Have you ever thought, My brain itches?
Have you ever wondered if some alien beast crawled into your head?
Have you ever imagined something horrible and thin, coiling around your brain—squirming, tickling, writhing however it wants?
Have you ever suspected a monstrous thing under your skull is hijacking your choices, your memories, your reason?
I do know this is a strange line of thought.
Maybe it’s a mistake. Maybe it’s a pointless mirage born of madness, or an enemy’s trap.
But if it’s true, what will you do?
Bzzzzzzzt!!!
A flash that blinds. Glittering stars. Darkness that eats the view. Muscles clenching of their own accord. Eyes blown wide. Pupils dilating. Jaw unhinging. Tongue curling back into the throat.
Bzzzzzzzt!!!
Fingers twisting in a grotesque way. The fingers exist only on the right hand.
The left hand has something else in place of fingers.
That hand was probably prepared for today.
Something like a hawk’s talon streaks up like a flash.
Bzzzzzzzzzt!!!
A thin drum splitting without resistance. Scarlet smoke veiling my sight. A seashell punctured like paper. A tiny glass cup sloshing with viscous slime. Rubies cascading in a clatter. Ink soaking my hem a glaring red.
Where are you hiding?
Shake hands with my left hand.
A child splashing in water. A cute minnow found between rocks. Slickness tingling at my fingertips. A shy little friend trying to slip deeper.
A bolt boring into my head like some revelation.
Bzzzzzzzzzt!!!
Get out.
Get out of my head, you bastard!
Chzzzzk!
[You overcame your phobia and removed the object of terror that had burrowed into your mind.
As a reward, the conquered phobia naturally heals and you gain bonus experience.]
[System: “Madness: Ophidiophobia” has been removed.]
You know the gamers who shove characters into lethal situations to grind levels, shave off HP to get a specific buff, and then go, “Welp, wiped fast—total party kill”?
Line every one of those punks up in front of me.
I’ll pay back the grievances of every sacrificed game character.
[System: The “Rapid Healing” trait activates.]
“Uuugh, my head!”
“I—I almost died....” “Wow, Kim Sinhwa— you are actually insane.”
“Sinhwa... You did something outrageous.”
Voices bursting out at random. All of them are my voice, but each with a different cadence.
“This is its own kind of mental illness. Don’t know whether to be glad or sad.”
“Ha! Be grateful!” “W-We were h-holding it back.”
“Ah— so you were stealing my mana and brainpower, huh?”
“Sinhwa, those snakes nearly ate your brain.”
Those snakes.
I glanced at the grotesque thing in my right hand.
A deluge of mana stones spilling out of my head—and still faintly writhing, long and thin—wet and disgusting—
“From the [Canopic Jars], then.”
“What is it?”
A thing shaped like a snake, warped and uncanny.
“The entrails of the [Scaly Stratagem]. Judging by the look—intestines.”
There are four [Canopic Jars] in total.
Each jar contains [Lungs], [Liver], [Stomach], and [Intestines].
They’re in the same category as the [Blade of Flesh] and the [Mirror of Wisdom] from the [Great Source] arc.
Each is part of the [Scaly Stratagem] itself—an Abyssal conduit—and a transcendent artifact.
With the phobia gone, the lore rises up without blockage, thoughts flowing like water.
“Hyunah must have eaten the liver.”
Carved on the jar that holds the liver is Duamutef, the jackal-headed one.
A god of funerary rites, the symbol of revenge and the hunt—
“Right. Duamutef declared he would stop whoever tried to kill his father.”
A bizarre voice from the dark.
Ssshhrrrr—
A revolting noise like a hundred snakes crawling.
“I don’t need a class in Egyptian mythology. Shut up.”
“Horrid little monster. To think you’d break free of the binding by your own power.”
“What is that? An Abyssal entity descended?” “F-For an Abyssal, it sure talks a lot.”
“That is not an Abyssal being.”
Jung Hyunah, who swallowed the viscera of the [Scaly Stratagem], is merely copying its thought and mind into a form we can grasp.
“Hyunah is acting as a translator—she can’t exceed human cognition.”
“A confusing concept.”
“Fine, think of it as, say, zero-point-one of an Abyssal. But left alone, she could grow into an avatar of the [Scaly Stratagem].”
“So she’s become one persona of a multi-minded Abyssal?”
“Not perfectly accurate, but you can take it that way.”
[System: The “Enhanced Vigilance” trait activates.]
“It isn’t over yet!”
Jung Hyunah charges with the force of a dump truck.
Before, my phobia made me think: big—just big. But she’s truly huge. Counting only the bulkiest parts, she clears ten meters.
The tentacles attached to the... lower body(?) can freely multiply or lengthen.
Chrrrrrrrp!
Snake-like tendrils rolling in like surf.
“I agree. Let’s have a talk.”
I swung the [Butcher’s Hook] and cast a spell.
A bookcase filling one wall. A health poster tacked to the other.
A doctor with a gentle smile.
“How have you been lately?”
Jung Hyunah forced a thin smile and sat in the small chair placed in the consulting room.
Thanks to the soft, comfortable cushion, a sliver of Hyunah’s vigilance eased.
“I had a dream where a strange person came to me.”
The doctor tapped the keyboard and looked at her.
“The same dream you mentioned last time?”
Hyunah found it oddly hard to meet the doctor’s eyes as she answered.
“Yes. That one. It keeps repeating.”
“I do remember it since you bring it up often, but could you tell me once more?”
A pleasant voice, warm with familiarity.
“Hmm... Someone in purple clothes came.”
“Purple, you say.”
Tap-tap—the keys clicking.
“Yes. Flowing purple cloth. Very tall—and a face like a crocodile.”
“A crocodile?”
“Or maybe it was a snake.”
“So, a strange face.”
Ears like a cat perked atop the doctor’s head as she asked.
“Right. That person spoke to me in a very gentle voice.”
“‘I shall grant your wish,’ was it?”
Ssssnap!
Though no one touched it, the blind rose on its own. Sunlight bared the view outside the window.
An endless, barren desert.
And beyond it, a giant crocodile approaching.
“Get out! Don’t come into my head!”
Hyunah—who at once is herself and about to become the avatar of the [Scaly Stratagem]—clutched her skull and thrashed.
I dodged with [Leap] and answered.
“Look who’s talking. You were the one who rammed snakes into someone else’s head—”
With a whine, crimson mana stones resonated, lifting into the air.
[Thunderclap Gem]
[Spell °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° Boost: Maximize]
Bzzzzzzzzp!
Lightning compressed to a single point, forming a massive sphere.
Crack—bzzzzt! Tzzzzzzz!
In moments it shed the nature of lightning and became a completed lump of plasma.
“Th—”
No need to wait. I released the high-density charge in a single burst.
Kzzzzk-KRA-KOOM!!
A flash that lit the broad interior in an instant. Bright enough to rob sight for a breath.
“A-Amazing!”
“Yeah, amazing, right? Ahahahaha! Behold my perfected form—Ultimate Kim Sinhwa!”
I puffed myself up a bit since the hit landed sweetly—but this won’t kill her.
I swept the spilled mana stones off the floor with telekinesis, then immediately cast another spell.
A faded night from long ago.
I raised a finger to my lips.
“Shh, or the crocodile will hear.”
“Right. Shh.”
Little Jung Hyunah mimicked me.
Seven years old? Eight? So this is a memory from about ten years back.
Back then there wasn’t any eight-year-old Kim Sinhwa in a cat mask at Hyunah’s side—but we don’t need perfect recreation.
It won’t be perfectly the same anyway.
Cheongho’s mansion—vaster than reality, a shade darker, a touch more frightening.
Hyunah crept up the stairs—and tucked herself small, not quite off the steps.
We have to be careful in case a crocodile shows up. Hyunah whispered to me.
“Is there a crocodile?”
I, her imaginary friend in the cat mask, bravely poked my head into the second-floor hall to check and said,
“No crocodile. We can go.”
“Okay! Let’s go.”
Hyunah tiptoed down the hall, the nameless boy in the cat mask at her side. —Not easy. I am Kim Sinhwa. Don’t lose yourself.
The scary room at the end of the upstairs corridor.
Whenever something serious happened—her dad holed up in that room and muttered heavy talk with the uncles.
“Because of that bastard Jeokdu...”
Cheongho’s voice, a tiger’s growl.
“Brother. We must avenge Madam.” “It’s because he handed over that damned grimoire!” “He knew exactly what it would do!” “Let’s kill him! I’ve already got the boys ready!”
Hyunah eavesdropped on her father and the men beyond the door.
I watched for a moment, then asked Hyunah,
“What happened?”
Her face fell.
“I can’t find Mom.”
A furious Cheongho. Revenge for Madam. Hatred for Jeokdu.
Cheongho, who kept a grimoire despite distancing himself from the unreal.
No—the order is reversed.
He distanced himself from the unreal because of the wounds the grimoire caused.
“Fine. We’ll take revenge on Jeokdu. War.”
Cheongho’s voice, a growl.
“No.”
A voice cut in.
“Brother-in-law—no, Cha Taewon. What do you mean by that?”
“Please, think of the young lady—think of Hyunah. For now, even a little—”
The voice broke off.
Creeeeak—
“Hyunah, why are you out there? Come in.”
A voice slid in—unpleasant.
“Hyunah. No, don’t go.”
Despite my warning, the door opened.
Hyunah’s face went bone-white.
A purple horror with the head of a crocodile—or of a snake.
And the body of Cheongho without its head, and figures swaddled in bandages.
“Kyaaaaaah!”
The child Hyunah’s scream.
I slashed and blasted mana, shouting.
“Don’t you dare tamper with someone’s childhood memories!”
“Look who’s talking. You stuffed a cat-masked imaginary friend into someone else’s mind!”
Vvvoooooom!
A titanic tail swung with absurd force.
Damn it, my vision swims.
If I go around calling myself Ultimate Kim Sinhwa—in truth, I’ve bled too much stamina.
[Blink]
A strange tug that yanks at the soul.
I used to cast it only through the [Mask of Carcosa], but now my tier is high enough to trigger it without the mask.
Tch-pat—
Before [Blink] even finished, I triggered my current mask’s ability.
[L-grade Accessory “Mask of Nine Lives” unique function, “Schrödinger,” activates.
// Schrödinger: The owner can suppress their presence to the absolute limit. Duration scales with Mind. Reuse cooldown: 9,999 seconds.]
KRAAAAAASH!!
Jung Hyunah’s giant body rampaged, pulverizing where I’d been.
“Kyahaaargh! Kim Sinhwa! You cannot hide!! That choice does not exist for you!”
Threats like that aren’t needed for someone who truly can’t hide.
“Sinhwa, why are you running?”
“I’ve got all the intel I need. And I’ve lost too much stamina for a frontal fight.”
“Don’t tell me—you’ll run and come back for a rematch again? A re-rematch after the rematch?”
“As if. I’m ending it now.”
“H-How?”
“I told you earlier: there are four Canopic jars. Hyunah ate one, and I’m holding one. The other two will be with the mass of silver ingots Jung Hyunah acquired.”
“Silver ingots? What can you do with those?”
“It’s an Egypt theme. They probably built a coffin.”
“A coffin?”
“Yeah. A coffin. For a body.”
The moment I secure that—this disgusting fight is over.
