The Illegitimate Who Devours Weapons

Weapon-Eating Illegitimate Son

Episode 52

What I know about Mujin.

Not much.

It is expected that it is a mysterious weapon that can change shape at will, and that it has some kind of connection to the Black Flag.

The mountain man took a sip of his wine and continued speaking.

“You don’t know its origin either. But I saw something similar a long time ago, and I saw a man with it.”

As soon as I heard that, I thought of the man in Mujin’s memories.

He was practically like my teacher.

My overall movements were based on practicing the Manbyeon that man had created, and my magical arts were also greatly influenced by the man’s methods of operation.

The decisive battle technique, Cheokma, which is often used in important situations, also came from Mujin.

‘If we can get a clue about that man’s identity, we can also get closer to the secret of Mujin and Heukgi.’

I listened with anticipation.

“That man was a shaman long ago, who communicated with spirits and read the stars in the sky. These days, they seem to call him a sorcerer.”

The mountain man began to tell his story, waving his hands in the air.

In an instant, the steam from the healing water began to change into a variety of colors like paint, and then formed a shape.

It was a shaman wearing a dazzling shamanic attire.

And in the man’s hand he was holding a rough, unidentifiable stone.

“Is that the stone?”

“Yes. That stone could be transformed freely, just like the ring you are wearing. Before I got that stone, I wasn’t that famous, but as soon as I got it, I started to become famous.”

I paused for a moment as soon as I heard the story.

“Could it be that it was transformed into a stone and then used as a magical tool?”

“You know a little about magic, too. That’s right. That man was able to perform all kinds of magic with just that stone, without any special tools or rituals.”

Although much of it has been modernized in recent times, witchcraft is a force with religious overtones from its very roots.

Because of this, some spells often require complicated preparations.

A Buddhist ritual object made after many years of devotion, a jujube tree struck by lightning, or a bamboo flower.

But the man said that he didn’t need those supplies because he only had one stone.

“Anyway, that man became the greatest sorcerer of his time. It’s only natural since he was able to use all sorts of magic without paying a price. And…….”

The mountain man waved his hand again.

Soon the picture floating in the air distorted and changed into a new image.

“The stone ate him.”

“……!”

The man’s appearance had now changed to that of a monster rather than a human.

Half of its body was covered in black skin that had a metallic sheen, and its two glowing eyes were tinted red.

“A guy who was good at using sorcery suddenly changed like that in less than a year. He soon lost his wits and started to act like a monster.”

“So what happened?”

“What would have happened?”

The mountain keeper chuckled.

“If he was a sorcerer who had fallen into adultery, it would be a disaster in itself. There was no choice but to kill him. However, he didn’t die easily, so after much suffering, he was sealed away. After about a hundred or two hundred years, it was confirmed that he had died within the seal.”

“What happened to that stone?”

“I gathered the power of many sorcerers of the time and destroyed it.”

I kept my mouth shut for a moment.

‘Similar.’

I remembered the stories I had read in the Janggyeonggak ancient documents.

I asked the mountain man.

“Is the place where the man was sealed by any chance called Man-Gwi-San?”

“Man-Gwi-San? What is that?”

“……Don’t you know?”

“Oh, I don’t know?”

“Where was the place where that man was sealed?”

“It’s an island off the easternmost coast.”

If that’s the case, then it means that it wasn’t what I saw at Janggyeonggak.

In the materials in the old documents, it was clearly written as ‘Northern Manguisan.’

‘Stone and Mujin. They are two different things. But they are related.’

I thought of the new power of Mujin that had manifested before coming to Cheonwisan Mountain.

Unleash the power of the copied weapon.

It was a power that even my third brother couldn’t use before his regression.

It was too similar to the stone in the story the mountain keeper told to be a coincidence.

“But why do you ask that?”

“It’s nothing.”

“That guy is single.”

sudden-.

The mountain man waved his hands in the air as if shooing away flies.

Then the man’s figure disappeared along with the steam.

“Let’s get back to the story.”

The mountain man emptied all the remaining alcohol and opened his mouth again.

“Then I smelled something foul. It was so long ago that I couldn’t remember it, but now that I think about it, I’m sure of it. It’s similar to the smell you give off. It’s a strange smell that’s neither human, monster, nor spirit.”

The mountain man looked at me intently.

Those eyes gleamed dangerously.

“I’m sure it’s not a good weapon to handle, but an unknown foreign object. Why don’t you give it up? There must be many better weapons in your house.”

The mountain man rested his chin on his hand and stared at me.

I did not avoid the mountain keeper’s eyes.

Although the tone was soft and seemed to suggest something, I felt a sense of threat as if my heart was being squeezed.

For a brief moment, it was a moment of thought.

I opened my mouth when a leaf that had grown in spring fell onto the healing water.

“When I opened my eyes, my father said something to me.”

My father explained to me the dangers of the eye of the beast and recommended sealing it.

My answer at that time was this.

“If I am given the power, I will use it to subdue anything, no matter how dangerous it may be. That is exactly what I said.”

“You cheeky brat. How dare you say that to that block of ice.”

The mountain man smiled broadly.

But his eyes still weren’t smiling.

“But kid. Do you think this is the same as Ma-an?”

“It doesn’t make much of a difference to me.”

“Then there’s no other way. I have to steal it. It feels like I’m being ripped off, so I feel a little bad about it.”

The mountain man slowly got up and stretched his hands into the air.

In an instant, silence descended upon Cheonwisan Mountain.

Swish-.

The mountain man lightly curled his fingers as if grasping the air.

In that moment, the air where the mountain man’s hand touched became distorted.

And then, in that place, something transparent, like a cloud of dust, began to glow.

‘Goblin bat.’

I swallowed dry saliva, feeling the overwhelming pressure.

* * *

Goblin bat.

One of the many sacred objects symbolizing goblins.

According to legend, it was described as a red bean paste or a stick that could create whatever it wanted.

Actually, it’s not much different from that.

However, it is closer to ‘causing’ something rather than ‘creating’ it.

With one swing, he can create typhoons, tidal waves, and move mountains.

The shape of the azaleas that had gathered together had not yet been properly revealed.

If a mountain man breaks his bat properly, he becomes a walking natural disaster.

“When you say something nice, give it to me quickly. It’s been a while since I’ve swung it, so I might not be able to control my strength.”

The mountain man’s eyes sparkled as he slung the goblin’s club over his shoulder.

I stared at the mountain man and smiled faintly.

“You can’t do that.”

“……Does it really look like that?”

“Yes, because if you do that, you will be breaking your oath.”

Towering-.

The mountain man’s body stiffened.

“what?”

“I am supposed to protect the mountain and help train the trainers, so what you are doing to me is breaking your oath.”

“under.”

As soon as the mountain keeper heard that, he let out a deep sigh and lowered his head.

“Hehehe.”

Then, with an awkward smile, he raised his head slightly and made eye contact with me.

“Did you know everything?”

“sure.”

I smiled back at him too.

Due to the oath with the founder, the mountain keeper cannot harm the trainee unless there is a special reason.

Neither taking out the bat nor threatening it was just acting because he couldn’t take it away directly.

“Ugh, sick.”

The mountain man waved his hands in the air.

Then, the goblin bat that had been spreading an intimidating air disappeared in a gust of wind.

“If you knew in advance, why didn’t you just tell me? You cheeky brat. It’ll be embarrassing.”

I didn’t say it on purpose.

Because the mountain keeper noticed why this awkward thing was happening.

“In fact, you had no intention of taking it away, did you? Weren’t you just testing me to see what I was going to do?”

The mountain man opened his eyes wide again.

The mountain man stammered, his mouth wide open as if he had been taken by surprise.

“What, what are you talking about? Taking a test?”

“If you really intend to risk everything, then there is a way to retrieve Mujin. There are loopholes in the oath to begin with.”

The content of the oath that the mountain keeper made with the founder is as follows.

I will protect the mountain.

We will help the trainees who enter the mountain.

What if the trainer leaves the mountain?

“……You really shouldn’t be living off of rice and beans, but rather selling your tongue and brain to make a living.”

“Is this a compliment?”

“It’s a curse, you little brat!”

The mountain keeper grumbled and ground his teeth.

‘Oh, damn it, is this kid really 14 years old? Or is he not even human in the first place? Is he a gumiho or a snake disguised as such?’

As Lee Cheol said, this whole thing was a test for the mountain man.

In fact, unlike the stone, the Mujin that Lee Cheol possessed did not have an ominous aura. There would probably be no problem in having it.

Even so, it was true that Mujin was an object of unknown origin, and that it seemed to be related to the sorcerer’s stone.

So, this was a test to see if Lee Chul was a person with no principles or a wavering mind.

We’ve already seen his willpower in his training, but to show another side of him.

‘But this guy noticed all that and played along to the beat.’

He’s a scary guy.

I acted so unobtrusively that I couldn’t understand at what point they noticed.

At that time, Lee Cheol asked with a smile on his face.

“But if it was so dangerous, why didn’t you try to take it away?”

“I don’t feel the strange energy from that Mujin that I felt from the guy who was eaten by a stone. It’s probably not a monster that eats its master.”

“Are you talking about… energy?”

“I just had a strange feeling the moment I saw that stone. A goblin’s intuition is quite sharp.”

“okay.”

I nodded.

I was confident that Mujin would not be in danger.

The man who got the stone was said to have been swallowed within a year.

But since I got Mujin, I haven’t felt any particular abnormality until now.

‘But the goblin’s confirmation and my guess feel different.’

“By the way, Mountain Keeper.”

“Uh, why.”

“You threatened the trainer and pointed a weapon at him. You wouldn’t just let it go, would you?”

The mountain man looked at me with his mouth wide open.

I smiled very softly.

“I tend to be thorough when it comes to calculations.”

“Hey, hey, this, this is a bit…….”

The mountain man’s eyes began to tremble violently.

* * *

“Damn it. That bastard would even eat the Grim Reaper, that bastard would even eat the King of Hell! Ugh!”

The mountain man banged his chest and ground his teeth.

Anyway, it was just a threat. Since nothing much happened, what Lee Chul asked for was not much.

-There are magic herbs that I need, but they are often deep in the territory of spirits. Bringing them is no problem, but it would be inconvenient for me to go in there. And it also seems like I would be doing something bad to spirits.

He asked me to bring that along.

In the nests of spirits, elixirs and herbs sometimes grow, influenced by the spirits’ energy.

Among the spirits, there are some who don’t care about it, but there are also some who raise them with great care.

The former is fine, but the latter is… …terrible.

To extract it, you had to appease and coax the spirits, and find a replacement.

In fact, it is not a difficult task for the mountain keeper who owns Cheonwisan Mountain.

‘I’m getting annoyed again!’

It’s just incredibly annoying.

The mountain man made a promise.

I’ve decided never to touch that little brat again.

I’ve never once seen anything good come out of a mess.

The mountain man trudged towards the cave.

‘The guy who challenges the exam has such a strange power. How should I accept this?’

The mountain keeper, who was looking up at the sky with a sigh, suddenly tilted his head.

‘But it’s a bit strange.’

The mountain man turned around and turned his head towards where Lee Cheol’s training ground was.

‘I definitely didn’t sense any ominous energy from that Mujin thing, so where on earth does that unpleasant smell come from?’

* * *

Even though training with the mountain man was added, my daily routine did not change.

Still hiking in the morning, martial arts during the day, auror skills in the evening, and alchemy at night.

For each schedule, we simply brought the time forward a little and added practice to the daytime hours.

‘Okay, then, I’ve ground up all the herbs and hidden them so the spirits can’t come… I guess I should go to bed soon.’

It was an eventful day.

I finished getting ready and sat down on the bed.

There was something I absolutely had to do before going to bed.

It was something I didn’t do often because there were so many things to do when I was up.

Woof-!

Black particles began to flow out of his body in a cloudy manner.

Black flag.

And on my bed there was a sword and a sword.

Black night. And the lead.

‘Then shall we read it today too?’

Black energy slowly seeped into the two swords.