novelraw Chapter 16 : Chapter 16
Chapter 16 : Chapter 16
Chapter 16. Demonic Beast
Leaving the snatchers who had paid the price behind.
Riman entered the Noksan Junkyard.
He drove his motorcycle past the silent mana detector at the main gate and into the junkyard.
But for some reason, the atmosphere today felt strange.
“Why is it so quiet?”
The guard who should have been at the main gate was nowhere to be seen.
Usually, by the time he got this far, a question like, "What brings you here?" should have flown his way.
“Hmm.”
Sensing the unusual atmosphere, Riman got off his motorcycle.
He then walked deeper inside with silent steps.
And soon, he found out the reason for this suffocating silence.
“Grrrrrrr….”
A beast, larger than a tiger, was roaming inside the junkyard.
The junkyard was quiet because the members had hidden inside the office to avoid that beast.
Riman quietly hid behind a large car and watched the beast.
It was to distinguish whether it was a Demonic Beast or a Summoned Beast.
Demonic Beasts and Summoned Beasts.
Both were creatures that harbored mana, but there was a difference.
A Demonic Beast was a creature born from an earthly creature being altered by mana.
A Summoned Beast was a creature summoned by a summoner and moved according to the summoner's will.
The reason he had to distinguish between the two was that the method of combat changed depending on who he was facing.
When facing a Demonic Beast, he just had to deal with the Demonic Beast.
On the other hand, when facing a Summoned Beast, he had to strategize while also considering the summoner, whose location was unknown.
That was why he had carefully surveyed the scene first.
It had an appearance of irregularly mixed black and white fur.
It looked like a cat that had been greatly enlarged.
And that was…
‘A Demonic Beast.’
Riman finished his assessment.
‘But seeing it in person, the sense of pressure is considerable.’
A Demonic Beast felt completely different from seeing a wild animal.
Unlike a typical wild animal, a shimmer like a heat haze surrounded a Demonic Beast's body.
This was because it was constantly enveloped in a defensive barrier made of mana.
Because of this, it was difficult to inflict significant damage on a Demonic Beast with conventional firearms.
To deal effective damage to a Demonic Beast of that size, one would need to bring at least a mortar.
But explosives of that much power were not easily obtainable even in the Korea of 2200.
That was why a mana user was an essential existence when dealing with Demonic Beasts.
Superhumans, Enhanced Humans, and Magicians.
Their attacks, which utilized mana, could neutralize and disintegrate the Demonic Beast's defensive barrier, allowing them to hunt Demonic Beasts much more efficiently.
And Riman was currently the only mana user in this junkyard.
At present, only Riman could catch that Demonic Beast.
‘What should I do?’
He had already fought several battles, but he couldn't help being nervous.
Facing a human and facing a beast were two different matters.
But even though his mind was tense, his body was not at all.
His body maintained extreme composure, separate from his mind.
He wondered if this was also a characteristic that this body originally possessed.
‘I have to subdue it in one go. If I subdue it half-heartedly, it’ll go on a rampage and make a mess of the surroundings.’
If it were just an open lot, it wouldn't matter, but this was a place of business.
It was better to subdue it as cleanly as possible.
After all, it was the business place of someone he was on friendly terms with.
‘Should I go with lightning?’
For clean-up and instantaneous stopping power, lightning magic was the best.
But to knock out a beast of that size in one go…
‘I'll need a pretty high-energy electric shock.’
Fortunately, his mana veins had expanded a little after the battle with Alex.
It had become possible to use magic with higher power than yesterday.
‘Alright, then with lightning….’
The moment he thought of doing so.
A hose nearby caught his eye.
It was a high-pressure hose used for washing cars.
‘Wait a minute, there was a much simpler way.’
Riman picked up the hose.
* * *
Meanwhile, inside the Noksan office.
The place was packed to the brim with all the members of Noksan.
A rather gruesome sight of dozens of sweaty men squeezed into a not-so-spacious place.
But it couldn't be helped.
Having spotted the Demonic Beast while working, they had no choice but to hide in the nearest place like this.
“Hey, move over a bit.”
“There’s no room here either, man.”
“Hey, hey, don’t push.”
The scene of them whispering rebukes to each other, lest any sound leak out, was quite strange.
In any case, they had no choice but to endure like this.
Because there wasn't a single mana user in Noksan.
So, they had to hide and hold out until the Demonic Beast went away.
Just then.
“Huh?”
Ruger, who was looking at the CCTV monitor, spotted something.
“The magician is here…!”
“What?!”
“Shh! Lower your voice, you bastard!”
The gazes of the members all turned to the monitor.
It was true.
On the monitor was the image of Riman facing off against the Demonic Beast with a car between them.
Hope began to dawn in the members' eyes.
‘The magician…!’
‘You’re dead now, you Demonic Beast bastard…!’
‘Go for it!!’
They had completely forgotten the fact that this man had beaten them up just a few days ago.
They looked at Riman with gazes full of support and expectation.
What would a magician's battle be like?
How would that Demonic Beast die?
The moment everyone's expectations were at their peak.
‘…Huh?’
What Riman picked up was a car wash hose.
‘What’s he trying to do with a hose… Ack!’
Swoooosh!
Riman began to spray water at the Demonic Beast with the hose.
The water, shot at high pressure, crossed the 10-meter distance and hit the Demonic Beast.
Of course, no matter how high the pressure, it was not enough to even scratch the Demonic Beast's body.
The members who saw this scene were horrified.
‘What, what is he doing?!’
‘Is he crazy…??’
Swoooosh!
The Demonic Beast soon looked at Riman, who had sprayed it with water.
A murderous glint flashed in its eyes.
“Kyahak!”
With a sharp roar, the Demonic Beast charged at Riman.
The distance between them was a mere 10 meters.
But even at that moment, Riman was leisurely spraying water.
7 meters, 5 meters, 3 meters.
The distance between Riman and the Demonic Beast closed in an instant.
Some of the members watching this squeezed their eyes shut.
The image of Riman being crushed by the Demonic Beast's paw flashed through their minds.
The moment their imagination was about to become reality.
‘A shattered mirror, corpses frozen cold.’
Shattering the poor imaginations of ordinary men, magic revealed itself in reality.
[Freeze]
CRACKLE!!
The cold air that erupted from Riman's hand instantly froze the Demonic Beast.
Flash freezing.
In the blink of an eye, this giant cat became a large block of ice.
The water the Demonic Beast was covered in, the moisture scattered in the air.
It was a matter of course that a wet object would freeze faster than a dry one.
These situational factors that Riman had created had explosively accelerated the freezing process.
But the Demonic Beast wouldn't die from freezing alone.
To finish it off, Riman placed his hand on its neck.
[Incision]
CRACK!
THUD!
The Demonic Beast's head separated from its body.
Just like that, the situation was over in an instant.
Cleanly, without affecting any of the equipment of this business.
Riman spoke towards the office building.
“Everyone, come out. The situation is over.”
The office door burst open.
“Waaaaah!”
“Magician! I knew you'd succeed!!”
The members of Noksan who poured out cheered for Riman.
And Ruger came to the forefront, bowed his head, and said.
“Thank you…!”
“Don’t mention it. And, I’ll take this Demonic Beast's corpse, okay?”
“Of course. Is there any question?”
Riman approached the Demonic Beast's corpse.
A decapitated corpse covered in ice.
But the ice also had a black tint.
Black lightning, black fire, black ice.
‘Why is even the ice black.’
A strange body in which all magic manifested in black.
Well, with these thoughts, Riman cut open the Demonic Beast's belly.
[Incision]
Now that he looked, even the blade of wind had a very faint black tint.
Anyway, after rummaging through its stomach, Riman pulled out a Magic Stone.
Most of the Magic Stones used in this world were mined from mines, but they also came from the bodies of Demonic Beasts.
Although both were Magic Stones, there was a slight difference.
Usually, the ones extracted from the body of a Demonic Beast had a higher purity and were more likely to have special properties.
That was why they were traded at a higher price than mined Magic Stones.
As Riman was wiping the blood off the Magic Stone, Ruger spoke from the side.
“That’s great. You can sell it when you go to the Black Market with me today.”
“Ah, that’ll work.”
Riman put the Magic Stone in his bag.
“By the way, Magician, may I ask for your name? I need to know your name to introduce you at the market.”
“Leman White.”
“Aha.”
A few seconds later.
A slight question arose on Ruger's face.
“Come to think of it, when you called me yesterday, you called me Ruger, didn't you?”
“Ruger… isn't that right?”
“Well, I don't think I ever told you my name.”
Ah, right.
Come to think of it, in this world, he had never heard the name from Ruger.
The name Ruger was just information he had learned while playing the game.
In any case, some explanation was needed.
A moment later, Riman said.
“…This is magic.”
“As expected!”
He had just bluffed his way through, but for some reason, Ruger was instantly convinced.
Because he had little knowledge of magic, he was 오히려 convinced quickly.
‘To be honest, there is a magic that can actually find out names…’
There was only one magic that could find out the other person's name without an introduction.
Magic of the mind manipulation system.
However, there were very few magicians who could use mind manipulation magic.
While other systems could be developed to a certain extent through effort, mind manipulation was 100% pure talent.
On top of that, just learning the mind manipulation system was enough to become a target of ostracism.
This was because there wasn't a single sane person among the mind manipulation system magicians.
In the first place, there was no way one could maintain a sane mind while rummaging through other people's heads.
It was highly probable that they were greatly lacking in some area, or that things that shouldn't be there were excessively packed in.
Anyway.
“Get in.”
“Thanks.”
Riman got into Ruger's car and they set off for the Black Market.
* * *
The Black Market was located in the old downtown area in the center of Gangbuk, Seoul.
Surprisingly, it was located in the city center, not in a secluded place.
This was because it was mixed in with ordinary general stores.
Therefore, most people passing by here often did not even know that there were Black Market shops here.
The overall visual was an atmosphere that seemed to mix a traditional market with the old Cheonggyecheon shopping district.
Riman entered the shopping district with Ruger.
“You’ve never been here before, have you?”
“This is my first time here in person.”
“By the way, is there a particular item you’re looking for?”
“I’m looking to buy a golem.”
“A golem… then that shop probably handles them. Follow me.”
Riman knew everything, but he feigned ignorance and followed quietly.
The shop they arrived at was a shabby hardware store.
A normal hardware store that, at a glance, didn't seem to have any illegal items.
Ruger approached an old man who was reading a book in a corner.
“Have you been well, boss, haha.”
“Is there something you’re looking for?”
“There is someone to introduce.”
Ruger pointed to Riman and said.
“His name is Leman White. He said he’s looking for a golem. I vouch for his identity.”
“A golem?”
“Yes. And also…”
Ruger lowered his voice and said.
“He’s a magician, a magician.”
“Oh, I'm sure he is.”
The owner looked at Riman with narrowed eyes.
Then he asked.
“I only take cash.”
“I know.”
Riman slightly lifted the bag full of money.
“Good.”
The owner got up from his seat and went to a corner of the shop.
He then opened a door disguised as a cabinet.
Beyond the door was a narrow staircase leading up to the second floor.
“Go up.”
“Thank you.”
“Oh, and by the way.”
The owner blocked the door and said.
“There’s a pitch-black, round flying-type golem. The one tied up with chains.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Don’t you ever touch that. Not unless you want to lose a few fingers.”
“…I’ll keep that in mind.”
The owner stepped aside, and Riman and Ruger went up to the second floor together.
The atmosphere of the second floor was completely different.
The ceiling was twice as high as the first floor, and the area was four times as wide.
Various types of golems and dolls were lined up, and various magical tools were neatly arranged on the shelves.
Ruger asked.
“By the way, what kind of golem are you looking for?”
“I’m looking to buy a pitch-black, round flying-type golem.”
“Aha… what?”
Ruger's eyes widened.