City of Witches Chapter 60

"We're going to catch it."

As Siwoo spoke calmly, Odette's body began to tremble.

Stand before the Homunculus that was threatening their lives just moments ago?

She didn't even want to imagine it.

"Can't we... can't we just stay hidden like this?"

Odette's reaction was as expected.

He had no intention of scolding her.

It was an entirely normal reaction in a life-or-death situation.

"You must have a good plan, right?"

"Huh? Why are you saying that too, unnie? How are we supposed to deal with something like that?"

"Odette, calm down. Let's at least hear him out first. We can't just sit here trembling in fear."

Odil hugged the terrified Odette and looked directly at Siwoo.

"Yes."

Siwoo nodded and began drawing a Magic Formula on the ground with the branch he had picked up earlier.

"When we were escaping in the fog, I used the remaining magic power after casting the smoke screen to sample the black shadow."

The three spears indiscriminately fired into the fog had brushed past Siwoo.

It was a heart-stopping moment, but Siwoo quickly analyzed the black shadow residue left in the spears' trajectories.

"That shadow is likely the innate magic of the monster cat. Earlier, both Odette-nim's attack magic and the distress signal magic shattered and dispersed the moment they touched that shadow."

"So?"

Siwoo showed them an analytical formula visualizing the shadow's structure.

"That shadow is not a single Magic Formula.

Each particle is a very small Magic Formula, and they come together to form it.

To visualize it, it's like a sphere covered in countless thorns, with the ends curved like hooks that indiscriminately latch onto other magic."

Since he observed it in such a brief moment, he couldn't examine it in detail, but...

"If a magic refined beyond a certain level touches the shadow, it begins to corrode it in reverse.

It arbitrarily connects pathways and scrambles the formula's structure, causing a short circuit.

With this level of simultaneous errors occurring at once, even an impromptu feedback loop would be useless, right? The magic just shatters."

-Crrrrunch...!

The sound of another tree falling echoed.

This time, it was closer than before.

Odil and Odette, who had been listening to the explanation, widened their eyes as if they had realized something.

"But Assistant, even if you knew it was a multi-layered Magic Circle... how did you figure out its shape?"

"That's right! No matter how much you sampled it, you shouldn't have been able to see its shape..."

"I reverse-engineered it by recalling the pattern of Odette-nim's signal magic shattering and the sequence of interference. Any other shape would make it impossible for the Magic Formula to collapse simultaneously like that."

"......"

"......"

Even with Siwoo's confident assertion, the Twins couldn't easily believe it.

Reverse-engineering the shape of a Magic Formula by observing the pattern of interference?

It was more unrealistic than a demolitions expert deducing where explosives were placed in a collapsing building just by looking at its shape.

After pressing her temples firmly for a moment in thought, Odil's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Alright, what's the plan? You must have asked us to choose one of two options because some groundwork is needed, right?"

If they could hunt the Homunculus without any preparation while hiding, there would be no reason to present two distinct choices.

"Unnie! It's too dangerous!"

"We don't know how long we'd have to wait for help here. For all we know, help might only arrive after we've been torn to shreds.

If we're going to die sitting here, isn't it better to try something?"

"Let's just run. There must be a way to leave Latifundium...!"

At Odette's words, Odil shook her head emphatically.

"This is the edge of Latifundium. We'd have to get past that monster, but what if we get caught on the way?"

Indeed, the hunting method Siwoo proposed required solid groundwork.

Adopting it as a secondary plan while running or hiding was impossible.

"Getting caught while running is worse than just hiding. At that point, there would truly be no options left."

"Then... do we really have to catch it? That terrifying thing?"

Siwoo took Odette's trembling hand.

Now was a time that required everyone's cooperation.

If they could manage that, their chances were sufficient.

"Odette-nim. I understand the desire to run away."

"It's too, too scary... How can everyone act so unaffected? Maybe if we just stay still, a solution will appear..."

"Please trust me just this once. If, by any chance, the plan goes awry, I'll act as the decoy. During that time, you and Odil-nim can escape."

Siwoo's firm hand held Odette's tightly.

A slight warmth spread into Odette's hand, which had grown cold.

"Sniff... Sniff..."

Tears welling in her eyes, Odette slowly nodded.

He wished he could comfort her more, but there was no time.

Siwoo began sketching a new Magic Circle on the ground and started explaining the plan.

The black cat was prowling the area, firing Spears of Shadow in all directions.

Its three gleaming eyes meticulously scanned every nook and cranny of the ravine, leaving no gap.

Like any beast, it possessed no clear intellect.

Its use of Magnetic Magic was not an application of reason but rather borrowing the power of the 'legacy' harbored within its body.

This beast, freshly awakened from slumber, lacked the intelligence to skillfully wield its own power.

But a rare plaything.

The game time that arrived after a long, tedious sleep triggered its hunting instincts.

It knew—pulling out a fresh Witch's Womb and chewing it up was an immensely pleasurable act.

That through this, it could gain even greater power and enjoy the world more freely.

Even without being taught, the beast understood this naturally.

"Keeeeeeek!"

Excited by its first-ever game of hide-and-seek, the Homunculus poked and prodded every possible hiding spot in the ravine, striding about with a confident gait.

And then.

"ne perenni cremer igne~"

"Inter oves locum praesta~"

A beautiful melody began to echo from afar.

A magical song started to flow through the ravine, where not a single presence had been felt until now.

Though a beast could possess no aesthetic sense, it was a beautiful melody that even such a beast would prick up its ears to listen to.The beast that had been rummaging through the tree roots stiffly raised its head and moved toward the source of the sound.

With a noble gait, it swiftly dashed forward, shrouded in a black shadow like a curtain.

"♬~ ♪"

As the Homunculus had anticipated, the source of the melody was the two young Witches.

Specifically, right in the middle of a clearing where many trees gathered.

The young Witches, holding each other's hands tightly, were singing with beautiful voices, their eyes closed.

They floated gently, surrounded by a round barrier like a snow globe.

Only a sense of perfect isolation, completely excluding any external interference, could be felt.

The harmony, which already sounded more like an instrument than a human voice, vibrated through the space, resonating quietly like a music box.

It was a pleasant melody.

In itself, it posed no problem.

But...

-Thud!

The Homunculus watched the two with briefly intrigued eyes before swinging its tail with all its might.

The tail it had been born with.

The strike that had easily torn through the strange, thin barrier earlier was now pitifully deflected.

It had expected at least some reaction, but the two sisters seemed immersed in their own world, reciting their constant melody without the slightest tremor.

"Kyuu?"

The monster, circling around the Twins as if puzzled, wagged its tail before striking again.

-Thud-thud!

This time, there was a clearer reaction.

One of them flinched slightly, opening her eyes a crack and glancing toward the monster.

Though she immediately squeezed her eyes shut again.

The monster, having found an interesting toy, couldn't take its eyes off them.

That very moment was the opening Siwoo had been waiting for.

Siwoo was preparing to intercept the Homunculus from about 50 meters away.

What was needed was ultra-high-concentration magical power.

And an impromptu Magic Formula to release that magical power.

Upon hearing the amount of magical power Siwoo had calculated on the spot, Odil frowned and asked,

'So where are you going to get such high-concentration magical power? Let me tell you in advance, Odette and I have already used too much Magic.

At most, we'll only be able to use Magic two or three more times.'

'Assistant, a Vessel without a Brand... can't hold that much magical power.'

In response to Odette's following concern, Siwoo raised his hand and pointed.

The flow of Magical Power like a river was insufficient.

Something denser and more refined was needed.

For instance.

Magical sap that emitted light as intense as a lamp even when left alone.

"Hoo..."

Dangling from Siwoo's back were syringes that had been injecting magical sap into the tree roots.

He had pulled out all the needles around him and connected them directly to his body through telekinesis.

In total, he had inserted 12 needles into his body.

Incidentally, this was the most painful injection he had ever received in his life.

This was what "preparation" meant.

After all, he couldn't possibly insert this many needles into his body while fleeing from the Homunculus, right?

'And then? What are you going to do after drawing up that much magical power?'

'First, Odil and Odette, you just need to distract that monster for 30 seconds, no, 15 seconds.'

'And after that?'

At Siwoo's feet, two music boxes were turning.

They were concealment devices to hide his presence while the Magic was activating.

Because the Magic Siwoo was going to use would be far rougher and noisier than any ordinary Magic.

'As I just explained, that Homunculus's black shadow directly interferes with Magic, completely collapsing the structure of the Formula. If a mediocre-level Magic is structured to be interfered with...'

There is one surefire remedy for boss mobs in games that employ tricky patterns and status ailments.

'We just have to make it so there's no room for interference.'

Overwhelming damage.

Instead of a delicately woven Magic Formula that could be disrupted at any moment, we simply fire a bundle of pure magical power.

Push through with overwhelming force.

Siwoo quietly inhaled.

"Bloom."

The Magic Siwoo was conceptualizing and designing to open the Gate was a large-scale Magic Circle that could only be activated by using every last drop of Magical Power without waste.

Given his complete lack of magical power storage ability.

The aspect Siwoo had devoted the most effort to in his research was "how to fully draw in and use external magical power."

It was essentially the only specialty of the amateur Mage, Siwoo.

Simultaneously with the Incantation, intense magical power began flowing into his body.

This series of processes was dangerous.

He had to directly receive and refine 12 different types of magical power, each with a completely different color.

"Kgh!"

The massive amount of magical power pounding inside his body like a wildly bucking horse was directly converted into pain.

Along with an immense overload, he could feel the blood vessels throughout his body swelling roughly.

A tremendous pressure crushing his entire body, making it difficult to take even a single step.

A creeping sense of crisis that a small miscalculation could cost him his life.

Both the concentration and absolute quantity of the magical power were on a different dimension from anything he had handled before.

In fact, the usual Siwoo would not have been able to instantly perform this vast amount of calculation.

But now was different.

'It's a destroying angel mushroom. One of the few mushrooms that's okay to eat raw. It acts on the cerebral cortex, accelerating thought and calculation speed.'

As Odil had explained, the doping from the destroying angel mushroom was very effective.

It felt like his thinking speed had tripled.

His five senses were sharply awakened, and he felt a strange sensation as if a blackboard spanning several hectares had appeared in his mind.

Siwoo was processing the calculations necessary for the Magic's activation solely through impromptu mental arithmetic.

The confidence that he could do it now made his arrhythmic heart burn hotly.

-Fshhhhhhh

Unbelievably pure magical power.

From Siwoo's entire body, pure white magical power that bore no color whatsoever wriggled like tentacles.

He suppressed it to the utmost, channeling and channeling again the flow of compressed magical power that would burst out with the slightest lapse in concentration.

The image he conjured was a spear.

The ensuing mental picture was overwhelming force.

With a flash of pure white light, Siwoo's gleaming eyes turned toward the Homunculus.

He drew in, drew in, and drew in the magical power that burned hotly throughout his body.

And as the music box, whose timing he had pre-set, finished its performance.

A powerful Wavelength of Magical Power spread toward the Homunculus.

"Kreek?"

Along with a cry heard from afar, red eyes belatedly turned in this direction.

Siwoo confirmed the Homunculus's reaction as it tilted its head and released all his magical power.

Those crimson eyes that the monster tried to protect by using its shadow as a shield.

That place must be the weakness this spear should target.

"Finally looking this way, you bastard."

The magical power condensed to its limit.The moment Siwoo pulled the trigger, the bundle of magic power transformed into a colossal spear.

It was fired with the single-minded intent to rend the void and pierce the enemy.

A deafening roar shook the brother-in-law.

A blinding flash tore through the darkness.

And then,

An explosion erupted.

A word from the author (Author's Note)

Battle scenes are a difficult thing to write...