Hermit Wizard

Superior, or inferior (4)

“Hey! Kyung-hwan!”

A trainee who was evacuating from the back spotted him falling from the group and called him.

“I left something in my room. I’ll take it and follow you soon.”

“What? This is not the time for something like that. If the instructor knows…”

“I’ll take care of my own business. Why are you so noisy?”

The older trainees gritted their teeth as if the direct response hurt their pride. He then turned his head and hurriedly went where he was going.

As if that bastard wanted to die, murmurs came from his mouth and were heard by Kim Kyung-Hwan’s ears, whether it was intended or not.

As usual, he turned away the trainees who would hold him back since they were worried. It was because, despite the attitude itself, Kim Kyung-Hwan didn’t feel any affection.

Kim Kyung-Hwan had relentlessly attacked those who approached him so far to build a friendship. All of them looked like leeches trying to suck up his spine.

He wasn’t attracted to the sweet words spoken by the others on his side. He would be constantly suspicious of it anyway. Wouldn’t you stick your tongue out only in front of my eyes and swear at my back? Instead, it was better not to have them around him at all.

There was no need to be close or to give a heart. It was enough to let them see him from afar and send the light of envy and longing.

The inferior parasites always begged in front of the strong. The trainees were incompetent who would’ve lost their lives to the Waterbirds without him.

“If it weren’t for me, that jerk would have been hunted. Such an ungrateful bastard, humans are hopeless.”

Even now, he believed it all. If it weren’t for him, they would’ve had a bigger thing because of the Waterbird.

At that time, if they waited a little longer, reinforcements were coming, and the evacuation was going as planned. However, it didn’t remain in his mind.

“All the same. You can’t believe it.”

Humans couldn’t be trusted, and past experiences deeply rooted in consciousness, whispering to Kim Kyung-hwan.

Yes, all I believed in was my ability and… Eraser.

After his thoughts reached that far, he felt uneasy again. It was okay to follow his words when the Waterbirds attacked. So, what about that time? How did he respond?

He needed drugs to get rid of his anxiety. Kim Kyung-hwan recalled the video he saw during the interview.

After the battle with the Waterbird, the instructor returned and showed the video of Kim Kyung-hwan using magic, again and again, asking him the principle of the combination formula.

The filmed scene was more dynamic and cooler than expected. Buildings and gardens melted down, black storms raged, monsters flapped their wings as if they were attacking, and self-driving spells were chanted behind a shield.

In the future, when a program that retraced his actions was aired on TV, the video would surely be used as a material screen. There will be a commentary. ‘The video you are watching is the first monumental combat record of the Transcendent Mage Kim Kyung-hwan…,’ and that day’s record would also be added.

As he had a pleasant imagination, his fears subsided.

His life had just begun. After that, there was a much more beautiful and honorable flower path. He rolled his head, calming his mind.

“If you go down now, I will meet the instructor who went before…”

He pondered for a moment. He then decided to turn around and went up.

“Because all the people were moving underground, there will be no one on the way to the rooftop, right? I need to figure out how the situation is going in a place where I can see everything.”

When he organized his thoughts, he quite liked his plan. Yes, it was a priority to figure out the enemies before going into battle. Even without Eraser, he was very proud of himself for making such a cool and rational judgment.

Kim Kyung-Hwan began to move quietly in the opposite direction from other trainees who were being evacuated.

He didn’t notice the existence of a shadow that followed him.

***

“Now, we are almost there! Everyone, move calmly!”

The instructor who entered the basement of the dormitory guided the trainees according to the prescribed procedures. Behind the door hidden in the basement warehouse, an evacuation route was arranged in advance. It led to a secret tunnel connected to a destination outside the base. That was the prepared evacuation procedure.

More than 200 trainees lined up and moved calmly. The training had been strengthened since the appearance of the Waterbird. Also, the frequency of evacuation training had increased, especially in recent weeks. The trainees’ complaints piled up, but the instructors who knew the details didn’t even listen.

A few weeks ago, a shocking incident that wasn’t reported in the media took place in Russia. Fires and explosions occurred in one day throughout the country. The media inside and outside of the country remained silent as if it had been promised.

The instructor knew, and it was speculated that the facilities were Russian wizard training centers. From that day, evacuation training in Hun-neung became frequent, and the number of guards on duty increased significantly.

“It’s here!”

The instructor who arrived at the door operated the device. The thick door opened.

“Okay, one by one through here…!”

-Khuaaaaaack!

The human instructor couldn’t continue his words. A quick purple wind blew over his shoulders, leaving only an afterimage in his eyes. After a short time, the instructor’s staggering body fell on the floor.

“Kyaaaaaaaaahh!”

“Eaaaaaaaaarg!hh!”

A scream erupted among trainees who had no practical experience. Next to the instructor’s body, whose neck had been torn apart, a huge purple cat quietly licked its blood-soaked left paw, and it asked the girl who was riding on its neck.

“Is it okay to kill this guy?”

“Yes, he has no Mana.”

The trainees, who were caught in fear, surprise, and unreality, couldn’t even think of responding with magic. The cat was larger than a human being. The girl sitting on it jumped down. Was she ten years old? Her blonde hair came down to her waist. She was wearing an old-fashioned white dress that appeared in the movies.

It was a dead body of an instructor without a neck, a monster cat that didn’t exist in reality, and even a foreign girl was here. It was a combination that could hardly be matched.

“The apprentice was right. They said that if we wait here, everyone will gather.”

The girl said in a calm tone with no emotion.

“You block the back so that no one can escape. Don’t kill the wizard.”

“I know, I know.”

The cat quickly erased its massive body from the spot. A squeaking sound continued from all over the place, and a few instructors and soldiers fell right in their places. Soon after, screams broke out from the back. It was driven to the end at a speed that was close to teleportation.

“Now, then…”

The girl – Alice, concentrated her mind. The children left in the hallway on the 5th floor of that dormitory building through the window. Those little things connected the scene they were watching to her mind.

Stained with red blood, they looked like connecting parts of hell to that world. The little fairies were laughing, carving the bodies, and playing with each other.

There were no more humans alive in that place.

“The arrangement is over.”

Alice counted. The remaining 50 or so fairies in the hallway were no longer needed. However, there was no reason to ask them to flew that way. The long-life creature, which was similar to the shape of a girl, made an efficient judgment.

-The kids there…

Alice’s intention was conveyed to the beings on the fifth floor. In the hallway full of blood and intestines, the fairies answered. “Yeah! Yes, Mammy! Yeah! I’m listening!”

-You all die there.

“Yes! Yes, Mammy! Yeah! All right! Let’s die! We are all here…!”

The fairies ran at each other and started to bite. With a tooth in its neck, the small entities pulled up its nails, tore the other fairy’s wings, and pulled out the heart. After killing each other, the last remaining fairy said with a wide smile.

“Bye~! It was fun!”

It then pulled out the thigh bone of its fellow fairy scattered on the floor and put it in its mouth.

When all the individuals died and vanished, Alice felt the power she had used to make the fairies return to herself. She added a little extra power to make stronger fairies. Though clumsy, wizards were still wizards. More powerful entities were needed than when dealing with incompetent humans.

Deep inside her, part of the subdued consciousness was separated and divided into numerous pieces. Each consciousness blended with her power again and became ‘existences.’

Extinct people were long gone before crossing the wall. Individuals who borrowed the figure were born through her skin. They spread their wings and flew up. Fairies smaller than fingernails filled her surroundings like a swarm of mosquitoes.

And up to that moment, the trainees were unable to respond. Alice thought inside. Would it end easily?

-Clap, clap. She clapped twice,

“Now, everyone, pay attention.”

Alice provided an explanation in front of the fairies. She stretched out her fingers and pointed to her own eyes.

“Here…”

She lifted one of her feet slightly behind her to pinch her Achilles tendon with her fingers.

“Here.”

She raised her head again and looked at her fairies, she said.

“You all tear these two places. Don’t ever kill them, okay?”

“Yeh! Yes, Mammy! Okay!” The answer that came back from those individuals was also passionate at that time.

According to the apprentice they planted, the magic taught at that base wasn’t based on vocal spells. Therefore, it was unnecessary to tear off the wizards’ vocal cords as they did in Mozambique. Alice thought.

Instead, the magic of the alien race called Kaifu was activated only within reach of the gaze, so she had to dig into the trainees’ eyes.

“Well, start!”

The fairies rushed in at her signal.

“Keaaaarghhh! These monsters!”

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“S-save me!”

At first, many trainees were helpless, but when the threat of life struck their noses, they began to respond with magic. However, the fairies flew at high speed and avoided attacks.

As time went by, the number of trainees who crawled on the floor gradually increased as their eyeballs are dug up, and their Achilles tendons were cut off. Alice tilted her head while looking at the scene.

“Huh? Come to think of it… where are the apprentices who infiltrated here?”

She put her hand on her ring and put her Mana. She sent her communication magic to the apprentices.

-Where are you? Why aren’t you here? Quickly bring other apprentices and get ready to move these kids.

The answer came back soon.

-Among the wizards, a peculiar target has escaped from formation and is being tracked.

-A peculiar target?

Alice soon realized who they were talking about.

-That Kim-who kid?

-Yes, it’s Kim Kyung-hwan.

-Ah… really? Anyway, we’re going to scan the base to see if no one has escaped after cleaning up here…

Well, one of the apprentices’ duties was to monitor the peculiar target. In any case, there was no possibility of success in fleeing from the current situation, and the recovery was a matter of time. Still, she thought it wasn’t wrong to chase him since he might fall into despair and commit suicide.

-Okay, don’t accidentally kill him while fighting. Lure him towards other apprentices. We’re surrounding this building, after all.

-All right.

***

“Huh? The Mana moves.”

Kim Kyung-hwan, who was walking through the dark corridor, stopped walking due to a sudden sensation.

“It’s from the basement…”

A massive Mana movement was felt in the basement, where the other trainees were evacuated altogether. Kim Kyung-hwan himself didn’t know, but he wasn’t really good at Mana-sensibility. Nevertheless, he felt that change because such a large force was moving from below.

It wasn’t just one or two trainees, but as if hundreds of people were using magic at the same time.

Kim Kyung-hwan agonized for a moment. What to do? Should he go down there?

He suspected that the enemy might’ve been underground. It would be meaningless to observe if he climbed to the roof.

Yeah, let’s go straight to the basement. The battle might already be in progress, and then it would be right to play an active part there.

Organizing his thoughts, he turned around. The moment he changed his direction and retraced the path he had taken and moved to the basement…

“Eu… eaaaaaargh!”

Kim Kyung-hwan jumped up from his place, frightened. Something moved in the shadow of the hallway.

“What, what is it?! What the hell?! Fuck!”

Kim Kyung-hwan looked ahead, calming his heart which was beating like crazy in amazement. The shadows in the dark split and a human figure was revealed in the empty air.

As soon as he recognized the identity, Kim Kyung-hwan shouted with a red-hot face.

“Ah, what’s this?! You crazy bitch!”

A woman covered the burn scars on her face with her long hair and stood right in front of him.

Hwang Soo-rim.

Kim Kyung-hwan thought, awfully surprised. Why did she pop out from a place like that?

He soon realized a sense of incongruity. Huh? Popped out?

“… You… What the hell.”

There was tension in Kim Kyung-hwan’s eyes.

“How did you do that? I saw it. There was definitely nothing here. But how did you show up?”

While receiving the mixed gaze of her opponent, Hwang Soo-rim’s cold gaze didn’t shake. She opened her mouth.

“Where are you going now?”

“… Don’t change the subject. I asked what you did just now.”

Hwang Soo-rim didn’t care about his words and kept spitting out only what she had to say. Kim Kyung-hwan thought in the meantime that he really didn’t like her arrogant look.

“Are you feeling that Mana and going underground? That’s not allowed.”

“… What bullshit are you talking about? Everyone is fighting downstairs right now. I don’t know what it is, but the guys who attacked this base are now in the basement.”

Then his eyes flashed and spoke.

“You, it’s weird. That magic just now… It’s magic that Kaifu never taught us. No, you’re a bitch who didn’t even learn all first-class magic in the first place. But were you hiding here so I couldn’t even notice? What the hell are you?”

She frowned for a moment, then sighed softly.

“I tried to explain, but we’ve already come this far.”

“… What?”

“Baek Woon-gyu is coming here now. Sooner or later. You’d rather move faster and go out on the roof…”

They then heard a man’s voice behind their back.

“Is there anything wrong with me, Soo-rim?”