WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse ◈
Chapter 121: Let’s Give It a Try
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Jannil Feje and Dr. Robert Vanton, who had been stemming their wounds, heard the voice as well.
-The incineration sequence begins in 30 seconds.
It came after a blaring alarm.
“I-Incineration?”
“It means they’re going to burn this horrible place down!”
Dr. Vanton shouted.
Jannil stared at him in disbelief.
Sure, Vanton was a doctor and Jannil was merely a ranger, but did Vanton think Jannil was too stupid to understand that?
Jannil snapped.
“I know that, you bastard!”
Vanton flinched and froze.
Vanton’s face was pale. A flying snake had cut off three of Vanton’s fingers, so it was only natural.
Jannil let out a sigh and forced down the anger.
“Sorry for yelling. For now, for now, we shouldn’t be fighting each other...”
“Right. We need to find a way to survive somehow.”
Jannil had worried Dr. Vanton might burst into tears.
Thankfully, nothing so horrible happened.
“It said the Incineration Procedure is beginning, so we need to find somewhere the flames can’t reach... or find a way to stop it.”
That was the rational choice.
Still, it did not seem like they had much time.
-25, 24, 23...
The countdown continued in real time.
“Damn it, th-that way...!”
Jannil could tell they were in the heart of the Dungeon.
Those bizarre tanks and experimental rooms were unlikely to be on its outskirts. Jannil’s ranger’s sense of direction said the same.
“Maybe we can do something in there.”
There was a room filled with complicated machinery.
Vanton read the words engraved above it.
“C-Control Room...!”
Dr. Vanton had heard plenty about Pelerian’s Dungeons.
Pelerian was the mage who had left behind more Dungeons than anyone else in the world. It had not been that long since Pelerian’s active days, either. Until a few decades ago, newly discovered Pelerian Dungeons still turned up from time to time.
But Vanton swore Vanton had never imagined a Dungeon like this existed.
Vanton could not begin to guess how it had been made.
The dwarves said Pelerian personally constructed half of this Dungeon. The claim that Pelerian’s elemental magic reached the heavens was true.
Yet the system that controlled a Dungeon through a Magical Spirit was the real marvel.
“Magical Spirit, respond!”
Vanton shouted in front of the control device.
Jannil watched with a baffled expression.
-You called?
A reply truly came from thin air.
Dr. Vanton’s face brightened with hope.
“Stop the Incineration Procedure! Stop it right now!”
Meeting someone from your hometown was welcome enough when you were far from home.
Finding someone Vanton could communicate with inside a Dungeon that would soon be filled with flames made Vanton’s legs tremble.
Still, Vanton and Jannil’s faces soon twisted.
-Identity cannot be verified.
-The Incineration Procedure cannot be stopped.
Of course.
It would not have been designed so anyone could operate it.
Did that mean they were supposed to quietly stay trapped here and die?
“Then do something!”
“A-Aaah!”
-12, 11, 10...
The control room was packed with strange machines.
Even Dr. Vanton, a scholar, had no idea how to use them. Was this elven technology? No, it was probably Pelerian’s own invention.
They tried pulling levers and pressing buttons.
Vanton briefly considered figuring out how they worked, but...
-8, 7, 6...
There was no time.
All they could do was smack, pull, and press everything like toddlers playing with toys.
“Ah... Aah...!”
Jannil groaned.
Long pipes slid out from the ceiling.
They were obviously part of the incineration apparatus.
That meant even this control room would burn.
-5, 4, 3...
Jannil joined in, frantically pressing a button until it nearly broke.
Bang!
“What are you doing?!”
“Wait, I think something might be working...!”
A beep sounded.
Then the Magic Spirit spoke.
-Playing music to calm your mind.
“Goddamn it!”
This time, Vanton yanked down a red lever.
Compressed air hissed out.
Had the Incineration Procedure stopped?
-...1. Beginning incineration.
-...Discharging and adjusting Nutrient Solution.
The Magic Spirit’s overlapping voices made the latter words hard to hear, but they clearly heard that the incineration was beginning.
Jannil and Vanton screamed and clung to each other.
Then, perhaps the heavens helped them.
Or perhaps their random tampering with the machinery had done something.
A miracle happened.
-Test Subjects have not been recovered. Temporarily suspending the Incineration Procedure.
The exposed nozzles in the ceiling did not retract, but neither did they spew hot flames.
“Wh-What...?”
“I think we hit something important?”
What did it mean that the Test Subjects had not been recovered?
The Test Subjects must have been the grotesque creatures floating in the tanks along the walls, but none of the tanks had been empty.
“...Let’s go outside first.”
Dr. Vanton looked braver now.
Jannil nodded with an impressed expression.
“You’re brave, Doctor.”
“Being carried off to Chugota’s nest was far more frightening. This is nothing.”
For someone saying that, Vanton’s scream from earlier had not exactly been quiet.
Still, Jannil silently followed Vanton.
No matter what anyone said, the doctor was an impressive person.
Hadn’t Vanton overcome terrible trauma and returned to the Mountain Range in the end?
Even Jannil was moved by the doctor’s noble resolve.
“I can’t die in a place like this.”
The doctor muttered as they stepped outside the control room.
“Uh.”
The corridor outside the control room formed a circle.
The control room was in the center, while tanks lined the outer wall.
Splash.
The floor was wet.
A sticky, fishy-smelling liquid had pooled around their ankles.
The source was obvious.
The Nutrient Solution inside the tanks was leaking out.
“Did pulling that lever cause this?”
Jannil wondered whether the monsters in the tanks might wake up.
Perhaps Jannil was the only one worried, because Dr. Vanton approached one of the tanks.
“Maybe it was a lever that drains the Nutrient Solution to kill these things, or maybe...”
Or maybe what?
Jannil wondered what Vanton meant when...
Thump!
The light inside the tank suddenly went out with a loud sound.
Why? The magical lighting had been on.
The corridor had already been dim, but once the tank’s light went out, they could not see anything at all.
“Well, now.”
Dr. Vanton tapped the tank with Vanton’s fingers.
“Could you...”
Jannil, feeling uneasy, spoke up.
“Please step back a little...”
Crack!
A fissure suddenly split across the tank.
At first, Jannil thought it had happened because Vanton tapped on it.
It had not.
Something had pierced through the tank’s glass.
It was embedded in Dr. Vanton’s stomach.
“Guhk... Kgh.”
Blood sprayed from Dr. Vanton’s mouth.
Crack, crash!
The tank burst, spilling its remaining Nutrient Solution.
Jannil barely managed to keep from falling.
Jannil quickly regained balance and looked up.
The thing trapped inside the tank was already outside.
A swollen belly.
A head with no eyes or nose, only a mouth.
Long, tentacle-like arms.
Dr. Vanton dangled from one of its hands, stomach impaled.
Jannil looked back and forth between the doctor and the nameplate beside the tank.
──────────────
〔Test Subject, No. 05〕: Big Belly
──────────────
The sound of shattering glass rang out from every direction.
The Chimeras sleeping inside the tanks had been released.
‘What the hell did you do, Vanton?’
The doctor did not get to die peacefully.
“Kweeek!”
With stomach pierced, Vanton spewed blood and vomit from the mouth.
“D-Doctor!”
“Sssaaak!”
Something else screamed alongside Jannil.
That tiny snake had appeared beside them before Jannil knew it.
* * *
Pelerian’s proposal that we all burn to death nice and clean was ultimately rejected.
The Incineration Procedure had stopped.
Pelerian’s face, which had briefly become peaceful, twisted back into that of a vengeful demon.
-Those rats opened the tanks... K-Kill them all!
I was glad to hear Pelerian sounding lively again.
I rushed to the control room.
The entrance was, unbelievably, hidden beside Tank No. 5.
Pelerian had been too distracted by the Chimeras to mention it.
The humans from earlier were standing in front of it.
One of them already had a stomach pierced by a Chimera that had burst out.
“Sssaaak!”
When I roared, the Chimera holding the human like skewered meat grew scared and tried to run away.
It was not the only one.
The other Chimeras also ran through the corridor, each letting out a strange cry.
-Don’t let them get away!
To Pelerian, it probably felt like watching a secret diary flutter away in the wind.
I turned toward the fleeing creatures.
‘Isil!’
I called out to Isil.
‘Flamethrower!’
I planned to catch all the escaping Chimeras at once.
Isil stretched vines out in front of me.
Purple flames burst from their tips.
Fwoooosh!
A flamethrower in a confined space was terrifyingly powerful.
And it truly was.
As Hellfire spread, it revealed the things hiding beyond the darkness.
Some had already escaped.
The slower ones must not have gotten away in time.
The first to be swallowed by the flames was the nearby Big Belly No. 5.
*「You have defeated Test Subject No. 5 Big Belly Lv. 50.」
Next was Meatball, which had no legs.
*「You have defeated Test Subject No. 1 Meatball Lv. 30.」
One-Leg, which had only a single leg, was not swallowed by the flames.
It was hopping away at an incredible speed.
It looked worthy of an Epithet like One-Legged Speedster.
Three-Eyes, which had three legs, burned easily instead.
*「You have defeated Test Subject No. 3 Three-Eyes Lv. 50.」
Catching three at once was a lot, if you looked at it that way.
But seven had already escaped, so it was not enough.
-We have to catch the rest too!
Pelerian shouted.
Those Chimeras were Pelerian’s shame.
They were Chimeras so embarrassing that they damaged Pelerian’s soul, Chimeras whose very existence could not be tolerated.
If this were a game, a new quest window would probably have appeared right now.
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【Defeat Pelerian’s Chimeras (A)】
Defeat every escaped Chimera before they leave the Dungeon.
The products of that terrible shame cannot be revealed to the world.
Remaining Chimeras: 7/10
Reward: ???
Would you like to accept?
Y/N
──────────────
Something like that.
Honestly, it was not a request I was happy to take.
A chase through this dark Dungeon after hideous Chimeras?
Considering my relationship with Pelerian, I could help out, but...
-What are you doing? Why are you frozen?!
I was holding back the excitement surging through me.
Because...
*「Your level has increased.」
*「Your level has increased.」
*「Your level has increased.」
*「Your level has increased.」
*「Your level has increased.」
...
An explosive flood of Magical Essence rushed in, and my level kept rising.
The Chimeras were not particularly strong.
Their levels were not that high either, so I had not expected this much Magical Essence.
Yet I had shot past Level 40 in an instant.
Assuming I evolved once more at Level 50... No, reaching Level 60 seemed entirely possible.
Chimeras were massive bundles of experience points.
-You bastard!
‘Sounds good.’
I accepted the quest.
‘Let’s give it a try.’
-Th-Thank you!
Even Pelerian, who had been barking at me, seemed moved by my choice.
I turned to find the human from earlier.
Gone.
Only one corpse remained, still impaled on Big Belly, while the other human had already run away.
Fast, aren’t you?
-We need to close the door so those bastards can’t escape the Dungeon! Get into the control room, quickly!
If the Chimeras escaped the Dungeon, chasing them would be impossible.
I hurried into the control room.
The machinery inside was unbelievably complex.
-Damn it, this would be easy if I could use voice commands. They’ve messed everything up... Open that quartz cover over there.
I did as instructed.
Inside were complicated wires and pins connected together.
-Pull out all the yellow and red pins.
Pelerian was an old elf with the charm of an engineering student.
I could not even assemble a computer in my previous life, so I just did exactly what Pelerian told me.
Thump!
Something slid down from the ceiling.
Ah, I knew what that was.
-Insert the ring.
I did.
I pushed the ring on my tail in.
-Identity recognized.
-Welcome, Lord Pelerian.
The Magic Spirit welcomed me.
Unfortunately, I could not reply.
-Switch it to manual operation!
After I manipulated a few more things as Pelerian instructed...
-Closing the Dungeon entrance.
A heavy impact rang out from far away.
The door was closed.
-Next, get close to that crystal panel and turn the pin to the right.
Amazingly, the control room could show the current state inside the Dungeon.
It could detect life signs and identify the locations of intruders and Chimeras.
When I turned the pin, a map appeared on the crystal panel.
-First, find the closest Chimera...
The two small white dots in the center were Isil and me.
And...
-Huh?
Right behind us.
There was one more life sign.
-Behind you!
“Sssaaak!”
I leaped up and spun around.
Footnotes:
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