Krrrrrrrrrrrrrumble!!
A horrific vibration.
An earthquake so severe an ordinary human couldn’t even stand.
Rrrrrrrrrrumble—
Even the buildings barely left standing began to collapse. Not good.
“Great Captain of Gold! Get clear! Get out of here!”
[L-grade garment ‘Night Shroud Wing Garment’ unique function ‘Heavenly Steed’s Wings’ activates.
// Heavenly Steed’s Wings: automatically casts ‘[Flight]’.]
Fffft-ft-ft-ft-ft—
I poured mana into the [Night Shroud Wing Garment] and shot into the sky.
The night sky, warped to reveal a sign of hideous curses and coming ruin.
And beneath my feet, the nightscape of the Republic’s largest city—Busan Special Autonomous City.
A city once famed for the country’s most solid administration and public safety was meeting unprecedented madness and an absurd catastrophe.
“So this was it?”
I’d noticed something was in the works, but I didn’t expect this form.
[System : Penalty trait ‘Feast’s Offering’ effect activates.]
[Portion of the power of ‘Abyssal Entity – Life’s Source’ has been opened.]
[Unique trait of ‘Life’s Source’, ‘Blooming Like a Flower’, activates.]
Krrrrrrrrrrrrrumble!!
Colossal hands tore up from the earth.
So beautiful it chilled, so elegant it made the skin crawl—like sculpture—the ivory hands of a goddess, the very hands the sculptors of ancient Greece longed to carve from marble, shot up at terrifying speed.
“Beautiful! Beautiful! Ah! The goddess’s hand!”
A cry from somewhere.
I can admit the hands look stylish—but damn it, they’re way too big.
Krrrrrrrrrrrrrumble!!
Not just one.
From the ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) vast hole Akiyama had prepared, an enormous mass of hands burst up indiscriminately.
A bouquet of giant human hands—no, like the hydra’s heads that should be a hero’s trial—an unending number of hands kept sprouting.
That hole wasn’t enough; gigantic hands also thrust up from the ground all around. A sight that felt like it would drive you mad just to behold.
[What is created by the effect of ‘Blooming Like a Flower’ is the caress of love that embraces all. Truly beautiful, truly lovable, truly noble, truly elegant—the hands of the Primal Mother who shaped all humankind and every living thing of this earth.]
[Every sapient being who witnesses this great love from the beginning is moved by that love, intoxicated by that love, and consumed by that love. An extreme emotion of love blooms in your mind that you cannot block. A Will check is required to resist this abnormal emotion, impulse, and madness.]
Don’t tell me this check is being demanded of everyone who can see this scene?
[Will check... failed!]
[The following insanities are injected into your mind: ‘Madness – Extreme Love’, ‘Madness – Broken Mind’, ‘Madness – Schizophrenia’, ‘Madness – Bizarre Taste’, ‘Madness – Special Faith’, ‘Madness – Severe Delusion’, ‘Madness – Hand Phobia’, ‘Madness – Obsession with World’s End’.]
Pzzzzzzzzzzap!!!
Blue sparks snapped at my temples.
[System : Exclusive trait ‘Abyssal Madness’ activates. The result of the check is flipped to success, and the madness imposed on your mind dissipates.]
Regardless of pass or fail, my trait [Abyssal Madness] fired to guard my mind.
“Aaaaaaaah!! Aaaaaaaah!!”
“Ahhh— aaaaaaaah!!”
But not everyone shares my trait. From every side, with hideous screams—
“Most High! Most High! Most High!”
“Most High! Most High! Most High!”
“Primal Goddess! Primal Queen! Primal Mother!”
Songs of people fallen into madness rose up.
“She who bore all! She who shaped us! Mother of Creation!”
“Mother! Mother! Mother! Mother! Mother!”
Mutants of grotesque shape leapt from the ruins of collapsed buildings.
Scientists of Cure Medical Care, researchers, employees, cultists.
They ran with arms flung wide, singing in rapture and frenzy.
“Luca! Luca! Luca! Luca! Luca! Luca!”
“Luca! Luca! Luca! Luca! Luca! Luca!”
LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor: the common ancestor of all life).
A primordial monster bearing every trait of every organism, mother of Shoggoths, the [Life’s Source].
Krrrrrrrrrrrrrumble—
The abyssal entity [Life’s Source] had revealed itself in this land in the form of that giant—those countless—hands.
Dudududududududu—
Combat helicopters of Busan Special Autonomous City swept in from every direction. Apparently not everyone had gone mad.
There were troubleshooters here, and the Foreigners Administration had prepared to fight monsters like these.
KWAaaaaaANG!
Explosions bloomed here and there.
Screams.
A graceful gesture that crushed people like pulp, a beautiful grip moving like a giant dragon to snatch helicopters out of the air.
Watching the carnage, I said:
“The ritual? The sacrifice? The medium?”
We stopped the ritual, destroyed the sacrifice, eliminated the medium.
Yet ignoring all those conditions, without omen, without any trigger, this atrocity happened.
I ground my teeth and shouted into the air.
“What kind of trash plot twist is this! Are you going to roll it back like last time!?”
[This event’s conditions are different from last time.]
A message window popped up like it had been waiting for my question.
[‘Life’s Source’ destroyed several of its own colonies to gather resources to cause this phenomenon, drew in an extra-dimensional singularity to wield more power than permitted, and as for the medium—he was only buried underground, not dead.]
I didn’t know what “extra-dimensional singularity” precisely meant, but “colonies” should refer to the Jang Hyundeok production plants I saw in Ansan.
“How many?”
So what I witnessed in Ansan—that is, the event where countless mass-produced NPCs returned to nothingness—must have occurred elsewhere too?
The message window answered as if to confirm my thought.
[Correct. For this day, 13 human-type patterns were erased, and 28,561 ability users were reverted as an energy source for ‘Life’s Source’.]
They say, so casually, that they killed twenty-eight thousand for this stunt.
“Did Akiyama become the medium? With his medium trait... no, wait. Don’t tell me—this isn’t a descent?”
Gooseflesh.
Right.
The message earlier did not say [Life’s Source] had descended.
“‘Portion of power has been opened,’ huh? That’s this?”
Krrrrrrrrrumble—
The beautiful, glittering giant hands writhed with excessive elegance—gripping the hole torn in the Cure Medical Care complex and stretching it.
J-jijijijijik—
Space warped, and the hole in the ground zzzzzzk— widened.
“The power gap...”
I’d known from the start, but the [Life’s Source] causing this preposterous event—and its true body, the [Great Source]—is one of the top five among abyssal beings.
A being on a completely different tier from those who have manifested so far—[King in Yellow], [Living Flame], [Master of Murky Waters], [Predator in the Mountain].
Chrararararak—
More hands than before—waruruk— jwarararak— jurururuk— stretched and rose.
Colossal hands climbing until they overtopped most buildings.
This isn’t a descent.
[Life’s Source] has not descended!
It has only projected a portion of its power into this world using Akiyama’s body as a medium.
The very stopgap tactic [Predator in the Mountain] tried multiple times—and that I exploited against it.
But [Life’s Source] achieved it with perfect, meticulous preparation and double- and triple-layered safety nets in place.
“Mr. Kim, seems the matter’s gotten tangled.”
Vrrrrrrrrrum—
An engine’s growl from behind me.
Seocheonseul, in a gleaming rider jacket, was flying through the air on a motorbike with two balls of fire for wheels.
“I thought we were just about done. How did it come to this?”
At his words, I bared my teeth.
“Did the King of Myriad Gold say anything else?”
At my question, Seocheonseul glanced north for a moment and said:
“He orders us to stop the next stage.”
The next stage...
This pageant of titanic hands can’t last long.
It’s only a projected shadow forced in without proper ritual or sacrifice—an echo climbing up from the Abyss.
What it aims for is, of course...
“Graaah! Kim Sinhwa! Kim Sinhwa! Kim Sinhwa!”
A familiar voice from among the endlessly opening holes.
Cheongho’s— no, no! The voice of [The Laughing One] wearing Cheongho’s shape.
“Damn it! That’s it!”
Among the hundreds of giant hands, two stood out for the way they moved.
At their fingertips dangled Cheongho.
Beautiful fingers clutched Cheongho’s arms and legs—Cheongho wearing a mask with no eyes, only a thin slit like a smiling mouth.
“What! Why are you here!?”
No, don’t answer! I can guess what happened.
It should’ve been about time for Dokgo Gyeom to be released. Yet he didn’t appear, and along with a spatial distortion, [The Laughing One] was dragged out.
Likely it used the [Dimensional Gate] Dokgo Gyeom created, in reverse, to yank [The Laughing One] from Paju.
“Kim Sinhwa! You made me! You made me! You have to take responsibility for me! So I don’t die! So I’m not swallowed by this monster!”
Cheongho’s voice split the sky over Busan.
Inside one of the pages I had possessed as a bone golem, I’d hidden the [Soul Seal] of [The Laughing One].
The [Soul Seal] contains the ability to replace the ritual among medium, sacrifice, and rite required for [Life’s Source]’s descent. I can’t let that be taken!
“Great Captain! We can’t let them have that!”
“Ho!”
At Seocheonseul’s shout, drums began to pound from every direction.
Vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrum!
Seocheonseul blasted out, tracing a burning golden arc. I moved to follow and fired my magic.
[Exaltation] [Bull’s Strength] [Aura of Valor] [Haste] [Mighty Blow]
“Bahahahaha!!”
Buff magic poured into Seocheonseul.
[Giant’s Grasp] [Burning Gaze] [Monster Bind] [Chain Lightning] [Freezing Wind] [Wall of Fire] [Blow of Hatred]
Pzzzzzzzzzzap! KWAaaANG! Fwoooooosh!
Each time those terrifyingly beautiful hands projected by [Life’s Source] took our attacks, they exploded—bursting and showering multicolored petals in every direction.
The petals from Ansan. The foul event from Ansan flashed back—but thinking of Seocheonseul, maybe it’s a mercy there’s no blood?
Krrrrrrrrrumble!!
But new hands were forming faster than we could destroy them.
“Damn it. How much mana does it have?”
Because of that “singularity” dragged from Elsewhere?
A giant dragon reared beyond—no, those were two twisted arms. Standing in for a starved dragon’s head were two hands pressed palm to palm.
Krrrrrrrrrrrrruk!
The joined giant palms split open up and down.
“Kim Sinhwa! Kim Sinhwaaaaaaa!! GRAAAAH!!”
Ten fingers moved like a beast’s fangs. Udeudeuk— wajijijijik— the sound of bones breaking and darkness being crushed.
It was the sound of what composed [The Laughing One]—no, Cheongho’s body—snapping apart.
“Graaah! You hammered pain into me! I wasn’t supposed to feel something like pain! You taught me pain! You! What you did to me! You! You!”
Cheongho’s body was being crushed. Cheongho died before my eyes again!
“Stop! You bastard!”
[Chains of Dominion]
Chrarararararak!
Got it!
Golden chains slid between the jaws of the giant “dragon.” I yanked them.
But what my hand pulled back was—what Cheongho had been wearing—no, what [The Laughing One] had been wearing—no, was it Cheongho? Or [The Laughing One]? What was I trying to save?
What landed in my hand was a portion of Cheongho’s face and the mask he wore.
Cheongho died blaming me, right before my eyes, again. But there was no time to wallow.
“Mr. Kim! Move!”
Seocheonseul’s shout.
Krrrrrrrrrrrrrumble!!
Four hands surged up from below.
Gathering and spreading on all sides, they opened like a flower in full bloom and shot toward me.
“You think I’ll let you harm the Great Captain’s dear friend!?”
KWAaaANG!
Seocheonseul swung the vajra staff and smashed the surrounding hands.
Rrrrrrrrrrumble—
Through the falling petals, a goblin of golden mana flew in. Beyond Seocheonseul, blazing so bright it hurt to look—there it was...
“Mr. Kim, are you all right?”
“Cover me!”
“What? Mr. Kim! Mr. Kim!”
Instead of answering him, I pushed forward even faster.
Rrrrrrrrrrumble!
Colossal hands thrashed to block my approach.
“Mr. Kim!! Where are you going!”
“There are still things left to save!”
Losing the [Soul Seal] is unavoidable. But there are still things I have to protect.
