-The Beginning of the Calamity
"Right now? Why are you in such a hurry?"
Cheon Danbi asked in an anxious voice.
It seemed my voice had carried far more force than I'd realized. But since this was exactly the kind of situation where everyone needed to be on edge, I continued rather than trying to lighten the mood.
"The signs are ominous. The weather has been strange for days, but this morning it's especially abnormal. Black energy is spreading through the atmosphere."
"Ah, right. The weather is strange. It's stifling, like something is blocking the air, and strangely cold at the same time."
"That's right. I felt a suspicious fluctuation spreading out."
Cheon Danbi and Gil said, their expressions quickly turning grave.
The truth was, they had been sensing it too. Still, once I spoke with such gravity, as if confirming their fears, they seemed unable to avoid feeling anxious.
"It's time to gather all the magicians and prepare."
I spoke in a slightly softened tone. Though regardless of the tone, the content alone would inevitably make them feel that the final battle was approaching.
"Got it. But wait. Let's drink one of these first before we go."
Cheon Danbi hurriedly pulled potions from her bag. She handed one to each team member and added,
"These aren't ordinary potions. They're the Blessing of the World Tree."
"The Blessing of the World Tree? Sister Danbi, did you go to Neo Forest last night?"
Gil asked, his eyes widening.
"I did. I felt like the World Tree was calling me. And I ran into elves near the World Tree too. Councilor Freya was there too. Ah, now that I think about it, everyone must have sensed something."
Cheon Danbi nodded as if she finally understood.
Everything had been a sign. The strangely cold weather that had persisted for days, and the World Tree's call during the night.
And the fact that each team member had undergone their own training through the night, their faces all the brighter today because of it.
Both sides of the calamity had been moving busily.
Realizing this, we all drank the potions.
"Ah, this is really good?"
"My body feels warm inside."
Gil and Ren exclaimed, their eyes sparkling.
There likely couldn't be a better preparation than this. It felt like vitality was flooding through me. It seemed the black energy spread throughout the atmosphere wouldn't be able to invade us either.
"Let's go now."
"Yes, let's go."
"Okay. I'm ready."
When I signaled our departure, the team members nodded with resolute yet calm expressions. Our team was ready.
But it wasn't just our team—the magicians of the Administration Bureau and the Hall, and all the magicians in the country, had to be ready.
A catastrophe of that magnitude was about to occur. Everyone had to combine their strength to stop it.
"We're going by car? You said it's urgent, so why not use a portal?"
As I hurried down the rooftop stairs, Cheon Danbi followed and asked.
"We need to observe the situation on the streets as we go."
"Ah, right."
"You drive. I need to make calls here and there."
"Got it."
I left the driving to Cheon Danbi and called Yu Jaeseon first.
After a brief explanation and telling him that we would likely need to gather the magicians, he said he would make the calls.
Unexpectedly freed up, I focused on observing the streets.
Strangely, despite the abnormally cold weather, the streets were crowded with people. It was almost enough to make me think the strange weather had driven people outside instead.
Hunched over and shivering from the cold, they were all walking diligently toward somewhere.
"Why are there so many people out?"
Cheon Danbi muttered, tilting her head.
"It really is strange. Besides, don't most of them seem to be walking in one direction?"
Gil pointed out the crucial point. Come to think of it, even though there was no way all the people on the streets were together, they looked as though they were heading to the same place.
Wondering if it might be mental magic, I quickly tried to detect it, but that wasn't it.
Crossing the Han River bridge, I could definitely feel how bizarre it was.
It wasn't common for people to cross the Han River bridge on foot. Yet now, so many people were walking that the sidewalks were overflowing and spilling onto the road entirely.
"What on earth is going on?"
"Is it a protest? Could it be the Golden Apple protesters?"
"That might be it."
The people weren't exactly forming ranks or shouting slogans, but there were far too many to look like ordinary pedestrians. And they were all moving in one direction. Exactly the same direction as us.
Cars were gradually obstructed and unable to move properly. Then, after crossing the Han River bridge, people finally started shouting something like slogans.
"We want Golden Apple!"
"Government, don't block the release of Golden Apple!"
"Golden Apple! Golden Apple!"
The crowd was disorderly, but their desire was clear. It was Golden Apple.
"So it really was a protest."
"To think they're protesting for the release of Golden Apples, really...!"
"Why are there so many people who can't come to their senses?"
"It's truly pathetic. Is Golden Apple the problem right now? We're about to die because of the black magicians."
"Could they be people addicted to the samples Kim Seon-ho distributed?"
"Anyway, this is a headache."
The protesters were heading toward the Administration Bureau, and swept up in the waves of people, we were considerably delayed.
We barely arrived at the Administration Bureau building and managed to enter the underground parking lot.
The protesters in front were trying to push into the building, but the Administration Bureau magicians had erected barriers and controlled them.
Blocked by magic, the protesters turned violent. They smashed sidewalk blocks and threw them, and wielded steel pipes they'd gotten from somewhere.
"Don't you think we need to come up with countermeasures quickly?"
Gil said worriedly, turning his head for a last look at the protesters.
In truth, the protesters weren't the problem right now. No, I meant that them protesting wasn't the issue. If they remained exposed on the streets like that, they could become the very first victims of the calamity.
We needed to establish countermeasures quickly, but assessing the situation came first.
"Let's head up for now."
The Administration Bureau was chaotic. They were frantic trying to block the protesters right in front of the building, and busy gathering magicians as I had asked Yu Jaeseon to arrange beforehand.
Going up to find Yu Jaeseon, he guided us to a conference room. It was quite a large conference room.
"Welcome. I've contacted the Hall and the regional magicians. However, some regional magicians are insisting they can't come up to Seoul immediately. They say the regions need to prepare too."
As we took our seats, Yu Jaeseon hurriedly briefed us.
"That could be a problem. Then let's leave the opposing regions be for now. More urgently, we need analysis magicians."
"Yes. They've already begun analysis work. We're definitely detecting unusual fluctuations in the atmosphere."
"Are there any notable changes around the Magic Tower?"
"Not yet."
"And it would be best to disperse the protesters quickly. Please leave that to the police."
"The riot police are already on their way."
"The police and military are preparing for the calamity too, correct?"
"Of course. We've contacted them, and they're on emergency standby."
As expected, Yu Jaeseon worked fast and handled things as thoroughly as one could hope.
On the systemic level, we had no choice but to rely on the help of the Administration Bureau and the Hall. Especially the Administration Bureau, as a government body, had rapid communication networks with the military and police, making it crucial for overall preparations.
"The Hall leadership and our investigation team magicians will arrive shortly. And I'll bring up the monitoring analysis window right here."
Saying this, Yu Jaeseon brought up the monitoring analysis window on the screen at the front of the conference room.
The fluctuations in the atmospheric energy across Seoul were displayed as graphs.
Particularly high and bizarre fluctuations appeared in the Gangnam area and around the Magic Tower. The other districts were clearly not in a normal state either.
"We're monitoring other regions as well, not just Seoul, but so far there have been no special changes reported."
"I see."
That was something of a relief.
The black magicians had been fairly active in the Chungcheong-do region, but after the facility in Danyang was destroyed, they seemed to be concentrating on the Seoul Magic Tower as well.
In the end, the place where the Magic Tower stood would become the starting point of the calamity.
"Odin! We're here!"
"Hello. Long time no see."
"We saw each other last night, but seeing you now feels like it's really been a while! Hahaha!"
Starting with Thor's team making a playful entrance, the investigation team magicians arrived one after another.
The Bureau director and executive-level magicians came in, and from the Hall, several more executive magicians arrived, not just Han Dosu.
And Freya and Yantu, representatives of other races who had joined the raid operations until now, attended the meeting.
I chaired the meeting. Everyone wanted it that way.
"As of today, we're entering an emergency state. I don't know when exactly, but the Magic Tower will carry out a calamity-scale terror attack. First, begin monitoring around the Eternal Life Building and establish an evacuation system...."
Samir had to be eliminated by me. It had to be that way.
But the number and scale of the otherworldly lifeforms the Magic Tower had prepared were tremendous.
We would need a great many magicians. Even mobilizing all the magicians in the country might not be enough.
In the end, I would have to take the center and respond with spatial magic.
But because we didn't know when, where, or how the calamity would begin, a joint operation between magicians and the military and police was necessary just to minimize civilian casualties.
For now, what we could begin immediately was sharing raid strategies and deployment.
Honestly, ordinary magicians would have no way to oppose the Leviathan, but I could only hope that at least the Mountain Goat clan would hold it back.
The meeting proceeded quickly and concisely. There was no need for discussion or negotiation.
Everyone realized that it was no different from actual combat having already begun, and thus there were only orders and execution.
Thinking it was about time to wrap up the meeting, I suddenly looked out the window and realized the calamity had already arrived.
Outside the window darkened in an instant. Though it was still morning, it was dark like night and everything was hazy. It was as if the sun had vanished without a trace.
At that moment, a sound like *Crack!*—as if space were shattering—rang out. Then came the feeling of the ground rumbling beneath my feet.
Everyone in the conference room covered their ears and looked out the window. A whirlwind was raging. Ash-gray energy was surging into the whole world.
"The calamity has begun! Everyone quickly move to your assigned sectors!"
Before I even finished speaking, the magicians hurriedly left the conference room.
"Let's go!"
"Let's move!"
"Everyone be careful!"
Our team also quickly ran outside.
Outside was chaos itself. A world that had turned to night out of nowhere.
The darkness wasn't the only problem. Everything was rippling and distorting from the ash-gray energy the whirlwind was spreading.
People were panicking and scrambling in confusion, and especially the protesters gathered in front of the Administration Bureau building were running around every which way, as though seized by madness.
And just then, things that would become prey for them began falling from the sky like rain.