages.
They scattered in all directions to find the escaped Rudger.
Left alone, Andras calmed his anger and fell into thought.
'I understand he wants to confront Nikolai. But how does he plan to find him in hiding?'
Andras realized he couldn't move carelessly.
To stop Rudger, he needed to find him, but Andras had no means to locate that elusive man.
However Nikolai did.
He now possessed [Eyes] that could see the entire island.
In fact, Andras had blocked Rudger's path because he had received a communication from Nikolai...
-Crack!
As that thought struck him, Andras pulled out the communicator from his pocket and destroyed it.
"To think he would try such an impudent trick-k."
Andras realized what Rudger was aiming for.
'The moment I contact Nikolai to confirm his location, he plans to trace that communication to find the hideout.'
Mediocre individuals might just receive reports from above, but Andras was a 6th Circle magician.
He had a direct line to receive news directly from Nikolai.
Knowing this, Rudger had pretended to disappear, waiting for Andras to contact Nikolai.
'Though I can't locate him with my magic, it wouldn't be strange if he's hiding somewhere watching me.'
Andras' thought was correct.
From the shadows far away.
After confirming Andras' series of actions, Rudger turned away without hesitation.
"He's quite perceptive."
He had been waiting for Andras to contact Nikolai in panic after his disappearance, but Andras had somehow sensed his intentions and destroyed the communicator.
Probably because the communicator itself could provide clues that might expose Nikolai's hiding place.
"But that action just now has blinded your eyes."
Andras had destroyed the communicator to prevent Rudger from finding Nikolai, but that wasn't entirely the case.
Rudger withdrew his hand from a nearby surveillance device.
The thread of magical energy connecting to the device returned to Rudger.
"Yes. You were watching me from there."
Even without Andras' communicator, there was already a channel to locate Nikolai.
Specifically, the surveillance devices that had been monitoring him all along.
Nikolai had been using them to track his position continuously and send bounty hunters and experimental subjects.
That meant if he could hack these surveillance devices in reverse, he could also see Nikolai's location.
"One who gazes into the abyss should remember that the abyss also gazes back."
Thanks to the time Whiron had bought him, Rudger had been hacking the surrounding surveillance devices one by one by inserting threads of magical energy.
Not all devices were connected to Nikolai.
But among those countless devices, was it possible that not even one was?
Rudger finally found Nikolai.
"Yes. I had somewhat guessed where you were. To manage most of the surveillance devices on this island, your geographic location must be fixed."
Even with such a process of elimination, the area to check was too vast.
But Rudger had persistently searched for the location through surveillance devices and finally caught a trace of Nikolai.
"You cunning bastard. So that's where you were hiding."
Nikolai's hiding place was at the center of Isla Machina.
By center, he didn't mean the middle layer or central part of the island.
He literally meant exactly at the center.
That is, he was buried deep inside the machine apparatus that rose like a mountain.
Since the island itself was a machine, there would be several passages leading inside.
Despite being called an island, Isla Machina was also a fortress. It wouldn't be strange for there to be paths leading inside.
In fact, when Rudger had fallen here through Rene's magic, wasn't it inside the island?
"Lord Whiron. I've located the enemy's position. I'm sending you the location, please confirm."
Rudger sent a communication toward Whiron, who was still fighting the bounty hunters.
All that could be heard over the communicator were the sounds of destruction, but Whiron would have understood well enough.
After ending the communication, Rudger was about to discard the communicator.
Not only was it no longer needed, but Nikolai had likely intercepted their communication.
"Ah."
Instead of destroying the communicator, Rudger brought it to his mouth as if recalling something.
"I told you, didn't I? That I would find you."
He couldn't know if Nikolai was listening.
But Rudger was certain that the man would be watching his every move.
"I'm coming now."
With those final words, Rudger destroyed the communicator and activated his magic.
Steel cubes generated in mid-air gathered together, eventually taking the form of a giant bird
[Steel Raven]
Rudger climbed onto the back of his summon.
His destination was Nikolai's hideout at the center of the island.
The shadow-shrouded steel bird screeched and shot forward like an arrow.