Chapter 51…
No matter what that guy said, I casually ignored him and looked at my kids.
“Go back and rest. Leave the rest to me and Seongsik.”
“Keung!”
Especially Geri, who had used his latent ability, needed rest. So I sent them back to the nest, then tickled the chin of Seongsik sitting on my shoulder and asked.
“You can do it, Seongsik?”
“Food! Food food—!”
“…….”
Ah. Why is everyone around me crazy about food? Do I look like food to them? It’s like being surrounded by thieves. Anyway, I tore off a piece of starstone and put it into his mouth.
“There—here.”
“Tup! Chomp chomp— gulp! Bii—ik!!”
Seongsik chewed and made a satisfied sound. He’s saying the coin was inserted, so he’ll earn his keep.
“…….”
Chabak— (camping in the car — sound)
Only then did I turn and face Smile.
‘Beast Resonance (B—)’ had long been deactivated. After all, it was a former-job skill, not something you could abuse. That was why, when chasing the monster-truck horde, I couldn’t use Seongsik’s ‘ultrametallurgy manipulation’. For one, moving such huge chunks of metal would’ve drained my mana pool.
In the meantime Smile kept muttering to himself as if preparing for proper combat. Probably buffing or memorizing attack spells. ‘Alright, while you’re doing that I’ll do mine too.’
Degaruru—
I threw a broken die. Maybe because my stats went up? The number was lower than last time but still pretty high.
[7][2]
‘72% — that’s decent.’
I retrieved the die and pulled out my dagger, Yeomgak (Flame Engraving), from my waist. Only then did Smile, apparently finished with his preparations, come over.
“You kept muttering— so you’re ready, right?”
“…Do tell me you gave me time to prepare on purpose? You’ll regret it.”
“Regret? Not doing that in this life.”
“You talk like you’ll live twice.”
“Think what you want.”
“I hear you only recently awakened, and yet you’re the first arrogant troublemaker like you I’ve met.”
Ah, that tone again. I spun Yeomgak in my palm and answered evenly.
“No need to worry about me. Can you at least do something about that annoying tone of yours?”
“Huh? I must have misheard?”
“……Alright, I should clean out your ear canals.”
Kwaang—!
My legs contracted and expanded, cracking the ground. He tilted his head back to dodge.
“Too bad, a little short of target, right?”
“……Is that so?”
I’d already pumped my stats with the ‘Talent Who Found the Light’. Even if he was a higher level than me, as a wizard his physical ability would be similar to mine. Besides—
“Gotcha.”
Pssu—
No need for a perfect hit anyway. That’s the power of this dagger, Yeomgak. Now, with a status ailment the guy’s movements would be…
“Am I real, do you think?”
“……!?”
At that moment, the smile painted on his mask felt like a genuine sneer. Come to think of it, the effect-application message hadn’t appeared. He had talent in explosion magic, but fundamentally—
‘…He’s fake.’
A master of spectacle. A pro at illusion magic. ‘He was fake from the moment he appeared.’ I ground my teeth.
At that instant the image of the guy struck by the blade distorted, and the ground and the air twisted together. I immediately held my breath and sharpened my senses.
“…….”
The surroundings went pitch-black like a blackout. Jet-black darkness.
“Ah ah, ahem, can you hear me well?”
Then, from somewhere, Smile’s voice echoed over a speaker.
“Now, the stage lights change—!”
Paat—
A spotlight dropped and fell toward me. The illuminated place turned out to be the center of a stage floating in midair. Thousands of faceless spectators watched me. Under the glass floor of the stage a vortex of mana swirled.
‘…This is annoying.’
This wasn’t a simple illusion. It was a gigantic magic circle mixing illusion and offensive rites.
“Our performance has two parts. First, the intro; second… execution?”
At that moment Smile appeared at the audience entrance, waving a long paintbrush and shouting. The audience applauded and cheered in unison.
Chwarrr—
At the same time, colorful chains shot from all directions of the stands. I struck them away with Yeomgak, but their numbers only increased.
‘I’ve heard of Smile’s magic circles…’ That magic you can’t escape from without paying with your life. But among my traitorous old buddies was one who could chew through that kind of magic—no, not just chew through, but dismantle and analyze it so well he could replicate it: the archmage Gobert Merlin.
— Magic circles are the relics of ancient magic. And every circle has a core. The core is the most important… Huh, don’t want to know?
— Hey! Do you know how expensive my lectures are? This Gobert Merlin is not only a great archmage but a legendary archaeologist—don’t tell me you don’t know that!
— Just listening will make you stronger. Especially if you have talent for magic! Stop standing there! I’ll give you one relic if you listen for ten minutes!
I couldn’t resist greed and was tricked into sitting through a lecture that lasted over three hours. The problem was that this didn’t happen only once.
“Haha! At last the finale draws near, doesn’t it?”
Chwarrr— tak!
Meanwhile, chains that kept increasing in number wrapped around my body one after another. ‘In the end, smash the core and it’s over… but is it worth the bother?’ Destroying the core was possible. But annoying and time-consuming. I wanted to solve this fast. Grandpa would’ve been mad, calling me reckless for ignoring procedure and principle—
‘…Who cares?’
I dropped the dagger and relaxed my body. Immediately dozens of chains bound me tightly.
“You given up? A wise choice. Knowing your limits is very important, you know?”
Ah, he’s really babbling. I muttered softly and he cocked his head.
“…Huh? A last will?”
“Shut up.”
I looked up at him and called Seongsik.
“Seongsik, time to earn your food.”
“Biiik….”
This time, the ‘price for food’ was steep. Using this ability would render Seongsik useless for a while. There was a clear reason I’d never used it. ‘Also, it leaves nothing behind where it passes…’ Freezing the battlefield with Geri’s frost was one of the measures to reduce that kind of damage.
[Kakan, Seongsik’s latent ability, 【Flames of Calamity】 (S+) is activated.]
Tatatdak—
It began as sparks. Then a small ember. Jet-black flames.
“…That power?”
“Oh, you can tell by now?”
“C-Could it be that lizard… Kakan? Impossible, that can’t be….”
“It’s possible.”
Smile frantically started cutting the chains binding me, but there were too many to clear at once.
“It’s already too late.”
Fwaruruk—
The fire spread like it would devour everything except Seongsik and me. This flame even burned magic.
“This is unfair….”
“I’m a tamer. Screw fairness.”
A gigantic fire-demon covered the magic circle. The essence of this illusion was falsehood itself, and ‘Flames of Calamity’ could burn even that falsehood. Tap, tap, tap. I walked toward Smile slowly. The jet-black flames spreading over the chains began to burn the stage and the stands. When I reached Smile—
“I told you earlier.”
“…….”
“I’ll definitely kill you today.”
“Hehehe….”
His clothes and skin were already charred black. Yet he still wore a grin. Just the red smile painted on his mask.
“Not over yet—”
As Smile began to cast his final spell—
Pook?!!
My Yeomgak pierced through his abdomen.
“No, it’s over.”
His body split with a crack as if halved; the clown mask simultaneously shattered into pieces. I whispered into his face.
“The one who hired you—was it Mepa?”
“…Uhuuhu.”
Kneeling, Smile looked up at me, laughing. A small grin—his mouth visible between the cracks—was a fine line.
“Well, is that really so? But—”
“Enough.”
“……huh?”
It was over. He had just confessed. “Smiling while giving an answer that is neither yes nor no… I’ve heard enough.” That meant the truth: he’d been hired by someone who was both a Mepa and not a Mepa. He couldn’t lie.
“You don’t know how to lie.”
“…How did you know that?”
“Ah, not announced yet?” As expected, he showed bewilderment too transparently. Then suddenly he began laughing like a madman.
“Hahaha! Hahahahaha!!!”
“What?”
“Dying and meeting someone like you at last, hehe…”
Is he going mad because he’s dying? Why is he suddenly acting friendly?
“No one believed me. You were the first to believe the pure, real me—”
“Shut up, I didn’t ask.”
“…Guh.”
I tightened my wrist and twisted Yeomgak. Blood spurted from his abdomen and soaked my hand.
“You’re not going to spout some bullshit now about turning evil because of the dirty world, right?”
“I, I… cough!”
“Enough. Let’s end this.”
Fwaruruk—!
I poured mana into the Flames of Calamity engulfing him. The blaze surged and swallowed Smile; he turned to ash in an instant and was scattered to the wind.
[Player kills Smile (Lv. 90).]
[User’s skills ‘Talent Devour’ and ‘Talent Plunder’ are activated.]
[Condition met — you can acquire one D-rank talent.]
[Stage Director’s Gaze]
— Rank: D
— Info: Connects view perspectives of three creatures to establish stereoscopic vision. However, targets must be creatures friendly to the user.
I pressed the accept button without hesitation. The talent wasn’t strictly necessary, but it would raise my stat values. Then more good news popped up.
[For the first time in Earth’s dimension, you have stolen the opponent’s talent!]
[Achievement points: 5,000 coins awarded.]
Is this what they call killing two birds with one stone? But I got a penalty too.
[※ Status ailment ‘madness’ accumulates slightly.]
I ignored the last message and exhaled slowly. Seongsik was completely exhausted, sprawled on my shoulder.
“Good job. When you feel better I’ll give you lots of starstone.”
“Bii….”
I sent the tired creature back to the nest. Then the magic circle disappeared and the real world appeared. The Gate Administration Office was broken in many places. Seeing that, the anger I’d been holding down welled up again.
“Ah, my reward!”
Because of ‘those guys’ everything was messed up. The Garden of All Things, and even Miyamoto Daichi’s talisman. ‘You started it first.’ Now it was time to return more than double what I’d received.
