Chapter 3: The Scripture in the Basement (2)
"Sir? What are you talking about?"
Thalia was confused, but I didn't have the luxury of considering the child's feelings right now.
"Has anything else strange happened? Any sudden flashes of light, or weird sounds? Or has anyone seemed possessed, trying to touch that scripture?"
Thalia was taken aback by my barrage of questions, her eyes widening as if she remembered something.
"Theo and Jeremy tried to go down to the basement several times. The Matron caught them and scolded them, but at the time, I thought they were just curious..."
Thalia’s face began to pale.
"Thinking about it now, I was the only one who heard anything about the scripture, and those two were outside then, so how...?"
"Haaaah..."
Whatever his purpose, that priest from the Church of Life had left something extremely dangerous in this basement. It was just a gut feeling, but I was certain it was something related to an Outer God... a being from the Cthulhu Mythos.
‘To go so far as to call it a scripture... could it be an Outer God's holy book?’
If it was an Outer God’s holy book, everything fit. My trait, <Apostle of the Ominous Star>, had made my body suitable to become a messenger for an Outer God. And in the very place I woke up, there was something suspicious.
‘It can’t be a coincidence this elaborate.’
Was it you, Do-wol? Are you the one who put me in this situation?
"Sir... what in the world is going on?"
"A very dangerous situation. What kind of person is the Matron here? Is she unbaptized, like you children?"
"Huh? Yes, that’s right. She hasn't been baptized."
I barely bit back a curse that was about to fly out of my mouth. Instead of being angry at this atrocious act, I needed to pull myself together and figure out what to do next. The most logical, and in a way, the most obvious choice was...
‘...Just run away.’
I could give them a warning and bolt, making sure not to get involved in this mess. Getting involved in anything related to the Cthulhu Mythos was folly in itself, and even if one managed to somehow resolve the incident, it was prone to ending badly.
‘But that’s easier said than done. I don't know the geography, I have no one to help me, and I possess nothing. Where am I supposed to go with this conspicuously red hair?’
I didn't know how similar this world was to my own, but redheads had a history of facing discrimination no less than that against black people. Who would welcome a stranger whose origins they didn't even know?
‘And this is probably the standard path. Checking what’s in that basement.’
The other option was full involvement in the incident by checking what was in the basement. As I said before, not getting involved was the best course of action, but there was no guarantee that ignoring all these arrangements, prepared by who knows who, would lead to a good outcome.
‘None of this can be a coincidence.’
It was like jumping under a waterfall in hopes of gaining legendary power, but following the path that seemed prepared for me might actually be safer.
‘Whether the being that threw me into this world is Do-wol or not, everything depends on what it wants.’
It wasn't a decision I could make lightly. My life was on the line, and the outcome could be more horrific than death.
"Is the Matron out right now?"
"Yes, it will take some time before she returns from the village."
Thalia’s eyes sparkled as she asked.
"Sir, are you going to check it out?"
"Unfortunately, it seems this is the 'Jeongbi'."
"Jeongbi...?"
"......The right move, I mean."
As I rose from the bed, Thalia stepped back and watched me. She had looked frightened before, but her eyes were now bold.
"Shall I guide you to the basement?"
"Make sure none of the other children come. And the same goes for the Matron."
Thalia listened seriously and nodded.
"Regardless of what happens, do not enter. If you can, try to convince the Matron to flee somewhere far away with everyone."
"She’s a very devoted follower of the Church of Life priests, I don't know if she’ll believe me. But I’ll do my best!"
Drawing some courage from Thalia's spirited demeanor, I followed her guidance toward the damp, old basement. The building was already old and dilapidated, but the interior grew increasingly bleak as we descended toward the cellar.
"It's over there. There’s a storeroom where we keep things like potatoes and onions, and it’s inside."
"Alright, thank you. Now hurry and go back upstairs. It’s going to get dangerous here."
I felt relieved that it wasn't a dungeon for some shady cultists, but just a dark, old storehouse.
"Damn... is what I’m doing now the right thing?"
Everyone is the hero of their own life, but unfortunately, that doesn't mean they're the hero of a great story.
"I’m not just caught in some delusion, doing something crazy, am I?"
That life might achieve so little it seems utterly meaningless. One might meet a miserable end without even leaving a final word, or their body might even vanish. I might die a meaningless death tomorrow, or perhaps even today.
"......I have to trust myself. Trust my intuition."
I had a form of insurance for committing this mad act. Ethnos's mental strength. If my stats had carried over, it meant I possessed the highest degree of mental fortitude a human could have.
"Even if my mental strength stat is supernatural... I can’t say it’s safe."
No matter how strong one’s mind is, one cannot be complacent when facing the Cthulhu Mythos, notorious for destroying the human psyche.
"Hmm... is this it?"
When I moved a bag of onions, the box that didn't fit the place appeared. A box that looked as if it were carved from some type of polished black ore. When I opened the heavy lid, there was a single book inside.
"Unexpectedly, I don't feel any strange energy from it."
The book itself had the distinct feel of a common antique book, but nothing happened when I took it out of the box. Does nothing happen until you read the contents?
"......No use worrying about it now."
The Church of Life was planning something with this suspicious scripture. They acted in secret and chose victims no one would care about. Even if I had run away from the start, they surely would have hunted me down if they discovered a surviving witness. So, it was as if I didn't have another choice from the beginning.
Tensely, I opened the book.
"......I can’t read it."
It probably wasn't any language from Earth. Symbols resembling hieroglyphs and runes met my eyes, but I couldn't understand their meaning at all. I couldn't tell if it was just this scripture, or if these were the normal letters of this world and I was the one who couldn't read them.
But I didn't need to read it.
[What a rarity. It has come to us. 'Elys' has come.]
Suddenly, a hideous voice echoed. The voice didn't sound as if it were produced by human vocal cords. Just as the voice of a parrot mimicking human speech sounds slightly off, a monster speaking human words triggered instinctive revulsion and fear.
Rattle.
Sure enough, simply hearing that voice and turning was enough to make the dice roll on its own. I didn't know what number appeared on the back of my hand, but I saw a green flash, so it seemed to have been a success.
"Th-this..."
What entered my field of vision when I turned my head was something that was neither human nor a living creature. If I had to describe it, it was a gel. Not the common toy kind of gel, but a nauseating one, like a giant mass of tar. A formless being that I felt simply touching would cause something fatal.
"Damn it..."
I had nothing to use as a weapon. Though I doubted I could fight a monster like that even if I had a weapon. Running away wasn't a viable option either. To pass through the narrow storeroom door, I had to get past this monster.
‘Where did it come from? Was it summoned when I opened the book?’
Swallowing nervously, I watched the monster closely. They say the more you know about the beings of the Cthulhu Mythos, the more your mind fractures, but I had to be ready to react the moment the monster moved.
But what did that thing call me earlier...
"It said Elys, what is that?"
[You. You are Elys.]
A response came to the question I had thrown out just in case, and I flinched back in surprise. I had no idea where it was speaking from, but this monster was communicating with me, and it wasn't acting aggressively.
"What are you talking about. I’m... Ethnos."
That was supposed to be my name in this world.
[You are Elys. No matter how quickly you accept the name given to you. You are Elys.]
Is it talking about Alice in Wonderland?
This strange and cryptic dialogue rattled my already confused mind further. This monster itself was the problem. Its mere existence caused dizziness, confusion, and an instinctive revulsion.
"What in the hell are you. Why did you appear?"
[A messenger.]
"A messenger...?"
The monster twitched slightly as it continued to speak.
[The Messenger of the Ominous Star. Elys. Ethnos. The messenger has arrived, so you must listen. This is a blessing granted to you.]
The voice wasn't singular. I tried to back away, but there was nothing behind me but the wall and onion sacks.
"H-how many are there..."
They had been here from the start. Not one, but many. From the cracked walls, from the floor, from the ceiling, and from every shadow, black forms revealed themselves.
[Our Master offers you a promise.]
[He desires.]
A sickening dread crawled up my spine. He? These monsters serve someone? If so, that had to be...
"......An Outer God."
A being from the other world. A 'Great Old One' or an 'Outer God.' It had to be an entity like that. Should I really not have touched this book?
"What is the promise, and what is desired?"
Ethnos's powerful mind overcame the fear even in this situation. At my question, the monsters began to answer in unison. The contents were to serve a terrifying, alien, and ancient being.
[Messenger of the Ominous Star. Elys. Ethnos, listen. He speaks.]
[I grant you a blessing. Know that this is no ordinary matter.]
[I shall give you wealth and honor. The knowledge you crave.]
A sweet temptation. But the price was the greatest sins a human could commit.
[Offer me a child. By doing so, you shall obtain gold and jewels.]
The black things covering the ceiling, walls, and floor began to vomit out horrific items.
[Offer a newborn fetus with its mother. By doing so, you shall gain a noble title and find pleasure in looking down on the lowly.]
They spat them out one by one: an umbilical cord wrapped in a gold necklace, a skull smaller than a hand and filled with gems, a mummy with a bloated and torn belly overflowing with gold.
[Offer the innocent, one of your own blood, one of noble blood. By doing so, you shall awaken to wisdom and knowledge that mortals cannot even imagine.]
Before I knew it, the basement had become a shrine, displaying the corpses offered as sacrifices to greed. The pitch-black corpses, intertwined and fused into a strange and rotting structure, turned to me and opened their mouths.
[Offer blood. Offer flesh. Offer bone. Offer the undead. By doing so, you shall grasp everything!]
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