Chapter 242
Chapter 242
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 242
Chapter Title: Consecutive Victories
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[High Spirits]
Kim Shin-hwa cast a spell on himself. A ritual to heighten his will and activate his metabolism.
The forcibly generated adrenaline and dopamine created a vague sense of euphoria and inexplicable intoxication in Kim Shin-hwa's mind.
Not bad, Kim Shin-hwa thought, then said,
"Hyun-deok, don't stop. Keep moving."
"You're gonna do more?"
"I'm a little tired, yeah."
He couldn't stop now. He couldn't miss this moment. There was no room to turn his hand to anything else or look away.
Because Kim Shin-hwa was winning right now.
He was winning the fight, resolving quests that would lead to catastrophe in one go, and repelling an enormous number of enemies at once.
'But it never ends.'
Kim Shin-hwa let out a short sigh.
Even if he repelled today's enemies, new ones would appear tomorrow.
Remove one threat, and a new one would squeeze into its place.
That was the nature of this game.
It offered no sense of achievement or victory to the player.
Enemies he'd already killed would revive with greater power. Foes he'd spared out of mercy would repay kindness with enmity. The girl he'd barely saved with his life would return as a madwoman.
To free someone bound by a necromancer's curse, he had to thrust them into a new one.
'Crazy game.'
There was a reason people told you not to play it.
What had come to Kim Shin-hwa, who had ignored that advice and clung to this game longer than anyone?
An invitation to this mad world brimming with insanity more vicious than death.
Tap, tap—
Kim Shin-hwa irritably drummed his fingers on his mask.
'What does any of this even mean?'
Ruin was inevitable anyway.
This was just a contest of how long you could hold out. A mad sport for lunatics—holding your breath, bound by ropes, diving into the deep, dark abyss.
But Kim Shin-hwa was the hero who had reversed fates more than anyone, repeating this game endlessly.
As many times as he'd looped it, he'd witnessed that many deaths and ruins. He remembered what actions led to which defeats, which catastrophes.
That's why, even today, Kim Shin-hwa could rack up consecutive victories in this insane game. Especially today, with an obsessively voracious momentum, he scraped together "small wins."
Not for achievement or triumph. To ignore the unpleasant thoughts slithering in his head.
Moving west along Gongneungcheon, Kim Shin-hwa asked Jang Hyun-deok in the driver's seat.
"Hyun-deok, that."
"Yes?"
"That's Odu Mountain, right?"
He gazed at the mountain jutting out toward the Han River through the four eyeholes in his mask.
"Yeah! But... you know that from around that mountain, it's Tanhyeon territory, right?"
Jang Hyun-deok now knew how horrific that mountain—and Tanhyeon—truly were. He'd gained eyes to see mana, curses, the dreadful void, and abyssal power.
"I know."
Kim Shin-hwa activated his magic instantly. Without even getting out of the car, without any preparatory movements or setup.
[Eerie Scream]
[Grasp of Set]
[Spell Enhancement: Range Increase]
[Spell Enhancement: Maximization]
Kyaaaaaaaa!!
Kwaduduk—
[Eerie Scream] and [Grasp of Set] pushed back the evil mana and repulsive force enveloping Tanhyeon and Odu Mountain. Through the gap, he thrust in lightning honed like a sharp spear.
[Thunderbolt]
[Spell Enhancement: Chain Explosion]
Kwaaaaaang! Kwang! Kwaaaaaang!
"Whoaaa!"
Jang Hyun-deok now knew just how bizarre and alien Kim Shin-hwa was.
The grotesque, surreal phenomenon that kept expanding its range, spewing curses—Paju's people had shied away from even coining a new term, simply calling it [Tanhyeon].
And he was targeting that [Tanhyeon]—from this distance?
At the same time, Jang Hyun-deok recalled words Kim Shin-hwa had told him.
'Remember the three elements of spellcasting. Simple spells can skip them, but most magic requires hand seals, incantations, and catalysts—some or all of them.'
'But you don't use any of that, wizard?'
'Well... let's just say I'm a genius.'
This time too, Kim Shin-hwa used none: no hand seals, no incantations, no catalysts.
He simply steeled his will, moved his mana, and swept aside the veil shrouding Tanhyeon—crafting the miracle he desired.
Even from inside a car speeding along at this range.
If Jang Hyun-deok had broader knowledge and experience, he'd have been shocked again by what happened next.
Kwagwagwang!
The [Chain Explosion] property Kim Shin-hwa had imbued in the ritual activated. Simple destruction could've been easier. Smaller explosions followed in sequence.
Kwaaaang! Kwang!
Perfect timing and angles for the blasts.
Thanks to that, the object Kim Shin-hwa wanted flew intact from Odu Mountain's summit into the Han River.
Kwarurung—thud!
Splashhh!
A massive spray of water erupting from the Han River's great height.
"Tch."
Despite the astonishing feat, Kim Shin-hwa clicked his tongue in displeasure. He'd thought of "flight" amid the spectacle he'd created.
"Hyun-deok, pull the car up to the river. Let's grab that."
"Got it!"
That thing that fell into the river—
The object Kim Shin-hwa had dragged out of Tanhyeon without setting foot inside—was the marker stone that had stood at Odu Mountain's peak.
Before the area became the anomalous phenomenon [Tanhyeon], it had been an ordinary rock.
But now it was infused with a new venom.
Of course, compared to the other oddities [Tanhyeon] harbored, it was still insignificant.
'But just a little longer...'
By Kim Shin-hwa's memory and calculations, an event was scheduled within a week.
'An event where thousands of gut snails land from the Han River, right?'
More precisely, the venom accumulating on the marker stone would guide one of the incarnations of [Predator of the Mountains], [The Devourer of Fear]—and his blessing would trigger it.
But now, that event wouldn't happen.
'Because the event's trigger object is gone.'
The event needed that marker stone to start. But now it was gone.
In short, Kim Shin-hwa had claimed victory in advance in a battle that hadn't even occurred yet.
[Coiling Currents]
[Whirling Rapids]
Kwarururung!
Kim Shin-hwa manipulated the Han River's waters to fish up the sunken marker stone from the riverbed. It soon went straight into Doldol's mouth. Doldol danced excitedly.
Odu Mountain's summit still blazed with flames from the chain explosions, but Kim Shin-hwa showed no interest.
"Now, take Jayuro south from here."
"How far?"
"Old publishing district for now."
In the past, printing plants had churned out tens of millions of books there, with warehouses and publishers clustered around. But after the Great Collapse, Paju was no place for publishing.
Dilapidated factories stretched out bleakly. Weeds thrust through cracked concrete. The air hung heavy and oppressive in an eerie way.
"Wait here."
Kim Shin-hwa stepped out, retrieved a few tattered books from a printing plant warehouse abandoned for about ten years, and returned.
"Whoa, what's that?"
"A book some printing tech once made after receiving abyssal revelation."
Printed not with ink, but the technician's own blood extracted from his body—an alien object. And by coincidence, it contained the teachings of the [Blood Demon King].
[Exploding Smoke]
Kwaaaaaaaa—
The factory was soon trapped in an immense cloud of smoke. Not ordinary smoke, either. A hazardous magic that could ignite chain flames from the slightest spark or friction.
To make it even surer, Kim Shin-hwa layered on more spells.
[Delayed Blast Fireball]
[Spell Enhancement: Multiple Cast]
He'd recovered the grimoire, but the traces and evil aura left here could clue the Blood Demon Cult into developing the [Blood Heaven Demon Array], an evil ritual.
And if his calculations were correct, Blood Demon Cultists would reach this factory tomorrow.
"Hyun-deok, start her up."
"Where to this time?"
"Unjeong Station."
"Alright, let's go!"
Kwaaaaaang!
The printing plant exploded belatedly.
Now, even if the Blood Demon Cult came, they wouldn't detect the grimoire—let alone any touch of the [Blood Demon King] here.
The [Blood Heaven Ascendant] event—where the Blood Heaven Demon Array would drain all Paju citizens' blood at once—wouldn't happen.
Once more, Kim Shin-hwa had won a battle that hadn't occurred yet.
His seventh victory today alone.
Descending into Unjeong Station's underground, Kim Shin-hwa entered the subterranean church that the descendants of Fomalhaut had once built—the very one he'd visited before.
It had taken great effort to reach back then, but now he arrived without issue.
Since the [Descendants of Fomalhaut] had suffered near annihilation, the place was utterly abandoned.
Kim Shin-hwa glanced around the dreary underground, then drew out the [Butcher's Hook].
[Absorb Essence]
Storing the absorbed mana, he installed a brilliantly glowing magic circle in the empty space and left Unjeong Station.
Left alone, remnants of the Gourmet Expedition would have built a new chapel here.
"What'd you do?"
"Laid a trap."
"Dangerous?"
"Most things would die instantly."
"Ah, but what if some innocent gets caught?"
"That's their fate. Anyone sneaking into a secret spot like that ain't normal anyway."
"Hmm, yeah, but..."
Jang Hyun-deok cautiously eyed Kim Shin-hwa's expression, but the mask hid it.
"Where to now?"
"Manjangsan."
A low mountain northeast of Bongilcheon, Yeom Geum-ja's base. They arrived soon.
"Ooh, summit! Check out the view, wizard."
Not a high peak, but Jang Hyun-deok grinned, admiring the expansive vista.
"Wizard, why are we here?"
"Only spot that spawns those."
"Spawns what?"
Kim Shin-hwa wasted no time, drawing mana from the [Butcher's Hook] and unleashing a spell.
[Arrow of Ruin]
[Spell Enhancement: Range Increase]
[Spell Enhancement: Deadly Poison]
Piyuuuuuu—
2.7 km northeast from Manjangsan summit.
There, beyond Munsancheon crossing west through Paju, lay a vast wetland hugging an arboretum. Kim Shin-hwa's spell flew there and...
Crack!
Struck its target.
Perfectly precise marksmanship.
"Eh? Wizard, what was that?"
To Jang Hyun-deok's innocent question, Kim Shin-hwa sighed faintly and answered.
"There's this thing called a Screaming Demon Frog."
"Screaming Demon Frog?"
"Yeah. Remember those amphibian humanoids?"
"Oh, the One Hundred Eight Nahans? Related to them?"
"It's the one that'll become their cult leader. Like head monk in Buddhism terms?"
The idea of a newborn becoming cult leader sounded odd, but Jang Hyun-deok just shrugged it off. Not human anyway, so why not.
"Ah, gotcha? But what'd it do?"
"Just killed it."
Jang Hyun-deok blinked in shock.
"Huh?"
Joking? But Kim Shin-hwa calmly elaborated.
"It's newly born, so easy to kill now. Another Screaming Demon Frog'll spawn, but it'll take time."
Just buying time.
But that was enough. Kim Shin-hwa planned to wipe out the remnants of Sangbul Temple before the next one.
Ignoring Jang Hyun-deok's reply, Kim Shin-hwa pulled out his smartphone and called someone.
"Yes, Director. It's me."
From the phone came Chae Tae-won's voice—and a girl's scream.
The cacophony of a madness-crazed girl shrieking. Noisy. Kim Shin-hwa narrowed his eyes, ignoring it.
"Setup's done. You can move now."