Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 292

Weapon-Eating Bastard – Chapter 292

My fifth brother slowly began to speak.

“Actually, it’s already been a day since we arrived here at the fourth test site. You’re the last of the main family to arrive.”

Unlike the first test, the second and third tests weren’t conducted individually.

That seemed to be the reason for the time difference.

“Your second sister and you were so late that I thought you both had dropped out. I was so embarrassed.”

“You weren’t thinking of monopolizing the spoils, were you?”

“Ahem! How could you think that!”

“That’s right, little brother! We’re your supporters now, would we really think that?”

The two brothers awkwardly raised their voices.

‘I was just joking……’

Did they really think that way?

They really were brothers who couldn’t hide their true feelings.

“Anyway, while you were a day late, more troublesome things happened than we expected.”

“Troublesome things, you say?”

“Yes. First of all…….”

My fourth brother took over the story and began to speak.

“Do you remember the dwarves’ words? About the guardian spirit of the gate and the key.”

“Yes, I remember.”

“There’s a large stone gate in the center. That’s probably the finish line. We tried using Sword Energy and all sorts of things, but it wouldn’t budge. It seems we need a key. That must be the goal of this test.”

-The prepared gate is in the center.

-Hunt the guardian spirit of the land, find the key, and open the gate.

I recalled what the dwarves had told us about the fourth test after the third test.

The goal of the test was none other than that.

“And it seems the key is held by a monster roaming the center. No, not a monster… more like ‘monster-like’ things.”

“They had grotesque shapes, like humans who had been subjected to human experimentation.”

“Ugh, I really can’t get used to them. But to think that they were the ancestors of the Heteromorphs [beings with altered or unnatural forms].”

The origin of the Heteromorphs.

One of the enemies the Twilight Church aims for.

I couldn’t trust everything Henry Russell said, but this part must be true.

“The problem is that those guys are incredibly strong.”

“We tried fighting them, just the two of us, but while we could fight, a proper battle was difficult.”

“So, it seems the other organizations are watching the situation.”

I silently nodded at my twin brothers’ words.

Even though they seem like this, the two brothers are proper 3rd Class Warriors.

Moreover, they inherited all the power of the direct bloodline, and as twins, they excel in coordinated attacks.

But these two were defeated.

‘They must be quite strong. And considering that no one has challenged them even after a day since the test started.’

They were probably strong, but it was also highly likely that each faction was wary of the others.

Henry Russell also seemed subtly conscious of his surroundings, which was why he couldn’t treat me harshly.

“Could it be… that the number of guardian spirits is fixed, or is there some kind of restriction?”

“……Are you really a ghost?”

“Or maybe you’ve already seen it… no, that’s impossible.”

“Little brother, I’m sometimes scared of you……”

The two brothers flinched and nodded.

“That’s right. The confirmed number of guardian spirits was four in total.”

Four.

The number of organizations that have entered the Aerial Fortress is currently seven.

In other words, only four organizations can advance.

“There was another restriction. It seems there’s a time limit here.”

“A time limit, you say?”

“Yes, starting from where we are now, a black aura of unknown origin is approaching about 20 kilometers to the south. It looks like a poisonous fog, and we confirmed that the shapes of everything it touches are grotesquely distorted.”

“We tried hitting it with Sword Energy, but it was useless.”

-Be careful. The fog of death will approach you.

That must have been the warning the dwarves gave.

‘……It’s definitely the aura of the Primordial Beast.’

I nodded.

‘Let’s summarize……’

There is a poisonous fog approaching the outer edges of this test site.

In the center, there are guardian spirits presumed to be quite strong, and they hold the keys to the next test.

In the very center, there is a stone gate, which is the end point of the test.

‘There’s a limit to the number of organizations that can advance, and there’s also a time limit.’

I could understand the intention of this test.

The dwarves are trying to reduce the number of test takers.

“I understand. We don’t have much time, so we should move immediately.”

I said as I stood up.

But my twin brothers stopped me.

“Wait a minute, little brother.”

“There’s one more thing you need to know.”

The two brothers paused for a moment, then spoke simultaneously.

“Cabal attacked the Holy Kingdom.”

* * *

The fourth test site, a corner of the northern swamp.

Serena, who is considered the next Saintess and currently serves as the vice-commander of the Paladins, gritted her teeth.

“Master, are you alright?”

“……Yes, I’m fine, so you don’t have to worry.”

The Sword of the Holy Kingdom, Saintess Christina.

The 1st Class Knight was hiding in the shadows of the gloomy forest, holding her breath.

‘Lord, why such trials……’

Serena bit her lip as she looked at her master, who was letting out a low groan.

Throb!

Even at this moment, a dark, viscous substance was taking root like weeds on Saintess Christina’s abdomen.

It started as a small dot, but now the aura had grown to the size of a palm.

It was a wound Saintess Christina sustained while protecting the Holy Kingdom’s forces.

‘Michael. What did that fallen mage do to Master?’

The attackers were forces from the Union.

No, it would be more accurate to call them the Eiffel Magic Tower, or Cabal [a secret society or faction].

They swarmed in with countless undead.

They were similar to the beings with the characteristics of the Soongmoo House that Lee Cheol and I had seen once in the unexplored lands of Northern Europe.

In that battle, Saintess Christina confronted Michael Garrell to save the Holy Kingdom’s forces and was exposed to that dark aura.

‘She’s enduring it because she’s Master, but if it were anyone else, it would have been over already.’

Doo-geun!

Even at this moment, the viscous substance was gradually spreading throughout Saintess Christina’s body.

“Master, I can’t understand how such things passed the test. How could Michael Garrell maintain his forces?”

“……It seems that the dwarves of the Aerial Fortress see them as proper living beings.”

Saintess Christina replied, sweating profusely.

“A living being… but they were no different from puppets.”

“…….”

Saintess Christina didn’t respond.

The answer itself seemed like a blasphemous statement.

“Now that it’s happened, there’s no point in arguing about it.”

The Saintess dismissed it and changed the subject.

“Many of them must have been eliminated during the test. Perhaps… they attacked us to replenish their numbers.”

“……Yes?”

Serena’s eyes widened.

Replenish? What did that mean?

“The first one I struck down was one of the Union’s leaders. He was a 3rd Class, but one of the more clumsy ones. But he displayed a body and mana manipulation reminiscent of the Soongmoo House. What does that mean?”

They were corrupted just before the Aerial Fortress’s test began, and now their completion level has increased that much.

‘Could it be……’

Serena recalled the events with Lee Cheol.

Lee Cheol said that it would still be difficult to mass-produce those undead, but the puppeteer had completed the technique itself.

If Cabal had completed the technology to create undead in the meantime… it’s a nightmare.

The balance of the world will collapse.

‘Even if they’re only half-baked, the mass production of undead comparable to 3rd Class Warriors……’

Mediocre organizations won’t even be able to withstand it.

Serena felt a chill.

“Hoo…… Ugh.”

At that moment, Saintess Christina groaned and curled up.

The viscous substance attached to her abdomen appeared to be growing even larger.

Serena watched it and hurriedly tried to support the Saintess.

Tak!

But Saintess Christina slapped Serena’s hand away and looked her straight in the eye.

“Don’t touch me. We don’t know what will happen. If even you are contaminated by this, it’s over.”

Saintess Christina looked at Serena with a firm will in her eyes.

Serena tried to persuade her with a pitiful expression.

“Master… we should give up on the test right now. There might be a way outside.”

“……Have you forgotten the prophecy?”

The prophecy.

The Holy Kingdom’s participation in the Aerial Fortress stemmed from concerns about world peace.

And a prophecy that confirmed those concerns was given to them.

-The one who controls the Fortress will plunge the world into the abyss of death.

-That Fortress will be the beginning of the apocalypse.

It wasn’t a prophecy from other cults, but content delivered through the Prophecy Stone.

That’s why the Holy Kingdom had no choice but to send its best forces to the Aerial Fortress, even neglecting national defense.

If they gave up and retreated here, something truly irreversible might happen.

If they could stop it, they had to stop it.

“Then… what should we do?”

“Serena.”

She usually doesn’t call her name even when speaking informally, but she clearly called Serena’s name.

“You decide. I trust you, and the Holy Knights also trust you. The Lord will be with your choice.”

Saintess Christina didn’t even have the strength to give orders.

Serena held her breath for a moment at the immense weight and lowered her head.

‘Even if we continue the test… what about Master’s wound?’

Even if we pass the test and succeed in moving on to the next one.

If Saintess Christina’s contamination can’t be dealt with, it will become irreversible.

If that spreads throughout her body, her master will…….

‘No. I can’t let that happen. But, how……’

Then, Serena suddenly thought of someone.

Lee Cheol.

A person who always brings miracles, a person like a lamp leading people in the darkness.

“……We will flee and find the Soongmoo House.”

Serena said in a firm voice.

If it’s Lee Cheol, he couldn’t have been eliminated from the test so far.

And if it’s the Soongmoo House where such Lee Cheol is, they could be trusted more than any other organization.

“Yes, do that.”

Saintess Christina nodded with a strange smile.

However.

Thump!

From afar, there was a presence approaching, piercing through the swamp.

“Commander! Vice-commander! They’re approaching from a nearby distance.”

“We need to move quickly!”

A surviving knight shouted urgently.

This unique, grotesquely twisted flow of mana… it’s definitely Cabal.

Serena quickly got up.

But at that moment.

‘……?’

Serena faced a single, bright red eye right in front of her.

An eye with countless compound eyes reminiscent of an insect.

Her own figure was reflected countless times in each of those eyes.

“Gasp!”

Before she could even think about what this was, her body moved first, thanks to long training.

Clang!

Serena’s mace drew a short arc and struck what appeared in front of her.

Flesh fragments scattered as it shattered.

Serena realized that it had a human body.

‘The body is human, but the eyes were definitely grotesque. And that flow of mana… Behemoth!’

-Kieeeeek?

-Keeak! Kyaak!

As expected.

From the darkness of the swamp, beings wearing masks or with parts of their bodies monsterized began to appear one by one.

Cabal and Behemoth [a monstrous or extremely large and powerful creature].

Moreover, the forces here had noticeably decreased due to the defeat in the battle and the escape.

“Holy Knights! Retreat with Master right now! Contact the Soongmoo House and entrust Master to them! Contact Young Master Lee Cheol!”

Serena drew her mace.

Kwaaaang!

At that moment, something flew through the air and landed on the ground.

The moisture of the swamp soared into the air.

Serena saw the flow of black energy through the moisture.

‘Lee Cheol?’

Could it be that he really arrived here like a lie?

However, what emerged from the thick rising smoke was a Cabal undead wrapped in a pitch-black aura.

“Found. You…….”

A clumsy, disjointed voice.

Serena gritted her teeth.

Cabal and Behemoth.

Could it be that the two forces are cooperating?

‘This is bad. There’s no way to shake off the pursuit while facing both forces at the same time……!’

It was truly the worst situation.

Serena felt her heart grow cold.

However, a situation different from her expectations unfolded.

-Kieeeeee!

Kwaaaang!

The Behemoth monsters all turned their heads and began to swarm towards the Cabal undead.

Thump! Kwaaaang!

Each force began to bite at each other as if they were enemies.

The undead and Behemoth forces that arrived later also targeted each other and began a fierce battle.

“Treacherous, foolish one. How dare you use the body of God as you please. We have never allowed that…….”

At that moment, an emotionless voice flowed out as if a machine was muttering.

Serena looked in that direction and was startled.

A person, but a person who didn’t feel like a person.

A being with extremely pale skin like a dead person walked like a ghost and faced the undead.

“You must hand it over. Foolish one. It is only for our God.”

They had no interest in the Holy Kingdom at all.

The Cabal undead swarmed in as if they were enemies and began to attack mercilessly.

“What is this…….”

“What’s going on?”

Knights panicking.

Serena couldn’t answer them because she was no different from them.

‘Weren’t those two organizations supposed to be cooperating?’

Moreover, what is that guy who isn’t even wearing a mask?

He clearly exudes a similar aura to the Behemoth mask wearers, but the pressure was completely different.

Whatever the situation, it had become like this.

Serena hurriedly urged the Paladins.

“We’re leaving right now. I don’t know the details, but it seems they’re not targeting us.”

Serena was about to turn around.

At that moment, something fell in front of her.

Kwaaaang!

Heat soared.

She succeeded in blocking it by deploying Aura, but the formidable heat completely evaporated the moisture in the swamp.

“Where are you going? Honored guests of the Holy Kingdom.”

An old man walked over, wrapped in steam, with a relaxed voice.

Michael Garrell.

Smiling, he didn’t seem to have any intention of letting the Holy Kingdom go.