Chapter 121 - Wizard May Cry (7)

Ha-eun looked down at the corpses, breathing hard.

“Haa... haa....”

Glasya-Labolas watched the sight with delight, then twitched his nose and frowned.

“Contractor, hide yourself and prepare to strike from ambush.”

“...What?”

“Someone dangerous is coming.”

He had sensed an ominous presence entering the abandoned building.

***

After reviewing the CCTV footage.

Apparently, a suspicious-looking person had been caught on camera at a coffee shop overlooking the street where the murder had taken place.

Without reacting like everyone else by jumping up in alarm and moving away or crowding toward the window seats.

There had been a girl in a hoodie who remained sitting by the window the whole time, watching the victim being tortured, then got up when the police arrived.

Well, after that, the professionals in the Special Operations Division identified the girl, who might have been the real culprit behind the murder.

I looked over the file Si-on handed me.

‘Kim Ha-eun, age sixteen. Mother recently deceased in a fire. However, rather than a simple accident, signs point to something deliberate....’

“..........”

As I read through the file, I could see why the Special Operations Division had so quickly singled out Kim Ha-eun as a suspect.

It hadn’t been an accidental fire. It had been arson.

Her mother had died because of an arson attack involving the murdered male student.

I had no idea how she’d managed to make a contract with a demon, but at least her motive for revenge was clear.

And even if she wasn’t a demon Contractor, her connection to the case still made her an important person.

...Well, it was still only circumstantial.

I’d have to check for myself, though.

I looked up at the abandoned building and spoke.

“So Kim Ha-eun is in there?”

Si-on, who had been ordering the other Special Operations Division agents to secure the perimeter around the abandoned building, looked at me and nodded.

“Yes. After comparing CCTV footage from the surrounding roads, we estimate that she is somewhere in this vicinity, and the Magic Tool’s response is also pointing to this location.”

Si-on aimed the Eight Trigrams Tablet in her hand toward the building, and the needle at its center spun like a compass before pointing at the abandoned structure.

I raised one eyebrow as I looked at the Eight Trigrams Tablet. It felt like I’d seen it somewhere before.

“What’s that?”

“Ah, this is a Magic Tool recovered from the corpse of a notorious Wizard called the Thousand-Li Demon Venerable, who was found dead when those Wizards got into a large group fight before.”

‘Thousand-Li Demon Venerable... Ah!’

I remembered him.

He’d died so quickly that my memory was hazy, but he was the Chinese Taoist who’d attacked me for my grimoire <Baopuzi>, only to die from a single surprise spear thrust by Lee Mun-ryong.

That had been when we were being chased by vampires spraying bullets everywhere.

I’d dismissed him as a scrub and ignored him... but if even the Special Operations Division knew about him, I guess he hadn’t been a complete scrub after all.

“We borrowed it from the Bureau, where it was being stored, to help resolve this case.”

Si-on showed me the Eight Trigrams Tablet more closely.

“If you open the wooden compartment underneath like this and place either the object you’re looking for or something connected to the target inside, it reacts by pointing out the location.”

Judging from her explanation of how it worked.

The stronger the connection between whatever was placed inside the Eight Trigrams Tablet and the target being sought, the longer the effect lasted.

The best options were things that had come directly from the target’s body, like hair or blood. Personal belongings worked too, but in that case, how long the tracking ability lasted depended on how long the target had possessed the item.

Currently, the wooden compartment contained a small scrap cut from one of Kim Ha-eun’s clothes.

She must have stayed at a facility for a while after her mother died. They probably still had some clothing she’d worn back then.

Anyway, what I had to do now was clear.

“...Then keep watch around the building.”

I, the Wizard, would go inside first and confirm whether Kim Ha-eun really was a demon Contractor. If Kim Ha-eun fled outside, the Special Operations Division agents waiting there would catch her. A basic flushing operation.

For a moment, Si-on looked distinctly displeased, but she nodded.

“Yes. Please do.”

Right, the reason I was being sent in first was simple.

If Kim Ha-eun turned out to be a demon Contractor, the Special Operations Division higher-ups wanted her subdued first and foremost, but if that proved difficult, their orders were to kill her.

From the perspective of the Special Operations Division higher-ups, it didn’t matter whether the demon Contractor died or I, a dangerous Wizard, died.

Maybe they’d like mutual destruction best of all.

Anyway, I walked inside.

Thud- thud-.

As expected, the inside of the abandoned building wasn’t exactly a healthy place, with its concrete floors and cement dust drifting through the air.

“Gyaaa~.”

I summoned Grizzly beside me ahead of time and began searching the abandoned building.

Grizzly caught the scent of blood and reacted.

“Gyaa!”

I looked at the stairs Grizzly was pointing toward, leading to the floor above, let out a small sigh, and climbed them.

Judging by Grizzly’s reaction.

Apparently, this wasn’t just some gathering spot for runaway teenagers.

...And as Yo-han climbed to the next floor and continued searching, Glasya-Labolas, his body hidden by invisibility, stealthily approached from behind.

‘That bastard is the new master of Solomon’s accursed grimoire <Lemegeton>.’

Yo-han didn’t know it, but Paimon had circulated newspapers throughout Hell, making Yo-han famous among the high-ranking Archdemons.

Glasya-Labolas hadn’t expected to run into him in the middle of carrying out a contract with a human, but... judging by the looks of it, Yo-han had tracked down his Contractor, and the bastard was dangerous to encounter anyway.

‘I’ll kill him before he notices me.’

Glasya-Labolas concealed his presence, bared his sharp teeth, and aimed for Yo-han’s neck.

However, Yo-han was the master not only of <The Lesser Key of Solomon>, but also of <De Vermis Mysteriis>.

A Familiar summoned from <De Vermis Mysteriis>.

The peculiar experience of being the master of an Invisible Vampire, of always living alongside an unseen monster.

Because Yo-han had no contract with Glasya-Labolas, he couldn’t perceive the wavering outline or presence the way he could with Grizzly.

And precisely because of that, he reached out toward the strange sense of wrongness he felt in a place where nothing was visible.

“...Hm?”

Glasya-Labolas’s pupils trembled.

“.........!?”

There was no way Yo-han could see him.

Glasya-Labolas froze for an instant at the sight of Yo-han staring directly toward where he stood.

Then Yo-han’s hand caught hold of Glasya-Labolas’s head and began petting him.

I was startled by the unexpected sensation beneath my hand.

“—!”

‘If it were an enemy, it would’ve attacked me right away... Is it Grizzly?’

“...Grizzly? What’s wrong? Are you hungry?”

Glasya-Labolas panicked at having his head so helplessly caught by the master of <Lemegeton>.

“Whiiine....”

The bizarre standoff born from both of them being equally confused continued.

...As I petted Grizzly(?) on the head, something felt just slightly off.

“Grizzly, how should I put this? You seem somehow more invisible-y and fluffier than usual today.”

“Gyaaa~?”

I heard Grizzly cry in response to my voice.

...The problem was, the sound hadn’t come from the ‘something’ I was currently petting.

“.............”

It had come from a short distance away.

And then.

“Gya, gyaa....”

Grizzly, having witnessed its master petting another invisible monster, gaped in shock and cried out.

“Gyaaa! Gyagya~ gyagyagyagyagyagya!”

Translated into human speech-.

‘Maaaster! That guy’s a fake! I’m the real Grizzly!’

-Or something like that, I figured.

Anyway, that cry brought the awkward standoff to an end.

“.........!”

A chilling sensation shot straight up my spine.

“Aaaagh! Fuck! What the hell!”

Still riding that surge of panic, I reflexively threw a punch.

Thud-!

“Graagh!?”

Glasya-Labolas, driven backward by the punch to his face, glared viciously at Yo-han.

“—!”

Of course, naturally, it hadn’t done much damage.

Lemegeton... So he was the master of <The Lesser Key of Solomon>?

Those calm eyes that showed no fear of a demon despite him being human, and the sight of him throwing a punch without a moment’s hesitation, grated on Glasya-Labolas.

...Just like that damned Solomon.

An irritating memory surfaced.

‘You demons always talk too much! If I tell you to do something, just do it!’

‘Graaah~~ Don’t hit me!’

The humiliating memory of being weakened and bound by Solomon’s magic, then beaten.

“Grrrr...!”

Glasya-Labolas’s sharp teeth clenched together, and a low, animalistic growl rumbled out.

I glared at the invisible presence that had to be right in front of me... the demon Glasya-Labolas.

Glasya-Labolas had murdered someone in the middle of the street.

In the current situation, the only invisible monster other than Grizzly could be Glasya-Labolas, twenty-fifth of the 72 Demons of Solomon.

But the more I thought about it... Glasya-Labolas’s name was pointlessly long.

Anyway, if my opponent was a demon, what I had to do first was obvious.

I summoned the grimoire <The Lesser Key of Solomon> into my hand and opened it.

Fwish-!

Chains of light that bound demons shot rapidly from the open pages, but....

“—!”

As though they had struck something and bounced away, they failed to bind Glasya-Labolas.

My eyes immediately narrowed.

These were chains even Paimon’s true body hadn’t been able to stop. Glasya-Labolas probably hadn’t simply forced them away with brute strength.

If there was one difference....

‘The contract.’

Was it because he was already bound in a contract with another human, preventing me from taking control of him or restraining him?

“..........”

Then I’d just keep fighting.

I immediately kicked off the ground and leaped backward to create some distance.

“GRAAAAAAAH!”

Glasya-Labolas roared and charged.

“GAAAAAAA-!”

An enraged Grizzly charged as well.

The two invisible monsters collided, shockwaves erupting one after another through empty air.

Boom! Boom! KABOOM! Boom! KABOOOOM-!

The air trembled.