Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 282

Woo-oong!

Magic power settled in my eyes.

-The Mana Eye is ultimately part of your power.

-Perceive what you want to see clearly with your will. Then, the Mana Eye will show you what needs to be seen according to your will.

Recognize what you want to see and stare straight at it.

That was how to use the Mana Eye that I learned from Ru.

Swish!

Unlike before, a distinctly deeper sunset-like energy settled around my eyes, and I braced myself to look at the true form of the Primordial Beast.

Throb!

The back of my head pulled dully, and a stinging pain pierced my eyeballs.

It felt like all my optic nerves were burning away.

Finally, I captured its true form in my eyes.

“How can….”

Could something like that even exist?

Even the dark, slimy mass I had seen so far was only a part of the form visible to my naked eye.

The beast seen through the Mana Eye was simply jet black.

Something black with no gloss or texture was gaping at me in the air like a knothole.

‘What on earth is that?’

The countless energies of the world reflected in the Mana Eye.

But the Primordial Beast had none of that.

It merely exerted influence.

The countless forces flowing in the world were dyed black the moment they touched it, sucked in, and soon dyed black again.

“That is its true horror. The flows, providence, reason, and rules that should naturally exist in the world. It contaminates and devours them.”

With those words, Ru took a step forward.

As if to say he had shown enough.

“The test ended long ago. Now, you must return. This is my fight.”

His words were like a will, entrusting everything to future generations.

“I hope your era is different from mine.”

Ru raised his hand.

Brilliant light gathered at the tip of his spear.

“King of Phobohr. It is time to end this.”

A low, heavy voice echoed.

A strong sense of déjà vu swept through my mind.

Words I had heard and scenes I had seen before.

The words Ru spoke while facing ‘that’ in Kyungcheon’s memories.

‘This was the moment…!’

The final battle I saw when reading Kyungcheon’s memories had begun.

Crack-!

With those words, the Primordial Beast’s body bubbled up like foam.

In an instant, the formless darkness cracked in places.

Something inside.

I couldn’t tell. I just felt like it was looking this way.

Thump.

In that moment, I felt my heart stop beating. Naturally, my breathing stopped as well.

My mind grew faint, and my vision blurred.

Again. The feeling I had during our first encounter.

I gritted my teeth and opened my eyes wider.

‘I can’t show such a pathetic 모습 [Korean word for appearance or figure] again.’

The Choi Family’s power burned away all the powerlessness that had seeped into my body.

I raised Black Night and focused my mind, drawing up magic power.

Meanwhile.

‘I can’t keep relying on Lee Cheol. I won’t be swayed by those illusions again!’

Ron, too, did not back down.

His face was contorted with pain, but he stood straight, supporting himself with his sword, facing the Primordial Beast.

“I have no intention of being intimidated and backing down here.”

Thud!

He put more strength into his advancing foot and infused power into his body.

I stood next to Ru.

I could feel the blood draining from the hand holding Black Night, from how tightly I gripped the sword.

I didn’t care.

This would be the end of this test anyway.

“I will clear the path.”

“Then I’ll help you clear the path.”

I said, and Ron answered spiritedly.

Ru’s eyes widened.

Before Ru could say anything, I raised my sword above my head.

‘It’s not normal right now.’

The beast that circles the world.

Surely, there must have been numerous singularities other than Ru that it encountered on its way here.

It seemed that they had wounded it.

If it were normal, it wouldn’t have done nothing while we approached this far.

That’s why Ru would have won, and even if only half-true, his history would have been recorded and passed down as a myth.

If so.

‘I can do it too. At least, I can be of help.’

Even if I am lacking now, I believe in the potential and power within me.

It was that moment.

Ru shouted.

“Dangerous!”

The Primordial Beast’s body swelled ominously.

Before Ru could do anything, the swollen body shrank in an instant.

Whoosh!

In an instant, a whirlwind swept out from the Primordial Beast.

The Mana Eye accurately identified the substance of the wind.

Black particles like black mist were found between the gusts.

Whatever that was, it shouldn’t be touched.

“Ron! Evade it!”

“Yes!”

I immediately drew up magic power and swung my sword down from above.

Formless Sword Style 1, Exorcism.

A technique that cleaves even large monsters in one strike.

However.

Bang!

A short explosion.

I couldn’t even recognize what had happened.

The moment I thought I had cut through the incoming whirlwind, I was instead bounced back and floating in the air.

“Cough!”

Blood smeared my mouth as I was slammed to the ground.

The wind, despite being just wind, had broken through Eunhan’s magic-infused defense and inflicted internal injuries.

Moreover, the foreign sensation felt in my abdomen.

I immediately brushed aside Eunhan, tore off a piece of my shirt, and checked my torso.

And.

“What on earth….”

Thump! Thump!

I confirmed that a strangely pulsating, slimy substance, similar to its own, was stuck to me.

The next moment, it suddenly spread throughout my abdomen.

‘Damn it!’

Whoosh!

I stirred up the Choi Family’s power and focused it on the substance.

The slimy substance, swallowed by the black mist, soon fell off my body.

I immediately got up.

No, the moment I tried to get up, I felt a presence behind me.

-Kieeeeeek!

The stench of beasts, grotesque cries, and twisted magic power brushing against my senses.

It was a monster.

There was no time to look back.

I immediately stirred up magic power.

Clang! Bang!

Without recovering the black mist I had emitted, I formed it into weapons and fired them.

-Kiek!

However, perhaps because the magic power supply was not sufficient, the weapons only managed to deflect its attack.

I immediately gripped Black Night again and stabbed the sword as I turned around.

Thwack!

-Kieeee….

Slash!

The monster was pierced straight through and collapsed to the ground.

I didn’t even get a good look at its form.

The monster burst like a balloon filled with ink as soon as it was pierced by Black Night, leaving only black liquid.

‘There was definitely nothing around here besides the Primordial Beast, but what is this all of a sudden?’

I immediately added magic power to the black mist and deployed Cheonra.

Then, the bizarre phenomenon that had occurred in this place was revealed to my eyes.

-Kieeeee!

-Kyaaaaak!

-Kruk! Kruk!

Monsters were clumping together like clay on the blackened ground and rising from their spots.

No less than 4th class, no, bizarre monsters that seemed meaningless to even rank were gradually filling the space.

“Be careful! They’re the ones it created!”

Ru’s shout was heard.

Only then did I realize that the wind that had just swept through was not just trying to attack us.

It was monsters.

Each and every one of those small particles was creating monsters.

-Kiek! Kirurururu!

-Keeeeek!

Grotesque beasts with twisted magic power.

They swarmed us.

* * *

The mother of all monsters.

The Primordial Beast was also called that.

That was by no means wrong.

Even if we killed them, the monsters kept rising endlessly.

“Kugh!”

Clang!

From the ground, from the air, from the sky, from stones, sand, and bushes.

Monsters appeared from everywhere.

‘Each and every one of these is at the Special 4th class level. Maybe… 3rd class!’

It felt meaningless to even classify them.

Each of these exerted power beyond the magic power they possessed.

Even if they died, they continued to be reborn, and there were no conditions for their immortality.

As long as it was in this place.

As long as it was in this area.

The monsters would constantly target us.

Skaang! Kwaaaang!

Defending the surroundings with Cheonra, I gritted my teeth.

In the end, there was only one thing we had to aim for.

The Primordial Beast, there was no answer unless we aimed for it.

“Ron!”

I urgently called Ron.

Ron’s gaze turned this way.

A brief exchange of glances.

We had already worked together several times.

Ron read my intentions and swung his sword greatly.

Kwaaaaaaaa!

Blue aura swept across the ground.

For a brief moment, my hands and magic power were freed up.

Thump!

Kicking off the ground, I held Kyungcheon in my right hand.

I wanted to know how far it would reach against that thing.

Wiiiiiiiiing!

The spear of Kyungcheon, which had sunk a giant monster in one strike, was fired.

No matter how lacking it was, it had the power to devastate this entire area.

Thwack!

The air burst out, and a black line cut across the air.

‘It hit…!’

The Primordial Beast did not evade.

Kyungcheon accurately struck the Primordial Beast, and….

Thueoeeong!

…it shattered.

The black mist that made up Kyungcheon shattered like shards of glass and scattered in all directions.

The aura dwelling within, the power the weapon possessed, vanished the moment it touched it.

‘Magic power… doesn’t work?’

No. It wasn’t that kind of feeling.

Could it be that the magic power was being eaten….

Kwaaaang!

In that moment, my body, which had been briefly suspended in the air, was knocked sideways by something flying from the side and slammed straight into the ground.

It was Ru’s power.

He hadn’t attacked me. He had saved me.

Following that, I saw swarms of flying monsters gathering in the air where I had been.

“I told you to back down.”

“Are you alright? Lee Cheol!”

Ru, who had flown over, landed next to me and said.

Belatedly, Ron followed, panting for breath.

“Retreat now.”

Ru said.

“It hasn’t even awakened yet. You are strong enough, but still lacking. This is just a record. The place where you truly have to fight is not here.”

At Ru’s words, I felt dumbfounded.

That state wasn’t even awakened yet?

But I shook my head.

“I keep what I say.”

“Your magic power will not reach it. You saw it too, didn’t you.”

“……”

The sight of Kyungcheon shattering.

My strongest strike scattered meaninglessly.

But….

“…The Mind Sword will reach, won’t it.”

I wiped the blood from my mouth and looked at Ru.

Ru’s eyes wavered.

‘If it’s the Mind Sword.’

I understood that the Primordial Beast was an existence outside the providence of this world [fate or divine will].

I didn’t even know for sure what that thing was.

But if it was the Mind Sword.

If it was that realm with the power to twist the world’s providence according to one’s own standards… it might be able to reach it.

…It wasn’t a well-founded guess.

It was a thought that came from the intuition I had built up as a martial artist my whole life.

I didn’t know how much it would work.

But at least, I felt like I could do as much as clearing the path I had spoken of.

And.

‘I have this sword.’

I felt the cool sensation of Black Night in my hand.

-Kieeeek!

While fending off the incoming monsters with his spear, Ru let out an inappropriate hollow laugh.

“You’re really stubborn.”

Even as Ru said that, he smiled as if he was somehow pleased.

“Then I’ll ask you. Clear the path.”

“Yes.”

Kiiiiing!

Black Night, now with most of its seals released, spat out a sword cry that sounded like a scream.

I imagined the most powerful strike I had in my mind.

I poured out all my magic power and focused all my mind on the tip of the sword.

Mind Sword, Formless.

Magic power was emitted and settled in Black Night.

In that moment, Ron stepped forward first.

“I will clear the path ahead!”

Whoosh!

Ron’s magic power surged.

Ron gathered all the magic power in every corner of his magic power circuit and squeezed out all the power his body possessed.

Ron hadn’t opened the gate yet, but he had arrived right in front of it.

‘What I can do is.’

Ron didn’t know how far he could go.

But at least, he would be of help….

Ron swung his sword with only that thought in mind.

Paahhhhh!

The Russell Family’s secret technique stretched out.

The path of blue aura that was created.

Like the Milky Way, the blackened world was dyed blue.

All the monsters blocking the way turned to ashes and burst out with that one strike.

I cleared the path for Ru.

Ron created a path for me.

─────────!

And the Primordial Beast let out a strange cry.

Had it recognized the power of the Mind Sword?

I sensed that it had awakened.

But already, I was striking down with Black Night.

Jjeoeoeoeoeoeong!

Following the trajectory left by Ron’s blue aura, the Mind Sword was fired.

Would the Mind Sword reach it?

In that moment, its body rippled.

No, it might have been my imagination that it rippled.

But I definitely felt the energy of Black Night touching it.

Watching that, Ru let out a laugh.

“You really did clear the path.”

One step behind.

Ru, who had been standing still and focusing his mind on his spear, left those words behind.

Whoosh!

The next moment, the spear stretched out.

No, it wasn’t a spear.

It was light itself.

It was a light symbolizing salvation, and it was a strike in which a man bearing the era had gathered all his body, soul, and power.

‘…Ah!’

In that spear strike, I glimpsed a certain realm beyond the Mind Sword that I did not know.

The unidentified realm that my father had shown me directly when I returned from Musaeng.

The world was distorted.

I had the illusion that everything in the world was being engulfed in that light.

And.

A dazzling radiance consumed the world.

* * *

When I opened my eyes, I was once again in that pure white world.

Before my eyes, I saw the figure of the dwarf fluttering his robe.

My exhausted magic power system, stamina, and the foggy state of my mind had all recovered.

Thud!

I staggered and got up from my seat.

“You have succeeded. The second test.”

The dwarf seemed afraid.

He hesitated and approached me.

“…I will give you a privilege. Will you end it? The test. You who have returned from death. Then I will send you back. Outside. Without any conditions.”

And the dwarf said those words to me.

“If you do so, I will give it to you. If you want. What you want.”