Chapter 345: Crossing Paths (3)
Chapter 345: Crossing Paths (3)
Leaving Han A-bin, Un-ho, and the tentacle at our current residence, Dr. Baek Si-hyun’s laboratory, I sprinted toward the location where The Council members were presumed to be, with Baek Si-hyun by my side.
There were several reasons why we didn't all go together.
First and foremost, I still didn't trust the Mage Council.
Therefore, I took Baek Si-hyun, who was the most reliable and excelled at information processing.
I left Han A-bin, whose reaction time in emergencies was a bit slow, and our joker card, the tentacle, with Un-ho.
If it came down to it, Un-ho would be able to escape with the two of them even in the worst-case scenario.
Having settled that, I glanced at Baek Si-hyun.
Even now, she was walking briskly beside me with a beaming smile.
…To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure if "reliable" was the right word.
Despite my earlier explanation and the specific rules I’d told her to remember, she still wore that cheerful expression.
However, since it was a confirmed fact that I was a total meathead, I needed someone to gather and process information in my stead. Among our group, Baek Si-hyun was the only one capable of that.
And so, carrying my anxiety with me, I dashed through the Geneva Branch.
After about ten minutes of running:
"Is this the place?"
"Yes! Annex Building 9, 4th floor, Room 403. This is it!"
Hmm.
It looked like an incredibly ordinary room, but as they say, the best place to hide a tree is in a forest.
With that thought, I kicked the back door open with force.
Bang!
"Pardon the intrusion."
I walked in boldly, back straight, acting as if I had nothing to be ashamed of.
If it turned out to be the wrong place, well, so be it.
However, it didn't seem like we had the wrong room.
The inside was a place difficult to describe—dark, yet with light present.
The area behind us where we stood was somewhat dim, but there was enough light pouring in to distinguish objects.
But the front...
The people who had been talking until the moment we entered were now sitting in sudden silence.
There, figures shrouded in shadows sat, surrounding the entire front of the room.
I could tell there were several of them.
However, whether it was due to some kind of Cognitive Distortion effect within the shadows, I couldn't tell exactly how many there were or who they were.
"…Crimson★Hammer."
One of them called out my Hero name.
"Yeah, yeah. It’s me, Crimson★Hammer, the culprit who caused this whole mess. How’ve you all been?"
I didn't get angry; I simply gave a casual wave of my hand.
"What are you here for?"
A different voice spoke, heavily distorted to the point of being unrecognizable.
"What do you think? I'm here to take down the Public Enemy."
"We don't need you. We are perfectly capable of handling the Public Enemy without—"
"We have the thing you need for your plan."
I threw the words out before they could start their noisy chatter.
A wave of flustered energy rippled through them as they processed my statement.
"…I don't know what you're talking about."
Soon, however, that emotion vanished from all of them, leaving no trace behind.
"Ah, right, it was a secret. What was it? Information that shouldn't be leaked? Right. That's how it was. So, I won't mention it specifically. But we have what you need. You can understand that much, right?"
I had a rough idea of what they wanted and what they were up to.
They didn't know exactly how much information we possessed.
It was a bluff.
And it seemed to work.
The frequency of whispering among the shadows increased.
I couldn't make out what they were saying, but their voices were fast and high-pitched.
This went on for about two or three minutes.
Perhaps The Council had reached a consensus.
"What do you… want?"
Someone tossed the question at me. Thinking it was a stupid question, I opened my mouth.
"What do I want? Isn't it obvious? To take down the Public Enemy. This isn't some business deal; we should all be working together to crush that thing. Oh, of course, I do have requirements. Shouldn't you at least share information on why you want that thing and what the Public Enemy eats?"
This was only natural.
If it's a Public Enemy, it's a target that everyone should join forces to eliminate.
Maybe it would be different for those unrelated to the operation, but hiding information from those who are clearly involved and supposed to fight alongside you?
How are we supposed to trust you and fight?
Perhaps because my words were so reasonable:
"…I suppose that's true."
They spoke quite readily and began to explain.
"First… as for what it eats."
Though still hidden in the shadows, the tone was slightly softer.
And it was the thing we were more curious about than anything else.
Because of that, I couldn't even stand the brief hesitation; my heart pounded loudly.
Finally, he spoke.
"Desires. It eats desires."
The words were uttered calmly, as if stating an absolute truth.
At that:
"…What?"
I let out a dumbfounded sound at the utterly ridiculous word.
"Wait, desires? How on earth does it even—"
No matter how much of a meathead I am, this is way off from what I expected.
What does desire have to do with this phenomenon?
"The process of discovering that is far too long to explain. However, it is certain. It is a tentacle that eats desires."
The information was given as a definitive statement.
I glanced at Baek Si-hyun to check the veracity of this information.
Baek Si-hyun simply shook her head from side to side, as if she didn't know for sure either.
Tsk.
I guess even for Dr. Baek Si-hyun, the information gap between the Mage Council and an individual is unavoidable.
"Fine, I'll believe that for now. Knowing that doesn't really change anything anyway. Then, for the next question."
As I spoke, I took a step forward.
"Why exactly is the thing we have necessary to defeat the Public Enemy? Can you tell me that?"
I threw out another question.
"…To explain the plan, that is necessary."
The answer came after a brief silence.
"How can I trust that? You know full well there's a possibility you've been swayed by the Public Enemy. If you're going to show your hand, show the whole thing."
"Isn't knowing what it eats enough?"
"If a moron who thinks like that is sitting there as a Council member, everyone might as well quit, don't you think?"
"…."
Silence fell.
To pressure them, I took another step forward.
"I know you guys hate me, but this is the Public Enemy we're talking about. To be blunt, this waste of time is really pissing me off."
As I showed my irritation:
"…The thing you captured is connected to the Public Enemy’s Main Body."
They reluctantly began to speak.
"And?"
I prodded them because the sentence had cut off.
They continued to speak, but—
"By exploiting that connection, we can trace the location of the Main Body, and through the manifestation of the desires The Enemy consumes—"
Suddenly, the voice grew faint.
Tsk. Is there a problem with the shadow magic?
Thinking that, I took another step forward to hear them better.
"…."
The flow and vibration of mana. I sensed it settling beneath my feet.
However, I maintained a poker face, pretending I hadn't felt a thing.
"Si-hyun. A cup of black tea."
I spoke the pre-arranged phrase to my disciple—a sentence I would never normally say.
The moment those words reached her ears, Baek Si-hyun immediately slammed lightning into the floor.
Without a single doubt, without asking a single question.
Without even a moment's hesitation.
As if it were simply the natural thing to do.
Really, I'm so glad I only brought Baek Si-hyun.
If it were Han A-bin, she wouldn't have been able to take such extreme action.
Even Un-ho would have been slow to react.
And the lightning my faithful disciple struck down bought us crucial time.
Crackle!
The massive electrical magic Baek Si-hyun unleashed, even at the cost of burning her own hand, blew up the floor we were standing on.
Through the cracks, I could sense smoke, sparks, and the sound of machinery.
A massive, delicately moving machine.
"…Tsk."
The moment we discovered it, The Council members I had been talking to clicked their tongues.
They probably expected me to move, but they hadn't expected my disciple to act so suddenly.
Their attention had been focused entirely on me, not on my unrenowned disciple, Baek Si-hyun.
The momentary opening we gained...
As it ended, I felt a massive amount of mana flowing into the ground beneath us.
As if they could still trigger the function even with the damaged machinery.
However, thanks to the sacrifice of Baek Si-hyun’s arm, I was able to predict and delay that manifestation.
I immediately reached out to Baek Si-hyun, pushing her back, and was about to leap forward to take down The Council members when—
A sense of foreboding raced through me.
An ominous feeling that if I ran straight ahead, something would go terribly wrong.
There was nothing in my sight.
No flow of mana.
There was nothing obstructing my path forward.
In that split second.
The instinct of foreboding screamed in my head.
And so, I made a choice.
To grab Baek Si-hyun and leap backward with her.
The moment I wrapped my arm around her and jumped back, a flash of light struck the spot where I had been standing.
I don't know what kind of magic it was.
What remained where the flash vanished was space shattered like glass and countless chains of light.
And a single, nonsensical tablet.
At the same time, as I looked toward The Council members, I realized my intuition had been right.
Those funnel-shaped barriers that I was starting to get sick of.
Magic Weaver’s masterpiece.
Five of them were floating in the air.
…If I had jumped forward, I would have been screwed.
If I had been holding a weapon and engaged in a contest of strength, it might have been different, but in that urgent situation, if I had jumped forward without any power behind it, I definitely would have been caught in those barriers.
A stealthy magic activation that even I barely perceived.
This confirmed it.
These guys had prepared a trap to capture me from the very beginning.
I didn't know why.
And so, the atmosphere, which had been somewhat civil if not exactly friendly, turned hostile in an instant.
"Tsk. If you had just let yourself be captured quietly, everything would have gone smoothly."
A familiar voice came from among The Council members.
"…Magic Weaver."
"Yes, it's me. The genius of the century."
He, who had been hidden in the shadows, stood up while pushing up his horn-rimmed glasses.
I directed my fury toward him.
"Is this a betrayal? Or is it mental manipulation?"
It was a meaningless question.
In this situation, what did it matter if it was betrayal or mental manipulation?
Just looking at the situation, it was clear that the Mage Council had become my enemy.
"It's neither! Crimson★Hammer."
However, Magic Weaver spoke as if it were nothing, raising his voice as usual.
"This is part of the perfect plan we've constructed to defeat the Public Enemy. No, it's a bit different! This is the plan that was revised because you appeared!"
I listened to Magic Weaver’s exaggerated tone, but even then, I didn't let down my guard.
Because I didn't know if another attack would strike us.
However, I couldn't sense any such signs.
…Does this mean they won't attack while we're talking?
What's the point of that?
Are they waiting for the moment I speak to catch me off guard?
If so, it wouldn't be a bad idea to just run away now.
But... I lacked information.
I had to find out something.
"Attacking The Adversary of the Public Enemy to defeat the Public Enemy. What a grand plan."
I threw the sarcasm at Magic Weaver.
"Naturally, the thoughts of geniuses who walk ahead are something ordinary people cannot understand."
"Ha, geniuses my ass. You're all getting your minds toyed with by an Otherworldly entity. Wake up, you lot. Don't you feel something's wrong? If your plan is really so perfect, at least tell me why I need to be captured."
If the reason is valid, I'll consider it for about a second.
Of course, since the plan involves capturing me, it's obviously not a sane one. It would be more appropriate to label them as poor victims brainwashed by the Public Enemy and deliver a judgment that involves a strike to the head to correct their minds or put them to sleep until the incident is over.
I threw out the question, flaunting my Otherworldly generosity.
"I cannot say."
Magic Weaver and The Council members replied with a chilling coldness.
…It's that strange phenomenon again.
Confirmed. The Council members have also been influenced by the Public Enemy.
"Bullshit. It's not that you can't say; it's that there is no reason."
"A reason exists. We simply cannot speak of it."
God damn it, seriously.
No matter how much more we talk, the result will be the same.
Therefore, I prepared to escape.
Even for me, fighting all of them here and now would be difficult.
If I didn't care whether they lived or died, or if Baek Si-hyun wasn't here, I could manage somehow.
But they were still Heroes the world needed.
Neutralizing them without leaving them with permanent disabilities was a difficult task even for me.
Because of the shadows hiding them, I didn't know how many there were, nor did I know who else was there besides Magic Weaver.
If I could see all the members, it would be one thing, but if Macbeth was among them, I would lose.
So, I hoisted Baek Si-hyun, who was regenerating her hand, onto my shoulder.
I kicked toward the window, which was emitting a faint light behind blackout curtains.
"Ha! That window has been physically reinforced to the extreme—!"
I heard Magic Weaver’s confident voice.
I didn't care.
I'd heard things like that countless times, but I had never once failed to break something.
As my extended right foot hit the window:
It was heavy, indeed.
An impact I could hardly believe came from hitting a window raced up my leg.
However.
"Hyah!"
I gave a shout and pushed my mana through.
Creeeeeak!
With a sound that didn't seem like glass breaking at all, the window collapsed in a web of cracks.
The glass, which had turned into shards, transformed into transparent chains and tried to bind me.
But the speed at which I flew out of the building was faster than the chains.
Having escaped all restraints, I began a free fall outside the building where the sunlight was pouring down.
As I felt the wind, I could see Magic Weaver staring at me from beyond the broken window we had jumped out of.
"Then you lot can just stay cooped up in your little room, fixing your 'plan' or whatever. We'll handle things our own way."
I made that declaration to the mages as I fell.
Magic Weaver’s lips began to move.
Because of the distance, I couldn't hear his voice. He was likely talking to himself.
However, my lip-reading skills caught his words.
'I went to the trouble of further isolating the exterior so others couldn't enter.'
'You shouldn't have come back, Lee Ha-ram.'
…What does that mean?
Incomprehensible words.
I wanted to ask him about it, but they vanished beyond the broken window.
Our free fall ended as we landed on the campus grounds.
"…What on earth is going on?"
Leaving us with nothing but countless questions.