Chapter 219
Chapter 219
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 219
Chapter Title: Non-Wish
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Let's stop this. I surrender.
Why the hell do I have to go through this shit?
Just ignore it. Hold out a little longer—it can't keep repeating this insane crap forever.
Every time it possesses something, the bastard burns through a massive amount of mana.
No, fuck, how the hell am I supposed to ignore it! That fucker already figured out what I'm reacting to. Next time, I definitely won't be able to hold out!
And fuck, why are there so many goddamn people here!
I'm losing my mind.
Before coming to this hospital, I'd prepared defenses and counters against its attacks.
But I never imagined it'd go with this berserk, mad-dog approach.
'No, I can handle that.'
That's not the real problem.
Urrrrghhh—
A head twisting in a direction it shouldn't.
Arms creaking in grotesque ways.
Legs staggering and twisting.
The thing suspended in midair—hu-man, corpse—corpse spoke.
“Is this one any good? Someone close to you, perhaps?”
It was the security guard who'd been moving with me earlier.
“……No idea who that is.”
“Is that so? I thought I smelled Kim Shin-hwa on him. Pity, then. Let me fetch something else nearby—grrrgh!”
Bang!
[System: Due to the effect of ‘Fear Injection,’ a forced sanity check is triggered on the target. Checking... Success! You endure the horrific shock.]
“Haha—huhu. Ha! Huhuhu—”
A weird noise escapes my mouth.
“Ah, damn it, my body... You're done for now. This body's under my control. Shut up! Kim Shin-hwa, get out! Escape this place! Be quiet, my legs won't move! Yeah, just a bit more! Just a bit more! I'm getting out of this body! Do something about these crazy bastards!”
My mouth is one, yet random bullshit spews out all at once.
What the fuck is this mess!?
I prepared countermeasures, but I can't use them.
That's not all. My legs won't move. My head won't turn.
“Damn it, everyone shut up and go to sleep!”
The incarnation of [Predator of the Mountains], [The One Who Waits Silently], forced something on me that's critically disrupting my control over my own body.
Takeover wave, was it? The personalities inside me that want to seize my body lunge toward the overflowing blood, while those that want to escape aid their rampage.
And in the midst of it all, [The One Who Waits Silently] is gradually realizing what gets a reaction out of me.
Creak—creak—crunch—
“Teacher! Look! Look at my body! This one remade my body for me!”
What sorcery did the bastard use?
Or maybe one of the surreal entities in this hospital had that ability.
Either way, this time a corpse with hardened, chitin-like skin approaches.
It's completely different from the previous puppets. Every joint in its limbs has been replaced with ball joints.
“Yeah, you fucker! Keep it coming!”
[Blade Mist]
Shrrrrrrk—
Before the grotesquely twisted corpse can reach me, it bursts apart.
Fuck! Fuck! Directionless curses leak from my throat. From somewhere down the long, long corridor, [The One Who Waits Silently]'s voice echoes again.
“How cruel, heartless, merciless you are. How can you commit such ruthless acts?”
Crunch—crunch—crunch—crunch—
Noise from beyond the wall. Something scraping at it.
Probably beyond that wall—
“Don't fuck with me! You think I'll just take this lying down?”
[Crown of the Earth]
Quuuudrum! Boom! Quagaga!
Immense stone pillars erupt from all directions, piercing whatever's behind the wall.
The building might collapse, but that's not the issue right—
Shaaak!
From a hole punched in the wall, a leech-like tentacle lashes out.
'That's a blood leech?!'
No, that's—not. That's—
A human form in horrific shape, riddled with blood-made leeches.
Disgusting leeches, snails, worms, maggots, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs clinging to its whole body. Tentacles sprouting like a crown.
Blood flowing down its entire form like tears.
That's—
[The ‘Blood Demon King’ reveals itself before your eyes.]
[The ‘Blood Demon King’s’ unique trait ‘Crimson Realm’ activates? Error!!]
But the same being can't exist in one place at the same time.
The [Blood Demon King]'s state was even worse than [The One Who Waits Silently], who had only been repeating monotonous actions.
[The activation of ‘Crimson Realm’ has failed.]
It couldn't even activate its unique trait. But even without that, who knows what it might do.
“Quit screwing around and fuck off!”
[Chain Lightning]
Krarung! Kaaaang!
Splatter—splatter—
The [Blood Demon King], struck directly by my lightning, collapses without doing a thing. Not because of my bolt.
It descended without a medium, sacrifice, or ritual. On top of that, in a place where an incarnation of its own kind already existed. Thus, the [Blood Demon King] couldn't overcome its own presence and was expelled from this place.
But even as it happened, the [Blood Demon King] spat out its words with desperate tenacity.
“ང་ཁྱེད་ཀྱི་བདེ་བ་འདི་དང་ལས་བརྩོན་ནས་འདུག གིས་བདག་གིས་རེད།.”
That's Tibetan. The nuance might vary slightly, but the meaning of those words is...
‘I will always be with you here. I will never leave your side.’
Yeah, something like that. Why the fuck is this [Predator of the Mountains] psycho so obsessed with me?
[System: ‘Enhanced Vigilance’ trait activates.]
[Fireball]
Fwoosh! Boom!
I sensed an approach from behind and reflexively cast a spell, but what it wanted wasn't to attack me.
“That—”
[The One Who Waits Silently], flung back by the fireball. In his hand, a pitch-black robe flutters.
“—give it back, you fucker!”
Even as his body burned, [The One Who Waits Silently] spoke in a voice that sounded delighted.
“This wing robe, created by the incarnation of [King of All Gold], [Ancient Dream Ruler], has been excessively boosting your mental strength.”
The [Wings of the Night Veil] have an option that raises the Mental stat.
Without it, my Mental drops. Several perks I get above 20 points get canceled.
“Curious if you can look away this time too.”
Crack—crack—crackcrack—crackcrack—
An unpleasant sound from beyond the wall.
Someone clawing at the wall.
Crackcrack—crackcrack—crackcrack—crackcrack—crackcrack—crackcrack—crackcrack—crackcrack—crackcrack—crackcrack—crackcrack—crackcrack—Not one. Many.
“Kim Shin-hwa. You have no idea how much power the great ones have expended just to deal with a pathetic worm like you. It's rare for abyssal beings to invest this much care in a human. Be proud.”
“I don't know about the others, but you! You, I'm really gonna! Gonna wipe you out no matter what it takes!”
Eeeeeeng—
I try to move, to draw up mana, but it won't work properly.
Because the other personalities dwelling in my body—no, my head—are going berserk.
The horror about to come, the gruesome situation, rises all too vividly in my mind.
“Aaah! Fuck! Shut up!”
Gong Isu told me not to use the tabula rasa device, but even risking idiocy—I'm gonna excise these monsters from my head!
“Yeah—yes. A splendid dream. But soon, you'll become one with us. Think of a fitting epithet. Revel in the glory of losing your self and becoming the apostle who conveys the will of [Predator of the Mountains].”
Crack—urrrk—crack—boom! Thud!
The wall crumbles, and the things peeking from beyond reveal themselves.
Bodies made of plastic. Ball joints embedded in every joint. Jaws split into squares instead of lips.
I can no longer deny or look away.
My mind recognizes them as dolls.
[Dolls swarming from all sides stimulate the madness dwelling in your mind.]
Move! Run! W-what's happening? Get out of the way! I'm getting out now! Save me! Stop! Get out! Don't interfere!
“Get the fuck out of my head, you bastards!”
I screamed to the very end, but it just looked at me and twisted the face of the corpse it possessed.
[Madness – Doll Phobia manifests.]
“Gr—gr—grgr—gr—”
An unpleasant noise leaking from the split seam below the horrifically distorted face.
Its laughter.
[Mental stat attempts resistance against the delusion.]
“Amusing. So amusing. Truly astonishing—asthu etat khilaushah vismayakarakah! You truly can't read minds, memories, or foresee the future. Are you the white servant prophesied to come find me? Or are you the feast the white servant prepared for me?”
[Mental check...]
“Not... fucking... amusing at all. You fucker.”
[Failure.]
“Gr—gr—grgr—”
Its laughter continues.
[Delusion occurs.]
I'm tired.
I want to stop now.
Why am I even keeping this up? Can't I just quit?
I just want to sleep.
I'm sleepy.
I want to sleep.
* * *
“This language I'm using, so even a pathetic worm like you can understand.”
[The One Who Waits Silently], barely clinging to the crumbling flesh, spoke toward what had once been Kim Shin-hwa.
“Before this language was even created. Before beasts like you walked this land and lifted their pitiful heads.”
What had once been Kim Shin-hwa slowly raised both hands.
“Before the land you stand on even took this form. There was a prophecy.”
[The One Who Waits Silently] continued speaking, but what had once been Kim Shin-hwa ignored him and peered at its own fingers.
“That after a long, long time, the [White Servant] would come to find me.”
What had once been Kim Shin-hwa slowly clenched its fingers into a fist.
“One who would take me to the far reaches of that distant galaxy. One coming from the far reaches of that distant galaxy. Prepared for me. Coming for me. I have waited for the [White Servant].”
What had once been Kim Shin-hwa slowly spread its fingers. It repeats clenching and unclenching.
“I've cleared the unnecessary things lodged in your head, so speak your name as promised. Are you the [White Servant] I waited and waited and waited and waited and waited for across eons?”
[The One Who Waits Silently]'s words lacked their previous leisure. A direct, certain desperation even humans could empathize with.
But what had once been Kim Shin-hwa ignored that cosmic desperation and longing, turning its head to scan the surroundings.
What had once been Kim Shin-hwa's gaze stopped on the water buffalo skull lying on the floor.
“Answer me. Time is short. My time as an incarnation is nearly up. I will vanish soon.”
What had once been Kim Shin-hwa slowly donned the water buffalo skull mask, [Reckless Destruction].
[System: Cooldown not finished, trait cannot be activated.]
What had once been Kim Shin-hwa, now wearing the large mask, stroked the blood dripping from the blood-soaked mask as if fascinated and spoke.
“Blood, blood, blood is warm—warmer than I thought. I, I always wanted to touch it myself. Th-thank you. Th-thanks to you, I, I could come out.”