Chapter 59: Roadside Rumble

[Translator – Aren]

Ski Goggles and our group faced each other for only a brief moment.

Gripping a steel tent stake, ready to strike, Ski Goggles almost looked like a gladiator. Granted, Hamza barely counted as a combatant, but anyone willing to take on five opponents alone had to be insane. Then again, that seemed to be the minimum requirement to become a wizard.

The standoff lasted at most 5 seconds.

During those 5 seconds, Shin Nain and I kept our rifles trained on him, searching for a way to kill him instantly. We’d concluded that the only way to overcome Eyes-branch, Stage 3 [Cognitive Dissonance], was to render him unconscious before he could reject reality.

Naturally, Ski Goggles wasn’t going to die that easily.

Shooting him through the heart wouldn't be enough. A death too instantaneous to even perceive would probably slip past Eyes-branch, Stage 3, entirely. We needed to inflict a death so absolute that even he couldn’t deny it.

A clean headshot would erase his ability to perceive anything, which should prevent him from activating his magic, but even that felt like a gamble.

What if we killed him instantly and whatever remained of his consciousness still activated Eyes-branch, Stage 3, because he never perceived his own death?

There were simply too many possibilities.

And in a battle against another wizard, a careless conclusion inevitably led to defeat.

Apparently, Ski Goggles had reached the same realization. Still gripping the steel tent stake, he leveled its point toward us and steadied his breathing.

5 seconds.

That was as long as the standoff lasted.

The moment it ended, Shin Nain, who’d been calmly aiming at Ski Goggles, suddenly swung his rifle skyward. A short breath escaped through the filter of his gas mask.

"Jellyfish!”

At that exact instant, Sky Goggles stepped forward.

The Human-skin Jellyfish were Shin Nain’s problem.

I’d already begun rolling my battered tongue inside my mouth.

Target, kill, Ski Goggles, path, 3 minutes, me.

This time, there were no red footprints.

The fog simply cleared and then rolled back in, revealing a safe path over and over again. The problem was that the intervals had become absurdly short.

Before I could even blink, the fog cleared, swirled shit, and cleared again countless times. It almost looked like flashing lights.

I understood. Ski Goggles was using Eyes-branch, Stage 1 to counter my own Eyes-branch, Stage 1.

A clash between two Eyes-branch, Stage 1 wizards felt like playing an endless game of chess.

Every time I tried to aim my rifle along Ski Goggles’ path, the fog rolled in and hit it. Then the fog cleared somewhere completely different. The instant I shifted my attention, the fog closed again.

It wasn't just when I aimed my rifle. Even moving my gaze was enough to make the fog endlessly open and close.

It felt like some brat repeatedly flicking a light switch on and off, making the fluorescent lights strobe nonstop.

Only then did I realize that we were trapped within a single, endless second.

Time between Ski Goggles and me had stretched into infinity.

The instant our Eyes-branch magic collided, our sense of time had become distorted once again.

Each of us, constantly predicting the other’s future, making a move, then countering it over and over without end.

Everything around us had slowed almost to a standstill. Only thought and perception remained free. The fog flickered, shattered, and reformed into countless illusions. Red footprints filled my entire field of vision.

The endless loop finally broke when Ski Goggles spoke another string of meaningless sounds.

Olnipial.

And in that instant, time began to flow again.

An Amalgam burst through the fog, cutting directly between Ski Goggles and me. An 8-faced Amalgam. Its limbs dangled limply as its cluster of compound eyes met my gaze head-on.

My body couldn’t react immediately. I’d just spent what felt like an eternity trapped in that slowed-down world. In my mind, I’d already raised my rifle. In reality, my hands were only just tightening around the grip.

Backlash.

The backlash from our magical duel had thrown my mind and body out of sync.

The Amalgam’s compound eyes seemed to grin at me. I hoped it was just my imagination.

The irregularly layered pupils stared straight into my eyes, betraying the faintest trace of motion.

This monster was capable of thought.

And right now it was happy.

Before I even feared death, I felt the same revulsion as seeing a cockroach twitch its antennae in a kitchen sink.

I felt the same skin-crawling dread as a swarm of leeches slithering toward me through a rice paddy.

This… This was a smile no human being could ever accept.

The instant the Amalgam charged with that horrible smile in its countless eyes, every human instinctively realized they’d just end up another face among them. And that realization shattered the mind.

Even more so, if you sensed the chilling possibility that those expressions and those dying screams weren’t the monster’s at all. They belonged to its victims.

The most horrifying fate awaiting anyone before they ever reached the pinnacle of magic.

An eternity where even the mercy of screaming for death would be denied opened its jaws before me. Only then did I truly understand why Father Jeong Yonghwan had clung so desperately to the Lord.

The hell imagined by mankind was pitifully trivial.

Compared to the real thing, the fiery hells preached by the world’s great religions were merciful beyond belief.

Within my endlessly slowed perception as time gradually began accelerating again The Amalgam’s compound eyes forced an understanding upon me that no one should ever possess.

An eternal existence trapped inside a monster’s body, allowed only to devour more victims. A consciousness and reason forever dragged around by monstrous instinct, forced to contemplate its own fate until the end of the universe and perhaps long after.

The true end awaiting all humanity stood before my eyes.

That monster, grinning with the single, elongated mouth stretched across all its faces, was the true Hell prepared for every human being. Every monster overrunning Seoul was simply another variety of the Hell awaiting mankind.

We...

...Stand not before the end but before the beginning of eternity.

The moment that crushing understanding settled into me, my fingers loosened around my rifle. It couldn't be helped. No matter how optimistic someone was, accepting a truth like this in an instant was impossible.

Only the ignorant could endure it.

And Lee Sejun was such a complete dumbass that he actually could.

"Magic Punch!!!”

-Cruuuunch!

His blood-soaked fist smashed into the Amalgam’s head.

Given how amorphous the creature was, his fist should have harmlessly sunk into it. But Lee Sejun’s Bloody Fist carried the power of Hands-branch, Stage 1 magic.

Watching the compound eyes that had been grinning at me slowly twist into pain and utter disbelief, I steadied my resolve. To pull myself together, I moved my battered tongue. Already mangled beyond recognition, I scraped it lightly across my front teeth and bit down.

Crunch.

A sharp, burning pain flooded my mouth before shooting straight through my skull.

My right hand tightened instinctively around my rifle. Time began to flow once more. My awareness settled back into my body. When the illusion of everything fast-forwarding at 15x speed finally ended, I’d already shouldered my rifle and taken aim.

-Click.

Beyond the Amalgam, whose head Lee Sejun had just reduced to something resembling soft tofu, I saw Ski Goggles.

He was swinging the steel stake straight at Lee Sejun. Using the Amalgam as cover to block my line of sight, he’d waited until Lee Sejun was occupied.

Clever bastard.

But a bullet traveled faster than a steel stake could reach its target, so I gladly pulled the trigger for him.

A gunshot rang through the area, and a shell casing flew free.

Just as the muzzle flash and drifting gunsmoke vanished into the fog, Ski Goggles’ posture buckled awkwardly. I’d aimed for his head. He’d twisted his body at the last possible instant, taking the shot through his left shoulder and side instead.

Even so, Ski Goggles didn’t go down quietly.

Olnipial.

The meaningless word echoed once more. A shadow dropped from the sky.

It was one of the Human-skin Jellyfish under Ski Goggles’ control. That bastard could summon the monsters he’d bound to himself. Not only that, he could command them.

I hurriedly swung my rifle upward.

-Ratata...

Gunfire from behind me tore through the Human-skin Jellyfish before mine ever could. Only one person among the Supreme Archmages could pull something like that off without needing to think.

Our super detector, Shin Nain.

He’d somehow appeared beside me, tapping my shoulder. When I turned my head, he was already aiming into the sky, maintaining a perfect firing stance with one hand.

"Jemin-ssi, leave the demon’s servants to the pastor and me!”

The pastor copied Shin Nain’s stance, raising his K2. Hamza came sprinting over in a panic.

"Islam, toss me a magazine!”

"M-magazine!”

-Thunk!

The magazine Hamza threw smacked straight into the pastor’s shoulder before bouncing away.

It looked ready to hit the ground until the pastor snatched it cleanly out of the air like he was catching a baseball.

"Throw it properly next time!

"S-sorry!”

"I’ll keep firing, so Shin Nain, change your magazine first! Jemin, help Sejun with that demon!”

Just what you’d expect from the Supreme Archmages.

Who cared if the beginning of eternity awaited us? If something pissed us off, we’d just shoot it.

That was the spirit of the Supreme Archmage. Immersing myself in that spirit, I finally cast aside my fear.

A real man answered with actions, not words.

Instead of replying aloud to the pastor, I simply shouldered my rifle again and aimed toward Ski Goggles. Lee Sejun was already there, pummeling the summoned Amalgams with his Bloody Fist.

"Jemin-ssi, a little help!!!”

-Whoosh—.

Every swing of the blood-soaked fist smashed an Amaglam’s head apart like a lump of wet sand.

Despite the horrified look in his eyes as he punched them, Lee Sejun’s breathing remained perfectly steady. The bastard was single-handedly beating them all to death with his fists and still asking for help.

Then again, if I had to punch Amalgams to death barehanded, I’d probably be getting goosebumps too. So I decided to help him.

Without hesitation, I rolled my tongue inside my mouth.

The searing pain made tears well up in my eyes, but that burning pain was proof that I was still facing reality.

I realized I’d grown another step stronger today and grinned. If I were growing stronger, then even pain could be welcomed with joy. Writhing in agony, tears streaming down my face, I rested my finger on the trigger, laughing all the while.

Before the beginning of eternity, only pain is immortal.

My pain was the one true light, the only guide leading me toward becoming an omnipotent Archmage.

That was why pain itself was salvation.

In this Hell, pain alone was real.

My salvation, my hope, and my future all lay within pain!

-Bang, bang, bang…

Whenever I shot one of the Amalgam’s limbs, throwing it off balance, Lee Sejun charged in without hesitation.

Each time his Bloody Fist tore through the wind and fog, Amaglam’s head burst apart with a wet 'thwack,' scattering like brittle, dried sand.

Whenever it looked like Lee Sejun was about to be surrounded, I shot out the legs of the charging Amalgams, breaking their formation, giving him the opening he needed to slip free and throw another punch.

For a while, gunfire and spirited battle cries echoed endlessly. Monster corpses piled up around us. We’d killed at least a dozen Amalgams, a dozen Predator Spines, and a dozen Human-skin Jellyfish.

Then, beyond the sea of monster corpses, Ski Goggles emerged from the swirling fog.

He slowly surveyed the dead monsters around him, clicked his tongue, and chanted once more.

Olnipial.

But this time there were noticeably fewer monsters. Only Human-skin Jellyfish and Predator Spines remained. Apparently he’d run out of Amalgams to use as bait. I immediately leveled my rifle. Then Ski Goggles raised his left arm.

What?

Was he surrendering?

Caught off guard, I lowered my rifle ever so slightly. Of course, it wasn’t surrender. The moment Ski Goggles raised his left arm, a Predator Spine on the ground suddenly leapt upward. 

Its rib-like legs wrapped around his forearm, locking themselves in place.

I could even hear his long padded coat audibly compress beneath the pressure.

-Squeeeeeze—

With the Predator Spine clamped around his left arm, Ski Goggles casually shook it once.

Everyone else simply stared, wondering if the bastard had finally lost his mind. But I understood why he had done it.

The Predator Spine’s stinger tail swayed along his left arm.

That…That Ski Goggles bastard…

He’d strapped a Predator Spine onto his arm like a segmented whip sword!

"You disgusting soldier bastards.”

-Clatter!

The sound of bone fragments striking together rattled like chains. Ski Goggles lazily spun the steel tent stake in his right hand and began walking toward us.

-Squelch.

Watching him crush Amalgam corpses beneath his boots as he advanced sent chills down my spine. I’d assumed an Eyes-branch wizard would stay at long range, playing things safe. I was wrong.

This bastard had tamed monsters, figured out the most efficient way to use them, and built his entire fighting style around close combat.

All to make absolutely certain his opponent died.

Only then did the rest of the Supreme Archmages realize why he’d attached the Predator Spine to his arm. Their faces filled with horror.

"O Allah…”

"What kind of lunatic uses monsters like that?!”

-Clang, clang!

Ski Goggles tapped the asphalt with the steel stake, then used it to pick out the remnants from the shattered Amalgam head.

After skewering the still-gooey flesh, he twirled the steel stake around as if he were making cotton candy.

Anyone else would’ve thought he’d completely lost his mind.

But to a wizard, that was the most efficient killing weapon imaginable.

For an ordinary human, being pierced by a steel stake coated in Amalgam bodily fluid or struck by a Predator Spine’s stinger-tail meant certain death.

Even Shin Nain, who was in the best condition among us, couldn’t simply turn his rifle on Ski Goggles.

Right now, he was our anti-air battery.

Bound Human-skin Jellyfish kept appearing overhead without end, and Shin Nain was the only one keeping them at bay. Even the pastor found himself stealing glances toward Ski Goggles, but only Shin Nain continued firing without pause.

With the clinking of spent shell casings as background music, Ski Goggles turned toward us, displaying the steel stake in one hand and the Predator Spine strapped to his arm.

My finger rested on the trigger, yet I couldn’t fire.

I really wanted to.

Part of me wondered if I could simply activate Eyes-branch, Stage 1 and end this with a single shot, but Ski Goggles was an Eyes-branch wizard thoroughly seasoned in battles between wizards.

If our Eyes-branch, Stage 1 magic collided again, I’d suffer the heavier backlash.

And if he followed that up with Eyes-branch, Stage 2, we’d all be wiped out.

Battles between wizards weren’t decided by magic alone. They were contests of both physical ability and strategy. The instant you got careless, it became an all-or-nothing duel where total annihilation was the only outcome.

There was only one answer.”

Swarm him.

"Lee Sejun, you’re on close combat.”

"Man…”

'Maybe Magical Punch sounds cooler than Magic Punch.'

Putting aside the nonsense drifting through Lee Sejun’s head, he was still our most reliable frontline fighter.

He pulled down his gas mask, bit hard into his right hand until it bled, and clenched his fist. Bloody Fist Lee Sejun and I, the Eyes-branch wizard, would handle Ski Goggles together.

The others would deal with the endless stream of familiars he kept summoning.

Apparently Ski Goggles had already guessed how we’d divide up. He shook his left arm once more. The scraping clatter of bones rubbing together rang through the air.

-Claaaaatter—!

"You soldier bastards, do you have any idea how many people died because of you? You shot everyone who got infected and now you’ve crawled back here? What the hell do you think this place is? The nerve!”

His ruined voice cracked with fury.

"You should become monsters too. Rot just like we did!!!”

He was coming. Lee Sejun charged first, launching himself into a flying dropkick. Ski Goggles casually twisted his body aside. The kick missed. Then, as Lee Sejun passed by, Ski Goggles flicked his left arm, sending the Predator Spine’s singer whipping out like a segmented sword. This was where I stepped in. Time to remind him of one simple truth. People died when they were shot.

-Babang!

I deliberately aimed for his thigh instead of his head.

It was the most agonizing place to hit. It would be a devastating wound, but not one he’d immediately classify as instant death.

Ski Goggles staggered.

At the exact moment, someone grabbed my shoulder and violently shoved me aside.

-Crash!

It took less than a second to understand what had happened.

-Chomp.

It was a Human-skin Jellyfish. It dropped straight onto the spot where I’d been standing.

The one who saved me was Hamza.

His face had gone deathly pale, and through his gas mask I could hear his ragged breathing. Before I could thank him, the pastor aimed at the Human-skin Jellyfish sprawled on the ground and pulled the trigger.

-Ratata—.

"Baek Jemin, that bastard’s way too good at controlling his familiars! Concentrate!”

"Yessir."

That was all I managed to say.

Ski Goggles.

The instant the bullet hit his thigh, he’d commanded one of his familiars to attack me from behind. The Dubai Sticky Witch, Jeong Nari, whom we’d fought at the Jangji Station department store, had relied on overwhelming physical ability. Ski Goggles was completely different.

But Jeong Nari’s tactics held the answer.

She’d known we had both an Eyes-branch wizard and an Ears-branch wizard, so she never stopped applying pressure. Maybe that was the answer. Only an all-out assault that overwhelmed both perception and stamina could force mistakes.

I raised my rifle and looked toward Ski Goggles again.

That was when I realized just how seasoned a Seoul wizard he really was.

-Whooosh—.

The steel stake sliced through the air, and Bloody Fist answered with another punch that split the air.

Lee Sejun and Ski Goggles were locked in perilous melee, constantly on the move. Even then, Ski Goggles never stopped accounting for me.

The instant I raised my rifle and aimed, Lee Sejun’s movements suddenly slowed.

"Soooooo…”

Ski Goggles swung his left arm. The Predator Spine’s stinger extended joint by joint like a segmented sword and shot straight for Lee Sejun’s throat. It was a perfect dilemma.

Shoot Ski Goggles, or use Eyes-branch, Stage 2 to save Lee Sejun.

I hope anyone would understand why I couldn’t immediately choose either option.

Lee Sejun was a 24-year-old former staff sergeant who’d failed to make career service. A hairy, grown-ass man who looked even older than he was and yet dreamed of becoming a magical TS anime girl. Honestly, he wasn’t exactly the kind of friend you’d want to keep around.

So I chose neither.

Instead, I rolled my tongue inside my mouth. There was another way.

Upright Alteration-type, Tongue-branch, Stage 2, Desire Amplification.

Sleep.

At that instant, Ski Goggles visibly staggered, his posture collapsing.

As his stance broke and his vision wavered, Lee Sejun was free again. Seeing the stinger aimed at his throat, he let out a silent scream and leapt backward.

"Urgh!”

His delayed shout echoed just as Ski Goggles stumbled.

Without a shred of hesitation, I seized the chance to put a bullet through his head.

Target, kill, Ski Goggles, head, 5 minutes, path.

It worked.

That endless duel of infinite predictions and counterpredictions vanished. The fog still rolled in and out, but unmistakably slower than before. Ski Goggles’ perception was bogging down under overwhelming sleepiness.

It’s over, you bastard.

The moment my finger squeezed the trigger…

-Bang.

The bullet pierced Ski Goggles’ skull.

He didn’t die instantly. Somehow he’d managed to cling to consciousness long enough to activate Eyes-branch, Stage 3.

But this time it was over.

I steadied myself against the backlash, determined to keep putting rounds into Ski Goggles’ head until he finally died.

Then, Ski Goggles flicked his steel stake as if shaking water off it.

The Amalgam’s bodily fluids splattered away. After flinging the slime from the weapon, he gripped the stake in reverse and let out an earth-shaking scream.

"You outsiders!!! Die!!!”

-Crunch!

That day I witnessed a truly great wizard.

The moment I saw the steel stake jutting out through the gaps between the Predator Spine’s bones wrapped around Ski Goggles’ left arm, my knees nearly gave out. He was completely insane. In the best possible way.

To overcome the magically induced sleepiness, Ski Goggles had driven the steel stake through his own left arm.

If he’d stopped there, I wouldn’t have called him a wizard but an idiot.

But Ski Goggles had already thought several steps ahead.

When he yanked the stake back out, he designated the Predator Spine clinging to his limp arm as the thing that would move in his place.

-Craaack!

The Predator Spine stiffened, stretching straight like a splint, and began moving Ski Goggles’ left arm for him.

Unable to use stealth anymore, Ski Goggles was now a wizard who could pressure us using only two things. His Eyes-branch magic and his familiars. Pointing the bloodstained steel stake at Lee Sejun, he growled with his ruined voice.

"I’ll grow stronger. And when I become strong enough to overcome your precious bullets and artillery, I’ll shove the faces of every last one of the other 40 million people into Mimic’s heads.”

With those words, Ski Goggles charged at Lee Sejun.

He was consumed by rage. The problem was, he fought just as brilliantly while enraged.

Lee Sejun and Ski Goggles exchanged blow after blow without pause.

Bloody fists. The segmented sword formed from the Predator Spine’s tail. The blood-soaked steel stake. They tore through the air over and over, each trying to pierce through the other’s flesh.

Even so, Ski Goggles never stopped guarding against my rifle. He deliberately kept moving behind Lee Sejun, using him as cover from my shots.

This wouldn’t work.

"Magical Punch!”

I wasn’t about to let that ridiculous damn attack name steal the coolest part of this fight.

-Click.

Without hesitation, I gripped my rifle and threw myself straight into the middle of Lee Sejun and Ski Goggles’ close-quarter battle.

"Baek Jemin, what are you doing?!!!”

The pastor’s desperate shout rang out behind me, but a real man proved himself with results.

I could empty magazines all day and still fail to bring Ski Goggles down. What we needed right now was Lee Sejun’s crushing finishing blow. A punch painful enough to force him to acknowledge the damage he’d taken.

My role here was support.

"Jemin-ssi?!”

"I’m backing you up. Just keep doing what you’ve been doing.”

Defense, critical injury, Lee Sejun, 5 minutes, path.

The effect of joining the melee was immediate. The instant Ski Goggles brought his steel stake crashing down toward Lee Sejun, my rifle stock was already swinging upward from below, having predicted that future.

-Clang!

Ski Goggles shot me a sideways glance. The impact had numbed his hand.

His grip loosened involuntarily as his fingers spread around the stake. He barely managed not to drop it, but it was obvious he couldn’t swing it again immediately.

Then, Ski Goggles’ movements abruptly accelerated. In one swift motion, he clenched the steel stake tightly once more.

-Crunch.

"Jeeeeeemiiiiiiiin-ssiiiiiiiii..."

The way Lee Sejun’s voice dragged out told me everything I needed to know.

Ski Goggles, the moment he realized I was using Eyes-branch, Stage 1, answered with Eyes-branch, Stage 2, slowing our movements to a crawl. As if he alone were moving at triple speed, he calmly adjusted his stance and raised his left arm.

It was still just barely within the limits of what a human eye could follow.

The Predator Spine’s tail stinger, controlling his left arm, swayed through the air, looking ready to slice open our throats.

But the instant Ski Goggles had stabbed his own left arm to overcome the magically induced drowsiness and refused to heal it so he could keep feeling pain, his fate had already been sealed. Pain ate away at concentration and attention.

Otherwise, why would people take painkillers?

Ski Goggles had forgotten that simple truth for far too long.

-Bang!

Time returned to normal.

Mine, Lee Sejun’s, and Ski Goggles’. Our flow of time synchronized back.

What happened was obvious.

Beyond Ski Goggles’ shoulders, the pastor’s K2 was trailing acrid gunsmoke.

Catching my eye, the pastor raised his left hand and gave me a firm thumbs-up.

That was the signal.

Lee Sejun instinctively realized we’d gained the upper hand. I’d trusted the other Supreme Archmages from the start, so I was already halfway convinced we’d won. I moved immediately.

Lee Sejun clenched his blood-soaked fist. I tightened my grip on my rifle, ready to swing the stock.

"Lee Sejun. You take the left arm. I’ll take the right.”

"Roger."

As revolting as it was to admit, Lee Sejun and I made a surprisingly good duo.

The instant we split our roles, our teamwork against Ski Goggles finally clicked.

Whenever Ski Goggles thrust with the steel stake, my rifle stock knocked it aside.

Whenever the Predator Spine’s tail stretched out, preparing to strike, Lee Sejun’ Bloody Fist smashed into it. Whenever Ski Goggles used Eyes-branch, Stage 2 to slow us down so he could escape, another member of the Supreme Archmages stepped in.

Shin Nain.

Using Ears-branch, Stage 3 to read Ski Goggles’ thoughts, he immediately switched places with the pastor.

"Pastor!"

"Got it, switching with Nain!”

The pastor and Shin Nain traded positions, each aiming at different targets.

Shin Nain aimed his rifle at Ski Goggles. The pastor turned his toward the familiars. Hamza stood behind them trembling, yet still pointing into the fog with one finger, directing the pastor.

"There! That one’s dangerous!”

"Keep calling them out and hand me another magazine!”

"Here!”

Amid all the frantic shouting, Shin Nain’s solemn prayer rang out more clearly than ever.

"Almighty Lord above, may Your authority descend upon this land. As I pull this trigger, I cast out the servants of evil…”

-Bang!

Ski Goggles’ magic broke.

Lee Sejun and I, who’d been slowed to a crawl, instantly returned to our normal speed and launched ourselves back into the attack.

"Uwaaaaaaaah!!!”

At some point, Lee Sejun had completely abandoned anything remotely magical, unleashing a relentless barrage of brutally physical punches that kept Ski Goggles pinned under sheer pressure.

As for me, I focused entirely on knocking away the segmented sword formed from the Predator Spine’s tail and the steel stake whenever they darted through openings, making sure Lee Sejun didn’t get injured.

The brawl between the three of us only grew fiercer.

Our ponchos and Ski Goggles’ long padded coat whipped violently in the wind pressure created by our movements.

The shriek of steel scraping against my rifle stock rang through the air. Every time I heard fabric tear, I couldn’t help wondering if my stomach or side had just been sliced open.

There we were, inside a fog filled with flying bullets, surrounded by the hellish chorus of steel and bone grinding against each other.

Naturally, the ones who seized victory in that brawl were the Supreme Archmages.

-Crunch!

Lee Sejun’s Bloody Fist shattered the segmented sword made from the tail stinger.

The Predator Spine shrieked as it tore free from Ski Goggles’ left arm. At that instant, Ski Goggles looked straight at me. Through the lenses of his ski goggles and my gas mask, our eyes met.

As Lee Sejun’s knee came up, I had no idea what expression Ski Goggles wore.

But I did my very best to convey a heartfelt message through my own eyes.

Don’t worry.

I’ll smash your eyeballs for you!

-Boom!

Lee Sejun’s kick exploded into Ski Goggles’ stomach.

The impact was enough to pulverize bone. Ski Goggles didn’t even have enough control left to roll across the asphalt. He simply crashed into it. It seemed his arms and legs were broken by that one stroke, because he couldn’t even twitch properly.

Even so he didn’t die.

As long as Eyes-branch, Stage 3 remained, given the slightest opportunity, he would recover.

Cognitive Dissonance was just that powerful.

But it wasn’t invincible.

If you kept forcing reality onto him, you could kill him. I raised my rifle and began firing at the twitching Ski Goggles. Each time I pulled the trigger, I took one step forward.

-Bang. Bang. Bang…

By the time I safely reached him, all 5 Supreme Archmages had gathered around Ski Goggles, standing in a circle.

I smiled, aiming straight between his eyes.

"Any last words?”

"My…”

-Bang!

Ski Goggles convulsed. His body, now riddled with bullet holes from head to toe, finally went limp. The unending pain had become too much for even Eyes-branch, Stage 3 [Cognitive Dissonance], to reject, so he’d failed.

That was the method I’d devised to defeat Eyes-branch, Stage 3 magic.

The pastor clicked his tongue.

"You were going to shoot him anyway, so why’d you even ask for his last words?”

"So while he was busy thinking about what to say, he’d have no choice but to fully acknowledge that he was about to die.”

"Wow, Baek Jemin, the way your mind works is terrifying.”

Just to make sure, I put one more round through his heart as well.

Only then did I turn to the now heavily breathing Lee Sejun.

"By the way, Sejun-ssi, why'd you answer with ‘Roger’ like that?”

"What? Would you have preferred ‘Wakatta yo, Onii-chan’¹?”

Yeah.

This overwhelming disgust and revulsion… That was our strength.

We rage.

We loathe, resent, and curse the terror and absurdity thrust upon us without warning. Even knowing that, from a cosmic perspective, our anger would change absolutely nothing, we still choose to fight.

We will not surrender to nihilism and press forward.

At least, I was ready to face whatever truth lay ahead.

Amid swirling gunsmoke, drifting fog, scattered shell casings, and monster corpses littering the roadway, we stood over the corpse of a wizard and exchanged glances.

At long last, it was time to celebrate our victory.

"Now then. Time for the fun part. Looting.”

This time I was going to take everything!   

_________________________________________________________________________

¹ Got it, big brother…