Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 133

Weapon-Eating Bastard – 133

As soon as I activated the Aura Body Art, the flow of time around me slowed down rapidly.

I could even see individual specks of dust floating in the air, and I could discern the shapes of the scattering clumps of dirt.

Every element in the space felt detailed enough to grasp. My mystic eyes and sixth sense detected every single strand of power.

Whoosh!

I saw Brekia’s forepaw coming right at me.

I ducked my head to avoid the paw and, extending my own forepaw, launched myself forward.

Thump-.

Perhaps because time was slowed, moving through the air felt less like cutting through it and more like wading through a swamp or mudflat.

And before I knew it, I was inside Brekia’s embrace.

Brekia’s hand, which had been swung, tore into the ground behind me.

I clenched the fingers holding Black Night.

At the same time, my waist rotated, my elbow straightened, and my wrist supported the weight.

Screech!

The sand dust that rose as Black Night extended felt like the foam of a wave.

Even though my movements had slowed so much, Brekia was even slower, almost as if it were standing still.

Belatedly, Brekia moved to avoid Black Night, flinging its body backward.

But still, it was slow.

Brekia couldn’t avoid Black Night.

Thwooooom…….

Black Night touched Brekia’s chest. In this slowed world, even the sounds stretched out long.

Black Night continued to extend.

Brekia’s scales, which had felt so hard, tore as softly as pieces of cloth, and the textures of bone and muscle split apart.

Red blood bubbled up like soap bubbles.

Fragments of flesh mixed among the blood droplets and scattered away.

Crack!

And I felt something hard being pulled at my fingertips snap.

A bone had broken. Without stopping there, Black Night continued to extend. It felt like it would extend endlessly.

‘I have to stop here.’

Instinctively, I retrieved Black Night and flung myself backward.

Just a beat later, flames erupted from Brekia’s torn chest.

Primal magic.

Even though it seemed almost stopped, Brekia was reacting to my movements.

‘No, it’s not reacting.’

The duration of the Aura Body Art was decreasing.

The sounds, which had been stretched out like Morse code, connected naturally, and the blood droplets floating in the air began to fall towards the ground a little faster.

‘I can’t end it like this. One last time…….’

I retrieved the magic power heading towards Black Night and poured Aura into Mujin.

Very slowly, black lotus petal-shaped auras gathered on the blade of Mujin, forming the shape of a spear.

Thwoom-.

I powerfully kicked off the ground with my forefoot.

With a strange sound like “Thwak,” the ground shattered like an egg.

The force, strong enough to shatter the ground, traveled through my knee to my waist, from my waist through my spine to the end of my arm.

Thwack!

Mujin, imbued with the Black Lotus, was thrown.

At the same time, the slowed flow of time began to recover rapidly.

What returned first was sound.

Bang! Crash!

Numerous noises poured out simultaneously, followed by a single, enormous explosion.

Kaaaaaaang!

Mujin lodged in Brekia’s neck, causing a violent explosion.

Mujin, which had torn through the thick magic barrier that Brekia had wrapped around its entire body for defense like paper, didn’t stop there but continued to tear apart Brekia’s flesh.

-Kreeaaaaak!

Brekia screamed and twisted its body.

Blood droplets mixed with flesh and bone fragments fell like rain towards the ground.

“Huff.”

I breathed roughly, managing the surging magic power.

Aura Body Art.

A technique to draw out explosive power by storing Aura within the body.

This technique, created upon reaching the 4-Star level of magic, could only be used for a short time, but it possessed terrifying power.

“Cough.”

But as powerful as it was, it was also a technique that was not yet 100 percent complete.

This was because my body couldn’t properly withstand the output of Aura I possessed, causing it to overload.

‘But it doesn’t matter.’

Compared to the heavily injured Brekia, I still had energy left.

I used the power of Jundo to retrieve Mujin, which was embedded in Brekia’s neck.

Whoooooosh!

As Mujin was pulled out, blood gushed out like a fountain.

-Kreaaak!

Brekia staggered, letting out a scream.

Even after being hit directly by Exorcism and Black Lotus, Brekia didn’t die.

-Krrk, Krrr…….

But it had only not died.

Brekia, collapsed on the ground and curled up like a shrimp, trembled.

It looked like it was on the verge of death to anyone who saw it.

I approached with Mujin in hand to finish it off.

But.

Stop!

I stopped immediately upon seeing the flow of Brekia’s magic power in my mystic eyes, and I held out Mujin, transformed into a shield, in front of me.

-Kraaaaaak!

Brekia, which had abruptly raised its body a beat late, exploded with magic power.

Instantly, a strong wind spread out from Brekia. The trees embedded in the ground were uprooted and blown away, and the wind pressure was so strong that it churned up the ground.

-Kreung! Kaak!

The moment I paused, Brekia kicked off the ground and charged at me again.

I detonated Aura beneath my feet and flung myself to the side.

-Krrk!

Brekia immediately turned its blood-smeared face towards me.

Then, it discovered several black beads scattered in the air.

Purification bombs.

Brekia’s eyes widened as if they would tear.

-Kiaaaaaak!

Thud! Bang!

Brekia once again groaned in pain from the purification bombs I had scattered, gasping for breath.

From Brekia’s perspective, that air would be no different from tear gas or poison gas.

-Krrk, Keeek…….

Brekia collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath as if the wind were leaking out.

Because its neck was pierced by Mujin and blood was pouring out, it couldn’t breathe properly.

Moreover, it also had a fatal wound in its abdomen, with its internal organs flowing out.

In fact, it was a wound that would not be strange for it to collapse immediately.

It was amazing that it had moved this much, but Brekia was recovering its body moment by moment.

“Hoo…… Let’s finish this now.”

Except for Guisusan and the Great Devil.

Brekia was the most powerful monster I had ever encountered.

I wore Mujin on my hand in the form of a ring and gripped Black Night with both hands.

Slowly raising it above my head, I stirred up Aura.

Whooooong!

Black Aura swirled around the tip of the sword.

A single strike that was swung down.

-Keeeek!

Brekia let out a desperate cry.

And.

Screech!

Brekia finally fell silent to the Exorcism sword path drawn by Black Night.

The Special Grade 4 monster of Daemado, Red Dragon Brekia, was hunted down in that way.

* * *

As soon as I cut off Brekia’s breath, I immediately ran to the outskirts.

Thanks to the remaining effects of the Aura Body Art, I could still move, but the moment this residual Aura holding my body together ended, the backlash of the technique would come.

“Okay.”

As soon as I arrived at my residence, I slumped down with a long sigh.

First, I checked the magic circuit and continued with recovery magic.

Throb!

Gradually, painful pain rose in my joints and muscles, but I gritted my teeth and endured it.

Aura Body Art was a powerful technique that was difficult to withstand even with the Strong Body of the Sungmu Yi family.

Moreover, I had fully deployed Exorcism, Black Lotus, mystic eyes, and sixth sense while using Aura Body Art, so it would be stranger if my body condition were normal.

‘Still, it’s good that I didn’t faint.’

My head was hazy due to the aftermath of the battle, but my mind was clear.

If I closed my eyes and relaxed, I felt like I could fall asleep right away, but it didn’t seem like I would faint right now.

When I first practiced Aura Body Art, I consumed all my magic power and fainted with internal injuries after deploying it for only about 1 second.

It was because I had revised the gyeol [a specific sequence or pattern in martial arts or magic], reinforced the magic power operation and Aura deployment method for several months that I was able to deploy it for about 1 minute today without fainting.

‘Hoo, I’ve put out the urgent fire.’

My whole body still throbbed, but I wasn’t worried.

But it was at that moment.

A strange presence was detected in my senses.

I immediately got up from my seat and looked around.

“……?”

There was nothing in the sky. There wasn’t even a single cloud. There were no signs of monsters approaching either.

‘Am I too sensitive because it’s right after the battle?’

But the moment I concentrated a little more and spread out my senses, I felt the strange presence catching on my sixth sense.

It wasn’t far away.

Right in front of me.

Slowly lowering my gaze, I looked down.

And there, something unidentified was standing.

* * *

‘A bird……?’

Long brown and black feathers, a sharp beak, wings neatly folded against its body.

Blue eyes were looking straight at me, and two legs standing firmly on the ground supported its torso.

A being that had the shape of a bird no matter how you looked at it.

But I sensed that the bird’s magic power was strangely twisted.

‘It’s a monster.’

Slowly, the unidentified being approached me.

I stared at it with a dazed look, not even being wary.

It couldn’t be helped.

-Squawk!

The bird was as small as my palm compared to the enormity of the energy it possessed.

-Squawk! Squawk!

The bird, making strange cries, came up to me and tapped my work boots with its beak.

‘A monster…… right?’

A shape that looked like an eagle made small to the size of a sparrow.

The small bird kept pecking at my work boots.

‘The magic power I feel is definitely that of a monster…….’

Strangely, I don’t feel the hostility or murderous intent typical of monsters.

It’s pecking at my work boots, but it feels more like it’s asking for something rather than trying to attack.

I used my mystic eyes to examine its body in a little more detail.

And for a moment, I doubted my eyes.

‘What on earth is this thing?’

I could feel the flow of twisted magic power.

And at the same time, I felt a certain energy that I had often felt.

It was an energy that I had often sensed in Cheonwisan, and most recently in Baek Cheol-soo’s black market warehouse.

‘The energy of a spirit beast?’

The feeling that the magic power of the spirit realm, though tainted, was swirling around it.

This palm-sized monster in the shape of an eagle even possessed the energy of a spirit beast.

‘Could it be.’

With a thought flashing through my mind, I concentrated a little more and examined the bird.

And soon, I was able to be certain about this bird.

This bird was indeed a spirit beast.

But it was also a monster.

An old spirit beast that had lived in the contaminated land of Daemado.

And a being that had fallen like a monster along with the contamination of Daemado.

‘Could it be that unidentified flying monster…….’

I widened my eyes and looked down.

-Squawk squawk squawk!

The unidentified bird, neither monster nor spirit beast, was fiercely pecking at the toe of my shoe.

A chuckle escaped my lips.

‘There’s no way. The amount of energy it possesses is different.’

Although it was a strange energy, there was a difference in the amount of magic power.

That unidentified flying monster was an existence that had even fought for territory with Brekia.

Moreover, the size didn’t match.

The nest I saw in the innermost center had surprisingly large feathers.

In comparison, this bird was only about the size of a sparrow.

-Squawk! Squawk!

“More than that, why are you doing this?”

-Squawk squawk!

At my words, the little eagle shook its head and flapped its wings as if it were frustrated.

“Can you understand what I’m saying?”

-Squawk!

It didn’t nod, but it felt like it understood my words, looking straight into my eyes.

-Squawk squawk! Squawk squaak!

Then, it suddenly spread its wings wide and flew up.

The creature, flapping its wings diligently, pecked at the backpack on my back again with its beak.

-Squawk!

Was it saying that there was something it needed among the things in the backpack?

I tilted my head and took off the backpack and put it down.

There were only a few items in the backpack in preparation for a possible prolonged battle.

If not that…….

‘Purification bomb?’

I suddenly realized what this bird wanted.

A spirit beast that had lived in the contaminated spirit realm.

I took out one of the purification bombs that I had left for other Special Grade 4 monsters and put it down.

-Squaak!

The bird’s eyes sparkled, and it began to break the purification bomb with its beak.

Then, it pecked at the crumbled pieces with its beak.

‘Was it…… slightly purified?’

If it were a normal monster in Daemado, it would have felt a sense of rejection as soon as it felt the effects of the purification bomb, but this creature was actually pecking at it as if it were a delicacy.

-Squaak!

Perhaps because there was a little too much, it paused for a moment, but after resting for a while, it began to peck diligently with its beak again.

And the more it ate the purification bomb, the more the flow of magic power that had been twisted was gradually purified.

-Burp!

The creature, which had been pecking at it for a long time, sat down on the ground with a sigh, as if it were full.

I looked at it and couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.

* * *

After finishing the battle with Brekia and taking a very short break, I started wandering around the island again.

It was to subdue another Special Grade 4 monster in the innermost center.

-Kieeeeeek!

The leader-class monsters in the center had all died, and even Brekia in the innermost center had died, so the center was in even greater chaos.

The Grade 4 monsters in the center, which had been holding their breath, were running around in all directions, starting a territory competition.

‘If there were other Special Grade 4 monsters, they wouldn’t be able to run around like this…….’

I wandered around the innermost center, narrowing my eyes and looking around.

The traces of that flying monster were found here and there.

But the monster itself was nowhere to be seen.

Since it was a flying monster, had it gone far outside the island?

Unlike the dragon race, which didn’t go out of its territory well, other monsters often went far to hunt for food, so that was a possibility.

Another week passed since then.

Even if it had gone out to hunt for food, this was too long.

-Squawk!

On the contrary, only this unidentified spirit beast-turned-monster bird followed me around.

‘Could it be…….’

I looked at it with narrowed eyes and chuckled.

“There’s no way. It looks like it would be eaten by a slightly larger bird.”

Another week passed since then, but the creature did not appear in the innermost center.

Perhaps Brekia had swallowed that monster.

‘I can’t spend any more time.’

The promised time had already passed a little.

After hesitating for a while, I sighed and nodded.

I felt a little regretful, but the allowed time was up to here.

Anyway, Daemado would be quiet for a while.

Most of the monsters in the outer and inner forests had been cleared, and the center was in a fierce battle among themselves as the leader-class monsters disappeared.

Since Brekia in the innermost center had also died, it was virtually the same as if a normal dungeon had been cleared.

I sent a message to Jung Jin-soo and the Black Turtle Association.

“Is it time to leave this island now?”

I took a long breath, looking back at the scenery of Daemado.

At that time.

-Squawk! Squawk!

The bird suddenly flapped its wings and flew in front of my eyes.

It looked like it was protesting about where I was going. Or it was saying that it wanted to follow me.

“Where are you going? You have to stay here.”

I shook my head.

If this creature was a fallen spirit beast, it had to be purified here.

I had cleared out the monsters to some extent, and if the subjugation team moved diligently in the future, purification would gradually be achieved.

A spirit beast has to be in the land where it was born.

-Squawk squawk squawk!

“No. I’m not going to take you.”

I said firmly to the creature, which was tapping its beak.

It was true that this creature followed me well, but I couldn’t take it with me.

Perhaps it was discouraged by my firmness, as it stopped flying and slumped down on the ground.

-Squawk…….

“I’m sorry. Still, this will be more helpful to you. I’ll give you all the purification stones and purification bombs and leave, so don’t do that too much.”

I smiled bitterly and stroked its beak and head.

* * *

The next day, the Black Turtle Association’s transport ship came to the island.

Jung Jin-soo, who came on the Black Turtle Association’s transport ship, laughed and looked at the things in front of him.

“A dragon’s corpse, huh…….”

It’s a common story, but the corpse of a dragon race is money.

Even the corpses of mediocre dragon races are worth a lot, so what would you say about a Special Grade 4 dragon race?

But as valuable as it was, Jung Jin-soo was surprised by Lee Cheol in a different sense.

‘If he hunted a Special Grade 4…… doesn’t that mean he’s virtually a Grade 3 warrior?’

The grade assignment criteria usually depend on ‘what grade of boss-level monster can be hunted alone.’

Of course, Grade 4 or higher can only be obtained after accumulating various activity records or years of experience beyond simple force, but the judgment in terms of simple force was like that.

“I was lucky. The conditions were also good. It would be difficult if I just encountered it in a dungeon.”

Lee Cheol said it nonchalantly, but Jung Jin-soo was looking at Lee Cheol with trembling eyes.

‘Even if it’s low, it means he’s a Grade 4 warrior. Maybe even higher than that. Grade 4 at 16? Hehe.’

He just laughed.

It took almost a year, but Lee Cheol had almost completely cleared Daemado alone.

Whatever the conditions, whatever luck he had, it was a fact that he had dealt with a Special Grade 4 monster alone.

I can’t even go anywhere and say it.

I can’t believe it even if I see it, who would believe it if they heard it?

‘At first, I just thought he was saying it…….’

He really did it.

A 16-year-old boy had cleared an Elite Grade dungeon monster colony alone.

“Amazing. Young master.”

Jung Jin-soo said with sparkling eyes.

At that time, the voices of the Black Turtle Association agents were heard.

“Everything is loaded.”

Besides Brekia, there were also several leader-class monsters.

That’s how I got on the ship and looked back.

Daemado, where I had been for a year, was now farewell.

* * *

Meanwhile.

Something suddenly poked its head out from the bottom of the transport ship, from the corpses of the monsters that had been piled up.

-Squaak…….

A strange cry echoed.

The bird looked around, making squawking noises as if it were laughing.

“……So, is the preparation all done?”

“Yes, young master. I’ll explain it to you gradually as we go…….”

The moment it heard a human voice, it quickly went back into the monster’s bone fragments and held its breath.

-Squawk! Squawk squawk.

The bird let out a cry as if it were bursting into laughter.

In that way, one fallen spirit beast and Lee Cheol escaped from Daemado.