Chapter 115
Chapter 115
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: Hyacinth
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Even while cruising through the city streets, countless vehicles came charging at them like trucks on a suicide mission. But the bike Ian rode brushed off the moonstruck suicide squadrons with ease. Sometimes it ran along their sides or rooftops, and other times it pulled off acrobatic maneuvers to slip through every situation that could have caused a crash.
Grandmother’s magic was performing at full capacity. Even after her death, the spell continued to function normally.
It was bizarre when most magic vanished the moment the mage died. It was probably because her magic wasn’t truly her own but closer to something demonic.
“Even in death, you’re still helping.”
Ian gave a wry smile as he stroked the bike’s surface. The hunk of metal, little more than a simple vehicle, naturally couldn’t respond to his murmur.
The sky was bright.
But the source of that light wasn’t the sun—it was the moon.
The full moon, now so enormous it blanketed nearly the entire sky, was no longer something you could simply avoid staring at. Shattered mirrors littered the ground, reflecting the moon perfectly. Even if you bowed your head, avoiding its gaze was impossible.
Those things were anomalies themselves. Freaks called the Shattered Mirror Effect. They normally spiked crime rates around their spawn point, but right now, they were just mirroring the moon.
“……Ugh.”
Thanks to that, Cecilia hadn’t opened her eyes since they’d left the tunnel.
If she lacked regeneration, she might have gouged them out, but her rapid healing restored her body against her will.
Gripping her rosary could boost the regeneration speed, but she couldn’t slow it down. So despite having eyes, Cecilia had no choice but to abandon her sight.
But Cecilia didn’t complain. Instead, she clung tightly to Ian and squeezed her eyelids shut to block out the moon. Ian overlapped his hand on hers around his waist and stared straight ahead.
An open road. Wrecked cars parked along the shoulder, surrounded by scattered corpses.
This was the sight that greeted them the moment they entered Seoul. The city had long been reduced to rubble.
Seoul wasn’t the only one. Lee Seo-ah had said the Busan Management Bureau was wiped out, so Korea itself was effectively done for.
North Korea was probably the same, and so was Japan right next door. There was no place on Earth where the moon didn’t rise.
He knew polar regions had phenomena like the midnight sun, but the sun itself had been devoured by the moon. So was the sun they saw in the sky even real?
‘The Earth is finished.’
Ian let out a hollow chuckle at the sudden thought.
Not out of amusement, but sheer disbelief.
When you heard something too detached from reality, laughter was the only response. Ian swept a hand over his face and looked up at the sky.
Seoul’s downtown, a forest of skyscrapers. On the rooftops of buildings in every direction, humans and anomalies danced together.
Incredibly, the Outer God had achieved something unthinkable for thousands of years: coexistence between humans and anomalies.
A monumental feat. Ian lit a cigarette and let out a deep sigh.
Chik.
The lighter sparked the tip, and acrid smoke began filling his lungs.
This was his last cigarette. Maybe the last one of his life.
“Whew…….”
He inhaled and exhaled the smoke savoringly, slowly organizing his thoughts.
‘The world is already over.’
An undeniable truth. Seoul, the heart of Korea, lay in ruins, and the moon-worshipping cult virus spreading nationwide had poisoned not just the infrastructure but the people themselves, stripping away their humanity.
Maybe some survivors were out there. They might spark a post-apocalyptic new world.
But what value would that world have? The moon would keep growing, and the infected would multiply like mad.
In a world where every plant and animal stared only at the moon, what hope could exist?
None, unequivocally. To say it again: the world was done for.
In vulgar terms, the world was fucked. Far worse and filthier than any zombie apocalypse, Earth had become the Outer God’s livestock pen.
He had no idea how it sensed the Grimoire’s energy and invaded Earth. It didn’t matter anyway. What mattered was that the Outer God had nested in the moon, and it had doomed the planet.
“Whew…….”
Ian gazed at the spent cigarette with lingering regret before tossing it carelessly onto the nearby ground.
Oil from a wrecked car had pooled right there, so the cigarette butt ignited it instantly, birthing a massive blaze that swallowed the surroundings. But no one cared. Only the corpses received a lonely funeral pyre.
‘The window for recovery…… has long passed.’
A global, humanity-ending catastrophe. Humans were no longer human, and Earth’s masters were no longer human. Without turning back time, this was the end.
Right. Without turning back time.
“…….”
Ian sat still, not bothering to fix his hair whipping in the wind, and stared at the pristine white Grimoire in his hand.
Hand of Recreation.
The first Grimoire he’d encountered, the only one capable of creating a time-reversing hourglass. Naturally, its author, Recomposer of All Things, had to possess some means of manipulating time.
But.
‘Is summoning an Outer God really the right choice?’
Ian tapped the Grimoire with his finger and looked up at the sky. The vivid blue moon filled his vision.
Given that the Grimoires suggested summoning an Outer God as the solution, the moon itself was likely the thing’s true body. It had probably lost some power manifesting as an anomaly, but over time, it would grow stronger and eventually devour Earth.
Earth-related conspiracy theories and urban legends abounded: flat Earth, hollow Earth, and more. No one knew what would happen if they became real, and they were everywhere. He couldn’t guarantee the Outer God wouldn’t consume those concepts as it powered up.
If that happened, living and breathing on Earth would lose all meaning. Why cling desperately to survival when death was inevitable anyway? Ian was prepared to trade his life if it meant killing that bastard.
In a intact civilization, maybe he’d fight for life, but not now. Clinging to it wouldn’t grant him a full lifespan.
It was just a drowning man’s final flail. Whatever he did, he’d die.
So handing his life to an Outer God was no big deal.
But suppose—truly suppose—Recomposer of All Things turned back time and everything returned to normal.
Would that restored timeline really be safe?
“…….”
Outer Gods. Divine cosmic entities that shouldn’t exist in this world, yet did. Even if they were friendly, was borrowing their power to reset Earth truly okay? Wouldn’t it invite even weirder problems?
“…….”
Dozens, hundreds of what-ifs swirled in Ian’s mind. By the time they arrived home, he’d reached a conclusion.
‘This fucked world is done anyway. Better to seize one last chance than die helplessly.’
Die now, or maybe get fucked later but score one extra coin? Anyone with common sense would pick the latter. And Ian was the last sane person on Earth.
“……Whew.”
He gripped the Grimoire tightly and dismounted the bike. Then he took Cecilia’s hand and helped her down carefully.
“H-Have we arrived?”
[Yeah. This is my place.]
“Oh…….”
Ian entered the house with Cecilia.
The standalone home, move-in ready, was naturally empty. He sat her on the living room sofa and brought two glasses of cold water, setting them on the table. He handed one to her.
[You can open your eyes now. Curtains are all drawn, so it should be fine.]
“……Okay. Got it.”
Cecilia exhaled shakily and cautiously opened her eyes. Light seeped into her vision, dark for hours.
“Ugh.”
She winced at the sudden brightness but didn’t close them again.
“……Thanks for the water. I’ll drink it.”
Ian nodded with a smile instead of replying. Cecilia gulped it down and set the empty glass on the table.
“……Come to think of it, we never had a housewarming.”
[We’ll do it next time. Invite my acquaintances too.]
“……Yeah, next time.”
Cecilia smiled wryly. Ian watched her quietly, then pulled out a notepad and wrote.
[Rest for now. You must be exhausted.]
“What? No way. What if enemies show up suddenly?”
[I’m fine looking at the moon, but you’re not. Better to recover your condition and move tomorrow. You’ll need time to adjust without sight too.]
“……You’re right, but still…….”
[It’s okay, Cecilia. Just having someone here is comforting enough.]
Ian gave a faint smile as he wrote the final line.
[Guest room’s upstairs. Sleep there. I’ll test some magic then rest, so go ahead. No arguments. If you can’t sleep, take a sleeping pill from the drawer.]
“…….”
Cecilia’s lips trembled as if she had much to say, but she relented at his firm resolve. With a deep sigh, she stood.
“Then cut off my legs, just in case. So even if I go moon-mad, I can’t grab you. The moon might appear in my dreams too.”
“…….”
“Don’t worry about regeneration. I’ve used it too much already. I’m low on calories, so it’ll be slow. Cut without hesitation.”
Eyes were too close to the brain to be heavily affected by recovery speed. The organ itself was small, using minimal calories.
Legs, though, were far from the head and much larger. Without proper calorie intake, they wouldn’t heal quickly.
“Hurry.”
“……Sigh.”
In the end, Ian yielded this time.
He used Recreation magic to melt off everything below her knees painlessly, then carried her to the bedroom and laid her down. He even gave her a sleeping pill before leaving the room.
“Thanks, Ian.”
Her grateful words followed as he left. Ian waved to her already-closed eyes, then headed to the terrace and summoned the Grimoire.
Shhhrrk!
The two Grimoires appeared in his hands. He set Hand of Recreation aside for now and opened Deep Sea Chronicles.
“…….”
Far off, the moon’s inhabitants and anomalies approached, glimpses appearing.
An army at first glance. They probably planned to settle things here.
He had no intention of letting them. This life was for the Outer God anyway—he’d do everything he’d ever wanted before dying.
Crunch!
Ian grinned and bit his finger hard, drawing blood. He used it to draw multiple magic circles on the terrace table.
“If you’re coming with numbers, I’ll just have to match you.”
He scattered varying amounts of flesh over the circles and laughed.
“Outer universe’s ocean. The predators that dwell there.”
The Grimoire in his grip dripped red blood in response to his will.
“Time to see your faces.”
Woooong……!
The magic circles vibrated violently.