Chapter 89: Hungry Stone Coffin (2)

I drew a line of magical power from the mana core inside my body and connected it to the hammer.

[Enchantment: Aggressiveness]

A single strand of magical power rapidly grew and spread its roots within the hammer.

Inside the hammer, a complex circuit of magical power swiftly took shape.

This too was a third-order magic.

It had the effect of forcibly infusing ordinary tools with magic and forcibly turning them into artifacts.

Of course, they couldn't be used indefinitely. The tools that were forcefully imbued with magic, would eventually break down as the magic within them degraded.

But that brief moment was enough.

[Forged from Ice]

Crack-crack-crack-crack!

The magical power within the hammer soon transformed into a large mass of ice.

This expanding pillar of ice became the handle, and then the head of a massive hammer.

Boom!

In an instant, it changed from a ceremonial tool to a weapon similar in size to the giant battle hammer that Kwak Dae-yong had previously wielded.

"And then..."

[Power Enhancement]

[Hardness Enhancement]

[Range Increase]

[Lethality Enhancement]

[Explosive Strike]

[Vital Point Strike]

Creeeak...

The hammer no longer retained its ordinary form.

Due to the excessive concentration of magical power, the hammer deteriorated in a grotesque way, and magic circles that were not originally there were blooming on the surface.

"Then..."

The stone coffin continued to struggle with the same intensity to break free from the ghosts.

So fierce was its determination that more than half of the arms entwining it had already vanished.

Now, about the approaches I could take with this bastard...

There were about five different approaches.

Simply smashing it, banishing it to another dimension, removing the soul housed within to turn it into a typical artifact...

But the most useful strategy in the long run is this one.

"Let's smash it!"

Though I applied enchantment magic, there are clear limitations with my strength stat of 8.

Therefore, I brought in several of the ghostly arms that were entangled with the stone coffin's body and made them swing the hammer with me.

Boom!

The massive ice hammer swung like a flash of lightning.

The stone coffin couldn't dodge. It was tangled in the hands of the ghosts and was struck directly.

The impact was substantial enough that the hefty weight of the stone coffin shook and lifted into the air.

Right, with all the buffs on me, it's only expected to have this much power.

The stone coffin, knocked away by the strike, bounced back up to attack me again, but...

Boom! Crash! Crack, boom!

From that point onward, the scene devolved into indiscriminate pounding.

Each time I swung the hammer, it sounded as if mountains were collapsing.

The stone coffin was unable to put up much resistance and rolled around the basement several times.

Yet despite this, the stone coffin charged at me again with stubborn ferocity.

"Then take some more!"

Baaaang!! Baaaang! Baaaaaaang!

"Heave... heave... Indeed, this is not a task for my body."

Even with all the buffs, it was still so tiring... Though I also had the intention of testing the third-order buffs.

I concluded that even if I gained other buffs, I should avoid such actions as much as possible.

But even amidst this, the stone coffin relentlessly flew at me.

"It's too hard! And not efficient!"

Baaaang!!

Baaaaaaang! Warururuk! Wararak!

"Oh, no..."

The launched stone coffin unfortunately crashed into a shelf stacked with vials.

The vials on the shelf toppled down, releasing a loud noise and emitting a brilliantly unpleasant smoke. And then...

Bang!! Boom! Kwaboom!!

I wasn't sure what effects were in the vials, but some began to explode.

"Wow, what a mess. Want to go again?"

It seemed that the stone creature was finally realizing that it could not defeat me.

Instead of charging again, it took a different action.

Creaaaaaaaak... Creaaaaaaaaaaaaak...

The stone coffin which had no way to make a voice made the sound of stones grinding against the lid.

It was similar to a beast growling.

"What are you going to do if you growl at me!"

After a few more hits, the stone coffin was thoroughly subdued.

It lost the will to resist and became docile, but that wasn't enough.

If I just wanted to subdue it, there were many ways to do so without the trouble of beating it.

I extended my hand towards the stone coffin and activated a special trait.

[Hidden Trait 'Heir of the Corpse Pile' activated.]

This was not magic.

It was a hidden trait gained by absorbing the 'Echo of Suffocation' from the Hollow Lord.

****

[Heir of the Corpse Pile]: You can turn otherworldly beings that have submitted to you into your minions.

/The followers of the Leader of Suffocation will obey you.

****

Charrararuk—Shririririk—.

Magical reins and chains sprouted from the "Echo of Suffocation" residing in my soul and wrapped around the stone coffin.

['Magical Storage - Hungry Stone Coffin' resists your trait with its willpower.]

[Subjugation check in progress...]

[Check successful! 'Magical Storage - Hungry Stone Coffin' recognizes the 'Echo of Suffocation' within you and submits to your power.]

Paahat—.

The magical symbols on the surface of the stone coffin writhed and began to change shape.

Eventually, the symbols transformed to reflect the form of my soul and magical power pattern.

Now, this stone coffin was also my possession.

[Achievement Unlocked! You have subdued 'Magical Storage - Hungry Stone Coffin'. You have acquired 'Achievement: Magic Box'.

As a reward for the achievement, you gain all items stored inside the coffin and additional experience points.]

Now, the emotions I sensed from it were fear, submission, frustration, and slight anger...that's about it

"It's not like I'm taming a wild horse..."

But I have thoroughly tamed this stone coffin. You will serve as my vault.

"Hey, open up."

The stone coffin flinched. It had an ambiguous shape to understand its expressions... but I could feel a surprised, or rather a slightly prickly emotion.

"Open, I said. I'm your master now."

The stone coffin trembled for a moment before slowly opening its lid.

Creaaaak...

When it opened its mouth... No, I mean its lid, there was a large space, big enough to cram in a few people.

And from within that space, the items stored there greeted me with dazzling brilliance.

"Hmm, I definitely like this."

The wealth that Mr. Bones (The Hollow Lord) has accumulated over 150 years is now all mine.

Come to think of it, did I ever ramble about achieving financial freedom after accumulating millions?

"Hey, past Kim Shin-hwa. You should be ashamed. So ashamed."

Tonight, I'll likely sleep soundly and dream of counting money.

***

A day had passed.

[System: The unique trait 'Madness of the Abyss' has been activated. The effect of the nightmare has been nullified.]

"Ugh... my head hurts..."

I hadn't slept properly, and it resulted in a headache.

"Ah, it feels like I've been drinking."

A terrible nightmare that returned after a long absence had kept me awake.

This was because Heo Sang-hyeon had taken away the Ancient God's Mirror which had been protecting me from nightmares until now.

I tried not to think deeply about it, but just recalling that thought brought a slight irritation.

I glanced up at the second floor where Heo Sang-hyeon was likely sleeping and gritted my teeth.

"Tch..."

Right, it wasn't Heo Sang-hyeon's fault.

Choosing to save Heo Sang-hyeon meant I had essentially chosen these nightmares.

I sighed briefly and began the task I had planned the night before.

Creak! Click! Squeak!

Strange noises came from all around.

These were the sounds of the necromancy golems tidying up the mansion.

Today was the day for a thorough cleaning.

The [Hungry Mansion] had become my new base since yesterday.

This living room is located on the first floor of that mansion.

"Right, move that over there. Hey, that won't do. Bring a mop and start by cleaning the floor."

Creak, creak, clack, rattle.

As soon as I somewhat gathered myself from the nightmare, I awakened all the necromancy golems in the mansion.

Though born as monsters to attack intruders in the mansion, they were now serving as workers to improve the living conditions of the mansion.

For the sake of work efficiency, I also reconfigured the bodies of some golems.

For example, there was one with a whip and a broom where its hands should be.

A necromancy golem with four arms was rearranging a cabinet that had spilled its contents, and a large-bodied necromancy golem was moving a sofa.

Others were cleaning windows, waxing the hallway, and mending curtains, among various tasks.

The cleaning had been ongoing for almost half a day yet the living room and hallway had not completely escaped their previously gloomy atmosphere.

"Anyway, this is a house haunted by a 150-year-old ghost... No, this isn't an order. Continue what you were doing."

This Hungry Mansion was a malevolent space filled with centuries of madness and dark energy.

No amount of diligent cleaning in a day or two could transform this mansion into a plausible country house.

Considering such aspects and lowering my expectations considerably, if I looked around the mansion again... I could now barely give it a clean bill of health.

Necromancy golems of various forms were busily moving throughout the interior of the mansion.

And as vigorously as the necromancy golems moved, the unpleasant noise they generated filled every corner of the mansion.

Screech, squeak, creak! Squeak, squeak!

It's not a pleasant sound.

Since their bodies were composed of various bits and pieces, it seems unlikely that any improvement would eliminate that noise.

Maybe it would help to change the operational mechanism? Perhaps inserting bearings at each joint...

But before that, there's still a mountain of things that need organizing.

For example... the second floor.

I climbed the stairs to the second floor.

There are a total of four rooms on the second floor.

And there is a staircase leading up from the second floor.

Climbing that staircase takes you to an attic that is a bit difficult to call the third floor.

However, the attic was of no significant importance even in the game.

Is there just an infiltration path leading to the attic?

If above the attic means the roof, there was a window leading to it.

This was only used once when infiltrating the mansion in the game. It was likely just an element to provide various play experiences.

Anyway, I don't have the energy to fix such a meaningless attic.

For now, the focus was on the first and second floors and the basement. These areas alone covered almost 200 pyeong (unit).

Moreover, although I forcibly squeezed in a rough sleep yesterday, if I wanted to sleep comfortably tonight, I needed to quickly clean up the second floor.

Worms with human-face patterns on their bodies emerged, spirits that still stubbornly remained in the mansion created unpleasant noises, and fully skeletonized corpses appeared from under the beds.

Honestly, even without the presence of abyssal beings, it was a space where one couldn't sleep normally.

"Hmm, things are going well here too."

As I surveyed the second floor, a few necromancy golems were busily moving around and tidying up each room.

Just as I was inspecting the space I had mentally designated as my room, I briefly turned my gaze to the room next door.

"Hmm... but what should I do about this one..."

Heo Sang-hyeon was sleeping in this room.

While one necromancy golem was busy cleaning the room, Heo Sang-hyeon lay there without any movement.

To such an extent that... he seemed not even to be breathing.

His complexion was as pale as a corpse, dark circles were deeply etched under his eyes, and a sense of death was intuitively intense around him.

I briefly manipulated magical power to check on Heo Sang-hyeon's condition.

[System: The effect of Heavenly Divine Qi is active.

// Heavenly Divine Qi: Automatically casts the 'Healing Meditation' spell on a chosen target and increases the effect of rest by 100%.]

In reality, he was dead a long time ago.

His soul was forcibly trapped in his body by the power of necromancy.

Now, the mirror hanging around his neck was forcefully preventing his soul from reaching Buddhahood.

He wasn't alive, but it was also difficult to say that he was completely dead.

"I can't sleep without it."

The mirror was keeping Heo Sang-hyeon from dying.

And if I wanted to sleep comfortably, I needed that mirror. Not tidying up my room.

Originally, the mirror was not created to keep Heo Sang-hyeon asleep like this.

It was made to prevent my recurring nightmares.

What to do? Should I just endure another vivid nightmare tonight?

Or should I start making a new replacement for the mirror right away?