Chapter 58

Tumbler Ski Goggles

If someone asked who among our Supreme Wizards was the most thoroughly prepared, the answer would probably be Hamza.

While I was checking messages on my Sorcery Phone, Hamza rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a USB cable and a portable battery pack before handing them to me.

"Mr. Jemin, here's a power bank. Charge your Sorcery Phone."

"Oh, thanks."

The battery had been running a little low anyway.

Since it was our only means of obtaining valuable information from the locals in this hellish Seoul, keeping it charged was a necessity.

Normally, we'd have left the church and continued moving already.

But there was a good reason I remained in the utility room exchanging messages with Kang Areum noona.

April 19, 2028 — 8:01 AM

We remained holed up inside the utility room while listening to vivid sounds coming from outside the church.

The sound keeping us trapped inside was far more terrifying than any monster's scream or howl.

SHOOOOOOO—

A dull roar cut through the air beyond the building's outer walls.

It sounded like a fighter jet slicing through clouds of fog instead of wind.

Naturally, there was only one reason fighter jets would be flying overhead.

Almost simultaneously with the flight noise, bombardment began in earnest.

The ground and walls trembled.

Fortunately, every fluorescent light on the ceiling had shattered long ago, so we didn't have to worry about falling glass.

A loud rattling noise followed.

I wondered what it was until Lee Sejun explained.

"That's a Vulcan cannon. Sounds like they're flying lower than expected."

"Aren't modern fighters supposed to just launch missiles?"

Pastor Park Yohan answered while polishing his glasses with a troubled expression.

"Something's probably interfering with the bombing."

And so we gained firsthand experience of how Seoul was being bombarded.

We listened to distant artillery and bombing runs while eating canned food.

Each of us used disposable forks or chopsticks to practically drink canned tuna.

Lee Sejun even finished the oil.

Meanwhile, Shin Nain, ever the regulation-loving soldier, quietly hummed hymns while eating at a snail's pace.

"Mr. Sejun. We should eat properly. The daily bread given to us by the Lord must be chewed thoroughly so that none of it is wasted."

"But I'm hungry."

"Hmph."

Meanwhile, Hamza was carefully inspecting every corner of his tuna can to determine whether it was halal.

The same honorary Korean who drank soju and ate pork was suddenly checking whether canned tuna was halal.

I couldn't help asking.

"Fish without scales are haram."

"What about pork and soju?"

"If someone offers them without ill intent, and they're delicious, and I repent to Allah afterward, it's okay. Besides, soju isn't alcohol—it's industrial solvent."

Apparently Hamza had his own standards.

The pastor clicked his tongue.

"If that's your logic, just come to church and drink grape juice."

"Apostasy is an unforgivable sin. Even if I fail to follow all of Sharia and must repent, I can't abandon Allah."

"Ha... I think Muslims would be fine if they just believed in God too."

From a third-party perspective, Allah and God both seemed equally terrifying.

I decided to keep my mouth shut.

Just because North and South Koreans were different didn't mean Christians and Muslims weren't different too.

Regardless, I continued picking at my tuna while waiting for Kang Areum's messages.

Meanwhile, we experienced firsthand how the Republic of Korea military's bombardment worked.

First.

The military bombardment focused primarily on annihilating the outer zones and striking monster concentrations near the front lines.

Surprisingly, attacks rarely reached as deep as Olympic Park.

The characteristic incoming artillery whistles were almost absent.

Instead, distant explosions echoed from far away.

Second.

Most attacks inside Seoul came from aircraft rather than artillery batteries.

Just a day earlier, things hadn't been like this.

The arrival of UN forces and the U.S. Seventh Fleet seemed to have changed the situation.

ROK and American airpower practically dominated Seoul's skies.

The sounds of jet engines and bombing runs overwhelmed even the screams of monsters.

Third.

The distinctive buzzing of drones appeared frequently.

Sometimes gunfire mixed into the background, much like when we'd fought Human Jellyfish swarms in Olympic Park.

The pastor focused on that detail and made a deduction.

"Looks like they've successfully established a Wi-Fi network. The advance units, I mean. Drones need communication links to operate."

"Wow. Special forces really are something."

We were struggling just to push forward.

Meanwhile, special forces seemed to be advancing along Subway Line 3 while simultaneously building drone communication infrastructure.

The title "special forces" suited them perfectly.

We'd heard American and Korean special forces were conducting joint operations.

Apparently it was true.

"They're probably laying down Wi-Fi networks along Line 3 as they advance. Line 3 also passes through major locations like Yongsan and Nambu Terminal."

The pastor adjusted his glasses.

"Those places housed some of the last military units that remained in Seoul. Even if they've been looted, there may still be infrastructure left behind. Maybe even surviving soldiers. More importantly, there's a good chance electricity is still available. Any survivor group would naturally establish a base there."

Originally, ordinary military forces would have preferred advancing along Line 8, where monster populations and survivor groups were comparatively sparse.

But repeated disappearances had cost them manpower.

Then they encountered Dubai Sticky Witch Jeong Nari at Jangji Station Department Store and got bogged down.

That was the pastor's theory.

I found myself impressed.

Pastor Park Yohan really did spend time thinking things through.

If he weren't constantly evangelizing and calling the Catholic Pope the Antichrist, he would've been a pretty decent person.

Life was strangely fair that way.

My Sorcery Phone vibrated again.

I set down the tuna can and checked the screen.

[Me: What's a ritual-type?]

[Kang Areum: Are you trying to act cute?]

[Me: Typo.]

[Kang Areum: You're pretty different in messages compared to in person.]

[Me: ?]

I'd merely omitted a single letter because typing was annoying.

Yet somehow I'd been accused of acting adorable.

Who would've thought Baek Jemin's rugged masculinity could be misunderstood like this?

Still, after surviving four months in Seoul's brutal environment, perhaps even this seemed cute to Kang Areum noona.

Good enough.

She kindly explained.

Maybe she simply missed having a normal conversation with a sane human being.

Despite her sharp jawline and imposing physique, she was remarkably kind and considerate.

[Kang Areum: Since this is your first time here, I'm telling you this so you don't die like idiots. Don't worry about me. Everything I'm telling you is stuff you could safely tell military personnel too. This is common knowledge in Seoul.]

I immediately shared every message with the Supreme Wizards.

According to Seoul's wizards, years of independent research and observation had led them to classify magic into four major forms.

Ritual-Type.

Ceremonial-Type.

Modification-Type.

Doctrine-Type.

The information surrounding these forms was vastly more detailed and valuable than anything we'd learned during months outside Seoul.

Unfortunately, Kang Areum appeared genuinely busy.

She only provided a brief overview and an explanation of Ritual-Type magic.

[Kang Areum: Looks like those military idiots outside Seoul copied some of our information, but the fact you don't even know about Ritual-Type means they're complete morons. Listen carefully. Ritual-Type magic comes from making contracts with transcendent beings who regard humanity as insignificant. Practitioners borrow power from those entities. The reason they obsess over human sacrifice is that the payment is usually themselves. There's a concept called Contract Progress. Once it reaches 100%, the contracted entity brings a unique form of destruction depending on its nature.]

She added that Ritual-Type magic was the most mysterious, alien, and dangerous form of magic.

[Kang Areum: Once a contract is established through a ritual, performing additional rituals increases Contract Progress and unlocks more spells. Someone like Ski Goggles probably has two spells. One of them is definitely stealth. Don't fight him until you know all of them. And if you do encounter him, make sure you kill him. Stay alive. We'll meet again someday.]

[Me: Thanks, noona.]

No reply came.

Still, among Seoul's wizards, Kang Areum had to rank in the top ten percent in terms of personality.

Maybe meeting her had been the result of Pastor Park's Doctrine-Type magic, [Soteriological Certainty].

Hamza's magic helped us detect danger.

The pastor's brought good fortune.

Neither seemed particularly useful in direct combat.

Before entering Seoul, I might've considered them inferior to pure offensive abilities.

But after only five days in Seoul, I'd already realized something.

Combat power alone wasn't enough to survive.

Detection and survival came first.

Without combat ability, survival was difficult.

But with only combat ability, survival was impossible.

From that perspective, Hamza's and the pastor's seemingly mundane powers were invaluable.

The other Supreme Wizards nodded as I relayed the information.

The pastor seemed especially relieved.

Even in a place as horrifying as Seoul, there were still people who retained their humanity.

To him, that was the Lord's grace.

"Thank God there are still faithful people out there. Ritual-Type magic, huh... these people really are irredeemable heretics."

"As warriors of the Modification-Type Sacred Tactical Formula, it is our duty to destroy such demonic servants."

Watching the pastor and Shin Nain become increasingly enthusiastic left me feeling exhausted.

But I'd grown used to it.

After all, compared to people who trembled and cried 'How can humans do such things?', fanatics shouting 'Kill the heretics!' were strangely more useful in Seoul.

It was depressing.

Hamza, the Muslim, was somehow the most normal among us.

And Lee Sejun—the secularist—was even more terrifying than the religious fanatics.

In the end, maybe the only thing worth trusting was myself.

With that thought, we stacked the empty cans in a corner and continued preparing to move out.

I loaded bullets into magazines scarred by my greatsword while smearing my blood onto the ammunition.

Thanks to Lee Sejun's newly awakened Hand Magic, the work proceeded twice as fast.

Ignoring the pain in my hand, we stockpiled two anti-monster magazines per person.

We reassigned three grenades to Lee Sejun.

Only two grenades remained afterward.

All the while, we kept checking whether additional notifications would arrive on the Sorcery Phone.

We finally left the glass-walled church in the afternoon.

Shin Nain, who had spent the last several hours sitting silently with his eyes closed beneath his headset, finally spoke.

"The bombardment has ended."

He tapped his headset and smiled.

"The monsters are continuing to move toward the front lines. The sounds are getting farther away. Even the nearby ones."

"Not exactly good news. But it does mean this is the best time for us to move deeper into Seoul."

Lee Sejun hoisted his heavy backpack.

The others did the same.

So did I.

This was Seoul.

An alien ecosystem where monsters and Seoul Wizards could appear at any moment.

In a place that had ceased to be a human city, ordinary humans like the Supreme Wizards were little more than outsiders.

The longer we stayed in one place, the more dangerous it became.

April 19, 2028 — 1:12 PM

Day 5 of Exploration.

The bombardment had ended.

It was time to move again.

Waiting outside the church was a pile of dead Amalgams.

Aside from the fused masses of melted heads, the bodies still resembled humans.

The scene looked like the aftermath of a massacre.

Had monsters ignored the scent of their own dead?

Or had they been frightened away?

Either way, Shin Nain appeared to have been right.

Normally, while walking through Seoul's fog, you could hear monsters crying, laughing, or speaking through stolen human vocal cords.

Even without Ear Magic, the sounds drifted faintly through the fog like echoes in a cave.

But today, there was nothing.

The fog was also reasonably thick.

Visibility stretched perhaps fifty meters.

Roughly three city blocks.

Not bad.

Thanks to the [Purification] enchantment I'd inscribed using Hand Stage 2 inside my gas mask, the usual smell of mold and damp fog had been replaced with something closer to fresh sunlight.

The monsters had moved toward the front lines.

The fog remained dense enough to suppress magical backlash.

There was little to complain about.

Even cowardly Hamza let out a relieved sigh.

That alone said everything.

Pastor Park Yohan looked at the thick fog and visibly relaxed.

Then, with unusual vigor, he led us forward.

"Let's go. Best of the Best. We've got a long road ahead."

And so the Supreme Wizards advanced once more.

Not long after leaving the church, another subway station came into view.

According to the sign, it was Mongchontoseong Station.

Being close to Jamsil, it still contained a fair number of monsters.

The morning's bombing and shelling had also left a lingering smell of burning in the air.

The odor was strong enough to penetrate even my enchanted gas mask.

I immediately confronted Shin Nain.

"I thought all the monsters had gone to the front?"

"There's about five times this many normally, Mr. Jemin."

I activated Eye Stage 1 and looked ten seconds into the future.

The reality was even worse.

The Amalgams wandering the intersection near the station consisted of dozens and hundreds of fused heads.

Personally, I classified Amalgams with fewer than ten heads as small.

Anything with over fifty heads counted as medium-sized.

There were roughly ten medium-sized Amalgams.

Another fifty or sixty small ones wandered nearby like offspring.

They crawled into abandoned vehicles and moaned endlessly.

And that wasn't all.

Fourteen Human Jellyfish floated overhead, observing the Amalgams below.

The fog was thick enough that they hadn't noticed us.

Instead, they were staring at the vaguely human-shaped Amalgams.

Well.

If that's what they wanted...

I lowered my Eye Magic and pulled down my gas mask.

Then I stuck out my tongue.

Tongue Stage 2 — Desire Explosion.

The Human Jellyfish that had been lazily observing the Amalgams suddenly changed.

Hunger flooded their distorted eyes.

Blood vessels burst across their eyeballs.

Drool poured from the corners of mouths permanently stretched into silent screams.

Unable to resist any longer, they dove.

One swallowed a small Amalgam whole.

The Amalgam's numerous arms battered the Human Jellyfish.

Its legs kicked wildly.

The two monsters rolled across the ground.

It became impossible to tell whether the screams belonged to the Amalgams or the Human Jellyfish.

At the same time, my tongue felt as though it were burning.

Ignoring the pain, I repeated the process on several more Human Jellyfish.

The backlash came immediately.

PSSSH!

My taste buds split apart.

Blood burst from the wounds.

No matter how many times it happened, the pain never became easier to endure.

Tears streamed down my face.

I spat blood onto the pavement.

Only after seeing the dark red stain did I pull my tongue back in and replace my gas mask.

Meanwhile, chaos consumed the intersection.

The monsters devoured each other.

Human death cries echoed beneath stolen flesh.

The Human Jellyfish wrapped their tentacles around the Amalgams, trying to consume their faces.

The larger Amalgams responded by melting and flowing upward, attempting to steal the Human Jellyfish faces in return.

It looked like a living hell.

Even the Supreme Wizards found their legs trembling.

Lee Sejun nervously adjusted his grip on his rifle.

The others weren't much different.

"Holy shit..."

"Oh, Allah. That's disgusting. More disgusting than drinking nothing but soju."

"Baek Jemin. The effect is amazing, but couldn't you at least start moving before collapsing from the pain? We have to listen to that nightmare while waiting for you to recover."

"Pastor, this hurts like hell."

It felt like scraping my tongue apart with knives and then soaking it in salt.

Anyone who could ignore that pain was probably a monster.

Even Shin Nain seemed to understand.

He beat his chest dramatically while grinding his teeth.

The fanatic's empathy was surprisingly strong.

He looked directly at me, tears in his eyes.

"Mr. Jemin... I told you to warn us before using it...!"

"How about praising me for neutralizing dozens of monsters first?"

Korea was already a great country.

It would be even better if people learned to compliment achievements before criticizing.

Naturally, none of the Supreme Wizards could deny my contribution.

Thanks to Tongue Stage 2, we crossed the intersection safely.

We advanced through fifty meters of fog while scanning our surroundings with raised weapons.

Behind us, monsters continued devouring one another.

Eventually, I simply said:

"Carry."

A voice filled with jealousy muttered something behind me.

I didn't bother identifying the culprit.

Envy was simply the natural response of lesser people confronted by greatness.

Thus we continued advancing.

"Danger."

Hamza warned us.

"Three heads."

Shin Nain detected something.

"Okay."

I used Eye Stage 1 to follow the red footprints ten seconds into the future and estimate enemy positions.

Then I triggered Tongue Stage 2 and amplified hunger.

Sleep desire was powerful too.

But hunger was far better.

Hungry monsters attacked each other.

Sleeping monsters merely slept.

There were practical reasons I avoided reproduction or excretion desires as well.

Who knew what kind of monstrosities an Amalgam might produce if forced to excrete?

And reproduction would likely make them more aggressive toward humans.

Most importantly, reproduction was too unpredictable.

Meanwhile, Lee Sejun and the pastor remained on constant alert, weapons ready for emergencies.

Our progress was smooth.

Too smooth.

Something felt wrong.

"Baek Jemin. What's wrong?"

"Hmm... something's weird."

"What is?"

The pastor and Lee Sejun sounded bored.

I searched for words.

Then found the closest approximation.

"I'm tired? My feet feel heavy."

"Maybe because you've been fighting monsters and spamming Tongue Magic nonstop?"

The pastor's explanation sounded reasonable.

But intuition was accumulated data.

Countless similar experiences forming unconscious patterns.

Whenever I felt this particular sensation, it usually meant I was about to make a terrible financial decision.

Like investing in cryptocurrency because U.S. stocks had gone up.

One disastrous mistake had permanently cured me of that habit.

That memory guided my decision.

I checked the time.

"Current time: 1:34 PM."

Then I picked up a random piece of lint from my clothes and tossed it onto the ground.

And continued walking.

Anyone who might have complained about littering was currently busy having their faces eaten by monsters.

Fortunately, we encountered no monster packs afterward.

The streets were nearly deserted.

Apparently Shin Nain had been correct.

Yet the strange feeling only grew stronger.

Finally, I stopped.

"Everyone halt."

"Mr. Hamza and Mr. Nain seem fine. Why?"

Lee Sejun blinked behind his gas mask.

But my bad feelings never ignored suspicious details.

I checked the time again.

"Current time: 2:01 PM."

Then I slowly turned around.

The lint ball I had discarded was still visible.

Despite visibility supposedly being fifty meters.

At most, it was eight steps away.

No matter how cautiously we moved, there was no way eight steps should have consumed twenty-six entire minutes.

The moment I realized it, Shin Nain's expression hardened.

At the same time, Hamza suddenly turned pale and sprinted into the center of our formation.

"Danger! Very dangerous!"

Fast and precise.

The new motto of the Supreme Wizards.

Without a word, we formed a defensive circle.

Hamza crouched in the center, trembling.

The pastor, Lee Sejun, Shin Nain, and I raised our weapons and watched every direction.

It was then that Shin Nain finally forced out a strained whisper.

"The sound... the sound is different..."

Without hesitation, I rolled my tongue inside my mouth.

Target. Kill. Monster. Five minutes. Route. Me.

The fog parted.

Red footprints appeared where paths overlapped.

Where the fog swirled thickly, monsters wouldn't come.

Where it cleared, it revealed the routes they would take.

The magic even kindly marked them with red footprints.

I fired first.

RATATAT!

Shell casings clattered to the ground.

Monsters followed.

An Amalgam.

Three faces, one body.

A scrawny one.

The instant my gunfire rang out, the other three dropped to their knees or adjusted their firing stances and opened fire as well.

Gunshots thundered.

Brass flew.

The monsters collapsed one after another without even screaming.

The group consisted only of Amalgams and Devouring Spines.

Fortunately, we'd already killed well over a hundred of each.

Amalgams multiplied by splitting heads.

Devouring Spines were fast and agile.

But in an open area, they had limits.

Because I was here.

Baek Jemin.

Eye Stage 2 Grand Wizard.

Hunting Amalgams had become easy.

If something looked human in the fog, shoot the legs or torso first.

Once it fell, blow apart the head and let the fluids spill out.

Devouring Spines were trickier.

They moved too quickly for normal tracking.

But whenever I scraped my aching tongue lightly against my front teeth—

Modified Eye Stage 2.

My pain is longer and greater than any era before...

The charging Devouring Spines froze mid-motion.

No matter what madness they intended.

They simply stopped.

Rigid.

Motionless.

A motionless Devouring Spine was just an ugly target.

The moment Shin Nain realized I had used my magic, he adopted a perfectly regulation firing stance and methodically executed each frozen monster.

Thud. Thud.

Skulls shattered.

Bullets punched through bone.

Again and again.

The monsters rushed us relentlessly through the dense fog.

But there were only eleven Amalgams and seven Devouring Spines.

The fight ended quickly.

What bothered us was the ammunition expenditure.

Lee Sejun removed a magazine and frowned.

"That's weird. Why'd I burn through an entire mag for something this small?"

The pastor raised an eyebrow.

Something clearly bothered him.

"I don't know. Felt normal to me. What about you two?"

"Yes. I also felt the monsters were faster than usual."

Unlike Shin Nain, who answered immediately, I voiced a different concern.

"The Devouring Spines are weird."

"Huh?"

"These things normally ambush from hiding. Indoors. Hanging off walls, cables, ceilings. They don't usually come out into open spaces."

"...Now that you mention it."

Everyone had felt the same unease.

They just hadn't identified it.

Questions required courage.

Without hesitation, I approached a Devouring Spine corpse with a bullet lodged in its skull.

Naturally, my finger remained on the trigger.

If anything happened, I'd bite my tongue and activate Eye Stage 2 immediately.

As I got closer, I finally noticed something.

The others hung back.

Watching.

Cowards.

How could they hope to grasp the mysteries of magic with attitudes like that?

Their mindset was fundamentally different from mine.

"Mr. Jemin, did you find something?"

"Found it."

I crouched.

Reached out with my left hand.

Something rough protruded from the back of the creature's skull.

At first I thought it was a growth.

Then I realized it was engraved.

Something from a history class floated back into memory.

The first writing system.

Carved into clay tablets.

Cuneiform.

Had Devouring Spines always had this?

I thought back.

Come to think of it, Devouring Spines tended to go berserk if you didn't completely destroy their skulls.

We usually kept our distance afterward.

This was the first time I'd examined one this closely.

The moment I touched the cuneiform—

The corpse changed.

Almost instantly.

The body crumbled like rotten cloth.

Bits of flesh and muscle snapped apart.

Bone fragments touched my hand—

Then the entire thing collapsed into ash.

Scattering into the fog.

Hamza was so startled that he forgot to be afraid.

"Huh? Huh?!"

"Baek Jemin, what was that? Right-hand magic?"

"No. Left hand."

Next came Shin Nain.

Emboldened, he examined other corpses.

He found identical cuneiform markings.

Every corpse that revealed the symbols crumbled into ash.

Without exception.

"Amalgams have them on the neck and upper back where the heads connect. Devouring Spines have them on the backs of their skulls. Also... unlike previous monsters, the bodies disappear."

"We never really inspected monster corpses before. But cuneiform? That's definitely new."

The pastor stroked his chin.

Then Shin Nain added another clue.

"The sounds are different too."

"Sounds?"

"The mental sounds monsters usually make. Amalgams sound like dissonance. Devouring Spines sound like fingernails scraping a chalkboard. These didn't."

He paused.

"They sounded like calm classical music."

"...Which made them even more ominous."

"So they're definitely different from previous monsters."

The pastor frowned.

"If what you're saying is true, doesn't this look like someone's servants? Like heretics commanding demons?"

That was when Hamza spoke up.

His obsession with safety often produced surprisingly intuitive conclusions.

"I-I think it's the Ritual-Type."

Everyone looked at him.

"Normally the angel warns me immediately when monsters are dangerous."

The pastor nodded.

"Right. And your magic isn't working properly either. Doesn't matter if Islam's influence is weak. The fact that it's behaved differently than usual means something's wrong."

He pointed.

"Baek Jemin. Shin Nain."

"Think about that Ritual-Type Wizard. Ski Goggles."

He was right.

Until now it had only been suspicion.

At this point it was practically certainty.

There weren't many eye-based abilities capable of slowing our movement like this.

The real question was where the bastard was watching from.

Once you knew an enemy existed, finding them became much easier.

I rolled my tongue again.

Target. Ski Goggles Wizard. Three minutes. Me.

If he was an Eye Wizard, he'd probably be observing through binoculars from a distance.

If I could clear the fog and locate him—

We won.

That was my assumption.

The fog swirled.

Parted.

Pointed.

My gaze followed.

The fog cleared.

And landed—

On Hamza.

Standing there.

Trembling.

Trusting us completely.

"Mr. Jemin?"

Ski Goggles.

That lunatic.

He wasn't observing from a distance.

He was carrying a limp Devouring Spine and charging directly toward us.

Behind Hamza.

From directly behind him.

No hesitation.

No stealth.

No caution.

Absolutely insane.

An Eye Wizard wasn't scouting from afar—

He was rushing us head-on.

"Lord!"

Shin Nain moved first.

He heard my thoughts.

Didn't hesitate.

Aimed over Hamza's shoulder.

Normal people didn't exist among Supreme Wizards.

Shin Nain was the sort of man who didn't worry about friendly fire against Muslims.

The instant he pulled the trigger—

Footsteps exploded.

Bullets scattered.

And behind Hamza appeared Lee Sejun.

Flying through the air with a loaded backpack on his shoulders.

Launching a kick.

I raised my weapon.

Rolled my tongue.

Target. Kill. Ski Goggles. Five minutes. Me.

If only the fog would clear—

It didn't.

Instead, it thickened.

Within the swirling mist, Ski Goggles' movements became bizarre.

He hid behind Hamza and avoided the hastily fired bullets as though he'd predicted them.

Lee Sejun's kick missed too.

A clumsy sidestep.

Almost accidental.

Almost.

Red footprints appeared briefly through the thinning fog.

But there was a problem.

Three.

Four.

Multiple routes appeared simultaneously.

Every time I aimed at one path—

It vanished.

New footprints appeared elsewhere.

Again.

And again.

And again.

Ski Goggles used Hamza like a moving pillar.

Weaving.

Dodging.

Avoiding Lee Sejun's punches and kicks by mere centimeters.

WHOOOM!

Lee Sejun's punches sounded like industrial crushers tearing apart the air.

Ski Goggles didn't care.

He simply swung the Devouring Spine.

But Lee Sejun was still a Heart Wizard.

If I couldn't shoot the bastard—

Lee Sejun could kill him.

The enemy was using Eye Stage 1 to predict the future.

I shouted internally.

Poop-addict, don't shoot! Pin him down!

As Ski Goggles dodged through the fog, my rifle tracked him.

Finger on the trigger.

Not firing.

Waiting.

Breathing.

Keeping the red-dot sight on him.

Shin Nain understood.

Eventually he stopped shooting too.

If aiming erased one future route—

Keep aiming.

Erase another.

Between us, we gradually reduced the available paths.

That gave Lee Sejun time.

Blood dripped from the sharp edge of his rifle barrel where he'd cut his hand.

He smeared it across his fist.

The combination of Hand Stage 1 and Heart Stage 3 had transformed him into a human tank.

As Ski Goggles tried to widen the distance, Lee Sejun grinned.

"Behold the resolve of a dreaming man."

Like a hornet's sting.

His speed became inhuman.

Every punch erased multiple escape routes simultaneously.

Good.

This could work.

Once only one path remained—

We'd shoot.

And he'd die.

Eye Stage 3 was within reach.

I licked my dry lips.

Then Ski Goggles swung the Devouring Spine.

The dangling spinal tail whipped through the air.

A real man might've punched straight through it.

Lee Sejun was not that kind of idiot.

"GAH?!"

Afraid of getting cut, he jumped backward.

Fortunately, he threw a punch first.

The Devouring Spine's tail exploded.

BOOM!

One punch.

The entire monster disintegrated into powdered bone.

But we'd lost him.

The red footprints multiplied again.

Far too many.

We couldn't erase all the routes anymore.

I considered shooting through Lee Sejun.

But if Ski Goggles had another trick ready, injuring our strongest close-range fighter would've been disastrous.

Ski Goggles launched himself backward.

Disappearing into the fog.

Visibility: fifty meters.

Gone.

For a moment, I thought we'd lost him.

Then Shin Nain spoke.

"He knows you're an Eye Wizard."

His voice was firm.

"He'll kill you to prevent pursuit. The fight isn't over."

Right.

Eye Wizards were excellent trackers.

If you encountered one as an enemy, killing them was logical.

Unfortunately...

That Eye Wizard was me.

"Lee Sejun. Get back here. Those blood fists are ridiculously strong."

"Hah... cowardly bastard. Using blades in a fistfight."

"Muslim, stay near me. You'll survive longer under my magic."

"Y-Yes. Fine. I'll trust the Christian for now."

Lee Sejun started walking back.

At least we'd learned one thing.

Blood-Fist Lee Sejun was absurdly powerful.

Then Shin Nain suddenly shouted.

"Sky! Monster!"

When Shin Nain spoke briefly, things were serious.

I looked upward.

Human Jellyfish.

Normally nothing more than flying trash mobs.

I raised my weapon—

Then froze.

Because I saw something.

Something I would've missed if I'd moved faster.

The pastor had turned to lecture Hamza.

Hamza stood pale-faced in front of him.

And behind both of them—

Ski Goggles was charging.

Holding an Amalgam head in one hand.

Guns were slow.

And Ski Goggles was an Eye Wizard too.

That bastard wore ski goggles to conceal exactly where he was looking.

Yet our gazes met.

Mine.

His.

Eye to eye.

He possessed Modified Eye Stage 3.

A higher realm than mine.

If this continued—

I would lose.

So I accepted the pain.

Rolled my tongue.

This wasn't for Future Sight.

Target. Stop. Ski Goggles. Two minutes.

Thus my pain became longer and more absolute than any era before...

CRUNCH.

My tongue tore between my teeth.

At the same moment—

Our eyes met.

Our magic collided.

The pain transcended anything I'd experienced.

Like molten candle wax dripping directly onto my eyeballs.

Burning.

Hardening.

Burning again.

I couldn't suppress the scream.

My mouth opened.

My throat strained.

Tears flooded my vision.

I sobbed like an animal.

Not because I wanted to.

Because it hurt too much.

Everything froze.

Only Ski Goggles and I remained.

Eye Stage 2.

A magic that forced one's perception of distorted time onto another.

We were forcing our respective timelines onto each other.

Every landscape froze.

Only our eyes moved.

My instincts whispered the truth.

The loser would pay a terrible price.

And the weaker one—

An even worse one.

Seconds.

Minutes.

Hours.

Meaningless.

Time had collapsed.

Even through tears and blurred vision, I never stopped staring.

Then finally—

I broke.

Needles stabbed both eyes simultaneously.

The pain became unbearable.

I shut my eyes.

The frozen world shattered.

Only then did I realize my silent sobbing had actually been screaming.

"AAAH... AAAAAAH..."

When pain reaches a certain level, even screams stop working.

I stumbled backward.

Tears pouring.

Ski Goggles.

Was he okay?

Were my eyes okay?

My legs gave out.

I collapsed.

When I forced my eyes open again, brilliant flashes of light stabbed into my vision.

Not blind.

Not yet.

Shapes were returning.

Temporary.

Hopefully.

But I knew one thing with absolute certainty.

If I hadn't enhanced the spell with Tongue Magic—

I'd have lost both eyes.

I didn't know who had won.

But Ski Goggles had suffered backlash too.

He'd retreated.

Whimpering like a wounded dog.

Only then did Hamza and the pastor turn around.

Both stumbled backward in horror.

Before they could scream—

Lee Sejun and Shin Nain moved.

"HUH!"

Shin Nain raised his rifle.

Lee Sejun charged with his blood-covered fist.

Normally, that would've been the end.

But Ski Goggles recovered faster.

The moment his gaze landed on Lee Sejun—

The charging man slowed.

Instantly.

Not human slow.

Slower than a slug.

Even a sloth would've moved faster.

I raised my weapon.

Still shaking.

The pain remained.

Using Eye Magic again was impossible.

One more time—

And I'd really go blind.

"Uuuuh...?"

"Lee Sejun! What are you doing?!"

The pastor's frustration changed nothing.

The moment Ski Goggles looked at him and Hamza—

They slowed too.

"Sh-sh-shooooot hiiiiim—"

But Shin Nain was different.

RATATAT!

Ski Goggles staggered.

Gun smoke drifted from Shin Nain's barrel.

He exhaled calmly.

"Demon."

"Return to Hell."

I made my decision.

Losing both eyes was madness.

One eye?

Acceptable.

Odin had been one-eyed too.

I rolled my ruined tongue.

Target. Kill. Monster. One minute. Route.

The Eye Magic compensated for my trembling hands.

Red footprints became aiming markers.

Human Jellyfish descended from the sky.

Good enough.

RATATATAT!

Shell casings flew.

Human Jellyfish fell.

Grotesque balloons covered in human faces crashed onto the pavement.

The familiars were finished.

Or should've been.

One red footprint remained.

The Amalgam head Ski Goggles had been carrying.

A chill crawled across my skin.

Eye Stage 1 didn't reveal living things.

It revealed moving things.

The footprints were still appearing.

Behind Lee Sejun.

Who was dragging Hamza and the pastor to safety.

I aimed.

The shaking stopped.

My rifle settled.

Lee Sejun blinked behind his gas mask.

"Mr. Jemin?"

"Get down."

Thank God he was a coward.

The moment he heard me, he dropped flat.

Abandoning Hamza and the pastor instantly.

And finally—

The figure hidden behind him became visible.

Ski Goggles.

Charging.

Using the Amalgam head as cover.

And then—

I heard the spell.

The one he used for stealth.

A language that shouldn't exist in any human tongue.

Yet somehow did.

"Halu Shen Chungshuyasen."

Meaningless.

Yet magical.

Invisibility didn't stop bullets.

I fired.

BANG.

Ski Goggles collapsed.

BANG-BANG.

He coughed.

Abdomen.

Side.

Thigh.

Any normal person would've bled out.

But Ski Goggles had survived Shin Nain's bullets.

And mine.

He had another trick.

Then I noticed.

His gaze disappeared.

Behind those goggles, he'd closed his eyes.

And the moment he did—

He stood up again.

Fully healed.

Before we could fire again, he threw aside the Amalgam head.

Then reached into his backpack.

Pulled out a metal stake.

A tent peg.

Using the loop as a pommel and wrapping the shaft with bandages for grip.

"This is bullshit."

His voice was ruined.

Like a man who'd smoked and drunk himself half to death.

He glared at us.

Angry.

"Because of you bastards, my contract progress just jumped over fifteen percent."

Lee Sejun crawled backward.

Stunned.

Hamza and the pastor looked equally horrified.

"What...?"

"Why isn't he dead?"

"A jinn! It's a jinn! O Allah!"

"W-Why won't he die?! Go to Hell already!"

The only reason Ski Goggles didn't attack immediately was because of me and Shin Nain.

We both had rifles aimed directly at him.

Neither of us spoke.

We understood.

You couldn't target his head.

He would always choose a future where his head survived.

And we'd already figured out why.

Orthodox Modified Eye Stage 3.

[Cognitive Dissonance].

By rejecting what happened to his body—

He erased the injury itself.

"That's insane."

Fear?

Horror?

No.

The weak man trembling in agony no longer existed.

Before me stood a fragment of true power.

Power that could become mine.

And I felt only exhilaration.

Because all I could think about...

Was crushing Ski Goggles' eyes.

And taking that power for myself.