Grabbing the Tail (2)
Whoosh. Crackle.
Golden flames writhed like living serpents. Over twenty mutant frogs, instantly engulfed in the blaze, let out agonized screams.
Gurgle. Groooan.
Unable to mount any real resistance, the mutants died off one by one. Kang Byungwoo's eyes widened in shock at the utterly unforeseen sight. The other superhumans watching the scene were just as stunned.
"……."
Everyone stared at the frogs burning to death with expressions of sheer disbelief.
'A 3rd Circle spell doing this?'
Kang Byungwoo's pupils trembled violently. He knew mages inside and out, which made his incredulity all the more profound. It was definitely a 3rd Circle spell, but he couldn't imagine blocking it unscathed if it had been aimed at him.
'The casting speed, the power, that golden mana... and it was definitely double casting.'
Double casting at 3rd Circle? Was that even possible?
'Is he that much of a genius?'
Kim Jehyun's face, lit with satisfaction after wiping out the mutants and flashing a pleased grin, was handsome enough to draw admiration from anyone. But in that moment, to Kang Byungwoo, he looked like an unfathomable little giant.
"Whoa... he took out all those mutants in one go..."
"Insane! That's 3rd Circle?"
"Is he really one of the Magic Tower's geniuses...?"
Murmurs rippled through the Superhuman Association's ranks. They hadn't analyzed it as sharply as Kang Byungwoo, but even they could tell Jehyun's display had shattered common sense.
"W-Was that double... casting?"
Pyo Sangjin asked Jehyun with wide-eyed shock.
"What? Double casting?"
"Come to think of it, didn't he cast two spells at the same time just now?"
The superhumans, prompted by Pyo Sangjin's question, belatedly realized what Jehyun had pulled off. They gasped.
"No way! That's not something you can just chalk up to genius..."
"An artifact maybe? I heard the Magic Tower recently unveiled some new stacked magic circle tech..."
Even seeing it with their own eyes, they struggled to believe. Not even the legendary Tower Master could double cast at 3rd Circle.
Jehyun smirked inwardly at the stares directed his way.
'Did I overdo it?'
The thought crossed his mind briefly, but he shook it off. It was bound to come out eventually.
"Yeah, it was double casting."
To prove it, Jehyun conjured fireballs in both hands simultaneously.
"……!"
"Holy shit!"
"It's... it's real?"
As Jehyun double cast again, the superhumans held their breath. Their bodies shivered. The Jehyun before them was the real deal—not some half-baked prodigy, but a once-in-a-generation genius.
'He really took them down all by himself.'
Kang Byungwoo's gaze shifted to the corpses. Before their withered, twisted bodies, the vivid burn marks etched across their forms stood out. Jehyun had truly beaten those three alone.
'Damn... what a monster.'
Jehyun was a freak even beyond the Tower Master. The sheer absurdity of his talent drew a hollow chuckle from Kang Byungwoo.
Afterward, Kang Byungwoo apologized to Jehyun frankly, admitting he hadn't believed him at first. Jehyun took a liking to the man's honesty.
Jehyun then assisted with Kang Byungwoo's request for cooperation, providing testimony and evidence about the incident. With that, the investigation wrapped up.
* * *
Bad news rocked the Magic Tower.
A sensational article titled "Magic Tower Mages Involved in Biological Experiments" sent shockwaves through every layer.
The tower's mages could scarcely believe it at first. Yang Jaejin of the Ignis Faction. Im Hong-sik of the Frost Faction. An Dongyun of the Earth Faction. All had broken past the 4th Circle wall, stepping into true mage territory. Yet they'd built a suspicious lab in a dungeon and conducted live experiments there. Worse, missing 3rd Circle and below mages from the tower had been found there.
The scandal reached even the top echelons, stirring them to action.
In one of the Magic Tower's highest sanctums—accessible only to the Tower Master, Vice Tower Master, board members, and major faction leaders—an emergency meeting was convened under the Tower Master's orders.
"……That's what happened."
Oh Hyun-seong, from the Tower Master's direct intelligence unit, finished his report. A heavy silence blanketed the room.
"……And we only found out now?"
The Tower Master's low, weighty voice carried a faint undercurrent of fury. Thud. The atmosphere turned suffocating in an instant, his presence dominating the space.
"Esteemed faction leaders."
His anger now turned toward them. Someone gulped audibly.
"You know what kind of mess we're in, right?"
The question seemed casual, but no one dared take it lightly.
"O-Of course."
The faction leaders bowed deeply in response. The Tower Master spoke again.
"Two weeks. Exactly two weeks. Mobilize everything you've got and clean up every last bit of this mess."
All heads bowed. He was usually lighthearted, but when serious, no one questioned him. It wasn't just his position as Tower Master wielding immense power. Before that, his 8th Circle mastery commanded absolute respect.
"From today, the entire tower is on high alert."
His decree put every faction on emergency footing. "Clean up everything" meant leaving no trace, no clue behind. It was barely enough time even pulling all-nighters.
The chaos in the factions spilled over, turning the whole tower upside down.
In that turmoil, the black faction infiltrators were thrown into total disarray. They'd spent over a decade worming their way in, building step by step—now it all teetered on the brink of collapse.
"……Hoo."
Kim Man-seok of the Ignis Faction let out a deep sigh. When he'd heard one of their dungeon labs had suddenly turned irregular, he'd never imagined it'd spiral like this.
"……Gotta tidy up before it's too late."
As he rose to erase his tracks, a sharp pain stabbed his chest. Not from leaving the position he'd toiled years for.
'Did I grow that attached without realizing?'
The loss of Yang Jaejin left a profound void. Intellectually, he'd been just a capable subordinate. But his heart said otherwise.
'……You did well all these years. Watch from there. Our goal will be achieved.'
He clenched his fist like a vow.
* * *
"Oh. Finally."
Jehyun's eyes gleamed as he checked his level gain.
'Status window.'
Name: Kim Jehyun | Level: 29 | Rank: Hatchling
Mana Core: Stage 3 | Points: 18,200 | Remaining Stat Points: 0
Skills: [Hatchling's Basic Mana Art(S) Lv.6], [Subspace(A) Lv.2], [Alkasha(EX) Lv.3], [Clarity(S) Lv.3], [Ifrit's Pre-Contractor(SS) Lv.3], [High Elf Spirit Arts(S) Lv.3], [Spirit Magic(S) Lv.4]
Dragon Body: 1. Dragon Eye(16.91%) | 2. Dragon Horn(16.12%)
Authorities: 1. Dragon Fear(18.21%)
He promptly distributed his new stat points evenly. The result gleamed before him. His status window now teetered on the brink of level 30. Having reached Stage 4, the moment to inherit his fourth legacy loomed near. Astonishing growth.
Even Alkasha, who knew Jehyun best, was left speechless.
'The experience buff from that mission was a huge help.'
Without it, he'd still be in the low 20s.
―No matter how I look at it, you're ridiculously lucky.
Alkasha, who'd been watching, spoke up. Jehyun chuckled and shot back.
"What now?"
―Fine, getting the experience buff mission is one thing, but solo-clearing dungeons like this? Heaven itself must be on your side for things to align so perfectly.
"Yeah, luck played a part."
Jehyun grinned at Alkasha. Truth be told, his solo dungeon spree over the past near-ten days had owed much to fortune. Once his irregular dungeon rampage leaked, the factions went into panic mode, leaving tons of unclaimed dungeons floating around—ones originally assigned to the tower and divvied up among them.
That let him blitz over fifty D-rank and below dungeons.
"And this is the payoff."
He grinned at his level.
―Anyway, congrats. Your growth is utterly immeasurable. So, level's up—what next?
"What else? Keep hitting dungeons, obviously."
―Here too? Can't you rest for a day?
"You ever hear 'strike while the iron's hot'? The factions will normalize soon—gotta grind hard while I can."
―Fair point, but... you really are...
Alkasha sounded exasperated. Jehyun had run like a machine for nearly ten days straight without rest. His burning ambition to climb higher never failed to impress. Suddenly, Alkasha saw Jehyun's back as towering.
He'd seemed so soft at their contracting...
―Was I the soft one?
Alkasha flapped its cover. Staring at Jehyun, it steeled itself anew.
―Alright. From today, your loyal instructor will guide you closely!
Jehyun snickered at the goofiness.
"Yes, Instructor. I'll be watching how well you teach."
With that, he grinded the remaining four days away. Then, an alert popped up.
You have successfully completed the mission.
Mana Core expanded to Stage 4.
With that, golden light erupted from Jehyun's body like an explosion.