episode_0010

Memories from before came to mind.

Emptiness with nothing in it.

In the middle of that… there was a classroom floating, really strange as it may sound.

Sitting in what seemed like a half-destroyed classroom, as if hit by an artillery shell, was none other than Yoo Dahee, wearing a school uniform, and-

“Ta-da~”

A young woman with short white hair fluttering her skirt, which reached down to her knees, made her entrance.

Dahee knew very well that this wasn’t reality.

“…What is this shabby illusion.”

“Shabby illusion? I tailored it to your taste, you know.”

The woman, seemingly pleased with her swaying skirt, looked around and then leaned on the desk where Dahee was sitting, gazing intently.

“How is it? Hehe, the appearance of a hero?”

“It’s the worst.”

The figure before her was undeniably close to Dahee’s ideal type, except for one thing.

“…Aren’t you going to move your glasses?”

“Gah! Move my glasses! Praise be to Gatgyeong…! Losing Gatgyeong means death…!”

What strange nonsense she’s spouting.

“In the first place, arguing about Gatgyeong or whatever in this situation is odd.”

Despite the girl pushing up her glasses and leaning in close, causing a flutter in her chest, Dahee felt not excitement but instead an overwhelming fear creeping into her core.

Goosebumps rose along her skin as the hand gently stroked her cheek.

“Tsk tsk, you should respect people’s tastes, you’re always so rigid.”

“…Well, anyone would be, if they had Outer-Gat right in front of them.”

“Is that so? Then let’s change it up a bit. Let’s see, in the memories…”

Things that seemed like just frail hands began to twist and distort in an incomprehensible way.

Tentacles that Dahee couldn’t understand – tentacles – tentacles – alkfndf81^gs!%3%

“Gaaah-”

It crept up her cheek and delved into her ear, caressing her brain in a disturbingly melting manner.

Using a special ability akin to telepathy, it wasn’t just simple mental exchange but rather a process of truly absorbing information etched into each and every cell, as if countless tentacles were delving into every nook and cranny of the brain, the liver, the midbrain, the cerebellum, and the spinal cord, almost as though they were about to devour them, flipping the eyes inside out with that sensation. It felt like one might just die right there.

“I do not permit your death.”

At the command of Outer God, the departing soul, as if jolted by a safety belt, shook its body and returned.

Drooling excessively didn’t seem entirely normal, but it was considered acceptable under the circumstances. Last time, due to some hamster or whatever, his mental level had been down for over a year, causing him great embarrassment.

“If it happens again this time, it’ll be troublesome, so should I endure it to this extent?”

With a popping sound, the finger tentacle was pulled out from his ear, and then Yoo Dahee’s focus returned.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it.

Brain rape.

The feeling of being raped in the head was an act that plunged his humanity straight into the abyss, regardless of whether it felt good or bad, but there was absolutely no way to resist.

“J..u..st… ju…st… ju…st…ju…st… ju…st…ju…st…”

The opponent was an incomprehensible being who could roll up a whole galaxy like a grape candy in their mouth. It was overwhelming despair, too much for a human like Yoo Dahee to confront. Yet, despite experiencing such despair, Yoo Dahee… had no choice but to cling to this Outer God.

“So, shall we start the lesson now? Let’s see… today, is it about the summoning ritual?”

As one of the few beings beyond the observable universe who genuinely held goodwill towards him, and as the only mentor unraveling the contents within the Necronomicon to help him survive in this world, Yoo Dahee endured everything she did.

“…In the summoning ritual, what’s essentially needed isn’t the number or form of sacrifices, but the precise name.

An illusion began to overlay reality following the outer deity’s finger.

Consciousness is simply following well-crafted guidelines on how to summon, whom to summon, and in what manner. Offerings only add a little extra grease to the wheels. In that sense, you are quite unique.

The foreigner’s chuckle digs into Yoo Dahee’s mind.

“There isn’t a single mortal who knows all the truths of foreigners—neither in the past nor in the future.”

Even a simple laugh shakes her thoughts.

“Just… summoned because someone knows their name?”

“And usually, those summoned try to fulfill the summoner’s wishes~”

Seeing my incomprehension, the foreigner touched his chin.

“Well, let’s consider an example.”

Ant swarms began to appear on the floor.

Twisting and writhing, it was a fantastic sight as if a living ant swarm had been manifested.

“Let’s say the ants drew a circle around some stolen rice in the house. A regular human would immediately get rid of those ants… but what if those ants were shouting ‘Yoo Dahee! Yoo Dahee! Yoo Dahee!’?”

“Uh… I guess I’d try to see what’s going on?”

“And then those ants start talking to you.”

-You are currently bound as a symbol of abundance and cannot escape from us! However, if you grant our wish, we will release you!

“Of course, one could ignore and get rid of them… but out of curiosity, one might ask what their wish is, right? Then, whether they ask to kill other ants or for more sugar or sweet water, it’s just trivial wishes, isn’t it?”

Truly, such frivolous wishes.

“It’s not difficult to grant those, is it? If you think of it as the price for gaining an interesting story like ‘There are talking ants in our house!’ from others, it’s really nothing.”

From a human perspective, the ants’ wishes seem simple, and from the foreigner’s perspective, there’s no difference between humans and ants.

“However, occasionally, there will be ants with wishes that are incomprehensible.”

“I love her, but she doesn’t care about me… Please make me the most precious ant to her!”

“If I were to grant that wish… the solution is simple.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, the foot of the outsider comes down on the ants on the ground.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

After several foot clouds, only two ants survive from the many that were there.

“If I kill all except for these two, wouldn’t they become the most precious? Then the ants would be trembling in fear and muttering like this.”

-What have I just done?

Chew.

The outsider, looking at Yudahee with a disgusted expression, clapped his hands, erasing the ant’s illusion.

“Summoning outsiders means this.”

“…I will never do it.”

“Well… no one knows if that will happen as you wish, right?”

Yudahee was so afraid of the outsider’s smiling face.

“So far, this was the most basic summoning – from here, there are methods that apply this method further.”

“Apply?”

The classroom began to tremble and change.

“Why is one ant suddenly shouting like this?”

-This human is actually a syphilitic, leper, and herpes-infected piece of crap!

Oh, damn.

“That’s not even in your house, but it’s something everyone in the neighborhood can hear. So, wouldn’t you try to find that ant and tear it apart to kill it right away?”

“I won’t. I won’t summon.”

I won’t do such crazy things at all.

But the outsider, as if expecting my reaction, started to smile and clench his fingers.

“So, I’ll do it for you.”

“…What?”

In an instant, my freedom was taken away.

The classroom, the blackboard, the desk, and the chair all transformed into a bundle of tentacles of impossibility, wrapping around Yudahee’s body.

“Ugh-ugh-ugh-!”

The outsider, who had completely taken control of my body, slowly manipulated Yudahee’s arms and hands to perform the summoning ritual.

A contract with consciousness is formed.

In the empty space, a tentacle forced its way through a throat to reach all the foreign bodies present and began to pray aloud. “Syphilis, gonorrhea, herpes-infested foreign bastards, if you have the guts, come over here.”

Yudahee’s will was absolutely not there. No, no, no! It’s not me! It’s not me!

“Alright, the topic of the next class is… how to survive among these so-called foreign beings.”

“Hey, you bastard!”

When he unleashed the tentacle and shouted like that, it was already too late.

Countless eyeballs looming outside the classroom window.

“Ah.”

Yudahee tightly shut his eyes.

*****

…It wasn’t much different from back then.

The gazes of numerous contractors directed at him.

Eyes filled with greed, each one hoping for prey.

They were cautious of each other, drawing boundaries amidst the strange spectacle created by Yudahee’s three corpses.

A circular boundary with a radius of 30 meters.

It was a small or large boundary depending on perspective.

But the strange sense of distance brought about by the boundary prevented anyone from stepping forward.

The pressure of not knowing if someone might attack from behind if they leaped in… and that pressure became the worst pain for them.

Blood from the three corpses pooled beneath Yudahee’s feet, forming a circle.

A simple circle with no particular pattern or symbol.

Other contractors with expertise in magic observed this, but they did not take an active stance.

Instead, it seemed to be developing strangely.

A summoning circle made of human sacrifice was being turned into a constraint, allowing only very brief contact, rather than actively catalyzing.

It was almost laughable, a magic circle that imposed restrictions on itself.

But soon, all the mockery disappeared.

“…Damn it, I swore I’d never use this… this is all your fault.”

Yudahee, bound by the contract, closed his eyes.

The foundation of the summoning ritual lies in calling upon the cosmic deities known as the Outer Gods, but with a slight modification… other entities were also entirely possible.

[…Great Old One.]

Ancient and great beings.

Whether it’s extraterrestrial or Great Old Ones on Earth, there wouldn’t be much of a difference. Nevertheless, I limit the ritual to ancient entities that are expected to be somewhat favorable to me.

Upon opening my eyes, countless instinctive attacks, sensing danger, were pouring down, yet none of them reached Yoo Dahee.

[…Atlach-Nacha.]

A massive pillar descended from the sky.

Crash!

The barrier constraining the arena shattered lifelessly upon the pillar’s descent—crumbling.

“Aaargh!”

All magic, all assaults, dissipated entirely due to the upheaval in space, and those who had been in front of Yoo Dahee were nowhere to be found.

In their place was just a dark pillar.

It was a colossal pillar that expanded beyond the horizon, filling a space of 10km x 10km with no end in sight.

The number of attendees inscribed in the arena’s sky began to fluctuate drastically.

[….19/100]

How many people died at once?

Those who survived were not in front of Yoo Dahee but behind her. The massive pillar in front of them was so smooth that if they approached, one could see their reflection. Their gaze slowly followed the pillar upward, despite the dwindling attendance alert…

The survivors couldn’t simply rejoice in the fact that they had made it into the top 20.

Their gaze continued beyond, following the seemingly endless pillar… until it wasn’t a pillar anymore.

“A pillar…?”

No, it wasn’t a pillar.

It was—

A leg, a leg of something so immense that it would treat planets as mere grains of sand.

At its end was a spider, a spider.

One of the spider’s eight legs was stuck here.

“Ahh, ahh- ahhh!”

And those who realized this fact were hit with a massive mental contamination.

Whether they had strong mental fortitude or items to block it, a huge amount of mental contamination swept through the arena, regardless of such things, stirring up their minds.

Even for the contractors, or those with temporary invincibility granted within the arena, it was of no use at all.

…Their souls melted into negativity, into alien existence.

While everyone else crawled on the ground with dilated pupils, there was only one person standing with their feet on the ground, looking up at the sky with a subtle expression.

The arena’s participants were renewed once again.

[1/100]

Only the last person was looking up at the sky with a subtle expression.

Damn it, I definitely set a time limit on physical contact through the divine offering… It’s as if it never happened.

The Great Old One, At’laq Na’cha, wouldn’t disappear.

I did everything as I was taught, so why?

Yoo Da-hee let out a deep sigh.

“Um… Can I go back now…?”

[No.]

Ah.