Chapter 44 – Anomaly (６)

Boom! Crack-crack-crack-boom!

The shockwave from the Fireball swept across the whole area.

It even tore through the Magin’s body.

Literally, where the Fireball had passed, the lower Magin’s body had vanished.

On the surface it looked like a Fireball, but its power was utterly unbelievable.

“What the hell is this?”

The Superhumans of Ure were visibly shaken.

Among them, Park Gangseok felt a shock beyond words.

“…Is this for real?”

Park Gangseok rubbed his eyes.

Never thought I’d see a triple cast with my own eyes—not even a double.

But that wasn’t all.

No sooner had the first Fireball detonated than the second set of three Fireballs slammed into the Magin.

“…What the, insane…”

The casting was over in the blink of an eye.

And it didn’t stop.

Again, and again, and again—

Crash-boom-boom-boom!

They kept pouring out.

Like a madman.

Fireballs cast at an impossible speed hammered the Magin without end.

“…My God…”

He stared at Gijun, face blank with disbelief.

And Gijun looked completely unfazed, as if this was just routine.

Meanwhile, the Hwarang Superhumans were shrugging, practically puffing with pride.

‘What kind of monster did they raise?’

What the hell kind of training did they put him through at Hwarang?

Was this guy saying he’d perfected a triple cast—something even White Wood couldn’t manage?

He couldn’t even begin to guess.

At the same time, Park Gangseok felt a wave of shame.

‘Was I really trying to go toe-to-toe with that?’

That boast he’d made in front of his seniors.

That arrogant declaration—”I’ll go chew him up and come back”—made his face burn red.

“Run!”

Just then, Gijun shouted.

“Ah, ah…!”

Finally, the Ure Superhumans sprinted.

Toward where the Hwarang Superhumans were.

In that instant.

Kraaah!

The Magin burst through the raging flames, lunging forward.

‘Crazy…’

Gijun’s Fireballs were insane, but the Magin’s recovery was just as impossible.

A creature that should’ve been nothing but dust by now had somehow already healed its body.

‘I’d heard about it, but…’

I never expected a monster this damn horrifying!

But now, scales were flaking off all over its body, blood streaming down.

It meant that Gijun’s magic had definitely dealt meaningful damage.

It had regenerated its body, but it wasn’t a perfect heal.

It was just patching wounds with its own energy.

Eventually, its energy had to run dry.

But then—

Fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh!

Dozens of black scales sheared through the air from the Magin’s body.

Every single scale aimed straight at where Gijun stood.

“D-dodge it!”

The Superhumans of Ure shouted before they could stop themselves.

But it was too late.

The scales moved too fast — they were already right in front of Gijun.

And then something even more astonishing happened.

Clang! Clang-clang-clang!

“…Huh?”

The scales the Magin had launched collided with something in midair, scattering in every direction.

And that wasn’t all.

Whump!

Gijun ran.

Not backward — straight toward the Magin.

“Th-that’s insane…”

Everyone’s eyes went wide as they watched Gijun. At that same moment, the Magin thrust out its fist.

A strike wrapped in rotten Mana.

In that instant, their eyes flew open again.

“What…?”

“H-he dodged it?”

Literally.

Gijun had slipped past the Magin’s attack.

And in the same motion, he reached out his hand.

Thud!

His palm planted itself against the Magin’s abdomen.

In that instant, a fierce blaze erupted from his grip.

Flash!

A blinding light burst from Gijun’s hand.

The Fireball that exploded from his palm roared back to life, engulfing the Magin’s entire body in searing flames.

Krrrraaaash!

Then the Magin’s body was hurled into the air.

It tumbled across the ground several times before collapsing.

“…”

Silence settled over everyone.

No one could bring themselves to speak.

*

[You’re sure you’re okay.]

A moment ago, Woo Jimin’s voice had come through his smartwatch.

Gijun had answered.

“Of course.”

That was it.

Woo Jimin hadn’t asked again.

She’d only replied like this:

[Good. I’ll wait.]

Unshakeable trust in Gijun.

If anything happened to him here, Jimin would have to swallow a huge loss.

Losing a mage with Gijun’s potential—that was something she didn’t even want to imagine.

But she’d chosen to trust him.

After everything he’d shown so far.

She’d just decided to believe in him one more time.

The fight raged on.

Of course, it revolved around Gijun.

The others moved to support him, careful not to interfere with his movements.

No one had given orders, but they’d instinctively realized it was the only way to win this fight.

Even as he acted, Gijun was thinking.

‘There’s something here.’

The game and reality.

In that moment, he knew for certain that what had happened between them wasn’t just coincidence.

‘It’s an exact match.’

The energy he sensed from the Magin and the ancient evil.

They were the same power.

‘I need to get to the battlefield.’

That was Gijun’s thought.

The battlefield.

The land where Magin were born and lived.

Maybe inside there, he could get his hands on some clue.

‘First, though, I need to take this one down.’

A relentless barrage of Fireballs slammed into the Magin — explosion after explosion, a pounding, unending assault.

Gijun’s ceaseless stream of Fireballs hammered the Magin, again and again.

The other Superhumans weren’t idle either.

“Over here!”

They gave everything they had.

Everyone realized it the moment they saw Gijun’s first clash with the Magin.

That the best they could do was to split the creature’s attention.

At that moment, Hwarang and Ure moved as a single team.

“I’ve got this side!”

“I’m going in!”

“I’ll take that flank!”

“Okay!”

They’d never trained together, yet their movements were organic, flowing in sync as if they were one body with each passing moment.

Kyaaaaaah!

The Magin let out a horrific roar.

In an instant, the scales wrapping its body shot outward in every direction.

“Get back! Take cover!”

Even a single small scale packed a punch that couldn’t be ignored.

Each one carried enough force to badly wound anyone who wasn’t a Tanker.

But then.

A gust howled, mercilessly deflecting the scales mid-flight.

Shing!

Clang! Clang-clang-clang-clang!

“…Ah, right…”

Gijun’s Strong Wind blocked the Magin’s attack as effectively as any party’s Tanker.

‘Still not used to this…’

As that assault ended, Gijun’s magic was already casting again.

Fireballs smashed across the creature’s entire body.

Enraged, the Magin charged straight at Gijun.

But.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

“Over my dead body!”

The Superhumans of Hwarang and Ure weren’t about to let it pass.

The moment its back was exposed, a barrage of aggro Skills flew in, and.

The party’s Dealers poured their attacks into the Magin.

Among them, Park Gangseok’s magic was clearly dealing meaningful Damage to the Magin.

A flash of light burst forth, and in an instant, a bolt of lightning struck down across the Magin’s entire body.

Bzzzt—CRACKLE, BOOM!

Wounds kept spreading across the Magin’s body, and its movements were slowing.

He cast Strong Wind again into the fresh wounds, ripping them wider.

Archers from both teams drove their arrows with surgical precision into the open gashes.

Thwack!

These weren’t ordinary arrows.

Arrows coated with poison.

Arrows designed to slow and paralyze, spreading lethal venom through the target’s insides — dozens of them were now buried in the Magin’s flesh.

Krruk… Krrrk…

The Magin’s movements kept slowing.

The coordinated assault from every side was rattling even this creature.

Gijun and the Magin clashed again.

A fierce blaze erupted, swallowing the Magin whole.

Reeling from the impact, the Magin crashed to the ground.

Seeing that, Gijun shouted.

Gijun shouted at the sight.

“Let’s finish this!”

The Magin’s recovery rate was now visibly slowing.

That meant its energy was nearly spent.

This was the moment to pour out everything left and strike without holding back.

“Woo, move!”

“This is it! Drag out everything you’ve got — every last bit!”

Voices rose in unison as everyone launched their attacks at the Magin.

Gijun was no different.

As if determined to empty every drop of Mana he had in this instant, he unloaded Fireball after Fireball, endless torrents of them.

A barrage of Skills detonated against a single point.

Now, after that storm had swept through.

A sharp hiss faded.

The fierce gale raised by those Skills scattered.

“···.”

Gulp.

Everyone stared with tense faces at the spot where the Magin had fallen.

And then — now.

[You have defeated a Lesser Magin!]

That message materialized before Gijun’s eyes.

‘…Done.’

Gijun clenched both fists.

The Superhumans’ eyes went wide as they confirmed the Magin had stopped moving.

At last, cheers erupted.

“We did it!”

“We actually killed a Magin!”

“Hurray, hurraaaaaay!”

The Superhumans from Hwarang and Ure ran toward Gijun in a single rush, bright smiles splitting their faces.

Everyone was so swept up in excitement that the line between Hwarang and Ure didn’t even register anymore.

‘…I have no choice but to admit it.’

Even Ure’s leader had to concede.

‘If this fight ends in victory, at least sixty percent — no, over seventy — is down to that one man’s ability.’

It was humbling, but undeniable.

Everyone had played their part, but the breach had been created by Gijun’s magic.

That exquisite synergy between Fireball and Strong Wind.

‘I never thought I’d see a Battle Mage with my own eyes.’

Truly a staggering experience.

Gijun’s combat style was nothing short of transcendent.

Triple Casting had already been incredible enough to stretch belief.

But to watch a Mage close in and trade blows with a Magin directly…

‘Hah, well…’

He clicked his tongue in disbelief.

And then he felt it — a gut instinct.

This was only the beginning.

Before long, that man would grow beyond Hwarang and the Republic of Korea to become the mage who represented the entire world.

*

“What the hell are they thinking?”

“They refused to use the Return Stone?”

“This isn’t the time for pride…”

Outside the Dungeon.

The reporters were worried, but even more so, burning with curiosity.

A Lesser Magin appearing in a Level-4 Dungeon.

This was a massive scoop.

It would be proof that even a Level-9 Dungeon could trigger something unprecedented.

The problem was that the Superhumans inside had refused to use their Return Stones.

That meant they’d decided to fight the Lesser Magin head-on.

“Does that even make sense?”

“Ridiculous. They’ll be lucky if they don’t get wiped out.”

Even for the Superhumans of Ure and Hwarang, taking on a Low-Rank Magin was something beyond the capability of people who only raided Level-4 Dungeons.

It wasn’t a matter of numbers.

No matter how many you threw at it, it was the same as how not just anyone could walk into an 8th or 9th Level Dungeon.

Superhumans grew stronger by diving into Dungeons.

You adapted to the dense Mana inside, absorbed it, turned it into your own power.

That’s how much experience mattered.

Sure, talent made a difference, but it was common sense that the longer you raided Dungeons and the more Monsters you hunted, the stronger you got.

“Then why aren’t they stopping him?”

At that, the reporters’ gazes shifted.

Toward Woo Jimin and Cha Jeongho.

Weren’t they the ones who should be putting a halt to this Raid before anyone else?

But instead, for reasons unknown, they simply stayed quiet with their mouths shut tight.

“Unbelievable.”

Then, Cha Jeongho spoke.

Right now, they were receiving reports on the situation inside.

They weren’t getting precise, detailed intel.

Because, even at this very moment, a fierce battle was raging within.

But one thing was clear.

They had indeed been locked in a standoff with the Magin for an hour straight.

And that, among them, a Superhuman named Baek Gijun was performing feats that words couldn’t fully describe.

“···.”

Woo Jimin said nothing.

Instead, she bit her lip hard, barely suppressing the uncontrollable quiver at the corners of her mouth, holding back a grin.

Her shoulders shook; her breathing grew ragged. Woo Jimin felt an incredible surge of exhilaration flooding her entire body.

“···Hoo···.”

In the end, Cha Jeongho had no choice but to admit it, too.

Even the Ure side — not just Hwarang — were praising Baek Gijun as if he were a god now, weren’t they?

If this was how things were going during the fight, what would happen if he actually took down that Magin and walked out?···.

He didn’t think he could stop them even if they tried to defect to Hwarang on the spot.

Then, Woo Jimin spoke.

“Senior.”

“···What.”

“I told you, didn’t I?”

“···.”

“About catching up··· Heh-heh, heh-heh-heh···.”

Smug bastard.

Insufferably arrogant.

But it was hard to deny.

To have gotten a mage that impressive in his hands···.

That was when it happened.

“Huh?! Hey?!”

“The, the Gate’s color changed!”

The reporters standing in front of them shot to their feet, shouting.

“A scoop! This is a scoop!”

The reporters were frenzied.

A result no one in the world had predicted was right there before their eyes.

Even just the appearance of a Low-Rank Magin in a Level-4 Dungeon would have been a massive story.

But they had taken it down.

Hwarang and Ure, together.

And on top of that, didn’t it even include the hot topic, Baek Gijun?

This was a scoop.

Not just any scoop.

It was a colossal scoop that would shock the entire world.

“···!”

Woo Jimin and Cha Jeongho’s eyes went wide too.

The two hurriedly moved toward the Dungeon Gate.

It was true.

At this very moment, the Gate’s color had changed to white.

Which meant the Dungeon had truly been cleared.

And then the Superhumans began to emerge from the gate.