I Became a Genius Mage in the Cthulhu Game
chapter-4

The long corridor extended irrationally.

It was comprised of slopes at ambiguous angles.

A slowly descending spiral corridor that gradually burrows underground.

I had no intention of delving into the secret research facility that was buried underground and performing all kinds of trivial puzzles or battles.

Let’s head straight to the boss room and deal with the boss.

From my experience so far, quickly clearing the level to obtain the reward for the shortest completion time was far more beneficial than scraping together small amounts of experience points.

Of course, apart from such game-minded thoughts, I was more eager to escape the suffocating underground and check the surrounding situation.

There was no lighting, so the surroundings were pitch-black, but this was not a big problem for me.

The moment I became aware of the darkness, I was able to cast my spells with almost subconscious speed.

[Moonlight Vision]

A basic zero-order spell that provides magical vision which allows you to see in all directions even in the dark.

The flow of my magical power was as natural as changing my expression or moving my finger.

What kind of spell should be used in what situation, and how should that spell be activated?

All of this was already in my mind.

– Woo woo woo woo!

Every now and then, I could hear the howling of zombies from beyond the walls, alerted by my presence. Haha! I felt an urge to input commands like “/dance” or “/insult” but that wasn’t an option.

If I had the leisure to do so, I would rather sit down on the floor and rest.

“Haah…”

Eventually, I stopped for a moment to take a deep breath.

Although it wasn’t a very long time, I was able to understand the state of my body.

I reduced my strength and health to increase my intelligence, right?

In exchange for intelligence, my body had become incredibly weak.

Even more so than my past body, which actually belonged to a game addict and a remote worker who was heavily lacking exercise!

Merely walking made me feel as if my waist was breaking and my legs were shattering.

Even this short movement felt like it could kill me.

I needed to quickly escape this place and find a way to strengthen my weakened body.

“…But how did all this happen to me?”

As I recalled the settings of the game one by one, I started to feel a sense of injustice welling up in my heart.

Why? Why did this happen only to me?

For a moment, I thought maybe I had gone mad from being too absorbed in the game, but the sight of the zombies I had seen earlier, the impact, and the smell were too real to be mere delusions.

Suddenly, one of the settings of [Cthulhu World] came into my mind.

No, it was a setting from the Cthulhu Mythos, which the [Cthulhu World] game was based on.

“The blind Idiot god.”

An entity that might be the starting point of the world.

The most primitive and pure being created by the chaos that boiled up from the deepest part of the abyss.

An amorphous evil that will make you cursed just by mentioning his name.

A being so vast that the meager human brain could not even fathom his form.

The most blasphemous and holy being from the depths of outer space.

The king of everything, the blind idiot god.

If he… really existed?

What if the reality I knew was just a part of the vast universe and abyss?

It would be possible to create the world of the game and summon me to this place, right?

Asking “why?” is meaningless.

By chance? Just because? Or a whim? It could be something less than that, or more.

In the world of [Cthulhu World], even thinking or uttering his true name could drive one mad, so his name is kept secret, but I knew his true name.

His true name was “Azathoth”.

I knew even his name.

Although his name was kept a secret,

Thinking about it in my mind or uttering it could drive me mad, his true name…

Wait, why is everything before my eyes becoming blurry?

I felt an unpleasant sensation as if the world was turning upside down…

[□□□□ □□□□ □□□□□]

My vision was impaired.

A message window appeared in the air, but I couldn’t read its contents. What did it say? Besides…

[□□□□ □□□□ □□□□□ □□□□□□□□ □□□□]

There was a feeling like an itch inside my skull. A stinging sensation behind my eyes. It was itchy. I felt something forcing its way between my brain and skull, like some insect was burrowing through the folds of my brain. And then—I actually…

Pajijijik

[System: The unique trait ‘Madness of the Abyss’ has been activated. The ‘Status Ailment—Distortion’ has been nullified.]

“Aaah!”

It was a close call. With a powerful spark in my temples, the trait [Madness of the Abyss] was activated, and thanks to that, I barely, just barely,

Managed to stop my hands from gouging out my own eyes.

There was still a lingering, unpleasant sensation of my brain bubbling.

Wow, what the hell is this!

“Ah, this is seriously no joke.”

I now understood why people referred to him by a long, elaborate nickname instead of his actual name.

It wasn’t just to flatter or to make him seem more impressive.

Simply recalling his name could curse or drive one mad.

“He” no, “that entity” was indeed real in this world!

I shouldn’t even accidentally think of that name.

Eventually, I moved forward again. The passage was long and dark, but I did not hesitate.

Was [Madness of the Abyss] removing even minor fear and confusion?

I was in a very stable state for someone who had just been on the brink of mental destruction.

“Haah… Anyway, this helps in the current situation…”

Right, there are already so many oddities. Focusing on this would be endless.

After a long walk, I finally reached the end of the corridor.

At the end of the narrow passage awaited a large iron door.

Beyond that door lay the challenges I had to overcome.

The boss room is right after this.

After defeating him, I could finally get out.

I deactivated [Moonlight Vision] and opened the door… Damn, this door is too heavy! I had to push with almost my whole body to barely open it.

I blinked for a moment due to the sudden bright light.

Beyond the iron door was a vast warehouse.

It was almost the size of a school auditorium.

Large containers were placed all around, and the ceiling was about twice the height of other spaces, perhaps to accommodate such large cargo.

This was the underground warehouse of the secret research facility. If you defeat the deliberately placed monsters, you could use the cargo elevator to go to the surface.

All normal exits had been sealed, so this was the only passage I could use.

The enemy waiting here was a monster equivalent to this research facility’s boss, but with my current magical power, I could handle it without any issues.

Crunch, crunch

A strange noise could be heard coming from inside as if something hard was being chewed and swallowed.

It’s over there…

The haphazardly placed containers formed walls, obscuring the monster from view.

If I navigated through these containers, I would encounter the huge creature that made this underground warehouse its lair… Huh? That is, the enormous…

There it was, the monster.

Oh,

Damn it…

[The grotesque form of the ‘Mutant Giant Rat’ triggers your ‘Mental Illness – Musophobia’ (fear of rats)]

Ah… right, that was the concept…

Why did I forget it?

While I remembered everything else, I had forgotten what kind of creature resided here.

[System: ‘Mental Illness – Musophobia’ manifests.]

Was it the mental illness itself that was causing my brain to reject the memory?

[System: Attempting to resist the distortion with your mental strength stat. Mental strength check…]

Please, please!

My mental strength, hold on!

[…Success!]

I did it!

However, when I think about it, the mental illnesses and fear triggered by the penalty trait [Shattred Mind] weren’t prevented by [Madness of the Abyss] as it did with other things.

Still, since the mental strength check worked on a probability basis, there was no crisis of a forced descent into mental distortion, but the [Mental illness – Musophobia] embedded in my mind invoked a strong sense of fear and aversion to that horribly shaped r… no, that “creature” that was the archenemy of cats.

Wow, I really, really hate this so much!

Thick fur sprouted all over its body like spikes.

Unpleasant pink skin exposed with sparse hair peeling off.

The swollen tumors around its head resembled a severely furrowed human face.

And its huge size that was more comparable to a truck than a human being.

The forelimbs that protruded from its chest moved so intricately that they seemed more like hands than paws, and they were clutching the corpse of a human it had hunted.

Crunch, crack.

Its powerful jaws easily shattered a human skull in one bite.

A giant snout, drenched in human blood.

Truly, the embodiment of a monster.

But what terrified me more than its form… was the fact that it resembled “that creature”.

I should run!

No, wait. What can I do if I go back?

Stop! No, move!

My thoughts spun wildly. For a moment, I was paralyzed, unsure of what to do, and in my clumsy movement, I alerted the bear-sized ra… Oh, just thinking of the word nearly drove me crazy.

The monster! That horrific monster had noticed me.

It rolled its large, black, inscrutable eyes, staring at me.

Those eyes!

Those dreadful eyes!

The monster itself wasn’t the problem.

Yes, according to the data, there was no problem with the enemy.

It was nicknamed the ‘Rookie Killer’, but for the current me, it was nothing more than a trivial beast.

However, the mere fact that it resembled “that creature” scattered my concentration to the winds.

Hurry, quickly.

The most powerful spell I could use at this moment

I needed the most powerful and immense spell.

“Jjiiik!”

“Aaaah!”

Startled by the loud noise reminiscent of “that creature”, I tried to recklessly fire the handgun I was clutching in my hand.

“Ugh!”

It wasn’t just my improper shooting stance that was the problem, but my weak, almost sickly body couldn’t withstand the recoil of the gun.

The bullets veered off in a random direction, and my arm was completely twisted and flailing in the wrong position.

It was fortunate I didn’t drop the handgun. Ah, Kim Shin-Hwa, you idiot! You have to use magic, not guns or anything like that. I needed to summon my magical power quickly!

The battle had just begun with that recent attack. As for the enemy’s attack pattern, it was…

Ho-ho-ho…how crude!

It started with a long-range attack. That bastard picked up a large container lying on the ground and hurled it towards me. Thinking about it, was that even possible?

Although it seemed quite powerful even in the game, facing it in reality felt like an entire house was flying at me.

However, the only thing that could induce fear…in me was the form of that boss creature, and the sight of a 30-ton container flying towards me only brought a thrilling sensation.

At the same time, a list of spells I could activate immediately flashed through my mind. The thing that is my immediate adversary…. when I think that it is not that creature, my mind becomes clearer.

There was no need to dodge. Well, in truth, my posture was too messy to dodge anyway!

[Arrow of Destruction]

[Spell Enhancement: Maximization]

[Spell Enhancement: Power Boost]

The magical power that boiled up at lightning-like speed transformed into a violet glowing netherworld energy and was discharged through my fingertips.

It was originally a spell that fired purple glowing magic arrows, but I infused it with an excessive amount of magical power and a double enhancement of the spell’s properties, causing it to overload into an absurd size.

Rather than an arrow, it looked more like a gigantic pillar of magical power soaring through the air as if I hurled a telegraph pole.

Boom!

A huge explosion occurred in mid-air.

And the debris was scattered everywhere.

The explosion was so powerful that it shook the inner walls of the underground warehouse.

It was more powerful than I thought…The boss monster created based on “that creature’s” appearance visibly flinched at the blast’s overwhelming force. Even I was surprised by its magnitude, so it must have been frightening for it.

It’s not the time to be smug, though…

I had used far too much magical power just to block a projectile. Such a waste.

I released so much magical power that it hadn’t completely combusted and now pooled around the scattered fragments of containers and cargo.

Oh my, my magical power…

What a waste! Even if I had plenty of magical power to spare still, my game-trained brain scolded me for my hasty spellcasting. Alright, I’ll need to use it more carefully from now on.

Besides, the way the walls and ceiling shook earlier was not a good sign…

The last thing I wanted was to be crushed under a collapsing building because I used too powerful a spell.

– jjiiiig! jjiiiig!

That sound gave me the creeps. Of all things, that creature’s cry…

“Damn it, just roar a kwaaaang or something else!”

The monster then moved its huge body and rushed toward me. Yeah, right. You too must realize that throwing something at me won’t work.

I was grateful that I didn’t succumb to panic. Had I fell to that mental distortion, the sight of that massive creature swiftly closing in with its… fu*king grotesque appearance… would have surely made me faint.

I assessed my remaining magical power and calculated what I could use.

There were many options for a response, but the spell I chose next was somewhat unconventional.

[Veil of Darkness]

There were almost no offensive spells in the zero-order.

Veil of Darkness was a mere auxiliary spell that shrouds a desired area or target in shadows, making it less visible.

It was used for concealment or disruption and it wasn’t really meant for combat.

But for me, at this moment, it was the spell I needed most, so much so that I was willing to forsake defense completely.

Boom!

I threw myself to the side as the spell activated, narrowly avoiding a direct hit. Of course, the creature was also startled by the sudden darkness.

The monster crashed into the spot where I had been, completely obliterating the containers behind me. Oh boy, what is this strength? Is it trying to play a game of container-smashing with me?

I couldn’t let my guard down. The impact from its immense mass was tremendous. A direct hit at this point would be deadly. But now, I could fight.

The dreadful monster was now enveloped in an artificially created magical darkness, leaving behind only its dark silhouette.

Of course, it hadn’t vanished.

It was just temporarily obscured.

“Ha, fu*k. Now I can fight. Die!”

[Arrow of Destruction]

[Spell Enhancement: Multicasting]

One enhancement was enough. The earlier one I used was the real waste.

A little earlier, I had focused on increasing the size and power of the arrow. This time, however, I enhanced the spell to launch several arrows at the same time.

The spell wasn’t originally designed to release multiple arrows, making it an inefficient basic spell.

To activate such spells simultaneously, the number of formulas to calculate increases exponentially. The complexity varies depending on one’s magical power; even a reasonably high-level mage might find it overwhelming to handle three to four at the same time.

But the Arrows of Destruction that had appeared before me… there were eight in total.

“Go!”

Energy arrows of the netherworld rained down on the target, who now only looked like a pitch-black mass.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

When the energy arrows imbued with fierce explosive power struck the creature, its body instantly reduced to tatters and it let out a terrible scream.

– Jjjjieeeeeeeeeg!

Seeing the innards fly out even beyond the shadowed area, it seemed the creature was completely dealt with. But this wasn’t the end. Even if weak, a boss is still a boss.

This creature had a second phase. If more than half of its blood was drained, a truly horrific pattern would start…

– Jiiiiiiiig!

– Jiiiiiiiiiiieeeg!

– Jiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeg!

From dozens of mouths, a cacophony of unpleasant frequencies poured forth.

It was the minion summoning pattern.

“Ah, seriously… This is driving me crazy.”