He had already sustained a fatal injury and lost his artifact.
Whats this, youve co to your senses?
Khaaaak. Ptui.
Instead of answering, he spat out a clot of blood and then raised his saw.
You have a hole in your stomach, and you still want to continue?
It is true that I montarily lost control of my mind, but the knowledge I have co to understand is not false. This world is a hell on the brink of destruction. For those who cannot escape, what remains is a life worse than death. There is only the terrible despair of neither death nor life.
Hmm I have sothing I want to ask about that.
Are you crazy, Kim Shin-hwa? Do you have no sense of the situation?
The voice of Curtain Call rose up sharply. Oh, please. Anyway, I still have questions that need to be resolved.
But Je Mu-gyeong responded with a firm voice.
All I want from you is your skin.
Ah, this guy is really crazy. Still harping on about the skin?
He seed to have broken free from his delirium, yet his obsession and madness had not faded.
He had gazed into the abyss in his own way.
Let tell you sothing, though I know what you seek in the USB you took from . What lies beyond will be of no help to you.
What did he an? Ah, I see. I understand now.
I realized why Je Mu-gyeong was waiting for in a state of madness even more intense than what I had seen in the ga.
Je Mu-gyeong! You saw that book.in the basent, didnt you?
Among the hidden rewards available in this hospital was a grimoire.
I even rember the title clearly.
It was called The Silent Scripture of the Dreaming Path.
The ssage window at that ti had described it as a book containing information about the afterlife and the world of dreams and how to achieve enlightennt.
The powers it conferred, and the madness it induced, were far more extre than anything portrayed by the gas lore.
It was unmistakable that the knowledge gained from reading that book had led to his current state.
That book I should not have read it There is knowledge in this world that we do not need to possess, knowledge that is unnecessary for living in this world From the knowledge in that book, I beca aware of the power of dinsional species and heard the voices coming from the abyss
This was a world in [Cthulhu World] that was completely different from the world I lived in.
In this place, there were only hideous truths and wisdom steeped in despair.
Premature enlightennt does nothing but shatter fragile minds.
Now, he is pleading with to end his life.
If I refuse, I might find myself killed with my skin stripped away.
Perhaps, as he believes, flaying my skin might create a ans to escape this world But for now, it seems like a temporary comfort.
Je Mu-gyeong adopted a stance entirely different from before.
This must be his true posture for attack.
It was a stark contrast from the frenzied rush of a madman who relied solely on brute strength and montum.
Perhaps, since my arrival here, the setting of the [Cthulhu World] has started to diverge from that of the ga?
Je Mu-gyeong inciting the test subjects to rebel was within the scope of the gas setting.
However, reading the grimoire in the anti and gaining strength far beyond what was predetermined, along with an even more potent madness, was certainly beyond the intended scope of the setting.
Perhaps because he thought there was no need to say anything more, he changed his stance and stepped forward.
Thud!
His body flew away with a dull impact sound that made the entire building vibrate.
The assault continued with charge after charge, but this ti it was utterly different.
His body was damaged, and he had but a single weapon left yet I instinctively knew this attack was the most dangerous of them all.
[Protective Circle]
[Spell Amplification: Multicasting]
[Frost Wall].
[Hardening]
Five layers of protective circles and a wall made of frozen blood collected from corpses block his path.
Baaaang!
But all of these defensive spells shattered laughably.
[Leap]
One must not remain in the sa spot.
I had to move fast, faster still.
[Protective Circle]
[Impact]
I executed a double jump in the expanse of thin air and then kicked off the wall to propel myself further.
Crash! Boom-boom-boom!
His attack flew to the spot where I was standing a second ago, if not a millisecond ago.
Any attempt to evade his blows based on re sight was a sure path towards death.
By this ti, the area was filled with my magical power.
Everything must be judged by the sensation of reading magical power, not by sight and hearing.
Even his formidable destructive power originated from his own magical power.
His will directed the flow of his magic; I needed to intercept and respond with my own spells at a speed that surpassed what he could realize through his will.
[Arrow of Destruction]
I slipped in so offensive magic between leaps. I didnt even have the ti to strengthen the spells.
My painstakingly cast magic was effortlessly severed by a re swipe of his saw as if cutting through air.
Still, I couldnt stop. I had to scatter the simplest and quickest spells I could muster, with relentless speed.
Whooooosh!
Ice shards scattered in all directions.
Streams of lightning forked out in dozens of directions, followed by arrows of glowing magical power soaring through the air.
Yet, all those spells were swept away by a single monstrous wave of his saw.
Ice pillars were sliced in an instant, lightning was deflected, and a few arrows were simply taken head-on as he charged forward.
It seed like an endless exchange, but the first to tire was not , but Je Mu-gyeong.
Its humanly wrong to fight this long with a gaping hole in your stomach.
He had to pause montarily to vomit the blood that was welling up in his mouth.
Three seconds? No, it must have been about a second.
That was enough.
[Fireball]
[Spell Enhancent: Multicasting]
[Spell Enhancent: Maximization]
A huge fireball was hurtled towards him.
It was too big to fend off. In the end, he chose to dodge but it was all according to plan.
As he evaded, a second fireball was already on its way to where he had moved.
Launched right after the first, it completely cornered him. There was no escape!
Boom!
The huge fireball exploded around him.
Fierce flas and a blast.
[Earthquake Strike]
Rumble Boom!
It was a spell designed to shake the ground and cause it to collapse.
This was the third floor, where stable ground was non-existent.
The floor, which had repeatedly been forcibly frozen and burned, was already at its limit.
Unable to withstand the vibrations, the floor cracked open.
Collapse!
Boom!
Kuaaaaaa!
The floor gave way, and rocks fell with it, and the massive figure of Je Mu-gyeong plumted to the second floor.
Phew There was nothing I needed on the second floor. It wouldnt matter if it all burned down.
[Burning Spear]
[Spell Enhancent: Maximization]
[Spell Enhancent: Strength Increase]
A large magic circle ford horizontally in the air, facing the hole through which he had fallen.
To subdue him, an incredibly powerful attack was necessary.
From the large magic circle, with a diater of 2 ters, a spear of absurd proportions was launched.
It was more akin to a pillar or a tower than a spear, such was the scale of the magic.
Rumble-rumble
Whooooooooooosh!
A pillar of fla struck him, unleashing an imnse amount of fire in all directions.
The entire second floor was engulfed in flas.
The erupted flas then moved according to my will and condensed into a whirlwind of fire.
Everything trapped inside was reduced to ash, leaving not even a trace behind.
Standing on the third floor, I was blasted by fierce hot winds. The heat was so intense that even my [Fla Resistance] couldnt fully block it.
It felt like an eternity of death had passed.
Now, there was nothing left on the second floor.
Everything caught in the massive whirlwind of fire was burned to dust, leaving behind only small embers and ash swirling like dust.
A strangely shaped scorch mark lay where Je Mu-gyeong previously stood, which remained to indicate his demise in this place.
Phew This was no easy feat.
The issue wasnt the power.
I had perfectly controlled the heat and flas to prevent the building from catching fire.
It was a surreal level of control that transcended the limits allowed to second-order mages.
I think Im more exhausted because of that Next ti, it would be better to fight outdoors if possible.
The remaining enemies were now
[Achievent Unlocked! You have subdued all the test subjects in the secret laboratory. You have earned the General Achievent: Hospital Janitor.
As a reward for this achievent, you receive the artifact Butchers Hook and additional experience points.]
The [Butchers Hook] was the hook attached to the chain that Je Mu-gyeong had swung around.
Huh What am I supposed to do with this?
[Butchers Hook (S-rank Weapon): This is the hook that Je Mu-gyeong, who had taken over the secret laboratory, possessed.
Madness: When equipped, a forced sanity check is initiated. If you fail this sanity check triggered by the effect, your mind will be imbued with ntal illnessKilling Frenzy.
Blood Weapon: Automatically casts stored [Blood] attribute spells. However, this ability requires blood to be charged to use.
Ti of Slaughter: Increases the probability of inflicting critical and bleeding damage by 100% on all attacks targeting humans.
Proof of Slaughter: Increases the power of necromancy spells by 100%.]
Ah, there was a magic enhancent effect. But its not like carrying around a magic wand, and its just too cumberso for to use.
Its length was 60cm after all. Its already inconvenient enough to move around during the day because of the mask, and now they expect to carry this around?
Still, there might co a ti when it could be useful So, for the ti being, I slipped it into my belt like one would a sword.
[
Subdue all the psychics occupying the abandoned hospital and restore the facility to a safe condition.
Remaining Targets: 58/58
! The abandoned hospital is not yet in a safe state!]
Not yet. It seems the two I couldnt catch on the first floor were hiding on the second.
I checked the USB in my hand.
Haah If it werent for this, I could have finished them off much sooner.
[You have subdued all the test subjects that were controlling Helistics secret laboratory and accessed the hidden information. Helistic, which has continued research on the potential of humans, will rember your help.]
The generic ssage that appears at the end of each quest started to display in the ssage window.
From the start, I was not fond of it, but what truly irked was the tone that seed to arbitrarily abbreviate my actions or guide them in a specific direction.
[You have made the Ga-5060 secret laboratory a safe place. Experience points gained.]
[You have accumulated enough experience points to advance to the next level. Your level increases by 1.]
[You have defeated test subjects of the abandoned hospital (58). Your understanding of mutants had increased.]
[You have defeated test subject Je Mu-gyeong. Your understanding of dinsional species has significantly increased.]
[You have accumulated enough experience points to advance to the next level. Your level increases by 1.]
[Discovery: You have acquired a secret item from the laboratory (1). Experience points gained.]
[Discovery: You have uncovered a secret place within the abandoned hospital. Experience points gained.]
[Achievent Unlocked! You have completed The Abandoned Hospital of Gamaksan Mountain quest faster than anyone else.
You have earned the General Achievent: Speed Star of the Abandoned Hospital.
As a reward for this achievent, you gain the Type C Biologic Tissue Sample and additional experience points.]
[Experience Bonus: You have achieved a total of (2) achievents in the Ga-5060 secret laboratory.]
[You have accumulated enough experience points to advance to the next level. Your level increases by 1.]
[You have reached level 25! As a level achievent reward, you receive (1) bonus stat point to distribute freely.]
I pondered where to allocate the bonus stat point. I considered adding 1 point to health to achieve a total of 8 points in health, but it wasnt an easy decision.
From the beginning, when deciding on character stats, I had already planned out how to distribute the stats gained from leveling up. I had a rough plan from the character creation stage about the order in which to collect certain artifacts and which quests to undertake.
It was ti to increase charm. In fact, because I had previously allocated the bonus to health instead of charm, my plan had already gone slightly awry.
I really need to find a health-boosting artifact soon to get it up to 8.
In the end, I decided to allocate the stat point to charm.
***
Kim Shin-hwa
Class: Mage Gazing into the Abyss
Level: 25
Magic Order: Second Order
ntal Illness: [Mask Obsession], [Ichthyophobia]
Strength: 5( 3) (Ring of Corrupted Fla)
Health: 7
Agility: 8
Intelligence: 30
ntal Strength: 14
Charm: 18
***
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