Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 156

Weapon-Eating Bastard – Episode 156

Ron and I reacted almost simultaneously.

I lunged forward, moving with explosive speed, swinging my sword. Ron stayed close to Hurundart, deploying an Aura barrier.

Kwaaaang!

I used my Magic Eye to assess the target that collided with Black Night and frowned.

‘What is this?’

A giant, human-shaped figure, its lower body fused with the earth, swung its arm at me.

It was made of soil and gravel, with moss and grass roots sprouting from it.

The moment I saw it, my eyes lit up.

‘Puppetry.’

Manipulating artificial objects like golems or shikigami [spiritual entities summoned in Shinto practice] with magical or shamanic powers was called puppetry.

-Groooooo!

As the earth puppet swung its arm, a surge of earth rose from the ground, crashing towards me like a tidal wave.

I channeled my Aura and stomped on the ground.

Kuuuuuung!

The Aura spread along the ground, collapsing the approaching wave of earth.

It was a technique combining the operational method of Serena’s technique from the Grand Melee with the Gravity Field.

‘For a mere puppet, it has considerable power. The puppeteer controlling it must be more than mediocre.’

I had intended to completely destroy the earth puppet, but only managed to disperse its attack.

‘Either way, if that’s a puppet…’

I reshaped Mujin into a ring and gripped Black Night with both hands.

‘All I have to do is destroy the core.’

I pressed down hard on my front foot, using it as an axis.

And.

Bang!

The moment I kicked off the ground, the surface exploded, and I shot forward.

-Grooo!

The puppet couldn’t react to my sudden acceleration.

Moreover, I had already deployed my Mana Body.

Kwaaang!

The first sword strike, swung from below, severed both of the puppet’s arms.

Swoosh!

The second sword strike, swung as I plunged into the puppet’s embrace, split the puppet’s body diagonally from the shoulder.

Kuuuuuung!

Black Night annihilated the puppet’s core and magical power.

No traces of magical power remained as the puppet collapsed onto the ground.

“Young Master Lee Cheol! Be careful!”

Ron shouted urgently.

I was already sensing it without being told.

Kwawooooooong!

The air rippled violently, as if a bomb had exploded in the distance, and countless earth puppets emerged from all directions.

“Ugh! What is this!”

“What’s going on all of a sudden!”

Ron shouted urgently and swung the Sword of the Lake.

I left the still-motionless puppets behind and joined Ron and Hurundart.

“Is this the work of the dwarves?”

Ron glanced back.

A kind of barrier that Hurundart had been trying to open was flickering there.

“There’s no way! How could that ominous energy be ours!”

Hurundart retorted.

“Ah, yes, yes… Elder. I also thought something was strange.”

Ron wore a sullen expression.

We seemed to be having a rather casual conversation, but even as we spoke, all sorts of natural objects were flying at us from all directions.

-Groooooo!

Soon, the earth puppets began to move.

Ron poured Aura into the Holy Sword and glanced at me.

“Young Master Lee Cheol. Which way will you go?”

“I’ll take the right.”

“Then I’ll take the left.”

“Then swing. I’ll launch the follow-up attack at the right timing.”

“Yes.”

Anyone overhearing would wonder what we were talking about, but with just that, we understood each other.

‘There’s someone launching these attacks from behind.’

The moment these attacks surged, I pinpointed the location of the opponent targeting us.

And so did Ron.

-Groooooo!

Ron slammed the Sword of the Lake, which had begun to glow blue, strongly into the ground towards the moving earth puppets.

Kwaaaang!

A bright light burst out.

The light had no effect on me or Hurundart, but it pushed back the earth puppets and trees that had begun to move.

However, it was somewhat insufficient in power to inflict damage, only pushing them back.

But that was enough.

Following that.

Flash!

An Aura like a black lotus bloomed from within the blue light.

The number of petals was nine in total.

The nine-layered Black Lotus Sword Energy shattered the pushed-back earth puppets.

Kwaang!

Immediately after the two Secret Techniques were deployed, Ron and I dashed off in opposite directions.

-Groooo!

The earth puppet aimed for me, but its movements were sluggish.

I stepped on the arm of the earth pile that stretched out to grab me, detonated my Aura, and leaped high into the air.

The scenery of the forest unfolded beneath my feet.

And my Magic Eye accurately gazed at a certain point in that forest.

Twoong!

Mujin, immediately transformed into the shape of a spear, was fired from my hand.

I deliberately didn’t imbue it with Aura.

“Kuaaaaak!”

A scream echoed from the direction the spear had flown, and I controlled my falling speed with Aura, slowly landing on the ground.

-Groooooo!

The earth puppets that had risen from the ground were collapsing.

I immediately dashed towards the place where I had thrown the spear.

“Kuh! Keuh!”

There was a man there, his shoulder pierced by the spear and pinned to a tree.

“Who are you? Why did you target us?”

“Why… why are you interfering with our work? Keuh!”

He was a man wearing a robe covered in all sorts of moss and weeds, like military camouflage.

He trembled, but even so, a blue light shone from inside his deeply pressed hood.

“You were the one who attacked first.”

“I wasn’t targeting you….”

“Then who were you targeting?”

“I was targeting the dwarves….”

“…The dwarves? Why?”

“To avoid the destruction foreseen through great progress… we simply needed different species for our grand plan….”

I frowned.

He was spouting lines that even third-rate villains in B-movies wouldn’t say.

‘It’s clear he was targeting the dwarves. But how did he know there were dwarves here in the first place?’

Besides, something.

I was feeling a very subtle sense of discomfort.

‘What is it? This sense of incongruity?’

I looked down at the struggling man and frowned.

“What are you… doing… nya!”

I knocked away the struggling man’s arm and pulled off his hood.

“…!”

And I doubted my eyes at the revealed appearance.

It was a human face, but not the face of a living person.

Facial features made of wax, like a mannequin.

It was the face of a doll that evoked a strangely human-like, repulsive feeling.

‘It’s not just the face.’

This was the source of the incongruity.

I rolled up the sleeves and leg parts of the man’s robe.

It wasn’t just the face.

The arms, the legs, no, even the internal organs were not human bodies.

‘What the hell is this….’

This non-human thing that I saw with my Magic Eye clearly had human magical characteristics.

“You… what are you?”

“Hehehe! I’ll tell you if you spare me. I’m bleeding heavily, so release me from here quickly!”

Bleeding?

The man pierced by Mujin… no, this doll obviously didn’t bleed.

Only a few broken pieces of wax fell to the ground.

“…I guess you have no intention of saving me. Heh heh, it doesn’t matter. Now that I can escape the pain of the Seer, I am satisfied. You will simply live with questions in your heart. Farewell, you dullard. Heh heh!”

I could tell instinctively.

This doll… really thought it was human.

“For the inherited wisdom and truth!”

The doll suddenly shouted that and burst into laughter.

Soon, a hazy mist-like substance was escaping from every corner of the doll’s body.

Along with that mist, the magical power that had been filling its body dissipated.

I frowned and looked down at the doll.

* * *

I dragged the motionless doll and returned to where Hurundart was.

And Ron followed.

I widened my eyes as I saw the large thing held in Ron’s hands.

“Dwarves?”

Ron held two unconscious dwarves in his hands.

“I found enemies holding these two where I went. I subdued them and rescued them.”

Hurundart hurriedly approached Ron.

“Quickly, quickly put them down here! They don’t look good. Hmm.”

As Ron placed the two dwarves on the ground, Hurundart stirred his magical power and began to examine the dwarves.

I left Hurundart behind and looked at Ron.

“What happened to the enemies you subdued?”

“……”

Ron narrowed his brow slightly.

“I’m sorry. They committed suicide. They had poison hidden in the roof of their mouths. They both used Hebrew… saying something about truth and wisdom before killing themselves.”

“What about the investigation of the corpses?”

“Other than the fact that they used Druid-type magic, nothing else came out. They didn’t have IDs, cards, or cell phones either.”

Ron sighed deeply.

Then he discovered the doll in my hand and gestured with his chin.

“Young Master Lee Cheol. What is that?”

“The guy I caught. He died while shouting a similar slogan to what you heard.”

“Hmm… there’s something going on.”

“Yeah.”

Hurundart, who was examining the two dwarves next to us, suddenly clicked his tongue.

“Tsk, this isn’t good. The injuries are a bit severe.”

“Are they okay?”

“It’s not severe, but they need treatment. Carry these two. Let’s go into the village.”

Hurundart rose from his seat.

He seemed to be stirring his magical power as he had done when he first arrived here.

But at that moment.

Wiiiiiiing!

Even though Hurundart hadn’t done anything yet, the air distorted and the surrounding scenery began to change.

* * *

Distorted air, changing landscapes.

A phenomenon similar to what I had seen in Mirinae Village or the goblins’ magic unfolded.

As the space split and I saw….

“A village?”

Ron muttered in a slightly dazed voice next to me.

What was there was a village.

Not the mysterious scenery that comes to mind when thinking of villages of mystical races, but just a village with ordinary buildings that could be seen anywhere in Europe.

The only differences were that the height of the houses was quite low overall, and that the inhabitants were dwarves, not humans.

And at the entrance of the village, a dwarf was standing and waiting for us.

“Welcome, brother! And humans!”

A booming voice, befitting a dwarf.

The old dwarf with snow-white hair approached us and spoke.

“I am Baher Mak Ulradra, the first son of Berendil of the Cold Flame of the North Sea. I am also the village chief of this Black Root Village. I knew of your arrival through the voice of the earth.”

I blinked greatly at the words the dwarf spoke.

‘I can understand what he’s saying?’

That dwarf, the man who identified himself as Baher, was not speaking English or even Irish.

But I was understanding the dwarf’s language.

Soon I could understand why.

‘That piece of wood hanging around the dwarf’s neck.’

A strange power is felt.

Whether it was made with the dwarves’ mysterious technology, I was understanding their voices.

Meanwhile, Hurundart greeted Baher’s greeting with a booming voice.

“Thank you for accepting us! I am Hurundart de Graive Rungarum, the first son of Rungarum of the Great Ice Mountain.”

“It’s been 200 years since I met a brother from abroad!”

“The same goes for me. I wandered here and there to escape the flames of war and settled in a distant foreign land.”