-Power
* * *
Thor and the others left for the opposite runway to keep Yasin, Nasanhaegyeong, and the chimeras occupied.
Now it was finally time for me to cast spatial magic.
Looking once more at the site of the terminal, where scalding lava was boiling over, I said to Cheon Danbi and Gil,
“You two go up to the roof of the cargo building here. Wrap yourselves thoroughly in barriers and stealth magic, and keep strict watch in every direction. From there, send me mana and life force.”
“The roof here? But it’s too far from here to the terminal site. Will we be able to send mana that far?”
“She’s right. It’s too far from here. And with gray energy overflowing everywhere, it’ll interfere. Wouldn’t it be better if we moved with you?”
“Yes. We’ll go with you, Mr. Mage.”
Cheon Danbi and Gil said they would move with me, but I couldn’t allow that.
There was no telling what would happen if we approached the center of the black magic.
Nor could I guarantee what results the spatial magic I was about to cast would bring.
If even the slightest part of it deviated from my expectations, the two of them could be put in danger.
“No. The center is too hot, and the Demon Realm’s energy is swirling there. If I’m going to activate spatial magic in that place, I’ll have to concentrate intensely. I won’t have the leeway to worry about you.”
“I’ll protect Sister Danbi and myself.”
Gil’s resolve was admirable, but I shook my head.
“Do as I say. The two of you protect each other from here.”
“How about moving just a little closer? From here, it really seems too far to send you life force.”
Cheon Danbi was still worrying about me to the very end.
Adding their life force wasn’t absolutely necessary, but in order to respect their wishes, I offered a compromise.
“Then watch from here, and when the time is right, move closer. If the spatial magic works properly, the lava, the man-eating plants, and the tentacle monsters will all be sucked into the center. Move slowly then and send me mana and life force. For now, I still have plenty of both, so don’t worry.”
“All right. I understand.”
“Yes, we’ll do that.”
Having finally reached an agreement, we immediately began to move.
After seeing Cheon Danbi and Gil take position on the roof of the cargo building, I flew toward the black hole with propulsion magic.
Before I knew it, dawn was breaking.
The sun had not yet risen, but the sky was turning bluish and bright.
As I flew, I saw that lava was overflowing around the terminal site, but no more lava was coming out of the black hole.
It seemed the eruption was over now.
But because of all the lava that had poured out until now, man-eating plants had grown thickly all around. There wasn’t even an inch of space left.
Pitch-black roots swayed like a demon’s grasping hands.
Tentacle monsters had gathered as well, tangling together with the vines of the man-eating plants.
‘Good thing I came alone.’
One slight misstep and I would be caught by tentacles in an instant and become food for the man-eating plants.
On top of that, the closer I got to the black hole, the denser the gray energy became, to the point that it pressed down on my heart.
My chest ached and my head spun, but I pulled myself together.
From here on, it would be a solitary time.
A time for me alone to fight the energy of the Demon Realm.
And the enemy wasn’t even directly before my eyes. I had to dispose of the Demon Realm’s energy and beings Yasin had left behind by sending them beyond the dimension.
It was the time of a lonely cleaner.
‘I can do this.’
It was spatial magic on a scale I had never attempted before, but I knew I could pull it off.
Just as I had realized while training in the magic space, and just as I had improved step by step in real battles, all I had to do was maximize spatial magic by using the holy light.
I knew better than anyone how much my spatial magic ability had been improving.
I just had to take one more step from there.
I could do it.
‘Are Thor and the mages holding off Yasin and Nasanhaegyeong well?’
I cast my gaze into the distance, toward the opposite runway where Thor’s group had headed.
But the crows flying in the sky there caught my eye first.
For some reason, I had the feeling they were crows I knew.
Three crows—probably Ren, Hugin, and Munin.
Hugin and Munin, who hadn’t shown so much as the tips of their beaks for days, seemed to have reunited with Ren and were moving together.
The crows circled in the air, scouting the ground below.
I didn’t sense any special movement from Yasin or Nasanhaegyeong’s side. It only seemed that they were in the middle of synthesizing chimeras.
‘Thor will handle it.’
For now, I had no choice but to leave it to Thor and the others.
I hadn’t expected Nasanhaegyeong to show up here again with chimeras in tow, but since the mages had already faced that side once, they should be able to deal with it on their own.
The problem was Yasin. Yasin was definitely a cut above Nasanhaegyeong.
When it came to opening a portal leading to another dimension, Nasanhaegyeong might not be lacking, but the Demon Realm energy brought into this world through that gate was far greater on Yasin’s side.
But I had interfered with it.
I had not only destroyed the core, but also closed the portal. Though the boundary between dimensions could faintly be seen, the door was closed.
In the process, Yasin had probably taken damage as well. I hoped he had.
Now, if only Yasin wouldn’t interfere with me until I opened that door and sent back everything from the other dimension that had crossed into this world.
I arrived directly above the black hole.
I activated my golden sight and stared into the black hole.
As expected, it was empty.
A vast void. When I stared through even that, beyond the realm of dense darkness, I saw the boundary of dimensions shining in full, vivid color.
‘All right, it starts now.’
I focused my entire mind while staring straight at the boundary of dimensions.
At the same time, I drew up the mana throughout my body and finely adjusted the waves.
They had to pierce through. The waves of light. The barrier of space.
Like weaving a net, I interlaced the mana waves densely and concentrated them on a single point. There, I raised my intent strongly and called down the holy light.
‘Holy light, pierce through! Leap beyond the boundary of space!’
Light that rippled only as waves rose pure white and pierced straight through the center of the black hole.
From me, from my heart, from my fingertips, pure white light poured out.
It opened a gap in the black hole, which seemed like the source of endless darkness, and swept across the boundary of space.
In that instant, enormous light spread outward in every direction as if exploding.
Energy erupted like an electric current, and at the center of that eruption, a path of pure white light opened. And then a door opened.
When the portal opened, scenes of brilliant color spread across the vast void like paint bleeding into water.
A flow of consciousness, like memories from an unfathomable distance, surged in like a tidal wave.
‘Turn space inside out and return the Demon Realm’s energy and beings to the dimension of the Demon Realm!’
Amid a flood of consciousness that felt like pain, amid a tidal wave of countless pieces of information emitted by infinite dimensions flashing past, I clung tightly to a single thread of reason and activated spatial magic once more.
Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble!
Vast light poured down like a waterfall.
Mana waves surged from the dimensional rift, then swept through space all at once, raging forward.
They overflowed beyond the black hole, surged into the air where I hovered, and at last pure white light spread in every direction like an explosion.
The next moment, the lava flowing nearby began to be sucked backward.
The same was true for the man-eating plants flourishing atop the lava. Pitch-black roots and grotesque vines were sucked into the dimensional rift as if a film were being rewound.
The tangled tentacle monsters had no way to escape either.
As space turned inside out, everything that contained the energy of the Demon Realm was being swept back beyond the dimension.
‘It worked!’
Just as I had expected, the spatial magic was functioning properly.
A portal of pure white light had opened at the boundary of dimensions, and everything Yasin had brought here was returning to the dimension of the Demon Realm.
I felt terribly dizzy.
There was an overwhelming sensation of speed. It felt as though not only the beings of the Demon Realm but even I was being sucked into the portal of light.
It also felt as if countless memories, consciousnesses, and pieces of information were flooding into my head.
My body was still floating in the air above the black hole. I could clearly feel that.
Even so, it was as if a part of my soul had gone off on a journey somewhere.
Savage thoughts and emotions surged over me.
Scenes of brilliant color shimmered inside my mind. I felt as though I would lose my way at the boundary of dimensions.
Caw! Caw! Caw!
At that moment, I heard the cries of crows.
The thought that I had to come to my senses struck me like lightning.
I quickly focused my attention on this world.
I closed my golden sight. Only then did the scene before my eyes begin to appear properly.
The surroundings were clean.
The lava, the man-eating plants, and the tentacle monsters had all been sucked into the black hole, and the surrounding space was regaining its former appearance.
Caw! Caw! Caw!
The crows’ urgent cries continued.
Was that not it? It seemed I still hadn’t understood what they meant.
When I raised my head and looked at the crows, they were pointing toward one place. They were flying in that direction.
The parking tower.
Somehow, Yasin had approached all the way here, and from the roof of the parking tower, he was spewing pitch-black energy at Gil.
“Yasin!”
I flew toward him at once.
Cheon Danbi? Where was Cheon Danbi?
Looking around as I flew, I saw Cheon Danbi collapsed on the rooftop floor.
She was wrapped in a whip of black magic.
The moment I saw that sight, fury shot all the way to the top of my head.
“Yasin! How dare you touch my people?”
Only then did Yasin turn to look at me.
It was a bizarre face. A monstrous form completely wrapped in pitch-black energy.
I wasn’t curious why he had ended up looking like that, nor did I want to know.
I didn’t want to ask why he hadn’t come straight for me and was instead attacking Cheon Danbi and Gil. I didn’t want to hear an answer either.
I was simply furious, like fire.
Upon seeing me, Yasin quickly withdrew the pitch-black energy he had aimed at Gil and tried to extend it toward me.
But it was already too late.
My rage was already raising an immense light.
‘Everything that contains the energy of the Demon Realm, to the Demon Realm dimension!’
I focused the mana waves of the spatial magic I had already activated and poured them toward Yasin.
Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble!
Once again, pure white light swept through space like a waterfall.
The densely woven net of mana waves hooked Yasin in a single stroke.
“Aaaaaaagh! Odin! How is this……?”
Yasin was sucked into the black hole at terrifying speed.
Without even the chance to respond. With his bizarre face frozen in an arrogant expression, he was wrapped in the very pitch-black energy he had tried to extend toward me.
Soon, Yasin’s form vanished, and his voice could no longer be heard.
Together with the man-eating plants and tentacle monsters he had created, he had crossed the portal into the dimension of the Demon Realm.
Even I had not imagined it would be this simple.
That ending a black mage named Yasin would be so easy.
The power of my magic had grown that great.