The chaos gradually subsided as both the mages from the social gathering and those dispatched by the Association began to take action.
Of course, Jaun’s objective was not terrorism but to steal the Black Sword and escape, which helped prevent further damage.
However, due to the numerous explosives Jaun had planted, casualties continued to occur.
At the entrance of the hotel, where such dangers persisted, Choi Seo-yoon was assisting ordinary citizens with evacuation.
“Please evacuate this way!”
Explosions continued to erupt.
It was baffling how so many bombs had been planted without the event organizers noticing anything.
Boom!
At that moment, a powerful explosion erupted near Choi Seo-yoon.
The impact caused a massive structure above her to shake and begin collapsing straight toward her head.
Yet, she failed to notice it.
Then—
Boooom!
A blinding white flash suddenly shot out from somewhere, shattering the falling structure into pieces.
Choi Seo-yoon, eyes wide with shock, turned toward the direction of the magic that had just saved her.
Standing there was a man with brown hair, glasses, and a beard.
It was a face she had never seen before, yet it felt oddly familiar.
A body type she had definitely seen somewhere before.
The man then walked toward her and shouted loudly.
“Are you insane? Why aren’t you running away? What are you doing here?!”
His voice was so deep it almost seemed intentionally altered.
But she had no time to dwell on that—everything was happening too suddenly.
“Ah, there are still people inside who haven’t gotten out yet…”
“And why is that your problem? Are you a security officer or something?!”
“N-No, but…”
“You should be looking after your own life first! Who do you think you are, saving others?”
Out of nowhere, she was getting scolded by someone she didn’t even know.
The man, clearly angry, continued to lecture her in a loud voice.
The chaotic situation only grew more bewildering.
She had never been reprimanded like this by anyone other than her father before.
Just then, another explosion went off nearby.
A building fragment flew toward her at a speed too fast to react to.
It came from her blind spot.
In that instant, the brown-haired man stepped closer to her, conjuring a semi-transparent blue barrier that blocked the incoming debris.
Crash!
The shattered debris crumbled against the barrier, making Choi Seo-yoon’s heart clench in fear.
If not for him, she would have been in serious danger.
But just now—
She felt something off.
She had definitely experienced a situation like this before.
Just as she was about to figure out what it was, the man’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts.
“You okay?”
“Ah, y-yes! I’m fine. Thank you.”
Choi Seo-yoon bowed her head.
“If you’re grateful, then leave. Don’t get involved out of some useless sense of justice.”
“But there are still people inside…”
“That’s what the agents here are for.”
The man gave her a light push toward safety.
Choi Seo-yoon took a few steps back and nodded.
“…Okay!”
With that, she turned around and ran.
She ran for about thirty seconds until she reached a safe distance.
Then, she stopped and looked back.
The man from before had already vanished.
And at that moment, she realized what had been bothering her.
His way of speaking, his physique, his gaze.
And the way he saved her in a crisis.
He was strikingly similar to Kim Sunwoo.
“Phew… That was close.”
After sending Choi Seo-yoon off, I sighed in relief.
That was almost a disaster.
If I had been even a little late, she would’ve been seriously hurt.
Why was she risking her own life for others? Seriously.
Boom!
A loud explosion erupted again.
Unlike the previous ones, this was caused by magic.
Turning my gaze, I spotted four Jaun members escaping.
I had a good idea of who they were.
Scar, Theresa, Lee Cheong, Natasha.
And chasing after them were members of the Association and Dawn’s Blade.
Lastly, Lee Seo-jun appeared a bit later, his determined eyes fixed on the fleeing figures as he took off after them.
The sequence was exactly as I had seen in the original story.
I couldn’t afford to stand idly by either.
I had to move quickly to execute my plan.
Jaun’s group, now in possession of the broken Black Sword, was fleeing from their pursuers.
“Damn it! They’re more persistent than I thought,” Scar muttered, glancing back.
Behind them, Dawn’s Blade and the Association’s special task force were in pursuit.
They were top-tier mages, just as skilled as Jaun’s members, making them difficult to shake off.
Jaun’s original plan was to retrieve the artifact, create a smokescreen, and blend into the crowd to escape.
However, things had gone awry—Natasha had been caught in a binding spell, and other unforeseen incidents had occurred.
“Seriously. I didn’t expect this many of them to be on standby.”
“Should we split up?”
“Yeah, that’s probably the best option.”
“Got it. If anything happens, contact each other immediately.”
“Understood!”
Whoosh!
Jaun’s group quickly scattered.
The pursuit team hesitated momentarily but then split up as well, each going after a different target.
Among them, the special agent Kim Deokhyun went after the red-haired woman, Theresa.
“Ugh, just my luck… He’s the one chasing me?”
Theresa bit her lip in frustration.
Among their pursuers, he was one of the most troublesome, along with Yoo Ah-yeon.
If it had been anyone else, she might have considered a one-on-one fight.
But against Kim Deokhyun—one of the strongest S-rank mages—she would have no chance.
“Just get lost already!”
Theresa fired a barrage of flaming spikes behind her as she ran.
But Kim Deokhyun easily deflected them with a casual swing of his spear.
“Damn it!”
At this rate, she was going to get caught.
Theresa channeled magic into her earpiece and spoke.
“I think I’ll have to lure him there. I won’t be able to escape otherwise.”
—Explain your situation.
It was Bert’s voice.
“Kim Deokhyun is on my tail. Thankfully, it’s just him alone.”
—Your location?
“Running toward the northern factory.”
―”Got it. I’ll send reinforcements right away. Just hold out for 15 minutes.”
Fifteen minutes. That was enough time to endure.
No—if she could just reach that place, she might even be able to take Kim Deokhyun down herself.
“You bastard. You’re dead now.”
With that, Theresa ran for about six minutes.
Kim Deokhyun stuck to her relentlessly, showing no signs of fatigue.
And soon, they arrived in front of a factory.
“Phew. Barely made it.”
Theresa let out a deep sigh.
“Bert, I’ve reached the factory. I think it’s time to fight.”
―”Understood. Don’t overdo it. Just hold out for ten minutes.”
“Heh. You’re trapped now.”
Theresa smirked.
Kim Deokhyun slowly approached her, gripping his spear.
“What’s so amusing?”
“This is my domain.”
A mass of potent mana began to rise above Theresa’s palm.
The mana twisted in the air like a living creature before seeping into the ground.
Wuuuuuung.
The floor trembled.
A massive magic circle appeared beneath Kim Deokhyun ‘s feet.
“Which means—you’ve walked right into my trap, idiot!”
A translucent surge of magical energy erupted from the ground, trapping Kim Deokhyun.
It was a pre-set barrier.
For a moment, Kim Deokhyeon looked startled and swung his spear at the barrier.
Bang!
But the barrier, carefully constructed by Theresa, only suffered a faint scratch and did not budge.
Seeing that, Kim Deokhyeon clenched his teeth.
“…I thought you were a manifestation-type. Turns out you’re a support-type?”
Things were taking a bad turn.
He knew she was a member of Jaun, but since she had joined after the events of thirteen years ago, he had no idea what kind of abilities she possessed.
“This is troublesome.”
There was an old saying in the mage world:
“Never chase after a fleeing support-type mage.”
He had made a fundamental mistake.
At that moment, small magical projectiles formed inside the barrier and shot toward him.
Kim Deokhyun blocked the attacks with ease.
“Is that all? You call this an attack?”
“Tch. As expected, this won’t be enough to take you down.”
Theresa muttered as she observed him.
“So, how long do you plan to keep this up?”
“Hmph. Just wait. My comrades will be here soon. And then, I’ll kill you.”
“Oh? That’s actually convenient. I can take you all down at once.”
“…Still putting on a front?”
Just then—
A surge of powerful mana flared from somewhere.
Both Kim Deokhyun and Theresa turned in the direction of the energy.
A man wielding a sword was charging toward them from behind Kim Deokhyun.
Theresa quietly murmured his name as she recognized him.
“Lee Seo-jun?”
Lee Seo-jun rapidly closed the distance and swung his sword at her.
“Tch!”
Theresa barely managed to evade the attack by throwing herself aside.
But since she was focusing on maintaining the barrier, she couldn’t counterattack properly.
“…Lee Seo-jun. If you don’t want to die, don’t cross the line.”
“Shut up! Do you have any idea how many people have died because of you?!”
Lee Seo-jun shouted, his gaze burning with rage.
Theresa stared at him before speaking.
“Many people died. And what do you expect us to do about it?”
“…You piece of trash!”
Lee Seo-jun’s figure vanished.
In the blink of an eye, he was right in front of Theresa.
Light-imbued mana flared from his sword as he swung it toward her.
Whoosh!
Once again, Theresa barely dodged his attack.
She quickly conjured flame spikes and fired them at him.
Boom!
“Tch!”
Lee Seo-jun barely blocked the attack with his protective aura.
But he couldn’t prevent some minor injuries.
Theresa looked down at her arm with cold eyes.
She had dodged the sword—or so she thought.
Yet a deep wound had formed.
If she had been just a little slower, her arm would have been severed.
“…Impressive. Hard to believe you’re only eighteen.”
Theresa muttered as she used mana to stop the bleeding.
Then, she turned her sharpened gaze toward him.
“That being said—I warned you not to cross the line.”
“Lee Seo-jun, fall back.”
Kim Deokhyun, who had been watching the fight, tried to stop him.
But Lee Seo-jun refused to lower his sword.
“So, reasoning is pointless. I didn’t want to go this far against you, but if you insist—”
Theresa conjured another massive, blazing flame spike.
She didn’t intend to kill him—but she would make sure he couldn’t fight back.
Then—
She sensed another presence.
Another mana signature.
“What…?”
Feeling something off, she scanned her surroundings.
There was mana—yet she couldn’t pinpoint its source.
It felt as though it was encircling her from all directions.
Then—
The ground beneath her feet began to glow intensely.
Multiple streaks of light surged from the floor, aiming straight for her.
“W-what?!”
Caught off guard, Theresa attempted to dodge.
But the light tendrils were too fast, binding her arms and legs in an instant.
“Tch! W-what the hell is this?!”
Theresa frantically looked around.
Even Kim Deokhyun and Lee Seo-jun seemed bewildered.
That meant—
This magic wasn’t theirs.
“…Who the hell?”
At that moment, the barrier trapping Kim Deokhyun began to dissipate.
Because Theresa’s magic supply had been severed.
She struggled desperately against the restraints.
“Damn it!”
But whatever this spell was, it refused to break.
“What the hell is this?!”
Even as an S-rank support mage, she had never encountered a binding spell like this before.
Instinctively, she realized—
This wasn’t ordinary magic.
And soon, she identified its nature.
As someone who had devoted her life to support magic, she understood.
“Tch!”
She made a quick decision.
Injecting mana into her communication artifact, she spoke.
“Bert, listen carefully. I’m about to lose contact. Don’t come here.”
―”What? Did you get caught?”
“Yeah. There’s someone using a unique type of magic here. You need to know this.”
―”…Unique magic? What kind?”
“It’s the secret magic of the Rune Clan.”
―”The Rune Clan?”
Theresa closed her eyes and focused.
She traced the mana binding her, searching for its source.
Finally, she turned her head toward a hill.
As expected, someone stood there.
“A man with a beard, and—”
BOOOOM!
A massive surge of mana exploded.
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