WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: smol_anon

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 53: Episode 11 - Night of the Prophets (4)

A red aura flickered around the crimson meteorite, spreading light across the entire platform.

"Oh! Finally!"

Some of the prophets screamed in excitement. Huiwon and Hyeonseong hurried over.

"Run? Why should we…?"

But it was too late. The red aura expanded across the platform, forming a faint barrier around the station.

Now, none of the prophets could leave Anguk Station.

[The constellations protesting excessive filtering lower their placards.]

[A significant number of constellations brighten their eyes at the omen.]

[The constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband watches the situation with curiosity.]

[The constellation Secretive Plotter is intrigued by your ingenious strategy.]

Even the constellations were getting excited, shooting indirect messages. In TWSA, the most dangerous situation was when the constellations decided to have a collective party.

I looked at Minseop, who seemed nervous.

"Was it that 1,124th Renouncer guy who arranged for everyone to meet here today?"

"Huh? I… I’m not sure. I thought it was a mutual agreement…."

It felt like swallowing a dozen sweet potatoes. I never thought things would go so wrong.

―Everyone, get behind me.

I kept an eye on the meteorite, positioning myself protectively in front of my allies.

―Aren’t we going to run?

―We can’t. If you look back there, you’ll see there’s a barrier.

―Huh? A barrier?

I didn’t answer, staring at the meteorite at the center of the platform.

This ‘meteorite’ was the main event of the ‘Fifth Scenario.’ Depending on its color, brightness, size, and type, a meteorite could bring either rewards or dangers. But this particular meteorite shouldn’t have been allowed to hatch under any circumstances.

They must be mistaken, thinking a constellation artifact would emerge from a bright red meteorite, like in the third round…

"And if a constellation artifact does appear, who will claim it?"

"Well…."

Before they could finish answering, some prophets who still hadn’t grasped the situation reached out to touch the meteorite.

[An omen of the fifth main scenario has appeared.]

The message appeared.

"Huh? What’s this?"

"Why’s the main scenario…?"

Crack!

A thin fracture split across the surface of the meteorite, and red light burst out. The prophet who had been peering curiously into the fissure was the first to be struck.

Swoosh—

The prophet’s headless body toppled slowly to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut.

"What the hell is this?!"

Panicking, the others screamed and backed away, but the situation was already out of control. I retreated to the edge of the barrier with my allies, watching carefully. I remembered seeing a meteorite like this in TWSA, but I couldn’t recall exactly what emerged from it.

Please, don’t let it be one of the ‘Great Catastrophes.’

The meteorite split open, spilling forth bubbling red lava that quickly spread across the platform, releasing a foul stench. The temperature around us spiked, making it hard to breathe as the surroundings began to transform. Was this… a lava zone?

If so, then…

[Tier-5 Fire Dragon species Lesser Dragon Ignir has appeared!]

"What?! What happened to the constellation artifact?"

A few panicked prophets activated their skills, but a long tail shot out from within the meteorite, snatching up some of the fleeing Prophets.

"Aaaargh!"

The prophet caught in its coils was instantly consumed in flames, his body reduced to ashes. Others tried to attack the tail with skills, but their weapons began melting on impact.

"This… this monster…."

The meteorite had been no more than two meters in size, yet the creature emerging from it had a tail over five meters long. Huiwon looked at me, bewildered.

―What the hell is that?

―It’s a catastrophe.

―A catastrophe?

With a final crack, the rest of the meteorite shattered, and the entire form of the Fire Dragon species emerged from another dimension.

GROOAAAR―!

In terms of dragons, it was barely a hatchling, and a degraded version at that. But there was a reason dragons stood at the peak of all monstrous species. A tier-6 monster would be enough to wipe out all these prophets, and this was a tier-5 Fire Dragon species….

"Yu Junghyeok-nim!"

Some of the prophets called out to me, drawing the group’s attention my way. I scowled.

"Everyone, move to the edge!"

Like obedient puppies, they all moved to the corners of the platform. The quicker ones had already started scrambling to the upper levels of the station. However—

"Damn it, there’s a barrier!"

Even a degraded lesser dragon was a ‘minor catastrophe.’ Whether minor or major, the level of despair was almost the same at this point. Fortunately, I knew its patterns. In one of Junghyeok’s countless regressions, he had indeed faced this kind of monster.

I turned to my allies.

―A hidden scenario will start soon.

―A hidden scenario?

―This creature isn’t supposed to appear in the fourth scenario. The difficulty level has been altered, so some entity will intervene shortly.

Generally, facing a catastrophe required various perks obtained in the fifth scenario.

Perks like the items from blue or green meteorites….

But we had nothing here. This meant something to balance the scales would likely be given to us.

[Multiple constellations protest the abnormal scenario difficulty.]

Sure enough, sparks erupted in the air, and a figure, child-sized, appeared.

It wasn’t a low-level dokkaebi like Bihyeong. This one wore a neat suit and had two small horns. I didn’t know his name, but I knew what he was.

This was a ‘mid-grade dokkaebi.’

[Hmm. This is quite troublesome. How did you all end up on this ‘route’? I had a feeling something was off recently… what a mess.]

The moment his deep voice echoed, the Lesser Dragon froze in place. A mid-grade dokkaebi could manage that level of ‘scenario intervention.’

[Why are you waking up a ‘catastrophe’ when you haven’t even cleared the fourth main scenario yet?]

The appearance of a mid-grade dokkaebi signaled that the ‘early scenarios’ were nearing their end. With him focusing on this location, I could hardly count on my contract benefits with Bihyeong anymore.

[There are certain incarnations some constellations hold dear, so I can’t just let you all die here. But I can’t lower the difficulty either….]

His gaze lingered on me for a moment.

"But this isn’t fair! We haven’t even cleared the fourth main scenario yet!"

A prophet, looking pale, shouted. Judging by how quickly the others covered his mouth, he must’ve been an extremely early quitter.

Yelling at a dokkaebi was never a good idea.

[Decision made. No changes to the difficulty level.]

The other prophets glared at the one who’d shouted, watching his panicked breaths. They’d read TWSA and knew. Dokkaebis never went back on their word. But they should know one other thing as well.

[Still, if you all die, it would be boring, so I’ll make a slight alteration to the scenario.]

Dokkaebis loved to talk.

[A new sub-scenario has been added to the hidden scenario!]

The lesser dragon resumed moving, its red-scaled forelimb smashing down on the platform floor.

CRAAAASH!

Dodging the flying debris, I quickly opened the scenario prompt.

+

<Hidden Scenario - United you die, Divided you die>

Classification: Hidden

Difficulty: A

Clear conditions: Either defeat the minor catastrophe Lesser Dragon Ignir within the time limit, or survive its attacks.

Time limit: 20 minutes

Reward: 3,000 coins

Penalty for failure: Death

* A hidden piece is concealed within this scenario.

+

A 20-minute survival mission. From the title to the content, nothing about this was reasonable. Yi Hyeonseong spoke up.

―Are we supposed to kill that thing?

―No, don’t even dream about it.

A catastrophe was called a catastrophe for a reason. Even the real Yu Junghyeok wouldn’t be able to take down a tier-5 Fire Dragon species. Just looking at the platform was proof. The beast’s enormous mouth began spewing fiery breath.

"Aaaah!"

Just a touch of the flames turned some prophets into pools of molten flesh. The walls melted into twisted, grotesque shapes. The beast’s head slowly turned in our direction.

"Run anti-clockwise, everyone!"

Ignoring the heat, we sprinted ahead of the monster’s turning head. Luckily, Huiwon and Hyeonseong were keeping up well. Although Minseop and Seongguk lagged slightly, they seemed fine.

This time, I dodged because I knew the pattern.

The issue was, it wouldn’t keep using this same attack.

[The Tier-5 Fire Dragon Species Lesser Dragon Ignir is preparing to use Flame of Destruction.]

…It had started. I’d managed to evade its basic attacks, but the real danger began now.

"Look for a platform."

"What?"

"A platform numbered 5… or 2 or 3! Just get a total of 5, quickly!"

[A hidden piece has been activated.]

[The numbered platforms have been activated.]

[If the correct number of people stand on a platform, Absolute Shield will be activated for 10 seconds.]

[If the number on the platform is exceeded or falls short, the Absolute Shield will not activate.]

Seeing the system message, the prophets started to panic. Around the station, platforms about two pyeong (roughly 6.6 square meters) in size appeared.

"A platform? Oh, I see!"

"There’s a hidden piece!"

Watching the prophets scramble clumsily, I bit my lip. I could picture the constellations chuckling as they watched. The reason so many constellations had protested the scenario’s difficulty? It was simple. ‘Death without a story’ was boring to them.

What they wanted wasn’t to see ants helplessly crushed under a giant’s foot. They wanted to see ants struggling to survive, even if it meant turning on each other.

[Multiple constellations observe the situation with keen interest.]

Damn constellation bastards.

"Get off!"

"Urgh!"

The prophets, who had previously addressed each other by their renouncer numbers so cordially, began swinging weapons at each other over the platform marked ‘1.’ A few fell to the ground, bleeding as others scrambled onto the platform.

The faster prophets were already gathering in groups on the platforms, strengthening their defenses. I kept an eye on them.

This whole setup was clearly a trap.

It was likely planned by the so-called ‘Apostles.’

They knew the early quitters would gather here and decided to wipe them out. A wise decision. Even if the information they possessed was limited, it was better to have fewer people who knew the future.

If I had to guess, the apostles were watching from a safe distance, laughing at the sight of quitters dying here.

That is, if they were ‘normal’ people. The fact they’d read beyond chapter 50 meant they weren’t. They’d even designated themselves as apostles and were obsessed with controlling information.

For someone capable of using the ‘Red Meteorite’ as a trap card, they would likely know a way to deal with the catastrophe it summoned, too. In other words…

―Representative! We can’t find a platform here.

―None here, either!

Minseop and Huiwon called out in desperation. As fate would have it, the only platform near us had a rather ominous number on it.

[4]

In other words, only four people could fit on that platform to survive. But our group had five members.

[The Tier-5 Fire Dragon Species Lesser Dragon Ignir has used Flame of Destruction.]

A massive blast of flames erupted from the center of the platform, spreading across the entire station. Despite the distance, the heat was intense enough to burn our skin. If we didn’t activate the shield now, our entire group would be annihilated.

"R-Representative?"

Seongguk and Minseop trembled under my gaze. I gripped the handle of ‘Unbreakable Faith’ when suddenly—

"Yu Junghyeok-nim!"

Turning, I saw a prophet standing nearby on a platform labeled ‘2.’ Despite the urgency, he had a strange look of calm on his face.

"Come this way!"

This guy…? A flood of memories hit me. I dashed toward him and shouted to my group.

"Activate the shield!"

[Absolute Shield has been activated!]

The next instant, flames engulfed the platform, scorching everything in sight. Had even a trace of it touched me, I would have melted instantly.

"Phew… we made it."

The prophet who’d activated the shield sighed in relief.

I asked him, "Who are you?"

The man gave a small smile.

"That hurts, Junghyeok-nim. Have you forgotten already? I’m the 1,168th. I was the one who asked you about Asmodeus earlier…."

Of course, I remembered. He was the one who had mentioned the battle with ‘Demon King Asmodeus.’

"But that’s not what I’m asking."

Meeting my gaze, the 1,168th’s eyes wavered. At first, I hadn’t given it much thought. The scene between Yu Junghyeok and Asmodeus in the second round—a flashback where Yu Junghyeok had been beaten by the Demon King.

It was one of my favorite scenes, so I remembered it well.

However… thinking back on it, that flashback didn’t appear before chapter 50. As a complete reader of Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse, I knew for certain.

Drawing my sword, I spoke.

"I’ll ask you again. Who are you?"

[Your memory of certain scenes has been enhanced due to your exclusive attribute!]

The battle with ‘Demon King Asmodeus’ appeared precisely in chapter 57 of Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse.

A crack appeared in the man’s previously confident expression.

Footnotes:

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