WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
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◈ Damned Transmigration ◈
Chapter 160: Poison King 2
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A meteor shower pouring from the night sky met the Myriad Heavenly Flower Rain.
Concealed weapons collided with shooting stars.
Yuri stood with his mouth half open, watching the dazzling martial spectacle unfold right before him.
Mastery of force aura elevated to the realm of art. This was the first force-aura art Yuri had seen in this world, the martial art that had brought Fist Wolf Bakerd a crushing defeat and an awakening that let him move on to what came next.
The secret technique of Full Moon Killing Kick, Heavenly Downpour.
An endlessly changing and dividing full moon drove back the rain of death and illuminated the world.
Myriad Heavenly Flower Rain and Heavenly Downpour clashed. The original of that name was naturally Myriad Heavenly Flower Rain, but that did not make Heavenly Downpour a fake.
Flaaash!
Within the flashing, exploding light, a sphere spun furiously.
It was Madorido, Chuk-sin-doo’s unique weapon. At the centre of Heavenly Downpour, the sphere with a clear physical form intercepted a Hidden Arrow.
Crack! The Hidden Arrow that had been about to strike Yuri directly in the head was knocked away by Madorido.
Yuri had braced himself to defend, even accepting injury. Yet before he could even block, something had stopped both the Myriad Heavenly Flower Rain and the Hidden Arrow.
It all happened right in front of him, but Yuri felt no impact. Instead, a gentle power wrapped around him and protected him.
Yuri immediately looked to the sky.
The night sky, where neither moon nor stars had been visible behind the dark clouds, was now filled with light.
A man stood with his hands behind his back. He swept his limp fringe up with both hands, and when he noticed Yuri looking at him, he grinned.
The man was already standing in the sky, but he deliberately struck another pose before leaping down. His body spun like a tornado as he fell.
At the perfect moment, his arms spread wide.
“Ho!”
The shout was not cheerful. It rang out heavily and powerfully, as if it had been drawn from the depths of his lungs.
“Moonlit Reveller...?!”
Elleia, who had been dealing with the surging Poison Qi, looked over in surprise.
Everyone was equally shocked. The Vernoc conflict might have ended, but Moonlit Reveller was supposed to still be on the western continent. What was he doing here?
“...”
Yuri stared blankly at Chuk-sin-doo.
Moonlit Reveller, Chuk-sin-doo. Yuri had not asked him for help. Their forces were already sufficient, and Yuri had judged that calling in Chuk-sin-doo, with whom he had no particular public connection, would be a risk.
[Yuri.]
A Voice Transmission reached him. Chuk-sin-doo set the flying Madorido atop his foot and grinned.
[Your hyung is here.]
Goosebumps rose across Yuri’s body. He had not asked for help. There was a risk. None of that mattered at this moment.
Chuk-sin-doo had come here for Yuri without knowing the full circumstances or even being asked for help.
“Moonlit Reveller...!”
The most shocked person here was Dark King Tang Yu-shin. Tang Yu-shin, who had wrapped the recovered Dark Battle, Strange Night Garb around his body, trembled as he spoke.
“Why... Why are you here...?!”
“Shit King Shit Yu-shin, we’ve only just met today. Why the fuck are you talking down to me?”
Chuk-sin-doo glared at Tang Yu-shin with killing intent filling both eyes.
“As a man of the Confucian tradition, I was willing to speak politely to an elder even if you were a fucking bastard. But since you act like a dog, I can’t treat you like a person.”
“Why are you here?!”
Among the Martial Apex Venerables, the Heavenly Demon was the greatest fighter in the world, while the Sword Emperor was the greatest swordsman.
Those whose names stood among the Martial Apex Venerables might not be able to handle the Heavenly Demon in a life-or-death duel, but each possessed skill worthy of being called the best in the world in some field.
And among them, Moonlit Reveller Chuk-sin-doo was the greatest madman of all.
Calamity Star, a priest who relied on violence, was also no ordinary lunatic. But in terms of multifaceted insanity, Calamity Star could not compare to Chuk-sin-doo.
“I go wherever I want.”
Chuk-sin-doo answered without hiding his rage and killing intent.
Tang Yu-shin could not understand those emotions at all.
As Chuk-sin-doo said, they had met for the first time today. They had never even been connected through an assassination request. So why had Chuk-sin-doo suddenly appeared and begun radiating such rage and killing intent?
“Why... are you angry? What did I ever do to you...?”
Chuk-sin-doo twisted his mouth as he replied.
“I’m always angry.”
Chuk-sin-doo also could not speak of his relationship with Yuri.
Still, that answer was not a lie.
Chuk-sin-doo was always angry. Ever since he had been unable to attend that match he had been looking forward to, only to end up in this damned, horrible world. Chuk-sin-doo had always been holding back his anger.
“You used Conceptual Apotheosis against a junior of a lower tier, then tried to bury him under Myriad Heavenly Flower Rain...!”
Rage and killing intent mixed with deep disgust as Chuk-sin-doo clenched both fists.
“From now on, I’ll be your opponent. Become an offering to my Conceptual Apotheosis, Valandoro, the Road That Quells Disorder...!”
Rumble...! Madorido atop his foot began to spin. Tang Yu-shin’s expression stiffened at the gradually expanding Intent, while Yuri nearly panicked.
“Wait.”
Yuri hurriedly stopped Chuk-sin-doo. Chuk-sin-doo, who had been planning to smash Tang Yu-shin apart right before Yuri’s eyes, turned his head in confusion.
“What? Why?”
“I have to fight this battle.”
There were emotional reasons, but that was not all.
He had used the Banner of Reversing the Death Realm to call upon the God of War’s miracle. This battle was an offering to the God of War. What the God of War wanted was a complete victory without the slightest room for doubt.
If Chuk-sin-doo intervened and fought here, Yuri would no longer be the protagonist of the battle. Chuk-sin-doo would be.
That could not happen. The God of War had said it himself. If Yuri failed to offer victory, the God of War’s miracle would become death and descend upon him.
Even if Yuri somehow escaped that fate, he might not be able to use the Banner of Reversing the Death Realm again.
It came with the condition that he had to fight and win once activated, but that was a bearable condition in a situation where not using it meant certain death.
“...”
Chuk-sin-doo met Yuri’s eyes for a moment. He knew Yuri had reached Tier 6. But Yuri facing the Dark King now was absurd. If they fought, Yuri would certainly die.
He could not stand by and watch a friend walk toward a death he could clearly see. But then he saw the determination in Yuri’s eyes. Chuk-sin-doo gave a slight nod and muttered.
“A man’s fight?”
“...”
“If it’s that kind of fight, it can’t be helped.”
Madorido stopped spinning. He could show the power of Valandoro another time.
Still, he had shown Yuri what he wanted to see by crushing Myriad Heavenly Flower Rain with Heavenly Downpour. Once today’s battle was over, Yuri would surely ask him to teach him Full Moon Killing Kick.
[Believe in the hyung who believes in you.]
Pat. Chuk-sin-doo tapped Yuri’s shoulder once and stepped back. Yuri did not understand the words, but the part about believing in him reached deep inside.
Yuri slowly nodded and stepped forward.
“Hey, you bastard.”
He swept his blood-soaked hair back roughly. His injuries had recovered a little, but he was not at full strength.
The reason he could accelerate his regeneration so abnormally was the life force he had gathered through Eternal Thirst. But there was barely any life force left in the area now.
“What... did you do?”
The space around them was dying. It was because of that enormous poison creature, and Yuri knew it was the Poison King.
That much was fine. Yuri could feel Haryeong within it. White Fang trembled in that direction.
Fury entered Yuri’s flames. He knew she was alive, but the thought of Haryeong inside that savage Poison Qi drove him mad.
A thought suddenly came to him.
Did he need to ask and hear an answer? Did that answer matter? Would hearing it change what he had to do now?
It was a waste of time.
The violently burning flames immediately became lightning.
Rumble! A bolt of lightning scattered sparks as it rushed toward Tang Yu-shin.
Tang Yu-shin faced Yuri with wide eyes. Hundreds of killing intents took form within the darkness that spread wide around him.
The shortest route. The fastest speed.
That was all Yuri thought about. There were many people dealing with the Poison King. Even if Yuri did not go there right away, they would be able to stop the Poison King.
He did not think about that.
Yuri wanted to kill Tang Yu-shin. He wanted to get Haryeong back. That was why he had come here.
‘So.’
I’ll kill you, then go there. Even if I have to plunge my hands into that Poison Qi, I’ll pull Haryeong out.
His thrusting hand met concealed weapons.
Dark Battle, Strange Night Garb. Every attack Tang Yu-shin unleashed now was a lethal concealed weapon, but that death could not touch Yuri. The pitch-black darkness was illuminated by Yuri’s raging flames, and death slid past him.
But they returned. Both men desperately wanted to kill the other. As long as Dark Battle, Strange Night Garb remained active, the concealed weapons would replenish themselves and attack again and again.
A Hidden Arrow mixed into that endless circulation of concealed weapons. Yuri had already seen that trick several times.
So the Hidden Arrow was no longer as threatening as it had been at first. Tang Yu-shin could only feel horrified at Yuri’s absurd reaction speed, which reacted the instant it dug into his skin.
A downward-turned palm struck out. Capture-Killing Dark Current. Force aura spread like a net, interwoven with concealed weapons.
Against that net which tried to wrap him whole, Yuri’s hand raised clouds.
Dark Cloud Connecting the Moon.
A cloud of flames swallowed the net instead. Before it, a Thunder Orb formed in Yuri’s palm.
Thunder Cloud Dragon Fang, Chain Lightning, and Exploding Thunder Orb. All three detonated at once.
Rumble! Tang Yu-shin’s body was driven away by the force that erupted from within the clouds.
The moment lightning power erupted, Yuri’s body became lightning again. Yuri pierced through the explosion with Purple Lightning Flash, and his fist was already right before Tang Yu-shin.
Crack! His driven fist scattered the Black Scales. Though it was not Sacred Flame Release, its power was enough to make blood spray from Tang Yu-shin’s mouth.
Tang Yu-shin aimed for Yuri’s throat with his flailing arm.
Black Scales sprouting from his arm slashed out, but only a few strands of Yuri’s hair were cut away.
Thud! Tang Yu-shin’s body plummeted as Yuri drove in successive punches.
Whoosh! A long chain of Black Scales rushed toward Yuri like a spear. Yuri, falling directly toward it, did not bother to evade and reached out his hand.
Blood Wheel Shattering Strike. His left hand, which struck first, stopped the incoming spear.
Blood Wheel Realm-Breaking. His right hand, which struck next, split the spear into hundreds of Black Scales.
Blood Wheel Realm-Breaking did not end with one burst of palm force. The second burst was stronger than the first, and the third stronger than the second.
“Urk...!”
Below them was already a land of death soaked in Poison Qi. Tang Yu-shin did not want to fall there, but the repeated bursts of palm force ultimately drove his body into the ground.
Even without training poison arts, the head of the Dang Family had poison resistance. But if he remained in this living hell for long in his current, weakened state, Poison Qi would seep into his marrow.
Tang Yu-shin immediately tried to leap into the air, but Yuri did not allow it.
Boom! Tang Yu-shin’s body twisted beneath lightning that struck down from the sky.
“Ggh...!”
Yuri’s figure loomed large in his wide eyes. Black Scales slashed at the sky like claws, but once again, only sparks scattered.
Instead of throwing the Thunder Orb, Yuri held it tight against his right hand and layered Blood Wheel over it.
He combined two different martial arts, difficult techniques that were not easy to use even separately.
He had never used them this way before, but he could do it now.
No, he was certain he could.
‘Hah...!’
Dangerous.
This was different from the attack he had seen in Gangyu, the attack that had forced him to unleash Black Dark Killing Prison. Even at a glance, this attack was blatantly dangerous. If it hit, the result would not end with mere pain.
Tang Yu-shin concentrated his Intent and inner power in one place. The greatest strength of a Hidden Arrow was that it could not be perceived until it arrived, but he gave even that up. He needed to focus all of his Intent on defence.
The Hidden Arrow, which had never been visible until now, revealed itself. Tang Yu-shin gathered power in the black arrow formed from Intent and fired it at Yuri as he fell toward him.
Rumble! The world shook. Red light blazed across the sky.
Tang Yu-shin pulled together every bit of strength he could manage and sprang to his feet.
A frontal collision. Yuri could not have avoided it. Tang Yu-shin was certain. Yuri might not have died from that, but he had to be injured. So...
Something flickered through the flames. Tang Yu-shin twisted his face and raised both arms.
His protective force aura was too weak. The binding of his Intent was too loose. Alarms rang repeatedly in his head, but he had no choice but to ignore them.
Crack!
A heel that descended in a red line crushed Tang Yu-shin’s forearms. He noticed the other leg flying in from outside his vision too late. Tang Yu-shin’s kicked body staggered as though it would collapse.
“Argh!”
When he braced himself against the ground to keep from falling, his palm burned as if it had been seared by fire. He had weakened too much, and his resistance to Poison Qi was weak.
This poison was the Poison King’s poison, poison Tang Yu-shin had never been able to cultivate.
His eyes trembled at the agonising pain in his palm.
The day he stabbed a dagger into the dantian of his father, the Poison King, and took Silent Blade.
The day he drove Silent Blade into the heart of the poison creature that had lost control, been consumed by an Inner Demon, and was about to run amok.
The pain of Poison Qi, the same as what he had felt that day, shook Tang Yu-shin’s mind.
“You...!”
If he could turn back time, he would return to Gangyu without hesitation. Even if the rapids swallowed him too, he should have killed Cloud Dragon and Sword Dragon.
Tang Yu-shin roared with rage so intense his bones ached.
Rumble! Pitch-black slashes surged from the ground around Yuri. The attack concealed beneath the earth, fitting for a concealed weapon, caught Yuri precisely.
But the attack was not as stealthy as Tang Yu-shin wanted. Yuri had seen through the foreign presence hidden beneath the already dead ground, so he calmly shook off the attack.
Tang Yu-shin’s face twisted miserably when his ambush failed.
The moment this had become a frontal battle, he had lost.
Even against an opponent of a lower tier whom he had already defeated once, he should have fought as befitted the Dark King. Even Transcendent Sight would not have caught the first Hidden Arrow, so if he had thoroughly focused on ambushes...
It was a meaningless assumption. It was only regret over a misjudgment, yet Tang Yu-shin could not let go of it.
Tang Yu-shin’s body was no longer covered in Black Scales. His Apotheosis had collapsed as his Intent weakened through repeated clashes.
Yuri swallowed a blood-scented breath and threw a punch.
He only had to avoid dying. He ignored the desperate attacks. Concealed weapons that were no longer as sharp or strong as before grazed Yuri’s body, but he finally reached Tang Yu-shin.
His fist struck Tang Yu-shin’s chest.
Thump! The Black Scales shook from the first blow.
Tang Yu-shin’s face, now stripped of Black Scales, was clearly visible. Could a person’s expression change this much? Not a trace of the coldness and composure he had shown in Gangyu remained on Tang Yu-shin’s face.
It was an ugly, twisted face.
“It suits you.”
Yuri forced out the words between ragged breaths.
Thump! The next punch completely scattered the Black Scales. His chest was exposed, marked by a vivid red fistprint.
“Wait...”
Tang Yu-shin hurriedly tried to say something, but Yuri did not listen. Flames filled his fist.
Boom!
Sacred Flame Release crushed Tang Yu-shin’s chest. The wound alone was fatal enough to kill him, but the flames that had passed through burned fiercely inside Tang Yu-shin’s body.
Splurt! Blood sprayed from Tang Yu-shin’s eyes, nose, and mouth.
“Ugh... Ngh...”
His powerless body fell backward.
‘Should have killed them then...’
Tang Yu-shin’s consciousness dimmed amid that obvious, clichéd regret that had crossed his mind several times today.
Thump. His body bounced from the impact of hitting the ground.
He felt dense death from the ground beneath him. It was a death he had never known in his life.
His father’s poison.
The poison creature’s poison.
He did not want this.
He did not want an end like this. Tang Yu-shin thought as he trembled.
He was going to die... Die? Was he really going to die like this?
He had not fought a Martial Apex Venerable. He had not fought an archmage. Was the head of the great Dang Family and the sect leader of Salmun really going to die fighting a mere rising star?
‘No.’
Poison Qi swallowed Tang Yu-shin’s body.
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