“Ah, what a mess.”
[Madness – Mage Phobia is triggered]
As expected, the message window popped up and blocked my sight.
Most of the mana crystal bombs I threw exploded in midair, and somehow I’m falling off Doldoli and plummeting, and that bastard Moon Gyeongnam cast fire magic at me.
[Attempting resistance to confusion with Mental Strength stat]
I unfolded the Fiery Mountain and blocked the incoming flames beyond the message window while simultaneously—
“Red!”
Kiiiiiik!
Paaaak!
In an instant, Red inflated his body and caught me as I fell down the stairs.
[Mental Strength check... success]
Fire and explosions aren’t the problem!
Somebody else take this madness for me!
Kim Sinhwa! Are you going to keep fighting like this? You’re going to go insane!
“No, I can hold on! I can hold on! My rationality score is still pretty high!”
[...Success!]
“See? I told you! Before I left I saw my sanity score was in the yellow? Out of 100, red is for moths, so the President of the United States is actually a reptilian alien! I communicated telepathically with them and learned the truth of this world!”
This is bad. He’s lost it.
“What? Why the face? Did I say something strange?”
No, not now!
The state of the altar has changed.
While time was stopped, and while I was making all that fuss to block his attack— Moon Gyeongnam’s ritual has already advanced to the next stage!
“Hey! I’m not dead yet! Red, let’s go!”
Kiiiiiik!
Whirrrr!
I threw several mana crystal bombs back around him. I don’t have many primed crystals left.
“I calculated in advance: someone is watching us from the left over there. When the alarm clock ticks, try to guide me a bit more to the right!”
‘Annoying pest. Just what are you trying to accomplish?’
“Oh, I’m with you on that! There’s no backstory between us and we just met today, so you must be shocked by my sudden confession! If I had come yesterday, there would have been plausible context!”
I hoped Moon Gyeongnam would waste time thinking over my words, but he seems smarter than the other cultists I’ve met so far.
Kiiiiiiing—
Moon Gyeongnam swings his sword and gathers magic. Damn, look at how crude his mana flow is. That’s not how it’s done!
“No! Don’t use magic! Every time you use magic, the electromagnetic waves you generate distort the laws and balance of this world! The more magic you use, the stronger the Abyssal entities become and the greater the danger to this world! Your thoughtless magic will lead to this world’s destruction!”
Get a grip! Kim Sinhwa, you’ve been rambling nonsense this whole time! Snap out of the delusion! I blocked the confusion, but the aftereffects of madness haven’t fully worn off!
“Oh, thanks for the helpful explanation! Red, faster! We need to get as close as possible!”
Kiiiiiiiiik!
[Time Stop]
“Oh, seriously, will you just—!”
[Ice Spear] [Winter’s Wrath]
Kraakak—
A spell completed during time stop suddenly rushes in. There’s no efficient way to handle this! Damn it!
Whirrrrr—
Kraaang!
Kraaang! The explosions and shock. And the inevitable follow-up check.
[Madness – Mage Phobia is triggered]
[Mental Strength check... success]
Good, successive successes—someone else must be taking the hits!
“If all the ice in the Arctic melts, a cosmic virus trapped in the ice will awaken and grow antennae on human heads. Did you bring that Arctic ice knowing that? The virus will spread!”
I spoke rationally and clearly, but my inner voices seem to disagree.
“It’s impossible for many rounds!” “Your sanity is plummeting!” “You’re not in your right mind! Step back and regroup!” “There’s no time for that! Just push forward!”
“Don’t worry, I have a friend named Speisu who’s an assassination master. He’ll come in a UFO to help us, so hang in there a little longer!”
But Red isn’t by my side anymore. I wonder if he’s okay? Wait, I’m falling too! Get a hold of yourself!
The ground is pitch-black void. A dizzying thrill of weightlessness. I’m falling!
“Kim Sinhwa, [Winged Cloak of Night]! Shut your mouth!”
This guy is completely deranged. I know what you want to do, but you’ll kill yourself like that.
“I feel someone watching us. From over there on the left. You know who it is. Surely—the spy sent by the Soviet Union. Tick tock, tick tock. You hear that? To flush out that spy who mastered temporal infiltration magic, there’s no other way.”
You get what I’m saying, right?
Kiiiiiiiing—
I used the orbiting mana crystals around me as stepping stones to leap upward. With a clang and a crude unfolding of the jump technique.
This isn’t the kind of game this is supposed to be, ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) but I’m using psychokinesis to jump double, triple like a platformer game protagonist—and I close in on him.
“You bastard! See that? This is the power of friendship! Even without magic I can win! Friendship is the real magic!”
‘How laughable.’
Moon Gyeongnam swings his sword again and chants a spell.
“That bastard! What is that? He’s casting spells in rapid succession!?”
Time stop magic is ninth-tier.
But Moon Gyeongnam isn’t a ninth-tier mage.
His mana capacity is low and his control is crude. If he had been a ninth-tier mage, he would have killed me long ago with something stronger than Time Stop.
“That’s not magic, it’s an artifact effect!”
Madness didn’t come from time stop, but from another spell he triggered while time was halted!
[Blade of Flesh]
Like [Soul Shackles] that killed Yang Seoho, an artifact imbued with the power of the Great Source.
He’s using the Blade of Flesh’s innate ability to cast that power.
“I can’t die at the hands of a pathetic bastard who uses a great artifact just to skip spellcasting!”
“Is there a way?”
“I win by the power of friendship! Friendship is Magic!”
“Oh, Kim Sinhwa! Please, get a grip!”
Almost there!
I’ve already reached the altar where he stands.
“Persistent and dreadful creature.”
“They all praise me like that!”
We’re close enough to speak normally now!
What offensive options do I have left?
“Eat this anyway!”
I poured maximum mana into the [Sign of Sovereign Blade] and hurled it at him.
Whirrrrr!
The mana-charged [Sign of Sovereign Blade] flew with dreadful force, but Moon Gyeongnam made no attempt to dodge. He simply swung the Blade of Flesh and gathered more mana.
“Kra— tcha— ucta— v— toph— sha— sark.”
In accordance with its covenant, the Blade of Flesh unleashes the power it holds.
[Time Stop]
Here it comes!
I tried to unfold the Fiery Mountain—
But the Fiery Mountain that was in my hand just moments ago was gone.
I saw that the middle, ring, and little fingers of my left hand that held the Fiery Mountain had been severed and vanished. Wait, there’s no time to look at my hand.
[Chain Lightning]
A blinding white lightning engulfs my vision. This is lethal.
“Aaaargh!”
Hundreds of needles seem to pierce my veins and flesh. My muscles contract uncontrollably and it feels as if my blood is instantly burning.
I’m okay! I’m fine! I can hold on! I can release mana to counteract it!
Focusing mana at high speed—without having raised my Mental Strength stat to at least 20, maintaining concentration in a situation like this would have been impossible.
[---------------------------]
[---------------------------]
[---------------------------]
The message window appears before my eyes. It says something about madness, but I don’t know if the check succeeded or failed.
By the way, I smell something grilling.
Mr. Sanghyun, I think the meat is burning.
Ah— the fried food from the other day was really delicious. Please fry some more. Oh, and the lamb chops. I really love those lamb chops. And the strangely named pastas you sometimes make are also delicious. Thank you so much for preparing such a lavish meal. Mr. Sanghyun, it’s really delicious. But I think the meat in the oven is burning. Ah, I’m getting sleepy. Did I overeat?
I’m getting drowsy.
I smell burning meat.
Come to think of it, what is Jang Hyundeok up to? When I meet him later I’ll pull out all his hair. Why haven’t I heard from him? Are Ansan and Buyeo close? I hope he’s not caught up in the cultists’ rampage or Yang Seoho’s mischief.
Isn’t that too much?
Moon Gyeongnam and I have no grudge or backstory. He just pops up out of nowhere as the final boss? What kind of plot is this?
Hmm, a savory smell.
If this were a better game, he would have appeared earlier, shown his face, said something ominous, and laid some groundwork, right? Same with Moon Seunghee. We never see her until she suddenly dies—how is the player supposed to have any attachment? “Oh, she’s dead.” What other thought do you have?
Is it all because I’m a day late?
If I had gotten to Sokcho earlier, maybe I could have enjoyed the exciting events featuring Moon Seunghee and Moon Gyeongnam?
“Ah, the smell of burning meat...?”
The left side of my pants has completely burned away, and I see the flesh under my trousers melting and charring grotesquely.
It was the smell of my leg burning.
There is no pain.
No, I just have no feeling. Losing three fingers on my left hand isn’t even a big deal, apparently. How will I walk from now on?
Come to think of it, where is this? Who am I?
Ah, I’m Kim Sinhwa? That guy’s personality wasn’t great. Oh, I said I’m Kim Sinhwa?
[System: ‘Rapid Recovery’ trait is activated]
“Ugh...”
As automatic healing begins, a delayed, dizzying pain rushes in.
“Waaagh!”
Thanks to the agonizing pain, my mind snaps fully awake from the confusion and madness.
Ugh... it hurts.
I’m wide awake now. I don’t know if I really went mad, but I was definitely out of it for a moment.
I held on by pushing out pure mana, not a protection spell. If I had made the slightest mistake, I would have died.
But where is this place, really?
Endless darkness.
A whistling wind.
“Damn. I’m still falling. How far have I fallen?”
It’s far.
This is despair. I lost the Fiery Mountain in the last impact and I’m falling beneath the altar.
Now I can’t visually confirm Moon Gyeongnam’s status.
I extended my senses and glimpsed his behavior.
He’s leaning his back all the way and laughing.
He’s shouting something about feeling the best mood from above. He looks delighted.
In any case, now he truly believes I’m defeated and falling.
So now Moon Gyeongnam—or rather, the officiant of the [Ancient Voice]—begins the final part of the promised ritual.
Rumble rumble—
None of Achilles, Doldoli, or Red are here anymore. I’ve lost all my weapons too.
“My mana is nearly gone.”
I gripped the Slayer’s Hook and focused my mind. A desperate measure to amplify my scant mana even a little.
[System: ‘Sacrifice of the Banquet’ trait is activated]
[System: ‘Abyssal Entity: The Great Source’ descent begins]
“There may not be enough time.”
Just as Moon Gyeongnam has a plan, I have mine.
Honestly, it would have been better if I could have taken him down earlier...
“I have no choice.”
I stretched out my hand toward the sky.
The sky?
No, it’s high enough to be called sky, but there’s a ceiling up there.
What’s above that ceiling?
Beyond this underground chamber’s ceiling is a vast subterranean ruin. And I drilled countless holes through the ruin to make a shortcut.
And there’s a massive Shoggoth caught in a loop, repeatedly falling and rising, destroying the ruin.
Kiiiiiiiiing—
“Good, I’ve reached it.”
I haven’t wasted those mana crystal bombs on the way here.
I issued commands to the crystal bombs precisely placed at the weak points of the ruin.
“Detonate.”
Rumble rumble—
I don’t know why someone built such a strange structure, but that ceiling is supporting an enormous weight of rock.
That megalithic subterranean ruin is holding up another massive mountain of earth and huge boulders—
In other words, it’s propping up Ulsan Rock.
Ulsan Rock, which set out north to become Geumgangsan but stopped mid-journey and became part of Seoraksan, still slumbers with the wish to head north.
Its circumference alone is said to be 4 km?
How heavy is that rocky mountain?
Rumble rumble rumble—
I may not know its exact weight, but soon I will learn the scale of violence such a mountain can unleash.
