WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 190

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Say You Want to Live - 6

Instead of playing mind games, Ulfen resolved to kill me with nothing but strength and energy.

Damn it. He’d seen right through my weakness in a pure physical fight. What a dirty move.

Haa. So the easy ride was over.

Now I really, truly had only one option: stall for time. I had to use every tool I had and drag this out.

"Ultimate move!"

The revolver had five bullets. Now all I had left was an empty gun.

A gun without bullets was useless. I hurled it without hesitation.

"Gun Throw!"

Clang. The flying gun was blocked by his short sword. I used even that throw to make an opening, then immediately rolled and disappeared into the gap between two buildings.

A narrow path between buildings. So tight that if two people came from opposite sides, it would get awkward fast.

I sprinted down the alley and pulled my next card.

Diamond 8, Long Thin Things.

Chains, wires, thread, metal strips, rubber. Mana cables.

Out of the many knot types stored in the card, I chose wire. I hooked a pre-tied wire onto one railing. Clank, the knot slipped through the railing like magic, then locked tight.

I set up three wire traps in an instant, then deliberately twanged one to announce myself. Ulfen followed, saw the taut wires, and couldn’t rush in carelessly.

'...A trap? Annoying. Forcing through with strength would be troublesome.'

Haha. Well? Since ancient times, traps have been the best way to catch beasts. You swore to rely on brute force alone, so can you really come into this alley?

'I’ll have to kick off the walls and jump over.'

That’s cheating!

Tap, tap. Ulfen lightly kicked off both walls and sprang up ten meters. Then he planted a foot on one wall and slid down as if descending a slope.

No time to stand and watch. My best trap had been neutralized, so I threw myself out of the alley at once. Ulfen closed in instantly.

'Got you. You can’t run anymore.'

I had just turned the corner, and Ulfen had just drawn his short sword at my back. He leaped off the end of the slope, landed to change direction, and at that exact moment,

Whump, the ground gave way. Still in a perfect landing stance, his body dropped straight down.

For a brief moment, Ulfen was badly startled by the ground vanishing under him.

'A trap? When did he...?'

Roads are just a thin layer over dirt. I’d hollowed out the soil beneath it, so when someone as heavy as Ulfen landed hard, the road collapsed like it was being swallowed.

A sinkhole trap made with earth arts. Reading Ulfen’s shock, I immediately pulled out the card I’d been saving.

Diamond 10, Sword and Shield.

A small buckler appeared in my left hand, and a straight sword about a forearm long in my right. I drove the buckler into Ulfen’s head and, at the same time, thrust the straight sword into his blind spot.

A picture-perfect strike, committing my whole body and targeting his opening exactly.

Thud-crack. The buckler smashed squarely into Ulfen’s face. At the same time, my straight sword cut his shoulder. His collar tore open, and blood sprayed over it.

'That landed.'

No time to savor it. Even in surprise, his will to kill was still clear and aimed at me.

'But light. I can endure it.'

The head knocked back by the buckler snapped forward again, and Ulfen’s eyes flashed darkly. At the same time, a black blade shot up from my left. Murky dark energy that swallowed even light came cleanly for my life.

I read the killing intent, clenched my teeth, and twisted my arm and waist hard to pull the buckler in. I didn’t spare even a handful of energy, pouring it out to wrap the shield.

Kiiik.

The solid buckler caught the darkness-coated blade at an angle. Sword versus shield. Common sense said the shield should have the advantage.

But when both sword and shield were wrapped in energy, the stronger energy won.

Crack. The buckler held for a moment, then split apart miserably. Like frozen bread dropped on stone, it shattered and finished its job. The short sword that tore through it ripped a long wound into my left arm.

"Ow, ow, ow!"

That hurt like hell!

No time to groan. To block his attacks, I needed a sword more than a shield. I pulled back the straight sword that had cut his shoulder and tried to slice his arm.

But..."Weaker than I expected..."

Tap. Ulfen grabbed my straight sword with his empty hand. Barehanded, on the blade.

Just like that, the sword wouldn’t budge at all, as if it were lodged in solid rock.

"Tch!"

If he held me like this, I was dead. I let go of the sword and rolled back immediately. Blood poured from my mangled left arm, but I had no time to deal with it.

Meanwhile, Ulfen stepped out as if the wound on his shoulder were nothing and said,

"So it was all tricks. From alchemy to every little stunt, all of it deception to hide weakness."

So it was all exposed.

Well, if my shield couldn’t even stop his blade and I lost my left arm for it, it would be stranger if he hadn’t noticed.

Still, I couldn’t lose my composure. I had to buy even a little more time.

Still acting relaxed, I raised my bleeding left arm.

"Ta-da. So? Fun, right?"

"Not bad. Magician, you may have talent as an assassin that surpasses even me."

He placed a hand over the shoulder wound from my straight sword. Rippling energy seeped into it, the blood blackened and hardened, and the bleeding stopped at once.

Ulfen had effortlessly nullified even my best strike. He pulled his hand away and said,

"One. This world is power. In the end, those without power are broken, and those with power rule. That is the law of the world."

"I get your revelation, but so what?"

Ulfen looked down at me like I was a foolish child and said,

"If you wanted to live, you should not have blocked my path. You were foolish, Magician. You dreamed far beyond your station."

"Haha. Then was your dream so modest that you borrowed the military state's hand, cleaned out the back alleys, and planned to take over an empty field?"

"The way to rule completely is to stand among those weaker than you."

"Small-time."

"I know my place. Unlike you."

He meant it. Ulfen really was a relic of the kingdom era, strong against the weak and weak against the strong.

Ah. How boring.

For all his power, his behavior was small-time. Just a little stronger than ordinary people, a little more rational, and a little luckier.

"So boring. You really are the type who survived on luck."

I sighed and turned my hand over. The few Diamond cards I had left settled in my palm.

Diamond 7, Magic Cane.

The card instantly became a long cane with a curved handle. Even so, Ulfen no longer bothered to stay on guard and just trudged toward me.

"I have seen through all of it. I will no longer be fooled by cheap tricks. I will walk to you and take your life, and not even your great deceptions will save you."

Ah, seriously. Is this really the end?

My left arm throbbed. Damn it, a magician’s hands and arms are their life. Was this really how it ended, even after taking this much damage?

Then it happened. A hurried voice came from above, and something dropped down.

It was a golem.

『Take cover!』

With that shout, the golem blocked my path. Unlike the immobile surveillance models, this one was a sync type that could move directly.

Wow. It was oddly nice to see one again after so long.

Swallowing the tears brought on by the throbbing pain in my left arm, I asked,

"Captain. Did I buy enough time?"

The sync-type arcane golem stood protectively in front of me and shouted,

『Affirmative! If you can hold out just a little longer like thi....』

The captain didn’t even get to finish. Ulfen’s dagger buried itself in the golem’s torso, its voice blurred like it was tearing apart, then it creaked and collapsed limp.

I screamed at the captain, who shut down in less than a second.

"Captainnnnnn!!"

You should’ve lasted a little longer! How do you make such a cool entrance and then go out that pathetically? That kills the mood!

"I have wasted too much time."

And because you announced that, now Ulfen’s in a hurry to kill me!

'I won’t drag this out anymore. Die.'

Thud, Ulfen kicked off the ground in a single burst and raised his short sword. No more wasting energy. He kept it entirely within his body and blade, and came straight to kill me.

Clear killing intent, and the power to carry it out. Faced with that, powerless as I was, I had no choice but to offer up my neck...

But overcoming this situation was the pinnacle of magic.

In a desperate crisis with no apparent escape, if I couldn’t run in a way no one could imagine... then I had no right to call myself a magician.

"Did you think my cards..."

I flicked out my right arm. A new card appeared at my fingertips. I neatly caught it between two fingers.

The one card I had prepared in advance for Shadow.

Every weapon I forged from Diamonds had only been groundwork for this single card.

"You didn’t think I only had weapons, right?"

The card I flipped was Clover 1.

Unlike the sharp, angular red Diamond, what appeared before Ulfen was the shape of a rounded tree rooted in the ground.

'A trick. I won’t be fooled. Whatever appears, I’ll keep my eyes open and respond.'

I was the shepherd boy.

Repeated lies breed deep distrust, forcing the other side into an unshakable stance.

Thank you. For watching my final magic so carefully.

I flipped the Clover card and released the mana sealed inside. The condensed mana gathered into the single clover and heated white-hot.

Ulfen frowned at the glowing card.

'Trying to block my sight with light? What exactly is he hiding?'

Wrong.

I wasn’t hiding something with light. What I had hidden was light.

As he watched the clover grow brighter and brighter, an ominous thought crossed Ulfen’s mind too late.

'...Magic? No way!'

Too late to realize it. The spell was already complete.

Let there be light.

"Fiat Lux."

He had compressed all his energy, so the darkness coating his body was gone for the moment. He hadn’t scattered energy around him, which meant he had no flexible responses available.

In other words, Ulfen was perfectly defenseless.

The condensed light at the center of the Clover exploded.

Every shadow on the street vanished. In an instant, blazing white radiance poured from the face of the card.

As if a window had opened right in front of the sun.

Even eyelids couldn’t filter that light. It felt like I could see the shadows of bones and blood vessels through transparent skin.

Light erases shadow. Struck directly by his natural opposite, Ulfen hurriedly covered his eyes, but the flash stole his vision for a while.

"Good thing your energy has a dark attribute. You don’t seem fully blinded. You probably won’t be moving well for a while, though."

"You bastard...! Magician!"

Darkness obscures the eyes, but light blinds them. You and this spell are in a pure top-and-bottom relationship.

Blinded, Ulfen leaped back and sprayed sword strikes in every direction. Dark energy burst from his body again, meant to ward off attacks while he couldn’t respond.

Pointless.

I was better off than you after taking that hit, but I still couldn’t see well either. I couldn’t attack anyway.

"Ghk...!"

"Thank you for watching to the end, Ulfen Fenstein. You were a boring man, but a fairly good audience. Still, to beat someone who lives by the logic of power, the one who beats him has to be stronger. In that sense, I’m unqualified."

"I will kill you. On Shadow’s honor, you and everyone around you. I’ll kill you all!"

"Ah, sure. Goodbye, then."

With that as my final greeting, I ran along the escape route I had scouted in advance. The street swallowed by light hid everything even more completely than darkness. No one saw me run.

I couldn’t see either and did hit my head while running, but whatever. I still managed to escape into a building.

My role ended here. It was dangerous, but it somehow worked out.

Next was the military state’s part.

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