Eldritch Horror Theatre

”That’s right. The advantage of this place is that there are more than enough Demigods.”

Chaumont affirmed Fu Qian’s theory about only targeting Demigods.

”Besides, this hardly counts as a cruel hunt. After all, they don’t truly die.”

He certainly knows a lot about Unseen Hill.

Fu Qian gave a slight nod.

”It’s a shame they don’t see it that way. From what I understand, most of them have no desire to experience death.”

”Except for the one you used.”

Aike scoffed, pointing at the clown beside them.

The clown remained sprawled on the ground, his body twisted at unnatural angles, seemingly completely devoid of motor control.

Even so, distorted bursts of laughter continued to rattle from his throat.”What do you mean, ’used’? We had a wonderfully honest exchange, didn’t we?”

Fu Qian scoffed, sounding highly offended.

”That Talisman from just now—was that your prize for this trip?”

”It is. In fact, it’s incredibly precious. I had no intention of wasting it on something like this.”

”Sorry for the expense.”

Fu Qian’s apology sounded entirely insincere.

”Look on the bright side. At least we won’t have to waste any more.”

”So... here’s to a pleasant partnership?”

Looking at the three of them inquiringly, Fu Qian raised his glass in a mock toast.

”...To a pleasant partnership.”

The Hunting Squad exchanged glances. Chaumont was the first to respond, gesturing for Aike to pour him a drink.

Seeing this, Aike and Stoss reluctantly raised their glasses as well.

”May we all achieve our goals for this trip.”

Amid the clinking of glasses, Fu Qian offered the empty platitude.

Combined with the festive toasts, an outsider might have thought The Company was hosting a team-building event.

Wait a minute. Isn’t this all a little too harmonious?

A moment later, Fu Qian noticed something was off—the scene was so overwhelmingly peaceful that even the clown had stopped laughing.

Accompanying that realization was a storm of madness suddenly sweeping through his mind.

...

”I’ve received your sincerity, but unfortunately, you still know far too little about this place.”

Chaumont’s voice drifted over a second later.

”You didn’t really think this trap was just meant to tag you, did you?”

As the voice reached his ears, Fu Qian’s suddenly chaotic consciousness still clearly registered the changes around him—

The wall-like Demigod puppet had silently shifted forward, cutting off his escape route...

His right leg abruptly lost all sensation, going stiff as a log. If he recalled correctly, that was the side closest to Aike...

Chaumont was tapping his fingers in the air, as if plucking a set of invisible strings...

Boom!

With his movements, a nuclear bomb seemed to detonate inside Fu Qian’s mind. His already-maddened consciousness was thrown into utter chaos, teetering on the brink of collapse.

They really are a team. This coordination is flawless.

Even under this seamless barrage, Fu Qian couldn’t help but marvel.

The situation was glaringly obvious. The clown had suddenly snapped back to lucidity, while Fu Qian found himself spontaneously spiraling into madness. It was as if their mental states had been swapped.

Chaumont’s mark didn’t just act as an inescapable tracker; it seemed capable of swapping the mental states of any afflicted targets.

And the entire bar had been within the mark’s range—not just him.

Chaumont had feigned acceptance of his alliance, only to strike at the most unexpected moment, transferring the clown’s torment directly onto Fu Qian.

He had even used some method to magnify it.

At the same time, Aike had reacted in perfect sync, crippling his leg.

Naturally, the only purpose behind all this was to restrict his movements and pave the way for the real killing blow.

A moment later, Fu Qian saw Stoss crush another seemingly familiar Talisman in his other hand.

Amidst an invisible surge of power, the wine glass in Stoss’s right hand vanished, replaced by a blazing speck of white light—like a miniature sun compressed to its absolute limits.

Though it didn’t look like much, Fu Qian instantly realized the terrifying destructive power contained within it. It was completely on another level compared to the attack Stoss had used during their first encounter.

It all happened in a flash of lightning and stone spark. The instant the speck of light appeared, it drifted right toward Fu Qian’s hand.

They aren’t giving me a single chance!

With that thought, staring down a situation that could only be called hopeless, Fu Qian activated Blood Crusade for the third time.

A mist of blood churned as his vision overlapped with ethereal illusions once more.

But Fu Qian could only watch helplessly as that speck of blazing white pierced right through the illusions and landed squarely on his hand.

Just as he thought, Chaumont had never expected a burst of madness alone to completely strip him of his ability to resist.

This was likely the mark’s true effect. With Chaumont guiding it, Stoss’s killing blow would lock onto Fu Qian no matter where he ran.

It was a flawless death trap. The higher-ups of the Night Watchers truly weren’t just Occupying a Post Without Doing Work.

Even as he marveled at them, the Ring on Fu Qian’s hand sank into his flesh and quickly slithered away, for his struck right hand had already begun to incinerate.

Even within this ethereal alternate dimension, Fu Qian could hear the roar of combustion.

A second later, watching his hand rapidly crumble into ash, Fu Qian didn’t hesitate—he violently tore his right arm off at the shoulder.

To his dismay, after the severed arm hit the ground and was consumed by the flames, fresh scorch marks appeared on his shoulder stump. The flesh there was still turning to ash.

Something this team considers their trump card really isn’t going to be simple.

It seemed the attack hadn’t just locked onto his physical body; it had locked onto the very concept of his existence, and it wouldn’t stop until he was dead.

It was as if Divine Emissary Stoss had placed an incinerating curse on him, allowing the destruction to creep up through his existential tethers.

Physical amputation was entirely meaningless.

Fortunately, Fu Qian hadn’t truly expected such a cheap trick to work in the first place.

Everyone had limits to their knowledge. Especially in this unfamiliar place, Chaumont clearly knew far more than he did.

Therefore, even the seemingly sound logic for an alliance had been nothing more than a probe.

His solitary goal for this trip had been to seize any opportunity to gather as much valuable information as possible.

Knowing the modus operandi of Chaumont’s group, Fu Qian had known he needed to be ready for a fight the second he revealed himself.

So while their sudden ambush was brilliantly executed, Fu Qian wasn’t entirely surprised by it.

In fact, if he had wanted to, he could have instantly activated Pseudo-God Incarnation, completely nullifying Chaumont’s mental constraints.

However, that would have cost him ten SAN Value, a price Fu Qian wasn’t willing to waste.

Even now, he refused to waste it.

Watching his body rapidly incinerate, Fu Qian’s left arm violently ballooned a second later, grotesquely tearing out an entire duplicate of himself.

Naturally, a mere physical transformation did nothing to counter Stoss’s technique. Fortunately, Fu Qian never intended to rely on it as a solution anyway.

A second later, a massive maw tore open across the chest of the newly spawned duplicate. Rows of jagged fangs clamped down on his half-incinerated original body, swallowing it whole.