Chapter 157: 19530305 (2) |
* * *
“Haa, this is ridiculously deep.”
“Are we really sure this is an armory and not some nuclear fallout shelter? The depth feels kind of strange to me.”
“And it’s ridiculously dark too. I mean, even emergency staircases have signal lights, so why is there nothing here?”
“Hello… it’s not just me who thinks this is strange, right?”
“I think we’ve already gone down more than 20 floors …”
“…Hello?”
“Unnie?”
“Brother-in-law?”
A small magic circle emitting a brilliant golden glow illuminated the staircase where they stood.
It was a familiar light, the same light she had seen on the day her brother-in-law had broken the mental restriction in her mind.
The source of the light was from the rectangular golden magic item that her brother-in-law had waved about earlier and he was now using it to inspect various parts of the staircase.
“Brother-in-law? What’s going on?”
“Give me a moment. We’ve fallen into a trap and I’m figuring out what kind.”
Fallen into a trap? Neti glanced at her sister, but Seti had her eyes closed as if she had sensed something.
A tense silence ensued for a brief moment before Seti finally opened her eyes as if she had discovered something, exchanged a quick glance with Yeomyeong, and then…
She leaped straight down the staircase.
Startled, Neti nearly dropped the weapon bag she was carrying. However, her brother-in-law’s calm demeanor helped her maintain her composure.
It wasn’t long before Seti returned unharmed, though she had technically fallen down the stairs.
Whummmm—
As if anticipating this, Yeomyeong used Telekinesis to catch her.
“How was it?”
“As expected, we’ve been going around in circles.”
“…Could this be the Shepherds’ doing?”
“It doesn’t look like it. There’s no trace of twisted mana so it’s probably the armory’s security system.”
Unable to follow their conversation, Neti simply listened silently. But the moment their discussion ended, they both turned to look at her.
“…What?”
“Any advice, as a fellow mage?”
Wasn’t her brother-in-law a mage, too? Neti tilted her head but answered dutifully.
“If it’s a magic circle that’s making us walk in circles, then it’s similar to the ones used in the old Communist bloc countries. However, I’m not entirely sure if it’s exactly the same.”
“…How do we break it?”
“You just have to get rid of the magic circle. While you could usually blow it up with C41, targeting areas where the circle is likely to be….”
But in a massive concrete structure like this, finding the magic circle itself was a challenge.
Blowing up the entire structure wasn’t an option either; even if they used all the rocket warheads they currently had, it wouldn’t suffice.
Yet, for some reason, Neti felt certain that her brother-in-law would find a way to escape.
And, as if to confirm her belief, Yeomyeong began gathering mana.
Had he already traced the mana of the magic circle? Or was he preparing some other spell to neutralize it?
Neti began to anticipate how her brother-in-law would break through this trap.
However, Yeomyeong’s response the next moment exceeded her expectations.
“We have wasted enough time here.”
With those words, Yeomyeong drew his sword and unleashed a brilliant white Sword Aura whose intensity overwhelmed the light of the Golden Seal.
A comet’s light, the likes of which Neti had never seen before.
As Yeomyeong swung his comet blade downward, the magic circle’s mana began to envelop the stairs, seemingly in resistance.
However, the comet’s light ruthlessly shattered not only the mana from the magic circle but even the concrete of the stairs, as it flew to the bottom.
There was no sound, but Neti instinctively realized—the mana of the trap magic circle had been completely shredded.
“…”
As she marveled at his monstrous display of power, Yeomyeong glanced down and spoke.
“The ones below must’ve already noticed by now. Let’s go.”
“…What?”
Instead of replying, he simply leaped over the staircase railing.
Wait, did he even know how high this place was?
Neti looked down in a panic, but her sister suddenly grabbed her by the waist and…
“Hold onto your weapon tightly with Telekinesis.”
“What? Unnie, wai—!”
Without even giving her a chance to finish her sentence, Seti jumped down as well.
* * *
At the rooftop outpost of the fortified inn.
Balagu swallowed nervously as he stared at the smoke rising from the city.
It was clear to anyone that a fire was raging, but there were no firefighters in sight.
Had the firefighters also ventured into the sewers chasing a big haul? No, that wasn’t it.
His instincts were screaming at him—this wasn’t ordinary smoke.
It was the smoke of death and war.
The cries and screams seeping through the smoke, the sounds of walls crumbling and flesh being torn, confirmed it.
Regardless of what was happening, the dreadful smoke was spreading rapidly and itwas only a matter of time before it reached the inn…
“Hey, you castrated Orc.”
Balagu turned around to see Joseph and his burly companions hauling a weapons crate up to the outpost.
Opening the crate packed with machine guns and ammunition, one of the men shoved Balagu to the side and began setting up a machine gun on the fortification.
“Do you know how to shoot?”
Balagu shook his head. Joseph chuckled and handed him a pistol.
“Then it’s a good time to start learning.”
“…”
“Leave this place to the experts and head downstairs. There’s heavy lifting to do.”
Patting Balagu’s shoulder, Joseph gestured for him to follow as he descended from the roof.
As Balagu followed him into the inn, he saw the burly men moving frantically, as if preparing for war.
“What in the world is happening?”
Balagu asked, glancing at the machine gun being set up by the window. Joseph shrugged.
“I don’t know either.“
“…You don’t know?”
He didn’t know what was going on, but he still prepared all this? Balagu frowned in disbelief as Joseph lit a cigarette and replied.
“But I can tell you this much: this city’s screwed. Isn’t that obvious?”
“…”
Just then, a loud explosion thundered from the far side of the city. Joseph took a long drag from his cigarette and smiled.
“I’ve got a safe place and weapons, and in a screwed-up city like this, there’s nothing more valuable than weapons and a fortress. Anyone with half a brain will be coming here to seize this place.”
Balagu didn’t deny it. Everything Joseph said was true. But still…
“You can just run away, can’t you?”
“…Hmm?”
“You’ve already been paid in full, and Cheon Yeo—no, your clients aren’t even here.”
It was a rather blunt question. Joseph smiled and took another drag from his cigarette.
Then, as he exhaled a puff of smoke directly into Balagu’s face, he asked.
“Listen, Orc. Stop beating around the bush. Let’s be upfront here—how much do you actually know?”
Receiving an equally blunt response, Balagu swallowed hard before answering.
“…I know you came to this city after a request from the Eastern Count Palatine.”
“Oh? It seems that you’re not just some random guide, huh?”
“…”
“Well, let me ease your mind about one thing. I have no intention of betraying my client. Do you know why?”
“…No, I don’t.”
Joseph didn’t reply immediately. Instead, he leaned against a window overlooking the inn’s entrance.
As the screams from the city mingled with the cigarette smoke rising above the chaos, the smuggler finally spoke.
“You know, smugglers always stick to the strongest side.”
* * *
The light from the Golden Seal pierced the darkness as they fell.
Beyond the light, only the concrete stairs were visible.
However, Yeomyeong’s heightened senses picked up faint voices, a light scent of blood, and all too familiar twisted mana.
The presence of the Shepherds.
As expected, upon discovering that dozens of Shepherds huddled at the bottom of the stairs, Yeomyeong swung his sword with all his might.
Saaaa—
Mana flickered along his arm and sword as it tore through the air, releasing a burst of brilliant light.
- W-What’s that?!
- It’s an ambush!
- Deploy the protective barrier! Deploy it now!
By the time the Shepherds noticed Yeomyeong, it was already too late.
Comet Sword—the Sword Aura, fired with the intention to annihilate rather than greet—struck the ground before Yeomyeong.
BOOMMM!!
As the concrete floor exploded, sending up clouds of dust, Yeomyeong extended his Telekinesis to slow his descent.
Given the height he had leaped from, a deep thud reverberated through the ground as he landed.
- Don’t panic!
- Ignore the wounded and return fire!
- Aim for the light! Shoot, damn it!
Despite the sudden shock, the Shepherds responded rather quickly.
The surviving pig-headed ones drew their guns and opened fire in the direction of the Golden Seal’s light.
However, after they had barely fired more than a few shots, an anti-tank rocket descended upon them.
Explosion. More explosions.
The bottom of the staircase was instantly engulfed in flames. Even Neti, who had launched all the rockets at once, was taken aback by the devastation they caused.
“D-Did brother-in-law get caught up in that?”
“Yeomyeong’s fine.”
Seti replied confidently as she twisted her body mid-air and kicked off the stairwell wall.
Feeling the sudden shifts in momentum, Neti gagged, but Seti kicked off the walls a few more times to slow their descent.
Thud.
And when the two landed on the ground, what greeted them was the sight of Yeomyeong with his sword, standing among the scattered corpses of the Shepherds.
There were over a dozen pig-headed figures, and at least ten cow-headed figures sprawled dead.
However, Seti couldn’t smile.
Across the floor, five pairs of red eyes, seemingly unscathed, were staring at them.
“I can’t believe we were ambushed in a place like this.”
A soft voice, almost unbefitting of a Shepherd, echoed.
Yeomyeong infused more mana into the Golden Seal to illuminate the surroundings. As the golden mana revealed the massive iron door, the five Shepherds standing before it came into view.
Four horse-headed figures and one chicken-headed figure.
Well-informed regarding the true prowess of these opponents, the two sisters tensed up and drew upon their mana.
Seti drew her hammer while Neti opened her bag, levitating three rifles and the last remaining anti-tank rocket.
And the avenger, who had already slain nearly a hundred Shepherds, smiled as he lowered his blade.
“Who are you?”
Yeomyeong didn’t bother answering. If he were going to tell them, he wouldn’t have disguised himself in the first place.
Having sensed this, the chicken-head changed his question.
“What have you done to the Western Count Palatine?”
At that very moment, the horse-heads began preparing their spells. Meanwhile, Yeomyeong subtly unleashed his Telekinesis and replied.
“I snapped his neck.”
“True to his nature, a human lusting after something that wasn’t his, he died in an insignificant manner. Did you happen to hear the password to the armory?”
“No.”
“Oh? That’s annoying. Now we’ll have to climb back up and dig through his brain.”
With that, the conversation came to an end.
Just as the rifles Neti was manipulating opened fire, one of the horse-heads fired a crimson beam from his mouth.
Gunfire and the roaring explosions of magic.
With the ear-splitting sounds as the signal, Yeomyeong and the chicken-head lunged at each other.
* * *
Yeomyeong closed the distance in an instant and continued to accelerate, swinging his sword down. The Sword Aura extended, carving a long trajectory through the air.
The chicken-head swung his leg at the sword.
Clang! Mana clashed with mana, sword against shoe, sending shockwaves and a shriek through the air.
A moment later, the shoe tore apart with a screeching sound, revealing razor-sharp talons characteristic of birds.
A half-bird, half-human hybrid, like a Corvus?
As the thought crossed Yeomyeong’s mind, the talons clenched, attempting to grab his blade. Yeomyeong swung his sword horizontally, severing the talons in retaliation.
Thud. One of the severed talons fell to the ground, but the chicken-head nodded nonchalantly.
“Impressive. You’re more skilled than I expected.”
Yeomyeong’s assessment wasn’t much different. With just one clash, he understood.
The chicken-head was strong. He was as strong as the opponents Yeomyeong had faced so far.
“For what reason do you attack us? Money? Glory? Or is it orders?”
The chicken-head whispered.
“Did you know? I work for the Korean government. I don’t know who you are, but if it’s for money or glory, just name your price.”
“…”
“Considering your talent, I can overlook this mistake entirely. How about it? Would you like to serve a country that truly works for its people?”
What utter nonsense. Yeomyeong clenched his fist tightly and raised his heel.
Then—
Boom!
He struck the concrete floor with Quake Stomp. The thick concrete cracked and groaned in protest as it shattered under the impact.
The sudden tremor caused not only the horse-heads but even the chicken-head to stagger and lose their balance.
While they would have normally recovered quickly, their reaction was delayed as they recognized the technique Yeomyeong had unleashed.
The ultimate skill of the Flying Kick technique, Quake Stomp.
“…Quake Stomp? Could it be?”
As the startled chicken-head spoke, the blade of vengeance gleamed, slicing toward his neck.
Footnotes
- 1. C-4 or Composition C-4 is a common variety of the plastic explosive family known as Composition C, which uses RDX as its explosive agent.