The theme park’s central tower truly possessed a majesty worthy of its name.
A tower that seemed to pierce the sky. The silver lightning rod at its tip was so pointed as to be sharp, looking less like a lightning rod than the head of a spear. If a giant had seen it, he would have been delighted and pulled the entire tower out by the roots.
Three corpses were impaled upside down on the tower’s lightning rod.
The silver spearhead that had split through their heads and jutted out from their legs glimmered bewitchingly under the red moonlight. Ian stared at the tip of the tower for a long while before lowering his head.
“Kyaaaaaaak!!”
“Keheuk, ggrrkk……”
Before him, a grotesque dismemberment show was unfolding in real time.
[Kkiiek!]
[Kkiieeeee!!]
The Messengers, furious at having their walk with Dad interrupted, wildly swung their four tentacles. The aberrations that burst out of the central tower were all unable to withstand the Messengers’ tentacles and were torn apart, dying on the spot.
As if paper were being ripped apart, the creatures split from top to bottom or left to right, soaking the ground.
Thud, thud—the falling corpses splattered filth over the clean street. Ian avoided them and carefully stepped inside the tower.
A familiar space. An utterly ordinary information center noisily welcomed him.
When he had first come here, he was certain an employee with a cloud for a head had guided him, but now dozens upon dozens of aberrations were making fervent requests for hugs. Ian lightly ignored their “Hug me!” and checked the overall map of the tower hanging on the wall.
‘There are quite a few floors above…… I suppose it’s fortunate there’s no basement, at least.’
The top floor of the tower was the thirteenth. Considering its size, it wasn’t all that many, but having to check them all was still an extremely bothersome task. Even if he moved while using detection magic, he would have to consume thirteen pieces of aberration flesh, which was hardly cost-effective.
Perhaps it would be better to forget detection altogether, sit still until the rescue operation was over, and then simply flatten the theme park. If all he had was the Hand of Re-Creation, perhaps not, but with the Records of the Deep Sea and the Book of Contracts, there was no need to act passively.
“……Phew. I’ll just roughly check this tower, and if there’s nothing in particular, I’ll flatten the place.”
Muttering that, Ian switched grimoires. The blue grimoire settled into his grasp as if embarrassed.
The Blue Shackles and the Book of Contracts. A grimoire specialized mainly in defense, stealth, and suppression rather than offense or utility.
He turned the pages of the grimoire and drew a small magic circle on the floor with quick strokes. Then he blew a breath into it.
Saaaa……
The formless breath became trapped in the center of the magic circle and transformed into pure white smoke. Lightly ignoring the blood and screams scattering in every direction, Ian moved his lips.
“O free soul in the wind. I kiss your wings, so please grant me a gale.”
The moment he recited the incantation, the breath began to rotate in a circle. And from within it, a tiny fairy popped out.
A race the size of a pinky finger, bearing the distinctive wings of a butterfly.
Among the four elemental spirits defined by Paracelsus, she was the spirit corresponding to wind—a sylph. Possessing beautiful features and sky-blue hair, she sniffed and looked up at Ian.
“Chyu?”
A short cry flowed from her mouth. Since she was an immature individual incapable of conversation, she could not speak properly.
Her way of thinking was probably extremely simple, and her level of intelligence likely wasn’t very high either. In many ways, she was lacking if one were to call her a proper “sylph.”
That did not mean the summoning had failed.
To call a proper spirit, a great many materials were needed, and an environment suited to its attribute as well as an offering for the contract were absolutely necessary. However, magic that intentionally summoned a spirit not long after its birth was not nearly so complicated. One merely had to breathe into the circle and recite the incantation.
Of course, not every mage could just exhale and poof, summon a spirit. One needed excellent spirit affinity, and also had to be an existence spirits found agreeable for the magic to activate normally.
Fortunately, Ian met all those conditions.
‘Kim Yul said at our first meeting that I had good compatibility with spirits. Looks like that was true.’
Ian looked down at the sylph staring fixedly at him and let out a small laugh.
He had known for some time that the Book of Contracts contained a spirit summoning ritual. It seemed like it would be useful in the current situation, so he had tried using it lightly, but he hadn’t expected to succeed on his very first attempt. It might not be a bad idea to summon a proper spirit someday.
“……Phew.”
Yes, someday. Right now, he had to focus on shutting down the theme park.
“Sylph?”
Ian held out his hand toward the sylph. The tiny fairy clung tightly to his hand and sniffed it. Apparently quite pleased, she opened her eyes wide and licked his finger.
“Chyu!”
The sylph’s tongue felt like a cool breeze. It wasn’t a bad sensation.
Ian tapped her snow-white head with his thumb and made a request.
“Can you stir up the wind inside the tower and find any objects that feel strange?”
“Chyu!”
The sylph nodded. She flew into the air, spread both hands wide, and let out an adorable cry.
“Chyuuuuu!!”
Whoooooosh!
Cold air spread outward from around her. The wind swept through the first floor in an instant, the closed emergency stairwell door flew open, and the air surged upward. Air also flowed into the tiny cracks throughout the building.
“Chyuu……”
The sylph closed her eyes and fluttered her short wings.
A moment later, sweating cold beads, she sat on Ian’s palm and scribbled numbers onto it.
Respectively, 5, 8, and 12.
Rather than having grasped the structure of the tower and figured out the floor numbers, she had likely checked the numbers written on the stairs or floors and told him.
For an immature individual, she had done a great job. Ian smiled brightly and stroked the sylph’s head.
“Good work. Go rest.”
“Chyu!”
Srrrk.
The sylph scattered into wind and vanished.
If she had been a spirit formally contracted to him or a grown sylph, he could have made additional requests, but a spirit summoned through basic magic could no longer properly use its power after using its ability once. It was regrettable.
Still, he had found out which areas needed close inspection.
Ian roughly smeared the blood flowing nearby over the magic circle to erase it, then rose and switched grimoires. With the appearance of the Records of the Deep Sea, a thick scent of roses spread out.
“Shall I look for a few good ones to wreak havoc as I go up……”
Flutter.
Reading Ian’s will, the grimoire turned its own pages and showed him the list of summoned creatures. Ian climbed the tower with the Messengers while reading through the grimoire.
“……Oh.”
After turning pages for quite some time, he found a suitable creature and rubbed his lips.
“This should do.”
Drip.
A few drops of black seawater pooled at the edge of the grimoire fell to the floor.
*
What greeted Yuna and Kim Yul upon entering the theme park was the corpse of a clown writhing without its head.
Instead of its head being crushed, the creature had drawn a new face on its chest and was crawling across the floor. From its ten fingers, all missing their nails, sticky blood like crude oil dripped down.
“G-gue, guest. Y-you too are a familiar face—”
The clown’s lips, drawn in blood, squirmed. Han Yuri recoiled in horror, and Kim Yul clicked her tongue as she tossed the glass bottle at her waist toward the clown.
Crack!
Cold water flowed out from the shattered glass bottle. Kim Yul stretched her hand toward the soaking-wet clown and recited an incantation.
“O source of life, become a prison that confines life.”
Gurgle……!
The moisture soaking the clown instantly gathered together and formed a giant droplet of water.
The clown, trapped helplessly inside the water droplet, flailed its arms and legs, but Kim Yul did not release it.
Before long, the clown stopped breathing. Looking at the limp corpse, she poked the water droplet with her finger.
“Looks like Newbie killed it and moved on…… Judging by its state, it seems to be the type that dies and comes back to life. Ddalyos, you said you came here before, right? Was it like this back then too?”
Kim Yul asked. Yuna shook her head.
“L-last time, I didn’t have enough room to observe that sort of thing…… This is my first time seeing one revive too……”
“Hmm, is that so?”
Kim Yul let out a thoughtful sound and pushed the water droplet aside. The water prison moved without resistance, bouncing across the floor like a balloon.
“Well, it’s fine since we found out now. Let’s move for the moment.”
“Wh-where should we go?”
“Hard to say. Wouldn’t it be best to go somewhere Newbie hasn’t gone? Or should we start with the safe zone, the restaurant?”
“Then let’s go to the restaurant first. I-it’s this way.”
Yuna pointed to the clean path with the end of her staff.
“I’ll take the lead. I-if it comes to it, I can bring the whole building down……”
“Reeally? Sounds like you learned more impressive magic than I expected.”
“I-it’s nothing special. Compared to you, who controls water…… Mm, I-I am better, though……”
“You think it’s easy to experience the pain of drowning over and over? I learned my magic the hard way too. Don’t compare us, would you?”
“B-but faction wars are a time-honored tradition of the community……”
“……Haaah, why does Newbie keep someone like this around?”
It was the moment Kim Yul said that and stroked the nape of her own neck. Suddenly, flower petals fluttered down from the sky.
Pale pink cherry blossoms.
They were beautiful petals, but their color did not belong in a theme park filled with nothing but red. Most of all, there were no trees in full cherry blossom nearby.
“……!”
“Flow. Become a shield for me.”
Yuna’s expression immediately hardened, and Kim Yul took out another glass bottle, threw it, and recited an incantation.
Rumble!
A wall of water that formed in front of the group in an instant trapped the petal inside and spun it with a current. Then it fired the petal back in the direction it had come from.
Shweeeek!
The petal shot out like a bullet, grazing diagonally past the rail of a roller coaster. At the same time, someone’s scream rang out.
“Kyaak!”
A high, piercing scream unique to a woman. Yuna and Kim Yul furrowed their brows, and a woman with orange hair sitting on the rail glared at the two of them while clutching the wound on her shoulder.
“You damn bitches……! How dare you lay a hand on my body?! Do you seriously want to die?”
“……”
“You’re not even answering! You fucking whores!”
Marigold, the only mage in the theme park, glared at them while huffing and puffing.
At that absurd sight, the two let out sighs of relief.
“What, she’s a mage. I thought it was something else.”
“J-judging by the way she talks, she seems like a foreigner. Let’s not waste time and hurry on.”
“She still attacked first, so we should deal with her. Should I do it?”
“N-no. Your magic has a usage limit. I-I’ll do it. Save your water.”
Yuna let go of Yuri’s hand, which she had been holding, and gently pushed her toward Kim Yul. Yuri stared at her with anxious eyes.
“Y-Yuna……”
“It’s okay, unnie. I’ll be right back.”
Yuna smiled brightly and turned around, trotting toward the roller coaster rail where Marigold was sitting.
Marigold looked down at her and rummaged through her pocket.
“Insolent things. You’re mages too, aren’t you? Seeing how you blocked it with water makes that obvious, but do you think you can beat me with just that? I’m a contender to win, a contender! My magic is stronger than yours! This time, I’ll increase the output even more so you won’t be able to block—”
“I, who have melted into reason, command.”
Yuna cut off Marigold’s words. She placed the tip of her staff against a pillar of the rail, looked up at Marigold, and finished the incantation.
“Become softer than anything else, become mud.”
Fssss.
A massive wave of ether wrapped around the entire rail once and vanished. But there was no change. Marigold, who had been inwardly tense, snorted and adjusted her posture.
“Ha! All bark and no bite. You can’t even use magic properly—”
Crack.
Her words were cut off once again. The sound from the rail had swallowed her voice.
“Huh?”
Crack, cr-crack! Crack! Craaaack!
The solid rail began to tremble madly. As if the surface of pudding had been slapped with a palm, the rail shook violently.
“Wh-what’s wrong with this thing!”
Unable to hide her panic, Marigold sprang to her feet.
At that moment, the part supporting her body crumpled, and she fell. Immediately afterward, the entire roller coaster rail collapsed. Seeing that, Yuna hurriedly fled backward and shouted.
“R-release!”
Her magic vanished. The rails, regaining the hardness of hunks of metal, greedily devoured Marigold as they crashed into the ground.
Kwaaaaaaang!!!
With a tremendous roar, clouds of dust spread out. Yuna, having returned to Kim Yul and Han Yuri’s side, giggled and gripped her staff tightly.
“F-fucking idiot. It doesn’t look like it’s been long since she became a mage, so wh-what was she acting so proud for?”
“……”
“Just d-die.”
“Hmm.”
Kim Yul let out a thoughtful sound and nodded.
“I can see why Newbie keeps you around. Honestly, I thought you were just a big-breasted ornamental Pokémon.”
“……?”
Yuna frowned and turned to look at Kim Yul.