#085.
“….”
At the continued offer, he stared blankly at Yunchan.
It had not been such a long time, but he had thought he had lived enough in his own way and experienced all manner of people.
‘I simply cannot read him.’
Yunchan before his eyes was merely a young man in his twenties.
And yet, for some reason.
Jeong Dohwan, who possessed no small measure of insight, could not read what on earth Yunchan was thinking.
It was as though he were looking at a peer who harbored a pitch-black serpent within, rather than a man in his twenties.
‘It is not a wrong assessment.’
Regression.
Unbelievable though it was, Yunchan had regressed from the future to the past, from another parallel world to this place.
From what he had heard, Yunchan’s age at the time of his regression did not seem to have been in his twenties as it was now, but neither would he be the same age as Jeong Dohwan himself.
‘What on earth does it feel like?’
He was a man rarely interested in others, yet he was curious.
What it felt like to bear the crushing sense of duty of having regressed, of having to face yet another future.
If it were himself—if it were an ordinary person—could they truly endure that weight?
‘A great man.’
He was great.
Though Yunchan might be younger in age, he was a great man.
That was why Jeong Dohwan followed him sincerely.
Of course, part of that reason was that Yunchan had revived his granddaughter, Yun Seoyeong, but that alone was not the whole of it.
“Will you not accept it?”
Such a great being had offered him a treasure.
A tremendous treasure that looked anything but ordinary no matter where one looked.
“If you insist that much.”
In the end, he received the book that was handed to him.
And in that moment.
「GRRRRR!」
There was a voice that echoed in his ears—no, directly within his mind.
“…?”
His composure, which rarely wavered, was shattered.
That voice was not something Jeong Dohwan, a human, could resist.
It was something unknown that compelled him to cower, something that made him feel terror and despair.
It was a primordial fear, as though he had gazed into an abyss that could not be gazed into.
Ziiing!
Along with a slight dizziness.
“…Where is this?”
All was black.
A place where nothing could be seen, like the primordial universe.
But it was strange.
Jeong Dohwan was clearly standing on something like ground.
Not hard ground, but something that felt slightly squishy.
As he harbored this question.
Grrr-grr-grr-grreak!
The universe trembled.
Looking toward the center of that vibration.
Flash!
A gigantic eye appeared in that place where there had been nothing moments before.
The moment the crimson pupil, brimming with chaos, gazed upon Jeong Dohwan.
Shudder.
His body trembled.
The fear of the unknown in the face of the abyss, that terror enveloped his entire body.
Had he been merely an ordinary human, he might have died of cardiac arrest the instant he met that gaze.
However, Jeong Dohwan, who had spent long years as an undertaker and experienced death, endured that psychological pressure.
After a period of silence.
「GRRRR!」
An unintelligible voice spread out.
But it was different from before.
「???…Human…weak…???」
Will gradually began to reveal itself in the previously unintelligible sound.
「…Can you hear?」
Various unknown words combined to become language.
“….”
Jeong Dohwan could not utter a word.
Because he could not tell if this unknown being was benevolent, hostile, or what it even was to begin with.
Because he felt that if he opened his mouth, his thoughts would be seen through immediately.
「Listen.」
The faint voice began to be heard clearly.
「I am the beginning and the end, the unborn, the self-existing root, the byproduct of the formless Idiot Creator.」
Of course, Jeong Dohwan could not understand what it was saying or what it pointed to.
But one thing was certain.
The existence indicated by the mysterious name it uttered was something incredibly great.
That it was some kind of transcendental being beyond the realm of human understanding.
「Weakling. Hear the words of the Great Old One.」
Squirm, squirm.
The universe moved.
No, that was not the universe.
Kukuku-kung!
What he had thought was darkness was the body of the unknown being.
That gigantic being covering the world wriggled like waves.
Swoosh.
One of countless tentacles approached.
The body of the unknown being was composed of those countless tentacles.
「Receive.」
Puhwak!
The end of the tentacle was cut as if by an invisible sword.
The amazing thing was that that was all.
Szzzt!
The wound regenerated immediately, and the tentacle returned to its place as before.
“What is this…?”
Jeong Dohwan, having received the fallen tentacle, expressed his doubt.
It was clear that handing over a part of one’s own body was no ordinary gesture.
But why?
For what purpose?
「The time will soon come.」
“Time?”
「Weakling. Soon a crisis will befall you and your kin.」
“….”
Was it a threat?
No.
Jeong Dohwan could tell.
The unknown being conveying its will was speaking the truth.
Of course, it clearly bore some purpose.
But it contained no falsehood.
「When that time comes, this body—the Great Old One—shall be needed. Then chant the spell.」
After a brief pause.
「Vach-Viraji. If you chant this spell backwards, the Great Old One shall descend. This is the proof.」
Squirm.
Jeong Dohwan looked at the squirming tentacle in his hand.
「Remember. Vach-Viraji. The moment you and your companions feel it is most dire—chant this spell backwards at that very moment, and you shall gain a single opportunity within the crisis.」
With those words.
Kukukukukung!
Space began to be destroyed by the overwhelming presence emitted by the unknown being.
「And bear this in mind. This is my arrogance, capable of shaking the laws of causality. If you reveal this secret to anyone, everything shall vanish like foam.」
In short, it was telling him to keep the secret.
「Now, awaken. GRRRRRR!」
Flash!
With a light bursting from the center like the Big Bang.
“Hup!”
Jeong Dohwan opened his eyes, letting out a groan like a scream.
“…Are you alright?”
A familiar voice dug into his ears.
“….”
There were Yunchan and his companions.
Had it been a dream?
No.
Squirm.
The sensation in his tightly clenched fist.
It was clearly the severed tentacle he had obtained moments before.
‘It… was not a dream.’
Complex emotions flitted across Jeong Dohwan’s eyes as he looked at the Necronomicon held in his right hand.
*
‘Something happened.’
I had a feeling.
Along with a suddenly generated fog, Jeong Dohwan had briefly departed from this place.
Of course, that was not his power.
Someone from outside had pulled Jeong Dohwan into their domain.
‘If it is a being capable of pulling him out of this world into its own domain in that brief moment.’
It could only be a Transcendent.
A being far above Baphomet or Dantalion.
“…Are you alright?”
I cautiously asked Jeong Dohwan, who had undergone some change.
“….”
But there was no answer.
He merely stared blankly at the Necronomicon in his hands.
‘…Could it be?’
Something flashed through my mind.
Before the regression, the monster Dantalion had summoned at the cost of his own life.
Even the Sage Julius had failed to comprehend it—that it had been one of the unknown beings sealed within the Necronomicon.
“Nothing….”
Jeong Dohwan finally opened his mouth.
“…happened.”
He hid his true feelings.
Why?
Normally one would suspect betrayal.
‘There must be some reason.’
Seeing his complicated eyes, there was clearly some reason for it.
It was not that he trusted people too much.
Trembling pupils, rough breathing, and restless movements—this was not the appearance of one who hid something simply because he wished to.
‘Like a divine contract, there is a reason he cannot speak.’
And that was surely related to his brief disappearance from this world moments ago.
“Is that so?”
“…Yes.”
I did not ask further.
Because it seemed it would put him in a difficult position if I dug too deep.
‘If there is a reason he cannot speak, I will simply have to uncover the truth myself.’
There was no need for him to say it; I only needed to approach the truth on my own.
Though it was practically nothing, the Sage’s information contained a very small portion regarding unknown beings, so with a little research, I could dig into it.
“Why? What happened?”
“It was covered in ominous fog in an instant. Are you really alright?”
“I am really fine.”
Yeongung and William looked puzzled.
I roughly glossed it over to my companions. The other companions were puzzled too, but they seemed to let it pass, thinking there must be a reason.
Even if we all tried to dig into the reason he could not speak right now, nothing good would come of it.
“What do you think of the Necronomicon?”
At my question.
“I am not certain yet, but I can feel a very powerful soul. An existence of a level I have never felt before.”
He must be able to feel it because he was a Guide of the Dead.
The various beings sealed within the Necronomicon—that is, the magnitude of their souls.
Well, there was no need to use the forbidden tome right away, so he was likely only feeling the magnitude of that soul.
‘I suppose we’ll know once we try using it later.’
Our feet had been held back briefly by the change wrought by the Necronomicon.
But now we had to move forward.
For the purpose that had brought us here, including Jinwoo.
Questions about the Necronomicon and Jeong Dohwan were put aside for the moment.
We could not interrogate him, and tearing our hair out right now would yield nothing.
Step.
I hastened my steps like that, and the place we finally arrived at.
“Huh?”
“Hmm?”
Everyone expressed doubt.
They could not help it.
“…It’s a dead end?”
As Yeil said, the place we had arrived at now was the end of the Catacombs—precisely, the end of the abandoned quarry.
At the dead end, there was nothing to see but a wall.
No, it merely appeared that way.
‘Seven steps from here, four steps to the right, then turn around…’
Walking based on the fixed rules input into my mind.
“Here!”
I pushed the wall at the dead end with all my might.
At that moment.
Grrrumm-
With the sound of mechanisms moving, the wall blocking my way rose upward.
“…Where is this?”
Chairman Gang voiced his question at the entrance that was finally revealed.
“This is the path to the laboratory where the mad alchemist dwells.”
The reason the abandoned quarry, which had been in use since ancient Roman times, had transformed into catacombs.
People knew it as the beautification project of Louis XVI, but the truth was different.
‘The alchemist. Because he was manipulating Louis XVI from behind.’
Behind all of it was not Louis XVI, but an alchemist.
Of course, not an ordinary alchemist.
One who had risen to the pinnacle of the field of alchemy, and had finally succeeded in creating the dream substance known as the ‘Philosopher’s Stone.’
Was that all?
Mass-producing combat forces based on living dolls called Homunculi.
He was the first to classify the Four Great Spirits and spread the Spirit Arts that utilized them.
He was truly an existence who could be called the father of alchemy without shame.
‘Paracelsus.’
But he was not a man as great as his achievements.
The mad alchemist who, unable to let go of alchemy until his final hour, unleashed forbidden sorcery to extend his life.
Eventually, he manipulated Louis XVI into constructing catacombs suitable for his research, secretly built a laboratory there, and repeated his forbidden experiments.
The one they would now have to face was him.
The mad alchemist, cursed through forbidden magic.