Chapter 136
Chapter 136
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 136
Chapter Title: Main Event
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A sudden transformation occurs, enough to shatter the human form.
Crack, crunch, shatter!
It's as intense a growth and change as what I saw before my eyes with Lee Chang-hyuk turning into a monster.
His shoulder muscles develop grotesquely, the skin on both arms tears open, and the muscles trapped beneath scatter in strands.
No, those scattered muscle fibers instantly turn into dozens of tentacle bundles.
A guttural roar spills out like vomit.
"Bzzzzzz!!!"
Along with the roar, dozens of tentacles pour from his maw.
The flesh of his mouth and jaw stretches. The same change as his arms.
Dozens of tentacles sprout from his face.
He's no longer something you could call human.
That's a monster.
"W-what the hell is that guy doing?"
"What? How did he do that?"
The people gathered here are cultists who've dipped their heads into a surreal world.
Thanks to forbidden knowledge they shouldn't accept and madness they can't endure, they have some resistance to irrational situations like this.
Zzzt!
[System: The 'Abyss Madness' trait activates. Nullifies the fear effect.]
'Not as much as my Abyss Madness trait, though.'
Still, everyone's limit for acceptance varies.
Some faint screaming, while others clumsily approach, still not grasping the situation.
"Huh? This is a joke, right?"
The cultist turned monster—no, now better called a mutant like Lee Chang-hyuk—reaches out his tentacles toward those clumsily approaching him...
"Bzzzzz..."
It's definitely not a friendly gesture!
Vrooom!!
The tentacles whip out at speeds imperceptible to the normal eye.
Splatter!!
Purple blood mixed with chunks of human flesh sprays everywhere.
That's the gruesome trail of the tentacles sweeping through the cultists they ensnared.
"Don't get close!"
"Run!!"
"What the hell is that!?"
"Oh! [Predator of the Mountains]!"
Shouts, orders, and laments calling to gods erupt in chaos.
Cultists of all stripes bolt in every direction, creating pandemonium according to their own tastes.
'Can't say they deserve it, but what a mess.'
These idiots were enjoying inhuman revelry just moments ago. They don't even know who the real sacrifice of this festival is.
Meanwhile, a few dependent cultists dash to the edges of the hall, looking up at the upper gallery. Pleas burst out in unison.
"H-help us!"
"Branch leader!"
"Judges!"
I hid in the shadows behind the curtain and looked up.
Heavy, unpleasant mana gathers above.
'They finally reveal themselves.'
The leaders, executives, or powerhouses of each sect gathered here, regardless of titles.
The judges who've been hiding in this isolated space until now.
Like the initiates, they watch from above with masked faces.
Though hidden by masks, I can read their auras.
Even as their direct disciples die below, not one steps forward. They just watch.
Sneering. Contempt. Or anticipation.
"Why won't you help!? It's a monster! Please!"
One oblivious initiate throws off his mask and begs his sect's judge.
A judge with a mask adorned in flashy feathers answers him.
"Why should I?"
"Huh? W-well..."
"Idiot, shut up!"
A cultist with a bit more brains pulls him back.
Perhaps thinking the same as me, the feathered-mask judge bursts into laughter.
"Kahahahaha! I was worried we'd only brought idiots, but our sect has someone like you after all!"
"...Thank you."
"You get the situation, right? Survive no matter what. And bring back the mask of the Faceless One."
"Understood."
"May the blessing of the [Ninety-Nine Wings] be with you."
They might've forced weird solidarity with all that sect-this and sect-that talk, but in reality, it's like this.
'You can tell just by looking at the bluff.'
These people are addicted to abnormal ideologies and surreal power. Even direct disciples from the same sect are ultimately others—consumables.
Guys worth dying here were useless from the start.
If they survive, they'll grow stronger. And if by some luck they snag the one-of-a-kind artifact? Even a 1% chance means a dozen disciples dying pointlessly is no big deal.
'Crazy bastards.'
At that moment, the mana enveloping the hall surges dramatically.
Crackle! Zzt! Zzzzzap!
The mana secretly injected into the idiots enjoying the party mindlessly now sparks visibly, roiling.
"Ghck, urk!"
Another one.
"Bleeeech!!!"
And two.
Those unable to handle the forced mana infusion appear.
They all end up the same.
Mutation.
"Bzzzzz!"
Bodies and minds unable to maintain human form tangle and twist, birthing new monsters.
"Four, five, six. Huh? That guy's my sworn brother. Can he turn back into a person?"
"It's not just one sect."
"So the main event to decide the owner of the powerful artifact has begun, huh?"
"Man, they said they'd buy me pork cutlet so I came along happily, but it turns out it's the dentist."
The cultists from Changwolhoe, Dongnae Church, and Baba Ye who nearly caused trouble earlier watch from a safe distance, about like me.
Smart choice. The real event hasn't started yet.
If they flop right from the start, no point in marking them.
'About time Dugokyeom shows up, right?'
- Bba, babababa-bam, babam!
Amid the blood, screams, and cultists' curses filling the hall, majestic music begins to play. The main theme from Phantom of the Opera.
"Greetings! My beloved lunatics, monsters, psychopaths, serial killers, and ghouls!"
"Wahahaha, what the hell?"
"Kekeke, you madman, get down here!"
Cheers and jeers erupt boisterously.
Obviously not from those tangled with monsters, teetering on life and death. It's from the judges safely observing from above.
"Now, the main event of our masquerade begins!"
The event host, Dugokyeom.
A stark white mask covering the left half of his face, an overly flashy silk hat.
A three-piece suit that looks ridiculously expensive, and a black coat with wide lapels billowing like a cape, red lining flashing.
Topped with a fancy cane.
Anyone could see it's modeled after the Phantom from Phantom of the Opera.
'I knew he was nuts, but this clown takes the cake.'
Pleased with his chosen theme music and outfit, perhaps?
Dugokyeom on stage is visibly thrilled.
"Now, listen up, initiates!"
He shouts to the initiates still turning into bloody pulp every couple minutes.
"We are in crisis! The stars are aligning, surreal visitors from other realms roam the streets, corporations with alien knowledge commit supralegal crimes, and governments in league with demons censor true information under the guise of national security."
"What the hell!"
"You madman! Shut up!"
This is the reaction from cultists chased by monsters. Similar words to the judges', but laced with completely different emotions.
"Oh, so leisurely. Not the time for useless chatter, is it?"
"Bzzzzz!!!"
"Uwaaaak! Dodge!"
The price for reacting to Dugokyeom's ravings is harsh.
Boom! Slash! Crunch!
Three initiates die in an instant.
Seeing this, Dugokyeom suddenly weeps and wails.
"Uhuuu... Oh, such tragedy... Look! You are all so frail! At this rate, we'll all perish!"
In a flash, Dugokyeom leaps back, landing on the gallery railing 5 meters up with a single bound, no preparation.
"That's why we've devised a way to make you weak, stupid lot grow fast! Was the ley line power pumped from Sejong City's underground tasty? Did the ritual work wonders? Great that you gobbled it up, but if your constitution doesn't match, you turn into monsters like that."
"Gaaaah!!!"
"Bleeech!!!"
The monsters roar in unison, as if responding to his words. What a festive sight.
Dugokyeom pulls a large lever by the railing.
Groooaaaan!!!
The stage splits left and right, and a hidden underground mechanism rises.
"Hah, seriously."
Makes sense? I thought no amount of money could prepare a party like this?
In games, it's just CG, so whatever, but seeing the real thing move with such force right in front of me, the sheer spectacle leaves me speechless.
Rising with massive vibrations through the entire hall is a spiral pillar at least 4 meters thick.
It shoots up as if to pierce the vast ceiling.
In other words, a 10-meter-tall pillar.
At its pinnacle...
"Behold! The one-of-a-kind artifact you all crave is right there!"
At the pillar's top sits an excessively ornate treasure chest.
'What a jack-of-all-trades.'
Way too tacky for a gruesome feast of blood, death, monsters, and screams. Better suited as a prop on a variety show.
But Dugokyeom seems to tremble with satisfaction and ecstasy amid this chaos.
"Simple rules, right? Dodge the seekers and grab the treasure chest! But dawdle too long, and you'll become seekers yourselves!"
Plenty of similar game shows—which one did he rip off?
"Kahahaha! Should've said that from the start!"
The 3-meter giant in the wild boar mask, the monster hunter from Gourmet Expedition Corps.
He charges with a roar. Mutants swing tentacles at him, but he hurls a nearby corpse with absurd strength.
Boom!
The mutant is shoved back by the impact.
But he wasn't prepared for the follow-up tentacles.
Vroooom!!
"Uwah!?"
"Excuse me."
A plain metal mask intervenes suddenly. The petite cannibal chef from Slow Kitchen.
Slash!!
She whips out two Chinese cleavers like lightning, severing the tentacle bundle, then hops onto the boar mask's shoulder. Not a bad combo.
"Hey! Who said you could step on me!"
"Didn't I help you?"
"You two flirting now of all times?!"
"Yeah, clear the path! I don't wanna become one of those monsters!"
The beak-masked yakuza from Changwolhoe and the lace-masked witch from Baba Ye. They've teamed up too.
And...
Crack! Crunch!
A massive glacier surges up, shoving aside several mutants.
Nearby, the wolf-masked shaman from Dongnae Church dances with a small drum adorned with water buffalo horns.
'Good. Confirmed up to here.'
Everything unfolding exactly as in the game.
No variables outside the progression that tormented me before.
The poorly optimized game lagged hard handling this complex venue and simultaneous NPC movements, but no such issues now. Regardless of difficulty, no surprises means I can handle it.
"May I approach?"
Goosebumps prickle my arms. An eerily beautiful voice.
Ah, damn. This is an event that never happened in the game.
A cultist from Hwangnim Church. She approaches me, her three-eyed mask making eye contact hard.
"Don't come closer. Don't talk to me. Get lost."
"You're from Paju, right?"
I told you to get lost.