Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 308

Whoosh!

Jang Han flicked his wrist, scattering something into the air.

Thin objects caught the light, shimmering.

They were hidden weapons.

Numerous sharp needles, numbering in the hundreds, no, thousands, filled the sky.

‘Heavenly Executioner Blade’s Secret Technique.’

The hidden weapons filling the sky were imbued with his own power, much like Lee Cheol’s Cheonra [a technique involving manipulating numerous blades with one’s aura].

“Full Sky.”

The hidden weapons launched simultaneously.

The storm of needles soared into the air.

Faster than the black lotus’s energy surging like a tsunami, it settled in the sky above Lee Cheol’s head.

“Rain of Fire.”

Kwa-ga-ga-ga-gang!

It was literally a rain of fire.

The storm of hidden weapons poured from the sky, filling the space densely, plummeting to the ground without a single gap.

But something remained.

The black lotus was still surging towards Jang Han.

As soon as Jang Han initiated the Rain of Fire, he had to face the oncoming black lotus.

‘I can’t avoid it. I can’t block it either.’

He didn’t have the leeway to do so while deploying the Rain of Fire.

The only option left was to endure.

Koo-ooo-oong!

A heavy aura vibration spread out, and nine strands of aura wrapped around Jang Han.

One of the Nine Dragon Lord’s nine techniques, the Nine Dragon Barrier, boasting absolute defense.

Wrapped in the Nine Dragon Barrier, Jang Han threw himself into the black lotus.

Kwaaa!

Jang Han’s body swayed precariously in the sea of aura.

The Nine Dragon Barrier peeled off layer by layer, and when only the last layer remained.

Sizzle…….

The black lotus faded away, and Jang Han collapsed to the ground with a thud.

“Cough.”

After a moment, Jang Han felt intense pain all over his body and steadied himself on the ground with his hand.

He was damaged, but he had succeeded in enduring it.

Jang Han raised his body and looked straight ahead.

“……!”

There.

On the collapsed ground, countless needles were densely embedded like grass, and Lee Cheol stood tall in the center.

Jang Han’s eyes wavered.

‘He blocked all of that?’

Lee Cheol, who should have been a hedgehog covered in needles, looked too unscathed.

There were as many as seven thousand eight hundred specially made meteor iron needles coated with potent poison.

It was an attack that would pierce through most defensive techniques, but how could he block all of that?

“……Ha.”

At that moment, Jang Han heard it.

A very low groan escaping from between Lee Cheol’s teeth.

‘No. That’s not it.’

Only then did he see.

The needles embedded in various parts of Lee Cheol’s body.

He hadn’t blocked it completely.

Only a few, but needles were deeply embedded in various parts of Lee Cheol’s body.

“You really prepared a lot.”

Lee Cheol’s voice echoed softly.

After that, with a ting, ting sound, the needles embedded in Lee Cheol’s body popped out and fell to the ground.

“But.”

Lee Cheol swept back his drooping hair and his eyes lit up.

“You’ve now given me the distance you were so reluctant to give.”

At that moment, the air vibrated.

A black mist-like energy began to explode from Lee Cheol’s center.

That energy began to clump together like mud, forming sharp blades as they were.

“……!”

The ultimate technique that only Lee Cheol could perform since the beginning of history.

The Cheonra was beginning to unfold.

The moment he saw it, a change occurred in Jang Han’s movements.

* * *

“And the third condition.”

The Nine Dragon Lord, Cheol Wi-seong, held up three fingers and said.

“Block that technique of his. There is no way to counter it. Once he brings that out, close-range, long-range, ambushes, everything is blocked.”

“It’s hard to expect him to run out of energy because of his ridiculous amount of magical power. If the enlightenment of the Sword Mind [a state of heightened awareness and skill in swordsmanship] is applied… it’s too much for your level. Maybe if it were me.”

The ultimate technique, Cheonra.

That outrageous technique is impossible to counter.

“However, no matter how high his level has risen, even if the preparation time for activation has almost disappeared, it will still take longer than moving his body directly.”

The deployment method of that ultimate technique has three stages.

First, create weapons.

Second, connect the aura and float them in the air.

Third, divide the consciousness and handle all those weapons like limbs.

No matter how fast it has become, there will be gaps in that process.

“In fact, it’s best to prevent him from using it. But that’s impossible. If he has even a moment of leeway, he can deploy the ultimate technique in an instant.”

Then, is there no way?

As Jang Han lamented inwardly, Cheol Wi-seong continued.

“That’s the only opportunity for you to do something.”

Cheol Wi-seong’s eyes lit up.

A countermeasure calculated based on the information gathered while tracking Lee Cheol’s information and movements.

“The moment he moves from the first process to the second process.”

Jang Han listened intently to the story.

“Aim for that moment. This is the third condition for victory.”

* * *

Jang Han sprang forward, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.

That moment was a short gap, splitting and dividing an instant, too short to even be called ‘time.’

It was because Jang Han had been training to the point of vomiting blood for the battle against Lee Cheol that he was able to react to that gap.

Thump!

Jang Han’s figure disappeared in an instant.

The sonic boom erupted from that sudden acceleration, which didn’t even leave an afterimage, and in an instant, Jang Han’s body plunged into the sea of weapons that had not yet fully formed.

“……!”

Lee Cheol’s eyes widened slightly.

In that instant, Lee Cheol snatched a weapon that was half-formed in the air and swung it as it was.

‘He’s reacting even at this moment?’

It was as if he wasn’t living in the same timeline.

It was clearly a gap, an instant that he absolutely shouldn’t be able to react to.

But Lee Cheol took action there without a care.

‘But I have to do it. No, I can do it!’

Jang Han pulled the longsword straight back.

The attacks were narrowing in on him from above and below, like scissors closing in the middle.

Unlike Lee Cheol’s attacks so far, that attack felt somehow… vulnerable.

One side is a feint.

He could sense it intuitively.

He has to avoid it.

He mustn’t block it either.

If he blocks it, Lee Cheol’s ultimate technique will be completed in that instant.

He has a chance to counter if he avoids it.

Swaaaaaa!

Above, below.

Which one is real?

He couldn’t be sure.

Jang Han doesn’t have the Evil Eye [a mystical ability to perceive hidden truths].

Even if he had gained a sense comparable to it through years of training, it wasn’t a sense that could clearly distinguish it.

‘I’ll bet on the top!’

Therefore, all he could do was rely on his gut feeling and luck.

Thump!

And that was the right choice.

The upper attack was significantly slower than the attack that was coming up from below.

Thuuuuump!

The longsword stretched out, and Lee Cheol’s defense was deflected.

The gap that was created in that way.

Jang Han’s body squeezed through the gap and arrived right in front of Lee Cheol’s nose.

“Kuaaaa!”

Jang Han took a rough breath and pulled the longsword straight back as it was.

And stabbed it in.

A straight line, the shortest distance he could extend.

Dragon Sword.

The strongest strike among the nine techniques personally taught by the Nine Dragon Lord.

It was a strike he might have practiced hundreds of thousands, millions, or perhaps even a hundred million times.

That sharp secret technique pierced through Lee Cheol’s chest, parting the gaps in the countless weapons that were beginning to block the front.

‘It worked!’

He sensed it.

That he had pierced through the gap as narrow as the eye of a needle.

Kwaaaaang!

A roar echoed.

The ground, which had been precariously cracked, completely collapsed and sank, and a cloud of dusty sand rose into the air.

‘There’s a sensation.’

Jang Han felt the sensation of blood and flesh digging into his hand.

Looking around, he could also see the weapons that had not yet fully formed were melting back into the air as if they were dissolving.

He had won.

He had triumphed.

Over Lee Cheol, whom he had been watching for so long…….

Dugun!

But at that moment, Jang Han felt his heart beating rapidly.

Immediately after, his vision turned black.

“Keuk!”

Following his instincts, Jang Han forcibly tilted his head back and bounced his body up.

Beyond his vision, blurred with bewilderment, he could see what that black light was just now.

It was a sword.

Lee Cheol’s weapon.

But how?

He definitely felt the sensation in his hand?

“I was really, sincerely surprised. Jang Han.”

Brushing away the thick cloud of sand, Lee Cheol revealed himself.

‘Again, is it again?’

Following the Rain of Fire, has this strike been blocked as well?

No, no. This time it was different.

Lee Cheol’s chest was stained with blood.

He was stabbed. It was certain that he was stabbed.

But…… he endured.

‘Was it shallow?’

How could it be shallow?

He definitely felt the sensation of the heart touching the longsword.

Teodeong! Teok!

At that time, something fell from Lee Cheol’s chest.

A shield…… it was a shield.

“I realized that the way you prepared to fight me was tricky during that hidden weapon attack earlier.”

Lee Cheol clutched his chest.

“So, I prepared in advance. I thought you wouldn’t have the leeway to aim for my neck, so you would aim for my heart right away.”

“This monster-like…… clearly my sword was in the heart……!”

“Yes, it did reach. But fortunately, it ended with just being cut.”

Kudeudeuk!

At that moment, Lee Cheol’s gaping chest began to twitch and stop the bleeding.

It was the regeneration of the Black Energy, Eunhan’s recovery ability, plus the implementation of recovery magic.

It was quite a serious wound, but it was possible to recover enough to continue the battle.

And.

Waaaaaaaang!

With a strange cry, the crushed weapons regained their complete form.

It was the sound of the ultimate technique, Cheonra, that Jang Han had been trying so hard to stop, being completed.

Pajijijik!

Lee Cheol gathered his hands in the air.

Gyeongcheon was caught at his fingertips.

“You really analyzed it hard. Honestly, I was shocked. Is it the work of the Nine Dragon Lord?”

A truly surprised expression.

It was the first time Lee Cheol had such an expression.

Jang Han let out a hollow laugh.

He had inflicted a desperate blow, but all he had created was a wound that allowed him to move, and that level of exclamation?

Was that really the same person?

Was he really younger than himself?

They may have lived in the same time…… how could there be such a difference?

‘It’s like watching a demon king in a novel.’

Jang Han raised his head and looked at the army of weapons floating behind Lee Cheol.

And at the same time, he recalled the voices of his masters.

-From the first to the third. All of them may be blocked.

-Then it’s over.

-You have no hope.

-However, if you still want to pour out everything you have.

‘Take it out. And lose with dignity.’

The two masters said that.

Jang Han curled his hand around the longsword.

Hoo…….

A long breath out.

Defeat was certain.

There were two opportunities, and he had repeatedly suffered many losses for them.

‘Even if I lose.’

Jang Han couldn’t give up.

No, in fact, that hope would only be an illusion.

Right now, he was just filled with the single thought of wanting to pour out everything he had.

Jang Han plunged the longsword into the ground as it was.

Kwajik!

In an instant, all the remaining magical power in Jang Han’s body began to pour out.

The air suddenly began to distort due to that magical power.

That distortion was none other than a phenomenon caused by the Sword Mind.

Jang Han.

He was also a person who had opened the door.

‘Lee Cheol. It is presumed that that guy has the ability to steal the Sword Mind.’

Once he takes it out, it’s over.

Lee Cheol would figure out the countermeasures for the Sword Mind that Jang Han had achieved.

After this, Jang Han would have to give up all possibilities of surpassing Lee Cheol.

So, this one moment was the most important to Jang Han.

Now, it seemed like he had to take out the last move.

In an instant, a tremendous black darkness spread out from Jang Han’s longsword, which was embedded in the ground.

Sword Mind, Nadir.

The image of Jang Han, a person born in a junkyard and raised in the darkness of the back alleys, began to stain the world.