WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Chen
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Occult World’s Coveted Blacksmith ◈
Chapter 29: A Mere Thirty Percent… I Can Do Even More.
──────
“Huh? B-But…”
At Do-hyeon’s words, Yu-ha unconsciously tightened her arms around the sword pressed to her chest.
She slowly turned to look ahead.
A house-sized tidal wave filled the horizon as it surged toward them.
Countless Vengeful spirits crowded its black crest.
[Hee hee hee hee hee hee…….]
[Kieeeeeeeek!]
Gulp.
…W-Was this really right?
No matter how she looked at it, it seemed far too powerful.
It was on a completely different level from the minor spirits she had somehow managed to face until now.
Each of those Water Ghosts radiated sorcerous power far denser and fiercer than anything she had encountered before.
Honestly, a small part of her wanted to run.
Besides, had she not already experienced this yesterday?
She had poured Spiritual Power into her sword and cut down the vines, but they had been incorporeal illusions.
They only looked as though they had been cut. From every severed spot, they simply rose again twofold, then threefold.
Normally, a sword infused with Spiritual Power could cut a Vengeful spirit.
But those things were not real.
They were nothing more than attacks given shape by the circuits embedded in the floor.
There was nothing to cut. How was she supposed to cut them?
‘…Maybe it really won’t work.’
Just as the anxiety in the back of her mind began to tighten around her again, she glanced at Do-hyeon.
“……”
Then she froze.
His expression was utterly calm.
Even with that vicious tidal wave before him, he showed no sign of unease.
His eyes held not the slightest doubt, as though he were simply watching something bound to happen.
‘……’
A man like him believed in it that strongly.
He was probably trusting the sword he had repaired with his own hands.
It was strange.
As she watched that expression, the small but stubborn anxiety lingering in her heart slowly faded away.
‘…Right. I’ll try.’
Someone so incredible believed in my sword. No, in me.
Yu-ha readjusted her grip on the sword.
Then she slowly poured Spiritual Power into it.
Ziiiiing!
The sword drank in her Spiritual Power.
Thump, thump, thump……
Her wildly pounding heart.
Thump……
Thump.
……
At some point, it calmed as though it had all been a lie.
* * *
Yu-ha blankly looked down at her hand.
It was strange.
Just moments ago, her head had been so noisy.
She was afraid of the tidal wave. She wanted to run. She thought she could not do it.
Dozens of thoughts had been boiling up inside her at once.
Yet now, it was quiet, as though someone had switched off all the noise in her mind.
It felt as though the world were moving in slow motion.
The Spiritual Power of the Ishihara Family differed slightly from everyone else’s.
If other people’s Spiritual Power flowed as gently as a stream, the Spiritual Power flowing through Ishihara blood was like boiling water, bubbling violently and creating uncontrollable waves.
That was why.
Even the most basic swordsmanship, steadily infusing a sword with Spiritual Power and cutting with it, was nearly miraculous for her.
Swordsmanship was about channeling the energy within one’s body evenly through the body and sword.
Without training to consistently pour Spiritual Power into the sword, one could not even imitate a simple cutting motion.
But Yu-ha’s Spiritual Power surged and roiled on its own even when left alone.
Whenever she put it into an ordinary sword, the center of balance shifted from moment to moment with its turbulent waves.
The sword shook and wobbled as it pleased.
[What good is a fine bloodline if you can’t even control your Spiritual Power? You have no talent for swordsmanship at all.]
She heard words like that everywhere she went.
Some said her name carried too much weight.
Others said she had no talent.
They all refused to take her in, saying that if they accepted someone famous like her only to raise her into a nobody, it would tarnish their dojo’s reputation.
Everyone said she lacked talent.
So she believed them.
…But still.
She had never been lazy, not even for a single day.
No one would accept her as a disciple, so every day, she swung her sword alone in an empty courtyard.
With sandbags tightly bound around both wrists and ankles.
She tried to forcibly suppress the Spiritual Power raging through her limbs and pour it into her sword.
Until her palms split and bled.
Because surely, one day, she could become the greatest sorcerer, just like her grandfather.
Holding onto that one thought, she endured endless nights.
But now.
The Spiritual Power she had struggled with all her life, never able to control no matter how hard she tried, became calm the instant she held this sword.
The wild waves circulated gently through the sword and back into her body.
The boiling energy settled like a lake.
Then all that explosive power flowed straight into the blade.
* * *
Thud!
Yu-ha kicked off the ground.
Swoosh!
Her body shot forward like an arrow, cleaving through the black current beneath her feet.
She was fast.
Impossibly fast.
[Hee hee hee hee hee hee…….]
[Kieeeeeeeek!]
At the sight, the corner of Do-hyeon’s mouth slowly rose.
He grinned.
“B-Brother! Even so, isn’t this a bit much? She can’t handle this alone, can she?”
Jin Mu-yeong hurriedly reached into his clothes.
“I should help her…”
He was about to pull out his brass knuckles and assist her.
Tap.
Do-hyeon quietly placed a hand on his shoulder.
“…Stay put. Let’s just watch.”
“…Pardon?”
Jin Mu-yeong turned to Do-hyeon with a confused look.
Then he looked ahead again.
She was already far away.
Yu-ha had reached the tidal wave’s very edge.
The enormous wave rose violently, as though it meant to swallow her whole.
The Vengeful spirits on its crest rolled their bloodshot eyes and opened their mouths in unison.
But.
Yu-ha did not stop.
Instead, she drove deeper in.
Then.
She raised her sword.
Chiiiiiiing!
From blade to hilt, the sword vibrated and rang with a brilliant blue glow.
Then.
She swung it down.
Swooooooosh!
* * *
“……”
“……”
Jin Mu-yeong and Yoo Seon-woo could only stare blankly at the scene.
The enormous tidal wave that had seemed ready to cover the sky only moments ago split cleanly in two from the center.
Kueeeeeeng!
Hundreds of Vengeful spirits lurking within it split along the path of the sword as well, crumbling into ash and scattering away.
“W-What is this…?”
A dumbfounded sound escaped Yoo Seon-woo’s lips.
It had been an illusion that could not be cut.
Had he not seen it himself yesterday? Those damned vines that rose twofold and threefold no matter how many times they were cut.
But that woman.
With a single swing, she had cut apart the entire mountain-sized tidal wave.
‘…Does that even make sense?’
* * *
‘…I cut it.’
Yu-ha blankly looked down at the sword in her hand.
She had definitely cut it just now.
What she had been unable to affect by cutting yesterday had been cleanly severed.
A blue crack remained where her sword had passed, as though the illusion itself had been split apart.
Only then did she understand the sword’s power.
The Spiritual Power extending through the blade was cutting the very Spell Formula supporting that illusion.
Right. This sword was a sword that cut Spell Formulas.
The moment she realized it, those vicious waves finally clicked into place with the sword and began to resonate as one.
Then the potential sleeping within her Ishihara Family bloodline, along with her beast-like combat instincts, finally awakened.
Her fear vanished as though it had never existed.
Her body felt light.
The raging black waves and swarms of Vengeful spirits rushing toward her somehow no longer seemed frightening.
Where to step. Which direction to swing her sword.
Before she could even think about it, her body already knew.
‘…Here.’
She did not need to think.
She simply moved as her body guided her.
Thud!
Yu-ha kicked off the ground again.
Crash!
Black waves crashed down upon her from every direction.
But her sword was faster.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Each time she cut along their flow, the waves split apart.
The Vengeful spirits that tried to rush through those openings were cut cleanly in half and crumbled away.
She cut once.
Then again.
And she did not stop.
* * *
‘…Interesting.’
Do-hyeon watched her swing the sword with a pleased expression.
The first swing or two could be credited to the sword’s performance.
But what she was doing now could not be explained by the sword alone.
As her boiling Spiritual Power settled, something that had been suppressed beneath it her entire life finally rose to the surface.
Sharp senses.
Efficient movements.
And beast-like instincts that read danger before it came.
‘…So that’s what it was.’
The reason this woman had clung so desperately to the sword.
And why her grandfather had been called the Sword Demon.
He finally understood a little.
She had always possessed talent in abundance.
She simply had not had the tool to draw it out.
Once that boiling Spiritual Power was brought under control, its explosive strength became a weapon more powerful than anyone else’s.
Do-hyeon looked at her swinging the sword once more.
Her eyes were frighteningly focused.
Yet the corners of her lips were curled in a faint smile.
She had the face of someone possessed.
* * *
Swoooosh!
Another wave split apart.
Slice! Crash!
Whenever her sword flashed, house-sized waves collapsed and hundreds of Vengeful spirits scattered into ash.
The more she cut, the more something surged up from deep within her chest.
‘…Ah.’
For some reason, she felt like crying.
So it had been this easy.
So this was how light it felt.
All the scorn she had suffered. Being turned away at every door.
The label that said she had no talent.
Those sorrowful nights she had spent swallowing her pain alone in an empty courtyard.
Every knot of resentment exploded from the tip of her sword.
The more she cut, the more naturally the sword fit her hand.
The more she swung, the more it felt as though something blocked inside her was bursting open.
The exhilarating sensation of tearing apart Spell Formulas awakened every cell in her body.
‘……Ah.’
Yu-ha trembled inwardly even as she gasped for breath.
This insane thrill, this overwhelming feeling!
‘…Thirty percent?’
A deep smile spread across Yu-ha’s lips.
‘…Who cares about a mere thirty percent? I can do even more than that, as much as I want.’
She cut, and cut, and cut again.
The waves that had been crashing down madly began to subside little by little.
The tidal wave that had initially reared up more viciously in its desperate struggle gradually lost its force as she kept cutting it down without pause.
She pursued the retreating waves to the end and split even the last one apart.
“……”
The hand gripping her sword came to a halt.
There was nothing left to cut.
The raised tip of her sword cut through empty air, then stopped with nowhere left to go.
Everything was quiet as though it had all been a lie.
The shrieks of the Vengeful spirits that had filled her ears and the heat that had burned through her mind had receded like the tide.
Nothing remained but her ragged breathing, rising and falling as though it belonged to someone else.
Only then did the madness boiling within her slowly settle.
Huff, huff……
Gasping for breath, Yu-ha blankly looked around.
More than half of the black sea had disappeared.
Even the remaining water seemed strange.
It no longer looked like real seawater.
The blood-red sky was patchy, as though its color had faded in places.
The distant waves swaying in the distance were blank in spots, like an unfinished painting.
The landscape that had seemed so vivid only moments ago now looked like a cheap, badly faded imitation.
As though the power holding this world together had almost entirely drained away.
Then.
At the edge of that faded sea, beyond the hazy distance where the mist seemed to be clearing, something slowly appeared.
An old ferry floated soundlessly through the black watery fog.
An old man was crouched atop it.
He had white hair and hung his head low, bound tightly by dozens of black strands.
* * *
‘…Now that we’ve come this far, it’s finally showing itself.’
Do-hyeon finally drew up his Spiritual Power and brought it to his eyes.
Swoosh.
As his blurred vision cleared, blue circuit patterns appeared beyond the collapsing illusion.
All of those patterns converged into a single stream and were drawn toward the distant ferry.
An old man was crouched on the boat.
Dozens of black circuits were tightly wrapped around his aged body, constantly squeezing him dry.
‘…That’s it.’
This vast sea and the endless swarms of Vengeful spirits.
They had all been created by squeezing the old man’s soul dry.
In other words, he was the heart and power source keeping this illusion running.
‘…Poor old man.’
It was not as if he had entered here of his own accord.
He had been captured and was having his soul ground to nothing.
The details could wait.
Once those circuits were cut, the illusion would lose its power and collapse entirely.
Do-hyeon slowly turned his head.
“Yu-ha.”
“…Yes!”
The look in her eyes when she turned around was completely different from before.
Do-hyeon gestured with his chin toward the faded sea.
“…Over there, in the distance. Can you see the old man on the ferry?”
“…I can.”
Through the thinning watery fog, she could faintly see the old man crouched there with his head lowered.
“That is the heart of this painting.”
A smile spread across Do-hyeon’s lips.
“Cut that, and… it’s over.”
Yu-ha did not ask any further questions.
She simply readjusted her grip on the sword.
“…All right.”
Thud!
Her body shot forward like an arrow.
She crossed the collapsing black sea in an instant, heading for the old man on the ferry.
Crash!
The remaining waves rose up to block her path in one final struggle.
But it was already too late.
Swooooooosh!
Yu-ha’s sword cut through everything binding the old man’s body in a single strike.
Crack, crack.
At that moment.
The old man who had hung limp slowly opened his eyes.
[…Th-thank you…]
His form slowly broke apart into light and scattered away.
Crack!
Then.
A massive crack appeared in the faded sky.
Crack, crackle!
The remaining black sea split apart from every direction like glass.
Crash!
The illusion shattered into pieces and collapsed.
* * *
“…Gasp!”
“Haa, haa…!”
When they came to their senses, the group was standing in the middle of the repository once more.
“…S-Sir…?”
The butler waiting outside muttered with a pale face.
He stared blankly at a point in the air, as though he had just seen something.
But he soon shook his head as if he had imagined it, then hurriedly supported the staggering group.
The black water that had risen to their knees and the tidal wave that had covered the sky had all vanished as though they had never existed.
Master Cheongram’s paintings, which had filled the walls, now hung quietly with their colors faded, as though they had lost their power.
The painting of the massive tidal wave in particular was now nothing more than an old painting covered in black paint.
‘…Hmm.’
Do-hyeon slowly surveyed the paintings that had lost their light.
He had a rough idea of what had happened.
It looked like this Master Cheongram had been plotting something underhanded.
On the surface, the paintings contained Spell Formulas that produced real effects, luring people in with promises of wealth and good fortune.
But beneath them, he had hidden another circuit.
One that slowly gnawed away at the life force of anyone who kept the paintings close.
It had been a trap designed that way from the beginning.
And the old man they had just seen was probably the former owner of this mansion.
The butler had likely not seen anything clearly.
It was only that, in the final moment when that soul was released, its lingering presence had been strong enough to brush even someone without Spirit Sight.
The more the owner treasured and kept the paintings nearby, the more they would slowly eat away at their life force.
Then, using the soul that had not been able to escape as a power source, the paintings would begin operating in earnest.
Well, what kind of person Cheongram had been was something for the Occult Management Bureau to investigate.
‘…Anyway.’
This job had ended safely too.
And there had been some extra profit.
Had Yu-ha and I not basically solved the whole thing ourselves?
On top of that, thirty percent of Yu-ha’s share was set to come to me.
‘…Hehe. A very satisfying result.’
Still.
No matter how much he thought about it, it was an astonishing object.
He did not know who had made it.
But it perfectly matched the boiling Spiritual Power waves of Ishihara blood, calming that fierce, explosive current.
Then it converted all that power directly into the sword’s strength.
Those rough, explosive waves were the worst possible match for ordinary swordsmanship.
Yet this sword instead compressed those uncontrollable waves, turning them into interference waves that destroyed the Spell Formula itself.
It was, in other words, an anti-sorcery sword that cut through Spell Formulas.
‘…A design that draws out one’s potential.’
It was a truly incredible idea.
As he studied it, new inspiration seemed to rise in his mind.
‘Hehe… I should try applying it next time.’
He was happily lost in thought when he heard Yu-ha sheathe her sword in the distance.
Shing.
After cutting down that enormous illusion all by herself, she slowly walked toward him.
“…Good wor-”
Just as Do-hyeon was about to greet her, Yu-ha suddenly rushed over and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.
“……?”
“……Huh?”
“…Sniff… Sob…”
Her slender shoulders trembled against his chest.
Her scent was so close it was almost suffocating, and her hot breath brushed his ear.
Yu-ha clutched his collar tightly.
Then, unable to hold it in any longer, she burst into tears.
‘…What’s wrong with her?’
Do-hyeon stood there with both arms awkwardly raised.
She kept trembling against his chest, sobbing something he could not make out.
“…Um, Kim Yu-ha? Is there… something wrong with the sword?”
“…N-No… Sniff… It’s not that…”
She pressed herself deeper against his chest.
“Th-Thank you. Really… for everything…”
Her tearful voice tickled Do-hyeon’s ear.
In the end, he had no choice but to close his mouth.
Footnotes:
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