Chapter 117
Chapter 117
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 117
Chapter Title: Wraith of Ashes
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Boom!
Several more trailers were destroyed.
Finally grasping the situation, the trailers halted their charge.
A cluster of trailers neatly arrayed just beyond the range of the explosion spells.
People in strange attire climbed onto the roofs of some trailers.
“Ugh, they actually came out looking like that.”
Dozens of people in identical outfits.
The classic look of cultists, cloaked head to toe in drab brown robes.
It had looked pretty cool on the monitor, but seeing it in person, it was embarrassingly lame.
“They didn’t climb up there just to pose, so what are they gonna show us?”
Cultists could produce miracles similar to a wizard’s magic.
But to defy the laws of physics and reality, they used different methods from wizards.
Prayers instead of incantations, sacrifices instead of mana tuning.
They desperately beseeched the entities they called gods.
But nothing came free.
If they were lucky, sheer desperate prayer might grant their wish, but
most demanded sacrifices no human could bear.
Whoosh!
“Ugh, those lunatics.”
The bodies of the cultists on the trailers ignited all at once.
“Hahaha!”
“Kyahaha!”
“Thank you! Thank you!”
Laughter and thanks echoed instead of screams.
The fanatics, burning alive, danced a grotesque and horrific dance for a brief moment.
It was unclear if it was truly a dance or just writhing in agony.
Though the dance was short, it seemed to satisfy the god they served.
Screeeeech!
[Embrace of Buknak-samun]
[System: Area-wide enchantment spell activated.]
[The environment and climate of the area are readjusted.]
Suddenly, the surroundings changed.
‘Hot…?’
The air grew brittle and dry.
Even in the dead of night, the temperature soared.
Air like that of a parched desert blew in, hotter than any Korean summer.
Buknak-samun was the East Asian name for Piscis Austrinus, and its alpha star—the brightest—was Fomalhaut.
Fanatics charged with axes and torches in hand.
“The Master of Fomalhaut blesses us!”
“Kill them! Kill them! Turn them to ashes under the night sky!”
“Fear not death! Become the beacon lighting the fiery paradise!”
The spawn of Fomalhaut.
“Jeez. They should’ve gone after the Heretics instead, but they came here again?”
I’d told them about a good spot, so why not go there?
No, it wasn’t entirely ineffective. For a massive ritual like climate-altering magic, their numbers were too few.
‘They’re really gonna charge with axes instead of guns? We’ve got machine guns here?’
Of course, the enemy wasn’t stupid.
“Th-there! What’s that?!”
“Gaaah! Gaaaaah! The sky—the sky!”
“Monster! A monster!”
Rooooar!
Amid the continuous explosions came a completely different roar.
‘Wow, these guys are hopeless.’
Even if this was a remote spot with nothing around and the dead of night when no one stirred, that was too much.
The trailer charges had just been the opening act.
Beyond the fence, immense mana surged.
“T’kra-g’nash, t’kra-sivak! Zu-thog, zu-voth!”
A colossal monster swelled, poised to blot out the dark night sky.
I’d expected something to emerge, but honestly, not this.
No, it wasn’t that it was overwhelmingly powerful.
‘It’s just ridiculously obscure.’
That was the Ash Wraith.
Not just anyone could summon it. Only top-tier cultists—brains half-melted from living too long—could control such a surreal minion. At least one lunatic on par with Heo Joo was here.
‘How big is that thing gonna get?’
The Ash Wraith fed on surrounding smoke, heat, and dust, growing in seconds.
Vast smoke billowed from the trailers I’d exploded. Absorbing it, the Ash Wraith grew even larger.
“Ah, what a headache.”
It was vaguely humanoid, but a giant of ever-swelling, fluid gaseous flesh.
Rumble!
Eerie lightning crackled within the smoke-formed Ash Wraith.
At the same time, it bellowed in a grotesque language incomprehensible to humans.
“G’lor-t’kra, g’lor-zu! Voth-sivak, voth-thog!”
“Gaaaaah!”
“M-m-m-monster!”
“Giant! A giant!”
“What is that?! What the hell is it?!”
Even without the smoke, its absurd volume and mass were terrifying.
The Three Heads Society—no, Blue Tiger Gang—subordinates screamed at the monster swelling to eclipse the sky.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
Those firing uselessly skyward while screaming were the better ones. Most dropped their guns and fled randomly or collapsed on the spot.
Left alone, they’d shoot each other instead of the cultists.
[System: Exclusive trait ‘Abyssal Madness’ activated. Nullifies intimidation effects.]
Without Abyssal Madness, I might’ve joined them, but it was irrelevant to me.
“Zu-g’nash, zu-t’kra!”
The giant, now over 18 meters, raised its fist and smashed the fence.
Rumble! Crash!
One side of the fence crumbled.
“The fence is down!”
Three Heads Society forces charged toward the breach.
Ah, since the defenders were also Three Heads, that wasn’t right. Red Head’s men and the cultists were charging.
“Charge! Kill them all!”
“Go!”
“Sons of Fomalhaut! Charge!”
“It’s a holy war!”
Amid the clamor, Chinese, Vietnamese, and other languages mixed in. They’d really scraped together a motley crew.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
Unlike the cultists, Red Head’s men carried guns.
Boom! Crash!
Now something collapsed from the roof.
“The lookout tower’s falling!”
“Gaaaaah! Ruuuun!”
Ugh, hold on.
“Gaaaaah! Run!”
“We’re done for!”
While the enemies charged murderously, we were total chaos.
“Ah, no time to just watch.”
A list of my castable spells flashed in my mind. What works on that thing?
True to its ash-and-smoke nature, it was completely immune to fire. Its immunities were a joke.
Immune to fire, lightning, explosions, impacts, mind, energy, curses.
“Goddamn fun-ruining bullshit!”
Immense pressurized mana burst from my outstretched hands.
Shatter!
Mana shredded windows and walls like paper, morphing into a massive whirlwind.
[Whirling Fury]
[Spell Enhancement: Maximized]
[Spell Enhancement: Range Increased]
Fwoosh!
The raging gale and vortex obeyed my will, slamming the Ash Wraith.
Rumble!
The powerful mana vortex altered atmospheric pressure instantly and shook drifting clouds with its force.
The Ash Wraith recoiled, unable to fully swing its raised fist.
Its body shattered and scattered in moments, but…
“Thog-sivak!”
An amorphous monster of ash, smoke, heat, and the madness of corrupted souls.
No different from striking a cloud.
It reformed dozens of meters away.
I’d pushed it back, so time to handle other things first.
On the ground, cultists and Red Head’s men charged relentlessly.
[Fox’s Cunning]
[Swan’s Dance]
[Protection Circle]
[L-Grade Robe ‘Wings of the Night Veil’ unique function, ‘Wings of the Heavenly Demon’ activated.
// Wings of the Heavenly Demon: Auto-cast ‘Flight’ spell.]
My view shifted in an instant.
Ears rang with the howling wind threatening to burst eardrums. Soaring skyward, I redirected some of the vortex to lash the ground.
Boom!
The air and pressure here were fully under my control. I imbued the wind and vortex with new properties.
Rumble! Rumble!
A dragon-like growl echoed from somewhere—the noise of clouds and air grinding.
Yeah, smash ’em!
[Gale Trust]
[Spell Enhancement: Multicast]
[Spell Enhancement: Maximized]
Boom! Boom! Crackle!
Massive lightning and storms poured down on the enemies.
Formations crumbled instantly, their momentum shattered.
Even the death-defying cultists recoiled from the bombardment.
[Those around you are inspired by your heroic acts. Nearby people are temporarily exempt from sanity checks.]
“We have a wizard on our side!”
“Kim Shin-hwa! Kim Shin-hwa!”
“Fire! Blast those crazy cult bastards!”
“Kim Shin-hwa! Kim Shin-hwa!”
“Waaaaah!”
Why are these idiots chanting my name?
[You have enraged Jeokdu.
Hostile with ‘Three Heads Society’s Three Heads - Jeokdu’.]
Tch, no unifying the Three Heads unless Jeokdu dies. Not impossible—there’s a bug where shoving him in a dungeon and restarting resets affinity. If I can reboot this world somehow, maybe… No, focus!
What mattered now was,
“Zu-g’nash, zu-t’kra! Sivak!”
The giant lifting a burning trailer from afar. Ugh, cheating? My attacks don’t work, but it grabs, hits, throws?
Whooosh!
Ugh, it threw it. You bastard!
“Sigh… air battle it is?”
The trailer ballooned toward me at insane speed.
Closing to minimize mana loss, I projected mana at the massive incoming trailer slicing the night sky.
Dozens of magic circles bloomed like fireworks.
[Invisible Hand]
[Chains of Domination]
[Prison of Wind]
Crackle!
Gah, heavy!
But I caught the flying trailer…
“Sivak!”
“F… what? Did you just call me a bitch?”
No way, but it pissed me off.
[Downpour]
[Spell Enhancement: Maximized]
Splash!
Too little moisture here.
They didn’t change the weather for nothing before starting. Trying to steal weather control?
In the chaos, I glanced at the night sky.
New moon, of course? Season, time, latitude, pressure—all bad matchups. Overturning their pre-set environmental shift would take massive time and resources.
Through Chains of Domination, I sent will to the halted trailer in midair.
『Halt. Stay put.』
Then I swung at its side.
[Fireball]
[Spell Enhancement: Multicast]
Fwoosh!
Boom!
Eight fireballs pummeled it. Focused impacts gave it spin, but…
『I said stay!』
I poured mana to enforce physics-defying hold.
The Ash Wraith—and its cultist controller—didn’t grasp what I was doing, but I’d drawn their attention.
“Shivak! K’lak-shivak, Sivak-thog, sivak-t’kra!”
“That sounds like cursing!”
[Blue Elemental Burst]
[Spell Enhancement: Maximized]
Boom!
Explosions rocked the Ash Wraith’s face, torso, and legs. Condensed airborne water elements slammed it. That hurt, right?
Ah, it? The Ash Wraith reformed its scattering body—wait, legs to arms, arms to legs? The new leg-arms grabbed a ground trailer… and swung!
“Too fast!”
Damn, no dodge angle!
The world exploded in shock, darkness closing in.
BOOM!