WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 200: Land Flowing Like a River - 2

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The regressor and I agreed on one thing. We needed a countermeasure.

"The Gunslinger...! Tch, what a pain!"

The regressor sprang to her feet in irritation.

"Stay here! I'll check outside!"

"Don't show yourself! The moment they see you, they'll shoot!"

"I know! I'll warp space with Heavenly Mirror, so it'll be fine!"

"It's a coordinated volley. Will you really be fine?!"

"I'll deflect it! What else can I do? Why, should I drill a hole and look outside?"

If we made a hole, Historia would find it immediately. That woman acted recklessly, but she had a strange knack for getting right to the heart of things. Maybe she just had good instincts.

When I shook my head, the regressor grumbled as she prepared to leave.

"Seriously... Whose idea was it to let them fire guns with all that excess qi?! This has become annoyingly difficult!"

Sorry.

I muttered the apology under my breath and immediately took off my cloak. I crossed two lengths of rebar and wrapped the cloak around them, quickly making a human-shaped dummy.

Good. This should draw their attention.

"I'll open the rear door and throw out the decoy! When the gunfire concentrates there, run out through the front!"

"All right!"

'What? We can coordinate pretty well!'

She sounded pleased. I'd earned some points.

Holding the makeshift decoy, I kicked open the rear door of the container. The moment it opened with a rattle, gunfire poured toward it. Chilling shots rang out one after another. The half-open door repeatedly slammed shut and flew open again under the impacts.

"Hup!"

I hurled the decoy through the gap. As the human-shaped figure appeared for an instant, the soldiers redirected their fire toward it.

'A decoy. Hui's work?'

Yet Historia, the one I truly wanted to deceive, only glanced at it for a moment before dismissing it. Her barrel remained steadily aimed at the container, ready to react no matter who came out.

Tch, I'll have to use this too. But what if the decoy greets her?

You can hear so well, right? Then listen to this too!

"Good morning, Ria!"

I shouted and pulled the wire connected to the decoy. The tied rebar twisted, making the cloak, now becoming a rag, look as though it had suddenly raised a hand. At that almost human gesture, Historia's barrel turned toward it for the briefest instant.

'Tch, such an obvious trick...!'

Why do you think obvious tricks become obvious? Because they work often enough to be overused.

The regressor burst out through the front immediately afterward. Taking advantage of the thinner barrage, she slipped out under bullet-deflecting qi art and immediately swung Skywarbler.

Heavenly Sword Technique, Heavenly Mirror.

The bullets that came a half beat late lost their way in the raging wind. Amid the rain of bullets scattering in every direction, the regressor gripped an invisible sword and opened her eyes wide.

The distant-seeing eye, Indigo Eye. Using the sixth of the Seven-Colored Eyes to scan the area, the regressor frowned and shouted.

"Only one of the Six Generals?! Pathetic!"

"Pathetic, huh."

Having missed her timing, Historia could not return fire immediately. Instead, she planted herself atop the auto-carriage and slowly aimed at the regressor.

A cool smile on her face.

"You're full of confidence, cutie."

Bang!

Qi spiraled as gunpowder and qi art exploded together, kicking the barrel back. The target was the center of the regressor's chest. It was a full-powered shot without the slightest mercy.

At the same time, the regressor's blade was already moving.

The seventh color of the Seven-Colored Eyes: Purple Eye, the eye that saw power.

From the instant of firing to its trajectory, she watched the tremendous torrent of force in slow motion.

The stronger a force was, the less it was affected by outside influences. That meant its beginning and end remained clear and unchanged.

It was an eye that observed the release of power, almost like precognition. The regressor moved her wrist to meet the end of that trajectory. Weightless Skywarbler moved in an instant.

The suspiciously powerful magic eye caught the bullet's movement.

But if simply observing something were enough to keep up with it, I would've ruled the world long ago. No matter how sharp your eyes or qi sense might be, they were useless if you couldn't block the attack.

The regressor, though, possessed qi art specialized for defense.

Heaven-Reversing Boundary, Defensive Form: Deflection.

Skywarbler cut through the air, and at nearly the same instant, the gunshot rang out. Two trajectories passed through the same space at the same time.

The flash was knocked aside. Letting out the breath she'd been holding, the regressor carried Skywarbler through with her swing.

"Don't get cocky! There's plenty of wind here!"

Fierce winds raged over the river of flowing earth. Wrapped in a storm powerful enough to warp one's vision, the regressor swung Skywarbler, now massively enlarged, like a fan.

Heavenly Sword Technique, Chaotic Shadow.

At the end of a giant butterfly's wingbeat, an invisible storm arose. A tiny whirl of wind, weaker than a breeze, yet enough to lift the butterfly's small, light body.

Now magnified tens of thousands of times, it struck the auto-carriages racing alongside the belt.

Rumble. Even the heavy auto-carriages shook helplessly in the vortex of wind. The vehicles swerved from side to side as they lost their balance, and several people tumbled out before they could regain their footing.

Even then, Historia clung tightly to the roof of her carriage as she loaded the next bullet. As though the swaying beneath her feet had nothing to do with her, she balanced skillfully on her arms and legs before aiming again.

"Tch, you're troublesome...!"

"You're one to talk."

As the two women faced off, I took out a carefully folded wrapping cloth.

I had been in too much of a hurry to bring everything with me, but I'd saved a few truly important things. One was my deck of trump cards, my magic cards that had each cost an enormous amount of alchemical coins.

Another was a special wrapping cloth I'd ordered from Sephier.

"This isn't what it's supposed to be used for..."

It was a magician's wrapping cloth. An opaque cloth used during performances to hide the audience's view and make objects inside disappear or change. It was exceptionally sturdy and wrinkled easily.

This is a secret, but it's actually double-layered, so you can hide something inside.

Anyway, I put the wrapping cloth in Azzy's mouth and rested a hand on her shoulder as she stared up at me.

"Azzy. Can you do it?"

"Woof. Trust me!"

Azzy made up her mind and immediately ran forward.

She landed in front of the regressor, who was preparing to block the next shot. With the wrapping cloth clenched in her mouth, Azzy shook her head violently as though trying to fling it away.

Suppressive fire continued even as the storm scattered the attackers. It had value if only because it wore on their nerves. Yet Azzy's appearance rendered that meaningless too.

Beneath the fluttering cloth, every bullet was swallowed.

Tududududuk. Like a net filtering water, the cloth bent backward and developed uneven marks. The trapped bullets made futile noises.

'The King of Dogs is using a tool? Still, she is the King of Dogs. She cannot become an enemy.'

Historia ignored Azzy, who was lingering in her sight. Without wavering, she aimed past her at the regressor and pulled the trigger.

'Our views of each other are blocked. I'll fire through while he can't see this side.'

That was naive.

Just before the bullet was fired, Azzy's fur stood on end. The beast's instinct, almost a sixth sense. Just before the shot, Azzy leaped high.

Bang. Another gunshot rang out.

This time, the Gunslinger's gun accomplished nothing. Azzy, firmly holding the thick, durable magician's wrapping cloth in her mouth, blocked the bullet.

Ordinary cloth would have been pierced. Her opponent was Historia, after all. A bullet fired with qi art was vicious enough to tear the world apart.

But my wrapping cloth was no ordinary thing either.

Bullets spun. That was how they pushed through the wind and flew straight without wavering. Yet that spin also made them cling more easily to anything they struck.

At the instant it tried to pierce the cloth, the part it touched crumpled into a spiral. Every part except the section Azzy held stretched backward as though someone had yanked it violently. My magician's cloth looked ready to tear at any moment, yet somehow endured.

Whew, that was close.

A sword wrapped in qi art might cut it, but I knew it could block bullets. I trusted it!

The impact turned Azzy's head slightly, but only for a moment. She soon shook her head hard, and dozens of bullets caught in the cloth fell to the ground and rolled away. While Historia clicked her tongue, an officer aboard another auto-carriage shouted.

"King of Dogs, we are humans! Do not obstruct us!"

"Woof? Is this what I'm blocking?"

Azzy tapped the fallen bullets with her front paw. The angered officer shouted with the veins in their neck standing out.

"You are opposing humanity!"

"Woof? My condolences!"

"Why is the King of Dogs taking one side?"

With the sturdy wrapping cloth still in her mouth, Azzy looked at the countless people on the other side and declared.

"It's a political move! I'm a king!"

"What?"

"Military state, I express my regret!"

"This is why kings are...!"

As the furious officer growled, Historia sensed something and fired a warning shot into the air. Blue qi rose like a signal flare.

While everyone focused on the signal from Historia, one of the Six Generals, she shouted fiercely.

"Everyone, evade!"

The regressor did not know how Azzy had intervened, but she did not miss the opportunity. The ability to spot and seize opportunities was a regressor's virtue.

She focused her mind and gathered her strength. The flowing wind did not continue behind her.

Though she used qi art and held a legendary sword, the regressor's power resembled that of a mage. She was a changer who remade and twisted the world, using overwhelming power to create the world she wanted.

"Do you think you're the only one who can shoot?!"

There was enough wind. Grasping the condensed wind in one hand, the regressor raised Jizan's hilt and pressed it against the wind.

Until now, she had used Jizan as the hilt and Skywarbler as the blade, but this was different.

Jizan became the barrel, Skywarbler the shell.

Using the Gunslinger's own method, she aimed it at the Gunslinger.

'Her gun is troublesome in a direct clash, but long-range firepower isn't scary at all!'

Historia's weapon was a gun painstakingly created by the military state. It was not bad, but it could not overcome the inherent limits of a gun.

The regressor's weapon, on the other hand, was a divine sword close to being all-purpose.

The regressor returned Historia's method exactly as she'd received it.

The wind, which should have pushed both sides apart equally, braced against recoil-free Jizan and prepared to discharge its full force. Compressed wind burned hot, heating Jizan's tip. A red glow circled the end of the pitch-black Jizan.

A claim from the earth to the sky, fired from ground to heaven.

Heaven-and-Earth Sword and Staff, Active Volcano.

It differed from Historia's attack as well. If Historia's fired power was a gunshot that seemed to pierce the world...

The regressor's wind bullet struck the enemy with its sound held inside. As if even sound were too precious to waste, power itself was fired.

Misaligned power became heat. A storm of wind carrying immense heat shot forward. It did not ignite despite being so hot only because there was nothing to burn.

Even while flying, the blazing heat that crashed and writhed was enough to reveal the power contained within.

Clicking her tongue, Historia did not load a bullet and instead drew in air violently.

A vortex formed in reverse of when she fired, qi and wind being sucked into the barrel. After compressing power to its limit, Historia exploded her qi art instead of pulling the trigger.

Explosive Shot Art, Fire Net.

Historia's qi art resembled fire. It burst, burned, and erupted.

Rather than a fire net made by crossing bullets, a literal net of blue flames spread out to block the regressor's wind.

The erupting net of fire collided with the wind bullet. Flames and heat, which had always gone together, now clashed and contended for a brief moment.

For the briefest moment, the flames seemed to swallow the heat and swell.

But it was too much.

The regressor held two legendary swords. On top of that, they were the absurdly powerful paired swords of earth and sky. No firepower an individual could produce could stand against them.

They could at least resist.

"Arcane officers! Counterwind!"

At the officer's shout, identical voices rang out from all the auto-carriages. The officers, who had prepared their magic in advance, all stretched out their arms and shouted.

"Set, Ri! Pascal!!"

Unique methods like magic were difficult to counter except with the same magic. The military state was a rigid country, but if its tactics were rigid too, it would only be hunted.

The arcane officers assigned to each unit drew out every last bit of their remaining strength to resist. Counterwinds poured from their outstretched arms and the gauntlets surrounding them.

Even that was not enough, but it was better than nothing. The three auto-carriages barely held on, their left wheels only lifting slightly.

One nearly toppled with its left wheels raised, but Historia quickly drew her pistol and fired three shots. Only then did it barely regain its balance and return to its place.

After putting away her pistol, Historia looked displeased.

'If we had not responded... every one of them would have overturned. The power to control wind is troublesome too. And the Progenitor has not even stepped in.'

Unable to help it, Historia ordered a retreat. As though they had been waiting for it, the auto-carriages slowed down and turned their steering wheels outward. Rumble, their wheels vibrated roughly as they moved away.

That alone rapidly widened the distance from us, riding the Meta Conveyor Belt.

'Still, confirming the enemy's methods was enough of an accomplishment. Our side is the one starving for information.'

Standing atop the auto-carriage, Historia continued glaring this way. She exchanged looks with the regressor facing her, then cast a glance toward the inside of the container.

'The full offensive is tomorrow morning anyway. This was not a bad probing engagement.'

This was... a probing engagement?

Footnotes:

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