WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 709: Episode 26: Star Ladder (5)
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As the commotion from Asgard died down, Ginnungagap's sky was once again shrouded in silence.
A sky where no star dared to shine.
It wasn't simply because Ginnungagap's curtain hid the starlight. Beyond that curtain was a being who held all starlight in its grasp.
Kim Dokja let out a quiet laugh.
"See? You can't do it."
The Historical Constellations fell silent, unable to respond.
They must have felt it too.
Just then, one of Asgard's stars had fallen beyond Ginnungagap's sky. I didn't know its modifier or True name, but judging by the Historical Constellations' reaction, it hadn't been weak.
Yet that star had fallen in an instant.
'Is Yu Junghyeok there?'
Dokja looked up at the sky without answering.
What Dokja could see, I could see as well. Yet Junghyeok wasn't visible in his eyes. All I could see was a pitch-black scene, like a stage curtain.
―He's there.
Even so, we could imagine it.
The fragments Dokja had recovered were speaking to us.
「"Kim Dokja. Are you there?"」
It was a voice from the distant past.
Words his companions had once spoken while searching for him.
「"Dokja-ssi."」
「"Mister! Can you hear me? Mister!"」
Since this worldline didn't permit communication with them, their voices were no more than auditory hallucinations created by Dokja's memories.
Still, we knew. Even if their voices weren't the same, even if their intonations and words differed, Kim Dokja Company was searching for Dokja beyond that stage.
Because this was that kind of story.
―In the end, only stories remain.
This story was everything Dokja had.
'Do you miss them?'
A tremor, faint as a ripple, rose and faded.
―I told you. That's not my part.
An emotion suddenly surged up.
I wanted to tell the Demon King of Salvation that he didn't need to be that kind of person. There was no reason he alone had to be that kind of Kim Dokja.
Yet I understood his words too.
His fable was telling us.
「This is the Demon King of Salvation's way.」
He could only speak that way. He had been made to live that way from the moment he was born.
Just like that stubborn Junghyeok.
Then a thought occurred to me.
If every Dokja had his own role, if each lived out the fable suited to that role...
Then what, exactly, was my role as Dokja?
[Ginnungagap will soon be lifted.]
The pitch-black sky was trembling.
Relief at having survived came first.
Once this stage was lifted, the Constellations would no longer be able to harm us.
Even in a Scenario governed by the Scale of Plausibility, even if our opponent was Asgard, one of the three great nebulae, they wouldn't accept any greater losses here.
Yet the Historical Constellations showed no sign of giving up.
[Don't put on airs. No great being can cross that curtain right now.]
The Valkyrie's Daughter was right.
For the Junghyeok I knew to Descend here, at least a Mythical Constellation would need to appear and balance the Scale.
But Odin wouldn't show up here just to hunt us down.
"That also means no Constellation can come help you."
[We don't need any other Constellations' help. The seven of us are enough to hunt you.]
"Three of you got torn apart earlier."
At those words, a brilliant wave of Status flowed from the Valkyrie's Daughter, who had inherited the Status of seven Historical Constellations.
[I know what you used to be like.]
The Dokja from before?
[I've seen you over and over in the fables of the Mythical Constellations that hunted you. They were so enthralling that I couldn't help watching them again and again. You were truly beautiful in those fables.]
I was curious.
Had Dokja's true body really been destroyed, as they claimed?
Even if it remained as a fable, that didn't guarantee the event was true.
Some fables had their facts corrupted by false incitement.
The Valkyrie's Daughter continued in a cold voice.
[You're nothing but a god's cast-off skin, yet you imitate that god so well.]
For some reason, those words stabbed into my heart.
"Imitation, huh."
The Demon King of Salvation smiled without particularly denying it.
The air around us began to vibrate. The seven Constellations led by the Valkyrie's Daughter approached, burning all their strength.
Ginnungagap hadn't ended yet.
'What will you do?'
Three stars had already left the stage. The remaining Historical Constellations would stake their lives on this now.
'If we use [Electrification] one more time...'
―Then you'll die.
I knew. But there was no other way.
―There is.
The Valkyrie's Daughter flew through the air and hurled her spear, scattering chilling Status. The spear created a fierce gale as though it compressed the surrounding zone, grazing my waist.
The Status was immense.
It wasn't fabled-grade, but an attack like that would kill us instantly if it landed even once.
Even in that situation, Dokja remained relaxed.
"Seven of you are coming at a mere shed skin? Then we have no choice but to call in someone on our side too."
[You don't have anyone on your side he―]
Dokja reached into his coat and threw something forward.
A small explosion rang out, followed by acrid smoke spreading through the air.
A Virulent Poison Bomb.
It was loot obtained when we fought the Five Poison Association in the Star Gem Dungeon.
Naturally, it was an item that couldn't harm Constellations at all.
[You think such a cheap trick will work!]
"A cheap trick?"
The Constellations flinched at Dokja's words and stopped for a moment.
Then, instead of coming straight at us, they began creating gusts of wind to blow away the Virulent Poison Bomb's smoke.
They suspected Dokja might have set a trap.
But that was exactly the effect Dokja wanted.
"Anna Croft."
Anna, standing behind us, jerked at Dokja's call.
Dokja suddenly held out his hand toward her.
"The heart."
The processing of the low-grade Dragon Heart he had asked for earlier had just finished.
The Valkyrie's Daughter, who witnessed the scene, warned her.
[Prophet! What are you trying to do right now!]
Anna froze at the murderous voice.
[You aren't planning to betray Asgard, are you?]
At those words, Anna, Selena Kim, and Christina Page, both standing beside her, went pale.
[Have you forgotten whose Incarnation you are?]
Zarathustra had been able to grow as powerful as it was now because of the support of the nebula Asgard.
With Asgard and me at odds, helping me would be no different from betraying her patron nebula.
Anna's Arch-Demon's Eyeball turned red for an instant.
Tsstsst.
Sparks flew through the air as Anna frowned and staggered.
She had tried to read the future with [future vision]. Judging by her expression, it had failed.
Anna looked at us for a moment, then lowered her head and spoke.
"I am indeed an Incarnation of Asgard."
I understood.
The consequences of betraying one of the three great nebulae in the seventh Scenario were obvious.
If she helped us now, Anna's group would be ruined. Her judgment was entirely rational.
"But."
Anna slowly raised her head and looked at the Valkyrie's Daughter.
"I'm not sure you can represent Asgard."
The moment I saw Anna's eyes, a chill crept down my spine.
I had forgotten for a moment.
She was the Gambler of Las Vegas.
[What are you talking about?]
"This stage is the primordial Ginnungagap. What happens here won't be recorded. It won't be passed down, so no one outside can know what happened inside."
Anna had just placed a bet.
"If all of you die here, who will remember what I did?"
[What nonsense are you talking about, Prophet!]
A gamble with slim odds.
A game an ordinary Anna would never have entered.
Even so, Anna now placed her entire stake on the con artist she hated most.
"Inho Cheon. Can you do it?"
I didn't know whether Inho could do it. But the one who answered wasn't Inho.
"I can."
The Constellations realized something was wrong and shouted in alarm.
[Attack!]
In the meantime, we received the refined low-grade Dragon Heart from Anna.
I wanted to ask her.
Why had she decided to help us?
What had she trusted enough to bet on us when she couldn't see the future?
"In no round was I ever acknowledged as a companion by the Supreme King."
Anna's gaze was fixed on the fallen Junghyeok.
"If the Supreme King acknowledged you as a companion, there must be a reason for it."
Anna sensed that this round marked the end of the worldline. That was why she must have made one final gamble too.
"Junghyeok has an eye for people."
The Constellations who had cleared away the deadly poisonous fog each fired their weapons.
The first to arrive was once again the spear thrown by the Valkyrie's Daughter.
A thunderbolt imbued in its spearhead tore up the ground as it flew toward us.
[Kill him! Recover the fragments!]
Dokja immediately swallowed the low-grade Dragon Heart and dodged the spear.
[You have used the refined low-grade Dragon Heart.]
My heart pounded fiercely, and my body shook.
The Mana emitted by the Dragon Heart was merging with my own heart. Like a chrysalis transforming into a butterfly, my body was breaking past its limits.
[Your body has evolved!]
[The fable of the dragonkin has settled within your heart.]
But the opponents were Constellations.
Absorbing a single low-grade Dragon Heart, even increasing our total Mana, couldn't overcome this disadvantage.
The spear that had passed us was circling through the distant sky and flying toward us again.
The range of lightning it released had grown larger than before. It didn't look like we could avoid it by luck again.
This time, we had to confront it head-on with everything we had.
―Youngest.
'Yes.'
The moment my heart pounded, the Dragon Heart carried violent Mana through my entire body.
With the pain of my veins tearing apart, pages began flipping in my mind.
[Exclusive Skill, Bookmark, has activated!]
We are Kim Dokja.
A reader fights in a reader's way.
―The person we need right now is...
'...A monster who can face seven Historical Constellations.'
―Electrification alone won't be enough. The physical specifications of this body don't match, so it consumes too much Status.
'The Sky-Splitting Sword Saint won't work either.'
A character who could kill seven Historical Constellations.
Many people came to mind, but no one who could kill them without upsetting the balance of the Scale too much came easily to mind.
―There is one.
'But will it work? That person is a Constellation.'
Normally, [Bookmark] only activated on a person.
In fact, Dokja had never once borrowed a Constellation's power through Bookmark in the main story.
―Perhaps. We did get a Dragon Heart, after all.
But it wasn't impossible.
His understanding of using Bookmark on a Constellation had surely increased before.
'Then let's try.'
A being at the limit of what my current body could bear, one permitted by the Plausibility of the Scale.
「"He was strong from birth."」
As the pages flipping in my mind stopped, his history lapped against my ears.
「"He was born with dragon blood in his veins."」
There had been no opportunity to borrow his power through Bookmark in the main story.
His understanding hadn't been sufficient.
[You possess a Dragon Heart.]
[Your body's physical specifications resonate with those of the individual.]
But what about now?
[Bookmark No. 21 has been activated.]
My heart pounded fiercely, and the view before me twisted.
The charging Constellations shouted desperately.
[I don't know what you're trying to do, but―]
[Kill him! At most, he can only use the power of a Historical Constellation!]
At most, Historical.
But even among Historical Constellations, there was a hierarchy.
[Exclusive Skill, Three Sword Forms Lv.???, has been activated!]
He was the strongest Historical Constellation.
A being who had never swung his sword more than three times at the same opponent while he was alive.
A warrior who cut down a thousand people with his first sword, brought down mountains with his second, and split the sea with his third.
[Bookmark No. 21, Goryeo's Top Swordsman Cheok Junkyung, has been activated!]
The Constellations in the rear realized something too late and shouted.
[Wait, stop! Valkyrie's Daughter! Something is wrong! That man is―]
Before the words could finish, the landscape before us was torn apart completely.
Footnotes:
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