WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Chapter 13: Mustering Courage. I Overdid It a Little

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The world had turned red.

Only gifted people with at least a little spiritual ability could perceive it.

To ordinary people without spiritual sensitivity, the world probably still looked blue.

"This is insane... They're doing this in the middle of Seoul? Are those wizard bastards out of their minds?!"

"They're crazy to begin with!"

Kang Gihan and Joo Seoyul were the strongest spiritual practitioners present.

That was why they understood the severity of the situation better than anyone.

"Everyone with protective talismans, take them out! If we're not careful, we'll get caught up in this!"

Joo Seoyul pulled talismans from their clothes.

They had brought several bundles of Soul-Banishing Talismans after hearing that wizards who dealt with evil spirits had appeared.

"Stillness is the gate, prohibition is the blade. You may not enter, nor remain. Souls, do not cross this line."

A barrier that forbade the passage of souls formed around them.

"Everyone, gather around me!"

The Mystic Association practitioners quickly gathered around Joo Seoyul.

The barrier formed by the Soul-Banishing Talismans held back the surging spirits.

Boom! Boom boom!

"This is insane... How many are there?"

"...There's no point counting."

Joo Seoyul went pale as they sensed the hazy figures crashing into the barrier.

There were a lot.

Far too many.

Every spirit in the area was being sucked in.

The spirits colliding with the barrier had simply been unlucky enough to cross paths with the practitioners while being dragged along.

They were only a tiny fraction of the total, yet they were already cracking the barrier as they were pulled in.

"Uh... Isn't this dangerous?"

"Dangerous? Extremely!"

Joo Seoyul drew the sword at their waist.

It was the Seven Stars Sword, engraved with the constellation of the Big Dipper.

A warding sword that drew upon the energy of the heavens to suppress the ghostly energy around it. Ordinary wandering ghosts and disasters could not challenge its spiritual authority.

But it was being breached.

It cracked and shattered.

Joo Seoyul shouted urgently.

"Am I the only one working here?!"

"Om mani padme hum. Om mani padme hum... Om ara patsa na dhi. Om abhira hum kam svaha..."

A bald team member began chanting Buddhist mantras.

The practitioner was said to come from a fairly respected temple, and as the chanting continued, the barrier began to strengthen.

Still, how could human strength hold back a typhoon?

The force of the impacts was greater and more numerous than the spiritual power reinforcing the barrier.

"At this rate, we're all going to die..."

"It'd be the shittiest way to go, getting hit by ghosts being dragged along..."

Despair spread through the team.

Most of them were Grade 4 practitioners or lower, with weak spiritual resistance.

The team leaders might be able to break through with protective talismans and sorcery, but there was no guarantee they could defeat the demon contractor.

In that hopeless situation, Joo Seoyul saw it.

A clear radiance beneath the crimson sky.

It was a dome-shaped glow.

A barrier of light, shining around a utility pole like a shield.

Then Team Leader Kang shouted.

"T-There! Run over there!"

"How do you know what that is?!"

"I don't! But the familiars ran that way! My familiars in there are alive!"

Team Leader Kang looked at the animal spirits contracted to them.

They were trembling as they gathered around the glow surrounding the utility pole.

One thing was certain. The spirits were unharmed, untouched by the Ghost Vein's rampage.

"Let's gooooo!"

The practitioners who rushed toward the light were exposed to the storm.

Dizzying ghostly energy scraped against their skin.

If they stayed in something like this for long, they would turn into monsters.

"Arghhhh!"

The team members all crowded around the utility pole.

The ghostly energy clawing at their skin vanished in an instant.

"Ah, it's a safe zone! This is a safe zone!"

"We lived! We made it!"

While the team members cheered, the team leaders questioned this miraculous space.

"A barrier? Who would put up a barrier in a place like this..."

"What's that smell? Cinnamon?"

Team Leader Kang had felt a similar energy before.

"Holy water?"

"What? Holy water can do something like this?"

"There's more than just holy water. It looks like a barrier medium combined with holy water that repels evil, creating some kind of synergy..."

Holy water at a time like this.

Team Leader Kang recalled the gelatinous corpse they had found at Tancheon Stream.

There was a powerful exorcist nearby, someone strong enough to melt a wizard with holy water.

What if he had set up these barriers beforehand?

"Team Leader Kang... Look over there."

Joo Seoyul pointed into the distance.

Under the red sky, lights shone from utility poles throughout the alleys.

Shelters for the spirits on this land.

* * *

Good lord.

I opened the window because of the horrible stench, and outside was total chaos.

For starters, the whole world was red.

I'd heard about some natural phenomenon in Australia that turned the world red. Was this that?

No, but did Korea and Australia even have the same environment?

Still, it seemed I was the only one who could see this.

People walked around the streets perfectly fine, as if they hadn't noticed anything strange.

"Is it going to rain?"

"What's with this wind..."

People were calm.

Other than the weather seeming a little gloomy, they couldn't feel anything.

Meanwhile.

【Grrrrraaaaah!】

【I'm being dragged awayyy!】

Ghosts were being pulled away from every direction.

They were swept up in an unknown storm, flying through the air without resistance.

As if they were being absorbed.

"What the hell is happening?"

Should I avoid going outside for a while?

The smell was awful too. Maybe I should just stay home and wait it out.

"Ah!"

If ghosts were being dragged away, then surely...

I hurriedly called Wolryeong Bodhisattva.

[Bodhisattva.]

"You noticed it too, right?"

[...Yes. This is no ordinary ritual. No, it is closer to a rampage. Something has clearly gone wrong. What do you see, Yohan?]

I described the scene unfolding before me to Wolryeong Bodhisattva.

[Ghosts are being dragged away... It may be that a powerful ritual drawing in only spiritual entities has begun.]

"Then what about the Hans?!"

[...I'll check. I heard that an Association practitioner has arrived.]

Wolryeong Bodhisattva ended the call, saying she would check. I immediately gathered my equipment.

I only had two bottles each of holy water and holy oil left.

I had planned to restock today, but this situation had suddenly exploded.

Instead, I grabbed the Spirit Blade.

The faint glow that had shone from the Spirit Blade last night was gone.

Last time, the enchantment had lasted about five minutes, and when I recited the prayer again, I successfully enchanted it again.

Each time had required one bottle of holy water and holy oil.

Did that mean I could only enchant it twice now?

Whatever. First, I had to see what was going on.

I took the Spirit Blade and the insulated bag, then headed outside.

【Hyaaaah!】

【Save meee!!】

It was even worse outside.

People were calm, but spiritual entities screamed as they were dragged in one direction.

And Han Gyeoul was in that direction.

"Whew, Gari, let's go!"

Clack! Clack!

I hurried toward the utility pole where Gyeoul was.

Along the way, I saw places where shining radiance had formed like protective shields. Looking closer, they were the places where I'd sprinkled holy water and holy oil.

"Wow... That's what this turned into?"

Ghosts huddled together inside the barriers, trembling.

They were pressed against the glowing film and protected by it.

What I'd sprayed around the neighborhood with enough force to make the whole place reek of cinnamon had become a refuge for them.

That was a relief.

Then the utility pole where Gyeoul was should be safe too, right?

I soon reached Gyeoul's utility pole, and my heart dropped.

"Gyeoul?"

They weren't there.

Several ghosts were inside the barrier, but I couldn't see Gyeoul among them.

"Hey! Have you seen a little Earthbound Spirit here?"

【Y-You can see us?】

"Answer me."

Creeeak!

Gari opened its mouth, and the ghosts jumped apart in terror.

Han Gyeoul crawled out from between them.

【H-Hyung...】

"You were in there?"

There were so many ghosts gathered together that I hadn't seen them.

Gyeoul was a small Earthbound Spirit, so they had probably been buried among the larger adult ghosts.

"You people are old enough to know better. Move aside a little. You're going to crush the kid."

【We're ghosts, so we don't really...】

"Gari."

Creeeak!

When Gari opened its mouth, the ghosts moved out of the way on their own.

Once Han Gyeoul finally had enough room to breathe, I said, "Gyeoul, I found your parents."

【Really?!】

Han Gyeoul's face lit up at once.

Then my smartphone rang. It was Wolryeong Bodhisattva.

"Yes, Bodhisattva! What happened?"

【I received word from an Association practitioner at Hallym Hospital. The barrier... has been torn apart.】

Before Wolryeong Bodhisattva left the hospital, she had erected a barrier to keep out the practitioners who had planted the Sevenfold Correction Curse.

But if that barrier had been torn apart...

"This is because of what's happening right now, isn't it?"

【Yes. It seems the Hans were dragged away by this rampage.】

Damn it.

I'd gone through all that trouble to purify them, and this had to happen at the very end.

Han Gyeoul's parents were at the center of this storm.

【Hyung... What about Mom and Dad?】

My eyes met Han Gyeoul's as they looked up at me.

I'd started this out of goodwill. Nobody would blame me if I stopped here.

I could be honest with myself too.

I'd done enough.

Nobody would condemn me.

"Wait here."

But I couldn't accept that.

"I'll bring your parents back."

* * *

The center of the storm was obvious.

All I had to do was follow the direction the ghosts were being swept away.

That led me to a park in the middle of a villa neighborhood.

It had been built around old graves. It was normally full of people out for walks, but now it was bleak, without a single pedestrian.

No, to be precise, there was one group of people gathered there.

"What the hell are those?"

They wore black robes with hoods pulled over their heads.

They were muttering around something.

An altar?

But if it was for ancestral worship, there wasn't even a pig's head.

Apparently, the sacrifice wasn't meat or food.

Ghosts packed the area around the altar. They seemed trapped behind some kind of barrier, pounding uselessly at the empty air.

Looking more closely, I saw stakes driven into the ground among the gathered ghosts. They appeared to be keeping the ghosts trapped.

Were they planning to offer those ghosts as sacrifices?

Then I had to hurry.

I didn't know what they were doing, but I needed to save the ghosts...

"Whew..."

I was scared.

Anyone plotting something this evil couldn't be normal.

That guy I'd seen at Tancheon Stream, the one chanting spells.

I had to assume there were plenty of people like him.

There were several of them. Was I really going to charge in there?

I could actually die.

【Do not be afraid.】

"...!"

I flinched and turned my head. Gari stood there.

Gari didn't say anything else. Its teeth didn't even clack.

Had I imagined it?

Still, I could feel its silent resolve.

"Whew..."

I sprayed holy water and holy oil from the insulated bag.

I needed a prayer to overcome this fear.

* * *

"Whew... M-Master! It worked! We did it!"

The number of ghosts drawn in by the rampaging Ghost Vein was beyond imagination.

There were old tombs and a hospital nearby, so the conditions were favorable, but nobody had expected this many.

"At this rate... We can make up for the lack of high-quality evil spirits with sheer numbers!"

"That is not all! We have confirmed that the Association practitioners have entered. They too will be caught in the Ghost Vein's rampage and become Lord Decarabia's meal!"

Kim Mun-ryong, Decarabia's contractor, clicked his tongue as he watched the ghosts pour in.

"There are a little too many. It will exceed the Soul-Binding Pillars' capacity."

"Hurry and offer the sacrifices. If even an incarnation of that one appears, there will be no issue with the feast."

Yes, it was time to achieve the goal of this ritual.

"Those Association bastards will pay for daring to interfere."

They had to.

They had ruined the ritual he had prepared for more than half a year at the very end. They would pay dearly.

"Kang-du! Begin the ritual chant..."

Kim Mun-ryong turned toward his chief disciple, then realized his disciple had vanished.

They had been talking just a moment ago. Where had he gone?

Then he realized the disciples were all looking upward, so he raised his head as well.

Twitch!

Oh Kang-du floated in the air.

No, he was hanging there.

From the neck up, he was gone, as though something had swallowed him.

He struggled desperately, but he couldn't escape it.

Then.

Crack!

With the sound of flesh and bone being severed, Oh Kang-du's headless body fell to the ground.

Splat!

"Eek!"

"Senior Brother!"

"You idiots! Get a grip!"

Clang!

Another sound rang out.

It sounded like metal being cut apart.

When Kim Mun-ryong turned, the captured ghosts were fleeing in every direction.

"Who destroyed the Soul-Binding Pillars?!"

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed."

Jingle!

The clear sound of a silver bell rang out.

A low voice echoed from where the Soul-Binding Pillars had been shattered.

"When you go to fight your enemies, even if their horses, iron chariots, and people outnumber you, I won't be afraid. For the Lord God Jehovah is with me."

It was a man.

He wore a hat pulled low and a mask, but his presence was far from ordinary.

The sword in his hand slowly rose.

Under the red sky, the wet blade crossed as though forming a symbol.

"The Lord God Jehovah goes with us, strikes down our enemies for us, and saves us. Go forth boldly and shatter your enemy's iron chariots!"

Radiance spread across the blade.

That light became a shining cross in this blood-red world.

"This feels HIGH as hell! You heretics!! AEEEEEEEE-MEN!"

Clack-clack-clack-clack!

The stuff was hitting way too hard.

Footnotes:

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