Mage Hunter (2)
I forcibly triggered a mana explosion in both arms. With flesh hanging off like rags, I formed hand seals and drew a magic circle with my red blood.
"Children of life that have risen upon the earth, return to the embrace of your mother."
⟨ Deep Sea Barrier ⟩
Seawater erupted from the magic circle. The water surged sky-high before spreading out in all directions, forming a transparent hemispherical dome. This was a very special Gyeol-gye spell.
"This should do it."
The barrier's effect was simple: no one could leave this place until I allowed it. It had no other functions, but simple magic tended to be the most effective.
"I'm a bit tired."
It looked cheat-like at a glance, but this spell had a clear drawback: its mana efficiency was the worst. Regular deep sea summons might require just a palm cut, but this one demanded bursting both arms to spill blood. It was around two stages below the Deep Sea Manifestation I'd used at the Ma Tower recently.
"So let's wrap this up quick, friends."
"Huh...? This wasn't in the plan?"
I had no intention of dragging the fight out anyway. Before pursuers from the Ma Tower arrived, I'd kill the mage hunters fast and extract their memories. With that thought, I cast another spell.
Tilting my arms to let blood flow, I drew a magic circle and began the summoning.
"Artisan of the deep sea with ten thousand legs, your tuning is needed here now."
⟨ Summon: Technician ⟩
A similar amount of blood drained out again. A massive magic circle formed, and something familiar yet slightly different burst forth.
Black, elongated tentacles—but not the ones we knew.
[Gwoooor...]
An octopus with countless legs. It floated through the air, legs sprouting in every direction for 360 degrees. At a glance, it looked like a black sun. This was the Technician, artisan of the deep sea and a fairly powerful deep sea entity.
[Gwo...?]
[I didn't call you to make something. I called you to kill those guys.]
[Kwoooherk...]
It seemed to think I'd summoned it for crafting. Unfortunately, my routine lately was all combat. If I'd had more blood, I'd have called someone else, but after the barrier, this was all I had left for the Technician.
[I'll call you next time I need something made.]
[Kwooo...]
I soothed the visibly sulky creature and sent it toward the mage hunters. It floated through the air toward the rooftop.
The man, who'd been on guard the whole time, struck first.
[Target the space, 10m wide slash, cleave it apart!]
An invisible slash flew at the Technician. It was twice as big and powerful as the one that had come at me before.
The Technician's response was simple. It extended a tentacle toward the incoming slash and grabbed it.
"Wh-what?! Impossible!"
The man panicked at the sight. The Technician ignored him like he was a fool and began stroking the slash.
[Kwooo...]
Clang! Clang! Clang! Sparks flew in midair as the slash was forged.
I had no idea if that was possible or how, but the key was that the slash sharpened and hardened under the Technician's touch.
[Kwoooor...!]
Once the hammering finished, the Technician hurled the refined slash back at the man.
Shiiiuuk! The speed was incomparable, accompanied only by a faint whistle of wind.
[Target the space, 5m square slash, cleave it apart!]
The man desperately fired a planar slash to counter. But the Technician's was stronger, slicing the man's planar slash clean in half.
"Kuhuk!"
Splatter! The man's upper and lower body separated. Blood sprayed everywhere, guts spilled, leaving him in a state worse than instant death. Wounds like that would be hard to heal.
Or so I thought, when the woman suddenly cast a spell.
[The flesh's transformations are infinite, so merge into one.]
She touched the gasping man, and astonishingly, his lower body began regenerating. Spine, pelvis, leg bones sprouted, followed by muscle. Some kind of super-regeneration? It felt off, though.
[Gwohk...]
"Kwaaaak!"
To test it, I had the Technician attack again. The man's upper body was crushed by a tentacle, but it regenerated just as quickly. That's when I pinpointed the weirdness.
"Not super-regeneration—surgery, huh?"
The man's mangled flesh was being filled not with his own body, but someone else's. Now I noticed the woman pulling things from her bosom nonstop. Those were probably... compressed living humans, like medical kits.
[The flesh's transformations are infinite! Grow massive!]
While the Technician pummeled the man, the woman cast another spell. She pulled out a red orb and tossed it; it grew from tennis ball size to small-building scale.
[The flesh's transformations are infinite! Live and breathe!]
"Oh ho?"
She touched the orb, and its form shifted. A head sprouted, then limbs, and finally, it started breathing for real.
[Kieeeek!!]
[Gwooo...?]
The monster screeched and charged the Technician. It ripped up some trees, shaped them into spears, and swung. The monster was sliced and pierced without resistance, but it didn't stop, ultimately grabbing hold of the Technician.
[The flesh's transformations are infinite! Explode!!]
The woman on the monster's back seized the moment. She touched one of the Technician's tentacles in its grip and poured mana into a spell.
"Hmm?"
Seemed like the spell's trigger was touch. If she could manipulate flesh, she could make it explode too. Basically, a single touch meant instant death.
But would that work on a deep sea entity?
[.....]
"Eh? What...?"
Despite her hand touching it, the Technician was fine. The woman panicked, and the Technician watched. Then it flexed the tentacle tip to touch her back.
"Ugh? Uuugh?! Uwaaah?!"
Something incredible happened. The woman's body stretched and shrank repeatedly, twisting grotesquely. After eerie groans came silence. She'd become a flesh-colored cube, and the Technician chuckled lowly at it.
"You fucking... shit..."
Despair etched the man's face. He'd realized no matter what he did, death was inevitable.
[Technician, finish him.]
[Kwoooor...]
The woman was dead, the man critically wounded. No need to drag out a finished fight. I ordered the kill shot, and the Technician raised a tentacle toward him.
"Hold up a sec?"
"Hm?"
Just as the tentacle swung down, an unidentified figure appeared, blocking its path.
What the hell is that.
Deep black robe pulled low, black cape over it. Black veil hid the face. Suspicious from a mile away—even a kid would call it a bad guy vibe. Probably a mage hunter ally.
No need for that. I ordered the Technician to swing anyway.
"These kids are too valuable to kill just yet."
"What bullshit..."
Before I could retort, the figure moved. A light hand extension like a dance, but the aftermath was beyond imagination.
Kwajijijik!!!
The world literally split in two. The Technician's body cleaved, the building behind halved. Even my barrier shattered to pieces.
"Fuck?"
It was so absurd I swore. That level of feat was impossible even for Saga rank. To pull that off... at least Mythic rank?
"The smell..."
As I quickly assessed the foe, a bizarre scent brushed my nose. Dry, musty, unpleasant. The guy himself was a normal human, but I knew exactly what that smell was.
"Why's a slave of the underworld here?"
"Oops... already busted?"
The bastard laughed heartily at my question. Hearing it soured my mood instantly. This underworld slave punk splitting things? I wanna crack his skull right now. My hands itched.
Shin-nim? Help.
[Leave it to me, time to exterminate the dirtbag.]
I quickly called for Shin-nim's aid and adapted to the infinite power flowing from my heart.
That's when the bastard raised both arms and spouted nonsense.
"Sorry, but I don't wanna fight."
"Your opinion doesn't matter."
"Yeah, looks that way. So I'm gonna run now."
"You think I'll let you?"
The area warped into deep sea, Shin-nim dwelling within me. Infinite power, infinite hostility. Every nerve focused on him—I could kill him if he twitched a finger.
"Sadly, we're not alone here."
"No way."
"Yup, correct."
As he spoke, mages descended from the sky. Five Saga ranks and one Legend. Ma Tower chancellor and professors—terrible timing.
"Fun meeting you today."
"Next time, I'll kill you no matter what."
"Looking forward to it~"
With that, he sank into the ground. The man and woman cube vanished too, leaving only a burrow. Probably linked to another realm. No way I could follow—pursuit was off the table.
"Mage... hunter... right...?"
"...."
"R-right...?"
The six mages hovering in the air. For their confident entrance, they looked way too scared. Made sense—I was empowered by Shin-nim, practically invincible.
"Sigh..."
I eyed them a moment and sighed. What crime did they commit? Being dumb and clueless, that's all. Especially the chancellor in the middle, sighing with a twisted face—obvious he'd been through hell.
"Lift the bounty."
"Yes..."
"You know I've held back a lot? Let's get along."
"Yes..."
I left a few words for the mage who'd talked to me earlier, then teleported back to my lodgings.
Dragging my exhausted body, I dove into bed. As the battle ended, Shin-nim's power faded, the omnipotence ebbing away.
"Ah, Kim Gwa-jang."
I'd left him behind. What an unlucky day. Nothing went right, damn it.