WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Ryuu

Editor: Ilafy

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Pulled Out Excalibur

Chapter 193

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Hero (2)

A pillar of ice stretched all the way to the sky. Strictly speaking, it resembled an iceberg more than a pillar, its surface irregularly hewn, its columns of ice rising at slanted angles.

For an ordinary human, scaling that pillar—or iceberg—would be a daunting task, but not for Najin. Able to run along nearly vertical walls, he treated an incline like a flat road.

The moment he set foot on one of the slanted ice columns, he accelerated. Kicking off the ice and charging upward, he lifted his gaze to Ladon, frozen atop the summit of the iceberg.

Roughly half of its body was encased in ice. Whenever the dragon violently shook off the frost clinging to its body, the entire iceberg quaked. Feeling the tremors through the soles of his feet, Najin pushed himself harder.

“——————!” Midway through shaking itself off, Ladon let out a screech and opened its jaws to prepare its next breath attack. Due to the extreme cold all around it and the ice stuck to its maw, the flames gathering inside were far smaller than usual.

The moment those flames spewed out—or rather, a split second before—Najin made his move. He shoved his longsword back into its sheath and gripped his lance with both hands. Instead of dodging, he leapt straight into the oncoming fire.

The breath was weaker than before; Merlin’s protective barrier still clung to him. That much meant a frontal breakthrough was possible. Thus, Najin judged that staying put and blocking the flames would only waste time. If Helmet Knight were in his place, he would undoubtedly admonish him. “If you cannot pierce even that, how dare you call yourself one of the Golden Horn Knights?”

‘He’d be right about that.’

Not evasion, but a charge. When danger looms, break through it head-on—that was the way of the Golden Horn Knights. With the Lance of the Crossed Star held at a sharp angle, he sprinted forward.

He needed no warhorse. If you possessed Transcendent leg strength, you could replicate a lance charge without riding a steed.

Hwaaaaargh!

His vision flashed scarlet, but he paid it no mind. Steam rose off his body, and Merlin’s barrier began to peel away, letting the flames lick at his clothing. He ignored even that.

Tu-whack.

Piercing through the fiery breath, he spun in place and slashed his lance in a wide arc. A burst of wind scattered the flames clinging to him. That movement wasn’t solely to shake off fire. In one fluid motion, he harnessed the rotational force to hurl his lance.

Swheeeeeeeek!

Ladon’s rampage brought down massive chunks of collapsing ice, and the Lance of the Crossed Star tore through the falling debris. Najin dashed along the path traced by the hurled spear.

Ladon, of course, didn’t stand idly by. With ice still clinging to its wings, it spread them wide and let out a roar. In response, its scales fired off like arrows. Dozens—hundreds—of scales, each the size of a person’s forearm, went hurtling at Najin.

Kaang! Drawing his sword mid-run, he swung without slowing down at all.

Breakthrough—

His third star shone. Charging head-on toward an enemy, parrying the adversary’s attacks to keep moving forward—it mirrored the situation when he first gained the star, causing its light to flare even brighter.

“Only head-on.” The starlight shoved at Najin’s back. When he thought he took a single step, he had actually taken two. Though momentarily startled by his sudden increase in speed, he swiftly adjusted and kept slashing.

Knocking aside Ladon’s scales as he advanced, he caught sight of the lance he had thrown moments before. Its speed was flagging, dropping in a gradual arc. With one last wide swing of his sword to deflect the final scales, he reached out and seized the falling lance.

Kwack.

Gripping the lance, he rotated once in place, channeling the torque into the lance. Planting his foot hard, he thrust the lance forward with all the momentum of his spin.

The Battle Ram—

Shards of ice raining down from above and drifting shards of scales were blasted apart. What emerged was a direct path. Only a few dozen meters separated Najin and Ladon.

“Hoo…” Najin exhaled deeply and steadied his breathing. A puff of white breath escaped his lips, and he curled them into a smirk.

Ladon, having nearly rid itself of the encasing ice, locked its beast-like, slit-pupiled eyes onto him. They were within range of Najin’s sword—and likewise, he was within range of Ladon’s tail and claws.

The moment he reset his grip on his sword, Ladon roared and slammed the iceberg that held it captive. Cracks spread through the ice, scattering fragments upward as it swiped its forelimb, hurling chunks of ice at Najin.

Chujeok…

Cracks ran deeper through the iceberg, and each time Ladon struck, the ground trembled. Such was the nature of a dragon. Every movement shook the earth, every breath scorched the land—a cataclysm in living form.

In front of such a being, Najin did not shrink back in the slightest. He was not a Transcendent yet, but to become one, one must never cower before a disaster.

Violet looked on from afar. She saw the iceberg towering into the sky and, upon that iceberg, the young man clashing against the dragon.

Each time the dragon moved, shaking the earth, the young man did not falter. He shattered the ice chunks Ladon hurled at him, cut through flames with his sword, dodged the dragon’s tail lashing out like a whip, and charged in closer.

Chwaaaaaaaaack!

Swinging his sword, he peeled away a few of the dragon’s scales, drawing blood. To Ladon—comparable to a human being lightly pricked by a needle tip—such a wound was trivial, yet it seemed intolerable that it would bleed at all, and it flailed even more violently.

Kwack, kwack, kwadududuk!

Meanwhile, Najin clung to the dragon’s scales and persistently drove his sword into the base of its wings, trying to tear them apart. The tiny human, dwarfed dozens of times over by the dragon, kept throwing himself at it.

“Ahhh…” Violet let out a long sigh at the sight of Najin, who had become a hero in her stead. Each time Najin bled, Violet squeezed her eyes shut.

That was the reality of a hero.

A hero’s life was not glamorous or lovely. Quite the opposite: it was wretched, desperate, and unbelievably painful. Sacrificing oneself for strangers you don’t even know… how could one find joy or fulfillment in that?

She found it exhausting, unbearable, and revolting.

Facing a life-or-death battlefield for the sake of “overcoming yourself” and “achieving transcendence”? Training yourself by fighting powerful foes? What good is any of that? Must one overcome everything? Why smash yourself into some massive wall time and again, only to break again and again, all just to climb over it?

It’s nothing but agony. Everything. Truly everything. She wanted to throw it all away.

‘Why do I have to sacrifice myself? Why must I protect all these people? Why me? Why should I give up my entire life for complete strangers?’

Such thoughts crossed her mind dozens of times each day. That was why Violet found the very notion of being called a hero so repugnant. How could someone like her be called a hero?

“All heroes are mentally unhinged.” Even so, Violet knew the truth: heroes were noble and beautiful. Unlike someone as selfish and petty as herself, they were utterly pure and radiant.

Hence, a title like “hero” did not suit her.

“I’m not a hero. I can’t ever be one.” Just as Violet began to turn away, a star twinkled in the sky above.

Drawn by that starlight, she turned her head back to see Najin, still charging toward the dragon. As if to say, “Don’t look away. Watch this to the end,” Najin’s star shone all the more fiercely.

A lone human facing off against a dragon… The longer she watched, the more peculiar she felt. Najin’s fighting style hardly differed from her own. He bled, was knocked away, then quickly regained his balance and charged Ladon again. For an opponent as tough, solid, and huge as a dragon, the key was not one devastating blow but steadily accumulated damage.

Watching that scene, one thought came to mind: ‘That’s truly the look of a hero.’

Confronting a foe dozens of times his size without backing down, that figure deserved to be called heroic. Realizing that she had done exactly the same all this time felt surreal to Violet.

“Do you know what the world calls someone who does good for others, with no obligation and no particular reason?” That question Najin had thrown at her echoed in her ears.

“A hero. A knight, even.” His voice lingered in Violet’s mind.

“You’re already a hero, aren’t you? Even if you deny it, that won’t change the fact.”

Violet turned her gaze to the side. There lay a sword she had tossed aside, neglected. The sword that had stayed with her for nearly a hundred years. Such a wretched thing.

She looked at her hand and back at the sword.

Human minds were imperfect. The world may allow a human’s body to transcend but not their psyche. Thus, humans suffer and question themselves, struggling to find an answer.

It mattered not if the answer was right or wrong—whatever decision you reached on your own was always the right one.

Violet made her choice. Or was it perhaps Viola?

Ladon’s wings were tattered. Steadying himself on the base of the wings, Najin raised his sword high overhead. Ladon flailed wildly, but Najin did not fall. Sword held aloft, he glared fiercely.

Aldaran Vasaglia had once taught him the Triumph Sword as a means to cut down what could not otherwise be cut. Its essence lay in compressing one’s Sword Aura to the utmost along the blade, thereby maximizing cutting power.

Najin had never lost sight of that crucial point.

Flash.

When the tip of his sword gleamed, he brought it down like splitting firewood. The blow sliced deeply into the joint where Ladon’s wing met its back. Blood spurted in a fountain, and the dragon thrashed violently.

Knocked off balance by the dragon’s frenzy, Najin tumbled onto the icy surface.

Chwaaack.

Though he tried to stab his sword into the ice to brace himself, the repeatedly battered iceberg cracked and began to crumble. With nowhere to step, he clung precariously to the edge. He had carved off half of Ladon’s wing base.

Spotting Najin’s opening, the dragon roared and swung its forelimb, eager to smash the glacier to which its aggressor clung.

‘Too bad, but I’ll have to fall and come back…’ Najin clicked his tongue, deciding to let himself drop. It would take time to climb up again, but he saw no other way to dodge that attack. He pulled his sword loose from the ice, preparing to let go.

Clink.

Suddenly, cracks formed in the invisible glass between him and Ladon. Ladon’s forelimb slammed against it and bounced back without shattering it.

Najin blinked in confusion.

Someone reached out a hand to him. “Take my hand.”

That hand pulled him up onto the iceberg. Najin glanced at the who’d helped and involuntarily burst into a laugh.

“What? Why are you laughing?”

“I guess I just knew you’d come, in the end.”

“Well, that’s how it turned out.” Half of her hair was white, the other half black. She shuddered as she looked at Ladon. “Ugh. I still hate the whole ‘hero’ thing. How do you fight a monster like that, risking your life day after day? I’m telling you, you’d have to be insane.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, and I can’t believe I’ve been doing this insanity for sixty-seven years.” She let her sword hang. “I hate it so much.”

Despite her words, the expression on her face looked oddly relieved. “Even so, I do want to retire in style. It’s something I’ve done for sixty-seven years. In the end, I’d like to finish it with a bit of flair. Looking back, I can say, ‘At least the ending wasn’t so bad.’ Right?”

Violet glanced at Najin. “What do you think? Is that silly? Too self-serving?”

Najin shook his head. “Not at all, and even if it were self-serving, so what?”

“Right?”

“Which name would you like me to call you by? Violet, or Viola Oldina?”

In response, Violet chuckled and gathered her hair into a single ponytail. The way she tied it up resembled how she did before playing the piano.

With a light laugh, she answered, “Well, it probably doesn’t matter either way, does it?”