Ch.258258. Catastrophe (4)

The Dongnae Administrative Office, where all administrative processes of Dongnae Port and various governance activities—notably judicial enforcement—take place. More precisely, its underground level.

This secret space, which should not exist, was originally a basement used by several ghouls of the Gia Cult and the officials who colluded with them to resolve matters related to “illegal operations.”

Therefore, this place, which should have been staffed by relatively high-ranking ghouls from the Gia Cult working alongside corrupt officials to handle illegal administrative tasks such as document forgery and disappearance processing, was now…

“Burn it! Burn it all!”

“If even one piece of evidence remains, we’re all finished!”

Under the orders of Dongnae Magistrate Jo Gaphyun, the work of gathering and destroying evidence of collusion between the Gia Cult and Dongnae officials was in full swing.

Including the Magistrate, about 30% of all officials working in the administrative office were involved. It was essentially as if the brain of the office had been hollowed out, with deep-rooted corrupt relationships. One might wonder if it was really possible to eliminate evidence by merely burning documents…

Surprisingly, given the circumstances, Jo Gaphyun had concluded that destroying evidence wouldn’t be difficult.

One reason was that all the Gia Cult ghouls and those who had not only colluded with or served the cult but had become ghouls themselves would soon be dead.

Not only was a magic user potentially comparable to his lord joining the extermination effort, but now that the existence of ghouls had been exposed during this chaos, their survival would be difficult.

Of course, the cult did have their so-called monarch, a ghoul they followed, but having personally encountered this ghoul monarch, Jo Gaphyun could assert with certainty:

While the ghoul monarch was certainly of a higher rank, there was a significant difference in power between this somewhat imperfect being and the high-ranking druid who had instilled fear in him with mere words.

In some sense, it seemed Jo Gaphyun might value the magic user (Gregory) even more than himself.

The second reason was that Jo Gaphyun had personally dealt with all those who had genuinely been devoted to the cult.

As if to prove that deranged individuals exist in every era and place, there were those who, even without fully becoming ghouls, had joined them for various reasons.

Whether they had allied with the cult out of ideological sympathy or had been forced to participate through some form of mind-control magic.

In any case, Jo Gaphyun, an intermediate-level magic user, had personally handled these deranged individuals using his “administrative magic.”

His brush, wielded with magical power infused in ink, was no less than a deadly weapon capable of easily killing hundreds of humans. No matter what skills these individuals might have possessed, they were no match for Jo Gaphyun.

The final major reason was the chaos itself.

Faced with the unprecedented situation of undead appearing throughout the city, the panicked masses had yet to restore order, and in such an atmosphere, Jo Gaphyun actually considered this beneficial.

Even as he slipped away to destroy evidence, no one suspected him.

Moreover, it wouldn’t seem strange at all if people died, if official buildings burned down, or if documents and records were lost.

Of course, in a world where magic exists, there are ways to restore burned documents, but Jo Gaphyun, well aware of this, had used his administrative magic to block such methods.

“Hurry! Burn everything before this incident ends!”

“””””Yes, sir!”””””

Thanks to this, Jo Gaphyun was able to mostly complete his “evidence destruction” plan in a relatively short time, but…

-…rustle.

“…??”

Just then, Jo Gaphyun’s senses, honed through archery training, detected a faint, subtle presence—some kind of movement.

In normal circumstances, he might have dismissed this as mere unease or the movement of wind, but in such a critical situation, even small variables could become major problems.

“Magistrate, sir? Is something wrong?”

“…It’s nothing. Continue with your work here.”

As an elite official with somewhat perfectionist tendencies, the magistrate decided to personally investigate and eliminate any “what-ifs.”

While all officials in the Kingdom of Core are magic users trained in administrative magic, all the officials present combined wouldn’t match the power of the magistrate alone.

And so, the magistrate moved forward, brush in hand.

With the brush tip moistened with magically formed ink ready to be wielded at any moment, he simultaneously circulated magical power within his body to be able to retreat at any time.

As a bear beastman descended from Ungnyeo, born with a physique so robust it seemed unbelievable for a magic user, and as Eastern Continent magic users never neglected physical training, he was especially prepared.

And… at the end of these cautious steps, Dongnae Magistrate Jo Gaphyun finally encountered the source of the presence.

[[[Squeak… squeak.]]]

“…?!!”

A rat—it was a giant rat the size of a forearm.

Its entire body was covered in fur that rippled like shadows, and its two eyes gleamed with a blood-red light—a sewer rat… presumably a magical beast.

Judging by its magical power and life force, it was merely a low-level sewer rat magical beast, but…

Just now, having genuinely felt something eerie about this magical beast, he regarded it as a warning from his instincts and acted accordingly.

[Arrow, shoot!]

With an incantation consisting of two words and five syllables, he swung his brush, and an ink-black arrow appeared in the air, instantly piercing through the magical beast’s body.

Administrative magic. Based on language, this magic primarily involves the manifestation and manipulation of structures made of “virtual matter.”

Users highly skilled in administrative magic can even achieve localized reality manipulation, but naturally, as the scale increases, the total magical power consumed becomes substantial…

Obviously, he couldn’t use such a consumptive and “lethal” attack just for restraint.

In any case, after piercing and killing the rat with the ink-black arrow he had formed, its body melted away like a shadow, leaving behind “residue” in death.

On the surface, it might appear as if a summoned creature had died and its body had disappeared, but Jo Gaphyun, with his knowledge, was about to feel relieved that this truly meant death when…

“…?”

Suddenly, at least ten more of those sewer rats appeared before him. At that moment, he felt as if his thoughts had come to a halt.

The rats, the number of rats was increasing.

One, two, four, six, ten, twenty, thirty, fifty, hundred, two hundred, five hundred, thousand, two thousand, three thousand, five thousand…

An uncountable number, so many that they filled his entire field of vision.

Individual yet collective, they all shared a single soul as one entity.

He couldn’t see it when looking at a single tree, but seeing the forest, Jo Gaphyun realized.

Only together were they complete, and thus considered intermediate-level.

Honestly, looking at each one individually, they weren’t particularly frightening.

Each was just a slightly tougher and harder sewer rat, and even if they possessed some special ability, it wouldn’t be absolute.

But the problem was that there were far too many of them.

He didn’t lack appropriate area-of-effect attack methods… but they were extremely limited.

Recognizing this, he stared directly at the rat collective, trying to figure out how to escape this situation…

Just then, a familiar voice coming from the rats was enough to startle him.

[My, it seems our lord is quite surprised?]

“…You?!!”

To hear the familiar voice—the voice of the magic user who had informed him about attacking the Gia Cult—coming from the rats!

Initially startled, Jo Gaphyun was about to breathe a sigh of relief…

“…These, why.”

Seeing the rat swarm still clearly directing unfriendly emotions toward him, his political instinct told him:

Toesagupyeong. That famous idiom originating from the Wu Empire was about to play out right here and now.

“…From, from the beginning, was this your intention?”

[Of course. No, let me ask you in return. In this situation, would you leave someone like yourself alone? A collaborator with the Gia Cult?]

Jo Gaphyun couldn’t refute. It was certainly true.

From the other’s perspective, there was absolutely no reason to keep him alive, and if he were in the same situation, Jo Gaphyun would have acted the same way.

And, as if delivering a coup de grâce…

[I’ve treated your son. So now you should remain not as a collaborator but as a father who stood proudly against them.]

“Ha, hahaha…”

[What are you doing? Not going to fight back?]

Now showing such consideration toward him, the magic user watched as Jo Gaphyun, in a state of resignation and madness, finally threw himself into the rat swarm.

It was the end of a man who had served the Gia Cult and sacrificed countless lives.