Chapter 139
Chapter 139
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 139
Chapter Title: Last Schedule
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A consciousness split in two.
Dozens of spells still holding strong.
Hundreds of calculations, predictions, guesses, and judgments happening all at once.
'Alright, it's a bit early, but no harm in jumping ahead to the next phase.'
I leap again, dodging the cultists charging in.
Then I hurl the treasure chest at the idiots.
The cultists bounce off ridiculously easily. Meanwhile, something suspicious catches my eye in the distance.
A witch with a lace mask covering her eyes. She's crouched on the floor, whispering something.
"Yes, rise up. Help me!"
Crack! Crunch!
At her command, the banquet hall floor splits open, and grotesque tree trunks begin sprouting at tremendous speed. That's actually pretty straightforward.
I fly straight toward the oncoming branches.
[Chains of Domination]
Clink clank!!
Golden chains entwine with the tree trunks.
'Worse control than that ghoul shaman I fought before.'
I slam mana into the trunks through the chains' coercive dominance.
Whiiiiiir!!
Fluorescent waves seep into the trunks.
They push out the resident will and mana, imprinting new meaning.
Crunch crunch, crackle!!
The wildly thrashing branches change form and nature in an instant. Thorns sprout sharply; stems whip around flexibly.
"Wh-what did you do to my children!?"
"If you wanna live, run."
Clink clank!!
The branches, now vicious thorny vines, surge toward their former master.
"Eek!?"
She struggles a few times to regain control, realizes it's futile, then throws herself backward and rolls across the floor to escape.
"Hey, fire over there..."
"Hiyah!!"
Before I can check on the witch, a fist flies from behind. Oof, that's dangerous.
[Protection Circle]
[Spell Enhancement: Multi-Cast]
Boom!
"Ow ow ow... That's one tough shield. But how'd you spot me coming from a perfect blind angle?!"
A yakuza type in a beak mask.
The cultists' attacks aren't relying on sight anymore—they're sensing everything. They perceive movement from all directions and respond accordingly.
"Because you move while yelling like an idiot!"
The lace mask witch's retort from behind the altar, where she'd hidden amid the thorny vines.
"What? You mocking my soul's battle cry?"
"Not why I dodged, but yeah, the yelling's hilarious."
I tried to hold back, but couldn't resist chiming in.
"Grr, shut your mouths! Tori-yap!"
Why the hell does he shout like that?
But damn, the momentum's impressive.
Boom crash! Crack! Bang!
The layered protection circles shatter in seconds. If I let him, that fist'll connect. I extend both hands toward him and activate a spell.
[Exhausting Shackles]
Shackles of glowing magic lines fly toward the beak mask.
Clink!
"Hiya!!"
But the beak mask lets out a bizarre yell and flips sideways to dodge.
Clank!
"Ughhh..."
The fatigue-inducing shackles clamp onto a lesser cultist forming the encirclement instead.
"You dodged that?"
[Mana Bolt]
[Spell Enhancement: Multi-Cast]
Rat-tat-tat-tat!!
"Torup!"
What the...? This guy's dodging bullets too.
The beak mask zips around wildly at insane speeds. The motion reminds me of a berserker.
He suddenly leaps exaggeratedly, then arcs unnaturally into a flying dragon kick!
"Kiyop!"
But I've seen this pattern in the game already.
I yank the chest over with magnetism to block his kick.
Groooan!!
"Ugh, what the hell?!"
Feels weird, right? It's an invincible system object. Hitting it full force sends the beak mask flying backward, still in kick pose.
Just like it glitches the physics engine.
'Pretending to get pushed back ain't easy either.'
Cheers and applause erupt from the galleries here and there.
"A monster from the Hungry Manor!"
"How'd they raise such an awesome disciple?"
Feels off somehow. Why am I clowning around under these losers?
I address not the surroundings, but the one sharing my vision.
"Not yet? Where you at now? Got it."
Game over now. After taking down the four standouts, the rest hesitate at a distance, not daring to close in.
That's when new mana enters my detection range.
"Kweeeeeek!!"
Mutants charging through the walls of fire. Huge numbers. They're ignoring the pain of their burning bodies and swarming me.
"God, enough already."
[Blood Screech]
[Spell Enhancement: Maximized]
[S-grade Weapon 'Butcher's Hook' unique function 'Proof of Slaughter' activates.
// Proof of Slaughter: Necromancy spell power increases by 100%.]
Kiiiiiiiiieek!!!
A spell blending sonic shock with necromantic essence. The evil energy and shockwave not only strike physically but shatter the target's will and fighting spirit.
The approaching monsters reel back from the impact. Nearby lesser cultists spew blood from facial orifices.
The maximized shockwave, pumped full of mana, even affects some close galleries.
"Cough hack!"
"How's he pulling off waves like that?"
I expand detection to check—it's not that. Something else's wrong.
Beyond the flames, the mutants that were attacking stragglers are all heading my way now. And their numbers have tripled.
No natural occurrence. Someone's orchestrating this.
"Ugh, that guy, huh...?"
The monsters I repelled charge again. Far off, the three-eyed mask is up to something shady.
He supports a wounded lesser cultist, whispering in his ear.
With a voice beautiful enough to unsettle, he whispers... and keeps whispering, forcing ambient mana into the injured man.
Crunch, crack!
The cultist can't handle the injected mana and mutates into a monster.
"Raaargh!!"
Dunno the exact mind control trick, but the new mutant charges me heedlessly, ignoring the fire walls, not caring if it burns.
"Hey, whatever you heard, it's a misunderstanding!"
No use saying that.
Meanwhile, the three-eyed one saunters to the next target and starts whispering again.
"Hey, asshole, cut it out!"
Only now does the three-eyed mask notice me watching and waves cheerfully.
"Goddamn it."
Scheming squint-eye bastards are the worst.
'Maybe I should kill that one now before he causes more trouble?'
I need to stall, sure, but I didn't ask to be surrounded by flaming tentacle monsters jumping every which way!
"Hahaha! Impressive skills, but you're hitting your limit!"
"I'll finish you off!"
More masks jumping in.
"What, you all need another beating? Swarming without shame?"
"Let's see how long you stay cocky!"
A massive wave of tentacles blocks my entire view. Masks slip in between.
"Guweeeeeek!"
Vomitous roars from the mutants.
"Damn it."
I leap up. Burn, explode, electrocute.
Boom boom! Zap zap!
Even the gallery judges are getting restless.
"That's no ordinary skill?"
"How's he moving like that?"
"Something's off! That can't be right!"
Yeah, too strong for a mere illusion now, huh?
Wrap it up soon, so keep second-guessing a bit longer.
"You monkey bastard!"
Incoming spears, scythes, axes, swords, fists, sporadic superpowers. The hall fills with madness. And screams.
Boom boom!
I blast away a few more cultists and debilitate others with exhaustion curses.
"Kill him! Heir of the Hungry Manor! Why aren't you killing him?!"
"Kill him! The ritual's stalled!"
"Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Finally, a judge catches on.
"Deaths stopped when he started rampaging! The blood flow's halted!"
Right. Bad timing for the chest to open half-assed.
"Kill that bastard! He's ruining the event!"
An impatient judge roars, drawing up mana. Ugh, ops team, rein in that uncle quick!
"Everyone shut up! Nobody messes with my event!"
Rumble rumble boom!
Dokgo Gyeom's shout, laced with mana that shakes the whole venue.
Exactly. I haven't broken any rules. Killing or not, it's within bounds.
Boom!
Amid it, I dodge a mana bolt and manipulate the thorn trees from the lace mask.
Clink clank!
Damn, maintaining all these minor spells while moving is a headache.
Should I drop a few on Jang Hyun-deok?
On that note, I split my vision again and send my mind to the skies over Sejong City.
"Achilles! How long do I gotta wait?"
[System: 'Enhanced Vigilance' trait activates.]
Zap zap zap!
Sudden lightning bolt barrage. "Whoa, what?!" Gallery. A judge couldn't hold back and fired past Dokgo Gyeom's watch! Expected that much!
[L-grade Accessory 'Mask of Carcosa' unique function 'Dreamlike Blur' activates.
// Dreamlike Blur: 'Blink' spell auto-cast.]
My vision blurs instantly. The world rushes away at blinding speed.
[Blink complete. Cooldown: 864,000 seconds]
Auto-survival triggered to save my skin. As blink ends, the world freezes again, and what I see is...
[System: 'Banquet Offering' trait activates.]
"Huh?"
Crack!
The world spins.
No, is my head spinning?
What? Legs won't move.
Everything's in slow motion.
An ugly head floats near my face. A headless head. Wearing a mask.
'Hm, fine mask. Avant-garde with real appeal.'
One-eyed mask from the Huanglin Church. That gangster evangelist who picked a fight before the main event? Oh dear, preacher sir, why just the head?
'Ah, who chucked this head to clock my jaw?'
Damn, took a hit after all. Funny, but it doesn't hurt.
Thinking about it, since getting trapped in this shithole world, I've faced every horrific crisis imaginable, but is this my first actual hit? Too hectic to track. At least with my beefed-up health stat, good timing.
Weird that it's a severed human head as the projectile, but mana-enhanced throw. Wrong angle, and my skull could've exploded.
'Who the hell? Who'd toss something that lethal?'
What mannerless prick throws a dead man's head? No respect for the deceased.
Not random. They predicted my blink spot and lobbed the head there.
'Earlier, Banquet Offering triggered? Looks like one of the abyssal beings was lurking, whispered the perfect timing and angle to someone.'
Don't ask why—just throw it there. I'll show you something fun. Something like that whisper. So who?
I backtrack the head's trajectory. Barely passed basic math in high school, let alone calculus, but my jacked intelligence stat crunches it auto.
'Ah, that bastard again!?'
Three-eyed mask in a flashy lefty pitcher stance. Son of a bitch, knew he'd pull something.
But that's not all.
'Huh? What's that?'
A mask flying through the cultists.
Looks awfully familiar. Come to think of it, for just one hit, my mental state's weird?
Really damn weird.
Insanely, unbelievably weird?
That mask flying somewhere.
That mask flying all alone, ownerless and lonely.
Lonely one, with whom shall thy body soon return?
No, screw that. Is that the Mask of Carcosa?
My mask? My mask? My mask? My mask?