WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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Chapter 6: Episode 2: Infant-Cry Dragon Horse (3)
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“Sir Goecheon!”
“I know.”
He knew the two companions he had left behind were no match for this demon.
Even so, he had taken Ise with him because, as the strongest of the three, he wanted to bring the boy even one step closer to Gwisu Temple.
He just had not expected them to be defeated this quickly.
Goecheon set Ise down and immediately drew up his demonic qi.
The sight of the boy's battered body weighed heavily on him, but there was no other way now.
“Go back. Take the others remaining in Gwisu Temple and hide yourselves as best you can.”
This was an urgent situation.
Ise was a clever child. With that much said, he would know what to do.
Goecheon planted the Gold Chain Staff upright in the ground and formed a hand seal with one hand.
Dokkaebi Shadow-Hunting Demonic Art
Shadow Net Formation
In an instant, shadows were pulled from the surrounding rocks, trees, and grass.
For a moment, it felt as if the whole area had brightened.
Then the shadows took the form of a net.
Instead of fleeing at once, Ise put some distance between them and watched the battle.
His body could barely remain standing. Even if he ran, he would not get far.
If Goecheon lost to the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse, it was obvious the creature would catch him no matter how hard he tried to escape.
In that case, it would be better to play his final card and repay the kindness he had received with his life.
‘Third Principle of the Demon Hunting. Judge every situation calmly.’
Even so, he had to assess the situation with a clear mind. He would act as he had been taught.
‘If there's a high chance I'll get in the way, I'll run as far as I can.’
He would watch for only a moment.
Ise's eyes shone sharply.
The shadows Goecheon had drawn out spread like a net, descending on the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse as though to capture a savage beast.
But the horns on the creature's head flashed, tearing the shadows apart.
Dokkaebi Shadow-Hunting Demonic Art
Four-Directions Strike
Four human-sized shadows surged from the ground.
The four shadowy hands surrounding the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse slammed into the earth as if crushing an insect.
The Infant-Cry Dragon Horse leaped high, easily evading the attack before releasing a fierce roar.
The mountain itself seemed to tremble.
Goecheon had already closed the distance. Gripping the Gold Chain Staff with both hands, he swung it sideways.
A piercing screech rang out as metal struck metal.
The blunt weapon had been swung with enough force to shatter the demon's head, yet it was Goecheon's Gold Chain Staff that broke apart.
After watching that single exchange, Ise understood just how much the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse had treated him like an insect inside its barrier.
If it had wanted to, it could have crushed him at any time. He had been too insignificant for it to even consider using its full strength.
That was how the demon had viewed him.
‘This is only a mid-ranking demon. One at the very edge of that rank...’
How many stronger demons were there beyond it?
It felt like standing before a mountain that rose beyond sight.
Ise soon shook his head.
His survival against the demon before him was uncertain enough. Thinking beyond that was sheer arrogance.
First, Ise tore off a long strip of his sleeve and wrapped it tightly around his arm. Then he tucked a dagger into the wrapping.
After that, he used Dokkaebi Steps to gradually erase his presence.
* * *
‘If I drag this out, I'll certainly lose.’
After trading blows with the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse for only a short time, Goecheon became certain of it.
The level and realm of its demonic qi felt similar to his own, but there was an unmistakable gap in class and experience.
As if it had hunted the dokkaebi people countless times, every move he made was intercepted.
Even if he had to risk his life, ending this as quickly as possible gave him the best chance.
After several exchanges, he had clearly identified where he held the advantage and where he did not.
He was inferior in speed and stamina.
But he could gain the upper hand in strength and in sudden bursts of demonic qi.
Then...
‘Even if I give it flesh, I'll take its bones.’
Goecheon received the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse's lightning-fast horns with his own body.
He had wrapped himself in demonic qi to block them, but the two horns still pierced through his abdomen and protruded from his back.
“Hup!”
He sucked in a deep breath and tightened his muscles.
Then the sharp broken edge of the Gold Chain Staff descended straight down toward the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse's back.
With a dull impact, the demon's blood sprayed into the air.
A scream rang out.
Once. Twice. Three times.
Whenever the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse struggled, its dragon horns churned through Goecheon's abdomen. Whenever the broken staff came down, the creature's thick hide was torn to pieces.
It was a desperate close-range battle, nearly mutual destruction.
Like a contest to see who would reach death first.
A race with the River of Three Crossings as its finish line.
‘I can catch it...!’
Goecheon forced himself to cling to his fading consciousness, but in that instant, he missed the snake-shaped thing that shot from the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse's tail.
As though it had been its hidden trump card, the snake demon sprang out and bit deep into Goecheon's shoulder.
‘Poison...’
A deadly venom spread from his shoulder in an instant. If he had been uninjured, he never would have allowed such a fatal blow to land, but the difference made by a hidden move was decisive.
Both Goecheon and the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse sensed the end drawing near.
For one fleeting instant, with victor and victim alike consumed by the battle before them, something dropped from above the trees.
“You... you!”
Ise, the human boy who should have already fled back to Gwisu Temple, had landed on the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse's back.
Neither Goecheon nor the creature had noticed him. Their fight had been that close.
Kyaaaaaak!
The Infant-Cry Dragon Horse had been caught off guard as well, and it let out a furious scream.
“Why didn't you run?! Do you want to die for nothing?!”
“Hold it tight, Sir Goecheon...!”
Only then did Goecheon notice the arm-length dagger in Ise's hand, set with a blue gemstone.
The auspicious energy flowing from it made it clear that it was a treasure from the Relic Vault.
For a brief moment, Goecheon was overcome with despair at the sight of the boy he had tried so hard to save returning to the fight. Then he tightly pinned down the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse's head with the arm it had pierced through, while grabbing the snake-tailed appendage in his other hand.
Something about the creature's struggles felt strange.
He would not survive anyway.
A third of the organs in his abdomen had been destroyed, and the venomous snake had bitten him directly in an artery.
Still, he wanted to create a path for the boy before him to live.
Woooooo!
The Infant-Cry Dragon Horse's agonized cry echoed loudly.
Gripping the Vein-Severing Blade, secured to his arm with the torn sleeve, Ise drove it precisely into the center of the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse's spine.
The only wound Goecheon had managed to open.
The single opportunity bought with Goecheon's life.
Goecheon was a dokkaebi who had thrown away his life to save him, but Ise could not wait for an imperfect opening even if it meant the dokkaebi would die.
Ise immediately struck the handle of the Vein-Severing Blade with his hatchet.
Like hammering a chisel.
Another tearing scream resounded.
It was not pain.
It was fear.
The demon must have felt the demonic qi flowing through its body scattering away by the second.
The Vein-Severing Blade was a weapon that severed the channels of demonic qi.
When driven directly into a demon's channels, it would gradually consume the demonic qi within its body, leaving it powerless.
Growing increasingly frantic, the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse thrashed even more violently.
Goecheon gathered his last strength and struck the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse's head.
Perhaps because the demonic qi cloaking its body had vanished, the creature's head, which had been hard as steel until now, crumpled like crushed tofu.
A fatal wound.
But the price of exhausting his final strength was fatal as well.
The Infant-Cry Dragon Horse shoved Goecheon away in a desperate charge, then slashed diagonally through his body with its dragon horns.
Goecheon's body disappeared from sight without even managing a scream.
As if it had finally rid itself of the nuisance, the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse snorted and flung its body about.
Yet the little human clinging to its back would not come off.
All the demonic qi within its body had already been consumed.
The Infant-Cry Dragon Horse slammed its body into a tree to throw off the human on its back.
Crash!
The tree split apart, and Ise vomited black blood once again.
It was still immensely strong, despite being unable to properly use its demonic qi.
But the Vein-Severing Blade, busy greedily devouring the creature's demonic qi, did not budge. Thanks to his tightly bound hand, Ise did not fall off either.
Instead, he raised the hatchet in his free hand and swung it at the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse's mangled neck.
Thud! Thud!
Three times. Four times.
The hatchet sank deeper into the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse's neck, spraying demon blood in every direction.
Sensing the danger, the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse swung its tail and pierced through Ise's body.
He did not stop.
After a struggle between two beings who could have died at any moment, the demon fell first.
Only then did the Vein-Severing Blade, as if finally full, pull itself free from the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse.
The demon died with its neck severed, while Ise dropped to his knees, covered in blood.
Everything below his chest was red.
He could not move even one step in this state.
It seemed unlikely that he would survive.
Goecheon had disappeared from sight, making it difficult to search for him or save him.
For his final act in life, Ise used the hatchet to tear off the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse's head, then impaled it upright in the ground.
Like displaying the head of an enemy general.
This was the second demon he had hunted, and it would be the last.
His vision blurred.
Through his fading consciousness, he vaguely saw a light flying in from the distant sky.
The blue light trailed a long tail, like the dokkaebi fire from the old stories adults had told him as a child.
It was Mongryeon.
Mongryeon jumped down from the light, waved a hand to wrap Ise's body in demonic qi, then clicked her tongue at the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse's head, which had been mounted on the hatchet.
Perhaps the boy's fixation on heads was some lingering reaction from seeing the bodies of his family after Snail-Headed Scholar had eaten their heads.
“What's with displaying heads? Is that your demon-hunting symbol or something? You're weak, yet you're already worrying about looking impressive...”
Ise could barely speak.
Still, ever since Mongryeon appeared, the pain had strangely faded, and his body felt more comfortable.
When he spat out what had filled his mouth, a handful of black blood poured out.
“Inside my robe... a Restoration Pellet... Give it to Sir Goecheon...”
Understanding what he meant, Mongryeon immediately searched his clothes, pulled out the Restoration Pellet, and placed it in his mouth.
“Looks like there's a hole in your stomach. I wonder if you can even digest it.”
“Why... me?”
“Goecheon is already dead.”
“...”
“Fool. A dokkaebi should act like a dokkaebi. Those weaklings who hid themselves away in Gwisu Temple couldn't even run, yet they charged out claiming they would protect something. Tsk, tsk. Worthless fools.”
The Restoration Pellet's effects were certain.
Called a cure for all ailments and a peerless medicinal pellet, it stopped the bleeding and began to heal his wounds.
“...I'm sorry.”
“What do you have to be sorry for? It's because I didn't teach those children properly. But you brought a precious medicinal pellet and now you're dying? You should've taken it yourself.”
“It wasn't meant for me.”
“Bullshit. They say this is a miraculous medicine that can bring back the dead, but it can't even close a hole in someone?”
She roughly scratched her head, then spread open her palm as if she had given up caring.
“I don't know whether I should use dokkaebi sorcery on someone who hasn't even awakened spiritual energy.”
After hesitating, Mongryeon waved her hand. The hole running through his body gradually began to close.
It was a miraculous sight that left his mouth hanging open.
“...Master really is incredible.”
“You only figured that out now? It's a temporary measure, so don't push yourself until the Restoration Pellet takes effect. More importantly, this thing isn't dead yet.”
Mongryeon bared her teeth and growled as she approached the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse's corpse.
The body looked utterly beyond saving, but Mongryeon only bared her teeth and spun the Gold Chain Staff in her hands.
“This bastard killed four of my people, and now it's pretending to be dead.”
She drew in a deep breath.
Her body swelled in an instant, like a toad puffing out its belly.
When Mongryeon stretched out her hand toward the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse, black energy began to draw out of its corpse in streams.
It gradually gathered into a sphere, then plunged back into the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse's body.
“That can't be... Its head was torn off.”
“This thing has only fallen to the Qi Condensation Realm now, but it was once a monster that reached the Core Formation Realm. As long as traces of its Golden Core remain, destroying its body alone won't finish it. You have to destroy the traces of the Golden Core.”
Qi Condensation Realm. Core Formation Realm.
Ise recalled the cultivation realms he had read about in books concerning cultivators.
Qi Condensation, the realm where one began to wield and study spiritual energy.
Foundation Establishment Realm, where one removed every impure energy from the body, laid a true foundation, and gathered a vast amount of spiritual energy.
Core Formation, the realm where one formed an inner core known as the Golden Core and began to truly approach immortality.
Nascent Soul Realm, where one could wield the soul and spiritual body, unleash natural disasters, and gain a body close to immortality.
Spirit Transformation Realm, the final realm attainable in the mortal world, where one became a divine being capable of ascending to the heavenly realm.
Most cultivators ended their lives in the Qi Condensation Realm. Reaching the Core Formation Realm alone was enough to be called a master in the mortal world.
By that standard, the creature had truly fallen from the heavens into the abyss.
Mongryeon pulled the Vein-Severing Blade from the Infant-Cry Dragon Horse's back.
Then the creature's head, still impaled on the hatchet, screamed and flew toward its body.
“You were cut so nicely, and now you're trying to stick yourself back together.”
She spun her life-bound weapon, the Red Ten-Thousand-Pound Staff, then swung it down at an angle.
Dokkaebi Shadow-Hunting Demonic Art
Thousand-Pound Strike
It was only a swing, yet the impact made the ground itself seem to shake.
All that remained was the pulped corpse of the demon.
Footnotes:
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