SH Chapter 85: Baal (Part 1)

 

Translated by satellite of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

It seemed like the silver light was reflecting his mood in its brightness. But comparing it to the blood red light was rather like comparing the faint glow of fireflies to the full moon in the sky.

The blood red light was like the mouth of a beast, nibbling away at the silver light little by little, closing in on Mani little by little.

Mani’s breaths became more and more shallow, until even his sight began to dim.

His mind began to blank as his consciousness gradually drifted away. In the haziness, he thought he could almost hear a voice calling out to him. “Father.”

But that was impossible. Lanka, his only child, was his enemy. His eyelids grew heavy and slowly closed.

The warmth on his forehead began to fade, just like his life.

…Sheldar. At this moment, there is only you and me, together.

Lanka made a mad dash trying to get there, but was forced back by the red light.

Mani’s head was like a withering flower, slowly wilting down. His flesh gradually began aging– his once tight skin loosened and sagged, and his hair grew whiter.

The red light was like creature that couldn’t be satiated– only when Mani’s body was reduced to skin and bones did it slowly retreat.

“Who are you? Who are you for real?” Lanka’s eyes were filled with hatred and a faint gleam of fearful horror.

“Haven’t you already guessed who I am?” The voice chuckled sinisterly.

Lanka whispered despondently. “You are Genesis’ changing magnetic field?”

“Genesis’ changing magnetic field? Haha, you guys really came up with a good excuse for me.”

Suddenly, as if being blown up with gas, Mani’s body began restoring. His skin was once again smooth and tight until he looked even younger than he originally did.

He slowly lifted his head. A pair of eyes, shining with red light and full of interest, turned to look at each and every person. “This is really quite a good crowd. Even Isefel came.”

Isefel’s voice was cold. “Baal?” (1)

“So glad you still remember me.” Baal smiled and turned to look at Houllier. “Oh, Houllier, Houllier. You’ve truly been so disappointing. I thought after you were driven out of Hell, you’d make something of yourself. But instead, you’ve been doing rather poorly by any standards.”

Houllier obviously feared him, so even as he was being mocked so viciously, he didn’t dare talk back.

Baal then turned to Asa. “A Titan? Who invited you guys to the show? Clowns are never welcome on my stage.”

Asa’s expression twitched. His fists were massive– just from the size alone, they were almost as large as “Mani”s entire face. But he just clenched them tightly, too scared to actually strike.

Feisha turned to Isefel. “Could you introduce him first?”

Isefel introduced him. “Baal.”

“…..And?”

Isefel replied. “There’s nothing worth saying about him.”

Baal shook his head. “Well, that’s no good. No matter what else has happened, we once stood together in the most glorious place. Even though every time I recall that time, it feels like a nightmare.”

Feisha stuck his tongue out in disgust. “You’re not telling me he’s an angel too?”

Baal replied. “Once upon a time.”

Feisha sighed. “The ranks of angels really are a mess of good and evil.”

Baal replied. “Indeed. Only idiots would stay in that kind of place.”

Lanka stepped forward, his eyes burning like flames. “Why have you been absorbing the life force of the invisible people?”

“Oh. You found out.”

Although Hughes was wearing a full suit of armor, he could feel his body tremble inside. “Absorbing the life force of invisible people?”

“Actually, saying that I’m absorbing the life force is a bit inaccurate…it’d be better to say that I’m taking back the power that I once bestowed upon the invisible people.” Baal grinned widely as Lanka’s face suddenly paled. “I know I’ve disappeared for quite a while, but it shouldn’t have been long enough for the entire invisible race to forget me right? I think my mark should be quite deep in the invisible race’s history. For example, as the god who granted the visible beings their power of invisibility and allowed them to continue living on Genesis.”

“The power to allow people to become invisible?” Feisha whispered in awe.

Isefel replied. “Indeed. Among all the angels, only he has this power.”

Feisha gaped. “So you’re saying that this guy in front of us is the ancestor of the transparent race?”

“No. The invisible race should have been an ordinary race of people, but after meeting Baal, they evolved into a transparent race.”

“Actually, I’ve been wondering since a long time ago whether the transparent people were the result of an experiment by a mad scientist.”

Isefel replied nonchalantly. “You’re over romanticizing him.”

The more Feisha stared at Baal, the more he felt like there was something deeply savage in that smile. It was even less cute than Mani’s wretched expression. “Now I know.”

This ‘savage’ Baal was obviously not done walking down his ‘savage’ path, and smirked. “Your survival up to this point was entirely dependent on being backed by my power. So now, I’m just taking back what was mine.”

Hughes ripped off his helmet, revealing a handsome and matured face. “My father was also murdered by you.”

“Well, since you’re not willing to accept my explanation, then,” Baal didn’t seem to care as he nodded, “Yes, I killed him.”

Lanka pulled Hughes back when he tried to rush forward. “Calm down. We’re no match for him.” As he spoke, he turned to Isefel.

Isefel said, “His power is on par with Abaddon.”

Abaddon was one of the Demon Kings of Hell.

Baal’s strength was clear.

Feisha whispered. “You can’t take care of him either?”

“Not like this.”

“What about all of us combined?” As it was now, it seemed like they still had the advantage in numbers.

But unfortunately the black soldiers and clerics seemed completely unmoved by Mani’s death, and just stood to the side. Otherwise, with if they joined the ranks, their total strength would greatly increase.

“Won’t work.” Isefel shot him down in a single sentence.

Feisha was rendered speechless for a moment. “He’s that strong?”

Layton explained. “The battles of Heaven and Hell were already on a level far above that of other worlds, and this isn’t even considering Baal.”

“You know about him too?”

“Well. If the Demon Lord Abaddon’s name is still considered respected, then the Demon Lord Baal’s name has been completely blackened.”

Isefel summed it up in one. “He’s the enemy of God.”

Feisha summarized the summary again. “The final boss of the game.” (2)

Isefel asked. “What does that mean?”

“What it means is that we must work together, each contributing our own role.” Feisha didn’t have much online gaming experience, but he still knew one or two things.

After hear this, Baal actually nodded. “Very good. Ever since I lost my body, I’ve spent so many years recovering here on Genesis. It’s been so long since I last had a good fight. Now, I just really want to take care of all of you, take a trip down to Hell, have a nice conversation with Lucifer…ask him why, as a fellow fallen angel, he would team up with Michael against me?”

Feisha replied. “Because, you know there’s this animal called a streetrat.” (3)

Baal wore a rather odd smile. “I’d really like to know, if I broke your head open, would you still be able to continue speaking?”

“Even idiots know…“ Feisha took a step back upon seeing the look in his eyes. “No.”

Isefel’s figure suddenly moved in front of him, hiding him from view.

Baal crossed his legs. “Alright, go ahead and split up roles between you guys. I’m in a hurry.”

Feisha turned to ask Houllier, “Which side are you on?”

Houllier looked at him, looked at Baal’s smirk, then hung his head. “Of course I’ll stand with Lord Baal.”

“Antonio, this one’s for you.” Feisha assigned him off. “What about Asa?”

Baal immediately rejected this. “I already said, I don’t need clowns intervening on my stage.”

Veins could be seen popping on Asa’s forehead, but he continued to restrain himself.

“Then Baal will go to Isefel and Locktini. Lanka, Hughes, and Layton will deal with the black soldiers and clerics.”

Hughes shook his head. “I’ll deal with Baal.”

Feisha accidentally walked right through Isefel’s body. However, he quickly retreated back, politely circled around instead, and asked for Isefel’s opinion with a glance.

“No.” Isefel said. “Hughes will protect Feisha.”

‘Feisha?’

Since when did Isefel call him ‘Feisha?’

Feisha’s mind was suddenly filled with glowing pink sparkles and bubbles. Baal, battle, all of it was thrown a thousand miles away.

Hughes lips twitched.

Isefel continued. “I’ve cancelled your vacation. You’re still a member of Noah’s Ark.”

After a long time, Hughes finally sighed. “Understood.”

“Maybe we could help out too.” The warlocks that had been hiding among the crowd of guests suddenly stood forward.

The sound of their footsteps finally brought Feisha back to reality. He turned to look at them and asked, “I thought you were going to stand aside until the very end?”

The warlock replied. “We cannot revolt against the Lord of Genesis, but towards his killer, towards the enemy of the heir apparent, we will have no mercy.”

After some commotion among the remaining guests, they all stepped forward saying, “We are willing to heed the will of the heir.”

Lanka smiled. “Thank you.”

Baal spoke up rather impatiently. “I already said I was in a hurry.”

“Now why is it that everyone looking to die is always in such a hurry? Is it really that crowded down there?” Feisha asked in wonder.

Baal suddenly snapped his fingers.

The blood red light began seeping from the floorboards and everyone’s feet were firmly stuck to the ground. It was as if a tube had been inserted on the bottoms of their feet, absorbing their life energy.

Baal spoke. “Since that’s the case, I guess I’ll have to make the first move.”

Isefel suddenly spread his hands and rushed towards him. Hundreds of beams of lightning intertwined in a large web, wrapping densely around him at its center.

The corner of Baal’s lips tilted coldy. “Just an illusion of Isefel…heh.”

The red light suddenly gathered in front of him. Like a strip of red silk, it whipped towards Isefel and wrapped around him.

Everyone else’s feet were suddenly freed, and just as assigned, they hunted for their targets.

The guests also joined the ranks of Lanka, Layton, and the rest of them against the black armored soldiers. The spellcasters casted spells, and the others readied their weapons for battle.

Feisha remained safely protected behind Hughes. Judging from the current scene, they almost seemed to have the upper hand, but…at the instant the silver web of lightning collided with the web of right light, he suddenly felt extremely uneasy. Since he first met Isefel, this was the first time he felt so acutely worried.

Could they really defeat Baal, the legendary boss, with this ragtag team that hadn’t even built up a proper rapport?

He suddenly remembered something and immediately turned to yell at Locktini. “Remember to add blood for Isefel!” (4)

Locktini was about to launch a fireball towards Baal. When he heard that, he suddenly slipped and scorched one of the clerics instead. He turned towards Feisha, his face a giant question mark.

—-

Translator’s Notes

1. The name of the character (and chapter) is “巴尔” (ba er), which can refer to a number of foreign names, but I’ve chosen to translate it as Baal after Ba’al, the Semitic god that later became “Ba’al Zebub” (Beelzebub), a Hebrew demon.

2. “Boss” is literally “BOSS” in roman characters in the text, spoken in English. That’s why Isefel’s confused.

3. The original expression was “过街老鼠”, literally street rat, and it’s used the same way the expression is in English. Except it’s much more a description of something worthy of scorn or detested by all, rather than something pathetic/destitute.

4. I don’t play Chinese games so this took me a while. The expression is “加血” (jia xue), literally “add blood.” It’s a gaming term that basically means “heals plz.” You’ll say things like “加100血” (add 100 blood) for “heal 100.” We don’t have an gaming expression in English that’s ambiguous enough for Locktini to be confused so I ended up translating it literally.

Also it sounds like the expression used to cheer people on (kinda like “do your best”), which in Chinese is “加油” (jia you), which is literally “add oil/gas” (it’s an expression that people say came from cheering on race drivers, telling them to step on the gas).