Terror (2)

Two beautiful women in their mid-to-late twenties sat across from each other in a café, deep in conversation.

"Our Sol's chocolate habit seems to have cooled off lately. You used to put away three chocolate frappes at a sitting."

"Eh, well... I found something sweeter than chocolate."

Lim Sol took a long, satisfied sip. She was meeting a friend at the café — unusual for someone who ordinarily preferred research to people, but the festival was as good an excuse as any to finally clear the promises she'd been putting off.

Min Yeji, team leader of the Iron Blood Guild.

They'd meant to meet yesterday, but a commitment with Baek A-young had pushed it to today. It had been a while, and they had no shortage of things to catch up on.

"So I got into this massive fight with that old bastard of an Association President, I swear."

"Sounds rough."

Another sip.

"And on top of that, the Guild Master is breathing down my neck to get something done already. Ugh, I've got way too much on my plate."

"That's what you get for joining a guild. I told you they'd work you to death."

The conversation followed a familiar rhythm: Min Yeji talking, Lim Sol fielding. The two had known each other since their cadet days. Lim Sol had done a brief stint of active duty before crossing over to a professorship so she could devote herself to magical research; Min Yeji had joined a major guild in pursuit of money and prestige.

One was a visiting professor at Victoria Academy. The other was a team leader at a major guild. By any reasonable measure, both had made it.

"Still, being a professor like you is a bit... I can't just sit still. And I want to make more money."

"What's the big deal with money? You've already got plenty."

"There's no such thing as enough money."

Min Yeji started tapping at her smartwatch — another message from a superior, apparently. Every time Lim Sol watched her like this, she was grateful she'd never joined a guild.

"Haa... I was supposed to make contact with Cadet Lee Ho-yeon during the festival, too. You really have no idea where he is?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Nope. No idea. I haven't seen him once this whole festival."

Lim Sol would rather keep Ho-yeon unbothered than spare her friend a chewing-out from a superior.

He's busy enough as it is. If she gets her hooks into him, he'll never hear the end of it.

"Ugh, seriously. He won't take my calls, nobody knows where he is — how the hell am I supposed to make contact? These people are insane."

"Calm down. Keep praying to the heavens and you're bound to run into him eventu—"

BOOM. BOOM.

A pair of unidentifiable explosions thundered from outside.

"...!"

Both women shot to their feet and rushed out the door.

Smoke was rising from points all across the festival grounds. People were in a full-blown panic.

"...It's a terrorist attack. I'm going to help contain it."

As a professor of the Academy, Lim Sol had a duty to stop whatever this was. But the moment she tried to sprint toward the smoke, Min Yeji caught her arm.

"Sol. Wait. Something's off about this."

As a team leader of a major guild, Min Yeji was well-acquainted with fighting Pandemic. That experience let her pick up on the wrongness radiating from the attack.

"The smoke is way too thin for explosions that loud. There might be a second wave coming. We need to sit tight and read the situation first."

"...You're right."

Lim Sol assessed the scene with a cooler head. For all that noise, there wasn't a single injured person in sight. She swept the area, searching for anyone suspicious — and her eyes landed on Lee Ho-yeon.

"Huh?"

"Did you spot someone?"

"No, over there..."

Min Yeji had found him too. Both women stared.

Lee Ho-yeon was weaving through the crowd with flames blooming in both hands. Then he drove a fistful of fire straight into a security officer's face.

"GAAAAH!"

The officer clutched his face and crumpled to the ground, writhing.

"W-what the hell is he—"

"...!"

Min Yeji and Lim Sol recoiled in shock, then broke into a run toward him.

I slipped through the crowd of panicking civilians clinging to the security officers. Thanks to my Mana Sensitivity, I could feel a Demon disguised as security drawing mana up through his body.

CRACK!

I didn't hesitate. I drove a Fire Punch straight into the Demon's face.

"GAAAAH!"

"Get away from me! He's a Demon!"

The face ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠under my fist began to bulge and writhe. The demonic transformation was underway. I kept shouting, forcing the people around me to back off.

I could have yelled that Demons were hiding among the security forces, but the ones in disguise only made up about a fifth of them. Most of the crowd would just panic harder. Faster to put the Demons down myself.

"Wh-what the hell?!"

"Someone's dead! Lee Ho-yeon just attacked a person!"

"He said it's a Demon! Run!"

The people nearest me seemed to panic even worse, but panicking beat getting killed by a Demon.

"Ghhk — gaaaaah! Grlk. Grrrrrlk!"

The sounds coming out of him were less and less like anything a human throat could make. I poured more fire into the grotesque, ugly thing writhing under my fist.

"Ho-yeon!"

A familiar voice cut through the noise.

"Professor?"

Professor Lim Sol was sprinting toward me, urgency written all over her face. It was the first time she'd ever called me Ho-yeon out in public. That caught me a little off guard.

The catlike woman I'd seen at the commendation ceremony was right behind her.

That's Min Yeji.

She'd contacted me so many times I'd looked her up — I remembered she was quite the beauty. I'd figured she and Professor Lim Sol were acquainted, given how they'd been sitting together, but they were close enough to meet privately. Closer than I'd thought.

"What do you think you're— wait."

"It's a Demon. He was disguised as security."

Up close, Lim Sol could see the transformation progressing for herself.

"Kieeek... grrk-grrk-GRRK!"

RIP.

The Demon I'd hit with the Fire Punch split open from the shoulder, a new body tearing its way out. How to put it. The thing that emerged was a grotesquely over-muscled slab of a physique, unpleasant just to look at.

"GRAAAAAH! Die! Die!"

Unable to endure the Fire Punch still grinding into its face, the Demon clawed for my arm. I had Insight running. I yanked my hand free and put a little distance between us.

"What a mess."

I shook the strange fluid off my fist and wreathed it in flame again. Too many civilians nearby to throw around real magic. This would have to do.

I drove a fist into its gut at a speed the Demon couldn't even register.

THUD.

"Kh—?!"

The faster the strike, the harder it hit — that was just physics. The Einstein Fire Punch dropped the Demon on the spot, dead before it hit the ground.

"Kyaaaaah!"

"R-run!"

Civilians who had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠just watched a security officer turn into a Demon scrambled away from the rest of the security forces as fast as their legs would carry them.

"Everyone! Do not leave the security personnel! Stay together!"

A few professors emerged from somewhere and tried to take control of the situation, but a handful of people were never going to wrangle a crowd this size. Most of the civilians didn't even recognize them as faculty. They just milled around in confusion.

"Ho-yeon. What is all this..."

"Professor. I'll teach you how to tell the Demons apart. I need your help. And yours too, Ms. Min Yeji — I know we haven't been introduced."

Pandemic's executives each had their own flavor. Some smashed through every trap with raw power. Others were tacticians — careful, methodical, the kind who stuck to the plan. This attack had clearly been prepared with considerable precision.

Among the executives who showed up in the early game, only one operated with this kind of care.

Gill Stephen.

"What did you just say? You can identify Demons?"

Professor Lim Sol seized on that immediately.

"It's not a perfect method. I can only pick out the ones on-site right now."

Identifying a Demon who had properly hidden their nature was impossible. That was why the war against them never ended in this world. Gill Stephen's subordinates were a different story. Every last one of them had the same magic circle inscribed over their heart — and if you knew the circle, you could pick them out.

I drew the magic circle in the air at once. I'd mapped it when I killed the Demon just now.

"I'll go help elsewhere. Professor, Ms. Min Yeji — I need you two to hold this area."

"Ho-yeon, wait—!"

"Cadet Lee Ho-yeon?!"

I heard them calling after me, but this was an opportunity I could not afford to miss.

Gill Stephen. Even inside Pandemic, he was the brains — the one who cooked up all the genuinely irritating operations. If I could put him down this early, nothing would be better.

His plans were always clever, always designed to catch you off-guard, but they had a fatal flaw: his own perfectionism. He wanted every operation finished clean. If anything went wrong, he worked himself to the bone making sure it wouldn't happen twice. And because there were things you couldn't feel from behind a desk, that bastard always watched his operations in person.

From right in the middle of the operational zone.

Knowing that, I had kept my mana detection running through the entire fight. I already had his location.

"Nngh... hhkk."

"Sir, are you all right?"

"Aigoo, aigoo... help this old man, would you..."

An old man lay sprawled in the heart of the attack, facedown, one leg apparently caught in the blast. I approached with a look of concern and offered my hand. He took it, groaning.

"Hup—!!"

In the same motion, his free hand drove a dagger at me.

CRACK.

It was blink-fast — but I had prepared Cotton Guard in advance, and the dagger died against it without leaving a mark.

"...How long have you known?"

"From the beginning, obviously. Mr. Gill Stephen."

I looked down at the startled old man and let a smirk pull at my mouth. The look on the face of a man who thought he was the smartest person in the room never got old.

"How the hell do you even know my name...? Barely anyone in Pandemic has seen my real face. Is there a spy?"

"That's none of your concern."

Thump.

My heart picked up a notch. That meant Combat Sense had flickered on, just barely.

Good. I'd called it right. The first executive to appear was one I could put down without breaking a sweat. My growth rate was already leagues ahead of the original story.

Gill Stephen shoved himself upright and let his mana rise.

"You really are out of your mind."

Most of Pandemic's executives talked like that. Fanatics, every one of them — courtesy of Maestro's power. Gill Stephen's body flushed an ugly mottled red as wavering mana boiled off him. I wasn't tense in the slightest.

"Die...!"

His mana surged, and a magic circle took shape.

Tap.

I flicked the core circuit of his circle, and the entire spell collapsed in on itself.

"H-how—?!"

"Hmm... I was hoping to get some practical material for a paper, but this is too low-level to be of any use."

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

The instant Gill Stephen realized his magic wouldn't land, he spun on his heel and ran. He'd felt the gap in their levels with his own body.

"Gotta hand it to you — for a rat, you sure know when to run."

He came to a stop in front of the Academy auditorium beside the central fountain. I followed him there.

"Just give up already, yeah?"

I'd been stalling in the hope of prying some information out of him. It was starting to feel like a waste of time.

"..."

The moment the words left his mouth, the mana in his body began vanishing at a terrifying rate.

What is this? A trap?

The building he was standing in front of was the Academy's Hall of Fame — statues and portraits of famous alumni on display, along with the Academy's collection of artifacts...

Artifacts?

I immediately turned my mana detection on the Hall of Fame. The attack had been going for about an hour; people had more or less evacuated. Fortunately, there was no one inside. But I could feel mana shuddering through the building — the current of an enormous magic circle.

"If this one body of mine can claim thousands of sacrifices... then this, too, is a worthy act."

Gill Stephen closed his eyes and smiled, as serene as a man who had already made his peace. He was clearly trying to set something off with his own death.

What can you even do with artifacts?

I turned the question over slowly, sifting through my memories. Artifacts. I was sure the original story had covered this.

"Got it."

An artifact was a piece of equipment saturated with mana. And there was a way to weaponize that mana: overload it and use the artifact ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠itself as a bomb. That method of attack had definitely appeared in the original — a throwaway mention, nothing more, but I remembered it clearly.

And the moment I did, I could read the spell woven through the magic circle drawn over the Hall of Fame. It was a circle designed to convert the artifacts into raw mana and detonate them.

I have to stop this.

In the original, even if something like this had been in place, they would have left it as insurance and never actually set it off. A spell like this demanded an enormous amount of mana — and it would inevitably cost Gill Stephen his life. He was a dead man anyway. He'd decided to take a few thousand sacrifices with him on the way out, and triggered the spell.

No wonder he ran the second he felt the gap between us.

What now?

I turned it over carefully. If you're afraid of a bomb, you deal with it before it goes off. So how do you deal with an artifact bomb?

You smash the artifacts before they can be used as bombs, don't you?

An artifact's mana only held together as long as the equipment itself existed. Destroying one wouldn't let you absorb the mana like some kind of elixir — it would simply cease to be.

I began gathering mana into my hand.