---

“Manager, hold on a second.”

Before heading to meet Martinez.

Pippin, who was guarding the security terminal, stopped me.

“What will you do if Martinez senses something weird during the rendezvous and attacks?”

“Just shoot first.”

I spat out casually while holstering my pistol.

“But he’s a magician, right? A wanted, dangerous magician.”

“Do bullets not work on magicians?”

“Still, you should have a backup plan.”

“Pippin’s right. You need to prepare.”

Just then, Jake, who had just returned, pulled out a charm from his bag and handed it over.

“This is a charm with a great magic protection spell. Take it with you.”

“Isn’t that a bit insufficient?”

“I have a good idea.”

I tossed the security phone onto the desk and pointed to a bulky mobile phone.

“You guys, take out all your phones.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll call you guys with this mobile phone. Then you record all the sounds on the line, and if anything seems off, send me backup right away.”

“Isn’t that too risky?”

“When was it ever not risky?”

As I lit a cigarette and exhaled the smoke, I addressed my subordinates.

“This operation absolutely has to succeed. If we lose them, not just me or you, but Francesca, Lucia, and Camila are all screwed.”

“…….”

“Let’s finish this in one shot.”

With that, I connected the secure mobile phone to my subordinates’ secure mobile phones.

It was a wise choice.

Episode 13 – There Is No Country for Magicians

The first to react was Martinez.

He kicked off the asphalt and turned to run.

“Kill him!”

At that signal, a flash erupted from the second floor of a building across the street.

The yellow projectile splattered the ground and pillars, followed by a horrifying sound as the bricks crumbled.

Barely dodging the magic, I gripped my pistol and shouted.

“Open fire!”

Tatata! Tatata! The muffled gunfire echoed across the road.

The commotion was caused by two men who had snatched up their rifles.

They were quasi-military operatives disguised as local soldiers in military uniforms.

“Run!”

Before the shout from the quasi-military operative could finish, more gunshots rang out. The muzzles were spitting fire toward the second-floor window.

Tatata! The roaring gunfire erupted from the muzzles, which shimmered in the darkness of the intersection. Bullets ricocheted from the second-floor window, and fragments of stone rained down. Simultaneously, a short scream rang out from inside the building. It seemed the magician casting spells had been hit.

As the quasi-military operative covered the magician on the second floor with suppressive fire to prevent a counterattack, another quasi-military operative shouted at me, aiming at the fleeing Martinez’s back.

And then came three shots.

Yet, there was no one who fell.

“Damn…!”

As the smoke from the suppressed shots billowed out, a quasi-military operative, with his gun still lowered, threw out an exclamation toward the sky.

“What happened?”

“He went into an alley.”

Unfortunately, Martinez had managed to escape into an alley to avoid the gunfire.

There were two targets: one had already slipped away, but one was still left. I lifted my pistol and kicked open the door of the building across.

Upon entering the building, we found a magician groaning on the floor. An information officer switched on a light and directed it at the guy who was dragging himself out of a room with the door wide open, throwing him down to the floor.

In the meantime, I took out my mobile phone and compared the stored photos with the magician’s identity.

Fortunately, it was someone I knew.

“Karim Boumediene.”

No further words were necessary.

As soon as the identity was confirmed, the information officer blew Karim Boumediene’s head off with a rifle. The muffled gunshot shook the hallway, and we could hear the sound of breath being sucked in from behind the firmly closed door.

I gestured for us to exit. The quasi-military operatives, without answering carelessly in Abas, nodded and quickly left the building.

Once we got out of the scene, I immediately took out my mobile phone and contacted Pippin. I had set up the call an hour earlier, so there was no need to press the call button again.

“Hey, it’s me. That guy just slipped into an alley. Heading north.”

-‘Adult male fleeing north. I’ll find him right away.’

A pigeon sitting on a telephone pole began to flutter its wings vigorously.

Soaring into the night sky, the pigeon flew high, and the crystal fixed to its body transmitted a clear view of the ground from dozens of meters above.

-‘Found him…!’

I heard Charnoy’s voice just under three minutes after the pigeon took off.

-‘800 meters to the north…! Moving into an alley…!’

“That guy’s damn fast….”

Running 800 meters through a maze-like alley. I don’t know what he ate to run that fast even at his age.

I paused the call for a moment and reached out to Jake. Holding onto his phone, he quickly answered.

-‘Yes?’

“I’m changing the plan. Martinez has escaped.”

-‘We’ll chase him down.’

After telling him to relay Martinez’s position through Pippin, I hung up.

Karim Boumediene, who cast the spell, was dead, but Martinez was far away. However, there was still a chance left.

Before moving with the quasi-military operatives disguised as soldiers,

I took a quick glance at a shadowy figure darting across the rooftops.

*

The chase under the moonlight began.

“A shooting has occurred. The local residents must be awake now.”

The Empire’s Military Police patrolling around must have sensed it too. Personal firearms are permitted, so we can eliminate the target on sight.”

“Understood, Team Leader.”

Operation Team Leader Matthew released his finger from the button.

The Sub Team Leader sitting in the passenger seat spoke up.

“Obstacle ahead. Turn left.”

“Got it.”

The vehicle glided smoothly across the icy road, turning left. The following vehicle quickly changed direction at the intersection.

Jake, seated in the back, tapped the radio and lowered his rifle between his legs, gazing out the window.

“Location?”

Matthew inquired. Jake replied.

“300 meters remaining.”

“Where should we go?”

“Turn right in 15 meters, and if you continue straight, there’ll be an alley where a car is parked. That’s where we’ll meet.”

“Did you hear that, Steve?”

The Sub Team Leader recounted Steven shaking his head.

“I still can’t get used to that name.”

Two vehicles raced down the long, straight road that appeared right after the turn.

The black asphalt was splattered with mud, trash, and black smoke. The cars sped down the clear road.

Suddenly, a man burst out from the alleyway.

Though too far to identify him, there was only one person crazy enough to roam a city under curfew.

Decisions had to be made swiftly.

The Information Officer behind the wheel shifted gears and pressed down on the accelerator, charging toward the man.

“Damn…!”

Martinez, who had barely dodged out onto the road, was horrified at the sight of the oncoming vehicle like a feral beast charging him.

With thick tires and a heavy frame, reinforced with unbreakable bulletproof glass, this was no ordinary car seen on the road. It might as well have been a military armored vehicle without its turret.

The engine roared as the previously dead headlights illuminated.

Momentarily fixated by the blinding light, Martinez quickly unfolded a green barrier.

And then came the tremendous impact.

A resounding thud! like a blow to the chest.

Martinez, having hastily wrapped himself in the barrier for protection, collided with the speeding vehicle and was sent rolling through the mud.

*

Collision with the vehicle sent Martinez flying like a deer hit by a car, bouncing onto the road.

Though he escaped serious injury, there was no avoiding the wounds from rolling on the ground.

Groaning as ice and snow melted into his skin and seeped inside his clothes, he rose to his feet, swinging his arms to cast a protective spell.

Thin green magic shield caught the bullets flying toward him.

The Quasi-Military Operative from the Royal Intelligence Department, having knocked Martinez aside, confirmed he was still alive and promptly opened the car door to unleash a hail of bullets.

Tat tat tat tat! Pushing against the door, the operative aimed through the windshield and side window, showering bullets upon the magician shielded by the protective magic.

Following suit, Operation Team Leader Matthew and Sub Team Leader Steven leaned out of the car to support their teammate, while Jake huddled behind a tire, ready to pull the trigger.

“Grrr…!”

With every gunfire, ripples formed in the barrier.

The hastily conjured protective magic began to crack, the green light wavering like a candle in the wind.

The grotesque sound slipping through Martinez’s gritted teeth made his face twist in pain. His angry glare at the Quasi-Military Operatives was met with the flicker of the collapsing magic shield’s hue, disappearing and reappearing perilously.

Holding on any longer was impossible.

As this thought crossed his mind, Martinez raised his voice and shouted into the void.

“Ahmad-!”

Almost as soon as he spoke, the green shield shattered.

Between the bullets flying toward him and Martinez, a deep, gaping black space opened up like a bottomless pit.

What burst forth from the ominous void, dripping in black liquid and glowing with crimson eyes, was none other than a pack of hellish dogs.

“Gruuuff…!”

“Woof! Woof!”

Startled by the sudden appearance of the dog pack, Operation Team Leader Matthew shouted to his team in Kien.

“It’s undead!”

The low-to-the-ground dogs charged toward the Information Officers, oblivious to their own intestines dragging on the ground as they lunged through the mud.

Just as a dog bared its sharp teeth, a silhouette flew from the icy rooftops above.

On the roof bathed in faint moonlight.

Black fur swaying in the wind and a tail swishing wildly. Cat ears, not even concealed by a beanie, perked up.

Kair propelled himself off the roof and aimed his weapon downward.

His finger, poised above the trigger, tightened as he pulled back gently.

–kreeek!

In that moment, as if time had stopped, everything flowed slowly like a panorama.

A strange ‘poof’ sound, unlike gunfire, echoed in everyone’s ears.

The fired bullet streaked across the eerie night sky.

It was a grenade.

 

---