Chapter 56
Chapter 56
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: Conclusion
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The bastard was already mortally wounded and had lost his artifact.
"What, coming back to your senses?"
"Kahk... ptoo..."
Instead of answering, he spat out a glob of blood and raised his saw.
"You've got a hole in your gut and you're still going?"
"It's true that I lost control of my mind for a moment, but the knowledge I gained isn't false. This world is a hell on the brink of destruction. For anyone who can't escape it, nothing awaits but a life worse than death. A horrific despair with neither life nor death."
"Hmm... I've got a question about that."
"Kim Shin-hwa, are you nuts? No sense of timing?"
Curtain Call's sharp voice pierced through. Ah, please. Even so, I had some unresolved questions.
But Je Mu-kyung replied in a firm tone.
"The only thing I want from you is your skin."
Ah, this guy's a real psycho. Still on about the skin?
He seemed to have snapped out of his delirium, but the obsession and madness remained.
That bastard had peered into the abyss in his own twisted way.
"But I'll tell you one thing... I know what you want from the USB you took from me. It won't help you at all."
What? Ah, got it. I understand now.
I finally understood why Je Mu-kyung had been waiting for me in an even crazier state than in the game.
"Je Mu-kyung! You saw it in the basement... that book?"
Among the hidden rewards you could get in this hospital, there was a grimoire.
I remembered the title perfectly.
*Scripture of Silent Forgetting Heard in Dreams*.
The tooltip definitely said it described information on the afterlife and dream world, along with methods to achieve enlightenment.
Powers different from the game's lore, and an excessively extreme madness.
He must have ended up like that from some knowledge gained by reading that book.
"That book... you shouldn't have read that book... This world has knowledge you don't need to possess, knowledge unnecessary for living in it... Through the knowledge in that book, I awakened to the power of the Dimensional Spawn, and I... ended up hearing the voices from the abyss..."
This was a world within the [Cthulhu World], completely different from the one I lived in.
It harbored ugly truths and wisdom filled only with despair.
Premature enlightenment only destroys fragile minds.
Right now, that bastard was telling me to kill him.
If I couldn't, he'd strip my skin instead.
Maybe peeling off my skin, as he believed, would create a way to escape this world... but either way, it'd give him some immediate comfort.
Je Mu-kyung shifted into a completely different stance.
That must be his real attack posture.
It was utterly unlike the madman's style of relying solely on brute force and charges.
So, starting from the day I arrived here, the [Cthulhu World]'s setup began diverging from the game?
The situation where Je Mu-kyung incited the test subjects to rebel was still within the game's lore.
But reading the grimoire in the meantime, gaining stronger power and even greater madness than originally scripted—that was outside the bounds.
Deciding no more words were needed, he changed his stance and stomped his leading foot.
Boom-.
A heavy impact that seemed like it could shake the entire building, and his body launched forward.
Charge after charge repeated endlessly, but this time it was completely different.
His body was wrecked, and he had only one weapon left... but I instinctively knew this assault was the most dangerous yet.
[Protection Circle]
[Spell Enhancement: Multiple Cast]
[Wall of Frost]
[Hardening]
Five layers of protective circles, plus a wall made by freezing the blood gathered from the corpses, blocked his path.
Kwaaaaa!!!
The defensive spells shattered pathetically.
[Leap]
I couldn't stay in one spot.
I had to move faster, even faster.
[Protection Circle]
[Impact]
A double jump in midair, then kicking off the wall to reposition.
Kwang- Boom! Kyagyagya!
Every spot where I lingered even a second—no, 0.1 seconds—became the target of his strikes.
Trying to dodge sloppily would get me killed.
The area around me was already saturated with my mana.
I had to judge everything not by sight or sound, but by sensing mana.
That immense destructive power stemmed from his mana, after all.
His mana moved where his will directed. I had to read it and cast spells faster than his will could manifest.
[Arrow of Ruin]
I squeezed in an attack spell between leaps. No room for enhancements.
The spell I barely managed was sliced apart by a single swing of his saw.
Still, I couldn't stop. I had to spam the simplest, fastest spells as quickly as possible.
Kwaaang!
Ice shards scattered everywhere.
Dozens of branching lightning bolts erupted, followed by glowing mana arrows.
But every spell was swept away by that monster's single saw swing.
Ice pillars were cleaved in an instant, lightning deflected. He even took a few arrows to the body while charging.
The exchange seemed endless, but the one depleting first wasn't me—it was Je Mu-kyung.
'Humanely speaking, fighting this long with a hole in your gut is just wrong.'
He had to pause just to vomit the blood surging up his throat.
Three seconds? No, maybe just one.
That was enough.
[Fireball]
[Spell Enhancement: Multiple Cast]
[Spell Enhancement: Maximize]
A massive fireball hurtled toward him.
Too big to swat away. In the end, he chose to dodge... exactly as calculated.
A second fireball was already flying in the direction he evaded.
Fired right on the heels of the first, completely blind spot. No escape!
Kwaaaang!
The enormous fireball exploded around him.
Fierce flames and blast.
[Earthquake Strike]
Gugugugugu... Kwang!
A spell that shook the floor and collapsed the ground.
We were on the third floor, with no stable foundation.
The floor, repeatedly frozen and burned, had long reached its limit.
Unable to withstand the vibration, the floor burst open.
Collapse!
Kwagwagwang!
"Graaaah!"
The crumbling floor, falling debris, and Je Mu-kyung's massive frame plummeted to the second floor.
Phew... Nothing I need on the second floor. It could all burn up for all I care.
[Burning Spear]
[Spell Enhancement: Maximize]
[Spell Enhancement: Empower]
A massive magic circle formed horizontally in the air, aimed straight at the hole where he'd fallen.
To subdue him, I needed one truly devastating blow.
From the 2-meter-diameter circle shot a spear of absurd size.
More pillar or tower than spear—a colossal spell.
Kugugugugu...
Kwaaaaaaaaaa!!!!
A pillar of flame impaled him, spewing immense flames in all directions.
The entire second floor was engulfed.
The erupting flames then swirled at my command, condensing into a vortex of fire.
It would reduce everything trapped inside to ash—no, erase even traces of existence.
Even standing on the third floor, a ferocious heat wave assaulted me. Horrific heat that [Fire Resistance] couldn't fully block.
The eternal-seeming moment of death passed.
Now, nothing remained on the second floor.
Things caught in the massive fire vortex had burned to powder and vanished, leaving only small embers and drifting ash.
Where Je Mu-kyung had been was a bizarre scorch mark, proof of his death here.
"Phew... Not an easy feat."
Power wasn't the issue.
I'd perfectly controlled the heat and flames to prevent spread to the building.
Surreal control transcending limits for a mage of my tier.
If anything, that's what exhausted me more... Next time, fight outdoors if possible.
Now, the remaining enemies...
[Achievement Unlocked! You have subdued all test subjects in the secret lab. You have obtained the 'Common Achievement: Hospital Janitor.'
As achievement reward, you obtain the artifact 'Butcher's Hook' and bonus experience.]
The [Butcher's Hook] was... the hook at the end of the chain Je Mu-kyung had wielded.
Ugh... What am I supposed to do with this?
[Butcher's Hook (S-rank Weapon): The hook held by Je Mu-kyung, who seized control of the secret lab.
Madness: Forces a Sanity check upon equipping. Failure imprints 'Madness - Murderous Maniac' on your mind.
Weapon of Blood: Automatically casts stored [Blood]-attribute spells. Requires blood charge to use.
Time of Slaughter: +100% chance to inflict Critical and Bleed on all attacks targeting 'Humans.'
Proof of Butchery: Necromancy spell power +100%.]
Ah, it has magic enhancement options. But it's not like I carry a staff around, and this thing's too bulky for me.
Over 60cm long, and my mask already makes daytime strolls awkward—where am I supposed to carry this?
Still, there might be a situation for it... so I tucked it into my belt like a sword.
[[Outpost Securement Quest: Gamaksan Abandoned Hospital] Subdue all ability users occupying the abandoned hospital and restore it to a 'Safe' state.
Remaining Objectives: 58/58
! The abandoned hospital is not yet safe! >]
None left. Those two I missed on the first floor must've been hiding on the second.
I checked the USB in my hand.
Whew... Without this, I could've ended him sooner.
[You have subdued all test subjects controlling Helistic's secret lab and uncovered its hidden secrets. Helistic, which has pursued research into human potential, will remember your aid.]
The quest-completion messages started popping up with their usual boilerplate.
Never liked them from the start, but that tone arbitrarily summarizing my actions or nudging them in certain directions really grated.
[You have restored Ga-5060 Secret Lab to a safe state. Experience gained.]
[You have accumulated enough experience to reach the next level. Level increased by 1.]
[You have defeated (58) 'Hospital Test Subjects.' Understanding of mutants increased.]
[You have defeated 'Test Subject Je Mu-kyung.' Understanding of Dimensional Spawn greatly increased.]
[You have accumulated enough experience to reach the next level. Level increased by 1.]
[Discovery: Acquired (1) secret item from the lab. Experience gained.]
[Discovery: You have found a hidden location in the abandoned hospital. Experience gained.]
[Achievement Unlocked! You have completed the Gamaksan Abandoned Hospital quest faster than anyone.
You have obtained the 'Common Achievement: Hospital Speed Star.'
As achievement reward, you obtain 'Type C Bio-Tissue Sample' and bonus experience.]
[Experience Bonus: You have achieved a total of (2) achievements in Ga-5060 Secret Lab.]
[You have accumulated enough experience to reach the next level. Level increased by 1.]
[Level 25 reached!
Level-up reward: Obtain (1) bonus stat point to freely allocate.]
Where to put the bonus stat? I briefly considered adding it to Health for 8 points, but it wasn't an easy choice.
From the start, when setting character stats, I'd planned allocations for level-up points in advance. Which artifacts to grab in what order, which quests to do—I'd roughed out the build from character creation.
Now was the timing to boost Charm. Truth be told, last time I put the bonus into Health instead of Charm, so the plan was already slightly off.
'Gotta snag a Health-boosting artifact soon to hit 8.'
In the end, I allocated it to Charm.
****
Kim Shin-hwa
Class: Abyss-Gazing Mage
Level: 25
Magic Tier: 2nd Circle
Madness: [Mask Obsession]. [Ichthyophobia]
Strength 5(+3) (Ring of Fallen Flame)
Health 7
Dexterity 8
Intelligence 30
Mind 14
Charm 18
****