WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Chapter 14: Demon Decarabia

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Mage Kim Mun-ryong found it hard to guess the man's identity.

He was taking on this many people alone.

At first, Kim thought he might be an Association practitioner, but those Association bastards never traveled alone.

The Abnormal Ability Response Special Task Division was, as its name suggested, an organization. Moving as a group was standard for them. It was also why they were so slow and clumsy.

"An exorcist."

He had recited prayers, so that had to be it.

But why was he carrying a Spirit Blade?

It was not a serious problem, of course.

A tool was just a tool. Modern exorcists used whatever they could get their hands on.

The Vatican's greatest personal weapon was supposedly a 12-gauge shotgun blessed through a sacrament.

"What kind of magic..."

At that moment, the man... Baek Yohan rushed at them.

"As one who received the pentagram's contract through a mediator... Ack!"

One of the disciples reflexively began chanting a spell, but stammered, bit their tongue, and choked.

"That idiot...?!"

Yohan raised the Spirit Blade.

The softly glowing Spirit Blade was not meant for cutting.

What could he possibly do with a blunt ceremonial blade like that?

Slash!

The disciple had been cut.

The disciple collapsed, blood pouring from the wound.

Wait, collapsed?

"Gurk! Grrrgh!"

Their body melted around the slash.

It was not quite as bad as the fourth disciple, whose entire body had melted into gelatin, but it was still an equally horrific death.

"You bastard! You're the one who killed the fourth!"

The one who had hunted down the evil spirits Kim had painstakingly raised, even destroying the Possession Stake of the Sevenfold Correction Curse.

The culprit who had ruined his plans!

"Kill him! You have to kill him!"

"Ha ha ha ha ha!"

"O one who spreads black wings, answer the contract. Beneath the seal of the stars, gather and take form according to my will!"

"As one who received the pentagram's contract through a mediator, I command you! O sacred sigil, become a falling star that crashes down upon the enemy!"

As the disciples chanted, crows and small chunks of hail rained down on Yohan.

Countless trails of magic poured toward him, yet Yohan charged straight through them without a moment's hesitation.

"No...!"

"Th-the spells!"

The moment the magic touched the Spirit Blade Yohan swung, its power scattered.

'Does it break magic? Was it the power of that Spirit Blade that dismantled the Soul-Binding Pillars too?!'

It was the ability of the Spirit Blade blessed with holy oil.

Its power to ward off evil and repel intrusions had been enchanted into the blade, giving it an anti-magic function.

If a Spirit Blade enchanted with holy water was an acid sword that melted whatever it touched, then a Spirit Blade enchanted with holy oil was an anti-magic sword.

Together, they truly were a pair of blades made for both offense and defense.

And that was not all.

"Argh!"

"W-What is that?!"

Something snatched them.

A disciple chanting a spell started vanishing from the side, then crashed to the ground and was savaged beyond recognition.

It looked like a bear pouncing on prey, biting and shaking it without mercy before tearing it apart with its claws.

A gruesome massacre was unfolding at the hands of something invisible.

"A familiar? An exorcist commands a familiar too?!"

As they stood there in shock, another disciple became a lump of gelatin.

They were either devoured or melted horribly.

Faced with those two choices, the disciples began to panic.

"N-No! I can't die such a pointless death...!"

"You fools! You can't even stop that?!"

Kim Mun-ryong was furious at his disciples' incompetence, but even he could not understand what was happening.

Something invisible kept devouring his disciples, smashing the Soul-Binding Pillars, and freeing the ghosts.

At this rate, he would not even be able to summon an incarnation of the demon!

"The bearer of the pentagram's contract invokes the authority of scattered starlight! Hide what can be seen and blur the truth!"

As Kim Mun-ryong chanted, black mist spread across the area.

"......!"

"Whew...!"

It was the Illusion Spell he had gained through his contract with Decarabia.

It spread black mist throughout the area and showed illusions in every direction.

The problem was that it showed illusions without distinguishing friend from foe, but that was fine.

'I can see. As long as I don't make a sound, he can't find me.'

Kim Mun-ryong bought time while the man was confused.

Still, just because Kim could see did not mean his disciples could...

"Aaaaagh! D-Don't come any closer!"

One disciple saw an illusion, screamed in terror, and was devoured by the invisible monster.

'You idiot! Why did you make a sound?! What the hell did you listen to during training?!'

The fool had never been much of a learner, but Kim had accepted them because they had paid a hefty fee.

Who would have thought they would die that stupidly?

Kim felt like nominating them for a Darwin Award, but fortunately, the other disciples recognized the Illusion Spell and held their breath.

"Where are you, you heretics?!"

Yohan grew irritated and swung the Spirit Blade wildly.

Naturally, he could not find the disciples who had gone quiet the instant the Illusion Spell was cast.

While the bastard wasted his strength, Kim would feed the offerings to the altar for the demon.

"Sniff! Sniff sniff!"

Then Yohan's movements changed.

He lowered the Spirit Blade he had been swinging around as though he meant to cut down everything nearby and began sniffing the air.

'Idiot. As if you could find us like th...'

Stab!

"Ghk?!"

"......?!"

Kim Mun-ryong's eyes widened, as did those of the other disciples holding their breath.

Someone had been hit?

Who? How?

The sixth disciple, stabbed cleanly through the stomach, stared wide-eyed and spoke in a trembling voice.

"H-How...?"

"You heretics stink so badly. Did you really think I wouldn't be able to find you?"

"......!"

Thud!

The sixth disciple fell.

Yohan calmly closed his eyes and kept sniffing.

Step. Step.

His footsteps did not hesitate.

Within an illusion where everything he saw was deception, Yohan had closed his eyes and accurately found his enemies.

"Uh, ah! D-Don't come closer!"

The second disciple realized the footsteps were approaching and staggered backward in terror.

Snap!

The instant they made a sound, the invisible monster pounced.

"Aaaagh! It hurts! It hurts! D-Don't bite me! Don't bite me! It hurts, it hurts, it hurrrrts!"

Crunch!

Thud!

Kim Mun-ryong could only watch as his second disciple was cut in half in midair and dropped to the ground.

The disciples' panic was worse than Kim's, even though he could see.

Within the calm illusion, they could vividly hear their fellow disciples' screams, right up until the sounds stopped.

"A-Aaaaaah! Run awaaaay..."

Crunch!

"Aaagh!"

"Ha ha ha ha! Hallelujah!!"

Stab!

The disciples died one after another.

Yohan really was locating the heretics by smell alone.

Each time one died at Yohan's hands, the terrified disciples cried out.

This darkness and these illusions had only created an environment where Yohan and Gari could run wild without opposition.

"Ghk!"

In the end, Kim Mun-ryong withdrew the Illusion Spell.

By the time he realized it was completely useless, more than half of them were already dead.

"Everyone! Summon your familiars and fight back! Buy us time!"

"Master, don't tell me..."

"Oh, what is that?!"

The disciples reacted when they saw what Kim Mun-ryong was holding.

The inverted pentagram necklace in his hand was the symbol of his contract with Decarabia, the sixty-ninth demon.

At the same time, it was the medium through which Kim could cast his greatest magic.

"O one who spreads black wings, answer the contract. Beneath the seal of the stars, gather and take form according to my will!"

"O one who spreads black wings, answer the contract. Beneath the seal of the stars, gather and take form according to my will!"

"O one who spreads black wings, answer the contract. Beneath the seal of the stars, gather and take form according to my will!"

The disciples chanted the spell that summoned black bird spirits in unison.

It was only a spell for summoning the spirits of crows they had hunted and bound, but enough of them could still be dangerous.

Caw! Caw!

Caw! Caw!

Faced with a flock of crows rushing at him all at once, Yohan realized he could not dodge.

"Gari."

Creeeak!

Just as he had when Wolryeong Bodhisattva's Karma Fire Talisman had poured out flames, Yohan had Gari swallow him.

The crow spirits crashed into Gari and were injured by the force of their own attack.

"W-What? A barrier?"

"H-How is he blocking this many black bird spirits?"

To the disciples, Yohan simply appeared to be standing there quietly.

Their weak spiritual senses could not even perceive Gari's outline, so it looked as if Yohan had an invisible defensive wall around him.

Yohan calmly defended against the attack of dozens of black bird spirits, looking invincible...

'Damn, I can't move like this.'

Having Gari swallow him left him unable to move.

In that sense, the disciples had done their job buying time.

"I am one who has contracted with the sixty-ninth star. I shall open the gate of the Seventy-Two Stars. O black constellation wandering the heavens, you who command an army of black wings, descend from between the stars and answer your summoner!"

The inverted pentagram necklace glowed.

As a pitch-black radiance gathered around it, Kim Mun-ryong sensed success.

'It worked! The summoning process is underway!'

Decarabia had answered his summons.

The demon must have been furious at the bastard who had freed the offerings meant for it.

"What's that?"

"Heh heh heh! Are you regretting it already? Too late. You gave me quite a bit of trouble, but your excessive bravery has become your poison, exorcist!"

Kim Mun-ryong smiled sinisterly as he stared at the unmoving Yohan.

"I'll give you the most horrible death as payment for your courage and recklessness!"

Holding out the inverted pentagram necklace, Kim Mun-ryong shouted.

"This is a demon of the Seventy-Two Stars that no mere human can ever oppose! Lord Decarabia, the sixty-ninth!"

The darkness condensed in the inverted pentagram necklace spread in every direction.

When they opened their eyes again, a huge aberration stood before them.

It crawled out while moving five limbs that spread in different directions.

Its twisted body resembled a starfish.

Its surface gleamed like wet obsidian, and sticky mucus throbbed over it with every breath.

It was an aberration that made anyone who saw it want to turn away, its overwhelming evil enough to make them tremble.

This was a demon.

One of the demons from the brass vessel supposedly sealed by King Solomon.

A being from apocryphal and forbidden scriptures that had been denied inclusion in the Bible, texts the Catholic Church had tried to hide...

A being that would bring ruin to the world.

"That is... a demon?"

"Heh heh heh heh! Ha ha ha ha ha! It worked! It worked! Success! It's a success! What do you think, exorcist? Do you regret it now?"

Kim Mun-ryong swelled with confidence as he watched Yohan, who had fallen silent at the sight of the demon.

"Nothing to say now? Are you scared? Too scared to even move? It makes sense! I understand!"

The bastard was strong.

He had made use of incomprehensible power and was a person who had contracted with a demon, yet he possessed holy power capable of melting people.

Even Kim, a demon worshipper, had been horrified by the man's brutal and merciless attacks.

"I offered all the demonic power I have gathered until now and the price of my contract to create a miracle. It infuriates me, but I will admit it. You were an enemy worthy of facing with the demonic power of my entire life!"

"......"

Yohan turned his head.

He looked back and forth between the demon and the being that had been swallowing him to protect him.

He looked at them alternately.

He compared them.

"Uh..."

A demon shaped like a starfish, roughly the size of a bus.

And his tooth angel.

"Gari, you win."

Clack-clack!

Kim Mun-ryong did not understand what those words meant.

Then slime splattered onto him, forcing him to turn his head.

A violent shudder ran through Decarabia.

The slime was flying because Decarabia's entire body was shaking.

It shivered like an aspen tree, flinging off the mucus running over its body.

"Lord... Decarabia?"

The demon was afraid?

Before Kim Mun-ryong could even reject the blasphemous thought, Decarabia opened its mouth.

【H-How could someone of your stature be here...?】

Demon Decarabia was terrified.

Footnotes:

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