Trap (2)
"Sacrifices-to-be, a pleasure to meet you all. My name is Ragiel. I am the apostle who conveys the will of the Great One, and the officiant of today's ritual."
A black-haired man. Ragiel, as he called himself—his eyes were already far beyond sanity. The very picture of a raving lunatic.
"Soon, the world will meet its end. Prepare yourselves."
Ragiel threw his arms wide and bellowed.
Eugene had never seen him before. And yet, he felt no strangeness. He'd glimpsed such figures in Choi Siljang's memories—bowing low, receiving orders. The faces differed, but he was certain. These were the higher-ups Choi Siljang had spoken of. The mark on the back of his hand gave it away.
At its center gleamed a vertical pupil, inhuman in shape. Black-red lines radiated from it, encircled by thorny patterns in a perfect ring. No ordinary tattoo, that much was clear at a glance.
Irritation surged through Eugene in an instant. Was this a trap from the start? Why did every Gate tie back to these bastards? Some kind of signal? Or...
His eyes darkened.
"End of the world this, sacrifice that—cut the bullshit. You some kinda psycho?"
A man in his mid-thirties stepped forward. He glared up at Ragiel on the altar and took another defiant stride.
"Don't care where the hell we are. You think we're gonna dance to your tune?"
Perhaps it was that spark. In the stifling mix of bewilderment and terror, someone taking the lead ignited the smoldering defiance in the others.
"How rude. To spew ignorance even before Him."
"Shut your trap!"
The man kicked off the ground.
Boom!
In that instant, the pattern carved beneath the altar flashed black-red. Before the man's body could even reach Ragiel.
A single red line erupted from the pattern at his feet like a striking serpent, coiling around his leg.
Instinctively, he twisted and swung his sword.
Slash.
One red chain severed.
But it wasn't over.
Shwaaak!
Over a dozen more red lines burst from the floor all at once. Twisting like vipers, they ensnared his limbs, waist, and neck in a heartbeat.
"Wh-what the...? Let go!!"
Crack.
Before he could finish. His body contorted. The sound of shattering bone reverberated through the chamber.
His arm twisted first, then his spine snapped.
A scream tore from his lips.
"Gaaarrrgh!"
It didn't drag on. The red chains yanked him toward the altar, limbs locked in their grip.
He clawed at the floor, resisting—but it was futile.
"S-save...!"
Crack!
The pattern beneath the altar rippled wide like a gaping maw. Sticky darkness writhed from the black-red fissure, swallowing his body whole like a living mouth.
"Kr... aaaaaah!"
The scream cut off halfway down its throat.
The chains wriggled one last time, dragging inward. The pattern sealed shut, as if nothing had happened.
All that remained on the floor: a few streaks of blood and a sword that had rolled free, limp and abandoned.
A living human, gone in mere seconds.
The witnesses' faces drained white in an instant. Some gulped air; others recoiled on pure instinct.
Ragiel gazed down at the spot with rapturous ecstasy.
"Behold. The fate of those who defy."
Shwaaak!
With his words, red chains ripped through the floor once more.
Screams exploded from every direction.
One runner snared at the waist, hauled skyward. Another, ankle-bound, scraped the ground in frenzy.
The black-red pattern yawned and snapped like a ravenous mouth, devouring its catches one by one.
"We have to block it! Keep 'em away from the altar?!"
"Damn it, they keep coming back no matter how many we cut!"
Han Ji-hyeok's shout tangled with Park Dojin's roar.
Lee Hyeon-su's bolts flew in rapid succession, severing a few chains. Kang Mina threw up a shield with trembling hands.
But it wouldn't hold. Each severed chain regrew, surging faster, wilder.
Boom!
Park Dojin's shield met a cluster of red chains head-on. Three slammed into it at once; metal shrieked. The impact shoved his feet back.
"Nngh...!"
Chains erupted from another angle—waist height this time.
Han Ji-hyeok's sword flashed like lightning.
Slash!
Two chains fell.
But from the stumps, black-red ichor boiled up, reforming in seconds.
"It's regenerating?!"
Kang Mina's voice quivered.
As if in reply, the altar's pattern blazed darker.
Shwaaak!
Dozens of red chains exploded from the entire floor.
Lee Hyeon-su fired bolts in haste—two, three severed.
The fourth grazed his side. He staggered.
"Hyeon-su-ssi!"
Kang Mina thrust out a hand, shield blooming. Faint blue light enveloped him—just as five chains from the front hammered it.
Crack.
Fissures spiderwebbed; her face went sheet-white.
"No...!"
Craaack!
The next blow shattered it to shards.
A chain snapped around Kang Mina's ankle.
"Kyaaak!"
Her body lurched forward, nails raking the floor as she slid toward the black-red pattern.
Park Dojin lunged, teeth gritted, hand outstretched.
"Grab on!!"
She latched onto his arm. Success.
But then two more chains coiled his shoulder and waist.
His face twisted.
"Dojin-ssi!"
Han Ji-hyeok charged to sever them—but Ragiel flicked a finger. Black liquid gushed from behind the altar.
Three polluted abominations, twisted into humanoid sludge, blocked his path.
"Tch!"
Clang! Clang!
His sword clashed in flurry. One bisected—but the others pounced. One clamped his shoulder; the other seized his leg.
His stance buckled.
Meanwhile, Kang Mina dragged on. Park Dojin held, but cracking.
Lee Hyeon-su reloaded amid side-bleeding; Han Ji-hyeok fought bound.
He cleaved one abomination, but a chain raked his shoulder deep.
Puk.
"Urk...!"
Blood sprayed. He reeled.
Two black-red chains surged: one ankle, one waist.
"Damn it!!!!!"
Park Dojin braced, veins bulging on the arm clutching Kang Mina. His own chains tugged him altar-ward, inch by inch.
Lee Hyeon-su bled and reloaded, fingers shaking.
Han Ji-hyeok bared teeth, sword high—but an abomination bit his leg anew. Stance crumbled; blade wavered.
His gaze locked on Eugene at the rear. Still mostly unscathed. The party's youngest—E-rank summoner.
Blood trickling from his mouth, Han Ji-hyeok bellowed.
"Eugene-ssi! Run! What're you standing there for?! Go—now!"
Desperation, not command. A final plea to save one life.
"We're done... so..."
Crack!
The waist chain dug deeper. Pain warped his face.
The pattern at his feet boiled black-red.
That instant—
Craaackle.
A rift like tearing space echoed.
No one grasped it at first.
Then the air beside Han Ji-hyeok warped black. An invisible hand shredding reality—a long, pitch rift yawned midair.
"What...?"
Kang Mina's voice shook.
Black-red eyes glinted from the void.
Kwaaaang!
A colossal beast shredded the rift, bursting forth.
Blood wolf. Fur drenched deep crimson, black aura smoking off its frame like mist.
Its mere emergence upended the air. Even the frenzied chains flinched—raw predator dominance flooded the space.
"Grrrrr..."
The wolf launched low, fangs bared.
Slash! Crack!
Han Ji-hyeok's waist and ankle chains ripped free in a blink.
Its massive claw slammed the floor; fissures spidered across the black-red pattern. The altar quaked.
"Magic beast...?"
Park Dojin muttered, dazed.
The blood wolf pressed. It pounced the chain cluster dragging Kang Mina, fangs plunging deep.
Red tendrils convulsed, screaming as they snapped. Her body thumped free to the floor.
"Hah...!"
Kang Mina gasped, eyes saucered.
Even Lee Hyeon-su froze mid-reload, staring skyward.
Han Ji-hyeok. Park Dojin. Everyone around.
Unbelieving faces fixed on the impossible: empty space torn, monster unleashed.
Only Ragiel's smile faded. Eyes narrowed slow.
"Hoo..."
Mad gaze shifted. To the blood wolf's origin.
And Eugene beyond, standing silent.
Black shadow swayed quiet at his feet.
Ragiel's lip curled, twisted.
Mad eyes pierced: wolf, shadow, hidden depths.
"Intriguing."
He murmured soft.
"Human scent, plain as day. Yet... why?"
Ragiel stepped. The altar pattern breathed, rippling.
"Beneath your human shell... something else stirs. No Irregular. No full escapee either..."
He tilted his head. Fanatic rapture warped his face.
"Strange. Utterly strange. No reports of your kind."
Eugene said nothing.
The blood wolf growled low, teeth gleaming.
Black shadow spread silent from his feet.
"You. What are you?"
Ragiel's eyes slitted.