Chapter 122
Chapter 122
Ch. 122 .｡.:✧ Who Are You? (4) ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Disrupt this man’s mental state, incapacitate him, even if just temporarily.
A brief moment would be enough.
Just a sliver of time to complete the clone.
With that intention, the ‘voice’ burrowed into Yoo-jin’s mind, but…
It was quickly met with despair.
‘How can a human’s mental defenses be this strong…!’
It couldn’t penetrate.
Not a single crack could be found.
Humans, who primarily focused on physical training, shouldn’t possess such formidable mental barriers.
Even dragons, known for their strong minds, had weaknesses that could be exploited with enough effort.
But this man had no weaknesses.
It was like facing an inanimate object.
Or perhaps, a hive mind.
A collective consciousness formed by dozens of individuals.
Or maybe dozens of evil spirits were clinging to him, protecting his mind…?
‘What is this thing?!’
A shiver ran down its spine.
It had encountered such beings before, but rarely.
For example, one twin dying and their soul clinging to the surviving twin, resulting in a being with two souls.
But this man’s soul… there were at least ten of them, intertwined.
Was he the sole survivor of ten siblings?
That was absurd.
It couldn’t comprehend this.
This human was of a kind that shouldn’t exist.
No, a kind that couldn’t exist.
Whatever it was, it was dangerous.
It had to get out of here.
As the ‘voice’ panicked, the thick mental barriers began to open on their own.
‘Huh?’
An ominous light seeped out from within.
The ‘voice’ froze.
Something that shouldn’t be inside his mental defenses was slowly emerging.
‘Lord… Draken…?’
Giant tentacles slithered out from behind the barrier, one by one.
They slowly extended, revealing a massive form that threatened to fill the entire mindscape.
The creature that had emerged from that tiny hole was several times larger than the mental barrier itself.
‘Aaaaaah…!’
The ‘voice’ trembled.
It was definitely Him.
The Great One.
The One who shouldn’t be here.
It couldn’t make eye contact!
It would go mad! It would suffer a fate worse than death!
The ‘voice’ desperately tried to escape, dodging the massive form that was breaking through the mental barrier.
‘This bastard! Did he make eye contact with the Great One?! How is he still sane?! Or is he already insane?!’
An exit, which had been sealed off, suddenly opened.
The ‘voice’ lunged towards the exit and successfully entered the clone.
There had been some trouble along the way, but it had achieved its goal.
Now, all it had to do was take control of the clone.
It was a clone created with a massive amount of demonic energy, so it should be able to utilize at least 30% of the main body’s power.
It had only been able to use less than 10% of Lawrence’s power, but this time would be different.
…It had to be different.
‘Huh?’
The clone’s form started to distort, twisting in a strange way.
It was moving on its own, beyond the ‘voice’s’ control.
The beautiful form it had painstakingly crafted disappeared, replaced by a hideous shape.
The ‘voice’ screamed, but it was helpless.
Trapped within the demonic energy dough with no escape, it could only wail.
And when the transformation was complete, the ‘voice’ let out a shriek.
‘My clone… reduced to the form of a sword?! An archdemon’s clone, imitating a mere piece of metal?!’
A sword.
It was fixed in the shape of a sword.
It seemed like it could be transformed back into an unstable state, but that was impossible for the ‘voice,’ which had completely lost control over the demonic energy.
|Haaaaaaaaaagh!!!|
The ‘voice,’ a fragment of Belphegor, let out a silent scream.
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[Demonic Sword]
A sword made from an archdemon’s demonic energy.
It has the properties of metal, but also conducts demonic energy and magic power.
A skilled user might be able to transform it into an unstable state.
It was a truly magnificent sword.
It seemed like it could only manifest metallic parts, so it only had a tang, but…
That could be easily solved by crafting a hilt.
The sword’s specs were impressive.
It was a single-edged, curved sword, like Transylvania’s.
Its blade was sturdy, its edge sharp, and…
It conducted magic power well, which would be helpful for magic control.
It was even more efficient than my previous setup, a cheap sword with a mana stone attached.
It also conducted demonic energy, so it could probably be used as a totem or something, but…
I didn’t know how to use those, so I just acknowledged the possibility and moved on.
“…It… seems… you can… mold it.”
“Mold it?”
I was puzzled, but then I realized what Undecided was talking about.
The last sentence in the Appraisal window,
“A skilled user might be able to transform it into an unstable state.”
I closed my eyes and gripped the sword.
It felt cold and hard, like metal.
But as I slowly infused it with my will, it softened like slime, its shape collapsing.
And when I tightened my grip, it hardened again.
But this time, its form was different.
It wasn’t a curved sword anymore, but a massive double-edged sword.
A two-handed sword, commonly used in the Frost Style.
“Huh. A transforming weapon.”
I dissolved its form again and reshaped it, this time into a broad, single-edged sword used in the Merida Style.
With this, I could maximize the potential of all three sword styles.
Of course, the transformation had its limits.
It wasn’t completely free-form.
It could only transform within the category of ‘swords.’
I tried to stretch it out like a spear, but it was impossible.
I tried to turn it into an axe, or a seven-branched sword, but that was also impossible.
I couldn’t even shrink it down to the size of a small bead.
But I only needed it as a sword, so that didn’t matter.
“There are two downsides…”
Of course, there were some significant downsides.
One was that it could only manifest the tang.
Crafting a hilt was useless.
It would just break every time the sword transformed.
There was only one solution.
I had to become the hilt.
That might sound absurd, but…
If I fixed its form with a thick tang, I could grip it without a hilt.
I could wear thick gloves to protect my hands, and the grip wouldn’t be too bad.
But the real problem was the second downside.
Unlike the first, which could be solved, the second one was hopeless.
It was that…
|My clone… reduced to the form of a sword?! An archdemon’s clone, imitating a mere piece of metal?! Haaaaaaaagh!!!|
This sword was loud.
“It’s a great sword, except for the fact that it’s noisy.”
“…The sword… is noisy?”
“Yes. It talks.”
“…Yoo-jin. Have you… finally… gone mad?”
“No, I’m serious! It really talks!”
Undecided sighed, looking at me with pity.
I was serious! Belphegor’s voice was coming from the sword!
I handed the sword to Undecided, who was skeptical.
Her eyes widened.
“…It’s true.”
“What’s it saying?”
“…It told me… to clean up… the corpse… sniffle”
I had thought I might be hallucinating, but it seemed like I wasn’t.
Belphegor’s voice was definitely coming from the Demonic Sword.
Judging from the circumstances, it was probably the personality of Belphegor’s demonic energy that had entered the sword.
I thought I had crushed and destroyed it when I was manipulating the mana stone’s form, but…
Somehow, its personality had survived.
Or maybe this Demonic Sword itself was filled with its personality.
|You madman! You insane bastard! You’re out of your mind!|
Was there a mute button on this thing?
Aside from the noise, there were no major drawbacks.
The demonic energy had completely lost its function, merging with the Demonic Sword, so it couldn’t contact the main body.
And since its state was stable, there was no need to worry about it leaking demonic energy.
Even if I held this sword in front of Belphegor, it wouldn’t recognize it as being made from its own demonic energy.
The noise was a major drawback, but it outweighed all the advantages…
“Why do you keep calling me a madman?”
|What else would I call a madman?! How! How can you be sane after making eye contact with the Great One?! Are you even human?!|
“…?”
What was it talking about?
I had never made eye contact with Draken.
I had been dragged before the final boss and witnessed its massive form, but I couldn’t bring myself to meet its gaze.
“What are you talking about? I never made eye contact.”
|Don’t lie! If you didn’t make eye contact, how did a fragment of the Great One enter your mental barrier?! You accepted a fragment of the Great One and remained sane?! If that’s not madness, what is?!|
“…?”
A fragment of Draken inside me?
That reminded me of a setting related to the final boss.
Most of the settings were still undisclosed (which meant they hadn’t been created yet), but…
I remembered one setting, those who looked into Draken’s eyes would be brainwashed.
And this ‘fragment of Draken’ that the Demonic Sword was talking about was probably the source of that brainwashing.
But for some reason, I hadn’t been brainwashed.
And I had a guess as to why.
‘Did I erase the memory myself?’
I had no memory of looking into Draken’s eyes.
As far as I could remember, I had escaped from the other world without ever meeting Draken’s gaze.
But according to the Demonic Sword, I had made eye contact, but then erased the memory.
Perhaps I had erased the memory to isolate Draken’s fragment and prevent the brainwashing?
But there was no way I would have done that on my own.
‘Did the ‘Mental Fortitude’ trait handle it automatically?’
‘That doesn’t seem right either.’
Then who erased my memory?
It was a mystery.
But I couldn’t risk unlocking that sealed memory and getting brainwashed.
For now, I could only thank the unknown entity that had sealed the memory for me.
“Thanks for the information. So, I’ll give you a special choice. First, shut your mouth and become my sword. Second, keep talking and get buried in concrete and sunk to the bottom of the ocean.”
|Th-Third…?|
“There is no third.”
|Y-You… demon!|
Was being called a demon by an archdemon a compliment or an insult?
Well, it was just a lump of demonic energy now, not even an archdemon.
“Choose quickly.”
|O-Okay… I’ll obey… If my main body sees me like this, it’ll probably try to destroy me for betraying it… I’d rather live, even if it means being a coward…|
This was unexpected.
I thought it would refuse to submit, clinging to its archdemon pride, and continue to be noisy.
But it surrendered surprisingly easily.
Had its personality changed after being separated from the main body?
Or would Belphegor’s main body also become cowardly when weakened?
I suddenly wanted to capture it and find out.
|Don’t expect to extract information about my main body from me. I’m just a piece of demonic energy that split off from the main body. My original plan was to possess the clone and connect with the main body to share memories, so right now, I’m practically a blank slate. Aside from inheriting some of the main body’s personality, I have almost no memories. You can consider me a completely different entity.|
“You seem that way. Your tone is different.”
|Is that so…?|
Its voice sounded slightly depressed.
I chuckled and transformed the Demonic Sword back into the shape of my old, cheap sword, then sheathed it.
It looked strange, with just the tang sticking out of the sheath.
I should make a cover for it later.
|So, what are you going to do now?|
“What am I going to do? I’m going to kill your main body.”
|Hmm. I see. Yes. Hmm. Hmm? Uh? Uh…?|
I had acquired a reliable Demonic Sword.
Now it was time to hunt down its main body and beat it to a pulp.
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