Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 352

Weapon-Eating Bastard – Episode 352

I stood on the pier, overlooking the sea.

Behind me, the main family warriors were gathering one by one.

Not everyone had arrived yet, but their numbers were significantly reduced.

Those who had perished in the destruction, those who had suffered injuries preventing them from coming, and those who were teetering on the brink of death were absent.

The main family warriors who gathered were all standing, continuing their struggle.

“…….”

Gazing at the dark, churning sea, I took a long breath.

Ahead of the final battle, I had requested the gathering of all available forces from around the world.

And the moment all the forces gathered, we would advance towards the Blue Hole.

“The problem is…….”

“How many will actually gather, right?”

Just then, a voice came from beside me.

“Anastasia?”

“It’s been a while, Lee Cheol. No, it hasn’t been that long… but it feels like a really long time since I’ve seen you.”

“It’s dangerous here. Why on earth are you here…….”

The Black Serpent Society Leader, Anastasia.

And she, who had become the main family’s Gamo [a high-ranking female warrior or leader], was standing next to me.

It seemed she had come with the warriors of the main family during their transport.

“I missed you.”

“…….”

I opened my mouth slightly at her confident words.

“Thank you for worrying about me. But in times like these, you should just say thank you for coming. Got it?”

Anastasia said that and stepped closer.

I could only smile wryly.

“I was planning to see you anyway. Before the fight… I wanted to see Lee Cheol.”

Anastasia said this in an even more subdued voice.

“……There’s urgent news that just came in. The Kowloon Society and the Theocracy seem to have departed quite a while ago. But the Russell Family and other forces will be the problem.”

Anastasia pinpointed my concerns.

It was unclear whether Henry Russell, who didn’t think much of me, would join, and whether other national forces would send enough troops to help, given the disaster in their own countries and the fact they would essentially be under my command.

“And… there’s another problem.”

“Yes, that’s right. Time. We don’t have enough time.”

I answered Anastasia’s words and looked up at the sky, taking a long breath.

The black sun, the ominous aurora of unknown origin.

No one knows if aircraft can fly there.

Will they be able to arrive on time?

I can only hope.

I just hope they come as soon as possible.

‘The Northern Wall… the goblins will go and help. It has collapsed, but if we can defeat the Primordial Monster, everything will eventually be resolved.’

The end was really just around the corner.

I stroked the Black Night at my waist.

“Lee Cheol.”

“Yes, Anastasia.”

“I believe in you. I believe you can do it, Lee Cheol. So…….”

Anastasia gripped my hand tightly.

“……Please leave this land to me. I… I will definitely protect it until Lee Cheol returns.”

In fact, that wasn’t what Anastasia wanted to say.

But she didn’t want to burden Lee Cheol.

“Don’t worry, Anastasia.”

I smiled and squeezed Anastasia’s hand.

* * *

Far away in the darkness.

A man sitting in deep meditation slowly opened his mouth.

“Finally.”

The man’s deep amber eyes took in the world.

The sky shrouded in darkness.

The collapsed earth.

The rampaging monsters.

Finally, the destruction had arrived.

It was time for ‘it’ to rise.

“The time has come for a revenge battle after thousands of years.”

The man slowly rose from his seat and moved.

His eyes turned to the distant sea.

Black hair, yellow eyes, and handsome features formed an ominous smile.

The first direct descendant of the Sungmoo Lee family, Lee Myung-jung.

And now, the being who should be called Lee Hyul-hyun stood there.

His eyes turned to somewhere far away.

Someone was standing there.

Smirk-!

Lee Hyul-hyun smiled.

His gaze, full of malice, was fixed on the man who carried the mandate of the world on his shoulders, Lee Cheol.

* * *

The continent had split, and it was the night of the day that followed.

The sky was becoming darker and darker with each passing day.

Rumble…….

From time to time, a noise like a cry echoed over the black sun.

Time passed, and it was impossible to tell whether it was night or day.

Recently, there had been so many urgent signs of destruction, but now it was quiet and still.

‘It’s the calm before the storm.’

The main family warriors who had completed their gathering were scattered in all directions, each continuing their preparations.

Some were writing wills.

Some were eating their fill.

Some were resting.

Some were treating their injuries.

I looked around at them.

‘The fourth, fifth, and seventh brothers couldn’t come after all.’

The three of them, who had suffered fatal injuries in the battle with the first-class monster, were resting because they were too weak to move.

‘Sister Lee Jin-yoon, Lee Seo-hyun.’

In the distance, I could see the two of them sitting quietly in meditation, immersed in their mental imagery.

‘Aunt, Valerie, and even the elders.’

There were people I didn’t want to bring if I could help it.

‘Lee Young-sung.’

And there was someone who followed me with all his life.

‘Choi In-ha, Kim Bo-sung, Kim Han.’

There were also classmates from the 5th class cadet corps who had shared joys and sorrows.

In addition, countless talented people from the main family were preparing for the end with their own resolutions.

I was strolling around, looking at the troops, when it happened.

“What are you looking at so intently?”

From far away.

A low, heavy voice echoed.

When I turned my head, my eyes widened.

It was my father, Lee Tae-shin.

“Father. You’ve come.”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t think you would come.”

“When needed, at the appointed time, I have simply come to find my place.”

I had heard that he was receiving reports on the war situation, but he had not shown himself on the battlefield.

It was the first time I had seen my father in a year since the succession ceremony.

“Is your body… alright?”

“Yes.”

I examined my father.

And slowly, my eyes widened.

I didn’t know what he had been doing for the past year, but my father’s aura had changed completely.

‘Has he become stronger?’

Was it an illusion, or was it real?

I couldn’t easily grasp my father’s aura.

I could tell if I used the Evil Eye and magic, but I couldn’t completely gauge his level with just the energy he exuded.

I couldn’t know for sure, but at least the aura of death that had been on his face had disappeared.

“Father. Have you come to give us strength?”

“Yes, but also no. My destiny was pointing here. So don’t worry about this incompetent father. I will wield my sword according to my destiny, and it may be different from your fight.”

Words that seemed to grasp at clouds.

But they were not incomprehensible.

I nodded silently.

“You have a destiny given only to you, so be faithful to it.”

My father finished those words and was looking at the distant east.

The sound of the surging waves continued intermittently.

The moment a low silence settled.

Amidst the sound of the waves, my father’s voice was heard.

“You have done well.”

“……Yes?”

“I am saying that you have done better than I have.”

What was my father talking about now?

My father glanced at my puzzled expression and continued.

“Gathering the world, building up strength, and being able to lead everyone was not something I could do. It was something only you could do.”

I couldn’t help but widen my eyes.

It was the first time I had ever heard such honest praise from my father.

“Why are you making that face?”

“No, it’s nothing. It’s just… I think it’s the first time I’ve felt that my father is the kind of person who says these things.”

“……I see.”

My father’s eyes turned to the distance.

“It would have been nice if we had shared… more stories.”

My father’s voice was scattered and blown away by the oncoming wind and the sound of the waves crashing against the pier.

Maybe.

Maybe, after all these battles are over, I might find a way to heal my father.

I was dreaming of a future where I would cut down the Primordial Monster, which had acquired divine power.

Could I not even save the life of just one person?

‘When that time comes, we can have more conversations.’

I didn’t say it out loud.

I just felt the touch of the sword at my waist and looked at the distant sky.

But.

Flinch!

My father and I turned our bodies to the back at the same time.

“……Father.”

“Yes.”

Gaze.

I felt a sensation that something was looking at me.

‘Lee Hyul-hyun!’

A clear human gaze.

But I could clearly grasp that energy.

“Don’t worry. The Progenitor cannot move yet.”

“……What, what do you mean?”

“Don’t worry about it. You just focus on the battle given to you…….”

The conversation ended there.

At that time when I was looking at my father.

Whoosh!

All sounds stopped.

The sound of the waves.

The sound of the wind.

The voices of all the main family warriors preparing for battle.

“……Why.”

I heard my father’s trembling voice.

“Why, already. Like this?”

I couldn’t hear my father’s voice well.

I couldn’t make a voice like my father.

Instincts screamed.

Don’t look back.

Run away right now.

Run away as you are, exhaling your breath.

Numerous warnings filled with fear rushed through my head.

Clench!

I turned my stiff, unmoving head and shifted my gaze to the sea.

Crackle, crackle crackle!

Above the sky, intense thunder roared.

I felt my lips dry out.

Goosebumps rose on my spine, and my fine hairs stood on end.

Goooooooooooooooo……!

The rushing air permeated the skin like a sharp blade.

I raised my head and looked at the sky.

Not only me, but everyone couldn’t turn their eyes away.

“Ah, ah ah! Aaaaaaah!”

Someone screamed as if unable to overcome the rushing fear.

Even though he was a strong Sungmoo Lee family warrior who threw his own body at the end of the struggle, he felt a pain that seemed to burn his eyes just by looking at it.

It was starting in the sky.

The black sun floating in the center.

From that hole that seemed to swallow everything in the world, something was pouring out.

[───────!]

Some kind of sound echoed.

It sounded like a voice.

It sounded like a cry.

It also sounded like a shattering, breaking, and tearing sound.

It was some kind of great world’s cry that could not be understood by the human brain, and it was a cry of terror that made the mind faint just by listening to it.

Kuuuuuuuuung!

The clouds seemed to take shape and stretch out.

As if breaking out of an egg, hundreds and thousands of long tentacles stretched out from the sky, wrapped in a black aura that covered the sun.

“The Primordial Monster……!”

Kwaang, Kuurururururung!

I shouted as if crying.

Finally, a beast wrapped in all the black energy of the world descended to the ground.

It was the mother of the monsters that were eating away at the world.

It was a living destruction that circled the world.

The Primordial Monster.

The monster that exists to annihilate all beings had descended before us.