WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 776: Episode 35: The Demon King's Qualifications (2)
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“P-P-Private Lee Hyeongseooong!”
Foam gathered at Lee Hyeongseong's mouth as he convulsed once, then collapsed.
Gu Seona, watching from a distance, opened her eyes wide.
“How...?”
I poked the unconscious Hyeongseong's shoulder. He only continued to twitch faintly.
Seeing the drool running from his mouth, I decided this method wouldn't work. Waking them from Seona's hypnosis was urgent, but characters had rights too.
I quickly passed Kim Namwoon, Lee Jihye, and Shin Yuseong as I spoke.
“Starting now.”
[Exclusive Skill, Incitement Level 10 has activated!]
“All of you will wake from your hypnosis.”
The characters I touched convulsed like Hyeongseong had. However, they didn't foam at the mouth or let out trauma-ridden screams like him.
[Exclusive Skill Incitement Lv. 10 clashes with Daily Corpse Lv. 10!]
[Exclusive Skill Incitement Lv. 10 clashes with hypnosis Incitement Lv. 10!]
Sparks flew through the air with a crackle, and the characters soon collapsed where they stood, like puppets with their strings cut.
Only then did Seona realize what I had done. She walked toward me.
“[Incitement]. I guess it can be used like that, too.”
“Let's stop this now. I can subdue you the same way.”
“Me? It won't work on me. Because [Incitement]...”
Seona instantly closed the distance again and reached for me.
“It only works on opponents with lower Status than yours, right?”
“Cornered Nail” aimed for my throat.
I quickly bent backward to evade her attack while activating Incitement.
[You have activated Incitement Lv. 10!]
“From now on, you will...”
Crackle.
The skill dissolved.
[The activation of Incitement has been cancelled.]
Seona smiled.
“I told you it wouldn't work.”
It wasn't impossible. If her Status hadn't fallen too far behind mine, she could theoretically resist Incitement backed by “Insect Genocide.”
Still, no matter how many Kim Dokja Fragments she had collected, she possessed a Status no lower than mine, the Demon King of Salvation's proxy?
I tightly gripped Unbreakable Faith with both hands and released Mana.
[The Blade of Faith has activated!]
At this point, I needed to end this quickly.
I had consumed a Greater Restoration Pill, so I had enough Mana. The best option was to subdue Seona as quickly as possible and go face the Great Demons.
However, Seona showed no sign of going down easily.
“Kim Dokja insisted on using only that weapon to the very end. I really hated that.”
Pure white Ravebringer shone in Seona's hand.
“With so many items available, why did he insist on using only that sword?”
Blade of Faith clashed with Ravebringer, and brilliant light filled the area.
Ravebringer was a weapon that demonstrated power beyond that of a constellation artifact in this world.
[The character Gu Seona has activated Moonshadow Swordsmanship Lv. 10!]
Moonshadow Swordsmanship.
It was the swordsmanship Bihyeong recommended first, and the one Dokja never purchased.
Seona had deliberately chosen to learn it, as if to prove that Dokja had been wrong.
“Kim Dokja's path isn't the only right one.”
Moonshadow Swordsmanship, honed to its absolute limit, pierced my shoulder and thigh. I barely activated White Pure Star Energy and deflected the attacks when I saw the iron club in Seona's left hand.
It was the primary weapon that had earned her the name Iron Club Woman.
[The character Gu Seona has activated Celestial Spirit Mace Lv. 10!]
The iron club flew in from every direction, narrowing my room to move until I had nowhere left to evade Moonshadow Swordsmanship.
As if it had been waiting for that moment, Ravebringer emitted light.
Blood burst from my chest, and pain consumed my thoughts.
“Your physical abilities are pathetic. Your combat proficiency is low, too. How did you even survive this long?”
Seona kept pressing me, as if she were mocking me.
“Are you just a one-trick pony who only knows how to talk, like Kim Dokja?”
I realized something anew.
We had all read the story of the same world, but we understood that story differently. Reading the same book repeatedly didn't guarantee that someone would read it better.
Perhaps someone who read it once could understand the story better than someone who read it a hundred times.
And this was Gu Seona's reading.
A reading that belonged only to Gu Seona, unlike anything I or the other readers had experienced.
She had survived in this world through those experiences. She learned Moonshadow Swordsmanship with one hand and Celestial Spirit Mace with the other.
The fact that she was contending evenly with me, the Demon King of Salvation's proxy, was already proof that her reading had been validated.
Her Status was equal to the fables I had barely gained only after grappling with Outer Gods and fighting for my life.
Of course, the way she formed her Status was somewhat different from mine.
「She made up for the low quality of her fables with their quantity, then strengthened their binding with Kim Dokja Fragments.」
The countless small fables dwelling throughout her body clamored as they spoke to me.
[The fable Mimicking Nail wants to imitate you!]
[The fable Rice Cakes over Meat looks you over.]
[The fable Brick House Good for Hiding is interested in you.]
Rice Cake-Eating Tiger. Nail-Eating Rat. Dog Who Threw Himself into the Flames. Pig Who Lives in a Brick House...
The fables possessed by the Constellations of the Twelve Zodiacs dwelled within her, forming a single constellation.
[The fable Master of the Twelve Zodiacs shines brightly.]
That was the fable she had gained.
The fable, “Master of the Twelve Zodiacs.”
A fable that bound together the fables of the scattered Twelve Zodiacs.
「The wisdom of animals, pitting Historical-grade power against fabled-grade.」
Thus, the leader of the Twelve Zodiacs, who had never been born in the main story of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, had manifested before my eyes, if only briefly.
“I won't lose.”
The moment I heard those words, I understood how long she had been planning this stage.
“I'll never lose to you. Even without items! Even without companions!”
Seona gritted her teeth as she swung the holy sword and iron club. She looked desperate.
The histories she had lived left fatal wounds all over my body.
「Wow, this chapter was really fun!」
Every time I gained another wound, I remembered the comments she had left.
「But does Dokja like Yu Sangah, or Han Suyeong?」
She was a reader who loved Kim Dokja, no, Kim Dokja's choices, more than anyone.
「Wow, I don't think I could ever have done that. As expected of Kim Dokja!!」
I didn't know what had made her so sad.
That was why I wanted to understand her anger.
I wanted to know her purpose and motivation.
Even in this moment, while facing such intense rage.
「I wanted to write even this story.」
“Aaaaaah!”
Seona's kick struck my abdomen as she gained the upper hand. As my breath caught in my throat, the iron club aimed for my heart.
「How much effort did Gu Seona put in to become this strong?」
Every one of her actions transformed into a sentence in my mind. I even thought that perhaps dying here wouldn't be so bad.
Strangely, the face that came to mind then was Yu Junghyeok of the 41st round.
「“As long as you don't give up on life, I'll keep writing you.”」
I still hadn't kept the promise I made then. The promise not to make this story a tragedy.
So I couldn't die yet.
I must not die.
[The Blade of Faith burns brightly!]
I concentrated the Mana I had been saving and blocked the iron club with my blade. I steadied my stance, placed strength in my heels, and sensed the wind blowing toward me.
[Way of the Wind.]
A fierce gust struck Seona, causing her body to stagger.
“You...!”
The fables of the Twelve Zodiacs cried out fiercely from Seona's body.
「The Rat's Nimble Feet」
「The Tiger's Strength」
「The Rabbit's Leaping Power」
...
The fable fragments of the Twelve Zodiacs raised their voices at once, making my head spin.
However, I had a Fable Fragment prepared for moments like this.
[The Fable Fragment Understanding of the Hundred Beasts begins its story.]
It was the Fable Fragment I gained for clearing Area 13.
There, I helped animals who had lost their homes, their paths, or their stories.
“Understanding of the Hundred Beasts.”
And in return for that help, I had barely earned one line of understanding.
[The Fable Fragment The Tiger's Strength senses your gaze.]
Seona's strength rapidly weakened as she charged at me.
[The Fable Fragment The Rat's Nimble Feet becomes aware of your gaze.]
Her feet, which had always taken the right position at the right moment, slowed.
[The Fable Fragment The Rabbit's Leaping Power is satisfied with your understanding.]
Her movements slowed as she leaped backward.
I didn't miss that opening and struck the hand holding her iron club.
The iron club rolled uselessly across the ground.
[The fable Master of the Twelve Zodiacs falters.]
The effect of the Fable Fragment, “Understanding of the Hundred Beasts,” was very simple.
It made its holder the only one who understood all beasts.
As long as someone possessed this Fable Fragment, animal-type Constellations couldn't sincerely regard its holder as an enemy.
[The Fable Fragment The Tiger's Strength stops its story.]
[The Fable Fragment The Rat's Nimble Feet stops its story.]
[The Fable Fragment The Rabbit's Leaping Power stops its story.]
...
[The fable Master of the Twelve Zodiacs stops its story.]
The moment Seona snapped out of it as she watched her fables collapse uselessly, I grabbed her shoulder without missing the opening.
“It's over, Seona-ssi.”
At the sound of my voice laden with Incitement, Seona's knees buckled and she sank to the ground.
Even so, she resisted to the very end.
Her lips were tightly clenched. Bloody tears streamed from the eyes glaring at me.
“This isn't fair.”
She was right. This fight wasn't fair.
From the beginning, neither our readings nor the texts given to us had been fair.
“I'm annoyed by that expression on your face. Like you knew it would end this way.”
I had nothing to say in defense of this unfair fight.
I could only hope that she would give up.
After struggling for a long time, Seona finally lowered her head.
“Stop dragging this out and kill me.”
“I won't kill you.”
“You're going to kill me anyway. Just like you did to Mr. Gyeongsik.”
“I didn't kill Mr. Gyeongsik.”
“Don't lie. You...”
[The character Gu Seona has activated Lie Detection Lv. 8!]
[The character Gu Seona has confirmed that your words are true.]
Seona blankly looked up at me.
“Really... you didn't kill him?”
“I told you several times that I didn't.”
“Why? You're Kim Dokja. Don't you want to become the one and only Kim Dokja?”
It was true that my fables kept chattering about such things.
However, just because my fables said so didn't mean I had to act accordingly.
“I just don't want this world to end in tragedy.”
However, Seona seemed to find my answer rather amusing.
“Do you think you have the right to say that?”
“What?”
“You... do you really not know how this world came to be?”
“How would I know that?”
“I see. You still haven't obtained the fragment containing that memory...”
Seona murmured as she looked up at the distant sky.
“I don't know whether you haven't obtained it, or whether someone is preventing you from recovering that memory...”
“Do you know how this world came to be, Seona-ssi?”
“Are you curious?”
Seona started to smile, as if she had thought of something.
As if what happened next would be a satisfying revenge against me.
“Absorb me. Then you'll learn the answer you were looking for.”
I frowned.
“Why? Don't you want to?”
“Seona-ssi.”
“Aren't you curious? Why the Patron you searched for so desperately ended up like that. Why Kim Dokja had to be split into so many branches.”
A cold wind ran down my spine.
Seona smiled brightly, as though she already knew what I would choose.
“Why the Kim Dokja we knew couldn't return to Kim Dokja Company. Aren't you really curious?”
Footnotes:
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