WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 564: The Ash-Covered Sin and the Skin-Stitched God - 4

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For a country that had already fallen, the Kingdom of Ten Thousand was held in remarkably high regard by its people. It may have been because it was a good country, but also because this land had always been so difficult to survive in.

A distant land isolated beyond the Enger Plain. In the endless jungle stretching across the southeastern continent stood the World Tree. The king of trees, the pillar supporting the world, Mother Earth's first creation. A blessed ginkgo tree, it stood tall as the equal of the Metasequoia in the continent's northwest.

In that isolated jungle, an ancient land difficult for anyone to help or even reach, the Queen founded a nation. Gathering every tribe in the land and spreading their influence, the Queen built a brilliant civilization unlike any other.

Yet no flower remains red for ten days. That beautiful, dazzling civilization faded as quickly as it had appeared, along with the World Tree that had stood in its place for ages beyond measure.

Why had the World Tree burned and fallen? How had the Kingdom of Ten Thousand perished? Why had the Queen never returned? In this land cut off by trees as tall as fortress walls, no clear truth had been passed down.

Still, one fact remained certain. Where the World Tree had burned and fallen, a new tree had grown by devouring its ashes.

The cursed World Tree called the Tree of Corruption.

And the being who ruled that Tree of Corruption was...

"Evil Omen?"

Rashy, who had only now recognized Nevida, the antlered ancient druid of legend, froze in shock. Before he could do anything in his confusion, Callis wrapped both arms around him from behind.

"Rashy! Stop!"

"What?"

"You have to stay still. Don't draw her attention! Stand like part of the background. Don't let her notice you!"

Callis clung to him desperately. Seeing the fear in her trembling hands, Rashy shut his mouth and followed her wishes.

Nevida was a monstrous figure who had turned the Offering God into a tree in an instant. Even Rashy, an immortal, could not be certain of surviving her. For now, he held his breath as Callis wanted.

At a time when it would be difficult for anyone to help, something far more dangerous than the Offering God had appeared. What was she thinking?

I tried reading Nevida's mind, but all I felt was a calm emotion closer to that of an inanimate object than a person. I could read the thoughts passing through her mind at the moment, but reading Nevida herself remained difficult.

It wasn't so much resistance to mind-reading as the fact that, like Tyr's shadow, Nevida had become something beyond human.

If I wanted to know what she was thinking, I'd have to ask. Would she answer, though?

"Um, Nevida? There's something I wanted to ask."

"Please ask, my lord."

"What preparations are you talking about? I haven't heard anything."

"Preparations to restore my lord's power."

Thankfully, Nevida's loyalty to me was real to some degree. She bowed deeply and answered me faithfully.

"My lord is the true King of Humanity, the Speaker and agent of all mankind. You ought to reign over this world in person."

Nevida's gaze flickered to one side. For an instant, I saw a being made of light far off in her field of vision. Before I could recognize its shape, Nevida looked away and continued.

"Because of the harlot's curse, my lord lost your power and vanished. While the throne stood empty, false kings dared call themselves kings and claim this world as their own. Grieving this wretched state of affairs, this servant has been preparing to restore my lord's power."

Restore my power? To me? Well, that sounded pretty good. I was about to ask if she was serious, but paused to think.

"Uh, so I get my power back, then drive out all the kings with it?"

"If my lord regains your power, everything will proceed according to your will. What problem could there be? That is what humanity ought to be. Please do as you wish."

Honestly, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted. Still, the only stories that benefit only me are the ones I tell. If someone else says they'll look after my interests, it's a scam.

What should I do? While I was thinking, Nevida slowly rose and spoke to me.

"My lord. This servant shall guide you there. Follow me and reign as king of this world once more."

"It does sound nice, but I don't know if it'll really be all right. Let me think about it a little more."

"This servant shall serve you with all sincerity."

Ah, right! Nevida had no intention of considering my wishes! She intended to take me there and make me regain my power!

Well, if I couldn't avoid it anyway, maybe accepting this power wouldn't be so bad...

[I came here because I am wherever faith exists.]

"Argh! My eyes!"

A flash of light burst before me. It was so sudden that I didn't even have time to close my eyes. When my vision returned, the figure of a girl floated there as though she had always been present.

Maiél, the Holy Maiden of Heaven who had led us here. She had ignored the regressor's questions for so long, but at last revealed herself. As though she had been waiting, Nevida looked toward the mass of light.

"Once I have cleared away every child of that harlot."

Maiél, the Holy Maiden of Heaven, looked at nothing. As though neither Nevida nor I mattered to her, she stared into empty space and murmured blankly.

[Shei. I still hope you choose differently. It is not too late, even now. But if you will not.]

Maiél gently extended a hand. From within her draping robes, an arm so slender it looked unable to lift a spoon pointed toward Nevida.

There was no threat to be felt from that slow, frail gesture. It would have seemed harmless even if she were real, but she was only a faint afterimage of light, so ephemeral that she seemed likely to disappear at any moment.

[Until you awaken, I will dream the same dream for you.]

The moment Maiél finished speaking, space distorted.

Nevida and the ten-meter radius around her. All things twisted and flowed into that space. Wind, water, earth, broken bushes and branches. Noisy sounds and frantic insects. Even light. All of it compressed to crush Nevida's existence.

I couldn't even intuitively understand what kind of power it was. It felt as though the world itself was trying to reject Nevida. It was a bizarre attack that offered no conceivable way to resist.

A torrent of force that would have killed me more than ten times over. Within it... Nevida slowly moved, resisting all creation.

She pushed aside the wind crushing her body, endured the roaring sound that shook her, and bore the pressure with both feet planted on the earth. Even all creation could not bend someone who had endured such distant ages. Standing firm like a great tree, Nevida stared at Maiél.

"How insolent, harlot. Did you think you could set foot on this land without even bringing your own body?"

The aftershock alone could have killed several people, yet Nevida did not budge under all that pressure. No, her body was adapting to the changing environment. Her flesh, which had been trembling, soon regained its stability.

Instead of answering, Maiél looked to the sky and recited,

[O light. O sun. Father of the heavens who watches over all creation. Watch over this place.]

Then the sky split open.

There was no way to describe it. The forest, so thick that the sky could not be seen, burst into flame in an instant. Through leaves turning to ash in midair, a mass of white-hot light plunged down like a spear.

For a moment, the world turned white. Every color that had filled this vibrant forest vanished. Colors burned away, and the world divided into nothing but black and white.

[There is no place untouched by light. Therefore, I too am here with the light.]

Light. It was as if every blazing ray the sun cast down from a summer midday sky had been gathered and poured out at once. That light was power itself. Blades of grass burned in midair, and the earth dried out in an instant. Space itself boiled under a torrent of pure power, different from heat.

Beneath that overwhelming radiance, the world lost its colors and divided into only light and shadow. Blinded in an instant, I couldn't endure it and turned my back on the light.

"Argh! What is this?!"

I knew the Celestial God was a god of the heavens, but what kind of power was this?

The air burned and storms raged simply because that light existed there. I had been blinded a moment ago. I recovered my sight through regeneration, but this was only the aftershock! Nevida's body was even being broken down by light right now!

I hadn't noticed it, but my body had already been driven far away. Those two weren't paying attention to me at all, yet their mere presence had pushed me back.

This was the power of the Holy Maiden of Heaven? Light scattered after striking the ground was enough to blind me. I couldn't even tell what state Nevida was in. The space of light blocked my sight. Turning my body and facing away from the light was all I could do.

"Hughes!"

Then the regressor ran in through the light. She was panting as though entering itself had been difficult, and hurriedly grabbed me and pulled me along.

"Hughes. Run! While Maiél's attention is elsewhere, we need to escape Nevida! Unless you want to become the King of Sin!"

"What? Run? It looks like she's winning."

"Maybe on the Enger Plain, but not in this domain! Depriving Nevida of the future isn't enough to bring her down! Hurry! There's no time..."

At that moment, the regressor's expression hardened as she swung Skywarbler. Vines that had been slowly creeping toward us fell away in a shower.

"Is it the Root Beast? It has enough strength left to watch this place?"

"No? Those are just vines."

"...Tch!"

The regressor concentrated energy in her eyes and brought out the third color of the Seven-Colored Eyes, the Blue Eye. Seeing through the mass of light with blue pupils that saw into the depths, she flinched at the life stirring beyond the forest.

Trees were growing.

Fast enough to see with the naked eye.

That wasn't a druid's power. A druid's power rapidly consumed the vitality of trees to sprout branches and leaves. It looked impressive, but it used up the life force of the trees and earth, so it had limits. No matter how exceptional a druid was, they couldn't create a tree from a single leaf.

Yet what was happening before me was pure growth. The light seemed capable of burning the entire world, but the leaves absorbed it and continued to grow. They drank in air and water, gathered and absorbed light, and formed their bodies.

"I'll break through!"

The regressor drew Skywarbler and Jizan at once. Using Jizan as a scabbard, she forced Skywarbler into it and drew it in one motion. Compressed space gathered energy and traced a single line.

"Heaven-and-Earth Sword and Staff! Horizon Splitter!"

A crack spread through the pure white light. The slash that cut even light split space apart. With a quick-draw strike that severed even the flowing wind for an instant, the forest was split into upper and lower halves. Hundreds of trees fell at once, their few growth rings exposed, and a path opened through the vegetation collapsing to either side.

"Quickly! Before the Green Barrier is complete...!"

The regressor, about to run at once, stopped and twisted her body. Sharp thorns burst up from the space she had been headed toward a second earlier. The rapidly growing branches were as sharp as spearheads, looking capable of easily tearing through human skin.

Despair crossed the regressor's face.

"Am I... already too late?"

Grass and trees were growing back through the space the regressor had cut apart, as though to trap anything that tried to escape.

Footnotes:

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