#194. What You Lose When You Become an Adult (2)
—
The surroundings were deathly quiet.
The mana storm, often referred to as a silent death, had swallowed all sound around it, erasing its existence from the world.
What spread across that blank canvas of silence—
“Ah, sorry. You’re a dwarf, huh?”
“Be careful. I’m not human.”
—were only the voices of the two boys.
The intensifying storm sent whirling sand slamming against their coats.
Hot and chilling fragments of magic spun wildly in all directions.
“I’ve heard about that. That dwarves have a lot of pride in their race.”
“Who told you that?”
“My father. There’s nothing in the world he doesn’t know.”
“He must be a very knowledgeable man. Did he send you here? Told you to do something?”
The conversation flowed naturally, but an unsettling tension lingered.
Like a small boat teetering on the verge of wreckage atop raging waves.
“Yeah. My father always gives me homework. The one I just finished was this: there was some weirdo he was wary of, and he told me to erase the markings before that guy saw them.”
“And after erasing the markings?”
“He said I might run into that guy, so I shouldn’t bother with any other homework and come straight back. But guess what? On the way back, I got the chance to finish another assignment.”
The boy looked down as he spoke.
“This pile of scrap metal right here.”
“……”
The boy spoke casually, but the vessel inside him overflowed with dark red mana.
Black malice.
A mixture of all the sharp-edged emotions one could harbor toward the world.
And within it, red rage stood out, not fully blended, clearly visible.
A menacing blend like black oil mixed with red blood—the same pattern appeared on the circles.
‘Four circles. All the elemental forces within are merged and tangled together.’
It resembled the mixed circles of the Azure Dawn Society.
In other words, predicting his spells based on the color of his mana would be nearly impossible.
Ray quietly opened his mouth.
“You said you were told to return immediately. Don’t you think you’ll be in trouble for disobeying orders?”
“Nah, I’ll definitely be praised.”
Ray exploded red mana as he leapt backward.
From the spot where he had been standing, a spike of dark red the height of a person erupted.
“You dodged that too? I was really subtle with the mana flow this time.”
“……”
Through the goggles and gas masks, the two boys locked eyes—and in that instant, both figures burst into action.
The boy with the goggles was the first to close the distance.
Two daggers, now tinged with dark red light, had appeared in his hands. Ray also gathered gray mana to form a pair of daggers, infusing them heavily with the metal element.
*Clang! Cling! Clash!*
Sparks flew relentlessly, scattering across the sandstorm like fireworks.
The fierce collisions tore through the silence that had dominated the surroundings.
On the narrow platform of the watchtower, their battle aimed solely for vital points.
*Claaaaang!*
Ray’s head and body heated up.
Each blow was so fierce that it sent a shockwave through his entire body.
He didn’t know much about the opponent.
But one thing was clear.
‘The doctor is targeting Rael Row.’
The enemy had spoken as if there were an objective related to Rael Row in their orders.
And—
…If Rael Row was the target, then the reasons and purpose weren’t hard to guess.
‘The power source of Rael Row.’
That was why Ray had temporarily deactivated the yellow gem in his body.
To avoid provoking an enemy whose full capabilities were still unknown.
*Shhhk!*
Ray turned his head.
A dagger aimed at his neck grazed his skin by a hair’s breadth.
He grabbed the opponent’s extended forearm, wrapped in blue mana.
*Crackle!*
Sensing the chill enveloping his arm, the opponent violently burst his dark red mana, throwing off Ray’s grip.
The moment they were separated—
*Tap.*
Pivoting on his left foot, Ray spun his body and unleashed an explosion of red mana in his right leg.
*BOOM!*
The spinning back kick struck cleanly in the opponent’s abdomen.
With the sound of leather tearing, the enemy was flung into the air and slammed into a wall.
He slid to the floor without a twitch, but Ray knew the fight hadn’t even truly begun yet.
That truth revealed itself in the next instant as a voice, grinding through clenched teeth, reached his ears.
“That hurt.”
The opponent charged again, giving no room to breathe.
His attacks were sharper, more ferocious—forcing Ray to make a judgment.
‘In a drawn-out fight in such a narrow space, I’m at a disadvantage with my limited mana.’
*CLAAANG!*
Using the recoil from their clash, Ray hurled himself over the platform railing.
─────!
The whipping wind made his coat flap wildly.
In his tilted vision, he saw the opponent diving after him without hesitation.
‘Wide open.’
In midair, Ray gathered the yellow mana from the gem into his palm at full output.
*Crackle!*
A sphere of blinding lightning appeared in his hand.
In that instant, part of the malice in the enemy’s vessel took on the form of fear.
A moment of confusion flickered, but there was no time to dwell on it.
The enemy’s dagger had transformed into a whip stretching tens of meters, and it lashed toward Ray.
Ray fired the lightning sphere as a beam and simultaneously deployed a thick barrier across his entire body.
Crossing his arms to block the whip, Ray dropped vertically and smashed into the deck below.
*BOOOOM!*
The thunderous roar shook the air—so much that it felt like Rael Row itself had trembled.
Staggering slightly, Ray stood back up.
Pain throbbed across his body.
If he hadn’t layered a full-body barrier and wrapped his skin with metal-element mana, his bones would have been shattered.
“……”
Looking down at his arms, his coat was torn, and scratches marred his skin.
The wounds were shallow, but the dark red mana clinging like slime sent searing pain through him.
Acting on instinct, he sent yellow mana to the wounds, and the dark red energy scattered into the air like it was fleeing.
“What are you?”
Raising his head at the voice, Ray saw the enemy standing on the other side of the deck.
Apparently, he had twisted his body to dodge the beam mid-descent—he didn’t seem seriously injured.
“I guess my first impression wasn’t wrong. What are you? Why do you give off such an unsettling feeling?”
The fear Ray had glimpsed during their fall had grown—not overwhelmingly large, but enough to take seriously.
Reflecting that state of mind—
────.
The dark red mana from the opponent’s entire body took on physical form, coating him like full-body armor.
Ray was struck by powerful confusion and doubt.
Just like when the enemy had formed the daggers and whip, he couldn’t grasp the underlying principle.
Until now, Ray had been able to copy any spell just by identifying the color of the opponent’s mana.
But now—
The enemy used only one color: dark red.
And the elements within it were fused in a way that defied the known laws of magic—an impossible structure.
…Not mere coexistence, but complete integration.
‘How the hell?’
He couldn’t figure it out.
But one thought occurred to him.
That the opponent was shaping the dark red mana like clay—molding it into whatever he wanted.
Then came a voice filled with irritation.
“You’re definitely not a dwarf. They’re skilled, sure, but not *this* skilled.”
Ray ground his teeth.
“Insult my identity one more time and I won’t forgive you.”
“……”
“I’m a proud dwarf.”
“Guess I’ll know for sure if I break that gas mask. Dwarves are said to have stone-like scales growing on their skin, right?”
The enemy vanished from view.
A moment later, someone collided with the charging opponent from across the deck.
They tumbled apart, and it was none other than Isra who had tackled him.
“Intruders aren’t welcome…!”
Isra quickly got to his feet—but what greeted him was a crescent-shaped slash of dark red energy flying at him.
A chill ran down his spine. He hastily pulled the massive shield from his back in front of him.
*SCREECH—! SKKKRRRRR—!*
The slash didn’t dissipate on impact—it kept pushing the shield back.
Armor, boots, pauldrons, belt—
All the metal gear drawing mana to power the innate strength of a dwarf.
Even so—
*SKKKRRRRRRRRRRK—!*
It wasn’t enough to block the slash.
Is was pushed back across the deck until his shield broke and he rolled across the floor.
“Urgh…!”
He was shocked.
Though not proud of his race, it was true that dwarven technology and physical prowess were second to none.
Fully equipped, he thought he could handle a human mage—even if not easily.
But to be overwhelmed in one blow, sent rolling across the floor—
*Clang! Clash! CLANG!*
Seeing Ray fight such an opponent on equal footing left Isra stunned and amazed.
‘Are all human mages this strong?’
No, definitely not.
He became sure of it—those two were monsters, even among humans.
───!
A long dark red sword and a stone blade forged from gray mana clashed.
Using the rebound, Ray flipped in midair and landed beside Is.
*Tap!*
Without taking his eyes off the distant enemy, he asked,
“Did you notify them?”
“Rael Row is fully reactivated. Armed combatants will be coming up soon. But… even if they do, against that guy—”
“Better to relocate the forces. More damage will just pile up otherwise.”
Isra nodded anxiously in agreement.
Just then, colored mana began to pulse throughout the deck.
And the next moment—
*WUUUUUUUUUUUNG—!*
Mana gathered at the tips of lightning-rod-like poles that had risen throughout the deck and fired as thin beams toward the enemy.
*BOOM! KRAKABOOM! BOOOOOOM!*
The bombardment was relentless.
“Thanks for stalling. Now it’s our turn. No need to worry anymore.”
Ray turned his head to find the elders standing beside him.
Combatants were emerging through an entryway that opened up from the floor.
Ray spoke quickly.
“Evacuate everyone to the safest place in Rael Row immediately.”
“What are you saying?”
“You can’t handle that opponent.”
The elders laughed uproariously.
“I appreciate your concern, but there is no enemy our advanced technology cannot defeat. Just wait. When this bombardment ends, you’ll see the intruder reduced to scraps.”
“That’s not—”
Ray fell silent.
The sheer confidence overflowing in their vessels told him they wouldn’t listen.
*BOOOOOOM!*
With the last beam fired, the bombardment ceased.
As the dust gradually cleared, what emerged was a sphere of dark red light.
“What is that…?”
“Is that… some kind of magic?”
The elders showed signs of confusion, but they still hadn’t lost their composure.
That is, until—
“What a bothersome trick.”
—right before the enemy, completely unharmed, appeared as the sphere vanished.
In that instant, the longsword extended like a whip, sweeping across the deck like a storm.
*Kwaang!*
The lightning rod shattered.
*Kwaang! Kwaaang!*
Various parts of the deck were destroyed.
The elders and combatants rushed in all at once, but the scene that followed was little short of a one-sided massacre.
“Krgh!”
“Guhk!”
Most couldn’t even get close. They collapsed alongside their broken equipment.
And even if some managed to close the distance, they couldn’t inflict the slightest damage on the enemy’s armor.
Ray launched elemental spells like fireballs and ice spears at maximum output, but the result was the same.
*Shwik! Shwiik! Shwik!*
Ray ceased his spellcasting and focused entirely on approaching the enemy while evading the sweeping, wide-range whip attacks.
At the same time, he carefully observed how the enemy manipulated the dark crimson mana.
And then, at a certain moment—
He found himself imagining what it would be like to wield mana just as freely as the enemy did.
…?
A strong sense of dissonance gripped him.
Did I just imagine that?
Suddenly, it felt like he understood.
Exactly how the enemy was manipulating the dark crimson mana.
*—Jjeojeok.*
At the eye of the storm, where despairing screams and wails clashed violently—
*—Jjeojeojeok.*
Something deep within the boy was trying to hatch.
