Chapter 17

“Go on, hurry up. I never had proper training, but if you run into trouble, I’ll help as much as I can.”

“How dare a watchdog of the Special Unit…!”

“Hey! Don’t step there on the gold!”

“Ah—!”

“You smudged the circle. Here, redraw it with this.”

I tossed him a marker at his feet. The poor black mage couldn’t even open his grimoire properly, panicking all the while.

Unlike me, he really was from the Black Tower.

Not some stray like me—dragged into the Special Unit with the excuse of “This Gate anomaly wasn’t your fault, right? Then work hard.”

He was the real deal, trying to summon a being from the Demon Realm.

It wasn’t hard to see why the Black Tower had never rebuilt even after fifteen years since Yeon-hwa had literally split it in half.

From humanity’s perspective, it was laughably absurd.

While we bled to keep demons from crossing the Gates, the Tower had opened doors for them with a cheery “Irasshaimase~.”

They claimed it was to gain strength through contracts with demons, but the fact remained—they’d sabotaged the world’s last line of defense.

I’d thought the Tower was long gone. To think remnants still clung to life.

For me, it was like swinging my pickaxe only to have a Star Scar roll right into my lap.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. What was it you said before? ‘The hooves of the statue’? You do know Gamigin doesn’t show up easily, right? You really think you can pull that off?”

“Y-you… who the hell are you!? How do you know that name…!?”

“Just someone who’s crossed paths with him. I’ve got something I absolutely need back. If you summon him, I’ll settle things quickly and send him on his way.”

Gamigin—the Fourth Throne, ruler of more than thirty legions.

The Hooves of the Statue. The Evil Steed. The White Ram’s Stone. His titles in the Demon Realm went on without end.

A being so massive, facing him at full strength would require everything humanity had.

But there was no way this black mage could bring forth the true body. At most, he’d call an Incarnation. That was fine. I’d smash it and reclaim the Star Scar.

Wiping the smile off my face, I rolled up my sleeves and stepped closer. Mana surged as I drew on my power, and the mage fumbled, dropping his grimoire in panic.

“94th Tentacle…”

“You bastard, you were baiting me all along…!”

“—Tentacle of Radiance.”

“…What?”

From my hands sprouted two tentacles, shimmering with iridescent light.

I lifted them high and waved them enthusiastically. The underground chamber, once pitch-black, glowed bright as day.

It was pure encouragement, helping him see the circle better. But the moment he saw my tentacles, the mage bared his teeth.

“Those… tentacles. You dare mock me, Patel, with the tools of lowly monsters?!”

“No, I’m literally helping you here.”

“Unforgivable! I’ll tear you apart and offer you as the final sacrifice!”

“Hey, watch the circle!”

He raised a hand, preparing to unleash a spell at me.

I pointed a tentacle at the magic circle, trying to stop him—but my attempt only made things worse.

“Wh-what…?!”

Startled, he stumbled back—stepping right on the marker I’d thrown earlier.

He slipped, his concentration shattering.

The circle that had been extracting life force from the believers faltered, and the entire chamber shook.

Patel tried to pour mana back in, desperate to regain control—but it only backfired.

The circle, still sucking blood from the walls, turned on him.

It drank his own blood as well.

“Aaaaagh! Y-you bastard!”

“It’s not my fault, I swear!”

“I was so close…! He was about to step foot into this world…!”

“It’s okay! We can try again! Stay strong! Don’t give up!!”

Aaaaargh—!

Thud.

My cheer fell flat. Patel collapsed, every drop of blood sucked from him by his own circle. Dead before I could blink.

It was nobody’s fault. Just an accident—so sudden and merciless.

All I could do was wipe my eyes and pray for the repose of someone with whom I’d shared, however briefly, the bond of friendship.

“Let’s see… an old grimoire, a few coins… what’s this, a mask?”

『Fear not.』

“Huh?”

While I was looting—no, respectfully collecting—the deceased’s belongings, my Outer God’s cry rang out. I turned to the center of the chamber.

The complex circle had vanished. In its place, an oval sphere floated.

Summoning usually pulled something from the Demon Realm to Earth. Except in my case—it was… different.

So even for me, this was a first. I carefully prepared to unleash Endless Outer Path if necessary and crept closer.

At first I thought it was just condensed mana.

But as I looked more closely, I realized it had substance.

Like a smooth egg.

When I touched it, the conclusion was obvious.

“This is… just a shell.”

『Fear not.』

“Yes, it was supposed to be a vessel for an Incarnation, but the summoning failed and this is all that’s left.”

『Fear not.』

If I handed it over to the Magic Tower, they’d probably obsess over it for years of research. But to me, it held no value.

My Outer God, however, insisted I take it.

It didn’t seem dangerous, so I picked it up.

The moment the egg-like shell touched my hands, the chamber trembled again, and I heard a familiar cry.

“This is…”

『Fear not.』

“…So the summoning didn’t fail completely after all.”

Like a Gate collapsing, I could feel countless monsters beyond the ceiling.

From rank-3 beasts like wombats and bloodhounds to near–rank-1 threats like gorgons and corpse eaters.

The sheer number was obvious even without enhancing my senses.

Patel had lost control, and with his death, he’d left behind one hell of a mess.

“I’d better get back. If the entire Prayer House is swarming, Yeon-hwa could be in danger.”

I sprinted out of the basement.

Thankfully, the smartwatch had a function to show my partner’s real-time location.

But the chapel was still far, and the Prayer House felt like it could collapse at any moment.

“……”

After a moment’s thought, I tapped the screen and sent Yeon-hwa a short message.

At the same time.

Something unprecedented was happening over Ground Zero.

A massive rift had appeared above the Prayer House of Revelation, spewing out monsters.

It wasn’t like a Gate collapse. There was no boss. The creatures fell as though shoved out, raining down from the sky.

The weak ones burst on impact, but winged beasts survived in frightening numbers.

“What the hell kind of anomaly is this?”

“Guess today really isn’t our day. No way we’re entering now.”

“Wait… that’s the direction Yeon-hwa went, isn’t it?”

The rift, visible even from outside the walls, set every observer on edge.

Among them were Awakened waiting to enter, including the guild Wings of the Blue Sky.

“Boss, looks like Patel screwed up!”

“Should’ve gotten rid of him when he was snooping around in our sector.”

“Do we seal off Sector 4?”

“Shh. Boss is eating.”

And deeper inside the walls, those who had ruled the ruins for years stirred.

Amid the silence, a woman rose from the shadows, stretching leisurely.

“Mm. Leave it.”

“Are you sure? If any monsters survive, it’ll make the streets worse.”

“If it gets bad, the Special Unit will clean it up. Works out for me anyway—I was craving something fresh to eat.”

She bit into the corpse of a monster in her hand, swallowing it whole. The sight made her underlings shiver.

Every one of them bore the tattoo of a black serpent around their wrist.

“If a human comes out of there, report to me immediately.”

“A human? From the Gate—or the Demon Realm?”

“Yeah.”

Her yellow eyes glimmered coldly as she murmured, almost to herself.

“I lost one to them before. A delicacy I’d been saving. The finest meal of all.”

“What the hell is this!?”

No Yeon-hwa couldn’t make sense of the chaos.

The believers who had attacked her seemed to regain their senses—only for the chapel roof to cave in as monsters rained down from above.

As the beasts spread, the Prayer House instantly devolved into pandemonium.

“Ahhh, Lord!”

“Save us!”

“The white light… and then chaos and ruin…”

“Could it really be the revelation come true? Just as Brother said…!”

Revelation, my ass.

Even after coming to their senses, Margaret and Sebas were still babbling nonsense. Yeon-hwa wanted to crush their skulls right there and then, but her mana reserves were too low to waste.

And some of the high-class monsters tearing through the place weren’t ones she could handle even in perfect condition.

“Khk—!”

Despite her desperate resistance, the creatures pushed closer and closer.

The collapsing chapel walls claimed more victims, and soon an enormous shadow loomed over her.

A cockatrice.

A near–rank-1 monster.

With ten eyes lining its throat and a comb evolved into sensory organs, it had no blind spots.

Its segmented wings let it crawl like a tank even after falling from the sky, destroying everything in its path.

“Ah…”

Luckily, its wings and beak had broken badly in the fall.

If she pushed the last of her strength, maybe—just maybe—she could escape.

But after a few seconds of clutching the megaphone, she realized it was impossible.

Her voice had long since given out. The metallic taste of blood rose from her throat, and even breathing was agony.

This is it, then.

With a bitter laugh, her vision dimmed.

The cockatrice’s wing swatted her aside like nothing. The steel-like feathers snapped her ribs like twigs, and the back of her skull screamed in pain as it hit stone.

The shadow of death closed in.

Her body grew cold. She braced herself for the end—when suddenly, her smartwatch buzzed on her wrist.

— SenaChok: Your partner is arriving shortly! Track their location on the map in real time!

…What? Was this a delivery notification?

The absurdity made her laugh even through the pain.

Actually… not the worst thing to see before dying.

With trembling hands, she pulled up the map—not to be saved, but to check whether he had escaped this hell.

The scan lit up, displaying her partner’s location.

Among the sea of red enemy markers, a single green dot pulsed.

He hadn’t run. He was still inside—and he was sprinting toward her at terrifying speed.

Beep, beep, beep!

She scanned the battlefield. No other Awakened in sight, only monsters and frenzied cultists.

And then—the ground quaked violently.

Moments later, the Prayer House grounds erupted, debris flying as massive bundles of tentacles burst upward.

“There you are.”

“Ah—look out…!”

He leapt gracefully from one of the writhing tentacles and landed in front of her.

She tried to warn him of the cockatrice looming nearby, but no sound left her throat.

Predictably, the beast spread its wings, preparing to launch skyward for the kill.

“Extreme Magic—Grave of Stars.”

In the blink of an eye, the upper half of the monster’s body exploded in a chain of blasts. It toppled lifelessly to the ground.

A near–rank-1 beast felled in a single strike—and he didn’t even spare it a glance.

Brushing off his sleeves, he strode toward her. Gone was the goofy fool she’d seen until now.

“…Ack, ack!”

“……”

Well, except for nearly tripping on rubble three times on the way over.

“I’m glad you’re safe. You won’t believe this—when I followed the mana flow underground, there was actually a black mage down there! If I hadn’t risked my life to stop him, Seoul would already be—”

“Who the hell are you?”

He turned, guilty as a kid caught sneaking candy.

From the ruptured ground, waves of tentacles dragged every monster down into the depths.

“That? The 14th Tentacle, Deluge—no, wait, that was the black mage’s doing before he died. Nothing to do with me. Horrible stuff, huh?”

“No. I mean your name.”

“Oh… me?”

For the first time, Yeon-hwa asked him directly.

“Hayan. Sae Hayan.”

He said it without hesitation.

The very same name she’d seen on the board before assignments—the only applicant listed above her.