Chapter 118
Chapter 118
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 118
Chapter Title: Firebrand (1)
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[L-grade accessory ‘Carcosa’s Mask’ unique function, ‘Dreamlike Haze,’ activates.
// Dreamlike Haze: Automatically casts the ‘Blink’ spell.]
“G’nash-sivak, g’nash-t’kra?!”
I still had no idea what it was saying, but I could tell the ash wraith was shocked.
[Blink complete. Reuse cooldown: 864,000 seconds]
The moment my vision cleared, I sent a new command through the Chains of Domination. The target was the trailer. The command’s content was...
『Go!』
Boom——————!
With a shockwave like the air itself exploding, the trailer rocketed away. It was the same trick I’d pulled in the abandoned hospital on Mount Gamak just a few hours ago—the one that had sent a guy on a trip to space.
No magic, barrier, or defense could block that speed and power.
The direction... wasn’t toward the ash wraith at all. It flew straight at some completely random spot.
It hurtled toward a trailer that had screeched to a halt mid-charge.
Kwaaaaaaaaang!!!
An immense impact I could feel from this distance.
Like a meteor had crashed down.
The ground cracked open, and the surrounding trees shattered to splinters.
“G’nash-t’kra?!”
Yeah, that’s right. The guy who summoned you was holed up in there, wasn’t he?
I’d sensed him from the start.
As always, the summoner’s biggest weakness in summoning magic was their defenseless body controlling the summon.
I obliterated the trailer where that summoner had been hiding, the one who’d sacrificed his low-ranking cultists’ bodies and souls to call forth that pathetic summon while cackling like an idiot.
The ash wraith reached out for me until the very end, but it was too late—its body had already dissolved into natural dust and smoke, scattering away.
Just before its hand could touch me, it vanished, no longer able to affect the physical world.
“Whew, the smoke’s not clearing right away.”
The thick clouds of smoke blurred my vision. I glanced toward the mansion and saw Cheongho’s underlings still clueless about what was happening, and the cultists who’d grasped the situation at blinding speed.
“Why! Why has our Judge been taken from us!”
“What happened to Firebrand!”
“What the hell? What’s going on?!”
The temperature around us plummeted. The evaporated moisture wouldn’t recover instantly, but it’d be back soon enough.
Alright, time for a shot over there.
[Lightning Bolt]
[Spell Enhancement: Multiple Cast]
Rumble, kwaaaaaang!
I hammered a bolt of lightning down on the guys who hadn’t quite caught on yet.
And another one over there.
[Fireball]
[Spell Enhancement: Maximize]
Kwaaaaaang!!
A deafening roar like the sky itself collapsing, and a vibration like the earth caving in.
Their trusted colossal monster was gone, and their leader had ditched them to flee. These weren’t even Cheongho’s main forces—they were mercenaries scraped together with pocket change. They had no reason to keep fighting.
A few stray shots came flying my way now and then, their minds broken. Oh? Even an axe.
[Gale Strike]
Bwooooong!!
Not a single one touched me, all plummeting to the ground. Along with their morale. I activated [Sonic Impact] and roared.
“Get the hell out of here noooow!!!”
[L-grade accessory ‘Carcosa’s Mask’ unique function, ‘Yellow Dominion,’ activates.
// Yellow Dominion: Adds ‘Spell Enhancement: Instill Fear’ effect to certain spells.]
My voice exploded into the open air like thunder rumbling across the heavens, and with that, the chaotic siege warfare came to an end.
“Gaaaaah!!”
“Gods, no!!!”
They started breaking ranks and fleeing one by one.
No difference now between Cheongho’s grunts and the cultists.
The weapons they’d brandished so boldly clattered to the ground. Every one of them pale with terror, on the verge of passing out.
“Where to? Where do we run?!”
But no one was left to point the way. They scattered in every direction.
Total pandemonium—some idiots sprinting toward Cheongho’s mansion, others flopping to the ground and burying themselves in craters.
“Let’s see...”
Sure, a bit of destruction, a ton of noise and chaos, but... “...did I hold them off pretty well?”
They’d thrown trailers, cultists, and mercenaries scraped from everywhere—a pretty ambitious strike.
And all they’d managed after slamming in so desperately was topple one wall section and take a few steps into the garden.
‘Looks like they’ll handle cleanup themselves, so I should go earn some pocket money.’
At the center of the massive crater lay pitch-black remains.
Almost no life signs left, and the unnaturally pooled traces of mana were dissipating.
‘Pretty sure they’re all dead?’
Based on what I could sense, no need for further checks, but this was [Cthulhu World].
There were spells that could evade my detection, and if some worthless alien freak was mixed in, who knew what variables might pop up.
As I approached cautiously—
[System: ‘Enhanced Vigilance’ trait activates.]
Rumble—the debris flipped over, and a brilliant flash erupted.
“Huh?”
Fwoosh!
Not a flash—roaring flames. A massive flame shaped like a bull charged straight at me.
[Net of Fog and Dew]
I blocked the flames with a magical net woven from mist and dew.
Groooowl!!
‘Heavy stuff, fueled by abyssal mana lent by that entity?’
The flame bull thrashed like a living beast, ferocious and wild.
My magical net shook as if it’d tear apart any second.
But thanks to the Corrupted Flame Ring, the [Living Flame]’s mana felt familiar.
I extended my will, piercing into the flame’s core—the magic’s central nucleus—and poured in my own mana, activating a new spell.
[Wicked Gaze]
[Voice of Dominion]
『Begone.』
Fizzle...
The flames vanished in an instant. Leaving just a faint scorch mark of some grotesque shape on the ground, as if nothing had happened.
Then, a strange presence emerged.
What the hell are you? Who dares interfere with our great undertaking?
“Huh?”
It was fire enveloping a soul. No—a flame substituting for flesh, or a vessel forcibly preserving a scattering spirit.
“Did you shove your soul into the summon’s body at the moment of death? Impressive skills.”
- Skills? Because of you, I lost my body... my body!
A miracle visible only to high-ranking elders among the Living Flame worshippers. At death’s door, he’d sealed his soul in magical fire, becoming a will-o’-wisp of sorts.
“Why not just take your men and flee to plot another day—or die trying? That form doesn’t exactly fit your cult’s doctrines, does it?”
Didn’t they say dying for the god was the highest honor?
- You! You’re the one who shoved that horrific flesh into my followers’ bodies?
“Oh, that? Yeah, my bad. You should be thanking me.”
- What? Thanking you?
“Because of that, those guys didn’t come here, right?”
- What... what are you even saying?
“Thanks to me, at least that one survived to inherit your knowledge and... whatever your cult calls it? Something cheesy like ‘Will of Fire’ or ‘Fomalhaut’s Will.’ Anyway, some lame name attached to it. So you owe me thanks.”
- You scum, I’ll burn you to ash with the god’s flame! The Living Flame’s curse will consume even your soul!
Provoked, the old wisp flared up, its soul-enveloping flames trembling with rage. Nah, too long for “wisp grandpa.” His name—or title—was Firebrand. Precisely, it was a title, not a name.
Growling and flickering, he seemed as hot-tempered as he looked—pure firecracker. But he didn’t charge right away. Instead, he stealthily expanded his influence and senses, probing my power.
Then, out of nowhere, he jolted back in shock.
- You? You? What the hell are you?!
“Hm? My identity? Wizard—no, fixer? Cutting to head and tail out of nowhere, what am I supposed to say?”
- You don’t care about wasting your soul, hacking up your body and spirit with that horrific crap!? No, no! What is this!? The pressure you’re enduring—no human could withstand it! Power no one should bear!
“Oh, this mask and all? Eh, just happened.”
Not just the [King in Yellow]’s mask.
The robe from the Golden King.
The [Living Flame] ring.
A fragment of [The One Who Comes from the Dark].
And while not directly from [The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young], I had her fluids too.
If I stretched it, the [Blind and Stupid One]’s mana, and probably [The Crawling Chaos]—Nyarlathotep’s influence—in my status window.
- Im... impossible! It can’t be. Even that vile Old One’s artifact. Mixing incompatible forces and wielding them... What are you?!
Same reaction again.
“What else? Just a smart wizard. They all seem eager to lend me power.”
- I see. The Feast’s Sacrifice, the one foretold by the Living Flame—it’s you. That’s why She lent power for this foolish battle.
Firebrand suddenly started spouting something profound.
But I couldn’t fall for this pattern.
“No, no, no, stop! Cut it out!”
I waved my hands at him and yelled. Cut, cut, cut! Skip, skip!
“No time for this crap—time to squawk and charge already?”
- Squawk?
I was sick of the cryptic bullshit every time I asked something. This old guy would hype up expectations just to squawk and lunge at some point anyway.
“You don’t really know the important stuff anyway, right, old timer? Skip the buildup and just screech while charging. Then I can go, ‘Knew it!’ and take you down.”
- You, you, you insane wizard!!
Firebrand flushed(?) red as if it was his first taste of such insult, bursting into flames.
- Me, ignorant? The Living Flame told me directly. Why you were made, why you were drawn here! I know!
“Huh? Old timer?”
You know something?
- Heh heh heh... Curious? You don’t know. I know why you withstand opposing mana in your body. Because you were made for it.
“Oho, old timer. First one to spill so openly like a real elder. Judges like you cultists are a cut above, huh? Anything else you wanna share?”
- Plenty. You see, the Feast’s Sacrifices...
“The Feast’s Sacrifices?”
- Have the perfect bodies for possession! I’ll make yours an altar for the Living Flame!
Wisp grandpa finally let out a horrific screech and lunged at me.
- Gyaaaaah!!
But I’d seen this coming, so I reflexively triggered a spell.
“Knew it!”
[Net of Fog and Dew]
Whew, all that talk, and he was just bluffing. Possession? Try possessing me?
“Go ahead, give it a shot.”
- What?
“Possession. I’m saying try it.”
I deliberately opened the mana line connected to the Net of Fog and Dew. A cultist of Firebrand’s level would know what that meant.
- You... how dare you insult me like this! Think I can’t do it!!!!
Pssshhh!!
Firebrand’s will and soul began seeping into me along the mana line, toward my body and spirit. Scorching rage and horrific obsession flooded in.
But.
[System: Exclusive trait ‘Abyssal Madness’ activates. Nullifies possession effect.]
Crackle!!!
“Grahhh!!”
The alien will invading my body bounced off in an instant.
- What! What are you!!!
“Asking the same thing over and over—you must be fading out.”
- Stop! Enough! Impossible! You, you monster! You shouldn’t exist in this world! Living Flame! Oh Living Flame! I understand Your great will now!! The final chance You granted! I’ll use it to stop this demon!!
[System: Penalty trait ‘Feast’s Sacrifice’ effect activates.]
The Living Flame finally intervened directly. From beyond this world, from that lonely star Fomalhaut in some distant galaxy, ominous mana flowed in.
Firebrand gathered it into a miracle.
[Inferno]
Fwoooooosh!!! Pssshhh!!!
Immense heat and blinding light.
Even my [Fire Resistance] trait couldn’t fully block the lethal temperature. The final blaze from a cultist who’d honed technique and faith for decades.
He was burning even his soul in this charge.
Psssh!!
At the same time, dozens of magic circles unfolded around me, blocking the incoming flames.
Sizzle!!
Hm? This is kinda hot?
Mana concentrating abnormally.
Absurd heat.
This wasn’t Firebrand’s power. An abyssal entity’s spell, using the old cultist’s soul as a foothold.
‘Ugh, mess this up, and I’m toast for real.’
I poured mana into the circles, forming magical runes of a specific attribute.
- Fire runes? You dare play with fire before a supernova’s blaze?!
“See for yourself if it’s playing.”
I drew the Four Sins Subjugating Sword and held it horizontally.
Whiiiinnn......
It whined and vibrated, displeased at being used for magic against evildoers.
‘So this is what they mean by a sword singing? Neat.’
Who cares if it’s picky with half-dead foes? Just do your job.
Whiiiinnn......
[SSS-grade weapon Four Sins Subjugating Sword (Rokjon)’s unique function, ‘Image of Heavenly Fire,’ activates.
// Image of Heavenly Fire: Increases all fire-type spell effects by 100%.]