WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 338: Episode 63: End of a Myth (4)

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"Why should I help you?"

"Because you'll die too otherwise."

Around ten figures were visible in the darkness. Anna Croft, Selena Kim, and their companions.

As expected, they had joined Gigantomachia as well.

"We can get out before we're caught up in this."

"Then you'll lose out. Since you've already entered the Scenario, wouldn't it be good experience to clear it to the end?"

Anna stared at me as if testing my true intentions.

"What do you really want?"

"King Lycomedes's Leather Gloves. You have them, don't you? I couldn't find them anywhere at the auction house."

Anna Croft could use [future vision]. She had likely known the item's value in advance and bought it.

A smile flickered across Anna's lips once she understood what I was after.

"I can't give you that. I need it as material for my Colossus."

"You're planning to make a model capable of Stage Transformation, aren't you? You must know you can't do it with your people alone."

"We'll have to try and find out."

Anna's companions stepped closer, openly hostile.

Junghyeok stepped forward to meet them.

"No need for words."

His sword slid from its sheath with a clear ring.

"She's a woman I have to kill anyway."

The Status of a Transcendent filled the cave, and the others visibly tensed.

It would've been faster to use Junghyeok to take the item, but the problem was that our opponent was Anna Croft.

When I raised a hand to stop him, Junghyeok gave me a terrifying glare.

[The character Yu Junghyeok is activating Three Endurances Lv. 10.]

Three acts of endurance could even prevent murder.

I never thought I'd see Junghyeok use that Skill with my own eyes.

Even I, who had read TWSA, couldn't measure the depth of Junghyeok's grudge against Anna.

Just as I was about to make my decision, someone interrupted me.

"Anna, give them the gloves. This is the time for us to make concessions."

Anna's face stiffened at Selena Kim's calm voice.

Selena bowed silently to me and sent me a Telepathy.

―Thank you for last time, Demon King of Salvation-nim.

Come to think of it, I had freed Selena Kim from the master-servant oath binding her to Anna Croft through a wager with Anna at the auction house not long ago.

In other words, Selena no longer had to obey Anna's orders.

Anna's expression was worth seeing when her greatest fighting force opposed her.

Selena had made her move, so it was my turn to finish this.

"I'm not asking for it for free."

"Then?"

"I'll buy it with coins."

Anna paused at the mention of coins.

"How about 500,000 coins? You probably took quite a loss because of the coins you lost at the auction house."

Anna narrowed her eyes as if she found that absurd. Her expression seemed to say, Whose fault was that?

After a moment, Anna spoke.

"I'll consider it for 1,000,000 coins."

"It originally cost 200,000 coins. Isn't that a little too much of a markup? 600,000 coins."

"900,000 coins."

"700,000 coins. I can't go any higher."

"I'll settle for 800,000 coins."

She really wasn't easy to deal with.

Eight hundred thousand coins wasn't a small amount, but this deal had to go through. King Lycomedes's Leather Gloves were necessary for this whale hunt.

[You have acquired King Lycomedes's Leather Gloves.]

[You have paid 800,000 coins to the Incarnation Anna Croft.]

Once the transaction was complete, I smiled.

"Now neither of us has lost anything."

"Neither of us has lost anything? Have you already forgotten the 1,000,000 coins you took from me? I'm still down 200,000 coins..."

"Come visit Korea sometime. I can treat you to a 200,000 won course meal."

Of course, 200,000 coins and 200,000 won weren't remotely the same.

Anna gritted her teeth in frustration.

"Are you really going to fight Poseidon?"

"You must know, since you've seen it with future vision."

"That..."

Of course, she hadn't seen it. Her [future vision] couldn't show her futures related to me.

As I passed by her, I added quietly, "This one will probably be pretty interesting. A future you can't read is coming."

Looking at Anna's small head trembling with rage, I felt a strange sense of victory. I didn't know why I always wanted to torment her whenever we met.

"I hope your stubbornness doesn't get you killed for nothing."

"If you really hope so, ask Asgard to contribute some Plausibility."

After I finished speaking, I looked at Junghyeok. He was still glaring at Anna Croft as though he might swing his sword at any moment.

Just as I was about to throw Midday Tryst, Junghyeok unexpectedly turned away and spoke first.

―I'll be the one to cut off that woman's head. Whenever that time comes.

―Do as you like.

Of course, I had no intention of stopping him when that time came. Until then, though, Anna Croft was someone we needed.

Dionysus raised a hand.

[Then what should I do?]

"Nothing."

[What?]

Leaving the dumbfounded Dionysus behind, I turned to the Colossus. Pluto rose from the seawater with his massive body.

I gestured toward Junghyeok and asked, "You can carry two people too, right?"

[Carrying one is annoying enough, and you want two?]

"Can you do it or not?"

[Tch, if I say I can't, will you not ride me?]

* * *

Even as the Mythical-grade Constellations clashed, constellation's declarations continued to ring out in the distant sky. The Constellations had temporarily stopped fighting one another. Instead of pointing their spears at each other, they were discussing the current situation.

[To think Hades would appear here.]

[How do we stop them? Athena, didn't you defeat Uncle Poseidon when you fought him before?]

[Are we talking about that again? I planted one olive tree, and now I have to hear all sorts of things. How am I supposed to beat a Mythical-grade Constellation?]

[Unless the Seat of Lightning or the Mother of Earth appears, at this point...]

The faces of the Twelve Seats were dark. The Seat of Lightning, who had grown indifferent to the affairs of the nebula after advancing to the highest Scenarios, was unlikely to intervene. So was the Mother of Earth, who hated Olympus.

[Hermes, what if we use Olympus's Great Fable?]

[The two of them are the Greatest Storytellers of our Great Fable. Do you think that would have any effect?]

[That's true.]

Suggestions came from all sides, but no solution appeared.

Watching their conversation, Lee Seolhwa whispered into Lee Hyeongseong's ear.

"I thought fabled-grade Constellations would be something incredible, but they seem more ordinary than I expected when you hear them talk."

"You're right."

"Still, what should we do now? Even the Constellations are acting like that..."

There was no confidence in Seolhwa's voice.

The Allies of Kim Dokja Company had worked hard. They had trained and strengthened themselves enough to be proud of it.

Yet the beings they had to face now weren't Historical-grade Constellations or fabled-grade Constellations. They were Constellations with such overwhelming Status that the fables they had built couldn't even reach their toes.

Shin Yuseong muttered in a small voice, "It was incredibly hard when we took down that Sun uncle last time, too."

Surya watched the situation through the [Third Eye] on his forehead, his eyes closed. Even Surya, said to be the strongest sun god, remained silent and did not intervene. He couldn't stand against Mythical-grade Constellations either.

Rumble!

Another shockwave spread through the air. As Poseidon and Hades clashed more frequently, faint cracks spread through the sky. Space itself was collapsing under the collision of their Statuses.

What was worse was...

[I think Uncle Hades is going to lose.]

[It can't be helped. The stage is the sea.]

Complex calculations passed through the expressions of the Twelve Olympians.

Poseidon or Hades.

Whichever one won, Olympus would clearly be thrown into chaos.

That was when Surya, who had kept his eyes closed, spoke.

[It's coming.]

Something tore through the sky and rapidly approached them.

It was a Colossus made from the carapace of a pitch-black Black Dragon.

Gilyeong brightened and shouted, "Dokja hyung!"

With the roar of an engine, the Colossus came to a stop. Dokja jumped out from inside Pluto.

"Everyone. There isn't time, so I'll keep this brief."

Dokja looked over the Constellations and Incarnations in the area.

"I'm going to create a holy flame. To do that, I need all of your help."

The Twelve Seats looked at one another at the sudden declaration.

Their constellation's declarations burst out at once.

[The holy flame relay!]

[That's right, why didn't we think of that?]

Listening to the many voices, Dokja spoke again.

"Twelve Seats, please don't do anything."

[What? What do you mean by that?]

"You're affiliated with Olympus, so you have no way to resist if Poseidon unleashes the Great Fable. If you participate in the holy flame relay, it could only backfire."

Dokja was right, so a few Constellations nodded.

Not all of them did.

[If we don't help, how will you light the holy flame?]

The holy flame was light that originated from the sun. The sun's help was necessary to kindle that sacred light.

Surya, who had been nearby, quietly stood.

Dokja looked at him and said, "Surya, please remain seated too."

Surya sat back down.

[How will you create a holy flame without the sun?]

"A holy flame is sacred fire. It isn't something only the sun can kindle."

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire shrugs.]

When he turned around, Jeong Huiwon was tightly hugging Lee Hyeongseong, whose body had activated [Steel Transformation]. Hyeongseong's cheeks were red enough that it was impossible to tell whether it was from embarrassment or the flames of [hellfire inferno].

"It's too, too hottttt!"

"I'm sorry. Please endure a little longer."

Surya nodded as he watched them.

[The flames of Eden would be enough to replace the sun's heat. But a holy flame of that level won't be able to break through Poseidon's waves.]

"I know. That's why it's time for you to step forward."

Surya rose to his feet.

[This will be interesting.]

* * *

Hyeongseong needed more time to heat up sufficiently, so I sat on the Colossus's shoulder and gave the others a few instructions.

When I looked beside me, Han Suyeong was swinging her legs and sucking on a piece of candy.

I scolded her. "Is it good?"

"For some reason, I've been craving sweets lately. Want one too?"

Without waiting for my answer, Suyeong shoved the candy she was holding into my mouth.

It tasted like lemon.

When I calmly ate the candy, Suyeong stared at me.

"But that was the one I was eating."

"So?"

"...Seriously, you're no fun."

Crying out, "Yahoo!" Suyeong slid down the Colossus's shoulder like it was a slide, landing on its palm.

Looking around, I saw that everyone had a piece of candy in their mouth. Even Junghyeok.

Seolhwa said, "Suyeong gave them to us. She said they help relieve tension."

So that was why everyone was sucking on one.

As I nodded in understanding, Seolhwa asked, "Can we win?"

I slowly raised my head and looked at Seolhwa. She looked back at me. I had no suitable answer, so I just smiled.

Could we win? I didn't know.

But.

"No one will die."

At last, the Steel Sword Emperor, fully heated by the holy flame, was held in Pluto's hand.

Riding Pluto, I spoke.

[Everyone, gather around.]

The scattered Allies gathered one by one.

People born in different places and at different times, who had all gathered here.

They were people who had become a single constellation.

[The Great Fable Spring of the Demon Realm begins its story!]

Every storyteller of Kim Dokja Company began their story.

「It was a fable that began with one who stood alone.」

「When the strongest and loneliest man in the world took hold of his sword.」

「A Steel Sword Emperor containing hellfire inferno soared toward the high sky.」

The history we had built together gathered, piece by piece, in the holy flame. Our Great Fable had come from outside Olympus, so even Poseidon wouldn't be able to avoid being harmed by this power.

Poseidon, noticing the anomaly from afar, looked this way.

With a mocking sneer, he surrounded the air with waves like a wall.

It was the barrier of a Mythical-grade Constellation, formed from the confidence that dared us to break through.

I knew the moment I faced it. Even if Kim Dokja Company poured out all of its strength, we couldn't break through even that single barrier.

We needed greater strength and more speed. In other words, we needed powerful propulsion to pierce that wall.

Fortunately, we had someone who could provide that propulsion.

[The story of the Great Fable Spring of the Demon Realm expands.]

A train horn sounded from somewhere.

[A Stage Transformation occurs!]

「And so, a brilliantly shining sun lit their path.」

The train that had once been our enemy now raced through the sky to carry us.

The Allies looked up with enchanted eyes at the Sun Train, flowing with a dazzling golden aura.

It was possible. With that, it could be done.

"Let's go, Kim Dokja Company."

Footnotes:

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