WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 304: Nature Shall Reject You

──────

'Nevida. That crazy bitch! Why is she here when she should be off somewhere planting seeds? You're not supposed to show up for a long time yet!'

Despite screaming internally, the regressor squared her shoulders and answered brazenly.

"I knew the Lords of All Creation had druids, but you're a far bigger shot than I imagined. A druid with horns despite not transforming? Only one person comes to mind. Am I right?"

She knew, but pretended she did not. She acted as though they had just met. Even before an absolute being, the regressor spoke as if she were testing the waters. Her nerve was impressive.

Nevida did not care much that her identity had been exposed. Instead, she was more interested in the regressor's identity.

"You destroyed the Abyss, obtained the Demon God, and burned every seed and root planted in the military state... When I first heard the news, I thought you were some deliberately fashioned harlot."

"What? A harlot?"

"You do not seem like one. I apologize for mistaking you for a harlot, if only for a time."

'Ah, right. That crazy bitch called the Holy Maiden a harlot, didn't she? She suddenly started calling me one too, then kept getting in my way whenever I tried to obtain a relic of the Demon God... If I hadn't worn this mask...'

The regressor barely resisted the urge to touch her face. Feeding on the fear welling up from deep within, she stepped forward even more brazenly.

"An apology won't make me forgive you, you villain!"

"Yet there are two Demon Gods, perhaps even more... How strange. Not even the most depraved harlot could monopolize such power...."

"You're awfully talkative!"

'What do you think? Strange, right? Weird, right? Sudden, right? Then you should be careful, shouldn't you? You don't know how sharp my thorns are!'

Her bluffing was on par with mine, perhaps even greater. I read people's thoughts and encourage misunderstandings without upsetting them, but the regressor wagered her life even at a severe disadvantage and stood tall through sheer instinctive defiance.

It was neither recklessness nor foolishness. It was a survival method someone with only one path forward had found after dying several times. The regressor tensed as though she might spring forward at any moment, thrusting Skywarbler and Jizan out before her.

"Draw your weapon. I don't want to fight someone barehanded!"

'Look! Skywarbler and Jizan! Skywarbler alone might not be enough, but what about this? It's Jizan! Even you can't ignore Jizan, can you? You should be on guard, right? You won't be able to casually bring out those damned branches either, will you?'

...Why did her inner thoughts sound like some sucker attempting an absurd bluff?

Still, even if it was a bluff, the hand the regressor had shown was threatening enough. Skywarbler crackled as if responding to her emotions. Jizan was silent, but its oppressive weight kept growing. Holding two Demon Gods, the regressor truly looked like an absolute being of this age.

...But her opponent was...

"Even if a bird's eye sees well, its depth is shallow. Do not believe every word merely because it perches upon your shoulder and chirps. Its song may be beautiful, but it is as light as its feathers."

Nevida hummed in rhythm. It was a druid's song. The ancient sound of nature loosened my body on its own.

The regressor only grew tenser. Her grip on Skywarbler and Jizan tightened.

'Tch! She's coming! Focus, Shei! If you miss it... you'll die!'

Nevida stretched out her left hand. I did not know when it had appeared, but a small branch had risen through the ground in the perfect place for her to grab it. Nevida snapped it off, held it like a staff, and walked toward the regressor.

One step, two steps. Even after recognizing the two Demon Gods, she closed to within three paces without showing the slightest fear.

'Now!'

At the same time, the regressor brought down both swords.

The attack began almost at the same instant she moved. Two lines, one dark and one bright, fell before Nevida's face as she walked forward. One tore through the wind, while the other crushed the earth.

Facing the two Demon Gods radiating overwhelming presence, Nevida raised the branch in her hand diagonally.

Skywarbler fell toward the branch's twigs. The leaves tore apart before it even touched them. The root end blocked Jizan's path, though its thickness and weight were incomparable.

It was a wildly reckless attempt, like trying to block a storm and an earthquake with a straw.

But then...

"Little World Tree. Bloom."

A tree that formed a forest could withstand even a storm, and roots reaching deep could hold even the earth in place.

It was an ordinary-looking wooden staff. Roots and branches quietly spread from the unremarkable branch, one I would have believed Nevida had just picked up from a nearby hill. Vines covered in fine roots seized Jizan, while sprouting leaves embraced Skywarbler.

There was no sound of impact. Leaves that had bloomed before I knew it embraced space, while long roots gripped the earth. Skywarbler and Jizan were briefly locked in a standoff against a single branch.

"Mother Earth and the Celestial God.... Hehe. You possess more than your share. It is power far too presumptuous for one human to wield."

Seeds scattered behind Nevida's feet, and sprouts broke through the ground. Trees soon rose to her waist, and her voice echoed between them. Nevida's presence, which had felt faint before, now filled the entire space.

When both swords were caught by a single tree, the regressor gritted her teeth.

"Damn it!"

To swing them, she first had to pull them back. The regressor retrieved Jizan. The sword, unaffected by inertia, tore out the roots with its weight and opened up space. The regressor tried to step back.

Then she felt a sharp pain on the top of her foot.

"Urgh!"

Nevida's foot shot out as Jizan came free and stepped on the regressor's foot. Vines tied themselves into knots beneath the foot pressing down hard.

Nevida closed in and whispered mockingly.

"You said you did not wish to fight someone barehanded? How ridiculous. Since when did you start assigning value to a fight?"

"Argh!"

'It won't come free... The vines are knotted...!'

Their feet touched. From there, the battle took on an entirely different form.

Nevida's fist flew toward the regressor's face. Before the regressor could even recognize it, the energy art ingrained in her body moved first.

Heaven-Reversing Boundary.

The strongest defensive energy art the regressor had found through her regressions proved its worth. Her body narrowly avoided the fist crackling with lightning by less than the width of a sheet of paper. At the same time, she swung Jizan in retaliation...

But it was only an attempt.

Tap.

Nevida's left foot pressed down on Jizan's hilt. Jizan could not move. After nullifying the regressor's intent, Nevida opened her other hand. It changed into something strange.

Once, humans had envied beasts. In an age when tools and technology were primitive, humans used beasts' hides and claws as weapons, revering them in the hope of gaining their strength and abilities.

Druids were shamans who followed that ancient faith. Heretics who made animals their faith and gained their power.

Among them, the primordial druid Nevida housed the power of the mightiest beasts within her body.

Beast, White Crane.

Nevida's hand changed form. What had been a human hand with five neatly extended fingers and blunt nails became a bird's talon with four toes spread wide. The grasp of a flying beast said to be able to seize and crush even stone suddenly stretched out.

'Too fast... Skywarbler!'

Rip. Blood sprayed.

The strike, beyond the structure of a human body, was so fast that even the Heaven-Reversing Boundary could not evade it completely.

By pushing her body away with Skywarbler's compressed space, she barely prevented her entire shoulder from being torn off. Even so, the enormous talons gouged out a fistful of flesh.

Nevida was slightly impressed by the regressor's response.

"Not bad. Surely this is not something borrowed from a future you have not yet experienced... It is an accomplishment you built yourself through countless experiences. Are you truly unrelated to the Sanctum?"

"Tch... Stop acting so superior!"

Instead of answering, the regressor slammed Jizan into the ground.

"Earth Staff Style, Level the Ground!"

Rumble.

Jizan burrowed into the concrete floor and became a rake, violently scraping the ground. The regressor pulled hard on the embedded sword.

Even now, tree roots were spreading beneath Nevida's feet. The roots of the Little World Tree, which had been gradually expanding their territory underground, faced judgment from Jizan, the land's original owner.

Every root caught on Jizan was ripped out at once. The roots and vines that had painstakingly spread snapped apart one by one, and the earth itself bucked as if caught in a net.

The ground after being leveled was no different from bare soil. Severed vines lay scattered over the floor, while tilted trees tried to stretch their branches upright again. The military state's concrete headquarters had become land thick with soil and trees.

This was a true earth-shaking event. Just two people fighting had changed the terrain. To survive, I had to roll across the ground.

Nevida could have pressed her advantage, but she stopped attacking. The regressor started to clutch her injured shoulder, then deliberately pushed it out farther instead. She wanted to show that such a wound did not even count as an injury.

"Planting seeds? You were up to something interesting. But how about this? As long as Jizan is here, this land won't do as you wish!"

'Huff, huff. Thank goodness I have Jizan. If I don't keep her in check, she'll turn the surroundings into a forest...! If she uses green magic through the trees in an environment that favors her, there's no answer...!'

If this fight continued, Nevida would certainly win. Both the regressor and Nevida knew that. Yet perhaps because of the regressor's bluffing... or perhaps because of the skill she had displayed in battle, Nevida began to hesitate.

'...Let's see. There is much to gain if I fight and win. But if the battle drags on, what I stand to lose is also clear. Then...?'

Thoughts that led directly to action were fast. Her judgment, by comparison, was as slow as a crawling turtle.

It was like watching someone with swift legs run shuttles back and forth. Not because she was stupid, but because she seemed to have too many standards for assigning value.

This might be an opening. I shouted at once.

"Good, Mr. Shei! Stall her a little longer! We might win if we drag this out!"

"What do you mean, stall her? I'll fight this out to the death, right here and now!"

'Idiot! If this drags on, we lose! The best thing is to bluff her into leaving! Don't just talk, hurry up and help somehow!'

Talking was helping. An opening had appeared. I raised my voice with the same force as the regressor.

"We have someone here who can help us! Ria! Give us cover!"

"Hmph. Forget it! I don't need that kind of help!"

'The sharpshooter? She looked like she had collapsed earlier, but is she conscious now? Then call her quickly! We need even one more hand!'

No, she was not conscious. Her stamina was exhausted, so she could not move a finger.

But it had a different effect. It made Nevida consider the possibility of a sniper or supporting fire. The primordial druid would not fear a mere sniper...

What Nevida was wary of was not a sniper, but Maximilien's death.

'Hmm. If Maximilien is dead, that is one thing, but if Maximilien still lives, I must save him. I should reward him for the grace of finding my lord. Even if I take my lord's living body into my care now... the day my lord truly returns will be when all people cry out for him with one voice.'

Nevida finished her long deliberation. Sliding backward, she adjusted her clothes and bowed at the waist.

"I, Nevida, shall now withdraw. I await the day we meet again."

"You think I'll let you run away? Sky Sword Technique, Dragon-Slaying Slash!"

'You don't seem to be in a hurry? I'll use just enough force, so if you're leaving, get lost already!'

Skywarbler stretched long as it gathered the wind. Naturally, a casually swung Sky Sword Technique was blocked by the branches and leaves blooming from the Little World Tree. The regressor had used it knowing that, so she was not especially disappointed.

"To commemorate our brief encounter, I would like to show you a small trick."

But Nevida's next action must have disappointed her greatly.

Nevida grabbed one of her horns and twisted it. Despite its sturdy appearance, the horn snapped easily, as if that had been its purpose from the beginning. It was clearly a horn while attached to her head, yet once in her hand, it looked like a small sapling that had not fully grown.

"Tree of the ancestors who bore and nurtured all things. This surviving descendant among your countless branches calls upon your roots."

Nevida dropped the sapling to the ground. Tap. The sapling touched the concrete floor and then... sank into the earth.

The regressor flinched as though she were about to leap away.

'No, I can't react! If I act like I know what [that] is, she'll wonder how I know it! But why... why use [that] here of all places?'

...Probably to show me.

The Demon God.

"Awaken, beasts. Know the origin from which you came."

After Nevida's incantation ended, the sacks of chimera beans stored as military rations throughout the military state headquarters all began to stir. Any nearby quartermaster would have tilted their head in confusion.

Chimera beans tasted so bad that even rats would curse after eating them, but the nutrients inside them were plentiful enough to support households and armies. The military state took more care with rations than with weapons, and chimera beans harvested across the country had been gathered in abundance at headquarters...

Then all that nourishment exploded at once.

What humans call nutrients are green gunpowder. Humans put that fuel into their stomachs and burn it slowly, becoming walking, sluggish furnaces. They dress eating and living up as noble acts, but in essence, they are no different from other beasts, crawling insects, or things far smaller... tiny creatures too small to see.

No matter whose stomach it enters, the same fire burns the same wood. Other than scale, there is no difference.

Know your origin.

Innate Arcane, Tree of Origin.

The tree of origins that held the source of life and birth.

Known to some as the Tree of Corruption... the intrinsic arcane of a certain druid.

Though she had given a god its name, she was still alive, so the art could not yet belong to everyone. The great origin would listen only through her.

Green explosions erupted everywhere alongside screams. They devoured everything that could become nourishment, formed new trunks, and spread again. It looked as though earthen dragons were rising everywhere and multiplying.

With a single move, Nevida had created a situation on the scale of a disaster. She dusted off her hands and picked up Maximilien. Once she had made her decision, she had no regrets. Nevida strode into the wide-open knot hole.

Before it closed, Nevida gave me a small bow.

"Then, farewell."

The regressor gave it everything until the end. Waving Skywarbler above her head, she screamed as though she were furious.

"Don't run away!"

'Get lost already!'

Fortunately, Nevida listened to the regressor's inner thoughts. After the tree closed, Nevida disappeared deep beneath the ground.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried