He pushed open the door connecting the subway cars and moved forward. At the grinding sound of the door opening, the monkeys that had been dismembering humans snapped their heads around.
[Ook?!]
[Ook! Ook-ook!]
The sudden appearance of an unharmed human threw the monkeys into confusion, and they shrieked. But their faces soon hardened with ferocity, and they brandished the blades they each held, charging at Ian. Ian did not react; he simply walked slowly forward.
Whoosh!
In that moment, a thick scent of perfume wafted from his entire body.
A cheap perfume, closer to artificial than natural. Even a monkey with a sensitive nose would have merely frowned at such a fragrance.
Yet every monkey that smelled it collapsed on the spot without exception. Ian nodded in satisfaction and stabbed his knife into the backs of the sleeping monkeys.
The magic was clearly effective. With this, conquering the anomaly didn’t seem difficult.
“I’ll just recreate all the dead bodies and take them with me.”
Even if they were human-killing monsters, to a mage they were nothing but useful materials. It was best to take what he could when he could.
Crunch!!
Ian compressed the corpses of the dead monkeys into tiny cubes and stuffed them into his bag. After repeating similar actions in the other cars, his bag was full. Fortunately, there was no pooling blood, so he didn’t have to worry about contaminating his bag.
The problem… was the bodies filling the subway.
“They killed them horribly.”
Sliced like sashimi.
As if to demonstrate the meaning of the word, the monkeys had slaughtered the passengers with excessive brutality. The closer the car was to the driver’s cabin, the more bodies there were, and some places were entirely smeared with blood.
With every step, a puddle of blood was trod upon with a splat. Fragments of someone’s organs were plastered thick on the windows, and bodies with eyes that could not even close sat in horrific postures in their seats, dripping blood.
‘No chance of slipping by quietly.’
This was no ordinary incident.
Ian knew that this anomaly was not something happening in a dream, like in the original ghost stories.
This was reality. Which meant that those who died here were truly dead. Well over dozens of people had been killed, drenched in blood, on the same subway.
The Management Bureau would surely intervene. He was quite curious how they would cover this up, but their reaction was more important.
The car Ian had been sitting in was the very end of the subway—the tail car. Unlike the other cars where over half had died, there were only two casualties there, and the Bureau would certainly try to find out why.
He had disguised himself as a cleric to avoid getting his tail caught, but he wasn’t sure if that would be enough.
In the first place, he doubted whether any witnesses existed who could speak about his disguised identity. Some people were still alive and intact, but they were all in a state where their souls had vanished, and he wasn’t sure if they retained any consciousness.
There were a few survivors who had come to their senses because he dealt with the monkeys while they were being dismembered… but the moment the monkeys disappeared, they too slumped like robots whose power had been cut. They were still alive, but that was all.
He couldn’t just approach them and say something, either. There would be no response.
For now, as he passed through the cars, he kept muttering something about God’s will and the Lord. But he wasn’t certain if it would actually help.
Still, it was better than doing nothing, he supposed.
Shluck.
Pulling the knife from a monkey’s back, Ian wiped the blood from his face.
The very front car of the subway, connected to the driver’s cabin.
While he continued his thoughts and moved his feet, he had already reached the end.
Naturally, the driver’s cabin was firmly shut. It wouldn’t open by force. Neither kicking nor throwing a monkey’s corpse budged it.
But the magic of recreation worked on it. The moment Ian touched the door, he confirmed that he could freely alter its form, and immediately twisted the door, transforming it into a large spike.
Perhaps from repeatedly using the magic of recreation, his head throbbed, but it was nothing he couldn’t endure.
[Ook-ik?]
Holding the spike, he entered the driver’s cabin, and the monkey gripping the controls turned its head. Before it could react, Ian nailed its leg to the chair with the spike.
With a squelching sensation, blood gushed from the creature’s leg.
[Ook-iiik?!?!]
The monkey’s face twisted in agony. It struggled to pull out the embedded spike, but the more it did, the worse the pain became. Pinned down, it couldn’t even lunge at Ian.
The tables had turned. The monster that had hunted humans now had its life held hostage by a mage’s hand. The moment it realized that, the monkey trembled all over. Ian stared at it silently, placed a cigarette between his lips, and lit it.
“Hoo…”
As the acrid smoke infiltrated his lungs, his throbbing head seemed to ease somewhat. After finishing the cigarette, he pressed it against the drowsy monkey’s head to extinguish it.
[Ook-ik!]
The monkey flailed its arms as if in pain.
This was the struggle of creatures that had been slicing humans alive. He felt no particular guilt.
Ian pressed his badly worn blade against the monkey’s nape and pointed a finger at the subway route map.
“For now, drive to here. Don’t stop.”
[Oo, ook?]
The monkey tilted its head, momentarily failing to understand his words.
Instead of explaining again, Ian pushed the blade harder and summoned his magic tome, shifting his gaze. At that chilling look, the monkey flinched in terror and grabbed the controls.
Screech!!
Immediately after, the subway passed through the red fog.
The anomaly that had encroached on reality vanished. All that remained was the monkey at the controls.
“Haa…”
Ian sat down casually in the seat next to the monkey and stared out the window of the moving subway.
A short while later, the subway nearly reached its destination. The monkey grinned obsequiously and slowly reduced the speed.
Fortunately, there was no collision with another train. A radio message from the station demanded they stop immediately, but the monkey ignored it entirely, faithfully carrying out the mage’s orders beside him.
As a reward, Ian stabbed the creature squarely in the chest with his knife.
Snap.
The moment he tried to pull it out, the damaged kitchen knife split clean in half.
Regrettably, it seemed the knife could serve no further. He let out a sigh of regret, recreated even the driver monkey, and picked up the broken blade.
[The doors will open on the left.]
Seconds before arriving at the station.
Ian checked that the automatic brakes were functioning properly, then moved to the far end of the subway, acquired a suitable hat and mask, and put them on.
“It is the will of God.”
He did not forget to disguise his identity. He made the sign of the cross in front of the hat’s original owner and compressed the padded jacket he had been wearing, cramming it into his bag.
This was to change his appearance from when he had boarded the subway. He wasn’t sure if it would make him unidentifiable, but it would be of minimal help.
Ian briefly inspected his appearance, then stood before the exit door and waited for the subway to come to a halt.
Less than ten seconds later, the train stopped at the station. The door sensors recognized Ian and the people on the opposite platform and slowly opened. Without a moment’s hesitation, Ian stepped outside and descended the stairs.
“Uh, uhh? What the hell!”
“Kyaaaah! Wh-what is all this!”
The citizens boarding the subway screamed from behind.
Ian nimbly vaulted over the ticket gate and moved his footsteps as much as possible through blind spots, aware of the CCTV’s range and positions. Thanks to the commotion above, no one noticed him.
Since it was a massacre caused by an anomaly, the truth would not be revealed even if it made the news. They would probably attach all sorts of excuses and disguise it as an ordinary incident as much as possible.
They would not forget to manipulate the memories of witnesses or those involved.
Naturally, getting entangled would bring no benefit.
His getting off the subway might have been captured, but that alone was not enough to identify him. He had already changed his clothes and covered his face.
Of course, the Management Bureau might use special means to search for people. But that was something Ian could not resist with his current power. So he could only hope for their incompetence.
‘Still, just in case, I should change my clothes completely.’
With that thought, Ian went to a department store near the station and bought some appropriate clothes.
It was an unexpected expense, but not terribly wasteful. It was about time to buy clothes anyway.
‘Shall I go now?’
The anomaly was over, and his appearance was completely changed.
He had done everything he could. All that remained was to adapt flexibly to whatever happened with time.
Ian nodded in satisfaction, checked the address of the workshop, and moved his feet.
Fortunately, the workshop was not far from the station. There seemed to be no need for public transportation.
Ian put on the earphones he had in his pocket and walked diligently, following the map on his phone.
Before long, he arrived at a small villa.
He passed through the main gate, which had no particular lock, and knocked on the door of the room marked 305.
“Yes.”
At the same time, a clear, ringing female voice came from beyond the door.
‘Wait, a woman?’
He had naturally assumed it would be an elderly mage with years of experience, but at the utterly unexpected voice, he was flustered for a moment.
The door burst open, and a short-haired student in a school uniform revealed herself from within.
She swept a sharp gaze over Ian, then cautiously spoke.
“Newbie?”
“Ah, yes. Are you perhaps SevereMagicAddict…?”
At Ian’s question, she smiled faintly.
“You’ve come well. Come in.”