WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 339: Episode 63: End of a Myth (5)
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At that moment, everyone in the temporary Administration Bureau established for the 60th Scenario was watching the same screen.
A battle between Mythical-grade Constellations, broadcast in real time.
From low-grade dokkaebis to high-grade dokkaebis, dokkaebis of every rank had gathered and become absorbed in the Scenario, even forgetting their channels scattered across different regions.
Hades versus Poseidon.
Over the past few years, there had only been a handful of bloody battles between Constellations of this caliber.
Of course, powerful Constellations had clashed before, but as always, what mattered was the story behind the battle.
A battle to protect one's successor.
Then Hades, who hadn't announced a successor in thousands of years, made a sudden declaration. The Constellations' reactions were explosive.
[An overwhelming majority of Constellations are thrilled by the spectacle of this battle!]
An overwhelming majority.
Even Bihyeong, a high-grade dokkaebi, had never seen a Constellation audience that large.
[The Demon King Ruler of Hell's East is thrilled by this battle!]
[The Demon King Demon God of Necromancy burns with the desire to participate in the Scenario.]
[The Constellation Savior of Corruption watches the battle with mad eyes!]
[The Constellation Scribe of heaven looks upon the battlefield with devastated eyes.]
The news spread in an instant, and Constellations began gathering regardless of their subscription preferences.
[The Constellation Great Mother Goddess Who Molded Humans from Clay watches the battlefield.]
[The Constellation God King of Thunder and Lightning is interested in Olympus's war.]
[The Constellation Progenitor of Reincarnators is delighted.]
The nebula Emperor, Veda, and even the Island of Goddesses.
Constellations from Chinese, Indian, and Irish mythology alike were watching the battlefield of the Mythical-grade Constellations.
As the channel's Subscribers surged, the Administration Bureau busily drew on its remaining Plausibility to support the Scenario and maintain the channel. There was no way the Administration Bureau would let an opportunity like this slip away.
As the tide of battle gradually shifted, the Constellations' reactions grew even more fervent.
At last, one myth was setting here.
Where that myth fell, a new fable never seen before would bloom like a flower upon eternal snow.
Unlike the other dokkaebis, who were filled with excitement and passion, Bihyeong was anxious.
‘What the hell are those bastards doing?’
Kim Dokja was moving on the screen.
The Steel Sword Emperor, heated white-hot by fire, and the Colossus Pluto holding that sword.
The steel sword, shining like the sun of ancient Greece, looked like a gigantic torch.
Dokgak said, “They're insane. Those bastards are trying to hold an Olympic torch relay.”
Every dokkaebi was a Streamer.
One curious dokkaebi asked Dokgak, “An Olympic torch relay? What's that?”
“You know the holy flame is fire created by burning fables, right?”
“I do.”
“The Olympic torch relay is a ritual of peace and victory. They're declaring that they'll end this war with those flames.”
The dokkaebis gaped at Dokgak's words.
“They're crazy. They're going to interfere in that battlefield...”
The Demon King of Salvation was famous even among the dokkaebis.
The master of the newly formed nebula Kim Dokja Company.
A Demon King loved by an Archangel and the ruler of the 73rd Demon Realm.
A being who had fought Indescribable Distance and survived, a star blessed by an Outer God. He was even a Returnee who had crossed over from another worldline.
“Even if it's him, this time...”
“It's reckless bravado.”
While everyone clicked their tongues, one dokkaebi laughed alone.
“Haha, hahahaha...”
It was Bihyeong.
A few dokkaebis looked confused, but Bihyeong kept laughing. Then he thought that perhaps none of the dokkaebis here would understand how he felt.
Kim Dokja Company's allies descended while holding high the holy flame of revolution. Anyone could see they were moths diving into the fire.
But Bihyeong knew the fables they had built.
The obstacles before them had only differed in scale. They had always belonged to the realm of impossibility.
“Yeah. That's exactly like Dokja.”
Watching the constellation Kim Dokja Company was tracing, Bihyeong recalled a history that wasn't all that long ago.
The moment he first met Kim Dokja in that subway.
The moments he first made an exclusive contract with Dokja, who had been weak but calm.
Fables piled up like snowflakes.
Some were unbelievable, and some were things he had never seen before.
A trivial human had built fables, become a Constellation, and finally reached the starting point of a standalone fable through the Great Fable he had obtained...
Bihyeong, the Streamer, had watched it all.
Dokgak said, “They'll fail this time.”
“Maybe they will.”
“You're cold. Wasn't he the Constellation you had a contract with?”
“He was, but not anymore.”
Bihyeong smiled.
Even Bihyeong didn't know whether Dokja's strategy would succeed. Yet, for some reason, he had a Streamer's intuition.
An intuition that Dokja's fable wouldn't end here.
[The Great Fable Spring of the Demon Realm expands!]
The dokkaebis' eyes widened at the system message.
A golden train pierced through the sky as it flew toward them. It was Surya's golden train.
“That is...!”
Who would have believed something like this could happen in the mere 60th Scenario?
“With that, perhaps...!”
A collaboration between gods and humans.
The path of the holy flame toward Succession, the second part of a standalone fable.
The dokkaebis swallowed as they watched the train rush down like a descending golden dragon.
Why was it?
Why did the hearts of those Streamers burn so fiercely as they watched a challenge so reckless, absurd, and even impossible?
Maybe Dokgak was right.
That attack could fail, and this nebula could turn into dust in the Star Stream.
Even so.
[The Great Dokkaebi Harong watches the 60th Scenario.]
[The Great Dokkaebi Horong focuses on the 60th Scenario.]
[The Great Dokkaebi Baram watches the conclusion of the 60th Scenario.]
At that moment, every dokkaebi was thinking the same thing.
「I want to create a Scenario like that too.」
The fables of Constellations grew upon the foundation of Scenarios. The Constellations raised by those fables dreamed of other fables. That was the force driving the Star Stream.
Bihyeong, overwhelmed with emotion, shouted, “Those kids! I raised them! You all know that, right?”
What made a good fable?
What made a good Scenario?
There wasn't a single dokkaebi there who knew the answer. If they had known, they would have become the Dokkaebi King long ago.
Yet there was one thing even those dokkaebis could understand.
Their king was likely watching that story as well.
* * *
Rumbleee!
The tip of the falling train finally collided with the waves. Poseidon's eyes widened in surprise. The Status of Surya, a Fabled-grade Constellation, carved through Poseidon's waves as it advanced.
But the wall of waves was still steep and thick.
“I'm next.”
「The woman who dreams of another ending began her story.」
Black Flame bloomed from the bandages Han Suyeong had unraveled and blazed along the train's tip. Han Suyeong's Black Flame formed a rough dragon shape.
It had already reached that level.
Craaaack.
The Black Flame Dragon tore through the waves as if ripping apart flesh, devouring pieces of them as it advanced.
Lee Jihye moved next.
「The Scarred Sword Demon raised her sword to protect her bond.」
The keychain on Jihye's scabbard, raised like a commander's baton, glimmered. Almost at the same time, a fleet appeared atop the wall of waves. The Ghost Fleet opened fire in unison toward the path created by the Black Flame Dragon.
Poseidon was astonished by Admiral Yi Sun-sin's bombardment, which prevented the waves from closing the path. But Poseidon had no time to worry about them. Hades, whose momentum had returned, was aiming his underworld scythe at Poseidon's neck.
Whoooosh.
Amid the exploding bombardment, the Colossus Pluto crouched in a sprinting stance at the back of the train.
Shin Yuseong shouted, “Go, mister!”
The train's momentum added to Pluto's speed. Then the Chimera Dragon's wind-attribute Breath exploded, multiplying the acceleration.
“Go, Dokja hyung!”
With Gilyeong's encouragement, Pluto charged forward. It held the Steel Sword Emperor in both hands while protecting Huiwon, who was supplying hellfire inferno within it.
“Haaaaah!”
With Hyeongseong's battle cry, Pluto's enormous body flew into the sky.
[The Great Fable Spring of the Demon Realm continues its story!]
[The Great Fable Ruler of the Great Sea continues its story!]
Fables collided, tearing away Pluto's armor.
Namwoon let out a delighted scream despite the pain.
「The giant of steel returned from hell swung his sword.」
「The hellfire of evil destruction and steel blazed up.」
A sword lit by hellfire inferno, then fed by the fables of every Ally. Countless walls of waves vaporized at once in the flames of the holy fire.
Crack.
The Mythical-grade barrier that had seemed impossible to break was shattering.
Beyond the broken barrier of waves stood Theseus, completely defenseless.
Yet Pluto didn't move, even with victory before them. Inside Pluto, I coughed up blood. The world shook as though it had turned upside down.
In that brief moment, the blade of Triaina, thrown by Poseidon, had sliced through Pluto's waist.
The spot it grazed was, of all places, where I was riding.
“Dokja-ssi!”
Huiwon's voice reached me faintly.
[The power of the constellation artifact Triaina has critically wounded your Incarnation body!]
[This is not power your Status can withstand!]
[The Colossus Pluto offsets part of the impact on you.]
This was the might of a Mythical-grade Constellation.
The power to crush a Fabled-grade being like me as easily as a bug.
We had pierced the barrier of waves, but the holy flame was dying out. Hyeongseong, the Steel Sword Emperor, seemed to have fainted, and Huiwon's Mana was almost depleted. The barrier of waves was beginning to recover.
Even while facing Hades, Poseidon looked relaxed.
A faint smile. He probably thought he had won.
I smiled back at Poseidon.
As always, the protagonist entered the battle last.
“Yu Junghyeok!”
From within the extinguished holy flame, a man in a black coat ran forward, carrying everyone's fables on his back.
Poseidon rained down water spears in surprise, but the nimble phoenix walk deflected some of them. Several spears Junghyeok couldn't avoid grazed his thigh and shoulder.
[The item Giant Armor takes effect!]
The protective gear containing a giant's power barely shielded Junghyeok from the god's spears.
One step, two steps, three steps.
As more spearheads struck him, the Giant Armor began to break apart.
Crummble.
The armor finally shattered.
With fewer than ten steps left, Poseidon's Status formed a massive spiral and rushed toward Junghyeok. Junghyeok's expression stiffened. It wasn't power that a third-round regressor could bear.
Just a little farther. Just a little farther, and he would reach him. Theseus was right there.
「Kim Dokja.」
My consciousness as I watched Junghyeok gradually began to blur too.
I had known from the beginning that this was too much.
The third-round Junghyeok couldn't reach Theseus.
[The Exclusive Skill Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint has activated!]
But what if he wasn't from the third round?
[Your fading consciousness is partially freed from the restraints of your body.]
[The Exclusive Skill Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, Stage 3, has been forcibly activated.]
My vision shook again, and the scene before me changed.
[First-Person Protagonist's Viewpoint has activated!]
It was the exact scene Junghyeok was seeing.
「Kim Dokja?」
Junghyeok's thoughts sounded confused. Poseidon's spears flew toward him.
As if the flow of time had slowed, I turned the pages of an old TWSA in my mind.
Something the third round couldn't do. I desperately imagined something that would become possible someday.
[The fable Eternal Hellscape begins its story.]
Fourth round, fifth round, sixth round... forty-first round... fifty-sixth round...
[You cannot comprehend this round with your Reading Comprehension.]
Blood rose in my throat, and my bloodshot eyes hurt as though they would burst. My mind became a tangled mess under the explosive feast of stories.
Still, I didn't give up.
[The Exclusive Skill The Fourth Wall protects your mind.]
[Your Reading Comprehension advances toward a new possibility!]
[Pages you could not comprehend unfold!]
Countless eyes watched us. They weren't Constellations.
Junghyeok muttered, 「This is...」
Junghyeoks from other rounds were watching us.
Some looked envious, some wore gloomy expressions, and some looked interested.
「Interesting.」
I rapidly turned pages that normally wouldn't turn, reaching the furthest page I could turn at that moment.
And so, I finally borrowed the future that was to come.
[You have reached the maximum round you can comprehend.]
[The highest round of Yu Junghyeok you can comprehend is the 362nd round.]
Junghyeok of the 362nd round.
That was the final card I could play.
The 362nd-round Junghyeok wasn't strong enough to kill Poseidon. For that to be possible, he would need at least 1,700 regressions.
[Due to the effect of First-Person Protagonist's Viewpoint, the talent of Yu Junghyeok from that round is transferred to another person.]
[The talent of the 362nd-round Yu Junghyeok settles within the Incarnation Yu Junghyeok.]
But the 362nd-round Junghyeok was strong enough.
Because the 362nd-round Junghyeok was...
「“It's been a long time, Poseidon.”」
Poseidon roared in rage.
The 362nd-round Junghyeok moved the third-round Junghyeok.
The stance of a fist he had taken millions, tens of millions of times.
「“With this fist.”」
Junghyeok's Sky-Splitting Collapse Fist shattered the final barrier and pierced Theseus's Incarnation body.
Footnotes:
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