“I still haven’t been defeated!! The power he gave ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) me isn’t only this oneee!!”
Even after losing her homunculi, Heo Jihyun desperately pushes out her magic.
“So there must be someone who gave you power, right?”
She answered my question with something off-topic.
“Spiders! Spiders!”
“Spiders?”
Kirrururuk— chirururuk—
A tremendous horde of spiders pours in from every direction. Thousands, easily.
‘A [Swarm Summon] spell, then?’
A summon spell for masses of insects or beasts under a certain size.
“But why spiders?”
She’s certainly drawn an unpleasant number, but they’re literally just spiders.
Ah—could the Blind Weaver be lending her power to repay the grievance of the silkgrove fiend?
If so, I can accept the similar pattern as earlier.
“No—it’s too soon for that, isn’t it?”
The timing is odd for the Blind Weaver’s scheme in anger over the fiend’s death.
“Well, let’s check slowly.”
Ta-dak!
I snapped my fingers and ignited fire.
Fwhaaaak—
This isn’t even magic. Just fire.
The flames alone annihilated Jihyun’s spiders in one breath.
‘As expected, this event isn’t tied to the Blind Weaver.’
The Blind Weaver is also called the Spider Queen in the abyss. If she were behind this, Jihyun would have summoned far more formidable spiders.
“This is mine! This house is mine! This body is mine!”
Heo Jihyun still rages with demonic fervor.
“Hmm. Let’s stop this now, shall we?”
“Kraaaaaaah!”
Her magic shifts.
She severs the link to her homunculi control and begins focusing all her magic. It swells with tremendous force.
Lightning crackles, a vortex forms.
“What—there’s a phase two? Really the same pattern as those spider brats?”
Even by eye, this magic isn’t weak.
She once controlled three homunculi at once. No wonder. But where did this magic come from?
“Anyway, you’ve cut off connection to your homunculi, right?”
Now that she’s abandoned their control, I have no reason to keep dealing with Heo Jihyun.
I sighed and cast my spell.
[Voice of Authority]
‘Jang Hyundeok, do not move. Magic use prohibited.’
Ka-deu-ddeuk!
Heo Jihyun suddenly freezes.
“W-what!? What is this!? What did you do!?”
She snarled and writhed, but her limbs were utterly rigid.
“Seriously, why did you possess his body?”
Jang Hyundeok’s body is laden with barriers and traps.
First, wards and shields to block petty spirits.
Then traps to capture anything that breaks through.
“You deceived me! You had this from the start! Why did you try to run awayaaa! You toyed with me!! You pathetic monster! Horrible demon! Die!! Dieee!!”
Ugh, she strikes a painful point.
I could have activated this earlier, but I couldn’t.
“I just didn’t use it before because if I triggered it while linked, the homunculi might break.”
Of course that isn’t the only reason.
Until a moment ago, I was too unstable to cast even simple spells properly. Using this then could have caused unknown problems.
“Now then, Aunt. Tell me again—who helped you plan this?”
“Let me outtt!! Let me ouuuut!! Kieieieek!! Kieieieek!!”
“Her condition’s getting worse.”
She really isn’t reasonable.
‘First, let’s pull her out of Jang Hyundeok’s body and think.’
If I confine her in a barrier and analyze slowly, I might learn something. Or her mastermind might reveal themselves.
[Leap]
In one bound I reached the rooftop.
“Kyaaaaaah!! Noooo! Let me move! I want to get out! Let me ouuuut!!”
The closer I got, the more frenzied she became—yet it was useless.
She can’t even free herself from possession now.
“It’s a binding even higher intelligences can’t escape. Struggling is futile.”
I raised a hand and drew her spirit out.
Pa-jijijijik!!
Her resistance sparked crimson against the binding, but the stronger she fought, the tighter the hold.
A brilliant glowing seal flared into being.
“Good. Sealing complete.”
I added a binding rite to a mana crystal from my backpack and imprisoned her. Inside the transparent crystal burned a vivid blue flame of vengeance.
Too much magic for a single wraith to wield.
“Rest now.”
Cradling the crystal, I checked Jang Hyundeok’s condition.
His once jet-black hair fell away; the tattered skirt that wrapped him crumbled—revealing a blond punk studded with piercings.
Yet Jang Hyundeok still looked dazed.
“Let’s see—ugh, what is that?”
Beneath his stomach skin, a grotesque creature writhed violently, as if about to tear out.
“So there really was something else besides Jihyun?”
But it’s not much different from Jihyun’s case. It’s writhing around his entrails, but caught in my binding and unable to manifest true power.
A beast trapped in a snare—thrashing to escape but can’t.
“Hmm. Hey—shall I let you out?”
......
This creature hiding in Jang Hyundeok’s belly has no vocal organs. It communicated via raw concepts.
“So, you want to come out, right?”
I touched the [Mask of the Dead] on my face, cleared my throat, and spoke.
“If that is your wish, speak your name to me. Open yourself fully and offer all to me. Then I will draw you out.”
......
It responded in terror, thrashing to convey a name no human speech could approximate.
Meaning roughly “the one who crawls into entrails.” I saw this fiend in the game—died to it some thirteen times.
I sighed, then imposed a new binding on the “Entrail Crawler.”
Pa-jijijijik—
A complex seal appeared on Jang Hyundeok’s flesh.
“O hungry master of this mansion, who gave your name, you shall now be bereft of power, bereft of authority, bereft of meaning.”
I stripped the Entrail Crawler of its magic and power.
Why keep Jang Hyundeok alive?
It’s not without risk, but as long as he remains under my influence, he’s less an altar and more a living trap.
I can use him to lure foolish intruders at will.
‘No—that’s not the real reason.’
I’m not sure. A strange thought flickered in my mind, then passed.
I stroked the [Mask of the Dead] that veiled my face. The mask housing the corrupted necromancer’s soul.
Calm returned swiftly.
‘A shame, though.’
It would have been nice if something stronger had possessed him.
The Entrail Crawler was a petty fiend I could have trapped easily any time.
As I considered draining its power, I changed my mind.
‘Better to bind it permanently to Jang Hyundeok.’
Once he levels up further, he might gain true mediumship abilities, not just “living altar.”
And I forcibly extracted and consumed any impure remnants he couldn’t handle.
......
The Entrail Crawler writhed pitifully as its power and authority were stripped—but meh, what of it?
“I have swallowed and consumed your name. Now I will draw you out.”
......
“As expected, without name, without power, without authority, you will lose meaning and vanish the moment you emerge.”
......
It begged me, as predicted.
“Then abandon your maker—your parent—your god—and serve the hungry master of this mansion as your new lord—parent—deity. Do you agree? If you do, I will grant you a new name—new power—new purpose.”
Hmm, should I level this one too?
It might not synergize with my other minions.
......
The Entrail Crawler betrayed its abyssal patron and chose to serve me.
“Good. Your soul and body are now bound to this mansion. Not only you but your progeny shall be my property. You will serve me through generations.”
I declared, then bestowed its new name.
“Your name is now ‘Slither.’”
......
“Alright?”
......
“Shut up and come out at once.”
Jang Hyundeok’s lips parted wide.
Kkurururuk—
A giant slug, arm’s-length long, poured out onto the rooftop.
The horrific slug slithered across the floor.
“Hmm. [Entrail Slug], eh...”
This isn’t just any monster or parasite. It’s a scion the abyssal predator birthed from its own tendrils.
The same lineage as the [Blood Leech] I defeated before.
“In short...”
The Predatory Dweller was behind Heo Jihyun, then.
That bastard’s persistence is something else.
“The [Entrail Slug] doesn’t wander alone like the [Blood Leech]. I suspect you were the queen or mother. What do you think? Where are the rest?”
......
“This is bullshit—implanting parasites in homunculi someone else labored to create?”
......
“Ah... really? Was I in the wrong... then?”
The Predatory Dweller seeped into the mansion via its power mixed in water from the Samneung Stream in Paju.
A crude analogy, but like parasite eggs in undercooked water.
“So what exactly were you trying to accomplish?”
......
“I see. So that’s why this happened. Understood. For now, Slither, you remain in the attic. You may not leave that space or interact with the outside.”
Slither slithered through the open rooftop window toward the attic.
[The abyssal entity attempted to seize and destroy your home and possessions, but you thwarted it. You even used the ‘Living Altar’ as a trap to capture all its minions. Truly a remarkable feat.]
“Shut up.”
[But this is far from over. It is only the beginning. The Predatory Dweller will not yield easily, and the Blind Weaver will soon move. What will you do? A chaotic future approaches.]
A modest stream of experience and reward rolled in.
A few wraiths, as a reward, vomited up mana crystals and passed on; spirits that roamed the grounds now obeyed me as thralls.
“Not bad rewards.”
The spirits of the forest around the mansion becoming my thralls is significant. Not only the mansion but the surrounding woods are now my domain. Call it [Domain Level 2].
At Level 3, the entire Jangmyeongsan will be my territory.
“No wonder I feel odd.”
I stood on the rooftop, surveying all around.
The forest of obedient wraiths.
The spirits now bound to me.
Jang Hyundeok, barely recovering.
Homunculi that resemble me.
Heo Sanghyun, barely on his feet.
Heo Jihyun’s spirit sealed in a crystal.
Slither seized from the Predatory Dweller.
And this hungry mansion that is now my home.
All things I have achieved.
I toyed with the [Mask of the Dead] on my face and pondered.
‘Did I really do all this by my own will?’
Each choice alone had a rational reason. Yet seeing them all at once feels strange.
“For now... I’d better sleep.”
Perhaps in my dreams the second Kim Sinhwa summit will convene.
