Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 205

Weapon-Eating Bastard – Episode 205

The fourth, Lee Hyunjae, and the fifth, Lee Hyunchan, led the Warrior Squad to scout the outskirts of Zone B-1.

“It’s better than I thought?”

“It’s more manageable than I thought.”

Lee Hyunjae and Lee Hyunchan exchanged glances, speaking in unison.

The first day of battle had been brutal, but it seemed they were adapting.

“But there are still a lot of monsters.”

“You don’t have to tell me.”

Monsters poured out relentlessly wherever they went.

As expected, this uncharted territory was unlike anything they’d seen before.

However, they were only numerous; no exceptionally strong monsters had appeared since that first day, making it manageable.

“So, we just need to collect evidence, install mana wave generators, and film videos to get the exploration officially recognized, right?”

“That’s right. Oh, by the way, have you been feeling anything strange lately?”

“Huh? You felt it too?”

Lee Hyunjae and Lee Hyunchan locked eyes, a spark of understanding between them.

“I definitely feel a bit uneasy because of the hallucinations… but strangely, my body feels like it’s overflowing with energy.”

“You felt it too? Me too. Faster stamina recovery, and my senses feel sharper?”

And it wasn’t just the twin direct descendants experiencing these sensations.

Lee Youngsung, who was with the Iron Blood Squad, also felt his body functions improving daily.

“It feels like… I’m getting stronger.”

As Lee Youngsung muttered, one of the Iron Blood Squad members scoffed, saying,

“What are you talking about, Vice Squad Leader? Let’s just hurry up and collect the samples.”

“Ah, I’m serious. Don’t you feel anything?”

“Not at all?”

The branch family members seemed to sense something, but the others didn’t seem to notice anything.

Could it be something that only affected those who inherited the blood of the Soongmoo Lee family?

‘I don’t know. But something feels strange. A huge sense of rejection.’

What was even more chilling was that the feeling wasn’t unpleasant; it gave a strange sense of stability.

Stability in uncharted territory?

He worried if he was losing his mind.

‘Hoo, let’s just finish the work quickly.’

Lee Youngsung shook his head and quickly moved his sword to collect evidence.

But then, it happened.

Thump-!

A heavy vibration pulsed through the ground.

Lee Youngsung felt the hairs on his body stand on end.

“What was that just now?”

The twins Lee Hyunjae and Lee Hyunchan also jumped up, turning their heads.

Both of them shuddered, rubbing their arms.

“Which way did that come from?”

“How would we know in uncharted territory?”

“It’s not the youngest, is it?”

“……”

All the Warrior Squads were unnerved by the vibration, but only those who inherited the blood of the Soongmoo Lee family felt the unidentified chill.

“There’s no way anything could happen to the youngest. Let’s hurry up and finish today’s exploration and return to the base camp.”

“Yeah, let’s do that. Soongmoo Lee! Everyone, hurry up!”

The twins Lee Hyunjae and Lee Hyunchan gave those instructions, but they couldn’t shake off the strange feeling.

The uncharted territory was strange, to begin with, but they couldn’t adapt to this feeling at all.

It felt like something indescribable was happening.

* * *

Standing here, memories of the distant past flooded my mind.

They were events of a future that would never come, memories of a timeline only I knew.

Some memories refused to fade, no matter how much time passed.

I slowly walked into the wide-open space.

As if restoring an old painting, the last memory of my past life overlaid itself onto this desolate clearing.

-Begin.

That single word, uttered by a member of the Spirit Sword Unit before starting the purge.

‘It was this place.’

The families who came here with me were executed by the Spirit Sword Unit.

I moved forward again, walking further inside.

Not far from the monster’s fossil.

It was right here.

I was attacked by the Spirit Sword Unit’s sword in this exact spot.

-There was an order from the lord. To bring you here and kill you as cleanly as possible if you don’t resist.

-How pathetic. To think the bloodline of the Lee family would be so vile.

I pulled out the sword stuck in the monster’s skull and met my death.

“……Young master? Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Why do you look like that? Did you feel something?”

-Bbyak!

Auntie called me with a trembling voice, and Valerie and Black Swan also called out, their voices laced with worry.

I smiled bitterly at their concern and shook my head.

“It’s nothing. More than that, let’s start the investigation now.”

I said to them, turning my head to look around again.

It was a past life that had already been undone, and a future that would not come.

‘What’s important now is not to fall into such unnecessary emotions, but to find out the identity of this place.’

This place held many secrets.

It was the reason the unidentified mutant monsters I encountered appeared, and at the same time, it was a place related to Mujin [MC’s sword], and a ruin created by my maternal family.

‘Besides, in the past, the third brother found this place and tried to do something here.’

What on earth was the third brother trying to do here?

No, in the first place, why did he bring the targets of the purge to this place?

As I continued to think.

Heh!

I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine.

Drrrrr!

Mujin, which was on my right index finger, suddenly began to vibrate.

A heavy vibration that made my hand tremble.

No, it wasn’t Mujin that was shaking.

Mujin was still, but something was pulling at it.

‘What is it? Where is it coming from?’

The strange phenomenon was just the beginning.

Swish!

A sound of something crumbling.

I quickly turned my head to look at the monster skull, and the old sword stuck there was turning to dust, scattering into the air.

And starting with that, vibrations began to echo throughout the open space.

“Wh-what’s going on!”

“Why all of a sudden!”

-Bbyabyabyak!

Valerie, Auntie, and Black Swan were all flustered, struggling to keep their balance.

Koo-oong!

The magic power of the entire ruin began to churn ominously.

Chills!

My sixth sense screamed a warning.

I felt a chill run up my spine.

‘I have to get out of here. Not now, even if I have to abandon the investigation!’

I had never felt this way, not even when facing Henry Russell or Saint Christina, or when confronting my father or first brother.

I didn’t know what was causing this chilling sensation, but it was certain that something significant was happening, something that was at least triggering my sixth sense.

Thump!

I didn’t hesitate and kicked off the ground with all my might.

At that moment, the distorted expressions of Auntie and Valerie came into view.

“Lee Chul! The seal is broken! That sword was the core of the seal! Run away quickly… Heok!”

“Behind! Behind you! Young master! Behind you!”

-Beeeep!

Auntie and Valerie simultaneously reached out to me urgently.

I glanced behind me.

‘What is this…!’

Kwaaaaa!

A tremendous amount of black energy was rushing towards me from the monster’s corpse, like erupting lava.

Just one step.

The number of steps I had taken was only one.

Whoosh!

What the wave was aiming for wasn’t me.

It was Mujin, which was on my finger.

‘Mujin…!’

I immediately retracted my arm, but I was a beat too late.

As if drawn to its rightful place, it was helplessly pulled off my finger like a piece of iron to a magnet and absorbed into the black wave.

And the black wave swept me away.

-Kik!

A voice that sounded like something unidentified, not human, was laughing.

[In the end, it has come to this.]

Following that, someone’s voice was heard.

The scene in front of me changed completely.

* * *

The scene before me was dyed black.

Darkness where nothing could be seen properly.

Only I was visible.

I blinked, but the saturation of the world remained the same.

It wasn’t just the color.

I couldn’t feel the sensation of my hands and feet, nor the abundant magic power in my body.

I floated in such a distant darkness.

A strange sensation, as if my whole body was floating.

A strange but familiar sensation at the same time.

I had experienced this sensation before.

Several times, in fact.

‘When I read Mujin’s memories.’

I slowly turned my head.

It wasn’t that I turned my head because I felt any presence.

It was just that I naturally thought I should look back.

And.

[Successor of Mujin.]

A man was standing there.

I knew that man.

The man who taught me Cheokma [sword technique], Manbyeon [sword technique], and Black Lotus [sword technique], a man who was no different from a teacher to me.

And the person from the distant past who was the original owner of Mujin.

[In the end, this time has come.]

I could understand the situation from that statement.

Finally, I had come to read Mujin’s last memory.

The man walked towards me.

And as the man approached, I felt the vague sensations of my body returning.

I began to see my arms, my body, and my legs.

“You are……”

[I am Choi Hwi of the Soongjung Choi family. What is your name?]

Soongjung Choi family.

A hidden clan known to have been allied with the Soongmoo Lee family.

As soon as I heard the name, my eyes widened.

‘I knew it.’

This place where Mujin was sealed, and this man who was the owner of Mujin, were also ancestors of my maternal family.

I sincerely paid my respects to the man who was no different from my teacher.

“Lee Chul of the Soongmoo Lee family greets the ancestor. I heard that my mother was the last descendant of the Choi clan.”

At my words, the man’s eyes flickered for a moment.

[So that’s how it turned out.]

The man’s gaze deepened.

Before I could ask what had turned out that way, the man continued.

[I wanted to have a conversation with you. Although this will be the last, I have finally met you like this.]

“Did you…… know me?”

[That’s right.]

The man nodded and continued.

[For a long time. I knew that someone was watching me for a very long time. At first, I didn’t know, but I came to realize that it was the successor from the distant future who would inherit Mujin.]

“How could you know that?”

[Because of the power you possess, the Black Energy.]

The man turned his head and looked somewhere.

My figure was floating there.

To be exact, it was my figure in Mujin’s memory, peeking at the man.

[I knew that there was someone watching me through Mujin for a long time. I felt that it was someone who would obtain the Black Energy in the distant future. And because the Black Energy was dwelling in your body, we were able to meet like this.]

I looked at the man.

This man was a person from the distant past.

Conversely, I am a person from the distant future.

It meant that the Black Energy had transcended time and connected me with this man.

I asked what I was curious about.

“What exactly is this power…… the Black Energy?”

Soongmoo Lee family, the Holy Kingdom, the uncharted territory…….

The stories I had heard in many places, in many locations.

I recalled those stories one by one in my head.

I know about the origin of this power.

The primordial monster that came out of the Blue Hole earlier than the kings sleeping in the uncharted territory, and the existence that did not die and eventually became countless fragments scattered throughout the world.

A desperate existence that once destroyed the world, and ‘something’ that was extinguished in countless records.

The Founder tried to hide it.

The ancestor tried to reveal it.

It made me regress [go back in time].

At the same time, it was what made countless beings target me.

[It is the remains of some monster. No, it will never die, so it should be called not remains but just fragments.]

“What is that monster that it has such power even though it only has fragments?”

The man looked straight at me.

In that way, the man began to answer the long and complex questions I had.

[It is an immortal being.]

The immortal monster.

I absorbed the black smoke from the ancestor’s tomb and gained recovery power.