WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 703: Episode 25: Demon King (6)
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A Black Beast gazed down at Washington City with aloof eyes.
Others might not have recognized him, but there was no way I could fail to recognize him.
It was definitely Yu Junghyeok.
[A new Sub Scenario has been confirmed.]
+
<Sub Scenario - Beast Hunt>
Category: Sub
Difficulty: ???
Clear Conditions: Defeat the Black Beast that rules Washington City.
Time Limit: -
Reward: Historical-grade fable, 300,000 Coins, an S-grade Skill Selection Ticket, ???
Failure: -
+
What the hell was going on?
I'd come to defeat the Ruler of Washington Dome. Why had I suddenly received a Scenario to defeat Junghyeok?
‘Patron?’
Kim Dokja didn't answer.
Instead, a faint voice echoed in my head.
- Constellation, what happened was...
It was Bihyeong's voice.
It seemed Dokja had been questioning Bihyeong about the Scenario in the meantime.
- This wasn't our intention... It's true that we sold your modifier, Constellation, but...
It seemed this Scenario hadn't been Bihyeong's doing.
Either way, the situation was bad.
The Incarnations' expressions were beginning to change.
"Hey. Did you see the reward?"
"Yeah."
"If we pull this off, we'll hit the jackpot."
The Incarnations who had initially feared the Black Beast began returning to the area around the Capitol one by one.
A Historical-grade fable, 300,000 Coins, and even an S-grade Skill Selection Ticket.
Those were rewards an ordinary Sub Scenario would never offer.
- Kid. Listen carefully from here on out.
Dokja, who had returned just then, spoke to me.
- That bastard has activated two fable markings.
‘What exactly are fable markings?’
Fable markings weren't a setting that appeared in TWSA, so I quietly listened to Dokja's explanation.
According to him, Junghyeok currently had three fable markings carved into his body.
「Binding of Truth」
「Binding of Emotion」
「Binding of Life」
- Binding of Truth is a power you can use by paying with part of your past memories. An ordinary person would become an idiot if they abused it, but that marking isn't much of a burden for that bastard, who has memories to spare.
I'd heard about the first fable marking from Anna Croft before.
After activating it, Junghyeok had slaughtered four viscount-ranked demons in an instant.
The problem was the second fable marking.
- Binding of Emotion is a marking that costs you your emotions. If you use it, you gradually lose your identity as a human. In other words...
‘You become a beast.’
- Right.
Could that be why Junghyeok had turned into a beast?
- Normally, though, using Binding of Emotion doesn't progress beastification that far. At most, an arm or leg turns beastlike. But that bastard hasn't just undergone complete beastification. His physical grade has risen several levels.
‘I think I just found the clue.’
A small fragment glimmered on the ground near the Capitol.
- Grab it! Quickly!
I moved at once, bending down to snatch up the fragment.
[You have acquired a tiny Kim Dokja Fragment.]
[This fragment is too small to count as an erasure.]
[The fable Successor of the Eternal Name has devoured the fragment with apparent displeasure.]
[Your lifespan has increased.]
[5 minutes have been added to the time limit.]
My lifespan had increased, though only slightly.
Then.
「...」
A story began to reach me.
It was the story of a demon.
Born a Warden of the Dark, it was a demon that evolved by gathering Kim Dokja Fragments. The memory of a being that only wanted to escape being an extra.
「"You'll die here."」
「[The Incarnation Yu Junghyeok has activated Binding of Truth!]」
Junghyeok of the forty-first round was astonishingly strong.
His combat ability was no less than that of a marquis-ranked demon. After exchanging more than a hundred blows in an instant, the two caught their breath and searched for openings in each other.
Clawing, tearing, cleaving, stabbing.
The demon shrank back more and more as wounds accumulated across its body.
It had thought it had become strong enough.
It had killed and eaten many humans.
It had taken their power.
Then what was this "human"?
「"One marking isn't enough after all. This isn't a power I should be using here, but..."」
Junghyeok muttered, and black light covered his entire body.
「[The Incarnation Yu Junghyeok has activated Binding of Emotion!]」
Junghyeok's second fable marking had finally activated.
Pitch-black fur began covering his entire body. His chest and thighs swelled, veins bulging as rough muscles writhed into place.
After that, the demon's memories were damaged in places.
Something pitch-black charging forward. Cleaving through the demon's body, tearing it apart, devouring it.
Only emotions stained with terror and fear remained clumped within the fragment.
「The demon was unlucky. The opponent it met happened to be the Supreme King.」
Torn to pieces, the demon stretched out a hand with its last strength, as if begging to be spared. It was something it had learned from the humans it had killed countless times.
「The demon was lucky. The last opponent it met was Yu Junghyeok.」
An ordinary Junghyeok wouldn't have taken the demon's hand.
But at that moment, Junghyeok had two fable markings activated.
Binding of Truth had restricted some of his memories, while Binding of Emotion had paralyzed part of his reason.
With only instinct remaining, Junghyeok reached out as though enchanted the moment he saw the shining fragment at the demon's fingertips.
「Kim Dokja Fragment.」
Junghyeok's hand touched the fragment, and his gaze clouded.
As his soul shook, a gap opened in [Sage's Eye], and his [Mental Barrier] faltered.
The demon didn't miss its final chance.
「The demon had finally gained a chance to become the protagonist of this story.」
A chill ran down my spine.
I reflexively muttered toward Junghyeok, standing atop the Capitol.
"Junghyeok?"
The Black Beast looked down at me.
It wasn't a gaze that recognized me.
「Demon.」
The Black Beast had nothing left but deep distrust and hatred for the world.
It unleashed a long roar toward Washington City.
The howl seemed to shake people's very souls, and a few Incarnations went pale and collapsed. Some, however, only burned with more determination.
"Kill it! The reward is ours!"
A group of Incarnations from the Middle East stepped forward first.
Dressed in worn combat uniforms and keffiyehs, they immediately shouldered their firearms and opened fire.
"Fire!"
Mana bullets reminiscent of demon-subduing arrows formed a barrage, and the entire Capitol soon filled with pale dust.
"Wait! Stop! Stop firing!"
I shouted as I ran toward them.
Of course, I wasn't worried about Junghyeok.
"Arrrgh!"
Jets of blood burst through the pale dust. Incarnations left with only their lower bodies toppled like dolls.
- We're fucked, kid.
‘That demon is inside Junghyeok now, right?’
- Yes.
‘Should we exorcise it?’
- The Vatican group didn't come, and even if a decent exorcist had, it wouldn't be enough. That demon is marquis-ranked too.
‘Then what do we do?’
- We need to deactivate the fable markings first.
Just as I was about to ask how we were supposed to do that,
[This Sub Scenario has special Clear Conditions.]
A Scenario message appeared before me.
+
1. To defeat the Black Beast, you must remove the eight fragments lodged in its back.
2. You can receive a great reward by dedicating a successfully removed fragment to a nebula.
+
It was obvious what the eight fragments growing from Junghyeok's back were.
‘Kim Dokja Fragments.’
I thought of the abnormally powerful Grade-4 earth dragon.
Even the earth dragon that had absorbed only one fragment was Grade 4. How strong was Junghyeok after absorbing eight?
At that moment, the beast's golden eyes turned this way.
More precisely, they were looking not at me but at the woman beside me.
「The demon felt an incomprehensible killing intent.」
I turned to look at her almost at the same moment the beast's figure disappeared.
That Black Beast had lost its reason, leaving only instinct behind.
"Anna!"
The Incarnation standing beside me was the enemy Junghyeok hated most.
The beast rushed in front of us in an instant, its front paw aiming for Anna's head. Anna's eyes widened as she stepped back, and the King's Guardian, who had been waiting behind her, moved.
"Goddess!"
Aegis's Shield was summoned from the back of Selena Kim's hand.
In the third round, Selena had received the protection of the goddess Athena.
It seemed Athena had gifted her a constellation artifact this time as well.
Craaaash!
Aegis's Shield collided with Junghyeok's front paw.
It was no less than the constellation artifact of a fabled-grade Constellation.
And Selena, who wielded it, would eventually become one of the hundred strongest people in TWSA.
"Argh!"
Yet she couldn't withstand even one strike and rolled dozens of meters away.
Selena staggered to her feet, seemingly with one knee broken, and shouted,
"Anna, run...!"
"Stand back, Prophet!"
The next to charge in bravely was Elliot Haston, Lancelot's Incarnation.
Elliot drew a sword scattering pure white light and charged forward on his beloved mount, Griffith.
More than ten knights followed behind him.
"Stars of the Round Table!"
[At the request of the character Elliot Haston, Justice of the Round Table has been activated!]
[Round Table Council has been convened.]
Round Table Council.
My eyes widened as I asked,
‘Patron, could that be-’
- Wow. I've never seen that before either.
Just as the Judge of Evil could activate [Hour of Judgement] with the consent of Constellations of the absolute good alignment, the Knights of the Round Table could manifest [Justice of the Round Table] with the consent of the Round Table Council.
[Round Table Council has consented to the Skill's activation.]
[The character Elliot Haston has activated Justice of the Round Table!]
The majestic spirit of the great Round Table surged from Elliot's body.
As though answering that spirit, dazzling radiance flowed from the knights' bodies.
"Kill the monster!"
The knights formed a wedge formation and charged fiercely toward Yu Junghyeok. For a moment, I thought they might actually be able to hurt him.
Then explosive Mana surged from the Black Beast's entire body.
Mana gathered in the beast's front paw, then poured toward the knights like cannon fire.
[Sky-Splitting Collapse Fist.]
Screams and groans rang out everywhere.
When the thick dust cleared, the devastation of the battlefield was laid bare. Knights with their limbs torn apart lay scattered across the Capitol like dolls.
"H-how..."
Elliot had a small hole in his stomach and was vomiting blood.
Even those powerful Knights of the Round Table hadn't been able to subdue Junghyeok.
I heard Dokja click his tongue in my head.
- We can't win that. It's better to retreat. Even Peihu and Rannvir Khan together couldn't stop Junghyeok as he is now.
A faint sense of guilt washed over me at Dokja's words.
I couldn't stop thinking that perhaps all of this was my fault.
「"You stop him."」
Maybe Junghyeok knew he would become like this, and that was why he had tried to bring me along.
「"I don't know why, but when I receive that memory, I stop moving."」
I bit down hard on my lip and clenched my fist.
‘There's still a way.’
Junghyeok's mind had been shaken because of the memories in the Kim Dokja Fragments.
Then what if I shook his head hard one more time?
In other words, what if I struck the back of his head with an overwhelmingly powerful memory?
‘Patron. Possess me one more time.’
Unfortunately, that wasn't something I could do with my strength alone.
- No.
‘Why not?’
- The cooldown isn't over. And we don't have enough Coins to pay the Plausibility cost.
‘I’ll pay the Coins. How much cooldown is left?’
- Ten minutes.
My mind went blank.
Ten minutes was enough time for all of Washington to become a wasteland and for every Incarnation here to be wiped out.
I looked at Anna.
There was no choice. We had to retreat for now and wait for another opportunity-
"Inho Cheon."
Something was strange about Anna's expression. Her Arch-Demon's Eyeball spun with an ominous light, rough sparks popping from it.
I realized what was happening.
"Can you see the future?"
"He's coming."
Anna's voice was flustered.
Before I could ask who was coming, I saw a portal twisting in the distance.
Hadn't every Incarnation likely to come already arrived?
No matter who came, they would only die a pointless death here.
Even Peihu and Rannvir Khan couldn't stop him. Whoever came wouldn't change the situation.
Then a massive animal's front paw emerged from beyond the portal.
Rumbleee.
Incarnations rode atop beast species resembling elephants.
Were they Indian Incarnations? Had Rannvir Khan really come?
Laughter echoed from somewhere.
The moment I saw the Incarnation standing at the center of the formation, something suddenly came to mind.
"Ha ha ha! Junghyeok! I've arrived!"
How had I forgotten that being?
I recalled the seventh Scenario of the third round.
In the original third round, Seoul had been occupied by a religious sect.
But I hadn't heard anything about it this time, so I had thought that sect might have disappeared as the Scenario changed.
It had been a careless thought.
- Ah, perhaps.
He was the only Incarnation to defeat the Supreme King in the third round.
A beautiful figure spread his arms wide like a blooming lotus and spoke to Junghyeok.
"What a splendid form, Junghyeok."
The Salvation Sect Leader, Nirvana Moebius, had arrived in Washington.
"But why have you become one with something other than me?"
Perhaps somewhat angry.
Footnotes:
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