Chapter 321
Chapter 321
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 321
Chapter Title: Triggering Phobias
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Whoooosh—
The sound of my robe flapping in the wind.
My field of view shifting rapidly.
Ruuuumble!
Truly perfect in their elegance and beauty, enormous hands charging toward me, desperate to grab hold or even just stroke me once. Oh, they're exquisite. Gorgeous!
"Th-those are some statue-worthy pretty hands!"
[Petrifying Miasma]
[Spell Enhancement: Maximized]
Fwoooosh—
A smokescreen laced with petrification curses erupts in all directions.
Craaaack—
In an instant, the hands transform into genuine, beautiful statues. Perfect—this curse works on them. They're just big; their magic density isn't that high!
"Arm wrestling!"
I let out a ridiculous shout and hurl massive magic circles at the petrified hands.
[Inanimate Manipulation]
[Structure Manipulation]
[Chains of Dominion]
[Spell Enhancement: Multicast]
Boom boom boom!!
The petrified hands begin moving at my command. Stone hands tangling with the ivory beauties.
No need to block every attack anyway. The iffy ones—
Ruuuuumble!!
"Kim Seobang! Have you lost your mind?"
Seo Cheonseul catches up to me in a flash.
Crack! KABOOM!
He swings his Vajra Rod in one motion, smashing the hands I'd left behind.
Gorgeous, beautiful petals fluttering as if applauding our feat.
"I-it's not... I don't really like it right now..."
My mouth moves on its own, against my will.
"Huh? Kim Seobang? What'd you say?"
"I'm sca-scared. There's too much of 'that' around he—
Ah, I'm already at maximum crazy, so I can't get crazier! Don't worry!"
If the enemy were human, they might sense my issue, but luckily, Seo Cheonseul isn't.
"I see. Got it."
Honestly, I'm not at full strength right now.
To respond to simultaneous threats across a wide area, I need maximum detection range—but...
There are way too many of 'those' around here.
"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
"Uwaaaah!"
Yeah, those! I'm not paying attention to the direction where no sound comes from—or wait, the direction the sound is coming from—no, anyway, over there. Proving I'm ignoring it—ugh, my head's spinning.
"Urgh—those are the dogs Kim Seobang unleashed."
Seo Cheonseul grimaces in disgust too, his face saying [Humanity, corrupted by evil spirits, gained wisdom and began enslaving other beasts. Having suffered under humanity for ages, they will one day seek revenge against us.] Yeah, awful expression. Right? Cheon Geum Daejang? You know this horrific truth too?
"A beast goblins hate."
Not me—the crow says it.
"Indeed. To block this body, Kim Seobang stationed those beasts to guard the area."
Ah, so Go Kyung-su did that?
His nickname finally clicks.
That bastard's insane, right? Ah, let's just head to Paju. Paju. Wait, where even are we going? I still have unfinished business here.
And—
[System: Penalty trait 'Feast's Sacrifice' activates.]
[L-Grade Magical Artifact 'Soul Shackles' unique function, 'Soul's Call,' triggers.
// Soul's Call - Automatically initiates ritual for the descent of the 'Great Origin' and his avatars.]
Message window pops up before my eyes.
"Aw, Teacher. How thoughtful."
Sarcasm slips from my lips.
[Soul Shackles] isn't even mine, yet it notifies me that its unique function has activated.
Thanks to the newly injected info, I barely gather my wits.
"Cheon Geum Daejang. Phase 2 starts now."
"Wh-what?"
"Phase two! The ritual's begun!"
Ruuuuumble!!
['Abyssal Existence – Source of Life' descent ritual begins.]
No priest in sight, yet the ritual kicks off on its own.
The one who triggered it must be the [Source of Life] itself.
Shhhrrrrick!!
In the heart of Busan's downtown, a grotesque embodiment of madness and love forms.
A nightmarish forest of hands twisting, flowing, coiling, tangling, writhing, and intertwining expands at tremendous speed.
Like endlessly growing vines overtaking Paju, the [Source of Life] spreads.
* * *
[System: Penalty trait 'Feast's Sacrifice' activates.]
['Source of Life's' unique trait 'Children of ____' activates.]
Damn, something else is triggering.
"Kim Seobang! What are we saving? Tell this body what to help with to stop that monstrosity!"
A sharp rebuke from the far more steady and calm goblin than some lunatic wizard.
I should tell Seo Cheonseul our current challenge.
"Over there!"
[Chaotic Radiance]
Zzzzap!
A dazzling seven-colored beam shoots toward the direction I point.
Targets hit by this spell suffer fire, acid, lightning, poison, frost, petrification, blindness—oh right, hands don't have eyes.
Anyway, the beam carrying seven random effects blasts through with crackles or whooshes.
Shhhrrrrick!
Far off, an outlandish structure of intertwined hands. Caught between them is—
"Ah, that?"
"Yeah! In that Colt Van—no, the car—[Sword of the Flesh] and the medium are there!"
Just as [Soul Shackles] can substitute for the ritual, [Sword of the Flesh] can replace the medium.
And Jang Hyun-deok is the finest medium in this [Cthulhu World]!
Losing either kicks off phase 3.
Ruuuuumble!!
Hands have no ears, but the [Source of Life] seems to sense our plan.
More hands swarm the Colt Van. Can't even see it now. Plus—
Ruuuuumble!!
The massive dragon that devoured Cheongho—no, the [Smiling One] earlier—rises between the van and us.
Roooaaar!!
Not just one. Two, three, four. And five.
Did swallowing the [Soul Shackles] give it more magic to wield?
A five-headed dragon of grotesque form, twisted from ten enormous hands. Each dragon head formed by hands parting—
"Kyaaaaah!" "Kyaaarrrk!" "Grreeeeh!"
Horrific shrieks erupt.
"Bwahaha! Crystal clear now! Let's go!"
Lucky to have a comrade who can laugh even here. But honestly, I'm anxious.
'I embedded a powerful barrier in that Colt Van, so why hasn't...?'
A trap?
Maybe charging those five heads is the trap itself—but my patience is wearing thin.
"Get out of the waaay!!"
Magic surges skyward. A colossal magic circle blankets the night sky.
[Meteor Summon]
[Spell Enhancement: Multicast]
[Spell Enhancement: Chain Explosion]
[Spell Enhancement: Maximized]
Roooaaar!!
Fiery whirlwinds tear through the night sky as massive red-hot meteors rain down.
"Huh—such absurdity..."
Even Cheon Geum Dang's guardian stares dumbfounded at the surreal sight.
[System: 'Precision Aim' trait activates.]
KABOOM! KABOOM!! KABOOOOOM!!
Deafening explosions everywhere.
Dozens of meteors crash across Gijang County, but none miss their mark.
I perfectly guided each momentum-packed meteor to the optimal spot.
"Magnificent! Bwahaha!!"
Seo Cheonseul flies between falling meteors, golden vortex of Cheon Geum Daejang's authority swirling.
KABOOM!
I follow the dashing goblin at breakneck speed, but wait—where am I? Where are we?
No—my expanded senses locked onto the wrong problem!
This area crawls with countless hands, dangers, threats, malice, hostility, lunatics, madness—and four-legged beasts with furry tails still prowling?
"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
['Madness - Cynophobia' manifests.]
[System: Mental Fortitude stat attempts resistance to delirium. Mental Fortitude check... Success!]
Amid this chaos—people dying, roads crumbling, buildings collapsing—why! Why! Why! Are those [God said to Noah: I shall wipe this land clean myself. Build an ark of gopher wood and load it with every beast of the world, but there are beasts unfit to board—Noah knew not and let them aboard] still scampering around unharmed?!
"Kim Shin-hwa! Snap out of it!" "Stop! Narrow your senses!" "D-dangerous!"
Shouts burst from my mouth.
"Shut up! How am I supposed to fight with my senses narrowed!?"
KABOOM!
"Bwahaha! Kim Seobang, now's the time!"
"Yeah, whatever 'now' means, it's gotta be right now! Hyaah!"
Through the gaps from meteors and Seo Cheonseul's Vajra Rod, I extend my magic.
[Thunder Fang]
[Spell Enhancement: Maximized]
Rumble CRACK!!
Razor-sharp lightning shreds the massive hands around the Colt Van. Pffft—beautiful petals blanket the world.
The half-wrecked Colt Van emerges from the grip—and inside, trapped Jang Hyun-deok.
No clue what happened, but his hair's soaked red with blood.
"Jang Hyun-deok! You idiot! Get up!"
How many times has this moron been caught, possessed, kidnapped? Can't he break the pattern for once!?
[Flame Mantle]
Fwoooosh!
I reach the van cloaked in a mantle of roaring flames and—
"The wizard came to save me?"
—said Jang Hyun-deok flashes a creepy smile... with red hair?
"Ah, damn. Hallucinations starting now?"
Sitting in the Colt Van: Jang Hyun-deok and... well, Jang Hyun-deok and Jang Hyun-deok and Jang Hyun-deok and Jang Hyun-deok.
Yeah, I came for Jang Hyun-deok?
You think this smart-looking redhead is my guy? No way. My Jang Hyun-deok's a dimwit with soggy blond hair flopping—
Ruuuuumble!!
Two enormous hands clamp the van top and bottom, ripping the roof off.
Craaaack!
Like offering a ring for a proposal.
But instead of a ring, the box holds...
So riding in the Colt Van: five mass-produced NPC clones looking just like Jang Hyun-deok.
"Wizard!" "Wizard!" "Wizard!" "Wizard!" "Wizard!"
* * *
Jang Hyun-deoks' bodies begin mutating.
"Krraaarrrk!"
"Kyaaarrrk!"
Beast sounds not from mouths, but wrong places—from their crown.
Just like Cure Medical Care cultists implanted beast traits into bodies—
The Jang Hyun-deoks—no, Jang Hyun-deok clone NPCs—simultaneously transform into some beast.
Heads splitting side to side with a rip.
Massive fangs sprouting from the cracked skull gap.
Necks twisting with grinds.
Limbs covered in fur, flipping over.
Bellies becoming backs, backs bellies, completing the beast form.
"Ha, haha—hahaha—"
Mindless laughter spills from my lips.
['Madness - Cynophobia' manifests.]
"Kim Seobang!!"
Seo Cheonseul's distant voice. My head throbs; sounds distort. Feels farther than it is?
Is this really reality?
[System: Mental Fortitude stat attempts resistance to delirium. Mental Fortitude check...]
Giant hands close in from all sides.
Mocking me, like—y'know, those shadow puppet shapes?
The hands mimic beast forms.
"Haha—funny."
[Failure!]
Mind drifting away faintly.
But where's the real Jang Hyun-deok?
Did they already take the [Sword of the Flesh]? Wait, why still phase 2?
[System: 'Madness - Cynophobia' effect inflicts 'Abnormal Status - Delirium.']
A distant voice.
"Wizard!"
Ah, sick of Jang Hyun-deok already—
Wait, but that's...