Chapter 266
Chapter 266
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 266
Chapter Title: Shoggoths
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In the courtyard of Bongam Temple, those who died in such grotesque ways were all cultists of the [Old Voice].
They were originally a small group of wealthy landowners from Sokcho and elders from somewhat prominent families—a casual social club or prosperity society, something like that.
But one day.
Whispers leaking from somewhere in Seoraksan Mountain seeped into their minds.
From that day on, slowly but surely, the loose-knit social club—formed to protect the camaraderie and interests of these rich folks—degenerated into a cult dedicated to the resurrection and return of the [Great Origin].
It wasn't a massive organization by any means.
As I mentioned before, this place was more conducive than others for summoning abyssal entities.
Plus, unlike other cultists constrained in their actions, they wielded strong social influence limited to the Sokcho area.
In game terms, it felt like balanced design, but now something weird was happening.
Kwaaaaang!
A boulder hurtling down the mountain at tremendous speed.
"Uwaaaaaah!!"
Kim Sung-hwan's scream.
"Ugh, let go! Don't grab me—catch that thing instead!"
How did I end up moving with this low-tier cultist...?
The reason I came to this neighborhood was to prevent the descent of the [Great Origin] and eliminate the [Old Voice] cultists plotting it.
And Kim Sung-hwan was one of the [Old Voice] cultists.
Following the syllogism, I should eliminate Kim Sung-hwan.
But...
"Please! Take me with you!"
"Why should I?"
"Money! I'll give you anything you want! Take me to Yeonam Construction!"
"Huh? Where?"
"If you go over there, there's a construction site run by Yeonam Construction..."
"I know that. But why do you need to go there?"
"My comrade's there! Mun Kyung-nam, the executive director of Yeonam Construction—he's my comrade."
"Ah, I see?"
Apparently, Mun Kyung-nam had that backstory.
Or maybe something had changed from the game's lore.
I pondered for a moment, but my final decision was...
"I'm the fixer that Director Mun Kyung-nam brought in."
That's what I said.
Right now, I needed any variable I could get.
And the event that followed as a natural progression.
[System: 'Enhanced Vigilance' activates.]
"Kkeeek!"
Along with the guidance from [Enhanced Vigilance], Red's cry echoed from above my head.
Red, who had been flying over us, lowered altitude and cried out again.
"Kkweee!"
"Yeah, I know! Get back up!"
I waved at Red to evade.
"W-what?! What's happening!?"
Kim Sung-hwan's confused expression.
"Seems like people are coming to catch you, mister."
"What!?"
Whirrr—swoosh—
The distinctive noise coming from all directions.
Magic stone bombs incoming.
Kwaaaang!
The following explosion.
"Uracha!"
[S-grade armor 'Blood Volcano Parasol' unique function, 'Evacuation' activates.
// Evacuation - Opening the parasol automatically deploys an S-grade protective barrier that blocks fire, lightning, impact, and physical attacks.]
Geeeeeng!
I swung the Blood Volcano Parasol to block the explosion's shockwave, but the veterans' attacks were even more cunning.
Kkigigigigik!
The shock from the explosion up front topples several trees toward us.
"Ah, damn it! Boulder!"
Grrr rumble!
The boulder, as if thrilled, grinds with a rocky screech as it dodges the explosion and falling trees barreling toward us.
Kugaagagagwang!
"Uwaaaak!"
Kim Sung-hwan's scream.
The boulder's flat top was great for lying or standing on, but not ideal as a mount.
I grabbed Kim Sung-hwan, who nearly bounced off from the physical force I'd conjured with mana, and expanded my detection around us.
Residual images moving at insane speeds from tree to tree.
The [Evergreen Mountain Club].
Shouts from the elders in the distance.
"Hand over that cultist!"
"Give us back that bastard!"
"If you interfere with our revenge, you're dead too!"
The mood had ripened.
I reached out to Kim Sung-hwan and yelled at him.
"Hey! Mr. Kim Sung-hwan! Kim Sung-hwan!"
"Uwaaaak! Uwaaaak!"
"Mister! Pull yourself together! Why are those elders so pissed at you guys?"
"T-that's..."
"Tell me properly. If you don't, I'm ditching you."
Kwaang! Boom!
Right in the middle of the bombardment.
Even if I tossed him here, he wouldn't die from stray shots. The Evergreen Mountain Club elders would safely drag him back to Bongam Temple and stake his limbs.
"P-please! Don't! Don't do that! I'll talk!"
I could have asked back at Bongam Temple, but then he'd have spun lies, twisted words, schemed excuses, and so on.
In the midst of this bombardment where death loomed any second, Kim Sung-hwan had no room for lies or tricks and spilled the truth.
"We... we... killed the shaman at Bongam Temple..."
Ah?
Not a truth I liked.
Well, that's pretty much the role of cultists in this game.
"...What about the [Bongam Chronicles]?"
"W-we burned that too. It had spells blocking our rituals..."
"Haa—"
"But starting the next day, the Evergreen Mountain Club started attacking us..."
Yeah, no value in helping this guy.
Probably some even dirtier backstory omitted beyond what he said.
From the looks of it, these bastards' filthy schemes had turned the fixer group [Evergreen Mountain Club] into a bunch of madmen on par with cultists.
I decided to use this guy until I met Mun Kyung-nam and shut my mouth.
But how do we escape?
We could keep rolling to the construction site like this, but they're not foes Kwak Dae-yong's gang could handle.
[System: 'Feast Offering' trait activates.]
[System: 'Enhanced Vigilance' activates.]
Ugh, what?
An eerie sensation crawling over my skin.
Zzzzzzt—zzt—shiver—
Far off, a pitch-black shadow—a massive, grotesque shadow—reveals itself.
"Danger!"
That was a shout from the Evergreen Mountain Club somewhere in the trees. Ah, thanks for the concern. No, probably not aimed at me.
The elders who had been vigorously chasing me abruptly changed course.
And from far ahead—in the direction the boulder and I were heading—comes a crow-like noise, or like a malformed woodwind instrument blasting a bizarre sound, no, a roar.
"Tekeli-li!!"
Tekeli-li—or Tekeli-rik—maybe Kekeri-li—some freakish noise.
"What a day. Everything's coming at once."
Kuugaagagagwak!
The black, grotesque form engulfs the trees blocking its path—like a tidal wave of sticky mud—crashing in.
Uwa—it's a real Shoggoth!
The monster second only to the Deep Ones in fame from the [Cthulhu Mythos]! Servant of the Elder Things, fragment of the [Great Origin]!
"It's here! It's come! To save me! Us! The progeny of the [Great Origin]! Progeny of the rock racing north! Box of possibilities! Primordial builder! Protect the one who hears the old voice!"
Kim Sung-hwan shouting in ecstasy—or madness.
Cultist optimism. But really? Is that thing here for Kim Sung-hwan?
Grgrrr rumble!!
The boulder writhes, expressing instinctive revulsion.
Yeah, Boulder, same thought here. A Shoggoth appearing right in our path.
Keep going straight?
My Intelligence stat gave high-speed cognition, calculation power, and near-perfect memory, but judgment was up to me, independent of stats.
Charge? Evade?
"Go! Our god protects me! Hurry to it!"
"You cultist scum! That monster! Monster!"
Shouts from Kim Sung-hwan and the Evergreen Mountain Club.
Ah, headache!
"Boulder, keep going!"
Dodging elsewhere meant getting chased by the Evergreen Mountain Club anyway.
Grgrrr rumble!
The boulder groaned in confusion but ultimately kept rolling toward the oncoming Shoggoth as I asked.
Kwaaaaang!
Kururururu!
Chaos.
Contrary to Kim Sung-hwan's expectation, the Shoggoth didn't pursue me. But that didn't mean safe passage awaited.
The Shoggoth attacked everything around like a mindless beast.
"Tekeli-li!!"
"Ah, damn!"
Another round of kwagagagak! noise.
I deflected incoming debris with the Blood Volcano Parasol's barrier and unleashed physical force in all directions, grabbing fallen trees and Evergreen Mountain Club's magic stone bombs, hurling them all toward the Shoggoth. At the same time—clack! [Toy Gun] firing wildly. "Red!" Kkeeik cry and Red's mana release. A massive wave pouring from the sky.
Shaking vision, deafening noise and storm-like vibrations, dust clouds and flying wood shards, cascading water like a waterfall, landslide, downpour, relentless magic stone bombs and arrows chasing us, Tekeli-li! roar, Kim Sung-hwan weeping in ecstasy, fizzing sparks of [Abyssal Madness].
"Uwaaaat! We escaped!"
Damn, that wasn't fighting—we just startled it and ran.
"Why—why? Why?"
"Why what! Shut up, mister!"
Without Red—or the Evergreen Mountain Club—I might've really died.
"Whew—well, we got away thanks to that."
Not time to relax.
The Shoggoth appeared from the direction I was heading.
Meaning, the construction site.
The sensation earlier of spirit golems getting smashed was probably that Shoggoth's doing.
"Damn, everything's a beat late. Boulder!"
Grgrrr rumble!
The boulder picks up speed.
* * *
Kwak Dae-yong and his men hadn't just been slacking.
Following the "headquarters manual," they'd scraped together site debris and junk to build barricades and mostly cleaned up the scattered corpses.
Or rather, traces of that remained.
The defensive barricades were utterly smashed, and spirit golem wreckage littered the area.
And Kwak Dae-yong and everyone else here...
Gone.
At least one witness to tell what happened remained.
"Achilles!"
Kkiriririk—kaduduk—
Scattered junk gathers into a dog shape.
Kkiriririk—
"Yeah. Achilles, over here."
Kkiriririk—wood creak—kaduduk—
The other spirit golems absorb my mana to repair themselves and approach.
"Uwaaa—"
Kim Sung-hwan's scream at the sight.
Ignoring him, I questioned the spirit golems.
"What was it? What happened?"
Kkiririk—
One spirit golem raises a junk hand, pointing to the cave I'd sealed.
I'd definitely blocked it with rebar and heavy machinery debris, but it was cleared away—
"And full of footprints."
The cave entrance was covered in bloody footprints.
Woooooong—
An unsettling noise emanating from the cave. Like a sinister lullaby luring people in.
Yeah, straightforward.
They all wandered in dazed, stepping through that blood puddle?
I moved to enter without hesitation, but—
"Wait."
Everything's gone haywire today, weirdly so.
Where did it start going wrong?
Can't use magic, and that's why?
Distracted by madness, moved a day late?
Or coming to Sokcho was the wrong choice from the start?
Too much off from usual.
What action to fix all this? Or is there even a way?
"Hmm—"
Rush in? Or cautiously?
Another dilemma.
I see night sky clouds twisting grotesquely.
Then, trrring—bell tolls.
Phone?
It's Park Kwang-rim.
"Hello?"
- Kim Shin-hwa! Kim Shin-hwa! Aaaah! Aaaah!
"What's wrong? Park Kwang-rim? What happened?"
What now?
Park Kwang-rim screams in panic—or madness—horrifically.
"Hey! Calm down! Snap out of it! What happened? If you can call, talk properly!"
- Yang Seo-ho! Yang Seo-ho!
"Yang Seo-ho?"
- Yang Seo-ho is dead!
"Huh?"
Park Kwang-rim keeps rambling incoherently. Hard to understand, but he keeps talking, desperately relaying the bizarre, horrific scene he witnessed.