Chapter 5: Phobia
Jiiiiiig!
Jiiiiiig!
Jiiiiiieeeeeeg!
A pattern where if you get beaten up enough, you summon your minions to fight with you.
Indeed, that was the case, but the mother creature remained motionless.
It seemed to have died instantly from that earlier attack. If so, dealing with these offspring should be the end of it.
Damn it, if its dead, it should be over. Why summon minions and then die?
I wanted to finish this quickly and get outside.
The [Veil of Darkness] spell made the hidden, pitch-black area hard to see, but as the tumors on that creatures neck burst, small ra baby squeakers started pouring out.
Since these things were smaller, they were much weaker than their mother, but they resembled that creature even more closely. If I hadnt covered the place in shadows beforehand, I would have certainly fallen into a state of delirium.
[Mental illness Musophobia].
From now on. Do I really have to go through this mayhem every time I encounter a monster resembling those creatures? I need to find a way to change this mental illness into something else
Here they come. Have they transformed?
The offspring, shrouded in the black veil of darkness, began to creep closer. The mother creature still didnt move. It must be truly dead.
Theres no need to deal with these creatures one by one. Theyre just early-stage monsters without any proper magical resistance.
But theres too much cover here. And Ah! I need to deal with this before they move out of the shadowed area!
I extended my hand and projected my magical power onto an object far away.
[Entangling Rope]
The entrails that spilled from the body of the monster which had been destroyed by my spell began to move.
These intertwined intestines, entangled by my magical power, started writhing like serpents with a will of their own.
My target was one, two, three twelve in total! Since they were shrouded in shadows, the specific forms of my targets were of no consequence.
Bundles of entrails were launched towards the twelve targets, enacted by my will.
Ensnare my enemies!
Jiijiig.
Jiiiiiig!
Jiiiiiig!
The grotesque forms of the entrails entwined around all my enemies. Of course, this restraint wouldnt last long; it was so fragile that even a slight struggle by them would be enough to break free.
But this is enough. Preventing them from scattering and attacking from outside the shadowed area I had created was more important. Some began to break free from the entrails, but, in any case, I had succeeded in slowing their movement.
[Intestinal Collapse]
[Spell Enhancement: Deadly Poison]
This was a curse that caused the targets intestines to necrotize and liquefy. Quite a horrific effect for a spell of the zero-order.
Using such a spell on a living being might be hindered by the basic resistance inherent to living organisms. But my intended target was not the living beings but the other entrails moving at my will.
Sometimes, you come across such spells.
But I didnt use the entrails because I liked gore or anything like that. Among the [Evil Alignment] spells, there are those powerful in effect but damaging to the casters psyche.
My sanity level was displayed in the game, but I cant check it here.
I guess the design seemed to aim for a highly effective yet mentally taxing spell concept.
But I was a [Mage Gazing into the Abyss], so I was protected from mental damage caused by using such spells thanks to the unique trait called [Madness of the Abyss].
The entrails entangling my enemies soon became inflamed with a dreadful pus.
The bundle of entrails transformed into a deadly, poisonous liquid that infected my enemies.
The poisoned wretches those creatures screamed terribly, glowing as they writhed. Amidst this, a few charged at me, but
Hey, dont come out of the shadows. [Shock]
A simple shock spell was sufficient to repel them.
As time passed, they could no longer withstand the deadly poison emitted by the sticky venom and began to scream.
Kieeek!
Kweeek!
Kuaaaa!
The unsettling howls that sounded more like human screams than beastly roars echoed around the place.
It was a horrifying scene, reminiscent of a corner of hell.
Ugh. Its not exactly a pleasant sight.
I must clarify again, its not my taste for gore that led me to this. I simply chose the most efficient spells available to me.
Before long, the underground warehouse fell completely silent.
Is everything taken care of now?
Before I could even finish my thought, a new message appeared in the air.
[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 Musophobia (Fear of Rats) has been removed.]
Overcoming a phobia?
Can it even be considered overcome just by forcefully dealing with it like this?
I felt a little awkward in this situation, but I welcomed the disappearance of one of the most uncomfortable forms of mental illnesses.
I deactivated the [Veil of Darkness] to verify if it was truly removed. There lay the rat monsters, entangled and dead, amidst the poisonous mucus and the blood they had vomited. Rat monsters, rat scum, rats, rats
Rats rats, rats, rats
Great! I can say what they are! Ive escaped the curse of these damned rats!
I was so elated that I found myself pointing at the corpses of the rats and laughing triumphantly for a whole while.
[System: Penalty trait Shattered Mind activated. Since you currently have only 1 mental illness, a random mental illness will manifest.]
Ah, was it just a fleeting moment of happiness?Couldnt you let me enjoy it a little longer
Oh, will something else random occur now?
Please, let it be something good something good
[System: Mental illness Triskaidekaphobia (Fear of the number 13) has been inflicted upon your mind.]
Thir tee what?
What kind of ridiculous phobia is that? Who in their right mind would fear the number thats one more than twelve?
Ah, sh*t, its terrifying.
Its not so much fear, but you know, like in South Korea where elevators have an F button instead of 4. I had that kind of feeling right now, only a million times stronger. The number one less than fourteen feels incredibly ominous.
(TN: for those that dont know, the number 4 sounds like the hanja for death (). Number four is also synonymous with bad luck and death in many other Asian countries.)
Im not sure which is more ridiculous, fearing rats or the number thats ten. plus fourbut at least a number wont come to attack me like the rats, so it seems slightly better.
Anyway, I should take the magic stone before escaping.
There must be a high-purity magic stone inside the mother rat. Lets see
The bodies of the twelve baby rats sprawled around the mother Wait, that means
The number of them
Oh, so its one mother plus twelve babies.
Damn it. I made a point not to look in the direction where those things lay scattered as I headed toward the elevator.
Now was not the time to worry about gathering magic stones.
Especially since the bodies of those grotesque monsters were already unnerving, I didnt want to linger any longer in a place where they lay in such an ominous number.
When I pressed the elevator button.it opened with an unpleasant creaking sound.
Inside the elevator, several long-abandoned corpses were decaying, and they were emitting a horrendous smell.
Ughh excuse me.
They were obviously beyond any help.
With no space to step, I nudged the nearest body with my foot to make room and stepped in.
As I pushed the body aside, a few centipedes crawled out from its skull amidst some bizarre slime.
Well its unpleasant, but nothing particularly out of the ordinary.
Even the smell was barely tolerable.
While the sight was shocking, it didnt evoke any special emotional reaction in me. I simply pressed the button to go to the ground.
I saw my reflection in the elevator mirror.
Wearing a pure white straitjacket and covered with a paper bag with holes in it
Ugh, no matter how you look at it, Im a high-grade lunatic.
I thought so myself, and others would probably think even worse. At best, I looked like a dangerous experiment that had escaped from some lab.
But there was nothing I could do. An incurable madness was growing within my mind.
While I was lost in those thoughts, the elevator eventually reached the ground.
Now there is nothing stopping me.
If there was anything hindering my progress, it would be the chain and lock hanging on the door.
The player should naturally obtain a key while searching the inside of the facility, but since I skipped the entire process, I didnt have the key.
I could use magic to rip the door off its hinges if I really wanted to but is that necessary?
Oh, now that I think about it, I might be able to get one more achievement.
I released the little remaining magical power I had left and fumbled around with the lock.
It wasnt through sight, but through touch and a sense beyond that, that I discerned the internal structure of the lock.
It was a plain lock, the kind youd find on a ceremonial door, with no magical defenses.
I carefully converted my finely tuned magical power into a precise amount of physical force to manipulate the inner workings of the lock.
Click, clank.
Good. Looks like anything is possible.
Actually, this was an important experiment. Without the ability for delicate control and precise power adjustment, I would have either broken the lock or crushed it, making it impossible to open.
In the world of [Cthulhu World], there are far more beings beyond just monsters. No matter how much magical power you have, you wouldnt survive if all you could do was pour out raw magical power.
Fortunately, my magical talent wasnt just limited to having a lot of magical power.
[Achievement Unlocked! You have unlocked a laboratory lock without the key.
You have gained the General Achievement: Locksmith Expert.
As a reward for this achievement, you have acquired the Precise Dexterity trait and additional experience points.]
This was just the beginning.
I would become capable of not just what I could imagine but also what I couldnt imagine.
As the door opened, a chilly night breeze flowed into the stale air of the laboratory. It was late, or almost dawn perhaps?
Although there was a slight delay due to my fear of rats, I figured I still had enough time to earn another achievement.
[Achievement Unlocked! You have escaped the laboratory faster than anyone else.
You have gained the General Achievement: Lab Speedrunner
As a reward for this achievement, you have acquired the Short-Range Shift trait and additional experience points.]
Alright.
Now, I was outside.
In the mid-slopes of Geumjeongsanin Paju City, Gyeonggi Province.
Behind me was the entrance to the [K-3675 Secret Research Facility], hidden by trees and rocks and in front of me a vast city of immense size unfolded below the mountain.
No matter which direction I turned my head, the city seemed endless, and even in this blue dawn, there was no place untouched by the city lights.
It was a spectacle as dazzling as opening a giant jewel box.
If I were to recite the games setting after the Great Collapse, an event where beings from another world infiltrated reality, North Korea and the surrounding countries had pretty much fallen apart.
Since Korea was in a relatively better situation, it had undergone tremendous changes by absorbing magic stones and otherworldly technology from the bodies of monsters.
The discovery of special abilities, the use of magic stones, and the endless influx of refugees.
And the madmen who flock there for adventure, madness, and to make a fortune.
Faced with unprecedented chaos and prosperity, Korean cities turned into monsters.
A monster that grows endlessly, devours humans and spits out gold and magic stones.
That was the monster before me, Paju of [Cthulhu World].
Wow, to think Id actually see this opening scene Ive watched hundreds of times in real life
A typical landscape hinting at a vast open-world field waiting for me.
And at that moment, the main title should have appeared in the sky, and the scenario text would have been displayed.
[You have successfully escaped an unknown research facility. However, you have no memories, nothing at all]
Is it really coming? That familiar content Wait, what?
Crackle, crackle
As the text slowly appeared, a bright blue spark ignited, and instead of the content I was familiar with, something entirely different began to show.
[You have successfully escaped a research facility you already know about. You have no interest in regaining your memories or uncovering the secrets of the facility because you already know a lot.]
Whats this?
[Aberrant researchers and the indescribably grotesque monsters they summoned stood in your way, but you defeated them with your incredible wisdom, knowledge, and powerful magic. You had secured your safety through your own strength!]
[You have escaped the K-3675 Secret Research Facility. Experience points gained.]
[You have accumulated enough experience to advance to the next level. Your level increases by 1.]
[You have defeated a zombie. Your understanding of Undead creatures has increased.]
[You have defeated mutant rats (12). Your understanding of Mutant Creatures has increased.]
[You have defeated a giant mutant rat. Your understanding of Mutant Creatures has significantly increased.]
[You have accumulated enough experience to advance to the next level. Your level increases by 2.]
[Discovery: You have acquired a secret item (1) from the laboratory. Experience points gained.]
[Discovery: You have found a secret space. Experience points gained.]
[Experience Bonus: You have achieved a total of (3) achievements in the K-3675 Secret Research Facility.]
[You have accumulated enough experience to advance to the next level. Your level increases by 1.]
[You have reached level 5! As a level achievement reward, you receive 1 bonus stat point to distribute freely.]
[Even though you know a lot, you feel lost about where to go next. As you already know, the body you inhabit has no identity. A sudden concern for survival emerges, and you feel an overwhelming sense of uncertainty about the future. Nevertheless, you must move forward in order to survive. You already know what death in this world entails.
Now, a chaotic future awaits you.]
Shall we give it a try?
I didnt know which bastard that was, but someone was watching me.
It seemed likely that this was the same entity who had brought me here. Could this be a scheme of Nyarlathotep?
No, this had to be Nyarlathotep himself.
Nyarlathotep was one of the abyssal beings in the world of [Cthulhu].
Endless influence and grotesquely twisted malice that spans the entire world, no, the entire universe and all timelines
A chaotic being with countless masks and numerous aliases.
He was Nyarlathotep.
Among the busy abyssal beings, Nyarlathotep was the only one who would whimsically kidnap a human from another world, just to throw them somewhere and observe them.
Hey, you! Bastard Youre Nyarla, right? It has to be you Nyarla!
[No.]
This bastard!!
The message window vanished as if fleeing.
Many Outer Gods would curse or penalize those who called them by their true names. However, these entities varied greatly in character and taste. Some were indifferent to being named, while others actually enjoyed it.
Nyarlathotep belonged to the latter category.
With over a thousand avatars and corresponding names, he hardly cared about being called by one or two of them.
Unlike other deities who considered humans no more than bugs or chess pieces, Nyarlathotep showed a peculiar interest in humans and even had a sense of humor of sorts.
Of course, his idea of humor, stemming from an utterly alien sense of wit, was so bizarre that those who became the butt of his jokes often wished for death over enduring his terrifying pranks.
The more I thought about it, the stranger it would be if Nyarlathotep wasnt the one involved in all this
Haah.
I couldnt help but sigh, but there was no other way.
For a moment, I contemplated shattering the expectations of those scheming against me by fleeing to Incheon or abroad, but I realized that would accomplish nothing.
I needed to be fully prepared. The most urgent matter was to address the problem of my horrendously poor physical strength.
I decided to allocate my newly acquired bonus stat point to my strength.
****
Kim Shin-hwa
Class: Mage Gazing into the Abyss
Level: 5
Magic Order: Zero Order
Mental illness: [Mask Obsession], [Triskaidekaphobia (Fear of the Number 13)]
Strength: 5
Health: 5
Agility: 8
Intelligence: 30
Mental Strength: 14
Charm: 16
****
Whether its a 4 or a 5, both are equally dismal, but its better than having none at all.
Its time to descend from the mountain.
The city of hope, peace and madness awaited me.
Paju was awaiting.
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