"I've wanted to come back ever since I found out that this place was created after the Great Collapse and was unknown to anyone."
I turned my head slightly to see Jang Hyeon-deok, but I couldn't see Jang Hyeon-deok. But his voice was still heard.
"This place kept appearing in my dreams. "The images of beautiful celestial maidens dancing in the center of these endless rock-covered ruins."
Jang Hyeon-deok turned left at the rock where I turned right. The direction of the wind is off, and Jang Hyeon-deok is moving in a different direction than me.
"There must be great treasures and rewards hidden here, right? "I believe that the wizard will make my wish come true."
A rock blocks the front. While I was turning again, Jang Hyeon-deok's voice suddenly moved in front of me. I guess there was another road over there.
[System: The 'Enhanced Vigilance' trait is activated.]
Holy shit.
Along with the sudden feeling of expanded senses, nerves that were already on edge become extremely sensitive.
"Wizard! Hey there, those!"
Jang Hyeon-deok's excited voice hits your ears. Since the characteristic has just activated, it sounds loudly, as if it is pounding on the eardrums. I subconsciously raised one hand to cover my ears and looked at Jang Hyeon-deok.
"That son of a bitch."
We soon reached the deepest part of the ruins.
Jang Hyeon-deok arrived at the location ahead of me, but he didn't attack me or suddenly turn into a monster or anything like that.
Instead, with a wonderful smile full of joy on his face, he spread his arms and pointed to things in the center of the ruins.
this dark night.
In this dark historical site located in the middle of a deep forest in Tanhyeon, the only source of light is the magic light dancing on my hand.
Jang Hyeon-deok's face, looking at me, is colored in a strange color because of the light.
An innocent and happy expression, like a child leading his parents to a colorful festival.
In the direction he pointed with his hand... … There were special things that were completely different from the rocks scattered around.
Yeah, something special.
The intact masks we checked before entering the ruins.
Jang Hyeon-deok believed that the mask would provide him with a fortune, and for some reason he feels the urge to bring me here.
And a person named Fixer who previously brought Jang Hyeon-deok here.
What happened to him? Jang Hyeon-deok is ignoring what happened to him that day. However, if he was able to return alive and well, the mask cannot remain here.
'Well, in a way, it's a typical structure.'
In this deep place, surrounded by so many obstacles, those masks were somehow visible even from afar.
Can you see it from far away thanks to an exquisite angle and coincidence?
Not like that.
It was simply twisting the laws of physics and offering bait to lure prey that arrived by chance.
I turned my head slightly and looked at the masked rocks lined up beyond Janghyeondeok.
The fact that he is wearing a mask, and that he still retains magical power inside. There is one more thing that is special about them.
Their form was perfect, unlike the others.
It is the perfect human form.
Smoothly polished clean surface. It's almost embarrassing to call it a rock. I think it would be better to call it a statue.
Compared to these statues, the rocks lined up around them looked like melted and decayed corpses.
Each of the statues was making different movements.
Opening both arms toward the sky, lifting legs like a ballet movement, crouching, and bending both arms.
"look. no wonder… … "It looks like it's dancing, right?"
"It's definitely a move like that."
"The dance I saw in my dream looked exactly like this. At that time, there was definitely strange music and beautiful light falling from the sky... … ."
It's a dance... … .
It is definitely a form that can be considered a dance if you think of it as a dance.
The number of statues wearing masks and dancing... … .
One, two, three.
And four, five, six over there.
It's there too. Seven, eight... … .
for a moment!
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
wait for a sec.
I got goosebumps all over my body, as if I had been struck by lightning.
An ominous feeling passes through my head.
Of course, fuck it.
After all, Jang Hyeon-deok was doing the same thing as me. That crazy bastard is counting with a happy smile on his face and making sounds out of his mouth!
"Nine, ten, eleven… … ."
"Hey, stop."
Is this really what came out of my mouth? My voice was shaking excessively.
"yes? It's there too. The mask is... … ."
I hastily raise my magic power. We need to stop that fucking bastard's snout... … .
[The number of masked statues stimulates the madness in your spirit.]
late. Shit! A message window appears in front of me and blocks my vision.
I already recognized that number anyway.
"… … "There are 13?"
['Madness - 13 Phobia' appears.]
Ha, shit. I've been avoiding this for a long time, but now I'm being treated like this.
[Attempt to resist confusion with your mental strength stat.]
Now, even if I smash Jang Hyeon-deok's mouth, nothing will change.
[Mental strength judgment… … .]
The madness that already resides in the mind cannot be stopped even by the [Abyss Madness] trait that has been used as a report in the past. There will be a huge debuff, but there is a way to counter this if you succeed at the sanity check.
[failure.]
Ah, you fucking bastards! Do you think I'm going to get lost here? I put my hand in my backpack and took out the artifact, the artifact I had carefully packed in case something like this happened… … .
[Confusion occurs.]
In fact, this was a more miserable condition than that of a rat. Stupid modern people write down numbers everywhere they can see. Car license plates, phone numbers, calendars, address numbers, pages of books, smartphone battery life, number of floors in high-rise buildings, number of stairs, number of passers-by, number of white lines on crosswalks, picking up vomit in downtown areas. The number of times a pigeon nods its head, but no matter what I do, I can't escape that number. Think about it. We take steps to go home. One, two, three. Eventually, at some point, my steps reach that unlucky and ominous number. Take a breath. Inhale, one, exhale, two, inhale again, three. My breath moves forward toward that number.
If I somehow saw a group larger than a certain number, I avoided my head, burned the calendar, tried adding different numbers, tried splitting the numbers somehow, destroyed a license plate I came across, suddenly stopped while walking down the street, and took a deep breath. I thought about stopping and twisting the crazy pigeon's neck, but I barely held back.
But, damn it, here I was, in this narrow prison with no room for escape, to come face to face with that ominous, unlucky, and terrible number.
Not all confusions always have the same symptoms. There can be physical symptoms like difficulty breathing, hallucinations, itching, chills, pain, which I had at first, and who was that last time? There was a big strange person in that underground parking lot, right? Anyway, like that guy, it could turn out to be reckless and violent, huh? What am I doing now?
- A rattle.
A bell sound is heard from somewhere. Who is it?
『Run away.』
Who do you think spoke to you?
『Run away.』
Oh yeah? Where? In which direction? why? Now, this is him, I don't know?
"Wizard? "What do you mean, run away?"
What do you hear? Who else is here besides me? Do you know? There are more people in the world than you think. Some of them turn pale sometimes, and some even dance. Sometimes, there are people who turn into stones and continue to hide. Sometimes, there are days when you wonder why you arrived here. But don't worry. But why do salmon lay salmon eggs? Salmon comes from salmon eggs?
- A rattle.
"Wake! you idiot! Come to your senses!』
Another bell sound. And someone's voice yelling at me.
"Wizard! "Look at that!"
Oh, is that what that guy said? A strange guy points in a strange direction. Forsythia blooming with a pop. The weather is getting warmer these days. How is Sasquatch, who transferred from Siberia? Have you ever thought that saying hello is a bit strange? Is Hello? an interrogative sentence? Are you curious about how well you are now?
『Stop, stop thinking, turn your head! Turn your head and look ahead.』
And over there? Or this way? However, I have noticed that there is this unknown thing, but I can't bear to be happy because I hate the darkness that we think of as loneliness, so it stays in the wide, spinning autumn sky. What is it? I turn my head to the sound of a voice coming from somewhere.
Indeed, in the direction I turned my head.
Oh my gosh.
There existed a transcendent elegance and mythical beauty that could not exist in this world.
A wonderful sight that I have never seen before in my life.
Corpses. A bizarre field of endless corpses, writhing in pain and then frozen.
In the center of the corpses, dancers wearing animal masks are performing strange, truly strange, strange, grotesque, and extraordinary dances.
A foreign body with golden scales. Colorful jewels hanging from the body.
Yellow silk fabric fluttering around the body.
That dance, that movement, that sway, that twist that is impossible to describe in any language that has existed since the first dawn of this Earth.
A great star burning yellow in that dark sky. Receiving the light of Aldebaran, the heat... … Several dancers are performing strange and disgusting dances that cannot exist in this world.
[System: The penalty characteristic 'Feast Offering' effect has been activated.]
"look! Wizard! That's it! The dance I saw! iced coffee… … Why on earth had I forgotten? That beautiful dance! look! That beautiful dance! That dance! Yes, I came back here to see that dance again!"
Jang Hyeon-deok held his head - shedding tears - that is, shedding tears as red as blood - and screamed in despair - full of joy.
"Can you hear me? That voice? That great voice! The voice of the great King who will make my wish come true! We have to leave! Not here, but to the other side of the galaxy, beyond the Milky Way, to the great land! "To our great temple, the beautiful Carcossa!"
- A rattle.
"are you okay. It's a temporary symptom.』
What is okay? And from earlier, who the hell are you? Why do I hear the sound of bells?
『There is no need to try to come to your senses. But damage. Run away! Or fight! Do something! Otherwise, this situation will continue forever.』