WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 705: Episode 26: Star Ladder (1)

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Junghyeok's roar changed the tide of battle. The terrified Incarnations began leaving the battlefield one by one.

[Someone is using Star Ladder!]

[Someone is using Star Ladder!]

This Scenario was a Sub Scenario. They didn't have to clear it.

"Wait, you people..."

They hadn't come here to protect Washington in the first place.

"I'm sorry, Prophet."

Even the Incarnations from the allied nations she had trusted vanished one by one, and Anna Croft's expression grew anxious. The Star Ladder in the sky continued to shine brightly.

"Anna."

Selena Kim and Christina stood beside her. Anna's companions also knew there was no chance of victory like this.

Anna and Zarathustra's elite forces had already defeated the Grade-4 disaster species. They, too, could use that Star Ladder if they chose.

Even so, Anna didn't leave the Scenario.

If she abandoned Washington, America would collapse. The Demon Realm's incursion would continue, eventually swallowing Las Vegas.

As Zarathustra's Representative, she had a duty to protect this continent.

"Inho Cheon."

Anna looked at me.

She was desperate enough to rely on the con artist she hated most.

"I'll stop him. In return..."

This was exactly when a con artist could name his condition.

"Please lend me your ability."

"What...?"

"I know you have the Elixir Maker Attribute."

The real reason I had come to see Anna.

I took out the low-grade Dragon Heart. It was the reward I had received after killing a Grade-4 earth dragon. However, the Dragon Heart was so difficult to process that there was only one way to refine it into an elixir at this point.

"I need your blood."

The blood of an Elixir Maker had to be mixed in.

Anna flinched and studied me closely.

"You must know what will happen if you drink my blood."

"I'll become your Subordinate."

I spoke as I recalled Dokja of the third round, who had come back to life after drinking Anna's blood.

"But that was when my Status was lower than yours."

"Are you saying your Status is higher than mine now?"

Certainly, I looked pitifully weak.

I didn't have an Incarnation body as sturdy as Junghyeok's, nor did I possess mental skills as powerful as Nirvana's. I didn't lead a powerful group like Anna, and I didn't have a Patron that anyone would recognize.

Still, there was one thing I was confident in.

[The fable Successor of the Eternal Name licks its lips.]

Story.

"How have you already...?"

Anna's eyes widened as she sensed the fables flowing from my entire body.

Of course they did.

I had already gathered three fables. Those three fables alone created a clear difference in Status between me and the other Incarnations.

"We don't have time. What will you do?"

Anna was still hesitant.

The fact that her blood was an elixir was one of her deepest secrets. The moment it became known, Incarnations from all over the world would target her. Revealing this ability in front of me was already a gamble.

After thinking it over, Anna accepted the Dragon Heart.

"It'll take about five minutes. You're confident, right?"

I stepped forward with my back to Anna.

"Of course."

Junghyeok stood over Nirvana, roaring at the sky.

[The Attribute Circulating Body has activated.]

I slowly inhaled and circulated Mana throughout my body.

―Kid.

'Yes. I can do it now, right?'

The cooldown for [Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint] had ended long ago.

[You are activating Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Stage 3!]

The problem was Plausibility.

Even Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Stage 3 wasn't completely free from Plausibility's influence.

―You can.

This time was different.

I knew instinctively.

Just as when Yamata no Orochi descended on [peace land], the Plausibility Backlash in this Scenario didn't occur in its usual form.

In other words, this Scenario operated by placing their respective Statuses on the scales and offsetting their mutual Plausibility.

If that was the case...

「This time, I might be able to use the Demon King of Salvation's true power.」

I activated [Incitement] at the right moment.

「I am Kim Dokja.」

[Incitement resonates with Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint!]

[Your synchronization rate with your Patron has increased!]

A layer enveloped my soul, as though I had put on clothing that was both sturdy and soft.

When I slowly blinked, the world changed. The lofty sky seemed lower, and the gazes of the Constellations felt more blatant.

[Some Constellations are startled by your Status!]

[Few Constellations pay their respects to your Status.]

[The Constellation Bald Army General is startled, asking whether you had been hiding your strength.]

[The Constellation Naval Warfare God examines your fables intently.]

[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon stares at you wide-eyed.]

Christina, standing a few steps away, staggered.

If Christina truly was an Apostle, there was no way she wouldn't recognize who had possessed me.

"So you really are..."

At last, Junghyeok looked my way. The moment our eyes met, I knew he would move.

"Come, Yu Junghyeok."

As I relinquished control of my body to Dokja, Unbreakable Faith flashed through the air.

Junghyeok's charging forepaw collided with the brilliantly rising Blade of Faith.

Rumbleee!

A deafening roar erupted as the blade and forepaw clashed.

I was holding back that monstrous beast's attack.

―Why are you so surprised? I'm fabled-grade, you know.

I realized anew that the playful older guy from the neighborhood was actually a shining Constellation in the sky.

―Though I can't properly use even a tenth of my power with this Incarnation body.

To be precise, even that tenth was overwhelming.

The muscles throughout my body screamed, and my Mana rapidly drained away.

―I'll settle this within five minutes.

A fable began telling its story in Dokja's stead.

[The fable King of a Kingless World begins its story!]

The first fable obtained by Dokja, the Demon King of Salvation.

「Under the heavens of this world, no king may proclaim himself king.」

King of a Kingless World declared itself against Supreme King.

「Only the king who rejects kings shall truly exist.」

The fable's power exploded, and I kicked off the ground. Confidence surged through me, the certainty that I could cut through anything in my way.

The Blade of Faith shot out explosively.

For the first time, bewilderment flickered in the terrifying beast's eyes.

Slice.

Severed black fur scattered through the air, and blood sprayed out. Junghyeok, who had been attacking without pause, changed his stance.

A cautious defensive posture centered around [tiger god aura].

In that brief moment, the beast had judged that this fable couldn't be used for long.

'He's smart, isn't he?'

Junghyeok was even instinctively suppressing the fable of Supreme King.

As if he knew that the moment he used that fable, King of a Kingless World would devour it.

The only techniques he used were those of a beast, relying on instinct alone.

―I don't know whether Yu Junghyeok is smart or the demonic species possessing him is smart.

The fable of 「King of a Kingless World」 was scattering away in real time.

Just as he had expected, my Incarnation body couldn't maintain the power of a Legendary-grade fable for long.

'What do we do now?'

―We use another means.

Another means?

Just as I was about to ask what else there was, a message rang through my mind.

A sigh escaped me.

Right.

This was the skill that had made Dokja a reader.

He had defeated countless formidable enemies with this skill and absorbed their strength as his own.

[The Exclusive Skill Bookmark has been activated!]

A list of countless characters Dokja had read about scrolled through my mind.

Some of them were people I knew, while others were people even I didn't know. Some were too weak to use now, while others were so strong that I didn't know whether Plausibility would allow it.

―There is someone to choose.

Dokja didn't hesitate in his choice.

[Bookmark No. 11 has been activated!]

―If he is truly from the forty-first round, there is someone I must choose.

Mana writhed violently throughout my body, and a chill ran up my spine.

I realized what I had become.

「My white coat was covered in white fur.」

I never imagined I would see this sight with my own eyes.

[Bookmark No. 11, Catastrophe of Floods Shin Yuseong has been activated!]

[The Exclusive Skill Beast Lord's Sensitivity Lv.??? has been activated!]

White fur fluttered like snow.

Junghyeok's pupils shook as he looked at me. Even with only instinct remaining, he must have realized it.

No matter how strong he was after transforming into a beast, he couldn't defeat me now.

「“I am the Beast Lord.”」

Catastrophe of Floods Shin Yuseong.

「“The king of all beasts.”」

Dokja rushed forward in an instant and struck Junghyeok's head with the flat of the blade.

Once, twice, three times.

Though they seemed like attacks Junghyeok could easily dodge, he couldn't avoid them. It was as if a subject couldn't defy a king's command.

Every time Dokja struck Junghyeok's head, the forty-first-round Yuseong's fable bloomed vividly.

「“What were we to you, Captain?”」

「“I hate you, who lives alone in the world.”」

「“I'll end your world in the most horrible way possible.”」

No matter what anyone said, this pain couldn't be called a lie.

The forty-first-round Yuseong was, by her very existence, the forty-first-round Junghyeok's sin.

As if exacting payment for that sin, Dokja kicked Junghyeok hard in the stomach.

Junghyeok flew over ten meters, smashing through the Capitol building's windows before tumbling inside.

「“Mister... Can I call you that too?”」

Dokja faltered when he heard that voice once again.

Whose memory was this?

Yuseong's, or the forty-first-round Yuseong's?

Or perhaps...

'Are you all right?'

Was it Dokja's memory as the Demon King of Salvation?

―What if I'm not?

For the first time, I sensed an emotion in Dokja's voice.

I spoke like someone trying not to let go of that thread of emotion.

'You can say you miss them when you miss them, can't you?'

Why were you so cold?

Was the Dokja I knew really that kind of person?

No.

At least, the Dokja I knew, the Demon King of Salvation...

―It's not my role.

Role?

―It's for another Kim Dokja to see people and feel sad about them.

The moment I heard those words, it felt as if all my doubts would finally make sense.

When I first saw Huiwon, Hyeongseong, Jihye, and Yuseong, could that be why the names Dokja used for them had felt so distant and unfamiliar?

'There's no such thing.'

Every Kim Dokja had the right to grieve. He could be glad to see someone dear to him and call them by a familiar name.

He could speak of his own feelings.

But he didn't.

―Because I am the first Kim Dokja.

Dokja looked at Junghyeok.

The beastly Junghyeok rose inside the Capitol building, let out a strange cry, and charged at us.

「Kim Dokja who loved TWSA.」

From a distance, it would've looked like black and white beasts swinging their claws at each other.

「Kim Dokja who was colder than anyone.」

Junghyeok's claws caught in the tips of the fur from Beast Lord's Sensitivity and flailed as Unbreakable Faith shone.

「Kim Dokja who hated losing and despised Constellations.」

Junghyeok staggered after taking the blow.

Dokja didn't give him a moment to recover and pressed forward.

「Kim Dokja who had to survive before anyone else so that all the other Kim Dokjas could exist.」

Driven into a corner, Junghyeok let out a howl and activated his Ultimate Technique.

[Sky-Splitting Meteor Sword].

The strongest Ultimate Technique Junghyeok could use now erupted from his spear.

Bundles of sword aura that tore the world apart poured toward me.

「Kim Dokja who chose to become a Demon King to save someone.」

Dokja didn't panic. He slowly spread both arms, as though embracing the shattered world.

[You have activated Monster Gate.]

Dozens of portals swirled through the air, and Calamity-grade beast species poked their heads out at once.

Breaths of many kinds poured from the beast species' mouths, cancelling out the bundles of sword aura from Sky-Splitting Meteor Sword.

「He is the Demon King of Salvation.」

As he slowly approached, fear appeared in the black beast's eyes.

Dokja gave Junghyeok a faint smile, as if to soothe him.

"I'll take back what's mine now."

The Kim Dokja Fragment embedded in Junghyeok's back was pulled out along with a spray of blood.

At that very moment, the Demon King of Salvation's forgotten memories returned.

Footnotes:

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