WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

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◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 153

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A Distant Tale: Sword and Spear - 2

Unlike Shei, who had seen this coming, Tyrkanzyaka looked noticeably tense.

It was only a slight furrow in her pretty brow, but even that was different from the detached expression she'd worn while crushing armies until now.

"That presence is no ordinary thing. It almost feels like it's calling us."

"Not us. Probably me."

Shei answered as she picked up Skywarbler and Jizan.

"Watch Azzy and Nabi here. I'll go alone and come back."

"Will that not be dangerous?"

"It has to be. There's something I need to finish."

After a long sigh, Shei hurled herself through the narrow window. Then she ran straight toward the source of that pressure.

As expected, General Patraxion was there. As if he had never doubted she would come, he stood proudly and welcomed her.

"Yo, boy. Long time no see."

In his hand was not his beloved weapon, but an ordinary standard-issue spear. Nothing special at all, just enough to meet the minimum requirements.

But his strength had long since surpassed his weapon. Whatever spear he used, he was still an extremely dangerous man.

A measured tension settled over Shei. She greeted him.

"Long time no see, Peerless Spear."

"Still a rude little bastard. Tch. I thought you had promise, though."

No introductions were needed. They already knew each other.

Shei had used Patraxion to get into the Abyss.

In this turn, Shei had decided to infiltrate Tantalus. But at that early stage, before she'd fully regained her strength, she had few options for forcing out the route to Tantalus.

So she called in one of the Six Generals: Patraxion.

The method was simple.

She took up position in a moderately busy city. Then she proposed wager duels and knocked down every curious challenger who approached.

After enough of that, the army came to stop her. The military state did not tolerate private duels. She beat them too.

At some point, the military state stopped sending troops. Instead, one of the Six Generals, excited by the sudden news of duels, rushed over and crossed spears with Shei.

After fighting for a while, Shei said she wanted to face a stronger opponent without interruption. General Patraxion admired that spirit and kindly escorted her into the Abyss.

"Your skill was enough. I thought you were at least general material. Maybe you could even become the youngest of the Six Generals... no, youngest is too much. Still, I thought Six might become Seven because of you."

Whoosh. Patraxion swept his spear in a long arc. The sound of it cutting through the air was cold.

"But you really went all out, didn't you? You killed a general, cut off Jiseon's right arm, and dragged the other prisoners out?"

Patraxion reset his grip with both hands, his face full of deep disappointment and hostility.

"That guy Ebon talks in a way I can't stand, but he's still my comrade. My comrade died because of me, so settling this is my duty. I'll honor his spirit with this duel."

Shei had no intention of avoiding a fight. But she didn't want pointless misunderstandings either.

"Even though he tried to kill me first?"

"What? Why would Ebon go all the way into Tantalus just to kill you?"

"That bastard is with the Lords of All Creation."

"What?"

Patraxion faltered, planted his spear on the ground again, and asked,

"Lords of All Creation?"

"Yeah."

"Him?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"No idea."

Patraxion groaned and scratched his head awkwardly.

"Ah. So that's why he kept cycling through subordinates. Hm. I did think his casualty rate was absurdly high."

His deliberation was brief. Patraxion steadied both his spear and his resolve.

"But! Cutting off Jiseon's arm is still a cruel act with no excuse!"

"I tried to reattach it. Your side refused."

Patraxion blinked stupidly.

"...Reattach it? That's possible?"

"If it goes well."

"Then why didn't you do it?"

"How was I supposed to if she said no?"

"And how am I supposed to believe that?"

"If I'd wanted to kill her, I would've taken her head."

"That's true too."

Patraxion scratched his head in frustration and shouted,

"Fine. Anyway. I get that you've got some kind of justification. Even so, your crimes didn't disappear!"

"I'm not trying to make excuses. I just hate being blamed unfairly."

"But it's not like compromise is impossible."

Planting his spear on the ground again, Patraxion asked casually,

"Want to become a general?"

For a recruitment offer, it was absurdly plain. Shei looked as if she'd misheard him.

"What?"

"With strength like yours, the military state would welcome you. And you're not just a pure martial type, right? The military state is always looking for asymmetric power like yours."

The military state was founded after toppling the kingdom of knights. It gathered soldiers, put guns in their hands, and pulled in manpower from every direction.

But in war, that kind of quantitative growth wasn't very useful.

Once strength reached a certain level, power stopped being a matter of scale and became a matter of intensity. A thousand grunts couldn't beat a single master who had reached that realm. If they could merely stall for time, that counted as success.

What you needed then was asymmetric power, a hidden card that could change the situation and flip the board.

The military state had a short history. It lacked that kind of mystery and secret, so it kept trying to gather people like that to strengthen its forces.

But.

"I refuse."

Shei rejected him outright. General Patraxion's expression dimmed at her firm answer.

"...Is that so?"

Patraxion let out a deep sigh and scratched his head.

"I have a daughter. She's about your age. Really cute kid. Maybe I'm getting old, but I don't want to fight a kid with a bright future."

Once, Patraxion had been a hot-blooded youth. Challenging an entire kingdom to duels wasn't something you did without extraordinary nerve.

But time passed. He rose to general. He fought several wars. He grew older. The more responsibilities he carried, the heavier his actions became.

Patraxion, who had once lived more fiercely than anyone, missed those days.

"More than anything, I like your attitude. I can see your will to fight everything in this world. Kids like you are the ones who change it."

"Are you bragging about yourself?"

"I'm envying the youth I lost, you brat. Tch. Anyway, I'm on leave, and whether I capture you or not is up to me. I heard you haven't killed anyone yet, so I could let this slide."

Even while saying that, Patraxion kept glancing at her with an expectant look. Shei caught his meaning, smiled challengingly, and raised her twin swords.

Skywarbler in her right hand, Jizan in her left.

The two treasured blades went still in one human's hands.

"That'd be a shame. Last time you taught me a lesson. Aren't you curious how much stronger I've gotten in the Abyss?"

"...Yeah. That's exactly why I like you."

Whirl, clap.

Patraxion happily gripped his spear with both hands. Aura flared from his entire body, and with a voice full of exhilaration, he leveled the spear tip.

"Don't worry. I'm pretty good at fighting. I'll make sure you don't die."

"I'm bad at holding back. You might die."

"Hahaha! That arrogance! I love it!"

The next instant, a streak of light split the air. Shei's eyes turned violet as she raised Skywarbler.

A heavy force loaded into both her arms. The moment blade met spear, the spearhead twisted like a snake and lunged for Shei's neck.

So much for making sure she wouldn't die.

Grumbling, Shei clenched her teeth and knocked the spear away. Their energies crashed, and bright red sparks burst out.

Patraxion stepped lightly and leaped back. His spearhead had clearly been at her throat just now, yet now he was already more than ten steps away.

He tapped the ground once with the spear shaft, stamped hard with his rear foot, and shouted,

"Good! Greetings are done, so let's fight! Do we need any more talk than that!"

"Hmph. Fine. Just what I wanted!"

Shei shouted boldly and raised Skywarbler over her head.

Jizan was a shield. More precisely, it was terrain that favored only Shei.

Clang. Harsh metal rang out. Even Peerless Spear's thrusts couldn't shove Jizan aside, pierce it, or knock it away. Patraxion's spearhead, wrapped in energy strong enough to cut and break steel, still couldn't leave even a scratch on Jizan.

Faced with that iron-wall defense, the general clicked his tongue.

"What an incredible treasure! I didn't see that back then!"

"I picked it up down there!"

Keeping Jizan between his spear and her body to limit his line of attack, Shei rushed in and swung Skywarbler. Her supersonic blade shot at Patraxion, but he grinned and twisted both spear and body.

Clang, the spear shaft flared. Spear and sword, both saturated with energy, scraped against each other and scattered sparks.

Using Skywarbler's lightness, Shei snapped her wrist, aiming for the hand gripping the shaft.

Heavenly Mirror spat out a warning.

A chill ran through her in an instant. Shei ducked behind Jizan.

Kiiing. His spear stabbed the exact line that grazed both Skywarbler and Jizan at once. It moved like a snake slipping into a crack.

"I can see your intent. You want to force a speed match with a light sword? Listen, a spear is the most defensive weapon in the world. Excluding shields, since those are armor!"

It didn't end with one block. The spearhead split into dozens. At a distance where her blade couldn't reach and only his spear tip could, Patraxion kept repeating hit-and-run attacks so shamelessly it felt almost unfair.

The distance was too long, too fast. Shei couldn't close in and stayed busy retreating.

"Distance itself is the finest defense! This is how you use a weapon's strengths!"

Trying to approach was bad, and trying to pull farther away was bad too.

His footwork was strange. Without lifting his feet, his legs slid lightly across the ground. Yet whenever he wanted, he rooted himself in place and drove the spear forward with ferocious force.

The spear that could pierce even the wind made no sound. Without Heavenly Mirror, she'd already have had two holes in her body. Patraxion kept pressing Shei and shouted,

"Haha! See? Maybe not against guns, but a spear beats a sword!"

"Celestial Sword Qi, Dragon-Slaying Slash!"

"Huh?"

A gigantic blade at least ten meters long dropped down over Patraxion.

Skywarbler had expanded by unfolding its space to the limit, like a sword swung by a giant. The moment he blocked the waist-splitting strike with his shaft, a violent rebound surged through him and shoved him backward.

"Wait. Then what happens to a spear's advantages?"

If the weapon got bigger, it should at least create openings. But Skywarbler was endlessly light, weighing little more than air of the same volume. Patraxion lost his length advantage and jumped back fast.

Shei didn't stop attacking. As the distance widened, instead of swinging Skywarbler, she drove Jizan into the ground. Crack. The earth split as if struck by a meteor, and Jizan sank deep.

"Jigon Style, Pointed Fang!"

Then she swept hard.

The ground under Patraxion shook. In the next instant, a massive spike burst up from below and launched him into the air. It was Jizan's authority, earth arts.

"Waha! That really is an incredible weapon!"

Patraxion bent his legs instantly to absorb the impact and regained his posture midair. At the same time, Shei extended Skywarbler and drove it into Jizan.

The union of Skywarbler and Jizan. A secret art that used Jizan as a barrel and Skywarbler as a shell.

"Heaven-and-Earth Sword-Cudgel, Secret Art."

Horizon Splitter.

An invisible slash split Patraxion vertically. Sensing danger, he raised his spear diagonally to block, but the impact violently hurled him away and he crashed down far in the distance.

Shei took a deep breath. Steadying the raging wind, she stared through the darkness with red eyes.

She had not gone all out. She didn't want to deliberately kill General Patraxion and make an absolute enemy of the military state, and if she used up all of Skywarbler's space, later battles would become difficult.

...And if Patraxion had truly felt cornered, he would have answered with some method of his own.

Because he had, at least a little... reached that realm.

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