WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ I Pulled Out Excalibur

Chapter 335

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Rules Written in Blood (1)

The Outland had always been a bleak place for people to live.

What kind of land was the Outland, the world beyond the world?

It was the homeland of demons, a paradise for magical beasts, and a mountain hell crawling with undead that hunted hearts. On top of that, Transcendents who could grind entire cities to dust with a flick of the hand wandered around there, so there was no need to explain how dangerous it was.

There was a reason Sword Seeker-class warriors gritted their teeth and stayed on the continent until they were one hundred fifty. Anyone who knew anything already knew it. The Outland was basically a synonym for hell, or the underworld, with only the pronunciation changed.

People got chased by undead all the time, thought a kind person had saved them only to find out they were a heart-hunting predator, got turned into food for giants, or took a wrong turn, stepped into a Constellation’s territory, and had their very existence ground up. Things like that happened all the time.

A place overflowing with every kind of death.

Still, humans were creatures of adaptation. No matter how hellish a place was, they found some way to survive. The book now in Najin’s hand was proof of that.

「Surviving in the Outland.」

A book written by a legendary adventurer who survived in the Outland for around 118 years. It was a collection of safety rules meant to help you stay alive out there.

“There was something like this?”

It was Najin’s second year of rolling around in the Outland.

Technically, if he counted entering sanctuaries and Star’s Tombs, Najin was closer to ten years in, but even he had never heard this book existed.

“This existed?”

For reference, Merlin had no idea either.

Najin looked at her with half-lidded eyes, and Merlin grumbled, “They didn’t have this in my day.”

“Ah, this was written by Francis. I never read it myself, but it was briefly popular among the Inquisitors. Of course, I doubt it was ever released to the public.”

Yuel cut in and pointed at the last page.

“Because it was written by a demon contractor. Some safety rules may be useful, but the information in it could have been contaminated, so the Holy Blood Order banned sharing it.”

“I see.” Najin nodded.

“Well, that explains why it was here.”

He looked around as he nodded. Black mage corpses were lined up everywhere. The place where Najin and Yuel stood was a black mage workshop.

They had not come with any specific plan to subjugate black mages.

It just happened to be on the way to subjugate the Star of Omniscience, so they took care of it in passing. From the black mages’ perspective, it was pretty unfair. They were skilled mages in their own right, but what black mage in the world prepared for two Sword Masters?

「Huaaaaaaaaargh!」

The black mages’ plan to summon an ancient demon had been crushed by two or three swings from Najin and Yuel. Even if the revival had succeeded, it probably would have only added one extra sword strike before it died.

Anyway.

Najin opened the book in his hand. The title, Surviving in the Outland, had caught his interest.

2.

On the way to subjugate the Star of Omniscience.

The place suspected to be her Domain lay deep in the Outland, so Yuel and Najin had to travel a long distance.

In the past, they would have moved with every nerve on edge, watching all sides, but now...

Najin walked along reading the book at ease. Yuel had said it was written by a demon contractor, but from what Najin could tell, it did not seem to have been written under a contract from the start. The early parts were pretty plausible.

「Trust no one in the Outland.」

「Everyone you meet is your enemy. Mindless undead will aim for your heart, and intelligent ones will aim for your heart too. So the correct approach is to stay alert and suspicious of everything.」

He sensed a presence nearby.

Najin raised his head. There, just like when he first stepped into the Outland, were hunters who preyed on newcomers.

The hunters called Crows.

Their pupils were dilated, blood stained the corners of their mouths, and every trait of a Crow was on display. The people gathered there were holding freshly ripped hearts.

The Crows, interrupted mid-meal, lifted their heads and glared at Najin. Their eyes said, Who the hell are you? Want to end up like this guy too?

「Be especially careful of those called Crows.」

「When they are in the middle of a so-called ‘meal,’ they do not track new prey. As long as you do not glare at them rudely, you will be fine.」

「Do not make eye contact. They will take it as disrespect.」

「If Crows are in a pack, run immediately.」

Najin stared straight at them in silence.

After one second, the pupils of the one who looked like their leader widened. Already huge, they grew even bigger. He slapped the person beside him and muttered, “Hey, is that maybe...”

Two seconds, a ripple of agitation spread.

Three seconds, they shot to their feet in panic.

Then the Crows turned and ran for their lives. More than ten hunters fled without looking back. The moment they realized the person they had rudely glared at was a Constellation, cold sweat ran down their backs.

They had never even imagined they might run into a Constellation at the entrance to the Outland, and they screamed as they ran.

It was not a very meaningful escape.

Yuel gave a light swing, and the forest split in half with a ripping crack. The Crows ended up looking a lot like those trees.

Najin turned the page.

「Outland magical beasts have narrow vision and react to starlight. If you suppress starlight, you can slip out of their sight. Do not use sword aura carelessly, and hide your presence.」

「Above all, do not stir up magical beast habitats.」

“Najin?”

“Ah, did you call me?”

“From here on, it’s forest. I can feel quite a few presences inside. Looks like a magical beast habitat.”

“What do you want to do?”

Najin stepped forward without a word.

Then he suddenly drew Excalibur. The instant brilliant light spilled across the forest, magical beasts attracted to starlight poured out from inside.

Whirl, slam.

Najin planted Excalibur like a spear and gathered strength.

“Horn Charge.”

Kwagagagagagagagak!

The magical beasts were swept away all at once. Trees lining their habitat were ripped out by the roots, and a straight path opened.

“Let’s go.”

“The road is clean.”

Najin turned the page again.

「Beware places where the shadows are thick.」

「Demons dwell there.」

「One of the beings you must be especially careful of in the Outland is demons. Ancient demons that have lived for hundreds of years exist there. Demon-hunting methods used on the continent do not work here.」

「Holy water evaporates. Silver swords corrode. Holy magic is eaten by shadow.」

「They are beings you cannot kill anyway. Run.」

“A demon.”

“A demon.”

“Demon.”

That was Yuel, Najin, and Merlin in order.

They stared at the demon trembling in front of them. It had guarded this place for a very long time, for around four hundred years.

Darkis, Demon of Shadow.

Darkis was a high-ranking demon and had several stars. He had stayed in this forest, hunting humans for a long time while steadily growing stronger.

Not a demon that would be looked down on just anywhere, but strength was always relative.

In front of the Holy Blood Order’s Great Champion who hunted demons, a Constellation holding a demon-killer’s sword, and the mage who had killed the most demons, Darkis simply was not in their league.

“How would you like to hunt him? My patron recommends searing him with fire first.”

“I mean, if I stab him with this, he dies.”

“Should we dunk it in water first?”

Merlin smiled brightly while grabbing Darkis by the hair. Darkis fainted from fear, but the moment Merlin dunked him in water, he woke up screaming.

About fifteen minutes passed.

They soaked him in water, froze him, thawed him and burned him again, chopped him into a hundred pieces and dismantled him, then put him back together.

“Gk, gghk, gkh...”

In the end, Darkis, now completely wrecked, was skewered by Excalibur and vanished. The ruler who had controlled the Shadow Forest for four hundred years met death like that.

Next page.

「The one you must be most careful of is Constellations.」

「They are far from the noble, holy beings written in fairy tales. If anything, they are irritable beings that react very sensitively to any intrusion into their domains.」

「Ways to distinguish star domains are as follows. Use these rules to identify them, and never step into one. No matter how gentle a Constellation may be, it turns cold toward those who trespass in its domain.」

“That is what it says, Merlin.”

“Really?”

Merlin tilted her head.

As if she had no idea what he was talking about.

“They don’t do that to me.”

“They didn’t do it to me either.”

Najin stepped into a star domain. The Constellation who owned it did feel displeasure at intruders daring to enter, but it did not take long for that displeasure to melt like snow.

A mythical Constellation with eleven stars.

A Constellation with nine stars and a three-digit count of dropped stars.

A six-star Constellation famous for being insane.

That was more than enough to inject humility into an arrogant Constellation. The fully prostrated Constellation offered them a shortcut, and Najin came out of the domain. It was not dangerous at all; it was even fast and safe.

“Hm.”

Yuel, who had been reading the book from the side, nodded.

“Looks like it’s all useless content.”

If the author heard that, they would cry.

3.

This Outland trip had been so peaceful that the word trip actually fit. They ran into demons now and then, and undead too, but none of it became a big problem.

Naturally.

With the death of the Carnival King, the former ruler of the Outland, the whole region had fallen into a lull, and demons and other evil-aligned Constellations that had lost their center were lying low.

“Even if they plot something in secret, at least they won’t show up in front of you.”

Najin nodded at Merlin’s words.

Constellations could read the room too.

No Constellation wanted to mess with Najin after he had dropped a Constellation with eleven stars, and with no interference, there was no real trial on this trip.

Crackle, pop.

The three of them sat by the campfire. They had entered the deeper reaches of the Outland, and in another day or two they would reach the Star of Omniscience’s domain.

So now was the right time.

“Merlin.”

“Yeah.”

Merlin nodded and snapped her fingers. A bluish curtain spread around the three of them. It was a type of barrier that cut off contact with the outside.

“We said we’re subjugating the Star of Omniscience, but to be more exact, this is closer to a preparatory step for the subjugation of the Star of Forgetting.”

Najin began explaining to Yuel, who blinked.

The true objective of this subjugation mission.

And the information Yuel needed for that objective.

“Star of Forgetting, name unknown. If we want to face a Constellation that has Round Table knight Lancelot under its command, we need a few preliminary steps. And one thing that absolutely has to be included in those steps is...”

Tap, tap. Najin tapped his temple with his index finger.

“Resistance to forgetting.”

Even Najin could not let his guard down. This was a Constellation with authority great enough to erase an entire nation from history. If they were going to face something like that, they obviously needed countermeasures.

Then what were those countermeasures?

Najin looked at Merlin. From here on, it was Merlin’s proposed plan. Merlin nodded and spoke.

“Constellation authority, meaning the concepts stars carry, also has affinity matchups. The Carnival King is a good example. That demon’s authority was horribly strong, but it didn’t work well on you, right? Why do you think that is?”

Because of affinity.

The Carnival King’s authority leaned toward smoke, deception, theater, and mockery, and the stars Najin had were optimized to smash exactly those things.

“Right, affinity. In fights against Constellations, affinity is what matters most. It can overturn raw gaps in power. And...”

Merlin continued.

“Of course, the Star of Forgetting has an opposing affinity too. There is a Constellation positioned at its exact opposite.”

There was no need to ask who.

Yuel, who had been listening, answered.

“The Star of Omniscience, Hermann.”

“Yeah. Until Hermann disappeared, she kept clashing with the Star of Forgetting whenever there was an opening, so this should be accurate.”

In fact, in Yuel’s own past, the first one to come running had been none other than the Star of Forgetting.

“Omniscience, a star built on the concept of knowing everything. The very existence of that star would have irritated the Star of Forgetting. Because Hermann would know its past too.”

A star with the concept of omniscience.

A star that functioned like a reverse scale to the Star of Forgetting.

“And.”

Merlin raised her hand.

“Starting now, we are going to steal that.”

Her finger extended straight out.

It pointed at Yuel.

“By using the position you hold.”

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