WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 372: Thief!

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Since ancient times, humans had believed that lightning flashed first and thunder followed after.

But that was merely a misunderstanding caused by the difference between the speed of light and sound. Thunder and lightning, born from the same bolt, were twins. People only believed lightning came first because its light traveled faster than thunder's sound.

Now that I was experiencing thunder and lightning right before my eyes, I could unwillingly feel for myself that they were twins.

One side of my vision was flooded with lightning. Brilliant yellow light painted my retinas a single color. For a brief instant, I could see nothing but the Thunder God's punishment.

At the same time, thunder loud enough to tear the world apart rang through my ears. Sound that loud became pain itself, shaking my head.

If I had not possessed mind-reading, the power to steal another person's perspective, I would have been incapacitated for a moment.

"Of all times!"

The children stared toward the top of the Cloud Waterfall, trembling in fear. Once I barely regained my sight, I staggered and looked up as well.

Then I saw the Thunder God.

A gigantic shadow swayed atop the Cloud Waterfall. A giant that seemed formed from condensed lightning and storms looked down at us from above the waterfall. Only its upper body rose above the clouds, lightning flashing in its eyes while its lips looked like thunderclouds condensed even further.

Wind and rain lashed at us. The Cloud Waterfall, which had peacefully fallen to the earth, now churned violently as it welcomed the Thunder God. Raindrops struck our faces, and fierce winds shook our bodies.

First the Lord of Gold, now the Thunder God? Was I cursed? Why was every place I visited like this?

Even Tyr, who was always so composed, sensed the extraordinary power and spoke.

"Is that the Thunder God?"

"It's my first time seeing it too, so I can't be sure, but I think so! If that isn't the Thunder God, then who is?"

"Though I have passed through the Cloud Waterfall several times, I have never seen such a thing..."

"When was the last time you came through?"

"I do not remember clearly... Perhaps three hundred years ago."

"That was ages ago! Maybe the Thunder God comes calling whenever the land changes thirty times!"

Wait. This was Tyr's first time seeing it too? Tyr, who had passed through Cloud Village long ago and founded the Duchy?

Gods existed. The great laws of nature existed independently of humans, waiting whole and unchanged in places unrelated to them until someone discovered them.

But... was that really the Thunder God?

As I sank into thought, the child who had called herself a thunder guardian shrieked.

"Everyone, lower your heads!"

The moment I sensed danger and instinctively ducked.

[---!]

When the Thunder God opened its mouth, thunder roared instead of a voice. Even a roar from that high in the clouds seemed capable of shaking the world. Aiming at the Thunder Mill, the Thunder God raised an arm. It held a spear of lightning, as though it had pulled it from the sky itself.

I didn't need to see how it intended to use it.

[---!!!]

Lightning struck again with the thunder.

"Hiya!"

Just before that, the girl moved first.

Dozens of lightning rods extended from the lightning tower. The child placed a hand at their center and used alchemy. The rods, which had spread apart like an umbrella, folded inward and converged into a single point. The sharpened lightning tower looked like a spear aimed at the Thunder God.

Flash.

The lightning struck the center of the rod.

Fortunately, having fought lightning throughout its history, Cloud Village possessed a sufficiently capable anti-Thunder God weapon. The enormous torrent of power flowed down the lightning tower and into the ground instead of burning the humans away. The tower, having received the Thunder God's power, shook violently.

"Aah!"

Still, even the aftershock of lightning was terrifying. The child, who had taken its force from so close while controlling the tower, was flung away with a thump. As she rolled across the ground like a ball, Azzy darted over and saved her.

"Woof!"

Her clothes and skin were scorched, but the child was surprisingly unharmed. It seemed the title of thunder practitioner was not empty.

The child grabbed Azzy and rose to her feet, muttering.

"N-no! The lightning tower...!"

Rumble, rumble.

The Thunder Mill, empowered by the lightning, spun even faster. Perhaps because the child had been thrown back, or because the lightning had struck it once, the tower's rod was slightly bent. If it was attacked again, the lightning tower might stop functioning.

[***---!!!]

Whether it knew that or simply intended to keep attacking, the Thunder God roared once more and thrust its arm into the clouds, as if to pull out another bolt.

"How are we supposed to hunt something that high up? Hughes. Is there a way to ride the clouds up there?"

"No! You can't ride clouds in the first place! A master of internal energy can step on water droplets and leap, but even then, they can only take a few steps!"

"Yet Shei said he would kill the Thunder God."

"He's the strange one!"

The Thunder Lord could beat that thing and drive it off, while the regressor could kill it? How the hell were they supposed to do that? Were all the people around me monsters?

"Help! If we don't straighten the lightning rod...!"

The girl reached for the lightning rod and cried out. Tch. Everyone had been thrown away by the earlier lightning, leaving only me nearby.

Couldn't be helped.

"Let's go, Azzy!"

"Woof!"

Azzy, her fur puffed up either voluntarily or involuntarily, left the girl behind and charged forward. She leaped to the top of the lightning tower, bit down on the bent rod, and strained.

The enormous rod creaked back into place.

I caught up a moment later and used alchemy. Fitting for the Lesser States, it was made of alchemical steel. It was a highly reactive metal suited to alchemy, so it changed shape in an instant at my touch.

...Though that didn't seem to be the only reason. Was it because I had seen the Demon God? Alchemy felt much easier now than ever before.

In any case, once I had straightened the rod, I immediately let go. Unlike the thunder practitioners, my body was entirely ordinary. If lightning struck me from that close, I wouldn't just be thrown away.

I needed to run.

[---!!!]

Huh? Was I too late?

Couldn't be helped.

I pulled out a card. The Ten of Spades. An idol of Mother Earth, who upheld all things. It couldn't compare to Jizan, but surely I could expect it to conduct electricity at least.

Just before the lightning struck, I gripped the card and offered a prayer.

"Good work. I ended up accepting your help without meaning to," the Thunder Lord said.

My efforts turned out to be pointless.

Thud.

The Thunder Lord landed atop the lightning tower. Surrounded by lightning, she strode forward and stared at the Thunder God with indifferent eyes.

"It attacked at an unfortunate time... No, perhaps it had been waiting for this moment. Either way, leave it to me."

"Thunder Lord!"

"It's the Thunder Lord!"

At the children's cheers, the Thunder Lord gave a small nod as though to reassure them.

Then her hair rose. Every strand filled with lightning, her entire body flashed as she prepared to stand against the Thunder God.

The gaze of the colossus looking down at the far edge of the earth met that of the giant looking up at it. With thunder and storms filling the space between heaven and earth, the Thunder God pulled lightning from the clouds and delivered divine punishment once again.

Lightning descended.

"Thunder Catcher."

At that moment, the Thunder Lord seized the lightning rod.

Lightning was meant to spread outward. It never remained still, always flowing and searching for something to lean upon. The human body was no different. Lightning flowed through even that damp, intricate structure, using it as a path.

Like a flood tearing apart a riverbank, a human body through which lightning flowed would normally be ruined beyond recognition.

But the Thunder Lord of the Lesser States was different.

Lightning tore through the world, then continued into the Thunder Lord's body. Her feet did not touch the ground. Instead of passing through her, the lightning swirled within her and continued to form a current.

Her insides should have been violently shaken...

Instead, she made that power her own.

"Thunder God. I don't know how much longer I must return it before you are satisfied."

At that moment, the Thunder Lord looked no less than a Thunder God descended upon the earth.

Powerful force radiated from her body, which held lightning within it. Thunder rang out whenever she took a step. Her brilliant yellow hair, flashing and scattering in every direction, looked like lightning given form. Her gleaming eyes now held even lightning itself.

"If you wish it, then once more."

The Thunder Lord grabbed the spinning Thunder Mill with both hands, drew forth the power filling her entire body, and shouted.

"I will return it to you!"

The Thunder Mill, which had been spinning endlessly, slowly came to a stop.

By the power wielded by a single human.

The Thunder Mill used the lightning flowing down the Cloud Waterfall to the earth as its power source. Instead of water, the flow of lightning turned it.

In other words, if the Thunder Mill was turned in reverse, it could gather the power of the lightning scattered throughout Claudia and send it back upward.

That was what it meant to return the lightning.

Rumble.

The Thunder Lord poured out all her strength and resonated with the Thunder Mill. Using both her own power and the lightning's power against it, she turned the massive iron wheel, over one hundred meters in diameter, in reverse.

A feat only the Thunder Lord, who could contain lightning in her body, could achieve. It was also why the Thunder Lord was strongest within Claudia.

Thunderclouds and lightning surged from the Thunder Mill turning backward. From the ground to the sky. In a direction contrary to the natural order, humanity's atonement climbed the Cloud Waterfall and returned to the Thunder God.

I didn't know whether it was an attack or a gift.

But lightning returned to the sky.

What the first Thunder Lord had done long ago was being reenacted on a far grander scale...

"Ah, wait a second."

At that moment, the regressor rode Skywarbler and stepped into the middle of the Cloud Waterfall.

Skywarbler and Jizan were heaven and earth. Lightning was the will of the Celestial God moving between them.

In other words, if she had both swords, the regressor could contain lightning's power as well.

Part of the rising lightning headed toward Skywarbler instead of the sky. The regressor stole some of the lightning the Thunder Lord had intended to return to the Thunder God and stored it between the two relics.

As the world fell silent before such brazen robbery, I pointed at the regressor and shouted.

"It's the Lightning Thief! No, it's a robber!"

Footnotes:

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