[crackle]
Damn it, heavy.
It’s a power wrung out of a single human life. A power on the same line as stopping time and cutting space.
I never thought I could block it easily from the start.
“...Don’t.”
Yang Seoho’s voice comes from behind me.
A voice endlessly fragile, small, and blurry.
“Don’t... block it.”
Not worth answering.
No—truth is, I don’t have the leeway to answer.
[crackle]
Magic circles bloom and collapse at insane speed, taking on every possible shape.
This isn’t the kind of magic you can block.
It isn’t even a projectile. You can’t block it physically, or deflect it, or slice it.
That’s the first problem I’m facing.
[System: Penalty trait “Feast’s Offering” activates.]
Gigantic hands surge in from every direction.
I’m not the only target. The golden hairpin Yang Seoho was guarding is a target too.
Slithering, writhing, slick, beautiful hands—rushing for the golden hairpin at terrifying speed.
Ah. At this point just seeing a human hand makes me nauseous.
Anyway, that’s the second problem.
And the third problem is really the best of all—
[System: “Heightened Vigilance” activates.]
“Don’t block it... Just leave me alone.”
Oh, I’m going to lose it.
To be honest, I wasn’t expecting a thank-you.
I’ve been wracked by mania and delirium myself, so I thought I wouldn’t care what Yang Seoho said to me.
Ah—this could be misunderstood. I’m not saying this because she told me to let her die.
She was never that passive.
She’s already made the suggestion “I would like you to stop that action” three times. For Yang Seoho, that was a lot of patience.
She finally chose not to endure it anymore, and launched an attack to enforce her will.
[vvvvvvmmm—]
‘You damned bureaucrat!’
No time to talk.
I’m just one person, and three split-second crises that must be solved in 0.1 to 2 seconds are charging me from three directions.
‘Where do I assign priority? The crackling death in front? The terrifying Yang Seoho flying in from behind? Or those hands behind her trying to spirit away the golden hairpin?’
Besides those three instant game-over problems, there are a few more sub-challenges.
Hands flying at me.
And hands stealing the [Soul Seal] from Shin Woojin’s corpse—no, they already stole it. Damn. Thorough, aren’t you.
No time.
So either I find a checkmate that solves everything at once—
Or I make more time.
‘Hold on. A checkmate?’
[crackle-snap]
The shock wave from Yang Seoho’s charge slams into me.
‘You rotten bureaucrat—’
I turn my head and look at Yang Seoho barreling toward me.
‘Ugh...’
Her face is a tangle of grief, fury, panic, futility, madness, rapture, pain, and despair.
How should I put that expression...
‘Damn it. I can’t even think of a good insult.’
[rrrrrrumble!]
I shift the mana-stones orbiting me and assemble a vacuum wave to ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) cancel her shock wave—
and at the same time—
[ᛇ (Eiwaz; Protection)]
[ᚈ (Tinne; Protection)]
[Tan (Projectile)]
I force several symbolic magics of differing systems through the mana-stone embedded in my left hand and catch the attack.
[thoom]
“Ah—”
A gasp from Yang Seoho.
She freezes, eyes wide.
Whatever surprised her, I bought time!
Objects lift out of my arms.
[Sign Chancellor’s Sword], [Butcher’s Hook]. And an [Avatar Stone] imbued with the power of [Predator in the Mountains].
[biiiiiiing—]
A staggering number of magic circles keep blooming without pause.
[Protection], [Distortion], [Illusion], [Binding], [Control], [Containment], [Conversion], [Constraint]...
[SSS-grade weapon “Sign Chancellor’s Sword” (Nokzon): Unique function “Sama’s Aspect” activates.
// Sama’s Aspect: Damage of all attacks that target good or benevolent beings increases by 400%.]
[S-grade weapon “Butcher’s Hook”: Unique function “Proof of Slaughter” activates.
// Proof of Slaughter: Power of necromancy-type magic increases by 100%.]
[Resonance], [Control] using the [Soul Blade].
[Weaken], [Maim] using the power of the [Sign Chancellor’s Sword].
And I move [Butcher’s Hook], which stores necromantic power—this time it’s not a formula, it’s magic.
Will this work? Will it really?
[Essence Siphon]
[zzzzzzzzzz—]
Exactly the same method I used when I trapped Heo Jihyeon in a mana-stone before.
This isn’t a mere soul, but I’ve done the disgusting job of controlling Abyss-tainted mana more times than I can count.
[zzzzzzzzzz—]
‘It’s working.’
To absorb mana that refined, I’d need a powerful artifact or a high-capacity mana-stone. [Blade of Flesh] and [Sign Chancellor’s Sword] don’t have that function, and [Butcher’s Hook] is too low-grade.
Thankfully—
I have an [Avatar Stone] that can hold even the power of an Abyssal being.
With no other choice, I ram this dense, overwhelming death-mana into the [Avatar Stone]—and fuse it with my left hand.
[crackle]
Sparks jump from my left hand.
“Urgh.”
I clamp that power down with my right hand...
“Damn... This is exactly that, isn’t it?”
A few jokes pop up about a “left hand steeped in uncontrollable death,” but even I know this isn’t the time.
“Stop it! Yang Seoho! This is not the time!”
“I don’t know.”
“Oh, not this again.”
“I don’t know if I’m actually alive. If I could die, I could confirm I’d been alive. You ruined that.”
“You’re not dying! Don’t you dare give up at this half-assed moment, you damned bureaucrat!”
Hearing that while I’m doing everything I can to survive and get out of this world—yeah, irritation surges.
“Is this really reality? Maybe it’s all just an illusion or a mistake. A world where nothing can touch me. Where I can touch nothing. Is this world really real?”
She still hasn’t fully shaken the delirium.
“Is that so?”
Nothing can touch you?
While drawing that power in, I pull the strength condensed in my left hand—the [Avatar Stone], [Predator in the Mountains], [Source of Life], and the mana taken from Shin Woojin’s soul—no, not as-is.
[Conversion] [Constraint] [Distortion]—
[rrrrrrrumble—]
I strip out any toxicity that would “definitely kill a person,” turn it into pure mana, and fire it at Yang Seoho—
and at the countless hands behind her closing in on the golden hairpin.
[Surge of Power]
[crackle-KRAKK!!]
A massive outpouring of power erupts in a white flash.
Yang Seoho faces it with no defense at all—
and that tremendous force smashes her and drives her back—
and destroys everything along its line.
[RRRRRUMMMMMBLE!!]
Good thing I fired south.
The force I unleashed punched through the giant hands coiling around the Cure Medical Care grounds and kept driving south—
then erased Sirang Mountain far to the south and flew out to sea.
[rrrrumble!—crash!—RRRRUMBLE!]
A colossal storm and sparks bloom from the shock’s aftereffects.
“Impressive...”
Along the long gouged scar of destruction, like a canyon, I spot Yang Seoho.
She’s fallen among concrete turned to sand, lying on her back staring up at the sky.
She opens her mouth slowly.
“It hurts.”
[rrrrrumble—]
The mana I released flew out to sea, and I’d already planted seeds there.
“I didn’t expect them to combine like that.”
[ᛕ (Kenaz; Fire)]
[ᚦ (Thurisaz; Change)]
[ᛊ (Sowilo; Sun)]
Three runes I’d sent into the sea.
They’re forming forces of heat, change, lightning, strength, sun, air, uplift, convection, and violence in all directions.
Moisture boils up and towers toward the sky.
Clouds mass with rolling thunder.
A massive pocket of low pressure.
A localized vortex.
That heat meshes with the [Surge of Power] I discharged and weaves several spells—
[Great Tide]
[Explosive Lightning]
[Howling Gale]
[Spell Boost: Maximize]
The spells braid and fuse on their own and trigger a localized transformation.
[fwoooooo—]
[Weather Shift: Storm]
A giant storm that guzzles my mana, seawater, and heat and swells in an instant.
[rrrrrumble—]
Not an ordinary storm.
A huge vortex vomits hail, lightning, and fire—limited to this enclosed site where Cure Medical Care stands.
[RRRRRR—KRRRRUM—KRRRUM!]
“Good timing.”
Area-wide strikes falling without direction.
The colossal hands shatter under the barrage.
“Ah, we’re almost done.”
I’m finally free of [Source of Life]’s interference and have room to set up the next phase.
“You called that storm?”
“Yeah, you brain-vacant, crazy bureaucrat. Are you trying to beat to death the person who was helping you?”
“Hey, ID-less punk. Watch your mouth.”
“...Yes. I called it, Officer. And I’m also the one who saved you when you were about to die, and the one who smacked you back to your senses when you were out of your mind. Aren’t you grateful?”
“Thank you.”
By raw single-hit destructive output, that was the strongest “spell” I’ve ever made.
No—calling it a spell is a bit off.
All I did was take the mana whose property [Source of Life] kneaded from Shin Woojin’s soul—switch it from death to destruction—and re-emit it.
Even so, the power was overwhelming—and if the target hadn’t been Yang Seoho, we might’ve needed to redraw the map.
And yet the damage she took...
“I think a bone broke.”
She rubs somewhere around her ribs, grimacing.
“Hey, Officer. Normally you’d be dead.”
“How long does it usually take?”
“What?”
“For a bone to knit.”
Well, it’s possible she’s never had a fracture in her life.
“...About a month?”
At my words, Yang Seoho flicks the soot from her charred hands and grumbles.
“That’s long.”
“It’s not over yet.”
I say that and reach my mana toward the golden hairpin floating in the air.
[Chains of Dominion]
[clatter-clink—]
As I reel the golden hairpin in, I think.
[Source of Life] hasn’t vanished yet. But it isn’t interfering.
Sure, I’m suppressing it with this storm, but it shouldn’t be this quiet.
Is this beyond its expectations? Is it weighing options to prepare the next strategy it can use?
Well, I also had the thought I might be almost cornered.
“Is Woojin dead?”
Yang Seoho asks.
“...”
She’s not asking because she doesn’t know. She’s looking down at Shin Woojin’s body right now.
Her hand twitches in an awkward hover, unable to quite touch him.
“Touch him.”
“What?”
“Touch him. See if his heart is beating. Pulse and all that. If you touch, you can feel it, right?”
I look at her face for a moment, then say:
“He’s dead.”
“Touch him.”
“I said he’s dead.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean why?”
“Why did he die?”
“If you use that ability, you die.”
“What ability?”
“The one that kills the target.”
“Then why didn’t I die?”
“Because I blocked it.”
“If you blocked it, why did Woojin die?”
“Woojin’s life was the price. I can’t stop the price from being paid.”
“The price.”
“Yeah.”
“He sold cheap.”
“...”
“Come to think of it, he said he’d grant my wish.”
“You were tricked.”
“Why try to grant my wish and not his own?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“What did he think my wish was?”
“What is your wish?”
“I don’t know. I don’t have anything like that.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Not anymore.”
“I see.”
“Kim Sinhwa.”
“What?”
“What are you going to do now?”
“I told you. It’s not over yet.”
“You’re going to fight this, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. That’s what we usually do.”
