WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 566: The Ash-Covered Sin and the Skin-Stitched God - Finale

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Just before Nevida could erase Maiél's apparition, the regressor sprang out from behind her while she was completely off guard.

‘An opening...!’

Shnk.

Skywarbler plunged into Nevida's back. It tore through her silk clothes and carved a wound nearly a handspan long into Nevida's ancient-tree-like back. It was a successful surprise attack, made possible because Nevida had completely let her guard down. The regressor tried to twist the sword and take Nevida's head in one stroke.

But too many trees had already grown.

Nevida had become this forest, and as long as one remained within it, one was practically in Nevida's grasp.

Branches extending from the small World Tree swallowed the regressor. Woody vines wrapped around her arms, legs, and wrists. Growing branches crossed and tangled around one another, hindering her.

The regressor had mastered qigong arts. She could have thrown aside mere vines with brute force, but she could not avoid losing momentum for an instant. Against an opponent as strong as Nevida, even that opening was far too great.

Nevida's palm strike slammed into the regressor's empty abdomen. I did not even see when she had thrown it, and with her limbs bound by the thicket, the regressor could not react with the Heaven-Reversing Boundary. She could only wrap qi around her entire body and curl up.

“Argh!”

Her waist folded in half from the single blow, and the shock traveled through her back. The regressor was driven halfway into the ground and vomited blood.

[Shei... You should have escaped, even if you had to go alone. You could have escaped if you were alone.]

“If you wanted to help her that badly, you should have come yourself. At least she is better than you. She has the courage to stab me in the back herself.”

Nevida sneered at Maiél and invaded her presence. Maiél's figure dimmed like a firefly greeting the morning. Nevida's forest finally blocked out the light and summoned darkness.

“Disappear, ghost of that harlot. When you come next, come in person. Come with the resolve to stake your life on it.”

This was only Maiél's angel. It meant Maiél was watching this space's future.

The opponent Nevida faced was no more than a dream Maiél was having in some hidden place within that distant Sanctum.

Petals bloomed in full as Maiél's form vanished like a midsummer night's dream. Nevida did not revel in victory. She knew the victory she had just claimed was nothing more than a fleeting dream.

Instead, Nevida moved at once. She kicked the regressor behind the knees, then covered the earth spike angled toward her with the small World Tree. With all four limbs sealed, the regressor drew out her last strength and threw Skywarbler. An unseen blade shot out and scratched Nevida's skin.

Even her final trump card had been meant to kill her opponent. Seeing the regressor, Nevida smiled faintly for the first time.

“Not bad.”

Bark had already grown over Nevida's skin. Barkskin. It was a primitive shamanic technique devised by humans who had once envied even tree bark when they had no armor, but in the hands of Nevida, the incarnation of a tree, it was harder than any armor.

The regressor's final move did not reach her in the end.

“But it is over. What a pity. If you had not been the harlot's servant, I might have spared you.”

“...Shut up! This isn't over yet!”

“No. It is over. The harlot who could help you is not here, and I have no reason to spare you. Your time ends here.”

Nevida aimed at the regressor's empty abdomen and raised her hand. Her arm, which had resembled an old tree, filled with spiritual energy and changed into that of a beast with sharp claws.

Without the slightest hesitation, Nevida thrust forward that enormous arm, one that could easily tear a human body apart.

Even in that desperate moment, with death right before her eyes, the regressor widened her eyes.

‘It still hasn't reached me...! But there's hope! I've already gained enough from this iteration!’

The Heaven-Reversing Boundary, sensing the threat, urgently tried to move her body. Yet her limbs, restrained by the vines, would not move as she wished. The qigong arts that had learned from countless deaths, along with the body that had not yet experienced death in this iteration, sounded their warning.

Countless scenes flashed through the regressor's mind. She burned this moment of death deeply into her memory.

‘See you next time! Now that I know Hughes is the King of Humanity, I won't waste time taking the long way around!’

So that she could be even a little more helpful in the next iteration.

Wait a second.

Then the regressor could not die.

“Wait!”

I threw everything I had into stopping Nevida. It was impossible to stop her with my insignificant strength, but it was possible with Nevida's power!

“Root Tree!”

Through the Demon God, I connected to Nevida's Demon God and moved the source that ruled this green barrier. I could not seize the entire space as Nevida did, but I could move things a little around Nevida and the regressor!

The woody vines binding the regressor abruptly changed direction and blocked Nevida's forepaw. Her beastly paw plunged into the thick grass. It was a blow that pierced through space itself. Mere vines could not possibly withstand something so heavy and fierce.

Still, a Demon God was a Demon God. It was enough to create an opening for a single moment. Even in that brief instant when her hands and feet were freed, the regressor's Heaven-Reversing Boundary moved to protect her body.

“Ghk...!”

Unable to even scream properly, the regressor was crushed as she spat blood. The two arms that blocked the attack broke limply, and the shock was strong enough to nearly blow away her consciousness, but she was still alive after taking that killing blow.

Before Nevida could finish her off, I hurried over.

“Just a moment, Miss Nevida! Stop! You can't kill her!”

“My lord. Shall I dispose of her without leaving even a corpse?”

“No, seriously, you can't!”

The world would turn back! She would regress! The regressor would wake up in the past without a problem, and the past me would meet the disaster called the regressor without knowing anything! The situation would slip out of my hands!

Nevida did not care much about my will, but my sudden desperation made her stop her attack. She quietly asked me a question.

“My lord would not say such a thing without cause. Why must this servant of the harlot not be killed?”

Because she regresses...!

I could not say that. It was the regressor's secret, one nobody else knew, and the fact that I knew it was a crucial weapon. Revealing it carelessly would mean giving up one of my advantages.

Besides, Nevida had just used a bizarre technique that turned people into trees by making them repeat endless deaths. If she learned about the regression and used that attack...

I could not even imagine what might happen.

Then what should I say? That she was connected to the Holy Maiden but was actually a good person, so Nevida should spare her? Nevida would not care about that. That she might betray the Holy Maiden and join our side? Nevida was not foolish enough to play games of strategy against a Holy Maiden who saw the future.

Ugh. It could not be helped. When I could not give a reason, I had to appeal to emotion. I shouted with half my heart in it.

“I've grown attached to her!”

Apparently, Nevida had not expected an answer that appealed to attachment. She tilted her head briefly. She did not consider it for long.

“The harlot's servant harbors dark intentions and follows the harlot's will more closely than her own. Keeping her alive will only endanger my lord. Please cast aside such lingering affection.”

“No, no. How am I supposed to cast aside attachment? It sounds easy, but it isn't something I can do whenever I want.”

“Then I shall sever it myself.”

“No, no, no. I said hold back! Who are you to say you will personally sever Miss Shei or anything like that?”

This would not work. I had not wanted to say this much, but I snapped at Nevida.

“Miss Shei saved me when I was trapped in the Abyss and on the verge of death! I almost died because of that Lords of All Creation thing you made, but Miss Shei stopped them and saved me! She helped me escape that place too, and she's saved my life over and over while we traveled here!”

Actually, she had nearly cut off my right arm the moment we met. There had also been moments when I almost died because of the regressor, and the Holy Maiden kept interfering, putting me in danger by exposing my trail.

Ah, now that I thought about it, this felt awfully unfair. I wondered why I was defending the regressor after everything I had suffered. I was feeling a little pathetic when Nevida spoke.

“My lord. Forgive my impertinence, but do you truly not understand the harlot's scheme?”

“Her scheme?”

“The harlot twists cause and effect to move people. She saves a life in a desperate crisis and demands repayment for it, while concealing that she created the crisis in the first place. Even the attachment and gratitude my lord feels lose their meaning and become tainted when they are connected to the harlot.”

Nevida did not speak with certainty, nor did she speak with suspicion. She sounded as though she were explaining a natural phenomenon, like rain or clouds.

That was what she meant. I knew it too. Just as Hilde could not abandon the Sanctum that had saved her, and the Thunder Lord ultimately chose faith after agonizing over it. The Sanctum sowed seeds of faith even in a crisis.

“The crisis my lord faced was also a pit dug by that spider-like harlot. Do not trouble yourself over it. Simply watch what I do.”

“Come to think of it, there were times I got into trouble because of Miss Shei. Hmm. You're right, Miss Nevida.”

I knew. I knew that. But I was not trying to save the regressor just because I was attached to her.

She would regress if she died!

“Still, I have some affection for her, even if it is the kind that comes from a love-hate relationship. It's sad to see someone you know die right before your eyes.”

“I shall handle her where my lord cannot see.”

She intended to ignore my words completely! Damn it, what was I supposed to do? Should I let her die like this? But what if the regression happened?

No. The regressor could not die! At least not until I recovered my strength!

“It is a royal command!”

At my sudden shout, Nevida stopped sooner than I expected. She withdrew the hand that had been about to tear the regressor apart and stared silently at me like a startled deer.

“If you're a Warrior of the King, you can grant me one request, right? Keep Miss Shei alive.”

“...A royal command. Does my lord remember that?”

In the distant past, during the savage era when humans were still beasts, the King of Humanity only reigned and did not rule. The King of Humanity, no more than a Beast King, did not give orders to anyone or make them wait upon her. Her followers simply served her as they wished and regarded her as their king.

Even followers needed a token of loyalty. If the king demanded nothing, their loyalty would be nothing more than unrequited devotion.

That was why the Warriors of the King asked the King of Humanity for a promise.

Give us a chance, even once, to prove our loyalty.

It did not matter how important or trivial it was. The fact that the King of Humanity had made a “request” was all that remained, and that made them Warriors of the King. They had received something in return for their devotion.

And Nevida had yet to fulfill a royal command. Receiving her lord's command once more was Nevida's sorrow, the force that had kept her enduring through eternal ages.

Of course, she probably did not want to hear it from a half-baked king like me.

“My lord has not yet taken the throne, so this is no more than a desperate measure to escape the present situation. I cannot obey that royal command.”

Nevida did not entrust her wish to me. She already had the power to fulfill it herself. She approached the regressor, who lay fallen amid the thicket.

“Still, I shall heed my lord's intent, though not a royal command. I shall preserve this one's life.”

“Wow. Thank you. I'll repay you generously later.”

Wait, what? Preserve her life? That sounded a little frightening.

Nevida stomped on the regressor's chest. The gap in power was vast. All the regressor had left was one chance to begin the next iteration. That was a huge thing, of course.

Even as she gasped in pain, the regressor did not lose her defiant attitude. She looked up at Nevida with unbroken eyes.

“...You should just kill me. You'll regret it otherwise.”

“Thank my lord. It is my lord's will.”

“Hmph. You think I'll thank you...?”

Instead of answering, Nevida grabbed the regressor's shoulder. Calling it a simple touch would have been too mild for the force she carried. The hand gripping her shoulder changed into that of a beast.

I had a bad feeling. I was no prophet, but I could see what was about to happen right before my eyes. I desperately hoped it would not be that, but the bad feeling did not miss.

Without a word, Nevida twisted the regressor's right arm and tore it off in one motion.

As though snapping a branch from a tree.

The forest shook violently. Hot blood scattered over the cold wind flowing between the trees. The regressor let out a horrific scream.

Holding the regressor's right arm as though it were a toy, Nevida indifferently placed her hand on the other shoulder. Though she trembled, the regressor urgently shook her head. Even someone who did not fear death could not help feeling terror at Nevida's utterly savage brutality.

Her opponent, however, was the human closest to a beast. She was a disaster of civilization that still carried the savage age within her. Tearing off a human arm stirred neither emotion nor hesitation in her. Nevida applied more force and murmured.

“Then blame my lord.”

Footnotes:

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