WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ Damned Transmigration ◈

Chapter 89: Struggle 4

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Yuri's fist slammed into the center of the massive beast's chest. It was only a fifth-tier punch. Even if it landed, it should not have dealt any real damage.

Yet Agwi knew that was not true against that fist. He still could not feel his right hand after blocking it earlier.

Blocking or dodging was impossible. Orca's lightning had left his limbs sluggish, making him want to kill her. That meant his only option was to take the blow and endure it. Agwi concentrated his Soul Power, divine power, and every other force he could use at the point of impact.

It was an unsettling attack of unknown origin, but there was no way it could break through a defense like this. The previous attack had worked only because Agwi had not thought to defend himself. The gap in power was this vast. There was no way the attack could work.

Thud.

Even that was a miscalculation.

The moment Yuri's fist touched him, something within it entered Agwi's body. It was a tiny spark, no different from a speck of dust. Yet the instant it entered him, it became Kalpa Fire. The power Agwi had concentrated to endure the blow became firewood that fed the flames.

“Cough!”

This was nothing like when he had blocked it with his hand. Whether Yuri had intended it or not, that fist had struck Agwi right at his center. If the body was a universe in miniature, then that spark was a black hole at its center, devouring everything and growing larger.

‘What is this?’

The fire did not die down. It only grew stronger. His Soul Power and divine power were burning to ash and vanishing. This was the destruction of his very origin!

Agwi's mind went blank. If his origin burned away completely, recovery would not be easy.

This was no time to be picky. Agwi even drew upon his True Essence. It was better to escape this situation somehow than burn away. If he remained here any longer, he would suffer irreversible aftereffects. No, if he did not escape immediately, even fleeing would become difficult.

Too late.

Kwagagagak!

A blood-red slash tore through the darkness of the Sacred Domain. It struck precisely at the base of the invisible tree.

Boom!

The Soul-Eating Tree's true body shook, and blood sprayed from Agwi's mouth.

It was Cruel Mayhem.

Elleia boldly stepped into the darkness, which had not yet fully dispersed. Looking at the Soul-Eating Tree she had failed to cut down completely, she raised her greatsword again.

The only way to destroy Divine Grace Authority was with an attack of equal tier. A slash filled with Intent was swung at the Soul-Eating Tree once more. Once Elleia had it in her sight, distance meant nothing to her. Her greatsword was less a sword than an axe now.

Boom!

Beneath the massive tree, which shook as though it would collapse at any moment, Agwi opened his jaws wide.

Drawing upon his True Essence had made it possible to move. That bastard's fist was still buried in his chest.

I’ll bite him to death right here.

He had failed to kill Orca, but he had to kill this bastard no matter what. Agwi tried to bite Yuri's entire body apart, but something black crossed his vision.

It was Haryeong.

She leaped onto Agwi's shoulder and drove the Twin Fangs, one in each hand, down.

Crunch!

The two daggers buried themselves in Agwi's right eye.

“Gah!”

Sword aura poured from the daggers and destroyed his eyeball. Haryeong did not stop. She shoved the daggers deeper, intending to turn his brain into mush.

But after piercing the eye, the daggers struck a solid wall and could advance no farther.

She did not persist with a futile attempt. Pulling the Twin Fangs from his eye, Haryeong sprang backward.

The Dang Family's ultimate hidden weapon art, Myriad Heavenly Flower Rain, unfolded in an incomplete form.

Papapapapapack!

Countless hidden weapons and force-aura daggers plunged into Agwi's face. Some even scratched his other eye.

“Grrrr...!”

Though he felt like he was going mad, Agwi shook his head. He was trying to bite Yuri somehow.

He failed again.

Even through his clouded vision, he could see the radiant light blocking his teeth.

It was Estor's light sword.

The light sword Estor had swung without rest to aid Elleia sliced through Agwi's fangs. In terms of cutting power alone, its sword aura far surpassed the fifth tier. It cleaved through his teeth and tore his muzzle wide open.

“You fucking mutt.”

Estor ground out the words as he glared at Agwi with eyes brimming with killing intent. Agwi currently wore the form of a huge wolf, so calling him a mutt suited the sight perfectly.

Estor made no effort to suppress his rage. His wildly swinging light sword mutilated Agwi's face.

“Graaah!”

The pain in his face was enough to drive him mad, but the flames burning inside his chest were more urgent. He was suppressing them by drawing upon his True Essence, yet this unknown fire showed no sign of going out.

That bastard's fist was like a wedge. Unless he pulled out the wedge, the flames would not die.

Agwi barely managed to look at Yuri's face. Yuri's eyes saw nothing but his fist. Whatever happened around him, all Agwi could sense was the obsession and venom of someone who had no intention of pulling out the wedge he had driven in.

‘This fucking lunatic...!’

The lightning binding his limbs weakened. Orca, using Lacey's body, was reaching her limit as well.

Agwi did not miss that opening. He hurriedly pulled out his hand and swung it at Yuri.

Still, he could not beat Yuri to death. Haryeong, who had retreated, grabbed Yuri and leaped backward with him. Estor let out a roar and blocked Agwi's hand, making pursuit impossible.

Estor's body, struck in Yuri's place, crashed into the ground. Yet he did not scream. He sprang to his feet and charged at Agwi again.

Boom!

At that instant, the Soul-Eating Tree broke.

“Cough!”

The backlash from the Divine Grace Authority being forcibly destroyed struck him. Agwi's body convulsed, and blackened blood spewed from his mouth.

As the fist-wedge was pulled free, the flames no longer spread and rapidly died down. But what had already burned away would not return.

‘This is... really...’

I’m fucked.

Gasping for breath, Agwi dragged his feet back. How had things ended up like this?

You’ve played around for too long.

Orca's taunting words muddled Agwi's thoughts. It was only natural for the strong to toy with the weak. Had all of this happened over something so trivial?

By now, though, he could not deny it.

If he had killed them from the beginning instead of trying to play with them, this would not have happened. Orca would not have come. The Rift would not have failed. The Pseudo-Sanctuary would not have collapsed. The Soul-Eating Tree would not have broken.

What drove Agwi most insane was the flame that weak little bastard had driven into him like a wedge. How much divine power and Soul Power had burned away in those flames? How much True Essence had he expended just to put out the fire?

Even by the most conservative estimate, Agwi had lost ten years.

What was even more horrifying was that this still was not the worst part.

The worst was starting now.

As if to prove it, the ground beneath Agwi's feet rose.

Kwaddeudeuk!

Earthen shackles seized his lower body.

“Got you.”

It was Guzel.

Riding atop a massive earth golem, Guzel entered the Sacred Domain with heavy footsteps. He hesitated when he saw Lacey wrapped in lightning, but there was no time to ask about her.

Their enemy was Agwi, one of the Evil God's Saints. Very little was known about the Saints discovered so far, making Agwi's capture immensely valuable.

Everyone who had arrived surrounded Agwi. Orca, having reached her limit, did not overexert herself. She moderated the lightning's output and passed the restraints to Guzel.

Guzel's magic took over naturally and tightened around Agwi by the second. His lower body, up to the waist, had already been swallowed by the foundation, and he could no longer feel it. He was enduring by pouring out every bit of power he possessed, but he could not last long.

Elleia, her greatsword resting on her shoulder, was watching him too.

There was no way out. It was over.

Agwi's eyes trembled. He had reached an unforeseen catastrophe.

Should he kill himself? Or...

Agwi seriously considered it. Thinking of the humiliation and torture awaiting him, suicide or some other choice might be salvation.

But Agwi lacked the courage to decide and act immediately. He had lived in this world for decades and been revered as a Saint, but at his core, he was less than an ordinary person.

“Grrr...”

In his decades in this world, Agwi had learned not how to overcome fear, but how to conceal it. He shook his still-unhealed, blood-soaked head and bared his beastly teeth.

Unfortunately, no one around him feared broken teeth.

The Iron Fortress’s distorted face twitched as he reinforced the foundation. Elleia infused her greatsword with power so she could react the moment Agwi lashed out. Even Yuri, held by Haryeong as he gasped for breath, glared at Agwi. Estor, standing beside him, had a gaze equally full of killing intent.

Priests from the Sect of Earth took positions around Agwi. The Habert Mage Tower and the Sect of Earth had remained on good terms for so long because they worked exceptionally well together.

As divine power began to flow into the foundation holding Agwi, his eyes shook even more violently.

The transformation magic sustaining him was forcibly undone. Fur fell away in clumps, and his body rapidly shrank.

“What happens now?”

Estor, who had been examining Yuri's injuries, spoke up. One of the priests pouring divine power into the foundation answered.

“If we contact the Union, high inquisitors from each sect will come.”

The priest's voice carried considerable excitement. Capturing one of the Evil God's Saints alive was unprecedented.

“Aaaaaaah!”

He was being forced to choose.

If high inquisitors from the Union sects came, he would suffer pain worse than death. Would that pain ever end? If things went badly, his soul might be preserved alongside his suffering and sentenced to eternal punishment.

So Agwi built an altar in his heart and offered himself up.

Geas.

A miracle could make even the impossible possible if the price was sufficient. Even if he ended up living a life worse than death, it would still be better than dying now. Better than being taken away by high inquisitors.

“Argh!”

The priests pouring divine power into the foundation screamed and twisted. An overwhelming, irresistible force shattered their miracles and made bloody tears stream from their eyes.

Then a light rising from the earth embraced them. It was the divine power of the God of Earth they served.

But what they offered was different.

No number of ordinary priests could overturn that difference in tier.

A long finger descended from the Rift still hanging in the sky. At the same time, black mist swept in, as though the very word foreboding had taken form.

“The Evil God!”

Elleia shouted. Without the slightest hesitation, she kicked off the ground and flew toward the finger. Sword aura filled with Intent moved to slay a god.

It was blocked.

The greatsword stopped dead before it could reach the finger. In that time, the descending finger seized Agwi's head.

“Gaaaaaah!”

It had only touched him, yet Agwi let out the most desperate scream he had made so far.

Crack, crackle...!

Agwi had wished to escape this place alive, but the Evil God did not grant a kind miracle in the way Agwi wanted.

Crack!

Agwi's body, trapped in the foundation, was torn apart horrifically. His lower body, buried in the earth, along with his right hand and abdomen, were ripped away.

Only his head, shoulders, and chest, which had barely remained aboveground, were caught by the finger and shot up into the sky.

Everyone forgot how to speak at the horrific sight. The miracle had salvaged only Agwi's ‘body.’ His black robe and everything else he wore fell below with blood, flesh, and organs.

“Gaaaaah! Aaaah!”

Though more than half his body had been severed, Agwi did not die. He shrieked in a cracked voice as he rose higher with the finger.

Before long, the finger gripping Agwi vanished into the Rift.

“...”

An Evil God's Saint they had nearly captured had escaped, but no one could say anything. They had instinctively understood that stopping what had just occurred was impossible, and Agwi's end had been too horrific.

“It was Geas.”

Orca muttered as she stared blankly at the sky.

“Geas? Can it do something like that?”

Yuri asked, unable to understand.

“Geas... is a miracle requested by offering a price. It is usually used to gain special powers through restrictions and oaths, but a Saint closely connected to a god can offer more and cause a real miracle.”

The priest from the Sect of Earth, who had collapsed and was coughing up blood, answered Yuri's question.

“To escape from here alive, Agwi must have offered up a great deal. The fact that he could not wish for a miracle that killed all of us means he could not pay that price. Or perhaps there are limits to the miracles Geas can invoke.”

Orca shook her head as she spoke. Her head was beginning to throb, and her body felt stiff. Orca would return soon enough, so it did not matter much to her, but Lacey would likely have to spend several days bedridden as the price.

“We will not be able to capture and interrogate him, but we did gain something. Even if he barely made it back alive, Agwi will not be able to use power worthy of a Saint anymore.”

“We should've killed him.”

Yuri muttered with a frown.

Orca snickered and walked toward the foundation.

“We did not kill him, but he left plenty behind while fleeing with only his body. If we collect and examine these, we might be able to uncover information about the cultists.”

What was lost was lost. What could they have done when the Evil God's finger had personally retrieved Agwi?

Orca did not dwell on what had happened and approached the foundation, which still retained its shape.

“...You're Orca Dersia, right?”

Guzel, who had been frowning deeply, looked down at Orca. Orca looked up at Guzel standing atop the golem and smirked.

“Guzel Havert. I never expected we'd meet again like this.”

“Hmm... You've created another strange spell. Did you possess someone?”

“I sent a part of my soul through the Terminal. My true body is still at the Dersia Mage Tower.”

“It's convenient, but dangerous magic. When someone possesses another person's body, they erase the original soul. Your magic does not carry that risk?”

“No. I'm only transmitting part of my soul. Though if I play around too much, the vessel could break, or the souls could become mixed.”

“That's far too dangerous.”

“It'll be fine if I'm careful.”

“I suppose... You are not the type to do something as foolish as suicide.”

“We can catch up later, when I'm in my true body. Before I return, I should at least see this through.”

Orca turned her gaze toward the foundation.

Guzel gave a small nod and collapsed it. The robe and Agwi's lower body that had been trapped inside fell to the ground. The raw, brutally torn cross-section of the body was horrific to look at, but Orca did not seem bothered.

“...”

When Orca lifted the robe covering the lower body, bewilderment appeared on her face.

“...Why was he only wearing underwear beneath his robe?”

Aside from Agwi's remains, all he had left behind was a black robe, a gold bracelet and gold necklace, and a Torn-Mouth Mask.

And one large pair of underwear.

“Was this bastard really wearing only underwear beneath that robe?”

Orca's bewilderment passed, leaving only disgust. It was intensely unpleasant to realize they had fought a lunatic wearing nothing but underwear beneath his robe.

“What kind of fucking lunatic was he?”

Guzel muttered, looking utterly dumbfounded.

“...”

Yuri said nothing.

Footnotes:

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