Intruders’ End

Thud!

A heavy shock reverberated. His body was thrown through the air and collided with the lobby wall. The impact carried a chill; he instantly realized someone had attacked him.

“Wh—who attacked me?”

Before he could fully form the question in stunned horror, a figure threw a foot toward him and he twisted his body to evade. Crash! The wall shattered. The attacker was a bald man well over two meters tall, all bulked muscles.

When their eyes met, the expressionless gaze resembled those of the earlier foes. Knowing there must be a connection, he twisted to dodge another incoming punch.

Whoosh—

The blow passed with ferocious force; the attacker wore armored gauntlets—built for sheer brawling. The intruder flowed a bluish mana shimmer along his blade and swung.

A blur—he managed to dodge the bald man, who then slammed his shoulder into him. Too fast to block, he was hurled back with a sickening thud, skidding across the marble and spitting blood.

He had used mana to brace his body, but the shock still rattled his insides. What kind of strength was this? As he forced himself up, another opponent suddenly loomed over him, fist raised to crush him.

“I’m dead!”

Fearing that blow, he twisted and escaped. Boom! A violent tremor struck the floor—so strong the marble dented. He swallowed hard.

“What on earth is this place? How can such men exist? One thing’s clear… they’re stronger than I am.”

Facing an opponent so physically superior, fear was inevitable. Even as a mana user on missions, he had never expected to feel such dread—especially not here, in a kingdom rather than an empire.

“Perhaps it’s a large kingdom after all…?”

He chided himself for underestimating the place. Gritting his teeth, he poured mana into his sword as the assailant charged.

He swung, but the huge man dodged and kicked out. The blade just nicked the hem of the gray coat the opponent wore. Suddenly he noticed—the foe used no mana at all. There was no trace of mana in that powerful body.

“So this is pure physical ability?”

That didn’t make things better. He needed to strike the man with a mana-imbued blade to win, but the opponent’s evasions made that impossible. At that moment a teammate flew against a wall with a crushing sound and vomited blood.

A two-meter bald man in a gray coat had sent his comrade flying. Swallowing hard, he realized there were more of these figures near the Chancellor as well.

“How many of them are there!?”

It dawned on him how dangerous penetrating the palace had been. He traded blows with the charging enemy but took a punch to the gut—ugh!—and was launched into the air, collapsing onto the floor.

He dropped his sword and writhed, trying to pull himself up, but a twisting, internal agony made it impossible. A black shadow passed overhead; looking up, he found someone staring down at him without expression.

“You… what are you?”

“……”

The silent attacker raised his foot; in that instant he knew his life had ended here. Damn it—he didn’t want to die like this. But such grievances meant nothing to his opponent.

Thud!

A boot came down and crushed his skull. Brains and blood sprayed everywhere; he was dead instantly. Another enemy fell. Looking back, he saw every intruder who had rushed the Chancellor had been wiped out—none remained alive.

“Ah…”

Marquis Norwen, the Chancellor, watched the bald men with stunned horror. He knew who they were. These figures had recently appeared in the palace: bald, over two meters tall, and heavily muscled.

They all wore gray coats and were referred to simply as the Gray-Coated. Crucially, they were the king’s personally designated palace guardians—allowed to roam anywhere in the palace, and even the king could not issue them orders. They answered directly to the sovereign.

Who could command such privileges? The King had brought them in, but how? They were not normal men, and their presence was uncanny.

Norwen had now seen their true nature.

“Huh—truly monstrous beings.”

From their movements to their actions, they were nothing but monsters. The crucial fact was that these creatures protected the king. Seeing how many things remained unknown made him resent that the King kept such matters secret.

Meanwhile, the identity of the brutal intruders remained puzzling. At that moment, the palace filled with the sound of many boots. The guards were finally moving.

At least three hundred guards had appeared. Norwen, relieved at the thought of more support, ordered immediate action.

“Raise the alarm! Someone has breached the palace—these may not be the only attackers!”

At his command, the stationed guards and the reinforcements began to secure the area. They started clearing the lobby strewn with bodies and sifting through the fallen to uncover the attackers’ identities.

The gunshots at dawn had already triggered multiple alerts; police were dispatched and the capital’s defense command sounded emergency mobilization. The city trembled with activity. The palace guards searched for remaining intruders but could find none—the fallen were all that remained. Norwen had no choice but to report the matter to the King.

Lines connected every provincial landline to the capital; a call would reach him quickly.

Around 4:00 a.m.

“All right. Keep control of the situation.”

Ian said, his eyes calm as he hung up. The report had come in: intruders had breached the palace and a dozen guards had been slain. Fortunately, the attackers had been dealt with early.

‘So—they weren’t Experts, but two mana users were involved?’

This was clearly a planned assault on the palace. Luckily, the Chancellor had been encountered by his own escorts at the opportune moment and they had handled the situation.

‘Good thing we trained them.’

After awakening his third ability, his overall capabilities had risen dramatically. Using that base, he had endeavored to create stronger operatives. By maximizing the use of Mental Manipulation, he had produced beings whose physical capabilities were rendered superhuman.

They had become living weapons: hairless, with hypertrophied muscles and heights well over two meters. Seeing their power had astonished him.

These human weapons could single-handedly stand against battalion-level forces through physical prowess alone. If deployed, they would outperform most guard units. The only drawback was their conspicuous size—they were hard to move without drawing attention.

‘You can’t take them on covert ops, but for massive deployments there’s no better force.’

He still wondered what motive had driven these intruders to penetrate the palace. His vacation was public knowledge—so the attackers had deliberately entered the palace while the King was absent. Their objective must have been significant.

To seize the Chancellor?

That seemed unlikely. If they had wanted the Chancellor, ambushing him on his way home would have been easier than infiltrating the palace. Their taking such a risk implied a greed for something valuable.

‘The vault beneath the palace? There are some treasures there—were they after that? Is there some great hoard I don’t know about?’

He frowned at the inexplicable possibility. In any case, the situation was grave. With guards killed, the morning would be chaotic. He wondered if he should return.

Would it do any good?

Returning now would accomplish little; he had only recently arrived at the villa and leaving so soon would be regrettable. Considering his mother and sister enjoying the holiday, he decided he could stay and receive updates by phone.

‘If they targeted me specifically, they’ll regret it.’

Ian let out a short sigh—he couldn’t sleep now that dawn had not yet come. He resolved to wait out the time until morning. With that in mind, he idly toyed with the weather as a form of practice.

A hum—he looked up and the sky darkened as a cloud layer formed. Soon a fine drizzle began. He set it to a light rain so as not to spoil lake plans.

‘I’m getting used to this.’

He felt he could call up a strong storm if he wanted, though he did not intend to. Honestly, utility for this ability was limited compared to others.

‘Shall I grill some samgyeopsal (Korean pork belly) today?’

He had asked for pork belly yesterday—Ami would arrive with it today. His mouth watered. He wondered if this newfound calmness was a change in himself—thinking of grilled pork belly while guards had died might seem psychopathic.

Becoming a king made you hear about death so often it turned into something ordinary.

Weapons produced by his orders were already being sold to empires, used to kill. If he had obsessed over that, he would have wasted away, unable to eat or act.

Was that just an excuse?

Morning came. They all gathered for breakfast; despite the news, most had not heard and ate together. Ian chose not to tell them.

‘If I say anything, they’ll worry and no one will enjoy themselves—let it be.’

He thought he would tell others later so they could be informed, but for now they had a simple morning and a walk. By lunchtime they decided to eat the samgyeopsal they’d acquired.

“Your Majesty… we will serve. Please allow us.”

“No, it’s fine. If I do it, the atmosphere will be better.”

“But, how can such a noble perform such a trivial task?”

“What’s trivial about it? It’s fine—stand aside.”

The flustered cook watched Ian. He smiled, placed the pork belly on the grill and cooked it. Sizzle—the delicious scent rose to their noses.

He wished for some doenjang or sauce, but he seasoned it with salt and seared it crisp, then placed it on a tray. When he set it on the table, everyone stared in curiosity.

“What is this?”

“Samgyeopsal—please try it; it’s delicious.”

“Samgyeopsal? Does such a cut exist here?”

“It does. I once had it during naval service; it’s quite tasty. Eat it while it’s warm.”

“Oh? Well, since my son grilled it, I’ll enjoy it.”

“Brother, I’ll eat well too.”

“Me too. I’ll enjoy it.”

“Ha ha, everyone, try a piece.”

They tasted the freshly grilled pork belly and their eyes widened. It was unexpectedly delicious; they all marveled. The region’s cuisine used less fatty cuts, so samgyeopsal was unfamiliar to many.

Ian tried a piece and nodded—definitely good. He relished the flavor, moved by how long it had been since he’d tasted something like this.

‘This really does feel like a proper vacation.’

He wanted to keep this peaceful mood. He resolved to keep news from the capital from spoiling his leave. Fortunately, the area was sparsely populated and tightly controlled.