WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Damned Transmigration ◈

Chapter 84: Glutton 3

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Estor glared at the exhibition hall, his face twisted. No, it could no longer be called an exhibition hall.

A massive, pitch-black cube stood there, its interior impossible to see. The entire magic exhibition hall, one of Alderan's main attractions, had been trapped inside it.

Estor had been at the Habert Mage Tower until a little over ten minutes ago, but the moment he heard about the terrorist attack at the exhibition hall, he had rushed here alongside Iron Fortress.

Having only just arrived, Estor had not yet received a proper briefing, but he could roughly guess what had happened. The power radiating from the black cube was not unfamiliar.

"Those fucking bastards."

The short, middle-aged man standing near Estor spoke with his shoulders trembling. Guzel Havert, the master of the Habert Mage Tower known as the Iron Fortress. He was struggling to keep his composure.

Inside the cube was the disciple Guzel had painstakingly raised. And that was not all. Thousands of visitors had been caught up in this, and his disciple had not come to the exhibition hall alone today. The disciple had gone with a disciple from the Dersia Mage Tower.

Lacey Yuzha. She was not Heavenly Thunder's disciple, but Guzel knew that, in some ways, she was closer to Heavenly Thunder than any disciple.

This terrorist attack was like having a pile of shit fall from a clear sky, except Guzel was the one it had landed on. His shoulders still trembling, Guzel stretched both hands forward.

Rumble!

Enormous mana moved at Guzel's will. The ground beneath the exhibition hall heaved violently. Guzel tried to destroy the cube by overturning the earth itself, but even after putting considerable force into it, the cube merely trembled. The crack he wanted did not appear.

‘It's suppressing mana itself.’

Guzel's face twisted. As a tower master, he knew what the cube was. Among the miracles wrought by priests who served gods, it was one of the most troublesome and resilient.

A Pseudo-Sacred Domain that designated space itself.

This Pseudo-Sacred Domain was especially focused on rejecting outside intrusion. Perhaps another tower master could handle it, but it was a poor match for Guzel's magic.

Guzel's title was Iron Fortress. From within a defensive position he had established, he was confident he could perfectly withstand even an attack from another tower master or a Martial Apex Venerable. Siege warfare was another matter. This was no ordinary defensive barrier. Even among tower masters, only a handful of archmages could destroy a Pseudo-Sacred Domain established through a miracle that governed space itself.

"Gh..."

Guzel strained as he pressed against the cube, but eventually let out a long sigh and lowered his hands.

"How is it?"

Estor, who had been standing back with a grave expression, carefully asked.

"It is shameful to admit, but destroying that with my magic will be difficult."

"How can that be...?!"

"It appears to be a Sacred Domain created through a miracle that enforces inviolability. I do not know what they intend to do, but there are fewer than ten priests across all sects capable of establishing a Sacred Domain."

Guzel ground his teeth and raised his head. Two groups were flying toward them from different directions.

The first to arrive was a carriage drawn by beautiful white horses. Its emblem was a yellow square, the symbol of the Sect of Earth.

"Oh, gods."

The moment the carriage door opened, a woman practically leaped out and clutched her head. She was one of the priests assigned to Alderan's temple and, with the archbishop absent, was acting as the temple's representative.

"Of all times, when the archbishop is away...!"

The priests who followed her out let out dismayed sighs. Priests and holy knights also descended from the carriages that arrived after them, but numbers alone would not allow them to breach the Evil God's Pseudo-Sacred Domain. That was how powerful a miracle it was.

"They must have pulled this madness because the archbishop is absent."

A voice rang down from the sky. A brown-skinned, stern-looking middle-aged man poked only his head out through the window of a huge carriage that had not yet descended, glaring at the cube.

"Even I did not expect them to do something like this in my city."

There was only one man who could call Alderan his city. Alnair Mabeld, head of the Mabeld Family that had ruled Alderan for centuries. He removed the glasses resting on his nose and looked down.

"So, how is the situation? Exactly how many people are trapped inside?"

"Many people barely managed to escape, but according to their statements, most of them were somewhere other than the magic exhibition hall."

The commander of the city guard, drenched in cold sweat, answered. Alnair clicked his tongue.

"So not everyone in the alchemy exhibition hall was caught up in it. What did the escapees from the magic exhibition hall say?"

"They said a man wearing a huge robe and a Torn-Mouth Mask suddenly appeared on the ceiling."

"As expected, one of the Evil God's Saints is behind this."

The head of a Pride Family would naturally know information unavailable to the public. Alnair did not know the identities of every Saint serving the Evil God, but he knew the distinguishing traits of some.

"Do you know who it is?"

Estor asked, surprised. He was also the heir of the Orsia Family, but he had yet to receive heir training beyond the sword. Alnair slowly nodded.

"He's called Agwi. Whenever he acts publicly as a cultist, he always wears the Torn-Mouth Mask. Was it about ten years ago? Half of an expedition sent to an island in the Central Sea died."

The Central Sea, which divided the Western and Eastern Continents, held countless islands. Many had yet to be conquered, and each continent regularly sent expeditions to claim them.

In the vast Central Sea and its islands, phenomena beyond human understanding occurred as though they were everyday occurrences. Even high-ranking Adventurer's Guild adventurers had to risk their lives to explore them.

Half an expedition dying was not unusual in the Central Sea. But in the incident Alnair mentioned, the thing that killed half the explorers had not been some incomprehensible phenomenon of the Central Sea, nor an unknown monster.

"They say he used a grotesque authority to turn humans into trees and harvest their souls. It resembled the ominous magic of the Rudella Mage Tower, which also deals with souls, but Agwi did not command souls like servants. He devoured them himself."

"That's horrifying...!"

"Yes, he is horrifying. And that horrifying bastard launched a terrorist attack in my city, at an exhibition I sponsor."

The Mabeld carriage remained suspended in the sky as Alnair's eyes turned cold.

"Sir Guzel. Is it impossible even for you to destroy that Pseudo-Sacred Domain with your magic?"

"...I will try, but I do not think it will be easy."

"Priests of the Earth God. I know the archbishop is absent, but there are dozens of you. Can the Earth God's miracle not overcome the Evil God's miracle?"

"We will pray with all our hearts, but... establishing a Sacred Domain is beyond the miracles we can perform."

"Even if he is an Evil God's Saint, he must have paid a great price to establish a Pseudo-Sacred Domain of that scale."

"So you are saying there is no way."

Alnair openly clicked his tongue and turned toward the interior of the carriage.

"What about you?"

Estor did not know who sat across from Alnair, but after a brief silence, an answer came.

"I can't guarantee it, but I'll try. With Iron Fortress's magic and the Earth priests' miracles added to it, surely we can at least make a crack."

"Then I'm counting on you. I don't want my city marred."

Alnair's voice had noticeably softened.

The door of the carriage suspended in the air flew open, and a muscular woman with red hair and a greatsword on her back dropped down. Estor's eyes widened at the sight.

"Could it be... Cruel Mayhem?"

Boom.

The ground shook beneath a heavy impact. It was Cruel Mayhem, Elleia Yudel, one of the Death Realms among the Martial Apex Venerables.

A transmigrator famous for opposing the Demonic Cult, killing one of the Seven Evils, and causing that member to be replaced. Her whereabouts had been unknown for the past several years, and rumors had even spread that the Demonic Cult had finally killed her.

‘I wasn't introduced to her yesterday...?’

Greatly flustered, Estor looked up at the Mabeld carriage. Alnair snorted and shrugged at the question in his eyes.

"She is a guest of the Mabeld Family, but even as its head, she is not someone I can easily handle. I told her you had visited yesterday, but she said she did not want to meet you."

"I have feelings too."

Elleia slowly lifted her head and glanced at Estor.

"Yesterday, I simply wasn't in the mood to meet anyone. Don't take offense, Sword Emperor's grandson."

"I don't take offense."

Estor bowed deeply.

"I have heard Lady Cruel Mayhem's renown many times from the family head. It is an honor to meet you."

"Hmph. Do you think that old Sword Emperor had anything good to say about me? The last time I saw him, he asked why I even carried a sword if I was going to use it like that."

Elleia muttered, narrowing her green eyes. As a transmigrator, she had focused on honing her external arts and force-aura arts. She had only chosen the sword in her early days to add killing power. As her tier rose, she had begun earnestly training with the sword as well, but it had not satisfied the Sword Emperor.

"So, Sword Emperor's grandson, don't stare at my sword so intently. There will be nothing for you to learn from it."

"How could I..."

"Enough humility. Are your companions in there too?"

"Yes. Cloud Dragon and Dark Blossom are inside."

"Then we need to save them before Agwi kills them."

"Thousands of people are trapped inside besides Cloud Dragon and Dark Blossom."

When Estor answered with a serious expression, Elleia chuckled and nodded.

"Good boy."

The greatsword on her back came free. It was a greatsword, so of course it was large, but it was too large to call a sword. It was enormous, thick, heavy, and crude. It was a lump of iron. That was Elleia's sword.

The greatsword looked impossibly huge and heavy, yet Elleia gripped it in one hand as easily as if she were holding a branch.

Roar!

Crimson force aura wrapped around the greatsword. That was not all that could be seen. Elleia's Intent melded with the force aura, and behind her appeared the shape of a dragon one would only find in legends.

"Let's give it a hit."

With a low mutter, Elleia gripped the greatsword with both hands.

Boom!

The ground caved in beneath the foot she planted, and the greatsword swung. At the same time, the dragon flickering behind Elleia opened its jaws wide.

"Fuck."

Guzel grimaced and immediately clapped his palms together. A solid earthen wall rose before the crowd standing far away. The Earth priests, sensing the unusual power, hurriedly raised their divine power and formed barriers as well.

Elleia's strike was better described as artillery fire than a slash. Along with the sword force aura, massive power erupted from the dragon's mouth like a shell.

Kraa-boom!

A wave of red crashed into the cube and shook it.

* * *

Rumble...

The sudden vibration forced them to stop walking. Yuri looked up at the black sky with a tense expression, then scanned his surroundings. Other than the vibration, nothing had changed.

"It seems they're trying to rescue us from outside."

Haryeong, pressed close to his side, whispered.

"...It's probably Sir Guzel, the Iron Fortress."

Lacey, following a short distance behind them, mumbled her reply. She did not want to mumble, but she had no choice.

Both of her cheeks were red and swollen.

She knew it could not be helped.

They said it was to wake her from the dream she had been forced into. That was why they had slapped her so hard.

Honestly, it had been a happy, pleasant dream she had not wanted to wake from. If she had not awoken, she could have died without realizing she was dying. In that sense, Yuri, who had forcibly woken her, could be called her lifesaver.

‘But... wasn't there another way besides slapping me?’

As she rubbed her still-stinging cheeks with both hands, she could not help thinking that. Still, Lacey was not so ill-bred as to complain to someone who had saved her from drowning.

[I wanted to hit her a little more.]

[I did too, but if we'd hit her any more, she would've suspected us.]

Haryeong and Yuri secretly exchanged Voice Transmissions. Naturally, there had been no need to slap her. All they had needed to do was burn away the vines with the inner energy of the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil.

Haryeong had been the one to suggest slapping her.

Yuri had gone along with it because he simply wanted to slap Lacey.

"First... first, let's look for Fabian."

Lacey had originally been with Fabian, but when the darkness began moving, she abandoned him and rushed toward Yuri.

Lacey still suspected that Yuri might be UrMumSpammer or Cat Panties. Of the two, UrMumSpammer was suspected of being an apostle of the Evil God.

A cultist attack. Perhaps this incident was secretly connected to UrMumSpammer.

That was what she had thought, so she had approached him to secure clear evidence, but...

‘Maybe... it really isn't him?’

He had been caught up in the darkness as well and trapped in this space.

Was he Cat Panties, not UrMumSpammer?

Was he UrMumSpammer, but not an apostle of the Evil God?

‘No, maybe all of this is an act meant to deceive me?’

Her mind was tangled with all kinds of paranoid suspicions.

"Do we not need to wake the other mages?"

"Even if we wake them, they won't be much help. They'll only become inconvenient baggage while we move."

Lacey answered through swollen cheeks.

"I'll be fine, but to overcome this space's suppression and use magic, they would need to be above sixth tier. Mages above sixth tier are hardly common... Though if the attack happened after three o'clock, the invited high-tier mages should have been at the exhibition hall too."

"They probably carried it out because they were aiming for that gap in time. Are you stupid?"

Lacey's eyebrows twitched at Yuri's reply. She barely swallowed the nasty words that surged up and slowly nodded.

"I said something too obvious. You're right, Yuri. That masked man must have decided this was the best time to act."

"He's probably a cultist. Does anyone come to mind?"

"Why are you asking me that? I've never done anything that would provoke cultists."

Lacey gave Yuri a sharp look, emotion clearly showing in her eyes.

"That cultist didn't recognize you, Yuri? I doubt he caused all this madness solely because he holds a grudge against you, but I think you bear some responsibility for it."

"Probably."

The unexpectedly quick admission made Lacey's eyes widen. Yuri ignored her stare and muttered with an indifferent expression.

"Isn't that why we're moving now?"

That masked bastard was clearly at least a bishop-level powerhouse. If Yuri faced him now, he would have to worry about his own life before even thinking of subduing him.

Even knowing that, he could not stay still. Since they were trapped here anyway, hiding was meaningless. At the very least, they needed to understand the situation while the bastard was nowhere in sight.

Rumble...

Another tremor ran through the space. Lacey bit down on her lip and looked around anxiously.

‘To think they would commit such a bold terrorist attack in the middle of a major city like Alderan. Cultists really are insane.’

It seemed those outside were desperately trying to break in and rescue them, but nothing changed apart from the vibrations.

"I think... he might be one of those called Saints by the Evil God's sect."

Lacey spoke after studying Yuri's face for a moment.

"First, this space was not created with magic alone."

Even Lacey, who had mastered a wide range of magic, found it difficult to understand this space. The fact that mana was being held down so heavily meant the rules of space itself had been rewritten.

To rule over a space this vast meant the opponent was comparable to a tower master...

‘And he can simultaneously maintain a powerful defensive barrier that rejects outside intrusion?’

Magic like this might have been possible, but their opponent was not a pure mage. He was a cultist. This space must have been reinforced with a miracle fueled by divine power. Considering the divine power and miracles he could wield, he was undoubtedly a powerhouse called a Saint of the Sect of Chaos.

"My judgment may not be infallible, but the tree vines that wrapped around us did not seem to be magic either. I think it would be more accurate to call it Divine Grace Authority, bestowed upon high-ranking clergy who offer their faith."

"What is Divine Grace Authority?"

"It is an ability corresponding to a high-ranking martial artist's Conceptual Apotheosis or an archmage's Ideal Heaven-Reversal."

Perhaps because she had a chance to show off her knowledge, Lacey's voice gained strength.

"They are all powers that transcend humanity, but they are not the same. Divine Grace Authority is power granted by an actual god. Well, I don't want to say which is superior, but... wouldn't Conceptual Apotheosis and Ideal Heaven-Reversal, both developed through one's own efforts, be superior to power that has been bestowed?"

"Can you use Ideal Heaven-Reversal too, Lady Lacey?"

"How could I use Ideal Heaven-Reversal when I'd need to reach seventh tier just to barely set foot in that realm?"

"I can't use Conceptual Apotheosis either."

Yuri slowly looked around.

"We're seriously fucked."

"Ahem..."

Lacey's expression crumpled.

They now knew that the space and vines had been created through Divine Grace Authority, but that was all. They still had no idea what this Divine Grace Authority was for.

Why bind the hostages in the exhibition hall with vines and make them dream? If the enemy could wield this much power, slaughter would have been easy. Why create a barrier, refrain from immediately killing the hostages, and make them dream instead? What did they hope to gain from this hostage situation? No, was this even a hostage situation to begin with?

"...Above."

Yuri was the one who spoke. He stopped moving and stared upward.

The black ceiling rippled as its color slowly changed. There was a spot in the darkness where the shadows grew deeper and deeper. It looked like a long, torn scar or a Rift.

‘A Rift?’

The moment he recognized that word, a chill ran down his spine.

"Is it possible to create a Rift artificially?"

"W-What?"

Lacey stammered at the sudden question.

"I... I don't know much about that. A Rift is... a place where the Evil God's divine power has accumulated strongly... Oh, gods."

Lacey understood Yuri's words as well.

A Rift was a place where the Evil God's divine power had accumulated strongly.

Earlier, the cultist had poured out an enormous amount of divine power and summoned the finger of something that did not belong to this world. The last thing everyone saw was that finger's nail scraping through empty space.

What if that finger had been the Evil God's finger, and divine power had been inscribed through it? Then an artificial Rift could not be considered completely impossible.

"Are you saying that insane Saint is offering the hostages he captured as sacrifices to the Evil God to create an artificial Rift?"

"That isn't it."

A dull voice shook the space.

"There's no need to offer sacrifices to do something like this."

The man in the Torn-Mouth Mask walked out through the wall.

Footnotes:

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