Chapter 283
Chapter 283
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 283
Chapter Title: Kill Kim Shin-hwa
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The thick dust still blanketing the construction site.
The ceaseless noise and explosions. Kim Shin-hwa's rambling nonsense echoing from somewhere. Monstrous shrieks. People's screams.
In that hellish chaos, Mun Kyung-nam pleaded.
“O [Great Origin]! Ancient and wise voice that holds the truth. Grant me the power to fell the enemy charging like a foe, grant me the wisdom to overcome the enemy whispering like a wicked demon, and open a path for me to shake off the enemy trailing like a starving jackal.”
His desperate wish reached the [Great Origin] lurking in the deep underground darkness, ancient and worn.
The [Great Origin] thought in a way incomprehensible to humans, then expressed itself in a way unintelligible to humans.
“Aaah— Aaah— O [Great Origin]!”
The madness rooted in Mun Kyung-nam's mind interpreted the [Great Origin]'s voice, expressed in an absurd manner.
It wouldn't appear this way to anyone else's eyes or ears, but from Mun Kyung-nam's audiovisual perception and understanding—
The [Great Origin] spoke through Lee Sun-bin's mouth.
[I tell thee: due to thy foolishness, the sword imbued with the authority to awaken my flesh has fallen into the enemy's hands.]
Mun Kyung-nam bowed his head in awe.
“What must I do? I shall obey your words.”
To others' eyes, Lee Sun-bin was silently smiling in her pure white straitjacket with both arms bound, but to Mun Kyung-nam, she appeared as Lee Sun-bin in a glorious dress of light, speaking with a voice brimming with infinite power.
[I tell thee again: the enemy has arrived far too swiftly. The plan prepared in the depths of the bottomless abyss requires time to come to fruition. Thus, I tell thee once more: uphold my will, annihilate my foe, and reclaim the sword he wields. Then the grace of the abyss shall spread across the world like the onset of night.]
“My power is insufficient, and the enemy is far too strong. Please bestow upon me new strength.”
Lee Sun-bin fell silent for a moment.
The [Great Origin] behind Lee Sun-bin declared to the [Administrator] that it would use its power.
The [Administrator] guided the necessary resources, and the [Great Origin] complied. The [Great Origin] paid the resources.
A fair and honest judgment proceeded, and the judgment succeeded.
The [Administrator] notified that the [Feast's Offering] trait activated in Kim Shin-hwa's vision, allowing actions as desired.
Now, through Lee Sun-bin's mouth once more, the [Great Origin] declared.
[I tell thee again: I grant thee the authority to command all things in my name for the next 180 minutes. This is the blessing bestowed in the name of the Great Origin; none shall harm thee.]
Mun Kyung-nam shed tears at the [Great Origin]'s grace.
* * *
Mun Kyung-nam now wandered through the dust so thick it obscured even a step ahead, approaching his subordinates and issuing orders.
“Kill Kim Shin-hwa. That wizard. Shoot that wizard dead.”
His men balked.
“Director! It's over!” “You need to escape from here!” “There are monsters!” “We can't get that far.”
Hearing their protests, Mun Kyung-nam extended both hands, invoking the authority granted by the [Great Origin].
“Go! Kill Kim Shin-hwa!”
Mun Kyung-nam repeated the same words, but his men's reactions changed.
“Let's kill Kim Shin-hwa!”
“Shoot that wizard dead!”
His men charged with blind fervor.
Most blindly rushed toward Kim Shin-hwa's position, but some retained enough wits to head for the armed trucks.
The machine guns whirred to life.
Mun Kyung-nam looked up, spotting Kim Shin-hwa's position flying beyond the eerie, thickening dust.
“Krueeeyereeririk!”
A chilling, repulsive howl capable of shattering human minds, even without specific phobias.
Kim Shin-hwa was still being pursued by the otherworldly hellhound.
“Ugh, this is driving me nuts! Schisandra! No, screw schisandra, damn it! Don't come closer!”
Kim Shin-hwa rambled incoherently while rapidly casting spells.
[Lightning Wave]
[Tears of Winter]
[Suffocating Gale]
Rumble rumble rumble!
Crack! Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!
Lightning, hail, and storms surged toward the grotesque shadows faintly visible through the dust.
But the Hound of Tindalos, originating from beyond space-time, descended at tremendous speed and vanished into the corner of the perimeter wall around the construction site, sucked in like a vortex.
Boom boom boom!
Kim Shin-hwa's spell shattered only the innocent wall.
“Argh, gone again!”
Kim Shin-hwa stomped the air in frustration from the sky.
With his face covered by a bizarre mask with four eyes, it was impossible to tell where he was looking... but anyone could see he seemed off-guard.
Now.
Whirr—
The armed trucks' machine guns locked onto Kim Shin-hwa in unison.
Mun Kyung-nam silently channeled mana to command his men...
“What are you doing?”
Kim Shin-hwa's four eyes gleamed with eerie light.
“Damn it, fire!”
“Kill Kim Shin-hwa!”
“Kill him!”
His armed men leaped toward Kim Shin-hwa. And the machine
[Time Stop]
* * *
guns.
No, they did not fire.
Boom!
An explosion.
Mun Kyung-nam was flung away without even knowing what hit him.
‘Damn it! Damn it! Goddamn it!’
Clutching his mouth, he hid among shattered containers.
‘Am I okay?’
He frantically checked his body. He'd instinctively drawn up mana, avoiding death, but the damage was severe.
His connection to his men was severed.
They were gone. Nowhere to be seen. Undetectable!
These were men prepared over years for the Yeonam Group's succession battle.
Men he'd readied while accepting the impairment of his security team's capabilities—they'd vanished into this horrific dust.
Not just them. The remaining armed trucks were gone too?
No, the sky!
Whoooosh!!
The armed trucks were all swept into a bizarre whirlwind, vanishing high into the sky. And Mun Kyung-nam's men, limbs flailing, flying alongside the trucks.
Mun Kyung-nam screamed at the sight.
* * *
“God! God! Please give me more power!”
The [Great Origin] did not respond, but he barely regained his senses.
“I haven't even properly used the power granted to me!”
Mun Kyung-nam cupped his left hand like a horn, creating a mana-infused whistle.
Whiiist—
In response, beyond the dust blanketing the site, a massive shadowy form began to stir.
Grumble— Grumble—
“'Tis a command in the name of the [Great Origin]. Move. Kill that arrogant wizard!”
“Tekeli-li!!”
A thunderous, grotesque cry erupted.
The shoggoth stretched like an amoeba, surging toward Kim Shin-hwa.
Splash, grumble!!
“Tekeli-
[Time Stop]
* * *
-li!!”
[Barrier of Force] [Chains of Dominion] [Binding]
[Blade Mist] [Exploding Mist] [Hand of the Giant]
[Orbs of Frost] [Breath of Blizzards] [Gift of the Glacier]
[Spell Enhancement: Maximized] [Spell Enhancement: Power Boost]
[Spell Enhancement: Range Extension] [Spell Enhancement: Multi-Cast]
A torrent of immense spells poured down before the shoggoth could complete its movement.
Restraint and suppression spells to halt its motion.
Direct attack spells to sap its strength.
Followed by a barrage of ice magic.
“Aaaugh!”
Mun Kyung-nam invoked the magical power granted by the [Great Origin] to disrupt Kim Shin-hwa's spells, but...
‘I... I can't block it.’
He realized he'd attempted the impossible.
Kim Shin-hwa's magic was ironclad, flowing nobly and relentlessly like a great river.
Crack crack— Crunch crunch—
The sound of the shoggoth's massive body freezing solid.
Beyond the dust, the shoggoth gleamed pure white, frozen stiff.
“N-No way...”
No matter the mana, no matter the power, freezing a colossal shoggoth outright was impossible!
“Impossible!”
Crack, craaack—
Crunch—
Horrible fissures spread across the frozen shoggoth's body.
Kim Shin-hwa, his four eyes gleaming menacingly, prepared his next spell.
In that state, even a shoggoth wouldn't survive. He had to stop Kim Shin-hwa!
“Krueeririk!”
The Hound of Tindalos burst out suddenly.
Boom!
Kim Shin-hwa's spell veered off wildly.
“Argh, stop chasing me already!”
[Black Flame]
[Tempest Storm]
Fwoosh!!
Storm and black flames infused with necromantic poison rained on the Hound of Tindalos.
The Hound evaded with its bizarre appendages—arms, legs, or tails?—in utterly alien contortions.
“Queeeririk!”
Whoooosh!
In the chaos, Kim Shin-hwa's storm cleared some of the dust.
“Aaack!”
“What?! What's happening!!”
“It's a monster!”
“Where? Where! What the hell is going on!”
“Kyaaah!”
Sporadic screams and voices lost in panic.
At that moment, Mun Kyung-nam realized it was a new opportunity.
‘Brainwash the confused ones—have them attack Kim Shin-hwa.’
The dust and chaos weren't causing mass outbreaks of madness yet.
But it was only a matter of time. Soon, people would realize what monster Kim Shin-hwa had summoned.
As Mun Kyung-nam prepared spells to incite their madness, Kim Shin-hwa's magic activated first.
[Mist of R'lyeh]
[Curtain of Darkness]
Boom—
Thick mist blanketed the dust, and pitch-black shadows formed overhead.
The entire construction site plunged into inky darkness.
Monstrous cries from the dark might evoke other terrors, but Kim Shin-hwa cast [Sound Distortion] and similar spells to block even that.
Even the Hound of Tindalos had slipped back beyond space-time.
It would return soon, but for now, it was gone.
Now, the only things monster-like on site were the shoggoth turned glacial pillar and Kim Shin-hwa.
[Sound Shock]
“Team Leader Kwak Dae-yong! You gonna pay for the meal or not!?”
Rumble!
Kim Shin-hwa's amplified voice—not threateningly so—spread across the site.
“Evacuate everyone now!”
“Argh! Got it! Everyone! This way! Abandon the site and head out! Monsters in the mist! Leave it to the fixers and run!”
“I broke through the wall earlier, so go that way! Curtain Call! How long you gonna fight that idiot?”
“Kim Shin-hwa, who the hell are you to give orders!”
Curtain Call's shout from afar.
Mun Kyung-nam hoped for infighting, but that hope crumbled unexpectedly.
Whish!
Something flew from Curtain Call's direction.
Thud!
Mun Kyung-nam barely blocked it with telekinesis, realizing it was Rhino's severed head.
“Hey, Kim Shin-hwa! Satisfied now?”
“Good, let's evac! Bahu! Secure Director Moon Seung-hee!”
“Secured!”
The fixers moved with crisp efficiency.
Mun Kyung-nam, trying to block them, suddenly paused as a thought struck him.
‘Wait, why'd they throw this head at me? They knew my position?’
Certainty followed.
Yeah, now he knew for sure.
“You dare ignore me? Me!! The one who'll inherit Yeonam Group, who'll become this country's governor!?”
Grind— Grriiind—
Oblivious to the changes under his skin, Mun Kyung-nam channeled mana.
Even if he couldn't kill Kim Shin-hwa—he'd kill as many as he could.
Offer them as sacrifices on the [Great Origin]'s altar!
Mun Kyung-nam was no longer a mere cultist. Surrendered to feral madness, he began constructing spells laced with vicious poison.
[Time Stop]
* * *
What?
The next instant, Mun Kyung-nam realized he was plummeting from an insane height.
Vrooom—
Vicious wind. Higher than Kim Shin-hwa's mist. Endless fall. Distant rumbles and cracks.
“Aaah!! Aaah!! Aaah!!”
Mana spells flying uselessly every which way.
Mun Kyung-nam tried to cast a spell to save himself, but Kim Shin-hwa's mana interfered from somewhere, disrupting completion.
He couldn't cast.
He'd die! Die like this.
[Time Stop]
* * *
Huh?
The next instant, Mun Kyung-nam realized he was seated in the construction site's center, bound in iron chains.
Kim Shin-hwa approached, his four eyes on his face mask gleaming demonically.
“No, Director Mun Kyung-nam. I've never ignored you.”
“You bastard! You!”
Mun Kyung-nam tried to cast a spell.
But even that failed under Kim Shin-hwa's interference.
“To snap a cultist seduced by an abyssal being out of it, you need mental shock. So, how do you feel now?”
“Shut up! How dare you!”
“Not enough, huh. Too bad.”
“Gurk?! Uuugh—”
Agony like his guts were ripping apart.
Pain like hundreds of snakes writhing under his belly skin. No, his flesh rippled, muscles twitching uncontrollably.
“What have you done to my body, you horrific monster!”
“I did nothing. But you know? Keep accepting the [Great Origin]'s grace, and you turn into a monster?”
Squirm—
“Mo-mon-? Tekel- li-ri-?”
Kim Shin-hwa shook his head.
“Too late. But know this: I planned to save you if possible.”
With that, Kim Shin-hwa raised his hand, pointing skyward.
The sky?
Shhh—
Kim Shin-hwa's shadows dissipated, revealing in the sky an enormous—
Enormous—
What the hell was that massive thing?
Was that what they meant by the sky falling?
“I'm off. Sorry.”
Where'd he
[Time Stop]
* * *
go?
Kim Shin-hwa had vanished.
Yeonam Construction's site, carved from the mountainside.
The Ulsan Rock atop it looked ready to collapse any second.
But no need to worry about that anymore.
Rumble rumble rumble—
Ulsan Rock was collapsing.
Was that the roar from the sky earlier?
Staring at the sky-engulfing boulder, Mun Kyung-nam despaired and cried out.
“Tekeli-li!!”