WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 528: A Newborn Pup Fears No Tiger

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Nothing was more meaningless than applying common sense to absurdity. It was absurd precisely because common sense did not work on it. No choice was correct, and conversely, doing nothing was not necessarily wrong.

The regressor had done nothing while people died around her, yet she had been right in the end.

Because she was alive.

For now.

‘Fight? Don’t fight? Damn it. What do I do?’

If survival was all that mattered, running while the Mountain Lord slaughtered the Black Tiger Corps should have been the answer... Yet even that gave me pause. Even in that urgent situation, the regressor assessed it calmly.

‘If I run alone, she’ll hunt me down and kill me. If anyone is going to survive, everyone needs to scatter in different directions. Or we can only lie flat and pray the tiger spares us... Damn it! Even then, we’d be entrusting our lives to a tiger’s whim!’

I felt the same way. Unless I could read the Mountain Lord’s thoughts, I could not guarantee that turning our backs on a beast and fleeing was safer.

‘I can survive. But...!’

The regressor was a being almost as absurd as the Mountain Lord. Having gathered every means imaginable, she had a secret plan to overcome even this crisis. But that only applied to the regressor herself.

‘What about Hughes? Ende? And Azzy, who lost her crown? Should I let the Mountain Lord kill them and run away?’

The regressor could flee. She could escape absurdity for a while, observe what happened, then return and change the situation.

Yet she chose not to run. Even if she died, she could use this experience as nourishment and start over. She wanted to see what came next.

‘No! I’ve come this far...! If I run now, this loop is over! What happens to Azzy after losing her crown? How is the King of Wolves with an intact crown different from last time? What changed because Hughes intervened? I need to know! If I run, I won’t learn anything!’

Seven-colored light flickered in the regressor’s eyes. The lights of her Seven-Colored Eyes merged into one, taking in what lay beyond the light. The cursed eyes once called the Heavenly Eye of the Turning Wheel and the Fate Eye flashed, reflecting the regressor’s impossible past.

There had been a time when she reached that level. Instead of pursuing a principle she could never grasp, she had trained in magic to learn innate arcane. She had failed in the end, but it gave her a better understanding of relics.

The Shei reflected in the Fate Eye was the one who had devoted herself to magic.

Mana flowed from a future that did not exist. The present differed from the destiny she had observed. To bridge that gap, she drew mana from all things. The regressor’s subspace, Rene’s pouch, opened by itself. Mana flowed from the countless treasures and arcane tools she had gathered, supporting her.

‘I don’t have to win! I just need to drive her away! It’s enough if I make her change her mind! I have no plan, but... The Mountain Lord has always been something no one can plan for!’

For actual combat, qi arts would have been better. The regressor was only a half-baked mage who had not mastered unique magic. But this was not a fight. She only needed to puff herself up and make enough noise to frighten the Mountain Lord. What she needed was not a sword, but a gong.

The regressor concentrated her raging mana into Skywarbler. Using Skywarbler, which contained the sky and swallowed lightning, as a catalyst, she drew out the limits of wind and lightning magic.

After annihilating the Black Tiger Corps and killing the Marquis, the Mountain Lord turned her head. Two of her whiskers twitched.

The regressor answered with an attack that put everything she had into it.

“Heavenly Sword Technique, Storm Eagle!”

The atmosphere spread out and beat its wings as a massive storm. Wind ran wild, sucking up everything around it and hurling it skyward. Sand and dust spread wide, crying out like a bird of prey. Air scraped against earth, producing static without any divine power behind it.

At this point, it could hardly be called wind anymore. Even a mighty waterfall could not compare to this force. Ordinary humans suffered simply from being exposed to the violent current. The beastkin screamed as the wind threatened to rip out every hair on their bodies.

“Aaaaagh!”

“Run!”

“No! Get down!”

The saying that even a huge boulder could withstand a storm must have only existed because ordinary storms were weak. The earth sank beneath the Storm Eagle’s wingbeats, and rocks rolled like marbles. Fortunately, rather than rolling over people, the rocks caught on things here and there, creating slanted shelters from the wind.

“We’re saved...!”

“Teeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

“Damn it, shut up!”

If not for Kito, dozens would have died from the aftermath alone, but the regressor had no room to care. If she could not drive away the Mountain Lord, everyone might die.

“Get out of here!”

The regressor swung Skywarbler with all her strength. The Storm Eagle, dark enough to have a visible shape, shot toward the Mountain Lord, like an eagle greedily seizing everything on the ground to carry it away.

It resembled an eagle, but had no physical form. The Mountain Lord swiped at it several times, raising great ripples with her paws, but the storm did not disappear. She frowned and lowered her body. Her skirt fluttered wildly.

Yet she was not pushed back. Bracing herself against the ground and getting pelted by flying stones, the Mountain Lord kept walking slowly toward the regressor. Even with the wind obscuring her vision, her two gleaming eyes pierced through everything and stared at the regressor.

Anyone would have fled in terror, but instead, the regressor drew out even more power. Lightning flashed from Skywarbler.

“Heavenly Sword Technique, Thunder Hawk!”

Yellow light flashed from the Storm Eagle’s mouth. It was the lightning the regressor had collected from Claudia’s lightning waterfall. Its power rose within the storm.

She had no intention of hurting the Mountain Lord. How much pain could lightning inflict on her amid a storm of raging dust? Instead, the regressor focused its power on thunder. The lightning strike rode the wind, creating vibrations.

Rumble!

A noise as great as the Mountain Lord’s roar tore through the world. As if it would echo across the whole of the Enger Plain, immense power turned entirely into sound and raced through earth and sky. Rocks and sand bounced in place from the vibrations, and even the air trembled enough for heat haze to appear.

She bent space with Skywarbler and launched that sound at the Mountain Lord. A deafening roar that should have burst a beast’s eardrums and sent it fleeing tore through the world.

After it felt as though every sound in the world had cried out at once, a muffled silence flowed through my ears.

Storm, light, noise. Having unleashed every force a beast might hate, the regressor suddenly raised her head.

‘...Huh? Where’s the Mountain Lord?’

The Mountain Lord had vanished from her senses. The regressor’s senses were nearly as sharp as an animal’s. With the Fate Eye open and seeing “everything,” there should have been nothing she could not see.

‘Did she run? I hope so. Please tell me she did! But if she didn’t run...!’

Still, the regressor could not relax.

Tigers were fast and strong. Above all, they were quiet. They hid their presence, approached prey, then bit down on its neck and snapped it in a single instant.

The Mountain Lord’s ability to hide her presence was almost a divine power. The regressor spread her senses far and wide with the Fate Eye open. She had lost sight of her for a moment, but the regressor’s eyes were treasures beyond compare.

The three powers that saw temperature, depth, and through all things found something rushing through the storm and noise.

And it was terrifyingly fast.

Within the cloud of whirling dust, the regressor saw the illusion of tiger stripes growing larger and larger.

The regressor moved as soon as she sensed it. At that moment, the Mountain Lord burst through the darkness and pounced like lightning.

“Skywarbler...!”

Even though she unfolded space, spread wind, and reacted with the Heaven-Reversing Boundary, the Mountain Lord’s forepaw pierced through everything and struck the regressor.

Her small body shot through the storm and dust like a bullet. Clutching Skywarbler, the regressor was swept up in the storm and fluttered like a kite without even touching the ground.

‘Agh...!’

Still, the regressor was in better shape than Marquis Lapaeno. The Heaven-Reversing Boundary, the peerless qi art created by the Swordmistress, reacted even to the Mountain Lord’s strike. Her qi, mana, muscles, strength, everything moved to deflect the attack of an overwhelmingly powerful opponent, barely preserving her life.

No one could match the regressor in the number of life-or-death battles she had fought against opponents overwhelmingly stronger than herself. Because of the experience she had accumulated through repeated regressions, she remained conscious even in this storm.

‘Don’t fall! This won’t kill me! No, even if I die, it isn’t over! Compared to the King of Sin, her will to kill me and her strength are lacking!’

Floating in midair, she rode the wind and looked below. Fortunately, the Mountain Lord was focused only on the regressor.

‘If I hold out in the air, I can buy time! Tigers don’t have wings, so she can’t jump all the way up here. If I buy time and escape...!’

Yet even the regressor had never fought the Mountain Lord one-on-one. There was no need to stick her head into a tiger’s jaws.

The great tiger shot through the storm. Stepping on floating rocks and pebbles, grabbing tree roots and planks as footholds, she climbed higher. By the time the regressor regained her senses, the Mountain Lord had already leapt close.

She was too fast and powerful to evade. Feeling the difference in pure strength, the regressor gritted her teeth.

‘...Even this isn’t enough...?!’

A tiger was called a tiger calamity because it was no different from a disaster. Death humanity could not resist bared its ferocity before her. A forepaw came down too fast for the eye to follow. Feeling helpless and despairing, the regressor still swung Skywarbler with the same upward momentum.

Skywarbler’s sharp edge slashed the Mountain Lord’s hand. Tough fur was severed, and the Mountain Lord’s skin received the tiniest scratch.

A tiny wound.

The cost of inflicting it was horrific.

Boom!

The regressor’s body crashed down like lightning. Her skin split and her muscles and bones twisted. Blood sprayed from her mouth, nose, and ears as she fell toward the ground. She had already been near death before hitting the ground, but after she fell, it was worse.

“Aaaaaagh!”

Blood burst from her mouth like a geyser. Unable to move, she trembled in unbearable pain. The Mountain Lord’s footprint was clearly stamped across her body, and red energy flickered through her clothes.

‘It... hurts...!’

Skywarbler and the Heaven-Reversing Boundary had at least reacted to the fall itself, but the blow she had taken was too great to lessen all the impact. Her capillaries burst, staining her eyes red with blood instead of seven colors. The mana that had filled her whole body scattered in every direction.

And the Mountain Lord, who had slammed the regressor down, had struck so hard that she was rising into the air. When she landed, the regressor would leave.

For the next loop.

“No, the Mountain Lord is...”

Nothing was right anyway. If we had escaped with Azzy while the regressor bought time, would we have survived? If she fell this quickly, it would not have been strange for the Mountain Lord to pursue us and kill us.

I had not read her thoughts, nor had I seen the future. I simply thought of a slim possibility in that hopeless situation.

Wolf. Promise. The Mountain Lord had made a promise with a wolf. It had to be a king’s promise.

Then.

“Azzy!”

I did not even need to call her. Azzy had already finished treating the injured and was running toward the Mountain Lord.

Except...

“Woof?!”

Her whole body went hazy, making her lose her balance and stumble for a moment. She regained her senses and tried to run again, but even her gait looked awkward.

It was a slim possibility. Azzy was a dog, not a wolf, and she had even handed over her crown. Expecting the Mountain Lord to judge her as qualified to intervene in that promise was far too optimistic.

Still, I had to try.

I ran while staring at the falling Mountain Lord. Even tigers seemed subject to gravity, as she fell through the air with her skirt flipped up.

Even then, her eyes remained fixed on the regressor. Perhaps she sensed a threat. She was full of killing intent.

I looked at the Mountain Lord and shouted.

“Tiger!”

What did I even have right now? Cards? They would never work. The Demon God? I was not the Demon God itself, and using it as a tool would only tickle her.

Damn it, I had nothing. All I had left was the hollow symbol of being the King of Humanity...

I did not know if this would work, but.

“I’m human! The promise has been kept! The wolf is gone now! That’s dog and wolf united!”

I shouted desperately, but she did not even look at me. Her hearing was sharp, so there was no way my voice had been too quiet for her to hear. She was simply ignoring me because my presence was too weak, because I did not represent anyone.

Then how about this?

I drove Jizan into the ground and scooped it up like a shovel. Dirt and chunks of rock flew up.

I might be nothing, but Jizan was not. The Mountain Lord finally looked my way. Having caught her attention, I shouted.

“Tiger, stop! The one you promised is gone, so there’s no reason for you to leave your mountain any...”

As I shouted, the Mountain Lord suddenly crouched. Then she forcefully stretched out her limbs, accelerating toward the ground in an instant.

What was that? What did she step on to jump?

It looked like she was swimming through the dust.

I caught her attention, so this should be fine, right? I was a king in name too. She would not just kill me, would she?

The moment I thought that, the Mountain Lord vanished as her feet touched the ground. Before I could react, she was staring at me from close range. Her terrifying ferocity was aimed at me.

I could not move my hands or feet. Cold sweat soaked my body. Faced with instinctive fear, I desperately greeted her.

“Tiger, nice to...”

I could not finish.

The Mountain Lord’s strike caved in my chest.

My chest and back met. Blood burst from my crushed insides. One irritated punch twisted my flesh and bones. I saw something bright red flow from torn skin, like filling bursting through dumpling skin when it was pressed too hard. The shockwave burst over my clothes, and my body flew away as if I had been hit by a horse.

Fuck.

To think I would be mauled by a tiger.

This was why I should never have gotten involved with the regressor.

I did not even have time to feel pain. Like an ordinary person facing an enraged tiger, I was crushed beneath that massive forepaw.

Then my consciousness cut off...

It felt as though I had fallen backward into warm, soft water. A floating sensation surrounded my body, and I could not tell whether I was rising or sinking.

It was cozy. Like not wanting to leave bed in the morning, I wanted to keep sinking like this.

Then I suddenly remembered the Mountain Lord and kicked my feet, forcing myself awake.

What was this?

When I came to, everything around me was dark. No matter how I flailed my limbs, I touched nothing. My feet kicked only empty space without finding any ground.

The afterlife?

That could not be right.

Was there truly some unreal place where dead beasts left their bodies behind, had their consciousness sent away, received judgment according to religious standards of good and evil, then faced eternal punishment or reward? Regression was more realistic than that. At least regression was simple.

But I was only a beast. If such an unreal place existed and had dragged me here, I needed to act like the most devout believer alive, even now. No, it was not even an act. If it was real, I needed to repent, believe, and follow its teachings.

[Disgusting thought.]

What? Who was that? Someone was reading a mind reader’s thoughts!

If you are a god, I am sorry. This foolish beast could not believe in anything except what I could see, so I was too ignorant to accept your teachings. I have been torn to death by the Mountain Lord as punishment, so please forgive me in your generous mercy.

[You’re not dead yet. Don’t close your eyes.]

...I was not dead? That could not be right. I did not have the Heaven-Reversing Boundary, divine power, or vampirism. How could I survive that strike?

[You can. I’m inside you.]

What are you?

[I am you. You are me. I came inside you.]

What are you talking about? There could not be two of me. Show yourself.

[-All right.]

Then a beautiful girl appeared before me, with silver hair, red eyes, and skin so pale it was almost pure white. I had not expected to see that form here, so I was rather startled.

What was this? You said, “I am you,” so I thought it was something related to the King of Humanity, like dogs and wolves... Why did you look like Tyr?

Tyr spoke to me in a voice that did not sound like Tyr at all.

[You mustn’t die. You can’t die. You have to live. We have to meet again.]

I appreciate the sentiment, but words alone cannot keep me alive. Living requires all sorts of things.

[Open your eyes. Breathe. Make your heart move.]

Do you think that’s easy?

[You have to.]

No, I’m telling you I don’t have the strength.

[You do.]

What do I have?

[Strength.]

Something touched my hand, which should have been empty. The Six of Spades, the Demon God’s card. Tyr’s Demon God was likely contained inside, but it had only made my body a little sturdier. Even if I understood my own body, without qi arts I had no way to use it...

[You won’t die. You’ll remain unchanged, just as you are. Just as you gave me your heart, I gave you a god.]

The Demon God was not perfect. The Demon God was a universal concept and an excellent tool, but it could not help every human perfectly. Like vampires that stripped away free will or the Lord of Gold that destroyed bodies, it ignored the small differences between individual humans and guided them along its own flow.

...No.

It was not the Demon God that was imperfect. It was humanity. The Demon God’s universal principle was too vast and wondrous to concern itself with every individual human. Harm arose when individuals were crushed and suppressed in the process of using the Demon God.

That was why it was called the Demon God.

[Live.]

Yet Tyr’s Demon God pulsed within me.

Vampirism? No. If I were a vampire, even the Heart potion would have done nothing. This was not stopping me from changing. It was only keeping me alive.

Keeping me from dying.

Normally, if I revived like this, the homunculus dilemma should have transformed me. Like the Lord of Gold’s homunculus or Tyr’s vampires, my essence would change, so I had desperately rejected that change.

[We have to meet again, just as you are.]

Innate arcane, Hyu.

Tyr’s shadow spoke with Tyr’s exact face within the darkness.

Just as I gave Tyr my heart, Tyr gave me her Demon God. Just as I remembered Tyr’s heartbeat exactly and gave it to her, Tyr had engraved my body exactly and breathed it into me.

I could give Tyr my heart without transforming her because I was the King of Humanity. Conversely, Tyr’s Demon God could revive me without transforming me because I was the King of Humanity. I read the Demon God and make it my tool.

I gained regenerative power because Tyr became a Demon God. Or perhaps Tyr became a Demon God to give me regenerative power.

I did not know for sure, but at least I would not die from getting beaten to death. Since it did not prevent change itself, I might be in trouble if my body was torn apart and eaten, but.

For now, that was enough.

With the sensation of my body rising, I opened my eyes and came back to life.

Footnotes:

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