WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 291: Episode 54: Demon King Slayer (5)

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"Annihilate, Twin Dragon Swords."

At Jihye's words, Mana exploded from the two swords. Blue dragon-shaped aura flew toward the back of my neck, intent on tearing it apart.

Twin Dragon Swords.

Admiral Yi Sun-sin's constellation artifact, the finest swords obtainable on the Korean Peninsula, shone brightly. Watching the paths traced by her mastered [Swordsmanship], I activated [Electrification] and [Way of the Wind] with all my strength.

"Oh? You got smaller? What kind of Incarnation are you?"

Naval Commander Lee Jihye.

Having survived until the 95th Scenario, she was undoubtedly one of the hundred strongest people in TWSA.

But that was only true while she was alive.

If the original novel I remembered was right, the Lee Jihye of the 1,863rd round had died long ago.

Then what the hell was this Lee Jihye standing before me?

I shot up to an altitude beyond the reach of the Twin Dragon Swords and shouted.

"Jihye, stop! I'm not your enemy!"

"What? You know me? Well, I am pretty famous."

Muttering shamelessly, she lowered herself into a crouched draw stance.

I knew what that technique was.

Instant Kill.

One of the deadliest anti-personnel techniques in TWSA, a terrifying skill said to kill any opponent with a single strike.

"You think I can't cut you just because you're as small as a bug?"

The moment I met Jihye's eyes, swirling with murderous intent, chills ran down my spine.

Swish.

Jihye's figure disappeared in an instant. I sensed an invisible blade aimed at my neck and instinctively knew what would happen next.

I shouted at the top of my lungs.

"Junghyeok!"

A shadow as large as a house covered my vision, followed by the sharp screech of metal crashing against metal.

Junghyeok stood in front of me while Jihye thrust the Twin Dragon Swords toward him.

Kangggg!

A small nick had appeared on the blade of the sturdy Splitting the Sky Sword. Instant Kill was that powerful.

That was, if the opponent wasn't Junghyeok.

Rumble.

The Junghyeok of the 1,863rd round was closer to a killing machine than anyone else. He never went back on a decision, and anyone he decided to kill would certainly die.

Junghyeok unleashed the Status of Transcendence and swung his sword. Overwhelmed by the difference in power, Jihye plummeted to the ground. Junghyeok, gripping the Splitting the Sky Sword, fell after her.

"Junghyeok! Stop!"

I shouted toward the thunderous impact below.

Through the cloud of dust, I saw Jihye lying on the ground and Junghyeok bringing down his sword. He didn't stop despite my command. Sparks of Plausibility were gathering around him.

His regressor's depression was lifting.

"Happy Memories! Happy Memories!"

Junghyeok hesitated.

"Don't kill her! You can't kill her!"

I didn't know why Jihye was alive. But one thing was certain. I couldn't let Junghyeok kill her.

Jihye rose from the dust, gritted her teeth, and shouted.

"What the hell are you doing? Come at me, Supreme King! This time, I'll tear you to pieces!"

This didn't seem to be Jihye and Junghyeok's first clash. I couldn't understand it no matter how hard I thought about it. It was strange enough that Jihye had survived, but she'd even become his enemy?

"Wait! You stop too, Jihye! We don't want to fight!"

Jihye didn't stop despite my words. Perhaps because of my command, Junghyeok's movements had become noticeably more passive.

Blood spattered from Junghyeok's flesh as Jihye's blade cut him. It seemed that, while suffering from regressor's depression, he couldn't come up with an effective means of defense. But if I ordered him to attack, he would clearly rush at Jihye like before...

Damn it.

Keeping [Electrification] active, I climbed onto Junghyeok's shoulder and shouted at Jihye.

"I said stop, you brat! Junghyeok is your master!"

"Master? What bullshit are you talking about? I've never had a monster like this as my master."

Jihye's eyes flashed fiercely.

"My master is a much cooler person."

Five-colored aura flowed from Jihye's blade.

I reflexively activated [Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint]. Whatever attack she used, it would be easier to dodge if I at least knew its direction.

[Skill activation has been canceled due to insufficient understanding of the relevant individual!]

I could understand why my understanding of Junghyeok was low, but this was strange. Jihye wasn't that complicated a person.

At least, not if she was the Jihye I knew...

[The character Lee Jihye has activated Stigma, Song of the Sword Lv.10!]

So she was really going to do this. Fine, I had an idea too.

I gripped Unbreakable Faith tightly and activated my Stigma.

[You have activated Stigma, Song of the Sword Lv.5!]

Confusion crossed Jihye's face when she saw the five-colored light rising from my blade. She still didn't seem to have realized it.

This Stigma was a battle of chance anyway. Let's see who was luckier.

Jihye went first. The lines of text floating in the air moved, and words from Admiral Yi Sun-sin's journal flowed out.

「10th. Clear. After breakfast, I went out to the local office and worked.」

Bingo. Jihye's expression crumpled.

[Song of the Sword] was a skill based on Admiral Yi Sun-sin's journal. If she was unlucky, it wouldn't activate any effect at all.

This time, it was my turn.

「28th. Clear. I fired ten rounds of arrows. Five rounds all struck their targets, two rounds struck four times, and three rounds struck three times.」

Flaming arrows poured from my blade. Jihye's eyes widened as she recoiled in horror.

[The Constellation Naval Warfare God stares at you in shock.]

Jihye extinguished the flames clinging to her clothes and screamed.

"Who are you? How can you use my Patron's Stigma?"

"If you're curious, let's talk."

"Looks like I'll have to cut off your arms and legs before you give me a proper answer."

My attack must have gotten under Jihye's skin, because her expression turned more serious.

"I don't know what kind of cheap trick your Patron gave you, but if you keep acting up because of that, you'll regret it."

Jihye drew another sword from her waist.

It was a sword I knew as well.

The Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword.

In every round I had read so far, Jihye had never held the Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword.

"Northern Dipper Star Lords! Grant me your strength!"

Several stars shone in the sky at Jihye's shout.

There were originally seven Northern Dipper Star Lords. But perhaps because several had died by the later Scenarios, only four stars were shining.

Hummmmm!

The Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword gave off a dazzling light as it evolved into a constellation artifact.

The Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword possessed the terrifying power to sever the link between a Constellation and its Incarnation body, cutting that connection for a brief moment.

It was obvious what Jihye was trying to do.

But her expression when she looked at me was strange.

"You don't have a link?"

Of course I didn't.

Right now, my Incarnation body and original body were one and the same.

[The Demon King Demon King of Salvation looks at the Incarnation Lee Jihye.]

Jihye took a step back in shock.

Then was it my turn?

I took out a sword identical to the one in Jihye's hand.

Hummmmm.

"H-how? Just how...!"

Even with the effects of miniaturization, it shouldn't have been easy to identify the sword. Yet Jihye seemed to have realized what it was through superhuman observation.

Gripping the dazzling Four-Tiger Evil-Cutting Sword tightly, I leaped from Junghyeok's shoulder. Jihye's eyes widened in surprise as the path of [Way of the Wind] swept over her head. Amid the explosive roar of bursting sparks, Jihye screamed in pain and collapsed.

"Aaaah!"

The star of the Naval Warfare God protecting her was flickering.

I gritted my teeth and stepped back.

[The Constellation Naval Warfare God unleashes its fury at you!]

It hadn't cut deep enough.

I had planned to sever her link with the Naval Warfare God just long enough to incapacitate Jihye, but it seemed I had failed.

Jihye's eyes had bleached white.

The Admiral Yi Sun-sin who had become a fabled-grade Constellation by the 95th Scenario was trying to manifest before my eyes.

I hurriedly checked the nearby water. If the flagship of [Ghost Fleet] was summoned here, everything would be over.

Crash!

A tributary of Cheonggyecheon rose into the air. Along with sparks, phantoms of the Ghost Fleet began appearing one by one.

Damn it.

I reflexively turned toward the plastic bottle behind me, or more precisely, the flowers stuck inside it.

Should I borrow the Archangels' power? Would they lend it to me? At least the Jihye before me wasn't evil.

"Admiral Yi Sun-sin. Please stop."

A solemn man's voice. I didn't know when he had appeared, but the hand of a man built like a bear rested on Jihye's shoulder.

[The Constellation Naval Warfare God is enraged!]

[The Constellation Master of Steel sends a cold gaze.]

The Constellations growled in a battle of nerves. In the end, Admiral Yi Sun-sin was the first to withdraw. As the phantoms of the Ghost Fleet disappeared one by one, Jihye's strength gave out and she sat on the ground, gasping for breath. The man stepped in front of her.

"You should stop there as well."

I stared at him blankly. I didn't know how many times I had been shocked today.

"What are you doing, mister? That bastard is on Junghyeok's side!"

"You haven't properly figured them out yet."

The man held out the hand that had rested on Jihye's shoulder.

"My name is Lee Hyeongseong. May I ask your name?"

Whether it was the 25th Scenario or the 95th Scenario. Whether it was the third round or the 1,863rd round...

Lee Hyeongseong was exactly the Lee Hyeongseong I knew.

I barely held back the tears that threatened to come.

"...Kim Dokja."

Perhaps he had suffered greatly, because there was a thick scar on Hyeongseong's forehead. Countless wounds were carved into his tightly packed, steel-like muscles.

I tried to calm my confused thoughts. Like Jihye, Hyeongseong was someone who shouldn't have been alive by now.

In the 1,863rd round, Junghyeok had lost all his Companions.

Hyeongseong said, "Kim Dokja-ssi. We have no intention of being hostile toward you. We only need that Junghyeok over there."

His smile looked kind, but it wasn't difficult to read the composure beneath it. Hyeongseong had also fought through ninety-four Scenarios. If I posed even the slightest threat, he would try to eliminate me through a method more thorough and certain than Jihye's.

I asked calmly, "Why do you need Junghyeok?"

"Because Junghyeok has the key to clearing this Scenario."

Since I knew what the 95th Scenario was, I could tell Hyeongseong was telling the truth. But that wasn't what I was curious about.

"How many people are in your group?"

"Excuse me?"

"If you've made it to the 95th Scenario, you must have a group too."

"Ah, if you mean the group, it's just Jihye and me..."

"If you lie one more time, I won't trust anything you say from now on."

Hyeongseong's expression hardened. I continued.

"Who is your leader? Is it you, Lee Hyeongseong-ssi?"

Hyeongseong's eyes wavered. As expected, no matter how many rounds passed, he wasn't good at hiding his emotions.

"That..."

The way his words trailed off gave me certainty. Hyeongseong and Jihye had a group, and neither of them was its leader.

This 1,863rd round wasn't the 1,863rd round I knew.

Once I had a solid hypothesis, my thoughts settled.

Several things finally made sense. The reason my understanding of Junghyeok was strangely low. The reason Jihye and Hyeongseong, who should have died, were alive.

There was someone else.

Someone who hadn't played an active role in the original novel was in this round.

"If you want Junghyeok, take me to your leader."

Hyeongseong shook his head.

"That would be difficult. As long as we don't know what you and Junghyeok intend..."

"You don't need to be so wary. As you can see, I'm a weakling, and Junghyeok... is safe for now. He listens to me quite well."

"What kind of nonsense is that? That bastard listens to anyone?"

Jihye shouted, apparently knowing Junghyeok fairly well. Hyeongseong also looked full of disbelief.

"Kim Dokja-ssi, are you Junghyeok's Companion?"

...Companion.

"Yes."

"Honestly, I can't believe it. As far as I know, Junghyeok doesn't have any Companions."

"I'll show you proof. Junghyeok."

Junghyeok looked at me.

"Put your sword away."

Junghyeok obediently put away the Splitting the Sky Sword.

Jihye flinched and shouted.

"That's nothing...!"

"Junghyeok, come here."

As Junghyeok strode toward us, Jihye hid behind Hyeongseong and cried out in terror.

"Uncle Hyeongseong! Be careful! At this rate, he'll definitely attack us..."

"Junghyeok, sit."

Junghyeok obediently sat down.

Jihye and Hyeongseong's mouths fell open.

It was probably shocking. It was something that could never happen with the Junghyeok they knew. I felt a little sorry for them, but I'd been beaten up pretty badly yesterday, so I decided this much was fine.

They looked at me as if they were watching a circus, and I grinned.

"Want me to make him do anything else? Should I have him eat dirt?"

At my words, the two looked at each other at the same time. Jihye raised her hand, about to shout something, but Hyeongseong let out a deep sigh.

"...Follow me."

* * *

Their base wasn't far away.

But the Nameless Ones that appeared along the way delayed us longer than expected. After about two hours of avoiding the Outer Gods wandering between abandoned buildings, a structure that appeared to be their base came into view in the distance.

"That's it."

And there, I encountered a man wearing the same coat as me.

Footnotes:

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