-Lizardmen and Lizards
The wizards who had been gazing at the Magic Tower all turned toward Yoo Jae-seon at once.
“A terrorist attack?”
“Another attack already? Where?”
“Please, everyone check your communication devices. Before we begin our infiltration of the Magic Tower, I checked just in case, and there is news of a terrorist attack.”
At Yoo Jae-seon’s words, everyone took out their communication devices and turned them on.
After receiving notifications in the car on the way here, they had all turned off the alarms on their devices. They had done so to avoid interfering with their work.
“Hmm… It seems the airship is being suppressed by the wizards?”
“Yes. Not the airship side—please check the news about the Bundang Pangyo area. They say lizardmen have suddenly appeared in large numbers.”
“Huh? Lizardmen? Did they carry out the attack?”
“But weren’t there originally no lizardmen in Korea?”
The wizards spoke up one by one as they looked at their devices, and Yoo Jae-seon, who had accessed the information one step ahead of them, explained as much as he knew.
“There weren’t any. Moreover, they do not seem to be ordinary lizardmen. They appear to have undergone mutation. From their fingertips, they pour out small lizards. And everywhere they pass, people are collapsing.”
“How very strange. Then do the small lizards they release carry poison?”
“Anyway, seeing as they are knocking people out, this is undoubtedly a terrorist attack. Could it be the work of the Magic Tower’s dark wizards?”
At Thor’s words, the wizards turned their heads back toward the Magic Tower. I, too, examined the Magic Tower anew.
I had been staring at it ever since arriving here, but there had been no movement of dark wizards coming and going.
Could they have gone out before we arrived? Was that why I could not sense Samir’s presence in the Magic Tower?
But Yoo Jae-seon shook his head and offered a different opinion.
“Well. I cannot completely rule out that possibility, but my feeling is that this is Banaheim’s doing. Like the previous pigeon incident, their goal seems to be draining people’s vitality.”
“Ah, you’re right. There is no word that the collapsed people have died, is there?”
“So it is not a serious terrorist attack?”
“Then it seems they carried it out as a set together with the Chairman’s airship show. But when on earth did they mutate the lizardmen?”
Thor said, tilting his head.
It was a more bewildering matter from the perspective of the Koreans than for him, a foreigner.
Lizardmen were rarely seen in Korea; only a few occasionally came in to receive biotransformation surgery, so the news that they had appeared in large numbers was surprising in itself.
“They are a race that has settled down and lives well in China, yet in our country, we only ever see them in terrorist situations.”
“Ah! Now that I think of it, during the last Chimera incident, lizardmen were used as ingredients to make chimeras too, weren’t they? Weren’t they smuggled in then?”
Balder’s words were correct.
Nasan Haegyeong had secretly brought in lizardmen and used them as ingredients for chimeras. Even before that, I had seen Nasan Haegyeong brainwash lizardmen and use them as underlings.
They had always appeared alongside dark wizards in terrorist situations.
But Banaheim could not be said to have no connection to lizardmen either. The hospital leading biotransformation surgery was precisely Banaheim’s hospital. Moreover, causing mutations was their area of expertise.
Given their track record of using Ren as a test subject, it would not be surprising if they had created a large number of lizardman test subjects.
“If they are only draining people’s vitality, then it must indeed be Banaheim’s doing rather than the dark wizards. It seems they will try every trick in the book to launch the Golden Apple.”
When I organized my thoughts and spoke, the wizards nodded.
“Indeed. If they were dark wizards, they would not gently stop at just draining vitality.”
“And Nasan Haegyeong has completely gone into hiding since the Incheon Airport terrorist attack. He seems to have been terrified after seeing Yasin get beaten by Wizard Odin then.”
“Anyway, to carry out such a terrorist attack just to sell some Golden Apple or whatever. How is what a corporation does any different from what dark wizards do?”
“Only the lizardmen being used are pitiful.”
Yantu, the only one among the group who was neither human nor wizard, clicked his tongue as if sympathizing with the lizardmen.
I could understand that feeling as well.
In fact, when I heard talk of a lizardman terrorist attack, the first person who came to mind was Ren.
Of course, strictly speaking, Ren was not a lizardman, but with half of her blood being mixed, this could not be regarded as entirely someone else’s affair.
More than anything, I was worried that racial hatred would surge again. This time, lizardmen could become the target.
“How are they responding?”
“It seems the Administration Bureau’s wizards have just been dispatched.”
“Even if they are mutated, we cannot simply kill the lizardmen indiscriminately, can we? In the end, they have to be captured one by one, so it will not be easy to handle.”
“Moreover, those lizards they are pouring out all need to be eliminated too. Are there enough wizards? Should we go as well?”
At Heimdall’s words, Yoo Jae-seon looked as if he were considering it. He must have told us about the terrorist attack in the first place because he considered the situation serious.
But I cut in firmly.
“No. Let us finish our business here first. The situation there does not seem simple either, but I do not think it is to the extent that we need to rush over immediately. We also have work in progress here.”
Dealing with Banaheim was important, but investigating the Magic Tower was important too.
We had already partially dismantled the spatial magic here. We could not just leave and let it be.
We had connected the dismantled parts with virtual knots, so it was fine for now, but if we dragged it out too long, there was a risk of detection.
And yet, to roll back all the work done so far, leave, and then return to start over from the beginning would be quite costly.
“That’s right. We have already finished visualization, so we cannot just leave it.”
“The Magic Tower is the true enemy we must face, after all.”
The other wizards agreed with my opinion.
Then Yoo Jae-seon slowly nodded and asked me.
“How far along is our work?”
“We have already partially dismantled the spatial magic and untied the knots in the gaps, so we only need to do a bit more here to create an infiltration route. We just need to replicate the knot pattern and open a portal.”
“I see.”
“Since the Bundang side is currently a matter of lizardmen only draining vitality, I will send my team members there.”
“Ah, you will?”
I thought that would actually be the best thing for Ren.
By preventing the lizardman terrorist attack, she could actively overcome the trap of racial hatred.
With Gil, Ren, and Cheon Dan-bi, whose skills had improved since meeting Bruno, taking action, subduing them would be no problem.
“My team members’ abilities have improved. There will be nothing to worry about.”
I added briefly in case Yoo Jae-seon was worried about Gil.
It was natural to worry. The last scene Gil had shown was him going on a rampage during the zombie incident.
But Yoo Jae-seon did not show such concerns. He simply followed my opinion.
“Understood. Then we will proceed with our work here as planned. For the Bundang side, I will deploy more police and military to help maintain order alongside the wizards.”
I immediately took out my phone from my pocket and called Gil.
[Wizard-nim!]
Gil answered quickly.
“Are you at home?”
[I was just about to leave. You heard the news about the terrorist attack too, right? I’m going to Bundang. Dan-bi noona and Ren are going with me too.]
“Good. I was actually calling to tell you to go there. We have to continue our work here. Can the three of you handle the lizardmen?”
[Yes. No problem. We’ll go quickly and suppress them. Since they are not killing people and only taking vitality, Dan-bi noona and Ren will be able to resolve it quickly.]
“Then I’m counting on you.”
After ending the call, I looked around at the wizards, who were looking at me with curious faces.
“You do not need to worry about Gil going on a rampage. He found complete stability yesterday. You can trust his skills too.”
“Did someone say something?”
Yantu was the first to reply.
The other wizards also waved their hands as if asking what I was talking about.
“We are not worried. It is Wizard Odin’s team, after all.”
“We already saw Wizard Gil’s outstanding abilities before, so we know well.”
“Odin is here, but having Odin’s team go out is reassuring.”
I was grateful for everyone’s trust in my team.
Actually, it was not just Gil; Ren was also worth worrying about.
The fact that Ren was a hybrid between lizardman and human was already widely known through broadcasts. And someone might think it inappropriate for her to go and suppress a lizardman terrorist attack.
But no one harbored such concerns.
Now I finally understood why I could trust these people so steadfastly and work alongside them.
They were steadfast people. They all trusted and followed me. They were people who believed in me perfectly, without harboring the slightest scheming or doubt.
“Very well. Then let us hurry with our work. Until I open the portal, please examine and familiarize yourselves with the Magic Tower’s space, at least outwardly. And prepare for the infiltration in advance.”
“Understood.”
“Yes!”
I immediately fell into concentration.
It did not take long to open a portal in the gap of the spatial magic comprising the Magic Tower.
Now it was time to infiltrate the Magic Tower.
* * *
“Gil! Over here! Come this way!”
Cheon Dan-bi shouted and waved her hand.
Gil quickly ran that way.
They had agreed to meet at the subway station exit, but Cheon Dan-bi and Ren were in front of a shop. He quickly understood why.
Cheon Dan-bi and Ren were standing blocking people’s path, and on the ground at their feet, lizards were crawling around.
Gil quickly looked around, but no lizardmen were visible nearby. Further down the street, several people could be seen collapsed.
“Dan-bi noona! Ren! Are you okay?”
When he approached closely, Cheon Dan-bi had spread a barrier in front of the people. Ren was surveying the surroundings.
Passersby on the street screamed and fled upon seeing the lizards.
They were not simple lizards. He had thought they were small lizards, but they were not.
The lizards grew instantly and quickly became large, attacking people.
Cheon Dan-bi quickly pulled Gil inside the barrier.
“We’re fine. But there are really a lot of lizards. The lizardmen must have scattered them everywhere and left.”
“The lizards are attacking people? We can’t put up barriers for each one individually; what do we do?”
“I know. For now, I’ve put up a barrier here, but……”
Cheon Dan-bi looked around with a troubled expression.
On Gil’s other side, and across the street, it was a sea of lizards.
It was not just this street either. They said the lizardmen were spread widely throughout the Bundang district. Moreover, they were continuously moving.
Perhaps because the affected area was so wide, neither police nor other wizards were visible here.
“Anyway, let’s start subduing them from here.”
Gil said resolutely, raising his magic power.