WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 333: Episode 62: Gods' Natural Enemy (4)
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For a moment, the noise of the battlefield died down at my shout.
The battle between the Colossus Heracles and the Colossus Pluto.
Even the Constellations filling the channel seemed tense at the ritual to summon the weapons.
[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband is curious what your weapon will be!]
[Multiple Constellations are curious about Steel Sword Emperor!]
Yet my empty hand remained unfilled.
Why wasn't it coming?
I instinctively turned around and activated [Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint] to assess the battlefield. Then I heard the inner thoughts of a few characters with high understanding.
「Steel Sword Emperor? I feel like I've heard that name before.」
「Is he someone who uses a sword...?」
What?
「Kim Dokja is an idiot.」
I heard [The Fourth Wall] laughing in my head.
Only then did I realize my mistake.
Come to think of it, Hyeongseong's modifier was still Pure-Hearted Steel.
「Steel Sword Emperor... What a cool name. To be summoned by Dokja-ssi. Whoever he is, he must be an incredible person.」
Hyeongseong stared blankly in my direction as he struggled against Jason.
I shouted at him.
[Hyeongseong-ssi! Come over here!]
“Me?”
“Go already, idiot! I'll handle things here!”
At Han Suyeong's shout, Hyeongseong let out a battle cry as he pushed against Jason. The Stigma [Mount Tai Shove] activated, sending Jason flying backward with the waves.
Rumble!
No, if he had that kind of strength, he should've used it sooner.
I didn't know how much stronger Hyeongseong had become over the past three years, but he was more useful than I'd expected.
“But I'm not Steel Sword Emperor...”
[You'll be called that from today onward.]
“W-what should I do?”
I quickly grabbed the approaching Hyeongseong and swung him.
“Gaaaaah!”
Ares, ready for battle, swung Heracles' Club at us.
It was a vicious blow combining the fables installed in the Colossus Heracles with Ares's own fables. It had enough destructive force to crush even the Nemean Lion in a single strike.
I swung Hyeongseong straight at the charging Ares.
“Dokja-ssi! Dokja-ssi! You can't!”
[It's fine! Believe in yourself!]
Boom!
The collision of waves created a shockwave, and atomized spray became mist.
Hyeongseong slowly emerged from the pale fog, his body pressed against the club.
[See? You can do it.]
“U-ugh, ughhh...”
A coat of [Steel Transformation] grew over Hyeongseong's entire body.
It grew and grew, then grew some more until he became a single sword.
Ares was visibly flustered.
If Junghyeok had been here, he would've surely said this.
「“This is the real reason Lee Hyeongseong came to be called Steel Sword Emperor.”」
Steel Sword Emperor.
He wasn't called the king of swords because he handled swords well.
[The character Lee Hyeongseong is activating the Stigma Steel Transformation Lv. 10!]
[Steel Transformation].
It was the Stigma of a Constellation from the distant outer universe. The more fables it accumulated, the harder it became, surpassing any metal. Even if it broke over and over, it could regenerate.
Hyeongseong was no different from a living peerless sword.
[The Constellation Master of Steel frowns at your outrageous act.]
Perhaps because it was his first time becoming a sword, Hyeongseong still wasn't in his right mind.
I deliberately spoke to encourage him.
[Hyeongseong-ssi, do you see the shield Heracles is holding over there?]
“Y-yes... Huh, that's...?”
[That's the original version of the Heracles' Shield I gave you before.]
I had once given Hyeongseong a replica of Heracles' Shield, the shield he had carefully used after polishing it countless times.
[I'll give you that one.]
“Really?”
[Of course.]
Having already adapted, Hyeongseong fused his body with the Colossus's hand.
Like a tightly clasped hand, it was a perfect grip.
I began to run.
Crackle!
With an enormous consumption of Plausibility, I collided with Heracles once more.
[Star Stream is watching you!]
[Administration Bureau doubts your Plausibility!]
[If you abuse Plausibility any further, your Incarnation body will be in danger!]
Steel Sword Emperor and Heracles' Club collided head-on.
Startled by the force, Ares took a step back.
[You crazy bastard!]
They collided, then collided again and again.
Parts of Heracles' sturdy Club broke into fragments, while cracks formed across Hyeongseong's [Steel Transformation].
It was never a battle we could sustain for long, so we were desperate.
Hyeongseong, Namwoon, and I.
[The Great Fable Spring of the Demon Realm continues its story.]
There was no Stage Transformation like when we fought Surya, but this story was protecting us. It was the stage Hyeongseong and I had shared. Namwoon, once an enemy, had now become part of that fable as well.
「The soul that had been the vilest in the world was born as a giant of steel.」
Slash!
At last, Steel Sword Emperor's blade severed Heracles' shoulder.
Ares roared.
[Why are you going this far? Olympus has always shown you mercy!]
[Mercy? Is that why you imposed that Fate on me?]
[Don't tell me it's just because of that?]
[Just?]
[You came back to life anyway, didn't you? We let you undergo a successful trial, and you won't even express gratitude...!]
There had never been such shamelessness.
[My Companion is still dying because of you.]
[Companion?]
When the sword and club collided again, Ares spoke as if he had remembered something.
[That Incarnation we used as the Watcher of the Singularity.]
[Not “that Incarnation.” Her name is Yu Sangah.]
[We didn't make that Incarnation suffer like that. She brought that misfortune upon herself.]
Ares continued mockingly.
[A mere mortal tried to access Olympus's database. Of course she ended up like that.]
I gritted my teeth and swung the sword.
[You were the ones who gave her that power. You even created the situation that drove her to do it.]
[Gods only watch. Everything is humanity's choice.]
[Do you think you can call it a “choice” when the causality was already predetermined?]
Ares laughed.
[That is what a Scenario is.]
Cold fury settled deep in my chest.
Right. This was what Constellations were. Beings who wanted stimulating Scenarios and enjoyed the downfall of Incarnations. Gods who deliberately placed the Fruit of Good and Evil before humans and happily waited for them to break the taboo.
Sparks beyond what the Colossus Pluto could bear began to burst from its body. A dazzling torrent of Mana surged from where the club and steel met.
Ares shouted.
[You insane bastard...!]
「Kim Dokja was furious.」
「Yet apart from that anger, Kim Dokja's reason was endlessly cold.」
In truth, defeating Ares in a head-on battle was nearly impossible.
But things were different now.
「Kim Dokja thought.」
This was a sea where Ares couldn't fully exert his power.
It was a lower Scenario where he couldn't release all of his Status.
Most importantly, the Heracles Ares was riding was an early Colossus model.
Crack!
Heracles' Club smashed Pluto's left arm, while Steel Sword Emperor's blade pierced Heracles' waist at the same time.
Ares shouted in panic.
[If you do this, you'll truly make all of Olympus your enemy...!]
[Let any of them come.]
But they couldn't. All twelve Seats were cowards.
[Zeus, Poseidon. Anyone.]
Crackle!
Pushed back by the [White Pure Star Energy] I swung, Heracles fell onto its backside.
Even as he was pushed back to the very end, Ares didn't fully release his Status.
Not every Fabled-grade Constellation was like Surya.
For tens of thousands of years since the true Gigantomachia, the twelve Seats had forgotten what it meant to fight for their lives.
Ares, the Ferocious God of War, was no exception.
He might have looked brave, but in truth, he valued his own life and safety more than anyone. During Gigantomachia, he had displayed his courage by throwing giants around, but now he was a Constellation afraid of suffering a plausibility storm after improperly releasing his Status in a lower Scenario.
Ares shouted as if he were struggling.
[Are you not afraid of Plausibility!?]
[I'm not.]
Neither Hyeongseong nor Namwoon nor I feared it.
Because we had always lived through those storms.
It was courage that only the weak could possess.
With sea foam flying up around me, I thrust the steel sword into Heracles' cockpit.
[You have defeated the Colossus Heracles!]
[You have acquired a new fable!]
[You have acquired the constellation artifact Heracles' Club (Damaged).]
[You have acquired the constellation artifact Heracles' Shield (Damaged).]
[You have acquired the constellation artifact Heracles' Lance (Damaged).]
Then a massive explosion erupted.
“Namwoon!”
I escaped Pluto's cockpit at the same time as the explosion.
Pluto was breaking apart after exceeding its Plausibility limit.
[That was fucking awesome...!]
Namwoon sounded delighted.
A moment later, Pluto's entire body collapsed, unable to withstand the plausibility storm. It had borne the Plausibility in my stead. Fortunately, its power unit seemed intact, but it didn't look capable of any further battle.
Through the pale smoke, I saw Ares, who had escaped his cockpit by a narrow margin, just like I had.
Wounded all over, Ares let out a furious roar.
The battle wasn't over yet. The Colossus Heracles was only a kind of armor. If Ares released his Status now, I would have to face him head-on.
That was fine.
My goal from the beginning had been to make him get out of Heracles.
“Yu Sangah-ssi told me something about you.”
As Ares said, Sangah had used the [Hermes System] to investigate all kinds of information about the future. Some of it involved Olympus's hidden history.
“I heard you were once struck by Heracles' Lance.”
Sangah had said that Ares fought Heracles, was stabbed in the thigh by his lance, and fled.
“If a ‘fake’ can become ‘real’ through a fable, couldn't we make this fable real too? If we can only get that ‘weapon’...”
Ares's eyes shook violently as he looked at me.
“It suddenly occurred to me. Heracles is a being you created... So is this myth fake, or is it real?”
Ares gasped and charged at me, but I continued.
“How much power can a ‘fake fable’ exert in the Star Stream? Aren't you curious?”
[The Fable Fragment contained within Heracles' Lance responds to you!]
[Fable Fragment, God of War's Natural Enemy, begins its story.]
The fable began its story.
「That lance incapacitated the God of War with a single thrust.」
I grabbed the lance with all my remaining strength. It was so heavy that I doubted I could throw it properly on my own.
Ares was already right in front of me.
I had to throw it properly. If I failed, I would be the one to die.
At that moment, the lance became lighter.
Someone behind me was holding the shaft with me.
It wasn't Hyeongseong. But I didn't need to turn around.
Someone who could easily lift a lance this heavy and was skilled with every weapon beyond any Incarnation in TWSA. There was only one such Incarnation among our allies.
“Kim Dokja, you only have one chance.”
Some chances are an eternal “once.”
A single chance created by the regressor's countless failures.
“I've always only had one chance.”
So this one chance would never fail.
We threw the lance together.
Footnotes:
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