I Became a Genius Mage in the Cthulhu Game

Chapter 137: Masquerade Strategy

Why is this wannabe cultist acting so friendly and talking to me?

“I’ve seen similar magical power before. [He who comes from the darkness]. You’re from the Hungry Mansion, aren’t you?”

His voice was excessively charming.

If it were simply a good voice, a beautiful voice, a pleasant voice, it would have been nice. But this crossed the line. What did they call it, the uncanny valley? Just hearing the voice made me feel uncomfortable.

“So?”

“It seems difficult to escape alone from here. Like the others, um… at least until we get past the monsters, wouldn’t it be better to cooperate?”

Ah, was he trying to seduce me now? He didn’t seem to have much skill in flirting.

“Sorry, but find someone else—”

Didn’t this guy already have a dozen friends from the same cult?

I ignored the three-eyed mask guy from the Yellow Forest Church who was pretending to be friendly and expanded my senses.

Is this three-eyed mask fellow the only one watching for now?

Should I just knock him out with one hit and put him to sleep?

The reason I was deliberately observing the situation was not to witness the tear-jerking friendship, efforts, or victories of the cultists crawling on the ground.

This event was dangerous.

There were judges-level cultists watching from the balcony. Each and every one of them was as powerful as the Hollow Lord or even stronger.

There were roughly more than fifty of them.

Even though I had leveled up since facing the Hollow Lord and Hwa In, I had only managed to handle them easily by using various tricks or preparing surprise attacks.

Fighting honestly in a place like this could get me hurt.

Actually, even if it were only Dokgo Gyeom as my opponent, I would have to be prepared to die.

If an uncontrollable variable appeared, I wouldn’t be able to deal with it anyway.

“Hey, Yellow Forest Church fellow.”

“Yes.”

“……”

He answered in an amused tone. It annoyed me so much that I forgot what I was about to say. His attitude was typical of a manipulative psychopath villain. He was exactly the type I hated.

I stared at his mask for a moment.

Three eyes placed awkwardly.

It was hard to make eye contact with him. Ugh, how irritating! I felt like apologizing to all the people who had ever tried to make eye contact with me.

“Stop bothering me and look over there.”

“Over there? Oh.”

In the direction I pointed, there were other cultists from the Yellow Forest Church.

Earlier, the one-eyed mask who had picked a fight with me screamed as he was entangled by the tentacles of a mutant. Though it felt wrong to say he deserved it, he would soon die if left like that.

“How unfortunate. I wanted to talk with you a bit more, but I can’t neglect my comrades any longer.”

With those words, the three-eyed mask guy ran toward where his comrades were.

Right. Even though they were cultists, they had a sense of camaraderie.

“Damn it. How annoyingly troublesome.”

I’ll have to find a chance to give him a good whack later to relieve my frustration.

“Alright. Is this the right moment to move?”

I couldn’t afford to delay any longer.

But I couldn’t afford to rush either.

Like I said before, this wasn’t a simple event.

Anyway, I just need to win this messy cultist competition without standing out too much, right?

No, I did need to stand out. But not excessively.

After all, I was Heo Sang-hyeon, a guest from the Hungry Mansion.

So I couldn’t exert my full power.

The moment they realized I was an overwhelmingly different existence among these fools, the mad judges driven by jealousy would try to kill me.

Anyway, the first person to reach that pillar is the winner.

The number of mutants has now exceeded thirty. Most of the cultists were stuck against the wall of mutants and were unable to advance any further.

A plausible set-up was needed for the fake Heo Sang-hyeon, who had been lagging behind, to suddenly surge forward and take first place.

First, let’s get to first place.

That was the first hurdle.

[Agility of the Fox]

[Elegance of the Cat]

[Eyes of the Eagle]

I turned around to check the wall behind me.

Then, I lifted my head to look up at the ceiling. The red canopy curtains covered the ceiling. They extend radially from the center of the ceiling to the walls.

Hmm, using Leap should be reasonable for Heo Sang-hyeon, right?’

[Leap]

It had been a while since I used it. The magic circle that appeared around me granted my body surreal jumping power.

Paaa.

Once.

Then, after stepping on a protrusion in the middle of the wall, I leaped again.

Paaa!

With just two jumps, I reached a height close to the ceiling. Phew, that’s quite high. About twelve meters maybe?

There was a hook on the wall to secure the curtain extending from the center of the ceiling.

I hung briefly from that very hook.

In the game, you could hang indefinitely by pressing the G button, but I didn’t have that kind of grip strength.

[Binding]

So I activated additional magic to tie myself to the curtain extending from the ceiling.

When I turned my head to look ahead, I saw a pillar rising directly opposite.

“So, I finally have to do this.”

I took a deep breath, loosening the joints in my neck for a moment.

The words I had been repeating to myself since before arriving at this place resurfaced.

Rather than causing chaos here, it would be better if the event didn’t happen at all.

Tension and fatigue, overcoming obstacles, adventure, and hustle play. What awaited at the end was just a mask. It was a very powerful artifact, of course, but was it worth all this trouble just for that?

[□□□□ □□ □□□ □□□□ □□□□.]

Crackle!

What was I thinking until now?

A box at the end of the giant pillar? Reward… a mask!

Yes, the mask! I want that mask!

The mask was right there.

The quickest way to reach the mask was…

[Blade of Darkness]

[Spell Enhancement: Multicasting]

A first-order spell. Jet-black blades made of shadow from negative energy flew in all directions.

Swish, swish, swish!

They precisely sliced the ends of the curtains that covered the ceiling.

This is a strategy I created.

If one looked for it, there would be a 25-minute strategy video I uploaded. Views: 78. Why doesn’t anyone watch it? This strategy video for this amazing game.

Ah, you shouldn’t cut all the curtains here. You need to leave one curtain to hang from.

Flutter—

All the curtains except the one I was hanging from fell to the floor.

“What, what is this!?”

“The curtains!”

“Arghhh!!”

The curtains fell on top of the cultists and mutants who were tangled up below. They would serve as an obstacle to bind them temporarily.

As for the curtain I was hanging from…

There was no need to cast a spell. I imbued the released magical power with cutting power to slice the curtain.

Slash!!

One end remained fixed to the center of the ceiling as it was torn. And I added weight to the torn curtain I was hanging from.

Whirr.

It was like the scene of an acrobat on a flying trapeze.

Did you see it? This way, you can move across while hanging from the curtain.

I crossed the chaotic party hall at tremendous speed.

“Oooooh!”

“Who is that guy?”

Cheers and gasps erupted from the gallery. It was the reaction of the judges who still didn’t know my identity. Since they didn’t know that I was an infiltrator at this party, they were amazed as they wondered which cult’s child could perform such a clever feat.

Are you enjoying this? I’m having a hard time though.

“Uggghhh!”

But it was also an overly flashy entrance.

The mutants rampaging in the hall came charging towards me.

That’s why I dropped the curtains. The long trailing curtains tangled around the mutants’ tentacles and tripped them up.

Thanks to this, the cultists who were being chased by the mutants seemed to gain some breathing room. They watched me zip across the hall with their mouths agape.

At some point, someone among them shouted.

“That idiot, it’s too short!”

Yes, it’s short. I know.

The curtain was long enough to cover the ceiling, but the rotating shaft that secured it was attached too far back.

So an additional leap was necessary.

Where to jump could only be grasped through a hellish repetitive play. Let me tell you the easiest way. Just after brushing past the fourth balcony, hit the space key repeatedly!

[Leap]

“Or just use a mage character!”

Hah!

“He jumped!”

“Wow! He’s flying!”

It wasn’t perfect timing, but it was decent enough.

Now there were no more curtains to grab onto. I leaped several meters and soared in the air without any help.

Damn it, if I wore the Winge Robe of the Night Veil, I could fly. What a waste!

Kim Shin-hwa could fly, but flying and Heo Sang-hyeon were an incompatible combination. The next spell I cast was the one Heo Sang-hyeon had used to attack me before.

[Spirit Explosion]

Many had already died here. I gathered the grudges of the dead wandering within this hall and struck that ridiculously designed pillar.

Boom!!

The pillar was so massive that it didn’t just break; it collapsed.

Crash!!! Boom!!

Fragments scattered in all directions, and a cloud of dust rose up.

Phew, this is a mess like no other.

Did I win first place in this chaotic cult gathering with this?

I weakly activated the Feather Fall spell and landed on the ground at a suitable speed.

“Oh, my, my, my!”

From the gallery set up right next to the collapsed pillar, Dokgo Gyeom sighed.

“That magic! That power! An idea no one could have imagined! And such incredible star quality! Where did this person come from?!”

The judges murmured but gave no answers.

I saw the guide with the strange way of speaking, whom I had seen at the entrance, running towards Dokgo Gyeom.

“Oh, I see! Do you know why the descendants of Fomalhaut, who were strong contenders for today’s victory, did not participate? It’s because of this person! The heir to the Hungry Mansion! The immortal mage who serves [the One Who Comes from the Darkness]! His name is…! Oh, right, his name is a secret.”

“No way! This is the disciple of that old bone bag?”

“The Hungry Mansion! Ah, indeed, after countless biological experiments, they finally completed something like this!”

“Waaaa!!”

Cheers erupted among the judges. If they knew the name, they would probably be chanting Heo Sang-hyeon! Heo Sang-hyeon! in this crazy atmosphere.

Hmm, quite popular.

Sang-hyeon-ssi… are you watching?

I have made you the super rookie cultist of the year.

No, this isn’t the time to be thinking such idle thoughts.

Anyway, everything up to this point had gone according to plan, including making Heo Sang-hyeon a super rookie.

While I was thinking about that, Dokgo Gyeom introduced a new phase to this frenzied cultist rally.

“Everyone, it’s not over yet! The chest hasn’t been opened yet!”

Right, the chest was still rolling around among the pillar fragments.

“What an incredible wit and skill! But can he survive to the end among so many competitors?”

All the monsters and cultists gathered in this giant hall turned their gazes toward me.

“Keueeek!!”

“Graahh!!”

The mutants were going berserk.

“Get him out!”

“Kill him!”

“That one’s mine!”

The masks, no, the masked cultists came rushing at me. They were screaming and going crazy with jealousy.

“Ugh, this is serious.”

I didn’t know about anything else, but I felt like I could die from happiness.

Over a hundred diverse and unique masks were charging at me at the same time. My broken brain was pumping out dopamine at an incredible rate.

Could this place possibly be a paradise prepared just for me?

Everywhere I looked, there were masks, masks, masks, masks, masks.

What a truly beautiful sight.