Chapter 160
Chapter 160
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 160
Chapter Title: Dragon King Festival (1)
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Rotting soil and air.
Endless plains spread with nauseating mud tangled with dead, decaying fish. A horrific stench and silence.
In that infinitely repulsive and dark place, a great and enormous shadow looms.
A massive arm covered in scales, a fin larger than a ship's sail.
Endless whispers.
Kim Shin-hwa opened his eyes. It had been a terrible nightmare.
He had been defended by the power of an artifact until now, but he didn't even have that anymore.
This was I-jang's house again. The very room where he had opened his eyes with no memory. Moldy, musty air and damp blankets.
"......"
A grotesque mask modeled after Shim Hae-in's form.
Beneath the mask mimicking grotesquely bulging eyeballs, Kim Shin-hwa blinked several times and stayed still.
From outside the window came a *phuddeuddeuk* sound. Like the flapping of wings of a bird. Kim Shin-hwa slowly raised his upper body.
Meanwhile, in the same building.
I-jang was preparing for the Dragon King Festival in the room with the safe.
The time was now 5 a.m.
The sun was still far from rising, but I-jang was busy. With a *kiiik* noise, the safe opened.
"Grrrk—"
I-jang let out his characteristic throat rumble for a moment as he gazed at the gold filling the safe. Greed flickered in his bulging eyes.
"Kuhuhu...."
I-jang caressed the gold lovingly for a moment. It was the funds for running the village, but right now, it just felt like his own.
*Dong dong dong dong—*
Drumbeats echoed from afar.
"You've finally arrived."
I-jang's movements grew hurried. What he needed to gather wasn't gold bars. His gaze shifted to another compartment in the safe.
There lay a golden crown emanating eerie magical power.
It was an item necessary for the Dragon King Festival that was about to begin.
"Grrrk—"
I-jang carefully lifted the crown with trembling hands. He had not yet become a true Deep One. But he possessed enough talent to sense the magic imbued in this crown.
And he knew just how immense the authority it granted its wearer.
"That one will be used soon enough."
Beside the crown was a small metal box. Pure religious zeal briefly burned in I-jang's eyes, where greed had lingered.
Inside this box was the key to fulfilling our wishes. That key was called the [Ocarina of the Deep Sea].
It was an item for the day when the Dragon King himself would grace this land.
"Hm?"
I-jang felt a momentary awkwardness. The box, which should have been perfectly aligned, was... crooked?
What if something happened to this precious artifact? No amount of my life or soul could atone for that sin.
"Why is it like this...?"
I-jang reached out toward the box. What? No one but me could touch the safe. Could that wizard possibly have...?
"Sheee—!"
"Sheee—!"
I-jang's hand stopped. Boisterous drumbeats rang out. And someone began shouting loudly, drawing out their voice.
"Behold the arrival of the Dragon King's emissary!"
The priest was coming. He had to hurry.
I-jang extended his hand again, which had paused, and straightened the box to its proper position.
'I searched his pockets, but there was nothing.'
It was just needless suspicion. With a *thunk*, the safe door closed.
"For immortal life and the descent of the great Dragon King."
Muttering that, I-jang picked up the crown on a golden tray and dashed out to the courtyard.
Noises of murmuring rose from outside the house, followed by loud clamor.
Piercing the thick fog unique to Insu Village, an impressive procession appeared.
A flag-bearer holding a banner embroidered with gold thread, a guide shouting ahead ("Sheee— The Dragon King's emissary arrives!").
And then, the massive palanquin that revealed itself.
Atop the palanquin pulled by eight burly men rode the priest who had come on the Dragon King's orders.
Behind him trailed boisterous drumbeats. It was the wind-and-percussion troupe and performers.
"Come out, village head of Insu Village, and greet the Dragon King's emissary!"
Judging solely by the array of titles and attire, it looked like any folk festival seen in other regions. But the reality was different.
The emblem on the flag was Dagon's symbol, one that wielded malevolent power through its form alone.
The golden palanquin bore a curse that corrupted the human mind.
Grk, gruk, grrrk, gruk, grrrk, gruk, gruk, grrrk.
Amid the drumbeats echoed eerie, ominous noises.
Every member of the bizarre procession emerging through the fog was a Deep One hybrid with Deep One blood mixed in.
Bulging eyes. Unnaturally twisted bodies. Strangely distorted faces.
With every breath, the skin below their throats heaved. Gills would soon sprout there.
No, the word "all" was used too hastily.
Behold the protagonist of that ominous procession. The massive, repulsive creature atop the palanquin.
"Sheee—"
"The emissary of the Western Sea Dragon King, priest of the sea—"
Pale scales peeked through silk robes. A rugged face somehow resembling a turtle. Massive, round eyes emitting yellowish glows. *Gururuk*—repulsive breathing.
Flapping fins and writhing gills.
"—Bihe True Person has arrived!"
That form was the ultimate state the villagers aspired to reach.
Insu Village was a branch of those called the Dagon Cult, but they did not commune with other heretical sects worshiping different gods.
One could borrow the term from the Masquerade, though. This priest called Bihe True Person deserved the title of Arbiter in Masquerade terms.
"Gururuk—"
Bihe True Person descended from the halted palanquin.
Among Deep One hybrids of similar age, his body was the most massive and heavy. Each step he took shook the ground with *thuds*.
"Receive the crown entrusted by the Dragon King."
I-jang rushed out, bowing his head and offering the crown.
Bihe True Person glanced around with a bored expression. So many half-breeds had gathered.
A short sigh escaped with a *grk*. They were lacking, but these were still troops necessary for the great undertaking, descendants of the Deep.
"Huu— Grk, this is the final ritual."
The drumbeats had stopped. The Deep One hybrids gathered around I-jang's house held their breaths, watching the priest. Not even a *grk* was heard.
The priest raised his voice once more.
"Gruruk! This is the final ritual!"
He extended his fat, pudgy hand and took the crown.
"I, Bihe True Person, firstborn son of the Dragon King, convey the Dragon King's revelation to you! This is the final ritual!"
The hybrids stirred. The final ritual. Once this ritual ended, all preparations would be complete. Then, soon—soon!
"Once this ritual concludes successfully, the stars will soon align! After today's ritual and five new moons pass!"
That day would come. All the past rituals, human sacrifices, efforts—they were all for that day. When that day came, when that day came...
Bihe True Person donned the crown infused with the sea's power.
Emerald magic resembling the deep sea surged in his hands and eyes.
Now, Bihe True Person was no mere Deep One. As the priest wielding the authority of the [Lord of Murky Waters], he cried out with a voice laden with power.
"Precisely on that day. We shall unleash the flood! All lands shall sink beneath the waves!"
The flood! Only we, who chose the sea over land, shall be saved! The Dragon King comes! The Dragon King leads us to eternal life! This land shall all submerge!
"Yes, on that very day. The Dragon King shall return! He will ride the ark you built and lead the waves of annihilation!"
Uwaaaaa!! Roars erupted. *Dong dong dong dong* drumbeats. *Gruruk* breaths. Villagers raving mad, dancing grotesquely or rolling on the ground, overcome by surging religious fervor. Some even beat and clawed at their own bodies.
"The sacrifice! Bring out the inferior one!"
"The sacrifice! Bring the offering for the Dragon King!"
"The sacrifice! Bring the fool to feed the sea!"
Two Deep One hybrids who had been acting as guides strode confidently into I-jang's house.
But for some reason, they didn't come out. The flow was broken. What were those idiot half-breeds doing? Bihe True Person nodded toward I-jang.
"Grur.... Check it."
"Y-yes!"
I-jang dashed inside in a hurry.
Entering the living room, he faced the perplexed guides.
"Grk, grruk! What is it? What's the problem?!"
"Th-the inferior one is gone!"
"What?"
It couldn't be. The spell on Kim Shin-hwa was imbued with the power of the Dragon King dwelling in the deep sea. It was a powerful brainwashing that turned one into an idiot slave of the Deep One race, an inescapable bondage.
"Out of the way!"
I-jang burst into the room where Kim Shin-hwa had been. Gone! He really was gone! I-jang's gaze naturally turned to the window. Was the window slightly open? This couldn't be. That window faced the courtyard. If he'd gone out that way, someone would have seen him.
While I-jang panicked, a voice came from an unexpected direction.
"F-found him! Grk!"
"?!"
It was the room with the safe. Even the wardrobe serving as the safe's outer shell was open.
I-jang felt the blood drain from his body for a moment, but fortunately, the horror he imagined hadn't happened.
It was shocking that the idiot Kim Shin-hwa had moved to the safe room on his own, but that was it.
Kim Shin-hwa was just standing awkwardly beside the safe.
'This wizard... Should I have been more suspicious from the moment he walked in on his own?'
No way the spell had broken? I-jang reactivated the binding spell permitted to him and said to Kim Shin-hwa.
"Grk, inferior one. You who wish to become one with the village, and submit to the Dragon King. The village head of Insu Village commands you. Kneel."
Pzzt zzt zzt!
"Kuh!?"
Again, that thing.
A bizarre spark leaped from Kim Shin-hwa's temple. But nothing changed.
"Ah...."
Kim Shin-hwa let out a vague groan and knelt.
Tens of thousands of possibilities and suspicions bloomed in I-jang's mind. What phenomenon was this?
"Gruruk, aha?"
Then, something caught I-jang's eye.
Faint magical runes shimmered on Kim Shin-hwa's wrists and ankles. I-jang scoffed derisively.
"Ha, a shallow trick from this brat."
He had used delayed-activation magic to puppet his own body like a marionette. To escape somehow. Very cunning.
"I can use spells like that too."
I-jang sneered at Kim Shin-hwa and reactivated the spell. The magic on his limbs dispersed helplessly.
"Follow me!"
Kim Shin-hwa followed I-jang to the courtyard with slow steps.
With a *clank*, the door closed, leaving I-jang's house empty. Then, slowly, a certain noise began to echo.
*Kikikik—*
It was a strange sound, like metal grinding.