Chapter 3: Living flame.

[You have passed Nyarlathotep’s first trial.]

‘Huh?’

A status window message suddenly appeared before my eyes.

[Nyarlathotep is an Outer God especially outstanding in the fields of psychological attacks and brainwashing.]

[Nyarlathotep sincerely praises you for actively assessing the situation and delivering a psychological attack.]

‘…’

She had told me with her mouth to tear the enemies apart, but inside she had actually wanted me to talk them into submission.

[Reward : Avatar of Chaos +1, Acquisition of subordinate Gu Haseong.]

[Avatar of Chaos (S)

You can transform into an avatar of the Outer God “Nyarlathotep.”

However, you cannot fully reproduce the original’s abilities.

Currently implementable avatars : Black Man, The One Who Wails and Writhes]

[<Gu Haseong Lv.6>

[Potential : Average]

[Contracted Constellation : Legend of the Fighters]

<Strength : 18>

<Stamina : 18>

<Agility : 18>

<Mana : 15>

[Skill : Heavy Strike (D)]

]

Gu Haseong.

That was the name of the guy I had just subdued with words.

So anyone I successfully took down with words became my subordinate?

‘Have I ever seen such a crazy ability.’

Treating a person like your own servant.

And this ability was only A-rank?

Of course, controlling people like slaves with mental-type abilities was a perfectly possible story.

But I had never heard of the system itself directly declaring, “This guy is this person’s subordinate!”

Was the rank evaluation subjective?

Did it mean A-rank by Nyarlathotep’s standards?

‘Then how strong is this Avatar of Chaos?’

If that was the case, the value of Avatar of Chaos rose exponentially.

For now, I decided not to use the avatar unless it was an important moment.

Honestly, I felt I could avoid expulsion with just my mouth.

‘What’s most important right now is…’

I turned my head and looked around inside the classroom.

-Wh-what was that just now?

-Gu Haseong knelt down?

As expected, sorting out the current situation was the top priority.

“Alright, everyone listen. The current situation isn’t strange. Because…”

Unfortunately, I couldn’t concentrate on class at all today.

[SAN Value 80 / 100]

It was because the thing called SAN value had been reduced as the price for using my ability too much.

That number was my mental strength.

An indescribable sense of powerlessness wrapped around my entire body.

It felt like I had stayed up for two nights but still couldn’t sleep.

I was in a state where rational judgment was impossible.

‘Still, using the ability on about thirty people was overdoing it…’

The more targets the ability had, the longer the persuasion time became and the SAN value consumption was enormous.

I had to somehow weave together slave-related knowledge I knew from both East and West with the concept of a master and keep talking before everyone was finally convinced.

Ding.

[Nyarlathotep : The SAN value can be recovered through sufficient rest, entertainment, and the like. Rest well today.]

[Nyarlathotep : And from tomorrow on, do not create situations where you need to use the ability.]

On the way home after the academy ended.

Nyarlathotep saw my condition and left advice in her own way.

[Nyarlathotep : One way or another, make sure to raise your SAN value to 100 today. That one will notice soon.]

“That one?”

I checked the chat window while staggering along and spoke.

[Nyarlathotep : The red-haired one. If that btch shows up in the current situation it will become a headache.]

“You mean Cthugha?”

Cthugha.

She was one of my other online friends, a woman with a fiery personality.

-Aargh fck! These shtty bastards are so damn bad!!

I called it fiery, but in reality her personality was trash, to the point that while gaming I sometimes wondered if she was a complete psycho.

“But how would Cthugha know?”

[Nyarlathotep : You have no sense.]

“What do you mean… no way.”

Was she saying Cthugha was also an “Outer God”?

[Nyarlathotep : Not an Outer God… but if she finds out now it will become a headache, so rest as much as possible. I will say no more.]

Apparently tired of repeating herself, she cut off the chat.

‘Cthugha…’

Was she also a being like a “constellation,” the same as Nyarlathotep?

Was this no longer a coincidence?

I frowned and slowly started looking through my friends list.

[

Cthulhu – ONLINE

Yog-Sothoth – OFFLINE

Lesser Outer Gods 1 – OFFLINE

Lesser Outer Gods 2 – OFFLINE

Lesser Outer Gods 3 – OFFLINE

…]

“Nah, it couldn’t be.”

Even so, the case of my friends being gods wouldn’t happen three times.

If it went that far, there really would be something wrong with me.

Thud, thud.

Even though I hadn’t done anything, I dragged my exhausted body and started walking toward home.

Had I walked about ten minutes now?

Seeing the convenience store I always stopped by come into view, it seemed I was almost there.

Today I should just sleep without doing anything…

Ding.

“What?”

At that moment a chat suddenly arrived on my phone.

She said she wouldn’t talk anymore, so what did she suddenly have to say?

[Cthugha : This is the last warning. Break the contract with that btch right now.]

“Cthugha?”

But the identity of the chat was not Nyarlathotep but Cthugha.

Break the contract?

She already knew about our contract…

[Cthugha : Hey hey hey hey hey]

[Cthugha : What kind of crazy btch did you contract with, fck]

“Ah.”

When I scrolled up a little, it seemed Cthugha had already known about our contract.

I had simply been too busy to notice that fact.

Startled, I urgently sent a chat to Nyarlathotep.

[Randolph Carter : Cthugha already knew?]

[Nyarlathotep : Damn it, duck.]

What?

KWAANG!!

“Crazy.”

My body reacted before I could even think.

A massive explosion occurred above my ducked body.

I had nearly taken a serious fatal wound.

[SAN Value 78 / 100]

Fck, I was so surprised that even my SAN value dropped.

[Nyarlathotep : The red whore’s worshippers have arrived.]

I hurriedly checked my phone and began reading the chats that were rising at the speed of light.

[Nyarlathotep : Hide for now.]

-He can’t have gone far. Find him.

-We must complete the command our god has given us.

Solemn voices of men could be heard from the surroundings.

I had heard there were people who worshipped constellations like a religion… did Cthugha also have those kinds of guys?

Doo-roo-roon, doo-roon. Doo-roo-roon, doo-roon.

“Ah, fck…”

I quickly hid my body and called Cthugha.

The ringing tone stretched longer and longer.

As expected, she wouldn’t pick up…

–Hello.

She answered?

“C-Cthugha?”

–What’s wrong? You player.

“Player?”

I was a lifelong single who had never dated a woman in my entire life.

I wasn’t the kind of person who should be called a player.

“I-I’ve never dated a woman in my life…”

–A year ago, in Cross RPG.

Hearing my words, Cthugha slowly started talking.

–You married me.

“What?”

At those words I frowned and slowly began digging through my memories.

Cross RPG.

It was an old MMORPG that had been released quite a long time ago.

It had decent recognition and was treated as a kind of national game.

There was a “marriage” system there, a system that allowed you to marry a specific user.

If you got married and became a couple, you received additional experience points when party hunting, so I had married Cthugha for the buff.

–Cthugha, let’s get married.

–Wh-what? S-suddenly?

–No, my leveling is starting to lag…

–Wh-what, if you beg like that I have no choice~. I’ll accept.

–Yeah, yeah.

‘Ah, crazy.’

Was it because I had just brushed it off out of laziness?

Thinking about it this way, it was understandable that she would misunderstand.

But fck, who gets so immersed in a game marriage.

“That was just a game marriage!”

–I was serious, you son of a btch.

There was no getting through to her.

–Break the contract with Nyarlathotep, that btch, right now. And contract with me instead.

“C-contract with you?”

–Yeah. What that btch can do for you? I can do it too! Not some sneaky thing that gently messes with people’s mental strength, but overwhelming destructive power!

“N-no, even so I can’t just discard the god I contracted with first like that…”

–Then die! If I can’t have you then die, you bad bastard!!

Ding.

That short phone call ended like that.

“I’m going crazy, seriously!”

Knowing Cthugha’s usual personality, I could tell.

She was truly trying to kill me.

[Nyarlathotep : This crazy btch doesn’t know any limits.]

[Nyarlathotep urgently sends a gift.]

[SAN Value over-recovered!]

[SAN Value 130 / 100]

Suddenly life force surged into my previously lethargic body.

A feeling that I wouldn’t lose no matter what.

What was this sense of omnipotence?

[Nyarlathotep : Quickly transform into any avatar.]

-Found him.

The moment I called the status window, a man holding a red sword jumped out from the side.

His sword came down toward me.

[Avatar of Chaos : The One Who Wails and Writhes]

And the sword broke.