The construction site is still blanketed in thick, choking dust.
The noises and explosions keep coming. Somewhere, Kim Sinhwa’s rambling. Bestial shrieks. People screaming.
In the middle of that hell, Mun Gyeongnam prayed.
"[Great Source]! O ancient, wise Voice that holds the truth. Grant me the power to strike down the foe that charges like an enemy, the wisdom to defeat the foe that whispers like a wicked demon, and open to me the way to shake off the foe that tails me like a starving jackal."
His desperate wish reached the [Great Source] lurking far below, in old, worn darkness.
The [Great Source] thought in a way no human could comprehend, then expressed itself in a way no human could understand.
"Ah— ah— O [Great Source]!"
The madness rooted in Mun Gyeongnam’s head accepted the [Great Source]’s voice, rendered in an absurd form.
It would never appear this way to anyone else’s eyes or ears, but by the standard of Mun Gyeongnam’s sight, hearing, and comprehension— the [Great Source] spoke through Lee Seonbin’s mouth.
"[I tell you: by your folly, the blade that bears authority to rouse my flesh has fallen into the enemy’s hand.]"
Mun Gyeongnam bowed his head in awe.
"What should I do? Speak, and I will obey."
To others, Lee Seonbin merely smiled in silence with both arms bound in a white restraint suit, but in Mun Gyeongnam’s eyes she seemed to wear a glorious dress of light and to speak with a voice laden with boundless power.
"[Again I tell you: the enemy has arrived far too swiftly. Time is needed for the plan prepared in the abyss of the bottomless pit to be realized. Therefore I tell you again: uphold my will, destroy my enemy, and reclaim the blade he holds. Then the grace of the abyss shall spread over the world like the onset of night.]"
"My strength is lacking, and the foe is excessively strong. Please, bestow upon me new power."
Lee Seonbin fell briefly silent.
Behind Lee Seonbin, the [Great Source] declared to the [Administrator] that it would use power.
The [Administrator] listed the required resources, and the [Great Source] complied. The [Great Source] paid the cost.
A proper and honest adjudication proceeded, and the adjudication succeeded.
The [Administrator] displayed to Kim Sinhwa’s vision that the [Feast’s Offering] trait had activated and indicated he could act as he wished.
Now the [Great Source] declared again through Lee Seonbin’s mouth.
"[Again I tell you: I grant you authority, in my name, to command the ages for the next 180 minutes. This is a blessing bestowed in the name of the Great Source; none shall harm you.]"
Tears fell from Mun Gyeongnam’s eyes at the [Great Source]’s favor.
Now Mun Gyeongnam wandered through dust so thick he could hardly see an inch ahead, moving up to his men to give orders.
"Kill Kim Sinhwa. That mage. Shoot that mage dead."
His subordinates balked.
"Director! It’s over!" "You have to get out of here!" "I think a monster came out!" "We can’t possibly get over there!"
Hearing the flood of their words, Mun Gyeongnam stretched out both hands and raised the authority the [Great Source] had granted him.
"Go! Kill Kim Sinhwa!"
He repeated the exact same words, but his subordinates’ reaction changed.
"Let’s kill Kim Sinhwa!"
"Shoot that mage dead!"
They charged with blind fervor.
Most of them simply sprinted toward where Kim Sinhwa was, but a few retained enough wits to head for the armored trucks.
Whirrrrr— the autocannons spun up.
Lifting his head, Mun Gyeongnam picked out Kim Sinhwa’s position, flying beyond the unnaturally dense dust.
"Krryiee-ririririk!"
A chilling, nauseating cry that could shatter the human mind even without a special phobia.
Kim Sinhwa was still being chased by a hellhound from another world.
"Ah, I’m gonna lose it! Schisandra! No— not schisandra, you idiot! Don’t come!"
Babbling nonsense, Kim Sinhwa snapped into a flurry of spells.
[Wave of Lightning]
[Winter’s Tears]
[Suffocating Wind]
Rrrrrrumble!
Kzzzzzak! Kzzzak! Kzzzak!
Lightning, hail, and storm slammed toward a grotesque shadow glimpsed between curtains of dust.
But the Hound of Tindalos, born outside spacetime, dove at tremendous speed and vanished as if sucked into the corner of the site’s perimeter wall.
KWA-BOOOM!
Kim Sinhwa’s magic smashed only the innocent wall.
"Ah, it disappeared again!"
Stamping his feet midair, he raged.
His face was hidden behind a monstrous mask with four eyes, so no one could tell where he was looking... but to anyone, he looked off-guard.
Now.
Beeeeeeep—
The armored trucks’ autocannons swung in unison to aim at Kim Sinhwa.
Silently, Mun Gyeongnam moved mana to order his men—
"What are you doing?"
Kim Sinhwa’s four eyes blazed with a chilling light.
"Damn it, fire!"
"Kill Kim Sinhwa!"
"Kill him!"
Men with weapons sprang toward Kim Sinhwa. And the autoc—
[Time Stop]
—annons.
No— there was no firing.
KRAAAAAAANG!
An explosion.
Mun Gyeongnam was flung away without even knowing what hit him.
'Damn it, damn it! Damn it all!'
Clamping his own mouth shut, he ducked into the shattered containers.
'Did I make it?'
He hurriedly patted himself down. Reflexively surging his mana had spared his life, but the damage was heavy.
His link to his men was gone.
They were nowhere to be seen. He couldn’t sense them!
These were the subordinates he had prepared for the Yeonam Group’s succession fight.
Men he had readied over a long time at the cost of hobbling the security team’s capability had vanished inside this horrific dust.
Not just the men. The remaining armored trucks had all disappeared?
No— the sky!
Whooooooosh—
All the armored trucks were caught in a grotesque vortex and spiraled away to the far end of the sky. With the trucks, Mun Gyeongnam’s men flapped through the air, limbs akimbo.
Mun Gyeongnam screamed at the sight.
"Gods! Gods! Please— grant me more power!"
The [Great Source] did not answer, but he managed, barely, to pull himself together.
"I haven’t even used the granted power properly yet!"
Curling his left hand into a trumpet, he formed a mana-laced whistle.
Fweeeeee—
As if in answer, beyond the dust shrouding the site, a blurry mass of enormous size began to move.
Grrr-rrrr— grrr-rrrr—
"In the name of the [Great Source], I command you. Move. Kill that arrogant mage."
"Tekeli-li!!"
A thunderous, grotesque cry burst forth.
The shoggoth elongated like an amoeba and surged for Kim Sinhwa.
Shhrrr-rip, grrr-rrrr!!
"Tekeli—
[Time Stop]
—li!!"
[Barrier of Force] [Chains of Dominion] [Binding Curse]
[Razor Mist] [Exploding Mist] [Giant’s Touch]
[Sphere of Frost] [Breath of the Bitter Cold] [Glacier’s Gift]
[Spell Boost: Maximize] [Spell Boost: Power Increase]
[Spell Boost: Range Increase] [Spell Boost: Multiple Cast]
An overwhelming barrage of spells poured down before the shoggoth could complete any motion.
Binding and suppression spells fired to lock down its movement.
Brutal, straightforward attack spells detonated to sap its strength.
Then came the flood of frost-line magic.
"Aaaaahhhh!"
Mun Gyeongnam raised the magical power the [Great Source] had bestowed and tried to break the arrays Kim Sinhwa had woven, but—
'I— I can’t stop it.'
He realized he had attempted something absurd.
Kim Sinhwa’s magic was as hard as steel, flowed high and cold, and moved with the unstoppable current of a great river.
Krrrrk— grrrrrk—
As the shoggoth’s bulk froze over, rending sounds rang out.
Beyond the dust, the shoggoth turned bone-white, frozen solid.
"Im— impossible..."
No matter how much mana one had, no matter how strong— freezing a shoggoth that massive outright was impossible!
"Impossible!"
Crack, crack-ack—
Snap—
Hideous fissures began to spread through the frozen shoggoth’s body.
Kim Sinhwa, his four eyes burning with eerie light, began preparing the next spell.
In that state, not even a shoggoth could survive. Kim Sinhwa had to be stopped!
"Krryrii-riririk!"
The Hound of Tindalos burst out of nowhere.
KWA-THOOM!
Kim Sinhwa’s magic flew wild in the wrong direction.
"Stop following me already!"
[Black Flame]
[Raging Storm]
Fwooooooosh!!
Storm and black flame steeped in necrotic miasma crashed toward the Hound of Tindalos.
The hound twisted the grotesque auxiliary limbs one might call arms, legs, or a tail in truly outlandish ways and evaded.
"Kyrrrrrr-ririk!"
Whooooosh!
In the midst of it, the storm Kim Sinhwa raised swept some of the dust aside.
"Aaaargh!"
"What is that?! What’s happening!!"
"A monster!"
"Where? Where! What on earth is going on!"
"Kyaaaa!"
Sporadic screams and the voices of people lost in confusion rang out.
At the same time, Mun Gyeongnam realized it was a new opening.
'Those slipping into delirium— brainwash them— and make them attack Kim Sinhwa.'
Because of the dust billowing up everywhere and the chaos, simultaneous outbreaks of madness and delirium weren’t flaring all at once.
But that too was only a matter of time. Soon people would realize what kind of monster Kim Sinhwa had summoned.
While Mun Gyeongnam prepared magic to stoke people’s madness, Kim Sinhwa’s magic triggered first.
[Mist of R'lyeh]
[Shroud of Darkness]
Kwooooooaaah—
A dense fog spread over the dust, and a pitch-black shadow formed overhead.
The entire site sank into blackness.
The shrieks from beyond the dark might have stirred another kind of terror, but Kim Sinhwa cast spells like [Sonic Distortion] to block even that.
Even the Hound of Tindalos had already slipped its body into the far side of spacetime.
It would return soon, but for now it wasn’t visible.
Now, the only things here that could be called "monsters" were the shoggoth turned into a giant pillar of ice— and Kim Sinhwa.
[Sonic Shock]
"Chief Gwak Daeyong! You gonna earn your meal or what?!"
Rrrrrrumble!
Amplified only to a non-threatening level, Kim Sinhwa’s voice rolled across the entire site.
"Evacuate the people now!"
"Uaaah! Got it! Everyone! This way! Abandon the site and get outside! There are monsters beyond the fog! Let the fixers handle it and run!"
"I already punched a hole through the wall— get out that way! Curtain Call! How long are you gonna fight that idiot?"
"Kim Sinhwa, who are you to bark orders!"
Curtain Call’s shout came from far off.
Mun Gyeongnam had hoped for infighting, but that wish collapsed in a different way.
Whirr-rip!
Something flew from Curtain Call’s direction.
Thud!
Barely mustering telekinesis to block it, Mun Gyeongnam realized the thing hurled at him was Rhino’s head.
"So, Kim Sinhwa! Satisfied now?"
"Good. Let’s bail! Bau! Secure Chief Mun Seunghee!"
"Secured!"
The fixers moved in crisp coordination.
Mun Gyeongnam, who had meant to stop them, suddenly had a thought and paused.
'Wait, why throw this head at me? That means they knew where I was...?'
Certainty followed.
Yes— now he knew for sure.
"You’re looking down on me? On me?! On me— the one who will inherit Yeonam Group, who will be the governor and rule this country?!"
Grit— grind—
Without realizing the changes rising under his skin, Mun Gyeongnam drew up his mana.
Even if he couldn’t kill Kim Sinhwa— he’d kill as many as he could.
He would offer them as sacrifices on the [Great Source]’s altar!
By now Mun Gyeongnam could hardly be called a cultist at all. Abandoning himself to feral frenzy, he built a spell steeped in vicious miasma—
[Time Stop]
—huh?
The next instant, Mun Gyeongnam realized he was plummeting from a tremendous height.
Vwooooooom—
A terrible wind. Higher than the fog Kim Sinhwa had raised. An endless fall. From far away came rolling, crackling thunder.
"Aaaaaaah!! Aaaaaaah!! Aaaaaaah!!"
Spells flew uselessly in every direction.
He tried again to build magic that would somehow save him, but mana shot from somewhere— from Kim Sinhwa— and disrupted the completion.
He couldn’t form a spell.
He would die. He would die like this—
[Time Stop]
—or not?
The next moment, Mun Gyeongnam realized he was seated in the center of the site, chained up.
Kim Sinhwa approached, the four eyes on his face shining with witchlight.
"No, Director # Nоvеlight # Mun Gyeongnam. I never looked down on you."
"You cur! You—!"
Mun Gyeongnam tried to cast.
But even that failed under Kim Sinhwa’s interference.
"When a cultist tempted by the abyss has to be snapped awake, the only thing that works is a mental shock. So— how do you feel right now?"
"Silence! How dare you—!"
"Not enough, huh. Pity."
"Ghk?! Urrrgh—"
A pain like his entrails were tearing.
Under his belly skin, it felt like hundreds of snakes writhed at once. No— his skin heaved and his muscles twitched of their own accord.
"What did you do to me! You monstrous freak!"
"I didn’t do anything. But did you know? If you keep taking in the [Great Source]’s favor, you turn into a monster."
Chrrr—
"A— a mon—? Tekel— li—?"
Kim Sinhwa shook his head.
"Too late. But know this much. I was going to save you too, if possible."
He raised a hand and pointed to the sky.
The sky?
Sssss—
The shadow Kim Sinhwa had laid down peeled away, and from the sky an immense—
An immense—
What was that immense thing?
Is that what "the sky is falling" really meant?
"I’m going. Sorry."
Going— where—
[Time Stop]
—to?
Kim Sinhwa vanished.
Yeonam Construction’s site, carved out of a mountain.
Ulsanbawi, perched above it, looked ready to topple at any moment.
But there was no need to feel that unease anymore.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr—
Ulsanbawi was collapsing.
Was that the roar we heard from the sky a moment ago?
Staring at the colossal rock mass blanketing the sky, Mun Gyeongnam spoke in despair.
"Tekeli-li!!"
