Chapter 106
Chapter 106
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 106
Chapter Title: Ambush (2)
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[Black Flame]
Six pitch-black fireballs ignite demonically outside the window.
Distorted skulls flicker grotesquely within the flames. These are flames forcibly conjured by dragging in the wandering spirits around us.
Kiiiiieeeeng!!!
At the same time, the artifacts I possess all activate in unison, amplifying my spell.
It's a magic that fuses fire and necromancy mana.
[Ring of Corrupted Flame: Fire magic +50%
Butcher's Hook: Necromancy magic +100%
Fourfold Judgment Sword: Fire magic +100%]
The spirits, triple-enhanced, hurtle forward with devastating firepower.
I wish the multipliers multiplied together, but [Cthulhu World] uses addition instead.
Kwaaaaaaaaang!!
In an instant, the stars in the sky are blotted out by an enormous black flame...
- Kuaaaaaaaaak!!!
The horrific screams produced by the spirits echo out. These aren't mere screams. They carry an added effect that injects forced terror and hallucinations.
“Uwaaaak!! Monster, it's a monster!”
“Ambush, ambush!!”
“My legs, my legs!!”
Lights flare up all at once from the direction where the attackers were hiding. They must have panicked and turned on their lights. Oh? Lighting fires? Asking me to hit you there?
[Lightning Strike]
[Spell Enhancement: Multi-Cast]
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang! Pachijijijik! Kwarururung!!
Bolts of lightning crash down everywhere, white flashes glittering.
Those guys seem pretty well-trained, so this probably won't kill them.
“Over there! There, that car—he cast the spell from that car!”
“Block that car!”
Whoever it is, there's one sharp one among them.
“Damn, they've spotted us.”
“Ehh!? Spotted? What do we do? Run?”
Looks like there's a fairly high-level mage or priest among them.
“Jang Hyun-deok, you head back now. I'll wire you the pay tomorrow.”
“You sure that's okay?”
“Go.”
I flung open the car door and leaped out.
“Uwaak! Sir Mage!?”
Jang Hyun-deok's scream echoes behind me. But before my feet hit the ground, the spell had already activated.
[Fox's Cunning]
[Swan's Dance]
Normally I'd use Leap here, but not anymore.
[L-rank outfit 'Wings of the Night Veil' unique function, 'Heavenly Demon's Wings' activates.
// Heavenly Demon's Wings: Automatically casts 'Flight' spell.]
Flap-flap-flutter!
The wing robe catches the wind, producing a sound like a bird flapping its wings.
With swift and fluid momentum, I soar up into the dark night sky.
Vroooom!
In an instant, I've risen to the height of a four-story building, surveying the ground below.
“Tch, what the hell is that?”
Every single attacker is holding some weird light source.
“Torches?”
Of course, among cultists with outdated mindsets, plenty cling to pointless strange traditions.
Thanks to that, you can roughly tell who's who by their weird obsessions—and the ones carrying torches like that...
“Great Flames, blazing supernova fire, master of Fomalhaut! Lend us your greedily flickering tongues!”
'Descendants of Fomalhaut.'
I'd laughed at them for lighting fires the moment they were attacked, but it wasn't stupidity. To them, those torches are more than mere lights—they hold special value.
Did that bastard Park Kwang-rim betray me? I could've lifted the curse if he just waited a bit longer, but he couldn't hold out!
Fwooooosh!!
Huge fireballs detach from the torches they're holding and begin swimming through the night sky.
'Those fireballs...?'
Twenty fireballs shooting up toward the sky.
Those aren't magic.
Like drones, like a reverse meteor shower arcing against the heavens, like will-o'-the-wisps from legend—these fireballs flying up are each... uh, living beings? Can you even call them that?
“Uhryyyyyyyyyy!!!”
“Ahrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!”
Anyway, alien entities with carbon-based organic structures incomprehensible to Earth life, possessing mana and will of their own—surreal monsters.
The minions of the [Living Flames], also called 'Burning Ones,' 'Flaming Tongues,' or 'Fire Vampires.'
“Burning Ones! Flaming Tongues! Incinerate Fomalhaut's enemies!!”
“Uhryyyyyyyyyy!!!”
Fine, come at me. I'll smash you all.
Impressive, but not hard to deal with.
The fireballs trail long tails of flame like a meteor shower as they fly toward me. No, not toward me—they're flying... away?
Huh? Where the hell are those things headed?
“Ah, you idiot Kim Shin-hwa!”
To those cultists, I'm invisible in my black clothes flying through the night sky. Naturally, they'll head for the lit-up car fleeing the scene.
“Ugh, what a pain.”
I draw up my mana and project my will into the Night Veil robe.
Feeling the horrific strain on my spine and neck bones, I sharply turn direction.
I fly at high speed toward Jang Hyun-deok's van, calculating the angle.
Range... ah, whatever. The whole damn sky in front of me!
[Creation: Pure Water]
[Crashing Waves]
Splash! Kwaaaaak! Pa-goo-goo-goo!!!
A massive wave engulfs the night sky.
“Wh-what!? What the hell is that!”
“Waves!? Water? Where'd that insane amount of water come from!?”
Shouts of alarm erupt from the cultists.
“They're impressive, sure, but in the end, they're just made of fire, right?”
Chwa-pya-goo-goo-goo-gwak!!!
“Ahgrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!”
The Burning Ones, flying in one direction, scatter in all directions.
They're maneuvering to dodge the sudden massive wave, but a bit too late.
Chiiiiiik!!
The ones caught in the wave explode into steam and vanish. Their desperate wriggling to escape the wave's area is almost pitiful.
“Hm, water beats fire, as expected.”
Even ordinary water, not mana-infused currents, damages them on contact.
“Uhryyyyyyyyyy!!!”
But I didn't get them all. About half pulled off acrobatic maneuvers to escape the wave's range.
Confused, the Burning Ones trace wiggly paths as they wander the air. Searching for me?
“There! That guy! It's himmm!”
A shout from afar. Damn, whoever that is has some lungs.
The Burning Ones floating in the air fix their gaze on me. Of course, those fireballs don't have eyes, but my mage supersenses detect their surreal stares.
“Uhryyyyyyyyyy!!!”
“Ahrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!”
“Ah, shut up, you pests.”
The fireballs charge at me with terrifying momentum.
These idiots—flying straight at me all bunched up makes it easy for me to hit them.
Ziiiiiiing...
I fly backward while activating a spell.
Crimson fireballs hurtling toward me, met by dazzling blue magic circles unfurling to greet them.
Feels like watching a flashy laser show.
[Hydro Cataclysm]
Poo-goo-goo-goo-goo!!!
The glowing blue magic circles explode all at once. With them, enormous water cannons burst outward in every direction.
Chiiiiiik!!
The sky darkens in an instant.
I cleaned them up at a pace more like housekeeping than fighting.
Puffs of steam rising like clouds here and there are the only proof that it all really happened. Even those will dissipate soon.
“Jang Hyun-deok...?”
Ah, those distant lights—must be him? He fled pretty far in that short time.
“No need to pay him this time.”
I turn my head to look where the torches are clustered.
Stunned by their trusted minions vanishing in seconds, the torchbearers' formation is breaking.
“Well then, cultists. What's your next move?”
Did my quiet mutter carry that far? Suddenly, it seems their leader made a decision.
“Waaaaah!!”
“Look down upon the Descendants of Fomalhaut!”
The torchbearers—no, the Descendants of Fomalhaut—charge toward the ravenous mansion in unison.
“Huh? Ignoring me?”
Fwooooosh!!!
“Ughrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!”
Nope.
Like fireworks launching into the sky, an immense number of fireballs rise up.
Dozens—no, hundreds—enough to call it that.
A spectacular sight reminiscent of the Thousand Gold Hall's skies.
“Whoever's summoning that many must be exhausted—skin and bones by now.”
Too many for one person.
Either they have an S-rank or higher artifact... or maybe it's not just some random cultist, but someone on the level of a high priest or inquisitor?
I spread mana threads infused with detection all around.
[Heavenly Sight]
My vision expands dramatically, capturing all mana sources moving in the area.
'That one's the summoner.'
The guy holding what looks like a long torch pole. Or rather, a staff with fire at the tip?
Looks like a nice item. Just benefiting from an artifact—nothing special himself.
“Hey, cut it out.”
I concentrate the mana I'd spread for detection into a single point and transmute its nature.
Changing mana already imbued with a specific attribute to another requires immense focus... but decomposition, conversion, reconstruction. For me, who's long been able to manipulate primal mana particles, it's no big deal.
[Blades of Frost]
Kakaduduk!
Sudden ice blades erupt upward.
“Kuaaaak!”
Blood sprays and screams scatter.
Gotcha, you bastard. Stay put—finishing blow incoming.
[Arrow of Ruin]
[Spell Enhancement: Multi-Cast]
Bazz buzz buzz!!
I fire off the spell right after, but he's no fool just relying on his artifact.
He dives into the trees around the mansion to dodge. I try to follow up, but—.
“Uhryyyyyyyyyy!!!”
“Urk. Not the time.”
The Burning Ones swarm in fiercely to protect their summoner.
“Eek!”
I climb higher to evade the incoming fireballs.
I glance back toward that cultist, but he's completely vanished.
Ah, lost him. But at least I stopped more summons.
I gain altitude and activate a new spell.
[Mist Dew Spiderweb]
Pshwa-chaja-jaja-ja!!!
A spiderweb of mist and dew.
A massive water net summoned to deal with the fly-like fireballs coming at me.
“Not its original purpose, but...”
“Ughrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!”
It's a defensive capture spell, but against these water-weak blobs, it's attack enough.
Vast steam rises into the sky.
“Hm, but there are too many.”
Plus, Burning Ones aren't mere fireballs.
They have intelligence and will.
The eerie light trails stitching the night sky writhe precisely, changing direction.
'This might take a bit.'
Stopping them isn't hard. The problem is...
“Beacon Zealots! Destroy the heathen's lair!”
The Beacon Zealots are a subordinate militant order under the Descendants of Fomalhaut. As their fanatical name suggests, they exist to smash the church's enemies.
Anyway, with a cultist commanding summon ability like that, his underlings won't be small fry.
I glance toward the mansion—lights are turning on in every window. Mr. Heo Sang-hyun must be awake.
“Might as well test the performance of all those defense setups I built.”
I cast a few more water spells while extending my hand behind me.
Ting-.
[Silver Bell of the Underworld]. It channels power to strengthen control over summons.
“Everyone, rise.”
I shoot mana and will toward the mansion.
Kiririk! Kakaduduk! Pagyagyagyaek!!!
Enormous noise starts erupting from the mansion.