Terror (3)

The magical energy radiating from the formation inside the Hall of Fame was overwhelmingly powerful. Countless artifacts were on display within — which meant no shortage of bomb material.

I'd first considered containing the blast with a Rune Barrier, but if that formation absorbed all that mana and detonated, my own reserves wouldn't be enough to hold it. Constructing a barrier that solid would demand just as much mana as the explosion itself.

So I chose a different approach: destroy the artifacts. An explosion stripped of their mana was something my Rune Barrier could handle without breaking a sweat.

The artifacts were scattered throughout the building. I didn't have time to pick them off one by one — faster to just smash the whole place to rubble.

Spiral — the skill I'd created to punch through an ogre's hide. A spiraling sphere of compressed mana that spun at tremendous speed, grinding whatever it struck into dust. I'd always reached for it when I ran into something with serious defense.

This time, I was counting on Spiral's sheer number of hits. Fire, flood, a glacier, a boulder — ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠none of those would do. The building might come down, but the smaller artifacts would survive and still become bombs. That's why I'd chosen it. Spiral could grind even the tiniest artifact into powder.

The problem was size. I'd designed it to punch through an ogre's gut, so it was compact — small enough to fit in my palm. That wouldn't be enough to bring down the Hall of Fame. I needed to scale it up.

I pictured a typhoon. Wind that left nothing but ruin in its wake. I pulled the surrounding air into the spell, feeding it, making it faster, bigger — a storm given form.

A grinding roar filled the air as Spiral took shape in my hand. Ever since my awakening, my casting speed had become something close to instantaneous.

A low hum. I poured mana into the sphere, and it began to drink in the air around it. I inscribed a will to destroy into the core formula and pictured a tornado tearing across the earth.

"W-what the hell is that…!"

Gill Stephen, still beside me, had clearly realized things were going very wrong.

A crack, a snap, a hiss of colliding air. The Spiral swelling in my palm had already slipped beyond my control. I raised my hand toward the sky and let it grow.

"Hoo."

I accelerated the airflow, and the sphere flattened into something like a massive disc.

This thing's actually going to be insane.

The academy's Hall of Fame. Every operational record of Victoria Academy, the footprints of its alumni, portraits, statues, donated artifacts — all of it housed in that one building. Standing on the verge of destroying it, I did feel a flicker of hesitation… but it was already too late. If I didn't bring it down, the damage would be far worse. And honestly? I didn't have a single fond memory or scrap of pride tied to the place.

"Ahh… Master… if I can just…"

Gill Stephen, completely drained of mana and on the verge of collapse, still grabbed my pant leg to stop me. Crazy fanatic bastard.

I hurled the violently spinning Spiral at the Hall of Fame.

The impact was deafening. In a fraction of a second, the Spiral slammed into the building and began sucking it inward, kicking up a massive cloud of dust. Wind howled in every direction, blasting the nearby street stalls into the air. Then came a sickening crunch as the core supports snapped, and the Hall of Fame started to collapse. The pillars holding the building up simply couldn't withstand it.

"This is insane… this is different from Master's magic… something else entirely…"

"Ugh, you crazy old man."

Gill Stephen had now draped himself over my shoe. I couldn't kill him at this point. I'd take him alive and hand him over to the Association.

With a bone-chilling grind, the Hall of Fame went past collapsing and started turning to powder. Shattered debris, fragments of statues, scraps of paintings, and pulverized artifacts rained down from the sky. The whole thing had taken less than ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ten seconds.

"Whoa…"

People who'd been thrown into chaos by the enormous roar were starting to look this way, one after another.

"W-what the hell! The building collapsed!"

"It's a terrorist attack! Terrorism!"

The power had been staggering, no question. A single skill had reduced a massive building to rubble. In the distance, I could see professors sprinting toward the commotion. Min Yeji and Lim Sol were at the very front of the pack.

I rifled through Gill Stephen's coat. He was the brains type, always carrying extras for every contingency. In the game, his loot table had been pretty generous too.

Tucked inside his coat was a lucky pouch. I slipped it into my cadet uniform and turned to meet Lim Sol and Min Yeji.

"Ho-yeon, what happened…? Why did the building collapse?"

I grabbed the fallen Gill Stephen by the scruff of his neck and hauled him up.

"I captured a Pandemic executive. I had no choice but to bring down the Hall of Fame to stop his terrorist attack."

"…What?"

Maybe I'd abbreviated that a little too much.

I was about to elaborate when a magic circle activated from beneath the rubble. The formation had been buried under the building, so Spiral hadn't erased it — and now it was going off. I'd originally planned to contain it with a Rune Barrier, but with this many professors on scene, there was no need for me to step in.

"It's going to explode! Get back!"

At my shout, the professors who'd sensed the magic started stacking shield spells in layers. A series of heavy impacts thudded against the barriers, then a tremendous blast roared from inside. Debris shot into the sky, and a deep hum set my ears ringing.

"Aaagh!"

"It's all right! We're safe in here!"

An enormous explosion, contained within the barrier. Thanks to the advance preparation, it did nothing more than pulverize what was left of the Hall of Fame.

"The academy's Hall of Fame…"

One of the professors muttered, staring at the wreckage. Between my Spiral and the explosion, the once-proud Hall of Fame had been reduced to dust so fine you couldn't even tell what ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it used ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to be.

"…I dealt with it before the explosion could absorb the artifacts' mana and escalate into something far worse. Destroying the Hall of Fame in the process was unavoidable."

"That was some impressive crisis management, Ho-yeon."

Nobody else had said a word, and I'd started to feel a little awkward — thankfully, Professor Lim Sol took my side.

"We'll handle the rest of the cleanup. And I'll put in a word about your contribution to stopping the attack, so don't worry about it."

"Thank you, Professor."

Thanks to Professor Lim Sol's consideration, I was able to slip away. I bowed my head and left the scene. Cleanup was always the most annoying part of this kind of thing.

Watching Lee Ho-yeon disappear, Min Yeji quietly whispered to Lim Sol beside her.

"Sol. Did you see Cadet Lee Ho-yeon's magic?"

"…Of course I did."

"Triple-attribute. That was definitely wind."

"Yeah. No question."

The magic that had brought down the Hall of Fame. It had unmistakably been wind-attribute.

"Think anyone else saw it besides us? We were the first professors on the scene, right?"

"The whole building came down in less than five seconds after the spell went off. Probably not."

The other professors were busy with rescue and crowd control. Min Yeji and Lim Sol had gone looking for Lee Ho-yeon after the situation settled, which was why they'd been the first to see it.

"Triple-attribute… that would make him the second in the world, right? What do you think, Sol? Destiny, maybe? He might even fit your type. A man who's better at magic than you."

Even in the middle of a serious conversation, Min Yeji couldn't stop teasing. But that light tone was probably the only reason Lim Sol's expression eased at all.

"Shut up."

"Sol~ I worked really hard this time, so it's okay if I make contact with Cadet Lee Ho-yeon, right?"

"…Do whatever you want."

Lim Sol ran her tongue over her dry lips.

Multi-attribute. It was the one domain that genius mage Lim Sol had claimed as exclusively her own. Dual-attribute mages were rare enough. Mages who could simply use three or more attributes were rarer still. But a mage who could command three or more attributes with complete mastery? Lim Sol had been the first. And she hadn't stopped at triple. Multi-attribute — the talent to wield every element that existed. A woman blessed by magic itself. That was how the World Magic Association saw Lim Sol.

Ho-yeon…

Lim Sol had never once believed in something as vague as a woman's intuition. Today, though, something felt different. Somehow, she couldn't shake the feeling that Lee Ho-yeon was multi-attribute too — just like her. Everything she'd seen of him so far pointed that way. He was a man who always exceeded her expectations.

But that's just greed talking… isn't it?

Even as she thought it, Lim Sol couldn't stop herself from wanting.

"Ah, shit. I went through all that hassle for nothing."

Should've just killed the bastard and been done with it. I'd tried talking to squeeze some information out of him and ended up making a huge mess. Still, capturing Gill Stephen early was a solid win, and I'd stopped the attack, so it wasn't all bad. I'd dumped so much mana into Spiral that my head was starting to throb… hmm.

"Oh, right. The lucky pouch."

I'd lifted it off Gill Stephen earlier. If this were still a game, this would be the moment a guaranteed good drop came out. I pulled the pouch free. It was red, marked with the familiar character for fortune. I reached inside and my fingers closed on a sheet of paper.

"What? Paper?"

Does this guy just walk around with a property deed? I pulled it out, and a contract I somehow recognized came into view.

"…What the hell is this."

Why would Pandemic be carrying a Hell's Contract?