WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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Chapter 124: Don Quixote’s Reverie (8)

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A sinister resonance.

A strange, static-laced sound brushed past my ears.

It was an answer that confirmed my deduction.

'Delkirn... Could it really be?'

A particular scene flashed through my mind.

The recent school trip.

Raziel's Library, which we'd visited while completing a quest.

I remembered the documents we'd found there, the few pages I'd read.

[Delkirn.]

[The name used by past sages as an abbreviation for the Evil God, 'Delkirnos.']

[However, all mention of it has been forbidden in the present age, to erase the horror associated with that name.]

Kang, thoom!

I desperately knocked aside the incoming gavel.

Across from me, the haze wore a grotesque grin.

"Urgh...!"

It was hard to keep up with its speed.

If not for the crown's invincibility effect, several parts of my body would already have been caved in.

I let out a short breath and swung my pitch-black scythe at the Chief Justice.

"Activate. Thorns."

Shwaaak!

Thorns shot out in every direction.

That level of firepower wasn't enough to leave even a scratch on the Chief Justice.

The haze sneered as if it found the attempt amusing, then charged in and swung its gavel.

"Activate. Scythe."

Thoom, kwaang!

Of course, the same was true for me.

I met its blow head-on.

Our exchange continued like a tense tug-of-war.

We had only been clashing for three minutes, yet the courtroom was already falling apart.

'What the hell is going on...?'

An Evil God had suddenly appeared.

And it was attacking me.

Why?

Why the hell?

Was this related to the messages that kept appearing in my status window?

Countless questions rolled through my mind, growing larger and larger like a snowball.

'Damn it.'

My head was full of useless thoughts.

My steps were starting to tangle.

'Get a grip.'

I opened my eyes wide.

I could put off dwelling on the problem until later.

Right now, my priority was surviving this mess.

'Think.'

I cooled my overheated thoughts.

Accept the situation, then consider what comes next.

Don't panic.

Anxiety would only hold me back.

Before I knew it, reason and logic had begun to click into place.

'Should I run outside the courtroom?'

No, that would be useless.

I had already been sentenced to death.

'Once a verdict is delivered, the judge keeps pursuing the condemned prisoner until the sentence is carried out...'

Running to another floor would be meaningless.

It was better to settle this here while the crown's effect remained.

Once the invincibility effect ended, I wasn't confident I could handle that monstrous executioner.

'I've figured out its pattern to some extent.'

It followed the Chief Justice's methods exactly.

Looking back at its actions made that clear.

'It has restrictions.'

After possessing the Chief Justice, it continued the trial already in progress.

It had remained still as if bound, only rising from the bench after delivering a guilty verdict.

Even when attacking me, it didn't use its fists or any other weapon. Everything centered on the gavel.

Its attack pattern also strangely resembled the original.

'The Chief Justice's principles.'

It didn't seem able to stray too far from the established framework.

It had only possessed the judge. It couldn't draw on any great external power.

It was like a remotely controlled robot.

'Then, let's deduce this again.'

There was a high chance it existed here through the Chief Justice as its medium.

That meant it couldn't appear without relying on a powerful lingering thought.

In other words, if I destroyed that body, I could drive it out too.

Gripping the scythe that had spread into thorns, I clashed head-on with the Chief Justice's gavel.

Kwaaaang!

'I have to destroy the Chief Justice.'

The problem was that I didn't have the firepower to do it.

My opponent was a formidable enemy at the 0.7-Javert level.

Ordinary attacks couldn't even scratch it.

Devour hadn't charged yet, leaving the Paragon Crown as my only useful card.

'I'll leave it to Ranne.'

Her concentrated firepower was the greatest among our group.

Even across the entire year, she possessed enough power to rank among the top ten.

'This will be close.'

I wondered if it might fall a little short.

Still, it had to be done.

I trusted Ranne.

Steadying my breathing, I shouted.

"Miss Ranne! Get ready!"

Ranne needed time to raise her Starlight to maximum output.

At least ten minutes.

That also depended on her condition, so it could take even longer.

All I could do was keep the Chief Justice occupied and pray the timing worked out.

'Can I do it?'

No.

I'll do it.

Koooom!

Repeated air-splitting booms echoed through the ruined courtroom.

As I subtly lured its attacks, the judge turned its face toward the blonde girl.

<Hooh, so you are placing your hopes on that child.>

Tak!

The gavel changed course and flew straight for Ranne.

I changed direction with it and blocked its path.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Kwaang!

I took the weight of the gavel with my bare hands.

My arm was knocked aside, but I took no damage.

Catching myself before I was thrown back, I stood in front of Ranne again, guarding her.

"Stand still, take your beating, and die."

Kwaang, koong!

The afterimages burst again and again.

The scythe and gavel collided with enough force to threaten the collapse of the entire courtroom.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ranne stood there in a daze.

Her violet eyes blinked tensely.

"......"

The girl struggled to breathe.

An absurd presence raged through the courtroom.

'What is that...?'

This was supposed to have been a trial that ended without trouble.

Then the judge abruptly changed, beginning to radiate oppressive killing intent.

It was a presence she had never experienced in her life.

A sinister sensation that seemed to scrape at her brain, along with an instinctive awareness of death, sounded the alarm.

Ranne possessed strong mental fortitude, but even she found the current atmosphere difficult to endure.

"Haa, haa..."

Her breathing quickened on its own.

Her pupils trembled.

'What is that...?'

Was something like that really allowed to exist right in front of her?

It had even spoken to them.

It was trying to kill them.

Why? How had this happened?

The trial had been going well. They had both been moments away from receiving a not-guilty verdict...

"Miss Ranne!"

The boy's shout snapped her out of her brief panic.

"I'll keep it occupied! Use your maximum firepower while you can...!"

"S-Sir Viktor!"

As he passed by her, he left behind that brief request.

Before her, the boy and the blackened Chief Justice clashed again and again.

Kwaang! Thoom!

The scythe and gavel collided, and heavy vibrations reached Ranne as well.

The blonde girl reflexively gripped her spear.

Yet even as she grasped the shaft, her doubts wouldn't go away.

A halo of light shimmered around the blade she held, while only fragments of Starlight crackled weakly.

'I...'

Could I do it?

Could I really leave something like that to Sir Viktor?

Shouldn't I forget about preparing an attack and join him immediately?

'No.'

It was Ranne's particular compulsion.

The compulsion that told her she had to bear everything herself.

The compulsion that told her everything would go wrong if she didn't step forward.

'Sir Viktor asked me to leave it to him.'

Still, she couldn't focus.

That compulsion shot through her, piling up into hundreds of anxieties.

'Get a grip.'

Could I prepare the attack in time?

What if Sir Viktor was subdued before then?

Did we have a backup plan if even my maximum firepower failed to bring the enemy down?

The judge seemed to be targeting me now. What if it interfered and made me fail?

'Be quiet.'

Those thoughts instantly threw her mind into chaos.

Her compulsion gnawed away at her confidence.

Perhaps because of that, the Starlight around her spear refused to gather properly.

Then, as her heart churned, a certain memory suddenly came back to her.

-Miss Ranne, you always try to carry too much. That's your problem.

The boy's voice.

The voice of the boy who had gently stroked her head.

-You're doing well.

-You're doing well enough, Miss Ranne.

Words born beneath a night sky full of stars.

What she had held in her heart suddenly surged up, blurring the edges of her vision.

For a moment, her thoughts stopped.

Memories melted into that empty moment like paint spreading through water.

The brightness of her swarming anxieties dimmed, and her heartbeat slowly took on the boy's color.

-It's okay to learn to rely on others a little more.

The boy had said that.

Little by little, her distracting thoughts faded.

-I believe in Miss Ranne's choices.

-Please believe in us too, Miss Ranne.

Her breathing calmed.

Her vision was still chaotic.

The judge was trying to reach her, while the boy blocked it with all his strength.

Dull explosions rang out again and again, shaking her eardrums.

Kwaaaang!

'I have to trust him.'

Ranne closed her eyes.

Not even a speck of dust had touched her yet.

That was because Viktor was desperately holding the Chief Justice back.

The reason the boy held on so desperately was because he believed in Ranne's finishing blow.

'Trust.'

He believes in me.

So she had to trust him too and trust him to watch her back.

'Breathe.'

Wavering here would be a betrayal of us both.

There was no room for stray thoughts.

Sir Viktor was strong.

Unlike weak little me, he could stand on equal footing with the Chief Justice.

If my distrust in myself became overwhelming, then I would trust not myself, but the person before me.

'Grip it.'

Rely on him.

Trust him.

A hero could not exist alone.

If I didn't know how to lean on others, I could never become a hero.

"Hoo..."

Creak, creeeak.

Starlight had begun gathering over the spear shaft.

Beyond the limit of compression, halos of light mingled with strange friction sounds.

'I'll do my part.'

Hwaaaak!

A flash bright enough to fill the vast courtroom and more.

A star rested at the tip of her spear, while radiance stormed around her planted foot.

'It's okay.'

I'll do it.

I'll achieve results equal to the faith I placed in others, and the faith they placed in me.

Her violet eyes flashed with a rapturous light.

"...Sir Viktor."

It was a quiet signal.

The boy didn't miss it and sharply turned his body.

"Now!"

The judge entered Ranne's range.

She gripped the Starlight tightly and fired it at the pitch-black haze.

-Kihano Style Annihilation Spearmanship, 16th Form-

'Starry Otherworld'

A single beam of light.

The line cut straight through the pitch-black background.

Even if it was the lingering thought of a sage, a direct hit carried enough force to crush one of its arms.

The haze murmured briefly.

Then it moved as if teleporting.

In an instant, it escaped the path of the spear strike.

Shwaaak!

The attack barely grazed the Chief Justice and passed by.

Afterward, the haze's lips curled up as if mocking Ranne.

Their only chance had slipped away in pathetic fashion.

But whatever was inhabiting the Chief Justice did not know.

"Activate. Shield."

That Ranne's spear had never been aimed at the Chief Justice in the first place.

Kwaaaang!

A mutter rang out several steps behind the Chief Justice.

Immediately after, a blue screen appeared before Viktor's eyes.

Ding!

[The second skill of the exclusive weapon 'Black Mist' has been activated.]

[Skill Name: Devour]

-Stores all damage applied to the user.

-Even if an attack is successfully defended against, the damage applied can be stored.

Self-Double Counting.

Just a little bug thrown into the mix.

Ranne's spear strike was stored at four times its damage.

At the same time, the title setting Viktor had quietly changed earlier activated.

Ding!

[Executioner]

-Category: Title

-Rank: A

-Description: You slaughtered the Queens of Nightmare indiscriminately. You possess courage against the unknown. When this title is equipped, damage dealt to Ghost-type enemies is calculated at 500%, and critical-hit chance is likewise calculated at 500%.

The boy's shield had already changed into a scythe.

Its sharply raised tip lightly touched the Chief Justice's abdomen.

Viktor sneered back.

"Go on, take this."

<...Oh dear.>

Starlight amplified twentyfold.

The next moment, the boy's lips moved.

"Release."

-----!!!

A pure white flash burst from the scythe.

Footnotes:

“Starry Otherworld” retains the technique's sense of an otherworld while invoking Ranne's Starlight.

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