Chapter 1240 – Dark Moon
Leaving Baron Ptelgar’s mansion, I took off my mask and put on a face made of artificial leather. It was a skin mask. My face now looked like that of a slightly older man.
‘This is daunting.’
I had to chase down the hidden black magician. The only information I had was that the black magician was a tattoo artist.
‘…Let’s just do it moderately. Moderately. It’s an assignment I’ll give up on in three days anyway.’
I fiddled with the mobile watch on my left wrist. The mobile watch was this world’s smartphone. It could project holograms and connect to the internet. It was usually used with smart lenses.
Smart lenses were special contact lenses. The mobile watch’s screen was projected by the smart lenses.
‘Information keeps coming in.’
Number 212 was organizing the information obtained by the guards interrogating the prostitutes and sending it to me. Most of it was information about tattoo artists in this area.
‘They couldn’t find information about the exploded prostitute’s friend. There are a total of 21 tattoo artists in this area. I’ll have to visit them one by one and check.’
First, I’ll start with the closest ones.
I walked down the street, looking at the map projected by the smart lenses. It was a city full of gray. Factories were running, and there was a lot of black smoke in the sky. Most of the people walking the streets were laborers in oil-stained clothes.
Still, it was a place where people lived, so if you looked, you could find everything. Restaurants, bars, convenience stores, and so on. I looked around and wandered through the alleys.
I arrived at my first destination. It was a tattoo shop operating with a worn-out sign deep in an alley.
There were many old machines, but surprisingly, it was packed with customers. I passed the waiting customers and headed to the studio.
“Hey, wait a minute! Who are you?! Can’t you see the people waiting here?!”
A short-haired, red-haired woman who seemed to be an employee popped out and blocked me. She had piercings in her ears and nose, and wore revealing clothes, with more than half of her body covered in tattoos.
I didn’t want to bother explaining. I took out a pistol from my pocket and aimed it at the woman’s forehead.
“Move.”
The woman, pale as a sheet, quietly stepped back. The waiting customers also quietly left the tattoo shop. They were used to the commotion and knew how to deal with the situation.
I kicked open the studio door. A gaunt man who was tattooing a man’s back was startled when he saw me.
“W-who are you! And what’s with the gun?!”
Bang!
A bullet grazed the tattoo artist’s temple. The tattoo artist’s eyes widened.
“Don’t do anything stupid and stay still.”
I approached the tattoo artist. He rolled his eyes. The customer who had been lying on the bed watched for a moment before running away.
“W-what is this? Are you from a new mafia group that has settled in this area? Our shop is not an illegal tattoo shop. We are operating the shop with formal permission. If you look over there, you can see the tattoo license.”
“Don’t do anything stupid if you don’t want to die.”
I grabbed the man’s shoulder tightly.
Mana flowed along the mana road. Mana easily invaded the man’s body. There was no resistance. He was a non-user. He was an ordinary person who couldn’t feel or use mana.
“W-what do you want? Is it money?”
“I’m looking for a tattoo artist. Tell me everything you know about tattoo artists in this area.”
“W-why are you looking for a tattoo artist?”
“……I guess I was too gentlemanly.”
Bang!
A bullet pierced his thigh.
“Kuaaaak!”
“I’m asking the questions. Answer my questions honestly if you want to live.”
“Kuhhh…. Y-yes, I understand. The tattoo artists….”
He told me about all the tattoo artists he knew. There were four tattoo artists not on the list. They were illegal tattoo artists.
After hearing the information, I left the tattoo shop.
‘It would be better to prioritize finding the illegal tattoo artists.’
“Stop!”
I heard a woman’s voice from behind.
I slowly turned around. The female employee from the tattoo shop I had seen earlier was aiming a gun at me.
“What is this all of a sudden! Do you think you can get away with disrupting someone else’s business?!”
“No one died. What’s the problem?”
“Are you saying that right now?! You shot Jack in the thigh and you’re asking what the problem is?!”
“Do you want medical expenses? I’m sorry, but I don’t have any money.”
She gritted her teeth.
“I swore two years ago that I wouldn’t just be a victim…!”
The woman pulled the trigger. The bullet flew towards my head. But the bullet never touched my body. The barrier magic I had used in advance deflected the bullet.
The woman’s eyes widened for a moment. She trembled and stepped back.
“M-magician…?! Why a magician?!”
I walked towards her step by step. The woman gritted her teeth, aimed her gun at me, and pulled the trigger. It was a meaningless act. The caliber of the pistol could not penetrate my barrier. If it were a magic bullet, it might be different, but magic bullets were not something ordinary people could easily obtain.
Click, click.
The bullets were gone. The woman lowered her arm weakly. Her eyes were full of fear as she looked at me. Nevertheless, her clenched fist showed an unyielding fighting spirit.
I grabbed the woman’s neck. The woman gasped.
“I’m not interested in your past circumstances. Even if I knew, nothing would change. I’m not going to kill you. You shot at me, but it wasn’t even a threat. Instead, I’ll give you one piece of advice. Live quietly.”
I released my grip on her neck. The woman slumped to the ground and glared at me.
“Live quietly?! I was living quietly, and you’re the one who barged in! Are we…. Are we supposed to just keep getting victimized by guys like you?!”
“What’s so new about that? Isn’t that how the world is? You don’t want to be a victim? Then get stronger.”
I turned my back on the woman. I had considered killing her several times along the way, but I decided to let her live. She was quite pretty. If she dressed up properly, she would be a decent beauty.
***
After striking out for the seventh time, I sighed and moved to find the eighth illegal tattoo artist. The sky was already dark. Perhaps because there were so many factories around, the night sky didn’t show any stars, let alone the moon.
‘I’m getting tired. I’ll check up to the eighth one today, and the ninth one tomorrow during the day.’
I walked down the alley. The smell of greasy oil was becoming more and more familiar. I came out of the alley. I headed towards the half-destroyed, ruined bridge. Under the bridge, instead of flowing river water, there was only sticky, hardened waste oil.
And next to the bridge. There was a small house made of scrap metal.
[Barrier]
I wrapped my body in a barrier and kicked the plank door. I aimed my gun and went inside.
In the center of the dark house, a man was sitting leisurely. He looked to be in his fifties and looked at me with fiercely shining eyes.
I knew instinctively. This guy was the black magician.
“I heard a young magician was running around… Is this on Baron Ptelgar’s orders?”
“You’re the one who turned a prostitute into a living bomb and sent her to Ptelgar’s mansion. My mission will be over soon, so I guess you could say you’re lucky.”
I pulled the trigger.
The bullet flew straight but was blocked by the barrier and bounced off. I wasn’t flustered. It was expected. Black magicians were also magicians. Even if it was difficult to use elemental magic, they could easily use non-attribute magic like this.
“You. You have nothing to do with Claxon. Right?”
“What are you talking about? Claxon hired me.”
“I saw Claxon. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would be so reckless as to use living bombs.”
“Do you judge people by their appearances? How foolish.”
“Above all, Claxon doesn’t have the money to hire a black magician like you.”
The black magician just chuckled.
While I was talking, I activated the magic I had prepared.
[Shock Wave]
A powerful shock wave blew away the black magician along with the surrounding objects. I stepped back and got out of the collapsing building.
I frowned. I saw the black magician’s body, swept away by the shock wave, turn into black smoke.
‘Is it some kind of illusion? Where’s the real one?’
[Detection]
I spread mana to search for the hidden black magician.
I found him. The black magician was hiding in the darkest place under the bridge.
[Ice Arrow]
A sharp ice stake appeared in front of me and was shot into the darkness. The black magician hurriedly jumped to avoid the ice arrow. The black magician, who had landed on the ground, grinned.
“Your magic skills are quite good.”
“Don’t smile so creepily.”
I was about to use the next magic.
Squeak, squeak!
I heard the sound of mice. When I looked down, I saw a mouse rushing towards me. My expression hardened. There was a magic circle drawn on the mouse’s body.
My mind instantly grasped what the magic circle was. I understood it quickly because it was a magic formula I had seen a few hours ago.
‘A living bomb…!’
I accelerated my consciousness.
[Using Moment. Remaining stacks: 6]
I formed the formula. The accelerated consciousness returned to normal. I activated the three magic formulas I had prepared in succession.
[Barrier]
[Barrier]
[Barrier]
The mouse exploded. One of the barriers shattered in the explosion.
“Your casting speed is ridiculously fast. Do you have an artifact that assists with casting?”
“This is purely my ability.”
“You’re spouting nonsense that even a dog wouldn’t believe. If you don’t want to talk, fine. I’ll kill you and take it myself.”
Squeak! Squeak, squeak! Squeak, squeak!
Mice appeared from all directions. Each one was enchanted with black magic for a living bomb.
“I hope your artifact is sturdy enough to withstand the explosion.”
Even at a glance, more than ten mice were running towards me.
[Air Strike]
I used Air Strike on the ground. One of the barriers surrounding me shattered. The shock wave spread in all directions, instantly blowing away the rushing mice.
I bought myself some time. I reloaded the magazine I took out of my pocket into the pistol. I fired the pistol at the mice rushing at me again.
Bang! Boom! Bang, bang!
The mice hit by the bullets exploded. The scrap metal and old furniture scattered around were swept away by the explosions and floated into the air.
“One shot, one kill… You’re a great marksman. But what a pity. There are plenty of bombs.”
Mice kept popping out endlessly, no matter where they came from. And finally, I ran out of bullets. I threw away the pistol and used the magic I had prepared.
[Reverse Gravity]
Gravity reversed.
Scraps of metal and wood floated into the air around me. There were more than thousands of them.
‘With the feeling of grabbing the entire space…!’
[Telekinesis]
The pieces floating in the air stopped all at once. It was a fantastic sight as if time had stopped. But there was no time to enjoy the sight. I gritted my teeth and squeezed out all the remaining mana and concentration.
Thousands of pieces poured towards the black magician.
“Telekinesis?! You crazy…!”
The black magician tried to escape, but it was already too late.
The thousands of pieces tore through the barrier that was protecting the black magician and pierced deep into his body. The black magician couldn’t even scream and died.
The mice that were rushing towards me stopped abruptly. They looked around as if trying to understand the situation, then scattered in all directions.
