Chapter 108
Chapter 108
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 108
Chapter Title: T's Clock (1)
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[Adhesive Fluid]
Spiiiish!!
Did I really have to use a spell like this? A slimy, viscous liquid erupted from my fingertips.
“Guhk!! Ack! Mmph!!”
The target of the slime was his gaping mouth. As the sticky goo jammed into it, he couldn’t finish his desperate plea for mercy. But even then, he kept thrashing and howling.
“Hold still!”
Spiiiish!! Splaaash!! Spluuuush!!
“Uwooooph!! Guhk! Uwaaaah!!”
I poured more mana into the gushing slime, covering his entire body. The cultist was finally overwhelmed by the pressure and rolled across the ground, turning into a massive lump tangled with slime, dirt, leaves, and who knows what else.
It wasn’t a pretty sight, but life was precious.
Namu Amida Butsu.
[Achievement Unlocked! You have defended against the first raid.
You have obtained the ‘Common Achievement: First Defense.’
As an achievement reward, you obtain the ‘Beacon Staff’ and gain experience.]
[You have successfully defended against a territory raid. Experience gained.]
[You have defeated 52 cultists (Descendants of Pomalhaut). Your understanding of the ‘Living Flame Cult’ as a whole increases.]
Experience like this wasn’t enough to level up anymore.
The Beacon Staff was the one that cultist had been holding earlier.
Checking it out, it was an item that provided a few fire-type spells and the ability to summon a blazing familiar, even without magical knowledge.
Not a bad item, but not something I needed. If I attached it to one of my spirit golems, could I make a fire-breathing golem?
“Alright, time to clean up.”
I needed to figure out how these guys knew to come here. It seemed repetitive, but convincing cultists like this was impossible.
I’d gone easy on them this time, but if things didn’t go well, I might have to wage endless war until I exterminated their entire cult.
“The Descendants of Pomalhaut probably have over a hundred thousand believers...”
I could fight, but taking on a hundred thousand troops in this chaotic timing? For no pay? No way! Too annoying!
Grrrrrind!! Cliiiick!!
One of my featureless spirit golems approached and relayed a message.
“All done?”
It seemed the last of the resistors had been subdued.
“Let the ones trying to flee go, and give emergency aid to those who look like they’re dying. Ideally, guide them so the fleeing ones take the wounded with them.”
Clic, clack, clack.
I gave the order, but instead of carrying it out immediately, the spirit golem pointed somewhere with what passed for its hand.
“Over there? What’s that?”
Other than the cultist buried in slime...
“Oh, right. He’ll die if I leave him like that.”
[Clear Water Creation]
Spiiiish!
I splashed water toward his face.
“Haaak! Khaaaak!!”
The slime covering his entire face had completely blocked his breathing.
“Whew, almost killed him.”
Come to think of it, what that guy said was nagging at me. T’s Clock? What was that?
Oh, maybe it’s the attic clock the Golden King mentioned?
“Hey, toss that slime-covered guy out in the yard too.”
Clack, clack, craaack.
In the open space in front of the mansion, I saw over a dozen cultists lined up at precise intervals.
The relatively unharmed ones were bound with ropes, while the others were being tended to with basic first aid by patrolling spirit golems.
“No fatalities.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Heo Sang-hyeon had a different expression from usual.
Gone was the anxious face with its wide blinking eyes; now it was sharp with tension and strictness. Not even a veteran, yet he looked like this?
“Shall I report what we’ve confirmed from the prisoners?”
“Huh? You did interrogations?”
How far does this go?
Oh, apparently the former lord always had him do this after beating down other cults or wandering fixers.
“No, without special orders, I couldn’t. Not enough time either... I just picked up some info from what they said while capturing them and thought I’d pass it on.”
Heo Sang-hyeon briefly flashed an anxious look, his eyes widening hugely.
Ah, so he could do interrogations or torture if ordered? Makes sense—he can use spirit arts too.
Anyway, he spent years laboring under that psychopath skullhead. Probably has more rough experience than he looks.
“No, no need for interrogation. Other than knowing they’re the Torchbearers—no, Descendants of Pomalhaut—anything else?”
“They weren’t after you, Master... er, the former master. They came to take something called ‘T’ that he had.”
“Yeah, I heard that earlier. T’s Clock, right? Know anything about it?”
“No, not really. But the former master often captured cultists or sacrifices from other cults... So he wasn’t on good terms with them. This isn’t the first raid.”
Heo Sang-hyeon paused mid-sentence, widening his huge eyes further and trailing off, but I could guess what he omitted.
Captured for... nourishment or sadistic pleasures, probably.
Among the abyss entities, some had sibling or parent-child relations. That led to friendly cults, or loose alliances and associations for mutual benefit even without close ties.
Meanwhile, some just called each other heretics and fought.
For example, followers of the [King in Yellow Raiment] saw those serving the [Sleeper in R’lyeh] as mortal enemies.
But I was a player, after all.
I’d played as a cultist identity a few times, but not often enough to know the detailed web of relations between cults.
“So the former lord was pretty much a crazy bastard among cultists too?”
“Something like that. But he did have some exchanges.”
“Exchanges?”
“Yes. He attended some gatherings, and letters came from outside occasionally.”
Sorry to Heo Sang-hyeon for saying this seriously, but imagining it was hilarious. What kind of meeting did that skull guy—who turned all his followers into undead—attend? And what kind of lunatic sends letters to that nasty skeleton?
“Those letters—any still around?”
“If they weren’t thrown out during the big cleanup after you arrived, Master, they might be. I’ll check.”
“Hmm, they might’ve been tossed. Not important, so don’t overdo it.”
“Understood.”
I glanced at the Descendants of Pomalhaut rolling on the ground and said,
“Once they’re patched up enough, let the non-officers escape. Even if officers flee, don’t bother chasing.”
“Understood.”
“Yeah. I think I need to check the attic.”
First, I had to find out what this T’s Clock was. Then I could decide whether to negotiate with the Descendants of Pomalhaut or threaten them into never coming back.
Inside the mansion, only two spirit golems remained, waiting to guard the first floor.
“You two—leave one and go help Sang-hyeon outside.”
Crack, crunch, craaack.
“The attic... There really wasn’t anything there.”
When I’d infiltrated as a player before, I’d used the window in the attic ceiling.
There was one coffin, and otherwise, it was weirdly empty.
Had the setting changed?
Or was there a trigger I hadn’t satisfied back then?
I climbed the creaking wooden stairs to the attic.
Creaaaaak...
The attic door opened to reveal just one thing.
A coffin.
In the dark attic’s center sat an open stone coffin without a lid.
“They wouldn’t call that a clock, would they?”
It was just a dusty, spacious attic.
Spiders or bugs wouldn’t be out of place, yet none were visible—that was odd.
Besides that, just the one window in the ceiling. Something there?
Peeking from the door wouldn’t cut it; the layout demanded getting closer.
“No way it’s some mini-game puzzle that only appears after solving, right?”
I walked right up to the coffin, but looking around revealed nothing special.
Really, just the coffin under the window. That was it.
But its position was almost like...
“No way this coffin’s for lying in and stargazing?”
Lying in it would perfectly align your view with the window.
“Oh...”
Found it.
The moment I looked up from right beside the coffin, I understood what the Golden King and Descendants of Pomalhaut had been talking about.
Hidden in the attic ceiling was an intricate mechanical device.
Obscured by rafters and beams, it was invisible unless you looked straight up from this spot.
Dozens of springs, rods, counterweights, and chains around the window formed a complex mechanism.
It evoked the guts of an antique analog clock.
“But it’s not moving?”
They called it a clock, so that’s what I thought, but it didn’t look like one to anyone. No numbers, no hands pointing at time.
In another context, I might’ve thought it was just ornate decoration.
No negotiating with this.
“What the hell is it? Annoying—maybe just rip it out?”
And what’s with this coffin?
Part of a set?
A coffin positioned to perfectly view the window when lying down.
Mechanical devices encircling the window like a frame.
“...”
Damn it... Lying down here feels like it’d reveal something.
“But it’s creepy as hell.”
The moment I lay down, a trap might spring and something gruesome happen.
Sure, who’d break into someone’s house and lie in their coffin out of curiosity? Don’t underestimate Cthulhu World.
Traps designed to punish curiosity abounded, context and logic be damned.
I cautiously cast detection magic.
[Trap Detection]
Whiiiirrr...
“Ah, there it is.”
Something under the coffin.
Let’s see. Mechanism attached below—if enough weight settled in, something triggered.
“Not quite a full trap on its own.”
Whoever placed it here clearly wanted someone to lie in the coffin. Whether it activated a clock or a trap, who knew.
“Ugh... Wasting time like this won’t help.”
[Fox’s Cunning]
[Eagle’s Glory]
[Hawk’s Eye]
[Protection Circle]
I cast spells to counter any sudden traps and lay in the coffin.
Clunk.
At once, the coffin dipped slightly, and something activated.
Thud, clunk, creaaaaak...
The springs hanging from the ceiling began moving with heavy noises.