Chapter 18. Majesty of Madness (1)
Neon lights flashed across the desert city.
The entire place boiled with the heat of an endless festival.
Holograms of wine glasses floated over the buildings, and citizens laughed and danced like lunatics while holding Artifact goblets.
But Jooheon had a serious problem.
[Reason Gauge -2]
“...It started.”
Majesty Yoo Jaeha spoke.
They hadn't done anything.
And yet the air itself was eating away at their sanity.
Sure enough, Majesty Jaeha raised his wrist.
[Reason Gauge: 88] → [86]
“See?”
He sighed.
“You get drunk just by breathing in this city.”
Jooheon's Reason Gauge was dropping even faster.
[Reason Gauge: 50] → [30]
If it reached zero, he would become an NPC without even being able to resist.
Jooheon glared at Majesty Jaeha, clearly offended.
“Why the hell is mine dropping faster than that bastard's?”
Cup-Ramen Jaeha answered.
[Because you were already crazy to begin with?]
A vein twitched at Jooheon's temple.
He immediately tried to shove the cup ramen into a nearby wine fountain.
[AAAAAH! I'M SORRY!]
[I'M SORRY, OKAY?!]
The lid trembled violently as Cup-Ramen Jaeha sobbed.
[If you're going to cook me anyway...]
[AT LEAST USE PROPER WATER!]
Jooheon sighed.
“At this rate, my Reason Gauge will hit zero and I'll end up as an NPC in this world.”
Majesty Jaeha shrugged.
“A Majesty NPC?”
He sounded amused.
“That's pretty rare. Might sell for a good price at auction.”
Jooheon turned toward him.
“You sell people?”
“There are worlds where people who become NPCs are bought and sold.”
Jooheon looked disgusted.
“Are all Majesties complete pieces of trash?”
Cup-Ramen Jaeha laughed.
[Pot calling the kettle black~]
Jooheon immediately tried to throw him into the wine fountain again.
[WAIT!]
[I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY!]
“Anyway.”
Jooheon looked around.
“This gauge is the real problem.”
He turned toward Majesty Jaeha.
“Make an Artifact.”
“One that'll get rid of the disgusting alcohol stench created by this shitty Majesty.”
Jaeha frowned.
“Why should I obey your—”
Jooheon raised his voice.
“Hey, Majesties around here! This bastard is the one who created the disaster-causing Rulebook—”
Majesty Jaeha desperately covered Jooheon's mouth.
“Fine!”
“I'll make it!”
He glared.
“What do you want?”
Jooheon snorted.
“Yoo Jaeha.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You have even less imagination than I do.”
“What did you say?”
Jaeha bristled.
Jooheon spoke calmly.
“You don't wash a wine glass with more alcohol.”
He pointed toward the sky.
“What we need are tears shed by heaven itself.”
“?”
“The rain from Noah's Ark.”
Jooheon's voice became colder.
“The flood that washed away sin.”
“The rain that swallowed the world.”
“The storm that drenched the entire earth.”
“Use that legend.”
Majesty Jaeha's expression twisted.
“...You always choose something absurdly merciless.”
He clicked his tongue.
“You really are insane.”
He still looked doubtful.
“A flood capable of covering continents would require at least a Divine-Grade Artifact.”
“Even I can't create something on that scale.”
“But...”
He looked around the city.
“A small city might be possible.”
“That's enough.”
Jooheon nodded.
“We only need to wash this drunken city clean.”
Jaeha crouched and began drawing something on the ground with his finger.
Then he paused.
“Do you know the story of Noah's Ark accurately?”
“The more specific the narrative, the higher the success rate.”
Jooheon clicked his tongue as though Jaeha were an idiot.
“Rain fell for forty days and forty nights.”
“The judgment rain swallowed human sin without discrimination.”
“Then the Ark floated above the flood...”
“And opened the way to a new world.”
As soon as he finished...
The drawing of an ark and rain that Jaeha had sketched in chalk began glowing gold.
The image took form.
It transformed into...
A portable umbrella.
“...It worked.”
Jaeha stared at it.
“The grade's low because I made it on the spot.”
He opened the black umbrella.
The drawing he had made was engraved across its surface.
Golden light spread out in a five-hundred-meter radius.
Dark clouds immediately formed overhead.
Then...
BOOOOOOM!
Rain poured down.
This wasn't ordinary rain.
The downpour seemed to wash the alcohol directly out of the atmosphere.
The citizens' eyes slowly returned to normal.
The smell of wine dominating the streets was washed away.
[New Artifact Created: <Deluge of Judgment> (A-Grade)]
[Effect: Within the rainfall area, Madness Gauge -20 / Reason Gauge +20.]
[Effect: Purifies the atmosphere for a limited period.]
Jooheon took a deep breath.
“...Now I can actually breathe.”
Unfortunately...
That was where the next problem began.
Jooheon looked up through the rain.
Several people inside the crowd suddenly opened their eyes.
The Artifact's purification effect had restored their sanity.
But each of them was holding a different Artifact.
Suddenly...
They screamed wildly.
Like drug addicts suffering after the effect wore off.
“Damn it!”
“We were having fun!”
“Protect the alcohol!!”
The object in one man's hand wasn't a bottle.
It was an Artifact dagger made from bone and gemstones.
The moment he swung it...
Several nearby citizens' eyes turned red as if madness had infected them.
“Enemy!”
“Kill them!!”
“They're trying to steal the Cup!”
A massacre was about to erupt in the middle of the City of Madness.
Artifacts can only be properly countered with Artifacts.
Jooheon tried summoning one of his own weapons.
But...
[Difference in Majesty Rank detected.]
[Artifacts from another dimension cannot be summoned.]
What?
Rank?
So basically, my Majesty level is lower than the Majesty ruling this place?
More importantly...
Not being able to use combat Artifacts during a knife fight was a serious risk.
Majesty Jaeha immediately tried to create a disposable weapon for him.
But before he could...
THUD!
Jooheon's knee slammed directly into the attacker's solar plexus.
“Guh!”
