WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 332: Song of Verdigris and Heatblast - 4

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There was an old tale about someone who gave three daughters-in-law a single coin each and told them to fill a room with it. As old tales go, several answers have been passed down, but they generally filled the room with intangible things like sound, light, fragrance, or heat.

Just like in that old tale, the Abyss Plains were now so full that there was nowhere to set foot.

Bombs, booms, blast smoke, explosions. Every direction was filled with bombs and their aftermath. The bombs scattered by the Heatblast Lord exploded everywhere, without regard for time or place. Dust swirled through the blast smoke, and the earth was mercilessly torn apart. Historic contours had been carved into the once relatively flat plains.

Azzy barked as she watched the catastrophe.

"Woof woof! Bad humans! What a racket!"

"They aren't all bad. That guy's the bad one."

As Azzy forcibly dragged me away from the blast zone, the regressor confronted Rowkett with Skywarbler. She blocked the scorching wind with a storm, then glared at them and shouted.

"What are you doing?!"

"This!"

Rowkett pressed their bare hand to the ground. Metal spread through the earth like tree roots. The power of alchemy was converting dirt and sand into metal.

It had been hastily made, so it was soft and weak. Still, even such low-grade metal gained value in a lord's hands.

"Blow up and die!!"

The metal buried deep underground exploded all at once.

The earth split apart in strips and overturned. Blast smoke and dust swept through the area so fiercely that I couldn't see a thing. Only the tremors traveling through the ground hinted at the scale of the explosions.

Terrified by the indiscriminate destruction, Azzy pulled the cart even harder and howled.

"Awooooo! You humans!"

"Sorry on behalf of humanity."

"Woof!"

The combination of alchemy and innate arcane deceived value itself. Even if you used alchemy on a mound of dirt, all you got was a cheap lump of iron made from dirt. The Heatblast Lord, though, could use it as a bomb.

Heatblast Lord Rowkett was certainly strong, using their innate arcane and alchemy so effectively.

But...

"Do you want to die that badly?"

The regressor was stronger.

The regressor cut through the storm with Skywarbler and split the ground with Jizan. Even the tremendous explosions couldn't burn a single hair, and the metal roots creeping toward her through the earth were severed as well. Holding both swords horizontally, the regressor muttered coldly, murder in her voice.

"Fine. Then I'll kill you right now."

Her temper was no less fierce, either. The instant she became certain they were an enemy, she swung Skywarbler.

"Heavenly Sword Technique, Dragon-Slaying Slash!"

The blast smoke and dust split diagonally apart. Skywarbler stretched out at length, cutting through everything between the regressor and Rowkett. Rowkett, struck by an invisible blade from shoulder to waist, staggered heavily.

"Urk...!"

Rowkett swayed, then collapsed onto the four-wheeler. The regressor murmured with cold eyes.

"Hmph. Pathetic."

Their direction differed from that of the military state, but the lords of the Lesser States were powerhouses comparable to the Six Generals. Of course, compared to the Six Generals, who had trained only their pure combat ability, they had shortcomings in battle. Even so, this was far too one-sided.

It was probably a matter of compatibility. The regressor, who possessed mysteries greater than theirs, could tear apart middling mysteries with ease, but she was weaker against pure internal energy and martial arts.

It was a good thing I'd left this to her... Wait.

"Shei! Don't let your guard down!"

The moment I read the faint thread of thought and shouted, dozens of bombs filled the regressor's vision. Fortunately, she had already taken a defensive stance on instinct before my warning reached her. The Heaven-Reversing Boundary moved her body before her thoughts could, and Skywarbler rose like a snake and split the center of the explosions with precision.

She successfully defended herself, but the sight that followed left her speechless.

The smoke cleared, revealing Rowkett floating in the sky as they looked down at her. They had wings dozens of times larger than those of the Dragonhawk Corps. Unlike mass-produced wings, countless small thrusters were embedded in them like feathers. Large thrusters on the tail feathers spewed scarlet flames to lift their body, while rocket launchers mounted on their claws glowed blue.

It was the Heatblast Lord's Juggernaut, the Dragonhawk. The huge four-wheeler they had been riding was its form before transformation.

They spread their flame-spewing wings wide and breathed heavily.

The regressor twitched an eyebrow.

"What? You're alive?"

"Hmph! Did you think I would die from an attack like that?!"

'That was dangerous! Without my Rebound Armor, I could have died...!'

Rebound Armor. Reading their thoughts, I found that it was a kind of armor that covered their body in directional bombs. When struck, they exploded and pushed the impact away with the resulting force. It worked on principles similar to Rebound Energy.

The difference was that it activated even without conscious intent. That was why I hadn't noticed it in advance through mind-reading. The shock of the explosion had knocked them out for a moment too, so I really had thought they were dead.

They did have a way to protect their own life, fitting for a lord.

"Hmph! So you had a trick up your sleeve!"

"I wasn't hiding anything."

"But I won't let my guard down anymore! I'll kill you with all my strength!"

With that shout, the Dragonhawk's claws opened. Countless bombs fell beneath them.

Detonations rang out without pause. Rowkett flew through the sky at high speed, throwing every sort of bomb at the regressor. She ran at high speed to evade them, but Rowkett followed just as quickly.

"Ah, seriously! You're annoying!"

The regressor struck the ground with Jizan. Broken earth leaped upward, and she used the floating rocks as steps, kicking off them as she rose. Pointing Skywarbler behind her, she used a storm to propel herself forward and shot toward Rowkett.

It was a movement close to acrobatics. In the blink of an eye, the regressor flew into the air.

"Ha! You're too slow!"

Still, no matter how hard she tried, she was slower than Rowkett flying with thrusters. By the time the regressor leaped up, Rowkett had already made a wide turn and was pulling away.

The Dragonhawk was faster than an arrow, if anything. They were too far away to catch. The regressor gave up the chase and fell back to the ground. Instead, she swung Skywarbler at them as they flew away.

"Tch! Heavenly Sword Technique, Void Severance!"

"Not a chance!"

Skywarbler swung, but an explosion erupted as though resisting it. The regressor caught hold of the recoiling Skywarbler and muttered.

"A barrier?"

"Hmph! It is the Dragonhawk's storm. Even if I explained it, your stupid head wouldn't understand!"

What Dragonhawk storm? It was iron dust, a function of the Dragonhawk that scattered its leftover iron dust through the air.

They were only tiny particles of iron, small enough to scatter in the wind, but Rowkett's ability turned them into tiny bombs. Designed to explode when they touched something, those particles protected Rowkett from the regressor's attack.

Rowkett spread their wings even wider and shouted.

"Blades of wind? You have quite a valuable weapon! But it still cannot compare to me!"

"That bastard...! All you can do is run away!"

"I'm not running away. It's strategy!"

Rowkett rose beyond any height she could reach, then rained bombs down again. Having just swung Skywarbler, the regressor couldn't evade. Instead, she covered her whole body in Rebound Energy.

Boom!

A massive explosion followed. Dust spread thickly through the air. Seeing it, Rowkett shouted in satisfaction.

"Haha! I got him!"

"What? With an explosion like that?"

Bombs weren't such good weapons after all. The regressor's internal energy, strengthened by consuming every sort of precious elixir, was terrifying. Her clothes were a little sooty, but she had endured every explosion with Rebound Energy alone and rested Jizan on her shoulder.

"All you can do is fly around, yet you buzz like a gnat! Don't act so proud over such a pathetic ability!"

"Pathetic ability?! You can barely crawl around on the ground, yet you sure talk big!!"

Rowkett rose even higher and shouted.

"Everyone mocked me just like you! But in the end, the one who wins! The one standing at the end, is me!!"

The battle that followed was loud, but a little tedious.

The regressor threw rocks or attacked Rowkett with blades of wind. Yet Rowkett was too fast for most of them to hit, and the attacks that did connect were blocked by their Rebound Armor. Even if she struck their wings, the Juggernaut didn't so much as flinch at ordinary attacks. With no suitable means of attack, the regressor stamped her feet in frustration.

The same went for Rowkett. Light bombs couldn't even scratch the regressor's Rebound Energy. They had no choice but to make stronger bombs, but when they were intercepted in the air, Rowkett got caught in the blast instead. They couldn't dare approach her, either. Rowkett changed their strategy to wearing down her internal energy as much as possible.

'They're pointlessly fast! Tch, the Gunslinger would've caught them with Zeroing. No, if Skywarbler were imbued with lightning, they would be nothing! Is there no way to deal with them?'

'Damn it. He keeps Rebound Energy active while throwing rocks and shooting out wind? Does he have energy to spare?'

Time was passing with neither side having a suitable answer. The one who could break this balance was...

Tyr wasn't much use against a flying Rowkett. It wasn't time for Hilde to appear yet. That left only me.

Ugh, I didn't want to steal an innate arcane here... If anyone found out, they'd suspect my identity.

"Azzy. Don't tell anyone about this."

"Woof? About what?"

Not that a dog would understand what I was doing. I reached a hand toward the air. Iron dust scattered after the explosions clung heavily to my hand.

Maximilien's innate arcane had been the power to turn gears. Gears could move freely to the left or right, and I had neutralized his innate arcane by turning them in the opposite direction. You could say we had good compatibility.

Rowkett's innate arcane, though, gave metal the property of exploding. Even if I stole their innate arcane, I had no way to stop their explosions.

But I could make an explosion they were preparing go off first.

At a moment they didn't intend.

I read Rowkett's mind.

Born with a physical disability, they had been a bundle of inferiority complexes from the very beginning. The fortunate part was that their disability wasn't severe enough to keep them from holding themself upright. The unfortunate part was that, because of that, they never stopped getting into fights. If anyone mentioned deformities in front of them, they would rush at them and beat them down without exception.

As soon as they turned ten, Rowkett was driven out of Claudia and became a jackal. Yet their congenital deformity became an even greater burden in that life. Whenever their vehicle rolled over even a small stone, the tiny shock felt as though it were violently pounding against their spine.

Rowkett became furious. At the stones caught beneath their wheels, at their own body, and at their helplessness to overcome even that.

As they continued to rage and rage, a meeting that would become their destiny appeared one day.

The Arcane Federation's floating castle.

The finest Juggernaut created by the Lord of Gold, and the castle in the sky where the Demon King resided. Requisitioned to help repair the castle, Rowkett gained an opportunity to fly.

And they were reborn.

Flying through the sky was fast and exhilarating. Above all, they couldn't feel the pain in their spine that had tormented them without end.

They desperately wished to live in the floating castle, but it was practically impossible for someone who was only a jackal to reside in the floating castle, the heart of the Arcane Federation. During that process, however, they heard advice from a mage.

'The floating castle does not fly through the sky. It is simply land that rose long ago and has yet to fall. If you cannot understand that difference, you will never remain here.'

They didn't know whether that was the literal truth or whether there was some hidden meaning. It didn't matter. The mage's words moved Rowkett.

Back on the ground, Rowkett made cannons. Cannons, which gifted valuable steel to someone at extremely high speed, were considered the dumbest weapons in the Lesser States. Yet Rowkett, dreaming as they did, became stupid whenever they had the chance.

Watching cannonballs fly through the sky until the moment they fell, Rowkett formed their own mental image.

What if the explosions continued?

What if they rose while burning everything in their body?

Then they would never fall.

Because they would burn away in midair before they could.

Innate Arcane, Fireworks.

I had read it all. Having gained their mental image, I reached a hand toward them.

Boom!

One of Rowkett's wings exploded.

Footnotes:

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