The feel of the mask at my fingertips.
At some point I must have been groping the mask that was covering my face.
‘I haven’t gone insane, have I?’
All this nonsense I’ve been hearing through the smartphone.
Is this really what my ears are hearing?
It isn’t my delusion, right? Park Gwangrim actually said those words, right?
‘No—if I start doubting my own cognition and perception, I won’t be able to do anything.’
Right. The crazy one isn’t me.
“Park Gwangrim! Get a grip!”
The words I had shouted over and over. I had nothing else I could say, so I said them again.
But this time, Park Gwangrim didn’t answer. Even a mad answer would have been better than nothing.
Instead, the sounds that came from beyond the smartphone were—
[crash] — [thud] — [crack]
A chaotic racket pounding my eardrums.
“Hahaha— uhuhuhu— ahahahaha!”
Meaningless peals of laughter. Has he fallen into delirium? The laughter is even receding fast. Damn it, where are you going?
I shouted a few more times, but there was no answer.
It seems he threw the smartphone and started walking somewhere.
‘It’s no good.’
From beyond the smartphone, the faint roar of tekeli— lik—. Someone’s scream. A disgusting sound like something melting. An explosion. Another scream.
“At least the appearance of a shoggoth seems to be real......”
It’s hard to trust everything Park Gwangrim said, but it does seem true that something terrible has happened in Buyeo.
If so, Yang Seoho’s death is also highly likely to be true.
Yang Seoho is clearly a superhuman who could shake off even molten steel.
In another genre, another work, another world, that alone might be enough—but this is [Cthulhu World], built of unfairness and illogic.
Anyway, Yang Seoho is human. As a resident of a world where monsters beyond the human category truly exist, she can of course die.
“If Park Gwangrim’s account is correct, is it because of the unique ability of the [Soul Jade Seal]?”
The [Soul Jade Seal]’s unique ability, [Two Graves].
Pay one grave to create one grave.
The owner of the [Soul Jade Seal] can pay with their own life—to use an unavoidable instant-death move.
“Wow— I— seriously! To think the ‘strategy’ was: make friends with the cultists and then ask them to find Park Gwangrim, and they can! Damn it, I only discover a cheesy exploit like that this way after all those repeated playthroughs!”
It’s certainly a busted artifact ability, but that’s not the real problem.
“Haa....... The problem is that it ended up in Dokko Gyeom’s hands, of all people?”
If what they dug up really is the [Soul Jade Seal]—then the unique event that can be triggered by using that artifact—will happen soon.
[System: The stars are taking their places.]
A message window printed before my eyes.
And at the same time, a strange, ominous sensation.
“Uugh— aaah! Aaah! The time has finally come! The time has come!”
The cry of Kim Seonghwan, a cultist who longed for the descent of the [Great Source].
“Well now, good for you.”
Kim Seonghwan lifts his face to the sky with arms spread, ecstatic.
I watched him for a moment, then slowly followed his gaze and raised my head to the sky.
The tangled black clouds that had been covering the night sky like the entrails of a dead beast are scattering.
They are giving way for the surreal omen unfolding up there.
Rrrrumble—
Rrrrrrrrrrumble—
An ominous sound from the sky. A cosmic harmony formed by the stars that have found their seats.
“Right, the stars are taking their places.”
The stars are moving.
A grotesque spectacle that makes you feel weird just looking at it. The stars slide—shifting their positions.
Seeking the true places where they ought to be.
“Why, why— is something like that happening? What is that? Ruin? Why did it come to this? Astonishing, beautiful.”
Looks like my Sanity score is plummeting fast.
The tenants in my head that had sunk to the bottom of my mind have all rushed up to the surface at once and started babbling.
[An Abyssal Being, the ‘Source of Contamination,’ has descended.]
[‘Ruin Trigger: Soul Contamination’ has been activated.]
[The defense conditions for the ‘Ruin Trigger: Soul Contamination’ you have learned so far are as follows.
Defense Condition 1: Unknown
Defense Condition 2: Unknown
Defense Condition 3: Unknown
!Time Limit: In 2 hours, this world will be ruined!
Gather clues, decode the defense conditions, and block the coming ruin!]
Damn it, I made the wrong choice.
---
“What is happening?”
Nonsensical words spilling from my mouth.
Probably the words of one of the personas generated in my head. Once I let it out, it keeps talking.
I considered ignoring it, but if my mind scatters at a moment like this, I can’t do anything.
“One of the avatars of the [Great Source], the [Source of Contamination], has descended. Given the flow, it must have descended in Buyeo.”
I don’t even know how they did it, but they even triggered a Ruin Trigger that only fires right before the ending.
In two hours, this world is finished.
I can feel the other personas in my head bubbling and making a fuss. What? What are you saying? Why? All of a sudden? How could that happen!?
The [Soul Jade Seal] is an ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ artifact imbued with the soul of the Abyssal Being known as the [Great Source].
If you have it, it can substitute for one of the sacrifices, mediums, or rites required for its descent—the rite.
And Yang Seoho created the sacrifices by mercilessly slaughtering the cultists who stood in her way—
“There must have been someone among the cultists gathered to fight Yang Seoho who had the Medium trait.”
So this world is going to be ruined now? Is it over? We’re doomed? Like this? What an absurd development. Unfair! There’s no plausibility! What kind of game pulls this garbage? Why did I even come to Sokcho!? Should I have gone to Buyeo?
“Ah, shut up! You’re making my head spin—everyone back down!”
This is how the game is.
While playing [Cthulhu World], I experienced incidents like this several times.
Unjust developments and irreversible choices. Merciless difficulty and unreasonable traps. False promises, tricks, deceit.
And catastrophic events that happen in places unrelated to the player’s actions.
“Right, the fool is the one who gets duped.”
I got duped.
By that son of a dog beyond the message window.
“Rest,” was it? Damn it.
Because something told me to rest—I meekly rested. Kim Sinhwa, you idiot.
Who are you trusting right now? Trusting an Abyssal Being, a monster that ruins this world, mocks me, toys with me, torments me for fun—and I wasted a precious whole week like a fool.
So what are you going to do now? What do you mean it’s not over yet? Isn’t it over once it descends? Forget it! Let’s just pet Red and die!
“Only one avatar has descended so far. Since the Ruin Trigger fired, it looks like it fully descended—but just like before, I only have to send it back.”
How, from here? Do we have to move to Buyeo right now? Hey! Kim Sinhwa, it takes four hours to Buyeo! It’s over! Can’t be solved! And look over there!
There?
Rrrrrrrrrrumble!!
An earthquake.
“Tekeli-li!”
This time it isn’t coming from beyond the smartphone.
The shoggoth is closing in on us again.
“Ah, I don’t know this guy’s behavior pattern.”
Is it coming to attack me so I can’t interfere elsewhere?
Or is it just roaming this area on a set interval?
In my current state, I can’t beat it. Now it really is over. Let’s just die comfortably. Even if I could beat it, two hours would pass in the meantime. It’s a dead end! Two hours left! Struggling more is meaningless.
“Tekeli-li!”
[krrrk] — [crack] — [r r r r r]
A wave of gigantic flesh surging as if to cover the sky. Even at full readiness, this would be a tight matchup.
And right now I can’t even use ma-gic.
Fighting that thing now really would be a waste of time.
“No, wait.”
Come to think of it, how did they summon something that big?
“Because of the [Offering of the Banquet] trait?”
What are you even talking about? Is that important right now?
To say it was just consumed as a trap is too simple; the incidents happening at this site aren’t things you can just hand-wave.
To call it just a trap is too simple; the incidents happening at this site aren’t things you can just hand-wave.
[!Time Limit: In 2 hours, this world will be ruined!]
“Right, two hours left, is it?”
[crack]
I muttered as I twisted the joints of my neck and wrists.
What are you doing?
“Struggling.”
What?
“I’m not answering anymore. Everyone shut up.”
It isn’t only that stupidly huge shoggoth whose behavior pattern I don’t know.
Why did Mun Gyeongnam even appear?
And where did Mun Seunghui go?
Why did the [Guardian of Bongamdang] end up like that, and what’s the relationship between that grandmother and the [Evergreen Mountaineering Club]—why are the [Evergreen Mountaineering Club] folks all out of their minds like that?
I’ve come this far; I can’t die without knowing anything.
There are this many clues scattered around!
If I’m going to die, I’ll at least see what’s happening first.
“Doldol!”
Grrrrrrrk—
“Take out everything in the fourth and fifth compartments.”
Rrrrrrrrk—
What Doldol poured out were the mana stones we’d collected, the mana-stone bombs we’d made from them, and weaponized odds and ends.
I checked them, then immediately climbed onto Doldol.
“And Red! Achilles!”
“Kiiiiii!”
[skreee—]
“This time it really might be dangerous. Will you come with me?”
They’re summons. The concept of refusing an order doesn’t exist for them.
Which is why even asking a question like this felt like a deceitful act....... In truth, it was also a question I was asking myself.
[skreee!]
Leaping up onto Doldol, Achilles took his place beside me in a gallant pose.
“Kiiiiii!”
“Yikes, you don’t have to hug me!”
Red suddenly grew huge and tried to hug me, and I nearly tumbled off Doldol in an undignified heap.
“Okay okay—make way, make way!”
Still, thanks to that, my tension eased.
“Good. Let’s see what we can do.”
I drew up the mana through my whole body.
Viiiiiiing!!
I can’t use ma-gic.
No helpers, no proper solution.
Honestly, even now I don’t know what exactly is happening, or exactly what I have to stop to prevent ruin.
“This is the most suffocating development I’ve ever had.”
crackle, crackle— kzzzzzt!
Sparks jumping from the backlash.
“I still feel like there’s something down below.”
Viiiiiing—
By forcibly converting mana into physical force, I lifted every mana stone and mana-stone bomb spread across the ground.
Whirr— whirr—
Mana stones and mana-stone bombs orbiting around me as if this were a miniature solar system.
I sent a few of them flying toward the shoggoth.
“You idiot! Come at me once!”
Kwooooom! Bang! Kwoooooom!
Tremendous explosions erupt around the shoggoth.
They aren’t just flashy fireworks. Mana-amplified blasts stack double and triple chain damage, yet the shoggoth only hunkers down for a moment and seems hardly hurt.
“Was it [Half Fire and Lightning Damage], [Half All Magic Damage], [Ignore All Physical Damage]?”
Since the flames are made with magic, only a quarter is getting through.
How the hell did they expect us to kill this thing?
“Tekeli-li!”
At least I succeeded in drawing its attention.
“Good, it’s coming.”
“What are you doing! What are you doing!”
Kim Seonghwan, frantic, tries to rush me.
“Ah, right. I need you too, so come here.”
“What?”
Bzzzzzt!
I bound Kim Seonghwan to Doldol’s lid with telekinesis and shouted to Doldol.
“Doldol! We’re going underground now! Achilles! Red! And everyone else! Keep up!”
Rrrrrrrrk!
Screeeeeee!
“Kiiiiiii!”
But the direction I pointed wasn’t the cave entrance.
The gaping cave mouth ahead has the same structure as the ruins in Buyeo.
A bewildering maze.
“We don’t have time to punch through that!”
I hurled a mana-stone bomb toward the spot I remembered. It looked like a completely random place unrelated to the cave entrance.
Kwooooooom!
A large hole blown in the floor.
And a passage visible beneath that hole.
Good, just like I remembered.
“Let’s go! Right there!”
Give up? Despair? Not a chance?
You think I’ll give up? I’ll show you how stubborn and dreadful I can be!
