WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ I Pulled Out Excalibur

Chapter 288

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Wings of Icarus (8)

Najin's stage painted over the sky.

The scenery of the Underground City, Artman, spread out below.

Built at the lowest point, the city where no stars could be seen unfolded around Najin. In its original form, it should have been a dark city where not even a handful of starlight could enter...

Gleam.

But stars were shining over Artman now. A constellation of seven stars, the Star of Dawn. This was the perfect place for Najin to be certain of himself. At his starting point, where every story began, Najin raised his sword.

Excalibur shone.

The stars carved into the Star Sword blazed fiercely.

Underground City, Artman, painted across the sky. And beneath that sky lay Helios, the nation once closest to the heavens. Icarus reached for the star shining above. The star that had forgotten itself and become a Forgotten One roared.

A Transcendent's cry shook the whole world.

Right after that, every part of Helios shot into the air. Buildings came apart. The large and small pillars holding those buildings up turned into arrows and launched forward. The waterways spread across Helios like spiderwebs became nets. The grand roads, wide enough for several carriages to pass side by side, became whips.

A massive wave crashed toward Najin.

That wave was named Helios.

And of course, a nation has citizens. Corpses, dead and preserved all across Helios, began racing along the roads and waterways stretching toward the sky.

They were not moving by their own will, or by signals from their brains. They were already dead, their souls long gone. What moved them now was Icarus's Telekinesis.

He wrapped forcefields around their bodies, made forcefield-held weapons clench in their hands, then moved them with his own telekinetic force. They were Icarus's army, no different from apostles of the Heaven-Wandering Star.

Bwooooooo!

Like horns announcing war, they charged at Najin. As an entire nation declared war on him, Najin smiled.

Flutter.

The Free Knight's coat snapped in the wind. The battle standard tied to the Lance of the Crossed Star fluttered, and the symbols of many knight orders tied to Najin's shoulder guard rippled in the rushing air. Before he knew it, the symbol of the Hornblower was in his hand.

A war horn that announced the start of battle.

The captain of the Golden Horn Knights blew his horn. The horn calls from Helios's countless citizens were buried and erased by the sound made by Najin alone.

"I am the captain of the Golden Horn Knights."

Najin shouted before the overflowing wave.

"A Free Knight."

Spinning once, he reset his grip on the Lance of the Crossed Star and aimed it at the nation called Helios with a smile.

"And the Dawn Horn."

He would accept this war.

Ram.

A storm burst from the spear tip and punched a huge hole through the army surging in like a wave. The hole was quickly filled, and the soldiers and pillars blown away returned to their places, but Najin had no intention of missing the opening it created.

Tap, tap, tap.

Taking one step at a time, Najin...

Boom.

...kicked off the ground and started to sprint.

...Since ancient times, Transcendents had often been compared to nations. In truth, they possessed military power equal to a nation, and each had their own stage.

Najin had become a Transcendent.

For now, he could only step into Transcendence while holding Excalibur, and it was still incomplete Transcendence, but Transcendence was still Transcendence. It meant that the Najin of now also held power worthy of comparison to a nation.

'Ah.'

Only now did he understand what that meant. Every step changed the scenery. Power far beyond what he had as a Sword Seeker overflowed inside him. The stage spread behind his back amplified Najin's starlight.

A wave that would have swept him away when he was a Sword Seeker.

Now, it was not enough to sweep him away.

2.

The moment Najin leaped into the wave, spears and blades thrust at him. Undulating buildings and pillars dropping from all directions swallowed him whole.

For an instant, the light Najin created was swallowed.

But light that even the Dragon of the Abyss could not swallow was never going to be blocked by mere buildings. Light leaked out, and everything surrounding Najin was shredded apart. With Sword Aura tearing out in all directions, Najin lowered his sword and charged.

He did not stop for a single moment.

Everything Icarus hurled at him, Najin used as roads leading back to Icarus. He jumped onto a road whipping through the air and ran.

Ssshhhkkk!

Air tore past Najin's ears. The Free Knight's coat whipped like a flag. As the scenery changed with every step, Helios's army racing along the roads thrust spears and blades at him.

Still, Najin did not stop.

He did not need to stop to swing his sword, and he did not even need to swing it. Wrapped in mana, Najin slammed into them with his bare body. The moment the star of Breakthrough shone, Najin's body accelerated.

Bent. Snapped. Shattered.

A Transcendent was, by definition, one who had transcended. Spears and blades from ordinary people could not stop a Transcendent. Even if they held weapons made by a Transcendent, the situation did not change much.

Even with their weapons shattered, they still reached for Najin. Najin did not spare a glance for those hands reaching for a star.

He had no intention of being caught by hands at that level.

The instant their hands touched Najin's body, they crumbled. Nails and blades scratched him, leaving small cuts, but that carried no real meaning for him.

Flash.

Excalibur's regeneration erased such minor wounds in an instant.

That was why Transcendents hostile to Arthur had treated Arthur like a nightmare. He was strong enough already, but watching him rush forward after instantly healing no matter how much damage they inflicted made fighting spirit collapse on its own.

Crunch.

Najin kicked off the ground and increased his speed.

He was not used to a Transcendent's battle, but now he felt like he understood. He understood what it meant to unfold a stage. If a Transcendent's strength came from certainty in oneself, then a stage was the means to force that belief not only on oneself, but on others too.

"Hoo..."

Breathing out slowly, Najin opened his eyes wide.

The city's clock tower had turned into a stake and was flying at him. As it reached right in front of him, Najin swung his sword. He sliced off the clock tower's roof, then dove inside it.

Crunch, rrrrkkk...

Icarus tried to crush Najin with the entire tower, but Najin moved faster than the tower could compress. Bursting out through it, Najin spun once in midair and reset his grip on his sword.

The basic stance of the Triumph Sword.

Floating in the air, Najin swung his blade. The clock towers fired at him one after another split along the path of his strike. The broken fragments tried to launch again, but Najin moved faster.

Before the fragments could shoot at him.

Najin kicked off the fragments hanging in midair and chained leap after leap. His eyes stayed fixed on one person from beginning to end.

Icarus, the Heaven-Wandering Star.

Everything else was only an obstacle. Najin closed in on Icarus, who was bound to the throne and reaching toward him. As if to say this kind of thing could never seize a star, he struck away every grasping hand that came at him.

Stand up. Tear off your chains.

'If you cannot...'

I will tear you free from that throne myself.

Boom.

Najin cut through a road flying at him and stomped down with his raised foot. The violently surging road lost its forcefield coating and returned to a flat road, and in that instant Najin set his stance.

Najin, who had not stopped until now, stopped for the first time.

First Sword.

As if it had been waiting for that moment, Helios rushed in all at once, and Najin brought down his raised sword.

Triumph.

A storm roared.

Chaaaaaaak!

Sword Aura raced down the straight road and smashed everything in its way. Hundreds of floating fragments evaporated in a heartbeat. Fierce Sword Aura, enough to split even the sky, crossed hundreds of meters and finally reached Icarus.

The audience chamber split.

Most of the chains spread through the chamber like cobwebs were cut away. It shattered the chains binding Icarus, then scattered as if it had fulfilled its purpose.

Silence fell.

Nothing remained where the Triumph Sword had passed. Pillars, fragments, even soldiers that had filled the air could no longer block the space between Najin and Icarus, at least in this moment.

A straight road carved between them.

Grinding his teeth through the recoil of the Triumph Sword, Najin stared at Icarus.

Only one chain remained on his body now.

In truth, it was less bound than pierced. The chain ran from the stake that pierced Icarus's heart. It was not a chain Najin could undo.

A chain Icarus had to undo himself.

Najin could not help with that at all...

Clench.

Daedalus could.

3.

Daedalus.

The rare inventor who recreated a masterpiece, the first and last in human history.

He had been Icarus's close friend, and for that friend he built every building in the sky nation, Helios. At the final moment, what he designed by pouring in all his knowledge was none other than the old castle where Icarus remained.

Labyrinth.

A masterpiece that would later be called the Great Labyrinth.

Some said it was a prison to lock away Icarus after he became a Forgotten One. Others said it was a trap to grind intruders to death once they stepped into a fallen nation.

But Najin, who had lived through Daedalus's life, knew.

This labyrinth was not made for that.

"Look at this, Daedalus."

"A labyrinth. A great labyrinth, at that!"

It was from long ago, when he and Icarus had explored ruins together.

"These ruins were left behind by an ancient archmage, right? Then this must be a labyrinth made by that archmage too. Hah, now this is exciting."

"Can't we just smash through it and move on?"

"Hah, what a boring thing to say, Daedalus."

At the entrance of the treasure labyrinth made by the archmage, Daedalus had asked, "Can't we just break through?" and Icarus had replied like this.

"This is a trial left to us by an ancient archmage, and a delightful adventure. Isn't the reward at the end worth more only if we break through it the right way? Wandering a labyrinth is itself an adventure."

"An adventure?"

"Yeah, an incredible adventure!"

A trial.

And an incredible adventure.

Daedalus never forgot those words.

"Come on, let's go."

"Let's conquer the Ariadne ruins."

He could not forget, even after a hundred years.

And at the very end, Daedalus designed it.

'The Great Labyrinth where memories whirl.'

It was a labyrinth completed only when Icarus forgot himself and wore away, and the starlight he held burst out in every direction. Daedalus had designed it knowing his friend would break one day.

Icarus's starlight, his life, his memories.

To trap and preserve all of that once it burst out and scattered. To keep it from escaping outside, to make those memories wander inside the old castle forever.

'But.'

Daedalus smiled bitterly.

'This is not a prison to trap you forever.'

Someday, if you escape that labyrinth.

If you can undo the chains you bound to yourself.

Then you will fly one last time.

'Someday, surely.'

Hoping that day would come, Daedalus left behind one clue so his hopelessly stubborn friend could break through the labyrinth.

A thread released from the labyrinth entrance.

Daedalus's masterpiece, paired with Labyrinth, marked the only path through the Great Labyrinth.

'Ariadne's Thread.'

At the final moment of his life, Daedalus went to Icarus. Then he threw the spool of thread in his hand. So that if his friend ever rose from the throne by his own strength, he could break through this labyrinth Daedalus had prepared.

"..."

Najin looked ahead.

A thread no one else could see.

But Najin, who had lived Daedalus's life, could see a path made of thread. That path stretched long behind him. Najin had not moved at random until now. He had followed that thread and cleared away everything blocking the path so he could advance without hindrance.

Najin looked at Icarus.

Now, he would be able to see this path too.

With every chain broken and only one chain left, starlight of Requiem struck Icarus's body. Icarus's eyes began to tremble.

One step forward.

Then suddenly Najin turned to his side. Light was leaking out from La Mancha's flag tied to his shoulder guard. That leaking light soon took human form.

"Now, it is time to crown the finale."

Don Quixote, the Gentleman of La Mancha, patted Najin on the shoulder.

"Come, let us run wild!"

A tap of a cane sounded out.

"As you command, milord."

Rocinante smiled, tapping his cane.

"Honestly, really now. Understood, milord."

Sancho shook his head like he had no choice and smiled.

Thump.

The three of them pushed Najin's back.

"Ah."

Najin let out a faint laugh.

"Of course, milord."

Najin hurled Excalibur up toward the sky. The light Excalibur released flashed like a star. As a giant star rose in the sky, Najin gripped the Lance of the Crossed Star.

The star of Banter shone.

A straight road leading all the way to Icarus.

As if telling him to come this way, Najin pointed his spear at the star hanging high in the sky.

Then, crunch.

Icarus slowly began to rise. The chain embedded in his heart seemed connected to the audience chamber, and beyond that to the nation called Helios itself. It was weight far too heavy for one human to bear.

No one could fly the sky with a weight like that attached.

To fly, he had to break free from his shackles.

Najin smiled.

He felt like he knew what Daedalus would say.

"Icarus."

Daedalus pointed at the sky.

"It is time to set out on a journey."

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