Chapter 135: The Three Eyed Mask of the Yellow Forest Church

It was indeed a double-layered defense.

They placed bait in a noticeable position, and the separate team split off to trap anyone approaching the bait.

In this case, even the bait itself was a powerful cultist, so a natural encirclement formed.

Including the two who appeared, there were a total of twelve.

And there were twelve crosses and twelve masks.

Hmm, the shapes of the masks everyone is wearing are quite familiar.

[Carcosa's Mask] never appeared during the game, so I didn't know at the time but now I could see they resembled [Carcosa's Mask] I was wearing.

These masks weren't genuine L-rank items though. Each had differently shaped eyes, but they were mere replicas with no special effects. Were they the same kind I saw in Tanhyeon?

Good thing I changed the shape of my mask.

The Yellow Forest Church was a cult disguised as a Protestant religious group.

Their formal name used among themselves was the Yellow King Advent Prayer Circle.

The lord they prayed for was not the one worshipped in normal churches.

The Yellow King.

In other words, they were cultists who worshipped the [King in Yellow].

Although I had changed my appearance with magic, the mask I was wearing was still the [Carcosa's Mask].

It was an item of the [King in Yellow], so it was practically a sacred relic to those guys. I thought it was a perfect disguise, but I couldn't help feeling a bit uneasy.

"Where did this guy come from?"

"Ever seen him before?"

"Doesn't seem like it."

"Is he one of them?"

The twelve masks surrounding me each spouted nonsense, and a sigh of disappointment followed.

"Damn, we caught the wrong guy?"

"Oh, what? Really?"

It seemed the encirclement wasn't meant for me after all.

Nevertheless, I felt just as disappointed.

Counting again, there were twelve visible cultists of the Yellow Forest Church.

Twelve. One was missing.

Should I make more noise to draw them out? But I couldn't make too much noise. I had to lure out the last one in a controlled manner. After pondering for a moment, I spoke up.

"What are you—."

"Hey, shut up and stay still."

A firm voice suddenly interrupted me. I stopped talking and looked toward the source of the voice.

He was a guy wearing a mask with only one eyehole. Before I could say anything else, he continued.

"If you spout any more useless nonsense, I'll smash your head."

He usually pretended to be some sort of church evangelist, but he had a big mouth.

By the way, although the position of the eyeholes on my mask was slightly odd, this guy's was on another level. His single eyehole was in the middle of his forehead. I had no idea how he could see anything.

I simply raised one hand in response.

"Magical power? How trivial. Allies? It looks like you have none. But you've cast some strange spell on your mask? Anyway, it's clear you're suspicious."

When I stepped back, the man with the one-eyed mask grew more confident and he proudly listed the information he had gathered.

"But there's no smell of the sea, no sea smell at all on you. Was I mistaken? Or are you a mercenary? No, they wouldn't use someone like you."

He mumbled incomprehensible things and then continued speaking.

"What are you?"

"I don't know, but I'm definitely not someone related to the sea."

"Shut your mouth. Didn't I say I'd smash your head?"

Yeah, sometimes you run into guys like this, obsessed with acting tough and spouting nonsense.

"You tell me not to talk, then ask what I am, then tell me not to talk again. What do you want, exactly? Are you stupid?"

"What did you just say, you bastard?"

When the man with the one-eyed mask raised his voice, the masked members of the Yellow Forest Church naturally surrounded me.

Well, well? It seemed they were all experienced with mob beatings. They positioned their bodies to cover any blows and ensured no one would notice.

"What, you want to pick a real fight?"

"Stop, everyone, stop."

A voice so beautiful it gave me chills.

What the hell?

"He's obviously not the right person, so stop it."

The other disciples of the Yellow Forest Church parted to the sides.

Same mask, same suit, same cross.

But this man had a completely different aura to him. His presence was so distinct it felt out of place. He stood with a rigid posture.

A mask with three eyes.

He looked at me silently for a moment, then brought his hands together in front of him and bowed politely.

"I apologize. My brothers were disrespectful."

I stared at the cultist with the three-eyed mask for a moment.

I had to look up slightly. This guy was quite tall too. His shoulders were broad... almost as broad as the man with the one-eyed mask. I envied his impressive health and strength stats.

"......"

I intentionally kept my mouth shut and just shrugged my shoulders.

"Thank you for your understanding. There is a cult trying to harm us, so our brothers have been a bit on edge."

It was an eerie voice even when I heard it again.

I was a bit taken aback because this guy didn't have a dedicated voice when I played the game.

Thinking about it calmly, it could just be a very pleasant voice, but it was a bit excessive.

It was such an otherworldly and beautiful voice that it made me wonder if it was really a human sound.

"......."

After greeting me, the man with the three-eyed mask didn't just leave but stood there staring at me.

It was a strange atmosphere.

With everyone wearing masks, it was uncomfortable not being able to read their expressions. I realized how much I had benefited from reading people's expressions in conversations.

Just as I was beginning to feel uneasy, the man with the three-eyed mask finally turned around with his brothers.

I hope I don't see him again.

Seeing him again today was inevitable, but there was nothing good about the quests related to him and the Yellow Forest Church.

Getting involved with them meant dealing with a series of unpleasant quests that recreated all the worst aspects of real-life cults.

Anyway, is this preparation over?

I looked at the idiots from the Yellow Forest Church from a distance. They were in the same formation as before.

They were probably doing this to catch the [Sleepers of R'lyeh], the ones who served Cthulhu.

The [King in Yellow] and the [Sleepers of R'lyeh] were brothers and mortal enemies. Therefore, the cultists who served them generally followed their gods and opposed each other.

Double vigilance and all that.

I knew what they wanted to do from a distance, but I had to confront them to draw out that three-eyed guy.

Should I be glad it ended without drawing more attention?

Anyway, that made six markings.

Simply put, it was similar to what I did to Jang Hyeon-deok.

Of course, since these markings were much less dense, they couldn't have the absolute effect they did on Jang Hyeon-deok, but I could still cast spells on the marked ones whenever I wanted.

[Hazy Presence]

It was a spell that erased presence and individuality. I didn't cast it all at once like a fool.

I walked while gradually increasing the density of the invisibility to avoid drawing attention.

"But with everyone so distracted, I probably didn't even need the invisibility spell."

Even without the spell, it would have been hard to attract attention in this chaotic place.

Although there were no judges or elder cultists, there were over 100 people with strong magical power, and more than 200 if you counted the weaker ones gathered in this space.

Considering the shadows cast here and there, the Hazy Presence spell might have been overkill.

I found a place to wait for the main event with a more relaxed mind.

"This spot seems the best to stand."

At the edge of the event hall.

From here, I could see the stage where the frenzied performance continued.

Though the curtain behind me blocked my view.... I stretched out my hand and felt behind the curtain.

Hmm, there's definitely a pillar.

I leaned against the pillar hidden by the curtain and took a deep breath.

"Phew..."

I was indeed tired. I needed to conserve my mental and physical strength.

Due to the poorly designed layout of the event hall, I couldn't see the entire view. Still, it wasn't too bad. It was a convenient spot to observe the surroundings.

Although this was supposed to be a party for the judges, the important judges were nowhere to be seen. What caught my eye were merely the foolish initiates reveling in joy and madness.

Human sacrifices being killed in horrifying ways, blood flowing along the grooves on the floor, the flashing golden statues, cultists laughing maniacally, cultists baring huge fangs, cultists tearing into fresh meat dripping with blood, cultists showing off freshly plucked eyeballs, cultists immersed in ecstasy while emitting rainbow-colored smoke, and masked monsters mimicking humans as they roamed around the party.

Groups of people who couldn't walk the main streets in a normal way even without their masks gathered in threes and fives, and they just endlessly spouted their own crazy chatter.

Yes, the party had already reached its climax.

It seemed to have started suddenly when I was playing the game, but now it was clear.

The density of the magical power was changing.

"Seems like it's about to begin?"

Suddenly, the music stopped.

Now, all that could be heard from the stage was a quiet murmur without any music. It was a chant.

At some point, even the chanting stopped.

The inhuman banquet of the fools who have been selected as the best disciples in each sect and proudly followed the judges has not yet stopped.

They had no idea what awaited them.

"Ugh... Ugh, ugh!"

It all started with a cultist who had been tearing into raw meat dripping with blood.

Thud.

That was the sound of the raw meat in his hand falling to the floor.

"Ughhh... Ah, ahhh... Ahhh..."

Moans of ecstasy flowed from his throat.

Clang, clatter.

And that was the sound of the metal mask covering his face hitting the floor.

The face that had been hidden under the mask was revealed. A forehead, chin, and neck with grotesquely bulging veins. Blood-soaked lips.

And eyes unnaturally wide open.

His two large eyeballs moved independently. They rolled wildly in random directions. They were moving at such an excessively fast speed that they seemed about to pop out at any moment.

Anyone could see that he was in an abnormal state.

"Hey, what's wrong? What's happening?"

A fellow cultist approached him after he saw him exhibiting abnormal reactions. Despite his clearly strange appearance, the fellow cultist came closer to help. What an admirable reaction.

Or perhaps, it was a reaction only possible because cultists were accustomed to such bizarre phenomena.

If it were an ordinary person, they would have fled in terror. Foolish act. Fear is a defense mechanism that living beings have developed through long evolution to protect themselves.

The cultist with abnormal reactions staggered and swayed violently, then grabbed his fellow cultist's shoulder.

"Aaaahhhhhhh......"

"What? Need support?"

No, he didn't grab the shoulder because he needed support. It was a gesture to capture prey that had come too close.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......"

A mouth, no, a maw, opened beyond the limits allowed to humans.

"What? What, what is this?! Let go! You crazy......!"

He struggled to break free but he couldn't escape.

Crunch. Crack.

"Huh?"

Even with part of his forehead and frontal lobe torn away, he momentarily made a bewildered sound and trembled. Or, was he convulsing?

Splaash!!

.

A beat later, blood spurted out.

Thud.

The sound of a person collapsing.

Crunch, crack, snap.

The sound of chewing on flesh and bone fragments.

"Aaaaaah!!"

"W-what is that?!"

Sporadic screams erupted.

It was hard to believe that these were the same people who had been the stars of this inhuman banquet just moments ago, judging by their fully human reactions.