WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 349: Episode 65: Good and Evil (4)
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[The Demon King Lord of the Serpent Hell has suffered a fatal wound and has exited the Scenario.]
[You have won the Demon King Ascension Match!]
[Your Demon Realm grade is being adjusted!]
[You have become the Demon King of the 72nd Demon Realm!]
I passed Jo Jincheol as he crumbled into ashes and looked around. Two Demon Kings still stood there, too stunned to come to their senses.
Well, it was only natural they were shocked. The lowest-ranked Demon King had taken out the 72nd-ranked Demon King in a single blow.
But this was reality.
[Some Demon Kings are astonished by your strength.]
[The Demon King God of Ease and Ferocity groans at your Status.]
[The Demon King Worthless Darkness feels threatened by your Status.]
[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon mocks the Demon Kings' reactions.]
Not every Constellation gained a Great Fable.
Even when they did, most couldn't fully make use of it, and their share was pathetically low.
But I was different. None of my Great Fables had been inherited from someone else. They were histories I had built with my companions.
[The Great Fable Spring of the Demon Realm continues its story.]
Great Fables gathered that way displayed power on an entirely different level when there were two rather than one.
[The Great Fable Holy Flame That Devoured Myth looks at the Demon Kings with greedy eyes.]
The sensation of facing Poseidon with Unbreakable Faith's blade still lingered within me.
I pointed my sword at the Demon Kings standing blankly before me.
[The Demon King Thinker of Lies and Secrets is preparing to exit the Scenario.]
Dantalion, the 71st-ranked Demon King, truly lived up to their reputation for being quick-witted.
[Where do you think you're running to?]
I activated [Electrification] and [Way of the Wind] at the same time and caught them.
This time, even Bihyeong helped me.
[The Administration Bureau has rejected Thinker of Lies and Secrets's request to exit the Scenario.]
[You must see the match through to the end, Demon Kings.]
Dantalion's eyes widened, perhaps because they hadn't expected a dokkaebi to take my side.
Maybe Andromalius's defeat had shaken them that badly. There wasn't a shred of dignity in the Demon King as they fought me off and staggered backward.
As expected, the Demon Kings outside the top seventy were all much the same.
A pack of hangers-on who had become Demon Kings by sheer luck, clung to the bottom ranks, and abused the title of Demon King.
Slash!
The head of the unsuspecting Incarnation rolled across the ground as blood sprayed upward.
[71st rank.]
[The Demon King Thinker of Lies and Secrets has suffered a fatal wound and has exited the Scenario.]
[You have won the Demon King Ascension Match!]
[Your Demon Realm grade is being adjusted!]
[You have become the Demon King of the 71st Demon Realm!]
I looked at Amdusias, the One-Horned Musician, the last one remaining.
Amdusias asked, [Must you really go this far?]
[Are you afraid?]
[Do you see me as being on the same level as Andromalius or Dantalion?]
The movement of the air changed.
Unlike the two Demon Kings I had defeated earlier, Amdusias must have had enough time to prepare for battle.
A single horn, the symbol of the One-Horned Musician, had grown atop the Incarnation's head.
[The Demon King One-Horned Musician has summoned the constellation artifact Hell Trumpet.]
Demon Kings ranked in the sixties were somewhat stronger.
[The Exclusive Skill Reading Comprehension has activated!]
Even at a glance, the depth of their fable felt different.
Still, I had already met Asmodeus, the 32nd-ranked Demon King, so I wasn't particularly impressed.
That bastard Asmodeus had probably climbed much higher in the rankings by now. Some Demon Kings grew at an especially steep rate, and Asmodeus was one of them.
In contrast, Demon Kings stuck in the lower ranks rarely got the chance to rise any higher.
[Your Status has greatly increased, and the Skill Reading Comprehension has been strengthened!]
[Your Skill has analyzed the composition of the relevant fable!]
The fable I sensed from Amdusias was incredibly gloomy and old.
[The fable Musician of Hell yawns as it looks at you.]
It was a long, tedious fable, so boring that I had no desire to know what happened next. That was the story forming the core of Amdusias, the One-Horned Musician.
Amdusias asked, [What are you looking at?]
Earlier, I said the time I had accumulated was more intense than theirs. In truth, that was wrong. Every fable had its intense moments, and comparing that intensity was meaningless from the start.
In this damned Star Stream, time was the only thing that won in the end.
[I was just wondering whether you could still fight.]
Constellations embalmed by centuries of time eventually became numb to the stimulation of Scenarios. Instead of seeking out or exploring new fables, they gradually surrendered themselves to the flow of fables they had already acquired.
They stopped thinking.
[The fable Musician of Hell moves the will of the Demon King Amdusias.]
Those who had once been masters of the fables they built were eventually ruled by their own fables.
[How dare a being who hasn't even lived a hundred years mock me?]
Did Amdusias know that the anger welling up within them wasn't entirely their own?
[The fable Musician of Hell begins its story.]
At last, the concert of hell began.
Sound waves filled with the abundant Mana of the 67th Demon Realm covered the sky.
"Argh!"
The Incarnations of Seoul who heard the performance collapsed, blood pouring from their seven orifices.
The One-Horned Musician's performance was called the "Orchestra of Hell," where blood and death ran rampant. TWSA hadn't gotten a single thing wrong.
But I didn't retreat.
Amdusias was strong, but I was now strong enough to defeat them.
[The Great Fable Spring of the Demon Realm continues its story.]
[The Great Fable Holy Flame That Devoured Myth continues its story.]
The powerful waves from the performance tore wounds across my shoulder and side, but I kept moving forward without caring.
The fables my companions and I had built protected me.
「And so, the human who devoured a god kindled his own flame.」
The holy flame blazed from Unbreakable Faith.
[The Great Fable Holy Flame That Devoured Myth begins roaring fiercely.]
[The Great Fable Holy Flame That Devoured Myth exerts dominion over other fables!]
The fables I possessed were gathering around the holy flame.
[The fable King of a Kingless World is agitated.]
[The fable One Who Opposes the Extraordinary fears the Great Fable.]
[The fable Liberator of Giants follows the holy flame's blaze.]
Pure white flames brightly illuminated all of Seoul.
The fable raging at the sword's tip surged outward alongside sparks of Plausibility that pierced my entire body. The holy flame raced through the darkness, shattered the incoming tidal wave of sound as though it were a toy, and swept away Amdusias's Incarnation.
The force was so fierce that the hand gripping my sword trembled.
[The Great Fable Holy Flame That Devoured Myth is disappointed in your Status.]
[The Great Fable Holy Flame That Devoured Myth wants a fiercer charge!]
[The Great Fable Holy Flame That Devoured Myth is dissatisfied with you.]
[The Great Fable Spring of the Demon Realm disapproves of the Holy Flame That Devoured Myth.]
Great Fables were fundamentally different from other fables.
Powerful fables chose their owners, exerted an enormous influence over them, and ultimately tried to become their owners themselves.
The "Holy Flame That Devoured Myth," which I had gained this time, was especially belligerent.
If I showed even the slightest weakness, it would devour me in its flames without hesitation.
[The Great Fable Holy Flame That Devoured Myth glares at you with greedy eyes.]
[The Great Fable Holy Flame That Devoured Myth has ended its story.]
I needed to rein this thing in quickly. If I didn't hurry with my plan, I might end up just like Amdusias.
The remnants of a solitary concert remained as ashes where the holy flame had passed. The Demon King was nowhere to be seen.
The difference in power was that overwhelming.
[The Demon King One-Horned Musician has suffered a fatal wound and has exited the Scenario.]
[You have won the Demon King Ascension Match!]
[Your Demon Realm grade is being adjusted!]
[You have become the Demon King of the 67th Demon Realm!]
[Your fame has spread throughout the Demon Realm!]
[Some Demon Kings are aghast at your strength.]
A dokkaebi's laughter rang out in the air.
[The winner of the Representative Match has been decided.]
[The Sub Scenario Seoul Revolution has ended.]
[As a reward, 300,000 coins will be distributed differentially among Kim Dokja Company.]
Indirect Messages soon poured in as well.
[Constellations of the Absolute Evil affiliation have sponsored 100,000 coins for your battle.]
[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon likes your struggle.]
[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband is proud of your growth.]
[The Constellation Mass Production Maker nods with satisfaction.]
[Some Demon Kings offer you friendship.]
Amid the flood of messages, I felt the gazes of the crowd beneath the Factory's outer walls. Survivors who had luckily lived through Amdusias's attack were looking this way. They wore expressions that showed they didn't even fully understand how they had been exploited.
I addressed them.
[It's nice to meet you, everyone. I am the Demon King of Salvation.]
Demon King wings spread wide behind my back, and Demon King horns rose from my head.
Hic!
The startled people screamed and staggered backward.
I stepped toward them.
[Open the Factory walls.]
Rumble.
The Factory's outer walls were forcibly opened.
The barrier they had tried so desperately to cross opened so easily that the people looked more confused than anything.
"W-what...?"
[Didn't you want to come inside? Come in, by all means.]
"You're going to gather us up and kill us, aren't you?"
"You're going to kill us! You're definitely going to kill us!"
Some Incarnations, soaked in fear, had already wet themselves at my constellation's declaration.
I looked at them and spoke firmly.
[I may be a Demon King, but I have never oppressed Incarnations for unreasonable reasons. Kim Dokja Company has never monopolized Seoul either.]
In fact, the Factory's gates had always been open. It was the citizens who had distanced themselves from us first, and the citizens who had been afraid.
[The Factory will accept you. It will give you all the support you need to advance through the Scenarios one by one. It will help you build your own fables according to the effort you put in.]
My words left the people dazed. Some looked as though they couldn't believe me, while others resisted fiercely.
"How can we believe that?"
"R-right! You're already too strong. And the Constellations..."
It wasn't as if I couldn't understand how they felt.
Some gaps inspired awe, while others inspired despair.
And just moments ago, these Incarnations had witnessed beings who had built fables so distant that they could never catch up in an entire lifetime.
[Starting late doesn't mean you will always fall behind. Everyone progresses through Scenarios at a different pace. Just a few years ago, I was in the same position as you.]
Constellations in the sky looked down at me. When I first began the Scenarios, they had been beings impossibly far away.
[Compared to those Constellations, I was an Incarnation hundreds or thousands of years behind, without even a Patron. Yet somehow, I made it this far.]
Now, those beings were close enough to reach if I stretched out my hand.
I withdrew my horns and wings as I looked at the people.
[Look at me closely. Do I seem special to you?]
They stared up at me with blank eyes, as if trying to find proof of some innate special quality in my appearance.
Then someone muttered, "We can become like that too...?"
[You never know what will happen until a Scenario ends. Don't give up until the very end.]
With those final words, I turned away.
[I will leave the main gate open. Anyone who wishes to may come and seek help and advice at any time.]
This might be false hope. Most of them would probably die, intoxicated by the splendor of starlight the moment they faced it, let alone rise to the position of a star.
Even so, false hope was what those people needed right now.
That was when someone murmured my modifier.
"Demon King of Salvation..."
A bitter taste lingered on my tongue.
[The Demon King Demon God of Lust and Wrath likes your deception.]
[The Constellation Savior of Corruption displays hostility toward you.]
Demon King of Salvation, huh. The Star Stream clearly had as little talent for naming things as I did.
I wanted many people to survive, but I wasn't a philanthropist. I only liked the people I liked and cared for the people I cared about.
"Dokja-ssi!"
Jeong Huiwon and the others were running toward me from afar. I lightly waved at them.
A shining system message appeared in the air.
[To the owner of the 73rd Demon Realm and Representative of Kim Dokja Company.]
Just as I was about to touch the message, someone spoke from behind me.
[You don't need to read that. I came here myself.]
The constellation's declaration had a familiar resonance.
I narrowed my eyes and glared at him.
[Asmodeus.]
[It's been a long time, Kim Dokja.]
[Did you come to give up your rank too?]
[I came to share deep camaraderie instead. Aren't we companions who share a portion of a Great Fable?]
That wasn't entirely wrong. He really did possess a small share of "Spring of the Demon Realm."
[You already know why I came, don't you?]
Of course I knew. Asmodeus had probably come here for the same reason as the Demon Kings I had defeated earlier.
[Do I really have to attend?]
[What a foolish question. You, who are closer to the end than anyone else, should naturally know the answer.]
I remained silent and met Asmodeus's calm eyes.
[The Duet of Good and Evil will begin soon. It is time for you to choose a side as well.]
His gaze asked me a question.
Are you good? Or are you evil?
It wasn't just Asmodeus.
The stars in the night sky split apart around me all at once. One side shone brightly, while the other gave off a murky light.
I let out a quiet sigh.
Duet of Good and Evil.
The meaning of this Scenario beginning was simple.
「The destruction of this worldline was now close at hand.」
Within the broken balance of good and evil, the stars in the night sky would begin to fall one by one.
A fatal destruction that even the great nebulae couldn't escape.
If my memory was correct, the first victim of that destruction would be...
[The Constellation Scribe of heaven looks at you.]
The Archangels' nebula, Eden.
Footnotes:
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