Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 175

Weapon-Eating Bastard 175

Darkness swallowed me whole.

If I hadn’t immediately summoned and released Black Qi, I would have been swept away by the darkness.

‘What is this? Where is that Apostle?’

Nothing could be sensed.

Just darkness.

All around was enveloped in a dense darkness.

And then.

Boom!

That darkness is attacking me.

As if to devour me, it was digging into the Black Qi that surrounded my body, gnawing at me from the outside.

Swish!

The Black Qi surrounding my body didn’t just stand still.

It pushed back the encroaching darkness, and conversely, gnawed back as much as it was being gnawed upon.

The two energies were fiercely fighting.

I couldn’t distinguish which was Black Qi and which was the darkness enveloping me.

I only vaguely felt that the two energies were vying for power, trying to devour each other.

Watching that scene, I organized my thoughts.

‘Mujin [a type of weapon or artifact], Black Qi, the black smoke I saw with the ancestor, and this object sealed in the basement of the Papal State… it’s certain. These are not different things. They were originally one.’

Things that were once one, but have been separated.

That’s why they devour each other, trying to return to being a complete one.

Boom! Crackle!

Suddenly, my body shook, and I felt a sudden pain all over my body as if I were being cut by a sword.

‘The Black Qi is being pushed back.’

It was different from when I was at the tomb of Ancestor Yi Hyangseon.

The power of the Black Qi was being pushed back by the black energy surrounding me.

Why?

I couldn’t explain it, but I could intuitively understand the reason.

‘Is it because Black Qi has no physical force…? Is it losing because it wasn’t sealed in a glass case?’

Black Qi was not a complete force on its own. It was merely a power residing within me.

Therefore, if I am attacked, the Black Qi also wavers.

This unidentified black energy attacking the Black Qi and me seemed to realize that fact, as if it had intelligence, and was attacking me.

Crack!

The sound of something being torn away made my hairs stand on end.

The darkness, having finally pushed back the Black Qi, began to devour me.

Starting slowly from both legs, the sensation of my entire body began to fade away, as if poison were spreading.

The Black Qi trembled.

It was demanding something from me.

‘What on earth?’

Instinctively.

I looked at what was in my hand.

In the pitch-black darkness where I couldn’t even properly distinguish my own body, I found something in my hand.

Crack! Crunch!

Another object related to Black Qi.

Mujin.

The Black Qi was demanding that I push it into Mujin.

And I complied with that demand.

Wriggle!

Mujin began to wriggle as if it were a living creature.

That appearance was significantly different from the way Mujin had changed its form until now.

Like fog rising, like bacteria multiplying, it wriggled and instantly became a large mass of black light.

At that moment, I sensed something.

‘Mujin and Black Qi… have merged.’

And at that moment, the Black Qi, which had been constantly pushed back, suddenly rose up and wrapped around Mujin.

Clatter! Crash!

The sound of something breaking was heard.

This time, it was not from my side, but from the black energy sealed in the basement of the main building.

The pain that had been consuming my entire body disappeared, and instead, I began to recover rapidly.

Crash! Crackle!

It wasn’t that the Black Qi was swallowing, nor was it that Mujin was swallowing.

The two entities that had become one were simultaneously swallowing the darkness.

‘Ugh…!’

I felt the surrounding darkness receding and my consciousness fading.

It was the feeling of mana backlash or exhaustion that I felt when I exerted too much power.

I tried hard to hold on to my mind, but I sank deeper and deeper as if falling into a deep swamp.

-…….

And through my blurred vision, I saw the wriggling black mass slowly turning its body towards me.

* * *

Whoosh!

The darkness that had engulfed the surroundings was instantly sucked somewhere.

Thud!

And then, Yi Cheol collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

“Ah, ah, ah….”

The Apostle of Behemoth stood before him.

A voice filled with joy.

The trembling body seemed to feel even joy.

With a large hole pierced through his heart, bleeding profusely, he looked somewhere as if it were nothing.

“Indeed. It was. That’s right. Could it really have been achieved… our long-cherished wish was truly real….”

The place he was looking at.

There was something of unknown identity besides Yi Cheol and the Apostle.

A black mass.

There was an object with an indescribable appearance.

It looked like a creature with legs, and sometimes it looked like a creature like an elephant or a snake.

Then, at some point, the black something looked like a simple lump of meat, with black something bubbling up like foam.

Squish, squish… The black form began to move like a crushed lump of meat.

“Ah ah.”

The Apostle took a step forward to approach the object.

But the Apostle couldn’t see the object properly.

It’s blurry.

It feels like seeing it is not allowed.

The reason he can see it may be because he has no eyes.

Thud!

The something approached Yi Cheol very slowly.

The moment it touched the ground, black energy spread out with a whoosh! sound like blood.

Swish!

At that moment, a chain containing divine power stretched out towards the black energy, but it was swallowed up, fading black as if it were being consumed.

Like that.

‘Something’ stood in front of Yi Cheol.

As if to swallow even Yi Cheol, he tried to bring the wriggling black flesh to Yi Cheol.

But he only tried.

The something couldn’t reach Yi Cheol.

As if blocked, or reluctant.

It stopped in that position.

“Why……?”

The Apostle examined Yi Cheol with a stiff expression.

Then his eyes fell on a sword held in Yi Cheol’s hand.

The sword with the name of the black night, Black Night.

The black mass was avoiding Black Night.

To be exact, he was avoiding Yi Cheol, who was holding Black Night.

Then, the black mass hesitated and began to be sucked into Yi Cheol.

“No! How could a mere vessel…!”

The Apostle rushed to Yi Cheol in a hurry.

However, the black energy being absorbed into Yi Cheol happened in an instant.

Flash!

When everything was absorbed, Yi Cheol opened his eyes.

* * *

Some passage in the Papal State.

A woman was entering a place that was unknown to outsiders and forbidden to all but high-ranking clergy.

‘I’ve finally arrived. The Secret Archives.’

She was the puppeteer who entered the main building.

There are many rumors about the Papal State’s Secret Archives.

There is a book that tells you everything in the world.

Numerous scriptures of various religions, known to have been lost, are kept.

Various forbidden books and magical books are kept.

There is a book that tells the truth about Blue Holes and monsters.

The Papal States had a significant influence on the Western cultural sphere as the headquarters of Christianity, and in fact, missionaries traveled around collecting all kinds of books, so the rumors spread.

However, contrary to the rumors, the Pope at the time named the Secret Archives the Apostolic Archives and opened them to the public, and the rumors disappeared.

In fact, unlike the rumors, the Apostolic Archives contained valuable Christian historical materials.

‘……That’s what’s known.’

The puppeteer walked through a secluded passage in the main building.

That’s what’s known to the public, but everyone who lives in ‘this world’ and knows knows.

The fact that what is open to the public is only ‘part’ and that the real secret archives exist separately.

Whoosh! Bang! Boom!

Numerous defensive magic and security systems blocked the puppeteer’s path.

They were powerful defense systems that seemed impossible to break.

However, the puppeteer was running while quickly dealing with them as if she had thoroughly prepared in advance.

And soon she arrived in front of a huge glass door.

It didn’t seem to have any magic or spells imbued in it.

An ordinary modern glass door that can be found anywhere.

It is made to look like that.

‘They say they’ve destroyed all the internal security systems… is this a closed circuit? If I touch it wrong, I’ll just disappear with my soul.’

That glass door, which just looked ordinary, looked more solid to the puppeteer than any security system she had ever seen.

It had to be.

This door is the only passage to the Papal State’s Secret Archives.

‘Magic circuit identification complete, spell system connection complete, magic circle analysis complete, password array… now the final proof… complete.’

The moment magic spread from the puppeteer, the glass door opened.

Vast.

A place filled with truly vast books and materials came into her eyes.

The Papal State’s Secret Archives, known to hide all the secrets of the world, revealed itself to her.

“Okay, okay, I need to hurry. Before that monstrous woman comes after me. Okay, go find it.”

She emitted magic.

The color of the emitted magic was seven colors.

The seven-colored magic that rose up in a haze began to take on the shape of people.

-Okay, go find it.

-Okay, go find it.

-Okay, go…….

All of them resembled the puppeteer.

“Well then, I’ll slowly…….”

Flinch!

Suddenly, the puppeteer stopped moving.

‘……What. Couldn’t even last 30 minutes?’

The puppeteer felt the presence of the companion of the person who was supposed to guard the entrance disappear.

That meant that Saintess Christina had begun to move again.

‘Damn maskers [possibly a reference to a group or organization]…… To have to be chased while leaving these precious materials in front of me and having to do it while being chased.’

The puppeteer frowned, then sighed and began to move.

There were numerous books.

Magical books that contaminate the mind just by touching them, spell books with curses from distant ancient times sealed within, ritual methods of human sacrifice, and…….

‘These precious things were here.’

They were hidden because they were worth hiding, but the puppeteer felt anger at the fact that they were hidden.

The fact that these things were just sleeping here was an insult to knowledge.

‘But there’s nothing I can do. It’s a shame, but they’re just junk compared to what I’m going to find from now on.’

It would be nice if I could examine these things too, but the Saintess will be chasing me now.

I had to hurry for the thing I was aiming for.

It was that moment.

-I found it.

The puppeteer received a signal that her ‘soul’ that she had created and scattered had found what she was aiming for.

The puppeteer headed there immediately.

There was a large book placed there.

A bright smile appeared on the puppeteer’s lips.

The color was dark and dull to be called a hardcover, and there were red stains on the spine as if blood had splattered on it.

‘This is it, this. It really existed?’

The puppeteer knew the identity of this book.

A book made from the blood and skin of hundreds of humans.

The souls and grudges of those humans were melted into it, creating the highest-level magical book that allows you to leave ‘records’ that will never ‘disappear’.

The ability of this book was only one.

To leave records that never disappear.

Thousands of years ago, records that were erased from the world exist in this book.

‘The truth of the world is here…….’

She held the book in her arms and closed her eyes.

-Groan!

Strange illusions and hallucinations echoed just by touching it.

No one in the world would be able to read this book, but she was not.

If her mind is contaminated by reading the book, she can just switch to another body.

The puppeteer didn’t care and hugged the ominous book even more deeply.

Swish!

The focus disappeared from the puppeteer’s eyes.

She trembled, staring blankly at the air as if looking at something.

And the next moment.

“Ah!”

The puppeteer flashed her eyes open and closed them.

“It’s done. It’s done. Now I just need to escape properly…….”

The puppeteer muttered in a joyful voice.

Then the next moment.

Slash! Stagger!

A sharp cutting sound was heard, and the puppeteer felt her vision tilting crookedly.

Her head had been cut off and fell to the ground.

“Heretic. This is not a place where beings like you are allowed to set foot.”

It was Saintess Christina.

She had come while dismantling the defensive magic in the passage and installing new defensive spells and magic, but she broke them all without a problem and arrived here in an instant.

The puppeteer chuckled in vain.

‘She’s really a monster. It’s really ridiculous.’

Crack!

At that moment, the air opened and a pitch-black ‘passage’ was opened.

The puppeteer, who was naturally moving her body even though her head had been cut off.

She was about to throw her body towards that passage.

But.

Boom!

That spatial crack, which could never be broken under normal circumstances, was forcibly closed.

Saintess Christina had fired a sword strike from a distance.

The space vibrated with that one sword strike, and the dust on the floor bounced up.

“Put it down.”

Saintess Christina stood on the side where the puppeteer was.

“Ah…… How did you get here already?”

The puppeteer, who had fallen to the ground, sighed as she looked at Saintess Christina standing in front of her.

“I went through all that trouble to take this, but it ends up like this…….”

The puppeteer’s words did not continue.

It was because Saintess Christina immediately swung her sword.

Slash!

Cutting sound.

The puppeteer’s head was cut in half.

Slash! Crash!

Twice, three times, four times.

The puppeteer’s body was finely chopped into pieces like dust in less than 0.1 seconds and fell to the ground.

Only after that did the puppeteer stop talking.

“…….”

Thud!

The puppeteer’s corpse did not leave a trace.

Only one book that the puppeteer was holding fell to the ground.

Saintess Christina looked down at the book with a disturbed face.

She couldn’t rashly pick it up.

Putting it back in its place would have to be done by prepared clergy of the Papal State, not her.

“Hoo…….”

Saintess Christina let out a deep sigh.

Her body ached, but it wasn’t over yet.

She left the place as it was and turned her body.

Towards the seal in the basement where Yi Cheol went.

* * *

I slowly opened my eyes.

‘What happened?’

I fainted for a moment.

What was there before that?

‘That black mass. The collection of Black Qi and Mujin that absorbed the sealed thing turned its body towards me.’

It was the moment I thought that far.

“Give it back! Give it back!”

I saw the Apostle running towards me, shouting strange things.

Even though I was in a daze and confused, I was not so incapable of reacting to such an attack.

Boom!

I instantly raised my aura and subdued the Apostle.

Clatter! Crash!

I broke his arms and legs, and even his waist just in case.

There was no resistance to wielding the sword.

The Apostle slumped to the ground as if collapsing.

I jumped up and stretched out my magic to subdue the Apostle’s heart vessels.

“Cough.”

He was a guy who moved even when his heart was pierced, and he was a guy who wielded bizarre powers I had never seen before.

It was quite an excessive measure, but I felt it was not enough.

And in fact, the Apostle was laughing even though he was in a state where he could die at any moment.

“Keuheuh! To think that our long-cherished wish has become a reality despite having that sword in that cursed bloodline. What a bizarre fate. You know nothing. You know nothing…….”

The Apostle muttered, trembling.

Bright red blood was flowing from the Apostle’s empty eye sockets.

Thud!

I brought Black Night a little closer to the Apostle’s neck.

He was also a person, so a stream of blood flowed down from his skin.

I frowned.

“I don’t need nonsense. Answer what I ask. Do you know about what is sealed here?”

“Of course I know…… It is the incarnation of this star, the will that has already destroyed this world once, and the beast that devours causality…….”

The Apostle’s body trembled.

“Suitable person. Everyone knows that the era has begun to move. I’m curious to see what you’ll look like when you find out before long.”

The Apostle, who was spewing out strange words, looked at me.

I felt that the Apostle was looking at me accurately even though he had no eyes.

“Ah, Yi Cheol. Yi Cheol. I pity your ignorance. You don’t know much about your mother or yourself.”

My mother.

Why is she coming out of here?

“What are you talking about?”

“How much do you know about Soongmoo Lee’s family?”

The Apostle laughed.

“How much do you know about your father and mother, your birth, and your existence……?”

Crumble!

It was that moment.

The ends of the Apostle’s body began to crumble and scatter.

Like sand dust.

As if reaching its limit, his limbs began to scatter and disappear.

“You don’t know anything! Haha! That’s right. Because that detestable sinner! Lee Tae-shin hid it!”

“What are you talking about!”

“Ah……! The era is moving! I am frustrated that I cannot see that new era!”

There was no time to stop him or take any action.

The Apostle disappeared like that, turning into dust.

All that remained was silence and the words the Apostle had left behind.