WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Damned Transmigration ◈
Chapter 142: Three-Eyed Monster 1
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He was one of the Seven Evils of the Demonic Cult, a great demonic fiend who had held his position for decades alongside Chaos Heaven Asura.
Those two had been named bosses of the Demonic Cult in the game as well.
Before the hidden route opened, the game ended when players killed the Heavenly Demon.
Ironically, the condition for unlocking the hidden route was not killing the Heavenly Demon. Even so, if asked to name the most popular field in Seronis, most people would name the Demonic Cult.
It was because of the high difficulty and mechanics. The hidden boss was, of course, the hardest, but compared to that monster, the Demonic Cult bosses were just difficult enough to be manageable if a player had reached max level and built their character well.
Of course, that only applied if the Heavenly Demon, who threw instant-death moves around as ultimate arts, was excluded.
To begin with, the Heavenly Demon was a tiring boss because his fight came back-to-back with that against Herein Rudella, the Corpse Immortal.
Even if the Heavenly Demon restored the character’s health before his fight began, he did not restore the items used beforehand or the player’s mental fatigue.
Leaving aside that damned Heavenly Demon and Corpse Immortal duo, the ones responsible for the fun of the Demonic Cult were the Three-Eyed Monster and Chaos Heaven Asura.
That duo served as the final punching bag to check one’s build before facing the Heavenly Demon or the hidden boss. Yuri had killed them dozens, even hundreds of times.
The Three-Eyed Monster in particular was similar enough to the Corpse Immortal to be called her physical version. But he was not as maddening as Herein, who summoned the corpses of NPCs killed in the Demonic Cult field as meat shields, hurled soul attacks that ignored defense, and ran all over the place.
First came the waves of synthetic beasts and jiangshi he had created himself. In phase two, blood jiangshi with the capabilities of mid-bosses appeared. Then, in phase three, after all of them were dead, the Three-Eyed Monster himself appeared while reciting rage-filled lines.
He was level 84, the same as Baek Eun-mu-hu, but as long as players handled the mob phases well, the Three-Eyed Monster was easier to defeat.
Game bosses were not necessarily stronger just because their levels were higher. To Lee Su-hyeok, Heavenly Thunder at level 81 had been far more troublesome than Baek Eun-mu-hu at level 84 or the Sword Emperor at level 90.
“The Three-Eyed Monster?”
Yuri blinked at the man. He had not expected to hear the Three-Eyed Monster’s name here.
Perhaps every misery he had endured until now had suddenly overwhelmed him. His hairy, gorilla-like face trembled, and his eyes gradually filled with tears.
“Do you know who he is?”
“We may still be raising our tiers as martial artists, but surely we know the Three-Eyed Monster of the Seven Evils.”
“No, you do not know his true nature. Even among the Seven Evils, he is the most vicious. A devil wearing human skin.”
As the man clenched his trembling hand, Yuri recalled the Three-Eyed Monster from the game.
The game had no illustrations, so players could only guess at characters’ appearances from blurry pixels. Still, the Three-Eyed Monster lived up to his name.
A third eye in the middle of his forehead. White hair like a mane. A body as massive as most monsters. Judging by appearance alone, he was more deserving of being called a beast-like Demihuman.
“He imprisoned many people, including me, and performed grotesque experiments on us! My, my appearance is like this because of the Three-Eyed Monster...!”
The man’s name was Seo Chung. He was a martial artist born in Sinjeong, a city within the Demon Subjugation Palace.
Sinjeong was a religious city that had been ruled by the Demonic Cult for ages. Those born and raised there naturally became believers under the Cult’s influence.
Not every believer in Sinjeong learned martial arts or magic, nor did they all practice the Demonic Cult doctrine of attaining divine status with human bodies.
The Demonic Cult’s ideology was not merely about becoming a god oneself. It was also about worshipping the Heavenly Demon, the Living God and Cult Leader.
In that sense, Seo Chung had been a born rebel. His parents had been devout believers who worshipped the Heavenly Demon, but Seo Chung could not do the same.
He found it difficult to understand either attaining divine status with a human body or worshipping the Heavenly Demon, who was still only human, as a Living God.
The Demonic Cult did not force faith upon the people of Sinjeong.
Still, Seo Chung was not foolish enough to loudly proclaim his thoughts, and his parents had wanted it. So he entered a Divine Academy and learned martial arts.
“[...What is a Divine Academy?]”
“[There are several educational institutions in the Demon Subjugation Palace where believers can systematically learn martial arts or magic. They are called Divine Academies. Upon enrolling, students can learn peak-level martial arts and unique magic according to their potential and grades. After graduation, they can become elites of the Demonic Cult based on their tier and grades.]”
If they showed promise while attending, they could become a master’s disciple early or even enter the Rudella Mage Tower.
“[Three years ago, a specialized training center opened in Seonryeong to gather and train the most outstanding Divine Academy students. Did you not know?]”
“[At that time, I was too busy surviving on my own.]”
“The graduates of that center will lead the next generation of the Demonic Cult. Perhaps the Young Cult Leader we saw in Panteleon is attending it too.”
Worshipping a human Cult Leader as a god made it sound like a mere cult, but it was more organized than Yuri had expected if it trained believers through Divine Academies and specialized training centers.
Returning to Seo Chung’s story, he graduated from the Divine Academy with fairly ordinary grades and a fairly ordinary tier, then joined one of the Demonic Cult’s armed units.
Ten years passed after that. It was a peaceful time, when the Demonic Cult was neither aggressively expanding its influence nor facing outside pressure from the Righteous Heavenly Alliance or the Black Dragon Society.
He was sent to other cities beyond Sinjeong. He trained to avoid dying when he received duel challenges from those beneath him, and to hold on to the position he had.
Seo Chung still did not agree with the Demonic Cult’s ideology.
Then, one day, he woke with his arms and legs chained to a stone slab.
He had never openly declared his opposition to the Demonic Cult’s ideology. But during drinking parties with longtime friends, when everyone was pleasantly drunk, it was not as if he had never let a word or two slip.
‘Isn’t this what he brought upon himself...?’
The Demonic Cult did not force faith on the people of Sinjeong, but a man who learned martial arts at a Divine Academy and joined an armed unit under the Cult while refusing to worship the Heavenly Demon and denying its doctrines would be guilty enough to be beaten to death as an unbeliever.
“The ones who abducted me were the Three-Eyed Monster and the freaks under his command...!”
Seo Chung did not even get the release of death. Transformed into something inhuman, he spoke in a boiling voice full of genuine resentment and hatred.
“There, I suffered pain that made death seem preferable. I underwent procedures that made me no longer human. That mad devil, the Three-Eyed Monster, injected yokai blood into my body...”
Seo Chung had not been the only one subjected to the procedure. Dozens of unbelievers who had committed sins similar to his likely received the same treatment. Yokai blood, organs, and other inhuman materials were forced into human bodies.
‘So that was how the Three-Eyed Monster made his synthetic beasts.’
The game had included background information on the Three-Eyed Monster’s synthetic beasts.
If players descended into the underground levels of the Monster Palace, the Three-Eyed Monster’s field, they found sinister sounds like those from an old horror game and a setting resembling a sealed hospital ward.
‘But the synthetic beasts in the game were not human.’
They were mixtures of various monsters, not synthetic humans made by fusing humans and yokai like Seo Chung.
It seemed that the Three-Eyed Monster’s skill at synthesis had advanced over the past thirty years.
“So, is the Black Rabbit Society Leader the Three-Eyed Monster? Is the Three-Eyed Monster kidnapping adventurers and yokai from the Rift of Kang Yu for his vile hobby?”
Estor hurriedly asked while still holding his sword in an awkward position. What he desperately wanted was a reason to swing his sword against the Black Rabbit Society, the Demonic Cult’s lackeys.
“No! How could that be?!”
But Estor’s wish was not granted. Seo Chung slammed his hairy fist against the floor with a thud and shouted.
“I was originally destined to be culled by the Three-Eyed Monster...!”
Though he had become half-human and half-yokai, he had failed to meet the Three-Eyed Monster’s standards. That was why he had been marked for culling.
“The one who saved me was the Black Rabbit Society Leader! No, not just me. Every one of my Black Rabbit Society comrades was an innocent victim made into the Three-Eyed Monster’s test subject, condemned to die in bodies that were human, yet not human! The Black Rabbit Society Leader took us in!”
It was impossible for them to return to their former lives looking like this, and they were unbelievers who had denied the Demonic Cult’s doctrines.
There was surely no choice but to use them as slaves or kill them. Yet somehow, the Black Rabbit Society Leader had succeeded in taking in the synthetic humans just before they were culled.
“I swear that our Black Rabbit Society has never done anything suspicious or evil here in Kang Yu. As I said before, the Black Rabbit Society Leader ordered our members to wander the mountains, rescue those in need, and make maps for the convenience of adventurers here! He wished to repay the kindness we received from the Rift of Kang Yu!”
After hearing that, Estor’s sword slowly lowered.
It was impossible to believe all of it was true, but based on the story alone, Seo Chung had not committed a sin deserving immediate death just for belonging to the Demonic Cult. Nor did the Black Rabbit Society Leader sound evil.
“Then who exactly is the Black Rabbit Society Leader?”
Haryeong, who had silently listened to the story, finally spoke. Disappointment had filled her eyes for some time.
She had thought she was seeing a Demihuman from the Central Sea, someone she could never have seen in her lifetime. Instead, it turned out he was merely a foolish Demonic Cult believer who had not known when to keep his mouth shut. Of course she was disappointed.
“I do not know.”
Seo Chung answered at once.
“Even if I knew, I would not answer. I cannot answer. The Three-Eyed Monster placed loyalty in my head, forcing me to obey my master.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“My master is now the Black Rabbit Society Leader, so I can never disobey his words! The Society Leader ordered me never to reveal his identity, so I cannot say anything about him. Kill me instead!”
“He is asking you to kill him. What are you waiting for?”
As if she had been waiting for this, Haryeong looked at Estor.
Estor had already lowered his sword, his shoulders, and even the corners of his mouth and eyebrows. He spoke in a gloomy voice.
“My sword cannot cut him.”
“Why not? Whatever his circumstances, he belongs to the Demonic Cult.”
“Being born human and becoming something other than human is punishment enough. I... cannot find a reason to cut down and kill that pitiful man.”
“Oh, dear.”
Haryeong gave a hollow laugh and shook her head.
“How do you know whether any of that is true? He may be spinning lies to escape this situation.”
“Can you still say that after looking at his face?”
“What if that is simply how he looks?”
At that, Yuri and Estor looked at Seo Chung. His long hairy arms and gorilla-like face... Looking closer, Haryeong’s words seemed plausible.
“You two were naive enough to fall for his inhuman-looking face and an obvious sob story, so keep quiet from now on. I will handle this with my sharp and careful judgment.”
With that, Haryeong approached Seo Chung.
It was true.
They fed him a confession drug and questioned him, but Seo Chung’s story did not change. Whenever they asked about the Black Rabbit Society Leader, he foamed at the mouth, choked, rolled his eyes back, and fainted.
“Sharp and careful, what?”
“How could you doubt him after seeing him like that?”
On their way out of the Black Rabbit Society building, leaving the unconscious Seo Chung behind, Yuri and Estor teased Haryeong without mercy.
“Be quiet.”
Haryeong looked straight ahead as she answered.
“But is it really all right not to kill him?”
“It is not as though we came here secretly. Killing him would only make us enemies of the Black Rabbit Society.”
They had not learned who the Black Rabbit Society Leader was or what he looked like. Still, he commanded synthetic humans the Three-Eyed Monster had intended to cull.
‘Is he connected to the Three-Eyed Monster... or a demonic fiend of equal standing?’
As Yuri walked while considering that, Estor spoke to him.
“What now? Are you going to catch another Society member and dig further into the Black Rabbit Society?”
“They will have the Three-Eyed Monster’s loyalty Binding Restriction engraved on them too. No matter how many we catch, we will hear the same story.”
If they wanted to investigate the Black Rabbit Society, it would be better to commission an information sect or guild. Yuri glanced at Haryeong and asked.
“Sharp and careful Haryeong-nim. Could we ask the Faceless Killer?”
After teasing her once more, Haryeong briefly glared at Yuri with wide eyes. In the end, however, she nodded.
“I would like to hear you out, but I am giving it serious thought because I do not like your tone.”
“Then what should I do?”
“Try to move my heart. Ask me politely, and I will listen.”
“...Noona, please.”
Haryeong’s cheek twitched. Noona? She had heard nunim before, but no one had ever called her noona in her life.
“W-what did you just call me?”
“Noona.”
“Who is noona?”
“Haryeong noona.”
Hearing her name added to it made Haryeong’s mouth tremble. She quickly turned her head and answered.
“I do not particularly like it. Still, I am curious about the Black Rabbit Society and its leader, so fine.”
“Yes, noona.”
“Do not... call me that! Just call me Haryeong-nim. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
Yuri nodded and pulled the map from his chest.
“Still, since we came all this way, let us stop by Nakseong Cliff.”
“Why have you changed your mind again?”
“After hearing Seo Chung’s story, the Black Rabbit Society Leader has become even more suspicious. I do not think a person like that would send Society members into the Rift of Kang Yu for no reason.”
I don't think we'd find traces of Myou-hee even if we searched all of Nakseong Cliff. Still, perhaps there would be some arrangement left behind by the Black Rabbit Society Leader.
“So we are going to the Rift after all?”
“Yes.”
“Coming to a Rift with Yuri again brings back memories. There were three of us then, and there are three of us now.”
“Did you send the letter?”
Yuri glared at Haryeong for making another spiteful remark. She barely calmed her twitching mouth and nodded while maintaining her usual expression.
“I sent it from Seongju. It should have arrived on the Eastern Continent by now.”
“What did you write?”
“I wrote that I am getting along well with Yuri, that the young lady should take care of herself too, and that she should send a reply quickly.”
There was nothing strange about those words, yet somehow they sounded strange...
* * *
Red Blood Palace of the Demon Subjugation Palace. The Lesser Heaven Pavilion.
Biyeon, the Young Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Cult, opened her eyes after meditation.
It was because she sensed presences outside the door. They were so quiet that she could not even hear their breathing, and they had concealed their presences as much as possible. Yet Biyeon’s sensitive senses could count even the number of attendants prostrating themselves outside.
“What is it?”
Biyeon asked while suppressing her displeasure. The attendants knew not to approach her room during meditation. The fact that they had come close anyway meant they had something urgent to report.
“The Cult Leader has summoned you.”
“...Master?”
Within the Cult, only Biyeon, the Young Cult Leader, could call the Heavenly Demon master instead of Cult Leader. She rose with a puzzled expression.
“I will prepare and come out. You need not enter.”
“Yes.”
Dozens of attendants were assigned to this Lesser Heaven Pavilion.
In most cases, the attendants handled every preparation for Biyeon, leaving her nothing to do herself. But there was an exception when Biyeon was not wearing a mask, as she was now.
‘How much remains...?’
She draped her bright crimson robe over herself and stood before the mirror.
Her face was mottled with burn scars. It had improved greatly after she reached the sixth tier. At the fifth tier, her melted skin had fused together so badly that she barely resembled a person.
After reaching the sixth tier, her skin had peeled away and regenerated several times, leaving her face at least presentable. But the marks remaining were still dark. Biyeon clicked her tongue and touched the scarred skin on her cheek.
In truth, burns like these could be healed with holy water. As the Young Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Cult, Biyeon could obtain holy water from any church.
But Biyeon did not want holy water. She had resolved to raise her tier and remake herself without relying on such things.
She could not forget the flames that had consumed her estate and entire body eight years ago. If she erased her burns by depending on holy water, she felt she might easily forget the pain and loss of that day as well.
‘How many more walls must I cross?’
She had spent a year in the Extreme Demon Fortress of Seonryeong. Through harsh closed-door training that blurred the boundary between life and death, she rose to the sixth tier. Yet she could not even faintly see the seventh.
‘I can do it.’
Biyeon did not despair just because she could not see it.
In fact, reaching the sixth tier at her age was unprecedented.
There would be no one in the world who had reached the sixth tier at the age of twenty-four. Even the Heavenly Demon, Biyeon’s master, had said that he had not reached the sixth tier at her age.
The Heavenly Demon was the strongest human of this era. No, of all time.
If asked who stood closest to divine status, everyone would point to the Heavenly Demon. Even the Calamity Star, who hated the Heavenly Demon so much, did not deny that fact.
That meant Biyeon’s talent surpassed even her master’s. She had also inherited the Divine Art that made the Heavenly Demon what he was today, so she would soon find the wall of the seventh tier and overcome it.
“...Hm.”
Self-affirmation after meditation. Biyeon relaxed her twisted expression somewhat and opened a drawer.
Several plain white masks lay inside. They were not all identical. Their sizes and shapes differed slightly.
In the corner among those faceless masks was a single black one. It was the mask she had received a year ago in Panteleon from Thunder Cloud, the man now called Cloud Dragon.
She had received it in a difficult moment, so she had kept it instead of throwing it away. Biyeon stared at the black mask for a moment, lost in thought about Cloud Dragon.
She had seen Cloud Dragon’s strength in Panteleon. They had not fought directly, but Biyeon believed she would likely have lost if they had.
‘A dragon among dragons.’
Biyeon had never disagreed with that public assessment. But she did now.
No matter how exceptional Cloud Dragon was, even if he had received the Calamity Star’s teachings, he could not have reached the sixth tier.
In other words, the strongest rising talent of this era was Biyeon, the Black Flame Divine Demon and Young Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Cult.
“I am the strongest...”
Speaking her self-affirmation aloud made the power of conviction seem to swell within her chest.
Biyeon nodded firmly and put on a fresh mask.
Footnotes:
“Noona” is a Korean form of address used by a man for an older woman. Haryeong’s reaction comes from Yuri using this intimate, gender-specific term.
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