Reincarnation of the Sword Demon - Chapter 183

WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Chapter 183: It Changes

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Following behind Mok Ha-seong as they flew away roaring, Su O-jeon could not help but feel genuine admiration.

Su O-jeon had no idea which lunatic had attempted an assassination at the Mok Family Head's birthday banquet. Still, Mok Ha-seong's vitality was truly astonishing. Mok Ha-seong's head had clearly been blown to pieces before Su O-jeon's eyes, yet they had revived as if nothing had happened.

'Truly incredible...!'

Such was the majesty expected of a Dragonkin who had lived for the long span of forty years. Su O-jeon could hardly believe that Mok Ha-seong, flying ahead, had truly been born from an egg just like Su O-jeon.

"Who are you?!"

Mok Ha-seong threw their mouth wide open and shouted. Rumble! The air shook at the cry, scattering the clouds. Their wide-open dragon eyes stared in the direction the arrow had come from.

Then Mok Ha-seong's pupils wavered.

A battle had broken out in the streets where preparations for the banquet should have been in full swing. Celestials dressed in strange clothing, their hair a riot of colors.

Mok Ha-seong's face twisted.

"These insane livestock dare...!"

Light gathered in Mok Ha-seong's open mouth. Just as they were about to fire it, the scales covering their entire body bristled. Mok Ha-seong immediately swallowed the light and shot upward.

The sword strike arrived first.

Violet lightning energy flashed behind it, followed by a thunderous roar.

"Guh?!"

Su O-jeon, trailing far behind, was caught in the sword strike. They hurriedly raised both arms to block it.

Clang!

Though the cut was shallow, the scales covering Su O-jeon's arms were sliced away, spraying blood.

"Aaagh!"

Su O-jeon screamed. It was not just the pain. Su O-jeon also cried out because their precious dragon blood had been spilled.

"Hm."

Within the crackling lightning, Kyle raised his head.

It had not really been a stealthy ambush. He had simply rushed in at top speed and cut. It had been that fast a sword, yet that Dragonkin had shot upward before the blade even reached them.

'One dodged, and one blocked.'

The second had not blocked it properly, but Kyle likewise had not landed a proper cut. He had definitely struck them, yet the sensation traveling through his hand was unsatisfying.

Kyle tilted his head.

He could tell this one was on a different level from that Mok-whatever Dragonkin he had seen last time. They had been drinking in the tallest pavilion in this village, so they were probably the ones with the highest status. They seemed to possess strength appropriate to that status, but this was the one who had failed to avoid Soha's arrow, even from a distance.

'But it dodged my sword?'

Was his sword somehow slower than Soha's arrow?

'No, that can't be right.'

Kyle felt sorry for Soha, but he was certain. That sword had been faster than Soha's arrow.

"Uh...?"

Mok Ha-seong, who had dodged the attack, was bewildered.

That movement had not been intentional. Their body had simply moved on its own.

Why?

Mok Ha-seong's shoulders trembled.

That overwhelming pressure, enough to make every scale on their body bristle.

Mok Ha-seong had only felt something like it once before. Long ago, when they had first stirred inside their egg. While their existence was being formed within sticky red dragon blood, they had vaguely sensed the master of the Dragon Nether beyond the crimson haze.

"Y-you are..."

Mok Ha-seong's stammering voice suddenly stopped.

Their wide-open eyes turned bloodshot, and the scales all over their body began to shake.

"Family Head Mok...?"

Su O-jeon hesitated and looked up at Mok Ha-seong.

Mok Ha-seong's aura, towering and verdant like an ancient tree, was changing completely. Kyle sensed the change as well and narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, ooh... ooooh..."

A fearful sob leaked from Mok Ha-seong's gaping mouth. The eyes staring down at Kyle shook violently.

Crackle...!

Red light began to seep out from beneath their trembling, bristling scales.

Mok Ha-seong's arrogant ego, full of pride at having lived longer than any other Dragonkin, was swallowed by instinct and disappeared. In the end, only pure instinct remained.

What did one do when confronted with inescapable fear? What if that fear was a heavenly mandate which could never be defied?

One could not fight against a heavenly mandate. There was no choice but to struggle and run.

But Mok Ha-seong could not choose that.

The instinct given to Mok Ha-seong, no, to every Dragonkin, was the denial of heavenly mandate. Having lived longer than any other Dragonkin and expanded their vessel further than any of them, Mok Ha-seong was utterly faithful to that instinct in this moment.

"Ooooooh!"

Mok Ha-seong charged at Kyle with a terrified scream.

Who the opponent was did not matter. What mattered was denying the fear before them.

Erasing it.

Kyle bared his white teeth in a smile as Mok Ha-seong rushed at him with completely changed momentum.

There were strange things about this one in many ways.

But Kyle had no desire to ask who the other was or why they had attacked. That kind of conversation was for people speaking to other people.

'These things.'

He held Fenris in his right hand before him and stretched Baal behind him with his left. Baal's Dokkaebi babbled noisily about something, but Kyle did not listen to it.

'Are not human.'

He was not saying that merely because of their appearance. He did not even want to discuss their essence. To begin with, Kyle's thoughts on humanity were deeply human and narrow-minded.

He simply did not like what he had seen them do, so he decided not to consider them human. What he had seen since entering this Mok Family village was revolting enough.

So he cut.

Rumble!

Fenris swung first, scattering violet lightning energy. A clearly formed lightning sword strike blocked Mok Ha-seong's charge.

Mok Ha-seong immediately thrust out a hand.

Crack!

The bristling scales on their arm covered it again, and their branch-like fingers changed into sharp claws.

Slash!

The sword strike was torn apart.

Kyle's eyes lit up at the sight.

'Fear.'

Kyle stepped back through the air and drew in Baal, which had been extended behind him.

'Madness.'

It was common for someone to lose their reason because of fear, and in some cases, they might become stronger in a state of madness.

But the discrepancy was too great.

Compared to the speed at which Mok Ha-seong had flown from the pavilion or the power gathered in their mouth, they seemed like a completely different being now. Even the intent Kyle felt from Mok Ha-seong had drastically changed.

'There is no reason for them to fear someone they have never met.'

Not that Kyle cared about the circumstances.

Whoosh!

The blade of Baal, drawn from behind him, was wrapped in a bloody current.

This fucking sharp sword was too sharp to handle properly. The very idea of cutting gently with a sword was absurd, but Baal's sharpness went too far. If it were a kitchen knife, Baal would cut through the chopping board beneath the food and the table beneath that as well.

Kyle had handled swords well enough that no one could look down on him, from his past life to this one. But he had never held a sword this sharp and this impossible to control. Baal was not even easy to tame, so he had always struggled to wield it as he wished.

That had been the case at the Sword Grove.

Whether martial artist, mage, or scholar, those who devoted themselves to something, delved into it, reflected on it, and trained possessed something called enlightenment.

Enlightenment could come before a wall one had encountered. It could suddenly arrive while walking a distant road with no end in sight. Sometimes, it emerged when revisiting something one believed they had already perfectly understood and mastered, arising from things they had done naturally and unconsciously, as easily as breathing.

Kyle had attained enlightenment when he swung his sword at Ruin on the Ascension Platform.

The process of attaining enlightenment varied wildly, but what followed was usually similar.

Things changed.

It was a little different from becoming stronger. At least, the enlightenment Kyle had gained was like that.

It was not that he had awakened a new technique or a new sword. Rather, the way he held and swung a sword had changed. The center and breathing of that moment, the contraction and relaxation of his muscles, even which Circuits were optimal when operating a cultivation technique. Put simply, the very concept of the sword had changed for him.

[Oh.]

Baal, drawn along by Kyle's hand, spoke in a trembling voice.

[O-oh... ooooh...!]

Kyle had previously felt discomfort and clumsiness while wielding Baal. But Baal itself had never felt that kind of dissatisfaction while being wielded by Kyle.

This cursed blade had been made impossibly sharp from the beginning, used to sever everything its edge touched.

Every Demon King who had wielded Baal before Kyle had used it that way.

So Baal did not understand what it was feeling now. It had never felt such ecstasy, not even under Demon King Astaros, whom Baal had considered its most perfect wielder.

It felt as though it had become one with its master.

Boom!

The moment Baal met the claws that had broken through Fenris's sword strike, an explosion erupted.

The sword of Tebar, the Sword Church's Fourth Apostle, was recreated through Baal.

Mok Ha-seong's arm shattered into hundreds of pieces the instant it touched Baal. Still screaming in terror, Mok Ha-seong twisted their body. Their thick tail lashed out like a whip toward Kyle.

Kyle did not swing Baal again. Instead, he moved Fenris in his right hand.

His enlightenment had changed him, but that did not mean everything had become complete and perfect. Ruin's sword was still fucking awful.

Awful, but enjoyable.

It required immense concentration, but whenever Kyle swung this sword, wonder and joy at its completeness and perfection welled up within him.

Of course, Kyle was the one enjoying it. The person being cut would not enjoy it as well. To share in this joy, one needed the purest reverence for the sword.

Mok Ha-seong had no such feelings.

Slice.

Their tail was cleanly severed.

Mok Ha-seong's wings flapped hard. Green currents created hundreds of sharp whirlwinds.

As the whirlwinds advanced, Kyle swung Baal again.

The authority of annihilation manifested as an explosion.

Every whirlwind vanished in a single blast.

Kyle strode into the opening it created.

Fenris swung diagonally from below.

Though the blade should not have been able to reach, the sword strike did. This sword itself was not as sharp as Baal, but in another sense, it was impossible to respond to.

The result arrived the moment the sword was swung.

Mok Ha-seong's chest split open, spraying blood.

"Uh..."

Su O-jeon stopped and unknowingly opened their mouth as they looked up.

Su O-jeon could not tell whether what they were seeing was truly real.

The Mok Family Head, who had surely received the Dragon Nether's immense favor, was being slaughtered mercilessly.

"A... a devil."

A trembling voice leaked from Su O-jin's parted lips.

This could never happen.

Every existence in this world existed for the Dragon Nether. Especially one favored as highly as the Mok Family Head had to offer their life to the Dragon Nether in the end. It was a life that was never supposed to end in a place like this.

That was the heavenly order this world had built over hundreds of years.

What else could one call an existence that denied that heavenly order, if not a devil?

That red-haired Celestial was an existence Su O-jeon had never heard of, never seen, and never even imagined.

So Su O-jeon did not agonize over it. What could Su O-jeon possibly do against a devil that even the Mok Family Head could not withstand?

They could only run.

"Jor."

Naturally, Kyle had no intention of letting Su O-jeon escape.

"Don't eat it. You'll get sick if you eat something like that."

At Kyle's whisper, Jor emerged from inside Kyle's Middle Dantian.

Rumble!

An Eastern dragon with purple scales blocked Su O-jeon's path.

Su O-jeon's mouth fell open at Jor's majesty.

"A-a true dragon?"

A true dragon should have become one with the master of the Dragon Nether long ago.

Jor opened their mouth wide at the confused Su O-jeon.

Crackle, crackle!

Power condensed in an instant, bursting into lightning.

"Aaaagh!"

Su O-jeon screamed within the lightning. The scales across their body burned, and the dragon blood inside them boiled.

Even then, Su O-jeon struggled desperately to survive.

Su O-jeon's charred body burst out of the lightning and was caught by Jor. Jor coiled their whole body tightly around Su O-jeon, preparing to swallow Su O-jeon whole.

"Ah."

Kyle had said not to eat them.

Jor stopped themself from swallowing Su O-jeon whole and gathered lightning energy in their open mouth once again.

"Gghhhk...!"

Unable to move while wrapped in Jor's coils, Su O-jeon was roasted alive by the raging lightning energy.

Mok Ha-seong died before Su O-jeon did.

'This is ridiculous.'

Katarina, who had been swinging her sword on the ground while watching the sky, unknowingly swallowed.

'That sword. It is like what I saw in the Sword Hall... but different. The sword itself has not changed. Kyle, who wields it, has changed.'

The feeling she had experienced then remained vivid even now.

Katarina had certainly felt clear wonder in the Founding Ancestor's sword demonstrated by her young nephew.

Her nephew had told her not to feel mere wonder at that sword, not to see an illusion. But only Julius had fully understood the true meaning of those words. Katarina had not.

How could she not feel wonder at such an incredible sword?

'Right now, I...'

Katarina steadied her trembling hand.

'Along with the Founding Ancestor's sword, I feel wonder at you too, Kyle.'

Katarina was the commander of Alastor's Aurora Knights. Within Alastor, only Julius, Karthan, and the commander of the Funeral Knights were stronger swordsmen than her.

That was why Katarina could be certain.

Kyle's sword had unquestionably advanced beyond hers, and he had entered the ranks of the Ten Peaks, a rank no one could deny him.

Thud.

Kyle landed in the heart of the battle.

Dragonkin from across the village froze upon seeing Mok Ha-seong's head impaled on Kyle's Fenris.

"Hm."

Kyle casually swung Fenris.

Mok Ha-seong's head, which had been hanging from the blade after being pierced through the middle of the face, struck a nearby wall and fell.

"There are still a lot left."

Kyle spoke indifferently and strode forward.

* * *

There were hundreds of Dragonkin and Treefolk living in the city of the Mok Family's main house, and even more humans used as laborers.

Everyone except the humans was killed.

Kyle glanced up at the sky.

Because they had fought so noisily, dozens of winged eyes had gathered high overhead. Strangely, though, they did not descend. They simply remained in the sky, looking down as though observing them.

"Looks like they don't intend to attack."

Kyle said this as he looked over the order members.

Everyone had suffered minor injuries, but no one was seriously wounded.

Still, the long battle had exhausted them. Their faces were pale, perhaps because they were troubled in spirit more than their bodies were tired.

"How do you feel? Be honest."

"It feels disgusting."

Bruno leaned against his greatsword, breathing heavily.

"It's my first time killing so... so many people in such a short time."

"Don't dwell on unpleasant thoughts. Think about it positively."

Kyle spoke while staring at the ground.

The blood flowing from the corpses of the Treefolk and Dragonkin they had killed was not quietly pooling on the ground. It had gathered in one place and was trickling somewhere.

"The truth is, the East has been ruled by monsters for three hundred years. We're heroes who came from far away to save the people of the East."

"That's... true, but."

"You're softer than you look for someone your size. Do those things look like humans just like us to you?"

Kyle had been accustomed to battlefields and corpses since his past life, but that did not mean the same was true for his order members. Unbelievably, Bruno was still only twenty-one despite that face.

Managing his order members' mental state was part of a commander's role too.

"Imugi told us, didn't he? Dragonkin periodically lay eggs, then pour blood on them to fertilize them. Why would things born that way be human?"

Their distant ancestors might have been human, but by now there was not a trace of humanity left in them.

Even the amount of blood poured onto the egg determined whether it would become a Treefolk or a Dragonkin. They replenished the blood they lost that way by devouring humans or receiving "grace."

Could such beings be called human?

Demihumans like the Demon Tribe, dwarves, elves, and beastfolk at least shared some biological similarities with humans. But the dominant races currently living in the East shared almost nothing with them.

They were, in a sense, a new race Velatus had created over three hundred years.

"Those eyes don't seem like they intend to attack. They don't look willing to talk either, so let's follow this first."

Kyle pointed to the river of blood flowing along the ground.

The river of blood ran out of the city.

As they followed it, Kyle freed the humans bound and kneeling beneath the pavilion.

There were many other people in the city as well, but it was impossible to take all of them to the Underground City for now. Kyle told them to stay in the city before following the river of blood again.

The trickling river of blood stopped at a place some distance from the city.

There had clearly been nothing there, but the boundary where the river stopped rippled, and a different landscape slowly appeared.

"Ah..."

Soha covered her mouth.

A gigantic tree.

It was not verdant.

The leaves densely covering its wide-spread branches were all red. It was not the red of autumn leaves, but the color of blood.

The branches and trunk were rotten, cracked, and twisted. The roots winding out across the ground had turned black.

Near those roots lay pools of bright red blood.

The river of blood, which had stopped, began flowing again.

Blood from the corpses of the Dragonkin and Treefolk killed at the Mok Family's main house.

That blood flowed toward the pools near the roots.