"One? Oooooone!?"
"One, you say?"
"What a boring development!"
"Since the die was rolled arbitrarily, regardless of rules, you may choose something else if you wish."
"No need! For those idiots, mutant rats are plenty!"
"Understood."
Kwaaaang!
The fire door on the fifteenth floor is ripped off in an instant.
"Screeeeee!"
A hideous shriek.
"Ugh, why are there so many!?"
A tremendous torrent of rats comes pouring down in a crashing wave—not anything like the size one might normally imagine.
Nasty tumors bulge over their bodies; their frames are as big as a bear’s; from those massive bodies billow an awful stench and monstrous strength.
"Screeeek!"
They’re the very same [Mutant Rats] Kim Sinhwa fought before.
"Beat it, you rat bastard!"
Kwarurururung!
The chair Curtail Call swings triggers a powerful [Thunder Burst] effect.
At least Curtain Call and Baukalak have weapons worth using; Eric and Hyeonggeun, practically barehanded, can’t contribute to the fight.
"Grrrrrrk!"
Protect the Director! That’s what Baukalak howls—he’s activated [Beast Speech], but in truth the only one who can understand him is Curtain Call.
"Woof!"
Collie! Tell the other two what I said!
"The head!"
Kwarururururung!
"Arrrf! Arf!"
Collie! Collie!
"You filthy rat!"
Kwarurururung!
"..."
"No! Bahu! I get the gist, don’t worry! Director, this way!"
Thankfully Hyeonggeun catches the intent and shouts.
"Are you sure that’s not wrong? No exit!"
Eric wants to say, Isn’t that a bad call? Where exactly are we running to from here?
"Just hold for now! Collie, one slipped through! Hryat!"
Hyeonggeun hands Mun Seunghee off to Eric and fires a dropkick.
Thud-thud-thud!
"Screee!"
The [Mutant Rat] skids far back.
If he’d gone all out, he could have put it down, but saving strength for the worst moment is the correct choice.
Right now Hyeonggeun and Eric’s job is to guard the center—Mun Seunghee. Someone else handles the striking.
"Kyaaaaa!"
Baukalak flashes in and tears out a [Mutant Rat]’s throat in one bite. Pfwoosh! Blood geysers up.
"There are a lot, sure, but this level is nothing!"
To display the power of the Abyss, a greater host is required!
You expended far too many resources for mere mutant rats—therefore you may conjure even more rats.
Yes, an overwhelming mass of rats will smother the building!
The Feast’s Offering will be unable to protect what must be protected.
Bodies piled like mountains.
Blood flowing like a river.
Curtain Call’s judgment—to intercept from stable terrain—wasn’t wrong. If they’d fought on the stairs, protecting Mun Seunghee would have been impossible.
What she didn’t anticipate was the enemy’s numbers.
"Screeeee!"
On and on and on the mutant rats push in.
"Get back!"
Kwaaaang!
And dropping one doesn’t end it.
Shlrrk! Shlaaash!
"Chiiik! Squeeee!"
Take down an especially big mutant rat, and its body disgorges a stream of pups.
"What now!"
Kwarurururung!
Even Curtain Call doesn’t have infinite stamina. Fatigue starts to creep in.
"Grrrrrk—"
Baukalak grows anxious.
He’s burning resources too. To maintain his transformed state, he has to pay humanity and reason.
He doesn’t know quantified values like Kim Sinhwa, but he does know that if he stays transformed too long, he’ll fall into madness—or never return to human form.
Unluckily, they’ve met a bad matchup.
In metaphor, the two of them are closer to sprinters. If they’d focused explosive force on a single target, it would have been far easier.
"Dieeeee!"
Kwaaaang!
"Collie! That one’s dead!"
Curtain Call is fighting on the fuel of fury and looks every inch a hero, but the hotter the anger, the more the waste.
"This won’t do! We have to run!"
Mun Seunghee suddenly cuts in with a shout.
"What are you talking about! Run where?"
"I just heard the Mage’s voice! He said he’ll open us a way out—"
It’s so absurd it sounds like delirium. Even Curtain Call grimaces.
"That mask lunatic isn’t a god. How—"
"Like this."
Kim Sinhwa says it and triggers a spell at the floor.
[Surge of Power]
Kwarurururururung!!
A tremendous spell power pours straight down from the thirty-first floor.
It doesn’t pack the same mana as before, but it’s a spell that even wounded Yang Seoho once.
The [Surge of Power] Kim Sinhwa unleashed punches through floor and ceiling after floor and ceiling of the Ilshin Hotel, boring and boring again to carve a getaway shaft for Curtain Call’s team.
"First floor—no, probably down to the °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° basement too, right? Didn’t you say this building was constructed with anti-magic materials?"
"N-not something you can pierce like this, no."
Naturally, the Ilshin Hotel was built by Yeonam Construction.
Mun Seunghee knows how much cost and effort went into making a building resistant to magic attacks.
But Kim Sinhwa, with a mere flick, bores a vertical hole through the entire building—as if mocking all that effort.
"It’s not even impressive. Jump, now!"
Curtain Call snarls.
"Excuse me, Director!"
Hyeonggeun scoops up Mun Seunghee and leaps.
"Oh!"
Eric jumps after them.
Three minutes is a very short time.
But if you hustle, you can do a lot.
Did we say Kim Sinhwa was observing every range from topmost to bottommost floor?
But he had no idea what was happening deeper still.
This is what happened then—when Kim Sinhwa’s attention was snagged by Chairman Mun Taeik.
"We broke through!"
Now thirty seconds in.
Only a small hole so far. Can they really pull it off?
"Hurry! This is the only window!"
A mysterious voice taps directly on people’s minds. Don’t worry. Right now, no one can detect you.
Those who hear that astounding voice take heart.
"Just use powers and smash it!"
"Got it!"
With a colossal blast, the ground shakes.
Oh my! A huge hole opens in the Ilshin Hotel’s underground parking lot!
Now one minute has passed.
Time is running out, but people cheer each other in stout voices.
"Move, move!"
"We install and exfil in ninety seconds!"
Who are these clever, dexterous nonhumans who pop into view under the garage lights?
They are the brave and bright special operatives raised by the Hyeonbo Group.
They always worked hard, but Hyeonbo was forever stuck in second place. At last they hit on a scheme to beat Yeonam.
A banquet where the Yeonam chairman and heirs all gather? If we run a sabotage op there, we can annihilate the Mun clan!
"Install complete!"
"Good. We’re out!"
Exactly ninety seconds! Practice paid off!
Thirty seconds remain.
One of the special operatives, scurrying and waddling in panic, pauses for a moment.
Huh? Not much time even to flee. The operative turns toward the bomb-laced garage and says:
"[Dweller in Darkness], thank you!"
Oh my, they speak my name.
That’s right. I am one avatar of Nyarlathotep, the [Dweller in Darkness].
"You needn’t narrate that far."
"Very well!"
"So what happens next?"
"A plan prepared over a long time to strike Yeonam—but in the end it becomes an obstacle the Feast’s Offering must clear!"
"Will the Feast’s Offering be able to stop this astonishing sabotage?"
"Who can say? We shall learn by proceeding."
I retract my left hand, which had been in tentacle form—then stretch both hands toward the airship and shout:
"Commissioner! Foreigners Management Commissioner!"
"M-me? W-why?"
"Where’s Yang Seoho! Where is he!?"
"H-he’s on a business trip to Gwangju..."
Damn. If it came to it, I was going to attempt a [Sure Kill—Foreigners Management Commissioner Throw] to summon Yang Seoho, but the operators’ meddling blocked me.
"Your staff are working all over the country while you’re having a grand time."
What about the other staff?
Ah—there they come.
Naturally, something enormous is happening right now. Hey, it’s pouring out of the sky, you know?
An amount of mana is converging incomparable even to the Masquerade.
None equal Yang Seoho among them, of course, but if they butt in now, it’s going to be a hassle.
I’ll have to push it a bit.
Curtain Call and Mun Seunghee are escaping, so I can focus more here, right?
I reel in the mana I’d spread around and crank up the output I’m blasting at the [Mobile Parliament Carrier].
Viiiiiiii—
Gggggggg—
The airship begins to rise.
Which leaves me wide open in a danger zone, but—
"Stop! No one may attack our brother."
"Everyone, do not hinder my brother, Kim Sinhwa!"
So I’ve gained stout brothers and sisters, have I?
"Kh— khhhh—"
Chairman Mun Taeik groans.
Oh dear, does it pain you?
"Ah, Chairman. Forgive me for swearing brotherhood with your sons without your leave."
"Ha, Kim Sinhwa. Don’t blur our relationship with words like ‘sworn brothers.’ Our bond is beyond that."
Beyond what. It’s beyond sense, so—
[System : The penalty trait ‘Feast’s Offering’ activates.]
[System : The trait ‘Heightened Vigilance’ activates.]
A tremendous surge of mana is sensed from belowground.
"Belowground?"
What can happen belowground? A bomb attack. That’s the development I knew.
That’s why my [Surge of Power] destroyed the bombs planted in the underground parking lot.
So why is mana concentrating downward?
"Ah, hell. Right—these guys ignore plausibility."
Oh? Ignore plausibility?
Kim Sinhwa didn’t know it, but the special operatives hadn’t fully escaped yet.
They were hiding in an underground tunnel.
These operatives were trained for a long time for one thing only—detonation.
Hearing their earnest wish, the [Dweller in Darkness] sprinkled glittering magic powder.
How wondrous!
Those dusted by the powder turn into giant bombs.
And now—
Boom!
—comes the beginning of the blast.
A colossal thunderclap loud enough to be heard across the whole of Sejong City.
A shock that shakes the entire building.
Curtain Call’s team, repeating leaps down through the hole Kim Sinhwa had opened, can’t withstand the sudden shock and scatter in all directions.
"Ah, you’re driving me crazy!"
This isn’t a time to be clinging to an airship.
[Gale Trust]
[Gravity Inversion]
[Spell Enhance: Multi Cast]
[Spell Enhance: Range Increase]
[Spell Enhance: Maximize]
Viiiiiiiiii!!
Rather than flipping the direction of gravity, I conjure a massive vortex of upward force and hurl everyone in the banquet hall out the windows.
Bodies spill in all directions.
And their screams.
Then the impacts that follow.
The Ilshin Hotel is a fortress of a structure built at tremendous expense—even with resistance against magical tiers.
Maybe that sturdiness backfires?
Kururururung!
With a baleful groan, the Ilshin Hotel begins to cant over—as if a giant old tree were falling.
And the direction of the fall is...
Oh, toward Sejong City’s central district.
"Huh? Do I seriously have to stop that too?"
Now my to-do list is: rescue the people scattering in all directions, protect the chairman who’ll die from a single hit, get Mun Seunghee—who’s probably drifting somewhere inside the Ilshin Hotel—out, wipe the monsters still pouring in, keep the airship from crashing, and at the same time—
Somehow deal with the Ilshin Hotel, which is toppling toward the heart of Sejong City.
