Chapter: 96
Episode 96 – Room 102, The Curse – ‘Mansion of Fear’ Re (9)
Fourth Attempt
– Han Kain
— KIEEEEK!
Screams of monsters echoed from every direction.
This was the fourth attempt; if we failed here, the next attempt would come with a deadly penalty!
No, honestly, the penalty was the least of our concerns. The real issue was whether we could even escape at all.
Strange phenomena began occurring throughout the entire mansion. Just like during the ‘First Attempt’!
Birds with sharp fangs burst out of the cuckoo clock. Monsters resembling us jumped out from the mirrors brandishing knives. Statues, which had been decorated around the mansion, started to move on their own.
In the midst of the chaotic atmosphere, Grandpa Mooksung shouted, “Gather together! We’re safest around the bell!”
Everyone from ‘Team Mansion’ ran frantically and assembled around the crystallized Siwoo on the first floor of the mansion.
Seungyub started ringing the bell like it was the end of the world.
Indeed, it was the Bell of Saint George!
To be honest, I had no idea who Saint George was in this world, but he seemed like a pretty impressive figure. The murky, rough sound of the bell spread like a dignified wave, and even the monsters that had burst out from the mansion couldn’t breach its sound.
But what would it mean to hold out like this?
“What do we do? Is just holding out here really a solution?”
“Do you think I know?! For now, let’s wait and see if this crystal disappears!”
Was waiting for the crystal to vanish really all we could do? And if we killed Siwoo afterward, would that lead to a resolution or an escape?
— Bang!
With a gunshot, a nearby table exploded.
Why on earth did he shoot the table? I glanced at Grandpa with a bewildered look, only to realize he wasn’t the one who fired.
“Who the fuck is it? Show yourself!”
“It’s the owner of this house. You bastards!”
Lee Sehyun’s furious voice rang out.
Ah, so that insane guy must have done something.
How on earth did he even get a gun in South Korea?!
“You! How the hell did you get here—”
“Hah! Cardinal! All your subordinates are already burned to death in the basement, so don’t get your hopes up.”
With that, Lee Sehyun began shooting randomly from behind the monsters surrounding us. The power of the bell that kept monsters at bay was useless against bullets.
Things were getting tougher and tougher.
Fortunately, Lee Sehyun’s shooting skills were awful, allowing us to frantically grab furniture to shield ourselves.
“Grandpa! Can you shoot him?”
“Hey, if I could fire at him through this horde of monsters, I’d be the god of shooting! I can’t even get a decent angle!”
“No, I meant your hand! Use the glove to bring the gun closer to him!”
It seemed the old man finally got what I meant. He concentrated for a moment.
His hand with the pistol floated into the air, positioning itself to aim easily at Lee Sehyun, who appeared too preoccupied shooting at us to notice the pistol floating up.
— Bang!
“Ohat! What the hell? Drop that hand!”
Oh, come on!
The bullet missed, and Lee Sehyun quickly noticed the floating pistol and commanded the monsters around.
In the end, we lost the advantage of surprise for both the gun and the glove.
“Ah! How could you miss that?!”
“Didn’t I say shooting remotely with the hand wasn’t easy? It’s all over now.”
Just then, Eunsol-noona decided to take action.
Like a madwoman, she suddenly darted away from us and headed toward the monsters. Just as they were about to kill her—
“Stop!” Lee Sehyun roared.
This was Eunsol-noona’s moment of ‘acting.’
“Are you really going to spare your sister?”
“Of course, I wouldn’t kill you! But you better explain yourself!”
“About what? Bringing exorcists into the mansion? If you hadn’t started hiding things from me and gone about doing weird stuff, I would have sought out help from the outside!”
“Even so, how could you bring in people that want to kill your nephew?!”
“I didn’t expect the people from the Vatican to be this insane either! Who knew they’d try to randomly kill an innocent boy… Do you really think I wanted to kill Siwoo?”
“….”
“I raised Siwoo as if he were my own child.”
“Indeed. You took on the motherly role that Yoojin, that wretched woman, couldn’t fulfill.”
Suddenly, a sentimental mood enveloped the mansion. We, who had become the madmen from the Vatican trying to kill an innocent child, were hiding silently behind a table.
Wow! Sis, your acting is insane!
In reality, she had met that kid, Siwoo, less than three days ago, yet her expression conveyed a mother’s love for a child she raised for ten years after running away.
Even Lee Sehyun was fooled by her performance.
Ultimately, he hung his head low and had an emotional reconciliation with his sister while allowing Eunsol-noona to approach him past the line of monsters.
The instant she passed by a monster, Eunsol-noona “disappeared.”
“Huh! Wait, what is this—”
— Stab!
A sharp knife suddenly pierced Lee Sehyun’s chest from who knows where!
The nearby monsters immediately pulled him away from Eunsol-noona, but it was too late— the knife was already deep in his heart.
“Sorry.”
“You… You!”
“I’ll take care of Siwoo on your behalf. At least until you’re dead.”
Eunsol-noona?
Did you really have to say that?
Aren’t you too immersed in your villain role?
Lee Sehyun stumbled and yelled, “Charge in! Destroy the bell even if it costs you your lives!”
With his shout, the monsters all charged in! As they forced themselves into the bell’s range, their bodies melted and burned in an instant, but still, they wouldn’t back down.
They rushed towards the bell without caring for their lives!
Even if we had the gun, it wouldn’t matter against these fellows.
Besides, these monsters weren’t human, and according to Elena’s “sense of justice,” Lee Sehyun wasn’t necessarily evil, either.
…In fact, at this point, we might be the real villains here.
Thanks to this, Elena had become a completely normal person, and none of us had supernatural fighting abilities.
— Kwang!
A giant on the right, half of its body melted, came crashing down on us like a landslide. It was trying to bury us with its body even knowing it would die to the bell in the process!
We had to scatter to avoid getting crushed by its falling corpse when—
Boom!
A massive hammer slammed down on Elena.
Just then, another bandaged monster dropped onto Seungyub, who had been mechanically ringing the bell.
Although the monster burned to death for getting too close to the bell, its fiery corpse fell directly onto Seungyub.
“Ahh!”
Overcome by pain, Seungyub rolled on the floor, and the bell fell from his hands.
That! We must get it back!
— Crush!
…
A gigantic moving statue stomped on the bell with its leg.
Laughter echoed throughout the room.
“Ahaha! Well done, my loyal servant. Sehyun.”
Instinctively, I covered my sight with the filter, took out my pen, and focused on the crystal. As soon as Siwoo’s eyes turned red, I frantically scribbled across his eyes!
“Hmm? You’ve got some tricks up your sleeve, don’t you? But it won’t help. After all, there are plenty of people.”
Despite stating it was pointless, the Apostle made no attempt to possess me. Chains shot up from the ground and restrained me instead.
And he was correct— there were plenty of people nearby.
Grandpa Mooksung suddenly seemed like he was grasping his head in agony before his expression sharply changed.
Ah, so covering my view won’t work. Is the bell the only thing that can block his possession?
Grandpa wore a wicked smile he would never ordinarily have and walked past the monsters toward Lee Sehyun.
“Apostle! This Lee Sehyun has come to save you.”
“Indeed. I’m well aware.”
“Siwoo! Is that boy alright?”
“Siwoo? Ah, you mean your son?”
“Yes.”
The Apostle, controlling Grandpa’s body, turned towards the crystal with a knowing gaze as it began to melt slowly.
…
Siwoo’s body inside the crystal also began to dissolve.
“W, what! No!”
“You need to understand. That spell offers strong defense, but it’s challenging for the body inside to come out unscathed. Only someone like me, who can shift bodies, could manage without consequence.”
“What do you mean? What about Siwoo?! Siwoo!”
“Hmm. I’d say that’s enough for you, too.”
“Excuse me? What do you—”
— Ujik!
The Apostle waved his hand nonchalantly, causing the chains to rise from the ground and crush Lee Sehyun.
…It’s a miracle I’m still alive.
Truthfully, I had been ready to activate Descent at any moment since things took a turn for the worse. I wanted to hold off until my life was at stake, but Sage’s Advice hadn’t triggered once.
It seemed the Apostle didn’t plan to kill me right away.
Looking at me, he started to explain, *“You need to wait. Souls with your status are quite rare.”
“In fact, that girl Ari I met in the village was exceptional—her one soul is worth more than 1,000 human souls! Unfortunately, I couldn’t sacrifice her.”
“While you may not compare to her, I must at least offer you ‘properly’.”
I grasped the general meaning of his words. From the Apostle’s perspective, a large portion of valuable sacrifices had perished in our fierce battle.
His plan was to properly offer me—valued among the remaining—that is supposed to carry out the evil deity’s ritual scheme.
And that represented my opportunity.
I still had Descent.
As I was meticulously planning my next moves—
A booming explosion sounded nearby!
— Kwang!!!
The mansion door burst open as a massive giant barreled in like a missile. The monsters outside the bell’s range immediately lunged at the giant.
— Vuuung!
In a scene resembling a cartoon, the giant hurled the monsters aside with sheer strength, clearing a way for itself.
So who’s really the monster now?
Even the Apostle couldn’t conceal his surprise at this sight.
“What’s that? Did the Vatican summon Hercules or what?”
Chains spread out from all sides, aiming for Jinchul-hyung. He gripped the chains firmly and ripped them apart, charging towards the Apostle.
…
Feeling fascinated by his strength, I grabbed the chains that bound me and tried to move.
Not even a millimeter budged.
Jinchul-hyung had truly attained Herculean power at this point.
The fight didn’t drag on much longer.
For some reason, the Apostle seemed unable to steal Jinchul-hyung’s body. As he had no means to block those powerful attacks and couldn’t possess him, the outcome was all but determined.
Jinchul-hyung, bulldozing through monsters, tore apart the chains and smashed the Apostle’s body into pieces.
Was it over?
Unfortunately, it was not yet finished.
Eunsol-noona, who had been bound to the ground after stabbing Lee Sehyun, twitched before suddenly standing up—
Oh crap, she turned invisible!
Jinchul-hyung immediately attempted to chase after his now transparent sister, but the remaining monsters desperately clung to him, trying to hold him back.
…
The Apostle slipped away, and once all the monsters in the mansion were obliterated, Jinchul-hyung approached me.
“Are you okay?”
“You’re the one I want to ask. Are you alright?”
He didn’t respond much and settled down beside me.
“Kain. It’s up to you now.”
“Descent, you mean? I’ve been debating whether to use it, but after all this, can’t you handle it? You’ve squared off against the Apostle twice and won easily both times.”
“It was possible because of the bell the first time and, the next, the mental protection Songee sacrificed herself for me to enforce. The protection has already run out. The fact is, my body itself is more of a concern.”
“Your body?”
Only then did I thoroughly examine his condition.
…
His body was covered with countless injuries. Almost half was seared with burn marks, and there were bullet wounds all over. What happened in the basement?
And that was not to mention the fight against the monsters and the Apostle.
It was nothing short of a miracle that he was still alive.
“I managed to hold on this long thanks to the healing powers granted by my sponsor. However, I’m really beginning to struggle now.”
“….”
His breath gradually grew faint before it ultimately ceased.
Now, I was entirely alone.
…This unidentified power I received from the “lord.”
The moment everyone seemed to be fleeing from, had indeed arrived.
— RAAAAAAAAAA!
The harmonious hymn of angels resonated across the world.
A celestial wave blanketed the ground. Finally, the son of heavens descended upon the earth.
Sadly, I might be taking a break on Saturday due to personal matters. I’ll be back on Sunday.
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