Chapter 333
Chapter 333
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 333
Chapter Title: Treasure Hunt (12)
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*Crunch, crunch.*
Like crushing hard candy, shattered pieces of gold disappeared into Deimos's mouth.
His muscles and flesh were grotesquely swollen.
A hideous form that seemed to be the very personification of ‘greed’.
“Hh, hhhh.”
His eyes were glazed over, as if intoxicated.
Thick saliva dribbled from his open mouth.
“More, more… I need more treasure.”
His eyes, gleaming with madness, turned to Baek Mu-gang.
His gaze fell upon the sword in Baek Mu-gang's hand.
The sword Oh-jin had casually tossed him was just one of hundreds, even thousands, in his collection of famed blades, but…
“My treasure… How dare you…!”
*Crrrack! Creak!*
With the sound of twisting bones, his bloated body, swollen to several meters in size, began to move.
A monstrous roar, born of vile greed and madness, echoed through the chamber.
“How dare you covet the treasure of Deimos!”
Not a single treasure could be spared.
Not a single piece of gold could be given up.
All the treasures of the world must become his flesh, his bones, and his blood.
Because.
-Are you hungry?
A voice echoed in his head.
From the distant past, a young man had approached him as he was starving to death in a dark mine shaft.
He remembered the young man's eyes, deep as an abyss, and the fierce blue will-o'-the-wisps burning within them.
-Shall I tell you a way to never be hungry again?
He had whispered in an impossibly gentle voice.
He had promised in an impossibly kind voice.
-This is the refined form of the rock you've been digging up every day. They call it gold.
Ah.
How could he ever forget?
The brilliant golden light that illuminated the dark, dreary mine.
Its form, so beautiful it could bring tears to his eyes.
-Isn't it strange? You're the one mining gold, enduring the pain of your body breaking down, yet this is the first time you've ever seen it.
It was strange.
It was irrational.
It was absurd.
-There is a way for you to have all this gold… Shall I tell you?
It was a suggestion so sweet it felt like it could melt him.
But he couldn't help but shake his head reflexively.
He thought the man was lying, the offer too preposterous.
Hahaha.
The young man laughed with a clear voice, his smile bright.
-I have never lied. Not once.
*BOOOOOOM!*
A massive impact shook the treasury.
“Grrrrrrrrrrr!”
Deimos let out a guttural roar and swung the holy sword at Baek Mu-gang.
*KRA-KA-KA-KA-KA-KOW!*
A tidal wave of white flames engulfed the surroundings, crashing down on Baek Mu-gang.
“Aaaaaargh!”
“Sir!”
Swept up in the white flames, the flesh all over Baek Mu-gang's body began to turn black and necrotic.
Oh-jin urgently kicked off the ground and rushed forward, swinging his fist at the torrent of white flames.
The blue lightning that erupted from the arm of the Thunder God deflected the white flames.
“Vega! Grant me your blessing!”
[As you wish!]
A radiant silver aura seeped into Oh-jin's body.
The Stigma carved on his left chest blazed with a fierce light, as if it were on fire.
“Hmph!”
He condensed the boiling magic into his right arm.
His arm was pulled back like a drawn bowstring.
Stomping his foot down hard, he thrust his fist forward.
━━━━━━━!
A tidal wave of lightning that devoured even sound washed over Deimos's body.
“Use, less!”
Deimos took the lightning wave head-on and slammed his massive body into Oh-jin.
“Keuk!”
The impact was like being hit by a dump truck.
Oh-jin coughed up blood and was sent flying backward.
“Don't... bully... good people!”
Baek Mu-gang shouted through gritted teeth as he swung his sword.
He was grievously wounded, his entire body blackened.
But the Stigma's magic contained within his swinging sword held an even sharper chill.
*CR-CR-CR-CRACK!*
The ground froze along the path of his horizontal slash.
The chilling sword energy sliced through Deimos's grotesquely bloated body.
“Krrruuugh!”
From his collarbone to his pelvis.
A gash so deep his internal organs were visible ran across Deimos's body.
*Chomp, chomp!*
But when he grabbed a handful of gold and shoved it into his mouth, the torn flesh regenerated in an instant.
“Hmph.”
After regenerating his wound, Deimos brutally kicked the charging Baek Mu-gang.
*BOOOOM!*
With a heavy boom, Baek Mu-gang's body was slammed into the wall.
“Ah, ugh.”
The sword in Baek Mu-gang's hand fell to the floor and rolled to Deimos's feet.
Deimos picked up the fallen sword and opened his mouth wide.
*Crunch, creak!*
Having chewed and swallowed the sword whole, Deimos slowly walked toward the fallen Baek Mu-gang.
“Do you want your holy sword back?”
He playfully shook Deneb's holy sword in his hand, as if to taunt him.
“Give... my treasure... back!”
Baek Mu-gang crawled on all fours, reaching for the holy sword.
Deimos lifted his massive foot and stomped on Baek Mu-gang's arm.
“Aaaaaargh!”
*CRACK!*
With the sound of shattering bone, Baek Mu-gang's arm bent at an unnatural angle.
“It hurts… My arm, it hurts.”
Baek Mu-gang clutched his broken arm and curled up like a shrimp.
“You still won't give up?”
“……”
Without answering, he staggered to his feet.
He was so battered and broken that it wouldn't have been strange if he collapsed at any moment.
“Treasure… is precious.”
But the eyes set within his wrinkled face shone with unwavering determination.
“I... have to find my treasure.”
Baek Mu-gang said, staring intently at the pure white sword in Deimos's hand.
“Ha.”
Seeing that unwavering gaze, Deimos let out a hollow laugh.
“Then… what will you do if I devour your treasure?”
*Chomp.*
Deimos opened his mouth wide and brought Deneb's holy sword to his lips.
“N-No!”
Baek Mu-gang cried out urgently and threw himself at Deimos.
*THWACK!*
Kicked once more, Baek Mu-gang tumbled helplessly across the floor.
Deimos looked down at the sprawling Baek Mu-gang with a cold gaze and spoke softly.
“Treasure belongs to the powerful.”
It has always been so.
Ever since that narrow, dark mine shaft.
Always.
“You are not worthy of this treasure.”
“……”
At the words that he was unworthy of the treasure, Baek Mu-gang's eyes trembled.
Gritting his wrinkled lips, he forced his tattered body to rise.
“I... know.”
From the moment I first received the treasure.
I knew very well that I had no right to it.
Because I was a fool.
An idiot who couldn't do anything on his own.
But.
But.
But.
“A precious... person... gave it to me.”
Absolutely.
“Give... back... my treasure!”
I could not give up.
“Ugh, aaaaaaaah!”
He let out a roar and charged at Deimos with his bare hands.
The weapons scattered all around had been swept away and destroyed by the lightning wave, and the sword Oh-jin had given him had been chewed up and swallowed by Deimos.
*Woooooong!*
The Cygnus Stigma blazed with a bright light, causing a snowflake to bloom in mid-air.
Pure white snowflakes gathered and formed the shape of a sword.
A sword of snowflakes that felt even nobler than Deneb's holy sword.
The Sword of White Snow was swung toward Deimos.
*KRA-KA-KA-KOW!*
A tidal wave of snowflakes crashed down on Deimos.
“I told you it's useless!”
The white flames erupting from the holy sword clashed with the tidal wave of snowflakes.
“Keuk!”
“Aaaargh!”
The impact from the clash of snowflakes and white flames struck both Deimos and Baek Mu-gang.
It was a shock so great that neither could escape serious injury.
“Heh, heheheheh!”
Deimos greedily chewed on gold and regenerated his wounds again.
His wounds were too severe to regenerate completely, but he was still in far better condition than the battered Baek Mu-gang.
He grabbed Baek Mu-gang's body with his bloated hand.
“Aargh! Ah, ugh.”
*Creak, crunch!*
Pressure like being crushed by a hydraulic press squeezed Baek Mu-gang's body mercilessly, and a pained groan escaped his lips.
The corners of Deimos's mouth twisted up into a savage sneer.
“No matter how much you struggle.”
With madness in his eyes, he tightened his grip on Baek Mu-gang and shouted.
“The treasure is mine…”
“Hey.”
“……!”
Deimos's eyes widened as he turned his head.
He had been so focused on his fight with Baek Mu-gang that he had completely forgotten about Oh-jin, who had now appeared behind him.
“Don't you think it's a little rude to ignore someone so completely?”
*SHUNK!*
A black spear pierced Deimos's back.
“Cough!”
Deimos staggered, coughing up blood.
After taking Baek Mu-gang's attack and failing to regenerate fully, another fatal blow meant that even a demon with the title of ‘Grand Duke’ could not remain unscathed.
“Krrruuugh!”
Impaled by the spear, Deimos desperately crawled on the floor, reaching for the gold.
*TWANG!*
Six wires shot out and wrapped around his arm.
“Ah, ahh. My, my…”
“I told you it's not yours, you bastard.”
Oh-jin walked toward Deimos.
‘I have to end it this time.’
The treasury was still filled with gold and treasures that could become Deimos's sustenance.
He had to be finished in one blow, so he could never regenerate again.
[My, my child! Using any more magic will be dangerous!]
Vega's urgent warning rang out.
Just as she warned, Oh-jin's own condition was extremely precarious.
‘I've maintained the Thunder God's Body for too long.’
He had been maintaining the Thunder God's Body, which he could normally only hold for 30 seconds, a minute at most, for over five minutes.
Even with Vega's blessing, maintaining it any longer was dangerous.
But.
-A precious... person... gave it to me.
The image of Baek Mu-gang staggering to his feet in his tattered body flashed through his mind.
Oh-jin let out a small smirk and drew upon all his magic.
“Krrruuugh!”
Was it because he was overusing his magic?
The Stigma on his left chest seared with a pain like a hot iron branding his flesh.
[Stop! Stop it! Any more…!]
“He said it's precious.”
Precious enough to endure years alone in a distant Demon Realm, searching for it.
Precious enough not to give up even when his skin turned necrotic and his arm was broken and bent.
“I know that feeling, too.”
It may not be an object like Baek Mu-gang's treasure.
But I have treasures I want to protect, too.
Even if I have to trade the entire world for them.
*BZZZZZZZZZZT!*
His right arm, transformed into the Thunder God's Body, blazed with blue lightning.
‘If one arm isn't enough.’
Oh-jin transformed both his arms into the Thunder God's Body and clasped his hands together.
He brought his clasped hands down like a hammer.
“Kraaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
A torrent of blue lightning incinerated Deimos's entire body.
“Ah, ugh.”
Deimos's grotesquely bloated body returned to its original form.
Oh-jin snatched Deneb's holy sword from the fallen Deimos's hand.
“Heh, heh heh. Heheheheh.”
Deimos let out a sinister laugh and turned his head toward Oh-jin.
“Struggle… all you want.”
The light gradually faded from Deimos's eyes.
“Soon… He... will... awaken…”
His faltering voice was cut off before he could finish.
“……”
After staring silently at Deimos for a moment, Oh-jin turned to Baek Mu-gang.
“Here is the treasure you were looking for, sir.”
He handed Deneb's holy sword to Baek Mu-gang.
“Ah, ahh.”
Baek Mu-gang took the holy sword, his shoulders trembling.
He carefully caressed the area around the sword's hilt.
*Click.*
When he grasped the pommel and twisted it, a small compartment was revealed inside.
And.
*Clang!*
The holy sword clattered to the floor.
“What…?”
“Heh, heheh.”
Baek Mu-gang held what he had taken from the hilt and smiled brightly.
A rectangular, light.
Tattered letter envelope.
“Sir, that's…”
“My old lady, she wrote me a letter before she died. I'm a fool, you see. So I put it inside the hilt so I wouldn't lose it.”
“……”
Baek Mu-gang smiled brightly, clutching the worn envelope.
“This is my treasure.”
Given to me by a precious person.
He hugs the one and only treasure to his chest.
“I'm... sorry... my dear.”
The memory of the day she died.
The memory of the day he killed her.
He remembers.
He recalls.
-I'm sick of dumplings! I'm not eating them!
The sad eyes that looked at him as he threw a tantrum.
The hard calluses on the wrinkled hand that patted his back soothingly.
Her lonely back as she dragged her aching body to work.
“I'm so... sorry... I found it so late.”
He clutched the envelope and curled into a ball.
Sobbing, he whispered endlessly.
I'm sorry for making you wait.
I'm sorry for being a fool.
I'm sorry for being picky about food.
I'm sorry for making things hard for you.
I'm sorry I couldn't protect you.
I'm sorry I couldn't make you happy.
“I'm sorry... that you had to meet me…”
I'm sorry.