༺ Friendship? (6) ༻
1.
Having used up all her mana, Sharon couldn’t contribute much to the situation.
Actually, Siwoo had to shield her from a swarm of Homunculi. If anything, she was a detriment here.
Aside from those two ordeals, he also had to prepare for the oncoming decisive attack by the Mother Homunculus that was still struggling to climb the building from its side.
Thus, he had to deal with three ordeals at once.
But, he had faced similar experiences numerous times prior to this.
In a situation where he could not back down, the mana that he had accumulated bit by bit always ensured the success of his plans.
But now, all he could rely on was his own strength.
“Step back a little!”
He yelled at Sharon while thrusting his shadow spear with all his might.
Sharon knew that she couldn’t help him at all.
That was why she had to deal with the frustration of watching Siwoo fight while keeping her guard up.
Now she regretted her decision to deplete her mana so hastily. Had she not done that, she might have been able to offer him some help.
“H-Hang in there, Siwoo!”
Ultimately, all she could do was just to offer him verbal support.
Meanwhile, Siwoo thrusted his spear in an odd angle, piercing two charging Homunculi, all while striking another Homunculus that appeared from the side with his shield.
Despite both of his hands each doing different actions, his movements flowed smoothly without any signs of awkwardness.
“Bloom!”
At the same time, he amplified his mana.
Through the ‘Mystic Eyes’ on his left, he absorbed mana from his surroundings before amplifying it.
He did this repeatedly.
From a normal standpoint, what he was doing was dangerous.
The act of amplifying mana would generate some ‘noise’ so it had to be executed with utmost caution and precise calculations.
Otherwise, the ‘noise’ would mix with the mana, causing his magic circuits to short-circuit, and inflicting severe internal injuries on him.
At the very least, this wasn’t something that one should do while moving around.
However, amplifying mana and suppressing those noises were among Siwoo’s areas of expertise.
He had honed these skills during his time as a slave, back when he had to develop various ways to cast large-scale spells without storing any mana.
“Ah…”
Meanwhile, Sharon could only stare anxiously at this perilous spectacle, feeling as though she was watching an astonishing acrobatic performance.
Her helplessness had momentarily disappeared, replaced by amazement by this incredible sight.
With each passing moment, his amplified mana grew denser, matching even the density of Sharon’s mana in her prime.
But, amplifying mana wasn’t the extent of Siwoo’s expertise.
He immediately turned those amplified mana into shadows.
An enormous quantity of shadows began accumulating on the rooftop where they stood.
These shadows had a different appearance than usual.
If previously it had fine particles to the point that they seemed like smoke, now they were denser and heavy like sand.
“Argh!”
At that moment, a Homunculus sank its teeth into his arm, but he repelled it by swinging his shield.
Its fangs pierced his armor, causing a sharp pain spread up to his forearm.
Evidently, performing such calculations during combat hindered his capabilities.
But, it wasn’t like he had any other choices.
Despite the risks involved, he had no choice but to gamble with his life.
He drew out shadows using his amplified mana, a reckless act.
They were the aforementioned different kinds of shadows.
Denser than mercury, heavily compressed like iron.
He maximized its weight by combining it with the Earth Element.
Just like when he utilized his shadows into wings or when he strengthened his whole body with the armor.
He focused on solely adding weight without thinking about complicated matters.
The heavy shadow gradually expanded on one side of the rooftop.
At a glance, this action seemed meaningless.
The abundance of mana and the ability to control them were two separate issues.
Even if he managed to amplify the mana and replicated such shadows, he could hardly make effective use of them.
At best, he could only make it so that the shadows wouldn’t dissipate.
However, this was only part of his preparation for the hidden ace up his sleeve.
-Rumble! Rumble!
Suddenly, the building shook violently,
The cause was the Mother Homunculus, hanging halfway up the building after leaping from afar.
Because of that, the building swayed, as if caught in an earthquake, tilting to the side, like the leaning tower of Pisa.
“S-Siwoo! More of them are coming! The building might collapse!”
Sharon’s face paled as she witnessed hundreds of Homunculi swarming towards them.
She felt like they were being caught in a downpour of those creatures.
Even considering Siwoo’s overwhelming advantage against these feeble pups, with their overwhelming numbers, they could easily change the situation.
Once they got on the rooftop, there was no more escape.
“Just a little more…”
‘It’s still not enough—!’
‘More… More shadows—!’
‘If I can’t finish everything with a single strong attack, the pups will overrun us—!’
Siwoo continued to use amplification and extracted more shadows.
His head and eyes started to throb.
The magic circuits spread throughout his body screamed in agony due to his exhaustion.
A dreadful sensation, as if there were flames coursing through his veins.
-Roar!
“A bit more! Almost there!”
The Mother Homunculus let out a triumphant roar that almost pierced their eardrums.
It celebrated its own feat; A perilous climb that took it a long while.
Now, it was closing in, both Siwoo and Sharon could smell the pungent scent coming from it.
“Done!”
With a forceful swing of his ribbon, Siwoo swiftly dispatched the lurking Homunculi on the rooftop.
He took a step back, wrapped his arms around Sharon’s waist and channeled his mana into the shadows.
“Bloom—!”
At that moment…
-Kiiieeeek!
A spine-chilling screech echoed through the air as the building wobbled and collapsed.
2.
Siwoo’s plan was simple.
He drew inspiration from witnessing the grand spectacle of the department store’s collapse earlier.
The impact from that collapse was the equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction in itself.
It released such a huge force that transcended any ordinary accidents, bordering on catastrophic disasters.
Siwoo was well aware that normal buildings weren’t impregnable fortresses.
Even the famed Twin Towers collapsed after getting rammed by airplanes, despite all their efforts to put anti-accidents and anti-terrorism measures on them.
And Siwoo knew demolishing a building was a simple errand. He just needed to remove a few important parts that allowed them to stand. Just by doing that, a chain reaction would trigger and it’d collapse under its own weight.
The building they were on was already tilting to the side and began to collapse due to the Homunculi’s rampage.
It wouldn’t be surprising if it were to fall down at any moment.
And so, he decided to take advantage of that.
What he had done was just giving a little push.
He deployed the shadow to control the ‘direction’ and ‘timing’ of the building’s collapse.
On one side of the rooftop, he amassed shadows weighing several tons.
Normally, even a weakened building could endure this much weight.
But, what if he infused a sudden burst of mana and gave the shadows a simple command at that moment?
He didn’t need to issue a complicated command like manifesting a spear or armor to those shadows.
After all, he wasn’t that proficient yet in controlling them.
But, he could make them do a simple thing. For example, making them heavier by amplifying their mass.
And so, he poured all his mana into the shadows, granting them an immense amount of mass in an instant.
Now, a question.
What would happen if thousands, or even tens of thousands of tons of mass suddenly concentrated themselves on the weakened side of the building?
The answer was simple.
It’d collapse. And he controlled the direction so that it’d fall toward the direction of the Homunculi.
The heavy shadows and the entire building’s weight crushed all the Homunculi scaling the outer wall.
Their screams were drowned out by the thunderous noise.
Thick dust settled swiftly as a sudden shower came down.
3.
“Ugh… Aghhh…!”
Doubling over in pain, Siwoo retched as if he had taken a blow to the stomach.
Meanwhile Sharon, covered in dust, patted him in the back.
“A-Are you okay…”
The place was the ruined Sinchon Rotary.
It was the same place where they’d go on their culinary adventures or put up flyers. Now it lay desolate, as if it had been ravaged by bombs.
“I-I… Feel like… Dying…”
Siwoo’s daring gamble to topple the building and crush the Homunculi had succeeded.
Under the sudden weight of thousands of tons, the creatures were crushed by the shadows that fell down along with the building debris. Meanwhile he managed to escape by extending a ribbon to the next building together with Sharon.
Of course, this stunt was something he wouldn’t ever attempt again.
It was fortunate that all the smaller creatures spawned from the big one died alongside it.
After all, even though they defeated the big one, Siwoo wasn’t in the condition to fight the little ones.
“Ugh…”
“No, Siwoo! You can’t just die now!”
As Siwoo let out a groan, lying on the ground as if on his deathbed, Sharon let out tears of worry.
Even his spirit body couldn’t endure such a harsh condition.
“I’m not actually dying… Just let me lie down… For five minutes…”
“H-Here. Lie down here.”
Sharon kneeled on the floor, gently lifting Siwoo’s head onto her thighs.
“No, it’s fine. I don’t want to hurt your knees.”
“Don’t mind that! I couldn’t do anything back then, so at least let me do this!”
She said, her eyes filled with tears.
And so, he accepted her knee pillow without protesting any further. Besides, he knew that she hated to owe anyone anything, and he also didn’t have the energy to argue.
“Look at what you’ve been through…”
“It was tough, but at least you were there with me…”
“If you hadn’t carried me and fearlessly rushed through the middle of the building, I would become prey to those creatures.”
“When we jumped into that building, if you didn’t catch me, I’d have been dragged down to the ground, so, thank you.”
They both praised each other for their contribution during the hunt.
But, both of them knew that Siwoo was the one who contributed the most.
From the moment they escaped from the collapsing department store, fled from the pursuing monster, discovered its identity, and dealt the final blow, all of them were done by Siwoo alone.
He felt embarrassed to brag about his own achievements, though.
And he also knew that he was quite lucky that things turned out successfully.
Lying comfortably, he felt the gentle raindrops tapping on his cheeks.
He took in the pleasure in the accomplishment that came out of his perfectly executed plan.
The thrill of analyzing the enemy’s capabilities, devising strategies against them and watching all of them succeed was an indescribable joy to him.
This rush of adrenaline felt both overwhelming and enthralling.
“I feel like I’m losing my mind for a moment there…”
“Huh?”
“Oh, don’t mind me.”
Siwoo glanced briefly at the remnants of the building that became the Homunculi’s tomb.
Among the rubble were large concrete chunks, twisted metal bars, unidentifiable debris and smoke billowing from within.
Scattered in the wreckage were the pups, the same creatures that once tormented the pair, now either whimpering their death throes or lying in pieces. Such a satisfying sight that signified their hard-earned victory.
-Grrr…!
“Ah, c’mon… Can’t you just wait a little longer…?”
However, such peace didn’t last long.
The building’s remnants trembled and the stacked concrete chunks began to tumble down.
Beneath them, the Homunculus was trying to get out.
‘That wasn’t enough to kill it?’
Despite taking such a great fall and getting buried under heaps of debris, somehow, the Mother Homunculus was still alive.
Siwoo expressed his amazement at its amazing resilience.
“Siwoo! Get on my back!”
Now, he regretted his decision for not making a swift escape when he could.
As he wallowed in that regret, Sharon swiftly lifted his body.
“I can manage on my own.”
He stumbled as he tried to escape, but he abruptly halted his steps.
-Grrr…
At that moment, the Homunculus emerged as it pushed the largest piece of rubble aside.
With a glance, it was clear that its appearance was different than before.
All of its feet except for a single front paw were severed. The glowing red eyes in its body were destroyed, and black liquid covered all over its body.
The sound that it let out wasn’t a deafening howl anymore, but a death throe of a dying beast.
“Great, so it worked, after all.”
‘We can’t retrieve its crystal with it in this state, though.’
Breaking free from Sharon’s support, Siwoo created a spear made of shadow.
He made it as sharp as possible and pointed it at the Homunculus’ head.
Its head was as big as a mid-sized sedan, so he could see why it could survive such a great impact.
And he also noticed something.
Four pairs of eyes that hadn’t lost their glow on its head.
With an eerie gaze, the creature stared directly at its would-be killer.
“This is your fate for coming at me.”
While it felt immoral to attack a non-resisting opponent, this creature had devoured humans, wreaked havoc across the city and attempted to make Sharon and him its prey.
So, he aimed his spear at the center of its head before thrusting it deeply.
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