But then, a magician suddenly appeared.
And so the cult was annihilated.
“Guh, guhaak...!”
A ruined chamber. The Rotator, which had smashed through ceiling and outer walls alike, paced across the blood-soaked floor and thrust its muzzle toward a survivor still drawing breath. The cultist trembled at the sight of the teeth caked in blood and flesh.
“S-save—!”
Crunch!
Before his words could go on, the Rotator crunched down on his head and swallowed. Blood burst out, and the headless corpse flopped to the ground. Ian tapped the Rotator’s hind leg lightly with his grimoire as he struck his own shoulder.
“I said not to eat the head. There’s a lot to harvest.”
[Grrrr...]
“Even if you’re disappointed, rules are rules. Below the head is fine, so go ahead.”
[Grr.]
The Rotator flicked its tongue and devoured the body of the cultist whose breath had stopped. Ian pulled free the body of Marian, which had been secured to the Rotator’s back, and tilted his head.
Her limbs, which had clearly been blown off and vaporized, had now recovered to some extent. Though not fully intact, fresh white bone had grown out from her shoulders and thighs. But since it was only bone, she still couldn’t move.
‘There are no joints either, so if you handle them wrong they’ll just shatter. Well, it doesn’t much matter.’
It was a body that would regenerate endlessly as long as it was given blood. A few broken bone ends weren’t anything to worry about. He didn’t know the principle behind the regeneration, but he suspected it was because one of the mystical organs had been implanted.
It wasn’t very important, so Ian lost interest and laid her body down on the ground.
“Y-you filthy servant of demons!”
Just then, the cult leader, not yet dead, shouted as blood streamed from him. Ian’s gaze turned toward him.
“We are those who proclaim the divine will! How dare you—Cough—how dare wretches like you ruin God’s paradise?!”
“I have no idea what you’re on about.”
Ian drew a revolver from inside his coat. He aimed the barrel straight at the cult leader and pulled the trigger.
Bang!!
A lead bullet flew with a loud report and pierced the cult leader’s chest. The slug crushed skin, muscle, and bone, and the moment it reached the heart, his breath was cut off. Thus died the cult leader who had maintained some modicum of power on the Korean peninsula.
There was no particular emotion.
Even if this wasn’t reality, if he had killed an innocent person, he would at least have offered prayers for their soul. But everyone here was a heretic who had captured and killed people alive. There was no need for him to trouble himself over it.
‘There are plenty of corpses. Before making the contract, let’s gather the ingredients first.’
Ian took out a tobacco, put it in his mouth, and slid the revolver into his gun holster.
“Gather the corpses in one place. Can you do that?”
[Grr!]
“Good, Daddy believes in you.”
[Grr! Grrr!]
As if determined to repay Ian’s trust, the Rotator bounded about and collected the corpses. Severely damaged ones it just crunched down, and it began stacking the relatively intact ones to be used in the contract neatly at the center of the ruins.
Leaving the Rotator to its work, Ian walked over to the cult leader’s recently deceased body.
The corpse of the old man with his eyes wide open in death. If this were reality, it would be no surprise if he sprang up and recited the Lord’s Prayer, but unfortunately, nothing mystical existed here except for Reptilians. There was no need to worry that a cultist aberration might suddenly take up residence in the corpse and give birth to a new mystery.
‘What I need would be eyes, tongue... and perhaps ears. I should collect the nose too.’
It was an utterly insane line of thought, but for a magician, it was hardly unusual.
Ian took out the ‘Primate-slaying Knife’ he had brought and carefully excised the cult leader’s facial features. Fortunately, the knife was a very sharp instrument—limited to primates—so he was able to cut them off quickly.
...Squelch.
After cutting off the ears, tongue, and nose. When he finally pulled out the eyes, the optic nerves came out along with sticky blood. He cut away everything unnecessary.
“...Seeing them gathered together is a little grotesque.”
Frowning slightly, he placed the harvested alchemical ingredients into a pouch. The sight of human eyes, noses, and ears stuffed into a pouch was quite brutal, but it was right to replenish ingredients whenever possible.
And, well, his stomach had grown a lot stronger since becoming a magician, so he didn’t even feel queasy. This much he could manage easily.
“The rest... I should collect some too.”
Ian roughly put down the now eyeless cult leader’s corpse and went on to harvest the facial features from the other corpses. Thanks to that, he obtained 20 pairs of eyes, 10 noses, and 10 tongues. These were ingredients harvested from a total of ten corpses.
There were far more than ten corpses, but since few of them had intact faces, this was practically the maximum. It was a pity, but it couldn’t be helped.
Still, with this much, he could easily produce a series of ‘dying facial features’ items. Ian nodded in satisfaction and turned his head toward the corpses the Rotator had gathered. The Rotator, which had been rolling its round head like a ball, lowered its body when his gaze reached it and let out a panting sound.
‘Now that I look at it, it’s almost like a dog.’
He let out a small laugh, shoved the pouch into his bag, and approached the Rotator.
“Gathered them well?”
[Grrr.]
Ian stroked the Rotator’s head as it gave a low growl. Even if you put it nicely, the rough, scratchy texture was not exactly pleasant, but it was worth enduring at least once.
“Well done. Now give me the place for a moment. If anyone comes near, stop them from approaching.”
He pulled his hand away and spoke as he opened the grimoire.
[Grrt.]
The Rotator nodded its head and dragged its heavy body out of the ruins.
Silence fell. The incoming wind struck the shattered outer walls with a sharp sound, and the thick stench of blood stabbed at his nostrils.
Ian stood still for a moment to steady his breathing, then checked the jumbled pile of corpses one by one, singling out the somewhat intact ones.
Intact being only relative—a highway was laid through their heads, or wind holes were pierced through their chests and bellies. Still, their limbs were attached without issue, so there was no major problem.
“Shall we begin...?”
Ian stretched once to limber up his body, then read through the contents of the grimoire.
The magic circle was fairly complex. It was also large, making it seem difficult to attempt anywhere without ample space.
But this place fulfilled all the conditions. He rolled up the sleeves of his coat, fetched the water the cultists had stockpiled, and cleaned the blood stains off the floor. He set aside only the corpses he would use and simply tossed the rest into a corner.
Swish... swish...
He mopped up the blood with a wet rag and cleared away fragments of organs; roughly 20 minutes were consumed. It would have been great if there were a spell to wipe away the blood on its own, but there was nothing like that, so he had to do it with his own hands.
For an instant, he considered letting the Rotator do it, but since that was seemingly impossible, he steadfastly focused on cleaning. After that, enough space was cleared to draw the magic circle.
“Hoo...”
Ian wiped away the sweat that had run down his face and took out an oil-based marker from his coat. He then inscribed the magic circle from the grimoire onto the floor.
Roughly 30 minutes later, the magic circle was complete.
Fortunately, it was drawn very well. He nodded in satisfaction, then dragged the still-unconscious Marian’s body over and tossed it down in the center of the circle. He then carefully placed the other ten corpses around her, as if drawing a circle.
With that, preparations were done. Ian took a few lumps of aberration flesh he had brought in his bag and set them at the top, bottom, left, and right of the magic circle. Then he stepped outside and opened the grimoire.
[Woo, woom!]
The grimoire vibrated briefly at this first opportunity to showcase his signature magic. At the cute display, Ian let out a little laugh.
It was only a moment. He immediately began to focus on the magic.
“The shackles of God are not merciful.”
He chanted the spell written in the grimoire. The chains attached to the corners of the grimoire began to clatter and lengthen. In an instant, the chains grew long enough to reach the floor, and they crawled slowly toward Marian’s neck.
“Mercy is granted only to me, the proxy, and so without my permission neither the unlocking of the shackles, nor liberation through death, is permitted.”
Clatter-rattle.
The chains wrapped tightly around Marian’s neck. A portion of the detached chains pierced the bodies of the corpses arranged in a circle. Blood spurted, and the flowing blood quickly gathered around Marian’s head. It soon formed into a blue awl.
“My foolish slave. Thus you shall become my hands and feet.”
Thrust.
The awl softly penetrated Marian’s forehead. Yet no blood flowed, and no wound appeared. As if a spear had been driven in, it simply stood fixed in that spot. If he were to utter the memories he wished to manipulate in a form similar to a spell, the awl would melt and knead her brain.
There was no need to hesitate at all. Ian immediately murmured quietly the fabricated content he had prepared in advance.
“Your brain is not your own. Child of man. You shall regard me as your master and benefactor, and you shall regard yourself as an insufficient human and a foolish being.”
Clatter-clatter!
At the conclusion of the manipulation, the chains wrapped around Marian’s neck tightened strongly. They branded a mark resembling the imprint of a strangled neck, and the blue awl embedded in her forehead slowly melted and flowed into her brain.
With this, the magic was complete. Ian looked down at her bound form above the blue-glowing magic circle and uttered the concluding spell.
“I command as that One’s proxy. Open your eyes.”
Whoosh...!
As the spell concluded, the chains spread out in all directions and covered the magic circle. In an instant, nothing but chains was visible, and after a few seconds, they rapidly converged toward the brand engraved on Marian’s neck.
Then, the moment all the chains were sucked inside the brand.
“...Mmm.”
Marian, who had been unconscious until now, slowly opened her eyes. She gazed up at the ceiling with a blank look for a moment, then turned to Ian with a faint smile.
“Ah... Master, you’ve saved me again.”
Deep loyalty and affection glimmered in her blue eyes.
The corner of Ian’s mouth slanted upward.