novelraw Chapter 21 : Chapter 21
Chapter 21 : Chapter 21
Chapter 21. Heosan (2)
The Demonic Beasts weren't evenly distributed throughout Heosan Village.
There were many Demonic Beasts in places with many corpses to feed on and good places to hide.
On the other hand, there were few Demonic Beasts in places with no corpses, no cover, and too much sunlight.
Since there were no Demonic Beasts, hunters rarely went to such places either.
But Riman willingly entered such a place.
Into that empty zone where there seemed to be nothing to eat.
“Is this the place?”
Inside Heosan Village, the empty zone.
Riman arrived there.
The number of Demonic Beasts he encountered on the way was zero.
This was because he had used Saya's reconnaissance ability and detection magic to deliberately choose a route with no Demonic Beasts.
In the place he arrived at, there was a three-story building.
The area around this building was today's destination.
There were no Demonic Beasts or hunters in sight.
But Riman did not let his guard down.
[Detection]
Swoooosh-
Riman slowly approached the building with his detection magic deployed.
There was no sign of anyone around the building.
But Riman's keen senses and the performance of [Detection] saw through what was hidden in this silence in an instant.
‘There’s something here.’
The moment he thought that.
Thwak!
A Demonic Beast that had been hiding in a corner lunged at Riman in a single bound.
“Sahaaaak!”
Saya let out a sharp, metallic cry, revealing its hostility towards the Demonic Beast.
But Riman was not flustered.
Because he could already clearly see its expected path.
A magician was one who calculated and manipulated even the unknowns of nature.
If it was information that was clearly visible, there was no reason he couldn't deal with it.
So, what Riman had to do was not to be flustered or to dodge.
It was just to choose the most suitable magic for this moment.
Absorb mana, construct the magic with an image, and project it.
This triple process was carried out in an instant, and gracefully.
The moment the distance between him and the beast narrowed to one meter.
The magic revealed itself.
[Weight]
A magic that amplifies the gravity of a designated point.
Fwoooosh!
Thud!
The enhanced gravity crushed the beast in an instant, and it knelt down and collapsed.
Riman looked at the beast.
A Demonic Beast in the form of a feline predator.
Suddenly, a long gash on its side caught his eye.
A wound that was by no means shallow.
It seemed to be a wound sustained during a territory dispute with other Demonic Beasts.
‘So that’s why it was pushed out to a place with no food like this.’
Objectively, it was a pitiful situation.
But there was no reason to sympathize with it from a human's perspective.
“Grrrr…!”
The beast flashed a murderous glint in its eyes at Riman.
But that was it.
Riman aimed his fingertips at the tip of the beast's nose.
And the magic was cast without mercy.
‘Deposited glass, the nakedness of obsidian.’
[Incision]
A magic that fires a blade of compressed wind.
But this time, it wasn't just one stream.
Swish, swish, swish!
Rapid fire.
Three streams of slashes exploded on the beast's face almost simultaneously.
It became a corpse and collapsed on the ground.
Thud!
A corpse sprawled out with a heavy sound.
Riman looked down at the beast's face, which had been divided into six pieces.
It was the result of taking three consecutive shots of [Incision] to the face.
Firing the same magic three times in a row, with almost no delay.
Until recently, it was something impossible for Riman.
Because the closer the interval of rapid fire, the more exponentially the mana consumption increases.
Meaning, firing the same magic three times with a short interval consumes much more mana than firing it three times with a sufficient interval.
Of course, Riman did not experience mana depletion thanks to his special physical constitution that allowed him to absorb and use mana on the spot.
However, since many of his mana veins were blocked, the amount of mana he could mobilize at a moment's notice was not that large.
But through the battles he had experienced so far, the mana veins in his body had expanded quite a bit.
Thanks to that, this kind of rapid fire had become possible.
Certainly, combat was making Riman grow.
“Let’s see.”
Riman rummaged through the shattered face of the Demonic Beast.
It was to retrieve the tag attached to its ear.
He had to submit that tag to receive money from Ork Corporation.
“Here it is.”
He plucked out the tag that was pierced through the Demonic Beast's ear like an earring.
The tag was made of metal, about half the size of a palm.
It was made of a fairly thick metal plate, and various information, including a serial number, was written on the surface.
Riman put the tag in his inner pocket and muttered.
“This should be enough to clean up…”
Riman sent Saya up to scout the surroundings one last time.
After finally confirming that there were no Demonic Beasts or people around.
Riman prepared to cast magic once again.
Ssk-
Riman stretched out the index and middle fingers of his right hand and held them forward.
And he recalled the images in his mind.
‘An overturned coffin, scattered flowerpots, a neglected fire cart.’
Images that at first glance seem to have no relation to each other.
But by leaping between the images with a thread-like similarity and weaving them together, a point is revealed that cannot be reached by ordinary association alone.
Magic begins right there.
The horizon reached at the end of pushing imagination and association to their limits, and beyond.
The vast sea of mana where symbols, signs, and letters must be used as a beacon.
The bud of magic finally sprouts in that place.
[Flame Seed]
Fwoosh!
A dark black flame ignited at his fingertips.
If fire had a density, it would probably be a flame of considerable density.
The flame that had burned brightly began to shrink back.
It wasn't going out, it was being compressed.
Soon, the fire took the form of a black sphere and floated motionlessly at his fingertips.
This was the Flame Seed.
Riman brought this seed of fire to the ground.
Sizzle-
The seed of fire that touched the ground instantly dug into the ground.
A single flame was planted in the ground.
This was the beginning.
Riman continued to create Flame Seeds and bury them in the ground.
Along this path, at regular intervals.
After finishing burying 10 Flame Seeds.
Riman went up to the rooftop of a nearby three-story building.
He could see things exploding and smoke rising in the distance.
It was probably the hunters starting their Demonic Beast hunt.
But this place where Riman was was still quiet.
A place where there was a hunter but no prey.
But it didn't matter.
If there was no prey, he could just make some.
“Saya.”
Saya, who was circling above his head, came down in front of Riman.
Riman took out a bottle containing a green liquid from his pocket and said.
“Let’s do this well.”
Trickle-
Riman poured the liquid from the bottle onto Saya.
A liquid with a strange smell was coated over Saya's body.
“Hey, hey, don’t shake it off.”
“Kiiing.”
“Just move as I tell you to. Of course, in an emergency, move according to your own judgment.”
Swoosh-
Riman activated the sense sharing with Saya.
“Let’s go. To hunt.”
Pat!
Saya began to quickly cut across the sky.
* * *
Six blocks away from where Riman was.
Four hunters were taking a short break from hunting and catching their breath.
“How many have we caught?”
“Four.”
“Not a bad start. Let’s catch a bunch more.”
Just then.
“Hmm? What’s that?”
One of them spotted a black sphere flying at a low altitude.
“A drone?”
“Looks like it.”
They couldn't even imagine that it was a golem.
“Whoever it is, they’re working hard, even using advanced technology. Hey.”
“What?”
“Shoot it down.”
“Roger.”
Right now, Heosan Village was a zero-sum game.
The more someone catches, the less someone else's profit becomes.
So it was right to interfere if they could.
Swoosh-
As one of them waved his hand, the iron needles in his pocket floated into the air.
A psychokinesis-type superpower.
The iron needles all aimed at the golem floating in the sky.
And he lightly flicked his finger.
Swish, swish, swish, swish!
The iron needles were fired at high speed.
Just before the iron needles were about to hit Saya.
Whip!
A sharp turn without any warning, and a steep dive.
A strange movement that seemed to openly ignore inertia.
Thus, Saya lightly dodged the iron needles and disappeared from their sight.
The hunter who had shot the needles was momentarily stunned.
He had never seen a flying object move like that before.
“…What was that?”
“Is that kind of movement possible…?”
But the bewilderment was brief.
They felt a subtle vibration rising from the soles of their feet.
“Uh…?”
“Something’s coming, get ready!”
A subtle vibration of the ground.
It meant that something was moving on the ground on a large scale.
And that vibration gradually began to approach them.
“Hey, wait a minute…!”
Thump, thump, thump, thump!
A dozen or so Demonic Beasts were running towards them from afar.
And at the very front of the Demonic Beast pack, the flying object they had just seen, Saya, was flying.
As if it were leading this pack of Demonic Beasts.
The hunters' faces turned pale all at once.
“Damn it, get ready to fight…”
“To hell with getting ready! Run! How are we supposed to catch them!!”
The hunters immediately jumped into a nearby alley to take cover.
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump!
In the end, it was the right decision.
The Demonic Beasts ran past the hunters and kept going.
These Demonic Beasts had no interest in the hunters.
Their interest was only in one thing.
The golem flying in front of them.
“Hah, hah, hah…!”
The Demonic Beasts' breathing was ragged, and their eyes were focused only on the golem.
A clear state of excitement.
The unknown scent emanating from Saya was intensely captivating the Demonic Beasts.
That scent was coming from the green liquid that Saya was covered in.
A liquid prepared by Ji Byeong-seo at Riman's request.
This was prepared with a base of silver vine extract.
Silver vine, a plant that excites and captivates felines.
And these Demonic Beasts were all individuals born from the mutation of cats or feline predators.
Therefore, they couldn't overcome the instinctive attraction to the silver vine and began to madly chase Saya.
Swoosh!
Thus, Saya roamed every corner of the slum, spreading its scent and luring the Demonic Beasts.
The Demonic Beasts that reacted to the scent began to chase Saya without a second thought.
The pack of Demonic Beasts, which was only a dozen or so, quickly swelled to dozens.
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump!!
An enormous number of Demonic Beasts began to run after Saya like a swarm of rats following the Pied Piper.
“What the…?”
“Is this a dream?”
The hunters who watched this from a distance didn't even dare to approach.
Dozens of Demonic Beasts, each requiring a team of at least two or three to hunt.
Touching a pack of this size was obviously a suicide mission.
In the end, the hunters could only watch helplessly as a pile of money ran by.
The moment the size of the Demonic Beast pack reached a certain point.
Riman thought.
‘Now.’
The luring stopped.
If he got too greedy here, the Demonic Beast pack he had worked so hard to lure could fall apart.
Now was the time to finish this hunt.
Riman controlled Saya and lured them to where he was.
‘They’re coming.’
Dozens of Demonic Beasts rushed into this empty zone.
Into this street where the seeds of fire were buried.
Riman stood on the rooftop of the building and looked down at the approaching Demonic Beasts.
Thump, thump, thump, thump!
From now on, timing was key.
He had to capture the exact moment to embroil as many Demonic Beasts as possible.
And that timing was…
‘Now.’
[Ignition]
Fwoosh!
A black fire ignited on Riman's palm.
Riman threw the fireball towards the ground as if scattering it.
Fireballs poured down on the heads of the Demonic Beasts.
But that fire was not just for burning the Demonic Beasts.
Just as a downpour of rain awakens the buds of sleeping flowers.
The rain of fire awakened the seeds of flame that were buried in the ground.
The flames that had been condensed underground exploded all at once from under the feet of the Demonic Beasts.