WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 70: Puppet Progenitor and the Unpleasant Puppet Show (7)

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The regressor hesitated for a moment.

"...Durability?"

"Yep. Just as an Immortal's flesh is poison to a vampire's blood, vampire blood is a curse to an Immortal. Look. The flesh has hardened black."

"Hey! That's not okay!"

"It's fine. In cases like this, you just scrape off the hardened flesh with a small skewer. The dirty outer layer comes off, and fresh flesh is exposed underneath. The only problem is that it keeps getting shorter."

"I wasn't asking whether you're okay! The Immortal! The Immortal won't be okay!"

‘So this was how the Immortal got cursed! You did it?!’

Yeah. That was how things had turned out.

I scratched my head and answered.

"You have a lot of complaints. So what, should I not use it?"

"...I mean we need to finish this quickly before that arm wears away completely!"

"Okay. Got it. Here I go, so make sure you clear a path."

"Get moving already! Palm-Leaf Fan, Dragon Spiral!"

This time, she swung vertically.

The wind drawn forth by Skywarbler overturned the world in an instant. The Black Knights rose into the air in the storm. Cut off from the pools of blood and the shadows, they were struck by the regressor's magic.

"Heavenly Sword Technique, Thunderbird!"

Crackle.

Bright yellow lightning etched itself across the air like wrinkles. Thin strands like a spiderweb touched the Black Knights' bodies. In an instant, they converged into a single line, then became a gigantic waterfall.

Lightning burned away the blood. A vampire's true body might have endured the shock, but familiars created from blood could not.

The Black Knights burned in the air, with no shadows to return to, then turned to ash and scattered away.

"All right, I'm heading out! Make sure you clean up around here properly!"

"You still haven't gone?!"

The regressor leaped into the air and swung her sword. Gusting winds swept everything away ahead of me. Her support fire from above was accurate and precise enough that every enemy except those directly in front of me had to either get blown away or hunch down and endure it.

I ran through the opening.

The regressor's support spell, Fair Wind, blessed me. Wind pushed at my back, and merely touching my toes to the ground sent my body surging forward. Thanks to the wind wrapped around me, I could move freely even inside the storm she had made.

That buff was incredible. It was only wind, yet it gave me the liberating feeling of becoming superhuman.

At this rate, I might even break my personal record in the short-distance sprint.

"Run faster! Why are you taking your time?!"

She urged me on from behind.

The speed I could barely control must have looked slow enough to make someone yawn. What was I supposed to do? This was my top speed.

"Woof woof!"

[Neighhh!]

Azzy flew into my field of view and slammed Rallion forcefully into the ground. Blood spattered from the crushed flesh.

Having gained the upper hand, Azzy ignored the soft flesh that burst open with every hit. Instead, she clamped her teeth onto a hard blood-iron horseshoe and tugged with all her might. Rallion twisted its body in resistance, but it had no effect on Azzy's teeth.

Crack.

The horseshoe came off. Azzy shook her head a few more times, noticed the fallen horseshoe, then sharply turned her head and threw it away. A heavy thud echoed across the concrete floor.

Then Azzy and I made eye contact.

She tilted her head.

"Woof?"

"Good. You're doing great."

Just moments ago, Azzy had been swept up in her wild nature as she beat down the blood steed. Seeing her stare at me with bright red blood around her mouth felt a little creepy, but the innocent smile she gave me the moment she saw me put me at ease.

Azzy lifted her chin slightly and barked.

"Woof!"

"Good girl! Azzy, get that red horse far away from here! Don't let it get anywhere near me if you can help it!"

It was too physically powerful, and because it was a horse, I could not read its thoughts. It was practically my natural enemy.

If Azzy could take care of Rallion, nothing would be able to stop me.

"Woof woof!"

Azzy barked as if she understood.

At that exact moment, Rallion's remaining hoof came flying at her from behind.

Azzy's body flew away like a ball after taking the hit head-on. The blood steed barely managed to rise, snorted, then chased after Azzy without even looking at me. The sound of hooves smashing concrete quickly faded into the distance.

Left alone, I muttered blankly.

"That wasn't what I meant by get rid of it."

Still, it was fortunate that Rallion did not seem likely to target me right away. I moved forward again.

On one side, a horse the size of a house fought a dog in human form. The regressor's wind kept blowing away the Black Knights that appeared without end. It was a transcendent battle about a million years removed from anything ordinary.

In the middle of that battle, I squeezed through the gaps and ran.

As I watched Black Knights crumble into dust before my eyes, one thought came to mind.

Hmm. No matter how I looked at it, this was no place for someone like me.

Black Knights that did not die and resurrected endlessly, a blood steed, the King of Dogs, the regressor, and even the Progenitor vampire. I was far too ordinary to be on a battlefield like this.

Then Finlay pointed at me and roared.

"Yoooou bastard!!"

At that, the vampire with unfocused eyes raised a hand. Black Knights rose from every direction and threw themselves into my path.

Watching them, I muttered,

"Come to think of it, that bastard's here too. There's no reason I shouldn't be."

I was probably better than Finlay, at least. Mm-hmm.

Nodding to myself, I took out a skewer and scraped at the cut end of the Immortal's Right Arm. Its pointed tip dug into the gap between the hardened flesh.

Crack.

The flesh split apart. I scraped and flicked the torn flesh with the skewer.

"Immortal Explosion!"

The blackened flesh shattered into fragments and swept through the Black Knights. Flesh that had hardened just enough made good ammunition. The Black Knights struck by the fragments floundered under the lingering curse.

The arm had become considerably shorter after I ran all the way here. Thinking I should conserve it a little, I sprinted forward.

"Tch. It was my fault for teaching an old woman about the latest pastime. My fault, yes. There are plenty of old people ruined by a late-life fling."

I was ordinary.

Innate magic? Nothing like that. Like any ordinary person, I could only use universal magic. I did not have anything grand like qi arts, either. All I had was enough dexterity to shuffle cards perfectly.

In other words, everything I could do was something anyone could do.

Was this the price of fiddling with a heart because I wanted to make connections and win some favor? Tsk tsk. This was why people should live within their means. I had forgotten my place just because I was in the Abyss.

"It means someone like me can be easily replaced. What I've done, what I say. Even the kindness I offer is common as can be."

A sigh escaped me at how pathetic I suddenly felt.

As I kept running, Finlay and the vampire were soon within reach. Gripping the Immortal's Right Arm tightly, I walked toward them.

"Still, I should try to live first. Even an ordinary person would do their best to survive."

The closer I got, the more clearly I could read their thoughts. Finlay's hostility toward me, the vampire's hazy sense of self, even the connection of blood between them.

Aiming between them, I calmly muttered,

"So I'll do my best to kill you."

"You think I'll die so easily?!"

Finlay clenched his hand again. Veins bulged all over his body. His neck, forehead, arms, chest. Blood he had failed to control writhed grotesquely beneath his skin.

He was too busy controlling the Progenitor to properly control his own blood.

The vampire, in contrast, appeared perfectly calm aside from a few raised veins. She simply looked down upon everything with an expressionless face and unfocused eyes.

Finlay shouted at me as I approached.

"You bastard! Do you know where you are?! I'll crush you!"

"Stay right there, garlic pickle. I'll seal you in a barrel with concrete and dump you in the sea."

It would be quite a sight if I buried him in garlic concrete and rolled him into the ocean. He would be happy until the day he died.

The Immortal's Right Arm was reaching its limit too. It was a race against time now.

I ran forward, broadly swinging the right arm, which had darkened all over.

The Black Knights kept reforming from the ground, the air, and pools of blood. But they were helpless. Weapons hastily made with power could not stop the Immortal's Right Arm. Blood energy might have made a difference, but that red energy lost its luster under the sun.

Blood energy was vitality extracted from the body. Shadows without it were no different from dolls. Power could not circulate through them, so they could not endure the Immortal's curse.

Crunch.

An echo that must once have been a promising knight collapsed in an instant. If it had worn real armor and wielded a real weapon, it might have given me a good fight. Unfortunately, it was armed with weapons hastily created through power.

That echo met its end when its shield was shattered by someone's right arm and its chest was pierced.

"Is that all you've got, Finlay?"

Only around ten steps remained between me and the vampire. With Fair Wind carrying me, I could reach her in three leaps.

Finlay grew desperate.

‘As long as the sun is up, I can't use blood energy to strengthen the Black Knights! The Black Knights without blood energy cannot stop him. But!’

"Progenitor! Lend me your strength!"

Finlay drew upon bloodcraft. Unlike before, when he had only borrowed the use of her familiars, he was now using the blood energy he had received himself.

In an instant, a hundred times the blood energy Finlay normally wielded gathered in his body. Ignoring the veins bursting across his entire body, he shouted,

"This is the Progenitor's power! Take this, lowborn!"

Dozens of red spears appeared in the air. They aimed at my shoulders, stomach, and legs. Most of the others were there to keep me in check.

Getting hit would be fatal, but their trajectories were incredibly simple.

Of course.

‘Those are a feint! The real attack is the whip secretly sent behind his back!!’

It was obvious. I could predict it before even reading his thoughts.

If he had focused all his attention on each individual spear, I would not have been able to dodge them. Instead, he had tried to be clever.

A scarlet whip came at me from my blind spot. At the same time, the red spears shot toward my body.

Handling it was easy. I swept aside the red spears with the Immortal's Right Arm and twisted my body to avoid the whip. All I needed to focus on was the whip behind me.

The whip cut through empty air.

‘He dodged that without even seeing it? Then!’

Finlay, his hand full of red energy, thrust his arm downward. The shadow spread wide.

‘I will put a hole through the sole of your foot!’

Oh, that was original.

I altered the rhythm of my step. A blade of shadow shot up from the spot where my foot would have landed if I had continued forward.

Having avoided the hidden blade, I disrupted my stride and timing as though drunk. Each time, the blades Finlay created cut through nothing but empty air.

‘How can this be?! Then I'll turn the entire ground into blades!’

Thousands, tens of thousands of blades rose beneath Finlay's hand. He was trying to turn the entire ground into blades.

Not a chance.

I bent my upper body slightly and dragged the Immortal's Right Arm along the ground.

Tap, tap.

Each time its cross-section scraped the ground, long strips of hardened flesh stretched out and consumed the shadows. Before the blades could reach me, the very domain of shadow crumbled apart.

The distance was now negligible. Backed into a corner, Finlay hurriedly created a wall of blood. He no longer had a plan. He only wanted to stop me.

"Why?! Why can't I hit you?!"

A red wave crashed over me, but that only obscured his own view.

I cut through the wave with the Immortal's Right Arm. If that had been water, and if I had held a sword in my hand, I would have been swept away and pushed back.

But what the vampire wielded was blood, and what I held was an earthfolk's arm.

The blood that touched the earthfolk's arm hardened black in an instant. I emerged through the discolored wave, shoving it aside with my shoulder. Droplets trying to cling to my body were swept away by Fair Wind.

Finlay stared in shock. I met his eyes and rushed forward.

"Want to know why you can't hit me?"

You'd be disappointed if you knew.

Which was exactly why I had to tell you.

Pulling the Immortal's Right Arm back, I gave him the answer.

"Because you're attacking me yourself! It's so damn obvious that I can't get hit!"

"You... bastard...!"

"Haha! Your ability and character are both unworthy of a noble! Even a mosquito has more depth than you!"

"I'll kill you...!"

Idiot. The moment he reacted to my words, he had wasted time.

"Immortal Finish!"

Carried forward by Fair Wind, I took a huge step and swung the Immortal's Right Arm at Finlay.

The Immortal's proud bicep collided violently with Finlay's face. Where they touched turned black, and the impact sent Finlay's body flying pitifully away. A couple of teeth flew from his mouth.

Taking down Finlay was not the end of it. This mess had happened because of the vampire. I had to wake her up.

Leaving the fallen Finlay behind, I ran toward the vampire.

Finlay's despairing cry rang out behind me.

"Stop him!!!"

Finlay flailed both arms. Blood energy flowing from his hands spread in all directions.

The power he squeezed out, even at the cost of neglecting his own defense, blocked my path without pause.

Newly rising Black Knights, whips of blood, red brands, thorns rising from darkness. Even mist that filled the whole world.

All of it rushed at me and the Immortal's Right Arm, trying to stop the earthfolk's flesh that contaminated vampire blood.

‘If I can just take that away! He can never stop the immortal army! Without the earthfolk's right arm, a mere swordsman is nothing!!’

No one could blame them.

They had seen me swing the Immortal's Right Arm everywhere, “contaminating” the Black Knights. The immortal legion that should have risen again had lost its strength and fallen, so they must have felt threatened.

The Immortal's arm was unquestionably deadly poison to a vampire. Finlay must have thought that weapon was the greatest danger, and that he only needed to stop it.

"Shake it off!"

To stop the Immortal's arm from contaminating blood with its curse, more than anything else, he needed quantity. There was no way except to crush it beneath overwhelming weight.

That was why Finlay forcibly gathered blood energy from everywhere, trying to push me, or more precisely, the Immortal's Right Arm away.

With all his strength.

"Ta-da."

The emphasis had been worth it after all.

Thanks to that, nobody was paying any attention to the single card in my left hand.

A wave of fresh blood swept over me, or more accurately, over my weapon, the earthfolk's right arm. The Immortal's Right Arm was flung high into the sky.

The greatest misdirection of my life.

Those whose attention had been drawn to the right arm soaring into the air realized my presence a beat too late.

‘Damn it! What about the instructor?!’

By the time Finlay turned his head, I had already thrown it away and was charging toward the vampire with a single card clutched in my hand.

A sense of victory appeared in Finlay's eyes.

‘Fool! Did you think I would leave the Progenitor unguarded without any preparation?!’

My card grazed my wrist and turned into a skewer. The sword cane, shining with an ominous light, headed for the vampire's chest. For the fissure streaming dark red energy.

‘That is a storm of bloodcraft! It isn't my power, but the Progenitor's rampaging authority! A simple weapon cannot even approach...!’

Then Finlay saw it.

The tip of my skewer carried a familiar blood-red color.

‘...True Blood?’

The most important component of blood was iron. Iron was also what wounded the body and made blood flow. Since the Iron Age began, the two had been inseparable.

They had even been bound together under the phrase blood and iron.

Their relationship only grew stronger throughout history. Weapons made of iron were fed blood for ritual purposes, while some healers made people lacking blood lick rusted iron. The smell of blood and the smell of iron came and went together.

That was why alchemy mixing blood and iron was considered the foundation of alchemy.

And I had attempted basic alchemy with some rather precious materials.

"I hid it inside a card because I planned to sneak it away someday. I didn't expect to use it like this."

Into her open chest. Into the chest that still showed a gap so the thread of control would not snap.

I plunged in the skewer carrying True Blood.

I felt resistance. Raging blood energy tried to push my hand away.

But this was something I had done dozens of times already.

As skillfully as if I had a map, I dug through the vampire's chest. My skewer reached her heart as easily as though it had always belonged there.

Thump.

An artificial vibration traveled through the skewer in my hand.

This was the heartbeat Finlay had forcibly drawn out. It was disgustingly regular, like a cheap metronome. An imitation heartbeat, and a curse made with the audacity to control his own Blood Lord.

"Trainee Tyrkanzyaka. Your sleep-talking has gotten rather bad. You've dreamed enough, so it's time to wake up."

I drove the skewer into the center of the curse and drew up magic power throughout my body. Squeezing out more magic than I ever had during my time in the Abyss, I shouted,

"Bolt."

Footnotes:

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