City of Witches

༺ Friendship? (4) ༻

1.

Twenty seconds.

That was the time it took for Sharon to defeat all the remaining Homunculi.

The moment her staff, adorned with emerald-green jewels, began to radiate brightly…

A small storm abruptly erupted within the confines of the department store.

Siwoo marveled as the whirlwind effortlessly tore through the seemingly impervious Homunculi. The sight of her effortlessly slicing through those creatures which were supposed to resist sword strikes reminded him of watching a skilled chef preparing a calamari.

The department turned into a big mess, as if it was just struck by a terrorist attack. Meanwhile, Sharon signaled the end of the battle by firmly placing the bottom of her wand on the ground.

“Phew… Okay, time to collect everything quickly.”

“Sure. I’ll lend you a hand.”

“No, I’ll do it myself. You should get some rest, you’ve done a lot tonight, good job.”

She efficiently utilized her remaining mana to stack the numerous lifeless bodies into a neat pile.

If Siwoo were to do this, it’d only result in chaos. The reason why Sharon could do this was because she had strong fundamentals, thus she was able to easily manipulate a hundred objects without causing any mishaps.

Then, she proceeded to extract the crystals with surgical precision, a testament to her expertise.

As she continued to collect the descending crystals into her pocket, she posed a question to Siwoo.

“Have you ever learned martial arts?”

“No, I haven’t.”

There was an ambiguous atmosphere between the two of them.

A lingering feeling of uncertainty, unsure if the immediate danger had passed. The events today could be a warning that a great calamity might happen in the future, and this left them uneasy.

But at the same time, this was a rare occasion for Sharon as she finally completed a proper hunt and harvested a large quantity of crystals. As for Siwoo, he managed to confirm the effectiveness of the new Law of Shadows he had just established. Both of them were not entirely dissatisfied with the outcome.

“How did you fight so well, then? It felt like I was watching a movie!”

“I don’t know. My body just moved on its own.”

Sharon’s excitement echoed in her raised voice, but it was actually Siwoo who felt the most bewilderment between the two.

Despite hunting a significant number of Homunculi, he felt no strain on his body.

His breath was slightly labored, a consequence of the medium-distance sprint he had taken, but that was it.

This served as evidence that, unlike before, he moved his body in a more efficient manner.

“Oh, right, you’ve served in the military, right? Did you learn these skills there?”

“No, the military didn’t teach me anything like that.”

Sharon continued her strange speculations, uttering them out loud with an excited tone.

The joyous dimples on her cheeks were impossible to hide.

After all, with this amount of crystals, she could take her mind off her debt, at least for a short while.

A total of a hundred and three crystals ended up in her hands.

She looked at her bulging pocket, filled with said crystals, as if it was the source of all happiness.

With this amount, she could easily get a hundred— No, a hundred and fifty million won.

“Siwoo.”

“Yes?”

“You know, I’ve been thinking…”

She approached Siwoo, who was taking a break on a nearby broken stand.

Seeing him removing his helmet and wiping the sweat off his damp hair, her gaze momentarily faltered.

Today, he seemed rather magnificent in her eyes.

“I’ll give you 80% of these after I exchange them for money. I mean, you did most of the work…”

“Where did that come from? Our agreement was that you’d take all the loot from our hunt in return for you to teach me magic.”

“But this doesn’t feel right… The amount of money isn’t small…”

Sharon set up that condition because she expected that Siwoo wouldn’t be able to involve himself heavily during the hunts.

But, the reason why their hunt was successful was because of his effort.

It would be unreasonable of her to say, ‘This is all mine!’ after all that, even if she were to factor in their old verbal agreement.

Siwoo chuckled softly before settling down on the floor.

Then, he gently stroked Sharon’s head.

He had always admired her honesty, and her tendencies to not resort to deceitful methods even in difficult situations.

“It’s fine. A promise is a promise. Changing that at this point doesn’t feel right. Besides, it isn’t like I need money at the moment.”

“But…”

“Take everything. I successfully applied your teachings during today’s hunt. That’s enough for me.”

Sharon watched his hand stroking her head with a dazed look in her eyes.

It was a simple gesture, but her heart was beating even louder than back when she offered him her chest to touch.

‘Why is my heart beating so fast?’

‘Am I smiling? At a time like this? But why…?’

She quickly covered her mouth, afraid that she might reveal an unpleasant face as she fidgeted nervously.

Alarm by her reaction, Siwoo swiftly withdrew his hand.

This made him remember that Odile always disliked having her hair touched without permission, and he assumed that Sharon was the same.

“Let’s go back.”

Sharon quickly turned around, trying to appear calm and collected.

With the danger gone and she had successfully harvested all the crystals, there were no more reason for them to linger in this desolate place.

Now, she was thinking of going home, indulging in some late-night snacks while leisurely watching a movie.

As they walked, Sharon made a silent promise that she’d treat Siwoo to some snacks later.

“Thank you, Siwoo…”

“Why are you thanking me?”

“Because you’re always looking out for me… And you’re always helping me out…”

“So dramatic. Don’t we have a give-and-take relationship? I mean, we both benefit from it…”

Siwoo trailed behind Sharon, who expressed her gratitude without looking at his face.

By now, his awkwardness had returned, despite the heartwarming atmosphere.

After enjoying Sharon’s ‘Want to touch my chest?’ event earlier today, he was unsure on how to treat her upon their return.

Though, due to the consecutive incidents, he felt like the awkwardness would smoothly fade away, as if nothing ever happened.

They descended on the escalator, arriving at the underground shopping area that connected the department store with Sinchon Station.

Of course, they didn’t lower their guard, as they expected that those monsters would come out from the darkness, but thankfully, that didn’t happen.

Yet, there was still an unsettling atmosphere lingering in that dark and deserted shopping area.

“Huh?”

Suddenly, Sharon stopped in her tracks.

With a bewildered look, she glanced at Siwoo.

“What happened? Why did you stop?”

“Did you hear something?”

“Hear what?”

“There’s a massive rumble and banging…”

“Huh, I—?”

As Siwoo was about to say that he hadn’t heard anything…

A deep noise echoed through the building.

-Booom!

The pair scoured through their surroundings, trying to locate the source of the sound.

-Creak… Thud!

The accessories on display rattled as they rolled across the glass shelves.

Like in a horror movie, the emergency exit sign flickered dramatically.

The ground shook, causing their bodies to tremble as well.

“This…”

At that moment, the ceiling cracked like drought-stricken soil.

The concrete and steel supporting the building let out distressing sounds, as they became fractured and bent.

Amidst the continuous shaking and noises, Siwoo had a terrifying realization.

“W-What’s happening?!”

It was the fact that the loud noise didn’t come from a specific direction.

The eerie sound reverberated throughout the entire building.

“Come closer to me!”

Sensing the imminent danger, Siwoo grasped Sharon’s wrist.

“Eek!”

Sharon exclaimed as Siwoo gently pulled her into his arms.

‘Something’s wrong…’

They didn’t consider this as something extremely serious, but to an ordinary person, it wasn’t the case, as the building was clearly about to collapse.

Siwoo held Sharon tightly as he amplified his mana and activated his Dimension Shift to move to a different place.

“S-Siwoo—!”

“Just stay put!”

“Now is the time to run! Quickly!”

“I know, just trust me! Calm down!”

The two conversed loudly as their voice was being drowned by the noise that was only getting louder by the second.

As she was unfamiliar with Siwoo’s Dimension Shift, Sharon could only prompt him anxiously.

It was a complicated magic.

There were various variables involved and the mana consumption would increase drastically with distance and the number of people involved in the teleportation.

Sending them back home would be ideal, but Siwoo didn’t have the lenience to carefully calculate such a distance.

So, he picked a spot near the department store as the destination for their teleportation.

-Bang!

An unfamiliar deafening sound echoed in his ears.

The cause was the corridor collapsing from a distant end, it was the shockwave that was produced from that.

Like the domino effect, destructive waves were rushing towards the pair.

Although he could deploy the Law of Shadows to protect them, he doubted that it would be enough to handle such an intense impact.

He couldn’t hear it clearly, but amidst such noise, Sharon was letting out a terrified scream.

And just as a big chunk of concrete fell right in front of his feet…

He finally succeeded in casting Dimension Shift.

2.

The twelve-story building collapsed.

Siwoo, who had successfully teleported outside, witnessed the sight of a building so massive that one had to tilt their head back to see its top, collapsing in its entirety.

-Boom!

A massive wreckage weighing over tens of thousands of tons hurling down from dozens of meters above, releasing an energy comparable to a weapon of mass destruction.

Chaos unfolded in the form of sound, impact and massive tremors.

Perhaps due to it having a five-story underground structure, it appeared to be swallowed into the ground.

Glass fragments scattered in every direction, and concrete chunks larger than a human’s body rained down like hail.

Though Siwoo and Sharon weren’t directly hit by those heavy objects, they were still subjected to dust and debris that spread like desert sandstorm. Siwoo had to move to protect Sharon.

God knew how long it took to construct that building.

Yet, the bustling department store, typically crowded with Chinese shoppers, had turned into a pile of rubble in just twenty seconds.

“Cough! Cough! …Phew… I almost… Died…”

Terrified out of her wits, Sharon buried herself in Siwoo’s arms.

It was indeed a very close call.

The collapsing corridors, just like a sandcastle being washed away by a high tide, the deafening noise that numbed their hearing, and the imminent collapse that threatened their lives.

Sharon was certain that they’d be crushed to their deaths back then.

If Siwoo wasn’t there, that was exactly what would happen.

Despite her identity as a witch, without mana, she wouldn’t be able to escape from that kind of situation.

“Are you okay?”

“Y-Yes… I am… But, it was scary… I-I felt like I was going to faint for real…”

“Seems like luck was on our side today. Despite everything, we got out relatively unscathed. I probably should consider becoming a fortune-teller or something.”

Siwoo tried to lighten the mood by telling her a light joke about their current situation, but that didn’t ease Sharon’s trembling.

In truth, Siwoo wasn’t unaffected by the incident.

If he had mistimed his teleportation, he’d have been flattened inside the building.

Despite that, he couldn’t help but wonder about the significance of this harrowing experience.

Surprisingly, the immense stress didn’t affect him as much as expected. He could probably credit it to his recent tough encounters.

With Sharon trembling in fear, he couldn’t show any weakness.

“Are you hurt anywhere? Let me take a look.”

“N-No… I’m not… J-Just… Can you give me a moment…? I-I can’t… Move… My body…”

Frozen in fear, Sharon gripped Siwoo’s collar tightly.

While contemplating how to soothe her, he gently patted her back. She let out a gasp, breathing heavily as if she was going through a heavy labor.

When he looked at her, he noticed tears welling up in the corner of her eyes, reflecting the overwhelming despair she felt.

“I guess it was a stupid idea to go to the underground. Was this part of their plan?”

What had happened was way too perfect to be a mere coincidence.

After all, the building immediately collapsed as soon as they entered the underground shopping mall.

“I-I doubt it… They shouldn’t be that smart… Ah, whatever, let’s forget about it! My legs are dying on me! Let’s get back… And rest…”

Sharon let out grunting noises before letting go of Siwoo’s clothes. Then, she sat down, hunching over in that spot.

“…”

“…”

When someone witnessed an astonishing scene, a scene that went beyond common sense and left them bewildered, they’d stand still in silence.

And the pair reacted exactly as such.

In the distance.

What used to be the entrance of the department store was visible to them.

As soon as the summer breeze cleared the dust and the dirt settled to the ground, they saw it.

An enormous beast, almost the size of a building, gazing directly at the two of them.

Immediately, it began to dash toward them with an overwhelming force.

Seeing this, Sharon’s face turned as pale as a sheet.

“S-Siwoo… W-We need to run… T-That thing… That thing isn’t normal!”

Each step it took made the ground tremble.

Its towering, approximately thirty meter figure, with a quadrupedal gait, bore a striking resemblance to the menacing Homunculi they had fought earlier. To be exact, this beast looked like it could be their mother.

But, if size was the only thing it possessed, Siwoo, who had become more confident in his abilities, and Sharon, who had seen his skills, wouldn’t be so fearful of it.

The thing that closely covered its body, densely packed, making any attempt to count them futile was the source of their fear.

They were red eyes.

In sheer astonishment, Siwoo let out an incredulous laugh.

“So that’s why we’ve been lucky… Damn, how many of those does it have?”

Siwoo cursed his fate for dragging him through this chaotic mess and purposely guiding them onto such a thorny path.

He couldn’t frequently rely on Dimension Shift.

First, it demanded a considerable amount of time to calculate.

If they were to try and escape using it, it would take him at least thirty seconds to calculate since he had to consider Sharon as well. But, it wouldn’t take ten seconds before the Homunculus reached their spot and started trampling on them.

So, he swiftly lifted Sharon into a princess carry.

Sharon wasn’t heavy to begin with, with the power boost from his armor, she felt weightless in his hands.

“W-What are you doing?!”

“You don’t have any mana now! This is our quickest option!”

And immediately, he turned around and began to flee towards the distant boundary of the Interdimensional Barrier.