City of Witches Chapter 143

Whoever coined the term "tropical night" must have had a real gift for language.

Tropical + night—doesn't the image just click into place at a glance?

At 2 a.m., with nothing better to do than suck on his fingers to pass the time, Siwoo stepped out in front of his apartment as usual to buy cigarettes.

It wasn't anything meaningful. Just a walk.

During his slave days, he couldn't do it because it was too exhausting, but Siwoo often took to the streets at night to clear his tangled thoughts or change the mood.

As long as Siwoo wore his eyepatch, it was impossible to tell whether he bore a Brand with the naked eye, and even within Gehenna, few knew he could use Magic, so as long as he didn't cause a commotion outside, even if he happened to run into an Exile, there shouldn't be any problem.

Since nothing had happened during his idle days, he walked along with a relatively relaxed mindset compared to when he first returned home.

The bustling area where Siwoo's officetel was located was filled with cicadas that had forgotten the night, chirping under the dazzling lights, but the quiet studio apartment neighborhood just a short distance from the bustling area was utterly tranquil.

Utility poles and power lines, hard to find in new cities these days, along with yellowish sodium lamps, illuminated the ground beneath his feet.

"It really is hot."

Grumbling softly, Siwoo flapped the collar of his shirt and looked for a vending machine under a streetlight.

To keep walks from getting boring, routine is important.

As everyone knows, land prices in Seoul are expensive.

To make the most of the narrow, expensive land, studio apartment neighborhoods were built by carving into mountains. Climbing the steep uphill road, there was a citizens' park preserved at the mountain's summit.

The shabby vending machine at the park's entrance was Siwoo's routine stop.

He'd come up here, drink a beverage, smoke a cigarette, and think about which direction to take his walk today.

"Cola."

Without asking or hesitating, Siwoo pulled out a can of cola and lit a cigarette.

As the sweet, refreshing carbonation spread through his slightly parched body, he could finally catch his breath.

"Ah, damn, this is uncomfortable."

Climbing the slope had made him sweat so much that the area where the eyepatch touched his skin was damp with moisture.

"Ugh, fuck, I wish it'd grow on my balls instead. Why do Witches have it in their Wombs, but I'm the only one..."

Covering one eye in daily life was quite inconvenient.

As a Spirit Body, his vision wouldn't deteriorate or anything from stubbornly using his external eye, but it messed with his depth perception.

On the other hand, living without the eyepatch was problematic because the dazzling golden eyes engraved with a Magic Formula drew too much attention.

It didn't matter if ordinary people saw them, but if an Exile with ill intentions saw them... well, it was obvious.

As Siwoo gulped down his cola, he noticed something.

If he'd taken off the eyepatch and looked into the distance earlier, would he have noticed sooner?

The airflow around him was tangled.

Like a thread floating on water, or more precisely, like fine cotton.

To put it more accurately, the magic power around him was stagnant.

Magic power is originally an unknown "flow" with no physical substance or anything.

However, it isn't entirely unaffected by external influences, so under normal conditions, the magic power drifting in the atmosphere flows leisurely like a river.

But not now.

It was staying within a certain radius, like liquids of different temperatures convecting inside a cup.

"........."

Siwoo stuffed the eyepatch into his pocket, stood up immediately, and flicked away his cigarette butt.

It might already be too late, but he cranked the music box's range and intensity to the maximum.

His heart raced.

Siwoo had experienced this phenomenon once before.

The water bottle created by Ea Sadalmelik—the "Hidden Boundary."

A type of barrier formula that cuts out one world and overlays another on top of it.

In Gehenna, already separated by Duke Keter, it merely served to reduce the presence of Magic, but in the Mortal Realm, it was different.

The space separated by the Hidden Boundary becomes another world, isolating everything that happens inside the barrier from the Mortal Realm.

Simply put, space A, divided by the Hidden Boundary, is replaced by a copied space B.

No need to think about anything more complicated than that.

What mattered now was dealing with the sudden situation.

"Bloom."

Siwoo quietly recited the Incantation.

The magic power drawn to its limit was immediately transformed into black shadows.

It was the law of shadows, ver. 2—the Magic Siwoo was most confident in and had recently reestablished.

With the shadows he drew out, he created armor and wrapped it around his body.

The shape of sleek Plate Armor.

It might not look particularly impressive in terms of defense, but its performance was likely superior to any protective suit in existence.

Siwoo, fully armed except for the helmet that would obstruct his vision.

"Hoo... hoo..."

Was it because adrenaline was pumping from facing a crisis?

His heart, lulled into complacency by the repetitive, boring daily routine, now pumped hot blood to the extremities of his body.

When he confronted smugglers at the inn, when he faced the Homunculus at Latifundium, when he confronted Ea Sadalmelik.

It was all the same as now.

As far as Siwoo knew, there were two causes for a "Hidden Boundary" suddenly unfolding in the Mortal Realm.

"An Exile?"

One was, of course, a Witch.

The Hidden Boundary was originally a Magic widely disseminated by Duke Keter after capturing and researching Homunculi before Gehenna came into existence.

Even back then, a Witch's power rivaled natural disasters, and when Witches clashed, the aftermath was devastating.

For example, the Black Death, which struck Europe in the 14th century and killed a third of the population, was said to have spread due to the curse of the "Plague Witch" during multiple clashes with Keter.

It was an old document, so it was up to you whether to believe it or not, but in any case, when a Witch in the Mortal Realm hunts or fights, they always declare and use a Hidden Boundary.

"Homunculus?"

The other was a Homunculus.

Given that Duke Keter researched Homunculi to create it, you could tell that the Homunculus's "core" had a built-in Magic Formula that constantly declared a Hidden Boundary.

That's why they could roam the Mortal Realm freely without humans knowing of their existence, and why Witches had a hard time hunting them.

While carefully scanning his surroundings, he also examined the side of the barrier, which was shaped like a large hemisphere.

By rough estimate, the diameter was about 100 meters.

It included not only the citizens' park but also part of the studio apartment neighborhood.

Judging by the texture of the boundary, it wasn't as refined as Ea's water bottle.It doesn't even seem like the terrifying magic formula designed to melt prey fleeing from inside to outside has been implemented.

Then the best option is to carefully exit the barrier.

"No."

Siwoo shook his head. That could not be the best course of action.

This is not Gehenna.

In the Mortal Realm, no one can directly help Siwoo, so he must shake off any sparks that fall on his own clothes himself.

In such a situation, leaving without confirming the identity of a potentially dangerous entity?

Immediate safety might be guaranteed.

However, the lack of information could return as a crisis someday, without even giving a chance for prevention.

Siwoo checked the music box spread to its limit and climbed the stairs of the civic park.

The music box's effect is excellent.

It not only blocks the wavelength of magical power, presence, and sound but also makes the target overlook them like scenery.

It's a type of camouflage.

Siwoo, prepared at any moment to flee or engage in combat, carefully moved one step at a time.

Truthfully, the facilities aren't great, given their age.

The exercise equipment installed along the slope was rusted to the point where one couldn't tell when it was last used, and the wooden stairs made for easy climbing were rotting in places.

A little further up the hiking trail, a rustling presence was heard.

No, actually, calling it a 'presence' isn't quite accurate.

Because it wasn't a sound made by a person.

Orange sodium lights.

An observatory where one could simultaneously look down upon the famous street area, the university hospital across the main road, and the campus.

Above it, a beast was crouching.

Roughly the size of a large breed dog.

If it stretched out its crouched body and raised its legs, it seemed large enough to easily place its front paws on Siwoo's crown.

".........."

It's not some rural area or mountain village; a wild animal of that size couldn't possibly be roaming around the hills of Sinchon.

Moreover, the hidden boundary spread around this area strengthened Siwoo's conviction.

That it was a Homunculus.

He lowered his body further and observed closely.

What covered the Homunculus's skin was not fur.

Instead, it was glossy, as if tar had been applied over thick rubber, and a single glowing red eye was embedded between its brows.

It was so black it lacked any sense of depth.

"........"

Siwoo held his breath.

Homunculi are recommended for hunting only by witches of the 15th Hierarchy or above, meaning those with activated Autonomous Defense.

Siwoo, without a formal Brand, had no Autonomous Defense, nor did he have a means to accurately measure Hierarchy.

However, based on gathered knowledge and comparisons with his surroundings, Siwoo estimated his own level to be roughly the 14th or 15th Hierarchy.

A level where he could barely catch a Homunculus or, conversely, be defeated by one.

It hadn't noticed his presence yet.

If he quietly slipped away, he could return without any problems.

He had hunted a Homunculus in Latifundium before, but that was solely due to luck.

First, there was the Twins' assistance to blind and buy time, the Homunculus had a clear weakness—its shadow law was vulnerable to highly compressed magical power—and there was a magical power source nearby to replenish the necessary magic.

Now?

There's only Siwoo's lone body.

Even though his level of magic has risen incomparably since then, Homunculi also vary in combat power individually.

There's a high possibility that if Siwoo recklessly attacks, he could get a taste of his own medicine.

Leave it and run.

That was Siwoo's conclusion.

Until he saw what the ominously moving monster was doing under the orange light.

-Crunch, crunch, gnash, gnash

Siwoo's brow furrowed.

That sound, bizarrely loud right under his earlobe, even though he hadn't confirmed it yet.

A sound like tearing through a chunk of meat, or gnawing on something hard.

Driven by instinctive disgust and displeasure, Siwoo couldn't help but look back.

-Gnash, gnarr, gnash

Only then did it come into view.

That the trees around where the monster was sitting were glowing an unnaturally dark red.

That what was sprawled around, mistaken for a rope, were intestines forcibly pulled from a belly.

It's certain.

That thing was eating a 'human'.

His mind went blank.

He had experience being half-corpse, but this was his first time seeing a corpse.

When he came to his senses, Siwoo was already standing up.

Then he saw it even more clearly.

Probably an uncle who came out for exercise on a moonlit night.

The cheap hiking clothes were torn to shreds.

The nearly emptied belly skin behind was spread out like a curtain, tattered and ragged.

The emotion he hadn't been aware of in his panic, which had made him stand up from his crouch, struck like flint, sparking.

The sight of a fellow human being torn apart and eaten by a mere beast-like Homunculus evoked nausea and anger before fear or terror.

"You... son of a bitch..."

"Grrrr...."

The Homunculus, which had been enjoying its meal until now, rotated its neck.

A range of joint movement impossible for a living creature.

In the growl of the monster, which turned only its neck 180 degrees to look at Siwoo, two emotions coexisted.

One was displeasure at having its meal disturbed.

The other was joy at the appearance of new prey.

"Bloom."

Siwoo gripped his spear.

A word from the author (Author's Note)

This is the revised version from here on.

Please just take a look... ㅠㅠ