Chapter 97

Pentagram

People hate cockroaches.

Because they're filthy and disgusting.

They hate house centipedes that eat cockroaches too.

For the exact same reasons.

Naturally, parasites are even more hated.

A disgusting worm crawling around inside my body?

No thanks.

I'd want to burn every last one of them the moment I saw them.

Ever since I learned parasites existed, I'd made a habit of taking deworming medicine every year without fail.

There were times I'd even had nightmares.

Nightmares about revolting things swimming around inside my stomach.

The Skin-Tapeworm was that nightmare made flesh.

SHHHHHHHHH—

Beneath the still-falling sprinkler water, I pushed through the fog and looked down at the severed segment lying on the floor.

Length: approximately four to six meters.

Like two adult men connected end to end.

Width: two to three meters.

Definitely wider than a meter.

Wide enough that I could clearly see what was packed inside its soft flesh.

The Skin-Tapeworm had two distinct sides.

The outer surface—the side shown to victims—gleamed with a smooth, slick sheen.

Calling it a shell wasn't quite right.

It was more like skin.

Glossy.

Polished.

Smooth.

Eyeballs protruded from it like barnacles on a clam shell, constantly searching.

But the truly horrifying part was the underside.

Splat. Splat.

The bullet-riddled segment writhed helplessly in a shallow puddle, spilling bodily fluids.

And thanks to those convulsions, I could clearly see both its flesh and the way it moved.

Human organs dangled from the underside.

Only the hearts retained their original shape.

The intestines had been flattened into broad sheets, their villi waving limply.

The segment wasn't made from a single person.

It resembled layers of pastry dough.

Humans stretched impossibly thin.

Stacked one atop another.

Heart after heart thumped, pumping disgusting fluids instead of blood.

Melted and reconstructed bones acted as support beams.

Networks of blood vessels spread like spiderwebs between layers.

Yet the most horrifying part wasn't any of that.

It was what hung from the flesh.

Hamza and Goryeoha arrived moments later and immediately recoiled.

"Ugh... bleegh..."

"I didn't think it'd be this disgusting..."

Embedded within the segment were Devourer Spine stingers and amalgam heads.

The monsters struggled weakly as though trapped inside the flesh.

At first I assumed the Skin-Tapeworm had eaten them.

Then understanding struck.

I'd seen too many monsters.

Too many different kinds.

My instincts pieced it together immediately.

The amalgams and Devourer Spines weren't prey.

They were bait.

A forced symbiotic relationship.

The Skin-Tapeworm helped those monsters spread and reproduce.

In exchange, it consumed them.

Or perhaps...

It used them to weaken human resistance.

To create chaos.

To make feeding on humans easier.

That was enough ecological analysis.

I raised my rifle beneath the relentless rain of the sprinklers.

Click.

Every eyelid covering the severed segment opened simultaneously.

The eyes of a flat-bodied monster woven from human skin and flesh all turned toward me.

I answered them with bullets.

RATATATAT!

Spent casings flew.

Yellow pus and blood spread through the puddles like spilled ink.

I still had ammunition.

And Stage One Eyes at full output was still active.

"Hamza. Stay close with the extinguisher. Goryeoha, with me."

I'd already seen how the creature moved.

It had no legs.

It anchored itself to walls and ceilings using its exposed flesh.

And being related to the Skin-Flayer Fly, it seemed capable of ignoring basic physics and drifting through the air.

Regardless.

It would turn invisible.

Hide.

Ambush us.

The decision was immediate.

We had to kill it here on the fifth floor while the sprinklers were active.

"We're pursuing."

Splash!

I stepped over the dead segment.

Hamza and Goryeoha followed without complaint.

Running wasn't an option.

Goryeoha and I had Heart Magic.

Hamza didn't.

He carried a backpack.

A fire extinguisher.

And crushing stress.

His stamina was evaporating.

"Hah... haaah..."

Naturally, our pursuit slowed.

I abandoned the idea of sprinting.

Instead, I resumed firing at every sprinkler I saw.

Each gunshot unleashed even more water.

Normal vision had become completely useless.

The fog and sprinkler rain had merged into something denser than a waterfall.

Even my gas mask felt glued to my skin.

Ordinarily, nobody could've seen anything.

But Stage One Eyes—

[Expanded Perception] at one hundred percent—

Cut through the gray haze.

Showing me traces.

Showing me the monster's tail as it rippled across the ceiling like a curtain caught in the wind.

I raised my rifle.

The metallic ping of raindrops striking the barrel sounded strangely loud.

Hoooooo.

One breath.

One trigger pull.

RATATAT!

The result was the same.

The monster severed another damaged segment without hesitation and retreated into a room lacking a door.

The discarded segment remained active.

Splat. Splat.

It writhed inside the puddle.

Before its foul fluids could touch me, I stepped forward.

At that exact moment—

The severed segment launched itself from the water.

But I was faster.

Crunch.

I bit down on my tongue.

Hard.

The attempt to sever it filled my mouth with blood and pain.

Tears sprang to my eyes.

Only I am precious.

Only my pain is absolute.

Therefore only my pain is long and endless...

Stage Two Eyes.

[Cognitive Distortion].

The airborne segment froze.

Motionless.

That was enough.

Blink.

FSSSSHHHH!

"AAAAAAAH!"

The sound of a fire extinguisher blasting filled the air.

Hamza's scream came mixed in with it like seasoning.

Small popping sounds followed.

I imagined Goryeoha launching blood-soaked bottle caps one after another.

I forced my shaking legs to stand.

Opened my eyes.

Everything was blurry through the tears.

Only after seeing the shredded segment hanging limply from the ceiling did I finally release the groan trapped behind my teeth.

"Fuuuck..."

I bit too hard.

It hurt like hell.

But we'd failed to kill the monster.

The disgusting Skin-Tapeworm possessed enough vitality and reflexes to amputate damaged sections and flee.

I stepped over to inspect the second segment.

Something was different.

No amalgam heads.

No Devourer Spine stingers.

The first segment had been a spreading mechanism.

Did that mean the second segment belonged to the actual body?

Then Goryeoha pointed toward the center of it.

Even the thick fog couldn't conceal the bizarre outline.

"Junior. Mr. Muslim. Look."

She crouched beside the monster, examining it closely.

The woman had the courage to crush cockroaches barehanded.

"Do I really have to?"

Hamza complained.

Curiosity won anyway.

He approached first.

The moment he saw what she was pointing at—

He pulled up his gas mask and vomited.

"BLEEEEGH!"

Retreating as fast as possible, he stumbled backward.

I'd just used [Cognitive Distortion], weakening the effect of Stage One Eyes.

I rolled my tongue again.

Target. Monster. Kill. Five minutes. Route.

Only then did the fog clear enough.

Stepping forward with the determination not to lose to some Four-Tiger Sword scammer, I finally saw it clearly.

Tiny hands.

Dozens of them.

Like newborn hands.

Reaching desperately for anything they could touch.

And at their center—

A mouth.

A gaping mouth.

Layer upon layer of human flesh stacked like pastry dough.

Blood vessels writhing like tentacles.

Goryeoha folded her arms atop her knees and observed it with fascination.

"Junior, I think these blood vessels pierce victims and inject digestive fluids while stealing organs like hearts. Judging by how every segment contains one of these structures, it probably reproduces by breaking segments off and letting them mature into separate individuals."

I didn't answer.

I raised my rifle.

Click.

RATATATATATAT!

I shot everything.

Filled the thing with holes.

Made absolutely sure it would never move again.

Only when I heard the rifle clicking empty did I realize I'd expended the entire magazine.

I discarded it.

Inserted another.

Then reached into my pocket.

Pulled out my phone.

And handed it to Hamza.

"Hamza. Check communications."

"Ugh... huh? Why now?"

"Every time we destroy a segment, check whether the communication interference weakens. Do it."

"O-okay..."

The phone changed hands.

The moment I gave it away, I fixed my sights on the room the monster had escaped into.

"Well?"

"Still not working."

"Grab the extinguisher again. Check after we kill the next segment. Ms. Ryeoha, protect Hamza. Let's move."

We formed up.

I took point.

Hamza handled suppression.

Goryeoha provided crowd control and fire support.

Normally I'd have found our seamless teamwork infuriating.

Not this time.

The footprints painted in red across the clearing fog revealed just how intelligent the Skin-Tapeworm really was.

SHHHHHHHHH—

Rain hammered against my poncho.

Some areas had soaked through.

Others still shed water.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Each raindrop striking my hood sounded unnaturally loud.

There wasn't even time to wipe the water running across my gas mask lenses.

I advanced slowly.

One step at a time.

Rifle aimed at the place where the footprints appeared and disappeared.

The closer I got to the doorwayless room—

The quieter everything became.

I desperately repeated Song Smith's lessons in my head.

Don't expose your body.

Show only the muzzle and one eye.

Reduce your target profile.

When I finally reached the doorway—

Another realization struck.

The Skin-Tapeworm was invisible.

It didn't need to cling to surfaces while ambushing.

The moment my rifle crossed the threshold, my right eye took in the room.

Beds had been dragged around to create a maze.

Blankets lay scattered across the floor.

That was enough.

I instantly swung the muzzle.

Toward empty air.

And fired.

Muzzle flash erupted.

Shell casings poured into the rainwater.

Gunfire echoed.

Brass splashed into puddles.

There were no screams.

No shrieks.

Only the wet sounds of layered flesh exploding apart.

Only the sound of muddy blood and pus bursting outward.

Once the camouflage failed, the room itself disappeared from view.

Because the doorway was completely blocked.

The Skin-Tapeworm's segments formed a massive half-dome around the entrance.

"Hamza!"

My own voice was the only thing I could hear.

The gunfire had deafened me.

I couldn't hear anyone else's response.

Only the sight of white extinguisher powder blasting past my shoulders told me Hamza had understood.

Suppression achieved.

Now.

Freeze it with [Cognitive Distortion] and finish it.

I rolled my tongue—

"Jemin!"

A human scream pierced my ringing ears.

And in that instant—

I realized something horrifying.

The rain had stopped.

The droplets that should've been striking my poncho were gone.

Instead, I felt something light.

Thin.

Like cloth settling over my hood.

A faint weight.

Nothing more.

A chill ran through me.

Every trace of pain vanished.

Beyond the doorway, I met the rolling eyes embedded within the Skin-Tapeworm.

Cold crept up my spine.

Through every blood vessel.

As if my heart had frozen.

I didn't even feel fear.

I simply couldn't process it.

I'm going to die?

...Here?

SKREEEEEEEEE—!

A piercing metallic shriek tore through the air.

Someone grabbed me.

Then threw me backward.

SPLASH!

I landed hard on my backside.

Yet my vision remained blurred.

No.

All of my senses felt wrong.

My eyes were open, but I couldn't see properly.

I was breathing, but couldn't smell anything.

My ears worked, but even the ringing was gone.

A crushing sensation flooded my skull.

At first, I thought it was pain.

The price of overusing magic.

But as sensation slowly returned—

As my thoughts settled—

I finally understood what I was experiencing.

This wasn't a headache.

Only when my teeth began chattering uncontrollably and I noticed the hand pressed against my forehead trembling did I finally understand.

Fear.

Fear had finally surpassed my limits.

The moment I realized that, something surged up from within me.

I yanked off my gas mask and threw it aside.

“Urk, guh... nghk...”

I was vomiting.

I’d deliberately eaten nothing but water and a few crackers to avoid throwing up.

And yet...

Even those came back up with bitter bile.

“Bleeegh...! Bleeegh...!”

The more I vomited, the clearer my mind became.

Every time I spat out the fear I’d been swallowing along with the bile, my senses returned.

The strain of concentration.

The accumulated pain.

The fear that had been building all this time.

Everything exploded at once.

I sobbed.

Vomit, drool, tears, and snot streamed through my trembling lips.

Yet paradoxically, it was fear that forced me to swallow back my cries.

A fate worse than death.

Trapped inside a monster’s body.

Remembering that I had once wielded magic.

Longing forever for possibilities stolen from me.

Being violated eternally by a monster’s desires.

—Eternity.

At that moment, my crying stopped.

Then I gathered every scrap of fear and emotion and spat it out.

“Ptui!”

I lightly rinsed my face beneath the pouring water and picked up the gas mask I had thrown away.

Looking around, I saw Hamza and Goryeoha standing back-to-back, guarding every direction.

Hamza was even waving the fire extinguisher hose around while shouting.

“Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!!!”

Hoooo...

I took a deep breath.

Time to put the mask back on.

Fwoosh.

After a quick check of the filter, I picked up my rifle from the floor.

“Where’d it go?”

“It disappeared. I’ll take point from now on.”

“Why?”

“The writing on your poncho. It’s all red now.”

I understood.

The first thing I did was check my weapon.

Water had gotten into it.

The possibility of a misfire made me want to scream, but I kept it off my face and turned my head.

The effects of my magic had ended when I panicked.

Fog had already rolled back in, turning even the fluorescent lights pale and hazy.

I rolled my tongue inside my mouth once more.

Target. Monster. Kill. Five minutes. Route.

After confirming the familiar vision had returned, I switched the selector to safe and slung the rifle over my shoulder.

Then I drew my military dagger.

Shhk!

I smeared [Right Hand’s Blood] all over my poncho.

The pain was awful.

The best I could do was coat my sleeves and the blade.

Now I understood why the Seoul Mages classified Transparent Veils—Skin-Tapeworms—as Resistance-Impossible Class threats.

“There was another segment on the ceiling.”

When we severed the second segment, the Skin-Tapeworm had discarded another one.

While we were distracted examining the fallen segment, a third had hidden itself directly above the doorway.

I’d predicted the half-dome ambush around the entrance.

I hadn’t predicted it could casually discard yet another segment.

That was my mistake.

Now that the ancient Hebrew enchantment carrying exorcising power had expired, letting me take point had obvious limits.

I only had one life.

If someone had to die, it couldn’t be me.

“Goryeoha takes point. Bind or hit the Skin-Tapeworm. Hamza suppresses. I’ll detect and immobilize once I find it.”

The one who dies must be the monster.

Goryeoha tilted her head.

“Skin-Tapeworm?”

“It’s a subspecies of the Skin-Flayer Fly. So Skin-Tapeworm.”

“Ahh.”

And because it’s disgustingly gross.

Hamza, realizing I’d regained my composure, nodded repeatedly.

“Mr. Jemin, let’s just leave. Please?”

“No. Check communications again.”

Pastor Park Yohan had theorized that consuming mages produced subspecies.

But this was on an entirely different level from something like the Blood Web, which was supposedly born from an Amalgam devouring a mage.

Even the Seoul Mages had classified it as Resistance-Impossible.

If it consumed more people here, even Archmages might not be able to handle it.

So every segment could interfere with communications?

My concentration sharpened once again.

The threat level was too high.

Only seconds passed.

Yet to me it felt like hours as I tightened my grip on the dagger.

“It’s not the kind of predator that gives up prey easily.”

It was still on the fifth floor.

A creature clever enough to set traps while retreating.

One hundred percent.

It might already be waiting at one of the stairwell entrances.

Or perhaps it would move its ambush depending on where we went.

“We’re going again. If it reproduces any further, we’re finished.”

And I hated that kind of bullshit ending.

“...Still nothing.”

After checking, Hamza shoved the phone away and raised the fire extinguisher again.

Apparently killing segments wasn’t enough to remove the communication interference.

Thus the Three Archmages reformed our formation and resumed the hunt.

This time we were even more careful.

Ceilings.

Walls.

Floors.

Even empty air.

We collected spent shell casings and threw them deliberately, creating noise to determine where the Skin-Tapeworm might be hiding.

But the Skin-Tapeworm was just as cautious.

We’d already destroyed roughly six segments in the hospital room.

Three more had been discarded during the chase.

We didn’t know the creature’s total segment count, but it was reasonable to assume we’d inflicted significant damage.

The Three Archmages knew it.

The Skin-Tapeworm knew it.

We were hunters.

And prey.

To one another.

I silently congratulated myself for not using Stage Two Eyes, [Cognitive Distortion], at full output.

Focusing on detection had been the correct choice.

The creature had shattered an ancient Hebrew enchantment the instant it touched it.

Even if I could move freely through frozen time, I couldn’t guarantee I’d survive touching the skin of a hidden monster.

Half-hearted resolve wouldn’t work.

Monsters were alien organisms that mocked humanity, trampled it, and multiplied through its destruction.

Without magic, humans were nothing but prey.

Only mages—

Only mages possessed even a chance to survive and resist.

And even mages weren’t guaranteed survival.

We searched every corner of the fifth floor.

We even spread [Right Hand’s Blood] around stairwell entrances just in case.

Nothing.

Goryeoha repeatedly used [Prophetic Sight] in every likely hiding place.

The Skin-Tapeworm refused to react.

Hamza’s doctrine-type spell, [Angel’s Intuition], judged the entire fifth floor dangerous and became useless.

That remained true until we returned to the conference room.

The conference room door stood open.

Only the curtains covering the windows fluttered ominously.

No people remained inside.

The moment Hamza realized what that meant, a despairing sigh escaped him.

“Ah.”

The owner of the orange armband—the special operative Sergeant Jeong Sin-il—had vanished without leaving even a bloodstain.

Hamza pointed the extinguisher hose at the empty room and backed away.

“...Danger.”

Goryeoha clenched her fist.

I raised my right hand, prepared to spread blood again, ready to draw my dagger the instant something happened.

A world where everyone is both hunter and prey.

We stepped forward first.

Goryeoha launched a blood-soaked bottle cap.

BANG!

A window shattered.

Fog scattered.

One segment appeared and was severed.

Not this time.

Grinding my teeth, I watched the ceiling, walls, and floor simultaneously.

The instant the main body moved, I intended to freeze it.

I pressed my teeth against my tongue.

The Skin-Tapeworm revealed itself.

I bit down immediately.

Only my pain is absolute—

Crunch!

And in that moment, I learned just how vicious the Skin-Tapeworm truly was.

The creature trapped in my sight had rolled itself up like discarded tissue inside the conference room, exposing its inner flesh.

Layers of human organs and blood vessels stacked together in grotesque devotion.

And there—

A magic symbol.

A distorted square trapped inside a triangle.

The symbol of Eye-type magic.

But its application was completely unexpected.

“Urgh...!”

Hamza vomited first.

“Wai—ugh!”

Even Goryeoha collapsed to one knee.

Because I had immobilized the monster.

Because I had preserved the Skin-Tapeworm in place while it displayed the flesh bearing the Eye symbol.

Both Hamza and Goryeoha lacked enough experience to acquire a new branch of magic.

The sight overwhelmed them with violent vertigo.

Meanwhile, I stared at the immobilized creature displaying the Eye symbol and felt only one thing.

Awe.

No other word fit.

Even the weight of my eyelids trembling shut couldn’t suppress the emotion rising inside me.

I shuddered.

Now I truly understood why the Seoul Mages classified this thing as Resistance-Impossible.

Was this how a hunter felt pursuing a bear with a shotgun?

The unbearable fear of making one mistake and being killed.

The dizzying exhilaration born from that fear.

An overwhelming biological gulf that seemed impossible to overcome.

And at the end of that terror—

Ecstasy.

Look.

Look at this magnificent monster.

This cunning intelligence humanity could never defeat.

And I—

Archmage Baek Jemin—

Had touched a fragment of the omnipotent power capable of confronting it.

I rolled my tongue.

Only I am precious.

Only my pain is absolute...

CRUNCH!

Blood burst into my mouth.

My tongue was already split open.

One more bite changed nothing.

The drifting fog gradually slowed.

Hamza stopped clutching his head.

Goryeoha stopped vomiting on her knees.

I stepped forward.

Toward the Skin-Tapeworm waiting inside the conference room.

Splash.

I pushed through suspended droplets hanging in the air.

The puddles beneath the frozen fog cracked like thin ice whenever I stepped on them.

Keeping my dagger aimed at the creature’s exposed flesh, I continued advancing.

When I finally entered the conference room, only one thing remained out of place within the frozen world.

A faint weight settled atop my poncho hood.

Instinctively, I understood.

The moment the Skin-Tapeworm left my direct sight, the power of one-hundred-percent [Cognitive Distortion] would weaken.

A monster that had stolen Eye Magic would naturally be capable of something like that.

Realizing the Hebrew enchantment had expired, the clever creature had attempted the exact same trap again.

I felt the veil-like membrane wrapping around me.

Felt it bite down around my head.

Felt countless blood-vessel tentacles slithering over my poncho.

Disgusting.

Terrifying.

Utterly revolting.

But I wasn’t walking into it blindly.

At that moment, after enduring the fear of death once already, countless clues exploded together inside my mind.

The pentagram carved into my heart upon achieving five branches.

Venerable Cheonghwi’s words that self-modification magic was a system of transcendence and ascension.

And Pastor Park Yohan’s explanation of the theme behind Orthodoxy Self-Modification Magic.

—Even amidst every terrible truth and monster.

The blood-vessel tentacles crawled over my gas mask.

A clever creature.

It deliberately stroked the rubber near my cheeks to keep the tentacles out of my line of sight.

Trying to draw my gaze downward.

I tightened my grip on the dagger and glared at the monster.

—If one protects the five elements that symbolize humanity.

Within frozen time, while being enveloped by the descending segment, I hated it.

Despised it.

Raged at it.

Not because of lofty altruism or love for mankind.

I was human.

And humans fear predators that seek to devour them.

Because I fear it—

I will kill it.

At last, the toothless maw covered in blood-vessel tendrils swallowed my head.

Chewing.

Slowly.

Munch. Munch.

Beneath the horrific sensation of being kneaded alive by flesh and gums, I held my posture.

Then finally.

Finally.

The blood vessels touched my wrist.

The wrist gripping the dagger.

Thin vessels that had once been human capillaries stretched across my skin.

Tap.

Tap.

Goosebumps erupted.

I didn’t close my eyes.

I didn’t panic just because I saw tentacles unaffected by Eye Magic.

And then—

The moment the monster’s blood vessels pierced my flesh—

—Can you remain human?

Thump.

My heart beat.

A symbol appeared on the back of my hand.

The Hand-system magic symbol.

A magic square.

At the same time, burning agony consumed the invading vessels.

It hurt more than when I’d shot my own left hand.

I was burning.

My heart.

Every drop of blood flowing through it.

All of it heated to a blistering temperature.

The monster’s vessels recoiled.

Cooked.

Burned through.

Thrashing desperately.

At that moment, I moved without hesitation.

I don’t know whether I shouted or screamed.

But I know this:

I carved the monster apart with everything I had.

The blade coated in [Right Hand’s Blood] swung endlessly.

I hacked through layer after layer of human flesh.

Crushed blood vessels spewing filthy gore beneath my boots.

Stabbed my dagger into eyeballs rolling toward me.

Forcing my eyelids open so they couldn’t close.

Panting inside my gas mask.

Swinging like a madman.

Pure killing intent.

So intense that even an Archmage’s conviction became meaningless beside it.

When everything finally stopped—

I saw an arm buried within one of the Skin-Tapeworm’s segments.

An arm wearing an orange armband.

A soldier’s arm.

Lonely.

Protruding from the dead flesh.

Perhaps he had reached out for help in his final moments.

Only after seeing that stiff, lifeless arm did I finally close my eyes.

Blink.

“Bleeeeegh...!”

I collapsed immediately.

Face-first.

Vomiting everything inside me.

Which, naturally, amounted to little more than bile.

The smell trapped inside my gas mask made me retch harder.

The more I vomited, the worse the smell became.

The worse the smell became, the more I vomited.

Only after someone removed my gas mask did I regain my senses.

“Mr. Jemin! Mr. Jemin!”

“Hic... hhh...”

My heart pounded hot and violently.

I couldn’t even scream.

And finally—

“Hahahaha...”

“Junior, it’s okay. It’s dead. You can cry now.”

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

“Mr. Jemin?”

At last, I laughed.

In front of Goryeoha and Hamza, both staring at me with wide eyes.

I laughed like a madman.

I understood.

The fifth branch.

The effect of the pentagram engraved upon my heart.

[Mutation Immunity].