Chapter 52
Chapter 52
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: Horror Game
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“Guhhh… You damn….”
He didn’t go down in one hit after all. Does he have scales on the back of his head? Still, the unexpected blow from behind had thrown him completely off balance, leaving him curled up with his head shoved toward the window.
“Hey, Leo!”
“Kuht!”
He tried to get into a stance like he wasn’t going to fall for it this time. But I was half a beat faster.
“Watch the window!”
[Lock]
This was a spell with truly, incredibly amazing effects.
When activated, it could close any nearby door or window.
Pretty impressive, right? A basic 0th-circle spell.
Smack!
But even spells like this could unleash tremendous speed and force if you poured excessive mana into them.
The window slammed shut with enthusiastic vigor, smashing right into Leopard’s head.
He probably would’ve lost a finger if he’d clumsily raised one up.
Pard, struck in the head by the window frame, passed out without even a scream and tumbled straight down below.
“What the hell is this?!”
Crash-crunch!
Curtain Call’s shout echoed from downstairs. Hmm, looks like he was holding his own just fine.
I approached the window and peered down. There was Leopard’s body, sliced clean in half.
Curtain Call was nowhere in sight. Expanding my detection range, I found him already beyond the fence. Why was he there? Oh, right.
Time was up.
A brilliant blue flash erupted outside the hospital.
Boom!!!
The third magic circle had completed, activating the pre-prepared [Thunderbolt].
The test subjects who’d foolishly rushed outside to chase Curtain Call got caught in the lightning and charred black.
“A lot of them died.”
They’d all been human once, but every one was a trashy, murderous maniac criminal.
Leopard too had been born with a inherently cruel personality, and through repeated work as a fixer, he’d descended into irreversible madness, becoming a pleasure killer.
And he’d fallen for Helistic’s sweet-talk about body enhancement and a clean identity, handing his body over to their insane modification experiments.
Anyway, with the mid-boss down, I just had to watch out for one more guy now, right?
‘That psycho bastard is more dangerous than all of them combined, though.’
Taking down the mid-boss meant the boss was still out there.
His name was Jemukyung.
As long as I was a little careful with that guy, the rest were just idiots with weird looks who couldn’t do shit.
‘No way he moved somewhere else in all this chaos, right?’
Malicious, ominous mana emanated from somewhere on the third floor where I stood. He was still here on the third floor.
‘Let’s see….’
Might as well tidy up what I could while I was at it.
Still cloaked in my stealth spell, I leaned out the window again.
Just then, five test subjects emerged from the hospital.
They each held weapons and moved in formation—pretty disciplined postures.
The snipers on the third floor had been a mess, but these guys seemed like they had some real skill.
“Hey, where are you going?”
The test subjects moved in a direction I hadn’t expected. I’d thought they were heading toward Curtain Call and planned to provide cover, but….
They were heading toward the magic circles I’d set up.
“Ah, got it.”
While Curtain Call was out of sight, they’d moved to capture the mage. Sound strategy. If there really was a mage there, anyway.
Unfortunately for them, there was no one at the spots they were approaching.
Just the two magic circles I’d planted.
Whether they approached or not didn’t matter….
In fact, it was perfect timing.
I stretched my hand out the window and remotely manipulated the distant magic circles.
‘It’s a bit far for complex control, but I can at least send some mana.’
What usually happens if a spell fails?
Mana backflow injures the caster, or completely unintended results occur.
‘Or… the uncontrolled mana overloads and causes a massive explosion.’
Imbuing new properties precisely was tough, but overloading with raw mana was doable.
A shame to waste two magic circles, but I’d already memorized the pattern anyway.
Better to blow them up big than let them go to waste.
I forcibly twisted the shapes of the magic circles.
The two circles, with opposing properties, interfered with each other… producing a fatal backlash.
Crackle, crackle-crackle, crack!
‘Come on, blow….’
Boom!!!
A blinding flash and enormous explosion followed. The shockwave rattled the windows. Whoa, blew up harder than I thought?
The test subjects bravely charging in were all left on the brink of death, sprawled across the ground.
‘Ooh, they’re tough.’
Still, they had the guts to storm a spot they thought held a mage.
Probably because their bodies had been reinforced. They hadn’t died.
They were twitching faintly… Lucky ones might survive.
The timed-activation spells were done now. So I formed a new one for Curtain Call.
[Rlyeh’s Mist]
Rumble-rumble…
Pure white mist began rising from all directions. An unrealistically dense magical fog enveloped the entire hospital. The test subjects on the first floor would no longer know what approached through the mist or where to aim.
And that uncertainty would summon feelings of terror.
[L-Grade Accessory ‘Carcosa’s Mask’ unique function, ‘Yellow Dominion’ activates.
// Yellow Dominion: Adds ‘Chant Enhancement: Fear Infusion’ effect to certain spells.]
“W-what the hell is that!?”
“What? What’s wrong!?”
“Through the mist! That monster! Monster!”
“Uwaaaak!”
That should do it. Curtain Call’s job was just to buy time anyway. With this much help, he’d handle the rest.
Now I just had to deal with Jemukyung, holed up in some other room, and the hard part would be over.
“Fuu…”
I took a moment to cup the mask with both hands and breathe deeply.
Jemukyung was a formidable foe, but I’d faced him several times already in the game.
I knew his weaknesses roughly, and depending on the situation, he could even be reasoned with to some extent.
So no problem there.
The issue was all these penalty traits clinging to my body, wearing me out too fast.
Plus, even though my level had risen a bit, [Vitality Drain] kept my HP critically low.
One clean hit, and no spells or anything—total knockout damage.
‘Nngh… Time to move?’
There were six rooms total on this hospital’s third floor.
But that didn’t mean I had to check every single one.
Only one I needed to visit was set.
First, right here.
The sniper’s wide room.
Anyway, with the sniper neutralized, nothing more to see here.
Minus the sniper, it was just a big, empty room.
‘Ah, of course, if you’re following the proper route in the game, there’s something you have to do.’
There were stacks of documents in that cabinet in the corner revealing the hospital’s lore.
Reading them gives you stuff like… ‘Oh! There’s something hidden in this hospital? A weird secret space underground? And you need the USB the lab director has to access it?’
Then you interrogate the snipers and learn the USB already went to Jemukyung, leader of the test subjects.
That kind of plot.
But I wasn’t here to enjoy the game’s story, so no need for that investigation. Meaning, once entry and neutralization were done, this room was finished.
“I prayed for just the sniper to show up when I came in, but Leopard pulling aggro tired me out for nothing…”
My already frail body twisted every which way and thrown around… No point in bringing Curtain Call.
Rubbing the back of my neck, I slowly walked toward the door.
Just as I reached for the handle, a sigh escaped me.
“Ha, damn it. Come to think of it, with this pattern, the hallway out there must be a total shitshow by now…”
I slowly turned the knob, and with an irritating creak, the door opened.
The first sensation to hit me as it swung open was smell.
The revolting stench of blood. I’d smelled blood plenty of times roaming Paju in [Cthulhu World].
I’d been through [K-3675 Secret Lab] overrun by zombies, and the underground parking lot turned ghoul den piled with corpses like mountains. But the smell here was more acrid and repulsive than anything before.
And visually… The third-floor hallway was a scene of utter devastation.
Walls cracked everywhere, human body parts scattered all around.
The floor bore traces of blood that had flowed like rivers.
Remnants of the armed test subjects massacring Helistic’s researchers in the hospital.
‘Fucking lunatics….’
They were researchers doing human experiments, so not exactly innocent victims.
Even so, the horrific scene the test subjects had created was downright abnormal.
This was where a brutal slaughter party of ruthless madness had taken place.
Corpses disassembled like playthings.
Corpses riddled with excessive wounds.
Entrails decorating the walls.
Heads displayed on tables.
Even traces of something like bowling with body parts.
They’d toyed with corpses like toys.
Not enough to trigger [Abyssal Madness], but vomit-inducing. Bunch of psychos.
‘No, wait.’
Was it really not enough to trigger?
No, the carnage here was truly gruesome.
But not shocking. No psychological turmoil crumbling my mind, no excessive fear stiffening my limbs.
Had dealing with mythical beings dulled my emotions?
Losing human feelings felt somehow unsettling.
No, don’t dwell on it now. This state was better for survival anyway.
‘Don’t think about it, Kim Shin-hwa. Survive no matter what, get back to the original world. That’s all that matters.’
Separately, it still pissed me off. Maybe this reaction came from memories and habits of my old self, but it pissed me off all the same.
Jemukyung, that psycho leader of the armed uprising. Catching and beating the shit out of him might improve my mood.
“Fuu…”
Not the best place for deep breaths, but I paused, focusing to steady my breathing consciously.
No time to waste, but rushing wouldn’t help either.
Before facing Jemukyung, there was one spot to hit first.
Of the four doors lined up on one side of the hallway, the second from the left.
A sign on the door read:
[Pharmacy]
That was it. Something to grab in there.
‘Tch, grabbing it’s fine, but… this room’s got its own shitshow horror waiting.’
This blood-and-guts, dismembered-body display hallway was just the start.
[Cthulhu World] was a game packed with cosmic horror and madness.
This hospital was a map designed to that theme,
And every room here had nasty horror elements waiting.
See them, get shocked, madness bursts… A real thrill ride in every way.
‘But who’d have thought I’d experience these “fun” elements for real.’
Fun in the game, zero fun in reality.
Just made me angry.
Sitting still wouldn’t change anything, though…
‘Sigh… I’ve been here so often, but it’s still hopeless.’
I slowly opened the door.