Sowing Discord
Eldrisa sat astride her broomstick, drifting along at her leisure.
The battlefield was pure chaos. Buildings stood gutted as if something had torn chunks straight out of them, wreckage of concrete and rebar strewn in every direction.
Civilian corpses and their spreading bloodstains littered the ground around the ruins.
Hunters in black combat suits and figures in white robes were waging urban warfare through the forest of buildings, trading magical spells that made entire structures flash with light.
KWAANG!
She tilted her head slightly as a rooftop blew off and debris sprayed upward. A fist-sized chunk of concrete whistled past her ear.
“So as long as I only kill the enemies, I’m fine, right?”
The corner of her mouth curled up on its own.
It wasn’t just humans out there — ghost-type monsters were roaming the battlefield as well. Judging by the quality, a fairly high-grade gate must have opened.
If she ambushed them one by one in secret, she could gather experimental materials.
She hadn’t wanted to get involved in the humans’ fight anyway. Better to just eliminate the monsters and pretend she was carrying out her mission.
She spotted prey on the battlefield. It was surging upward, chasing after a hunter.
A figure that looked like it had thrown on a tattered robe, swinging a massive scythe with mummy-like arms.
A monster the humans had named the Grim Reaper.
“Help me!!”
A female hunter who had noticed Eldrisa cried out. Clutching a shredded arm, she flapped translucent wings and came rushing over.
But Eldrisa merely propped her chin up, indifferent. She had no intention of saving the woman.
If it’s a Harvester — a Grim Reaper — the hands and arms are the key materials, right? Where should I use them…
“M-Mage unnie! Watch out!”
As the woman brushed past her shouting, Eldrisa smirked.
…This really doesn’t seem like the time for you to be worrying about someone else.
Trying to shake me up by pretending to care? She must really not want to die.
Suddenly, Eldrisa found herself wanting to watch the woman die.
A pathetic race that, the moment things got desperate, treated other people’s help as a given. If she just sat back and watched, what kind of face would that woman make?
“Heh heh.”
Thwuck!
But then Eldrisa’s smile vanished and she blinked. From her left lower abdomen came a sudden sensation, like leather being torn open.
Looking down, she saw a sharp, curved blade.
……
The Grim Reaper sneered in a phlegmy, cavernous voice.
“Kahahahaha.”
In that moment, what rose in Eldrisa’s mind wasn’t anything like How on earth did this happen?
Her pupils contracted to pinpoints as she rapidly scanned what had attacked her.
“U-Unnie! Are you oka—”
“Shut up. Interfere and I’ll kill you.”
Eldrisa thrust her hand forward, and a purple flower bud burst from her palm.
It swelled — bulging larger — then a baseball-sized sphere shot from its mouth.
KWAANG!!
“Kieeeeee—!”
Purple mist bloomed around the Grim Reaper’s head where the sphere struck. Bubbling purple liquid poured down like sweat, and its entire form began to melt away.
At the same time, the scythe embedded in her belly blackened. The moment Eldrisa yanked it free and flung it aside, it crumbled into sand and scattered.
“……!”
The female hunter stared down at the falling Grim Reaper, then looked at Eldrisa in shock.
“H-How did you take down a B-class monster in one hit? Unnie, who are you?”
“How many of them are there? These Harvesters.”
“Huh?”
“Never mind. Forget it. Was it those white robes who summoned them?”
“I-I don’t know. That’s what we’re assuming, but we haven’t properly confirmed yet…”
Eldrisa’s form vanished as if sucked downward.
The woman gasped and looked down — already Eldrisa was a tiny speck far below.
Moments later, massive thorn vines erupted along the path she had swept through, and unidentifiable plants with two arms began spawning in droves.
The plants slithered across the ground like snakes, seizing terrorists and monsters and tearing into them. Panicked voices of Fifth Cult members rang out from all directions.
“Wh-What the hell?! We’re a cult!”
“This isn’t the ghost realm! Kill them! The Seventh Cult opened another gate!”
Thud!
A man’s head bounced once off a sedan’s trunk, then rolled away. When the half-remaining black mask fell off, his fully bulging eyes were revealed.
Kang Jiye surveyed the surroundings once, then finally let out a sigh.
“Not easy…”
The moment she stepped out of the wrecked vehicle, her face twisted. A sharp pain shot through her right thigh.
She’d gotten through without a major crisis, but that didn’t mean there was no bleeding.
“Deputy Director! Deputy Director Kang!”
But given the situation, there was no time to rest. Kang Jiye looked at the bulky figure running through the ruins toward her.
“How did it go, Manager Ma?”
“We survived thanks to the support personnel you sent. Later the Director personally intervened and wrapped things up.”
“So that was the Director just now… Good. What about elsewhere?”
“No need to go. The gates have all been handled, and the rest are hunting down stragglers. More importantly, please stop that crazy woman already!”
Kang Jiye tilted her head.
“Crazy woman?”
Manager Ma said,
“That mage woman! She punched through the terrorists’ stomachs with some kind of vines and turned them into human centipedes! Cackling like a lunatic while she did it!”
“……”
“And the Director just keeps saying she’s ‘not one of our hunters’ and won’t even try to stop her. Haa… Eventually he told me to go fetch you, Deputy Director.”
“The Director called for me?”
“Yes. Looking at his face, he seemed ready to chew someone out. Where on earth did you pick up someone like that? Her mana waves are way too vicious. Anyway, the atmosphere was pretty tense.”
Kang Jiye quietly closed her eyes and pressed her fingers to her forehead.
“…So that’s what happened. You must have had a hard time, Auntie.”
“You’re telling me. So from now on, don’t go poking her for no reason. I worked up a real sweat trying to rein her in.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
The moment I got home, I said to Eldrisa,
“Hi! The idiot witch who got her belly stabbed by a Grim Reaper!”
“……!!”
Kang Jiye lightly smacked the back of my head.
“How does a resolution not even last three seconds? Don’t you know monsters never forget what was done to them?”
Eldrisa stared at Kang Jiye with an incredulous look.
“…And the one who threatened me is fine?”
“Things were urgent then. Sorry. Good enough?”
Kang Jiye nonchalantly stroked Eldrisa’s head. With her petite stature, they almost looked like mother and daughter.
Eldrisa swatted Kang Jiye’s cold hand away and pointed behind her back.
“Get this off me, would you.”
Yena was stuck to her back, rubbing her face against Eldrisa’s neck with a contented expression.
Apparently, when Eldrisa had actually gone and brought their mother back, Yena had been so overjoyed she’d ended up like this.
I clapped once and spread my arms.
“Yena! Unnie’s here!”
“Mm, just a sec.”
Yena looked at Eldrisa with an apologetic expression.
“Can you hang on just a little even if you’re lonely? I’ll go say hi to Big Unnie and come right back.”
“If possible, never come ba—”
I smiled sweetly and locked eyes with Eldrisa. She swallowed hard.
“Th-This much is plenty, so go ahead and hug Big Unnie.”
“Okay! Aww, Little Unnie is so nice.”
I scooped up the floating Yena into my arms. Since the two of us were dressed similarly, Kang Jiye’s cheeks flushed so hard blood started dripping from her nose.
She muttered, “Too cute.”
Without even giving me a chance to ask how she was, Yena launched into recounting Eldrisa’s exploits.
Honestly, I felt a little miffed at having the spotlight stolen, but Yena had no idea I’d been in danger.
Holding Yena in my arms, I looked at Eldrisa.
“Unexpected. Completing the mission and helping the humans too.”
No matter how much Kang Jiye had threatened her, I hadn’t expected her to tear across the battlefield like that. She was an ancient witch, sure, but right now she was only A-class level.
She could have easily died.
Eldrisa hesitated before replying.
“R-Right? You should be grateful to me.”
“You didn’t have some other agenda, did you? Like going berserk because your belly got stabbed or something.”
“……!”
Yena cut in.
“Aww. Just praise her. Little Unnie moved out of a sense of justice!”
“…Yeah, fair enough. Doesn’t make sense otherwise. She’s no ordinary witch. She got hurt in the first place because she was trying to save someone.”
No matter how strong you are personally, fighting while protecting others is hard. Just like how the Toy Soldiers took heavy damage in the process of saving Kang Jihun.
I looked at Kang Jiye.
“You agree, Auntie?”
Kang Jiye pondered a moment, then gave a light nod.
“She did go overboard. From Eldrisa’s perspective, there wasn’t really anything to gain. A lot of people survived because of her.”
“…I see. Then she deserves a reward.”
Snap!
I closed my eyes and flicked my left hand once.
Rainbow light burst from Eldrisa’s entire body, and she began to slowly grow larger.
Swapping out a hand isn’t difficult. You just reverse the process applied to the existing hand, and simultaneously slot a different hand in its place.
In modern terms, it’s like keeping the same bullets but swapping out the gun model.
Same ammunition, different weapon — the power changes accordingly.
The light faded. Looking slightly flustered, Eldrisa stared down at her own body.
“This is…”
“Hundred Straight Flush.”
The second-strongest hand in poker. Eldrisa’s combat power had now recovered to her prime. Or perhaps grown even stronger.
“A-Aren’t you giving this to me way too easily?”
“I promised, didn’t I? What, you wouldn’t have done it if you were me?”
“Well…”
“That’s just how witches are. From now on, I’d like you to fix that Grim Reaper mindset. That was all residual mana from the scythe transferring over.”
Eldrisa’s expression instantly went cold.
“…You just made the thank-you I was about to say crawl right back down my throat.”
“So what.”
“You know that right now, in pure combat power, I’m stronger, right?”
“And?”
Eldrisa smiled faintly.
“Shouldn’t you be careful of a rebellion?”
“……”
I stared at Eldrisa for a moment, then nodded.
“Alright. Then from now on, you can be the queen of the amusement park.”
“What?”
“Let’s see. If you’re queen, you’ll have to pay tribute.”
I brought out the treasure box I’d stashed in my bedroom. When I shoved it straight into Eldrisa’s arms, she took it with a bewildered look and asked,
“What’s this all of a sudden?”
“What do you think? You’re the queen now, so all the treasure is yours too.”
I immediately opened a gate and shoved her in the back. She stammered as she got sucked inside. I looked at Kang Jiye.
She was watching me with an ambiguous smile.
“Don’t tell me — that pirate.”
“The Director will summon us soon, right? Since a dead witch has been revived. There’s something I need to check first.”