Chapter 355
Chapter 355
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 355
Chapter Title: I No Longer Have Phobias
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Have you ever thought your brain was itchy?
Have you ever wondered if some alien beast had crawled into your head?
Have you ever imagined something horrific and slender wrapping around your brain, wriggling and tickling and thrashing about on its own whim?
Have you ever thought a monstrous horror lurking beneath your skull was arbitrarily manipulating your choices, your memories, your reason?
I know these are strange thoughts.
Maybe it's just an illusion. It could be a meaningless hallucination induced by madness, or perhaps an enemy's trap.
But what if it were true? What would you do?
Zzzzzzzzt!!!
A flashing burst of light. A twinkling star. Darkness blotting out your vision. Muscles contracting wildly. Eyes bulging wide. Pupils dilating. Mouth gaping open. Tongue curling back into the throat.
Zzzzzzzzt!!!
Fingers twisting in grotesque ways. They're only on the right hand.
The left hand has something else growing in place of fingers.
That hand was probably prepared for today.
Something resembling an eagle's talon flashes toward me.
Zzzzzzzzzzt!!!
A thin drumhead tears without resistance. Crimson smoke obscures the view. A clamshell punctured clean through. A small glass vial filled with viscous slime. Rubies spilling in a cascade. Ink staining clothes blood-red.
Where are you hiding?
Shake hands with my left hand.
A child splashing in the water. A cute loach found in the rocks. The slippery sensation at my fingertips. A shy friend trying to wriggle deeper.
A bolt of insight piercing my mind.
Zzzzzzzzzzt!!!
Get out.
Get out of my head, you bastard!
Crack!
[You have overcome your phobia and removed the object of fear that burrowed into your mind.
As a reward, the overcome phobia is naturally healed, and you gain additional experience.]
[System: 'Madness: Ophidiophobia' has been removed.]
* * *
Gamers who shove their game characters into dangerous situations to level them up, or whittle down HP for specific buffs, or say crap like "We're wiped—total party kill."
Line them all up in front of me.
I'll avenge the sacrificed game characters for them.
[System: The 'Rapid Healing' trait activates.]
"Ughhh, my head!"
"I... I almost died..."
"Wow, Kim Shin-hwa—you're a real psycho."
"Shin-hwa... You've done something utterly insane."
Sudden, disjointed voices erupting. All my voice, but each with its own tone.
"It's a mental illness in its own right. Not sure if I should be glad or sad."
"Ha! Be grateful!" "W-We were blocking it..."
"Ah— so you bastards were stealing my mana and brainpower?"
"Shin-hwa, those snakes almost ate your brain."
Those snakes.
I glanced at the horrific thing clutched in my right hand.
A massive pile of magic crystals spilled from my head—and still faintly wriggling, thin and long, damp and repulsive—
"The contents of the [Canopic Jars]."
"What's that?"
An object shaped like a grotesque serpent.
"The entrails of the [Scaled Schemer]. Looks like intestines."
There are four [Canopic Jars] in total.
Each contains [lungs], [liver], [stomach], and [intestines].
It's in the same league as the [Flesh Sword] or [Mirror of Wisdom] from the [Great Origin] incident.
It's a part of the [Scaled Schemer] itself—also a conduit to the Abyss—and a transcendent artifact.
With the phobia gone, the lore floods back unhindered, thoughts flowing like water.
"Hyun-ah must have eaten the liver."
The jar with the liver is carved with the jackal-headed Duamutef.
He is the god of funerals, symbolizing vengeance and the hunt—
『"Indeed. Duamutef declared he would stop those who seek to murder their own father.』
A bizarre voice echoes from the darkness.
Shrrrrrr—
An unpleasant noise like hundreds of snakes slithering.
"No need for an Egypt mythology lesson. Shut up."
『"Vile monster. To think you'd break free of the binding with your own power.』
"What is that? An Abyssal being descending?" "F-For an Abyssal being, it sure talks a lot."
"That's not an Abyssal being."
Jeong Hyun-ah, having swallowed the [Scaled Schemer]'s entrails, is merely mimicking its ideology and psyche in a form we can comprehend.
"Jeong Hyun-ah is acting as a translator, so she can't exceed human levels of thought."
"A confusing concept."
"Eh, think of it as 0.1 Abyssal being. But if we leave it like that, it might grow into the [Scaled Schemer]'s avatar."
"One of the Abyssal being's multiple personalities?"
"Not perfectly accurate, but close enough."
[System: The 'Enhanced Vigilance' trait activates.]
『"It's not over yet!"』
Jeong Hyun-ah's colossal body charges like a dump truck.
I'd vaguely thought she was big due to the phobia, but she's enormous. Just the bulky parts alone exceed 10 meters.
Her lower body tentacles can freely multiply or elongate.
Chrrrrrr!
Serpent-like tentacles surging like waves.
"Agreed. Let's talk."
I swung the [Butcher's Hook] and cast a spell.
* * *
Bookshelves lining one wall. Health posters on the walls.
A doctor smiling kindly.
"How have you been feeling lately?"
Jeong Hyun-ah forced a smile and sat in the small chair in the counseling room.
The soft, comfortable chair eased her wariness a bit.
"I had a dream where a weird person came to visit."
The doctor typed on the keyboard, looking at her.
"The same dream you mentioned last time?"
Jeong Hyun-ah found it hard to meet the doctor's eyes as she answered.
"Yeah. That dream. It's repeating over and over."
"I've heard it often, so I remember, but could you tell me again?"
A friendly, warm voice.
"Um... A person in purple clothes came."
"Purple, you say."
Tap-tap— the sound of typing.
"Yeah. Flowing purple clothes. Really tall—and their face was like a crocodile."
"A crocodile?"
"Or maybe a snake."
"So, a strangely shaped face?"
The doctor tilted her head, cat ears twitching atop it.
"Yeah. They spoke to me in a really kind voice."
"『'I'll grant your wish.'』 Something like that?"
Shrrrk!
The blinds opened on their own, though no one touched them. The view outside flooded with light.
An endless barren desert.
And beyond it, a massive crocodile approaching.
* * *
『"Get out! Don't come into my head!"』
The one who is Hyun-ah and seeks to become the [Scaled Schemer]'s avatar clutches her head and thrashes.
I dodged with [Blink] and replied.
"What gall. When you shoved snakes into someone else's head—"
A humming resonance as crimson magic crystals float into the air.
[Orb of Thunder]
[Spell Enhancement: Maximized]
Zzzzzzt!
They converge into a massive sphere of lightning.
Crackle, zzzzzzt! Zzzzz!
Shedding its lightning nature, it forms a single mass of plasma.
『"That—"』
No need to wait. I unleashed the hyper-compressed lightning in one go.
Kwwwaboooom!!!
A flash illuminating the vast room. Light so bright it blinds momentarily.
"Am-Amazing!"
"Yeah, amazing, right? Uhahaha! This is my ultimate form, Ultimate Kim Shin-hwa!"
I puffed up a bit after landing a solid hit—but this thing won't die that easily.
I used telekinesis to recover the scattered magic crystals from the floor, then immediately cast a new spell.
* * *
A worn, faded night.
I held up fingers to my lips.
"Shh, the crocodile might hear."
"Yeah. Shh."
Little Hyun-ah mimicked me.
Seven? Or eight years old? A memory from about ten years ago.
Back then, there was no eight-year-old Kim Shin-hwa in a cat mask by her side—but no need for perfect recreation.
It wouldn't be exactly the same anyway.
Cheongho's mansion, far vaster than reality—darker, a bit scarier.
Little Hyun-ah crept up the stairs cautiously, then crouched before fully ascending.
Gotta be careful in case the crocodile comes. She whispered to me.
"Is the crocodile there?"
Her imaginary friend, brave me, peeked into the second-floor hallway, checked around, and said.
"No crocodile. Seems safe to go."
"Okay! Let's go."
Little Hyun-ah and the nameless boy in the cat mask tiptoe down the hall. —Tricky. I'm Kim Shin-hwa. Stay grounded, don't lose myself.
The scary room at the end of the second-floor hall.
Whenever serious trouble arose, Dad would hole up in that room, grumbling with his uncles.
"Jeokdu, that bastard..."
Cheongho growled like an enraged tiger.
"Brother. We must avenge Madam." "That bastard gave her that horrific grimoire!" "He knew exactly what he was doing!" "Let's kill him! I've got the kids ready!"
Little Hyun-ah eavesdrops on Dad and his friends beyond the door.
I watched her for a moment, then asked.
"What happened?"
Hyun-ah's gloomy face.
"Mom's gone."
Enraged Cheongho. Avenge Madam. Hatred for Jeokdu.
A grimoire owned by Cheongho, who kept his distance from the surreal.
No—the order's reversed.
Did the wounds from the grimoire make him distance himself from the surreal?
"Yeah. Revenge on Jeokdu. It's war."
Cheongho growled.
"No."
A sudden interruption.
"Brother-in-law—no, Chae Tae-won. What're you saying?"
"Please think of the young lady, Hyun-ah. For now, at least—"
The voice cuts off abruptly.
Creaaaaak—
『"Hyun-ah, why are you there? Come in.』
A sudden, unpleasant voice intrudes.
"Hyun-ah. No, don't go."
Despite my plea, the door opened.
Hyun-ah's face drained white.
A purple monster with a crocodile or serpent head.
And Cheongho's headless corpse, plus people wrapped in bandages.
"Kyaaaaah!"
Little Hyun-ah's scream.
* * *
I swung the Quadruple Piercing Sword, blasting mana, and shouted.
"Don't mess with someone else's childhood memories!"
『"What gall. You're the one who inserted an imaginary friend in a cat mask into someone else's memories!"』
Vwoooooom!
A massive tail swings with absurd force.
Damn, my vision's blurring.
Calling it Ultimate Kim Shin-hwa is a stretch—I've lost too much stamina.
[Blink]
A bizarre sensation of my soul being yanked.
A spell once only usable through [Carcosa's Mask], but now I can cast it without, thanks to my elevated tier.
Tsskt—
Before [Blink] fully resolved, I activated the ability of the mask I'm wearing now.
[L-Grade Accessory 'Mask of Nine Lives' unique function, 'Schrödinger' activates.
// Schrödinger: Minimizes the wearer's presence to the extreme. Duration proportional to mental correction. Reuse cooldown: 9,999 seconds.]
KABOOOOOM!!!
Hyun-ah's massive body smashes where I stood.
『"Kyahaah! Kim Shin-hwa! You can't hide!! That's an impossible choice for you!"』
Threats like that are pointless for someone who truly can't hide.
"Shin-hwa, why run?"
"I've got all the info I need. And I'm too low on stamina for a head-on fight."
"You're not planning to run, retry, then redo the redo, are you?"
"No way. Time to end it."
"H-How?"
"I said it earlier: four Canopic Jars. One eaten by Hyun-ah, one in my hand. The last two are probably with the massive silver ingots she absorbed."
"Silver ingots? What can you do with those?"
"Egyptian theme. She probably made a sarcophagus."
"A sarcophagus?"
"Yeah. Sarcophagus. For holding a corpse."
The moment I secure that—this gruesome fight ends.