Ancient Predator

Daiyen was a capable merchant. That meant she could sell the same goods for more than ordinary folk could, and after lengthy negotiations with the lord, she brought Suhyun the best possible outcome.

"I secured an estate near the castle, along with tax exemptions and priority purchasing rights for wool and woolens."

"What about rights to the spoils from processing the magic realm? That's the most important part."

"Of course."

Daiyen hadn't taken mere gold; she'd claimed rights obtainable from Chromore. With Nautilus, they could buy up unlimited wool and woolens with transport costs near zero, turning massive cheap purchases into huge profits when sold far away. The estate near the castle would serve as a docking spot for Nautilus, a loading hub, and a trade center with nearby territories—maximizing profits from the whale. Chromore's lands were perfect for commerce anyway: they'd wiped out nearby monsters for ranching, and the rolling hills of short grass held few threats that could best a mounted knight. It was ideal for trade routes, as long as it didn't turn into a magic realm.

"But can you really handle the magic realm?"

"If trying works out, great. If not, we're back to square one, right?"

"You have to handle it. If you fail, the estate and priority rights all vanish."

Suhyun chuckled at Daiyen's earnest warnings and his own laissez-faire response.

"I'll be back."

Watching Suhyun ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠leap from the walls toward the magic realm's core, Daiyen turned as Lutisat and the lord approached.

"Think he'll succeed?"

Mages lived longer than ordinary folk. Lutisat had served as Chromore's mage since the lord's grandfather took office—longer than in his homeland or even at the Ifrit's Hearth Tower. He'd grown attached to the place and hoped it wouldn't become a magic realm, but he was pessimistic about escaping one. The lord shared his view after hearing it. They'd drafted such a generous contract precisely because they doubted it could ever be fulfilled—like selling shares in a sinking ship. Still, a sliver of hope had prompted their signatures. Watching the merchant who'd wrung that unfair deal from them, the lord wondered if she truly believed it possible.

"Who knows? I barely know magic myself, so if Suhyun says he can, I figure he can."

"To me, it looks like slapping mud on a cracked, leaking dam."

A holed dam didn't leak much yet, but patching it under pressure was brutally hard. Ignore it, and the breach grew until the whole thing collapsed in an instant. When the flood broke, villages in its ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠path vanished. Block it to save crops, and you'd lose both to the torrent; flee, and you'd replant next year.

"If it looks that bad, help with the evacuation instead of coming here."

The lord grumbled as Lutisat trailed him with nothing but negativity. His mentor, guardian, and father figure since birth—but also the one man he could vent to freely. He'd tried acting mature since becoming lord, but with the territory's doom all but certain, there was no need for pretense. He gulped wine bought from Daiyen's caravan.

"Ahh. Want some?"

Lutisat silently took the bottle and chugged with his one good hand.

"It's expensive. Sip it slow."

Lutisat laughed at the lord regretting half the bottle gone after one round.

"How much?"

"Forty-five silver pieces."

"What a rip-off. Tastes like four-silver swill."

"Everything's worth depends on time and place."

Daiyen defended her caravan from the sidelines, prompting Lutisat's grin.

"Still, forty-five's steep. But if that young man saves Chromore, I'd gladly buy this rotgut for gold."

"A verbal contract's still a contract."

"If he pulls it off, I'll spend every coin I've saved to buy it in gold."

Daiyen eyed Lutisat as if committing his words to memory. He laughed, went to finish the bottle, but the lord snatched it away.

As Suhyun drew nearer, he felt the thickening Preservation mana. But even that dense aura was faint compared to the other dimension's norm for its lifeforms, which lunged at the prey before them with insane speed.

Beings evolved in a realm saturated with Preservation mana had hyper-accelerated metabolisms by default. Anything slower would near-coma levels from the mana, halting activity—so their kind burned energy at rates Suhyun saw as suicidal. Invading the material world, they suffered rapid malnutrition: a day's energy gone in under an hour, driving them mad for food.

Preservation mana hindered breaking things but eased hardening shells, so most invaders wrapped themselves in thick chitin. Bolstered by the mana, they dwarfed material-world plants and beasts in toughness. Free of the influence, the invaders massacred local life with ruthless speed.

Suhyun snatched a cephalopod rocketing from a crevice like a bullet, clicking his tongue at its unfair velocity and hardness. The conical-shelled beast outpaced any squid-monster he knew several times over, its shell tougher than most chitin he'd seen. Composed of mere calcium carbonate yet harder than metal-and-mana armor—Suhyun shuddered anew at Preservation's defensive prowess.

Pike-wielders targeted the mindless chargers like plate-armor foes, but steel tips snapped, and one pierced Suhyun's barrier. Obsessed with the prey in sight, Suhyun slew them one by one, nearing the core as water flow slowed dramatically.

His mana blocked Preservation's influence, but the space where it dominated moved in eerie slowness—mystical, beautiful. Trilobite-stirred silt bloomed lazily; trapped ground bubbles rose like air in glass, nearly halted. The serene, peaceful scene chilled him, like taxidermied nature.

"Knew you'd be here, magic realm lord."

Atop the suspected cavern housing the core, Suhyun spotted a colossal monster frozen mid-motion. Cores brimmed with mana, drawing mighty guardians. Ancients dubbed them "magic realm lords" for coveting that power; the name stuck even after learning they merely lurked nearby.

Gazing under the massive Anomalocaris at the translucent yellow trilobite fossil, Suhyun recognized it as the core.

"Hand over the core peacefully, and there'll be no bloodshed."

Rattle-rattle-rattle!

The colossal shell's motion roared in response to Suhyun's courtesy—a clear threat.

"Yeah, a predator won't yield its meal easily."

As Suhyun clenched his fist, the Anomalocaris exploded toward him. Arthropods swam slow? Nonsense—this one's speed rivaled a bullet, air-launched, carving a bubble tunnel through mana-dense water.

"Tch!"

His mana shielded against Preservation intrusion but didn't shove the stagnant water aside—like moving through wet cement. The bullet-fast foe felt like cheating. Preservation slowed life; survivors hardened over speeding up. Yet this mocked that: faster than Suhyun's world's monsters, retaining dimensional toughness. A mere graze shattered his barrier's spikes. Worse, exposure slowed barrier regen—normally instant.

Tsking, Suhyun pumped mana to repel the Preservation and restore it. Meanwhile, the Anomalocaris preserved its burst, wheeling for another charge.

"This is too unfair!"

Ignoring Suhyun's gripe, it snapped its crayfish-like tail. Preserving muscle tension, layering force before explosive release—its propulsion hyper-specialized for Preservation mana. Preserve speed, stack muscle power atop it.

Suhyun channeled mana into his fist. Unlucky for the beast: Suhyun knew handling faster foes. Human reflexes lagged beasts', even mana-boosted. Milliseconds weren't enough against microsecond monsters—raw ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠speed failed.

The "Dullness Principle"—a hobby martial art from Earth's wuxia tales, near-impossible theory—worked with mana. Simple: slower but preempt paths to counter speed.

Absorbing Preservation to harden his fist, Suhyun thrust into the charge's path. Front appendage met fist with boulder-crashing thunder, then cracking stone. Crack!

A pained screech; the limb tore free in slow motion. Preservation hardened shell and agony—the beast wailed, thoughtless in unending torment.

"The world won't wait for your pain!"

Mimicking its mana use, Suhyun preserved muscle power, layering thrice ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠till his body screamed—far short of its dozens. Aiming shell seams, he unleashed. Arthropod innards were soft; his strike blasted magic inside.

The overleveled staple shocked the beast rigid, body convulsing.

"Preservation's scary."

Even withdrawn, lightning lingered—preserved spasms. It clung to life and torment. Preservation slowed change, never reversed. Watching its slow death, Suhyun drew a sword from inventory, mercifully piercing a vitals spot.

Resisting unto death, preserved—the beast stilled. Suhyun stored the corpse, approaching the guarded trilobite fossil: a dimensional stray fossilized, warped by ley line mana into a core over eons.

Suhyun channeled mana, severing core from ley line.