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#323. Side story 1. Collapse (7)
“Full.”
Binggle.
Ray turned around and his cold gaze was fixed on Puol.
“Are you the leader of the purists?”
“… Since when have you known?”
“The fact that you are a pureblood has been known since the moment you first spoke to me at the academy. The fact that you are the highest authority has become certain only recently.”
The tension was palpable.
Puyol swallowed dry saliva.
“Did you know I was going to make a surprise attack? The drops of blood you dropped on the floor must have been odorless.”
“I didn’t know about the blood drops.”
but.
“Anyone who is trying to express malice will show anxiety wherever they go. Whether it be in their facial expressions, their voices, or their actions.”
“… … .”
No way.
My acting would have been perfect.
Puyol had such an idea.
Maybe the other person has a richer experience of the world than what you have learned from spending a long time with them.
'Nothing will change even if I do that. I have the upper hand in the situation.'
Puyol took a deep breath.
I tried to calm the tension.
In the meantime, the sound of ten pairs of footsteps formed a circle around them and then stopped.
“The prey is out there.”
“It saved me the trouble of finding it at camp.”
“Puol, have they already started executing you?”
Mask with pressed hood, black cloak.
The dark vision made it difficult to see the enemy clearly.
Woof─!
Mana stretched out from their hands and began to envelop the area.
Soundproofing magic and distortion magic.
Ray didn't stop him on purpose.
There was no need to wake up the refugees in the camp, who were already suffering mentally, and amplify their anxiety.
Instead, the malice contained in the vessels of the hooded men.
Look at each shape one by one.
“Denail.”
Called my name.
“Redmold, Jakan, and Chief Helena.”
Every time their names were called, the hooded men flinched.
A small commotion spread between them.
“… They know our exact identities.”
“Obviously, no information was revealed to the public.”
“I could have known by hearing the voice.”
“But we’re using modulation magic right now. All I know about him is that I heard his presentation from far away in the conference room.”
It didn't take long for the divided opinions to become unified.
“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter.”
“Because he’s going to die here today.”
Colorful manas burst out in an instant.
The mana concentration in the area suddenly soared along with a thick murderous aura.
“Puyol, why are you standing so stiffly?”
“Is it because we arrived in the middle of a hunt? Don’t worry. Of course, you have the right to pass the final judgment on the loach that has muddyed the city’s waters.”
Listening to his colleagues, Puyol felt his confidence resurface.
Yeah, don't be nervous.
It was a fight of 11 to 1.
Although Chief Ray's level was not known to the public, it would not have been higher than the 5th Circle at most.
Although imagination is a variable that deals with unknown powers, the combat experience itself is bound to be limited due to one's young age.
'No matter what wizard comes, he cannot escape from this place.'
Against 11 5th circle magicians.
The corners of the mouth went up.
A mean laugh appeared.
Puol, who joined his colleagues with steps backwards, took off the mask he had been wearing as the head of the Bloody School.
“Chief Ray, you lowly servant with dirty blood flowing through your veins. You ignored our warnings to stop demolishing the wall and pushed through with your own stubbornness and greed. In the end, this is a disaster that you brought upon yourself.”
A threatening situation where you are trapped in the center of a siege.
However, Ray simply observed the other person's emotions with a calm gaze.
Contempt, scorn, jealousy, hatred… … .
The coexistence of superiority and inferiority was most noticeable.
I have gained a lot of insight through my long journey up the sector.
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But my questions and curiosity about emotions did not diminish.
Rather, it was amplified.
After meeting the doctor.
"I will let you know my feelings."
He stopped the doctor who was trying to erase the emotions of the world.
It's like I've carried out my will as a rainbow that scattered emotions throughout the world.
'As the doctor said, it is an undeniable fact that the world suffered destruction because of negative emotions.'
But it is impossible to fill the world with only positive emotions.
Because emotions always have two sides like a coin and the boundaries between them are vague.
at last.
The duties left to him were clear.
Observing everything that happens in the world persistently and without taking your eyes off it.
Analyzing all emotions, regardless of type, and finding a way to fully manage them.
So in the end, it's about making it possible for all living things to become the masters of their emotions.
That was the boy's duty and goal.
Ray, free from his thoughts, continued to observe the emotions and asked softly.
“Are you planning to kill me?”
“Haha, are you scared? You probably thought that even if those from outside the walls were attacked, it wouldn’t be you.”
Puol laughed, probably thinking that Ray was scared.
“How arrogant of you to think so. There are no exceptions. You too are a dirty blood that is not worthy of entering the city. Well, don’t worry, you won’t be alone. All the guys over there will follow you.”
“I heard they’re going to kill everyone in the camp.”
“You're saying something obvious.”
Puyol chuckled.
“When I first heard that you were gathering refugees and creating a camp, I frowned. It seemed like you were trying to steal away our quarry from the city, where we could vent our wrath. But when I thought about it, that wasn’t the case.”
His arms were spread out toward the camp as if in a gesture of reverence.
“Rather, the prey was gathered in one place! So that we wouldn’t have to go through the trouble of going around the city to weed out the dirty seeds!”
Puyol burst into laughter.
His colleagues then burst into laughter.
Dark emotions rippled through the shaking shoulders like sewage from a sewer.
“Can you handle it?”
The laughter suddenly stopped at Ray's words.
“Even if the target was from outside the walls, it would be impossible to avoid criticism if you massacred close to 300 people.”
“… … .”
“There are quite a few students dispatched from other magic towers in the camp.”
The implication was that even city-born wizards could be included in the category of slaughter.
There was silence for a moment.
Sigh.
“Even if you are born with good blood, if you live with foolish thoughts, you deserve to be eliminated. And do you think we will have your dirty and filthy blood on our hands?”
“… … .”
“Ha, not at all, that can’t be. I’ll be lenient and answer your petty curiosity.”
Puol, who had been laughing, looked into Ray's eyes and answered bluntly.
“Whatever happened here tonight will be treated as an unfortunate accident.”
“…an unfortunate accident.”
“Yeah, it’s an unfortunate accident that can happen anywhere in the world. Hehehe.”
Excited eyes turned toward the wilderness beyond the camp.
“Kuuuuu, can you feel it? This vibration?”
A seemingly random line.
The son-in-law was just quiet.
However, if you have sensitive senses, you can feel the subtle tremors transmitted through the ground when you concentrate.
Gooooooo.
Far away, it feels like something huge is rushing through the underground.
It was also a phenomenon that Ray had been aware of long before the conversation began.
“Sandworm.”
“Oh, your senses are pretty good though. It looks like you’re not using any special detection magic. Yes, dozens of sandworms are currently flocking to this camp. They’re being lured by the vibrations emitted by the devices I’ve secretly installed here and there.”
It was a fact that I was aware of.
Without even knowing it, Puol continued speaking proudly.
Sandworms are said to be creatures whose other senses are highly developed because their eyesight has degenerated.
“The most developed sense among them is touch.”
If it is a vibration that resonates in the still night when all living things are asleep, it is something that can be felt from tens of kilometers away.
“Well, in fact, sandworms are not as ferocious as they are known to be. Unless you provoke them excessively in this way, there’s no reason to attract them. Most accidents that occur in the wilderness are caused by arrogance or ignorance that causes us to invade their habitat.”
Phew, so that's it.
“Like you, who dare to wander into the city of wizards and reek of foul blood.”
Puyol's eyes changed.
Life energy poured out of me in streams.
…even though emotions were inflated, the ending itself was not much different from before.
Ray, judging that there was no point in observing for now, decided to let the situation progress.
Rustle.
“This is what you want.”
“… … !”
The moment an object is taken out of your arms.
A small commotion arose in everyone's bowl.
A red button wrapped in a glass cover.
It was a detonator switch that could simultaneously detonate all the explosives installed along the city walls.
Puyol's eyes sparkled.
“No matter how hard I looked for it, I couldn’t find it. After all, it was you. Hand it over here. Then I promise to send it away as painlessly as possible.”
“If you want this─”
Ray pulling his arms back.
A moment of tension that builds up.
“─Take it and see.”
Wedge!
The switch, thrown with all its might, flew fiercely into the sky beyond the siege.
If it fell to the ground, there was a chance that the cover would break and the button would be pressed.
“What nonsense…!”
“Chase! Grab the switch!”
The enemy's judgment was quick.
Half of them accelerated their body movements with magic and chased the switch, while the other half started attacking straight away.
Crap!
The ground, twisted and rising like vines, bound Ray's feet.
A barrage of projectiles, including fireballs, lightning nets, and wind whirlpools, poured in.
Although they were not the most imaginative, as befitting office workers representing each school, their magic casting speed and perfection were impeccable.
But that was it.
──────.
With just one wink from Ray, all that magic disappeared into thin air.
Destruction.
A technique that breaks down the bonds of the elements and turns magic itself into nothing.
It was a technique that was almost impossible to use in real combat because it had the condition that there had to be a significant level difference from the target and the difficulty was extremely high.
But those are the office managers who reached the 5th circle.
That too was cast against multiple targets.
“You are the one who broke through the wall of the 5th circle…!”
“What nonsense…!”
The conclusion I arrived at in a split second, after a natural flow of thought, sent goosebumps down my spine.
I couldn't understand.
I didn't even want to understand.
Currently, no one in the city has ever broken through the five circle walls, and anything beyond that is a legend that exists only in history books.
But that shock didn't last long.
The sudden surge of mana concentration in the area suffocated my breathing.
“Ugh…!”
“Coolook!”
He knelt down and coughed up blood.
Ray's mana, radiating and tangible in the air, rippled throughout the sky like a colorful aurora.
In it, Ray stared.
With shining eyes, he looked at one place.
“Ugh…! It’s impossible…! It can’t be happening…!”
Puol gritted his teeth and held on.
Dark emotions that were surging like a monster were holding up my master so he wouldn't fall.
Ray could project from him.
This is the story of Indiago, who lived his entire life obsessed with superiority and hatred towards the world, especially the weak.
Damn it.
“I’ve seen a lot of people like you.”
Ray's steps changed.