Chapter 127
Chapter 127
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 127
Chapter Title: The One Who Laughs (3)
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[You have encountered a mighty high mental entity, a being whose mind humans cannot even approach. You have met a unique existence on the verge of gaining new power and ascending as an abyssal being. The immense power of the One Who Laughs shakes your soul.]
[Mental strength stat resists this shock. Mental strength check... failed!]
I screamed at both Cheong-ho and the message windows, activating my spell.
“Hey! Stop it! Cut it out!”
[Of Ruin...]
[System: Exclusive trait ‘Abyssal Madness’ activates. Changes the check result to success.]
Bzzzt!!!
‘What the hell is this?’
The sparks from the Abyssal Madness trait scattered my mana in an instant.
Did the spell get canceled? Because of the trait activation? Of all the damn times?
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, you piece of shit!”
The brief gap before the Abyssal Madness trait kicked in.
That awkward time lag kept me from stopping Cheong-ho’s insane act.
[Those influenced by the high mental entity become its slaves. But the Abyssal Madness that activated at just the right moment protected your mind. Amid brief relief, a sudden thought crosses your mind. ‘Ah, maybe I could’ve ended up like that too.’]
Crack, crunch, rip.
Snap, drip...
Ah.
He ended up ripping it out after all.
The skin, muscles, and thick skull were torn away, exposing what should never see the light.
A glistening gray lump above Cheong-ho’s eyebrows.
It’s uncertain if that lump truly holds abyssal wisdom and power. But at the very least, it contains Cheong-ho’s memories.
“This, this right here. Kim Shin-hwa! This is the gift I’m giving you! Eat it!”
Thick black blood slowly trickled down Cheong-ho’s face.
Blood that had long since clotted and started rotting.
Cheong-ho had died ages ago.
The thing talking to me now, that headless thing, is just a corpse that died long ago.
A puppet moving on its master’s command, maybe?
“Kuhuhuhuhu...”
Yeah, that bastard.
A skull wrapped in a black shroud. A grotesque entity endlessly bursting into laughter.
It’s the one manipulating Cheong-ho’s corpse. It moved Cheong-ho again.
“It’s still fine, Kim Shin-hwa! Look, it’s not too late yet. Eat this!”
I needed a deep breath to calm my rage for a moment.
“...I’ll pass. I’ve got a dinner date.”
[The human mind, the frail human mind cannot accept the knowledge held in that book. What about Cheong-ho? He’s no different. His brain has already accepted great wisdom and immense power. But his weak mental strength couldn’t handle it. Poor Cheong-ho.]
And that trash beyond the message windows.
It dragged me here just to show me this spectacle, right?
And it must’ve forcibly blocked my spell to create this situation somehow.
“Eat it. Eat this, come on, eat it. This is His flesh, His holy blood, so eat it and you’ll get stronger. Eat it. Eat, you’ve already done plenty of shit like this elsewhere, haven’t you? To get stronger, you tore into others’ flesh, destroyed others’ souls. This is no different from what you’ve done all along. Now, open your mouth. Rip into this flesh, drink this blood! His body will make you stronger, His mind will make you wiser. Hurry up and eat it! Eat! Eat! Eat! Eat! Eat! Eat!”
It’s just a corpse puppet show. It’s Cheong-ho’s voice from Cheong-ho’s mouth, but it’s no different from ventriloquism with a dummy.
“Kuh, kukukuk, kukukuk...”
I hear the skull in the pitch-black cloak mocking me.
Oh yeah? Laughing?
“I see it. I see the future we, this universe will reach! I know where we came from and where we’re headed! Dignity is just a toy invented by chance, to be used and discarded! We’re nothing but beasts! Let’s kill each other, tear into each other’s flesh, defile each other’s souls! We must shed the shell of dignity and the delusion of humanity! We need our true original form and the real power we’re meant to have! I’m already too late, but you still have a chance. Kim Shin-hwa, Kim Shin-hwa, Kim Shin-hwa. Foolish Kim Shin-hwa! The disgust you feel is just hypocrisy to pretend you’re human. Eat it! Eat the chunk of meat infused with a god’s power and knowledge!”
No, it’s pissing me off anyway.
Whether it’s a corpse or not doesn’t matter anymore.
[All of this happened because of you, Kim Shin-hwa. Realizing that fact, you are seized by shame, terror, and horrific guilt.]
“Quit it, you psycho.”
“...?”
Cheong-ho, with his skull cap peeled open, stared at me in that grotesque form for a moment.
The ecstasy and madness were gone.
Just an expression full of incomprehensible bewilderment. Him suddenly turning serious like that was even creepier.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You deaf? I said shut the fuck up.”
“Refusal? You’re refusing? In the end, refusal? What a shame. Such a shame.”
Crunch, crunch...
Cheong-ho’s body began rotting at an incredible speed.
Probably the fake makeup peeling off to reveal the real thing underneath.
Now Cheong-ho’s eyes were rolled back in black sockets, his skin discolored to a repulsive purple.
‘It’s way past the point where I could save him or anything.’
Even in that state, Cheong-ho kept babbling nonstop.
“What a shame. What a shame. What a shame. What a shame. What a shame...”
Rustle, rustle, rustle...
“Kukukukuku, kuhuhuhu... Kuhahahahaha!!!”
[The One Who Laughs] burst into hollow, meaningless laughter.
Clatter, clatter.
Skeletons of all shapes poured out from the shadows. The fact that spot was once an ordinary wall meant nothing now. Warping space was child’s play.
Clatter, creak, crash, crunch, snap, rip.
Skeletons resembling humans but not quite.
Bones and skulls of mismatched sizes forcibly joined, forming grotesque shapes.
Massive hands, giant weapons, enormous horns made of tangled bones. All of it surged in at once.
“You were gonna do this anyway, so why the endless yapping? Would’ve been easier for both of us if you’d just shut up and charged with a kieeek or whatever.”
Crack, crunch, snap, crunch, rip, grind.
Hm, but there are a lot of them. What to do?
Eh, too annoying to think.
“Ah, whatever. Help me out, Living Flame Man!”
[SSS-grade accessory ‘Embers of the Northern Luosha Gate’ unique function, ‘Trace of Extreme Flame,’ activates.
// Trace of Extreme Flame: All fire-type magic effects increase by 100%.]
[Flames that Purify Sin]
[Beacon of Even Gaji]
[Sacred Flames]
[Fire that Illuminates the Darkness]
[Burning Fury]
Roooar!!
Five flames of different colors roared to life.
Kugoogogogogogog!!
The darkness was pushed out in a flash, and the incoming bones turned to ash in an instant.
A unique existence, or high mental entity.
Not on the level of the great old ones—just ancient ones.
They go by many names, but this is the rank [The One Who Laughs] belongs to.
The message window just called it something that would one day reach the abyss, but compared to true abyssal beings, it’s on a whole different level. It can’t withstand even a fraction of a real abyssal being’s power.
“Good job, keep it up.”
I hadn’t summoned the Living Flame’s will or mind. Just drawing out the mana I’d collected last time.
Even so, this mana expanded the area with overwhelming firepower, just like the Living Flame’s own power.
Roooar!!
“Kaaaargh!!”
The mental entity possessing Cheong-ho’s corpse—no, Cheong-ho’s corpse—retreated in an instant, throwing up a barrier of darkness and skeletons.
‘If I keep using the Living Flame’s power to roast it... this whole place burns down, and the book itself escapes to another dimension? What a waste.’
The enemy has precognition. It can predict something like this.
So why is it retreating so helplessly? What did it do while underground? Troubling. Has its foresight broken? Or maybe this is all part of some bigger plan.
“Foolish Kim Shin-hwa! Eat your kin’s flesh, accept my mind, become my kin! Why don’t you realize that’s the only way you’ll survive in this world?”
“What, you done imitating Cheong-ho now?”
Doesn’t matter. It has no personality of its own anyway. Even without imitating Cheong-ho, it can only act based on Cheong-ho’s personality and traits.
“Stupid sacrificial lamb! Ignorant monkey who doesn’t know its place, swinging around power it can’t handle! You don’t even know what you’re wielding or what you’re hoping for! You delusionally think the power the abyss lent you is yours! You don’t even know what awaits at the end!”
“Who’re you calling stupid? You don’t know hard betting?”
If it’s gonna crash anyway, better max out the loans and crash big.
What’s the point of groveling to some non-abyssal being like a cheapskate?
“Only I can save you. Realize that I alone can stop the ruinous future you’re heading toward!”
“Man, you talk so much. Looks like Cheong-ho’s body is holding you back since he had no shaman traits or spiritual talent? If you’ve got nothing else to show, let’s wrap this up.”
I swung my hand, giving the expanding flames all around a new direction.
Fwoosh, roooar!! Pfoohahaha!!
The five-pronged flames now greedily devoured the darkness, surging toward Cheong-ho.
It can’t block them. Each flame carries forced purification, spirit sealing, evil expulsion, ability disruption, and destruction of surreal existences.
The [One Who Laughs], cloaked in darkness, bones, and Cheong-ho’s corpse, was pushed back relentlessly until it hit the corner of this cramped room.
The final moment, it seemed.
[The One Who Laughs] spoke through Cheong-ho’s mouth.
“Yes. You’re right, Kim Shin-hwa. This human body is too limited in what it can do.”
Kukukuku, kikikiki, ihihihi...
That damn laughter again.
The signal of power twisting causality and warping this world’s laws.
The wall behind Cheong-ho in the corner split open.
Not like a door opening or a closed box unlocking—more like a beast’s maw gaping wide in a bizarre display.
Beyond it lay...
“Ma, Mage?!”
“Uwaaaagh!!!”
The first room, where Jang Hyun-deok and Goo Jin-cheol waited.
“A living altar! Leaving a top-grade shaman prepared for a god’s descent in my domain—kukukuku, what pitiful folly is this?”
Crack!!
Achilles moved to secure an escape route as pre-programmed, but it shattered in less than a second.
“Uwaaaagh!!”
Goo Jin-cheol couldn’t accept the situation and lost his mind. He tore at the bandages on his face, screaming wildly before smashing his head into the wall and passing out.
“Ah...”
Jang Hyun-deok realized what [The One Who Laughs] wanted, what it desired.
Less human now, more like a living altar. No fear left in him. He just silently carried out what he had to do.
Ssssh...
[The One Who Laughs] dodged the oncoming flames and began seeping into the altar prepared for it.
“Hey, fair warning—”
But it didn’t stop. This wasn’t something I could intervene in and halt anyway.
Cheong-ho’s body mocked me.
“It’s already too late, Kim Shin-hwa. Already too late. This altar you prepared, the one you cherished—it’s mine now.”
“No, not that. Looks like your precog’s busted? You’ll regret going in there.”
“Foolish sacrificial lamb! How dare you play prophet before me!”
I could see Goo Jin-cheol, who’d just regretted ignoring my warning.
But it didn’t listen.
It finally revealed its true form. Beasts’ laughter echoing from somewhere. A book made of dying stars’ fragments and empty voids. The one who foresees futures and destroys human minds with nothing but truth.
It possessed Jang Hyun-deok’s body in the end.