WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 707: Episode 26: Star Ladder (3)

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The forty-first round was unlike any other round that had ever existed.

That was because this world contained things called Kim Dokja Fragments.

Strange artifacts that could allow a lower beast species to evolve into a higher beast species by collecting just one.

Come to think of it, even Asmodeus, who had evolved into an Outer God, had been collecting Kim Dokja Fragments.

There was no way the Constellations of the great nebulae, who were better informed than anyone else, wouldn't know about Kim Dokja Fragments.

[Is that him?]

The Constellations who had descended in demigod form before my eyes were proof enough.

‘I should've expected this.’

The Apostles were running rampant in every country, and the filtering had weakened. I should've acted with the possibility in mind that the great nebulae knew about Dokja as well.

But it was already too late.

They had set a trap to capture the Demon King of Salvation, and we had walked straight into it.

‘Patron.’

- It's all right.

Even with danger right before him, Dokja remained calm.

[He doesn't look as strong as I've heard.]

[His Incarnation body is pathetic too.]

[Is he really worth bringing in? I can't understand the intentions of the Mythical Constellations.]

[Don't underestimate him. He's still the first fragment of the Oldest Dream.]

[That discarded god?]

Unlike the stars in the sky, the Constellations spoke without restraint.

This was Ginnungagap.

Perhaps they knew no one would record the story of this place, and no star but themselves could see it.

Dokja spoke to the stars radiating arrogant light.

“Did you come looking for me?”

Even before the ten Constellations standing in formation, Dokja was confident. It was as if he were certain they alone couldn't do anything to him.

The stars seemed both impressed and angered by his attitude.

They glittered as if pouring out every emotion they had, then finally came to an agreement and fell silent.

The first to step forward was Valkyrie's Daughter.

The Constellation wore a winged helmet and plate armor adorned with fable metal. After glaring at Dokja once, Valkyrie's Daughter smiled faintly.

[More precisely, you came looking for us.]

“I don't remember looking for you.”

[We called you. We were curious whether the real Demon King of Salvation would come.]

So this Scenario had been a trap designed by Asgard after all.

“And what did you think after seeing me?”

[Come to our side, Demon King of Salvation.]

Valkyrie's Daughter smiled alluringly and beckoned. Dokja cocked his head with a crooked expression.

“What do you mean?”

[It means we'll accept you as a Constellation of Asgard.]

It was an unexpected offer.

An invitation from Asgard.

It had happened from time to time in the main story of TWSA, and I had also received an invitation from Asgard after hunting the Founder of the Absolute Throne.

But not in this form.

[The nebula Asgard has invited the Constellation Demon King of Salvation to join the nebula.]

[There are no penalties of any kind for this request.]

Joining a nebula with no conditions at all.

Had that great nebula ever offered such extraordinary terms?

When I received their invitation, Asgard had demanded an absolute command for the next two hundred years as a condition.

[That's not all. If you come to our nebula, we'll support your Incarnation as well.]

Perhaps the offer was so unexpected that Dokja didn't answer right away. Valkyrie's Daughter seemed to take that silence as a positive sign and continued.

[We'll give you benefits no Incarnation has ever received. You'll be allowed to share the Legendary-grade fables and constellation artifacts we possess. Then your Incarnation will be able to climb through the Scenarios faster than anyone else in this world.]

Even Asgard's Legendary-grade fables and constellation artifacts.

If their offer was genuine, I would receive better treatment than Anna Croft the moment I accepted it.

At that moment, I met Anna Croft's eyes from several steps away. Looking bewildered, as if she had no idea what was happening, she listened to the conversation.

Dokja briefly glanced at Anna, then asked again.

“You'll give me all that just for joining?”

[Yes.]

“Are you some kind of phone company?”

[A phone company? What does that mean?]

“Can you swear on the name of the One-Eyed Father that you won't impose any conditions at all?”

The Constellations only exchanged looks without answering.

Then one of them stepped forward in anger.

[You dare speak our Father's name...]

“Looks like you can't.”

Dokja sneered lightly.

“I don't believe in favors without conditions. There are obviously all kinds of strange clauses attached to this. Your nebulae have always been like that.”

I agreed with Dokja.

There was no reason for ten Constellations to travel together if they had come to offer a pure favor.

One Constellation finally lost patience, frowned, and stepped forward.

It was the one that had mentioned their Father earlier.

[I won't waste words. Hand over the Fragments you've gathered to Asgard at once.]

[One Who Washes Cleanly, step back!]

[Valkyrie's Daughter, we don't have time to waste. Ginnungagap cannot be maintained for long.]

Dokja shrugged and smiled.

“See? Isn't it nice when we're honest with each other?”

The ten stars looked our way at once.

[I'll ask one last time. Will you join our nebula?]

“Sorry, but I'm already the Representative of a nebula.”

My heart began pounding without me realizing it.

The Demon King of Salvation who said those words felt like the Dokja from the story I remembered.

Perhaps the memories Dokja had recovered earlier were about Kim Dokja Company.

The murmuring Constellations frowned.

[Which nebula have you joined?]

“Kim Dokja Company.”

[No such nebula exists.]

As they said, there was no nebula called Kim Dokja Company in this worldline.

Maybe there never would be.

Then Dokja said, “It exists. Low-grade fools like you just don't know about it.”

[You bastard...!]

The pressure of ten Constellations glaring at us was overwhelming. Those were eyes that had saved and killed countless Incarnations.

Dokja wasn't intimidated in the slightest.

Come to think of it, he had always endured gazes like those. Even after the Scenarios began, and perhaps even before they did.

[If you reject our offer, you will vanish here, together with your Incarnation body.]

“Can you manage that on your own?”

Dokja smiled coldly.

The monster that had grown by devouring the gazes of stars was now staring them down from the same position.

Rumbblee!

As an ominous current began to flow, the flustered Constellations began releasing their Status in earnest.

I focused on the pitch-black hand of One Who Washes Cleanly, who stood at the front.

‘Patron, that black hand.’

Dokja nodded as if he remembered it too.

- That's right.

That hand had collected readers' souls whenever they died.

A white scar remained on the back of the Constellation's hand.

It was the wound I had inflicted with Unbreakable Faith long ago.

In other words, they were some of the culprits who had abducted readers' souls whenever they died.

“Actually, I should be the one making an offer. Hand over every Kim Dokja Fragment you've gathered so far.”

[What?]

“Then I'll help make sure "Ragnarok" doesn't happen in this worldline.”

[How dare you speak to Asgard...]

“Get your words straight. You aren't Asgard.”

My body, possessed by Dokja, slowly floated into the air.

[Way of the Wind].

My hair and coat whipped wildly in the fierce wind pressure.

“You're only ten Historical Constellations.”

[It seems you don't fully understand the situation you're in.]

The Constellations of Asgard seemed calmer after Dokja's provocation.

[We already know about you. You were apparently quite a famous Constellation in other worldlines.]

[But whoever you are, your fables won't work here.]

[This is a stage before fables have been written.]

Only then did I understand their composure.

This was Ginnungagap, the primordial stage. Dokja's fables couldn't exert their proper power here.

Even so, Dokja didn't lose his calm.

“Is that so?”

[Capture him.]

The ten stars scattered at once and rushed toward Dokja.

As he watched them, Dokja said, “It looks like the higher-ranked Constellations told you about my story, but I guess no one explained it properly.”

The one who took the lead was One Who Washes Cleanly.

The Constellation extended a black-gloved hand, and dozens of shadow hands multiplied and surged forward.

“Or maybe they don't know either.”

[Beast Lord's Sensitivity] protected me from the incoming shadow hands, while Calamity species spewed Breath from the [Monster Gate] that opened at the same time. It was the very tactic used before to subdue the Black Beast.

Rumbblee!

But this time, the opponents were Constellations.

To Incarnations, Shin Yuseong's beasts were Calamities. To the stars, they were something else.

[With mere beasts!]

A Constellation dressed like a Viking hurled an axe toward the Gate. The axe, filled with immense fighting power, created a gale as it severed the beasts' heads and tore apart even the entrance to the Gate.

A few terrified Calamity species poked out their heads, then fled in panic.

[Offer your neck!]

Constellations were Constellations, after all.

They were opponents on an entirely different level from the enemies I had fought so far.

Yet why wasn't I that nervous?

Was it because Dokja was with me?

- You haven't forgotten that you killed the Founder of the Absolute Throne, have you?

I remembered facing the Founder of the Absolute Throne at the end of the fourth Scenario.

That was right.

Come to think of it, I had already faced enemies stronger than them.

- You said it then.

I still vividly remembered that day. The day I gained the Demon King of Salvation as my Patron and returned from death.

The day Han Suyeong was erased.

- You are Kim Dokja.

That day, I swore to Han Suyeong.

I accepted what I was.

‘That's what I think needs to happen.’

But if I accepted it, would I become Dokja?

- You're still lacking.

It was frustrating, but I had no choice but to admit it.

If he said so, then it had to be true.

‘I know.’

I had an excuse.

Even if I was part of Dokja, I had never lived Dokja's life.

I had written and read stories about him, but I didn't truly know what kind of person he was. I didn't know how he smiled, how he spoke, or what he thought in the unwritten gaps of his story.

Maybe I was only starting to learn who Dokja was.

- Little one.

I was learning who Dokja was.

- I want you to survive.

It was still difficult.

- Remember this. Watch how Kim Dokja fights. See it clearly with your own eyes and carve it into yourself.

At times, it was lonely, desolate, and so hard to grasp that I couldn't endure it alone.

[The synchronization rate with your Patron has increased!]

At that moment, a scene unfolded in my mind.

It was the Library.

Dokja stood beyond the dim, flickering candlelight.

He quickly passed through the bookshelves, then stopped and pulled out a book tucked into one side of a shelf.

The open pages bore traces of Dokja reading them again and again.

When I looked up, Dokja was looking at me.

- From now on, we're reading together.

I nodded.

[You have activated the Exclusive Skill Bookmark.]

The ten Constellations rushed toward us at once.

A white blade of light. A frozen spear. Arrows burning with flames, and shadow hands piercing like awls.

On my own, I couldn't have blocked even one of them.

Together, it was different.

[Bookmark No. 5 has been activated!]

[Your current physical composition differs from that character's physical composition.]

[Your Status has overcome the penalty imposed by the physical conditions.]

An indescribable sense of release surged through me, sending chills deep into my mind.

「He was a true Disciple of the White Purity Sect.」

This was different from before, when all I could do was barely imitate it through Incitement.

「A being who inherited the legacy of Paradoxical White Purity, Kyrios Lordgrime.」

Paradoxical White Purity's Mana, blazing like a fierce fire, dyed us blue.

[The Exclusive Skill Electrification Lv.??? has been activated.]

Dokja became a blue flash and passed through the Constellations in the front rank.

One Who Washes Cleanly, who had stood at the front, turned to look at us with shocked eyes.

“If you really wanted to catch me.”

Without looking back, Dokja said, “You should've brought a Mythical Constellation.”

Three Constellations in the front rank split in half.

Footnotes:

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