WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ Damned Transmigration ◈
Chapter 159: Poison King 1
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‘The poison creature...’
He had hoped it would appear as a wildcard and go on a rampage. Was it still unable to move?
Tang Yu-shin ground his teeth as he raced through the darkness. The attacks pursuing him were relentlessly persistent.
‘What the hell is this?’
He had unleashed well over ten thousand concealed weapons. Yet the bastard would not die. Just moments ago, he had been no more than tier 6, but now he was confronting him head-on as an equal.
No, not even as an equal. He could not kill the bastard with the Black Scales. Even when an attack barely made it through his perception, the bastard’s responses were too troublesome.
The concealed weapons were swept away before they could even pierce his protective force aura.
Surely not.
He never imagined he would struggle this much. Inside the Dark Battle, Strange Night Garb, Tang Yu-shin bit down on his lip.
He still had plenty of inner power and Intent left. A Martial Apex Venerable possessed enough inner power to be called virtually limitless, but even those endless resources had to be carefully rationed when fighting an opponent of equal standing.
Whether one was low-tier or high-tier, it was more efficient to pour inner power into something with a definite physical form.
A weapon was, figuratively speaking, a vessel. Filling that vessel with inner power to kindle force aura and contain Intent was the most stable and efficient approach.
That was why martial arts formed purely from force aura possessed great power and flexible forms, but rapidly consumed inner power and were difficult to master.
The same applied to Intent. Tang Yu-shin had indeed unleashed countless attacks, but the reason he had deliberately combined the Black Scales with Conceptual Apotheosis was to achieve maximum efficiency while consuming as little power as possible.
Yet that obvious principle did not work against that fucking brat. Tang Yu-shin could afford to have plenty left in reserve, but Cloud Dragon should not.
Right now, Cloud Dragon freely wielded the qi and Intent spread in every direction as though they were extensions of his own body. He constantly maintained a violently blazing protective force aura, imbued spheres of force aura with Intent and magic before firing them off, and endlessly unleashed powerful palm strikes and ever-changing fist techniques.
No matter how exceptional a martial artist’s control over qi was, that was absurd.
A martial artist’s strengths only stood out greatly around tier 4, when one had just entered the realm of manifesting qi. At this level, there was no substantial difference, and their lived years were different to begin with.
The total amount of inner power, the techniques they wielded, the depth of their martial arts, the scale of their consciousness, the strength of their Intent. Nothing should have compared...
‘The qi in this space is drying up... No, that is not it. What is drying up is... life force?’
The ground had already become as dry as sand, and the grass had yellowed and shrivelled. This was different from the Absorbing Star Great Art. It was not a martial art.
‘Magic?’
Was that magic the reason he could continuously unleash that much firepower and rapidly regenerate even the wounds Tang Yu-shin managed to inflict?
‘Unbelievable bastard...!’
Fortunately, the magic could not affect Tang Yu-shin directly, but then, Spurt! An attack pierced the defence of the bound Black Scales, and Tang Yu-shin’s eyebrows trembled.
Their compatibility was poor. He could not kill the bastard with concealed-weapon arts. They said assassinating a martial artist of equal standing was the hardest thing, but this was excessive. If only he had used poison rather than concealed weapons.
The very thought enraged Tang Yu-shin. It was Tang Yu-shin himself who had chosen not to learn poison arts. He was the greatest concealed-weapon genius in the history of the Dang Family.
There was no choice. The battles around them were nearly finished already.
He had entertained a hope that perhaps Tang Seo-baek, Tang Seo-jin, or the elite assassins would offer up their lives and injure the Martial Apex Venerables.
No such miracle had happened. Every Martial Apex Venerable remained unharmed.
The Sword Emperor, Baek Eun-mu-hu, and Cruel Mayhem watched this place without a single wound, and even that bastard, the leader of the Uicheon Sword Gate, had not been injured. Beside him, the Sword Dragon was tending to wounds.
‘Where is the Salhomun Lord?’
Had he entered the Dang Family estate? Feeling as though he had become a spectacle only made Tang Yu-shin’s fury burn hotter.
Killing Cloud Dragon would not end everything, so he had wanted to preserve his strength. He needed to save his methods if he wanted to use them again later.
But he had no room to spare right now... At this rate, he would lose to Cloud Dragon, a brat young enough to be his son.
Tang Yu-shin concentrated his Intent. The space around him distorted, and something changed.
Slash!
Blood sprayed from Yuri’s neck. His protective force aura had wavered under the baptism of Black Scales. Something had cut his neck in that opening.
‘Formless Sword?’
The first thing that came to mind was the Formless Sword Estor used, which manifested slashes of Intent without warning.
‘No. This is...’
There was a concealed weapon different from the Black Scales. Yuri clutched his bleeding neck and hurriedly retreated.
Naturally, Tang Yu-shin had no intention of letting this chance go. He charged forward aggressively and swung both arms.
The movement of his arms and the Black Scales that followed looked like black waves. Yuri could perceive them, but every one of Tang Yu-shin’s attacks was troublesome. Even a trivial motion became a concealed weapon the moment Tang Yu-shin willed it.
The concealed weapons created that way scattered or changed shape mid-flight to catch their target off guard.
If that were all, Yuri could deal with them as he had until now. The problem was the concealed weapon that was different from the Black Scales.
A concealed weapon that could neither be seen nor sensed until just before it struck. One that suddenly appeared like an illusion. This seemed to be Tang Yu-shin’s trump card.
‘Hidden Arrow.’
It was an arrow formed through concentrated Intent that did not exist until it reached its target.
He would not avoid a frontal confrontation. He would distract Yuri with a baptism of countless Black Scales, then pierce a vital point with Intent containing certain death.
‘It did not pierce through.’
But it had grazed Yuri’s neck. The wound was not shallow.
“You monster...!”
Tang Yu-shin could not help but spit the words out when the wound he had finally inflicted began closing. He had already tried several times to whittle Yuri down from a distance, but it was pointless.
So he closed in. He had tried this several times as well, and it had been just as pointless, but now that he had decided to kill Yuri first rather than conserve his strength, it would be different.
The hand he thrust forward seemed to split the darkness, and hook-like concealed weapons shot from the cleft. Yuri did not dodge. He met them head-on.
Force aura blazing like fire collided with the concealed weapons. The power that crashed and spread outward shook the space itself. Tang Yu-shin gathered the scattered Black Scales and fired Hidden Arrows.
Even Transcendent Sight could not see Hidden Arrows. Yuri had to respond to hundreds of concealed weapons while remaining wary of formless weapons that would not appear until they were about to strike.
‘If I can’t do it, I die.’
His Intent expanded further. Yuri had reached this realm ahead of time through a miracle, but he wanted more.
Even if he wanted it, the God of War would grant him no further miracles. Whether he could break beyond the limits of the miracle he had been granted depended on Yuri.
His head throbbed, and blood streamed from his nose.
‘Don’t miss it.’
In the extreme concentration that made time seem to slow, Yuri saw every attack headed his way.
Sealing Thunder at the Gate of Death crackled as it wrapped around the concealed weapons. Transcendent Sight understood the chain of trajectories ahead, and Yuri’s body moved without resisting his instincts.
His slowly moving hand split the air. Red clouds rose and swept through the space. The concealed weapons were caught up and flung away.
Tang Yu-shin’s Intent pulled back the weapons flying away. Black Scales transformed into thick blades and dropped toward Yuri’s shoulder. The instant he narrowly dodged, the blades twisted into dozens of spikes.
A red line shot upward. The spikes crushed beneath Yuri’s foot scattered into countless daggers.
Shotgun fire at close range. Even Yuri could not dodge all of this. So he focused on defence.
His protective force aura burst, and pain spread through his entire body. At that moment, the moment his defence collapsed, something stabbed into his chest.
‘Hidden Arrow.’
Pierce his heart. The moment Tang Yu-shin settled on certain death and gave the command, the tip of a Hidden Arrow burrowed into Yuri’s chest.
Crack!
Yuri’s short left hook shattered the Hidden Arrow. He had reacted the moment he felt it digging in? That was not a speed anyone could react to! Tang Yu-shin’s eyes widened in shock.
Boom!
In a movement flowing naturally from the last, Yuri’s right straight punched Tang Yu-shin in the chest. Crackle...! The Black Scales were crushed down, and Tang Yu-shin’s chest shook violently.
“Urgh...!”
It was breaking. Just as he felt that, another fist drove into him. No, this was not breaking.
‘Hot...?’
Danger! His instincts jolted him awake with a warning greater than the pain in his chest. Tang Yu-shin hurriedly concentrated all his Intent where Yuri’s fist touched him.
It was fortunate that he wore Black Scales made from Eterium.
Eterium was called a miracle not intended by the gods. Sacred Flame Release drove blazing flames into his organs in a single blow, but with the Eterium in the way, it could not kill Tang Yu-shin instantly.
‘Cool down...!’
Wishing that, he continued his assault. Rattle! The Dark Battle, Strange Night Garb scattered apart. Thousands of Black Scales became black clouds and swallowed Yuri whole.
‘Black Dark Killing Prison.’
A hell of concealed weapons bound together without wasting a single Black Scale. Tang Yu-shin swallowed the blood rising in his throat and clutched his chest. Though Yuri’s strike had hit atop the Black Scales, a bright red fist mark remained on his chest.
‘If my response had been any slower, that strike would have killed me...!’
Even Black Dark Killing Prison did not seem capable of killing the bastard. Tang Yu-shin suppressed his internal injuries by pressing the meridians in his chest, then immediately prepared Hidden Arrows.
That was when it happened.
Booom! A massive explosion rang out. Tang Yu-shin flinched and turned around.
He saw the Faceless Killer burst through the estate’s roof and soar into the air.
Black blood dripped from his mouth as he stared wide-eyed. His complexion, which had been fine just moments ago, was now deathly dark.
Wooooo! The ghosts of Bi-gok Forest howled. A massive mass of death qi, enough to terrify even dead ghosts, emerged through the shattered roof.
Tang Yu-shin’s mouth fell halfway open at the unexpected sight.
It was the Poison King. But he looked completely different from the Poison King Tang Yu-shin knew. The current Poison King looked like a giant made of black Poison Qi.
The estate was melting, crumbling, and collapsing merely because he had stood up. Poison Qi crept outward and spread death across the world.
“Poison King...? Tang Yu-shin, what have you done!”
The Sword Emperor stared at the estate with a stunned expression, then shouted furiously.
Tang Yu-shin could not help feeling somewhat wronged by the accusation. He had ordered Silent Blade drawn and hoped the Poison King would rampage without restraint, but he had never imagined he would rampage in that form.
‘He was locked away for nineteen years while the poison was drained from him, yet instead of weakening...’
His Poison Qi seemed even stronger than it had been nineteen years ago, when he could have been called at his peak.
Woooooo! Amid the ghosts’ screams, the Poison King moved. When he took a step, the poison liquid sloshing beneath him eroded the ground and turned it into a dead land where life could not exist.
“Mm...!”
His killing intent made even the skin tingle.
The Poison King was said to have been consumed by an Inner Demon, lost his sense of self, and become a poison creature. Losing one’s sense of self meant that only instinct remained, without will. Was that killing intent an instinct as well?
Yeonri Sangah frowned and drew the Crescent Moon Netherwedding Blade.
“What should we do in this case?”
Elleia looked at the Sword Emperor. He held the highest standing here, and Elleia had never met the Poison King directly in this world.
But the Sword Emperor was different. Looking at his old friend, who had fallen so far that nothing of his former self remained, he let out a long sigh.
“We must grant him peace.”
The sword he had kept sheathed was drawn. A golden radiance far beyond anything he had used against mere assassins wrapped around it.
Elleia trembled at that power and nodded.
“Wait...!”
The Faceless Killer, who had retreated beyond the Poison Qi’s range, shouted urgently.
“Dark Blossom, that child is inside...!”
“What?”
The Sword Emperor, who had been about to swing Light Sword at maximum output, immediately stopped his attack. Just as the Faceless Killer had said, Haryeong and Tang Seo-woo stood at the centre of the Poison Qi.
“What is this...?”
They had not simply been swallowed. They were mixed into it. That sticky Poison Qi had rooted itself within their bodies, assimilating with them halfway.
Killing the current Poison King would not be particularly difficult for the Sword Emperor. But if he killed the Poison King while they were intertwined like that, there was no telling what would happen to the two inside.
To be honest, the Sword Emperor did not care what happened to Tang Seo-woo, but Haryeong was different. She was the Poison King’s daughter and his grandson’s friend.
“What do we do?”
Yeonri Sangah was equally troubled. While the two hesitated, the Poison King began moving toward them.
Unfathomable killing intent guided the Poison Qi. Yeonri Sangah’s expression hardened as she covered her mouth with her sleeve.
[Myeong-a, take the Sword Dragon and retreat. This Poison Qi is not something you can handle yet.]
Even without touching it directly, it was this bad. If it struck her head-on, even Yeonri Sangah would have to prepare herself for the worst. The Poison Qi was that vicious.
“...Haha...”
He still could not understand the situation. But the father he had respected without ever loving, the Poison King, had become the wildcard Tang Yu-shin had hoped for. Tang Yu-shin let out a quiet laugh.
“What are you grinning about?”
That voice suddenly reached him. Tang Yu-shin flinched and looked at the Black Dark Killing Prison. Crack-crunch! The black cloud burst and scattered, revealing Yuri covered from head to toe in bright red blood.
“Seriously, I almost died. You son of a bitch...!”
The baptism of concealed weapons that came without pause.
If he dodged, they targeted where he moved. If he knocked them aside, they returned. Even if he deflected them, the damned weapons curved back toward him on their own. Thanks to both their material and Tang Yu-shin’s Intent, they would not break.
As a result, Yuri was covered in blood. Tang Yu-shin’s shoulders trembled as Yuri gasped for breath.
Had Black Dark Killing Prison been broken in barely three minutes?
Still, the bastard was covered in wounds. He would not give Yuri time to recover. The Black Scales that had burst outward in every direction had already stopped, and every blade pointed toward Yuri.
He hid Hidden Arrows amid the baptism of Myriad Heavenly Flower Rain. It required such sophisticated manipulation of Intent that his Upper Dantian throbbed, but the bastard would not be able to respond to Hidden Arrows now.
“Myriad Heavenly Flower Rain...!”
The shout he let out in a boiling voice became the trigger for his Intent. A rain of death rushed toward Yuri.
Could he handle it? This Myriad Heavenly Flower Rain was different from the last one. He had to watch out for real concealed weapons he could not see. He could not dodge, block, or neutralise them cleanly.
He would give what he had to give and protect only his vital points. He had learned Eternal Thirst to maintain his endurance in battle, so as long as he did not die, he would manage somehow. Yuri made that judgment and focused on defence.
Suddenly, a round full moon rose in the middle of the night, where dark clouds had hidden the moon and stars.
“Heavenly Downpour.”
Starlight poured down.
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