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Sophia covered her nose and mouth as she descended to the lower floor. She pulled a round chip from inside her coat and set it on the bridge of her nose. When she infused it with mana, a blue film unfurled, sealing over her respirator.
“What kind of smog is this…”
She stopped mid-scan and flinched… Frank was flaring his nostrils, inhaling deeply.
“Bitter.”
“Are you insane? Put on a purification mask, now!”
“Mask? I don’t have one.”
“Good grief!”
‘Who goes anywhere in this city without a mask!’ Sophia swallowed her frustration and patted through her pockets. She yanked out a spare chip and slapped it onto Frank’s nose. A translucent mask identical to hers spread across his face.
“Why the fuss?”
“This is spell smog.”
“Sp… what?”
“Smog. How can you not know something this important?”
“My memory’s fuzzy.”
“…”
Regret flickered through Sophia’s eyes. She took it as a side effect of not having undergone memory erasure.
“This is… “
She waved her hand through the air. Thick, black smoke slid with her gesture… currents you’d never see in ordinary fumes.
“Using mana stones without refining them… You know what mana stones are, right?”
“Frank’s not stupid. They come from killing demonic beings. Essence of magitech. You need them to make a Necroshell.”
“Right. And you also know you must refine mana stones before use.”
“…I know.”
“If you don’t, you get this… spell smog.”
“Is it a big problem?”
“Of course. If Undead inhale it long enough, they contract mana-sickness rapidly. They become Mad Eaters.”
“Ah…”
“So it’s a significant violation. There aren’t any windows here to prevent leakage. Hm… an automated factory?”
They wouldn’t put people to work in a place like this. She assumed it was fully machine-run.
As they moved farther in, Baek Ho came into view… face-to-face with the boss, both glaring.
‘What’s going on?’
Baek Ho’s right hand slid slowly from his coat pocket. A silver revolver gleamed in his grip.
“W-wait a moment!”
Sophia’s shout snapped heads toward her. Two Reapers in gas masks stepped into her path.
She shot a text to Baek Ho.
Sophia shifted her gaze. Blood pooled among overturned bodies. People huddled near a machine belching smog… none of them wearing masks.
“What the…”
They had exposed this many Undead to the smog? She bit back a curse and remembered her duty. She forced herself toward the most rational course of action.
She warned him indirectly: rescuing them could spark friction with the gang that rented them out.
“Oho~”
The boss glanced at Sophia and wagged the revolver.
“A necromancer’s familiar? You’re carrying a premium model.”
Baek Ho ignored him, fingers flicking across his Smartbone.
Sophia met Baek Ho’s eyes. His usually cool, indifferent gaze wavered… pupils boiling with hot rage.
‘Can’t be helped…’
Commander Baek and Baek Ho. She understood because she knew the Baek family’s circumstances. In a way, it was admirable he’d held back until his familiar, Frank, arrived.
With that, Baek Ho’s mouth opened.
“Break it.”
Before the word had finished leaving his lips, Frank lunged. He pivoted and drove his fist at the wall, his Necroshell brimming with mana.
KWAANG!
Concrete burst. A hard gust followed as black smog poured out into open air.
“No!”
The boss’s composure cracked. The atmospheric sensors would trip; it was only a matter of time. This wasn’t a handful of Undead dying. This wasn’t killing some third-rate necromancer. If they got shut down, the losses would be enormous.
“Seal the wall! Now!”
The hired Reapers hurled themselves forward at his shout. Frank thrust out an arm, blocking them. Two Reapers slammed fists and feet into him.
THUD…
They staggered back instead. Startled, they scanned Frank. Between the flaps of his sleeveless coat, his body glowed with dark, bluish light… mana forced into every muscle. Only then did they realize his bulky build wasn’t for show, but for external combat training.
“That hurt a little!”
Frank clenched his right fist. Mana wrapped the Necroshell; his finger joints locked, turning his fist into an iron ball.
“Change arm… I’m jealous.”
A scarred man stepped forward, drawing a hand axe from his belt.
“How about we stop holding back? I only take jobs that pay.”
“No.”
“Then no choice.”
He stomped once… and sprang like a spring. The hand axe scythed down from above.
KAANG!
Frank’s forearm caught it. The man’s other hand snapped toward Frank’s neck. Frank didn’t bother to block; trusting his own hardness, he focused on the counter. Just before the blade touched his throat, the scarred man’s wrist froze mid-swing… Sophia had clamped down on it.
‘…When did she… ?’
POF!
Frank’s punch crashed into the man’s chest. He lifted off, twisted midair, and landed. A hard hit, but not a critical one.
“Careful. Not a low grade.”
“Understood.”
The scarred man lowered his center and set his stance. Two other Reapers drew weapons and flanked him.
“Seal it, I said!”
The boss screamed, panic rising as smog streamed through the breach.
“I said seal it!”
He shook his right prosthetic up and down. A black orb set near his wrist flared to life.
Those who’d been heading for the exit at Baek Ho’s signal stopped. Their heads snapped toward the wall, eyes widening as they broke into a run in the direction their gaze had latched onto… focus wavering, movements jerky. The vessels implanted in their bodies had issued an irresistible command.
“Damn!”
Baek Ho thrust out his hand. Black mist poured from his palm, draping the crowd. A few froze, but most staggered on. The effect varied with the level of the necromancer who had implanted the vessels.
-KRRRRAAA!
Some who didn’t stop screamed… eyes bloodshot, saliva stringing from their mouths. Forced orders through the vessels had shredded their humanity. Combined with mana-sickness, they were careening toward Mad Eater.
-KEEAAAH!
One Undead lunged at Frank. CRACK! Frank’s swing crushed its skull. There was no mercy for Mad Eaters; they never regained humanity. He ended it like a soulless machine.
“Tch.”
The scarred man flowed into the madness, leaping off a Mad Eater as a springboard. His mana-charged hand axe carved the air… again aiming for Frank’s neck.
KAHNG!
Sparks burst as Sophia’s dagger caught the blade. She glared at him, meeting slightly unfocused eyes. He had a Reaper’s dead calm… a lack of fear, and a deep, yawning boredom.
“You. You’re not someone who should be in a place like this.”
“That’s what I was going to say.”
They pressed steel to steel, broke apart, then crashed together again. Slashing, stabbing, thrusting… several exchanges blurred past in the blink of an eye.
“That worthless bastard!”
The boss huffed, seething. Special forces, my foot. Couldn’t beat a girl who looked like a Venus doll and still demanded that much money! He raised his revolver and aimed at Sophia. Finger on the trigger. In his sights, black smog whipped along daggers and axe edges… mana-charged metal roaring as it met metal. Two people moving beyond human. He wasn’t confident he could hit her clean.
“Damn!”
He swung the barrel toward Frank instead… battering through two Reapers while body-blocking others. Plenty of target on that one.
He started to squeeze…
BANG…
A gunshot cracked from behind. A translucent barrier unfurled from his shoulder and cupped the back of his head.
“Gah!”
He spun. Baek Ho stood in the smog with a revolver. If not for the shoulder-implanted auto-defense module, his skull would have burst.
“You think I’ll let you off because you’re a necromancer?”
The boss fired. A blue flash tore across the floor. Baek Ho dove; the mana-bullet cratered concrete. He answered from cover, pulling the trigger in measured rhythm. He hit precise points, but every shot splashed against defensive magic.
‘How much did he coat his body with?’
A mana-bullet revolver, a black crystal for low-grade Undead control, a shoulder barrier module… he’d basically bought himself a Reaper’s kit. Feeling the weight of money, Baek Ho ducked back, thumbed fresh rounds into the cylinder.
“Die!”
The boss’s revolver never paused. He kept firing, never reloading.
Thud… thud…
Baek Ho’s cover chewed away, chunk by chunk. At this rate, he’d be riddled with holes. He needed another plan.
“D!”
Sophia shouted. The scarred man slid between them, his mana-slick axe angling for her again.
“If you look away, I’ll be displeased.”
Sophia bit her lower lip, weighing it… show power and take him down fast, or trust Baek Ho and hold the line?
“Huff…”
She chose the former. Standing by wouldn’t work if Baek Ho died. Preserving his life took priority. She was just about to disengage her mana suppression device…
“Gah!”
A scream ripped from across the floor. An Undead tangled with Frank collapsed, a hole seared through its waist… the boss had shot it.
“Block it! I said block it!”
The trapped necromancer could wait; sealing the wall mattered more.
THUD…
Another flash from the revolver… but this time Frank’s arm took it.
“Fuck!”
The boss strained, about to pull the trigger again… when a chill slid down his spine. Something was wrong. The Reapers who’d been charging suddenly stopped and stared. Not at him… past him. Hypnotized.
The boss turned.
Baek Ho stood tall in the smog. No more ducking behind cover… an easy target now. But his stance had changed. The revolver was gone; his right hand was outstretched, empty.
Baek Ho folded his ring and little fingers.
[Open Point.]
The air around his palm rippled. He set his thumb over his ring finger. Black mist crawled up his arm, gathering into his palm.
[Descend.]
His hand turned black… as if dipped in ink.
The boss frowned. Whatever the kid was doing, he wasn’t afraid. A necromancer’s authority lay in commanding Reapers; other dark magics were mostly auxiliary. He smirked at the thought of a young necromancer playing at…
Baek Ho’s mouth opened again.
[Fang of the Chi-Dragon.]
“…Huh?”
Cold washed over the boss… from above. He looked up. A black hole had opened in the air.
“What is… “
His tongue locked. Through the aperture, a vertical yellow pupil stared down at him. Reptilian. No… demonic.
‘What the hell is that!’
He tried to scream, but no sound came. He tried to fire, but his finger wouldn’t move. Gooseflesh raced over him as though his body had been seized by another will. A primal human instinct he had never felt… terror, distilled.
“…Ah.”
Just as breath escaped…
CRACK!
Something huge and pointed shot from the hole. The barrier shattered like ice. A massive fang slammed through his abdomen.
“Urgh!”
Blood fountained from his mouth. Neurotoxin spidered through his veins, but pain outran the poison. He collapsed backward. As his skull smacked the floor, the fang and the hole unraveled into mist.
“Phew…”
Baek Ho lowered his arm and flicked a small victory gesture, watching the boss bleed out… half his stomach gone. Kak, he spat.
“My goodness…”
Sophia’s eyes widened. That was unmistakably a Bari Sect technique… not something a fresh academy graduate should wield, and not something an ordinary necromancer would dare.
The scarred man looked equally stunned. Boredom evaporated, replaced by a deep, hungry interest.
“How old is that guy? Does this make any sense?”
From the boss’s torn abdomen, red blood ran alongside liquefied mana stones. The black orb in his prosthetic dimmed and died. Those grappling with Frank went slack and toppled one by one.
“We need to get out of here. Quickly.”
The scarred man sheathed his axe.
“Why? No way… LifeGuard?”
He nodded at Sophia’s question.
“That’s right.”
“What grade?”
“Platinum.”
A shriek burst from the boss’s body.
Weeeeee…
Behind the eardrum-slicing siren, a mechanical voice intoned:
- Warning! The insured person’s life is detected to be in danger!
As the announcement droned, the boss’s body went rigid. A drug surged through him, freezing vital systems in place.
“Oh…”
Frank’s mouth rounded. He understood it too… LifeGuard service: premium life protection for the upper crust. A must-have if you were rich enough.
Weeeeee…
- … Two hundred forty-two seconds until rescue team arrival.
Baek Ho grimaced, swallowing back the blood rising in his throat. ‘Do they sign up anyone these days?’ If he’d known the boss had LifeGuard, he wouldn’t have pushed his magic this far.
He dismissed the notifications.
“We have to hurry,” Sophia said, stepping forward.
Baek Ho nodded. He didn’t want any entanglement with LifeGuard either.
“Wait.”
He called out to the scarred man and the two other Reapers as they turned to leave.
“You lot… help me.”
“What do you mean?”
Baek Ho pointed. The people who’d been charging the wall moments ago were now groaning on the floor. Even with Frank hauling as many as he could over his shoulders, it wasn’t enough.
“I’ll compensate you.”
“…Alright.”
The scarred man nodded, motioned to the other two, and began gathering the fallen. They herded survivors toward the elevator… then glanced back.
In the thick, settled smog, Baek Ho was sprinkling black magic over the Undead strewn across the floor.
“Guh…”
“Graaah…”
Those who had been moments from death coughed breath back into their bodies. Currents sparked through cheap metal grafts.
Creek… creak…
They rose, swaying… benevolent grim reapers performing miracles, machine-skeletons clawing their way out of a junk heap.
- … Eighty-eight seconds until rescue team arrival.
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