Retire 514

514 The Magician’s Child (4)

The sensation is glass.

Very thin glass.

Yet the force required to shatter that delicate glass is far from normal. On his third attempt, Hong Seok-young succeeded in breaking Michelle’s magic—not because he lacked strength, but because he wanted to measure and provoke the desired reaction.

Michelle’s miniature suns would burst on their own whenever they neared Hong Seok-young. There was a small explosion, but that wasn’t really the main point. Inside the shattered sphere, a golden, shimmering liquid would spill out. Had he not known it was magic, he might have mistaken it for the blood some fairies shed. Even the fish monster that once roamed Las Vegas bled something similar—viscous, flecked with glimmering golden grains.

But it was not the same. That blood, troublesome as it was with its parasitic nature, at least did not act like lava, dissolving everything it touched.

The lava did not melt through the floor. Whether that was a property of the magic or of the dungeon floor itself, he could not say. But just as when it was contained in a sphere, the golden lava sizzled and crawled slowly along. The more spheres Michelle created, the more lava pooled across the floor. Hong Seok-young retreated, dodging both lava and spheres. Absurdly, it reminded him of a childhood game where stepping on gold was forbidden by some strange rule.

It was an amusing magic.

As he moved to avoid the lava, Hong Seok-young kept track of the spheres’ positions.

It wasn’t as if he had never faced a human magician before…

But generally, fighting a magician was not so difficult. Show them that their magic is useless, and they’re likely to be thrown off. Just as he had used Alex to provoke Michelle. In a fight like this, such openings could decide the difference between life and death.

Crack.

On his third swing, Hong Seok-young shattered another sphere.

Despite the threatening motion of his spear, the sound that followed was soft, like a whispering breeze at his ear.

Magic, by its nature, was never meant to be forcibly burst like this. Hong Seok-young realized it the moment the first sphere broke.

“……!”

He did not stop moving.

When the miniature sun was forced to break, it exploded. The lava inside splattered in all directions. Wherever the lava struck a bookshelf, it melted away precisely at the point of contact. Some places even caught fire. The only reason the bookshelves maintained their shape at all was because this was a dungeon.

If the goal was simply to inflict damage, this method was more powerful.

But since Michelle never used her magic this way, it must be that even she could not control the explosion. With the area so difficult to limit, the caster herself would be caught in the blast.

“…….”

Hong Seok-young watched the thread connecting to the eyeball.

Perhaps Michelle had developed her puppeteer magic to solve this very problem. Not everyone, after all, inherited and studied the same branch of magic as Kim Chae-min did.

Michelle’s parents had been magicians, but not of the same attribute as Michelle. Even if they had been, it was unlikely that Europe’s magicians would have handed down their magic or research to her.

Regardless, Hong Seok-young gauged the scale of the explosion and the angle at which the lava splattered. What had Kim Chae-min asked of him again? Was it to destroy the dungeon as much as possible?

He imagined what Kim Chae-min or Woo Hee-jae would say if they knew—certainly, they would protest that this wasn’t what they meant. Smiling to himself, Hong Seok-young continued bursting the spheres one after another.

The golden lava looked just like paint.

The old books shimmered in a kaleidoscope of colors before burning black. Explosion after explosion. Explosion.

And another explosion.

The slow speed of the spheres was no help. They could not dodge the mercilessly thrusting spear, nor could they spill their contents ahead of its path.

Even the lava scattered by the explosions could not catch Hong Seok-young.

Yet he still had the leisure to observe the dungeon and Michelle’s doll.

Unlike the way she had clung to the books before, Michelle’s doll paid no attention even as the shelves burned.

Hong Seok-young scanned the floor he stood on. There was no arched doorway with stairs.

‘Are the books on this floor unnecessary?’

He carefully calculated the angle and shattered one of the spheres pursuing him.

A splash of lava flew toward Michelle.

No, toward the doll shaped like Michelle.

The doll did not move. A blackened scorch mark was left at the hem of its skirt.

There seemed to be no separate magic protecting the doll.

“Hm.”

Yet Hong Seok-young laughed, as if he found it amusing.

Unlike the unmoving doll, the eyeball dangling by a thread moved for the first time. It spun, twitched, but always in place—never before had it moved sideways like this.

‘So the thread isn’t just for show?’

Come to think of it, his son had described Michelle’s magic as puppetry.

He’d said it would later take a form similar to a drone, but for now, it was still in its early stages. Even Hong Seok-young, with little knowledge of magic, could sense that an intermediary was required.

The next step.

‘As expected, I need to draw out the real Michelle.’

He could communicate, after a fashion, with the doll, but it was not enough.

Even if he were to “deal with” her, the real body had to be present. And if it came to that, it could never happen outside this dungeon. There was no better place for cleaning up than a dungeon that would vanish on its own. He didn’t particularly like this method, but at least he wouldn’t have to explain to the American hunters waiting outside why he had attacked the missing French archmage.

Only living humans could emerge from a dungeon that had disappeared.

Kids wouldn’t know things like this.

They’d never think to consider such factors. For the average hunter who made a living clearing dungeons, it was something they never needed to worry about.

Hong Seok-young himself would never bring it up unless the younger guild members did first. Wouldn’t you agree? These were matters for adults to consider. Not for children.

As he broke a few more spheres near the doll, Hong Seok-young pondered.

His deliberation did not last long.

Adults, by nature, were unscrupulous.

Hong Seok-young deliberately hurled himself toward the doll—the broken doll—that he had been avoiding. Only in that area did Michelle’s magic seem to approach less frequently.

Whatever the reason, it was clear she did not wish to cause harm there.

He kicked aside an obstructing bookshelf, toppling it. Without giving Michelle a chance to react, he used his spear to push away a sphere. Wasn’t it floating in midair? Some magical effect made it light. He had confirmed this after breaking dozens of spheres.

With ordinary force, the spheres would not break, so unless Michelle took the time to shatter them herself, they would simply be pushed aside.

Hong Seok-young measured the distance to the doll and quickly smashed another sphere, careful to retreat so that the lava would not splash onto him.

As before, the lava erupted in all directions, and most of it drenched the doll clutching a child.

“Eeek!”

Michelle’s doll gritted its teeth in frustration. It must have been Michelle’s true reaction.

Hong Seok-young moved swiftly to his next action. Magic gathered around the doll. Its joints creaked and began to crack.

The magic surged, sharp as a blade. Light leaked from the cracks in its exposed arms, face, and neck.

At that moment, Hong Seok-young changed his strategy.

Originally, he had planned to sever the thread connecting to the eyeball. If need be, he would have cut down the eyeball itself.

But adults, by nature, are unscrupulous.

Fights are not fought fairly.

Hong Seok-young chose the easier way to shock Noah Michelle.

“No! Don’t!!!!”

Michelle screamed.

She realized what Hong Seok-young intended to do.

But he was faster. He would not stop for a mere scream.

And besides, the doll wasn’t human, was it?

“Ah, ahhh…….”

Thunk.

Even if it took on a human form.

The doll, drenched in lava, had its head roll across the floor. It had never been whole to begin with, and now, with lava splattered across its face, there were holes burned straight through.

A doll’s head with no features could never be mistaken for a human.

The same went for the doll’s body, which had been clutching something in its arms. Most of the lava had struck its back. By chance, the doll had curled its body protectively around whatever it held. Despite the lava melting its torso, the doll maintained the pose Michelle had commanded—or perhaps the one her unconscious mind desired.

To a father’s eyes, it looked like the final posture a parent would take to protect their child.

How it appeared to the protected child, he could not know.

Having so cleanly severed the doll’s neck, Hong Seok-young slowly straightened up.

“…….”

“U… uhhh……”

From Michelle’s lips came a wordless sob.

Hong Seok-young considered imitating Alex to provoke Michelle further, but decided against it. That was not something that could be faked. It was a matter of talent. If he tried clumsily and Michelle regained her composure in a different way, it would be troublesome.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Hong Seok-young’s dilemma did not last long.

Michelle collapsed. She sank to the floor, covering her face. Who could say how much the doll had been synchronized with her real body?

Click.

Thud.

Rattle…

The remaining spheres dropped to the floor as if their threads had been cut. The orbs did not shatter but rolled across the ground. Occasionally, one would melt away upon meeting the lava, but most came to rest against obstacles like bookshelves.

Hong Seok-young passed the headless doll.

He walked through the ruins of melted and destroyed bookshelves.

Only a few minutes had passed. The once-grand library was now a wasteland.

Hong Seok-young stood before Michelle. The doll shaped like Michelle. There was no interference.

He saw her hands tangled in her hair.

“……Hn.”

From Michelle’s doll came a sound, half laughter, half sob.

“How rude people can be.”

Hong Seok-young raised his spear.

“Conversations should be held face-to-face.”

He cut the thread connecting the eyeball to the doll. It parted almost laughably easily. If a thread so thin as to be nearly invisible were difficult to cut, that would be a problem in itself.

The thread clung to his spear like a spider’s web.

“…….”

The doll mouthed silent words. Its gaze remained fixed on the ruined doll.

Half-burned, headless, the doll still crouched, clutching something in its arms.

“………Papa.”

With a small whisper, Hong Seok-young severed all the threads. At the same time, the gathered magic stirred with a chill.

The ruined library returned to its original state. The lava vanished, the gouged floor was restored, the toppled shelves stood upright, the charred spots returned to normal. The books found their places.

The eyeball looked at Hong Seok-young. He did not avert his gaze. In the glossy, lifeless iris, his own reflection was clear.

Hong Seok-young looked at his own image in the eyeball. What sort of figure did he present here? A hunter? A father? As the monster had said, a savior?

It didn’t matter how he was seen.

The image reflected in the warped iris was different from reality. Distorted. People were the same. No matter what you wished to be, others always left a distorted judgment.

Hong Seok-young knew himself well enough not to be swept away by such judgments.

“Perhaps I should change the question a little.”

He smiled with confidence. He was a mountain no one could topple.

“Miss Michelle. How much do you remember of your mother and father?”