Dark night sky.
“Ahahahahahaha!!”
The laughter of the dead coming from the roof.
“This house is mineeee! You are intruders who came without permission! Invaders! Looters! All of you get out! Get out! Get out! Get out!”
A vicious scream that would never respond to reason.
I ignored the throbbing headache and the legs that kept wanting to step back, and shouted.
“Hey, Aunt! Legally this house belongs to your nephew Heo Sanghyun!”
And by the game system, it belongs to me.
Besides, the legal owner Heo Sanghyun is my bound spiritual thrall, so mystically and spiritually this house is mine too.
“So you’re the one who has to leave immediately! Heo Jihyun!”
But the only response was another monstrous shriek.
“My world, my reality, my life is being destroyed by a terrifying invader! Do you expect to take my house from me again?”
Where on earth did she get that idea?
[System: ‘Banquet Sacrifice’ trait activates.]
A belated system message.
Ah, now I more or less understand the situation.
It means a deep-sea entity is behind this dreadful scene.
“All right, all right, I like it.”
Does my voice tremble?
I nodded and backed up a little.
Heo Jihyun is nothing but a wraith I can handle easily.
No—she was nothing but that.
At this moment, Heo Jihyun is not an easy opponent.
“Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out! Go! Drive that invader away now!”
......
......
......
The homunculi hovering around Heo Jihyun began to move.
Shields and greatswords, paired swords, staves.
And fox masks, three-eyed masks, crow masks.
They wore the same gear and masks and looked exactly like me in every other way.
“Ah, damn. Why did I even make these?”
Shiiiiiik—
Their movement was too unnatural to be leaping or flying.
They were dragged along by the magical puppetry threads spun by former puppetmaster Heo Jihyun, moving with a jarring awkwardness.
In short, like puppets dangling from strings.
“Ah, damn it, don’t come any closer!”
[Fireball]
Fwhaaaak!
By reflex I unleashed a Fireball.
Of the three homunculi, the one in the fox mask stepped forward and raised its shield.
......
Tuhung!
Silently it swung its shield and deflected the Fireball.
Fwhaaaak—
The Fireball came hurtling right back at me. It was the shield warrior’s skill, [Spell Deflection].
“Ugh, I didn’t want to test their performance like this!”
[Leap]
“Aaaah!”
I heard the same voice as mine coming from afar.
The crow-masked homunculus raised its staff and screamed.
Ppudududduk—
At the same time, thorned vines sprouted from the ground and wrapped around my body.
Ugh, I can’t leap. My forearm and leg bound by thorns are torn, and blood gushes out.
Damn, the penalty traits [Damage Amplification] and [Injury Probability Increase] make even small wounds bleed profusely.
Fwhaaaak!
While I was immobilized by the vines, the Fireball was almost in my face!
[Wall of Flame]
Fwhaaaaak!
A wall of flame rose around me and intercepted the incoming Fireball.
Fwhaaaak—
And it burned away the thorned vines wrapped around my body. The heat was so intense I almost couldn’t breathe, but I have the [Flame Resistance] trait.
The moment the Wall of Flame dissipated—
[System: ‘Heightened Vigilance’ trait activates.]
I sensed movement from behind. Ugh, is that the assassin skill [Shadow Veil]?
I spun around hastily to respond, but their puppet-like appearance and movement kept slowing my reactions.
“......!”
The twin blades of the three-eyed-mask homunculus flew straight at me!
[L-grade Accessory ‘Mask of Carcosa’ unique effect, ‘Dreamlike Blur’ activates.
// Dreamlike Blur: automatically casts ‘Blink’.]
With a disorienting sense of being pulled out of my body, I was transported behind the three-eyed-mask.
“Damn it, I’d be dead without Blink.”
My head was spinning badly.
Their keywords were striking at my madness.
All the masked homunculi turned their heads in unison.
Their inhumanly flawless movement. Their mechanical unnaturalness. The puppets’ eerie yet beautiful motions.
‘Puppets wearing masks?’
They are a horrifying and fascinating enemy, doubly triggering my two manias.
“A-ah, I like it.”
“Ah—this is driving me insane.”
Unexpected words flew from my mouth.
I don’t know which was mine, but I truly feel like I’ll go mad.
I’m scared! This is awesome! I want to kill! I want to die! Run away! Fight! Do you know how hard it is to make this? You have to recover them intact! Why the hell did you make these? Destroy them at once!
Conflicting thoughts and wills sprang up in my mind all at once. Without firm resolve and focus, I can’t cast proper magic.
I can’t fight in this tangled mental state!
“Damn it!”
[Leap]
I leaped backwards again to create distance. The moment I landed, I channeled magic into my skateboard and sped off at maximum velocity.
I’m not running away.
[Ghost Walk]
[Blurred Identity]
[Shadow Mantle]
I activated multiple stealth magics at once and hid myself, then escaped behind the mansion.
“Ugh... damn.”
“Ahahahahahaha! Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out! Get ouuuuut!!”
When I disappeared, Heo Jihyun shrieked with her skirt and long hair billowing, having a seizure.
And the masked puppets began to search for me with grotesque movements.
But this situation...? It feels strangely familiar.
“Ha, damn! It’s exactly the same as that spider fight earlier?”
Only the skin and context have changed; it’s the same pattern as the silkgrove fiend I was fighting moments ago.
‘Could this have been a tutorial battle prepared for fighting Heo Jihyun?’
No way—that can’t be.
[The Cthulhu World] is not a proper game.
It’s built purely out of malice designed to infuriate the player. It never offers a friendly, normal level design that gives practice runs before a real battle.
‘Then what is it? It’s like....’
Could it be that they learned of my puppophobia and are relentlessly throwing dolls at me?
But that doesn’t seem right either—otherwise they would have sent real puppets.
Rustle—
Ah, I’ve been spotted. The fox-masked homunculus with sword and shield.
“Ahahaha! You were hiding there like a bug? You invader scum! Go! Kill it! Kill that bastard!”
Already spotted?
Did my stealth magic not activate properly? No, it’s that my homunculi are too effective.
The fox-masked homunculus charged at me.
A beautiful mask. A body crafted to mimic a human with 20 Charm. A blade flashing sharply. Puppet-like movement.
‘Should I just give up and let myself die?’
If I stay here, that puppet will slice my throat and my mask will roll across the floor with my head.
Then Heo Jihyun will use my corpse to make more puppets, right?
If I must suffer forever in this horrifying world, maybe I should end it like that.
“What kind of fucked-up thought is that!?”
Kzzzzt!
With my shout, ambient magic surged and blue sparks flew.
‘No, that’s not my thought!’
It wasn’t madness manifesting. It was just a phobia response.
‘Is it because of that thing?’
Has the monster that somehow took residence in a corner of my mind been devouring my sanity?
In any case, I have no intention of dying so easily. I’ll escape this world by any means.
[Brain Shock Field]
Kzzzzt! Kzzzzt!!
Bright electric arcs slashed between me and the homunculus, producing a tremendous shock.
Pababababbak!!
The ground cracked, stones splintered, and grass struck by the electricity turned to ash and scattered.
This could end the fight in one blow, but then my homunculi and masks would be destroyed.
As the shield-wielding fox-mask homunculus staggered back, the other two homunculi approached.
Ppudududduk!
Thorned vines erupted from every direction.
“So, you Kim Sinhwas sure have a lot of friends!”
As the vines blocked the electricity, they’d shove me with their shields.
‘And once my focus scatters, the assassin will slip in, right?’
The pattern itself is simple.
‘True enough, it’s not easy for Heo Jihyun alone to maintain anything more complex than this.’
And Heo Jihyun doesn’t act while the homunculi move. That means—
“Akanga!”
“Kiiiiii!”
Ppudududduk!
A huge white owl flapped its four wings and flew up onto the rooftop.
“Kyaaaah!”
Heo Jihyun’s scream.
For a moment, the homunculi’s movements slowed.
“Now everyone scram!”
[Gale]
Rrooooooooooom!!
The homunculi were blown back.
But this alone won’t suppress them. If I attack Heo Jihyun, Jang Hyundeok will be harmed. So Akanga’s attack can only threaten Heo Jihyun.
I must act before Heo Jihyun regains composure.
[Invisible Hand]
I used telekinesis to pull objects from inside the mansion.
Crash!
A grotesque mask burst through a window.
A sinister silver-shaped mask. The [Mask of the Dead] once used by Heo Joo, the mansion’s true original owner.
“No, no! Get that mask awayaa!!”
I heard Heo Jihyun’s agonized scream from the rooftop.
This mask contains the soul of a necromancer—the father of Heo Joo and the ancestor of both Heo Sanghyun and Heo Jihyun.
Without hesitation, I threw off my own [Mask of Carcosa] and donned the [Mask of the Dead].
“Kill it! Kill that dreadful monster!”
Heo Jihyun’s cry.
......
At her command, the homunculi charged.
But I shouted even faster.
“Wandering dead who traverse the void between worlds! Master of this starving mansion calls you by the names of Serpent and Scorpion!”
At my summons, vast hordes of horrifying wraiths and dead spirits surged in from every direction. Lost souls wandering for a single glance from me.
The spirits that had been roaming the mansion grounds, waiting for my command, rushed forward.
“I grant you, dead who are not even permitted to touch the earth, the right to rise from your graves. Though it be a false covenant of Serpent and Scorpion, no harm shall come to you.”
[Whispers of the dead trapped in the mask begin to echo.]
‘Downward, ever downward, descend into the abyssal darkness.’
You don’t need to make noise too—there are plenty yapping in my head already!
Rrroooar— grgrgrgr—
The summoned wraiths absorbed my magic and formed human shapes from earth, sand, and leaves.
With unstoppable ferocity, they charged the homunculi.
Seeing that scene, my head throbbed again in a different way.
Earth-spawned golems attacking the masked puppets that resemble me—
“Ah, I really think I’m going insane.”
I can’t properly control the wraiths. But conversely, I don’t need to.
The homunculi counterattacked in formation, but the wraiths simply overwhelmed them with sheer numbers, relentless fury, and obsessive ferocity.
It was more like a tug-of-war than an attack.
Crunch-crunch— crack—crackle—
Trees fell. Eventually the wraiths drove the homunculi off into the forest and disappeared.
“I might actually live.”
I looked up at Heo Jihyun ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) again. There’s nothing here that looks like a puppet anymore.
“All right, Aunt. Who told you how to inhabit that body?”
No matter how powerful Heo Jihyun is, she’s only a spirit.
Even if she somehow pierced my barrier, there’s no way she could have pulled out and controlled the homunculi from the basement.
“If you tell me who devised this fucked-up strategy, I’ll go easy on you.”
