Chapter 395

“Follow me.”

Magic Johnson led us to none other than the hospital rooftop.

After sweeping my eyes across the empty landing pad, where there wasn’t a helicopter or jet in sight, I asked,

“There’s nothing here.”

“Nope. I’m here.”

Magic Johnson’s answer was short and simple, but what it implied was anything but.

Team Leader Choi’s eyes widened slightly. He seemed to have reached the same conclusion I had.

“Mr. Johnson. You don’t mean…”

“That’s right. We’re going to travel by teleportation magic.”

Teleportation. In other words, instant travel.

Magic Johnson spoke as casually as if he were suggesting a ride on a tricycle, but everyone knew teleportation magic was infamous for its extreme difficulty.

The finicky conditions required to cast it were one thing. If the coordinates were even slightly off, you could easily wind up dead.

A single misstep could mean ending up fused with an apple tree or a boulder. Horrifying.

“Can’t we just take a jet?”

“Nope.”

Magic Johnson answered firmly and narrowed his eyes.

“Hey, Jin. You don’t actually distrust me, do you? I’m Magic Johnson. Do I have to show you before you’ll believe me?”

“……”

You saying that somehow makes it sound even stranger.

Whether he intended to show me teleportation magic or his Johnson, I didn’t care. I just wanted to travel peacefully by jet.

Team Leader Choi noticed my pleading expression and spoke up.

“Mr. Johnson, as you know, this area is within the Arch Lich’s sphere of influence. Magic is being disrupted, and even communications are unreliable.”

“Ah, so that’s what this is about. I thought it was something else.”

Magic Johnson let out a quiet laugh.

“How do you think I got here?”

“Huh?”

“Don’t tell me…”

“That’s right. I teleported. There was a little interference, but it wasn’t enough to hold Magic Johnson back.”

Snap!

Magic Johnson snapped his fingers, and a pillar of flame erupted from thin air. He cast the spell as naturally as breathing—a striking contrast to the mages of the Public Security Armed Forces Department, who had been unable to use magic properly because of the interference.

“You could do that from the beginning?”

“Of course not. Until now, I could still manage most ordinary spells despite the interference, but teleportation is too dangerous. I didn’t even dare attempt it.”

“Then…”

“The Arch Lich. His power had been gradually weakening. In particular, a considerable portion of the interference disappeared after last night. Though communications still seem to be a complete mess.”

It was something he could say—and pull off—only because he was one of just three archmages in the entire world.

Magic Johnson flashed his white teeth and held out a hand to us.

“That should be enough to earn your trust, don’t you think?”

“Well, if you put it that way.”

I took his hand without much hesitation, but Team Leader Choi quietly stepped back.

“Team Leader Choi?”

“I’ll stay here.”

“Why, Choi?”

“There are still matters I need to handle. Besides, given how little influence I have in the discussion, attending in person or hearing about it afterward will make little difference.”

Team Leader Choi always assessed the situation coolly. If he couldn’t change the course of events himself, he pulled lower-priority work forward and dealt with that instead.

I wanted to tell him that he was mistaken, but I quietly nodded.

He wasn’t wrong.

Even the S-rank Hunters whose opinions carried weight were ultimately mercenaries from other countries—borrowed blades.

That was why Chairman Xiao Yang and Minister Wei Fenghu had made it clear that overall command remained in their hands.

“Choi’s dropping out? This can’t be happening! Jin has no Charm!”

“……”

I really want to drive a nail through him. Then again, maybe this is for the best.

After whining for quite some time, Magic Johnson said goodbye to Team Leader Choi with a deeply disappointed expression.

“Can’t be helped. See you next time, Choi.”

“Take care.”

“Take care of what? It’ll be over in an instant.”

Magic Johnson shrugged and turned to me.

“Hey, Jin. Ready?”

“Yes.”

“Hold my hand tight. Don’t let go.”

“……Why are we interlocking fingers? Can’t I just hold your palm?”

Isn’t this the sort of thing couples do?

As a guy in his late twenties who had been single his entire life, I couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable about interlocking fingers with a huge Black man.

Magic Johnson spoke gently when he saw my reluctance.

“You can let go if you want. But if you lose your grip during the journey, you might die.”

Thinking of my first love from childhood, I clutched Magic Johnson’s hand tightly.

“Let’s go, darling.”

Magic Johnson’s expression turned stern.

“Sorry, but Jin isn’t my type. You don’t have to squeeze that hard, so could you ease up?”

“……Oh. Right.”

“Then, here we go.”

Just as I opened my mouth to answer—

Whoooooosh!

Gasp!

My breath caught, and the taut air constricted around my entire body.

Through my blurring vision, Team Leader Choi wavered like a mirage before vanishing.

The earth and sky flipped upside down.

Then, at last, came an overwhelming sense of release.

“Hah!”

I expelled the breath I had been holding and inhaled deeply. Cool air filled my lungs. I blinked, and my briefly clouded vision cleared.

It felt as if barely a second had passed, yet an entirely different landscape and different people stood around me.

“Our final guest has arrived.”

Wei Fenghu, Minister of National Defense under China’s Central Military Commission, approached and patted me on the shoulder. He looked as though he had aged ten years in the past week.

“Everyone is waiting. Let us go inside together.”

“W-wait a second.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t come any closer…”

“Uweeeeeegh!”

Splash!

For the record, I’m fairly tall. About two heads taller than Wei Fenghu.

As I emptied my stomach over the thinning crown of the old general’s head, Magic Johnson’s voice reached me.

“Ah, I forgot to mention that the motion sickness gets worse. I’m sorry, Jin. I’m sorry, Wei Fenghu.”

“You should’ve told me that sooner—uweeeeeegh!”

“……Hah.”

It took a little longer before I was able to attend the meeting.

A holographic recording played in the darkness of a vast conference room.

The footage showed exactly what one person had seen: a complicated control panel, clouds scattering beyond reinforced glass, and tiny specks appearing far below as the aircraft descended.

The things covering the ground surged forward like waves, with no ranks or formation.

Monsters.

It wasn’t difficult to tell that the footage came from a fighter pilot’s perspective. Wearing a head-mounted camera, the pilot radioed someone.

“This is YANU-4885. I repeat, YANU-4885. Target confirmed. Locked on.”

“You are cleared to fire.”

Crackle. Crackle.

The transmission was riddled with static, but the words were clear enough. The pilot took a deep breath and carried out the mission without hesitation.

Rumble.

The fighter trembled slightly as one of its missiles launched. It dwindled into a speck as it streaked toward the center of the advancing monster army—

Whoosh!

A black vortex abruptly appeared in the empty air above the monsters and swallowed the missile.

“Hngh!”

The pilot gasped and hurriedly pressed a red button on the control panel.

But then—

Boom! Crackle.

The footage cut out amid a thunderous roar that suddenly crashed through the room.

The hologram disappeared, and Minister Wei Fenghu spoke with a grave expression.

“What do the rest of you make of it?”

Magic Johnson lit a cigar before answering.

“Teleportation magic. The missile was transported above the fighter.”

“Mr. Johnson, could you do the same?”

After a moment of thought, Magic Johnson answered.

“It wouldn’t be difficult. But I’m not confident I could do it that quickly or accurately.”

“Even for an archmage such as yourself?”

“……Hmm.”

Magic Johnson gave a slight nod and exhaled cigar smoke.

He, too, was an S-rank Hunter who had accomplished feats that would go down in history. He must have been proud of his abilities, so he couldn’t have been pleased to learn that he had been outdone by a monster called the Arch Lich.

But this meeting wasn’t about protecting anyone’s pride.

We had to face reality.

“Then we can’t count on fire support. If we launch anything too powerful and it gets redirected, the result could be catastrophic.”

Faye Chen continued, lightly touching her wineglass with one slender finger.

“I expected as much, but now that it’s come to this, we have no choice but to settle the matter on the ground.”

“If matters continue as they are, the tide of battle will gradually improve. The royal guard of the British Empire, led by this prince, has crushed the monster army. More importantly, that wine you are drinking—is it perhaps a 1945 Romanée-Conti?”

“No.”

“Hm. You don’t know how to drink.”

Faye Chen glared at Prince Felix.

“Oh, my. What is this child talking about? Get a grip. The British Empire was dissolved long ago, and the monsters didn’t retreat because you won a few battles. They retreated because of that fellow sitting across from you.”

Prince Felix glanced at me.

“I heard that you distinguished yourself greatly on the Western Front…but are all those stories truly accurate?”

What, does he think I’m lying?

I stared at Prince Felix incredulously.

“Then they’re true, aren’t they? What, you think I made it all up? If you don’t want to believe me, don’t.”

“Your great achievements may be worthy of praise, but your words and conduct are remarkably insolent. You will refer to me as His Highness and always speak respectfully.”

I readily complied with his demand.

“His Highness, did you eat your fish and chips wrong?”

“Hmm. A man of matchless courage, yet utterly lacking in manners.”

“……”

Utterly lacking in manners, my ass. Maybe I should make sure he’s lacking one ball, too.

For the record, the guy I’d beaten up about a week ago kept his mouth firmly shut and wouldn’t even meet my eyes.

It’s nice that he’s quiet, but something about it feels off.

Given Wu Heixing’s stupidity, I’d expected him to come at me at least a few more times. Either he was more cowardly than I’d thought, or I had misjudged him.

More importantly, someone else in the room bothered me far more than Wu Heixing did.

“You’ve been awfully quiet. Don’t you have anything to say?”

Lee Jungryong—the snake coiled in wait—smiled gently.

“Thank you for your concern, but I’m fine. A mercenary’s virtue is following the employer’s wishes without comment.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“It’s a simple principle.”

I smiled back.

“But for someone who says that, your performance has been a little lackluster. Things on the northern front don’t seem to be going very well. Was that your employer’s wish too?”

“……!”

At my words, silence descended over the room as if everyone had been doused with cold water.

As every gaze turned toward him, Lee Jungryong stroked his chin.

“I find that remark unpleasant. Ares Guild and I did our best.”

“Your best? Really?”

“We fought ten battles over the past week and won nine of them. Although we unfortunately suffered one defeat, I would call that an impressive military record.”

Ten battles, nine wins, one loss. By the numbers, it was certainly an impressive record.

But two days ago, when Team Leader Choi and I heard about the defeat on the northern front, we had both let out hollow laughs.

What a sly old man.

Lee Jungryong was one of the strongest men in the world—or, even by Murim standards, an incredibly powerful martial artist.

Given his personality, there was no chance he had revealed the full extent of his abilities. He had to be even stronger than the public believed.

And someone like that had the nerve to say—

Unfortunately suffered one defeat, my ass.

I couldn’t speak for anyone else, but I was certain.

If Lee Jungryong had taken the field and still lost, then the defeat had been intentional from beginning to end.

The members of Ares Guild had withdrawn intact despite the staggering casualties around them. They were living proof.

Though since I can’t prove anything, I suppose it’s still only a suspicion.

That was also why Lee Jungryong could remain so relaxed. He loosely crossed his arms.

“I regret the defeat that day, but I would appreciate it if you refrained from making hasty accusations. There was a clear reason for our loss.”

“A clear reason?”

“Who could have expected a Death Knight to appear under those circumstances? Once the commander died, the ensuing confusion became impossible to control.”

“If you mean the Death Knights…”

“I heard they appeared on the Western Front last night as well. Is that not so?”

His words brought something to mind.

The testimony of the civilian couple rescued from the small city.

Ten Death Knights had slaughtered nearly a thousand troops, while their leader, the Black Knight, had left without killing the couple for some unknown reason.

That Black Knight had bothered me ever since I heard their story.

“Then among the ones that appeared on the northern front, was there perhaps—”

My question to Lee Jungryong never reached its end.

Urgent footsteps raced down the corridor, and someone who looked like a Chinese officer burst through the door.

Bang!

“Huff, huff. Emergency! Emergency!”

He continued while gasping for breath.

“We have received word that the monster army has advanced! Fighting has broken out on every front!”

“……What?”