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Ian sat on the bench outside City Hall and stared at the main building, covered in flowers. The building, cloaked in pure-white spider lilies, gave off a mysterious feel while also exuding a deeply grotesque atmosphere.

[Aaaah-]

The spider lilies packed densely across the outer walls played a lovely music-box melody. A bizarre moon song that induced temptation and madness only in Reptilians. It was a magical application he had obtained by dealing with the Outer God that had devoured the moon through the Reconstruction of All Things.

It was far less efficient and covered a much smaller area than making an item through alchemy, but in terms of sheer effect it was outstanding. Ian sank deep into the backrest, staring down at a lone Reptilian corpse lying dead at his feet and the magic circle drawn with its blood.

Rustle.

He opened the grimoire and quietly stared at the page describing the spell he had used.

[Grave of Flowers]

[It blooms spider lilies that induce hallucinations and auditory hallucinations only within a specific race. The spell's range is limited to about one building, and any target that enters the range will take its own life and become nourishment for the new spider lilies. If a building is targeted, only up to the 4th floor falls within the spell's range. The spell lasts for 10 minutes.]

[Materials required for the spell: an organ from the race to be targeted, blood, 5 pure white flowers, 15 pieces of aberrant flesh, a small amount of sugar, a small amount of the caster's blood.]

[Caution: Once this spell is activated, the caster cannot leave the magic circle for 10 minutes. The moment they do, the caster will also be caught within the spell's range.]

Grave of Flowers.

While other spells usually had intuitive names like “a spell that makes foreign languages easier to learn” or “a spell that tells you where a lost item is,” the spell created by absorbing an Outer God had a rather vague name. Just hearing the name Grave of Flowers made it extremely difficult to infer what effect it would have.

The spell's activation process was not all that intuitive either.

First, choose the race you want to target and pull out one of its organs to place nearby. If you want to target a human, use a human organ; if you want to target a Reptilian, use a Reptilian organ. Naturally, Ian chose the latter.

Place the harvested organ in the center of the magic circle drawn in blood. Gently set one flower on top of it, and place flowers above, below, left, and right as well. Here, the flowers absolutely had to be white.

Next, dye the white flowers red with the caster's blood.

You had to pour the blood on until the petals turned red. There was no need to worry about it running off; the flowers would absorb the blood on their own. Once the flowers turned red, sprinkle sugar on top.

Finally, place 15 pieces of aberrant flesh in the empty spaces of the magic circle, and the preparations were complete.

The moment you recite the spell there, it activates and makes a single white spider lily bloom inside the space the mage desires.

The spider lilies lure in one member of the designated race at a time and devour them, slowly multiplying. The lured “prey,” drunk on the flower's beauty without even realizing it has been chosen as the sacrifice, turns itself into nourishment. In other words, it kills itself.

Once everything inside the space is dead, a massive spider lily blooms on every outer wall with a sound like a heavenly song.

Just like now.

[Raaah-]

Sweet music could be heard from inside the city hall building, and the flowers covering the outer walls gathered together to form a single enormous spider lily.

In an instant, enormous pure-white petals covered every outer wall.

Ian quietly watched the sight, then took out a cigarette, put it between his lips, and let out a long breath.

“It's over.”

The moment he said that, the building where the garrison soldiers had been staying split in half and came crashing down with a roar. The Circulator trampled over it on all fours and let out a guttural roar. The sound was so loud it could have torn ears apart, and the air trembled. Of course, to Ian's ears it only sounded like a brief ringing, just as before.

KWA-RUMBLE!

As soon as the building had completely collapsed, air mixed with stone dust billowed outward. Ian squinted and waved the grimoire like a fan, while the Circulator rummaged through the concrete rubble and chewed up the remaining Reptilian corpses.

He had considered stopping it for a moment, but it looked like it would be leaving once its stomach was full anyway, so he decided to let it be.

In the first place, the situation was already completely over, so its help was no longer needed. Even if it disappeared, it wouldn't be a big problem.

He hadn't even considered the possibility that any Reptilian stragglers might still be around. That was only natural, since he trusted his spell completely. Otherwise, he couldn't even call himself a mage.

Of course, he wasn't completely letting his guard down.

Even if the Reptilians had all been killed, the remaining humans might still come rushing at him. It was only right to take at least minimal precautions to block their attacks.

He had used magic instead of releasing the Circulator so as not to lay a hand on the humans directly, but that didn't mean he intended to spare anyone who resisted. He had no interest in trying to persuade them only to end up with a kitchen knife stuck in his stomach.

Well, he didn't really plan to go inside City Hall anyway, so it didn't seem like there would be any serious danger.

“Phew…….”

Ian exhaled smoke and quietly stared toward City Hall.

While he was doing that, the Circulator, after finishing its meal, returned carrying several Reptilian corpses. They were badly mangled, but that wasn't a problem as material. He chuckled and patted the Circulator's head as it lay prostrate beside him.

“Thanks. I'll make good use of them.”

[Grrr!]

The Circulator gave a short roar and opened its mouth wide. Then black seawater gushed out of its throat.

The seawater of the Outer Sea that devours everything it touches. It gave Ian a nod as if to say it was leaving, then shoved its head into the seawater pooled on the ground. The puddle, which clearly should have had no depth at all, greedily devoured the Circulator's body.

It was a truly Circulator-like reverse summoning. Ian silently stared at the place where it had vanished, then turned to Mariang, who had dropped from the sky, and put a cigarette in his mouth. She had fallen because she had been hanging from the Circulator's back until just now. Luckily, it didn't seem she'd been abducted into the Outer Sea.

“Ugh……! That hurts…….”

“Don't act like you're dying when you aren't even broken.”

Ian said coldly and inhaled and exhaled smoke. A sweet lemon fragrance spread through his mouth.

“How far along is your recovery?”

“It's still hard to move. But I've restored some of the magic on my clothes.”

Kiiing, kiiing.

Mariang somehow crawled over to the ground and sprawled at Ian's feet. Ian's face was reflected in her blue eyes.

“I probably won't get hurt if I move now.”

“You just said it hurt after falling.”

“I'm being dramatic.”

“…….”

Ian leaned back in the seat, seriously wondering whether he should punch a bullet hole through Mariang's abdomen.

Then the tightly closed doors of City Hall opened, and a group of humans walked out from inside.

A group of people of various races, ages, and genders. Among them were people with bellies bulging as if they were pregnant, and others who had lost arms and legs. The weapons they gripped were nothing more than crude spears made by taping kitchen knives to mop handles.

Weapons so crude that you had to wonder whether they could even take down beasts, let alone Reptilians. But for them, that was probably the best they could do.

“Tss…… huu…….”

Ian took one last drag, exhaled, and tossed the burnt cigarette nearby. Mariang stared at the group of survivors looking around and asked Ian.

“Should I kill them, Master?”

“What do you mean, kill them? Stay still. If they die, I'll take care of it.”

“Kek!”

Ian lightly kicked Mariang in the side and picked up his revolver. Just then, the leader of the group who had spotted him saw Ian's gun and widened his eyes. It was only natural, considering he was holding a mop with a knife attached while the other side was holding a gun.

Even Zhao Yun couldn't pull off the feat of deflecting bullets with a plastic spear shaft. And if that was the case, could a human who had been under Reptilian control really survive charging at a human with a gun?

Luckily, the leader seemed to have reached a similar conclusion, because instead of rushing in with his eyes rolled back, he swallowed hard and started saying something to the group. Then he walked toward Ian alone.

“…….”

The distance between them kept shrinking. Ian quietly waited until the man spoke first.

The man also realized that Ian had no intention of attacking, but he didn't get too close; he spoke while keeping a slight distance.

“Did you save us?”

“You could say that.”

“……Are you perhaps a superhuman? Or an awakened one? A hunter? Something like that?”

Awakened one, huh.

It was a concept that often appeared in works of fiction. Naturally, it was a word that had nothing to do with Ian, so he chuckled and flicked the revolver with a slight motion.

“No, I'm a mage.”

“……a mage?”

“That's right.”

“……Haa. Well, with aliens around, I guess there’s no reason mages couldn't exist too.”

The man scratched his bushy hair and answered, then bowed at a right angle toward Ian.

“Thank you for saving us. Thanks to you, we were able to break free.”

“Do you have somewhere to go?”

“We'll have to find one starting now. By any chance, would you come with us…….”

“I refuse. I have business to take care of too.”

“Understood. Then we'll be going now. I hope everything you do goes smoothly as well, Mage.”

The man answered as if he had expected Ian's refusal, with no lingering attachment, and turned around. Ian quietly stared at the back of his head, then took a knife for killing primates out of his bag.

“Wait.”

Ian called the man back. The man who had been turning toward his companions looked back at him.

“Yes?”

“A gift. Take it.”

Ian threw the bandage-wrapped knife to the man. The man recoiled in shock.

“W-Whoa……! Agh! Wh-why are you suddenly throwing a knife at me?”

“It doesn't matter since I wrapped the blade in bandages. Anyway, with just that, you can kill another human with a light stab, so keep it with you. Humans are scarier than Reptilians, after all.”

Ian stood up with a faint smile. In the corner of his vision, he caught sight of a black horse racing toward him from far away, with Yuna and Eunha riding on it.

Judging by the fact that they had arrived despite so little time having passed, it didn't seem like they had been summoned from somewhere far away in the first place. Ian waved back at Yuna, who was waving at him, and spoke.

“How you use it is up to you. Use it however you like.”

“……Still, is that all right?”

“Just be careful not to stab yourself by mistake.”

Ian finished speaking and turned toward the two people running over. The man stood there dumbfounded, looked down at the knife hilt, bowed to Ian, and returned to his companions.

A moment later, the survivor group started moving off somewhere. Yuna and Eunha, who had come riding along the road, immediately got off the horse and checked Ian's condition.

“Mr. Ian, are you all right? Are you hurt anywhere? Did the Reptilians do anything to you?”

“I-Ian! Are you okay?! Ah, wait. Now that I've gotten off, I'm getting motion sick... u, ugh……!”

The two women, each showing different reactions, looked at Ian's face and then naturally lowered their gazes to his feet.

And then the eyes of the three met.

“…….”

“…….”

“U, ugh!”

Mint-green eyes, blue eyes, and black eyes tangled together in the air. Eunha, having immediately figured out who the other person was, tugged Ian toward her and opened the grimoire, while Yuna staggered and then stomped on Mariang's face on the ground with her foot.

CRUNCH!

With a rather savage sound, the magic on the dress they had only just restored was shattered, and Mariang took the blow head-on.

Blood gushed from both nostrils and streamed down her cheeks.