Chapter 13
Chapter 13
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Noisy Resolution
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‘Clearly, I was trying to handle this quietly.’
At this point, there’s no way word isn’t spreading.
But it’s not all bad.
Fame, whether good or bad, boosts a fixer’s reputation, leading to higher-paying jobs and more important quests.
Lee Chang-hyuk is causing way more chaos than I imagined.
Even the slowest info brokers have to know about me now.
[Leap]
Two streaks of glowing light trace across the surface of my black hoodie like neon signs—one purple, the other blue.
It’s a kind of spell circuit. If developed further, it becomes a magic circle.
I threw it together in a rush, ignoring the symmetry and aesthetics that mages obsess over, so it ended up looking like sloppy graffiti.
Still, it’s got a graffiti vibe—pretty cool, actually. Ah, not the time to worry about that.
The purple spell circuit coiled around my body grants me surreal leaping power.
Whoosh—.
I vault over the window and land on the rooftop of the building across the street. It’s less a leap and more like flight.
The blue circuit glows, compensating for my lack of agility and aiding my balance.
Thanks to this extra spell, I can pull off more than just a one-off jump.
I chase Lee Chang-hyuk, bounding from rooftop to rooftop in the city center.
Behind me, flashy neon-like trails of light linger in my wake.
Whoosh—.
I leap over a rooftop.
Thud, tatat— whoosh.
I rebound off an unsteady signboard.
I move freely between the dark city sky and the rooftops of buildings.
This is basically superhero level. Once my level goes higher, I might even fly outright, but this feels pretty good too.
—Grroooaaarrr!
Boom! Bang bang bang!
What a racket in the middle of the night.
Lee Chang-hyuk, mutated into a half-human, half-beast monster, acts without any rationality.
He just charges in whatever direction he can run, smashing anything in his way.
He’s fleeing in a frenzy, but causing this much destruction makes tracking him a breeze.
I could snipe him from afar, but who knows what other problems that might cause, so I need to get close enough.
...Right about now. I’m roughly 15 meters from Lee Chang-hyuk.
I land on the rooftop ahead of the alley he’s barreling into, steady myself, and shout.
“Hey, Lee Chang-hyuk!”
He looks up at me as he runs. So he still recognizes his own name?
Our eyes meet—his slit pupils stretched horizontally like a goat’s. Less beast, more demon.
White foam drips from the corner of his mouth.
Before he can do anything else, my spell completes.
“Die, you bastard!”
[Thunderbolt]
Rumble—.
A massive flash of light.
Lightning forcibly yanked from the sky pours down in a chilling blaze. And...
KABOOM!!
A delayed thunderclap follows the light. It’s a spell that summons a natural bolt itself. That’s gotta hurt.
“Graaaah!”
Excess electricity sparks around Lee Chang-hyuk.
The ground around him is charred pitch-black, but he’s not down yet.
Realizing he can’t escape, the thing thrashes in desperation.
It grabs a parked sedan with its massive hands and hurls it at me.
“Ah, enough with the throwing already!”
[Fireball]
Whirr... KABOOM!!
I blast an incoming fireball to intercept the car... Now it’s my turn. Let’s play catch!
[Impact]
[Invisible Hand]
Boom!
I shove the exploding vehicle back at him!
The flaming car hurtles toward him with even more menace.
—Grroooaaarrr!
Idiot, you think that’ll stop it?
[Sound Wave Refraction]
[Spell Enhancement: Range Increase]
A magic circle for sound wave refraction forms right in front of its snout. The shockwave from its jaws fizzles out harmlessly amid the glow.
KABOOM!
The car slams into it, crushing it under massive flames and weight.
And at the same time...
[Fireball]
[Spell Enhancement: Maximize]
A fireball even larger than before forms in midair. It’s like dropping a sun.
Roooar...
Cranked to max power, the fireball itself emits an ominous roar. Anyway, this’ll finish it.
KABOOOOOM!!!
A colossal explosion and heat swirl for ages. The asphalt around us melts and bubbles.
The car that had pinned Lee Chang-hyuk is mangled and flung far away. He’s collapsed, charred completely black.
Tough bastard. His fingers and extremities are crushed, but his limbs are still mostly intact as he twitches.
“Guh... guhhh...”
That about wraps it up.
‘But does this count as a success...?’
The request was to bring back Lee Chang-hyuk and the secure bag with the test subject.
From Helistic’s perspective, a mutated fusion of Lee Chang-hyuk and the test subject might still be useful.
But they’d probably pin every excuse on me and call the job a failure.
After all this, I’m not settling for free labor.
I fiddle with the ring on my finger as I look down at the barely alive Lee Chang-hyuk.
A human mutated by Shub-Niggurath’s blessing...
A few ideas come to mind. But would that even work? It’s something impossible to try in the game.
Yet... somehow, I feel like it could.
So far, I’ve cleared things relying on my gamer instincts.
But this idea? It’s something I couldn’t have come up with viewing this world as a game.
‘Inspiration from Intelligence 30?’
Using a quest item to mutate was already an idea impossible in the game.
“Tsk...”
Alright. No harm in trying.
I jump down from the roof and approach Lee Chang-hyuk.
Intense heat rises from the sticky asphalt. Normal people couldn’t even breathe in this temperature.
But my fire resistance makes it a non-issue.
Ah, not the mask. I quickly channel mana to protect it.
‘Ugh... what a pain.’
I’ll have to swap it out later.
Even as I approach, Lee Chang-hyuk can only gasp weakly, unable to move.
...Still, better safe than sorry...
“Didn’t expect to use this in a situation like this, but good thing I kept it.”
I open my backpack and pull out the belts I’d saved.
Six belts torn from the restraint suit during the day. Brown leather straps flutter loosely.
Before they hit the ground, I extend my hand and infuse them with bright green-glowing mana.
[Hardening]
[Coiling Rope]
The mana-infused belts slither like snakes, wrapping around Lee Chang-hyuk’s body.
Hardened with mana, they won’t catch fire or snap easily.
I slowly reach toward him. At the same time, I pour mana into the Ring of Corrupted Flame.
He groans in agony and writhes a few times but can’t break free.
“Hey, hold still.”
It’s absurd, but somehow I think it’ll work.
The blessing of [The Black Goat that Begets Madness]...
Expel the power of [Living Flame].
[Cthulhu World] has all sorts of spells, but nothing like this.
But combining individual spell effects... I think it’s possible.
I’ve felt it while casting magic. There’s more depth than just clicking a button.
[Guardian’s Prayer]
[Enervation]
[Protective Gesture]
Magic circles of various colors bloom around me.
[Enervation] awakens Lee Chang-hyuk’s weakened body and mind.
[Guardian’s Prayer] anchors his soul, gripped by the outer god’s dominion.
[Protective Gesture] will shield his... human parts from the intense procedure ahead.
[Repel Authority]
[Regeneration]
New spells activate. The circles orbit me, resonating with each other.
[Regeneration] provides the power to revert his warped flesh to human form.
[Repel Authority] is a spell to drive out otherworldly influence. But it’s only 1st-circle tier, effective against minor spirits. Not enough alone.
[Word of Authority]
[Word of Authority] temporarily controls weaker humans, executing simple verbal commands... and now I need Lee Chang-hyuk’s own strength too.
“Lee Chang-hyuk, return to human form.”
As I cast and fuse, unprecedented inspiration surges.
It’s like a fountain of light bursting in my mind. The thrill of a hunch turning real.
Just as I thought before—not just doing what I can, but what I couldn’t.
A new spell completes.
[Flame that Burns Sin]
No such spell exists in [Cthulhu World]. Nor could a 1st-circle mage cast it.
I forcibly activated parts of a fire spell via the Ring of Corrupted Flame, which ignores tiers, drawing in the surrounding heat.
Borrowing the power of the abyssal being [Living Flame]... I was certain I could.
It seemed outrageous, but it wasn’t that hard. Intelligence 30 lets you do anything.
Fwoosh...
White flames ignite from Lee Chang-hyuk’s toes.
The fire burns only the non-human parts of his body.
Where the flames pass, he reverts to human.
[System: Exclusive trait ‘Feast’s Sacrifice’ activates. ‘Abyssal Being: Living Flame’ takes interest in you.]
Gah, what? Just borrowing a bit and it shows up to watch? The hairs on my arms stand on end.
I trigger [Enhanced Vigilance] to scan around, but nothing changes. Just observing, I guess?
Damn, watch or don’t. Now the crucial part. If I were just gonna burn him up...
[S液 Manipulation] [Binding]
[Evil Eye]
[Cage of Cold Bones]
Four this time.
[Evil Eye] minimizes the outer god’s influence.
[Liquid Manipulation] and [Binding] crystallize the black goat’s fluids spread through Lee Chang-hyuk’s body.
Finally, [Cage of Cold Bones] creates a sub-dimensional barrier...
Sweat trickles down my neck. A bit dizzy.
This is precision work on another level from picking locks. Separating a mythos entity fused at the cellular level from human flesh...
Rip... riiip...
An unpleasant tearing sound comes from Lee Chang-hyuk’s scalp. Mr. Lee Chang-hyuk... sacrifice a bit of scalp for your life.
Crack.
The fully separated black goat fluids writhe grotesquely inside a geometric barrier in midair.
Hah, well. It worked.
I wipe the sweat from my neck and draw the floating barrier to me.
Quest complete—perfectly. No point saving Lee Chang-hyuk for nothing.
I don’t care if this guy lives or dies. But without separating the fluids, it would’ve counted as a failure.
If it were impossible, fine, but if I can, better to do it.