Chapter 268
Chapter 268
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 268
Chapter Title: Destruction Trigger (1)
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The texture of the mask touching my fingertips.
I must have been unconsciously stroking the mask covering my face.
‘Am I going crazy or something?’
All that nonsense coming through the smartphone so far.
Is this really what my ears are hearing?
It’s not just my delusions, right? Those were actually Park Kwang-rim’s words?
‘No, if I start doubting my own cognition and perception, I won’t be able to do anything.’
Yeah, I’m not the crazy one.
“Park Kwang-rim! Get a grip!”
The words I’d shouted over and over. I couldn’t think of anything else to say, so I repeated them.
But this time, there was no reply from Park Kwang-rim. Even some crazy rant would’ve been welcome.
Instead, what came through the smartphone was—
Crash! Thud! Crunch!
A chaotic noise assaulting my eardrums.
“Hahaha— Hehehe— Uhahahaha!”
Meaningless laughter dragging on. Was he lost in delirium? And that laughter was rapidly fading away. Damn it, where’s he going?
I yelled a few more times, but no response.
Looks like he tossed the smartphone aside and wandered off somewhere.
‘I was wrong.’
Faintly from the smartphone: the booming Tekeli-li. Someone’s scream. A disgusting sound like something melting. An explosion. More screams.
“At least the Shoggoth showing up was real...”
It was hard to trust everything Park Kwang-rim said, but something horrific had clearly happened in Buyeo.
Which meant Yang Seo-ho’s death was probably real too.
Yang Seo-ho was superhuman enough to shrug off molten metal poured on her.
In another genre, another story, another world, that might’ve been enough—but this was the irrational, illogical [Cthulhu World].
Anyway, Yang Seo-ho was still human. In a world where monsters beyond human limits existed, she could die too, naturally.
“If Park Kwang-rim’s explanation is right, it’s because of the unique ability of the [Soul Shackles]?”
The unique ability of the [Soul Shackles]: [Two Graves].
Pay one grave, and it creates another.
The owner of the [Soul Shackles] could use an unavoidable instant-death attack—at the cost of their own life.
“W-Wow— Really! Who would’ve thought getting friendly with the cultists and then asking them to find Park Kwang-rim was the solution! Damn it, even after all those replay runs, I never found that loophole, and they pull it off like this!”
Sure, it was an insanely overpowered artifact, but that wasn’t the real problem.
“Sigh... And of all people, it ends up in Dokgo Gyeom’s hands?”
If the item they found really was the [Soul Shackles]—then the unique event it could trigger—was about to happen.
[System: The stars are returning to their positions.]
A message window popped up before my eyes.
At the same time, a bizarre, ominous sensation washed over me.
“Ugh— Ahh! Ahh! It’s finally time! It’s time!”
The cry of the cultist—Kim Sung-hwan—who yearned for the descent of the [Great Origin].
“Hah, you must be thrilled.”
Kim Sung-hwan, arms spread wide in ecstasy, gazing up at the sky.
I watched him for a moment, then slowly raised my head to follow his gaze toward the heavens.
The thick clouds that had blanketed the night sky like tangled dead beast entrails were parting.
Making way for the surreal omen unfolding in the sky above.
Rumble—
Groooar—
An ominous sound from the heavens. A cosmic harmony produced by the stars finding their places.
“Yeah, the stars are returning to their positions.”
The stars were moving.
A grotesque sight that made me feel queasy just watching. The stars were sliding into new positions.
Seeking their true places.
“Why— Why is this happening? What’s going on? What is that? Destruction? Why is it like this? Amazing. Beautiful.”
His sanity score must’ve plummeted.
The residents of my mind, sunk to the depths for so long, had all surged to the surface and started babbling.
[The abyssal being ‘Source of Contamination’ has descended.]
[‘Destruction Trigger: Soul Contamination’ has activated.]
[The defense conditions for ‘Destruction Trigger: Soul Contamination’ that you have uncovered so far are as follows.
Defense Condition 1: Unknown
Defense Condition 2: Unknown
Defense Condition 3: Unknown
!Time Limit: This world will be destroyed in 2 hours!
Gather clues, decipher the defense conditions, and avert the coming doom!]
Damn it, I made the wrong choice.
* * *
“What’s happening?”
Some random words slipping from my mouth.
Probably one of the personalities in my head. Once I let one out, they all start yapping nonstop.
I considered ignoring them, but I couldn’t afford a scattered mind right now.
“One of the [Great Origin]’s avatars, the [Source of Contamination], has descended. Probably in Buyeo, given the flow.”
And somehow, they’d even triggered a Destruction Trigger—something that only activates right before the ending.
In two hours, this world ends.
I could feel the other personalities bubbling up in my head, causing a racket. What? What’d you say? Why? Suddenly? How!?
The [Soul Shackles] was an artifact imbued with the soul of the abyssal being, the [Great Origin].
With it, it could substitute for the ritual—one of the sacrifice, medium, or ceremony needed for his descent.
And Yang Seo-ho had massacred the cultists blocking her path, providing the sacrifice—
“There must’ve been a medium among the cultists who gathered to fight Yang Seo-ho.”
Is this world done for now? The end? We’re screwed? Like this? What kind of absurd plot twist is this? It’s irrational! No logic! What kind of game is this crap? Why the hell did I come to Sokcho!? I should’ve gone to Buyeo!
“Shut up! You’re all messing with my focus—get back down!”
That’s just how this game is.
I’d been through similar crap plenty of times while playing [Cthulhu World].
Unfair developments and irreversible choices. Brutal difficulty and illogical traps. False promises, deceptions, lies.
And catastrophic events happening in places beyond the player’s control.
“Yeah, the sucker who falls for it is the fool.”
I got played.
By that dog of a guy behind that message window.
Take a break? Damn it.
I took a break—and wasted a precious week like an idiot, trusting it.
Trusting an abyssal being, a monster that wants to destroy this world, mock me, toy with me, torment me, and revel in it.
So what now? What do you mean it’s not over? Doesn’t a descent mean game over? Screw it! Let’s just pet Red and die!
“It’s just one avatar descended so far. The Destruction Trigger activated, so it’s a proper descent, but—just send it back like before.”
How? Do I teleport to Buyeo right now? Hey! Kim Shin-hwa, it’s a four-hour trip to Buyeo! It’s over! No solution! And look at that!
Look where?
Rumble!!
An earthquake.
“Tekeli-li!”
This time, it wasn’t from the smartphone.
The Shoggoth was approaching again.
“Ah, I can’t figure out that bastard’s behavior pattern.”
Is it coming to attack so I can’t interfere elsewhere?
Or just roaming the area on a fixed cycle? (Roaming: When game characters or monsters patrol the map.)
I can’t beat it in my current state. It’s really over now. Let’s just die easy. Even if I could win, two hours would pass in the meantime. Dead end! Two hours left! Struggling more is pointless.
“Tekeli-li!”
Crunch—Crackle—Crash—
A massive wave of flesh surging toward me, blotting out the sky. An opponent that would be a tight fight even at full strength.
And right now, I couldn’t even use magic.
Yeah, fighting that thing now really would be a waste of time.
“No, wait.”
Come to think of it—how’d they summon something that huge?
“Because of the [Feast’s Offering] trait?”
What are you talking about? Is that important now?
It’s too elaborate for just a trap to waste me—the events here aren’t something you can brush off.
[!Time Limit: This world will be destroyed in 2 hours!]
“Yeah, two hours left, huh?”
Crack—
I twisted my neck and wrists, muttering.
What are you doing?
“Struggling.”
What?
“No more answers. All of you, shut up.”
It’s not just the massive dumb Shoggoth with an unknown pattern.
Why the hell did Mun Kyung-nam show up?
And where’s Mun Seung-hee?
Why’s the [Guardian of Bongam Hall] in that state, and what’s her connection to the [Evergreen Mountaineers]—and why are they all going insane?
I’ve come this far—I can’t die without answers.
There’s way too much bait scattered around!
I need to see what’s happening before I go.
“Dolli!”
Grumble—
“Pull out everything in the fourth and fifth slots.”
Rustle—
What Dolli dumped out were the magic stones I’d collected, the magic stone bombs I’d processed them into, and assorted weaponized junk.
I checked them over, then hopped right onto Dolli.
“And Red! Achilles!”
“Keee!”
Scritch—
“This time it’ll really be dangerous—wanna come along?”
These guys are summons. The concept of refusing orders doesn’t exist for them.
So asking like this felt deceptive in itself... Actually, it was a question to myself too.
Scritch!
Achilles leaped onto Dolli, striking a gallant pose beside me.
“Keee!”
“Gah, no need to hug me!”
Red suddenly grew huge and tried to scoop me up, nearly knocking me off Dolli ungracefully.
“Whoa whoa— Move, move!”
Still, it loosened me up a bit.
“Alright. Let’s do this.”
I drew up magic power from my entire body.
Whiiiine!!
No magic.
No allies, no clear solution.
Honestly, I still didn’t know exactly what was happening or what to block to stop the destruction.
“This is the most frustrating development yet.”
Crackle, crackle—Zzzt!
Sparks flying from the backlash.
“But I’ve got a feeling there’s something down there.”
Whirrr—
I forcibly converted magic power to physical force, levitating all the magic stones and bombs scattered on the ground.
Whirr—Whirr—
They orbited around me like a miniature solar system.
I flung a few toward the Shoggoth.
“Hey, idiot! Let’s throw down!”
BOOM! Bang! KABOOM!
Massive explosions around the Shoggoth.
Not just flashy—the amplified blasts caused double and triple chain damage, but the Shoggoth just flinched briefly, seemingly unscathed.
“[Half damage from fire and lightning], [Half damage from all magic], [Ignores all physical damage], right?”
Magic fire, so only a quarter damage.
How the hell are you supposed to beat something like that?
“Tekeli-li!”
At least I got its attention.
“Good, it’s coming.”
“What are you doing! What the hell are you doing!”
Kim Sung-hwan, freaking out and charging at me.
“Oh, right. I need you too, mister—get over here.”
“What?”
Whirr!
I used telekinesis to bind Kim Sung-hwan to Dolli’s lid, then shouted at Dolli.
“Dolli! We’re heading underground now! Achilles! Red! Everyone else! Follow close!”
Grumble!
Screech!
“Keee!”
But the direction I pointed wasn’t the cave entrance.
The cave yawning before us had the same structure as the ruins in Buyeo.
A ridiculously complex maze.
“No time to navigate that!”
I hurled a magic stone bomb at the spot I remembered. It looked like a totally random place unrelated to the cave entrance.
KABOOM!
A huge hole blasted in the ground.
And below it—a passageway.
Good, just like I remembered.
“Let’s go! Straight down there!”
Give up? Despair? Shut up.
You think I’ll quit? I’ll show you how tenacious and horrific I can be!