-Declaration of War
The charred corpses of the giant amoebas were piled high.
They were the bodies of those that had died from the rain of fire I had driven down earlier.
The newly propagated amoebas had likely scattered in every direction, but the corpses that could no longer move still remained there, forming heaps.
I stood before the pile and looked up at the Eternal Life Building behind it.
I activated my golden vision and focused my mana, examining the hidden space.
It was truly remarkable spatial magic.
I was a mage capable of using a fair amount of spatial magic myself, but the spatial magic used here far surpassed my ability.
The reason black mages could summon creatures from other dimensions must have been precisely because they could realize spatial magic like this.
‘If I’d had the leisure, I could have trained more in spatial magic, too.’
Now I felt that I would have to make time for training, even if I had to force it.
I had to return to my home, enter my magical space, and devote ample time to training. I had to improve.
I had to make the level of magic I had glimpsed—that of a great mage—my own.
In the underground cave beneath Kim Seonho’s estate, when I combined spatial magic with other magic, I had felt an immense power.
If I could take that one step further and realize spatial magic like the kind used here in this magic tower, I would be able to wield tremendous ability.
It had to become mine.
To do that, I needed to increase the number of people on my side.
I had to build up allies who would fight against the black mages and buy time. I couldn’t fight every black mage alone.
If I wanted to draw the battle lines properly, I would have to show people the enemy right before their eyes.
While thinking over the method, I examined the hidden magic tower space in even greater detail.
I drew up my mana and raised the intensity of my concentration to the utmost.
For a moment, all the commotion around me vanished, and I reached a state of absorption where it felt as though only I and the space before my eyes existed.
Then things I hadn’t been able to see earlier began to come into view.
The Eternal Life Building itself, the real building, was not a low building. It was dozens of stories tall. But it had a simple rectangular shape and was a building even more featureless than the other buildings around it.
And yet, in the hidden space overlaid upon that building, all sorts of structures were chaotically stacked in layers.
The top of the magic tower, soaring to an unfathomable height, extended beyond my field of vision.
Around the middle was a protruding structure, and on its outer wall an infinite pentagon was clearly drawn.
‘No doubt about it. It’s Samir’s magic tower.’
The infinite pentagon was not the only proof. Within the shape of the infinite pentagon, Samir’s figure had even been carved.
It was a face I recognized at once. It was the same figure, unchanged from the way he had appeared in my previous life.
But the body was different. He was depicted as a being with countless arms, like a statue of the Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara. Moreover, each of those countless hands had an eye on it.
He had been portrayed like a god who looked upon all places and governed all things.
‘Could it be that Samir isn’t human in this world?’
That thought crossed my mind first.
But that likely wasn’t the case. Samir, the master of the magic tower, was a black mage.
I had never heard anything about him not being human. It wasn’t that he wasn’t human; he had probably just deified himself.
Just as he had in the previous world, Samir must have raised himself to the ranks of the divine.
Deep loathing and rage boiled up within me. My stomach churned with revulsion.
I slowly took a deep breath and regained my composure.
‘If you think you’re such a great being, why are you always hiding? Now I’ll introduce you to the world. Show yourself.’
I turned my head and looked around the scene.
It was chaotic.
The corpses of giant amoebas lay scattered here and there, and mages were moving busily, dealing with the amoebas that still remained alive.
Perhaps because they thought the danger had now passed, there were even more spectators than before.
The police were controlling the crowd, but people seemed to be swarming in from somewhere all the same.
I didn’t know what had happened on Vanaheim’s side.
Reporters and cameramen had flocked that way, but the footage on the large display was only repeatedly showing the yellow line of mist they had filmed earlier.
“Reporter! Please come this way!”
I called out to the cameraman who had remained at the scene filming the amoeba corpses, and to the reporter pacing beside him.
The stage I had planned was already finished, but I intended to direct one more scene at the very end.
I didn’t know whether it would work or not. Still, I decided to try it first.
The important thing was that the scene had to be broadcast live.
“Ah! Mage Oudin. What is it?”
The reporter quickly approached me and asked.
Since I had already given him a major news item, he did not hesitate at my call. Thinking there might be another scoop, he came running at once.
The cameraman immediately followed as well.
“I’m going to confirm something now. I’d like you to film it live.”
“What are you going to confirm?”
“You’ll capture a startling scene. I’ll explain afterward.”
The reporter did not press me any further, and the cameraman silently lifted the camera toward me.
They glanced around once and seemed satisfied that there were no other reporters or cameras nearby.
While I drew up my mana, the reporter first raised his microphone and began giving a short comment.
I stood before the heaps of giant amoeba corpses. Around us, gray energy drifted ominously.
After magic is used, the magic circuits do not disappear right away.
Moreover, there had been so many amoebas at the scene that the gray energy still remained in abundance.
To me, that gray energy was now material for staging the scene.
‘Whirlwind, blow away the amoeba corpses!’
I gathered mana at my fingertips and cast wind magic toward the heaps of amoeba corpses.
A whirlwind rose with a whoosh and lifted the amoeba corpses into the air.
They were corpses that had burned to death, but precisely because of that, they would be clearly visible to people’s eyes.
The dark red corpses fluttered up like sheets of paper.
I swung both arms wide, driving the direction of the wind toward the Eternal Life Building.
The amoeba corpses swirling in the air rushed toward the building, then at some point vanished without a trace as though sucked into empty space.
‘It worked!’
The picture I wanted had appeared.
The amoeba corpses disappearing into thin air before people’s eyes.
Since I could not show people the hidden space, I would prove its existence through absence.
The spatial magic that formed the magic tower reacted to the gray energy remaining in the amoeba corpses and accepted them into the space.
Because the gray energy, a material of black magic, encountered its own kind, it reacted irresistibly.
Of course, if they had prepared in advance, it wouldn’t have been an utterly unstoppable phenomenon, but no one would have expected me to stage a scene like this at the magic tower.
That was why, despite the thorough protective barrier, the scene of objects disappearing into the hidden space had ended up being shown.
I had pondered carefully why Vanaheim’s black mage had created a heap of giant amoebas specifically in front of the Eternal Life Building.
I concluded that it was a kind of warning.
A quiet threat that, if push came to shove, they could reveal the existence of the magic tower before the public.
But it would only have been a warning. They probably had no intention of actually putting it into action.
Vanaheim and the magic tower were not a single organization, but they were likely in a symbiotic relationship.
Still, Kim Seonho must have wanted to issue a warning to Yashin, who had come all the way to his house and caused a scene.
Knowing that, the magic tower must have simply watched without any particular reaction.
That was as far as my reasoning had gone.
Of course, Vanaheim must have had a separate original purpose for the giant amoeba heap terror attack. They had merely tried to include an additional message on top of it.
I had borrowed their materials and their stage.
My purpose was not to warn, but to widely inform people of the magic tower’s existence, which was why I was doing this live broadcast.
“Huh? The amoebas disappeared? Where did they go? Did you perhaps annihilate them, Mage?”
The reporter asked with a bewildered expression.
As expected, being an ordinary person, he did not understand the phenomenon at all.
It was a moment that needed commentary.
“No. I merely created wind with wind magic.”
“Then what happened? Why did the amoebas disappear?”
The reporter came close beside me and thrust the microphone toward me. This was a scene that would be aired.
Now it was time to declare war.
I pointed toward the magic tower with my hand and opened my mouth.
“There is a magical space hidden around the Eternal Life Building over there. I sent the amoeba corpses flying to confirm that. As expected, the amoebas were sucked into the magical space. It’s proof that there is a hidden magical space over there.”
“What? You’re saying there’s a magical space hidden over there?”
“Of course, it’s invisible to ordinary people, and it probably won’t be easy for mages to see, either. I only barely discovered it through powerful detection. It’s wrapped in a solid layer of protective magic.”
“If it’s a magical space, what kind of space could it be? Is it a space created by the Administration Bureau?”
“If that were the case, the mages would have known about it. And there would be no reason to hide the space so deliberately. In my opinion, it seems to be a space created by black mages.”
“What? A space belonging to black mages?”
“At present, I can’t see the entirety of the magical space, so I can’t say for certain. However, I have clearly shown you that there is a hidden space over there. The Administration Bureau will investigate afterward. Then I believe the true nature of the magical space will be revealed.”
I spoke only to that extent. I deliberately did not mention the term magic tower.
For now, it was enough to arouse suspicion about the Eternal Life Building and its surroundings.
Once the broadcast went out, the Administration Bureau would begin an investigation, and the company would have to provide some kind of explanation.
I intended to wait and see. To see how the magic tower would react.
I once again raised wind magic and showed the sight of the amoeba corpses being sucked into empty air and disappearing.
It was a consideration for the cameraman.
Now that he had heard the explanation, it meant he should film it properly and send it out on the news.
“……This strange phenomenon is said to be due to a magical space. They say that magical space is located right over there. It is impossible not to be shocked that a magical space hidden in the heart of Gangnam, Seoul—and one presumed to have been created by black mages—existed here. A thorough investigation and explanation from the Administration Bureau will be required from here on.”
The reporter was adding commentary to the news broadcast.
Before I knew it, quite a number of people had gathered around. There were spectators, but I could also see mages.
Several government mages were extending their detection toward the Eternal Life Building and examining it.
I quietly stepped back.
Taking one step away from the scene, I looked up at the magic tower.