WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ Damned Transmigration ◈

Chapter 129: Green Forest 3

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"An, an attack! We're under attack!"

The subordinate came running over, shouting breathlessly, but Bloodied Wolf Fang, the leader of Red Wolf Stronghold, had already finished preparing. He rested a jagged great blade over his shoulder and glared at the subordinate.

"How many?"

"Three...!"

Bloodied Wolf Fang's brow twitched at the answer. Since they had charged straight at the stronghold, he had thought it might be a subjugation force assembled without his knowledge.

Only three?

"Are you sure? Really just three? No one following them?"

"Yes, I'm certain."

"How did they get in?"

"Yang Il-gwi betrayed us."

Bloodied Wolf Fang's eyes turned cold at the word betrayal. Betrayal was a grave crime. Even if the traitor fled, they would be pursued relentlessly and made to pay with their life.

"Did he run?"

"I came straight here myself, so I don't know what happened to that bastard Yang Il-gwi..."

Had this betrayal been planned from the beginning? Or had he been forced into it?

Bloodied Wolf Fang couldn't be bothered with such complicated thoughts.

What was certain was that only three people had come all the way to the stronghold to pick a fight.

"Do you know who they are?"

"I don't..."

"Fuck, what the hell do you know?"

Bloodied Wolf Fang spat the words out and strode past the subordinate.

The subordinate had been cursed at out of nowhere, but only bowed deeply and followed Bloodied Wolf Fang. They knew their leader had been in a foul mood since yesterday.

'Those Mountain King Stronghold bastards.'

Yang Il-gwi's betrayal was bad enough. He had been one of the action commanders Bloodied Wolf Fang trusted. The sudden frontal attack was irritating too, but the letter he had received from Mountain King Stronghold yesterday was worse.

Yesterday, he had received a letter demanding an increase in their monthly tribute.

'The tribute they extort from all the other strongholds combined must be far more than the budget of any decent major sect.'

They had received support after joining the Eighteen Green Forest Strongholds, so he had obediently paid tribute until now. Starting next month, though, they would have to tighten their belts.

Otherwise, they would have to increase the frequency of their raids, even if it meant overextending themselves. That was easier said than done.

To make real money, they would have to target escort agencies or merchant groups instead of travelers and peddlers. They could raise the tolls they already collected, or ignore custom altogether and wipe them out.

Either choice came with risks. One wrong move, and the escort agencies and merchant groups might unite to form a subjugation force.

'Why the fuck are they suddenly demanding more tribute?'

Perhaps knowing it was a sudden demand, Mountain King Stronghold had sent a spiritual elixir as a gift... but that spiritual elixir was suspicious.

They had received help before, such as formation arrays being installed and troops being sent over. This was the first time they had been granted a spiritual elixir.

He had spent his entire life committing shameless evil deeds. Living that way naturally made a person suspicious, if only to avoid dying a pointless death or being stabbed in the back.

Every stronghold leader would be unhappy with an order to suddenly raise tribute.

The spiritual elixirs might have been distributed to suppress that discontent, but what if they were only called spiritual elixirs? What if they were poison meant to force them to obey?

That was why Bloodied Wolf Fang had yet to consume the spiritual elixir he received yesterday. He did not urgently need one, so he had planned to verify it first.

His mood was already shit, and he needed someone to take it out on. Whoever these bastards were, they had picked the wrong time. Grinding his teeth, Bloodied Wolf Fang gripped the hilt of his Mourning Blade tightly.

The fact that only three people had attacked meant they were confident not only in their nerve but in their skill. Still, Bloodied Wolf Fang was a sixth-tier master.

There were more than a hundred subordinates in the stronghold as well. With that much force, they could hold the advantage even in a direct fight against most sects.

─Boooom!

As he headed toward the palisade, intending to cool his anger and irritation with blood, a deafening crash rang out and the wooden barrier collapsed.

"...?"

It had not simply fallen over. That massive palisade had been cleanly split in two with a single strike.

The neatly severed barrier toppled backward, and his subordinates screamed as it crashed down.

'What was that just now?'

It had happened in an instant, but Bloodied Wolf Fang's eyes had not missed the light that had cut through the palisade and vanished. That razor-sharp slash was no ordinary sword force.

Bloodied Wolf Fang swallowed hard and kicked off the ground.

"Aaaagh!"

Several screams reached him before he even got close. Bloodied Wolf Fang narrowed his eyes.

Beyond the fallen palisade, the place had already become a battlefield. A wolf among herbivores, no, perhaps a tiger would have looked like that. A blond man was slaughtering his subordinates.

More than ten subordinates surrounded the blond man, but the encirclement collapsed in an instant. Golden light burst from the sword he swung, shattering their formation in a single strike.

Even thrusting at him with spear-like polearms was useless. Some of the subordinates who rushed him were fifth-tier captains, yet not one could properly withstand that golden sword.

When he saw the palisade fall, he had sped up to reach it at once. After seeing the situation, though, his steps naturally slowed.

"Stronghold Leader?"

The subordinate who had been panting after him looked at Bloodied Wolf Fang in confusion.

"Release the wolves."

"Pardon?"

"I said release them!"

Bloodied Wolf Fang bellowed. Without asking another question, the subordinate raced toward the wolf cages.

After sending them away, Bloodied Wolf Fang clenched his sweat-slick hand and turned his gaze.

The blond swordsman was not the only one running wild. A short distance away, a woman was slaughtering his subordinates with black and white daggers.

She was not simply closing in to slash and stab them.

The daggers that left her hands flew freely like winged birds, weaving through his subordinates. Whenever they did, subordinates collapsed to the ground with blood spraying from their throats.

Her hands had been empty after throwing the black and white daggers, but they swept through the air. Concealed weapons like thick needles filled the gaps between her fingers. The weapons scattered, and people died.

Every death the woman dealt was simple and swift.

'What the hell is that bitch?'

She was not only using daggers. Even to Bloodied Wolf Fang, the movements of the subordinates rushing her looked strange.

They moved slowly, and their attacks seemed to drift wide. Some tangled up their own feet and fell over. Watching from afar, it was a ridiculous sight. They looked as though they were deliberately fighting halfheartedly.

"Blegh...!"

There was no way they were doing that on purpose. Subordinates who had not even been cut by a dagger fell and crawled across the ground, shuddering in convulsions before vomiting dark red blood and going still.

'Poison?'

Poisoned daggers. The most famous users of that combination were Salmun and the Dang Family. A blond swordsman. A woman who used poison and concealed weapons. Goosebumps rose across Bloodied Wolf Fang's body.

'No way.'

Could they be the Three Heroes, said to have stayed at the Uicheon Sword Gate with the Calamity Star for the past year? Horrified, Bloodied Wolf Fang dragged one foot back.

'Did the Calamity Star come too?'

Of course, Bloodied Wolf Fang feared the Calamity Star's name far more than the Three Heroes. The attackers had been said to number three, one woman and two men. Did that mean the Calamity Star was not here?

There was no way to know. Perhaps his subordinate simply had not seen her, and she was watching them from somewhere else.

Bloodied Wolf Fang trembled as he searched the surroundings, then felt a chilling gaze. Malice that could be felt through a look alone. Was it the Calamity Star after all? He turned his head with that thought.

His eyes met a blazing gaze within scarlet flames.

'That...'

Before he could even finish thinking, What is that?, the flames exploded.

The considerable distance between them vanished in an instant. It would be too late if he kept thinking. His blade moved on instinct to block the attack.

Booom! Bloodied Wolf Fang's feet lifted off the ground with the thunderous impact.

A sixth-tier martial artist was a superhuman who had begun to transcend humanity, able to split an instant into several moments and react within each one. His defense had been drawn out suddenly, but it was not clumsy.

Even so, this was the result. The hand holding his blade went numb, and his protective force aura shook violently.

"You bastard...!"

Bloodied Wolf Fang's eyes widened. The foot that had flown in while closing the distance drew a scarlet line. Before he could say another word, attacks poured down on him.

It felt less like facing a foot and more like facing a spear. That flexible leg bent, thrust, and kicked without mercy. Unable to land, Bloodied Wolf Fang stepped on the air and swung his blade.

They were ordinary shoes, not even reinforced with iron, yet every collision rang out with a loud bang. Vivid red covered the entire foot, blazing like fire and drawing lines along every trajectory.

'Why is it so damn hard?'

It was not only hard. It was fast and heavy. There was no pause between attacks. They kept coming without end.

If Bloodied Wolf Fang split an instant into several moments, then this bastard split it into dozens.

They used time differently. Cold sweat trickled down Bloodied Wolf Fang's forehead. He kept switching legs as he attacked. Step, kick, step, thrust, kick, step...

No. He could not keep up with the flow. If he tried to follow it, he would only be dragged along instead.

Could he shake him off? Impossible. The flow created by the bastard's attacks was like a whirlpool. Once caught in it, he could not escape by his own power.

'This is Cloud Dragon...?'

He had heard the man had been at the fifth tier just a year ago. What the hell was this?

Gritting his teeth, Bloodied Wolf Fang poured Intent into his blade force.

Fwoosh! The now fiercer blade force surged toward the flickering red light.

Before his counterattack could fully extend, though, it was blocked by a foot with a clunk. The foot turned into a sickle, hooking over the flat of the blade and pressing it down.

Heavy.

Booom! The redirected force crashed downward. As Bloodied Wolf Fang's Mourning Blade was driven into the ground, Cloud Dragon used the blade as a foothold and made a short leap.

Crack! Cloud Dragon's knee slammed into Bloodied Wolf Fang's face.

"Urk!"

Bloodied Wolf Fang staggered backward, blood spraying from his nose and mouth.

"Are you the stronghold leader here?"

Only after attacking first and making him spill blood from his nose and mouth did the man finally speak.

Yuri brushed the dirt from his leg and looked at Bloodied Wolf Fang. He had clashed with blade force dozens of times in that brief exchange, yet there was not even a tear in his pants.

"You... bastard..."

Bloodied Wolf Fang covered his crushed nose with one hand and glared at Yuri. At that moment, what he felt was not anger over the attack or the beating. It was a sense of loss and futility.

He had swung a blade for decades. He had reached the sixth tier, and several years had passed since then.

At this level, he was considered a master anywhere in the world. He had enough skill to trade blows with the leaders of most sects and families.

Before he was a Green Forest bandit, Bloodied Wolf Fang was a martial artist. He took immense pride in the skill and tier he had built up.

Now it was crumbling. He had been pushed back from start to finish by a brat only twenty-three years old, then taken a knee to the face...

"Why did you attack this place?"

Ptooey. Bloodied Wolf Fang spat out the blood in his mouth and asked.

"Your subordinates attacked us."

Yuri answered with an indifferent expression.

"Did you target us on purpose?"

"Hah... What a crazy thing to say. You were crossing this mountain, and you did not think you would become a target?"

"Then forget it."

"We are the Eighteen Green Forest Strongholds."

Bloodied Wolf Fang's eyes widened as he glared at Yuri.

"If you retreat now, I'll pretend none of this happened."

Woof! Woof! Woof!

The wolf monsters released from their cages barked in unison and charged toward the battlefield. Yuri nodded at the sound of barking in the distance.

"Sounds like dogs are barking somewhere."

"You lunatic...!"

"So what if you're the Eighteen Green Forest Strongholds? If I kill you and wreck this place, are those bandit bastards going to join forces, come down the mountain, and seek revenge on me?"

They would not. The Eighteen Green Forest Strongholds had no such loyalty. If one of them was subjugated, that was simply the end of it.

"You son of a bitch! What did we do that was so wrong you want to kill us all?"

Bloodied Wolf Fang shouted in indignation. The only wrong he had committed was killing people crossing the mountain and taking their money. Every bandit on every mountain did that much.

"Attacking you was not my decision! Then kill that bastard and be done with it. Why did you come all the way to our stronghold, where we were living peacefully, to punish us?"

"A dog really is barking..."

Yuri let out a hollow laugh and raised his hand.

Crackle!

With a peal of thunder, a Thunder Orb floated up from Yuri's hand.

Bloodied Wolf Fang's face stiffened at the sight. He immediately knew it was not a mere sphere of force aura.

"W-wait..."

Before Bloodied Wolf Fang could say more, the Thunder Orb left Yuri's hand. It shot toward him in a flash of light, and Bloodied Wolf Fang hurriedly swung his blade.

But the Thunder Orb struck before the blade could move.

"Aaaagh!"

The instant it hit, his protective force aura vanished as if it had evaporated. Bloodied Wolf Fang screamed and rolled across the ground.

The lightning's explosion ended in an instant, but the pain he felt during that short moment was horrific and prolonged.

Yuri gave another command to the bouncing Thunder Orb. Instead of attacking Bloodied Wolf Fang again, it moved like a living creature and charged toward the wolf pack.

Rumble!

Lightning exploded at the center of the pack and swept through the wolves.

Bloodied Wolf Fang crawled across the ground as a deafening roar tore through his ears.

He could not win. That attack had made him realize it. Being in the same tier did not mean they were equally skilled. If anything, being in the same tier made the gap all the clearer.

Those initial kicks had been nothing more than playful greetings from that young monster. If Yuri had wanted to, he could have killed Bloodied Wolf Fang at any time.

His injuries were not actually that serious. His entire body had been scorched, but Bloodied Wolf Fang was still a sixth-tier martial artist. Even after his protective force aura evaporated, the inner power in his dantian and the Intent in his Upper Dantian resisted to keep him alive.

If he decided to fight, he could stand up and do so immediately. But Bloodied Wolf Fang could not.

The outcome had been decided the moment he felt that sense of loss and futility. Now that he knew he could not win, Bloodied Wolf Fang crawled along the ground, trying to escape from Yuri.

"Where are you going?"

The screams behind him were growing fewer. No matter how the Red Wolf Stronghold bandits struggled, surviving Estor and Haryeong was impossible.

Once they killed Bloodied Wolf Fang and wiped out the remaining bandits, Red Wolf Stronghold would be finished.

He could not die here. The desire to live was only natural.

The approaching footsteps pounded against Bloodied Wolf Fang's chest. What should he do? How could he escape? What else could he do?

Among those racing thoughts, he found a small glimmer of hope.

Bloodied Wolf Fang searched inside his clothes and grasped a small bottle.

Amazingly, the bottle had not broken. Please, God. Bloodied Wolf Fang called upon a god he had never believed in as he opened the bottle's lid.

The gift from Mountain King Stronghold. The suspicious spiritual elixir he had not consumed. This was not the time to worry about that.

A spiritual elixir did not take effect the moment it was consumed, but it would at least be better than before he took it.

Without hesitation, Bloodied Wolf Fang poured the spiritual elixir into his mouth. Dark liquid sloshed down his throat.

Please, please. Let this spiritual elixir save me. Let it create a miracle.

God.

'What is that?'

Yuri knew Bloodied Wolf Fang was doing something. He had watched the man pull a small bottle from his clothes, open it, and put it in his mouth. He had let him.

He was curious about what kind of trick he was trying to pull.

The man was able to fight, yet had given up and crawled away to escape. It did not look like he was drinking poison to kill himself. Yuri had assumed it might be some kind of stimulant.

"Huh."

Yuri's eyes widened in surprise. The burned skin where the Thunder Orb had struck was regenerating at a visible pace.

That was not all.

Veins bulged all over Bloodied Wolf Fang's body, and his muscles swelled. Yuri immediately opened Transcendent Sight and examined him.

Something murky was mixing into his vital energy. The vital energy was gradually swelling. That color mixed into each of the three dantians and spread throughout Bloodied Wolf Fang's body.

"Oh... Ooooh..."

A voice full of ecstasy leaked from Bloodied Wolf Fang's mouth. He no longer crawled along the ground and instead staggered to his feet.

His eyes changed. At the center of whites that had turned black like spilled ink, an ominous light shone.

"This... What the hell is this...?"

Trembling with joy, Bloodied Wolf Fang looked down at both hands. The sense of loss and futility had completely vanished. In their place was an omnipotent feeling, as if he could do anything.

It was not only a feeling. Bloodied Wolf Fang could feel immense power spreading through his body.

"Heh... Hehehe... Hahaha... Hahahahaha!"

Everything in the world felt trivial and crude. Even Cloud Dragon, who had filled him with despair and fear moments ago, now looked like nothing but an insect.

Laughing like a madman, Bloodied Wolf Fang raised his Mourning Blade.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"Thanks to you, I gained this power."

If he had not felt the terror of death at Cloud Dragon's hands, he would not have taken the spiritual elixir now. Smiling, Bloodied Wolf Fang unleashed blade force.

Rumble!

Power incomparably greater than before wrapped around his blade.

"You should have killed me earlier..."

Crackle!

The Thunder Orb flew back and struck Bloodied Wolf Fang. His protective force aura did not vanish in a single hit like before, but the lightning's explosion made him stagger.

"It's useless..."

Once again, he could not finish his sentence. The distance between him and Yuri disappeared the moment he staggered. That fist did not look especially fast to Bloodied Wolf Fang.

Smiling leisurely, Bloodied Wolf Fang swung his blade.

"Huh...?"

He thought it was not fast, but he still could not deflect it.

Crack!

His protective force aura shook violently, and his feet slid backward.

"W-wait."

Yuri said nothing. With his mouth shut, he silently moved his fists and legs.

"This... Wait, why?"

He could see the fists and legs. Unlike before, when he had been pressured so hard that he could not even put his thoughts into words, he now had enough room to voice his confusion.

Yet the result did not change. He could see them, but there was nothing he could do. He could not cut Yuri. He could not counterattack.

Yuri could see Bloodied Wolf Fang's movements as well. Transcendent Sight caught movements before they began. Even if he was late, he had Sealing Thunder at the Gate of Death.

He did not know what Bloodied Wolf Fang had consumed. Seeing as he had suddenly gained power, it was probably some medicine that drew out one's latent potential.

It was laughable that he was acting cocky over power gained from something like that.

After Yuri deflected and struck him several times, the defense guarding Bloodied Wolf Fang's chest opened wide.

"You don't need to thank me."

He gave that belated answer without missing the opening. Sacred Flame Release slammed into Bloodied Wolf Fang's chest.

"Urk!"

Blood sprayed from Bloodied Wolf Fang's mouth.

Footnotes:

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