WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ Damned Transmigration ◈
Chapter 121: Winter 2
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The one who had fought the longest, no, endured the longest, was Cloud Dragon.
He had held out in the air for a long time, stubbornly clinging to Calamity Star. Even after finally falling to the ground, he repeatedly leaped back at her.
In the end, he exchanged a few more moves with Calamity Star after she came down herself, then spat out blood and curses as he admitted defeat.
“I los-cough-t.”
It was only natural that he could not win. Whether he was called one of the Three Heroes or Cloud Dragon, he was still far beneath the Martial Apex Venerable.
Yet Cloud Dragon did not look as though defeat were only natural.
They had been staying at the Uicheon Sword Gate for several months now.
Judging by how often they threw themselves at her, they appeared to have always trained like this. Naturally, they must have lost every time.
Still, none of them were indifferent to defeat simply because they had grown used to it. Even Dark Blossom, the sole woman among them, wore an irritated expression as she mulled over her loss, vivid green flames burning in the depths of her dark eyes.
‘What the hell are these people...?’
To Yeonri Sangah, this was not training. It was torture.
Having them face real attacks hidden within an avalanche would be enough to bring them to death’s door. Then, as soon as that ended, they went straight into a sparring match close to actual combat? It was brutal training that even the most stubborn lunatic would struggle to endure.
It would not have been strange if they had become accustomed to losing, their spirits broken by despair. Yet there was no such despair or familiarity with defeat on the faces of the Three Heroes. What lay within those expressions was...
‘Ferocity, killing intent...?’
Even if they could not win, they wanted to land just one hit on Calamity Star. They wanted to return violence to that insane woman who always smiled brightly, looking as though she was having the time of her life while beating the hell out of them.
At first, they had been grateful for her teachings. Then it became so exhausting and painful that they wanted to quit. For the sake of progress, they had forced themselves into believing it was fun and exciting...
Now, they had gone beyond that.
Estor, who had forced himself to smile and say he was enjoying it and grateful for it. Haryeong, who had been thankful to finally learn proper martial arts. Yuri, who had found something he was good at for the first time in his life and decided to devote himself to it.
They wanted to hit Lorelia.
They wanted to land even one proper blow.
That desire was what kept them enduring and charging at her every day.
Yeonri Sangah knew nothing of those circumstances. That was why she could only continue to marvel at the resolve of the Three Heroes.
‘They’re nothing like the rumors.’
Dark Blossom was the first to surprise her.
She was the hidden daughter of the Poison King, the former head of the Dang Family, as well as an assassin of the Salhomun. Yeonri Sangah did not know the exact name of her martial art, but she had heard that, like an assassin from the Dang Family, Dark Blossom used concealed-weapon techniques.
Seeing her in person, though, was slightly different. Concealed weapons played a significant role in Dark Blossom’s combat style, but they were accompanied by highly developed unarmed techniques.
Judging by her footwork and hand techniques alone, she could have called herself an unarmed fighter.
Next was the Sword Dragon. He had inherited the Sword Emperor’s teachings and was already famous.
‘Can someone at that level wield a sword so well?’
The Orsia Sword Saint Form was one of the finest divine sword arts, even when compared to the sword arts of Eastern martial sects and sword clans.
Even considering that he had learned the Orsia Sword Saint Form, the Sword Dragon’s swordsmanship was exceptional. It possessed a practical quality that could not possibly be explained by the background he was born into or the life he had lived.
If the Orsia Family were compared to the martial world, they would be a righteous sword clan. Yet some of the Sword Dragon’s strikes differed from the swords of the Righteous Sect. They resembled the swords of the Unorthodox Sect, the Demonic Cult, wanderers, and mercenaries. Completely different styles of swordsmanship were mixed together, yet they were neither messy nor discordant.
Dark Blossom and the Sword Dragon. Yeonri Sangah would have been shocked had she seen either one alone.
But Cloud Dragon was even more astonishing than those two. When she had heard about him a few months ago, he had supposedly been at the fifth tier...
‘He’s reached the sixth tier. He’s not even at the beginning of it...’
Even rising talents praised as geniuses by prestigious sects and families, who had earned the titles of dragons and blossoms, had never reached the sixth tier before thirty. Baek Eun-mu-hu herself had only reached the sixth tier after turning thirty.
‘There shouldn’t be anyone among the western martial families, or even the mages, who has reached the sixth tier before thirty...’
It was not only his tier that was astonishing. Cloud Dragon was simply strong. He fought well. He was accustomed to fighting...
“I was unable to introduce myself properly earlier because of the situation.”
Yuri had been sitting on the snow-covered ground, catching his breath, when he spoke. Yeonri Sangah’s stare was far too blatant and intense for him to ignore.
“So... my title is Cloud Dragon, and my name is Yuri.”
Gongsun Myeong had told him beforehand that Baek Eun-mu-hu would be visiting soon.
In the game, she had been a level 84 boss NPC.
‘So that’s the Crescent Moon Netherwedding Blade.’
The enormous crescent-bladed polearm, as tall as Yeonri Sangah herself, still stood upright in the snow. The Crescent Moon Netherwedding Blade was a spear treated as endgame equipment in the game, with stats equal to Atria, the Sword Emperor’s beloved sword.
Baek Eun-mu-hu’s Heavenly Snow White Blossom Art was not magic, but it resembled magic. It was a martial art of extreme yin.
Unless one had elemental resistance in addition to magic resistance, simply being on the field inflicted the status ailment Frostbite, which slowed the player and dealt damage over time.
The irritating part was that even with resistance, accumulated physical damage would forcibly cause Frostbite, or, if one was unlucky, Freeze, leaving them unable to move.
If an attack landed while they were frozen, it was an instant kill. Based on Yuri’s experience in the game, she was, like Orca, an incredibly troublesome and malicious boss who made melee warriors miserable.
Back when Yuri had been Lee Su-hyeok, he had been instantly killed by Freeze several times and cursed out Baek Eun-mu-hu’s parents.
And now he was receiving an intense stare from the very Baek Eun-mu-hu he had cursed so much...
‘Is age meaningless in this world...?’
She had been a boss even in the game. More than thirty years had passed since then, so he could not even guess her age, yet Baek Eun-mu-hu, staring directly at him, did not look a day over her late twenties.
‘Orca was the same. So was Lady Lorelia...’
Just how old were they...? It was a question he could not bring himself to ask. Even thinking about it felt like it would give him cognitive dissonance, so he forced the thought from his mind.
Yuri tried to rise so he could greet her properly.
“You needn’t stand. Aren’t your injuries too severe?”
Yeonri Sangah hurriedly stopped Yuri. The injury to his leg that she had seen earlier was serious enough, but after being hit and thrown around several times, his entire body was in terrible shape.
No matter how tough a martial artist’s body was or how quickly it recovered, injuries like those would require several days of rest and recuperation.
“Do you always train like this? Your body won’t endure it. Even if you trained like this only once a week, your body would...”
“Every day!”
“?”
Yeonri Sangah whipped her head toward the sudden voice. Lorelia had removed the blood-soaked bandages wrapped around her fists and was rubbing her hands in the thick white snow. She smiled brightly.
“Once a week? What kind of training is that? Training only has meaning when you throw yourself into the line of death every moment you are alive and breathing!”
“Every day, you do this... this insane shit?”
“Of course! If you hadn’t come here today, we would’ve rested and then resumed!”
“Re... sumed? Resumed?”
Yeonri Sangah’s eyes widened in disbelief. She looked at the three resting miserably in the snow, then grimaced and glared at Lorelia.
“Are you planning to shatter these young gems with your sadism?”
“Sadism? What on earth do you mean? You have a terrible misunderstanding of me!”
“You vicious thing...! Aren’t the children’s injuries too severe?”
“Mistakes must be punished harshly!”
“Mistakes?”
What mistake could they possibly have made? While Yeonri Sangah hesitated, Lorelia continued her impassioned speech.
“They should have stayed conscious during the avalanche and defied the natural disaster! Instead, they were all swept away! Their bones broke, and they even lost consciousness!”
“...”
“In real combat, they would have died while unconscious! But this Lorelia showed them mercy because this was not real combat! I admit that the discipline may have been a little excessive, but I do not normally go this far!”
What the hell was that supposed to mean? While Yeonri Sangah was too stunned to answer, Estor grumbled.
“I said we should cut our way forward head-on. If we’d all gathered our strength and cut through one point, we could’ve endured it.”
“Why did you insist on that insanity of cutting through an avalanche? We should have followed my suggestion, gone over the top, and run.”
“Like that would’ve been easy. If we’d all jumped together, Lady Lorelia would’ve beaten us senseless together. It was right for everyone to fend for themselves.”
“Is that why your leg ended up like that? As expected of our Yuri. You’re so good at doing everything alone.”
“Honestly, I lasted the longest and did the best. Haryeong and Estor should thank me. The two of them are relatively fine because I held Lady Lorelia back while enduring the avalanche.”
Yuri grumbled as he touched his shattered knee. He had only aligned it and held it in place with inner power. He had not received proper treatment yet.
“Are you going to leave my leg like this? If it were fine, I could’ve landed at least one hit earlier.”
“You’re getting bolder with your nonsense.”
Lorelia smiled brightly and took out holy water. How many bottles of holy water had this been already? Thankfully, she had looted plenty from the Grand Temple of the Sect of War in the past, so there was still a lot left.
“...”
Yeonri Sangah had gone through grueling training many times in her life. That training was what had made her the Baek Eun-mu-hu she was today.
But she had never trained to this extent...
“You... are you truly all right with this?”
Yeonri Sangah asked hesitantly.
“If this is too painful and difficult, if Calamity Star is forcing you to do it when you do not wish to, then I will step in for your sake.”
“Are you trying to steal my students?”
“Holy water may heal the body, but it does not heal the mind...! Repeating this every day will break their minds!”
“Overcoming that is perseverance and self-discipline!”
A few months ago, Yeonri Sangah’s words might have reached them deeply. They had not wanted to stop training entirely, but they had wished Lorelia would ease up a little.
“Thank you for your concern, but I’m fine.”
Haryeong answered first. In the beginning, she had said she wanted to run away whenever she had the chance. Now, she calmly refused Yeonri Sangah’s offer.
“I’m enduring because I can endure it. If I truly couldn’t, I would have run away of my own will long ago.”
She had not reached the sixth tier yet. Still, she believed it was now within sight. She had also made significant progress in the Scripture of Reversing Taiji Intent, opening a crack in her tightly sealed Upper Dantian and stepping into Intent.
Green flames flickered deep within Haryeong’s eyes. They were the poison flames of Intent ignited by the Scripture of Reversing Taiji Intent.
“I’m fine too.”
Estor had not reached the sixth tier either. Yet his Light Sword now ignited almost instantly after Glimmerblade, while his swordsmanship itself had advanced greatly through repeated real combat at the edge of death.
He was achieving what he had desperately wished for when leaving Panteleon. A tier could only be harmonious when one possessed the skill worthy of it.
Yeonri Sangah’s eyes went blank at their consecutive refusals. She had offered to help them escape torture fit for hell itself, yet they had turned her down without the slightest hesitation.
Only Cloud Dragon had not answered. Naturally, Yeonri Sangah’s eyes turned to Yuri.
‘Ah...’
She could tell from his expression alone that she would not receive an answer.
Cloud Dragon’s eyes were facing her, but Yeonri Sangah could sense that they were not seeing reality.
‘Is he looking at the past? Or the future?’
Was he reviewing the sparring match where he had suffered a one-sided defeat? Or was he imagining the day when he would finally unleash the ferocity he had harbored?
One thing was certain. He did not even spare a glance for a reality more comfortable than this because he did not desire one. His eyes blazed as fiercely as hellfire, but his expression was utterly calm.
No matter how hard Cloud Dragon struggled, he could never threaten Yeonri Sangah. Yet at that moment, she distinctly felt and clearly saw an invisible fighting spirit.
Even Baek Eun-mu-hu could feel it. The three standing behind her felt a suffocating pressure from Yuri’s fighting spirit.
“Ugh...”
The youngest among them was Azure Sky Sword Blossom, Namgung Yeon-bi. At twenty-one, she had only recently reached the fourth tier, and she was said to be the future of the Namgung Family, which was slowly withering away.
But she was only its future, not its present. Namgung Yeon-bi clutched at her tight chest and panted. It felt as though something had gripped her heart tightly.
Snow fell, and the wind was cold. Yet cold sweat beaded across Yeonri Eunha’s forehead. Until seeing him today, she had never paid attention to the man called Cloud Dragon. She had no interest in him at all.
But seeing Cloud Dragon in person, she could not help but take notice. Those who were truly outstanding drew the eye whether one wanted to look at them or not. Yeonri Eunha swallowed and clenched her fist.
‘Hah...’
Hwangbo Jin-cheol felt even greater pressure than Namgung Yeon-bi.
At some point, Yuri’s gaze had left Yeonri Sangah and settled on Hwangbo Jin-cheol. A pressure honed into a single point poured down on him.
‘What is this...?’
He had come here with the ambition to prove that he was the greatest among dragons, but no such resolve remained in Hwangbo Jin-cheol’s mind now.
The intangible fighting spirit pressing down on his entire body was an intensity of Intent beyond what Hwangbo Jin-cheol could accept.
‘To wield Intent of this level... Cloud Dragon’s tier must be...’
The moment Hwangbo Jin-cheol swallowed, Yuri opened his mouth.
“When would you like to do it?”
Yuri’s eyes still rested on Hwangbo Jin-cheol. Those sudden words were directed at him.
“Do... what?”
That was why Hwangbo Jin-cheol answered haltingly. Yuri instead tilted his head with a puzzled expression.
“Hegemon Dragon, didn’t you come here because you wanted to fight me once?”
“...”
“You did not travel all this way just to see my face and say hello, did you? You are not even a disciple of the Uicheon Sword Gate.”
“No... that is...”
“I happen to be interested in your skill as well. As you know, accomplished unarmed fighters are rare. The Hwangbo Family is a prestigious martial family that has trained fist arts for generations, so I would like to cross fists with you at least once.”
Yuri slowly rose to his feet. Hwangbo Jin-cheol could not answer and only swallowed.
It was true that he had come because he was interested and wanted to test himself against Yuri.
The problem was that Cloud Dragon was far stronger than Hwangbo Jin-cheol had expected. Seeing how he handled that much Intent, he had clearly surpassed the fifth tier already.
‘No... it isn’t a matter of tier...’
Hwangbo Jin-cheol was not so weak-willed that he would lose his fighting spirit just because his opponent was strong or of a higher tier. The reason he hesitated now was the strange atmosphere he felt from Cloud Dragon.
His clothes were soaked in blood, and his hair was a mess, full of snow. Red light flashed from his eyes beyond his unkempt bangs. At that moment, Cloud Dragon looked like an asura or an evil spirit.
“I feel like fighting too, so how about right now?”
“Um...”
A younger junior was urging him again and again. Refusing now would not be honorable. Hwangbo Jin-cheol clenched his fists and nodded.
“If Cloud Dragon is willing, I have no objection to doing it now...”
A faint smile touched Yuri’s lips.
‘What are those expressions...?’
As Hwangbo Jin-cheol loosened his wrists and stepped forward, he caught sight of the Sword Dragon and Dark Blossom. The two were smacking their lips as they watched Yuri. They looked almost envious.
He saw correctly.
Estor and Haryeong envied Yuri for suddenly getting the chance to spar.
Yuri was pleased that he could fight. He genuinely wanted to fight Hwangbo Jin-cheol.
During the months they had spent at the Uicheon Sword Gate, the three had always been the ones getting beaten. They had never been able to beat someone else up without holding back.
To Yuri, the large Hwangbo Jin-cheol felt like rain after a long drought. He had taken an especially painful beating today, which made it even better.
‘It’s been a while since I got to beat someone up...’
The spar had not even begun yet, but the thought of pummeling that big body made his heart race.
Footnotes:
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