WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 140: Zone 10 Boss (2)
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‘...Detected an intruder?’
The intruder obviously meant me.
A message like this had actually appeared.
Was the Zone 10 boss really different from the other bosses?
I moved toward the boss while maintaining Radiant Incarnation.
The sight of monsters roaming the ground below flashed through my vision. But...
‘They’re Fallen.’
The monsters in Zone 10 were none other than Fallen.
Their human-like appearances and the different horns on each of them made it clear.
Something else caught my eye: a massive castle.
A half-destroyed castle crumbling atop a land of death.
For some reason, this...
Zone 10 felt like I was looking at a scene from a ruined world.
‘...!’
A chilling presence suddenly brushed against me.
The Demon King shot toward it at lightspeed.
Soon, the boss came into view.
It had said something about a Corrupted Hero...
But she wasn’t a monster. She was human.
Black hair, blue eyes, brilliant golden armor, and a sword in one hand.
A woman with a ghostly pale face stood alone in the middle of the black earth.
The moment I found the boss, I stopped time.
- What are you doing? Release it.
I asked nervously at the Demon King’s words.
‘...What do you think? Can you beat her?’
I could tell the instant I faced her.
Even before Sixth Sense, my instincts were telling me.
She looked like an ordinary human, but she was a being on a completely different level.
- She is still nothing more than an insect. She is no match for me.
‘Then...?’
- If I had my true body, that is. Whether I can kill her within ten minutes remains to be seen.
So he couldn’t guarantee the outcome.
Just as he’d said, she wasn’t an easy opponent even for the Demon King.
Still, that didn’t mean she was impossible to defeat. That was good news.
‘I believe in you, Demon King!’
All I could do now was trust him.
I offered the Demon King one last bit of encouragement and released time.
The hero, no, the boss raised her head and looked up at us.
The Demon King stretched out a hand. Cold condensed into a single point.
Just like when he had dealt with the previous Zone bosses in an instant, an enormous wave of cold poured toward the boss...
Kiiiiing-
A pure white aura gathered around the boss’s sword, like an aura skill.
But the presence it gave off was on a completely different level from the aura skill I used.
The boss swung her sword.
If Radiant Incarnation hadn’t accelerated my thoughts, I wouldn’t have even noticed the swing.
Azure frost and pure white sword aura collided.
For an instant, the space where they met distorted like heat haze before a massive explosion followed.
...Kwooooooooom!
It was a clash of astonishing power.
If I’d been in my original body, I felt like the shockwave alone would have injured me.
The two forces pushed against each other in midair.
In the end, the Demon King’s power gained the upper hand.
The frost slowly pushed back the sword aura and drew closer to the boss...
Then it exploded the moment it reached her.
A massive ice formation, like a flower made of ice, rose where the boss stood.
Like ripples spreading across water, the aftershock spread from the ice formation and froze the land around it.
Crack!
The boss immediately shattered the ice and escaped, frost covering her entire body.
The Demon King followed with another attack.
Centered around the body still maintaining Radiant Incarnation, cold spread chaotically through the air like tree roots.
It gathered, glowed, and reformed into sharp icicles.
Each icicle was larger than even the missile arrows from Floor 7.
Hundreds, thousands of enormous icicles covered the sky and poured down toward the ground like a torrential downpour.
Kwakakakakakak!
Over the devastated ground...
The boss swung her sword at high speed and knocked away the entire icicle barrage.
Her sword aura had stretched out like a giant’s blade, and every swing destroyed icicles in droves.
But the icicle attack had only been a distraction.
Several geometric magic circles appeared around the Demon King.
Once again, cold compressed to the limit rained down between the icicles in the form of beams.
The boss didn’t block the frost beams with her sword. She dodged them.
...Could anyone dodge rain pouring down from the sky?
It looked like she was pulling off that absurd feat.
With skillful speed and movement, the boss evaded and struck down the indiscriminate bombardment, gradually closing in on me in the sky.
The Demon King didn’t move out of the way.
There was no reason to.
Instead of dodging, he was about to deploy a barrier in place when...
Slash!
The boss’s sword aura cut through my body first.
My body of light was split in half.
At the same time, the Demon King’s magic disguised as a barrier exploded at point-blank range.
Crunch!
Ice spikes shot out like a sea urchin’s spines and pierced the boss in several places.
The price of attacking was a momentary opening. That was why she hadn’t been able to dodge.
But I was still maintaining Radiant Incarnation, so I took no damage.
My divided body flickered and fused back together.
Now that I thought about it, the Demon King had deliberately used me as bait.
He had attacked just enough to let her barely approach, provoking a counterattack.
He’d even pretended to deploy a barrier to remove any doubt, then caught her off guard and landed a decisive blow.
It was a strategy he could use because we didn’t need to worry about defense.
I’d thought the Demon King only knew how to overwhelm enemies with power, so it felt strange to see him play this kind of mind game. But maybe that just showed how difficult this opponent was.
Pinned in place by the spikes, the boss couldn’t avoid the finishing blow that followed.
Two frost beams pierced through her head and heart, blasting straight through them.
Rumble...
The beams solidified into ice, and the boss, driven into the ground, ended up impaled on two enormous ice spears.
Had we defeated her...?
‘No, never mind.’
I almost reflexively thought we’d beaten her, then immediately took it back.
There was no way the Zone 10 boss would go down that easily. Of course not.
‘...’
Right?
No notification appeared saying the boss had been defeated.
That was when it happened.
The mark engraved on the boss’s forehead began to glow.
I saw one of the two long cross-shaped marks disappear.
Fwaaaaa!
At the same time, a pillar of light poured down from the sky.
The light enveloped the fallen boss...
The ice spears vanished, and the boss, who had clearly looked dead, stood up completely unharmed in an instant.
...What the fuck was that?
‘Resurrection?’
It seemed there really was another phase instead of this being the end.
No, what the hell? That was cheating.
I stopped time.
‘Demon King, I think we need to kill her two more times.’
The cross-shaped marks on the boss’s forehead.
It looked like she resurrected each time one disappeared.
If that was true, she could resurrect one more time after this.
- Troublesome.
About eight minutes and thirty seconds of Radiant Incarnation remained.
It had taken around one minute and twenty seconds to take one of the boss’s lives.
If taking the remaining two lives took a similar amount of time, we had enough time, but...
We’d only ended the last fight so quickly because the Demon King had successfully played a mind game.
There was no way she’d fall for the same trick twice.
I released time.
The Demon King immediately prepared another attack.
Then the boss looked up at us...
Boom!
And shot off, fleeing at full speed.
Had she decided that fighting us head-on wouldn’t let her inflict any damage?
Of course, we caught up right away. We were moving at lightspeed.
Flash!
The feather-shaped mark on the back of the boss’s right hand glowed.
Wings of light spread from her back, and her speed increased several times over.
But even then, she couldn’t be faster than actual light.
The Demon King chased after the boss like a shadow, pouring out attacks.
Having suffered once already, the boss didn’t counterattack at all. She only dodged and defended.
The boss could still dodge because, while we could move at lightspeed, the Demon King’s spells themselves did not travel at lightspeed.
Whenever my Willpower dropped, I stopped time and steadily supported the battle.
Before I knew it, a blizzard was raging.
Along the path the Demon King and boss traveled, the world turned white, and the black land changed into a snowy field.
The boss somehow endured that unbelievable storm of frost.
She didn’t seem unharmed, but her movements remained steady, and she narrowly dodged or blocked every attack that could lead to a critical hit.
The chase continued...
Then I saw the boss gradually slowing, as if her body was freezing over.
She gave up fleeing and descended to the ground again.
Boom!
The boss planted her sword in the ground and dropped to one knee.
Surrender?
Of course not.
This time, the shield-shaped mark on the back of her left hand glowed, and white armor of light covered her golden armor.
What was that? It looked like...
She had completely abandoned evasion and shifted all her strength to defense.
- Insolent fool. Fine.
The Demon King prepared an attack.
It was magic I had never seen before.
All kinds of geometric patterns appeared in every direction, and a colossal figure rose up like a giant war machine.
- ᚸᚹ ᚡ ᛟᛥᛠᛀᚱ ᚾᚿᛀ ᛉᛗᛡᛢᚯᚻ...
The giant slowly raised a greatsword.
Its blade pointed toward the boss.
The boss spread her wings of light again and wrapped them around herself to strengthen her defense.
Like divine punishment.
The giant’s greatsword came crashing down on the boss.
‘...!’
A flash exploded.
It was intense enough to engulf the entire field.
At the center of the light, I could see the boss enduring the attack.
Her wings crumbled away first, and cracks appeared in her armor.
Even so, she held out stubbornly for a long time.
We were the ones pressed for time.
As I started getting desperate, I summoned Diul and had them spread Pitch-black Fog.
Since she wasn’t moving right now, maybe this would work...!
Fwaaaash!
But it didn’t stand a chance.
The Pitch-black Fog Diul spread was helplessly erased by the light pouring from the boss’s armor.
‘Kyaaaaaah...!’
Then, as if something had rebounded from it, Diul’s pain-filled scream reached me through our mental connection.
I hurriedly returned Diul to the ring.
Damn it, was this a fight I couldn’t even interfere with?
The Demon King’s power slowly broke through the boss’s defense.
At last, the armor of light shattered completely.
The greatsword pierced through the boss’s body.
Then I saw the last mark on her forehead disappear.
Flash!
Another pillar of light descended.
But this wasn’t a game.
We had no obligation to wait for the enemy to transform or resurrect, so the Demon King ruthlessly continued his attacks.
But it seemed the boss’s ability was as unfair as a cheat in a game.
The pillar of light blocked every external attack until the boss had fully resurrected.
Her second resurrection.
She probably had only one life left now.
But the remaining duration of Radiant Incarnation was...
‘One minute.’
Just over one minute remained.
It had taken too long to take her second life.
Wasn’t resurrecting twice, not even once, completely broken?
Boom.
The boss planted her sword into the ground and dropped to one knee.
Don’t tell me, again...?
The restored armor of light and wings covered the boss’s body.
The sight of her settling in to endure again was terrifying.
Kwoooooong-!
The giant’s sword came crashing down on the boss.
This seemed to be the strongest magic the Demon King could use right now.
But it wasn’t enough.
There wasn’t enough time.
As her wings crumbled again and cracks slowly began spreading across her armor, ten seconds remained.
...This was over.
When one second remained on Radiant Incarnation, I stopped time.
- It is hopeless.
I already knew without the Demon King telling me.
What if we’d had just a few more minutes?
But dwelling on that wouldn’t change reality.
We had failed.
- Choose. Will you flee?
‘...’
If Radiant Incarnation ended like this, it was over.
There was no way I could face that monster with my original strength.
He was asking whether I wanted to escape somewhere else before that happened.
I could escape. One second was more than enough time to return to Zone 0.
[If the contract is not fulfilled, 'Person123' will be permanently barred from entering Nightmare difficulty.]
But that would be the end.
If I couldn’t defeat the Zone 10 boss, I would be barred from any further Nightmare clears. That was the price of the contract.
It was no different from death.
‘...You worked hard, Demon King.’
This was my choice.
Running had never been an option from the start.
No matter what happened, I had to see this through to the end.
I released time again.
One second passed.
Radiant Incarnation ended.
At the same time, the giant’s form scattered like dust.
Having regained control of my body, I immediately activated my skills.
If there was even the slightest chance left, all I could do was hope that the boss’s cracked armor had finally reached its limit.
I concentrated every magic skill I could use, Flame Barrage, Destruction Beam, Hellfire Eruption, and more, on the boss.
On top of that, I used the Demon King’s power for one final strike.
Of course, now that Radiant Incarnation had ended, there was a clear limit to the power I could draw out. I pushed it to that limit and unleashed it.
Kwoooooooom!
A miracle...
Did not happen.
When the smoke cleared, the boss was completely unharmed.
I was fucked.
That was the moment the boss suddenly vanished.
Feeling the chill Sixth Sense sent through me, I stopped time.
...Then I realized the boss was right in front of me.
Her sword was already halfway through my neck.
Fuck, how did that make any sense?
Even with Sixth Sense warning me, she was too fast to dodge.
Once Radiant Incarnation ended and my thinking speed returned to normal, I couldn’t even process her movements.
The moment I released time, I used Teleportation.
Blood burst from my neck, which had barely avoided being severed.
“Cough...!”
Grabbing my neck, I immediately used Rapid Regeneration and the Pearl of the Mist Monarch.
My half-severed neck healed in an instant, and thick fog covered the area.
[Item: Pearl of the Mist Monarch]
This pearl contains the power of the Mist Monarch. When used, it spreads fog within a 100-meter radius for 3 minutes. The user can use Teleportation within the fog. Once used, it can be used again after 24 hours.
Within the fog, I could use Teleportation infinitely for its duration.
Then I summoned Pli and the knights from the citizenship item as well.
It was a desperate attempt to put up even a little resistance, but...
Sixth Sense sounded another alarm.
A massive sword aura swept in horizontally, erasing Pli and the knights in an instant.
Only I barely escaped with Teleportation.
I stood at the very brink of death, facing an overwhelmingly powerful enemy I couldn’t hope to oppose.
My heart pounded like crazy.
Emotions I’d seemed to forget after getting somewhat used to clearing Nightmares lately began creeping back in.
I stopped time again.
That wasn’t the problem.
If I couldn’t defeat this boss here, it was over. Everything would be over.
But how was I supposed to defeat her?
This absurd monster that had endured even the Demon King’s power...
‘...The sandglass.’
Should I try using the sandglass?
If I could reduce Radiant Incarnation’s cooldown to zero seconds, I could break through this situation.
But among the dozens of skills I possessed, the odds of Radiant Incarnation being selected...
It was a slim chance that would require a miracle.
Was there no other way?
Then only one thing came to mind.
[Item: Pankera's Crown]
This is the crown of Dream Demon King Pankera, who rules dreams and illusions. You can move to the Mindscape while wearing the crown on your head. Targets in direct physical contact with your body can also be drawn into the Mindscape. Time passes at the same rate in reality and the Mindscape.
The Mindscape.
If there was no way to deal with her in reality, what about drawing her into the Mindscape?
As long as I made direct contact, I could draw her in too.
I didn’t have to think long.
There was no other way.
I released time again, immediately took the crown from Subspace, and put it on.
I stared through the fog.
The fog blocked my vision, and I couldn’t sense the boss’s presence.
No attack came for a while...
Then Sixth Sense suddenly went wild.
Kwooooooom!
A massive gust from her sword spiraled through the fog and blew it away.
I hadn’t been able to fully avoid it even with Teleportation, and my left arm was sliced off.
The fog vanished completely, revealing my surroundings.
The boss stood close in front of me.
I gritted my teeth and stopped time.
I could reach her. I had to reach her somehow.
The fog was gone, so I couldn’t use the item’s Teleportation anymore, but my skill cooldown had just finished.
She was barely within Teleportation range.
After finishing my mental focus, I immediately used Teleportation toward the boss. But...
Thump!
My body was pushed away, as if something had repelled me.
‘What...’
The Teleportation meant to approach the boss hadn’t activated.
I had experienced this feeling once before.
It was similar to when Teleportation had been blocked by the spatial coordinate distortion device in the Floor 4 Hidden area.
What the fuck...
Could this boss also be using some kind of ability that prevented people from approaching?
There was no time to panic.
The boss had vanished again.
The instant she disappeared, I barely managed to stop time.
Even so, her sword had already cut slightly into my neck.
Teleportation was on cooldown, and I couldn’t escape like before.
The moment I released time, my head would come off.
...Death was finally right in front of me.
[Skill: Subspace (Narrative)]
You can create a Subspace to store or retrieve objects. You must be in direct contact with an object to store it, and you can retrieve an object within a radius of 1 meter. Living beings and spiritual entities cannot be stored. You can store up to 100 kilograms.
You must focus mentally for 3 minutes to activate it.
Classification: Magic-Type
Willpower Cost: 300
Cooldown: None
At that moment.
What flashed through my mind like lightning was the skill I normally used thoughtlessly like an inventory.
Store. Direct contact.
I began focusing my mind.
The moment I released time, I activated Subspace.
The object I stored was the boss’s sword.
Whoosh!
The boss’s hands, suddenly empty of the sword she’d been holding, cut through empty air.
I stretched out my remaining hand.
The moment my right hand touched the boss’s face, I activated Pankera’s Crown.
My consciousness sank, and I was pulled into the Mindscape.
Footnotes:
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