Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint - Chapter 38

WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 38: Episode 9 - Omniscient Sunfish (2)

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The moment those bright yellow eyes fixed on us, a roar tore through the air.

[The Tier-7 earth dragon species, Tyrannosaurus Rex, has recognized you.]

[Tyrannosaurus Rex has activated the skill Predator's Fear!]

[The Exclusive Skill, The Fourth Wall, blocks the effects of Predator's Fear.]

Thanks to [The Fourth Wall], my mind remained calm, but I couldn't stop the fine hairs on my body from standing on end. This must be what the fear of prey species felt like.

"Everyone, get out of the way!"

Jeong Huiwon and Lee Jihye, who had frozen for an instant, came to their senses. I immediately grabbed Lee Gilyeong beside me and ran back.

Rumbleee!

Its massive tail came crashing in, smashing apart the entire forest ahead of us.

"Kuagh!"

The men who had been running were struck in the back and sent flying, coughing up blood. Fortunately, Huiwon and Jihye seemed to have barely escaped the danger zone. I set Gilyeong down and shouted.

"Gilyeong, fall back, and Huiwon-ssi, Jihye, split up to the left and right!"

That was when a message appeared beside me.

[The character Lee Gilyeong is activating the skill Dinosaur Encyclopedia!]

...Huh?

"Tyrannosaurus is agile for its size, but its field of vision is narrow, so it's vulnerable to attacks from its blind spots."

"What?"

"I saw it in an encyclopedia when I was little."

"When you were little?"

"...When I was even littler than I am now."

Still, this wasn't the time to nitpick useless details.

[The Exclusive Skill, White Pure Star Energy, has activated!]

I began waving my brilliant blade around to draw the T. rex's gaze. Neither Lee Jihye nor Jeong Huiwon was a tank type. And Lee Gilyeong went without saying. So there was only one person here who could take the risk.

"While I draw its attention, get behind it..."

I hadn't even finished speaking when Lee Jihye and Jeong Huiwon were already sprinting for the T. rex's rear. Good. They were quick on the uptake.

[The Tier-7 earth dragon species, Tyrannosaurus Rex, has targeted you.]

I barely dodged its snapping jaws when its hind leg came flying at me. Before I could even swing [Unbreakable Faith], its tail brushed right over my head. A chilling thrill swept through my whole body. My Constitution level had already passed 20, so I wouldn't die from getting hit by that, but terrifying was still terrifying.

Maybe I was the one who had been lucky all this time. Maybe the one-touch-and-die "sunfish" wasn't Yu Junghyeok, but me.

Slash!

Even then, Jeong Huiwon and Lee Jihye were steadily landing blows from behind. A combo of [swordsmanship] and [kendo]. Their gleaming sword strikes carved wounds into the T. rex's thick legs. If they activated [Demon Slaying] too, it might take some time, but we should be able to bring the T. rex down without too much trouble.

"Hyung! I'll draw its attention!"

This brat. I told him to stay back.

"No, Gilyeong, you..."

"I can do it!"

Suddenly, Lee Gilyeong stepped forward and started making strange hand signals. I wondered what that was about, and then a giant mantis flew in from somewhere, stabbed at the T. rex's eyes, and darted away. It was that titan-whatever insect from earlier.

Graaaah!

The T. rex's pupils moved in confusion as the mantis disrupted its vision. Judging by the dazzling movements of his hands, Lee Gilyeong was probably controlling that mantis. I looked down at him again.

That encyclopedia thing earlier too... Isn't this kid actually an insanely broken character? No wonder Yu Junghyeok would covet him.

Grr, graaaah!

Thanks to Lee Gilyeong's fierce performance, the tide of battle turned in our favor in an instant. The T. rex's movements had slowed considerably, and before I knew it, a red killing intent was swirling in the eyes of Jeong Huiwon and Lee Jihye.

[Demon Slaying].

It had the drawback of being vulnerable to mental attacks, but it was an excellent skill that grew stronger the more excited the user became in battle. The sight of those two women racing through the jungle with blazing eyes was magnificent.

Looking at it this way, it was pretty frustrating that Yu Junghyeok had taken Lee Jihye from me. Even so, in terms of potential growth value, Jeong Huiwon was overwhelmingly superior. "Evil-Slaying Judge" was just that good an attribute, and Jeong Huiwon still hadn't even made a <Patron Contract> yet.

The T. rex's stamina seemed to have dropped quite a bit by now. Should I go for the finishing blow?

[Blade of Faith has activated!]

I began concentrating my remaining Mana into the blade. I had no Patron constellation, and I wasn't as nimble as Jeong Huiwon or Lee Jihye. But that didn't mean my combat ability was weak. I had items that could overcome all of that.

[The special option of Unbreakable Faith has activated.]

[The ether attribute has transformed into Flame.]

In an instant, flames coiled around the blade, which had extended to over a meter long. An enormous amount of Mana was sucked out of me at once, and fatigue came rushing in. I ran straight for the T. rex's rear.

"Everyone, get back!"

The moment the slowed T. rex hesitated, I ran up along its tail. I nearly lost my footing several times since I didn't have the [Balance Sense] skill, but I managed not to fall by repeatedly driving my blade into its hide.

Groooaaar!

Blood pouring from all over its body, the T. rex rolled across the ground. I stabbed my blade in wherever I could. Flames burst from the wounds when I pulled it free.

The T. rex, gasping painfully, glared at me one last time with its yellow eyes before flipping over.

[You are the first to successfully hunt the Tier-7 earth dragon species Tyrannosaurus Rex!]

[You have obtained 1,000 coins as a reward.]

"Ah... We really got it."

"I told you I could do it."

Jeong Huiwon, panting for breath, looked proud at my words. A T. rex ranked among the upper tier even within Tier-7 Monsters, so she had every right to be proud. Lee Jihye, who came running over a moment later, grumbled at me.

"What the hell? I practically killed it myself!"

"What are you talking about? It would've taken a lot more hits before it died."

I wiped off my sword while shamelessly taking the credit. Jeong Huiwon asked,

"But was there a T. rex hunt in this movie?"

"Not exactly, but isn't this more fun?"

"...Huh?"

"If the genre's fantasy action adventure, it has to give us at least this much."

At that moment, a system message appeared in my head.

[The Cinema Master is satisfied with the ending of the altered film.]

Jeong Huiwon cried out in disbelief.

"What?"

That's right. The strategy for conquering the Cinema Dungeon wasn't to see the "real ending." If it were, Yu Junghyeok wouldn't have been able to clear this dungeon either. The core of this dungeon was creating the ending the Cinema Master wanted. And for the record, the owner of this cinema was obsessed with only the most cathartic developments.

"Now do you get it? We just have to smash everything."

In other words, if we got rid of everything standing in the way of the ending, the movie would naturally reach its conclusion.

[You may now move to the next floor.]

[Please move to the helipad on the upper floor of the laboratory.]

"Let's move after a short break. We should pick up the rewards too."

With that, I began looking around the T. rex. It wasn't long before I found one of the men who had entered before us. It looked like the others had been eaten or torn apart by the T. rex.

"Hey. Get a hold of yourself."

"U-ugh..."

Blood was still pouring from the man's back. Wounds from the T. rex's claws. Judging by the fact that the bones were fully exposed, there was no saving him now.

"Breathe out slowly."

"Kuh, kuhk... S-save..."

I gave the man some of the water I'd brought. He gulped it down, then coughed up blood again. I had no choice but to ask the urgent question first.

"How did you know about this place?"

"The... prophet..."

"Who exactly are the <Prophets>?"

The man's breathing was growing even rougher.

"Those... who received... a revelation..."

...A revelation?

"I... want... to live..."

With a wet burst, blood sprayed from the man's mouth. His breath cut off, and his body went limp. The others, including Jeong Huiwon, approached from behind.

"That person...?"

I shook my head and looked down at the collapsed man.

"Revelation," huh. What an interesting bit of nonsense.

Because in the TWSA I knew, the only similar ability was [future vision], and the only person with that ability was Prophet Anna Croft. If so, there was only one answer.

...So there were others besides me. But they didn't know nearly as much as I did.

The proof was that they hadn't come here themselves and had only leaked information about this place to test things out.

"Dokja-ssi?"

"Let's rest for a bit before we go."

We covered the man's corpse with large leaves and gathered near the dead T. rex. We needed to hurry if we wanted to catch Yu Junghyeok, but if we chased after him without getting enough rest, the entire group could be wiped out before we even found him.

I searched through the T. rex's corpse.

I checked its head and inside its heart, but unfortunately, I couldn't find a monster core. That didn't mean we came away empty-handed, though. Looking at the T. rex that had been thoroughly roasted by the flames, Jeong Huiwon swallowed.

"...Do you think we can eat this too?"

"It was cooked with Mana flames, so it's safe to eat. We can cook the uncooked parts with a Mana Brazier."

We sat side by side around the T. rex's leg. When we carved off bits of the lightly cooked meat, steam rose from them. Lee Gilyeong exclaimed.

"New meat!"

Impatient as ever, Lee Jihye lunged in first and tore off a piece, and the rest of us each grabbed a hefty chunk too. Meat this large. Back when I was an office worker, I could never even have dreamed of such luxury. Tasting it with her eyes closed, Lee Jihye murmured in an ecstatic voice.

"Ah, this is the most delicious thing in the world..."

It really was delicious. Firm muscle wrapped in just the right amount of fat, making it leagues above Ground Rat meat in texture. The chewy richness that clung to the tip of my tongue with each bite... If Yu Sangah had been here, she definitely would've eaten it in tears.

After tearing into the meat in silence for quite a while, I felt my stamina recovering along with a sense of fullness. Meat from upper-tier monsters had unique effects like this. Though you had to be careful, since some of it wasn't edible. Jeong Huiwon spoke regretfully.

"Whew... That was great. It's so delicious I could cry because I can't eat any more."

After getting some decent rest, we headed straight for the laboratory at the center of the island.

We ran into a few raptors on the way, but after killing a T. rex, there was no way we couldn't handle raptors.

Flasks and ampoules were lined up all over the laboratory. Small incubators held dinosaur embryos, and there was even amber prepared for collecting blood samples. The only thing missing was people.

When we entered the inner building, a few eye-catching items immediately stood out.

[Constitution Enhancement Ampoule]

[Mana Enhancement Ampoule]

[Agility Enhancement Ampoule]

[Strength Enhancement Ampoule]

Just as I thought. While the others were distracted, I started gathering up the ampoules. Like the Sea Dragon's Nucleus, these too were among the very few comprehensive stat growth items that could only be obtained in the early Scenarios.

And there wasn't just one or two ampoules. There had to be close to twenty of them. With this many, explosive stat leveling would be possible. The reason I'd kept holding back my coins instead of investing them into my comprehensive stats was because I'd anticipated this Hidden Scenario.

These ampoules could only be used when the corresponding stat was below Level 30.

"Ajussi, what are you taking right now?"

...Seriously, this kid was sharp as a ghost.

"What, a Constitution Enhancement Ampoule?"

Lee Jihye's eyes widened as she snatched one of the ampoules.

"You're not trying to drink all of these by yourself, are you?"

"All of them? Of course not. I was going to share."

"Unni, look at this! This ajussi is...!"

At the commotion, the others came closer too. After checking the item information, Jeong Huiwon said in surprise,

"My gosh... There are items like this too?"

"Well, it is a Hidden Scenario."

I said it in a somewhat displeased tone.

Damn, this was a bit of a problem. Since I hadn't killed the T. rex alone, I felt guilty about keeping everything for myself, but it also felt like a waste to simply split them up.

[A few Constellations who enjoy monopolizing things are displeased by the situation.]

Lee Jihye, staring fixedly at the Strength Enhancement Ampoule, spoke first.

"Can't I have the Strength Enhancement Ampoule? My Strength is seriously lacking."

[The Exclusive Skill, Character Profile, is being used!]

The summary version, including Stigma and comprehensive stats.

Name: Lee Jihye

Exclusive attribute: Scarred Sword Demon (Rare)

Exclusive skills: [swordsmanship Lv.4], [Demon Slaying Lv.1], [sensory perfection Lv.2], [ghost walk Lv.2]

Stigma: [Naval Warfare Lv.1], [Army Command Lv.1]

Overall stats: [Constitution Lv.13], [Strength Lv.17], [Agility Lv.13], [Mana Lv.10]

This sly little brat. Where was that lie coming from...?

"Huh? Huiwon-unni, shouldn't I get that one?"