WeTried Translations
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Editor: Abstract
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Episode 48: Invincible (5)
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“Cough, cough.”
The Overlord of Blood and Slaughter's last vessel lay on the ground, his lower body gone and a large hole torn through the center of his chest. Staring up at the sky, he coughed up blood.
-Twitch, twitch!
The blood vessels in his ruined body convulsed, then black blood burst forth.
-Pshhk!
He had pushed himself too far, manipulating his muscles, speeding up his blood flow, and even using the Aberrant Blood Demonic Art to reverse his ki circulation. His regeneration could no longer keep up with his body's collapse.
His death was all but certain.
‘Was this what awaited me at the end of all that waiting?’
For the first time in his life, the Overlord of Blood and Slaughter felt hollow.
He had waited for the vessels of Extreme and One to ripen, then reclaimed them. He adapted to those vessels and made them his own. Now, he had intended to walk the tyrant's road he had failed to complete, taking blood revenge on the martial world of the force of justice and the Four Immortal Masters who had driven him into the abyss.
Yet an unforeseen variable had appeared.
‘Nothing...’
“Cough.”
Born from the womb of the Ha Family, Mumu had not been the vessel he wanted. Mumu possessed a body suited to external energy, but that was all.
That was why he had expected little.
Yet the vessel he had given up on had surpassed even the realm he had desired, wielding power like a disaster, a calamity.
‘Ha...’
What bitter irony.
The vessel he had abandoned had returned with power that far surpassed his own and crushed his ambition.
‘Was it all meaningless?’
He had pursued only strength, immortality, and the tyrant's road.
But as the end neared, he realized that all of it was meaningless.
Mumu approached him.
-Step, step!
The Overlord of Blood and Slaughter's final vessel looked at Mumu and spoke.
“Cough, cough... Are you here to end this?”
Mumu let out a faint breath.
“No. I'm here to watch the end.”
“Watch... the end?”
“Yes. I was born because of you, after all. I thought I'd at least watch your final moments.”
“Cough, cough...”
The Overlord of Blood and Slaughter lightly shook his head as though dumbfounded.
Mumu had personally destroyed everything, yet now he wanted to fulfill his duty as a son at the very end. It was laughable.
“If you're going to do it... do it properly. What you're doing now... is just pity... and self-satisfaction.”
“Maybe it is.”
“Then... kill me. That would be... better...”
“No. I'll just watch. I'm only doing what I want to do.”
“...”
The final vessel narrowed his eyes.
Mumu's words faintly reminded him of someone.
[I only followed where my heart led me.]
Hae Ha-rang.
Yes. That was what she had told him.
To him, all women had been nothing more than wombs that would complete his vessels. Yet even knowing that, she had followed him. She had even claimed to love him.
‘Foolish woman.’
That was how the Overlord of Blood and Slaughter had seen her.
But seeing Mumu stubbornly speak his mind now...
“...You resemble... that woman.”
“That woman?”
“The womb... the womb that gave birth to you... your mother.”
“You haven't changed, even at the very end.”
“...If you think... I'll regret anything... before I die... you're mistaken.”
“Yes, yes. I'm sure you won't.”
Mumu had never expected anything like regret from him anyway.
The final vessel stared at Mumu with bloodshot eyes, then spoke with difficulty.
“Let's... make a deal.”
“I told you tricks like that won't work on me.”
“...I'm... about to die. And this is... cough, cough... an offer that won't harm you... at all.”
His breathing grew rougher.
Before long, he would stop breathing entirely.
Mumu watched without a word.
“I wanted... to achieve my ambition of domination... wholly as myself... Haa, haa... But it seems... I'll have to be satisfied... with one who shares my blood... cough... achieving it for me.”
“Your ambition of domination?”
“Inherit... my name... and my ambition. Haa, haa... If you do... I'll tell you... who knows... about your mother.”
The Overlord of Blood and Slaughter made his final offer.
He had already let go of many things. No, he had no choice but to let them go. For the first time, he wished for Mumu, not as a vessel but as one who shared his blood, to inherit everything he had.
Only then would the Overlord of Blood and Slaughter and his grand undertaking remain forever, even after death.
He thought Mumu would accept this, even if Mumu hated him as a father. It was only natural for someone with power to wish to wield it.
And Mumu wanted to know about his mother more than anyone.
“No.”
“...”
The final vessel was dumbfounded by that immediate refusal.
He was offering information about Mumu's mother, and Mumu was rejecting it?
“You... don't want to know... about your mother?”
“I do.”
“Then...”
“But if I follow your ambition or whatever, many people will die or be made miserable.”
“What?”
The Overlord of Blood and Slaughter's eyes trembled with rage.
What weak nonsense was this?
Setting aside the matter of being a vessel, one who carried his blood, no, one with this much power, was saying he had no interest in pursuing an ambition of domination?
“Th-that power! With such... overwhelming power... you won't pursue... domination?”
“No. I don't care about that.”
“You!”
“I'm not interested in things I can achieve whenever I want.”
“...”
The final vessel was left speechless.
Something Mumu could achieve whenever he wanted?
It sounded absurd, but Mumu had every right to say it. He was a disaster, a calamity, no, someone worthy of being called invincible.
Mumu himself was an anomaly in this world.
If he wished, he had the strength to bring even the martial world of the Central Plains to ruin.
“Ha...”
The Overlord of Blood and Slaughter sighed as he looked up at the sky.
Had the heavens let Mumu be born as his vessel... no, his blood relative, just to show him this?
He could not accept it.
Even as death approached, he could not acknowledge it.
“...Can you truly say... you won't be consumed... by that power?”
“What's there to be consumed by? Anyone can do it if they train their muscles.”
“...”
Did Mumu not understand how absolute his own strength was?
Or was he simply playing with words?
The Overlord of Blood and Slaughter had neither the energy to get angry nor the time left to do so.
“Power... haa, haa... is desire itself. Even if... you aren't like that... your power... will eventually... awaken that desire.”
“Even if you have such great power, isn't it meaningless when you have no one around you?”
“...”
The vessel's gaze wavered at those words.
Meaningless if there was no one?
“I don't know about you, but I like being with people precious to me. I feel happy when things are lively around me.”
“...”
“Do you have anyone precious to you?”
“...”
“I think that would be sadder.”
“...”
The Overlord of Blood and Slaughter's last vessel gave no answer.
‘...Someone precious?’
He had believed that the strong were lonely and that only one person could stand at the very top. He had considered such things a luxury.
Yet this fellow, who possessed the absolute power he had wanted so badly, desired what he had dismissed as worthless.
‘...Was this what you wanted to tell me?’
The final vessel glared fiercely at the sky.
His breathing was gradually growing fainter.
Without looking at Mumu, he spoke.
“We'll see... how long... you can stand by those words... from the next world.”
“By all means.”
“...Find... the Towering Giant... Seo Yong...”
-Slump!
Before he could finish speaking, the final vessel's breath ceased.
-Swish!
Mumu closed the final vessel's unseeing eyes.
‘Find him?’
For the first and last time, he had left something behind for Mumu before departing this world.
Had it been a simple whim before death? Or had he, if only for a moment, felt something like a father's heart?
Whatever the case, this was the true death of the Overlord of Blood and Slaughter, the conqueror of an era whose death went unrecorded in the history of the martial world.
* * *
That night.
-Crack!
Something burst from the earth deep beneath the cavern.
It was a hand.
The hand clawed desperately at the ground until someone's face emerged.
“Puhah!”
The face that emerged from the dirt belonged to none other than Sa Mu-heo, one of the Six Stars of Heaven. No, it was Heo Mu-sa.
How had he ended up buried beneath the earth here?
“Haa... haa...”
Heo Mu-sa pulled his whole body free and breathed heavily.
It was the aftereffect of maintaining the Turtle Breath Art for a long time.
After lying on the ground to steady his breathing, Heo Mu-sa raised his head. Then he got to his feet and slowly followed the cavern passage.
After walking for some time, his pupils trembled.
“Ah...”
A place that looked as though a war had broken out came into view.
It had been a cavern hideout, but it was now in ruins. Though it lay deep underground, its ceiling had been completely blown away, while an enormous hole of unfathomable depth occupied the floor.
To make matters worse, the stench of blood filled the air.
-Crunch!
Heo Mu-sa ground his teeth.
Though he had placed great faith in his lord, just in case, he had gone to a hidden cavern, dug an earthen burrow, and used the Turtle Breath Art to enter a state resembling death.
It had been a precaution.
Yet that possibility, no, the worst outcome, had come to pass.
“Mumu!”
He had believed his lord could kill Mumu after obtaining the vessels of Extreme and One.
Yet this was the result.
Rage gave way to emptiness as Heo Mu-sa wandered aimlessly. Then he saw a grave.
[Overlord of Blood and Slaughter]
The gravestone planted before it bore the name Overlord of Blood and Slaughter.
Heo Mu-sa dropped to his knees.
-Thud!
Then he drove his fist into the ground.
-Bang!
-Bang!
-Bang!
-Bang, bang, bang!
Heo Mu-sa pounded the ground like a madman.
Both fists became stained with blood, then rapidly regenerated.
It was the effect of the Restoration Art.
[You're an unusual one. You volunteered to become a vessel... I like that.]
For the first time, his lord had looked upon him and acknowledged him.
He had been recognized as a vessel and had even been promised that once his body recovered and he regained his martial prowess, his lord would personally take him in as a vessel.
Yet everything had gone wrong before that could happen.
“Grrrrrgh!”
Heo Mu-sa lay facedown on the ground, his body trembling.
Then he slowly raised his head.
-Drip...
Blood-stained tears flowed from Heo Mu-sa's eyes, bloodshot with rage.
-Crunch!
Grinding his teeth, Heo Mu-sa stared at the gravestone and swore.
“I will... I will avenge you without fail. I will kill the one who abandoned his duty as a vessel with my own hands.”
Though his lord was dead, much had been left behind in the secret cave.
Heo Mu-sa would honor that will, complete the ambition of domination, and take revenge.
Looking up at the night sky, Heo Mu-sa screamed in rage at full volume.
“I swear it! Mumu, you bastard, I'll tear you apart with my own hands!”
“Yes?”
‘!?’
At the voice from behind him, Heo Mu-sa's face stiffened.
Recognizing that familiar voice, Heo Mu-sa swallowed hard and slowly turned around.
Mumu stood there with one eyebrow raised.
“I haven't left yet.”
Footnotes:
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