The Terminally Ill Young Master is the Mad Dog of the Underworld-Chapter 348

[Translator - Pot ]

[Proofreader - Kawaii ]

Chapter 348: You Don't Need to Suffer Even in Death

The Dark King’s long story came to an end.

“What do you think? Do you understand me a little?”

“……”

I sighed and replied.

“Yeah. You’ve had a pretty tough life, too.”

I had no intention of denying that.

It occurred to me again that if you get involved with these Black Society bastards, no one can be happy or at peace.

‘Not even themselves.’

The countless nameless people who lived as the Dark King’s slaves.

Underworld thugs like Schelde, Gelberich, and Huten, and the Executors.

Even Ivan and Amilcar.

‘The lives of every one of them have equally fallen into hell to suffer like this.’

If that was the case, it was only right that an organization like this disappeared.

‘And that includes you, Dark King.’

While listening to the Dark King’s story, I had been endlessly spreading my senses, analyzing the restraints that bound me.

As a result.

‘There is a way to break free.’

But I needed some time.

And I knew the perfect pretext to buy that time.

“Dark King. In that case, I also have something to tell you.”

“What is it?”

…Well, it was a secret I had to tell him someday.

I closed my eyes, then opened them and revealed the truth.

“Do you remember Karzan?”

“I know him. Both you and Ivan are obsessed with that one mad dog from the underworld.”

The Dark King reminisced.

“His talent was quite remarkable, but he was still a weak man. He dared to refuse my offer, so I intended to get rid of him in advance.”

“But you didn't expect that man to steal Ereshkigal, flee, and die in an explosion, did you?”

Seeing the Dark King’s expression change, I grinned.

“That was me. The Karzan from that time was reincarnated as Allenvert Grunewald and is now standing before you.”

“……What did you say?”

The Dark King seemed shocked for a moment, but then said with a calm expression.

“Reincarnation? I thought it was strange, but I never imagined it would be that.”

I tilted my head.

“What’s this? You’re not as surprised as I expected.”

“Because nothing is impossible in this world.”

The Dark King said something surprisingly wise.

“That is true.”

I nodded. This bastard, acting like he’s reached enlightenment or something.

“In that case, you must have wanted revenge even more.”

“That's right. Just as you did against the Empire.”

I glared at the Dark King.

“In the end, the karma from your own thoughtless actions has returned to you. Just as the laws of the world dictate, just as the wheel of fate turns.”

“……A god, or the world. Or the laws. Something has blocked my path.”

“Maybe. Or maybe you just have shitty luck.”

“Is it not truly a coincidence?”

The Dark King kicked me in the chest as I was bound.

“Kuk!”

“Of all people, Karzan, the very man who destroyed Ereshkigal, is standing before me like this.”

My ribs broke.

“I cannot let you die peacefully. Do you know how much you ruined my plans?”

“Like I give a damn? I died because of you.”

Even as I felt immense pain, I spat out the blood rising in my throat and retorted.

“You should have just eaten it right when you got it. Why did you save it for so long?”

“……”

The Dark King maintained a rare, long silence, then finally answered.

“……I was going to eat it on my birthday.”

“……”

Shit. I almost feel bad.

“Ahem.”

Feeling awkward, I tried to change the subject slightly.

“But Dark King, Ereshkigal's birth was truly that of a strange and demonic object.”

“Correct.”

“I needed Ereshkigal to cure my incurable disease, and you needed it to cure your eyes. But it ended up in no one’s hands and was destroyed. A cruel twist of fate, indeed.”

“In that case, it must be a devil's temptation, one that bewitches and ruins humans, and in the end, never allows itself to be held.”

I said.

“Perhaps Ereshkigal itself was an object created by a devil to mock humans and ridicule the gods.”

“If gods and devils truly exist, that is.”

The Dark King replied.

“What’s with that? Weren’t you just boasting that you were a Demon God?”

“Well, in a world without gods, the strong may as well call themselves gods.”

The Dark King added at the end.

“Though I think there probably are no gods.”

“……Haha.”

I had to laugh and agree with that.

“Even if they exist, they probably aren't benevolent or humane gods.”

I mean, just look at this bastard calling himself a god.

“In any case, there is likely no other way to obtain Ereshkigal.”

“……I suppose not.”

I replied, hiding my true thoughts.

Because if I had to be precise, there was one.

‘The someone that Rudgarda’s grandfather met.’

If I could find that someone, I might be able to find out how to make Ereshkigal again.

But there was no need for that now.

‘It is an abomination that drinks human blood.’

It was right for it to disappear into legend.

“Neither you nor I have any need to obtain Ereshkigal now.”

I had overcome the curse of my limited time by conquering the dark mana.

And the Dark King.

“Now, if I absorb you and raise my caliber once more, I can reconstruct my body and regain my lost eyes.”

I knew it. You persistent bastard.

“Can’t you just attach different eyes? I saw you gave Amilcar a different arm earlier.”

The Dark King replied.

“I have tried every method imaginable.”

Well, that made sense.

“By the way, Allenvert, no, Karzan.”

The Dark King called my name.

“I have one small question.”

“What is it?”

“Karzan. What did he look like? I heard he was uncommonly rough and ugly.”

“……Who told you that?”

“Ivan.”

‘That son of a bitch.’

Should I just leave him as a lost child of the dimensions?

“……This conversation has gone on longer than I thought.”

The Dark King raised his sword.

“Let us end this.”

I replied with a grin.

“I can’t let you do that.”

I had bought enough time.

I slammed my fist into the earth and muttered.

“Soul-Slumbering Black Moon… Spiral.”

Duuuuuuuuuuuung!

***

Gulbark swung his moth-like wings and used the horn that sprouted from his head as a second sword.

His skin had become harder than any substance, unable to be cut even by Sword Aura, and the martial arts he unleashed were vicious, resembling those wielded by men of a bygone era.

He looked just like...

“A minion of a demon.”

Leszek was holding him off from the front, and Georg joined in to add his strength.

Even so, they couldn't do anything to Gulbark.

“It's a temporary state of rage. He is exerting power beyond his caliber.”

At Leszek’s words, Gulbark’s black demonic eyes opened, and he laughed.

“This is the power given to me by him. Do you dare to oppose it?”

…The tide of the battle was beginning to turn against them.

***

As I broke free from my restraints, the Dark King asked.

“How did you break free?”

I grinned.

“You hid the core well.”

But once I found the core, destroying it wasn't difficult for me.

It was the same method I used to take down Gelberich.

And above all.

“It’s the same as when I broke your wooden box.”

“!”

“This is a martial art developed from the one I used back then.”

I slammed my fist into the earth and activated Soul-Slumbering Black Moon again.

Duuuuung!

The entire barrier, or rather, the entire dimension, rippled as if it would break.

Swiiiiiish!

The Dark King’s slash, flying in as if to stop me, was blocked by the bracelet sword I had already deployed and was manipulating with Sword Control.

“What, afraid it’ll break?”

“Does it look so easily broken to you?”

The Dark King shook his head.

“But since your spirit is not yet broken, it would be best to show you greater despair.”

Black demonic mana spread from the Dark King’s feet like inkblots.

That demonic mana then shimmered and became shadows.

“Ah.”

And created several spirits that strongly resembled the Dark King.

“Look. These are my older brothers.”

The Dark King introduced the spirits.

“These are my older sisters. These are my younger siblings.”

…The Dark King’s siblings surrounded me.

They were unable to utter human language, only wailing and shedding tears of blood.

“Their egos?”

“Mostly gone. They no longer remember what they were.”

The Dark King’s reply was heartless.

“Your ‘Previous Head’?”

“He knew he would end up like this the moment I inherited his position. He committed suicide and annihilated his own soul.”

“……”

The Dark King sneered.

“He, too, was a coward in the end. Just like all of us.”

I looked at the Dark King and his siblings, who were bound even in soul after slaughtering each other.

“Such a demonic art exists in this world?”

“Yes. It ‘did’. It is part of the demonic arts written in the Ebony Oath.” 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

The Dark King said.

“The souls of those I have killed. They were originally just dregs, their vital essence stolen, with only their thoughts remaining, lingering around me.”

“……And by obtaining the demonic arts of the Ebony Oath, they were combined within this True Demon Primordial Formation?”

“Your understanding is quick. Correct. It’s the same for Huten, Schelde, and Gelberich, whom you annihilated earlier.”

“So what’s inside here is your army of the dead.”

I had a premonition.

I understood why the Dark King had pushed his subordinates to their deaths without a second thought.

“This formation. Can you ‘release’ it?”

“Haha. You even noticed that.”

The Dark King raised his hand.

“The souls of those you kill will once again become my swords within this formation.”

…If these spirits were unleashed outside this formation, it would be the end.

Even if I fled to another dimension, those left outside would be annihilated and become the Dark King’s new soldiers.

“That cannot happen. I will not allow it.”

Once again, this had become a battle from which I could not retreat.

“……You were born into a supremely twisted family.”

I said with a sorrowful heart.

‘Whose malice, exactly, turned them into this?’

A fate where not even the lord of the clan could be happy.

“You enslaved all people, but in truth, the king who reigns above them is also a slave to fate.”

“Allenvert Grunewald.”

The Dark King, his white eyes open, pointed at me.

“……To think that you understand me.”

How many times had I heard those words?

But I had never imagined I would hear them from the Dark King.

“Now, my brothers and sisters.”

The Dark King commanded the spirits.

“Kill Allenvert.”

I used a combination of Sword Control, Mind Sword, and Sword Aura, a sort of three-sword style, to handle their joint attack.

“……Neither you, nor your clan, should exist any longer.”

I swung my sword, feeling as if I were going mad.

“If you do not like us, then try to win this fight.”

The Dark King’s words, from beginning to end, sounded as if he was ‘hoping to be stopped, if I could.’

“But your heart is already too twisted, and you can no longer stop yourself.”

When he killed all his siblings, when he was forced by his mother to stain his hands with innocent blood.

When he killed the brother he followed the most.

When his father, who had made his siblings slaughter each other like a king, ended his own reign with a coward's suicide.

…With each event, the Dark King’s mind must have broken, becoming irretrievable.

‘Therefore.’

I danced with the ghouls, swinging my sword, a sword dance set to their wails.

In this space where I couldn't tell if it was day or night, I endured the endless karma of slaughter.

“…Rest peacefully.”

I cut down the Dark King’s brother.

“May you find peace.”

I cut down the Dark King’s sister.

“You do not need to suffer, even in death.”

I cut down the Dark King’s younger siblings.

Aaaaaaaah.

Huuuuuuu.

They let out wails that were impossible to distinguish from shrieks or thanks as they vanished.

And.

“……Is this the sibling who took your sight?”

I aimed my sword at a spirit that was unusually strong, with an unusually distinct ego.

“Your intuition is sharp, Allenvert. No, Karzan.”

The Dark King said.

“You don’t want to kill your siblings with your own hands, so you’re having me grant them peace?”

At that, the Dark King replied with a face that was impossible to tell if it was crying or laughing.

“I did not want to kill my siblings twice.”

But it meant he wanted them to be freed from this dog-like cycle.

“If you had attacked me with them from the start, I would have already lost.”

But the Dark King had merely watched this fight from beginning to end.

“Dark King, pick up your sword again.”

As the Dark King wished, I cut down his brother's spirit and annihilated it.

“It is time for us to settle this.”

The Dark King nodded.

“Let us do so.”

No matter who won, this long, twisted fate would end here.

[Translator - Pot ]

[Proofreader - Kawaii ]