Boom—! Crack!
The ground trembled with a heavy resonance, and the surrounding trees snapped with a harsh noise.
Its head and body resembled a turtle, with four thick, elephant-like legs. On its shell, moss, weeds, and even a massive zelkova tree grew.
A beast glared at me with blood-red eyes.
"The guardian of Jeokcheong Province, Gwisusan."
A distant descendant of the ancient monster that the first-generation head of the family had supposedly slain long ago.
A Rank-3, Nightmare-Class monster.
"…They tamed Gwisusan?"
A Rank-3 monster—though not fully matured, even at this level, it had enough power to decimate an entire metropolis with ease.
Moreover, Gwisusan was a being that was half-spiritual in nature. It wasn't the kind of monster that could be tamed by a mere shaman.
"You're quite sharp."
The tamer frowned, as if he had read the doubt in my eyes.
"The taming isn't perfect yet, but at the very least, it will faithfully follow this one command—kill you. Accept it as your fate and—"
Crack!
Before the tamer could finish speaking, I lunged at him.
There was no need to fight Gwisusan. If I eliminated the tamer, the spell would surely be broken.
But my sword stopped just short of the tamer's throat.
"Kuh!"
Boom—!
A colossal force pressed down on me. I struggled to resist, but my knees buckled, slamming into the ground.
Bwooong!
It was Gwisusan's raw magical energy.
Just unleashing its power was enough to bring a person to their knees—a suffocating, overwhelming presence.
"A-Amazing… To think you still tried to strike me in that instant."
The tamer wiped away the cold sweat forming on his forehead as he stared at the ground.
Just one more step.
If I had been able to take just one more step forward, my blade would have cut him down.
"Stop struggling and accept your fate, boy."
The tamer scattered talismans into the air. His figure blurred and vanished into the void.
"…If only my body had grown just a little more, I would have reached him."
Grinding my teeth, I glared ahead.
A despair-inducing size. An overwhelming power.
Gwisusan began to move.
—Rumble…
My heart pounded wildly.
It felt as if death itself had taken form before me.
Adrenaline surged through me, making my breaths ragged. The crushing pressure of its magic made even the slightest movement difficult.
"Stay calm. Stay calm."
Enduring the weight pressing down on me, I took a deep, steady breath.
"There's no way they have full control over Gwisusan. Otherwise, the tamer wouldn't have fled. He even admitted it wasn't perfect."
My decision was instant.
Fighting against the force, I reached into my robes.
A bundle of broad leaves.
As I peeled them away, a single, dark green pill was revealed.
For a brief moment, I hesitated.
"I have to use it. There's no time to worry about the side effects."
I swallowed the pill immediately.
The hastily compounded medicine crumbled the moment it entered my mouth, dissolving as it slid down my throat.
Whoosh—
Heat surged through my body.
The pill's magic seeped into my veins, spreading rapidly.
A substance that would one day be known as a mana booster.
Simple to make, easy to gather ingredients, but banned due to its devastating side effects compared to the power it granted.
I had made only one, just in case. And now, I had no choice but to use it.
Boom—!
At that moment, Gwisusan took a step forward.
"Hoo…"
Slowly, I rose to my feet.
The crushing magical pressure felt slightly weaker.
There was no way such a small boost in mana could allow me to resist Gwisusan's power.
It had to be weaker than I had expected.
But this wasn't enough.
I needed something more.
Reaching for my final trump card, I pulled it out.
***
Tearing off my brooch and bracelet, I recalled what my aunt had said with hesitation just before the naming ceremony.
"Child, promise me this. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you must use this magic, consider only three things before doing so. The first is…"
"Have you fully mastered the second tier?"
Yes.
My mana reserves were sufficient, and I had mastered its control.
And the second condition…
"Is the threat severe enough that not using it would mean the loss of a limb—or death?"
A Rank-3 monster was radiating killing intent toward me.
There was no greater danger to my life than this.
"Using Reversal Arcane Magic at your level is incredibly dangerous. The stronger the power, the greater the risk. Use it only as a last resort. The flow of mana should be like this…"
The flow of magic within me began to reverse.
Instead of mana spreading outward from my core into my channels, it was rapidly being drawn back in from every mana pathway to my center.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The magic confined within the mana core collided and began to vibrate.
That vibration generated power, and the increased power clashed again, repeatedly creating even greater force.
Crack!
Having consumed a mana booster and forcibly trapped all my magic within the mana core, cracks had begun to form in it.
I gritted my teeth against the pain, as if my heart were being sliced with a blade.
Not enough yet.
Snap!
Once more.
Just as I heard the sound of the mana core fracturing—
I unleashed it.
Boom!
Like a collapsing dam, a flood of mana surged through my entire body.
My mana circuits and core screamed, and the immense pain was matched by an unprecedented surge of power coursing through me.
"Haaap!"
In an instant, I shook off the pressure of the mana and charged toward Gwisusan.
At such tremendous speed, the scenery around me blurred into a streaking panorama.
Vroooom!
Crash!
It was a sound like shattering glass.
The iron sword had long been discarded.
The Mujin in my hands, brimming with mana, sliced through the air—but it didn't leave even a scratch on Gwisusan's skin.
Fwoosh!
However, its massive form wavered ever so slightly.
'This isn't enough!'
I poured every ounce of my amplified mana into Mujin.
The materialized mana unraveled like threads, gathering at the blade's tip.
The essence of power known as sword energy—Aura.
I caught a glimpse of a realm still beyond my reach.
Crack!
The full-force strike lightened the oppressive mana field that Gwisusan had been exuding.
Proof that the attack was effective.
I gripped Mujin even tighter.
'As I thought—it's the tamer that's holding it back from using its full strength!'
Even so, I could not defeat Gwisusan.
But—
'My goal isn't Gwisusan anyway.'
Victory meant escaping from Gwisusan and capturing the tamer.
I just needed an opening.
An opening to break free from Gwisusan and pursue the tamer!
Boom!
Clinging to Gwisusan's body, I twisted and dodged to prevent it from launching a proper attack.
With every strike exchanged, the mana field surrounding it dulled bit by bit.
'I can do this!'
If Gwisusan were at full power, this would be impossible—but in this state, I saw an opportunity.
'This is it! I'll bring it down with this!'
I gathered every last ounce of mana and funneled it into Mujin.
But at that moment—
Vroooooom!
A deep, resonant roar infused with Gwisusan's mana rippled across the ground.
My breath caught. My mana flow came to a halt.
Pior.
At the most crucial moment, the flow of all my mana was severed.
The crushing weight of its mana field bore down on my body once again.
Vroooom!
Gwisusan opened its maw.
A breath attack.
The exclusive weapon of dragonkind.
Compared to a lesser dragon like a Draco, the power it radiated was on an entirely different level.
'Damn it…'
My victory condition was to break away from Gwisusan, create an opening, and take down the tamer.
But even after playing every single card I had, I couldn't create even the smallest gap.
Vwoom—!
At that moment, as if it had been waiting for me to remember, a black aura surged from the region near my heart.
"Ah!"
Yes—I still had one more card left.
The Black Aura.
Like a wildfire, it burst forth, sweeping through my body and completely expelling the Pior that had halted my mana.
And for a brief moment, Gwisusan—its eyes locked onto the black aura—froze.
'Now!'
Thud!
I kicked off the ground.
The gaping maw of Gwisusan. With full force, he swung his sword toward the underside of its jaw.
Mujin Ilshik, Cheokma.
Gwisusan's head, struck at the chin, tilted ever so slightly toward the sky.
Kwaaaaaang!
The immense magic cannon that had been charged in Gwisusan's mouth fired into the air.
A pillar of light shot up into the darkened sky of Jeokcheongdo.
That light drove away the darkness of Jeokcheongdo and even scattered the clouds in the sky.
'It worked!'
He kicked off the ground with all his strength.
There was no sign that Gwisusan was pursuing him.
Throb!
But time was running out. The aftereffects of the Mana Booster and Reverse Celestial Art were already hitting him.
Cold sweat dripped down his face.
His overheated magic reactor and mana core were cracking, and though his underdeveloped body was drenched in cold sweat, the inside of his body began to feel as cold as ice.
'Ten seconds left!'
Ignoring the pain radiating throughout his body, he spread his energy perception as widely as possible.
The tamer.
That was his only target.
'Eight seconds left!'
He had to be there. He had to be.
Even if the tamer had run away, he could catch up. If not, Gwisusan would be back on his tail.
'Four seconds!'
Thunk!
At that moment, it felt like his eyeballs were about to burst.
They hadn't actually burst. It was as if a blocked nerve had been pierced, revealing things he couldn't see before.
A line. It was a single line.
A lone thread appeared in the empty space, stretching from his rear—where Gwisusan was now moving.
Swish—!
He shaped Mujin into the form of an extremely sharp and thin blade and swung.
But though the connection was severed for a brief instant, like slicing through water, the line reformed, linking back to Gwisusan.
In the end, he had to find the tamer.
'Three seconds!'
The line led to a narrow canyon.
Deep within that canyon, where sheer cliffs dropped off on both sides—there he finally found the sorcerer he had been searching for.
"W-What? How?!"
Found him.
One second left.
He swung Mujin at the tamer.
"Block it!"
Monsters leaped in front of the tamer.
'Damn it!'
The monsters weren't the real threat.
But the fleeting moment they bought was.
One final step remained.
He poured all his strength into Mujin for one last swing.
And in that instant, he realized.
Zero seconds.
It wasn't enough.
Just a single handspan short. If he swung now, he would miss by exactly that much.
His underdeveloped body frustrated him. Once again, it came down to a single step, a single breath.
Crack—!
Numbness spread from his extremities. His mana channels and muscles, pushed to their absolute limits, screamed in agony.
'No, it's not over yet!'
He poured every last flicker of his fading mana into Mujin.
Mujin's length extended.
Exactly by a handspan.
"Gaaah!"
Splurt!
Blood splattered onto the ground.
With the momentum of his swing, he collapsed onto the earth.
"Guh…! Khh—!"
The tamer coughed up blood, his body trembling violently.
And then, he felt it—the severed flow of magic.
'Interrogating him… whatever. First, I need to take care of my own body. If I pass out now, it's truly over.'
Forcing his throbbing, possibly broken arm to move, he reached into his coat.
This was his aunt's third condition.
—Make sure you drink it after casting. If not, you might die.
Click!
The nectar of the gods.
He tilted his head back and swallowed it down.
'Can't pass out. Before the monsters close in, I need to finish subduing that bastard completely…'
Staggering, he forced himself to his feet.
Then, the world spun.
The sky and the earth flipped.
And he collapsed on the spot.