Fame (2)
It was a sudden battle, but I had no intention of backing down.
He was the one who picked the fight first. He was also the one who declared he would kill me.
Tear you to shreds and feed you to the livestock. One might dismiss it as a cliché threat, but locking eyes with him, I knew.
This guy. He meant it.
The intense contempt burning in his eyes as he looked at me, along with his demeanor, made it absolutely clear.
The words he spat out were his genuine feelings, rising from the very depths of his heart.
Why do I only run into psychopaths?
The only saving grace was that he didn't look particularly strong.
Was it because I had just faced an overwhelming monster? Or was he truly weak?
There was only one way to find out.
"Ahahaha...! Unbelievable. The magical tool chose a bug like you over me as its master?"
Drowning in his own thoughts, he quickly snapped back to reality.
"Right... That's it. A magical tool that chooses a low-class mage. Hehehe. Calamity-class, my foot! It's just a low-class tool, perfectly suited for a low-class insect!"
Sour grapes to the core, he regained his initial confidence.
"It's a duel! How dare a bug like you sow doubt in my mind! Even in death, you won't be able to atone for this sin!"
Whoosh. He extended his arms to his sides. Green, thorny vines sprouted rapidly from his long sleeves.
A surprise attack?
Remaining on high alert, I thrust the Lantern forward, bracing for the incoming strike. However, the thorny vines were not aimed at me.
"Aaaargh!""Why are you doing this to us all of a sudden?!""Save me!"
The Management Bureau staff, who had been operating the equipment in the back, panicked at the sudden onslaught of thorny vines. The vines, bristling with sharp thorns, wrapped tightly around the agents' necks. The skin pierced by the thorns began to turn black, suggesting the presence of poison.
"What do you think you're doing?! These are people from the Management Bureau! Stop this instant!"
Oh Suhyeok, who had introduced himself as a Section Chief of the Management Bureau, shouted.
"Stop squirming and stay still, you insects."
His response was chillingly cold. This psychopath didn't even bat an eye despite attacking dozens of men. Instead, he looked at Oh Suhyeok with sheer annoyance.
Watching this, I felt a slight sense of dissonance.
The look in the madman's eyes right now was entirely different from the one he had directed at me moments ago.
I had read various emotions in his eyes when he looked at me.
Contempt, jealousy, anger.
All those negative impulses.
But as he looked at the Bureau agents, his eyes were completely devoid of emotion.
Indifferent, as if stepping on an ant on the street. Casual, like swatting an annoying mosquito.
"What you are doing right now is making an enemy of the Management Bureau! Mage Ju Gihyeok! Stop this at once!"
"Chirp, chirp. So noisy."
"Ju Gihyeok!!"
At the mocking, indifferent gaze of the madman, Ju Gihyeok, Section Chief Oh Suhyeok roared in fury.
"Do you honestly think the Management Bureau would dare do anything to me, the future head of my family, just because I touched a few bugs like you?"
Hearing his arrogant words, Section Chief Oh Suhyeok clenched his fists tightly.
"Damn it...! You mages are all...!!"
There was nothing he could do. Nothing except dodge the vines trying to seize him and help the remaining staff.
There was no way to save those already caught and dragged away. The divide between a mage and a sorcerer was just that vast.
"Aaaargh! Section Chief! Save me!""I don't want to die...! Save me! Please! Save me!""Uwaaaah. Mom—!"
The desperate cries of the Bureau agents echoed in all directions.
"Quiet."
Ju Gihyeok clenched his open hand into a fist.
Crunch!!
The vines wrapped around their necks constricted violently. A moment later, the cries abruptly ceased.
Thud. Thud.
Numerous heads tumbled to the ground. The headless corpses remained suspended in the air, still skewered by the vines.
"How gruesome..."
I frowned at the sight.
This was only the second time I had witnessed people dying right in front of me.
My stomach didn't churn, nor did I feel nauseous. I had come here fully prepared to take lives if necessary. So, there was no reason to be shocked. I already knew this was a dangerous line of work that danced hand-in-hand with death.
But knowing it didn't make the sight any more pleasant.
"Get ready."
Vrrr—
As if thrilled to receive my command, the Lantern began to vibrate.
Whoosh—
The flame inside the Lantern flared to life, and shadows began to sway beneath it.
"Relying on a tool instead of your own magic? I suppose a bug is a bug after all. You're no different from a common sorcerer."
"Heh."
Sneering at me, he suddenly flicked his finger.
Swoosh—
The vines retracted toward him, dragging the multiple headless corpses along with them.
Snap—
Standing before the headless bodies, Ju Gihyeok snapped his fingers.
"Great Resurrection."
Thud—!
With a heavy tremor, the state of the corpses began to change. The ceaseless flow of blood stopped, and the wounds torn by the vines knit themselves shut. The limp limbs stiffened, planting their feet firmly on the ground to support their weight.
The headless corpses moved in perfect order, lining up in front of Ju Gihyeok. Shielded by the bodies, Ju Gihyeok smirked.
"Be crushed and die beneath my magnificent magic."
Whoosh—
The reanimated corpses moved in unison with Ju Gihyeok's hand gestures. They raised their hands and pointed them toward me. Fwoosh. Orbs of fire the size of human heads began to blaze.
Can they use the sorcery they knew in life?
It didn't look like innate magic. Just pure fire meant solely for destruction. At least, that was how it appeared to my eyes.
And naturally, it posed absolutely no threat to me.
Fwoooosh—!
I thrust the Lantern forward, intending to block the incoming fireballs.
Right then, I felt a squirming sensation beneath my feet.
"Siwoo! Watch out!"
Simultaneously with Ju Harin's warning cry, a thorny vine erupted from the ground. Its razor-sharp thorns lunged straight for my heart. Because I had remained alert, I was able to throw myself backward and dodge it.
Smirk.
In that split second, Ju Gihyeok entered my field of vision, wearing a sinister smirk.
"!!"
In that brief instant, the missed thorny vine twisted mid-air and lunged back toward me.
Its target had shifted from my heart to my head.
There was no dodging this attack.
Of course, there was no reason to dodge it either.
Crunch!!
Munch, munch.
A shadow erupted from the Lantern, seizing the thorny vine and chewing it to pieces.
"Good job."
I stroked the Lantern with my hand, praising it. However, my gaze remained fixed on Ju Gihyeok, not the Lantern.
Was the sorcery just a distraction to catch me off guard?
The price of carelessness is death. Knowing this all too well, I had thrown myself back the moment I felt the vibration beneath my feet, successfully dodging the first strike. But while suspended in mid-air, there was no way to evade the second attack that had twisted its trajectory.
Did he plan this?
If all of this was indeed by his design, I needed to re-evaluate him.
"Oh? You actually blocked that."
Creating an opening in the opponent and striking their exposed weakness. It was an attack that could only come from extensive combat experience.
"But will you be able to dodge the next one?"
Snap—
He snapped his fingers, and the ground rumbled.
Thud. Thud. Two colossal thorny vines reared their heads above the ground.
"Gasp...!"
Watching the battle unfold, Section Chief Oh Suhyeok gasped and took a step back.
It was understandable. The emerging vines were so massive that it felt wrong to even call them vines anymore.
If one were crushed by that sheer mass, they would die instantly, like an ant stepped on by a human.
Yet, it didn't instill even a shred of fear in me.
The reason was simple.
"This is making me yawn."
Compared to the anomaly I had been fighting just moments ago, this was nothing.
A monster that charged like mad while enduring a barrage of attacks versus a mere thorny vine the size of an apartment building.
It was obvious which one was more dangerous.
And I had survived that anomaly.
A thorny vine like this posed absolutely no problem.
"Heh. Bluffing even with your last breath. A fitting end for you."
He sneered.
"Now, die."
And the thorny vines surged toward me.
Swoooooosh—!
With a sound that tore through the air, the massive thorny vines plummeted toward the ground. His intention to crush me under their sheer weight was painfully obvious. At that size, there was no dodging.
"Too slow."
Of course, just like before, there was no reason to dodge.
I slowly extended the Lantern forward. The darkness starting from the tips of my toes wriggled and stretched out like a living creature. In an instant, the shadow swallowed the forest, expanding so vastly that even the colossal, hideous vines summoned by Ju Gihyeok looked small in comparison.
Kikiki, kyahyahat—!
Can I eat it?
Can I eat it?
Can I eat it?
Can I eat it?
A chilling auditory hallucination of thousands of overlapping voices scraped against my eardrums. Staring at Ju Gihyeok beyond the thorny vines with dry, emotionless eyes, I gave a brief permission.
"Devour them."
The moment the command fell, the shadows moved.
Like tens of thousands of starving locusts swarming, the shadows began to gnaw away at Ju Gihyeok's thorny vines from the roots. The speed was terrifyingly fast—so fast that they devoured the vines completely before they could even touch the ground.
"What on earth is...!"
I could see Ju Gihyeok's bewildered face.
The vastly expanded shadow shrank once more. No, to be more precise, it compressed.
Smaller, and even smaller.
Gathering and forging the surrounding darkness into a single point, it soon formed a pitch-black spear that not even light could penetrate.
"Damn it...! Block it! Block it no matter what!"
At Ju Gihyeok's command, the headless corpses threw themselves in front of him to block the attack. A small spell was layered over their bodies. I could feel their defensive power rising even further.
But even so, could those corpses possibly be sturdier than the anomaly from earlier?
"Fire."
Swoosh—!
Obeying my command, the spear of shadow shot forward.
Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud—
The spear, fired like an arrow, pierced through the blocking corpses one after another.
Squelch—!
"Gurgle... Argh...!!!"
And skewered Ju Gihyeok's heart.