"I won't."
Sin Jonghak poured magic power into the spear he gripped. His spear blazed with pitch-black magic power. The man's eyes widened.
"What the hell. Why is his magic power that color?"
"Bring Asura. Bring Asura...!"
Sin Jonghak swung the spear shaft in a 180-degree arc. Half-Moon Slash—the most basic technique for a spearman. Filled with Sin Jonghak's magic power, that Half-Moon Slash exploded. The black magic power not only half-destroyed the bus the man had been standing on, but flew farther and sliced off a spire.
"Wow~ That's brutal."
The man cackled and jumped down from the broken bus.
"But, kids. I'm serious. Brother Asura isn't here."
"Then where..."
At that moment, an ominous thought flashed through Sin Jonghak's mind.
He gripped his spear so hard it nearly crumbled.
"Don't tell me..."
"Heh heh. You guys left the crystals behind, didn't you? Along with the wounded? What made you so confident you could do that?"
Robbing an empty house.
It wasn't as though they hadn't expected it at all.
They simply hadn't expected Asura to come in person.
Sin Jonghak, Chae Nayun, and I Yeonghan hurriedly turned around, but they were already surrounded by enemies on all sides. Their faces hardened.
But Kim Suho was different.
He remained calm.
No, he even laughed out loud.
"Hahaha."
Chae Nayun and the others stared at him as if he were insane.
Chae Nayun, in particular, felt a fear along the lines of, Is that really Kim Suho?
"...Why the hell are you laughing, brat?"
For some reason, Yu Dongseok found that mad laughter unsettling.
"No. It's just... Then over there, did your boss go alone?"
"..."
The man did not answer Kim Suho's question.
But his silence was answer enough.
"Then there's no need to worry."
Kim Suho said as he looked back at the group.
And he added just one sentence.
"Hajin is stronger than me."
* * *
Step, step.
Bleak footsteps echoed through the cavity.
I slowly lifted my head and looked that way.
At the entrance of the ruined building, a man appeared. Beneath a dark robe, vivid red eyes glared at me.
I closed my eyes and laughed quietly.
As expected, he had chosen the easy method.
He had left the four-man assault team to his subordinates and come to strike this place himself—a very easy method.
The wraith must have told him.
That all the crystal fragments were gathered here, and that there was also a sick person to protect, so it would be easier than facing four people. The moment all the crystals were gathered, victory would belong to the wraith.
"...Human. Pitiful human. This is why I gave up being human. Because I did not wish to be bound by useless things as you are..."
By consuming the mana crystal, his amount of magic power had increased greatly, but he was still clumsy in the way he handled it. In other words, he lacked the technique to launch direct attacks with magic power, the way Kim Suho or Sin Jonghak did.
After all, he had originally been nothing more than a low-rank Djinn.
What he could do now was...
—Sssss.
With a grotesque breath, he released his magic power. His magic power soon became a small passage, pouring out bizarre lifeforms. They came in all shapes and sizes. Some resembled wolves, some resembled orcs, and some resembled pigs.
But their numbers were overwhelming.
One, two, four, eight, sixteen... When it reached sixty-four, I stopped counting.
At least two thousand. Perhaps more.
Before an overwhelming army that felt, to the naked eye, as innumerable as infinity, I stood.
That was Asura's—no, Cheonhwa's—talent.
"Tidal Wave of Monstrous Demons."
It was a talent that consumed one's own magic power to summon beings from the phantom realm.
Each and every one of them was probably at least on par with monsters between low-intermediate grade 2 and intermediate grade 7.
Its efficiency was quite good.
On top of that, since the crystals had sealed off magic power recovery, even Kim Suho would have suffered considerable hardship. Swinging a sword consumed no small amount of stamina.
But I was not Kim Suho.
And it was fortunate he came to me.
Of course, even if he hadn't, I would have watched with Clairvoyance and gone to find him.
"Um..."
I tried to stand up. But Yu Yeonha grabbed my sleeve. Looking as though she might die at any moment, she breathed faintly and tried to say something.
"Leave me... and run..."
But I let go of her hand and said softly,
"Sleep. By the time you close your eyes and open them again, it'll all be over."
"..."
I took the Desert Eagle from my chest. The Desert Eagle stuck to Aether and took on another form.
This time, it was neither a shotgun nor a sniper rifle.
A weapon with a moderately long barrel and a large stock attached, easy to shoulder, and capable of slaughtering many on one's own.
An assault rifle.
In this world, bullets were expensive and their destructive power was lower than expected, so they were not often used—but none of that applied to me.
Click—
I loaded the assault rifle with bullets.
However, the terrain was still slightly disadvantageous.
"...I'll use this just a little."
I took the crystal from my chest. I poured a portion of Stigma's magic power into it and modified the surrounding area into the terrain I wanted.
Rumble—
The ground trembled and collapsed.
The circular colosseum Asura had devised was shaved away by more than half, leaving only a fan-shaped arena.
With this, surrounding me became impossible.
The phantom beasts spread out before my eyes had no choice but to charge straight ahead.
"You knew how to use the crystal... But what does this change?"
Asura cackled.
With a calm, expressionless face, I answered quietly.
"It changes a lot."
End
Beyond her blurry vision, Yu Yeonha saw the endlessly lined-up bizarre beings.
One, two, three.
Again, one, two, three.
But their numbers could not be counted. In her hazy consciousness, every situation felt distant, like a dream.
There was only one thing certain.
Before the darkly burning monstrous demons surrounding the front... before the wave of a legion endlessly pushing out from that strange passage, I would not be able to survive.
Something beastlike growled. The beastlike thing's teeth were pitch-black. An illusion of it biting into my neck flickered before my eyes, and then, as though a filament had snapped, my consciousness vanished.
When she opened her eyes again not long after, she saw a man.
He stood before an army too numerous to count.
Like a mantis before a cart, he looked far too small.
He alone would not be able to oppose that dark sea. But he alone would be able to flee from that dark sea.
Yu Yeonha moved an arm that would not move and grabbed his sleeve. She spoke in a faint voice.
—Um... Leave me... and run...
But he did not listen to her words and returned only a kind gaze.
—It's all right. Sleep.
A faint smile and a low voice flowed in softly.
—By the time you close your eyes and open them again, it'll all be over.
He raised his hand and covered her eyes.
Her vision darkened.
Beyond her closed eyelids, the scenery of a dream unfolded.
It was the pleasant dream she always had.
Within it, she had achieved an ambitious success, and many people were bowing before her. The people who had ignored and scorned me, who had denounced our family as hunting dogs, were all kneeling before me.
That was a long-cherished wish she had to achieve all on her own.
It was a dream she could not give up just like this.
And so she slowly opened her eyes.
Within her cleared vision, she saw his back.
His... name did not come to mind.
All that was in his hands was a single assault rifle. A modern standard-issue weapon that could neither fire magic spears like a spear-type Artifact, nor release slashes like a sword-type Artifact.
A legion that could not possibly be opposed stood before that shabby muzzle.
Perhaps because her mind was hazy, the world seemed slow.
The Tidal Wave of Monstrous Demons surged toward him very slowly.
Beasts charging on four legs. Orcs rushing on two. Spiders crawling across the ceiling on eight legs. Snakes slithering without legs. Birds flying in while flapping their wings. Monsters releasing magic power from a single eye.
All those monstrous demons formed a single wave.
The wave was high and fierce. It surged in as if to swallow everything whole and tear it apart.
Toward that wave, Kim Hajin's muzzle flashed.
In that instant, beams of pure white light began to storm forth. The white bullets dyed the area white and fiercely pushed back the black wave.
The beast, between the eyes.
The orc, in the heart.
The spider, in the abdomen.
The snake, in the maw.
The cyclops, in the eye.
His bullets exquisitely pierced only their vital points, and the wave that had charged in with such momentum repeatedly collapsed before it could reach Kim Hajin.
The baptism of bullets continued without stopping.
The limbs of monstrous demons torn apart by bullets scattered into the air, and corpses piled up into mountains.
Perfect marksmanship that did not allow a single attack, nor a single enemy's approach.
He was slaughtering a legion all by himself.
Yu Yeonha felt an inexplicable sense of comfort.
So this was how peaceful it felt to have someone protect me.
Just as he had told her, she felt at ease.
And slowly closed her eyes.
Kim Hajin.
Before she knew it, his name had returned to her mind.
When I open my eyes next time... I hope I can be a little more at peace.
* * *
Kim Suho swung the tree branch in a wide arc. In that instant, magic power surged out in the form of a circular band. Yu Dongseok swung his rebar to block it, but several of the people from the past who had been surrounding them were sent flying far away.
With the battlefield cleared of obstructions, Kim Suho flew toward Yu Dongseok.
Yu Dongseok blocked his approach with the rebar and asked,
"...Hey. Is it true?"
Kim Suho easily deflected the rebar and answered,
"What is?"
"That the guy left over there is stronger than you."
So that was what he was curious about. Kim Suho laughed quietly.
"...I'm not someone who likes lying."
Of course, he wasn't certain. He had only sparred with Kim Hajin once.
But he believed.
Hajin would be able to endure.
"Well now, that's a serious prob—"
"Raaaaaah!"
Just then, a strange roar rang out.
Both Kim Suho and Yu Dongseok glanced to the side.
Sin Jonghak was flailing his spear shaft in every direction, making an enormous scene. Though the act itself was comical, the results were impressive. With spear techniques that freely mixed thrusts and slashes, and spear strikes that were both fluid and ferocious, the enemies were quite literally being "sent flying."
It was truly a sight worthy of being called the return of Lü Bu among men.
Aaaah—
Aaaah—
Glancing at the few people flying through the sky, Yu Dongseok asked,
"...Is he as strong as you too?"
"No."
Kim Suho answered with a smile.
"I'm stronger."
"Hahaha. Is that so?"
At that, Yu Dongseok made a show of laughing heartily and swung his rebar.
Boom!
Rebar and tree branch collided. Kim Suho and Yu Dongseok pushed against each other's weapons without yielding. The force, pushing and pulling like a tug-of-war, reached equilibrium at a certain point and stopped.
"...This strategy's gone completely off the rails."
"It's not too late even now. We have no reason to fight you."
Amid the fierce battle, the two men exchanged a brief conversation while meeting each other's eyes.
"That guy isn't your boss. He's a Djinn... a wraith. An evil man possessed by a ghost. You people are just being used."
The concept of a Djinn did not exist in this era. They had learned in textbooks that Djinn began to emerge in earnest in the late 1990s.
"...Hup!"
Yu Dongseok did not answer and shoved Kim Suho away.
Pushed back, Kim Suho let out a sigh as if he had no choice. Then he drew magic power into his sword. Unlike before, when it had merely been blue, it was now a radiant golden sword-light.
"You little punk. You were hiding something, weren't you?"
But the same was true for Yu Dongseok.
Yu Dongseok's body suddenly reddened, and his physique doubled in size.
Kim Suho's face turned grave as he corrected his stance.
* * *
At first, it had simply been laughable. The gaze glaring at him had only seemed pitiful, and the thickly grown hair and beard merely made him look shabby.
Yet as time passed, as the numbers of the army dwindled, Asura began to feel fear.
A chilling killing intent radiated from his gaze, and the unbroken chain of bullets pouring down seemed to overwhelm him.
Until now, the legion had charged at him without the slightest pause. Not only had they advanced, they had launched clever long-range ambushes as well.
But the venom and fangs the monsters spewed were blocked by the magic aura extending from his bracelet, and the monsters that attacked from afar merely became the highest-priority targets, shattered by bullets.
Asura could not understand it.
When the man first took out his assault rifle, Asura had thought he only needed to aim for the moment the magazine ran dry.
And yet the removal of the magazine, the insertion of the next. And then the torrent of bullets.
Every step of that process occurred in an instant that did not even last a second.
But what was even more incomprehensible than that was the destructive power of the bullets.
The wind pressure surging from the bullets disrupted magic power, and the monsters collapsed the moment they were hit. A single fired bullet even pierced through three bodies at once.
Under his rapid fire, the monsters were blown apart and destroyed.
Not even the tiniest tip of the legion could reach him.
“Impossible……”
The incomprehensible battle situation had finally reached this point; the monsters whose end had once been impossible to fathom could now have their end counted.
Asura stopped the monsters for a moment and retreated.
It was time for a calmer fight.
When the army stopped, Kim Hajin also stopped firing.
Kim Hajin murmured quietly.
“There are so many. So, so many. If it’s this much…… then he really must be harboring a wraith. What did he want? Revenge? Or wealth and glory?”
Kim Hajin looked at Asura. Asura did not answer.
His muzzle turned toward Asura.
“Well, you don’t have to answer.”
Click.
Kim Hajin pulled the trigger. Asura scattered his magic power and formed an aura.
But no bullet was fired.
Click.
He pulled the trigger a few more times.
Click, click.
The result was the same.
“……”
“……”
Whoosh.
For a moment, an empty wind blew. Asura and Kim Hajin looked at each other briefly.
Kim Hajin slipped a hand into his chest.
Rustle, rustle.
But nothing came to hand, and soon Kim Hajin, with a perfectly calm face, spoke in a low voice.
“……But Sura. I don’t dislike you that much. In a way, I understand you very well.”
A tool with no backstory allotted to him, simply consumed for the sake of the protagonist and the other characters’ growth. An existence better suited to the word extra than villain.
The reason Cheonhwa became a Djinn was simple.
Because I had written it that way.
Kim Hajin felt sorry.
Even if he didn’t, for now, he had to.
“You must have made an unavoidable choice in order to become stronger. You must have thought that if you joined hands with a wraith, you could enjoy wealth and splendor and become a Djinn whose name would be left in the world……”
Kim Hajin’s voice suddenly grew wistful and nostalgic.
To that, Asura replied with a single sentence.
“……You’ve run out of bullets.”
“I have some, though?”
Kim Hajin took a magazine out from his chest. Then he slowly replaced it.
“Let me ask you. What kind of life have you lived?”
A smile appeared on Asura’s lips.
“……There are no bullets.”
“What are you talking about? You can’t see this?”
Kim Hajin tapped the inserted magazine, but Asura merely recited at ease.
“Then try shooting.”
“……Tsk.”
The moment he clicked his tongue, the assault rifle transformed into a handgun.
Then came a rapid fire as swift as the wind.
A single magazine was spent in merely one second, and the mass of monsters guarding Asura’s front sublimated into a handful of dust.
Asura flinched in surprise.
“See? I have them. And the story’s already ended according to the cliché.”
He pointed behind Asura.
There stood Kim Suho and the children.
But they were not the only ones. Several of Asura’s closest aides were staring at him with complicated expressions.
“……”
Asura looked around with empty eyes.