Chapter 195
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 195
Chapter Title: The Truth About Machun
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"Leon? Already done?"
"Yeah. Those guys showed up quick. This side?"
"Still just the vanguard. Main force should be here soon. No point blocking them upfront—let's head in and wait."
At my words, Luna casually flung away the bloody pulp clutched in her hand.
"Leon."
"Yeah?"
"There are non-humans mixed in among them."
"Like that Machun guy or whatever?"
"Not quite as twisted as him, but a good number were seriously messed up. And those siblings too."
It seemed Hwayoung and Cheonryoung, the brother and sister, carried similar traces.
"The siblings are in better shape, at least. The rest are mostly walking corpses already."
I see.
As we entered Bata's camp, the place buzzed with chaos.
A handful of knights were herding terrified servants to safety, gearing up to assess the situation.
"Young Master Leon!"
"Sir Bagud, everything alright here?"
"Yes. No issues yet, but... what just happened?"
"Koral and the East Continent broke the truce and launched a military provocation. You can treat this as a localized war from here on."
We'd held back on sharing intel about the raid out of fear it might leak.
From their perspective, it was a bolt from the blue—but better this than the headaches from spilled secrets.
"Oppa!!"
Just then, Arsha came sprinting toward me from afar, clutching a small bundle to her chest like her life depended on it.
She leaped straight into my arms.
The black hatchling inside the bundle startled and wriggled free between us, but Arsha couldn't have cared less right now.
"Sorry, Arsha. I left you all alone."
"It's... okay. Arsha was strong and waited."
Leaving Arsha, who still struggled with separation anxiety, by herself had been my mistake.
I'd figured the black dragon hatchling could keep her company for a short while.
Apparently not.
"My apologies. I stepped away just long enough to spare you an ugly sight."
"Not your fault. I'm fine."
I scooped Arsha into my arms and spoke softly.
"Arsha, your big brother's right here. No need to worry."
"Yes..."
That was enough.
As I gently stroked her back, she buried her face in my shoulder.
"They only sent the vanguard? Main force still not here?"
"No clue on the main body, but looks like two are inbound."
Right on cue, the pair appeared before us with nimble, floating steps.
Lightfoot technique, was it?
The heir and young lady of the Sacheon Clan—brother and sister Cheonryoung and Hwayoung.
"Hwayoung! Why on earth did you rush all the way here?!"
Cheonryoung clearly hadn't gotten the news yet.
He'd probably tagged along when Hwayoung bolted.
"Is the letter true, young master?"
"No reason to lie. Bata's decided to accept your request."
She fought to steady her trembling hands.
"But the situation's too dire right now. My brother and I still have those... things inside us."
"Don't move."
In a flash, Luna closed in on Hwayoung and plunged her hand straight into the girl's chest.
"Kyaa!"
"Turn Undead."
A burst of light erupted, and Luna reached into it, yanking out a pitch-black something.
Extracting those required options like a Machine God's heart, aura manipulation, or magic—but Luna's divinity, potent despite its mildness, caused the least backlash.
"Huh? How did you..."
"No real need for detox pills or anything."
They could be purged via fresh aura from the young, but Luna's divinity blew past such limits.
Hwayoung's eyes flew wide as saucers.
Hard not to be stunned.
They'd endured untold suffering to pry those parasites loose—never dreaming it'd be this effortless. Even after requesting asylum, they'd braced for a long, gradual process.
Not ripped out in one go like this.
Luna then extended the same treatment to Cheonryoung, pulling out an identical specimen.
"That?!"
Cheonryoung—who'd been clueless about the parasite etched into his heart—gaped in shock.
"How could something like that be inside us..."
"Brother, the Council of Elders planted them secretly. You were easy to handle—just mention Machun. But not me."
As the elder brother, Cheonryoung turned into an obedient hound at Machun's name. Hwayoung, convinced her little sister was dead, didn't bite.
So the elders had controlled her with sly hints about the parasites.
"Damn those bastards..."
Realization dawned late on Cheonryoung, igniting his fury.
"Brother, please believe me. We can't be their puppets anymore. The Sacheon Clan... it's no longer the home we knew."
"But Machun..."
Cheonryoung still clung to thoughts of his youngest sibling, lost in turmoil.
"Young Master Cheonryoung, your brother is already one of the undead. A soulless shell turned zombie after special processing... or jiangshi, in East Continent terms."
He flinched hard.
"That's the truth."
Luna drove the nail home, and he ground his teeth.
"Machun, right? Like I told you before. He's an already-dead kid."
"But..."
"If you can't believe it, I'll just have to show you."
Luna glanced aside as she spoke.
Sometime while we spoke, a Sacheon elder and a slew of warriors had appeared all around.
"Elder..."
Cheonryoung murmured lowly, but the elder beckoned coldly.
With a bestial howl, Machun emerged at his side.
"Machun!"
Cheonryoung lunged toward him in panic, but Hwayoung seized his arm.
"Brother! You mustn't go there!"
"You ungrateful wretches. Dare betray the Sacheon Clan that sheltered you?!"
"What nonsense! You seized control of the Sacheon Clan our father led and implanted those vaults in our bodies—how dare you speak so shamelessly?!"
The elder shrugged with utter nonchalance at Hwayoung's cry.
"Fine, we did. You two were so lost in your childish ideals, we implanted them for discipline. Was that wrong?"
"What... did you just say?!"
"If you'd obeyed the Council of Elders fully, there'd have been no need."
"Are you even human?!"
The elder didn't bother hiding his leisurely demeanor amid her anguished scream.
Cheonryoung held Hwayoung back.
"Elder, mind if I ask one thing?"
"Hm? Cheonryoung. Go ahead."
"Cheon... is he truly alive?"
The elder flashed a sinister grin.
"What nonsense. Cheon's right here. Sure, his sense of self is shattered, but he's perfectly fine."
As he stroked the head of the beast-howling Machun, Cheonryoung's face darkened.
"Brother! Don't you see yet?! They implanted that in you expecting you'd rebel once you learned the truth!"
"Ha... but Hwayoung, jiangshi can't talk. Machun definitely called me 'hyungnim' before..."
"What if it's not an ordinary jiangshi?"
Cheonryoung fell silent, unable to mask his confusion.
Breathing steadily, moving fluidly—hard to accept he was dead.
Time for the red pill.
I reached out toward Machun.
And invoked a basic necromancer spell.
"Turn Undead."
A necromantic spell to reduce undead to nothingness.
Of course, Machun's body would have countermeasures...
"Disperse."
The incantation amplified the effect.
[Would you like to register and use the Merge ability?]
'No.'
Why waste my only slot?
-KIIIIIAAAAK!!!!!
Machun began shrieking in agony.
I couldn't erase him completely. He was undead, but too bio-engineered for that.
Still, it sufficed to expose some of what lurked beneath.
Half his face withered like a desiccated corpse.
One side pristine, the other rotten.
"Cheon..."
Machun's gradually mummifying visage turned grotesque.
Appearance aside, he still radiated fearsome power.
"Wh-what is this?! You! What have you done?!"
"Just brought the hidden parts to light."
Turn Undead wasn't meant for this, but it shattered the delicate balance preserving Machun's flesh.
The more refined the bio-weapon, the more one imbalance screamed for attention.
And Cheonryoung wasn't a fool—he'd grasp what it meant.
Preserving a long-dead body from decay.
Proof Machun had been gone for ages.
"Ah... aaah. This can't be right. It can't be."
He dropped to his knees, despair etching his face. His mind crumbled confronting the truth he'd rejected.
"Aa... AAAAAAAAAH!!!!"
Hwayoung shed silent tears; Cheonryoung wailed.
The siblings shared much with us.
Unlucky Cascadias, or something.
Without power, Melissa and I might've ended up just like them.
Maybe that's why they tugged at me.
And this elder, pulling the same stunt on them as whoever killed my uncle Tibel Cascadia? No fondness there.
"Damn it... these rotten bastards from both sides stirring trouble. That's an order! Cheonryoung! Hwayoung! Join us now!!"
The Sacheon elder yanked a small vial from his bosom and bellowed.
The mother worm controlling the parasites, no doubt.
He shook it, unleashing a horrific kiieeeek!!! from within.
But the siblings showed zero reaction.
"Urgh?! Why no response..."
His confusion was natural—he didn't know the parasites were gone.
I approached Hwayoung, tears streaming down her face.
"Miss, how can I help?"
"Revenge... I beg for revenge. The kind that utterly destroys them..."
"Sure thing. Got a fine pill out of it—consider this on the house."
With that, I held back Luna as she cracked her knuckles and strode toward them.