-Tentacle Monster
Taking a car all the way to Seolleung Station was out of the question. From around Gangnam-gu Office, the roads were completely jammed, and the cars couldn’t budge an inch.
It was rush hour, and the roads were usually congested anyway, but right now there was a special reason.
The sinkhole was enormous, and since some strange life-form had been sighted underground, they must have cordoned off a wide area around it.
“This won’t work. We’ll have to get out somewhere suitable and walk.”
“Yes.”
After searching through the back alleys, we barely managed to park the car and started walking.
The closer we got to Seolleung Station, the more real the chaos felt. The sound of shouting carried far into the distance.
Even so, crowds of people had gathered along the streets like clouds.
The police and soldiers must have controlled the scene and evacuated people, but rather than leaving quickly, people were making a fuss, taking photos with their phones and watching the spectacle.
“……Ah!”
Gil suddenly stopped walking and let out a strange exclamation. His gaze was fixed in the direction of the sinkhole.
“What is it? Do you sense something?”
I asked, studying Gil carefully. Waves were spreading outward from him in concentric circles.
“Yes. It feels like it’s calling me again… Wow, what a fascinating life-form. How should I put it… It’s incredibly free.”
“Free?”
“Yes. Its movements are very free and flexible.”
In front of us, onlookers were packed together in layer upon layer. They completely blocked my view, so all I could see were people’s backs.
And yet Gil spoke as if he were looking at the strange life-form in the sinkhole right before his eyes.
“Can you see it?”
“No. It’s not visible to my eyes. It’s just that an image of it comes to mind.”
“What does it look like?”
“It’s long. Something long is writhing and stretching out.”
Was it some kind of snake? A reptile?
Gil’s ability was truly astonishing. His magic waves had grown even stronger than before. It seemed a latent trait within him was blossoming.
I could use detection magic to sense the magic waves around the sinkhole, but I couldn’t see the strange life-form far underground through mental imagery the way Gil could.
“Let’s get closer.”
I took Gil’s hand and pushed through the crowd, moving forward. As we went, I strengthened my detection magic even further.
I had to find the infinite pentagonal magic circuit I had seen earlier through my golden vision. The black magician had to be there.
There were too many people. It seemed several magicians had already arrived as well. Magic waves and circuits stretched out here and there, making detection chaotic.
There were definitely traces left behind, but they weren’t as clear as before.
Perhaps the black magician had already caused the sinkhole, left the strange life-form behind, and departed.
“Stop! You cannot enter this area! Step back!”
A police officer shouted, swinging his baton. We were in front of the cordon.
Once the wall of people disappeared, the sinkhole came into full view.
Seeing it in person, it really was tremendously huge. The ground had sunk inward as if an earthquake had struck.
Inside the cordon, soldiers were busily carrying out rescue operations.
The scale of the sinkhole was one thing, but considering there was a subway station beneath it, the number of casualties seemed likely to be enormous.
“I’m a magician. May I go inside?”
I approached the police officer in charge of control and asked.
“Are you a magician affiliated with the Hall of Magic?”
The police officer asked me in return. Had they been ordered to only let in magicians from the Hall of Magic?
“I have no affiliation.”
“I’m sorry. Then I cannot allow you inside.”
The police officer answered with a troubled expression.
As expected, magicians with no affiliation seemed to be excluded. If I wanted a free pass, apparently I had to belong to the Hall of Magic.
In a way, it struck me as ridiculous.
It wasn’t as though we had come here to enjoy some privilege. This was a disaster situation. We had come to save people.
Just then, Gil shouted beside me.
“It’s out!”
At the same time, sharp screams poured out from all directions. The soldiers who had been carrying out rescue operations inside the cordon were screaming and backing away.
“Aaagh! It’s the strange life-form!”
“Magicians! Please move to the front!”
Something was stretching out from one side of the sunken sinkhole.
A pitch-black, long tentacle wriggled out from between the collapsed debris and revealed itself.
“Uwaak! It’s a tentacle monster!”
“I-It’s huge!”
Among the soldiers fleeing in a hurry and the magicians running toward the front, I saw Gil. Before I knew it, Gil was walking toward the tentacle.
“Gil!”
I called out, but Gil didn’t answer. He only walked slowly forward, staring straight ahead like someone possessed.
This time, even the police did not stop Gil as he walked beyond the cordon.
Their eyes were all fixed on the tentacle monster. They probably hadn’t even noticed that Gil was heading that way.
“Gil! Come back here!”
I quickly crossed the cordon and ran toward Gil.
Gil was walking over the cracked and destroyed road ahead, staring at the tentacle monster.
A gigantic tentacle had suddenly slipped out of the sinkhole and was moving this way and that as if looking around.
Just as Gil had said, its movements were incredibly free and flexible.
“Get out of there!”
“Huh? Who’s this kid?”
“It’s dangerous, so back away immediately! Get outside the cordon!”
Only then did the magicians notice Gil and shout.
Gil stopped. But he showed no sign of backing away. He stood motionless, facing the tentacle.
“Gil!”
When I reached his side and grabbed his shoulder, Gil turned his head and looked at me. His expression was one of pure wonder.
It was the face of someone who seemed to have forgotten reality, to the point of looking somehow precarious.
“Why do people assume that every unfamiliar life-form is dangerous? Maybe it’s just a creature that lived underground and came out because it was curious about the outside.”
It was truly naïve. I knew Gil tended to sympathize with other species, but a situation like this was dangerous.
He was standing so firmly on the side of the strange life-form that I wondered if he had been affected by mind magic.
“That’s not it. That thing isn’t a natural life-form. It isn’t a creature from Earth. There are traces of a black magician here. A black magician deliberately released it here. This is terrorism.”
“Even if that’s true, it isn’t that life-form’s fault.”
As Gil spoke, his body suddenly trembled.
For an instant, I felt something like an electric current crackling through the area, as if static electricity had risen.
I quickly activated my golden vision and looked around.
Stronger magic waves than ever before were spreading outward from Gil in concentric circles.
From the tentacle ahead, astonishingly powerful magic waves were also surging forth.
The ends of those waves touched Gil’s concentric waves.
“Gil! Are you all right?”
“Yes. I’m fine. But it feels like the tentacle is speaking to me. It’s wondering why it’s here. It’s asking where this place is.”
Speaking?
It sounded absurd, but I could understand what he meant.
At the point where the magic waves stretching out from the tentacle met Gil’s magic waves, an interference like electric current was occurring.
The two streams of waves were intertwining and exchanging with each other.
“Maybe, as you said, it isn’t that life-form’s fault. It may simply have been used as a tool by the black magician. But it is also true that right now, that creature is putting people in danger.”
“Please save them. The people, and the tentacle too.”
Gil looked at me with pleading eyes.
“What does the lower part of the tentacle look like?”
“It continues deep underground for a very long way. It’s extremely large. The farther down it goes, the thicker it becomes. But its whole body is soft like jelly, so it can freely change its shape. That means tentacles can extend from any part of its body.”
After hearing the explanation, the term tentacle monster fit perfectly. The part that had emerged from the sinkhole was already enormous, and yet the part hidden below was even larger.
I was worried about the safety of the people inside the subway station.
“Prepare to attack!”
“When I give the signal, all magicians will attack at once!”
An order came from somewhere. I thought it was the sound of a loudspeaker, but when I listened closely, the voice had been amplified with magic.
Over there, the magicians had formed a battle line. At the very front, Han Dosu of the Hall of Magic was standing atop a car, directing them.
“Gil, get away from here for now. It looks like the magicians are about to start fighting.”
“Are they going to kill the tentacle life-form?”
“They’ll likely try to capture it rather than kill it.”
That was what I said, but I couldn’t be certain either.
Since this was the first discovery of an unfamiliar life-form, capturing it would be the right thing to do, but they might simply regard it as a monster and try to kill it. In fact, that was more likely.
I wrapped an arm around Gil’s shoulders and led him outside the cordon.
“Stay here. If you and I get separated, go to the place where we parked the car earlier and wait. We’ll meet there.”
“Yes.”
For the moment, I stood beside Gil as well. First, I watched the magicians’ movements.
Dozens of Hall magicians had come, and Han Dosu was an outstanding magician. If this was a situation where I didn’t need to step forward, I intended to remain silent and watch.
In truth, I had come here to find the black magician rather than to fight the strange life-form.
There was no sign of the black magician anywhere, but perhaps he was hiding somewhere and controlling it.
With my golden vision activated and detection magic cast, I broadened my gaze and surveyed the surroundings.
The soldiers and police had withdrawn, and the magicians had stepped forward in front of the tentacle monster.
Following the signal to prepare for attack, the magicians spread out with distance between them, trying to surround the tentacle monster from afar.
The traces of the black magician’s magic circuit had grown even fainter. I could dimly sense an infinite pentagon spreading radially around the edge of the sinkhole.
At its center there was only the tentacle monster; the black magician was nowhere to be seen.
The tentacle was still writhing as though looking around. It showed no sign of attacking.
But beneath the tentacle’s body, hidden inside the sinkhole, countless people might be trapped.
[Where… is this……?]
Was it because I had sharpened my detection magic? I read the tentacle monster’s thoughts. Just as Gil had said a moment ago, it was as though the tentacle were speaking to me.
The magic waves released by the tentacle monster resonated, conveying meaning.
At that very moment, Han Dosu’s attack signal was given.
“Attack! All of you, attack at once!”
“Flame Explosion!”
“Lightning Shot!”
The magicians surrounding the tentacle monster began attacking in unison. Magic waves surged violently from every direction.
Massive flames blasted out, and bolts of electricity were fired. Sparks flew, and flames rose.
[Hot! It stings!]
To my dismay, the tentacle monster’s pained scream dug into my mind.
“Magician! Please save the tentacle! Don’t kill it!”
Beside me, Gil stamped his feet and shouted.
Gil’s desperate plea was soon drowned out by the cheers of the surrounding people.
“Waaah! As expected of magicians!”
“Hurry up and kill the monster!”
“Magicians are the best! Tear it apart!”
The people watching from outside the cordon sent cheers and encouragement to the magicians.
[Hot! It stings!]
To me, the tentacle’s scream was louder than Gil’s plea or the onlookers’ cheers. Because this wasn’t sound; it was a resonance that shook my brain.
I crossed the cordon and stepped inside.