“Rescue? Rescue who, from whom?”
Akiyama flinched at the ridiculous word that popped out of Yang Seoho’s mouth.
“Yeah. Extraction. You saw the mess outside, right? I came to pull you out.”
He still doesn’t know what Akiyama is attempting.
But he can guess this much: if he separates Akiyama from this place and from that gold, most of the problem will dissolve.
“What are you doing! Stop him! Stop that lunatic!”
Akiyama’s shout.
“Kieeek!”
“Gyaaah!”
Monsters burst out from all directions—
Human bodies warped with beast or insect traits into grotesque shapes.
Seo Cheonseul would have called them yokai, specifically henge yokai, but these are mutant cultists fabricated with Cure Medical Care’s technology.
“Mm. Panicked citizens raging or attacking the wrong people—happens all the time.”
When the attack rises to a lethal level, suppression is permitted.
Vwooooooom—
Yang Seoho lazily swept her hand—and the wind pressure from her fingertips flicked the charging cultists away.
[crash crash!]
“Gyaaaaargh!”
Even so, they keep swarming.
“But are you really Korean? Everyone line up and take out your IDs. Hey. Hands off.”
She gently pushed aside the huge pincer claw of the cultist clinging to her left—
[pop!!]
The claw vanished. No—
[crackle!]
The pincer tore off at the arm and went flying, colliding with cultists rushing from the rear.
[crunch!]
“Ah, hell. If you’re going to modify yourselves, at least make it sturdy. Hey, you—no ID either?”
She aimed the question at a cultist with a mouth split sideways like an insect’s proboscis, studded with vicious fangs.
“Say something in Korean.”
“KyAAAA!”
“Can’t talk?”
[snap-crackle!]
The fangs ripped out whole.
“Dieee!”
A cultist lunged from behind, raking long claws across Yang Seoho.
[splinter!]
“Hey. What do you think you’re doing, flailing around like that?”
Yang Seoho turned, perfectly fine. It had been a killing blow, yet the thing that shattered was the cultist’s claws.
“Good grief.”
Yang Seoho looked around with not even tension—barely even a sense of reality.
Blood geysered in every direction. Meat. Screams. Death.
This is no battle.
She simply walks forward with light steps—like a stroll through fog.
Things look like they’ll touch, then, the moment they seem close, everything disperses like mist.
No interaction is possible.
It feels like standing inside an exquisitely crafted volumetric projection.
Between endless attacks—between enemies maimed and toppling {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} from her own casual counters—Yang Seoho wears a face that’s hard to put into words.
Disappointment, dejection, sorrow, regret, boredom, ennui, annoyance.
“When does Kim Sinhwa show up?”
“I told you a dozen times! We have nothing to do with Kim Sinhwa!”
“Not even Dokko Gyeom?”
Dokko Gyeom, with his rapid regeneration and space-warping, can at least stage something that looks like a fight.
Still, he’s soft all the same.
Like clay that deforms exactly how you knead it.
“He’s not here!”
“Dull. Guess I’ll just get back to work.”
Yang Seoho said that and kept advancing.
[ruuuumble!]
A tremendous earthquake began.
“Uuugh!”
Confusion erupted from all sides.
“Mage? What do we do?”
Jang Hyundeok’s question.
The surroundings are a wreck. Smoke rising everywhere.
Cultists shrieking as they sprint down the road.
Criminals waving weapons and rampaging. Cars tearing around like they’ve lost their minds.
[BOOOOM!]
Another chain of explosions.
“They’re drawing us in.”
Since a while ago, the Foreigners Administration’s movements have changed.
“Ah—could it be a trap?”
“Feels like it, but if it’s this type of trap, it’s welcome. Keep driving.”
“Ehh? There are people in the street!”
This isn’t a residential block, and during the day maybe, but at this hour nobody should be out here.
The Foreigners Administration has basically opened the road and is letting cultists flood in. Which likely means they’ve already evacuated most civilians.
So the “people” visible on the roads around here—there’s no way they’re just people.
Instead of explaining all that, I convinced Jang Hyundeok with a short line.
“Idiot. From here on, think of it as Paju.”
“Aha? Got it.”
Right—so, lawless zone? He made that face and stepped on the gas.
Well, Paju isn’t literally a lawless zone... but popular perception among Paju citizens is basically “lawless.”
[VRROOOOM!!]
“You crazy bastard!”
Just as I expected, the figures hesitating in the street backflipped away to avoid us.
“Told you.”
A fireball came arcing in. One enraged cultist had fired an ability at us.
[KA-BOOM!]
But the barrier hardware on the car is so tough that all we got was a little soot—no real damage.
“Still, could you block a few?”
“Why?”
“Bboong-bboong will get hurt!”
“You were just crashing into anything a minute ago—what are you even saying?”
“Come on...”
Jang Hyundeok turned his head, apparently out of things to say.
“Kim Sinhwa!”
Park Gwangrim suddenly darted into the road.
“Waaah!”
[Screeeech!]
[Chains of Dominion]
[shhhrrrk!]
“Huff!”
“Gwangrim! You can’t just jump out like that!”
“I—I knew you’d catch me.”
Park Gwangrim’s voice shook.
“Trust is nice but... no, never mind. What’s the situation?”
“Right now the thousand-gold captain is stirring up the security force together with Mannse Ilwon Church’s cultists.”
He pointed toward Cure Medical Care as he spoke.
From the big building in the distance, a golden flash flared now and then.
And with it, faintly—
“Bahahahaha! Splendid! Let’s see a better trick!”
Seo Cheonseul’s voice.
Looks like he’s weaving in and out among the cultists.
“Good. Gwangrim, you did well. In a little while the Foreigners Administration will start a encirclement op. Get to a safe zone and run.”
“Ah—understood.”
“Actually—too late. They’ve started.”
[rumble—!]
Armored trucks and APCs closed in from every direction.
They wore the crest of Busan Special Autonomous City, looking downright majestic.
“No helping it. Red!”
“Kiiiiii!”
Red swooped in from the sky.
“Ha! So I wasn’t seeing things!”
“Yeah, you saw right.”
I’d been checking Busan’s situation now and then through Red’s vision, and in a few cases I’d intervened indirectly.
“Don’t tell me you’re saying we should flee on that bird?”
“Huh? No. What are you talking about? Get in the car.”
I said that and stepped out of the vehicle.
“Huh? We’re going in alone?”
“......”
Why is he such an idiot?
“I’m going in alone. You run with Park Gwangrim. Red will guide the route.”
“Eh? You’re going alone, Mage?”
“Right. Time for the driver’s second job. Flee with the client. Take Park Gwangrim and go.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll get out on my own—don’t worry.”
“Ehh—still—”
“Enough! You blockhead! We don’t have time!”
Only after I snapped did Jang Hyundeok take off with Park Gwangrim.
“Stop! Stop!”
See? Because that idiot dragged his feet, we’ve come this far!
Grumbling, I turned toward the road and cast.
[Great Upheaval]
[Spell Boost: Range Increase]
[rrrrrRRRUMBLE!]
The asphalt split—the ground flipped.
Jang Hyundeok’s call van zipped through the gap I made.
“Kiiii!”
Red’s cry rang from above.
“With those three, they’ll manage the escape.”
I turned without hesitation and shot into the sky.
[L-grade garment ‘Night Shroud Wingcoat’ unique function, ‘Celestial Steed Wings,’ activates.
// Celestial Steed Wings: automatically casts the ‘Flight’ spell.]
“Guaaah!” “Kugh!” “Gyaaah!” “Aaaah!”
The cultists who hurled themselves in to halt her slow, simple advance screamed in tatters.
There’s no one left to throw in.
The commotion outside has already blown past what Wild Guns Security and Go Gyeongsu can handle—
To block Seo Cheonseul, the Mannse Ilwon Church cultists, and, from Akiyama’s perspective, contextless criminals clinging to the fray, he has already sent most of his force outside.
Even so, Akiyama hasn’t lost hope—or madness.
“Too late! It has begun!”
Akiyama’s voice burst out, feral.
“Hm? What’s begun?”
Yang Seoho asked back, bored.
[RRRRUMBLE!!!]
A tremor rose from deep underground.
The rite was starting.
Not because Yang Seoho dawdled. Everything was already prepared; all the activation needed was a single short declaration.
“Kr— cha— uktah— v— toph— sha— s’ak.”
[RRRUMBLE!!]
The building’s structure inverted, the floor split—and the deep, dark shaft Cure Medical Care had excavated over long months opened wide.
A great round hole bored toward the underworld.
[whiiiiine—!]
From that far black, a clammy, horrific wind welled up.
The medium was prepared long ago.
The sacrifice—[Mirror of Wisdom]—would stand in its place.
[rumble...]
“What is this?”
“A gate to another world.”
Yang Seoho’s face creased.
“A word that hints at ‘illegal entry.’”
It’s also a word she hates.
“Ha! You don’t really understand, do you? My goal isn’t mere descent—a routine invocation. I will destroy the old, worn gateway that opens to the Abyss—”
“With what? That?”
A wrong-genre voice cut in out of nowhere.
“Ha—”
Yang Seoho bared her teeth in a grin.
“Kim Sinhwaaaa!!”
Akiyama roared like a beast.
“Ah, Mr. Akiyama—calling out someone’s name like that when we’re not even properly introduced puts me in a mood, you know? Anyway—yes, you’re opening it with that?”
That—meaning the massive golden pillar standing upright over the hole.
Gold wrapped around the [Mirror of Wisdom] that Akiyama excavated, gold steeped in the deep-sea curse—made into a great pillar.
It looks a lot like the golden pillar I raised back in Insoo Village.
“Yes! With this sacred golden hairpin! I will behold the Abyss itself—my Mother—the Great Mother who birthed all that is!”
“So that’s what you were prepping here? Shoving a golden pillar into a gigantic hole?”
Bleh.
Freud would faint from joy if he saw this.
At my jeer, Akiyama—no, wait—
[System: ‘Heightened Vigilance’ trait activates.]
Yang Seoho—?
“Uwaaaah!”
[L-grade accessory ‘Mask of Carcosa’ unique function, ‘Dreamlike Blur,’ activates.
// Dreamlike Blur: automatically casts the ‘Blink’ spell.]
A survival trigger that fired to save me: in an instant, the world slid—and I reappeared about ten meters away.
[Blink complete. Cooldown: 864,000 seconds]
“Ah—no!”
Ten meters is way too close!
[Protective Array]
[Barrier of Force]
I barely got the defenses up.
[KA-THOOOOOM!]
A thunderous impact followed.
“Hahahahaha! There you are!”
Yang Seoho lunged with a demon’s grin.
“Hey! Priorities! Priorities!”
“Apprehending an illegal resident takes top priority!”
Vwooooooom!
Her hand came slashing with incredible speed. It wasn’t a punch. Fingers spread to seize me—her hand tore the air on the way in.
I wrung every bit out of my flight and fell back—casting as I went.
[Thunderbolt]
[rrrumble— KA-BOOM!]
Yang Seoho brushed the lightning aside with an easy sweep.
Sonic booms erupted in every direction.
“Isn’t it a bit much to have splash damage built into your guard motion?”
Still—this is better than last time.
Right, we’re in the middle of a city. She can’t go all-out here.
[Distortion Field]
I shredded the sonic boom with a distortion field, pulled my ID from my coat, and tossed it to Yang Seoho.
“Eat ID! An ID! The number’s even on it!”
She slowed for an instant and snatched my card.
“You’re young.”
“Sure, younger than you.”
“Forged.”
[crack—]
“Ah, damn it. Do you know how much that ID cost?”
“So it is forged.”
“That’s true, but—this isn’t the time to fight me, is it? Akiyama over there is attempting large-scale illegal entry.”
“Let him. No—fine. If you’re going to do that, hurry up.”
Akiyama stared, outraged at Yang Seoho’s words.
“What?”
“You’re still short on gold. When are you using that gold?”
I was just as baffled.
“Hey, you—what are you doing, Ms. Yang?”
The gold stored in the wooden containers.
“You think you can ignore me, Yang Seoho? Fine! I’ll show you exactly what you want! Rise, gold of the deep sea! Awaken the Great Mother of Life—the [Source of Life]—and become the key to flood this world with primal life-fluids!”
[rrrumble—]
Malice-crusted mana gathered toward the gold in the containers.
[viiiiiii—]
Wait—what is that?
I felt a strange impurity among the gold.
Uh... that is...
No way—
“H—hold on. Akiyama! You probably shouldn’t do that! Stop!”
“Too late! Far too late! Cry! Shudder!”
“No—seriously, wait!”
But it really was already too late.
