WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse ◈
Chapter 73: Martein’s Greatest Dancer!
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“You will die once from a snake bite.”
That was the oracle delivered to twenty-year-old Gerard Martein.
He had been resolute and exceptional since childhood. When he heard the prophecy foretelling his death, Gerard's first thought was this.
‘Has this bishop bastard finally lost his mind?’
The Martein family was the Church of Light's greatest patron. They poured enormous donations into that diocese every year.
That was why members of the Martein family could occasionally receive oracles. Having turned twenty, Gerard had gone to the bishop to ask about his future.
‘Is he making trouble because he wants more donations?’
It was hardly strange for Gerard Martein to think so. The bishop he had asked for an oracle was famous for his greed, which outweighed even his faith.
“Could you say that one more time?”
That was why he interrupted, even though speaking during an oracle was taboo.
Gerard looked at the bishop's face, expecting a more detailed explanation.
Then he flinched.
The bishop's eyes had no pupils, only whites. His hair fluttered on its own, while something like a halo shone behind his head.
It was common for bishops to adorn themselves with divine magic.
This was different.
Gerard sensed it instinctively.
The bishop opened his mouth again.
“Y-you will d-die o-once fr-from a sn-snake b-bite.”
“Shit, that scared me!”
The voice echoed as though it had come from inside a cave. Startled, Gerard urgently asked,
“Die? Then what am I supposed to do?”
If the bishop was going to deliver such a dreadful oracle, he should at least say how to overcome it.
Instead, the bishop's nose began bleeding, and he collapsed.
It was a genuine oracle.
A real oracle.
Even a Martein could not help but fear it. It said he would someday die from a snake bite.
The first thing Gerard did was hide the prophecy. Even the bishop had no memory of ever saying it, so that was easy enough.
The next thing he did was seek a way to overcome it.
Was there no way to escape a prophecy of death? Gerard investigated from every angle.
The conclusion he reached was despairing.
If the prophecy was true, Gerard would certainly die.
Should he simply assume the oracle was wrong and wait? Gerard acted like a Martein. Instead of sitting still and accepting the death that would someday come for him, he decided to fight to the end and find a way.
‘Die once.’
He obsessed over the word ‘once.’
If there was one time, could there be a second?
Perhaps.
What was death in the first place? Was it death when the heart stopped? Or when all the Magical Essence in one's body was lost?
If he used that vague concept, perhaps he could overcome the prophecy.
So, at twenty, he began his preparations.
When a spike that erupted from the snake's body pierced his throat, Gerard Martein thought,
‘This should count as dying from a bite too, right?’
That was his last thought.
His carotid artery had torn, and even his spinal nerves had been damaged. It was unquestionably a fatal wound.
His consciousness went dark, and his heart certainly stopped.
That was when the old preparation activated.
Strange tattoos had been etched across Gerard Martein's bare body. They resembled the sorcery of heathen barbarians, and their effect was much the same.
Thump!
The tattoo on his chest glowed, and his body convulsed.
His stopped heart began beating again by force.
Gerard's muscles, which had been taut enough to burst, gradually shrank. That energy began to heal his wounds instead.
The Marquis's magnificent body, which had filled his massive golden armor so solidly, grew smaller. Even his skin wrinkled.
His hearing returned first.
“Saaak!”
It was the startled cry of a snake.
For something that looked like that, it had a surprisingly frivolous cry.
As flesh regenerated around his neck, the spike embedded there was pushed out. Gerard, who had been dangling from it, fell to the ground.
Thud!
He caught his balance and landed on his feet.
“Damn prophecy.”
A prophecy was a prophecy after all.
Gerard laughed hollowly. His armor was dwarf-made plate forged from Mistilgold and consecrated as well. Yet the spike had slipped perfectly into the gap between his helmet and breastplate.
Was that an incredible coincidence, or fate?
‘My armor is loose.’
The muscles that had filled his armor had shrunk. Of course it rattled.
That did not mean the Marquis's vigor had vanished.
Perhaps because the threat of death that had plagued him for so long was gone, his mind felt clearer than ever.
“Good!”
He clapped sharply.
The holy knights who had witnessed their lord's resurrection cheered through tears.
“Let's have a proper fight.”
He said it to the snake before him.
*「You use Explosive Throwing Method Lv. 5.」
*「You use Light's Blessing Lv. 10.」
*「You use Martein Combat Arts Lv. 20.」
He used the skills all at once.
Tremendous strength surged through his body.
His armor clattering, he swung a fist into the snake's body.
Kwang!
Wood chips flew like sawdust. The massive Chimera snake's body even lifted slightly from the ground.
Even then, wooden tendrils sprouting from its body tried to pierce the Marquis.
Tat, tatang!
This time, they failed.
They could not even scratch his sturdy plate armor.
Kwang!
He swung his fist again, destroying the snake's body. Every time his pointed-knuckled gauntlet struck, sawdust scattered.
Hundreds of thin branches rushed the Marquis.
Unable to skewer him to death, the Chimera snake seemed to have decided to bind him instead. The Marquis tore away the branches tangled around his armor and threw another punch.
“W-we'll help!”
The mounted holy knights joined the battle.
They were true knights as well. Aura flowed through their swords and spears.
Crack, crunch!
Their weapons cut through branches and buried themselves in wooden tendrils.
Their compatibility was poor right now. Humans had two arms, while there were hundreds of wooden tendrils stronger than either arm.
Those tendrils swept the horses' legs.
The knights had no choice but to fall. None died from that alone, but one unlucky knight had their ankle caught.
“Ah!”
The Chimera lifted the knight and swung them like a hammer.
The Marquis, who had tried to knock them away with his spear, lowered it in shock.
Kwang!
The Marquis and knight tumbled away together.
The Marquis quickly pushed the knight aside and rose.
Rumble!
The snake crushed the spot where they had been.
A deep furrow was carved into the earth.
Gritting his teeth, the Marquis ordered his subordinates back.
“Don't get in my way, fall back! Kill the other monsters!”
The leader was not the only danger here.
In truth, the horde of monsters flooding in like a pack of dogs was the greatest threat.
“Yes!”
The knights remounted, scattered, and fought the surrounding monsters.
That was good news for the Chimera snake.
Hundreds of wooden tendrils surrounded the Marquis and the area around him.
Before long, the Marquis was completely hidden from sight.
Inside the forest of spikes, the Marquis rampaged like a tiger.
The brawl had begun.
* * *
What a waste.
Such a waste.
That old knight had definitely died.
Yet he came back to life.
Even for a monster, surviving after having its neck pierced would be difficult. That crazy old man was insane.
‘Was that some kind of resurrection skill?’
Maybe.
His body had shriveled, perhaps as a side effect, but he was still terrifyingly strong.
He might even be stronger than Gunter.
Was his name Marquis Martein?
From what I heard, he was a hero. He seemed to possess incredible skills too.
‘What a waste!’
*「You cannot use ‘Crown of Seizure Lv. 4.’」
*「You currently have ‘Giantification Lv. 0’ on loan.」
I still had Giantification Lv. 0 borrowed from Father.
Until I made Giantification completely mine, I would not be able to use Crown of Seizure.
The problem was that I had no chance to train Giantification.
Maybe because its level was low, my Giantification was incomplete. Compared to how much bigger I became, it felt like my strength and body toughness increased less than they should.
If I used Giantification in a place surrounded by enemies, I would become a pincushion for arrows.
Maybe I would evolve into a Porcupine Serpent.
Kwang!
“Kwoooar!”
Kibaemi cried out in pain.
Whether I could borrow skills or not was not the important issue right now.
‘Die, Martein!’
*「You use Elementary Elemental Magic: Fire Lv. 4.」
I fired a fireball at his face.
“Damn it, again!”
I was doing everything I could too.
Martein shattered the fireball with a headbutt. It was amazing that his face had not burned even after that.
Still, I had fired the fireball to block his vision in the first place.
*「You use ‘Beam’ Lv. 2.」
A light of death.
A beam that would take a hero's life shot from my mouth.
Piiing!
“Hot, damn it!”
No!
That beam had pierced even Silverback Akims's powerful muscles. Yet my perfectly aimed beam only left a wound on his cheek like a popped pimple.
He had not been relying on his armor alone.
-Basic Aura control.
In the middle of the savage battle, Pelerian began explaining.
-That human hero wears excellent armor, so he is likely using Aura only to protect his exposed face.
It felt like watching a character explain a fighting manga.
Coming from the one who had ruined everything with resurrection magic, it was infuriating.
The enraged old knight thrust his spear at me.
Normally, it was too far away for the spear to reach.
Whoosh!
Aura shot from the spear tip toward me.
Sword Aura? No, it was unmistakably Spear Aura.
It was a desperate crisis, but Kibaemi did not stay still.
They pulled back their wooden tendrils to protect me.
Crunch!
Dozens of wooden tendrils that had even stopped catapult shots shattered at once.
Yet the old knight looked pleased instead.
“So that black snake is your weakness!”
By black snake, he meant me while I was using Black Scales.
Human cunning was outrageous.
He stopped attacking Kibaemi's body and began thrusting his spear at me.
Crunch, crack!
The more he did, the more branches stretched out to block me.
The knight abandoned defense entirely and focused only on attacking, because Kibaemi was flustered trying to protect me.
“Ha ha ha!”
At the same time, he pretended to attack me and cut away at Kibaemi's body.
Then he pretended to attack Kibaemi and targeted me instead.
The battle continued that way.
I resisted with magic and swings of my sword, but the odds kept turning against us.
“Gwoooar!”
Kibaemi roared in pain.
The regeneration of their wooden body gradually slowed. Perhaps that knight's burning-hot Aura had terrible compatibility with them.
‘Hey, asshole! Put me down and fight!’
As always, Kibaemi was too dumb to understand me.
What an idiot.
‘And what the hell are you doing to a baby?!’
I shouted at the Marquis too.
Still, perhaps Kibaemi looked far too old to be a baby.
“If you are an ancient monster large enough to grow that huge, you should have spent your entire life buried in the Great Forest. Did you come here looking for a place to die? Ha ha ha!”
The spear moved even faster.
How did that shriveled body hold such monstrous strength?
“Die.”
The spear tip turned red-hot.
Like Gunter's Moon-Cleaving Slash, it seemed to be that knight's special skill.
‘...No.’
The spear tip mercilessly burrowed into Kibaemi's body.
Tung!
It sounded like someone had struck a tin drum.
Kibaemi's body suddenly swelled, then burst apart.
For an instant.
Hundreds of branches spread in every direction as though exploding.
It did not seem to be Kibaemi's will.
The countless branches draped around us like a curtain, making me feel as though we had returned to the Great Forest.
Something bright red was visible inside Kibaemi's gaping body.
The Chimera's heart, a Magic Stone, or... a seed?
“Muaa...”
Kibaemi cried weakly.
Grinning, the knight reached toward that red thing.
It was not as if I had been sitting still.
Crack.
At last, I cut through the tendrils binding me.
*「You use Acceleration Lv. 7.」
*「You use Heart-Eating Leap Lv. 3.」
I could not pierce his armor.
Attacking his face did not work either.
Then I would slip right through an armor gap.
The bastard, intent on ending Kibaemi's life, failed to fend me off as I used Acceleration.
I successfully slipped into the gap at the back of his neck.
Vile bastard.
Until the end, he did not stop trying to tear out Kibaemi's heart.
Crack!
A strange sound reached me.
The inside of his armor was loose enough for me to enter fully.
When I wriggled around, the knight let out a strange cry.
“Agh, eek!”
He was the ticklish type!
The inside of the armor reeked of sweat.
I just had to endure it for a moment.
I tore apart the linen clothes he wore underneath with my teeth.
‘I’ll go in through your navel, human!’
Chomp!
But his skin was as tough as raw rubber.
My teeth hurt more than he did.
Could a human body be trained to that extent?
I gave up on entering his body.
Swoosh!
Then I would inject Deadly Venom.
“Kuaaaagh!”
His ticklish cries became screams of pain.
Bang, kwaang!
As though trying to catch me, he pounded wildly on his own armor.
Naturally, he could not rip apart his own armor to pull me out.
He tried taking off his helmet and reaching a hand into the armor, but that did not work either.
Plate armor like this could only be put on and removed with a squire's help.
The knight thrashed in agony.
He twisted his body around, trying to crush me, but I kept moving like a loach.
*「You use Poison Scales Lv. 1.」
I scratched his skin.
Then I layered Deadly Venom over the wounds.
Endure it through grit and willpower, human.
This was not Kibaemi's revenge.
It was only the law of the wild, where creatures killed and were killed.
With tears of ice streaming down my face, I danced the dance of death.
* * *
The holy knights could see neither the Marquis nor the leader snake.
That was because of the hundreds of branches the Chimera had spread.
From afar, it looked as though a forest had appeared in the middle of the battlefield.
Then a brilliant light burst from within.
“Oh!”
The holy knights knew it was their commander's secret technique.
‘Light Flash.’
Martein's ultimate technique, compared to Gunter's Moon-Cleaving Slash.
That lethal thrust had surely taken the wooden snake's life. The wooden tendrils that had moved as though alive stiffened, then withered at astonishing speed.
The hidden interior was revealed.
The enormous snake had fallen, and their knight commander stood proudly alive.
“Wooaaah! Commander!”
“God of Light!”
The holy knights shed tears of joy.
Killing the leader would not make the Monster Wave disappear, but it was still a meaningful achievement.
They were about to run to the Marquis.
Then the holy knights stopped short.
“C-Commander?”
That was because Gerard Martein was dancing.
Tap, tap!
He stepped lightly, like he was performing a northern traditional dance.
The Marquis loved to start dance parties whenever he drank, but surely he would not dance even on a battlefield.
Was he that happy about his victory?
“Y-you all. Eek!”
When the Marquis saw the holy knights, he suddenly began pounding his chest wildly.
It resembled the behavior of a gorilla.
The holy knights were deeply confused.
“D-do we have to dance with him too?”
“What are you talking about...!”
Their confusion did not last long.
“Ahhh!”
The Marquis screamed in pain.
The dancing Marquis finally collapsed.
The knights hurried to his side.
“Cough, cough.”
“C-Commander! What is wrong?!”
His face was purple.
It looked like he had been unable to breathe properly for some time.
Symptoms of Neurotoxin poisoning.
“T-the sn-snake...”
“The snake? You have already slain it, Marquis!”
It seemed he had been poisoned by the Chimera snake.
But there were no holes in his armor.
“No, eek. Not that, th-that bastard... eek.”
At last, the Marquis's eyes rolled back.
“Take him to a priest!”
The holy knights carried their lord away.
* * *
-We got him!
Perhaps the spell had been slightly wrong.
This time, even Pelerian's resurrection magic did not work.
An unbelievable amount of Magical Essence poured from the Marquis's body, far too much for a human to have contained.
It was a complete death.
*「Your level has increased.」
*「Your level has increased.」
*「Your level has increased.」
*「Your level has increased.」
*「Your level has increased.」
*「Your level has increased.」
*「Your level has increased.」
*「Your level has increased.」
*「Your level has increased.」
*「Your level has increased.」
......
A storm of exhilaration washed over me.
And finally.
*「You have achieved the accomplishment ‘Hero Slayer.’」
The great hero Gerard Martein.
Here, he died for a second time.
Footnotes:
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