Chapter 572: Cleaning Up (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 572: Cleaning Up (2)
Originally used as the emperor's office, the Kremlin Grand Palace was protected by countless high-level barriers.
This was because, at the time of the palace's completion, the White Tower Lord of that era had mobilized every mage from the White Magic Tower to install the barriers, solidifying their amicable relationship with the Imperial Family.
The resulting wards were said to be capable of completely blocking even the mana-based orbital satellite bombardments developed in the United States.
In effect, they were on par with the barriers installed at the White House, the Pentagon, and Buckingham Palace.
Furthermore, an elder of the magic world had once declared it impossible to dismantle the Kremlin's barriers, even with a high-level artifact specialized in dispelling them.
But there is an exception to every rule in the world.
“H-How in the world did you get in?! The barriers should be active!” Igor shouted, his face a mask of terror.
When I’d last seen him at the cathedral, he’d given the strong impression of a cold-blooded, psychopathic dictator. Now, he was nothing more than a pathetic old man blinded by avarice.
“Well… they were certainly complex, I’ll give you that. A multi-phase overlapping mana interference barrier, a triple-dimensional intersection-type seal and suppression composite barrier, and even a dimensional constant-fixing isolation barrier. On top of that, dozens of other barriers were structured to mutually complement one another, so it was quite a hassle to disable them.”
“…What?”
“Still, it wasn’t without its flaws.”
Kang Hyun-woo’s right eye shimmered with a blue light.
Within his pupil, the shape of a tesseract spun, layered upon itself again and again.
[Blessing of Absolutus]
Grade: Unique
The blessing of Absolutus, the god of magic, who is said to have recorded the beginning and end of all magic.
A positive correction is applied to all magical actions.
It was a new skill I had acquired upon advancing to High-Rank Mage.
Although the various buffs I’d gained when I first learned magic from Iris were gone, this single skill boasted an insane level of performance that was more than enough to fill the void.
A positive correction is applied to all magical actions.
On the surface, it was an overly simplistic explanation, but it meant exactly what it said. From mana recovery and casting speed to reverse-calculating magic and analyzing barriers, it intervened in every action related to magic, applying a positive correction to the process and the result.
“The phase synchronization cycle was so precise that, paradoxically, a single minute error could destabilize the entire structure. Plus, since it works by fixing the dimensional constant, its response to abnormal coordinate interference was remarkably slow. It had almost no flexibility when it came to external variables, either… I’d honestly love to see the face of whoever designed this.”
““…””
The men gathered here were all soldiers.
Naturally, there was no way they could understand what Kang Hyun-woo was saying.
But one thing was certain.
The mage before them had breached the barriers of the Kremlin Grand Palace, which boasted hundreds of years of history, and brazenly invaded the presidential office.
And he had done it alone.
“Most importantly, there’s a gap that was intentionally left empty to avoid interference between the barriers. It’s like leaving the back door wide open. Of course, even without that, disabling them would have only been a matter of time…”
“F-Fire!!!”
Bang, bang, bang-bang!
The moment Igor’s command fell, flames erupted from the muzzles of the FSB agents’ guns.
They were special rifles loaded with anti-mage, mana-interfering, armor-piercing rounds made from the byproducts of high-level magical beasts.
These were weapons that could effortlessly pierce the average mage’s barrier and turn them into Swiss cheese, but—
Clang, clink, clank!
Every single bullet failed to even scratch Kang Hyun-woo’s barrier, simply falling to the floor.
At the shocking sight, the soldiers, including Igor, turned pale.
“S-Sergei!! Kill that bastard right now!!”
At Igor’s terrified scream, a look of bewilderment flashed across the face of a large man standing among the FSB agents.
Sergei Peshkov.
A former S-rank hunter and the current captain of the president’s special security detail.
He was also the same man who, just a few days ago at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, had been so overwhelmed by Kang Hyun-woo’s killing intent that he had trembled like a dog with its tail between its legs.
“Oh, we’ve met before, haven’t we?”
As Kang Hyun-woo waved a friendly hand, Sergei’s eyes began to tremble violently.
His overly agitated reaction drew strange looks from those around him, but it was an unavoidable response.
Kang Hyun-woo’s genuine killing intent had been more than enough to inflict Sergei with an indelible trauma.
In fact, ever since that day, the terror of death would assail him the moment he closed his eyes.
“U-Uwaaaaaaah!!!!!!”
As if to forget the terror of that day, Sergei let out a monstrous roar and charged toward Kang Hyun-woo, gripping a massive double-bladed axe.
As befitting a former S-rank hunter, his momentum was extraordinary.
KABOOM!
As the aura-clad axe collided with the barrier, a tremendous gale swept through the office.
The military generals were sent flying in all directions like scattered papers.
Igor, who was being protected by the FSB agents and special security forces composed of hunters, nervously bit his nails as he stared straight ahead.
The corners of his deeply wrinkled eyes twitched.
Reflected in his pupils was a desperate plea.
The other S-rank hunters were currently engaged with S-rank hunters who opposed the plan, including those from the White Magic Tower, in downtown Moscow.
Because of that, there were virtually no troops left inside the Kremlin.
In other words, if Sergei was defeated here, there would be no one left to stop Kang Hyun-woo.
Soon, the dust cloud kicked up by the clash between the two men began to settle, revealing Sergei’s back, still standing strong.
““Oh, ooooh…!!!””
Convinced of Sergei’s victory, the soldiers erupted in cheers.
Even Igor, uncharacteristically, couldn’t hide his excitement as he clapped his hands repeatedly.
“Well done, Sergei!! As expected, you are… huh?”
But their joy was short-lived.
The moment the dust settled completely, all they could see was the tragic figure of Sergei, standing with a gaping hole in his chest.
Thud—
“Just like a soldier, always in a rush.”
As the massive, bear-like frame collapsed limply, Kang Hyun-woo’s gaze, now radiating a chilling killing intent, turned toward them.
“It’s just a matter of whose turn it is. You’re all going to die anyway.”
Vwoooom—
In that instant, countless spears of light materialized in the air, seemingly filling the entire office.
“Ah, ahh…”
Thump—
Faced with a despairing sight devoid of any hope, one of the generals collapsed to the floor.
Of course, the expressions on the others’ faces were no different.
Only despair and frustration.
And what they saw reflected in their eyes was a grim reaper from the East.
Soon, screams began to echo through the office.
*
What I had glimpsed in Dmitri’s memories was Igor’s twisted obsession and vile lust for Valentina and Anastasia.
Of course, I was aware that a mere mage attacking another country’s presidential office could escalate into a diplomatic incident.
But I couldn’t care less about that.
“When you get old, you should retire gracefully and spend your golden years watching your grandchildren play. Then you wouldn’t have had to end up like this.”
“How dare you… Gaaack!!!”
“Looks like you still don’t get the situation, do you?”
I grabbed Igor by the neck, holding back my strength as I glared at him murderously.
It felt like the slightest pressure would snap his neck.
“You’re going to die here today.”
“?!! I-I am the president of Russia!! Do you have any idea what it means for you, a citizen of the Republic of Korea, to kill me?! It will mean war!!! Are you saying you don’t care if the Korean peninsula becomes a sea of fire?!!”
At his final, desperate struggle, I let out a small laugh.
“I may not know much about diplomacy, but I think the Russian people would welcome it with open arms if someone killed their incompetent and greedy dictator. And as for war and all that, that’s for the next president to decide. Who cares about a dead man?”
“…”
The color drained from Igor’s face.
Even the monster once called the Iron-Blooded Dictator was no different from an ordinary person in the face of death.
“W-Wait a moment…!! I don’t know what grudge you have against me, but if you let me live, I’ll give you everything in my secret safe!! Not only vast funds for your magic research, but I have plenty of special materials and artifacts—”
Crack—
I casually tossed Igor’s limp corpse to the floor.
“The problem is that you don’t even know what you did wrong.”
It was a fitting end for a dictator who had not only gnawed away at Russia for decades but had also tried to offer the citizens of Moscow as sacrifices to a demon.
*
Time rewinds to the moment Kang Hyun-woo ended Dmitri’s life.
Thump—
“Hah, hah…!”
Having successfully teleported to her hideout in Italy with an escape artifact, Flema immediately collapsed weakly onto the dark floor.
Fortunately, she had managed to evade Kang Hyun-woo’s final, full-power strike, but the mental toll had been immense and difficult to bear.
To not only reverse-calculate high-level magic in an instant but to also casually imitate her clan’s unique magic.
What is he, an ancient dragon…?!
The shock, which felt like it was shattering all the magical knowledge she had built up over the years, had brought Flema to the verge of a state similar to Qi Deviation.
Instinctively sensing her perilous condition, she was about to enter meditation.
“…Who’s there!”
If not, that is, for the presence she felt inside the hideout.
Flema reflexively drew upon her mana, but a tense look was still plain on her face.
Even if the lights were off, the darkness before her, so thick she couldn’t see an inch ahead, was clearly the work of someone else’s ability.
As proof, Flema couldn’t even make out the face of the intruder sitting on the sofa in the middle of the hideout.
If it came down to it, Flema was more than prepared to blow up the entire building.
It was a shame to lose a hideout she had put so much effort into, but she could always build another one.
“Reveal yourself immediately, or I’ll kill—”
“Your senses have improved, Flema.”
“?!!”
Thud!
Her bloodthirsty threat was cut short. At the voice that came from beyond the darkness, Flema immediately prostrated herself, pressing her forehead to the floor.
“M-Master…!!”
There was only one person in this world whom Flema—a woman who would burn even a child to death without hesitation if they displeased her—would address with an honorific.
The leader of Belmoras.
And the man whose whereabouts were being desperately tracked by intelligence agencies and the Holy See from all over the world.
“Hmm, a lovely evening.”
Anton Belmoras.
“W-What brings you here…!!”
“Well now. Wouldn’t you know the answer to that better than I?”
“…”
In that instant, Flema’s complexion turned deathly pale, and cold sweat began to pour down her face like rain.
CRACK!
She slammed her forehead hard against the floor.
“…I am truly sorry for shamelessly returning alive when I failed to meet your expectations, Master!!”
A clear crack formed on the marble tile, and red blood began to seep out.
She hadn’t used even a minimal amount of mana reinforcement, so the pain must have been considerable, but Flema merely trembled.
Anton, who had been looking down at Flema in silence, slowly rose from his seat and knelt on one knee before her.
“You seem to be misunderstanding something.”
“…Pardon?”
“I did not come here to reprimand you for your failure. Quite the opposite, in fact.”
“The o-opposite…?”
“Yes, the plan was a success. Mr. Dmitri succeeded in using himself as a sacrifice to summon Lord Andras. A half-formed summoning, to be sure, but a success nonetheless.”
“?!!”
Flema couldn’t hide her bewilderment at Anton’s words.
Demons were beings that could only be summoned by sacrificing countless human lives.
However, the executives of Belmoras, as apostles of demons, could summon a demon into the mortal world using only their own lives through their contract.
But the contractor alone had to bear the consequences.
No matter how close to death one was, it was better to die at the hands of the enemy.
Choosing to summon a demon by sacrificing oneself was an act that could only be described as insane.
…That selfish Dmitri made such a choice?
It was a story Flema found utterly unbelievable, but she would never dare to voice such sacrilegious doubts aloud.
“Although you were defeated due to the intervention of the White Tower Lord, his descent has further thinned the boundary between Earth and Gehenna. It is a true shame that we failed to kill the White Tower Lord as originally planned… but, well, that matters little. When the day of the end arrives, there will be nothing that half-baked transcendent beings can do.”
Plop—
Anton sat down on the sofa, poured red wine from a bottle he’d produced from somewhere into a glass, and gazed out the window.
“…Still, it seems we’ll need to take care of that mage, Kang Hyun-woo. The saying that heroes are born in times of chaos doesn’t exist for nothing, after all.”
“B-But we currently don’t have the forces to deal with that man…”
“Ah, you need not worry about that.”
Anton looked at Flema and smiled faintly.
“An opportunity to deal with him will present itself soon enough, even if we don’t lift a finger.”
