Chapter 39: Round Two

Escape? From what? Run? To where? Fight? With whom?

Dancers who were made from gold and shining brighter than the precious metal itself, maintained a precise distance from one another as they executed a synchronized and dazzling dance. Each grand movement of their limbs caused the golden silk wrapped around their bodies to billow dramatically.

The rocks that came into contact with the silk... they seemed to be sliced as if by a blade and fell away.

To the eye, it appeared merely as silk fluttering in the wind, but it possessed a magical, spiritual, surreal power, akin to a blade that cuts through everything it touches. The nature of the fluttering fabric mattered little.

The dance itself was a dance of death, brimming with madness and killing intent. Is that why I should escape this dance? Is he telling me to run away from this dance? Is it okay to fight this dance?

The golden whirlwind, swirling with the dance of death, approaches us, moving either slowly or at breakneck speed.

I may not know, but at least Jang Hyeon-deok is going to get caught up in this dance very soon and his body will be torn apart. Haha, that guy's about to meet his end.

No, destroy the number 13. Use magic. Just activate some kind of spell, anything!

Aaah! Yes! Yes! Yes! The dance itself doesn't matter! It's not the dance that's the issue, it's the number of dancers performing it. Why such an ominous and unlucky number? My hands are shaking. I must deal with this! This! Escape! Run! No, fight! Yes, let's destroy it! Use magic; activate the magic! I'll scatter them using magic!

[The unique feature of the S-rank accessory 'Ring of Corrupted Flame' has been activated. 'Red Element Concentration' and 'Legacy of Fire Knowledge' are triggered.

// Red Element Concentration: Increases the effectiveness of all fire-type spells by 50%.

// Legacy of Fire Knowledge: Enhances understanding of 'fire-type magic'.]

[Flame Eruption], [Fireball], [Lightning], [Protective Circle], [Crush], [Burning Spear], [Ignite], [Ember], [Rope Manipulation], [Body Manipulation: Specific Itching], [Ice Blast], [Gale], [Veil], [Leap], [Seed of Life], [Sparkling Dust], [Invisible Hand], [Creation: Raisin], [Ghastly Stare].

Boom! Crack! Whoosh! Fizz! Snap! Roar!

From my fingertips, all sorts of spells were unleashed in all sorts of ways and at the same time. Most of the activated spells either did not trigger properly or failed to trigger at all due to the lack of suitable targets.

Amidst this chaos, the few spells that did manage to activate caused everything within sight to flash, shake, burn, freeze, and explode! Everything was destroyed! Shattered! Annihilated! Everyone was dying!!!

Spinning, spinning around. Stars are visible. Am I looking up at the sky? Or am I lying on the ground? The world is spinning dizzyingly. Hahaha! My mind is reeling and my body feels unsteady. Who's there? Where am I?

Through the acrid smoke rising into the sky (perhaps from the fire I started?), a dancer wearing a golden mask emerged. In his (her?) hand, he (she?) held a sharp sword that emitted a deadly radiance.

Ding.

Snap out of it! Get your bearings! Dodge!

Ah, first telling me to fight, and now to dodge, what exactly am I supposed to do? I can't perform any action anyway. I've activated too many spells at once. My legs feel like they're attached to my shoulders, and my arms feel like they're stuck to my hips.

The blade was too close. Suddenly, the golden dancer's eerie mask was right before my nose. And the cold gleam of the blade in its hand flew towards my neck.

Somehow, I felt like bursting into laughter.

[The unique effect of the L-rank accessory 'Carcosa's Mask', 'Dreamy Blur', has been activated.

// Dreamy Blur: Automatically casts 'Blink' spell]

Although the golden dancer's blade was aimed precisely between my head and body, the moment the blade was about to touch me, the magic imbued in the mask activated.

With a bizarre sensation that felt like being pulled by the mask, my position shifted from where I originally stood to a spot five steps behind.

[Blink completed. Cooldown time: 864,000 seconds]

"Ugh, damn it. I thought I was a goner!"

Rough breathing, a rising urge to vomit, dizziness, and a severe headache made it feel like both my head and lungs were about to burst. It was a dreadful situation where not a single part of my body, head, mind, or soul seemed intact, but the worst was yet to come...

"Ugh... what's this?"

All the fingers on both hands were in a terrible state. The health +2 gloves I had spent a fortune on were rendered useless and destroyed, leaving my fingers completely exposed.

The skin was scorched black, and all the fingernails were shattered, with bright red blood oozing out. There were abnormal inflammations and swellings here and there... Ugh, fu*k. Some were even broken. I tried to remove the gloves with my trembling fingers, but they were too damaged. I managed to take off the gloves using my chin and teeth instead.

The gloves didn't so much come off as they disintegrated, and I casually tossed aside the remnants. The events that had just taken place slowly reconstructed themselves in my mind. It seemed that the indiscriminate casting of spells in my distortion had backfired.

But I did it.

"Ha! You did it, Kim Shin-hwa!"

I managed to survive until the distortion ended!

[Achievement Unlocked!

You have overcome your phobia and defeated the object of your fear.

You have earned the 'Advanced Achievement: Overcoming Fear'.

As a reward for the achievement, the phobia you have overcome is naturally cured and you will gain additional experience points.]

[System: 'Mental illness — Triskaidekaphobia' has been removed.]

Looking around, I saw areas ablaze, others shattered into pieces, and over there; wow~, a pillar of ice. There wasn't a single rock standing intact within a ten-meter radius, and even some rocks as far as thirty meters away were smashed to bits.

And then there was the small bell made of pure silver lying on the ground.

It was the Silver Bell of the Underworld I had acquired three days ago in the basement of the apartment complex in Munsan.

[Silver Bell of the Underworld (S-rank Magical Tool): A magical tool crafted from pure silver mined by ghouls.

Grants the owner tremendous magical power along with dreadful madness...]

No need to read any further.

[Pure Silver's Dominion: Automatically casts the 'Voice of Authority' spell on a designated target and increases the effect of 'Mind' spells by 100%.]

This was it.

This very ability.

Just before plunging into madness, I activated Pure Silver's Dominion to manipulate my own mind. Since it wasn't set in advance I couldn't completely block the side effects of the distortion, but I managed to somehow direct my magic to attack the enemy.

The haphazard spells I unleashed managed to take down at least one of the thirteen dancers, and from the moment their number ceased to be thirteen, my distortion began to dissipate.

Had the distortion lasted even slightly longer, I would have been decapitated by one of the dancer's attacks.

[System: Penalty trait 'Shattered Mind' is activated. Since you currently have only 1 mental illness, a random mental illness will manifest.]

"Aah, how diligent."

You damn bastards, whoever it is that's holding me in this world and messing with me, I swear I'll kill them if I catch them.

[System: 'Mental Illness—Ichthyophobia (fear of fish)' has been inflicted on your mind.]

"What?"

Wait, this isn't right. Come on, play fair!

In some ways, this phobia was worse than the number 13 one. It's not just about having one less option for lunch. In [Cthulhu World], this phobia is...

"K'hrrrrrr......!"

Aah, this was not the time for distractions. I hastily grabbed the silver bell, stuffed it into my backpack, and turned my attention towards the direction of the noise. There, just six paces away from where I stood, a creature loomed.

A creature of stunning beauty, its body shimmering like gold.

It bore a strange mask resembling the visage of a beast, its limbs were adorned with fluttering sharp silk, and it wielded jewel-encrusted swords.

This golden dancer was a servant of the [King in Yellow], a beautiful performer crafted from gold, a bodyguard to the king, and a high priest executing the will of the god.

The golden dancer clearly had a body that resembled a human, but it looked at me while making strange noises that could never be pronounced with human vocal structures.

It tilted its head slightly to the left while wearing a three-eyed beast mask that resembled the Mask of Carcosa I was wearing. One might describe it as a curious tilt, though it was uncertain if the golden dancer harbored any real thoughts in its head.

It was impossible to understand what it was thinking anyway. It was an entity with a thought process fundamentally alien to any intelligence known on Earth.

But one thing was clear. This bastard wanted me dead.

"R'haaarrrr... ... rhigh!!"

The golden dancer lifted one foot in a peculiar motion as if assuming the arabesque position of ballet. Then, while leaving behind a trail of golden afterimages, it surged towards me with relentless force.

Dingle, clatter, ding!

The jewels and ornaments dangling from the dancer's body clinked against its golden scales, creating a clamorous noise.

It possessed movements of transcendent beauty and exquisite grace, but the swords in its hands and the billowing silk around its body were not. Just brushing against either side would be a fatal attack.

[Protective Circle]

[Spell Enhancement: Multicasting]

It was an attack that couldn't simply be blocked.

I shaped the activated protective circle not as a wide barrier but as thin pillars, weaving them through the air to intersect the golden dancer's trajectory.

An invisible fence then materialized in the air. The dancer felt danger not through sight but through its instincts, and it attempted to change its course mid-air, but it was already too late.

Crackle!

I rapidly formed hand signs with my blackened hands, from which all my nails had been torn, and began to chant.

"It shall be the hammer of thunder that pounds hot iron."

The wasted magical power and scattered mental strength that happened to me during the distortion prevented the proper activation of [Casting Omission] and [Sign Omission] traits. So I had to do them.

The moment the signs and incantations that were engraved in my mind were completed, blue sparks began to erupt from the bleeding tips of my fingers. These sparks soon transformed into a pulsating, writhing, huge bolt of lightning.

Fzzzzzzzzt!

[Thunderstorm]

Rumbleeee!

With a fierce crackling sound, the lightning tore through the air, grazing the ground and shattering the stones in its path.

It then poured its bursting energy towards the dancer who was entangled in invisible pillars and struggling.

Zzzzzzzt!!!

"K'haarrrr! fhteii, rhurrrrgh!"

"Wail, spew forth. Your screams shall be an offering to the Lord of the night sky, the Lord of Fomalhaut."

Ah, I only realized how annoying this was when the traits were being omitted. But as the signs and incantations were completed, a sinister rumble began to emanate from beneath the ground.

[Firestorm]

As the ground beneath the golden dancer split open, flames erupted with the force of a volcanic explosion, shooting upwards in a brilliant red inferno.

Boooom!

The blast was deafening as if it could burst eardrums, and a dazzling pillar of flame engulfed the dancer's alien body made of gold.

The fire magic, whose power was amplified by the concentration of red elements, pierced through its body. It was not a spell that could be withstood by mere resilience.