Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 343

Things in the world were always like that.

Everything happens suddenly.

No matter how hard you prepare and how much you plan, the great wave always crashes in unexpected moments.

And then you realize too late.

That the seemingly irrational events were all harbingers.

That the incidents you thought were coincidences were actually part of a grand process.

On a day when the winter wind blew piercingly cold.

On that day, just before the New Year.

‘It’ awakened.

* * *

“We just received a response from the government. It seems the main family’s voice carries some weight, so they’re saying they’ll seriously consider it.”

“Chief Manager, that kind of answer won’t do. In case of an emergency, we need to… with other countries…”

After becoming the head of the family, I immediately started preparing.

It was preparation to prevent the predicted destruction.

As I had always done, I didn’t stop training, but in my other time, I ran around trying to build a safety net, using any means possible, including politics, diplomacy, military force, and capital.

“Hmm… Yes, I will do that.”

Fortunately, it’s been somewhat successful.

I don’t know if it’s because the main family’s show of force at the succession ceremony worked, or if the strong individuals around the world who experienced the aerial fortress empathized with the impending danger.

“Next item on the agenda. This one needs approval…”

Unlike the international situation, which always felt like war was about to break out, the world was in moments of dead silence.

And that moment came while I was working.

“……!”

Clatter!

I dropped the pen I was holding.

“Patriarch?”

Lee Tae-hong snatched the pen that was about to roll off with a puzzled look.

‘Right now…….’

I left my uncle and stood up abruptly, heading to the window.

Thump, thump, thump!

My heart was racing like crazy.

I opened the window and looked up at the sky.

An ordinary, pale winter sky.

That’s definitely how it looks on the surface.

“Patriarch, no, Cheol. What’s wrong?”

I heard the bewildered voice of my uncle, Lee Tae-hong.

But I didn’t have time to answer.

That’s when it happened.

The roar echoed.

──────────────!

Could that really be called a roar?

The sound of something crying, or a tremor.

The vibration that occurred in the deep abyss far away brushed past me and my uncle.

“Ah, ah…….”

Swoon!

Uncle Lee Tae-hong staggered back a few steps, as if feeling dizzy.

Woo-woo-woo-woong!

Along with the frantic beating of my heart, black energy convulsed and enveloped my entire body.

I swallowed hard and gripped my chest tightly.

‘Something has happened.’

It wasn’t just here where my uncle and I were standing.

On this land. No, on this planet we live on, Earth.

That vibration made the magic power existing on this planet fluctuate.

That vibration would have surged in, regardless of whether it was a high mountain, the deep sea, or a deep underground.

Every human in the world, no, everything that exists, would have felt it.

I looked up and examined the celestial energy.

I could no longer foresee the flow of premonitions or causality that I had vaguely felt.

No, there was no need to do that in the first place.

I had never felt such an intense tremor in my life.

If there was anything that could give me this feeling, there was only one thing.

Crack!

Was I gripping it too hard?

The sound of the iron window frame I was holding crumpling came out.

“Cheol, Cheol. What on earth was that…….”

Lee Tae-hong, who came to his senses at the sound of the metal being crushed, trembled and opened his mouth.

I just stared at the distant east and muttered.

“……It seems to have awakened.”

At that moment.

Flap, flap, flap!

Numerous birds flocked to the sky in droves.

On the ground, insects and swarms of rats appeared and began to run across the ground towards somewhere.

As if foreseeing the coming disaster, numerous beasts began to flee to their respective habitats according to their instincts.

“Aw, awakened. Could it be.”

“Yes.”

I moved my throat, which felt choked, and forced out a voice.

“The primordial monster. It has awakened.”

* * *

The whole world was in an uproar.

Those who had learned magic, and those who had not.

Not only people, but also animals and monsters.

They just felt an unknown fear and tremor.

But only a very few beings knew what the identity of that tremor was.

“Master.”

One of those people.

I immediately went to the dwarves in the aerial fortress, which was positioned above the main family.

“What’s going on? Was what I expected correct?”

I didn’t have time to receive greetings.

I immediately got to the point.

“Yes, that’s right, Master.”

“……The monster of destruction.”

“The beast of the apocalypse.”

“Has opened its eyes.”

“Oh, oh, oh, what to do. What should we do…….”

I closed my eyes tightly for a moment.

And with my eyes wide open, I let out a breath.

“What happened?”

“Th, the bastard of that thing fell into the hands of the Masks [a mysterious organization].”

“To sacrifice themselves. Oh, it’s our mistake…….”

“What should we do? The flow of causality is already…….”

The dwarves weren’t normal either.

Now I could understand their words properly, but they were spouting nonsense that I couldn’t understand properly.

“Calm down and explain so I can understand. Every moment is precious.”

Sliding and slipping, the first dwarf opened his mouth.

“The singularities of the Masks have done something, Master.”

At those words, I widened my eyes.

‘Behemoth!’

Their name, which even the Black Turtle Association and the main family’s intelligence department couldn’t properly track, popped out.

“It was our miscalculation. That they would get something from the aerial fortress to revive ‘that’…….”

“In detail.”

“They found out the ‘path’ to the Blue Hole in the fortress’s records.”

Blue Hole.

The inviolable space in the middle of the Pacific Ocean where the primordial monster crawls out.

Everything that tries to approach it loses direction, becomes engulfed in madness, and in the worst case, even dies.

There was a way to get there.

“Why? Are you going to say you didn’t know that? What kind of guys are they…….”

“Master. We do not administer the trials. It is merely the will of this castle…….”

That’s right. They couldn’t even chase me out.

‘This castle…… As much as it gave me power, it’s filling the Behemoth guys with what they need.’

So, the Behemoth bastards did this.

“……Get back to the story. So?”

“They tried to offer the fragments of the monster as sacrifices to accelerate the revival of the monster. Their goal would have included the massive black energy that the master possesses…….”

Behemoth.

They had dreamed of reviving the primordial monster from the beginning.

That’s why they prepared.

First, they found the fragments of the primordial monster scattered around the world.

Second, they found the bastard of the primordial monster. No, the monster called a Class 1 monster.

Third, they found the ‘signpost’ that could lead to the Blue Hole from the aerial fortress.

Finally, me.

They aimed for my existence, which possessed a massive amount of black energy.

“It was definitely insufficient. Because the Masks did not obtain the power that the master possessed…… Their plan should have failed.”

But.

“But they filled the insufficient part with their own lives.”

Have they come to their senses?

Some of the dwarves continued to speak in voices still full of confusion.

“Are you talking about human sacrifice?”

“Human sacrifice. It’s different from that. They are already beings who have escaped from humans. Only thousands and millions of Masks derived from the monster were sacrificed.”

The first dwarf looked at me.

“All sorts of monsters sleeping in Northern Europe and Asia…… In addition to the fragments collected by the Masks, even their own Masks.”

“They took that and headed to the monster’s nest.”

That’s how the monster awakened.

I closed my eyes tightly.

‘If only I had a little more time.’

The world is not ready yet.

Those who passed the trials of the aerial fortress were wary, but there were still many who were not.

To awaken already in that situation.

‘No, no. No matter how much you prepare, it’s never enough to prepare for that.’

I had to change my thinking. There’s no time to be tied to the past.

I took a long breath with my eyes closed.

A moment of time.

After exhaling a long breath, I opened my eyes wide.

‘If it’s not enough, I’ll fill it now. Now that it’s already happened, I’ll just do what I can.’

Being full of despair or feeling embarrassed is only up to this point.

From now on, I’ll find what I need to do.

As I always have.

I turned to the dwarves and opened my mouth.

“Has it completely awakened?”

“Not yet, Master.”

“Their consciousness was only half-baked after all.”

“I thought so.”

I nodded.

If that thing had completely awakened, I wouldn’t have just received this much feeling right now.

Right now, it was just a twitch before waking up from a dream.

‘In the end, I bought time because my existence didn’t fall into Behemoth’s hands.’

It’s not that it woke up already.

I had to be satisfied with just buying time up to this point.

“How much time is left?”

“One week.”

“Are you saying that it will move in a week?”

“It could be pulled forward or pushed back. But so far, it has always been a week.”

“During that week…… The omens of destruction will appear.”

“Omens of destruction?”

“The master also experienced it in the records. There is not much left…….”

Before the dwarf could finish speaking.

I turned my head sharply to the north.

Whoosh!

An ominous energy rushed in like a tidal wave.

North.

All that’s there is the uncharted territory.

I let out a hollow laugh and nodded.

“I understand.”

The primordial monster began to wriggle, and the world vibrated accordingly.

What would react to that first?

There’s no need to ask.

I’ve already experienced it in the records.

“It’s the monsters.”

* * *

Northern South Korea, a certain downtown area.

Immediately after the unidentified wailing that swept the world echoed.

The world stopped for a very brief moment.

After that, people suddenly came to their senses.

“Wh, what just happened?”

“Is it an earthquake?”

“No, it sounded like something was crying…….”

“Wh, wh, why is my body trembling……?”

Ordinary people who had not learned magic were all trembling.

And it wasn’t long after that.

Beeeep!

An alarm sound flowed from everyone holding a smartphone.

At the same time, emergency breaking news began to appear on the electronic display instead of advertisements, and everyone walking down the street checked the contents of the alarm in their own way.

-At 4:31 PM, the military authorities confirmed a large-scale gathering of monsters in the northern uncharted territory.

-Currently, the South Korean government has declared an evacuation order for the following areas for smooth military operations.

-Residents of the following areas should cooperate with civil defense and…….

Shocking content.

The citizens who read it were momentarily stunned and blinked their eyes.

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiing!

Subsequently, a siren sounded as if the city would be swept away.

-Currently, a monster air raid and alert is being issued in all areas nationwide.

-I repeat…….

-This broadcast is from the South Korean Fire and Disaster Prevention Agency Civil Defense…….

And that, really, rushed in without warning.

“Huh?”