#94: Chapter 94 — Favored by The Outer God

It happened in an instant.

Contrary to his expectation that something was approaching, Jeres realized that his body had somehow been lifted into the air.

It was as if an earthquake had struck—the entire space where he had been standing lurched violently up and down.

Rather than an earthquake, it was closer to a massive linked oscillation. The impact was so extreme that maintaining balance was impossible.

“Kh—khuk…!”

Slammed by countless rocks rolling around, he was flung hard onto the ground.

Then objects poured down from above, crushing the air out of his lungs.

Apparently, not everything in this cave was solid. An unknown liquid streamed down, making it impossible for him to even open his eyes.

In the pitch-black darkness, as he fumbled blindly to grasp his surroundings, another shrill scream pierced his ears.

“Kiieeek!!”

“Who are you! No—what the hell are you?!”

Unlike before, the monster’s cry came from very close.

Despite the questions pouring out, his own voice was steady.

A series of sudden, unexpected events had made him lose his composure for a moment, but he was a mage of upper rank.

He had created the Hand of Oblivion to rebuild the Black Magic Tower and had operated in the shadows for over a decade.

Repeating to himself that he could not die here, Jeres opened his mouth.

“Is this your nest? If so, I apologize for intruding.”

“……”

The presence lurking in the darkness fell silent.

It was as if it were listening to his words.

He couldn’t see anything, but he could feel it standing right in front of him.

Jeres suddenly wondered if the one who had sent him here wasn’t Patel.

Using a summoning circle in reverse was far beyond what an ordinary mage could ever accomplish.

He remembered Patel telling him, in Norkel’s dream, not to play around with magic.

When he recalled the gaze that had met his from behind that mask, a chill ran down his spine.

Perhaps that man wasn’t merely a lucky black mage after all.

Forcing his pounding heart to settle, Jeres focused on the situation before him.

First, he had to get out of here.

“I didn’t come to harm you. I came to help you.”

The monster before him must have been another being imprisoned by Patel.

Roughly wiping away the filth covering his eyes, he continued.

“Don’t you hate Patel? The one who trapped you in this hell and uses you however he pleases. Don’t you want to be free of him?”

This was a stroke of fate.

While falling into the abyss, this was the only rope he had managed to grab.

If he could just escape this place, he would utterly destroy that man.

Certain that this monster had endured with the same thoughts as himself, Jeres desperately reached out his hand.

“I’ll help you. I only let my guard down because it was a dream. If we meet again, things won’t end the same way.”

“……”

“I’ll break the contract you’re bound by. If you follow me, you can one day be reborn as a monster even an Archduke like Gargantua would fear!”

“Kiieeek?”

He still couldn’t understand the monster’s language.

Yet, as if his sincerity had reached it, something brushed against his arm.

The body felt damp and soft like a woman’s skin, yet carried an unmistakably powerful strength.

Life or death.

At that crossroads, he barely had time to exhale in relief—

When the Handkerchief of Bewitchment he was holding slipped smoothly from his grasp.

“Ah—ah.”

Then, a beautiful, gentle voice rang out.

“Do you understand now? Having to communicate using such primitive sounds is quite inconvenient, you know.”

“……!”

It spoke?

Startled, Jeres hurriedly wiped away the filth still clinging to his face and lifted his head.

Standing before him was not a monster.

Despite the complete absence of light, he could clearly sense the presence.

Looking down at him with a noble bearing was a beautiful woman.

She wore a slender dress as if she had descended from the heavens themselves, and in her hand, she even held a parasol.

What on earth was going on?

Unable to close his mouth at the incomprehensible sight before him, Jeres heard the woman speak.

“Your courage is admirable, but he is not someone a greenhorn like you can take revenge on.”

“Wh-What did you say?”

“Even for me, who persuaded an Outer God and obtained a fragment of them, enough to create a gate within my own body, all I could manage was to momentarily slip free of control. For someone like you, who couldn’t even complete the summoning and was dragged in by my mana instead, it’s simply impossible.”

“You’re the one who brought me here? You weren’t a monster trapped in this place?”

“Trapped? Pfft. What a funny choice of words.”

The woman, who had been staring intently at her glittering nails as if holding a newly bought accessory up to the light, suddenly snapped her head around.

For a fleeting instant, the Handkerchief of Bewitchment’s ‘distortion of perception’ shattered, revealing her true form.

A bewitching violet body, two eye-like orbs, and an unsettling way of moving.

Her true nature was—

A tentacle, several times larger than a human, its maw split into dozens of branching mouths lined densely with barbs.

“Come to think of it, there’s been something irritating me for a while now.”

The woman’s tone turned cold.

Hope vanished.

There was no such thing as a stroke of fate.

From the beginning, he had been alone in this hell.

“You keep calling my ‘belly’ a hell. Don’t you think that’s rather rude to say to a lady?”

“Y-You… who are you?! What are you, exactly?!”

“My name is ‘Digestion’—or rather, ‘Françoise,’ if you prefer. I’d love to keep you company a bit longer, but I do have a schedule to keep.”

“A schedule?”

“Yes. It’s almost snack time.”

That was because the monster before him had merely revealed a part of itself.

It had never been trapped here alongside him.

“For today’s tea time, the refreshments are seawater from the West Sea, the oil-soaked corpses of the drowned… and then—there’s you.”

“Ah… aah…!”

“Then I wish you peace.”

As Jeres realized he was about to be devoured by a gigantic tentacle and went pale, the woman grasped the hem of her dress, bowed elegantly, and vanished.

Soon after, an overwhelming torrent of seawater and earth poured in from the dark passage beyond.

“Digestion, I knew you’d come back. How can you be so pretty and soft-hearted?”

Near a pier by a white-sand beach where tentacle turrets had churned the area into chaos.

I found So-hwa happily swimming around in a shallow pool that had formed between collapsed tetrapods.

Maybe because I hadn’t seen her in a while, she had grown a little bigger, her body looking plumper.

Though half of her body had clearly been torn away by someone.

I reached into the pool, lifted her out, and carefully wiped her down with my robe.

“I heard from the Witch Merchant Guild. They said you covered the payment?”

I didn’t know what trick he’d pulled, but in the end, Jeres had gotten away.

The Handkerchief of Bewitchment he’d been carrying had disappeared with him, so there was no way to even resell it at a loss to recover funds.

Still, as it turned out, I avoided getting scolded by Norkel with something like, “So you blew all our money and still dropped by the convenience store for a nap, huh?”

Because right after Jeres abandoned his subordinates and fled—

We received notice from the witches that the payment had been completed via tentacle pay.

“I think I might’ve been a bit too harsh on you. As a reward, I’ll keep you tucked into my sleeve for a while.”

Allowing a mere tentacle to occupy a place reserved only for an Outer God was an extraordinary privilege by my standards.

Even if none of the tentacles had actually wanted it.

Aside from being able to share body heat with her at close range, there was another advantage.

If Digestion ever tried to run away, I’d notice immediately.

“I won’t demand the Star Scar you got from Mala-nim back right away. But you’re not allowed to use it recklessly, got it? You have to consult with me first.”

“……”

“Digestion?”

Come to think of it, she hadn’t said a word since earlier.

Was she hurt somewhere?

I opened my sleeve and looked inside.

The little one nestled within let out a small cry.

“Kiak… kiieek~.”

Unlike usual, it was the voice of a woman with an oddly sweet tone, forcing herself to imitate a monster.

How strange. Had she hit puberty or something?

Did tentacles even go through puberty in the first place?

The question crossed my mind, but I decided to return to the Bureau for now.

Everything had wrapped up nicely, but there was still one last thing I needed to do.

I picked up the black mage robes belonging to the Hand of Oblivion members that I’d gotten from Norkel, which I’d left by the pier.

I planned to bring these to the Special Unit as proof that I’d wiped them out.

Even if I hadn’t been assigned an official mission, the broadcast records clearly showed me discovering a high-grade artifact during patrol, being chased by black mages who were after it, and fleeing all the way to an abandoned factory.

I’d be getting a new epithet soon.

When I arrived at the front gate of the Ability Management Bureau, I straightened my clothes and fixed my hair.

After taking a deep breath, I walked confidently through the revolving door into the lobby and announced,

“Ahem! Ahem! Light Mage Sae Hayan! I have successfully eliminated a criminal organization threatening Seoul’s public safety and returned safely.”

“Oh, you’re here?”

Park Mu-cheol and the members of Division 2, including Kang Nabi, were waiting in the lobby.

Looks like they’d come to welcome me back.

“Go that way.”

Park Mu-cheol naturally took the black mage robes from me and guided me toward the elevator.

Kang Nabi got on as well.

Seeing both of them here, it seemed reporting the criminal cleanup to Commander Ha Yeri would be enough.

With my shoulders practically raised to my ears, Kang Nabi asked,

“Are you carrying any dangerous items or artifacts that are prohibited to possess?”

“No?”

“Then what’s inside those robes?”

“Oh, this?”

I casually pulled out the tentacle cheese balls meant for a review event, an Outer God photo card, and a slime made from liquid that had come out of Digestion’s stomach, showing them one by one.

After standing there for a long moment without being able to say anything, Kang Nabi exchanged several looks with Park Mu-cheol, then sighed and held out his hand.

“For now, please leave everything with me.”

“All of it?”

“We’ll return it to you when you leave.”

Return it when I leave?

What was that supposed to mean?

A suspicious air lingered inside the elevator.

Without a word, Park Mu-cheol pressed B1.

I already knew what was down there.

It was the interrogation room of the Counterintelligence Unit, a place I’d visited a few times before.

“Hayan, I’ll say this in advance—you’re not under arrest. This is only a temporary detention for your own safety.”

“And why exactly do I need to be detained?”

“To wrap up a simple investigation and procedure. We’ll explain everything in detail once we’re downstairs.”