WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 518: Hour of the Dog and the Wolf - 11

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Fenrir and Azzy fought as they always had.

They pinned each other down with their forepaws and claws, fighting for better positions before baring their teeth at one another. They might have human forms, but their essence was still canine. To make certain of killing the other, they needed their teeth.

A brown ball of fur and a gray ball of fur trampled the ground as they lunged at each other. They moved too quickly for my eyes to follow. While the two Beast Kings waged the fight of the century, all I could do was watch with my eyes spinning.

Was this the helplessness of an ordinary human facing destiny? I couldn't keep up with their strength, speed, or even their senses. The instant I felt the wind approaching, Azzy and Fenrir had already passed by my side.

If I could at least read her thoughts, I could match Azzy's movements and support her. Unfortunately, Azzy was a dog. The best I could do was use Azzy and Jizan as shields to stay out of Fenrir's path.

What good was gathering Demon Gods? My raw stats still fell short.

Perhaps Fenrir heard me click my tongue. Our eyes met for an instant. The moment she bared her teeth, the light in her eyes shot toward me like a meteor. Even from over fifty meters away, Fenrir rushed in at a terrifying speed and aimed for my throat.

Azzy was too far away. Jizan was the only thing that could protect me now. Before I could even think, my body had already seized Jizan, my lifeline, and moved.

Fenrir's forepaw struck Jizan. A beat later, the pressure wave slammed into my entire body. The dizzying sensation lasted only a moment. Jizan resisted slightly, then knocked Fenrir's forepaw away.

Not even a Beast King could overcome a Demon God.

Still, even when wielding the same Demon God, the result depended on the user's skill. Unlike me, who staggered from nothing but the pressure wave, Fenrir kicked off the ground again and leaped at me. I had no strength left to stop her. Even with Jizan, enduring a single exchange was all I could manage.

"Woof! Cheating! Fight fair!"

I wasn't alone, though.

The moment I endured that single exchange, a brown projectile slammed into Fenrir's side. Azzy and Fenrir were nearly equal in raw ability. When Azzy rammed her with her entire body, Fenrir's body crumpled as she flew far away.

I steadied my shaking body and calculated coolly.

That was all I could do. With my strength, I could only withstand one exchange. Azzy could strike Fenrir in that opening, but...

For something that required gambling with my life, it wasn't much of a payoff.

"Woof! You're in the way!"

"That's harsh. I'm trying to help."

"Know your place!"

Even Azzy didn't seem to want my help. Ungrateful dog.

What could I use?

A Demon God? Overwhelming strength made even a Demon God useless. Aside from Jizan, which was itself a relic, the other Demon Gods could only support me.

I had to become stronger. There was no other way. Though there was no way someone like me, who couldn't even learn energy arts, could become stronger...

There was one thing.

I pulled out the card I had been saving all this time.

Heart.

An elixir that caused changes in the body.

After energy arts emerged as the driving force of history, elixirs had fallen out of use. Energy arts completely separated the self from the world and refined that self further, so their practitioners either received no benefit from elixirs or suffered harmful reactions instead. At some point, elixirs came to mean spiritual medicines that devoured one's qi.

Old elixirs were different.

The strength of a bear. The senses of a hawk. Endless courage. Tireless perseverance. The stamina to rise again even after being hurt.

Their original purpose was to consume the future me and give strength to the me of the present.

I pulled out the Heart cards I had stored away.

Heart 1 was a medicine that replenished blood, but I didn't have it right now. I had no choice but to substitute bloodcraft.

Heart 2, Breathless Potion.

Heart 3, Bear Tendon Potion.

Hearts 4 and 5 removed pain and raised concentration, but I had used them last time, so I had none left.

Heart 6, Glue Potion.

I took out 2, 3, and 6, then poured them into Heart J.

None of them were especially remarkable on their own. Heart 2 only made the heart beat faster, while Heart 3 merely released the limit placed on my strength to keep my muscles from tearing apart. Heart 6 temporarily healed internal injuries.

Even taking one of these minor medicines left you feeling sick for days from the side effects. Taking all three at once could kill you. To minimize those side effects, I poured them into Heart J and adjusted them carefully.

Red medicine seeped into the card bearing the portrait of a knight. As the three medicines mixed, they gradually filled the card from bottom to top, restoring color to the knight's body. I folded the vivid card and poured the mixed medicine into my mouth.

Bitter, astringent, painful.

My tongue sent warning after warning. It urged me to spit it out at once, warning that what was entering my body would put me in danger.

I ignored it and swallowed the medicine. My throat felt as though it were burning as the liquid flowed down.

After drinking it all, I threw the empty card away. It struck a rock and embedded itself halfway inside.

"Haa. Haa."

My heart beat rapidly. It wasn't the excitement before battle, but an unnaturally forced rhythm. Simply breathing in made my chest ache as if it would burst.

"Ah."

A sharp pain ran through my palm. Looking down, I saw that I had clenched my fist so tightly that my nails had dug in, drawing blood. I rubbed the blood away and muttered,

"I'm going to regret this tomorrow."

My breathing was so fast that I spoke faster than usual. A dull ache rose through my joints. My body had pushed past its limits without energy arts, and it was paying the price.

Still, seeing tomorrow was a privilege reserved for those who survived today.

What mattered was now.

I gripped Jizan tightly. I hadn't even put much strength into it, yet my hand had turned white without a trace of blood.

I was still nowhere near Azzy and Fenrir's strength...

Even so, this was the limit my body could reach right now.

I aimed Jizan at a boulder and thrust it in. Jizan sank into it as easily as if it were tofu. When I raised my arm, the boulder skewered on Jizan rose with it. Dry gravel pattered down onto the ground.

Even with my strength enhanced by the elixir, lifting a boulder larger than a person was impossible. Yet Jizan, a weapon without recoil, could turn the impossible into reality. Using earthcraft, I attached the boulder to Jizan and looked toward Azzy.

Azzy and Fenrir were still too fast for me to follow with my eyes. Still, I could catch sight of them more frequently than before. Watching their movements closely, I lifted Jizan over my head.

If humans had one defining trait, it was tools. As the King of Humanity, I could use any tool. Even a Demon God's relic.

Then how should a tool be used?

Naturally, tools were used with hands. Humans possessed physical abilities suited to using tools well with those hands. Or perhaps humans had used tools because they possessed those abilities.

Grasping, throwing, swinging.

The power humans possessed as beasts, something four-legged beasts could not do.

I drew my entire body taut like a bowstring, then squeezed every muscle at once and whipped Jizan forward. Wrist, arm, shoulder, waist, legs. Each was weak on its own, but I kept feeding force into the weapon through a wide range of motion. I stepped forward with my leading foot and twisted from the waist. At the peak of its acceleration, I snapped my wrist.

The boulder embedded in Jizan shot forward, carrying all that speed with it.

A boulder fired from a catapult should have drawn an arc. The boulder I threw skimmed above the ground like a swallow. A stone thrown by an elixir-enhanced human using a tool flew at a shocking speed.

"Azzy! Bite her!"

Fenrir's ears pricked up. Even a Beast King couldn't ignore a boulder dozens of times heavier than herself rushing at her. Just as Fenrir tried to evade it, Azzy grabbed hold of her.

Her tail wagged happily despite the incoming boulder.

"Woof!"

"Grrr! You...!"

How many times had Azzy fetched my ball? She had noticed from the moment I began preparing to throw.

Azzy shoved Fenrir away. Fenrir collided with the boulder several times larger than her body and was sent flying far away.

One solid hit was minor, but precious. Even a boulder I threw with all my strength was little more than a rock striking a Beast King. Yet when one came flying in during a close fight against an equal opponent, it was an incredibly troublesome interruption for Fenrir.

"Awooo! Human!"

Unable to endure it any longer, Fenrir leaped toward me. At that moment, Azzy dashed out like an arrow and grabbed Fenrir by the ankle. Even if Fenrir held the advantage, she and Azzy possessed almost equal strength. She didn't have the room to shake Azzy off and attack me.

Besides.

Boom. Boom.

Each time a boulder fell, it exploded with a deafening crash. Weight itself was a weapon. The Beast King, whose body was light compared to her immense strength, was swept away by the shattered debris and pushed back.

I aimed for that brief moment when Azzy had Fenrir restrained and threw another boulder. Fenrir barely shook Azzy off and split the rock apart with her forepaw. The boulder shattered into pieces in midair.

The attack had failed, but Azzy charged in again during that opening. Taking away Fenrir's chance to pressure Azzy was still a major gain.

...Though I wasn't sure it really counted as a gain.

"I'd like you to hurt as much as I do, at least."

Pain that shouldn't have existed ran through my limbs. I tried not to focus on it, but my right arm seemed a little longer than my left.

Throwing heavy objects strained the body even without elixirs. Forcing myself beyond my limits made my body scream.

"We need one more. Azzy and I can't do this alone."

As I drove Jizan into another boulder, the sound of quick footsteps approached me. Two wolves leaped forward in an instant and charged at me.

"You two want to play ball too?"

Swinging Jizan like before would be too slow. Instead, I struck the boulder hard with the flat of Jizan. Hundreds, thousands of stone fragments burst outward like a bomb and embedded themselves in the wolves' fur. They staggered from the impact for only a moment before letting out cries like screams and leaping for my limbs.

"Tch."

I twisted and drove Jizan into the ground like a key. My earthcraft could only push and pull the ground a little, but with Jizan, I could use earthcraft on a far greater scale. Obeying Jizan's command, rocks erupted like horns and struck one wolf in the stomach.

Maybe they had never faced this kind of attack before. One wolf let out a pathetic scream and was thrown away.

The other wolf somehow avoided it and pounced on me. It planted its paws on my chest and shoulder, thrusting its snout toward me. The impact felt like being hit by a bullet, but I had no time to care as sharp teeth came for my face.

Even as my body was pushed backward, I stepped back with my rear foot. I took the wolf's charge with the strength of my waist and legs. Something only possible now, with my body strengthened by elixirs.

The wolf hesitated for a moment. I struck upward beneath its jaw with my palm.

I misjudged my strength and sprained my left wrist. Its drooling snout narrowly missed me. Now it was my turn to counterattack. I gripped Jizan and swung upward in a wide arc.

Jizan dutifully fulfilled its role as a club too.

From below, I struck up at the wolf's belly, sending it nearly thirty meters into the air. I was about to finish the wolf as it flailed from the shock when I felt killing intent. Instead, I drove Jizan into the ground.

"Awooo!"

The ground beneath me sank, and walls of earth and rock rose around it as if enclosing me. Fenrir broke through the hastily made fortress wall in one blow and charged inside.

"Woof woof! Run away!"

Azzy, who followed after her, cried out desperately, but now that I was facing Fenrir, I was practically trapped. Fenrir had used the opening created by the wolves to rush me. Even brushing against her would be fatal.

I tried to block her, but Fenrir had learned how Jizan worked. She threw herself at me with her entire body. A sharp attack came from outside the range Jizan could block.

Footnotes:

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