“Ugh. So heavy.”
My back ached from the spear strapped to it. I staggered out of the tower.
Outside, I spotted the staff member from the Mage Association who had let me in this morning. I felt a bit sorry for him; it was about time he should have gone home, yet he was still here.
Seeing me, the staff member greeted me warmly. “Ah! Hello!”
“Oh, yes… hello.”
His bright smile soon turned toward the spear on my back. “Oh, that spear. Did you obtain it as a reward from the tower?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“You’re… Jinwoo Kim, correct?”
For him, I was probably just one of the countless mages he had encountered. Yet he remembered my name. Why was he asking for it now?
“Yes, that’s me. Why?”
The staff member smiled and replied, “News just broke that the hidden floor of the Tower of Proof has been conquered. The conqueror’s name is Jinwoo Kim.”
What? The news had already spread?
Whenever a floor in the tower is newly conquered, the name of the conqueror is recorded on their mage certification. The hidden floors are no exception.
“…Yes, that’s me.”
“I knew it! Your beard is quite unique, so I remembered you. Haha. Anyway, that’s amazing. I’ve climbed the Tower of Proof a few times myself, but the difficulty was overwhelming. I gave up. But to think you conquered the hidden floor alone…”
The staff member suddenly launched into an endless monologue.
Listening to him talk, I started feeling dizzy. If this went on, it seemed like the conversation would never end.
I cut him off.
“Excuse me, but I’m in a hurry. I need to go now.”
“Ah… yes! Take care.”
A small bustling district not far from the Han River in Seoul.
Due to the upcoming Han River fireworks festival, the area was crowded with people.
I sat leisurely on the rooftop of a five-story building, sipping my coffee while observing the situation.
A glance at my watch showed 9:25 PM.
There were about five minutes left until the rampage.
Where could he be?
Since the location of the rampage was here, he should appear soon.
“…Found him.”
In the distance, a man wearing a fedora hat appeared. His pupils had turned black—a classic sign of an imminent rampage.
That man was likely the first demon to appear in the original story, ‘Jang Han.’
“Phew.”
This was the closest I’d ever been to a main storyline battle.
No wonder I felt so nervous.
Once the demon rampaged, this place would become a living hell. Many people could die at his hands.
Among them could be Lee Seo-jun, or even me.
I had to be extra cautious.
“…I’m getting nervous.”
But where was Lee Seo-jun?
Only four minutes remained, yet there was no sign of him.
Where the hell was he?
He should have shown up by now.
“Seriously, where is he?”
In the original storyline, Seo-jun and his friends were supposed to arrive here ten minutes before the rampage after getting hungry.
Had they arrived and I just missed them?
…No. There’s no way I could have missed them.
That meant Seo-jun wasn’t here.
“…What the hell.”
Time ticked away to 9:29 PM.
As if signaling the start of the incident, Jang Han’s body began to tremble.
He trembled and eventually collapsed to the ground.
The surrounding people, sensing something was off, distanced themselves from him.
At that moment, a man approached Jang Han.
Judging by his lip movements, he was asking, “Are you okay?”
That man had no idea that Jang Han was a demon.
Danger.
If he stayed there, he would surely die.
Just as I was about to shout for him to get away, the street was dyed red with horrific blood.
Jang Han’s arm had pierced through the man’s chest.
The man coughed up blood and collapsed.
9:30 PM.
Jang Han, now drenched in blood, shuddered.
His muscles swelled grotesquely, making his body monstrously large.
The coat he wore shredded under the pressure of his expanding form.
His pitch-black eyes gleamed with a sinister red light.
—Aaaah!
People, finally realizing the danger, began to scream.
The once joyful festival turned into utter chaos.
Terrified people scrambled to flee from the Mine.
—Run away! —It’s a Demon! Everyone, run!
Jang Han rose to his towering height of over 3 meters.
His ragged breathing echoed through the area.
He had already lost all reason.
He would now begin his indiscriminate slaughter.
Demons craved and absorbed human blood to grow stronger.
“Damn it!”
I gathered mana into my palm.
I compressed it to the highest level I could manage.
‘I have to stop him.’
My plan had gone wrong.
Originally, I intended to make minimal contributions and earn points without significantly altering the main story.
But for some reason, the situation had changed.
Lee Seo-jun, who should have stopped the Demon, was nowhere to be found.
If left alone, Jang Han would continue absorbing human blood and become unstoppable.
I had no choice but to step in myself.
But the Demon was strong.
Jang Han’s threat level was at least B.
If it were before my regression, I’d have had a chance, but now it was too much to handle alone.
‘I need to take him down in one shot.’
A prolonged fight would be a losing battle.
This was my only chance.
I aimed my hand at his head.
With my full mana capacity, I compressed a magical sphere.
It was enough to obliterate his head.
Failure would complicate things beyond repair.
‘I hope this hits!’
Bam!
The compressed magic sphere shot toward his head at high speed.
The shockwave pushed me back, and the dazzling light illuminated the surroundings.
Jang Han turned his head in reaction.
Please, hit!
Boom!
The magic sphere struck his head and smashed into the ground, creating a deafening explosion.
As the smoke cleared, Jang Han’s hideous face emerged.
Half of his mouth and cheek were gone.
“Tsk.”
A fatal wound for a human, but not for a Demon.
I failed.
His black eyes locked onto me, his muscles tensed.
Grrrr…!
The berserk demon let out a loud scream toward me.
It kicked off the ground and charged at me.
The thudding sound of the ground trembling was terrifying. The demon’s body leapt high into the air. Although it had become heavier, its movements were light and fast.
Jang Han reached the rooftop of the five-story building where I stood in an instant.
“Grrrr…”
A rough breathing sound.
With its half-destroyed face, it glared at me.
The sight was disgusting and terrifying.
“Hoo.”
I bit my lip.
This was the worst situation. I had no mana left after the previous attack.
At that moment, dark mana began to slowly rise from Jang Han’s body. It was proof that he had finished preparing to attack me.
A chill ran down my spine.
“…Is that my only option?”
The situation was dire, but it wasn’t over yet. I still had a trump card left.
“…Alright. Let’s give it a shot.”
I took a small breath and focused my mind.
Then, a message appeared before me.
[Activating the effect: ‘Heart of the Great Nature.’]
[For 1 minute, mana recovery speed increases by 1000%.]
Thump!
My heart suddenly pounded loudly.
At the same time, a breath escaped from deep within my chest.
Thump, thump…
My heartbeat quickened.
With each beat, a massive amount of mana filled me.
It felt as if my heart had become a factory producing mana.
Feeling the fullness of my power, I spread my palm.
Three compressed mana spheres materialized simultaneously.
A smile spread across my face as I saw them.
I turned my gaze to Jang Han.
The duration of the Heart of the Great Nature was only one minute.
One minute was a short time.
Defeating him within that time might be impossible.
But in one minute, I could push him to the brink of death.
Lee Seo-jun and his companions were running toward the bustling downtown area nearby.
It was a chaotic situation.
People screamed and fled, and strange explosions echoed in the distance.
A strong mana presence could be felt.
Lee Seo-jun was certain that all of this was caused by the demon.
There had even been a foreshadowing.
Earlier today, a photo taken at the Han River had accidentally captured the demon’s face.
“The situation seems serious.”
At the voice beside him, Lee Seo-jun turned his head.
A man in his late twenties muttered quietly.
His name was Jung Hyunsoo.
He was an agent of the Special Task Force, an anti-terrorism unit under the Mage Association, dispatched in response to Lee Seo-jun’s demon report.
“Of all days, there had to be a festival today. This is bad.”
“Why the festival?”
Shin Young-joon, running alongside Seo-jun, asked.
“There were so many people gathered because of the festival. The demon must have absorbed a lot of their blood and grown extremely strong.”
“Ah.”
Young-joon nodded in understanding.
“Still, we wasted our efforts. Who would have thought the demon was hiding downtown?”
He recalled the demon search efforts conducted earlier by the Mage Association at the Han River.
Just then, a bizarre voice echoed nearby.
They stopped in their tracks and quickly scanned their surroundings.
It was close.
Somewhere around here, the demon, having massacred humans and grown stronger, was surely rampaging.
At that moment.
Boom!
Another loud crash was heard.
Lee Seo-jun immediately sprinted toward the sound.
Arriving at the scene…
“…Huh?”
However, the sight before them was different from what they had expected.
There was indeed a berserk demon as reported.
But the problem was that the demon was curled up, being relentlessly attacked by a mysterious man wielding a red spear.
The demon’s body was already tattered and torn from the beating.
“Kraaagh!”
The demon continued to scream in pain.
At this point, it even seemed pitiful.
To be able to overpower a berserk demon like that…
Impressive skills.
Who was that man?
And what was that red spear?
The man, who had been continuously bombarding the demon with magic, suddenly stopped.
He looked down at his hand with a hint of regret.
Why did he stop attacking?
Sensing their presence, the man turned his gaze toward Lee Seo-jun’s group.
Up close, his face seemed ordinary.
If there was anything unusual, it was his round glasses and an oddly mismatched mustache that looked almost fake.
Jung Hyunsoo stared blankly at him before quickly regaining his senses and greeting him.
“Hello. I am Jung Hyunsoo, an agent of the Special Task Force under the Mage Association.”
“Ah, yes.”
Jung Hyunsoo glanced at the twitching demon on the ground.
Its shredded body was slowly regenerating.
If left alone, it would soon rise again.
To prevent that, he had to end its life now.
Jung Hyunsoo drew his sword and swiftly decapitated the demon.
The demon’s head rolled across the ground.
Placing a hand to his ear, Jung Hyunsoo quietly murmured.
“Situation resolved.”
He infused mana into his sword, shaking off the blood.
Then, turning to the mustached man, he smiled and said,
“Thank you. Thanks to you, the situation was easily handled.”
“It was nothing.”
The man’s voice was surprisingly deep, almost as if it had been altered.
Jung Hyunsoo closely observed his face.
To have defeated a demon alone… Only a mage of at least B-rank could do that.
Moreover, he showed no signs of injury.
Defeating a demon without getting hurt proved his remarkable skill.
With such abilities, he should have been famous.
“We need to verify your identity. May I ask your name?”
“Kim Sun… No, Kim Jinwoo.”
Jung Hyunsoo tilted his head in confusion.
Despite his outstanding skills, the name was unfamiliar.
Kim Jinwoo… Had he ever heard of him?
“Ah, I see! Mr. Kim Jinwoo. You’ve done a great service. Many lives were saved thanks to you. Haha.”
“…I only did what was necessary.”
As Jung Hyunsoo continued speaking with the mysterious man, Lee Seo-jun stared intently at his face.
There was something familiar about him.
Those eyes…
He had seen them before.
Where was it?
“…Kim Sun-woo?”
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