Chapter 108: T's Clock (1)

[Adhesive Fluid]

Squish!!

Did I really need to use that spell? A sticky, viscous liquid erupted from my fingertips.

"Argh! Gack! Urgh!!"

The slime aimed for his open mouth. As the gooey substance filled his mouth, he was unable to complete his desperate plea. Yet even in the midst of this, he continued to struggle and move frantically.

"Just stay still!"

Squish!! Swoosh!! Squelch!!

"Ughhh! Cough! Ughhh!!"

I unleashed more magical power into the erupting slime and completely covered his entire body. Eventually, the cultist collapsed under the pressure and became a large lump of slime, dirt, and leaves.

It's a sorry sight, but life is precious you know.

Namo Amitabha.

[Achievement Unlocked! You have defended against your first raid.

You have earned the 'Basic Achievement: First Defense'.

As a reward for the achievement, you receive the 'Beacon's Staff' and additional experience points.]

[You have successfully defended your residence from pillage. Experience points gained.]

[You have defeated cultists (Descendants of Fomalhaut) (52). Your understanding of the 'Living Flame Cult' has increased.]

It seemed that I could no longer level up with such minor efforts.

The Beacon's Staff had been in the possession of the cultist I had just dealt with.

Upon inspection, I discovered that the staff granted a few fire-type spells and the ability to summon the burning ones, even to those without an understanding of magic.

It was a decent item, but not something I needed. Maybe I could attach it to one of my necromancy golems and create a fire-breathing golem?

"Alright, let's see what we can clean up here."

I needed to find out how these cultists had learned about this place. It may seem like I'm repeating myself over and over again, but it's impossible to convince these many cultists.

I didn't fought with everything at my disposal this time, but if things don't go well, I might have to engage in an endless battle until I wiped out the entire cult.

"If they're the Descendants of Fomalhaut, they must have at least a hundred thousand followers..."

I could fight, but fight a hundred thousand-strong army at such a chaotic time? For no pay? No thanks! Too troublesome!

Grrrrrrrrik! Creak!

A necromancy golem that looked plain in design approached and delivered a message.

"Is everything taken care of?"

It seemed that all the resisting foes had been subdued.

"Let the ones who can escape, escape moderately, and give emergency treatment to those who look like they might die. Ideally, make it so that those who run will take them along."

Creak, creak, creak.

I had issued the command, but instead of executing it immediately, the necromancy golem made another move. If it were human, it might have been equivalent to a hand gesture pointing somewhere.

"Over there? What's there?"

There was no one there except for the cultist covered in slime and lying defeated...

"Ah, if we leave him like that, he might really die."

[Create Clean Water]

Squish!

I doused his face with water.

"Haak! Khaak!!"

The slime covering his entire face was completely blocking his breathing.

"Phew, almost killed someone."

Now that I think about it, what that man mentioned is bothering me. T's clock? What is that?

Could it be the clock in the attic that King Man-geum mentioned?

"Hey, throw that guy covered in slime out in the yard too."

Creak, creak, crack.

When I went out to the front yard of the mansion, I saw about ten cultists lying at regular intervals.

Those who were relatively unharmed were tied with ropes, while those who were not were receiving basic first aid from the necromancy golems.

"No one died."

"Ah, thank you."

Heo Sang-hyeon had an unusually different expression.

His appearance of always blinking his big eyes with an anxious expression was gone; instead, a sharp tension and sternness had taken over. Why such a behavior when he's not even a military veteran?

"May I report what we've confirmed from the captives?"

"Huh? Did you interrogate them?"

What exactly is he planning?

Ah, it seems that originally Hollow Lord would always do this after beating up other factions or wandering fixers.

"No, there were no special instructions, so we couldn't do that. We were short on time... I just wanted to share some information we gleaned from what these captives said during their capture."

Heo Sang-hyeon momentarily looked anxious and widened his eyes.

Ah, if I instructed him to do so, could he have conducted interrogations or even torture? After all, he's capable of using necromancy, isn't he?

In any case, he's someone who has worked for years under a psychopathic skeleton. Even if he looked like that, he must have had his fair share of harsh experiences.

"No, we don't need to interrogate them. Is there any other information besides these guys being from the Torch ... no, Descendants of Fomalhaut?"

"These people didn't come because of Shin-hwa-nim ......but rather, they came to attack the former master. They wanted to steal something called the T's something that the former master possesses."

"Ah, I heard about that earlier too. It was called T's clock. Do you know anything about it?"

"No, I don't know much either. But the former master often captured cultists or sacrifices from other factions... That's why we're not on good terms with other factions. This kind of attack isn't the first of its kind either."

While speaking, Heo Sang-hyeon briefly widened his large eyes and trailed off, but one can guess the content he omitted.

Captured for... perhaps to be eaten or to satisfy some other sadistic purpose of the Hollow Lord.

Among the beings of the abyss, there were those who could be considered siblings or parent and child. Because of this, there were cults that were close to each other, and even if they had no particular relationship, there were those who formed a sort of interest group or association for a common goal.

Meanwhile, there were cults that simply called each other heretics and that were at odds with each other.

For example, the cultists who worshiped the [King in Yellow] regarded those who served [The Sleeper in R'lyeh] as their sworn enemies.

But I was, after all, a player.

During my various playthroughs, I seldom played as a cultist.

Therefore, I did not know very well how the network of relationships among the cultists was specifically configured.

"Anyway, it seems the Hollow Lord was quite a crazy bastard among the cultists, huh?"

"He was, to an extent. But it wasn't that there was no interaction."

"Interaction?"

"Yes. He would attend some meetings, and sometimes letters would come from outside."

I couldn't help but chuckle while imagining the scene, though I felt sorry for Heo Sang-hyeon who was speaking so seriously. A meeting attended by Mr. Skeleton, who had turned all the believers of the cult into undead, where could it have been? And what kind of crazy person would send letters to such a grumpy skeleton?

"Those letters, do you still have them by any chance?"

"If they haven't been discarded during the major clean-up after Shin-hwa-nim's arrival, they should still be there. I'll look for them."

"Hmm, they might have been thrown away. They're not important, so don't look too hard."

"Understood."

I glanced at the descendants of Fomalhaut rolling on the floor and said,

"Once they're properly treated, let them escape unless they're high-ranked members of the cult. It doesn't really matter if the high-ranked ones get away, so don't bother chasing them."

"Understood."

"Yes, I think I need to go up to the attic."

I needed to figure out what this T's clock was. Only then could I decide whether to negotiate with the descendants of Fomalhaut or threaten them to ensure they never return to my mansion again.

There was no one inside the mansion except for two necromancy golems waiting on the first floor to guard it.

"One of you stay here and the other go out and help Sang-hyeon-ssi."

Crack, crunch, snap.

"The attic... There really was nothing there."

When I infiltrated as a player before, I had used a window that was broken in the ceiling of the attic.

There was one coffin, and the room was eerily empty otherwise.

Has the setting changed?

Could there have been a trigger that I failed to satisfy back then?

I climbed the creaking wooden stairs toward the attic.

Creeeak...

Though I opened the door to the attic, only one thing was visible.

A coffin.

In the center of the dark attic lay an open coffin without a lid. It was a coffin made of stone.

"I don't think they would have called that a clock, right?"

It was just a dusty, spacious attic.

The atmosphere seemed right for spiders or bugs to roam, yet strangely, there were none to be seen.

Apart from that, there was just one window punched through the ceiling. Was there something about that window?

It seemed impossible to solve just by peeking from the doorway.

"Surely, it's not something that requires solving a mini-game puzzle to appear?"

I walked up to the side of the coffin but after looking around for a while, nothing special caught my eye.

The only thing in the attic was the coffin placed directly under the window. Just that.

But the placement of the coffin was as if...

"Could it possibly be meant for stargazing while lying in it?"

If one were to lie in the coffin, they could look up directly through the window.

"Oh..."

I found it.

The moment I raised my head beside the coffin, I realized what the clock discussed by King Man-geum and the descendants of Fomalhaut was.

Hidden in the attic ceiling was a complex and dense arrangement of machinery.

The mechanism was concealed by the rafters and beams of the ceiling. It was invisible from any other angle unless one turned their head.

Dozens of gears, springs, rods, pendulums, and chains around the attic window composed a sort of mechanical device.

It resembled the interior of an old-fashioned analog clock.

"But it's not moving?"

Others might call it a clock, but to anyone looking, it hardly resembled one; it lacked numbers and any hands to indicate time.

If it had been found under different circumstances, it might have been dismissed as mere excessive decoration.

There can be no negotiation with this thing.

"What is this thing, anyway? Should I just tell them to take it apart and remove it?"

And what about this coffin?

Is it part of the set?

A coffin was positioned so that if one lay in it, they could look directly out of the window.

And a mechanical device arranged as if to frame the window.

"......"

Aish... I have a feeling that if I just lay down here, I can find out something.

"But it's an incredibly unsettling setup."

The moment one lies down, a trap could be triggered and something terrible might happen.

"Who would be crazy enough to break into someone's house and lie down in a coffin," is what one might ask, but never underestimate the Cthulhu World.

Regardless of context or plausibility, there are countless traps laid just to toy with those driven by curiosity.

I cautiously activated my magic.

[Trap Detection]

Keeeeeeng...

"Ah, look at that."

There was really something beneath the coffin.

Let's see. There is a mechanism attached under the coffin. It was designed to activate something when a certain weight is placed upon it.

"It's hard to call this just a trap."

Nonetheless, it seems that whoever placed this here wanted someone to lie in it. Though I'm not sure whether it would trigger the clock or a trap.

"Hmm... Still, there's no use in delaying any longer."

[Agility of the Fox]

[Brilliance of the Eagle]

[Eagle Eye]

[Protective Circle]

I cast spells to prepare for any traps that might activate at an unexpected moment and lay down on the coffin.

Click.

At the same time, the coffin seemed to sink slightly, triggering something.

Thump, click, screeeeech...

The gears hanging from the ceiling began to move with a heavy noise.