-A Grand Welcome Ceremony
* * *
When we arrived at Incheon Airport, an unexpected scene unfolded before us, different in many ways from what I had imagined on the way here.
First of all, the terminal building and its surroundings, which I had assumed would be submerged in pitch-black darkness, were as bright as broad daylight.
Trucks with their lights blazing stood in a row, and from them, elves were unleashing waves of bright light mana toward the man-eating plants wrapped around the terminal building.
“Huh? Aren’t those elves over there? Are the elves using magic?”
“It’s elf magic. Elves know how to draw on the mana of the natural world, too.”
Cheon Danbi answered Gil’s question.
Even if that was true in theory, it was by no means a common sight. Even I had never seen elf magic before.
But its power was quite impressive.
The giant man-eating plants that had wrapped around and completely taken over the terminal building were withering in an instant under the elves’ waves of mana.
“Wow! That’s amazing.”
“As expected, even giant man-eating plants can’t do a thing against elves. Well done, elves!”
While Gil and Cheon Danbi watched the elf magic in admiration, I was looking around.
We had circled around the perimeter the military had set up at a distance, come as far as the cargo terminal, parked the car, and were now walking toward the terminal building.
The first thing that caught my eye was the countless giant tentacle monsters moving rapidly toward the terminal, and then, along with the bright light, I discovered the elves.
‘Where are the mages?’
There were no mages to be seen anywhere nearby.
According to the news about the airport I had heard before coming here, the mages had been halfway to succeeding in the operation, but somehow not a single mage was visible, and unexpectedly, the elves were the ones facing the grotesque life-forms.
But my admiration for the elves’ efforts lasted only a moment. The energy around us was ominous.
Gray energy began to swirl around the terminal, and the tentacle monsters approaching the elves moved even faster.
The surface of the runway was being densely covered in black tentacles.
“Gil, Cheon Danbi, put up barriers first. Be careful not to draw the tentacle monsters’ attention.”
The two of them quickly put up barriers as I told them.
The tentacle monsters did not seem interested in the rear, where we were. They were extending their tentacles only toward the trucks the elves were riding in.
Dozens, hundreds of tentacles—each and every one of them looked enormous and powerful.
At first glance, it seemed as if the elves were succeeding in taking down the man-eating plants, but I had the feeling that it was merely a superficial victory.
Thick gray energy was surging everywhere. It was spread so densely that I could feel it on my skin.
I extended my detection and examined the gray energy closely.
As expected, traces of Yasin could be detected from the gray energy and the surrounding grotesque life-forms. Magic circuits containing Yasin’s distinctive infinite pentagon mark.
There was no doubt that Yasin was somewhere here.
Seeing how strongly he had taken control of the entire airport to this degree, it did not seem like he was merely controlling things remotely.
‘Yasin, where are you?’
The fact that neither the mages nor Yasin were immediately visible made me uneasy for some reason.
Even during the brief moment I was detecting, the tentacle monsters had approached the elves and were now close enough to engulf the trucks at any moment.
And yet the elves, perhaps unaware of the tentacle monsters’ approach, were focused only on the man-eating plants in front of them.
‘Damn it. The elves are in danger.’
I was about to quickly activate magic.
Suddenly, mages appeared out of thin air ahead.
Thor, Balder, Heimdall, and Han Dosu.
The reason I had not been able to detect them until just a moment ago seemed to be that they had equipped concealment magic.
Thor’s group simultaneously poured lightning and flames toward the tentacle monsters. It was a swift and effective strike.
But the tentacle monsters were no pushovers either.
As the attacks rained down, all the tentacles changed the direction they had been heading in toward the elves and extended themselves toward the mages.
Even while burning under lightning and flames, they paid no heed and lashed their tentacles at the mages.
They were thick, sturdy tentacles that looked as if they could snatch a life away in an instant if they wrapped around someone properly.
One tentacle was already coiling around Balder.
I had to save the mages first.
‘Freeze the tentacles!’
I hurriedly raised my will. I had already drawn up my mana.
While I activated freezing magic, Thor was pouring lightning into the tentacle wrapped around Balder in order to save him, and another tentacle was wrapping around Thor as he did so.
They were monstrous bastards. Anger welled up in me.
Seeing my fellow mages being attacked, my will naturally grew rough and fierce.
‘Freeze them all solid!’
A wave of freezing energy that shot out from my fingertips swept over the tentacle monsters like a tornado.
The slippery tentacles that had been dancing in all directions stopped all at once.
The powerful freezing magic froze every tentacle monster before my eyes in an instant, leaving them unable to move an inch.
Their movements froze in a single moment, as if time itself had stopped.
But that was not true for everyone. It was a swift and mighty freezing that applied precisely only to the tentacle monsters. Satisfying.
Right now, I was brimming with mana.
During the trip from Incheon Port to here, I had recharged my mana through short but intense training, and warm cornbread and potions had filled both my body and mind.
I was ready to fight Yasin.
“Oudin? You came!”
Thor was the first to look around and shout a greeting to me.
When he saw that the tentacle wrapped around his waist had frozen solid, he struck it with his hammer, smashed it, made an opening, and slipped out.
Then he ran toward me.
I also hurried my steps toward where the mages were.
“Mage-nim, you’re finally here!”
“Welcome. Thanks to you, my life was saved.”
Heimdall and Han Dosu came over to greet me, and they also exchanged greetings with Gil and Cheon Danbi, who had followed behind.
Meanwhile, Balder removed the frozen tentacle wrapped around him and dropped to the ground with a thud.
Cheon Danbi ran over and hurriedly treated the injured Balder with herbs.
“So you were here. But where are the other mages?”
I greeted Han Dosu and asked the question.
But the moment I asked, I could immediately guess the answer. Han Dosu’s expression had darkened.
“The remaining mages withdrew to the rear with the wounded. Even then, there are only about ten of them.”
So the people here were all the mages capable of fighting.
As expected, the news that the operation was close to succeeding must have been exaggerated.
The situation did not look good.
Han Dosu, whom I had not seen in a while, also looked rather haggard. He did not seem particularly injured, but it looked as if his mana had bottomed out.
“Shouldn’t you be resting too, Instructor?”
“I’m fine.”
“By the way, what are the elves doing here?”
“I don’t know either. They suddenly appeared like that, started attacking, and even began broadcasting. I’m grateful, but I think we need to evacuate them quickly.”
Han Dosu also seemed to sense that the situation was unusual.
Although I had frozen all the tentacle monsters for the moment, gray energy was still swirling around the terminal building.
Whether they knew that or not, the elves were looking this way.
“We should. The gray energy is surging.”
Even while talking briefly with Han Dosu, I had not forgotten to keep detecting in all directions.
By now, Yasin must know that I had arrived, so he would certainly try to throw me a grand welcome ceremony.
Yasin liked facing off against me even under normal circumstances, and since I had sealed away the test subjects in the basement of Kim Seonho’s mansion, he might now even hold a grudge against me.
He was the one who had chased me all the way to Danyang in search of me. Though he had failed to find me.
“Huh? Looks like something’s about to start. The ground is shaking.”
Before Thor even finished speaking, the ground began to heave and ripple.
The gray energy flowing everywhere grew so dense it felt almost black, and then the rumbling of the earth began to sound.
“Everyone, be careful! The man-eating plants may burst up through the ground. Their roots must be spread extensively underground. The flowers of the man-eating plants contain mental magic, so don’t look at them head-on!”
Han Dosu was urgently telling us what to watch out for.
At that moment, Yasin’s voice flowed out from the speakers mounted on the elves’ trucks.
“Oudin! You’re finally here? I’ve been waiting all day. No, I’ve been waiting for this moment since days ago. Why do you keep avoiding me and running away?”
Yasin’s smiling face appeared on the screens attached to the sides of the trucks.
It seemed he had seized control of the broadcast system with magic once again.
Yasin, who rather liked receiving attention, never missed a chance to put on a show like this.
“It’s Yasin!”
“Yasin, the enemy of the elves, has appeared! Fight him! He’s the one who killed the elves!”
“He even stole our elves’ broadcast system!”
The elves shouted excitedly and looked around.
When they had come here and searched for Yasin, he had not shown so much as the tip of his nose, but now that he had finally appeared, he was calling only for Oudin, which seemed to have badly wounded their pride.
On top of that, the elves also liked receiving attention and had even been broadcasting, only for it to be taken from them, which made them even angrier.
But the elves could not be a match for Yasin.
Yasin was not an easy opponent to fight on anger and pride alone.
“Everyone of the elves! Fall back from there! Move, quickly!”
I shouted as I approached the trucks.
My eyes met Freyja’s, who was riding in one of the trucks. She seemed to be in charge, so I directed my words at her.
“Lady Freyja! Hurry and get away! The ground is shaking!”
At that, Freyja signaled to the elves.
The trucks began moving backward.
It was not necessarily because they listened to me well. The elves, too, must have felt the rumbling of the ground.
The ground was shaking as if an earthquake had struck.
When the elves’ trucks began accelerating away, I approached the mages again and gestured, gathering everyone close.
“Keep your barriers up, and if necessary, move with propulsion magic!”
As I looked over the group, Han Dosu bothered me. With his mana depleted, he looked to be in danger.
When I signaled to Thor with my eyes to look after Han Dosu, Thor understood and nodded.
Gil, who was beside him, seemed to have noticed as well and was sending mana to Han Dosu to cast a barrier around him.
Rumble, rumble—
The sound of the earth grew louder and louder.
Before we knew it, the asphalt all around us began to flip over and tear apart.
“Yasin! Where are you? I’ll come to you. Who says I ran away to avoid you? You’re the one who couldn’t find me.”
I shouted as I looked around in every direction.
I did not know where he was, but Yasin would be listening.
I had to draw his attention, even a little, while he was activating black magic. To buy time for the elves to get out of here and for the mages to reorganize.
“Good. You came. From now on, I’ll show you what I’ve been saving just for you. Enjoy it! Hahaha!”
Yasin’s answer rang out.