Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 152

Weapon-Eating Bastard – Chapter 152

The ruins were located underground, buried in a giant snowdrift.

‘It’s here.’

I scanned the surroundings with my Evil Eye and let out a heavy breath.

The strange energy flow I had been searching for, scouring the mountains as if combing through hair, converged here.

There was a location beneath us that could be called a Spirit Vein [a concentration of spiritual energy]. Odin’s temple, which I was looking for, was definitely here as well.

“Hmm, isn’t it just an ordinary snowfield we’ve been seeing?”

Ron looked around with a puzzled expression.

To his eyes, it just looked like the white mountain he had been seeing for the past few days.

“Take a closer look.”

“……?”

At those words, Ron, who had been looking around, stopped abruptly.

Although he didn’t have an Evil Eye like me, Ron was also someone who was born with the blessing of the fairies and the body of a dragon. There was no way he wouldn’t be able to sense such a noticeable flow of magical power.

“There’s something here…….”

Ron reached out and groped in the air.

And at that moment.

Thump-.

A heavy vibration spread out in front, and the air rippled.

“A barrier. A barrier in a place like this.”

Ron’s eyes sparkled.

I silently approached the barrier and used my aura to clear away the snow piled on the ground.

“Ah……!”

Ron, realizing what I was doing, dug away the snow a little further away from where I was digging.

And we discovered a huge monument buried in the snow.

“Oh! A Rune Stone. It seems there really are ruins here!”

Unlike other tribes, the ancient Germanic peoples did not leave many written records.

Much of their history relied on oral tradition.

Of course, that didn’t mean they didn’t leave *any* records at all in their long history. Rune stones were one of the relics they left behind.

“I know a little ancient Norse… but this is even older. It looks like a mural depicting a part of mythology. Please wait a moment.”

Ron took something out of his pocket.

It was a tablet PC.

Ron turned on a few apps, checked them, and then attempted to interpret the runes.

‘What’s with this guy’s preparedness?’

I couldn’t help but be amazed.

And after a short time, Ron stood up with an amused expression.

“Indeed! They are ancient Runes. Mages would be ecstatic to see this. Original Runes that haven’t been modified. This itself is an incredibly valuable item.”

Ron’s eyes sparkled.

To the public, Runes have a strong image of magic and shamanism, but in reality, they were just ordinary characters that were used practically.

But the ancient Runes, which are the origin of those Runes, are different.

Each word and each letter of the ancient Runes can be said to be magic.

To someone who uses Northern European magic, this monument would be an incredibly valuable relic in itself.

“Can you interpret it?”

“Hmm, I might know regular Runes, but ancient Runes have different meanings and pronunciations depending on the user. Moreover, these seem to be magic for creating a barrier… Ah, what’s written below is in regular Runes. I think I can interpret this.”

Ron looked back and forth between the tablet PC and the Rune Stone for a moment, then calmly continued.

“’He who reflects, the wisest, the guardian of omniscience,’ no, ‘the protector?’ Hmm, anyway… this is the temple of the Father of the World, so those who are not permitted shall return…?”

Ron continued to interpret with concentration, then his eyes widened.

“No, could it be…!”

At this point, there was no way he couldn’t know.

How many gods in this area would have such a grand title?

“Is it Odin’s temple?”

I nodded silently.

Unlike the polytheism of other regions, the Germanic peoples did not build separate temples or shrines.

The fact that one existed at all…

Ron even felt a thrill.

“This is a discovery of tremendous value, both historically and magically! This is crazy! We need to call scholars and open this place up….”

Discovering, exploring, and adventuring in ruins is like a romance for many men.

So it was no wonder he was so excited. Especially if it was a mythical place.

Meanwhile, I smiled bitterly as I looked at Ron.

‘He’s only happy for now….’

I dusted off the snow on my hands and approached the barrier.

“I think we’ve found it for sure, so stay back for a moment.”

“Yes, yes?”

I activated my Evil Eye and stared at the Rune Stone and the barrier.

Throb-!

My eyes didn’t hurt when I examined the power of this sacred mountain, but as soon as I looked at the barrier, the inside of my eyes throbbed.

I saw a scene of countless colorful threads tangled in front of me.

I focused my Evil Eye a little more and pushed away unnecessary information.

‘There must be a gap.’

I began to read the gap in the barrier.

The royal road to dismantling a barrier is to research it and reveal its dismantling formula, but I am not a mage.

I couldn’t bring a large-scale investigation team either.

Because I would be robbed of the things I needed inside.

But I have the Evil Eye that reads the flow of all power.

‘Found it.’

Swish!

I slowly drew Black Night.

In the midst of the tangled black and red lines, I could see a certain part that was wide open.

And I pushed Black Night into that part.

Thwack!

The moment I inserted Black Night, I felt a sticky resistance pushing back the tip of the sword.

Crackle! Crackle!

The power of the barrier was extinguished in real time, and sparks flew.

But the power that the barrier itself possessed was too strong.

It seemed difficult to extinguish this barrier at once with Black Night, which had not yet been fully awakened.

But creating and breaking a gap was easy.

Slash! Clang!

As I drew the sword down, a long crack was drawn in the air as if lightning had struck.

Immediately after, the air burst as if a glass pane was breaking, and a distorted gap was revealed.

“Wh-what……!”

Ron looked at me with astonished eyes.

“It’s open, so let’s go in. It might close soon.”

I chuckled and strode inside.

“Wa, wait a minute! Let’s go together!”

Ron hurriedly followed Yi Cheol.

* * *

As soon as I stepped through the gap in space, I felt the air change.

There was a musty smell, peculiar to old places.

With just one step, I had changed from a snow mountain with a biting wind to a ruin with a strange warmth.

-Bbyak!

The Great Demonic bird, who had been sleeping in Eunhan’s arms, suddenly raised its head.

“Stay inside. It’s dangerous, so don’t come out for no reason.”

-Bbyak! Bbyak bbyak bbyak!

Recently, it hadn’t even woken up except when it was eating food with purified stone powder on it, but suddenly it felt something and started flapping its wings and flying around me.

‘Well, since this place is like a Spirit Vein, maybe that guy, who is half spirit, felt something.’

“Haha, you too, huh? You find this place amazing?”

Ron tapped the magic lamp to light it up, then looked at the flying bird and smiled.

Ron had already seen the bird when he stayed at Ron’s mansion for a week. Ron liked this guy quite a bit…….

-Bbyaaaaaak!

“Ah! That hurts! It hurts! Why are you only doing that to me!”

As soon as this chick-like thing saw Ron, it pecked at him fiercely with its beak.

From the first time they met, that guy didn’t like Ron.

……Could it be because Ron has the body of a dragon?

“Stop it. You little rascal.”

Anyway, I couldn’t make any more noise, so I took the bird away from Ron.

“Seriously, stay inside now. Why did you suddenly wake up after sleeping so well?”

-Bbya byabyak!

“I said go in?”

-Bbyak!

The bird shook its head.

“Ugh, fine. Don’t blame me if you regret it.”

-Bbyak!

I left the bird, which was diligently flapping its wings and flying around, and moved on with Ron.

The ruins were dark.

There were magic lamps, but the distance from the floor to the ceiling was easily over 10 meters, and the width of the road was also considerable.

“It’s an enormous scale. Who built these ruins in this deep snow mountain…….”

I looked around and carefully moved forward.

It was called a temple, but you shouldn’t think of the splendid buildings that are commonly seen in each cultural sphere.

Except for the huge Rune Stones with Runes and murals engraved everywhere, it was a space reminiscent of a huge fortress or citadel.

Woo-oong-!

A sound that I couldn’t tell whether it was the sound of the wind or something else was coming from the darkness.

I ignored such things and turned my attention to the murals drawn on the walls.

‘I’ve never seen these in my past life…….’

After these ruins were excavated, many relics were released to the public.

I was quite interested in them because they were widely publicized as the discovery of the century.

But I had never heard that there were such murals among them.

‘I can’t interpret them, but I can roughly understand them just by looking at the pictures.’

The creation of the world in Norse mythology.

The myth of the World Tree.

Pictures of ancient mystical species and phantasmal beasts.

Even the depiction and appearance of divine beings.

As befitting Odin’s temple, many legends related to him were depicted.

‘Scholars seem to think of these divine beings as just ancient humans with special powers.’

I don’t know exactly what they are.

The history of mankind has been largely punctured by monsters, so these beings in the murals may have actually existed, or they may not have.

Soon, the atmosphere of the murals changed drastically.

The paintings that used bright colors of dye turned blackish, and the depiction of the characters also became gloomy.

‘The Twilight of the Gods.’

Ragnarok [the end of the world in Norse mythology].

A mural depicting the end of the world in Norse mythology.

Cold, poverty, and great wars would be depicted.

But.

‘……What is this?’

There was no mural.

There was nothing drawn in the part that should have depicted Ragnarok.

Only a very smooth limestone surface could be touched.

An unpleasant sense of déjà vu swept over me.

I had seen something like this before.

In some records left by my family’s ancestors.

‘The Black Night Records were like this too.’

It was then.

Chills!

“Young Master Yi Cheol!”

“I know.”

Swish!

I drew Boundless, and Ron drew the Sword of the Lake.

-Kuh, uh, uh, uh!

Far away, at the end of this passage, a pair of red eyes flashed.

“Wh-what is that!”

“I told you. This is an underground labyrinth. Of course, there are guardians.”

-Bbyaaaaaak!

Feeling the bird dive into Eunhan, I drew Boundless.

It is natural for ruins to have guardians, regardless of East or West.

Flash!

Something flashed in the darkness.

-Grrrk! Kee-ik!

-Gaaaaaak!

A grotesque figure with pale blue eyes and shabby clothes revealed itself.

The problem was that only bones remained on the arms and legs exposed on the outside of the armor they were wearing, instead of flesh and muscles.

Whoosh!

At that moment, a huge amount of magical power was released from them.

It was such a powerful magical power that it was hard to believe that they were undead, a type of monster that is tricky but not considered very strong.

“Aura?”

Ron’s eyes widened.

This was because the magical power that the undead were emitting soon became an aura and began to create ominous blue flames.

“Monsters with aura! No, why are there undead in the temple in the first place!”

“They’re undead, but they’re not *just* monsters. They’re closer to familiars raised with black magic. You’ll be in big trouble if you’re careless.”

I made Boundless into a shield and held it out in front, stretched Black Night out on the other side, and focused my Evil Eye.

‘I’ve only heard about it in my past life, but seeing it in person…….’

They possess more power than I imagined.

Those things are not just simple undead, and they are not monsters in the first place.

The undying soldiers with the mysteries of the ancient times.

Einherjar [warriors who have died in battle and are brought to Valhalla in Norse mythology].

The guardians of this temple, called an army, a lone fighter, and the army of the dead.

‘About forty to fifty of them.’

Among them, about 20 seem to be around the 5th level warrior, and the rest are around the 6th level warrior.

It was a famous story that an exploration team blocked by them in the future suffered a large number of casualties and returned.

It was known that they were finally captured with the help of the Vatican afterwards.

‘However, I have Black Night…….’

I glanced to the side.

As if to counter the ominous blue aura emitted by the Einherjar, Ron’s holy sword was wrapped in a clear sky-blue aura.

‘Ron has the holy sword.’

There is no need to borrow the power of the Vatican.

If it’s Black Night, which completely annihilates magical power, and the Holy Sword, which is the best match against the undead, it wouldn’t be an impossible fight.

Of course, it would be very difficult.

-Kuaaaaaaaa!

At that moment, the Einherjar’s group began to rush in, raising ghost fire in their empty eye sockets.

Without even talking.

Ron and I swung our swords almost simultaneously.