Chapter 163: Dragon King Festival (4)

Chapter 163: Dragon King Festival (4)

“Greuk! How is this possible!? How!?”

An Oriental-style ceremonial robe contrasting bizarrely with a Western crown.

And a grotesque scaly face that somehow resembles a turtle.

The True Person of the Tortoise, the governor of Insu Village and the priest of the evil Dagon cult, screamed at me with a horrified expression on his face.

“Was it all a ruse!?”

A ruse?

Brainwashed by the power of the [Mask of the Deep Sea] until I became an idiot?

Fainting at the sight of True Person of the Tortoise’s horrific appearance?

And being quietly carried in that cursed golden palanquin all the way to the temple?

Was all of that my scheme, my ruse, my deception to create this situation?

“Hahahaha—!”

I laughed loudly. Bright yellow light emanated from the four eyes of the mask.

“Yes, it was all a ruse. Watching you babble excitedly was ridiculously amusing.”

“You vile land creature!”

The True Person of the Tortoise couldn’t contain his rising anger and trembled with fury. This was quite fun.

Though, I really almost died.

It had been a dangerous gamble.

The brainwashing employed by the [Mask of the Deep Sea] wasn’t a big problem.

As expected, the [Madness of the Abyss] had activated and protected me.

But the real danger is something else.

Now I had two problems to overcome.

One is the memories that were fading and entangling even at this moment.

And the other is...

A complete deep-sea person and that turtle-like bastard triggering my ichthyophobia.

In the end, the moment I realized the village chief had activated the brainwashing spell, I let go of both problems.

I pretended the brainwashing worked and acted like an idiot.

They planned to offer me as a sacrifice. Some might want to vent their anger on me, but the real dangerous harm would be prevented by the chief.

Yes.

Up to this point.

Up to this point, it had indeed been a strategy to deceive them.

But everything that happened after that was purely a gamble.

The seizure that occurred when I met the True Person of the Tortoise was real.

With three seizures and the subsequent side effects of memory loss, my mind became a complete mess. Even though I resisted the brainwashing, I had temporarily become an idiot.

The events that happened while I was being carried in the palanquin to this place were only vaguely remembered.

If the past Kim Shin-hwa hadn’t set a specific course of action for the golems, things probably wouldn’t have gone so well.

Anyway!

Now, I no longer had ichthyophobia!

The attack by the spirit golems was considered my doing, and the madness had vanished. There were still unclear aspects of how the system handled madness, but for now, it worked in my favor, so I decided to let it pass.

Moreover, this wasn’t the time to think more deeply about such things.

“Grrr! You despicable, vile human scum!”

“Grrr, grrr! Kill him! Tear him to pieces!”

“Grrrrr! We’ll make you fish food!”

The deep-sea people whose faces were covered with scales, and the hybrids who would grow to look like them, all roared in unison.

About half of the gathered creatures were unarmed, but each one was already a cultist; they were monsters that had transcended their humanity. Even their claws alone could massacre a fully armed human.

Occasionally, sinister-looking spears and bows were visible. There were no guns or cannons, but their weapons would be even more powerful.

“Greuk! Grrrrr!”

“Greuk, grrr grrr!”

But they couldn’t quite bring themselves to charge.

They’re hesitating.

It was because I had an overwhelmingly advantageous position. Behind me was the temple. The temple was just a building, but inside...

“What’s this, asking for help from the Dragon King’s ritual? Are you worried I might harm your precious sacred sea well?”

“Grrr, grrrr! How dare you!”

“Grrr! Get away from the sacred place immediately!”

It was quite amusing. It felt like I had become an evil kidnapper. If I couldn’t hold back, I might burst into a wicked laugh, “Keh! Ha! Ha!”

The reason they hesitated to charge wasn’t just the sacred site.

I looked at my friends standing between me and the deep-sea people.

Crack, snap! Crunch!

They flew toward the deep-sea people, who screamed in terror.

“Uhryyyyyyyyyy!!!”

“Uhraaaaaaaaaa!!!”

One hundred deep-sea people? Even if there were twice as many, we could handle it. Of course, that’s assuming these deep-sea people were just “ordinary”.

“Yong-soo! Pulao! What are you doing?”

The leader of the deep-sea people, the True Person of the Tortoise, shouted.

Yes, the Nine Sons of the Dragon. They also have powerful named deep-sea people.

Fortunately, not all of them have appeared.

“Guaaaaah!”

The deep-sea person resembling a whale Pulao screamed. But it was already injured and got tangled up and thrown away by the golem (brute).

And Yong-soo...

Yong-soo who had lost both hands was still rolling around on the muddy ground. His mouth was agape and his pupils were trembling. Well done.

[Heavenly Sight]

I sent half of my consciousness into the fog.

Flap–

Red who had been hiding beyond the fog flew in.

“Red? Can you hear me? You did very well. Now, I have one more request. Do you see that fool rolling around over there? No, the one with green skin. Green. Yes, that one. Good. Approach it.”

A distant wailing sound reached my ears.

Good, that’s taken care of. I need one more thing.

Where is the village chief? Where could the village chief be?

“Grrrrk! Get lost, all of you!”

A splendid ceremonial robe and an even more splendid crown. A body bigger than the others. A face more like a turtle’s.

It was the True Person of the Tortoise.

KABOOM!!

An incredible burst of magical power.

The golem (Brute) soared into the sky. Oh? It flew too far away. A distant explosion resounded from beyond the fog. I hurriedly sent part of my consciousness after it.

“How far did it fly? Near the village?”

It had flown too far. It would be difficult to retrieve it immediately. Given the situation...

I assigned a new command to the golem (Brute) as I thought.

Hmm, to face that turtle guy head-on?

By the standards of Masquerade’s ranking system, that turtle guy was a cultist of the judge class.

Even if it’s a judge, I’ve already taken down two.

Moreover, the Hollow Lord was much stronger than the turtle guy.

But that wasn’t a head-on battle.

I had employed various methods to prevent him from showcasing his true abilities. If I had fought fairly, defeating the Hollow Lord at that level would have been impossible. Even now, it wouldn’t be easy.

“Greuk, Dragon King! Dragon King of the murky seas! Protect the descendants of the sea!”

The True Person of the Tortoise desperately shouted toward his god.

[System: The penalty trait ‘Feast Offering’ has been activated.]

[A being of the abyss grants power to its minion.]

Rumble.

A sudden change in the weather happened.

Rain began to fall.

“Grrrrk-”

“Grrrrrrrr-”

“Grrk, grrk-”

And then the frogs started croaking in unison.

“Hey, Mr. Turtle. Calm down, will you? I’ve told you from the start, I’m here to help with the Dragon King Festival.”

“Grrrrk! Turtle?”

The True Person of the Tortoise ignored my words and charged at me with a roar.

The True Person of the Tortoise had an unnecessary backstory of being a quarter deep-sea turtle, which made him dislike being called a turtle. Did he have some painful childhood memories? No, this wasn’t the time for such thoughts.

Booom!

Suddenly, a wave mixed with mud surged up.

“Dieee!”

The True Person of the Tortoise flew straight at me; his body was covered in tough scales that served as a weapon in itself. Using magic while engaging in close combat—I’m envious!

[The unique effect of the L-rank 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.]