The sight of a person requesting a handshake having their head explode was hard to believe as reality.
Without any warning signs, the head exploded with a huge sound that could deafen the ears, and the fragments that made up the head flew toward the man at an incredible speed, as if they were shrapnel from a claymore.
Bolstered by the explosive force, the pieces of head sliced through the air. If they hit, it would feel like being struck by a hammer, even if it was just flesh, and if there were any bone fragments or teeth, they would surely embed themselves in the body like bullets.
Danger.
Yes.
This was a very dangerous situation.
Swoosh.
As he found himself in this perilous scenario, dozens of paper dolls emerged from his embrace.
They were basic defensive charms carried by Onmyoji.
A minimal form of defense, as well.
Puff!
Thanks to that, the man escaped unscathed.
The paper dolls, blocking his path, transformed shapes, morphed into animals, expanded in size, and thickened to become shields that thwarted the incoming flesh projectiles. They also absorbed the splattered blood that flew with the flesh, ensuring that the man received no harm whatsoever.
“Huh.”
However, even without any injury, the man could only stare blankly at the body of the next Shinto priest, which now had its top half missing, as if he were in a daze.
“What in the world?”
That was a natural reaction.
It was more surprising that there wasn’t a response to the explosion of a friendly handshaker’s head.
Moreover, the man was just a low-ranking Yin-Yang master from the Onmyoji establishment, with real combat experience limited only to encounters with ghosts.
It was perfectly understandable for him to be incredulous about such an event.
And…
This reaction was the man’s greatest flaw.
Boom-!
It was Park Jinseong’s calculated trap.
Jinseong launched a second attack at the man, who was astonished by a situation he could never have imagined.
He casually shifted the hand that extended for a handshake, turning the back of his hand toward the man, and detonated it to spread the shrapnel outwards in a fan shape.
The explosion was smaller than the first, due to being smaller than the head, but the explosive power and the speed of the fragments cutting through the air matched the previous one perfectly.
Puff-puff-puff!
The flying shards embedded themselves in the divine objects.
The divine objects continued to block them without a thought for their own well-being, struggling to protect the man until the once white paper was drenched in red and black substances.
“This…”
Only upon reaching that state did the man realize his situation.
He was currently being attacked by someone, and he was in serious danger.
He wished he had realized it when the head exploded.
Yet, he only understood that after Jinseong’s hand had detonated and the divine object had been contaminated.
A delayed realization.
‘I have to run!’
The thought of escaping echoed in the man’s mind.
He needed to escape.
He had no idea what was happening, and he had to get out of this place quickly.
He had to get away and ask for help.
‘Help? Yes, help.’
Turning his back, the man began to sprint madly.
There might be another explosion coming, but he didn’t care.
He didn’t believe in the divine objects.
He was in such a panic that he couldn’t even entertain the thought that another explosion could occur.
Novice soldiers facing a battlefield often stand there dazed until they meet their demise.
The man’s state was no different.
His mind went blank, and only a single thought occupied it. Yet, that thought only circulated in his mind without translating into action.
In a clash of reason and instinct, instinct was overwhelmingly dominant, causing his body to move chaotically.
Thoughts of needing to call for help, needing to summon a divine object, needing to act as trained, needing to follow the manual endlessly emerged and faded without translating into action.
His body turned and began to charge insane towards the exit.
He had no idea where the exit was or how the villa was structured, nor what dangers lurked within.
He simply ran and ran.
To escape this villa where he had no idea what was happening.
‘I have to run, I have to run!’
If he ran a bit further, perhaps this panic would ease.
Ordinary people might not understand, but the man had received some training.
Not your average criminal but a government official fighting against criminals practicing magic and ghosts. Naturally, he had trained his mind not to be possessed by spirits and underwent minimal training to withstand evil curses.
So, his panic should have dissipated while he sprinted down the hallway.
But there was something preventing his panic from fading.
Tatata!
The next Shinto priest was hot on his heels.
Jinseong, lacking a head and a hand, chased the man like a zombie, and the man had no choice but to run for his life, experiencing the feeling of being hunted prey.
His legs moved frantically, pouring every last ounce of strength into his sprint.
He couldn’t afford to slow down even a bit.
If he slowed down even slightly, he couldn’t imagine what would happen to him at the hands of Jinseong closing in behind.
Just like before, part of his body could explode and engulf him, or he could suffer something even more horrific.
What could that be?
He didn’t know.
He couldn’t know and couldn’t even think of it.
But that itself was even scarier.
Ignorance often breeds fear.
Especially in a situation like this.
‘The door!’
Thus, he sprinted like mad, searching for a door.
A door just like the one he had entered.
Following his instincts, he ran blindly but, by sheer luck, found the exit.
It could have been possible for him to exhaust his strength wandering through the villa, but whether it was his body remembering or pure luck, he found the exit.
Upon seeing the exit, he pushed himself to run even faster.
To break through the door and step outside.
He rushed at the door as if throwing himself at it, pulling the doorknob as if planning to break through.
Click.
Clack clack.
But the moment he pulled the doorknob to escape…
A very ominous sound echoed.
The metallic sound of locking.
‘The door…’
It was a sound that indicated it wasn’t opening, but that it was locked.
‘The door won’t open.’
Yes.
The door was locked.
In this urgent situation, with a headless corpse about to pounce from behind.
The door was locked.
“This…”
Tatata!
“Run, Gen….”
With a face as pale as a ghost, the man turned.
The door was locked, so he had to find another exit.
But just as before and still…
His judgment was too slow.
Slow enough for Jinseong to attack.
“…Villa.”
In that brief second of hesitation, Jinseong had already reached the man.
Jinseong lunged gracefully, spreading the body devoid of head and hands to ensure the man had nowhere to run while unleashing a massive swarm of insects formed from all the little bugs.
The net turned into a monstrous mouth.
“Ugh…”
The man was captured by the insect’s encroaching swarm, and everywhere the teeth of the bug-infested monster pricked him with sting and chemicals.
“Geez!”
The deafening sound of buzzing wings.
Countless bugs obscured his vision so he couldn’t tell what was where.
Bugs crawling over his body created a spine-chilling sensation.
The man struggled within the bug-formed enclosure.
As the swarm formed into waves and pushed him back, he was manic id ever swept away, and when they struck him like a hammer, he fell on the floor. With the bugs clumped tightly or sharpened like spikes, even if they pierced him, he could only bleed profusely.
As the bugs clung to him as if savoring the blood, he couldn’t offer any real resistance, nor could he compose himself amidst the sensory chaos with bugs disturbing him from all directions.
Making overwhelming noise to disrupt his sense of balance and acting as if they wanted to induce nausea, they moved irregularly, exhausting his eyes.
As if to dull his other senses, they emitted the stench of potent chemicals, making his nose go numb, and whenever he attempted to open his mouth, they would try to cram themselves in, preventing him from even opening his mouth properly.
And…
If he couldn’t open his mouth, he couldn’t chant the invocations.
‘At this rate, we’re in big trouble.’
The man felt a sense of crisis, but… there was nothing he could do.
It would have been nice to form a seal to cast a spell.
It seemed like the bugs could see through his thoughts and relentlessly attacked his hands, wrists, and tendons to prevent him from forming a seal. In the dizzying sensory chaos, even if he tried to maintain focus and create a seal, magic wouldn’t activate.
‘Divine object, divine object?’
If only there was a divine object.
The divine object that had protected him earlier was simply standing by, unwilling to rush to the owner’s aid despite the peril.
‘Ah… the white paper… it was contaminated.’
His divine object had become tainted.
Had it not been for the contamination, he would have been able to use it time and time again.
Unfortunately, the divine object had been drenched in grotesque liquid of indeterminate origin to protect him, and as a result, it could no longer protect its master.
‘It’s over.’
The man realized there was nothing he could do.
He couldn’t chant the invocation.
He couldn’t form a seal.
The prepared divine objects had been neutralized.
‘Senpai, Senpai… Senpai knows I’m here.’
All he could do was hope for rescue.
The man closed his eyes, clinging to the belief that his senior would come to save him.
Without resisting the needles piercing his body and the drugs clouding his mind.
He simply closed his eyes.
