WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 139: The Sky Comes Back Into View

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The Abyss vanished, and the earth flipped over. That day, the ground returned beneath their feet, and the sky shone down into what had once been the Abyss.

The evening sky, with the sun setting, was closer to darkness than light. Still, all things were relative.

Compared to the Abyss's endless darkness, it was as bright as a lamp. Those inside felt as though they had reclaimed the sky.

After lifting the ceiling with Jizan alone, Shei collapsed backward from exhaustion. The stepping cloud, having spent all its strength, vanished, and her body fell upside down.

Tyrkanzyaka caught her with darkness. Seeing Shei twitch weakly, she hurriedly asked,

"Where's Hyu?"

Shei felt a little hurt. She had pushed the earth up, yet nobody seemed interested in that.

Still, she wanted to know too, so she groaned and somehow managed to answer.

"...We need to find him. If it's that guy, he probably isn't dead...."

She was in too poor a condition to do anything. Shei tried to raise herself, then collapsed again. When she tried to speak, only a broken groan escaped her lips.

Only then did Tyrkanzyaka notice Shei's condition. Feeling a little apologetic, she carefully placed her on Rallion's back and said,

"You must be exhausted. Shei, rest for a while. I'll look for him...."

At that moment, Rashy and Callis, who had been holding their breath in fear that the ceiling would collapse, approached once they realized it was safe. Tyrkanzyaka urgently asked them,

"Good timing. Did either of you see where Hyu went?"

Rashy answered.

"The teacher? Didn't he go up first?"

"Go up first? The sky was blocked by the ground... I don't even know what I'm saying. In any case, how could Hyu have gone up?"

"How should I know? But when our eyes met, he gestured that he'd go up ahead!"

"He gestured?"

Tyrkanzyaka raised her head and looked toward the top of the Abyss.

The Abyss without its ceiling, no, the pit that was no longer an Abyss, had reclaimed the sky, but it was still quite deep. Even from the peak of the mountain of corpses, reaching the surface would require something close to flight.

As Tyrkanzyaka continued to doubt him, Rashy added,

"That's right! He disappeared afterward, so I didn't see how he got up! But wouldn't the teacher have some method? Maybe he climbed up while hanging from the ceiling like the beast ladies!"

Just then, Azzy's barking came from the surface. Nabi's cries followed. The two Beast Kings howled in delight at seeing the surface again after so long.

Though they had been on the opposite side of the Abyss, they had remained attached to the ceiling, then reached the surface while clinging to it as it flew away.

Of course, only Beast Kings could have done that.

"If it's Hyu... nothing he does would surprise me. He might've climbed up hanging from a single thread."

"Wouldn't he? Otherwise, are you saying he's still here and hasn't shown himself? Even if the teacher likes playing around, surely not."

Still unable to picture him flying through the sky, Tyrkanzyaka kept tilting her head.

"No. Hyu might be behind the mountain. I'll go look there."

"While you're at it, ask Jiseon. That person might know better, no?"

Rashy pointed to the summit of the mountain of corpses. Jiseon was kneeling before the Great Master there. Her posture was deeply reverent, as though she were offering the mourning she had been unable to give earlier.

She looked pitiful with one arm gone, but that was somewhat outside Tyrkanzyaka's concern.

If someone dared oppose the Progenitor and got away with losing only an arm, that was practically mercy.

"I'll check."

Tyrkanzyaka immediately headed over.

Though the earth had just flipped and the Abyss had been freed from its long confinement, Jiseon looked as if it had nothing to do with her. Covered in bits of concrete from head to shoulders, she struggled to steady a cup with one hand and pour liquor from a bottle.

Tyrkanzyaka approached her.

She first checked the other side of the mountain of corpses. Not even his shadow was visible behind it. After looking around for a moment, Tyrkanzyaka asked Jiseon,

"Look here. Do you know where Hyu went?"

Without turning her head, Jiseon replied,

"Why do you ask this humble one about his whereabouts?"

"Weren't you the last person to see him? Just answer the question."

"Until a moment ago, we were fighting each other."

"The outcome was clear. The loser must follow the winner's will. You should answer more sincerely."

"...Hehe. What a farce...."

After a brief dry laugh, Jiseon struggled to set down her cup and pointed upward.

"...He went up."

"How?"

"There was a rope. He drove it into Tantalus, then held onto it when the ceiling flipped and climbed up."

"Is that true?"

"Do I have any reason to lie?"

Jiseon calmly poured herself another drink. Seeing how detached she had become, Tyrkanzyaka did not ask further and muttered as if to herself,

"Where did he go without saying anything?"

"If he set out without a word, does that not mean he left?"

"Left?"

"If he remained here, the military state would pursue him. He left to avoid that."

That was when it happened.

The surroundings grew noisy. At the same time, familiar round beams of light shone in from all directions. Confused murmurs gradually drew closer.

"The ground! The ground rose up!"

"An earthquake...!"

"There are corpses everywhere...!"

"All kinds of debris are falling from the sky! Major, we need to evacuate!"

"Calm down!"

The angry voice quieted the murmuring. Among them, one particularly commanding voice rang out.

"When an abnormal situation occurs, we hold our positions and send only the minimum personnel to report! Isn't that the iron rule of our reconnaissance unit?"

"Yes!"

"If you understand, hold your positions! We must stop those demon-like bastards from coming out of the Abyss again!"

At the commander's voice, footsteps scattered in an orderly fashion. Soon, they appeared all at once along the rim of the Abyss. The sight of human silhouettes shifting across the circular patch of sky was rather intimidating.

"Tch, I can't see inside! Bring the searchlights!"

The soldiers could not see through the dark pit. Just as they began looking for searchlights,

"Oh! Soldiers!"

"...Tch. Rashy, we'll hide for a moment."

"Huh? Ah, right! You said we should hide!"

As Callis hid herself, Tyrkanzyaka looked around.

Shei was groaning in exhaustion. The Beast Kings had already gone outside and did not seem likely to involve themselves in a human fight. The immortal could survive death, but he would not be much help.

'I need to find Hyu.'

But he was nowhere to be seen in the Abyss. He had likely gone outside.

Perhaps he had hidden himself first, like Callis, because being discovered by the military state could cause trouble.

'If so, he must be hiding nearby. Then what I need to do is...'

Open a way out.

Tyrkanzyaka let out a deep breath, formed stairs out of darkness, and trudged upward.

A round searchlight had just approached and was about to shine on her. Just before the light reached her, Tyrkanzyaka frowned, pressed the tip of her finger, then flicked it.

Crash, crash.

The moment the round beams neared her, all the lights shattered. The soldiers operating the searchlights fell backward.

The commander shouted,

"Something! Something is approaching! Everyone, prepare to fire!"

Wrapped in darkness, Tyrkanzyaka walked up to the surface and came face-to-face with an army of no fewer than three hundred soldiers.

They had brought dozens of vehicles and all kinds of equipment, standing ready against Tyrkanzyaka.

A beautiful girl with long silver hair and bright red eyes emerged from the Abyss. Every soldier from the military state was stunned for a moment.

Then instinctive fear took hold at the strange, beautiful being who had risen from the endless earth, and they gripped their weapons.

Tyrkanzyaka was tense as well.

She knew nothing about their weapons or their skill.

In the past, when she had not feared death, she would have driven them back first and asked questions later. Now her heart was beating, and people who had not escaped remained behind her. She had something to lose.

'Should I try talking first?'

The Progenitor, who had never known compromise, took one step forward after gaining a heart and beginning to feel, however slightly, the fear of loss.

Naturally, Tyrkanzyaka's tension was nothing compared to the soldiers'.

"Communications officer! Report the situation! Communications officer! Damn it, ever since the ground flipped, the connection...!"

The commander, who had been shouting while clutching a golem lying there like a kite with its string cut, threw the golem aside and gritted his teeth.

"Colonel! What do we do?"

"What do we do? We handle it according to protocol!"

Protocol existed for moments like this. The commander snatched up a megaphone and shouted loudly,

"We are the military! No matter how strong an enemy may be, one individual cannot defeat an army!"

It was a shout meant to raise morale.

Hearing it, Tyrkanzyaka grew even more tense.

There were two kinds of armies she knew. One was a rabble army, where ordinary farmers were each handed a weapon just to fill the ranks and drain the enemy's strength.

The other was an army made up of elites, each one a sharp blade forged for battle.

Naturally, Tyrkanzyaka imagined the latter. Having only recently awakened, the people who had entered Tantalus had left a strong impression on her.

Jiseon, the lieutenant general, the colonel. People whose strength had reached a certain level. After seeing only people like them, she had forgotten just how weak the weak could be.

It was the trap of averages.

"Let's talk."

For once, the Progenitor who had once filled the world with terror took a conciliatory stance, completely unlike the historical Tyrkanzyaka.

Unfortunately, this only gave needless confidence to the troops who had briefly been frightened.

Naturally, that misfortune belonged to the military unit.

The commander shouted triumphantly,

"Surrender, trainee! Return to where you came from and await punishment!"

"That's absurd...."

"Follow orders! If you refuse, we will open fire!"

Rat-a-tat.

Warning shots struck the ground at Tyrkanzyaka's feet. Faced with an attack carrying a clear threat, her expression darkened.

"...You seem confident. Against me...."

Weapons she had never seen before. Countless gun barrels surrounding Tyrkanzyaka. Soldiers from the military state wearing identical uniforms.

She became serious.

"Then I will use my full strength from the start."

It was night after sunset. Ground filled with shadows was a vampire's domain. Her red eyes took in the darkness, and her authority manifested.

Black Knights rose from all directions. Shadows were their base and supply line. Their number reached a thousand.

The sudden reversal of the battle threw the soldiers into confusion. The commander pointed with a horrified expression.

"Fire! Fire!"

Ratatatatat.

At the command, gunfire erupted. A rain of bullets tore through the Black Knights.

Yet the Black Knights born from darkness endured the bullets or deflected them as they advanced. Bullets were too small to clear away the darkness.

Bullets that might have been somewhat effective against humans were weaker than flails swung by farmers against the Black Knights.

"Th-they aren't going down!"

"The enemy numbers are increasing!"

The commander shouted urgently.

"I-I understand! This is an illusion. They have no physical form! Hold your positions! Don't waste ammunition...!"

At that moment, one approaching Black Knight pounced on a soldier. The soldier screamed and rolled across the ground.

The commander immediately changed his order.

"Group together! Put your backs to each other and narrow the field of fire! And equipment! Hurry and bring the lights over here!"

The soldiers obeyed the order while resenting their commander.

Footnotes:

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