The Swords I Raised Are Too Strong - Chapter 41

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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Chapter 41. War Preparations (1)
“So you’re saying you’ve killed ten people in total, and one of them was a Demon Worshipper?”
A bizarre man who gleamed with holy power in his blade while simultaneously reeking of that nauseating demonic stench.
The Demon Worshipper who had sought me out was Kim Chang-seok.
My first impression of him was….
That of a madman.
“Y-yes, that’s correct.”
What else would you call someone who killed nine ordinary people and one fellow Demon Worshipper, then declared himself a Demon Worshipper? A lunatic, surely.
He begged me for a chance, singing of salvation.
“The other nine were all criminals whom my original deity had ordered severely punished.”
Before the Patriot’s transcendence, South Korea had, remarkably, harbored drug cartels.
Those were chaotic times, marked by the Gate crisis.
With law enforcement weakened, all manner of crime ran rampant, and South Korea of that era bore little resemblance to the nation it had become.
Kim Chang-seok had become a Demon Worshipper by slaying such serious criminals, and he claimed to have committed no further crimes since.
“I only offered to the evil deity those criminals whom the Patriot executed. And, and….”
By the measure of my eyes, honed by the experience of countless Swords, the likelihood of truth was high.
A being of the highest order might deceive me, but Kim Chang-seok’s martial prowess fell far short of such a level.
“I, I was originally… a diligent taxpayer and an exemplary Hunter!”
He insisted that he had been, at heart, a patriotic citizen who loved this nation.
His evidence: in the early days of the Gate crisis, the United States had offered tremendous benefits and encouraged immigration for Awakeners with healing abilities—.
‘Citizenship with conditional tax exemptions and all sorts of other incentives.’
Kim Chang-seok had remained in Korea at that time.
Given that planes were taking off then, his claim wasn’t entirely false.
All the truly promising prospects of that era had fled to the United States.
I knew this well, having been an Awakener Management Bureau official.
“Please, take pity on me, a patriotic citizen, and grant me a chance….”
“If you’re looking for the Patriot, why did you come to me instead?”
If you were going to speak of patriotism, shouldn’t you have sought someone else?
I asked with that intent, and received an answer that was, surprisingly, quite convincing.
“B-because the Patriot executes even attempted criminals without question….”
One might question whether the word “attempted” even applies to someone who’s already turned into a Demon Worshipper.
In any case, the Patriot would have executed him without hesitation.
But here’s the thing.
‘It is possible to reverse it.’
Cruel as it sounds.
As far as I know, there is only one way for a Demon Worshipper to return to being an ordinary human.
By utilizing the power of my Sword.
Which is to say….
⦗Oho, a fascinating phenomenon.⦘
Among the currently awakened Swords, all but one speak to me with formal speech.
The sudden casual speech and heavy voice belonged, unsurprisingly, to [Fourth Sword, Muratan].
And Muratan could ‘separate’ Demon Worshippers.
‘He melts human flesh and soul together, then isolates only the parts tainted by evil.’
This wasn’t an act Muratan particularly enjoyed, given how tedious it could be.
Yet Muratan showed interest nonetheless.
⦗Sword Master, this is the first time I’ve seen the iron of an evil god mixed into the iron of a Hunter.⦘
It was curiosity born from unfamiliarity with Awakeners—Hunters.
The good news: I could separate the Demon Worshipper from Kim Chang-seok.
The bad news was….
“Can you endure it?”
That it would be pain beyond imagination.
“I’ll endure it… I’ll bear it. If you’ll just give me the chance!”
Everyone said such things, but when Muratan actually refined them, most either died or became cripples.
I delivered this warning.
“Even if I die, even if I become a wreck, I don’t want to live like this. The truth is….”
Kim Chang-seok demanded his chance while even revealing the orders he’d received from the evil god.
As an act of betrayal against the evil god, blood surged from his mouth and his entire face darkened.
In about an hour, Kim Chang-seok might be dead.
“You were sincere.”
I nodded at his resolve and posed my next question.
“Orders to fall and commit terrorism. Who else received what orders?”
“We… we receive revelations from the evil god individually, so I don’t know well what others received.”
The Demon Worshippers held irregular gatherings.
They periodically created meetings among Demon Worshippers surviving in Korea, evading the Patriot’s eyes.
Unfortunately, the orders came after that gathering ended, so I couldn’t know about the others, he said.
‘Right, this is someone risking his life to defect—I should at least try.’
An experiment in turning a Demon Worshipper back.
This moment would be the safest time to attempt it.
In truth, techniques for separating evil could be used by other Swords besides Muratan.
The problem came after the separation.
‘Only Muratan can return them alive.’
Yulia’s ‘Purification’ is a power that washes the target’s soul and returns them to a complete state.
In that case, the body infused with the evil god’s power simply vanishes.
It grants spiritual salvation through death.
Reinhardt Euclid’s ‘Ascension’ works by returning the soul to the heavens, assuming the target possesses a righteous heart—similar to exorcism.
The body survives but becomes an empty shell, no different from death.
That’s why I decided to rely on Muratan.
Especially since he’d shown interest.
“For now, I’ll give you the chance.”
Some might call me weak for this.
They say, “What good is it to turn back someone who has already converted to a Demon Worshipper?”
But….
[Evil]
Whether Demon Worshippers or followers of the Evil God.
The malice of such creatures transcends the comprehension of ordinary people by an immeasurable distance.
The reason I raised Iris Ruzbella as a demonic sword that devours everything when I was young was to remain unaffected by such malice.
After that, I attempted different approaches, but even those proved extraordinarily difficult.
“D-did you turn all the village children into Demon Worshippers? You filthy vermin!!!”
This occurred when the Holy Sword Yulia Lanestia waged her holy war.
The Demon Worshippers forcibly converted the village children into Demon Worshippers, claiming they would face only the righteous.
They used the children as shields, throwing them before the holy knights to sow confusion in their ranks.
Because I remembered such history.
‘What if North Korea….’
Gripped by the anxiety that such a scene might be recreated.
I extend this mercy deliberately.
Muratan is a sword that acts on whim and stubbornly refuses to obey.
Yet still—.
“I hate hearing those brats whining.”
When separating ‘evil’ from the children, I adjust it so it doesn’t hurt.
And since Muratan detests being bothered by annoying children, I gathered all the children in a ‘quarantine zone’.
I stationed the swords Muratan had discarded throughout that village to protect the children.
“Those whining little ones shall never leave this village!”
The swords Muratan had discarded were all called continental-grade divine artifacts, and the village’s scale rivaled an entire nation.
Thus the children lived safely and well within the village.
In a similar vein.
⦗A hunter seduced by the Evil God’s temptation—. How amusing.⦘
Muratan showed interest in the steel named Kim Chang-seok.
Whether this world was pitied or merely a curiosity to Muratan, even I could not fathom.
In any case, an opportunity was granted.
Thus, I spoke his name.
“Fourth Sword, Muratan.”
In that instant.
My vision shifts slowly.
Everything feels like burning steel.
And so.
Thoom———.
The world settles down with tremendous weight.
A space heavy yet brimming with heat.
Kim Chang-seok before me becomes a scrap of steel cradling a handful of darkness, while the crude greatsword in my hand becomes a hammer that purges impurities.
Naturally, the passion of a craftsman fills my gaze.
I regarded Kim Chang-seok with eyes burning with that passion.
He spoke.
“I have no regrets.”
He too had resolved himself.
And so, without hesitation, I brought my sword down.
Clang——!!!
The sound of a hammer strike reverberated across the world.
—Ep. 15 War Preparations.
“S-Si-woo?”
Kang Seol-ah looked at me as though her mind might scatter.
It was the fault of the guest I’d brought.
“I’ve completely separated all traces of the Demon Worshippers with my sword, so please don’t worry.”
Thanks to the Awakener Management Bureau capturing a Demon Worshipper not long ago, I was able to roughly grasp their ecology here on Earth.
And through re-tempering Kim Chang-seok this time, I came to understand how orders descended upon them.
“The Demon God also issues commands through the status window. There may be something corrupted in WorldNet as well.”
“W-well, even if that’s true! But what’s with this fanatic?”
In the end, the work of separating evil from Kim Chang-seok succeeded.
He did not die, nor did his mind shatter.
Instead….
“A guardian knight serving the Divine Shin Si-woo, Kim Chang-seok. I hereby swear eternal loyalty in this moment.”
Seol-ah handed me Kim Chang-seok’s file, and apparently he had lived as a guardian knight of a saint named Artenon, enduring trials for decades.
After coming to Earth, he proselytized and bothered ordinary people, receiving considerable criticism for it, or so it seemed.
‘He must have had quite the resentment. But for a holy knight to suddenly fall like that.’
And he….
He who had apostatized and become a heretic.
“Shin Si-woo is truly the genuine god of Earth.”
Now he had begun to praise me.
Claiming himself to be the first holy knight serving me, he demanded that Kang Seol-ah become a religious devotee.
Spouting all manner of strange names like Sword Religion, Shin Si-woo Religion, and so forth.
My sister looked at me with eyes that screamed ‘what is this madman?’, yet understanding the gravity of my words, she said nothing.
She asked.
“When evil is separated by your sword… they don’t all end up like this, do they?”
“That couldn’t be. It’s merely Kim Chang-seok’s individual peculiarity.”
Sister tilted her head.
‘How strange.’
Recently, the aura I sensed from her has been extraordinary.
She was truly on the verge of awakening.
I’d long since recognized that she too was undergoing some trial like myself, yet still no signs of awakening appeared.
‘Perhaps she simply lacks the will.’
In any case, I completed the transfer of Kim Chang-seok to the Awakener Management Bureau.
After finishing the rough work.
“How about we have a drink for once?”
My sister asks me.
Though it wasn’t long ago that I used to drink, it feels like a distant past to me now.
I miss those days.
Why?
“Sister, I’ve become a body that can no longer get drunk… or rather, cannot get drunk.”
“Wow, Awakening really does have a lot of side effects.”
A heavy drinker, Kang Seol-ah.
Back in university, because of her distinctive beauty, senior male students would show up with boxes of soju trying to impress her, yet not a single one could walk away from her presence, or so the story goes.
For reference, my sister’s alcohol tolerance is at least eight bottles of soju.
Since that’s all I remember, her actual capacity is probably even greater.
She inherited her mother’s appearance, but her alcohol tolerance and nerve came from her father, Director Kang Mu-jin.
“Isn’t it about time for you too, Sister?”
Because she was such a unique person, I harbored a wish that she would Awaken.
I thought she might become an incredibly powerful transcendent.
But…
“Something feels like it’s coming, but if I actually transcend, that would be a problem. It’s such an ambiguous feeling.”
Is she not mentally prepared yet?
Has the ordeal my sister faces not come to an end?
Since these were difficult questions to answer, I didn’t ask.
Instead, I summoned a variant of the Demon—a new weapon that Muratan had created.
When I separated the evil earlier, I also heard an explanation about the new weapon.
—Master, command, I listen.
Its appearance had become somewhat rounder and cuter.
Yet still a monster with blood-red skin and a terrifying single eye that flickered.
Despite that, the aura it emanated was ‘gentleness’ itself.
“Oh.”
Muratan’s newly created Demon was named the ‘Good Demon’.
It had its instinct to devour everything erased, and possessed the characteristic of faithfully carrying out assigned tasks according to its master’s commands.
And unlike the existing Demon that only listened to my and Iris’s words, the ‘Good Demon’ could have its master designated.
Of course, the supreme commander remains fixed as me.
“You’re telling me to ride this around for self-defense?”
“Even when separated from my sword, it can manifest in this world while transcended without my power.”
This was a case where Muratan had incorporated the ‘concept’ of a transcendent to make the Demon manifest without my strength.
The existing Demon’s evil nature is too thick, so it’s difficult to do that much, he said.
Anyway…
“Well, since you’re giving it, I’ll take it. But this keeps coming out—. Gasp!”
Surprisingly, this Demon had a function to transform into a red bracelet.
The Demon suddenly transforms into a bracelet and settles upon my sister.
She widened her eyes in surprise.
“Keep it hidden normally as a precaution, and take it out only when danger strikes.”
The terrorism of the fallen Demon Worshippers.
I needed to prepare for contingencies.
* * *
【Portals have opened across all of South Korea!!!】
Cheers erupted everywhere.
Patriot dragged along a haggard-looking elf, traveling throughout the nation.
In a single day, every habitable land across South Korea was connected by portals.
【The elf Yuki, hanging from the rear of Patriot’s aircraft carrier, is generating portals. This marks the final portal—.】
It was admittedly a rather bizarre sight.
Yet the citizens simply accepted it, astounded by the fact that a living Japanese person stood before Patriot.
The nationwide ‘portal network’ was that momentous an achievement.
—This is insane. Japan survived because of inter-city connections through portals, and now we have it too?
—Damn, Busan to Seoul in one second flat.
—But why are our portals so massive?
The portals constructed across South Korea were overwhelmingly larger in scale compared to Japan’s.
For reference, [portals] differ from spatial displacement that applies Spirit Realm principles and mysteries used for overseas travel.
They’re more like passages connecting spaces that remain perpetually open twenty-four hours.
Uuuuoooong———.
【Behold the colossal shimmering portal at Gwanghwamun Plaza!!!】
Massive portals installed at every major point across the nation.
The reason for their enormous scale was remarkably simple.
—Patriot apparently constructed the portals large enough to allow every resident of that city to evacuate smoothly in case of emergency?
—The beauty of an elf also shows haggardness behind the labor.
Judging by how thoroughly Patriot had wrung her out, Yuki hung from the aircraft carrier’s rear with dark circles deeply etched beneath her eyes.
Yet a peculiar smile lingered at the corners of her mouth….
“Hey, get lost!”
Patriot issued an expulsion order to Yuki.
Now that the work was finished, it was a declaration: ‘Go back to your own country!’
She….
‘A man who has met his own kind.’
She sent him a gaze filled with longing.
‘To him, I am the phytoncide of the World Tree itself!’
Patriot had dragged Yuki around, conducting intense interrogations about the World Tree and the elves.
At that time, Yuki answered obediently while also gathering information for herself.
‘The ability to convert the life force of nature into power. It’s definitely Mother World Tree’s strength.’
Yuki gazed intently at Patriot, harboring hope that other elves might exist in this world besides herself.
Patriot felt a chill run down his spine at that yearning look in her eyes.
“Don’t look at me like that, you Japanese woman!!!”
Upon seeing Cheok Jun-kyung’s blade, Yuki opened a portal to the Spirit Realm and returned to the Japanese Archipelago.
Witnessing this, Patriot let out a sigh.
“The world is descending into madness.”
Powerful individuals abounded, yet Patriot’s strength remained limited.
Having resolved the matter of Japan as a colossal threat, he resolved to enter the Tower immediately.
But before that….
‘Just in case.’
He sent a text message to Shin Si-woo.
—Patriot: Hey, are you—.
Then came the swift reply within a single second.
—Shin Si-woo: What is it?
Patriot had intended to attempt something with Shin Si-woo.
But….
Whoosh!
[Disclosing information about Constellations will result in the annihilation of all Constellations in the corresponding Tower.]
A ‘warning’ message materialized before Patriot’s eyes.
He exhaled deeply and sent another text to Shin Si-woo.
[Patriot: There’s something I want to ask, but it’s a question I cannot ask. Never mind. Good luck!]
︙
At that moment.
Shin Si-woo, who was distributing new Demons to the President and Kang Mu-jin, the Chief Prosecutor,
‘Why is this so anticlimactic?’
tilted his head in bewilderment at Patriot’s sudden question.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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