Fortunately, the woman answered Ian’s question obediently. It was an answer laced with the body odor of the unwashed and the stench of ammonia, but it was still quite helpful. With his own hands, Ian paved a highway across the back of her head and stepped out onto the ruined street.
“So this is Incheon….”
Incheon, a city in the northwest of South Korea. It was a city with no shortage of rumors and incidents, but it was also practically his hometown, the place where he had been born and raised. And that very place was now so thoroughly destroyed that its former appearance was barely recognizable.
Hardly any building remained intact. The wreckage of a crashed plane was lodged vertically into a half-collapsed building. Since there were no active fires, only the traces that there had been fires remained.
Corpses were strewn along the roadside. Here and there, elongated snouts bore tooth marks, as though torn off and eaten—likely used as a food source by the Reptilians. They had eaten thoroughly, as though afraid someone might claim they weren’t omnivores.
“…There’s no need to deliberately search for survivors. They aren’t residents of reality, after all.”
He forcibly spun his brain, rigid and unwilling to turn. It was an act of oiling up a mind capable of nothing but muttering to itself rather than actual thought. Muttering was far better than silent thinking when it came to organizing his head.
Truthfully, he wanted to duck into a nearby building and rest right away, but he couldn’t—not when he still hadn’t found the two of them.
“If only they’d show themselves first, this would be much easier… but there’s been no sign of any action yet. Could I be the only one who fell in Incheon?”
It was a reasonably logical deduction. Even if Korea was smaller than other countries, its actual landmass wasn’t that narrow. The drive from Seoul to Busan took a whopping four hours… If the two of them were in Busan, there was no way he could confirm their whereabouts with the naked eye, no matter what commotion they caused.
“I don’t think they’re that far away, but you never know. I’ll just keep it in mind.”
The roads were in terrible shape. Gaps here and there were ordinary, and some sections had melted entirely, deformed beyond recognition. Driving seemed all but impossible.
And the chances of finding an intact car were practically zero. In a city where bombs had gone off in succession, what car would survive unscathed? Perhaps in a place where mysteries truly dwelt, but the only mystery here was the Reptilians.
“If Subterraneans, Moon Nazis, Arctic alien penguins, and Martians all existed at once… Earth would have been quite a sight to behold.”
None of them were particularly strong individually, but if they had all gathered to conquer Earth, wouldn’t it have been a spectacle? Ian burst into a short laugh imagining Moon Nazis fighting man-eating Arctic penguins.
That was when he heard heavy footfalls up ahead.
Too heavy to be human, yet carrying the rhythm unique to bipedal walking—neither quite human nor beast. Ian stopped walking and quietly stared at the group approaching from the opposite direction. They had been scanning their surroundings, but they too spotted Ian standing alone and halted.
[All stop.]
One of them spoke in a voice like air hissing out. A long tongue flicked rapidly in and out between its snout. Ian tilted his head slightly and summoned his grimoire.
Elongated snouts. Vertically slit pupils unique to reptiles. Thin tails tapping against the ground. Green-tinged scales.
There was no need to see more.
Reptilians.
[I hadn’t realized any humans were still left.]
At the head of the pack, a lizard wearing an eyepatch over one eye spat out. Its voice was extremely peculiar—like a hoarse man and woman speaking simultaneously. Individual tastes might vary, but honestly, it was not a voice one wanted to hear.
Ian clicked his tongue.
“Lizard. First, learn how to speak properly. Who are you imitating with that tone and voice?”
[…What?]
The Reptilian’s face scrunched up at Ian’s brazen attitude.
[How dare a mere human call me a lizard? You’re nothing but a monkey.]
“Don’t use such strong language. It makes you look weak.”
Using a tone he’d picked up somewhere, Ian turned the cover of his grimoire. The ominous black cover rustled over, revealing snow-white pages. The Reptilians couldn’t see the contents from their angle, but they immediately realized the book Ian held was something special.
[…Setting aside the fact that you speak like a moron, you seem to be somewhat special. Where did you get that book?]
“Picked it up at a library.”
[You take us for fools. Does talking back make you feel like you’re something?]
*BOOM!*
The leader of the Reptilian pack raised his foot and slammed it down vertically. With a tremendous roar, the asphalt caved in and the earth shook briefly. The shockwave sent a burst of wind fluttering through Ian’s hair and coat.
[Hand over that book. In exchange, I’ll grant you a clean death by severing your head.]
“And if I don’t?”
[We will cut off your arms and legs and throw you to the soldiers as a plaything. We are capable of impregnating regardless of gender.]
“That’s fucking horrifying.”
Ian, who had never expected to learn about Reptilian reproduction here, grimaced. He immediately took out a ballpoint pen and scribbled a magic circle on the ground. The Reptilian flicked its tongue at Ian’s openly dismissive attitude.
[Words are wasted on you. We’ll start by taking an arm; then perhaps you will obey.]
*Thud. Thud.*
The Reptilian trampled forward with its massive weight, and the pack followed.
[Squad leader, if he is to be used as a plaything, allow me the first turn.]
[Quiet. It cannot be used without training anyway. First comes the abdominal incision, removal of the organs, and insertion of the eggs.]
[Tch… understood.]
They approached Ian, engaging in disgusting conversation as they drew nearer. But Ian finished drawing his magic circle faster than they could reach him. He roughly tossed a piece of monster flesh he had prepared beforehand onto the circle, stood up, and began the incantation.
“O thou who circulates. O thou who crawls through eternity.”
A being he had summoned once before. The hound of the outer seas, its gray skin revealing blood vessels in full view. The eternal creature that repeats death and resurrection.
“As His proxy and husband, I command thee.”
[What is that bastard saying?]
[Who knows? Ignore him and gr—]
“I have prepared a feast for thee. Come hither.”
*Drip.*
At the incantation’s conclusion, a red drop of blood fell from the grimoire. The Reptilians wrinkled their snouts at the scent of thick iron mixed with the brine of the sea. The blood drop spread upon touching the ground, forming a low-lying blood mist.
And from within that mist—
[…Grrr.]
Something massive burst forth an arm. Joints unique to quadrupeds. Sharp ashen claws with black seawater trickling between them. Red blood vessels crawling across gray skin. Pulsing arteries. Veins.
Before they could even process it, the mist cleared and the arm’s owner revealed itself.
A hunting hound with a body as massive as a full-sized bus. Dripping saliva, blood, and seawater, the hound stood directly beside Ian and exhaled.
[…Huh?]
[…What the fuck is that?]
[…]
The so-called Circulator (巡還者).
The entity he had summoned once in the village where the moon fell now manifested upon Earth in its evolved form.
“Have you been well?”
Ian grinned and stroked the Circulator’s skin. Like a puppy accepting its owner’s hand, the Circulator pushed its head toward him. Though its appearance was grotesque to the point of horror, Ian did not refuse its affection.
“I told you I’d summon you again.”
[Grr!]
“Now is that moment.”
Ian scratched under the Circulator’s chin and turned toward the frozen Reptilians. Those who met his gaze flinched.
“Do as you please. Eat as you please. Devour them all. Just avoid the two people in my memory, Yu Eunha and Han Yuna. Understood?”
[Grr!]
The Circulator nodded. Drooling profusely, it turned its attention to the Reptilians. Though it had no eyes, it could sense them. It bared its jagged fangs and lowered its body into a hunting posture. Blatant killing intent radiated from its form, and the Reptilians bared their claws, readying themselves for battle.
[All units, do not panic! Beasts of that size exist on Earth! We can handle—]
*KWA-BOOM!!*
The leader’s words were buried under a massive roar. Only his lower half remained where he had stood. His upper body had already vanished into the Circulator’s jaws, ground and torn between its teeth until it was unrecognizable.
[Fuck, kill it!]
The squad’s vice-leader shouted. At the same moment, his body was torn by the Circulator’s claws and split into five pieces. Blue blood, organs, and bone fell with wet thuds. Before they even touched the ground, the Circulator opened its maw wide and plucked off the heads of the remaining Reptilians, one by one.
It took three seconds. The headless lizard bodies slumped to the ground, and the Circulator chewed and swallowed the heads it had torn away before voraciously biting into the fallen corpses. Ian quietly watched it eat and closed his grimoire.
“You checked the scent? Let’s move, following their trail. Ah, as I said, feel free to destroy everything in sight. If you catch the scent of the two I mentioned, inform me immediately.”
[Grr? Grr!]
“What do you mean, what scent? It should be on me right now. Smell me and check.”
[Grr… sniff sniff… Grr! Grrr!]
“Good, I’m glad you understand. Finish eating and follow me. I’ll go on ahead.”
[Grr!]
The Circulator nodded and buried its head back into the corpses. Ian tapped its head with his grimoire and walked down the now-cleared path.
In doing so, he encountered the fanatics he had met earlier once again. Seeing Ian walking unscathed through the ruined city, they began muttering amongst themselves.
He had no particular interest in their conversation.
He didn’t even have the chance to ask. The moment they approached Ian with unknowable thoughts in their minds, the Circulator—having already finished its meal—charged straight in and performed a body slam on the cultists. They didn’t even have time to cry out before bursting, scattering their flesh in every direction.
“Ooh, that was quite effective!”
Ian blurted out the thought as it surfaced, unfiltered by his brain.
[Grrr!]
Taking his exclamation as praise, the Circulator leaped into the air and tore in half the building that had still been more or less intact.
The building’s midsection bent like a bow.