Hermit Wizard

Wizard’s Name (9)

The voices were familiar, unfamiliar, or unheard. Hundreds of mouths continued to fill each other and sing.

As the song continued, Gramiel’s space weakened. She looked confused.

=This… What is this?!=

Gramiel shouted.

=Stop… Stop it!=

Gramiel’s will echoed everywhere over time. The split and cracked space distorted even in chronological order. Among the things recognizable in this space, the only thing that existed unbroken and intact was the Song of Chaos’ tentacle and the songs it sang.

I listened to numerous tunes.

The mouth, which looked like a bird’s beak protruding from the tentacle, sang the saga of the great king of the sky who ended a long war between the earthly and the heavenly species. The king made the earth species extinct.

Coexisting between a kind that burned forests to create arable land and a kind that hunted for food while flying in the forest was impossible. After the end of the war, the king grew old in respect of the people, and in his later years, he often contemplated looking toward a valley.

It was the place where the last remaining landmen of the earth were slaughtered. Song said that the last time the king was seen, the direction he flew alone and disappeared was toward the massacre valley. He didn’t return to the kingdom after that day.

The six rigid bumps struck each other and resonated, singing the love of God. It was a purposeful song made by a priest for missionary purposes. The song defined the mortal life as a curse, which was constantly repeated and encouraged to be attributed to God in a sweet expression.

It also encouraged people to diligently attend the worship service regardless of gender, from first to the third sex. The melody urged that to receive the deep grace of God, one must overcome the walls of existence. Thus, they became one with God in a true sense.

The largest mouths of all sang the harshness of nature, trembling lips shaped like cogs. The song was sad and mournful. It contained lamentation for the radiation storm that hit the continent’s surface every hundred years and the mourning for the weak children who died every time the storm blew.

The song led to an expression of regret for the nobles. When the storm blew, they threw away the lowly things and took only their children, spread their brilliant 36-sided wings, and flee to other planets, and when the earth stabilized, they were accused of returning.

Song’s long tube-like mouth sang about a boy. He was very curious about the outside world. So, he made a decision one day to venture into the unknown world that unfolded ‘outside.’ The boy bit on the wall of the womb of a woman of his kind, the place he was living in.

The woman was, and the boy came out of the world, swept by blood. As soon as he came out, the boy realized something was wrong. The boy climbed desperately on the legs of the parasitic woman, trying to get back to where he was. In the end, he failed and died less than a day later.

The song contained a lesson. It was a terrifying story that it was the world’s best practice for males to live in a female’s womb until they died and that if they didn’t conform to nature, they might die before planting seeds in their dwellings.

The largest number was organs that mimicked the shape of the Dell Giant’s mouth. Each of them whispered various songs handed down to the tribe. The beauty of the purple moonlight was expressed in a fluid melody, the history of the tower built with the bones of the ancestors was celebrated with a magnificent voice. They sang in joy how they peeled off the long head of the Ashpim Giant, which was their enemy.

I found familiar lyrics among the songs of Dell Giant’s mouth. It was a song about regret for the road not taken. I knew it quickly since I had translated it directly into the Dell Giant language. Parvache also noticed it.

[That’s… Min-joon, that’s a poem from the book you translated and dedicated to it!]

‘Yeah. That’s right. It must be.’

If you go back to the roots, poems and songs were all in one piece. I recalled the behavior of the Silver Forest’s Truth-Seeker, described in Dell Giant’s old record. It appeared again and again in Dell’s history and urged them to write poems and sing songs.

‘Then, it’s a collection of poems and songs it has collected so far… It’s a song of various races.’

=Yes. It’s not Dell’s pronunciation.=

‘Are these creatures who have gone extinct long ago – the natives of that world? No, there are too many kinds to look like that. Then, creatures of another dimension?’

How did it collect poems and songs from species of different dimensions?

I soon came up with a hypothesis, a Channel that penetrated another world, and two-dimensional souls were absorbed through the door. If the Truth-Seeker could extract even the memories contained in that soul…

The song continued even while I was lost in thought. Not all songs sounded like ‘voices’ I was familiar with. Some sounded like the sound of a percussion instrument hitting each other, some songs were only heard in bold monotones, and there was a sound like a rumbling noise no matter how much I listened to.

Oddly enough, the songs went together to create harmony. A brilliant clash sound intervened between the clearly pronounced commas. The low-tube echo and the thin-film friction sound were performed in the chorus, moving forward and backward. Numerous kinds of sounds were gathered together to harmonize and then ostracized each other, creating a new language system.

‘Oh, I see. This is a spell, after all!’

Only then did I realize the identity of the phenomenon that the Song of Chaos was causing.

[Yes. Each mouth is singing a finished song, but they’re creating a completely new spell as they combine. The sounds of each song are combined to create a new meaning. As a result, it has a high level and authority that can’t be compared with ordinary spells. It’s a genius. If Silver Forest’s Truth-Seeker gains the divine spirit later… Maybe it will have magic-related attributes.]

‘Is it going to be a magic-related God?’

[It could be one of the gods representing the concept of magic.]

I understood the nature of the spell created by the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest. The meaning of that spell was ‘invalidation.’ It wasn’t just an anti-spell. A fraud-like spell that could be applied regardless of whether the target was magic or power.

=No… No!=

Gramiel’s will resonated sharply. Obviously, the spell made by the Silver Forest’s Truth-Seeker was aimed at. It was to nullified the space she created.

I felt that the sound of the song sung by the tentacle was embodied with Mana. It spread out, burning the edges of space like waves. It was Gramiel’s space that the spell swallowed. The confusing hustle and bustle faded and almost went to the brink of disappearance.

Confirming that, the Song of Chaos prepared for the next move. Another tentacle grew on the tentacle’s surface, where a mouth wasn’t made in the smooth area. As if a new little branch was created from a tree branch!

The newly sprouted tentacle went to attack.

-Wheeiiick!

=Aaaaaarghh!=

The original tentacles that sang the song remained motionless, and a new, twig-like tentacle struck Gramiel!

=Uuuuuughh! Youuuuuu…!=

The pain in her thoughts became deeper and more vivid. It seemed that the power to protect itself had weakened as her space has lost its strength. A Space Ghost would have the ability to run away at that moment, but Gramiel couldn’t. The Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest was using some method to block it.

=Hmpf!=

The Song of Chaos expressed ridicule, and the second round followed!

It swung its tentacles with all its might. Shadow Thorn managed to evade it, then the attack that lost the target produced a different result than before.

-Bang bang bang!

My voice leaked out without realizing it.

“… Oh my?”

Gramiel’s space had absorbed all attacks so far. However, as the boundary weakened, it began to blend with the original space. As a result, when the Song of Chaos swung its tentacles, the Busan city exploded with a roar that broke ears.

-Bang bang!

The flames ignited when they touched the underground gas pipe, followed by explosions and flashes. Skyscrapers, shopping malls, and long roads collapsed along trajectories made by the tentacle. Dust, smoke, and sparks blended to create cracks.

The tentacle wielded by the Song of Chaos tore apart some of the outer skin of Busan City.

A moan leaked out of my mouth without my knowledge.

“… That’s crazy.”

As if I didn’t pay much attention to the hell road created under my feet, the will of the Truth-seeker who was even bored flowed from beyond the Channel.

=Before I send you back to the original world, I will take care of you. You will no longer have the energy to plan anything like this again for a while. I’ll lock you in for about two to three thousand years and keep you stuck.=

The moment that words fell, Gramiel’s space was completely extinguished. The sky of Busan above and below us. We were back in the real world.

Originally, I would have to hit a plunge due to the action of gravity, but whether the Song of Chaos was using some methods, I was floating in the air even though I didn’t use magic.

Suddenly, Gramiel’s body, which had been hiding in and out of space until that time, was completely revealed. It was a skinny grey body.

The heat and smoke coming up from the mess on the ground reached her. Screams. Roaring. Siren. Without worrying about those things, the Truth-Seeker stretched out the tentacle strands it just made. Gramiel tried to avoid it, but it didn’t work. The tentacle completely wound the Space Ghost.

=Aaaaarrrrrghh!=

=I got you!=

The song of the tentacle stopped, and the spell was paused.

The Truth-Seeker’s declaration followed.

=Now, then, listen to the next.=

The tentacle’s mouths began singing all at once. Each of them was different lyrics and rhythms than before.

=Aaaaaaarrrrghhhhhh! =

A spell was made by intertwining and overlapping songs that were ringing currently. I could easily notice the effect.

That was a kind of attack magic. It wasn’t for the purpose of temporary destruction of living tissue but inflicting semi-permanent damage that couldn’t be easily recovered by Gramiel’s body, which was the spell’s target.

It would probably take a long, long time to get back to the original state… Well… Perhaps it would take thousands of years as the Song of Chaos was planning.

Wrapped in the tentacle, Gramiel struggled like crazy. Pain seeped through every move she made.

So instead of focusing on the lyrics of the song, I observed Gramiel for a while, and I was thrilled by the deep mystery of the Truth-Seeker’s magic. For a very short time, I forgot about the hell raging on under my feet.

Therefore, it was a little late for me to noticed it. After the song had already progressed quite a bit, I began to listen to the song without knowing it.

Hundreds of songs made up the magic that haunted Gramiel. It was a symphony of a voice played by the tentacle. One of them broke the silence of my heart and soul. The voice that made up that melody… I didn’t know why, but it felt very familiar. It reminded me of what had sunk in my mind.

‘… Huh?’

[Min-joon? What’s wrong?]

I sang along without realizing it.

“Time will be played until the moment of choice. For those who prepare for the final choice, time is the bars of a hopeless prison and a strong weapon for the next leap forward. What is your choice? The crossroad is the destination of the journey, but sometimes a new beginning. After a long night, will you meet the dawn or go back to the road you have been walking?”

[Hmm? Min-joon, what are you saying?]

I muttered.

“What…is this…?”

I was confused. Unreadable memories flowed through my head. Something like black smoke was fluctuating in response to the Truth-Seeker’s song.

The masses of meaning that emerged from the depths of the mind were beyond my recognition. I couldn’t read it. I could only see that it was huge and overwhelming. I was afraid and wanted to hide.

I thought it had been a long time, and then a song resonated in my ears.

Some parts of me listened to reverberations and moved my emotions in a wave-like torrent of memories. I was puzzled by the unknown movement of my mind. I tried to concentrate by looking at the memories that were flooding in, but at the same time, I thought I didn’t want to pay attention to that black thing.

That internal conflict soon ceased. The Truth-Seeker unintentionally helped me choose the latter option.

The Song of Chaos said.

=Shadow Thorn. This thing… You’re so stupid that I even feel sorry for you. Most of us are beings that have endured much longer than you. You failed today because you thought so easily of the desperation that ‘most of us’ had, which is much deeper and painful than yours. Also, because you overlooked the fact that I take pretty seriously the possibility of that mortal, which you regard as delusional, considering this, I wouldn’t have approached the guy with the fragment as openly as I did today.=

Gramiel protested with a shriek of will.

=Aaaaaaarggghhhh!… Are you really looking forward to such a mortal? You maniac!=

=The word ‘looking forward to a mortal is mocking me. Just… let’s say it’s positive curiosity.=

No, that was a lie.

[What? Min-joon?]

Parvache suddenly asked me. I barely responded.

“What? What did I say?”

At that moment, my head became clear again. Before answering anything, a powerful force struck me. In the aftermath, Gramiel, wrapped in tentacles, gathered the last power and fought back.

=Aarghhhh! If like this… if like this…=

Her power to fold, polish, and sharpen the space itself poured out. Everything that came into my eyes became a weapon.

She once again broke the space over Busan. The horizon, like an afterimage reflected in a fragmented mirror, soared upward. The sky sank as if it was interlocking. The spaces above and below each became countless thorns, the upper and lower teeth made from a distorted view of Busan. Eventually, like a giant beast, it closed the teeth and chewed the ones in the middle.

Of course, what was in between was me, Parvache, and the tentacles that stretched out from my chest.

-Hweeeeeeiiick!

The newly stretched tentacle moved before the crushing space chewed me up.

-Tsush!

Turquoise trajectory hitting the surroundings like a whip. Once again, space was torn. Along the orbit of the tentacle, the spaces in the form of numerous thorns were cut, burst, dug and shattered.

In the aftermath, Busan was destroyed once more.

-Bang bang bang bang bang bang!

The city howled. However, neither of these two Truth-Seeker paid attention to such things.

=Song of Chaoooooooos!=

Wrapped in her tentacles, she screamed and reached out her hand. Her figure was in all the fragmented spaces and then returned to its original state.

So even her last resistance failed.

=Revenge… Surely revenge…=

She had completely lost her strength. Her skinny gray body was drenched, and the second song was cut off at some point.

The Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest said, giving strength to the tentacle wrapped around Gramiel.

=Now, go back to your original world.=

The Silver Forest’s Truth-Seeker threw Gramiel. Her body flew to the ground and crashed like a comet. It then went inside the Channel, which maintained the blue disk shape.

Goal.

So, she was deported to her original dimension.

=Then…=

The Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest told me.

=You can handle the rest of it, right? And what you heard today, even if you keep it in your memory, it’s meaningless to you, so it’s easier to forget it. =

Leaving that will, the huge tentacle began to return to the Channels on my chest. Before the tentacle completely disappeared, I burst into the dream of flying in the sky. I was in the air at that moment on my own.

“… Ah.”

I spat out meaningless words, and my voice was a little hoarse for some reason.

I closed the Channel after the tentacle disappeared. It was a waste of Mana to keep it going.

I muttered devastatingly.

“Ah… Well… somehow I’m still alive, huh?”

[… Yes. Thank God. Fortunately, but…]

“… How do we deal with this aftermath?”

I looked down at Busan, surrounded by fire. I then turned my head toward the sound of a rupture in the air tearing my ears.

A squadron of fighters was flying toward me who was floating in the air.