Cause Identified (2)

The Red Gate incidents began causing turmoil across the world.

In the midst of that, China and Japan actively pressured Korea, demanding information about the Red Gates and putting on the disgraceful act of calling for the sharing of information for the good of the world.

It was a laughable display, and they behaved with such shamelessness that one could only think, what unbelievably thick-skinned nerve, that the alternative Korea chose was, unexpectedly, to keep the information private.

They controlled the information on the grounds that they could not recklessly hand over information that would benefit hostile nations.

Moreover, even if they could not close the Gate itself like Britain had, subjugation was still possible, so even if Korea controlled the information, it was not something others could really criticize.

After all, it was ultimately a problem they had to solve themselves.

‘They can point fingers, but they cannot very well pressure us to hand it over. Though shameless China and Japan might try anyway.’

There was much talk about what sort of repercussions Kim Dae-san’s response would cause, but the majority of Korea’s citizens supported the government’s announcement.

The Red Gate incidents were certainly a worldwide shock, but that did not mean they could yet be considered widespread.

Up to this point, a total of twenty-one Red Gates had been reported. One of them had vanished after being completely conquered and closed, the Gate in Britain had gone dormant, and the remaining nineteen Gates were currently undergoing subjugation and conquest.

Moreover, the byproducts of the mutated monsters from the Red Gates were being recognized as even rarer and more valuable than existing materials, so the situation had taken an interesting turn, to the point that people were debating whether conquering them had actually been a good thing or not.

“So you really are not going to provide the information?”

It was An Sang-ik and several mages who had come to see me, and because they were asking for information and samples regarding the black sphere we were examining, I answered firmly.

“It was already specified in the contract, and the matter is over. There is no reason for us to provide it. Conversely, if we asked you to provide the chimera research materials, would you?”

An Sang-ik could not answer. Moreover, most of the mages who had come with him were high-ranking mages, including elders who had once belonged to the Hannam-dong Magic Tower, and aside from a few, most of them had been my enemies, so as I looked over their faces, I said,

“If you thought that having the government at your back would let you pressure me, then you are gravely mistaken. You know that, right?”

“We only wish to be provided with information about the unknown realm that is the Red Gate. We have no intention of becoming hostile with you.”

“I have no intention of providing information. You may leave.”

I openly told them to go, and An Sang-ik, too, realized there would be no gain and sent the mages outside.

Then he remained behind alone and faced me, so I asked him,

“Is there something you wanted to say?”

“You have changed quite a bit. You feel more confident than before.”

“I have always been the same. I am simply trying to live an ordinary life.”

“That is not easy. For people like you and me, turmoil finds its way in on its own.”

That was something I already knew.

To those who wished to accomplish something, people like us were thorns in their eyes.

They would struggle desperately to remove us, and in the end, that made our lives difficult.

“There are many times when I wish no one would ever bother us if possible. But if they do bother us, I have no intention of leaving them alone. I do not intend to endure it anymore.”

“Because you have gained power?”

“Of course. If you had this much power, Commander An Sang-ik, would you endure it?”

“I would not. All the more so if I had suffered that much bitterness in the past.”

“I will not see you out.”

“Let us meet again another time.”

And with that, An Sang-ik also left.

We made the decision to dismantle the black sphere.

“It is bound to have tremendous resistance to magic power. Since it was made with sacred language, it must be some kind of special artifact.”

I agreed with Han Sang-gil’s words.

In truth, when we detached this thing from the core, it had consumed an enormous amount of magic power.

“It might be worth layering curses in an enchantment form first and then lowering its resistance.”

“That is one way, but the problem is that it may reject the enchantment itself from the outset.”

The problem was that the five masters gathered here to dismantle it had put their heads together, yet the answer was not coming easily, and then Tae Young-su asked,

“If we need to maintain magic power constantly, how about creating ‘magic water’ and submerging it while we dismantle it?”

“Hmm, magic water. You mean to apply pressure, restrict its movement, and lower its resistance as though peeling it layer by layer?”

Tae Young-su nodded in agreement at Gong Baek-jin’s interpretation.

Then they looked at me as though telling me to decide.

“It would be difficult to constantly maintain magic power in the air as well. Magic water seems to be the right answer. And using water magic to physically strip away the outer shell also seems like one possible method.”

“Hmm, that would be a rather delicate task since it is white magic. Would that be all right?”

Everyone was curious, but I nodded as though it were nothing significant.

“I can use 6th Circle white magic at eighty percent power. That should be sufficient.”

At those words, everyone looked envious. In truth, when a 7th Circle black mage uses white magic of 5th Circle or above, it is common for the power to not even reach half.

The fact that the 8th Circle was so different was what made them envious.

The reason was simple.

Compared to black magic, white magic had far broader versatility, so there were many situations in which it could be used outside of simple combat.

That was why they envied it, because it had the advantage of greatly broadening the range of one’s activities.

“I will prepare the magic water.”

Just then, after hearing Baek Da-gyeong speak, Tae Young-su also stepped forward and said,

“For delicate work, it would be better for practical combat mages to handle it than us. I will prepare the magic water in three different densities.”

With that, Tae Young-su and Baek Da-gyeong moved to another spot.

“But this is…. It is frightening just knowing this thing was made by the Cultists of Ruin.”

“They are definitely a group of a very different kind from the other religions. They are not people to be taken lightly.”

Han Sang-gil nodded.

At a time when no one knew how far the Cultists of Ruin had spread, Red Gates were appearing all over the world, and even now, somewhere, the Cultists of Ruin might be at work.

Their intent was obvious, but the problem was that there was no way to prove it.

In fact, we had requested from the government the data needed to identify the circumstances before the Red Gate appeared, but they said that nothing had turned up.

Other than government officials coming and going, only soldiers had been guarding the area, and there had been no trace of anyone entering the Gate itself.

It was impossible to know how much of that was true.

It might not even have been necessary to enter the Gate in the first place, and there were many unsettling points from every angle, but there was no immediate way to do anything about it.

“There is certain to be a major disaster sooner or later.”

“I do not think it is far off.”

Chaos would not be far away.

After that, it did not take long for the magic water to be prepared.

Three large tanks of prepared magic water were made, and we first placed the black sphere into the one with the lowest magic density, then prepared enchantment magic to lower its resistance.

At the same time, we made the curses work along with it, but as expected, the black sphere had such a strong property of repelling “magic power” itself that the enchantment did not take hold, and the curses likewise were weakly pushed away, and so the first attempt ended in failure.

“It feels as though the density of the magic water is too low to fully bear its resistance, but if the magic density is too high, that will become a problem later.”

That was because the black sphere could be damaged by magic pressure.

It could be that only the force surrounding the outside was strong, or it could be made entirely of the substance composing the black sphere, but for now, I expected that once the exterior was revealed, the inside would be completely different.

After that, we moved it to the second magic water and continued the work.

Han Sang-gil prepared the enchantment, and I handled the curse.

It seemed right that the one with the strongest dark magic should do it.

And here we added one device, namely the Necronomicon.

At the appearance of the two Necronomicons, Gong Tae-jin, Tae Young-su, and Baek Da-gyeong were all shocked, but as soon as the Necronomicons cast the spell together with overwhelming magic power, force was instantly applied to the black sphere.

With the feeling that the black sphere was slowly swelling, something that appeared to be the outer shell began separating from the sphere.

Those watching quickly used Barrier magic, and the black something that had fallen from the sphere was swiftly moved into the third magic water, where the pressure was stronger.

Thus, the black something that had been separated began churning within the magic water, struggling desperately to return somehow, and the way it behaved as though it were a living creature was startling.

“Could it be a magic life-form?”

As Baek Da-gyeong said, I thought that possibility could not be ignored.

“If it is a monster capable of this level of mutation, it seems like it would be a slime-type. Have any of you seen one?”

Everyone simply shook their heads.

“There is sacred language on the inside too?”

That was what Baek Da-gyeong said while examining the slime, and seeing that different sacred language was written on both the inside and outside was enough to make one dumbfounded.

It meant that this was something in which highly advanced technology had been concentrated.

It was astonishing that the Cultists of Ruin possessed this degree of technical capability, but my admiration ended there.

That was because my attention had been drawn to the sphere that had revealed itself afterward.

“Does it not look like an egg?”

“It certainly looks like an egg in form, but do you know what kind of egg it is?”

There was no way anyone could know.

As everyone watched the unfamiliar sphere, a voice was heard.

-It is a Seed of Calamity. -

At the sudden words, I turned my gaze toward where the voice had come from, and it was the Necronomicon speaking.

It is a seed imbued with a special will, and if this were to hatch, the will within it would literally be amplified dozens or hundreds of times over. -

“…And is there a way to determine what special will it contains?”

-I do not know. Only the being that first used this would know. But seeds do not sprout so easily. If they did, every world would already have been destroyed. -

It was the moment I gained information I had never expected, so I shared it, and I thought that perhaps the Necronomicon in Han Sang-gil’s possession might also know the answer, so I asked him to question it, but I could do nothing but smack my lips in frustration because the Necronomicon offered no information beyond what I had already been told.

‘A Seed of Calamity…. The Cultists of Ruin’s objective is obvious enough…. The worst part is that it means there is no telling what the remaining twenty Red Gates may do.’

It was only frustrating that so much still remained unknown.