Retire 480

480 Territory War (2)

The wide plaza, surrounded by hotels, was full of sights to see.

Tall palm trees lined the walkways, symbols of the sweltering weather, and a broad fountain added a sense of coolness. At night, glowing lights and an artificial canal completed the scene. Even now, half-ruined as it was, there was plenty to catch the eye.

If Gamble were here in Korea, she might have enjoyed watching this gaudy city get smashed for her own reasons. Didn’t she seem rather delighted when Imiseon’s pension was destroyed?

And now, in this ruined plaza, flowers were blooming. At a glance, the lush grass covering the plaza could be mistaken for a meadow. Roses trailed up the palm trees and lampposts, and a rich fragrance tickled the nose.

Like some kitschy scene from an old movie, red petals fell from the sky like snow. A single spear sliced sharply through the drifting petals. The petals scattered and whirled in the wake of the spear, sometimes swirling like a storm, sometimes wrapping around it, tearing the air like thorns.

Whether intended or not, it was a dazzling spectacle. No wonder the fleeing citizens kept slowing down to look. Normally, a hunter’s battle isn’t such a beautiful, flower-scented scene.

Perhaps for that reason, there were plenty of cameras pointed our way from the plaza’s edge and the hotels. Whether they didn’t value their lives, or thought it was worth the risk to capture this on film, I couldn’t say. It was a relief Kim Chaemin had sent Hope away early. Whatever Lehmann might do, if Hope were exposed like this, who knew what rumors would start swirling around him? The mildest would be that he was some secret agent for Korea or the U.S.

“Is it possible?”

“We have to make it possible.”

Kim Chaemin’s tone was brimming with confidence.

“That bastard keeps getting on my nerves… If I don’t land a proper hit, I won’t be able to sleep.”

He was genuinely irritated. He’d tried to act unfazed, but it was clear he hated having his magic blocked by Lehmann.

This terrain wasn’t favorable for Kim Chaemin, just like in the Busan dungeon. Busan had been a sandy beach by the sea, hardly a place for roses to grow. He’d said he’d had a ‘bit’ of a hard time before my father and I arrived.

I never asked how much of a hard time it really was.

To subdue Lehmann in an environment that didn’t suit his strengths, Kim Chaemin had layered his unique magic over and over. Maybe because of that experience, this time he didn’t hesitate. The grass covering the plaza and asphalt roads was Kim Chaemin’s doing.

Still, it wasn’t an environment where he could use his magic freely. In Korea, with its abundance of mountains, it was easy to drive monsters onto soil. But here? It was all stone or desert.

But Kim Chaemin was Kim Chaemin.

An archmage who never spoke nonsense.

“What do you need me to do?”

If Kim Chaemin said it, it would happen.

“……”

He smiled fiercely, his expression composed.

The beast wasn’t only on the other side. We had one too—far more beautiful, fierce, and terrifying.

If you used official terms, you could dress up this trip to America as a foreign assignment or support request.

Even outside the U.S., skilled hunters were in short supply worldwide, so there was a lot of international exchange. Many hunters worked abroad depending on their circumstances.

I’ve said all this before.

Guild Mimi’s trip to America was, in truth, meant to help those suffering from severe manpower shortages by tackling relatively easy dungeons that weren’t a high priority.

It gave us time to investigate Noah Michel and Henry Lehmann, and a stage to practice working together in preparation for what was to come.

In reality, since we couldn’t just launch our own investigations in another country, the focus was more on the latter. After all, neither Michel nor Lehmann would leave Father alone. He was rumored to be the world’s savior, after all. There was no better bait to lure out the hidden Michel and Lehmann. Hope was similar—there’s nothing more effective for moving people than a personal grudge.

Conversely, if they didn’t take the bait, there wasn’t much we could do to draw them out.

But if, by some chance, Michel and Lehmann didn’t make a move, would that make our trip pointless?

Not at all.

We weren’t so disorganized as to waste time. If Michel and Lehmann stayed quiet, we’d just focus on our own work—clearing dungeons for the Americans, getting used to each other, learning to coordinate. If the day ever came when we had to enter the Mont Saint-Michel library, it would be our job, one way or another.

So we—so I—became used to Kim Chaemin’s magic.

Once, when he realized I knew something about future magic theory, Kim Chaemin had pestered me to take him as a disciple.

He knew I wouldn’t agree, but even if I had, he would have nodded and gone along with it. He wouldn’t have said it if he hadn’t meant it.

We weren’t master and disciple like Park Seohyun and Choi Jinwoo, but we’d talked plenty about magic. It wasn’t one-sided, especially after Kim Chaemin told me why he was chasing the Ark.

The rose his grandfather left behind was destroyed, but the research passed from grandfather to father, and from father to daughter, remained.

The giant made of mana Michel used to chase Woo Irok. The petals Kim Chaemin used to tear mana to shreds.

I’d thought that was the effect of Kim Chaemin’s unique magic. It had to be, it was so versatile.

“Can you see it?”

Kim Chaemin grinned like a mischievous child.

“Yes.”

I nodded.

His mana moved with a chill. Lehmann, busy fighting Father, didn’t notice us. If he were thinking of Hope or Bloom, he might have.

But this place was already saturated with Kim Chaemin’s mana. Unless you were intimately familiar with his magic, you wouldn’t notice the subtle shifts. Or you’d have to be a monster like Father, who could read mana’s movements by instinct.

…There was another beast here.

Father’s movements shifted. Even without knowing what we were planning, he responded instinctively.

“For someone so confident, you’re not doing much. I guess that’s why, even as an archmage, you’re still getting trounced by that kid.”

Lehmann naturally turned his back to us.

“Hey, I’m not the only one Noah’s beaten, you know?”

“Me?”

Lehmann wasn’t ignoring us completely. Who would just leave an archmage unchecked?

But he kept breaking the magic Kim Chaemin used to bind his movements. In this environment, Kim Chaemin’s magic couldn’t show its full power, and Lehmann was rampaging to maximize collateral damage. Kim Chaemin focused on minimizing that damage—or at least, that’s how it looked.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Father aimed directly for Lehmann’s neck.

Maybe because it wasn’t his own body, Lehmann didn’t seem to care about injuries. He even offered up his neck, closing the distance to attack Father. Blood dripped from his half-torn neck. For a human, it would have been a mortal wound.

Even the blood didn’t seem human. It was too viscous, more like mud than liquid. It wasn’t fully red, either—there was a golden sheen. No, it was more like gold-colored mud tinged with red. The blood didn’t soak into Lehmann’s feathers, just slid off.

“You’ve been too scared of me to do anything all this time.”

“…If I’d had permission, I would have done it anytime!”

“But you didn’t.”

“……”

“But I get it. I can be scary. Sure.”

Father’s voice was drowned out by Lehmann’s mana, which howled like a scream.

I couldn’t make out what he said, but it clearly had an effect on Lehmann. Kim Chaemin didn’t miss the opening.

“Don’t sever everything.”

“I know.”

“Just strike directly.”

“Understood.”

“It can’t be helped if he breaks the link, but… still!”

“I’ll check the pattern. We’re not in a dungeon, so there’s CCTV. Daniel can analyze it as much as we need.”

Kim Chaemin scanned the chaos with sharp eyes. He couldn’t see mana like I could, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t sense it.

I wondered what kind of world Kim Chaemin saw.

“Now!”

“I know!”

Roses. Roses.

Kim Chaemin’s mana, his magic, which I’d seen so many times.

In my hand was my sister’s sword. Just as I’d grown used to Kim Chaemin’s magic, he’d grown used to the fire I created with my sister’s sword.

Kim Chaemin’s grandfather had bloomed roses that purified corrupted mana.

His father had researched those roses and invented magic to decompose mana.

Kim Chaemin refined that magic, summoning a storm of rose petals that shattered spells.

“May the blooming rose vines bless you.”

Just as I’d done at the training academy, I wrapped my sword in Kim Chaemin’s magic. He excluded the fire’s effect from the petals.

The sword my sister left me created flames infused with mana. And strong mana usually interferes with others’ magic.

A skilled mage could withstand it—someone like Noah Michel. That’s why I couldn’t use this method on the doll I’d met in the Busan dungeon.

But now, Lehmann didn’t have Noah Michel. Maybe a mage like Luise Kruger was helping him. But unless she was as powerful as Kim Chaemin…

Well. Could he withstand it?

“……”

Father saw me move and parried Lehmann’s claws with his spear, stepping back just enough to throw off Lehmann’s balance. When Lehmann noticed and reacted to me, there was a brief opening.

Lehmann twisted his body quickly—beastlike reflexes and flexibility. He was a little faster than I’d expected, but it was enough.

In less than a second.

I didn’t strike Lehmann, but the heavy, pooled gray mana beneath him.

“……!!”

The mana unraveled. The magic tore apart.

Mana and spell tangled together. Blue flames forced their way through the shredded magic. Petals burrowed in. Vines grew, binding the mana.

‘I know your mana, Mr. Woo. I’ll handle the rest, so just attack that lump of mana and set it on fire.’

Vines climbed the blue flames. Mana connected. The foreign magic resisted, but the roses crushed it by force.

It was pushed back. Pushed and pushed, all the way to the end.

The gray mana caught fire. Lehmann attacked me to shake me off. Father blocked his claws. The other hand was severed. The blood clumped like mud.

Through it all, I didn’t look away.

As the gray mana tore, a magic pattern emerged.

It was so faint, I might have missed it if I hadn’t been watching closely.

“……!”

The pattern was strangely similar to the design drawn on the fairy’s wing in the mole dungeon.