WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 515: Hour of the Dog and the Wolf - 8

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Jizan weighed as much as Mount Tai. Yet to the one chosen by Jizan, it felt no heavier than a somewhat weighty club. In truth, the Demon God moved according to its wielder's will, but either way, the regressor was effectively swinging Mount Tai around.

So let us entertain one childish thought. What would happen if Mount Tai were dropped from high in the sky?

It sounded as though it would bring about a horrific disaster, but it would not. Jizan was the Earth Mother's Demon God. Jizan, too, was part of the earth. It would simply land on the ground like an ordinary club, without breaking it apart.

But the regressor forced that rule askew.

"Heaven-and-Earth Sword and Staff."

Qi arts were the power to impose one's will upon the world. She poured qi, strengthened by every manner of elixir and miracle medicine, into Jizan. Was a qi art performed through Jizan, which was earth itself, a Heaven qi art or an Earth qi art? One thing was certain. A qi art that moved the earth needed no grand modifier.

The regressor soared into the sky and aimed Jizan at the ground far below. Held between two fingers, Jizan swayed like a plumb bob before gradually coming to a stop. Once it was completely still, Jizan pointed precisely at the heart of the earth. Perhaps sensing what was about to happen, its handle trembled.

'Using this technique will weaken Jizan's authority a little, probably because it earns the Great Master's displeasure... I can't help it. Sorry.'

After apologizing in her heart, the regressor released Jizan and murmured.

"Ground Drop."

There was no sound.

There was no sign of it.

Mount Tai fell toward the ground below in shocking silence and calm. Until it collided with the earth, it was no different from any ordinary object obeying the law of gravity.

...Until it struck the earth.

Azzy and Fenrir's battle left great scars upon the ground. They slammed each other into the earth, bit each other, and struck each other wildly. A single blow sent the other rolling a hundred meters with ease, yet they caught up as though that distance were nothing and swung their forepaws. Whenever their paws struck each other's bodies, or missed and hit the ground, huge clouds of dust rose and scattered in every direction.

Unfortunately, Azzy was taking most of the blows. Fenrir's forepaw came down on Azzy as she curled up. The ground around Azzy sank deeply with her. Fenrir bared her teeth as she pursued Azzy, who rolled down the slope before getting back up.

"Dog! Show me those teeth of yours!"

"Woof...!"

"Awoooo! We weren't born to protect anyone! No one protects us. Only we can protect ourselves!"

Fenrir was feral. Azzy was tame. Even if they both brought out all their strength, the domains they ruled over were different. That difference became a difference in power.

Fenrir, the King of Wolves, led a great pack, as a wolf should. Azzy's pack, on the other hand, was made up of humans, who could not become Azzy's direct strength. If the two fought alone, the wolf was bound to win.

And until now, Fenrir had likely won that way every time.

"Protecting humans? Thinking humans will protect you? How many times has it been? How many times do I have to kill you? How long will you keep waiting for humans who never come? How much do I have to bite and claw before you understand?!"

"...Woof. I can't understand."

Panting, Azzy got back up. She was far dirtier and more injured than Fenrir. Still, Azzy did not give up and barked back at her.

"I made a promise. I protect humans. Humans protect me. Like flowers and bees, we help each other."

"They haven't helped you until now!"

"They are helping this time."

Azzy looked toward the humans. She had been betrayed and reborn again and again, but this time, they had returned her faith. Their repayment might have been woefully insufficient, but what mattered to Azzy was that the promise had been kept.

"Arf! Those humans?! Those cowards who preach taming through violence, yet got frightened and put you in front of them, are helping you?!"

Fenrir barked loudly, in a voice that might have been mockery or weeping. Was that distrust toward humans, or self-loathing toward the dog who still believed in them?

Fenrir turned all of it into ferocity and looked at the humans with blazing eyes.

"Awoooooo! If it's because of a promise that you don't understand, then I'll bite that promise to pieces!"

Killing the King of Dogs would not end this tiresome fight. What needed to be killed was... humans.

Her hostility turned from the dog to the humans. Was she planning to kill the humans and erase that promise itself?

Fenrir, wearing half a crown, charged at us. Realizing her intent, Azzy rushed in like an arrow and blocked Fenrir's path. Amid the chaos of wolves surging forward, dogs barking, and humans shouting as they charged in,

Jizan fell into the middle of the battlefield.

At first, it was quiet. Jizan gently dug into the soil. Dirt and sand scattered, and only then did the wolves and humans realize that something had fallen.

It did not stop, even as it burrowed deeper. Mount Tai pierced the skin of the earth and aimed for its heart. Soil hardened by alternating floods and droughts. Sprouts hidden beneath it, silently waiting to bloom next year. Burrows dug by small animals fleeing predators.

Jizan pierced through all of it and fell deeper still.

Though it carried the weight of Mount Tai, Jizan barely slowed as it collided with the earth. It was not moving fast enough to pierce through it, nor did it lose any momentum. Ripping through the underground like a hook, Jizan continued to fall.

Jizan fell and fell until it finally struck the rock far below, packed firmly enough to support the ground.

No matter how heavy Mount Tai was, it could not outweigh the entire earth. At last, Jizan met a collision worthy of the name.

And the earth's axis twisted.

"Aaaaaaagh!"

"Awooooooo!"

Humans and wolves alike screamed. A massive crack formed around the epicenter of Ground Drop. As though someone had thrown a stone onto a thin sheet of ice, the earth split like a windowpane, sinking and rising.

Chunks of broken earth flew upward, and the ground collapsed into the empty spaces they left behind. The earth was not a single mass. Divided into countless pieces, each section of land moved to find its own way.

Wolves and humans alike had to struggle before the disaster. They slipped, fell, grabbed onto things, clung to one another, howled, screamed, cried, trampled each other, and shouted in panic.

The Oberli guards, wolves, dogs, Beast Faction warriors, and Obelisks who had been farther away. Even the Baskervilles and other priests who had still been lying low. The force struck them all to different degrees, but none could escape its aftermath.

The battlefield was buried beneath enormous chaos and shock.

I had no idea how many had slipped and fallen. The tightly gathered Oberli guards and dogs took nearly the full force of it and were buried. Even while slipping, rolling, being showered with dust, and pelted by falling rocks, they held on desperately.

The shock that had seemed as though it would last forever ended. Amid the hundreds of tangled bodies, the Oberli guards came to their senses and staggered to their feet.

"Cough! Cough, cough!"

"Yelp! Bark! Bark!"

"Bokshil, you're all right... Is everyone okay?"

"Fortunately, we only slipped and fell."

Beastkin who had learned qi arts would not be injured merely from rolling down a slope. Yet even the strongest beastkin could hardly call their current situation good, buried dozens of meters underground. The Oberli guards trembled as they looked at the boulders precariously interlocked above them in the darkness.

"Luckily, the boulders piled up like a roof and made some space. I don't know whether we should call that fortunate, or say it only delayed our deaths. I don't know what happened, but with things like this, the operation is ruined..."

"No. Everything went according to plan."

"Huh? What did you say, Magician?"

It had been close, but everything had gone according to plan. We had successfully trapped the wolves. I pushed myself upright and spoke.

"We were bait to lure in the wolves and their king. We drew them in as planned, and we were buried in the trap as planned."

"W-what? Then the plan was to bury us in a trap...?"

"More precisely, to bury the wolves. We were just extra."

The Oberli guards realized what the operation truly was and became enraged. Unable to contain their anger, their ears quivered as they approached me.

"You bastard! Do you think we followed you just to die a dog's death?!"

"You won't die."

"We only survived because we got lucky! What would you have done if an important force like Teia or Kito had died?!"

"Luck? No."

I raised a hand and lightly traced the ceiling. Roots and vines hidden beneath the ground supported the rocks and soil like a net. Looking around, I saw that rocks which had remained upright as they fell were bearing the weight like pillars.

It was far too convenient to be a coincidence.

"Our survival wasn't luck, fate, or a miracle. It was inevitable."

"Inevitable? What, did the rocks recognize us and avoid us?"

"Yes. Because we're inside a trap."

A trap. Hearing that word, the Oberli guards turned their heads as though something had occurred to them. At the end of their gaze was Kito, Ende's trap designer.

They called Kito a trap designer, but Kito was really a mage who had awakened innate arcane. Given the right situation and materials, Kito could become stronger than anyone.

Maximilien, one of the military state's Six Generals, had created a gear mechanism to make use of innate arcane, while the head of the Lesser States had ruled through the Juggernaut, which maximized innate arcane. A mage was the master of their own world. The more finely they constructed that world, the closer they came to a god.

"Um..."

They looked down on Kito a little because Kito was a gentle rabbit beastkin, but that was only possible in ignorant Ende. What a mage could do depended on the situation.

Inside this enormous trap, Kito's innate arcane controlled the state just before collapse.

"Everyone, um..."

The moment everything began to collapse, Kito released innate arcane and saved the Oberli guards' lives. Even as the ground collapsed and rocks poured down, Kito prevented the collapse itself and maintained the situation. Kito had become the trigger, allowing it to activate whenever desired.

That was Kito's innate arcane, Miss Goldberg.

Innate arcane spread outward. Ground that looked ready to collapse at any moment, vine roots that looked ready to snap, swaying rocks, traps installed in advance that had scattered everywhere as they fell. Everything formed a precarious balance.

Holding the chaotic force created by the regressor's Ground Drop in innate arcane, Kito realized what could be done. Trembling with exhilaration, Kito slowly unfolded her flattened ears.

"I became... a goooood."

Footnotes:

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