Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 306

Weapon-Eating Bastard – Chapter 306

Valerie de Bell, the eccentric of Eiffel Magic Tower, possessor of the Magic Eye, and bizarre scholar… A magician known by many names.

She was dreaming.

Numerous forgotten memories began to flood her mind, as if a dam had burst.

These were memories she had been forced to forget, not by her own will, but by others.

For example.

The memory of entering the Magic Tower at a young age, displaying a natural talent for magic.

The memory of living with Master Michael, who wasn’t the Tower Master yet.

And… the memory of being on the verge of death from a fever caused by a sudden magical reaction while her master was away on a mission.

-Why is this happening… No. No!

She remembered her master looking down at her, his voice filled with despair.

And her master succeeded in healing her.

It was after that she awakened her Magic Eye.

…No, was that really her master?

In her feverish delirium, Valerie remembered the voice of an old man she had heard at her bedside.

The voice of an old man… Why would it be an old man?

Her master at that time wasn’t old enough to be called an old man yet.

Valerie delved into her memories in more detail.

As if possessed, she began to relive the memories, dwelling within her past self.

-Please heal this fragile child, Great Master. If you do, I will follow you with all my heart….

Her master was bowing before a withered tree.

No. Now that she recalled it, it wasn’t a tree.

Standing before her master was an old man so emaciated that his skin clung to his bones, as black as a tree, whom one might mistake for a tree.

-Yes, I understand. Young magician. Do not worry.

The old man’s voice resonated deeply.

The voice was so profound that it sounded ominous.

The next moment, five fingers, like dry twigs, stretched out before her eyes, blurred by the high fever.

The owner of the hand murmured in a voice that only she could hear.

-How long did it take to create this eye? So, this is the condition for the Magic Eye to appear. With this, I….

The rest of the story was unclear.

Valerie felt a kind of elation from that voice.

The pleasure of knowledge, which scholars of the Magic Tower often displayed when they learned something new.

By then, Valerie had already awakened her Magic Eye and gained some insight from the image of the old man reflected in her eyes.

The realization was the conviction that this old man was the one who had made her so sick.

This old man had used her and her master for his own thirst for knowledge and to achieve his goals.

-It can be used as a good pawn. But now is not the time….

The old man’s voice dug into her ear.

Clang!

It felt as if some kind of latch was being fastened in her head.

Yes. This had happened.

Why had she forgotten this?

After that, Valerie and Michael lived as if nothing had happened.

They had never noticed anything strange.

Michael became the Tower Master.

Valerie grew up and left for Korea.

And in the northern uncharted territory, Valerie saw something that shouldn’t have been there.

In the basement of the ruins she had explored with Lee Cheol, she discovered traces left in an unidentified laboratory.

It was her master’s trace.

It was a trace of the Eiffel Magic Tower, which she, with her analytical skills, could recognize.

She felt uneasy and needed confirmation.

She left for the Eiffel Magic Tower.

She sensed the changes in the Magic Tower, and while sending information to Lee Cheol, she continued to investigate the secrets of the Magic Tower.

But she was caught.

When she came out of the Magic Tower to deliver information to Lee Cheol, she was confronted by none other than her changed master.

“How did the shackles come undone? Is that also the power of that bastard? How amusing. Such a tangled web of causality.”

Her master’s voice was so different from the voice she knew.

Soon, Michael’s hand reached out to her.

Valerie saw that hand as the old man’s twig-like fingers from long ago.

“Now is the time to use you, child.”

Valerie couldn’t avoid that touch.

That was the end.

She felt the darkness closing in.

And so, she….

* * *

Thump!

Valerie shot up, her mouth wide open.

“Aaaagh!”

Before she knew it, a scream burst out.

“Aaaagh! Aaaagh! Eeeek!”

Unable to calm down, she jumped up and down, screaming.

“Ah, geez. You scared me.”

Then Valerie heard an annoyed voice from the side.

“Kyaaaa!”

And just the fact that there was someone next to her made her scream again.

“Seriously, you’re so loud. Be quiet, Valerie.”

Thwack!

Valerie felt the person in front of her send magic at her neck.

She couldn’t even react and was hit by the magic.

“……? ……!”

Valerie soon felt a foreign sensation because of the magic blocking her throat.

Valerie trembled, her mouth gaping.

“I know you’re flustered, so get a grip.”

Only then did Valerie begin to see the voice and face of the person in front of her.

A familiar, well-known face.

The youngest of the Soongmoo Lee family, her disciple who had learned the Magic Eye from her, and her reliable comrade, Lee Cheol.

“Geez.”

I chuckled, watching Valerie gaping in surprise.

Just a few minutes ago, I had fought Valerie.

Of course, I overwhelmed her.

I used Skyfall, but I didn’t draw Black Night or the Mind Sword.

I needed to control my strength so that Valerie wouldn’t get hurt.

After successfully subduing Valerie with the final Skyfall, I used Black Qi [a type of dark energy] on the unconscious Valerie.

It was the purification spell, a secret art of the Choi family that I had obtained from Chief Butler Choi.

‘It was written that it not only had the effect of clearing the mind but also the influence of the primordial monster….’

I wasn’t sure if it would work properly.

But looking at her eyes, she seemed to have returned to normal.

As Valerie, who had been having a seizure, seemed to have calmed down a bit, I released the aura that had been suppressing her neck by channeling magic into it again.

“Phew!”

Valerie exhaled and then quickly raised her head.

“Hey! Seriously crazy! Who are you, how are you here? Hey, and do you know what happened to me just now? I’m rea…!”

Thud!

The moment her mouth opened and her voice poured out like a machine gun, I immediately sealed her voice again.

“……! ……!”

Perhaps because of the frustration of having her voice blocked again.

Valerie glared at me with a sulky expression.

“Valerie. One thing at a time, slowly. Understand?”

Valerie nodded.

I withdrew the aura that had dug into Valerie’s neck.

“Phew! Isn’t that too much? Even so, you didn’t have to block my voice with magic, did you? How flustered I was?”

“Do you have no conscience, Valerie?”

“Ahem! S, sorry….”

“Okay, that’s enough.”

“Th, that’s right, but….”

Valerie glanced down, her eyes darting.

Towards her neck.

A sword emitting a sharp aura was floating in the air there.

“C, can’t we talk after taking this out?”

“I’m still not relieved of my doubts.”

“D, doubts?”

“The doubt that the brainwashing might not be completely undone.”

“No, you’ve already suppressed my magic system!”

“It doesn’t hurt to be careful.”

Whoong!

The sword at Valerie’s neck vibrated heavily.

“Wh, what if it’s not completely undone?”

“Sadly, there’s no choice but to….”

I flashed my eyes.

“I, surrender! I’m completely normal! Lee Cheol-nim, hurray!”

Valerie raised both arms wildly and shouted surrender.

* * *

I heard everything from Valerie.

About the things she had forgotten.

And even the information about what she had found out.

“……So that’s what happened.”

“Yeah… I just realized it too. I felt like something was coming into my body, and it felt like it was bringing back the memories I had forgotten.”

I nodded.

Finally, I learned the secret of Tower Master Michael.

That old man had used a girl named Valerie, who had exceptional talent, to connect the Eiffel Magic Tower and Tower Master Michael at the same time.

No, was Valerie just a sacrifice in the first place?

‘Did he want to know about the Magic Eye?’

I felt the madness for knowledge that Kabbalah possessed.

Just to know something like that… he would do something like this.

‘He’s no different from a demon in a story.’

Perhaps, no, it was clear that Kabbalah was the one who made Valerie sick.

But to devour even Michael through a contract.

It was definitely not something that someone who was training to become a god should do.

“I’m sorry.”

Valerie suddenly lowered her head.

“What are you sorry for?”

“For not telling you in advance. In those ruins in the uncharted territory, I found traces but hid them….”

“Well, it’s okay. Still, there were traces of the place where you grew up, so you probably wanted to hide them until you confirmed them.”

It’s not something I can’t understand. I would have done the same.

Besides, Valerie acted as an informant inside the Magic Tower.

Thanks to that, I was able to be alert.

Although she turned against me before long, she’s back like this now.

“Thank you. Lee Cheol.”

“If you know you’re grateful, please listen to my requests a lot in the future.”

“I, I’m an inadequate person… but please take care of me….”

Valerie trembled with a nervous expression and said that.

I shook off my seat and stood up.

Anyway, it’s a relief that Valerie is back.

She was one of the important relationships I gained in this life. She is a capable person, and there are many things I can ask her to do.

“Then give up on the exam now, Valerie.”

“Yeah, I was thinking of doing that anyway.”

“When you get out, go straight to the Soongmoo Lee family….”

I continued to speak, then closed my mouth.

“……No, request protection from the Black Turtle Association [a powerful organization]. Valerie, you have a call number, right?”

Valerie nodded.

“If you can’t contact the Black Turtle Association, go into hiding immediately. You should leave Korea if possible.”

My second sister had left, and I had made some arrangements, so I didn’t think the family or the Black Turtle Association would be defeated by Lee Gun-sung.

But conversely, because it was Lee Gun-sung, I couldn’t be sure.

“You be careful too.”

Valerie said in a serious tone.

“Kabbalah’s Old Master is a scary person. He knew everything. And he has taken over the body of the Master.”

I had already heard that information in advance.

Thanks to preventing Michael from taking the corpse of the Behemoth cultist in the fourth test, he suffered a fatal wound in the battle with the local lord and had his body taken over by the Old Master’s soul that had been planted in advance.

No, it’s clear he took it.

That guy is definitely my enemy now.

‘Usually, everything is restored when the test is over… so that’s it. He took over the body so he wouldn’t be eliminated?’

The fact that he took over the body, even though he hadn’t been on the front lines until now, meant that the castle was that important.

“But… Valerie. Are you okay?”

Valerie’s eyes trembled slightly at my question.

Anyway, he was a master who was like family.

But soon she made a determined expression.

“Rather, I can’t tolerate him using Master’s body like that. Make Master… comfortable.”

I nodded.

There was a debt of gratitude to settle with Michael, no, the leader of Kabbalah.

Even if we don’t meet in the castle, even outside.

“But be careful. Lee Cheol. Master was the best in the magic world, no matter what anyone said. That monster, whose age is unknown, has taken over such a person’s body. You have to be careful, Lee Cheol.”

“Yes, don’t worry, Valerie.”

No complacency. I’ve always lived like that.

Just knowing that he had taken over Michael’s body was important information.

When I face him, I knew that I could attack him in ways other than magic.

“I had to let you go in the fourth test, but this time I’ll definitely defeat you.”

It was then.

Kugugung!

The space vibrated heavily.

Valerie and I immediately looked up at the sky where the vibration echoed.

“It is done. The time. Singularities.”

A dwarf was slowly descending towards us from the blue sky.

The dwarf suddenly shook his yellow eyes slightly as he looked at Valerie.

“……Changed?”

Then, as if surprised, he muttered those words.

The dwarf glanced at me and narrowed his yellow eyes.

“Did you change it again? The one who returned from death, now you, no, not surprising.”

“What does that mean?”

“If you are there, it will be messed up. All causality. For better or worse.”

The dwarf muttered some more incomprehensible words and then turned his head back to Valerie.

“Wait a minute! There’s still something I need to say!”

Valerie quickly looked at me.

“It is all done. The time. Those who have failed the test must leave this place. Absolutely.”

The dwarf’s firm voice echoed, and soon the limbs of Valerie’s body began to turn into light and scatter.

“Lee, Lee Cheol! Be careful!”

In the midst of scattering into light, Valerie urgently called out to me.

“You be careful, Valerie.”

I smiled and reassured Valerie.

“I’ll finish all the tests soon and get out.”

There’s not much left now.

I saw off Valerie, who was scattering with her eyes wide open.

* * *

After Valerie had completely disappeared, the dwarf remained in front of me without disappearing.

-The one who returned from death. It is the light of recovery. Do not refuse.

The dwarf said that, and suddenly blue light permeated my entire body.

The moment I touched that light, I felt my whole body returning to its optimal condition.

I hadn’t eaten, rested, or slept, but my head was clear, my body was light, and the magic in my body was at its maximum.

“What is it? Why are you doing this?”

Usually, when the test was over and I went to that white space, all injuries and fatigue disappeared, but this was the first time I had done this in the middle of the test.

-Of course, because the test is not over yet.

“What?”

-The test will continue until the intersecting causalities are resolved.

-You have one more opponent left.

I widened my eyes at the dwarf’s words.

Thump!

And I heard footsteps.

The dwarf slowly rose into the sky and soon disappeared.

“…….”

I turned my head towards the direction where the footsteps were heard.

From beyond the wide field, a man wearing a dark navy blue uniform was walking.

The moment I saw the man, my eyes widened.