WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse ◈
Chapter 118: The Worst Mage in History
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The password was entered incorrectly at least five times in a row?
What was this, some kind of iXPhone?
‘I've only pressed it once so far. Did you forget the password?’
-Absolutely not. There's no way I'd be confused.
It seemed to take them a while to remember it.
-And didn't that message appear before you even pressed it properly?
Now that I thought about it, that was true.
Right before I pressed the 8 in 0918, an orange warning light had come on with an alarm.
‘You said it was connected to the inside of the Dungeon.’
-Yes, then surely...
Pelerian let out an incredulous sigh.
-Did those rats sneak in during the commotion?
The Dungeon we'd visited last time had already been picked clean.
All the important valuables had been stolen, and the site itself had become an interactive exhibition hall beloved by children.
Could this Dungeon, hidden deep within the Demonic Realm, have also...
‘It can't have been looted already. Wouldn't they have been stopped by the password?’
Pelerian nodded when I tried to reassure them.
-Right, they must be inside right now!
‘There's something I saw earlier...’
I told them that I'd seen something, maybe a dwarf, heading toward the Dungeon earlier.
Pelerian flew into a rage.
-Why are you only telling me something so important now?!
‘There wasn't time to tell you.’
-...That's true.
Pelerian had watched me brawl with a three-headed wyvern and a triple-fusion golem from the front row.
They could understand that I hadn't had time to talk.
‘So what do we do to unlock this?’
-You need to control it directly from the control room. Input my voice and Mana wavelength...
The Dungeon's control room obviously wouldn't be outside.
They were telling me to enter the Dungeon guarded by that golem.
That was absurd.
I'd opened this control panel to survive the golem in the first place.
‘I’ll just run away and come back later.’
-You can't.
Pelerian was little more than a spirit, but I could tell their face had gone pale.
-Defensive Formation has risen to Level 4. The Dungeon's internal security system will have started operating.
Was that so?
From a distance, the stone tower didn't look any different, but who knew what was happening inside.
-If the rats inside get cleaned up, it won't matter. But if they hold out, we'll be in serious trouble.
‘What happens then...?’
-It advances to Defensive Formation Level 5. The name of that sequence is...
I had a feeling I knew without hearing it.
It had been the same at the Magic Stone repository.
A Dungeon packed with precious Magic Stones.
If someone tried to force their way inside, the whole Dungeon had been designed to explode.
Given Pelerian's temperament, wouldn't this Dungeon have a similar device?
-Incineration. Everything inside will be burned away in scorching hellfire until nothing can be identified.
‘So there really is something important inside.’
-Probably...
Though Pelerian didn't know what exactly was in there.
Then I had to get inside quickly and disable that Defensive Formation.
Otherwise, the Dungeon might burn down right in front of me.
Creak-
Heavenly Thunder Decree's lightning had only stopped the golem for a brief moment.
I considered using Heavenly Thunder Decree repeatedly to buy more time, but gave up on the idea.
I'd probably be fine, but I didn't know what would happen to Isil.
Besides, I couldn't spend all my Mana just to gain a few seconds.
Thump-
The golem's armor opened, exposing the heat sinks inside.
A blast of scorching air burst from them.
Gurgle, gurgle. I could hear cooling water churning through its body.
-This one is preparing to use Super Acceleration.
Dodging it earlier had practically been luck.
I couldn't count on that happening again.
Still, I had quite a few people, no, wyverns beside me to help.
Wyvern Mom unleashed Destruction Beam at full power.
Kwarararara-!
The golem's durability really was incredible.
It raised a hand before its face as though blocking the glare of the sun, stopping the Destruction Beam as easily as blocking a stream of water.
It was pushed back and heated up, but that was all.
Still, it was effective enough.
To use Super Acceleration, it had to vent heat.
That was why it exposed its heat sinks and circulated cooling water.
The Destruction Beam reheated those sinks, preventing the golem from accelerating.
“Saaak!”
So there was a brilliant way to deal with it.
I should breathe fire too.
Pelerian usually nagged that my magic was awful.
But it wasn't always that bad.
I had a way to boost the power of my elemental magic.
Surpassing Horn.
No, now it was...
*「You use Crown of Overcoming Lv. 1.」
I used the more advanced skill to increase the power of my elemental magic.
*「Temporarily, ‘Elementary Elemental Magic: Fire Lv. 7’ becomes Intermediate Elemental Magic: Fire Lv. 1.」
*「You use Intermediate Elemental Magic: Fire Lv. 1.」
Fire burst from my mouth.
It wasn't as hot or fierce as Isil's Hellfire, but the flames were far larger than usual.
Isil, recover your Mana quickly.
Fwoosh-
Flames poured over the golem's exposed heat sinks.
Good, overheat and break down just like this...
Thump!
The golem fired a rocket punch at me.
Getting hot meant it couldn't use Super Acceleration, not that it couldn't move.
As I was sent flying through the air with a scream, Wyvern Mom, who had been using Destruction Beam moments ago, flew over to save me.
But Chugota, who had been recovering her strength, was faster.
“Shihite!”
She grabbed me in her mouth.
Not painfully, but carefully, like a tiger carrying its cub.
Though visually, it probably looked more like a stork trying to eat an earthworm.
‘No!’
Chugota seemed fixated solely on taking me away.
She still couldn't fly properly, so she crawled across the ground without hesitation.
“Saaaak!”
Telling her to stop was useless.
Of course, there was no way she could understand me.
-Try speaking the Oboe Language!
‘What?’
-You can understand it, can't you?!
The Oboe Language.
Come to think of it, that really was strange.
“Shihite” meant my baby in the Oboe Language.
I had no idea how old Chugota was, but she didn't look particularly intelligent.
If she were smart enough to learn language naturally, she would have spoken the common tongue like Silverback Akims or the human-faced spider. Why would she speak the Oboe Language?
-She may have learned it from the Oboe people in the past. It was a language humans created so they could communicate with monsters!
Was that it?
Then... but I was a snake. I couldn't speak.
At best, I could make sounds like saaak, shiririt, kyaak, or haak!
-What difference would being a wyvern make? It was created so monsters could speak it too, so it'll be fine.
‘Then teach me any word that'll make her stop!’
Even if I had a talent for languages, I couldn't freely come up with words I'd never heard before.
I roughly imitated the words Pelerian taught me.
“Shik, ki-”
It meant stop.
Chugota didn't stop.
“Kiik, kik!”
It meant angry.
I told her I was angry, but a mother trying to escape danger with her child didn't stop.
“Seuseut, seke! Hiichi-”
I tried saying words at random.
Then Chugota stopped.
She had reacted to the last word.
“Hiichi-!”
That word had stopped Chugota.
She froze in place and looked around.
Her eyes looked ready to spew flames, while a low growl rumbled from her mouth.
‘Thief.’
That was what hiichi meant in the Oboe Language.
Chugota was looking for a thief now.
*「You use Beam Lv. 3.」
I struck the golem with Beam.
I wasn't trying to hurt it.
I didn't know why she reacted to the word thief, but I was pointing at the golem and calling it the thief.
Surprisingly, Chugota reacted.
With insane fury.
“Kweeeeee, taaa!”
All three heads shouted at once.
‘Give it back!’
Her enormous body leaped up and pounced on the golem.
The Obelisk Giant teetered, then fell over.
That had to be a threatening situation for it too.
It urgently expelled cooling water, apparently trying to use Super Acceleration.
Sssssss!
Steam billowed out with terrifying force.
Once it finished venting heat, it would use Super Acceleration immediately.
Whether Chugota understood that and judged the situation, or simply acted on instinct, I didn't know.
But she responded perfectly.
At point-blank range, Chugota used Destruction Beam.
Her three heads fired beams without fearing the backlash would hit her too.
Kwararara-!
The heat sinks it had worked so hard to cool must have heated up again.
And that wasn't all. Chugota bit the tough golem over and over, shaking it violently.
That gave me a chance to escape.
Neither the golem nor Chugota was looking at me. This was my chance.
“Kwaak!”
Wyvern Mom looked at me.
“Saaaak!”
I shouted.
‘Take the children and run already!’
She wasn't their real mother, but thank you for taking care of them like one.
But our time together was coming to an end.
If I left with Seleta, Chugota would chase after me again.
I ran toward the Dungeon.
The golem and Chugota were too busy tangled up in their fight to notice.
The stone tower had an entrance once I got closer.
Calling it an entrance might have been a stretch. There were several window-like holes, and I had no idea where they led.
I didn't need to think about it alone.
-Above, get into that hole on the upper right!
I leaped.
Then slipped straight into the hole Pelerian had pointed out.
* * *
“Huff, huff.”
Jannil Feje let out harsh breaths.
The composure on his face had vanished at some point.
To be precise, it had disappeared when the dwarves finally forced the door open, the moment the trap had activated.
At first, he thought a mass of hard, dried sand had spilled out.
It didn't take long to realize they were freeze-dried monsters, bedbugs the size of millet grains.
The awakened bedbugs clung to the dwarves' bodies.
The dwarves screamed in a way utterly unlike themselves.
The tiny bedbugs' bellies swelled in an instant like red grapes.
Hundreds, thousands of them clung to each dwarf. Death was unavoidable.
Every dwarf died in moments.
It was sheer luck that Jannil Feje and Doctor Robert Vanton had survived.
Rangers who had lived long enough all had quick judgment and decisive instincts.
Jannil Feje immediately smashed a special ampule, recently developed by the Empire, against his forehead.
A foul-smelling liquid, reeking of fish, soaked his body.
Forgetting all dignity, he nearly hugged Doctor Robert Vanton as they retreated.
They said it gave off a stench so terrible that monsters couldn't bear it.
The ampule really worked.
The floor was crawling with bedbugs, yet a clean circle had formed around the two men.
The bedbugs wouldn't come within a certain distance.
“Slowly... Take it one step at a time.”
Robert Vanton nodded, trembling.
When they took a step, the bedbugs scattered away.
It was incredibly fortunate.
Some bedbugs, their bellies already full, remained still.
They had no choice but to step on them, and blood burst out with a pop.
“We need to get inside. The effect won't last forever.”
“What are we going to do when we leave?”
“It's fine. I have another ampule.”
The two tried to enter through the open door.
Then someone appeared out of thin air.
-Intruders.
It was an elf.
But one who looked nothing like an elf.
They appeared to be an old man.
Their nose was hooked like a witch's, and unlike an elf, a messy gray beard had grown over their face.
The feature that stood out most among their deeply mismatched features was their eyes.
Pitch-black eyes.
They resembled the eyes of a rat crawling through darkness.
That didn't mean they looked shabby.
They were terrifying, if anything.
A robe made of luxurious silk fit for an emperor.
Rune Language embroidered in gold thread.
Extravagant jewelry, and a ring that looked like a Magic Tool.
There was no mistaking who they were.
Even though a hundred years had passed since they had actively roamed the world...
“H-Heaven-Defier.”
Jannil Feje muttered that irreverent Epithet.
Back then, they had been the continent's strongest villain, feared even by the Emperor of the Empire.
-Those rats forced open a locked door and crawled inside.
“You were alive?!”
The experienced ranger felt fear.
Heaven-Defier was that kind of being.
Someone who could bring ruin with a single word.
-This is not the storehouse you hoped for... Go back. You will not gain even a grain of rice.
A warning.
A warning to turn back.
Unlike Jannil Feje, an imperial citizen, Doctor Robert Vanton might not have fully understood the terror of Heaven-Defier.
Or perhaps he had noticed something strange about that warning.
He irreverently reached for the hem of Heaven-Defier's robe.
Jannil Feje wouldn't have been surprised even if the doctor turned to ashes in an instant.
But the doctor's hand simply passed through.
“...It's an illusion.”
“...Ah!”
The Heaven-Defier who had suddenly appeared was actually an illusion.
Jannil felt a little embarrassed.
Had he been too frightened by Heaven-Defier's appearance?
“L-Let's go inside.”
Hiding his embarrassment, he walked forward.
He passed right through the illusion.
As they tried to keep walking past it...
-There is neither wealth nor treasure here.
Pelerian's illusion continued speaking in midair.
-Only disgrace, regret, and obsession remain... So turn back.
But they couldn't turn back after coming this far.
Jannil Feje and Doctor Robert Vanton continued deeper inside.
Footnotes:
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