Chapter 190
Chapter 190
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 190
Chapter Title: Blood Phobia
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Red blood trickling down its lips and chin.
A long tongue slithers out from its fang-filled maw, lapping up the blood at the corners of its mouth. A grotesque movement, as if the tongue itself were a separate creature.
Blood mixed with saliva, bubbling and churning.
Blood gathering to be devoured by it.
Blood pouring from the fake Duwoksini's body.
In other words—it's drenched in blood.
“Guh...”
An unbearable groan escapes from deep in my throat.
The Gourmet Expedition Corps' judge, the Chef, blinked his billiard-ball-sized eyes and said,
“Hmm, a reflux reaction.”
What the hell are you talking about?
“We know all about meals. You're feeling nauseous, right? Like you're about to puke?”
That's true. I feel like I'm about to throw up.
“This won't do! Could it be you're getting that nauseous just from seeing my meal?”
The Chef made a huge fuss with exaggerated gestures.
“Shake off that petty disgust! Think of the future! The future! You can't survive if you're picky about food! Foolish humans are polluting our precious Earth right now, destroying the environment! Global warming! Disruption of food culture! Alien invasion!”
“What the... are you insane?”
“It's not insane talk! Look at this!”
The Chef hoisted up the fake Duwoksini's corpse.
The corpse he lifted so preciously with those massive fingers was now just a scrap from the chest down.
“This is the path given to our captain to save us! Duwoksini! With this, even those without faith can eat anything!”
It sounded like the ravings of a madman, but he was dead serious.
His face flushed with religious ecstasy and emotion, he continued his speech. I wished he'd wrap it up soon.
“Humans, aliens, monsters, yokai, beasts! Without the ability to eat anything, humanity will perish!”
Rip!
He tore the Duwoksini corpse in half sideways.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
[Too much blood. Blood is everywhere your eyes can see. And the most horrific part is that it's not just that. Your senses have already detected what's inside that cultist.]
Fuck. It's starting. The amount of blood exceeds my mental strength and the buffs from Seo Cheonsul.
[Your intelligence has already foreseen what happens if you attack that one. The moment you land a certain level of damage— the blood equivalent to fifty people stored in that cultist's body will flood this area.]
Fifty people's worth? More than the number killed here. Guess it massacred elsewhere too. How much does it carry around?
[You can no longer endure this situation.]
[System: Madness - 'Blood Phobia' manifests.]
[Mental Strength stat resists delirium. Mental check... success!]
“...?”
What? It succeeded?
The check passed.
No delirium. Blood is still a scary, repulsive thing hindering my actions and judgment, but it won't cause abnormal hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, or amnesia.
‘Then this is the best-case scenario? Just take down that elephant-headed fatass?’
Based on the pattern so far, yes. Defeating it should free me from this blood phobia. I clenched my fists and said,
“You done yapping?”
“Not yet, not yet— I want to tell you about our Gourmet Expedition Corps' efforts to improve all humanity's food culture?”
“Shut the fuck up, you psycho.”
Seo Cheonsul, who had swung her Vajra Rod to shove the Duwoksini away, approached me and said,
“Kim, that thing really Kim?”
“Human, at least.”
“With an elephant head?”
“It absorbs the power and traits of what it eats.”
“More Duwoksini than the actual Duwoksini.”
“Since it ate one, it has Duwoksini powers too.”
“Heh—”
A common ability among the Gourmet Expedition Corps members.
Beyond that, specifics vary based on what they've eaten, giving each unique powers.
“Ah, you're that guy, right? The one who grilled our Rice Worker to death before. Uh, name was... what was it?”
The boar-masked Gourmet Expedition Corps member killed at Masquerade was called Rice Worker? Probably a title, not a name.
Rice Worker means the one who cooks rice.
“Yeah, right. Ho Sanghyeon?”
“...”
“Huh? What? Not Ho Sanghyeon?”
“First off, correction: my name isn't Ho Sanghyeon—”
It's Phantom Hyeon, but that's not my real name either.
No need for needless details; too complicated.
“—it's Kim Shinhwa.”
“Krahaha! Shinhwa? Hilarious name.”
“Your naming convention's funnier.”
Its name is Chef. Uses the character for side dishes in meals.
“Hmph. Mocking others' names? Rude. Anyway, we're working for humanity's greater future, so don't interfere.”
The height of impudence.
It stroked its trunk-like dangling nose and said,
“Our captain says now's not the time to fight. Because of your interference, we're short on quantity. Need to improvise more mountain sacrifices.”
The Gourmet Expedition Corps' captain isn't some cult leader.
It refers to the abyssal being, [Predator of the Mountains]. Looks like [Predator of the Mountains] gave some revelation.
“Snuuuuuff!!”
As the Chef pretended to inhale deeply, the surrounding blood was sucked into its body at tremendous speed.
“Damn it, Captain Cheon-geum! That bastard's trying to escape!”
“Huh?!”
“Don't 'huh' me! Captain Cheon-geum, move!”
Shit, if we lose it, I can't overcome the madness!
[Fire Lash]
[Spell Enhancement: Multi-cast]
Whiiir—
Dozens of chains made of magical flames flew toward the Chef.
Damn, but that body holds fifty people's worth of blood?
The intrusive thought disrupted my focus.
“Krahaha! Fear grips your body!”
The Chef spat those words and hurled the Duwoksini corpse in its hand.
A golden flash blocking my view.
Boom!
Seo Cheonsul leaped out and batted the corpse away.
“Hey, Kim! Where you running!”
She tried to pursue.
“Butcher! Block them!”
“Kya haaak!”
The Duwoksini that had been getting pummeled by Seo Cheonsul clung to her desperately.
“Ah, this Duwoksini bastard!”
She swung the Vajra Rod, but it latched on with death-defying resolve, spewing flames.
“Damn!”
The Vajra Rod was grabbed.
Seo Cheonsul waved her free left hand to scatter the flames, but had to fend off the Duwoksini slithering up the rod like a snake.
No time to help her. I unleashed spells at the Chef.
[Blaze]
[Lightning Bolt]
[Grasp of the Dead]
“Boil Chef!”
“Kkiyooooot!”
A Duwoksini burst from the floor. A real one, like the Butcher.
Boil Chef had its lower body buried in the ground, forming hand seals, spewing sticky mucus from its maw.
Splatter!
Some kind of spell like my Web of Null Threads?
The mucus it spewed became spiderwebs covering the entire wall, blocking the flames. But lightning?
Zzzzap!
“Kkieeeek!”
Not too smart? Lightning just brute-forced through its body.
But I had one more spell active.
Shrrrr—
Hundreds of hands erupted from the floor, wrapping around the Chef's body.
“Grrr— Boil Chef, you idiot!”
“Try getting chewed yourself!”
Plenty of dead here. I could summon all the grudges I wanted.
[Jaws of the Hungry Ghosts]
A massive mouth formed above the Chef's head from the condensed resentment of the spirits.
Crunch!
“But you're still gripped by fear!”
The Chef grabbed the mouth trying to bite its head with both hands and held it back, shouting,
“Ho Sanghyeon! Power born from hesitation and fear can't stop me!”
Craaaack—
Sheer brute strength.
The Chef twisted the mouth made of concentrated grudges. And with the hands still wrapped around its body, it reached the corridor's end wall.
Bubble— blorp— blubblorp—
As it touched the wall, red bloody foam bubbled up.
Crack—
The wall split, revealing a subspace that shouldn't exist.
Gate Creation-style spell. It's escaping!
I hurriedly formed seals, granting new power to the grudges clinging to it.
[Venomous Serpents of Bukmang Mountain]
Shrrrk!
The ghost hands wrapped around its body turned into horrifying saw-toothed snakes, biting into it.
“Gah— you bastard Ho Sanghyeon!”
“Not Ho Sanghyeon!
“Before Captain Cheon-geum, who dares show their back!”
Boom!
Seo Cheonsul flew in swinging a golden flash.
[System: Effect of 'Feast Sacrifice' activates.]
Kikikikik—
A horrific laugh that crushed souls emanated from beyond the gate the Chef created.
“Captain Cheon-geum, stop! No, defend!”
“What—?”
But it was too late to stop.
From the gate emerged a massive tentacle— grotesque, with an eel-like maw at the end. Not an ordinary tentacle. It carried the horrifying presence only an abyssal being could have!
“Grk!”
The enormous tentacle whipped at Seo Cheonsul without hesitation.
[Protective Ward]
[Spell Enhancement: Range Extension]
[Spell Enhancement: Maximized]
Boom!
Craaack!
Absurd power. Overwhelming force.
The tentacle from the gate shattered my ward with one swing and sent the defending Seo Cheonsul flying.
Kaboombam!
Damn, what power—
Seo Cheonsul wasn't just pushed back; she smashed through the wall and bounced off.
Bang— crash! The sounds continued. Shit, she didn't fly outside the building, did she?
Kikikikiki—
The ominous laugh again.
The tentacle, somehow resembling an elephant trunk, wrapped around the Chef and pulled it in.
The abyssal being hadn't descended. But they'd gathered enough mountain sacrifices to manifest a fragment of its power.
“Ooh! Captain! Thank you! I'll head there with the blood from the sacrifices we've gathered so far!”
Damn! Focus! Focus, Kim Shinhwa!
And fuck! Don't think about blood! Grab it! Kill that bastard! That's the only way out of this shitty blood phobia!
[Tracker of Hatred]
I barely completed the spell, but the gate closed.
“Ah, damn! Fuck!”
I cursed vaguely, but
it was too late. Lost it. The madness unresolved.
Fear of its blood kept me from proper judgment and choices. The phobia prevented me from using my full power.
“Pathetic Kim bastard! We'll finish you off!
“Kkiyohohot!”
The wrecked Butcher and lightning-zapped Boil Chef charged at me.
“Ha, damn. Blood, blood, blood. Fuck.”
“Poor Kim. No Captain Cheon-geum to help now!”
“Kkikke keuk!”
“Hey, you guys don't carry extra blood around, right?”
At my question, they exchanged baffled looks.
Originally goblins, but after drinking human blood and addicted to the taste, they lost their nature and gained yokai cruelty.
Worse, addicted to blood, they bowed to abyssal beings like [Predator of the Mountains], [The Silent Waiter], [Burning Head], or [Blood Demon King], receiving their blessings and powers laced with vile malice.
And they'd massacred dozens, harvesting their blood.
Boil Chef and Butcher chuckled knowingly, sadistic laughs.
“Aah— got it. Your brain's fried. Can't be helped. Just glimpsing a fragment of the captain's power shattered your mind.”
“Kkiyoh! Kkiee hehe!”
“Don't worry, Kim. You'll soon be our comrade, serving the captain.”
I pointed at the gleefully approaching Butcher.
[Melting Flesh]
“What— what'd you do?”
Sizzle—
The Butcher's facial skin began melting. Gooey flesh flowed down, covering its face and blocking airways.
“Mmph— guh!”
“Kkikke kek!”
I twirled my finger at the flailing Boil Chef screaming and activated the next spell.
[Tangling Agony]
Crack— snapcrack—
“Kkieek?! Guueeek!?”
Boil Chef's limbs stretched long, then twisted and knotted themselves like tangled ropes.
“Mmph! Mmph!”
“Shut up.”
I layered another spell on the Butcher.
[Dreamlike Inflammation]
[Starving Left Arm]
“Gurgle— guurgle—”
Horrific boils and inflammation rose on the Butcher's body. Pus poured out, grotesque plants sprouting within.
And its left hand grew a horrifying saw-toothed maw.
Grrrr!
The monstrous mouth the left hand became started chewing the right hand.
“Mmmph! Mmph!”
“And you, puke up some squid.”
[Abyssal Dust]
“Gaaaaah—”
Splurt— splurt—
Weird-shaped white squid poured from Boil Chef's mouth. Not actual squid. Translucent milky-skinned monsters wrapped around Boil Chef—
Wham!
A glowing golden Vajra Rod flew in, batting away the milky tentacle monsters.
“Kim, this is too much.”
Seo Cheonsul's voice.
“No, just a bit more.”
Haven't vented enough yet.
“Hey. Kim. Shin. Hwa. Stop it!”
Seo Cheonsul grabbed my head and forced it to turn.
There was her dusty, disheveled face.
I looked at her face for a moment and said,
“Hat. Looks like you lost it.”
The hat she always wore was gone.
“Hmm, wonder where it fell? Anyway, can't you stop?”
“Fine. Captain Cheon-geum, clean these up.”
I tossed the sack I'd been carrying to Seo Cheonsul.
“Whew—”
Seo Cheonsul shouldered the sack, sighed, and looked at the writhing Butcher and Boil Chef on the floor.
“Stupid goblin shits. Thirsty for the blood outside Cheon-geum Hall?”
Seo Cheonsul stuffed the fallen goblins— traitors who betrayed Great King Man-geum and pledged to abyssal beings— into the sack, then said cheerfully,
“Alright, Kim. What's the next plan?”