WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Occult World’s Coveted Blacksmith ◈
Chapter 28: What Are You Doing? Hurry Up and Cut Them Down
──────
* * *
When awareness returned.
In the middle of an endless black sea, the surface heaved beneath their feet.
“We’re trapped again! Seriously?!”
Jin Mu-yeong snapped at Yoo Seon-woo.
“He told you not to get close, but you just had to go up and look! What the hell is wrong with you, huh?!”
“S-Shut it! I had my own... reasons.”
“Yeah, right.”
Leaving the two bickering behind him, Do-hyeon quickly surveyed their surroundings.
A blood-red sky hung low overhead, while black seawater rose to their knees and sloshed ominously around them.
‘...A sea this time?’
It was the same kind of sorcery as yesterday, one that dragged people into a painting.
The difference was that this one was on an entirely different scale.
Then, from beyond the distant horizon.
Oooooooooh-
A low, sinister wail began to roll toward them on the waves.
“W-What is that?!”
Jin Mu-yeong pointed ahead.
A massive tidal wave was rising over the horizon.
And atop its black crest, countless dark figures were emerging.
Waterlogged ghosts with bloodshot eyes rolling wildly.
[Heeheeheeheeheehee......]
[Kieeeeeeeek-!]
Their bizarre cries sounded like wet coughing and shrieks from lungs full of water.
Those chilling screams echoed horribly over the waves.
Hundreds, thousands.
An uncountable horde of Vengeful spirits was rushing toward them on the tidal wave.
“A-Aaargh! What the hell are all those things?!”
Jin Mu-yeong screamed.
* * *
Now was the time.
A faint smile curled across Yoo Seon-woo’s lips.
They had all gotten caught up in this because of Yoo Seon-woo, albeit unintentionally. But when Yoo thought about it, wasn’t this actually for the best?
Since they were facing a spell painter’s work, it was time for Yoo to step in and solve the problem.
What better stage could there be to reclaim the attention that brat had stolen and show everyone the skill of a true master?
Besides, the elders had passed down a secret method.
A painting had to be countered with another painting.
A spell painter’s paintings produced their effects through the symbols contained within them.
Just as sunflowers summoned wealth and peonies summoned prosperity.
So, if one was trapped inside an enemy’s painting, all one had to do was find its central symbol and create a new painting with a symbol that opposed it.
[If they paint fire, put it out with water. If they unleash a beast, paint its natural predator.]
[The proper way is to clash symbols against symbols and collapse the enemy’s Spell Formula from within.]
Yoo quickly scanned the area.
‘The central symbol...’
Black waves filled every direction.
The answer was obvious.
The heart of this domain was that enormous tidal wave.
Then something that ruled over water was needed.
An image immediately came to Yoo’s mind.
A dragon.
A being that commanded water, split waves, and ascended to the heavens.
It was more than enough to counter this place.
‘Ha. I should’ve done this from the start.’
“Everyone, get back!”
Yoo shouted boldly as Yoo pulled out a pure-white scroll and unfurled it.
Then Yoo took out a brush and began moving it rapidly.
Yoo painted a massive black dragon holding a wish-granting pearl in its mouth, pressing Spiritual Power into every scale and claw.
The painting was complete in an instant, down to its final stroke.
All that remained was to pour Spiritual Power through the brush and awaken it.
“Wait!”
Do-hyeon’s urgent voice rang out.
“You can’t do that!”
Yoo scoffed.
“Hmph! Are you trying to steal my credit again? Not this time!”
Ignoring the warning, Yoo placed a hand on the painting and poured all of Yoo’s Spiritual Power into it.
Sliiiide-
The black dragon within the scroll pushed free of the canvas and floated into the air.
[Krrrroooar-!]
The living black dragon coiled its long body over the black sea and roared.
The so-called [Dragon-Eye Finishing Stroke].
It was a spell that breathed a final soul into a painted figure and brought it into the real world.
Only a handful of spell painters had reached this level, and Yoo had only barely attained it recently.
[Kwoooaaar-!]
The black dragon tore through the air and swept away the vanguard of the Cursed spirits surging from the black waves.
Having witnessed its overwhelming power, Yoo turned away as though there was nothing more to see and puffed out Yoo’s chest.
“Did you see that? This is what the skill of a true spell painter looks like-”
But then.
Everyone’s expressions were strange.
In the brief moment Yoo had been boasting, their admiring faces had gone pale as they stared into the air behind Yoo.
A chill ran down Yoo’s spine. Yoo trailed off and slowly turned around.
“...Huh?”
The black dragon, which should have been charging forward and splitting the waves, had stopped dead in midair.
* * *
‘That’s why I told Yoo not to do it. Yoo never listens, even if it kills Yoo...’
Do-hyeon clicked his tongue inwardly.
He understood what Yoo had been trying to do, but this was the one thing Yoo absolutely should not have done in this space.
Ever since he saw the structure that drained life force from yesterday’s sunflower painting, Do-hyeon had suspected something.
It was not simply a Spell Formula produced by an evil spirit temporarily inhabiting the painting. After examining the other paintings in the storeroom today, he was certain.
Only Teacher Cheongram’s paintings had those trap-like circuits designed into their underlying layers from the beginning.
Wasn’t Vengeful Spirit Transfer itself a structure in which a Cursed spirit entered an inscribed Spell Formula and controlled it however it pleased?
In other words, the entire domain created by this painting was effectively a massive cursed power circuit network under that Cursed spirit’s control.
What would happen if someone freely drew a new Spell Formula in the middle of enemy territory?
‘...Of course it gets devoured by that cursed power.’
Sure enough.
Ssssss-
Black cursed power rose from the waves in every direction at once, like hungry beasts that had spotted prey.
Crack!
The black cursed power wrapped around the black dragon’s body in an instant.
[Kraaaagh-!]
The eyes of the black dragon, which had been majestically ascending with the wish-granting pearl in its mouth, turned a vivid red.
“W-What is this?!”
Yoo shook the scroll in horror.
“C-Come down! That’s an order! Hurry up and wipe those things out!”
But the black dragon had long since slipped from Yoo’s control.
Grrrrrrr.
With red eyes, it slowly turned its head.
Then it opened its crimson maw wide.
And plunged straight at the master who had created it.
“Argh!”
* * *
“...Tch.”
Kwang!
The moment the black dragon plunged toward Yoo, Do-hyeon moved first.
He had already pulled a blank Talisman from inside his clothes.
As he straightened two fingers and condensed Spiritual Power at their tips, a blue light gathered there.
Flash!
An inscription was etched across the Talisman in an instant.
Do-hyeon threw it straight at the charging black dragon’s face.
Fwoosh!
The Talisman burst into blue flames in midair and struck the black dragon’s head head-on.
[Kraaaagh-!]
The black dragon let out a terrible scream and reeled through the air. Taking advantage of the opening, Do-hyeon grabbed the collar of the stunned Yoo and yanked Yoo backward.
Thud!
The black dragon’s massive body crushed the exact spot where Yoo had been standing moments earlier.
“...H-Hiiik!”
Yoo sat on the ground and trembled like a leaf.
Yoo had almost died.
The thing Yoo created had nearly devoured Yoo.
“...Huff.”
Yoo drew ragged breaths.
What had just happened?
Yoo had followed the secret method exactly, so why had the dragon Yoo made attacked Yoo?
Yoo’s mind went blank.
Step.
That brat walked toward Yoo.
Do-hyeon looked down at the seated Yoo for a moment, then spoke flatly.
“...You call yourself a spell painter.”
“......”
“And you don’t even know how the Spell Formula inside a painting works?”
“...!”
Yoo’s face twisted.
“Y-You insolent-”
“This entire domain is a massive circuit network through which that evil spirit’s cursed power flows.”
Do-hyeon cut Yoo off and continued calmly.
“The fact that it trapped its prey inside a painting in the first place means it holds control over this space... You didn’t even realize that?”
“H-How do you know that...?!”
“Listen carefully.”
Do-hyeon pointed out the invisible flow of the Spell Formula, piece by piece.
The movement of these waves and the horde of Vengeful spirits closing in were all produced by a single Spell Formula laid across the seabed.
As Do-hyeon’s explanation flowed smoothly, as though he were reading a map spread out before his eyes, Yoo stared up at him with trembling lips.
Only then did Yoo realize that the elders had been completely wrong.
And that the blacksmith’s performance yesterday had not been a coincidence.
* * *
Leaving the stunned Yoo behind, Do-hyeon watched the black tidal wave carrying the Water Ghosts toward them.
‘It won’t be as simple as yesterday.’
In the sunflower painting yesterday, there had at least been a clear central point where the vines converged.
This painting’s Spell Formula was too massive and intricately tangled. There was no central point he could destroy in one blow.
‘...Which means.’
It could not have extended such a huge, intricate control network over a temporary dwelling.
That meant this painting of the sea was the true base of the Vengeful spirit behind this incident.
And ordinary attacks did not work inside an illusion this vast.
He had already seen it in yesterday’s sunflower illusion.
Even when he cut the vines with Spiritual Power, they only pretended to be severed because they had no physical form, then quickly multiplied twofold, threefold.
The giant tidal wave would be the same. Unless he cut off the source of the underlying Spell Formula, he could cut down Water Ghosts all day and they would keep appearing without end.
‘Well then. Is it about time to begin?’
Ahem.
Grin.
A faint smile spread across Do-hyeon’s lips.
The timing was perfect.
He had wanted to see the performance of that sword he repaired yesterday with his own eyes.
Do-hyeon slowly turned his head toward Kim Yu-ha, who stood frozen while tightly hugging the Japanese sword he had fixed for her.
“Yu-ha?”
“...Y-Yes?”
Yu-ha flinched and looked toward Do-hyeon. He smiled and nodded toward the black tidal wave.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and cut them down.”
Footnotes:
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