WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ Damned Transmigration ◈

Chapter 87: Struggle 2

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Even with everything concentrated at a single point, it was impossible to read every trajectory of the blades. Blocking, deflecting, or dodging them was impossible.

So Yuri let them graze him. The instant a blade struck his body, he shifted his footwork. The instant it touched his fist, he moved his wrists and joints. Flames scattered with every movement. The flames sliced away became sparks, fluttered through the air, and were cut apart again.

There was not a single part of his body that did not hurt. The cuts were not deep, but every grazing blade left a wound. Just taking one step forward left his whole body drenched in blood.

Yet the flames did not go out. Though they had diminished after being cut again and again, they blazed back to life as if nothing had happened.

Then Yuri took another step. Wounds that had already been cut were cut again. Blood poured from the deeper gashes, but Yuri drove his fist forward. The flames left behind by Dark Cloud Connecting the Moon of the Fist of the Rending Cloud covered the blade storm.

Agwi enjoyed watching him.

No matter how desperately Yuri tried to avoid the attacks, approaching would leave him covered in blood. He was struggling to keep his injuries to a minimum, but how long could that last? To truly attack, he would eventually have to drive his fist into the blades.

‘His eyes.’

Agwi watched Yuri’s eyes, which moved busily without resting for even a moment. Yuri was responding while reading the blades’ trajectories as best he could, but how long could he keep that up?

‘You can read them at all because I’ve focused them on you.’

Agwi knew that too. If he focused solely on defense as he usually did, Yuri would not be able to do anything.

But that would be less fun.

Becoming strong and tormenting the weak was very enjoyable.

This world was the best. When he had first transmigrated here, he had resented everything and felt so lost that he wanted to die. But after gaining power through the talent he had been given, he had come to sincerely love this world.

On Earth, he could never toy with the weak and kill them just because he was strong.

Every time he indulged in violence in this world, a thrilling chill ran through him.

In the meantime, Yuri took several more steps closer. He was covered in blood, but fierce, wordless resolve shone in his clear eyes. Agwi giggled and changed the shape of the blade storm.

‘Getting closer doesn’t give you any special advantage.’

A stupid martial artist whose only trick was throwing punches. Did he think he only needed to break through the blade storm and close the distance? Agwi snorted and expanded the blade storm further.

ㅡFwoosh!

That was when it happened.

Flames rose in the space where a new blade storm was about to form. They interfered at the very moment the magic was about to manifest. The flames could not hurt Agwi, but they did catch him off guard.

They were the flames of the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil. Yuri had successfully seized the instant before the magic manifested, exactly as he had hoped. The flames swelled at once and devoured the other blade storms in succession.

‘This bastard, it’s consuming my power?’

They devoured, burned, and spread. In an instant, flames filled the space around Agwi.

They still could not harm him. They had only blocked the blade storm for a brief moment. Yuri had added Intent to the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil, but someone of Agwi’s level could easily shake off those flames.

Even so, this was the moment Yuri had desperately wanted.

He rushed at Agwi without hesitation. The flames spreading around Agwi were drawn toward Yuri. Drops of blood drifted like red mist. Yuri raised his fist within it.

The flames Yuri had so desperately wanted settled into his fist.

Sacred Flame Release, the strongest close-range attack Yuri could use. Even if it could not kill in one blow, Sacred Flame Release was the only attack that might work against an opponent with such an overwhelming gap in power.

‘Crazy bastard.’

The flames around him had briefly caught Agwi off guard, but what truly surprised him was that Yuri had judged this to be his chance and charged in.

Then again, someone sane would have run instead of trying to fight.

Yuri did not seem especially fast to Agwi as he approached. Agwi knew what Yuri was trying to do. His fist was drawn back at his waist. Was he really going to punch him, and that was it?

“...?”

It was not even an attack worth guarding against. The fist of a fifth-tier martial artist would be so weak that Agwi could not die even if he wanted to. He could take dozens, even hundreds of hits without caring.

Then what was this feeling?

It was different from the thrill he felt while tormenting the weak. This chill that tingled down his spine was a warning from his instincts.

The flames around him were strange as well. Yuri seemed to have added a bit of Intent beyond what his tier should allow, but even considering that, the flames were stubborn. The blade storm was still being suppressed.

Was it more than mere force aura?

‘This is...’

Fragments of judgment rapidly connected in his mind.

This was not an attack he could casually take. A fifth-tier martial artist’s punch? It made no sense. That was what he thought, but he did not want to ignore his instincts’ warning.

He had constructed a Pseudo-Sanctuary, performed Rift Attunement, and was maintaining Divine Grace Authority. If he allowed an unnecessary blow to land and the Rift Attunement was ruined...

He did not want to imagine it.

So Agwi moved his hand.

He was not afraid. That was why he did not retreat or dodge. Instead, he would tear Yuri apart head-on. It was the purest expression of his arrogance, born from believing himself absolutely stronger.

Agwi had become a beast nearly three meters tall. His hand was large enough to easily wrap around Yuri’s head.

That hand came down on Yuri.

It was before Yuri could throw the fist of Sacred Flame Release. At this rate, his body would be torn apart before he could extend his arm.

Even then, Yuri did not hesitate.

In this perilous clash, Agwi was not the one holding the advantage.

Yuri’s body became wind and cloud. He became an illusion that could not be grasped by a hand. His body followed his martial arts with a unity that surpassed Yuri’s own conscious judgment and movement.

Perfect Unity, a state he had experienced several times before.

He thought of striking and acted.

That intense will became Intent and strengthened his body. Yuri attacked first, yet he was still slower. The difference in their abilities turned the initiative of striking first into the initiative of responding.

He could not force his way in.

Given the circumstances, the place where he had to drive Sacred Flame Release was...

The hand reaching for him to tear him apart.

Yuri bent his waist backward at a precarious angle, his legs firmly bracing his center. His thrusting fist barely slipped between Agwi’s curved claws.

Yuri’s fist struck Agwi’s palm.

“Gah?!”

The sound of something exploding echoed from inside Agwi. With a startled scream, he pulled back the arm he had swung.

His hand, its interior, was hot.

Raging flames had entered his palm and were running wild inside it.

The flames moved, burning through the nerves and meridians in his arm as they tried to reach deeper within him.

“What did you do?!”

Agwi roared.

Rumble!

The power Agwi unleashed subdued the flames flowing into his arm. They could no longer push deeper into his body, but his right arm felt sluggish.

Normally, he would have used divine power to regenerate the injury at once. He could not do that now. All the divine power he had gathered over the years, as well as his current divine power, was pooled in that Rift.

“You fucking bastard...!”

He ignored his sluggish right arm. Even if he could not use it immediately, he could still kill Yuri with ease.

Rumble!

Blade storms rose from the flames that had gradually begun to die down.

“I’ll make you beg me to kill you!”

Agwi let out a savage cry and swung his left arm. He no longer waited as he had before. An attack filled with unmistakable killing intent crashed down on Yuri. He had swung only one arm, but countless blade storms followed it.

It was an attack unleashed in earnest by Agwi, a Saint.

Yuri tried to dodge, but he could not. All he could do was reinforce his protective force aura so he would not die in one blow and raise both arms to shield his vital points.

“Yuri!”

Yuri’s body was flung through the air amid Haryeong’s scream.

He had focused on defense, but it was shattered far too easily. His protective force aura was torn to pieces, both arms were slashed deeply enough to expose bone, and the damage did not stop there. His insides were pierced as well.

Yuri’s body suddenly stopped in midair. Agwi’s magic had caught him, preventing him from being flung away.

Agwi slammed his hand down through the air.

ㅡCrunch!

Yuri’s body was smashed into the ground.

“Urgh!”

Blood and fragments of ruined organs burst from Yuri’s mouth. At the sight, Haryeong kicked off the ground.

Five minutes should have already passed. Yet Lacey still had not opened her eyes. Had she failed to cross the wall of the sixth tier after all?

If that was the case, everything they had done so far had been pointless.

Rather than stand guard and wait for Lacey, who could reach the sixth tier at any moment, Haryeong wanted to prevent Yuri’s death.

“Not yet!”

Yuri, twitching on the ground, shouted.

At Yuri’s shout, Haryeong flinched to a stop just as she was about to unleash her hidden weapons.

“Not yet?”

Agwi spat with a twisted expression. At the snap of his fingers, blade storms overlapped before rushing toward Yuri. Yuri had not yet managed to rise and hurriedly rolled across the ground, but a blade he could not avoid carved a long cut across his left leg.

“What do you mean, not yet?!”

Yuri clenched his teeth against the pain of bone being shaved away. With his leg injured, he could no longer move properly. There were potions in the bag at his waist, but would he have an opening to use one?

If they were outside, he could somehow create an opening with levitation magic. Here, where mana was suppressed, Yuri could not use magic.

“Are you trying to say you can still fight?”

Sharp fangs protruded from the muzzle sticking through the Torn-Mouth Mask. Agwi looked at Haryeong, who had stopped short, then at Lacey farther back, who still had her eyes closed.

Just what kind of massive spell was that woman preparing? She was still standing there with her eyes closed, concentrating.

“Hah.”

Agwi’s eyes twitched.

He had suffered an unexpected injury. He did not think the magic of a mage at Lacey’s level posed any danger, but he had been injured by a martial artist who was little more than a monkey. He needed to be more careful.

“I’ll kill those bitches before I kill you.”

The instant Yuri heard that, he forcefully pushed himself off the ground. He controlled his leaping body in midair and twisted his waist.

Crimson Stream Kick drew a red line as it rushed toward Agwi.

“Idiot.”

Agwi swung his hand.

Kwagagagak!

Yuri’s body was shredded by the blade storm. A heavy impact followed, driving him into the wall.

“I said I’d make you beg me to kill you! Fine. I’ll break your limbs first so you can’t struggle. Then you can crawl across the floor like a worm and watch those bitches die.”

Yuri slid down the wall and sprawled on the ground. He vomited blood, then glared at Agwi.

‘Fuck, she said five minutes...’

Five minutes had passed long ago. Yuri had even driven Sacred Flame Release into Agwi to make him angry and keep his attention on himself, but Lacey still had her eyes closed.

Was she planning to show up only after all his limbs were broken?

“Come to think of it, the one who taught you was that Fist Wolf, wasn’t it?”

Agwi, who had been approaching slowly, formed a twisted smile.

“You and I truly do have a connection. Heh heh, I never imagined I would also kill the disciple of the Fist Wolf, Bakerd Raspion, with my own hands.”

“...!”

Yuri had been trying to force himself up on barely responsive legs. At those words, he felt as if every hair on his body stood on end.

“Bakerd Raspion?”

“Looks like you don’t even know that name. It doesn’t matter. There’s no need to explain anything to someone about to die.”

Agwi said nothing more, but that was enough.

Just as Yuri had suspected, Agwi was among those involved in the massacre that wiped out the Raspion Family twenty years ago.

Then what about the others? Were the other Saints besides Agwi also accomplices in the Raspion Family tragedy?

Yuri recalled Bakerd.

He had only spent a little over a month learning martial arts from him, but Bakerd was a true master to Yuri, just like Lorelia, someone who had properly taught him martial arts.

That was why Yuri staggered forward.

If he had known beforehand, he would have forced himself to drive Sacred Flame Release into Agwi’s face instead of his hand. Could he do it one more time? If he prepared himself to die, he felt he could use Sacred Flame Release once more.

‘No.’

It was Haryeong who thought that.

She saw Yuri’s face turn cold. Haryeong knew exactly what that expression meant. Yuri had worn the same expression two years ago when he stood against the Blood Fiend in Logos.

It was the face of someone prepared to die.

They were buying time so no one would die, yet Yuri was preparing himself for death. It was a cruel contradiction. He had said not yet, but...

Haryeong bit down hard on her lip and turned to glare at Lacey.

‘Just how much longer...!’

She wanted to send a Voice Transmission, but she could not bring herself to disrupt Lacey’s concentration. In the end, Haryeong looked away from Lacey and gripped the Twin Fangs, one in each hand.

She truly did not know anymore.

Whatever happened, this was the time to struggle even harder. Haryeong was willing to do so. Yuri was not the only one who had resolved himself.

Lacey was just as frustrated.

She did not know how much time had passed. External phenomena and sounds could not reach her now. She stood before the wall of the sixth tier, a wall she had ignored until now.

It was a wall she should have crossed easily, yet instead of overcoming it, the wall had caught hold of Lacey’s ankle.

The magic she had learned until now. The magic she had practiced with devotion and affection.

The process of understanding it all again was taking longer than Lacey had expected.

It was a process she could never skip.

By understanding the magic she already knew again, and more deeply than before, Lacey’s Path of Magic would be defined and her Soul Power would grow significantly.

‘Just a little more.’

It would not be long.

It seemed the five minutes had already passed, but Lacey Yuzha was still alive. That meant the two people she had asked to buy time were holding on.

The worst possibility she did not want to imagine was this.

That she would open her eyes and find Yuri and Haryeong already dead.

If that happened, even if she somehow survived and returned, she would not be able to face Elena.

‘So please.’

ㅡThump.

Her understanding of magic was complete.

The root from which spells, magic, and everything else were created. The aspiration pursued by countless mages, the forebears of spellcraft, was newly interpreted within Lacey.

That was how magic became wholly the mage’s own and began to change. That was why even the same fireball became a different fireball for every high-ranking mage.

Lacey had reached that realm.

Crackle.

An electric current flowed through Lacey’s soul. She rejoiced at the current drifting through it.

This current that connected soul to soul was the form of magic Orca currently pursued. Lacey had joined the research with great interest as well. It required the high tier of at least the sixth tier as a foundation, so she had never cast it herself, but she had already inscribed a Terminal for the spell formula into her soul for future use.

[Orca.]

Across an immense distance, Lacey’s will reached Orca.

ㅡCrackle!

Lacey’s body, standing with her eyes closed, was enveloped in golden lightning.

“?!”

Agwi, who had been approaching Yuri, instantly noticed the anomaly.

‘Something’ had passed through the barrier of the Pseudo-Sacred Domain.

Magic or an attack would have been blocked by the barrier, but that thing had entered without being filtered out.

“What...?”

Haryeong, holding the Twin Fangs as she approached Agwi, turned around in surprise. Lacey was staggering within the crackling lightning.

“Ah...”

Lacey’s lips parted.

ㅡBoom!

An immense presence pressed heavily on Agwi. He stared at Lacey with wide, disbelieving eyes.

No, was that really Lacey Yuzha?

Her appearance was the same. Yet her presence, the trace of her soul, was different. This was not simply a matter of her tier increasing after meditation. It was as if she had become a different person...

‘Something is covering her soul...!’

Agwi rushed at Lacey without another thought.

At the same time, Lacey pointed a finger at him.

Crackle!

Golden lightning blocked Agwi’s charge. Blade storms burst out to counter the lightning, but the lightning continued branching apart and destroying the blade storms.

“This is my first time transmitting over such a distance, so I wasn’t sure it would work.”

Lacey spoke.

It was unmistakably Lacey’s voice, but her manner of speaking was completely different.

“It seems transmission can be managed somehow if there is a Terminal.”

Lacey muttered as she tied back her purple hair.

No, the one standing there was not Lacey.

The soul of Heavenly Thunder Orca, who had been at the Dersia Mage Tower, had transmitted itself into Lacey’s body.

Footnotes:

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