#33. The Witch's Calamity (3)
#33. The Witch's Calamity (3)
Flesh chunks from across the island began converging, and Gu Jin-ha gritted his teeth. He had to get back to the mainland as fast as possible and help stop the academy raid—there was no time to be pinned down here.
'Hong Yuri.'
She still needed time to unleash her magic. By the count of twenty, the flood of flesh chunks had stopped—but Chimmuk-haneun Ip was still deep in his incantation. The thought of what kind of spell he was shaping gnawed at him.
'No way...'
Gwanghwi must have decided they were out of time. He drew his secondary weapon and sprinted. A wall of flesh rose to block him, but it served as little more than a stepping stone. The finest archer alive—there was no need to verify Gwanghwi's speed. It was simply a given.
"Spiritul tunetului coboară aici―"
And just as Chimmuk-haneun Ip's spell neared completion, Gwanghwi tore through the wall of flesh and drew his dagger. From the thickening black clouds overhead, the churning lightning coiled, poised to strike. Both sides on the verge of killing. Gu Jin-ha made his call.
'Can't let him finish the chant.'
He judged the spell would fire a single heartbeat before Gwanghwi's blade could land. Gu Jin-ha pulled another sword from inside his coat—a spare he'd decided to carry after everything they had been through. He gripped the hilt, drew his arm back taut behind his shoulder, and pulled up every scrap of mana he possessed—and even what he didn't.
'Not thinking about the aftermath.'
All he had to do was give Gwanghwi one opening to finish the bastard. Veins screaming as if they were being wrung dry, Gu Jin-ha clenched his jaw and hurled the sword a split second before the spell could detonate.
The slender blade flew like a beam of light and punched through the core of the mana—just as Chimmuk-haneun Ip tried to force an unstable spell into reality, Gwanghwi closed in.
"It's over."
The dagger buried itself where his heart should have been. Even so, the man muttered.
"O fereastră de tunete... și fulgere care acoperă cerul și pământul."
At the very last moment, the spell he had forced out ran wild. Gu Jin-ha grimaced at the sheer tenacity. Before the grand magic of the five-verse incantation could swallow Gwanghwi, he snatched up his bow in a blur and loosed an arrow into the black clouds.
"......!"
Thunder and lightning blanketed the world and collided with Gwanghwi's arrow of light. In the mana storm, Gu Jin-ha flinched—the lightning obliterated the arrow and crashed down. —But no one was standing there anymore.
'As expected.'
Gwanghwi had slipped beyond the spell's radius as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He'd known the arrow couldn't withstand grand magic and had disengaged. Gu Jin-ha was still marveling at that seasoned judgment when a mass of more than twenty flesh chunks convulsed nearby. A grotesque sight, like a tidal wave of meat. He let out a breath. The aftereffects of the throw had left his body refusing to obey him.
But he wasn't worried.
The entire area was already drenched in crimson. Just before the horde surged in, Hong Yuri shouted at the top of her lungs.
"Arzând în abis și transformându-se în cenușă!"
The magic Hong Yuri had been preparing. The five-verse incantation she'd used in the Forest Dungeon had been restrained—this time, there was no need for restraint. A moment later, Gu Jin-ha surveyed the scene and clicked his tongue.
"It's an abandoned island anyway, but still..."
All of Deokjeok Island had been their hideout, so there was nothing wrong with burning it down—but this seemed a little... excessive. Gu Jin-ha shook his head slowly. Hong Yuri wiped the sweat from her forehead and smiled, looking deeply satisfied.
"There. Nice and clean now."
Gwanghwi let out a hollow laugh as he surveyed the streets reduced to ash—not a single flesh chunk remained.
"A mage of this caliber is rare... What's harder to believe is that she isn't from a Square."
"My origins are from the Squares, actually."
"...Of course. Absurd, isn't it."
Fire magic. Crimson mana. Red Square. Among the Squares, they specialized in destruction, and this was power befitting that reputation.
"So what happened to Chimmuk-haneun Ip?"
"The heart was definitely pierced. That magic just now would have incinerated him."
"Hard to understand. What exactly was he counting on..."
Chimmuk-haneun Ip had been unquestionably strong. Given his use of a five-verse incantation, he must have been connected to the Squares in some way.
'Even so.'
With both Gwanghwi and himself present, what had he been thinking? Running away would have been the correct call. As if seeing right through him, Gwanghwi spoke.
"I didn't say he was dead. He's probably still alive."
"...What do you mean? Didn't you just say he was incinerated?"
"He was. I've thought I'd killed him before. Three times."
"......."
"Whether it's magic or a skill, I don't know—but this makes the fourth time. It's hard to believe he's dead."
"Are you serious?"
"An ear that cannot hear. Toes that won't budge. Those are the only two officers I've managed to put down for good. But Chimmuk-haneun Ip is different. That one keeps coming back, stubborn as hell."
Reflexively, Gu Jin-ha met Hong Yuri's eyes. But she just shook her head, as if it were news to her.
"What kind of bullshit cheat is that? Probably a skill."
So this bastard just keeps showing up without dying? If he popped out of nowhere and dropped a five-verse incantation on the city every time, they'd be finished. Gu Jin-ha's expression was hardening when he spotted Jeon Woo-taek sprinting toward them in the distance.
"Let's head back first. If they really attacked the academy, every second counts."
They ran with everything they had to where they'd anchored the boat—Batjireum Beach.
***
The shadow that suddenly loomed over him threw the tail into utter confusion. Not a shadow cast on the ground—a shadow shaped like a Wolf, rippling before his very eyes.
'What the hell.'
An incomprehensible phenomenon. The tail swallowed without realizing it. One thing, however, was clear: the thing intended to kill them all. If he didn't kill it, he would die.
"Block him! Block him any way you can!"
The shadow rippled, and its tentacles shot out—alongside the shadows those tentacles cast on the ground, striking in tandem. No wonder there'd been no contact... In all likelihood, this Wolf was the cause.
"Stâncă uriașă!"
A short-verse incantation. Wolf stared blankly upward as the massive rock plummeted. The tail let himself hope—maybe, just maybe—but that hope was crushed instantly. The rock slammed into the ground, hitting nothing.
'Where'd he—!'
Before he knew it, Wolf was tearing his subordinates apart. Countless tentacles and shadows. Raging gusts and black flames. Every form of resistance was meaningless. An insurmountable gap in power—the tail felt it in his gut. This was a monster he could never defeat. A crushing weight slammed onto his back as he tried to flee—Wolf had trampled him.
"Grrr—"
Drool dripped onto the ground beside his head. The tail struggled madly, but the overwhelming force pressing him down wouldn't let him move an inch.
"...Ah, ahh, ahhh."
A spell surfaced in his mind, barely. But his jaw was trembling too violently to chant. The beast's paw pressing down on his back felt as though it would shatter his spine at any instant. In the grip of terror that seemed without end, Wolf spoke.
"—Where are the rest of you bastards."
The beast's guttural, simmering voice—and the murderous intent it carried—sent a chill down the tail's spine. It... spoke? It had spoken? His mind went blank at the incomprehensible sight. In the moment he turned into a blank slate, horrific pain yanked him back to reality. Shadows tore through the gaps between his ribs, and tentacles slithered in—a pain like something boring into his brain. He screamed, but the shadow clamping his jaw shut from above and below choked off even the sound.
Only his bloodshot eyes told of his agony. After a brief moment, the shadow pinning his jaw vanished, and the tail immediately wailed.
"Olympiiiic! Olympic Bridge! It's the Olympic Bridge!"
—At the same time, the tail went up in black flames. Wolf watched him turn to ash and thought.
'Olympic Bridge.'
I had no ability to discern truth from lies. I could only hope the bastard had been telling the truth through the pain.
'She probably hasn't been able to run too far yet.'
I'd checked the dormitory building first, but only the debris of a collapsed structure remained. If I'd ever met Baek So-yul even once, I could track her by scent—but there was no chance of that.
'So I flipped the logic.'
If I couldn't find Baek So-yul, I'd chase the Prodigal Sons chasing her. Kill them all, and the Witch's Calamity wouldn't happen—and that would save Baek So-yul. But so far, I hadn't seen her.
True or not, I couldn't stand around. Wolf didn't hesitate—I ran toward Olympic Bridge.
***
"Here! Over here!"
An ambulance had managed to get in. Must not have been easy to mobilize in all this chaos. As they scrambled to rescue the surviving students, a young hunter took a call, pinching the phone between his jaw and shoulder.
"Eun-ha?"
He didn't even look at the screen.
"What's taking so long? Still not here?"
[No, it's not that. Something came up.]
Something came up? The young hunter's expression hardened. In the middle of this disaster, what kind of 'something' could there be? Was she being chased by Prodigal Sons? Or did she run into flesh chunks?
"What happened? Are you okay?"
[I'm fine. But the situation is a little...]
What he heard next was staggering.
"It really was a teacher?"
[Yes. I don't know who exactly, but...]
"What a headache."
The young hunter frowned. Obviously, teaching posts at the academy weren't handed out to just anyone. Only hunters of proven skill and character—the absolute top tier—could hold such an honored position.
'And a turncoat came out of that group.'
[I'm sorry. I don't know who it is. It was a tall man, chasing a girl named So-yul...]
That alone would be enough to track him down later. The young hunter was about to nod when one of the students loaded into the ambulance struggled to mutter.
"...Yoo Chang-baek."
"Yoo Chang-baek?"
"So-yul... please save her. Please...!"
The words came out in confusion, then the student's head dropped. Startled, the hunter checked—not dead, just unconscious.
"You heard that too, old man?"
The older hunter nodded.
"Yoo Chang-baek... Yes. I heard it clearly."
"We should circulate the name first, right?"
They could verify later. Suspicious circumstances had to be acted on first. The older hunter nodded. The young hunter looked down at the call that had cut off at some point, then frowned as a thought struck him.
"Old man. That monster from before. Didn't it ask where the Prodigal Sons were?"
"You little shit, don't bring that up!"
The older hunter shuddered as if the mere thought made his skin crawl. When the young hunter really did shut his mouth, the older hunter looked embarrassed and coughed.
"Hm. But why bring it up?"
"Could it be Alpha? It was a Wolf, wasn't it."
"Does that make sense, boy? He just evolved from a Warg to a Skull Wolf not long ago."
The unspoken question—had he really leaped beyond his species again?—was met with an even bigger question from the young hunter.
"So you think it's more normal for there to be another Wolf monster out there, besides Alpha, that's also hunting Prodigal Sons?"
"...Fuck."
Either another Wolf monster was chasing the Prodigal Sons, or Alpha really had evolved. Both gave him a headache. The older hunter let out a long sigh and unlocked his phone.
***
Baek So-yul vaulted the wall and ran without hesitation. She poured mana into every stride as if it were a sprint. If hiding wouldn't let her escape mana detection, then her only option was to get as far as possible.
Following the road up, she caught sight of the Han River. She needed to reach a place Teacher Yoo Chang-baek wouldn't dare follow.
'Where?'
The police wouldn't help. If that man was serious, if he truly meant it, he'd find a way to take her. She remembered the clan mark on the hunter who had saved her earlier. Was that woman alright?
'Daybreak's Dawn.'
The second-ranked clan after Gowon. Even if he was B-class, he couldn't do anything against Dawn. That's where she had to go—so Yoo Chang-baek couldn't take her. Running, Baek So-yul searched with her phone and called, but no one answered. At this hour, in this chaos, it would be stranger if someone were around to pick up.
It couldn't be helped, but a gnawing anxiety crept in.
'...What now?'
If no one was there, it was pointless. She was still running when a noise from behind made her jump.
'Already?!'
Much faster than she'd expected. Startled, Baek So-yul quickly chanted.
"Ascunde."
She immediately hid on a rooftop, clamped her hand over her mouth, and killed her breathing. Yoo Chang-baek's figure appeared soon after. He closed his eyes as if checking something, then swept a hand across the ground.
"So-yul. I know you're around here. Don't make this annoying—come on out."
If her mana trail had suddenly cut off, odds were she was hiding nearby. He knew that. But still... Yoo Chang-baek clicked his tongue. He wasn't a mage, and he had no tracking-type skills. His only option was to search in person.
'This is why mages are...'
He sighed, dusted off his hands—and then drove a mana-laden fist into the ground. Brute force and mana shattered the pavement, the shockwave rippling outward. The commotion from the flesh chunks had already sent all the nearby residents to shelters anyway.
He closed his eyes, focused, and let out a short laugh.
'If she's not on the ground, she's up high.'
Talent meant nothing without time and experience to back it up. Yoo Chang-baek leaped onto the rooftop in a single bound and soon spotted Baek So-yul running.
"So-yul."
The voice came from behind her. Baek So-yul ran frantically, but it was no use. There was a gap between a student and a hunter that simply couldn't be closed. No matter how much she fled, she couldn't outrun Yoo Chang-baek. —Both of them knew it. The moment his hand touched her shoulder, her figure vanished like an illusion.
"Even illusion magic?"
Purple Square magic. A simple trick, but Yoo Chang-baek let out a hollow laugh. The magic itself wasn't easy. And it wasn't something the academy taught. She must have studied it on her own from the library's books—and she'd pulled it off brilliantly.
"Still, So-yul."
Yoo Chang-baek turned his head sharply and saw Baek So-yul running in the distance. This time, no room for doubt—the real one. Mana detection confirmed it.
"You can't outrun me."
He closed the distance in an instant. His fist grazed perilously past the crown of her head. The force of the wind pressure sent her tumbling, and she crashed back-first onto the ground. Yoo Chang-baek looked down at her for a moment, then sighed.
"I'm honestly surprised. Didn't think you'd get this far."
But this was always where the path ended. Her flight was nothing more than a desperation play. Mental exhaustion was closing in—she was drained. Yoo Chang-baek hoisted her onto his shoulder with a short laugh. Even now, dragged along helplessly, Baek So-yul's eyes reddened. She tried to struggle, but she must have hit something wrong in the fall—she couldn't move a muscle. She wanted to pull up her mana, but there was none left. —She had no choice but to accept it.
'In the end.'
It was all for nothing.
The nightmare had become reality.
The dream she had talked about so much. The nightmare no one ever believed was now reality. For years, not a single person had believed her truth, her nightmares, her dreams—Well, it was almost a relief now, Baek So-yul thought.
'I knew it would turn out like this.'
At first, people had believed her. But it was something that hadn't happened, an absurd story that couldn't possibly happen. She'd become the Girl Who Cried Wolf. If she'd been in their position, she wouldn't have believed it either. Her words had been nothing but emotional pleas with no proof. No one believed her, and even though it broke her heart, she had to accept it.
'So I...'
She'd worked hard. She'd worked hard all on her own, mastering even difficult magic. She'd wrapped her head in effort—but in the end, she couldn't escape the nightmare.
'No!'
She hated that nightmare repeating. The dream where she became someone else and killed another. So she had wished for it to end. Wished that she wouldn't kill someone else. Wished that this nightmare would never become real.
'I don't want to kill.'
She'd even thought dying might be better than that. —But she'd been afraid of dying for a dream even she herself could barely believe. Terrified. So she hadn't been able to die. And in the end, it had come to this. From her red-rimmed eyes, tears began to fall.
"Ah..."
It was all over now.
Beneath the bridge, once they took the boat, it would truly be the end. Irreversible.
At last, the girl who had let go of everything, who had resigned herself—just before her eyes closed, she saw a shadow ripple.
***
The old man sighed and spoke.
"Turn back now, while you still can."
"......."
"Do you really intend to see this through? I don't know what idiot set up this board, but have you forgotten that Muno is at the academy!"
Even at the old man's roaring voice, the other man was dispassionate.
"I'm aware."
"Then you're saying you went through with it knowing it would all go to waste!"
In answer, he slowly opened a subspace. Reaching into the tear in space, he pulled something out and tossed it at the old man's feet.
"You've gotten quite old."
The object rolled across the floor and stopped at the old man's toes. He laughed, a hollow sound.
"To go this far... You really are insane."
"Our desires simply conflicted. That's all."
The voice remained flat, devoid of inflection. The indifferent response set the old man's chest ablaze.
—And with that, the world began to warp.