[The humans before your eyes are in fact innocent victims whose bodies were stolen by extraterrestrial beings. The horrific sight of a child being abducted to have a parasite implanted within her body These are the alien body snatchers who were behind this incident. Could your mind accept this shocking truth?]

[System: Attempting to resist fear with your mental strength stat. Mental strength check failed.]

Continuing to see such scenes could drive one to lose their sanity and be consumed by madness

[System: The unique trait Madness of the Abyss has been activated.]

Yes, this is it.

Today, Madness of the Abyss was truly working overtime.

But now wasnt the time to be pleased about a trait activation.

If I didnt do anything, Jeong Hyun-ah would have her body taken from her.

A long and red tongue slithered out from the adult parasite.

It looked more like the grotesque tentacle of a monster than a human tongue.

After licking its repulsive tongue, the adult parasite then spoke as if commanding the young parasite who had yet to claim a body.

Enter this humans body.

Use this childs body to kill her parents and take their bodies as well.

Or, taking her own life before their eyes to fill them with despair isnt a bad idea either.

Gift them with an inescapable despair.

[! Time Limit: Jeong Hyun-ah will die in (1) minute !]

Screeeeech!

Just as the young parasite attempted to enter Jeong Hyun-ahs mouth with a bizarre cry.

The lump of flesh that had been stealthily implanted earlier flew swiftly toward the parasite.

Splat!

Thud!

The strange lump of flesh suddenly intruded into the midst of the ritual.

Wh-What, what is this! What is this thing!

The strange magical creature that was wriggling like a large amoeba or predatory cell instantly wrapped itself around the young parasites body and began to assimilate itself with its body.

Screeeeeek!!

The young parasite desperately sent a cry of help to the adult parasite.

Stop, stop it! My child!!!

But it was already too late. The lump of flesh that had fully enveloped the young parasite sprang up and fled beyond the confines of the pentagram. It was now quietly completing its predation activities in the darkness.

In-Intruders! Someone has disrupted our ritual! Find them! Kill them!!!

It was time to silence those babbling mouths.

I left Chae Tae-won behind and moved as close to them as possible until it was no longer possible to conceal my presence. Then, I opened my mouth.

Cut it out, fu*king bastards.

Whos there!

A typical response granted to villains.

At the same time, the adult parasite shouted.

To intrude upon our sacred ritual and kill my child! Kill that man!

Several of the ones outside the pentagram drew their guns.

Guns are still prohibited in our country, so why are there so many of them armed? Bald-headed men in black suits. They appeared to be members of the Triad. Ah, so they were the ones used to kidnap Jeong Hyun-ah?

[Rlyehs Fog]

It would be best to use the same strategy I used with Curtain Call last time.

Hssssss

A sinister, dense fog spread around my body.

Rlyehs Fog was a second-order area-of-effect confusion spell.

A magical fog that was impenetrable to sight and magical detection surged out with ferocity before completely engulfing the warehouses surroundings.

What, what is this!?

Shoot! Its a mage! Just shoot!

Dont give them a chance to cast magic!

Bang! Bang! Ratatatatat!

[Leap]

Although they fired their guns with great fervor, I was no longer there.

These bunch of parasites werent so difficult to handle.

They might have had much higher mental strength stats than me which made them almost immune to mental and curse-type attacks, but they were hardly resistant to physical damage.

The real challenge is fighting without harming Jeong Hyun-ah, whos right in front of me

Perhaps the silver lining was that Jeong Hyun-ah was brainwashed. Doesnt that mean that she wouldnt panic while Im saving her?

Over there!

What, where?!

No, there!

Kill them!!!

Ratatat! Bang! Ratatatatat!

They grew confused and started shooting in random directions.

Some of the bullets flew toward me, but thanks to a distortion field I had preemptively set up, none managed to hit my body.

Come on. What a waste of bullets.

I generated more magical power and added new properties to the distortion field.

Expanding its range and making it rotate.

The bullets that reached the distortion field began to spin as if caught in a whirlwind.

After several rotations, the bullets gained a new trajectory and flew back toward the enemies.

Kaaak.

Its not just one or two enemies!

It must be those bastards from the immigration bureau!

They were making quite a racket.

While they couldnt see my location, I had a clear view of them.

Where, where are they!

Those humans!

Agh shot, Ive been shot!

Some were felled by their own bullets and became unable to move, while others screamed and thrashed about.

Despite being a dominant species from another world, their physical abilities and intelligence had their limits.

Its about time for the bigger fish to show itself.

Move aside, you weak bastards!

From beyond the fog, the movement of the adult parasite was detected.

Red light blazed forth from its eyes.

And from its eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, thin tendrils like roots extended outward.

These were not mere tendrils but the creatures nerve endings.

While the young parasites wielded these directly in combat, the adult could harness far greater power.

Buzzzzzzzzzz Buzzzzzzzzzzzz

From the tips of the nerve endings, tendrils made of dazzling light reached out.

Thats rather unpleasant

A unique ability that only some of the parasites can use [Mental Whip].

A whip made of psychic power and solid enough to have a physical form.

Whoosh!

The glowing tendrils rapidly expanded and started sweeping across the surroundings.

Craaack!! Craaash!!!

The objects caught in the tendrils lash were shattered to pieces.

It was an ability that combined telekinesis, telepathy, and hypnosis.

It was an attack that could inflict physical damage and also dominate the minds of its targets. From a defensive standpoint, it couldnt be touched and could penetrate any distortion fields or protective barriers.

A complete cheat-like skill.

The creature still couldnt see me, but it began to narrow down the possible places I could escape to by using its wide attack range.

Boooom!!

Nevertheless, the creature was unaware of what I was capable of.

I projected my magical power toward the outside of the warehouse.

[Magnetic Control]

[Spell Enhancement: Maximization]

Ziiiiing

Along with the strange feeling of the hair on my own body standing on end, one of the second-order spells was activated.

A spell that manipulates metal using magnetism.

Kruzzzzzzk

Metal pipes scattered around the warehouse began to float in the air.

Phewwwwwng!!

And pipes containing enormous energy flew toward the parasites.

Its useless!

Crack! Crack! Crash!

The [Mental Whip] was a pure manifestation of thought without weight or substance.

Whips, as swift as light, lashed out and deflected all the incoming pipes.

You lot are nothing but insignificant humans, untouched by any divine grace.

Why do these aliens always spout the same nonsense?

The pipes I had thrown at the creature scattered in all directions, but that was exactly what I had intended.

Whirrrlick Thunk!

The pipes embedded themselves in the ground.

Thunk! Thunk thunk thunk!!!

Like pillars of metal arranged around them as if to encircle the parasites.

It was no coincidence, of course.

It was all the result of my control with magnetism.

[Electromagnetic Waves]

Fizz, buzzzzz Fzzzzzzzzzt!!!!

The chain of electric shocks I unleashed created a barrier of current as they moved between the pipes.

The creatures were overwhelmed by the curtain of blazing lightning and staggered back.

Kuh, its useless! You cannot stop me, who is blessed with the great will with this mere current!

The parasite swung its glowing whip again, aiming to destroy the surrounding metal pipes and dispel the barrier of electricity.

Boooom

Buzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!

But things didnt go as the creature had planned.

The mental whip that struck the power grid became entangled and flailed before.

It vanished.

Wh-What is this? What what?! What have you done?

[Sound Transmission]

I cast a spell to make my voice sound in an unexpected direction.

Now, look over there, not here.

Ah, didnt you know? I guess youre not as old as I thought.

Wh-What are you talking about?

That mental whip had the ridiculous ability to penetrate protective barriers and distortion fields but it had one weakness.

Your mental whip reacts excessively and becomes uncontrollable when it comes into contact with certain frequencies of electromagnetic waves. Seems like your Mahhsh didnt tell you that?

Mahhsh roughly translates to something like mother or chief in their language.

A look of horror and panic spread across the adult parasites face. Then, in a fit of panic, it snatched a gun from the hand of another parasite beside it and

Die, die!! You monster!! Diieeee!!!

Bang! Bang bang! Ratatatatat!!!

It fired wildly in the direction of my voice, but I was not there.

Whos calling who a monster?

I activated the [Chains of Domination] and hurled several boxes that were outside.

Bang, Crash!

Oh, everything inside these boxes turned out to be books. It makes sense since this place was a printing factory dedicated to producing books.

Alright, books should be harmless enough that even Jeong Hyun-ah or Chae Tae-won wouldnt die if they were accidentaly hit by them.

[Leap]

Using Leap again, I climbed onto a suitable shelf and crouched down, then activated another spell.

[Chains of Domination]

[Spell Enhancement: Multicasting]

Chrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Dozens of golden, shining chains moved in all directions before touching the boxes of books stacked around and I gave the command.

Fly away.

The sight of hundreds of books soaring towards the expansive fog was nothing short of spectacular, although they were just books after all.

Aaagh!!

But those shrouded in the fog, unaware of what was coming at them, screamed in terror as they felt the dull and heavy impact on their bodies. Now, lets move on to the next step

Mage-nim!

Fortunately, Chae Tae-won acted just in time amidst the chaos. Chae Tae-won who took advantage of the chaos and hid in the fog was carrying Jeong Hyun-ah on his shoulders as he ran.

It was then that the adult parasite finally grasped the situation and screamed.

Idiots, catch himmmmm!!!

Too late.

Bang! Ratatata!

Several gun barrels spat fire at Chae Tae-won.

[Chains of Domination]

[Spell Enhancement: Multicasting]

[Great Whirlwind]

But this was somewhat anticipated. I had activated the Chains of Domination a beat earlier and conjured a whirlwind strong enough to lift rocks before hurling hundreds of books once again. The books briefly formed a wall that blocked the bullets, and Chae Tae-won who was carrying Jeong Hyun-ah, disappeared beyond the shelves.

Since he was a smart man, he would surely find a way to escape or secure a safe spot on his own.

Though a few bullets flew my way, I casually redirected them with a distortion field and leaped once again!

Whoosh!

From a distance, I saw the enemies seemingly trapped in a prison made of pure white electricity.

Clearly, this one lacks experience.

The evil magical power summoned during the previous ritual still lingered, didnt it?

If they start harnessing that, things could escalate.

Ideally, Id like to tie them down for interrogation but eliminating them all before the situation gets worse seems like the best course of action.