Chapter 106: Independence Approaches (8)

Upon witnessing the talking mushrooms, the soldiers all acted as they had been trained.

They activated the purification magic by pressing a button attached to the ski masks they were wearing for cold protection, and switched the goggles they were wearing to prevent enchantment to camera mode. Then the transparent goggles turned black, and the small camera in the center of the goggles activated to transmit video to the inside of the goggles in place of human eyes.

The cold-protection earplugs in their ears changed their nature due to magical power, sticking tightly to their ears to block external noise, and activated the communication function using magical power.

However, Viktor didn't use the noise-canceling function of the earplugs and continued to listen to the song.

This was Viktor's own confident behavior, believing that merely listening wouldn't bewitch him.

[ Hung-geul! Hung-geul! ]

[ When the time comes, we have a meal~ ]

[ Hung-geul! Hung-geul! ]

[ When guests come, we invite them~ ]

[ And we say. ]

[ May it be a joyful meal! ]

[ May it be a happy meal! ]

The mushrooms seemed to enjoy singing and moved their bodies up and down, swaying slightly left and right as if doing a shoulder dance. The sight of them dancing and singing with the giant Ferris wheel burning like the sun behind them looked like a parade you might see at an amusement park.

The only difference was that unlike a parade with people marching in mascot costumes, there were no people inside these singing things.

Viktor quietly watched the singing mushrooms and muttered.

"Is this the work of a fairy sorcerer?"

Fairy.

A word referring to supernatural beings that had personality but were not human, and were not transcendent.

They were also beings easily found in legends, folktales, or myths. Even the nymphs appearing in Greek and Roman mythology belonged to fairies, and the beings in stories that Europeans considered neighbors and taboos also belonged to fairies.

And fairy sorcerers were those who mainly used sorcery that mimicked and summoned such fairies.

The fairies they summoned, or more accurately called 'fairy mimics', had powers similar to the fairies passed down in stories.

This fairy mimic creation sorcery was passed down along with folklore, so there was little loss and many varieties remained. And because it was relatively accessible, sorcerers often learned one or two even if it wasn’t their specialty.

However, that didn't mean there were clear countermeasures.

Although many sorcerers learned it, the number of sorcerers itself was small.

With such a small sample size, there was no way there could be a proper manual.

So all Viktor could do was detect elements that could be threatening other than sorcery.

"Scan."

At Viktor's order, a mage wearing a special scanning helmet stepped forward and looked at the singing mushrooms. Then information was transmitted to the armored truck, and the database sent him information about fairies similar to those mushrooms.

"There are no traps."

"Tsk. No traps. Then that means those mushrooms themselves are acting as traps."

Viktor clicked his tongue and complained.

"This is why sorcery is troublesome. You can't tell."

Viktor sighed and started to speculate.

"Since they're in the form of mushrooms, they might spread spores if they receive a shock. Right?"

"Yes, sir."

"It would be dangerous if there were hallucinogenic substances or poison in the smoke if we burn them with fire. And if we try to attack using water, we might end up making them grow bigger if we're not careful. Approaching closely would be crazy. And it would be troublesome if there's a curse hidden if we damage them."

"That's right, sir."

"Disgusting sorcerer bastards."

The mushrooms kept singing and shaking their bodies as if asking why they weren't coming closer. Their appearance even seemed annoying, looking similar to those who urged you to drink more at a drinking party.

"Blyat (Блять)!"

Viktor felt the urge to smash a vodka bottle on the dancing mushroom heads.

He glared once at the mushrooms chewing with their torn gaps like mouths, then signaled the soldiers to retreat. He planned to turn them into ashes with multiple rocket launchers after getting far away from the mushrooms.

Artillery was always the answer to ambiguity.

Then the mushrooms sang as if telling them not to go.

[ Guests must have a meal~ ]

[ Guests must be treated~ ]

[ Rest is needed for a hard journey! ]

[ Tired travelers need a warm meal! ]

That singing voice was more urgent than before.

But Viktor and the soldiers headed towards the outside of the amusement park without paying attention to the lyrics of the song, and eventually reached the entrance.

But someone was standing at the entrance where there should have been no one since all the evil spirits had been cut down.

Someone wearing a worn-out wooden mask and covered in rags.

A strange person.

As if between human and monster.

As if between plant and animal.

Such a bizarre being.

It slowly raised its head and asked in a voice mixed with static.

[ Where are you going. ]

The worn-out wooden mask looked so old it seemed like it would fall apart at any moment.

Rotten parts could be seen here and there, and unknown stains were on it as if it had been rolling on the ground for a long time. But strangely, the stains wriggled and changed shape as if alive, and every time the stains moved, something sprouted from the wooden mask.

Something like white powder.

Something that gradually grew to form a stem and cap.

That's right.

Mushrooms were growing from the wooden mask.

And at a very fast rate.

The mushrooms that grew like this couldn't bear their own weight and fell to the ground with a thud, and as they fell and formed a small mountain of mushrooms, they clumped together and changed to the size of a human head. Then they took root in that spot and transformed into a single entity, creating small horizontal lines on the stem, and.

[ Hung-geul! ]

[ Hung-geul! ]

They became exactly the same beings as the talking mushrooms that had been growing by the roadside earlier.

Thus, the entrance was blocked.

Not by iron gates or evil spirits.

But by mushrooms no bigger than human heads.

[ Have a meal before you go. ]

The strange person wearing the wooden mask said, looking straight at where Viktor was located.

And the mushrooms that had grown beside the strange person all wiggled their bodies and sang in unison.

[ Treat the guests when they come! ]

[ Feed the guests when they come! ]

[ Because that's the rule of Hung-geul! ]

Crackle-

Along with the singing, static flowed from the wooden mask.

Viktor sighed as if annoyed and infused his sword with sword energy. Sword energy like blazing flames rose flowing along the silver, swaying back and forth as if about to burst out of the sword.

It looked as if Viktor's anger was directly reflected in the sword energy.

"I don't eat anything but meat. Understand?"

With those words, he swung his sword and sent out sword energy.

The sword energy that cut through the air precisely cut the strange person's waist area in two, and the strange person was diagonally cut into two pieces in that posture of looking at Viktor. But although it should have fallen to the ground due to gravity, the strange person maintained its posture with the cut surface as it was, still looking straight at Viktor.

[ We've prepared meat, as it happens. How about it? ]

Viktor's sword energy, which burned and tore wounds to prevent regeneration, was useless against the strange person.

The diagonally cut wound was filled in an instant as if kneading clay, and the rags it was wearing regained their original form as if nothing had happened.

[ Viktor Alexandrovich Smirnov. It will be a very interesting time for you too. ]

The strange person spoke to Viktor in the same calm voice mixed with static as before.

[ Hung-geul! ]

[ Hung-geul is an interesting thing! ]

[ Hung-geul is something that always comes! ]

[ Yes! Like! ]

[ Fate! ]

The mushrooms sang as if responding to the strange person's words.

"As expected of a sorcerer, trying to seduce people with your tongue. Do you think I've only seen your kind once or twice? There was a time when a gypsy woman who said she could tell fortunes tried to seduce me and steal my valuables, and some con artist came and aimed for my hard-earned money saying there was a good investment opportunity. There was also someone who asked if I wanted to invest in China, and someone who tried to pull a Ponzi scheme saying they guaranteed returns. Do you know what happened to all those bastards?"

Viktor snorted at the strange person's words and swung his sword again.

The sword energy cutting vertically cut through the air and reached the strange person, cutting them neatly from the crotch to the crown of the head.

As if not satisfied with that, Viktor swung his sword randomly.

Horizontally, diagonally. Horizontally again. Vertically again.

The sword energy that was shot formed a net-like shape, and eventually became close to indiscriminate slashing without even minimal rules. And as the gaps gradually filled in, it eventually became close to a plane-like shape.

His hand moved so fast it couldn't be seen, and he swung his sword again and again until the shaking sword went beyond tearing the air and became part of the air itself.

Thus, the strange person disappeared without a trace.

They were ground up by the sword energy.

Yes.

Literally, they were ground up by the sword energy that approached in a plane-like form.

The dirty wooden mask didn't even leave dust, and the rags were chopped so finely it was ambiguous to even call them pieces. Like putting a person in a blender and grinding them up, everything was shattered to pieces like that.

"They all disappeared from the world like this."

But strangely, despite being ground up like that, there wasn't a single drop of blood or piece of flesh.

[ Vik-tor- ]

This meant that the strange person was not a real person, but merely a doll.

[ I'll be waiting under the Ferris wheel. ]

The body that had been shattered by Viktor's sword energy gathered again in the form of powder. The powder formed a shape similar to a human head as if alive, and spoke to Viktor in a strange tone that seemed to gather the sounds of flying insects to create a human voice.

[ There's delicious meat. Come quickly- ]

The mushrooms shouted after that.

[ Delicious meat! ]

[ Meat that even picky Viktor will like! ]

[ The Russian country bumpkin who's never left Russia doesn't know this taste! ]

[ Softer than the lamb you stole and ate as a child! ]

[ More fragrant than the chicken you bought right after getting your paycheck! ]

Viktor briefly frowned his right eye at the song the mushrooms were singing.

Then, after pondering for a moment about something, he said.

"I've become curious about your face."

Then the face-like shape raised its corners as if smiling.

[ I can show you that much anytime, so please come quickly before the meat gets cold. ]