Hermit Wizard
Chapter 82

The Curtain Rises (2)

Kim Kyung-hwan extended his hands and combined his magic. The 4th class melting magic was completed. It was a spell that he received a master judgment not long ago.

It didn’t matter whether the object of magic was living things, inanimate objects, or any substance. An indiscriminate, ruthless spell that melted with a strong acid. It was a spell that Eraser even took care of.

-Sheeeeeek!

Black smoke gathered from the tips of his fingers. As time went by, he wriggled in a completely different way than he did in the laboratory.

At that time, it was a thick fog that spread slowly. It was also laid low on the floor, but the black mist made now…

Kim Kyung-hwan shouted as he threw away what was gathered at the tip of his hand.

“Get off!”

The black lump rushed like a tornado. It bypassed the shield and stretched out into the air!

-Wheeeing!

A pitch-black tornado spun at high speed and melted its targets. Looking at the scene from behind the shield, Kim Kyung-hwan sang joyfully.

‘Wow, it’s fucking cool.’

He couldn’t believe he made that thing.

Due to Kaifu’s magical nature, there was no need to shout out the starter with a voice, and because of that, Kim Kyung-hwan swallowed up regret. This magic had already been given a name.

“Acid Hurricane of Darkness.”

-Wheeeck!

A strong acid tornado that melted even steel like water hit the monsters.

-Cheeeek!

-Kheeek! Kheeeeeek!

Gray smoke rose from the wings of the Waterbirds that brushed against the magic.

“It’s roughly hit! Don’t make me keep hitting more!”

Kim Kyung-hwan focused his mind and swung the tornado that stretched out of his hand like a whip. The maneuvering wasn’t as smooth as the big fish grabbed the fishing rod. The spells that Eraser improved were all that he unfolded in his dream and studied the theory. It was the first time to try it in reality.

“Ah, tsk.”

It rarely hit well. Kim Kyung-hwan was impatient. Support from nearby military units would already be on the way. There wasn’t much impact with their help. It was his actions that he wanted to show to the world.

Kim Kyung-hwan, who had a crazy thought so far, changed his strategy.

“Somehow, it would hit right!”

He eventually gave up his sophisticated aim and began to swing the tornado like crazy. A threatening sound ripping the air spread throughout the garden. Originally, it was a reckless exhibition of magic, a million light-years away from how to use magic taught by Eraser.

Hence, a short chase in the sky followed with winged monsters running back and forth. A black gust of wind chasing like snow. The magic was driven, bent, and attacked the Waterbird according to Kim Kyung-hwan’s gesture.

“Oh, it won’t hit!”

The back of his hand was burning like fire since he was running the spell roughly. From the magic circle engraved on the back of his hand, he could feel the Mana draining like a bottomless pit.

Kim Kyung-hwan looked at the back of his hand. A faint light that any wizards could see was coming up.

That magic circle was a Mana source planted by Eraser for himself. Traces of alien race that were well hidden to avoid the eyes of the wizard. The concealment magic was temporarily broken by drawing more than the allowed amount of magic. It was fortunate that there were no Kaifu or trainees around to notice.

-Wheeeing! Wheeeimp!

A sudden storm blew in the main building garden. Whenever the black whip passed through the concrete wall, there was a chirping sound. Then, smoke and poisonous bubbles flowed down the wall.

There was also a security squad member staggering due to the harmful gas filling the surroundings. Judging that there was no room for ordinary soldiers, the instructor on duty retreated them indoors.

-Kheeeng!

Waterbirds also attacked as hard as they could. A brown bump on the end of the round flesh, and it constantly spewed off the decay liquid from the end. The murky stream of water flowed down without breaking through Kim Kyung-hwan’s shield or was caught in a tornado of the acid and poured down like a fountain in the whole garden.

-Dang dang!

-Cheeeeeeeeck!

Strong water droplets poured out as if caught in a summer typhoon, and a sharp breeze scratched right afterward. A tree covered with gray and black stains was struck directly by magic and fell with nasty smoke because of the decay fluid.

It’s rotten, stained, and melted with strong acidity.

The confrontation between Kim Kyung-hwan and Waterbirds began not long after. The flower beds and gardens, which had been well-organized for a short time, quickly turned into a dark and thick swamp that seemed not to be a scene of this world.

A groan leaked out of Instructor Shin’s mouth, who was witnessing the scene in the command and control room.

“This…”

He never thought even in his dream that Kim Kyung-hwan would’ve improved magic in that way. The original spell wouldn’t have been able to counteract the flying Waterbird.

‘I know he’s great, but it is worth praising that he achieved such achievements alone without anyone knowing…’

Instructor Shin looked at the screen. Meanwhile, half of the CCTVs were destroyed, so there were many dark displays.

The still-live footage was illuminating the vicinity of the main building, which had turned into hell. It showed monsters avoiding magic and black whirlwinds that chased one or two beats slower than their movements.

The size of the tornado was enough to cover a monster even at first glance completely. That was a good chance to hit them at once accidentally.

Thinking so, Instructor Shin muttered unknowingly.

“… Really, you can’t aim so badly .”

Instructor Shin glanced at the white-faced on-duty instructor’s expression. Much of the exterior wall of the building had already melted. Waterbird’s decay liquid was only effective for living things, so that damage was all Kim Kyung-hwan’s skill.

“Shit!”

Kim Kyung-hwan repeatedly spat out abusive language. Stunningly, he didn’t get hit.

In the end, he had to admit Eraser’s words. He said Kim Kyung-hwan couldn’t kill those monsters anyway. Nevertheless, he was greedy, and he was using all of his Mana more than necessary through the magic circle on the back of his hand. He wanted somehow to kill one of them with his own hands.

“Tsk.”

Kim Kyung-hwan noticed that the trajectory of the fleeing monsters became very unstable. It was a sign that Eraser said. The monsters gave up hunting. Just a little more like this…

-Kheeeek! Kheeeek!

-Kheek! Kheeeeeek!

The Waterbirds began to exchange signals between themselves. Even at first glance, it was a different cry than before.

And finally…

-Kheeeeeeek!

After making a long scream, three monsters melted transparently into the atmosphere at the same time.

“Tsk, it’s over.”

Kim Kyung-hwan couldn’t hide his disappointment.

“I couldn’t catch them in the end.”

There wasn’t much the Korean government knew about that weird creature. It could fly in the sky, spray decay liquid, and could turn invisible.

However, Kim Kyung-hwan knew one more piece of information that no one in the world knew. Needless to say, its source was Eraser.

‘The ability of invisibility is not powerful. He said they couldn’t spray the decay liquid while invisible!’

That was because it wasn’t pure body secretion but a magical ability.

Casting invisibility at that moment meant giving up any more battles. As expected, he felt the Mana of those weird things gradually faded away in the distance. The monsters ran outside towards the hillside.

“End of situation.”

He couldn’t catch and kill them as if he was greedy, but somehow he saved the training center from the crisis.

When he thought of it, his steamy heart disappeared, and joy rose again. Kim Kyung-hwan smiled triumphantly. It was such a quick emotional change.

He shook his hand and entered the building again.

The main building couldn’t be seen as a decent building anymore. The center, which was protected by special magic near the command and control room, the building’s shape remained intact, but other places were perforated like bone suffering from osteoporosis.

‘It’s a sign of a fierce battle.’

Whether the tornado hit the porch and the painting on the wall, the original giant barley field’s remnants were mixed with fragmented bronze sculptures and melted. Kim Kyung-hwan stepped inside carefully, not to step on them.

Some fallen soldiers had ingested the mist, and there was a scene of emergency measures surrounding them. As Kim Kyung-hwan approached, those attached to their mind looked at him with a pale face.

Looking at them, Kim Kyung-hwan realized that the place where he stepped on was reality. It wasn’t the kind of fantasy world he dreamed of.

In addition to heroes like him, ordinary people lived in that world. Those soldiers had no talent or power. They often get involved in the fights of the Transcendents and suffer damage, and those ordinary people were literally real people, not those who could be turned away by treating them as extras.

‘But if I weren’t there, all of them would have died because of the Waterbirds.’

They wouldn’t die from ingesting gas. It was an unavoidable sacrifice and inevitable damage.

At the same time, Kim Kyung-hwan had a contradictory thought.

It was so good that that place where he gained strength was real, not delusional. Nevertheless, it would be better if this place was mixed with some very few unrealistic elements. It would be nice if it were unrealistic enough that there was no need to feel guilty while watching the people who were caught up in their fights and suffered damage.

Okay, what about the other dimension? Wouldn’t my guilt be a little less if non-earthly races were caught up in it? Kim Kyung-hwan vaguely thought it might be so.

‘Anyway, this is reality.’

Kim Kyung-hwan deliberately paid attention to his walking and posture. He tried to pretend to be calm. He wanted to create a sense of daily life as if he were going back to his dorm after lunch.

“Kim Kyung-hwan!”

From the elevator hall, he saw human instructors rushing in.

What he was doing was an arbitrary act of not following the evacuation instructions. However, there were other emotions in the eyes of the approaching instructors.

‘Yes, that’s it.’

He muttered inwardly. It was so exciting and pleasant to see the expressions of people who were amazed by his ability.

Kim Kyung-hwan murmured with pride.

“It was too bland for the first stage. There are too few witnesses. The opponent was too bad for ‘Transcendental Mage’ Kim Kyung-hwan’s debut monster.”

Transcendental Mage.

Yes, he had already made his own nickname.

***

“Isn’t that pretty good for the first stage? There were also many witnesses.”

In the dark forest near the Hun-neung, I met the Waterbirds returning in their transparent state.

-Kheeeeeek! Kheeeeeek!

Their pain and frustration were conveyed through my connected soul.

“I can’t take the penalty.”

Instead of following my instructions, the contract’s terms with the Waterbirds were to bring them to that dimension and feed them. Kim Kyung-hwan’s magic even wounded them, but if I returned them without compensation, the penalty I had to deal with was too great.

I opened a large container that I had prepared in advance.

-Kheeeeeek!

-Mooooo!

The sound of three monsters and three earth animals crying in the noise-blocking barrier could be heard.

Three cows tied up in it were frightened when they saw the monsters outside and twisted their bodies to escape.

Lee Seo-rin also has quite a few years of experience. When I suddenly instructed her to get a few cows in a late-morning dream, they would be delivered within hours. I couldn’t even guess where on earth live cows could be bought near Seoul?

-Moooooo!

The cows were overwhelmed by the ominous energy from the Waterbirds. In front of their eyes, it kicked back like crazy. They were looking outside with red, congested eyes. Because of the violent shake, the string that tied the neck broke through the flesh. Four legs were shaking, and poop and urine spilled on the bottom of the container.

“Well… I’m sorry.”

It would’ve been nice if they had passed out. However, waterbirds like to rot the conscious creature alive and then suck on the melted flesh.

“I hope it ends soon.”

I let the three Waterbirds into the container, then closed the door and sealed it lightly. It wasn’t a perfect vacuum, but it was enough to prevent liquid from leaking out. If the spoiled liquid leaks out, it was troublesome to clean it up.

-Moooo!

-Kheeek! Kheeeek!

Containers rattled, cracked cows screamed, decayed liquid melted flesh, and squeaky Waterbirds’ cries were faintly heard. The feelings of the Waterbirds who were very satisfied and joyful, were transmitted through my soul.

“Hmmm…”

I felt a little guilty. It was something a little different from remorse. Sorry, don’t be born as a cow next life…

Ah, well. Now that they were dead, would their soul be sucked into the other dimension?

Were they going to be reborn as a Dell Giant or an Ashpim Giant? Or as an animal in that world? Otherwise… Was it in the hands of Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest?

Still, what was next?

“Just like the tentacles sucked up the Heart Fish, is the Truth-Seeker absorbing that cow’s soul? If that’s true, then this world has become a hell of being preyed upon for every edible animal, whether alive or dead.”

[Hmm.]

Even if I thought about it, the answer didn’t come out.

I shrugged my shoulders.

“I don’t know.”