WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Damned Transmigration ◈

Chapter 85: Glutton 4

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The moment the man appeared, Yuri, Haryeong, and Lacey moved. Yuri took the lead, Haryeong stood a little behind him, and Lacey positioned herself at the rear.

Rushing in recklessly would be madness. A high-ranking cleric who wielded Divine Grace Authority stood on equal footing with a high-tier martial artist or mage.

Such a person was on an entirely different level from the Blood Fiend, whose tier had fallen due to Qi Deviation, or the Withered Crone, who had been stuck at the sixth tier. The moment they were trapped in this space, they had effectively entered a tiger's jaws. But flailing around inside its mouth before it had even bitten them would be no different from screaming for it to kill them faster.

[We need to buy time.]

Lacey had stepped back, swiftly conveying her thoughts.

[Time for the people outside to break this space and get in, and...]

The first possibility did not seem promising. The fact that this had happened in the heart of a major city meant their enemy was confident nobody could break in from outside. They might eventually succeed if they kept hammering at it, but their opponent would never give them that much time.

[Time for me to reach the sixth tier.]

In the end, that was their only chance of survival. She had to surpass the fifth tier she had remained at for years and reach the sixth. She had been attempting it ever since waking from the dream and grasping the situation, but she still needed more time.

[Would reaching the sixth tier solve this?]

Haryeong, who had heard the exchange, responded. Even a single tier made a vast difference in ability, but the masked man had to be at least seventh tier. Even if Lacey reached the sixth tier, the gap would be difficult to overcome.

[Yes.]

Lacey answered without hesitation. It was not arrogance. She had thoroughly mastered the magic available at her tier. Naturally, she knew what she could and could not do.

[Once I reach the sixth tier, I can receive Lady Orca's support.]

The same doubt arose in Yuri and Haryeong's minds. She could receive Orca's support? Orca was at the Dersia Mage Tower in Rutlan, unimaginably far from here. What kind of support could she possibly provide?

[Understood.]

Yuri had questions, but he did not ask them. Lacey would reach the sixth tier and receive Orca's support. That was the closest thing they had to a way out.

"You all look awfully tense."

The masked man chuckled.

"You had plenty to say when I wasn't around. What? Now that I'm standing right in front of you, you're too scared to open your mouths?"

No answer came, but the man continued without concern.

"Isn't it a little harsh to call someone a mad saint? Ah, right. We should introduce ourselves first. I know who you are, but you don't know me."

The man raised a finger and pointed at the mask covering his face. His lips curved into a grin within the mask's long, slit-like mouth.

"I'm Agwi. Try to understand. I won't tell you my real name, and I can't take off this mask."

Yuri curled his lowered hand into a fist and glared at Agwi. Agwi hunched his shoulders and played it off.

"I went out of my way to tell you first, and all you do is glare. Fine. You're about to die anyway, so I'll forgive you. But how did you wake up?"

How?

Of course that was what Agwi wanted to know.

Using divine power he had accumulated over several years, he had constructed a Pseudo-Sacred Domain and was creating an artificial Rift. At the same time, he had used the amplified miracles within the Sacred Domain to deploy his Divine Grace Authority and the Soul-Eating Tree.

Without needing to subdue anyone directly, he had led thousands into dreams. Dreams painted by miracles. Most people would not even realize they were dreaming and would wander through those dreams until they died. Even if they somehow realized it, he had created dreams so blissful that they would not want to wake up.

It was easy to inflict fear or pain. Giving happiness to someone you intended to kill was far harder.

Souls that died in happiness were brimming with power. Death was common and easy to give, but souls that died in happiness were far more valuable than those that simply died.

That was why the Soul-Eating Tree gave people happy dreams. Its true value lay in granting supreme happiness to dying souls and making them swell fat with it.

He had put in enough effort to ensure even seventh-tier beings would not wake easily.

Yet three fifth-tier fools had awakened from the dream.

Rumble...

A tremor came from outside. Agwi's face twisted beneath his mask. To be honest, this shaking was an unforeseen variable. The archbishop of the Sect of Earth temple in Alderan was away, and the Iron Fortress's magic did not specialize in siege warfare. He had thought there was no reason to worry or grow impatient about interference from outside while the Rift was completed.

'An attack with this much force behind it... It has to be an archmage or a Martial Apex Venerable...'

According to Agwi's information, no archmage or Martial Apex Venerable was visiting Alderan. Could support have arrived from another city in just a few hours? The nearest city was several days away on horseback.

It was not impossible. Surpassing the seventh tier meant transcending humanity in one way or another. Among such transcendent beings, there were plenty capable of compressing several days of travel into a few hours or minutes.

'Or is it hidden strength from the Mabeld Family? Damn Pride bastards.'

Rumble...

Another tremor shook the Sacred Domain. It was not a problem. A variable had appeared outside, but it was not enough to collapse the Sacred Domain.

Then what about inside?

"It looks like you don't intend to answer."

Agwi's lips twitched and parted within the mask's slit mouth. His exposed teeth were pointed and sharp, more like those of a beast than a human.

"You don't have to answer."

Three fifth-tier beings.

Agwi was a saint of the Sect of Chaos. He was arrogant enough, but not arrogant enough to boast that he was the strongest among the saints. They were all called saints, but the differences in their power and standing were immense.

That did not mean Agwi was weak. Three fifth-tier beings? They were no different from insects to him. Even while controlling the Sacred Domain, the Rift, and the Soul-Eating Tree at once, those fools were not variables.

"I have a deep connection with all three of you."

Agwi's shoulders shook with laughter.

"A connection...?"

Lacey, who had retreated with tension written across her face, murmured. Her cheeks were still badly swollen, but this was no time to touch them.

Agwi did not bother pointing that out. They were all going to die anyway, so what did it matter whether their cheeks or eyes were swollen? His sharp teeth clicked together before he grinned.

"Is that demon bitch Orca Dersia doing well?"

"..."

"I got into trouble because of that bitch a long time ago. Haven't you heard?"

Lacey's face went pale at the casually asked question.

"You were the ones who lured Lady Orca into a trap in the past."

"That bitch was lucky, and we were unlucky."

His gleaming gaze shifted to Haryeong.

"I never imagined the Salhomun Master would interfere there."

"I have nothing to do with the Salhomun Master's past."

Haryeong answered, already holding a dagger in each hand.

"Really? Doesn't matter. Dark Blossom, you and I have a connection beyond the Salhomun."

Agwi's twisted smile faded. The emotions rising within him prevented him from laughing any longer.

"Thunder Cloud, Dark Blossom, you fucking bastards. Because of what you did in Panteleon, years of my hard work went to waste!"

Agwi's roar swallowed the tremors coming from outside.

"Thousands will die here today, and you three have to die here because of that! How dare you ruin my work without knowing your place?!"

A tremendous killing intent crashed over them like a wave. Haryeong and Lacey staggered back, their blood seeming to turn to ice.

Yuri did not retreat.

The killing intent made every hair on his body stand on end, but something hotter than the chill of death it carried burned in his chest.

"You're wrong."

His tightly sealed lips parted. Yuri stared at Agwi and spoke slowly.

"Wrong? What's wrong?"

Agwi's voice rose.

"You son of a bitch. Are you saying that's wrong as a reason for me to kill you?"

"I'm not Thunder Cloud. I'm Cloud Dragon."

Agwi froze at the reply. Haryeong and Lacey, stiff from the killing intent, looked at Yuri in momentary confusion.

"Is this bastard actually insane?"

Agwi blurted out in disbelief. When he heard that the Panteleon diocese had been destroyed, Yuri's title had been Thunder Cloud. That was why Agwi remembered him as Thunder Cloud. He had later received the new title Cloud Dragon from the Sword Emperor, but Agwi had never cared about that.

"Do you really have to kill us?"

Before Agwi could curse again, Yuri spoke first. It was just as sudden a remark.

"What?"

"What if we said we wanted to join the Sect of Chaos?"

Lacey and Haryeong still could not say anything as they stared at Yuri, but he ignored their gazes. Every sense sharpened, Yuri focused on Agwi's reaction.

"Join?"

"We're young and talented. I think the Sect of Chaos might be short on young talent."

Agwi's eyebrows twitched.

The world called the Sect of Chaos heretics and a sect of the Evil God. Agwi himself neither denied nor grew angry at such assessments. As a transmigrator, he agreed that the God of Chaos was an Evil God.

So what if it was an Evil God? Serve it, and it grants you power. With no complicated doctrine, running wild to your heart's content was proof of faith.

He had crossed into this world in exchange for pouring time into a shitty trash game. He had amassed enough strength, risen through the tiers, and become a saint. To Agwi, this world was heaven.

Still, regardless of Agwi's satisfaction, the Sect of Chaos truly lacked young talent.

They were branded heretics wherever they went for serving the God of Chaos, hunted down, and had recently even received a declaration of war from the Demonic Cult.

The reality was that nobody but people unable to live normal lives would try to join the Sect of Chaos.

"Are you begging for your lives?"

People unable to live normal lives. Agwi himself was one, and so were the three in front of him. Being trapped in this Pseudo-Sacred Domain and facing Agwi meant the end of their lives.

"Sure, you don't want to die. But what can you do? I want to kill you."

"Would you reconsider? I can work like a dog."

Haryeong, who had silently listened until then, spoke.

Rumble...

The tremor shook the world, and Agwi's mouth twitched.

"You fucking bastards, are you trying to buy time?"

The instant he said that, Yuri moved.

Join the Sect of Chaos? He had never even considered it.

Joining the Sect of Chaos because he did not want to die, because he was afraid, would betray everything Yuri had built to become who he was.

It would betray Lorelia, who had given him flame. Elena, who had smiled as though she might cry.

It would betray his past self, who had resolved to kill the Evil God. It would betray the self who had awakened only minutes ago, wanting to burn and burn until he became flame.

So Yuri charged at Agwi, attacking at full power from the start.

The inner power of the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil poured from his wide-open dantian and raced through his channels without restraint. The lightning energy of the Art of the Violet Lightning Flash accelerated Yuri's body even further. Purple Lightning Flash, the fastest strike among Yuri's martial arts, shot toward Agwi.

He did not think it would catch Agwi off guard. No matter how fast Yuri was, the difference in their levels was too vast. Even if Yuri put every ounce of speed into his attack, it would seem slow to Agwi.

Clang!

It was blocked.

Yuri stared ahead, his expression hardening. Purple Lightning Flash was stopped by Agwi's hand. Scarlet, flame-like force aura surged around it, yet it could not even burn Agwi's sleeve.

"That's adorable."

Agwi sneered.

Crack, crack...

The sound came from within the sleeve of his wide robe, followed by another change. The hand blocking Yuri's fist began to grow noticeably larger.

It was not just his hand. Agwi's entire body heaved and gradually expanded. Gray fur sprouted from his forearms, and blade-sharp claws grew from his thickening fingers.

'This bastard.'

Yuri pulled back his fist, his face tense. When the figure on the exhibition hall ceiling had first formed hand seals, Yuri had seen fairly muscular forearms beneath the draping sleeves.

That meant he was not an ordinary mage.

In the game Seronis, the only being called a god was the hidden boss, the God of Chaos. There was no such thing as divine power or miracles.

Classes worked the same way. A character built around magic skills was a mage. Otherwise, their class was determined by the weapon they used and the combat skills they focused on, such as swordsman, archer, or martial artist.

Players named those classes themselves.

'A Melee Beast Mage?'

Or what they called a druid.

It was a build that transformed the character into a monster with transformation magic, reinforced its stats with various buff spells, and used close-range magic. For a time, it had been popular in the community.

Even when it was popular, though, it was closer to a joke build.

A melee mage dealt more damage and had shorter cooldowns than a conventional mage, but compared to a conventional mage raised properly, its performance was painfully mediocre.

Investing in melee-focused stats instead of magic stats also put the cart before the horse.

'If you're going to do that, why raise a mage instead of a warrior?'

Transformation magic had become popular as a way to compensate for the mediocre performance of melee mages, but even after transforming into a monster and reinforcing yourself with buffs, you could not compete with the raw stats of late-game bosses.

That changed when a penalty skill was added. The Melee Beast Mage gained enough potential to claim first place in the Hall of Fame.

Art of the Empty Fist.

It was the penalty skill Lee Su-hyeok's UrMumSpammer had used as his main skill. Art of the Empty Fist granted additional stats for every equipment slot it sealed.

'Don't tell me this bastard...'

Lee Su-hyeok had been the first to popularize the Melee Beast Mage build with Art of the Empty Fist. Of course, just because this guy had suddenly started transforming did not necessarily mean it was related to the game. There were said to be several transmigrators among the saints of the Sect of Chaos.

Agwi's body swelled to nearly three meters tall, but his robe expanded with him rather than tearing, and his mask neither shattered nor fell away. Both grew to fit Agwi's larger body, while an elongated snout jutted out through the mask's slit mouth.

A beast in a robe and mask. A gray mane, almost like hair, streamed from beneath the thrown-back hood. Agwi planted his four beastly limbs on the ground and bared his fangs.

[My god, a druid?!]

Lacey's scream, which she could not voice aloud, rang in Yuri's mind. There had to be more than one or two people in this world who transformed their bodies to fight like that, but seeing one of the saints, whose ranks were said to include transmigrators, turn into a beast left Lacey unable to think of anything but a druid.

[Aren't you advancing to the sixth tier?]

[I-I'm concentrating.]

Yuri answered as he raised his force aura, and Lacey quickly calmed herself. Transforming did not automatically make someone a druid.

Crash!

The darkness drifting around Agwi moved, becoming a razor-sharp storm that coiled around his body.

[B-Blade Storm Druid!]

She had barely calmed down, only to become agitated again. One of the many Melee Beast Mage, or druid, builds. A Blade Storm Druid focused on developing the close-range offensive and defensive magic of Blade Shield and Storm's Blessing for synergy, then trusted in raw stats to brawl at close range and deal damage.

"..."

Yuri no longer tried to stop Lacey from getting excited.

He finally had some idea why those cultist bastards regarded UrMumSpammer as an apostle.

Lee Su-hyeok himself had posted a guide for the build used by Agwi, a saint.

Footnotes:

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