Chapter 280
Chapter 280
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 280
Chapter Title: Sword of the Flesh
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“We’ll catch it for you? I’ve got a mutt among the idiots I brought along who’s got a good nose.”
Curtain Call’s voice.
“No. You all don’t need to get involved. This is ultimately an internal matter for us…”
This was Moon Seung-hee’s voice.
Her tone was as firm and upright as ever, but her expression and condition didn’t look good at all.
Anxiety, fatigue, excitement, worry, confusion, and sadness clung to her sculpted face.
“Sister!”
Lee Sun-bin, who had been hiding behind me, darted out and threw herself into Moon Seung-hee’s arms.
“Sun-bin!?”
Moon Seung-hee looked back and forth between Lee Sun-bin and me with a bewildered expression. New commotion erupted from all directions.
Even in other circumstances, Lee Sun-bin’s outfit would have drawn plenty of eyes.
The on-site manager near Moon Seung-hee deftly stepped in and dispersed the gathering crowd.
“Come on, everyone—disperse for now. Disperse! Situation’s over! Manager? Not here, so—”
The crowd scattered with disappointed faces, murmuring among themselves. Well, the scene was suggestive enough to spark all sorts of imaginations just from looking.
“Hey, Kim Shin-hwa. Tell me later.”
Even Curtain Call slipped me that line before leaving. By sunrise tomorrow, it’d be twisted into some wild story.
Moon Seung-hee, holding Lee Sun-bin, stared at me with wide eyes.
“Mr. Mage, did your ‘independent action’ mean…?”
Huh? Does it connect like that?
Sure, one could think that, but given the situation, it seemed like Lee Sun-bin had gone missing after I’d left.
Still, it wasn’t a bad misunderstanding right now.
“Let’s just go with that for now.”
A new emotion rose on Moon Seung-hee’s face.感動, gratitude, thanks—she was capable of such dramatic expressions.
* * *
“Sister, that uncle says he has no friends.”
“…”
Moon Seung-hee gave Lee Sun-bin a light warning (which Lee Sun-bin ignored), then turned to me.
“You’ve helped my little sister twice now.”
“Little sister?”
“Yes. Sun-bin is my sister.”
Now that I thought about it, the two did look somewhat alike.
Just like how the Conqueror had a tearful bond with the [Guardian of Bongam-dang], this was another hidden backstory in the game.
Moon Seung-hee, wearing the now-useless Future Strategist Consultant due to her madness.
The word “illegitimate child” that Moon Kyung-nam had mentioned before.
Lee Sun-bin and Moon Seung-hee, with different surnames.
Even without more explanation, I could roughly piece together their backstory.
“But isn’t bringing her all the way here going a bit far?”
“There haven’t been issues like this until now. Besides, there are no facilities to properly care for ability users like her.”
“There are, aren’t there? Like Paju Central Hospital—”
Right, according to Tudor’s intel, Lee Sun-bin had originally been admitted there.
“Paju Central Hospital is a dangerous place with frequent unexplained explosions. Recently, cultists from the cult raided it, and some mage caused massive destruction there, so we judged it unfit to entrust family anymore.”
Hmm…
All accidents caused by me.
Fair enough—even without my involvement, Paju Central Hospital wouldn’t seem safe to ordinary people.
“I get that. Then at least reinforce the barriers.”
“The barriers…”
Moon Seung-hee glanced at Lee Sun-bin for a moment before speaking softly.
“The existing barriers were more than sufficient. I don’t know how they were breached.”
“They were sufficient?”
But the container had been utterly shattered.
I placed a hand on my mask and stared at Lee Sun-bin. Focusing mana in my eyes—probing toward her mana core.
“?!”
Lee Sun-bin flinched and looked my way in surprise.
“No, I’m not doing anything. Just hold still.”
Ah, got it.
But saying it like this makes me sound like a snake oil salesman.
“I know what the problem is.”
“Problem?”
“Yes. This place is the problem.”
Or maybe I am.
The [Great Source] is preparing a cataclysmic event for its descent and resurrection—and the end of this world.
Thus, it’s exerting influence over Buyeo and Sokcho—wait, doesn’t it really smell like corpses? Ugh. Anyway, these two places.
In Buyeo, a massive number of cultists have gathered—
In Sokcho?
The [Great Source] manipulated Moon Kyung-nam to excavate this Seoraksan ruin and prepared cultists of the [Ancient Voice].
‘But before that grand event could even start, I smashed it all.’
I personally proved that the cultists prepared by the [Great Source] were useless empty-headed fools.
Would the beings watching me from dimensions above or the deep abyss just sit idly by?
“So that’s why you said that earlier.”
“Said what?”
“Yes, I chatted a bit with Sun-bin here.”
At this timing, Lee Sun-bin would’ve been a tempting new pawn to mess with.
Explaining all this to Moon Seung-hee would be tricky.
So I chose a simpler approach.
“The ruin you discovered seems to be having a negative effect on Sun-bin.”
“The ruin… is the problem?”
“Yes. You already knew it wasn’t a normal ruin, right?”
“That’s… true.”
“To be honest, I’d recommend halting operations and withdrawing.”
Moon Seung-hee looked troubled.
She paused, straightened her back, and said,
“I don’t have the authority for that.”
“Hmm, I figured.”
I glanced at Lee Sun-bin to buy time, then spoke again.
“How about this? I’ll enter the ruin and remove one problematic element for you.”
“Enter the ruin?”
“Yes. Ah—you’ll say you don’t have permission for that? It’s fine. I’ll sneak in.”
I extended my hand to her.
“Just don’t look for me if I suddenly disappear. That’s all. With that—you’ll get what you want, Manager.”
* * *
“Calling Doldol would make this easier.”
“I can do it without Doldol.”
Drrrrrrr—
Back then, I couldn’t use magic, so I needed Doldol. Not now.
Drrrrrrr—
I was riding my skateboard through the ruin’s interior for the first time in a while.
“But why not call Doldol?”
“Hmm, who knows? But it should be fine without.”
I’d prefer not to call it if possible, though I’m not sure why.
[Fireball]
KABOOM!
Grotesquely massive cubic megaliths stretched endlessly. They bent at right angles there, and again over there—
[Great Upheaval]
RUMBLECRASH!
Cracks formed in the paranoid-straight, angular megaliths. Good. One more!
[Fireball]
KABOOM!
Fireball’s the most convenient, after all.
“Kieeeek!”
A shriek echoed from afar.
Heterogeneous beings who’d lived eons in this musty underground were approaching, warning the intruder in their territory.
[Sound Wave Impact]
“Shut up, you pests!”
RUMBLECRASH!
[L-Grade Accessory ‘Mask of Carcosa’ unique function, ‘Yellow Dominion’ activates.
// Yellow Dominion: Adds ‘Spell Enhancement: Fear Infusion’ effect to certain spells.]
A fear-inducing roar erupted from my mouth, and the terrified heteromorphs screamed and retreated.
They were heterogeneous, sure, but descendants of unfortunate humans long trapped underground.
A decayed tribe surviving eons in this dark, gloomy prison by eating floor moss and each other.
They hadn’t even fully approached, yet the foul corpse stench hit me.
“Ugh, the smell’s nasty.”
“What’s that?”
“What? Fog? Smoke? Was there stuff like that here?”
Strange, pitch-black fog with an eerie dissonance rose from spots in the maze.
“No idea what it is, but it doesn’t seem good for the body.”
[Gale]
WHOOSH!
I summoned wind to blow away the black fog.
“Looks like the [Great Source] wants to block our approach.”
“Seems so.”
No, if it were, wouldn’t the Feast Offering trait show up?
No clue.
Anyway, I kept descending—deeper underground—breaking through this angular, dark maze.
Second time passing through here. Counting game playthroughs, countless repeats.
No dangers like last round, going smoothly.
Honestly, less adventure or exploration—more like solving a puzzle so familiar it’s gotten boring.
Explosions, jumps, explosions, approaching monsters, chase them off, set traps for contingencies. Hahaha, if some other fool crawls in, these traps’ll shred them. More explosions, jumps, explosions, jumps. Jump. Jump. Explosion, the locked door Kim Sung-hwan opened last time? Unlock with magic. Jump again…
And finally—
“We’re here.”
A vast underground cavern revealed deep in the ruin.
“Let’s grab it quick and head back. Can’t wait to see Moon Kyung-nam’s face later.”
Last time, I suffered fighting him here. Now, empty.
The expansive cavern just exuded silent darkness and quiet.
The altar that held dozens of sacrifices now stood empty.
And on the altar, alone: the weathered seven-pronged sword.
The magic sword [Sword of the Flesh], imbued with power from the abyssal [Great Source].
Its absence wouldn’t prevent the [Great Source]’s descent.
It was just an artifact substitute for the medium among sacrifices, rituals, and shamans needed for descent.
With a shaman exceptional enough to host the [Great Source], the ritual could proceed.
“But without this, it can’t exert influence as strongly as before.”
I reached for the [Sword of the Flesh], paused midway, and cast a spell.
[Chains of Dominion]
Clankclankclank—
Golden mana chains wrapped around the [Sword of the Flesh].
[System: ‘Feast Offering’ trait activates.]
ZZZAP! Crackle! ZZZZZT!
Sparks flew fiercely.
“Knew it.”
Grabbing it barehanded would’ve fried me.
“Alright, let’s play tug-of-war.”
Vreeeeee—
I cast spells in succession—dozens of magic circles to suppress the resistance.
Woooooom—
But what now?
“You’re a higher-class abyssal being than the others, right? Not so heavy you can’t force a descent like the weaklings.”
[System: ‘Feast Offering’ trait activates.]
Groooowl—
Unpleasant vibrations from below the cavern.
“Tekeli-li!!”
That chilling cry I’d heard countless times last round.
“Too early for you to show, but I forced you awake?”
Squishsquish—
An amorphous body slithered up.
Still time.
“Grab it quick and deal with it!”
Vreeeeee—
Vast numbers of magic circles bloomed everywhere.
Squishsquish!
“Tekeli-li!!”
The shoggoth finally emerged.
Not from one direction.
Rising like a massive wave, the shoggoth surged toward me from front, back, left, right—all sides.
SPLASH!
“Kim Shin-hwa! Hurry! You’ll get eaten!”
Craaaack—CRACK!
SPLASH!
Darkness.
The shoggoth’s flesh smell, so revolting it made my mind hazy.
I was swept into the shoggoth’s—gelatinous mass of horrific wave.
[L-Grade Weapon ‘Sword of the Flesh’ unique function, ‘Time Stop’ activates.
// Time Stop: Time stops. Duration proportional to mental strength.]
[Time Stop]