31. Princess Run (6)
***
Broken bone fragments fly everywhere, and flesh and crushed brain matter fall out.
His head exploded so easily.
‘What···!’
A hissing sound came from the fallen wizard’s chest, and black smoke rose up. The artifact hidden inside his clothes had burned from overload. The smell of raw flesh mixed in with my own.
‘crazy!’
Adrenaline surged through the bodies of the remaining two, causing them to break out in a cold sweat.
The necklace that the Witches’ Cooperative had proven to be a ‘magic tool that can definitely counter one attack unless you do something crazy like fight a dragon’ was helplessly pierced.
So, is that guy really a dragon?
‘No, that can’t be!’
Whatever his identity, he was definitely a very strong man. They didn’t even notice how their colleague’s head had just exploded. They didn’t know that it was Minjun’s favorite curse, a spell that rapidly increased the pressure in a specific area of the body.
The result is a tofu that bursts like a balloon.
“······!”
It was frozen for a moment.
The wizards immediately recited a spell. Since their magic tools were useless, the only way to survive was to attack first. They didn’t exchange a single word, but their hands and feet worked together perfectly. While the older warlock recited a long spell, the man next to him was buying time.
He opened his mouth, given the task of stopping Minjun for a moment. His teeth had become sharp like those of an animal or an orc. He then raised his arms.
Chomp!
There was no hesitation. With those teeth, he bit and tore at his own flesh. His entire body, including his chest, became excited and blood spurted up to the ceiling.
“Ugh!”
It is said that in the distant past, when there were no committees, the primitive black magic of that time was a form of magic that involved the magician sacrificing his own pain and life force.
However, if you continue to insist on that method, you will end up casting a few spells and ending your life, so the history of the development of black magic has been in line with the development of methods that shift the burden of the magician to the tribute.
And today, the reason why black magicians, except for Minjun, intentionally hurt themselves is one thing. The most powerful black magic is the original, self-sacrificial magic, so it is to escape a dangerous situation even if it means shortening one’s lifespan.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The flesh and blood the wizard held in his mouth turned into bloody flames. Flames of curse created with a power several times greater than the black magic already accumulated in his body. Just as he was about to spit the flames in his lips at Minjun.
“······!”
He couldn’t open his mouth in the end. His face turned bright red with fire in his mouth, then black. His eyes rolled back, revealing the whites of his eyes.
Hurrruk!
The wizard spit out blood-red flames from every orifice on his face, including his mouth, ears, and nostrils. The cursed flames burned his body instead of attacking his enemy as the wizard intended.
This was because Minjun’s curse struck first. The curse that gave extreme flammability to blood and flesh met the flames in his mouth, resulting in a free-flowing fire.
Cheeeeek!
dump!
The black-haired wizard falls. With this, two out of the three are dead without a moment to recover. It’s only been a few seconds.
It was only a moment, but it was enough for the most powerful wizard among them to perfect his greatest spell.
Hwaah!
A shadow swept over the shoulder of the warlock who was left alone. It shook and swayed like boiling steam.
In an instant, it tangles and forms a shape in the air.
“······.”
Minjun stared at it with an unchanging expression.
A monster appeared above the wizard’s head. A black summoned creature with only the upper body sculpted. The bloody mist flowing from the corner of its mouth dyed the air, and its gaze poured out with a ferocious murderous intent. The shadow gained a heavy mass and showed off a muscular, troll-like gigantic body.
Although his legs were shaking and he was drenched in sweat, the warlock laughed proudly.
Krrrr!
Shadow monster.
If you’re a wizard, you can’t help but know this. A summoned beast that is close to foul play, tearing apart anything, whether it’s material or spiritual.
It’s been a lifetime of hard work that I’ve finally been able to summon it in such a large form. Considering that it can wreak havoc even when summoned as small as the palm of your hand, it’s an incredible achievement.
In order to deal with this monster, you must deploy extreme physical and spiritual defenses. Unless you are literally a dragon, that intruder will…
‘huh?’
Only then did the wizard feel uneasy.
Because I saw something strange in Minjun’s expression, which I thought was frozen in fear.
To say that it was frozen in fear······.
“?!”
The inorganic light in Minjun’s eyes was saying something.
tedium.
It was excruciatingly annoying and tiresome.
Hurrr!
This time, Minjun did not recite the spell or offer a sacrifice.
The black magic that had already filled the spirit and flesh summoned a being in an instant.
A black storm blew behind him like a firecracker. It engulfed the space in an instant like a landslide with its direction reversed.
“······omg!”
There was a sound like air being sucked from the wizard’s lungs.
Every space he looked at became pitch black, terribly black. A terrifying recognition and an awkward realization followed.
Krrrr!
A being so large that its head touches the ceiling and fills the room.
Compared to the summoned beasts summoned by the wizard, it was like the weight difference between an adult and a child.
The warlock felt his stomach drop as he looked at Minjun’s grotesquely large shadow monster.
“You, you···!”
The fact that he only then discovered that his opponent was a warlock proves the difference in skill between the two.
Kkeueeeeeek!
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The warlock’s monster reacted violently. The shadow, now dwarfed, convulsed, screamed, and tried to run away. A terrified struggle. Then the panicked wizard shouted at his summon.
“Kye, fight for me as per the contract! Don’t try to run away and fight back no matter what···!”
Minjun sneered at the sight. It was only natural that he had difficulty controlling the summoned being he summoned with black magic, trying to appease and soothe it.
In contrast to the flustered wizard, Minjun nodded halfheartedly forward.
Immediately.
Shhhhh!
Like a trained hunting dog detecting its master’s signal, a black flash rushed forward.
Kyaaaaah!
It was like a scene where a lamb was thrown to a hungry shark. As Minjun’s monster tore the black flesh with both hands, it split along the grain. Next, it bit the back of the neck that screamed. Blood poured down like rain, and the shadows turned into thin pieces and fluttered here and there. The small monster was instantly disintegrated in the air.
And the sorcerer connected to that summoner.
“Coolook!”
Unable to hold out any longer, he fell to his knees. The moment he vomited a handful of blood, the remains of the summoned creature disappeared without a trace.
“······Coolook! Kreuk!”
Minjun’s words landed on the shoulders of the wizard who had lost his power. It was a faint voice with no particular emotion.
“Well then, shall we have a real conversation?”
Minjun sat him down and tied him up.
Since the orc boy hasn’t woken up yet, the only people in this building who are conscious are the warlock and Minjun.
Do Yong-seok was as good as dead, and other members of the organization, including the man who interviewed him, were lying as cold corpses throughout the building.
A subordinate organization of the Human Rights Solidarity was miserably destroyed by a single person.
The bound warlock asks in a lifeless voice.
“······Why on earth is the master of the Oslo School hostile to the Human Rights Solidarity?”
There was still a glimmer of incomprehension in those eyes, and Minjun realized that the human supremacist had mistaken his identity.
The person he was referring to was a notorious warlock who has yet to be captured, despite being pursued by 26 governments and eight Elder Dragons.
“······.”
It was unfair that he was mistaken for ‘Theo Christiansen’ and not someone else, but Minjun didn’t bother to correct him. He just silently hatched a happy bug from his finger and stuffed it into the wizard’s nostril. As usual, he chose the most efficient method.
however.
Gulp!
This time, it didn’t go as smoothly as Minjun had expected. A stream of blood flowed from the wizard’s nostrils. Minjun clicked his tongue as he watched the Happy Bug, who was already dead and motionless, being swept away along with it.
‘As expected, they’re on a different level from people like Society. Is this some kind of secret society?’
It is a means of resistance planted in the brains of the organization members. To dismantle it, you have to destroy the brain, which ultimately kills the opponent, so this method is virtually blocked.
As I frowned, the wizard laughed, blood bubbles rising from the corners of his mouth with each short breath.
“Kuuuuu! Stop talking nonsense and kill me! That bug won’t work on me.”
After coughing with difficulty, he continued speaking.
“You wouldn’t think of using torture to extract information, would you? I may be insignificant compared to you, but I’m also a warlock. I can’t open my mouth that way. Don’t waste your time.”
It is a well-known fact that black magicians are accustomed to pain due to the nature of their training methods. Minjun was also a black magician, so he knew it well. However, he did not intend to rule out that option.
Minjun muttered calmly.
“Ah, there’s no way. If this continues, I’ll really have to torture him.”
“Kukul! It’s no use···.”
“Yeah, this is your destiny too. Why did you plant something like that in my head… What should I do?”
Minjun’s voice, as he spoke, was filled with emotions the wizard had not expected. It was a tone that was hard to call bravado or a tactic that would induce fear. For a moment, he felt an ominous premonition.
“Isn’t Yong the most pitiful gentleman I’ve seen in the past year?”
Minjun takes out a black stone knife in his right hand and holds it, and with the other hand he scratches his head and tells a story that the other person cannot know.
“A nobleman who was nearly a thousand years old was being chased and was preparing to escape to another world. But he was caught and killed because he missed the deadline by exactly one day. He was beaten to death by a gourd. A dragon that lived for nine hundred years and a half was defeated by exactly one day? Does that give you a headache?”
The wizard didn’t understand the context of the story, but one thing was certain: Minjun was confident. He could make him spit out whatever story he wanted.
“But… I think you’ll renew it today.”
He slowly thrusts in the black knife. He clicks his tongue calmly.
“I would have rather planted a bug in my brain and died cleanly. Tsk.”
Minjun has lived as a black magician for over 800 years, if you just count the years he can remember.
If I had to pick one person who knew best how to torture a warlock, it would have to be Minjun.
“?!”
A sense of fear slowly rose. In the wizard’s eyes, Minjun’s expression, looking at him with pity, was reflected. The feeling seemed genuine, and that fact made the wizard feel even more creepy.
And the moment when the tip of Minjun’s sword pressed against the old wizard’s skin.
The wizard came to regret being born.
***
“Yes, hello? This is Ye Min-jun.”
After some time, Minjun was on the phone in a room filled with the smell of blood.
The person on the other end of the phone is Jenkinson’s chief of staff.
“It’s not my style to work like this, giving interim reports, but… I think you should know this before proceeding any further.”
Minjun was holding a flip phone in his right hand and using his empty left hand to light a faint flame to wash away the blood and oil. He looked at the flickering flame and explained calmly.
To sum up the result, it was like this.
The wizard knew that the Human Rights Solidarity was planning to rip off Jenkinson, but he was not involved in it and had no detailed information.
Because it was a secret society split into countless factions, I didn’t know the details of the operations I wasn’t involved in.
In that case, he had to dig up the contact information of the higher-ups who knew the contents, but the problem was that this wizard did not have the authority to do so. He was just a level that moved according to the unilateral notification from above. He did not know how to contact them in the opposite direction.
But that doesn’t mean there was no harvest today.
“Sooner or later, the Human Rights Solidarity will cause a major accident.”
Although he didn’t know the exact date or method, the wizard knew who his target was.
“You know that Princess Shutan? The alien who entered the country a few days ago. Yes. He said he was going to attack her. I don’t know if the purpose was kidnapping or assassination. The reason is… the pretext is to stop the 8th mass immigration.”
What’s important is that the Human Rights Solidarity considers this operation very important, so even big names will be mobilized.
Among them, there must certainly be some who were involved in the safe-breaking.
“Now do you know why I called?”
Immigration has to make a choice.
A situation where intelligence has been received regarding a terrorist attack on a princess who has been invited as a VIP from another world.
The logical course of action would be to cancel all schedules and immediately return the princess to her original dimension. The terminal blockade could have been made an exception for the princess and her party, since they were VIPs from another world.
But if that happens, the Human Rights Solidarity will not show its tail. It will mean losing its goal.
“What are you going to do?”
Minjun was asking.
Should we send the alien guest back to protect him, or use him as bait to catch the thieves who stole Jenkins’ fortune?
Minjun thought this question was beyond Blair’s authority and naturally expected her to reply that she would ask Jenkinson.
but.
“Understood. Agent, I’m sorry, but can I add one more thing to your request?”
Contrary to his expectations, Blair said just what he wanted.
After hanging up the phone, Minjun shrugged.
“It looks like you’ve made up your mind this time?”
As I took the receiver away from my ear, I heard the old man’s frail voice mumbling over the thick scent of blood.
“Lord··· Lord··· Lord··· Give me······.”
Kwajik!
After he had made the ceremonial dagger into what he had hoped for by shooting it at his now useless forehead, Minjun began to worry.
‘Did I say that for nothing?’
I think about it for a moment more, then change my mind.
Things were getting bigger and more complicated, and it seemed like it was becoming more and more of a hassle for him… but he just had to charge a thorough fee afterward for all the effort he put into it.
Minjun didn’t worry about Jenkinson’s talent balance.
‘If it’s not enough, I’ll just borrow some and pay for it, you know.’
This was because they knew that the racial characteristic of being a dragon was evidence of strong credit from the perspective of banks in other worlds.
***
“Hello. Are you Agent Ye Min-jun?”
Minjun shook hands with a dwarven woman in the lobby of a hotel near Samseong Station. Her name was Olga, and she was said to be Princess Vermi’s interpreter.
“I was surprised when the immigration office suddenly increased the number of security personnel. The princess is also very satisfied. I heard you are the highest-rated agent in the immigration office of this country?”
Minjun nodded halfheartedly and followed Olga into the elevator. When she pressed the button for the top floor, the first floor quickly moved away beyond the transparent elevator wall. Minjun muttered to himself as he watched the scene.
‘A mission to escort Princess Shutan. Wow… They do all sorts of things.’
What Blair asked of Minjun was simple: to take charge of Princess Vermi’s security from now on.
It was a mission that Jenkinson had originally thought he would refuse and had judged it to be unsuitable for his level of skill, so he had not even asked him to undertake it.
‘They say they are not at ease with the current level of security, as they are dangling and shaking in front of their enemies using alien VIPs as bait.’
The immigration office wanted to achieve two difficult goals at the same time.
At the same time, luring the Human Rights Solidarity to reveal itself in order to target Princess Vermi, while ensuring the princess’s complete safety.
And he figured out that he was the only agent who could do it all.
Minjun felt the blank check in his arms growing heavier with each passing day.
‘Even the person under guard was kept a secret.’
Jenkinson and Blair felt like they were on a tightrope, but he had nothing to lose because he knew he would be rewarded for his efforts whether he succeeded or failed.
Even if this incident caused a political storm between dimensions, he was confident that he would not be swept away. Ironically, in that case, the committee he hated so much would protect him. The prisoners were valuable assets to the committee.
While they were thinking that, the two arrived in front of the princess’s room. The dwarf knocked on the door.
“Princess, this is Olga. A new agent has arrived to join the security team.”
The dwarf took the key card and opened the door wide.
“excuse me.”
Minjun stepped into the room as Olga led him. Princess Vermi, who was sitting on the sofa, raised her head. At the same time, Bradley, who was standing behind her, had a hardened expression. He looked at the door and licked his lips. ‘···You?!’
And then Princess Vermi and Minjun’s eyes met.
“······.”
The princess, who saw him, froze in her breathing position.
“?”
Today was the last day the princess had to stay at the hotel to deal with her motion sickness, and unlike when she had met Bradley, she had recovered quite a bit. As such, she had opened all the numerous windows in the presidential suite and was enjoying the moist air that had just stopped raining.
And the phenomenon that usually occurs when you open the front door while keeping the windows open on a windy day also occurred in the princess’s room. As soon as a passage for the wind was created, a strong headwind blew.
Whew!
As the wind blew into the hallway, Minjun’s bangs blew in the air. As usual, he had an expression on his face that seemed indifferent to everything. Cathy grumbled that he looked like an old man who had lived his whole life, but those with unique tastes would grumble that he looked like a ‘man with a story’, and the gaze that stayed on Gongju. Meanwhile, as he entered the empty room, the sensor light above his head turned on and shone. It wasn’t a bright white fluorescent light like a home, but a soft and mysterious golden mood light.
“Hello. I will be serving you from today. Please take good care of me.”
He greeted them dryly, and the dwarf translated his words with the sound of metal shelves dragging on the concrete floor.
“······.”
However, the princess still did not respond.
“?”
As the silence grew longer than expected, the dwarf spoke again with an eardrum-piercing sound. But the princess just stared blankly at Minjun with her mouth slightly open.
at that time.
‘huh?’
Minjun suddenly felt a unique scent different from the bloody smell that had been flowing in the room irritating his nose.
‘Wait a minute, what is this?’
The moment he realized the identity, Minjun frowned without realizing it.
‘no way?’
It was one of the chemicals his keen nose could detect without error.
‘Why in the meantime? Are there any other Shutan men nearby?’
I looked around, but I didn’t see any crocodiles or sense any pheromones from the other sex.
‘?!’
Only then did Minjun think of an ominous possibility.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A very small, low, drum-like sound was heard. It was the noise made when the heart valves of some species beat very fast and struck each other.
The source of that sound was, as expected, the princess who had frozen like a pillar of salt in front.
‘Hey, wait a minute.’
All the circumstantial evidence led him to one inference.
The pheromones that fill the room are flowing out from the princess.
She is in love with ‘someone’ at this very moment.
