WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

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◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 154

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A Distant Tale: Sword and Spear - Finale

“Good. Good. Very good.”

Patraxion sprang back to his feet, gripping a spear snapped in half. He must have rolled across the ground several times; his whole body was caked in dust.

Even so, his face held nothing but a childlike smile. A pure smile he could barely contain from sheer enjoyment.

“It’s been a long time since I felt this. Your feel for the weapon lags behind its power, but that can be learned over time. I like it. Very much. Feel can be trained, but power like that isn’t easy to obtain.”

He looked down at the broken shaft, then pressed the two halves together. His energy seeped into the fracture and bound it tight.

Those whose energy was stronger than steel could turn even straw into a weapon. Even if a non-relic weapon broke, the Peerless Spear’s full combat power did not drop at all.

If anything, it rose.

“You used a technique too, so I’ll return the favor with one of mine.”

Patraxion spun the shaft.

The spear rotated like a windmill around the snapped midpoint, using it as a joint. At that point, it looked less like a spear and more like a giant iron flail.

A broken spear. A new joint created by that break. A swaying tip balanced on that axis.

Snapped in half, the spear looked more dangerous than ever.

“A spear is straight and rigid. It draws a simple line and takes a life. But a person must be soft and flexible. Power comes from softness.”

Long ago, Patraxion went through a hundred duels and was left a battered wreck.

At the boundary between life and death, he carried a bloodstained spear and walked all the way to the royal castle. At the gate, the Guardian Knight, the kingdom’s final bastion, stood in his way like a mountain.

That Guardian Knight, called the strongest of the age, was stronger than anyone. Every time he swung his halberd, mountains split and the earth was swept away. Patraxion, caught in that storm, rolled on the ground again and again. His spear split in two, his armor shattered miserably, and it looked like his life would be taken at any moment.

With his vision growing dim, Patraxion swung the spear that dangled from the break. Then, suddenly, he saw the broken tip moving faster than ever.

“A straight line is short. But it isn’t always the fastest. We stand on this earth in these bodies. The fastest path is a curve close to a circle.”

For a brief moment then, Patraxion touched that principle. He didn’t grasp it, only brushed it with his fingertips.

That was enough to take the Guardian Knight’s life.

“Take this.”

“…Tch!”

Shei drew Jizan and flipped the ground with earth arts.

Rock spikes shot up everywhere. The earth became a giant wall blocking Patraxion. Skywarbler stretched long overhead and fell, cutting down through the shattered air.

Yet Patraxion stepped in a strange rhythm and avoided all of it.

He rode over the waves in the ground with smooth footing, and slipped past the slash falling from the sky by a paper-thin margin.

He caught attacks with energy sense.

He pushed and pulled the earth naturally.

He controlled his whole body at will.

His movements were a precarious feat, like standing on a blade’s edge.

After clearing every obstacle and reaching striking range, the Peerless Spear gripped the spear broken in the middle with both hands. The tip swayed softly like a leaf trembling in the wind.

In a space where the ground surged and the sky collapsed, Patraxion fired the ultimate move that carried his whole life.

Secret Art, Peerless Spear.

The broken spear drew its trajectory.

It was a curve that came as close to a perfect straight line as possible.

From legs, waist, shoulders, arms, and hands, all the way to the joint in the split shaft, enormous force loaded into every single connection and burst from each one at once.

This was the principle the Peerless Spear had awakened.

He drew a straight line, but it was the sum of countless curves in his spear and body.

It could not be dodged. It could not be blocked. The trajectory that touched principle vaulted over Jizan and aimed at Shei’s face. The line he drew was one of the few true answers a spear could ever produce in this world.

The secret that made the Peerless Spear the Peerless Spear.

There was only one way to deflect it.

“Skywarbler!”

Twist space itself.

Shei released Skywarbler’s power to the limit. Mystery peered through the gap, and space swelled.

The Peerless Spear’s ultimate move, which had never been blocked and never missed, barely brushed past the hair under Shei’s ear. Strands of cut black hair scattered into the dark.

“Hmm. I was trying to leave at least a scratch.”

A strange light flickered in Patraxion’s eyes. He had set the trajectory to pass just off her cheek from the start, but it missed much wider than expected.

At the center of that was the invisible sword in Shei’s hand, but that was not all.

“You’re sharp. Your weapon is good, and your skill is good too. Especially your defense.”

As if they had agreed, the two widened the distance. Shei muttered with a deeply displeased expression.

“…So you were going easy.”

“That’s normal restraint in a duel. You did the same thing, didn’t you?”

Neither had fought at full power. In a way, they had exchanged one technique each.

Still, Shei disliked the result. It wasn’t impossible to win, but she felt completely overwhelmed by the fight itself.

“I see why you look weak. The energy art you trained is extremely defensive.”

Patraxion, who had just crossed weapons with her, had reached the same conclusion. He rested the half-broken spear on his shoulder and said,

“Your counters are perfect. You followed every one of my attacks. You even reacted, in your own way, to an ultimate move you saw for the first time today. Excellent. But as you know, defense alone can’t win.”

“…I know that too!”

“It’s very hard to rebuild your energy art from the ground up. You’ll need to find your own method within that limit.”

Heavenly Mirror was the ultimate defensive energy art.

Which meant her offense fell far short of it.

By engraving things into her body one by one through the experience of regression, Shei’s survivability and response kept rising with each cycle. Thanks to that, she could see more and do more.

But not once had she overwhelmed an enemy at her own level.

“You can’t do this alone. Judging by how little that changed even inside the Abyss.”

Most of Shei’s skill came from Heavenly Mirror. She watched attacks while dying, then carved those attacks into her next body and overcame them one by one.

But compared to Heavenly Mirror, which kept getting more refined, her attacks still relied on simple force.

“Become a general. No, not a disciple. As an equal, I’ll broaden your perspective. You can build experience, and I can introduce you to other strong fighters. It’ll help.”

Even at that offer from the Peerless Spear, Shei felt no joy at being acknowledged.

Because she had already gone through this once in a previous cycle.

Back when she wandered the military state trying to gather information about the Abyss, she had taken instruction from the Peerless Spear once.

At that time, Shei did not disguise herself as a man. She knew he cherished his daughter and was lenient with kids around her age.

Still, he had been too lenient with the Shei of that time. He strongly opposed her going to Tantalus, and it dragged things out for a long time.

She did receive his teaching then.

Her defensive side improved, but her offensive side did not improve at all.

“…I refuse.”

She had already failed with this once, so she didn’t need to think about it. Patraxion clicked his tongue.

“Is that so. What a shame.”

“I’m not disappointed.”

“What? Hey, this chance doesn’t come often. Just a few days ago, someone wanted my instruction.”

The two had entered a short lull and were readjusting their grips on their weapons.

“That is enough.”

A soft voice came from the dark. Blackness like spilled ink in the air dispersed, and a silver-haired vampire walked out with calm confidence.

A person hung from Tyrkanzyaka’s hand.

Patraxion’s eyes widened.

“Huh? Hey, Gand. What are you doing there?”

Colonel Gand, Patraxion’s disciple and adjutant who had been guarding the perimeter, was being held by the collar in Tyrkanzyaka’s grip. He couldn’t shake off the slender arm and shouted while struggling.

“…I am ashamed! But Master, please fall back! The Progenitor is…! We cannot defeat her!”

“What?”

Patraxion looked at the vampire’s arm and quickly understood what had happened.

A spear had pierced Tyrkanzyaka’s right arm from palm to elbow. It had to be Gand’s work.

But to Tyrkanzyaka, a piercing wound was as trivial as a needle prick. With the spear still through her arm, she had simply walked over and seized Gand by the collar.

“Your skill is quite good. Few have damaged my body this much.”

Patraxion asked, stunned.

“No, wait, even when stabbed, you don’t bleed?”

“G-General…! Avoid her! The matchup is…!”

Even for the Peerless Spear, his essence was drawing a trajectory that pierced anything.

But the Progenitor of vampires did not die from being pierced. In other words.

“You cannot kill me. That has always been true, and it will remain true.”

Tyrkanzyaka murmured lazily.

She was not called the Knight Slayer for nothing. Because Tyrkanzyaka did not die and did not wear down, she was the natural enemy of sword-and-spear knights.

Tyrkanzyaka pulled out the spear. Not a single drop of blood flowed in the process. Pulling a stick from a mud doll would have looked more tragic than this.

After grasping the situation, Patraxion muttered,

“Wow. Hold on. She’s that strong? No wonder they told us to avoid active engagement.”

“I would prefer that you do so as well. If you continue to resist, I will have to turn this one in my hand into my shadow.”

“Okay!”

Patraxion immediately threw away his broken spear. At the same time, Tyrkanzyaka released Colonel Gand. Gand staggered back.

The moment Gand returned, Patraxion smacked him on the head in mock scolding.

“Hey, why are you acting up for no reason? If it looks unwinnable, you back off.”

“…I have no excuse.”

“Look at you, confidence shattered. Get it now? How many strange things there are in this world?”

While that happened, Tyrkanzyaka approached Shei and scolded her with slightly cooled eyes.

“Enjoy yourself in moderation. We have the goal of finding Hyu, do we not? If you made one mistake and died here, what would that make me?”

“…Okay. Sorry.”

“Hmm? You’re obedient for once. Fine. I’ve seen many men build friendships this way.”

“…Men…”

“But if this happens again, you must call me. I almost missed a good show….”

And so, as if nothing had happened, they headed off in opposite directions.

A duel of the century had ended, but there were no spectators. Sending today’s events into the far side of forgetfulness, night fell over Palkaris.

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