Spatial Mage Yang Jia (2): Anomalous Phenomenon
Anomalous Phenomenon. One of the events that can occur inside a Gate, but surprisingly few hunters have actually experienced it.
That's because anomalous phenomena themselves are extremely rare to begin with, and there are hardly any survivors on Earth who make it out alive.
Anomalous phenomena are so irregular in type and characteristics that it's impossible to define clear criteria for what qualifies as one. Still, there are some common threads in the testimonies.
1. Your 'gut feeling' goes bad.
2. The mana stones and monsters inside the Gate become infused with absurdly powerful energy.
3. The exit seals shut. Until the anomalous phenomenon ends.
Anomalous phenomena account for the highest proportion of deaths among advanced hunters and are the biggest obstacle to hunter recruitment.
No matter how high-ranked a hunter is, if an anomalous phenomenon hits, they're as good as dead.
Crackle—crackle-crackle—
The first thing I checked after getting out was the broadcast screen on my phone. It powered on, but streaming was impossible. The screen was filled with noise.
I had a pretty good idea why the noise was happening. Mana is a massive lump of energy. And spatial mana boasts tremendous power among it. That's why phones can work inside Gates.
For some reason, mana interacts with electronic devices like phones, and humanity just had to tweak things so the devices could handle and use the overflowing energy from the Gates.
But when the spatial mana, supercharged by the anomalous phenomenon, interferes, the gear and electronics can't handle the overload and fry like this.
"Haaah."
That was how insanely powerful spatial mana was compared to everything else. And right now, I was inside a fog made of it.
Breathing it in made my body float and my mood lift. The pain and clutter in my head faded away. It felt like being in the clouds.
The mana in my body circulated rapidly, absorbing the new, potent energy.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Their heavy footsteps echoed right in front of me.
They marched with rhythmic steps like soldiers in formation. Their appearances varied. Most were fusions of vehicles, asphalt, and mana, but a couple had human body parts grafted on.
...Fucking gross.
Back when I researched spatial mana, I'd seen a few similar ones a couple times. Spatial mana fundamentally sucks in its surroundings and devours everything greedily.
Injecting spatial mana energy into a rabbit by force had produced something like that once.
"They're heading for the mana stone?"
As I spoke, my phone buzzed and vibrated. Donations exploded. From the reactions, it seemed my voice was getting through on the broadcast.
Couldn't miss this chance.
"From now on, I'm taking out those six monsters I showed earlier, all at once. You won't be able to see it, though."
The chat blew up like it was gonna explode. Some called bullshit, others said it was insane—reactions everywhere. The scroll speed was too fast to read them all.
Whoosh—
But now it was time to hunt. Their path made it obvious they were heading straight for the mana stone.
Hummm—
I drew up the spatial mana in my body.
In the end, the Gate disaster I'd unleashed had dragged me—me, who'd fled to the internet for a while—right back here by force.
I'd suspected it since opening the Gate. This mana would one day cause a catastrophe I couldn't control, and it'd hit me right in the face.
Thud! Boom!
As I gathered mana, their heads swiveled toward me. No eyes, but it felt like they were locking gazes.
Screee—reeee—
They stared silently, then formed ranks and marched straight at me.
Coming to punish this arrogant mortal who'd stolen their power and erase me from the world.
But they'd overlooked one thing.
"...Even if I look like this, I'm TimeAmerica, rank 1 on Galcre rankings."
I'm stronger than they think.
Reeeee—
I gathered the mana from my body and the surrounding spatial mana, channeling it all into the tips of my left index and middle fingers.
"Lemme show you a glimpse of the realm I've reached. You couldn't even dream of it. That your power could be this ridiculous."
With those words, I raised my left hand, extending index and middle fingers in a V-shape.
Boom! Kwang!
Instantly, the space at both ends split and shattered, revealing rifts.
Reeee!
My index and middle fingers burned like they were melting. Pain like being seared raced up my fingers, spine, and slammed my brain. The tips glowed brilliant purple.
"Guh..."
But I didn't stop. I gritted my teeth and held the spell.
—Screeeee—!
The rifts appeared and immediately devoured the two monsters there greedily. The others screamed at seeing their comrades sucked in and vanish.
They looked at me, then clustered tightly to avoid the rifts. Their grotesque bodies trembled. No doubt—they feared me.
Kagagak!
I began closing my fingers slowly. The rifts followed, herding them into a corner.
Between the V-gap of my index and middle fingers, they huddled in the empty air.
Perfectly lined up in formation, easy to enclose.
"...Hng."
Pain like a sledgehammer to my skull, unbearable nausea—but I'd endured this a thousand times.
I bore the agony and slowly closed my spread fingers.
Kugugugugu!!
A massive roar, and the rifts moved. The devouring voids swallowed everything in their path.
Asphalt, guardrails... nothing remained around where they'd passed.
Skreeek!
Touching the rifts dissolved their flesh. The broken spaces erased all they touched as they advanced. What happens when those rifts collide?
"Vanish."
That scene unfolded before my eyes.
Kugugu—
The rifts output colossal mana energy, sucking each other in. Near-infinite absorption assaults, generating even more insane energy in the process.
So, inevitably...
Kwaaaaaang!
The rifts, unable to contain the infinite buildup, annihilated—exploding their energy in an instant.
Crackle—crackle-crackle—
The blast's aftermath erased everything in the rifts' radius.
The space itself obliterated and collapsed by the huge energy, with only a faint, transparent something slithering slowly inside. Time mana, the kind we don't normally see.
"Hoo... hoo..."
I caught my breath watching it. Spatial mana has restorative properties, so the shattered space slowly reverted—but the monsters inside were gone, reduced to nothing.
"Broadcast... Ah, crap."
Confirmed they were dead, tried to check the stream, but my phone was toast. Completely fried.
Whipped by infinite energy explosion? Fair enough. Well... sell the mana stone underground, split with Ga-eun, still make thousands?
"Haven't used it in ages... Feels damn good."
I smirked, looked up at the sky, then around. Even the thick purple fog was gone. Sun was out, shining bright on the highway.
"It's... over."
Fog of mana cleared, now I could pinpoint the exit.
Earlier, the mana haze made it iffy, but exit's after the tollgate, past the interchange.
"Tsk, haa."
Legs about to give out, but I walked. Picked up their fallen cores on the ground. Sell these, couple hundred each.
"Whew. Ga-eun? Ga-eun. All clear."
Down to the toll booth basement, Lee Ga-eun was out cold. Elf or not, girl couldn't handle the mana storm's energy?
"Wake up."
Shook her awake. Luckily, not fully passed out.
"Mm, ungh..."
She stirred groggily, rubbed her eyes, sat up. Then saw my face.
"Ji-Jia!"
She yelped in shock, pointing at my eye. Only then did I notice hot blood trickling from my left eye.
"Ah, this..."
Looks like my small body couldn't fully take the energy storm. Even as a guy it strained me, but no visible damage like this. Damn.
"Get up first."
I hauled her fully upright, sat her in a squat. Pressed a handkerchief to my eye, then climbed on her back.
"Ji-Jia?!"
She panicked at my actions, but I ignored it.
"I'm beat, can't move anymore. Exit's straight along the road, out the interchange. You can sense that much as an elf, right?"
"Ah, um... Yeah."
She nodded immediately, carefully hoisted me, and left the basement. Soon as we exited, she froze, mumbling. Must've seen the blast site.
"Th-that... Jia, you okay?"
Spatial magic always has backlash. Power like that doesn't come free.
Just... puking my guts out, eyes and brain feeling yanked, body convulsing—otherwise fine.
But another unexpected problem hit.
"Ji-Jia?"
Lee Ga-eun's voice faded. Eyes closing, body slumping.
...A mage's mana is tied to the body somewhat. Since it's energy drawn from the body itself.
"Ga-eun. Just lemme... sleep a bit..."
Guess becoming a girl and shrinking cut my mana reserves a tad.
"Grgh..."
I passed out piggyback-style.