WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 2: Stronger Attack Power

──────

"Move all the subjects to the cult."

"The Mental Seal is perfect, correct?"

An unpleasant voice made my eyes snap open.

As I cracked my eyes open, I saw a glass ceiling.

The glass reflected dozens of people lying as if dead. Among them, a single boy was awake.

A child with ash-gray hair and red eyes.

The boy in the reflection mirrored my movements. That was when I realized he was me.

‘What happened?’

I had definitely just started the game in my room. Yet when I came to, I was in an unfamiliar body.

I turned my head slightly and saw people in black robes busily pulling carts around.

The symbol embroidered on their robes looked familiar.

A pitch-black moon. It was the symbol of the Tartarus Cult, the main villain faction in Academy of the End.

What the hell was this?

The situation was impossible to explain with common sense, so my thoughts could only head in an unreasonable direction.

My last memory was pressing the Start button in my room.

‘Did I seriously possess someone in the game?’

Clinging to that unbelievable theory, I looked at the boy reflected in the glass again.

Something about him felt familiar.

‘...Wait, isn't that Halibal?’

Halibal Velder.

An ordinary extra student at Ruidel Academy, the setting of Academy of the End.

As the story progressed, he was revealed to be a follower of the Tartarus Cult, putting the protagonist's party in danger.

The boy in the reflection was definitely Halibal as a child.

In other words, I had possessed Halibal in Academy of the End.

And at a point before the game even began.

‘...Fuck?’

There was a reason I cursed the moment I realized whose body I was in.

Halibal was the most infuriating character in Academy of the End.

100% attack accuracy, 0% evasion.

He took every attack from the player, but his attacks always landed too.

How many players had given up on achievements and quit the game because of this bastard?

I had ruined countless achievement runs because of Halibal myself.

Eventually, a question began nagging at me.

‘Why the hell did he take every hit?’

Fine, I could understand that the player couldn't dodge his attacks. But why did he have to take every attack himself?

His whole concept was supposedly valuing a knight's pride and honor, but as someone from modern times, I couldn't accept that at all.

And now, I was clearly at the point before Halibal became a student. No, before he became a follower of the Evil God.

"Prepare for the next baptism."

Right after the voice rang out, I was loaded onto a cart with the others and dragged into a dark passageway.

An overwhelming, ominous presence seeped from the end of the passage.

‘Baptism, my ass. It's the Evil God's brainwashing.’

In the game, Halibal had enrolled in the academy after being brainwashed by the cult.

Judging by the atmosphere, this had to be that moment.

‘If they were going to put me in the game, they could've made me the protagonist. At least make me a party member.’

If I stayed still, I would be brainwashed, turned into a monster, and eventually slaughtered by the protagonist's party.

That was when I saw it.

A shard of glass above the passageway was swaying precariously. It looked ready to fall from the slightest impact.

Instinctively, I knew.

‘That's my only way out.’

I wriggled my hands, checking how much I could move while bound. Then I shifted my legs slightly to see whether I could run.

Fortunately, I wasn't injured, and it seemed I could move well enough.

The cart kept rolling toward the end of the passage, which grew narrower until my feet could touch the walls.

This was probably my chance.

Just as the shard of glass reached directly above my head, I kicked hard against the wall.

Thud!

"...What?"

With a crack overhead, the shard fell close to my hands.

I immediately grabbed it and cut through the rope.

"What?! How did you escape the Mental Seal?"

The startled cry of a cultist rang out.

The Mental Seal was magic used by cultists in Academy of the End.

They must have trusted it and tied the ropes loosely.

‘Lucky me.’

I pointed the glass shard at the cultist in front of me.

At the same time, I quickly looked around and realized I knew this place.

‘Thank god this isn't the main headquarters.’

The Tartarus Cult was divided into a main headquarters and branches. Maybe due to development limitations, every branch used nearly identical terrain.

Thanks to that, I even remembered where the exit was.

There were no other cultists nearby, either. It seemed only one cultist had been assigned to pull the cart through this section.

‘If I take this person down, I can make it out somehow.’

"Tch. What an annoying little brat!"

Like you could be more annoyed than I was.

I charged at the cultist and slashed their chest deeply with the glass shard.

"Urgh!"

Blood splattered.

Only after cutting them did a strange feeling hit me.

‘...I just cut a person?’

Even if I had possessed someone in a game, shouldn't someone who had lived in modern Korea have felt repulsed? Instead, my body had moved far too naturally.

‘Is it because this is an emergency?’

Still, worrying about that in such a desperate situation was a luxury.

I prepared to finish them with another attack.

"?"

But my body wouldn't move.

‘Fuck, what is this?’

"You little brat! You need to learn a painful lesson!"

The next instant, a ball of fire struck my back.

"Ugh...!"

It was more agonizing than anything I had ever experienced.

I couldn't scream, though. The moment I did, other cultists would surely come running.

‘I'm fucked.’

If they used magic one more time, I was guaranteed to be kidnapped, brainwashed, and killed.

I glared at them resentfully.

"...?"

Yet they had stopped where they stood.

More precisely, they were frozen in the pose they had taken right after casting magic.

A large gem had appeared above my head before I knew it.

The moment I saw its strangely familiar design, I understood why Halibal in the game had been given that absurd 100% accuracy and why he took every attack.

"Fuck."

Because he was the only one who fought in turns.

I hadn't known because I had always fought in real time from the player's perspective.

From the look of it, the gem above my head clearly represented a turn.

Blue meant my turn. Red meant the enemy's.

I adjusted my grip on the glass shard and stabbed it into their chest.

[Weak!]

‘Was that a critical hit?’

The wound must have been shallow, because they didn't fall.

Still, I had succeeded in throwing them off.

"H-how did that happen? I didn't see the attack at all?!"

It seemed my attacks were only felt in real time after the enemy had already been hit.

Normally, in a turn-based game, the enemy's turn came right after mine ended.

‘So it's my turn to get hit now?’

I braced myself, but the cultist froze after finishing their sentence.

The gem above my head was still blue.

It had just gotten a little smaller.

‘Don't tell me that was an extra turn?’

The [Weak!] that had appeared a moment ago seemed to mean something.

Did striking a weakness give me another turn?

Without hesitating, I drove the glass shard in deeply once again.

[Weak!]

It landed cleanly this time too.

‘Will it give me another extra turn?’

At that moment, my body stopped.

The cultist, their face twisted with rage, gathered Black Flame in their hand. It was used only by followers of the Evil God.

"This is the end!!"

Boom!!

It seemed extra turns were limited to one.

I had learned something new. Along with the pain of half my upper body burning away.

"Arghhhhh...!!"

They said being burned alive hurt like hell, but I was actually experiencing it. I was alive, but it hurt enough to make death seem preferable.

Honestly, I wanted to throw everything away.

I hadn't known it would hurt this much.

But I wanted even less to give up and get kidnapped, brainwashed, and killed.

I wanted to die even less than that.

Enduring the pain of my skin peeling off, I drew out my last bit of strength.

"...My turn now, right?"

Slice!

"Forgive your servant for dying without ever seeing you...!"

Forgiveness, my ass.

Once they fell, relief finally washed over me, and my mind began to fade.

Just as I thought it would be perfect to crawl under a blanket and sleep, I heard other cultists' voices from the end of the passage.

‘Fuck...’

In the end, I had no choice but to force my burning body to move.

To survive.

⁎⁎⁎

‘...So where am I?’

After fleeing blindly, I barely managed to escape the cult's branch.

The branch's exit had been hidden in a gap between small rocks. It seemed the place had been underground.

‘I will come back and destroy this place someday.’

Maybe that was why the signs of pursuit vanished once I reached the surface.

The cultists probably didn't want the Cyrus Empire to discover them either, so they wouldn't chase me too far.

Once I came to my senses and touched my upper body, the marks left by Black Flame infused with demonic energy were impossible to miss.

My reflection in the lake was miserable.

I had probably been fairly handsome before, but all that remained were shriveled scars that made me look like a monster. I looked far worse than Halibal in the game.

‘Would I have been better off as a monster?’

But what could I do? I had to live.

I checked the direction of the sun and walked without a plan.

The Cyrus Empire, where Academy of the End took place, lay to the east. I trusted that if I kept heading that way, I would eventually reach a city.

When I arrived in one, children threw rocks at me while people looked at me coldly.

These damn burn scars.

Instead of receiving the Evil God's baptism, I received a baptism of stones, and only one thought ran through my head.

‘I don't want to hurt anymore.’

Who the hell enjoyed getting beaten up? I wasn't a masochist.

I had already suffered injuries far beyond all the pain I had experienced in my entire life.

Even now, the burn scars felt like they were on fire whenever I touched them.

The problem was that Halibal's combat system was turn-based for him alone.

The moment the enemy got a turn, I was guaranteed to get hit.

There was only one solution.

‘Then I just won't give the enemy a turn.’

I had to finish them in one blow before their turn came.

I had to make sure I would never get hit or hurt again.

To do that, I needed attack power.

Stronger attack power.

Naturally, gaining that required systematic training.

Just then, a signpost caught my eye.

I had arrived in Belheim, a city on the front lines against the Dungeons of the Evil God in the world of Academy of the End, where military forces were stationed.

And I had very few options.

‘...I guess I have no choice.’

I headed to the military base and said words I had never thought I would utter in my life.

"I want to enlist."

"The time for recruiting new soldiers has passed."

"I still want to enlist."

"Your spirit is admirable, at least. Fine. Show me your potential. If you can land even one hit on me, I'll accept you as a recruit."

For someone who fought in turns, the condition was absurdly easy.

"Oh."

The moment my turn came, I drove a weak fist into the soldier.

‘They said I only had to land a hit, right?’

There was no need to hit hard.

I didn't even have the strength to hit hard.

"You're in!"

And just like that, I became a soldier.

⁎⁎⁎

"Halibal, are you a masochist?"

"No, sir."

"Then why do you keep taking attacks? You can dodge them, can't you?"

I can't dodge them, you bastard.

"It's a knight's pride."

"Was your dream to become a knight?"

For a year after enlisting, everyone in the unit treated me like an idiot.

A guy with burns across half his body refused to train with a sword and only lifted weights. Of course I looked like a freak.

Whenever I sparred, I would land one hit, then take the next attack.

One day, the commander openly asked me.

"Are you an idiot?"

"No, sir."

"Then what are you?"

"My dream is to become an honorable knight."

Only then did I understand why Halibal in the game went on about knights and pride.

It was the most believable excuse I could think of.

"...Right. Sure."

"Have a good one, sir."

After two years, I was gradually becoming a one-turn man.

One hit was enough.

As long as I prevented the enemy's turn from coming, that was all I needed.

By then, I was certain my strategy worked. Every spar ended in a single strike, and my opponents never got to counterattack.

A few comrades even asked about the secret of my strength.

Whenever they did, I answered honestly.

"How did you land that attack at exactly the right time?"

"Because I'm turn-based."

"...Hah. You're calling yourself a genius? Arrogant bastard."

I had no intention of correcting whatever misunderstanding they chose to have.

"Fuck, Halibal. Are you going to keep ending everything in one hit? We can't even spar because of you."

"I'm sorry."

‘But getting hit hurts.’

Around the time I could defeat everyone in the unit except the commander in one turn, I received my first real mission.

Enter a dungeon and rescue a noble young lady.

"We're counting on you, Halibal."

"I'll do my best."

Aside from the Dungeons of the Evil God that served as the game's main setting, Academy of the End had various other dungeons.

For example, the place I was in was the Spider Dungeon. It was an early dungeon, as basic as they came, only visited for side quests.

"Enemy!"

Naturally, most monsters in the Spider Dungeon were spiders.

After grueling training, I had become a one-turn man, so they were no match for me.

[Weak!]

The moment battle began, spider monsters fell one after another, each to a single slash.

Even monsters that didn't die in one hit could always be finished within the extra turn.

Raising my attack power had been the right answer.

"As expected of the Ashen Wind. It really looks like he only swings once."

"He's got the makings of a Sword Master. He's built differently from us."

As I got used to turn-based combat, I realized that other people couldn't see my extra turns.

That earned me a strange nickname.

Ashen Wind.

They said one slash left two wounds.

In reality, I had slashed twice.

I later learned the “ashen” part came from my burn scars, not my hair color. Fucking racists.

"Follow Halibal!"

After cutting down monsters one after another, we reached the boss room. A noble young lady, wrapped tightly in webbing like a seaweed roll, came into view.

"Is that the boss?!"

"That demonic energy is no joke. It has to be!"

The boss was a Human-Faced Spider with a human head attached to its abdomen.

It hung upside down from the ceiling, staring at us.

"Everyone, load your crossbows!"

"We need to bring it down!"

The plan was simple.

My comrades would use crossbows to knock it down, then I, the one-turn man, would finish it.

I was confident.

‘Its outer shell doesn't look that tough, so I should be able to finish it in two hits.’

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

The boss fell under the barrage of crossbow bolts, and I immediately charged in without missing my chance.

Then battle began.

...But.

Smash!!

‘Fuck?’

It was an enemy that attacked first.

"Halibal!!"

"D-damn it...! Halibal’s been taken down!!"

I hadn't been defeated.

I was just pulling myself together after feeling excruciating pain for the first time in a while.

‘Is this what bosses are like?’

It hurt like hell.

‘Until now, I always went first... Did I miss something?’

As I thought it over, something came to mind.

For two years, I had lifted weights like a maniac, but I had never trained my agility even once.

This was a system based on Press Turn, and it even had a speed stat? What kind of bullshit was that?

In other words, if I lacked speed, I wouldn't take the first turn. To avoid getting attacked first, I had to raise it.

‘When I get back, I need to start agility training too.’

By the time I barely got myself back on my feet, my comrades had already been wiped out.

What was I supposed to tell the commander about this? What a life.

Of course, beating that bastard was the priority right now.

The moment a blue gem appeared above my head, I drove my sword into its head.

[Weak!]

Confirmed. Its head was the weak point.

I swung my sword a second time, and the creature's turn returned.

For better or worse, even if my speed had been higher, I couldn't have killed it in one turn.

Getting hit twice instead of once still pissed me off, though.

Its blade-like legs punched three holes through my body, and one pierced near my chest.

[Weak!]

"Ah."

So that showed up for me too.

Thanks for the useful information.

I got hit three times instead of once, but luckily, I was able to bring down the boss with my next attack.

My entire body was a wreck, but I won, didn't I?

"Where am I...?"

"Are you all right?"

The noble young lady in my arms opened her eyes.

Apparently, followers of the Evil God had kidnapped her and thrown her into this dungeon.

I felt awful because my comrades had been wiped out for one girl, but what could I do? This was the kind of world where one noble child mattered more than four or five soldiers.

"Please hold on a little longer. I'll take you home soon."

I picked her up and desperately ran toward the dungeon entrance.

When I glanced back, the bodies of my fallen comrades remained in sight.

As I looked at them, cold and still, I thought to myself.

‘When I get back, I'll double the weight I lift.’

If I made it back, I had to grow even stronger so I would never see my comrades die again.

And do some cardio in my spare time.

Footnotes:

“I’m turn-based” (전 턴제) sounds like “I’m a genius” (전 천재) in Korean.

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