Chapter 41
Chapter 41
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: The King in Yellow
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It's unusually quiet.
Something... something feels off?
[System: Exclusive Trait 'Feast's Offering' activates.]
My mana sensitivity, sharpened beyond human limits, detects an unexpected crisis.
Something's wrong.
The worst possible problem that should never happen has occurred.
A staggering amount of information unleashed to shatter the human mind, threats, voices, and thrilling mana burrowing in to possess the flesh—my senses blur for a moment. If it devours me, I'll forget what even happened and become a slave to the unspeakable one.
I grit my teeth and step back.
Damn, damn, damn!
What the hell is this? What did that bastard scrounge up to crawl out here and pull this shit?
['Yellow /Null's /Null' reveals itself before your eyes.]
[相 韙략o 坝璝 铖. ﮻ퟸ埼髱 뻜뫸𥳐窷맞땵 ﻸ끹룱룸끼疸忳皸 뙙黸盛熺복 齴ﳺ鷞粸 糸駷飾 .
「Unknown Command」Error Code D-24522
You pathetic human, with your / human inadequacy / limited language, I proclaim. You human / to / do / are you capable?
Do it.
Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it.
Do it.
Rip out your tongue with your own hand.
Gouge out your eyeball with your own hand.
Tear off your ears and nose with your own hand.
Pull out your intestines with your own hand.
Extract your pancreas with your own hand.
Shove your hand down your filthy maw and rip out your own heart.
I permit you to offer that heart to me.
Do it.
Thus, I permit you to offer your body, soul, mind, mana, and future entirely to me.
Do it.
Offer your heart to me, offer your heart to me, and you human shall be complete. Offer your heart, rip out your own heart and offer it to me—I promise you a place. Let us return to beautiful Carcosa. Your homeland, the land where you must live. Let us depart for great Aldebaran.
Offer to me, offer your corpse to me.
Do it.
Let your flesh become the feast for the maggots crawling the underworld.]
['Yellow /Null's /Null's Unique Trait 'Unspeakable ' activates.]
『Light, light, stranger, feast's offering, Carcosa, light, swirling, golden light, beautifully shining, beyond, Milky Way, cross the Milky Way, cross, cross, cross over, great Aldebaran, golden light, star, light, beyond, let us journey, let us journey, let us journey, to the distant, life's origin, toward the beyond where we need never return, beautiful Carcosa, great land…….』
[Due to the 'Unspeakable ' trait's effect, irrational madness is forcibly injected into your mind: madness, madness, madness, madness, madness, madness, madness, madness, madness, madness, madness, madness, madness.
'Madness - Suicidal Impulse', 'Madness - Self-Harm Impulse', 'Madness - Murderous Impulse', 'Madness - Shattered Mind', 'Madness - Split Personality', 'Madness - Bizarre Tastes', 'Madness - Particular Faith', 'Madness - Obsession with Specific Color (Yellow)', 'Madness - Severe Delusions', 'Madness - Mask Phobia', 'Madness - Tentacle Phobia', 'Madness - Fear of Specific Color (Yellow)', 'Madness - Obsession with World Destruction'.]
Not even a fight.
It has merely revealed itself in reality.
It has simply exhaled once.
Yet with that, the massive flood of information, threats, voices, and thrilling mana burrowing to possess the flesh blurs my senses.
That mere presence alone wields a grotesque, irrational power that completely crushes, destroys, and violates the human mind.
If it devours me, I'll forget what even happened and become a slave to that unspeakable existence.
I look at Jang Hyun-deok.
The smirking expression is now hidden behind a blasphemous mask of form, emanating inhuman presence and force.
Wooooooh...!
I feel the surrounding air vibrating.
A golden aura flows from the mask, rippling as it envelops his body.
Even those without mana sensitivity can perceive the materialized mana crowning his head.
An awe-inspiring form surrounded by shining golden mana and aura.
It looks just like a figure clad in yellow clothes.
So... that guy, no, that thing—isn't Jang Hyun-deok.
The exalted one, the great king, lord of Carcosa, dweller in Aldebaran, the one whose name must not be spoken, high priest of sunset, lord of twilight, the thing beneath the serene lake, the unspeakable one.
So... [The King in Yellow]!
'No, wait.'
Something's off.
'Honestly, it's not that big a deal?'
Pzzzzzt!!!
Blue sparks erupt at my temples.
[System: Exclusive Trait 'Abyss Madness' activates. The madness imposed on your mind is dispelled.]
The madness trying to invade my mind gets swept away by the blue sparks from the [Abyss Madness] trait and vanishes. A madman can't go mad again.
Ruuuumble...!
The mana throughout the entire ruin surges at once.
A mighty being with chilling power.
But... it's far too weak to claim an abyssal entity has stirred.
I convert some of the mana I'd raised to protect myself and begin analyzing the opponent's capabilities and stance.
I grasp and dissect what it can do and what it can't.
The entity possessing Jang Hyun-deok's mask has formed what could be called the [King in Yellow]'s shape... but something's lacking.
If a true abyssal entity, a great ancient ruler, an otherworldly god had descended in person, it wouldn't end like this.
In any case, this thing exists within my perception. It's enormous, sure, but still a presence I could encompass in my view from afar. It's something I can describe, explain, and comprehend.
Damn it all.
I get it now.
"Fuck, seriously. Who do you think you're fooling?"
The [King in Yellow] hasn't descended.
That's not the real body.
Not even an avatar.
It's a shadow conjured by the [King in Yellow]. A herald sent for some hyperdimensional, metaphysical scheme only they understand. A voice dumbed down, bent low, just to converse with an entity incapable of dialogue.
But that doesn't make it an enemy I can handle right now. Goddamn... my level and tier are still too low. Whatever it came to say, if I react in a way it doesn't like, it'll whimsically try to crush me on the spot.
And I understood the whole situation. Starting from that brainwashed cab driver with the [Yellow Sign]. If it wanted to drag me in and kill me or whatever, it wouldn't have sent something this minor—it'd bring something far bigger and deadlier.
Half-resigned, I speak to the golden illusion from Jang Hyun-deok's mask, the shadow conjured by the [King in Yellow].
"Fine, spit it out. What the hell did you want to convey that you went through all this convoluted bullshit to drag me here?"
The emotionless, gleaming grotesque mask.
It's shaped like a beast's face, just like the one I'm wearing. The difference? That mask has six eyes.
『A minor diversion at the feast.』
A voice neither male nor female, human nor monster—just beautiful. Beautiful, yet carrying an indescribable eerie discomfort.
『Impressive. You have proven your strength, mind, and wisdom. For a pitiful, lowly human, a splendid achievement. I praise your arrival here. I permit you to regard it as glory for the ages.』
Ah, smashing the dancers was strength, withstanding the mental attack just now was mind, and roughly seeing through your true nature was wisdom? You think this is funny? Fucking around.
『I also permit you to voice your desires. Speak what you wish for. Reveal your cravings. Unearth the desires your soul has harbored since before birth. Speak. I shall fulfill your filthiest desire, one unspoken to any other.』
I consider unloading a barrage of curses, but barely hold back.
Even playing [Cthulhu World] as a game, I've hit a similar event. Whatever I say here counts as a pact. It'll twist my wish in the shittiest way possible, then demand full payment.
But ignoring it isn't an answer either. It won't vanish until I respond. What should I say?
I don't deliberate long. I decide and reply.
"Not interested."
The entity beyond the mask possessing Jang Hyun-deok's body shows no reaction to my answer.
"I never wanted to come to this dogshit world in the first place, and I want nothing from this insane place. I'll pass on getting smothered in unwanted gifts and dooming myself—and I already know you can't deliver shit anyway. I'll find my own way home..."
I almost tell it to fuck off and stay put.
If I say stay put, it'll count that as a wish and bill me for it. But I can't take back what I've said, so I awkwardly finish.
"...myself."
Excessive tension and fatigue make the back of my neck ache. I wonder if I look pathetic, but the damage is done. I just rub my neck without holding back and begin circulating my mana.
If I'd met it at a higher level, I'd have more options. But right now, I have only one move.
I draw out every scrap of mana in my body and focus my mind. A spell to forcibly repatriate a divinity manifested in reality.
'Tch, this isn't even permitted at my current tier.'
It's been non-stop risky plays lately.
If I could cast high-tier spells like [Extradimensional Repatriation], [Expulsion of the Called], or [Song of Repatriation], it'd be easy—but I can't use any of them now. So I'll stack low-tier spells to build the magical logic and environment.
[Augmentation]
[Eagle's Radiance]
[Prayer of Protection]
No idea if it'll help, but I activate every relevant enchantment I can to exalt my body and mind, pushing back the otherworldly influence.
Then I take out the silver bell from the underworld and ring it. The tiny silver bell emits a clear tone, releasing its stored mana.
[S-grade Magic Tool 'Silver Bell of the Underworld' Unique Functions 'Pure Silver's Allure' and 'Pure Silver's Dominion' activate.
//Pure Silver's Dominion: Automatically casts 'Voice of Authority' on designated target; 'Mental' spells' effects +100%.
//Pure Silver's Allure: Charm +2 against Ghouls, Undead, Demons.]
Even as I buff myself, the [King in Yellow] just watches silently, unmoving.
Yeah, if I were watching an ant on the road suddenly sprout magic circles and start dancing, I'd stare too out of curiosity. Go ahead, watch the whole show.
I create dozens of magic circles around my body. Not for a single unified spell. Circles for amplification, for straightening mana flow, ascending and sublimating power, descending and condensing power, emission, decomposition, protection, hardening, focus, dispersion, rotation.
Each implements the basic principles of the most fundamental spells.
But under my will, they move in perfect unison to produce a massive miracle. A colossal ritual—the primitive yet enormous magical engine constructed outside my body.
I pour fuel into that massive magic engine and activate the spell.
[Appraisal]
Fwaaah....
The brilliant blue light from my fingertips...
[System: Invalid target.]
I knew that. Appraisal is for identifying artifacts or breaking minor seals.
I shove the released spell into the magic engine. Passing through its circles, the spell is forcibly decomposed, focused, spun, dispersed, and reconstructed. I direct those mutated mana strands toward the mask covering Jang Hyun-deok's face.
Pzzzt, patz, pzzzzzt!
As expected, ominous golden sparks erupt from the mask on Jang Hyun-deok. At the same time, a bright yellow magic circle forms before it.
'That magic circle...'