-Sandworm
The sense that war would begin at any moment.
The feeling of my nerves drawing taut, of electric current running through my entire body.
And yet what I felt now was closer to anticipation than tension. Because I had a premonition that I would finally be able to meet Samir.
If uncovering the physical existence of the Magic Tower hidden inside the Eternal Life Building last time had been a preview, then the revelation I made on the broadcast today must have felt like a direct hit on the Magic Tower.
I had touched immortality, so Samir’s mood must be quite foul.
That was why the Magic Tower had decided to respond head-on.
By now, Samir must have clearly recognized that I was his opponent.
It was unavoidable. It was a war that had to be fought anyway.
No, it was a war that absolutely had to be fought.
‘He said he’d send a gift to the people of Seoul? What the hell is he planning?’
I was lost in thought, but I was driving quite fast.
Then, in an instant, a pigeon flew toward the car’s windshield, and I quickly turned the wheel.
The car lurched violently.
“Ah, I’m sorry. Are you all right?”
I asked, turning to Ren in the passenger seat.
The night streets were almost empty, with hardly any cars, so there wasn’t much risk of an accident, but my driving had been a little rough.
“Yes. I’m fine.”
“Anyway, why are these pigeons, which usually don’t even fly around properly, so…”
The sky was full of ash-gray clouds, and the streets were full of pigeons.
The Magic Tower was one thing, but Vanaheim was also making its last desperate struggle.
Because it was late at night, there were no people on the streets, and perhaps for that reason, the birds were rushing toward cars.
They were probably deliberately searching for people.
Pigeons that would normally have flown away from cars were instead throwing themselves at them, which made them extremely annoying.
“You’re right. There really are a lot of pigeons. It’s a relief there aren’t any people on the streets. Surely they can’t affect people inside cars or buildings too, right?”
Ren said in a worried voice.
They were pigeons infused with none other than Ren’s traits. Seeing this sight couldn’t have been easy for her.
“I don’t think so. If that were the case, we would have been affected already.”
In any case, there were quite a lot of pigeons even on streets with few people. It didn’t seem like they had only released them in the entertainment districts.
Moreover, their behavior was more aggressive than the pigeons I had seen during the day.
It felt as though anyone caught up in that flock of pigeons would have their life force sucked dry in an instant and become a corpse.
Fortunately, I couldn’t see any people nearby. There were no passersby, nor anyone collapsed on the ground.
Even the zombies who commonly slept rough were nowhere to be seen.
Had the news spread, and had everyone already fled?
“But there really are a lot of them. They should issue an alert so people won’t come outside…”
“Ah! The Bureau already sent out a disaster alert. They warned people about the pigeons and the strange lifeforms, and said there was a terrorist warning from the Magic Tower, so people shouldn’t leave their homes.”
Ren said, holding up her phone.
It seemed the Bureau was moving quickly.
It was fortunate that they had already issued a warning, but if the various incidents weren’t resolved by tomorrow morning, people’s daily lives would be paralyzed.
“So they did.”
“Another fortunate thing is that the pigeons don’t have the ability to polymorph. They all still look like pigeons so far.”
“You’re right. They probably only infused the trait necessary for the release of Golden Apple—the ability to absorb life force. Or perhaps they weren’t able to extract Ren’s polymorph ability. That must be why Vanaheim tried so hard to find you.”
As we talked, a question suddenly occurred to me.
It might be rude to ask, but I thought it would be better to know for certain, so I took the liberty of asking.
“But Ren, you also have the ability to absorb the life force of other living beings, don’t you? Have you ever tested it?”
“I probably can. In principle, it’s the same as moving the life force of nature. But I’ve never tried. There’s no reason for me to. Nature is overflowing with life force even without taking it from other living beings.”
So that meant she could. As expected, Ren had a number of extraordinary abilities.
It was a tremendous relief that Ren was not evil.
The world ought to be grateful that, despite having suffered countless pains from birth until now, she had never harbored wickedness in her heart.
For some reason, a chill ran through my chest.
While I had the car stopped at a traffic light, I checked the time. It had just passed midnight. The time the Magic Tower had announced for the terrorist attack.
I looked around at the sky in all directions, but I couldn’t see any particular change.
I called Yu Jaeseon.
“What’s the situation? Has any news come in?”
[Nothing yet.]
“What about the Eternal Life Building, I mean, the location of the Magic Tower?”
[We’re continuing to keep watch, but it’s the same as before. Only the light message is displayed.]
“Why is it still quiet? That’s strange.”
[Indeed. They made an announcement and everything. In any case, we’re maintaining a state of alert across all of Seoul. Ah, the identity of the strange lifeforms appearing around Yongsan and Itaewon has been confirmed. They’re sandworms.]
“Sandworms? It’s not even a desert, so why sandworms of all things?”
[They must have summoned them from another dimension anyway, so it’s not particularly surprising.]
True, there was no reason for strange lifeforms summoned by black mages to be limited by borders or regions. Even jellyfish, creatures of the sea, had flown through the sky before.
“There are more pigeons on the streets than expected. And they’re aggressively searching for people. Tell the mages to capture the pigeons on sight, and warn the police and soldiers to be careful.”
[Understood.]
“And even if not immediately, people will begin to crave the life force of Golden Apple because of the effects of the pigeons. We need to prepare for that as well.”
[Yes. We will.]
“For now, I’ll stop by my house first, then head to the Bureau or the scene. It seems something has happened at home.”
[At home? What happened?]
“It looks like someone is trying to use magic to break in, but I’m not sure. I’ll have to go check before moving. If any news about the Magic Tower’s terrorism comes in, let me know immediately. If I spot a sandworm on my way through Itaewon, I’ll deal with it.”
[Mages from the Hall have been dispatched to the areas where sandworms have appeared. Please hurry home first.]
“Yes. Let’s keep in touch.”
The light changed, and I started the car.
I checked the surroundings once more, but aside from the pigeons, I saw no other movement.
Should I call that fortunate, at least?
“Ren, call Gil and ask what the current situation is.”
Since I was driving, I asked Ren to make the call. But even after the phone rang several times, there was no sign of him answering.
“He’s not picking up. I’ll try Danbi unni.”
It was the same with Cheon Danbi. Neither of them answered.
I had an ominous feeling.
“Do you think something has already happened?”
Ren said in a worried voice.
“Maybe they can’t answer because they’re in the middle of combat.”
I hoped that was the case. That they were in combat, at least. I didn’t even want to think of any other reason beyond that.
“Who on earth would dare break into your house, Mage-nim? And on a day like this, of all days…”
“We’ll have to hurry and find out.”
I thought about who might have broken in, but no easy answer came to me.
The barrier I had set up around my house was quite solid. Some time had passed, but I had been replenishing its mana periodically, so its effectiveness shouldn’t have declined.
It shouldn’t be easy to break through under normal circumstances.
‘Who is it?’
Of course, there were probably more than a few people who bore a grudge against me.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to think that all black mages hated me.
Not only the Magic Tower, but Vanaheim’s chairman as well must surely think of me as a mortal enemy by now.
But no matter who it was, there was no reason for them to go out of their way to break into my house.
I had been on the broadcast until just a moment ago, so everyone should have known I wasn’t home. Then why had they gone to my house?
In the end, it didn’t mean they were trying to attack me.
‘What’s in my house that made them try to break in?’
Everyone who knew where I lived knew very well that there was nothing valuable in my house.
Jang Pildu, who often came and went, had even asked me why I kept living in a house like this. He said it was far too bleak.
Not to mention the mages of the Hall, who had laughed at me, asking if I had left the Hall just to live like this in a place like that.
Ah! Of course, there was one valuable thing. A magical space was hidden in my house.
But no one knew that. Even my team members didn’t know about it yet.
“Ah! Is that what they call a sandworm?”
Ren shouted.
We were now passing Itaewon Station.
I had been puzzled, thinking that there were hardly any pigeons on this street, but I soon understood why.
As we turned onto the road leading up the hill toward Bogwang-dong, a sandworm appeared.
It looked so horrific that even the pigeons fled in fright.
“That’s right. It’s a sandworm.”
When people said it wasn’t huge, they meant compared to the strange lifeforms that had appeared before. In terms of something called a worm, it was an enormous insect.
Its total length was slightly taller than an adult man, but above all, the mouth at the end of its body was massive and grotesque.
Right now, the creature had its mouth stretched wide open and was threatening people passing by.
Even though a disaster alert had been sent out to warn people, perhaps because this was an entertainment district, there were still people walking around Itaewon.
The people who spotted the sandworm screamed and scattered in panic.
“Aaagh! It’s a monster!”
“Wh-what is that? Is that a mouth?”
“It’s horrible!”
It was, in fact, horrific just to look at.
A giant worm, a huge mouth spread wide open. Unlike its grayish-brown body, the inside of its mouth was vivid red, made up of countless muscles writhing independently. It looked as though anything that touched it would be sucked right in and swallowed whole.
On top of that, while its mouth was open, a sharp metallic sound flowed out, like an alarm signaling a machine error.
“What should we do?”
Ren asked. I was debating as well.
As a mage, it was only natural that, having encountered a strange lifeform, I should attack it immediately. But deep down, I wanted to get home as quickly as possible.
The fact that Gil and Cheon Danbi weren’t answering their phones bothered me immensely.
The one fortunate thing was that the sandworm didn’t move quickly.
For the moment, no one was being harmed right in front of us.
While I hesitated for that brief moment, mages from the Hall appeared.
“We’re mages. Please get away quickly!”
“Everyone, go inside the buildings!”
“Everyone, stand back!”
Good. There were three mages from the Hall. They should be able to deal with a single sandworm somehow.
I decided to leave it to them and headed straight for home.
My heart grew impatient, and I drove up the hill without even slowing the car.