-A Transforming Monster
I looked around in every direction, but there was no visible damage. It was as if only the sensation had occurred. And even that sensation had now passed and vanished.
It was clearly different from an earthquake. It did not seem to be a natural phenomenon.
Nothing was caught by detection magic either. That meant there was no one nearby using magic.
Perhaps the aftershock of a tremor that had occurred somewhere far away had reached this place.
It could have been a magical vibration caused by a magical lifeform moving.
The first creature that came to mind was, inevitably, Leviathan.
‘Have they already released Leviathan outside?’
But if a creature of the Demon Realm on that scale had moved, it would have been caught by detection magic as well. Leviathan was a being filled with black energy, after all.
If not that……
If Leviathan was still inside the Magic Tower and yet its movements were being transmitted outside like this, then that would be nothing short of a major disaster.
It would mean Leviathan was a being that surpassed my expectations.
Fundamentally, it should have been impossible. The Magic Tower was a place created with spatial magic. In other words, it existed separately from real space. Movements or vibrations within it could not leak outside.
No. That could not be it. It was not Leviathan’s movement inside the Magic Tower, but some other movement somewhere else.
“What was that just now?”
“Was it a weak earthquake?”
“I don’t know. It didn’t feel like an earthquake. It’s not like anything actually shook, right?”
“Nothing showed up on detection magic, did it?”
When I rejoined the group, Thor, Heimdall, and the team members each threw out questions.
Thor had also raised his hammer and was detecting the surroundings. It seemed he had not detected anything in particular either.
“Nothing’s being detected.”
“Same here.”
“It happened for just an instant and disappeared right away, so it feels like we dreamed it.”
“It wasn’t a dream. We all felt it.”
“Maybe the aftermath of something that happened far away reached us.”
“Ah! Then I’ll contact Mage Yu Jaeseon. To see if there was an incident somewhere else……”
Heimdall quickly took out his phone and called Yu Jaeseon.
The call was short. He exchanged a few words, then soon hung up.
“They say even the Bureau doesn’t know. It seems they didn’t feel any shaking at all over there.”
“Then let’s keep an eye on things for now. Nothing is happening immediately, so there’s no need to do anything in particular. Let’s go to the restaurant.”
I said, looking around at the group.
Everyone nodded.
I did think it might be some kind of omen, but there was no way to deal in advance with something that had not even happened yet.
We decided to stay faithful to our immediate objective. The goal before us was to fill our stomachs with a hearty late-night meal.
“Good. Let’s hurry and go eat.”
“That’s right. We should eat quickly and go home to rest. Tomorrow’s battle will be waiting for us tomorrow.”
“Ugh, it’s cold! Let’s get inside. That restaurant over there is open.”
“It’s barbecue!”
While we were busily eating samgyeopsal, we received a call from Yu Jaeseon. It was an order to mobilize.
He said a strange lifeform had appeared in Gangdong-gu. It was moving while destroying things indiscriminately, and Cheonho-dong was currently paralyzed.
When I asked what the strange lifeform was, Yu Jaeseon could not give a proper answer.
[That’s…… it seems to transform. Every witness gives a different answer. Some say it was a monster as huge as an elephant, while others say it was a wild animal like a lion.]
“What did you say? It transforms? Couldn’t people have been too panicked to see it properly?”
[That may be possible, but we’ve gathered quite a lot of eyewitness accounts, and it’s still like this.]
“Then it isn’t multiple entities?”
[It is multiple entities. We’ve confirmed there are at least five or six. But each of their appearances keeps changing from moment to moment.]
“Are you saying they really transform?”
[Yes. When the police were dispatched, a monster that had been running on the ground suddenly changed form and flew up into the sky to escape.]
“That’s hard to believe.”
[We’ll have to go and confirm it ourselves. I’m also on my way to Cheonho-dong now. Mage, please come that way as well.]
It was astonishing. A monster that transformed.
My mind instantly grew complicated. Ren’s polymorph ability came to mind.
Was there another being with that kind of ability? And yet it was a monster that went around destroying things at random?
There was no point in holding on to the phone and grilling him with questions. I had to go to the scene and confirm it with my own eyes.
“What’s going on?”
“What do you mean, transforming?”
“Is it a black magician’s terror attack?”
As soon as I hung up, my companions asked me, as if they had been waiting.
Everyone had stopped exactly as they were while eating and was looking at me.
“It’s a mobilization order. A strange lifeform has appeared in Gangdong-gu, and they say it seems to transform. For now, let’s hurry over.”
After giving a brief explanation, I stood up, and the others immediately rose from their seats as well.
I had thought a new battle would be waiting tomorrow, but there was no need to wait until tomorrow. It had erupted before we could even finish our meal.
Among the group, some had had a drink while eating samgyeopsal, and everyone was tired, but no one lamented the mobilization.
Everyone put down their spoons without hesitation and moved.
When an emergency arises, it is the duty of mages to step forward first. Moreover, the people gathered here were those who would not fall back even in the worst situations, but fight with all they had.
My allies, who would stand on the front lines in the battle against the black magicians.
“Come this way. We need to move quickly, so let’s use a portal.”
I led the group toward a back alley. I intended to open the portal somewhere with fewer eyes.
“Wow! Having Oudin, who’s skilled in spatial magic, really makes moving around convenient. But I can go too, right?”
Yantu praised me, then asked as if making a request. He seemed to want to come with us.
Since he was not a mage, there was no particular reason he had to mobilize for an assault.
I had called him onto the Magic Tower investigation team to make use of his outstanding detection equipment, but an assault was another matter.
Still, there was no problem with him coming along. It was not as if the portal had a limit on the number of people.
And perhaps Yantu might be of help.
We still had not identified the transforming monster. Just as Yantu’s experiences from life in another dimension had helped when we encountered the goat demon and Leviathan in the Magic Tower, he might reveal the identity of the strange lifeform this time as well.
“There’s no reason you can’t. If you really want to go to a place where monsters have appeared.”
“Oho! Thanks. A transforming monster, huh? I’m curious. I want to see it with my own eyes.”
“But don’t think about getting too close. Be careful. It’s not like you have combat ability, old man.”
“I know. I’ll take care of myself. I’ll keep my head down, so don’t worry.”
When we reached a secluded alley, I stopped the group and opened a transport portal. I set the destination as Rodeo Street in Cheonho-dong.
“Now, let’s go.”
I took the lead, and everyone followed without delay.
The moment we stepped out of the portal, the disorder in the streets was immediately palpable.
Screams and the sounds of things shattering and breaking came from all directions. People were fleeing every which way.
I could see police officers as well. They were running in one direction with batons raised.
“Looks like it’s that way. Let’s follow them!”
We pushed through the fleeing people and followed the police.
As we ran, I saw the glass windows of shops shattered to pieces, and places where building walls had been destroyed. There were no small number of people collapsed on the ground.
The monsters had definitely swept through this area.
“Oh no! There are a lot of injured people. I’ll check on the people who collapsed.”
Cheon Danbi said that and immediately ran toward the fallen people.
Sirens had been sounding continuously from somewhere, but there were no ambulances nearby.
At a glance, there were people who already seemed dead, but there were also those still groaning. They looked in urgent need of treatment.
For an instant, Ren’s steps faltered. He had been about to follow Cheon Danbi, but then changed direction again and ran after us.
It seemed he had intended to help treat the injured, but was more curious about the monster’s identity after all.
Since he had heard it was a transforming monster, Ren had no choice but to be even more curious than others.
For now, confirming the monster’s appearance and figuring out its identity was the top priority.
“Where is it? I can’t see it.”
“It must be incredibly fast.”
“Let’s pick up speed. We’ll have to overtake the police.”
I said this because, despite having run quite a while, it felt as if we were still only arriving after the fact.
There were many people fleeing toward us, but there was not even a trace of the monsters’ forms.
“Please save me! Someone help!”
“Aaah! It’s a monster!”
“What is that? Isn’t it a rhinoceros?”
“No. It’s a monster with a lion’s head and a hippopotamus’s body.”
“It’s a centaur! And it breathes fire from its mouth!”
Along with the sounds of things breaking and collapsing, the screams continued. The witnesses’ accounts were all over the place.
It was no wonder they had been unable to determine the identity of the strange lifeforms until now. It seemed the claim that they transformed was true.
It was just as we overtook the police and increased our speed. Perhaps the police had been carrying out their own operation, because riot police suddenly poured out from both sides of the street and from the opposite side.
“Surround them! Drive them in!”
Only then did the monsters come into view.
There were three of them standing tall in the middle of the road, trampling over fallen people.
One that looked vaguely like a rhinoceros, one with a lion’s head and a huge body, and one with the upper body of a lizardman and the lower body of a horse.
Now that I looked, not a single eyewitness account had been wrong.
“Attack!”
The riot police were charging at the monsters, and the mages were each drawing up their mana.
At that instant, white light flashed, and the monsters’ figures disappeared before our eyes.
Before we knew it, they had transformed into the forms of a giant eagle, a pterosaur, and a gargoyle, and were soaring into the sky.
Everyone at the scene froze for a moment.
They had truly witnessed strange lifeforms transforming before their very eyes. The sight was intense enough to paralyze those who saw it.
Except for one person.
Ren had already transformed into a crow and taken flight. He chased after the monsters.
Seeing that, I snapped back to my senses as well and shouted to the mages.
“Let’s chase them with kinetic magic!”
As I swiftly activated kinetic magic and flew up, the other mages also began flying through the air with kinetic magic.
At the same time, they each opened their mouths and said a word or two, shaking off the paralysis born of shock.
“Ha! Those things really do transform?”
“How are we supposed to chase that?”
“Let’s go together!”
We flew through the night sky. The mages flew in formation like a flock of migratory birds.
The monsters had already grown distant, far away. Having transformed into flying beasts, they were flying at tremendous speed.
At the very least, we had not lost the trail of where the monsters were headed. They were going in the direction of Jamsil.