WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Natty
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◈ Black Badger ◈
Chapter 93: Green Dream (2)
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The seniors were talking by the opposite wall.
Ricardo needed to look over Bobby and Asil's fighting styles. The only weapon we had was his form-changing weapon. But unlike Ye-hyeon, Ricardo could not make guns with it.
So he planned to make spears or swords sized to suit each person.
He talked harshly, but he was a very diligent person.
I watched the seniors focus on adjusting the weapons, then approached the Elder.
I sat on the bench across from him.
“There is probably nothing I can do for you.”
“So you did hear about me.”
The man was young.
Young enough that I wondered how someone like him had held the seat of an Elder, even temporarily.
Still, the cold gleam in his sunken eyes revealed that he was one of them.
The cause of all this.
“Wasn't this mess your fault in the first place?”
“I was going to die anyway. I had to try something.”
The Elder answered readily.
He was right, but that only meant there was nothing I could do for him.
The Elder looked me over as I sat there blankly.
“It is nice to see the subject of all those rumors in person.”
Is that so?
“Save me, Prometheus. Then things will not get any worse.”
It was not easy to stand by and watch someone die.
But this man was an exception. He was the root cause of the situation getting worse. On top of that, he had drawn his sword and gambled his own life, only to fail.
Even though he was in a position where he should have known that once you drew your sword, you had to win.
I looked at his disheveled silver hair before answering.
“I am sorry, but I have neither the authority nor the ability to do that.”
“So the rumor that you lost your memory was true.”
The Elder folded his arms and studied me.
Even though I showed no particular reaction, he stubbornly continued the conversation.
“Then have you forgotten how to tame them too?”
Ah.
Creatures.
He was talking about whoever controlled them. At that brief question, fragments of memory came rushing out.
The fragments were made up of familiar voices.
Kyle kept coming to mind today.
‘They will never know.’
The voice of an old comrade echoed in my head.
‘Can they even imagine it? Stop worrying. We hold the advantage anyway.’
‘That ability is not all-purpose.’
‘But it is undeniably powerful.’
There were two abilities we had hidden until the very end.
One of them was the ability to “tame” creatures. Not many people could use that ability, whose method I no longer remembered, skillfully. It did not apply to every living thing, and its usefulness varied greatly depending on the ability itself.
Even back then, very few people could tame creatures precisely enough to make them tap dance.
And as far as I remembered, I was not particularly skilled with that ability either.
It seemed I had barely tamed creatures even before I forgot how.
“I am sorry, but I have forgotten.”
So perhaps it was only natural that I could not remember.
I tried and failed to recall how my past self had used such a bizarre power.
“Then you will be even less help to me.”
“Remember.”
“I cannot.”
You should ask for something reasonable...
He grabbed me by the collar.
I let him pull me along quietly. I could have resisted if I wanted to. But perhaps because he had received a small amount of Green Dream too, he did not have the grip strength of a Badger.
A face shadowed by death.
Within that darkness, blue eyes flashed with madness.
“I have no intention of dying alone.”
If he was going down, he would burn everything with him.
Why did Colton's words suddenly come to mind at a time like this?
Maybe it was because the Elder had a similarly chilling presence.
In any case, annoyed, I shoved the man away by the shoulder.
“I know. That is why you pushed us into this situation, isn't it?”
I spoke coldly and roughly straightened my rumpled clothes.
His nerve and stupidity were almost impressive. Shouldn't he be grateful that I was not punching him in the face? He pushed us into this situation, then grabbed me by the collar and threatened me to save him. He was remarkable in more ways than one.
I could not keep those thoughts inside.
I muttered them quietly, so I thought he would not hear.
“You do not know your place.”
I vaguely saw the man's eyes widen.
He stared at me before replying.
“What? Just like the rumors said.”
I did not ask what exactly was like the rumors.
I was not particularly curious.
“You have had a hard time.”
I rose from the bench and bowed politely.
“I hope your final journey is not too painful.”
The door opened the moment I finished speaking.
The match officials came rushing in. The seniors, who had been busily working by the wall, sharply turned their heads.
At the same time, an ash-gray iron gate rattled.
The iron gate separating the arena from the waiting area slowly began to rise.
With a low Rumble, rumble, the gate rose until it disappeared from view. My sight naturally opened up, revealing the smooth arena.
The EDM stopped.
“The match is starting.”
The people who had come in cut off the bomb chains around the drug-using illegal implanter's wrists and ankles. Then they pointed their guns at the illegal implanter and shoved them into the arena.
The implanter staggered out into the arena.
“Good luck.”
Thud!
The iron gate dropped back down.
At the signal of roaring cheers, a creature crawled out from the far end of the arena.
* * *
Had his final journey been painful?
The Elder who had lost to Colton was torn into two pieces by a creature.
There was no time for me to consider intervening. He was the last of the remaining three to go, but his match was shorter than the first two combined.
It seemed he had given up on life the moment he stepped into the arena.
The Elder willingly approached the ape-shaped creature and hastened his death. I did not pity his death.
Nor did I feel any joy.
The Elder's death did not affect me much.
Still, I silently watched his end.
The fate of someone who failed to reach the top.
A robot displaying a smiling emoticon on its screen whirred around the arena and absorbed the scattered remains.
“If I pass the creature to you... Asil, you can hold out against two of them, right?”
It was our turn now.
Bobby watched the arena while biting her thumbnail.
The mafia members in the waiting area had injected me with drugs, then left.
Asil nodded stiffly.
I craned my neck forward.
“Just pass them to me right away.”
Ignoring how my vision kept spinning, I joined the conversation.
“As soon as you confirm the creatures, it would be best to pass them to me.”
“Once we get out, I really need to go on a different mission with you.”
Apparently displeased with my response, Asil folded his arms and grumbled.
“I do not like your attitude.”
“I am sorry. If we get out safely, I will properly bow my head and reflect.”
“No. We are having a team dinner as soon as we get out.”
Bobby kept gnawing on her thumb as she spoke.
“We will drink on company money until we die. I should call Dad right away and tell him to set aside all the good liquor.”
“Ooh... I am looking forward to it.”
Ricardo said slyly as he puffed away at his cigarette.
The acrid smell covered the stench of corpses drifting from the arena.
“Then later, let us see how much this rude rookie can drink.... Winter, I made the spear as light as possible, so just do not drop it.”
“Yes.”
Bobby sharply turned toward Ricardo.
She stretched out both hands and carefully accepted the silver spear.
“Thank you. It is much easier to hold than before.”
The iron gate opened.
With a heavy Thud, the gate rose. The chains around Bobby's wrists and ankles also came loose with a Clink and fell to the floor.
Restraints that must have been released remotely.
It was Bobby's turn to go out. It was an ominous message, but seeing the chains vanish from my senior's wrists and ankles gave me a small sense of relief.
At least she would not be blown to bits now.
I looked at the handcuffs on the floor, then turned to my blond senior.
“Senior, please, if you think you cannot do it, immediately...”
[Thank you for waiting!]
The announcer's voice drowned out mine.
[The match you have all been waiting for is finally about to begin!]
Cheers loud enough to make my ears stop working.
The excited voices of the crowd amplified and struck my ears.
My dizziness suddenly worsened. Feeling like stomach acid was about to rise into my throat, I reflexively covered my mouth.
Because of that, I could not finish speaking. Bobby, standing beside me, was already walking toward the arena with clear tension on her face.
“I will be back.”
After taking a few steps, she turned to look at us.
“I was never that good to begin with, but I will try as hard as I can.”
“Yeah... Do not get too nervous.”
“If it becomes an emergency, forfeit immediately.”
Asil answered in a stiff voice.
I had meant to say the same thing, but overwhelmed by the drugs, I missed my chance to speak again.
“Senior...”
Crackle!
The moment Bobby fully entered the arena, blue electricity shaped like iron bars covered my view.
Instead of an iron gate coming down, they had blocked us off with an electric gate. They had probably taken this measure so they could quickly switch competitors if someone forfeited.
I frowned.
Bobby saw us making miserable faces beyond the electric bars and gave us a stiff smile.
“I will run around as hard as I can and at least drain some of its strength.”
[The contestant has finally entered!]
The entrance on the other side of the arena opened.
[And the challenger is coming out as well!]
Even amid my muddled senses, I could feel the creature's presence.
A presence I sensed through something other than sight, smell, or hearing. Though the drugs had thrown my senses into disarray, I could tell it spread its wings and flew heavily over the arena.
A massive life-form that must have spent most of its time in the air.
A flying creature.
The rattle of enormous chains echoed through the arena.
[Everyone! Please begin betting as we introduce the creature that will face Bobby Winter!]
It spread its two wings pierced with nails and rose as high as its chains allowed.
Wings huge enough to cover a car.
A human face set between them.
Everyone's eyes gathered in one place. I too raised my head and took in the creature casting a huge shadow over the arena.
It beat its wings heavily, blocking the lights. A creature that could still fly despite the enormous nails driven into it.
It flapped its wings and stopped above Bobby.
“Fuck.”
Ricardo quietly cursed beside me.
“Level 4.”
[Our adorable pet bird!]
Level 4.
A life-form that even several heavily armed civilians would find difficult to kill.
[It is Pepper!]
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