Relic Fiesta (3)
What Soo-ah saw upon running to the exhibition hall were people collapsed on the floor.
'The explosion seed to have happened outside the exhibition hall, didn't it?'
Soo-ah had confird this as she ran here, so she was sure.
Outside the exhibition hall, the building was damaged here and there by the explosion, but inside there weren't any such traces.
However, for so reason, the people were lying unconscious.
"Huh?"
As Soo-ah checked on their condition, she belatedly realized that her field of vision had turned strangely red.
It was as if she had walked into a space filled with red air.
"This is..."
Within that, she could distinctly sense a now-familiar energy.
Demonic energy—the power that demons possessed.
A sticky energy, completely different from magic power, was filling the entire exhibition hall.
This was not a result caused by the explosion.
Noticing this, Soo-ah hurriedly contacted Alencia via radio.
"Alencia, the exhibition hall is filled with so strange gas. Is it the sa on your side?"
『Hm? Yeah, you're right. The area definitely looks a bit red.』
Talking to Alencia, Soo-ah pursued the traces of demonic energy.
The red air continuously tried to encroach upon Soo-ah's body, but each ti, it was burned away and scattered by the blue flas rising from her.
"Is there any problem over there? Like, perhaps, demons?"
『Demons? Ah, I don't really know about that.』
Alencia had been told about demons by Jung-woo but had never encountered one herself.
She'd only roughly recognized what demonic energy felt like since she had run into the King of the Demonic Zone before.
"If anything happens, please contact
right away. Prioritize rescuing people."
『Okay, got it!』
Hearing Alencia's energetic reply, Soo-ah let out a sigh of relief and pursued the traces of demonic energy.
'Beneath the floor of the exhibition hall.'
Soo-ah raised her hand and struck the marble floor where the residue of demonic energy felt thickest.
Then, the floor cracked open, revealing a glowing red magic stone embedded in the ground.
"How on earth..."
There was no need to wonder who did this.
It had to be demons.
The problem was 'how' they managed to hide this under the exhibition hall's floor.
'Is that a magic array engraved on the ultimate magic stone?'
Strangely-shaped letters and a magic array were engraved inside the ultimate magic stone.
Of course, even upon seeing it, Soo-ah didn't know what kind of magic array it was.
Would Shin Ah-yeon have known?
Crackle!!
"... No use."
After breaking it by hand and burning it with her flas, the surroundings were still filled with red air.
There were probably more of these stones installed elsewhere.
'Let's hurry.'
She had a bad feeling.
It seed like sothing big might happen if this was left unattended.
There was no one whose life seed in danger at that mont, but with every breath, she felt sothing faint slipping away.
'Manager-nim has to be safe...'
Even after thoroughly searching the exhibition hall, Soo-ah couldn't spot Jung-woo.
She knew Jung-woo had hidden a great amount of power.
Just look at what happened recently in Arica.
'It's okay. He'll be alright.'
Forcing herself to believe that, Soo-ah ran in the direction where the explosion had sounded.
If the situation beca more serious, Unique, who provided security for this Relic Fiesta, would definitely be criticized. Jung-woo wouldn't want that to happen.
'Get it together, Lee Soo-ah. For now, do the job you're assigned to.'
Soo-ah headed toward the spot where the explosion sounded closest, finding a magic stone nearby each ti.
When this repeated several tis, Soo-ah realized a few things.
The red air had spread throughout the entire Relic Fiesta venue.
Also, the red air only caused a bit of dizziness for awakeners of C-rank or higher, without having a major effect.
'And these explosions.'
The explosions rang out at intervals, as if to guide people's movents.
'As if trying to herd everyone into one place.'
It was a sudden thought, but it was a fairly credible guess.
Especially since there were no fatalities from the explosions; that supported her theory.
So people were injured, but none were dead.
People had fled from the explosions, but all fainted where they had taken refuge.
Subdued by the red air.
"... Huh?"
While thoroughly searching the building and tracking the red air, Soo-ah narrowed her eyes at unfamiliar people.
They felt different from the police or supporting hunters going around rescuing the fallen.
'Guildmaster Kang Gi-hun of Javelin Guild?'
He was fairly famous among hunters, so she recognized him at once.
At first, Soo-ah thought he was just attending the Relic Fiesta, but his behavior was suspicious.
More than that, the hunters standing behind him looked extrely dubious.
"Are you Guildmaster Kang Gi-hun? The situation is serious, so please evacuate, or if you can, help us—"
As she approached him, Soo-ah realized belatedly that Kang Gi-hun was standing still, fixated on sothing, not moving.
As she followed his gaze, she saw a corridor of the building that had been blown apart much more than other areas.
In other places, the explosions were just threatening, but here, an entire corridor had been blasted away, and the building had completely collapsed.
"Heh, heh heh. Park Jung-woo, you stupid bastard. Serves you right."
Soo-ah's sharp ears caught Kang Gi-hun's muttering.
Since there was a fair distance between them, he probably hadn't noticed Soo-ah had approached.
Or maybe the red air numbed his senses.
'What?'
Soo-ah doubted her ears for a mont.
A chill went up her spine.
"What do you an by that?"
She tried to remain as calm as possible as she questioned the giggling Kang Gi-hun.
Maybe she'd misheard.
"Huh? Ah, it's you, hunter Lee Soo-ah."
Startled by soone suddenly speaking to him, Kang Gi-hun realized it was Soo-ah and smirked.
"Here looking for Park Jung-woo?"
"Yes."
"That's easy to answer. He's right below here."
He raised a hand and pointed to the debris of the destroyed building.
It wasn't just collapsed concrete and rebar; parts of it had completely caved in.
If soone was down there, they must have fallen through the floor beneath all that.
"How..."
Looking at the piles of debris and the collapsed building, Soo-ah's pupils quivered.
As Kang Gi-hun watched her with a cheerful grin, he decided it was a convenient opportunity.
'Even though I couldn't kill Park Jung-woo, it wouldn't be bad to use this chance to dispose of Lee Soo-ah.'
He had paid a hefty price to hire Blood Dagger, so there was no reason not to use them.
With most S-rank hunters, it might be tough, but Lee Soo-ah had only just beco S-rank.
No matter how much of a genius she was, she was still a rookie among S-ranks.
But Blood Dagger was skilled enough to have killed a well-known S-rank hunter a few years ago.
With backing on his side, handling her shouldn't be too difficult.
'If I kill Lee Soo-ah here, Unique will be much weaker.'
It was a choice he would never normally make.
However, after making deals with demons and continuously absorbing ultimate magic stones, Kang Gi-hun suffered from severe withdrawal after not having one for a while.
Demonic energy stirred his mind, lowering his judgnt and making him more emotional.
Just like Shim Chun-hoo, whose mind was clouded by the blood of demons and was unable to think properly.
"Why are you laughing?"
At that mont, Soo-ah's emotionless voice rang out.
Blue flas rose in her cool, sunken gaze.
"How can you laugh when sothing might have happened to Manager Park?"
Sothing was wrong.
With each step Soo-ah took toward Kang Gi-hun, the heat around her rose.
Her black hair was gradually being engulfed by blue flas.
'Magic power...'
The magic power in the area pulsed and grew hot.
As if it was syncing with the emotions of the Lee Soo-ah before him.
"Was it you?"
He tried to speak, but his breath caught in his throat.
It wasn't just psychological pressure.
The air itself was scorching.
He was afraid his lungs would burn if he opened his mouth.
'Wasn't Lee Soo-ah's ability just burning magic power?'
From what he'd seen on Super Hunter K, that was her ability.
Blue flas that burned away magic power.
That's why she was called Lee Soo-ah the Heavenly Fla Sword.
Kang Gi-hun had always misunderstood.
Soo-ah wasn't only able to burn magic power.
She could also burn 'other things', including magic power.
"Answer ."
As Soo-ah slowly drew her sword, Kang Gi-hun mustered all his strength and shouted.
"Kill that bitch, now!!"
At his shout—
The five Blood Dagger mbers who'd been standing behind Kang Gi-hun charged at Soo-ah in unison.
***
"That was surprising."
I pushed aside the mass of concrete that had pressed
down and got to my feet.
Looking up, I realized I'd been swept up in the explosion and had fallen beneath the building.
'Strictly speaking, it must be underground.'
I'd been on the first floor when the explosion hit, so I was definitely in the basent now.
'That guy didn't blow himself up of his own will just now.'
Soone had interfered, or they'd set it up so he'd explode when a particular keyword was said.
I'd seen this kind of thing a few tis before, so I was sure.
But for sothing like that to be done even to a mid-tier demon—not a low, not even the lowest grade—was surprising.
"Anyway..."
I frowned as I looked around the pitch-black space.
Even if it was underground, it was strangely dark for a room beneath an event venue.
'And my vision is oddly red.'
My blood was reacting to the thick demonic energy I felt nearby.
This red air was surely the work of demons.
However, what was concerning was that I'd never seen this kind of phenonon even on 'that side.'
"I'll know what it is if I check."
As I followed the demonic energy, the air grew redder and the amount of demonic energy increased.
Just in case, I hid my presence as much as possible and walked through the basent.
'This area...is it a warehouse?'
It seed I'd fallen into the storage area under the building, where materials and auction items for this Relic Fiesta were being kept. Artifacts to be moved to the exhibition soon were scattered on the floor, and rare materials obtained from catching monsters were strewn about.
Judging by this, the attack wasn't aid at stealing auction items or exhibition artifacts.
'No way...'
Suddenly, a piece of forgotten knowledge ca to mind.
'Gate of the Demon Realm.'
I wasn't sure, but that was the only thing that ca to mind.
This red air must be people's life force, and if it was concentrated into a special 'relic', it could create a key to open the gate.
I'd never seen it with my own eyes, but from what Estella had said, that must be the case.
'What are they thinking?'
The stronger a demon was, the more severely damaged they'd be if they crossed into a world that hadn't been fully 'demonized'.
They couldn't really function in a world with no demonic energy.
Among advanced demons, only those of the royal bloodline—children of the Demon King and subordinates of the Great Duke—were free from that influence.
The magic spread in the area could reduce such penalties and call a higher-ranked demon into this world.
'In that sense alone, it's a high-level spell, but...'
If that were the case, Damian would have used this mystic art many tis to bring top-rank demons into this world.
But the fact that Damian hadn't done so ant there was a reason.
It wasn't just because casting this magic was difficult—fundantally, this magic couldn't be used to its full effect.
'Even if a key is made, there isn't currently a demon capable of handling it.'
The problem was, unless the gate thus created was destroyed using a key, it would keep absorbing the life force of the surroundings until all the demonic energy was depleted.
There wouldn't be enough ti to evacuate the people, so there was only one thod from the start.
'......'
It wasn't clear whether the demons who had activated the 'Gate of the Demon Realm' realized they couldn't open it with the key.
But one thing was certain.
Damian's real aim was not simply to summon a high-ranked demon.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
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