Biamri, Gwangjeok-myeon, Yangju City, Gyeonggi Province.
Administratively just outside Paju, but only a five-minute walk from Paju’s border.
“Biamri... Biamri...”
For some reason it feels unsettling.
“Hyundeok.”
“Yeah?”
Jang Hyundeok, hands on the wheel, naturally turns his head and replies.
“Ugh, aren’t you watching the road ahead?”
“Huh? There’s no traffic here, so why would I?”
...Is that how everyone who’s used to driving is?
The road is so dark and winding it’s enough to make you uneasy.
This is supposed to be the highway from Paju to Yangju, but all around us are just mountains and trees.
And right now the headlights aren’t even on. We’re plunging forward in total darkness, trusting only Hyundeok’s sharp senses and driving skill.
Once I confirm Hyundeok has his eyes back on the road, I ask again.
“That neighborhood’s called Biamri?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
I’d seen the name in the game, but never paid attention to what it meant. But Bi-? Bia-? Bii-?
Could it be...?
“Hyundeok, just wondering, what does Biam mean?”
“Huh? Biam?”
Hyundeok briefly takes one hand off the wheel and scratches his cheek.
“Well, now that you mention it, some guy told me an old legend once. What was it?”
“See? There’s something. What was it?”
I steel myself and wait for Hyundeok to recall the legend of Biamri.
If he says something about a “flying rock” (飛巖), then today’s plans are over. I’ll scrap the whole operation and go home.
“Oh, yeah. Up in the mountains there’s this rock that they compare something to.”
“A rock they compare to something?”
“Supposedly if whatever you compare lines up perfectly, your wish comes true. So it’s called Biamri (比巖里), I guess.”
“Oh, the bi (比) that means “compare,” right?”
“Well, I’ve only heard it from guys coming and going, so I’m not totally sure.”
So it’s the same sort of rock-comparison legend as the Cliff Rock. Do similar objects get similar legends attached?
“Anything else?”
“Anything else? What are you curious about?”
“Like birds... or maybe a legend about a fairy or something?”
“Hmm—there’s a place called Cheontaedong around here, someone said it was a good spot? Other than that, I don’t really know.”
I remember Cheontaedong from Cthulhu World.
A place to hide from disasters. In the Jeonggamnok it’s listed as one of the Ten Blessed Lands.
That’s why in the game Paju was set as one of the refuge spots for cultists in trouble.
“So there aren’t any legends to trigger my phobias...?”
Then no problem. I feel a bit better.
“Alright. That’s enough. As expected of a veteran Paju taxi driver, you know the local geography well.”
“Ahahaha, it’s not like I never went to school—actually I’m pretty smart.”
Good, good.
“We’re almost there.”
I’m chasing cultists who fled Paju with Hyundeok, heading for Yangju.
They couldn’t hold out in Paju any longer and moved east, but unwilling to fully leave Paju, they set up in the ambiguous area between Paju and Yangju.
That place is Cheontaedong.
“It used to be a pretty decent golf course.”
In my world it’d still be in operation.
But this is Paju in Cthulhu World.
Monsters pouring out, criminals flooding in, foreign strangers of unknown origin and otherworldly beings mixed among the people.
Neither Paju nor Yangju has been a destination for tourism or leisure in a long time.
A golf course can’t survive here. This area is only visited for events tracking cultists.
And now I can smell the red-hot magic in the air, the mingled stench of blood and decaying flesh.
“Oh? Was it always like this here?”
Hyundeok mutters as he senses something.
He wouldn’t have noticed before, but now Hyundeok can detect magic and sense danger in advance.
I tell him what’s waiting for us, seeing his shoulders tense.
“The cultists are ready to greet us.”
A lot has happened in a short time.
Battle of wits and glances, phone calls and silent pressure, gift exchanges, betrayals and alliances, demonstrations of force, real force, losing bases, political scheming, socializing, “Director Chae Taewon, send over ten people there,” “Madam, could you blow up that building?” and so on.
If I listed every incident, it’d take all night. In the end, the ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) Squad of the Red Cross fully abandoned the Blood Demon Sect.
“How many are gathered there? I couldn’t tell from here—is this the final group?”
“Hmm...might be a few more?”
“‘Might’?”
“What? I don’t know everything either. But when Jeokdu abandoned the Blood Demon Sect, he dropped everyone he was close to in that sect.”
So who’s waiting for me at Cheontaedong?
First, the Blood Demon Sect, still evading me.
Then the Gourmet Expedition, the Sangbulsa, which lost much of its strength after fighting me once.
And though they’re hard to call a sect, the beast-level alien races following the Quiet Waiters and the Fear-Drinkers.
Plus a few small sects that lost their Paju support overnight.
“Well, it’s fine. Nothing serious will happen. I’ll let you know where you should take your position.”
“You say that and I feel even more uneasy than usual.”
“Why?”
“Today you’ve said ‘it’s fine, it’ll be okay’ way too many times...”
“Oh, really?”
I picture their possible forces and strategies in my head, but nothing truly dangerous appears.
“The main villains are already dealt with...”
Some mid-bosses from each sect remain, but well...
“They’ll probably band together for some improvised combo play.”
Still, it shouldn’t be too hard to handle.
“Kind of anticlimactic, huh.”
I did put in a lot of effort for this situation and I’ve been hoping for it, but—
“It feels more like annoying cleanup than a grand finale.”
Did I expect a blockbuster movie-level spectacle with massive firepower? I guess I’m not cut out to be a strategist.
But this isn’t a flashy blockbuster or a high-difficulty game challenge.
This scenario gives me the highest survival odds.
“And don’t let your guard down. This time they know how I move and what cards I have.”
There’s nothing more the cultists can do...
[System: ‘Feast Offering’ trait activates.]
[‘Abyssal Entity’ grants its followers a blessing.]
Right, there’s the variable.
My preparations haven’t changed, but what about you, Blood Demon King? What have you prepared?
Pitch-black darkness.
Once a golf course, this area is now a grotesque swamp filled with muddy trenches, mutated plants, and occult symbols.
A perfect ground prepared for cultists.
The gathered cultists silently but meticulously conduct their blasphemous, horrific ritual, awaiting their god’s response.
And in the distance—
Ah, I see it.
The unlit vehicle approaches quietly but rapidly.
Yes.
The Feast Offering, Kim Sinhwa, is approaching.
Sinhwa has deployed various stealth spells for a covert approach, though he probably doesn’t expect much. What do you think about that?
[Predator: Feels hunger.]
[Ketsu: Geck!]
Confirmed.
The followers of [Ketsu] are still outside Sinhwa’s detection range. You have initiative and may act first.
However, if you begin hostile action by regulation, your movements will be revealed to Sinhwa.
[Ketsu: Gatsu!]
Good.
Thanks to terrain effects and the cultists’ fervent ritual, the blessings operate at triple effectiveness without a check.
[‘Ketsu’s blessing is granted to the cultists.]
One Blood Demon Sect cultist, lost in ecstatic trance during the ritual, senses [Ketsu]’s blessing and erupts in a fervent shout.
“I hear it! The voice of the great [Blood Demon King]!”
Shouts follow.
“It’s coming! It’s coming!”
“He comes!”
Cries filled with hatred, rage, and fear.
At this moment, the name they’re calling is not their god or cult leader.
“Kim Sinhwa’s coming!”
“Kim Sinhwa! Kim Sinhwa’s coming!”
“Destroyer! Destroyer!”
“Destroyer! Destroyer!”
“Abyssal Hunter’s coming!”
Desperate shouts, near-agonized screams. That monster! That monster!
The only name they cry is one person’s name.
[Predator: Feels hunger.]
That’s impossible.
[The Elephant] cannot grant blessings right now.
[Predator: Feels hunger.]
Really?
Using that ability would consume all resources [Predator] has built up.
[Predator: Feels hunger.]
Understood.
No check is required for this action.
[‘Predator’ uses special ability ‘Authority of the True Body’ to pass action turns to the ‘Incarnations.’]
Now the three who lost their turns may each declare an action.
What will you do?
[Elephant: Meditates.]
[Thirst: Chirrrrrr.]
[Waiting: Laughs.]
Large and small sects,
Groups hard to call sects but united by consistent faith,
And races bound by lineage.
Once mocked as just fleeing remnants, their number now reaches two hundred.
They stand together here—
Cultists in varied garb with varied faces chanting in countless tongues in this horrific place.
But even amid this, some remain perfectly silent.
“...”
“...”
“...”
Over there.
The Sangbulsa monks meditating in a pit of stagnant water at the edge of the Cheontaedong swamp.
[‘Elephant’s blessing grants immense power to a specific cultist.]
At that moment.
One meditating monk screams and rises with a roar.
“Grrrrrkk!!”
The other monks also rise, overtaken by transcendent ecstasy and unreal shivers, emitting feral cries.
“Grrrrrrrrk!”
“Grrrrrrrrrrk!”
In the midst of this new uproar, an event that can only be called a miracle occurs.
In the weakest, most pitiful body among them the transformation begins.
Skin splits open, muscles swell. Eyes roll wildly, a massive tongue lolls out, unable to stay confined.
“Uaaaaaaah!”
“Whaaaaaaa!!”
Cultists, seized by religious zeal, burst into ecstatic exclamations.
“Grrrrk! The Kyuseongmwa! Kyuseongmwa is born!”
“Kyuseongmwa! It’s Kyuseongmwa!”
A golden body rapidly grows to enormous size.
“Gaaahhh!!”
As the reborn Kyuseongmwa roars, a shockwave so powerful it shakes the entire swamp erupts.
Rumble—
Truly a divine blessing.
The weakest among the clan reborn with a transcendent body rivaling a judge-level cultist.
And one more miracle unfolds.
Chirrrrr—
Out of the darkness an immense body begins to move. A snake? A dragon? No—an earthworm of colossal scale, rivaling a mountain in size, one of the exceptional [Geoseon] emerges.
“Yes, yes. Yes. Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! I’ve waited for this moment!”
The Blood Demon Sect’s leader, Blood Empress, cries out.
Blood-red light flares from her eyes as she gazes toward Sinhwa’s approach.
“It’s time. Let vengeance begin.”
A massive horde of cultists rallies behind her.
And from all around, grotesque alien races, monsters, amphibians, insects surge forward.
“We hunt! We hunt! We hunt!”
“Kitchchchch! We kill! We kill! We kill!”
Are preparations complete?
Now we enter the battle phase.
