Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint - Chapter 747

WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 747: Episode 30: Twelve Zodiacs (9)

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It wasn't Biyoo. A path was literally opening before my eyes.

A pleasant tailwind wrapped around my entire body.

[The Fable Fragment Way of the Wind circles around you.]

After taking one step, I could see where I had to step next, and where to step after that.

This was [Way of the Wind].

Dokja's undisputed number-one mainstay skill.

Dokja had taken one step after another with this skill until he reached the end of the world.

[The Fable Fragment Way of the Wind nods.]

If someone had seen this, they might've asked what the big deal was. It was only [Way of the Wind], after all. Still, what mattered to me was that this one [Way of the Wind] had brought me that much closer to the Demon King of Salvation.

[That power.]

Rice Cake-Eating Tiger, who had been watching me, opened his mouth.

[Interesting.]

He wore the expression of the 137th-round Yu Junghyeok who had defeated the one who ate dreams.

[Did the dead wolf give you that Fable Fragment?]

“Lycaon isn't dead. There's no way Lycaon would die to a mere Historical-grade Constellation.”

For a brief moment, a faint ripple of agitation crossed Rice Cake-Eating Tiger's face.

“It's time you went back. It seems you've tasted enough bean rice cakes and steamed rice cakes.”

[I'm still hungry.]

“You don't seem to understand, but that's fake hunger. You're not actually hungry.”

Rice Cake-Eating Tiger was a Constellation based on the fable "Sun and Moon." He possessed several mixed fables, but at his core, he was the creature who tried and failed to eat the sibling protagonists before falling into a sorghum field and dying.

He had never obtained what he wanted, so his fable was full of resentment, hatred, and greed.

“If you can't control your fake hunger, it'll cause accelerated aging. Didn't you know that?”

His thirst and hunger had both been triggered by his fable.

[Little slice, a human life is far too short to understand a star.]

What if the soul of an ordinary person had suddenly taken possession amid those fables?

“When did you become a star?”

I could see it now. Among the fables surrounding him, a tiny soul was trembling.

A soul smaller than a little slice, smaller even than bean powder.

“I don't know who you originally were, but I'm asking you one last time. Please leave this place.”

That Constellation had been a reader. Even if he wasn't one now, he had certainly been a reader once.

That was why I had endured that soul just once.

“I'll keep my promise to you. I'll definitely attend the Twelve Zodiac Ball. But I can't become your proxy.”

At the last moment, Lycaon had said,

「Become the Kim Dokja you desire.」

The Kim Dokja I desired.

I didn't know what that was.

Maybe such a thing wasn't really Dokja at all. Maybe no such thing existed in this world.

Still, if such a Kim Dokja truly existed,

“Leave this place right now.”

That Kim Dokja would give the reader before him one chance.

Of course, whether he accepted that chance was another matter.

Tstststst.

With that sound, the ground around us shook violently.

Now that the Scale of Plausibility had disappeared, Rice Cake-Eating Tiger wouldn't be able to display the same earth-shaking power as before.

That didn't mean he looked ready to retreat. He still had the justification of his contract with me.

[Do you think you're something special just because you've learned a mere Way of the Wind?]

His tone was openly contemptuous.

Of course it was.

He was a Constellation, while [Way of the Wind] was only a technique Dokja had used to seal the Calamity of Questions.

“Do you know much about Way of the Wind?”

Rice Cake-Eating Tiger silently stretched out a forepaw toward the air. The blood-red rope tied around it whirled and flew toward me.

It seemed my patience had run out. It was time to recommend a re-reading to our reader, too.

[Your Exclusive Attribute has activated.]

[Your understanding of the Fable Fragment Way of the Wind is very high!]

I rose in an instant to the height of the creature, which stood dozens of meters tall.

One step, two, three. I could see where to step to accelerate faster. I accelerated again and again until I could barely hear Rice Cake-Eating Tiger shouting.

At the end of that acceleration was Unbreakable Faith.

My skill was sealed, so I couldn't use [White Pure Star Energy], but that didn't matter.

[The Fable Fragment Way of the Wind follows your will.]

[Way of the Wind] wasn't a skill used only to accelerate the body or fly through the air.

Just as Dokja had used [Way of the Wind] to create a Vacuum Prison and defeat the Calamity of Questions, the ways to use this skill were endless depending on how one understood the wind.

[Little slice. Stop at once, or...!]

Rice Cake-Eating Tiger's forepaw flew straight at me.

I barely dodged it along a narrow trajectory, then drove Unbreakable Faith into his forearm.

Normally, the attack wouldn't have worked.

But [Way of the Wind] was wrapped around my Unbreakable Faith.

Kudududud.

This was the so-called [Wind Blade]. It applied Lycaon's realization of endless rotation through the interplay of straight and curved lines.

With a faint scraping sound, fables burst from his forepaw.

Rice Cake-Eating Tiger let out a short groan before opening his mouth.

[For a little slice, you have quite a few tricks.]

I smiled faintly.

“You talk like a real Constellation.”

[What?]

“Is there some academy that teaches you to talk like that? Or...”

[The fable Old and Ailing Guardian Deity vents its anger at you!]

“Are you being controlled by that worn-out fable?”

Rice Cake-Eating Tiger unleashed a Lion's Roar. It felt as if bombs made of sound were exploding all across the sky.

I activated [Way of the Wind] to its limit and minimized the impact.

I fell to the ground and rolled across the clearing before getting back up. Blood trickled from the corner of my mouth.

So it was still too much.

Then again, if learning one [Way of the Wind] made me a match for a Historical-grade Constellation, Dokja wouldn't have suffered so much.

At least the provocation had worked. Old fables were rampaging throughout Rice Cake-Eating Tiger's body.

Had I bought us some time?

“Kim Dokja. What the hell are you thinking?”

Killer King flew over using [Way of the Wind] and supported me.

“Just what it looks like.”

I looked up at Rice Cake-Eating Tiger, who was rampaging in fury.

“I'm going to fight that bastard and win.”

“You really are a crazy bastard.”

Killer King fell silent for a moment.

They lowered their head as if frustrated, then deliberately turned away from me and added,

“I'm sorry.”

“For what? I just chose this because it seemed more fun.”

“...Because it's fun?”

“Because it'll make more of a story.”

Whenever Dokja made an absurd choice, he said something similar.

Because this was more fun.

Because this was the kind of development Constellations would like more.

[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon snorts.]

[The Constellation Reclining Dragon is impressed by your judgment.]

But had he really been conscious only of the Constellations' gaze?

[The Constellation One Who Brought Ten Lambs worries about you.]

Maybe Dokja himself had wanted that development.

“Dokja-ssi.”

“Yes.”

Gyeong Sein, who had flown over at some point, stood beside me as well.

“Thank you.”

Before I could answer, Gyeong Sein poured out the words they had been holding back.

“I was so nervous, thinking you were really going to leave us behind! I trust the other Allies, but...”

“Aren't we the people who gathered around Kim Dokja?”

Uncle Dansu added.

Cha Yerim and Ye Hyunwoo stood on either side of the Allies as if they agreed.

Killer King asked,

“What's the plan?”

“For now, we hold out until his Plausibility drops.”

“That's supposed to be a plan?”

“I thought it was the kind of plan Killer King-nim would come up with.”

I briefly explained the situation to the Allies through [Group Chat].

It was about the Twelve Zodiac Ball invitation Rice Cake-Eating Tiger and I had agreed upon.

After hearing everything, Killer King said with admiration,

“I see. It is the kind of plan I would come up with.”

“Right?”

“But can something like that become Plausibility for a Descent?”

I nodded at Sein's question.

“It's only a small amount of Plausibility. He won't be able to remain Descended for long. There's no way he can use his power properly, either.”

“And if you're wrong?”

“Even if I'm wrong.”

I continued while gauging the depth of the night sky.

“If we hold out until midnight tonight, we'll win no matter what.”

“Midnight?”

[A new Sub Scenario has arrived!]

A Sub Scenario had arrived right on cue.

Rice Cake-Eating Tiger had remained quiet for a while. It seemed that had been a sign of the Scenario to come.

Classification: Sub

Difficulty: S+

Clear Conditions: Survive Rice Cake-Eating Tiger of the Twelve Zodiacs.

Time Limit: ―

Reward: Unidentified Fable Fragment, 300,000 coins, ???

Failure: Death.

The objective wasn't “Defeat him,” but “Survive.”

That showed just how unfavorable this fight was for us.

Rice Cake-Eating Tiger, who had calmed his fables as the Scenario began, frowned.

[You really are troublesome brats.]

His tone was threatening, but he could no longer launch powerful attacks one after another as he had before. Even if he had the Plausibility of coming to uphold his contract with me, he wouldn't recklessly cause a massive loss of Plausibility like when he faced Lycaon.

[The fable One Who Calls Changgwi begins its story.]

Even so, he was still a Constellation.

[Get up, Changgwi.]

Changgwi.

A term for ghosts of people who had been bitten to death by tigers since ancient times.

It was a fable similar to "King of the Dead," which Davits, a ranker of Dark Castle, had used.

Oooooo!

The Incarnations buried throughout Area 13 began rising one by one.

The Incarnation bodies that had become corpses turned their empty eye sockets toward me. All of them were beast people killed by tigers.

“Damn it, are they demons?”

“Something similar. But they can't properly use the abilities they had in life.”

There were many of them, but fortunately, none of the Incarnations charging at us looked strong.