Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 281

Weapon-Eating Bastard – Chapter 281

Dwarves gathered in front of the crystal ball in the aerial fortress.

“Danger.”

The dwarf overseeing the second trial urgently spat out the word.

The yellow glint in the dwarves’ eyes, hidden beneath their robes, flickered rapidly.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“Trial. Danger. Strange.”

The second dwarf’s yellow eyes continued to flicker.

The other dwarves stared at the crystal ball in unison.

Soon, the hems of their robes fluttered.

“How… How could he?”

“The one-eyed man… How did he realize that records exist?”

“He, too, was a singularity. One who hoped to be recorded.”

“It persisted… even within the records, that singularity. That’s why he might have known about the records.”

The dwarves’ eyes were fixed on Ru’s image in the crystal ball.

“That’s not it. The problem… look at that.”

The dwarf with his hand on the crystal ball cried out in a flustered voice.

“The one who returned from death… is trying to fight.”

“Already?”

“Already?”

“Already?”

The dwarves were aghast.

Belatedly realizing what the second dwarf was pointing at, they trembled.

“Even the Dragon Child is entangled in the causality of the one who returned from death.”

“This can’t be happening…”

“Has there ever been a case like this before?”

“Never. Not even ‘He’ was like this.”

“What do we do? What do we do?”

The dwarves were at a loss.

In the first trial, he had already deviated significantly from the established course, and now, in the second trial, he was confronting it head-on.

The dwarves couldn’t help but be astonished.

No one would ever imagine facing the primordial monster in just the second trial.

Because the magic of the mythical era is different from modern magic, they would naturally lose everything they had built up and become powerless.

Moreover, they bear the constraint of gradually assimilating into the world.

In the second trial, all the examinees can do is witness.

Witness the destruction, confront the singularity, and offer their own answers.

That was supposed to be the purpose of this trial.

“The one who returned from death… can use it. Magic, too. He doesn’t assimilate either. Strange. His causality, his fate…”

The one who returned from death, Lee Cheol.

Everything about him was incomprehensible.

He was too strange.

The lost ancient arts were imbued in his body, allowing him to use magic.

He moves freely, unbound by the rules of the trial.

An exception. A singularity.

No, something stranger than that.

Lee Cheol is not normal.

“Mixed together. In the fate of the one who returned from death, in his causality… past, present, perhaps even the future…”

“That’s not the end of it. The biggest problem is…”

“He draws it in.”

“All the causality of the place he belongs to… towards himself.”

The dwarves’ yellow eyes narrowed into thin slits.

The existence of Lee Cheol is like a hole suddenly appearing in a river.

The flow of various rules and causalities, which should naturally flow according to their own providence, are mixed up in a bizarre way simply because Lee Cheol is there, and are sucked into him.

“It was like that… in the first trial, too.”

“It’s happening again… in the second trial.”

“Always… We don’t know… Maybe it will continue.”

The dwarves stared intently at the crystal ball.

Lee Cheol happened to face a history where there was someone who could recognize that he himself was a record.

He happened to possess the Divine Spear and the Evil Eye, which should have disappeared long ago.

He surpassed the rules of the trial because he possessed ancient magic.

Moreover, he is trying to experience unrecorded history in the distorted flow, even drawing in the Dragon Child, one of the most powerful singularities…

As if someone had pieced it all together, all the flows converge on Lee Cheol.

Is it a coincidence?

No.

Whether he is aware of it or not, the causality that the young man Lee Cheol possesses is what makes it so.

“Has there ever been anyone with such causality?”

“Never. I am now afraid of him.”

How could such an existence exist?

He has deviated too much from the providence of this world.

At that moment, something was seen.

Something that should never have existed.

“Hu… Huh! That! Why is that in his hand? That thing!”

“That sword! Could it be! He had it!”

“That sword!”

The dwarves simultaneously exclaimed in shock and dismay.

They were looking at none other than what Lee Cheol was holding in his hand.

A black longsword, as if made of obsidian.

Black Night.

“He is dangerous.”

…All singularities were originally exceptional beings who deviated from the providence of the era.

Because if they weren’t such beings, they wouldn’t even be able to face ‘It’.

But Lee Cheol is too much.

To think that he was even recognized by that terrible sword.

The dwarves, who have lived for countless years, had never seen such an existence.

No, there is one.

Whether it can be called a life or not.

The primordial monster. It devoured everything around it, regardless of providence and reason.

Lee Cheol… reminded them of it.

“Quickly. Decide. Quickly.”

The second dwarf urged.

But the dwarves couldn’t easily make a decision.

“Just watch. We will.”

Then, the first dwarf, who had left Lee Cheol with too many rewards, spoke.

“All we can do is record. We must not judge. We must not.”

“But he is dangerous. The one who returned from death. He might…”

“That’s right. He devours all causality.”

“…”

Even while worrying like that, the dwarves couldn’t make a decision.

In the first place, they were not beings who made decisions.

For thousands of years, they had only been beings who watched, accepted, and recorded.

And.

“Ah… Ah… Ah…”

The second dwarf let out a groan like a sigh.

“It’s too late. Now… they’ve met.”

All the dwarves’ eyes converged on the crystal ball.

In their eyes, the figure of Lee Cheol, who had finally faced It, was reflected.

* * *

In the place where Ru and I were together, Ron opened his mouth.

“I will go with you, too.”

“You…”

I turned to look at Ron, then back at Ru.

Ru’s one Evil Eye gleamed.

“A child who inherited the blood of the dragon. You, too, are a child chosen by the era. I don’t mind. However, you must take care of yourself.”

“Of course.”

Ron knew.

That he was inferior to Lee Cheol.

Even during the Grand Melee [a large-scale, chaotic battle], he thought he could surpass him, but now, the difference was so great that he felt sorry for even thinking about surpassing him.

But, even so.

Ron thought that he had to follow Lee Cheol in order to not fall behind any further.

“I feel like I need to see what that is, too.”

Ron felt his legs trembling at the sound of it crying, but he shone with the same unwavering gaze as always.

“If I become a hindrance, you can mercilessly abandon me. I am not so incompetent as to need protection, Lee Cheol.”

“I know.”

I nodded, and Ru took a deep, tense breath and turned his body.

“Then let’s go.”

Thump!

Ru, I, and Ron kicked off the ground and soared into the sky.

Neither the monsters on the ground nor the monsters in the air hindered our movement.

As if telling us to pass.

As if they had no intention of doing anything.

Rather, the monsters moved out of our path, clearing the way for us to advance towards the primordial monster.

“Lee Cheol!”

At that moment, Ron pointed to the rear.

The cityscape, gradually receding into the distance, was reflected in my eyes.

Kwaaaang!

The monsters were surging over the city walls.

Seen from above, it felt even more terrifyingly numerous.

And the city walls, blocking those monsters, felt so crude.

Archers firing arrows, powerless civilians, warriors, mages, shamans… all humans held up their respective blades, continuing their desperate struggle against the monsters surging over the walls.

‘How long can they hold out?’

The warriors were fighting fiercely, but the number of monsters was too great.

It was a scene of the destruction in the already occurred history being replayed.

“Take a good look.”

In Ru’s one eye, a coldly subdued rage flickered like a flame.

“For that is the appearance of a world that has met its end.”

I clearly imprinted that scene in my eyes.

The torrent of rushing monsters and the desperation of the humans blocking it.

And before I knew it, when the cityscape had receded far away and become a single dot.

We felt the quality of the air changing drastically.

‘Magic interference? Besides…’

Zzzzz!

The magic in the atmosphere was distorting strangely, hindering its operation.

Moreover, a feeling as if the senses were mixed up.

Soon, even confusion came to the senses.

“Kugh!”

From behind, I heard Ron’s suppressed groan.

He must have immediately drawn up magic to resist, but his expression looked a little stiff.

‘It’s the same phenomenon felt in the uncharted zone… but much denser.’

Perhaps due to the Black Ki [a dark, potent energy], I had hardly been negatively affected in the uncharted zone.

But this place is different.

This ominous feeling touching my skin after a long time.

Even I, with the Black Ki, am feeling this much, so Ron must be feeling an even stronger sense of rejection.

I could finally sense it.

That there wasn’t much time left.

How much time had passed like that?

Each time I landed on the ground and kicked off, I felt the air becoming as poisonous as a toxin, and all the muscles in my body spasming meaninglessly.

“…There it is.”

Ru muttered.

Ron and I turned our heads.

“Brace yourselves. Don’t lose your minds. That… is…”

Ru’s voice was fading away.

Ru was mouthing something, but I couldn’t focus on it.

And I saw it.

Something black.

Something indescribable, an existence that only desires the destruction of all beings.

‘The primordial monster…!’

It turned its body towards us.

* * *

“……!”

I opened my eyes wide.

As if a broken film had been connected, it took a moment to understand the situation just before.

Bang! Bang!

The Black Ki within my body was pounding madly within me.

It was because of this that I had awakened.

‘Did I just… faint for a moment?’

I opened my eyes wide and swallowed hard.

Throb!

At that moment, I felt a stinging pain around my neck.

Turning my eyes, I looked at the spot.

Something sharp was aimed at my chin.

It was… Black Night.

The tip of Black Night was digging into my skin.

While I was unconscious, I had aimed Black Night, which I had been dangling, at my own neck.

If I had moved just a few more centimeters here….

‘Damn it.’

I was trying to commit suicide. Just now.

The moment my consciousness flew away, my body made me aim Black Night at my neck.

‘To be in this state before even fighting properly. Get a grip, Lee Cheol.’

Gritting!

Was it because I clenched my teeth too hard? My gums burst and a bitter taste lingered around my mouth.

But thanks to that, my mind became clear again.

I immediately turned my body.

“Ron!”

I grabbed the shoulder of Ron, who was standing behind me with a blank look on his face, and shook him.

As I pushed Black Ki into Ron’s body, the focus returned to his blurred eyes, and he raised his eyelids sharply.

“Lee Cheol?”

“Get a grip.”

“Why is Lee Cheol here? Ah, no, Mother… I, I definitely just saw my mother…”

Ron stammered, flustered.

Did he see a hallucination?

If it was Ron’s mother, I knew that she had passed away in an accident.

“I, I definitely… just… Ha!”

Ron suddenly came to his senses.

Realizing that what he had seen was a fabrication, he immediately faced reality.

“…I showed you an unsightly sight.”

The light properly returned to Ron’s eyes.

The guy gritted his teeth, leaned on his sword like a cane, and stood up from his seat.

“Are you okay?”

Following that, Ru turned his head and asked.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

Ru didn’t even turn his head towards us.

However, I could feel that his voice was deeply sunken.

“Will you go back?”

“…Is there any way I would?”

“Good.”

Thump!

Ru said that and slammed his spear into the ground.

“Then stand up straight and look at that. For you, and for your era.”

Following Ru’s words, I raised my body and forcibly turned my eyes to the front.

I turned my eyes to the primordial monster once again.

The Evil Eye activates.

I imprinted the true form of that guy in my eyes.