Chapter 147
Chapter 147
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 147
Chapter Title: Cursed Blades and Rebirth
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The guy stared at the weapons wriggling on the floor like dying fish, then spoke in a low, sunken voice.
"You know what's good about being tight with smugglers?"
"Who knows. Do they have good employee benefits?"
His hand plunged straight into thin air. The space itself rippled like disturbed water. That's a subspace.
In game terms, it was like an inventory. If I gave that to Jeong No-hun, he'd lose his mind with joy.
Han Sang-ah and I didn't need it, but Jeong No-hun's skills relied heavily on his gear. With a subspace that could hold a massive amount of items, his power would skyrocket several times over.
"Why not just store the smuggled goods in that subspace of yours."
"Quit talking nonsense."
Fair enough. The guy was just a hired hunter, after all.
The smuggled goods belonged to Blue Wrench Scrap Dealers. No matter how safe it was, no sane person would hand over the company's precious assets to some paid muscle who wasn't even family.
What would that be, any different from stashing corporate funds in an accountant's personal bank account? Plus, no one but the owner could access a subspace.
"Now that things have come to this, let me show you something nice. Yoo Chan-seok."
He pulled out a greatsword from his subspace with a boastful flourish. It was clearly a masterpiece at a glance. A red mist trailed along the dull gray blade.
"Fucking psycho."
I sized up the greatsword, then charged at him. I thrust my spear, and he swung the massive blade.
The sweeping greatsword let out a whooshing cry like an infant's wail. Unlike before, he didn't get pushed back or flung away this time.
Veins bulged thick on the arm gripping the sword. His muscles had swollen several times over across his entire body.
"How many people has that thing killed?"
He clicked his tongue at my words.
"Who knows. Do fetuses even count as people?"
"One thing's for sure—you sure as hell don't count as human."
His lips curled up at that.
"That's your reaction to this? Can't wait to see your face later."
He swung the greatsword with his right hand while shoving his left back into the subspace to draw something else.
It was a silver dagger. Just like the sword, it radiated a vicious, ominous power. Glistening droplets from the hilt trailed down the blade.
"Tempered in the tears of parents who strangled their own kids. Took years to collect enough."
"That's something to brag about. Want a gold star?"
He'd probably forced them into that situation.
The guy's skills weren't anything special on their own. The problem was the gear he wielded—every piece was a monster.
Already nasty items, and with backstories like that? No wonder they performed like beasts.
The power in that greatsword and dagger alone rivaled several times the trash's own strength.
"Looks like you can't use life infusion on them, at least."
"..."
He went silent at my words. The weapons packed serious power, but the methods were grotesque. The grudges infused in them outstripped the guy's own abilities.
The moment he tried life infusion, those two blades would go for his throat, not mine.
"So what."
So what? If the wielder had limits, even the best tool in the world had limits.
"Dressing in designer clothes doesn't make a scumbag any less of a scumbag."
Truth be told, what he was wearing barely qualified as designer.
"You talk a big game!"
I had no idea how many fetuses had been sacrificed to that greatsword swinging at me. I could only guess from the countless wails of children pouring from the blade.
How many parents had been forced to kill their own kids for the tears dripping down that dagger? Only guesswork.
In a flash, attacks aimed at each other's throats clashed dozens—hundreds of times.
"Textbook."
The weapons were strong. But the guy wielding them couldn't control his own power. He was just flailing wildly with the excess force.
Filling the gaps in his sloppy attacks with brute speed.
"Yeah! Get wrecked by this textbook bastard, you fucking prick!"
"I won't die to trash like you. Shitty personality, shitty skills, and on top of that, shitty actions."
Thanks to his gear, he had overwhelming power and speed. He just swung the greatsword and dagger wildly.
Less like a person, more like an enraged wild beast.
"Heh heh heuk. Heh heh. Hee hee heek."
"What a freak."
His eyes glowed red. Veins throbbed grotesquely across his face.
His muscles hardened and thickened even more. To the point where you couldn't imagine them swelling further.
"Die! Die right here! I'll grind you into nothing, not a scrap left! Hey, don't dodge!"
The red mist dripping from the greatsword grew thicker. The tears pouring from the dagger pooled on the floor.
I dodged his rampaging strikes and slammed my spear into his chest. Our eyes met.
His pupils were dilated to extremes, nearly swallowing the irises, and the whites were bloodshot from burst vessels.
"You're a junkie through and through."
With the spear still embedded, I kicked his chest hard with both feet. Bones cracked as he flew into the wall.
Crashing sounds echoed, carving a massive crater in the wall. But I wasn't done.
I chased after him while he was still pinned and hammered down blow after blow.
Dozens of holes riddled his body, limbs severed, one side of his skull caved in and shattered.
Banshee's tears embedded in my spear burrowed into him, turning wounds pitch black with rot.
He hung there against the wall, head slumped.
"Quit screwing around and get up."
He wouldn't die from this. Sure enough, he snapped his head up and burst into mad laughter.
"Hahaha! How'd you know?!"
His wounds bubbled furiously. Holes from my spear sealed up, and the rot-rotting blackness expelled poison droplets.
Limbs regrew, his caved skull reformed. With a thud, he hit the ground, writhing on all fours, gasping ragged breaths.
"Feels amazing. Power overflowing. Yeah, you can't do shit to me."
Of course, it wasn't just recovery. In the rapid healing, his body swelled unnaturally huge. Now over three meters tall, packed solid with massive muscle.
The greatsword looked like a one-hander; the dagger like a toothpick.
"That's why I don't touch ominous crap like that."
What the hell? Started as a guy, now just a monster.
"Candy Lady's coming? Let her come. I'll make her beg under my feet, screaming for mercy!"
He wasn't even fighting properly anymore. Like playing football, he barreled at me with his bloated bulk.
Jeong No-hun and Han Sang-ah, diligently scanning documents behind him? Out of his mind now. Cliché, but power had consumed him.
"Keep growing. Let's see how big you get."
"Uwaaaaaagh!"
Countless blue trails flashed as I relentlessly swung at him. My spear strikes grew denser, finer, forming a wall that halted his charge.
I blocked; he charged. His hypertrophied muscles were now too dense. Less flesh, more like steel chunks.
My barrage shredded his body. Hundreds of wounds across the giant frame, poison seeping in.
"Useless, you idiot! Fucking useless!"
The rot poison leaked out; his shredded body bulked up more, reborn tougher.
Like a bloated balloon. Michelin Man tire mascot fallen to hell, tortured, crawling back up.
Looked like he'd self-destruct any second. But...
"No way that'll happen."
His gear was all vicious. Cursed swords worthy of demon blade status. And those rarely turned on their owners.
Owners kept them fed with their twisted desires. Symbiosis.
"Found it! This ends it!"
Jeong No-hun shouted from behind.
"Damn, took you long enough."
I instantly snuffed the Paradox Flame I'd been using to incinerate thoughts from the scattered smuggled goods. Freed from its influence, the gear floated back into the air.
In this chaos, I'd kept Paradox Flame up to shield Han Sang-ah and Jeong No-hun from them—no confidence I could cover otherwise.
Now they were free, I could redirect it.
"All you're good for is a powered-up version of that monster from Gyodongdo."
His now-tiny-looking greatsword swung at me. I didn't retreat, thrusting my spear at his incoming fist.
Difference from before: a tiny, fiercely burning Paradox Flame compressed to extremes at the spear tip.
The moment sword met spear, the pent-up Paradox Flame erupted like a waterfall, sweeping over him.
The black flame vortex devoured his unfairly gained strength, coiling like a serpent to eat away his muscle power in seconds.
"That's enough."
I watched him, then extinguished the Paradox Flame engulfing his whole body. His muscles were ash now. He collapsed forward, limp, heaving labored breaths.
"I'll kill you. Fucking kill you. Just you wait..."
I grabbed his hair, yanking his head up to meet his eyes.
"Hey, I'm gonna run an experiment on you now."
Probably fail still. But worth trying. Similar to burning Jeong No-hun's thoughts before.
Difference: this would permanently damage him, unlike thought-burning.
"..."
I stared at him, igniting Paradox Flame at my fingertips. It flared fiercer. I focused. Solely on raising its temperature.
If I could burn this, it'd prove I'd regained over half my old world's power.
"Succeed, and you're reborn. I'll baptize you."
Wash away sins, reborn anew. If it worked, he'd truly be a new man.
"Starting with that body."
Paradox Flame roared. Procedure to burn every achievement his flesh had built—utterly, without remainder.
Muscle power, stamina, agility, reflexes, coordination, balance...
All reset to newborn levels. Nothing spared.
"So far, so good."
I'd expected this part. The next was the issue. I grimaced. Body shivering, cold sweat streaming down my forehead.
Nosebleed gushing, eye vessels bursting. Brain felt like pudding crushed in a press.
"Kuhak!"
I spewed a mouthful of blood, staggering back pale-faced.
"Hurk... keh... Fuck, not yet."
Damn, so close. Need more work.
I wiped my mouth. Meanwhile, he writhed like a worm, clinging to his scraps of muscle power to survive.