WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
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◈ I Became the Mad Demon in a Novel ◈
Chapter 21: Ten Thousand Demons Hall
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Their eyes went wild again.
Looking at those eyes gleaming with thick bloodlust, I thought they resembled starving wolves.
Yet I was grinning right back at them.
My heart wouldn’t stop pounding.
Blood rushed to my head.
The rising tension made my body tremble with excitement instead of fear.
What was this? Was I crazy too?
I should’ve been scared out of my mind and running away. Instead, I was laughing along with these bastards, just as soaked in dopamine as they were.
“Who should we wreck first?”
“Gwak Gu. Let’s kill that bastard first. That fucker’s got to die by our hands anyway.”
“Hah! Sounds good!”
Wait. Gwak Gu, as in the Ghost Demon Sword (幽靈魔劒) from Mingled Demon Hall?
Anger flared, and I glared at them.
“Tsk. You little shits.”
Even a strictly defensive fight might not keep us alive, yet these bastards were thinking of nothing but an all-out attack.
Whew. At times like this, I needed to knock some discipline into them...
“Think about efficiency! Efficiency! How many more blades do you need in your guts before you stop acting like little kids? You think that black-hearted viper will sit still if we kill Gwak Gu?”
“Heh! Of course! We were shortsighted!”
“Exactly. We should go straight for the head.”
Hold on.
The viper of Mingled Demon Hall was Baek Ja-gang...
Huh? The Master of Mingled Demon Hall?
‘No, why am I doing this?’
Was this some kind of split personality, where my mouth and mind worked separately?
Inside my head, I was clearly considering efficiency like a modern person.
But what actually came out of my mouth was the language of the insane Mad Demon.
The others began muttering again.
“They won’t climb up Thunderclap Wall, will they?”
“They’d have to be crazy to choose that route.”
“Even we’d struggle there, big brother.”
Honestly, that had bothered me even as I gave them their orders.
It was the only place where someone could enter the Demonic Cult’s Outer Palace from outside.
Precisely because it connected to the outside, the cliff was littered with vicious traps.
The constantly shifting air currents also made it difficult to climb without equipment in the first place.
But what if some lunatics actually climbed over it?
Wouldn’t that be like getting ambushed by a stealth champion with their ultimate ready while I was focused on mid lane?
Places in web novels or games that were supposedly impossible to infiltrate.
Those places nobody worried about always ended up being used for some clever strategy eventually.
There were Gallers in the Demonic Cult too.
The ominous feeling made it harder and harder to relax.
“...It still bothers me. Should I guard it alone, at least?”
“Shut up. We don’t have the numbers to split up. Que Biao is watching everything from up there anyway. Trust your leader.”
“As you command!”
Ah. The no-brakes Mad Demon had kicked in again.
At this point, even I didn’t know what my tongue was saying.
“Whew.”
Before I knew it, the red sunset had faded and dusk had settled.
The terrifying Bloodstrife Night had finally arrived.
Thump.
We would lie patiently in ambush and wait for our chance.
There was no need to make the first move and show the enemy our hand.
But then...
Shiiing.
An eerie sound rang out as blade scraped against sheath.
The sleeping sword stretched awake, breathing out cold air.
Hissss.
Pure white frost spread in every direction, slowly swallowing the moonlight.
Dense demonic energy stretched out like a spiderweb and consumed the ground.
It was the Mad Demon’s blatant declaration of territory.
The others shuddered and hurriedly bowed their heads.
My heart thrashed as though it might burst.
Yet the fingertips gripping Silent Aeon Demon Soul were frighteningly still.
I twisted my lips into a sinister smile as I gazed at the Demonic Cult, drained of color, its boundary between darkness and light erased.
Before I knew it, thin blood-red lines were tangling across my vision like a spiderweb.
“Force-Detonating Cannon (爆剛砲).”
The Ten Armies of the Mad Demon immediately approached and grabbed me all over.
Huh? What were these bastards doing now?
“Aim for Mingled Demon Hall.”
At that moment, an enormous amount of demonic energy poured from their bodies.
So much that the surrounding air warped unnaturally.
Force-Detonating Cannon? I didn’t know what that was either.
No martial art like that existed anywhere in my obsessive reader’s database.
But my body...
This shell of the Mad Demon had already curled into a ball.
Glancing sideways, I saw Lang Bai and Tie Zhen supporting me on either side.
The others had turned themselves into a base beneath my body.
‘Huh? Don’t tell me...’
Whoooooosh!
The moment I felt the sudden blast of wind, I was already in the sky.
The Demonic Cult’s buildings lay pitch-black beneath my feet.
Th-these little shits!
Had they really just hurled me with all their strength?
As I froze there, my brain completely stalled, I began to fall.
Whip! Whirrr!
Mingled Demon Hall grew larger and larger.
Through my upside-down view from midair, everything began to look completely different.
The rippling red lines shook all at once and contracted at an impossible speed.
Points (點).
There were no lines anymore.
Across Mingled Demon Hall’s enormous roof.
On the necks and hearts of the martial artists standing guard, and even between the brows of the masters radiating killing intent inside the building.
Hundreds of red points sank into my vision like locked-on targets.
At once, the tip of Silent Aeon Demon Soul trembled, leaving afterimages as it released pure white frost.
Whoooooosh!
The moonlight vanished for an instant.
Silent Aeon Demon Soul’s tip plunged straight down.
Hundreds of white rays poured out like a waterfall.
Their paths adjusted themselves.
Moving too fast for the eye to follow, the white rays began chasing the red points.
Hundreds of trajectories scattered in every direction as though drawn by magnets.
At that moment...
“Aaaaaaargh!”
“Gah!”
Wherever the white rays passed, the red points blinked out one by one.
The cultists guarding the roof froze like statues, unaware that holes had opened in their chests.
The frost of extreme yin released by Silent Aeon Demon Soul had traveled through their blood vessels and frozen their hearts solid.
‘...Wind-Snow Demon Calamity River (風雪魔劫河)?’
There was no mistake.
This was the first form of the Six Mad Demon Forms (狂魔六式), Yuk Jin-gwang’s supreme sword art.
Shit. We should’ve been hiding, and instead I’d gone out first to draw aggro?
‘I draw their attention, and you cut off their rear.’
So this was what drawing their attention meant!
Kraaaaash!
Before the cloud of dust could settle, I defied my own momentum and flung myself into the darkness.
Swishhhh.
Like a shadow devouring another shadow, the Mad Demon slipped into a damp, dark corner of Mingled Demon Hall.
Cold air filled my lungs.
The pulse coming through Silent Aeon Demon Soul traveled up my wrist and burrowed into my brain.
“Hah, hah...”
White mist formed around my mouth.
Pleasure so vivid it was almost painful spread through my nervous system and into every part of my body.
“Where is he?”
“Above us! Look up!”
Apparently, I’d drawn their aggro properly. An enormous number of demonic martial artists were already pouring toward Mingled Demon Hall.
While they looked up at the sky in confusion, I was already in their blind spot, adjusting my grip on Silent Aeon Demon Soul.
Another cluster of red points formed across my vision.
With a light flick of the sword, the surrounding air began to contract rapidly again.
‘One more time.’
Whoooooosh!
Dozens of white rays shot out of the darkness and crossed the air once more.
The second Wind-Snow Demon Calamity River (風雪魔劫河).
“Guh!”
“Argh! My leg!”
There was no need to slash or stab.
Wherever the paths of light connected one point to another, lives vanished.
Demonic martial artists turned into ice and shattered without even managing a scream.
Only then did I understand the terrifying truth of this situation.
‘You idiots.’
The Blood Lord, the Fierce Lord, and even the heads of the Five Great Demonic Clans.
They had planned this Bloodstrife Night (血爭魔夜).
A night of slaughter meant to remove the shackles of the law and butcher the Mad Demon.
But that had been their fatal mistake.
Invincible Alone (一人無敵), the Mad Demon (狂魔).
One person whose strength could be compared to that of an enormous martial sect.
An unprecedented master born of the Demonic Cult. A terrifying monster whom even the Heavenly Demon could not handle and had left alone.
The Great Code of the Divine Cult (神敎大律) had actually been the last shield protecting the Demonic Cult from this insane monster.
And they had unfastened the leash around the mad dog’s neck themselves.
Just then, three demonic martial artists appeared, radiating terrifying auras.
“It’s the Mad Demon! Everyone, light the place up!”
As I slipped away and sank into the darkness...
“Aaaaaaargh! Help!”
“I-it’s the Ten Armies!”
Screams began ringing out far away beneath the moonlight.
Having confirmed that the main forces had gathered at Mingled Demon Hall, my people had begun attacking their rear.
Goose bumps rose on my skin.
Tonight was unmistakably the Mad Demon’s festival.
But then...
Whirrr!
A familiar presence rushed toward me in an instant.
I gently released the Demon Calamity Snow Domain I had spread around me.
Que Biao dropped to their knees like lightning before me as I leaned in the darkness beneath the hall.
Why were they here? I hadn’t even told them to come down from the spire yet.
“Ten Thousand Demons Hall is in danger!”
“Ten Thousand Demons Hall? The Divine Maiden?”
The words Que Biao spoke into my ear were impossible to believe.
“All the Demonic Young Masters’ forces have gone there!”
What?
What kind of bullshit development was this?
* * *
Ten Thousand Demons Hall (萬魔殿).
Instead of the ever-present scent of agarwood, only the sickening, metallic stink of blood filled the sanctuary.
Inside the altar chamber, the Divine Maiden leaned against the cold wall, gasping for breath.
Her face was already deathly pale.
She still hadn’t recovered from the divine power she had spent approaching the Heavenly Demon’s Spirit Realm of Thought a few days earlier.
‘Fuck...’
Outwardly, she still radiated the sensual allure of a sacred goddess, but the soul within was spitting vicious curses.
Three years.
That was how long she had survived in this horrific den of demons, playing the role of a pure Divine Maiden.
“Aaaaaaagh!”
“P-protect the Divine Maiden...! Agh!”
The screams of the Divine Guard (神衛隊) girls rang out beyond the door.
It meant the last of her remaining forces had been wiped out.
Creeeeak.
The heavy doors opened, and three long shadows stretched into the altar chamber.
The Fierce Lord (凶君), the Blood Lord (血君), and the Evil Lord (惡君).
The most dangerous figures of power in the Demonic Cult had all attacked Ten Thousand Demons Hall first.
“How dare you! Defiling the Divine Cult’s sanctuary! How could you do such a thing?”
The furious voice of the former Divine Maiden, Granny Divine Feather (神羽婆婆), struck the three Demonic Young Masters.
The Divine Maiden slowly stepped forward and motioned Granny Divine Feather back.
She would be their target anyway.
“Why?”
The Blood Lord gave a cruel smile while slowly wiping the blood dripping from their blade onto their sleeve.
“Because that altar gets in the way of everything.”
The Divine Maiden’s voice quickly rose in fury.
“Do you believe someone who destroys the Sacred Fire Altar can ascend to the Divine Demon’s seat?”
“That’s why we all came together.”
“What does that...”
“Because we can’t all be punished together.”
The Fierce Lord took a step forward.
The overwhelming demonic energy he released pressed down on the furnishings in the altar chamber, making them creak.
“The Divine Cult’s Great Code does not exist here tonight, Divine Maiden.”
The Fierce Lord turned his indifferent face toward Granny Divine Feather, the last person still protecting the Divine Maiden.
“That pretty mouth of yours stands above all our grand plans. You’re far more dangerous than the Mad Demon running wild.”
The Fierce Lord began strolling around at ease.
“You recognized the Mad Demon as the mouthpiece of the Divine Demon. That declaration put a noose around your own neck.”
The Demonic Cult had been founded on martial strength, but fanatical faith sustained it.
The worship and praise tens of thousands of cultists had poured upon her.
Only then did the Divine Maiden understand.
To them, that had been the greatest threat of all, something that could shake their seats of power to the roots.
No matter how powerful the three Demonic Young Masters were, their power would always be unstable while she lived, holding the cultists’ hearts.
And in the middle of all that, she had officially recognized the Mad Demon, Yuk Jin-gwang, as the Heavenly Demon’s representative.
That must have been the moment those terrifying Demonic Young Masters made their decision.
Their decision to bring about Bloodstrife Night.
Swishhhh.
As the Fierce Lord approached, his overwhelming demonic energy left her unable to move.
The Divine Maiden had already given up everything and was smiling sorrowfully.
“Return to the embrace of the Sacred Fire, Divine Maiden.”
But then...
Whoooooosh!
Above Ten Thousand Demons Hall.
A pure white blizzard and freezing winds glittered in the bright moonlight.
The Blood Lord’s face instantly twisted into something demonic.
The Fierce Lord was shaken too.
Once that dreadful bastard had begun spilling blood, there should have been no reason for him to come to Ten Thousand Demons Hall.
“Well, well. You bastards. So this was what you were after?”
The madman, the Mad Demon, grinned beneath the moonlight, baring his white teeth.
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