Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 50

Weapon-Eating Heir 50

Mount Cheonwi is practically a goblin kingdom.

Goblins reign supreme within their territory.

The Caretaker crossed three ridges in a single bound, his eyes blazing with goblin fire as he spotted Lee Cheol in the distance.

He used magic to fold the earth, shortening distances, and clairvoyance to see far beyond a thousand miles.

The Caretaker saw Lee Cheol reaching for Bak.

“Hey, you little punk!”

*Whoosh!*

As if teleporting, the Caretaker instantly appeared between Bak and Lee Cheol.

Lee Cheol’s eyes widened.

“Caretaker, it’s been a while. But I’d appreciate it if you could let me through for a moment. That thing is currently…”

Lee Cheol greeted him politely, but kept glancing sideways at Bak behind the Caretaker.

Sparks flew from the Caretaker’s eyes at the sight.

“Is this guy crazy! How dare you target a sacred creature in my presence!”

“Excuse me?”

Lee Cheol tilted his head, feigning ignorance.

The Caretaker gritted his teeth.

“I’ve never seen anyone like you in my life! I’m going to contact your family right now and turn your training upside down!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t know! What you were chasing with murderous intent is Bak, a sacred creature! One must not easily kill a sacred creature! Especially in a sacred mountain, in this mountain where I reside…!”

“Excuse me? Why would I kill a sacred creature?”

Only after seeing Lee Cheol’s genuinely bewildered face did the Caretaker belatedly realize that something was amiss.

‘Come to think of it, why is that Bak wagging its tail so provocatively?’

‘And the guy who he thought was hunting a sacred creature is holding a basket and a hoe, not hunting tools?’

-Kieeeing!

At that moment, Bak let out a strange cry, wagging its nine short tails as if mocking them, and darted away.

“Ah! That bastard!”

“Hey, hey! Wait a minute!”

The Caretaker stopped Lee Cheol, who was about to take off after it.

“Why are you chasing Bak anyway!”

“That thing stole my elixir!”

“Elixir? Stole it? What are you even talking about!”

What is an elixir, and how does it make sense that a sacred creature stole something from a human?

“I’m sorry! I’ll explain later!”

While the Caretaker was momentarily stunned, Lee Cheol pushed off the ground again and leaped away.

“Hey, hey! Stop! How are you going to find someone who’s already hidden! Come here and listen to me first…!”

The Caretaker was about to grab Lee Cheol when he flinched in surprise.

Unless they were special, sacred creatures were masters at concealing their presence.

It was on a different level from human stealth techniques, making it difficult to find them even with exceptional senses.

‘But that guy is now heading straight to where Bak is hiding?’

His eyes were filled with a deep sunset glow, and his feet were bursting with aura, yet not a single scratch appeared on the ground.

‘Was he always that fast? And even with the Evil Eye, how can he find the sacred creature’s presence so accurately?’

The Caretaker sighed, watching Lee Cheol already running to the opposite ridge and grappling with Bak.

Barely 3 months.

That was the time he had stopped paying attention.

What on earth had happened in the meantime?

* * *

It had been four months since entering Mount Cheonwi, a little over three months if counted by days.

My daily life hadn’t changed.

Mornings of hiking, rest, martial arts training, rest, *Ganggi* [spiritual energy cultivation] training, rest, elixir making, sleep.

Sometimes, when I got tired of the repetitive days, I would change the order of the training.

In any case, there were no days off.

If I were outside, I would have collapsed from fatigue, so I would have forced myself to take a day off, but at least in Mount Cheonwi, I didn’t have to worry about physical or magical fatigue, so I continued to handle the intense schedule.

Among them, making elixirs was something I reluctantly did at the end of a tiring day, trying to ignore the desire to quickly get into bed.

Mount Cheonwi was rich in high-quality medicinal herbs and magical herbs.

As a result, I kept getting greedy, and it took me almost 100 days to complete the elixir.

Finally, today, it would be complete if I ground in the last ingredient.

I went hiking to find that ingredient and returned.

But that was the moment.

-Kieeeing!

A strangely 생긴 [shaped] beast had entered the yard of my lodging next to the zelkova tree.

But those beasts didn’t have ordinary appearances.

They were sacred creatures.

To be exact, sacred creature’s.

Propitious and spiritual beings.

Those sacred creatures were boggling their eyes and fighting over my elixir.

Then, as if they had reached some agreement among themselves, a sheep with nine short tails in mouth started running away with the elixir.

Naturally, I chased after it, and in the process, I met the Caretaker.

And while I was held by the Caretaker, the distance widened.

I followed hard again, but Bak swallowed the elixir in that short time.

“Oh, I see. Ahem, well, um, I’m sorry.”

The Caretaker scratched the back of his head and turned his eyes away after learning the whole story.

I deliberately lowered my voice and said.

“A ginseng that’s at least 40 or 50 years old.”

“Huh?”

“*Ha-soo-oh* [Polygonum multiflorum], *Baekrincho* [white truffle], *Yonglinhwa* [Dragon Scale Flower], truffles, Cordyceps that grew from the corpse of a magical insect…”

I sighed deeply and continued.

“It was hard to collect. It was even harder to make because there were many medicines with different properties. I feel a little empty. It was a medicine I made while staying up all night, but a sacred creature stole it, and to think that everything would be in vain because of being interrupted.”

“Ah, no, that’s, you know. If you’re running so fiercely, I’m bound to be a little surprised!”

The Caretaker raised his voice in a fluster.

But inwardly, he was surprised.

‘The ingredients that went into that elixir are all formidable.’

Each one might be a good medicinal ingredient, but if that level of magical herbs and medicinal ingredients were combined, it would be comparable to a divine medicine.

Besides, seeing him carrying a lot of luggage when he entered the mountain, it seems he brought other basic medicinal ingredients and tools as well…

‘Is this kid making a medicine that even sacred creatures would covet?’

Ordinary divine medicines wouldn’t be coveted by sacred creatures.

If a sacred creature were to target it, it must have a considerable amount of pure energy.

Only then did the things that Chief Choi had said flash through his mind.

‘Should I have watched him more closely? What is this guy?’

At that moment, a sigh that seemed to sink the ground was heard in the Caretaker’s ears.

Of course, that sigh came from Lee Cheol’s mouth.

“…I said I’m sorry. Don’t be so petty, you man.”

“With this, one of the reasons I came to Mount Cheonwi has failed. That medicine was one of my important purposes.”

“Ugh, hey, I allowed you to collect it anyway, so what if you get robbed a little!”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say anything to the Caretaker. Well, that’s true. You did allow me, but it’s from the Caretaker’s territory.”

I clearly received an apology, but why does my heart feel so pricked?

The Caretaker hesitated, then declared loudly as if he had made up his mind.

“Hey! That’s it! I’ll compensate you!”

“Excuse me? What do you mean?”

“I’ll compensate you because you missed it because of me! What is it! What do you want!”

I glanced at the Caretaker and then lowered my head again.

“How dare I ask the family’s guardian spirit…? It’s okay.”

“No, you little punk! I’ll grant you anything, so tell me!”

I finally raised my head slightly, peering at the Caretaker through my drooping hair.

“Anything?”

The Caretaker flinched.

I felt a chill.

“Uh, uh, yeah. But I’ll only do as much as the value of that elixir?”

The Caretaker coughed lowly, ahem.

“That alone would be too grateful for me. But Caretaker.”

“Yeah? Why?”

“You know that my father gave me special permission to come to the mountain, right?”

“Uh, but why are you suddenly saying that?”

“I have to report the results of my training to my father. But since this has gone wrong… I’m really sorry, but I think I’ll have to tell my father about this-”

-I was about to say. But the Caretaker cut me off.

“Hey, you little punk! You can’t say that!”

“Excuse me? Why?”

I pretended not to understand.

The Caretaker pointed at me, his earlobes flushed red.

“Hey! If you say it like that, it’ll be breaking the promise you made with your ancestor! Besides…”

If that happens, the Caretaker will be seen as causing trouble to a mere trainee.

There’s no joke like this joke.

“Anyway, I’ll compensate you for that separately, so shut your mouth!”

“You promised?”

“Yeah, I promise, okay?”

That’s it.

I received a word from the goblin.

I turned my head sharply.

‘The medicine I made this time is a bit of a waste, but I can always make another elixir. There are still ingredients I haven’t used up, and I’ll continue to collect ingredients for elixirs during the remaining training period.’

More importantly, I managed to get a word from the goblin through this.

Goblins can never break their promises.

It is a characteristic of the mysterious race created by nature.

It’s not the kind of story where there are penalties if they break it, but the goblin race itself was ‘absolutely’ unable to break their promises.

“…What are you? Why are your eyes suddenly shining?”

“I’m clearing my mind because you said you’d give me compensation.”

“Clearing your mind, my ass! You cunning bastard! You tricked me!”

The Caretaker shouted.

A person who deceives a goblin is also just like the legends.

“Tricked you? I never once asked the Caretaker to compensate me.”

“Ha! This body is also very old. To be deceived by such a kid! Damn it!”

The Caretaker desperately wanted a bottle of alcohol in his hand, but there was no way a bottle of alcohol would appear.

“Haa! Damn it! Okay, what should I give you? Should I give you a gold nugget? Or maybe, give you a weapon?”

I tried hard to hold back a smile and opened my mouth towards the Caretaker in a very polite posture.

“Those are okay.”

What the Caretaker said wasn’t bad either. But there were things that would be more helpful to me right now in my head.

“I want the Caretaker’s time.”

The Caretaker’s expression was filled with bewilderment at my words.

* * *

I was standing at the entrance of the zelkova tree leading to the training ground.

Slowly tensing my body, I drew up magic power and spread it throughout my body’s magic circuits.

“Hoo, I’m ready.”

I took a deep breath and moved towards the knot hole.

The slowly dark scenery gradually changed into the appearance of the training ground.

Soon, the quiet appearance of the training ground came into view.

But the air was different.

Suddenly, a pungent smell of poison was spreading in the training ground, where pleasant air was always maintained.

-Kiek!

Ttagak-.

Something thick and long like a pillar of a building touched the ground.

A sound like a shoe heel touching the ground.

A phenomenon that should never happen here is happening.

I turned my head towards the direction where the sound came from.

A half-human, half-beast. A monster whose lower body is a spider, but whose upper body is in the form of a human.

The Queen of the Spider-People.

I didn’t panic and immediately drew up magic power.

*Mujin* [MC’s martial art] moves.

I concentrate on one stance, one stance.

As if proving the results of the training I had done.

*Bang! Bang!*

I pushed back the swirling poisonous smoke, bounced off the pouring spider legs, and advanced.

‘It’s different from a year ago. I’ve grown too.’

The current Queen of the Spider-People is not paying attention to the fire attached to the dungeon, and she has somewhat realized how to handle her body.

Nevertheless, I am reading the movements of the Queen of the Spider-People.

Unlike then, when I was desperately avoiding only fatal wounds, I am properly avoiding them through the Evil Eye and intuition.

‘And so are my movements.’

I was convinced after experiencing actual combat.

That it is possible to sufficiently raise the overall level by training the basics.

It was only a year, but I was definitely different from the past.

Now that I knew that, it was enough.

Now is the real beginning.

‘So that the aura skill used for the first time is no different from the aura skill used at the end.’

I muttered as if chanting a spell.

Then, before I knew it, a fierce aura was swirling over *Mujin*.

*Ganggi, Yeomra* [Aura skill].

The name of the god who judges the prisoners of hell.

A technique that my aunt reinterpreted the records of aura skills she saw in ancient documents.

Like binding the limbs of a prisoner, the torrent of aura that stretched out like a whip bound the numerous legs of the Queen of the Spider-People.

-Kieeeeeek!

The Queen of the Spider-People screamed as if tearing apart.

And the next moment, *Mujin* took the form of a great sword.

*Mujin Ilshik, Cheokma* [Sword technique].

At the tip of the sword, a sharp aura of cold wind formed.

*Seugagagak!*

The Queen of the Spider-People hurriedly tried to defend herself by unfolding magic power, but all of those defenses were cut off in one blow.

And I still had energy left.

I transformed all of the massive magic power enhanced by the amplification technique into a lightning aura skill.

*Kwarurureung!*

A thunderous sound echoed in the clear sky.

The world was submerged in light along with a stinging flash, and as the light soon faded, the appearance of the Queen of the Spider-People was revealed.

-Kieek…

As expected, it was a level 5 boss monster.

It was a near-fatal wound, but the Queen of the Spider-People was still wriggling.

The Queen of the Spider-People’s compound eyes took on a murderous intent.

I, who was facing her, knew best what that murderous intent meant.

‘Suicide attack!’

-Kiaaaaaak!

The Queen of the Spider-People kicked off the ground.

I, who had exhausted all my strength, had no strength to stop the Queen of the Spider-People’s terrifying rush.

*Poong!*

But the Queen of the Spider-People did not reach me.

The Queen’s figure disappeared, scattering like steam just before reaching me.