"Get out of the way!"
"There's a disturbance!"
The wizards shoved their way forward, pushing aside others who blocked the entrance to the train car. They formed a line, their expressions strained as they stared at the man who stood alone in compartment number four.
He wore a black frock coat with gold embroidery over a tailored suit. Long black hair was tied back neatly at the nape of his neck. His sharp eyes were colder than the wind raging outside the window. Everything about him, from his appearance to the aura he radiated, was unnatural.
It was by his hand, they knew, that their comrades who had stormed the rear of the train had already been sent to their graves.
"Who the hell is this guy?" the terrorist leading the raid muttered, frowning at the man before them. He hadn't expected to find a wizard of this caliber on the train. Was it too late to learn his identity?
No, it didn't matter. There were five of them. They had recruited powerful mages for this operation, enough to sweep aside any internal security with overwhelming force. They hadn't planned on another wizard, but their opponent was alone. No matter how skilled he was, he couldn't possibly stand against five of them.
Besides, Ma-gang, their leader, was a fourth-rank wizard. To stand a chance, this man would have to be a renowned mage of at least the fifth rank. There were only a handful of wizards that powerful on the entire continent. And if he had reached the fifth rank at such a young age, his name would already be the stuff of legend.
Therefore, the highest he could be was fourth-rank. An equal to Ma-gang. Perhaps the man knew it, too. He hadn't cast a single spell.
"Hmph. Five wizards. Of course," Ma-gang sneered.
"Conceding so quickly? It won't save you."
"Then I have no choice but to change my tactics."
As he spoke, the hem of his frock coat flared, and he threw himself out of the wrecked train car.
"Wh-what? Did he just jump?"
"Knew he couldn't win? Did he kill himself?"
The terrorists stared in confusion. One of the wizards cautiously peered out over the splintered bulkhead, but there was nothing to see below but the distant cliff.
"I think he fell! He's dead!"
"I thought he was going to put up a fight. Just a coward."
The moment they all came to that conclusion—
Whoosh!
A flash of light pierced the wizard's skull. His body pitched forward and tumbled from the train.
"Wh-what was that!"
"Han-seong is dead!"
"Dead? How? And where did that light come from?"
As confusion erupted, Ma-gang, the wizards' leader, scowled and looked up.
"On the roof! He's on the roof!"
"The roof? But he just jumped!"
"Did he use some kind of flight magic?"
"Is it even possible to catch a moving train and get on the roof with flight magic?"
"Shut up and get after him!"
A shame. I'd hoped to take another while their guard was down.
A chaotic noise rose from the car below. Now that they knew I was alive, they would come at me with everything they had. The ruse had worked perfectly. I'd feigned the fall, clung to the train's exterior, and scaled the wall to set up the ambush. Taking down one of the five wizards was a satisfying start.
"Hurry, get up there!"
"Kill him!"
A voice echoed from the compartment below. Soon, they began climbing the ladder to the roof, one by one.
But it wouldn't be that easy.
I waited, and as the first head appeared, I unleashed a bolt of tangible magic. Then I turned and ran toward the rear of the train. The wizards scrambling up the ladder had no choice but to retreat from the attack. On the exposed roof, with no cover, they were easy targets.
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
I pounded my feet against the metal roof, ensuring they could hear me. The men waiting in the next car heard the sound and gave chase.
"To the rear! He's heading for the rear cars!"
"After him!"
Drawing them out was laughably easy. It seemed the death of that one wizard had rattled them. So, they would gladly blow themselves up for their cause, but they couldn't stomach a comrade being killed by an outsider? What a contradictory mindset.
Still, their eagerness was a gift. The more they rushed, the easier it would be to deal with them all.
The terrorists split into two groups to catch the wizard who had fled to the back of the train. Since their opponent was a wizard, only wizards could effectively fight him. Except for a few men to provide support, the rest would storm the yet-unbreached first-class car.
The wizard squads headed to the rear, moving in two groups from compartment number four.
"Damn it! Where is he?"
"What about our men on the roof? Why aren't they reporting in?"
"Forget that, just keep moving back!"
The leader of the forward group threw open the door to the next car.
BOOOOM!
The doorway exploded. A searing crimson flame erupted, engulfing the terrorists. In an instant, five men were turned to charred husks that collapsed to the floor. Its purpose served, the magical flame vanished as if snuffed out.
"You… you bastard!"
"He set a trap on the door!"
Ma-gang, the leader of the wizards, looked at the bodies of his dead comrades in grim silence. He'd set a runic trap on the door in that short a time? The man's speed was astonishing, but it was his decisiveness that truly unnerved Ma-gang.
The aristocratic mages Ma-gang knew were arrogant and indolent, loath to exert themselves physically. They cast their spells with ostentatious flair, never deigning to move from one spot. But the man they were chasing was different. When the situation turned against him, he immediately fled, only to lower their guard and launch a surprise attack. That wasn't how a proper wizard fought. His movements were less like a wizard's and more like a mercenary's, or a hunter's. He was ruthlessly practical.
What is he?
At first, Ma-gang had assumed he was just another privileged wizard who'd had the misfortune of being on this train. After all, most of the passengers were aristocrats or wealthy merchants—leeches who grew fat on the blood and sweat of the common folk. Killing one should have been simple.
But this man was different. What was his true identity?
Ma-gang's expression hardened. "Everyone, be careful," he said, his voice heavy. "We take the lead from now on. We don't know what other traps he might have set, so move with extreme caution."
"Yes, sir!"
Led by Ma-gang, the wizards advanced, checking the corridors and walls for any hint of a trap. As a result, crossing from one car to the next took a considerable amount of time.
Don't be impatient, Ma-gang told himself. He can't escape from the rear of the train anyway. He's a rat in a trap.
For now, all that mattered was that their target had fled toward the last car. Ma-gang walked slowly, deliberately, when he suddenly froze. An indescribable sense of unease washed over him. He quickly realized what had triggered it.
Clang! Screeeech!
A loud, grinding noise echoed from the very back of the train. The slow-moving terrorists instinctively knew something was wrong.
"Damn it! He separated the last car! He's getting away!"
His rising anger had made him slow to realize the truth. His opponent never had to fight them at all—he just needed to buy time and escape. He had set the fire trap specifically to heighten their caution, to slow them down. He was trying to make a clean escape by uncoupling the final car.
"Chase him! Don't let him get away!"
All caution was abandoned. Their only thought was to catch and kill the wizard who had tricked them. They sprinted through the remaining cars and finally arrived at the entrance to the last one, number twelve.
As they threw open the door, they were met not with the interior of the final car, but with an open view of the snowy mountain range and the railroad tracks receding into the distance.
Ma-gang clenched his teeth. I made a mistake. I kept telling myself he didn't need to fight us. His anger had blinded him to a simple fact. Who would have expected an opponent to be so determined to simply run away?
"Damn it, did we lose him?"
"That brat. I've memorized his face. We'll find him and kill him."
As they all stood there, teeth gritted, staring out into the empty air—
Ma-gang felt a powerful surge of mana from behind him. The hairs on his arms stood on end.
What is this…?
He spun around. And saw the very man who should have been on the detached twelfth car.
Why is he here?
But the man's presence wasn't the most important thing. What mattered was the spell coalescing before him, shimmering on the verge of activation. It was a ferocious and volatile strand of elemental magic.
"Everyone, dodge!" Ma-gang roared, flaring his own mana. With no time to evade, he poured all his strength into creating the strongest defensive barrier he could muster.
Whiirrrrr!
A moment later, the massive spell detonated, engulfing the entire car in a swirling tempest of power. It was a flame as dazzlingly white as the blizzard outside. It swept over the terrorists, consuming those who hadn't been able to react or escape.
"Is it over?" I murmured as the last of the white flame faded.
They had been so certain I had escaped on the decoupled car. And why wouldn't they be? A surprise attack, followed by a delaying trap, followed by uncoupling the last car—anyone would assume it was an escape plan. But that, too, was a trap. My flight was just another layer of deception. Their rage had made them predictable, allowing me to herd them into one place for the ambush.
There were still terrorists in the forward cars, but with all the wizards dealt with, they no longer mattered.
As I was thinking, something stirred in the smoldering rubble.
"So… you managed to survive."
"You… damned… wretch…"
It was the wizards' leader, Ma-gang. He was a ruin of a man, clinging to life by a thread. He had managed to save himself with his barrier, but only just. His face was half-melted, his body covered in burns, and one of his arms was gone. Even breathing seemed an agony. I figured he wouldn't last long.
"Why?" he rasped. "Why did you kill them? They were my comrades, fighting for a better world! Have you no pity?"
What? I stared at him, trying to comprehend this new brand of lunacy. When I remained silent, he glared at me with what was left of his eyes.
"Don't you feel any sorrow for the people who died by your hand?"
"I thought you were insane before," I said. "But you're even crazier than I imagined."
"What did you say?"
"You hijacked a train and slaughtered its passengers. What moral ground do you think you're standing on?"
I was truly dumbfounded. His people had attacked the train and killed every passenger they saw. And now he was treating me like the villain because I'd killed his colleagues. The hypocrisy was infuriating.
"They were vermin who deserved to die!" he shrieked.
"You tried to kill me first," I stated calmly. "We both entered this with lethal intent. Don't you dare preach morality to me now. The price for failing to kill me is your own life."
"That… that's…"
"Who… who the hell are you?" he finally choked out, abandoning his argument to demand my identity.
But I couldn't answer him. Because over his shoulder, I saw countless shadows flying toward us from outside the train.
Claaaang—
A streak of white light shot from the open rear of the train, bisecting the wizard.
Thud!
A clean line was drawn from the crown of his head to his groin. As a white-clad figure vaulted over him and landed softly on the floor, his body split into two perfect halves and collapsed. No blood spilled; the wound was instantly flash-frozen.
Framed in the doorway, beyond the bisected corpse, stood a female warrior, her white cape billowing in the wind.
"Are you unharmed?" she asked, turning to me with a concerned expression. I answered with a nod.
A pure white eagle was emblazoned on her pauldron—the sigil of the Guk-gyeong Gisa-dan, protectors of the Empire.
"You can rest easy now," she said. "The Frontier Guards are here."