Episode 14 – However, like a phantom, all the afterimages disappeared. It was only after she made a large, futile attempt to grab and missed that Aracne realized she had fallen into an illusion. She had been too excited. It was merely an illusion caused by a white butterfly.
Her mistake was assuming that someone without a spell or without chanting couldn’t use magic.
Bang!
Drake’s shotgun fired at the foolishly gaping Aracne. At a distance of less than a meter, even a novice wouldn’t miss. The buckshot exploded and turned her head into mush.
He fired again from the remaining barrel, completely shattering her skull. Aracne staggered and then collapsed, falling forward.
"Did we get it?"
"Hmm. We definitely got it this time, but don’t use that word in the future."
"What?"
"It’s a rule."
"What??"
Ignoring Drake’s puzzled expression, Charles approached the fallen Aracne. Despite her strange abilities, Aracne’s fundamental basis was biological. When the head is gone, one dies.
Charles took out a dagger and plunged it into the chest of the fallen Aracne.
"What are you doing…?"
"There’s a material used in mysticism inside Aracne’s chest. The source of the spider silk. Aracne’s heart."
It wasn’t pleasant to dig into a human-like upper body, but when disposing of creatures from another world, recovery work was essential. Corpses that escaped into reality would soon disappear.
He took out a gem from Aracne’s chest. It was a crimson gem the size of a fist, and the metal inside it pumped as if it were a heart.
There was a strange hole at the end of the throbbing gem. Aracne could shoot threads from this small hole. It transferred thin threads to the web at the rear and then amplified them to a larger size.
"It’s horrible to cut into it, but the gem is beautiful."
Drake’s eyes were fixed on the crimson gem. Charles smiled and retrieved it.
"It’s best not to be too interested. It’s dangerous."
And he didn’t forget to take the grimoire. The Book of Aranea was a dangerous object that even an ordinary person fluent in High Hermes could use.
"We’ve recovered everything we need."
"What do we do now?"
"First, let’s get those people up there down."
"Alright… Huh? That corpse is disappearing?"
At Drake’s words, Charles turned his head. Aracne’s body was disintegrating at a rapid pace.
"Creatures of another world cannot remain in the physical world for long when their connection, like a spell or contract, is severed."
Creatures that did not properly pass through a dimensional gate had the nature of stowaways, and the physical world automatically erased them.
When creatures from another world died in reality, their corpses turned to ashes if no special measures were taken. The creature without Aracne’s heart would turn into ashes and disappear if left alone.
Drake called the police and took down the people tied to poles.
The process was quick. The police initially tried to list the caller, Drake, as a suspect, but his alibi was rock-solid and he had no motive.
After a long investigation, they acknowledged Dalloway’s crime but were filled with doubts about his condition. They had never seen a body that died like this.
Inspector Hommel pondered how to handle this twisted body, frowning.
According to the informant Drake, the suspect had escaped into the forest to evade gun-wielding Drake, who was searching the forest to save students. Yet, when found, he was in this shriveled state.
If word got out, hordes of hyena-like journalists would swarm, churning out stories like "Shock! Mummified Kidnapper Found!"
The chief was already in a foul mood; there was no need to aggravate matters.
There was something else curious. Upon questioning the kidnapped people, none were in a normal state. Most had glazed eyes and gave strange statements.
‘A giant spider or whatever, what nonsense is that?’
They claimed that Dalloway had used a giant spider to kidnap them, which was absurd. They had talked so much that a search was conducted in the vicinity, but no human-spider monster was found.
"Hey, Louis."
"Have a donut."
"Thanks."
Inspector Hommel took the offered donut and began typing.
Click-clack. Click-clack.
He added that all the kidnapped individuals were mentally weakened and delusional, so they might need a few days in a psychiatric hospital. His fingers ached from typing on a typewriter he rarely used.
But the confusing issue was how the small-framed Dalloway managed to kidnap them. On further thought, large or small, anyone hit on the back of the head with a hammer would fall. He noted that the chances were high they were ambushed from behind.
Hmm. And how did he tie up so many people and raise them high on poles? Hmm. He wrote that Dalloway had considerable strength from frequent strength training.
The report was hastily and sloppily made, but it made more sense than saying a giant spider monster was involved. With that, he completed the report.
On closer inspection, there were still bizarre aspects, but it looked satisfactory enough as a public document. He decided to send it to the chief before more troublesome issues arose.
Perhaps giving a certificate of appreciation to Drake, the professor blinded by honor, would distract the reporters so they wouldn’t notice the mess in the police report and he could free himself from trouble.
And so, the case was closed.
The most baffled by this incident was Drake. The police showed no interest in the bizarre event. With only Dalloway dead and the body vanished, they dismissed it as a mere fantasy of the people.
After the case ended, Drake called Charles to a nearby pub for a drink.
"I don’t get it. After everything we’ve experienced, why is the world so quiet? Why did the police not conduct a proper investigation?"
"Actually, people find it hard to believe such things."
"True."
"Most people believe only what they want to believe. It’s more plausible that Dalloway ambushed people and made them faint before taking them, rather than a monster kidnapper."
"But what about the kidnapped people?"
"Better to live with mental trauma than being deemed insane and confined in an asylum. At least they have freedom."
"……"
Drake found the result to be frustratingly absurd. However, it made no sense to assume that Charles intentionally concealed the case. He had simply burned the monster’s body without pressuring the investigator.
"But, wouldn’t showing the monsters directly to people solve it?"
"Then they would go mad or start denying reality. Events that occur in the secret world don’t significantly affect the unenlightened civilians."
"Uh? What is enlightenment?"
Charles tapped his head.
"When most people encounter beings from another world, they lose their minds, claiming to see hallucinations or being gripped by fear. However, these things do exist and exert influence in reality. That is enlightenment."
"……Then what about me?"
"You had quite a connection with Professor Armitage, didn’t you?"
"Yes."
"Some people with strong mental fortitude aren’t affected much by high enlightenment levels. Your mental fortitude is strong. Also, Professor Armitage is around you. He helps ensure that people around him aren’t affected unnoticed."
Charles pointed at the plain bracelet that Drake always wore. It was a common, unadorned bracelet.
"You got that from Professor Armitage, right?"
"How did you know?"
"Such minor items act as totems to protect the mind from monsters."
"I never knew."
"Drake."
"What?"
Charles knew Drake’s abilities well. His ability to fight through fear and battle to the end with Aracne. For spiritual beings, not being terrified was a basic skill, but there were plenty of people lacking even this fundamental.
He wanted to recruit him immediately, but it wasn’t time yet. The restructuring process wasn’t complete, and all the followers of Charles’s Unknown Sect were at the level of fanatics.
‘Adapting to the new doctrines will take some time.’
Moreover, Professor Armitage was around Drake. He was also a spiritual being.
"Never mind. Nothing."
"That’s dull. Anyway, I owe you a big one."
Drake expressed his gratitude. Without Charles, solving this case would’ve been difficult.
"Well, there’s one favor."
"What is it?"
After the conversation with Drake, Charles returned to his study and read the Book of Aranea. It was clearly a translation. Moreover, it was a manuscript with parts missing.
‘This is a fragment. The original is the "Dark Heavenly Scripture." Only a few spells summoning dark minions are extracted. It’s not even a complete grimoire.’
The Dark Sacred Society’s wicked god, the Dark Gyeoksa, bestowed the Dark Heavenly Scripture upon their head priest. Reading it is said to have driven the first priest mad.
Hence, the Dark Heavenly Scripture was divided into many sections for safekeeping, and one of those sections was the Book of Aranea.
Though not a complete Book of Aranea, it still contained considerable dark magic.
‘But using this magic would cause multiple issues.’
Wicked gods generally lend their power regardless of who asks. However, in Charles’s case, where he had created the Unknown Sect and was acting as a cult leader, he would draw the attention of and interest the Dark Gyeoksa.
After retrieving Aracne’s heart, he lightly cast a control spell on it.
[Aracne’s Heart]
[Category: Magic Tool]
Outline: Aracne’s heart, extracted from the incomplete grimoire "Dark Heavenly Scripture." After its self-proclaimed owner was killed, it rapidly converted into a magic tool.
Ability: Can produce thread when imbued with spiritual energy. The thread can be sticky, elastic, or reinforced for strength.
Side effects: None.]
This item makes it easy to handle various situations. The thread could be used as clothing or as a wire in certain scenarios.
But no matter how much spiritual energy he infused, the heart couldn’t produce more than a limited amount of thread per day.
Though it maintained the properties of Aracne’s body, it had essentially become a different item. Charles decided to draw thread from it daily, aiming to eventually fashion usable clothing.
Charles unlocked the seal on Paginarekor.
-Huh?! Where am I? What happened to that wimp?
-He’s dead.
-No way! I was looking forward to it.
-This is the grimoire he was holding.
When shown the Book of Aranea, Paginarekor approached, sniffed it, and frowned.
-This is a fake.
-Technically, it’s missing parts.
-Then call it a spellbook rather than a grimoire.
-Technically correct.
Paginarekor folded its arms and thought for a moment before speaking.
-You’re not feeding this to me, are you?
-I’m considering it.
-I don’t eat fakes.
Charles shrugged. Since Paginarekor rejected it, he planned to leave it alone or sell it at an Oracle auction—unused spells are unnecessary.
-And another thing.
-What is it?
-Don’t lock the seal again. Losing time perception while locked away is like falling asleep. I’ll go on strike if you keep doing it.
When training something, rewards and attention are necessary. One needs to distinguish between what is liked and disliked. Rewards should give what is liked, and punishments should give what is disliked.
It seemed that Paginarekor extremely disliked the lock. Thus, some concession on that matter was necessary.
-Hmm. I’ll consider it.
Charles nodded.
Over the next few days, Charles led a normal life, going to the university to teach. Charles was an avid gamer, and High Hermes language was essential for in-game content.
Since an in-game attribute such as "Fluency in High Hermes" didn’t automatically trigger translations, it disrupted gameplay. Thus, he memorized High Hermes thoroughly.
In reality, Kim Yeon-su’s English was at a high school level, but he became an expert in High Hermes, an in-game language. It was similar to how Tolkien enthusiasts learn Elvish.
Thus, teaching was not an issue. He organized and explained contents as if providing a game walkthrough.
At the university, he became quite friendly with Rika, occasionally meeting her casually. Although not dating, they sometimes ate together or conversed on campus.
Today, he planned to visit the library.
‘Starting with the names I heard in the vision from the Revelation Tablet fragment… That’s my next step.’
