Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: 2nd Round
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Damage? From what? Dodge? Where to? Fight? Who?
The dancers made of gold, shining with golden light, more radiant than gold itself, maintained a precise distance from one another as they performed their synchronized, dazzling group dance. Each time they swung their limbs dramatically, the yellow silk draped around their bodies billowed dramatically...
The rocks touched by that silk... could be seen slicing apart and toppling over as if cleaved by a blade.
To the eye, it was just silk fluttering in the wind, but it held a magical, spiritual, surreal power—like a blade that shredded everything it entangled. No matter—a mere fluttering cloth.
That dance, the dance itself, was a mad, murderous whirl that birthed death. So, avoid that dance? Flee from it? Fight it?
The yellow vortex, whirling in a dance with death itself, was advancing toward us. Slowly, or at blinding speed.
I had no idea, but Jang Hyun-deok would soon be caught in that dance, his body torn apart. Haha, that bastard's about to die.
"No, destroy the 13! Use magic! Anything—activate a spell!"
Uwaaaah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Screw that dance! The dance isn't the problem! It's the number of those dancers. Why the hell is it such an ominous, unlucky number? My hands are shaking. I have to fix that! That! Dodge! Flee! No, fight! Yeah, destroy it! Use magic, activate a spell! I'll use magic to scatter them!
[S-Grade Accessory 'Ring of Fallen Flames' unique function, 'Crimson Element Focus' and 'Flame Knowledge Inheritance', activates.
// Crimson Element Focus: All fire-based magic effects increase by 50%.
// Flame Knowledge Inheritance: Understanding of 'fire-based magic' increases.]
[Flame Burst], [Fireball], [Lightning Bolt], [Protection Circle], [Crumple], [Blazing Spear], [Ignition], [Ember], [Rope Manipulation], [Body Manipulation: Localized Itch], [Frost Explosion], [Gale], [Barrier], [Leap], [Seed of Life], [Glitter Dust], [Invisible Hand], [Create: Raisin], [Eerie Glare].
Kwa-gagagagagag!! Kwa-gwang! Kwaaaang! Pachijijijik! Kwoduduk! Hwiwoooo!!
From my fingertips, all sorts of magic erupted simultaneously in every conceivable way. Most of the spells failed to activate properly due to improper casting or lack of suitable targets.
Even so, the few that did manage to fire off made everything in my field of vision flash, shake, burn, freeze, and explode in every way imaginable! Detonate! Destroy! Smash them! Dieeee!!
Spinning, spinning. Stars. Am I looking at the sky? Or lying on the ground? The world spins round and round. Hahaha! My mind reels, my body sways. Who? Where? Am I here?
Piercing through the acrid smoke rising to the heavens (probably from the fire I started?), a dancer wearing a mask emerges, her entire body gleaming golden. In her (his?) hand is a razor-sharp sword radiating deadly brilliance.
- Ding-a-ling.
"Snap out of it! Get into position! Dodge!"
Ah, fight this, dodge that—what the hell do you want? I can't do anything anyway. Too many spells at once. My shoulders feel like they have legs, my arms like they're attached to my ass.
The blade is too close. The grotesque mask of the golden dancer is right at my nose. And the cold gleam of the sword in its hand flies toward my throat.
For some reason, laughter bubbled up.
[S-Grade Accessory 'Mask of Carcosa' unique function, 'Dreamlike Blur', activates.
// Dreamlike Blur: 'Blink' spell auto-cast.]
The dancer's longsword slashed precisely between my head and body, but just as the blade was about to touch, the magic embedded in the mask activated.
With a bizarre sensation of being pulled by the mask, my position shifted from where I stood to five steps backward.
[Blink complete. Cooldown: 864,000 seconds]
"Ugh, damn. Thought I was dead!"
Ragged breaths, surging nausea, dizziness, a splitting migraine—my head and lungs feel like they're bursting. Body, mind, spirit, soul—nothing's intact in this hellish state, but the worst...
"Urk... what the?"
All my fingers are a mess. The health +2 gloves I bought for a fortune are ruined and useless, leaving my fingers fully exposed.
The skin is charred black, nails shattered, blood spurting red. Swelling and inflammation everywhere... Urk, shit. Some are broken. I try to remove the gloves with my trembling fingers... but no dice. I use my jaw and teeth to barely peel them off.
The gloves don't so much come off as disintegrate, and I toss the fragments aside. What happened slowly reconstructs in my mind. Seems the wild spell spam during the frenzy backlashed.
But I did it.
"Ha! You did it, Kim Shin-hwa!"
I survived until the frenzy ended!
[Achievement unlocked!
You overcame your phobia and defeated its source.
Acquired 'Advanced Achievement: Overcomer of Fear'.
As achievement reward, the overcome phobia naturally heals, and you gain bonus experience.]
[System: 'Madness: Triskaidekaphobia' has been removed.]
Looking around, some spots are burning, others shattered. Over there~ ice pillars. No rocks standing intact within 10 meters; even some 30 meters away are smashed.
And on the ground, a small silver bell.
The underworld silver bell acquired three days ago in the underground of Mun-san's apartment complex.
[Silver Bell of the Underworld (S-Grade Magic Tool): Ritual tool made from pure silver mined by ghouls.
Provides the owner with immense mana alongside horrific madness...]
No need for the rest.
[Silver Dominion: Auto-casts 'Voice of Authority' on designated target and boosts all 'mind-based' spells by 100%.]
This.
This ability.
Right before the frenzy hit, I activated Silver Dominion to manipulate my own mind. Not pre-set, so it couldn't fully block the frenzy's side effects, but it guided me to attack the enemy with magic somehow.
And that chaotic barrage took out at least one of the thirteen dancers. Once it was no longer thirteen, my frenzy began to lift.
Of course, a bit longer and that dancer's attack would've decapitated me.
[System: Penalty trait 'Shattered Mind' activates. You have 1 Madness, so a random Madness manifests.]
"Oh, come on, so diligent."
Whoever dragged me into this world and screwed me over, I'll kill them if I find them.
[System: 'Madness - Ichthyophobia' is imposed on your mind.]
"What?"
Wait, no, not this. You bastards, play fair!
In some ways, worse than triskaidekaphobia. It's not just one less lunch option. In this [Cthulhu World], this phobia...
"K’hrrrrrr……!"
Oh crap, not the time. I hurriedly pocket the silver bell in my backpack and look toward the sound. Six steps ahead, a monster stands.
A beautiful monster with a sensuous, golden-gleaming body writhing.
A bizarre beast-like mask, silk billowing from limbs, jeweled sharp longsword.
A servant of the [King in Yellow], a beautiful dancer of gold, a bodyguard attending the king, and at the forefront, a priest carrying out the god's will.
Though the golden dancer has a human-like body, it emits eerie noises impossible for human vocal cords and stares at me.
It tilts its head slightly left, the beast mask with three eyes akin to my [Mask of Carcosa]. Like cocking its head, but who knows its actual thoughts.
Impossible to comprehend anyway. Its thought structure fundamentally alien to any Earth intellect.
But one thing's clear. It wants me dead.
"R’haaarrrr…… rhigh!!"
The golden dancer lifts one foot in a strange pose. Like a ballet arabesque, then leaves a golden afterimage, lunging at me relentlessly.
Chalala-la-rak!
Jewels and ornaments on its body clatter against golden scales, making a racket.
Transcendent beauty and grace in its movements, but the longsword in hand and billowing silk around it—either one lethal on touch.
[Protection Circle]
[Spell Enhancement: Multi-Cast]
No point in blocking anyway.
I shape the activated circles not as wide barriers but thin pillars, positioning them to intersect the airborne golden dancer's trajectory.
Invisible fences in the air. Sensing danger instinctively rather than visually, the dancer tries to adjust midair, but too late.
Kwajik!
At the same time, with my blackened, nail-less hands, I rapidly form seals and chant.
"It is the hammer of thunder that strikes heated iron."
Frenzy-drained mana and scattered focus prevent [Omit Chant] and [Omit Seals] from working properly.
The moment the ingrained seals and chant complete, blue sparks erupt from my bleeding fingertips. Soon forming a throbbing, writhing massive bolt of lightning.
Pachijijijik!
[Thunderbolt]
Kwa-gwagwagwagwang!
The roaring lightning scorches the ground as it flies, splintering intervening rocks.
And pours its bursting energy onto the dancer thrashing against invisible bars.
Tsyapyapyapyapyap!!!
"K’haarrrr! fhteii, rhurrrrgh!"
"Wail, vomit. Your screams shall be offerings to the sovereign of the night sky, master of Fomalhaut."
Ah, didn't notice during omission, but this is a pain. But as seals and chant finish, an ominous rumble rises from underground.
[Inferno Burst]
And as the ground splits beneath the golden dancer, crimson flames erupt like a volcano.
Ku-gwagwagwagwagwang!!!
A deafening roar threatening to burst eardrums. A dazzling pillar of fire engulfs the dancer's inhuman, metallic body.
Fire magic empowered by Crimson Element Focus pierces through. No weathering this amateurishly.