WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: ChaoticRain

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 186: Episode 35: 73rd Demon King (3)

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"Do you still think the next Scenario will be difficult?"

"..."

The 73rd Demon King was strong, but there shouldn't be a problem if we went in this thoroughly prepared. It might even be the easiest Scenario we'd completed so far.

Before long, the Allies who had been training gathered around us one by one. I turned to Huiwon.

"How did everyone's rankings turn out?"

"We all made it into the top ten. Jihye and Mr. Pildu were cutting it close, but they were automatically promoted this morning."

"Automatically?"

There was only one reason that could happen. The rankers above them had died. Suyeong's expression immediately darkened.

"A top-ten ranker suddenly died? Something's off... Hey, I think I should sit this one out..."

"You're here, Kim Dokja. Are you taking that woman too?"

Suyeong swiftly hid behind me at Junghyeok's sudden appearance. It seemed she was still afraid of him.

"Yes."

When I nodded, Junghyeok glared at Suyeong with clear disapproval, then took out a Sixman Card from his clothes.

[The Incarnation Yu Junghyeok has used a Sixman Card.]

[The Incarnation Han Suyeong has been selected as a special participant in the Scenario.]

[The Incarnation Han Suyeong has joined the team of Incarnation Yu Junghyeok.]

Suyeong stared at the messages in horror.

"What? Hey! Hey! Why am I on his team?!"

"All right, we're leaving soon, so everyone get ready."

Junghyeok's team had gathered first. Lee Seolhwa, Jihye, Hyeongseong, and Pildu Gong stood in order, with Suyeong still grumbling beside them. The sight of the original novel and reality strangely blended together stirred something in me.

It was a luxury only a reader of TWSA could enjoy.

My team lined up next. Huiwon, Sangah, Yuseong, and Gilyeong. Unlike Junghyeok's tightly disciplined team, this side had a more relaxed atmosphere. I looked over each of them carefully.

"Why are you staring at us like that?"

"Nothing. It just feels different."

I smiled quietly despite Huiwon's rebuke. Looking at the people who had followed me this far filled my chest with pride and a strange sorrow.

That feeling had grown stronger since my conversation with The Fourth Wall.

Maybe that was why I had prepared so thoroughly for this Scenario. I was afraid of losing them now.

"You know our team has a Sixman too, right?"

The team followed my gaze and turned.

A hesitant figure stood a few steps away.

"Don't stand there. Come over here."

We had obtained two Sixman Cards in total. Just as Suyeong had joined Junghyeok's team, our team had a Sixman as well. More accurately, a Sixwoman.

"...Ms. Sukyeong wanted to go with you too."

"Right now, it would help more if you came with us."

Jo Yeongran, Jeon Woochi's Incarnation, gave me a conflicted look. I had asked my mother to specially add her to this raid party. Jeon Woochi's Stigmas included quite a few abilities that would be useful in an emergency.

"Have you talked to Ms. Sukyeong?"

"A little."

Perhaps because of the aftereffects of leaving The Fourth Wall, mother wasn't in any condition to participate in the next Scenario.

Through The Fourth Wall, I had learned many things about her. Not only the past she had hidden, but also what she had gone through after entering the Scenarios. Unlike me, who knew every story from the original novel, mother's struggle had been an unbroken chain of desperation.

She had repeatedly paid terrible prices for the constellations' help. She had deliberately allowed Reincarnator Nirvana to capture her so she could steal his memories. She had even made a contract with a nebula to protect me.

Yet even after learning all that, I couldn't find anything to say to her. I decided it was because the time wasn't right yet.

Someday, once the Scenarios ended safely, mother and I would have a real conversation. Perhaps she knew that too, because she hadn't said much this time. She had simply looked at me for a long time, turned her gaze away, and said, "I trust your choice."

For some reason, those words gave me a strange feeling. Perhaps just as I had read mother through The Fourth Wall, she had read something from me as well.

"Let's go."

Our destination was the altar at the center of the Abyss Plains. Just like on the Dark Castle 1st Floor, we could move to the next floor through the altar here.

Huiwon must have gotten bored during the walk, because she spoke up.

"It's bothering me how quiet the nebulae are."

Sure enough, we hadn't heard messages from the nebulae in two days.

I didn't know whether they were plotting something or had exhausted too much Plausibility. I looked at Sangah.

"Can you contact Olympus?"

"...Not for the last three days."

I had heard that the constellations of Olympus were currently divided.

The ones who had approached Sangah so far were Olympus's outsiders, including Dionysus and Persephone. Perhaps the incident three days ago had caused an internal struggle within Olympus too.

Sangah must have noticed my worried expression, because she asked in a concerned voice.

"Dokja, are you all right?"

"I'm fine. What about you, Sangah?"

"...I'm trying to be."

I looked at Sangah. She was so kind that I always felt sorry when I kept looking at her. I had already heard that she was the first to learn of my Fate and had run all over the place trying to save me.

That wasn't unusual for Sangah. Whenever something was wrong, she was always the first to step forward.

She had been the first to act when we needed to save the grandmother in the first Scenario. No matter who stood in my place now, Sangah would have acted the same way.

"We can do this, right? We've always managed so far, so this time too..."

"Don't worry."

Since Sangah had been the first to learn of my Fate, she would know that it hadn't disappeared. I was considering what else I could say to reassure her when Junghyeok's voice came from ahead.

"We're here."

A structure that resembled an ancient Parthenon stood before us. The Allies visibly stiffened, so I spoke to each of them.

"Gilyeong. Yuseong. Just do what we practiced earlier. Don't summon the Chimera Dragon until I give the signal. Understood?"

The children had the most important role in the Demon King raid. The Chimera Dragon they had tamed would be vital to this assault.

"Sangah, protect Huiwon from getting hurt whenever possible. Huiwon is our main damage dealer again this time. You remember the fighting method well enough, right?"

"I remember."

Once Junghyeok was ready, he looked this way. I led the Allies closer as well. Soon, a waist-high altar appeared before us. Junghyeok and I placed our hands on the palm marks atop the altar at the same time.

[Scenario challengers have been confirmed.]

[Scenario challenger: Dark Castle Rank 1, Yu Junghyeok]

[Scenario challenger: Dark Castle Rank 2, Kim Dokja]

[Total entrants: 12]

[Would you like to challenge the Scenario?]

We nodded together. A blinding ray of light appeared, and our bodies began to transfer to the next floor.

We arrived in a narrow passage.

[You have entered a new Main Scenario area.]

[Main Scenario #10, 73rd Demon King, has begun!]

Just as it had happened in the original novel. If we followed this passage, we would reach the hall where the 73rd Demon King resided.

"Everyone, get ready."

We lowered our stances and carefully moved through the passage. The difficulty of a Demon King raid depended on how much damage we could inflict in the opening ambush. If we could get close quietly and deal enough damage, we might clear the raid without even using all the formations we had practiced.

Then, as we moved through the passage, an unpleasant sensation crossed my mind.

...Why is it so quiet? I should be able to sense the Demon King by now.

That was when a system message appeared.

[An error has occurred in the Scenario.]

"Bro, what is this...?"

Gilyeong spoke reflexively, startled. I raised a finger to my lips. The others began whispering in even lower voices.

"Dokja, this is different from what you said earlier..."

"Th-there are dead people here...!"

Hyeongseong, who had been leading the way, was the one who spoke. We moved as quietly as possible and gathered near him. To my surprise, several corpses lay there, looking as if they had only recently died.

The moment Junghyeok touched one of the bodies, powerful sparks flew up.

"Traces of a Plausibility storm."

I didn't know what they had done, but if sparks still remained after death, their Patrons must have pushed themselves hard. They had likely drawn out immense power through Incarnation Synchronization. With traces this severe, their Patrons would have suffered damage close to annihilation as well.

The question was who had done this, and why.

Junghyeok spoke.

"They're terminal Incarnations of Veda and Papyrus."

"What?"

"I met them while traveling through Dark Castle. They're the ones who approached me."

"...How did they get here? As terminal Incarnations of nebulae, they would've had high enough rankings, but they didn't have the right to participate in the Scenario."

"It seems they had more Sixman Cards."

That answered one question that had been bothering me. Jihye and Pildu's rankings had suddenly risen because these people had died here.

But something else was strange.

With a Sixman Card, it was possible to challenge the Demon King without forming a Scenario challenger party. Yet even if Sixmen alone hunted the Demon King, the Scenario wouldn't count as cleared.

In other words, they had come here only to die for nothing.

A bad feeling came over me. What if the nebulae had gone quiet because they had poured all their remaining Plausibility into this place?

Junghyeok and I looked at each other almost simultaneously, then ran toward the hall without even forming our battle formations.

If I was right, this wasn't the time to worry about formations.

The moment we reached the hall, we saw a shocking sight.

[Honestly, constellations, what do you think you're doing?]

Dozens of Dokkaebis floated at the center of the enormous hall.

[You can't just do whatever you want. Are you underestimating the Star Stream too much? You used Deus Ex Machina in a place like this?]

They weren't speaking to us, but it was clearly meant for us to hear. Bihyeong met my eyes, then awkwardly looked away.

What the hell are these bastards...

[We know you cherish your Incarnations, but interfering with Plausibility won't end the Scenario. It looks like some of you have suffered damage close to annihilation. Why did you do something like this? Huh, just look at this Plausibility. The lower constellations have all been ground down...]

A strange smile hung on the lips of the dokkaebi speaking for them. It was the smile of someone who had known from the beginning that this would happen.

Wait. What did that bastard just say?

"Kim Dokja."

At Junghyeok's words, I looked where he pointed.

At the center of the hall, the throne where the 73rd Demon King should have been was broken.

And the Demon King who should have greeted us with a vicious aura...

[The 73rd Demon King is currently dead.]

Its chest had been ripped apart, and it lay dead.

"What is this? Is that thing dead?"

Suyeong arrived late and spoke, prompting the others to speak up as well.

"The Demon King is already dead?"

"Then what happens to the Scenario?"

"Could it already be over?"

My thoughts had become too tangled for me to hear their voices clearly.

Incarnations who hadn't even earned the right to challenge the Scenario had endured a Plausibility storm, received the nebulae's support, and killed the Demon King. At a glance, it looked as though the Scenario had been resolved.

But the Star Stream's Main Scenarios weren't that simple.

[The Star Stream restores balance to the Scenario.]

A Scenario damaged by excessive intervention from transcendent beings would be forcibly restored by the Star Stream's Plausibility.

An intense sense of déjà vu crossed my mind.

It hadn't been the 73rd Demon King Scenario, but something similar had happened in TWSA. The constellations had run wild and damaged a Scenario, forcing the Star Stream to restore the Main Scenario.

What had happened then?

[The Star Stream restores the damaged Plausibility.]

I looked at the place where the Demon King had died.

The Star Stream, which favored the natural flow of stories, wouldn't resurrect a dead being just because something like this had happened. Reversing time or bringing someone back without foreshadowing would damage a Scenario's Plausibility most of all.

[The Main Scenario details have been updated!]

The 73rd Demon King was dead. But we still needed a 73rd Demon King, because the Scenario could only proceed if we hunted it. What the Star Stream had to do to resolve that contradiction had already been decided.

A black-glowing jewel lay where the Demon King had died.

I spoke reflexively.

"Hey, that..."

But I couldn't sense the presence that should naturally have been nearby.

A chilling sensation ran down my spine.

Time seemed to move very slowly.

When I turned around, Junghyeok was already gone.

"Yu Junghyeok!"

By the time I moved, Junghyeok had already reached the jewel. The expression on his face as he looked back at me was one I had never seen before. Yu Junghyeok looked at me with eyes that had never appeared anywhere in TWSA.

"Kim Dokja. Keep your promise."

Then the system message sounded.

[The jewel has selected a candidate for the 73rd Demon King.]

[A new 73rd Demon King will be chosen.]

Footnotes:

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