I slowly approached Seong-hye, who had collapsed to the ground.
I thought I had landed my spell cleanly in the center of her back, but perhaps because it lacked light attributes, she was regenerating quickly.
“Urgh!”
Seong-hye lifted herself up and glared at me.
“A sneak attack from behind… how cowardly…!”
Ssshhh…
Dark mana began to seep out from around her body.
The foul stench of her mana made me instinctively frwon. She had tried to flee earlier, but now it seemed she had resolved to fight.
I gathered my mana in preparation for her next move.
Her specialty was support-type magic.
That included “Dark Binding,” the spatial barrier used to trap Lee Seo-jun, as well as other abilities like jinxes and curses. I needed to be careful.
Of course, such powers had complicated activation requirements, so she likely couldn’t use them in the middle of combat.
Not that I intended to let her hit me so easily anyway.
Then it happened.
Ssshh…
Seong-hye suddenly dispelled the dark mana swirling around her.
She glared at me with murderous intent and spoke.
“I’d love nothing more than to tear you apart right now! But the situation is urgent, so I’ll let you li—”
Boom!
I fired another spell.
Seong-hye abruptly cut off her sentence and hurriedly threw up a black barrier.
Bang!
Her shield blocked my spell.
I had cast it so fast it should’ve been difficult to react to—but she responded faster than I expected.
“A sneak attack again?!”
“…You talk way too much.”
“Fine. If you want to die so badly, I’ll kill you now!”
Ssssshhhhh…!
Once more, dark mana erupted from her entire body.
This time, the energy she gave off was clearly different.
[Effect activated: ‘Victory Call’ effect triggered.]
[Target: Seong-hye]
I designated her as my target and fully prepared for battle.
“Hyaaah!”
Flaming energy materialized above her head and shot toward me.
But since I wasn’t entirely an manifestation type mage, manifestation spells weren’t much of a threat.
I didn’t even feel the need to defend—just shifted my step and dodged her attack with ease.
Boom!
Her spell smashed into the wall behind me with a thunderous crash.
“Not bad!”
Seong-hye gathered her mana again to cast a new spell.
There was no visible manifestation of mana this time, so it didn’t seem like another manifestation type spell.
That meant her specialty—support-type magic—was about to begin.
And when it came to the most practical kind of support magic in combat, nothing beat binding spells.
Fwoosh!
Just as I predicted, a ring of flame materialized mid-air and tried to bind my body.
I calmly gathered my mana and formed a magic orb.
For this kind of attack, it was better to counter with magic than to dodge.
I quickly launched my orb and intercepted the flame ring.
Boom!
“Damn it!”
When her spell was easily blocked, Seong-hye bit her lip hard.
She seemed irritated by how composed my response was.
And in that moment of hesitation, a brief opening appeared.
I didn’t miss it—I reinforced my body and charged toward her.
Just as she tried to cast another spell to stop me, I activated “Instant Acceleration.”
Time seemed to slow, and her movements appeared sluggish.
As a mage who relied mostly on support and manifestation magic, her body had several visible weak points.
She hastily conjured another ring of flame to bind me.
But with my speed increased, I effortlessly slipped past the ring.
Whoooosh!
An attribute-less magic orb formed above my hand.
It wasn’t particularly effective against regenerative demons, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t win.
If I finished her off before she could regenerate, it was game over.
A single shot to the head—then it didn’t matter how persistent a demon’s regeneration was.
Boom──!
The magic shot from my hand and flew straight for her head.
Startled by the sudden attack, Seong-hye tried to deploy her barrier.
But at this close range, she couldn’t block it in time.
There was no way she could stop my spell.
KABOOM—!
“Gyaaaahhh!”
Her scream pierced my ears.
She slammed into the distant wall and vomited black blood.
“Ghhhak…!”
“Tch.”
I failed to finish her in one blow. But if one strike failed, I just had to try again.
I immediately activated “Heart of Nature.”
Thump!
My heart raced, and mana surged through me.
Using that mana, I conjured multiple magic orbs and launched them all at her.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Smoke billowed around her as the explosions echoed through the room.
As the smoke cleared, her body was revealed, riddled with holes from head to toe.
Half her face had been blown off—it was a gruesome sight.
Her eyes were now completely black, likely a sign that her demonic berserk state had begun.
“Guhhhk!”
Seong-hye collapsed to the floor, coughing up blood.
Her body trembled as she let out agonized moans.
“H-How… at your age…?”
She stared at me in shock, nothing like the scornful gaze from earlier.
Now, her eyes were filled with fear.
I didn’t care how she reacted.
What mattered now was finishing her off before her body could regenerate.
I extended my hand toward her.
At the same time, mana condensed in front of my palm as a new spell began to form.
Boom—!
[You have successfully defeated the A-rank villain, ‘Seong-hye.’]
[Causality has increased by 0.6.]
[Victory achieved against your target.]
[As a result of ‘Victory Call,’ Strength +0.4, Mana +0.4, Mana Control proficiency +3%]
[You have achieved the ‘Demon’s Nightmare’ achievement.]
[Reward: 5,000 points]
The floating messages confirmed that the battle was over.
“Phew.”
I let out a deep breath and turned around.
Eun Seol-ah, still suffering from the Mystic Fever, was looking at me with wide, shocked eyes.
Flash!
“Huh!”
Just then, Lee Seo-jun burst out of the Dark Binding.
Judging by the way he emerged, it didn’t seem like Seong-hye’s death had triggered the release. He must’ve dispelled the barrier himself.
Looking around warily, he asked me,
“…Where’s the demon?”
“I took care of it.”
“…You did?”
“Yeah.”
I glanced toward the corpse of the demon, and Lee Seo-jun followed my gaze. His eyes widened in surprise.
“…I thought so.”
He didn’t seem too shocked—he must have anticipated something like this to some extent.
“You’re not hurt, are you?”
“Uh, no. I’m fine.”
“That’s good.”
I nodded at Lee Seo-jun’s words, then slowly walked toward Eun Seol-ah. She was still looking up at me with startled eyes.
“Since the shaman’s been dealt with, the Mystic Fever should be cured now.”
At my words, Eun Seol-ah’s eyes widened as if she had snapped back to her senses.
“Ah… R-Really?”
“Yeah.”
I stared intently at her face.
She was still sweating from her forehead—proof the fever hadn’t completely gone yet.
When I placed my hand on her forehead, it was still burning hot like a fireball.
“Hold on a second.”
I left Eun Seol-ah in Lee Seo-jun’s care and stepped back for a moment. Glancing around, I subtly pulled out a golden cup glowing faintly from my subspace.
It was the Chalice of Life I had obtained in Incheon.
I poured some spring water into the cup, and the liquid began to glow with a radiant light.
Then, I transferred the glowing water into an empty bottle and walked back to Eun Seol-ah and Lee Seo-jun.
“What did you just do?”
“Just pulled out a potion.”
“A potion?”
Lee Seo-jun gave me a puzzled look, but I ignored him and handed the bottle to Eun Seol-ah.
“Drink this.”
I held the bottle up to her lips as I spoke.
Without a word, she drank the water.
Gulp, gulp.
“…Huh?”
Eun Seol-ah looked surprised after finishing the bottle. Her expression had noticeably relaxed, unlike just moments ago when she was writhing in pain from the Mystic Fever.
“Feeling better?”
“Yes. The pain has decreased a lot. I’ve never felt this kind of relief before…”
She muttered in disbelief.
“That’s a relief.”
I smiled faintly, and Eun Seol-ah stared at me with a dazed expression.
At that moment, the sound of urgent footsteps echoed from behind.
“There they are!”
It was the Special Unit agents, responding to the presence of my mana and Seong-hye’s demonic energy.
The Special Agents investigated today’s demon incident and tracked down Seong-hye’s personal information, eventually locating her home.
Her house was surprisingly close to that of Eun Seol-ah’s mother, Eun Miyeon.
She must’ve thought that living nearby would give her a chance to eventually meet Eun Seol-ah, Eun Miyeon’s daughter.
Thanks to that, we’d managed to find Seong-hye even quicker than I had expected.
It was an unexpected coincidence—even the original story hadn’t revealed that Seong-hye had intentionally lived near Eun Seol-ah.
Several mystical artifacts capable of performing curses and hexes were also discovered in Seong-hye’s house.
These magical tools fall under the category of Class-1 illegal artifacts, similar to the Inpi-mask. The Special Unit confiscated them all and stored them in a secure location.
After a while, a Special Unit agent appeared before me, Eun Seol-ah, and Lee Seo-jun.
“Whew. Thank you for your work, cadets. With all the recent demon incidents, things have been chaotic, but you’ve done something truly commendable. Ha ha.”
The agent who approached us was Team Leader Shin.
He was someone I had run into a few times in the past while dealing with demons under the identity of Kim Jinwoo.
He wasn’t a major character, so I hadn’t paid him much attention—but now, facing him as Kim Sunwoo, I felt oddly tense.
“Wow. I’ve heard of Cadet Kim Sunwoo before, but you really are skilled, huh?”
Team Leader Shin tried to strike up a friendly conversation.
“Oh, I just got lucky.”
“Ha ha. So modest. From the mana signature we detected, that demon seemed like a pretty high-grade one.”
As he muttered to himself, Team Leader Shin suddenly stared at my face.
“…Huh?”
He rubbed his eyes and looked again.
“You look really familiar…”
“…”
Lee Seo-jun, who had witnessed scenes like this before, let out a small chuckle from the side.
I was already tired of these encounters, so I ignored it and spoke to Team Leader Shin.
“Looks like the investigation’s mostly done. Can we go now?”
“Oh! Yes, of course! You’re free to go. We’ll contact you later if we have any further questions. And about the bounty for the demon…”
“Handle it as you see fit.”
“Got it.”
And with that, we parted ways with the Special Agents and walked aimlessly along a long path.
When I looked up, the sky had already begun to glow with the colours of sunset.
It was 6 p.m.
Considering we had arrived in Seoul early in the morning, the investigation had taken quite a while.
I glanced over at Eun Seol-ah.
“You feeling okay?”
At my question, she shrugged her shoulders and replied.
“Ah, yes! Thanks to you, I feel much better. I’m really grateful. I don’t even know how to repay you…”
She fidgeted with her fingers nervously.
“And… I feel like something has changed in my body. Maybe it’s because the Mystic Fever is gone?”
“Yeah, probably.”
At the confirmation, Eun Seol-ah’s expression turned a bit complex. It must’ve been hard to believe that the incurable disease she had suffered for most of her life had suddenly vanished.
She fell into thought for a moment, then gently touched her long silver hair.
“Then… do you think my hair colour will go back to normal too?”
“Hmm… I doubt it. I think your hair will stay like that.”
I said it as a guess, but in truth, her silver hair would likely remain—just like in the original story.
Eun Seol-ah nodded with a gloomy face.
“Why?”
“…Nothing. Silver hair stands out, you know. People might look at me weirdly.”
“It’s pretty, though.”
I tossed out the words casually, and Eun Seol-ah stared at me.
“…Really?”
“Yeah. At least, to me.”
After thinking for a moment, Eun Seol-ah smiled.
“I’m glad.”
“If it really bothers you, you could dye it.”
“No, I think I’ll just keep it as is.”
She replied with a much brighter smile.
I smirked and turned my gaze to Lee Seo-jun.
“So, what now? The incident’s over. You heading back to the Eunwol Clan?”
When I asked, Lee Seo-jun shook his head.
“I’ll head back tomorrow. For now, let’s return to that room. I want to take another look at the journal we saw earlier.”
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