Chapter 340: Into Daily Life (2)
Chapter 340: Into Daily Life (2)
The scream beneath the twisted sky did not last very long.
My life hasn't been easy enough for me to be flustered by something like this for an extended period.
That doesn't mean the screaming stopped entirely, however. It was just that the duration of each scream grew shorter; the screaming itself continued.
It continued because ordinary things kept happening within this extraordinary space.
What happened immediately after I left the hotel was an all-too-common occurrence here.
Everyone was living their daily lives with such utter normalcy.
Suppressing the urge to grab them and demand answers, I moved quickly toward the Geneva Branch building.
There was no way I’d get any useful information by getting into an argument with a civilian. At the very least, I needed someone at the level of a Council member to get anything coherent.
As I hurried along with that thought, a sudden intuition shot through my brain.
Enemy.
The moment I felt that sensation, I whipped my head around to search for the source.
A creature with a long, lustrous body—something rarely seen in reality.
Unless it possessed extreme camouflage abilities like The Hole Tentacle, my second executive-level foe, it should be a conspicuous entity that anyone would find strange at a glance.
Come to think of it, The Hole Tentacle hasn't submitted its report yet.
With that thought crossing my mind, I focused my consciousness on discovering the extraordinary existence overlapping with daily life.
As a result, I found the twisted entity quite easily.
It was behind a roadside tree—one of many planted at regular intervals across the campus to brighten the scenery.
Behind it, a single tentacle, colored with a mix of hues like oil floating on water over a violet base, peeked its tip out like a shy child. It swayed slowly up and down, seemingly watching me.
It didn't have eyes, but that was the impression it gave.
…What on earth is that?
Why is my enemy acting like that?
It wasn't that I’d never seen a tentacle use cover and concealment before.
There were those that hid until they fully matured, those like The Hole Tentacle whose entire existence was based on not being caught, and those specializing in speed that moved too fast for the eye to follow.
But this was different.
When I stared intently at the tentacle, it seemed to realize it had been spotted. It flinched and ducked back behind the tree.
Dumbfounded, I stared blankly at the tree where the tentacle had hidden.
About thirty seconds later, as if asking, "Is he gone?" the tip of the tentacle—or what passed for its face—peeked out again, its entire body vibrating.
And the moment it saw me, it scurried back behind the tree in a frantic mess, as if terrified….
…No, seriously, what is that thing?
No matter how I looked at it, it was a tentacle, my enemy. My head was practically ringing with the warning that this was my adversary.
So, it was almost certainly an executive-level enemy. But why was it acting like that?
An executive-level enemy isn't necessarily strong or smart, but still.
Wasn't this thing a designated Public Enemy?
Yet, here it was, acting in a way that even I found a little—just a tiny bit—cute, showing a clumsy, living quality.
Even I, who usually swung my hammer the moment an enemy appeared, stood there watching in a daze because this Small Purple Tentacle was behaving so bizarrely.
Furthermore, the power emanating from the tentacle was incredibly faint.
For a designated Public Enemy, it contained less Otherworldly Power than a random passerby.
Considering that, this was likely just a terminal of the tentacle rather than the Main Body. Even so, it had been a week since this place was sealed off; being this weak was just pathetic.
What was it even eating?
I couldn't be sure since I hadn't gauged its physical strength yet, but in most cases, an Otherworldly enemy's power was directly linked to its physical specs. Based on that, even an ordinary person with a club could probably beat this thing.
It was only about 30 to 50 centimeters long, after all.
Really, what was it?
Was it the type that sent all its power to the Main Body and kept its terminals weak to feign helplessness?
While I was deep in thought, the tentacle continued to peek out from behind the tree to observe me.
After this was repeated once or twice, the tentacle seemed to realize I wasn't going anywhere and stopped showing its head.
…Let’s just catch it first and think later.
Its behavior was so strange that I felt a bit hesitant to just smash it. There were Otherworldly enemies that feigned weakness to trigger an effect upon being killed.
However, I couldn't just leave it be. I moved quickly to get behind the tree and capture it.
It’s gone?
Behind the tree where the tentacle had been peeking at me, there was nothing.
It wasn't as if I’d lost track of The Enemy while moving; it had taken less than a second to reach the tree, and I hadn't sensed any movement during that time.
Tsk. A specialist in escaping, then.
I clicked my tongue and looked up, vowing not to let it get away next time.
…No, seriously, what is going on?
A sight that made me doubt my eyes entered my field of vision.
A short distance from the tree, the tentacle was wiggling away as fast as it could.
It had no face, and its body was just a single long tentacle, so it shouldn't have been able to convey emotion. Yet, the way it crawled along the ground with all its might felt exactly like someone running away in terror.
My movements slowed for a moment.
In that brief window, the tentacle rounded a corner and vanished behind a building.
It’s certainly quick at running away.
Whatever happens next, I won't miss it again.
Whether that tentacle showed a strange sense of humanity or whether it was weak didn't matter.
It was my adversary and a Public Enemy of the world.
Nothing more than a target to be eliminated.
Steeling my resolve and vowing not to be distracted again, I rounded the corner after the tentacle.
"Whoa?!"
I ran straight into a group of people who let out a loud cry.
Dammit.
If I stayed on my current trajectory, I would have plowed right through them, causing a disaster.
I moved quickly to dodge them and slowed my pace.
Once the situation was somewhat settled, they stared intently at me for suddenly popping out from the corner.
"That was dangerous!"
They immediately exercised their natural right to complain.
"Ah, I'm sorry. I was in a hurry…."
Since I was clearly in the wrong this time, I bowed my head politely.
"It's a good thing no one was hurt…. Be careful next time."
The man who kept talking to me, seemingly the leader of this group of six mages, finished his piece and tried to walk past me.
"Ah, I'm sorry. Could I ask you something for a moment?"
However, I stopped them by posing a question.
"What is it?"
The man turned back to me, his annoyance plain to see.
I felt a surge of irritation that a kid who looked barely in his early twenties was acting this way, but since it was my fault, I kept my cool.
"A tentacle should have passed through here just now. Did you happen to see it?"
The moment I calmly asked the question, silence fell.
"…."
The six mages, who until a moment ago had been radiating annoyance over a near-accident, now exuded an icy rejection. They began whispering to each other in voices so low even I had trouble catching them.
"We didn't see anything."
The leader-like mage, who hadn't joined the whispering, slowly spat those words out at me.
To anyone's eyes, this was a blatantly strange situation.
"No, it definitely came this way. There's no way you didn't see—"
I tried to press them, but he cut me off.
"I told you, we didn't see it. Now, if you'll excuse us."
As if they didn't want to speak to me for another second, they left those words behind and quickly moved away.
I was left alone in the shadows behind the building.
After they disappeared, I slowly scanned the surroundings, but I couldn't find the tentacle that was my adversary.
"What the hell is going on?"
In the end, unable to suppress my rising irritation, I muttered to myself, letting out a small vent of anger.
* * *
Despite the small, strange encounter, I arrived at the lobby of the Geneva Branch without discovering its true nature.
I wanted to find my two disciples and Un-ho first, but my phone wasn't working and the hotel was a dead end. I decided to rely on the Management Bureau’s capabilities.
The lobby of the Geneva Branch was as chaotic as ever.
Even the hotel staff had evacuated somewhere, leaving only minimal contact functions due to the emergency. Yet, the Management Bureau civil servants in the lobby were working today without a break, and the mages were still diligently fighting to obstruct each other's truths despite the Public Enemy Designation.
However, they seemed to have some awareness of the emergency; I could feel that the attack spells were noticeably weaker than usual, and the number of presentations being held was fewer.
And there she was, the woman I hadn't seen in a few days.
The suspiciously competent Lobby Staff member.
"Ah, Hero Lee Ha-ram. It's been a while."
"It hasn't been that long for me, though."
"Hmm? Is that so? I suppose something must have happened. Anyway, what can I do for you today?"
I had worried the Lobby Staff might be cold as well, but she greeted me as brightly as ever.
"I'd like to know the current locations of my disciples, Hero Baek Si-hyun and Hero Han A-bin, and I'd like to contact them. Oh, and if communications are down, I'd like to leave a message—"
As I was calmly stating my business, she cut me off.
"I'm sorry, Hero Lee Ha-ram. I cannot process that request at this time."
"Pardon? Which part can't you do?"
Startled, I had to ask.
To be told that the most basic request couldn't be fulfilled—what did that mean?
"According to a resolution by the Mage Council, access to the location information of all Heroes is currently prohibited. Contact is also forbidden except in cases of extreme emergency. However, you may leave a message. Though, we can only deliver it if they come to the lobby themselves."
"The Council kids decided that?"
"Yes. They haven't released the specific reasons, but they claimed the confidentiality is for the sake of eliminating the Public Enemy."
It seemed those brilliant mages hadn't just been sitting around for the past week.
They must have discovered some information about that suspicious enemy of mine.
As expected of the academic Type S, they were reliable when it came to things like this.
Satisfied, I nodded.
"I see. Then please take a message. Tell them I'll stop by the Dining Hall during mealtimes whenever possible, so we should regroup there—"
As I was dictating the message for my disciples, the staff member, who had been listening quietly, let out a startled cry.
"Oh!"
Reacting to her, I turned my gaze in the same direction.
I saw a Red Sphere.
A fireball about the size of a human head, packed with condensed heat.
It was right in front of my face the moment I turned my head.
…Oh, right.
I have terrible luck.
So many things had happened in such a short time that I’d forgotten.
The moment I returned to the Geneva Branch, that phenomenon had relapsed.
Before I’d been kicked out by the Public Enemy Designation, I’d kept my senses sharp to prepare for such situations. To think that letting my guard down while wandering around outside would come back to bite me like this.
"Haha, dammit."
Simultaneously with my mutter, the fireball full of searing heat exploded against my head.
The burning pain and the sensation of fire licking my skin.
Along with the bizarre experience of feeling the blast and the flash but knowing my skin wasn't actually being harmed, I truly felt that I had returned to the Geneva Branch.
And to celebrate my return…
I tossed the mage who had fired the fireball at me toward the distant horizon.
He seemed fairly skilled, so I'm sure he'll manage to land safely and live.