Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 327

Weapon-Eating Bastard – Episode 327

For a Sword Heart user, their sword is their world.

Because it’s about drawing out the world within one’s heart as it truly is.

However.

Clanggggg!

In an instant.

With a single strike from Lee Cheol, Lee Gun-seong felt his Sword Heart crumble.

His concentration shattered.

He could be overpowered, but he had never imagined it shattering like this. It was an unprecedented experience.

“Keuk.”

Lee Gun-seong let out a low groan, retreating out of Lee Cheol’s sword’s reach.

Lee Cheol didn’t pursue.

He simply raised the deflected sword slowly above his head, gripping it with both hands, maintaining his stance.

Whoooooooo…

Lee Gun-seong heard a clamoring sound in that sight.

And he saw brilliant sword energy, like starlight, spreading out into the world like mist from the tip of Lee Cheol’s sword.

Lee Gun-seong could only stare blankly at it.

Lee Gun-seong struggled to regain his senses and swung his sword.

Swaaa! Bang!

One strike, two strikes, then three and four.

Lee Gun-seong’s Sword Heart shattered powerlessly.

To those watching, it only appeared as if the shimmering haze at the tip of Lee Gun-seong’s sword was scattering.

Soon, Lee Gun-seong asked slowly.

“What… is that? Were you hiding something like that until now?”

“No. It was only just completed.”

“…What’s its name?”

“It doesn’t have one yet.”

“So, you’ve only just reached that realm.”

The sword wielded by Lee Cheol contained all the power he had learned and internalized.

It was different from Cheonra [a specific sword technique].

If that technique was emission, this was convergence and fusion.

At first glance, Lee Gun-seong felt it was connected to his own Sword Heart [a swordsman’s inner world and source of power].

And that was correct.

If Lee Cheol had tried to reach this realm alone, it might have taken him ten thousand years.

What allowed him to complete this was purely the duel… no, the conversation with Lee Gun-seong.

He learned from him, felt from him, and sometimes refuted and evaded his words, completing a story through countless exchanges.

“So, in this arena of learning, you were the one who absorbed more…”

Lee Gun-seong muttered in a barely audible voice.

Lee Cheol’s sword showed no beginning or end.

Within that power, constantly circulating and wielding, Lee Gun-seong felt a truly endless infinity.

That was the story Lee Cheol was unfolding.

A story not aimed at ending, but about possibilities that endlessly expand.

Lee Cheol sought to reach the pinnacle like Lee Gun-seong, but he didn’t dream of reigning.

He simply wanted to embrace all his past relationships and connections, looking forward together.

‘Your sword… is truly heavy.’

Lee Gun-seong could see it.

Above Lee Cheol’s sword, the traces of his past training, opportunities, his father and mother, friends and acquaintances, family, and all those who had passed by were contained.

“…”

And Lee Gun-seong felt that the time had come to see the end of everything.

He raised his sword.

Whooooong!

Perhaps Lee Cheol felt the same.

Lee Cheol’s sword, which had been raised towards the sky, slowly began to move.

‘The world…’

Looking at that sword, Lee Gun-seong felt a sense of remoteness, as if he were looking up at a night sky filled with the Milky Way.

Each and every one of those star-like energies contained countless stories unfolded by Lee Cheol.

This moment, where they learn from each other and influence each other.

Lee Cheol’s sword was now unfolding his own world, beyond simply covering the world with himself.

Crackle! Bang!

A low explosion.

Lee Gun-seong retreated.

Lee Cheol advanced.

If Lee Gun-seong’s Sword Heart realm was merely about covering and twisting the world,

Lee Cheol’s sword contained the world and revealed it.

‘That’s… that’s your answer. The solution you obtained through struggle. That’s why you were able to reach it.’

Lee Cheol’s sword was not a Sword Heart.

The realm beyond Sword Heart, a place even higher.

There was no suitable name for the realm Lee Cheol had now reached.

Because since the beginning of history, no more than ten people had reached that realm.

Lee Gun-seong watched Lee Cheol’s outstretched sword cut through the air.

He also felt his torso in the path of that sword.

And at the same time.

He realized that he could not stop it.

‘Ah, truly.’

Lee Gun-seong stared at the tip of that sword.

‘A story… I want to see for a long time.’

The sword was swung.

* * *

A short cutting sound was heard.

The senses of color, sound, and time that had disappeared at some point quickly returned.

Like a bird that had fallen from the sky to the ground, Lee Gun-seong felt a terribly realistic reality and let out a long breath.

“Cough.”

Blood was smeared with a low cough.

Crimson blood was smeared on the tip of Lee Cheol’s swung sword.

Lee Gun-seong tried to win, but Lee Cheol wanted to listen and speak.

Was the difference there?

The distinction of who had learned more from each other, or whose enlightenment was greater, might have been meaningless.

‘Will even this moment of battle become a paragraph in the story you will draw in the distant future?’

Lee Gun-seong let out a heated breath.

The exhaled breath was tainted with the scent of blood.

The large slash across his chest was an irreversible fatal wound.

Of course, even without that, his entire body was covered with large and small wounds.

Lee Gun-seong looked at Lee Cheol.

Lee Cheol was no different from him.

It was just that he did not have a fatal wound that would lead to death.

“Lee Gun-seong.”

Lee Cheol called him.

In Lee Cheol’s voice, the animosity as if facing an enemy had already disappeared.

Only the voice of a close friend, family, and rival who understood each other better than anyone else was deeply embedded.

“I won.”

Lee Gun-seong burst into laughter at those words.

“Yes, I lost.”

Lee Gun-seong was not resentful.

Rather, he felt a sense of relief rising in his chest.

“I have finally ended the grudge from my past life. Congratulations.”

“No… it’s not.”

Lee Cheol shook his head at Lee Gun-seong’s congratulations.

He was definitely an opponent and an enemy to be killed.

But at this moment, Lee Cheol thought that didn’t matter.

“I don’t think of it as a grudge, Brother. It’s just, this is how it turned out. Who was right and who was wrong, it didn’t matter.”

Lee Gun-seong’s eyes widened slightly.

Before he knew it, Lee Cheol’s words had changed to honorifics [formal language showing respect].

He could feel the respect for him in Lee Cheol’s words.

As if it was inevitable, since they had shared such a long story and understood each other.

“Yes, maybe…”

Lee Gun-seong slowly lowered the sword he had been holding up and plunged it into the ground.

The sword was covered in blood.

The blood was from Lee Cheol’s wounds and Lee Gun-seong’s blood.

Lee Gun-seong looked at Lee Cheol.

“Don’t worry about the Founder… he won’t be able to do anything to you yet. Be careful of the day when the seal on that sword is completely released…”

Lee Gun-seong, who had changed from an enemy to a brother giving advice.

Lee Cheol gratefully accepted his kindness.

“Thank you for letting me know.”

“…So you knew too?”

“Yes, I saw it in the castle.”

The Founder will not try to target me right now.

His goal is Black Night.

And perhaps my body will be the battleground when all the seals of Black Night are released.

A moment of silence hung in the air.

Lee Gun-seong looked up at the sky.

Far away, the darkness was receding, and dawn was breaking.

In the end, wasn’t he the one who dispelled the darkness?

“I… wanted to reach the pinnacle of the world,” Lee Gun-seong began, his voice low and沉声 [chén shēng – deep and heavy].

“But there was a foreseen destruction. Even if I gained the world, it would all be for naught if the world collapsed.”

Lee Gun-seong, like Lee Cheol, sensed the approaching future.

“Too many powers existed in this world, and too many desires. They had no intention of stopping the approaching future. So, I wanted to become the master of the world and stop it. I wanted to embrace everything in the world and prepare for the coming destruction.”

So, he embraced the orthodox, the heretical, the heterodox [unorthodox], and everything that connected the ancient and the modern, and looked towards the pinnacle.

“But it was futile. In the end, I was no different from them. While talking about struggle… rather than thinking about winning against the primordial monster, I was just trying to preserve as much as possible.”

“You’ve already said that a lot, 형님 [hyung-nim – older brother or respected male figure],” Lee Cheol said.

Lee Gun-seong smiled.

Yes, he had. Although it was a short time, they had shared many conversations.

Soon, Lee Gun-seong looked at Lee Cheol with blurry eyes and said, “If this world… cough, cough! If it weren’t like this… if we had started a little differently, could we have been good brothers?”

Two who were the same yet different.

Two brothers who walked the same path and looked at the same place, yet came up with completely different answers.

“Perhaps, that might have been the case.”

“Sorry… that was a useless story.”

It was just a hypothetical story.

And those words also detracted from the value of this confrontation.

“Your last strike. If you don’t mind, I’ll give it a name.”

“I would appreciate it.”

Lee Gun-seong, who had shared the end of this long conversation, was more qualified than anyone to name that strike.

“How about… Limitless (無極) [Wújí – the ultimate state of being, without limits or boundaries]?”

Secret Art, 無極 [Wújí].

It was the moment when another Secret Art created by Lee Cheol, following 천라 [Cheonra – likely a unique skill or technique], was named.

“無極 [Wújí]. It seems fitting. You’ve given it a wonderful name.”

“Ha, haha… if… that’s the case… I’m glad…”

Lee Gun-seong’s voice gradually began to fade.

“In the head of the Family Lord’s office… on the desk… there’s a notebook with everything I’ve written down. I’ll entrust it to you.”

With those words.

Lee Gun-seong’s clear eyes became blurry, and his body staggered.

-Thank you.

Lee Gun-seong’s voice was carried on the passing breeze.

Thud!

The knees of the man who wanted to embrace the world shook the earth.

The grains of sand that touched his falling knees scattered into the air.

With his head dropped and his arms hanging down, Lee Gun-seong’s body seemed to be giving a polite bow.

I, too, wanted to lean on the sword embedded in the ground and offer my respects to his end.

Wobble!

But soon, the balance of my body collapsed.

‘Ah…’

The black aura that made up the sword could not withstand the force and shattered.

I tried to reach out and touch the ground, but my body had reached its limit to the point where I couldn’t even do that.

The ground was right in front of my nose.

‘I can’t fall now…’

But my body was already at its limit.

At that moment.

Thud!

Someone caught my body.

I raised my head and looked at him.

It was an unknown warrior.

“Young Master Lee Cheol. Are you alright?”

“You are…”

“I am Jang Baek-hoon, one of the Seven Stars Captains.”

Seven Stars Captain? One of the family’s warrior squads. Why is he coming out here?

Now that I see it, it wasn’t just him.

At some point, countless warriors were around me.

“Get out of the way, you fools! That guy is the ringleader of the rebels who assassinated the Family Lord!”

Facing them, the 영검단 [yeonggeomdan – likely a special unit or guard] in black uniforms were confronting them.

Only then did I understand the situation.

I had won the fight against Lee Gun-seong at the South Gate, but there were still troops left there.

And those who are protecting me now are….

“We could not accept the changes in the main family. We were waiting. For Young Master Lee Cheol.”

They were the warriors who had not bowed to Lee Gun-seong.

They surrounded me as if to protect me, facing the 영검단 [yeonggeomdan].

That’s right.

Come to think of it, the fire on the outer wall had erupted before the goblins started fighting.

Already inside the 숭무이가 [Sungmuiga – likely a specific location or building], there were people who were fighting their own battles.

But even for these people to move, there had to be a focal point….

“It’s a mess, huh? You okay?”

I only slightly turned my eyes to the familiar voice.

There was a familiar woman there.

I let out a hollow laugh.

“Lee Seo-hyun. It was you.”

“…Sister. You crazy bastard. It’s Lee Seo-hyun 누나 [nuna – older sister, used by males]!”

Lee Seo-hyun’s condition was not normal either.

She was noticeably haggard and exhausted, and the flow of magical power I felt was also distorted.

I heard she was locked in the underground prison.

I didn’t need to ask why she was like that.

“Are you… okay?”

“Who’s asking who if they’re okay, you crazy bastard,” Lee Seo-hyun said with an absurd laugh.

“Cough! Cough!”

I roughly exhaled at the rising cough.

Blood was 묻어 [mudeo – stained] in that cough.

Coughing up blood. I didn’t even know if my lungs were damaged, or if my stomach was damaged.

‘No, maybe it’s both…’

In the fight with Lee Gun-seong, the external wounds were already beyond estimation, and the internal wounds had already reached their limit.

My magical power… there’s really none left.

“Recover quickly. You still have a lot to do.”

In the midst of all this, Lee Seo-hyun harshly spat out those words.

I chuckled.

“I know without you telling me.”

I felt like I was about to faint, but the war was not over yet.

“Eat this for now. You really look like you’re about to die.”

Lee Seo-hyun suddenly handed me a thick bundle.

I looked down at it, wondering what it was, and then I let out a hollow laugh.

Various elixirs and top-grade potions.

‘Could this be from the main family’s vault…?’

No, is she crazy? Did she think about robbing the main family’s vault in the midst of that chaos?

But, whatever the case, this was quite necessary right now.

“Hey, hurry up and eat something.”

“I have so much to say, but I’m grateful for now.”

Elixirs were useless. Because the inside is a mess.

Right now, the best thing to do was to treat the external wounds with potions.

But before that.

“Hey, Lee Seo-hyun.”

“What? I told you to recover first?”

“Take this for now.”

Crack!

I gathered the maximum amount of black aura I could currently create and forged a sword.

“What is it? What’s this?”

“영검단 [yeonggeomdan]. It’ll be difficult without this.”

“This will work?”

“Probably. Just hold on for a moment. I’ll finish recovering soon.”

Lee Seo-hyun nodded and took the sword.

“Then rest quickly now. Those people fighting over there. They’ll need your instructions.”

Lee Seo-hyun glanced at the outer wall and said.

“I was going to do that without you telling me.”

I took a long breath.

Lee Gun-seong is dead, but the fight he left behind still remains.

Perhaps this is the task he left for me.

I turned my head and looked at the distant sky.