WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse ◈
Chapter 119: The Worst White Snake in History Appears
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Jannil Feje and Dr. Robert Vanton entered through the open door.
A short while later.
A snake, a vine, and a fragment of a soul appeared in that spot.
The white snake immediately retched.
* * *
“Gweeeek!”
It smelled so bad I really felt like throwing up.
I wasn't the only one suffering. Isil scrunched up like someone who had bitten into a lemon.
Isil's reaction made it clear that plants could smell too.
‘It's Pandan's scent!’
This was Pandan's scent.
When the wyverns invaded the Dungeon, Pandan had dumped a foul-smelling ampule over himself. This was definitely that smell.
Would it smell like this if you stuffed fermented skate and fermented soybean paste into fish guts, then left them at room temperature for a week?
“Gwek!”
-Stop making such a fuss!
Pelerian barked at me.
Surprisingly, the smell seemed only slightly fishy to Pelerian.
A stench that only affected monsters.
It was unbelievably foul, yet it didn't seem to be actual poison. That was almost more surprising.
-They definitely passed through here.
Bugs swarmed across the floor.
It was revolting, but after all I'd been through, it wasn't a problem for me.
-They froze Ancient Vampiric Bedbugs. Hmm...
Pelerian narrowed their eyes.
-What is this? There's a device projecting magical illusions here.
‘Don't you remember it?’
-I don't remember installing that.
There were several gaps in Pelerian's memories, and this seemed to be one of them.
‘There are dead dwarves.’
Dwarf corpses lay scattered everywhere.
They had dried out like mummies, and the bedbugs' bellies were swollen like red grapes. The cause of death was obvious.
-They should have died more painfully... Those treacherous shorties.
I'd heard Pelerian had been closer to dwarves and Gnomes than to their own people.
Yet those dwarves had already tried to sell off Pelerian's Dungeon twice.
-Go that way.
Pelerian said it as if the bedbugs that had slaughtered the dwarves weren't even there.
‘Ugh, the smell...’
Still, I wasn't particularly afraid of the bedbugs either.
I boldly entered the middle of the swarm.
First, there was the dignity I had gained from leading hundreds of monsters as their leader.
I unleashed it without holding back.
The more sensitive bedbugs slowly moved aside.
“Sssaaak!”
Of course, some fearlessly rushed me despite my warning.
They clung to my body to suck my blood.
‘That doesn't even tickle.’
Not one of them could damage my Crystal Scales.
Crunch!
Instead, many of them crumbled beneath me with a crisp crack.
The Magical Essence flowing in was so faint I could ignore it, so I quickly reached the side of the door as Pelerian instructed.
-Do you see that hole up there?
‘Yes.’
-Go in through there.
‘Not through the open door?’
-That's a ventilation shaft, so it'll be better. We need to catch up with those who went in first.
Fair enough.
I wedged in my dagger and twisted it, tearing away the metal grate blocking the ventilation shaft.
Then I leaped up.
I barely managed to hang on, so Isil extended a vine and helped me into the shaft.
-Crawl straight ahead.
When this Dungeon had been built, there had probably been no need to worry about intruders entering through ventilation shafts.
Unlike the ones in movies like Mission Impossible, this shaft was incredibly narrow.
Only a snake like me could barely fit through.
Pelerian ran ahead to find the way.
-This way.
They seemed to know the Dungeon's general layout.
‘Didn't you say you can't remember properly?’
-Yes. There are parts of the Dungeon I can't remember.
‘So?’
-We're heading toward one of those places. The reason my main body incinerated those memories must be hidden there.
Pretty clever.
Still, I was a little surprised.
Not because Pelerian's scheme was ingenious.
It was because they had used the term “main body.”
I thought it was the first time they had referred to themselves that way, and the word carried a strange weight.
Unlike “me,” didn't “main body” sound like a separate being?
Following Pelerian's instructions, I crawled through the winding ventilation shaft.
Fortunately, there were no traps inside it.
The route was complicated and cramped, though, and I started getting bored.
So I asked Pelerian a question.
‘What do you think is hidden in this Dungeon?’
Pelerian didn't answer right away.
It didn't seem like they didn't want to answer. They seemed to be organizing their thoughts first.
-It must be something arranged for after my death.
Pelerian's Epithet was Heaven-Defier.
It meant they defied the heavens, but what they had truly defied was the entire world.
They had defied their race's will, the laws and morals of nations and civilizations.
That was why they were called a villain, though Pelerian seemed to feel they had been treated unfairly in their own way.
-I don't care what those bastards call me. Son of a bitch, enemy of the Empire, whatever, I have no interest in it. I had a noble purpose...
No matter what, Pelerian wasn't the type of villain who craved conquest or killed for pleasure.
If I had to classify them, mad scientist fit best.
The kind who had gone mad enough to burn down the entire world for what they believed was a noble purpose.
-To make elves great again. My purpose was to evolve that declining race into High-Elves.
Whenever Pelerian spoke of that goal, their voice turned dramatic, almost theatrical.
It showed how sincere they were.
But...
Maybe it was because I had spent so much time with them.
For some reason, their tone felt strangely artificial.
Like they were playing back a recorded speech.
As if repeating those words helped them steady their exhausted heart.
-I wanted that purpose to be fulfilled even if I died. If so, I must have left behind something to carry it out.
It was a rational, logical deduction.
What Pelerian had been doing was research on an enormous scale.
Humanoid races don't evolve. Humans, elves, and dwarves are all the same.
Pelerian's research had been about overcoming that law of nature and evolving elves.
Strictly speaking, the Dungeons scattered across the continent could also be called research bases.
‘Could it be a laboratory?’
-A laboratory...
‘You said you hadn't finished the research to evolve every elf into a High-Elf, right?’
-According to my memories, yes. I found a clue, but that was all. I never completed the research. How could I continue it after dying?
A clever idea flashed through my mind.
‘You made golems.’
-Golems?
‘Yes, not combat golems, researcher golems. Golems that could keep researching how to evolve elves even after you died. Maybe golems constantly experimenting and investigating have continued their research down there.’
-Huh. That is... truly...
I let my imagination run wild.
Even I thought it sounded plausible.
Pelerian stopped dead, looking surprised.
-Truly idiotic!
‘...’
-Do you think research is that easy? It's a difficult problem that even a genius like me couldn't solve after devoting my entire life to it. Researcher golems, my ass.
What an unpleasant old elf.
Even when I wanted to feel fond of them, they had to say things like that.
‘Then what is it? Honestly, I don't care.’
-I understand the idea. But I'm someone who embodies rationality. If I couldn't produce a hundred, I would have at least tried to present the ten I had completed.
That was Pelerian's guess.
-It's not as if I had no research to show for it. After my death, I would have sent my results to the Elven Elders' Council and the World Tree.
‘You don't get along with the elves. Wouldn't they just throw it away?’
-They would have read it. If they did, then regardless of how much they hated my transgressions and hated me, they would have used those results. Otherwise, the entire elven race was destined to perish.
Pelerian seemed to believe that.
‘But that sounds like something someone who's never died would say.’
The words slipped out before I could stop them.
-What do you mean by that?
‘Shouldn't you consider what you'll regret when you're about to die, instead of thinking about what you still want to accomplish after death?’
-...
Evolving the entire elven race and all that.
Sure, that was important too.
Hadn't Pelerian devoted their entire long life to it?
They had punished everyone who stood in their way, until they were called the worst villain in history.
But I had already died once, so I knew.
There were things you regretted when death came.
Things you should have done but never did.
Things you wished you hadn't said so harshly.
Or words you could never bring yourself to say.
I shouldn't have lived that way.
I should have lived differently.
Wouldn't those regrets come crashing down on you?
‘Isn't there anything you regret so much that you couldn't bear to die like this?’
I didn't know if my thoughts reached Pelerian.
-There is.
‘What is it?’
-...That day.
Pelerian spoke quietly, then glared at me.
Then they swung a fist at me.
-Hey!
Swoosh!
Naturally, the fist passed through my face.
-Stop prying into everything!
Pelerian had sworn an oath to me.
If I kept demanding answers, Pelerian had to respond.
Even so, that would be too cruel.
‘Maybe you liked someone but couldn't confess, so you left behind a video message before dying.’
-If it were something like that, I'd want to burn this place down with my own hands.
Another plausible idea came to me.
‘Could you have been trying to become a Lich?’
-What?
‘You know, the thing where a mage who doesn't want to die turns into a skeleton and gets an eternal lifespan.’
-An undead sorcerer? Me, trying to become one?
‘Even just to continue your unfinished research...’
I stopped talking.
Pelerian's expression was gradually hardening.
At any moment...
-You little bastard!
‘Whoa.’
-Are you insulting me? How could an elf like me ever do such a thing!
Pelerian acted as if they had suffered a grave insult.
Thinking about it, they were extremely proud of being an elf.
Maybe prouder than any elf in the world.
-A pureblood elf like me becoming undead!
A mage so obsessed with their race that it was almost madness.
‘Yeah, yeah. My mistake.’
-Hmph.
I ignored the rest of their grumbling.
I'd find out what was hidden here when I saw it.
* * *
Jannil Feje was a ranger who had seen it all.
He had received commissions bearing the purple seal more than ten times, and he had never failed one.
The purple seal was the imperial seal.
That meant Jannil had carried out commissions for the imperial family, which showed just how seasoned he was.
In any case, it meant he had the skills to clear Dungeons.
And what about Dr. Robert Vanton, who was with him?
The doctor was an expert on the Mountain Range Demonic Realm and its civilization.
He was well-versed in ancient history, including the Oboe Civilization, and had extensive knowledge of all kinds of symbols and myths.
That knowledge would be a great help in clearing a Dungeon.
Still, even considering all that, no one could deny that the two had been lucky.
Only the two of them had made it this far safely.
“Whew...”
White breath escaped Jannil's mouth.
The air was as cold as winter.
It was a space maintained by magic.
“...A laboratory.”
Robert muttered.
“What?”
“A laboratory. Heaven-Defier's laboratory.”
Jannil had had opportunities to enter mages' studies and workshops before.
But a laboratory?
That was the only word that suited this place.
“It's horrific. Absolutely horrific.”
They had expected mountains of treasure and Magic Tools.
Even without them, Pelerian's Dungeon was worth entering.
It was a Dungeon carefully hidden by an enemy of the Empire.
The imperial family would surely be pleased.
Yet the contents of the Dungeon were honestly disgusting.
It was a visceral revulsion.
Tap.
Dr. Vanton fearlessly touched a crystal panel.
“Be careful. What if it wakes up?”
“So it was true that Heaven-Defier was obsessed with Chimeras.”
Beyond the crystal panel was a container filled with Nutrient Solution.
A lump of flesh could be seen in the dim light.
It had three eyes, with things that could have been arms or tentacles attached at random.
It wasn't even worthy of the word Chimera. It was simply a mass of flesh.
Jannil and Robert walked slowly onward.
“They keep getting more advanced.”
Robert muttered.
As a scholar, he understood immediately.
The test subjects had been stored in order.
From early Chimeras to later ones.
The one in the fifth tank had a slight sense of balance to its form.
Of course, it had fur growing from its head down its back, and oddly shaped forelegs with reverse joints.
Tap, tap.
Robert tapped the tank, and Jannil flinched.
“What are you doing!”
“Don't worry. It's not going to wake up, is it?”
“They are dead, right?”
“Well...”
Robert felt uneasy.
The Chimeras became more complete with each one.
The strange part was that they were progressing toward forms capable of walking on two legs.
Pelerian made bipedal Chimeras? Why?
If you were going to make a Chimera, having four or more legs was better. That was just common sense.
“Wait.”
Robert spotted something.
There was scribbling scrawled across the wall.
Things like that sometimes appeared when someone had left their notebook behind and hastily jotted down an idea that came to them.
“Can you read it?”
“Whew, let me brush off the dust first.”
Robert was a scholar who knew Elvish.
That was why he could read what Pelerian had written.
The doctor's eyes trembled.
He sharply drew in a breath.
Seeing Robert's face turn pale in an instant, Jannil grew alarmed.
“What's wrong...”
Clang!
At that moment, a metal panel loudly fell from the ceiling.
Jannil instinctively drew his dagger.
Looking up, he saw that the cover of what seemed to be a ventilation shaft had opened and fallen.
Then a white snake dropped out of it with a thud.
“What the...”
The snake somehow looked stupid.
It looked even more foolish with dust from the ventilation shaft all over it.
“Ahhh!”
Yet Robert screamed when he saw the snake.
It didn't look scary at all, so why was he acting like that?
The doctor even drew his crossbow, then finally seemed to realize that what had appeared was only a snake and panted heavily.
“Damn it! It looks just like that bastard Chugota's offspring.”
Then he fired his crossbow at the snake without hesitation.
It wasn't something anyone could blame him for, but...
Piiing!
The problem was that the bolt didn't pierce the snake.
The snake caught the flying bolt in its mouth.
Was that even possible?
Jannil couldn't immediately assess the situation in the face of that unbelievable sight.
The moment the snake narrowed its eyes.
A black dagger shot out from somewhere.
The dagger slashed across Dr. Vanton's hand holding the crossbow.
Slice!
Drops of blood and severed fingers scattered through the air.
“Arghhh!”
The doctor's scream came a moment later.
Footnotes:
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