The moment Jeong Daon uttered the incantation, Han Jaeyeong expected a large-area attack spell to erupt just like in the previous footage, and instinctively took up a defensive stance.
But contrary to their expectations, Jeong Daon merely stood there, completely still. There was only one thing that had changed.
The flow of mana…!
Until now, the flow of mana had been raging around the monster as its center, but it had been completely overturned. Mana that had been drawn toward the monster now began to pull in a different direction, as if it had found a new master.
Naturally, toward Jeong Daon.
Han Jaeyeong quickly grasped what was happening.
Could this be the true nature of Jeong Daon’s incantation magic?
When Han Jaeyeong first watched Jeong Daon’s footage, they had assumed that the incantation was a power used to control lightning. That assumption wasn’t unreasonable. Incantation magic was an original, one-of-a-kind spell, something even an ordinary mage would struggle to create after devoting their entire life to it. It was a miraculous result born only when a mage’s will to wield mana, the strength of their soul, their talent, and sheer luck all aligned. As such, even if someone succeeded in creating incantation magic, it usually manifested as a spell within their specialized field.
But Jeong Daon’s incantation magic was different.
This is downright monstrous.
Rather than enhancing a single specialized branch of magic, it amplified the very act of controlling mana itself. It even drastically increased the amount of mana her body’s mana circuits could accept. In theory, that meant Jeong Daon could amplify the effects of
any
magic she used.
At this point, it went beyond curiosity and felt outright unsettling.
How are her mana circuits even holding up?
With that much mana, Han Jaeyeong honestly wasn’t confident that even they, another S-rank, could endure it. No matter how suspicious Jeong Daon might be, the fact remained that her body was still objectively fragile. There was no way a body like that should be able to withstand such overwhelming mana.
But she is enduring it.
Not only enduring it, Jeong Daon was currently facing an S-rank monster using nothing but pure mana control.
She really isn’t human…
“…What are you doing?”
“Hm?”
So focused on sensing the flow of mana, Han Jaeyeong only snapped back to reality at Jeong Daon’s voice.
And only then did they notice her condition. Han Jaeyeong sucked in a sharp breath. “Ah… damn.”
Blood was streaming steadily from Jeong Daon’s nose. It was a classic symptom of mana overuse in mages. Trying to manipulate an intangible force like mana using only human will, it was only natural that the body would suffer an overload. And that wasn’t all. Forcing excessive mana into her still-fragile body had caused the veins on the backs of her hands to burst. If this continued, it wouldn’t be surprising if the blood vessels throughout her entire body ruptured and killed her.
Jeong Daon shouted sharply at the flustered Han Jaeyeong, “I’m suppressing it this much, what the hell are
you
doing?!”
The shout hit them like a bucket of cold water, snapping their mind completely awake.
Wiping the blood running down her face with her sleeve, Jeong Daon yelled again, “I can’t hold this for long. Hurry!”
“…Ha. Seriously.” Han Jaeyeong let out a hollow laugh. It wasn’t directed at Jeong Daon.
What was I even doing?
Up until now, they had been completely absent-minded. After all, their primary reason for entering this dungeon had been to satisfy their curiosity. The items were secondary. Honestly, they hadn’t cared about much beyond observing Jeong Daon. But no matter what, the moment an S-rank monster appeared, they should have focused. Not just their own life, but the lives of their guild members were at stake, and if a Dungeon Break occurred, this monster would spill out into the real world. Han Jaeyeong felt a little embarrassed.
Disqualified as an S-rank Hunter.
If there was one excuse to be made, it was that under normal circumstances, Han Jaeyeong would never have acted this absent-minded. It was just that every single thing Jeong Daon had done so far had gone far beyond common sense.
“Yeah. You did well.”
Of course, even so, the fact didn’t disappear: because of Han Jaeyeong’s lapse in judgment, a prospective Hunter who had only just reached adulthood had been injured.
“From here on out, I’ll take over.”
Counting it as a debt owed to Jeong Daon, Han Jaeyeong turned their gaze to the monster before them. Thanks to Jeong Daon controlling the mana in the surrounding area, the monster had stopped absorbing mana. It must have judged that further mana control was no longer possible. That said, the mana it had already absorbed hadn’t vanished.
Its action patterns are simple, and while it has raw strength, its joints don’t seem to keep up with its movements.
Although Han Jaeyeong had been momentarily distracted by Jeong Daon’s actions, it wasn’t as if they had completely dropped their guard.
If I had to give it a name… a zombie, maybe.
The more they looked, the more it seemed like a dead body being forced to move against its will. It didn’t give off the murderous intent typical of a hunting monster, rather, it was simply expressing hostility toward an intruder in its territory, which made it feel even less like a living being. On top of that, the way it attacked was unusual. Rather than manipulating mana, it seemed closer to mindlessly absorbing mana and then using its own body as a launch platform to release it all at once.
This wasn’t a lifeform born of nature, it was more like…
A weapon made by humans.
Perhaps having given up on reclaiming mana from Jeong Daon, the monster gathered what little mana it had left and slowly opened its mouth. Just like earlier underground, it looked ready to fire off a shockwave. And compared to before, it had absorbed a greater amount of mana, so the power of the shockwave it was about to unleash would undoubtedly be far more terrifying. If this really was an S-rank situation, it was already too late to run.
If that much mana were released at once, it wouldn’t be strange for the entire area to be destroyed. But—
Pop!
Han Jaeyeong unclasped the bracelet wrapped around their arm and tossed it onto the ground. It was powder made from gathering fairy wings imbued with powerful magic.
If my hypothesis is right… this is the answer.
The scattered powder swirled up, wrapping around Han Jaeyeong’s body and climbing over them.
From behind, they heard Jeong Daon shout, “You’re trying to block it with some item like that again?!”
“Haha, are you worried?”
“Do you really have time to screw around?”
“Screw around?” No matter how one looked at it, Jeong Daon’s manners were a serious problem. Han Jaeyeong smiled faintly. “Still, now that I have a decent idea of what kind of person you are, Jeong Daon, let’s say this will be enough for this time.”
They had heard Jeong Daon’s entire incantation, something that hadn’t been properly captured on video. That alone was more than sufficient gain.
Carry out duty.
They had teased Jeong Daon before, asking if she’d been reading classical literature, but a mage’s incantation was neither empty bravado nor exaggeration. Every word was a phrase that wholly reflected the mage’s soul.
And so, even though a bit of their curiosity had been satisfied, Han Jaeyeong found themselves even more curious about Jeong Daon. About the inner self that couldn’t be discerned from her records alone. And about the source of that inexplicable guilt she directed toward the monster.
“I hope you’ll take it as an honor.”
And if they were going to watch her journey a little longer, they would have to reveal some of their own path as well.
Looking at the powder flowing over their body, Han Jaeyeong spoke. “After all, very few people who’ve seen my magic are still alive.”
Honestly, Han Jaeyeong hadn’t planned to show this side of themselves to Jeong Daon so soon. That was why they had deliberately relied on items instead of magic throughout the dungeon. But things had turned out this way, and more than anything, a strange sense of trust had taken root.
Her words and actions were rough to an extreme. There were even hints of contempt toward humanity. And yet, when it truly mattered, she always leapt in to save others. If someone could wield an incantation like that… Han Jaeyeong found themselves believing that Jeong Daon wouldn’t easily reveal their secret. That kind of belief had formed.
Holding a thought that would have sent chills down Jeong Daon’s spine had she known, Han Jaeyeong began to cast their spell.
Sensing the shift, Jeong Daon spoke up in alarm. “Wait, this area’s mana is under my—”
“It’s fine.”
Jeong Daon was right. All the mana in this area was currently being controlled by the monster and by Jeong Daon herself. With no ambient mana left to draw from, it would be only natural for an ordinary mage to be unable to cast spells.
But Han Jaeyeong was no ordinary mage.
“I’ve got more than enough with just the mana I already possess.”
With those words, Han Jaeyeong drew out their mana. A vast, golden magic circle spread out in an instant, covering the entire area.
“Thousand Changes.”
With the activation phrase, the mana slumbering within Han Jaeyeong’s body stirred. Other mages had to borrow the mana that made up the world itself in order to perform miracles, but Han Jaeyeong was different. The mana residing within their own body alone was enough to work miracles.
From Han Jaeyeong’s back, enormous, translucent wings burst forth. The item they had used earlier synchronized with their transformation, manifesting in its complete form, wings shed by fairies that dwelled in a sacred spring. The power those wings held was the purification of all that was impure.
And no matter how powerful an S-rank monster might be, if it was something impure, it could not defeat Han Jaeyeong at this moment, because right now, Han Jaeyeong had become an existence that purified all impurity.
“Hah, seriously.” I clicked my tongue. The sight before me was simply too absurd.
Crunch!
The shockwave the monster had been about to unleash vanished into empty air, its body collapsing before it could even take proper form. All because Han Jaeyeong, without a shred of hesitation, had jammed their fist straight into the monster’s mouth.
“Guh—!”
Where Han Jaeyeong’s hand made contact, the monster’s skin peeled away in chunks, crumbling like dried clay. Its jaw and teeth shattered and fell to the ground.
That wasn’t all. Han Jaeyeong’s very presence was now dominating the entire space.
I knew they were hiding something, but this much…
I had been curious about Han Jaeyeong for a while now. Their skill in handling mana, and the way they didn’t even flinch while using items with massive mana consumption; it was obvious they were a mage of considerable caliber. So why did they avoid using magic in front of others?
That question had been lingering in my mind. And now I had my answer.
“So you’re a transformation mage.”
Among the countless branches of magic, mages capable of directly transforming their own bodies were extremely rare. It was similar to how Lee Arin, who belonged to the Truelight Sect and had crushed Lee Manbok, controlled her own blood, but transforming the body itself was an even higher-order talent.
This wasn’t a type of magic one could simply learn. It was a gift you had to be born with.
I could temporarily make myself look like someone else. But in that case, I’d use illusion magic, tricks that deceived others’ perception. Han Jaeyeong was different. If they wanted to look like someone else, they could simply change their face into a different shape. In theory, a transformation mage could alter anything, as long as it was a form of matter whose nature they understood. They could momentarily harden part of their body to be as tough as steel, or change it into a non-solid state like water.
And right now, Han Jaeyeong had transformed their body into that of a
fairy
. It was only possible because they understood the essence of what a fairy was and because their own body was under complete control.
Honestly, it was ridiculous that this was even possible, and that Han Jaeyeong had chosen a fairy of all things as their transformation.
Crunch!
Han Jaeyeong was, quite literally, tearing the monster apart with their bare hands. Six wings extended from their back. Queen ants also had wings, but comparing the two felt almost insulting. The wings behind Han Jaeyeong shimmered with a dazzling brilliance.
And that still wasn’t all.
Han Jaeyeong drew a staff from their body as if pulling out a bone. What emerged from them was shaped like a white tree branch, unadorned by a single gem, yet the power it radiated was pure beyond measure.
Holding the staff, Han Jaeyeong smiled as they looked at the monster facing them. “This is a branch of the World Tree, and my mother’s bone.”
Isn’t that a little too brutal to be calling it a fairy’s wand?