Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint - Chapter 638

WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 638: Episode 16: The Fifth Scenario (7)

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Punishment.

An authority a station's Representative could use to control the members of their group.

[Punishment is affected by the flag's grade.]

[Your current flag grade is purple.]

The higher the flag's grade, the stronger the authority became.

Perhaps the Ark had placed the flag somewhere obvious because he knew things would turn out this way.

Right now, the system was my only weapon against them.

Tzzzzzzzt!

The moment Punishment activated, white lightning swept across the Ark's entire body.

"G-g-ghh...?"

His eyes widened as his body shook in pain. A metallic sound came from his strained lips.

"Four! Beggars!"

At the same time, the four beggars guarding him each drew their Dog-Beating Staffs.

I wasn't surprised or flustered.

"I think you've misunderstood something."

[You use Punishment.]

"You're part of my group now, too."

Lightning surged through the Four Beggars, and they dropped to their knees as they rushed at me. Some even dropped their Dog-Beating Staffs, groaning in pain.

"G-ah, ah, ah."

The Ark, on the other hand, continued glaring at me without kneeling.

I took a breath and used Punishment once more.

[The severity of Punishment increases!]

The stronger lightning finally forced the Ark's knees to buckle.

[The Constellation Naval Warfare God admires your resourcefulness!]

This world had never been favorable ground for Outer Gods.

They were beings cast aside by the Scenario, and this was a world of Scenarios.

A world with assigned stories, roles, and protagonists.

Just as tertiary actors who were no longer written were discarded, this world didn't want Outer Gods.

[The Constellation King Heungmu orders you to inflict a stronger punishment.]

[The Constellation Bald Army General shouts, asking how insignificant creatures from another world dare run wild.]

[The Constellation Reclining Dragon says those bastards need to learn their lesson.]

[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon curls his lip.]

When powerful Outer Gods descended on Dark Castle and the Demon Realm, most Historical Constellations had left the channel.

That meant the Outer God before me wasn't a higher divinity on the level of a Great Old One.

It was probably a lower species comparable to the Nameless Ones, one with a Status similar to or lower than that of a Constellation. Even so, it was still a major threat to me.

I spoke to the divinity dwelling inside the Ark.

"What are you? Why did you come here?"

Ordinarily, it was impossible to speak with Outer Gods.

The moment ordinary mortals heard their voices, they were consumed by madness and fear, losing their reason.

But the one before me was a little different.

It was probably because it coexisted with a Constellation's soul inside a human body.

"W-e a-r-e."

Gueeeek!

Vomit poured from the Ark's mouth. Black veins bulged across his body.

I urgently pressed him.

"You called me a Recorder of the World earlier. What did you mean by that?"

The creature raised its head again and spoke, one syllable at a time.

"R-e-c-o-r-d."

Veins now protruded from even its lips as it forced out the words.

"R-e-c-o-r-d-e-r-s o-f F-e-a-r."

Recorders of Fear.

There had definitely been beings with that name in Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint.

「The first humans to encounter Outer Gods, and the writers who spread word of their existence.」

But nothing had been written about who they were or what kind of beings they were.

"Y-o-u s-m-e-l-l l-i-k-e t-h-e-m."

The Outer God looked up at the sky.

From somewhere, I heard a sound like a monstrous bird screeching.

「Save ussave ussave ussave us」

「Wearenotguiltywearenotguiltywearenotguilty」

「Don'tforgetdon'tforgetdon'tforgetdon'tforget」

Voices from beyond the Great Hole, in that distant universe.

「Writeitdownwriteitdownwriteitdownwriteitdownwriteitdown」

The fables' screams rang through my head, making it feel as though my skull would split apart. A vicious dizziness overtook me, and I shouted.

"Ark! Get a hold of yourself. Are you really going to let those things from another world take your possession vessel?"

If I kept increasing Punishment's power, the Ark's possession vessel wouldn't endure.

Then freckled Wonsik would lose his father forever.

Perhaps he heard me, because clarity returned to the Ark's eyes for a moment.

"Punishment."

I couldn't tell whether he meant for me to strengthen it or weaken it, because his eyes soon turned completely black and he placed a hand on the floor while still kneeling.

As a chilling sensation crawled up my spine, I instinctively shouted behind me.

"Everyone, cover your ears!"

【Martial WorldMartial WorldMartial WorldMartial WorldMartial WorldMartial WorldMartial WorldMartial WorldMartial WorldMartial WorldMartial WorldMartial WorldMartial WorldMartial WorldMartial WorldMartial WorldMartial WorldMartial WorldMartial WorldMartial WorldMartial World】

The nearby beggars collapsed, blood spraying from their seven orifices. I staggered and fell to my knees as well.

[The Exclusive Skill Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World has activated at full strength!]

If the sentences of TWSA that activated just then hadn't filled my ears, I would have ended up like the beggars.

「Yu Junghyeok knew. There was only one way to escape spiritual shock after encountering an Outer God.」

「Trusting only in the fables one possessed.」

I had no fable.

「Yu Junghyeok thought.」

But I had the story of TWSA.

「"I'm a regressor, and my time is infinite. I'll grow infinitely stronger, so the day I become stronger than him will surely come. A predetermined future is fact. Therefore, I'm already stronger than him."」

Listening to that bizarre logic was painful, but his nonsense brought me back to my senses.

Fortunately, the Outer God's declaration didn't continue.

Instead, black mist spread across the ground.

[Worldview Invasion has occurred.]

[Abnormal beings from another world rise in the darkness.]

Abnormal lifeforms crawled out of the mist across the martial arts arena floor.

For a moment, I wondered if they were the Nameless Ones, but that didn't seem to be the case.

There was no way such monsters would descend on Earth when it was still only the fourth Scenario.

Then what were those things?

Looking closer, the ground touched by the black mist had changed.

Grass and dirt brushed against my feet. Native plants unseen anywhere on the Korean Peninsula, along with an unfamiliar scent of soil.

Something suddenly came to mind.

[A Tier-8 nonhuman species, jiangshi, rises in the darkness.]

"U-uaaaah!"

The beggars screamed and swung their Dog-Beating Staffs in resistance. Huiwon, Master Sergeant Jeong Munho, and Sergeant Kim shouted as they protected their companions.

"Be careful! They're from another world!"

There was no doubt about it.

This was Worldview Invasion, the precursor to the fifth Scenario.

But why had jiangshi appeared? The world originally meant to invade the Korean Peninsula was the planet Chronos.

「The fifth Scenario would soon become a battle between worlds. Humanity would fight against invading worlds. Just as Seoul was being encroached upon by Chronos, China would be invaded by the 3rd Murim World, while Japan would be invaded by the Hundred Demon World.」

The 3rd Murim World.

Only then did everything fall into place.

Why the Ark, who came from the Martial World, had appeared here.

Why a group called the Beggar's Sect had suddenly shown up at Seoul Station.

I understood it all.

「The 3rd Murim World was the world where the Dragon-Head Ark Master Cheon Gae had fled with the Beggar's Sect.」

In other words, that otherworldly meteorite before me was...

―Hey, are you alive?

Bihyeong's voice.

He was out of breath from dealing with something urgent, speaking to me through dokkaebi communication.

―Damn it, a low-grade dokkaebi set the meteorite's landing point wrong...

I understood exactly what had happened.

"Is that meteorite supposed to fall in China?"

―What? How did you know?

Bihyeong clicked his tongue as if he couldn't believe it, then warned me.

―Forget it. Damn it. It's not like you've only known weird things for a day or two. Just run! I put in a request with the Enforcement Bureau, so they'll be here to retrieve it soon. Don't get tangled up with those Outer God bastards and get yourself killed...

"No. Leave it to me."

―What?

"I can handle this. Honestly, the Enforcement Bureau doesn't need to get involved. An unexpected Scenario is still a Scenario."

Bihyeong fell silent for a moment before asking,

―That's the fifth Scenario. I'm telling you, you can't handle it right now.

"Isn't it common in the Star Stream for the next Scenario to unfold early?"

I had come all this way. It would be a problem if the Enforcement Bureau suddenly intervened and stole my reward.

"Just make sure the reward is ready."

This was an opportunity, if anything.

Since I hadn't received an elixir from the Ark, perhaps the Administration Bureau would give me a comparable reward if I dealt with that divinity.

There was only one problem.

"G-gakgak gak gakgak..."

To stop this situation, I had to kill the Ark driven mad.

[A Tier-7 nonhuman species, Iron Jiangshi, roars at you!]

The Iron Jiangshi rushed at me in an instant, slashing the front of my clothes with its long nails.

With my current abilities, I couldn't defeat a large number of Tier-7 species.

But they were jiangshi, and I happened to possess the perfect constellation artifact.

I summoned the Damaged Samyeong's Bamboo Staff with Thought, then immediately poured Mana into it.

[Damaged Samyeong's Bamboo Staff displays powerful anti-demonic power!]

Anti-demonic power.

It was the perfect counter against jiangshi, a type of demonic person.

[A Tier-7 nonhuman species, Iron Jiangshi, feels fear and retreats.]

I didn't miss that opening and ran past the jiangshi.

[You activate Punishment at maximum output!]

Guaaaah!

The authority of the system began attacking the Outer God. The blackened area of Worldview Invasion rapidly shrank.

"Die, you bastard."

I swung the bamboo staff straight at the Ark.

Of course, I didn't really intend to kill him.

If this possession vessel died, the freckled boy's father would die as well.

What mattered was the gesture.

A gesture showing that I would definitely finish him.

[The being inhabiting Incarnation Myeong Seun has released its Possession!]

Just as expected.

Right before the bamboo staff could reach him, the Outer God turned into a pale soul form and left its possession vessel.

It circled Seoul Station's ceiling in an instant, then rushed toward a new possession target.

「IwantitIwantitIwantitIwantitIwantitIwantitIwantit」

I knew exactly where it would go.

「Writeitdownwriteitdownwriteitdownwriteitdownwriteitdownwriteitdown」

Tzzzzzzzt!

The divinity's energy flew in and struck the crown of my head. The world went black.

I had never experienced it before, but I knew the exact sentence that could describe this feeling.

「It was like when Kim Dokja was swallowed by The One Who Devours Dreams in Dark Castle.」

When I slowly opened my eyes, I had become a soul form.

All I could see around me was a white snowfield.

【S-t-u-p-i-d R-e-c-o-r-d-e-r】

This was my inner self.

【G-gak gak gak gak gak gak】

I turned toward the strange laughter and saw the creature that had invaded my world.

A cephalopod form over ten meters tall. That was its true body.

It was smaller than The One Who Devours Dreams that Kim Dokja had faced, but it had at least formed a contract with a Constellation, so I couldn't underestimate it.

[The Constellation Naval Warfare God asks what on earth is happening.]

[The Constellation Goryeo's Top Swordsman says it seems that an otherworldly monster has entered that Incarnation's body.]

[The Constellation Bald Army General sponsors you with 100 Coins and asks if you're all right.]

Messages from the stars, unable to look inside me.

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire worries about your safety.]

[The Constellation Prisoner of the Golden Headband urges the Administration Bureau to broadcast the screen.]

What a shame.

I couldn't show the stars this scenery.

But one of them might be able to see it.

"Ark."

[The Constellation Last Ark watches your battle.]

I thought so.

Since the Dragon-Head Ark Master Cheon Gae had a contract with that Outer God, he could probably watch this story.

"I'll show you the story you want."

This was a story for a single audience member.

[The level of the Exclusive Skill Incitement has increased!]

[You activate Exclusive Skill Incitement Lv.7!]

Earlier, I had used Incitement to camouflage Kyrios.

But I lacked Mana and my mastery of martial arts was poor, so what the Ark had actually seen was a crude, flimsy illusion dependent on Stage Transformation.

Here, though, things were different.

[The penalty of the applicable skill is temporarily lifted in this area!]

Here, I was barely constrained by my body or Plausibility.

[You enter Snowfield.]

[You describe your own actions.]

[5 points of Plausibility have been consumed.]

A blank, pure-white page without a single word. The only force governing this space was imagination.

「Writer Lee Hakhyun began writing sentences.」

Just like when I fought Han Suyeong.

[The Constellation Last Ark exhales tensely.]

The Mana of [White Pure Star Energy] filled my entire body.

As I slowly blinked, I could feel the energy of [Electrification] filling the brightly colored surroundings.