WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 411: Episode 78: The story's turning point (3)

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Throughout her exploration of the Island of Reincarnators, Jang Hayoung used the Unidentified Wall several times. She used its first-stage function, the Chat System, to speak to the Constellations.

―Demon King of Salvation-nim.

―Why do you call me that?

At some point, she had become brazen enough to speak to Kim Dokja like this.

There had been a time when she'd had an identity crisis because she wanted to deny the theory that the Demon King of Salvation was Dokja. But now, she had no choice but to accept it.

The Demon King of Salvation Hayoung liked was Dokja, and that idiot Dokja was the Demon King of Salvation.

Hayoung had barely accepted that fact.

Of course, she hadn't accepted all of it.

―I'm talking to the Demon King of Salvation-nim. So don't answer, Kim Dokja.

―...

―It can't be helped. Just shut up and give me the answer I want.

―What answer am I supposed to give?

The moment Dokja asked that, the sorrow she'd kept buried burst free.

―Why won't you let me join Kim Dokja Company?

It was something she had always wanted to ask. As she watched her companions move on to the next Scenario through the Nexus of the Constellations, Hayoung had been left behind at the end of the Scenario with her teachers.

She wanted to go with them. She wished she could be one of those stars.

Hayoung wondered, Was it because I wasn't qualified? Because I hadn't been with Dokja from the beginning of the Scenarios?

Hayoung remembered every moment they had spent starting a revolution in the Demon Realm and enduring the Demon King Selection. It was the first thrill she had ever experienced in her life, and now it was part of who she was. That was why she thought she had become one of Dokja's companions.

But perhaps that had all been her own misunderstanding.

―I want you to live a free life.

When Hayoung saw his answer, anger surged through her.

She wanted to demand what kind of bullshit that was, coming from him now, but the next message stopped her.

―Neither being forced to move between dimensions nor your life in the Demon Realm was your choice.

She couldn't argue.

As though her breath had stopped, all Hayoung could do was read the messages that followed.

―Live the life you want, Hayoung.

They were the words of the Demon King of Salvation.

The words of that lofty Constellation, drunk on a fable of saving others and careless even with his own life.

That was why they weren't the words of Hayoung's friend, Dokja.

「His voice cannot be heard.」

The Unidentified Wall was speaking.

Even through this wall, which could instantly communicate with any being in the world, she couldn't hear Dokja's voice.

Just as she'd asked, he was nothing more than the Demon King of Salvation.

'No, what am I supposed to do when you put it like that?'

That was why Hayoung wanted to hear Dokja's voice.

[The Unidentified Wall has gained its own name!]

That was why she was here now.

[The Unidentified Wall has evolved into the Wall of Impossible Communication!]

[The second-stage function of the Wall of Impossible Communication has been unlocked!]

She had unlocked the new wall's power, persuaded a Constellation who could help Kim Dokja Company, and come all the way here.

To live the life she wanted for herself.

Tzzzt!

The members of Kim Dokja Company stared at her in blank disbelief.

Hayoung felt her mind grow distant beneath the rising Status and shouted.

"Get a grip and move! I can't hold on for long!"

As her consciousness slowly faded, she shouted.

A Constellation's presence was taking control of Hayoung's Incarnation body.

[The Wall of Impossible Communication is activating Yearning for the Impossible Lv. 1!]

Yearning for the Impossible.

It was an ability of the Wall of Impossible Communication, one that allowed Hayoung, who had no Patron, to temporarily form a Behind-the-Scenes Contract with someone.

[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband looks down at his Incarnation body.]

The Prisoner of the Golden Headband, Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong.

According to Dokja, he was one of the strongest Constellations in the Star Stream.

The Great Sage Equaling Heaven swept his haughty gaze across the world before speaking in a lofty voice.

[This is far too bothersome now that I'm actually out here.]

Hayoung shrieked in disbelief.

"Hey, you said you'd help! I even listened to your worries! Move already!"

It was absurd to Hayoung, but she could understand what the Great Sage Equaling Heaven meant. Something had been strange about him ever since he manifested.

Tzzzt.

As though several beings had temporarily become one, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven's state of existence was unstable. Perhaps the inconvenience he mentioned had something to do with this phenomenon. Still, that was his problem.

"If you don't keep your promise right now, your hair-"

[I am. I said I'm doing it, okay?]

With a voice full of complaints, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven gripped his Ruyi Staff again.

A few Constellations showed interest in the Status flowing from his body.

[Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Sending them up now is suicide. Even you cannot―]

[Who are you?]

[I am Cheok Junkyung.]

Junkyung puffed out his chest as if resisting the Great Sage Equaling Heaven's Status. The Great Sage quietly read the emotion written in Junkyung's eyes before asking,

[Do you know Teacher Sun?]

Only after a moment of thought did Junkyung realize that Teacher Sun referred to the Great Sage Equaling Heaven himself.

[I know you were once a famous Constellation. But―]

[Well, it has been a very long time since this body was properly active in a Scenario.]

The Great Sage Equaling Heaven yawned, shrank the Ruyi Staff, and picked at his ear with it.

Just as Junkyung was about to get angry at that arrogance,

[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband has unleashed his Status!]

The Incarnation bodies of Junkyung and the other Constellations were thrown through the air.

Junkyung's eyes widened in surprise.

A presence powerful enough to overwhelm the surrounding Constellations simply by unleashing his Status.

[Sparks...!]

The Constellations shuddered as they cried out. Hayoung's body, where the Great Sage Equaling Heaven had manifested, was being covered in tremendous sparks. It wasn't strange for sparks of Plausibility to appear when a Constellation unleashed its Status. The problem was that this was the 89th Scenario area.

This area could bear almost any amount of Plausibility, yet sparks that dazzling were appearing here...

[Watch.]

An Eight Trigrams formation spread out around the Great Sage Equaling Heaven in every direction.

Heaven, Lake, Fire, Thunder, Wind, Water, Mountain, Earth.

The symbols spun fiercely around the Great Sage Equaling Heaven's Ruyi Jingu Bang, spewing golden torrents.

The split bodies of Indescribable Distance surged in after sensing the Great Sage Equaling Heaven's presence.

Plausibility sparks were the sign of an imminent backlash.

Like predators lunging at desirable prey, the split bodies of Indescribable Distance opened their jaws toward the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. There were five or six split bodies rushing in. It was a level that even Mythical-grade Constellations would struggle to handle, let alone fabled-grade ones.

But the Great Sage Equaling Heaven didn't retreat.

The instant boundless dark mist covered his entire body, he became a golden flash. Amid a raging vortex, the Ruyi Jingu Bang pierced the dark mist that gaped open like a maw.

Kududududud!

Indescribable Distance couldn't possibly have been harmed just because it had been struck by a single constellation artifact.

Yet when the Ruyi Jingu Bang's path multiplied in an instant and struck the split bodies from hundreds of directions, strange sounds began pouring from their mouths.

Grrrrrrrk.

One split body even seemed to be trying to avoid the Ruyi Jingu Bang.

No Constellation on the battlefield could take their eyes off the Great Sage Equaling Heaven's Status, which brilliantly painted the sky as it opposed Indescribable Distance.

Dionysus, Surya, Cheok Junkyung.

Even the Mythical-grade Constellation Hades wore an impressed expression.

[It is the Art of Chaos.]

Hades had accurately read the ominous power dwelling within the Great Sage Equaling Heaven's Ruyi Jingu Bang.

It was a power of neither good nor evil. This unique immortal art could only be used by the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, who had accumulated singular fables.

Macaque King.

Great Sage Equaling Heaven.

Victorious Fighting Buddha.

The Prisoner of the Golden Headband, Sun Wukong, who had existed under countless names, was fighting.

He was fighting several Calamities of the Void at once, each of which Cheok Junkyung could barely defeat even at full strength.

As though unwilling to lose to him, two Constellations joined the battle.

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire is drawing on her full power!]

[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon roars, unwilling to be outdone!]

The power of the two Constellations was being added to the Great Sage Equaling Heaven's Status. The Black Flame Dragon's [Black Flame] and Uriel's [hellfire inferno] merged, and the Great Sage Equaling Heaven's Ruyi Jingu Bang began growing to an unnatural size.

[An old fable forgotten by time begins its story.]

「And so the stars of good, evil, and neutrality finally gathered in one place.」

The three Statuses mixed, and a blinding flash erupted.

Gooooooh.

The Ruyi Staff, now enormous, struck the sky. Heaven and earth shook as a vast shockwave twisted space and time. When the screaming Constellations opened their eyes again, a huge hole had opened in the sky that had been covered in dark mist.

The Great Sage Equaling Heaven spoke.

[Go.]

Without missing that brief opening, three figures moved.

Yu Junghyeok raced forward using Air Walking, while Han Suyeong, riding the Black Flame Dragon's clone, and Jeong Huiwon, borrowing an Archangel's wings, shot straight upward.

The three of them pierced the dark mist in an instant and passed through the crack in the sky.

The moment they passed through the atmosphere, their bodies became drastically slower. In the cosmic space created by the collision of Indescribable Distance and the Final Dragon of the Apocalypse, terrifying fables were colliding.

"Ghk..."

Blood trickled from Suyeong's mouth as well beneath the pressure of the fables. Merely sensing them hurt as though her very being would crumble apart.

Dokja had to be somewhere in this space.

Before long, the three found Dokja's traces scattered like breadcrumbs.

「Only by doing this can I obtain a proper turning point.」

Fragments broken off from Dokja wandered through the void.

Huiwon was the first to reach out. As though protecting a small, fragile bird, she carefully held the fragment in both hands.

Was it an illusion? For an instant, it felt as though she could see the distant world Dokja desired beyond the period inscribed in the sentence.

They clung to this sentence, then to the next...

If they continued forward like that, as though crossing monkey bars, they would one day reach the conclusion.

Suyeong said, "You're a Constellation after all, Dokja."

Every Constellation was intoxicated by fables, indulging in every other fable to reach the "Single Fable" they pursued.

That was why Constellations had no true other.

In the end, Constellations only turned every fable into themselves.

「The allies will gain a fable capable of standing against any nebula.」

Even if that fable was for other beings.

"When did I ever ask you to show me a story like this?"

The split bodies of Indescribable Distance that had discovered them rushed in.

[Black Flame] burst from Suyeong's hand, Huiwon's Sword of Judgement activated [hellfire inferno], and Junghyeok's [Sky Splitter Sword Art] carved open a path through the void.

They were Calamities they normally couldn't fight. Yet they could fight because of the star waiting at the end of this path.

[The Constellation Demon King of Salvation is activating the Stigma Will to Sacrifice Lv. 9!]

Will to Sacrifice. A decisive Stigma that could raise companions' combat power by staking its user's life. Empowered by that starlight, Junghyeok swung his sword, Huiwon unleashed flames, and Suyeong threw a punch.

Then they began to faintly sense Dokja's presence.

The fables, weakened like the breath of a dying person, were telling them where Dokja was.

Tzzzt...

Uriel and the Black Flame Dragon's Statuses began to fall sharply.

They had truly reached their limits.

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire issues a warning!]

[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon says he urgently needs to use the bathroom, so it will be difficult for him to use his power...]

Far beyond the thick dark mist, something like a pale star began to appear. Junghyeok and Suyeong saw it too.

A star that seemed just within reach if they stretched out their hands.

But the path to that star was harsh. More and more split bodies were closing in, while the surrounding Status pressure rapidly increased.

Like a one-way rocket launched without a thought for fuel, the three had little Mana left in their bodies.

Kugugugugu.

The distance between them and the split bodies grew shorter.

If all three tried to break through those split bodies and charge ahead, not only Dokja, but they too would never return.

But what if they gathered all the Mana left for their one-way trip into a single person?

"There is only one way."

All three looked at one another at the same time.

They couldn't all save Dokja.

Only one person could reach that star.

Footnotes:

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