WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 128: A Serious Table Flip

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Thud. Thud.

After Jiseon arrived, the ground sometimes shook as I walked through the Abyss. Whenever Jiseon nodded and stomped her foot, Tantalus pulsed as though it had suddenly grown a heart. It was an artificial heartbeat in the Abyss, the place farthest removed from life.

After completing such noisy, frantic preparations for our escape, we waited for the time to come.

"The preparations are complete!"

A booming voice rang through the entire Abyss. It was Jiseon's call.

Those of us who had been waiting moved immediately.

Tyr dragged along her enormous coffin, while the immortal filled a box with food and water and carried it on his back. Callis fidgeted anxiously, but the immortal said,

"You can't make an injured person carry luggage! Give it to me. I'll carry everything!"

Unable to protest, she handed over even her own bag.

Azzy cautiously revealed herself once everyone had gathered, a disc clenched in her mouth. That damned puppy seemed incapable of patience. Well, that was why she was a dog.

Nabi did not even come outside, let alone pack anything. Just wait until later.

Once everyone ready to escape had gathered,

"Is everyone here?"

Jiseon stood in the middle of the square courtyard lit by the daylight lamp.

She looked exactly as she had when she arrived. Wearing earrings with little clay dolls hanging from them and five rings around her arm, she stood as firm as an old tree as she greeted us.

Beside her stood a concrete structure that looked freshly made. It resembled a clothesline, but its purpose was difficult to guess.

As everyone looked around, Jiseon checked each face, nodded, and began explaining.

"Then I shall explain my plan."

Though whether this really counted as an explanation was questionable.

"I intend to turn Tantalus over."

Questions filled everyone's minds.

What did that mean? Why? In what sense was she going to turn it over? Was she going to get us all worked up or something?

Fortunately, she was the avatar of concrete itself, a woman who had lived alongside the military state's history and could clearly explain her own designs.

"From what I have learned, enough people have lived in this prison for long enough that it has earned the right to reach the bottom of the Abyss."

Jiseon was indirectly saying that, thanks to the military state continuously shoving people into the prison to die, this land's history had accumulated enough to reach the Conquering King's massacre.

"It should therefore have reached the bottom of the Abyss, but this land and the Abyss's bottom are separate lands. To arrive there, these two lands must be joined as one."

It meant that even if enough history had built up for us to reach the same space, we could not meet because we stood on different layers.

So the solution was...

"Jiseon. Then should we dig a hole and go down?"

"That is not so. Distance holds no value in this space. We must truly arrive at the final land, the land without a bottom."

I wondered if I had read her thoughts properly.

Even after reading them, I could not believe them.

Jiseon held out her hand, palm facing upward. Then she said,

"I intend to turn this land over by half a revolution, in the purest sense of the word."

With that, she flipped her hand over, leaving the back of it facing upward.

After boldly declaring that she would turn the land over like a palm, Jiseon tapped the structure beside her while we all stood there blankly.

"This is a support frame I made. It should not break easily, so tie yourselves to it with ropes while I turn this land over."

"No, but..."

"I earnestly ask that you follow my instructions for now. Tie yourselves tightly enough that you will be unharmed even when your bodies are turned upside down."

At Jiseon's earnest request, we put our questions aside and began tying ourselves to the support frame. People and all sorts of luggage dangled from it like fruit. While the immortal tied Callis up, I took a rope and approached Azzy.

"Azzy, come here."

"Woof woof! I hate restraints! I love freedom!"

Maybe she remembered being chained up before. Azzy fiercely refused to be tied down. I patiently tried to persuade her.

"Don't regret it later. The land is going to flip over. If you don't secure yourself..."

"Woof! You're turning my stomach!"

"Where are you learning all these words? Your vocabulary keeps getting better..."

Azzy barked furiously and kept avoiding my hands. As I struggled, Tyr made a suggestion.

"Leave her be. If she is the Beast King, she will dig in her claws and endure. Should she seem about to fall, I will catch her with darkness."

"I suppose that's best. This beast, honestly."

While I was growling at Azzy and having a standoff with her as she fled just beyond my reach, the regressor, who had been quiet, suddenly thought of Nabi and spoke.

"Tyrkanzyaka. If Nabi runs out later, can you catch Nabi too?"

"That will not be a problem. Even if it isn't the Beast King, I shall catch anyone who falls. I will do the same for you, Shei."

"I'll be fine. I can use qi arts to keep my feet on the ground and stand upside down. Even if I fall, I can fly."

Why? Why could she hang upside down like a bat? How could she fly? We were both human, so was she the only one who was a little strange?

Tyr made me an offer.

"Hyu, my coffin can float in the air as well. It is only possible when no light shines on it, but that is no concern in the Abyss. If you wish, would you ride atop it with me?"

"No. When else will I get to experience the ground flipping over?"

"Is that so..."

"And be careful too, Tyr. From what Jiseon said, you need to stay attached to the ground. Don't float too high. Hold on properly. Otherwise, we might be separated forever."

At my words, Tyr hurriedly grasped the support frame with darkness.

Once everyone had finished preparing, we could only stare blankly at Jiseon. After confirming that, she let out a deep breath and gently waved her hand.

It was a soft gesture, like a butterfly fluttering its wings. Yet every time Jiseon's fingers snatched through the air, the ground shook. Concrete, which should have been solid, slowly churned like acorn jelly beneath her power.

"...Earth Arts."

The regressor muttered.

It was the power called the Earth Mother's authority, which only her apostles could use. The strength that had overturned the military state's land from beginning to end now flowed from Jiseon.

Having firmly compacted the land with Earth Arts, Jiseon said,

"I shall begin."

Then she stomped her foot hard.

Kuuung.

The force that exploded from Jiseon's toes spread throughout Tantalus. With an impact like that, the ground beneath her should have shattered. Yet her Earth Qi Art, taken to its extreme, and the Earth Arts supporting it distributed the force evenly across all of Tantalus.

Perhaps that was why the ground beneath Jiseon's feet remained intact despite such an impact.

"Oh! It seems she intends to turn the land over with Earth Arts!"

The immortal murmured with the fascinated expression of someone witnessing a miracle firsthand. Callis, beside him, was terrified enough for her teeth to chatter.

Well, it would not be strange for an ordinary person to fear such immense power.

"S-something to hold onto..."

"That is true. It may be frightening for those who die easily! The vampire will hold you with darkness, so do not worry! If there is nothing to hold, I shall lend you my hand!"

The immortal held out his hand. Callis took it with a trembling hand, but when another shock followed, she let out a shrill cry and pulled herself into his arms.

The immortal looked puzzled by the suddenly shortened distance.

"Hm. Did I tie us this close together? We might crash into each other! My apologies, I shall hold you for a moment!"

"Please...!"

The immortal wrapped his arms firmly around Callis's waist and pulled her close. The two were now completely pressed together.

Held in the immortal's arms, Callis's eyes gleamed sharply.

...Apparently, Callis was not an ordinary person either.

Tyr watched that scene briefly before speaking to me.

"Hyu, might you collide with anything as well?"

"Nobody is tied near me, though?"

"...I was asking just in case."

For a moment, we chatted without knowing what was about to happen.

Kuuuuung.

A much heavier impact surged through Tantalus. The support frame shook, and my body dangling beneath it trembled.

Just as I was marveling at the unreal vibration,

"Huh? Where did Jiseon go?"

The immortal pointed to where Jiseon had just been standing. Jiseon, who should have been there, was nowhere to be seen.

"Did she step away for a moment? Ha ha. It seems she had urgent business!"

The answer soon appeared.

Jiseon fell from the sky.

Kuuuuuuuuung.

A fall, then an impact.

A massive earthquake shook all of Tantalus. Even Earth Arts and Gon seemed insufficient, for a huge crack had formed beneath Jiseon's feet, beginning where she landed.

I could feel the vibration spread, strike the Abyss walls, and return. It was force on the scale of a natural disaster, enough to make it hard to believe a single human had achieved it.

"Aah...!"

This time, Callis's scream was sincere.

The kind of absurd power that could make even someone extraordinary feel terror.

"...Ha ha. This is insane."

I laughed because it was so ridiculous. My body was swaying from side to side.

That meant only one thing.

The ground was tilting.

"Crazy. This actually works?"

I felt like a seismograph. So this was what it felt like to sense vibrations.

As I muttered to myself,

Jiseon kicked off the ground and shot upward. An impact similar to when she fell rang through Tantalus. She had only jumped, yet it felt as though the earth had caved in.

"...Earth Qi Art at its peak. Water Qi Art brought to mastery."

Without budging on the slanted ground, the regressor calmly assessed the situation.

'The instant she falls, she scatters the impact through the whole land. Then she uses the recoil heading toward her body to jump again.'

Thanks to reading her thoughts, I understood. But sometimes, even after reading something, I had to wonder what exactly I had just read.

'Jiseon is like... a giant rubber ball right now.'

That was exactly why I was asking how it worked.

The human body was not made of rubber, and falling from that height should normally kill someone.

More importantly.

Why was the ground actually flipping over?

Kuguguguguuuung.

"Woof! Woof woof! It's an earthquake, woof!"

"Meow! Meeoow!"

I heard Azzy and Nabi screaming. Each Beast King had flattened herself against what looked like a safe place, clutching the ground with her claws.

Served you right, you beasts. Did you think I wanted to be tied up?

Regardless, Jiseon jumped again and slammed down again. It sounded as though someone were pounding rice, and Tantalus tilted further each time. While Callis, genuinely terrified, clung tightly to the immortal, Azzy and Nabi barked and cried loud enough to shake the Abyss.

Thud.

Jiseon leaped higher than ever before, then slammed down onto the ground.

Crack.

The concrete rim supporting Tantalus and keeping it from falling crumbled under the impact.

From that point on, it happened in an instant. Jiseon gave one final shout.

"It will turn over now! Everyone, hold on tight!"

She did not need to say it. Everyone was already holding onto something with all their strength.

Then Jiseon made one final leap into the air.

Creak.

My body shook. The world tilted. No, perhaps I was the one tilting.

Tantalus was a tray resting on a stand. When one side was pressed down with a finger, the stand eventually crumbled under the strain. The tray flipped over and fell toward the ground.

Only now did I realize why Tantalus's buildings had all been concentrated on one side. The building formed an L shape while the courtyard alone was wide. It had seemed strangely asymmetrical.

So it had been built for this from the start.

Guguguguung.

The final collision. A human collided with the earth. Under ordinary circumstances, we would have called that a fall.

Not now.

Jiseon collided with the land as its equal.

Whoosh.

The ground flipped over. Rather than jumping again, Jiseon now planted her feet firmly on the ground with Earth Qi Art.

Even without Jiseon's strength, it had already gained momentum. Added to that was the weight of Tantalus, the prison itself, and the speed of its overturning steadily increased.

Dogs barking. Cats crying. People screaming. Amid all the thoughts rushing into my ears,

The wind blew.

Wind that could not possibly exist in the Abyss began blowing again as the bottom opened up. Air was sucked into the gap created by the void.

It was a bizarre sight. The ground I had stood on moments ago became a slanted wall, and the prison buildings became protrusions along a cliff. I did not even want to imagine it, but if the rope snapped, I could land on the building wall and stand on it.

A roar came from the prison building. A huge water tank broke under its own weight and fell far below. Desks, furnishings, boxes, and chairs poured out through windows and holes as though the building were vomiting debris.

Then the prison could no longer endure its own weight and snapped apart halfway through. Watching a four-story building become a three-story building was quite a spectacle.

After everything that could fall had fallen, the last thing to break was the tall daylight lamp.

The artificial light that had illuminated the Abyss until now. The daylight lamp that had dared imitate the sun broke in the middle and fell far below into the Abyss. Even the light that had illuminated the entire prison was like a faint candle in the Abyss's darkness.

Everything sank into darkness.

But it was not over yet.

The land, having gained momentum, flipped over further. My body swung wildly.

"Woof woof!"

"Meow!"

"Aaaah!"

A dog's cry, a cat's cry, and a human scream formed a trio. Naturally, the last one was mine.

I reached upward, carefully making sure I did not "fall" onto the support frame. If I turned upside down and collided with it, that would be miserable too.

In the darkness filling every direction, in the Abyss where only screams and thoughts could be heard,

The land that had been made to flip over from the very beginning fulfilled its purpose.

The world twisted.

Splash.

My feet touched the ground.

Footnotes:

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