Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 240

Weapon-Eating Bastard – Episode 240

The Primordial Beast.

A being that crawled out through the Blue Hole even before the kings of the Unexplored Territories, turning the world into one of monsters.

A being closely connected to the origin of the Soongmoo Yi family, the cause of the Black Night, and the source of my power, Black Aura.

A monster depicted as the embodiment of destruction in every culture, or an evil god.

Such a dangerous being… yet people don’t even know about the Primordial Beast, let alone the kings of the Unexplored Territories.

It was due to the record erasure phenomenon.

Ordinary humans cannot remember the monster, no matter how vaguely it is described to them.

They even showed a complete inability to recognize the name when they heard it.

But the Puppeteer spoke the name very clearly.

“How can you say that name?”

“There is a unique family that is free from this power. It was erased from the world because of the power’s uniqueness.”

I narrowed my eyes.

I knew exactly which family he was talking about.

The Soongjung Choi family. My maternal family.

“So what about it?”

“A, a long time ago, Cabala [a secret society] has been trying to extract power from that family… ha, haack!”

The Puppeteer trembled and stuttered as soon as he felt my murderous intent.

“Keep talking.”

“Ye, yes…”

The Puppeteer took a deep breath and explained in a still trembling voice.

Cabala coveted the power of the Soongjung Choi family.

The Soongmoo Yi family tried to protect and hide the Choi family, but as it has continued for thousands of years, there were bound to be gaps.

“Some of Ca, Cabala succeeded in figuring out the principles of that power, even if only a little… and they were able to resist it to some extent. Resisting memory erasure is also thanks to that…”

So they call it the memory erasure phenomenon.

I nodded and continued with the next question.

“Does Yi Goon-sung also know about it?”

“Ye, yes… he definitely mentioned it, so he must know in some way.”

“Is he also thanks to you guys?”

The Puppeteer shook his head at that.

“N, no. Yi Goon-sung knew about it before that. It’s just a guess, but I wonder if he’s related to those Machun Church mask wearers…”

Machun Church, referring to Behemoth [a powerful, monstrous entity].

‘I was expecting it, but this crazy bastard was also involved with Behemoth.’

Then I realized the meaning of his words and asked something new again.

“How are the Behemoth guys free from memory erasure?”

“…They are not free.”

The Puppeteer said that he didn’t know everything about Behemoth, but he conveyed what he knew accurately.

He said that Behemoth’s incomplete forms and mad aspects are evidence that they are not free from that influence.

“They need a medium called a mask to be free from memory erasure. They also become free from monsterization.”

“Is that why they’re crazy?”

“Ye, yes… they talk about the unconscious, but the Black Aura penetrates even that unconsciousness…”

I nodded.

In the notes I saw in the secret archive of the Holy Kingdom, I could see through the sentences that the man who kept chasing the monster was gradually experiencing mental breakdown and going crazy.

‘Then how about Yi Goon-sung….’

How was he free from this?

I had doubts about all the actions of Yi Goon-sung in my past life and in this life.

How did he win against my first brother in my past life, how did he handle Moo-jin, and why did he bother sending people to be purged with me in the B-1 district Unexplored Territory?

I was lost in thought for a moment, and the Puppeteer watched my expression.

“Lee Chul? Are you okay?”

Serena approached me, worried about me being lost in thought.

“Yes, I’m fine. I just had something to think about.”

I nodded, took a light breath, and looked at the Puppeteer.

“The story went off on a tangent for a moment. Start again.”

The Puppeteer revealed everything he had researched.

His fear of death, his hatred of the flesh, and his dream of immortality.

In the process, he came to handle souls and developed the technique of puppetry.

“That, that Primordial Beast was called by many names. Jormungandr [a giant serpent in Norse mythology], the giant serpent that devours the world, Ahriman [the Zoroastrian spirit of evil], called all the evil in this world, Leviathan [a sea monster], the sea monster, Behemoth, the land monster, and Bulgasari [a mythical metal-eating beast].”

The Primordial Beast emerged from the Blue Hole and traveled around the world, destroying many civilizations.

And its last step stopped in the Asian Unexplored Territory, that is, the world’s largest Unexplored Territory right above South Korea.

I paused the story for a moment.

“Jormungandr is the name of the 1st class monster you woke up. Besides, Behemoth is the Western name of the Machun Church guys?”

“Ma, Machun Church worships Behemoth. And, and ancient humans originally called names in various ways. Jo, Jormungandr is also one of those names. Ac, actually, they are all, one. And 1st class monsters too…”

1st class monster?

Is that related to Bulgasari?

“Explain in detail.”

“1, 1st class monsters are born from the body of the Pr, Primordial Beast, they are like its illegitimate children.”

I doubted my ears for a moment.

1st class monster is a fragment of the Primordial Beast?

The Puppeteer continued his explanation.

He said that they are creatures that were born by being differentiated from the Primordial Beast.

Therefore, they had the aura of the monster… Black Aura.

‘Is that monster just an avatar of Bulgasari?’

I frowned, recalling the majesty of Jormungandr that I had seen from afar.

“Sensory confusion, magic interference, etc. that only occur in the Unexplored Territory all happen because of that.”

The Puppeteer coughed a few times as if his throat was sore from the long story, but no one paid attention.

He continued, looking upset.

“Any, anyway, I injected that factor into the dolls I made. I failed several times, but I succeeded…”

That’s how the Black Knights were made.

“Has it become possible to mass-produce them? And what about the funds and time consumed to make them?”

I asked that right away.

No matter how strong the Black Knights are, they are just like dolls.

Even if there is no Black Night, there will be some way to capture them.

‘The problem is their tactical risk.’

What if a warrior who surpasses at least 3rd class is mass-produced?

Moreover, they have the characteristics of the Soongmoo Yi family and have the characteristic of not dying.

I didn’t have much difficulty dealing with them because I had Black Night, but other people don’t.

‘Besides, they were weak because they lacked experience, but if they can be injected with experience, or even if they don’t, if they gain experience themselves….’

A tremendous force is prepared.

A really unbelievably strong force.

When my thoughts reached that point, the Puppeteer, who had been contemplating for a while, finally answered.

“Mass production is already possible.”

I frowned.

“Ho, however, it takes a tremendous amount of time. And with the 1st class monster, which I have to draw power from, gone… it will be difficult to mass-produce them like in a factory…”

“So you’re saying it’s possible if you have time and facilities.”

“Th, that’s right. But since the facilities in Northern Europe have already been half destroyed, it will be impossible for a while…”

Saintess Christina, who was listening to me, breathed a little rougher.

She also knows the meaning of this.

‘It’s difficult right now… but the problem is that there is a possibility.’

I sighed.

“How did Cabala end up helping Yi Goon-sung? Is it an alliance? Or a business relationship?”

“I don’t know well. Because the apostle of the main group directly traded with him…”

The Puppeteer hesitated and said.

“Ho, however, I brought the blueprints. Yi Goon-sung helped me make the dolls and extract power from the doomsday-class monsters. He also provided the place…”

I opened my eyes wide.

“Blueprints? Where is it now?”

“Th, that guy left a copy, and he only showed it briefly when needed.”

Well, that meticulous guy wouldn’t have left a tail.

‘I’ve heard roughly everything I need to hear.’

Already, the interrogation has been going on for over 5 hours.

Saintess Christina and Serena also finished interrogating the stories that the Holy Kingdom had to hear in advance.

I shook my head and got up from my seat.

“…Puppeteer, you were just a puppet after all.”

I thought he was on an equal footing with Yi Goon-sung, or even a mastermind in the dark.

But when I looked at the reality, he was just a pawn moving on the board.

“Me, me a puppet…?”

The Puppeteer’s expression distorted at my words.

“I am, not a puppet. I am…”

Something strange about his tone.

I shook my head at the mechanical tone.

“You are also a tragic being.”

“Tragic…?”

“If your puppetry is about constantly dividing your soul and injecting it into dolls, then you must always doubt whether you yourself are a doll, right?”

“I, I am the original.”

“Who proves that you are the original?”

“My, my own routine…”

The Puppeteer’s breath caught in his throat.

His own routine.

The memory that only the original self has was the routine.

Dreaming of a dying family from a long time ago, but ‘I don’t know’ when.

‘But… why did I make that my routine?’

Suddenly, the Puppeteer had a question.

What the hell happened?

Did I touch my brain too much?

“I, I, I…”

The Puppeteer stammered as if he was confused.

* * *

The necessary interrogation of the Puppeteer continued, and I obtained some necessary information.

I immediately contacted the Black Turtle Association to analyze and verify the information, and came out of the underground.

“It’s amazing.”

Serena followed me out and said with a bitter face.

The crimes he committed were truly countless.

Including the indirect orders given to the dolls injected with soul fragments… there is no such crazy criminal in the world.

“First, I will entrust the aftercare and custody of that guy to the Holy Kingdom.”

“Yes, thank you in many ways.”

“What are you talking about? It was also necessary for me.”

He was just a worker, or a middle manager, but he was still in charge of a major axis of the picture that Yi Goon-sung was planning.

In the past, only the tip of a branch of the tree called Yi Goon-sung was visible, but now I felt like I had reached the front of the root.

‘There is no clear evidence to attack Yi Goon-sung, but it is a big harvest.’

I recalled what the Puppeteer had said and shone my eyes.

If the Northern European research facility had been left as it was, and the research had continued as it was, something irreversible might have happened.

At least by blowing up that research facility this time, I greatly delayed Yi Goon-sung’s plan.

‘I don’t know, but it will be quite a blow to him.’

Of course, there are still questions.

Yi Goon-sung, what is his purpose in moving?

Did he simply need a strong force and joined hands with places like Cabala and Behemoth?

Does he really only dream of becoming the head of the Soongmoo Yi family?

‘No, he’s not that kind of guy.’

There is something more.

I had to dig it out.

“What are you going to do now, Young Master Lee Chul?”

“First, I’m going to go back to the family. The promised 3 years are over, and I’ve practically abandoned the family.”

Currently, I have brought all of the 1st unit of the Iron Blood Squad, so I was worried about my aunt and nanny.

At that time, I felt someone approaching.

“Then I can go with you.”

A familiar voice.

A beautiful woman smiling brightly with confident eyes.

“Hey, it’s been a few years since I’ve seen you, little brother.”

I greeted the welcome face with slightly surprised eyes.

The eighth, Lee Seo-hyun.

She stood in front of me with a smirk.

* * *

An old man was sitting in a dark cave where only faint light came in.

He was an old man who seemed to have been dead for a long time.

His skin was cracked and withered like an old tree, and his appearance was as if only skin was added to his bones, and his long hair and sunken eye sockets were reminiscent of a mummy.

However, the old man was clearly breathing.

The interval between breaths was very long, but his skinny chest was clearly swelling and falling repeatedly.

“…I lost a good word. Apostle.”

And a man appeared in front of such an old man.

The third of the Soongmoo Yi family, Milgeom Yi Goon-sung.

The old man slowly opened his mouth.

“It was just one of many paths anyway… a foolish lamb who didn’t even know my essence.”

The old man’s voice sounded as if he could die at any moment, befitting his appearance.

“A foolish lamb… is that really so?”

“Are you trying to give this old man a Zen question? Hehehe.”

The old man slowly opened his eyes.

His eyes had no pupils.

The old man looked at the empty air with his eyes turned white.

The aura emanating from him… did not seem like a living human being at all.

“I’m telling the truth. In the end, wasn’t all of that your puppet show?”

“A puppet show. Hehe. In the end, everything is for the inherited truth and wisdom.”

It was a strange scene.

The Korean language flowing from the mouth of the old man, who looked like a Middle Eastern Arab, was too natural, like a native speaker.

“That child was also… just one path for one complete truth… two children died… but in the end, each conveyed their own path to me, so this truth will be passed on again…”

“It may be a transmission for you, though.”

At that moment, the old man smiled and looked at Yi Goon-sung.

The light coming down through the cracked gap in the ceiling illuminated the old man’s somewhat transcendental and bizarre face.

Yi Goon-sung stared at the old man’s eyes, which were full of only white, with an expressionless face.

The leader of Cabala.

An old monster who doesn’t know how many years he has lived.

And the ‘original’ of the Puppeteer, the nameless warrior, and the countless Cabala practitioners….

“Anyway, it has nothing to do with me.”

“Then… what brings you here?”

“I just came to consult on future matters because things have gone wrong.”

Yi Goon-sung once looked at the stream of water quietly flowing from the corner of the cave.

That stream of water escapes this cave and flows, becomes a stream, eventually becomes a river, and flows into the sea and becomes one.

Blocking that waterway doesn’t change anything.

In the end, that water will flow in a different direction again.

It is painful that things have gone wrong… but in the end, everything will flow according to his plan like that stream of water.

“I will overlook the fact that you released the seal on Bulgasari’s husk. But this time, Lee Tae-shin came into contact with the curse of the Soongmoo Yi family.”

“Oh, that’s another amazing thing.”

“You saw it all with that ‘eye’, didn’t you?”

“It’s not easy to see someone with a strong destiny like your father. Hehe.”

Unintelligible conversations.

But Yi Goon-sung didn’t care and left his last words.

“Anyway, things are moving urgently, so I will move accordingly. I hope you can help me.”

“Tell me. What kind of help do you need?”

Yi Goon-sung’s eyes shone.

“It’s time to devour the family.”