WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Irevi
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Chapter 12: Renee
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I checked my shards.
I checked my equipment.
I threw off my weights as well.
And now, I stood at the entrance to the Beast Dungeon's boss room.
Maybe it was childish stubbornness.
No, it probably was.
The thought had suddenly crossed my mind when I looked down at my battered old sword.
'This thing's pretty sturdy.'
I'd swung it countless times over the past six years. Its edge was chipped, and its handle had worn down, yet the sword was in better condition than I'd expected.
Even a lump of metal with no will could last this long, so why was I setting my own limits and trying to give up first?
I knew every one of Varhatan's patterns.
I'd simulated how to fight it in my head countless times.
So what was I so afraid of?
Pain? Or death?
If I were afraid of death, I should've ended things with my own hands the day I fell into this world.
But I hadn't.
So what else was there to do?
"I've got to try."
Without hesitation, I opened the door.
An ominous demonic energy poured out of the boss room, plunging the entire dungeon into darkness.
Then black ruins came into view. A crumbling temple surrounded by cracked pillars.
Eight wolf monsters burst out from between the pillars at once.
Flash.
The monsters fell amid eight flashes of light.
As usual, I stood as if in prayer.
For the first time, I prayed with genuine sincerity.
As if answering that prayer, a demonic energy unlike anything I'd ever felt flowed from the heart of the temple.
When I narrowed my eyes, I saw a massive figure sitting cross-legged.
Human-like back muscles bulged beneath its bluish fur.
A mace as large as its own body rested in its right hand.
Yeah. It was the one I remembered.
Thump. Thump.
It slowly rose to its feet.
Then it turned its head and looked at me.
A buffalo-like head, a grotesque horn growing from the center of its forehead, and above all, ghostly blue flames burning in its eyes.
The Beast Dungeon's boss and the first boss.
Varhatan.
Kuuoooooooh!
It charged at me.
The closer it came, the more I could feel its enormous size.
Its body looked at least three times larger than mine.
Yet it moved twice as nimbly as a human.
I raised my lowered sword and pointed it at the monster.
My turn.
A blue gem floated above my head, and its charge came to a complete stop.
Unlike Shukarit, Varhatan was a typical power type.
Every hit it landed was devastating, so the standard strategy was to dodge rather than force a parry.
But I couldn't dodge.
That didn't mean I intended to just take its hits and die, either.
Maybe it was because I'd fought turn-based battles for so long, but I'd learned a thing or two over the years.
I shifted my footing.
I positioned myself so that its charge would only clip my shoulder.
The tactic I'd honed for three years.
'Getting hit with less pain.'
It might sound ridiculous, but my survival depended on it.
If I couldn't avoid getting hit, I had to get hit where it would hurt the least.
I'd spent three years learning exactly where my body could take a blow.
It was a tactic that wouldn't work against humans.
But it would work against monsters.
I drove the tip of my sword straight into its philtrum.
Carving Sword. Then Ashen Light.
[Weak!]
The sudden impact snapped Varhatan's head backward.
But the blue gem vanished, and a red gem appeared above its head.
Varhatan's turn.
Even after taking Arts straight to the head, it charged forward without a care.
Crunch!
My breastplate tore apart in one blow, and my body lifted into the air. Still, it was fine.
'It went according to plan.'
If an attack that should've shattered every bone in my body only destroyed my breastplate, that counted as a success.
"Cough! Cough!"
It still hurt like hell, of course.
Blood gathered at the corner of my mouth, and dry coughs burst out.
Whoooosh...
Varhatan steadied itself after landing its attack, then swung its mace wide toward me.
A blue gem floated above my head again.
My turn.
My ribs throbbed every time I inhaled.
Even so, my body moved.
There was only so much I could do against Varhatan.
That meant the only thing I needed to focus on was its movements.
The moment that mace landed squarely on me, it was over.
So I lowered my stance.
I pressed myself as close to the ground as possible and waited for its attack.
What I had to endure this turn was the mace's shockwave.
Normally, I would've dodged it without question.
But now I was voluntarily stepping into its range so I could take it with less pain.
How pathetic.
[Weak!]
I swung my sword upward from below and drove Arts into its jaw.
Ashen Light struck home, snapping Varhatan's head back and making its upper body stagger.
Varhatan's turn.
But the strength in its arm didn't diminish at all.
The mace immediately came crashing down toward the ground.
Bang!
My body shook from the shockwave, and stone fragments kicked up from the floor left scratches all over me.
Crack!
'Fuck.'
It raised its leg.
One of Varhatan's four attack patterns.
A move where it kicked away enemies standing too close.
I could take this one.
It wasn't a powerful hit.
So this was the deciding moment.
My turn.
This time, I drove Carving Sword into its chest.
[Weak!]
I immediately pulled back my sword and took a step away.
I widened the distance, leaving a wound behind.
Preparation for Break.
If its pattern led into a kick, I planned to endure it, then drive Break into its weak point and finish it off.
Varhatan's turn.
It kicked me with its raised leg.
Bam!
My body was flung away and rolled across the floor.
Even while I was thrown to the ground, my mind remained calm.
'Good. This is enough. I'll finish it next turn.'
At that moment.
Kuuuuuh!!
A beastly roar echoed through the entire temple.
The thunderous sound made my ears ring.
'What? Didn't its turn end with the kick?'
The hand I was using to steady myself froze.
No, it wasn't that it froze. I couldn't move.
I raised my head and looked above me.
The blue gem was nowhere to be seen, while the red gem above Varhatan's head was still blinking.
'Weak! didn't appear. Then how is it still moving?'
A bug? Phase two?
Without taking my eyes off the monster slowly approaching me, I racked my brain.
Varhatan definitely had four patterns.
Charge, mace swing, kick, and its ultimate attack.
There was nothing like this.
'Could it be...?'
I remembered.
In the game, there was a scene where it roared after kicking the player away.
The player couldn't move then, but Varhatan didn't attack either.
So I thought it was just an animation.
But this was reality, not a game. What had been an animation in the game had become an attack here.
The instinctive fear brought on by a predator's roar.
The status ailment that sometimes appeared in games, Fear.
That meant I was currently afflicted with Fear.
Then I understood the meaning of the red gem above its head as well.
My turn hadn't failed to come around. It had come and gone, and then it became its turn again.
'So there was something like this...'
Varhatan's turn.
'I'm fucked.'
Grrrr...
It rolled its massive shoulders once.
I knew that posture.
The precursor to Varhatan's ultimate attack, Whirlwind Strike.
Whirlwind Strike was an attack where Varhatan spun like a vortex and continuously swung its enormous mace.
Even at full health, taking five consecutive hits meant certain death.
To escape after being caught in Whirlwind Strike, I had to use Dodge during the brief gap between attacks.
But I couldn't move right now.
My mind screamed.
'Now! Roll at that timing!'
But my body wouldn't listen.
The rotation of death began.
Bang!!
The first blow tore into my side.
I could vividly feel my organs ripping apart beyond my ribs.
Crunch!!
The second blow came down on my shoulder.
My armor shattered completely, and my collarbone broke.
Thump! Bang! Bang!!
Every time Varhatan spun, its mace mercilessly crushed me.
"...Ghk!"
My vision was stained red, and my consciousness began to fade.
But my turn didn't come back.
Because its turn hadn't ended.
Instinct told me that the turn I'd just wasted so pointlessly had been my last.
Even as death approached, my mind was clear.
The pain was more bearable than I expected.
The Chimera hurt more, and Shukarit had been more thrilling.
The Elite Kobold and the Human-Faced Spider had hurt more than this bastard's attacks too.
So a thought suddenly crossed my mind.
'Death is more merciful than I thought.'
Thanks to that, even as my consciousness faded, I could sort out my thoughts.
I shouldn't have taken the kick. If I'd known it had a pattern like this, I should've interrupted its turn even if it hurt a little.
I should've brought more Yellow Shards. Then I might have endured Whirlwind Strike too.
Was I trying too hard to look cool? Should I have started by using Break from the beginning?
'If I had just a few more turns... I could've done better.'
Or maybe this way.
That would've been fine too.
Would it have been better if I'd done it that way?
Maybe I shouldn't have come alone after all.
Maybe I should've left it to the protagonists.
Regrets poured down like a waterfall.
In the meantime, the rotation reached its peak, and its final blow was prepared.
The mace soared high into the sky.
Baaaaang!!
Then it fell straight down.
As my entire body felt like it was becoming one with the floor, the sword in my hand shattered into pieces.
'Yeah. You held on for a long time too.'
My Abyss Core rolled out of my clothes.
I needed to return that to Cecilia.
'...Well, it's too late for that now.'
My consciousness sank beneath the abyss, and the aura of death wrapped around my entire body.
The blue gem I had failed to obtain until the end flickered before my eyes.
Ah, fuck. Now that I thought about it, the Lizardman Dungeon boss had a similar pattern too.
In the end, I just hadn't prepared enough. If I'd been a little more thorough, it wouldn't have ended so pointlessly.
Within my mind, blue gems began to appear one after another.
As if my desires and regrets had been honed into shape.
The gems gathered together, creating a space like a small altar.
At its center sat a blonde girl dressed in a black veil and gown.
In contrast to her black attire, dazzling white wings extended from her back.
But more than anything else, what caught my attention was the light in her eyes, the exact same color as the blue gems I'd wanted so badly.
『So this is where it ends for you? What a shame.』
...Who are you?
『Did you know? A turn is another name for an opportunity.』
...I asked who you are.
『Opportunities are never limitless. The moment you exhaust every opportunity given to you, you lose the possibility called opportunity.』
I couldn't refute that.
Because I knew it better than anyone.
『Still, on very rare occasions, variables appear that can return an opportunity to you.』
The girl's gaze lowered slightly.
『Like right now.』
There lay my shattered sword and the Abyss Core rolling carelessly on the ground.
The girl rose from her seat and picked up the Abyss Core.
『But that depends entirely on your desire.』
Then she looked down at it for a long time.
『Now then, shall we see how strong your desire is?』
When she held out her hand, three blue gems rose into the air.
『Oh my. Three of them? You're quite greedy, aren't you?』
...Greedy? What do you mean?
『But remember this. More opportunities mean more pain. You'll go through something like this at least three more times in the future. Can you endure that?』
The girl turned her head and looked at me.
『If you still want another opportunity, call my name.』
My mouth moved on its own.
"...Renee."
The moment I called her name, the blue gems gave off a brilliant flash.
As the light wrapped around my entire body like a vortex, my shattered senses began to return one by one.
My fading consciousness was lit anew.
[Abyss Core - Renee]
[Unique Ability Unlock Requirement Met: Death 1 / 1]
[Unique Ability is being unlocked.]
『May your choice be filled with the blessing of time.』
[Unique Ability - Rewind Action 1 / 3]
[※Unique Abilities can only be used in boss battles.]
Footnotes:
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