ALL NOVEL
Chapter 139: The Final Schedule
Two divided consciousnesses.
Dozens of spells still being maintained.
Hundreds of calculations, predictions, guesses, and judgments happened at the same time.
Alright, it’s a bit early, but I’ll proceed to the next stage first.
I leaped again to avoid the cultists who were charging in.
Then I sent the treasure chest flying towards the fools.
The cultists were pathetically easy to knock away. Meanwhile, a suspicious movement was detected in the distance.
A witch with a lace mask covering her eyes. She was crouching on the floor and whispering something.
“Yes, hurry, wake up. Help me!”
Crack! Snap!
Following her command, the floor of the banquet hall split open, and grotesque tree trunks began to grow at an incredible speed. That was rather simple to take care of.
Instead, I flew towards the rushing tree trunks.
[Chains of Domination]
Clink!
Golden chains intertwined with the tree trunks.
She has even worse control than the ghoul shaman I met before.
Through the chains of enforced domination, I drove my magical power into the tree trunks.
Vrrrrr!!
Fluorescent waves of energy seeped into the tree trunks.
The will and magic imbued in the trunks were expelled, and new meaning was instilled.
Crack, snap!!
The wildly moving tree trunks instantly transformed their shape and nature. Sharp thorns sprouted and the trunks moved flexibly like whips.
“What, what have you done to my children!?”
“If you want to live, you’d better run.”
Swish!!
The tree trunks that now turned into menacing thorny vines surged toward their original master.
“Eek!?”
She made several attempts to regain control, but realizing it was futile, she threw herself backward and rolled across the floor several times to escape.
“Hey, there’s fire over there…”
“Hiyaaa!!”
Before I could check on the witch friend, a punch flew at me from behind. Ugh, that looked dangerous. [Protective Circle]
[Spell Enhancement: Multicasting]
Thud!
“Ouch, ouch… That’s a pretty solid barrier. But how did you know I was approaching from a perfect blind spot?!”
It was the yakuza who was wearing a beak mask.
The cultists’ attacks were no longer being perceived visually but through sensory detection. I was aware of the movements of everything in my vicinity and could respond accordingly.
“Of course, he dodged because you were yelling like a fool!”
This was a remark from the lace-masked witch who had hidden behind the altar to avoid the thorny vines.
“What? Are you laughing at the cry of my soul?”
“I didn’t dodge because of it, but the yell is funny.”
I tried to hold back, but I ended up adding a comment.
“Shut up, all of you! Toriyap!”
Why did he shout like that?
But his momentum was impressive.
Crash! Snap! Bang!
The multiple layers of the protective circle shattered in an instant. If left alone, I would get hit by that punch. I extended both hands toward him and activated a spell.
[Exhaustion Shackles]
Shackles made of glowing magical lines flew towards the beak mask man.
Swish!
“Hiyaaa!!”
But then he dodged to the side with a strange cry.
Clang!
“Ugh…”
The shackles of the exhaustion-inducing spell were placed on another small fry cultist who had been forming the encirclement.
“Huh, did he dodge that?”
[Magic Bullet]
[Spell Enhancement: Multicasting]
Ratatatatatatat!!
“Turup!”
What was that? That guy can dodge bullets too.
The beak-masked man moved around at an incredible speed. His movements reminded me of Bae Jong-Kyeong in terms of speed and power.
Suddenly, he made an exaggerated leap, then twisted unnaturally in mid-air to deliver a flying dragon kick!
“Kiyaa!”
But I had already experienced this pattern in the game.
In an instant, I used magnetism to pull the chest to block his kick.
Boom!!
“Ugh, what is this?!”
Strange feeling, right? It’s an object set to be invincible in the system. The beak-masked man who attacked it with full force was thrown back in his kicking stance.
As expected, his movements seemed to trigger a glitch in the physics engine.
It’s not easy to pretend to be moderately losing.
Cheers and clapping could be heard from the gallery.
“A huge monster has emerged from the hungry mansion.”
“How did they train such an amazing disciple?”
Somehow, it felt strange. Why am I playing around with those kids?
I spoke again, not to the surrounding people, but to someone who shared my vision.
“Not yet? Where are you now? Alright, got it.”
The battle was now over. After subduing the four visibly strong opponents, the others hesitated to come closer and just kept their distance.
At that moment, a new magical power entered my detection range.
“Kweeeek!!”
Mutants charged through the walls of fire burning on all sides. There were a lot of them. They suddenly began to rush toward me, ignoring the burning pain in their bodies.
“Ah, come on, let’s take it easy.”
[Blood Scream]
[Spell Enhancement: Maximization]
[The unique effect of the S-rank weapon ‘Butcher’s Hook’, ‘Proof of Slaughter’ has been activated.
// Proof of Slaughter: The power of necromancy spells increases by 100%.]
Kieeeeeeeek!!!
It was a spell constructed by adding the essence of necromancy to the [Sonic Shock]. The sinister energy and shockwave delivered a physical blow while breaking the will and morale of those hit.
The approaching monsters were pushed back by the impact, and the nearby small fry cultists bled from several holes in their faces.
The shockwave that was maximized with magical power even affected some of the nearby spectators.
“Ugh!”
“Ho-How is such a shockwave possible?”
When I expanded my detection range, it became clear that a different problem had arisen.
Beyond the flames, the mutants attacking the straggling cultists were all moving toward me. The number had even more than tripled.
This was an artificial change that couldn’t happen naturally. Someone had orchestrated this situation.
“Ugh, is it that guy…?”
The monsters pushed back by the shockwave rushed at me again. In the distance, the three-eyed mask was acting strangely.
While supporting an injured cultist, he whispered something.
In a disturbingly beautiful voice, he whispered something into the injured man’s ear. Whispering and whispering…. he forcefully infused the magic lingering in the hall.
Crack, crunch!
The cultist he was supporting couldn’t withstand the forcibly injected magic and transformed into a monster.
“Graaaaah!!”
I still didn’t know what kind of deception had been used here, but the newly emerged mutant charged at me recklessly. Ignoring the wall of fire, he charged at me whether his body was burned or not.
“Hey, whatever you heard, it’s a misunderstanding!”
But saying that wouldn’t help.
Meanwhile, the three-eyed mask leisurely approached the next target and started whispering again.
“Hey, you bastard, can’t you stop?!”
Only then did the three-eyed mask notice that I was watching him, and he waved cheerfully.
“Ah, this is so annoying.”
Scheming characters with narrow eyes are the worst.
It might be best to kill that bastard now before he becomes a bigger problem later.
It was true that I needed to buy time, but I didn’t want to be in a situation where I was surrounded by flaming tentacle monsters and having to run in all directions.
“Hahaha! That was impressive, but it looks like you’re reaching your limit!”
“I’ll finish this!”
The masked figures chimed in.
“What, haven’t you all had enough? Aren’t you tired of coming at me?”
“Let’s see how long you can keep up that confidence!”
An overwhelming number of tentacles completely obscured my vision. And among those tentacles, the masked figures were squeezing in.
“Gweeeeck!”
The disgusting roars of the mutants spewed out like vomit.
“Damn it.”
I leaped, burned, exploded, and scorched everything.
Boom! Crackle!
The commotion was growing even among the judges in the gallery.
“That? That’s not ordinary skill, is it?”
“How can he move like that?”
“Something’s off! That can’t be real!”
This Heo Sang-hyeon is too powerful to be just an ordinary Heo Sang-hyun, right?
Things were about to be wrapped up here, so just hang in there a little longer.
“You monkey-like bastard!”
Flying spears, sickles, axes, swords, fists, and occasionally surreal supernatural abilities filled the hall with madness and screams.
Boom! Boom!
I sent a few more cultists flying and incapacitated them with a curse that induced exhaustion.
“Kill him! Heir of the Hungry Mansion! Why isn’t he dead?!”
“Kill him! Kill him! The ritual isn’t progressing!”
“Kill him! Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!”
Finally, a judge who realized the anomaly appeared.
“Since that guy started rampaging, death! The blood has stopped!”
Yes, it’s also a problem if the chest opens at a clumsy timing.
“Kill that bastard! He’s ruining the event!”
An impatient judge screamed and gathered his magical power. Ugh, operations team, stop that guy quickly!
“Everyone shut up! I won’t let anyone interfere with my event!”
Rumble!
Dokgo Gyeom’s shout. It was a shout filled with such powerful magic that it caused the entire event hall to vibrate.
Yes, I didn’t break any rules. Whether I kill people or not, it’s within the rules.
Boom!
In the midst of it all, I dodged a magic missile and manipulated the thorny vines summoned by the lace-masked woman.
Swish!
Damn, it was chaotic to maintain several minor spells at the same time while moving.
Should I remove a few spells placed on Jang Hyeon-deok?
With this thought, I split my vision and sent my mind soaring into the sky above Sejong City.
“Achilles! How long do we have to wait?”
[System: The trait ‘Enhanced Vigilance’ has been activated.]
Crackle!
Suddenly, a torrent of fire surged toward me. “Ugh, what!?” It was from the gallery. One of the judges was unable to hold back and cast a spell while avoiding Dokgo Gyeom’s gaze! I expected this much!
[The unique effect of the L-rank accessory ‘Carcosa’s Mask’, ‘Dreamy Blur’, has been activated.
// Dreamy Blur: Automatically casts ‘Blink’ spell]
My vision blurred instantly. Everything in the world was pushed away at incredible speed.
[Blink complete. Cooldown time: 864,000 seconds]
The survival skill automatically activated to save my life. As soon as the blink ended and everything in the world became fixed again, what I saw was…
[System: The trait ‘Feast Offering’ has been activated.]
“Huh?”
Crash!
The world spun.
No, was it my head spinning?
What’s going on? My legs wouldn’t move.
Everything moved slowly, like in slow motion.
An ugly head flew near my face. A head without a body. A head wearing a mask.
Hmm, that’s an excellent mask. Avant-garde and quite charming.
It was the one-eyed mask of the Yellow Forest Church. Was it that thug-like evangelist who picked a fight with me before the main event? Oh dear, evangelist, why have you come with only your head?
Did someone throw this head and hit my chin?
Damn, I finally got hit. It’s funny, but somehow, it didn’t hurt.
Come to think of it, ever since I got trapped in this wretched world, there have been all sorts of horrible and varied crises, but is this the first time I’ve actually been hit? I can’t really tell; my mind is a mess. Anyway, I’m glad I got hit after raising my health stat considerably.
It’s also strange that the projectile is a severed human head, but it was thrown with magical enhancement. If it had hit me wrong, my head might have been shattered.
Who on earth threw such a dangerous thing?
What kind of disrespectful person threw a dead man’s head? There’s no respect for the deceased.
It wasn’t just a coincidence that it hit me. Someone predicted where I would blink to and threw the head there.
The Feast Offering trait was activated earlier, right? In the end, one of the beings from the abyss must have been watching for an opportunity and informed someone of the optimal timing and direction.
“Don’t ask why, just throw it over there. I’ll show you something interesting.” It must have been something like that. So, who was it?
I backtracked the trajectory of the flying head. When I was in high school, I wasn’t good at arithmetic, let alone math, so I wasn’t able to properly learn things like calculus, but my increased intelligence stat allowed me to complete calculations at will.
Oh, again, again, again! It’s that guy!?
The three-eyed mask with a cool left-handed pitching form. Damn it, I knew that guy would cause trouble someday.
The problem wasn’t just that.
Huh? What’s that?
A mask was flying through the cultists.
It was a very familiar-looking mask. Now that I think about it, my mental state is a bit strange considering I only got hit once?
Really, really strange.
Really, really, really strange?
That mask flying off somewhere.
That mask flying alone without an owner.
Lonely I may be, but soon my body will return with you.
No, that’s not it. Could that really be Carcosa’s mask?
My mask? My mask? My mask? My mask?