WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ Damned Transmigration ◈
Chapter 108: Calamity Star 1
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A massive column of water shot up from the center of Yonghwa Lake, and towering waves spread beyond the lake.
Yuri couldn't make sense of what had just happened.
‘M-meteor?’
All he had seen was a bright red speck fly in like a comet and plunge into the lake.
Keeping his balance inside the violently shaking inn, Yuri hurriedly looked around. No one else seemed to understand the situation either.
Estor stared wide-eyed as he drew his sword, while Haryeong had already half-hidden herself behind Yuri.
“Wh-what was that?”
Tang Seo-woo stumbled backward in shock. The only ones who had properly seen it were Tang Mu-seok and Tang Seo-jin, who had been looking out the window from the start.
Even Tang Seo-jin wore a dazed expression, unable to make sense of what he had seen. Tang Mu-seok was so stunned that he could only gape, unable to speak.
“...?”
They weren't close enough for Yuri to question them, and it would be quicker to see for himself anyway. He approached the window.
The water column, which had risen higher than the Yonghwa Inn on its elevated ground, fell as rain and formed a rainbow. The waves still hadn't calmed, continuing to surge across the lake.
Yuri focused his vision and stared at the center of the water column.
Something was visible through the downpour.
‘Is that... a person?’
Something crimson, dark as blood, churned there, making it difficult to see clearly. Even through the torrential rain and water mist, that color stood out vividly.
It was quite far away, yet the moment he saw that color, every hair on his body stood on end and his mouth went dry under the crushing pressure.
‘What is that?’
It wasn't as terrifying as the hand of the Evil God, but among all the beings Yuri had seen in this world, this was the first to make him feel such pressure from sight alone.
Yuri forced strength into his shoulders, which wanted to hunch up, and his trembling legs. Still, he couldn't stop his hands from shaking. Even when he clenched his fists, the tremors didn't cease.
─Whoooosh!
The pouring rain and water mist vanished. Only then could Yuri clearly see the crimson figure at the center of Yonghwa Lake.
“W-who is that?”
Estor muttered unsteadily as he stared out the window.
The blankness faded from Haryeong's face. Slowly, her eyes widened and her mouth fell open.
Yuri's expression was much the same. No one here was more shocked than he was.
Silver hair so pale it could have been called white. Bright red eyes. A woman dressed in white robes embroidered with gold.
The only difference from the last time he had seen her was the bandages wrapped several times around both hands.
“...”
The bandages were soaked in blood, and each hand gripped a head. Their bodies were more than twice the woman's size, but they hung limply, half-submerged in the lake.
Yet the woman stood steadily atop the water.
“C-Calamity Star.”
Tang Mu-seok was the first to recognize her, speaking through his shock.
Tang Seo-jin, who had seen her before but hadn't realized she was the Calamity Star, went pale as well.
“Calamity Star? That Order injector?”
Tang Seo-woo spoke in alarm.
“W-we need to run.”
Tang Mu-seok's usual listlessness was nowhere to be found. He hurriedly reached out and grabbed the Tang siblings by their shoulders.
“Run? Uncle Tang Mu-seok, what are you talking about?”
Tang Seo-woo frowned as she felt her shoulder being pulled.
“What did we do that we have to run?”
“What you did isn't important.”
Though he was from a collateral branch, Tang Mu-seok held an elder's standing within the Dang Family. He remembered the decades when the Calamity Star had been most active, before the Sect of Order was expelled from Union.
“Simply being spotted by her here could be enough for us to be beaten to death...!”
“What kind of nonsense is that...!”
“That woman is the greatest weapon possessed by the Sect of Order! Young Lady, Young Master, answer honestly. Is the Dang Family righteous?”
“...”
“The name Dang Family has accumulated countless sins! The Calamity Star won't seek people out directly unless they insult the Sect of Order. But she's not a benevolent figure who will let evil people walk away peacefully after encountering them by chance...!”
“Th-this is absurd...”
As Tang Seo-woo protested in disbelief, movement came from the lake. The two giants whose heads were held in the Calamity Star's hands had regained consciousness.
“Arghhh!”
They shrieked in terror and struggled wildly.
Each time their limbs flailed, the lake split apart. Palm force and force aura shot from their hands, destroying the beautiful landscape around Yonghwa Lake.
“My Yonghwa Lake!”
Estor, who had been appreciating the scenery, thinking of poetry, and praying for peace in the world, cried out in despair.
With nothing more than wild movements of their arms, they unleashed force aura strong enough to carve apart cliffs and mountains. They had to be masters respected anywhere in the world.
Yet those masters had their heads caught in the delicate hands of a woman less than half their size. No matter how they struggled, they couldn't break free.
Even their flailing limbs and unleashed force aura posed no threat to the Calamity Star. She shifted slightly, avoiding every attack.
“Don't tell me...”
Pressed close to the window, Haryeong recognized the two giants even as they continued ruining Yonghwa Lake's scenery.
“The Iron Twin Beggars?”
They were Guardian Beggars of the Beggars' Sect's law-enforcement corps, which protected the sect's codes. The Iron Twin Beggars were twin masters with the standing of elders, famed even among the Guardian Beggars for their formidable martial arts.
As was common with masters from great sects, their exact tier was unknown. Still, judging by the destruction caused by their wildly flailing limbs, they could easily have been early seventh-tier masters.
“Let us go!”
“You monster!”
Indomitable Iron Beggar and Martial Iron Beggar, who had never known fear in their lives, desperately tried to escape the demon's grip on their heads.
How had the Iron Twin Beggars, whose mere shadows made Beggars' Sect disciples piss themselves, ended up like this?
They had received orders from the Beggars' Sect leader after hearing that the Calamity Star had burst from the Sect of Order's secluded retreat and was tearing through the Beggars' Sect branches. Their task had been to stop her.
The Calamity Star was demanding the Three Heroes' whereabouts, saying she wished to thank them for crossing the continent.
The Beggars' Sect had also been watching the Three Heroes' movements, so whenever the Calamity Star stormed into a branch, she got the information she wanted and moved on to another area.
Using that information, the Iron Twin Beggars had predicted which branch the Calamity Star would attack next and lay in wait.
They had never intended to settle things through conversation. The sect leader had ordered them not to start a fight and to persuade her to stop, but the twins had thought that order ridiculous.
The Calamity Star was the one wreaking havoc, barging into branches and using force to extort information.
Not only had both Iron Twin Beggars crossed the threshold of the seventh tier, they were also skilled in coordinated formations.
They couldn't possibly defeat or subdue the Calamity Star, but they could at least show her that the Beggars' Sect wasn't a place one could enter and leave as though it were one's own home.
They had been wrong. They couldn't even show that much spirit.
The moment they blocked the branch entrance and attacked, they were beaten senseless. That monstrous Calamity Star had then forced the branch leader to reveal the Three Heroes' latest whereabouts.
“W-where did you bring us? Don't tell me...?”
Indomitable Iron Beggar, who had been struggling, jerked in alarm and looked around.
The Three Heroes had been sighted near Yonghwa Lake.
It was the latest information, updated through messenger pigeons and magic. The Jungyeon branch where the Calamity Star had obtained that information was several days away from Yonghwa Lake.
The Iron Twin Beggars had attacked the Calamity Star again when she tried to leave after hearing the information.
They were beaten, had their heads seized, and passed out from agony that felt as if their bodies were being torn apart, along with a floating sensation that sent their consciousness away.
When they opened their eyes, they were here. Their heads were still caught, their bodies soaked, and water lay in every direction.
“Y-Yonghwa Lake?”
They couldn't have been unconscious for several days. That monster had leaped from the Jungyeon branch while holding one of the Iron Twin Beggars' heads in each hand, then landed in Yonghwa Lake.
Did that make any sense? It was beyond the comprehension of the Iron Twin Beggars, even as early seventh-tier masters.
“Why are you making things so troublesome for this Lorelia?”
When they trembled in shock and said nothing, the Calamity Star finally raised both hands high before her, lifting the Iron Twin Beggars so she could look up at them.
“I have no desire to fight the Beggars' Sect! This Lorelia only visited because there was information I wanted and needed. I killed no one and injured no one! So why is the Beggars' Sect persecuting me like this?”
Lorelia let out a short sigh and released their heads. The Iron Twin Beggars swiftly retreated to open the distance, their eyes trembling.
Was she seriously saying that?
The Calamity Star had barged into branches without warning, knocked out the disciples who blocked her way, threatened the branch leaders into giving up information, and left without donating a single coin.
“Raaah!”
The twins didn't need Voice Transmission to share the same thought. They simultaneously unleashed Dragon's Regret, the first stance of the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, a secret art that Guardian Beggars could receive in part from the Beggars' Sect leader.
Palm force surged from their four hands, splitting Yonghwa Lake in half as it rushed toward the Calamity Star.
The Calamity Star clenched her fist.
Though she was far away, Yuri found that stance all too familiar.
It was the blow Lorelia had landed while calling it a punch when she had first taught him how to throw one. The attack he had seen after being beaten again and again in the waiting room, violence disguised as instruction, was recreated before his eyes.
In the end, it was only a simple punch. Clench a fist, twist the waist, step forward, and throw it.
But the power was different.
That strike, born from movements refined beyond comparison to anything he had seen in the waiting room, erased the palm force and blew away the Iron Twin Beggars' consciousness as well.
Their eyes rolled back. They vomited black blood, then plunged headfirst into the lake.
“Ah!”
The unconscious Iron Twin Beggars' bodies rose above the lake. The Calamity Star tossed the two beggars out of the water and clasped her hands together.
If she had left them there, they would have drowned.
No matter how full of people the Beggars' Sect was, losing two early seventh-tier masters would be like having the pillars ripped from beneath the sect.
“This Lorelia has bestowed a favor upon the Beggars' Sect!”
The Calamity Star declared with a bright smile. It was harder to subdue someone than to beat them to death, and harder still to bestow a favor than to subdue them.
A favor was simply something one gave, so the Calamity Star expected no repayment from the Beggars' Sect.
The surroundings were devastated. The land around Yonghwa Lake was a mess from the overflowing waves, while the mountains and cliffs that had formed the lake's magnificent scenery had been carved apart and collapsed.
That wasn't the Calamity Star's crime, though. It was the crime of the Iron Twin Beggars, who had rampaged rather than calmly waiting for her to release them.
Since they had ruined Yonghwa Lake, famed for its beauty, the Beggars' Sect leader would have to pay for that crime.
Fortunately, the Beggars' Sect was considered the greatest sect in terms of numbers. If enough beggars gathered and piled up dirt, they should be able to rebuild the fallen mountains.
“Hmm?”
The Calamity Star's eyes, which had been sadly taking in the landscape ruined by the Beggars' Sect's violence, turned toward the Yonghwa Inn.
Its top floor.
“Ah!”
She had heard he was near Yonghwa Lake.
It was a vast area, but that didn't matter. The Beggars' Sect's information was updated quickly every day, so once she arrived at Yonghwa Lake, she could simply find a nearby branch and demand information.
She had leaped each day, narrowing the distance between herself and his trail. At most, she should have found him in another day. Thinking that, she had landed in Yonghwa Lake.
“I didn't even need another day!”
The Calamity Star smiled broadly and brought both hands together before her chest. She gave thanks to the Goddess of Order, who lay in a long sleep, for bringing about this meeting. After finishing her priestly prayer, the Calamity Star happily stepped forward.
That single step brought her before the top-floor window of the Yonghwa Inn.
“...”
Tang Mu-seok had said they needed to run, yet he stood there entranced.
Martial artists couldn't help it. They had just watched the Iron Twin Beggars, who were estimated to be early seventh-tier masters, challenge the Calamity Star, who ranked among the highest of the Martial Apex Venerables.
The Calamity Star had shown only a single move, but no martial artist could watch something like that without being captivated.
Tang Mu-seok and the Tang siblings couldn't run because of it. Rather than fleeing, they stood pressed against the window alongside Yuri's group, watching.
The pinnacle of martial arts, far beyond all common sense.
They weren't given time to savor its afterglow.
“Gah!”
Tang Mu-seok shrieked loudly and stumbled back. The Tang siblings, who had been staring at the window as though bewitched, screamed and retreated as well.
Yuri didn't scream. He only swallowed hard. He had heard that Lorelia was responsible for the Sect of Order's violence, so he had known since the waiting room that she was an extraordinary powerhouse.
Later, after hearing about the Martial Apex Venerables from Haryeong, he learned that Lorelia was far stronger than he had expected.
He had heard the Calamity Star's name several more times since then. He had met other Martial Apex Venerables, and Yuri himself had become stronger, making him feel the gap between them even more deeply.
Still, the shock of seeing and feeling it firsthand was enormous.
‘Why is she here?’
Could this really be a coincidence? In this vast Eastern Continent, had they really met by chance like this? Did that make any sense?
“Ahem.”
The Calamity Star.
Lorelia stood before the window, her hands folded together over her stomach.
The other party was a Transmigrator whom Lorelia herself had guided here. She clearly understood that a wrong word or action during this meeting could put Yuri in a difficult position.
Fortunately, she had more than sufficient grounds for this meeting.
“It's a pleasure to meet you.”
Lorelia spoke with a broad smile. Her voice wasn't loud, and it was gentle, yet it somehow reached the ears of every guest remaining in the inn.
The window blocking her path turned to ash and crumbled away.
“I am Lorelia, a priestess who serves the Goddess of Order.”
Repeating the same introduction she had given in the waiting room, Lorelia stepped inside.
“Cloud Dragon Yuri, Sword Dragon Estor, Dark Blossom Haryeong. In this world, where order has collapsed and chaos reigns, the three of you have helped restore order.”
They had destroyed the Evil God's diocese.
They had prevented a terrorist attack in a great city.
They had inflicted critical injuries upon one of the Saints and forced them to flee.
“A feat that even the priests who serve the Goddess of Order have never achieved! Therefore, I, Lorelia, have come on behalf of the Sect of Order's high priest to offer you my thanks.”
This wasn't an excuse she had desperately cobbled together. What better reason could there be for a priestess of the Sect of Order to come calling? Lorelia's smile deepened as she met Yuri's eyes.
‘Ah, honestly.’
Two years ago, after entering the Repentance Chamber and facing the wall in seclusion, she had thought of him countless times.
Had he learned the martial arts she gave him well? Had he run into trouble after being discovered as a Transmigrator?
It would be fine if those idiots from the Sect of War caught him.
Every Transmigrator captured by the Sect of War met the Battle Saint at least once.
No matter how much of an idiot the Battle Saint was, that didn't mean their eyes were useless. Lorelia didn't remember bursting the Battle Saint's eyes when she beat them up in the past.
There was no way the Battle Saint wouldn't recognize the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil. Unless the Battle Saint had a death wish, they would have understood the situation.
‘You've done wonderfully.’
Fortunately, Yuri hadn't been captured by the Sect of War. He hadn't fallen for the Evil God's temptation either. He was splendidly opposing the Evil God, just as the Goddess of Order wished.
Lorelia sensed the level of the divine art Yuri had learned.
‘It's ripening wonderfully.’
Had he already encountered the wall? If so, this meeting had come at exactly the right time. Lorelia smiled brightly at Yuri, then abruptly turned her gaze to the side.
“By the way.”
It was already too late to run. Her fearsome crimson eyes turned toward Tang Mu-seok and the Tang siblings, who stood pale-faced with their gazes lowered.
“What is this smell of blood?”
The bandages around Lorelia's fists were stained with the Iron Twin Beggars' blood, but her gaze remained fixed on Tang Mu-seok and the Tang siblings.
Footnotes:
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