WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 140: Perfect Calculation

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The enemy force dwindled amid screams. They kept unleashing thunderous blasts and bursts of flame, but the Black Knights suffered little damage.

Tyrkanzyaka was instead puzzled by how little damage they had taken compared to the enemy's offensive.

"...Hm? What's going on?"

Rather than swing their swords recklessly, she had made them throw themselves forward to grab the soldiers by the ankles, at least.

Yet the soldiers could not even shake them off and simply rolled across the ground. The soldiers who had fired one threatening attack after another until moments ago began rolling about the moment they allowed the Black Knights to approach.

"They can't even withstand a mere dirt-grabber... No, a Black Knight?"

How could Tyrkanzyaka have known? Even in the military state, ordinary soldiers were no different from regular troops. They were given the opportunity to train, but only officers could use energy to any meaningful degree.

In any case, Tyrkanzyaka clenched and unclenched her fists before giving the order.

"...Overrun them."

The Black Knights stopped holding back and began charging straight at the soldiers. A few were torn apart by concentrated gunfire, but Black Knights were the Progenitor's most basic authority, something she could summon without end.

Numbers pressed against the front line. The soldiers had less and less room to move.

At this rate, they would be pushed back. Assessing the battle, the commander stepped forward in military gear with a massive battle-axe in hand.

"Cover me! I'll deal with the main body!"

Without a hint of fear, the commander rushed toward Tyrkanzyaka. Black Knights lunged to stop the officer, but fell beneath the soldiers' briefly concentrated gunfire and the sweeping axe.

A few stray bullets flew into the commander's back and lodged there, but that was what energy and military gear were for. The commander paid the bullets no mind and charged ahead.

A hulking figure clad in steel approached her. At least the sight was imposing.

Tyrkanzyaka raised her fist to meet the attack... then, struck by a sudden thought, simply held it up without swinging.

"Take this! My axe!"

The commander's enormous axe came down upon her. Tyrkanzyaka caught it in her fist.

Thunk.

It stopped after tearing only a little of her skin.

"..."

"..."

An awkward silence followed.

The axe was wedged precisely between her fingers. The commander's greatest achievement was driving it about half an inch between her index and middle fingers. The commander hurriedly gathered energy and tried to pull it free, but then,

"Hm. I wondered what gave you the confidence to challenge me. It was nothing more than a commoner's reckless bravado."

Crack. Tyrkanzyaka twisted her fist, crushing the axe blade, then reached for the commander's neck. The hulking figure, even clad in military gear, was lifted effortlessly by the girl's hand.

"...You're somewhat capable. But I suppose you were not... elite."

Tyrkanzyaka flung the commander away. The commander's armored body soared through the air and crashed onto an automatic carriage, crushing its roof.

"Urgh...!"

"Major! Aaargh!"

The legion of shadows swept through the remaining soldiers. Countless Black Knights folded the soldiers up and tossed them aside one by one.

Before long, a small mountain of soldiers had formed. It resembled a miniature version of the mountain inside the Abyss, except groans came from within it.

Having finished, Tyrkanzyaka dusted off her hands.

"...There was nothing particularly special about them."

"Oh! You've cleaned everything up!"

Rashy, who had just emerged from the pit with Callis, looked around and cried out. Behind him came Rallion, carrying Shei on its back and snorting tiredly.

Other than Jiseon, everyone who had been inside was now out. Tyrkanzyaka looked around again.

The more she looked, the darker her expression became.

"Where is Hyu? Have you not seen him?"

"I haven't! He wasn't here?"

"I don't see him.... Where could he possibly have gone? Don't tell me."

By now, she had no choice but to realize it. A very, very ominous thought crossed Tyrkanzyaka's mind.

What if he had left this place of his own accord?

While everyone else had been strangely excited, he alone had remained as he always was.

When Tyrkanzyaka suggested they travel together, he had answered indirectly rather than nodding.

When he asked whether she could protect him, had that not been a tacit agreement?

Seeing her expression cloud over, Rashy looked at Callis. Callis nodded firmly, and Rashy opened his mouth wide, waving his hands as he shouted.

"No, surely not! He must be getting chased somewhere!"

"...That must be it, yes? Then where?"

"Let's make a round of the area first! If we can't find him, we can light a fire and call for the teacher! It'll be much easier to find him once daylight comes!"

Tyrkanzyaka turned around. Tantalus lay sprawled across the ground beside the enormous pit, as though the pit itself had been pulled out of the earth. The sheer scale of the structure made it feel unreal.

If he had hidden behind or inside that concrete structure, that would at least be a relief.

But if he had left....

Clutching her aching chest at the ominous thought, Tyrkanzyaka turned her gaze forward.

"...It truly was a farce."

After finishing, Jiseon poured liquor around the Great Master's corpse. The harsh baekhwahongju flew straight toward where I was.

Ah. It got in my nose. Cough, cough.

"Why did you try to shake them off?"

Licking the liquor from my lips, I rose from beneath the pile of corpses. After roughly brushing off my clothes, I sat down near the Great Master.

"Because I thought that if I stayed, I'd end up following them."

"And what would be wrong with that?"

"I'm not some cowardly prophet, but I'm still someone who can make ordinary deductions."

I could feel their thoughts drifting farther away.

Feeling their presences scatter into the distance, I muttered,

"If I follow them, I'll definitely die."

They were fighting to prevent the destruction of the world.

My fight with Jiseon, honestly, if Jiseon had charged at me with the sole intent of killing me?

I would have died. If Tyr or the regressor failed to protect me, I could have died even while holding the Jizan.

Mind-reading might be a considerable help in battle, but it could not erase an undeniable gap in ability.

I couldn't knock away steel rushing at me. Even if I dodged it, it would simply follow me. If someone somehow grabbed my clothes and threw me aside, or fired energy in every direction, I couldn't endure it.

Mind-reading only lets me do what is within my ability. True superhumans live in a world apart from mine.

Spinning the card in my hand, I said,

"I was born in the back alleys. I belong hidden among people, moving around quietly. Facing a powerful enemy head-on like this... isn't my part to play."

If Jiseon had not made taking the Jizan the goal.

If Jiseon had attacked me armed with enough hostility.

That would have been enough to kill me.

"Hah. Yet someone like you stood in my way?"

Trickle.

As Jiseon scattered liquor in every direction as I had done, she refilled her cup in three pours.

"You did not seem so afraid of dying."

"Who in the world isn't? Humans are animals too. We fear death."

"Yet even if you held the Jizan, someone like you stood before me?"

I gave a small laugh.

"It's contagious. I caught it from people like you, Jiseon."

Like Azzy and Nabi, like the immortal and Callis, I should have hidden away in some corner over there, holding my breath. That was the duty of a living creature that wanted to survive, and what I should have done for myself.

But how could I stand it?

When wishes worth risking lives for collided and swirled together.

It was worse than someone trying to kill me.

It makes me get myself killed.

Feelings worth more than life, missions worth spending one's life on, even beings whose very lives were shackled.

They were far too indifferent to death, and they changed me too.

"If it hadn't been the Abyss, if we had only met now and then, maybe it would have been different. But I've caught a terrible habit. For a long time."

My calculations were complete.

Tyr was pure and devoted in a good sense, but stubbornly closed off in a bad one. If I showed that I wanted to leave, she would be sad, but she would follow my wishes.

The regressor would be curious about me. But something more important than my identity remained, so she could not pursue me because of it. She would leave her questions for the next cycle and move forward in the present.

Azzy? Nabi? The Beast Kings would go their own way, as beasts did.

The immortal was not the type to dwell on trivial matters, and Callis would follow him out of the military state.

The regressor would be suspicious of my identity and might interrogate me in the next cycle, but that was all. The me of the next cycle could handle that himself.

Besides, the regressor was soft-hearted toward allies. It was obvious from how she had treated Tyr, who had been her ally in the previous cycle. Since we had exchanged goodwill this time, she might let it pass peacefully.

"They'll be fine without me. It's a suitably beautiful farewell."

"Hah. Were you a prophet as well, Lord Hughes?"

"Of course not. If I were, I wouldn't have been captured and brought here."

I was not a prophet. I could not resist fate when it suddenly came before me, like when I was arrested back then.

But I was a mind-reader. I possessed an exceptional ability to read people's minds and deduce the principles behind their actions.

"I just understand people a little too well."

It would be regrettable, but it would be a certain farewell.

It was time to return to how things were.

"It was a perfect calculation."

Footnotes:

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