Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 239

Weapon-Eating Heir 239

The puppeteer took a ragged breath and glared, eyes flashing.

“Haa… haaa!”

Their egos clashed, and information jumbled in their head.

The puppeteer performed the ritual they usually did to solidify their ego, then exhaled slowly.

“That was really dangerous this time.”

The body the puppeteer had obtained this time was that of a middle-aged woman.

Having been a young girl and suddenly changing into an older body, it was difficult to adjust; even flicking a finger took a considerable amount of time.

Because they couldn’t perform the ritual to safely transfer the soul, they had no choice but to use the closest available body in Norway.

‘How many days have passed?’

It takes time to transfer a soul.

The puppeteer immediately checked the time and was relieved to find that only two days had passed.

The longer it takes for the soul to transfer, the faster it deteriorates.

‘It must be because the distance was close. First, I need to stabilize my mana, rest, and then move.’

The puppeteer drank cold water to quench their thirst and then briefly recalled their memories.

The events that took place in Northern Europe.

And then, the puppeteer recalled the moment when their memory had been briefly cut off.

‘…Why did I release the Class 1 monster back then?’

It was hard to explain, but it was as if they had been possessed by someone… yes, as if they were being controlled, they forcibly woke up the Class 1 monster.

‘I shouldn’t have woken it up… How did that happen?’

They felt both regret and disappointment about waking it up with their own hands.

The chaos that would come to the world with the awakening of the Class 1 monster… frankly, they didn’t care much.

More than such useless things, they were simply disappointed that they could no longer study the unique characteristics of the Class 1 monster itself.

‘And I’m going to get scolded by our picky client and the Apostle.’

The picky client was Lee Gunseong.

In fact, the space that the puppeteer was studying was all created by Lee Gunseong and the Apostle, the great teacher of Kabbalah [a mystical Jewish tradition].

When the puppeteer arrived, all the facilities were already in place, and the Apostle provided the technology to extract the power of the Class 1 monster.

The dolls that resembled the bloodline of the Soongmoo Lee family were also a result of extracting and using the power of the Class 1 monster.

‘Besides, that guy is dead too.’

The puppeteer clicked their tongue, recalling the giant who had been guarding them.

How fleeting are humans bound to the flesh.

Death only comes to the flesh.

That’s why the puppeteer hated the flesh.

To escape the flesh and reach the truth.

That was what the puppeteer was pursuing.

“…Then shall we move?”

They needed to prepare to move the soul to a body further away.

First, they had to go outside and request assistance from the Kabbalah branch, flee and erase their traces, and then stop by the main base for a while.

‘However, since the facility has collapsed, it’s going to be quite annoying…’

It was around that time.

The puppeteer sensed a strange energy.

The energy was very familiar, and at the same time, it was the kind that should never be felt.

Kwaaaang!

The wall of the building exploded, and the puppeteer bounced off the ground several times before being slammed into the wall.

“Ugh, ugh…!”

Limbs were crushed, and bruises covered their body.

They quickly blocked the pain, but the pain they felt in that brief moment was too great.

“Wh-what… wh-what…”

Beyond the blood-soaked vision, the puppeteer looked at the broken wall.

“It’s been two days, Puppeteer. I was almost late, but I’m glad I could find you in time.”

Lee Gun.

That bastard came here again.

“Y-you, why are you here!”

The puppeteer was flustered by the unexpected situation.

However, Lee Gun swung his sword without asking any questions.

‘No!’

Whether the soul deteriorated or not, the puppeteer sent their soul to another body again.

And that was a mistake.

Lee Gun kept chasing after them.

Sometimes it was the forces of the Theocracy or the Russell family, sometimes it was the branch forces of the Soongmoo Lee family, and sometimes it was the forces of the Black Oath Society.

The spare bodies were destroyed one by one.

‘H-how!’

The puppeteer was horrified.

No one can figure out their puppetry.

Then how the hell are those bastards chasing them!

“Kuh…”

The puppeteer hurriedly got up after completing the rapid soul transfer, which they didn’t know how many times it had been.

However, the puppeteer froze before they could even establish their ego.

Chills!

A chilling sensation spreading from the uvula [the fleshy extension at the back of the soft palate] to the whole body.

The puppeteer realized that a knife was being held to their neck.

“I told you.”

Lee Gun.

That bastard had arrived here in advance.

“That you’d be caught by me soon.”

Kwang!

The puppeteer saw Lee Gun smiling.

Horror, shock, and pain.

Without even moving their soul, the puppeteer lost consciousness.

* * *

I tied up the limbs of the young man who was in the form of a Hispanic youth.

This guy was the puppeteer.

Having reached this point, the puppeteer no longer tried to change bodies.

“H-how… are you chasing me…”

“You don’t need to know.”

I pulled a chair in front of the bound puppeteer.

The puppeteer trembled and bit their lip.

‘Should I run away?’

…No.

They’ve already changed bodies dozens of times without preparation.

If they forcibly switch again here, they really don’t know what will happen then.

Besides, even if they run away, they don’t have the confidence that Lee Gun won’t chase them again.

“I know you still have more dolls, so try running away if you want.”

Lee Gun sat in the chair, crossed his legs leisurely, and looked down at the puppeteer.

‘Does he really know and is doing this? Or is he doing this without knowing?’

The puppeteer couldn’t be sure.

The taste of blood was strongly felt on their tongue, probably because they bit their lip too hard.

“…What do you want from me?”

“Answers to my questions.”

“What questions?”

“I think it would be better to fix that arrogant tone first, don’t you think?”

“Ha! I’m just…!”

At that moment, suddenly the vision tilted.

The puppeteer opened their eyes wide and examined their situation.

‘Did he just cut off my head…?’

Lee Gun spoke again in a relaxed tone to his face that had fallen to the ground.

“I hope you’ll be well aware of your position when we meet in the next body.”

Eventually, they faced death again, even in that body.

And the puppeteer had a dream.

The process to know that they are the main body.

It was a memory from a distant past that they couldn’t even remember well now.

Their dead family and themselves standing tall.

But the memory is too faint.

The memories are mixed up, and all sorts of images flashed and shattered.

And the next moment, the puppeteer gasped and jumped up.

“Haa, haa…”

When they turned their head, Lee Gun was sitting there without fail.

“Ugh, ugh!”

The puppeteer unknowingly stepped back and stuck to the wall.

“T-this crazy ba…!”

They couldn’t even finish the word.

The puppeteer once again experienced their neck being cut off and their ego being torn to shreds.

And when they opened their eyes again, the puppeteer recalled a sensation they had forgotten for a long time.

A sensation similar to looking at the distant darkness, or a feeling similar to looking down at the ground from high above.

The fear of death.

“Are you willing to talk now?”

The puppeteer looked at Lee Gun with trembling eyes.

And realized.

That they cannot escape from Lee Gun.

That this young man will chase them forever.

‘I-I don’t know what trick you’re using to chase me, but if I keep running away, you…!’

That was the moment when they were about to continue their last remaining resistance.

Creak…!

The puppeteer heard a sound echoing from within.

It was a crack in the soul that only the puppeteer could hear.

‘A-ah…’

They can’t move their soul.

If they move it, their soul will collapse, and they will become a vegetable who can’t even breathe.

How is that different from death?

‘I, I overcame death… I should have overcome it…’

Only then did the puppeteer face reality.

The puppeteer’s immortality was just a necromancy [the practice of communicating with the dead] that only postponed death by changing bodies indefinitely.

Whether the soul dies or the body dies, death is death.

‘I, I don’t want to die.’

What if Lee Gun can find even the dolls that received the fragments of their soul?

Then… wouldn’t everything be over in the end?

All that remains after death is a useless lump of meat.

‘I don’t want to be like that!’

They recalled their family who died in an explosion in a conflict zone.

The puppeteer recalled their own appearance mixed in with the appearance of those family members.

But.

But….

Their body lying down has no face.

The puppeteer had already forgotten their own face.

“Ugh, ah, ah…”

The puppeteer slumped to the ground.

And crawled, grabbing Lee Gun’s pants.

“I, I’ll tell you. No, I, I’ll tell you. E-everything. So….”

The puppeteer looked up.

“S-save me….”

One of the leaders of Kabbalah.

That’s how the puppeteer surrendered to Lee Gun.

* * *

Even though the puppeteer surrendered, safety measures were necessary.

I activated the Evil Eye at all times to prevent them from using necromancy, and transported them to the Theocracy, heading to the sealed room in the Theocracy’s basement.

“It’s been a while, Young Master Lee Gun. I sincerely thank you for this matter.”

Saintess Christina came out from the Theocracy and greeted us.

She guided us to the place where she had sealed a part of the Bulgasari [a legendary creature in Korean folklore that feeds on nightmares] in the past.

After sealing the puppeteer there so that they could not use necromancy and escape, we began the interrogation.

“First, tell me your name.”

“M-Mohammad. I don’t know my real name.”

I frowned.

“I-it’s true. I touched my brain too much, so I don’t remember my age, gender… anything. I’m j-just a practitioner of the Kabbalah’s Path of Knowledge.”

It seemed true.

Without me having to threaten them, the puppeteer was busy answering questions I didn’t even ask.

“…K-Kabbalah is not an organization. Everyone has a different path. We know each other, but we’re just practitioners who practice each other’s paths.”

“…Is killing people and doing things that are out of human ethics called practice?”

“H-Hik!”

When I briefly revealed my killing intent, the puppeteer trembled and shrank even more.

However, since all four limbs were bound by chains imbued with divine power, they could only squirm.

I sighed and asked a few more questions after that.

‘…He’s not lying.’

I scoffed at the puppeteer, who was trying to say anything more.

There were cases where it took time to answer because they were overly frightened, but at least there was no sign of lying or trying to hide anything.

‘Well, if he did, that would have been activated.’

The Theocracy’s masterpiece-level relic, ‘Chains of Lies’.

If you lie in a situation where that is touching you, part of that chain will turn black.

“Then let’s start talking about what you were researching in the uncharted zone.”

“H-how should I explain…”

When the puppeteer hesitated for the first time, I put my hand on Black Night and said.

“Just tell me. I’ll filter it out myself.”

“Y-yes… What I was researching was… the primordial monster. Ahriman, Jormungandr, Behemoth, Leviathan… All those names were called, for the destruction created by the stars….”

I frowned at the list of those unknown names.

“Stop for a second. Explain it step by step. Behemoth? Jormungandr? Why are those names coming out now? What are you talking about with Ahriman and Leviathan?”

“…Do you understand what I’m saying now?”

The puppeteer looked at me with wide eyes.

It wasn’t just the puppeteer who was surprised.

Serena and Christina, who were also attending the interrogation, turned to me with surprised eyes.

“Why… what’s wrong?”

“Young Master Lee Gun. Did you understand what that person just said?”

As soon as I heard that, I sensed it.

Part of the record deletion phenomenon.

A phenomenon in which things related to the primordial monster are not recognized.

‘Then are those things he said earlier about the primordial monster?’

The puppeteer researched it.

And I even saw traces of Black Ki in the uncharted zone of Northern Europe.

The puzzles in my head began to fit together one by one.

The puppeteer researched the primordial monster and created dolls similar to the bloodline of Soongmoo Lee family.

‘Father… said that the origin of our bloodline is connected to that primordial monster.’

Thanks to the help of the Choi family, there is no problem with the current Soongmoo Lee family, but originally, Soongmoo Lee family was a bloodline whose body was altered by the influence of the primordial monster.

I couldn’t help but frown as my thoughts continued to that point.

‘Could it be that Lee Gunseong, that crazy bastard…’

Was mass-producing the bloodline of Soongmoo Lee family through the monster?

No, maybe he’s creating something more distorted than the bloodline of Soongmoo Lee family.

But again, a question arises.

Lee Gunseong, and the puppeteer.

How the hell did they know about the primordial monster?