Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 220

Weapon-Eating Bastard – Episode 220

Although the Elder Council incident wasn’t widely publicized in the media due to the Soongmoo Lee family’s control, most major powers were aware of what had transpired.

They watched the developments with vigilance, wary of the new great warrior born under the shadow of the Soongmoo Lee family.

How would Lee Cheol move forward?

Would he seize control of the Elder Council and become a rival to the Twin Stars, Lee Myung-jung?

Or would he cause another incident?

However, contrary to the world’s expectations or hopes, I didn’t cause any further trouble.

Instead, I left the family and met with a colleague for the first time in a long while.

“Hehehe, has the Black Emperor arrived?”

Anastasia, the head of the Black Crow Society, bowed to me with an exaggerated gesture and a theatrical tone, giggling.

I frowned deeply.

“Anastasia… stop teasing me.”

“Why? Isn’t it cool? A strong candidate for the head of the Soongmoo Lee family! The Black Emperor! Bl.ack. Em.pe.ror!”

Anastasia’s lips curled into a smirk.

I sighed deeply and rubbed my temples.

It was the first time I had ever received such a title.

“Hehe, Lee Cheol’s reaction is amusing.”

“Please consider my position.”

“Was it hard to hear? My apologies. How dare I speak so rashly to the Black Emperor!”

“……”

It had been like this ever since I met Anastasia after a long time.

After fully recovering, Anastasia had regained the liveliness befitting her age.

Although the degree of that liveliness seemed a bit excessive…

“I’ll contact you more often from now on, so please stop.”

I could guess why Anastasia was acting like this.

She seemed a little disappointed that I hadn’t even given her minor updates on my life, apart from work-related matters, for a while.

“No, it’s nothing. Who am I to say anything to Lee Cheol?”

Anastasia didn’t seem willing to back down easily.

But I had no intention of just putting up with it.

“Speaking of which, Anastasia, you’ve been a hot topic on the internet lately, haven’t you?”

Instantly, Anastasia froze.

“I heard you even have a fan club? My twin brothers are asking me to get their autographs. Your title is… hmm, wasn’t it ‘Black Rose’?”

“Ugh!”

Anastasia’s face turned bright red.

Anastasia had come to the surface, showing her face in the media here and there with the launch of the Black Crow Society.

As a result, the public became interested in Anastasia’s mysterious appearance and her young age (in her mid-20s), and naturally, she even gained the title of ‘Black Rose.’

“…Stop it, Lee Cheol. I’m sorry.”

I eventually received Anastasia’s declaration of defeat and let out a smirk.

“Still, I think Anastasia’s title suits you quite well.”

“Really?”

“Yes, although it’s closer to white or gold than black… I still think it suits you. I mean it.”

“…Stop teasing me, Lee Cheol.”

Perhaps it was because of her already pale skin, but I felt like her blush had become even redder.

I smiled comfortably and picked up the teacup brought by Anastasia’s attendant.

“Anyway, thank you for your cooperation during this incident.”

“It’s nothing. It was something I had to do anyway. I was preparing for any possible event.”

Anastasia took a sip of her tea and continued.

“Rather, we were able to expand our intelligence network in the Western world by absorbing the independent network that the Elder Council Leader had. It was a benefit for us.”

“I’m glad to hear that. I’m sorry for always asking for favors.”

“I’ll be sad if you keep acting like a stranger.”

At Anastasia’s words, I smiled and nodded.

One of the best things I had done in this life was establishing a cooperative relationship with the Black Crow Society.

After that, we began to exchange work-related stories in earnest.

This was because there was information that I had requested from the Black Crow Society in advance.

The most important issue was, of course, the movements of the third son, Lee Gun-sung.

“He’s too quiet.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yes, he’s been unusually quiet.”

Anastasia frowned slightly and continued.

“And that’s why it’s strange.”

Several months had passed since I caused the incident with the Elder Council Leader.

Contrary to my expectations that he would begin to check me in earnest, he was silent.

“If there is a force that suddenly attacks the Black Crow Society, it will be Lee Gun-sung’s force. Please follow that line closely.”

“Yes, of course.”

Already, the Black Crow Society and I were in the same boat.

Jung Jin-soo was deeply involved in the structure of the Black Crow Society, and the Black Crow Society had a significant stake in my business, which I was running through Jung Jin-soo.

After that, work-related stories came and went.

The actual work was better known to Jung Jin-soo than to me, so it was only about the general direction.

And as the story was slowly coming to an end, I opened my mouth.

“Then I’ll get up now.”

“Yes, goodbye. It was nice to see you, Lee Cheol.”

Anastasia smiled and came out to see me off.

“Will I not see you for a while again?”

Anastasia knew where I was going after this.

I was going to take a break from family matters for a while and take care of things I had been putting off.

“I’d like to say it won’t take long… but honestly, I don’t know what will happen.”

“Is it that serious for Lee Cheol to say that?”

“Yes, there are quite a few difficult parts.”

It couldn’t be helped.

The ‘two things’ I had to do this time were quite difficult.

“I’ll contact you often, though.”

“Just don’t contact me only for work.”

“Thank you, Anastasia.”

I said goodbye to Anastasia and left.

* * *

North from the Soongmoo Lee family.

There is a sacred mountain that only the direct descendants of the Soongmoo Lee family can enter.

It is the Soongmoo Lee family’s ancestral burial grounds, Soongmoo Mountain.

A tomb where ancestors who devoted themselves to the Soongmoo Lee family and past heads of the family are buried.

I visited the family’s ancestral burial grounds for the first time in a long time.

This was because I now had the conditions to unlock the next seal of Black Night.

‘The sixth seal, huh.’

There are a total of nine seals on Black Night.

So far, I had unlocked a total of five seals.

The first seal, proof of the Iron Thread Style.

The second seal, proof of the bloodline.

The third seal, proof of the naming ceremony.

The fourth seal, proof of the Bloodless Dream of Cheonwi Mountain.

And the fifth seal, proof from the Jeju Island goblin wrestling.

After the Jeju Island incident, I visited Soongmoo Mountain and heard about the contents of the sixth seal.

However, that seal was not something I could do at the time.

That’s because.

The Twelve Supreme Techniques.

Completing the twelve supreme techniques of the Soongmoo Lee family was the condition for the sixth seal.

At first glance, it seemed like the easiest test among the tests so far.

But it was not at all.

‘If you try to learn the twelve supreme techniques normally, you may not be able to do it even if you devote your whole life to it.’

Although they are grouped together and called the twelve supreme techniques, in fact, each technique has completely different orientations and can be said to be completely different techniques.

To give an example, it can be seen as academic disciplines such as physics, biology, and chemistry that exist as lower branches under the academic discipline of ‘natural science.’

Therefore, learning all twelve supreme techniques is… difficult without the backing of enormous effort, heavenly talent, and numerous opportunities.

‘Even including the elders and direct descendants of the main family, there are few people who have completed all twelve supreme techniques.’

It is no wonder that derivative techniques and profound mysteries have emerged.

Therefore, the direct descendants who have the authority to learn the twelve supreme techniques only study the principles, and in practice, they select and learn a few that suit their tendencies.

‘So, my father and first brother are monsters.’

They are the ones who have mastered all twelve supreme techniques and have even obtained a license of complete mastery.

Of course.

‘I’m the same, though.’

I had been learning the techniques of Mujin, which had the same origin as the twelve supreme techniques, for a long time, and I had embodied the martial arts of my ancestors by absorbing the memories of weapons.

Six secret techniques and six profound mysteries.

I had also mastered them all.

‘I’ve arrived.’

I arrived at the entrance to the tomb again.

This place had not changed much from the beginning.

Woo-oong!

The wind entered the tomb, and a heavy reverberation was heard.

The interior of the dark tomb.

I first lit incense in front of the ancestor’s altar, offered alcohol, and then drew Black Night [his sword].

“Hoo.”

Then, I slowly tensed my body and focused my eyes.

‘It’s already an absurd level of difficulty just to learn all twelve supreme techniques, but there’s no way it would end with just that.’

Will the seal be released just by unfolding the techniques in the tomb?

No way. The ancestor’s seal had never been so kind.

Clang!

As always.

I placed the drawn Black Night on the altar and sprinkled the alcohol I had offered to the ancestor on Black Night.

‘Come on.’

Black Night’s test had never ended simply.

I heightened my senses and focused my eyes.

Whiiiriririring!

The letters of the seal rose to the surface of Black Night’s sword and began to emit light.

Hwa-ak!

The energy emitted from that light began to bind my whole body like chains.

At the same time, I felt a strange energy seeping into my body.

Hwa-ak!

The world was dyed white.

* * *

When I came to my senses, what I saw in front of me was the sea.

I quickly got up and first checked my body.

‘Eunhan [his storage space] is here. Black Night is also in my hand.’

Of course, the weapons I had put in Eunhan were also there.

The magic circuit was normal, the body was normal, the mind and many other things were all normal.

‘Where is this? What kind of test is this?’

I looked around.

The atmosphere was full of gloom.

The floor was full of red soil, and tree roots like human blood vessels were intertwined and growing, pushing through the soil.

‘…Could it be.’

After looking around, I realized where this was.

‘Red Blood Island?’

Even the excessively concentrated magic power was accurate.

‘Why am I here?’

That was all.

There was no change, no explanation, and no intuition.

‘Wasn’t it a test of the twelve supreme techniques? Why did Red Blood Island appear?’

It was then.

───Ooooooong!

From the center of the island.

A huge reverberation resembling the sound of a ship’s horn shook the island.

The roar of a monster I had heard sometime before.

‘…Could it be.’

Hmph!

At the same time, goosebumps rose all over my body.

Thump! Kuwoooong!

A heavy vibration continued to shake the ground.

If I hadn’t lowered my balance and concentrated, my body would have been bounced off by the vibration alone.

Kuwoooong!

And a shadow began to fall on the spot where I was.

-Uoooooong!

A monster bursting with fear appeared there.

The master of Red Blood Island.

A Class 3, Nightmare-level monster.

The monster, a Dragonkin, Guisu Mountain, was much larger and exuded a stronger aura than the one I had met during the naming ceremony, and it was looking at me.

And.

Flash!

A chilling glint shot at me.

‘Could it be that I have to win against Guisu Mountain?’

I knew it wouldn’t be easy.

I was about to prepare Cheonra by immediately deploying Mujin’s ability with Black Qi [dark energy].

But.

Thud!

As if not allowing it, the magic power deployment burst out and disappeared.

It wasn’t Guisu Mountain who did it.

The entire space absorbed my magic power too unnaturally.

And at that moment.

Puh-uhng!

Guisu Mountain blew a magic wave and struck me.

I instinctively wielded magic power to defend against it, but I was blown away several meters in the air and could only stop after crashing into a pile of rocks on the beach.

‘Ugh, what was that just now?’

The pain tingled up my spine and spread throughout my body.

I hurriedly got up and bit my lip.

‘Could it be that the content of this test is…….’

Looking at Guisu Mountain, who was beginning to open his mouth wide, I could vaguely realize the content of this test.

-Ooooooong!

At that moment.

Kwaaaaaang!

Immediately after, a storm of magic power swept through the spot where I was.