Chapter 196. < Room and Board(1) >
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Translator: Seven ED: Sasha
(TL: Before we get into it, I’ll point out that the name for this set of chapters has a few interpretations, so it’s possible that I will change it.)
1.
Out of all the Constellations I’d fought so far, the strongest was without a doubt…
The Devil King of Fall Rain.
A Demon Saint who built a mountain of corpses with a single sword. The tip of his sword dyed the continent red with blood, creating a river of blood that flowed from the mountain, carrying the heavy scent of blood.
“Kuhahaha!”
But that internal ranking was bound to change today.
“As expected of Daddy! You’re as slippery as a loach!”
A fist brushed past the tip of my nose. Boom! And I heard a loud roar as the air shook from its violent momentum. Oh my God. Just the wind pressure alone was almost enough to send me flying.
“S-, son!”
“What is it?! Daddy!”
“Do we really need to do this?!”
I cried desperately.
“It’s been so long since we last saw each other, so we should sit down and have a fun, relaxing conversation….”
“I’m having a lot of fun right now!”
“Are you trying to kill your Daddy?!”
“If Daddy dies then it means your skills only amounted to this. In that case, you shouldn’t blame me, you should blame your own weakness!”
An explosion came behind me.
When I looked back, I saw the peak of a mountain collapse after being struck by Uburka’s aura.
“Crazy.”
While I wouldn’t dare compare it to Master’s state where she could cut the very world with her mind, his destructive power was terrifying.
What would happen to me if I got hit by that fist? After deep consideration, in which I compared the hardness of my skull to the mountain peak, my calculations came up short.
“Spare your Daddy!”
I screamed.
“Neighbors! There is an ungrateful child here who’s trying to break his Daddy’s head! His Daddy was the one who taught him how to use aura and even passed on his Infernal Heavens Demonic Art, but now this child is ignoring his Daddy’s grace and trying to kill him!”
“That’s me! I will show filial piety with my fists!”(TL: Poor daddy ED: I mean, he did make his son go through hell XD)
After letting out a shout, Uburka took a stance. It was a stance that was very familiar to me.
Infernal Heavens Demonic Art.
First Form.
Sword of Starvation.
Aura rushed in from all directions to devour my body. My eyes went wide. His skill at manipulating aura was completely incomparable to the past.
-Hoh.
Bae Hu-ryeong let out a soft sound. At almost the exact same time, my sense of perception slowed considerably. Bae Hu-ryeongs voice became a soft ‘hoooooh’ in my ear, and I counterattacked before the snow and wind could snatch the end of his exclamation.
‘I’ll lose if I keep running.’
I roused the aura in my body.
If I let down my guard for even a second, I would lose without any chance to fight back.
‘Could that work?’
As time passed slowly, a plan formed in my mind.
‘I can try.’
My action was much faster than my contemplation.
I stepped forward. Bang! The snow beneath my foot scattered. My aura then seeped into the broken snowflakes.
Infernal Heavens Demonic Art.
First Form.
Sword of Starvation.
I did not respond to Uburka’s attack.
Instead, I dominated it.
In the end, the way the Infernal Heavens Demonic Art burned was dependent on the caster’s memory and image. Even if it was broken into dozens of different branches of attacks, it could still be destroyed if one understood which branches in the caster’s image were hard and which were soft.
‘The direction changes depending on how much you understand the technique.’
I quietly observed my opponent’s attack.
In my eyes, the gestures of the aura flames were vivid.
Uburka had chosen two branches of attack.
‘Let’s compete.’
The first breath.
The first thing I extinguished were the flames that were rushing wildly. The pain of hunger. It was an attack that contained the screams of a child.
‘It’s standard procedure.’
I swiftly controlled the technique. I recalled the gestures of a mother listening to the screams of a child in front of her.
The pain and suffering clashed. My aura wrapped around Uburka’s and twisted it like it was strangling it with both hands.
The direction of attack had reversed.
“……!”
The second breath.
Uburka’s gaze became fierce. He immediately realized my intention to fight with our understanding of martial arts instead of just strength.
“Daddy still likes to do distasteful things!”
Uburka mixed aura into his voice.
If an ordinary person heard it, Uburka’s words would have sounded like ■. Like a single syllable without meaning.
But, ■ had been compressed severely by aura. Only in our infinitely slow, extended time could ■ be spread out. It was a technique that required a fairly high level of skill.
“You’re treating me like a strong but stupid wild boar!” (TL: ‘musclehead’ is basically ‘muscled pig’ in Korean)
“Right.”
Only those with a sufficiently high skill level could listen to our conversation.
“If you don’t want to lose, you should untangle your Infernal Heavens Demonic Art first.”
“I hate this! I’m going to beat Daddy with the technique! Then, I’m going to flatten Daddy’s nose and roll you around till you feel like you’re in hell, then I’ll finally make you acknowledge me from the bottom of your heart!”
“Instead of learning how to use your aura well in those 300 years, you instead learned how to talk nonsense. You should just stay quiet and lose to me.”
“Ugo!”
Ugo was a goblin word that had many meanings, like [no], [never], [that’s distasteful], [get lost], [you son of a bitch], and many others.
“I waited for more than 350 years, I won’t lose again!”
“Whether it’s 300 years, 3,000 years or 30,000 years.”
The third breath.
I began to take control of Uburka’s Infernal Heavens Demonic Art. It was like I was coloring a sketch that Uburka had drawn, or, to be more precise, like I was adding my own improvisations to Uburka’s music.
“This Daddy has no intention of handing over the position of leader.”
Since Uburka portrayed the image of a starving child, I portrayed the image of a parent feeding their child and letting themself starve.
Which one would express the more painful hunger?
Which hunger was better suited to carry everyone’s screams?
The two Swords of Starvation combined to form one technique.
“Son.”
“What is it?!”
“Now that the family has been formed, we can have our conversation.”
I brushed Uburka’s authority aside with the back of my hand. I didn’t push it forcibly. Instead, I was able to avoid the attack after predicting its path. Hitting it with the back of my hand was simply the last movement needed for me to dodge.
Ugo.
Uburka rushed towards me.
“It’s a desolate job. Especially for the members of the Demonic Cult. For those who intend to learn from the pain of the world, it is necessary to enter the cult. The Infernal Heavens Demonic Art is the determination to embrace that pain. We live among the people.”
Every time Uburka swung his fist, mountain peaks collapsed one after the other.
But none of his attacks hit my body.
Rumble-
With the two of us at the center, avalanches occurred in the east, west, north and south.
Like the petals of a blooming flower.
A blood flower.
The blizzard collapsed.
“Oh my God…….”
About twenty steps away from us, the Black Dragon Master muttered blankly to herself. I wasn’t sure if she was shocked by the tremendous power Uburka displayed, or if she was admiring the way I was dealing with him.
Nevertheless, I didn’t pay any attention to her and instead continued to talk to Uburka.
“It’s necessary to be careful. Otherwise, our Demonic Cult would become an art exhibit for pain. For all to view as they please.”
“An art exhibit for pain?”
“I’m saying we shouldn’t compete to see who feels more pain. Instead, we should watch over each other so that pain doesn’t become a power for us. I know you’re not that kind of child, but I’ll still tell you this anyway.”
The fourth breath.
I successfully dominated all of Uburka’s attack branches.
Although Uburka was still able to move his body, the path that his aura could take was extremely narrow.
“Kuhp!”
Uburka gritted his teeth. His red aura burned fiercely, trying to forcibly open a path, but I skillfully grabbed the end of the flame and dragged it where I wanted it to go.
“If you endure the pain alone, then the people around you will become dry and twisted. The more precious they are to you, the drier they’d become. I want to tell you to stop, but what if you objected and said that you can bear the pain of the world? If pain was what made one a person, then you would be the only person.”
I felt that Uburka was following my words.
But I wasn’t sure.
Nevertheless, I continued to wield my flames.
It might have been too early to give him this advice, but as the Black Dragon Master said, it was better to be too early, than too late.
“Don’t make your loved ones suffer just because you’re doing it for the world. That would be putting the cart before the horse.”
“…….”
“Find companions. Persuade others with your will. Since you gained enlightenment after climbing the mountain, it is time to go down the mountain. Find someone to entrust your heart and mind to. Talk to them a lot. If you aim to become a person, become persons with them.”
“A person…….”
“You’re already there.”
The fifth breath.
I spread my aura.
“Look, child!”
My eyes shined as I met Uburka’s gaze.
Like mirrors reflecting each other, our eyes reflected each other endlessly.
“Why do you think I said all of that to you?!”
Aura exploded.
It wasn’t my power.
This torrent of aura came from Uburka.
I was just the one controlling the flow.
“It’s because I want to share the same sky!”
And I painted an image I’d long dreamed of with the red paint.
Uburka was the infinite paint, and I was the brush.
The same aura control method, the same demonic arts, and the same image descended on the white mountaintop.
Infernal Heavens Demonic Art.
First Law.
Burning Grave.
The sixth breath.
The surrounding landscape changed.
Red aura swirled around, creating various shapes.
Candles. Lit candles on candlesticks. There was even melted wax dripping from the candles.
The gorgeous floor and stairs. Even the various decorations embroidered around the mansion. Everything appeared.
“Wait a minute, this place……?”
The Black Dragon Master was shocked.
This place felt familiar.
Hundreds of candles burned, the shadows of aura hidden between each candle and candlestick.
-Cackle.
It was a familiar sound.
A sound that was reminiscent of dripping wax.
-Want to play hide and seek?
-Who…….
-With us…….
Suddenly, the scene collapsed.
In terms of time, it had probably only lasted for about 3 seconds.
Even with Uburka’s ridiculous amount of aura and my exquisite usage of aura, there was still a limit. It was difficult for us to maintain objects, sounds, and an independent space.
But we had done it.
Even if it was for almost an instant.
I had successfully recreated the fiery mansion.
“…….”
Uburka looked around, mesmerized.
The scenery had already returned to that of the mountaintop.
But everyone there knew that what we had just witnessed was not a hallucination or delusion.
“Uburka.”
I recalled my aura into my body.
“This is the truth I told you about 363 years ago. It’s not just about showing an image with aura. It’s about using your aura to make the image descend.”
I’d passed the Infernal Heavens Demonic Art down to Uburka.
He then spread it to the other goblins and it developed into Fire Plays.
This was all so that I wouldn’t have to walk this path alone.
“No matter how hard I try, I would never be able to maintain it for more than a second. My aura would run out in an instant, and it would collapse before I could even take ten steps. Even when you and I did it together, we were only able to maintain it for 3 seconds. But what if we added 12 warriors?”
“…….”
“What about 24, 200. No, what if a thousand goblins did it together?”
Uburka imagined the scene I just mentioned.
His eyes shined as if he was actually seeing it.
“Usually, such a thing would be impossible. But the goblins have been sharing their images for hundreds of years. Polishing them. We are the only ones in this world capable of doing that. We are musicians who share the same sheet music.”
“That……”
Uburka opened his mouth.
“But it’s a song about pain…….”
“It would be beautiful.”
“Ugor. It would be beautiful.”
I was getting excited.
“So go down the mountain with Daddy.”
I smiled brightly.
“Even if we sing about pain, our lives will still be joyful.”
“That’s weird. How could that be possible?”
“Because Daddy is a good guy. You’re a good guy too. Daddy acknowledges you and you acknowledge Daddy. The person who always does their best and works the hardest acknowledges and likes me, so how could I not be joyful.”
I stretched my right hand towards Uburka.
“I’ll be happier because of you, and you can smile a little more because of me.”
“Let’s go down. My sinner.”
Uburka grabbed my right hand.
[You have created a new skill!]
Suddenly, the Tower’s voice rang out in my head.
[Creating Skill Card!]
~~~
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