Four days have passed since that day.
A great many things happened in those four days, yet in a sense, nothing happened at all.
In fact, I spent most of those four days doing almost nothing.
I took care of various cleanups, rested, and the als Hyo prepared were still delicious.
I even took a day to visit a psychiatry clinic for counseling (not Paju Central Hospital, but a completely ordinary hospital that’s never appeared in the ga).
Even while doing all that, I observed, confird, pondered, reflected, researched, and analyzed many things.
And I spent a long ti contemplating the incident that occurred that day. Yes, that day.
It took the full four days just to ntally organize the sights I saw and experienced in Cheontaedong.
The reason I’m writing it down in text is to record what I sorted out in my mind in a “fully sane” state, so I can once again trace it objectively.
Before I begin the main account, there is sothing I must make clear. It may not matter to others, but it matters greatly to .
Today’s date is June 14.
My na is Kim Sinhwa.
There is no need for special doubt about this.
And one more important thing.
To avoid any misunderstanding, I will state it plainly.
Right now I am writing this with the clearest, most intact mind I’ve had in recent mory.
This is not an uncertain self-diagnosis that a madman might make. There has been a diagnosis and confirmation of my ntal soundness by authoritative figures. (I will explain who diagnosed and confird later—but it’s unlikely anyone could hold greater authority.) Again, I state clearly: I am in the most “normal” state I have been in recently.
Moreover, whatever groans and rustlings those things—whether fragnts of my shattered psyche or another persona—made have completely ceased for these past four days.
Therefore I am writing this entirely under my °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° own ntal clarity and will, without any external (or internal) influence.
However, the incident in Cheontaedong that day was so bizarre that it defies full description in words.
Even I, the “sole witness” at the center of that event, was too broken at the ti to understand or analyze it in a calm, objective way.
Thus, when this is read later, it requires great caution.
It’s not that I’m considering other readers.
After all, this is a kind of diary. I don’t expect anyone but myself to read this.
But from past experience, I cannot guarantee that the future version of who reads this will be in a sound state, so I add these multiple warnings.
Do you understand what I’ve written so far?
If you can read and interpret these words, that’s encouraging. If you’re careful not to break further, you might find a way to get better.
All right. Now for the main topic.
Let’s see—what scene should I start describing?
Co to think of it, this morning Jang Hyundeok asked this question:
“Wizard, is your head okay?”
He imdiately corrected himself with “Oops, my mistake. I ant, are you feeling all right?” I asked him several tis what he had thought, but he seed unable to understand why he’d asked that.
I asked Hyeolhu a similar question, and he rely replied, “You an my head is going to explode?”
Yes.
It’s best to start with the head.
The moon warped, and a massive ssage window appeared in the sky.
And before the shock of that even subsided, the sky tore open and “it” revealed itself.
Just before I could fully perceive the form that had appeared—
There was a bang from my left, like sothing exploding.
With a shoving force I was pushed aside, and a nauseating, slippery fluid covered my left side. Lukewarm liquid and slick sli ran down my arm and neck.
And sothing as tenacious as clay, but bright red.
Foolishly, I briefly lost my focus from “it” to check what had thrown aside.
It was Hyeolhu.
But I didn’t imdiately recognize him. I think I just stared at that form dumbly.
After a breath, I realized Hyeolhu’s head was gone, and the fragnts splattered on were pieces of his skull.
Had he burst his head in shock?
Or perhaps it was so ability of the Abyssal Entity [Predator of the Mountains].
Or maybe Hyeolhu, unable to accept the true form of [Predator of the Mountains], had killed himself by bursting his own head.
Whichever it was, it didn’t matter anymore. At the ti, I thought he had killed himself, and I felt a vague fury mixed with the impulse to do the sa, and I lifted my head again.
At that mont I was caught in the simplest thoughts: “It’s in the sky? It’s flying? Oh, that pisses off?”
Now, recalling that scene, I rember what the [Quiet Watcher] once told . It went exactly like this:
“Kim Sinhwa, do you know how deeply I must bend my body so you can understand in the form you recognize? How do you speak with an ant?”
Yes, that was said.
To crouch the body. But that day in Cheontaedong, [Predator of the Mountains] did not crouch; it simply entered this [Cthulhu World] by its true power.
[Predator of the Mountains] is a potent Abyssal Entity. But if you compare the [Predator of the Mountains] depicted in this ga, [Cthulhu World], to other Abyssal Entities—
It’s a bit high for a lesser entity, and low for a major one—mid?
Mid-low is probably the right placent.
Countless Abyssal Entities can perform far more trendous miracles and wonders than [Predator of the Mountains], and I have witnessed the miracles they wrought in this ga, and seen their forms of destruction countless tis.
But what [Predator of the Mountains] showed that day was nothing like the power expressed in the ga.
It was not the crude, degraded, childish force crudely implented through the ga’s limited dium.
It was not the paltry form of [Blood Demon King] or [Quiet Watcher] or [Fear Drinker] or [Shang Dubu] as portrayed in the ga—and it was not sothing you could even call [Predator of the Mountains].
Its true na...
True na... ... ... ... ... ← I write this so that if a less sane version of reads this later, he won’t mistake it for a code—it’s just my pen smudge.
No matter how hard I try, I cannot rember.
I definitely shouted its true na back then.
But now I cannot recall its true na at all.
It’s not a re loss of mory.
It seems its true na has vanished from this world.
That penalty the entity declared beyond the ssage window must be this.
Ah, stating the conclusion first might confuse later .
Seeing how my thoughts keep wandering, I clearly still resist recalling what I saw.
The overwhelming presence that revealed itself—its form was truly wondrous, so overwhelming that it inflicted irreparable wounds on my spirit and mind.
It is impossible to describe concretely what I saw.
Because delirium activated.
[Abyssal Madness]?
Yes, that trait triggered.
The [Abyssal Madness] trait unleashed the strongest sparks I’d ever emitted, forcibly restoring my shattered mind.
But the true form of “it” revealed itself faster than my mind could recover, and relentlessly drove into a horrific delirium.
The pain was so agonizing that dying might have been preferable.
Or at least going mad to the point of no return.
Yet [Abyssal Madness] clung to my mind like a devil determined to keep a soul trapped in the abyssal hell.
The grueso spectacle before splintered my mind and shattered my soul. Then the trait restored that broken mind and soul so I could face the horror again.
Unrelenting destruction and cruel restoration, repeated endlessly, generated unspeakable tornt.
The thing that approached then—should I call it the spectacle I saw, or “it”? Or [Abyssal Entity]?
The true form those things must not reveal?
I’m glad I’m writing this down. I feel I’m getting closer to the source.
But describing it abstractly risks confusing future —still, I’ll keep calling it [Predator of the Mountains] despite the inaccuracy.
If I attempt to express even a hint of [Predator of the Mountains]’ true form in words, it would go like this:
Please forgive the absurd expressions and abstract descriptions. Honestly, I can barely recall its proper form, let alone describe it.
The first thing I perceived of [Predator of the Mountains] was its enormous eyes.
Eyes larger than the moon.
And next to that, another eye larger than the moon.
And next to that, yet another eye larger than the moon.
And next to that another eye, and another, and another—endless giant eyeballs forming a vast eye-path.
No, it’s closer to a “line,” isn’t it?
Since seeing the whole was nearly impossible, I called it a “line,” but it was probably an imnse “ring.”
Each eyeball moved of its own accord, blinking or rolling in its own eyelid.
Those endless eyeballs ford a colossal circular ring that could cover the world; inside that ring was another ring of eyeballs, and inside that another ring.
How many rings [Predator of the Mountains] had, I cannot recall.
Perhaps between ten and a hundred.
Each ring rotated or shifted position in its own direction, and each eyeball held vast knowledge, wisdom, authority, power, and mana—and an absurd, trendous mass.
At the sa ti, a ssage was displayed in the sky.
[System: If you continue to ignore the rules, penalties will be imposed.]
Thanks to that ssage window, I discovered one fact.
Ridiculously, I had only thought of [Predator of the Mountains] as “a huge thing floating in the sky” = “it’s flying? I’m angry?” nothing more.
Only two days later, based on that ssage window’s position and size, I could calculate how enormous [Predator of the Mountains] really was.
If I—the future reading this—ever forget that size and mass, pay close attention to what I write next.
My earlier description of “eyes larger than the moon” is no taphor.
Those rings of giant eyeballs—[Predator of the Mountains]—had not yet reached Earth by that point.
It still drifted in space at roughly the moon’s distance. Each eyeball was the size of or larger than the moon.
Eyeballs countless—tens of thousands or hundreds of millions—ford rings. And there were hundreds of such rings.
Could you calculate the total size from that? With a functioning Intelligence stat, it wouldn’t be hard.
Then, in the next mont—
With a shock that felt like the entire Earth might shatter—
It began slowly approaching Earth.
Simultaneously, another huge ssage window appeared.
Like a barrier to block its advance, it spanned across [Predator of the Mountains].
[System: Do not approach further. This is your final warning.]
But [Predator of the Mountains] did not alter its movent. In an instant it shattered the ssage-barrier and drew even closer to Earth.
And in the next mont, I realized that gravity existed on that colossal body of [Predator of the Mountains].
With a crashing sound, everything in Cheontaedong was drawn toward [Predator of the Mountains].
Boulders scattered across Cheontaedong soared upward, the waters of Ballang Reservoir shot skyward, the cultists’ temporary structures crumbled to dust and were pulled in, and the headless corpses strewn about flailed limbs as they flew upward.
I, too, was drawn by the gravity.
On the brink of delirium, I hurled every curse at the sky, resisting the gravity it generated.
It was “flying.”
At that ti, I had a phobia of flight.
I could not accept flight.
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