30. Korokoro Tribe's Village (4)
The greatest newspaper company in the magical world, Magician Planet. He was not actually on staff there… but the reporter known as "Clikin," who had made a name for himself by feeding Magician Planet one scoop-level scandal after another, had recently been tailing a certain mage as a paparazzo.
'A Stella Academy cadet, Baek Yuseol.'
A boy who had become a huge topic of conversation ever since it became known that he was the co-author who had deciphered the Aeromancy Random Cross Formula together with the genius alchemist Alterisha.
And even before that, there were stories about how he had prevented what could have become a massive disaster by stopping a necromancer's assault before it could begin, or how he had later defeated a 6-Risk Dark Mage in the Cradle of the Celestial Spirit Tree, and so on.
No matter that he was a Stella cadet, he had racked up so many incredible achievements within just half a year that it was impossible to believe he was only a first-year. Clikin was probably far from the only person chasing after him.
As proof, he had already exchanged those eye-signals that only "colleagues" shared several times over inside this very train.
But…
'Those bastards and I are different on a fundamental level!'
The kind of trash reporters who, the second they got even one provocative photo, would slap on some inflammatory headline designed to cause misunderstanding.
Unlike them, Clikin took pride in always presenting the world with nothing but facts, backed by solid evidence.
The people's right to know!
To fulfill that right, reporters risked their lives and struggled on the front lines.
Stalking mages demanded outstanding disguise and infiltration skills, and the kind of bold courage that could face even death.
And yet, look at them now.
Now that a target worthy of being called the real thing had actually appeared, those pathetic fools couldn't even lay a hand on their cameras. All they could do was drop to their knees and tremble.
'Ghk…!'
Well, of course they could not help it.
Rattle! Rattle!
Even as the train thundered roughly down the tracks and the interior jolted violently, look at that man walking calmly through the corridor without the slightest sway.
'Kalaban the Mad Ghoul.'
The infamous mage serial killer who had once dyed the dawn streets a deep violet with terror.
A being who knew better than anyone else how to kill mages, he had slaughtered hundreds of mage warriors and torn apart their corpses to devour them, in such vicious and horrifying fashion that countless people had shuddered at the very thought of him.
He had vanished ten years ago, and all that had circulated since then were vague rumors that someone had killed him…
'No doubt about it! That's Kalaban!'
That legendary mage-killer had returned as a Dark Mage.
And he had appeared right in front of the three Stella genius cadets currently drawing the most attention.
Ma Yuseong, Hae Wonryang, Baek Yuseol.
A confrontation between the most famous teenage mage boys, without exception, and the worst murderer imaginable…!
'This is… a scoop…'
He was going to die.
If he stayed here, he would get swept up in it.
There probably would not even be bones left behind.
But even knowing that, Clikin forced his trembling hand toward the camera and pressed the shutter.
'Even if I die, I have to get this shot…!'
The astonishing professionalism of a true reporter somehow let him resist even the killing intent of a Dark Mage and move his finger.
"Ha, they've gone insane!"
"You've got to be kidding me! Are they trying to fight in midair?!"
KWA-KWA-KWANG!!
He managed to capture it all: the Stella boys throwing open the train door and leaping down beneath the cliff, and the Dark Mages ripping through the train wall and hurling themselves outside in pursuit.
Rattle! Rattle!
Rattle! Rattle!
His heart was still pounding wildly.
His hands were trembling so badly that even checking the photos he had taken properly was difficult.
But Clikin was a professional.
Instead of thinking, 'Did I survive?' he used superhuman concentration to check the camera film in order to answer the only question that mattered.
'…Th-this is scoop material!'
The camera had captured, with almost artistic perfection, the vivid image of the Dark Mages chasing after the Stella boys.
Once Stella cadets reached their second year, they could officially receive "missions" and be dispatched outside.
When that time came, the Mage Escort Unit of the Betelgeuse Knights, which belonged to Stella, would continuously track or protect the cadets' locations.
The escort units operated in small numbers, and in many cases moved discreetly so as not to attract the cadets' attention.
However.
That kind of assignment was, at best, work for "junior knights."
Beido, a senior knight of the 6th Class who belonged to the 3rd Mage Escort Battalion of the Betelgeuse Knights, had been assigned the task of personally managing cadets for the first time in quite a while.
'What a nuisance…'
Beido was extremely displeased that he, a senior knight, had been given a mission normally reserved for junior knights with short careers and little experience.
Was it not an outrageous waste of manpower to dispatch a 6th-Class senior knight just to manage a few cadets?
But the one who had personally requested the assignment was none other than Instructor Lee Hanwol, so he could not refuse.
Lee Hanwol had once served as both a "top-class knight" and the commander of the order, so in terms of seniority Beido was hopelessly outranked.
Still… it was not an entirely bad mission. In fact, this one was quite interesting.
[Stella First-Year S-Class]
[Ma Yuseong, Hae Wonryang, Baek Yuseol]
[Provide close personal protection]
Normally, when junior knights were dispatched to guard cadets, each of them managed anywhere from ten to as many as thirty cadets.
But this time, in an extremely unusual arrangement, one senior knight had been sent personally to closely escort just three Stella cadets.
And first-years, at that.
They were no ordinary cadets. They were the three boys from Class S who had recently been drawing the most attention, so Beido had no intention of letting the time pass in complete boredom.
'Though I still don't see why they needed to use me…'
Having taken a suitable seat in one of the front cars of the Tozmic, Beido yawned broadly. He felt no sense of danger at all. In a public place like this, no Dark Mage would suddenly start causing trouble.
For Dark Mages to operate in a place with this much foot traffic meant they too would have to accept losses accordingly… and these days, there were no Dark Mages left with that much nerve.
Which meant all he had to do was sit quietly and glance over the location data displayed on the magic screen.
Tracking their position was also extremely simple, because Stella cadets on outside dispatches were given a tracking device called a Stella Badge.
They did not have to wear it if they refused, but in an emergency they could press the badge to call the escort unit immediately and receive support, and if they chose not to wear it there were penalties in their evaluation, so most cadets kept it on.
'If anything happens, they'll call…'
…That was what he had been comfortably thinking just ten minutes ago.
The moment he nodded off for a second, the magic screen suddenly flashed with a loud crimson light.
"Wh-what…?"
Startled, he stiffened and checked the signal on the screen. Someone had unmistakably sent an emergency distress signal through the badge.
'A distress signal… from the train?'
And the instant that thought crossed his mind, an enormous amount of dark mana came pouring from the very last car. It was so overwhelming that even Beido felt momentarily crushed under the pressure.
'Damn it!'
He had thought of this as nothing more than a brief vacation. He had never expected something to actually happen.
He quickly sent out a "requesting support" signal, grabbed his wand, and tried to head for the rear car—but judged that running there one compartment at a time would take too long.
So in desperation, he smashed through the ceiling, launched himself onto the roof of the train, and sprinted toward the back.
Rattle! Rattle!
"What in the…?"
The incident had already ended.
Half of the rear car had been torn apart.
Pushing past passengers clutching cameras to their chests as though they were members of some photography club, and others who had wet themselves in terror, he leapt into the sky.
KWA-KWA-KWANG!!
Using Super Jump, the advanced derivative of Power Jump, he kicked off the empty air and shot forward with all his might. In the distance, he saw two silhouettes.
'Those bastards…!'
Tap!
Beido stopped at the edge of the cliff and aimed his wand at them. As if they had noticed his mana, they turned to look back.
There was cold fury etched into their expressions, enough to make even Beido tense.
'No doubt about it. Azmick… and Kalaban…!'
He had heard they had gone into hiding long ago, so why in the world were they active here of all places?
"Oh my. A knight of Stella has come? But what to do… I'm in a very bad mood today. Wouldn't it be best if you quietly got lost?"
"Depending on how you answer my question, I just might."
Beido checked the screen on his shrunken wristwatch-shaped device. The cadets' signals had vanished completely.
"The cadets who were in the last car… what happened to them?"
Even as he asked, Beido already understood.
'They're dead. All three.'
It was a bitter thing to accept.
All three boys had been hailed as once-in-a-generation prodigies, and through his own negligence they had met their deaths.
No… perhaps it would be more accurate to call this a natural disaster.
Who could possibly have guessed that the worst Dark Mages in history would be aboard this train?
But.
The answer he got veered far outside Beido's expectations.
"We lost them."
"…What?"
"I said we lost them, you rotten bastard. This won't do. I'll have to rip you apart instead if I want to cool off…"
"Calm down, Azmick. You haven't even drawn your 'nails' properly yet."
Kalaban stopped her.
"If you were fully prepared, that would be one thing. But right now, it would be troublesome."
Azmick bared her long fangs and failed to calm herself, but Kalaban truly had no intention of fighting at the moment.
Kalaban had once become infamous as a mad killer, yet he had remained active for years without ever being caught.
Why do you think that was?
Because behind the title of madman lay meticulous calculation.
'This is bad.'
Thanks to the dark mana they had released, mage warriors would already be gathering here even now. With Azmick unprepared, if they engaged a Stella knight now, they risked wasting time and getting captured.
"…The mission has failed. We're withdrawing."
In the end, Azmick followed Kalaban's judgment and left. Left alone there, Beido could do nothing but stare in utter confusion.
"What… what is this situation?"
Setting aside the fact that those Dark Mages had just walked away, to begin with—
'…Are you seriously telling me that a mere group of first-year cadets exchanged blows with them and escaped alive?'
The Stella badges were still showing no response, but he could not rule out the possibility that they had simply moved beyond a certain range.
And why would those monsters bother to lie and rage about it in the first place?
'How in the world?'
He had heard many times that this year's first-year cadets were anything but ordinary. He had also heard, to the point of being sick of it, that a whole crowd of geniuses blessed by the gods had enrolled this year.
But even so, they were still inexperienced freshmen in the end.
Even he could not see any way to escape those monsters right now. All he had been able to do was pitifully think about how to buy time.
"H-heh, hahaha…"
"Sir Knight! We received your call and came at once!"
"Where is the enemy?!"
Mage warriors from other units arrived at last in response to the support request, but Beido could not say a word.
'I'd heard they were geniuses over and over, but I had no idea they were this much…'
Admiration and emptiness burst out of him one after another, leaving Beido with nothing to do but laugh.
"Sir Knight…"
The mage warriors could only stand there in confusion, unable to understand the situation at all.
—Read only on MugenCodex.—
Meanwhile, after falling into the dungeon, Baek Yuseol clutched his head and shakily pushed himself upright. Unlike him, who had collapsed in a thoroughly pathetic position, Hae Wonryang and Ma Yuseong were both lying on the ground in strangely elegant poses even at a time like this.
"Ugh…"
"Ngh…"
The two of them rose a moment later, hurriedly drew their wands, and watched their surroundings warily. Fortunately, they could sense no dark mana or killing intent at all, and let out relieved sighs.
"I seriously thought I was going to die…"
Baek Yuseol casually got to his feet, brushing off his shoulders. Watching him, Hae Wonryang found himself at a loss.
"Does none of this faze you?"
No matter what, they had just run into Dark Mages and been pushed to the brink of death.
Even Hae Wonryang, calm as he was, had been so tense that his mind had gone blank, yet Baek Yuseol had stayed collected enough to time the opening of the dungeon entrance and throw himself in at the exact right moment.
And now he was getting up as if nothing had happened. Looking at him, Hae Wonryang found it hard to believe they were really both first-years.
"Yeah, I guess."
In truth, no matter how many recent incidents Baek Yuseol had gone through, there was no way he could have remained this calm on his own. This was probably thanks to the [Blessing of Crimson Spring March] fully displaying its ability.
The power to loosen tension and maintain composure no matter what happened.
But Hae Wonryang, who knew nothing of that, had no choice but to feel a certain force of presence from him.
The composure to keep seeking the next move without pause, in order to survive, in order to win, no matter what happened.
It was as though… it were the breadth of mind that should only come from a battle-hardened veteran who had weathered every hardship imaginable.
'…I'm entertaining ridiculous thoughts.'
Once he had thought that far, Hae Wonryang felt disgusted with himself.
In that situation, he had done nothing and merely depended on Baek Yuseol.
Hae Wonryang absolutely hated losing.
Especially…
to Ma Yuseong and Baek Yuseol.
Falling behind those two was worse than anything.
For some reason, having felt a vast gap between himself and Baek Yuseol, Hae Wonryang abruptly sprang to his feet as if trying to erase the thought. The tension still had not left him, and his palms were damp with sweat, but this much was more than manageable.
"Let's go."
"Huh? What? Where are you going?"
"We came into the dungeon, so we start clearing it immediately. We finish it today."
"What? Hey, come on, even with this, a one-day clear is pushing it because of all the mob sections."
But Hae Wonryang said nothing and strode ahead. Baek Yuseol looked helplessly at Ma Yuseong instead, but he only smiled faintly.
"No matter how I think about it, one day feels a little insane…"
Baek Yuseol had already thoroughly prepared the strategy for this dungeon. Or rather, it was not he who had prepared it, but the perfect route Earth's players had put together.
The efficient way to deal with the minor enemies, the sections you could afford to ignore, the methods for skipping countless traps, and even the ways to respond to shifting traps so the boss monster could be cleared safely.
Even so, no matter how thoroughly they used all of those methods, it should still take at least two full days.
'One day is absolutely impossible.'
Thinking that, Baek Yuseol followed after Hae Wonryang.
…Exactly one day later.
[You have cleared the dungeon 'Korokoro Tribe's Village'!]
Kwoooooar!!
Watching the Korokoro chieftain collapse with a horrible scream, Baek Yuseol could not hide his bewildered expression.
"How is this even possible…?!"
A time far faster than even the shortest record ever set by the very best players working together. And yet Hae Wonryang still looked as though something about it profoundly dissatisfied him.
Once again, Baek Yuseol truly felt that he had been with real geniuses. Even results created by Earth's geniuses hammering away on computer keyboards could be broken through in an instant when true geniuses got serious.
"You guys are actual monsters."
When Baek Yuseol let those words slip out without thinking, Ma Yuseong and Hae Wonryang stared at him as if they found that absurd.
If he interpreted their expressions roughly, they seemed to be saying, 'That's not something you should be saying.'