Chapter 9
Chapter 9
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: The Formless One
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[Flame Burst]
Phaaa!
- Groooar!
Flames erupt in all directions. The Formless One writhes, its grotesque body of tentacles and slime quivering.
“Definitely different!”
As expected from a 2nd-circle spell. It’s on another level from the 0th-circle magic I’d jury-rigged for firepower.
This is the power of the [Ring of Corrupted Flame]. Thanks to its effect, I can cast spells stored in the ring while ignoring their circle requirements.
[The spells stored in the Ring of Corrupted Flame are as follows:
2nd circle: ‘Flame Burst’
3rd circle: ‘Fireball’, ‘Burning Spear’]
Yeah, exactly three.
Pouring mana into it lets me cast even 0th-circle spells at nearly 3rd-circle performance.
By simple math, a 2nd-circle spell should hit like almost 5th-circle.
Lost in the spell’s power, I let my guard down for a moment, and the Formless One—ugh, what a mouthful. From now on, you’re just Tentacle Monster!
The Tentacle Monster starts inflating its body. And it doesn’t stop there.
This thing has the ability to generate body parts of other creatures from its flesh.
Horns, clawed talons, and a bizarre beast with hooves sprout as legs.
Every single one is a lethal weapon ready to use. It charges at me with ferocious hostility.
“Ehey! Where’d you get those?!”
I pour mana into the surrounding flames.
Fwoooosh!
The flames, amplified with ferocious momentum, now exert physical force beyond mere heat.
- Groooar!
Another scream echoes. The flames push back and incinerate the Tentacle Monster’s grotesque appendages.
The parts touched by the fire don’t just burn—they turn to ash in an instant.
‘But that…’
Unlike the exposed appendages, the slime coating its main body doesn’t catch fire.
‘Flame resistance—no, it’s resistant to magic from the start.’
Ugh… annoying… And it keeps getting bigger?
It was definitely about the size of a huddled person at first.
But now it’s grown to the size of two minivans combined.
The space isn’t that cramped, but it’s starting to feel burdensome.
‘No way… it’s not gonna swell up and crush me to death, right?’
It doesn’t have full [Flame Immunity]. The parts directly exposed to fire are boiling and shrinking.
‘Then overwhelm it with sheer mana!’
A sphere of explosive flames forms between my outstretched hands.
Compress it a bit more to concentrate the power… Take this!
“Out of the way, you bastard!”
[Fireball]
In English, that’s fireball!
Whiiiish! KABOOM!
The ultra-compressed fireball unleashes even greater power than expected.
Caught in the explosion, the monster’s tentacles and appendages are ripped clean off as it slams into the wall.
- Groooar!
Grotesque as it is, it seems to feel something like pain.
It lets out an unmistakably emotional roar and thrashes violently.
‘Tough bastard. Can’t ramp up the firepower more? No, maybe I need a way to strip off that slime?’
The slime’s the problem. Even I thought that was powerful, but the slime halved the damage.
I could just pour in more mana… Huh? What’s that idiot doing?
The Tentacle Monster wraps its flame-resistant slime around its tentacles and starts pulling most of its mass upward.
Using its head, huh. But that shape… like a hammer…
‘Whoa!’
Transforming its body into a hammer, the Tentacle Monster swings the massive lump down recklessly.
[Invisible Hand]
BOOM!
That’s a speed even a master couldn’t dodge. If the magical hand hadn’t flung me away, I’d be dead from a direct hit.
Rolling across the floor tumbles my vision every which way.
“Whew! You’ve got some punch!”
Ugh… my whole body aches. Gonna puke. Ugh, dragged this out too long. Gotta brace for the next attack…
But its attack veered completely off-target.
BAM! BOOM! CRASH!
“Hey, stop it, you freak!”
Something felt off, and sure enough, it’s smashing the floor, not me.
Trying to escape the flames by clearing space?
That’s not the issue. There’s a subway line below. Even collapsing the floor would cause a disaster.
Crack, crunch, snap—
The floor caves in with serious cracks forming. Stop it already!
Yeah, if that slime coating is the problem, just burn the inside directly.
[Burning Spear]
A spear of condensed flame floats in the air. It’s not just heat—it pierces enemies with sharp physical force.
This alone might not be enough power? If force is lacking, just add more.
I pour mana into the completed spell to reinforce it.
[Spell Enhancement: Multiple Cast]
Swoosh—fwoom fwoom fwoom!
Adding three new spears makes four Burning Spears fly toward it.
The flaming spears, edged with sharpness, pierce through its magic resistance with ease.
- Grooooar!
How’s that? Can’t move now, can you? What’re you gonna do with spears stabbed in you?
Immobilized, it begins its final struggle. It generates appendages from its body at tremendous speed.
From the grotesque slime sprout human legs, frog feet on those legs, bird wings on those feet, pink tentacles on those wings, monkey arms on those tentacles, goat hooves on those arms, crooked chicken talons on those hooves, plant stems on those talons, deer antlers on those stems, giant insect legs on those antlers, elephant trunks on those legs, rat tails on those trunks, lion legs on those tails, fish fins on those legs, eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs.
Hundreds, thousands of eyeballs glare at me with gleaming madness. Crazy, what the hell?
[System: Exclusive trait ‘Abyss’s Madness’ has been activated.]
Ah, so that was some kind of mental attack? Sorry, but my mind’s special—doesn’t work on me.
“Alright, let’s end this.”
I spread mana through the still-active Burning Spears.
Accepting the new property, the spears vibrate unstably and emit intense light.
“Explode!”
KABOOOOOM!
As expected, this is the classic counter for enemies relying on their shells. They can block external attacks, but how do you stop an explosion from inside?
The Tentacle Monster’s body shatters, scattering everywhere or vaporizing in the scorching blast.
From the ruins of its completely destroyed flesh rolls out a black mana crystal—what you’d call its core.
‘Oho, black.’
Not a common color. It’s a high-purity, top-quality mana crystal.
The moment I pick it up, a new message appears in the air.
[You have thwarted the plan of Fomalhaut’s Offspring to summon the flames of the god at Unjeong Station! Tens of thousands of lives in peril have been saved, and the arrival of the humanity-destroying ‘Singularity’ has been delayed for a time.]
[But take heed. The great ‘Living Flame’ will now watch you for interfering with its will.]
I didn’t really stop anything, but it counts as stopped.
Of course, from the perspective of this church’s owners, [Fomalhaut’s Offspring], it’s like their key sanctuary got wrecked out of nowhere.
It’ll take a while to repair, so they’ll have to postpone or cancel their plans for now.
[You have destroyed Fomalhaut’s sanctuary. Experience gained.]
[You have accumulated enough experience to reach the next level. Level increased by 1.]
[You have defeated the ‘Formless One’. Understanding of god’s kin in general has increased.]
[You have accumulated enough experience to reach the next level. Level increased by 2.]
[Discovery: You have acquired 3 secret items from the sanctuary. Experience gained.]
[Discovery: You have found a secret chamber in the sanctuary. Experience gained.]
[You have accumulated enough experience to reach the next level. Level increased by 1.]
[Great achievement accomplished! You have thwarted the cultists’ plans faster than anyone.
You have acquired the ‘Advanced Achievement: Swift as Flame’.
As achievement reward, you gain the ‘Attribute Resistance - Fire’ trait and additional experience.]
[You have accumulated enough experience to reach the next level. Level increased by 1.]
[Level 10 achieved!
As level-up reward, you gain 1 bonus stat point to freely allocate.]
[Sufficient experience accumulated. 1st-circle magic usage unlocked. Note that to properly use 1st-circle magic, you need a grimoire containing 1st-circle spells or to learn them.]
Finally hit level 10. 1st-circle spells are now unlocked.
The message says I need to learn them to use magic, but I don’t.
‘Thanks to the [Spell Mastery] trait.’
It lets me use basic spells without learning them.
Of course, even for 1st-circle, advanced or applied spells need learning or creation, but hey, it’s something.
Now the number of usable spells… let’s see…
‘Ooh, impressive.’
Exactly 37 new ones. Over 50 total now.
Considering applications, that’s hundreds more possibilities.
‘Now, where to put the new bonus stat…’
With artifact bonuses, Strength is 8 now. Later, the [Gulping Gloves] that boost Health by 2…
Yeah, put it in Health to hit 8.
****
Kim Shin-hwa
Class: Abyss-Gazing Mage
Level: 10
Magic Circle: 1st
Madness: [Mask Obsession], [Triskaidekaphobia]
Strength 5(+3) (Ring of Corrupted Flame)
Health 6
Agility 8
Intelligence 30
Mind 14
Charisma 16
****
Good job, Kim Shin-hwa. Growing like a weed.
Strength 8… about the same as my old body from endless remote work and gaming.
Once Health hits 8, I’ll have the minimum stats for no issues in action.
I’ll cover remaining Health with artifacts, so from now on, pump Intelligence or Charisma.
‘If I go all-in on Intelligence, theoretically up to 48.’
That’s mythical creature or alien-level smarts. With item bonuses, nearly 60.
‘Time to head out. Huh? What’s that…?’
Hm? What’s this?
Something odd on the floor. A tiny bit of slime, less than a handful, still twitching with will.
Insane vitality. Not fully dead?
Never saw this in-game… Ah, wait. [Wriggling Slime]?
Rare material from god’s kin enemies. The in-game icon doesn’t wriggle, so I didn’t realize.
Can’t ditch an SS-grade premium material.
But unlike the game, this thing’s… moving pretty aggressively?
I raise mana to expand my vision, and scattered mana particles and flows become clearer. Focusing on the slime fragment reveals its internal structure and composition vividly.
‘This… less an item, more a living creature. Unlike the game, carrying it raw would let it eat my flesh.’
But I can’t just toss an SS-grade material.
I go back to the chest behind the altar and grab a glass vial. Spend a moment pouring in mana.
Concentrate a bit, and intricate fluorescent runes glow on the vial’s surface. Not hexagrams or circles—just geometric patterns and a few characters. Kinda… graffiti-like?
Anyway, I scoop the slime into the tuned vial. For a second, I wonder if I’m packing a bomb, but with its mana crystal ripped out, what can it do?
The slime in the vial puts on a show, sprouting eyeballs and teeth, but as the vial’s runes activate, it loses activity and shrinks to a marimo-ball lump.
Clean! Sleep tight!
Alright. Time to meet Tudor.
I jump down through the hole in the floor.
The hole I’d blasted up earlier—no need for that now.
[Feather Fall]
Magic counters gravity, slowing my descent.
1st-circle spells have tons of handy ones for all situations.
I land lightly on the empty tracks soon after.
Not even evening yet, but my body’s starting to sag.
Pushed too hard at Unjeong Station earlier.
Ugh… but I can’t waste another day. Gotta meet Tudor today.
‘Because… money’s really tight…’
Taxi fares, meals, clothes, mask—burned a lot.
After dinner, barely enough for a cheap motel night.
Sure, I got the mana crystal from killing the Tentacle Monster—the Formless One.
Sell that, and I’m looking at millions in hand instantly.
But to sell safely, gotta put in legwork.
Black-market exchangers give cash quick but skim 40-60% fees—scummy.
Worst case, attract weirdos and get jumped or robbed.
In the end, for stable sales later, I need connections.
Ones that hook you up with jobs too… That’s the shady broker I’m heading to: Tudor.
To reach Tudor’s base, I head two stops from Unjeong to Geumchon Station.
‘Follow the main road till Hallyeong Mountain shows… Oh, there it is.’
Hallyeong Mountain Forest Park is a low hill rising in central Paju. Midway up, a massive Hwaryongsa Temple building looms, with a giant bronze seated Buddha in the front yard gazing down.
The 20-meter-tall statue, posed like it’s overlooking the city, gleams in brilliant golden light under the sun.
‘Spectacular…’
Not my destination, though. Just a landmark.
And for now, no need to tangle with Hwaryongsa’s fake monks.
Better to avoid them altogether—keeps my stomach settled.
Unless I screw up the route, I probably won’t run into them till I escape this world?
I turn away deliberately and head into the dingy back alley where Tudor lurks.
Motels, rundown rice-house joints, cheap studio buildings, faded noraebang signs, and shady spots without signs cluster here.
Looks like a grubby neighborhood dropped from urban development, but the moment you enter, prickling mana and fishy killing intent hits you.
My masked getup’s an issue, but bigger problem’s my mana—I can’t fully hide it.
Suppressing as much as possible, but the absurd amount makes total concealment impossible yet.
The pros lurking in alleys and buildings are on alert for me.
Twist through the maze of alleys a few times… and there it is: a clean cafe painted bright amid the shabby, lifeless vibe.
The sign reading ‘Cafe Vasilisa’ is so well-kept it sparkles.
It does some cafe business, but it’s camouflage anyway.
Dense mana flows from inside. Even in this Geumchon alley packed with pros from all fields, it’s a cut above.
No need to hesitate. Nothing here can faze or scare me now.
I don’t break stride and push open the cafe door.