WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 625: The Oldest Wish (6)
──────
- Elena
“Hiyaa!”
A violet flash bursting with terrifying power shot from the Holy Mother’s fingertips!
An ordinary person would have been reduced to chunks of flesh before they could even react, but there was no one ordinary here.
As though Fortuna had eyes in the back of their head, they avoided it by moving exactly half a step.
What about me?
--- Buzz!
The being I had created with Ominous Imagination the instant my blessing vanished.
The moth that had been such a great help in Rooms 202 and 203!
The Blasphemous Creation took the flash head-on.
--- Crunch!
A fist-sized hole opened in its torso in an instant, scattering brittle powder everywhere, but this was hardly serious damage.
I could restore it easily.
The Holy Mother had clearly grown much weaker after losing her blessing.
It was not just that the hexagon had shrunk. The balance of her abilities itself had collapsed.
Qliphoth Crystal and Taeguk Diagram.
Neither Inheritance was entirely without offensive power, but both were severely lacking compared to Justice.
Not just compared to complete Justice. Even compared to the halved Justice she had used until moments ago!
The violet beams fired by the crystal?
First, their power was questionable.
The Blasphemous Creation had been taking them head-on this whole time, but it could never take a Hammer of Judgment created by the blessing of Justice head-on.
The Inheritance’s attacks were also far too simple.
Even someone physically ordinary like me began to see the pattern after experiencing it around twenty times.
‘A body part lights up -> a beam fires in a straight line from that spot.’
Fortuna probably figured it out after seeing it once or twice.
Taeguk Diagram?
Its problem was even worse.
“Taeguk Diagram, strike-”
To use it, she had to assume a strange pose and recite an incantation.
What was so difficult about striking a pose while chanting an incantation of only a few words?
Fortuna was right in front of her.
--- Slice!
“You make far too much of a show preparing.”
“Ahhh!”
“Save techniques like that for home.”
I was reminded once again of how convenient Justice was in combat.
Once it manifested, it required no preparation time at all, and the power of Judgment responded to my imagination and changed freely. That gave me endlessly varied avenues of attack.
--- Crack!
The Holy Mother’s right arm shattered to pieces, and violet ore burst out instead of flesh and blood.
It was grotesque, but we had already seen it more than ten times. Everyone had become numb to it.
--- Buzz!
The Blasphemous Creation immediately scattered powder in every direction. Crystal fragments covered in that powder could no longer properly reattach.
Crystal fragments prevented from returning to the Holy Mother filled the entire area!
“You...”
The Holy Mother’s eyes blazed.
“Your regeneration is disgusting.”
Fortuna replied as though they had plenty of room to spare.
Still, Fortuna was not actually in an easy position.
The Blasphemous Creation was constantly sending poisonous powder toward the Holy Mother.
If it was toxic enough to suppress the Qliphoth Crystal’s regeneration, what would it do to a person?
I was avoiding exposure as much as possible behind the creature, but Fortuna could not.
The black armor hid it, but Fortuna’s body beneath had probably been breaking apart again and again.
Fortuna was only holding their soul in place with the Soul Box and using that magic-like power unique to them to keep their body together.
“...”
It was not intentional, but just like in the battle long ago, I was fighting alongside Fortuna again and watching closely.
That naturally let me sense Fortuna’s limits as well.
For example, narrow-range attacks never hit Fortuna thanks to their unusual instincts and Luck, but area-of-effect attacks often left them helpless.
When there was no angle to evade from at all, even Luck could do nothing.
Once hit, Fortuna was knocked back more easily than expected.
Apart from persistent resurrection and regeneration through that magic-like power, Fortuna’s body itself was not exceptionally tough.
Vajra Indestructible?
Would durability no better than hard stone mean anything in a battle at this level?
Even the Holy Mother, whose finger was tougher than a building, was helpless as her body exploded and split apart!
I could understand what Ga-in meant when he said Elder Wisdom had defeated him in an instant before time was reversed.
Elder Wisdom, who had undergone Unification with the Ark, had caused city-scale destruction with a single sword stroke. There would have been no way to avoid it.
“You’re recovering more slowly than before.”
“So are you!”
Both the Holy Mother and Fortuna were recovering noticeably more slowly.
What about me in the back?
“...”
My dizziness had been getting worse for some time.
I was hungry. Thirsty.
It was hunger and thirst for forbidden flesh, forbidden water.
I had been using Ominous Imagination for too long without the help of Clear Mirror, Still Water.
If I lost it any further, I might tear off my own arm and eat it!
“Let’s finish this.”
Fortuna launched a final assault, rushing in like lightning.
Perhaps the Holy Mother no longer had the strength to evade. She took the Black Knight’s powerful sword strike head-on.
--- Crack!
The Qliphoth Crystal collapsed, scattering countless fragments in every direction.
This time, the crystal could no longer regenerate.
The ruined Moon Church. Violet ore scattered everywhere.
Silence came at last.
Soon, the pitch-black armor that had become Fortuna’s symbol began fading away like mist.
So this was as far as Awakening could go?
The Blasphemous Creation, upon seeing that, also gave a faint groan before bubbling and collapsing like foam.
The Holy Mother, the Blasphemous Creation, and Fortuna all disappeared.
Only the boy, who looked a little frightened, and I remained.
“Noona! I-Is it over now?”
“... Seung-yeop?”
“Y-Yes!”
“...”
It was really strange.
The voice that said, ‘Someone’s luck is someone else’s misfortune. Next time too, I will be lucky, and you will be unlucky,’ and the voice that just asked, ‘I-Is it over now?’ were clearly identical.
Yet having experienced them in person, Fortuna and Seung-yeop felt completely different.
The former looked like they would slaughter demons in Hell while wielding a black sword, while the latter suited sitting in front of a computer and typing on a keyboard far more than a battlefield.
No wonder Sophia had been so stunned when she saw Seung-yeop.
Seung-yeop came closer, worry written on his face.
“Noona? Are you okay?”
“...”
Sorry, but I wasn’t in any state to have a relaxed conversation.
Did Seung-yeop know?
The scent of blood from the wound in his side had felt incredibly fragrant to me this whole time!
I could feel my standards of judgment twisting in real time.
If I didn’t get help from Clear Mirror, Still Water soon-
“Ah!”
“Noona?”
Why wasn’t Clear Mirror, Still Water restoring me?
Because the Trial of Justice prevented me from using the blessing of Justice until the battle ended!
In other words, this battle wasn’t over yet!
--- Ting!
The scattered remains of the Qliphoth Crystal gleamed wickedly!
Instinctively, I shielded the boy in front of me.
--- Rumble!
Within an indescribable sensation, as though the entire world had slowed down, I perceived it.
The Holy Mother’s final struggle.
Crystal fragments exploding all around us.
The boy, his eyes wide because he still did not understand what was happening.
Was this what people called seeing your life flash before your eyes?
The shockwave swept through the area.
Then I could no longer see.
I could no longer hear.
Even the sensation of shielding Seung-yeop disappeared.
I felt agony beyond description, but even that pain lasted only an instant.
Nothing remained.
As though the physical body of the human called Elena Ivanova had vanished without leaving even a trace.
Then what exactly was this “I” that was thinking now?
...
The Blasphemous Creations shaped by my heart and hands.
Caterpillar. Moth.
Eclosion.
...
I felt Ominous Imagination filling the emptiness.
* * *
- Kim A-ri
“We’ll be reaching the next area soon!”
Even before Aedia spoke, tension already filled the elevator.
The words Plain of Sinners were blinking on the elevator display.
Mi-ro and Eun-sol were tense, and even Elder Wisdom wore a grim expression.
According to Ga-in’s guess, a horde of evil spirits was waiting for us in the Plain of Sinners.
“We’re here!”
--- Clunk!
The moment the elevator reached the Plain of Sinners.
“...!”
Before we could even catch our breath, everything around us began to warp.
Damp stalactites, grayish-white concrete, old trees and rotting grass, rocks of unknown composition, sticky liquid, salty air, pale colors, cold ore-
Countless substances that should not have been able to exist in one place appeared, vanished, then rose again like bubbles.
“Eek!”
Eun-sol lost her balance and fell.
The elevator floor, which had been solid a moment ago, had turned into a muddy swamp.
Cha Jin-cheol grabbed her immediately, but then the ground beneath his feet changed into empty void.
“No!”
--- Whoosh!
Ga-in immediately summoned the Sacred Sun and held onto Mi-ro and the Holy Mother, while Cha Jin-cheol clung to a wall that was still intact.
But when the floor could turn into a swamp, then a void, would a wall stay intact?
“Grab onto me!”
Elder Wisdom shouted firmly.
Elder Wisdom’s clothes fluttered strangely, and Elder Wisdom’s body hung fixed in midair.
Jin-cheol grabbed Elder Wisdom’s arm as though he had finally been saved, but then the sky turned dark with storm clouds, and lightning began to strike!
--- Rumble!
“This is absurd! Utterly absurd!”
For the first time, I heard panic in Elder Wisdom’s voice.
Even Elder Wisdom, who had experienced all manner of bizarre things through a long life, found the current situation unbelievably strange.
This was a domain of Chaos where even the idea of stable space and time had completely vanished.
As everyone fell into confusion because the surrounding space kept changing without pause, the Irregular Polyhedron began to emit an ominous radiance.
“Hiyaa!”
I focused completely, and opaque barriers began forming around us.
Only then did my companions find a little breathing room.
“These walls are safe, right?”
Eun-sol had gone pale in only a moment.
Ga-in gave an analysis.
“They should be fine because A-ri made the walls with the Irregular Polyhedron! Right?”
Elder Wisdom gave an opinion too.
“This space resembles the boundary between dream and reality... The walls made by an Inheritance operate through an independent mechanism entirely separate from dreams, so they should be safe.”
I was the one who made the walls, and I wasn’t even sure, but look at them analyzing it among themselves!
Is this some kind of Wisdom cartel?
I only had time to be dumbfounded for a moment before Mi-ro pointed toward one corner of the shattered elevator as though she were about to scream.
“W-What is that?!”
“...”
Since when had that gotten in here?
No, more importantly...
What was this miserable state?
Rotting bones. Wriggling flesh. Souls flickering like candles.
Something that had once been human, rather than a human.
“It is not just one. Naturally.”
Elder Wisdom spoke grimly after finally taking in the situation around us.
Just as Elder Wisdom said, souls in horrifying states filled every place we looked.
Minds that had rotted away and could only cry out in pain.
Hideous beings that seemed to have shaped the concept of pain into human forms groaned without end.
The despair they spewed became bricks and pillars, endlessly warping the surrounding space.
Ga-in, pale-faced, added to the earlier explanation.
“The Holy Mother told us before. Do not carelessly go into open spaces. The twisted dreams of countless souls will encroach upon us.”
“Have we not remained inside? We were in the elevator.”
Elder Wisdom was right. We had never left the elevator.
The elevator itself had warped.
“It seems the density here is too high, so the safe space has disappear-”
“Bleurgh!”
“Huh? Aedia!”
“Holy Mother!”
At that moment, the Holy Mother suddenly dropped to her knees and began vomiting madly.
Her eyes were bloodshot. Her body trembled. What poured endlessly from her mouth was... violet minerals?
Holy Mother! Human or Reptilian, setting that aside, are you even alive?
“Dreams... There are too many dreams...”
“Can you restore the elevator?”
“Too... too many...”
“Eun-sol! First-”
“I’ll play the flute!”
Eun-sol pressed close to the Holy Mother and used the Flute of Rest, but the Holy Mother’s condition did not immediately improve.
This was a realm where dreams and reality were mixed.
The elevator heading toward the Sacred Domain was also a dream, and the Holy Mother was the one who had created it.
After the elevator was attacked at the Moon Church, then again at the Plain of Sinners, had the Holy Mother’s mind been damaged too?
I took a deep breath and looked around.
Wailing that echoed endlessly.
The dream of Hell, created by twisted souls filling the entire world.
Redrawing the elevator while affected by this violent nightmare?
It was like painting a delicate watercolor in the middle of a raging storm.
That was why the Holy Mother could not even restore the elevator right now and could only gasp for breath.
What should we do?
“Whew...”
The moment I saw an old box appear in Elder Wisdom’s hand, I realized.
Elder Wisdom’s second Inheritance!
Everyone looked at the box with a little hope.
“...”
Then the box suddenly disappeared.
Elder Wisdom had used Dismissal on his Inheritance?
Eun-sol asked in disbelief.
“What are you doing?”
Elder Wisdom couldn’t be showing off that there were two Inheritances, could they? What was this?
“I used Advice as soon as I summoned it.”
“Ah?”
“It says not to use the joker carelessly.”
Elder Wisdom shrugged and looked at Ga-in.
After thinking for a moment, Ga-in gave a similar answer.
“I used Advice a moment ago.”
“Why is this place called the Plain of Sinners?”
“Oh?”
“And what is the way to stop the nightmare and restore the elevator?”
“Ah, I understand! That was it!”
What did Elder Wisdom understand?
This really was a Wisdom cartel!
Once we got back to reality, I needed to make a law or something.
How about a pronoun ban?
Whenever those Wisdom bastards said things like “this,” “that,” or “it,” I would have their tongues pulled out!
Footnotes:
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