I Became A Married Man in Another World
Chapter 127
127. When Whales Fight, the Shrimp’s Back Gets Crushed
The magic beast was a creature that looked like a hyena scaled up to a massive size. Black patterns spread across its entire body like spiderwebs.
In its prime, it must have been a majestic sight.
But now, its flesh was rotting and crumbling away, exposing bone in various places, giving it a wretched appearance.
The face was particularly horrific. Though the eyeballs remained, the flesh around them had become so brittle that bits of it fell away every time the young beast moved. It was painful just to look at.
Perhaps Gwen had prepared them for this.
Among the adventurers, several people held broad metal plates.
Whenever the magic beast strayed from the intended path, they would bang on the plates with their scabbards or the flat side of their swords.
As the metallic clang-clang echoed, the young beast, its rotting body exposed, would flinch and stumble forward or sideways in confusion.
If the sound alone wasn’t enough to make the beast turn, they used the metal plates to reflect sunlight directly into its eyes.
When the light hit its weakened eyes, the magic beast tried to close them. At least, it seemed to try. However, more than half of its eyelids had rotted away. It struggled to squeeze its partial eyelids shut, trying to look away….
Unable to bear the sight, Riji turned her head.
The carriage Riji was on was tucked away behind a house. While the magic beast might catch a glimpse of Riji, Yeonhwa was hidden from view. They had hidden her out of concern that the sight of a unicorn might startle the beast into fleeing.
Yeonhwa, too, was blocked by the house and could not see the magic beast. She could likely sense it, but she wouldn’t know what it looked like.
If she saw the pitiable sight of the young beast wandering in confusion, would Yeonhwa feel sorrow as a fellow magic beast? Or would she feel nothing at all, having become a Rudolph?
How did humans—how did Juhwan—look in the eyes of Yeonhwa or Oz? For some reason, Juhwan’s heart felt heavy with unease.
It wasn’t that animals couldn’t be cruel. Just as there are cats that toy with mice, there are magic beasts that intentionally toy with humans to inflict pain. But ultimately, humans were the most cruel of all.
‘Still…’
Juhwan clamped his mouth shut.
Anyone else might, but Juhwan, of all people, should not blame Gwen.
Gwen had likely devised this method as the most effective way to drive the magic beast toward Juhwan. It wasn’t out of cruelty or a desire to torment the creature.
Furthermore, Juhwan was about to do something even more cruel. He had no right to blame someone else for being cold-hearted.
Sigh. With a low exhale, Juhwan picked up the net he had placed nearby.
The magic beast was drawing closer. It didn’t seem to be trying to avoid Juhwan. Standing alone without a noisemaker or a weapon, he didn’t appear to be a threat.
’Or maybe it’s just so panicked it can’t think of anything.’
As the young magic beast ran to escape the humans and the metallic clanging, it let out a pathetic cry as if calling for someone. Aeee-ooo, aeee-ooo. It sounded like a kitten searching for its mother.
Juhwan infused the net with mana.
The mana rippled through the mesh.
As the loosely woven net grew taut with power, it began to drift upward slightly, like a swelling balloon.
Juhwan stole a glance at Riji.
Riji gave a small nod, as if telling him not to worry. She was still keeping her eyes averted from the magic beast.
Juhwan steadied his breathing and lowered his stance. After letting the wind lift the net a bit more, he began to run slowly toward the beast.
The young magic beast seemed startled. It flinched and came to a halt, then bared its teeth and growled.
The jawbone was visible through the crumbling flesh. It was trying to be threatening, but it only looked more pitiable….
The beast looked back once at the people approaching with loud noises from behind, then charged toward Juhwan. Each time its massive body hit the ground, the earth gouged slightly.
The magic beast’s large frame lunged toward Juhwan, shedding bits of itself as it moved. It likely intended to kill him in a single bite. Its teeth were aimed straight for Juhwan’s throat.
Juhwan twisted his body slightly and threw the net into the air. The net, hardened by mana, draped over the beast’s body.
As the startled beast struggled, one side of its head slipped out of the net.
A normal magic beast wouldn’t have been able to do that.
However, this beast’s body was in a state that looked as if it were made of crispy powder and sticky flour dough. One side was rotting and oozing, while the other was crumbling.
The side of the head where the net landed seemed to be a mix of both. As the edge of the net scraped the skin, it dug a deep furrow.
Because of that, the net slipped, and part of the head came free. As the beast thrashed, the net scraped across its entire body and fell to the ground.
The magic beast tried to bolt past Juhwan.
Juhwan quickly expanded his mana to entangle the beast’s body.
In that moment, several adventurers who had rushed over threw their nets onto the beast.
The people with the metal plates ran to the front of the beast’s escape path, making a tumultuous racket by banging on them with their sword blades.
While the adventurers blocked the beast’s path by shouting from all sides—sounds reminiscent of primitive tribesmen—Juhwan infused the nets they had thrown with mana.
The magic beast bared its teeth and growled in every direction, but it was a hollow threat.
Entangled in nets thrown from here and there, the more the beast struggled, the more it became ensnared.
As Juhwan poured powerful mana into the nets, the beast was soon pinned down, unable to move a muscle.
Trapped in the nets, the magic beast let out a long, mournful cry. It wasn’t incredibly loud. Yet, the cry of the beast spread far, as if reaching the very heavens. It was a sound that could break a person’s heart.
The adventurers surrounding the beast looked down at it in silence. No one spoke. It was just quiet. They had captured a magic beast that harmed people, which should have been a joyful occasion, but no one felt a sense of relief.
‘Ah, it disappeared.’
Hans realized that one of the magic beasts he had been tracking with his threads of mana had vanished from his detection range.
He sent out his mana toward the distant void once more, but he could find no trace of the beast. The movement of mana he had been receiving from the beast was completely erased. He could no longer track it.
His intuition told him that rather than dying, it had been covered by another source of mana.
He didn’t know how that happened or if it was even possible. But at the spot where the trace vanished, there had been a violent fluctuation of mana. It was likely because of that.
The distance was too great to be certain, but the entity that had overwritten the beast’s mana was likely human. It wasn’t that of a magic beast. He had never seen a magic beast with such intense mana.
‘Perhaps it’s similar to the Hero’s…’
This mana was far more abundant than the Hero’s.
The quality of the mana wasn’t the same either.
Of course, it was just a guess due to the distance, but he was fairly certain.
Yet, there was something similar. He couldn’t put his finger on exactly what it was, but if he had to use a metaphor, it was like a first impression. That uncertain sense of feeling that someone somehow resembles someone else.
The distant mana shared that kind of feeling.
Suddenly, a chilling sensation washed over him. A shudder ran down his spine, the kind one feels when about to be caught by someone they were secretly spying on.
Hans hurried to withdraw his mana.
The remnants of mana that had been stretched thin to connect with the magic beast were easily dispelled just by relaxing his concentration. The other party likely hadn’t noticed.
Only when the mana threads were completely severed and he felt certain no one could detect him did the tension finally leave his waist.
When he came to his senses, he found his entire body drenched in sweat. He didn’t think he had ever been this nervous in his life. That was how intense the mana across the void had been.
“….”
Mana is like a collection of invisible small particles. Spreading mana is akin to scattering those particles into the air.
Particles of mana feel and influence each other. Most magic is manifested by utilizing that property.
How far one could send those particles and maintain their connection determined the range of the magic.
Hans’s mana was significantly less than that of other mages.
He barely hung onto the minimum threshold required to cast magic.
However, his skill at connecting mana particles was incomparable to others. He couldn’t spread it wide or strong, but Hans could stretch thin threads of mana over great distances.
Of course, he didn’t just send them into the empty air. He needed a medium.
A medium could be anything. A magic beast, a human, or even an inanimate object.
Once he connected his mana to a medium, he could track its location and the things around it just by letting a small amount of power flow through.
While others would have to cast magic each time, the mana threads Hans attached to objects remained for quite a while. It was like tying a thin string. It was weak enough to be broken at any time, but as long as it didn’t break, it stayed connected indefinitely.
Hans, ruminating on the fear he felt before the mana was cut off, suddenly muttered.
“…Is there a monster like the Hero over there too?”
Hans hopped down from the hilly area.
The King seemed very pleased that the Hero had descended. He seemed to think they could finally gain the upper hand in the war against Simoni. It was understandable. After all, the only things that increase on a battlefield are corpses.
‘But there’s no way something like that was sent by a god.’
Perhaps it was the work of the Evil God. For the Evil God was a being that hated humans.
Though no one wanted to speak of it, and they tried to ignore it as if it didn’t exist, many believed in the Evil God. Hans was one of those people.
A being that raises corpses and commands them. Hans shuddered. The thought of becoming such a thing after death filled him with a fear that surpassed mere dread.
At the root of it lay a deep-seated loathing for the Hero and a profound fear of the gods.
‘Something so ominous…. No matter how much it benefits us in the war, such a being should not be allowed. It will surely incur the wrath of the gods.’
Hans stopped walking when he saw Kang Taehyung talking to the Deputy Commander.
Behind Kang Taehyung stood several military tents. The unit formed to train the Hero was stationed there.
Roughly fifty people. The unit included mages to train him in mana manipulation and magic, teachers to instruct him in the language and etiquette of this world, guards, and monitors.
Hans had joined this unit as the magic instructor to teach Kang Taehyung mana manipulation.
But at the same time, he was also under the King’s secret orders.
His mission was to discover and confirm any information regarding Simoni, such as the number of Simoni soldiers stationed at the border, any characteristic movements, the number of mages, and the types of magic they used.
The Deputy Commander was likely under similar orders. Since leaving the Royal Capital and approaching the kingdom’s edge, the Deputy Commander had been moving continuously along the border.
It was also the Deputy Commander who had sent the magic beast corpses created by the Hero across the border.
Loathing and anxiety aside, things had been going well so far. A significant amount of information had been gathered along the path the magic beasts moved.
‘But…’
He was uneasy. The presence of that mana he had just encountered made him infinitely anxious.
Hans hurried toward the Deputy Commander.
“Deputy Commander!”
As Hans approached, the Deputy Commander, who knew what Hans was doing at this hour, gave him a look.
“Then, Hero. I shall proceed with the following matters as discussed.”
“Sure.”
The Hero replied with clumsy pronunciation and a smirk. His face was lax. He looked sly.
Kang Taehyung glanced at Hans and gave a slight nod.
Then he hurried off toward his own tent. A beautiful woman, placed there to win over the Hero, was waiting in his tent.
Once the Hero was far enough away, the Deputy Commander glanced at Hans.
“Let’s go.”
Hans held his tongue and quietly followed the Deputy Commander.
Once inside the Deputy Commander’s tent and after the thick entrance flap was lowered, the Deputy Commander asked.
“What is it? You’re as pale as a sheet.”
Was his face really showing that much shock? Hans felt a bit embarrassed as he spoke.
“The connection with one magic beast has been severed. There is someone with powerful mana over there.”
“I see. So there are only two left.”
The Deputy Commander frowned. He hadn’t truly understood Hans’s words. He was simply disappointed that a connection with a magic beast was lost.
Hans spoke up quickly.
“That is not the problem. It seems there is a mage on the other side with mana even stronger than the Hero’s.”
“What nonsense is that!”
The Deputy Commander looked at Hans as if he were absurd.
“There can be no one with stronger mana than the Hero.”
“But.”
“You must have been mistaken. Everyone knows Simoni has no Hero.”
“….”
The Deputy Commander sighed and looked at Hans.
“I’m sure it was just your imagination, but I’ll put it in the report for now. However, go and check again. If rumors spread that there’s such a mage in Simoni right now, the morale of our troops, which we’ve worked so hard to build, will be ruined. Think carefully before you speak.”
“Understood.”
Hans had no choice but to leave the Deputy Commander’s tent. After he stepped out, he heard the Deputy Commander grumbling.
“This is why mages… they get scared over the smallest things and don’t think at all about the impact of their words. They have no sense of being a soldier.”
“….”
Hans walked between the tents with his head slightly lowered.
It was a well-known story that soldiers disliked mages. Hans had come to learn this well while working with them. Even if it was a valid opinion, more often than not, it wasn’t properly accepted.
‘It’ll be the same this time.’
The Deputy Commander said he would put it in the report, but he didn’t say when. Hans’s words likely wouldn’t make it into this report.
Perhaps in a year or two, when it could be proven that Hans was completely wrong, it would finally be written in a report. As evidence to mock him.
“….”
The words of a sailor he had met once came to mind. He said that in the sea, there are fish much larger than people. They are called whales. While talking about whales, the sailor told him an interesting proverb.
[There’s a saying about the shrimp’s back getting crushed. it means the weak suffer when the strong fight.]
Hans’s heart felt scorched black.
Perhaps—no, definitely—he would end up dying in this war. In a war where monsters and monsters clash, there was no way an ordinary human could survive. It was truly a case of getting crushed. Though he felt he might not even be a shrimp compared to the Hero and the enemy’s mage.
Why was life so unfair? He was forty years old. Because of his peculiar ability, he had been dragged into the army and overworked so much that he hadn’t even been able to get married.
‘Ah, dammit.’
If he had known it would be like this, he would have at least held a woman’s hand once.
