Chapter 170 – Pursuit (5)

Sun-woo’s name started spreading in the association from the time he appeared on the Prague broadcast, just like with ordinary people.

Unlike others, everyone became curious about the summoner from the same world who crossed between buildings with a sword.

And he was imprinted in people’s eyes once again through the terrorist attack that occurred in front of the main gate of Clean Earth Korea.

After that, summoners who had performed missions with Sun-woo spread rumors.

From the rumors Michael spread to tease him, to the malicious rumors spread by summoners who envied Sun-woo.

Rumor after rumor, one thing led to another, and now he had become something like a legendary figure.

Of course, more people didn’t believe it, but Mingwei, who saw the warehouse and dock sink before her eyes, and the summoner on the phone seemed to be on the believing side.

Thanks to that, Sun-woo, who had planned to drill a hole in the ship, had to make new plans.

A party was in full swing on the giant cruise ship.

Against the backdrop of Hong Kong’s night view, fireworks burst in the night sky, and people in party attire gathered on the deck with a pool, enjoying the party.

The two people who boarded the ship by deceiving the guards at the entrance with illusion arts blended in among the people enjoying the party.

“You have good taste. The dress is really pretty.”

Mingwei smiled as she checked the dress she was wearing. It was clothes Sun-woo created with illusion arts.

Sun-woo couldn’t have had good taste. He had scanned through Mingwei’s memories and recreated the prettiest party dress among hers with illusion arts.

If she had checked with a mirror, she would have certainly realized it was her own dress.

Though she wore her original face instead of movie actress Mingwei’s face, her appearance in the dress was the most beautiful on this ship.

Thanks to that, gazes poured in from all around, and the plan of the two people who tried to sneak in secretly went awry from the start.

“It’s not all because of me. You’re getting quite a lot of looks from women too, Sun-woo.”

Sun-woo had also changed from his original face to a slightly older face to match the party. He was also catching women’s attention as Mingwei said.

Sun-woo, who hadn’t realized the power of his transformation until now, finally became fully aware of himself as a handsome man.

Due to the concentrated attention, Sun-woo ultimately had to use magic.

When he quietly recited a spell, people who were looking at the two of them turned their heads back to their original partners.

“What magic is this?”

“It’s awareness reduction magic. Magic that makes them feel uncomfortable and turns their gaze away.”

“Then why didn’t you use it from the beginning?”

“I didn’t know we’d attract this much attention.”

And if there was a proper mage aboard this ship, the probability of being caught would actually be higher.

In any case, he could only hope now that there was no high circle mage on board.

Once people’s interest disappeared, the two could look around.

“Wow, was there a party like this today? Really amazing people have gathered.”

Mingwei’s eyes widened as she examined the people.

“Shanghai municipal party secretary, Politburo member, Shami Group director… Even just the people I know are no joke.”

Sun-woo couldn’t join in her surprise since he didn’t know anyone, but it seemed he did well to follow her words.

Learning that a party was being held on the ship, Mingwei suggested evacuating people first. She was worried that civilians might get hurt in the process of fighting contaminated people.

“But I don’t see contaminated people. Are we in the right place?”

“That’s right. Below this ship, a magic circle is operating that hides contaminated humans.”

Though there were many people and it was a ship floating on water, so Sun-woo couldn’t separately find contaminated people, he could sufficiently detect the flow of mana he had seen many times before.

“I don’t know what they’re thinking. They should hide secretly, but what are they doing on a ship with so many civilians? Isn’t it hard for contaminated people to be with ordinary people?”

Sun-woo had the same question as her, but he planned to check the question after things were over.

“But how do you plan to evacuate them?”

“Hmm, shall we go with evacuation basics? How about breaking the fire hydrant, setting some fires, and going with fire evacuation?”

Though Mingwei spoke confidently with her arms crossed, Sun-woo felt deflated.

“That’s not feasible.”

“What? Why?”

“Because the ship has already departed.”

Surprised by Sun-woo’s words, Mingwei ran to the ship’s railing, but she could only see the swaying seawater and the dock moving away.

“There wasn’t even a departure announcement!”

“It started moving slowly not long after we boarded.”

“Then what do we do?”

Since the ship left the dock, evacuating people had become difficult.

Unlike Mingwei, who stamped her feet in frustration, Sun-woo quietly scanned the surroundings.

Since he decided to watch while hiding anyway, he planned to first see what the contaminated summoners would do.

Instead, Sun-woo extended his senses, sharpened by reaching the transcendent level, in all directions and continued searching for Chairman Douglas.

[This cruise will circle outside Hong Kong’s outer harbor during the party. Please enjoy Hong Kong’s beautiful night view.]

As the ship gradually moved away from the harbor and people began to notice, the broadcast informed them of this fact.

Though it was a sudden event, people clapped and became even more delighted, and Mingwei became even more upset.

Annoyed, she tried to snatch a glass from a passing waiter’s tray and gulp it down.

Swoosh!

However, the glass in her hand instantly moved to Sun-woo’s hand before she could drink it.

“That much is fine to drink! You old-fashioned guy!”

Mingwei glared at Sun-woo who snatched the glass, but Sun-woo placed his hand on the glass and recited a spell.

As Sun-woo recited the spell, the transparent wine briefly took on a reddish tint before disappearing.

“Has this much quantity already been made?”

“What is it?”

Seeing there was a problem with the glass, Mingwei made an awkward face.

“It’s liquefied contamination spreading agent. It’s diluted so it won’t contaminate immediately, but if it accumulates, you’ll inevitably change…”

Mingwei was extremely surprised. She hurriedly wiped the hand that held the glass on her clothes.

“It’s fine as long as you don’t drink it. But it feels like things are taking a bad turn…”

Sun-woo infused mana into his summoning ring.

Meow!

The next moment, a crying sound came from Sun-woo’s chest, and Seolmyo stuck her head out between his clothes.

Fortunately, Seolmyo looked very healthy.

“Kyaa!”

Mingwei burst out in admiration at the appearance of the white cat peeking its head out between the clothes.

“Shh!”

Sun-woo quickly quieted her. Though he was diverting gazes with magic, it would inevitably break if she made loud noises.

Mingwei had a face full of curiosity, but Sun-woo focused his mind on communicating with Seolmyo.

But he didn’t particularly need to focus his mind.

Seolmyo, who was sniffing with her nose, soon showed her teeth and started throwing a tantrum.

Grrrrr.

When Seolmyo was about to growl, Sun-woo hurriedly reverse-summoned her.

“There’s more than one or two.”

“What’s going on? What was that cat-like animal?”

“That’s Seolmyo, my summoned beast. More than that, a considerable number of people on this ship are brainwashed.”

“No way!”

“I wondered why there were civilians, but it seems this ship is for brainwashing work.”

This party was a party where brainwashed people brought people around them and brainwashed them again.

Since it was happening on a ship that left the harbor, it was hard for others to notice, and since a magic circle hiding contamination was also installed, there was no way summoners would be caught either.

Mingwei had an expression of disbelief, but she couldn’t help but believe at the sound that followed.

[Welcome everyone. We welcome all of you who came to this place. We’ve prepared an interesting event for you, so please enjoy it together.]

Several people were standing on the stage prepared at the front of the ship.

A Chinese man in a suit speaking into a microphone, a blond-haired man behind him and a mage wearing a black robe,

And Chairman Douglas, unconscious and seated in a chair.

About half of the party guests had puzzled expressions at their appearance, but the other half welcomed them with loud applause.

“It’s true.”

Confirming the people clapping, Mingwei frowned at their enthusiastic appearance.

[Now it’s time to see the mage’s splendid magic show. First you’ll see an amazing cutting magic, and next you’ll see wonderful illusion magic.]

When the host finished speaking, the lights installed on the ship illuminated Chairman Douglas tied to a chair.

“It’s not a magic trick, is it?”

“It looks like they’ll use magic afterward. They’re going to use sleep magic and then brainwash…”

Mana for large-scale magic was gradually gathering above the deck.

Chairman Douglas’s execution seemed to be for entertainment before using magic.

“Ugh, we went to the trouble of sneaking in secretly.”

While summoning pistols in both hands, Mingwei made a gloomy expression.

“But thanks to that, we learned about the brainwashing.”

At Sun-woo’s answer, her expression brightened again.

“But if they’re brainwashed, what do we do about those people? They’ll all interfere.”

Unlike in other dimensions where he could just kill everyone, it was clearly very troublesome for Sun-woo too.

But now the enemy was helping on their own.

“Buy me some time. I’ll try to handle the people.”

Sun-woo said, pointing at the stage.

On the stage, a blond European stood holding a sword next to Chairman Douglas.

[This is the execution of the man who has interfered with us so much. Now, let’s begin!]

Though packaged as theater, it was actually Chairman Douglas’s execution.

To show it even to uninitiated ordinary people – it was bad taste befitting a contaminated summoner.

As the blond raised his sword high, gunshots echoed across the deck.

Bang! Bang!

The party became chaotic at the sudden gunshots.

People screaming and people looking for where the gunshots came from.

Mingwei, who shot at the stage, made a regretful expression. The bullets she shot at the blond man were deflected by the sword of the man who blocked them.

Fortunately, since they were enhanced bullets, they shattered the sword, but she couldn’t attack further as he quickly dodged behind the stage.

But there was an even bigger problem.

Sun-woo’s magic broke because of Mingwei’s gunshots.

Among the people who fell down in surprise, brainwashed people began approaching Sun-woo and Mingwei.

“Hurry up!”

When people approached, Mingwei didn’t know what to do.

Among the brainwashed people were even people she knew, so she couldn’t shoot carelessly.

Then a spell flowed from Sun-woo’s mouth.

“Sleep!”

At the same time, the mana pouring from Sun-woo’s hands mixed with the mana flowing on the deck, and enhanced magic was executed.

Large-scale sleep magic.

The magic meant to put those not brainwashed to sleep changed by Sun-woo’s interference into magic that put all ordinary people to sleep.

The people approaching Sun-woo and Mingwei, the people screaming, and all the people lying down and fleeing fell asleep in place.

“Then since the interference is gone too.”

When Sun-woo drew his sword with a satisfied face, Mingwei urgently shouted.

“Please go easy on them!”

Sun-woo answered as he threw his body toward the stage.

“Depends on the situation.”