A Magnificent Toy
'At that level, he must be a 4th-circle master.'
Since Ilyang was currently only a 3rd-circle master,
one might think it was a difference of only a single circle.
In reality, however, the chasm between the 3rd and 4th circles was immense.
'The most dangerous one here is that guy. I need to neutralize him first.'
Furthermore, the 4th-circle mage wasn't the only threat on board.
At the bow of the massive flagship, the Nezha Dragon King,
an old man stood with his arms crossed, striking a pompous pose.
Ilyang narrowed his eyes at him.
'Fort Leader Sun Tae-go of the Flood Dragon Sect.'
Though the old man was a master equivalent to a high-ranking knight,
to be frank, Ilyang didn't care about him in the slightest.
Tap.
Like a cat slipping through the night,
Ilyang clung to the side of the Nezha Dragon King without making a sound.
'Whew.'
Ilyang gathered his recovered internal energy, caught his breath,
and, with a slightly cleared mind, cautiously scaled his way toward the deck.
He crawled up the flagship's hull like a lizard.
Since the smaller wedge ships and other vessels had already surged forward,
no one noticed Ilyang
approaching the Flood Dragon Sect's flagship so blatantly.
'By the way, can the Jinsung Express Agency actually stop them?'
The thought crossed his mind.
But Ilyang quickly let out a dry chuckle.
'Well, they did tell me not to worry about it.'
He had even secured the stamped mission completion certificate in advance,
so that was all that mattered.
Landing on the deck railing of the Nezha Dragon King like a cat,
Ilyang's eyes
calmly locked onto his prey.
The spellcaster, Gong Jeol-gang, wore a pleased smile as he stood behind the Flood Dragon Sect Leader.
Everything was proceeding exactly as he had planned.
'Good. Perfect.'
Even the vulgar water bandits screaming curses at the front
looked downright adorable today.
'The cargo must be over there.'
Looking out into the distance,
at the formation of the Jinsung Express Agency's fleet,
the flagship positioned dead center
had to be where the "fox" they needed to capture today was located.
'Haha, everyone is doing splendidly. Splendidly indeed.'
The momentum of the Yanwang Sect bandits attacking from the left was fierce.
They had overwhelmed the Jinsung Express Agency's peak masters in an instant
and were already attempting to board the central flagship.
'Yes, keep it up.'
At this rate, the battle would be decided in half an hour.
'Once the guys on the right join in at the right time, it's over... Huh?'
Suddenly,
a cold shiver
shot up Gong Jeol-gang's spine, prompting him to whip his head around.
And he locked eyes directly
with a boy standing right beside him, holding a strange hand gesture and wearing a deeply disappointed expression.
"Who goes there?!"
Gong Jeol-gang shrieked, whipping his hand out of his sleeve.
It was a flawless, practiced motion born of years of cultivation.
Instantly, two talismans floated into the air.
Whoosh!
Enveloped in blue flames, the talismans flew straight toward the boy's face.
'I don't know what he is, but he's dangerous.'
His judgment was swift.
After throwing the talismans,
Gong Jeol-gang immediately slipped behind the Flood Dragon Sect Leader.
"Huh? Who is that kid?"
"Be careful, Sect Leader! He is no ordinary foe!"
Gong Jeol-gang cursed inwardly.
He had let his guard down.
He had been too engrossed in the battle ahead.
But he couldn't help it; the spectacle unfolding at the front was simply too captivating.
A young man was wildly swinging a long spear in all directions, yelling at the top of his lungs:
"Hahaha! I am the Lu Bu of Giyang County!"
"Who dares stand against me! I am Zhang Fei of Changban Slope!"
"Bwahaha! Did you skip breakfast? There's no weight behind your harpoons!"
Because of that single lunatic roaring like a madman,
Sect Leader Sun Tae-go had been completely distracted.
Gong Jeol-gang had managed to react, albeit barely.
But Sun Tae-go, caught entirely off guard,
was just a fraction of a second too slow.
And that fraction of a second decided their fates.
The strongest 3rd-circle offensive spell erupted from Ilyang's fingertips.
⟨ Chain Lightning ⟩
A streak of blinding white lightning surged across the deck,
instantly incinerating the talismans and piercing straight through Sun Tae-go's heart.
Crack-crackle!
"Argh!"
A catastrophe before they could even register what was happening.
Sun Tae-go stared down at the gaping, charred hole in his chest,
coughed up a mouthful of blood,
and gasped in utter disbelief.
"Gurgle..."
With a final, wheezing breath,
Sun Tae-go collapsed limply from his command chair.
Meanwhile, Gong Jeol-gang, who had used Sun Tae-go as a meat shield, stared in wide-eyed shock.
"What?! Why is the Lightning Sect here?! Who ordered this?! Is this the work of that crazy old man from the Xiu family?!"
The feast had been fully prepared, and yet!
How did the Lightning Sect find out?
And of all groups, why did it have to be those reckless lunatics!
Regardless of his panic,
Ilyang looked down at the twitching, electrocuted Sect Leader with a deeply disappointed face.
"I was planning to use him as a hostage, but he died."
It was a strike meant to end things in one blow.
An attack that had consumed nearly half of his current mana pool.
Yet, the actual target had dodged,
and an unintended victim had taken the hit.
'The recovered mana is... as expected, far too little.'
This was the downside of lightning-attribute magic, despite its overwhelming destructive power.
Could he handle this old man with his remaining internal energy?
Ilyang realized things had become slightly troublesome.
Meanwhile, Gong Jeol-gang glared in fury at the boy who had been utterly ignoring him,
before his gaze turned icy. He reached into his sleeve and pulled out a small monkey doll.
"Arrogant brat. I'll teach you some manners."
Gong Jeol-gang tossed the small monkey doll into the air.
Then,
'Huh?'
the moment Ilyang saw the small monkey doll flying through the air,
a strange sensation washed over him.
He couldn't tear his eyes away from the slowly falling doll, completely mesmerized.
Entering a state of hyper-focus, time seemed to slow down in Ilyang's vision.
'This is...'
At the same time, his mind naturally began to analyze the small monkey doll.
Surprisingly, this tiny doll incorporated something notoriously difficult to source:
space magic.
'But it's not just space magic. There's something else mixed in.'
What could it be? Just as he wondered,
Thud!
The moment the tiny doll landed on the deck,
the massive flagship rocked violently up and down.
Simultaneously, the doll on the deck swelled to a height of fifteen feet,
and immediately swung its fist straight at the crown of Ilyang's head.
Whoosh!
Staring at the fist, which was nearly as large as his entire body,
Ilyang let out a small, half-screamed exclamation of admiration for the first time since arriving in this world.
"Crazy! Dammit! That is an absolutely brilliant application!"
"Puhaha! You crazy Lightning Sect bastard. Let's see if you can keep that smug attitude while you're being crushed to death."
Even while marveling, Ilyang instinctively cast a Grease spell, sliding backward across the deck to dodge.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The monkey's menacing fists chased closely after Ilyang's heels, missing him by a hair's breadth.
Evading the attacks by the narrowest of margins, Ilyang stared intently at a point in the air with an excited expression,
then reached out and gently pinched the empty space.
'What on earth is he doing?'
While Gong Jeol-gang watched in utter confusion,
Whoosh!
just as the giant monkey's fist was about to crush the boy's head,
the boy pulled back his hand as if tugging on an invisible thread.
Instantly,
Vroooom—
Creak, creak!
"What?!"
The giant monkey doll froze mid-attack,
its entire body trembling and vibrating violently.
"W-What is the meaning of this?!"
A panicked Gong Jeol-gang frantically tried to reassert control over his puppet,
but strangely, it refused to obey.
Incredibly,
someone had completely hijacked the puppet's command structure and was directly interfering with it.
And the prime suspect was currently speaking.
"Sigh... Combining space magic and summoning magic inside a golem spell? I don't know whose head that came out of, but it's an absolutely mad concept. To extract such a fantastic result from such a chaotic array of irregularities... I'd give this at least a B-grade. I must pay my respects to the creator's creativity and adventurous spirit. This is truly a magnificent piece of magic."
"Y-You insolent brat!"
Gong Jeol-gang frantically formed hand seals to regain control of the puppet,
but the doll merely vibrated faintly,
showing no other reaction.
Ilyang stared at the puppet with an ecstatic gaze,
unable to resist stepping closer to stroke its sturdy frame with trembling, reverent hands.
He couldn't hide his sheer excitement.
"The people of this world are certainly clumsy when it comes to crafting containers, but strangely, the level of completion is incredibly high. Hmm? Is it because they use different chemical agents? The durability is insane. There's definitely a lot to learn here."
"D-Dammit! Why has my connection to the puppet been severed?! What kind of trickery is this?!"
Regardless of Gong Jeol-gang's screams,
Ilyang acted as if he were completely deaf,
caressing the puppet with a doting expression, as if he had fallen head over heels in love.
Trembling at the boy's absolute nonchalance, Gong Jeol-gang desperately cast more control seals,
but there was absolutely no response.
"You're mine now."
The moment the boy uttered those words,
something snapped inside Gong Jeol-gang's mind.
'I'll kill him.'
Biting his lower lip hard,
he made a grim resolution and began rapidly clicking his teeth together.
Clack, clack.
In perfect sync with the clicking of his teeth,
Gong Jeol-gang began pacing his feet in a precise, intricate pattern.
Drenched in sweat, he poured a massive amount of his energy into constructing a colossal Qimen Array.
At that, Ilyang, who had been examining the monkey doll as if possessed, suddenly whipped his head around.
"Oh?"
Seeing the undeniable surprise in Ilyang's eyes,
Gong Jeol-gang felt a swell of pride,
but he suppressed it, wiping the sweat from his brow as he sneered.
"Keke, it's too late to be surprised, you brat. This is our sect's secret Qimen Array, the Great Array of the Myriad Hells. Prepare to be trapped in a living purgatory and suffer until the day you die!"
"How did you manage to..."
"Bwahaha! I told you, it's already too late!"
Gong Jeol-gang took immense pleasure in seeing the boy's eyes waver.
But his joy was short-lived.
Confusion quickly took its place.
Because on Ilyang's surprised face, a bright, childlike smile was slowly spreading.
It was, without a doubt, the exact smile a child makes when discovering a brand-new toy.