Chapter 131
Chapter 131
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 131
Chapter Title: Interlude - Pasun
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Deep within the city once called Verkhoyansk in Siberia.
Pasun opened his eyes in a tank filled with a blood-red drug.
“Urp, ugh—”
The first thing he did upon waking was vomit out the foul drug filling his lungs and stomach.
“Uweeeek!”
He vomited mindlessly, gasped for breath, and vomited again for a good while.
His brain, finally sucking in oxygen after so long, regained function, and the surroundings came into view.
A concrete cavern vast enough to remind one of a dragon's lair.
Along one wall of the cavern were stacked cages holding live animals and monsters, while the opposite wall was lined with glass tubes filled to the brim with green liquid.
The tank Pasun had been sleeping in sat in the center of the cavern, and several other sturdy human corpses floated in tanks nearby.
‘Undead lab… damn it.’
Pasun dragged his shivering body out of the tank.
And the moment his foot touched the floor outside the tank.
—KyaAAAAAHHH!!!
A skull lying on the floor suddenly let out a scream.
It seemed like some magical alarm, but the sound was utterly obnoxious.
“…Shut up.”
Pasun scowled and snapped his fingers.
Crack! A small burst of palm wind shot out like a bullet, shattering the skull.
“What kind of bastard runs a lab like this… total mess.”
Grumbling, Pasun rummaged through the cavern for something to wear.
This body felt empty down below, making it awkward to wander around naked. Was it that his dantian felt cold without covering up?
Anyway, he draped a ragged sackcloth over himself and waited for the lab's owner.
He wanted to see just which bastard had dared treat him like an experiment.
He had plenty of suspects. Maggot Princess, Byulnaejang, Poison Flower, and…
Rumble rumble crash!
Before Pasun could finish his thought, the cavern wall split open, and the lab's owner entered.
—Who dares invade my workshop…!
A massive skeletal dragon, Kahal Magdu.
It was dragon-lair sized, but was it actually a dragon's old haunt?
Pasun let out a hollow laugh and waved at the intruder.
—Pasun?
The dragon's eyes—more precisely, the blue flames in its skull sockets—narrowed upon spotting him.
—How did you revive…?
Faster than the skull could ask, Pasun fired a palm wind from his hand.
The skeletal dragon, seeing the air-ripping blast incoming, instantly arrayed mana to form a protective barrier.
Clang!
Martial arts clashed against the translucent shield with a chilling sound, followed by a scatter of mana particles.
Kahal Magdu moved to prepare a counter-spell but remembered this was his workshop and hurriedly spoke up.
—Pasun, wait! Forgot the organization's rules already? We can't attack each other.
The moment the dragon started blabbing, Pasun ground his teeth.
“Rules? Fuck, you broke them first! You dared try to turn me into a jiangshi?”
Pasun shouted, pointing at the tank he'd been in, and the skeletal dragon flapped its wings slightly.
The human equivalent of shrugging.
—Jiangshi? I was making you a Death Knight.
“Same damn thing, you motherless dragon bastard!”
Pasun surged with mana, ready to blow the dragon's skull to bits.
But… it didn't lead to an attack.
Just as Pasun was about to unleash his technique.
A freak in tiger hide entered the workshop from behind Kahal Magdu.
“You two… stop…”
The corpse-like low voice carried its own charisma. Facing it, Pasun withdrew his technique and raised his voice.
“Byulnaejang! Fuck, try explaining yourself! You didn't revive me like you were supposed to and handed me off to this bonehead dragon?!”
The freak called Byulnaejang's dull eyes gleamed. He scanned the raging Pasun up and down before replying.
“Pasun… that’s… a misunderstanding…”
“Misunderstanding my ass, it’s been less than ten minutes since I walked out of that drug vat— what misunderstanding? Wanna misunderstand your way to death too?”
“On the contrary… I want to ask… your soul… was supposed to be… gone… how did you… come back…?”
“Gone? What bullshit is that?”
Byulnaejang nodded at the genuinely clueless tone.
“The church’s… filth, even the gods… couldn’t find… your soul…”
“…”
“I naturally… thought you’d… perished… soul and all…”
No sooner had he finished than Kahal Magdu snorted with interest.
A vanished soul returning? Music to any necromancer's ears.
But Pasun's reaction was lukewarm. He sneered.
“…Gone my ass, I was trapped all this time.”
“Trapped…? Where…?”
Pasun opened his mouth to answer, but no words came out.
His mouth worked silently, an eerie quiet.
Realizing something was off too late, Pasun clamped his mouth shut.
Blood erupted from his eyes, nose, and mouth in a spray.
“…Shit, cough, damn it.”
Pasun hurriedly focused mana on his face in panic.
But no matter how he sealed his vessels or gathered regenerative power, the bleeding wouldn't stop.
It wasn't mere physical bleeding—more like a curse.
Realizing this, Byulnaejang rushed over and clamped Pasun's mouth shut.
“You spoke of… the Mystery (??)… recklessly… cursed… swear silence… now…”
With his mouth blocked, all Pasun could do was nod, but that was enough.
The bleeding stopped the instant he nodded, his body returning to normal.
“Trapped in… a place beyond reason…”
“…”
“Never… speak of it… again… break the oath… and it won’t end… with just bleeding…”
Pasun nodded at Byulnaejang's warning.
He recalled the image of ‘that guy’ he’d been trapped with, then spat blood.
“…Life’s a real bitch, full of all kinds of crap.”
“I understand… Mysteries… are like that…”
***
The soul discussion ended there.
Kahal Magdu, who'd been watching, spouted something about a boring conclusion, and Pasun flipped him off.
“Whatever… I’m alive, that’s what matters. Let’s talk business. How far’s the plan gone while I was out?”
Byulnaejang nodded at Pasun’s pivot.
“Now… time to fetch… the Tears… from Chicago…”
Chicago? Pasun puzzled over it, then recalled the Chicago dwarves.
Dungan Heavy Industries’ dwarves. They were tied to no one else but ‘that guy.’
“…Better skip Chicago.”
“Why… so…?”
Instead of answering, Pasun mimed zipping his lips.
Silence.
Byulnaejang’s eyes chilled at the blatant gesture.
“Hmm… should we… change course…?”
“That’s my take.”
“Ahem, ahem…”
Byulnaejang made an ambiguous sigh-cough sound, then turned toward the stacked cages on the wall.
“We’ll change… course… best to avoid… Mysteries…”
As he spoke, he pulled a lamb from one of the cages.
Sensing its fate, perhaps, the lamb bleated thinly and thrashed to escape his grasp.
But the struggle didn't last.
The moment it tried to bite his hand, he drew a dagger from his bosom and slit its belly.
Baa— With the lamb's death cry, blood and guts soaked the floor. Kahal Magdu and Pasun both grimaced at the sight.
—In the workshop, of all places…
“If you’re divining, why not just read the stars instead of guts?”
“Stars won’t rise… for another… six hours…”
Ignoring their gripes, Byulnaejang peered into the entrails.
The ancient shamans’ animal gut divination.
A crude method compared to a saintess’s prophecy with mana, but…
Sometimes dry firewood burns better than gasoline.
After rummaging through the guts for a while, Byulnaejang shuddered as if confirming something.
He looked up, alternating glances between Kahal Magdu and Pasun.
“Beyond the portal… southern demon realm… Dreiterial… necromancer… fairy… we must seize… the crystal…”
“Demon realm? It’s just wasteland.”
As Pasun chimed in, Kahal Magdu thrust its head forward.
—If we’re going to the demon realm, I’ll go. Been a while since I saw home.
“How’s that bulk gonna fit through a portal? Break into bits and crate yourself as museum cargo again? I’d rather—”
Byulnaejang cut in.
“Pasun… you can’t… you need… rest…”
Rest? Pasun’s face soured. As he opened his mouth to retort, Byulnaejang shook his head first.
“Ekaterina… Kahal Magdu… you two go… you… rest…”
Pasun didn’t argue. Instead—or as a substitute, perhaps—he stomped the workshop floor.
Crack.
—That crazy bitch.
Kahal Magdu cursed at the split floor, but Pasun had already turned away.
“…Do whatever. I’ll train.”
Byulnaejang watched her leave briefly, then clicked his tongue.
“Fate… has twisted… so much…”
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