WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 86: Grave King Necledin (2)

──────

Arisha Rose.

The nun in charge of Rose Orphanage, a saintly and kind woman who had raised dozens of children, including Mine.

They were not related by blood, but she had been like a mother to Mine.

At the same time, she was the greatest source of Mine's trauma.

[Why are you making that face? Aren't you happy to see me again?]

The Climmud I remembered, the Chariot, had been a petty bastard despite his hulking appearance.

Unlike the other bishops, who saw a battle through once it began, he ran the moment things went wrong.

Even at the very end, he had set every kind of fucked-up trap and waited for the protagonist.

Still, he was the calculating type.

He had already figured it out.

Mine was both the heart of our party and its weakness.

Which was why...

"Senior, let's go."

"Yeah. We should."

I had no intention of getting drawn into his mind games.

The ally-turned-enemy mechanic.

Wasn't that something you saw everywhere?

Mine had prepared herself for this from the start.

For the possibility that the dungeon's wraiths would include familiar faces, and even the worst-case scenario that Sister Arisha might be among them.

She had entered this place resolved to defeat them with her own hands. It didn't matter if the opponent had become the boss.

"Mine. We're starting."

After clashing with all kinds of people for so long, I had come to one conclusion.

'No character is more unpredictable than Mine.'

She looked quiet on the surface, but when something unexpected happened, she was the type to rush in before anyone else.

The problem was that her choices usually led in a bad direction.

'Then it's my job to hold the reins.'

I didn't see Sister Arisha.

I saw Necreddin, the Grave King, the final boss of the Undead Dungeon.

So I simply moved according to the plan I had made.

I swung my sword.

Slash!

Gray sword energy cut through the air and carved a clear wound across Necreddin's chest as he sat upon the throne.

[Ugh...]

Clutching his chest, he let out a pained breath.

'He took that on purpose.'

It was an obvious trick to provoke Mine's guilt.

A red gem appeared above Necreddin's head.

[Ah... It hurts so much. Mine, your holy power has always been strong. Why don't you come over here and heal me?]

With a cold smile, he spread both arms wide.

He bared his wounded chest as if inviting her into his arms.

Mine's shoulders trembled.

"S-Sister..."

A sorrowful voice escaped her lips.

Then she took a step forward as if possessed.

But she couldn't take another.

I immediately pulled on her reins.

"Mine. Get a grip."

"But that's..."

"You said it yourself."

I turned her by the shoulders and forced her to meet my eyes.

"You said you wouldn't lie anymore. So how can you fall for a lie after saying that?"

"A... lie?"

Focus returned to Mine's wavering eyes.

She looked once more at the nun on the throne.

"Is that really the Sister you knew? Is she the kind of person who'd suddenly ask you to heal her just because she's hurt?"

I had spoken with Mine many times by then.

Sister Arisha had never cared whether Mine possessed much holy power.

To her, Mine had simply been one of the many children who had sadly found their way into the orphanage.

"You said it before we entered the dungeon. If you met her again, even in the form of a wraith, there were many things you wanted to tell her. Was that one of them?"

"No."

"...You're right. The Sister I knew wasn't like that."

[Mine...?]

"If the Sister I knew saw me again, she would've asked how I'd been first. She would've asked, 'How have you been? What do you like? Is there a boy you're interested in these days?'"

[...]

"That's just a disgusting monster wearing the face of someone precious to me and insulting her."

At her cold words, Necreddin put on a sad expression.

[Mine... Why are you saying such things? I am Arisha Rose. I am simply a being formed from her soul and the resentful spirits of everyone you failed to save.]

"No. The person I knew never had eyes like yours."

Mine turned to me with a forlorn smile.

"Thank you. I almost lied to myself again. I knew it... I definitely knew it..."

"It's fine to lie. Just don't get fooled by one."

That was what I said, but pride welled up in my chest.

Sniff.

Our little Mine had grown up.

[No matter how much you deny it, don't you know deep down that I am someone precious to you?]

Meanwhile, Necreddin seemed determined to keep up the act until the end.

With a wave of his hand, dozens of wraiths merged together and took the form of four wraiths.

All of them wore the armor of Imperial soldiers.

Mine's gaze was fixed on the swordsman's wraith standing at the front.

Unlike the others, it held its sword in an especially firm stance.

The swordsman's wraith looked around and spoke.

[Where... am I? Just a moment ago... there was a giant skeleton before me...]

"Uncle Shellop."

Shellop Innis.

Pasha's father.

Then the other wraiths seemed to regain consciousness as well, and began muttering in confused voices.

[My body feels as light as a feather. What happened?]

[And what's this sword in my hand? We were clearly carrying out a mission.]

One of the wraiths spotted Alicia and widened its eyes.

[Wait... that person is...?]

At his words, the other three wraiths turned toward Alicia as well.

[Could it be... Princess Alicia?]

"Do you know them?"

"I know all of them. Holtz, Marco, and is that Shusha over there? I never met Shusha in person, though."

[What a heartbreaking reunion, Mine. You never got to properly say goodbye, did you? This time, lead them to their rest with your own hands.]

Necreddin crooked a finger.

[Or will you join them?]

At that signal, the four wraiths raised their swords at us in unison.

[W-What is this...? My body... My body is moving on its own!]

[Stop! Stop it! Why is my sword pointed at Her Highness?!]

[Urgh...! Someone is giving orders inside my head...!]

The wraiths creaked into attacking stances.

[H-Help us...!]

At the same time, wraiths swirled around Necreddin, forming a grotesque barrier.

A familiar pattern.

'So the pattern is the same as Necreddin's.'

"Aren."

"Yeah. I noticed. We have to defeat those four first, right?"

But something was strange.

Why couldn't I see the wraiths' turns?

I had clearly been able to see Malias's summons.

Before I could finish that thought, the four wraiths moved at once.

Kwooooom!

Shellop's wraith swung its greatsword, sending dark blue sword energy tearing through the floor toward Mine.

Mine hadn't summoned Rosia yet.

There was no tank to take the attack for her.

'Shit!'

At that moment, Aren rushed in front of Mine.

She held her sword horizontally and took the incoming sword energy head-on.

Boom!

As Mine staggered from the shockwave, Aren quickly wrapped her in her arms.

"Are you alright?"

"A-Aren Bright...!"

The two wraiths on either side charged Aren as she supported Mine.

Slash! Slash!

Two successive strikes wounded Aren's shoulder and thigh.

Blood sprayed out.

"Urgh...!"

The force of blocking Shellop's sword energy had broken her stance, leaving her unable to stop the next two attacks.

Then came the final attack.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Vengeful-spirit arrows fired by the archer wraith struck Aren Bright's back.

Only then did I understand.

'There was a reason their turns weren't visible.'

The wraiths weren't separate entities.

Unlike the Necreddin from the original game, this fake Necreddin was a boss created by gathering every wraith in the dungeon together.

The summoning and the summoned wraiths' coordinated attack were all bound together as a single action, one turn.

'Then there isn't even a guarantee that defeating all the wraiths will break the barrier.'

I steadied my thoughts.

The thing before us was a separate boss Climmud had created to screw us over.

That was how I decided to view it.

The hardest moment in a game was when you faced a boss whose patterns you didn't know.

When you had to test unfamiliar patterns one by one, figure them out, and devise a strategy.

When that became a life-or-death battle like this, clearing it became far more difficult.

Because you only got one chance with your life.

But there was something he didn't know.

Others only had one chance.

I had three more.

'Let's strip this away. One piece at a time.'

My turn.

I lowered my sword and walked toward Shellop.

Wraiths took half damage from physical attacks.

It would be difficult for me to deal with them directly.

Mine would be the main damage dealer for this fight as well.

Then...

Even if physical damage didn't work, what about the weak point inflicted by Carving Sword?

"Carving Sword."

I drove Carving Sword into Shellop's translucent body.

[Weak!]

With the X-shaped wound, I gained an additional turn.

At that moment...

[Kh...!]

[Ugh...!]

As if invisible strings connected them, groans escaped from the other three wraiths as well.

Their translucent bodies flickered faintly as if they were in pain.

For my additional turn, Ashen Light.

An area attack with a wider range than Gale's Path.

Gray light exploded from the tip of my sword and swallowed all four wraiths.

[Kyaaaagh!]

[Aaaaargh!]

Once again, the wraiths screamed together.

'It worked.'

But the strange feeling remained.

Ashen Light was undeniably a physical attack, and wraiths had strong resistance to physical damage.

Even in the original game, you couldn't deal proper damage to wraith-type enemies without magic or holy power.

'This much damage from one Ashen Light?'

[What are you trying to do now?]

Pattern analysis.

The moment I threw myself backward, Mine's blue gem glowed.

Mine's turn.

Normally, it should have been Aren's turn, but she had injured her leg.

Naturally, her turn had been pushed to the back of our order.

'So the turn order has already gotten tangled once.'

"I'll summon Rosia first!"

Mine immediately tried to summon Rosia.

Summoning Rosia alone would consume a valuable turn.

'I should have had Mine summon Rosia before entering combat.'

The moment I nodded, I spoke.

"Mine. Heal the barrier."

"What? But Aren Bright is...!"

Aren spoke with a calm expression.

"It's okay. This isn't enough to bring me down."

She struck a pose as though flexing arm muscles she didn't have.

But cold sweat poured down her forehead.

It was because of the pain from her wounds.

She looked at me.

'Ah.'

Seeing her eyes, I realized it.

She really was the protagonist.

I had fought based on patterns from the original game, even using the chances given by regression.

Despite being shackled by turn-based combat, I held an overwhelming advantage over the people living in this world.

But what about Aren?

She had faced every dungeon without knowing a single pattern.

For her, every dungeon was a first attempt that put her life on the line.

That was why she had instinctively realized it.

What mattered most right now wasn't healing the injuries before us, but identifying the patterns of this unknown enemy.

"H-Halibal...?"

Mine still sounded flustered.

Of course she did.

I was telling her to prioritize attacking over treating an injured companion.

"Please do as Halibal says."

Yet Aren, the person involved, reassured Mine instead.

"Halibal's attack just now... showed us something."

Her gaze remained on me.

I met it and repeated to myself.

'It's okay. I won't let this chance go to waste.'

I stared intently at Necreddin and the wraiths.

So I wouldn't miss even the slightest inconsistency.

"Ugh... Alright. Heal!"

Mine hesitated for a moment.

But in the end, she bit her lip and gathered holy power.

A beam of light burst from her hand and shot straight toward Necreddin's barrier.

[Kyaaaah...!]

The wraiths forming the barrier let out dying screams.

That was when it happened.

Necreddin staggered, and the wraiths before him staggered as well.

Alicia muttered as she watched.

"What's going on? We clearly attacked the boss, but the wraiths in front were affected too."

"Yes. The same was true of Halibal's earlier attack."

When we attacked the boss, the lesser enemies were affected. When we attacked the lesser enemies, the boss was affected.

And the wraiths didn't have separate turns?

'Could this be...?'

Link.

A mechanic that often appeared in games.

Enemies connected by Link shared one fate.

Any damage or status ailments one entity received were shared by all connected entities.

In other words, no matter which of the five we attacked, the other four would take the exact same damage.

And monsters like this usually had absurdly large Health pools.

It had to be that way.

'If you attacked all five at once, it would be like dealing five times the damage.'

With a single-target attack, though, it would deal only one-fifth as much damage.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried