I Became a Genius Mage in the Cthulhu Game - Chapter 141: Collapse of the Masquerade

The scale of the incident was too big.

Since we don’t live only for today, it’s time to start worrying about tomorrow’s Kim Shin-hwa.

After all, I had angered nearly 300 cultists.

Especially Dokgo Gyeom…

“Die, all of you!!”

Should I say he exploded with storm-like fury?

Boom! Boom! Boom!

With a massive storm swirling around him, he flew in all directions and started slaughtering the shantaks.

“No one will escape!!”

 

Crash!

 

What on earth was he doing indoors!?

Huge lightning bolts were unleashed around Dokgo Gyeom’s body. They flew in all directions, forming the shape of a swastika.

It looked like a gigantic dragon with four heads!

Crack! Crack! Crack!

A four-headed dragon made of lightning. The shantaks bitten by that dragon turned to ash in an instant.

“Wow, that’s really no joke.”

Yeah, it wasn’t a joke.

How would this chaos end today?

There was no doubt that Dokgo Gyeom, along with 300 cultists and tens of thousands of cultists nationwide, would become enemies.

“Ah, of course not my enemies.”

Probably starting tomorrow, they will try to identify and catch the one who infiltrated this grand masquerade and ruined the event.

“I’m sorry, Sang-hyeon, but you’re probably the most suspicious person.”

Specifically, the [Super Rookie Heo Sang-hyeon] of the Hungry House.

If Dokgo Gyeom and the masquerade cultists had any sense, they would first target Heo Sang-hyeon and the Hungry House.

Of course, I had no intention of throwing Sang-hyeon as bait and abandoning him. His cooking skills were too valuable to me.

“Anyway, should I prepare to help Sang-hyeon? Let’s see…”

Just then, a suitable target appeared.

“Ahhhh!”

A minor cultist whose name I didn’t know screamed and he was running aimlessly to avoid the falling rocks.

“Is that guy good enough?”

He was wearing quite a nice mask. It had twisted horns sticking out from the forehead. Should I call it a demon mask?

Fzzzt!

“Grrrk…!?”

I shot a lightning bolt and knocked him out.

Then I took off the one-eyed mask I had been wearing and put on his demon mask. No, wait, taking his mask was pointless. I quickly regained my composure and cast a spell.

[Tangled Identity]

A magic to steal appearances.

I modified it slightly and cast it in a different way. Instead of a one-sided theft, it was an “exchange”.

Buzz!

In an instant, my appearance and his were completely swapped.

Even so, that nameless cultist did not take on the appearance of [Fixer Kim Shin-hwa]. I had not come to this place with that appearance in the first place.

In other words, he had the appearance of [Super Rookie Heo Sang-hyeon].

Anyway, if the cultists gathered here wanted to attack Heo Sang-hyeon, they would track [Super Rookie Heo Sang-hyeon].

“Hey, snap out of it.”

“Ugh…”

Still half-conscious? This was the perfect moment. I cast a spell to imprint a forceful command on his mind.

[Voice of Authority]

A spell that dominated the mind of someone weaker than me.

|This place is dangerous. Take the surviving sacrifices and escape as quickly as possible.|

“Th-This place is dangerous! I must take the surviving sacrifices and escape as quickly as possible!”

The cultist repeated my words like a parrot.

Yes, yes, good job.

|Look, do you see that door over there? The living sacrifices are trapped there. Take them and escape.|

“That door over there? Yes, the living sacrifices are trapped there! I must take them and escape!”

|A wise decision. However, the enforcers will be roaming outside. Therefore, take the sacrifices only to the safe zone and then escape alone.|

“I can’t evade the enforcers while carrying the sacrifices. I should take the living sacrifices to the safe zone and then escape alone!”

|Yes, go. Move with the resolve to die.|

“Arghhh!!”

The nameless cultist who now looked like [Super Rookie Heo Sang-hyeon] ran with all his might. I watched him for a moment and whistled.

“Well, if he’s lucky, he might survive.”

Using the same method, I created a few more fake Heo Sang-hyeons.

The targets were the fainted cultists scattered all over the event hall floor. This building would soon collapse completely. It felt bad to just leave them to die, so I decided to put them to work.

This time, there was no need to turn these ones into fake Heo Sang-hyeons too.

|Good, you guys go too.|

“Arghhh!!”

“Ahhhh!!”

“Go go go!!”

“Yaaahhh!!”

And from these cultists I had roused, I took their masks. This obsession with masks kept interfering with my priorities. It was troublesome.

It would be nice to have more, but time was running out and maintaining multiple spells was reaching its limit.

“Will I be able to save them?”

The living sacrifices prepared for the masquerade afterparty.

During the event, I had no choice but to ignore those who were sacrificed, but I decided to save those I could.

“Tsk, saving them like this doesn’t earn me experience points.”

If I didn’t save them myself and had someone else do it, I wouldn’t gain any experience points. How could it work this way?

[System: The ‘Enhanced Vigilance’ trait has been activated.]

Boom! Bang! Crash!

The ceiling continued to collapse, and debris rained down. The time for leisure was over.

“Achachacha!”

[Magnetic Control]

I activated magnetic control and placed the distant treasure chest above my head. It’s reassuring to have an object above your head that is immune to damage. Of course, this alone wasn’t perfect, so I added a few more protections.

[Protective Circle]

[Distortion Field]

I moved through the falling debris… and I cast my spells.

The targets of my magic were medium-sized pieces of debris, six in total. The effect was, well,

“Become treasure chests.”

[Shape Transformation]

[Spell Enhancement: Multicasting]

Buzzzzz…!

Six fake treasure chests appeared.

Of course, since the real treasure chest was a magical object, a perfect disguise was impossible. However, in this chaos, a brief deception was possible.

Besides, was anyone here in their right mind?

“Graaaah!!”

That was Dokgo Gyeom’s roar.

“Please stop!”

“Argh!”

“That, that crazy bastard!?”

Dokgo Gyeom had finally thrown a Shantak.

What was the problem, you ask?

Boom!

“The wall! The wall is collapsing!”

“Someone, stop that crazy pig Dokgo-gyeom!”

“Even we can’t do it!”

Not only the judges of the other cults but also the followers of the Eternal One Origin Cult were busy running away.

Now, there were huge holes in the walls as well as the ceiling.

Boom! Crash!

Ugh, the Shantak that flew through the wall went berserk and it destroyed part of the adjacent building.

“That looks like a government office building.”

No, this wasn’t the time to worry about the adjacent building.

Rumble! Boom! Crash! Bang!

From the moment the Shantaks appeared, about ten minutes had passed. No, maybe twenty minutes had gone by.

The huge public sports facility, which had been turned into a hall of madness by the cultists’ plans, still retained its structure and form.

But that wouldn’t last much longer.

The building was too small from the start to accommodate dozens of Shantaks with wingspans of twelve meters. With each flap of their wings or flick of their tails, the walls and ceiling were being destroyed.

Soon, not even the shape of the building will remain, and it will completely collapse.

Anyone staying in this building would inevitably die.

The judges were moving energetically and actively seeking escape routes.

“This place is doomed! Get out now!”

“Dokgo Gyeom, that crazy bastard!”

“This way! Everyone, follow me!”

Among them, there were some who, still in their right minds, led others to escape.

“Kyaaah!”

“Kihehehe!”

And the Shantaks. They too couldn’t withstand Dokgo Gyeom’s demonic attacks and began to flee the building.

It was time for me to leave as well.

[Chains of Domination]

Shrrrrrrrr!

The six markings I had maintained so far.

To be precise, I manipulated the bodies of those marked by touching the six magical marks.

There were both dead and living ones. Anyway, this spell could control even the dead.

Huh? Only four are responding.

Regrettably, only four out of the six markings responded. Well, I had been distracted. It seemed two of them had escaped.

It was a shame, but four were enough. After all, it wasn’t a particularly complex task.

Crack! Swoosh!

[Leap]

[Spell Enhancement: Multicasting]

[Spell Enhancement: Range Increase]

I forced the four cultists to make a leap.

Whoosh!

The four unconscious cultists sprang into the air.

The place they needed to reach was…

The backs of the Shantaks, who were trying to flee from Dokgo Gyeom.

At the same time, each one landed and clung onto one of the treasure chests.

“Kyaaah!”

The four Shantaks went berserk upon realizing something had latched onto their backs, but avoiding Dokgo Gyeom was their top priority.

“That looks pretty convincing, doesn’t it?”

At first glance, it appeared as if the cultists with the treasure chests were riding the Shantaks to escape.

“Now, Achilles. It’s your turn.”

I signaled Achilles.

[The unique effect of the S-rank magic tool ‘Staff of Beacon’, ‘Binding of the Living Flame’ has been activated.

// Binding of the Living Flame: Grants the owner the ability to summon and control the followers of the ‘Living Flame.’]

Suddenly, fireballs began to fall from the sky.

It wasn’t just a simple fireball. These were the followers of the Living Flame. An enormous number of these blazing ones soared in with tremendous roars!

“Uhryyyyyyyyyy!!!”

“Uhraaaaaaaaaa!!!”

By now, there were no walls or ceilings left.

The blazing ones circled the collapsed gymnasium a few times before luring the surviving Shantaks into the sky.

And there was one causal connection that anyone smart enough could notice.

“That’s, that’s, that’s! The servants of the Living Flame!”

Dokgo Gyeom shouted.

This meant the suspect ranking in his mind had suddenly changed dramatically.

Someone had summoned the Shantaks to ruin the event?

Yet the servants of the Living Flame were luring the Shantaks away?

And coincidentally, the followers of the Living Flame were absent from this event?

1+1+1=3?

“Those bastards of Fomalhaut!!!”

It was the revelation of a madman, no, it was Dokgo Gyeom’s shout.

I do feel sorry for the descendants of Fomalhaut.

I don’t know what to say when they ask me why they are the only ones who get bullied all the time.

“Now, it’s my turn to leave.”

I activated my leap and clung to the tail of a suitable Shantak. Of course, the real treasure chest containing the mask was with me.

Glancing back at the collapsing event hall, I saw masks scattered everywhere.

What a waste.

[Invisible Hand]

[Spell Enhancement: Multicasting]

Ugh, what am I doing? Dozens of masks flew toward me.

“Kyaaahaaaaa!!”

The Shantak I was riding screeched in distress. From the Shantak’s perspective, an enormous number of masks were chasing it. Naturally, it would be alarmed.

Flap! Swoosh!

With just a few flaps of its wings, the scenery changed in an instant. Whoa, what incredible pressure!

“You can’t escape!!”

Dokgo Gyeom’s voice thundered from afar.

Boom!!

What …?

An enormous lightning bolt was coming my way!?

Fzzzzzzzt!!

Ah… One of the Shantaks flying near me was struck by the lightning and fell.

Along with the huge charred Shantak fell an almost-dead cultist, the one I had tied to the Shantak’s back.

The boar-masked man of the Gourmet Garden who loved Mongolian Death Worm dishes. Ah, was he aiming for the Shantaks carrying the cultists?

“Ugh, I almost got hit with a 1 in 5 chance?”

Boom!!

A second lightning bolt was preparing. This time it was a 1 in 4 chance!

If I stayed here any longer, I’d really die.

Release the [Tangled Identity].

Whirrrrr…

The effect of [Shadow Desception] activated by the Winged Robe of the Night Veil remained. Now, I would appear as nothing but a dark silhouette covered in shadows.

[The unique effect of the L-grade garment ‘Winged Robe of the Night Veil’, ‘Wings of the Heavenly Steed’ has been activated.

// Wings of the Heavenly Steed: Automatically casts the ‘Flight’ spell.]

Flap-flap-flap!

A sound similar to the flapping of a bird’s wings.

The noise came as the silhouette-like robe fluttered in the wind.

I quickly broke away from the Shantak and flew down.

My destination was that apartment complex. The buildings grew rapidly larger.

Lights. People. Roads. And a call van with a hole in the roof big enough for a person to get in and out. Yes, there.

Didn’t I tell you I accounted for the hole?

I was sucked into the hole in the roof of the call van and landed directly in the back seat.

Bang!

Jang Hyeon-deok’s face turned pale. Huh? Why does he look so frightened? Unfortunately, I don’t have time to ease his nerves right now.

“It’s me! Step on it”

I shouted at Jang Hyeon-deok as I raised my head.

The car had a large hole in it. Masks flew in like a flock of black crows, along with a treasure chest containing a mask. These were the spoils I had obtained this time. I directed their flight and spoke.

But the car didn’t move.

“What are you doing? I told you to step on it!”

Time was of the essence.

We needed to escape this place, Sejong City, immediately.