Butchers Apocalypse - Chapter 160

Chapter 160: The Imp’s Sacrifice
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Translation by: Weebsread👹
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The horrors of the past played on an endless loop within Eun Kyung-woo’s shattered mind.
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“I should’ve pulled the trigger back then…!”
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A young, hesitant cop. A woman’s throat slashed before his eyes. Pale, trembling children. And always, a gunshot—too late to save anyone. With every cycle, Eun Kyung-woo’s despair and guilt grew heavier, threatening to swallow him whole.
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This… this is bad.
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I could feel his mind unraveling, the edges fraying with each repetition. His mother left comatose, children orphaned and sobbing, and himself—ostracized, condemned for “excessive force,” abandoned by his fellow officers.
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So this is why Kyung-woo fought so desperately to escape his past.
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Only now did I understand why he’d spent his whole life punishing himself, always pushing forward, never forgiving a single mistake. With every replay of his memories, the blue lightning that once surrounded him deepened into a muddy, blood-red—until, at last, he became a monstrous creature, wreathed in crimson thunder, radiating nothing but blind rage and grief.
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“I should’ve pulled the trigger back then…!”
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No, damn it! This isn’t America! In Korea, you can’t just shoot like that! Kyung-woo—he only fired because he had no other choice!
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But my words couldn’t reach him.
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That bastard who killed the parents in front of their children—he’s the real criminal, and yet he could turn around, sue the police, pretend to be the victim. None of this was Kyung-woo’s fault!
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Even knowing he couldn’t hear me, I shouted with everything I had. But the cold truth echoed back: he would never break free from this nightmare alone.
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Then, a single thought flashed through my mind.
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Every quest is only given if I have at least a chance of clearing it.
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Whatever the Channel Administrator’s true intentions, at least that much was certain. So I went back—back to the very first moment of the past, searching for the one thing I’d missed.
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- Activating Unique Skill: Crimson Eyes of Insight (A).
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- Activating Skill: Owl’s Eye (D).
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- Warning: This is not your Domain. Additional Energy will be consumed.
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My eyes burned with pain so sharp it brought tears.
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Where is it?
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Buried within the endless repetition, I found it—a subtle but unmistakable sense of wrongness. With both skills active, things I’d never noticed before came into focus.
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Outside the hostage-taker’s home, in the pitch-black night, I saw them: thin, black threads, like strands of a spider’s web, tied to the criminal’s body. And at the far ends of those threads, lurking among the stars, I sensed the foul presence of several hidden beings.
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[Heh heh… This time, I’m betting 1,000 Coins on “He won’t shoot.” That half-assed sense of justice always leads to hesitation in the end.]
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- The Constellation, “Master of Cowards,” mocks his choice with a sneer.
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[Hmph! That cop’s got a different look in his eyes than the others. I say he’ll shoot—after the guy kills someone. I’m putting 2,000 Coins on “He shoots too late.”]
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- The Constellation, “Spectator of Fallen Tragedies,” leans forward, watching with amusement.
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[No, no, this time he might just pull the trigger right away! Look at that righteous face! There’s nothing sweeter than the moment a pure soul is corrupted. I’m betting he shoots before the killing—and then watch the ruin that follows! That’s how the law works in the Republic of Korea, after all. Heh heh.]
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- The Constellation, “Prophet of Tainted Redemption,” licks his lips, voice thick with anticipation.
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Disgusting. All of them. Like gamblers at a racetrack, these Constellations were betting Coins on how Eun Kyung-woo would choose. I could hear their jeering laughter as if they stood right beside me.
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You sons of bitches!
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Rage surged through me, raw and violent. These things—they’d been toying with human lives, turning tragedy into their own twisted games, even before Earth’s so-called “purification” began.
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Maybe it was their filthy meddling that got our whole world marked for cleansing in the first place.
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Kyung-woo! Snap out of it! You’re just a pawn for these bastard Constellations!
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I tried to tell him the awful truth, but he was already lost—drowning in trauma, far beyond the reach of my voice.
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“Damn it! Shoot! Pull the trigger, you useless bastard! This is all your fault!”
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In the end, the last thread of his sanity snapped. Eun Kyung-woo was no longer human. Crimson-black thunder engulfed his body, writhing and raging like a wild beast.
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“KRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!”
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The sound that tore from his throat was no longer human—a corrupted beast’s howl, twisted by regret, hatred, and endless self-loathing.
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Thud. Thud.
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His body warped grotesquely, swelling and distorting. His skin hardened, crackling with dark red currents, like living armor. From his back, jagged spikes of crimson thunder burst forth like splintered bone.
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His eyes turned pitch black, burning with nothing but the hunger for destruction and pain.
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[Kill. Must kill!]
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- Warning! Ally “Judicator of Azure Thunder” has failed to overcome his past trauma and has Fallen into “Devourer of Crimson Regret” state.
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- The difficulty of Episode “Gunshots of the Past” has increased drastically.
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[KRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!]
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With a roar, the corrupted Eun Kyung-woo—no, the Devourer of Crimson Regret—unleashed a torrent of blood-red lightning, obliterating everything in its path.
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CRACKLE!
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This was nothing like the blue thunder from before. This lightning was saturated with nothing but annihilation and hate. It began devouring the entire space of his memories.
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CRASH!
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The stage of his worst memories—the police station, where he’d once laughed with his friends—was ripped apart like paper, the ceiling caving in. In an instant, it was reduced to a mound of black ash.
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BOOM!
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The crimson lightning didn’t stop there. It surged toward the villa where the hostage crisis had played out. The entire building exploded, collapsing in a roar, the screams of women and children echoing through the ruins.
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Shit…!
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A curse slipped from my lips.
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If I’m not careful, I’ll get trapped here too.
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The monster born of his despair was now destroying even the very past that had created it. At this rate, Eun Kyung-woo’s mind would shatter completely—he’d be trapped in this hell forever.
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I was out of time. The moment this world burned away, it was all over.
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“Kyung-woo! It’s not your fault!”
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[…]
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- The “Devourer of Crimson Regret” senses your presence.
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The monster’s eyes fixed on me.
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[…Culprit.]
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“Kyung-woo!”
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He lunged at me—no hesitation, no trace of the man he once was.
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CRACKLE!
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Red lightning erupted from his body, obliterating everything in its path. Each step melted the floor beneath him, his claws crackling with currents sharp enough to tear through time and space.
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ZAP!
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“!”
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SWISH!
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I thought I’d dodged his claws, but the lightning itself followed, slashing across my chest. A jagged, black scar burned into my skin in the shape of a bolt.
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“Gah!”
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His movements were pure savagery, unpredictable and relentless—violence incarnate.
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CRASH!
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I raised my Blade-crusher to block, but the lightning coursed down the blade and into my body.
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“Urgh!”
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Every muscle seized, nerves burning as if I was being fried alive. I bit back a scream and scrambled backward.
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Damn it…! Touching him is suicide, and even blocking with a weapon is dangerous! How the hell am I supposed to fight that red lightning?
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Desperately dodging his attacks, I racked my brain for a solution. Nothing—he was beyond reason, beyond reach.
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Then, a sudden thought.
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· “Cold-Blooded” activates when the wielder is bleeding.
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- Cold-Blooded: Immunity to all mental status effects while bleeding.
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That was the Butcher’s Bone Crusher—my weapon’s Option.
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But it only worked if the wielder was bleeding.
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And there was no way to get close enough to draw blood, not with that hellish lightning.
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That’s when it happened.
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[Hey, Lee Kang-joon! Can you hear me!? What the hell is going on in there? We’re all screwed if you don’t fix this! My barrier’s about to give out! That Kyung-woo guy’s turned into something freaky!]
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From outside the mindscape—out in the real world—the Imp’s frantic voice echoed in, shaking the very fabric of this nightmare.
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…Imp?
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A new idea struck me like lightning.
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“Imp! Can you hear me?”
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I shouted into the void, and after a moment, the Imp’s voice came again.
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[Of course I can, you lunatic! Hurry, do something! My barrier’s not going to last! Kyung-woo’s gone full monster!]
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Maybe… maybe something from outside can affect this place. If so, this might work. It has to work!
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“Just absorb the lightning for a second! That’s all I need!”
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[What!? What kind of nonsense—]
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“I don’t care how—use an Item, use your body, just for one second! On my signal!”
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[Hey! Hey! What the hell do you mean, absorb the lightning!?]
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“Three…! Two…!”
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[Ah, fuck! This is insane!]
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“One!”
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[Fine!]
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With a resigned curse, the Imp dropped his barrier and threw himself at the burning, blackened Kyung-woo. There was no other way—he had to take the hit himself.
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CRACKLE!
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[GYAAAAAAAH!]
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Got it!
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The surge of red lightning poured into the Imp’s blue body.
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At the same time, my Blade-crusher found its opening, driving straight toward the monster’s heart. There was no room for hesitation; Kyung-woo’s life—my own life—everything was on the line.